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Fairy Survivor

Summary:

Reborn as the 4th child of the Strauss family, Cyrus Strauss plans to enjoy this new world to the fullest. He will live a grand life of adventure as a member of Fiore's most infamous dark guild… Wait, dark guild? Um… I want to join Fairy Tail… Is that Brain? SI/OC Grimoire Heart Dark Fantasy (absolutely no harems)

Notes:

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

I'm starting my first fanfic since I've had this idea bouncing in my head for a while now and I've just wanted to write it to get it out. I plan on writing and posting at least a chapter every couple of days, so hopefully I can churn this out pretty quickly. I'm mainly writing for fun, so while I welcome and would love any feedback, there may be some discrepancies because I don't exactly know Fairy Tail inside and out.

With that out of the way, Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

At first, everything was murky, as if my mind was covered by a thick fog. Days melted together and I could hardly tell the difference between when I was awake and when I was asleep. It probably would have been scary had I been able to actually think about it, so looking back I suppose that there are small blessings in everything.

When the fog finally lifted enough for me to register what was going on around me, I was greeted to the sight of a giant white head with soft blue eyes peering at me over a railing. Before I had the chance to wonder who this was and how they were so huge, another, even larger, white head popped up beside her. My surprise was vocalized with some nonsensical babbling that made the giants coo and smile, but it seemed that the world had decided I wasn't surprised enough because a third head joined the peanut gallery. I was beginning to wonder if I had been brought to a cloning factory for white-haired giants, and by the looks on their faces, I feared that I had been brought there as desert.

A few days of cautious observation, traumatic manhandling, and embarrassing but unavoidable mishaps led me to a pretty groundbreaking discovery. I couldn't understand a word anyone said, (I think it was Japanese because some things sounded familiar) but I did hear names, and matching those names to the giant's faces told me all I needed to know.

I had been reborn as the youngest child of the Strauss family.

Yes, Strauss as in the Take Over mages from Fairy Tail in that manga of the same name.

Manga, as in not real.

Mages, as in not real.

Reborn, as in I'M A FREAKIN BABY!

With thoughts like those, my baby days passed in shocked reflection of my past life and what I knew of this new world, all while making adorable babbles with a tongue that wasn't used to words yet.

I don't think that I died in my old world, or at least, I don't remember dying. At some point my memories just kind of trail off and turn hazy like my early infancy. Unlike most stories I've heard about reincarnation, I'm not actually sad about leaving my old life behind. I didn't have a bad life or anything, and I had a pretty good relationship with my family, but that's it. It just wasn't a bad life. I had no dreams or goals, nothing to get me going. It was dull.

Now that I was in a new world, an exciting world, I decided then and there to make the most out of it and just have fun. Earthland is a world with a lot of problems: slavery, organized crime, and literal demons, but it is undeniably an exciting place. Joining Fairy Tail will be the first step to being at the center of that excitement.

I wholeheartedly deny that I had thoughts of how to take a crack at immortality to live here as long as possible. Nothing to see here Ankhserum.


Anyway, I'm currently 2 years old and am officially known as the Strauss family's perpetual headache. Previously, all my time and effort was spent learning baby things, like walking and talking, but now that I can do both of those things I have unleashed hell. The frustration of not moving for so long has led to my constant attempts at escaping the house for many a grand adventure. Wherein I am swiftly apprehended and returned to either dad or Mira for an earful. Personally, I much prefer dad because Mira is terrifying.

Benjin Strauss is a super cheerful man in his early thirties who never stops smiling, even when he scolds me. I don't think the guy has an angry bone in his body, so I guess Mira must take after mom then. My new mom died in year x771 in childbirth with me apparently, I'm not exactly sad because I never knew her and the rest of the family fills her role for me, but it does worry me. I remember that both of the Strauss parents were dead when Mira absorbed the demon, but no matter how hard I think, I can't remember how they died. All I can do is be prepared and hope that my addition to the family changes something.

"Cyrus, what're you doing now?" an exasperated voice sounds out behind me and an 8-year-old Mira peeks over my shoulder at the drawing I made in the dirt. "A sword?"

"Yep!" I chirp up at her. "I need a sword."

Now hear me out. I understand that as a Strauss, my magic is probably Take Over magic, and I may not be able to hold a sword after transforming. I can only say touche, but this is this and that is that and I still need a sword. I'm in a world of magic and monsters, to not have a sword would be blasphemous. Even Gandalf had one, and he was an old man.

"Nope, I can't think of anything that you need less than a sword." Her dry response tells me exactly how much help she will be in getting me the object of my heart's desire.

"You don't get it," I inform Mira of my disappointment before getting up and walking back to the house to guilt trip dad into taking me down to the town. These Earthland mages have no sense of what's important.

Inside our humble little house, I hear Lisanna and Elfman giggle about something in the kitchen, but I stride right past them to dad's bedroom. My mission will not be deterred. Inside the bedroom, I find my target conked out for an afternoon nap. He got back from hunting late last night and needs to go to town today to sell the furs, and I'm determined to make my social debut today.

Dad is woken up with a vicious attempt on his life via a five star slap on the heart.

"Argh! What the… Cyrus?!" His eyes settle on me, forced to skip the sluggish prelude to wakefulness that usually lingers for hours.

"In the flesh."

"Don't do that Cyrus, papa almost had a heart attack." He rubs the little red handprint on his pale skin. Luckily, my tiny arms don't have the strength to cause a welt or anything more than red skin.

"Take me to town with you." Out comes my well-prepared and incredibly persuasive request.

"What do you want from Oakridge? No matter how many times you ask, I'm not buying you a sword." His eyes narrow with suspicion.

"Just wanna see it. Bored." A lie. I want to see if there are any magic items or maybe books to train magic… or a sword.

"It's a small town, but you could still get lost. Why don't we wait until you're Lisanna's age first?"

"Won't leave you. Promise." A lie. If I find something interesting and he doesn't want to go over to it with me, you better believe I'll be flying over there in approximately zero seconds flat.

"Haah, fine, but you're sticking right by my side the whole time. Don't expect to ever go back there if you try to sneak off." He finally relents, he always does eventually, now I just gotta find out what buttons to press to get him to relent on getting me a sword.

Oakridge town was a disappointment of epic proportions. Going to the marketplace with dad to sell his furs was such a thrilling idea to me. Even if it's a small town with no magic guilds or anything like that, it's still a magic world. The marketplace is bound to be filled with magic items and cursed swords and monster parts, right?

Not right. Not even close to right. Not only was there no chance for me to reenact the scene of Roronoa Zoro tossing a cursed sword up in order to get it for free, but I didn't even get to see a crappy rusted sword being sold as an afterthought to get rid of it. That's not even mentioning magic. I'm starting to think that magic doesn't even exist here because I have seen exactly none of it.

Ultimately, I held true to my flimsy promises and never let dad's side as he sold his furs and horns and bought some groceries to bring home. He was so proud of me that I could have sworn I saw a tear in his eye when our house was in sight again. I'm not that bad normally, am I?

When he opened the door, I pushed past his legs and retreated to my room to pout. Regrettably, all my siblings were already there, ready for bed, so I would be denied my private sulking time.

"Well look who's all cranky now. Did dad yell at you for running off on him?" Mira was quick to tease me upon my entrance.

"Cyrus… are you okay?" Elfman carefully frets over me. Honestly, I can't picture him as the rowdy muscle freak from the manga at all.

I try to ignore them and move to my bed, but my hand is grabbed and I'm held firmly in place by the cheerful one.

"What's wrong?" Lisanna demands. Not asks, because nobody ever ignores Lisanna.

"..." My mouth opens and closes several times, but no words come out. Finally, I manage to push through the pain and let out my inner turmoil. "The town market didn't have a cursed sword possessed by a demon that only I could use and would name me as the legendary hero of Earthland!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

My heart-wrenching cry of pain and loss leaves the room silent for a solid minute before 6-year-old Lisanna decides to play the straight man.

"Of course it doesn't."

"Um, I think it would be pretty bad if there was something like that." Elfman chips in.

"I swear, every time that you say more than a couple words it's always complete gibberish, isn't it? Now stop being stupid and go to bed." Mira finishes me off with the fatal blow.


Two years after my first to Oakridge town I was in the marketplace with dad once again. Ever since that day, I had gone to town with dad every single time he went. The town itself remains a complete letdown, but there were still opportunities to be found there. There was a possibility of running into traveling mages in town as they stopped by for supplies or information.

Mages travel all over for their jobs and there aren't many vehicles in this world to speed up the process for them. This means that most jobs are a multiple day endeavor and they need to stop at towns and villages along the way to rest and restock. So far, I've seen three mages in Oakridge town for my efforts.

The first was a massive bald man who looked suspiciously similar to Jura Neekis, but I didn't get a chance to confirm that. My first sight of anything magical had turned me rabid with excitement and I made a blind dash for him, only to get my collar snatched by dad and swiftly brought home where I was grounded for two weeks.

The second was a beautiful brunette in yellow robes who I didn't recognize from the series. This time, I showed no reaction to her until I was certain that dad had his back turned. Then I swiftly escaped to her side. I played the lost child beautifully to get her to lead me away from the marketplace "in search of my dad". I got her to tell me about her water magic and some basic meditation tips to find my magic core before father found us and took me away. This time I was grounded for a month for running off with a stranger.

The third is right before my eyes, about to leave the marketplace through a side ally. He is exactly my kind of mage though from what I can see, so I have no intention of letting him slip away. He's an average height male with steel grey eyes, dark blue hair in a ponytail and leather gear that almost looks like a witcher's getup. On his hip is a scimitar, (one of the coolest types of swords in my professional opinion) but I also know that he is a mage because earlier I saw him show his flame magic to a group of kids. A magic swordsman is literally my ideal, so I can't let him slip away.

Maybe I can even get him to give me a sword or two!

With my motivation set in place, I carefully back away from dad as he engages with haggling down an old merchant's dress prices. We originally came here to get a present for Mira's tenth birthday next week. It was enough of a distraction for me to break free and charge into the ally in pursuit of the mage.

I find him just as he turns another corner ahead and rush to keep up. Rounding the corner and breathing heavily, I'm greeted by the sight of my target and the seven kids from the marketplace. They were all being completely silent and had vacant expressions on their faces, almost like they were dolls.

Something's wrong.

"Well, well. I'd figured I already had enough, and this is the last batch anyways, but it looks like another fish decided to jump into the net." He grins down at me in a way that makes my stomach turn and reaches his hand out. "Come 'ere kid. Don't you want to learn magic? I can teach it to you."

It's too late. We're less than ten feet away and I'm only four years old. With my legs being as short as they are there's no way that I'll be able to run away. He'll catch me before I can take three steps. I need to distract him first, but how? As long as he at least turns his head away, I can have a chance, but he doesn't seem like an idiot and I'm not some genius protagonist with all the answers. All I can think of are simple and obvious tricks, but I have to try something.

"What's wrong with them?" I point at the kids behind him. Please look!

"Don't worry about them, boy. They're meditating right now. Just come here so I can teach you as well." His eyes remain fixed on me.

"Ah! Dad, this guy's creeping me out!" I shout out, looking over his shoulder. I see his eyes go to the side and his neck starts to twist and I take off. This is the best chance I'll get.

THUD*

I don't make it five steps before I'm slammed to the ground and held down. All I can do now is shout for help.

"DAAA…" My shout quickly cuts off and I no longer feel in control of my body.

"Go stand next to the other brats." His cold voice orders and my body obeys.

No matter how much I mentally scream and fight, not a sound is made and I continue to walk all the way up to the group before turning to face the mage and stopping.

"Damn, you're way too perceptive for such a little brat. What are you, like five? The youngest brat I've ever taken turns out to be the smartest." The mage grumbles as he slowly strolls back to us. Slowly, the grin returns to his face and he leans down in front of me. "But being so smart is a good thing. Makes you more valuable, I think Brain will like you, assuming you survive long enough to make an impression."

Brain, as in Zero, the leader of Oracion Seis and one of the biggest psychopaths in the series. My heart was racing in fear and my head felt like it was going to split open, but before the fear could truly settle in, I heard a voice.

"Cyrus! Cyrus, where'd you run off to this time? Cyrus, If you don't come back now I'm going to set Mira on you." Dad's voice echoed from around the corner.

"I swear, it's one thing after another today," The mage exasperates, but his smile soon returns. "But this will be a good learning experience for you. That's your dad right?" He pats me on the head and waits for dad to round the corner.

When my dad finally appears, his eyes go wide with horror after one quick glimpse of the situation. As a hunter in a world with monsters abound, he's incredibly quick at assessing danger. He swiftly takes his bow off his shoulder and readies an arrow.

"Let the children go, and I will pretend I didn't see anything." His voice is filled with authority that I've never heard from him before. "We can go our separate ways and put this behind ourselves."

"Hahaha! Are you serious?" The mage laughed, but even without being able to look up at his face, I could tell it was superficial. "A little village hunter is actually threatening me, a member of Dancing Coffin? That's a seriously bad joke."

"I'm sure you don't want to cause a commotion in town." Dad continued, undeterred by the mage's anger.

"There won't be any commotion to worry about, just a life lesson for these brats here." Without warning, the mage snapped his fingers, and a dome-shaped bubble surrounded the ally. "My hypnosis is just something I learned as a little parlor trick, this is my real magic, Silence. Now we don't have any problems, do we?"

Seeing the situation spinning out of control, dad loosed an arrow at him without hesitation. The mage drew his sword and blocked the arrow with incredible speed before dashing at dad so fast that my eyes couldn't even follow him. A second later, a soft thump was heard and dad's arm hit the ground.

He screamed in pain, but still turned to face the mage. The mage looked completely at ease and called out to me.

"Watch closely, kid. This is the reality of what it means for the weak to challenge the strong. The same thing would be happening to me if I challenged Brain."

A flash of movement, another thump, another scream.

"The world just ain't fair, and where you're going, you can't even pretend that it is."

Another flash, dad falls towards me, his right leg falls the other direction.

"I'm doing this for your own good kid, if you don't learn what cruelty looks like now, you'll die quick."

He grabs father by the hair and drags his face up to mine, mere inches away.

I try to scream, to shout, to cry, to hug him. I try to do anything, but all my body allows is for me to stare at him with a vacant expression as his throat is slit and the light in his eyes fades out.

The mage drops him to the ground like a broken toy and pulls out a large silver coin.

"This is a teleport coin, a pretty rare magic item, and the reason my guild is so good at what we do. I need all you to hold hands so I can bring you all to your new home." Our bodies complied and he grabbed my hand and was about to activate the coin when he stopped and looked at me. Grey eyes meeting green. "Oh, by the way, I'm Crowley and I'll be your teacher from now on. Pleasure to meet ya."

Then he activated the teleport and my world turned black.

Notes:

There's chapter one out of the way, and things will be turning a bit dark from here.

Again, any feedback would be appreciated!

P.S. Please be gentle with me, it's my first time after all. ;)