"Natsu, Grey, Lucy," Erza in her shining armor shouted from across the room from the job board, "I have a job we all need to go on." Natsu rushed to her, with Happy flying close behind, as eager as the Salamander could be. "What's the job?" Grey calmly walked over without noticing he had no shirt or pants on, just boxers. "Um… Grey…" Lucy pointed at him and he practically screamed in embarrassment.
"The job is finding a girl with long iris blue hair," the Titania read from the sheet of paper as she tore it off the board. "The price will be two million jewels." "TWO MILLION JEWELS?!" The Ice mage and the Celestial Spirit mage screamed, shocked by the high price. "What girl is worth finding for two million jewels? What kind of trouble could she have been in?" Lucy pondered but Natsu didn't give it any thought, "Come on! Let's get going already! I'm getting fired up!" He started to drag Lucy along behind him as the rest followed behind. "Aye!" The flying cat shouted floating behind them.
The forest was calm and peaceful, nothing but the scurrying of small animals and the wind blowing the leaves of the trees above made a sound. That's when she decided to rest under a large oak tree. Her long purple-blue hair covered her face so no one would see her if she was being followed. The girl's breath stopped when she heard a sound from the grass across the trees from her until a small squirrel jumped from behind the tree. She smiled in relief and glanced at the sky, her light hazel eyes glowed with a golden shade as the light hit them. With another few minutes of breath taking paranoia, she decided to move on to the next town.
After the ride in the carriage and after Natsu recovered from his motion sickness, they arrived at the mansion where the job had brought them. The house made the mages look like ants in comparison as they walked to the door. Erza knocked before shouting, "Hello, we are mages of Fairy Tail and have come to accept your job!" The door creaked opened and an old wrinkly lady peaked through the door. "Yees?" her voice was weary and creepy at the same time, it sent chills through Lucy's spine, "Are you here about the iris blue haired girl?" "Yes, we are here to accept the job." Grey answered her this time. "Yes, well, come on in." The old woman opened the door more for the team to enter all at once.
Once they entered, they saw how big the house was inside. It was dark and beautiful at the same time. The mansion was dark because only thing lighting the room was many different candles, beautiful because of the furniture, wallpaper, windows, chandeliers, and paintings.
"Before you start on this job, you should know something about the girl you will be searching for…" the woman stopped walking and looked up at a painting of a young, beautiful woman sitting next to a handsome young man that was standing, a small child standing behind the woman. The child had short choppy purple-blue hair. "Was she your daughter?" Lucy asked without thinking first. The old woman shook her head, her gray hairs pulled up into a tight bun. "She was a little girl that would come by this house every once in a while. My husband had taking a liking to her. She was a sweet kind girl that wouldn't hurt a fly." The woman smiled, "She sang such lovely songs too." She looked back at the picture and gently touched the man's face, "But one day, he suddenly fell ill and died shortly after." She paused taking her hand away from the picture and turning and walking away, "That's when she changed; the girl knew magic like nothing I've ever seen before."
"What do you mean?" Erza suddenly grew suspicious of the sudden statement. "Her songs weren't the same lovely tune that she would play, they were sad and tempting, drawing people to her. It wasn't a normal melody…" She paused and took a breath to calm her beating heart, "So I had to kick her out of the house." "Then why do you want us to find her?" The Ice-Make mage asked curiously crossing his arms over his chest. "I want her to join a Guild and not be alone anymore; maybe you can convince her to join a Guild, make some friends." "Alright ma'am, we accept your request and will be back with the girl as soon as we can." Erza stated professionally.
Lucy finally realized that Natsu was being strangely quiet. She glanced over at him noticing he was staring up at the picture, a look of surprised frozen on his face. "What was the name of the girl?" Natsu asked, it sounded rude but it was just the way he was. "Rena, Rena Lynnette was the name she told us." "Rena…" Natsu mumble to himself when no one else could hear him. A small content smile spread softly across his face, "I finally know her name."
Rena walked out of the train station and headed down the road, her hair flowing behind her. "Miss," a small voice from behind her as she turned to see that it was a small boy, "Do you need a bath?" Offended, she looked down at her clothes and saw that she needed a bath, and a new set of clothes. "Uh… I guess I do." The girl gave the boy a nervous smile. The boy showed no expression on his face as he started to drag her to a large house. "Hey! You don't have to drag me!" Once they entered the mansion sized house, the young boy seemed to just vanish.
"Are you the Dragon Slayer of the Sea?" A deep, menacing voice came from the shadows. Rena, face with no emotion of fear or suspicion, stood up and replied bluntly, "Yes, I am." "What a pleasant surprise!" A man stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of her. He was a tall, lean man, his hair a deep blue and a strange crimson tattoo on the right side of his face. "Who are you?" Rena glared at his smirk. "Who I am doesn't matter at the moment, what matters are that you do as I say." "And why would I do that?" Crossing her arms, Rena didn't ease up on her glare. He shrugged, with another smirk on his face. He was really pissing the Dragon Slayer off.
"It doesn't really matter when you do what I say, cause in the end…" Rena felt a sudden pull that brought her face to face with the man as he wrapped an arm around her back securely, "I always get what I want."
That was it. A sudden rush of clear blue liquid entered the room, surrounding both him and her. The iris haired girl placed a hand on his chest, having him with a look of confusion before he was thrown back by a force from her hand. He looked up and saw a layer of water around her palm. "Don't you EVER act like you can use me like a toy in your game." Her eyes blazed with her light hazel eyes that looked like burnt fire wood as she glared. She turned and just walked out of the mansion and as she walked, blades of water sliced his lawn to shreds. As soon as she left his gate, the water disappeared and she held no expression on her face anymore.
When Rena entered a small gift shop, she found a cute little beanie that she liked. She placed it on, shoving all of her purple-blue hair under it, and continued on her way.
Natsu and his friends decided that they should split up into groups. For some reason Erza put the hot head with the ice mage while she left with Lucy. Happy was instructed to search by flying around.
"I can't believe I was stuck with you…" Grey groaned through his teeth.
"I would be better by myself anyways…"Natsu growled.
"Are you saying I'm useless flames-for-brains?"
"So original stripper, and yes, you are useless!" As they continued shouting insults, Grey noticed a girl with a beanie watching them with dull eyes. He stopped arguing with Natsu and walked to her.
Once she realized that he was walking her way, she began to walk calmly away.
"Hello, Miss?" Grey waved a hand to get her attention. When she turned around, she had a pretty smile.
"Yes? Is there something you need?" Her smile was warm, but her eyes were emotionless, almost sad.
"Yeah, have you seen a girl with iris colored hair?" Grey asked, feeling Natsu approaching them.
"No, I can't say I have." The girl looked from Grey to Natsu then looked back to Grey as soon as she laid eyes on him. "Now, if you don't mind, I must go…" Then she turned and began to walk away.
Just as she turned and took a step, Natsu grabbed her wrist and turned her to face him. "Are you Rena?"
"No-" Then Natsu aggressively removed her beanie and exposed her long purple-blue hair that fell neatly down her back. Still she had no emotions. Not even astonishment. Only anger.
"Yes, you are." Natsu glared, tightening his grip on her. "You're coming with us."
"No, I'm not…"
Suddenly, Natsu was thrown to the ground and Grey was watching as water collected around her. "I can't go back there!" The clear liquid flew wildly around them, destroying the stoned ground and shooting toward the two Fairy Tail mages.
The Dragon Slayer used his flames to evaporate the liquid. But when the water touched his fire, they disintegrated into smoke. Grey on the other hand, froze the water, but then it broke with a force of an explosion, throwing them back once more.
Rena took this opportunity to run while they were injured and on the ground.
I can't go back yet… She thought as she ran. There is something I have to do…
When Rena felt she was away from them, she leaned against a walk of an alley and caught her breath. A presence got her attention down the dark alley. A shadow approached her as she got ready to run.
"You think you can run forever?" Then there he was, the man who was thought to be dead, the reason why she ran.
"Ivan…" Rena gasped, astonished. A man who cared for her when she was young, the one that was…dead.
His grin was evil and frightening. "Good to see you again, Rena," he walked closer, Rena took steps back. "I never thought we would meet again like this."
Rena couldn't speak. She knew he was dead, she was there, she was by his side. She smelt the poison.
"Surely you knew that it was poison that caused my…passing." Ivan continued. He didn't let up on his menacing smile that really irritated the Sea Dragon Slayer.
"What the hell… how are you…?" Rena still had trouble speaking, but she forced herself to talk in fragments.
"Alive? Simple really, I have companions." Shadows came from behind the man, but none approached. "You should join us my dear, you could finally fulfill your wish."
"My…wish?" How could he have known? She never spoke about it around them.
"Yea, you will no longer be alone-"
"JAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Rena roared with laughter, tears fuzzing up her sight. "You thought that was my wish? How stupid are you?" Rena continued laughing. "My only wish is to find my mother, I don't care if I'm alone." Rena glared, her laughter gone and humor no longer exist in the air. "Now, you just leave me alone old man." Then she turned and ran.
When Natsu and Grey woke up, Lucy and Erza stood over them. Happy joined them shortly.
"Natsu, what happened?" Erza asked looking around at the damage.
"Rena… she got away…" Natsu avoided eye contact, embarrassed for some reason.
Lucy sighed,"Which way did she go-"
"Shhh!" Natsu covered Lucy's mouth, listening.
"He liiiikes you" Happy teased, Lucy gave him a 'shut up' look.
"What is it Natsu?"
"Quiet!"
"I've had time and, I've had change…" a voice sang "I've been broken but I still can't explain…"
It began to rain, but Natsu could still hear the girl's voice. "Come on buys, this way!" He charged in a direction, everyone else followed.
"Our July...
Why'd I have to you and do you like that?"
The rain continued.
"Thought I'd move on, then you brought me right back…
Every part of me is broken now…
I've tried to scream but nothing came out!"
When Natsu found her, she was standing on the edge of the cliff, staring at the sky, her hair drenched by the rain and her voice was sad and lost sounding.
"Dropped my pride and I refilled my insides,
And it all came pouring out…"
Natsu began walking forward as the others appeared.
"This melody will never speak tall the things that I regret if I could say anything,
My apologies for the way I ended things…
I love you…"
Natsu stopped walking when he was just five feet away. He stood there waiting for her to turn around.
Rena knew they were there, but she didn't turn around when she spoke. "I hope you know that this wasn't for you…" she spoke with irritation.
"I know…" Natsu whispered. Then she turned around, tears were in her eyes, or it was the rain that stained her cheeks, Natsu couldn't tell the difference between the salt water sources and he didn't care. He just took a step and pulled the fellow Dragon Slayer into a tight embrace. "You don't have to search alone, Rena, you have me, Gajeel, and Wendy to help you."
"You found them?!" Natsu nodded against her purple-blue hair.
"They are part of a guild that I'm in," He leaned away and gave her a huge familiar grin that pulled at the female dragon's heart. "You should join us! I'm sure they all will be happy to see you!"
Rena was shocked by his reassurance, but she looked away and pulled away. "I would love too, but… I haven't seen any of them in so long…"
"It'll be fine! If Gajeel starts trouble, I'll beat him for you. Only if you can't do it yourself of course!" As the clouds above departed, and allowed the sunlight to light the air around them, Natsu gave her a smile that she never thought she would see. A smile you would surely only give to the person you love. "Let's go back and see that old lady of yours, she's worried about you."
Rena couldn't refuse anymore, but she couldn't speak either. She only gave him a nod before following him back to his friends.
After short introductions and questions, they arrived to the mansion. The old lady stood at the door with her arms crossed. She looked pissed off. "You're late." He voice was firm.
"You were the one who kicked me out remember." Rena didn't light up on her attitude as she approached the lady. She looked down at her and smiled warmly, "I'm home Granny."
Tears filled the old woman's eyes as she jumped to hug Rena, petting her long purple blue hair. "You're a moron you know that, don't ever worry me like that again!"
"Yes, yes, okay." Rena chuckled still holding the embrace before the lady pushed her away.
"You know you're welcomed here anytime my dear, you too Fairy Tail." She spoke to Natsu and the others as Rena left to join them.
"Thanks Granny!" Natsu waved to her, along with everyone else's waves. She waved back, watching them leave. Pride filled her.
"You did well my dear," A dark voice came from the shadows of the mansion where the old lady lived.
"I don't know what you mean," she acted with nothing behind her voice.
"You know exactly what I mean…" Then, Ivan walked out of the shadows.
"If you even lay a finger on her pretty little head, I'll come back and kill you before anyone else can." Her voice was deeper and darker than the way she spoke to Rena.
"You should watch your tongue… Edolas Aerora." Ivan chuckled, disappearing once again into the shadows.