Summary: A guild is a family, or so Fairy Tail thinks. For Rette, a family was the last thing she needed, or wanted. Family could be used against her, but something about this guild draws her in. But who is this girl known as the Nexus Mage and just what is the past she's refusing to share?

Kyandi: Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I'm known as Kyandi Akatensei, or Kyandi-sama. As my dear lovely readers, you may simply call me Kyandi. Normally I'm seen mostly in the Prince of Tennis fandom, but I do branch out when I find an anime/manga or something else that catches my attention. Hence what brought me here! Normally I do character interactions at the beginning and end of my chapters, just for giggles, but I believe, just for this chapter, I'll leave that until the end. So without any further silly gilly nonsense, please enjoy and review. I do love reviews. No flaming though, please. I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 1 Light Shines Brighter

"YOU PYRO BREATH/ICE PUNK!"

Another day, another fight.

It seemed a day couldn't pass in the guild hall of Fairy Tail without a fight breaking out among the guild's two most rowdiest members. Which usually ended with something getting broken, burned, or frozen. Lucy sat at the bar beside Macao watching as Gray and Natsu went at it, as usual. The two couldn't ever be in the same room without getting into some kind of fight. The only time they ever so much as pretended to get along was when Ezra was around. Every other time they argued, fought, and usually ended up in a fist fight. Or magic fight.

"Don't they ever get tired of that?" Lucy asked Mirajane.

Mirajane gave her a smile as she cleared plates from the bar. In the time that Lucy had been with the Fairy Tail guild she should have figured out for herself that Natsu and Gray could never be in the same room without fighting.

"I don't suppose they do." Macao said from Lucy's side.

Lucy shook her head but there was a smile on her face. She couldn't really be annoyed with their fighting. She really did love being apart of Fairy Tail. That included all of fighting, insanity, and everything in-between.

She turned back around to speak to Mirajane, as Ezra dealt with Gray and Natsu. She had just got the two to stop fighting when there was a loud scream and crash from outside the guild hall. Everyone fell silent, turning to the doors.

"What was that?" Loke asked.

"Sounded close." Elfman remarked.

There was another crash that shook the ground, this one close enough to rattle the cutlery on the tables of the hall. The shaking rattled people, knocking a few around until they caught their balance.

"Master, that was really close. Should we check it out?" Macao asked.

Makarov nodded. He was at the front as the others crowded at the guild hall doors. Outside had become a battle ground. An unfair battle ground. Three men dressed in solid black and purple and bearing the insignia of a dark guild were ganging up on a single person dressed in a cloak, the hood pulled up and over their face. From the looks of the cloak and what they could see of the person beneath, whoever the person was, was badly beaten up. At the moment the person was on their knees, breathing heavily.

"You done runnin' yet?" one of the three dark mages asked with a snide laugh.

The person didn't reply. Just braced an arm on a knee, getting ready for whatever the dark mages could throw at them.

"Heh, fine. Continue being stubborn. You should have just joined when you were told to." one of the dark mages added.

The center mage, a man that had to be their leader, held out a hand, a dark purple magic circle appearing. He used a shade spell to attack the cloak person. One gloved hand came out of the cloak and a yellow-white circle appeared just before the shade spell hit. Smoke billowed out, hiding the person from view. Pieces of cloak flew up into the air. Mirajane gasped, hoping whoever it was, was alright.

Then the smoke parted and something shot up out of the smoke. Long, graceful wings made of pure, soft glowing light carried a person clear of the smoke. The wings, despite being made of light, were detailed and resembled the bat-like wings one would find on a dragon. Without the cloak, they could see it was a young girl around seventeen or eighteen years old. Long hair of a silver color swung in a curtain down to her thighs, the chin length, side swept bangs hiding her eyes from those below. She looked to be about as tall as Gray and had a curvy body to rival Ezra's.

She had clothed said body in black shorts and a sleeveless, low neck, apple green crop-top, but both were so torn and beaten that they looked like they would fall off her at any moment. She had lost both shoes, her bare feet ripped up and bloody, and her sun kissed skin that looked like honey mixed with cream, was bruised and battered. Even her hair was dirty and had spots tangled up with dried blood. About the only piece of clothing not in danger of falling apart was the pair of black, fingerless gloves on her hands.

She looked like she had been fighting off the dark mages for a couple of days at least. A scar raced across her stomach from her right hip, towards her left rib cage, just barely missing her belly button, and a belt around her thin waist bore a beat up, black leather pouch and a long knife about the length of her forearm. A thick, black choker sat around her neck, a crystal flickering with a gold flame, hanging from it.

The dark mages looked up at her, their leader growling to himself.

"Just give up already! It's been five days! I'm getting tired of you and your persistent tricks, girl!" he yelled at the girl. "You're on your last leg. That spell is using up the last of your magical energy!"

One of his companion shot another spell at her, but the girl dropped, tucking her wings of light in to drop like a rock. She leveled out about ten feet from the ground and shot away from the dark mages in a straight line. Despite being beaten and tired, she moved fast enough to avoid spells, tumbling and twisting to keep from getting hit. Another hit would probably finish her and she seemed well aware of that, trying to escape before they could land it. But with three enemies and in the tired state she was in, there was only so much she could do just to avoid being shot down.

"Master, what do we do?" Mira asked, looking at Makarov.

The girl obviously didn't belong to a guild, or this dark guild wouldn't be so hard up on forcing her to join. And she obviously didn't want to join.

An explosion in the sky, drew their attentions to the sky where one dark mage had just hit the girl with a powerful spell, trying to knock her out of the sky. When the smoke cleared, she was simply gone. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was in the air behind the mages. The three turned as her hands came up, another magic circle appearing.

"Light of Creation: Light Burst!"

The three mages panicked just before an explosion of light blew up in their faces, knocking them down the street until they crashed into a building side, all three crumpling to the ground. They probably wouldn't be moving for a while. The girl obviously had poured the last of her magic energy into the spell for her wings vanished and she fell from the sky.

"Elfman!" Makarov called.

Elfman charged forward, catching the girl before she hit the ground. When he returned to Makarov and the others, the girl was out cold, hanging limply in Elfman's arms. Up close she was even more battered than they thought.

"Poor thing. She looks like she hasn't had a rest at all." Levy remarked, peering up at the girl.

"Master?" Mirajane asked.

"Take her to the infirmary. We'll care for her until she's better." Makarov ordered.

It would give the girl somewhere safe to rest and, if she wanted to, when she woke up, they could have a new member of the guild who used Light of Creation magic.

If she wanted to, that is.

-0-0-0-0-

"Is she still sleeping?"

Lucy, Natsu, and Gray looked up when Mira returned to the bar after having checked on their new charge resting in the infirmary. Mira nodded to Makarov who had asked the question. When they had brought the girl into the infirmary, Lucy and Ezra had helped Mira to clean the girl up and bandage her injuries. The poor girl had days worth of grim on her and had been covered, nearly head to toe, in bruises and cuts. To replace the tattered and useless clothes she was wearing, Mira had Elfman bring one of her spare dresses from home.

"She seems to be resting more comfortably though." Mira said.

"Some local magic knights took those dark mage guys." Gray remarked from where he sat at a table with Lucy and Natsu.

"Do you really think they've been chasing her for five days?" Lucy asked.

"From the looks of her injuries and the dirt caked on her, I would say it's a safe bet." Ezra remarked.

"What will we do when she wakes up, Master?" Mira asked.

"As I said, we'll take care of her until she is better. I want to hear her side of the story." Makarov answered.

"She can't be a part of a guild if they were after her so feircely." Cana remarked.

"Then she can join Fairy Tail." Natsu said idly, scarfing down food as he talked.

"That's only if she wants too, Natsu. She might not want to join a guild." Lucy told him.

"Why wouldn't she?" Natsu replied.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak when the there was a yell from farther in the building. A crash followed it. It sounded like someone wasn't too happy.

"Hey! What did you do that for!?" came a yell from down the hall towards the infirmary.

Everyone turned as someone came running into the room, hitting the brakes when they saw the number of people in the room. Feet bare, save for bandages, slid on the hardwood floors, silver hair, now clean, flying in a wild dance as the very girl they had been talking about, came to an instant halt. Hands curled in the material of the white, knee length, strapless dress she had been dressed in as wide eyes scanned the guild hall. Bandages covered most of her exposed skin. They wrapped around both hands, the gloves missing, around her right thigh, her whole left shoulder and down to her left elbow, her right forearm, her head, and one whole cheek. She was still wearing her choker since neither Mira nor Ezra had felt right about removing it.

Even clad in a dress that cinched under her full breast and clung to her upper body like a second skin, it was her eyes, not her body, that drew attention. Her eyes were a little on the wide side and were a bright magenta near the pupil that faded to a soft lavender at the edges. Long, pale grey lashes framed the eyes and really made the color of her eyes pop. Add in the adorable beauty of her face and she was easily pretty. But then there was the indifferent, straight lance look on her face as she scanned the room.

Her face didn't betray any emotion, but the tight grip of her hands on the dress betrayed her anxiety. Somewhere along the way, she had found her belt and it's attached knife and pouch, and had cinched it back about her waist.

"Oh, you're awak-"

Mira was cut off as the girl suddenly made a b-line straight for the front door, taking a running leap over a table in her hurry to reach the doors.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

The girl ignored all protest and only slid to a halt when Elfman blocked the door. She back tracked quickly, her hand diving into her pouch. There was no telling what kind of potion or other enchanted object she could have in there, since no one had bothered to look in it. Elfman took a step back, but all she pulled out of the pouch was a whistle made out of a brilliant green crystal. She put it to her lips and blew. No sound came out but Happy instantly covered his ears, complaining that it hurt his ears. The girl then dropped to the floor, covering her head with her arms in a protective gesture.

"What's going on?" Elfman questioned.

A crash from behind him, was his answer. Elfman turned, jumping out of the way as something flew into the guild hall knocking plates and cups off a table. The creature turned out to be a female, flying cat like Happy. She was a small, silver creature, with jet black paws, a long-furred tail, black tipped ears, and wide blue-purple eyes. She had a small, white, one shoulder dress, two gold, hoop earrings in each ear, and a gold bangle around her left, back paw.

She swooped in, wrapping little fore paws around the back of the girl's dress and hauled the girl up into the air before anyone could say or do anything. The cat carried the girl to a rafter, setting her down before landing beside the girl as she half hid behind a pillar. Members of the guild gathered around the base of the pillar, looking up at the girl who only shrank behind the pillar even more. Her face still betrayed nothing of her emotions, but her actions spoke volumes on how uneasy she was.

"Alright, that's enough. Everyone back up." Makarov called, jumping down from the bar to walk towards the pillar and look up at the girl and cat.

The cat turned to fix her eyes on the old man as he approached and when she felt the man was close enough to her and her charge, she hissed at him, her ears going back against her head. Makarov stopped, not pushing the cat's boundaries. He leaned to the side to peer up past the pillar at the girl. Magenta-lavender eyes watched him from behind the pillar.

"It's alright, child. No one here means you harm." he told her.

The girl shifted, leaning a little to the side to peer down at Makarov, her long hair hanging in a curtain around her. The cat stayed close to her side, still keeping her eyes on everyone.

"The last mage that told me that was a liar. I don't like liars." the girl said in a voice that was both soft and musical, and indifferent and bored at the same time.

The cat huffed her agreement, turning her head to watch the others sharply.

"Well I'm not lying. Do you know where you are?" Makarov asked.

The girl shook her head. In her running, she had probably not paid attention to anything around her. That included what city she was in.

"This is the Fairy Tail guild hall in Magnolia. I am the guild master, Makarov. What's your's and your friend's names?" Makarov asked, trying to coax the girl out.

The girl eyed him, not letting on as to if she recognized the name of the guild or not. She seemed to be debating on rather to answer him or not. Natsu was becoming impatient with the girl but Ezra kept him back and quiet, giving the master the space he needed.

"Rette. Rette Starrilia. This is Thyme." the girl said finally, patting the cat's head when she said her name.

"Well then, Rette, Thyme, it's good to meet ya. Why not come down from there and we'll talk. I'm sure you're hungry." Makarov told her, giving her a smile.

At the mention of food, the girl perked up and her stomach let out a growl loud enough for the whole guild hall to hear. One hand went to her stomach as the cat looked up at her. She obviously hadn't ate in a while. After the incident in Clover and the time they spent lost with no food on the way home, Makarov, Ezra, Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy knew how she felt.

It seemed that the promise of food was all it took for the girl to decided that she would be better on the ground instead of in the rafters. Slowly, Rette eased herself out from behind the pillar, pushing herself to a stand. Thyme flew up, picking the girl up and flew her down to the floor, setting her on the ground lightly before landing on her shoulder.

Everyone remained tense as Rette was sat at the bar and a plate of food was sat before her. Rette stared at the food before she picked up the plate and turned to Thyme. Thyme sniffed the food, then gave her head a shake. With a nod, Rette turned, sat the plate down, picked up a fork, and started to eat, taking her time so not to get sick. Everyone in the room relaxed.

"Why did you have your cat smell it?" Gray asked.

"Thyme can sniff out magical energy. If anything had been done to the food, she would have known." Rette answered.

So the girl had distrust beaten into her. It explained why she had over reacted when she had woken up in the infirmary.

"Rette, do you remember what happened to you before you passed out?" Makarov asked.

Retted nodded, her mouth currently busy with chewing. She took half of her roll and turned to offer it to Thyme. The cat gladly took it, basically swallowing it whole. It wasn't fish or any other kind of meat she liked, but she wasn't going to complain.

"Dark mages were after me." she said, patting Thyme's head.

"But why?" Mirajane asked.

"The same reason other dark guilds come after me. They want me to join their guilds and get mad when I tell them to get a life." was the bored sounding reply. "These guys were just more persistent than the others."

Rette sat back, heaving a sigh and pushing her empty plate away from her. It felt great to have something in her stomach for once.

"Well you sure ate that quick. You must be quite hungry." Mirajane said.

"That's because I haven't had anything to eat in the last five days. Every time I tried to stop to find something to eat, those guys would show up and I'd have to move on." Rette replied.

"Where was this little lady during all of that? She should have been able to fly you away." Gray asked, pointing to Thyme.

The cat perked up when she Gray mentioned her, blinking once in acknowledgement. Then, with Gray's last sentence, she hung her head. Rette reached out, patting her head, silently assuring her that she didn't blame her.

"Thyme and I got separated when they launched their first attack. She had obtain an injury to one of her wings and had a hard time playing catch up. I was taking the chance that she was nearby when I blew her whistle earlier." Rette said. "So it's not her fault."

Thyme perked up and nuzzled her face against Rette's affectionately. Rette scratched behind her ears and Thyme leaned into the touch, nuzzling into Rette's hand. It took away from her fierce, equally indifferent look when she purred at the touch from her human.

"And you use light magic? That's a lost magic." Wakaba remarked.

Rette turned to look at the two, blinking in confusion.

"You've got it wrong."

Everyone looked at Rette as she sat up straight. She sat down the fork in her hand and turned to look at those nearest to her.

"I mean, yes, I use light magic which is a lost magic, but that's not my style of magic. I practice Unison magic." Rette told them.

When she got nothing but blank stares, Rette heaved a sigh. It was always this way when someone heard what kind of magic she used. She usually had to explain it to them. Unison magic wasn't a very well known or commonly practiced form of magic.

"You know...magic involving the combination of two different magics. Like a Unison Raid, but with only one person."

Silence stretched over the guild hall as all attention fell on Rette. Even Makarov was staring at the girl. Then finally...

"SAY WHAT!?"

END

Kyandi: And there's the first chapter. I already have the first couple of chapters written out and the story is pretty much going to follow the anime. And since she's been introduced, my OC, Rette will be joining me in the character interactions. Right Rette.

Rette: If you say so. It was a pretty short first chapter.

Kyandi: Yeah, I know and I apologize for that. Usually my chapters are anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 words each. Sometimes, though rarely, they will go over 10,000 or under 4,000.

Rette: But normally she usually hits the 4,000 mark easily.

Kyandi: Normally, yes. But I do have more chapters to update, so everyone enjoy and review.

Rette: We shall be back shortly.

Kyandi: Bye-bye!