Fall/Winter Shalilweek

Day 1: Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail or its characters. Fairy tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

Now honestly, I was at first going to make this a multi-chapter ficlet but decided against it. It originally started as a cafe au but sadly its not going to happen, sorry my friends. BUT if I get a certain amount of reviews on this, which I truly doubt in my heart of hearts I will, then I MAY continue it, but if I don't it will forever remain a one-shot with a cliffhanger sorta type ending. Hope you like it. Enjoy

'I got caught in the rain without an umbrella and an attractive stranger is sharing theirs with me'

Silver Raindrops

Rain poured from the dark clouds to the streets like rivers as the wind pushed the fallen leaves with its heavy current. The rain pounded heavily against the umbrella that Lily held firmly in his large gloved hands. His boots stomped against the wet pavement, soaking the hem of his pants. He barely noticed as he continued on his course. After ten long years of climbing ladders, crawling into muddy trenches and being forced to run on mucky roads for hours on end, this was nothing.

Being a Marine was not easy, Lily knew this before he even decided to become one. Everything in his life changed since he entered, some good, some… not so good. His best friend, being 3 years younger than himself, was one of those good things he gained from being in the Marine Corps. Gajeel Redfox, despite his many piercings, intimidating scowl and rude mannerisms, he was the most reliable man Lily had ever known. Since the younger man had joined, he kept Lily on his toes. They encouraged each other, fought together,and undoubtedly faced the hardest times together. They were more like brothers than anything else.

A loud roar of thunder boomed through the sky, lighting it up in a matter of seconds before returning to its dreary state. The hairs pricked as they rose on the back of his neck and his muscles flexed as his pocketed hand balled into a tight fist. His pupils shrunk but otherwise remained emotionless.

Thunderstorms were the fear he had gained from the years of being on the battlefield, well the sound of them rather. The cannons, the shooting, and bombs, he hated it, so many killed, so much blood, so loud. It was memories like these he still found hard to forget if he ever would.

He shook his head, attempting to gather his thoughts. He stopped in his tracks arriving at his destination and looked up at the Bus Stop sign. Anymore walking and he would have missed it. Being back home in Magnolia after getting out of the military relaxed his senses. His fear proved no help to the Corps so they forced him to retire, he got all the benefits of any regular retired soldier, but…

He sighed.

As much he hated to admit it, he hated that he had to get out for something so minuscule. In public he would keep a steady poker face, he had his pride to keep after all. But once he reached the privacy of his home, he became a complete mess, clutching his head, balled up in a fetal position, doing his best to block out the horrid noise until it ceased to exist.

Lily glanced at his watch. It would be about ten more minutes before the bus came. It was terrible that the bus stop had a seating place with no roof covering it for days like these. The bench was soaking wet, but he would take the sore legs over a soaking bottom any day of the week. After all this time, you would think that they would build one over it.

His ears twitched, the sound of crackling leaves and footsteps pitter-pattering on the wet pavement reached his ears. He turned towards to the source. A young woman ran up with a purple coach purse over her head, matching the thick sweater she wore. She must not have had an umbrella, she was drenched from head to toe.

She panted as she stopped in her tracks at the bus stop. Quickly she stood up straight, sparing the dark man a quick glance and a slight nod before looking forward towards the damp roads.

Lily nodded in return than did the same. He stole a glance in her direction seconds after hoping that he wasn't noticed. She was very beautiful. With her purple sweater and a matching purple and gray plaid scarf that concealed her neck and covered her lips, he found it attractive. Her cheeks were exposed and clearly red, cold from the low temperature and the rain made her hair stick to her skin. With her platinum hair being submerged from the rain, it surely wasn't going to do any good for her health or her clothes that her purse attempted but failed to cover.

"Excuse me miss, do you want to share my umbrella?"

The woman looked at him, baffled by his offer

Lily's breath caught in his throat.

The look in her eyes, the ethereal color they displayed revealed just how completely caught off guard she was from his question.
'S-Silver Eyes,' his thoughts stuttered. Had he seen those eyes somewhere before? He was sure he had, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Was is that she had one of those faces? No, those eyes were much too captivating, but he was so sure he'd seen them.

He inwardly scowled himself for not being able to remember where he'd seen her face. How could he forget something that-that dazzling?
The woman looked up at him, giving him a more prominent view of her icy diamond orbs.

Everyone seemed to always have to look up at him, literally, seeing that he was almost twice the height than any human being, and his muscular build only seemed to add to his 6'3 ft frame. Her height reminded him of a certain short bluenette that just so happened to be his mate's girlfriend.

She blinked a couple times, her long wet eyelashes fluttered with every movement causing the tiny rain droplets to trail down her pale freckled cheeks. Lily was completely awestricken by her features.

"E-Excuse me?"

Her voice knocked him out of his thoughts. It was smooth like honey, it wasn't too high and it wasn't too low. After just a few seconds, he had to force himself to speak.
"Do you want to share my umbrella?" he repeated somewhat quieter.

She blinked again. The woman lowered her head shyly, causing her wet strands to fall to her forehead and hide those gorgeous eyes from his view.
"O-oh no. It's alright," she stuttered. "I don't want to be any trouble. The bus should be here soon anyway." Lily rose a thick eyebrow. He didn't buy it. It was already bad enough that she was soaking to the bone. Her tiny body was shivering like a doused kitten.

His body moved on impulse, taking one step towards her to hold the umbrella over the young woman, shielding her from the pouring rain.
She returned her gaze back up at him. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. Lily only grinned carefreely in response. Now, he was the one in the rain. It really was cold like he had expected, like liquefied was proud he decided to wear his thick jacket that day.

The woman stared up at him not saying a word but her expression indicated that she was shocked by his straightforwardness. They gazed into each other's eyes, and Lily's grin refused to falter.

Her features slowly softened as she removed the bag from her head, her whole head covered with majestic snow white hair, now fully exposed.
She mumbled a "thank you" into her thick scarf. He noticed that her cheeks had gotten a shade redder.

Was she still cold?

Another roar of thunder rumbled into the atmosphere along with a flash of lightning. The man flinched, tightening his grasp around the umbrella handle. He involuntarily bit his lip.

"Is there something wrong?" Lily looked down at the woman who shot him a now worried expression, that he couldn't help but find cute. He calmed himself, nodding with a smile

"Yes, I'm just fine. Thanks for asking, though."

She stared up at him for a moment more before looking forward once again. If she doubted his answer, she didn't make her opinion known.

The sound of the bus turning the corner caught his attention. His nerves began to calm as it started to roll in front of them. The doors creaked open as the two looked at each other. Lily kept the umbrella over the white-haired woman's head as he bowed slightly.

"Ladies first."

The giggle that escaped her lips was like nothing he'd ever heard. "Thank you."

As she walked into the bus, he refrained from removing the umbrella from above her head until she had made it all the way inside. He shook off the water the best he could before entering himself. A gush of cold air assaulted his cheeks, causing an expected shiver to run down his spine.

The driver shot him an apologetic look, noticing his reaction.

"The heat isn't working today. I'm truly sorry." Lily waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah, it's completely fine. It doesn't bother me." He'd been in zero and even below temperature more times than he could count. He would live.

Lily paid his fair then proceeded to walk down the aisle. There wasn't a lot of people on. An older man with his wife held hands warming each other from the cold were the first he noticed. He looked to his right, and saw a mother with her two children in thick coats huddled together, he could almost hear their light snores as they slept peacefully. The last being the platinum blond, leaning her head against the window, shivering like a weathering leaf.

Lily frowned. She was still wet from the rain. He may be used to this cold but looking over at her, she most definitely was not. He could see her breath in puffs of white air. He didn't know what he was thinking when he walked up to her and took off his own coat draping the thick cloth over her shoulders.

She inhaled a deep breath, startled by the sudden warmth that surrounded her body. She looked up at him giving him that shocked look, the same one she had given him when he shared his umbrella with her, even though she had insisted that she didn't mind the rain.

"Please, you don't have to do this, really."

Lily only chuckled lightly as he took a seat in the spare chair beside her."I hope I'm not being too forward."

The woman eyes widened as a high pitched squeak left her. She shook her head frantically."Oh no no, that isn't it at all, i-it's just," She paused gripping the purse in her lap. "Aren't you cold?" She gestured to his current choice of wear, which was a navy sweater that hugged his muscular torso.

Lily gave her a toothy smile. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head relaxing.

"Not at all. I've dealt with worse."

"Worse?" The woman repeated her voice raising an octave higher. Lily reached into his sweater pulling out a dog tag that hung around his neck. She gasped as she took a better look at it.

"The Marine Corps?" She asked. Lily smiled and nodded. She giggled. "I really shouldn't be surprised. The scar should have been a dead giveaway." She pointed towards his left eye where a large scar receded.

Lily scratched at the pink tissue and shrugged. "I suppose so." The woman giggled again. Lily felt a wave of heat form on his dark cheeks. Feeling pretty bold he popped a question.

"May I ask your name, miss?"

The giggles ceased. Her silver eyes seemed to glow at the question, she pulled the large jacket close to her, savoring its warmth.

"Shagotte. My name is Shagotte, and yours?"

He smiled."It's Panther Lily, but everyone just calls me Lily. Saying the whole thing could be quite a mouthful, don't you think?"

Shagotte nodded in agreement. "That is true." She offered her small pale hand. "It's nice to meet you, Lily."

He wasted no time in taking her small hand in his much larger one, engulfing her palm whole. He squeezed it gently.

"Likewise, Ms. Shagotte."

The ride continued and Lily found it easy to keep conversation with her, finding out small things about each other. Shagotte was most intrigued about Lily's time as he served in the military, he did his best to tell without explaining the reason of why he got out. They talked as if they were old friends, but no matter what Lily did he couldn't seem to remember where he had seen her last. He was about to muster the courage to ask, but before he had his chance she had to leave. The bus screeched to a halt at her stop

"Oh, this is me." She stood up to her feet. Lily did the same, stepping into the aisle giving her room to pass. Shagotte promptly slid the jacket off her shoulders and gave it back to him.

She folded her hands in front of her then bowed deeply, her white strands flowing over her shoulders.

"Thank you very much, Lily." She stood back up and combed the hairs back behind her ears. Her cheeks flushed a dark pink. "I hope we can see each other again."

Lily gave her a huge smile causing his scar to stretch.

"I hope we do too." He bowed. "Goodnight Ms. Shagotte have a safe walk home." The woman let out of fit giggles before walking past him to the door. "Goodnight to you as well, Mr. Lily." Within a second she was gone. He looked out the window of the bus but the rain blurred the glass making it hard to see her. He slouched in his seat.

"Shagotte." He repeated quietly, testing the name on his tongue. It felt magnificent. He prayed that he would see her again. She was certainly one of a kind.

A huff released from his mouth as he sighed, a small grin curved on his lips. He gazed at the raindrops racing down the glass of the window. He couldn't help but resemble her beautiful eyes being the same as that of silver raindrops.

~ShalilyQueen