Chapter Text
Awareness came to him steadily and over time, so he could not discern when exactly he became fully conscious. The first thing the boy did notice was what had to be the ugliest ceiling decoration to ever exist, a sun and moon merged together in what normally could have been an artistic piece of astrological symbolism, but was utterly ruined by the malevolent gaze, creepy smile, and mish-mash of garbage that formed the entire thing.
Then to make things worse, the eyes of his ugly companion glowed a sickening green and all he could feel was pain.
As far as introductions to the world you’ve just reincarnated into, this was a rather poor one all things considered. Certainly not the worst, but this one ranked pretty close with the traumatic first sight and painful shock that set what felt like his entire nervous system on fire.
The boy must have lost consciousness at some point because the next time he woke up was on a white bed in some kind of nursery with only a lingering soreness to remind him of his earlier pain. As far as nurseries went, this one was actually not bad, a large stuffed creature that looked like an ape in one corner, some colorful shelves on the wall, a neat little skylight in the ceiling, and stripes and squiggles of various colors painted on every surface of the room.
Confused, and somewhat apprehensive, he crawled off the bed he was on (whoever had brought him here hadn’t bothered pulling the covers over him) and tumbled into a heap on the floor.
“Oof!”
That. Was not his voice. Nor was this his body, far to small and uncoordinated to be his. And yet looking around the room, there was no one else for that foreign voice to have come from. A niggling suspicion began to crawl through his head and, spotting a mirror on the wall, he made his way to it, uncertain steps only furthering the body dysphoria he felt.
The boy that stared back at him through the mirror was definitely not him. He was a 5’10” young adult with brown hair, green eyes, and a healthy if somewhat scrawny body. The boy who looked back was a small child with black hair, purple eyes, and a scrawny body that was certainly not healthy, especially for his age.
Had he been in his original body, he might have experienced some shock, a time deliberating how real this was, (his dreams had never achieved this level of detail before) evaluating his situation, and then plotting a course to take.
Alas he was not in his adult body, but was instead blessed with a child’s still developing brain that went into full panic mode.
He must have passed out again because the next thing he knew he was once again looking up at that awful sun-moon hybrid. This time however, he was more aware of his surroundings and could feel the cords that were wrapped around his limbs, keeping him suspended in midair.
“Test series Ether-05, Subject 27, ready to proceed.” A voice called out, dry and devoid of inflections. Looking for the source of the noise, he saw a number of individuals clad in strange robes, their faces obscured by fabric with an odd triangle insignia all facing him.
The voice must have been referencing him, but he wasn’t a subject anything! His name was...
He couldn’t remember his name.
There was a brief moment for panic to start clawing at his throat before the eyes of the sun-moon shone once again and pain wracked his body. He could hear screaming this time and realized it was his own before slipping away once again.
---
Having passed out three times already, the boy wrestled with his natural (and somewhat deserved) urges to panic again and began to think.
First, he was not in his original body. The body dysphoria and glimpse into the mirror had been proof enough of that.
Second, he could not remember some key details about himself or how he got here. Most notably was his name, but as he began to think about it more details of places he lived and people he knew were disjointed and faded while other memories were completely intact. One such example was a dog he could clearly remember owning and taking for long walks, largely responsible for taking him outside the house, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember the dog’s name.
Third, he was in some kind of experimental hell that used a demented ceiling decoration that he swears he’s seen before to torture innocent little children. Really, these people were objectively and personally terrible and deserved swift, karmic justice. The image of the sun-moon kept circling around his head however, combined with the word Ether. Now of only he could remember where-
Oh. OH.
Ether, Ethernano.
Reincarnation.
He was in the same place that tortured one Ultear Milco... Milcho... It was the place that tortured and expiremented on Ultear.
And, he remembered darkly, it was the same place that took her from her mother, lied to both of them to keep them apart, and gave Ultear to a madman who betrayed his own guild, the same guild infamous for being a tight-knit family.
Fairy Tail
Yep, this faculty needed to be burnt to the ground and all its workers needed to die. If he remembered correctly, the head scientist was the leader of the Dark Guild: The Oracion Seis, he was definitely going to die, though that death was most likely to come from Natsu seeing as that guy (he couldn’t remember his name) was no joke.
So the plan was this: gain strength both physical and magical, (the experiments being run on him were the same as the ones used for Ultear, meaning they were to increase magical power so that was fine... kinda) learn magic himself, bust him and Ultear out of this place and raze it to the ground, reunite Ultear with her mother, (he believed her name was Ur) and eventually make his way to Fairy Tail for a life of love and adventure.
But first, he needed a name.
He was terrible at naming things, after possible hours of looking up baby names, fantasy names, and other names on the internet, he had given up and used the 5e Tiefling naming conventions, using an aspect that he wanted his characters to embody as their name. (Once, he had created a thief whose name was Klepto) Point was, who/what would he become in this second life of his?
Well, considering his current plan of attack, one could say he was a seeker of some kind, one emotionally invested in the Fairy Tail family, and he was ready to destroy anything and anyone that would threaten them, hunt them down and...
Hunter.
That sounded like a good name. Aggressive with subtle undertones, a name already in circulation where he came from, and it just rolled off the tongue. Yes, he was Hunter, and his current captors were his prey.
Now all he had to do was prepare and wait for the opportune moment of freedom.
---
1 Month Later
Magic was hard.
The Mages of Fairy Tail had always been extreme characters, focused and determined almost single-mindedly on their objective. The powerful ones also drew strength from their friends and loved ones, resulting in the devastating forces of nature they were, even as children.
Apparently there was a reason for that!
Magic in Fairy Tail was particles of Ethernano absorbed by mages into what could be imagined as an extra organ tied to their life-force. Such particles were then expelled from the body and returned to the air through magic. Similar to the oxygen/carbon cycle, magic was absorbed by the world and turned into Ethernano Particles which were absorbed by mages and turned into magic. Ethernano could also be stored in objects, said objects acting as conduits for magical effects such as Lucy’s celestial keys or various Lacrima.
The thing was, it took a lot of willpower and concentration to do that.
Hunter had been meditating for a month and he still couldn’t feel anything magical apart from feverish when his magic became too much for his body. Which would be a sign that he was about to be taken to the torture room to be placed under the ugly sun-moon (he had started calling it Sammy in his head) and subjected to a world of pain leaving him passed out roughly 75% of the time.
Listening to his captors however had provided some additional insight however.
As it turned out, casting spells required a chant to focus the spell, certain arm movements to focus also helped. A magic circle also helped with direction and focus, but became unnecessary when mastering the spell. Previously, Hunter had been treating Magic like The Force from Star Wars which was true to a point. Magic was not just an omnipresent thing, it gathered in clumps of focus and required direction for results. To do this, Hunter needed a chant.
This was where Hunter’s outside knowledge came in, not just of Fairy Tail but of other fictional universes. The Nasuverse commonly known as Fate had a protagonist who focused their entire magic around the chant “Trace On” thus tracing their magic circuits that acted like a secondary nervous system, tracing whatever object he was focusing on, and replicating or reinforcing it. Said protagonist was highly specialized, but also gained a deep understanding of his own body allowing him to reinforce it and perform feats no other mage could do without destroying their own body.
Replicating this process would allow Hunter access to both inner and surrounding magic, gaining a deeper understanding that should allow him to influence it more easily.
As for his overwhelming magic, Hunter turned to the example of a green-haired protagonist that inherited a power stockpiling ability too powerful for his body to handle. That issue had been solved by spreading the power across the boy’s entire body and regulating his output as his body developed and became accustomed to his power.
Hunter’s magic already ran through his whole body unconsciously, he just had to actively regulate it until such an action became as instinctive as breathing. As such, his new meditation would consist of both still and active meditation as he focused on his magic running through his body at a low output. Breathing would assist his focus as he uttered the chant that would influence his magic.
This was where he had to think for a moment. How would his magic present itself? Hunter had no possessions to channel his magic through apart from the stuffed ape and mirror, so he would be a Caster Mage. Elemental magic was powerful, but it didn’t call to him, (and was a bit general in his opinion) and any specialized magics he could think of were a bit too specific and therefore limited. If he could simply focus on the element of magic itself...
Now there was a thought.
By focusing on pure magic, he could gain a versatility unheard of in this world. It would be draining, but he already had too much magic that was being continuously expanded via torture. He could see how magic itself worked, understand and connect to it, and use other forms of magic that were derived from the original magic. A low humming that he could feel to his bones vibrated its approval and for the first time since he had come to this world, Hunter felt warm.
Magical path decided on, Hunter began thinking of a chant. Magic was composed from Ethernano, similar names for magic fuel included Manna, Will, Chakra, and Aether. The last one was close enough to this world's magic to be practically the same and just sounded cool. Magic identified, he now needed a word to focus through his body, not breath or wave though the latter could be used for an attack. Pulse however, that was perfect. Aether Pulse.
Chant decided on, Hunter assumed a seated position and breathed in.
“Aether”
He breathed out.
“Pulse”
He could feel it now, the magic surrounding him and flowing through his veins and at this moment, Hunter had never felt more alive.