1 week after Mira joined Phantom Lord

It was cold and dark.

"Hello?" Lisanna asked tepidly from inside the mangled roots of a tree, their wide berth giving her a natural den to hide in from the icy black night outside. She shivered. She could see her breath and hear her teeth clatter. It was cold, and she couldn't stop shivering. She didn't know what to do.

"Mira?"

Lisanna's sister had gone into the woods, saying she'd protect them and stay still.

"Elfman?"

Lisanna's brother had run out of the den when he heard something outside—something like a growl.

"Mom? Dad?"

Lisanna's parents had died long before that. They were taken in the night and never returned by the monster her village believed her sister to be.

"Hello?"

Lisanna sat alone in the safety of her tree, watching and waiting. She waited for an eternity, but nothing happened. She just waited there.

"Anyone?"

Scared and alone.

Lisanna woke with a start, her sister's voice guiding her through the remnants of her nightmare as she glanced around. They weren't in their old village house, and they weren't camping in the woods.

They were an apartment, a nice one at that.

"Lisanna, are you okay?" Her sister called to her, gently placing her hand on her shoulder as she lightly shook her to get her attention. Lisanna blinked the rest of her dream away, nodding slightly as she murmured, "Yeah... I just... bad dream. I'm not used to it yet."

"Yeah, I could tell. You were squirming like a caterpillar." Her sister teased lightly, her strained laugh and wavering smile suggesting she was teasing just for the sake of it. For normalcy.

"What's wrong with them, Mira?" Lisanna pouted jokingly, "Caterpillars are cute."

Lisanna could use a bit of normal right now.

"Never said they weren't." Mira chuckled, the sisters smiling before the older glanced at the clock and suggested, "Hey, Lisanna, it's a bit early, but do you want to get ready? We got a big day ahead of us."

"Ready? Ready for what?" Lisanna asked, glancing at the window and seeing the sun on the horizon. Her nightmare must've woken her up right at sunrise.

"Today, you and Elfman are gonna learn magic."

Going off the bags beneath Mira's eyes, she wasn't as lucky.

The guild hall was a place Lisanna was still getting used to. There had never been anything so big back in the village and nothing so looming.

She and Elfman were allowed to go because of Mira. Family members of active guild members got free rein, but it was still a little imposing.

And the library was the pinnacle of it.

"We're here!" Mira announced with a grin as they entered the library, which had hundreds, maybe thousands, of books lining the walls.

Lisanna had never seen so many books before.

Neither had Elfman.

"There's so many, " he murmured as Lisanna nodded, following Mira to the second floor, where a large man with a soft voice greeted them. "I was wondering when you'd arrive. I was starting to think you'd be late."

"I'd never," Mira said, smiling as she guided them towards the table Aria sat at, beckoning them to sit on the opposite end.

"Hello, little ones." Aria greeted, and Lisanna smiled. "Hi, Aria." She said, and Elfman mumbled a similar greeting—the two sitting across from the giant.

He smiled back, tilting his head towards Mira, standing by the desk with a slight grin. He asked, "So, this is about magic, if I recall?"

"Yeah," Mira scratched her neck sheepishly, "I uh... I don't really know how to teach them magic. And they need to start learning if they want to join the guild. So I came to ask you. I hope it's not a problem."

"Not at all." Aria said, "Although I will admit I'm surprised. I heard you and Siegrian have gotten along recently. He could easily have helped instead."

"I'd rather die before I ask that blue-haired bastard for anything," Mira said instantly, her eyes narrowed as she recalled all the times she'd challenged him. It had started on a whim after learning he was a strong mage and was her age, but now it was personal.

The next time he yawned while kicking her ass, she was gonna break something she'd probably regret.

"Tomorrow, he's gonna get it," Mira growled, unaware of her siblings' laughter and Aria's wry chuckle. The air mage shook his head lightly and conceded, "Well, it seems like I would be the next best choice then. Very well. I promise to teach them what I can. We'll start with basic takeover magic since they'll most likely adapt to it, family talent and all."

"Thanks, Aria," Mira grinned, her eyes widening as Aria handed her a book, "Don't thank me yet. You're not exactly an expert. You'll need to learn too. You can start with requip magic."

"But I already-"

"Mira," Aria said, tilting his head as Mira lost all her fight and sat down next to Lisanna. She was moping slightly but opening her book and reading quietly.

The younger siblings shared a glance and giggled, even as they received their books—two copies of the Basics of Takeover Magic.

Mira had always been stubborn, even when their parents were alive. Mom and Dad practically had to force her to stay home when it was their turn to take their herbs and medicines to the village square. It was hard to change her mind once it was set.

So it was funny to see their stubborn sister cave whenever Aria asked for something sincerely.

"What are you two looking at?" Mira grumbled, giving them a side eye as Lisanna and Elfman shouted, 'Nothing!' And turned to their book.

Aria chuckled at their display, taking out his book as the table settled into a quiet silence. The flipping of pages echoing through the silent library for an hour or two, before Lisanna finally reached a point she couldn't exactly understand.

"It's difficult," Lisanna murmured, scanning through the pages and trying to imagine how it would work. Taking over something, something strong hopefully, and using their abilities. Using their strength to bolster her own was a strange concept.

It felt a little sad, to be honest.

"Will they be in pain?" Lisanna asked Aria, her siblings glancing at her before returning to their books. She continued, "When I take them over, will they be in pain? Will they die?"

"No," Aria said, a soft frown on his face as he seemed to phrase his words gently.

"They won't die." Lisanna tried not to think about how he didn't answer her first question. "If they died, you wouldn't be able to use their abilities."

"Then what happens to them?"

"I'm not sure," Aria sighed. "I'm not an expert in takeover magic, but if I had to piece together an explanation, I'd assume that they simply... sleep."

"Sleep?"

"A dreamless sleep, yes." Aria nodded. "Once your will overpowers theirs, it'll be as if their will was extinguished. They won't die; if you ever decide to release them, they'll be as alive as the day you took them over, but they'll be in a stasis."

"So, like a coma?" Lisanna said, flinching slightly as she realized what she said. Her eyes widened as she heard Mira flinch violently, her sister ducking behind her book as Aria's gaze lowered.

"Yes," Aria said softly. He didn't mention how her family was only here because of one of the children he grew fond of. He didn't mention how that child still hadn't woken up yet. He just smiled sadly and returned to his book, idly handing her another book. One she could read after she finished her current one. It was dense and had a pretty cover.

"Like a coma."

It was a book on taking over animals.

When Lisanna first tried to take over an animal, a small bird she thought might help her fly, she nearly passed out. She failed horribly. On a tiny bird.

When Elfman tried to take over a D-rank monster, he did it first try.

After that, she struggled for weeks to make any progress. And she did! She could take over smaller animals. Her best spells were a dog and a cat, but they weren't comparable. Even if she got into Phantom Lord early, it was made very clear it was only because of her sister.

Compared to Mira, and Elfman for that matter, her takeover magic wasn't anything special.

Elfman had already moved on to a C-rank monster, and Mira had finished mastering her first Demon Takeover. They were both naturals at it.

It was hard for Lisanna to admit that she just wasn't.

"Thirty minutes." She heard Siegrain say, clocking her time as she was forced to release her takeover magic and collapsed. Panting on her back, she tried to keep sweat from getting into her eyes.

"That's really good, Lisanna." Her brother cheered, "You did way better than last time."

"Thanks, Elfman," Lisanna said through heavy breaths, refusing to let bitterness creep into her voice. She could tell he meant it. She would've felt good about it under any other circumstance.

It's just that Elfman had crossed the thirty-minute mark months ago. He could do it for hours now, and so could Mira. They both got it down quickly.

And here she was...

Half an hour.

"Do you want to try again?" Siegrain asked over the distant echoes of Mira and Vera trying to beat each other senselessly. "Practice will probably help."

"Probably doesn't make me feel better."

"It's not supposed to." Siegrain said, "It's just how it works."

"Is that how it works for you?" Lisanna snapped lightly, biting her lip as she saw Siegrain narrow his eyes. "I would be lying if I said I need as much practice as others," he admitted calmly. "But I still practice. It's why I accept the brute's challenges and challenge Aria. It helps me practice."

"..."

"Practice will help you," Siegrain said like a broken record, and Lisanna couldn't stop the snarl that tore out of her throat. "How do you know?"

"Lisa?"

"Shut up, Elfman! Both of you!" Lisanna said, her brother flinching and Siegeain watching her calmly as she stood up and ranted, "I don't get it! Why am I the only one that can't do it? I've been practicing for months! Nothing's changed since I started!"

"That's not true." Elfman tried to say, "You did better this time than before."

"And you did better than that months ago!" Lisanna snapped, trying to ignore the hurt flashing across Elfman's face as she paced in circles, "I just... I don't get it! What am I doing wrong!?"

"Nothing." Siegrain said flatly, stunning Lisanna as she asked, "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Then why can't I get it like they do?"

"Because they understand it better. You could say they have a talent for it that you lack." Siegrain shrugged, ignoring Lisanna's despondent expression as he elaborated, "It's natural. People understand magic at different levels."

He pointed lightly to Elfman, "Instinctively, your brother understands it at a greater depth than you do, and so does your sister. That's it. There is nothing you're doing wrong, it's what they're doing right. The only thing that changes that will be time."

"How do you know?" Lisanna asked, her frustration deflated as she glanced at a conflicted Elfman and grabbed his hand. She murmured a quiet 'sorry' that he accepted with a quiet 'it's okay.' The two turned to Siegrain, who shrugged lightly.

"Because it's happened to me." He said, and Lisanna and Elfman's jaws dropped. Their eyes wide as they watched him hold his hand up and raise two fingers. "I'm sure Aria or someone else has already told you how I can learn magic easier than others, but that's only to the level I'm capable of. The depth I understand it to be at. Sometimes..."

Lisanna watched Siegrain sigh, scratching his head as a look of frustration and respect flashed across his face. The image flooded Lisanna with a newfound sense of relief. She might not be as talented at Takeover Magic as Mira or Elfman, but she would survive. She'd learn the hard way.

"Sometimes there are people that understand their magic better than I ever could."

If a prodigy could struggle, then so could she.

It turned out her struggle wasn't nearly as difficult as the prodigy's. Or her sister's for that matter.

Not even three days later, their pictures were posted above a fake Oak Town, to be hunted tooth and nail by all of Phantom Lord. The candidates for that year's surprise S class trials, their struggles immediately outweighed Lisanna's tenfold.

They had to survive three days while being targeted by hundreds of mages.

And one of them was a major problem.

"Pause is a little scary," She heard Elfman murmur from their corner of the library. The first day of the trials had ended and the night sky trickled through the large windows. Their coalition separated for the night as they rested and readied to attack their targets the following day.

"Don't you think sis?"

Or struggled to figure out their target, as in the case of Lisanna and Elfman.

"Yeah, but he's right." Lisanna mumbled beneath her blanket, looking at the large lacquer ceiling above, "We have to attack tomorrow if we want the best chance. We need to choose."

"I still say we should go for Siegrain," Elfman said with a slight tremor, not without reason. "We can't beat any of the candidates Lisanna, you know that. Siegrain, at least, will give us a chance to show what we learned. He'll take it easy on us. Vera won't."

"Mira will take it easy on us." Lisanna whispered, "Mira doesn't want to hurt us, so she'll take it way easier on us than any of the other candidates. You know she will."

The words fell heavy from her tongue and tasted like vomit, but she couldn't ignore them.

Mira was family, and she would hold back. Compared to the other two, where Siegrain might hold back a little but would defeat them whenever he felt like they'd played enough, or Vera, who wouldn't hold back at all, it wasn't a contest.

Mira was their best chance of winning.

They just had to overcome the fact that they would fight their sister.

For Elfman, that was a deal breaker.

"I can't attack Mira, sis." He said with a quivering voice, pleading, "Please, if we're going to lose anyways, let's fight someone else. She saved us, Lisanna. When Mom and Dad died-"

"That's the problem, Elfman," Lisanna whispered, her voice stunning her brother as she looked up at the ceiling and tried not to waver.

"She protected us. She's always protecting us," Lisanna said bitterly, flashing through her mind the memory of her nightmare, the same one she had every so often, in which her sister never came back from her fight, and Elfman never got saved from that monster.

"Back in the woods, we couldn't do anything to help her."

Lisanna couldn't do anything to help either of her siblings.

"I don't want that to happen again, " she said firmly, looking over to her brother and meeting his conflicted gaze. She kept her breath steady and spoke honestly, without hesitation.

"Next time, I want to protect her." She whispered, holding her brother's stunned gaze. "I can't do that if I'm weaker than her."

Lisanna didn't like their guild master. She had searched the entire guild hall earlier that day to tell him off for making Mira a target, but she remembered his message. She liked his words—to never stay the same, to change. She liked the idea of a guild like that.

"I want to challenge her, Elfman."

Lisanna wanted to prove herself.

"And I'll do it without you if I have to."

She couldn't do that if she were the same person she was back in the woods.

Present Day

The memories of Lisanna's time in Phantom Lord flashed through her head as Mira's fist connected to her gut. Launching her through a nearby wall and into the furnished house that was probably in excellent condition back in real Oak Town.

It was funny how quickly her breath was stolen and how heavy her sister's fist was. Her transformation got canceled accidentally as she landed in a heap of broken furniture and wood. She felt like her stomach was stabbed, even if it was just a punch.

A light punch at that.

"You wanna give up?" Lisanna heard her sister ask as Elfman, having caved and followed her to the fight, flew through the wall after her. Landing in a similar heap to her right, his groans echoed alongside their sister's footsteps.

"It'll be easier, you two."

Lisanna bit back a wince as she looked up and watched her sister step through the hole in the wall. She was grinning, and her stature was calm and confident.

But her eyes were worried.

Lisanna felt bad for making her sister fight her. She could see her fist trembling, even as she plastered an amused expression on her face, like she didn't care.

Lisanna felt bad. Making her sister do something she obviously didn't want to do.

But back in the woods, she felt worse.

"Why would I?" Lisanna asked, a magic circle flashing beneath her feet as her takeover magic activated. Her pink dress, hemmed to her knees, was dyed with white and black stripes. Her eyes sharpened, and her vision improved drastically. Her hearing improved as an extra set of ears formed atop her head, while a white tail helped improve her balance.

"If I give up..."

Finally, her limbs became cat-like in appearance and power, her muscles coiled like springs ready to snap.

"How am I ever gonna beat you, sis?"

Lisanna pounced and wanted to think the worry on her sister's face was replaced with pride.

Central Oak Town

The echoes of distant battles ring through central Oak Town. The quiet area was so foreign to the city, locked in a struggle that it almost felt unnatural.

"Are you certain you're okay with this?" Siegrain asked as he nibbled on the protein bar he'd stocked up before the trials. Glancing across the restaurant table to the girl he was supposed to beat. Her mouth was stuffed full with the salad she was trying to devour.

"Of course," she chewed her vegetables. "You've been fighting for a while, right? You must be hungry."

"I mean, are you okay with me recovering?"

"Oh. That? Duh," Sue rolled her eyes, "Of course, I'm letting you recover. It wouldn't mean shit if I beat you when you weren't at your best."

"It would mean less if you lost." Siegrain pointed out, shielding his bar for the splash zone as the girl burst into loud laughter, "That's a good one, dude! I'll have to remember it. Didn't take you for a shit talker, but you're grade A."

"I wasn't shit-talking."

"That's what makes it grade A," Sue snorted, ignoring Siegeain's annoyed gaze as she finished her meal, and Siegrain did the same.

The two tossed their trash into an empty bin as Siegrain asked one final time, "Are you sure this is what you want? You'd have a better chance elsewhere, with a different candidate."

"Wow. So many questions? And here, when I first saw you, I thought you didn't speak." Sue chuckled, "What's wrong? Don't you want to fight me?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Afraid I'll win?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Then what is it?" Sue tilted her head curiously, not at all offended by Siegrain's comments. Siegrain had to admit that she was full of self-confidence.

"Afraid your girlfriend will get mad at you for beating up her friend?"

That wasn't always a good thing.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Siegrain said plainly, ignoring Sue's shocked and embarrassed expression as he asked, "Do you have any preferences on location?"

"What?" She asked, coming out of her stupor as she flushed and coughed into her fist, "Uh, no. None. Anywhere's fine with me. You?"

"Anywhere except the library."

"Library?" Sue asked, "Why don't you want to fight in that place? You hate books or something?"

"Pause might be there."

"Ah," Sue nodded, "Yeah, that's fair. I'd rather not fight near him either. He creeps me out a little."

"Not what I meant," Siegrain stepped out of the restraint, tailed by Sue as the two walked through the empty town, "But I'm glad we're in agreement."

"Same." Sue said, her hands behind her head as she followed him through the empty city, "It'll make it easier when I beat you and take your spot."

"I doubt it," Siegrain said as they stumbled upon a large, wide street—a decent enough place to start their battle without worry.

Siegrain walked down the street, about 10 meters, and the girl waited. Siegrain turned back, surprised to see her grinning. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She grinned, getting into a stance that must've been some martial art. It was more upright and strong, like a brick wall.

"I just can't wait to make you eat your words."

Siegrain hummed, "If you say so."

He watched idly as she grinned cockily, and a clear magic circle flashed under her feet. He noted the odd color, before shrugging and holding out a hand.

"I am a little curious, though." Siegrain offered as an orange magic circle flashed across his palm. The blaze of fire cradled between his fingertips.

"Is there a reason you're so set on fighting me?"

It was a useless question. It wouldn't change the outcome, but he was curious. The only other person this insistent on fighting him was the brute.

Since they were friends, he figured her answer would be something like, 'Why not?'

It was a lot more methodical than he would've guessed.

"Well if you're asking why I chose you out of the other candidates it's mostly compatibility." She said casually, "I already lost to Mira so no point fighting her, and I don't want to test my luck against your psycho friend. He's a bad matchup for me."

Siegrain raised an eyebrow as she grinned, and the air changed. Tension cracked between the two combatants like electricity.

"You, on the other hand," Sue tilted her head snidely, eyeing the fire caressed in Siegrain's palm as he let it condense into a ball he leveled with a cold gaze.

"If half-ass magic like that is all you have, then you're the easiest fight I could ask for."

Siegrain wasn't planning on making this a dragged-out fight. The girl's words didn't change that, but they let him add more fuel to his spell. Letting the flame burst as the girl stood cockily, awaiting the billowing flame like it was a gift.

"Let's fight to our hearts' contents, pretty boy."

She was irritating. Cocky and prideful. She wanted a fight and believed she would win. Without a shred of doubt. She awaited his flames without any intention of dodging them.

"It's the only way we'll truly understand each other."

Siegrain hoped for her sake that her confidence wasn't totally baseless.