The world was soft and quiet. A warmth cocooned Kaia's limbs, a comforting weight of blankets twisted around her like a makeshift shield against responsibility. Her breath rose and fell in a rhythm unburdened by duty, soothed by the faint rustle of wind in the trees outside and the occasional creak of Fairy Hills' wooden frame settling deeper into the embrace of morning.
Kaia had never known a bed so accommodating. It was neither too soft nor too stiff. The pillow held her head like it had been waiting all its life just to meet her skull. She was a ship, and this bed this heavenly miracle was her harbor after a storm.
She mumbled something incoherent, halfway between a sigh and a purr, and nestled deeper beneath the covers. She would stay like this forever. Let the world fend for itself. Let Magnolia burn if it must.
And then, without warning, the door exploded.
Not creaked, not knocked exploded, as in violently and with purpose, a cacophonous thunderclap that ripped through the serenity of the room and sent a blast of cold morning air spiraling across Kaia's exposed toes.
Kaia jerked awake, hair in disarray, eyes wide with unfiltered panic. For a moment she thought she was under attack. Perhaps bandits again? A rival guild? A rogue cabbage golem?
Her thoughts were immediately silenced by the unmistakable silhouette framed by the smoking remains of her door.
Erza Scarlet stood in the hallway, one armored boot still planted firmly where the hinges had once dared to exist. Her expression was calm. Unbothered. As though destroying architecture was simply a form of greeting in her personal vocabulary.
"You have twenty minutes to prepare," she said crisply, voice as sharp as drawn steel. "Training begins shortly."
Kaia, still clutching the blankets around her like a lifeline, blinked at her. "Y-you—you kicked my door in!"
Erza nodded. "It was locked."
"That's what doors are supposed to be!"
"And now it is open," Erza replied, already turning on her heel. "Twenty minutes."
And with that, she vanished.
Kaia sat in stunned silence for a long moment, the cold air licking at her legs, the wood splinters of her former door crackling gently on the floor.
"...I liked that door," she murmured.
[You should get a stronger one. Or sleep with armor on.]
Kaia dragged a hand down her face. "What time is it?"
[Oh look. It's 'Why Did You Join Fairy Tail?' o'clock.]
With a dramatic groan, Kaia rolled out of bed, landed in a heap of blanket and dignity, and began the hasty ritual of preparing for what she could only assume would be a military-grade beatdown disguised as "training."
She splashed water on her face, wrestled with her asymmetrical hair, which seemed determined to form a political rebellion on her head, and threw on her high-collared coat with trembling fingers.
The glowing bracer on her wrist chimed.
[Auto-status check: Magic power moderate. Sanity recovering. Physical coordination subject to debate.]
She glanced into the mirror. Her collar was askew, one boot was unlaced, and she had toothpaste on her eyebrow.
Perfect.
Ten minutes later, Kaia was sprinting down the path from Fairy Hills to the designated training field, following a series of intimidating signs hastily nailed to trees.
Each one read:
← Training← Still Training← Regret This Way← Definitely Training (No Turning Back)
The final sign was nailed to a boulder that had clearly been cleaved in half by a massive blade.
Kaia gulped.
The training field was a large clearing just outside Magnolia, surrounded by towering trees and ringed with runes that shimmered faintly with containment magic. Erza stood in the center of it all, dressed in a light set of crimson armor and already executing sword forms with the fluid grace of a war goddess sculpted in steel.
Kaia approached with all the enthusiasm of someone heading to a dentist who also happens to be a blacksmith.
"I'm here," she said breathlessly.
Erza nodded without looking. "Six minutes late."
"No, I what? No, I sprinted here!"
"You should have anticipated my efficiency."
Kaia mouthed the words what does that even mean, but wisely said nothing aloud.
Erza finally turned to face her, eyes cool but not unkind. "Today's training will focus on three things: endurance, control, and surviving long enough to improve the first two."
Kaia raised her hand. "Just one question."
"Yes?"
"Are you trying to kill me?"
A faint, elusive smile tugged at Erza's lips. "Only a little."
Kaia sighed.
[Mission Alert: SURVIVAL OF THE MOST STUBBORN]
Objective: Survive Erza Scarlet's morning training regimen.Time Limit: Until one of you gives up or faints.Reward: 300 EXP, 20% increase to Magic Control stat, minor reputation gain with Erza.Penalty: Emotional trauma. No refund on destroyed boots.
Erza motioned toward a training dummy the size of a small cabin.
"You will begin by channeling your magic through your fists. Strike that target. Repeatedly. Do not stop until I say so."
Kaia stared at the dummy. "That's made of stone."
"Yes."
"And taller than a horse."
"Yes."
"I'm a sorcerer. Not a jackhammer."
"Today, you're both."
Kaia sighed dramatically, stepped forward, and began punching.
Her first hit bounced off harmlessly. Her second one sent a twinge up her elbow. The third caused a small ripple of Chrono-Flux to leak out, momentarily distorting time and giving her a two-second loop of her own grunt.
"Did... did I just echo myself through time?"
"Focus your magic, not your complaints," Erza said.
"Right. Of course. Punch now, cry later."
It went on for hours.
Kaia struck until her knuckles ached, until her magic blurred around her in bursts of unstable light, until her vision swam and the dummy had definitely developed a mocking expression.
When Erza finally called a break, Kaia collapsed onto the grass like a dying poet.
"Water," she rasped.
Erza handed her a flask. "You did well."
Kaia blinked. "Did I? I feel like pudding."
"You pushed past your limit. That is the point of training."
Kaia sipped gratefully, then asked, "Is this how you got so strong?"
Erza's gaze wandered to the treetops, as if seeing something far away.
"In part," she said. "Strength is not just forged in combat. It is endured. Through discipline, pain, and the refusal to stop when it would be easier to quit."
Kaia listened, struck by the gravity of the words and the quiet beneath them. For a moment, Erza wasn't the terrifying warrior or the indomitable force. She was just a girl, forged harder than most by a world that had demanded too much.
Kaia sat up, breathless and aching, and offered a wry smile. "Well, if I die out here, at least I'll be well-trained."
Erza turned back to her, eyes gleaming. "You won't die."
"That's what the sign nailed to the rock said. Before the boulder exploded."
To Kaia's surprise, Erza laughed. Not a smirk, not a polite exhale a full, genuine laugh. It was rare, beautiful, and gone almost as quickly as it came.
"I look forward to seeing what you become," she said quietly.
Kaia didn't know what to say to that, so she just grinned through the pain.
She was sore. She was tired. She was sure at least one rib was now shaped like a crescent moon.