The Lost Girl

[Kotone]

Shirotsume – it had been a long while since Kotone had been in the northern part of Fiore – seldom did she have a reason to travel to the less inhabited northern part of Fiore, but today she was running an Errand for the guild mater of Lamia Scale, Daedalus. She was dating the Ace, so she supposed she might as well help her boyfriend’s guild, she supposed, even if she wasn’t actually a part of it.

Around her, people milled about the small marketplace where she just happened to be traveling through. From the looks of it, Blue Pegasus and Loyalist members were the ones in control of the town, and it showed in the town’s morale. Everyone was animated and talking in a lively manner, going about their day as if nothing was wrong. Kotone could appreciate this, considering so many places she’d seen were low in the morale department.

The dragon slayer had been walking for the better part of six hours, and decided it was time for a rest before going the rest of the way to Blue Pegasus. She sat down on the small brick wall surrounding an old oak in the center of the road, pulling out some jerky she’d brought with her. She took a bite, looking around idly as Sid poked his head out of her pack with a mew. He started to climb onto her shoulder, but Kotone stopped him. "Careful Sid. That's skin," she reminded him. She usually wore a jacket, but today it was a black spaghetti strap tank top and short shorts, along with her usual knee-high boots. She handed the cat some of her jerky, chuckling. "It's okay, bud. I can take a few scratches."

[Nines]

Morning in the woodsea went the same as it always did. The sun crept over the horizon to hit the trees. Then the light exploded through the branches into thousands of tiny sparks. These flecks of light soon found their ways to Nines house, finding the Auburn haired man already awake and doing work around the place. His light linen shirt reflecting the light away from him due to its white coloring. The bandages wrapped around his left arm somewhat accomplishing the same effect. He raised the wooden tea cup back to his face and took another drink. In his right hand was the handle of an Axe. The pile of split logs next to him spoke volumes, he had to have been doing this for hours.

The man put the cup down next to him, and wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his arm. He sighed and hefted the axe back up, and rested it on his shoulder and walked across the “Yard” of his to a small wooden place he had build not too long ago. A small shed, which he opened and placed the axe into and pulled out a small wagon. Throwing the logs in the back of the wagon he grabbed the two handles and began pulling it towards the nearest town.

It took him a few hours to get to Shirotsume town. Time well spent in his opinion, soon he would return to the Magic Council, and give them an ultimatum about this war. Till then he was going to help out those he could, like the lady who requested this fire wood. For a man who hadn’t slept in a week he looked rather well. His grin hadn’t faded, and his eyes seemed as sharp as ever. As he walked down the old road he stopped and smiled at the old oak. It had been the center of this town for generations. He admired that, even kind of remembered that from his youth. He chuckled.

He turned to continue on his way when he saw something that made him pause. He dropped the cart and turned his entire body to look this time. RIght there on the small part of the wall, near the Elder Oak, it couldn't be. The young lady smiled at a cat near her, it hurt. She had the same smile even. But there was no way, unless she was some sort of ghost, or...no reincarnation would be impossible, it was too soon for a phenomena like that to happen.

He walked up to the young lady, who was now holding some jerky and munching on it. As he did he bowed, as was Shirotsunian tradition when introducing oneself. “Good morning mi’lady” He said with a northern accent, he had learned from his time around here. “My name is Ku, may I join you?” He introduced himself with a lie so pure it could be truth, and then flashed his grin.

When facing Ghosts like himself, you could never be too careful.

[Kotone]

Kotone hadn’t been paying that much attention to the people around her. She didn’t mind people as much as she used to, but as a natural loner she preferred to keep to herself. That’s why, despite her dragon slayer senses picking up the man approaching, she was a bit surprised that he addressed her. Kotone was becoming well known in the other inhabited corners of Fiore, but the North was a bit out of the way. Even if they knew of her there was no guarantee they’d know what she looked like at all. “Er,” Kotone started. She had no idea what the man wanted, but he had definitely approached her with a purpose. “Yeah, sure,” she nodded. She'd find out what he wanted soon enough.

The dragon slayer appraised the man for a short moment before introducing herself. “I’m Kotone,” she told him with a semi-polite nod. Sid was much friendlier than she was, immediately trusting the man and even rubbing his head against his arm. Kotone, meanwhile, was more skeptical , raising an eyebrow at the overly-trusting cat. “Ku, huh?” she didn’t feel like he was a Ku. The name just didn’t fit him, but he was either sincere or a very skilled liar, because she thought he sounded trustworthy. “Is there something you wanted?”

[Nines]

Nines reached into his wagon, behind the split wood and pulled out a picnic basket, and a jar filled with juice. He smiled back at the young woman. “I have no ulterior motive mi’lady. I only wish to know your story.” Nines said with the accent. “You see, I can tell from the way you are not only resting, but the way your body has reacted to the sunlight, the light glisten from the sweat, and the look in your eyes, that you have been walking this fine morning. Most likely for hours.” He sat next to her and opened the picnic basket, putting the juice next to her as he sat on the ground. He quickly pulled a small purple blanket out of the basket and laid it out on the ground, put the basket in the middle and pulled out a sandwich, placed it on a small plate and put that next to her as well.

“From your accent I can tell you are from the south, not the far south. Not as south as others, but most likely from the area near Magnolia. Which means you have been walking for quite some time indeed.” Nines smiled as he continued to pull food out of the basket and lay it out on the picnic blanket. Tori was going to be very upset when she found out, he had prepared lunch for them both. Then she was practically going to rip his throat out with her teeth when she found out he had given it to a complete stranger. If only she knew.

He looked at the way Kotone acted, the movements. Everything she did, except for how she acted around Nines, reminded him of Sophia.The two of them could have been twins. He had already offered the cat some of the food, and had promptly been rewarded with head bumps. Petting the cat, he knew Kotone was a decent person, cats were a good judge of character. If they were mean, and anti-social, it tended to be because they person they interacted best with was a loner type, or the person trying to pet it was a bad person. The cat reacting this way towards him meant that Kotone for as hard as she was on the outside was a nice person underneath. That made him smile.

It also meant Kotone didn't trust him.
That was good, if was in her shoes he wouldnt trust himself either.

[Kotone]

An eyebrow raised at the sandwich, but considering Sidney was more than ready to steal the sandwich, Kotone didn’t have much choice but to either accept, or have the small cat accept for her. “Mine,” she reminded the wily cat firmly before tearing off a small piece for him.

Then Kotone looked at Nines, chuckling a confident chuckle. He wanted to know her story. From the way he talked, he didn’t know who she was, so he was talking to her for a different reason. “You want to know my story?” she asked him, giving him a mostly friendly, though possibly slightly intimidating (to most people anyway) grin that revealed her elongated canines.

“I’ve got plenty to tell,” she told him, her smile fading to a more subdued grin. “You’re right, I spend a lot of time around Magnolia,” she nodded, her posture relaxed despite how guarded her attitude was. “I’m Kotone, which I already told you,” she started, holding out her hand as ice formed in her grasp before she easily crushed and dispelled it at once, turning it into an icy dust that blew away in the wind, “I’m a wizard,” she told him simply, letting him draw his own conclusions instead of advertising who she was for once. Kade must be rubbing off on her a bit.

Kotone shrugged nonchalantly as she munched on the sandwich, closing her amber eyes and deciding to tone down the reflexive bragging she did with strangers in unfamiliar places. “But… I guess I don’t really know where to start. What do you want to know? Maybe I can tell you a bit more if you know what to ask.”

[Nines]

Nines nodded as she talked, then she created Ice in her hand. Ice magic, no. She wasn't an ice make mage, the way that ice formed was natural, pulled in from around them. Ice make magic was less simple and less complex of a task. This was some top tier magic, something pounded into her from youth to be natural, and instinctual. Something as intense as Sophia’s healing magic was, the youth smiled and revealed her canines to be elongated like her mothers.

That was interesting, and made Nines even more curious as to who this young girl was. The fact even the twos teeth were exactly the same was worrying, this wasn't even something well bred families could do. Then again Nines figured if birth was a controlled thing, that ruined the natural way genes lined up. Nines only knew of one elemental magic as powerful as something hardwired into someone or something. Dragon Slayer magic. It was rare, but it was also a well experienced thing. Too meet a Dragon slayer would be a real honor for Nines. He couldn't call her out on it, to try and explain that he just deconstructed what type of mage she was from a minor example of power like that would not only blow his cover but also put her on the defensive.

“I am a Magician myself” Nines said with a calming smile. “However I cannot use my magic here, to do so would be to break the vows of my family itself, and that would leave me an outcast in the woods, left alone with nothing but the demon within my left arm. I would be worried what would happen to me” He chuckled. “Wouldn’t you? I'm mean I may be fine now, but a major mental blow such as that would weaken me, and that would be bad. A mental war between me and a demon wouldn't be easy to win if I was depressed. Currently however is easier than the spreading of butter on bread” With that Nines laughed heartily.

“Why not start at the beginning? Who trained you to use your magic? How your parents felt about it? Why you wanted to be a magician even.” He smiled at her. “If you tell me this story, I will tell you why I am a logger in the woods, with a full picnic basket, and a demon inside my arm. Ku is sure you are curious about that” He chuckled as he said the last bit.

[Kotone]

Kotone listened to ‘Ku’ in turn, explaining that he was a magician with a demon in his arm as if it were no big deal. She glanced at his arm and noted the runes, which explained why he didn’t seem bothered at the moment. She didn’t care if he used his magic or not. Unlike her newer wind magic, her dragon slayer magic was instinctual and easy to use, just as Nines had said. She could shape the ice with barely a thought, which came in handy more than once, truth be told.

Kotone was told to start from the beginning, with parameters to help explain things to Ku. Kotone supposed she could do that. “I was trained by the dragon Krendall,” Kotone told him honestly, “Up until I was eight anyway. Everything after was my own doing.” Kotone closed her eyes again, letting out her breath slowly. “I didn’t choose to be a wizard. I was raised to be one, because that’s what dragon slayers do. As for what my parents think of it? Your guess is as good as mine. I was found alone in the woods. I was left there by my family when I was around two.”

Kotone stood up a bit straighter, crossing her arms under her chest and looking Ku in the eyes. “When the dragons left Fiore I was left alone. I raised myself after I turned eight, and went around playing hero ever since.” Kotone patted Sid on the head and gave him the rest of her sandwich. She was too distracted to be hungry. “That’s the short of it I guess.”

[Nines]

Two, left alone in the woods. Her age, her looks. Being a Dragon Slayer. Instinctual magic. Nines couldn't believe it, however the pieces fit in place appropriately. Nines nodded, as he did he took the hat off his head and placed it over the basket. “I am sorry, for multiple things” he said as he put his hand on his knee to help him stand up. Standing infront of her he smiled at her. “The first is that I have been dishonest with you, my name is Nines. My birth name was Matthew Evercross, I am the younger brother of Sophia Von Argon. the recently departed Queen of this realm. Your likeness too my sister has not only confused me, but has caused me to disguise myself to figure out if you were some dark doppelganger sent here to haunt me. Or a Dark Guild member sent to kill me, or even just a ghost of my past come to visit.” Nines nodded. “None of these are the case unfortunately. You speak of a family you do not know, because you were lost to the woods when you were two. I am sorry to say, your mother is dead, your father was in a coma, your sister is trying to hold this country up by herself, and your uncle is standing in front of you lying directly to your face.” Nines told her directly to her face.

“Now I’m sure you do not believe me. But I believe it to be true, it only confirms my suspicions.” Nines reached into his pocket and pulled out a small orb. “This is my sister, who I belive is your mother” he tossed Kotone the orb. “If you look at her, at that age, it must be like looking at a mirror. All the way down to the elongated Canines, that resemblance is not coincidence.” He sighed. Inside the orb was an old picture of a young Sophia von argon, hugging a much younger Nines and grinning wide. “This is all too much to take in isn’t it? I'm probably overwhelming your sense of reason, and leaving you with not much to say besides its wrong.” He sighed again. This would be the second time he would have to sing, the first was against Atrum in their fight, and now would be to tell the truth to his niece.

Nines opened his mouth, his lips moved, and sounds escaped into the wind. The sound itself was as if the human language was mixed with communication failure, white noise influenced the noises themselves, as if part of what he was speaking. The static itself seemed part of the form of communication he used. Even with it the area around Nines flowed with natural magic, as if he was speaking the universal flow of magic. It felt not as if he was conjuring a spell, but as if the spell had already happened, it was a natural feel. Like it was supposed to happen, unlike when someone used a magical spell, which made the natural flow of magic forced to obey them. This was more like they were working together.

/ieeYa_iNi_infeRIare_infEL_Was_idEsy.//
/iEm_ieeYa_inNna_j.l.r_Heetha_say.//

It wasn't so much a spell as it was a song. The sounds themselves were calm and gentle, tied to it were feelings emotions that a listener wouldn't be able to explain. It conjured images inside the ones that heard its mind, of family, true family. People who would always help you if you needed it, whether they were friends, or birth family. To Nines, the things Kotone would receive from the feelings tied to the song were warm, even if no memories were attached to it. She was too young to remember her mother. If she could this song would make her have memories of. To the cat Sid, it most likely made him remember when he was a kitten. As Nines had tied the emotions he felt when he thought of his sister to the song, feelings of love and affection.
However just like that he stopped singing to his niece, and he smiled at her. “I am sorry to have put you in this position.”

[Kotone]

As Nines spoke, talking of family she didn’t know, Kotone’s somewhat cocky expression turned to a frown. When she caught the orb and looked at it, she was surprised, the frown disappearing for a moment as she took it in. Even the canines. That… didn’t make sense. She’d gained the canines when she had learned dragon slayer magic. Kotone’s frown returned as she looked up at the man claiming to be her uncle. What secret did her own mother hold if she too had those dragon-like fangs? *If* that was her mother, of course. “Von…Arg-“ Kotone’s eyes widened.

Images of a raven-haired young woman entered her mind as she continued to stare at Nines. The girl had said something was familiar about Kotone once… but… Kotone was unable to form words for a long while – long enough for Nines to start talking some mumbo jumbo. It conjured images of her dragon father, when she’d felt like she was safe with him. It wasn’t what Nines had hoped for, more than likely, but it was what came to mind. Still, his words didn’t help the headstrong young hero.

“... I don’t have a family,” Kotone retorted, the frown still on her face. She felt vulnerable for some reason. This man had to be lying. She looked back down at the orb. “My family left me alone and my father found me,” she kept going, closing her hand on the orb as she looked up from the woman who could be her twin. “What are you playing at, Nines?” she asked him accusatorily. Kotone’s amber eyes flashed an icy blue momentarily as her emotions surged, her incredible amount of magic along with it. “What sort of sick joke is this?!” she asked loudly, prompting Sid to run for cover behind Kotone’s backpack she’d sat down next to the tree.

[Nines]

“The worst kind of joke Kotone. One done in poor taste, where the punchline is anger.” Nines said with a sigh. The man had no idea what to do now, he had told her what he knew, but he couldn't tell if she would explode into violence or not. From her outburst of emotions he knew she was immensely upset, that much was obvious. But from there the man didn't know how to react. He had never dealt well with family, nor children. As most of his family was dead and buried, some he even put in the ground himself, unsuccessfully. As for the children his only experience was Tori, and she was more independent and capable of taking care of herself than anyone else her age.

That experience came with being part of the military, then cast away like an outcast. Nines cared for that girl, and was making sure if something happened to him she could take care of herself. However this, this was emotional teenage drama that Nines didn't know how to deal with. The fact the man was trying to deal with something, and had no idea how overwhelmed him. It also humbled him beyond reproach. He decided due to this experience he could not be a good father, no matter how much experience he had at it over time. He was too rational, too down to earth, to paranoid and damaged by family to raise a kid without causing them to be as irrationally prepared for the worst as he was.

Nines got on his knees in front of Kotone and bowed his head lowering his hands to the ground.
“I apologize, young lady. If you believe that I am mistaken, then so be it. I was only curious as to find out why you were so familiar to me. Maybe its just that my eyes deceive me, I am becoming old and have been out in the world for a nine year war, but I have spoken my thoughts. If they were wrong than I am sorry. But if the truth hurts, that is not my fault.” Nines continued to talk staring at the ground. “If you wish it of me, I leave you the medallion and shall take my leave. I sure it could fetch you a fine sum of jewels at a boutique or some other such establishment, if it causes you such pain.”

Nines mind was running as fast as it did in combat. One must first calm a person from irrationality if they wish to hold a conversation like two grown adults. He felt the bow would not only realize that he had no idea what he was doing, but also most likely embarrass and thus agitate her, less towards violence and more towards outright anger. It could defuse a situation for a better, but still not happy situation. Nines disassembled what he knew of his past, and the girls past. His sister and her looked exactly alike, that was uncanny, even not counting the fangs. Sophia was killed in the assault on the capital, Nines was told. That didn't make sense, Charlotte, Mordekai and Cornellious got out free, and relatively unharmed. What would cause her to die and them not too. Unless she was fleeing with their second daughter, The only thing near the capital would be the woods. Sophia wasn't the type of person to run blindly into the dark without a plan, they were related after all.

Thats when it all clicked together for Nines. The dragon, his sisters fangs, the small girl. They were all connected at a fundamental level. But why did the Dragon never tell her that her mother died trying to save her. In fact how did Sophia die? Nines stood up and stared to the east. An idea clicked in his mind, he was surprised he hadn't done it before in fact.

“If you want to find out the truth come with me.” He said suddenly. “I have a plan, that will awnser both of our questions.”

[Kotone]

Kotone was angry, unreasonably so. The girl knew it, but she had no idea what to do. He could be lying easily, or worse, he could be telling the truth. Was that really worse? The girl’s hesitation would be obvious to someone as perceptive as Nines. What he didn’t understand though, was that this wasn’t some teenage drama. Kotone had been told what Krendall knew, at least as far as she knew, and had spent quite a long time now having decided she hadn’t been wanted by her family. Kotone’s glare turned into a frown, her aggressively angry posture turning to a simply unhappy stare as she looked at Nines. She wasn’t even truly registering what he was saying at this point.

Krendall had never said one way or another about what had happened to her parents. She’d nearly forgotten this in the last ten years. When she’d asked, he’d said he had no way of knowing as his attention was on her now and not the world outside. Kotone’s amber eyes searched Nines, her fists balled up. Her tongue idly poked at her fang and she looked back down at the orb as Nines told her to come with him if she wanted to know the truth. She suddenly had a need to know the truth – a need powerful enough she was forgetting the original reason she’d come here, at least for now.

“Okay,” Kotone nodded to Nines, sticking one hand in her shorts pocket and lifting her bag and her cat who had re-inserted himself into his favorite traveling bed and throwing them over her shoulder. This man wasn’t familiar to her, but she was familiar to him, and she’d gathered that family looked similar to one another when they were both human. She would follow this lead for now.

[Nines]

Nines walked further into the woods, further than he normally went. To Kotone this was probably useless wandering, however that was mainly the point. Nines knelt in the grass, and drew his knife from its sheath on the back of his waist. With pinpoint precision he carved a symbol into the dirt. It was hard to mess up something you had studied, and practiced for decades.
“You might want to get comfortable, this is going to take a little while” Nines said as he continued to carve the glyphs into the dirt.

The time went by slowly, as Nines continued to carve the glyphs around the two in the shape of a circle. Around the time the sun was starting to set the man was finished, and he stood up and looked around to view his work. The circle itself surrounded the clearing the two were in.

Nines sighed and looked at the young lady he was with.
“What I am about to do is considered treason by use of illegal magic under current Magic Council law. The punishment normally is either death, or indefinite incarceration within the prisons under Era….Also known as death. However since thats already a given for people of my stature, being a Loyalist traitor. I do not care. I do however care if you wish to go through with this, if you want to leave now, feel free. I feel that I should mention, that, the amount of power we are going to generate doing this will DEFINITELY attract unwanted attention from the crusader faction of the Magic Council.”

Nines stepped into the middle of the circle, then grabbed the clip on the shoulder of his bandages covering his left arm. Two voices were needed for a spell of this magic level, technically he had two.

[Kotone]

“What the magic council, especially your crusader friends, think about legality doesn’t matter to me,” Kotone told Nines seriously. She’d watched him making the glyphs, and she’d realized he knew rune magic – a rare magic that her father had said very few humans still had the knowledge of. It had been interesting to watch him draw them, though just like his earlier noises, she didn’t understand what they meant. She crossed her arms, her ponytail blowing in the wind a bit.

“I’m far more interested in what you think you have to show me,” she admitted, obviously intrigued by his insistence, even if it drudged up negative feelings. “If they come, well, I’ve dealt with council goons before.” She shrugged, her amber eyes watching the runes instead of Nines. Part of her wanted to try and memorize them. Kade might like getting to see something so rare, since he had a thing for knowledge. She’d worry about that later though. Right now… why did he have a picture of someone who looked just like her save for the clothes, and why did he claim she was her mother? Kotone’s eyes finally shifted up to Nines, impatient for him to get on with the ordeal. “Let’s get this over with, Nines.”

[Nines]

Continued at http://fairytailrevolution.jcink.net/index.php?act=ST&f=46&t=147

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