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CHAPTER START---
Stepping out of Makarov's office, Oberon suddenly felt a strange feeling overcome him.
A worry lifted, now having a true master to teach him Magic, and the weight of all new expectations.
Of not disappointing everyone, of not failing himself.
Of making his family proud.
The burden to become stronger than any human could be, to stand against even Acnologia.
Taking a deep breath, he relaxes his shoulders and walks to the stairs, taking in the view from on the second floor.
During their short meeting everyone in the main hall had somehow become a perfectly synchronized team, working to put together costumes and Magic performance routines.
Oberon smiles at the sight, giggling to himself as he sees some of the Mages fail to perfectly coordinate their Magic, leaving them covered in smog.
Looking around a bit, he then locks in on the bar, with the same woman quietly organizing some bottles on the shelves.
"Lunch time," Oberon says as he reaches up to his shoulder to secure his bag, only to realize he forgot it inside Makarov's office. "The pictures," he turns around to go back to the office, but stops himself. "I probably shouldn't interrupt them. I'll get it after..."
Walking down the stairs, Oberon quickly gets to the bar and hops up on one of the stools, his arms just barely reaching the counter.
"Hi! Master said I can get lunch here," he says to get the woman's attention.
She turns around, dropping one of the bottles of liquor but it simply floats up to the shelf she was placing it on.
"Oh hey cutie, you're the new recruit, right?" she asks, walking up to him and leaning on the counter. "So what's your name?"
The woman followed her usual habit of leaning forward on the counter, part of her routine to act flirty with all her admirers in the guild to get extra tips.
They'd usually be all over her right about now if everyone wasn't so busy. She had short dark purple hair and a flower crown on her head, wearing a green bralette to show off her ample chest and a matching green skirt.
"I'm Oberon."
"Oberon, huh... guess that makes you the king around here. You can call me Enno."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."
Enno is genuinely surprised at this. "Huh, someone around here with manners, you're already my favorite," then her eyes lock onto his strange hair. "Your hair, is it...like, actual hair?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, it looks like a night sky," and without thinking, she reaches out and ruffles his hair. "Wow, weird..."
Oberon already had a bored and slightly annoyed look on his face. "Can I get lunch now?"
"Oh, sorry," she quickly withdraws her hand and looks apologetic. "Anything you want, I'll make it, since this is your first meal as a member of Fairy Tail."
"Hmm," Oberon thinks for a moment. "Eggs, and pancakes?"
"Bacon?"
"No thank you," Oberon says. "But could it have extra cheese?"
She gives him a strange look, then shrugs. "Alright, just give me a few minutes... your majesty."
She steps through the door behind the counter as Oberon leans on the counter, "so everyone is going to make jokes about my name... great," he mutters.
A few minutes later and Oberon is enjoying his meal, with a mug of orange juice, and Enno is standing nearby, looking at all the preparations for tomorrow.
"So, you excited to see the Fantasia Parade tomorrow?" Enno asks.
"What's that?"
"Have you never heard of the Magnolia Harvest festival? It always ends with the Fantasia Parade, and Fairy Tail always puts on a great show."
"I never left my village until a few days ago, sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about. This year you joined the guild at the perfect time. The parade is tomorrow. It'll be great."
"A Magic parade?" Oberon asks.
"Well, Fairy Tail is a guild of Wizards, so we use our Magic to put on a show," Enno says. "Plus, we give the town a lot of headaches so it's kind of important that we make them like us."
"Oh yeah, Master said you all are always breaking things."
"Uh, yeah, pretty much. So, what's your Magic?"
And with that simple question, the guildhall becomes completely silent.
As Wizards, it's natural that they'd be curious about any newcomers' Magic, so everyone present stopped what they were doing to listen in.
"Oh, my Magic is called Cosmic," Oberon says as he takes another bite.
They all look a bit confused, and Enno sees a few people signaling her to keep asking questions.
"What does that do?" she asks.
Oberon swallows his food and takes a sip of juice before answering. "Well, it's an Ability Type, makes my body act like a cosmic body, you know, like a planet, or a moon... stars too, I guess.
I can control and generate light and gravity, and I've got a good affinity for Light Magic and Gravity Magic. He says it's part of the New Era of Magic, whatever that means..."
Everyone is left frozen as he casually goes back to eating his lunch.
"That's... a lot," Enno says, not sure how to react.
"Yeah, he says I have a lot of Magic Power," Oberon casually mentions, not understanding what she meant. "But it sucks that I won't be able to learn things like Fire Magic... that would have been cool."
"Well, um, from the sounds of it, I'm sure you'll be fine," she says, while she and everyone hearing this were both amazed and horrified by their newest member. "Cosmic seems like it'll be enough, at least for a long time."
"Yeah, I guess," Oberon says as he casually raises his hand, palm facing the ceiling, and makes a Magic Circle.
The slowly spinning galaxy image appears and their eyes go wide.
"Maybe I can figure out how to Teleport some day. You think that's possible?" he asks innocently, closing his hand to cancel the Magic Circle.
The woman just stares at him in wonder. "Well, with Magic anything is possible, or at least most things."
"Alright brats, listen up!" Makarov's voice has everyone looking to the second floor railing where he was standing.
Behind him, Gildarts was stepping out of the office and closing the door behind him.
"We've got a new member. As of today, Oberon is a Fairy Tail Wizard!"
Everyone cheers at that, already beginning to get rowdy.
"But no partying!" Makarov kills their excitement immediately. "We'll save the celebrating until tomorrow. I need all of you focused on the Fantasia Parade right now, understand?!"
"Yes sir," most of the guild says in response.
"Good, now get back to work!"
With that everyone scurries back to what they were doing, and Makarov jumps all the way from the end of the guildhall on the second floor, does a flip in mid-air, and lands on the barstool beside Oberon, as if it was nothing.
"Wow..."
"Oh, that was nothing, kid. You should have seen my back when I was young and didn't have creaky bones," Makarov laughs.
"Like a hundred years ago?" Oberon asks, completely serious.
Gildarts and Enno then chuckle as Makarov groans, "I'm not that old. But since magic power and life force are connected, I could easily live to 150... if these brats would stop stressing me out so damn much," he grumbles.
"So the more powerful I get, the longer I'll live?" Oberon asks.
"It's not quite that simple," Gildarts says. "But having more Magic Energy certainly helps."
"Not running a guild of destructive troublemakers would also help," Makarov says. "With this bunch, I'll be lucky to see 100."
"Once you don't leave me to deal with them," Gildarts says.
"Anyway, enough with such dreary things. How did you enjoy your lunch, Oberon?" Makarov asks.
"It was good."
"Well, the menu here is quite long, but if you ask for things that aren't on it, within reason, of course, you can usually get it. And if there is something special you like tell me and I can order it through the guild for you. We get cheaper prices since we're an Official Guild. Plus everyone wants to be on the good side of a Wizard Saint."
"Like chocolate?" Oberon asks.
"Hmm, well, we usually have some chocolate here. Is that something you particularly like?" Makarov asks.
"I've had it a few times, but we didn't get much in the village. Once a month we'd get supplies when iron ore was leaving the mines."
"Sounds isolated," Enno says. "Did you leave the village to study Magic?"
Gildarts and Makarov give her a harsh look, and she immediately regrets asking that question.
But Oberon doesn't think much of it. "No, Acnologia destroyed the village, and piece of the mountain."
Enno just looks at him, confused and speechless, and some of the nearby Wizards stop to listen in.
As if sensing her confusion, he takes it upon himself to explain. "Oh, Acnologia is a black dragon. He's the king of them or something... not sure how anyone could let him be their king."
Enno looks at Makarov and Gildarts, who just sadly nod along.
"I see," she says. "Well, I hope you feel comfortable here in Fairy Tail..."
"Now speaking of learning Magic," Makarov says, quickly changing the topic. "Since today I'll be rehearsing for my part in the parade. Gildarts here volunteered to make sure you know the basics of Magic."
"I did?" Gildarts asks, then sees the look Makarov shot him. "I mean, yes, I did."
"We simply need to make sure you have the proper foundation before I begin official lessons after the Fantasia Parade. But you're a talented young man. I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Yeah, hopefully it makes up for me being a horrible teacher," Gildarts says. "But since it's only sensory and meditative exercises we should be fine. Anything more than that is beyond me... until you need a sparring partner."
"Does being a Wizard mean I have to fight a lot? I've never actually fought before," Oberon says shyly.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Makarov says. "But often times the best way to improve your Magic is to cast yourself against fellow Wizards or beasts. For some it is the fastest way to improve, while for others, books and learning work better."
"But you should always at least know how to defend yourself," Gildarts says. "With talent like yours it'd be a waste not to have you in the fight, not to mention your dream. You can't defend yourself and the people you care about if Acnologia shows up again, if you don't know how to fight, right?"
They could almost see and hear the gears turning in Oberon's mind.
For all his ambition and potential, he was still just an 8-year-old child, and clearly needed proper guidance.
"Yeah, I should learn to fight, and you said that dragon is stronger than any Wizard, right Master?"
"I did," Makarov says.
"Then I need to be stronger than any Wizard too!"
Gildarts laughs at that and ruffles Oberon's hair, "with an attitude like that and the talent you've got, keep growing, kid. Hopefully, one day you'll take over as the Ace of Fairy Tail, then I'll have a bit more freedom to go on longer jobs... hell at least become S-Class so I don't always have to be shackled to this place," Gildarts laughs even more as Oberon pushes his hand away.
"Having big dreams is important," Makarov says. "But you must also have the tenacity and heart to keep chasing them, knowing that you'll continue to stumble and fall along the way. That is what makes the greatest Wizards, the ability to accept that they aren't perfect and will make mistakes, but swallowing their pride and marching forward anyway."
"Uh-huh," Oberon barely reacts to Makarov's words before turning to Gildarts, "can we go do Magic now?"
As they walk toward the back door of the guild, Makarov looks at them and sighs, 'Mavis please, don't let this one be another trouble maker. You must like him for a reason, and I do trust you, but my heart can't take raising another monster like Gildarts...'
END CHAPTER---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]