Poor, dark, and misery.
Those were the three best adjectives that could describe your hometown.
Born and raised, you watched how your parents struggled to support the house and making sure you were going to have a healthier life. Your mother worked at a tavern and your father worked hard as a fisherman.
Since they were hard workers, you were left home alone.
Without the love and affection from your parents, you started to have trust issues. You didn't know who you should really trust and got into some bad situations growing up.
Now, you were in a band of thieves who had just kidnapped some rather rich folk passing through your hometown.
If your parents could see you now, they would be ashamed, but you were born into a cruel world. You practically lived on your own and rarely saw them before their deaths.
“Oi! (First Name)! Tie up this bitch up. She keeps getting loose.” called out her boss as he shoved a young girl before your feet.
She had fear in her eyes and was already covered in dirt with some bruises here and there.
You pulled her up to her knees and started to tie her up making sure it would be difficult for her to break free.
“Please, just let us go! You can take all our things!” she pleaded.
If this was your first time, you would have hesitated, but you've been doing this for five years now. You've learned not to hesitate when they pleaded such words.
“Just be quiet and you'll be fine. If you try to escape one more time, I can't guarantee that you'll live after that.”
Fear appeared in her eyes as she asked, “How...how can you say such a thing?! We're humans too!”
“Humans who are worth something. We have nothing. The lot of us have nothing to live for. To us, survival is more important than anything else. Even if it means killing people.”
Deep inside, it still amazed you that those words could even come out of your mouth. You didn't want to hurt people, but with how your world was dark and filled with people who couldn't be trusted, it was something that needed to be done.
Nothing could change that.
~~~
The prisoners were now locked away in the basement of the hideout and you were on patrol in the back alleys. Word got around that mages were coming to save them.
Magic users were always a problem to your group, but luckily, you knew some magic yourself.
It wasn't impressive, but it was enough to protect yourself.
While walking around, it was pretty quiet as always. Locals were locked away in their homes and then there were the homeless sitting on the sides of the street having some hope in getting money to find shelter.
Hope was a lie in this town. You grew up to know that very well. In this place, you had to be fierce and not trust a single soul even if you were apart of a group.
Friendship was another lie.
Friends never stuck around and always stabbed you in the back. Everyone just wanted to protect themselves and that's just how it's always been.
“Ice Make: Prison!”
Within seconds, an ice-like prison had surrounded you!
You turned around seeing four mages standing on the other side behind you.
“Let me out of here!”
“I don't think so. If we do that, you might just alert the others that we're here.” spoke the woman with red hair.
She was right, but they wouldn't come help her. They'd probably leave her behind and take the hostages.
The mage who had created your prison was shirtless and said, “Let's get going. Someone might have heard something.”
Just like that, the four of them took off leaving you to rot in your prison.
Well, that's what they thought.
Your magic was heat. You couldn't make fire or anything, but you could make things melt like iron or the ice prison you were in now.
Placing your hands on the ice, heat radiated from your hands and melted the ice, creating an exit.
Now out of your prison, it was time to head back to base. It was very likely that it was being attacked and they were leaving.
~~~
The building was on fire and half of the group was fighting the four mages while the others gathered money and the hostages to head out.
You were stuck helping the hostages out of the basement.
One by one, they ran up the stairs and you were left with the girl from earlier who had tried escaping.
As you pulled her up, the door to the living area was slammed shut.
You rushed up and tried to open it, but it was locked tight.
“Sorry (First Name), but it's every man for himself! Besides, we need some collateral damage. Too bad it had to be you!”
Anger surged throughout your body as you tried to slam the door open or use your heat magic to open the door, but nothing happened.
Smoke was coming out from under the door and the wood above was creaking.
This was how your life would end.
The young girl stood closer to you asking, “A-Are..we going to die here?”
“Yes. This is where it ends.”
There was no point in pretending that the door would open. That door was the only way out and the fire was spreading. The floor above was about to give away. Oxygen was depleting.
Up until now, you've lived a pitiful life.
The girl rushed tot he door and banged on the door yelling for help not giving up.
How could she be so hopeful when the end was near?
You were too focused on death that you hadn't noticed the door had opened and the girl was begging someone to help her.
The girl you had treated badly didn't want you to die?
Someone grabbed your hand and instantly pulled you out of there before the floor above came down.
Their hand was cold, but it felt nice for some odd reason. Then it hit you.
When you were younger, your father's hand was always cold since he was a fisherman. The idiotic man had always forgotten to keep his hands warm and died from hypothermia.
The night air hit your face and brought you back to reality.
You looked to the man who had saved your life, but was only greeted by the male who had put you in the ice prison.
Snatching your hand away, you looked away.
There was silence between the two of you until you decided to ask.
“Why didn't you just leave me to die? I'm with those thieves.”
“No one deserves to die.” his voice spoke sending chills down your spine.
No one? What made him to believe that?
“Hey, Natsu! You nearly got two people killed because you went crazy in there!”
“Then you should have used your magic, idiot!”
The two hit heads together as the blonde girl giggled.
They weren't about to kill each other. Just glared at one another.
It was a strange sight. You were so used to people killing each other when they fought that this scene before you was so odd.
“They're such good friends, don't you think?” asked the blonde.
Is that was friendship was?
“I wouldn't know. Never had friends...or anyone to trust enough to have anything close to it.”you responded as you continued to watch the two odd pair be pulled apart by the red haired woman.
Then, the female who was no longer a hostage held your hand.
“Then you need to make friends! Start a new life!”
You pulled your hand back and looked away.
“You make it sound easy. I can't trust anyone and I don't have the funds to even go anywhere. Nothing is easy unlike you who were born into a world where everything was there!”
Suddenly, a hand bonked the top of your head.
“So you're afraid.”
“I am not!” you snapped at the man who did so.
The ice mage sighed and looked you in the eyes.
“You're afraid to trust others and take the risk of getting hurt. People like that generally won't last long in this world. We all have our pasts that will haunt us, but that doesn't mean it should control us.”
For a moment, a small voice within you wanted to agree. To take the chance of getting hurt. Taking a chance to make friends and have adventures to look back on.
The light she could see at the end of the tunnel was coming from him. He had friends to trust and took the risks to help others he didn't even know.
“Ah! How about you come with us then? I mean, they're here to rescue me and I'm sure we can save the others soon. Come with us and you can see what it's like to have people to trust!” spoke the happy girl who was once scared.
You really couldn't understand that girl, but your eyes focused on the male before you.
He had his hand out for you to take.
“We'll start right here and now. I'm Gray Fullbuster. These are my friends Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, and the cat is Happy.”
Gray had a small smile on his lips. It made him more attractive, but you only thought more because he had no shirt on.
You slapped his hand away with pink cheeks and looked to the side.
“J-Just put a shirt on! No one needs to see you shirtless, moron.”
Lucy laughed as Natsu snickered at the two before them.
Gray twitched a bit, but let out a sigh as he looked around for his shirt nearby.
You sighed and the lot of you started to walk away from your hometown.
It was him who sparked the bravery within you to take the risk of making friends and trusting others.
“By the way, what do we call you?” Lucy had asked pulling you from your thoughts.
You had forgotten your last name after all these years.
“Just (First Name).”
“Well Just (First Name), we're going to have to change that attitude of yours. It's pretty ugly.”
“Yeah, well at least it's better than being indecent by walking around shirtless in public!”
Even if it was hard to see, you still had that small tint of pink on your cheeks.
Unknowingly to you, Gray had noticed making him smirk.
“The hell are you smirking about stripper boy?!”
The smirk left his face and asked, “Who are you calling stripper boy?!”
Within seconds, the two of you were now butting heads making the others laugh at how the two of you were starting to get along.