Firefall || Fairy Tail

26 : k i nd l i n g . o f . a . d r e a m

"The people of the tiny village stared up at the majestic bird that had appeared as their savior. The molten rock from the volcano now floated down from the sky, nothing but ashes that gathered in their raingutters."

The story was woven from the lips of a woman in her late twenties who leaned against the tree in her backyard. Her long ebony hair was pulled together with a ribbon over her shoulder as she smiled down at her son at her side. The small dark-haired boy looked up at his mother with awe-filled grey orbs. It never mattered how many times she told him about the birth of the phoenixes, he was always transfixed. That inspiring wonder that only a child could hold in their eyes and their hearts filled him from the first word to the last.

Even after the story was done, the boy would ask his mother questions about the mythical creature, but mainly why he had never seen one.

"What happened to the good phoenixes, Mom? Will they ever come back?"

She gave him a kind smile, "Who knows, Izai? The great Fire Birds were a wonder that left the world in awe." She paused, holding her hand toward her son. And for the first time, he watched as a small silver flame flickered in her palm. The amazement in his eyes only swelled as did her heart.

"They will return when they are ready."

Neither realizing that would be the last afternoon they would share their favorite story.

||~x~||

It had been eight years since he lost her. Izai had just turned sixteen, marking the point that meant he had officially lived half of his life without his mother. Even now, he could still remember coming home from playing with the neighbors' children to find her laying on the kitchen floor, a fist-sized hole right below her ribcage. It had taken years for him to understand what had happened, or why. But now, he decided it didn't really matter. Pouring over every book he could find as he traveled the country, there was no way he could bring her back. Even knowing that his mother had been a Phoenix Slayer, there was no way for her to come back. That was why he had learned Ash magic, trying to hold onto his last bit of hope that he might be able to help her rise again.

Izai's feet carried him into another town. This one didn't look like anything special beyond that it was big enough to be considered a town and not just a village. He wasn't even sure what the name of it was. He had long since stopped paying attention to where he wandered.

"Thief!" A voice rang out up the street. He looked, seeing a balding, portly man chasing after someone small that was darting around the people going about their normal lives. "Get back here!"

The small figure moved so nimbly that Izai had a hard time getting a clear look at them. Even when they dashed by him, his traveling cloak whipping back from the tailwinds that followed behind the little being.

The man stopped a few steps in front of Izai, hands resting on his knees as he tried to steady his ragged breath, grumbling, "Stupid brat.... I will.... catch you......"

||~x~||

"You know there are inns in town, right?"

Izai lazily peeled one of his eyelids open, finding the owner of the voice standing above his head. She looked about eleven or twelve, bent over at the waist as she looked down at him with her hands on her hips. Her dark brown hair was a ratty mess tied at the nape of her neck by an old piece of string. Her shirt was clearly several sizes too big, giving her the opportunity to wear it like a dress, another piece of string acting as a belt around her tiny waist.