➵

"Ow!"

For the hundredth time, Dealana found herself electrocuted rather than able to utilize Tempest Magic. The great Thunderbird had the paitence of a saint with how many times Dealana failed. Perhaps, the bird found her failures amusing and that was the only thing keeping him from giving up on the twelve-year-old. This bird had to go through all the other Storm Talon Tribe members, so Dealana couldn't possibly be worse than all of the others combined, right?

With another flap of the Thunderbird's wings followed by a bolt of lightning striking her, she was beginning to think that way.

"I don't understand how I'm going to be able to do this," Dealana groaned while the great Thunderbird looked down on her with unyielding eyes. It was like she was three-year-old throwing a tantrum with the parent saying, 'are you done?'

It was annoying to the both of them.

Dealana wasn't even confident that she'd be able to learn another magic. She failed to see how learning a completely new magic would help her control her other one. If anything, she believed it would make her ability to control her magic worse. While Tempest and Storm Dragon Slaying Magic were similar in the view of elements and abilities, they were also so different.

One was meant to conjure storms while the other was meant for killing dragons. After being struck by an ice-storm attack this time, Dealana let herself lay flat on her back, starring up at the bright sky. The clouds were in such a disarray of storms and sunny weather that Dealana began to understand something.

She now knew why the clearing looked the way it did. Dealana also believed she would double the amount of damage.

The Dragon Slayer was struggling with this trial and was about ready to eat the storms that the great Thunderbird threw her way, despite this being against the rules. She couldn't give up yet. She wouldn't give up yet. Dealana had to figure this out and pass the trial if she wanted to have an easier time regaining control over her magic.

Sitting up, Dealana met the Thunderbird's electric blue gaze with her deep blue and violet one. Determination flashed in her eyes like the lightning about to be sent her way.

"I can do this,"

Dealana wasn't sure how long the first trial normally took for other people, but she certainly didn't think it took them as long as it was taking her. It was now the middle of day two of this trial and Dealana was a bit upset she'd be missing the twenty-four hour endurance race, but she wanted to pass this trial and wipe the amused and yet disappointed look off the Thunderbird's face.

Her clothes were worse for wear, and she was glad that she set aside Laxus' headphones for safe-keeping in her bag. The storms that she failed to channel were growing more brutal. It was all so confusing and she couldn't understand how she was meant to channel the storms. She almost always had them just building up inside of her rather than having them thrown at her.

She thought back to the story Makani had told her. Grio channeled the lightning and storms by letting it flow through him. Dealana understood that. The problem was that Dealana's Storm Dragon Magic allowed her to build up storms inside that any storms hitting her that she tried to channel would be lost in the mix and only add to the bottle of storms waiting to be unleashed. Several times during the trail she had to expel a good amount of Magic energy so it wouldn't boil over and she lost control again.

Control...

Dealana's eyes went wide and she sat up abruptly from where she was lying down again. She looked at the Thunderbird with a face of pure 'eureka!'. The great Thunderbird flapped it's wings and sent another storm of lightning at Dealana. This time, she closed her eyes and focused as it hit. This instance was different from the others, just barely, but she could feel the lightning course through her veins for a second before it just stung.

For a moment she'd felt the power of the storm. For a moment she let the storm move as it wanted before she tried to control it. And that was where she was going about it in the wrong way.

Storms couldn't be controlled. Not completely at least, they were guided. She fought so hard to control her storms and that was the reason they became unstable. Dealana looked at the great Thunderbird and quickly said, "Do it again,"

And so he did. Again and again a storm was sent at Dealana. Again and again she would slowly but surely make more progress than she had in the past attempts. Another hour passed and Dealana was able to channel the storms sent her way before releasing it back to the surroundings, as they should be.

It changed the way she thought about her magic. Dealana could recall all the times she got frustrated when unable to master a spell. Granted she was only four, but she wished she'd listened to Arashi or took notice of how he would let the storms flow through him giving him more power.

After the tenth repeated time of successfully channeling the storms, Dealana flopped on her back with a tired but victorious grin. She was on the verge of passing out and sleeping for an entire week, but she glanced over to the great Thunderbird, who despite being a bird, had what Dealana could've sworn was a proud look in his eyes. She watched the great Thunderbird tilt it's head to the sky and let out a loud, powerful cry.

As he did, the clouds in the sky seemed to swirl and encircle the clearing. It was like passing through the fog but with a mass of brewing storms inside. Dealana gazed around in amazement as she could see the ice and lightning not yet strong enough to cause damage. It was like seeing the inner works. She felt the power running through her before the clouds disappeared and with it, the great Thunderbird as well.

Dealana let her eyes close with a smile on her face as sleep washed over her. She didn't even notice the new black ringlet marking on her upper right arm.

➵

"...alana....Dealana..." She groaned and felt someone poking her face. "Dealana!" The voice suddenly shouted causing the Storm Dragon Slayer to jump in alarm a small burst of static electricity flowing out of her. She looked around wildly to find Chief Ruby holding a stick, which she apparently used to poke Dealana's face, but she also now had hair sticking up everywhere.

The sound of a male chuckle brought Dealana to swivel her head to the other side and see Makani, with his hair in a similar situation. Dealana looked around and noticed the the sun was still in the sky but from what she could gather, she had slept for almost twenty-four hours.

"Aw, crap, I definitely missed the endurance race," She realized. "Hopefully, Gramps doesn't kill me."

"If he kills you, I'm killing him," Ruby muttered before her red gaze found Dealana's new tattoo. "You completed the trial and had a nice nap, congrats." The Storm Dragon Slayer followed the old woman's gaze to the black ringlet before her eyes went wide.

"What the heck is this?" She questioned poking it with her opposite hand.

"It's a tattoo that signifies completion of the Storm Talon Trial," Makani answered. "Whenever someone completes a trial for our tribe they earn a marking to symbolize it. There are various types of trials that come with their own completion markings."

"What does this one mean?" Dealana asked, unable to take her eyes off the marking. Where had it come from? She had to assume magic, but she wanted to know what kind of magic.

"That's the general ranking trials for the Tribe," Makani told her before Dealana quickly looked at her left inner wrist in alarm. She sighed in relief upon seeing her Fairy Tail mark still there.

Chief Ruby laughed at her worry. "The Storm Talon Tribe isn't an official guild, so you don't need to worry that you accidentally left yours. But the ringlet marking means you'll be welcome to the Tribe should you need help or you need to locate us. You merely have to focus on the winds and let them guide you." Her gaze turned serious as she spoke again. "Do not lead the Magic Council or your Salamander friend anywhere near us, understand?"

Dealana gulped and nodded, very confused about the part pertaining to Natsu. "There are other trials like this one?" Makani nodded and lifted his sleeve to reveal a total of seven ringlet markings on his upper arm.

"There are a total of eight ranking trials, the final one being for the one who wishes to be chief," He revealed. "Chief Ruby has all eight, and I believe Cress has four. The trials only get harder as you go up the ladder, and at certain times you're faced with a completely different trial that gives you special markings."

"Most people stop after the third trial," Chief Ruby continued. "Four ringlet markings is the equivalent to what your guild calls S-Class."

"That's insane!" Dealana exclaimed with an awe-filled grin. "In like the best way possible." She quickly stressed before moving to stand up. She was a bit wobbly on her feet but she stayed upright. Chief Ruby cracked a fond smile as she looked at Dealana.

"You do realize that you still haven't completed the goal for coming out here in the first place, right?" Chief Ruby reminded her. The sky-blunette furrowed her brows, thinking about it before she realized Natsu must be rubbing off on her too much.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," She replied with a sweat-drop.

"Now that you understand how to channel storms, it should make using your Dragon Slayer Magic again easier and far more stable," Ruby chuckled with a shake of her head. Dealana looked at her arms and hand before focusing. She watched as the familiar sight of ice and lightning storms engulfed her fists before allowing them to fade into the air rather than keeping them bottle up.

It felt different. Her whole way of magic was now different and would take some getting used to. Dealana then looked to Makani with a grin. "The ultimate test," She told him, waving a hand. A fluffy white cloud formed in front of Dealana and she allowed herself to flop forward, hugging the cloud. Though her voice was muffled they were able to understand her words. She had missed her clouds.

"You still have a long way to go in your magic, especially now that you have a greater understanding to the magic of storms, Dealana, but today you have truly earned your name as Tempest." Chief Ruby said. "If you ever need guidance, seek the wisdom of the great Thunderbird, he'll know when you call."

Dealana lifted her head to wave at the departing Storm Talon Tribe members. She would have to learn Makani's cloud disappearing trick the next time she saw him. That was if she ever saw them again, though something told her this was only the beginning of her and the Storm Talon Tribe.

With a content sigh, she walked over to her discarded bag and pulled on an oversized jacket Evergreen bought her recently. It was black and had grey fur trim around the hood, to resembled the cloak Laxus normally sported. She rolled her eyes every time she looked at it, but always wore is anyway. Dealana put her headphones around over her ears before hopping onto her cloud to surf back to Fairy Tail. She couldn't wait punch Gray in the face and finally put an end to his guilty moping around her.

➵

It was the day after the twenty-four hour endurance race held annually by the Fairy Tail guild and tit was declared the "year of the underdogs" as Happy, Wendy and Carla took first, second and third place. Dealana arrived in Magnolia fairly quickly after departing from the clearing and her bare feet hit the cobblestone just outside the guild hall as her cloud dissipated behind her. She was excited to have her magic back and close to working again, but she would still be taking things slow.

Something about Dealana had changed since they last saw her only a few days ago, Makarov and Erza noticed this right away. The others realized something was different about her too, only they thought it was just her fighting spirit returning. As she walked back inside the guild hall she greeted a few members with a small smile and nod while she approached Makarov.

"You've returned," Makarov stated from where he sat on the bar with his eyes closed. "I take it, it went well?" Dealana grinned in response.

"Did you have any doubts?" She asked him. "Don't answer that, I'd rather not know the actual answer."

"Dealana, welcome back!" Mira greeted. Upon seeing the food Mira was getting ready to serve, Dealana then remembered that she hadn't actually eaten in over a day, which made her stomach growl.

"I need food..." Dealana groaned before smiling at Mira. "Hey, Mira! Do you think I could get something to eat?"

"Of course, I'll get something for you," The white-haired beauty smiled. The other members of Fairy Tail watched as Dealana conjured a cloud to sit on and many of them smiled or cheered at the sight. The Storm Dragon Slayer couldn't deny how great it felt to have her cloud spell again.

As Dealana was eating, she noticed Erza approaching with the rest of Team Natsu not far behind her. "Hey, Wendy, Happy, Carla, I heard you guys won the race," she greeted. "That's awesome!"

"You got you magic working again!" Happy cheered while Erza was staring at the tattered tank top Dealana wore underneath the large jacket.

"Just what were you doing for the three days you were gone?" She wondered with a stern expression. Dealana laughed quietly to herself before looking at Erza with a serious expression, all amusement gone.

"I challenged a bird,"

Erza raised an eyebrow and Dealana shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. "I mean, that's kind of what happened," She admitted. "I was also hit over and over again with storms until I finally got the hang of something to help me with my magic."

"You're not still hurt, are you?" Wendy asked with concern in her brown doe eyes. Dealana gave the blunette a smile.

"Nah, I'm all good, just hungry. I didn't eat while I was training and then I kind of fell asleep and didn't wake up until a little while before I got back." She answered, rubbing her scarred nose.

"I"m glad to see you back to your old self," Erza finally smiled.

"I won't be until I do something first," Dealana told her, hopping off her cloud. "I've been waiting to do this too." Before anyone could say anything else, a wind storm enveloped her fist as she jumped and hit Gray in the side of the face, causing the ice mage to fly back a little ways.

No one said anything as she the storm diminished from her fist. Some of them had smiles and hid their laughter while others, (like Natsu) burst out laughing while Dealana smirked at the ice-mage. "Now, we're good." Gray sighed with a small smile forming as he held a hand over where Dealana had punched him. From behind a pillar, Juvia was torn between glaring daggers at Dealana and rushing to help her beloved.

Makarov had opened one eye to peer at Dealana's arm while Erza seemed to notice it as well. Something was different in the way she used her magic. Before long, Natsu had insisted Dealana fight him now that she was back to full, but Dealana only turned back to her food and talked with Wendy and Carla.

No one knew it, but something big was approaching and like always, Fairy Tail would be caught up in the middle of it all.

➵

*happily grinning in satisfaction* Dealana got to punch Gray! I'm sure I could've made it a little better, but it was simple and I was pushing the normal word count, though lately, I've been finding that I don't mind writing longer chapters as it allows me to fit more in. I suppose it really depends on how I choose to write the episodes with Dealana in them.

Gildarts and the Edolas Arc is coming! You know who else is coming? Edolas! Gavin (If you don't know who Gavin is, I have a oneshot of Edolas Gavin and Lisanna in School of Life and he's also appeared a few times in Tornado of Roses. I'm honestly excited for the role he'll get to play later on, but for now, I'll have to be satisfied with Edolas Gavin and Dealana interactions. Oh, yeah, I forgot Edolas Dealana is a thing too. I have a general idea for what I want, but I may change it...

Any theories or suggestions?