A brief silence hung between us.
"Come on, man, don't embarrass yourself," I said, waving him off. A vein popped on his forehead.
"And put some clothes on," Erza added.
"Why, you—" Gray shot a venomous look between us.
"Heh-heh-heh." A few snickers rippled from the people nearby who'd been watching the whole thing on the sly.
That seemed to be the last straw for the kid.
Winding up, the "Great Gray" tried to flip our table, sending his foot straight at the leg. Only I wasn't about to let anyone mess with something sacred, namely the food, which included something sweet.
"Ow!" Gray yelped as his kick met the hard block of my leg. "Wha—"
Before he could shake it off, Erza's uppercut caught him clean, and the kid went down.
"Nice hit," I said, appraising the body on the floor.
"Well, what was his problem? The cake was right there…"
"Fair enough." I nodded in agreement.
"Whoa! Did you see that?! Did you see that?!" Some guy started pointing at us with a huge grin.
"Now that's our style! Nicely done!" a girl chimed in.
"Join us, kids! You're already halfway to being Fairy Tail wizards!"
"Working on it." I waved them off too.
Erza and I were about to get back to eating when a girl roughly our age wandered over. She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail with two loose strands framing her face, and she wore a little orange plaid dress.
"Hey! I'm Cana! Want me to read your fortune?"
We introduced ourselves, after which I added, "We're not paying."
"Hey! It's free! I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart!"
"Oh, how about that." I glanced at Erza and saw she was genuinely interested. "Then I apologize."
Honestly, I was skeptical that this little kid could see the future. Back in my original world, that kind of thing required serious power, as the entry bar was high. But if her attempt put a smile on Erza's face, why not?
The girl, not the least bit offended, settled in at our table with the bright, curious look of a cat, pulled out a deck of cards, and started shuffling them with professional ease.
"So, what do you think of the guild?" she asked.
"There's something to it," Erza said.
"The way I see it, your philosophy is basically: get hammered together or punch somebody in the face?" I offered, going off what I'd observed.
"Ha, you could put it that way." Cana laughed and finished her shuffle, fixing her eyes on me. "I get the feeling you're not a big believer in prophecy. So let's start with you, Elian. What do you want to know?"
My face settled into its usual skeptical expression. But fine, might as well give it a shot.
"Hmm… Will I achieve one of my goals? Good enough question?"
"Not bad at all." She made that interested-cat face again and started shuffling once more. "I use a different deck for magic. But for readings, Tarot works best. Alright, let's start with the past position. We have here…"
My eyebrows went up when a card landed on the table, showing a man on a throne, scepter in one hand, orb in the other.
"The Emperor! What a powerful card… It means you were connected to something great in your past. Hard to say exactly what, but interesting, let's see what the cards say next." She drew another, and before us lay the image of a young man with a wand, an infinity symbol above his head, and the four elements at the corners. "The Magician in the present! Look, Elian. The Magician is someone who wields his tools, who studies, who turns will into action. But…" She frowned, studying the card. "In Tarot, the Magician is also someone standing at a threshold. He has everything he needs to work wonders, but he's only at the beginning of the journey. Your goal, it demands you become something more than just a wizard."
"Lian, what does she mean?" Erza asked, genuinely curious, but I gave Cana a small nod, letting her work through the puzzle herself.
"And the third card, in the future position… The World!"
The card showed a dancing woman surrounded by a laurel wreath, with four symbolic figures at the corners: an eagle, a lion, a bull, and a man.
"The World is the completion of a great cycle, reuniting with something deeply important, coming home after a long journey. Your goal must be something really serious, hm-hm. The cards never say for certain whether something will happen. But this spread makes it clear you have a chance to reunite with where you started." She tapped her finger on the Emperor card, then took on a thoughtful look. "You know, Elian. You and Erza look like twins. And when you put the whole picture together, your goal… Is it to find your parents, who are rulers?! Are you a runaway prince and princess?! Or wait, you were taken from them and now you're trying to get back?! Right?!"
"Ahem…" I kept my face neutral, careful not to give anything away. But this reading had genuinely caught me off guard. She'd gotten very close.
At that exact moment, somewhere very far away, a beautiful golden-haired young man stirred.
Dressed in an expensive, perfectly tailored three-piece suit, he straightened up from the billiard table he'd been leaning against and set down his cue. The impossibly fine threads of the universe's energy had grazed him unexpectedly.
"A prophet?"
"Trouble, colleague?" asked the voice of a being in a matching three-piece suit, though its head looked like a cosmos sealed behind glass. It looked like any ordinary World-Maker.
Before answering, the young man's blue eyes ignited with a mesmerizing pattern. His pupil compressed by an intricate mechanism of golden rings that had appeared around it. It looked as though the infinite force of a black hole had been locked inside a cage to keep the impossible under control. The pattern marked the activation of what was perhaps the most refined artifact within several galaxies.
"Hmph." With that quiet sound, reality cracked around him from the energy he was releasing. But it settled quickly. "Avatar business. Nothing worth noting. Don't worry, we won't be interrupted again."
Prophecy was one of the few things that relied less on personal power and more on interaction with the truly vast fabric of existence. But with a single flicker of will, a being on an entirely different order of magnitude had used the connection that formed, only to close off the ability for one particular individual to peer in on himself personally. Not the avatar. Just himself.
The soul of anyone who dared look would stand before the judgment of God. He couldn't reach the home of this particular prophet or interfere with that world because it was too far removed, but he could certainly take a life. Though why bother?
The blond leaned back over the table and made a precise strike. Two beings capable of creating worlds went on playing billiards with dice.
And in the world where a certain lively guild happened to be located, one girl never even realized whose gaze had flickered past her.
"We don't know who our parents are," Erza replied, stealing a glance at me. Then her eyes drifted to the other girl at the table. "Can you read mine now?"
"Of course!" Cana began deftly shuffling the cards again. "But hey, if you two ever do go looking for family, start with the royal palaces."
She looked at my little sister with an expectant gaze.
Erza hesitated for a moment, but her natural directness won out. She sat up straight and, carefully not looking at me, said, "I-I want to know… when I'll meet the person I'm going to build my life with. A partner, I mean, yeah…"
A smile tugged at my face as my eyebrow went up.
Cana let out an anticipatory little giggle.
"Alright! No dragging it out." She laid three cards down one by one. "The Lovers, the Chariot, and finally the Sun! Oh-h-h!"
The brunette was practically vibrating with excitement over the spread, but her reaction was lost on us.
"Okay! Don't look at me like that! I'm getting to it! The Lovers! This is a very good sign! This card speaks of a powerful bond, of a choice, of a fateful meeting. Hmm… In the past position…" She paused in thought. "It means the choice has already been made. The connection that will define your life didn't begin just now, or somewhere in the future, since it already exists. You've already met this person!"
Erza's eyes went wide, and she started frantically running through everyone she'd ever known.
"Next, the Chariot in the present means you're in motion right now. You're pushing through obstacles. This is the warrior's road, the road of perseverance. And on this road…" She looked down at the card. "Your partner isn't somewhere out there in the distant future. They're right here. Right now, you're in the same chariot. You're going through the trials together!"
And finally, Cana moved to the third card, which showed two children beneath a radiant sun.
"The Sun is one of the best cards in the deck! Happiness, success, joy, clarity. In the future… Erza, your union is going to be a very happy one. But look, there are two people on the card. The Sun always lights the path for two who walk together. And they've been walking together from the very start. The future won't bring you a new face. It will simply reveal what's already there."
Erza and I looked at each other. She started turning red at an alarming rate. I found myself thinking about my original self… When he brought his mother back, he theoretically could have, out of a desire to make her happy, done the same for Erza? Given our pragmatism, once the main issue, the biological one, was resolved, it was entirely plausible. Did that mean I should get serious about studying medicine in this world too? I'd mostly been planning to focus on spatial magic, but…
Cana leaned back in her chair with a puzzled look, studying the spread.
"This is strange," she admitted. "I was expecting to see some specific prince who'd come along in a few years. But instead… The Lovers in the past, the Chariot in the present and a hint that he's already nearby, the Sun in the future where you're already together. This reads like a story that's already being written, not one that's just about to start."
She looked at Erza with open curiosity.
"Is there someone? A guy you've known for a long time? A childhood friend, maybe?"
Erza turned even redder and shook her head quickly.
"N-no! No one! I… I've never even thought about it!"
Yours truly finally chimed in with a certain tone:
"Maybe Cana's saying that your other half has been with you all along, Erza. Someone you've known for ages. You're just not looking at them from the right angle yet."
Out of pure brotherly sadism, and general spite, I winked at my sister, and she went absolutely, thoroughly, catastrophically red.
"Lian! Stop saying ridiculous things!" she exclaimed, burying her face in her juice cup. "You're my brother! What 'other half'!"
Cana burst out laughing.
"Ha-ha! Elian's right! Sometimes what we're looking for has been right under our nose the whole time. Come on, don't be embarrassed, Erza. The cards said everything's going to be fine. And that's what matters!"
We kept chatting with her after that, asking about the guild, how things worked around here, killing time. When Cana finished her food, we headed out into Magnolia together, since she'd agreed to give us a tour.
As for Gray, still flat on the floor, we left him there.
Our group didn't get back until evening, and after saying goodbye to Cana, we made our way to the bar. Specifically, to the tiny old man perched on the bar itself with an enormous mug of beer, already well on his way. He had silver hair and a mustache, a bald spot covered by a cap with two little fabric horns, and wore mostly orange, with a white shirt beneath it and the Fairy Tail emblem splashed across the whole front. His name was Makarov Dreyar.
As we approached, he stood and gave us a wave.
"My warmest welcome! Looking to join up? Heard you made friends with little Cana, that's a good sign."
"You've got a welcoming atmosphere here. The people, too, generally speaking," I noted, walking up in a decent mood.
"Yep," Erza agreed.
"Ha, I'm proud of my kids!" He grinned into his mustache and hopped off the bar with surprising energy. "Come on to my office. We'll talk there."
Before long, the three of us were seated in his office.
"We're not too familiar with how guilds work. Do you have requirements? Membership fees? We'd need documents, and we have a bit of a situation there…" I began.
"Huh? Documents? Bureaucracy?! Pfeh!" He made a dramatically disgusted face. "We don't have any of that nonsense here! Well, we don't much care for it."
Erza and I exchanged a baffled look.
"But what about the Magic Council? From what I understand, the magical world does have some kind of structure," I continued.
"The Magic Council is a bunch of fools! …With certain exceptions. But don't worry about them! Are you wizards? You're wizards! That's it! That's all you need to join Fairy Tail." Makarov looked us over and clasped his hands behind his back. "Remember this, kids: magic comes from the heart. You won't get anywhere standing still. What you need is desire, and a burning will to reach your goals! If you're always looking over your shoulder, scared of who's watching, you'll never get there! Do what you believe is right! That's the rule of Fairy Tail!"
"Wow…" Erza was impressed.
"I counted three fights while I was out there. Your rule explains a lot." I nodded.
"Oh, that?" He waved a hand. "The kids love to throw punches. Don't mind it. Underneath all that, we live like one big family, and we'd stand against the whole world if we had to. But what family doesn't have arguments?"
I thought about it and turned to my little sister.
"Erza, can you remember us ever actually arguing?"
"Like a real argument? I don't think so."
I turned back to the old man.
"Ours doesn't, apparently."
"Hey!" He planted his fists on his hips. "Don't get smart with me! Anyway… ahem. You mentioned you have trouble with documents. I can help with that. And when you're ready, you can tell me where you come from. For now, though, the marks, and then we celebrate."
Makarov pulled out a large stamp and asked about color and placement. Erza and I both chose red, on the shoulder.
After the stamp came down, I could tell the mark was magical because it had properties of an artifact. When I asked about it, Makarov explained that the guild had certain areas accessible only to members, and the mark served as a pass. He also tried to say something about Guild Magic, the power of bonds, and how the marks connected us to our guildmates. However, he was fairly vague about it, and I didn't get much in the way of specifics.
We left the office.
"Kids! We've got new members! Let's drink to them!" Makarov roared as he stepped out.
"DRINKS ARE ON!!!" the whole hall roared back, the celebration kicking into high gear as glasses clinked all around with shouts of "To the newcomers!"
"That's how it goes." The old man swept his gaze across the guild and turned to us. "You two are still too young for that, small fry. Go get yourselves some juice. And one more thing, you're new to Magnolia and you don't have a place to stay. So once you've had your fun, go talk to that young lady over there." He pointed to the barmaid we'd struck up a conversation with when we first came in. "I've got some connections; finding you an apartment is no trouble at all. We'll even sort you out with one of those… what do you call them… Subsidies! You probably have no idea what that means, but it's a good thing."
Having covered everything he felt needed covering, Makarov wished us a good time and made his way back to the bar.
"Everyone here is so… energetic," Erza observed, watching the festivities around her with a sort of quiet strangeness. It was all genuinely new to her. Especially after the Tower of Heaven.
"Tell me about it," I agreed, taking it all in. And then I spotted a familiar face making his way toward us. "Oh, you put pants on."
"Gray, right?" Erza confirmed, giving the black-haired kid another curious look. This time around, at least his torso was covered.
"I'm not done with you two! You—" He stopped, apparently because he'd forgotten exactly why he'd started this in the first place.
"What do you want, buddy?" yours truly inquired.
"I've been in this guild way longer than you. Which makes me the senior member here!" He didn't appreciate my dismissive tone one bit. "You owe me some respect! Got it?…" He caught himself on that last word and shot a nervous glance at the Erza who'd knocked him out cold. "Well. You do, at least."
He pointed a finger at me.
"Ah, so you're going the alpha-dog route," I understood, realizing he was trying to salvage at least a scrap of his dignity at my expense. Well, all I had to do was show him he'd picked the wrong approach. "Here's how it is, kid. From this day forward, when you talk to me, it's 'the Great Elian.' Or just 'sir.' We clear?"
"You're asking for it!" he snapped.
"Exactly!"
"Lian… Maybe don't," Erza tried to stop me.
"Don't worry, sis. He'll live."
Grinding his teeth, Gray threw his hands up and brought one fist down onto his open palm. Cold started radiating off him.
"Fight!"
"Let's go, let's go!"
A few guildmates who'd caught the argument started egging us on.
Not giving the kid time to charge up whatever magic he was going for, I stepped in sharply. Channeling Ethernano through my body, I twisted into the swing, and my open palm connected with his face.
SMACK!
The sound of a proper dad-slap rang out, and Gray got sent skidding right onto the floor. Down again. Out cold. Again.
"Pff. What an idiot," was all I said after my victory.
"YEAH! Nice work, man!" the encouragement came rolling in.
"Drinks to the new kids who can hold their own!" The guildmates picked up the pace of their drinking by about ten percent.
Erza and I went to get dinner. After that, though, we had no interest in staying in the guild hall for the evening. Drinking wasn't exactly on our agenda, and it wasn't really an option, technically. And sleeping on the floor through the noise, like a few of the wizards who'd already had too much, did not appeal to us either. So we tracked down the barmaid, and she left her coworker in charge and led us to the rental apartment.
One of the guildmates currently passed out in the hall rented out a place. He'd registered the leasing through the guild, so the key was already waiting for us.
Before long, Erza and I found ourselves alone in a small but quiet studio apartment.
"Modest," I said, looking around.
"It's about the same as Rosemary Village," Erza said, sitting down on the bed with a look that had gone a little distant.
"Hey, none of that." I dropped down next to her, put an arm around her, and ruffled her hair. "I don't think Hawthorn and Marigold would've wanted us to be sad. Our lives keep going, and living them well is how we honor everything that happened."
"There's something to that," Erza agreed.
"Picture this. We become powerful wizards. Like, genuinely formidable. We'll have plenty of money, and we'll build a house a hundred times bigger than this place!" Erza didn't seem especially moved. So I added the crucial detail: "And we'll have our own in-home bakery! With a personal pastry chef!"
"Oh…" Now that got her attention. She smiled and carefully wrapped her hands around my arm. "Either way, I want to get stronger. To protect you."
"That's really sweet, sis. I'm going to get stronger, too, to protect you. Also to eat more cake."
"Yes, more ca-ake~" Erza said dreamily.
We took baths and went to bed not long after.
That night I had to sleep on my stomach again. The scars were healing under the influence of Soul Energy, but slowly, since the energy couldn't pull nutrients from nothing.
So before sleep took me, my thoughts drifted to the question of a healing-type wizard. A guild this rowdy, where brawls were a daily occurrence and someone inevitably ended up hurt every other day, had to have one on hand. It would also give me a chance to figure out how local healing magic actually worked, which was extremely useful information. That meant tomorrow I needed to find Makarov and ask.