So...a new chapter finally! I've been working on this one on-and-off for the past. Yet, I'm still not happy with the ending. Oh well, enjoy it either way! :)

The town of Oregano was located a few hours away from Hargeon and was home to eight thousand people. The town was a big enough town to have the necessities that were needed to live and enough people around to make sure that Alani had some contact with society.

Melissa Maple sighed to herself as she shifted her sleeping daughter from shoulder to shoulder. She froze as Alani made a small whimper before settling back down again. Glancing around warily, Melissa waited a few seconds to make sure Alani was sleeping before continuing her trek into the town. It'd be better to find an Inn and head on to Javier's house in the morning.

Rubbing her tired eyes, Melissa ran a hand through her wavy, light brown hair. Grey eyes took in every little detail of what she could see. Her muscles tensed, ready to bolt at the slightest hint of danger, before Melissa forced herself to exhale. She hadn't wanted to move like this…to be on the run all the time because Alani deserved better than that. Her daughter deserved a life where there was no running or fear. Somewhere she could be a happy child.

But that would never happen.

Not with Daniel out there hunting them both down. He was dangerous to them - to Alani. Melissa knew that if Daniel got his hands on their daughter, then Alani would be used for whatever power trip he wanted. This is why when Jay had sent her a hurried letter saying that Daniel had caught wind of Alani's existence, Melissa had only gathered the necessities for them both before going to the one place she called home: Sylph Labyrinth.

Her life had been a difficult one. Growing up in an orphanage had forced her to learn to rely only on herself. She had no family, no friends really, growing up until she had met Javier, the master of Sylph Labyrinth. Javier, who had introduced her into the world of treasures. The one that had led her to meet Jay, and by extension, Daniel.

Now that she had Alani, an unwelcome surprise at first, but her daughter was starting to grow on her. Even if she was still young, but before that, the only thing she had that was precious to her had been her treasure hunting guild. But, apparently, raising a kid in a treasure hunting guild wouldn't be right. That was what Melissa had been planning on doing from the start honestly. She had no real home, she was always travelling and looking for new treasures, that she was rarely at the guild other than to grab a job and then head out. But then the pregnancy had happened, and Melissa hated to admit that Javier was right.

The guild was full of people who only cared for themselves, the reputation of being the best treasure hunter, and the money that came from said treasure. It would have been better off to leave Alani in an orphanage, but her own experience in one made her reluctant to do that. It hadn't been until she held her daughter in arms that Melissa had decided to keep Alani. It wasn't as if her daughter had been asked to be born. So, it was only fair that Melissa shifted her life around for this new person.

She had voiced her thoughts to Javier in a panicked state when she had found out Daniel was after them. They had been moving house to house until she had landed back at her old guild. Only thing was that the guild wasn't an option anymore unless she wanted her child to become like all the others, and the orphanage was way out of the options now.

"What am I supposed to do? I don't have a home, and I don't want to settle down here; the temptation of being on the road is too much and there's no way in hell that I'm placing her in an orphanage!" Melissa asked frantically, gripping her four-year-old daughter tightly to her.

Black eyes opened and stared at her warmly. Javier chuckled softly, reaching over to take the sleepy Alani away from her mother. As he did so, he placed a set of keys into Melissa's hands and told her, "Then go settle down in my hometown. Away from the temptation and threat of Daniel. It is my own house in a small town called Oregano. It is a nice place to raise a family and Alani will be able to find some children to fit in with."

Laughing outright at the look on Melissa's face, he handed Alani back to her mother and continued before Melissa could protest, "Consider it the last order from your Master."

Smiling wistfully at the memory, Melissa sighed again. She missed the old coot and wished that Alani would have gotten to meet him more than two times. Maybe when she was old enough to travel Melissa would take her back to visit him. But for now, they had a home to settle in.

Four years had passed since her first birthday, and so far, her new life was going along well enough. Experience as a child was oddly satisfying lazily. She didn't have to worry about much. Her mom brought in money, food was always on the table, and she had a happy childhood so far.

Still, Alani couldn't believe that she was in the world of Fairy Tail. The actual Fairy Tail! Once she had gotten over the shock of being reborn the excitement had picked up. Though she still didn't know where in the timeline she was. Was she in one that happened after Fairy Tail? Before? During? She wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that she was going to find out sooner rather than later.

For now, Alani was more curious about studying herself in the mirror at the moment. It was something she had been doing a lot lately. Her new appearance was the total opposite of her last and she was still having a hard time recognizing the girl in the mirror as herself.

In this life, she had ginger hair that wasn't exactly a pretty shade to her. It was more of a pumpkin colour. Light orange, wavy hair that fell to her shoulders, and she hated it. She shuddered to think of what the kids at the school would call her. She didn't want to deal with bullies. There had been more than enough from before. Her eyes, on the other hand, Alani loved to death. They were a light grey colour and were the exact shape and colour as her new mother.

In her past life, Alani had been just plain looking with brown hair and dull brown eyes. She guessed she could thank whatever deity was out there for brightening up her appearance this time around.

This whole thing is bizarre, Alani thought to herself as she poked her mirror self on the nose. She pouted at her reflection and crossed her arms grudgingly. Sometimes it feels like me, but other times, it feels like I'm in the body of a stranger. I want to know...who am I really?

"That's a mirror, honey." Mom explained as she moved around the dirty clothes and towels. She came to stand behind Alani showing the differences between them. "You are a beautiful little girl, yeah?"

Shaking her head, Alani tugged on a strand of her orange hair and muttered, "It's a stupid colour. Not pretty at all."

"Well, I think it's a beautiful colour on you. You'll grow to love it when you're older." Now mom smirked and teased, "Especially when you find that special someone."

Now Alani scrunched her face up in disgust. Besides the fact that mentally, she'd be way older than any male, she had no plans on settling down and finding a husband. Her thoughts showed on her face as her mom laughed louder and picked her up.

"I don't need a special someone, mommy. I'm gonna be like you." Alani stated, looking up at her mother.

The one thing she hadn't been expecting was to have her new mom to grow on her.

Melissa wasn't the best mom out there, you could tell she had no experience with kids, but damn did she try to make Alani's life better. That was actually what made her open to Melissa's love. It wasn't fair on her new mother to have a distant daughter that didn't seem to love you just because she had been reborn. Not that Melissa knew that last part. If Alani had it her way then no one would ever know that she came from an entirely different life.

It had seemed that opening up to her mother after years of grieving had been a good thing. The two had grown closer with Melissa teaching simple things that only life could teach you. An example of this was their daily morning exercises that included stretching and then jogging around the town. Melissa had mentioned something about building up her endurance and strength because she would probably need it later down in her life. And Alani appreciated that more than Melissa would ever now.

"You're still young yet. Don't set your life to be like mine when you are a completely different person, Alani. You'll meet people in your life that will become precious to you and you'll treasure them for life." Mom explained as they settled down onto the floor.

Squirming until she was facing her mom, Alani couldn't help but giggle as mom started tickling her sides.

"Am I in trouble, mommy?" She asked curiously. She didn't think she had done anything wrong lately to warrant a grounding or anything.

"Nah, it's just something that's going to be happening next week." Mom replied.

"You mean school, don't you?" Alani asked, blinking.

The one thing that sucked about being reborn was that she had to redo everything over. Including school. All those lessons the children she would have to put up with...the boringness of it...it was going to suck big time. The only thing worse than redoing school was going through puberty again either. Neither situation was going to be fun and she had been hoping to skip out of school to no avail.

Learning everything over again was a bore. Alani knew most of the stuff that was going to be taught at the school. She said most because when she was first learning to write, she hadn't expected the native language to be Japanese. Since she hadn't studied any other languages in her old life other than English learning it was a load of crap. It had been torture, but after four years, she was able to read and write it somewhat. Though she still preferred English over Japanese any given day.

The proud look her mom had given her when she had learned it all made Alani's heart melt. She felt good knowing that she had made her mom proud and Melissa had decided to send her to school to further her education.

"That's right. You see, there are some things that mommy is worried about. You are a smart girl, a brilliant girl, and I want to explain a few things to you in case something happens." Pausing, mom struggled for words before saying bluntly, "Not all people are nice, but there are nice ones out there. Now I'm sure that you'll meet some good people out there. But Alani? Be cautious around some of them. You can't tell them about your Uncle Jay's magic either, okay?"

Blinking in surprise, Alani cocked her head and asked curiously, "Why can't I say anything about Uncle Jay, mommy?"

Her mom gave her a look of uncertainty and bit her lip thoughtfully. "It's hard to explain, Alani. It's just that …it's harsh out there. Sometimes people with magic do bad things. These bad things make people scared, and when people get scared, they act rashly and harshly. It's just safer for everyone if you don't mention it at all. Okay, baby?"

Furrowing her brow in thought, Alani nodded slowly. A niggling feeling inside her head warned her that this was a sign. The only thing was that no matter how hard she tried to place it, she just couldn't. Pouting slightly at herself, she glanced up at her mom.

Alani hated the worried look on her mom's face and gave her a toothy smile and said, "Okay, I won't say a thing. I can handle it, mommy! Really! I'll make the best of friends and it'll be great!"

Judging from the look on her mom's face, her cheering up didn't work very well.

The next week went by faster than Alani would have ever guessed. With this new week upon her, it was to her absolute horror, to realize that she was nervous about going to school.

For the second time.

She shouldn't be nervous for goodness sake! She already knew how to read and write though the Japanese language was still harder for her to learn. Typically, it wouldn't have bothered her that much other than the fact she didn't do well with kids her age in either life. In her old life, she preferred hanging out with older people and only had a small handful of friends that she could trust. Though some of those friendships backfired on her now that she thought about it. But that was in the past and had nothing to do with the present-day her.

It was weird that in this new life, they had moved around a lot at first now that she thought about it. Whenever her mom would get a letter from Uncle Jay, she'd be made to pack her most prized things and then they'd be hurrying out the door and onto the road. The weirder something was that whenever she asked her mom why she'd only get a curt answer of "when your older, I'll explain.".

How much older do I have to be before mom or Uncle tells me what's going to force us to move so fast? Alani thought to herself.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you asked, she and her mom had settled down in this small out-of-the-way town called Oregano a few weeks ago. It was beautiful, she supposed. Relatively small, but big enough for her mom to get a job at a local shop selling treasures that people didn't want anymore. Alani had laughed so hard when her mom had told that. Oh, the irony in it all. But anyway, since her mom got a new job that meant Alani was alone. She was allowed to explore the town, but when she had come upon a small park with kids playing in it well, it hadn't turned out very well. She just had no desire to stand around and play their games, which made them think she was weird and got parents talking even more.

Which lead to this moment.

Standing on her front step, books in her arms, and a pout on her lips. "But…mommy! Do I have to go? I changed my mind…I can help you out in the store!"

Melissa crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway. Her eyes glinted in amusement as she said, "Yes, you have to go. Besides, you look cute dressed up like that, Ala."

Looking down at her outfit that was a simple yellow dress with brown boots, her hair had a white headband in it, and a bracelet that her Uncle Jay had given her on her previous birthday. "I guess I am cute," Alani muttered, tugging on the hem of her dress. "But I still don't wanna go to school."

Placing a hand on her daughter's head, Melissa ruffled it gently and asked softly, "What about making the best friends ever? Don't you want that?"

Tightening her grip on her books, Alani looked down at the ground and replied in a hushed whisper, "They looked at me funny in the park. What if they don't like me?"

Arms wrapped around her and her small body pressed against her mother's. Hands stroked her hair before moving to cup her chin. Kneeling to be at eye level, Melissa smiled softly and told her, "You, Alani Maple, are much better than the ones that will do that. People can be cruel at times, but I know you will find friends out there that won't care. So, keep your chin raised high, ignore those nasty kids, and show them the amazing girl you are."

Alani couldn't help but giggle when her mom tapped her nose. "Okay, mommy. I'll ignore them."

"Good girl. Now shoo! You're going to be late." With that, Melissa handed gently pushed the door shut.

Screwing her nose up with a small huff, Alain shifted her on her feet before reluctantly heading off to school. The walk wasn't a long one before she was standing in front of the school. Exhaling a breath, she muttered to herself, "It's only school. It's only school. You've done this before, Alani. Just stick to yourself and you'll be fine. It's only school."

She just hoped that her words were right as she headed into the school.