Mother

"Wahhhh!" The screams echoed throughout the mansion, "M-m-my l-little g-girl is…waggghh!" the cries grew even louder as a brown haired woman in a beige dress with pearls around her neck and white gloves cried tears of pure sadness. She was being held by a portly man in a tuxedo, sporting a monocle in his right eye and thick curly mustache. His hair had all the appearance of salt and pepper as he shook it back and forth, sorrow written upon his face. "What will happen to us if word gets out about this dear?" the sobbing woman asked her husband. Both of them were sitting on very fancy couch with white cushions and gold trimming inside a room with more than its fair share of jewels and expensive paintings.
It was the home of the Engel family. One of the wealthiest families in Lumina whose influence is almost as widespread at the Heartfilia Konzern's once was. They lived on a lavish estate on the outskirts of Lumina with some of the finest chefs and staff in Fiore at their beck and call. It was more than a little bit intimidating.
"So you see, that is why we hired you wizards. Will you help us find our precious little Alana and preserve out family's prestige? If word gets out that she was kidnapped people will think we no longer have influence. Our enemies will crush us." He asked nearly pleading, his wife still crying.
Erza and Aura looked at one another, giving each other nervous smiles as they looked back at their clients. "Don't worry." Erza then said confidently, "We'll find your daughter and bring her back safe and sound. I promise."
The man's eyes lit up, "Oh thank you, thank you so much. Whoever thought that wizards would be such a helpful lot?" He said a bit condescendingly.
"It's no problem." Erza replied smiling, her eye twitching at the man's earlier comment. She wanted to comment but she let it go seeing as how he obviously didn't know how offensive his statement was.
"We'll start looking for her right away." Erza stood up from the sofa and began to make her way to the huge golden doors at the end of the room. "Come one Aura."
"Oh, right." Aura got up from the sofa and followed Erza looking back at the distraught couple. The pair made it outside of the Engel's huge compound and proceed back into town. "Hey is it just me or did they seem more upset about the status of the family than their daughter's safety?"
"That's usually how it is with people like that." Erza said not looking back at Aura, "Lucy's father was the same way."
"Lucy is rich?!" Aura's eyes widened in surprise.
"She was."
Aura followed Erza astonished, she had no idea about Lucy's origins; she never talked about it much in the future. But seeing as how Lucy was just as full of life in Aura's time as she is in the present she guessed it didn't matter.
The two made it to the center of the city's downtown area, it was massive to say the least. Buildings upon buildings as far as they eye could see, some stretching into the up into the sky. All of the flashing lights from the neon signs on the stores, to the colorful people walking the streets; it was all a lot to take in. Erza looked at her with a bit of surprise.
"I thought you lived in Lumina while you apart of the Nightshade guild." Erza inquired.
"Actually I never entered the city until Romero told me to set up for the fight against Fairy Tail." She replied as she looked around at all of the scenery.
Erza looked at the young girl and smiled at Aura's wonderment, but she knew they had a mission to fulfill. "Do we know where she is?" she said focusing Aura's attention on the task at hand.
Aura shook the star out of her eyes and refocused. "No, her parents didn't say anything about receiving a ransom note."
"Can you smell anything?" Erza asked nonchalantly.
"No?" Aura replied, completely caught off guard by the Knight's question. "W-why would be able to smell anything?" she tried to cover her embarrassment.
"Relax I'm joking." Erza teased as the two continued to walk the streets. Aura breathed a sigh of relief.
The two made it into the downtown marketplace with little to no leads as to where the heiress might be. Suddenly they spotted a hooded figure buying an apple, following them closely until they reached what looked like an old inn near the bridge to the Lumina Casino.
"You think that's where Alana is?" Aura asked Erza as they stood outside the medium sized building.
Erza stared pensively at the rundown building, her gaze never shifting from it.
"Erza?" Aura asked slightly concerned.
"I'll check around, you see what room they went in." with her orders given Erza gripped her sword and walked off.
"Erz-"Aura reached out her hand, but Erza was already out of sight. "Ok. Guess I'm going in alone." She sighed and looked up to see only one room with a light on. Crouching to a ready position, she jumped into the air.
…
The figure in the room sat upon a bed that was 2 times their size. Grabbing a brown bag from the floor and reaching inside, they out an apple that they had purchased earlier. Taking a small bite they chewed thoroughly, savoring the flavor as if they hadn't eaten in days.
Taking another bite from the apple the figure looked towards their window to suddenly see a girl with long wine red hair crawling inside the room. The figure looked at her for a few seconds before spitting out the chewed apple in shock. The girl walked towards her, a look of anger in her eyes as she approached. The cloak figure scooted against the wall in a desperate attempt to get away.
"W-who are you?" the figure squeaked out trying to understand what was happening. The girl offered no answer as she inched closer, towering over the cowering mess of a cloak. The girl picked the figure up by the collar, holding them in the air, moving them away from the bed and over the floor.
"You look a bit small to be a kidnapper." The girl's voice was firm and authoritative. "You must be a look out, so where are your friends?"
The figure grabbed the girl's hand, trying to wrestle themselves free as their feet hang in the air. "L-look out? What are you talking about?"
The girl raised her other hand and turned it into a fist. "I'll ask you one more time, where is the girl being held?"
"W-what girl?" The figure asked completely afraid.
"Wrong answer." The girl's fist raced towards its mark at a frightening pace. The figure struggled to get free, their hood falling from their head. The girls fist stopped short of the of the figures face, her eyes opened in astonishment.
"A girl?" she asked herself.
The figure's eyes were closed anticipating a hit that would never come, they slowly opened their eyes and saw their attacker looking much calmer than before.
"Could you by chance be Alana Engel?" the girl asked.
"Y-yes I am." The figure said her voice shaking
…
Erza walked up the stairs of the inn, her search for Alana's would be kidnappers coming up empty. No one suspicious was in the surrounding area, that's very odd. She pondered to herself as she walked the third floor. I wonder if Aura found anything in that room. Erza walked the halls deducing that Aura had teleported to this floor seeing as the inn keeper said that only 20 people paid for rooms, and that the only person who wore a cloak stayed on the third floor.
Erza approached the end of the floor with caution, summoning her sword in case of an ambush. She didn't know why but she worried about Aura's safety more than she thought she had. Perhaps it was because Erza asked the girl to accompany her and she should assume responsibility. Whatever it was she knew she had to save her if she was in trouble.
She reached the second to the last door on the left side of the hall and heard voices, she gripped her sword tightly, ready to burst in if necessary until she heard a familiar.
"Here you go, some fresh tea."
"Thank you."
"Aura?" Erza said low as she positioned herself close enough to the door to hear the conversation going on inside.
…
Alana and Aura sat next to each other on Alana's bed. Aura sipped the tea that the young girl had made and it was surprisingly quite good. She sipped some more before looking at the young girl. Her skin was fair, albeit a bit dirty from running around all day, and her hair was a beautiful shade of yellow, similar to Lucy's. It was tied in a low ponytail, draped over her right shoulder and extending just below her chin. Her blue eyes held within them much shame and regret, a look Aura knew all too well.
"So you ran away from home huh?" Aura asked casually as she placed her cup of tea on a small circular table next to the bed.
Alana nodded solemnly, "Yes, I did. I just couldn't take living at home anymore."
"Your parents?" Aura inquired as she leaned back.
"Yes." Alana lowered her head, "They're so caught up with their money that they didn't notice I was gone until now. They didn't even know I ran away from home, they just assume that their perfect little girl would never disgrace the family name by running away."
Aura wanted to interject, but she let the young girl vent her frustrations.
"They always tell me what to do, forcing me to go to galas and meet their rich friends who care even less about me than they do my parents. They never let me do what I want to do, never let me do things on my own without the house staff." She sighed, "To be honest I hate being rich."
"Why?"
"People always judge you based off of your status and not who you are as a person. When they see me, they don't see Alana Engel, 8 year old girl, they see Alana Engel the perfect heiress to the Engel household. Everyone has such high expectations of me."
"I know what that feels like." Aura said out loud.
"Are your parents overbearing as well."
"I wouldn't say overbearing, to my parents it's more like-"
"You don't exist?" Alana cut Aura short.
Aura smiled and laughed, "Something like that."
Alana looked down at the floor as she swung her feet on the edge of the bed. "I don't even want to inherit the fortune when I grow up."
"Well what do you want to do?" Aura asked genuinely interested
Alana's face turned red and she looked away. "I…I want to be a wizard."
There were a few seconds of silence between them, Alana turned back towards Aura. "You're not going to laugh at me? All of my friends do when I tell them."
Aura looked slightly astonished at the young girl, "Why would I laugh? I'm a wizard."
Alana's face lit up, "Y-you are?!"
"Yeah, I am." Aura answered standing up, her eyes still wide in surprise.
"How long?! What magic do you use?! What guild are you in?!" The excited young girl bombarded Aura with questions like a hysteric fan.
"Um…" Aura felt a bit overwhelmed but she answered anyway, "Since I was 4. Teleportation Magic. I'm a member of the Fairy Tail guild."
"Fairy Tail?!" The young girl squealed. "You're a member of the Fairy Tail guild?!"
"Y-yeah." Aura answered slightly nervous.
"I love Fairy Tail, I've read everything about them. Do you know Lucy Heartfilia?" Alana's expectant look caught Aura completely off guard.
"Yeah I do."
"She's just like me, she came from a rich family but chose to follow her dreams and became a wizard." Alana said with a dreamy look in her eyes. "She's so inspiring. She's my favorite next to Erza Scarlet and Natsu Dragneel."
"Ya don't say." Aura said chuckling nervously.
The two talked for a bit about magic & Fairy Tail until Aura stood up from the bed once more. "Well, you ready to go?" Aura asked, extending her hand towards Alana.
"Where are we going?" Alana asked taking her hand as Aura helped her from the bed.
"Well my mission is to bring you back home."
"Oh." Alana's heart sank as she looked at the ground sullenly.
"Come on don't pout, your parents are worried about you."
"Yeah right."
"They are, that's why they hired us to come get you. If they didn't care they wouldn't have paid for us to find you."
Alana continued to look down saddened.
"Do you not want to go home because of your parents? Or are you afraid to go home because you haven't told them that you don't want to inherit the family business." Aura asked firmly.
Alana's eyes widened in realization as she looked up at Aura. "You can't be afraid. If you want to follow your own path you should be confident in yourself. If you want to be a wizard be a wizard, if you want to be a debutante then that's ok too. As long as you are confident in the choice you made you should have no regrets." Alana's expression brightened as she followed Aura to the door.
Aura looked behind her at Alana, she couldn't help but notice just how much the young girl reminded her of Luana. She also noticed just how much she sounded like Erza in her speech. Beaming with pride Aura opened the door of the room and was astonished to see Erza on the other side of it.
"Mo-Erza!" Aura caught herself, quickly calling Erza by her first name. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough, I thought you would need my help but I see you have things under control." She said looking down at Alana.
Erza looked and smiled at the speechless 8 year old. Alana could barely breathe in Erza's presence, let alone speak. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest as Erza reached her hand towards her. "Hi I'm Erza, you must be Alana."
Alana grabbed Erza's hand, only nodding, her mouth agape as the two shook hands. Erza only smiled warmly and faced the end of the hallway where the stairs were located. "Come on, let's get you home." With that the three headed out of the inn and back towards the Engel mansion.
…
About an hour later Erza & Aura found themselves walking down the main street of Lumina, they were heading towards the inn that Erza and the others resided during their last job in the city. "Well that mission went well." Erza said as they continued to walk.
"Yeah, Alana seemed to look a lot better after telling her parents everything." Aura commented smirking.
"If she really does go down that path, I'm sure she will be a great wizard one day. You did a great job Aura." Erza commented, causing the young girl to blush.
"T-thanks." It had been so long since she received a compliment from her mother, even if it was her younger self she still took it in stride.
"How about we do some sparring before we head to the inn?" Erza asked nonchalantly catching Aura completely off guard.
"W-what?" Aura asked surprised, almost ripping over her own feet.
"Neither of us has had the chance to train today, so this seems like perfect time to spar for a bit."
"I don't-"
"Come on, don't tell me you're afraid to face me." Erza teased smirking.
"Actually…"Aura started uneasy.
"There's a park just pass the inn. That should be the perfect place." Erza said pointing towards the inn, completely ignoring Aura's protests.
The two reached the park and Erza began to stretch. Aura sighed and reluctantly began to stretch as well. Why am I doing this? Aura thought to herself, I don't want to fight mom.
Erza finished stretching and summoned twin swords. "Don't hold back."
"Erza," Aura began in a whiny tone, "Do we have to-"
BOOM!
Aura teleported into the air, her eyes widening as she looked down upon the crater Erza created. She's not kidding around. That could have killed me. Aura thought while she scanned the ground but saw no sign of Erza. "Where did she go?" she said aloud, then suddenly she felt a faint presence.
"Behind you." A voice said softly in Aura's ear answering her question. Her eyes widened and she turned around to see Erza behind her, and she had requipped.
Flight armor?! But when did she-
BAM!
"Agh!" Aura yelled in pain as Erza hit her with a hard kick, sending her rocketing to the ground. Aura managed to catch herself before she impacted, quickly darting to the left when she saw Erza descending upon her from the sky with sword in hand.
She's gotten faster, how did she get this much stronger in one month? Aura was against the ropes as Erza was on her again, each blow that was blocked or dodged caused to Aura realize just how much she was at a disadvantage. She had no idea her mother was this strong in her youth. Even on the rare days when she would play and train with her mother when she was young, Aura knew she had never faced her full strength, there was never a need for it.
SLASH!
Erza swiped her sword against Aura's chest narrowly missing as Aura jumped back several feet. Damn, I never wanted to use this but I guess I have no choice. Erza rushed Aura again but the future wizard was prepared, she slammed her fist into the ground, causing gravel and dust to fly into the air and blind Erza.
She teleported into the air, clenching her fists as she moved them in front of her mouth. "FIRE DRAGON-" her cheeks began to fill with air "ROAR!'
A torrent of flame flowed from Aura's mouth towards Erza, but when Erza suddenly burst from the dust cloud in her Flame Empress armor, Aura could only watch in amazement as Erza rocketed towards her. Just before Erza impacted Aura teleported again, once again standing on the ground.
She once again lost track of Erza but she was prepared this time as she predicted Erza's sword strike from behind. Aura ducked the swipe, placing her hands on the ground and spun around, kicking the sword out of Erza's hand, but this did little to slow Titania down as she caught one of Aura's feet and threw her against a nearby tree.
Aura's fist became surrounded by flames as she stood up. "FIRE DRAGON IRON…"
SHUNK!
Aura's eyes widened as she felt her sleeve tug, she looked to her left to see her arm pinned to the tree, one of Erza's swords piercing the sleeve. Erza summoned another sword, prepared to administer the finishing blow, but Aura freed herself. She yanked her arm, ripping her sleeve as she rolled past Erza, grabbing the sword that had previously pinned her to the tree.
She quickly changed directions and raced towards Erza with her new weapon.
CLANG!
Their swords clashed, the force causing a small shockwave to echo throughout the park. The two were nearly evenly matched as they exchanged sword strikes, none of them giving an inch.
Erza increased the speed of her attacks, but was pleasantly surprised when Aura managed to keep up. She's pretty well versed in swordplay, whoever taught her must have been a magnificent swordsman.
Aura managed to push Erza back enough that Erza briefly lost her footing when she tripped on a rock. Aura thrust her sword forward to administer the finishing blow but Erza saw through her plan. She requipped into the Robe of Yuen, using the reach of her spear to steady herself as she did a cartwheel, kicking the sword out of Aura's hands and into the air.
Aura tried to counter by throwing a punch, but Erza side stepped it, hitting Aura with the bottom of the spear and sending her colliding into another tree. Aura gripped her shoulder and stood up just in time to dodge Erza's next strike.
SLASH!
Erza's might swing had cut down the tree in one swing, causing it to fall over.
"Nnngh!" Aura slid across the dirt when she dodged Erza's attack sending her careening into a huge rock. "Augh!" she gasped for air as she hit the rock…hard.
Aura gripped her sore shoulder as she looked at Erza's back. She's stronger than Wendy & Kagura, I don't think I can beat her.
"Don't tell me that's all you have." Erza's voice was stern, her back turned to Aura.
Aura's eyes widened a bit as Erza's words caused her to think of her training with Kagura. She could hear the raven haired swordswoman's voice as clear as day in her head.
"Come on Aura, don't tell me that's all you have. Your mother was way stronger than this."
Back then she only thought that Kagura was just saying that to motivate her, but actually seeing just how powerful her mom really was, she was absolutely right.
"Yeah your mom's pretty strong." The next voice Aura heard in her head was of Natsu, her father. She was having a vision of a conversation she had had with him while Erza was out buying food. She was playing with him in the kitchen. "She used to kick my butt all the time when we were younger- " she could see her father's signature toothy grin, the same one she showed on occasion, "but she always insisted I was stronger than her."
"But Daddy aren't you stronger than mommy?" Young Aura asked confused.
Natsu looked out of the window of the kitchen to see Erza walking towards their small home, a smile on her face as she waved to him with groceries in hand. He looked at her with a bit of a dreamy look in his eyes. "Aura, your mother is probably the strongest person I have ever met."
"You're open!" Erza yelled snapping Aura back into the reality as she rushed her one last time.
Aura had no idea what happened but before she knew what was going on her back was against the rock she had previously collided with, Erza's sword on her throat. Aura looked up to see a look of complete shock on Erza's face. Titania's face was pale, astonishment and confusion written all over it.
Aura looked to her left and saw that Erza was looking at her forearm, her crest was now fully exposed.
"T-that mark…it's the same as…how do you-"her shock barely allowing her to form her thoughts.
"It looks like you beat me-" Aura said smiling as Erza looked at her with utter shock and confusion.
"Mother."
…