Life as a member of Fairy Tail was pretty relaxing. For the first month anyway.
Makarov was covering the first month of living expenses for me so that I could take the time to find my feet and learn about the world before I really started working. He expected me to pay him back, which was expected and not all that concerning. Living in Fairy Hills covered all of my basic needs at the low price of a hundred thousand Jewels a month – the equivalent of roughly a thousand dollars as I found out. Not exactly cheap, but not too expensive either.
Especially once I saw that the rewards for even A-rank missions – the kind I could bulldoze through by virtue of magic power alone – ranged from sixty to eighty thousand Jewels per day they were expected to take. Granted half of that money went to the guild as a sort of finder’s fee and for taxation reasons, but there was still plenty left to live off of.
I dedicated some time each day to doing D-Class missions – chores essentially – around town to get used to using magic as well as train my creativity with it. I also spent some time hanging out with all of the members of Fairy Tail in order to find some friends and see who I would like to work with once I got to taking missions.
Macao and Wakaba were fun, but both were too old for me to have much in common with them. Most of the younger guys were a bit too rowdy for my sensibilities (well, except Mystogan and Reedus, but they refused to even talk so hanging out with either of them was difficult). Loke kept trying to hit on me, which was a very strange experience considering I was still straight? Gay? Into girls anyway.
Conversations with the girls were more fun, but my anti-social nature carried through and I found fault with almost all of them. Laki, who I only very vaguely remembered from the show, turned out to be a very nice girl. The problem was that she didn’t really have much else in her personality besides being nice. She gladly listened to anything I had to say, but I wasn’t much of a talker, so conversations with her trailed off into awkward silences sooner rather than later.
Bisca was more active, but she wasn’t interested in much beyond Alzack and guns. Fun, but only in limited doses. Mira was nice, but difficult to get a hold of since she spent most of her time practically running the guild or doing photoshoots. Lucy was a bit of a girly girl, but she did like to read so we had at least something to talk about.
Erza spent most of her time on missions, but I tried to get a hold of her as often as I could since she was a surprisingly adept storyteller. She was also surprisingly clueless about anything outside of combat and magic, so helping her figure out what she’d missed in her interactions with her clients or other people she met during her missions was absolutely hilarious.
I’d also found out from Erza that she didn’t have an inexplicably large stash of unique magic armor and weapons. Requip magic was, contrary to the show, the magic of creating weapons and armor out of magic, and every armor and weapon Erza had was a spell of her own creation.
Evergreen, the one time she showed up, turned out to be a snobby bitch. I wasn’t surprised, but the fact that she didn’t even try to hide how she looked down on everyone was a bit of a shock. Maybe it’s my Canadian upbringing, but people making a point of being rude and condescending isn’t something I’ve ever experienced before.
The lion’s share of my socializing time though, was spent with Levy and Cana.
Levy was an absolute god send to me as a new arrival from another world. She read books like a panda ate bamboo and was positively bursting with recommendations for what to read in order to get familiar with local culture, history, and magical theory. She was also ecstatic to find someone who even approached her love of books and trivia. I was far more interested in magical theory and potential applications where she just liked knowing things in general – anything from fashion to a random town’s history to the anatomy of the Dilcue (which, to be fair, I was interested in too. How could you not be interested in a crab-thing whose insides are a mess of non-Euclidean spaces such that everything was everywhere it needed to be at once?).
It was thanks to Levy and the Fairy Tail library that I finally learned what being Thrice Bonded to Water meant. To simplify things a bit, Thrice Bonding to a magic can only occur when someone is born with an affinity to a certain magic. Now explaining an affinity requires explaining what Bonds and Attunements are.
In its natural state, a magical lattice stores and produces completely neutral magic, however, once a Bond is formed, the lattice changes shape in a way that encourages magic that flows through it to convert into whatever magic has been Bonded to. This change of shape is why Bonding multiple magics is so difficult, the new shape has to accommodate multiple types of magic.
An Attunement is the step after a Bond is formed and is essentially changing your lattice on a fundamental level, such that it produces whatever magic a mage is Bonded to naturally. Attuning to a magic also prevents the formation of any further Bonds.
An affinity is what happens when someone is born with a sort of mini Bond and Attunement to a certain type of magic. As a result of the affinity, the change in shape during Bonding and change in nature during Attunement are far more drastic, making that magic far more powerful and easier to wield for the Thrice Bonded mage. It also results in the lattice being completely incapable of producing any other kind of magic though.
Affinities could also apparently be created artificially by implanting a lacrima crystal of the desired magic into a child. It was an extremely difficult procedure and required that the child had an extraordinarily resilient lattice, but it was doable.
The research helped me gain a new appreciation of the fact that I had a second lattice to work with. After all, in a world of infinite variations of magic, it would really suck to be stuck with just one – one I didn’t even get to choose at that.
My research also led me to answers to burning questions like why everybody shouted the name of their spells. Apparently, it was a sort of Pavlovian response from your lattice. If you said a certain phrase every time you performed a certain magical action, eventually your lattice would create that effect all by itself every time you said the phrase. This worked with gestures too, but as these things were generally developed for combat, and leaving your limbs free to fight and run was more important than leaving your mouth free to talk during a fight, incantations were far more common.
With Cana, I’d struck up an easy friendship. She was an adept conversationalist so there were never any awkward silences and we shared similar outlooks on life. We ended up spending most evenings drinking together and exchanging stories from our lives. We also bonded over making fun of people, news, and cultural trends from both Earth and Earthland. We spent an embarrassingly long time trying to determine whose world’s shitty name was worse (or better, we both lost track of which side we were arguing for). Our friendship reminded me a lot of my friendships in my old life, and it served to ground me even as I learned to bend the world to my will.
Cana also helped me redecorate my room, a gesture I very grateful for since I never would have done it myself and would’ve ended up getting depressed living in a personality-less room. We ended up going with an ocean theme for the whole thing since it was traditional to theme your room after your main magic.
Blue walls and sheets, a desk engraved with wave like designs, a white couch, lots of paintings and photos of beaches, coral reefs, and marine wildlife. The room looked fantastic once we were done and we shared a beer while pretending to be old construction workers (lots of complaining about fake back pains and how things were different back in the day as we tried to suppress our giggles) as we looked over our work. I was sure I would be changing and adding things as time went on – a bookshelf and books were first on the list – but that night, after placing a picture of Cana and I in the middle of the room on my desk, I went to sleep with a smile.
|||
With as much work and research as I was doing, time veritably flew by.
I was reading about the origin of the current X calendar when the realization that my free trial of living ended in two days hit me like a bucket of cold water. Not only did it mean that I would have to start actually working for a living (the horror!), it also meant that I would have to decide how much to tell my fellow guildmates about my meta knowledge. For all that people like to keep their secrets in the various isekai I’ve read, listening to one of Erza’s story while knowing about her mother or shooting the shit with Cana while knowing that her father would love her if she only told him that she existed was almost physically painful.
Only Makarov knew that I had the meta knowledge, but I hadn’t told him any specifics since I wanted to find out all I could about the differences between this world and my memories of Fairy Tail before telling him – the magic system was certainly different so I imagined that there must have been other differences as well.
My recollection of the show wasn’t exactly fantastic, what with watching it mostly for the fights, but I remembered enough to know that there was a different continent where Zeref was supposed to be an emperor and that Mystogan was from Edolas.
Neither of those things held true in this world. Zeref still ruled an Alvarez Empire, but it was on Ishgar, on the eastern most edge and as far away from Fiore as it could be. Other continents existed, but nothing was known about them since each continent was separated from the others by vast expanses of horror infested seas and dimensional barriers that could be seen through, but not crossed. It was definitely something I wanted to investigate at some point, but for now it was too far away to worry about.
Mystogan, as it turned out, was not from any sort of alternate universe, but was actually just a very powerful practitioner of Staff Magic, exactly as he appeared. Alas, he completely denied talking about anything else, so I didn’t manage to get any other information out of him. Even the admission that he was not from some parallel universe required the guild master’s command.
Historically though, the world was quite similar to the one from the show. Oh there were differences in personality or specifics of magical specialties, Mavis being the chief example, specializing in Fae Magic rather than illusions (much of the magic was worked into the Fairy Tail guild mark, which is what gave its members all of their power of friendship bullshit). Other than that though, the world was pretty similar. Fairy Tail was founded about a hundred years ago, Makarov was the 3rd guild master, Ivan was a psycho who defected some fifteen years ago, etc.
The similarity also meant that I could be reasonably confident in my knowledge of people’s tragic backstories being correct – a fact that led to me being quite nervous as I walked to the guild master’s office to get his advice on how much I should reveal.
“Come in” he called, before I could even get a chance to knock.
Thinking about how much effort or money he spent for that little bit of theatrics evened out my nerves. It reminded me that, for all his power, the guild master was still human.
“What brings you here today?” he asked.
“Well, a few things. Most of them pretty heavy, but I do have one random question.” He nodded at me to continue. “What do you do all day? Mira takes care of all of our finances and supplies.”
“Keep the Magic Council off our backs.” Makarov answered without hesitation.
I blinked. “Huh. Yeah, that makes sense. Did you have the answer prepared?”
“Of course!” he answered brightly “Almost every mage in the guild eventually starts wondering.”
His face fell a bit “Not that they ever take that into consideration before destroying half a village.”
I looked at his morose expression and resolved to my best to minimize collateral damage on my missions.
Then I thought about it, and my resolve shattered like glass. My magic practically required that I flood wherever I was fighting, collateral damage was inevitable.
We lapsed into silence after that, Makarov waiting for me to continue and myself trying to delay the inevitable.
“So” Makarov began. I sighed in relief. “I take it you’re here because you’ve come to a decision about your ‘meta knowledge’?”
“Yes. Well, partially.”
Makarov raised an eyebrow.
“I’m going to tell you everything I remember, and then I’m hoping to get your advice on what to tell everybody else.” I explained.
He nodded, “That is a reasonable plan. Go on.”
I took a deep breath before starting.
“The show was focused mostly on focused on getting you excited as you watched Natsu beat people up with the ‘power of friendship’,” I sneered a little as I said that part, and Makarov seemed to agree. Fae Magic is a wondrous thing and watching it get reduced to a plot device is just sad. “and Erza pull off impossible feats simply because she’s Erza, so I don’t remember much of the plot. I can tell you that there are a bunch of dark guilds trying to replicate Zeref’s work, but that’s nothing new. I think you’ll be interested to know though, that one of them is led by Precht Gaebolg – he goes by Hades now.” Makarov breathed in sharply. It was understandable really, from both my own research and recollection of the show, Hades was a truly impressive mage. His knowledge of magic was almost unmatched and there are multiple accounts of him resurrecting himself.
“Beyond that though, I can only say that Siegrain is likely a thought projection of a man named Jellal Fernandes. He’s a traumatized child that was enslaved with Erza, but when Erza left the Tower, Jellal stayed and is now working to complete the project. I think that if you send Erza and her team to stop him, he should become a decent person afterwards.” Makarov looked at me skeptically, to which I just shrugged, “It’s what happened in the show”.
He seemed to accept that explanation and waved at me to go on.
“Those are the only things I can say about the future with any confidence, but I can speculate on some things.” I gave him a questioning look.
“Knowledge is power” he said.
I nodded “The endgame for the show was based around Zeref and Acnologia, but I don’t remember any specifics. The only actionable thing I remember is that the Alvarez empire invades for some reason in about eight years. Though, considering that in this world they’re not on another continent, I’m not sure how the logistics of such a thing would work.”
I perked up “Oh, I almost forgot that Acnologia might attack Tenrou island during the next S-class trials. The guild survives by casting Fairy Sphere which puts them into stasis for something like seven years.”
I scraped my mind for any other memories of the plot but came up empty and told the guild master as much.
He leaned back in his chair, processing the information and likely coming with plans.
Some time later he leaned forward again and began questioning me on everything I’d told him and asking for clarification. The process dragged out a whole load of new information like the fact that the Tower of Heaven was out at sea but close to the coast and the fact that Wendy existed.
This questioning also led naturally to me revealing all of the backstories that I knew about.
Natsu’s relationship with Zeref and how he’s Zeref’s ultimate creation. Gildart’s and Cana’s relationship. The fact that Erza’s mother was a four-hundred-year-old psychopathic dragon-witch. Gray’s mentor’s daughter was alive and evil until Gray could bring her over to the light side. How Lucy’s mom’s servant’s daughter was an extraordinarily powerful mage driven by revenge over misinformation. That there was currently a guy abusing his daughter into becoming an extremely powerful psychopath.
All these were brought out and at the end Makarov looked old and tired at the telling of the tragedies. Yet at the same time, he seemed invigorated, for some of them could still be cut short.
“We’ll talk again tomorrow” he said after I’d finished. “I’d like for you to think some more on what to do with the information and tell me your conclusions tomorrow. For now, go enjoy the rest of your day.”
Taking the dismissal for what it was, I stood to leave.
“Actually” the guild master called just as I was opening the door “I do have one more question for you.”
I turned to him.
“Why is it that your memories about the female members of our guild are so much clearer than your memories of the male members?”
I choked.
“I was fifteen and lonely when I watched the show” I coughed out after a second.
Makarov still seemed confused. “What does that have to do with it?”
I was confused at his confusion. Then I remembered that he was old, wasn’t from the modern era, and that in all our talks I’d failed to mention a key aspect of my reincarnation.
“I was a guy in my old life.”
Now it was Makarov’s turn to choke. I escaped before I could see any further reactions or be asked any follow up questions. I did not want to talk about my gender swapping experiences.
That shit was private.
|||
I am not good with people. In my old life, I could count the number of friends I had on one hand. They were good friends, we understood each other and got along well, but there was a reason I didn’t really talk to anyone else.
It was only through a lot of time and effort that my friends became familiar with my emotional inadequacies and I with theirs, so that when we came to each other for comfort or advice, we knew what we were getting into.
However, since we were all decently well-adjusted twenty-year-olds with stable to promising futures, family drama the likes of which I had to help my guild members with was entirely beyond my expertise. Hell, it was beyond even my mild competency.
The best I was capable of was offering a willing ear. Bringing up and explaining these kinds of problems was not just something I’ve never seen done, it was something that I have never even had occasion to think of doing.
To distract myself, I spent the rest of the day researching various magics I could potentially Bond with my second lattice. It was a fascinating problem, very important to me, and most importantly, the decision paralysis of choosing which magics to Bond was much less stressful that the decision paralysis of choosing how to deal with my friends’ emotional traumas.
Distracting myself could only last so long though, and I eventually found myself twisting in turning in bed. I was normally quite adept at distracting myself, especially when trying to fall asleep, but the issue just wouldn’t leave me alone.
The morning found me tired, grumpy, and flooding my room to block out the sound of the morning bell. The shock of cold water finished waking me and I shot up as I realized that Mira would murder me as soon as the water managed to make it out of my room.
Connecting myself with the water, I turned it back into the magic I formed it from and enjoyed the light show of all the motes of blue light being absorbed back into me. Crisis averted, I took a moment to appreciate the casual use of magic, the likes of which was relegated firmly to daydreams only a month ago.
Then I remembered what awaited me today, and my mood fell right back into my rising nerves.
‘Nothing for it’ I thought, ‘Lets just get it all over with today. One day isn’t all that long after all. I’ll be waking up tomorrow with all of this behind me. I can go to the guild hall, have a pint, and wait for the consequences to blow over.’
Sufficiently psyched up, I got out of bed, and an hour later found myself once more entering the guild master’s office.
I sat down across from him and waited for him to start.
It was a long wait. An awkward silence if there ever was one.
‘What is he waiting for?’ I thought, ‘Is it a person? No, can’t be, he would have said something by now if there was supposed to be someone here. Not to mention that I explicitly asked that this information remain between us until we’ve decided what to do with it.’
‘Is this silence supposed to be some sort of character-building thing? He’s definitely the type for it, but what is he trying to get me to do?’ then, I remembered how yesterday’s conversation went.
“Am-” I cleared my throat, “Am I supposed to start the conversation?”
“Yes” Makarov replied, before lapsing into silence again.
I thought for a second.
“You want me to take the lead on this don’t you?” I accused.
“It’s your knowledge” he spread his hands in a sort of ‘what can you do’ gesture.
I glared at him. He stared right back.
I knew what he was trying to do here, and he knew that I knew. We also both knew that just because we knew, didn’t mean that it wouldn’t work. Nor would our knowledge interfere at all with the fact that I wouldn’t like it.
I groaned. I couldn’t even half-ass it like a normally would in a situation like this.
“Fine. But I still want your advice.” I said finally.
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“Of course! It is my job after all” he said happily.
‘Deep breaths, don’t give him the satisfaction.’
I let him go with a final glare.
“Alright, so my idea is to tell Erza and Cana everything since they’re mature enough to handle the information. I think Natsu and Gray should discover their history on their own. From what I’ve seen of them, they’d likely charge of to their death as soon as they found out” the two were practically forces of nature once they’d gotten an idea stuck in their heads.
Makarov nodded “That is a good plan, though I think you’re underestimating the boys a bit. It’s true that they likely won’t listen to your warnings. Mine on the other hand…”
It might have been for only a moment, but I could swear I felt malice rolling of him. Understandable really, in just the month I’ve been here Natsu had caused three separate instances of ‘collateral damage’ (wholesale destruction) that the guild master had presumably had to deal with.
“If you think they’ll listen then, yeah, you should tell them” I tried to emulate the confidence that I imagined someone giving orders to one of the Wizard Saints should have. I think I failed, but Makarov didn’t say anything so neither did I.
“Good. In that case I think you have your plan of action. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to Mystogan, Gildarts, and the Magic Council and see what we can find out about the Alvarez Empire’s military goals and Acnologia’s movements” Makarov said.
“Wait, my plan of action!? Aren’t we going to talk to them together? And what about the Tower of Heaven?”
“Not to worry” Makarov grinned. “I’ll send Erza and her team after Jellal once you’ve talked with her. I have the utmost faith in your abilities!” he said, and before I could blink, I found myself back in the hallway. I looked around.
‘What the hell? Makarov can’t do teleportation magic. And I didn’t feel any magic items activating.’ I shook my head. I can worry about the secrets of archmagi when I become an archmage myself. Or at least after I’ve gotten through some very difficult conversations.
|||
I decided to start with Erza, since her issues were much farther away – in the physical sense. There’s not much that would change for her practically by finding out that her mother is a psychopath on the opposite end of the continent.
Well that, and she needed to deal with the revelations before Jellal exploded the world, or whatever it is that the Tower of Heaven is supposed to do.
Fortunately, Erza had just come back from a mission and was currently relaxing in the guild hall.
Actually, Cana had also come back from a mission and was currently drinking herself stupid in the guild hall.
‘Makarov planned this, the fucker’ I thought furiously, then sighed. ‘And I can’t even be properly angry about it, since it technically makes things a lot easier.’
I walked over to Erza and slid into the seat across from her. And then just sat there. Quietly. Awkwardly.
“Did you want another story?” Erza asked eventually.
“No…” I answered, and then more definitively “No.”
Erza raised an eyebrow. I gathered myself (how many times am I going to have to do that today).
“I need to tell you some things. They’re about you and personal so I recommend we go somewhere you can hit things without damaging anything important.”
“Very well. We’ll go up behind the light house cliff once I finish eating” Erza said.
I nodded. I was thankful that she was taking me seriously, but sitting there, stewing in my own anxiety, while she ate also wasn’t pleasant.
Erza, luckily, seemed to pick up on how much I wanted this over with (or maybe she was just really curious), and finished eating quickly.
She stood, “Let’s go”.
I followed her.
|||
The lighthouse cliff was located to the east of Magnolia, facing the coast. It was a towering wall of white stone, atop which stood Magnolia’s lighthouse, itself an impressive construction. Enchanted to the gills with durability enhancements, fog-piercing lights, wide reaching attention callers, and more; the lighthouse had stood for hundreds of years and was almost singularly responsible for both Magnolia’s bustling trade and flawless defense record.
Erza led me along the base of the cliff until we reached its eastern most edge, and then up a path that required either extraordinary climbing skills and body armor or mage level physical enhancement to traverse. Erza hopped up the path as if the razor-sharp stones were a sidewalk. Neither I nor my clothes were anywhere near that resilient, so I simply liquefied and flowed up the path.
The trail eventually led to a ledge that had decided it wanted to be a forest clearing when it grew up and was currently someway through puberty. It was partially inset into the cliff for a total diameter of maybe fifteen meters. Green grass covered the ground and a single tree (oak maybe?) stood at the side.
The grass was scored with black lines, the tree had clear chunks taken out of it, and there were cuts and dents in the cliffside.
“I take it this is where you train?” I asked when Erza turned towards me.
“Yes. Now talk” she commanded. If I hadn’t talked her through all of the social bits she’d missed during her missions and known how naïve she was, I would honestly be intimidated by that. As it was, I didn’t need any help from Erza’s lacking social skills to be afraid.
I cleared my throat and then began.
“There are two things I need to tell you, but first I’m going to tell you how I know, since they’ll sound ridiculous, and you may not believe me.”
“I’ll believe you” Erza interrupted, “You are a member of Fairy Tail.”
I stared at her in shock. Then I resisted an urge to face palm.
“Erza, this has nothing to do with anything I came to tell you, but please, if for nothing other than my peace of mind, make sure either Lucy or Mira are around whenever you’re talking to a client – or anyone outside Fairy Tail for that matter – and listen to them when it comes to interacting with people. Please?”
“I will.” She said it with such conviction that I could only be thankful that she hadn’t run into anyone with the balls or power to actually manipulate and hurt her.
“Thank you. Anyway, I’m going to tell you how I know anyway because it makes me feel better and I still think it will help you believe what I’m saying.”
I waited for her acknowledgment before continuing.
“Do you remember how I told you about my old life? Before I got thrown across dimensions?”
“Of course.”
“Well there is one detail I didn’t mention. I’ve told you about various anime before, but there is one I didn’t tell you about called Fairy Tail.”
I looked at Erza for any reaction.
“What is so important about an anime having the same name as our guild?”
I sighed, of course she didn’t get it.
“It’s important because the anime doesn’t just share the name of our guild, it is about our guild. More specifically though, you’re one of the main characters, and because I’ve seen it, I know some things about your past. Namely, I know who your parents are and what Jellal is up to, which is what I wanted to tell you about.”
Erza stood frozen for a moment, processing what I’d just told her.
Then, she jumped towards me and seized the collar of my dress.
“You-you know my parents? I-is Jellal okay?” her voice cracked and tears were welling in her eyes.
I pushed down the part of my mind that was wryly amused about how she completely missed the implications of being a character in a show. Instead, I focused on calming her down. I wouldn’t be able to explain anything clearly to her like this. Partially because she was far to distraught to think clearly, and partially because having an almost supernaturally beautiful girl so close to me made it difficult to think. I was quite thankful that I didn’t have a dick anymore.
I pushed Erza away slightly. “One thing at a time, ok? Let’s just sit down, we can both take a deep breath and I’ll explain everything I know” I kept my voice gentle and my motions slow. I’m not sure of treating her like a spooked animal is the right way of doing things, but it seemed to be working.
We sat down on the grass, and both took a deep breath to calm ourselves.
“I wouldn’t say I knew your parents” I started’ “It was a show, and your parents were part of your story, and unfortunately” my breath hitched “this part of your story is not a happy one.”
Erza simply nodded “Anything is better than not knowing.”
My heart broke a little at that, but I powered through.
“I know nothing about your father other than that he was a general around the end of the Dragon Wars. Your mother on the other hand…Do you know of Irene Belserion?”
“One of the pillars of the Alvarez Empire and greatest mass murderer since Zeref himself” She said.
I looked at her expectantly. It took her a moment, but she figured it out.
“Irene Belserion is my mother!? Wait, you said my father was a general near the end of the Dragon wars!? How!? The wars were over four hundred years ago!”
“From what I remember, Irene was one of the original creators of Dragon Slayer magic, and her use of it turned her into a dragon, which is how she’s lived so long. As to why or how she gave birth to you only nineteen years ago, I have no idea. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more.”
Erza was quiet, seemingly numb. I really hoped I hadn’t broken her, I knew that I didn’t deliver the news in the best way, but I didn’t know of a better one. I could only hope.
We sat in silence for a long time. I let my mind drift. Erza’s clearing offered a beautiful view, and the day was beautiful as well. Sun in the sky and a light breeze – even a cloud that looked like an elephant if you looked at it in the right way.
‘It’s a shame that such a day is spoiled by these revelations. Then again, weather like this is great for getting yourself out of a funk. A day as dreary as the news would only encourage a downwards spiral.’
“Thank you” Erza said quietly.
“I can’t say it’s exactly been my pleasure, but, ah, you’re welcome” I laughed nervously, hoping my attempt at lightening the mood was appreciated.
Erza gave me a watery smile in return.
“I guess what you have to tell me about Jellal isn’t good news either?”
“Yes and no. He’s not exactly doing great either, but unlike with Irene, you can do something about it. In fact, you are required to do something about it – the guild master will be giving you the mission tomorrow.”
Erza perked up at that. “Is he hurt!? Being tortured!?” she shot out.
I grimaced “More like he’s doing the torturing. I think he’s continued working on the Tower of Heaven, and it’s getting close to completion. Jellal is…not exactly in his right mind at the moment. The good news, though, is that you can beat it into him that what he’s been doing is wrong. If you succeed, then he should change his ways practically overnight. I already told the guild master everything I know, and he should tell you tomorrow when he gives you the mission.”
Erza processed again. It didn’t take as long this time.
“I’ll bring him back” she said, seemingly to herself, her eyes glinting with steely determination. “And when I do” she smiled at me “I want to hear all about this show where I’m one of the main characters.”
I smiled back. It was good to see her bounce back so quickly. It was one thing to know of her strength of character from a show where ‘because she’s Erza’ is a valid explanation for her pulling of the impossible, and it’s another to know it from her as a person I interact with regularly.
“For now though” she said, summoning a massive black cleaver into her hand, “I’d like to be alone for a bit.”
“Yes ma’am!” I squeaked and flowed back down the trail like the devil herself was after me. Considering the sounds of tortured rock I could hear behind me, that statement may not have been a simile.
‘Hopefully Cana will be easier than this.’
|||
Y’know, what with Cana being an alcoholic and growing up in a guild that had famously gone ten years since its last three day stretch without a bar fight, I really shouldn’t have expected Cana to be easier to deal with than Erza.
“You don’t know anything!” Cana screamed.
I probably made some Dark Souls player quite proud as I rolled out of the way of yet another couch thrown at me.
“Okay! I’ll leave you alone!” I shouted back. “Just stop throwing stuff at me!”
“NO! You can’t know! I-I’m gonna beat it out of you!” How she managed to screech and slur simultaneously is beyond me, but it did give me a hint as to why she was throwing a tantrum.
“Did you empty the booze card?” I managed in between partially liquefying myself to dodge the various bits of stationary thrown at me.
Cana paused for a split second before resuming her assault. This time with cards mixed in with the chairs. “That doesn’t matter!”
I erected a dome of water in front of me to give me time to make my point. It wouldn’t last long; Cana was only getting more unhinged and the blasts from her cards were getting larger.
“You know flooding your system with alcohol is not a healthy way to deal with these things!” I winced as a particularly large blast sent some debris through the thinning barrier.
“You’re not telling me what to do! I’m tellin’ you!” she shouted. “High Card: Lightning”
I swore and jumped out of the way, cutting my connection to the barrier and letting it collapse. The card struck the wall behind me and nearly blinded me with a flash of lightning. Fun science facts for battle, impure water conducts lightning.
“Cana, I swear to God if you don’t stop right now this is going to get physical!” I tried again.
She froze. I sighed in relief.
‘Thank God that wor-’
Cana screamed in incoherent fury.
“Tri-Elemental Destruction”
I liquefied and forced myself through the cracks in the floorboards, through the basement, and into the ground. Cana’s inebriation was likely the only thing that gave me the time I needed.
An explosion rocked the ground around me hard enough that I could feel it even in liquid form.
I let the vibrations die down before reforming my head in the basement. The remains of the basement anyway, it was more of a pit now. Everything was quiet, even the forest, so I reformed fully and conjured a carpet of water. I increased the surface tension just enough that it would support my weight before stepping on and floating myself out of the hole.
I found Cana curled up on the ground, hugging her knees and hiding her face.
I stepped off the carpet. I reformed the carpet into a tendril which I used to grab Cana’s deck off her belt an bring it to my hand. Cana didn’t react.
“You done?” I asked.
“Mhmn”
“Did you put the booze back?”
A slight shake of the head.
I sighed. There must be some sort of irony in feeling like her mom when I came here to have a conversation about her dad.
“Which one’s the booze card?”
She didn’t answer verbally, but one of her hands raised slightly with the fingers splayed.
“Fifth one, right” I shuffled through the deck until I got to the card labeled five and tossed it to her.
She caught it without looking, and a haze briefly surrounded her hand and the card as the card absorbed all the alcohol in her body.
“Sober?” I asked once the haze faded.
Cana looked up and nodded, her chestnut locks in disarray and her vibrant purple eyes abnormally flat and red rimmed. It was almost enough to evoke a pang of sympathy. Almost.
“Good, that means I don’t have to hold this back anymore.” I took a deep breath. Cana opened her mouth, probably to ask something, but I cut her off.
“What the fuck, Cana!? I came here to tell you about your father quietly, I tried to tell it to you straight because I just came back from an extremely draining talk with Erza, and I thought you were mature enough that I wouldn’t have to be walking on eggshells around you” I poked a finger into her chest “And what do I get!? A drunken tantrum! I thought you knew that dumping a weeks’ worth of alcohol into your system is not how you deal with emotional issues! And that’s still discounting the fact that your tantrum was violent! That lightning card you threw could have had me reforming without a fucking arm! A fucking arm, Cana!”
Cana rocked back at the verbal onslaught. I took another deep breath before continuing.
“And that’s only my goddamn personal issues with what just happened! You just blew up Natsu’s house! Maybe if we’re lucky, Laki is in town and Natsu will have a roof to sleep under tonight.”
My voice dropped a bit “The worst part is, is that I was here to give you good news. Your dad is a decent person at heart, and if you just told him you existed – instead of playing your stupid ‘I’m going to become an S-Class mage first’ routine – he would do everything in his power to make up for the fact that he hasn’t been in your life.”
I cut myself off before I could get into truly petty and vindictive territory. Cana seemed to be in shock. Good.
“Now, here’s what’s going to happen, you’re going to sit here and think over your actions while I go away for a bit to calm down. Then, we’re going to do everything we can to rebuild Natsu’s house before he comes back from his mission. Then, tomorrow, you’re going to come to me and we’re going to have a goddamn therapy session. No, you don’t get to ask what that is, you’ll find out tomorrow. Got it?”
Cana nodded.
“Good” I huffed and stomped off into the forest. I thought I saw a nice rock to sit on.
|||
Sulking was a relatively quick process. My emotions tended to resist any movement outside of neutral. It took a lot to bring out the level of anger I unleashed at Cana.
Like, say, nearly getting your arm blown off by someone you were trying to help.
The little clearing was peaceful, the rock surprisingly comfortable, and the forest sounds were joyful. It would be difficult to stay angry in an environment like this even if I had wanted to.
Sufficiently calmed, I decided to think through the rest of today’s plan. Cana, as it turns out, is far more emotional than I am and would likely need more time to calm down than I did.
First things first, repairing Natsu’s house. It’s actually a surprisingly simple thing to do…if you have the right magic for it. Neither Cana’s Card Magic nor my Water Magic were particularly suited towards repairing or building houses. Laki, on the other hand, practiced Wood-Make Magic. Considering houses were generally made of wood, she was very well suited for the job.
The trick would be finding her and convincing her in time. I could leave that to Cana though, she was much more familiar with Laki.
The other part of the house repair was telling Natsu and somehow making it up to him. Sure he’s nice and all, and to my recollection doesn’t have any items he’s exceptionally attached to in the house, but taking advantage of that fact would be a dick move and would make me feel like a terrible person.
Maybe I’ll get some high-quality fish for Happy and some steak for Natsu. They liked food and it would be a start. I honestly don’t know either of them well enough to figure out what else they would like.
As for the therapy session that I practically forced Cana into…I’ll think about it tomorrow. I know practically nothing about psychology, but considering Cana doesn’t even know what therapy is, my limited knowledge should be better than nothing.
With my plan at least vaguely outlined, I spent a couple more minutes just relaxing, before heading back to Cana.
|||
Cana was expectedly distraught once I came back, throwing apologies and pleading looks at me as we walked back to Magnolia. While it wasn’t exactly unexpected, I’d react similarly after all, it was still rather uncomfortable.
Sure, it would take a while before I could fully relax around her again, but I really didn’t have it in me to hold a grudge over it.
Laki, luckily, was in town and perfectly willing to help – even if she did laugh at and shame us the whole way. I bore it with good humor while Cana just bore it stoically, probably still feeling guilty.
Watching Laki work was a wonder. She kneeled, placed her hands on the ground, and suddenly, broken shards and splinters flowed together to form a new house, new wood growing to fill empty spaces. The walls grew intricate designs of fire, dragons, and cats and some sort of moss grew over the roof.
She was a bit wobbly when she stood, but she turned to us with a smile.
“All done with the house. Give me a bit and I’ll be able to regrow the furniture too.”
I nodded, and the three of us spent some time chatting. I told them a bit about Naruto, and we laughed over the fact that Laki’s Wood-Make would make her one of the most important people there. Cana took it a bit more seriously since I’d just told her that Fairy Tail the anime also existed. She probably figured there was a decent chance the Elemental Nations existed as well.
While Laki was finishing the furniture, Cana and I went into Magnolia to replace some of the stuff that couldn’t be made with wood. A toilet, shower, sink, bedding, toiletries – anything we could think of we got. We also got a fridge and filled it with fish, meat, and a couple other essentials. Both my memories and Cana confirmed that it would be something Natsu and Happy would appreciate. We also left a note explaining what happened since we had no idea where they where or when they would be back.
That done, I said my goodbyes and went home for some rest and recovery. I honestly think that today was the most emotionally draining day of my life.
Maybe I’d make some funny shapes out of water. Funny shapes made out of water aren’t emotionally draining, they just make me feel cool.
|||
I woke up refreshed and ready for a new day full of fascinating discoveries about the world and my magical capabilities.
Then I remembered I had to report to the guild master about my talks and cobble together a therapy session for Cana. God, I really hope she chickens out. She needs it, but I’m in no mood to do it.
‘Doesn’t matter, just have to take things one problem at a time. First talk to Makarov and try not to get sucked into his mind games – no matter how good for my people skills they may be – then sit in my room and relax stressfully until Cana does or doesn’t show up.’
That was a fantastic plan. So fantastic that I proceeded to ignore it and read a book about the various fauna of the Sabretooth Mountains instead. It was fascinating reading, from the fully mystical composition of Animice to the completely mundane yet still mystifying biology of the Crag Frogs.
My plans of hiding from the world were, however, unfortunately interrupted by a hesitant knock at my door.
A bout of mental swearing later I called for the person to come in. I assumed it was Cana, and lo and behold, as soon as I called, she crept through the door. Hunched into herself, eyes downcast, and barely managing a ‘hello’.
I sighed. I’m really not looking forward to this.
|||
Therapy with Cana was an…interesting…experience. It took time to get her talking, but when I did…by god did she start talking. Well, raving is probably the right word.
I learned far more about Cana’s insecurity, abandonment, and inferiority issues in that hour than I ever wanted to know. It was a small attack on my faith in human logic that Cana thought she was worthless as a mage because Erza made S-Class before her. Let me repeat that- Cana thinks she’s worthless as a mage because Erza made S-Class before her.
I-I can barely even begin to describe how ridiculous the thought is. Cana seemed to realize it too once she verbalized it, but still! Outside of the ten Saints (well, nine, now that Jose is dead) and four Gods, I can literally count on my fingers the number of mages that can stand on even ground with Erza!
Anyway, regardless of my feelings on the matter, Cana left my room seemingly far more relaxed than she came in, so I’d count the therapy session as a win.
I didn’t get much of a chance to reflect on it though. Barely five minutes after Cana had left, I had to adjust to suddenly being in the guild master’s office. No blurring, no squeezing through a tube or being hooked by the navel. One moment I was laying on my couch and staring at the ceiling, the next I was looking at the guild master behind his desk.
I whipped my head around to check for any signs of illusion and flared my magic to check for any residual traces of mental influence.
Nothing.
I gave the guild master a flat look. “How?”
He only gave me a challenging smirk.
‘Fine then. I guess I’ll figure it out myself.’
“I heard your talks with Cana and Erza went well” Makarov said.
“Well!?” I almost shouted before taking a deep breath to calm myself. “Those were the most terrifying ‘talks’ I’ve ever been in! I probably would’ve died if I stuck around Erza any longer than I did, and Cana nearly took off a limb.”
“And what have you learned from them?”
“That my guild mates are emotionally volatile walking weapons of mass destruction?”
That seemed to stun Makarov for a second. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely defensive under his breath before regaining his composure.
“Not what I meant. Did you learn any actionable lessons?”
I sighed “Yeah. I should be more subtle when approaching emotionally damaged people about the issues that did the damaging.”
Makarov nodded “Good. I’m sure you are capable of coming up with a more nuanced conclusion on your own time.”
I nodded in return. I didn’t like it, but from my past month of living with Fairy Tail I could figure out why Makarov wanted me to get good at dealing with people. My magical prowess was impressive, but Makarov didn’t want me dealing with my guildmate’s emotional issues because I could win their respect with my magical abilities. If that was the case, he’d be asking Erza or Laxus or Gildarts or Mystogan, Fairy Tail doesn’t exactly have a shortage of powerful mages.
No, Makarov was asking me to be the honorary therapist because – sad as it may be – I’m the only emotionally stable guild member my age. Hell, I might be the most emotionally stable guild member period. Even with losing my whole world and body, I’d gained magic and a whole lot of distractions. Hopefully by the time I’d run out of distractions, I would have built enough life here that I wouldn’t be too broken up about losing my old life. Hopefully.
‘Until then though, the guild will have to deal with my misanthropic ass playing therapist.’
“Now,” Makarov straightened “The real reason I wanted to talk with you. You are going to have to start taking proper missions tomorrow. Have you thought about what you’ll be doing?”
“I have. I was thinking of taking some guarding and monster slaying missions at first, in order to get some experience before taking on less straightforward and more challenging missions.”
“And have you thought about who you’d be doing missions with?”
“I suppose going at it alone isn’t an option?” I asked.
Makarov shook his head.
“Well, until today I would have said Cana, but after all the talks with her, I can’t imagine spending days at a time on the road with her. So I suppose I don’t really know who I’d team up with.”
“You’re going to have to come up with something for tomorrow because I have a mission for you, and you’re going to need help for it.”
“What’s the mission?” I asked, ignoring the fact that I would likely have to talk Cana into going with me since Team Natsu was being sent after the Tower of Heaven and the Thunder God Tribe were assholes. The only other mages as powerful as I am are Cana, Levy, and Mira. Levy is a package deal with Jet and Droy, whose fawning over Levy is only amusing from a distance (how the hell does she put up with it?). Mira is locked to the guild and not in control of her magic. Which leaves Cana.
“I’ve located a Jiemma Orland, who matches the description you gave me of Minerva Orland’s father” he slid a picture and a map over to me. Large, muscled, bearded, and tanned; yep that’s the Sabretooth guild master. “We fought together against an Incursion a few decades ago and he matched the personality you described to me as well. Believed in a survival of the fittest philosophy and had little in the way of empathy. A true follower of the Lord of Beasts if there ever was one.”
The Four Gods – Zeref the Black God, Draculos the First Vampire, Wolfheim the Lord of Beasts, and Warrod the Herald of Nature – while not true gods in the way I understood them in my first life, were powerful enough that they could easily be mistaken for such. Zeref had enough worshippers that the Alvarez Empire was practically a theocracy. Draculos made enough vampires to create and rule the northern stretch of land between Fiore and Alvarez – Boravia he called it. Wolfheim kept the southern stretch an untamable and highly dangerous forest as a monument to his Darwinian philosophies. Warrod…well he mostly kept the other gods from encroaching on Fiore. He had the least worshippers because he, like the tree he was slowly transforming into, didn’t do all that much.
My memories of Jiemma were very very foggy, just vague impressions of a caricature of a violent psychopath. If Makarov said he was a true follower of the Lord of Beasts though, it meant that my impressions were correct. Regardless of whatever drove him to his philosophy, as it stands now, he is an irredeemable child abuser and likely worse.
“Do you want me to confirm his locations then? That doesn’t seem like something I’d need help with” I said.
“No, what you’re going to do is confirm that he’s really abusing Minerva, and if he is, rescue her.”
I leaned back in my chair and suppressed an urge to protest against a glorified kidnapping mission. Then I groaned. Not only am I becoming the guild’s therapist, I’m also being turned into Child Services.
Eventually I accepted my role though. Makarov – and Fairy Tail as a whole – have really helped me settle into this new world, and nothing in life ever comes for free (including massive magical libraries). I suppose I could just leave to survive on my own, nobody in the guild would stop me. It would, however, be a betrayal of sorts, and damn me, but I like it at Fairy Tail. I enjoyed my time with the various members. I enjoyed Erza’s stories and nights with Cana. The thought of losing that and how the betrayal would hurt them – I dread it more than anything.
‘Besides’ I thought, looking at the X on the map over the Sabretooth Mountains ‘getting to him will be an adventure, and why else would I be in a fantasy world if not to adventure’
With that realization and a final sigh, I leaned forward again.
“Alright, I accept the mission.”