The train carriage swayed gently, lulling the passengers with that rhythmic, hypnotic sound of wheels on the tracks that was supposed to be comforting. Supposed to. For most normal people, that was the sound of a peaceful journey. For Natsu, it was the soundtrack to the apocalypse, a direct invitation to torture in motion.
"Uuugh… why hasn't this contraption derailed and spared me this suffering yet?" he moaned, sprawled across the seat with his face pale, that particular greyish-green shade of sour milk left in the sun. "I think I can see my breakfast from three days ago waving goodbye..."
"Courage, Natsu! I'm fanning on turbo mode!" said Happy, flying frantically with a makeshift fan made from a Sorcerer Weekly leaflet, as if a breeze scented with the latest gossip about famous mages would cure a Dragon Slayer's chronic motion sickness. His logic was impeccably… Happy.
I was sitting next to Gray, who had his arms crossed and an expression of someone waging an epic internal battle between the uncontrollable urge to laugh at his friend's suffering and the honest desire to push him out of the window just to end the noise and drama.
On the seat in front of ours, Erza seemed unperturbed. Elegant and upright as always, as if posing for a royal portrait, she calmly flicked through a magazine called 'Armour Weekly' (yes, apparently, that exists), completely oblivious to the fact she was on a crowded train with a dying dragon on the seat next to her. How did she do it? It was a mystery not even my oldest books could explain.
And, of course, there was Azra'il. She was sitting with her legs crossed on the seat, her body leaning against Erza's shoulder with the air of someone who had decided the world was her private sofa and to be woken only when the war was over. Her blue eyes were half-closed, but I knew she was alert to everything. There was a faint, lazy smile on her lips, the kind that seemed to carry centuries of mockery and well-kept secrets.
They were close. Very, very close. I noticed how Azra'il's head rested comfortably in the curve of Erza's neck, and how the strands of silver hair mingled with the scarlet. It was such an intimate, natural image it looked like a painting. Azra'il mumbled something quietly, something inaudible over Natsu's groans, and I saw Erza, without taking her eyes off her magazine, lift her free hand and gently fix Azra'il's hair, pushing away a lock that had fallen over her closed eyes. The gesture was so casual, so instinctive, that my heart did a little leap. I didn't know you could see affection in a simple fixing of hair, but apparently, you could.
"So... what's the mission exactly?" I asked, trying not to look like I was prying into a personal soap opera, and failing miserably.
It was Erza who answered, closing her magazine with a soft click, her serious gaze instantly in 'work' mode. "I overheard some suspicious conversations on my way back from my last mission," she began, her voice firm. "In a pub in Oshibana, some men were talking about a dark guild… Eisenwald."
Gray, who until then had seemed to be sleeping with his eyes open, straightened up. "Eisenwald? The group that refused to obey the new Council law dissolving guilds that took assassination contracts?"
"The very same," Erza confirmed, her brow furrowed. "Since assassination jobs were officially banned for legal guilds, they rebelled. Now they operate in the shadows, taking any illegal service, no matter how dirty. One of the names I heard was Erigor. Nicknamed 'Shinigami', a high-level assassin mage. They say he's dangerous, skilled with wind magic, and completely without scruples."
"I love how Erza always brings such light, cheerful news on our journeys," commented Azra'il with her drawling, hoarse voice, still reclining like a lazy queen. "Nothing like starting the day hearing about rebellious assassin mages."
Erza didn't reply, but I saw the corner of her lips twitch, holding back a smile. Then, with a disconcerting naturalness, Azra'il's hand, which was hanging behind the seat, slid down and found Erza's. She didn't really hold it, just let her fingers brush against hers, a light touch, almost a secret. Erza didn't pull away. Her fingers intertwined with Azra'il's for a brief second, before letting go, all under the cover of a conversation about a deadly threat. I blinked. I was sure I'd seen that.
"The problem is… they mentioned something called Lullaby," Erza continued, her seriousness returning. "A flute, apparently sealed away by the mages of old. No one knows for sure what it does, but from the way they were talking… it's something big. Very dangerous. And, in Eisenwald's hands, it could spell disaster."
I leaned forward, tense, the memory of that name in the forest giving me goosebumps. "So that's the mission? We're going to stop them from using this… Lullaby?"
"That's the objective," Erza replied, her gaze fixed and determined. "We need to intercept them before it's too late."
"Brilliant," muttered Gray, crossing his arms again. "A crazed assassin mage and a cursed flute. And here I was thinking the worst part of the day would be Natsu. Was a holiday on the beach too much to ask for, universe?"
Azra'il yawned, a theatrical gesture that seemed to say 'all this is a storm in a teacup'. "I just wish I were in a thermal spa right now, with absolute silence and a tray of rice cakes. But no. We're going to chase a bunch of lunatics armed with musical instruments. My life is a badly written episode of a low-budget film."
For the third time on that journey, I noticed the way Erza and Azra'il were sitting. Very close. With a familiarity that isn't built in a few days. Despite Azra'il's grumpy comments, the glances exchanged between the two carried a strange kind of… implicit affection. A complicity.
"You seem to notice a great deal, Miss Lucy," Azra'il's voice suddenly cut in, without her even turning towards me, with that little smirk of someone who knew exactly what I was thinking, and probably knew what I was having for dinner tomorrow as well.
"M-me?! N-no! Not at all! I was just… admiring the scenery!" I stammered, feeling my face burn. What a disgrace!
She finally opened one lazy eye and looked at me with that absurdly hypnotic blue. "Relax, newcomer. You get used to it. Coexisting with me is like dunking your head in a frozen lake. The initial shock is dreadful. Then comes the numbness. And then… you stop feeling anything. It's almost therapeutic."
"She means 'you learn to ignore her as much as possible', Lucy," said Erza, with the seriousness of one giving survival advice.
"No. I meant exactly what I said," Azra'il retorted, smiling with that macabre serenity only someone who is one hundred per cent comfortable with their own chaos can manage.
I think it was at that moment that I realised: this mission wasn't just going to be about stopping a dark guild or protecting a magic artefact. It was going to be about emotionally surviving this group.
After eating a rice cake and watching Happy steal Natsu's third biscuit (who was too busy trying not to vomit up his soul), I decided to take advantage of the fact that no one was fighting, yet, to ask something that had been hammering in my head.
"Oi, Erza… what kind of magic do you use?" I asked, trying to sound casual, as if just making small talk.
Erza, who until then had been calmly eating a jam bun as if she weren't on a crowded train surrounded by a worrying level of insanity, turned to me with that confident smile she always has, the one that seems to say 'don't worry, I've already thought of 14 ways to solve this problem'.
Before she could answer, however, Happy cut in, with his mouth full of a biscuit he probably nicked from my bag.
"Erza's magic is beautiful, Lucy! It's the best!" he said, with the enthusiasm of a number one fan. "She makes enemies bleed in slow motion! And their bones go crunch in such an artistic way! It's ace!"
I almost choked on my own juice. I looked at him, horrified. "HOW exactly is that 'beautiful'?! Happy, you need therapy!"
"Actually," Erza explained, with a serenity that was, frankly, a little concerning, "I use Requip Magic, better known as 'The Knight'. I can switch armours and weapons instantly in the middle of battle, depending on the need."
Well, at least her explanation seemed more sensible than Happy's. Unless you remembered she'd brought an entire carriage full of luggage for a 'quick interception' mission. That woman and her need to have an outfit for every occasion were a mystery in themselves.
"Her magic is frightening, that's what it is," Gray muttered from the other side, without opening his eyes. "And very loud."
Erza ignored him with the elegance of one who could tear his head off and still get a round of applause for it. "But Gray's magic, for example, is much more beautiful than mine," she said, an unexpected compliment that made Gray give a smug little smile (of course) and click his fingers.
A tiny ice sculpture, bright and translucent, appeared floating above his palm: it was the Fairy Tail symbol, perfectly detailed, glowing with the soft light filtering through the train window. It was… truly beautiful.
"I use Ice-Make Magic," he explained, with a dramatic gesture, as if he were in a perfume advert. "You can shape weapons, traps, shields, sculptures… basically anything I can imagine. It's an art."
"Wow...," I murmured, impressed. "Now it makes sense why you two are always at each other's throats." One is literally fire, the other, ice. An elemental rivalry, cliché, but apparently very effective for generating brawls.
My gaze then turned to the last and most enigmatic member of our group. Azra'il.
She was slouched so far down in the seat next to Erza she seemed to have merged with the upholstery. One leg was crossed over the other, one arm slung over the back of the seat, and that face of 'if I die of boredom here, please throw my body into a volcano'.
"And you?" I asked, my curiosity overcoming common sense. "What kind of magic do you use?"
Before she could answer me with some sarcastic comment that would probably make me question my own existence, Happy spilt the beans again, faster than a flash of lightning.
"Her? Ah, she doesn't have her own magic, not really. It's a different thing every time. You blink, and she's using some weird curse that makes people talk backwards. Blink again, and she's reading the Master's mind to find out where he's hidden the sweets. Blink once more and, I don't know, she turns into a sword with legs. It's chaos!"
Azra'il arched an eyebrow slowly, as if assessing the accuracy of that description and, to my astonishment, seemed to agree with it. Then, she turned her face to me with a slow, teasing, unbearably charming little smile.
"My speciality, Lucy? Hmm… let's just say it's a combination of survival and drama. Not necessarily in that order."
"That's not an answer!" I complained, and then something happened. Erza, realising Azra'il was teasing me, nudged her lightly with her elbow. A small nudge, almost a little push of 'behave'.
Azra'il sighed, a long, theatrical sigh, as if making an enormous sacrifice. "Alright, alright. You win, little Redhead," she grumbled, and then looked at me again. "Let's just say my magic is… adaptive. I use whatever the situation calls for. Or whatever seems most amusing at the time. Sometimes it's reading minds to find out who stole my last biscuit, sometimes it's talking to shadows to get gossip. It's a multifaceted talent."
Erza sighed beside her, a sound that was a mixture of exasperation and affection. "She means she's a walking chaos," she translated, with the seriousness of one who deals with this every day.
"So… you're like a… versatile mage?" I ventured, trying to find a word that fit that chaos.
"An artistically orchestrated chaos," Azra'il corrected, winking at Erza, who, to my surprise, blushed a little before returning to her armour magazine with excessive focus. I was definitively in the middle of a very, very complicated soap opera. And I was loving it.
Natsu muttered something between an "urgh" and "I hate this train," while Happy continued to fan him with the leaflet. I turned to Erza, still trying to understand how she not only put up with all this but seemed… perfectly calm? Her gaze met mine, and she gave a small smile, as if she understood my confusion. And at that moment, I felt that pang of warmth again, that feeling that I had, somehow, stumbled and fallen into something much bigger, much older, and much more complicated than just a mages' guild. I was in the midst of living legends.
I barely had time to process the thought. The train screeched. Natsu let out the groan of a dying whale. And I was certain of one thing: my diary was going to get a lot more interesting in the coming days. If I survived to write in it.
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📜 Author's Note
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Random tidbit from the creative process: when you're reading, do you also imagine the characters' voices in your head? 👀
When I'm writing, I can clearly hear the original voices from the Fairy Tail anime speaking every line (which makes it even more fun, because it feels like the episode is playing out in my mind, hahaha).
But in Azra'il's case, since she's an original character, I needed to choose the perfect voice for her. And I had no doubts: I always imagine her speaking with the voice of Priscila Amorim, one of my favorite Brazilian voice actresses. She has dubbed incredible characters like Wonder Woman, Vayne (League of Legends), Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy), Lisa Simpson, and even Nicole Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball). For me, her voice manages to be powerful, sarcastic, and charismatic all at the same time, which is exactly like Azra'il.
As for Eos (our witty and sarcastic AI), I always hear her with the voice of Rebeca Zadra. She brings to life iconic characters like Luz (The Owl House), Kindred the Lamb (League of Legends), Lady Maria (Bloodborne), and Kushina Uzumaki (Naruto). This mix of serenity, irony, and intensity is a perfect fit for Eos.
What about you? I want to know what voices you would give to Azra'il and Eos!