It had been an uphill battle from the start, but she had always known they would pull through. They always did. It didn't matter what they faced. They always overcame any adversity because they were together and nothing could pull them apart.
After all, they were the Raijinshuu. Once said to be Fairy Tail's strongest team.
Unfortunately, a team required more than one person.
Evergreen registered that she should move. She should stand up and get out of the inferno and fight while she still had the chance, but her mind refused to process the command. Instead she stared at her hands. She memorized every soot-ingrained line of the red and blistered skin as the damp tears soothed the flaming burns on her cheeks. For some reason, no other thoughts, beyond the loneliness that sliced through her, registered in her mind. And for some reason, she didn't care.
Evergreen pulled her gaze from her hands, but even such a minuscule movement felt heavy and forced, as if she were pulling the weight of a thousand with her eyes alone. Maybe it was because the air around her was turgid with sickening blackness. Maybe it was because her consciousness didn't want to see what laid before her, but how could she not look? How could she not just stare as the inferno prowled elegantly before her eyes? The flames looked almost like dancers as they spread fluidly across the wooden floor and devoured the soft purple drapes adorned with the familiar insignia.
It always disgusted her to see how that mark resembled the one brandished on her own chest. She had no qualms about watching that damned symbol blacken and burn as it disintegrated into nothing more than ash. Evergreen felt herself swell with a moment's satisfaction at the inferno that surrounded her. There was no way the building or anyone trapped within could survive this hell. But she had to. And that was enough to finally force her legs to respond as she climbed to her feet, ignoring the sharp protests of the bruises that encased her limbs. The muffled screams that emanated from the walls behind her were enough to propel her feet forward and towards the door.
She kept forward despite the dizzying poison that permeated the air and threatened to collapse her lungs. With an arm thrown over her mouth, she managed to keep her feet, but it severely impaired her already dilapidated vision, and, as a result, her bare foot collided with scolding metal object, sending her body crashing to the sooty floor beneath her.
The floorboards beneath her moaned as Evergreen struggled to push herself up. A moan crawled up her throat as every burn and every scrape protested vehemently against her movements. Her fists curled with vexation at her own weakness as she opened her formerly closed eyes.
But any determination she had managed to gather dissipated as the emptiness grotesquely clawed at her chest. She felt her lips part into a silent scream.
Slowly, her fingers unfurled themselves as she reached forward and brushed the small trickle of blood from his chin, careful not to disturb him as if he were asleep. But no one can sleep with their eyes staring straightforward. Completely unseeingly. Completely empty.
Evergreen couldn't bear to look into that haunting gaze as she pushed herself to her knees. She brushed her fingertips over his face, gently closing his eyes and vaguely registered that it must have been his visor that had caught her foot.
"Dammit, Bickslow," she whispered at his sleeping form. "I told you not to leave that helmet laying around. It's dangerous. Someone could-"
Evergreen slapped one hand to her mouth as coughs ripped through her entire body and scolded the back of her throat. Slowly, she pulled her fingers from her lips and refused to allow her gaze to drop back down as it wandered throughout the room and once more spotted her original goal.
The door.
She had to get to the door.
But it was so far away and…was it even worth it? Evergreen gently placed her hand on his shoulder as her gaze swept across the several feet in front of her. She knew exactly what she was searching for no matter how desperately she did not want to see it, but it wasn't long before the gleam of fire on metal caught her eye. The sword was glowing a vibrant orange as it rested in the inferno, the owner's hand still curved around the handle. Evergreen watched in silence as the flames nipped at the crimson sleeve of his coat, leaving the skin beneath it a sickening black, but he couldn't feel it. He wasn't breathing.
And Evergreen was jealous.
She was jealous of both forms as they lay sleeping and unfeeling before her, their eyes closed against the raging blaze that encased them.
Slowly, she shifted her weight so that she sat between the two silent forms. One hand rested on a deep blue sleeve and the other lay tangled in emerald tresses. In silence, she pulled her fingers through those tresses and felt the softness against her scorched skin.
"You would kill me if you knew I was doing this, wouldn't you, Freed?" she whispered to the sleeping form.
She half-expected to see his eyes open and send a piercing glare that would put her own to shame, but none came. The disappointment was crippling.
Evergreen felt her gaze drift from the expressionless face to the door that loomed so far away. The small sliver of clear sky between the wall and the exit seeming to taunt her, but, for some reason, she didn't care.
After all, a team required more than one person.
And she couldn't let her two boys go one to their next adventure without her. She had to be with them because they were the Raijinshuu. Fairy Tail's strongest team.
And even though Evergreen hadn't completed her last job...she was ready to go with them.
Vaguely, she registered the small flame that nipped at the corner of her dress, but her eyes were on that clear sliver of sky that loomed just beyond her reach. It seemed to shimmer like an impossible gem as her fingers tangled themselves in dark blue fabric and brilliant emerald tresses.
The feeling was familiar and warm, and it tugged at the corners of her lips as she allowed her eyes to drift close and her body slowly fall back, her lips parted.
She tasted fresh air on her tongue and soft grass on her back. The feeling of fabric and hair was gone from her fingertips. Instead, a gentle breeze tickled her bare feet and soothed the scorching pain. All that remained were tendrils of comfortable warmth, and a complacent smile on her features.
Her eyes opened to see that the small sliver of the blue gem was no longer just a sliver. It stretched on for as far as her gaze could reach and far beyond that. Soft clouds drifted lazily across the sky as the gentle breeze propelled them forward. She listened to the wind as it whistled and weaved between the golden grasses, the strands bending and crunching beneath approaching footsteps.
"Dammit, Ever. The hell're you doing here?"
"I thought we told you to get the door."
Evergreen didn't need to turn her head to see the two silhouettes standing side-by-side. A soft smile adorning one's face, and a beaming grin on the other's.
"Tch," Evergreen muttered as she propped herself onto her elbows and pursed her lips, her narrowed eyes falling on the two forms. "I was going to, but then you dumbasses had to go and leave without me."