Disclaimer: Perhaps… I own something? Nah, I don't.

Birth of the Titania

Chapter 1: Faithful Day

Wizards.

Legends speak of them from time to time, calling them bastions of the old lore, masters of ancient arts no normal human should be capable of attaining.

Legends speak of them as figments of imagination, of people's overreaction to natural disasters or of people who witnessed incredible feats being made before then that had no possible explanation.

For that is the very nature of wizards; they are the only ones capable of undoing the very fabric of space and time to make the impossible, possible, and in such way, achieve what their desires scream.

Yet, wizards in the present day do not exist.

Logic, philosophy and science made sure to leave that fact clear.

There are no facts, no reasoning, no explainable way for humans to achieve just a mastery over their surroundings and themselves that would allow them to perform the many feats wizards are said to be capable of accomplishing.

The impossible is impossible because there are no paths beyond it.

Impossible means a dead-end was met at the end of the road and that to advance, another path must be taken.

Still, isn't that a wizard's very nature? To undo that dead-end and see what lies beyond the blocked path?

Wizards in the present day do not exist, that's what society believes to be so.

But what if it is only their lack of sight that forbids them from noticing the truth?

What if wizards are not just figments of some people's overreaction or imagination?

What if wizards walk among us? Living lives as normal as ours?

What if wizards truly do exist?

It's impossible, right?

Then again, it is in the wizards' very nature to make the impossible, possible.

Could it be that…?

I.-.-.I Rosemary I.-.-.I

I.-.-.I Early Morning I.-.-.I

The spring of the 18th year since her birth was not a different season to her or remarkable in any sense.

Nothing noteworthy of it from its seventeen antecessors aside the sudden wave of heat hitting the town in which she lived. A wave as powerful as those on only felt during summer at its worst.

'Ugh… if only there were some clouds… or a small breeze.' She thought as she made her way down the street, walking with the rest of the student body towards the school that morning. Carrying her bag with one hand while the other adjusted the collar of her uniform. The heat was just unbearable. 'I don't know how the others are holding it together like they are.'

It was true.

From what she could see, everyone else around her was perfectly fine.

Chatting with fellow classmates, just walking or catching up with some late subjects.

None of them showed to be worn or bothered by the intense heat.

'I demand an explanation for this.' Was her last thought as she entered the school grounds at the same time the bell rung across the campus, signaling everyone to hurry their pace and get to their classrooms before the homeroom teachers made their appearances.

She went to her locker, changed her shoes and made a short run to the classroom in the second floor, noting with some distress that the halls were empty by now. Everyone surely reached their assigned rooms earlier than her. Was it perhaps because her pace was slowed by the heat?

She didn't know and couldn't care less.

Her classroom was closer now. She only had to run to the end of the corridor, turn left, and after two more classrooms, she'd be safe…

…that is, if it weren't because she bumped someone when turning left on said corridor.

"O-ouf…!" Falling on her butt and letting her things fall to the ground, only a grunt was the only thing she could hear from the person she crashed against. "W-what the…? Oh… hey…"

Closing her eyes and focusing on subduing the pain she was feeling, aside the heat, she barely managed to hear the person addressing her.

"…hey, you alright?" Until said person tried to get a response from her again.

"Y-yeah, I'm-" Opening her eyes to catch a glance of the person she crashed against, conjuring some kind of apology for bumping it initially when she shouldn't have been running in the corridors in the first place, her words were caught in her throat at the sight. "…"

"Hey, answer me." The boy in front of her looked to be as old as her, probably a little younger. He wore the same uniform as the rest of the male students of the school, with a scarf of scaled design tied neatly around his neck. A wristwatch in his left wrist and a pink wristband in his right. His eyes were of a pitch black, almost onyx like, and slanted. But none of these things were the ones to close her mouth shut as it had. "…hey."

His hair.

Aside being spiky, with strands standing towards any and all directions, it was of an unnatural color, one which she had never seen before in her life.

It was rose, pink, to put it more simply.

"…pink?" She finally muttered and, unfortunately (?) enough, it was loud enough for the strange looking boy to hear it.

"…pink? You mean my hair?" The boy asked confusedly, blinking at the girl for a few second before realization struck him. He brought a hand to his hair with a smile and got to explaining, even though he didn't need or had to. "Oh yeah… it's natural, don't worry."

She blinked in surprise. "You mean you didn't dye it?"

He blinked and titled his head in confusion. "Dye it? Why? It's fine like this."

She shook her head, getting his misunderstanding. "No… I mean… it really is your natural hair color?"

He nodded with a bright grin, crossing his arms as if boasting. "Yup! From root to the end, it's all natural!"

"Ah…" Was her answer and the two remained quiet, staring at the other. She with her eyes and mind trying to discern why the boy's appearance brought her to a halt and he with his smile and confident posture waiting for her to say something else.

That is, until a few minutes passed and his smile started to diminish, all the way down until he released a disappointed sigh. "…so you don't remember me, huh?"

That sparked a reaction from her. "Remember you?"

"Yeah… I thought you would… but…" He seemed seriously down about this, if what she was seeing from his reaction was anything to go by. He shoved a hand inside his pocket, scratched the back of his head and looked to the side with a forlorn look in his eyes, which were now narrowing in thinking. He whispered something to himself that she didn't manage to catch. "Perhaps I was hoping too much?"

"Eh?" She titled her head to the side and looked at him questioningly. Did she know him from somewhere? She had a pretty good memory so, if the boy was someone she knew or had known in the past, she was sure to be capable of remembering him after such a conversation. And his hair. She was sure anyone would be capable to remember someone with such rare hair color. "We've met before…? Erh…?"

"Oh!" At this, the boy snapped out of his trance state and looked at her again, sporting his bright grin again as if nothing had ever happened. He pulled his hand out of his pocket a held it forward, open for a handshake while introducing himself. "That's right, we've met before… the name's-"

"Uh-hum!" His introduction was cut-short by someone standing to their side, a looming black shadow that none of the two had managed to notice until this one made itself known with a loud clearing of throat that made both students freeze on the spot. "I apologize for interrupting this… heartwarming conversation, but classes have already started, Scarlet-san."

Turning their necks to the source of the voice, one the girl called Scarlet knew all too well, what they found was an old man clad in a brown suit. With gray hair and beard, his eyes seemed to be permanently closed but still be capable of glaring both teenagers down.

The elder cleared his throat again and both straightened up their postures in attention. "Did you hear me, Scarlet-san?"

"Y-yea – I mean, yes, Rob-sensei! I'm sorry!" Kneeling to pick up her briefcase from the tiled floors, the girl made a quick bow to the teacher in apology and ran as fast as she could to her classroom.

"H-hey! Wait!" Completely forgetting the other teen that was with her back there. The young man only held his hand out as if trying to catch her but made no other move whatsoever. It was like his feet were glued to the ground by a strange force he could not fathom and forbade him from going after the girl.

She was no stranger to him. He still remembered her as if it had all happened yesterday.

Her methodic ways, her strong voice, the way her legs strode when she walked.

Her brown eyes, of an almost chestnut pigmentation.

And her hair.

Her scarlet red hair, flowing all the way down to her waist.

How he could remember her was a mystery.

But even more so, why she couldn't remember him was a greater one.

'Did something happen?' He thought as his hand returned, almost lifelessly, to his side and he continued to stare at the shadow of her memory down the hallway. 'Why doesn't she remember me?'

"Her memories were sealed the night of her 18th birthday." The old teacher's voice brought him back to reality. "Her memories of you and the others, at least."

The temperature of the hallway seemed to rise all of the sudden.

"What!?" Turning around with eyes of anger and clenched teeth showing sharp canines, the pink-haired youngster glared at the teacher that gave him the answer to his internal questions. Did he hear it right? "Sealed!? Why!?"

"She's going through her initiation that is why." Rob stated calmly, paying no heed to the glaring eyes of the boy or his aggressive stance. He walked a few steps forward to stand next to the boy with his hands behind his back and looked at the door that lead to the young girl both of them were talking about. "Unlike any of us, her power is manifesting at a stronger, faster rate… if she had kept her memories of back then, she wouldn't have been here today."

"Are you serious!?" The boy asked incredulously, still keeping his anger as he continued the conversation. What he was hearing didn't make any sense! Something like that should not be possible! Not unless she – his eyes widened. "You mean she's-!"

The old man nodded grimly, feeling even older for some unknown reason. "She is going to be the next… after her powers grow stronger and she finally learns how to control them… he will appear again and take it all for himself."

Anger and heat rose even higher around the boy, who now turned around in a more neutral posture to look in the same direction as the old man. "Is that why I was told to come here?"

"Yes, it is." Rob nodded grimly again and sighed, walking slowly towards the eyed classroom at the end of the hallway with the young man following. Both ruminating through the subject in their minds with tight expressions. "You mastered your power last year… and even stood against him and won. Us, elders, think it will even her odds if you teach her how to master her power and how to defeat him. Despite our reservations, that is."

'And here I thought the restriction was lifted… dammit!' Hiding his thoughts but not his anger, the pink-haired boy stopped and looked at the old man straight in the eyes, a question burning itself deep inside his mind. "How much time do you think I have?"

Stopping the walk and meeting the boy's eyes, Rob brought a hand to his chin and looked up in thinking before casting his eyes towards a specific classroom again. It seemed as if he were seeing beyond the walls, the doors, the windows, the furniture and people in the way, fixating his gaze on the person of interest.

"I believe you have three months at most; her powers continue to grow despite our countermeasures and if she doesn't learn how to control them before that time, she will succumb to them and die from the pressure." He lifted a finger and pointed to the world outside, to the pristine, fresh day they were having. "She has already showed signs of fatigue, if you had looked beyond the pretty eyes and alluring hair."

A vein popped on the teen's forehead. "Oi!"

Rob ignored him and continued.

"She has been complaining of intense heat despite the cool temperature we've been having in this town." The old man shoved his hands inside his suit's pockets and sighed again, now slumping his whole posture in the process. "We thought that by sealing her memories, we would halt the whole process or maybe let her experiment a more normal initiation… but it looks like she will have a power that can even surpass that of us elders."

Black eyes widened at the statement. "For reals!?"

"Yes, for reals." Resuming his walk, the old man took a deep amount of air and exhaled it all in one go, rubbing his forehead before delivering the last piece given of information. "We estimate her power will be as great as that of our ancestors… if not stronger… it might even be stronger than that of him but far more gentle," he threw a side-glance to the boy. "If she is taught correctly, of course."

The boy muttered a few words under his breath.

"Are you listening to me, Dragneel?" Rob asked loud enough for the boy to hear, now stopping outside the classroom they were heading to and keeping his hand reading to slide the door open at any second. "Your orders are to inform her of her heritage, train her in the use of her power and nothing else."

No answer.

"Dragneel, you better do what you were told and leave as soon as you do." The old man told harshly, glaring at the young man with half-lidded eyes, letting a pair of eyes as black as those of youngster visible. He sounded angry, annoyed even, but Dragneel could hear some empathy laced in the undertone. "You know as well as I that the two of you cannot be within range of the other for too long... it's dangerous for everyone, not just you two."

'I've been told that a thousand times.' Dragneel sighed deeply after another few muttering words in a low voice, looking at the door in front of him with some regret. "Got it, old man."

"Good, then, shall we introduce you to the others?" Rob asked immediately, changing the subject swiftly and sliding the door to the classroom open, with him stepping in first. "Mission or not, you still have to attend school."

Another sigh, this time followed with a groan and the pink-haired boy sighed again. "Yeah yeah, I know."

To be continued.