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

With that resolution blazing strongly in her heart, she turned off the water and got out as she grabbed a towel. Drying herself, she left her hair wet and cleared the vapor from the mirror so she could see herself. She needed to see her new face.

She wasn't at all surprised to find that she was animated as well, and found that she liked the change, mostly. Her face looked a bit thinner and paler, and all of her freckles were gone. Her previously sky blue eyes now looked bigger and brighter, more like sapphires. Her hair had also changed, deepening in hue to an aubern shade and the highlights gave new life to the strands. Her hands were long and skinny, much more appealing than they were before, and her waist was more defined so she had the hourglass shape that she'd always yearned for. Her legs looked longer and seemed to be thinner than they were, with almost no meat on the bones. All in all, she thought she looked good in a conventional sense but she was more approving of the changes in her eyes and hair.

Nodding in acceptance, she dressed and prepared to leave the bathroom, but then stopped suddenly with her hand hovering over the knob. She was sure that Natsu and Lucy would ask her where she had come from, if she had any family. What should she do?

Her first thought was to tell them the truth. They were being so nice to her, helping a little girl they didn't know and taking care of her. She really wanted to repay them by telling them the truth. But would they believe her? Since it was just the three of them, they probably hadn't formed a team with Erza and Gray yet - that meant that they hadn't engaged in the Edolas arc, so alternate universes would seem impossible to them. Not only that, but Roxanne wasn't even sure what really happened to her either, h it had happened, or why. How could she expect them to believe her crazy story if she wasn't even sure what happened?

But... I don't want to lie. Roxanne didn't like lying, not even when it would get her out of trouble. Not even for little things. She liked acting, and cosplay with her friends - her heart clenched, realizing she'd never get to do that again - but lying to people outright seemed so wrong, especially to nice people. She didn't want to lie, especially if she wanted to be friends with everyone! They'd be so mad if they found out she lied to them; it would shatter every relationship she'd made. Makarov might feel bad for her and forgive her if she gave good enough reason, but what about everyone else? Would they yell at her like Melody had? Tell her how awful a friend she was?
But what would they do if she told them the truth? Lucy was nice - she put up with the guild's craziness all the time, and Natsu was really big on accepting people for who they were. They might humor her, even if they didn't believe her. But what if they didn't? What if she couldn't join Fairy Tail? Doing that was her only real hope - she didn't know enough about the rest of Fiore to live anywhere else. She had no one to rely on, no one who could help her find somewhere to live. And she was little. Who was going to let a girl her age work a real job?
Roxanne bit her lip, tears wobbling in her eyes and making them sting. I don't want that! I don't want to lie to them! She wasn't even any good at it!

Wait.

A thought eased the tightness in her chest. What if she only lied for a little bit? What if-- what if it wasn't a lie? What if it was, was acting? Cosplay! She could be someone else, for a little while, right? She wasn't really the same Roxanne Simmons, after all - she was animated now, thin black borders tracing the lines of her hands, smooth color where the little wrinkles surrounding her knuckles should be, and her personality had certainly shifted already as a result of this whole experience. So really she was more like Roxanne Simmons 2.0, so it would be acting and not lying, right? And she could spend the time searching for answers, trying to find the truth! Then she could tell them the real truth once it was safe for her to do so! She was sure that if she gave a good reason for her deception, everyone would forgive her. Okay, Gajeel probably wouldn't. He'd be pretty mad, because he didn't like being tricked. But she liked to think he'd understand, even if he got mad about it. And everyone else... they'd understand too. Especially Carla and Lisanna. Lucy would always forgive her - that was the kind of person she was - and Erza and Gray would probably be upset at first, but they'd forgive her eventually too. Natsu would just take everything in stride, right?
And besides! This way, she could keep an eye on the guild and, and maybe kind of warn them when danger was approaching without them getting freaked out. Was there a magic that let people predict the future? Cana had magic like that, with her cards, right? She didn't think it gave specifics, though, so she'd have to be really, really subtle. She had to preserve the time line so it wouldn't change, then she could continue to protect the guild from the sidelines. Maybe she could even convince Makarov to forgive Gajeel and Juvia faster, or warn him that the guild hall and Team Shadowgear would be attacked!

Yes, this was a plan. She could do this!
 

Her mind made up, she felt determination wash over her. Now she needed to think up a plausible story. Who was this Roxanne Simmons? What kind of character was she? She kind of wished she'd paid more attention to Melody's lectures about how to get in character.

Roxanne thought for several long minutes, planning out every detail that she anticipated would be asked about, and exited the bathroom once she was confident that her story was good and she knew how she should act, at least at first.
 

"Sorry about that. I'm better now." She smiled and bowed. "My name is Roxanne Simmons. It's a pleasure to meet you, and thank you so much for taking care of me."

"Hi, Roxanne! I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu and Happy." Lucy smiled as she gestured to the boys in turn.

"Nice to meet you, Roxanne!" Happy cheered happily.

Roxanne stared in confusion at Happy, even though she wasn't the least bit confused. She'd seen Happy before, but she hadn't reacted to his presence. Partly because she'd been panicking, and partly because she already knew who Happy was. But she shouldn't. This new Roxanne shouldn't. "A talking cat? A blue, talking cat?!"

"Yep! And I fly, too!" He exclaimed as he demonstrated his magic.

"Wow!" Roxanne cried and backed up a bit as she forced her eyes to widen in supposed surprise. "How is that possible? What-What is he?"

Natsu shrugged. "He's just a talking, flying cat. That's all we know."

"That's so cool!" Roxanne smiled, eyes still wide, but this time with excitement. It was the way she'd first reacted when seeing Happy in the manga - talking animals weren't all that strange in manga, but a flying kitty that talked and wore a little knapsack was something special.

Then she turned her wide eyes on Lucy, rushing over as if the excitement of the whole thing had slaughtered her attention span. "Oh, wow!" she said, all admiration as she seized Lucy's right hand. "I love your nails! They're so long and healthy. I'm so jealous!" She pretended to look at the nails when, actually, she was checking Lucy's hand for her guild mark, which was absent. That alone told her all she needed to know. Without the guild mark, Lucy wasn't in Fairy Tail yet, which meant that they were between episodes one and two of the anime. They must have been on their way to Fairy Tail when they found her.

"Oh! Uh, thanks."

"How do you get them so long? I can't seem to stop biting mine." She asked as she held up her own small hand to display her bitten nails.

Actually, she wasn't the least bit interested in nails at the moment, so she changed topics again before Lucy even answered, as though suddenly realizing something far more important.

"Hold on!" She exclaimed and turned to Natsu. "You're Natsu? As in Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander of Fairy Tail?"

"Yep, that's me." He grinned and Happy flew down to Roxanne's level as she squealed in excitement.

"Wait a second. How do you know that?" Happy asked, using a suspicious tone of voice.

Roxanne wasn't worried about the tone, though. At this stage of the anime, most of Happy's lines were almost plastic, they were so lacking in depth. His character wasn't developed yet, unlike Natsu and Lucy. As such, Happy was using that tone of voice because he thought it was appropriate rather than actually being suspicious of Roxanne.

"I've been following Wizard Weekly for a long time," Roxanne said eagerly, eyes shining with admiration. "I've always dreamed of being a Fairy Tail wizard, so I pay attention to any kind of media involving the guild."

"A likely story," Happy replied, seemingly unconvinced. Even though he seemed more to be enjoying the act of acting suspicious than actually disbelieving her.

"Oh, Happy, you're so silly!" Roxanne smiled as she grabbed Happy, pulling him into a hug in an effort to redirect the conversation. She couldn't help it - he was so cute, like a plushie! She'd always wanted a Happy plushie, and Jacob had promised to buy her one on the third day of the -

Her excitement wavered, and she briefly buried her face in Happy's tiny, blue-furred shoulder to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes. He struggled in her arms, but she didn't let go, cuddling him desperately for a moment as Lucy and Natsu laughed at his predicament, not realizing that her hug wasn't a little girl's reaction to cuteness proximity, but something more serious.
After a moment, though, Roxanne forced herself to smile again - to giggle and let go. Happy immediately flew up out of reach, which sparked a whole new round of giggles from the girls and a good-natured jeer from Natsu.
 

Once the laughing died down, Roxanne continued her inquiries.

"Do you two remember how you became wizards?" she asked, looking back and forth eagerly between Natsu and Lucy. "I've been doing a ton of research on it, but everything I've heard conflicts with what others say. But you guys are wizards yourselves, so you must know, right?" Belatedly, she realized that she had no in-character reason to think that Lucy was a wizard at this point, other than her travelling with Natsu.
Luckily, neither of them seemed to think anything of it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Roxanne, but I can't help you," Lucy replied. "I inherited my magic from my mother, so I don't remember."

"I was born with my wings, so I can't help you either," Happy shrugged. "Sorry."

"I learned from Igneel," Natsu said, and then - "He's a fire dragon, have you seen him?"

Roxanne was shaking her head even before he finished asking the question, eyes as huge as she could make them. "You learned from a real dragon?" she asked, awed. She'd almost forgotten that, at this stage of the story, Natsu's search for Igneel was actually his main driving force. Later on in the story, that motivation would fall by the wayside in the face of the greater dangers they faced - although he would get answers, eventually - but