Chapter 0.5

At first, everything was murky, as if my mind was covered by a thick fog. Days melted together and I could hardly tell the difference between when I was awake and when I was asleep. It probably would have been scary had I been able to think about it, so looking back I suppose that there are small blessings in everything.

When the fog finally lifted enough for me to register what was going on around me, I was greeted by the sight of a giant white head with soft blue eyes peering at me over a railing. Before I had the chance to wonder who this was and how they were so huge, another, even larger, white head popped up beside her. My surprise was vocalized with some nonsensical babbling that made the giants coo and smile, but it seemed that the world had decided I wasn't surprised enough because a third head joined the peanut gallery. I was beginning to wonder if I had been brought to a cloning factory for white-haired giants, and by the looks on their faces, I feared that I had been brought there as a desert.

A few days of cautious observation, traumatic manhandling, and embarrassing but unavoidable mishaps led me to a pretty groundbreaking discovery. I couldn't understand a word anyone said, (I think it was Japanese because some things sounded familiar) but I did hear names, and matching those names to the giant's faces told me all I needed to know.

I had been reborn as the youngest child of the Strauss family.

Yes, Strauss as in the Take Over mages from Fairy Tail in that manga of the same name.

Manga, as in not real.

Mages, as in not real.

Reborn, as in I'M A FREAKIN BABY!

With thoughts like those, my baby days passed in shocked reflection of my past life and what I knew of this new world, all while making adorable babble with a tongue that wasn't used to words yet.

I don't think that I died in my old world, or at least, I don't remember dying. At some point, my memories just kind of trail off and turn hazy like my early infancy. Unlike most stories I've heard about reincarnation, I'm not sad about leaving my old life behind. I didn't have a bad life or anything, and I had a pretty good relationship with my family, but that's it. It just wasn't a bad life. I had no dreams or goals, nothing to get me going. It was dull.

Now that I was in a new world, an exciting world, I decided then and there to make the most out of it and just have fun. Earthland is a world with a lot of problems: slavery, organized crime, and literal demons, but it is undeniably an exciting place. Joining Fairy Tail will be the first step to being at the center of that excitement.

I wholeheartedly deny that I had thoughts of how to take a crack at immortality to live here as long as possible. Nothing to see here Ankhserum.

Anyway, I'm currently 2 years old and am officially known as the Strauss family's perpetual headache. Previously, all my time and effort was spent learning baby things, like walking and talking, but now that I can do both of those things I have unleashed hell. The frustration of not moving for so long has led to my constant attempts at escaping the house for many a grand adventure. Wherein I am swiftly apprehended and returned to either Dad or Mira for an earful. I much prefer Dad because Mira is terrifying.

Benjamin Strauss is a super cheerful man in his early thirties who never stops smiling, even when he scolds me. I don't think the guy has an angry bone in his body, so I guess Mira must take after Mom then. My new mom died in year x771 in childbirth with me, I'm not exactly sad because I never knew her and the rest of the family fills her role for me, but it does worry me. I remember that both of the Strauss parents were dead when Mira absorbed the demon, but no matter how hard I think, I can't remember how they died. All I can do is be prepared and hope that my addition to the family changes something.

"Cyrus, what're you doing now?" an exasperated voice sounds out behind me, and 8-year-old Mira peeks over my shoulder at the drawing I made in the dirt. "A sword?"

"Yep!" I chirp up at her. "I need a sword."

Now hear me out. I understand that as a Strauss, my magic is probably Take Over magic, and I may not be able to hold a sword after transforming. I can only say touche, but this is this and that is that and I still need a sword. I'm in a world of magic and monsters, to not have a sword would be blasphemous. Even Gandalf had one, and he was an old man.

"Nope, I can't think of anything that you need less than a sword." Her dry response tells me exactly how much help she will be in getting me the object of my heart's desire.

"You don't get it," I inform Mira of my disappointment before getting up and walking back to the house to guilt trip Dad into taking me down to the town. These Earthland mages have no sense of what's important.

Inside our humble little house, I hear Lisanna and Elfman giggle about something in the kitchen, but I stride right past them to Dad's bedroom. My mission will not be deterred. Inside the bedroom, I find my target conked out for an afternoon nap. He got back from hunting late last night and needs to go to town today to sell the furs, and I'm determined to make my social debut today.

Dad is woken up by a vicious attempt on his life via a five-star slap on the heart.

"Argh! What the… Cyrus?!" His eyes settle on me, forced to skip the sluggish prelude to wakefulness that usually lingers for hours.

"In the flesh."

"Don't do that Cyrus, papa almost had a heart attack." He rubs the little red handprint on his pale skin. Luckily, my tiny arms don't have the strength to cause a welt or anything more than red skin.

"Take me to town with you." Out comes my well-prepared and incredibly persuasive request.

"What do you want from Oakridge? No matter how many times you ask, I'm not buying you a sword." His eyes narrow with suspicion.

"Just wanna see it. Bored." A lie. I want to see if there are any magic items or maybe books to train magic… or a sword.

"It's a small town, but you could still get lost. Why don't we wait until you're Lisanna's age first?"

"Won't leave you. Promise." A lie. If I find something interesting and he doesn't want to go over it with me, you better believe I'll be flying over there in approximately zero seconds flat.

"Haha, fine, but you're sticking right by my side the whole time. Don't expect to ever go back there if you try to sneak off." He finally relents, he always does eventually, now I just gotta find out what buttons to press to get him to relent on getting me a sword.

Oakridge town was a disappointment of epic proportions. Going to the marketplace with Dad to sell his furs was such a thrilling idea to me. Even if it's a small town with no magic guilds or anything like that, it's still a magic world. The marketplace is bound to be filled with magic items and cursed swords and monster parts, right?

Not right. Not even close to right. Not only was there no chance for me to reenact the scene of Roronoa Zoro tossing a cursed sword up to get it for free, but I didn't even get to see a crappy rusted sword being sold as an afterthought to get rid of it. That's not even mentioning magic. I'm starting to think that magic doesn't even exist here because I have seen exactly none of it.

Ultimately, I held to my flimsy promises and never let Dad's side as he sold his furs and horns and bought some groceries to bring home. He was so proud of me that I could have sworn I saw a tear in his eye when our house was in sight again. I'm not that bad normally, am I?

When he opened the door, I pushed past his legs and retreated to my room to pout. Regrettably, all my siblings were already there, ready for bed, so I would be denied my private sulking time.

"Well look who's all cranky now. Did Dad yell at you for running off on him?" Mira was quick to tease me upon my entrance.

"Cyrus… are you okay?" Elfman carefully frets over me. Honestly, I can't picture him as the rowdy muscle freak from the manga at all.

I try to ignore them and move to my bed, but my hand is grabbed and I'm held firmly in place by the cheerful one.

"What's wrong?" Lisanna demands. Not asks, because nobody ever ignores Lisanna.

"..." My mouth opens and closes several times, but no words come out. Finally, I manage to push through the pain and let out my inner turmoil. "The town market didn't have a cursed sword possessed by a demon that only I could use and would name me as the legendary hero of Earthland!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

My heart-wrenching cry of pain and loss leaves the room silent for a solid minute before 6-year-old Lisanna decides to play the straight man.

"Of course, it doesn't."

"Um, I think it would be pretty bad if there was something like that." Elfman chips in.

"I swear, every time that you say more than a couple words it's always complete gibberish, isn't it? Now stop being stupid and go to bed." Mira finishes me off with the fatal blow.