A Blooming Hope

A Blooming Hope

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Disclaimer - (Cause fanfiction is tricky ground and I hope not to offend the creator of the original story and get sued)

This is non-profit and is a fanfiction, a work of fiction. It is an unofficial, non-canon alternate story based on TurtleMe's story "The Beginning After The End". Most of the media - such as the images and video's used in this fanfiction - are from the web. Thus, most of them aren't mine (because I really, really can't draw) unless mentioned. To fit the story, images are also edited by the photo editor. So they aren't mine, just edited. I get much of the text, especially the fight scenes and thought, espide from my oc's, from the original novel, which can be found on Library Novel. Still, support the official release.

Have you ever written something from the back of your head, and then realize oh sh** these were someone else's words. Yeah, that just happened to me, my disclaimer no less. Anyway, like 40% of this disclaimer belongs to KairuSui from quotev

Also if you own a picture or Video that I found online, and you either want your name added, or me to take it down. Please contact me and we can talk it out.

P.s. I also ask that you do not copy my work and publish it onto any other website. If you're gonna use my idea, please ask me (I'll 99.99% say yes unless you're super rude). If I don't contact you within a week, then just assume I'm giving you the all clear and go for it. Just remember to credit me.

I will be writing out scenes even if my Oc isn't in them. As long as she's mentioned, or influencing the characters in some way. This may seem a bit annoying. But that's just how I write. I like to embed my characters into the story line.

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Today's Special

I am prepared by the worst,

But hope for the best.

~ Benjamin Disraeli

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{Third P.O.V.}

Morgana heard a loud commotion, so she put her silber guitar down and went downstairs to see what was going on. She wondered what happened to cause such a rucas. She soon found the answer, when Vincent, her adopted father shouted, "Rey! I just heard your son was alive. What the hell is going on?"

Vincent Helstea is a thin proper man, with glasses and brown parted hair, he was in a suit.

"Vincent, everyone! I would like you to meet my son, Arthur! He's back Vince, Haha!" Morgana finished walking down the stairs to see Reynolds introduce his son ""Arthur, this is Vincent, my old friend and the person I now work for. This is his house so introduce yourself before we start wrecking it," he grinned broadly."

'Oh, that's what's going on.' She thought. 'He looks to be about the same age as me, maybe a little older. Has his mother's hair, and fathers eyes.' Her eyes then travel to a black lizard resting on his shoulders. 'A pet, maybe a bond?'

Arthur does as his father asks, bowing to a ninety-degree angle, he introduces himself. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Arthur Leywin. I'm not sure what my family has told you about me, but I was in contact with them for a while back. I was also the one that told them to not tell anyone until I get back, so I apologize for the confusion. Thank you for taking care of my family all of this time." As he did this, he thought, 'This man was the one that housed my family in their toughest time. As far as I was concerned, I owed him and his family dearly.'

"Y-yeah, It's really no problem. I'm glad that you're alive and safe." The head of the Helstea family nodded, he adjusted his glasses as if making sure he was really speaking to an eight-year old. "Meet my wife, Tabitha, and my daughters, Lilia, and Morgana" he continued, pushing them forward so they were in front of him.

""It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am, Lilia, Morgana." Arthur bowed again, Sylvie introducing herself too with a "Kyu!"

Tabitha gave a kind smile in response. "Great to have you in our home, Arthur. Say hi, Lilia, Morgana! Arthur is your age so don't be shy."

The girl named Lilia spoke up, pointing hesitantly at the creature on the boy's head. "W-what's that! It's so cute."

"This is an infant mana beast that I'm bonded with. Her name is Sylvie. Sylvie, get down and say hello." Sylvie leaped off his head and mewed at Lilia.

"Oh my gosh!" Lilia squealed.

'So I was right.' Morgana thought, 'It is a bond."

Sylvie took one look at the blond haired girl, and with a loud cry, lept into her arms, snuggling against her.

Morgana gasped, and took a moment to steady herself after the impact. "Easy girl, easy."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, surprised. 'True, Sylvie is always happy to see Tess, but it's the first time I've ever seen her so happy to see someone. Especially since it's the first time the two have met.' He thought. His eyes then traveled to her eyes, they were blue, just like his. Yet completely different. The blond had eyes that looked like a freshly cut sapphire, that had been polished to perfection.

"Rey, what did you mean by wrecking my house?" Vincent asked after peeling his eyes off of Sylvie and his daughter once he was sure she was safe.

"We were just on our way to the backyard. Arthur and I are going to have a little spar. Want to come?" He chuckles.

Vincent sputters incredulously, "W-what? Are you serious? Your son just got home and you want to fight him? Besides, your son can't be older than eight. What are you going to spar with him for?"

"Don't let my son's age fool you! He's already a light red stage augmenter!" Arthur's father harrumphed proudly, puffing his chest.

Vincent just shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Rey. Your eight-year-old son has already awakened, and he's gotten past three stages? Even the snobby genius brats that get admitted into Xyrus academy are barely at the dark red stage, and that's when they're eleven or twelve!"

Reynolds just laughed louder in response before he added while leading us to the backyard, "You'll see. Besides, I have a little surprise as well."

As they walked outside, Morgana spoke to Arthur, "Are you sure you want to do this? You shouldn't underestimate your father. You just came back from what I'm assuming is a long trip. Shouldn't you at least rest a little?"

"I'll be fine." The boy replied calmly. "But could you hold onto Sylvie for a but for me."

The blond nodded. Staring at his straight back as he walked out to the yard, she couldn't help but think, 'The way he carries himself, it almost reminds me of...' she quickly shook her head, forcing those thought's to go away, 'No! The past in the past. It'll just be better for me in the long run if I try to forget it!' she thought to herself. 'But only if it were that easy...'

{Arthur P.O.V.}

We put proper distance between each other on the large grass lot outside.

"Ready when you are," I smiled, making sure we were far away enough from the audience, which consisted of the rest of my family and the Helstea family. My gaze rested for a moment on Morgana, who continued to cradle Sylvie like a baby. 'Well aren't you confey?' I said to the dragon mentally. My only response was Sylvie rolling over so her back was facing me, as she continued to snuggle against the girl.

"Be careful, Art! You may be a light red stage but your old man is still at a higher stage than you!" My father said, as he pounded his two fists together, giving me a confident smirk.

I spotted Vince, who was still shaking his head in disbelief. With Morgana sitting next to him, a worried look on her face.

"Come!" My father taunted, getting in an offensive stance.

Let's see how much my training with Grandpa Virion had paid off.

My body, already strengthened through assimilation, responded to mana much more acutely than it had before. Before my father had the time to prepare, my fist was already in range of his body.

Even my hearing was more sensitive now as I could hear Vincent mutter faintly, "What in the..." along with several gasps by the others.

My father responded immediately as I could sense mana spreading throughout his body.

Feigning a punch, I twisted my torso and went for a high kick, but was promptly blocked by my father's left arm.

It was obvious he didn't expect my kick to be so powerful because his arm flung back from the blow, opening his guard. However, before I was able to make use of that opening, he used the momentum to chop his right hand at my body.

It was obvious that I was now in a disadvantageous position, but with a full previous lifetime of fighting had already prepared me on how to counter him.

I took his chop with my left forearm and right palm to soften the blow, and also to create enough space for me to slip inside.

My body wasn't big enough for me to shoulder-toss him so instead, I grabbed his right arm and kicked the back side of his right knee.

Losing balance, he fell forward as I used my mana-imbued body to throw him. Unfortunately, he regained balance too quickly and I had no choice but to put some distance between us before he got a hold of me.

"Well I'd have to say you're better than all of the mages I've trained! Your old man's going to get serious now, though! Be careful." He put on a more serious face. It was apparent to both of us that we had both been holding back.

The mysterious fact about mana formed inside the core during the earlier stages was that it differed depending on how augmenters and conjurers used it.

While expensive, many parents choose to have their newly awakened child tested to see what element that they were most adept at by using a special device. A conjurer's attribute became very noticeable depending on what type of elements they had an easier time casting.

For augmenters, however, it was a lot less obvious because most of their attacks were focused on using mana to enhance their bodies. However, even augmenters had differentiations in how adept they were in certain types of elements. One quick example was the culmination of gathering mana into a single point and releasing it in an explosive attack. While no visible flames were involved, an augmenter who had an easier time utilizing mana in that manner would typically be considered a fire-attribute mage.

That was only applied in the beginning.

While it differed per person, after a certain threshold in one's mana core and comprehension of the element, he or she could utilize mana in a way to actually pertain to the user's attribute. For conjurers, this meant that they could start slowly progress away from the training wheels of chanting and start shortening their verses or even completely foregoing it in the element that they were adept at.

For augmenters, it would become much more noticeable because they could begin manifesting their elemental attribute instead of manipulating mana in a manner corresponding to their elemental attribute.

For example, before breaking through, a fire attribute augmenters attack would simply carry a more powerful explosive burst, while wind attribute augmenters would find it easier to manipulate mana into faster and sharper attacks.

However, upon sufficient comprehension, the augmenters' element attribute would actually influences their attacks physically. Earth-attribute augmenters could learn to produce a gauntlet of earth and can even learn to create small seismic shocks by stomping their foot, while wind-attribute augmenters could be taught to release small blades of wind and create a vacuum effect in their punches, and so on. All of these were essentially techniques that mages could utilize upon sufficient comprehension of their respective element.

Of course, conjurers still had the major advantage of being able to influence a lot more of their surroundings. Their range was also a lot farther, but their weakness was still the vulnerability that they had the process of chanting as well as their bodies that weren't naturally protected by mana.

Because of these differences, both types of mages that could break the threshold are much stronger than mages that couldn't, and ultimately determined the talent and future accomplishments they could achieve.

While conjurers could innately control elements because of how proficient they were at absorbing nature's mana with their mana veins, augmenters are different.

For every one attribute augmenter there was, there were ten that wasn't. There were cases of attribute augmenters that never break the threshold and become fully-fledged elemental attribute augmenters. This was where proper schooling came into play; with enough guidance from early on, mages would more likely be able to be led to comprehension of their elemental attribute.

His two fists ignited, bursting into fiery gloves of scarlet. This control over his fire element was novice, apparent from the steam coming from his body. This meant that there was unnecessary mana being spread out throughout his body.

I had learned early on that my father was a fire attribute mage, but after reaching a bottleneck for years while being busy as a father, he was able to reach the orange stage and, more impressively, was able to break through in his comprehension in fire. He could now be considered as an official elemental augmenter, or elemental for short.

I shot him a proud grin, before readying myself as well. "Impressive, Dad... but now it's my turn."

{Morgana P.O.V.}

'His fighting style... Why does it look so much like Grey's? my eyes widening. I can get a seasoned fighter having a style similar to his, but Arthur's just a child!

A small voice spoke up in the back of my head, as a new hope bloomed, 'But aren't you a 'child'? If you can be reborn, then why can't he?'

But I was quick to silence the voice, and suppress the hope, though unable to fully crush it. No. There's no use in trying to see things that aren't there. Though, if there is a chance... I thought, staring longingly at him, Then I'll hate myself if I don't try. The queen and startagest part of her was quick to play to scenarios out in her head:

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Scenario A:

I approach him, and he is Grey. I can easily convince him that I'm who I say I am. Happy ever after.

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Scenario B:

I approach him, and he ends up not being Gray. He thinks I'm crazy and alerts everyone, which ruins everything.

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Scenario B is far more likely. I know that...

Well, then if I don't like my chances, then I'll just have to create another option...

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Scenario C:

I observe Arthur, until I know for sure that he's Gray. If he doesn't end up being Gray, I can just let it go.

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I nodded, confirming my course of action. That's my best bet. I can even drop hints here and there, that Grey should be able to pick up. Who knows, maybe if I'm lucky, he may end up confronting me first.

I sighed, now only if I could see him in action with a blade. Then I would know on the spot.

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