Chapter One

Note from Author:
Hello! Thanks so much for choosing to read this fanfic! I hope you enjoy yourself!
Due to a heavy schedule, I will not be able to post chapters rapid-fire like I used to. Instead, I am writing long chapters and my Beta, Sandrilenefactoren2 (nickname Sandry-chan), and I are working to make them quality chapters. That means lots of words, lot of details and lots of character development. So, in short, I will only post chapters once my Beta and I both agree that nothing more can be improved on. I'm hoping this will make for a worthwhile read to make up for the long break between each chapter. I hope you enjoy this change, and let me know if there's anything I can change or if I can add something that you wanna see. And don't forget to favorite so you don't miss any updates!

Also, HUGE shout-out to Sandry-chan for her continued amazing work. She's been the biggest help and she's been so patient with me, reading draft after draft of one chapter. Thanks so much, Sandry! Without you, Dawn of Change would be absolute c***. Thanks so much for all of the hard work you put into this, and for being so patient and kind.

Okay, I think that's all I wanted to say. Have a good evening, guys!
Melissa

 

Roxanne Simmons' nine-year-old heart was pounding, and her breathing was quick and heavy as she raced to catch the bus before it left. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been, hitting the snooze on her phone and going back to sleep instead of getting up when the alarm went off. As a result, she and her friends would miss the first bus on Day Two of LA's Anime Expo; which was why she was the one running to catch it. She felt bad that she'd made everyone else late, so she was doing what she could to make it up to them by catching the bus and thus not altering their schedule for the rest of the day.

     The bus started moving away just as her feet hit the concrete, and panic and determination both hit Roxanne at the same time. Urging more speed out of her legs, she quickly moved up the length of the bus to run beside the door. Looking in, she could see the driver glance at her but to her dismay, he made no move to stop the vehicle. The bus continued on its way, leaving Roxanne behind as she dropped to a disheartened walk. She dejectedly watched it turn a corner before she walked back to her friends to wait for the next bus. There, Melody stood with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face, while Nicole waited more passively. Beside her friends, Roxanne's seventeen-year-old brother Jacob stood patiently. Roxanne winced at the thought of how disappointed he must be. Not because they'd missed the bus, but because of why they'd missed it - Roxanne hadn't gotten up on time, making the rest of them wait for her.
     

As she neared the group, she looked up at her brother. "I tried," she whimpered, nearing tears. She loved her brother dearly and idolized everything he did. She wanted nothing more than to be the little sister he would be proud of, so she hated it when he was upset at her.

     "I know, Roxie. It's good that you tried." Jacob knelt down in front of his sister and patted her head with a reassuring smile. "It would have been nice if you hadn't gone back to sleep, but you tried to fix what you could." Roxanne sighed in relief and threw her arms around Jacob's neck, smiling happily as he hugged her back. He wasn't mad after all!

 

"Well, I don't think trying is good enough!" Melody snapped, shattering the moment with her anger. Roxanne looked at her friend in shock and quickly decided she didn't like today's cosplay anymore. When Melody cosplayed, she took great joy in transforming her personality as well as her looks to match the character. Today, she was cosplaying Mawari Zenigata from 'My Bride Is A Mermaid', a character whose desire to follow in her policeman father's footsteps induced what was termed 'Mawari Mode'; a state where Mawari insisted on reprimanding another person for inappropriate conduct and threatening to 'teach them the rules of society'. Since Melody was the one who'd insisted on most of the panels they planned to visit today, and had even brought extra cards for her camera, it wasn't surprising that her emotional investment had triggered 'Mawari Mode'.

 

"The fact is that you're the one who decided to sleep in," she scolded harshly. "You're the one who made us late. Don't you know that it's rude to keep people waiting for you?" She planted her hands on her hips. "Don't you learn anything at those fancy after-school classes you go to?" Melody ranted harshly, pointing at Roxanne accusingly.
Roxanne's eyes started to tear up once more. She hated the extra classes her mother dragged her to, and the way she was expected to act like a grown-up. She hated being held to a higher standard, and relished opportunities to be 'just a kid', like this trip to the Expo was supposed to be. She hated the way her parents' wealth set her apart - some would say 'above' - the other kids at school. One of the few things she didn't hate was having her brother. Jacob had even higher standards pushed on him, but he was always kind and gentle, and always knew what to say. Roxanne loved him for it, and admired him with all her heart. Melody knew all of this, as Roxanne often vented her frustration to her friends, and it was Melody who lent the sympathetic ear. So it hurt immensely for Melody, her best friend, to throw it all back at her.

 

"I'm sorry, okay?!"

 

"Sorry isn't good enough!" Melody said stubbornly, still angry. "You always complain about how you have to be more than you are, be 'a picture of decorum', whatever 'decorum' is. Well, start showing us the person your parents want you to be! Start obeying the rules!" 

 

"Stop it, Melody." Nicole intervened, stepping between angry Melody and crying Roxanne. "You're being mean, and even Mawari isn't mean! Roxanne said she's sorry, and you made her cry."

 

"I'm trying to help her! How else is she supposed to learn to be perfect if she doesn't get in trouble for messing up?"

 

"By trial and error, the same way you learn anything?" Nicole suggested tartly. "Just Jacob's admonishment is enough to teach her what she did wrong and how she can act different next time. But you're taking this to an unfair level."

 

A soft touch on her hand reminded Roxanne that Jacob was there, and she buried herself in his arms as she fought to get her tears under control. She wasn't usually this emotional, but the hurt of letting her friends down that way, followed by Melody's verbal slap in the face, had pushed her past the tipping point.

 

"For someone who claims to be Roxie's friend," Jacob said, controlled calm overlaying thinly veiled anger, to Melody, "You have an awful way of showing it. Maybe you're the one who needs to learn more about rules and manners if the best way you know how to help your friends is to make them cry."

 

Roxanne couldn't see it, but Melody's face slackened with Jacob's own verbal slap. She hadn't thought about it that way before, and she realized that she was really was in the wrong.

 

By the time the next bus arrived a silent Melody had been duly scolded by Nicole and Jacob, and Roxanne's tears had subsided, though she still had yet to willingly leave her brother's arms. But when she saw the bus stop in front of them, she separated from her brother, forcing herself to smile and pretend her feelings weren't hurt anymore.

 

Because they were the only ones waiting, the bus driver closed the door after Jacob got on, but the driver didn't wait for them to sit down before he set the bus into motion. Being suddenly on the move, Roxanne was thrown forward and a sharp pain ran up her leg to her hip as her thigh connected harshly with the armrest of one of the alley seats. With a cry of pain, she clamped a hand onto the already-bruising injury. She picked that very same seat to sit down on, barely registering Jacob castigating the bus driver for causing his sister harm. Trying to hold back yet more tears, Roxanne waited for the bus to stop at a light before she got up again and bolted to the back to sit with her friends. Eventually, Jacob finished reprimanding the bus driver and moved back to sit with them as well. Roxanne hooked her arm through his, hugging Melody too as her friend dropped out of character for a moment to apologize.
 

 

After the bus incident, and the slight hiccup in plans for the day, Roxanne and her friends enjoyed a rather snafu-less day. They still made it to the morning panel with time and seats to spare, and Melody's lingering irritation evaporated now that the rest of the day had not been upset. As required by the Expo, Jacob stayed with the girls all day, but he still made sure that each girl had her cell phone in case they got separated in the crowd. He bought them food every few hours, making sure that it was a nutritious as he could provide - which wasn't easy considering most of the food was pure sugar or deep-friend. But it warmed Roxanne's heart to know that he was trying to take the very best care of her. She had the best big brother ever!
The group stayed at Expo until ten o'clock, thankful they didn't use makeup to complete their cosplays and that their next panel was at noon tomorrow so they could sleep in until ten. Roxanne was one of her true obsessions.

By the time they got back to the room, prepped tomorrow's cosplays and had showered, it was midnight. Nicole, Melody and Jacob readily fell asleep but Roxanne stayed awake for another two and a half hours quietly watching Fairy Tail.

 

 

 

 

The morning sunlight shone through Roxanne's closed eyelids, waking her from sleep. She groaned as she sat up to stretch, wincing as her bruised thigh objected to being moved. She yawned and slowly opened her eyes. Seeing a bright, flowered meadow in front of her, she rubbed her eyes in confusion. "Am I still dreaming?" she mumbled sleepily to herself, looking around again. The grass and flowers had a strange, flat cleanliness, as though the whole world were animated rather than real. "It has to be a dream," she decided as she rubbed her head, absently noticing that she was on the ground and not in a bed. When she opened her eyes again, she found that nothing had changed. The meadow was still there and the sunlight was impossibly bright.

 

"Its not a dream." She whimpered. "Where am I? How-how did I get here?!" She demanded of the world as she scrambled to her feet, desperately looking around for her friends, the hotel, something familiar. Her heart started pounding and she could feel the panic rising. "Melody?! Nicole?! Jacob?!"

 

As her breathing got harsher, Roxanne realized that she was starting to hyperventilate, and she forced herself to take several long, deep breaths, fists clenched tight as she fought to get the fear under control. She'd watched too many anime where people got hurt because they panicked to let herself fall victim the same way.

 

"I'm okay," she told herself firmly. "I'm not hurt, and nothing is trying to hurt me here. Wherever 'here' is."

 

If this was anything like No Game No Life, or Digimon, then figuring out what she had with her was more important than where, exactly, she was at the moment. She looked down, and was only a little surprised to find that she wasn't in her pajamas anymore. Instead, she was wearing a blue tank-top, brown shorts that matched her hair and eyes, blue and white sneakers, and a leather brown vest. None of the pockets held anything useful or valuable like her cell phone or a water bottle, and Roxanne had to force back irrational tears at the realization that she really had no way of contacting anyone.

 

If she didn't have anything, she'd have to find something. If she could find a river, that should lead to a road, right? "There has to be a town somewhere," she told herself firmly. "There has to be." With no way of knowing where, though, she had to pick a direction.

 

Closing her eyes once again, she spun for a few moments and then stopped, letting the dizziness subside. Once the world stopped spinning, she opened her eyes and started walking.
Roxanne didn't know for how long she walked, knowing only that she hadn't come across a single sign of civilization. There were no people, no buildings. Birds flew overhead and smaller ground animals scattered as she neared them, which meant that there weren't any people hidden in the trees. If there were people around, she wouldn't see any animals at all. She also noticed that she was following the sun west.

 

All she knew was the day quickly went from comfortable West Coast weather to seemingly Sahara Desert weather in a very short amount of time, and there was no water or shade around to help her cope with the stifling heat. Her muscles hurt from the walking, her stomach growled from being empty, and her eyes hurt from the bright sunlight, and she wasn't even sweating anymore, but she didn't let herself feel any of that. She remained focused on the horizon and putting one foot in front of the other. She had to get somewhere eventually. She had to-

 

For one moment she paused and the lapse in concentration cost her. Suddenly she realized just how long she'd been walking; not just today, but the previous two days at the Expo. Her muscles shook with exhaustion, her throat burned dryly, her stomach rumbled, and her eyes stung. Her head pounded and she fell to the ground, the weight of everything too much to bear any longer.

 

 

 

 

Not long after she fell unconscious, Roxanne's small form was discovered by a duo travelling the countryside. Concerned, the blonde-haired woman dropped to her knees beside Roxanne and did her best to get the unconscious girl some water. Without a word, the pink-haired male partner gently scooped Roxanne up in his arms as the blonde girl continued to fuss over her, and the group moved quickly off towards the closest town they knew.

 

Chapter Two

Roxanne woke up a few hours later, but she didn't wake up as quickly as usual. Her senses came back to her one at a time, like how a reset modem's lights flicker from red to green.

 

The first sense to return was her hearing. She could hear three voices; Two boys and one girl. One of the boys was high-pitched and snickering at that moment, the other boy barely spoke but when he did he had a slightly deeper, gruffer voice. The girl sounded kind and she had the sort of voice that a peppy teenager would. The voices together reminded Roxanne of someone, something, important but she couldn't remember who or what.

 

The second sense that returned to Roxanne was her sense of touch. She could feel that she was lying on something soft, with something like a blanket over her and something soft beneath her head. She must be lying on a bed. Light fell on her eyes, but it wasn't hot like sunlight, so maybe a lamp?

 

The third sense to return was her sense of smell. She could smell a faint, flowery perfume and something harsher. That second smell, for some reason, made her realize how hungry she was, and she remembered being at her parent's house and having a fish dinner. That second scent must be fish, then, but it didn't smell as good as the dinners had, which meant that this is uncooked fish. Gross.

 

As to taste, her mouth didn't feel quite as dry as it had before, though she was still thirsty. Someone must have helped her drink while she was asleep, washing away the taste of dust and replacing it with only marginally more comfortable scumminess. Whoever was taking care of her must be friendly, or at least nice.

 

Once she realized all that, she started to really wake up. She moved a little, noting how her bruised thigh was stiff and sore, and she moaned softly as her eyes finally opened, thus booting up her fifth sense of sight.

 

Seeing the ceiling overhead, she knew she was right - she was indeed indoors and laying on a bed. Moaning again and closing her eyes, she sat up, rubbing her throbbing head.

 

"Good evening." The girl's voice said gently, as if she was trying not to startle Roxanne.

 

"Good evening." Roxanne responded automatically and opened her eyes again, only for them to widen in shock as her thought processes stopped.

Wait a second. H-how is this possible?! I must be dreaming this time! How else can they be here?! What's going on?!

 

Roxanne closed her eyes again, rubbed them fiercely, and then opened them again, hoping they'd be gone and someone real would be with her. She was wrong.

Her heartbeat started to pick up a bit, not so much out of fear but panic, as she realized that the people sitting at the end of her bed were Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel. The high-pitched boy's voice, she now realized, belonged to Happy, who was currently perched on Natsu's shoulder.

 

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked as the younger girl realized the implications of where she was. Her head swam and she fell back into the mattress. She wasn't at all afraid of Lucy, Natsu and Happy themselves; they wouldn't hurt her. But she was scared because in order for her to be meeting them, she would have to be in their world, Fiore. Which meant she wasn't in her world.

I want to go home.

She'd never see her brother again, her friends or any familiar face.

I want Jacob.

She was alone.

I want to go home. I want to go home. I want home, and Jacob, and -
 

"Um, Natsu, she isn't looking very well." Happy observed uselessly as Roxanne curled into a ball, her elbows on her knees as she gripped her head in her hands. She started to shake uncontrollably so she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the shaking. At the same time, her brain was working overtime. She tried processing everything that had happened - falling asleep in California and waking up in Fiore - but found that she just couldn't. Fear was swamping her, making coherent thought impossible. It was hard to breathe, her heart was pumping furiously.
 
"Hey, Lucy, what the hell is going on?" Natsu asked.
"How should I know?" she snapped, more worried than truly angry. "We didn't say anything bad, did we?"
"I don't think so..." Happy muttered as he watched Roxanne regain a bit of control, spurred on by her need to be away from them, alone for just a moment, so she could truly break down and then piece herself back together.
Dirt and sand itched at her skin from where she'd fallen, giving her an excuse. A shower. No one would follow her into the shower. "I think - I think I'd like to take a shower. Is that okay?" Roxanne asked, her voice void of life, as she started to get up.
"Oh, um, sure," Lucy responded, and the trio watched Roxanne stumble her way to the bathroom.
 

 

Standing under the hot water a few minutes later, Roxanne struggled to first focus on relaxing her muscles and enjoying the heat, which turned out to be impossible. The heat should have felt nice, but with panic still in her throat she just couldn't relax and enjoy it. She had to find some other way to calm down.

 

If you're lost, all of her teachers and Jacob had told her, stay put and remember to breathe slowly until you can think.

 

She practiced breathing, thinking only of breathing, long and slow and even, until her hitching breaths smoothened and her hammering heart slowed. Thought about breathing - in, hold, out, in, hold, out - until the panic and fear subsided to a background hurt. Only once she had done that did she let herself think about the water again. This time, it did feel nice and she could almost feel her tense body starting to loosen. As close to relaxed as she'd be able to get, she started the next step.

 

Think about how you got to be where you are. You might remember the way back to where you were.

 

Roxanne started to wash her hair, thinking about the events that had led to her current position. She thought about her last day on Earth, then waking up in Fiore. Her walk and subsequent collapse. Then she went over what facts she knew. 

I'm in Fiore, in the same hotel room as Natsu Dragneel, Happy and Lucy Heartfilia. I'm safe.

I'm safe.

 

Once everything had sunk in, she then dared to remind herself that her brother was not there and that she'd probably never see him again. She was, for the first time in her life, truly alone. The mere thought of never seeing Jacob again sent pain shooting through her chest, and she started to cry. For nine years, her brother had been the only warm thing in her life, her best friend, teacher and protector. To suddenly be ripped away from him was unbearably hard for her, and she wanted nothing more than to see him again, to find a way back to him.
 
She let herself cry, wrapping herself into a ball as she sobbed under the shower's spray. This was probably the only time she had to be alone, so she had to get past it. Come to terms with everything she could. Once she had, she'd be more able to cope with her new life and figure out what she needed to do. But, right now, she just needed to cry.
 

 

Once her tears subsided, she finished her shower routine and realized that she had to figure out how to adapt to this world. She had to decide if she wanted to become a mage and join a guild, or if she wanted to get a job. Almost as soon as she'd thought it, she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to be a mage.
For a few brief seconds, her fear and grief vanished. Her chest burned with desire as she imagined herself wielding magic and taking out bad guys and protecting people. She wanted to become a wizard! And it was possible, too. There were mages her age, in guilds and everything. Natsu, Erza, Cana and Grey had been her age when Master Makarov adopted them, hadn't they? Wendy wouldn't be much older than she was, too. A guild would keep her safe, give her a place to live and work and not be alone.
Plus, magic. Who wanted to be normal, if being a mage was an option?

 

With that resolution blazing strongly in her heart, she turned off the water and got out as she grabbed a towel. Drying herself, she left her hair wet and cleared the vapor from the mirror so she could see herself. She needed to see her new face.

 

She wasn't at all surprised to find that she was animated as well, and found that she liked the change, mostly. Her face looked a bit thinner and paler, and all of her freckles were gone. Her previously sky blue eyes now looked bigger and brighter, more like sapphires. Her hair had also changed, deepening in hue to an aubern shade and the highlights gave new life to the strands. Her hands were long and skinny, much more appealing than they were before, and her waist was more defined so she had the hourglass shape that she'd always yearned for. Her legs looked longer and seemed to be thinner than they were, with almost no meat on the bones. All in all, she thought she looked good in a conventional sense but she was more approving of the changes in her eyes and hair.

 

Nodding in acceptance, she dressed and prepared to leave the bathroom, but then stopped suddenly with her hand hovering over the knob. She was sure that Natsu and Lucy would ask her where she had come from, if she had any family. What should she do?

 

Her first thought was to tell them the truth. They were being so nice to her, helping a little girl they didn't know and taking care of her. She really wanted to repay them by telling them the truth. But would they believe her? Since it was just the three of them, they probably hadn't formed a team with Erza and Gray yet - that meant that they hadn't engaged in the Edolas arc, so alternate universes would seem impossible to them. Not only that, but Roxanne wasn't even sure what really happened to her either, h it had happened, or why. How could she expect them to believe her crazy story if she wasn't even sure what happened?

 

But... I don't want to lie. Roxanne didn't like lying, not even when it would get her out of trouble. Not even for little things. She liked acting, and cosplay with her friends - her heart clenched, realizing she'd never get to do that again - but lying to people outright seemed so wrong, especially to nice people. She didn't want to lie, especially if she wanted to be friends with everyone! They'd be so mad if they found out she lied to them; it would shatter every relationship she'd made. Makarov might feel bad for her and forgive her if she gave good enough reason, but what about everyone else? Would they yell at her like Melody had? Tell her how awful a friend she was?
But what would they do if she told them the truth? Lucy was nice - she put up with the guild's craziness all the time, and Natsu was really big on accepting people for who they were. They might humor her, even if they didn't believe her. But what if they didn't? What if she couldn't join Fairy Tail? Doing that was her only real hope - she didn't know enough about the rest of Fiore to live anywhere else. She had no one to rely on, no one who could help her find somewhere to live. And she was little. Who was going to let a girl her age work a real job?
Roxanne bit her lip, tears wobbling in her eyes and making them sting. I don't want that! I don't want to lie to them! She wasn't even any good at it!

 

Wait.

 

A thought eased the tightness in her chest. What if she only lied for a little bit? What if-- what if it wasn't a lie? What if it was, was acting? Cosplay! She could be someone else, for a little while, right? She wasn't really the same Roxanne Simmons, after all - she was animated now, thin black borders tracing the lines of her hands, smooth color where the little wrinkles surrounding her knuckles should be, and her personality had certainly shifted already as a result of this whole experience. So really she was more like Roxanne Simmons 2.0, so it would be acting and not lying, right? And she could spend the time searching for answers, trying to find the truth! Then she could tell them the real truth once it was safe for her to do so! She was sure that if she gave a good reason for her deception, everyone would forgive her. Okay, Gajeel probably wouldn't. He'd be pretty mad, because he didn't like being tricked. But she liked to think he'd understand, even if he got mad about it. And everyone else... they'd understand too. Especially Carla and Lisanna. Lucy would always forgive her - that was the kind of person she was - and Erza and Gray would probably be upset at first, but they'd forgive her eventually too. Natsu would just take everything in stride, right?
And besides! This way, she could keep an eye on the guild and, and maybe kind of warn them when danger was approaching without them getting freaked out. Was there a magic that let people predict the future? Cana had magic like that, with her cards, right? She didn't think it gave specifics, though, so she'd have to be really, really subtle. She had to preserve the time line so it wouldn't change, then she could continue to protect the guild from the sidelines. Maybe she could even convince Makarov to forgive Gajeel and Juvia faster, or warn him that the guild hall and Team Shadowgear would be attacked!

 

Yes, this was a plan. She could do this!
 

Her mind made up, she felt determination wash over her. Now she needed to think up a plausible story. Who was this Roxanne Simmons? What kind of character was she? She kind of wished she'd paid more attention to Melody's lectures about how to get in character.

 

Roxanne thought for several long minutes, planning out every detail that she anticipated would be asked about, and exited the bathroom once she was confident that her story was good and she knew how she should act, at least at first.
 

"Sorry about that. I'm better now." She smiled and bowed. "My name is Roxanne Simmons. It's a pleasure to meet you, and thank you so much for taking care of me."

"Hi, Roxanne! I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu and Happy." Lucy smiled as she gestured to the boys in turn.

"Nice to meet you, Roxanne!" Happy cheered happily.

 

Roxanne stared in confusion at Happy, even though she wasn't the least bit confused. She'd seen Happy before, but she hadn't reacted to his presence. Partly because she'd been panicking, and partly because she already knew who Happy was. But she shouldn't. This new Roxanne shouldn't. "A talking cat? A blue, talking cat?!"

"Yep! And I fly, too!" He exclaimed as he demonstrated his magic.

"Wow!" Roxanne cried and backed up a bit as she forced her eyes to widen in supposed surprise. "How is that possible? What-What is he?"

Natsu shrugged. "He's just a talking, flying cat. That's all we know."

"That's so cool!" Roxanne smiled, eyes still wide, but this time with excitement. It was the way she'd first reacted when seeing Happy in the manga - talking animals weren't all that strange in manga, but a flying kitty that talked and wore a little knapsack was something special.

Then she turned her wide eyes on Lucy, rushing over as if the excitement of the whole thing had slaughtered her attention span. "Oh, wow!" she said, all admiration as she seized Lucy's right hand. "I love your nails! They're so long and healthy. I'm so jealous!" She pretended to look at the nails when, actually, she was checking Lucy's hand for her guild mark, which was absent. That alone told her all she needed to know. Without the guild mark, Lucy wasn't in Fairy Tail yet, which meant that they were between episodes one and two of the anime. They must have been on their way to Fairy Tail when they found her.

"Oh! Uh, thanks."

"How do you get them so long? I can't seem to stop biting mine." She asked as she held up her own small hand to display her bitten nails.

Actually, she wasn't the least bit interested in nails at the moment, so she changed topics again before Lucy even answered, as though suddenly realizing something far more important.

"Hold on!" She exclaimed and turned to Natsu. "You're Natsu? As in Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander of Fairy Tail?"

"Yep, that's me." He grinned and Happy flew down to Roxanne's level as she squealed in excitement.

"Wait a second. How do you know that?" Happy asked, using a suspicious tone of voice.

Roxanne wasn't worried about the tone, though. At this stage of the anime, most of Happy's lines were almost plastic, they were so lacking in depth. His character wasn't developed yet, unlike Natsu and Lucy. As such, Happy was using that tone of voice because he thought it was appropriate rather than actually being suspicious of Roxanne.

 

"I've been following Wizard Weekly for a long time," Roxanne said eagerly, eyes shining with admiration. "I've always dreamed of being a Fairy Tail wizard, so I pay attention to any kind of media involving the guild."

"A likely story," Happy replied, seemingly unconvinced. Even though he seemed more to be enjoying the act of acting suspicious than actually disbelieving her.

"Oh, Happy, you're so silly!" Roxanne smiled as she grabbed Happy, pulling him into a hug in an effort to redirect the conversation. She couldn't help it - he was so cute, like a plushie! She'd always wanted a Happy plushie, and Jacob had promised to buy her one on the third day of the -

 

Her excitement wavered, and she briefly buried her face in Happy's tiny, blue-furred shoulder to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes. He struggled in her arms, but she didn't let go, cuddling him desperately for a moment as Lucy and Natsu laughed at his predicament, not realizing that her hug wasn't a little girl's reaction to cuteness proximity, but something more serious.
After a moment, though, Roxanne forced herself to smile again - to giggle and let go. Happy immediately flew up out of reach, which sparked a whole new round of giggles from the girls and a good-natured jeer from Natsu.
 

Once the laughing died down, Roxanne continued her inquiries.

"Do you two remember how you became wizards?" she asked, looking back and forth eagerly between Natsu and Lucy. "I've been doing a ton of research on it, but everything I've heard conflicts with what others say. But you guys are wizards yourselves, so you must know, right?" Belatedly, she realized that she had no in-character reason to think that Lucy was a wizard at this point, other than her travelling with Natsu.
Luckily, neither of them seemed to think anything of it.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry, Roxanne, but I can't help you," Lucy replied. "I inherited my magic from my mother, so I don't remember."

"I was born with my wings, so I can't help you either," Happy shrugged. "Sorry."

"I learned from Igneel," Natsu said, and then - "He's a fire dragon, have you seen him?"

Roxanne was shaking her head even before he finished asking the question, eyes as huge as she could make them. "You learned from a real dragon?" she asked, awed. She'd almost forgotten that, at this stage of the story, Natsu's search for Igneel was actually his main driving force. Later on in the story, that motivation would fall by the wayside in the face of the greater dangers they faced - although he would get answers, eventually - but for now, he was still actively searching.

 

"Yeah," Natsu said, nodding. "I guess that means you can't learn the same way I did, unless a dragon teaches you. Though if you find one, maybe they'll know where Igneel is! Uh, anyway, sorry."

Roxanne pouted, genuinely disappointed. "Oh, ok. Thanks anyway. Do you know anyone who might be able to help?" She asked that of Natsu specifically. Because they knew that she had done research on Fairy Tail, it was safe for her to ask the guilded wizard.

"I do actually."

"Really?!" Roxanne perked up and became more energetic once again. "Who?!"

"His name is Gramps-"

"Makarov!" Happy interrupted, correcting Natsu as he flew between his friend and the child. "Gramps is his nickname, but his name is Makarov. He's-"

"The guildmaster of Fairy Tail! Of course! Would you please take me to see him, Natsu? Please! You're already taking Lucy, right? Can I come, too? I promise I won't be a bother!"

"How'd you know he's taking me to Fairy Tail, Roxanne?" Lucy asked.

"Because I don't see your guildmark, and you haven't been mentioned in connection to Fairy Tail so you must not be a member. Which means that you're with Natsu so he can put in a good word to Makarov for you, right?" She ended the sentence on a more hesitant note, as if it were speculation rather than foreknowledge.

 

"Good eye, kid!" Natsu exclaimed and held up a hand for a high five, which Roxanne gleefully reciprocated, though she had to jump for it. "You're right. I'm taking Lucy to Magnolia so she can join Fairy Tail."

"Great! Then it won't be much of a bother to bring me along, too? If that's okay?"

"I don't see why not. Lucy?" Natsu asked.
The blonde smiled, something fond in her eyes as she looked at Roxanne. "I don't mind at all."

"Me neither!" Happy piped in as he raised a paw.

"Then it's decided!" Lucy declared and Roxanne started jumping around in genuine happiness.

"Yay! Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged Lucy, and then Natsu, and then tried to hug Happy again, but he flew out of reach, causing Lucy and Natsu to laugh as Roxanne jumped up repeatedly trying to catch him.

 

"So, um, what now?" she asked at last, once they'd all calmed down. "Are we staying the night here, or are we leaving?"

"We've already missed the last train of the day, so we'll have to stay here tonight and get an early start tomorrow morning." Lucy explained.

"Great!" Roxanne smiled, only to blush as her stomach rumbled. "Oh, right. I guess I'm hungry."

"Yeah, so am I. Let's get some dinner." Natsu stated and Lucy nodded as well.

Roxanne followed the adults out of the room, practically drooling. She'd gladly eat anything they put in front of her, even if it was weird or something she didn't usually like, like fried mushrooms! She was eating, and that was that!

 

An hour later, the group returned to the room, full and content.

"Thanks so much for dinner, you guys. I'm sorry I couldn't help pay for my share, but once I can I promise I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it, Roxanne." Natsu replied as he plopped down on one of the two beds.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "We couldn't just let you starve. Oh, by the way, do you mind telling us how you came to be where we found you?" she asked as gently as she could.

"Oh. I guess not, since you've been so kind to me. It's only fair that you know." She replied and sat down on the edge of one of the beds as she recalled the story she had thought up earlier. She thought of Jacob and bit her lip, no need to feign sadness. She could almost imagine dark clouds of depression brewing over her head. She lowered her voice and scrunched her shoulders, looking down.

 

"I was born a few countries to the East," she began. "My mom was a college professor, and my dad was a police detective. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either." She started off easily enough, voice only a little shaky. "But one night, while I was at a friend's house, a burglar broke in and killed my parents while they slept." She paused, hearing Lucy gasp and watching all three of them go pale from beneath her lashes.
It felt awful, wrong, to claim that her parents were dead. But they didn't exist here. It was the only thing she'd been able to think of to explain why she had no parents. Why she was alone.
She didn't have to fake the lump in her throat or the tears welling in her eyes; She had to force them away. But she did it. She took a shaky breath, wrapped her arms around herself and continued her fabricated story.

 

"Then he stole everything. Everything that mattered. My mom's jewelry, the cash from their wallets and the jars, even the money I had in my piggybank! It was so mean!" She cried and slammed a fist angrily onto the mattress. She hated thieves. Not funny thieves, like Robin Hood or Kaito Kid, who never hurt people and only chose jerks for targets. She hated real thieves, the kind who took things that other people had worked hard for and loved, and didn't care if they hurt anybody to get what they wanted.
She took a couple more breaths, trying to calm down, and went back to her tale. She'd decided that this had to have happened a while ago, or it would be too fresh, too new for her to say the next words without breaking down.

 

"I was the one to find them the next morning," she whispered into the silence. "I called the police, but it was too late. For the next week, I stayed at my friend's house while funeral arrangements were made and the police did their investigation. But they couldn't find anything, not for weeks and weeks, so the case was closed and they gave up. But I couldn't - I couldn't just stay there. I couldn't." She shook her head so hard it hurt, made her dizzy. "So, I opened the safe hidden under my old baby things in the attic and I took the money that was in there, and boarded the next train headed west." She paused again, feeling her eyes tear up again.

 

"I've always followed Fairy Tail. So I planned on going to Magnolia and trying to become a wizard and joining the guild. If I can't become a wizard, I want to get a job in town and work for a living. It's - all the papers say Fairy Tail wizards break things a lot, but you help people too! You're strong, really strong, so no one's going to try anything in the town where you all live. It's safe. It's safe." She stopped again to breathe and hopefully banish the tears, but all she did was cry a bit harder. She didn't know much about Fiore as a country, but there were all kinds of monsters and strange beings in the story that had been amazing and interesting when it had just been a story. Now, the more she thought about trying to live here, on her own, the more she realized that she'd never be able to do it.

All she knew about Fiore, about Earthland, was what she'd seen of it in the Fairy Tail anime. Fairy Tail was all she knew. It was the only thing that felt real to her here, that felt like maybe it would be safe.

 

Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be lonely.
 

"Everything went fine for the first few days," she managed, trying to stick to her story even though her head ached and her nose was running and her eyes felt puffy. "But then, as I was walking from a train station to the road so I could catch a ride with someone, a group of bad guys knocked me out. When I woke up, all I had left was my clothes. All of my money, my food and water. All of it was gone!" She yelled as she started crying in earnest now, face buried in her knees.

 

"I tried looking around but they were long gone and even their footprints had been wiped away! So all I could do was face west and start walking. I walked and walked and walked and I couldn't find anyone and I was all alone and thirsty and hungry and tired but I had to keep walking. I had to. But then I couldn't walk anymore and I fell down and passed out and woke up again here and - " She then broke down in earnest sobbing and was quickly embraced by Lucy while Natsu and Happy looked on, unsure of how to help this crying child.
 

 

Fifteen minutes later, Lucy tucked a sleeping Roxanne under the covers of a bed and brushed the hair out of Roxanne's face.

"Poor thing." she whispered with a sigh. "So young and already an orphan."

"Yeah." Happy agreed solemnly. "I guess we're all she has, huh?"

"Yeah." Natsu whispered as Happy nuzzled against Roxanne.

Looking at each other for a second, Lucy and Natsu silently left the room to let Roxanne sleep.

 

Chapter Three

Exhaust burned in her lungs as Roxanne strained to catch the bus, jumping over the curb lithely as she stretched her legs as far as she could. Nicole, Melody and Jacob were already on the bus, waving back at her through the glass at the rear of the vehicle. Their lips were moving so Roxanne knew that she shouldn't be able to hear what they said, but their words still traveled to her ears clearly. 
"It's your fault you'll be late." That was Nicole's voice, as gentle as ever but the reprimand still stung. Roxanne knew she responsible, and to be reprimanded by Nicole hurt much more than the words ever could. "You shouldn't have turned off the alarm."
"Now you'll be late and you only have yourself to blame," Melody said. Her voice was wispy like a cloud, disappearing quickly into the background. But the hurt from her words would stay with Roxanne for a long time. "But we won't be late because we got up on time."
"How can you expect to be worthy of my love if you can't even wake up when you're supposed to?" Jacob asked harshly, the question cutting Roxanne to the quick. She stumbled as her brother hurled her greatest fear at her, making her wish to bleed so her pain would have a physical form. It didn't matter that the real Jacob would never say such a cruel thing, that this was a dream. Her brother's words still hurt deeply. "You'll only be a burden to others if you make them wait for you. Haven't I taught you anything?"
"Wait, please! Jacob, come back!" Roxanne shouted as she got up and raced for the bus once again. "I promise I won't sleep in again, so please don't leave me. Jacob!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the bus turn a corner and her friends and brother faded from sight, leaving her alone once more.
Heartbroken, she slowed and fell to her knees. "Please. Don't leave me," she sobbed and covered her face with her hands.
 
"Roxanne!" A strange voice called out. "Roxanne, wake up!"
Roxanne jerked awake as her mind forced itself to awareness, wrenching her away from the dream and into real life in the space of a heartbeat. "I won't sleep in again, I promise!" she shouted, not yet recognizing the change from dream to reality. Then she blinked, awareness setting in as she saw Lucy's startled face to her left. "Morning," she whimpered as she started crying again, still shaken from the nightmare.
"Oh, Roxanne." Frowning in sympathy, Lucy sat down and hugged her. "Shh, shh, it's alright," she said gently, stroking the younger girl's hair as she cried herself out.
 
Once she was able to wipe away her tears, Lucy handed her a bottle of water and a box of tissues, which Roxanne quietly accepted.
"Thanks," she whispered as she blew her nose and threw the tissue in the trash, then uncapped the water bottle. "I'm sorry I cry so much."
"You don't have to apologize," Lucy assured her patiently. "You've been through a lot, and crying is a way of adjusting to things. So cry all you need."
"Thank you. That's really kind of you." Roxanne nodded, feeling reassured. She wiped her eyes again and jumped out of bed, determined to not let her old life upset her new life anymore. The past was in the past, and the time for grieving was over, at least for now. Today, she had to focus on becoming a mage and joining Fairy Tail, living her dream to the fullest. There was no room for distractions. "Where are Natsu and Happy?"
"They're downstairs in the restaurant, eating lunch."
Lunch?! Did I really sleep in so late?
"You've had a hard few days, so Natsu and I decided to let you sleep. It seemed cruel to wake you, so we decided that we could always catch the next train."
"Oh... You didn't have to do that." Rox mumbled, feeling another rush of gratitude and shame. Once again, she'd held up the group. They could have been in Magnolia by now! Lucy would be a part of the guild now, and Rox would know what her future would hold, and the anime would continue. But instead, they were still in this hotel. Why? Because Roxanne had needed the sleep... and Lucy and Natsu had been kind enough to recognize that, and thoughtful enough to be okay with the delay.
Roxanne felt tears coming to her eyes again. What a foundation for a friendship she was laying with them; nothing but lies from her while they were nothing but kind. "Thank you."
Lucy smiled in a 'You're welcome but it'd be crass to say it this time" sort of way, and then she took a breath, thus ending that conversation.
"Speaking of lunch, you should come eat."
Roxanne nodded her understanding. She knew she needed to eat, but the dream had left her without much appetite. "When does the train leave?" She would eat later.
"Not for another few hours," Lucy assured her. "We wanted to make sure that Natsu would have enough time to digest some of his lunch first."
 
Roxanne gave Lucy a puzzled look, knowing that she shouldn't know about the Salamander's motion sickness yet. "So, can I take a shower?" she asked. "I'll meet you in the restaurant afterwards, I promise."
"Of course you can take a shower, but I don't mind waiting." Lucy smiled at her. "I'd rather wait then risk you getting lost."
"I'd rather not keep you waiting. My mom always said that keeping people waiting for you was rude. Besides, if I get lost I can ask for directions," Roxanne insisted. She really didn't want Lucy to wait for her. Her dream had scared her, and she didn't want anyone to wait for her ever again.
"Well, alright then," Lucy conceded doubtfully. "If you're sure. I'll be at the restaurant." She stood and made her way to the door.
"Thanks, Lucy," Roxanne said as Lucy smiled and closed the door. Rox nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.
 
When she was done, Roxanne made her way downstairs. One look at a directory sign told her that trying to read the plaque would be a wasted effort, since it was written in the runic language Fiore used rather than English. Whatever magic let her understand people talking, and let them understand her, it didn't extend to the written word so she was forced to find the front desk and ask directions from the clerk. Thankfully the lady was quite happy to help and before long Roxanne was sitting down next to Lucy at the restaurant bar.
"I ordered you the same thing we had last night. You seemed to like it. I hope that's okay." Lucy smiled as Roxanne sat down beside her, nodding.
"Yeah, that's fine. Thanks, Lucy." Roxanne responded, easily hiding her discomfort. Last night's dinner had been composed of some kind of sauce, an animal that resembled an octopus or a squid, lots of bread and various strange-looking fruits on the side. Roxanne was not eager to eat that meal again now that she was not literally dying, but she would eat it regardless because this was the food of Earthland. She would not find any food from her world here, so she needed to swallow her discomfort and eat.
That's not to say that she didn't still struggle to keep the food moving past her teeth. She'd done alright the night before - being so close to starvation had done wonders for her appetite despite her disgust - but now it wasn't so easy. She had to suppress the urge to shiver in distaste as she stabbed a tentacle with her fork. She closed her eyes tightly, took a deep breath and held it so she wouldn't smell the food, and then shoved the forkful in her mouth. She winced as the 'calamari' touched her tongue, but she didn't give in to her instincts. She chewed and swallowed quickly before she could analyze the flavor and texture.
 
Allowing herself to shiver now, she took another breath and repeated the process, unaware of Lucy watching her. They ate in silence until Natsu and Happy's noise interrupted their thoughts. Both looked over at the boys and frowned.
"Jeez, Natsu! Do you have to eat like that?" Lucy shrieked, ducking behind a menu as some food came flying at her. "We've got plenty of time before the train gets here, so you don't have to rush."
"I'm not rushing." Natsu mumbled with a mouth full of food. "I'm just hungry."
"It's rude to throw food and to chew with your mouth open, you know. And it's just unsafe to eat without chewing in the first place!" Lucy retaliated, and Roxanne had to agree.
"She's right, Natsu. Eating like that is really gross." Roxanne said with a frown.
"So what?" Natsu asked. "I mean, we all have our own ideas about food. Look at you. You can barely tolerate the squid, and yet you're eating it."
"I'm eating it because I don't want to starve." Roxanne accentuated, not raising her voice in volume but making her point known using her tone. "And I doubt I'll find any food from home, so I have to learn to at least tolerate what's in front of me. But what you're doing is sending perfectly cooked, germy food flying, which is going to make someone sick." It certainly wasn't helping her keep her own food down. "Really, didn't your parents teach you about manners?"
"His parents?" Lucy asked, and Roxanne cringed. She'd said too much. Oh crap!
"If you mean Igneel, he taught me about different cultures, theories and other stuff, but he never enforced manners," Natsu said simply, his mouth still stuffed with food. "Dragons don't have table manners. They just eat in one bite."
Roxanne turned her attention back to her own meal. She pondered Natsu's response, remembering that Mirajane once summarized the lessons Igneel the fire dragon had taught him. Manners had not made the list. Was it because Natsu had not deemed that information worthy of being repeated when he was new to the guild, or had Igneel never taught him? Or had Natsu simply forgotten?
Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, she sighed and turned back to her food. "Whatever. I guess if it was that important, someone would have taught you by now. Sorry to be so mean, Natsu. Let's just say bad manners are a pet peeve of mine."
 
Natsu shrugged, not offended. "It's cool."

After that, the meal continued in a kind of haphazard peace. Natsu and Happy continued their antics while Lucy and Roxanne scooted further down the bar to avoid the flying food. After a while, Natsu and Lucy paid for the meal and the group went back upstairs to gather their belongings. After that, Roxanne and Happy left checking out up to the adults, preferring to venture outside and play. Roxanne made a game out of chasing Happy around, who didn't fly too far out of her reach nor too high, teasing Roxanne with the tip of his tail. The whole village could hear Roxanne's laughter as she chased Happy in circles, and Natsu and Lucy watched on quietly from the train platform. They watched as the child who had already seen so much destruction chased a flying cat as if she didn't have a care in the world. They watched as she was able to put aside her worries and fears, and just be a kid. The sight made Lucy smile, and Natsu tried to hide his own as well but there was a light shining in his eyes that matched the radiance of Lucy's smile.
When Roxanne heard the train whistle and raced to the platform, she could have sworn she saw tears in Lucy's eyes as Natsu smiled in a way that she hadn't seen before. This baffled her, but she brushed it off as the train whistle blew again. Seeing the train now, she squealed and ran around a bit more. For her, this was more than a train in front of her. It was the beginning of her new life, the beginning of a dream that's finally coming true.
The train pulled to a stop and Roxanne was the first one onboard, racing to an empty pair of seats and quickly claiming the window view. Lucy sat down beside her, while Natsu and Happy sat down across from them. Roxanne couldn't help but notice the green tint in Natsu's skin.
Just a few moments after that, the train whistle blew once again and the train began moving. Simultaneously, Natsu gagged and collapsed to lay prone on the seat. While Lucy commented about Natsu's motion sickness, Roxanne just watched the country roll past them, happy beyond measure.
"Lucy, how long will it take until we get to Magnolia?" She asked for a few minutes.
"It should be about two and a half hours." Lucy replied, digging in her bag for something.
"Aww! That long?!" She pouted but quickly sighed and resigned herself to the wait. "Well, guess I might as well get some sleep, then." She curled up on her side, feet braced against the side of the train, knees turned toward Natsu. She lay down and wriggled a bit, trying to get comfy on the too-hard bench, but was soon asleep. Happy watched the little girl and quickly joined her, curling up next to her stomach. Lucy smiled at the picture for a few moments then she turned her head and spent the next two hours writing a letter.

Lucy woke Roxanne and Happy almost three hours later as the train finally pulled into the Magnolia train station. Because she'd been in a deep sleep, it took Roxanne a bit of time to wake up and comprehend where she was. Once she had, though, she raced off of the train and waited not-so-patiently on the platform while Lucy and a Natsu-ridden Happy followed. Roxanne bounced on her toes, aching to run around and get some of this energy out of her system. But she didn't complain too much as they waited for Natsu to recover, then they set off for the guild together. Roxanne, however, raced ahead of the adults about twenty meters before she turned tail and raced back to them to make sure she was going the right way, only to turn around and race back toward the guild. Happy laughed and joined her in her game, flying along beside her. Again, Lucy and Natsu watched the girl and the cat play and the crowd also parted for Roxanne. The mothers smiled as they watched, the children cheered and a few of the younger ones ran with her while their older siblings watched with their parents, and some of the fathers just watched. A couple of them smiled and laughed, a few were silent but moved out of the way, while a few more made their bodies into obstacles, intending to play along with the children. Roxanne was happy to dodge around these adults, testing her physical limitations and agility.
By the time the trio made it to the guild hall, Roxanne was quite thoroughly out of breath, but she couldn't be happier as she gazed at the building before her. She was stunned into silence. After all, here was concrete proof that she was where she'd always wanted to be, that her life was more than manners and fancy dresses. Here, she would find friends and a true family, find a new meaning for her life. Here, she could be anyone she wanted to be. And she burned with her desire for this opportunity.
 
She looked at Natsu and smiled. She was ready. He nodded and walked calmly to the door.
Then he took a breath... and kicked the door in.
 
Lucy was stunned at Natsu's violence at the defenseless, undeserving door, but Roxanne just rolled her eyes and followed Lucy inside the hall as Natsu launched himself at one of the guild members, thus starting the brawl that never failed to make her laugh. Feigning fright, she ducked behind Lucy's legs and watched as member after member got pulled into the fight. She almost lost her mind when she found Gray, and she had to stop herself from running to Loke to hug him, and she so badly wanted to stand beside Elfman and mime his lines.
Restraining herself was a challenge that became even more unbearable when the ground shook, marking the entrance of a shadowy figure that was as tall the guild hall itself.
 
"Would you fools stop bickering like children?!" The figure yelled, and the entire guild hall froze. Well, except for Natsu. Roxanne and Lucy watched as Natsu laughed at his frozen comrades, boasting about how he must have won. His laughter was cut hilariously short as the figure's foot landed on him. Roxanne cowered behind Lucy's legs a bit more as Lucy also recoiled in fear.
"Well, seems like we have two new recruits." The figure growled as he turned his attention to Rox and Lucy. It was then that Roxanne truly got an idea of how large he was, and she felt even smaller than usual. She grew nervous and swallowed heavily as she tried to rally herself, reminding herself that this is Makarov! He was big now, and he sounded ferocious, but that was an act he rarely put on. He wouldn't hurt her unless she proved herself to be a threat to the guild, so there was no reason for her to be afraid. However, no amount of reasoning could stem the apprehension that was now flooding her mind. Looking at the behemoth, she felt so very small. She felt like a fly compared to this guy before her. One massive finger could easily crush her. With a squeak that wasn't entirely faked, she ducked behind Lucy.
"Yes, sir!" The girls responded, Lucy's voice was tinged with surprise while Roxanne's voice held a couple notes of fear.
Then, without a response, the shadow growled again and he began to shrink. He went from two stories tall to about two feet tall, which shocked Lucy heavily and Roxanne was fascinated by the change. Even though she had been expecting it, and knew that this particular man was far more powerful than he seemed, Roxanne still stared curiously at him. It also helped that the fear went away so she was able to let her real self shine through.
"Nice to meet ya!" The old, short man greeted them, raising a hand in hello.
"Hello," Roxanne greeted him as Lucy replied in a... rather rude manner. "He's tiny! This little guy's really in charge here?"
"Of course he is!" Mirajane chirped. "Allow me to introduce the Fairy Tail guild master, Makarov."
Unfortunately for Lucy, Makarov didn't stay to greet her. Instead, he turned around and jumped to the second-floor railing on the far side of the guild. Or, well, he tried to. He didn't quite make it. But he recovered quickly and soon faced his guild.
"You've gone and done it again, you bunch of clots!" He yelled and held up a stack of papers.
"Just look at the paperwork the Magic Counsel sent me this time! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet! Have you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher-ups mad at me!" He practically shook with his anger, and the whole guild looked remorseful.
Makarov growled, breathed for a second, and spoke once again.
"However," He spoke in a less-angry tone, though his displeasure was still clear. It was completely gone with the next sentence, though. "I say to heck with the Magic Counsel."
In the next instant, he had set the pile of complaints to flame and casually tossed the flames into the air. A moment later, Natsu leapt into the air to catch the flaming papers in his mouth.
"Now listen up! Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right?" Makarov asked, and Roxanne stepped out from behind Lucy's legs, mouthing the speech silently.
"Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power. It is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your being and come pouring out of your very soul! If all we do is worry about following rules then our magic will never progress! Don't let those blowhards on the Counsel scare you. Follow the path you believe in. Cause that's what makes Fairy Tail number one!"
To accentuate 'Number one!', Makarov thrust his hand into the air, his hand forming the symbol that was unique to the guild. A moment later, the guild hall erupted into a cacophony of cheers and whistles as each and every one of the members copied their Master's hand sign. Roxanne did as well, not at all caring that she wasn't accepted into the guild yet. She was celebrating along with the guild, so a technicality like that wasn't gonna stop her!
"Well, I guess I've found my answer." She whispered to herself as the crowd began buddying up, the aura of togetherness still thick in the air. "Anyone who can focus and has a strong mind can learn magic. So, that's what I'm going to do."
I'm going to learn magic so I can protect this guild from the dangers that are approaching. I'm going to become a wizard of Fairy Tail and make this guild my home and family!

With the cheering dying down, Makarov approached Roxanne and Lucy again. "So, you two want to join the guild, huh?"
"Yes, sir!" Roxanne replied again, just as happily as before and with more resolution. However, she looked disappointed. "But I'm not sure if I technically can. I'm not a mage." She adopted a determined, 'nothing's going to stop me' face and posture, and it showed in her tone of voice. "But I really want to be. Before we came here, I was on a mission to find out how a person becomes a wizard. I had a lot of conflicting sources, but you gave the answer to me loud and clear, sir, so please let me stay for a while so I learn magic!" She begged the Master, growing nervous as Makarov stayed silent. Finally, after what felt like years, he smiled.
 
"I like your spirit, my dear. I can see your desire to fulfill your dream, and you seem to have the dedication needed to help you overcome any troubles you may encounter. So, I'll tell you what. You can stay for as long as you wish, and you can train with me while you discover your magic. Once you have, I'll let you join the guild officially and you can choose your mentor if there is someone here who shares your magic. But, let me warn you. Finding your magic is not a simple task for those who seek it as you do, but working for it will make gaining the magic even sweeter. As with anything, learning something new takes work and time. You need to be prepared to handle this, young one, for the journey is long and hard."
"I understand, sir, and I promise I'm ready."
"Very well, then... oh! I don't think I caught your names before?"
"I'm Roxanne, sir, and this is Lucy. She wants to join too."
Lucy nodded determinedly and Makarov smiled, sizing her up instantly. "Yes, I can see the same fire in your eyes, Lucy. Welcome to Fairy Tail, you two."
"Yay!! Thank you so much, sir!" Roxanne cheered and hugged the man. Above her, Lucy thanked Makarov just as eagerly as Roxanne. The man smiled, enjoying the attention.
A few minutes later, Makarov sent Lucy to Mirajane for her guild stamp while he continued his discussion with a now-teary-eyed Roxanne.
"Since you can't take any jobs yet, I'm going to let you stay in one of the apartments upstairs. And you can live there, rent-free, until you start taking on jobs. Once you do, you'll be expected to pay rent like everyone else."
"Yes, sir. What happens after that?"
"Well, with a source of income, you can decide if you want to move out and get your own place, or if you want to stay here."
"That sounds fair, sir."
"And I take it, judging by your lack of possessions, you don't have any money on you?"
"No, sir," she whispered, immediately saddened. "I did have a fair amount of money and just a few possessions, but I was robbed."
"But I'm going to fix that, sir." Lucy interrupted, appearing silently behind Roxanne and making her jump in surprise. "I was going to take her shopping as soon as we finished up here."
"That's very sweet of you, Lucy." Makarov praised Lucy, to which the mage just chuckled.
"It really is, Lucy, but are you sure?" Roxanne asked worriedly. "I mean, I've already been enough of a burden. I'd hate to put you out even more."
"It's fine, Roxanne," Lucy assured her. "I'm happy to help! I want to help. And if it makes you feel better you can pay me back once you start making some money of your own. Okay?"
"Okay, then." Roxanne felt better for that last bit. She didn't ever want to be a burden to her new friends. "Thank you very much, Lucy!" she smiled.
"Now, then, Roxanne. You've got enough on your plate for today. Please spend the rest of the day getting settled in, and be sure to get plenty of sleep. Your training starts at seven am tomorrow." Makarov reclaimed Roxanne's attention.
"Yes, sir, thank you, sir!" Roxanne replied and hugged the old man once again. "I promise, I won't let you down." She whispered in his ear before she broke off and rushed to Mirajane.
It didn't take long for Roxanne to select her apartment on the top floor, and Mira also gave her a keychain to hang her key on. She accepted it, slipped the key onto the keychain and then clipped it to one of her belt loops. She smiled happily and hugged the white-haired woman. Lucy, Natsu and Happy came over and each of them got hugs as well.
 
As Roxanne broke away from Happy, a few other guild members came over to greet the newcomers. She had to stop herself from rushing to Gray, the urge to run up to him and declare her admiration was so strong. Somehow she stopped herself and instead smiled at him.
Natsu did the introductions, since he and Happy were the only wizards the two groups had in common.
"Guys," He began, addressing his fellow members of Fairy Tail. "This is Lucy and Roxanne. Lucy, Roxanne, this is Gray,"
The black-haired, bare-chested wizard stepped forward to shake their hands. "Welcome to Fairy Tail." Roxanne could almost feel her heart beating in her chest, beating so quickly that she thought it'd stop from exhaustion.
 
"Thank you!" The girls replied, Roxanne said a bit breathily.
"Elfman, Mira's brother," Natsu introduced the big, muscle-y mage.
"Nice to meet ya!" Despite his size his smile was kind, and his huge hand was gentle when he bent down to shake Roxanne's.
"And Macao and Wakaba." Natsu finished the introductions with two of the oldest wizards in the guild, though they didn't look like it yet.
"Hi, ladies." Wakaba greeted them, and Macao pushed his half-flirting friend aside. "Welcome!"
Roxanne giggled. "Nice to meet you!"

Thirty minutes later, the girls left the guild hall and made their way to the port side of the city, where the markets were located. Well, it seemed to be more like one huge marketplace with restaurants and storefronts tossed in, but it was an adventure in and of itself. The anime hadn't shown much of the city so it was fun for Roxanne to build up a more accurate mental map of the city. However, she still clung close to Lucy because there was quite an enormous crowd and the street wasn't very wide so everyone was crammed together. It would be so easy to lose a companion in the crowd.
The first place they stopped at was a clothing store for kids, where Lucy bought Roxanne two jeans and five shirts, and an outfit for training. Lucy also realized at pretty much the last second that Roxanne needed pajamas, and pretty soon there were two sets of warm, fuzzy pajamas, a nightgown, a bathrobe and slippers on the counter. Roxanne's head spun with how much she was being gifted with, and the jewel that it was costing Lucy. She thanked Lucy profusely, but she just waved it away, saying she wanted to help Roxanne get everything she needed to be comfortable.
The second store was a book and magic store, where Lucy bought several reams of plain paper, a stack of envelopes, several quills and an inkbottle for herself. For Roxanne, she bought a journal, one book - the kind little kids use in school to learn the local language - and another ream of paper, two quills and an ink bottle. The journal was simple enough, but what Roxanne treasured was its presence. With it, she could write down every thought that crossed her mind, every fear or hope or dream. She could also keep track of the date and where in the timeline she found herself. It was a place, the only place, where she could forget that she was pretending to be someone she wasn't, where she could be an average girl from a privileged family who was sucked away and dropped into a fictional world that apparently wasn't so fictional. It was a place where she could strip away her exterior and truly be herself. It was her coping mechanism.
 
Lucy sensed that when she saw Roxanne looking at the journal she now held in her hands. She watched the girl for a bit, watched her stare longingly at the book, and gently, silently, took it and placed it in her basket. Roxanne understood immediately and Lucy could almost swear the sun was right there in the girl's face because her smile was so bright.
The third place they stopped was where they bought the bulk of their items. Both needed various toiletries and personal hygiene items. Lucy needed makeup and she also bought them a fair amount of sweets in case they got what Lucy called 'the munchies' late at night. Lucy also bought a blanket and a pillow from a home goods store and the duo made their way back to the guildhall to settle in for the night. They ate a hearty dinner, which thankfully agreed with Roxanne much more than the lunch from earlier, and they socialized until the sun had left the sky. Then they climbed the stairs, making their way to Roxanne's apartment.
Roxanne had deliberately chosen an apartment on the top floor because she wanted the exercise that will come from climbing all of those stairs twice a day, and because of its location with no nearby apartments being rented out so she could come and go as she please and be as loud as she wanted while practicing.

The apartment was small compared to Roxanne's parent's mansion, but it suited Roxanne well. It was compact and designed for only one or two people. It came with a twin-sized bed with a brand new mattress - apparently she was this apartment's first occupant - and a kitchenette with fridge and freezer, a full-sized bathroom, a wardrobe for her clothes, a desk and a small living room with a sofa and lacrima. She also found a linen closest near the bathroom that was already stocked with a few complete sets of sheets and towels.
Looking in at the small space, Roxanne smiled. This was her place. Her apartment above the Fairy Tail guildhall, and she couldn't be happier. Smiling, she and Lucy agreed that Lucy could take the first bath while Roxanne put away her new clothes, set up the desk and started writing her first entry into her journal. She was careful to not leave out any memory or detail, and she wrote in her native language so that no one else could read it - the runic script here was completely different, and if she couldn't read it, then they couldn't read English. Not that she was worried about people deliberately invading her privacy, but she knew that Natsu and Gray, and even Erza and Happy didn't have much respect for personal space. So she wrote in a language they didn't understand to keep her secrets safe.
When Lucy got out of the bath, Roxanne unfolded the sofa into a bed and dressed it in the sheets, to mark where Lucy would be sleeping until she found her own apartment. Without a word, the two switched places, Lucy fixing up her bed and writing her first letter while Roxanne took her bath.
 
The bathroom was styled interestingly. There were two halves of the surprisingly large room. The first half was made up of a sink, storage areas for her toiletries and two laundry hampers. The other half held a shower area that stood independently, and a tub that was designed to stay full and heated; its main purpose was to soak in after washing away the grime and oil with the shower. She quickly decided that she liked this set up since she could decide if she wanted just the shower or a bath after a long, hard day. She smiled and got undressed as she made her way to the sink, opting to use both this time.
 
An hour later, she dressed in one of the new pajamas, her bathrobe was hanging on the pole by her head with the slippers right where her feet would be tomorrow morning. She slipped herself under the sheets and sighed in contentment.
She was asleep within five minutes.

Chapter Four

Roxanne enjoyed a night without nightmares and groaned when the alarm lacrima sounded at six o'clock the next morning. Lucy groaned as well and reached over to silence the noise while Roxanne sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Lucy."

 

"Morning, Roxanne." Lucy replied as she yawned. "Mind if I shower first?"

 

"S'fine," Rox mumbled, rubbing her eyes and stumbling out of bed. "I'm gonna get dressed. Meet you downstairs?"

 

"Yeah." Lucy sighed as she got up and made her way to the bathroom, while Roxanne stretched leisurely as she made her way to the wardrobe.

 

"My wardrobe, huh?" she whispered. "That's right. This is my wardrobe. In my Fairy Tail apartment. Above the Fairy Tail guild hall." She bit back a grin, reminding herself again that all of this was real. She reached for the blue training shorts and white tank top, changing quickly and making her way over to the bathroom.

 

She knocked, asking Lucy if she could come in so she could wash up. Lucy agreed and Rox heard a door slide closed soon after. She opened the main door and found the screen that separated the bath area from the toilet and sink areas closed, a screen that she hadn't realized was there. "That's cool," she murmured as she walked to the sink.

 

It didn't take long for Rox to brush her hair, but it took longer to plait it into a braid. Even though her hair was rather long, it was also thick, which made it hard for her to grip the sections between her fingers. And since she couldn't see the back of her head, she had no idea if the braid was straight or crooked. After several minutes of struggling by herself, she finally caved and asked Lucy for help. Luckily, Lucy seemed delighted to help with such a task, exclaiming that she'd never had the chance to play with someone else's hair before. Roxanne supposed it must be because Lucy was an only child and she'd never really had friends, so she had never gotten to do anyone else's hair before.

 

Roxanne smiled as she remembered all of that. She was actually surprised she remembered details like this. After watching the whole anime twice, she was sure that her memory would focus on the late-anime stuff, but it seemed that she remembered the early-anime details as well. Maybe that's because the early-anime details helped to develop the characters, while the details later in the anime were focused more on the plotline?

 

Once they were done, Roxanne left the bathroom. Her face was washed, her hair was brushed and braided into one massive braid and then the braid had been curled up so it wrapped around itself, and then secured with a hair tie. Her teeth were brushed and she had on clean training clothes so there was nothing left to do, and Roxanne went downstairs to face the day.

 

"Good morning, Mirajane," she greeted the older woman as she sat down on one of the barstools, swinging her legs idly.

 

"Good morning, Roxanne. Did you sleep well?" she replied brightly, matching Roxanne's cheery tone of voice easily. In this, the two were exactly matched. Both had a sunny disposition and greeted everyone with smiles.

 

"I did, thanks. Um, I won't have any money for a while, so could I start a tab and pay it off once I can take on jobs?"

 

"I've already started it for you. Makarov told me a bit of your situation. I hope you don't mind."

 

"No, that's fine. Thank you very much."

 

"Sure. Oh, and Master has already ordered your breakfast for you, so that will be ready in just a few minutes."

 

"Great!" Roxanne forced a smile, worried about what she'd be forced to put up with today. "Thanks!"

 

Mirajane smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. With nothing else to do, Roxanne watched the stairs and the door, hoping someone would enter the room. Her wish was granted five minutes later as Lucy came downstairs, dressed in a very familiar outfit.

 

"Morning, Lucy." Roxanne called as Mira produced Roxanne's breakfast. "Oh! Thanks, Mira." To her surprise and vast relief, it was normal. Eggs on toast, cottage cheese with pineapple slices, and a cup of orange juice. Maybe it was just that one restaurant that had weird food? Come to think of it, she hadn't really noticed the food much when watching the anime. Maybe the food here wasn't so strange after all.

 

"You're welcome. Now, eat up. Master wants all of this gone by seven o'clock. Good morning, Lucy. Can I get you anything?"

 

"Morning, Mirajane. Just some water, please?"

 

"Sure!" She replied before she disappeared again. Roxanne started eating, tearing into the eggs on toast first since that was her least favorite item.

 

"So, you excited for today, Roxanne?" Lucy asked.

 

Roxanne just nodded in response, holding her hand up flat, and then wobbling it back and forth in a teeter-totter motion. She was very excited, but also nervous.

 

"You're nervous?" Lucy guessed, and then smiled when Roxanne nodded again. "That's understandable, since it's a pretty big step. You're training with the Master of Fairy Tail, and you might discover your magic today. That's plenty of reason to be nervous. But I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. Makarov seems like a fair guy. I'm sure he won't give you more than you can handle."

 

Roxanne nodded again in agreement, smiling in thanks, then she pointed at Lucy, palm upward, and she raised her eyebrows questioningly. She learned this from one of her classes at school, an American Sign Language basics class. In ASL, asking a question was accompanied with raising of the eyebrows, not lowering as most people do when they verbally ask a question. And it was more polite to turn your hand palm-up if you’re pointing to someone in a non-offensive manner. Realizing this wasn't home so Lucy might not understand the eyebrows thing, she almost panicked until she heard Lucy's response.

 

"Me? What do you mean?"

 

Sighing in silent relief, Roxanne teetered her hand again.

 

"Oh! Am I nervous? I dunno; I guess so." Lucy prupped her chin on her hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do today, but I'll probably stay here and socialize. So, yeah, I guess I am. It's my first day in the greatest guild in the country and I'm meeting new people. What could possibly go wrong?"

 

Roxanne tried to reassure Lucy by patting her shoulder—after she had wiped that hand on a napkin of course. Crumbs were gross, and it'd be rude to get any on Lucy's clothes.

 

"Thanks, Roxanne. You're right!" Lucy agreed emphatically, a determined look settling on her face. "Everything will be alright, and I'm not going to worry until there's something to worry about."

 

Roxanne agreed with her friend, throwing her fist into the air as well. She also quite enjoyed the fact that Lucy did most of the pep-talking herself.

So they talked like that, Roxanne gesturing while she ate while Lucy did most of the actual talking, until Roxanne finished eating. After that, they carried on a more diverse and verbal conversation for another ten minutes or so, until the clock chimed seven times and Makarov entered the guild hall. Roxanne turned to face him and showed him her cleared plate. She'd made a point to finish quickly, so there would be no delay. He nodded.

 

"Good morning, Roxanne, and good job. Let's get started on that training, hm?" He offered her a broad grin.

 

"Yes, sir!" she chirped and bolted towards him, waving goodbye to Lucy. She left the guild hall with Makarov, and the two made their way deeper into the city, to a park that Roxanne remembered from the anime. She could almost see Natsu, Lisanna and Happy there, Lisanna telling the boys to stop fighting because they were family. Roxanne smiled at that; she loved the idea of Natsu, Lisanna and Happy being a family. That was primarily why Rox shipped NaLi just as much as she shipped NaLu.

 

No, don't do that! She reprimanded herself. I'm here to train, not to reminisce about the anime. Focus!

 

She followed Makarov as he made his way down the steps and to the tree at the center of the park, sitting down in its shade.

 

"There are two ways that a person can become a mage," Makarov began, patting the ground for her to join him. "For most, the magic reveals itself to a person when that person is in a state of high emotion and desperation. This is what happened to many of your guildmates."

 

That's what happened to Erza. She felt powerless in the Tower of Heaven, a child-leader of the rebels who wanted only their freedom, and her mentor and defender had just been killed. She wanted to defend those she was fighting for, and just like that she became a wizard. Roxanne remembered the scene from the anime well. She'd never forget young Erza holding her dead friend close, facing the enemy, glowing with a light as if she were lit from within.

 

"The second way is for the person to search for the energies resting within themselves," Makarov continued solemnly, holding her eyes with his to make sure she was paying attention. "This method takes longer to accomplish, but the person will come away from the experience not only with magic, but also being more sure of themselves. This is the method you will use, discovering the magic for yourself."

 

Roxanne nodded. She didn't think things would be so convenient as to make learning magic easy or instantaneous. No, she'd have to work for it, just like everyone else. If she didn't work for it, then she wouldn't treasure her magic because she hadn't earned it.

 

Makarov nodded, seeing that she understood. "Every morning, we will begin the day by meditating. It's very crucial to becoming a mage and unlocking your magic, Roxanne. Do you know why?"

 

"Um…" Roxanne thought about it, brows furrowing as she searched for a plausible explanation. "Because meditation regulates your heartbeat and helps you clear your mind," she began slowly, recalling the information from a project she had done in class "…which is beneficial when matching your inner energies to the natural ones?" she guessed the second part, unsure if it was the right answer. It made sense, right?

 

"Very good," Makarov said, obviously pleased. "That's precisely right." Roxanne heaved a sigh of relief. Jeez, had she gotten lucky!"Now, sit down beside me and I'll teach you how to meditate. First, pick a stance. Something that's comfortable for you and that you can maintain for a long period of time."

 

She did as she was told, sitting down beside him. She even copied his pose, cross-legged with her hands on her knees. When that turned out to not be as comfortable as she'd been hoping, she shifted, leaning back against the tree's trunk and stretching one leg out in front of her, leaving the other bent. Then her arms felt awkward, so she rested one on her bent knee and cradled the other in her lap. At last she was comfortable, so she glanced at Makarov one more time, and then closed her eyes the way he had. "I'm ready, Master," she said.

 

"Good," he murmured. "Now, clear your mind and focus on your heart. Feel it beating in your chest, feel the rhythm, hear the blood pulsing in your ears."

 

He paused, and Roxanne did her best to do as he instructed. She focused on her heartbeat, on the rhythm of it, using that to block out other thoughts until her conscious mind quieted. Her heart beat quickly at first, a result of the recent movement, but it soon slowed to a much more relaxed tempo.

 

"Now pace your breathing," Makarov continued a few moments later, once Roxanne had gotten the hang of the first part. "Breathe slowly and deeply, but effortlessly. In, hold, out."

 

Roxanne did so, breathing in on an upbeat, holding the breath for a moment and ending the exhale on a downbeat a few seconds later. She didn't pant or hyperventilate, and she didn't try to beat her personal breath-holding record. Her breathing was smooth, clean, and languid. She endeavored to perfectly copy the process with the next cycle, all while keeping her conscious mind quiet.

 

"Good." Makarov praised her quietly, and Roxanne could hear from his voice that he had also achieved the state that she was in. "This is the basis for meditation. Breathing at a slow but sustainable rhythm, getting so used to it that you don't have to concentrate on it, all while keeping your mind quiet. If your thoughts are too loud, you cannot hear the whisper of magic within you. This is what we will do for this next hour, breathing and practicing."

 

After that, all was quiet for the next hour. Roxanne practiced her breathing, getting used to the rhythm she had set, while she learned how to keep her mind quiet. She was a fast learner, so she had figured out how to quiet her mind quickly, but keeping it quiet was another matter. Throwing aside or shutting down active thoughts was nearly impossible. An ant crawled over her ankle, making it itch. Birds chirped and twittered in the trees, distracting her. Her mouth dried out a little, making her thirsty. She battled boredom, and bittersweet memories of the park tried to intrude on her thoughts, as did anticipation for the magic she would hopefully discover soon, and some silent fangirl squealing over the situation and the fact that Makarov—Master Makarov himself!—was teaching her.

 

She'd finally managed to keep her mind quiet for three whole minutes when Makarov interrupted the silence with a simple command: "Wake up."

 

Immediately, Roxanne stirred and straightened, heart rate picking up speed again as she slowly drained the… the zen from her body. That's all she could think to call it, the zen. It was difficult for her to explain the phenomenon, even to herself, but zen was the word that first came to mind and it seemed the most appropriate. She did all of this slowly, feeling as though waking up too quickly would hurt her somehow. She couldn't explain it any more than she could explain the zen, but it was a warning she felt in her soul, so she listened to it.

 

"All right, up we get," Makarov instructed as he rose to his feet. "Now it's time to train our bodies. After all, your magic isn't at its full potential if your body isn't. Besides, if you only depend on magic, you won't have anything else to rely on."

 

Nodding, Roxanne stood and faced her mentor. Fairy Tail mages were full-contact mages, most of them supplementing their magic with some kind of fighting ability. It made them much more versatile than enemies thought. That underestimation is often what tipped the scales so they favored the Fairy Tail mage.

 

For twenty minutes, Makarov gave her simple stretches to do, which served to 'wake up' her muscles after all that sitting still, and prepare them for the real training. Roxanne touched her toes, twisted her waist, did back-bends and overhead bends until she was limbered up, and then started on the actual warm-ups. First came a light jog around the park, followed by a short break to regain her breath. Makarov used that to gauge her basic endurance. Then came three sets of stair runs, which started at the bottom of the stairs, extended to the top, and then ran back to the bottom to complete one set. There were twenty stairs, so Roxanne's breathing was labored after one set, but her leg muscles burned once all three sets were done.

 

Once she'd caught her breath again, she had to do ten sit ups, followed by ten push-ups, followed by three more laps around the park. All of this, from the stairs to the running, was one pattern. She got a three-minute break once she finished, but she had to complete the pattern three times. That was one-hundred-eighty steps, thirty sit ups, thirty push-ups and nine laps. By the time Makarov called a halt, she wanted to flop on the ground and give up, but she refused to let herself do that. It would only make it harder for her to get back up and do the next task, and she didn't want to waste that energy. She was going to do everything Makarov asked her to, and she was sure there was a lot of that left so she would need every ounce of energy she could muster.

 

Besides, Makarov had done all of that with her, and he was an old man, a grandpa! She couldn't even tell herself that he had longer legs than her, because he was actually shorter than she was, and he wasn't using his magic to cheat. So if Makarov could do it, then she could too!

 

"Alright," Makarov said, once she'd regained her breath. "That might have been a bit much for your first day's warm-up, but you're doing pretty well. Have you ever taken self-defense before?"

 

Roxanne shook her head, drinking from the water-bottle he'd given her with quick sips.

 

"Mm, I thought not. Though you did surprisingly well at the meditation for a beginner." Makarov rubbed his chin. "We'll start with the basics, then. Now, I know you saw those rascals at the guild hall tussling, but that isn't what self-defense is for. It's to help you protect yourself, not pick fights with others. Save that for when you're old enough to know better!" He chuckled at his own joke, while Roxanne smiled.

 

'The basics', it turned out, consisted of two things: how to stand in a balanced, ready fashion, and how to fall without hurting herself. It sounded easy, but Roxanne quickly learned that it was a lot harder than she'd thought. Makarov demonstrated first, and then had her imitate him. The hardest part was relaxing while falling, because all of her instincts told her to brace herself instead. Makarov's training method wasn't what she'd expected, either. Instead of telling her to practice falling, he told her to practice her balanced stance, and then—very gently—knocked her feet out from under her. She learned how to fall both backwards and forwards, and each time she fell, he helped her up and corrected her stance, telling her what to do to fall better next time. The one time she fell at a particularly bad angle, almost hitting her head, he caught her easily and prevented the injury.

After that, it was a little easier to make herself relax into the fall.

 

"Once I'm sure you've got this down to a reflex," Makarov told her, "you'll start on how to make and dodge blows." A bright, encouraging grin, surprisingly youthful on his lined face. "At the rate you're going, that should be by the end of the week!"

 

"Thank you, sir!" Roxanne smiled at him, wiping her sweaty face.

 

She felt relieved down to her soul when Makarov stopped the training and brought back them back to the guild for lunch. She sat at the bar and looked around while Mira cooked her food. Lucy sat at one of the benches across the guild hall with Natsu, Happy and Gray. Roxanne grinned at Lucy's visible happiness and stayed where she was, content to mull over her meditation lesson by herself, ignoring her growling stomach.

 

"Hey, Roxanne!" She heard a voice call her, and turned back around to see Natsu waving at her. "Come join us!"

 

"Really?" she asked, not really expecting to be called over to join that group. "But I'm just a boring kid."

 

"You're not boring!" Lucy replied before Natsu could. "You are young, but you're certainly not boring."

 

"Exactly. So come over here!"

 

"Come on, kid," Gray said casually, using the term as an endearment instead of an insult. "Come talk with us."

 

Reassured, Roxanne smiled again and raced over to the table, sitting down beside Lucy.

 

The group talked for a few minutes, which mostly consisted of Natsu asking Roxanne questions about herself, which she answered truthfully. After all, all she needed to lie about what where she had come from. She had no reason to lie about what she liked to do or what foods were her favorites, so she answered as honestly as she could.

 

Pretty soon, Mira brought Roxanne her lunch and the conversation shifted away from Rox, which she appreciated. Now the subject circled around Lucy, with Natsu asking many of the same questions. Gray didn't speak much, preferring to listen instead, but he was paying attention to the questions Natsu asked. Roxanne knew that he was interested in getting to know his newest guildmates, and that he trusted Natsu's instincts, so he must think they were worth getting to know since Natsu had taken such a shine to them.

 

Roxanne looked down at her plate, smiling at the thought and trying not to bounce with excitement. Her legs swung from the bench's edge, kicking idly as she munched her way through the chicken salad sandwich and sweet rolls Mirajane had brought her. Once her plate was completely clean, Roxanne looked around for Makarov, expecting him to tell her it was time to continue her training, but he just smiled and shook his head at her, gesturing for her to continue talking as he went over some paperwork up at the bar. Relieved, Roxanne turned back to her new friends and continued chatting.

 

After another fifteen minutes, Makarov called Roxanne away. She pouted for a second, enjoying spending time with the group and not wanting to leave, but then took a breath and followed him anyway. As much as she loved talking with her new friends, which was a lot, she wanted to be a mage twice as much. Besides, she knew that being a guild master wasn't just about being the strongest mage in the guild. There were a lot of responsibilities that Master Makarov had, and he was taking time away from them to help her. She wouldn't let one second of that time be wasted.

 

Makarov led her back to the park, where they meditated again, and then did another set of warm-ups, somewhat gentler this time and focused more on endurance-building exercises like jogging. That was followed by foot training—ladder-runs and hopscotch and side-dashes—and reflex-training such as wall ball and coin catch. Her favorite was the coin catch. Makarov had her hold one arm out in front of her, slightly bent, palm down. Then he balanced a coin on the back of her hand, and bounced her hand up, making her try to catch the coin on its way down. It was a lot harder than it looked, but once Makarov told her that the motion was incredibly similar to parrying a punch, she found it a lot easier to concentrate. He told her that once she got better at it, she could try to catch two or even three coins at a time. He also told her that once he was sure her endurance was up to snuff and she was competent with falls, he'd move on to more self-defense.

 

"Now, I won't always be here to train with you," he reminded her, letting her take a brief break. "So on days when I have duties with the Council or other such things, I want you to focus on meditation and endurance training unless you've got an older mage to supervise you. It's much too easy for a growing girl like you to hurt yourself."

 

"Yes, sir," Roxanne agreed meekly. Weakly, even. This time, training had lasted nearly two hours, and she wanted to do nothing more than crawl into bed and sleep forever. She doubted she'd be able to sleep, though—every muscle ached, and even her head hurt from concentrating so much.

"I'm glad you understand. Now, let's do our cool-down stretches, alright?" Makarov worked her slowly through the stretches, making sure she hadn't strained herself too badly and that she didn't cramp up in the process. Once he was satisfied, he led her back to the guild, urging her to clean up and change into something besides training clothes. "And you'll want to soak in the bath for a bit, instead of just showering. No point in making you stiff as an old man just yet!"

 

Roxanne almost wanted to resent his cheerfulness, but found she was too tired even for that. "Yes sir," she agreed meekly, and did as he said. While soaking in the bath, she scolded herself for her weakness. She hadn't even started serious training yet, but she was ready to crawl under a rock and die from today's exertions. How much worse would serious training be? She just might actually die!

 

But it's something I have to do, so I’m going to ignore my exhaustion and give my training everything I’ve got!

 

This stuff would be critical later. If she expected to be a good fighter and help the guild, she had to learn the essentials of hand-to-hand combat until she discovered her magic. If she didn't train, she'd be only a burden and a liability. Someone could get hurt or even killed trying to protect her! So she needed to toughen up and train now, while it was still relatively easy.

 

Once she was done bathing, she emerged feeling better, though her legs were still weak as jelly. She had changed into black jeans and the 'Cute but Fierce' shirt, but she still didn't know why Makarov had brought her back. She was sure that it wasn't just to shower and change into clothes that she couldn't train in.

 

As they made their way back into town, Makarov explained. "Starting tomorrow, part of your training will be swimming. For that, you'll need a swimsuit. I don't suppose Lucy bought one for you?"

 

"No, sir." The possibility hadn't even crossed their minds.

 

"Then I'll buy the swimsuit. Tomorrow, you'll start swimming every day. There won't be time to go back to the apartment to change so wear it under the clothes you had on today."

 

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Roxanne groaned inwardly at the thought of adding more exercise to her regimen. "What else should I be prepared for?"

 

"That's it, actually," Makarov said. "Every day will go similar to today. We'll start the day with a good breakfast, then an hour of meditation. Then we'll do the stretches and warm-ups, followed by the first segment of self-defense training, then lunch. After lunch, we'll do another round of exercise and self-defense, and then move on to swimming for a half an hour. After that, we do another hour of meditation and then you're done for the day. But there won't be any swimming today, so instead we're going to end the day with the third round of meditation. However, I do want you to do another hour of meditation before you go to sleep every night."

 

"Yes, sir!" Honestly, Roxanne wasn't sure if she'd be able to stay awake long enough to meditate, but she could at least try. "Um, when will I get to learn magic?" she ventured after a moment's hesitation.

 

"Why, when the magic is ready for you to learn it!" Makarov said cheerfully. At Roxanne's nonplussed look, he chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry my dear, that was just a joke. It will come to you in time, with meditation and patience. Hm, come to think of it, we should probably include time for magical theory in your training. And you're so young—have you had schooling?"

 

His question made her heart race. Uh oh. She hadn't counted on school in Fiore, which meant the subjects were almost guaranteed to be different! How should she answer? She couldn't tell him the truth, not yet. He'd think she was nuts! But she couldn't say she hadn't had schooling either. Her mom was supposed to be a college professor!

 

"Mostly self-study," she replied, doing her best to drain the panic from her voice. She prayed that this was a good middle-ground. "My parents were away all the time and they didn't want me going to school, worried I'd get hurt or something, so I had to figure things out for myself. I can't read or write Fiore's runes, and I don't know anything about Fiore's history, but I can do basic math and I know some science from looking at the pictures in my mom's books."

 

Makarov frowned, and for a moment Roxanne felt panic clutch her heart. But rather than question her further, he just shook his head. "Hm, I suppose that gives us something to work with. You've met Macao—his son Romeo is a few years younger than you, but he might have some beginner's books we can use to start your rune studies."

 

Roxanne breathed an internal sigh of relief. She felt bad about the deception, but she was relieved he'd bought her excuse. She was also intrigued by the idea of using Romeo's old books to learn how to read—she hadn't even considered the possibility!

 

An hour later, the pair made their way to the park, Roxanne's new swimsuit in the bag in her hand. They reclaimed their place under the tree, and Makarov walked Roxanne through the meditation process once again.

 

The hour was spent in silence. Once again, Roxanne focused on her breathing and keeping the conscious half of her brain quiet. Once they were done, the pair stood and stretched out their muscles, then Makarov reminded her to wear her new bathing suit tomorrow and to meditate for one more hour before bed. After she promised, she was allowed to leave. She raced back to the guild, wanting to spend the rest of the day with her friends.

 

For the next several hours, she talked with Natsu, Lucy and Gray, until Romeo dropped by. Having not met him last night, she excused herself and went up to him.

 

"Hi!" she greeted him, her voice very excited. After all, since he was the only other child associated with the guild, who else should she play with? "I'm Roxanne. Your dad is Macao, right?"

 

"Uh-huh," he nodded, nervously but excitedly. "I'm Romeo. Are you a new Fairy Tail mage? Dad talked about you last night, and he said that you joined the guild yesterday."

 

"I did join yesterday, but I'm not a mage yet. I'm training with Makarov, though, so hopefully I'll become a mage soon. Until then, I can't get my stamp but Makarov's letting me live here for a while."

 

"That's cool! Makarov's a nice guy."

 

"He really is! Hey, do you wanna play, Romeo?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

She smiled and reached out to tap his shoulder, gently because he was six years old. "Tag!" She yelled and took off running, Romeo chasing at her heels.

 

Their laughs and Roxanne's shrieks drew the whole guild's attention, and the older members started to comment. They hadn't seen guild children play in a long time, since Natsu, Gray, Cana and Erza were kids themselves. The sight was probably one to enjoy, at least for the more sentimental adults. Lucy seemed to enjoy watching Roxanne play, but Gray and Natsu didn't pay much attention.

 

The sight was one to see. Two carefree children, one of them having just spent many hours enduring hard training, racing around the guild hall laughing and enjoying being children as if they didn't have a care in the world.

 

When the two became too tired, they ate dinner together. Well, Roxanne sat with Romeo and his father's friend Wakaba, and they ate their dinners while Wakaba talked with another adult.

After dinner, they played a bit more until Wakaba noticed the time and took Romeo home. This seemed a little bit weird to Rox, Wakaba taking Macao's child home, but she figured that Macao must be on a mission since she hadn't seen him all day, and Wakaba was Macao's best friend. Who else would Macao entrust his son to while he was gone? Not to mention, by this point, Macao and Romeo's mother would be divorced, and she'd probably moved away, so she wasn't around to care for Romeo. This left Wakaba pretty much Macao's choice for secondary caregiving for Romeo.

 

After Romeo and Wakaba left, Rox did her best to talk with Lucy and the boys, but she just couldn't stay awake so she went upstairs, took a shower and then a bath, and then she went to bed. She probably would have stayed in the tub all night, since she had found a comfortable position in the warm water that shifted her weight so that if she had fallen asleep she wouldn't slip down beneath the waterline and drown, but she figured Lucy would worry if she came into the apartment and found Roxanne not in her bed but in the tub. So she willed herself enough energy to get out, dress in pajamas, and crawl into her bed.

 

Sleep came quickly.

Chapter Five

 

One week after Roxanne first began her training with Makarov, she looked back in her journal while she waited for her breakfast. Reading each entry let her relive what she had learned and gone through that day, and it let Roxanne estimate how much she had grown.

 

In the seven days she had been training with Makarov, her body had changed slightly. She was eating more as a result of how much more active she was, and her metabolism had sped up as a result of the food she was eating and the strict workout regime. What little fat she'd had on her body was swiftly disappearing, and she could already see that her muscles were becoming more defined. Her body had begun adapting to the workouts too, so she could go through the day's activities without too much pain afterward as long as she followed it up quickly with a long soak in the bath.

 

She slept much better now, and although she was still plagued occasionally by nightmares of her brother and friends, they were becoming less frequent. As a result of the better sleep, she had more energy during the day. Granted, that extra energy didn't last very long, but at least she had it for her morning meditation and the following self-defense training.

 

She also saw improvements in the lessons themselves. Where she had struggled on the first day, now she was capable of falling safely from the standard positions. She had better motor control, more physical strength and endurance, and she could judge distances much better now. Makarov had even started her on the basics of punching and kicking without losing her balance—only one type of punch, and one type of kick, but he'd been very clear that simplicity was her best friend right now, and mastery through repetition was more important than finesse or complexity. To her surprise, Romeo also knew the basics up to that point and a little bit beyond, though his physical strength and endurance were still lower than hers due to his younger age and smaller body.

 

As to the meditation, she'd improved in leaps and bounds, and Makarov had been both surprised and pleased by her progress. He'd exclaimed that she must be a naturally meditative and introspective person, and by the end of the second day, had expanded her training to include sorting out her emotions and contemplating her motives and reasons. Then, two days later, he had added in the last skill, searching for her soul. Today would be her third day working on this lesson, her seventh hour practicing this skill. Unlike the previous steps, searching for her soul didn't come naturally to Roxanne. She hadn't been able to identify what she was actually looking for or where she should be looking until last night, let alone actually find it.

 

Closing the journal as the food arrived, Roxanne set it to one side as Mira handed her her breakfast. In the past week, her pre-ordered meals hadn't changed. Breakfast was comprised of two eggs on toast, three slices of bacon, a tall glass of orange juice, and a matching glass of milk. Lunch was a little stranger—water to drink was normal enough, but the food itself was Earthland's equivalent of avocadoes, mixed nuts and dried fruits, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She'd been mildly surprised to see how similar Eathland's sandwiches were to the ones back home at first, but now she relished their familiarity and always saved them for last.

 

Dinner was a leafy dark green salad with cucumber slices and tomatoes in it for flavor, rich multi-grain bread with butter, and some kind of very abundant meat dish. Snacks were limited to fruits, usually apples, oranges, and bananas because they were easy to transport and digest. There was a bowl of them in her room, and she usually took one or two with her during training, to be eaten during breaks.

 

Roxanne had, of course, wondered why Makarov had come up with such a specific menu for her. Eventually, she'd realized it was because she needed it—not only was she still growing, but she was much more active than she'd ever been before. And as much time as he was already spending on her, he didn't have any left to spend on designing a new meal each day for her, especially not one that fulfilled her dietary requirements, so a limited menu it was. Plus, it was less stressful for Mira if she always knew in advance what to make Roxanne.

 

Roxanne sighed, drinking the last of her juice. Glancing up from her plate, she checked the time and found that she still had a little while before Makarov was supposed to arrive. Retrieving her journal, she skedaddled upstairs. Once in her apartment, she put it away in the end-table by her bed and ran back downstairs. Glancing at the clock again, she went over to Lucy, who'd moved out just the day before.

 

As Roxanne had expected, she had chosen the waterfront apartment and Roxanne had helped Lucy with the move as much as she could. Which wasn't much, considering how full her days were now. Luckily, since Lucy had so few possessions at this point, it was an easy move. But Roxanne had wanted to help, so Lucy had let her wheel the suitcase and hold a few bags while Lucy had taken care of the paperwork.

 

Roxanne talked with Lucy until Makarov opened the doors. Seeing the guild master's silhouette in the morning light, she waved goodbye to her friend and raced to her mentor, then the pair set off for their usual training spot.

Once at the park, the two sat down in their places under the tree. There was silence between them. Roxanne had long since learned what was expected of her, and she didn't need to be told what to do anymore. She relaxed into her favorite resting position and closed her eyes, focusing her mind first on slowing her heartbeat and evening out her breathing as she banished thoughts from her mind. Then she began to search for her soul.

 

Roxanne couldn't explain what she was doing. Words were difficult to fit into such a process. But if words were necessary, then "exploring her mind" fit best. With her eyes closed and her mind quiet, she could focus on searching her mind and her body for her soul. On finding that lump of self that defined who and what she was. She'd thought she'd found it while dreaming last night, somewhere in the center of her body, near what Master Makarov had called her solar plexus, but before she could analyze it the alarm lacrima had given the command to wake up. Today, however, she knew where it was and what to search for.

 

She found it quickly, lodged just below her ribs between heart and stomach. Now that she had time, she could examine it more closely. To her surprise, it reminded her of the souls in the anime Soul Eater. A fist-sized orb hovering in the center of her being. But her soul glowed much brighter than the clear, soft pulse of light and life she remembered from that show. It was a turquoise/cyan color and the edges were a sharp white. It moved slowly, languidly, but it didn't really change shape or position. It kind of reminded her of water in a glass container. Like a fishbowl. She reached out to it, wanting to dive into it to learn more, hoping she'd learn more about her own personality.

 

The instant she touched her soul she was ripped from her trance. She opened her eyes with a gasp, feeling her heart race with the force of the sudden awakening. It took her a second to figure out why she'd awakened like that, but then she saw that her hands were submerged in a puddle of frozen water. Ice, though it seemed a bit slushy rather than perfectly hard and solid. Her eyes widened, but no sooner had she opened her mouth to call for Makarov than the ice begin to evaporate around the edges. Not melt, as it should have. It began to evaporate, starting at the edges and working its way inward.

 

"Master!" she squeaked in dismay, not wanting it to vanish before he could see. Master, look!"

 

The old man beside her woke up just soon enough to see the last bit of ice begin to turn to vapor.

 

"You did it, Roxanne!" he cried, grinning in proud surprise and causing her to blush with pleasure at the praise. "You found your magic. Ice magic. Well done!"

 

"Ice magic? Really?" Roxanne murmured, staring at her hands in awe. "Ice magic. That means… Gray could be my mentor, couldn't he? Oh my gosh!" She squealed, leaping to her feet in excitement. "Gray should be my mentor!" She squealed again as she hopped around in a circle excitedly. "Gray Fullbuster! Yes!"

 

"Now, now," Makarov chuckled. "There's more than one type of ice-based magic in the world, you know. Admittedly, Gray's skill with static Ice Make is admirable, but you don't have to limit yourself to that. Mm. Though, since he is available, we might as well have him teach you at least the basics. Heh." A cheeky grin, as he stood up. "Teaching someone else might do that young man some good. He's not the hothead Natsu is, but he can be a bit impulsive at times. A student might steady him a bit."

 

"Really?!" Roxanne stared at Makarov, full to bursting with excitement. She'd never thought that this would actually happen. Gray had always been her favorite character, and now he was going to be her teacher!

 

"Really." Makarov patted her shoulder, and Roxanne giggled at the fact that he had to reach up to do so. She wasn't even a big girl for her age! "You've found your magic, so it's time for you to receive your guild stamp and ask Gray to train you. Now, you won't be starting on missions any time soon—"

 

Roxanne stared at him, confused. "But what about you, Master?" They'd barely been training together for a week.

 

"Ah, well, I'm afraid my time to teach you personally is at an end," Makarov said gently, guiding her back towards the guild hall. "As much as I've enjoyed teaching someone myself again, you've found your magic and it's time to get you a tutor better suited to your specific needs. However, don't think that you're all done!" He waggled a finger at her. "I taught you the basics of basics—there's a whole lot more to learn, and don't you dare start slacking off just because your teacher changes!"

 

"No, sir!" Roxanne agreed sharply, shoulders straightening. To be honest, she felt a little sad, knowing their training together was going to end. As hard and exhausting as it had been, she'd seen how pushing herself like that had resulted in great progress, and she'd enjoyed this last week with the guild master. She sort of didn't want that to end. "Master? Will—will I still be able to meditate with you, sometimes?" she asked as they turned onto the guildhall's street.

 

"Oh, possibly," Makarov said, patting her on the shoulder. "If I have time to spare, I'd like to run through a few of your lessons with you again. But I'll make no promises.

 

Roxanne smiled. "Thank you, Master." That was all she could hope for.

 

It was hard to walk at a steady pace. She wanted to bolt ahead, run headlong to the guild and throw open the doors, start gushing to Lucy and Mira about her new magic. But she didn't want to just run off and leave the guild master behind.

 

When they reached the guild, however, she couldn't contain her excitement anymore. "I did it!" she yelled, shoving the doors open and almost stumbling inside in her haste to tell everyone. "I found my magic!"

 

The guild erupted into cheers and applause. Roxanne stood there for a moment, smiling and bowing before she made a beeline for Lucy, who had been joined by Natsu, Happy, and Gray since she left.

 

"Congratulations, Roxanne!" Lucy smiled, patting the child's shoulder. "I knew you could it. I'm so happy for you!"

"Nice going!" Natsu grinned.

 

"Aye, miss!" Happy chimed in immediately after.

 

"Thank you!" Roxanne beamed. She turned to look at Gray, feeling suddenly shy. He was also smiling, but in an 'I'm happy for you but playing it cool' kind of way. "It's ice magic, so, um—" She took a deep breath, and grabbed his hands. "Would you please teach me Ice Make? Please? I promise I'll work hard and do everything you say!"

 

Gray blinked at her, stunned into silence, eyes wide.

 

Natsu whooped and clapped Roxanne around her shoulders. She accepted another round of 'well done!' from him and Lucy, but her eyes were locked on Gray, her breath held hopefully.

 

He recovered from his shock quickly, but a myriad of subtle expressions flickered over his face. Surprise was still there, and doubt and worry too. She almost thought she saw a hint of a flattered expression, but it was gone into a kind of not-quite-a-smirk too fast for her to be sure. "I guess I'm the best you've got, huh?" he said, grinning crookedly at her.

 

Roxanne didn't just beam at the acceptance. She glowed. "Thank you!" she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck as Natsu laughed and Lucy smiled and Happy commented cheerfully on Gray's stunned-again expression.

 

Once Gray disentangled himself, Lucy handed Roxanne a compact from her purse so she'd have a mirror while Mirajane placed her guild stamp. Roxanne watched as Mira set the stamp over her neck and pressed gently. When she lifted it away, the area glowed for a second before the shape became visible. What set it apart from the other stamps was the color. It matched the color of Roxanne's soul, a beautifully brilliant shade of cyan, with just a hint of turquoise to deepen the color.

 

She smiled as she examined the mark, getting used to its presence, letting the symbol seep into every corner of her mind. The stamp was hers, and she was a mage, a Fairy Tail mage! Her dream had come true!

 

Unbidden, tears filled her eyes and she had to put down the mirror to wipe them away. She felt someone hug her and she hugged them back as she cried harder. Even back on Earth, she'd always dreamed of being a Fairy Tail mage. It hadn't been even remotely possible, just a silly fantasy, a game of make-believe that her friends and Jacob had played along with. She'd admired Lucy's will to leave the home that trapped her, had gasped in awe at the glory and wonder of magic, had giggled with her friends over the guild's silly antics, had begged Jacob to let her stay up just a little longer, please, just one more episode—

 

Even when she'd arrived here, becoming a Fairy Tail mage had seemed a distant dream. Something she could work towards, but still not real. The way thin black outlines weren't real, and flawless skin wasn't real, and flying blue talking cat-people weren't real, and magic wasn't real. It still felt like a dream, and whenever she woke up she was surprised again that it wasn't.

 

She never would have left her friends and family behind for this, and the week of hard work and self-discovery had been utterly exhausting, but…

 

This was real. It was really, truly real, the proof of it dyed into her skin.

 

What else could she do but cry?

 

Behind her, Natsu hung his head, groaning softly. "Again with the crying," he muttered, too low for Roxanne to hear.

 

Gray looked at him, one brow raised. This was the first time he'd seen Roxanne cry, and he couldn't tell if these were good tears or bad tears so he let Lucy and Mirajane handle her.

 

The girls glared at Natsu and rubbed Roxanne's back while everyone else watched.

 

Makarov remained by the door, watching everything. He was happy for the girl. He'd hoped for—expected—another week or two with her as his apprentice, but he wasn't upset that it had been cut short. Roxanne was a fast learner, and she was dedicated to everything she did, so it had only been a matter of time before she became a mage. To be honest, he was almost unreasonably proud of what the child had accomplished in such a short time. Oh, physically she was learning no faster than any other child of exceptional dedication, but spiritually? Her progress had been astounding, and it had taken quite a bit of willpower not to swell her head with praise, or gush about her progress while he was deep in his cups. The vast majority of his children came to him already knowing their magic in some way. Other than Laxus, he hadn't trained too many into discovering their talents himself, and it had been a very fulfilling experience. He felt a little bit of regret that he couldn't continue her education personally, but this really was the best solution.

 

After a few minutes, Roxanne seemed to pull herself together. She pulled away from Lucy, wiped her eyes, and flung her arms around Gray's waist, much to his surprise. He stiffened and she didn't have to look up to know that he was probably freaking out a little, not sure how to react. "Thank you," she whispered, and almost immediately felt him relax. She couldn't see his face, but he patted her head a little hesitantly, and she imagined he was smiling.

 

After a moment, Roxanne broke away from the hug, smiling like crazy. "What's the plan, Master?" she asked, and squealed again just a bit. She had just called Gray her Master, and her fangirl mode was in full swing.

 

Gray flinched a little. "First off, don't call me that. Gray's fine, okay?" He looked to Makarov, who nodded encouragingly. "Finish today's training with Gramps. Tomorrow I'll have a better answer for you."

 

"Yes, sir!" she replied eagerly, bouncing in place with a grin before racing off to Makarov, still smiling. He clapped her on the shoulder and led her back out of the guild, talking to her about celebratory ice cream after their exercises.

 

As soon as they were gone, practically the whole guild swamped Gray.

 

"Way to step up and be a man!" Elfman said in stout approval.

 

"How's it feel, having a cute girl apprentice?" That was Wakaba, already rosy-cheeked from drinking.

 

"Looks like you've got a fan!" Lucy smiled. "I thought she was going to explode for a minute there."

 

"Don't forget to keep your pants on, Gray!" Mirajane reminded him.

 

"What's the plan, 'Maaaster'?" Happy teased.

 

Gray flushed at the attention. "Shut up!" Mastering himself, he stood. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet, so I'm going to go figure it out. If you want to know tomorrow, ask me then," he said firmly and walked off, leaving the guild hall in favor of the silence of the city library.

 

As for Roxanne, her training continued as usual, mostly. She was too excited to meditate anymore, so they skipped right into the physical aspect of the training, and as Makarov had promised, during their lunch break he bought her ice cream as well. Time flew, and before Roxanne knew it the day was done and Makarov was taking her back to the guild.

 

When she entered the guild hall, she looked around for Gray and was rather disappointed to not see him. For that matter, she didn't see Happy, Natsu, or Lucy either. Frowning a little, she went to the bar and took a seat. "Hi, Mira." She greeted the older Strauss sibling.

 

"Hi, Roxanne!"

 

"Have you seen Natsu, Lucy, Happy, or Gray?"

 

"Gray left just after you did. He said he was going to make a plan regarding your training."

 

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense." And now she felt kind of stupid. Of course that was what he was doing!

 

"Natsu and Lucy left a few hours ago," Mirajane continued. "Romeo was very worried, because Macao hasn't returned yet, so they left to find him, and rescue him if need be."

 

"Macao's missing?!" Roxanne exclaimed, not needing to fake her shock. She'd gotten so caught up in her training and finding her magic that she hadn't really thought about the fact that she hadn't seen Macao since that first day. "Oh no! Are they alright?" The Macao Arc had begun, and while she knew the outcome already, that didn't mean she wasn't a little worried.

 

"I'm sure they're fine," Mirajane assured her. "Natsu and Macao are both strong mages, and I'm sure Lucy is safe with Natsu and Happy."

 

"Yeah." Roxanne smiled brightly at Mirajane, feeling better. "After all, Natsu is a Dragon Slayer. There's nothing that can take him down when someone he cares about needs him!"

 

"That's so true," Mirajane laughed, handing Rox her plate. "Now eat up. You've got a big day tomorrow!"

 

"Yep!" Roxanne beamed at her and bounced in place, trying not to fall off of the tall stool in pure fangirl squee.

Just as she was finishing her food, Romeo entered the guild hall. Roxanne smiled and hopped down from her seat, racing over to the little boy. After a few minutes of mutually reassuring each other that Macao would be fine, since Natsu (and Lucy) were going to rescue him, they started a vigorous game of hide-and-seek. Two hours later, after somehow managing to convince Elfman to play the 'ogre' in their game, they were giggling and hiding under one of the big tables when Wakaba called Romeo to go home. The younger boy pouted a little—or was it sulking when boys did it?—but went along willingly enough, noting that he had homework to finish. Roxanne had been surprised by how dutiful Romeo was when it came to homework.

 

At that point, Roxanne decided that sleep might be the best idea. She wanted to study Fiorean runes some more—she still couldn't read well, though she at least recognized most of the symbols—but she was just so tired that she didn't think she'd be able to keep her eyes open long enough.

 

Once she was upstairs, she bathed quickly and changed into her pajamas. She stood between her bed and her desk, debating on skipping a journal entry for that night. In the end, she sat down at the desk. How could she possibly not record today's events?

 

July 11, x784

What a day it's been! This morning, during meditation with the Master, I found my soul. It was so pretty! It looked like water trapped in a glass ball, but the glass was actually ice! So when I reached out to touch it, I discovered my magic. Ice magic! Gray has agreed to be my mentor and I'm so excited! I don't think I could be happier. After all, I'm Gray Fullbuster's apprentice! We start training tomorrow. What will I be doing? Practicing ice magic for sure, but anything else? Will he make me keep doing my meditations? I found my magic—what else do I need it for? Will I learn how to really fight, not just fall, or punch air? I wonder what will change tomorrow. I have to say, though, I'm kind of sad to not be training with Master Makarov anymore. It was actually kind of fun, even if it was tiring. He had me doing all kinds of stuff so it was always a challenge, but nothing ever really changed too much so I got better and better every day. I wonder what Gray will have me do?

 

Oh, also, the Macao Arc began today. I wonder how much longer it will be until the Galuna Island arc? I hope not too soon. I shudder just thinking about the pain that is in store for Gray. And Lucy, and all of my friends when their arcs come! But Edolas is gonna be great! That's when Lisanna comes back! Natsu and Happy are gonna be so happy, and so will Elfman and Mirajane. Oh, I hope I'm not pulled out of the lacrima along with Gray. I'm not a very fast runner, so I'd have a hard time avoiding the Edolas soldiers. And I don't know if I'll even know how to fight properly by then. Oh no! What am I going to do during the Tenrou Island Arc?! That's seven years without Gray, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and Mira and Makarov! How will I train if I'm by myself? I'm too tired to think about it too much tonight, so it'll have to be later. I'm really tired! But I'm not sure how well I'll sleep. I mean, I'm bone-tired, but I'm also so excited and hyper! Fangirl mode is in full swing and I'm not sure I'll be able to turn it off. Gray is my master! Squee! Well, I might as well try to sleep, I guess. Maybe I'll meditate in bed. Maybe I'll end up falling asleep as I stare at my soul. Okay, that sounds kinda creepy. Hee!

Chapter Six

 

The alarm woke Roxanne the next morning, but instead of pressing the button that would give her an additional fifteen minutes like she usually did—this first alarm was just the 'start waking up' alarm rather than the 'get your butt out of bed!' alarm that she never missed—she bounced right out of bed. She didn't want to wait around the extra fifteen minutes; she wanted to get downstairs as soon as possible, because today was her first day of Ice Make magic training with Gray!

How had my life gotten to be so amazing? She asked herself as she started pulling on her swimsuit.

Here she was, living out her dream of being a Fairy Tail mage, and she was the apprentice of Gray Fullbuster! Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps from sheer happiness. She felt so alive already, as if this was where she was really meant to be.

 

She rushed through her morning routine, not bothering to make up her bed or brush her hair. She was out the door in record time and she descended the long staircase at breakneck pace, small feet making thunder on the wooden steps, one hand on the banister for balance. When she reached the bottom she skipped the last step entirely. The pads of her feet stung slightly from the impact when she landed, but she was too excited to care. She dashed to her seat at the bar and scrambled up onto it, feet swinging impatiently as she waited for her food to arrive. She wanted to be ready when Gray came to get her, not still shoveling food into her mouth.

 

Mira read her in a heartbeat, holding back a giggle to a mere dancing-eyes smile as she tended the frying pan where eggs and bacon sizzled. She slipped the bacon onto a plate the moment it was done, placed the eggs on a slice of toasted bread and dashed pepper over them, and set the plates in front of the new mage.

 

Roxanne wanted to wolf the food down, but after burning her tongue on the first bite she forced herself to slow down and chew properly. It would be awful if her first lesson with Gray was how to keep from choking on her own food! Still, she finished faster than she ever had before, and immediately jumped down from her stool with a hasty thank-you to Mira for her breakfast. Just like her first day in Magnolia, she was too excited to keep still, had too much excess energy rushing through her veins. She needed to move!

 

So she did. Most of Fairy Tail's mages weren't morning people, so the guild hall was relatively deserted, and Roxanne felt justified in dashing up and down the rows between tables, dodging the few benches that were not entirely pushed up beneath them. She ran until her breaths came fast and hard, but still the energy burned inside her, and she realized that she needed to find another way to calm down. Scrambling on top of one of the side-tables—the one she knew got used the least, because it had the fewest scratch-marks and indentations from beer mugs—she laid down in as comfortable a position as she could find and started the breathing pattern for meditation.

 

When Gray finally entered the guildhall, he found his new apprentice like that, lying flat on her back on a table, eyes closed and body motionless save for the slight rise and fall of her breaths. He looked to Mira, who had finished her duties behind the bar and was now prepping the rest of the guild hall. "What is she doing?" he asked, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Roxanne.

 

"Meditating, I think," his white-haired guildmate whispered in reply

.

Gray gave her a puzzled look. "Why?"

 

"Well, she was very excited about starting her magic lessons with you today," Mira said, eyes dancing at the way he shifted uncomfortably. "She couldn't sit still earlier, practically inhaled her food—I think this is her last ditch effort to calm down."

 

"Oh." Gray's brows rose, genuinely impressed. He was both flattered and embarrassed by how eager Roxanne was, but he was more amazed by how well she seemed to be handling it. Had she really wished to have magic like his? The ribbing from everyone else last night had made him nervous about teaching a girl like her, who seemed to admire him almost a little too much. He didn't know much about her, but he knew this: He wanted to help this little girl succeed. He wanted to do right by her, the way Ur had done right by him, and he wanted to do everything he could to make sure that her dreams came true. Gramps had already given her a home and basic instruction, but now she needed him to teach her about their magic. He'd seen the determination and relief burning in her eyes last night when he had agreed to be her mentor, and he knew that they had another thing in common: She needed magic. She needed to prove to herself that she could become a true mage of Fairy Tail, the same way he'd needed magic, when the heart had been torn out of his world, and all he'd had left was the need to never be helpless again, to save people from the fate he had endured. He could only hope that he was worthy of her obvious admiration.

 

Gray let out a deep, shaky breath, nervously setting his mind back to the task at hand. "Roxanne."

 

Immediately, her eyes popped open and she sat up. Before he could say anything else, she was off the table and dashing over to stand in front of him. "I'm ready to go!" she proclaimed eagerly, practically bouncing on her toes with excitement. "What do we do first?"

 

He chuckled at her enthusiasm and turned towards the door. "Come on, I'll tell you at the park. Thanks for your help, Mira."

 

"Any time, Gray." The white-haired mage nodded and went back to the prep-work.

 

Roxanne followed him, waving goodbye to Mira. "Thanks, Mira! See you soon!"

 

"Take care!" Mira replied as she waved back.

 

Gray took Roxanne to the same park where she had been training with Makarov, and smiled at the puzzled look she gave him.

 

"Okaaaaay," Gray began, taking up Makarov's spot under the shade of the tree. "A lot will change from your training with Gramps, but there will still be a few elements that will stay the same. Now that you've found your magic, you don't need to meditate three times a day, although it's a good idea to keep doing it at least once." Originally he'd kind of planned to drop it, but after what he'd seen this morning, he'd changed his mind.

 

"I decided to keep this part of your training because meditation is supposed to help with inner peace or whatever. Now, I don't meditate, it doesn't do anything for me and I feel stupid, but if it works for you then keep doing it." A pause, to make sure she was taking it all in. The way her eyes were glued to his face made it pretty clear that yes, she had been listening. "Everything you do is with the goal of making yourself stronger. Not just for the sake of being strong, but to protect yourself, your friends, and the people around you. Magic is awesome, but it can be dangerous too, if you use it wrong—" Oh, could it ever. "—which is why you are never to practice magic on your own until you have a better grasp on your magic. Why?"

 

“Because magic is dangerous when not used properly!” Roxanne chirped confidently, responding without missing a beat.

 

“That’s right! So, no practicing magic on your own for now. Got it?”

 

"Yes, Master Gray!"

 

Gray twitched. "Don't call me that," he requested as gently as he could. He didn't want to sound harsh, but it was one thing to call Gramps 'master'. He was a guild master, and old, and had experience as a teacher. Calling Gray that was, well, kind of weird and creepy feeling. "Gray is fine."

 

"Can I call you teacher?" Roxanne's blue-green eyes shone eagerly.

 

"Just Gray," Gray said firmly. "Anyway, like I said, your first priority is getting stronger, so we'll leap right into the easy physical training. Stretches, warm-ups, and then self-defense training. Then, we'll do the harder physical training, like running and other stuff. After that, we'll work on magic training. When we're done, we'll go swimming."

 

"Okay!" Roxanne chirped, almost bouncing on her toes again. She took a couple of deep breaths before she could slip into fangirl mode, and set the miracle that was her life to the back of her mind so she could focus on her training. "Yes, sir!" she said, much more firmly.

 

Gray noticed her reigning herself in, and was again impressed by that self-control. He'd been kind of an idiot as a kid, driving himself past what even Ur thought was reasonable out of sheer desperation. Given he was the one training her, it was probably a good thing Roxanne had more restraint, because he still had no idea how to properly teach a youngster.

 

"Alright," he said. "Let's get started."

 

For the next few hours, Gray led Rox through her usual warm-ups and self-defense routine, continuing her balance and falling practice, but also adding in some basic punching, kicking and blocking techniques. Gramps had said she should take another month or so to really be ready for combat training, or at the very least another week, but Gray knew that as long as she had someone there to make sure she didn't hurt herself, she'd be okay.

 

He kept it very simple, correcting her when she messed up and praising her when she did well. When she looked up at him eagerly for an explanation of why putting her feet in that way worked better than standing like this, he did his best to explain—even though he was pretty sure he flubbed it a little—but still had to resort to way more 'because it just works' than he liked.

 

It was nine o'clock when Gray told her to stop, take a breather, and stretch out again in preparation for the more intense training. He walked her through her stretches, helping her push just that little bit more than she could do on her own, and then slowly easing up until she was warm and limber. He hadn't changed the basic exercises much. She still did push-ups, sit-ups, squats and pull-ups. She still played catch-the-coin and hopscotch for her conditioning training—he'd never thought a girl's game like hopscotch could be used for training like this before, go Gramps!—and ran the stairs. But he did add some things to her physical training, which had made eliminating her meditation time necessary.

 

First, he created an obstacle course using his Ice Make magic. When he'd shown Gramps his original design, the guild master had given the crude drawing an incredulous look and laughed, asking Gray how he expected a nine-year-old to be able to climb an ice wall and cross monkey bars made of ice without falling and breaking an ankle. Gray had reconsidered after that, and toned it down to things that didn't involve vertical surfaces or heights.

 

First was a series of ankle-high rings that Roxanne had to navigate without tripping, putting her feet down in the holes rather than on the slippery surfaces of the rings themselves, the faster the better.

 

Then came a net that was modeled after chain-link fencing, to give it both strength and flexibility, suspended only a foot above the ground with dull-tipped barbs that would—hopefully—catch clothing without scratching skin too badly. She had to crawl under it and, at the same time, avoid the obstacles he placed in her way. Third—and his personal favorite—was a ball pit he'd made by turning the water in the park's fountain into thick-sided ice bubbles. She had to flounder-slash-swim her way through it to the far side, her footing both treacherous and concealed by the balls, and then climb out despite her hands being wet and slippery.

Finally, he'd made a bunch of dummies from ice and had her run through them. They spun at the slightest touch, ice-rod arms and legs giving a stinging—but not dangerous—smack if she didn't manage to dodge in time.

 

The course ended with her running up the flight of stairs to where he waited, stopwatch in hand.

"Not bad," he grinned at her once she made it to him. She was obviously tired, her neat braid somewhat bedraggled and soaked through with sweat despite the ice everywhere combating Fiore's summer heat. "Get your breath back, and then try it again."

 

Roxanne bit back a whimper, and went back to the starting line without a sound. There, she crouched over, bracing her hands on her knees, and took deep, even breaths to help her get ready.

 

She'd never been so physically challenged in her life, and not really knowing what to do for some of it meant she'd had to figure it out as she went, which was also mentally taxing. Halfway through the second run of the course, she kept going only because her stubbornness wouldn't allow her to show her exhaustion so early into the day. But mostly she didn't want Gray to think that he had been saddled with a weak student. So she clenched her jaw, stuck out her chin, and forced herself up those steps for the second time, to look her mentor in the eye without any sign of exhaustion worse than breathing hard.

 

When she finally dragged her way up to him the second time, he grinned and ruffled her hair, ignoring the water droplets that were flicked this way and that by the motion. "Good job," he said. "You did a lot better that time." She'd cut almost thirty seconds off her time, which he considered a big improvement.

 

Roxanne grinned back at him, panting, cheeks flushed with praise as well as tiredness. "I just knew what I was doing that time," she admitted.

 

"Which means you learned from the first time," Gray shrugged. "Good job." He didn't give false praise, and maybe he wasn't doing things exactly the way Ur or Master Makarov would have, but Roxanne was a girl, and from what Lucy had said, she'd been pretty sheltered before she'd been flung out into the world. A lot of kids like that never got past being pampered and useless, so Gray hoped to encourage Roxanne into being a more productive, self-sufficient individual by praising her when she put in effort.

 

Gray melted his obstacle course, declaring that twice was enough for the first day, and Roxanne was glad to see it go. But when Gray produced a huge pile of snowballs, she almost took it back.

"Um, we're not having a snowball fight, are we?" she asked nervously. Los Angeles winters weren't made for snowball fights, so the only times she'd seen snow were when her parents took the family on a rare skiing trip, and even then she'd mostly just made snowmen. If it came down to a snowball fight, Gray would slaughter her.

 

Gray snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm almost twice your age, and you're already pretty worn out." He wasn't stupid. Besides, if he started something interactive like that, chances were he'd start stripping, and with a little girl as a student that just wasn't right. "Your target is this," he said. Moving a short distance away, he smacked one fist into the opposite palm, calling to the scintillating core of his soul, where his magic dwelled. A target rose from the ground, moisture wicked from the air to form a solid disk of ice. On a last, humorous whim, he formed a particular, funny image at its center.

 

Roxanne burst into giggles, clapping both hands over her mouth until she had herself under control again.

 

Gray grinned. "All you have to do is throw snowballs and try to hit the bullseye," he said, tapping the target's center, where Natsu's face stood out, the same terrified look he got whenever Erza glared at him stamped indelibly on icy features.

 

"Okay!" Roxanne chirped, hands dropping from her mouth as she mastered herself.

 

"Oh, one more thing," Gray added, walking back over to her. "You have to stand behind here." He laid a stick that had fallen from the tree earlier on the ground about ten feet from the target.

"Every time you hit the bullseye three times in a row, I'll move the stick back five feet. If you hit the bullseye three times again, I'll move the stick back another five feet. We'll do that for a while, and then we'll stop for the day. But tomorrow, the stick goes right back to where it is now and the process starts over. Eventually, the line will start out further and further away from the target. Once it starts at a certain distance," say, thirty feet, since that was about as far as he could reasonably expect a kid her age to throw, "I'll put the target on a track to make it a moving target. I'll explain more at that point."

 

Roxanne nodded again as she absorbed this new information. Her head spun, and she felt terribly intimidated—could she live up to his expectations? It was just throwing a snowball, but for some reason it felt enormously more important than what she'd done before, as if his earlier praise would mean nothing if she failed. She wasn't sure why she felt like that, but she was still scared.

 

She took a deep breath, in and out, letting the nervousness flow away like water. She was going to try her best. That was all she could do, try her best every day and tackle her training one step at a time.

 

Satisfied and reinvigorated, she nodded once more and picked up a snowball, dimly noticing that it was too big to hold well. At this distance, hitting the bullseye was theoretically easy, but that theory was soon proven false. Roxanne threw the ball, subconsciously pulling from her memories of movies and baseball games on the TV since she had no experience of her own—

The snowball didn't even come close to hitting the target. Instead, it went too high and to the left.

Roxanne bit her lip and breathed, letting disappointment follow nervousness.

 

"It's okay, Roxanne" Gray said, standing back to observe. "Try again."

 

Roxanne breathed a little more, and picked up another snowball. She weighed it in her hand, feeling how dense and well-packed it was, the slight moisture from where the sun melted little bits of snow, drop by tiny drop. The snowball was much lighter than a rubber ball, and definitely not as bouncy, but it didn't just crumble in her hand, either. The snowball was built for Gray's hand, too, not hers; it was a little too large to grip easily or firmly. There were a lot of factors as to why her first throw had gone so awry despite the short distance, but inexperience and hastiness were probably the biggest.

 

Once she was comfortable with the snowball, she eyed the target critically, making a few throwing-motions to get herself used to the motion. Then she took a breath, hauled off, and let the snowball fly.

 

She missed again, but this time it was much closer, clipping the upper left edge of the target. Roxanne felt encouraged, especially when she saw Gray nodding approvingly. Now I know that I tend to miss up and left, so if I aim down and right—

 

She grabbed another snowball and tried again, making sure that she moved her arm instead of just staring at Natsu's face and expecting her body to correct itself. This time it flew too low, but was centered enough to strike the target's supporting base.

 

Okay, try a little higher.

 

The fourth snowball fared better, striking the outer ring of the target only a little to the left of the center. The fifth try struck the bullseye, making Roxanne shriek excitedly.

 

"I did it!" A glance in Gray's direction saw him smirking with amusement, but it wasn't a mean smirk, and his eyes were pleased, so Roxanne quickly scooped up another snowball, determined to hit the bullseye twice more and move the stick back.

 

To her dismay, she missed the bullseye, snowball shattering on the left side of the target instead. But she didn't give up, taking a moment to calm and center herself, she lined up her next shot carefully. She clipped the right edge of the target. Her next two did find the bullseye, followed by one that missed. So close! After two more throws, she finally got her three-in-a-row streak, and shrieked with excitement, jumping up and down while Gray chuckled and moved the stick back.

 

Despite his amusement, Gray was once again impressed with Roxanne. Sure, she wasn't as good at throwing snowballs as himself, or Natsu, or even Romeo, but it was pretty obvious that she'd never tried anything like this before, never had the kind of rough-and-tumble childhood that came with snowball fights and ball games with friends, or even any kind of more structured training.

 

But she makes up for that lack of experience through observation and analysis. Not only does she figure out what she's doing wrong, but she fixes it on the next try, and she doesn't give up when it isn't perfect. She doesn't quite have the hand-eye coordination to hit whatever she aims at yet, but she's observant and stubborn enough to compensate for her limitations, and she gives her all to the task at hand, regardless of what it is.

 

Still, as she got farther from her target, things would get harder. She'd learned the basics of how to aim; now she'd need to account for the ballistic arc as well, since she simply wasn't strong enough to flat-throw a snowball fifteen feet. Not yet. He could get about forty-five or fifty feet of distance before the force of throwing it hard enough to counter gravity's pull also broke it up. If he was throwing something sturdier, like an ice-ball, he could get much farther, maybe even a good hundred-fifty feet, but that would be stupidly dangerous right now. If he set her goals that were too far ahead, her determination might be broken. He couldn't have that. She did have a long way to go, so she'd need every scrap of determination, spirit and stubbornness she possessed.

 

Roxanne's first try at the fifteen-foot mark proved him right—it didn't even reach the target, shattering on the grass a foot in front and to the left of its base. The second snowball was no better, wobbling wildly off to the side, though at least it passed the target. The third was a bit better, but didn't even brush the target's rim. Four more snowballs flew in increasingly erratic arcs as her frustration built, until finally Roxanne stopped, scowling in concentration at the next snowball she'd picked up, clearly trying to figure out what she was doing wrong. She glared at the snowball as if it was the ball's fault she couldn't hit the target, but Gray could tell she was thinking because he could practically the gears in her head working.

 

Gray decided that it was time to step in. "Roxanne," he said, stepping closer as she turned wide, near-frantic, watering eyes on him. "Relax. Remember, it's your first day. This is as much about figuring out what you can do already as it is about learning to improve."

 

"But I can't figure it out!" she protested shakily, accidentally squashing the snowball as she gripped it a little too hard. She dropped the clumps of snow to the ground, dusting flakes off cold-reddened fingers that trembled with worry and frustration. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

 

"And that's okay," Gray said, shrugging. "Look, I had trouble with this too."

 

Roxanne blinked up at him, eyes wide. "Really?" she asked, surprise and wonder overcoming her fear that she was going to be a failure, that she wouldn't measure up, that she'd let her teacher down. "I didn't know you had to throw snowballs at a target." That had never been covered in the flashbacks. What else didn't she know, that had been deemed too unimportant for the anime to show?

 

"Yeah," Gray shrugged, crouching down to look her in the eye. Maybe that was why Gramps got along so well with kids; he was fun-size too, unless he used magic. "That's why I picked this, since it's something I'm familiar with. I know how it works, and that it does work. Do you want me to tell you what you're missing?" He respected her determination; he wouldn't undermine it by giving advice that she might not want to hear.

He needn't have worried.

 

"Yes, please," Roxanne said fervently, grabbing his hands. She wanted to do it right, wanted to succeed, to show him she could do it the way he wanted her to.

 

Gray smiled and gently pulled his hands free, ruffling her hair again. "You're not letting go of the snowball in the right spot of your throw," he said as he turned to the target and pointed at Natsu. "See, when you're further away, the snowball has more time to fall, so you can't just throw it straight at the target—not unless you're throwing really hard, and that makes it a lot more difficult to aim properly. Here, watch." He picked up one of the snowballs, absently reinforcing the magic on the pile while he did so, to keep them from melting any further. A little bit of heat softened them just right for molding, but they were right on the edge of becoming slushy.

 

Standing straight at the target, he wound up and slammed the snowball right in Natsu's stupid, terrified face. "See, I'm a lot stronger and taller than you are, so I can just slam it from here with no problem. But if I was you, I'd have to throw more like this." He crouched down to her height, picked up another snowball. This time he threw it more slowly, almost letting the ball roll off of his fingers in the end. It still shattered against Natsu's face, but it was a clumpy puff of snow-dust instead of a shower. "Did you see?"

 

Roxanne had watched both throws intently, and while an inner part of her wanted to squeal with glee as Gray hit the target hard enough to make the snowball basically explode, she held that part back in favor of trying to see what he did the second time that she could imitate. "The snowball was spinning?" she asked hesitantly.

 

"Exactly." Gray nodded. "See, if the snowball is rolling up and back towards you like that, it counters a little bit of how gravity and air drag it downwards." He twirled his index fingers around each other for emphasis. "Plus, since you can't throw hard enough to make a straight line yet, you have to throw sort of in an arc, and changing where you let go of the ball changes the angle of your arc. Here." He moved over to crouch next to her again, gripping her wrist and elbow to move her arm through the motions as he spoke. "You were throwing like this, when you should have been letting go right here, and letting your fingertips kind of graze the ball as it sails away to give that a bit of a spin."

 

"Oh!" Roxanne lit up as understanding dawned. "I see! I get it now!" It was like putting a spin on a bowling ball, so it stayed in the middle of the lane instead of wandering off into the gutter.

 

Gray smiled and backed away so she could practice, retrieving the shirt he'd somehow managed to shuck out of before, and pulled it back on. As he'd thought, Roxanne took a few false-start practice throws to get used to the form he'd shown her, before taking aim at the target and actually letting fly. When she finally threw the snowball, it still didn't hit the bullseye, but it did hit the target. Twenty snowballs later, she still hadn't managed three bullseyes in a row, but she'd managed to hit the target repeatedly, and gotten a bullseye at least twice. Finally, Gray decided they'd practiced enough, and told her to stop while he sublimated the snowballs and target.

 

"That was good," he said as he made his way back over towards her.

 

She smiled and raced to him, bouncing on her toes and thrilled by his praise, even if she hadn't managed to move the stick back a second time. "That was kinda fun!" she exclaimed, quite pleased with her own progress. "Can we do that again tomorrow?"

 

"Absolutely," Gray chuckled. He'd already told her that, but he couldn't blame her for wanting confirmation. "But, for now, let's take a short break, okay?" He checked his watch again. "Say, five minutes or so. I've got a game I'd like to try—I think it'll be right up your alley, once you get used to it." Everyone else in the guild got too competitive and ended up wrecking things—especially Natsu—and Lyon… well, even if he knew where he was, Gray didn't think a 'friendly game' was on the table anymore. “And since I haven’t played it in a while, this will be fun for me, too! Heck, I’m so out of practice that you might get the better of me.”

 

"Cool!" Roxanne bounced on her toes again, giggling at the accidental pun. "What kind of game is it?" Ice would make a really good medium for bowling, and she was actually pretty good at that, for a kid. She didn't even need to use the bumpers anymore!

 

Gray smiled at her enthusiasm. It was really hard not to keep ruffling her hair, but she'd probably start to resent it if he did it too often. "I call it Hit the Birdie. My mentor used to let her other apprentice Lyon and I play it together." Lyon's 'birdies' had literally flown around, making gameplay borderline impossible until Ur put her foot down. "She said it does a lot of good things for your body, but mostly it builds hand-eye coordination and reflexes."

 

"That sounds like fun!" Roxanne nodded, shunting aside her desire to squeal and pounce on the mention of Lyon and Ur. She couldn't let on that she knew who they were—even Erza didn't know who they were at this point in the timeline! "How do you play?"

 

Gray grinned and moved over to the stick that still lay on the ground. Using that as a marker, he used Ice Make to create two poles with a thin, shimmering sheet of ice between them that could act as a net. It was thin enough and smooth enough to see through, so they'd both know what the other was doing, but he'd left enough deliberate inclusions in the ice to give it a very lightly 'frosted' look, so they wouldn't forget where it was. Next came the rackets—they were harder, since they couldn't just be solid sheets of ice. They had to have elasticity, something ice was uniquely suited not to have. Once he'd made the frames, he grew a hexagonal web-work of thin ice strings, tuning the magic carefully to give the ice properties natural ice would never have. In some ways, it was similar to how Macao could make fire that 'clung' to other objects, despite fire normally being pretty much intangible. It also made the ice-lines a much, much deeper blue, as his magic saturated them.

 

Roxanne watched in utter fascination. This wasn't quick-and-dirty battle-magic, like in the show, no matter how beautiful Gray's Ice Make weapons and shields had always been. This was something much more mundane, and at the same time much more amazing. It didn't take a long time for him to finish the long-handled rackets—no more than a few seconds—but she got to actually watch the crystals grow and form, and it was a fascinating process. I want that. Roxanne realized as desire burned in her heart so hot that it made her throat ache. I want to be able to do that.

 

It wasn't until Gray produced the 'Birdie', though, that she realized exactly what game this was. The Birdie was a plum-sized half-hollow ball of ice with a netted ring of fins on the back side, and Gray produced it by placing the 'ball' in the palm of one hand and then laying the other hand atop it and pulling away in a short gesture, the net growing up beneath his hands like rock candy in reverse. The ball split in half and the fins sprouted up from the flat sides of each, creating two Birdies rather than one.

 

Rox smiled. At least they'd have a spare if the primary Birdie got launched far away.

 

"Aaand, there we are." Gray nodded to himself, tossing and catching one Birdie a few times to check that the balance wasn't off. The front half of the 'ball' was very faintly blue, a testament to the extra magic that went into it, since it had to have a hard-rubber texture or it would crack during play. "All you have to do is hit the Birdie up over the net to my side of the court, and then I'll hit it back to you. That's called a volley, and it lasts until one of use makes a mistake and the Birdie hits the ground. We'll keep doing volleys until I say we've had enough."

 

Roxanne found herself smiling confidently despite herself. Badminton! Hit the Birdie is badminton! she cheered to herself. She was so glad to find a game that she was familiar with and loved.

 

Her school had let the students play either dodgeball or badminton on rainy days, and she always chose badminton, so she was quite confident in her skills. She wasn't the best, but she still enjoyed badminton more than dodgeball. Her parents had also had her playing tennis almost every day since she was big enough to hold a racket, claiming that it did the same things for her that Gray claimed Hit the Birdie did. But Roxanne was sure that they did it just so that she would wear herself out and be more obedient during the etiquette and comportment lessons that came afterwards. But even though she was more familiar with tennis, she preferred badminton because there wasn't quite as much running involved, and because the hitter needed a delicate touch or else the Birdie would fly across the room.

 

Grinning, she took her racket and raced to the court. "Ready when you are, Gray!" she shouted once she was in position in her favorite spot.

 

Gray paused, smile faltering. He'd noticed the confidence in her eyes, which meant that she was very familiar with the game, and that had caught him off guard. He knew that Ur hadn't invented Hit the Birdie, but when he'd first come to Magnolia, no one else had known it. He'd thought it was unique to Istvan.

 

Note to self: do not underestimate student's potential experience. He'd thought of her as a sheltered rich kid, and she was, but even rich kids played games, and Hit the Birdie was the kind of no-violence, no-contact game that would probably appeal to snooty, over-protective parents.

Gray moved over to his own court, watching his apprentice with unerring, analytical eyes. He chose a spot that was centered on his side, the better to react to something unexpected, until such time as he knew Roxanne's proficiency with the game and could thus choose a spot that was particularly effective against her. As a bonus, going to the middle would prevent her from figuring out his own tendencies beforehand because it was something a novice would do, thinking that it was better to have an equal amount of space on all sides.

 

As he'd thought she would, Roxanne narrowed her eyes in concentration, trying to analyze his own placement and what that would mean for where the birdie would go. And, as he tossed the birdie on the racket a few times in preparation, she moved to the spot she thought most likely for the birdie to go.

 

Gray was glad he'd noticed her confidence. If he hadn't, he'd probably have gotten creamed in the first round while 'going easy on her', until he'd wizened up. Now, though, he could more accurately assess her while keeping his own defenses up. Losing to your apprentice on the first day is not cool, he told himself wryly, catching the birdie on the racket and holding it up in a visual cue to Roxanne that the game was about to begin. It's the kind of thing that gets you mocked by idiot Salamanders.

 

Roxanne nodded and braced herself, raising her racket until it was level with the rest of her arm and slightly behind. Gray nodded approvingly and tossed the birdie into the air. He watched it fly up, then turn and come back down ball-first. He waited until it was at the right height, then he lifted his racket and swung underhand with a light touch, expertly popping the birdie over the net.

Roxanne had to race forward to hit the birdie before it hit the ground. She had expected Gray to hit it where she had been, and then figured that he would hit it over her head when he realized she'd played this game before. She hadn't expected him to hit the birdie short of her position, so she had to adjust quickly. Thankfully, her racket met the birdie and easily flicked it into the air, buying her a bit of time to re-center herself for her own hit. She hit the birdie over the net, aiming for the ground just barely on his side, and watched as Gray darted forward and easily caught the birdie. Bouncing it on the racket once, he backed up to gain more ground, then he hit the birdie with far more strength than before. His goal was the far end of Roxanne's court.

 

When she saw how much strength he was putting into the volley, Roxanne retreated, turning her back to him to get more speed, rather than risk tripping by running backwards. She guessed where he intended the birdie to go, and dashed over there. Thankfully, she had been right, and the birdie came sailing smoothly towards her. She smiled and hit it back the moment it came into range, sending hers to the side of his court that was furthest from him and closer to the net, which meant that he'd have to react quickly as well.

 

He, of course, met the birdie and returned it to Roxanne, and she hit it back to him. They parried like that, with increasingly difficult-to-reach targets and near-catches, until the volley was broken when Roxanne was just a fraction of a second too late. To Gray's surprise and pleasure, Roxanne took the loss well, merely stomping her foot once in wordless disappointment before scooping the birdie up with the rim of her racket and looking to him for permission to resume play.

 

"Go ahead," Gray nodded. "You obviously know how to play, so you might as well serve."

Roxanne beamed, spirits restored, and tossed the birdie upwards.

 

They kept playing for several rounds, and Gray was genuinely impressed by Roxanne's intuition. She seemed to be reading him almost expertly, guessing where he'd send the birdie more often than not and saving herself precious fractions of a second to actually react. What he didn't know was that Roxanne was also factoring in his body language and what she knew of his personality to arrive at those guesses. It certainly wasn't easy, because Gray had twice the reach she did and much better reflexes, but at the same time, despite his admiration, he was still underestimating her a little. His knowledge of her reflexes and response time came from their earlier training, things she had been largely unfamiliar with, and thus lacked the proper instincts to perform without conscious thought.

 

Gray decided to end the game after several rounds, and when he checked the time he was shocked to find that they had been playing intensely for far longer than he'd thought—almost half an hour longer. To his surprise, when he looked at Roxanne, he saw that she was breathing hard but otherwise seemed unfazed by the exertion.

 

"Okay," he said, wiping a little sweat from his own brow, "walk a little bit to cool down, and then we'll do final stretches, okay?"

 

"Yes, Gray." Roxanne nodded, chin up, and her jaw clenched a little bit as she started walking steadily around the edges of the 'court'.

 

Gray frowned to himself a little as he carefully vaporized their equipment. He'd been sure that she'd be on the ground passed out from exhaustion by now, or—more likely—throwing up from overexertion despite how he'd toned the training regimen down from his original plans. Then again, one of the reasons Gramps had been so adamant that he tone it down was because Roxanne was stubborn.

 

Keep an eye on her, Gray. Roxanne is eager to please, and on top of that she's tenacious. She'll act tough and pretend she can handle much more than she really can if you let her.

 

He groaned silently to himself and joined her on her second lap, looking his apprentice over with a much more critical eye. She was still breathing heavily from the workout, but she wasn't panting like a bellows. And she seemed to be walking steadily, not shivering or swaying. And when she looked up at him, she held his gaze easily without her eyes drooping. Maybe he was worrying for nothing?

 

After a third lap, Gray walked Roxanne through a final set of cooldown stretches, making sure that she wouldn't stiffen up too badly or get sick after all of that exertion.

 

"We've done enough for now," he said, checking his watch again. "Let's go get lunch at the guild hall."

 

"Okay," Roxanne agreed, forcing herself not to wobble as she picked up the shirt Gray had shed at some point during their second match. "Here you go." She couldn't manage the energy or enthusiasm she'd had before—she could barely keep from falling over, and it took everything she had not to show it.

 

"Thanks." Gray ruffled her hair, and then mentally smacked himself for it as he pulled the shirt on over his head. Hadn't he decided he wasn't going to do that anymore? And when had he taken his shirt off? "Let's go. I can hear your stomach rumbling from here," he teased.

 

Roxanne flushed, but lifted her chin and tried not to show it. Maybe a rumbling stomach was unladylike, but after so much exercise she thought she was allowed. She followed her mentor as he left the park, doing her best to keep pace with him and to not show how very tired she was.

Chapter Seven

 

Once they were back at the guild hall, Roxanne sat at one of the tables, almost collapsing into the closest seat. She just didn't have the energy to climb up onto one of the tall barstools right now like she usually would.

Gray noticed, and chalked it up to being a bit worn out from training. Of course a tired-out munchkin would choose the table, instead of clambering up onto the hard-to-reach barstool, after an intense training session.

 

"Hey, Gray!" Max waved him over to the bar. "So how goes your first day with a student?"

Gray shrugged and sat down next to him. "She's doing great so far," he assured the blond. "We haven't started on magic training yet, but I have a feeling she'll do really well at it." Gray turned to watch as Mira put a plate of apple slices and peanut butter near his apprentice, who smiled and

thanked her before digging in to the light snack.

 

"No problems getting her to listen?"

"Nah." Gray relaxed, answering Max's curious questions. The chatty mage had been drunk when Roxanne first arrived at the guild, so he had hadn't introduced himself until the next day, but he'd made a point to tell her all about the best places to visit with friends around town. While she hadn't latched onto him the way she had Romeo, Lucy, and Natsu, Roxanne had done her best to be courteous and sociable with the friendly guy. Of course, Max understood that he usually caught her during her break from training, so he wasn't offended when she was a little less energetic for their conversations.

 

Once her snack was gone, Roxanne wiped her fingers on her napkin and looked around the hall again, wondering where Lucy and Natsu were. They weren't in the guild, but that didn't mean much, since they could go on missions or maybe shopping, or maybe Natsu was showing Lucy around Magnolia some more, since she was still a little new here like Roxanne. It looked like most of the other guild members she'd met had vanished on missions or errands too, though Nab was still hanging around the request board the way he usually did. Even now she could see Max leaving the guild hall, after he finished talking with Gray.

 

There's no one to play with. She pouted, wining to herself. She really wanted someone to talk to or play with, at least until Gray said the break was over.

Roxanne sighed and walked over to the bar, scrambling tiredly up onto the stool next to Gray, who was chatting absently with Mira as she cleaned up. She sighed again and let her forehead slam down against the bar. She was so bored! Exhausted, but bored. She felt better after the snack, but she her body still ached, and her eyes and limbs felt heavy. She doubted she'd make it all the way through magic training. I can make it to the park, at least, she thought, biting her lip since no one could see.  After that…

Well, after that, it would be down to willpower.

Gray saw how bored his apprentice was, and decided that sitting around wouldn't do her any good, and would only make her more reluctant to leave her seat. He needed to get her up and moving before she fell asleep right there on the bar. "Come on, Rox," he said, prodding her with one finger. "If you're done with your snack, it's time to go back to the park and start your magic training."

 

Judging from her reaction, it was quite possibly the best thing he could have said.

In the blink of an eye, Roxanne had burst out of her chair and bolted towards the front door. Gray could almost see the dust clouds hanging in the air!

Roxanne danced in place in front of the doors, smiling so brightly that everyone in the hall could have sworn that the brilliance of the sun shone in her eyes. Boredom and exhaustion forgotten, Rox waited impatiently as Gray chuckled and rose from his seat to join her.

 

Once she was up, Gray led her back to the park. But though she followed him eagerly enough, she didn't run around in excitement as he'd thought she would. Instead, she stayed close to him and walked with a kind of sedate determination, and a certain energetic bounce in her step,  that seemed far too mature for her age. Maybe she was trying to act mature? Probably. Gramps had mentioned that she tried to do exactly that when she could, and Gray knew she had a kind of starry-eyed admiration for him that didn't really make sense, but was probably a lot like Romeo's admiration for Natsu. Pfft. As if I'm 'big brother' material for anyone, let alone a little girl like Rox. So she’d probably try to act mature in front of him, instead of an excited little kid.

 

Finally, they reached the park and descended the stairs again. Gray stopped under the tree and reassessed his apprentice. She seemed to have a bit more energy than before they'd eaten, but that didn't mean much. With concern growing like a pit in his belly, he looked back along the path they'd taken, and saw that she'd left scuff marks from dragging her feet. Looking back at her again, he saw that her eyes were drooping noticeably and that she seemed to be fighting to keep from rubbing them tiredly.

 

Damn. Gray cursed himself as five kinds of idiot; Makarov had warned him to take it easy on her for the first few weeks and let her body get used to the new workouts and added burden of magic training. Gramps had actually advised against half of the self-defense lessons, at least so soon into her training, and had to be convinced that aiming practice and the game were necessary and they couldn't be put off for a few weeks. Gray'd actually wanted to keep the current intensity of physical training and simply add in the magic, because he didn't want Roxanne to lose the progress she'd made. Now, however, Gray could see that Gramps had been right, and he'd pushed Roxanne too hard. And his inexperience was going to cost his apprentice dearly.

He sighed, looked to the sky for courage, and opened his mouth.

 

"We won't be doing any magic training today, Roxanne," he declared solemnly, hating himself. He couldn't believe that he'd taken away the best part of her day because he hadn't been paying attention properly, had let himself be fooled into thinking she wasn't as tired as she clearly was. She'd been looking forward to this for so long, worked so hard for it, only for it to be snatched away because she got a crappy teacher.

"What?! Why?" she demanded shakily. Shock and exhaustion conspired against her, and she started crying with disappointment. She tried not to; she knew that Gray wouldn't do this to be mean, but she couldn't stop herself. "But…" She sniffled as she felt the tears start to fall. "Why? Is it something I did? Did I do something wrong?" she asked before she broke down, dropped to her knees, and bawled.

 

Gah! Again with the crying!

Gray's expression briefly showed panic, and he rushed to explain, comfort her, anything to make it stop. "No, no, no, that's not it," he said hurriedly, kneeling down beside her and grabbing her shoulders gently. "You did everything right, and I'm proud of you. Heck, I'm amazed you made it as far as you did! It's just that I didn't think things through, and I pushed you too hard. I didn't see how tired you were before it was too late, and now you don't have enough energy. I'm sorry, but it's just not safe for you to attempt magic today." An older, more experienced mage was responsible for themselves, and could decide whether or not to risk it. But Roxanne was a kid, and she'd barely discovered her magic yesterday. He was responsible for her, so he couldn't let her risk hurting herself by attempting magic. She didn't know what a lack of energy could to do a mage.

 

"I'm not tired!" Roxanne protested stubbornly, wiping the tears from her eyes and lifting her chin, willing the shakes away. "I can do it. Please." She whimpered again, the tears coming back as she collapsed against him and began sobbing in earnest. "Please let me try!"

"I can't." Gray's voice broke as he wrapped his arms around her. "I can't. You'll get hurt. I'm sorry," he whispered uselessly as he held her, wishing that he had seen her exhaustion in time. Why do girls cry like this? Just get mad at me or something. I can handle mad!

"I can still teach you magic theory," he offered, hoping the weak compromise would stop her tears. "Whatever you want to know about the mechanics of magic, I'll do my best to teach you, okay? How does that sound?"

 

"O-okay," Roxanne sniffled, still clinging to Gray for just a moment longer. The last person to hug her had been Jacob, and she missed being held. She didn't want to pull away, but she could tell that Gray wasn't comfortable with it. "I guess… I guess it's better than nothing." He was right, she knew he was, and that might have been what hurt the most. No matter how much she fought it, she was exhausted. And if he said it was dangerous to practice magic when she was this tired, well… he was her teacher so he knew best. She needed to trust him and do as he said.

 

"Can you let go now?" Gray asked, relief making his gut unknot. He wasn't really all that comfortable with the clinging and hugging and stuff, but he could tell that she'd needed it. He wasn't that blind.

Roxanne sniffed one more time and nodded against his chest, and then pulled back, wiping her eyes and nose on her sleeve and desperately wishing she had a handkerchief or tissues.

Gray relaxed a little more, letting out a sigh of relief and plopping down on the ground. If that little scene hadn't wrung him out so thoroughly, he might have taken better note of the way Roxanne had corralled her disappointment and stress, and shoved them aside for later instead of dealing with them properly.

 

"Okay, so," he said, "do you need a notebook?" He hadn't thought to bring one—stupid, stupid!—but there were a bunch of little stores nearby, so he could run and buy one if he needed to.

 

Roxanne shook her head, sitting down in the shade nearby. She was still shaky from crying, and her voice wavered. "I'm good at remembering things." She'd never really needed to take notes in school the way other kids had. It wasn't quite what Jacob had called a 'photographic memory', but once she'd heard the lecture and seen a few examples, she never forgot them.

 

"Alright." Gray nodded, eyes lifting to watch the pattern of sunlight through the leaves overhead as he searched his memory for the fundamentals. "Let's see, where to start… I guess the first thing you need to know is that every spell requires three things. Do you know what they are?"

 

"Um…" Roxanne hurriedly searched her memories of the anime and tried to find the three things that appeared most consistently. "An incantation, a magic circle, and magic energy?" she guessed. In almost every instance, two things were always shown while a spell was being cast. One was a character shouting the name of the spell, such as Natsu's Fire Dragon Roar. The second was a rune-etched magic circle, which appeared as the spell was being cast and was usually the origin point for the spell itself. The magic energy was mentioned on several occasions, mostly in the first season as Lucy pointed out that magic energy was the power behind the spells.

 

"Exactly," Gray nodded, pleased that she already knew that much. "Here's the thing, though—before a mage can cast a spell, he -or, well, she- needs to have discipline, visualization, and determination." At her confused and fearful expression, he shook his head. "I don't mean discipline as in being punished for doing something wrong. I mean she needs to have the mental and physical strength needed to perform magic. Without it, even the simplest of spells can go horribly wrong."

 

"But… why?" Roxanne frowned, puzzled. She couldn't recall any scenes from the anime with the characters hurting themselves by screwing up their magic. Well, there was the flashback to Gray's childhood with Ur. One of his spells had fizzled and backfired at him because he was just starting to learn how to handle his magic. But there wasn't any time where an adult couldn't handle the magic. "How can a simple spell go bad?"

 

"Because magic is dangerous," Gray said simply, thinking of anger, shock, and a world suddenly empty and cold. "It's born when a mage's energy harmonizes with the natural energies around them. But magic isn't alive, it's not intelligent, and it doesn't care if someone gets hurt. It's born from the mage's soul, and it's up to the mage to decide what to do with it. Bad people use magic to do bad things, and good people use magic to do good things. But even a good person can hurt someone if they make a mistake. Like…" He tried to think of an analogy. "What if I'd messed up making the net you were crawling under this morning? If I'd made the barbs too sharp, they could have hurt you even though I never meant them to. Or what if I'd messed up with Hit the Birdie? Your racket could have shattered and the splinters could have taken out an eye or something. Or think about the brawl that happened the day you first showed up—there's a reason Gramps stops that kind of thing before magic gets involved." Gray paused at the wide-eyed stare she gave him. Oops, didn't mean to scare her.

 

"None of us in Fairy Tail are careless enough to hurt anyone like that," he assured her hastily. "Not even Natsu, and he's a reckless idiot sometimes. But that's because all of us know what we're doing, and we trained to the point that we don't have to think about doing it right, we just do it. That's part of discipline."

 

"Oh." Roxanne nodded slowly, feeling better. "That's why you said I can't practice on my own."

 

"Exactly." Gray nodded. "Since we use the same kind of magic, if something goes wrong while you practice, I need to be around to counter it until you have the experience to make it safe to practice on your own. Incantations help with that discipline. Any kind of ritual does—Ice Make generally uses gestures instead, because, well…" Gray tried to remember how Ur had explained it to him. "You use your hands to make things, right? Cooking, cleaning, building, even art and stuff. If you make something, it's with your own two hands. And it's the same with Ice Make magic. Think of it as a kind of sign-language version of an incantation, though sometimes we use verbal incantations too. Anyway, they help us remember our goal."

 

Roxanne nodded, fascinated, disappointment and tears entirely forgotten now. This was interesting. "So the incantations, the gestures… they're a short-cut for remembering how to do the spell right?"

 

"Right. It also helps you focus—I mean, if you're yelling at someone, your mind isn't going to be a million miles away, worrying about if you left the stove on, you know?"

 

Roxanne giggled at the moment of levity, but then sobered. "So why didn't you use incantations while making the equipment for Hit the Birdie?"

 

"Because," Gray said. "I don't have an incantation or specific gestures for that yet—no shortcut—so I have to pay attention and be very careful as I do it the long way. And speaking of doing… next up is the magic circle. Do you know what its function is?"

 

"Um…" Roxanne wracked her brain, but she couldn't think of any episode that had clearly explained it. The closest she could think of was Freed's Rune Magic. "It holds the runes that define how the spell works?"

 

"Yes and no. Technically, the magic circle is a portal between magic energy and intention, and the magic's physical form. It's not something the mage consciously creates, unless they're a mage who specializes in manipulating other magics, but it's part of the spell-casting process nonetheless." Levi had gushed a couple of times about how the runes that appeared in a magic circle held the keys to the magic's rules and nature, but there were very few people who could do anything about that. Most spells didn't last long enough.

 

"Does the color matter?" Roxanne asked. She'd always wondered that. In the anime, everyone's magic circles had been a different color, and she'd wondered if the color depended on the magic being used, or if it was just to make it easier for the audience to tell them apart.

 

Gray nodded. "Your magic is pulled from your soul, remember? The kind of magic you're using changes the color of the magic circle, and it's tied to the affinities of your soul, and the energy stored in your Magic Container. Take Ice Make, for instance. Our magic circles are a bright blue-green—" Cana had specified 'cyan' once. "—though there are slight differences depending on who's casting the magic."

 

"But… ice is white, isn't it?" Roxanne frowned, thinking about it. "So why aren't our magic circles white?"

 

"Well, what color is water?" Gray asked her, leaning back and waiting for an answer.

 

"Um… blue?"

 

"That's what most people think." Gray grinned. "But water is actually clear, unless there's something in it that changes the color. The ocean, for example, only looks blue because it's reflecting the sky. Ice is white because the little tiny flaws in it reflect light weirdly and make it look white even though its actually clear."

 

Roxanne's mouth made a little 'O' of surprise. Like a polar bear's fur! She'd learned that in class, once. Polar bears had black skin, but their fur was clear and reflected light funny to make them look white while still soaking up the sunlight enough to keep the bears warm.

 

"But… why is our  magic cyan, then?" That was the color his magic circles had been in the show, and that was the color of her own soul. So there must be some significance behind it. It couldn’t just be the animators making the colors pretty.

 

"Because of the reflective nature of water and ice, they reflect the mage's soul color. And mages with Ice magic tend to have cyan-colored souls." Gray smiled at her. His own magic circles were ever-so-slightly brighter than Lyon's had been, which someone somewhere probably thought was ironic, considering Lyon was the one with ice-white hair while Gray's hair was black.

 

"With other magics, you can use the color to figure out the element. Pure Water magic is a much deeper blue. Natsu's Fire magic is red and orange. Earth magic has two components, Leaf and Soil, and each of them have their own magic circle color. Anything that creates or controls plant matter has a green magic circle, while magic that controls actual dirt has brown ones. And if a spell uses multiple types of magic, or even if it's one type but is just really powerful, it usually has multiple magic circles." Like Erza's Heaven's Wheel armor and the freaking two hundred swords she could individually summon while wearing it. "Based on all of this, the number and colors of magic circles, you can guess quite a bit about the spell and estimate how powerful it is." Doing that on the fly, in the middle of combat, was nowhere near as easy as it sounded.

 

"Wow," Roxanne murmured to herself, more than a little awed. She'd never realized how complex magic could be— A frown of confusion, thinking back to something Gray had said earlier but hadn't adequately explained. "What's a magic container?" she asked. It sounded like an enchanted cookie jar or something.

 

Gray tilted his head back a little, frowning as he thought about what to say. "Scientists say that there's a container inside each mage that holds their magic energy, like an organ that stores it until you need to use it. Personally, I tend to think of my whole body as that container, since there's not an actual physical organ that you can point to and say 'that's where it is', you know?"

 

Roxanne nodded. "And your magic energy is what lets you do the magic, right?"

 

"Right," Gray nodded back at her, smiling just a little. "You can have the strongest mind in the world or the most advantageous magic ever discovered, but if you don't have the energy to activate it then the magic is meaningless. Like, it doesn't matter how much you want to climb a tree. If you're too tired to climb, or you're not strong enough to lift your own weight, you're not climbing that tree."

 

Roxanne bit her lip, hugging her knees to her chest thoughtfully. "What do we do if we're running low on magic energy?" she asked. "Can we get more? Like, um, I'm training now to make myself stronger and, and so I don't get tired so fast." And she wasn't going to get upset at how she'd worn herself out too much for magic again, she wasn't. "Can the same thing happen with magic energy?"

 

"Actually, yeah. Almost exactly like that." Gray grinned at her briefly. "Everyone's got a base amount of magic energy they start out with—some more than others—but it's linked to how much physical energy you have too. Probably because your body has to support the magic you're channeling. So while training your body increases your physical strength, practicing magic will slowly increase the capacity you have for magic, and how much you produce." He looked at her seriously. "But while you can increase your capacity for magic, it's more important to work on your discipline and visualization first, so you don't hurt yourself or anyone else while training. Any more questions?"

 

Roxanne thought hard about everything Gray had said, and finally shook her head.

 

"Okay." Gray observed her for a moment longer, making sure the trembles were gone. "Let's put what we just learned into practice. Just do what I do, but don't actually cast the spell, okay?" Just channeling magic energy was a little tiring, but as long as she didn't actually cast the spell, the energy should be reabsorbed with minimal loss, so it was mostly a matter of mental exercise.

 

"Yes!" Roxanne jumped to her feet as Gray also rose. "Oh, um…" Her enthusiasm waned a little. "You said it wouldn't be safe for me to use magic because I was too tired. What would have happened?"

 

"Well," Gray said seriously, stretching until his back popped, "when a mage doesn't have enough energy to complete the spell, usually the spell fizzles and the mage loses what energy they had and that's that. But if it's a really powerful spell, then the spell actually consumes every bit of energy the mage had, and the mage dies."

 

"Oh." Roxanne's eyes went wide. "Okay. I won't use magic unless you say it's okay." A deep breath, chin lifting in determination. "So, um, what do I do now?"

 

Gray nodded, getting back to the topic he wanted to cover. He hadn't wanted to scare her, but making her understand how serious it was… well, it was important. "We'll do this step by step, okay? Step one is to clear your mind, the way you do for meditation." Maybe meditation itself wasn't his thing, but this step was important. Roxanne nodded, and closed her eyes as they both fell silent, letting their minds go quiet and still, until only sensation remained. Then she opened her eyes again, so she could focus on Gray. He was watching her, as though he'd never had to close his eyes.

 

"Step two: Picture your goal. In this case, producing a pile of snowballs like I did earlier. Don't just imagine it visually; think of what you want it to do, to be. Think of how it’ll feel, how big it should be. A shield is strong, but snowballs are firm and crunchy. And almost white-hot cold."

 

Roxanne did so, dismissing even sensation from her mind, and focusing on a little pyramid of snowballs, round and cold and sparkling white and the perfect size for throwing in her little hands.

 

"Step three: Feel your magic energy floating in your body, or in your magic container." The solemn tone of Gray's voice wavered a little. "Whichever. Just make sure you feel it. Do you need help figuring it out?"

 

Roxanne shook her head, pretty sure that she already knew how to access the energy. She quickly located her soul, like she had yesterday. But instead of touching it right away, worried about her hands or feet getting covered in ice, she built up a picture first. Magic, especially Ice Make, depended on visuals, right?  So she imagined a faucet, turned off so none of the water would drip out and be wasted. As she touched her soul, she imagined the faucet turning on just a bit, letting a trickle of energy out.

 

It worked. She could feel her magic energy flow through her body, but slowly, and none of it escaped her skin.

When she was ready, she opened her eyes and looked at Gray.

 

"Step four: Mold your energy into the object you want, and basically tell the magic what you want it to do. You and I do this by using our hands." Gray demonstrated, moving slowly and narrating his actions as he did so. "Make a fist with one hand and leave your other hand open but spread your fingers. Now touch the bottom of your fist to your open palm and move both to your dominant side, whichever side feels more natural to you, and bend the elbow." A brief smile. "Think of your elbow like a kink in a hose, holding back the magic. At the same time, keep the image of that pile of snowballs in your mind and push your  energy towards the image. Then hold it there, keeping the energy from going anywhere until you're ready."

 

As soon as he mentioned using their hands, Roxanne knew exactly what to do. She didn't even think about it—she'd practiced quite often when she was on Earth, when she'd fantasized about being an Ice Make mage. As she built up her magic energy, she could see the magic circle forming around her hands. She was captivated by its beautiful color, a light but brilliant blue like her soul and her guild stamp.

 

"Step five: Make the gestures that define the spell." Gray took a breath, and then moved his hands in a flurry of patterns.

Roxanne's eyes went wide. She couldn't even follow all of the gestures, so how could he expect her to copy him?

 

"Heh. Sorry." Gray repeated the gestures, more slowly this time, step by step as Roxanne clumsily imitated him.

 

"This is where you stop copying me," Gray said. "Step Six: Recite the incantation, and let the magic fly. When you do, throw your arm forward to unkink the hose." he concluded. "Ice Make: Snowballs!" A second later, there was a pile of snowballs replacing the ones Roxanne had thrown earlier, which had long since melted away.

 

Roxanne squeaked in excitement and clapped her hands, eyes shining as she bounced in place.

 

Gray smiled at her. She'd lost her grip on the magic energy she'd built up, but her distraction had prevented her from casting the magic anyway, so it hadn't been wasted. "Alright, let's try that again. Remember, don't actually release your magic when I do, okay?"

Roxanne nodded, smiling excitedly. She took a moment to get hold of herself, and shifted position to stand next to Gray, rather than across from him. As Gray demonstrated a second time, she copied him, reciting the steps aloud along with him. Again, she didn't actually cast the spell, because Gray had told her not to, but oh how she wanted to.

 

After the third round, Gray sat down on the grass and watched Roxanne practice on her own, checking his watch periodically. He was proud of her. She'd accomplished a lot today, and she took the worst news of the day like a champ, once the crying was done. Not only that, but she was doing dry runs of spell-casting, just calling forth the magic and letting it fall back into her soul without using it at all, which had to be hard for her. . He'd done his best to explain why she wasn't allowed to cast a spell today, and she'd seemed to understand, but he just had to hope that her belief that he knew best would continue to overcome her desire to cast her first spell.

 

When the chapel's bell tolled out the noon-time hour, Gray told Roxanne that it was time for them take a break. She sighed in relief. She had loved practicing calling on her magic, but she was bone-tired, her muscles ached, and her head thumped from concentrating so hard.

 

It's break-time now, and Gray already knows I'm tired… she thought as she relaxed and turned towards him. …maybe it's okay to let it show? It was instinct, habit, to pretend to be okay no matter what, but this was Gray. He was her teacher. Pretending, when she knew he already knew how tired she was felt kind of… not wrong, not silly, but somewhere in between, maybe?

 

Unnecessary.

 

Roxanne let out a breath, eyelids drooping and shoulders slumping. It was a relief to stop pretending, to stop fighting the exhaustion dragging at her limbs.

 

Gray frowned at the sudden transformation overtaking his student. He'd known she was tired, but he hadn't thought she'd still be hiding it from him, not after he'd already shown her he knew it and forbidden her from using magic because of it. Dammit, I thought maybe practicing a spell without casting it would let her recover some, but it doesn't look like it helped much. He needed to rework his plans for the afternoon again. Would a nap help? Is she too old for naps? I don't think Romeo takes them anymore, and she's older than he is… One thing was for sure, though. He couldn't just teach her magic theory for the next hour and a half, not if he wanted her to remember it. She might brag that she had a good memory, but if she was this tired there was no way she'd retain it.

 

"Gray?" Roxanne reached out to grab her teacher's hand, worried by his thoughtful frown. "Are you okay?"

 

He blinked out of his thoughts and looked down at her. Really looked at her, and then crouched down with a serious look. "Everything's fine," he assured her, smiling briefly and putting a hand on her head again. "I was just thinking. Since today's your first day training with me, why don't I treat you to lunch in town? You've accomplished a lot today, and I learned a lot too. We should celebrate it. And maybe when we're done eating, we can go do something fun, okay?" Lucy had said something about Roxanne really liking books, even if she couldn't read them properly yet, so maybe a trip to the library to get some picture books or something?

 

Roxanne beamed, tired eyes brightening as she squeezed Gray's hand tighter. "Okay! That sounds great!"

 

"Alright, good." Gray smiled at her again, standing up. "What kind of foods do you like?"

 

"Um…" Roxanne shuffled her feet a little. "I haven't had many foods from here yet. Just one weird octopus thing, and the stuff Mira makes for me every day."

 

"Really? Well, okay. Then I guess…" Gray trailed off as he looked around the park thoughtfully. He turned slowly in place, making a mental map of the city and highlighting the restaurants he knew. Then he narrowed it down to cheaper lunch places that a kid would enjoy, and then narrowed it down further to the ones that were nearby—as tired as she was, he wasn't making her walk far.

 

"Alright," he nodded. "There's a sandwich shop not far from here. How does that sound?"

 

Roxanne lit up in her excitement.

Yes! Sandwiches! Something else I'm familiar with!

"Let's go there!"

 

Gray nodded again and led the way. Roxanne stuck close to him, grasping his hand tightly so that they didn't get separated in the bustling crowd.

Finally, Gray tugged Rox across the canal. "Here we are. Can you read the sign?" Gray asked her as they approached.

 

Roxanne glanced at the sign above the door and shook her head. She recognized a few of the characters, but not enough to make sense of the wooden sign.

 

"It says 'Jing's Subs and Cafe'."

 

"Oh." Roxanne tried to memorize that, and how the sign looked, but she wasn't really sure how the runes she knew matched up with the words.

 

Gray held the door for her, and Rox absently half-curtsied as she slipped past him, flashing him a radiant smile and the sweetest 'Thank you!' she'd ever said. When she realized what she'd done, she froze briefly, asking herself that had really just happened, before shaking it off and moving over to the line.

 

"Uh, no problem." Gray blinked after her, surprised for a moment, as he followed her inside. Had she really curtseyed just because he'd opened the door?

 

Glancing up at the board, he read the menu to Roxanne, who absorbed his every word. He gave her a rough idea of how the shop operated, and then he asked her questions about her favorite ingredients or her favorite bread, favorite drink. And he felt really stupid. She was his apprentice; shouldn't he have at least tried to figure this kind of thing out before? Shouldn't their first day have been spent getting properly acquainted, getting to know each other better? Had he been rushing things with her training because of his own inadequacies?

 

Roxanne was oblivious to Gray's frustration. He calmly and patiently helped her figure out her order, even though he ordered for her when it was their turn. Roxanne smiled, seeing the understated compassion and consideration that she'd always loved, first-hand. It was all she could do to keep herself in check. If she hadn't, she probably would have melted into a puddle of squeals.

 

In addition to ordering, he also carried her tray and picked out a two-seater table a bit of a ways away from the rest of the crowd.

"Why this table, Gray?" she asked curiously as she sat down across from him.

 

"Because it's the most advantageous, I suppose." He handed her the sandwich she'd ordered.

 

Roxanne frowned. "What's advantageous?" Actually, she already knew what it meant, but she didn't think most kids her age would, especially not if they were really sheltered like she was supposed to be.

 

"It's when there are advantages, or perks, to a situation. Like, see how we're in a corner with no windows? That means that nobody can sneak up behind me. And I have a perfect view of the windows, the front door, the cash registers and a bit of the kitchen so I can see a lot that happens. And that's important to me, because we're probably the only mages here, and you're just starting out, so it's up to me to protect everyone if something bad were to happen. From my seat, I can see trouble coming and stop it before anyone gets hurt." It was important that a new mage like Roxanne understand a mage's responsibilities, as well as the rush and excitement of magic itself.

 

"Oh." Roxanne took a bite of her sandwich, thinking about that. "I get it." She'd thought that he was probably watching the door, but she hadn't thought it through that far. That's another piece of Gray that wasn't shown in the anime, she thought to herself as she took a bite of the sandwich. Why does he feel the need to protect everyone? …Oh, right. She almost smacked herself, she felt so stupid. Of course he'd feel like he needed to protect people, because he thought he hadn't protected his parents or Ur from Deliora. Roxanne knew that there was nothing Gray could have done—except maybe not go running headlong to confront a giant, dangerous demon created by the Dark Mage Zeref—to prevent the deaths of his parents and his mentor. She knew that, and she knew that he probably knew that, now that he was grown up. But just knowing it didn't mean he wasn't still hurt by what had happened. He felt responsible for others' safety now, and he probably always would, and it wasn't a bad thing.

 

I'm safe. Roxanne smiled up at Gray, something sharp inside melting, just a little. She still missed her friends and family, and being away from them still hurt, but… even if Jacob couldn't be there for her, she wasn't alone. There was someone who would always, always look out for her, and make sure she was safe. And Gray was someone that she should look up to, she knew it. Even back home she had always wanted to be more like him, as chivalrous and kind and as open to new friends despite his past. He was definitely someone that she should try to emulate.

 

"Gray?" she began, drawing his attention again. "There's more than one way to use magic, right? I mean, even if you use the same kind. Like, um… Natsu is the Fire Dragon Slayer, but Mr. Conbolt can use a little fire magic too."

 

"That's right," Gray nodded over his sandwich. Apparently Roxanne was the kind who wasn't content to leave the learning for the training field.

 

"So is there more than one type of Ice Make?" Roxanne asked, once she'd finished the next bite of her own sandwich.

 

"Actually, yeah," Gray said. "There are mages who can cast Ice Make using only one hand. But we practice using two hands. I'm not sure I adequately explained before. Do you remember?"

 

Roxanne nodded. "Two hands creates more stable, stronger creations than magic using only one hand." Actually he hadn’t explained it at all, but Roxanne remembered Gray’s anime fight with Lyon.

 

"That's right. But that's where it gets complicated. The differences don't stop at one- or two-handed magic. It goes into personal preference and tendencies. For example, I use two hands and I create only inanimate objects. Meaning my creations don't move. They're not alive. But Lyon, my mentor's other apprentice, uses animated Ice Make magic. Which means that-"

 

"His creations can move," she whispered, filling in the blanks. She already knew that, really, but it was fascinating to hear it from him anyway, if only because she honestly hadn't expected him to be okay telling her about Lyon so soon. Natsu hadn't had any idea who Lyon was, or that he even existed. But then again, no one had asked Gray about his past until the Galuna Island Arc. So maybe Gray hadn’t told anybody because he hadn’t needed to.

"Bingo."

 

"And he uses two hands, too? You both were both taught by-" She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying Ur. A slip like that would tip him off that she knew more than she should. "The same mentor, right?"

 

"Ur… discouraged the use of one-handed magic, for the same reasons that I told you. She thought that one-handed magic was unstable, and it made the creations weaker than the same creations created with two hands. But Lyon wouldn't listen. He was convinced that one-handed magic was better and made him a better mage, better than her, because it meant he had a second hand free for other things."

 

Roxanne frowned. "But he's wrong."

 

"Yes, he is. He just doesn't see that." Gray was frowning now, staring at his sandwich like it held the answers to all of life's problems. It was plain that he didn't really enjoy talking about Lyon, even if he felt like he should.

 

"So… you're opposites," Roxanne said thoughtfully. "You use two hands; he uses one. Your creations don't move; his does. That's neat." She beamed up at him, trying to make him feel better. "You'd make a great team!"

 

Gray laughed breathily, trying to stay quiet and also trying not to offend her. "Theoretically, yes, but I doubt I'll see him again. And if I do, he'll probably be the enemy."

 

"Really? Why's that?"

 

She shouldn't have asked that. She could see the effect her question had on him. He sobered again and the lines of his face and shoulders went tight with loathing. "Because he… he blames me for Ur's death."

 

"Oh," she whispered, and fell silent for a time. She watched Gray, and knew from his pained expression that he was hurting. She also knew exactly what scene was playing in his head, what memory still tortured him. She left him alone with his thoughts for a little bit, but then decided it wasn't right to let him wallow. She reached out and put one small hand on top of his grown-up and callused one. She couldn't say 'it's okay', but she could tell him he wasn't alone, right?

 

Gray looked up at her, and some of the tension melted away. He gave her a slight, sideways smile, and Roxanne smiled back at him encouragingly, before pulling back and trying to find something else to talk about. Something to keep him from thinking more bad thoughts.

 

For the next half hour, Roxanne asked a variety of questions, eating while Gray answered. He gave careful, detailed replies, and admitted when he didn't know the answers. Roxanne tried to give him plenty of time to eat too, but she couldn't quite hold back her questions, and ended up rapid-firing them at him more than once, so she was done eating long before he was.

 

At twelve-thirty, Gray's alarm went off. He deactivated it and went back to eating. "Now I have a question for you," he said, swallowing another bite of his sandwich. "We've got two hours before I have to get you back to the guild so you can study with Master Makarov. What do you want to do between now and then?"

 

"Oh. Um, I don't know," Roxanne admitted. "I haven't been here very long, and I haven't seen much of the city. I'm sure you've got a better idea than I do. What do you think?"

 

"Well, I actually don't exactly know that much," Gray shrugged. "When I was a kid, I didn’t really go places to have fun. The most fun I had was sparring with Natsu or wrestling with Erza.”

 

"Oh." Roxanne looked down for a moment, frowning slightly. She'd known he'd worked really hard as a kid, but that was just… sad. "I guess that makes sense." She looked up at him again. "We spend a lot of time outside. Um. Could we spend tonight in the guild hall?"

 

Gray seemed surprised. "Sure. But what do you want to do?"

 

"I dunno," Roxanne said uncertainly, swinging her legs. "Mostly just talking with everyone, I guess?"

"If that's what you want to do, then that's what we'll do," Gray shrugged. "You've certainly earned it."

 

"Yay!" Roxanne grinned at him happily.

 

Gray smiled and went back to eating, so Rox folded her wrapper and sipped from her juice. To her dismay, the cup was emptier than she'd thought, and she pouted a bit. She looked around for a sign, only to scowl again when she remembered that she couldn't read any of them. Yet. I can't read them yet.

 

"Is something wrong?" Gray asked.

 

"Oh, um. It's not important. Are the drinks free refills?"

 

"That's a new term for it," Gray mused, "but I understand what you mean. Yes, you can refill your cup without paying extra for it."

 

"Great! Thanks, Gray!" She chirped, happiness restored and she practically skipped across the cafe to the soda fountain. She stopped and pouted dejectedly again. She couldn't read, so she had no idea which tab would give her the juice and which ones were for other drinks.

 

She sighed and waited near the pick-up line until an employee came close enough to notice her. Thankfully, it was the same lady who had taken her order.

 

"Excuse me?" Rox asked, raising her hand. The lady smiled and stopped.

"Yes?"

 

"Do you remember what drink I ordered?"

 

"Yes, I do! It's a berry and fruit juice blend." The lady smiled, which reminded Rox of Lucy’s own kind and friendly smile.

 

"Right. Which tab on the machine do I use to get more? I'm new to Fiore so I can't read the tabs."

 

"It's the third one from the right." She gestured and Rox followed her gaze, quickly locating the proper tab.

 

"Oh, great! Thanks so much, miss!"

 

"No problem." The lady smiled, laughter in her voice. Rox smiled back and made her way over to the fountain machine once more.

 

Gray watched everything, grinning.

 

"Are you ready to go?" he asked when she returned, refilled drink in hand.

 

She nodded, already gathering her trash onto the plastic tray.

 

Gray smiled again and stood up. He expertly balanced the trash and his still-full soda cup on the tray, and Roxanne followed him to the trash bin.

 

"Do you come here often, Gray?"

 

"Sort of. It's easier and cheaper for me to eat at the guild, but sometimes they can be a bit too rowdy." He winked, causing Roxanne to giggle. "So I come here when I need to get away. It's good food, and the sandwiches are healthy if you balance the ingredients right."

 

"Right. Because balanced meals are important."

 

Gray grinned and chuckled a bit as he ruffled her hair again—Idiot! Stop that! "Yeah."

Imprint

Publication Date: 03-05-2016

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Dedicated to my very awesome beta, Sandry-chan, whom has so patiently reviewed every chapter multiple times and hasn't refused me yet! She also gives great reviews and has been helping me get better as a writer. Thanks so much, Sandry-chan!