Fairy Tail: Dawn of Change by Melissa Nichols (books to read for self improvement txt) 📕

"Don't forget to keep your pants on, Gray!" Mirajane reminded him.

"What's the plan, 'Maaaster'?" Happy teased.

Gray flushed at the attention. "Shut up!" Mastering himself, he stood. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet, so I'm going to go figure it out. If you want to know tomorrow, ask me then," he said firmly and walked off, leaving the guild hall in favor of the silence of the city library.

As for Roxanne, her training continued as usual, mostly. She was too excited to meditate anymore, so they skipped right into the physical aspect of the training, and as Makarov had promised, during their lunch break he bought her ice cream as well. Time flew, and before Roxanne knew it the day was done and Makarov was taking her back to the guild.

When she entered the guild hall, she looked around for Gray and was rather disappointed to not see him. For that matter, she didn't see Happy, Natsu, or Lucy either. Frowning a little, she went to the bar and took a seat. "Hi, Mira." She greeted the older Strauss sibling.

"Hi, Roxanne!"

"Have you seen Natsu, Lucy, Happy, or Gray?"

"Gray left just after you did. He said he was going to make a plan regarding your training."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense." And now she felt kind of stupid. Of course that was what he was doing!

"Natsu and Lucy left a few hours ago," Mirajane continued. "Romeo was very worried, because Macao hasn't returned yet, so they left to find him, and rescue him if need be."

"Macao's missing?!" Roxanne exclaimed, not needing to fake her shock. She'd gotten so caught up in her training and finding her magic that she hadn't really thought about the fact that she hadn't seen Macao since that first day. "Oh no! Are they alright?" The Macao Arc had begun, and while she knew the outcome already, that didn't mean she wasn't a little worried.

"I'm sure they're fine," Mirajane assured her. "Natsu and Macao are both strong mages, and I'm sure Lucy is safe with Natsu and Happy."

"Yeah." Roxanne smiled brightly at Mirajane, feeling better. "After all, Natsu is a Dragon Slayer. There's nothing that can take him down when someone he cares about needs him!"

"That's so true," Mirajane laughed, handing Rox her plate. "Now eat up. You've got a big day tomorrow!"

"Yep!" Roxanne beamed at her and bounced in place, trying not to fall off of the tall stool in pure fangirl squee.

Just as she was finishing her food, Romeo entered the guild hall. Roxanne smiled and hopped down from her seat, racing over to the little boy. After a few minutes of mutually reassuring each other that Macao would be fine, since Natsu (and Lucy) were going to rescue him, they started a vigorous game of hide-and-seek. Two hours later, after somehow managing to convince Elfman to play the 'ogre' in their game, they were giggling and hiding under one of the big tables when Wakaba called Romeo to go home. The younger boy pouted a little—or was it sulking when boys did it?—but went along willingly enough, noting that he had homework to finish. Roxanne had been surprised by how dutiful Romeo was when it came to homework.

At that point, Roxanne decided that sleep might be the best idea. She wanted to study Fiorean runes some more—she still couldn't read well, though she at least recognized most of the symbols—but she was just so tired that she didn't think she'd be able to keep her eyes open long enough.

Once she was upstairs, she bathed quickly and changed into her pajamas. She stood between her bed and her desk, debating on skipping a journal entry for that night. In the end, she sat down at the desk. How could she possibly not record today's events?

July 11, x784

What a day it's been! This morning, during meditation with the Master, I found my soul. It was so pretty! It looked like water trapped in a glass ball, but the glass was actually ice! So when I reached out to touch it, I discovered my magic. Ice magic! Gray has agreed to be my mentor and I'm so excited! I don't think I could be happier. After all, I'm Gray Fullbuster's apprentice! We start training tomorrow. What will I be doing? Practicing ice magic for sure, but anything else? Will he make me keep doing my meditations? I found my magic—what else do I need it for? Will I learn how to really fight, not just fall, or punch air? I wonder what will change tomorrow. I have to say, though, I'm kind of sad to not be training with Master Makarov anymore. It was actually kind of fun, even if it was tiring. He had me doing all kinds of stuff so it was always a challenge, but nothing ever really changed too much so I got better and better every day. I wonder what Gray will have me do?

Oh, also, the Macao Arc began today. I wonder how much longer it will be until the Galuna Island arc? I hope not too soon. I shudder just thinking about the pain that is in store for Gray. And Lucy, and all of my friends when their arcs come! But Edolas is gonna be great! That's when Lisanna comes back! Natsu and Happy are gonna be so happy, and so will Elfman and Mirajane. Oh, I hope I'm not pulled out of the lacrima along with Gray. I'm not a very fast runner, so I'd have a hard time avoiding the Edolas soldiers. And I don't know if I'll even know how to fight properly by then. Oh no! What am I going to do during the Tenrou Island Arc?! That's seven years without Gray, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and Mira and Makarov! How will I train if I'm by myself? I'm too tired to think about it too much tonight, so it'll have to be later. I'm really tired! But I'm not sure how well I'll sleep. I mean, I'm bone-tired, but I'm also so excited and hyper! Fangirl mode is in full swing and I'm not sure I'll be able to turn it off. Gray is my master! Squee! Well, I might as well try to sleep, I guess. Maybe I'll meditate in bed. Maybe I'll end up falling asleep as I stare at my soul. Okay, that sounds kinda creepy. Hee!

The alarm woke Roxanne the next morning, but instead of pressing the button that would give her an additional fifteen minutes like she usually did—this first alarm was just the 'start waking up' alarm rather than the 'get your butt out of bed!' alarm that she never missed—she bounced right out of bed. She didn't want to wait around the extra fifteen minutes; she wanted to get downstairs as soon as possible, because today was her first day of Ice Make magic training with Gray!

How had my life gotten to be so amazing? She asked herself as she started pulling on her swimsuit.

Here she was, living out her dream of being a Fairy Tail mage, and she was the apprentice of Gray Fullbuster! Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps from sheer happiness. She felt so alive already, as if this was where she was really meant to be.

She rushed through her morning routine, not bothering to make up her bed or brush her hair. She was out the door in record time and she descended the long staircase at breakneck pace, small feet making thunder on the wooden steps, one hand on the banister for balance. When she reached the bottom she skipped the last step entirely. The pads of her feet stung slightly from the impact when she landed, but she was too excited to care. She dashed to her seat at the bar and scrambled up onto it, feet swinging impatiently as she waited for her food to arrive. She wanted to be ready when Gray came to get her, not still shoveling food into her mouth.

Mira read her in a heartbeat, holding back a giggle to a mere dancing-eyes smile as she tended the frying pan where eggs and bacon sizzled. She slipped the bacon onto a plate the moment it was done, placed the eggs on a slice of toasted bread and dashed pepper over them, and set the plates in front of the new mage.

Roxanne wanted to wolf the food down, but after burning her tongue on the first bite she forced herself to slow down and chew properly. It would be awful if her first lesson with Gray was how to keep from choking on her own food! Still, she finished faster than she ever had before, and immediately jumped down from her stool with a hasty thank-you to Mira for her breakfast. Just like her first day in Magnolia, she was too excited to keep still, had too much excess energy rushing through her veins. She needed to move!

So she did. Most of Fairy Tail's mages weren't morning people, so the guild hall was relatively deserted, and Roxanne felt justified in dashing up and down the rows between tables, dodging the few benches that were not entirely pushed up beneath them. She ran until her breaths came fast and hard, but still the energy burned inside her, and she realized that she needed to find another way to calm down. Scrambling on top of one of the side-tables—the one she knew got used the least, because it had the fewest scratch-marks and indentations from beer mugs—she laid down in as comfortable a position as she could find and started the breathing pattern for meditation.

When Gray finally entered the guildhall, he found his new apprentice like that, lying flat on her back on a table, eyes closed and body motionless save for the slight rise and fall of her breaths. He looked to Mira, who had finished her duties behind the bar and was now prepping the rest of the guild hall. "What is she doing?" he asked, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Roxanne.

"Meditating, I think," his white-haired guildmate whispered in reply

.

Gray gave her a puzzled look. "Why?"

"Well, she was very excited about starting her magic lessons with you today," Mira said, eyes dancing at the way he shifted uncomfortably. "She couldn't sit still earlier, practically inhaled her food—I think this is her last ditch effort to calm down."

"Oh." Gray's brows rose, genuinely impressed. He was both flattered and embarrassed by how eager Roxanne was, but he was more amazed by how well she seemed to be handling it. Had she really wished to have magic like his? The ribbing from everyone else last night had made him nervous about teaching a girl like her, who seemed to admire him almost a little too much. He didn't know much about her, but he knew this: He wanted to help this little girl succeed. He wanted to do right by her, the way Ur had done right by him, and he wanted to do everything he could to make sure that her dreams came true. Gramps had already given her a home and basic instruction, but now she needed him to