For The Big Hearts [2]

[13] I ain't never been away so long

     The year was June 11th, x779. We have a new child joining us today in the Royal Guard. Her name is Crystal Marvell, age 6. She pretty short for her age, but she has a lost magic we need. Dragon Slayer magic. A Storm Dragon Slayer, to be exact.
     The king wanted to keep her as my apprentice, so I can keep a close eyes on her. The first thing I am going to do is making sure she is fit. The sickness she had kept her from growing and getting strength. Her sickness was a particular case. We really don't have a name for it. 
      Her breathing was horrible, she had to have a pump to help. Either she was burning up and cold or freezing but hot. Most food they tried to get her to eat, she threw back up. It seemed like her systems were shutting themselves down. At one point, she was even blind for a while. 
      She got tired easily, so she didn't do much but sleep. The couple that watched over her had to bring her to life more than once, she someone was always in the room with her. 
      But with the medicine she was given after a couple months, she slowly got better. I guess you could thank us, since PantherLily, Ondina, and I decided to look into the case. Thank god we did, or we would have never gotten the girl.
       The only side problem we have to deal with is she has to take the medicine every other month. A full bottle, to be specific. She also cannot eat her element given from a lacrima, the poor girl learned the hard way on that one.
       We still have yet to give her a magic weapon, but she does have a sword from the couple. Maybe I could dig for that magical pen I saw, heavens knows what that does. The thing is, she doesn't want to be called 'Crystal'. We still haven't found out, but for the time being, we'll be calling her 'Spirit'. It was something Ondina came up with.

                                                             ~Erza Knightwalker, Royal Army Captain of the 2nd War Division.  

  ♥♥♥  

     Crystal and Ondina stared at each other heatedly, eyes narrowed. Slowly, Ondina stood from the ruble. Her gloved hand was tightly clenched into a fist. Crystal shifted slightly, a hand where her pen was and another arm in front of her. Ondina instantly took notice of the movement, her eyes flashing with fear before disappearing. 

      She clicked her tongue, hands on her hips. "Now Now, Spirit, if you're that afraid to fight me one-on-one, why didn't you say? I could go get some more guards to help me out. . ."
          "No!" Crystal snapped, taking her hand away from her pen. "I'm not afraid, I'll fight you without any help! And my name is Crystal now!" Ondina chuckled, seeing as the younger girl took the bait. She took a step forward, getting in a fighting stance. It was basically the same stance Crystal took. The blue eyed girl tilted her chin down, showing how serious she was. I can't beat her by pure strength, She thought. No matter how many times I train to get stronger, I can't be stronger then someone with years of workout and experience. I am faster than her though. But I haven't used my Dragon Slayer magic in years. . .
    Snapping out of her thought bubble, she realized Ondina had disappear from in front of her. "Looking for someone?" The missing woman whispered from behind. No hesitation, Crystal swung a fist while turning. Ondina easily caught it, a playful smirk on her face. "Oh, come on, I know you can do better!" 
    With a huff, Crystal sent her other fist flying, this time coated with her power. Ondina batted her arm away before sending a punch of her own, lightning cackling to life. Crystal ducked, barely missing the punch, before swiping her leg out. The girls boot caught the woman's ankles, instantly making her buckle and fall to the ground. Ondina grunted, rolling away as another clouded fist hit. 
    It left a dent in the ground, which the two barely paid attention two. Ondina quickly got up and sent a fist towards Crystal. The hard blow made her stumble back, trying to put some distance between them, but Ondina had already ramming her knee into her gut. Crystal coughed violently before being thrown into a fun house. The wall crumbled on impact, tossing her into a random mirror maze. The young girl wiped her mouth, smearing the small trail of blood, and looked around. 
     The dim purple and neon lights barely let her see a thing, even with her enhanced eyesight. She narrowed her eyes. A sarcastic chuckle escaped Ondinia's mouth as she walked around, her image filtering through the many mirrors. 
         "Remember when you first got here all those years ago?" The white haired asked, making it sound like she was behind Crystal. Falling for it, she swung her fist towards Ondina, only to hit a mirror. Glass fell around the younger mage as she whipped her head around, hair flying. 
          "You always wanted to come to the amusement park, every morning. But you always hated the fun house! Why's that?" She kicked Crystal's back, making the girl fall into the glass. Crystal hissed with pain as the other stepped on her back, making the glass under her tear at her exposed stomach. 
          "Why were you always afraid I was going to beat you in our spars?" Crystal spat, glaring half-way at the blue eyed woman. Ondina's eyes narrowed, putting more pressure on her back.