Chapter 10

My Mountain

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic and my Ideas

.:+:.

Just as Frea had said she would, she had woken Chase up well before dawn. He groggily folded up his sleeping bag and strapped it to his bag, putting it around his shoulders. Frea set off once he was ready and another day of walking started, they spent the next few hours traveling through the forest they had stopped off in last night, until his feet hit sandy ground. He stopped and stared in dismay at the scene before him, did she really expect him to walk over this?

Before them lay a stretch of desert that seemed to go on for miles, the trees were better considering they provided shade. But this, there was nothing to stop the sun from beating down on them relentlessly. Frea had noticed that Chase had stopped at the edge of the trees, but she kept walking. They needed to keep going, they had to get to their destination some time. Chase reluctantly sped up to catch up with her once he realized she had drawn ahead.

Chase panted as he kept following her, and his shirt was starting to stick to his body as he followed. He had to wonder how on earth it was possible, for him to be panting heavily and sweating like crazy, when his mentor was breathing evenly and hadn't broken a sweat at all.

He let out a sigh of relief as they left the desert behind and the land flattened out into grassy plains. Frea kept walking and he let out a grumble, "How could anyone have so much energy...?" He muttered under his breath.

"Lesson number one: you have to have a lot of Energy to be an Energy Mage." Frea called back to him and he stared in astonishment that she had heard him. Then he frowned a little and looked away from her back,

"Stupid Dragon ears..." He muttered.

"I heard that." She said and smiled a little, even though he couldn't see it. Chase pushed away his fatigue and caught up with her, determined to keep up this time. Frea smiled a little more when she realized that Chase was determined to keep up with her, she honestly hadn't expected him to be able to walk so long.

To Chase's relief, a huge mountain rose up in front of them as they left the plains behind, giving way to trees that stood at the base of the mountain. He noticed that Frea's over all mood slightly improved, though his relief quickly turned to annoyance as the trees suddenly disappeared, and steep rocky slopes rose up before them. Chase struggled to climb while Frea seemed to know where to put her feet, and climbed the slopes with little effort.

Chase frowned a little as he saw her getting farther away as he struggled to climb the steep slope. He kept going though, making sure to get good footholds, determined to keep the Energy Dragon Slayer in his sights. He huffed as he reached out to grab a rock and position his feet, before pushing himself up more. He pushed up, and the world froze, and his heart skipped a beat as his foot slipped, and he found himself falling backward.

Shit! This was gonna hurt...

Steady hands pushed against his back as he was kept from falling and he glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened upon seeing Frea behind him, keeping him from falling down the steep and rocky slope. She was fast.. She had been far ahead and gotten back to catch him in hardly any time at all.

He steadied himself after a moment and murmured a small 'thanks'. This time she stayed behind him, ready to catch him in case she fell again. Though Frea had continuingly been getting farther away from the young man on purpose, she had always been keeping an eye on him. He would get seriously hurt if he fell, she was pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy that. After about an hour of climbing the land suddenly flattened out as they reached the near top of the mountain. Chase collapsed onto grass and sucked in air, staring at his surroundings.

They were surrounded by trees and bushes, birds and small creatures raced all around. Frea gave him a few minutes to rest as she sat down with her legs crossed, sweeping her silver gaze over the landscape, a small smile creasing her lips. When he had caught his breath she got to her feet and he followed her as she silently lead the way deeper into the woods, looking so sure of where she was going.

In fact she looked so sure, he had to wonder how she seemed to know where she was going without much thought.

The trees thinned out to reveal a waterfall falling from a sharp rise in the land, water resting in a very large pool below, before flowing down a stream somewhere else. He spotted a stone structure, it was some stones sticking out of the ground with a large slab set atop and another slab resting against one side to provide some shade from where it sat, at the edge of the trees, not to far away from the pool of water.

She lead him under it and dropped her stuff, he did the same, the grass under the structure was softer and it felt like a cloud under his feet. Chase turned away from the structure and cast his deep blue gaze over his surroundings, he was amazed, this place was beautiful.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"My old home when I was still with Chaitanya." Frea replied and he glanced at her in surprised. She was smiling, as if all the happy memories were flashing through her mind. He knew she was a Dragon Slayer, and that she had been raised by a Dragon named Chaitanya, some people back at the Guild had told him when he talked with them a night ago. He sweatdropped a little, they had also warned him that Frea could be extremely rough and he better make sure not to get beat up too much.

Frea looked over the land for a few more moments before her silver eyes locked on to him. "Time to get started, I want ten laps around the perimeter of this lake and the cliff over there." She said and his jaw dropped.

"You're serious?" He asked and she nodded.

"Get to it." He reluctantly ran off, grumbling about the unfair amount of running she had just given him.

Frea watched Chase go as she sat down under the stone structure in the soft grass and watched his form slowly shrink away as he started his running. This is where she had learned her Magic, so she had decided there was no better place to teach Chase his. This Mountain was very cut off from the rest of the world, and due to the fact that it was pretty much steep rocky slopes until the very top where they were now, not many creatures ever ventured up here. That also kept away forest monsters like Vulcan, and Wyvern and Blizzardvern were hardly ever seen to add on to that.

Frea smiled wider at the familiar surroundings, she loved it here, and she had been meaning to come back for a visit. Sitting here brought up all the happy memories of living with Chaitanya, but it also stirred up the more unhappy ones of when the Energy Dragon had disappeared, and the long amount of time Frea had spent waiting on this mountain for Chaitanya to come back, though she never did.

What happened next she didn't even want to think about, the memories of when Kasumi had captured her still sent a shiver down her spine, so she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind.

.:+:.

As the next week passed by, Frea would only order Chase to do laps around the perimeter of the cliff and lake, and she had gradually increased the number of laps each day. On occasion she would tell him to swim so many laps in the lake, and she would sit on a flat rock in the water as she watched him silently. Occasionally she would yell something like, 'Keep it up' or 'Stop slacking!'. Once the first week of being on the Mountain passed, she lead him back to the steep and rocky slopes, and made him climb and climb, while she sat on a ledge and watched carefully.

Though it never ceased to amaze him how she could get to him so fast if he was about to fall, and after the first few times, he had stopped losing his footing. Chase knew for a fact, that Frea could tell how sore he was, but she still made him train no matter what.

Though Frea hadn't said anything, she could tell that Chase was getting stronger the longer she made him work, and though she was sure the young man hadn't noticed it, he was becoming less sore everyday, and his stamina had risen considerably. She never missed anything about him as she watched him train, she had to keep making sure the continued training was working, and she was happy to see that it was.

Chase was a hard worker, he was fast, bright, determined, and of course, he was stubborn. There were a few times when she really had felt like punching the young man when he complained about work at times, or the occasional smart-ass comment he would give her. But he wasn't wearing on her patience as much as she had thought he would, he was surprisingly tolerant of plenty of things.

One of the things she liked the most about him, was his attitude. Chase was naturally a fun-loving guy who loved to just talk and he was surprisingly easy to get along with, though she still hadn't had any luck in getting him to talk about his family. But Chase wasn't afraid to tell her his opinion on some things, and she was ok with that, at least he didn't just stay silent all the time.

Frea was currently sitting on a ledge that jutted out from the steep rocky slopes that lead up the mountain, as she watched Chase climb up with almost little problem. They were currently on the last day of week two, and she smiled when he made up to her ledge and sat down with a sigh.

"Good job kid." She smiled at him and he smiled back, though she could tell he was slightly annoyed that he had been called 'kid' again.

"Thanks." He murmured and lifted his arms above him in a stretch. "What's up next? Running?" He asked and Frea stood up.

"Nope. That's it for today," She told him and he glanced up at her in surprise. "It's gonna rain soon anyway, might as well head back to the stone structure." She told him and she turned her back on him. Frea easily jumped up the last five feet to the top of the mountain where the ground flattened out into forest and grass. Chase followed her and she stayed silent as she lead the way toward the lake, hands resting on top of her head.

"Teach?" He asked and Frea blinked in slight surprise at the nickname. Chase had started using it since the start of the training, but she still found it a little weird to be called that.

"Yep?" She asked without looking back at him.

"What happened to you after Chaitanya left?" He asked slowly and she stiffened slightly. She had been aware that he had been becoming more and more curious about her past, but it still put her a little on edge to think about it. Frea looked away as she kept walking, and she was fairly certain that Chase's deep blue eyes were fixed on the spiral scar on her shoulder-blade. She sighed and sat down on her unrolled sleeping bag under the stine structure as they reached it, Chase sat down on his and watched her carefully.

"It's a long story..." She murmured and he tilted his head a little.

"We've got time." He told her and she nodded.

"All right," She murmured. She quietly told him about how she had arrived at Fairy Tail when she was young, alone, no memory, and a Demon. She explained her life with the Guild, up until Kasumi had gotten her while she had been on a mission with Team Natsu, and the two demons inside of her had been released, and Kasumi died. She then explained how she had disappeared after fighting with Shadow, and showed up at the Guild after four months when she had saved Wendy in an alley. How she had remembered everything about her life before Fairy Tail, how after she had spent months waiting for Chaitanya when the Dragon had disappeared, that she had left the mountain and been taken by Kasumi the first time.

Chase simply sat and listened quietly with a neutral face, though the young man did notice that she never really went into a lot of detail about Kasumi, or her life with Chaitanya. He couldn't blame her though, it sounded horrible, and he was surprised that she didn't seem more fazed by what had happened to her.

That only made him think of what she had said, how he needed to let go of all of his negative feelings and move on to happier things. He had to admit, his past did distract him at times. Rain had started to fall as Frea had talked, and they both glanced up as lightning flashed across the sky. Chase blinked in surprise when he saw his mentor smile at the lightning.

"What's the smile for Teach?" He asked and she glanced his way, still smiling.

"It reminds me of someone I know." She replied. "I have a re-match to settle with them." She murmured. Chase could clearly see she looked excited at the prospect of this re-match, and it reminded how he had come to realize Frea really did like to fight. Chase fidgeted a little, he felt like he should tell her, about his family. She had been willing to tell him about her life, why shouldn't he be willing to tell her about his?

"Teach," He murmured and she blinked, waiting for him to continue. "My family..." He began and he forced away the tears that were threatening to spill over. "They're dead..." Chase murmured. "They were eaten by those things attacking Jogenen... There was another reason I chose you as a teacher, when you protected me... it reminded me of how I hadn't been able to protect my family... I want to learn Energy Magic so I can protect the people I care about." He told her quietly and stared at his hands that were resting in his lap. Horrible flashes of what had happened appeared before his eyes, blood, horrible screams...

"I know." Frea murmured and he looked up in surprise, she was looking at him calmly.

"B-but... how?" He stammered and she sighed.

"I know a lot more than you think I do." She replied calmly. "But I'm glad you told me anyway, this way you can get over it." Frea told him. "You have to remember, I was fighting those things along with Gajeel and Lily, and we got hurt pretty badly. You couldn't have done anything to save your family, but you have something worth striving for. Wanting to protect the people you love is a very good thing, and that's why I have faith, that your going to be able to learn Energy Magic." Frea gave him a smile. "Because I know your strong enough to move on from what happened back in Jogenen, and as long as you start to look at the positive side of life, your going to get even stronger." She told him and her fangs flashed as she smiled at him.

Chase stared, before he smiled at her. He felt better to get that off his chest, and what she told him, somehow made him feel a whole lot better.

"Thanks, Teach."