Fairy Tail: The Journey
Chapter 2
The afternoon sun hung quietly over Rosemary Village as Kai and Erza walked down the dirt road toward the orphanage. Both carried small baskets filled with groceries, the result of the chores the villagers had given them earlier.
Erza stretched her arms with a tired sigh. "Ugh… carrying these things all day is exhausting."
Kai chuckled lightly as he glanced at her. "You complain too much. You ate half the apples we were supposed to deliver."
"I did not!" Erza shot back immediately. "Those were payment!"
Before Kai could tease her again, a loud explosion suddenly echoed across the village. The ground trembled slightly as a thick cloud of smoke began rising from the direction of the main gate.
Erza froze as fear filled her eyes. "Wh-what happened?"
Kai's face instantly went pale as his heart skipped a beat. He knew exactly what this meant.
"Let's go and hide somewhere," Kai said urgently as he grabbed her hand and started running.
After all, Kai already knew what was happening.
The cultists were attacking Rosemary Village.
The two children rushed through narrow streets as people screamed and ran in panic. Flames began spreading near the entrance of the village while robed figures dragged villagers away.
Erza looked back with trembling eyes. "Kai… what's happening…?"
Kai tightened his grip on her hand. "Don't look. Just run."
They turned into a small alleyway, hoping to hide somewhere safe. Just as they were about to slip behind a stack of crates, Erza suddenly noticed a small familiar figure nearby.
"Kagura!" she shouted. "Kagura come here!"
The little girl was crying beside a wall, clearly terrified by the chaos around her. Kai quickly helped Erza pull her into the hiding spot behind the crates.
Kagura clung to Erza while trembling uncontrollably.
"Don't cry everything will be fine," Erza said gently as she hugged her.
Kai forced a calm smile even though his heart was racing. "Kagura stay here everything will be fine."
Kagura sniffed quietly and nodded while wiping her tears.
Erza looked at Kai. "We should hide too."
Kai nodded and stood up. "Yeah, let's go before they see—"
Before they could move further, several tall shadows suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley.
Robed men wearing dark cloaks stepped forward with cruel smiles.
One of them laughed. "Well well… look what we found."
Erza froze as Kai instinctively stepped in front of her.
"Run—!" Kai started to shout.
But it was too late.
Rough hands grabbed both of them from behind as chains were quickly placed around their wrists.
Erza struggled desperately. "Let go!"
Kai clenched his teeth as he tried to break free. Inside his mind, frustration boiled violently.
'Damn where is my system? Hay i need your help.'
The cultists dragged them away from the village while flames continued spreading behind them.
Erza looked at Kai with worried eyes. "Kai are you ok ?"
Kai forced a small nod despite the chains digging into his wrists.
"Yah I'm fine."
The journey lasted hours before the cultists finally arrived at a massive dark structure standing near the sea.
The Tower of Heaven.
After being roughly pushed forward and chained with iron cuffs, Kai and Erza were thrown inside a cold stone cell.
The heavy metal door slammed shut behind them.
Erza slowly stood up while rubbing her wrists. "Kai… where are we?"
Kai looked around the dark room filled with other children. His expression slowly darkened.
"The Tower of Haven…"
Footsteps echoed through the corridor as an old man slowly approached their cell.
He smiled kindly despite the exhaustion visible on his face.
"Hay little ones," he said gently. "I'm Rob. You must be new here."
Kai and Erza looked at him carefully while the other children gathered around.
Rob continued speaking warmly as he introduced the others who had been captured before them.
Erza nodded politely. "I'm Erza and he is Kai."
Kai nodded slightly but his attention suddenly shifted elsewhere.
A faint mechanical voice echoed inside his mind.
{Ding! Detected that Host is in Tower of Haven. System Activating}
Kai's eye twitched slightly.
'Why now ? Why not earlier? I could have avoided this shit. Now Erza would have to work here and suffer.'
The voice continued calmly.
{Ding! Starter Pack avelable would you like to open it ?}
Kai sighed internally.
"Yes."
{DING! Starter Pack Opened you have obtained -
1. Youriichi Tsugikuni CC.}
Kai blinked slowly.
'Classic… it's always Youriichi.'
He thought for a moment before asking the system.
'So how much time will need to fuse with Youriichi Tsugikuni's Charecter Card?'
The system answered instantly.
{DING! Based of host conditions and environment 1yr}
Kai leaned back against the stone wall with a quiet sigh.
'It must be some fate trying to keep everything in control.'
His gaze slowly moved toward Erza who was speaking with Rob and the other children.
'If I remember correctly… Erza escaped the Tower at 11 after being captured at 10.'
Kai frowned slightly.
'I might be wrong… it's been 10yr since my rebirth.'
And so began the harsh life of Kai and Erza inside the Tower of Heaven.
Days passed as they were forced to work endlessly under the watch of cruel guards.
Rob often gathered the children at night, telling stories about his old days in Fairy Tail to keep their spirits alive.
Kai listened quietly while training his body whenever possible.
As time passed, his physique slowly improved because of Youriichi's Character Card.
Little by little, Kai began understanding something deeper.
The Transparent World.
Through quiet concentration, he could see the flow of muscles and breathing patterns around him.
Sometimes at night, Erza would sit beside him with sore hands after working all day.
Kai would gently hold her hands.
"Stay still," he said quietly.
Erza blinked in confusion. "What are you doing?"
Kai smiled softly.
"Relaxing your muscles."
Using the Transparent World, he carefully massaged her hands to ease the strain from endless labor.
Erza slowly relaxed as the pain faded.
"…Thank you Kai."
Kai simply nodded.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
And before they realized it—
A full year had passed since Kai and Erza were brought to the Tower of Heaven.