Things Will Get Better

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hargeon.

May 8, x771

"Joining Fairy Tail sounds good, but when will we be able to leave the orphanage?" Alfonzo asked.

Hearing that question, Elicia froze. She actually had no idea when they would be old enough to leave the orphanage.

"And even if we do reach the age to leave the orphanage, how are we gonna get to Magnolia?" Alfonzo followed up.

"I... I don't know..." Elicia said with tears forming in her eyes. Then, she rushed towards Alfonzo and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. "Fonzie, what should we do?"

"Calm down, Lici." Alfonzo said with a gentle smile. "We're only six, we have time to think about it. Plus, we know that the canon begins sometime in x784. It's only x771, so we still have thirteen years to figure something out."

"That's right, we have time." Elicia said, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then, she looked at Alfonzo with a wide smile on her face. "That's twice now."

"What's twice?" Alfonzo asked with confusion all over his face.

"Twice you've called me Lici." Elicia said happily. "You haven't called me that since we were kids."

"We are kids." Alfonzo pointed out in a serious tone.

"You know what I mean." Elicia replied while rolling her eyes.

"*Sigh* It just kinda came out." Alfonzo said in a bashful tone.

"Well, I like it." Elicia said energetically. So, from now on you have to call me that, 'kay?"

"I don't..." Alfonzo began to refuse.

"'Kay~?" Elicia said with a bit more intensity.

"I'll..." Alfonzo tried to refuse once again.

"'Kay~~~?" Elicia repeated in a tone that sounded cheerful, yet at the same time would not accept no as an answer.

"*Sigh* Okay." Alfonzo relented.

"Good!" Elicia exclaimed with a satisfied nod. "But there are still other things that we need to do before we can leave for Magnolia, right?"

Alfonzo could only smile at Elicia wryly. He knew that he really did not have any way of refusing the use of Elicia's nickname after she pointed out that he had said it. The reason he did not want to use it was because it made him think of how he changed in their past life. Although he never outright neglected her, he did put distance between them for no other reason than he thought he would get less attention from girls if she was always hanging around him.

'*Sigh* I really was stupid in my last life.' Alfonzo thought to himself.

"Well, we should probably try to explore the limits of our magic." Alfonzo said in response to Elicia's question. "We should probably start training our bodies, too. I mean from what we've seen, the most powerful wizards in canon used a combination of their magic and physical combat."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Elicia said with a contemplative expression on her face. "I mean, the dragon slayers just punch people with their element on their hands. Erza uses swordsmanship. Even Lucy kicked people and used a whip by the end."

"That's right." Alfonzo said with a nod.

"Well, I guess you won't have a problem with that." Elicia said. "You practiced Eskrima. And with your magic, you can create Eskrima sticks with no problem. But what about me? I've never practiced any kind of martial arts. I've never even been in a fight before."

"That's true. But I plan to try and incorporate as many weapons into my fighting style as I can." Alfonzo said. "I'll be using Eskrima as a base, though."

"But what about me?" Elicia asked with puppy dog eyes.

Alfonzo had to stop and think.

'She said her magic was [Thread Magic], right?' Alfonzo thought as he looked Elicia up and down. 'It really all depends on what her magic can do. If she can make her webs sticky, then she can use it like Spider-Man. Especially if she can make small amounts of it stick to her hands and feet. That would be kinda cool, actually.'

Even though she had known him for all of both of her lives, Elicia could not help but fidget when Alfonzo looked her over so intently. If it was not for the age of her current body, it would have probably ended with her getting excited. However, because she is so young, currently, it just makes her feel self-conscious.

'But if she can't make it sticky, maybe she could use it like Walter from Hellsing Ultimate.' Alfonzo continued with his thoughts. 'That would be kinda bad ass, too. Wait, even if she can make her threads sticky, she should still fight like Walter.'

"Um... Fonzie, you're still with me, right?" Elicia asked after not getting a response from Alfonzo for a while.

"Oh, sorry." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I was just thinking. And I think I have an answer to your question."

"Really?" Elicia asked excitedly.

"Yeah, back in high school, you did gymnastics, right?" Alfonzo asked more to confirm than to question.

"That's right." Elicia replied with a nod. "I could still do flips and stuff up until the day we died..."

Noticing Elicia's mood beginning to sour at the thought of their deaths in their past lives, Alfonzo hoped that it would not turn into a trauma. But even if it did, he would be there to help her through it.

"If that's the case, then if you can make your threads sticky, you could fight like spider man." Alfonzo said with a smile. "But whether your threads can turn sticky or not, you could fight like Walter Dornez, too."

"Walter Dornez?" Elicia asked in confusion.

"From Hellsing." Alfonzo replied.

"Oh, that's right." Elicia said with realization swirling in her eyes. "I could never remember his last name. Those are good ideas, though."

"Yeah, but until we get an idea of what we can do with our powers, we should just explore them." Alfonzo said. "We can come up with fighting styles and special moves later."

"Right." Elicia replied with a nod. Then, she smiled at Alfonzo and hugged him. "I'm so glad we get to be together in this life, too."

"Me, too." Alfonzo said, returning the hug while rubbing Elicia on the back of her head and back.

After that, the rest of the day was spent exploring their magic. Until they ran out of magic power, that is. Unfortunately, neither of them was used to using or gaging their magic power usage and reserves. So, after using up all of their magic power, they both passed out for a couple of hours.

Eventually, a member of the staff found them lying together under a tree. Instead of practicing with magic, however, the staff member thought they were just playing and decided to take a nap under the sun. So, she brought them back to the orphanage.

Alfonzo and Elicia woke up when it was time for dinner. They were surprised that they were back in their beds though.

"Fonzi, we were outside, right?" Elicia asked in a groggy tone.

"That's right." Alfonzo replied in a similarly groggy tone.

"Then why are we in our beds?" Elicia asked.

"Because Justine found the two of you sleeping under a tree." The matriarch, who was watching over them after they had not woken up for lunch, said from the chair she was sitting on next to Elicia's bed. "At first, we had thought that the two of you had fallen ill. But I would guess that the two of you were sleeping like that for another reason."

While the matriarch spoke, she narrowed her eyes. To Alfonzo and Elicia, it felt like she was daring them to lie to her.

'She knows.' Alfonzo and Elicia thought simultaneously.

Alfonzo and Elicia looked at each other for a brief moment, communicating many words with a single glance. Then, they both looked at the matriarch.

"While we were playing..." Elicia said.

"Something weird happened." Alfonzo finished the sentence.

"Oh, something weird?" The matriarch asked.

Then, Alfonzo and Elicia both held up their right hand. A moment later, a magic circle appeared in front of both of their palms. A moment after that, the magic circles disappeared.

In his righthand, Alfonzo was now holding an Eskrima stick made of an aluminum alloy. Elicia on the other hand, had a thread growing out of the tips of her fingers.

"Just as I thought, you're both wizards." The matriarch aid in a tired tone.

"Did we do something bad?" Elicia asked with tears starting to form in her eyes.

'Damn, she's good at this.' Alfonzo thought as he saw the tears in Elicia's eyes. 'I don't even know if I could pull off the puppy dog eyes, let alone turn on the water works.'

"*Sigh* No, child you've done nothing wrong." The matriarch said in a soothing tone. "But we're not equipped to raise wizards in our small orphanage."

"Does that mean we shouldn't use our magic?" Alphonzo asked in a feigned confused tone.

"No, Alfonzo. You don't have to worry about that." The matriarch said with a smile. "If you want to become wizards, then we'll try and contact a guild for you."

"Daddy was in a guild." Elicia said in a tearful tone.

This time, Alfonzo knew that Elicia was not joking. He too began to tear up at the thought of his deceased parents in this life.

'If I had to guess, our isekai experience was not a transmigration.' Alfonzo thought to himself while wiping his eyes. 'This was probably a reincarnation. And our old memories awakened today. Come to think about it, today is our sixth birthday.'

At the thought of celebrating a birthday without his parents, Alfonzo's tears began to flow even harder.

Just as Alfonzo suspected, they had reincarnated into this life. Meaning, they did not have to integrate with their memories. Instead, they had actually lived those memories. Meaning, they had created genuine bonds with their parents over the almost six years they were together in this life.

Meanwhile, the matriarch felt like her heart was breaking. No matter how many times she saw children cry at the thought of their lost parents, it never got any easier. So, she stood up, picked up Elicia, moved to sit down next to Alfonzo, and hugged the two children together.

"I know it probably doesn't feel like it." The matriarch said while hugging Alfonzo and Elicia. "But things will get better."

Like that, the three of them sat together in Alfonzo's bed. Eventually, Alfonzo and Elicia cried themselves to sleep. When the matriarch realized that they had both fallen asleep, she laid them both down in Alfonzo's bed. Then, Elicia immediately clung to Alfonzo, as if it had been programmed into her.

Looking at Alfonzo and Elicia, the matriarch could only shake her head. Then, she left the room.

"I hope the girls in the kitchen aren't too disappointed that their little helper won't be here much longer." The matriarch said with a smile. "But this is probably for the best. I'm sure they'll want to know who it was that killed their parents someday. And there is nothing we can do to help them here."

After dinner, the orphanage's matriarch called the staff together for a meeting. She then explained that Alfonzo and Elicia had awakened their magic and that she would be looking for guilds that might accept them.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up in Fairy Tail." The head cook said.

"Well, they are the type that would do something crazy like finding a dark guild for revenge." Justine, who found Alfonzo and Elicia sleeping outside, said.

"On top of that, they're one of the strongest guilds in Fiore." Another member of the staff said.

"But Fairy Tail's guild master is a perverted old man." A younger member of the staff said in disgust.

"But at least he's not an immoral creep like Phantom Lord's guild master." The matriarch said. "Besides, Master Makarov really isn't that bad. He's just an old goof ball. Either way, I won't be sending those two kids to someone like Jose Porla."

Most orphanage heads in Fiore are at least acquainted with a guild master or two. The matriarch of this particular orphanage, however, knew quite a few of the more famous guild masters around the kingdom. Since for some reason or another, many talented wizards had come from her orphanage. Even if many of them have retired and are no longer in the public eye.

"Anyway, I'll send a letter to Master Makarov." The matriarch said, letting everyone know of her final decision. "We should hear back from him anywhere from a few days. To a couple of weeks later."