DRAFT--1
The rain was pouring hard by the time the three black-cloaked figures reached the edge of the town.
It was late at night, and the cobblestone streets were completely empty. Mirajane pulled her thick hood lower over her face, her left hand tightly gripping the fabric to make sure her right sleeve didn't slip open.
"We need to find an inn," Mirajane whispered, her voice tight as she looked at her younger siblings. "Just for tonight."
Elfman and Lisanna nodded silently, their small bodies shivering under their wet cloaks. They moved quickly down the alleyway until they spotted a faded wooden sign hanging over a small tavern door.
Mirajane pushed the heavy door open, the bell chimes ringing softly as they stepped into the warm, dimly lit room. The tavern floor was mostly quiet, a few local drunks snoring at the corner tables. She walked straight up to the wooden bar counter where the middle-aged innkeeper was wiping down an empty glass.
"We need a room," Mirajane said, keeping her head down so her eyes were completely hidden in the shadow of her hood. "Just for one night."
The innkeeper looked them up and down, grunting at their wet clothes. "That'll be five hundred jewels. Paid upfront. You kids got that kind of money?"
Mirajane reached under her cloak with her normal left hand, pulling out a small canvas pouch and counting out the exact coins onto the wood. "We have enough. Can we have some bread and hot soup delivered straight to our room?"
"Suit yourself," the innkeeper said, sweeping the coins into his drawer and tossing a heavy iron key onto the counter. "Room four at the top of the stairs."
Upstairs, the room was small and smelled like old pine.
A short while later, a servant knocked on the door and left a wooden tray with a loaf of bread and two bowls of steaming potato soup. Elfman and Lisanna immediately threw their hoods back, sitting on the edge of the mattress and eating hungrily, their small spoons clinking against the ceramic bowls.
Mirajane sat by herself on a wooden stool near the dark window, her cloak still wrapped tightly around her frame. She didn't touch her food. She slowly pulled her right arm out from the fabric, resting her hand in her lap.
Her right hand was completely gone. In its place was a massive, horrifying demonic claw caked in sharp black scales, long jagged talons, and a faint, dark pressure that she couldn't get rid of.
It's my fault.
The thought repeated inside her head, heavy and bitter.
Because of this cursed hand, we lost our house. The villagers called me a monster. They threw rocks at us. I'm just a burden to them. Elfman and Lisanna would be safe at home right now if it wasn't for me.
"Mira-nee," a soft voice called out.
Mirajane jumped slightly, quickly throwing her cloak back over her arm to hide the scales. She looked up to see eight-year-old Lisanna standing right in front of her stool, holding a piece of torn bread out toward her.
"You have to eat something, Mira-nee," Lisanna said, her blue eyes wide and full of worry. "Please. We're safe inside this room."
"Yeah, big sister," ten-year-old Elfman said, swallowing his soup and balling his small fists tightly. "Don't worry about that stupid hand. I'm the man of the family now. I'm going to grow up big and strong, and I'll protect both of you from those mean villagers."
Mirajane stared at her little brother and sister. Her throat felt completely tight, a wave of raw emotion hitting her chest. She forced a small, weak smile, taking the bread from Lisanna's hand. "Thank you. Both of you."
The next morning, the sun was bright, and the tavern floor downstairs was crowded with local travelers eating breakfast.
The three siblings sat at a quiet corner table, their hoods pulled low as they ate their bowls of porridge. All around them, the noise of the travelers was booming.
"Did you hear about what happened down in the western valley?" an old merchant at the next table laughed, slamming his mug down. "Some legal wizard guild completely leveled a whole dark guild hideout! Broke the entire building in half!"
"Let me guess," a mercenary scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "Fairy Tail?"
"Who else?!" the merchant chuckled. "Those maniacs don't know how to complete a single request without destroying half the town! The Magic Council is completely tearing their hair out trying to pay for the property damage, but the Master of that guild doesn't give a damn!"
Mirajane stopped her spoon mid-air, her single eye narrowing beneath the shadow of her hood as she listened to the gossip.
Fairy Tail.
Her mind started racing, a sudden spark of hope hitting her thoughts.
A legal wizard guild... if they accept weird, wild mages who cause that much destruction, maybe they won't care about a curse. Maybe it's a place where Elfman and Lisanna can actually grow up safe without being chased away.
She set her spoon down, looking across the table at her siblings. "We're going to Magnolia town."
Elfman and Lisanna looked up from their bowls, blinking in surprise. But they didn't question her for a single second.
"Wherever you go, Mira-nee, we go," Lisanna said with a firm nod.
"Yeah, whatever you think is best," Elfman agreed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "We stay together."
After three days of long, dusty travel down the dirt roads, the heavy stone arches of Magnolia town finally appeared before them.
The streets were bustling with merchants, local carriages, and barking stray dogs. Mirajane stopped a random stranger near a fruit stand, her voice polite but cautious. "Excuse me, sir. Can you tell us where the Fairy Tail guildhall is?"
The man blinked, looking at the three heavily hooded kids, then pointed a finger down the main street toward the riverbank. "Just head straight down to the end of the road, kiddo. You can't miss it. Just look for the loudest, craziest building in town."
"Thank you," Mirajane said, gesturing for her siblings to follow.
As they walked down the stone path, Elfman hurried his steps to keep up with her, looking around the strange town nervously. "Mira-nee... why are we going straight to a magic guild? Are you going to leave us there?"
"No, never," Mirajane said quickly, her voice dropping into a gentle, protective lie. "I'm hoping... maybe I can do some chores or cleaning work for them. Or maybe this stupid demon claw of mine can actually be useful to a magic guild. Don't worry."
They reached the end of the street, and the massive, three-story wooden guildhall stood right before them.
Mirajane took a deep breath, extended her left hand, and pushed the heavy oak doors open.
The sheer explosion of noise inside the tavern hit them like a physical wall. The three siblings stood frozen in the doorway, their jaws dropping completely open under their hoods. The place was a total madhouse. Senior mages were standing on tables having roaring drinking contests, local wizards were aggressively slamming cards down, and chairs were actively flying through the air.
Right in the center aisle, Natsu and Gray were rolling around in the dirt, screaming insults and brawling over a spilled glass of juice.
Mirajane stared at the chaos, completely bewildered. Then, her eyes spotted a very short, bald old man in a white master's coat sitting on a high stool near the center bar, calmly drinking a mug of beer. She gripped her cloak tightly.
"Follow me," she whispered to her siblings.
She walked straight up to the bar counter, stopping right behind the short old man's stool. "Excuse me, sir. Where can we find the Guild Master of this place?"
Makarov set his mug down, turning around on his stool with a relaxed expression. "Well, you're looking at him, little lady. What can I do for—"
Before he could even finish the sentence, a loud scream echoed from the aisle. Gray had grabbed Natsu by the ankle and violently swung him across the floor. Natsu went flying straight backward, his body crashing hard right into Mirajane's back.
Natsu's little fists were completely bursting into bright, roaring fire from his fight. The moment he collided with her, the loose fabric of her heavy black cloak instantly caught fire, the orange flames rapidly climbing up the cloth.
"Ah! Fire!" Lisanna screamed in panic.
Panicking, Mirajane violently ripped the burning cloak off her shoulders, throwing the flaming fabric straight onto the dirt floorboards to stomp it out.
But as the cloak fell away, she froze. Her breath completely caught in her throat, her face locking into a look of absolute, horrified terror.
Her heavy black cloak was gone. Her right arm was completely exposed for the entire tavern to see. The massive, scaly black demon claw, the sharp talons, and the dark aura were entirely out in the open air.
Mirajane closed her eyes tight, her body trembling as she braced herself for the screams, the curses, and the stones.
"WHOA! THAT IS SO COOL!"
Mirajane's eyes snapped open.
Natsu was scrambling up from the floor, his eyes completely turning into giant, shining stars as he pointed a shaking finger right at her arm. He didn't look scared at all. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Look at that arm! It looks exactly like Igneel's dragon claw! Hey, do that again! Can you breathe fire too?!"
Mirajane blinked, her mind completely short-circuiting. "What...?"
Master Makarov glanced down at her scaly black arm, completely unbothered, and casually took another slow sip of his beer. He looked up at her horrified face, his thick eyebrows raising. "Well, child... why are you keeping your Take-Over magic active inside the tavern? You look completely exhausted."
Mirajane stared at the short old man, her brain completely unable to process the words. "Take-Over... Magic? What is that? I don't know what that means... I'm cursed. A demon possessed my body when I saved my village."
Makarov let out a soft sigh, his expression turning informative as he pointed a finger directly at her black scales.
"Listen to me carefully, little girl," Makarov said, his deep voice carrying an absolute, steady weight. "That isn't a curse. It's Take-Over magic—specifically, the Satan Soul variant. Your internal magic container possesses a rare property that naturally absorbs the residual life force of a defeated demon, allowing you to wear its strength like a suit of armor. It is a completely legitimate, legal, and highly advanced form of transformation magic."
Mirajane stood perfectly still in the middle of the floorboards.
Not a curse?
The realization hit her chest like a physical blow. She wasn't an evil monster. She wasn't a demon spawn that was going to ruin her siblings' lives. It was just magic. Her voice completely cracked, tears of raw, overwhelming relief instantly spilling over her eyelashes and cutting clean lines through the dirt on her cheeks. She started sobbing hard, her shoulders shaking.
"Please..." Mirajane sobbed, looking down at the talons through her tears. "Can you... can you take it away? I don't want it... I don't want anything to do with it..."
Makarov looked at her crying face, recognizing the deep, painful history hiding behind her words. He didn't pry. He didn't ask for a backstory. He just stood up on his barstool, leaned forward, and gently tapped the tip of his finger straight against her scaly wrist.
"Dispel," Makarov said softly.
A sudden, warm flash of white light hit her arm. In a fraction of a second, the black scales, the sharp talons, and the dark pressure completely melted away into thin air. Her arm returned to normal—a regular, smooth, and completely human hand.
Mirajane stared down at her own pale fingers, flexing her normal hand in absolute shock. The nightmare was over. She burst into a louder, even harder sob, the years of hidden terror completely washing out of her system.
"Mira-nee!" Lisanna and Elfman cried out, throwing their arms tightly around her waist as they wept right along with her in the middle of the aisle.
Makarov watched the three siblings holding each other. Through his master's senses, he could feel the distinct, heavy resonance of raw Ethernano radiating from all three of their magic containers. They all had incredible potential.
"Hey, stop the waterworks, brats," Makarov chuckled gently, sitting back down on his stool and crossing his arms. "If you kids have nowhere else to go... how would you feel about joining Fairy Tail?"
Mirajane wiped her face with her sleeve, her single eye widening in absolute shock as her siblings looked up. "Join... your guild? But... we're just strays. Are you sure?"
Makarov smiled, standing tall on the counter rail as he looked down at them, his voice echoing through the tavern.
"Do fairies have tails? Do they even exist?" Makarov stated, delivering the absolute core creed of the hall. "It's an eternal mystery, and that's why we're always searching. It's a never-ending adventure. In this place, we don't care about where you came from, and we definitely don't care about what kind of magic you hold. If you're looking for a home where you can find your own path without anyone judging you... welcome to the family."
The three siblings stood in the warm light of the tavern, completely enthralled by his words. The cold, lonely weight that had chased them across the kingdom was completely gone.
Mirajane let out a small, genuine smile through her tears, nodding hard as she held her siblings close. "We... we would love to join the guild, Master."
=========================================================================
[DRAFT--2]
The rain was pouring hard by the time the three black-cloaked figures reached the edge of the town.
It was late at night, and the cobblestone streets were completely empty, slick with dark water. Mirajane pulled her thick hood lower over her face, her left hand tightly gripping the wet fabric to make sure her right sleeve didn't slip open.
"We need to find an inn," Mirajane whispered, her voice tight and shaking against the cold as she looked at her younger siblings. "Just for tonight."
Elfman and Lisanna nodded silently, their small bodies shivering under their wet, heavy cloaks. They moved quickly down the alleyway until they spotted a faded wooden sign hanging over a small tavern door.
Mirajane pushed the heavy door open, the bell chimes ringing softly as they stepped into the warm, dimly lit room. The tavern floor was mostly quiet, a few local drunks snoring loudly at the corner tables. She walked straight up to the wooden bar counter where a middle-aged innkeeper was wiping down an empty glass with a greasy rag.
"We need a room," Mirajane said, keeping her head down so her eyes were completely hidden in the shadow of her hood. "Just for one night."
The innkeeper stopped wiping, looking them up and down. He let out a loud grunt at their wet clothes, squinting at the three hidden faces. "That'll be five hundred jewels. Paid upfront. You kids got that kind of money? No shouting, no magic, and if you break the bed, you're paying double."
Mirajane reached under her cloak with her normal left hand, pulling out a small canvas pouch and counting out the exact coins onto the wood. "We have enough. Can we have some bread and hot soup delivered straight to our room?"
"Suit yourself," the innkeeper said, sweeping the coins into his drawer and tossing a heavy iron key onto the counter. "Room four at the top of the stairs. Try not to track mud all over my floorboards."
Upstairs, the room was small, cramped, and smelled like old pine.
A short while later, a servant knocked on the door and left a wooden tray with a loaf of bread and two bowls of steaming potato soup. Elfman and Lisanna immediately threw their hoods back, sitting on the edge of the mattress and eating hungrily, their small spoons clinking loudly against the ceramic bowls.
"Man, this is awesome," Elfman muttered with his mouth completely full of potato soup, waving his spoon around aggressively. "I'm the man of the family now. I'm going to grow up big and strong, and I'll protect both of you from those mean villagers."
Mirajane sat by herself on a wooden stool near the dark window, her cloak still wrapped tightly around her frame. She didn't touch her food. She slowly pulled her right arm out from the fabric, resting her hand in her lap.
Her right hand was completely gone. In its place was a massive, horrifying demonic claw caked in sharp black scales, long jagged talons, and a faint, dark pressure that she couldn't get rid of.
It's my fault.
The thought repeated inside her head, heavy and bitter.
Because of this cursed hand, we lost our house. The villagers called me a monster. They threw rocks at us. I'm just a burden to them. Elfman and Lisanna would be safe at home right now if it wasn't for me.
"Mira-nee," a soft voice called out.
Mirajane jumped slightly, quickly throwing her cloak back over her arm to hide the scales. She looked up to see eight-year-old Lisanna standing right in front of her stool, holding a piece of torn bread out toward her.
"You have to eat something, Mira-nee," Lisanna said, her blue eyes wide and full of worry as she gently tugged her big sister's wet sleeve. "Please. We're safe inside this room."
Mirajane stared at her little brother and sister. Her throat felt completely tight, a wave of raw emotion hitting her chest. She forced a small, weak smile, taking the bread from Lisanna's hand. "Thank you. Both of you."
The next morning, the sun was bright, and the tavern floor downstairs was crowded with local travelers eating breakfast.
The three siblings sat at a quiet corner table, their hoods pulled low as they ate their bowls of porridge. All around them, the noise of the travelers was booming.
"Did you hear about what happened down in the western valley?" an old merchant at the next table laughed, slamming his heavy mug down onto the wood. "Some legal wizard guild completely leveled a whole dark guild hideout! Broke the entire building in half!"
"Let me guess," a mercenary scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "Fairy Tail?"
"Who else?!" the merchant chuckled. "Those maniacs don't know how to complete a single request without destroying half the town! The Magic Council is completely tearing their hair out trying to pay for the property damage, but the Master of that guild doesn't give a damn!"
Mirajane stopped her spoon mid-air, her single eye narrowing beneath the shadow of her hood as she listened to the gossip.
Fairy Tail.
Her mind started racing, a sudden spark of hope hitting her thoughts.
A legal wizard guild... if they accept weird, wild mages who cause that much destruction, maybe they won't care about a curse. Maybe it's a place where Elfman and Lisanna can actually grow up safe without being chased away.
She set her spoon down, looking across the table at her siblings. "We're going to Magnolia town."
Elfman and Lisanna looked up from their bowls, blinking in surprise. But they didn't question her for a single second.
"Wherever you go, Mira-nee, we go," Lisanna said with a firm nod.
"Yeah, whatever you think is best," Elfman agreed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "We stay together."
After three days of long, dusty travel down the open dirt roads, the kids were completely exhausted.
"My boots are completely full of sand," Lisanna whined, tugging her hood down as she dragged her feet.
"A real man doesn't complain about a little sand!" Elfman shouted back, though his own knees were shaking from walking so long.
Finally, the heavy stone arches of Magnolia town appeared before them. The streets were bustling with merchants, local carriages, and barking stray dogs. Mirajane stopped a random stranger near a fruit stand, her voice polite but cautious. "Excuse me, sir. Can you tell us where the Fairy Tail guildhall is?"
The man took a massive bite out of a green apple, looking at the three heavily hooded kids in the summer heat, and snorted. "Fairy Tail? Just follow the screaming down the block, kid. If a chair comes flying straight out a window, you've reached the right place. Just head to the end of the riverbank."
"Thank you," Mirajane said, gesturing for her siblings to follow.
As they walked down the stone path, Elfman hurried his steps to keep up with her, looking around the strange town nervously. "Mira-nee... why are we going straight to a magic guild? Are you going to leave us there?"
"No, never," Mirajane said quickly, her voice dropping into a gentle, protective lie. "I'm hoping... maybe I can do some chores or cleaning work for them. Or maybe this stupid demon claw of mine can actually be useful to a magic guild. Don't worry."
They reached the end of the street, and the massive, three-story wooden guildhall stood right before them.
Mirajane took a deep breath, extended her left hand, and pushed the heavy oak doors open.
The sheer explosion of noise inside the tavern hit them like a physical wall. The three siblings stood frozen in the doorway, their jaws dropping completely open under their hoods. The place was a total madhouse. Senior mages were standing on tables having roaring drinking contests, local wizards were aggressively slamming cards down, and chairs were actively flying through the air.
Right in the center aisle, Natsu and Gray were rolling around in the dirt, screaming insults and brawling over a spilled glass of juice.
Mirajane stared at the chaos, completely bewildered. Then, her eyes spotted a very short, bald old man in a white master's coat sitting on a high stool near the center bar, calmly drinking a mug of beer. She gripped her cloak tightly.
"Follow me," she whispered to her siblings.
She walked straight up to the bar counter, stopping right behind the short old man's stool. "Excuse me, sir. Where can we find the Guild Master of this place?"
Makarov set his mug down, turning around on his stool with a relaxed expression. "Well, you're looking at him, little lady. What can I do for—"
Before he could even finish the sentence, a loud scream echoed from the aisle. Gray had grabbed Natsu by the ankle and violently spun him across the floor. Natsu went flying straight backward, his body crashing hard right into Mirajane's back.
Natsu's little fists were completely bursting into bright, roaring fire from his fight. The moment he collided with her, the loose fabric of her heavy black cloak instantly caught fire, the orange flames rapidly climbing up the cloth.
"Ah! Fire!" Lisanna screamed in panic.
Panicking, Mirajane violently ripped the burning cloak off her shoulders, throwing the flaming fabric straight onto the dirt floorboards to stomp it out.
But as the cloak fell away, she froze. Her breath completely caught in her throat, her face locking into a look of absolute, horrified terror.
Her heavy black cloak was gone. Her right arm was completely exposed for the entire tavern to see. The massive, scaly black demon claw, the sharp talons, and the dark aura were entirely out in the open air.
Mirajane closed her eyes tight, her body trembling as she braced herself for the screams, the curses, and the stones.
"WHOA! NO WAY! THAT IS SO AWESOME!"
Mirajane's eyes snapped open.
Natsu was scrambling up from the floor, his eyes completely turning into giant, shining stars. He aggressively pushed past Gray, crowding straight into her space and pointing a shaking finger right at her arm. He wasn't scared at all. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Look at that arm! It looks exactly like Igneel's dragon scales! Hey, do your teeth turn into fangs too?! Can we fight right now?!"
Mirajane blinked, her mind completely short-circuiting. "What...?"
Master Makarov glanced down at her scaly black arm, completely unbothered, and casually took another slow sip of his beer. He looked up at her horrified face, his thick eyebrows raising. "Well, child... why are you keeping your Take-Over magic active inside the tavern? You look completely
exhausted."
Mirajane stared at the short old man, her brain completely unable to process the words. "Take-Over... Magic? What is that? I don't know what that means... I'm cursed. A demon possessed my body when I saved my village."
Makarov let out a soft sigh, his expression turning informative as he pointed a finger directly at her black scales.
"Listen to me carefully, little girl," Makarov said, his deep voice carrying an absolute, steady weight. "That isn't a curse. It's Take-Over magic—specifically, the Satan Soul variant. Your internal magic container possesses a rare property that naturally absorbs the residual life force of a defeated demon, allowing you to wear its strength like a suit of armor. It is a completely legitimate, legal, and highly advanced form of transformation magic."
Mirajane stood perfectly still in the middle of the floorboards.
Not a curse?
The realization hit her chest like a physical blow. She wasn't an evil monster. She wasn't a demon spawn that was going to ruin her siblings' lives. It was just magic. Her voice completely cracked, tears of raw, overwhelming relief instantly spilling over her eyelashes and cutting clean lines through the dirt on her cheeks. She started sobbing hard, her shoulders shaking.
"Please..." Mirajane sobbed, looking down at the talons through her tears. "Can you... can you take it away? I don't want it... I don't want anything to do with it..."
Makarov looked at her crying face, recognizing the deep, painful history hiding behind her words. He didn't pry. He didn't ask for a backstory. He just stood up on his barstool, leaned forward, and gently tapped the tip of his finger straight against her scaly wrist.
"Dispel," Makarov said softly.
A sudden, warm flash of white light hit her arm. In a fraction of a second, the black scales, the sharp talons, and the dark pressure completely melted away into thin air. Her arm returned to normal—a regular, smooth, and completely human hand.
Mirajane stared down at her own pale fingers, flexing her normal hand in absolute shock. The nightmare was over. She burst into a louder, even harder sob, the years of hidden terror completely washing out of her system.
"Mira-nee!" Lisanna and Elfman cried out, throwing their arms tightly around her waist as they wept right along with her in the middle of the aisle.
Makarov watched the three siblings holding each other. Through his master's senses, he could feel the distinct, heavy resonance of raw Ethernano radiating from all three of their magic containers. They all had incredible potential.
"Hey, stop the waterworks, brats," Makarov chuckled gently, sitting back down on his stool and crossing his arms. "If you kids have nowhere else to go... how would you feel about joining Fairy Tail?"
Mirajane wiped her face with her sleeve, her single eye widening in absolute shock as her siblings looked up. "Join... your guild? But... we're just strays. Are you sure?"
Makarov smiled, standing tall on the counter rail as he looked down at them, his voice booming through the tavern.
"Do fairies have tails? Do they even exist?" Makarov stated, delivering the absolute core creed of the hall. "It's an eternal mystery, and that's why we're always searching. It's a never-ending adventure. In this place, we don't care about your past, and we don't care what the rest of the world calls you. If you're a weirdo, you fit right in. Welcome to the family, brats."
The three siblings stood in the warm light of the tavern, completely enthralled by his words. The cold, lonely weight that had chased them across the kingdom was completely gone.
Mirajane let out a small, genuine smile through her tears, nodding hard as she held her siblings close. "We... we would love to join the guild, Master."