Although it took some convincing from her circus troupe leaders, and some tearful goodbyes from her fellow acrobats and other friends, Tai had convinced everyone that she was pursuing a new dream that would make them all proud of her when they heard stories about Fairy Tail. After nuzzling her favorite lion goodbye, she was off to the train station with Kai and D.O. The two boys watch as the girl stares out of the window thoughtfully.

 

A while later, conversation starts up between them, the boys reassuring her that she wasn’t making a bad decision, to which she replies, “I know.” With an anticipant smile.

 

“By the way, are D.O and Kai your real names?” she asks.

 

“Uh… well actually, my real name is Jongin. Kim Jongin. But I wanted a cooler name once I started using magic.” Kai looks down with slight embarrassment, “A lot of people in guilds use different names as wizards. But that doesn’t stop us from calling each other our real names every now and then.”

 

“What about you, Dyo?” she addresses him with the cute pet name she had come up with since she didn’t really like enunciating D.O.

 

“Do Kyungsoo.” He replies with a small smile, “I didn’t think I needed one, but my partner came up with it for me.”

 

“That’s interesting. Does anyone actually call you that though?” Tai asks

 

“Well…”

 

“No one calls him that besides himself and Chanyeol.” Kai rolls her eyes, “It’s a lame name. Point blank.”

 

“It’s grown on me. I don’t want to hurt my partner’s feelings. He’s my best friend.” D.O chuckles. “Despite how big of a goofball he can be.”

 

“I think it’s sweet.” Tai voices.

 

“Thanks.”

 

 

>/<

 

 

 

Tai can’t help but stop and stare up at the large Fairy Tail sign in front of the guild in awe, “Wow.”

 

“Home sweet home.” Kai smiles, wrapping an arm around Tai’s shoulders to lead her inside. She drags her one rolling suitcase and duffel bag in behind her as she follows alongside Kai.

 

“Ayo! Kai, where’d you find her? She’s cute!” A man shouts out as the trio walks towards the bar at the end of the room.

 

“Ooh, she has her stuff. Did you recruit a newbie?” Another woman asks.

 

“Oh my gooooddd!!! She’s adorable!!!” Another girl shouts excitedly.

 

“Okay, she’s wearing pink. Someone needs to tell her she’s going to need a new wardrobe.” One woman scowls slightly at Tai as she passes by.

 

The room is huge. Everything is made from the same kind of lumber and it reminds Tai of an enormous camp cabin. The tall wooden pillars used as a foundation for the building are about 15 meters high. There are wooden tables and benches all around the place, and beer or some other drink on almost every other table. There were children too, laughing and playing with the magic the grownups were teasing them with. Tai can’t hide the large smile on her face.

 

“Master.” D.O addresses the man sitting at the bar.

 

The man in a red tracksuit turns around to face the three, “Ah, Kyungsoo and Jongin. I assume your mission went well. You brought a new friend back with you.”

 

“Yes, we finished our mission thanks to this girl right here. We think she would make a wonderful addition to the guild.” D.O introduces the girl beside him.

 

She steps forward and out of Kai’s arm, bowing to the Fairy Tail master, “Hi! I’m Lee Tai. It’s nice to be here and meet you. I really admire Fairy Tail.” She smiles her usual bright smile.

 

“And I’m Lee Sooman. It’s a pleasure. You seem to shine with a bright light around you. What kind of magic do you use?” he asks.

 

“I’m not a wizard.” She clarifies.

 

“You’re not.” The master makes a contemplative face for a moment, “It’s been a while since we’ve had a non-magic member. Kyungsoo says you have aided these two on their mission? May I ask how you did so?”

 

“She’s a Chi blocker. It was amazing.” D.O answers for her.

 

“Seriously! She took him out faster than I could blink!” Kai praises, making Tai blush a little behind her smile.

 

“Chi blocking! A fascinating art. I haven’t met a Chi blocker in decades. You’ll make a wonderful addition to the guild, Tai.” Sooman nods with a smile, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Yay!” she shouts happily, throwing her arms around the guild master and squeezing him tightly, “Thank you for accepting me into this amazing guild!”

 

“You’re more than welcome, my dear.” The master smiles.

 

“Well, first things first.” The girl behind the bar comes forward with what looks like a stamp in her hand. “Where do you want your new tattoo?”

 

Tai jumps towards the bar where the blonde girl is, “Oh my gosh! I don’t even know! This is awesome. I want it somewhere people can see it. But I also want it to be somewhere I can see it! Uhm… I’ll put it on here!” she jumps onto the counter in a hand stand, dropping her knees down on the counter between her hands before standing upright again. Her navel is right in front of the bartender girl, a perfect position for her to stamp the guild insignia onto her bare stomach.

 

Taking the wooden stamp, she presses it against the left side of Tai’s stomach for a moment before removing it to reveal the red tattoo now permanently printed on her flawless skin. Tai shrieks in excitement, hugging the blonde girl before jumping off of the counter and cartwheeling back happily towards her two escorts. She pivots in the same way she had last time and lands on D.O’s waist, clutching onto him like a koala on a eucalyptus tree. “Dyo! I’m in Fairy Tail now! I can’t believe it!” she squeals.

 

When she drops her feet, she bounces once on her toes before jumping onto Kai to hug him as well, “I haven’t ever been so happy! Thank you!” Kai smiles at D.O and rubs the girl’s back lovingly to welcome her hug.

 

“Damn Kai, you got yourself a teddy bear, eh?” A man at one of the tables comments after seeing such a bright display of affection from a brand new member.

 

“Ooh! I want to flip around like that!” A girl jumps in excitement before attempting a cartwheel as swift as Tai’s just earlier. By her fourth one, she tumbles over and is caught by another Fairy Tail member. “Thanks.” She giggles dizzily.

 

“Let’s introduce you to some friends.” D.O smiles as Tai sets herself back on her feet.

 

Before he knows it, Tai latches herself to his side again, “Okay!”

 

D.O’s eyes widen before he brushes it off and leads her by the waist towards one end of the room, “Chanyeol!” he calls out to an auburn haired male sitting with a couple of girls at a table, laughing raucously.

 

He turns towards the three walking towards him and greets them with a great big, open-mouthed smile, “D.O-ah! And Kai. You guys are back already.” He tames his smile just a bit seeing the newcomer approaching him as well, “And who’s this princess you’ve got on your arm here?” he turns his body away from the table to lean his elbows on the chair and tabletop on either side of him.

 

“Tai, this is my main partner, Park Chanyeol. He’s the—“

 

“You’re the dragon slayer!” Tai shouts, her smile growing just as big as Chanyeol’s as she jumps forward with a bow, “I’m Tai. Lee Tai. Wow, can you show me some of your magic?” she asks right off the bat.

 

Chanyeol chuckles a low throaty titter before leaning forward towards the girl. He holds his hand out, palm up in front of him, and a burst of flames erupts from the heart of his hand. “Wow!” Tai gasps, her eyes shining brightly with excitement as she watches the fire dance in Chanyeol’s hand. She reaches forward and waves her hand around the flames, getting a feel of the heat emanating from it. She blows at the fire like a candle, but nothing happens to it.

 

“You can’t get rid of dragon slaying fire that easily.” Chanyeol explains before extinguishing the flames with a clench of his fist, “One of its many charms.”

 

Curiously, Tai places her hand over Chanyeol’s fist, surprising the tall man before her. Boldly, she reaches up to touch his neck and jaw as well, “Wow, you’re hot. Just like the fire!” she discovers.

 

Chanyeol blinks before winking, “You’re not so bad yourself, princess.”

 

Tai giggles before pulling her hand away and bowing once more, “It was cool meeting you.”

 

“Hold on a sec,” Chanyeol stops her by grabbing her wrist. He looks over and beckons to another friend, “Yah! Kris hyung! Baekhyun hyung! Chen!”

 

Within seconds, three new people are by Tai’s side. Kai reflexively pulls the girl farther away from the trio. “Well hey there, cutie.” The brunette greets her with a smile.

 

“Tai, these are some good friends of ours, Baekhyun, Kris, and Chen.” Chanyeol introduces.

 

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Baekhyun, the one who had greeted her at first, takes hold of her hand and kisses it gently. Tai giggles.

 

“As am I.” The other handsome one, Chen, takes her hand as well but only bows his head before releasing it. Kris does the same.

 

“I’m Tai.” She smiles back brightly.

 

“So we’ve heard.” Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows once, “Chi blocker. I’ve never heard of something like that. You don’t actually use magic, then?”

 

“Nope.” Tai shakes her head, “But I love magic! I’ve always wanted to be around it since I was little. It’s amazing. What can you guys do?”

 

“Me? What else can I say but that I can make your world brighter?” Baekhyun rests an arm around Tai’s shoulders as he moves his arm up towards the ceiling. Suddenly, one of the lights becomes impossibly bright and almost blinds anyone who looks directly into it. Tai turns to her side and sees a similar brightness in Baekhyun’s eyes as he uses magic. That’s the kind of brightness she looks for in magic. After his demonstration, Baekhyun turns to smile smugly at his main audience only to find her already smiling brightly back at him.

 

Before Baekhyun can lean closer, Tai turns to Kris, “And what can you do?” she asks excitedly.

 

“Me? I can fly.” He shrugs simply.

 

“Really? Can you take me flying too?”

 

“Some other time, after you get acquainted with the guild. We’ll see how it goes.” Kris smiles gently.

 

“And you?” Tai turns to the last of the three.

 

Chen only chuckles before taking two fingers and touching Baekhyun’s shoulder. The boy jolts in shock and immediately releases Tai to clutch his shoulder, “Ouch! I’m your partner, dude!” to which Chen only laughs again.

 

“Ooh, so is that electricity?” Tai asks.

 

“Lightning, actually. But it would be kind of lethal to zap Baekhyun to his death right here.” He nudges his partner with his elbow playfully.

 

“Can I try?” Tai sticks her hand out to hold Chen’s. Everyone looks at her with widened eyes, but the anticipating smile on her face shows no sign of joking as she wait for Chen clasp his hand with hers.

 

“Are you sure?” he asks.

 

“Just once.” She nods, “I want to see how powerful Fairy Tail wizards are.”

 

Although still hesitant, Chen takes Tai’s hand in his own and holds onto it before sparks of lightning start appearing around their linked hands. Tai’s face shows no sign of pain as she just watches their hands curiously as the bluish lightning continues to spark around them. Chen watches her reaction as well as he increases the amount of power slowly until finally, ten seconds later, Tai lets out a scream of pain and drops her head, squeezing Chen’s hand tightly. The lightning mage lets go of Tai immediately and she drops to her knees, but the sparks around their individual hands continue to flicker even after they separate. “Wow…” Tai pants out before looking up at Chen with a smile, “That’s an amazing power.”

 

“Maybe we should get your hand healed. I could call Lay.” D.O jumps in to kneel beside Tai, reaching for her hand. But the Chi blocker raises her hand up into the air before slamming it flat into the ground, and the sparks disappear from her hand and the color slowly returns back to normal.

 

She looks up to D.O with a smile, “I’m okay. That was cool! Dyo-ah, I love this guild!” She giggles as she hugs the earth mage beside her. He can do nothing besides gently hug her back.

 

“Hey! I want to get a look at the newbie.” Some more voices shout as a couple people gather around the small group that’s huddled by Chanyeol’s table.

 

D.O helps Tai up and greets several of the other Fairy Tail members who have just arrived, “Tai, this is—“

 

“Choi Siwon, at your service, my lady.” He bows with his bow in one hand. “I hear that you don’t use magic.”

 

“That’s a gutsy thing to do, little girl. Pleased to make your acquaintance; Lee Donghae.” Another handsome man steps forward and offers his hand, which Tai shakes firmly with a bright smile.

 

“And I’m the ace of the team, Eunhyuk.” Another man steps forward with his hand out, only to be slapped in the back of the head by Donghae. After crying out in pain, Tai takes his hand and smiles brightly at the new trio.

 

“More magic. I can just feel it radiating off of you guys.”

 

“Well soon enough you’ll learn how to differentiate different kinds of magic.” Donghae says, “But in the meantime, do you know how to fight? We could work on getting you a signature weapon.”

 

“Yes, I’m a pretty good teacher if I do say so myself.” The one called Eunhyuk steps forward, swinging his belt out and suddenly, several swords grow and stay mid-air to display, “A lot of these swords come with some pretty y armor.”

 

Tai lets out a huge laugh when he chooses a sword to slash through the air and suddenly his outfit explodes in a burst of light, leaving him decked out in Trojan armor, complete with the Mohawk-like helmet on top of his head. But she shakes her head with a small smile on her face at the sight of all the blades, “No thanks, I’m really bad with weaponry. Can’t really get a good long shot either.” She adds when Siwon steps forward with his heart shaped arrows.

 

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to carry around a knife or something though. I wouldn’t recommend going out on any potentially dangerous missions unarmed.” Kris suggests with a serious face with a light tone of voice.

 

Tai raises her fists up in front of her, “I have these.”

 

“Oh little girl, someone with such delicate fingers shouldn’t be getting her hands dirty when a simple tazer shot or slap of a whip would be per—“ Eunhyuk is stopped mid-sentence in his stroll towards Tai when she lands a punch on his left shoulder blade and lower right chest so quick that it was almost unseen. “Oof!” he exclaims before collapsing to the ground as if he had just lost all hold on his muscles and limbs.

 

Everyone stares at the non-magic using girl with the innocent smile before directing their eyes towards the groaning Eunhyuk collapsed on the floor before them. A couple of the newcomers take a step back from Tai, but D.O is the first to say anything, “Wow, you can get to them regardless of whether they’re wearing armor or not.”

 

“Hey! Lay!” Kris calls to someone across the guild, and in a minute, another man is present in the group. When he looks around curiously, Kris directs his gaze towards the crumpled Trojan warrior on the ground and Lay bends down immediately.

 

Eunhyuk’s armor disappears in a flash of light and Lay is free to skim his hands around his torso to find the designated areas he’s been hurt. “What happened? His magic energy’s been completely blocked off.”

 

“Really? Oops. I only meant to paralyze him.” Tai chimes in. Lay blinks up at her curiously before looking back down. A warm glow appears from his palms and Eunhyuk’s paralyzed face starts to relax and he gasps a bit after a little while.

 

“Oh my god!” he coughs, “Little girl, you’re dangerous!” he shouts at Tai before jumping up to size her up, “Welcome to Fairy Tail!” he throws his arms out cheerily and warmly embraces the girl who had just completely immobilized him.

 

Another chiming giggle comes out of Tai, “Thanks.”

 

 

 

After meeting so many new and powerful wizards, it was called into question whether Tai was actually human or not, judging by how much energy she still had at the end of the day without even downing a soda. Since she hadn’t found a place to live yet, Tai had received many offers for housing, but the Chi blocker ended up following D.O home with her bags since she was most comfortable with one of her recruiters. Kai was more than willing to bring her home, but he roomed in the Fairy Tail boys’ dorm, so that was out of the question.

 

“So how was your first day at Fairy Tail?” D.O knows the answer, but he can’t help but ask.

 

“Spectacular! It’s like another home already.” Tai smiles brightly. “Do you have any roommates, Dyo-ah?”

 

“I used to, when I lived in the dorms too.” He nods, “It was a crazy mess, and I personally like having some quiet after being in such a rowdy environment like Fairy Tail. So after I got enough money, I was finally able to put in the deposit for this nice apartment near the river. It’s a bit cheaper than the dorms too.”

 

“Hmm…” Tai contemplates whether she would enjoy being in the girls dorm or in her own apartment like Dyo. But she figures she shouldn’t put too much thought into it when she still needs to have enough money first.

 

When they arrive at the green and white three story house D.O resides at, he graciously takes Tai’s luggage and leads her up the stairs to the middle floor and leads her in. It’s actually quite roomy, and Tai finds it hard to believe that Dyo lives her by himself when it could easily fit a family of four or five. “Here’s your bedroom, Tai. Please make yourself at home. Bathroom is right down the hall, and you can help yourself to any snacks in the cupboards or fridge. I’m going to get started on dinner.”

 

Before he completely leaves the room, Tai envelops him in a tender hug and kisses him on the cheek, “Thanks for everything, Dyo oppa.” She smiles genuinely before letting him go.

 

“Pleasure’s all mine.” D.O smiles back before leaving the room.

 

That night, after D.O had finished showering, Tai enters the earth mage’s bedroom after washing up herself. Jumping onto his bed beside him, she asks, “Dyo-ah, can you tell me your favorite Fairy Tail story?”

 

D.O chuckles before sitting up in his bed, “My favorite?” Tai nods and scoots in closer to D.O, settling herself in his blankets beside him. After thinking for a little while, he finally starts, “I love practically every adventure I experience with Fairy Tail, so it’s hard to choose one. But I will tell you about the first time I was chosen to participate in the Magic Games. I was pitted against one of my old friends from another guild. He’s a copy magic wizard, so he was able to imitate almost all of my actions. He actually changed his form into me, so it looked like I was fighting myself.”

 

“How’d you beat him?” Tai asks quietly, sinking sleepily into D.O’s comforter but still paying her fullest attention to him.

 

“Well, if I was fighting myself, I already knew all of my own weaknesses. So that’s what I used to defeat him.” D.O explains.

 

“What’s your weakness?” Tai asks curiously.

 

“Like I’m going to give away that information so easily.” D.O chuckles, “But anyway. I learned a little bit about myself that day. It’s gotten me far. I’m sure once you learn about your own weaknesses, you’ll be able to protect them better.”

 

At that point, D.O knows that Tai is practically asleep, and she’s holding onto his waist like he was a teddy bear. With a small sigh, he turns off the light and sinks into the bed beside the girl who could be his greatest demise.