<Rebirth> fairy tail second gen

Chapter 1

It was a formidable day. The sky above was a slate grey and torrents of rain poured down. Perhaps the sky was in turn, also miserable under the conditions of today. No jobs would be taken, the normally happy streets were barren as shopkeepers and customers dewled in their homes, and the postman would rush to get back to his apartment. The sailors had abandoned the docks and the guards had silently left their posts. No one would blame them though, as, on days like this, only a fool would leave the comforting warmth of their dwelling. Even the robust Fairy Tail guild hall was noticeably quiet, and this silence, as one would later find out, was an omen for what was to come in the following days.

She walked quietly, her eyes staring down at her feet as they slowly and rhythmically moved forward. Thin strands of her hair started to get damp through the thin fabric of her hood and stick together. At least the rain would help wash out some of the dirt on her left shoulder. She had picked as much of the rocks and grass out as she could, but her wound was far from sterile. An infection would creep in and leave her in pain for as long as a few days to weeks. But that was just life. It wasn't all fun and games, and she had been told that the most terrible parts of life were what to live for. She was never sure of that saying. As a result of being lost in thought and not paying attention, she collided with something, as she lost her footing on the slippery stone street and hit the road below, a dull pain striking through her back and her skull. Her breath escaped her and left her wheezing as water from above mercilessly continued to drench her.

" Oh crap!"

She half sat up and swept her now thoroughly drenched hair out of the way of her face. There, she saw a boy, maybe a year or two older than her, outstretching his hand to her. In his other hand, was a long metal rod with a sharp blade attached to the end. What truly caught her eye were his wings. They shimmered and swirled like air currents. They looked like they were liquid but weightless, and she could see each individual feather. The shadow, while difficult to see, looked like how water's shadow looked.

"Didn't see ya there. Sorry 'bout that. You alright?" His voice was warming but almost distant to her. Even though the words were simple and she could understand them perfectly in her mind, she couldn't make the meaning of the words. Why was he sorry? She was the one who was just walking aimlessly around without as much as a second thought as to what was going on around her. Through instinct, she grabbed his hand and he effortlessly heaved her up to her feet. She wavered but soon gained equilibrium once again. "Hey, you don't look so good. Do you need help?"

"Um, yes. Yes, I am" slowly, the words crept from her lips. Uncertainty glazed over her eyes and the corners of her mouth slanted downwards faintly. The other's face matched.

"I don't believe that for a second. Plus, your arm's all gashed up. You ain't too good at lying ya know?"

She let her feet move along with his as he held her hand and briskly walked towards wherever to help her. Almost no words coming from either, as the girl had no objections to help.

"Ey, what's your name? I can't just have Wendy fix ya up without knowing who ya might be, ya know?" He didn't turn his head to face her and kept moving briskly along the slippery road, avoiding puddles and cutting through lawns. He seemed to keep repeating the words "ya know?" often. Maybe it was a catchphrase of sorts.

"Ishira"

"Ishira, huh? Sounds foreign. You also have an accent. Let me guess, you're from Havern?"

Her eyes widened slightly. Very few people this far north would know of her country. It was a small tropical island off the coast of a neighboring country.

"I traveled there once, on a job that is." He kept pace and briskly kept pushing away bushes and twisting around a gathering of trees "Me and a friend of mine had to go help some rich dude find one of his packs of hunting dogs. Everyone else was too scared to go grab 'em" He let out a small chuckle and sigh. "Never found 'em in the end, ya know?"

Ishira let out a small grunt and was starting to struggle to keep up with his pace. The cold, damp air stung her throat and lungs. Her bare feet were sore and swollen and her fingers as cold as ice. Her wet hair had chilled and stopped dripping at this point and made her face cold. This seemed to get the boy's attention as he suddenly stopped and turned around. Ishira heaved and braced herself against a wall of a random building. During his quick story, she hadn't realized that they had moved from the open streets and park to dimly lit alleyways. While he had been walking quickly, it seemed that she had been running behind him. How? The rain turned to hail and her breath was freezing in the air. She regained her breath and noticed what the boy was wearing. A turtle neck halter top with detached sleeves and shorts with knee-high black socks that were cut off at the toes and heel. Memories of the aerial ring dancers and silk dancers flashed through her. But it was confusing. The dancers could wear those clothes all year round because it was so warm on her island, but over here it was raining chunks of ice and burning cold. Summer clothes in winter? Was he crazy? Or was she? The closer she looked, she saw that he wasn't wet in the slightest. His desaturated blue hair was dry and fluffy. His clothes weren't damp and didn't stick to his skin, whatever clothes he had on that weren't skin tight, to begin with. No water droplets seemed to land on his skin at all.

"Don't worry, we're almost there. You cold?"

She nodded. He grabbed a stick from off the alley floor and the water from it evaporated quickly. In its place were vines and leaves. They spiraled upwards and then fanned out in a flat dome, glowing leaves to cover the gaps. Within moments, Ishira couldn't see the sky through the thick overgrowth. At the slightest tremble of her hand, vines wrapped around it and the stick, making sure she couldn't drop it. Small white flowers blossomed from the vines and let out a sweet aroma. It reminded her of her island and all the bushes and trees aligning the shore. Or of her mother's special garden-like maze.

"That's better! Ready to keep going? I know I can be kinda fast and other people seem to have a hard time keeping up unless we're connected in some way"

"Yeah, but one question. How did you do that, ya know, with the umbrella?" she twidled her hair with her free hand, looking down from the flowers back to him.

"Magic" he spoke bluntly like this was common knowledge and was a silly question. But at the sight of Ishira's raised eyebrows, his tone suddenly switched as he remembered something. "Ah yeah, you guys don't use magic in Havern. Forgot about that."

He grasped her hand once more and, most likely on purpose, walked slowly. Yet even with his efforts, Ishira still had to keep up a light ganter to keep pace.

"One of my magics deals with plants and growing things, mostly flowers. They can each have special abilities or I can make them completely harmless. Like with daisies, I can use my magic to simply make them a regular flower, nothing special about them, or I can do what I usually do and make them bombs. It's kinda like a stick bug. It looks harmless but is far from it. Useful for fighting and sneak attacks, ya know?"

"Why? Isn't fighting bad? And I haven't heard of magic like this, even in my village where we have historical records of different types of magic and magical spells. Is it a hex or curse of some sort?"

"You ask a lot of questions, but I'll answer them later. Right now, we gotta get you to Wendy," the boy said with a chuckle. He let go of her free hand and the plant umbrella turned back into the plain soggy stick it was before. She focused in front of them. They were approaching a set of grand double doors. The tapestries that hung upon them were worn down and tattered, and the wood was all scratched and even burnt in some spots. The handles were a dull gold and the detailing on it was covered in dirt. These doors were only a small part of this building, similarly decorated. At the top spire, there was only one banner, but that banner held a well-known symbol. He pushed open the doors and stepped inside. The smell of warmth hit her and she opened her eyes to a guildhall. People all scattered in groups among the endless tables. Some looked up and others didn't. As they walked in, the doors shut with a grand thud behind them.

"Oh, by the way," the boy turned to Ishira and gestured to the hall before her "Welcome to Fairy Tail."