Chapter 2: Difficult Truth

                                                                              16 years earlier
    "Hurry up Skye, we're almost there." Skye ran after her father as they made their way through the streets of Magnolia. She grabbed onto his billowing cloak when she caught up to him.
         "Where are we going Daddy?" She asked as she tucked herself behind his cloak.
         "I'm taking you to meet our family." He smiled down at the little girl's puzzled face. Skye could hear a loud ruckus coming from one of the buildings nearby. It had a large cloth on the front with a symbol that looked like a fairy.
         "And here we are," Her father ushered her inside the loud hall. There were a lot of people that were all quite loud, but they all wore smiles. At once, every one of them looked at her father in a split second of silence, before they erupted, "GILDARTS!!!!" Skye jumped and hid behind her father's legs. She watched a small old man hop off of the bar and walk towards them.
         "Welcome back Gildarts! It's been a while since you've been home." The old man smiled kindly.
         "Master Makarov, I've brought someone I want to introduce to everyone. Come on out Skye, It's alright," Skye resisted a little as her father's arm came down and pushed her out from behind him. "She's a little shy. Say hello, Skye." Gildarts knelt down and smiled at her. Skye looked at the old man who was smiling at her pleasantly and around at the other people in the hall, who were looking at her curiously.
          "Hello..." Skye said quietly. She felt her face grow warm. Gildarts put his arm around her
          "I adopted her from the orphanage a few days ago. I'm going to be her father now, and I wanted to bring her to the guild to meet the rest of our family." Gildarts beamed at her, and she smiled back.  The old man smiled at her too.
          "She's a pretty little girl too! Welcome to the family Skye," Makarov gestured to everyone in the hall, who broke into loud shouts of welcome. Skye jumped and hid her face in her father's arm. Gildarts laughed and turned her to face Makarov again.
          "How old are you Skye?" The old man asked.
          " Five." She replied.
          "I have a grandson a bit older than you, but it might be nice for you to have a friend around your age. Laxus! Come here for a minute." Makarov turned around and beckoned to a small boy with yellow hair. The boy ran over to them and grinned at Gildarts.
          "Hi Gildarts!" Laxus said happily.
          " Laxus, this is Skye. She's the new member of our family, and you're the only one here around her age. Do you think you could be her friend, and show her around a bit?" Makarov nodded toward Skye. Laxus turned and looked at Skye for a while before grinning and taking her hand.
          "Sure Grandpa! Come on, there's a lot you have to see! Fairy Tail is the best wizards guild in the whole world!" Laxus led her away from her father and Makarov, and brought her to the different tables and introduced her to everyone.
           "What kind of magic do you do Skye? I can make lightning! But I'm not very good at it yet." He looked at Skye expectantly. Skye felt her face go red again, and she looked down at her feet.
           "I don't know any magic...but I can move water and earth and stuff." she mumbled. She took a glass of water off of one of the tables and waved her hand up and away from it. The water followed her hand like she was charming a snake. Laxus watched in total awe, and he reached out to touch the water. However, before his hand reached the small stream of water, Skye gasped and the water splashed back into the glass and in Laxus' face.
           "Sorry! I dropped it! Are you okay?" Skye watched as Laxus wiped the water from his face, and burst out laughing.
           "That was awesome Skye! I've never seen anything like that before! I bet you'll be really strong once you get good at it! Starting today lets be best friends, okay? We can play together every day. It'll be fun!" Laxus held his hand out to Skye who took it with a smile.
           "Okay, we're best friends!"

                                                                            Present
           "I missed you so much. Jeez you grew tall." Skye broke their embrace, and grinned up at her childhood friend. He was so different from what she remembered, but that didn't matter. Laxus looked her up and down too, and finally rested his eyes on Skye's chest.
           "And I see you finally grew boobs..." He smirked.
           "Hey! Don't make fun of me because I was a late bloomer! Still a jerk..." Skye sighed, and covered her chest, "I see that you guys rebuilt the guild hall, it looks really nice!" She turned away and looked around the guild hall. Her eyes lowered to the floor and she fingered the brace on her forearm. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next.
           "Where were you?" Laxus' voice lost it's humor, and Skye turned to see him frowning at her. She opened her mouth to explain, but instead, she said, "It's complicated..."
          "Complicated!? That's all you have to say? Do you have any clue what we all went through when you disappeared, or how worried we were?! Laxus advanced on her, steadily raising his voice.
         "You have no clue what I went through! I went through Hell for nine years, so excuse me if I don't know how to start explaining myself!" Skye snapped back.
         "What is all this yelling about!?" Skye whipped around to see Makarov standing on the stairs leading to the second floor. He looked at both of them with a stern expression, before regarding Skye.
         "Who are you? If you are here to join Fairy Tail, you should come back in the morning."
         "Grandpa Makarov..."Skye's eyes filled with tears again and she ran a hand over her head. Makarov's narrowed his eyes and walked up to her. He circled her a few times and looked up at Laxus, who nodded, "Yeah, It's her."
         "We've missed you my dear! I never thought we'd see you again!" Makarov's voice quivered as Skye bent down to hug him.
         "I tried to come home, but I couldn't." Skye let go of Makarov and glanced at Laxus, before looking away.
         "Why not?" Laxus frowned. Skye's chest grew tight and her heart started to beat harder. She shifted the brace on her forearm again and held it out in front of her. In one swift movement she flicked her wrist up and a long blade slid out of a slit in the brace.
         "I've done things....that I'm not proud of. Frankly, I'm ashamed of myself. I was being watched constantly, and I only just had an opportunity tonight ." Skye relaxed her wrist and the blade slid back into it's sheathe. Makarov walked over to the bar and sat down on the counter. Laxus walked over and sat on one of the bar stools.
         "I didn't come home after I left with Father Michaelis because I was kidnapped." Skye explained. Laxus' head snapped up and his eyes met hers. Her eyes were like melting ice as tears started to roll down her cheeks.
         "Tell us, what happened to you?" Makarov asked quietly. Laxus kept his gaze on Skye as she walked to the bar. She looked down at her hands and and back up to Laxus, who looked shocked.
         "It would be easier to show you...I can project my thoughts and memories to other people. It's a bending trick I figured out on my own. It's going to seem like a long time, but it will only take a few minutes," She raised her hands and placed them on Laxus and Makarov's foreheads, "I'm sorry... it won't be pretty to watch. But I can't think of any way to properly explain myself." Skye closed her eyes and reached out with her mind.
         Laxus sat in silence as Skye closed her eyes. After a few seconds he looked over at his grandfather, who also had his eyes closed. He did the same, and at once felt like he was floating. Lights were swirling in front of him that started to take shape, and he soon found himself and his grandfather in Gildart's house.
        
         

Chapter 1: Homecoming

     Night had fallen over Magnolia Town, and lights from the lamps were dancing on the river. The sky was clear and stars were shining brightly over the Fairy Tail guild. It was late and the mages had started to go home for the night. At last there were only two remaining in the guild hall, Makarov Dreyer and his grandson Laxus.
     "I won't be around forever...I think it's time for me to pass the torch to Gildarts." said Makarov.
     "You know he will just throw the title back at you. The old man's never been one for staying in one place for very long." replied Laxus. "Besides, the guild hall would probably need to be rebuilt every month if he was left in charge."
     "You aren't ready to lead this guild yet my boy..." Makarov sighed. He watched Laxus stand up and start walking toward the door.
     "Yeah, I know Gramps. 'Night." Laxus smiled slightly and left the guild hall. He walked down the stone steps out onto the street. It was a nice night, and a warm breeze blew against his coat, causing it to wave behind him like a cape. The dragon slayer was walking past South Gate Park when he closed his eyes to feel the breeze against his face, when his eyes snapped back open. He smelled something coming toward him, something oddly familiar. Then it struck him...literally. Someone ran into him, almost knocking him over. The person recovered rather quickly, and glanced at him before continuing on. Her lower face was covered by a mask extension of her shirt and her red hair was tied up.
     "Sorry!" called a young woman's voice.
      Laxus was watching her run away when he noticed she was heading directly for Fairy Tail. Frowning, Laxus turned and followed her.

      Home! She was finally home, after nine years in that city. Running down the alley and out into the streets, her heart was overflowing with relief and happiness. Twirling around, she took in everything around her.
      "It hasn't changed a bit! Not even after all these years!" she said to herself. Looking in the direction of Fairy Tail, she cocked her head. "Never mind, that's definitely different. Looks like Fairy Tail's got bigger" she smiled. Her stomach lurched as she remembered what she had to do....what she had to say. But how was she going to say it? What would they think of her when they heard what she had been doing all this time? What would he think?
       "Maybe I should lie... maybe it's better if they don't know." She thought. No. She knew that she would have to tell the truth, as hard as it would be.
       "It would be easier to show them though."she mumbled staring at her palms. Taking a deep breath, the girl took off toward the Fairy Tail guild hall. Her heart was racing as she sped past South Gate Park. She looked to her side at the Sola Tree, when suddenly she crashed into something very solid that knocked her on her butt. Quickly she got up, brushed herself off and looked at who she ran into. He was a very tall, muscular young man with yellow spiky hair.
       "Sorry!" She called over her shoulder, as she ran past him.
       Finally she reached the Fairy Tail Guild. Her heart sank as she pulled on the door handle and found the door to be locked. Kneeling down, she removed her one-strap backpack and took a lock picking tool from one of the inside pockets. One by one she felt each pin click up and voila! The door swung open and she stepped inside. The guild hall was deserted, and dark, but it was still warm and cheery. She could smell alcohol and tobacco around the bar. Walking between the tables, the sounds of laughter and happy conversation rang through her mind.
       "What are you doing in here?"
       The woman whirled around to see the man she ran into standing in the doorway. He had a serious expression, and stood with his arms crossed. He looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The man then stepped into the moonlight coming from a window, showing a lightning scar over his right eye.
        "Oh my God," The girl took a couple steps back and stared at the man in front of her, "Laxus?????"
        "Do I know you?" Laxus narrowed his eyes as the girl walked back toward him. Her eyes widened, and he saw that her iris's were ice blue.
        "It's been too long, Laxus..."She said with tears welling up in her eyes. " I don't blame you for not recognizing me. It's been 9 years after all. But I knew it was you when I saw that" She pointed at his scar, pulled down her mask and looked up at him.
        "No way..." Laxus stared at the girl in disbelief. "I thought you were dead." He stared at the girl for a few seconds before pulling her into his arms.
         "Skye..."