Another Day

Act 1
Eight Years Earlier...

Hargeon Town was as bright and colorful as it ever was. People roamed through it's streets and sidewalks as they had always done, and the entire day seemed like it would just be a normal one.

That is, save for one small exception.

There was a particular house on the upper part of the city, facing the wilderness and mountains of Fiore, all by itself. It wasn't a messy or repulsive home, by any means. It was just....a normal home, with good walls, windows, a wide open space on the outside for a good sniff of strong, fresh air. It was painted an odd, grey color, sticking out like a sore thumb in the other colorful parts of the country.

Within the top room of this house, lying in a bed and snoring loud enough to where the folk on the eastern side of Iceberg could hear him, was a young boy, a teenager, most likely. He had spiked up, dark blue hair that was even more messy than it usually was thanks to his tossing and turning while in bed. He wore a white shirt, plain with no stains, and black shorts that one would find on any boy who played outdoors.

His expression, despite clearly drowsy, was actually rather annoyed looking. A bad dream, perhaps? Maybe he just didn't get enough sleep, or maybe he got too much and didn't feel like moving...or maybe it was something more. Maybe this clearly energized teenager had just too much energy, but nothing to exert it on? Perhaps he dreamed of becoming something more than what he already was...but had no chances to do so?

"Eh..." he muttered in his sleep, sniffing as his head rolled over slightly onto it's side. First, his right eye popped open, half lidded and still rather annoyed, and then the left eye did the same. Both of them blinked lazily before he groaned and picked himself up from his lying position, sitting upright on the bed as he rubbed his head slightly.

His room was rather small, having only a single bed, a night stand right next to it, and a dresser on the other end of the room. There were some trivial children's things laying around the floor, a few old clothes, a basketball, a couple of 20 pound weights, and some shoes right next to the doorway leading out into the hallway. But there was a poster on the wall across from him, next to the door. It was a large, bird like symbol, colored in red and outlined in black, contrasting quite nicely with the grey walls of his room.

It was the symbol of his most idolized Guild, Fairy Tail.

He looked at it for a few seconds, each one feeling like a minute at a time. Ever since he had heard about Fairy Tail and their accomplishments, he'd wanted to join them and even try to make a name for himself, live up to their expectations and serve along with them...understanding what "nakama" really meant.

But for now, he was just another kid in the neighborhood, living with his sister. Speaking of which...

"Mikado???" an older feminine voice said aloud from outside his room, as if she was not sure if he was awake or not. "Are you awake?? You'd better be! I'm not dragging you to class this time!"

"Yeah yeah...i'm awake..." he groaned as he stood up fully from his bed, walking up to the door and slightly cracking it open so that he could see outside of it.

In front of the door on the hallway's side was a taller woman with long and spikey purple hair up top, brown eyes and a school teacher like uniform, along with a not so amused expression. "You sleeping in all of the time isn't exactly going to make your future all that bright, Mickey."

"Don't call me that, please." he said in a comically deadpan tone, rubbing his eyes again. "What is it you want, sis?"

"Since you woke up so late, and since you also poke around too much when you get ready..." she began, pushing the door open slightly further open and handing him a fairly large book. "I've decided that it's best to home school you on your lessons. You hardly ever do anything with the class room anyway."

"Gee, this is the best thing you've given me since that gold fish..." he said as he took the book, glancing back at an empty fish tank. "...you know, the one that was dead before you even got back?"

"Well, excuse me for not knowing that fish die after being shaken around!" the woman huffed. "I was in a hurry to get home so I had to run fast, can't blame me for it really, can you?"

"Yeah sure." Mikado teasingly smirked as he tossed the book over onto his bed before looking back at her. "Are you heading out now?"

"Yes I am." she said, placing her hands on her hips as she spoke in a parental, commanding tone. "And I want you to read chapters one and two of that book completely. It's about basic elemental magics, fire and ice for the most part, so it's not that hard. I'm going to quiz you when I get back, so you'd better be ready."

"I will I will, don't get you're panties in a wad..." he replied, turning around back into his room with a slight wave of his hand in a dismissive manner.

She almost barged into the room in order to smack the back of his head after hearing him say that, but she restrained as she prepared to leave. "Ugh....I'll be back later."

And with that, she left the hallway, and then the house entirely.

Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap...

THUMP!

Tk-Tk-Tk!

A soft soft series of taps escaped the finger tips of a long-haired boy, whom if met for the first time, would've been confused as a girl at first or even second glance. With a creamy white complexion and wide-eyed brown eyes and a crop of midnight black hair, his smile was as dazzling as his appearance. The one thing that offset this effeminite appearance was a sleeveless tank-top, showing off a well-toned physique that clearly bore some masculinity within it, despite being so lithe overall.

Currently, Jacqueline Florence, Mikado's priorly described friend, held himself up by his forearms on his open windowsill, having ran up the outside of his house vertically and latched onto the exterior entrance of his friend's room, letting his legs dangle outside carefree.

Here, Mikado's bored demeanor changed for a slightly more excited one. Crawling up on his bed and then opening his window and looking down at his feminine appearing friend. "Hey Jack! Yeah she finally left, and I doubt she's going to be back for a while. The door's unlocked, so come on in!" After saying this, he got off the bed and raced down stairs to greet his friend formally.

Pouting at the thought of having to go back to ground level, after scaling the house in one run, Jacqueline let himself fall down to the ground deftly with ease. After patting his bare feet to the entrance of the house, he opened the door before Mikado could get it, and proceeded to leap towards the incoming friend of his...

GLOMP!

...before tackling him onto the ground mischieviously, giggling in emphasis of his haphazardly coordinated act, "You shouldn't have been a meanie and made me drop back to the ground. You should be more of a gentleman, otherwise no one is going to take you seriously and think you're a brute, hehe!"

"Agh!" Mikado briefly yelled out as he was tackled, slamming into the floor behind him with enough force to make all the objects on top of the various dressers and tables rise up comically before landing back in their place. "Geez dude! I just didn't want Sis to suspect something again! Remember what happened last time you came in through the window? Heck, I still don't think we've found all the shingles from last time...."

"Party pooper," Jacqueline pouted his lips, but quickly resumed a cheerful grin, winking at him as he rolled off Mikado's chest, kicking himself dexteriously up onto his feet, "if you trained your body even half as much as I do, you'd love to do daring things too, you know?"

"Exercise is boring though." Mikado said as he got up from the floor and back on his feet. "I'm not really much of an athlete kinda guy, honestly; I'd just prefer to stay in the back and let all the fit guys do the work." he said with a snicker.

"I can't believe the guy who wears more masculinity than I do is saying that, tch!" Running a hand through his overcasting, silky bangs in emphasis back, much like how a girl would, he giggled in aftermath of what he said. Winking at him, he ushered him to walk back upstairs, "well, at least you're progressing in your magic studies, right? You are studying like your sis wants you to, so you can be as good as I am, aren't ya, little Mickey?"

"Ugh, now you're calling me that too?" Mikado sighed in annoyance upon hearing the nickname, following his friend up stairs. "You've been hanging out with sis too much..." He continued as they ascended the stairs to his room. "But yeah, she left me a new book to read while she was gone today. It's mostly about basic fire and ice magic; nothing special really. Something I'm sure you've already well and covered?"

"Well I pretty much mastered water and ice magic through the teachings. Fire is pretty tricky cause how spontaneous the element is. Here, show me how you do it and I'll see if I can give you some outside perspective, kay?" Jacqueline asked with an astute tone, entering his room and taking a seat upon his bed, clasping his hands in front of his lap as he locked his eyes curiously at Mikado.

Mikado's eyes jumped wide open in a comical sense, holding his arms out in a "stop" manner in desperation as he spoke in a worried tone. "D-Don't use fire magic in here! That'll burn the whole house down!!!"

"We're not going to use actual spells, dummy," Jacqueline stuck his tongue out while looking dryly at him. Pointing at him in emphasis, he spoke in a continued bland tone, "you're supposed to show me how well you can manipulate the fire element in the palm of your hand. If you can maintain a flickering flame without it going out or combusting, then you're good. Besides, I just told you I'm a master of ice and water magic," winking at him, Jacqueline teasingly reassured Mikado, "I'm going to keep you from turning into a crisp mouse, Mickey. Trust me, hehe!"

"It's not that I'm worried about..." Mikado rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous manner. "I just really don't want sis to come back to a big burning house, or freezing house....or flooded house..."

"Ugh!" Facepalming upon both of her hands, he dragged them both across his face before pointing at him with an irritated manner, "look! If you have been studying as hard as I know you have, and haven't gotten help from not only your sister, but also me, you have nothing to worry about! Besides, you need years of experience before you pull off a spell that'd actually destroy a whole house, let alone do something to your room," glaring at him fully, Jacquline crossed his arms across his chest and pouted his lips, dryly commanding, "show me your control over fire and ice, starting with fire, now."

"Okay okay. Can't blame me for wanting to be careful or not damaging my house..." he replied, holding his hand out in front of Jack. His eyes squinted down in focus, and within just a few seconds, a small, light blue bit of fire appeared in his hand. He kept his other hand over it to prevent it from going anywhere else, but otherwise, it appeared to be stable enough. "Hah! How is that?" he said with a bit of satisfaction.

"Good," Jack nodded, smiling in affirmation of his approval to his friend's accomplishment. Raising his gaze to Mikado's, he then pointed at him blankly, commanding next, "now defuse the flame, and use water element. This will help me see if you have enough control over the element and see what's causing the trouble with the ice element."

The blue fire was then dispelled, as Mikado cupped both of his hands together and focused even harder. Though, now that he was trying, it seemed like he was struggling far more in terms of conjuring water magic. When he finally did, a bright blue flash appeared within his hands, and only small cup sized bit of water fell from it onto the floor, and then oddly dried away rather quickly. Sighing, he rubbed his hands together as he looked at the now disappeared stain. "Nope. I still suck at making water."

"Obviously, you're trying too hard," Jacqueline smiled, shaking his head as he got off the bed and then cupped his hands gently over Mikado's, speaking softly as his eyes would meet his best friend's, "listen, each element responds differently from your emotions. With fire, its constant projection of your resolve and most vibrant feelings to the surface. Water, is different. You must calm yourself, and let yourself flow casually from your core up to your hands. If you try to harness that element the same way as fire, then you're going to cause it to evaporate from the intense feelings rising from your heart. Do you understand?"

"Aw c'mon Jack." Mikado replied, still a bit disheartened even as his hands dropped back down, before meeting with each other again for another try. "You and sis have both said i'm the furthest thing in the world from a calm person." This time, he let out a soft breath, and attempted the same sort of technique. This time, the water appeared to be a bit more abundant, and he could even stabilize it more. "Huh...it's not so hard after all."