Flames of Vengeance

"Zan! Can you help me bring in another bag of flour?"

"Coming!"

Kara Cinders watched with a blissful smile on her face as her seven year old son ran out to get another bag of flour from the storeroom of their bakery. Her daughter, Zariah, who is four years old this year, is happily cutting shapes on the dough with a mould and giggling away from all the fun she is having.

Kara is happy.

Life in Azalea Town isn't easy, not when she have to raise two kids by her lonesome and run a bakery at the same time. Her husband had passed away two years ago from an incurable disease and it brought tears to her eyes whenever she is reminded that the love of her life will not be able to see their children grow up.

Kara had prepared herself for the worst when she had finished arranging the funeral for her husband. They only have some savings from her husband's time as a mage, which wasn't much since he wasn't a very powerful mage to begin with, and a bakery which they both opened together. Zancrow was only five years old and little Zariah was only two. She wouldn't stop asking her where her papa is. Kara didn't have the heart to tell her that her papa is gone forever. She told Zariah that her papa is on a long mission and won't be back until many years later.

She dreads the day where she will have to tell Zariah the truth.

The townsfolk who were sympathetic to her plight had helped a little whenever they could but life is tough for them as well. Azalea Town is located in a rural area in Fiore and is not known for having anything special. The town is barely sustaining itself as it is with their small population. To her relief, Zancrow, her oldest child, is very mature for his age and often help to take care of Zariah to the best of his ability as a five year old. He understands that his father is dead and that life will only get harder from there. He also helped out in the bakery whenever little Zariah had fallen asleep after playing with him, and both mother and son will spend their time in the bakery selling their produce or kneading dough with their hands caked in flour.

The heavens might have taken her husband away from her, but she is blessed with two very wonderful children.

Seeing how Zancrow always helped out in the bakery in his free time, Zariah had imitated her older brother and tried to help out as well. There's a lot of things that both mother and son will not allow Zariah to do in the kitchen due to her age, and they both settled for letting her help in cutting the dough into various shapes with the mould.

Kara was brought out of her musings when Zancrow heaved in two big bags of flour into the kitchen. Zancrow has always been a very strong child, both in the body and mind. Kara suspected that Zancrow might have inherited magical abilities from his father, it will explain the unnatural strength he possessed. But there is no way for her to confirm her suspicions as his magic had not physically manifested itself if it was indeed present within Zancrow.

"Mama! Look! The gingerbread man is dancing!"

Both Kara and Zancrow whipped their heads to Zariah. They saw the little girl waving her hands excitedly while being covered in flour as the gingerbread men she had cut up with the mould danced to a tune that is playing from the lacrima music player lying in the corner of their kitchen. Both their jaws dropped as they saw at least ten of the gingerbread man she had cut up danced around her in a circle on the table where Zariah is sitting.

"Ria! You have magic!" Zancrow shouted excitedly as he went up to give Zariah a happy hug which she returned. The siblings are very close to each other and Kara could still remember the day where Zancrow had swore that he would protect Zariah with his life when he first held her in her arms shortly after Zariah was born. Zancrow's shout brought Kara out of her reverie as well as she planted a quick kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"Well done, Ria. Do you know that only 10% of the people in this world are able to use magic? You are one of them!" Kara purposely said those words in an excited tone to liven Zariah's mood even higher than it already was. Zariah gave a squeal of delight and the gingerbread men began to tap dance faster and faster.

"Uh... Mum? Is it ok for her Ria to keep going like that? I mean, won't she get tired from using magic repeatedly? She's only four." Zancrow whispered to Kara as he stood by her side and watched Zariah continuing to command the gingerbread men, who is now marching to a militaristic tune that is now playing from their music player.

True to Zancrow's words, the gingerbread men fell lifeless back onto the baking tray just one minute later. Ria gave a exhausted yawn and she signaled to Zancrow with both of her arms to pick her up.

"Sleepy..." Zariah mumbled as Zancrow gave a chuckle.

"We need to get you cleaned up first, then you can go and take a nap. Ok?"

"Kay."

Kara watched as the siblings made their exit from the kitchen and she returned to kneading the dough. If it wasn't for Zancrow's maturity, she would have really been at a loss on how to raise both of her kids while working at the same time. She could probably trouble her neighbours to keep an eye on them from time to time, but it definitely isn't a long term solution to her problems.

"Ria's asleep. I don't think she will be waking up for a while." Zancrow said softly as he reappeared in the kitchen about 15 minutes later and helped put the baking tray full of the gingerbread man into the baking oven before turning on the heat with a fire lacrima. "That magic stunt seemed to take a lot out of her."

"You seemed to take it very well. I thought you would have been jealous about not having your own magic." Kara inquired curiously. While she knew that Zancrow is a lot more smarter and mature than he seems, he is still a seven year old kid. Either he is very good at concealing his true emotions, or he really does not care whether he has magic or not. As his mother, it is her job to ensure her son's mental well-being. Jealousy can be a very ugly and poisonous venom if it was allowed time and room to fester.

"I'm pretty sure I have my own magic, but for some reason I can't seem to manifest it." Zancrow admitted as he returned to stand beside Kara and helped her to knead another large ball of dough. "I can feel it inside me, I know I have it. Having my own magic will explain why I can lift heavy objects like the large bags of flour without effort. I know that my strength isn't natural. I guess that maybe I should stop forcing my magic to come out and wait for it to occur naturally instead, like what Ria did."

Kara patted Zancrow's head dotingly at his words.

"Aww. My cute little Zan is growing up so fast." Kara cooed. She knew that her son is easily embarrassed at open displays of affection and seeing him getting flustered about it always made a cute sight.

"Stop it, Mum. You are getting the flour into my hair." Zancrow grumbled as he tried to dust off the flour off his long, unruly blond hair, only to make it worse due to the fact that his own hands are covered with flour as well.

Kara gave an exaggerated sigh. "They grow up so fast. Little Zan doesn't want to spend time with his Mummy anymore." She raised a hand to wipe away the "tears" at the corner of her eyes.

Kara could see Zancrow's lips twitching from the corner of her eyes as if he wanted to retort, but he held his tongue. He returned to kneading the dough and both mother and son accompanied each other in a comfortable silence for a short while.

"What magic did Dad have?"

Zancrow's sudden question took Kara off guard, but a smile soon returned to her face as she remembered the magic that her husband once wielded. It was impressive, even if he never managed to become a powerful mage in his life.

"It was the ability to control fire. Fire can never harm your father, they all bend to his will."

"Fire control, huh?" Zancrow seemed lost in thought as he continued to knead the dough. "In that case, then my magic will most definitely be fire-related."

Kara blinked at that sudden statement. "Why do you think so?"

"Ria got that 'control' part down. You didn't see it, but she used her magic just now to wrap herself comfortably with her blanket before going to sleep. I suspect that her magic allows her to control anything she wish, although I am unsure if she can control living things. If Ria inherited 'control', then I probably will inherit the 'fire' part from Dad."

Kara laughed at the logic her son used. Well, it sounded reasonable, but the leap in logic is just too hilarious!

"Stop laughing." Zancrow said with a pout as he stopped his kneading and put both his hands on his hips. Kara just laughed enough louder.

It's just another ordinary day for the Cinders.

"And then, Aladdin just flew down from the sky with his magic carpet with a WHOOSH!" I exclaimed out loud as Ria clapped her hands excitedly.

It had been a month since Ria had awaken her magic. As I had suspected, her magic is to allow her to control any non-living objects. She still have difficulties trying to get larger objects to move, but that is probably due to her young age.

It wasn't long before Mum and I realised that Ria had some sort of Eye Magic as well. We found out about it when she transformed the pebbles at the back of her house into little cats and animate them. I gaped at the display of her magic when I saw it for the first time. I know that there might be something special with our eyes seeing that both Ria and I had unusual looking eyes with concentric circles in them. We both had inherited the blood-red pupils with concentric circles in it just like Dad did. Ria's ability to transform non-living objects into living things means that she now have the ability to control both living and non-living objects, even if the former required a non-living object to turn it into a living organism in the first place. I have no idea what category of magic Ria's Eye Magic belongs to, but I guessed that calling it a form of Living Magic or Creation Magic should be appropriate enough. She had created life just by simply looking at a stray pebble. There are limitations to her magic, like how she cannot create another human and that the creatures she created have limited intelligence, but her magic is still powerful in its own right.

Ria will grow up into a very powerful mage in the future, I am certain of it. Which brings me to my next question, where was she in canon?

It didn't take me long to realise that I was reborn into the world of Fairy Tail given how unique my name was. Seeing how magic was bought, sold, and traded on a daily basis was a dead giveaway too. I soon learnt that we lived in a town called Azalea Town in Fiore, which is located near the mountainous southwest region.

I wasn't particularly thrilled in learning that I had been reborn as a villain in Fairy Tail, but there's no way I am going to be a villain in my new life. My new Mum and sister in this life is all I need, regardless of the presence of magic in this new world. I wasn't too bothered about my death in my previous life, I don't have anything to live for. I didn't have any family previously, they had died in a car crash when I was three and I was subsequently sent to an orphanage. I had friends, but it is nowhere close to having a real family and I wasn't particularly close to any of them. I was a loner. I don't have a real ambition either, I don't know what I was living for and had no idea what to live for.

I just lived for the sake of living. I don't have a purpose in life.

I lived in the orphanage until I became an adult and moved out of there. I had a decent job, but the building that the company that I was working for suddenly caught fire.

I lost my life there.

Funny how I died to a fire in my previous life and the magic I am sure I am going to wield in my new life is Fire Magic. Fate sure works in strange ways. As Zancrow, I can feel a strange connection to any form of fire, it was why I was sure that my latent magic is definitely fire-related. However, I still cannot produce or control them just like how Mum told me Dad used to do. I never saw him used magic when he was still alive although he had told me he used to be a mage.

Makes me wonder why he retired from being a mage. Did he somehow lose his ability to use magic? That is a thought for another day.

Dad had passed away when I was five and it hit us all pretty hard. Ria was too young to understand the implications of life and death so she wasn't too affected, but I can tell Mum was devastated. I tried to make life easier for her by helping her out, but there's only so much I can do as a five year old kid.

Whatever little I remembered about the Fairy Tail series did bring out some questions that I have currently no answers to. If I am indeed the same Zancrow in canon,what about Ria? What about Mum? Where were they in canon? Why did canon Zancrow not have Eye Magic? Will I have Eye Magic like Ria? Why was canon Zancrow so psychotic? What happened? How did canon Zancrow ended up in Grimoire Heart? As far as I know, Zancrow had a normal childhood up till now. Nothing noteworthy or unordinary happened. With such powerful magic at her disposal, why did Ria not make an appearance in canon?

The first thought that crept up my head was that she was dead even before canon started. I squashed it back down in the confines of my mind. There is no way I will allow that to happen. I will sooner cut off my limb or end my life than to let Ria die.

My new family are the best things that had happened to me in my second life. Their presence gave me my purpose to live, I will not allow anything bad to happen to them. I couldn't help to save Dad, but I will be damned if anything untoward were to happen to Mum and Ria. I had no ambition or purpose in my previous life but that has changed. I couldn't help save Dad, so Mum and Ria are the reasons for my existence now.

They make me feel wanted. They make me feel that life here is worth living.

"Zan! I need you to get some more eggs and flour from the market!" Mum hollered from the kitchen.

"I'm on it!" I shouted back as I ruffled Ria's blond hair lovingly. We had both inherited our hair and eye colour from Mum.

"Zan, can you use magic and come back faster? I want to continue to listen to your stories! When we grow up, I can bring us flying all over the world with a magic carpet like Aladdin! Then we can all go and see the world together!"

I chuckled as Ria made that statement. Ever since I started to tell her bedtime stories from my previous world and how big the world is, she had made it her dream to travel the world the moment she is old enough.

"I haven't awaken my magic yet, Ria." I told her gently as I stood up. "I will be able to use it one day, then we can all go and see the world outside Azalea together once we are old enough. We will bring Mum along too."

"It's a promise!" Ria exclaimed as she held out a pinky finger. "Pinky promise!"

I can feel Mum watching us in amusement from the kitchen despite having my back turned towards it. I hooked my pinky finger around Ria's and playfully pinched her nose.

"Meanie!"

I just laughed as I grabbed some money lying on the dining table to buy the supplies Mum requested and bolted out of the door before Ria can get me back for the pinch by using her magic to animate the couch in the living room. I can hear Ria humming the tune of 'A Whole New World' as I exited the house.

I ran towards the market which is at the center of the town. If I get there fast enough, I should be able to get back home before Ria throws a tantrum. She does not like to have her stories interrupted.

I inwardly sighed, I'm so whipped by a four year old kid.

I tried to move my body underneath all the rubble that I was buried under but I can't move. I tried to scream for help, but nothing came out of my mouth but hacked coughs and blood. What on earth happened? Why is our town under attack?!

I was nearly home when our town was engulfed in explosions that happened at various corners simultaneously. The building on my left that I was passing by had exploded and when I came to, I was buried under a huge pile of rubble and debris, unable to move an inch and hidden from the world.

I could still see what is happening outside through the gaps and cracks between the concrete from where I was lying. I can see the bakery, where Mum and Ria are supposed to be. It's still intact and standing, much to my relief. Many of the townsfolk were killed by the unannounced explosions and lay dead on the streets, their face contorted in pain and surprise before they breathe their last. I don't see Mum's and Ria's bodies anywhere, which I considered to be a good sign considering the circumstances.

My breath hitched when I saw an elderly old man with long, silvery slicked back white hair and with mustache and beard of the same colour appear in my vision. He had an eyepatch over his right eye and wore a dark shirt and pants with a cape billowing in the wind after him. There's only one guy in the Fairy Tail verse with that kind of getup.

Hades. Grimoire Heart's guild master and the Second Master of Fairy Tail.

Why?! Why is he here?!

I watched as he blew the bakery up by pointing a finger at it, revealing Ria and Mum. Mum hugged Ria protectively to her chest and she tried to get them away from Hades. Hades gave her an uninterested look and forcefully separated her from Ria with magic.

"Don't hurt Mama!"

With a scream, Ria configured wolves from the debris around her and they leapt at Hades with a snarl. Hades seemed to be taken aback, but he destroy the wolves with a single swipe of his hands.

"Interesting. To think that someone as young as you is able to use magic so similar to Primordial Magic." Hades commented as he stroked his long beard. "Are your eyes the origin of your powers?"

I screamed as Hades lifted Ria into the air with magic and Ria thrashed about in the air as she tried to free herself. Mum tried to save Ria by tackling herself onto Hades, but he simply shot a concentrated blast of magic at her heart and Mum lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

No. No, no, no this cannot be happening! Mum!

"A foolish attempt. Someone without magic can never hope to defeat one who walks alongside them."

"Mama! Mama!"

"Don't bother yourself with her. Now, would you care to show me more of your magic?"

With an enraged howl, Ria's eyes glowed blood-red and she created several dragons the size of horses from the remnants of our bakery and they attacked Hades with a vengeance. Hades simply laughed maniacally as he proceeded to destroy them with ease.

"Splendid! Such wonderful magic! Magic that is so close to the root of all magic! Living Magic! To think a kid so young is able to use Living Magic!" Ria is absolutely terrified at this point as tears streaked down her face.

"Mama! Zan!" Ria repeatedly cried for Mum and I as Hades walked closer to her. I tried to free myself from where I was trapped underneath all the rubble to rush to Ria's aid, but I couldn't move a. fucking. inch.

"Ria!" I tried to scream to transfer Hades's attention onto me, but nothing came out of my mouth but more blood and sputters. I tried to reach for the power I know that is within me to see if I can unlock my magic, or throw a pebble at Hades, or scream at him. Anything. Anything to prevent that fucking monster from laying a hand on my sister. I screamed in silence and I cursed in my mind. My throat must have been damaged somehow from the attack. Damn it!

"No one else will hear your cries, girl. My subordinates are doing a beautiful job in killing everyone in this town. It pains my heart, but it is necessary if we want to create the keys to unseal Zeref from his slumber. Rejoice in the fact that your death will bring a glorious age of magic to the world."

Hades removed his eyepatch to reveal the empty eye socket in his socket and I watched. I watched in horror as he slowly used his fingers and gouged Ria's right eye out as she screamed and thrashed in pain throughout the whole duration. He held Ria's right eye in his hand and inserted it into his right eye socket. A hiss of steam later, Ria's eye had successfully been implanted into Hades.

No way. Ria's eye was Hades's Demon Eye?! HOW DARE HE! I WILL KILL HIM! I WILL FUCKING KILL HIM!

Hades dropped Ria unceremoniously onto the floor, who is convulsing on the ground in pain from the extraction process.

"On behalf on Zeref and Grimoire Heart, I thank you for your sacrifice. Now, you can join your mother."

The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was a bright flash of light from the explosion of Hades's magic and my silent scream.