*Update No major changes* And the revision begins! For future reference, a * will mark updated chapters and I will list if anything occurs that affects the plot at the bottom but will avoid stating changes if they're spoilery for new readers. This chapter was just editing in spelling and grammar with slight changes in between. By no means do you miss much skipping it except for a few cute moments, better dialogue, and fixed cringe. I hope you enjoy as I revise this story.

Oh, also, Angelfusion15: I'm not sure if you got my PM, but thank you for your supportand I would love to see your art!

Laxus and his team stare at the child in a glazed stupor. His storm gray eyes, swirling with dark storm clouds, blink through the surprise that slackens his features; his team stares behind him with less impassive expressions painting their faces. The one woman among them, Evergreen, feels pain shoot across her lip as her teeth bite against her bottom lip to prevent the grimace from spreading across her face as her eyes fixate on the image before them. She's lucky that her glasses reflected the light of the lacrima or the man before them would notice the tears forming in her eyes. The two men behind her shift uncomfortably, the wooden totems that typically bounce around Bickslow huddle by his neck. Freed keeps his eyes locked firmly at the wall before him, refusing to let his gaze rest elsewhere.

The small child blinks her hazy blue eyes blankly at the four before her, small head cricked back as she stares at the behemoth before her. The heavy chains restricting her limbs shift with a rusty creak, the lacrima at the junctions where the cuffs connected glowing brightly with a strength inhibitor, as she slightly moves to clasp and wring her hands nervously. Dirty fingers push into the bony skin, face pinched into a pursed expression of furrowed brow and wide eyes.

This hadn't been what anyone was expecting when the old creep said he had a parting gift for the group.

The man, whose lips are twisted into a disfigured smirk, flashed his stained teeth in a smile. Yellow smudged the man's teeth from the exuberant use of chewing tobacco, and his breath reeked of the substance that his every exhale almost made Laxus gag. His body held gold links around his throat and diamonds on his hands, the profits of his unsavory business. Clean white silk and tailored pants betrayed his toxic soul as he scratched at his grease-slicked hair. The tail ends of the chains bounce as he shrugs his thin shoulders and throws the metal links at the lightning slayer. Laxus' bulky arm flinches upward to catch the flying item, fingers clenching around the cold metal. The slave girl stumbles forward with the weight of the links and causing her to fall to her knees.

"She's useless to us," The man sighs woefully and waves his hands about. "She's too young for even the those who prefer the younger ones, and she's so dull. No bite in her whatsoever; that makes her pretty bland to most you see. Sure she'll be a pretty sight in a few years, but I'm losing money keepin' here as I'm sure you can understand." A gulp of alcohol slides down his throat and he wipes away the dribble that trails down his chin. "Maybe you can find a use for her or you can sell her off to someone else. It would be such a shame though just to kill her when we got her for so cheap, some frantic bloke that seemed terrified of her."

Laxus looks at the chains, lips curling and stomach coiling in disgust. He wants to reject the "gift", the chain chafing his skin as he rotated the rusted iron in his palm. The desire to throw the metal chains has his muscles tensing, but Evergreen puts an arm out to stop him from talking. She looks guiltily at the metallic gray-haired child, the shine of her glasses fading to reveal her blurred eyes, and he recognizes the silent plea with a subtle nod.

"Thanks, I guess, but you really shouldn't be giving us a gift." The man huffs out as he watches the girl shuffle to her feet in her nervousness as her chains pull her up.

"Oh? Why not?" The lean man asks with a shrug. "A couple powerful wizards who knocked out those bandits trying to raid my magicless men transporting the newest shipment should be rewarded handsomely. Really she's the least I can do," His hands meet in the middle as his voice perks. "Bandits mean damaged goods, as I'm sure you can understand. If the girls are scuffed up they don't fetch as high a price."

"Ever, take her." He drops the chains into Evergreen's awaiting hands and the woman gently pulls the child out of the way. She wraps protective arms around the child, drawing the confused and uncomfortable girl to her chest, and turns her attention back to her leader.

"Ya know there is a hell of a lot of bastards in this world," Laxus states as lightning coats his muscles, slithering around him like thorned vines and sparking outward toward the pimp as they hissed like snakes.

"We stopped those bandits for a reason…" Laxus' face takes on his signature smirk. His guild mark peeking out from beneath as he spreads his arms wide, lightning crackling and converging at his fist. "I like having my prey to myself."

"What?" The man's distraught eyes zoom in on the guild marks that fabric is pulled away to reveal. Evergreen grunts in disgust as his eyes linger too long. "Why you little…" The woman growls and brings her fairy dust into a wide exploding arch. The slave child covers her ears at the sound.

"Men!" The ringleader yells with a grimace as he draws a magical sword from the crevice of his jacket.

The man's underlings rush at the four, lacrima powered weapons substituting any natural talent. The brunette huffs at the indigency and gently pushes the slave girl behind her to rest against the wall.

"Stay here hun," Ever whispered gently and the girl slumps against the wall, the child's pupils blown wide at the magic that began to shine around her.

The fairy mage tugs off her glasses, eyes aglow with her Stone Eyes magic. Men scream as they find themselves unable to move, muscles numbing and stiffing at they are encased by a stone shell. Evergreen can't help the satisfied smile that crosses her face as she unfurls her fan and unleashed another bombarding attack at those who managed to escape the glare of her eyes. Bickslow's little totems blur as they ram into the criminals' faces, little beams scorching the men and Laxus turns his stormy eyes on the man shivering in his boots. He stomped forward and glared down at the coward before him. His arm draws back and slams into the man's jaw with a crackle of electricity. Slight satisfaction flowed through his veins when he felt the bone shatter beneath his fist as the man was propelled into the wall, depressing into the solid surface and coughing up red. The lightning mage flicked the blood off his hand and cast a glance at the rune mage as the green haired own magic fades as the men around him scream in invisible pain.

"Freed, call the Knights and get them to clean this mess up. We're done here."

"Yes, Laxus sir!" The green haired man replied eagerly and fumbled through his pockets for his communication lacrima.

"Laxus, we should take her back to the guild until we can figure out what to do with her." Ever states as she steps away from her position covering the cowering child.

"Do you have a name, miss?" Freed asks as he bends to meet the little girl's eyes.

The child squeaks in fear and the sound of her chains chafing the grounds mute the pained groans of the downed criminals. She trips over the bulky links and tumbles to the ground, back pressed against the wall and teeth bared into a scowl. Freed coughs awkwardly and steps away as he rubs the back of his neck before returning to looking for his communication lacrima. Evergreen takes charge and approaches from the side. She frowns when the little mystery flinches and scoots to the side and avoids eye contact.

"Great, I scared her." Ever mutters to herself as she fiddles with her glasses nervously.

"Listen, brat. We don't have all day," The dragonslayer growls and pulls her to a standing position. Do you have somewhere we can drop you off or something? Where are your parents?" Laxus huffs as he crosses his arms, kicking away the long chains that wrap around the girl's ankles.

The silver hair falls to cover the tyke's face as she casts her blue eyes on the ground.

"We can't help you unless you give us some information," Freed explains.

The blue eyes meet the rune mage. Despite the heavy chains, the girl manages to lift her arm enough to move the curtain of silver from the back of her neck. As she turns a small number embedded in black on her skin is visible.

"7," Bickslow reads. "Well, that's helpful." He states dryly.

"Shut up Bickslow. Is there a file on you, Brat?"

The preschooler nods and looks to her left down a hallway. Evergreen is instructed to grab the ends of her chains and the blond man's impatient scowl has her scurrying down the deteriorating wood. She raises a small hand to twist the doorknob and gulps when she finds it locked. The large leader lumbers forward. His colossal hand grips the metal before a distinctive creak signifies a broken lock. The lightning mage kicks the door open, the wood heaving to the pressure and ricocheting across the room.

The girl enters hesitantly before darting over to a file cabinet, almost tripping as her bare feet get entangled in the chains surrounding them. She stops as she reaches the container and looks at the drawer above her head. Freed follows and pulls the metal cabinet open. He skims through a few files before the girl's picture alerts him.

"Her name is apparently Asvoria. She was sold to them by an anonymous man for three thousand jewel three months back. It says here that she's four, although her birthday is not mentioned. It seems she was hard to sell."

"Look like you got lucky, Kid," Bickslow comments, his totems chanting 'lucky' in the background.

"There is nothing lucky about this Bickslow," Evergreen hisses before crouching by the child. "But at least you're alive. Let's get these chains off you, hun."

She looks Asvoria in the eyes and notices her flinch, but the child didn't look away. Evergreen reaches out to pick her up, muscles tightening to hold the extra weight, although her eyes filled with concern at the lack of any excess muscle or baby fat. Asvoria is shifted to Ever's hip, the child gripping at the mage's dress to stay standing upright, and the brunette pulls the chains as far away from the child's skin as possible.

"Bickslow?"

"Ya got it Ever. Babies!"

Green beams shatter the metal around her wrist before the four-year-old is placed on her feet so they can aim for the links around her ankles. The child rubs at her liberated wrists, pushing at the red encircling them, and her icy blue eyes twinkle with wonder. Asvoria looks up and tilts her head to the side when Bickslow rolled his tongue out of his mouth. Confused, she mimics him.

"Gods Bickslow, don't corrupt her already," Laxus huffs as he shoves through his team out of the office.

The Thunder Legion follows. Evergreen only pauses to lift the child, whose legs had started shaking under the weight of her own body, into her arms.

…

Asvoria wobbles down the cobblestone and feels the woman tighten her grip on her hand to help the child stabilize. She jumps into Ever's legs when one of Bickslow's "babies" sneaks up behind her.

"Heh, sorry kid."

The totem nuzzles into her neck and an airy laugh barely passes through her lips.

Bickslow laughs at his souls and the child halts. Evergreen looks up, away from the girl, and sees her eyeing the cart on the roadside. Those ice blue eyes fixate on the substance being scooped out and handed to overheating customers. The lady glances down again at the staring child.

"Want one?"

Asvoria finds herself dragged to the cart and she shies away when a blast of cold air emits from the container. Her nose twitches as the ice cream man digs deep into the containers as the brunette mutters some order she doesn't quite understand. Vanilla's a plant that sometimes flavored coffee, what it had to do with this icy substance Asvoria didn't know.

An ice cream cone is shoved in her face and has her recoiling for a moment. The child reaches up to grab the item hesitantly and stares at the dessert in curiosity. She hesitantly sticks her tongue out to try the desert and yelps when one of the totems pushes the ice cream cone into her face.

The shock and cold make the girl drop her ice cream cone and cross her eyes to stare at the messy substance dripping down her face.

"Bickslow!" Evergreen hisses as she pulls out a handkerchief and kneels down to wipe the mush off the girl's face and pulls away the fingers trying to wipe it off her face.

"I don't control their actions," The seith mage protests but his lips pull back in a panicked frown when Asvoria's eyes downcast and lose their momentary shine.

"Great job idiot," Laxus mutters as he approaches, the team's reward clutch nonchalantly in his hand as he counts them.

The bills are divided amongst them and Bickslow tries to atone for his souls by giving the kid a new ice cream cone. The corner of the girl's mouth rise slightly in response and her hands raise gingerly to grab the cone held up by the sulking totems. She clutches the desert with one hand and pats the little souls on their heads with a finger. They bounce in glee and Asvoria flinches back, awkward smile painting her face at the gleeful souls as she slowly nibbles away at the cold substance.

"Do you like it?" Evergreen inquires as the quartet watch the child takes another bite of the ice cream cone.

Asvoria nods, lips pulled into a small smile.

"So you can smile. Ow! Ever!" Bickslow exclaims as he is thwacked on the head with the woman's fan.

Asvoria doesn't answer, mute as ever, and clutches the woman's hand again as the group starts walking towards the train station, marveling at the food before her.

The child stumbles over her limbs as they board the train and Evergreen fusses over her once they settle. The woman cleans the residue from the ice cream cone off her face and fingers with her handkerchief. Her hair is combed through with the elder's fingers and the child flinches away from the prodding fingers.

"Layoff Ever. She's fine," Laxus grumbled irritability as he leans against the seat, headphones already blasting out music as his stomach begins to coil as the engine snorts steam and starts to bumble down the tracks.

Asvoria glances at the man with curiosity and tensed when he cracked open an annoyed eye. She shuffles to the window and leans against the window sill to watch the passing scenery.

…

Mirajane wipes down her bar, cleaning up the mess that a member had created when he spilled his beer. She throws the dirty rag into the bin under the sink and pours more booze into a mug to swap with Cana's empty one. The female gives a quick thank you before insulting one of the guys throwing lewd comments over her outfit, already pulling out a card.

The platinum blonde shakes her head fondly before unraveling another rag to wipe down the collection of empty mugs accumulating as the intoxication level rose. The model looks up when the front doors are thrown open and she puts on a toothy smile for the incoming figures.

"Welcome home!" She chirps and the rest of the guild hall echo her words.

Laxus grumbled while his legion returns the welcome from where they huddled at the entrance. He stomps his way over to the bar, jacket trailing out behind him with each stride.

"Where's the old man?"

"He's out for a meeting with the guild masters, "The platinum chirps. "Apparently some sort of laboratory was found on the border. He's supposed to be back tomorrow," Mira answers.

The spark plug grumbles out a curse and turns to his team, "We'll have to talk with 'im tomorrow."

Mirajane looks around the grumpy man and notices the small silver lump peeking out from behind Evergreen. Asvoria ignores the totems bumping against her and glances around at the chaos surrounding her. The blue eyes widen as a man is thrown over a table and a beer mug goes flying into a woman's back. She flinches back at the fire a weird pink haired man wielded as he chased a flying blue cat, of all things, around the crowded space.

Mirajane smiles sympathetically and exits the bar counter to approach the girl. Asvoria shrinks back as much as she could in the crowd of legs caging her from the exit that swung close with a heavy thump.

"Hey, sweetie," The platinum calls soothingly with a voice of honey and a wave of her hand. "Who are you?"

"She was a 'gift'," Ever grimaces around the word and swallows her disgust as a hard solid down her throat. "A former slave. We brought her back here; not sure what to do."

"Poor thing," Mira mumbles before kneeling down to greet the child again. "Sweetie, do you want something to drink?" The blonde attempts to make her smile even friendlier when the little girl shrinks back more into the protection of the Thunder Legion.

"Don't expect much. She hasn't talked to any of us. Hasn't done anything but squeak," Laxus states as he thunders up the stairs to the second level, punching Natsu in the face on the way when the pinkette challenged him to a battle.

Mirajane looks away, dejected, and puffs out her cheeks. Her blue eyes look up when her ears catch the sound of a child's shuffling feet. A look of guilt is plastered on her face as she approaches the other female and she places a hand on the young adult's knee.

"Aw, you're sweet," Mira cooed at her and fusses with the adorable silver locks, fingers curling through the ends.

The child blushes, red tinting her pale skin at the words as a small smile spreads. Her lips lose their curl as the coloring of her face disappears as she suddenly pales. Asvoria stumbles, startling the four people surrounding her, and her skin begins to waver with a silver glow. As the glow shatters, magic dispelling into the air, purple bruises blotch her skin and faint scars encircle her wrists. The girl trips over her feet into Mira as her knees buckle and she clutches the collar of the older woman's dress in an attempt to stay upright. Her eyes, flooded with pain, roll up to meet the platinum's face.

"Help me…" Asvoria whispers as her eyes roll back and she slumps, unconscious, against the blonde barmaid.