(Why did I write this in one sitting?!)
Finding Purpose
On September 12th, the excessively rich family of bankers, the Von family, gave birth to a child they didn't quite know what to name. You see, the Von family had an odd family tradition of naming within a few moments after the child is born because they believe that you must see the child first. When his eyes locked onto the water baby, the father, Drake Von, thought of how his life was one jump farther to death. The idea of another child to the father suddenly became terrifying as he realized he would soon be nothing more than another man left to rot in a casket. With all these thoughts, Drake made the decision to name his son Pewter after the metal most antiques he had were made out of. The father was hoping that instead of dying in a filthy way such as he was, Pewter was going to age on a shelf for all to see. Like most fathers do, he had made the mistake of thinking Pewter was going to be a child that would be greater than all others.
Overtime, Pewter grew to be a fine young man with his father and mother already ready to throw books and numbers at him. His parents wanted him to go on with the family business and become much greater than his brother, Chris. Oh, how they complained about Chris to Pewter. "You see, you are already smarter than Chris, Pewter!" "You can paint and draw, but don't have to become some low life and make a career of it." "You are actually using brain cells unlike your older brother, Pewter." "Fucking Chris wants another paint set already!"
Day in and day out, Pewter heard his parent's shared disgust for Chris, which was odd since Chris was a very well behaved child. Pewter often thought that if Chris didn't turn down the family business to go to art school, then he would have been their favorite; however, it was all thanks to Chris that Pewter had a road of numbers and desk jobs before him.
At the tiny age of seven, the road ahead of Pewter was cracked; no, it was more like completely bulldozed for a new shopping center with a detour around it. He was riding his bike on a trail through the forest, miles from his massive house, when the forest became dark with the setting sun. As he had begun to go off the trail with only the whisper of daylight before a new moon, Pewter became, as expected, hopelessly lost. He was supposed to be home an hour ago, but he wanted to explore the majesty of the woods like the silly, caged-up child he was. Confronted with fear of being lost forever, he pedaled faster through the silhouettes of trees and bushes. Pewter looked all around and tried to head the direction he remembered coming from. As he went farther, he passed various places he remembered seeing on his way in. At first, he saw a small pool of water he passed by earlier, then he saw a tree that fell down in the distance he also remembered passing. He was close to the end of the forest, he knew had to have been. With a second wind of energy with hope, he took his little legs and ripped at each peddle harder. Pewter knew the exit was just ahead, but his frantic pedaling stopped and his brakes began to close onto the wheels beneath him. To his complete shock, there was a small pool of water right beside him with every detail of the one he passed earlier. It sent shivers up his spine and sweat down his pudgy stomach. He must have gone in a circle somehow even though he was going on the same path that lead him in. Pewter didn't know what was going on, but continued down the path anyway.
After what must have been hours with nothing but the strange sounds of the woods, Pewter stopped by the small pool of water crying. He was back where he started and all was lost then. His parents must have been worried sick and he would have to sleep somewhere in the woods. He cursed his fate and wondered how such a strange thing could happen to him until he met... her. Out from the corner of his eyes he saw the girl that would rip him apart from the road his parents set before him. She wearing a beautiful, blue dress that was as bright as the daytime he had lost. Pewter began to relax upon seeing the girl for he had finally found company in the world he was completely lost in. It was a beautiful miracle that changed fate to see such a lovely lady in the forest. Slowly, he escaped his bike and saw nothing in this darkness but her. His bike creaked as it fell to the dirt floor beneath and Pewter began to travel to her with a smile.
As he got closer, her pale skin and hard to make out face became slightly clearer. Out from all around Pewter at once, he heard a scream that could easily tear a persons throat out. It shook him to the core and caused him to cry once more at the shock of it all. Kneeling to the ground, he heard a loud ring in his ears. He wondered if the girl did it. He wondered if someone had just died. Most importantly, he wondered if she was going to die. He shot his head up as he plugged his ears with his fingers and saw nothing but darkness before him. The girl had vanished within the few seconds he had looked at the ground. Pewter began to cry harder as he felt as though he was certainly going to die out here. Everything he did led to this moment, everything he did led to him being out in the woods, sweaty, and hopelessly lost. Pewter searched everywhere he could with his eyes, but found no trace of the girl ever being there. With this, he pounded the ground and screamed his demand.
"WHERE DID YOU GO? HELLO?!"
He closed his eyes crying frantically and felt the world around him seem to dissipate. Within those moments, he thought of his family and friends attending the funeral of a young boy named after a metal. After completely giving up, Pewter passed out from exhaustion beside his bike and awoke to his new life.
Pewter woke up as his mom pounded him with words and shook his arm. A barrage of questions hit him and her at the same time and neither one of them had any answers. Pewter was right outside the forest with his bike beside him and not a single scratch on his body. He remembered passing out within the thick of the forest, but yet here he was with his mom yelling at him. After lying to his mom saying that he was just going to take a quick nap, he was grounded for a two weeks with the thoughts of how the impossible became possible before him.
Prove It
Pewter spent his two weeks indoors researching the woods only to find the girl he saw was none other than a ghost of all things. She was told to be a witch by some, a demon by a good amount, and Satan himself by many. Pewter could hardly believe what he was reading. He had been in that forest and saw her with his own eyes.... and yet these people are making fun of her? The thought bugged him to no end as he read about these people talking badly behind her back. It was no wonder she would be pissed and trick people into getting lost, he thought. Pewter felt disappointed he hadn't got to meet her longer and spent his next two weeks in a crazed research of spirits. His parents thought it was just some kind of phase the boy was having, something natural for kids his age, but they were dead wrong (no pun intended). After he was free to ride his bike again, he would go out into the woods and bring gifts for the girl and leave them at the lake he saw her at. Sometimes, he would try to talk to her and tell her that he missed her company without even a hit of her presence. After a few weeks with no signs she was there but the disappearance of the gifts he left, he became outraged and schemed harder than a seven year old should dare to scheme. He formed a plan to see her again after hearing about the miracles of magic and decided how to convince his mother to get him an education on magic.
Pewter approached his mom when she was in a good mood and told her in a subtle manner that he wanted to learn magic to talk to ghosts and show others that they aren't mean.
"Mom, can I learn magic and use it to become a better banker and not talk to spirits?"
His last few words were much more quiet and his mom fortunately didn't hear them. Seeing his interest in banking was the key to his mom's thick wallet and she practically threw money at him when she heard this.
"OF COURSE MY LITTLE PEWTER. I AM GLAD YOU AREN'T BECOMING AN ART MAJOR."
Just like that, Pewter walked out with a thick wad of cash and got private lessons on magic from a mage very familiar in chi. For the next four years, the mage threw out names of books, things to practice, and the importance of chi in everyday life. Pewter honed his skills with every second he could and learned to cast minor spells to write faster or to do simple addition to appease his parents. Within the first year, Pewter started being able to see see everything in grey every now and then the magic he was destined to learn was slowly awakened and honed. Within the second year, he was able to cast around five spells without much success most of the time. He would stay up all night sometimes to practice simple spells like folding paper in half by manipulating its chi or spiritual energy. Within the third year, he was able to see the spiritual energy within everything around him vaguely and could cast the basic spells without skipping a beat. Within the fourth year, Pewter split off from even his teacher to learn more about his magic. At the age of 11, in his fourth year of learning, Pewter was rarely out of his room and was always practicing his magic as well as the fundamentals of magic his teacher taught him. The only time he ever left his room was to explore the forest to speak to the girl he had learned to see and hear or to explore other places known to be haunted. Pewter's passion was in magic and banking was far from his mind.
The day that marked his last day of training with his teacher was the day he began the next step in his magic: condensing spiritual energy into a visible, physical form. He was in his room, trying over and over again to do absolute impossible when his parents nearly broke down his door knocking.
"OPEN UP YOU FUCK FACE!"
Pewter rushed to the door to be greeted by his journals of notes being shoved into his face. His parents yelled and yelled at him about how he will never practice magic again as he remained quiet with a defeated look. As his parents began to finish and started leave, he told them something that made his mom look back to do a double take. "Magic is who I am though."
His mom came up to him and her expression quickly changed from angry to stern.
"Prove it. If you can show me a spell that will completely change my mind about you being homeless with a career in magic within two years, I will open my ears and hear every word you have to say."
He was completely dumbfounded by what his mother said, but his father nodded as he looked at him. Pewter began to tear up from the chance he was given and his face grew brighter than it ever had been.
"I will do a spell so good that it will completely blow your mind in a big boom! Just you watch!"
His mom smiled while still looking ready to strike and his father began to say his only condition with a look of disappointment for his son.
"The only thing I ask is that you continue your lessons on business and math during all of this. If your grades fall below a B, the deal is off."
Pewter nodded as his father left and his father became disgusted and amused by the look of determination all over his kid's face when he said his condition.
The End of This Tail
The apprentice brought his parents out to the forest he met his best ghost friend, Chloe, after two hard years of training. He was going to prove it to them and today was going to be the biggest fruits of his labor. Pewter began to feel nostalgic, only at the age of 13, at the forest it all began. As he lead them to the pond he first met Chloe, Pewter remembered all the days he spent just focusing on perfecting the little things or paving a rocky path to bigger spells. He has put everything he was into those two years and yet, he knew it wasn't enough anyway. This reason is exactly why he was going to use Chloe's help to pull off his big plan. He was going to blow the socks off his parents and spend the rest of his life working on improving his magic. Even when it seemed there was no way to pass the ceilings of his magic, he broke them and was amazed by how far he was going with it.
Upon laying eyes on the pond where it all started, he got a determined look on his face.
"Please stand back for this guys. It is going to be as big as I said."
He looked over at Chloe and then looked straight as at the two adults lost in anticipation.
"My magic is ghost magic and summons ghosts."
With this, he looked forward and made a magic circle that was a complete fake. His parents knew little of magic and were already excited to see what their son would do.
Seeing the signal, Chloe came out from behind a tree and stared at Pewter's parents. They were scared out of their minds the instant they saw her and Pewter had to contain his laughter at their ignorance. Chloe meant no harm to anyone. Hell, she was just the ghost of a child.
After his parents calmed down and looked at Chloe in mystery, Pewter turned his back to signal Chloe to hide again. His mom and dad looked shocked to see her suddenly gone and yet their faces still begged for more from Pewter before being satisfied. Pewter had a spell just in case this happened. He looked forwards and cast another magic circle, this time a real one, and summoned a short sword made from condensed spiritual energy within seconds. After finishing the creation of it, he smiled at his parents.
"Is that a ghost sword," his parents asked in wonder.
"Yes, it can chop down trees," he said.
In his parents amazement, Pewter brought his otherworldly sword to a thick tree and began chopping at it. It left small cuts at first that made his parents fall into disappointment, but then Pewter got fired up. He begun to chop with all his might and sliced a quarter of the way through the tree. Within three more swings, he caught down a massive tree. When he looked to his parents, they were speechless, so he was sure to take this moment of silence as his own.
"Can I become a wizard now?"
The only words his parents could say for awhile was just yes.
Within three more years of harsh private lessons full time, Pewter had learned all his private teacher could teach and thanked the man, Riku, for all his lessons. After gaining what seemed like a mastery over his magic, he was able to join the Fairy Tail Guild and headed over with support from his parents. He was young, full of wonder, and somehow patience. As he headed away from the mansion with packed bags and a feeling of joy so strong it almost made him light headed, he made a special trip to the forest it all began and said his best wishes to the grave he made for Chloe when she departed this world for the second time. His life was before him and he had no idea what to expect.
