14

Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?

Beta Reader: volfwildman

Good news. My mother didn't kill me when I came home. Not to say that she wasn't mad, how a person can show such care and anger at the same time I have no idea. In the end, since I came back with minimal injury, the Blowback magic had left some good bruise on me, she let it go.

That said I still would be punished, and that punishment would be decided by my younger siblings. On one hand, it was not as bad as I thought they would come up with. On the other hand, it was still worse then what I thought as well.

"Foooooooorrrrrrreee!" Shouted Erza as she sent a golf ball flying. The ball flew over the city and into the ocean. Everyone else on the minigolf course were looking at us like we were crazy.

"Erza." I said very calmly "Were playing minigolf, not regular golf. Why did you just send a ball into the sea when the hole is a few feet in front of you?" At my words, Erza turned to me with a look of confusion on her face.

"But Big Sis Cana said that if I hit it outside the city its automatically a hole in one." Well, that explained the snickers from behind me. Said snickers stopped when I flicked the source of them in the forehead.

As I ignored the pout and glare combo that Cana was sending me, I turned to Erza. "Well, Big Sis Cana also likes to mess with people too." The amount of people Cana has been able to send into a panic because of a "fortune" she read about them in her cards is getting far too large.

I got behind Erza and started to guide her hands. "Ok listen up. You need to get the ball into the hole in the few most shoots as possible. Take it slow, if you use too much power or speed, you're more likely to mess it up than anything else."

With slight help from me, Erza took a shot and was able to get the ball into the hole. "Yes, a hole in two!" Erza said. "Hole in one. I'm taking that first shot out of Cana's score."

At my words, Cana spoke up "Hey! That not fair! And this is supposed to be your punishment." I simply turn back to her with a deadpan look. "My punishment is to look after you three and make sure you don't get in trouble. I'm still in charge and as far as I'm concerned that first shot was yours even if you didn't do it."

Cana once again gave me the pout and glare combo before deciding to turn away from me in a huff and brushing her short hair back. During this whole ordeal, Gray had made the first hole and just moved on without us. Turns out he's good at minigolf considering he appears to be on hole 5 now.

With the argument over me and my siblings proceed to play through the rest of the course. Gray ended up with the fewest strokes. Erza came second after she started to get serious about the whole thing and seemed happy with the placement. I got third but I also really wasn't trying so not sure if it should count. Last place belonged to Cana mainly due to the girl's insistence on taking trick shots, the fact that most of her score sheet had 18 after 18 showed how well that went.

Afterward, we got ice cream from the place right next to the mini-golf course. Cana was just brooding in the corner over her loss, she was rather competitive when it came to family stuff and the fact, she was a sore loser didn't help. Gray, Erza and I just ate our ice cream in peace and when Gray finished his and went off to the bathroom leaving just me and Erza.

"Thank you for your help Big Brother Bish," Erza said while slightly bowing to me. I simply waved it off with a sigh "It's nothing. You would have been fine anyway, especially considering your insane luck."

So, I had wondered a few years ago how Erza got all her enchanted weapons and armor, as it turns out it was pure luck. Every time she went out on a job she somehow come back with a new enchanted weapons or armor set. How she got it ranged from it being an extra reward, finding it in some old ruins while on the job, taking it from so person she fought and my personal favorite finding it in a chest on the side of the road.

Fun fact that's how she got her Heaven's Wheel armor. From a random chest on the side of the road. Not joking.

And of course, she only has this insane luck when she takes a job alone. When I'm with her or even Gray and Cana, she simply doesn't find anything. The madness of this world still finds a way of surprising me.

"You ready for the sword training tomorrow?" Erza nodded her head yes at my words. It had not taken long for her to learn everything I had learned when it came to swordsmanship. What had taken me years to learn she learned in less than one year. Even now when I and her are learning new sword styles she learns them far faster than me. She truly was a prodigy when it came to that stuff.

There was a pause in the conversation as Erza started to finish her ice cream. I found my mind wandering back to the fight with Keen, to those whispers. Did it make me insane? I had always been off when it came to my mind. Emotions simply weren't things I understood. Sure, now I could really feel stuff like guilt, satisfaction, and even fear and even before that I could still technically feel emotions. They were just dilated and filtered so much that they just didn't feel real.

"Bish." I heard Erza say as I finished my ice cream, I cleared my mind as I turned to her and saw a bit of sadness on her face. "You won't die and leave us while you?" I paused at her words. I really couldn't remember much about Erza's backstory, just her being a slave and things about Jellal but I did remember that someone died for her.

Did she think I might do that as well? I just proceed to pat her head and gave the best little smile I could. "Don't worry about it Erza. I'm not heading to the afterlife any time soon. You're stuck with me for a good few decades."

Erza looks up to me with a happy smile before nodding her head at my words. I had no intention of going back to that White Void any time soon.

Not when I had my annoying little siblings to look after at least.

"Tell me a story!"

I promptly found myself jumping in the chair I was sitting in while trying to not drop the book I was reading. I looked to the source of the shout and found Gray staring at me with determination.

I had just finished some physical training and after cleaning up had been in the library reading. I was in the middle of reading about the ancient Hesson river valley civilization that was this world's version of Mesopotamia when Gray had shouted. I had been so concentrated on the book he must have snuck up on me then.

"And why do you want me to tell you a story?" I replied in my usual neutral tone although it did have an edge of annoyance to it. Gray seemed to pick up on that annoyance as the 11-year-old looked to the side with a bit of embarrassment while rubbing his head a little.

"Sorry, it's just I can't seem to find inspiration." I raised my eyebrow at his word choice. "Inspiration, as in to paint?" Gray stopped looking embarrassed and once again started to look at me with a determined stare.

"Ya. I can't seem to get an idea to paint with. Every time you tell a story though I get inspired to paint. I guess they're just really good." I couldn't help the inward chuckle at his words. Most of the stories I tell him and our sisters are just reused from my world. I found it funny that he was giving me credit for them.

"Fine just find a chair, I'll get the curtain and dim the room a bit." At my words, Gray started to run towards the table in the room with all the chairs by its side. I quickly pull some of the curtains down and the room becomes a nice shaded dim.

I was once again back in my nice comfy chair with Gray across from me in a wooden chair he had picked. Black and white swirled around the ceiling as I muttered out "Storyteller". "This is a story about a Shadow. This Shadow was the shadow of a very rich but empty Man. This Man own so much money that he could buy the moon itself, but he found no happiness in his life. The Man would constantly do cruel things to those around him, only finding hollow happiness in the sadness of others."

"This Man's cruelness came back to bite him one day though. When he found himself suffering a heart attack, he called for help but those around him did nothing. Why would they, this was man had made their lives so horrible. The man died sad and alone, in the death of this Man his Shadow was free. While happy to be free from his cruel caster he had no idea what to do on his own."

"The Shadow wandered around the city of his caster and tried to find a purpose. The Shadow remembered the actions of his caster and decide to act cruel. Shadow started to scare all those around him and found their fear to bring him the same hollow joy that sadness brought his caster. The Shadow keep scaring all those around him until he came to a house in the middle of nowhere."

He started to scare the family within the house but while the Mother and Father were fearful the courageous Child was not. The Child was scared but he did not let it stop him, he would protect his family even while scared. Eventually, the Child cornered the Shadow with a flashlight, The Shadow would disappear when exposed to the light for too long and so he begged the Child to let him go."

"The Shadow told the Child his story, how he was the shadow of a cruel rich man and how when he was finally free, he found happiness in scaring others. The Child felt pity for the Shadow and ask why he would not try to make others happy rather than scaring them. At the Child's words, the Shadow decided to try. He put on a shadow puppet show for the Child and as the Child's smile grew from the entertainment so did the Shadow's."

"The Shadow found happiness at bringing others joy, not hollow happiness like before but warm and bright happiness. The Shadow thanked the courageous Child and left. The Shadow would spend the rest of its days bringing joy to those that had none and where the Man died sadly the Shadow found happiness even in death." As I finished Gray looked toward me with astonished eyes.

Those eyes soon turned determined and before I could say anything Gray was out of his chair and running out of the room with a determined look and happy smile. I let out a little small smile of my own before I pick up my book and started to read again.

I had only just started to read when I heard someone clear their throat in front of me. I looked up to see both Cana and Erza the former giving me an expected look while the latter had a more begging look on her face. I let out a sigh as I adjust myself in my chair "Go get a chair." At my words, the two girls ran to get a chair. I just rolled my eyes at them.

About a day later a new painting was put up in one of the halls. It showed a Child and a Shadow, both smiling happily.

I partly listen to all the noise around me as I read the newspaper. I found myself at the guild and it was just my luck that they decide to have a random party while I was trying to catch up on current events.

The weird nose hair mage was still out and about apparently, good to know.

I had considered just leaving the guildhall and heading home but I found the noise to be a nice distraction. Recently my mind just seems to wander back to that fight, to the whispers.

My mind just seems to keep thinking about them, about what they are. That can't be me, right? They must be some side effect of the reincarnation, something outside of my control. Ya, they can't be me because if they were then that would mean a part of me is a monster. A cold emotionless monster that-

I shake my head a little as I force my mind to think. I end up closing my eyes and just listening to background noise. A confine of noises, many different parts coming together to form a chaotic chant. I focus on the smaller parts as I try to dissect part of it to find their origins.

I hear Macao bragging to Wakaba about his girlfriend turned fiancée. I hear the Guild Master making suggestive comments to the barmaid and her passive-aggressive responses. I hear Gray and Erza bickering about the rules of some game they were playing. I hear Cana's…... drunken slurs!?

My eyes shot open as I face the way that Cana's voice came from and see said girl sitting at a table while laying her face on the table with a very drunk expression on her face. The men at the table appear to be laughing at her drunken murmurs and mumbles.

I quickly get out of my chair and head to the table. I hear one of the men say, "The lass is a lightweight." At his words, I increase my pace and soon find myself at the table. "Heyyyyyyy Bissssssh. You loooook funnnyy." Cana says with a little giggle at the end.

I give the men at the table a cold look "And who's idea was it to give a little girl alcohol?" At my cold tone, many of the men look to the side nervously. One, however, seems a bit too drunk to understand my intentions.

"The lass was curious and who am I to deny a Fairy Tail mage a drink." As he finishes, he takes a drink from his tankard. He seems to not notice my hard stare I was giving him. My eyes narrow at him before I pick Cana up and slung her over my shoulder. I ignore Cana's drunken mumbles against my back as I make my way to the bar.

"Hello barmaid," I call to the girl working the bar getting her attention. "Can you give that gentlemen another drink. And a little something extra in that drink as well." She looks at me confused before I grab a brown veil out of my hammerspace.

The barmaid looks to me then to the child on my shoulders and at the drunk man back at the table. A look of understanding appears on her face as she quickly makes another drink. I pour some of the brown liquid into the drink once she's done and she quickly takes it to the man.

As I make my way out of the guildhall with my siblings, I hear a loud grumble come from behind me and then hear a person quickly get up from their chair and run to what I presume would be the bathroom. With the effects of Explosive Brown happening, I allow a small smile to appear on my face which looks far bigger due to my cheek scar.

On the bright side, I doubt Cana will ever drink again after going through both a major hangover and Mom's harsh lecture at the same time.

"Four of a kind, I win." Gray and Erza groan at Cana's words as she collects some of the candy being used for bets. I had decided to fold out of the round after seeing Cana quickly tap the table, which I had learned was her tell for when she had a good hand.

It appeared that while Cana would not have an alcohol addiction, she would have a gambling one instead. She didn't like winning money or anything like that she just like making and winning bets. Still not sure if this is better than her drinking.

After I won a particularly big payout of candy, I decided to leave the game. "Ohhhhh come on Big Brother Bish, just look at all this candy you could win!" I give Cana a deadpan look as she shows off her own decent pile of candy, much to the despair of Gray and Erza with their little piles.

"No thank you. I now have a good amount more candy then I started with. Rather leave now when I'm winning then risk it and see your smug grin for the rest of the week." Cana just pouted at my words before looking at her other siblings with a questioning gaze.

Gray and Erza both quickly put their small piles of candy into their pockets, clearly, they didn't want to lose all their addictive surgery treats. Cana give us a sour expression before sighing and getting up to follow us out of the guildhall. But just as we were leaving I hear a voice call for us from behind.

I look behind me to see the Guild Master giving me what I can only describe as a pitying yet amused grin. "Got one more." At his words, he turns to walk off leaving behind the pink-haired child that was beside him with us.

"Hey, you look strong! Want to fight!?" I felt my left eye twitch at the young Natsu's words.

AN: Just some character development along with some fallout of the last chapter. Oh, ya and Natsu arrives, guess that's important. Going to try to speed up and get to the beginning of the series by around chapter 20, maybe have a little 2-3 chapter arc for an idea that's been brewing in my head for an awhile. By the way, the story with Gray is a reference to something. Here's a hint, its from a cartoon.

Thanks once again to volfwildman for being a Beta. Also, thanks for the reviews, in particular, thank you to Priatt and verycoolname for the complements. Another thanks to Doctor Doofenshmirtz for his review and messages, helped me with a few things and showed some stuff I need to work on, good luck with your world domination dude.

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