If I killed Lucy right now and threw her over the side of the boat, would she wash up on shore? And if so, would I get blamed? Meh, I bet I could pin it on the pedo Flame Mage. He looks like he could.... ok actually he doesn't look strong enough to beat a child. But there's always the problem of witnesses.... I could jump in after her and pretend I drowned.... Maybe I should just stop this increasingly awful train of thought.... Yeah, that's be good.

I snapped back to attention, dragging myself from my morbid thoughts. Lucy and Salamander were still talking, so I assumed I hadn't missed much. I shifted uncomfortably on the oddly-shaped couch, crossing my legs in a way I wasn't used to. I had to keep my dress from sliding up my thighs and exposing even more of my skin. Damn Lucy, making me wear an exact copy of her maroon-purple dress. Just because I didn't own a dress didn't mean I wanted to borrow hers. And why did she have two of the same damn dress?

Lucy had dragged me here, against my will. "Here" was the Flame Mage's boat, where his party was currently raging. He'd sought out my sister and I and pulled us into a private room for some alone time. If Lucy couldn't read the obviously dirty looks he was giving us, I feared for her. I really did.

"Lucy, huh...? And Winter? Such pretty names," the wizard commented, standing before us while he poured us each a sparkling orange drink. If that was alcohol, my mood just perked up a bit. I wasn't a drunkard, but I knew how to enjoy some more sinful drinks.

"Thanks," my sis chirped in response to his compliment, bobbing her head. I muttered a simple, "Whatever," turning my head away. 

"Let's toast with a glass of wine first," he said, offering us the drinks by sliding them across the low table. I leaned forward, my nose twitching. That didn't smell right... Ignoring the incredulous look her gave me, I picked the glass up between my thumb and forefinger and took a whiff that sent me reeling. Either that wasn't wind, or he'd done something to it.

"Don't you have to attend to other girls?" Lucy asked. To my ears, which were perfectly attuned to picking out my sister's emotions, she sounded a bit hopeful, and very creeped out. To anyone else, she sounded like a flattered teenage girl.

"It's ok," he replied, re-corking the bottle of suspicious wine. "I just feel like drinking with you." He snapped his fingers, and the orange wine broke into little round droplets and levatated from the glass, drifitng slowly towards us. Ick. What kind of parlor trick was that? 

Salamander directed us to open our mouths, saying the pearls of wine would simply float in. I ground my teeth as a response, completely refusing the request. When I saw Lucy only an inch from allowing the wine to trickle, I slapped a hand over her mouth, then swatted the globs of orange liquid into the wall, rising to my feet angrily. "More cheap tricks?" I practically growled, as Lucy slowly understood the situation. She rose to her feet also, glaring menacingly (sort of) at Salamander.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied smugly.

My upper lip lifted in a snarl I quickly stamped down. No need to turn feral for an ass like him. "Sleeping drugs are a bit old-fashioned, Salamander," I mocked, throwing the word at him like an insult. 

"Ooooh, how did you know?" 

"That stuff smells rancid. And I think you've misunderstood something. We want to join Fairy Tail, but I would rather be burned alive, and fed to rabid wolves than allow you to so much as touch me. Or my sister."

"You're such a bad girl," he said lowly, a satanic smirk curling his features. "If you'd just gone to sleep, we could have done this peacefully."

"Eh?"

Before I was fully aware of what was going on, a pair of monstrously strong hands gripped my arms, tugging them forcefully behind my back and jerking me nearly off my feet. I winced, looking over to see that Lucy was in a similar state, bound by a burly-looking man with an apish face.

"The hell?!" I shouted, trying, and failing, to pull myself free. I was so caught of guard, my other magic completely slipped from my mind. If I had thought of it at the time, things would have gone much more smoothly.

A hand cupped my chin, nails digging into my soft skin, and whipped my head around so that I was no longer glaring at the thugs holding me down. Rather, I was staring into the face of pedo Flame Mage. I refused to call him Salamander any longer. He didn't deserve the honored nickname in the least.

"Welcome to our slave ship. I must ask you to remain silent until we get to Bosco, ladies," he said, his lilting voice slipping into a harsh tone I felt fit his personality much better. 

"What... Bosco?! Hey!! What happened to Fairy Tail?!" Lucy demanded.

"Sis, I'd be more worried about the whole slave ship thing," I murmured, and her horrified eyes widened even further. Ooh, maybe I should have left that one alone.

"I brought you in as merchandise from the beginning," the accursed Flame Mage chuckled, finally releasing the death grip he held on my chin. I jerked my head away from him, biting my lower lip in frustration. Like this, neither Lucy nor I could reach our Keys. And Lucy, no offense to her, was veritably useless without them by her side.

I, on the other hand, was not a tomboy for nothing. No longer caring about the state of my dress, I shifted my weight backwards, glad for the hold on my arms, and kicked my foot straight up, digging my pointed heel into the Flame Mage's chin. His head whipped backwards and he stumbled back, tripping over the low table and slamming down onto the ground on his ass. 

"You bitch!" he growled, suddenly looming over me. I smiled cheekily up at him, until I felt a very wrong touch on my upper thigh. Fortunately, and also unfortunately, it was the wizard searching for my set of Keys. He stripped Lucy of hers then threw our combined sets out the open window. My heart sunk as I heard the far off plop that signaled they'd dropped below the waves. 

"Those were valuable," he said, rubbing his bloodied chin while shooting me a killer look. "But only the mages contracted to them can use that magic. Meaning, they were absolutely useless to me."

Lucy was tearing up at this point, burning fury swirling in her normally complacent brown eyes. My own eyes softened as I looked at her. So much for the great mages of Fairy Tail.

I watched through slitted eyes as the despicable mage sauntered over to the fire place, where brilliant embers were smoldering among the blackened logs. He picked up a metal rod, tipped with a square metal plate, and aimed it at me. I gritted my teeth to keep from snapping at him. That was used to brand cattle not innocent young girls! "Try it and see which eye I decide to gouge out first, you bastard!" I growled lowly. He only smirked, moving the brand ever closer to my tender skin.

"You are the worst mage ever," I heard Lucy choke out, the words barely slipping past her tears and tightened throat. 

In the moment before the brand made contact with my flesh, the ceiling exploded in a shower of splinters and sudden staryr light. I ducked my head, wincing when a piece of impact-sharpened wood grazed my cheek, leaving a line of hot blood. But I didn't mind, especially when I caught sight of the familiar pink-haired boy crouching among the debris of the broken roof.

"Natsu!" Lucy and I shouted in unison, relief washing over both of us.

What happened next was so hilarious, I almost forgot gravity of the situation. 

As the ship rocked, Natsu doubled over, eyes spinning and cheeks puffing out like he was going to blow chunks. A smile fought its way onto my face as Lucy cried out, "EEEH?! That's lame!!"

"W-What's going on?" the Flame Mage panicked, looking to the collapsed ceiling for answers. "Why would a brat fall from the sky?!"

"And he's already got motion-sickness too," a random thug noted, sweat dropping at the poor boy on his hands and knees, leaning against the wall of the room.

"Lucy! Winter! What are you doing?!"

"Happy?" I asked, lifting my gaze to the gaping hole above us. Sure enough, he was there, flapping white.... wings.... to stay aloft while he peered down at the scene anxiously.

"I was fooled!" Lucy cried out desperately, her fear and anger breaking her gently voice. "He told me he'd let us join Fairy Tail, but I...."

"When'd you get wings?" I asked, raising a brow.

"We'll talk about that later," he said, making a dive for the two of us. Guessing at his actions, I jumped from his path and he took hold of Lucy, tail wrapping around her slim waist. He cast a worried look at me, and I returned it with a reassuring grin. "Let's get out of here!" 

He flew from newly-made entrance, Lucy gaping in astonishment while in his hold. "Wai--" she tried to shout. "What are you going to do about Natsu?! And Winter?!"

"I'm fine, sis!" I called up, waving cheekily. "I have something to do anyway." I saw the pedo Flame Mage try and blast his magical fire at them, but Happy swiftly dodged, and I lost sight of them.

"Alright then," I muttered to myself, stepping up to Natsu. I shook his shoulder lightly, then bent down to say, "Don't worry about the motion-sickness. Just give me a second, ok?"

He nodded once, then pressed a hand over his mouth, groaning. I felt very, very sorry for him at that moment. I patted his back gently, then took my chance and dove out the open window, much to the surprise of everyone still inside. 

I sliced through the water cleanly, enjoying the stinging cold that enveloped my bare skin as I cut further and further downwards. I blinked open my eyes, and looked around, swimming down to the seafloor and searching among the rocks and kelp. There was a flash of glittering silver, and I allowed myself a tight-lipped grin before shooting forwards and hooking the two key rings and swimming for the surface.

To my surprise, I found both Happy and Lucy in the water with me. But I found I had no time for that. I'd promised Natsu I'd help him out with his motion-sickness, and goddammit, I was going to do it. I pulled the only Gold Key from my ring and jammed it down, teeth first, into the water in front of me.

"Open! Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

In an explosion of shimmering light that expanded from the elegant-looking Key, a beautiful woman with flowing sky-blue hair and sporting an equally impressive mermaid tail leaped from the water, the intricately carved vase she carried above her head spilling sparkling water down upon her. 

I heard Happy exclaiming nonsense in surprise, and grinned despite the reaction I knew I was going to recieve.

"Aquarius," I said to the startling beautiful Celestial Spirit hovering just above the water. "I need you to use your power to beach that ship." I pointed at the lonely, lit-up ship sailing somewhat forlornly over the open water. 

"Tch."

"Lovely response, now get moving!" I growled, oblivious to Lucy's warning gestures. Aquarius hated both of us, that much I knew. I wasn't entirely sure why she disliked Lucy so much, but her feelings for me had a very simple reason: I made her hate me. When Lucy and I first started working with Aquarius years ago, she took a liking to me. But I soon noticed how she treated Lucy, and got the idea to make her hate me even more than she hated Lucy. I didn't like seeing my sister so upset, so I thought if I could take Aquarius' wrath, it would leave less for my sister. 

"Such a noisy, whining kid," she shot back. Her eyes hardened, glinting for promised malice as she looked down at my soaking form, glaring defiantly back up at her. "Let me tell you one thing first. If you drop the Keys again, I will kill you." 

She stated it coldly and firmly, her intent clear in her sing-songy voice. I had no doubts whatsoever that she meant every word. Too bad I wasn't frightened of her.

"You know me better than that," I snapped. "These Keys are more precious to me than most anything. I would never willingly let them go. Now if you don't mind....?"

She tch-ed again, then raised her vase of water over her shoulder and shouted out a wordless howl as her powers erupted and a wall of water slammed into us all, rocketing us to the shore as it picked the ship up on the way.

I tried to fight through the torrent of water, feeling a bit guilty. If Natsu got sick on a gently-rocking boat, this was going to make him upchuck for hours.

I abruptly crash landed on the rocky shore, skidding along the muddy earth and effectively ruining the nice dress Lucy had loaned me. I pushed myself up with my arms, spitting out salty water and hopefully-not-worm-infested soil.

Lucy, I noticed, somehow landed on the deck of the no longer usuable boat, and was currently arguing with Aquarius. No doubt the Spirit never meant to aim for the ship in the first place. She enjoyed trying to murder us with her powers over the sea. 

I managed to stand on wobbly legs, but tripped over the sodden dress when I took a step forward. With an irritated scowl, I ripped the bottom length of the dress clean off, tossing it to the mud. Feeling freer than I had in hours, I sprinted over to the ship, but never reached it. 

Natsu burst through the wooden wall of the ship, foot aflame, kicking the Flame Mage out in a flurry of fire and charred wood. I watched in awe as he continued to destroy the ship, and pretty much everyone still on it. He also managed to ruin a good portion of the port.

"So this makes you the real Salamander, eh?" I mused, smiling. A mage that could control magic fire with such ease, and have this much destructive power... Yup, that was definitely Salamander of Fairy Tail. I was sooo relieved it wasn't hat pervert from before, whatever his name was.

As I was lost in thought, a warm hand clamped around my slender wrist and pulled me along at a steady sprint that I found easy to keep up with. Lucy, however, was flapping like a flag in the wind, trailing behind Natsu as we ran. 

"WHY MEEEE?!" she whined.

Natsu looked over his shoulder with a playful, sharp-toothed grin. "You want to join Fairy Tail, right?" he asked my wailing sister. She froze in surprise. Taking this as a yes, Natsu said, "Then come with me!"

A soft blush flushed over Lucy's cheeks as her eyes lit up with realization. 

"You're the best, Salamander!" I cheered, throwing an arm around his neck and still managing to outrun Lucy. He laughed, and so did Happy and Lucy. And we ran away from the knights I"d just noticed were chasing us, smiling like complete idiots. 

It was great!

"Oh. My. God," I breathed, staring up at the huge guild known as the one and only Fairy Tail. It was located in a pretty little town called Magnolia that I instantly fell in love with. "We're here..."

I was beyond ecstatic. So much so, that I felt like breaking into song. And I hated singing. So either Aquarius throwing me onto the shore knocked my head harder than I'd thought, or I was dizzy with euphoria. I liked option two better, so I went with it.

"Wow," Lucy said, awe-struck as she shaded her eyes, staring up at the guild. "It's huge."

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Happy announced, jumping into the air a little giddily.

While Lucy was still gawking, Natsu charged through the open doors. "WE'RE HOME!!" he shouted for all to here.

"Home~~~" Happy sang, trailing after him.

I grabbed Lucy's hand, shifting my bag over my shoulder, and raced along behind them. The guild was absolutely packed, every table and chair filled.

"Natsu, Happy, welcome back," a pretty young woman with flowing stark white hair and a gorgeous figure greeted, smiling softly at the approaching mage and cat. 

"You overdid it again!" a man laughed, an article of Weekly Sorcerer held in his outstretched hand. "I red about the Hargeon incident in the newspa--" He was interrupted by Natsu's sandal-clad foot colliding with his face, knocking him straight out of his chair.

"Bastard! That info you gave me about Salamander was fake!!"

"My.... now that Natsu is back the store might be torn apart soon," the white-haired woman giggled as the whole guild broke into an all out brawl that was just screaming my name.

"We really.... came to Fairy Tail," Lucy murmured from beside me.

"Did you say Natsu is back?!" A boy a year or so older than us appeared out of nowhere. He was cute, with tousled black locks, lightly tanned skin and a perfectly toned body. He wore a silver cross on a chain around his neck, and the symbol for Fairy Tail was stamped in a fitting navy on the right side of his chest. I could see it, because the only thing he was wearing were a pair of black boxers. "Hey... Let's settle our fight from earlier!"

"Gray..." another young woman called. She was pretty. She had long, wavy brown hair, and wore a blue bikini top and semi-fitted long brown pants. "Have you been walking around like that?" she asked. He looked down and started in surprise. "Ack! Shit!"

"Another one of those undignified guys," the woman sighed. "That I really hate." She then grabbed a huge barrel of what smelled like beer and proceeded to chug the entire thing.

"Heeey! Natsu! Come and fight me!"

"Not till after you're dressed."

"What rubbish!"

Curious, I tipped back my head to see who was behind me. A man with spiked white hair that was similar in shade to the earlier woman's towered over me. He had a nasty looking scar tracing across his right eye in a diagnol and deeply tanned skin. Lucy was immediatley freaked out by his arrival.

"Yapping in the middle of the day.... You're not little kids you know," he said rationally. Sadly, that ended the moment he joined the battle with raised fists. "So fight with you fists to show your manhood!!" he called as a battle cry.

"Get outta the way!" Natsu and Gray shouted, punching the muscled man clear across the huge guild.

"And he got owned!" I shouted gleefully, fist pumping the air. Lucy looked at me like I'd suddenly become stark raving mad. Pft, that happened years ago, sis.

I crossed my arms over my chest, surveying the fights raging through the guild with interest. I'd just jump right in, but I got the feeling that I wouldn't last more than a minute with these maniacs. That sent a sense of thrill throughout me, lifting my lips in a smile. Never in my life had I been in a place where acting unladylike was more than just accepted, it was called for. 

"It's so noisy here..." I turned around at the sound of the newcomer's voice, and my eyes widened in surprise. It was quite possibly the most attractive man I had ever seen in my life. He was taller than I was, with spiky orange hair cut short around his face and almost delicate features. Not to say he looked girly, but he certainly wasn't a brute. Blue-tinted frameless shades sat over his dark eyes, and he wore a dark-green jacket with a whitish-brown fur lined hood, over a red shirt sporting an adundance of flowery patterns, black pants, and white sneakers, each with a green stripe. In one ear, he had a stud, and two golden hoops that I for some reason found extremely cool. I really couldn't explain that one, since I hated men with earrings. Not him though.

"Ah!" Lucy gasped, spotting him as well. "That's Loke, the top rankes 'Mage You Want To Have As Your Boyfriend'!!"

I could definitely see that.... until I noticed the two floosies he held under his arms, who cuddled against his chest with giggles and squeals. And I saw the look on his face that said he was clearly enjoying him. Lucy slumped onto the ground, her fantasies ruined. I shrugged and sighed, not that surprised that the new hot guy I'd taken a liking to was this... whatever the hell he was. It was just my luck, really. 

"What's with this place?" Lucy whined against the possibly dirty floor. "None of them are normal..."

"Eh, normal's overrated, sis," I said with a sharp grin in her direction. I received no response.

"My, a newcomer?" asked a sweet, undeniably feminine voice from behind us. It was that pretty waitress, with the glossy, glowing white hair that I actually envied. Lucy and I had such a common blonde color....

"Mi-Mirajane!!!" Lucy gasped, pushing herself off the ground. She gushed again over the woman, whose identity was still a mystery to me. Then she made a hacking sound in her throat, like she'd just thought of something unpleasant. If it was the sight of those girls fawning over the attractive orange-haired boy, I was very much with her.

"D-Don't you have to stop them?!" Lucy asked, pointing weakly towards the brawling guild members. Mirajane simply smiled happily at the roaring scene, hands placed proudly on her hips. "It happens all the time," she said. "You don't have to worry about it. And..." A bottle flew from nowhere and crashed into her skull before I even registered its trajectory. She fell to the ground face first, still talking.

"Besides...." She picked herself up, and I winced at the bloody gash on her temple, coupled with the pleasant smile still sitting on her lips. It made my own twitch up in response. "Isn't it fun this way?"

"It's scary!!" Lucy insisted, while I just chuckled in agreement. My chuckled evolved into full blown manically laughter when that boy, Gray, flew into the table beside us, completely nude.

Natsu was a good few feet away, waving the boy's boxer's around tauntingly.

"Aaah! My underwear!" Gray exclaimed, jumping to his feet and completely flashing Lucy and I. I fell onto my back in my laughing fit while she cried out, "DON'T FACE THIS WAY!!" while doing a horrible job of covering her eyes.

"Hey lady, if you don't mind please lend your underwear--"

"NO WAY I'D DO THAT!" Lucy cut Gray's request off with a punch to the face that only made me laugh harder. And the next thing I know, someone's sweeping me into their arms and walking calmly away. I blinked opened my teary eyes to see that where I'd just been lying was now occupied by an unconscious man with a bloody nose. Ooh, that had to hurt.

"Ah geeze, people with no elegance are really troublesome, don't you think?" I blinked, finding myself staring up at the same man I'd been admiring earlier. I smiled. "Elegance was never my forte," I admitted, a little oblivious to the fact that I was still in his strong arms. Alright, I was enough to notice that they were in fact very strong arms. Ah.... I lost my train of thought. Where was I again? Oh, right....!

"Really?" he asked in a voice that caused an unusual blush to spread across my cheeks. "That seems unlikely. You, without elegance. What's your name?"

"I'm--" I started to answer, but was distracted by a shadow I caught out of the corner of my eye. "Duck!"

"You're name is Duck?"

"What? No, I mean duck!!" I grabbed onto his jacket and shifted my weight so that I dragged him down to the ground, at the same time the white-haired behemoth decided to swing a punch at his head. He missed and stumbled, off balance, into the bar to my right. 

Loke, as Lucy called him, ended up flat on top me, and I groaned. Why is that all men were so much heavier than women? Well, that's pretty sterotypical, but it fit the situation pretty well! 

"Sorry!" he said, immediately jumping off me and gently pulling me to my own too feet. I dusted myself off, waving away his concern. "I'm fine," I insisted with a smile. "Just glad that guy didn't knock you out cold or anything!" He returned my smile easily, and I vaguely noted that it was marginally different from the one he gave the other random chicks he'd been with earlier. But then the moment was gone when he shoved me behind him, and faced a group of people that looked like they were ready to take this fight to the next level.

This "group" included the brown-haired woman, who held up a card that radiated danger, Gray, holding his fist in the opposite palm with a brilliant white light emanating from his hands, the man who almost slugged Loke who'd somehow transformed his arm into that of a stone giant's, Loke himself, twisting a ring around his finger and causing it to glow with strange power, and of course, there was Natsu, fists thrown wildly, flames burning bright and hot. 

"COME AND GET ME!!" my pink-haired friend challenged as I backed up to stand beside Lucy. She was horrified at the sight before her, and I was ecstatic. It was amazing how different we could be for being identical twins. 

"MAGIC!!" she choked out.

"This is getting a little too intense," Mirajane noted nervously.

And that's when I felt the most massive presence behind me. The floor shook as what I presumed to be a giant foot collided with is. "THAT'S ENOUGH."

I turned around. I'll admit, this pretty much scared me shitless. It was demonic looking black figure that almost cleared the roof of the guild, with curling horns sprouting from its head and a twisted face. "CUT IT OUT, YOU FOOLS!" it boomed.

"He's humongous!" Lucy whimpered, while I sweat dropped, unable to utter a single word. That was a first. 

The guild froze, many people mid-punch. They turned away from their opponents with a huff. Except for Loke, who was swarmed by his fangirls again, and the drunken woman, who called out for more booze.

"My.... you were here Master?" MIrajane asked calmly to the monster.

"Master?!" Lucy echoed with a squeak.

I caught a vague glimpse of Natsu smirking triumphantly and turned my attention to him in time to see him throw his hands on his hips and laugh, "You all got so scared!! This match is..... mmph!"

The Monster Master crushed him lightly under his gigantic foot.

I sweat dropped again.

The Master turned his(?) head in my and Lucy's direction. She squeaked in fright. "Hm? Newcomers?" he asked.

"Yup!" I answered enthusiastically, downplaying my shock as much as possible. Lucy just stood there like a statue, jaw agape and eyes buggin from her head. 

I will never get over the suprise of what happened next. It was just that epic. 

The Master shrunk. Literally! He went from being huge and daunting, to an old man who barely reached to my knees in a jester cap, waving a hand to us.

I just barely kept myself from laughing out loud at the spectacle. 

"Nice to meet you," he greeted us, before flipping (multiple times) backwards, slamming into the railing of the guild's second floor, and climbing up onto it with a grunt. Ah... that wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

"You've done it again, fools," he announced to the quited guild, waving a stack of papers in front of him. "Look at these documents I recieved from the Council. First.... Gray."

"Huh?" the young mage answered with an unimpressed look.

"Good job on sweeping out the smuggling organization. But you walked around naked in town afterwards and ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried."

"But.... wouldn't it be worse if I were naked?" he questioned awkwardly.

"Then don't be naked in the first place," the white-haired man scolded.

"Elfman!" the Master continued, indicating the aforementioned man. "You had a mission to escort a VIP, but you assaulted him during the mission."

"He said 'men are all about education' so..."

What the hell does that have to do with anything? I wondered, raising a quizzical brow at him, though he couldn't hear my thoughts. I hoped, anyway.

Master went on and on, nailing various guild members for their blunders during missions. "Cana Alberona. Drinking 15 big barrels of alcohol, and charging to the Council."

Whoa, fifteen?!

"Loke... flirting with Council member elder Reiji's grandaughter. A certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation too."

Tch. Unsurprising.

"And Natsu," the old Master said, slumping over in defeat. "You destroyed the Devon Thief Family, but also destroyed seven other houses that belonged to the townspeople.... Levelling a historical tower in Tully Village.... Burning down a church in Freesia.... Damaging parts of Lupinus Castle.... Nazuna Ravine Obseratory collapsed and stopped its operations..... Destroying half of Hargeon's port...." He sighed, shook his head, and read off a list of names I was determined to memorize. 

"Alzack. Levy. Reedus. Warren. Bisca.... etc. Guys, the Council members are angry at me all the time...." Lucy tenses beside me, preparing for an old Master's wrath. I half-braced myself. This wasn't yet our fault, so what exactly could he blame us for?

"But... forget about the Council members." Master lit the pages on fire and tossed them down carelessly. Natsu, leaping like a frog, grabbed the burning papers in his mouth and methodically chewed them, and swallowed. Oh, right. Lucy had told me about his eating habits. Fire apparently restored his strength and powered him up. I thought it was pretty damn cool.

"Listen up. The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the spirit flowing within us, and the spirit flowing in nature connect, they will form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring all you sould into whatever you do is magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve," he said with a grin. "Do not fear the fools of the Council. Do whatever you think is right!! That's the way of the mages of Fairy Tail!!"

With that, the guild once again erupted with noise, shouts and hollers. Though this time, it was cheers and joy that filled the air, excitment caused by the inspiring words of our Master. Well, my hopefully-soon-to-be Master, anyway. 

Everyone was laughing and smiling and just having an amazing time. 

Right then and there, I knew, absolutely, positively knew, that I'd found the place where I was meant to be. As cheesy as that sounds, it's the undeniable truth. 

I loved Fairy Tail from the moment I set eyes on it.