A/N - By popular demand, here's yet another addition to my little AU, which follows 'Good Deeds' and 'Christmas Snow'. Fair warning - you *might* want to read at least 'Good Deeds' before this for backstory and the AUs that explain the context of this, although it's not completely necessary to understand what is going on

Reminder of the ages: Erza is 11 (a couple of months or so away from 12), as is Wally; Simon and Jellal are already 12; Shou and Millianna are 8, going on 9; and Ultear has just turned 15.

January x777

"Is it back yet?"

Those were words Jellal had asked every day for the past few months, ever since the subject of Astronomic Magic had caught his attention. He had a feeling that was it – his type of Magic. If not for any other reason, then because he had tried and failed at nearly every other type.

Master Makarov had once explained to him that some people had difficulty channeling their magic until they found the right type – once they did and grasped the basics with it, they would be able to go back and become more versatile, mastering other types, but that only happened after they discovered the right one and the 'click' happened within them. Such had been the case with his guild-mate Ultear Milkovich and, apparently, with him as well. So, he needed it, desperately – his magic.

He was falling behind… nearly everyone in his group of friends had experimented with Magic in some way: Erza was using requip as if she'd been doing so her entire life; Simon had been teleporting for months, even though that tended to land him a handful of miles off-target; Wally's polygon magic had given him a rather awkward cubic appearance, which was puzzling the whole guild; even Wally and Milliana, whose main focus was schooling due to their near-illiteracy after leaving the tower, had been dabbling with magic themselves and getting modest results. He was the only one who couldn't do a thing – Master might say he had enormous potential but his delivery was below zero. His few consolations were Ultear's careless reassurance that 'it would click when it clicked' – it might not sound like much but since it had worked for her, it might just work for him too – and that 'feeling' he had inside that once he got his hands on the book on Astronomic Magic he was looking for, he would find the right thing for him.

But the stupid book was missing in action. It had been requested from the Magnolia library some three months before and never returned. Somehow, the library had lost the paperwork identifying its previous holder, which gave him no clue where to start looking. So, all there was left for him to do was to come by every day and ask for it, which he did, to no avail.

That was, until that very moment.

"As a matter of fact, it is," the blue-haired librarian responded that day, much to his surprise.

His eyes widened. "Really?" he asked in disbelief.

The librarian nodded. "I saved it for you," she informed him reaching into a drawer behind the counter and removing the book, which she handed to him.

Jellal couldn't have been more grateful. "Thank you so much, Ms. McGarden!"

The woman smiled back and shook her head, indicating it had been no trouble. She was a small, cheerful woman, fascinated by books and always willing to help potential readers, even though that pained her sometimes. It was clear to everyone, judging by her skin too pale to be healthy and frequent absences from the library, that she was a sickly woman. "It seems it was actually returned long ago but somehow it found its way behind some dictionaries at the linguistics section. I swear I have no idea how it got there… it would have spent far longer gathering dust in its hiding place if my Levy hadn't found it by chance."

"Levy did?" he asked in. Anyone frequenting Magnolia's library had to be acquainted with the head librarian's young daughter, Levy, even more so the members of Fairy Tail. The young girl, who was gifted in Solid-Script Magic, tended to spend a lot of time at the guild hall at her own mother's urging and Ms. McGarden also met with the Master a lot. Jellal had once heard Macao commenting to Wakaba that it was due to her 'making arrangements'… he had a feeling he knew what that meant and that made him sad for both the woman and her daughter.

"Yes. That girl won't rest until she has read every book in this library, I tell you. From Fairy Tales to Astrophysics… she just reads it all," Ms. McGarden commented with a sigh. "It's the price you pay for raising a child in a library, I suppose…"

"I wouldn't mind being raised in a library," he pointed out.

The woman smiled. "Of course you wouldn't," she said. After a pause to register the book's exit, she placed the paperwork on the counter for Jellal to sign. "You didn't bring your friend this time. Erza, isn't it?"

Jellal blushed. "She had something else to do," he mumbled shyly.

"Well, give her my regards when you see her," Ms. McGarden said, collecting the paperwork and handing him his library receipt. "And good luck finding what you're looking for in the book. It's not due back for two weeks – don't forget to renew the loan if you need more."

He nodded. "I won't. I have a feeling about this one."

"Well, then I'm sure it will all work out."

After thanking the librarian at least three more times in excitement, the blue-haired twelve-year-old practically flew the whole way back to the guild, eager to tell everybody the news. Inside, there was no sign of Erza, but then again he hadn't expected there to be as she'd informed him earlier that she'd be busy most of the afternoon in Fairy Hills. It disappointed him a little that she wouldn't be the first he'd tell the news to but he was too excited to keep it to himself and had absolutely no hope of ever being allowed to step foot in the girls dorms without being trampled to near-death by the elderly matron (incredibly unfair as there was no rule whatsoever barring girls from the boy's dorms, which led them to wander in and out at a whim), so the rest of the guild would have to do.

"I finally got it!" he shouted as he made a beeline straight to the bar area, where the Master sat with his grandson, Laxus. Upon reaching it, he enthusiastically showed Makarov the library book. "Look, Master! It's that book I told you about! Ms. McGarden finally got it for me."

"Ah, the one you believe to have the key to release your magic, I presume," Makarov said, receiving an eager nod in return.

"'Believe?'" Laxus questioned by his grandfather's side. He eyed Jellal a little dubiously. "You're making all that fuss and you don't even know for sure? Tch… watch it, kid. You might be setting yourself up for disappointment." Although his words sounded harsh and certainly made Jellal deflate, they weren't meant to bring the kid down. He wasn't sure why but he liked the little brat… sure, he was too damn annoyingly cheerful in Laxus' opinion and his case of puppy love for the little redhead was a tad pathetic in his eyes but at least he wasn't as annoying as some of the other kids hanging around… or maybe just not as stupid. Also, there was the fact that Gramps seemed to believe the kid was a diamond in the rough, magic-wise, and Laxus couldn't help but feel a certain amount of proportionality between power and respect in what came to his opinion of other people… So, because of that, his words towards the younger boy were a friendly warning to spare him from unexpected disappointment rather than a statement of his lack of faith.

"Now, now, Laxus, Jellal has a gut feeling," Makarov pointed out. "You know the guild's policy on gut feelings."

"Listen to them unless it'll costs us a fortune," Laxus quoted, rolling his eyes.

The master nodded. "The First herself came up with that rule or so my father told me," he stated.

"Tch… so penny-pinching has come with the job from the very start?" Laxus commented, earning himself a slap on the back of the head.

"Managing the rowd… I mean, strongest guild in Fiore doesn't come cheap, brat," he said before looking back at Jellal. "Anyway, trust your feeling and read away, my boy – I'm sure that book will help you with your magic somehow."

Jellal's face lit up again. "Thanks, Master. I'll get started right away!"

"Well, go on, then. Sit with your friends. It seems to me like they're busy with some studying of their own."

The young boy nodded and, after scanning around the room for the aforementioned friends, he finally spotted them sitting at a table near the door, right by the main aisle between tables. As he approached and got a better view of them, he saw that Shou was busy doing homework as he sat by Simon's side, the older boy occasionally feeding him hints at the same time as he played checkers with Wally.

"I got the book!" he announced to them, taking a seat by Wally, in which he found himself facing Shou.

"Yeah, we heard," Simon replied. "I think everyone in the country did, the way you were shouting it when you came in."

"Aw… I wasn't that loud," Jellal mumbled, a little embarrassed.

"Not much louder than usual," Wally egged on. "So, does that old thing have anything dandy in it?"

"I don't know. I haven't started studying it yet," Jellal stated.

"Studying is stupid," Shou mumbled miserably from across the table.

"Do your homework and stop complaining," Simon told him. "If you spend too much time moaning about it, you'll never finish."

The blond boy just groaned in annoyance. "I hate homework," he said under his breath.

That time, Simon ignored him. "So, where's Erza?" the dark haired boy asked Jellal, who was already scanning through the book's index. "I thought she'd be with you."

"No, she's in Fairy Hills with Millianna helping her clean up her room. Apparently the bi-monthly tidiness inspection is tomorrow and Milliana's room is complete chaos," Jellal explained.

Wally raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Millianna was messy."

"Why would you?" Simon pointed out. "We haven't all lived together since the tower and we didn't have much to make a mess with over there."

"She did keep losing pick axes over at the rock quarry, though," Jellal recalled. "Erza and I always had to go around looked for them so she wouldn't get into trouble."

"I guess that might have been a hint," the polygon-faced boy agreed.

"I'm done!" Shou announced, closing his notebook.

Simon raised an eyebrow. "So suddenly? Let me see that," he said, snatching the notebook away from the younger boy before he could reach.

"Simon no!" Shou protested, trying to get it back unsuccessfully since Simon was taller than him and held the notebook up as he flipped through the pages.

When he finally got to the last one, he frowned and looked down at the protesting boy. "Did you just write in answers at random?"

"No!"

"So you really think that ten times ten is seventy-six? Ten times ten?!"

Jellal frowned. "Shou!" he said. "You didn't even look at the question, did you?"

Shou pouted, not a fan of the fact that he'd just been caught red-handed. "I hate maths! They're stupid!"

"Don't be like that. You're doing better at it than before," Jellal told him.

"Better? I got a thirty out of a hundred on the last test!"

"That's not bad," Jellal told him. "You'd gotten a twenty-seven on the one before, so it's an improvement. You're slowly moving towards a passing grade. That's a good thing."

If any other person had said such a thing, Shou would have felt annoyed, deeming it mocking. Coming from Jellal, though, the kid who could find a silver lining in the bleakest of things, he really couldn't bring himself to berate him for it. Jellal wouldn't be Jellal without his ever-so-positive brand of logic. Still, that didn't mean he suddenly had to like maths. "Maths are still stupid. It's not like numbers grow on trees or anything. So, what's the point of maths in real life, anyway?"

"Buying stuff without getting swindled," Wally provided.

"Splitting job rewards equally," Simon added.

"Filing for tax returns," Jellal finished.

The other two boys frowned and turned to Jellal. "Come on, Jellal. You're twelve. Act like it," Simon told him.

"I was just giving an example of where Maths would be useful in real life!" Jellal protested.

"Smartass," Simon accused.

"Know-it-all," Wally added.

Jellal just shrugged, not bothered whatsoever with the 'insults', seeing as he could hear the fondness underneath the mocking.

Shou, on the other hand, was still busy pouting. "Why do Millianna and I even have to go to stupid school instead of going on fun jobs all the time like you guys get to?"

"Because the law states that you can only be a full-time mage if you pass the state tests for the school curriculum," Jellal told him. "And since you and Millianna never got to go to school before you were taken to the tower, you didn't pass." Truth to be told, Jellal hadn't gotten to go to school for very long either, having been taken away from home midway through first grade but then again, he had vague memories of being able to read since he was very little, three… maybe four, and of his mother teaching him about numbers long before he had started school.

"But you can't even do magic," Shou protested. "How come you get to be a full-time mage and I don't, anyway?"

Well, that certainly stung to hear...

"Because he and Erza are a team and his brain is enough to help her out on the jobs she takes," Simon responded for his friend. "Now stop lashing at us. Just because you're stuck at school now, doesn't mean you will be forever. There are exams every year, you know? Why do you think we're always on your case about homework and studying? The faster you learn, the sooner you'll pass and will be able to join us on jobs. So, erase these answers and do them right."

Shou pouted for a moment, although he didn't look nearly as annoyed as he had seemed before, given that he could now understand his friends weren't just torturing with school work for kicks. And he really didn't want to be stuck at school until he became sixteen… So, he grumbled under his breath as he got his notebook back from Simon and sat down, forcing himself to put some effort into the task of doing homework.

The other three boys, sensitive to his plight, made an effort not to divert his attention by refraining from making too much noise. So, as Simon and Wally returned to their silent game of checkers, Jellal got started with reading his new book.

The pages were worn by use and time as he turned them one after another. He found five different types of astrology-based magic described in the book during his first quick scan but it was the last one that got his attention the most: Heavenly Body Magic – magic that manifested through the replication and embodiment of astronomical bodies such as comets, constellations, stars and so on.

That was right up his alley. It felt comfortable and familiar, likely because it reminded him of the home he had had before the Zeref worshipers had come to steal him away. If anyone asked him where it was, he wouldn't be able to tell – he'd been six back then and had never left his village before the unthinkable had happened. He did, however, remember that it was a small and remote place… there was hardly any artificial light at night unlike in Magnolia and, as the moon rose every night, the sky would become a mess of stars and constellations that shone so bright that sections the infinite blue above had a hint of pale gold.

Just like that, he decided that would be his magic. Even if it didn't turn out to be his innate one, he still vowed to master it and make it his own in time. That wouldn't be easy, though – most of the spells listed were classified as 'advanced', only a few as 'intermediate' and a single one as 'basic'. It was hardly an ideal place to start but he wasn't about to let that keep him from trying.

The one 'basic' spell was a speed-based one. It was called 'Meteor' and caused the user to move at an incredible speed, as if turning into the celestial body itself. It might be deemed 'basic' by the book, but the instructions it contained seemed far more complex than the ones his guildmates had given him when attempting to teach him the most basic spells of their respective types of magic, all in an attempt to test his affinity to it. Still, he read and re-read them several times until he was able to recite the steps to himself without looking at the page.

"Hey, I forgot to mention before," Simon suddenly announced. "I'm going away tomorrow."

Jellal looked up from the book and snatched an unused pencil from Shou's pencil case to use as a marker. "To look for Kagura-chan?" he questioned, referring to Simon's missing sister. Even though none of them – Erza and Simon aside – had actually ever met the girl, they generally regarded her as another member of their group, much like Wally's older brother, Richard. Simon's search for Kagura was, therefore, closely followed by all of them and supported in any way they could. Despite Simon never actually letting them go along on his longest absences because, in his words, 'someone had to keep an eye on Shou and Millianna', there was rarely ever a job out of town that Erza and Jellal or Wally and Richard took without at least attempting to ask around for sightings of any lost nine-year-old girl with dark hair and amber eyes.

"Yeah," Simon confirmed, looking a little downcast. Every time he went out looking for his sister and came back without her, it felt like a little part of him died. Now, he couldn't help but fear that it would happen again. "Miss Ur is taking a job up north with Gray and Ultear and she asked me if I wanted to come along. I haven't had the chance to go there yet," he said. "She says we might not be back for nearly a month."

"Wow… Miss Ur doesn't usually take jobs that last that long," Wally commented.

"Well, all three of them are from the north," Jellal pointed out. "Maybe they want to stay around for a while and see their old home."

"Yeah, I guess," Simon agreed. "She did mention something about dropping by Lamia Scale on the way…"

"Sounds like Lyon is getting 'kidnapped' again," Shou piped in.

The three other boys looked at him sharply. "Homework," Simon reminded him.

"I'm almost done! Sheesh…" the blonde complained.

Simon just rolled his eyes in return.

"You haven't had a chance to go with Miss Ur on jobs before, have you?" Jellal asked. As Wally had said, Ur usually stuck to quicker jobs, which mostly took place nearby or close to Lamia Scale (which wasn't far away either) to be able to keep a closer eye on her kids. Simon, on the other hand, had searched for his sister on the surrounding area with a fine-toothed comb on the first few months after joining Fairy Tail, usually with the Master serving as an escort, so these days, he mostly joined in on jobs farther away from Magnolia – sometimes even accompanying Master's acquaintances from other guilds – thinking he had a better chance of finding Kagura over there. "Well, the way she knows what it's like to be forced apart from family, I'm sure she'll help you with Kagura-chan any way she can. She's nice like that."

"Yeah, she is pretty cool," Simon agreed. "Gray is okay too when he's not… you know…"

"Obsessing about killing that demon? Deribora?" Wally offered.

"It's actually Deliora," Jellal pointed out.

"Yeah. He's a little intense but, demons aside, I guess he's decent enough," Simon went on. "Miss Ur's daughter, though…" He made a face at the very mention of her.

Jellal frowned. "You don't like Ultear?"

"Meh… It's not that I dislike her," he said. "But I get this weird feeling around her…"

"Oh… you mean you're uncomfortable because you like like her?" Wally suggested.

Simon blushed in embarrassment and immediately shook his head. "No! It's nothing like that. I mean, I don't even know her and I…" He forced a cough and looked away. "It's not that. The weird feeling I was talking about is not as in me liking her. It's a weird feeling as in… I don't really know how to explain it. I feel like I should stay away… like… maybe she killed me in another life or something."

"Wow, that is way dark, Simon. Not dandy at all," Wally mumbled.

"I doubt there's anything meaningful to that," Jellal told his friend. "I'll admit Ultear can be a bit… mean sometimes. Not mean mean, just push-people's-buttons mean… But I'm sure she's not genuinely evil or anything. She helps me out sometimes. And she spars with Erza whenever she asks."

"Yeah, I guess… I mean, I did get a similar feeling about you when I first met you, so…" Simon admitted.

"Me?!" Jellal asked, a bit hurt. "You think I killed you in another life too?"

"Don't worry, I just ignored it. You're way too nice and cheerful for me to even consider you going randomly murderous," his friend reassured him. "In this world or any other – it's just too bizarre…"

Jellal was still pouting. "I can't believe I gave you a feeling like that…"

"Stop worrying about it," Simon told him. "I told you I didn't take it ser…"

"I'm done!" Shou shouted excitedly, closing his notebook and pushing it away in an exaggerated manner. "If anything is wrong this time, it's not 'cause I didn't look at it. It's just 'cause I'm dumb."

Simon shot him a look and flicked him with his fingers on the side of the head. "Stop being ridiculous."

"Hey!" he complained before his attention elsewhere – more specifically, the door. "Sister's back!" he announced before starting to wave around at Erza who had, indeed, just arrived at the guild. "Sister!" He called for her even though she was five yards away at the most.

Inevitably, she spotted the younger boy and marched towards their table with a tired look on her face.

"Hey, how did the cleaning go?" Jellal asked.

"Stressfully," she informed him, sounding tired beyond her years. "Millianna's room is passable now, at least. I have no idea where she got so many cat collectables from…" she added, a haunted tone on her voice.

"You probably don't want to know," Simon assured her before turning to Jellal. "So, are you telling her your news or what?"

"News?" Erza questioned, confused.

"Oh!" Jellal said, suddenly reminded. He turned to the table to get a hold of his book and then showed it to Erza with a huge grin on his face. "Look!"

Just like that, Erza's face brightened with excitement. "The library finally had the book? So, did it work?"

"Well, I haven't tested anything yet. But I guess this is a good time as any to do it," he stated, getting up.

"What? You've had the book for less than a couple of hours and you already think you can manage to use a spell from it?" Simon asked incredulously.

Jellal just shrugged. "I'm only trying for the simplest spell in here. The worst that can happen is me standing there looking dumb when nothing happens and I'm already used to that, anyway."

"Well, I need to give the master a note that the matron asked me to deliver but I'll hurry and we can test it out together," Erza told him before rushing away in search for the master, who seemed to have already retreated into his office likely in order to fill in paperwork.

Left behind, Jellal grinned like a little maniac… that is, until Simon spoke.

"You're just trying to show off for her, aren't you?" Simon questioned with narrowed eyes. There was no real accusation on his tone. Despite his own crush on Erza, he had resigned himself to the inevitable fate that was Erza and Jellal eventually ending up together months before – it would take more than a blind man not to notice the closeness and devotion between those two. He was smart enough to get a hint.

Jellal blushed, eyes wide. "What? No, why… why would I do that?"

"You're really red right now, Brother," Shou pointed out.

"That's because it's hot in here," the blue-haired boy responded, embarrassed.

"Actually, the breeze coming from the door is a bit chilly," Wally remarked.

"Maybe I'm just coming down with something, then," Jellal stammered then.

"Yeah, I think you might be running a fever, alright," Simon teased on before taking a more serious stand. "Seriously, though, do you really think you're ready? You've only studied the book for less than an hour."

"I already know all the steps it had for this spell by heart," he replied.

"Really?" Simon asked skeptically. He reaches for the book on Jellal's hand and held it himself. "Maybe we should give it a trial run first while Erza is busy with the Master. Just in case."

"You think?"

Wally nodded in Simon's stead. "We're your friends. It's our job to make sure you don't completely embarrass yourself in front of the girl you like."

And so, Jellal's vanishing blush came back with a fury. "What? No! I've told you guys we're not like that. We're just friends!"

Simon rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Just shut up about that and do your thing," he demanded.

Jellal was not too happy with the fact that his words didn't appear to be taken as a fact. Still, he took a breath and closed his eyes – the first step the book had indicated was for him to picture himself as a meteor, fast and burning, while at the same time releasing a small amount of magic around himself. The method for magic release had not been detailed in the book but the master had given him plenty of advice on that already – the simplest way was for him to focus and picture himself expanding beyond his body.

"Whoa…" he heard Shou mumbling.

"What is it?" he said before his eyes snapped open. Everything around him seemed to be covered in hues of yellow. "It's working!"

"Jellal! Don't lose focus!" Simon called, noticing that the yellowish glow around his friend was starting to dim.

"Oh, right," Jellal mumbled, closing his eyes again.

As his friend worked on regaining his focus, Simon opened up the book at the page Jellal had marked with Shou's pencil to see what was supposed to happen next. Picturing one-self as a meteor and gathering magic… Simon guessed that part would check already. Next up: push your magic in the direction you want to move towards. At that, the dark-haired boy blinked and, suddenly, alarm rose. "Wait… this magic is supposed to move you from one point to an…"

He was never able to finish that sentence because he was already too late. Before he could react, Jellal was already on the move… although not towards the guild's door, as he had intended, but instead in a completely different direction.

And so, as Erza exited the Master's office, she found herself watching it as her best friend crashed right onto the guild's wooden stage with a bang.

"Jellal!"

Of all the things Jellal had expected would happen due to having his magic awakened, ending up on the wrong end of Erza Scarlet's glare hadn't been one of them.

It was sort of terrifying, really, especially since he knew Erza wasn't usually one to give into fury. It took a lot to irk her to that point. And, apparently, Jellal had just done so, which sucked even worse than being lectured by the Master, assorted members of the guild and finally Porlyusica as well. It even somehow stung far more than his physical injuries…

"So…" Wally summed-up as all five of them sat together at their table after Jellal had been released from an interlude in the infirmary. "Dislocated shoulder, sprained ankle and a mild concussion… Considering you blew a Jellal-shaped hole through the stage, that's a pretty dandy result."

Likely in response to that, Erza could be seen gritting her teeth and making a sound that seemed like a pressure cooker about to explode. Simon and Wally, who were sitting by each of her sides, actually moved away a little, afraid of getting hit by the upcoming blast.

"No, it isn't. He got lucky," Simon told him before facing Jellal. "You could have gotten seriously hurt."

Jellal forced himself to smile despite his headache, just to show them he was fine even though he currently sported a limp, a bump in the head, assorted bruising and an arm brace. "Yeah, I guess. But look at the bright side. I can do magic now!"

A loud bang was heard as Erza punched the table, causing them all to shiver. Shou, who'd been holding an ice-pack against Jellal's shoulder, actually jumped on his seat, dropped said ice-pack and stared at his surrogate sister like she was possessed.

"Are you insane?" she demanded angrily, showing a degree of temper none of them had seen since she was leading them against their Jellal-worshiping abductors. "You could have broken your neck! Do you have any idea how scary that was? Your life isn't worth any magic in the world!" she dramatically declared. "And what on Earthland were you thinking using speed-based magic indoors?!"

There was a moment of silence, not just at their table but rather the whole guild, which wasn't used to outbursts coming from polite, disciplined Erza.

At some point, Jellal sighed and looked down. "I kind of wasn't – that's the whole problem. I got too excited and forgot to think." He paused and sighed. "I'm sorry, Erza. I didn't mean to scare you."

Although she still felt some pent-up anger within her, Erza found herself refraining for releasing it on him. He did sound genuinely repentant and it didn't help that he was physically hurt too. Pressing the matter further would just feeling like kicking a dead horse. As such, because her pent-up anger wasn't going anywhere until she let it out, she found herself looking at a new target… or rather targets.

"And you three," she said in an accusing tone, taking turns at glaring at Simon, Wally and Shou. "How could you stand by and let him do something so stupid?!"

"Calm-down, Erza. We didn't know his magic would even make him move from where he was standing until the last second," Simon defended himself.

"Yeah, we thought he was just going to make some sparkles or something!" Shou added.

"Who could have guessed his magic would be so freakishly huge at the first try?" Wally insisted.

"Still," Erza insisted.

"Come on, Sister, you're not being fair," Shou remarked. "You were all excited to test it out too."

"Yeah, who's to say you would have figured it out sooner?" Wally pressed on.

At that, Erza just blushed and looked away, much to her friends' amusement.

Simon cleared his throat. "Let's just drop it, okay, guys? I guess that at the end of the day what matters the most is the fact that Jellal is okay," he said, ever the peacemaker. "So, anyway, unless you need me for something, I think I'm going home to pack up for tomorrow." Then, he turned to Shou. "You should come along… to learn how to pack for a job."

"Pack for a job?" Shou mumbled, making a face. Jellal and Erza did the same – why would Simon imply there was something special about packing for a job?

"Yep, let's go," Simon insisted, getting up and dragging him along. "You too, Wally. You can help me teaching him."

"Richard always packs for both of us," the block-faced boy remarked hesitatingly.

"Then bring him along," Simon replied, giving a strange look, as if saying 'just go along with it'.

Wally seemed to get it as he got up as well and joined the other two. Before they could actually walk away, though, Shou turned around, facing Erza. "Catch, Sister," he said, throwing Jellal's ice-pack, which he'd still been holding, at her.

The redheaded girl nodded, although she raised an eyebrow at her friends' hasty retreat. She, same as Jellal, refused to acknowledge any reason why people would think the two of them would need time alone.

Once the three boys were gone, out through the front door, Erza got up and walked around the table to take a seat by Jellal so she could press the ice to his injured shoulder. Immediately, the boy blushed. "You… you don't have to do that, Erza. I can hold the ice myself." He lifted his uninjured arm and stretched it across his chest, managing to reach the other shoulder with some difficulty and brush his fingers on the ice-pack.

Unimpressed, Erza swatted his hand away. "Stop that. You'll overstretch a muscle or something," she scolded him. "You don't need to get any more injured than you already are…"

At that, Jellal obediently dropped his healthy arm, recognizing she had a point in trying to spare him from having two useless arms for an extended period of time. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I keep making you mad today, don't I?"

"I'm not mad." She was – a tiny little bit. "I'm just… worried. Especially about this new magic of yours." Scared, freaked out, troubled – he'd gotten that beaten up like that by the most basic, likely weakest spell, of his type of magic… she shuddered to think what would come next.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It was my fault. I got too excited and went about it the wrong way. Now that I know how explosive it can be, I'll be more careful."

"You had better be!" she warned. "And I'm not letting you practice this alone, so you'd better get used to the idea of me always being there with you… preferably accompanied by an adult too. And you're wearing protective gear."

He frowned. "Protective gear? You mean like your armor?"

She shook her head. "You need something more padded. Maybe pillows… and duct tape. And then bigger armor over it. And then maybe even more pillows."

"I don't think I'll be able to move like that," he mumbled.

"You'll get used to it."

"I'd need room for my joints to move and pillows would make that difficult, so probably not," he argued.

She narrowed her eyes. "Stop being difficult! Magic is supposed to help you, not harm you."

"I'm sure it won't harm me once I get to know it a little better. You need to trust fate a bit more – Heavenly Body Magic probably wouldn't have turned out to be my innate magic if I couldn't learn to handle it," he reassured her before his face broke into a smile. "And once I can, I'll start being useful to you on our jobs."

The redheaded girl gave him an unimpressed look. "Silly. You're already useful on jobs. Why would I take you if you weren't?"

"But now I'll be useful when we run into trouble too. You always have to protect us both when that happens," he said, frowning a little. But then, after a second, he smiled again – a really wide, without-a-care-in-the-world Jellal smile. "But now, I'll be able to protect you too."

Something in the way he said that made Erza's eyes widen as she felt the temperature of her face rise to that of something incandescent. And, no doubt, it would have reached that color too as well. That was bad. Very bad. Why must his clearly innocent words have such an effect on her?! So, without preamble, she got up, forcing herself to look away. "This ice is almost completely melted," she announced. "I need to get some more from the kitchen." And so, she marched away towards the kitchen in hopes of composing herself before returning.

Jellal raised his eyebrows at her retreating form, wondering what had gotten to her.

"What happened to your arm?" he heard a familiar voice asking from the other side of his table not ten seconds later. He looked towards it and found Ultear standing there, raising an eyebrow at his current condition. "Don't tell me you got into a fight." Suddenly, a wicked thought reached her mind and she shot him a devious look. "Was it over Erza?" she said in a teasing voice.

He blushed very, very red and shook his head frantically. "No! Of course not!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I didn't even fight anyone! My magic just finally decided to show up," he explained, his face still warm.

"Your magic awakening got you a broken arm?!" the teenager asked in alarm. What the hell sort of magic did this kid have?

He shook his head. "It's not broken. The shoulder just popped out of place. Porlyusica says it will be fine in a few weeks. And it was sort of my fault. I tried to use it before I was ready and it knocked me into the stage," he said, pointing towards it with his uninjured arm. "I think the Master is going to ask you to fix it. Sorry."

"Sure, I'll see about it later," she said, rolling her eyes. Ever since her magic had been revealed to be the Arc of Time, the Master had been more or less using her as the guild's personal handyman to cover for the worst of the inevitable destruction Fairy Tail was known to leave on its wake. It could be a little annoying sometimes but, at the same time, since a much smaller portion of the guild's budget was spent on repairs, improvements could be seen all around, from better food at the bar (which she got free of charge in payment for her services) to a standing project for the placement of a pool on the backyard . Plus, it never hurt to be at the very top of the Master's good graces and having half of the guild owing her favors so, at the of the day, she couldn't really complain about the arrangement. "Anyway, sounds like your magic did show up with a bang. Didn't I tell you it would? To think of all that moping you've been doing…"

"I don't mope," Jellal denied, looking away.

"Sure, you don't," she said sarcastically. "So, what did it turn out to be in the end?"

"Heavenly Body Magic."

She looked at him blankly, silent for a moment. "Excuse me?" Had he just said what she thought he had? Was there actually a type of magic with such a ridiculous name?

"Heavenly Body Magic," he repeated. "It's a type of Astronomic Magic. Has to do with Meteors and stuff."

"Oh, that type of heavenly body," she spoke to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," she told him. "Just… are you sure that's the only name there is for that specific type of magic?"

Jellal shrugged. "It's the only one the book had for it."

Ultear nodded. "I see," she spoke. That was, indeed, worrisome. As such, she took a seat opposite the boy and watched it as he raised his eyebrows at her, likely weirded out. "We need to talk."

He seemed concerned. "What about?"

"The future," she told him. "You see, Jellal, you're a pretty smart kid."

"T… thanks?" he asked, not sure where she was going with that.

"Kind of clueless too but I guess that's because you're such a goody, goody," she continued.

The blue-haired boy frowned. He should have known a compliment from Ultear would come hand-in-hand with an insult and that he was not going to thank her for.

"But that's not going to last. Because, you see, in a year or so you'll become a teenager and then the hormones will kick in and you, like most teenage boys, will become very painfully stupid. Just stone-cold dumb."

"Hey!" he protested. "That's not gonna happen!"

"No, Jellal, it will. It really will. True, you may try to fight it and possibly succeed in being slightly less stupid than most teenage boys but, deep down, your brain will be a mess of hormones, idiocy and picturing girls naked."

He gaped, so outraged he couldn't even find the words to deny it.

"And in the midst of that idiocy, it may, at some point, occur to you something along the lines of 'What a funny name my magic has… I wonder if I could use it as a pun and maybe make some pretty girls…'" she paused. "Oh, who am I kidding? '…make Erza laugh."

Again, he gaped. "Why would I…? I would never…"

"Save it, kid," she said. "So, as I was saying, seems like a funny pun to use, doesn't it?" And then, her face hardened all of a sudden. "Don't."

"Wha…?"

"Your hormone-damaged brain may think it's funny but, let me assure you – it isn't. So, don't use it, don't speak it, don't acknowledge it."

"But… I don't understand…"

"You will," she assured him. "And because I am a good friend to you who cares enough not to let your epic romance fall victim to stupid punnery, I'm going to give you some incentive to resist the urge even with hormones cheering you on." She made a point of pausing at the point for the statement to have more effect once it came. "If I even hear a rumor you have used this stupid, tasteless pun, I will break your arms and legs and make it look like an accident."

He nearly choked at that statement. But… but… why?!

"It'll hurt way more than that dislocated shoulder of yours. And don't go thinking this is an empty threat either. Deep down, you know I would do it. So, for your own good, try to keep that stupidity within manageable levels," she warned him intensely before breaking into a smile. "I think I'm gonna have some ice-cream now," the teenager said randomly, getting to her feet. "Let me know if you needed help with that magic of yours."

With that, he just watched her happily skip away as if they'd just been discussing something trivial like the weather. By the time Erza got back with the ice, he still wasn't recovered.

"What's wrong? You look really pale," she asked worriedly.

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure? Maybe Porlyusica missed some internal bleeding… I think I should go and get her to see you again."

"No, it's fine. I just… thought of something weird."

"What?"

"Er… broken limbs and stuff," he mumbled.

Her face softened. "So, it's finally getting to you, isn't it? You could have gotten really hurt!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," he apologized another time.

She sighed. "Just… don't do it again," she mumbled, sitting by his side and pressing the brand-new ice-pack to his shoulder.

He nodded. "I'll try."

"Oh, and I forgot to say something."

"What?" he questioned.

Erza smiled. "Congratulations," she said. "You're a real mage in every way now."

He grinned back. "Yeah. I am."

A/N2 - What do I think, guys? Let me know. I may have an idea or two on how to continue this AU with more one-shot installments.