It's three days before Mother's Day and everyone in Magnolia is either waiting happily for the day to come or sadly waiting for it to pass. If you think about it, who wouldn't want to celebrate their mom? The answer:
Those who don't have one.
And pretty much everyone in Fairy Tail is an orphan except for Asuka and Romeo, but Romeo's mom left Macao, so Asuka is the only one happy about Mother's Day in Fairy Tail. And since she's the only one in the mood for celebrating, she tried cheering everyone else up by making decorations. Underline TRIED. But truth be told, the guys of Fairy Tail weren't really shaken up about it but they didn't want to celebrate either. Think for a second, sons look up to their fathers while daughters look up to their mothers, most of the time. (Author's Note: Only in the fanfic not real life) With this being said the girls in Fairy Tail, through years of practice, knew how to cope with the holiday; avoiding people as much as possible, put on fake smiles while at the guild, so as not to worry the guys and while completely alone, silent crying or loud blubbering or crying on the inside or-
Well, you get the idea.
This year wasn't any different from any other year except that this year the girls that are shaken up the most had guys looking out for them. Guys that could tell a fake smile when they see one.
We begin our story at around noon with the only female in the Thunder Legion who had been walking to the guild sighing to herself the whole time, but when she opened the guild doors she forced a smile on her face and thankfully for her the male Strauss sibling was not present, or so she thought.
"Elfman hurry up! Mira-nee's already there!" Lisanna shouted rushing past Evergreen to help out Mira at the bar
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Elfman said not looking where he was going and knocking over Evergreen
"Oops. Sorry Ever." He said his head down, waiting for the inevitable smack on the head with her fan
"No problem, you didn't see were you were going it's ok" She said with a soft voice, smiling at him
"Uh...Ever are you ok?" He asked waiting to be told that she was screwing with him
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine" She replied again with a soft voice
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head or something?"
"Nope. I'm fine"
"Ok then-"
"Elf-nii! Get over here! You promised you'd help!" Lissana yelled over the crowd from the bar
"Coming!" He yelled
Evergreen smiled as he ran to help his sisters I'm not going to burden him with my pain She thought
About 1 hour later
The afternoon rush was finally over and the three Strauss siblings went on their break
"Thank you for helping me out you two" Mira said
"No problem Mira-nee. But we would have been here sooner if I hadn't spent so much time waking up Elf-nii"
"Sleeping in is MANLY!" Elfman shouted
"Oi!" a certain blonde dragon slayer called down to Elfman before jumping in front of him "Have you seen Ever?"
"No, but I bumped into her a while ago. And she was acting weird"
"Weird how?"
"Well, I literally bumped into her but instead of hitting me like usual she-" he was cut off by a bench flying towards Laxus' head which was shredded by his lightning
"-was acting nice to me" He finished, a hint of fear in his voice
"Dammit!" He said punching another bench that was about to hit him "Don't move. I'll be back...NATSU! GRAY!"
Laxus knocked out said boys in less than a minute and came back to a fear stricken Elfman
"She left and since she probably won't tell me, I'll find her and YOU need to talk to her."
"Why won't she tell you? What won't she tell you? And why do I have to talk to her?"
"I don't know the answer to the first two questions but I can answer the third one; you and Ever have gotten pretty close and if she won't tell me what's wrong then there's no harm in you trying right?" Laxus said thankful that Fried and Bickslow had gone on a job together so as not to hear about his findings "Every year around this time, she's nice, but after the day passes she goes back to normal. I really hope I'm wrong about this, but I believe there's something she's not saying, but usually if something's bothering her she complains about it to the rest of the Thunder Legion and I. I'm really worried about her."
Elfman didn't know what to say. He knew Ever was acting strange today, but the fact that this happened every single year around this time; to say it shocked him would be correct and incorrect at the same time. He was shocked but mostly angry, angry at himself for not talking to her when even he noticed something was wrong.
In his haste to find her, he ran as fast as he could into town, plowing through anybody in his way and completely forgetting about Laxus who, in an instant, appeared before the take-over mage. Elfman stopped running, completely amazed at Laxus' speed.
"Wow you're as fast as...as..." Elfman tried to think of something that's really fast
"Lightning?" Laxus said smirking
"Exactly!" Elfman said
"And I'm the lightning dragon slayer"
Then he realized "Wait! Lightning dragon slayer. As fast as lightning...I don't get it" He said a confused look on his face
Laxus face palmed "Never mind that's not why I'm here." Laxus sniffed the air stopping after picking up a familiar scent
"I caught her scent. Let's go." Laxus said running towards the forest on the outskirts of town
"Ever!" After about 10 minutes getting to the forest and another 10 finding the cave she was hiding out in, both men had called her name, relief woven in their voices as they saw her unharmed and sleeping peacefully against the wall of the cave. But the worries they had slowly came back as they saw her glasses on the other side, cracked, and her cheeks stained with tear streaks.
"Well, judging by the evidence she must have had a tantrum and cried herself to sleep" Laxus said picking up Ever's glasses
"I better take her home then..." Elfman picked up Evergreen and walked away
"I'll get her new glasses" Laxus said waiting for Elfman to walk back in the cave
"So... where does Ever live again?"Elfman said poking his head into the cave
"Fairy Hills. But don't let Erza see you; she beats up any guy who walks in there." Laxus said walking in the direction of the closest eye glass shop
"Uh-"
"First floor, third room on the right"
"Thanks"
So they departed for their destinations and after sometime Elfman started talking to Evergreen who was still fast asleep in his arms "You should have told me when something was bothering you. Keeping secrets is not manly." He stopped in front of Fairy Hills
"And I worry about you...a lot" He walked inside shutting the door with a BANG that pretty much shook the whole building, but luckily none of the occupants were home.
As he walked into Evergreen's room, he gulped, trying not to pay attention to Evergreen's stone statues and searching for her bed. When he finally found it, he put her under the covers, grabbed a chair and sat down by her bedside watching over her.
The Next Morning
Evergreen woke up and noticed that she somehow ended up in her bedroom. "Heavy" She grumbled sitting up.
And there he was, asleep on a chair with his arms over her legs and snoring loudly
was the one person she didn't want to see.
Said person started to stir but she didn't seem to notice as she was deep in thought.
How'd he find me? Maybe Laxus helped him. I can't believe he did this for me She started to smile with tears forming in the corner of her eyes. However her smile turned back into a frown But that means they found me in the cave I was in which means they saw my tears and my glasses. They-He saw me in that horrible state, so when he wakes up I'll have to tell him...or I could leave before he wakes up-
"Ever?" Elfman said lifting his head to look at her and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes
"Oh! Would you look at the time, You have to go and help your sisters with…uhh…groceries! Yes, umm…so if you could just go and proceed with your errand…and don't worry I'm not mad or anything so-"
"Ever, that doesn't make any sense"
"Yes, well they called me a little while ago saying they need your help carrying the heavy stuff. So-"
"Tell me what's wrong" He said with a serious face
"Why, whatever do you mean?" Ever said smiling nervously
"I mean, tell me why you've been acting so nice every year around this time" He said "And before you say nothing's wrong with you, I have a witness"
"No" she whispered her head down
"What do you mean no?"
"I mean I'm not telling you or anyone because I'D JUST BE A BURDEN!" She yelled tears in her eyes
Elfman hugged her and said "You could never be a burden to anyone Ever, especially me. You don't have to bear it all by yourself." She started crying into his shirt "Just tell me, I guarantee it'll make you feel better." He said pulling away and giving her a gentle smile
"You'd really listen?" She sniffled
"To every word"
"O-Okay, I tell you"
For the next half hour, Elfman listened to Evergreen talk about how weak she was before she discovered her magic, how her father died in the line of duty as a magic councilman (foot soldier, not someone like Lahar), how her mother always told her that she was just a burden to everyone around her and that she needed to be the most beautiful woman in Fiore before her mother would love her and about how on her 7th birthday, her mother kicked her out of their home and threatened to kill her if she ever came back.
"…A few days later I discovered my magic and while practicing it, Laxus found me and asked me to join Fairy Tail. The rest is well, history."
Elfman sat there crying the whole time and when she finished he said
"I never knew" He hugged Evergreen "I'm sorry for making you relive that!" He cried bawling
"It's ok. You were right I actually do feel better now that I've told you" She smiled, wiping her tears away "Thank you Elfman"
"No *sniffle* problem." He said composing himself
"Come on let's go to the guild" she said smiling softly
"Wait. I have something to say." Said Elfman "Most of the girls in the guild that need mothers to look up to and comfort them in their time of need, don't have one. So I think you should try and act like a mother to them" He said smiling
"Maybe I will." She said, a big smile lighting up her face