POV: Third-person limited (Kaito & Erza)
Location: Rosemary Village & surrounding regions
Time Skip: 3 Years
From: June, X772
To: June, X775
Current Ages:
Kaito – 10 years old (Born March 7, X765)
Erza Scarlet – 10 years old (Born April 7, X765)
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Time did not pass quietly.
It passed with steel ringing against steel.
With monster blood soaking into forest soil.
With sweat, failure, recovery—and repetition.
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Year One (X772 → X773)
Rosemary Village learned to look twice when Erza trained.
Her Requip evolved from instinct to discipline. Armor no longer snapped into place reactively—it flowed, changing as naturally as breathing. Her pocket dimension expanded steadily, anchored by weapons and armors forged by Kaito's hands and refined by her will.
Kaito grew broader in the shoulders, sharper in the eyes.
Great Sage never slept.
Every hunt strengthened his body through Predator. Every material gathered was cataloged, purified, stored. He refined weighted armor, adaptive blades, and training tools meant to push Erza without breaking her.
They fought together for the first time that year.
Not sparring.
Real monsters.
And neither held back.
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Year Two (X773 → X774)
Erza's arsenal crossed a threshold.
Dozens of armors.
More than a hundred weapons.
Each with purpose. Each with limits.
Instant Re-Equip became subconscious. She swapped armor and weapons simultaneously while moving at full speed—something even seasoned mages would later fail to replicate.
Kaito stopped hiding even the little he once did.
Villagers began to whisper.
A boy who never tired.
A girl clad in steel that appeared from nowhere.
They earned their living easily now—monster materials, escort work, problem-solving. Enough to live. Enough to prepare.
At night, they talked.
About Fairy Tail.
About the Tower of Heaven.
About what they would do when the past finally caught up.
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Year Three (X774 → X775)
Erza's pocket dimension stabilized into something vast and orderly.
Not infinite.
But frighteningly deep.
She could feel every piece of equipment as if it were part of her body. Distance, orientation, readiness—nothing was vague anymore.
Kaito reached a new physical baseline.
Predator no longer merely reinforced him—it optimized him. Muscles dense, reactions precise, endurance abnormal even by mage standards.
Great Sage began flagging threats farther from home.
Movements.
Rumors.
Shadows that smelled like old chains and false gods.
The world was shifting.
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Now
June, X775.
The children of Rosemary Village were children no longer.
Erza stood in the clearing, armor phasing around her as she cycled through forms without conscious thought.
Kaito watched, arms crossed, eyes sharp.
"They'll come eventually," Erza said without looking at him.
"I know," Kaito replied.
She turned, red eyes steady.
"Then we'll be ready."
He smiled.
They already were.
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