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

"Yeah," Natsu said, nodding. "I guess that means you can't learn the same way I did, unless a dragon teaches you. Though if you find one, maybe they'll know where Igneel is! Uh, anyway, sorry."

Roxanne pouted, genuinely disappointed. "Oh, ok. Thanks anyway. Do you know anyone who might be able to help?" She asked that of Natsu specifically. Because they knew that she had done research on Fairy Tail, it was safe for her to ask the guilded wizard.

"I do actually."

"Really?!" Roxanne perked up and became more energetic once again. "Who?!"

"His name is Gramps-"

"Makarov!" Happy interrupted, correcting Natsu as he flew between his friend and the child. "Gramps is his nickname, but his name is Makarov. He's-"

"The guildmaster of Fairy Tail! Of course! Would you please take me to see him, Natsu? Please! You're already taking Lucy, right? Can I come, too? I promise I won't be a bother!"

"How'd you know he's taking me to Fairy Tail, Roxanne?" Lucy asked.

"Because I don't see your guildmark, and you haven't been mentioned in connection to Fairy Tail so you must not be a member. Which means that you're with Natsu so he can put in a good word to Makarov for you, right?" She ended the sentence on a more hesitant note, as if it were speculation rather than foreknowledge.

"Good eye, kid!" Natsu exclaimed and held up a hand for a high five, which Roxanne gleefully reciprocated, though she had to jump for it. "You're right. I'm taking Lucy to Magnolia so she can join Fairy Tail."

"Great! Then it won't be much of a bother to bring me along, too? If that's okay?"

"I don't see why not. Lucy?" Natsu asked.
The blonde smiled, something fond in her eyes as she looked at Roxanne. "I don't mind at all."

"Me neither!" Happy piped in as he raised a paw.

"Then it's decided!" Lucy declared and Roxanne started jumping around in genuine happiness.

"Yay! Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged Lucy, and then Natsu, and then tried to hug Happy again, but he flew out of reach, causing Lucy and Natsu to laugh as Roxanne jumped up repeatedly trying to catch him.

"So, um, what now?" she asked at last, once they'd all calmed down. "Are we staying the night here, or are we leaving?"

"We've already missed the last train of the day, so we'll have to stay here tonight and get an early start tomorrow morning." Lucy explained.

"Great!" Roxanne smiled, only to blush as her stomach rumbled. "Oh, right. I guess I'm hungry."

"Yeah, so am I. Let's get some dinner." Natsu stated and Lucy nodded as well.

Roxanne followed the adults out of the room, practically drooling. She'd gladly eat anything they put in front of her, even if it was weird or something she didn't usually like, like fried mushrooms! She was eating, and that was that!

An hour later, the group returned to the room, full and content.

"Thanks so much for dinner, you guys. I'm sorry I couldn't help pay for my share, but once I can I promise I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it, Roxanne." Natsu replied as he plopped down on one of the two beds.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "We couldn't just let you starve. Oh, by the way, do you mind telling us how you came to be where we found you?" she asked as gently as she could.

"Oh. I guess not, since you've been so kind to me. It's only fair that you know." She replied and sat down on the edge of one of the beds as she recalled the story she had thought up earlier. She thought of Jacob and bit her lip, no need to feign sadness. She could almost imagine dark clouds of depression brewing over her head. She lowered her voice and scrunched her shoulders, looking down.

"I was born a few countries to the East," she began. "My mom was a college professor, and my dad was a police detective. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either." She started off easily enough, voice only a little shaky. "But one night, while I was at a friend's house, a burglar broke in and killed my parents while they slept." She paused, hearing Lucy gasp and watching all three of them go pale from beneath her lashes.
It felt awful, wrong, to claim that her parents were dead. But they didn't exist here. It was the only thing she'd been able to think of to explain why she had no parents. Why she was alone.
She didn't have to fake the lump in her throat or the tears welling in her eyes; She had to force them away. But she did it. She took a shaky breath, wrapped her arms around herself and continued her fabricated story.

"Then he stole everything. Everything that mattered. My mom's jewelry, the cash from their wallets and the jars, even the money I had in my piggybank! It was so mean!" She cried and slammed a fist angrily onto the mattress. She hated thieves. Not funny thieves, like Robin Hood or Kaito Kid, who never hurt people and only chose jerks for targets. She hated real thieves, the kind who took things that other people had worked hard for and loved, and didn't care if they hurt anybody to get what they wanted.
She took a couple more breaths, trying to calm down, and went back to her tale. She'd decided that this had to have happened a while ago, or it would be too fresh, too new for her to say the next words without breaking down.

"I was the one to find them the next morning," she whispered into the silence. "I called the police, but it was too late. For the next week, I stayed at my friend's house while funeral arrangements were made and the police did their investigation. But they couldn't find anything, not for weeks and weeks, so the case was closed and they gave up. But I couldn't - I couldn't just stay there. I couldn't." She shook her head so hard it hurt, made her dizzy. "So, I opened the safe hidden under my old baby things in the attic and I took the money that was in there, and boarded the next train headed west." She paused again, feeling her eyes tear up again.

"I've always followed Fairy Tail. So I planned on going to Magnolia and trying to become a wizard and joining the guild. If I can't become a wizard, I want to get a job in town and work for a living. It's - all the papers say Fairy Tail wizards break things a lot, but you help people too! You're strong, really strong, so no one's going to try anything in the town where you all live. It's safe. It's safe." She stopped again to breathe and hopefully banish the tears, but all she did was cry a bit harder. She didn't know much about Fiore as a country, but there were all kinds of monsters and strange beings in the story that had been amazing and interesting when it had just been a story. Now, the more she thought about trying to live here, on her own, the more she realized that she'd never be able to do it.

All she knew about Fiore, about Earthland, was what she'd seen of it in the Fairy Tail anime. Fairy Tail was all she knew. It was the only thing that felt real to her here, that felt like maybe it would be safe.

Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be lonely.
 

"Everything went fine for the first few days," she managed, trying to stick to her story even though her head ached and her nose was running and her eyes felt puffy. "But then, as I was walking from a train station to the road so I could catch a ride with someone, a group of bad guys knocked me out. When I woke up, all I had left was my clothes. All of my money, my food and water. All of it was gone!" She yelled as she started crying in earnest now, face buried in her knees.

"I tried looking around but they were long gone and even their footprints had been wiped away! So all I could do was face west and start walking. I walked and walked and walked and I couldn't find anyone and I was all alone and thirsty and hungry and tired but I had to keep walking. I had to. But then I couldn't walk anymore and I fell down and passed out and woke up again here and - " She then broke down in earnest sobbing and was quickly embraced by Lucy while Natsu and Happy looked on, unsure of how to help this crying child.
 

Fifteen minutes later, Lucy tucked a sleeping Roxanne under the covers of a bed and brushed the hair out of Roxanne's face.

"Poor thing." she whispered with a sigh. "So young and already an orphan."

"Yeah." Happy agreed solemnly. "I guess we're all she has, huh?"

"Yeah." Natsu whispered as Happy nuzzled against Roxanne.

Looking at each other for a second, Lucy and Natsu silently left the room to let Roxanne sleep.

Exhaust burned in her lungs as Roxanne strained to catch the bus, jumping over the curb lithely as she stretched her legs as far as she could. Nicole, Melody and Jacob were already on the bus, waving back at her through the glass at the rear of the vehicle. Their lips were moving so Roxanne knew that she shouldn't be able to hear what they said, but their words still traveled to her ears clearly. 
"It's your fault you'll be late." That was Nicole's voice, as gentle as ever but the reprimand still stung. Roxanne knew she responsible, and to be reprimanded by Nicole hurt much more than the words ever could. "You shouldn't have turned off the alarm."
"Now you'll be late and you only have yourself to blame," Melody said. Her voice was wispy like a cloud, disappearing quickly into the background. But the hurt from her words would stay with Roxanne for a long time. "But we won't be late because we got up on time."
"How can you expect to be worthy of my love if you can't even wake up when you're supposed to?" Jacob asked harshly, the question cutting Roxanne to the quick. She stumbled as her brother hurled her greatest fear at her, making her wish to bleed so her pain would have a physical form. It didn't matter that the real Jacob would never say such a cruel thing, that this was a dream. Her brother's words still hurt deeply. "You'll only be a burden to others if you make them wait for you. Haven't I taught you anything?"
"Wait, please! Jacob, come back!" Roxanne shouted as she got up and raced for the bus once again. "I promise I won't sleep in again, so please don't leave me. Jacob!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the bus turn a corner and her friends and brother faded from sight, leaving her alone once more.
Heartbroken, she slowed and fell to her knees. "Please. Don't leave me," she sobbed and covered her face with her hands.
 
"Roxanne!" A strange