Chapter 3

Azaleas and Glares:


Previously:

So who ever put the flowers here knew, they knew what she liked, they knew someone had died here.

"Jaden, they smell like her" Ebony stated, causing Jaden to raise a brow, who was her?

"They smell like Layla"


Jaden just stood speechless, never taking his eyes of the fresh azalea in his hands. He placed the flower back to the ground then turned his focus to Ebony. He couldn't believe that she would do this, couldn't believe that she would try to give him false hope. Layla was dead, that was a fact, so there was no way that the flower could have her scent...was there?

"Ebony, how could you do this...?" He asked his voice barely a whisper. Ebony turned towards him, her once saddened face now wearing pure anger and confusion.

"Me...All I did was say, it smelt like her!" She shouted as she stood up.

He couldn't believe what Ebony was doing, other than the Dragneel's, she was the closest person to her and now she was ruining the memories of Layla, giving him hope that he would see that smile again.

"Bullshit! What is this to you some sick joke?" He shouted the anger clear on his face. Ebony took a step back, shocked that Jaden would even assume that she would even do such a thing, and for a moment there he swore that he saw genuine hurt on her face.

She turned her back on him, her arms folded, causing a silence to start between the mages.

Sighing he placed a hand on her shoulder, she easily swatted it away as if he where some sort of pest.

"Ebony, I..." He started

"You aren't the only one who wishes things played out differently..." she whispered before she took off for the forest.

It didn't take too long to find her; even without the dragon slayer senses Jaden could easily hear the soft sobs of Ebony as she sat alone in the forest. She was sat down at the foot of a large tree, her knees against her chest as she hugged herself tightly. Walking slowly up to the dragon slayer, he placed a hand on her knee, causing her sobbing to stop as she lifted her head to face him.

"Sorry..." He said

Ebony shuffled slightly, turning her back on him once more.

"You should be..." She said between sniffles.

He shuffled over so he could face her, only for the stubborn dragon slayer to turn her head the other way.

"You know, avoiding me won't help" He stated matter-of-factly, causing Ebony to growl.

"You can't just expect me to forgive you, not after what you said" She growled, causing him to stiffen slightly, he knew that Ebony was right; however the shock of the entire situation, along with his emotions from the day had caused him to think irrationally and react the way he did.

"But the flowers, they couldn't smell of her..." he started only to be cut off by a growl from Ebony.

"So you're saying that I'm a liar as well as a sick person?!" she shouted, causing him to loudly sigh.

"No..." He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, why was this girl so stubborn.

"Then what are you saying? Because now I have every reason to punch you" She snapped and he didn't doubt her threat for a second. He sighed and turned to face her, he was staring intensely at him as if awaiting his explanation.

"Layla has been dead for five years; her scent couldn't possibly be on fresh azaleas..." He explained. She sat there in silence for a second, just staring at him intensely as if trying to figure him out.

"So you're saying that I'm crazy too...boy you really need to work on your apologies" Ebony hissed, breaking the silence.

"Ebony..." he started, only to get interrupted by dragon slayer.

"You aren't the only one who wished that things played out differently, that...that could have done something...anything, the sleepless nights, crying yourself to sleep..."

"Ebony I..."

"How could you think I would do something like that?!" She exclaimed as she sat on her knees, wiping away the tears that threatened to fall with the back of her arm.

She waited for an answer but Jaden sat in silence.

"She was my best friend, Jaden" she whispered, as she slowly sat back down, bringing her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

Jaden sat there sure of what to say, unsure of what to do. Those flowers, this forest, this town brought back too many memories for the two of them and Jaden wondered why he even visited. He felt a pang of guilt for even accusing Ebony of placing the azaleas by the crucifix, however he was just looking for an explanation, for someone to blame. When Ebony had mentioned the scent, something inside him snapped, the water mage was certain that he had moved on, that he had let go however the scent on the azaleas just shoved the past five years back in his face, it gave him false hope.

"You think you can track it?" He asked, casing Ebony to raise her head with a confused expression.

"You just expect me to drop down and help you?" She snapped before she got ready to turn and leave.

"Don't pretend that you don't want to find out" He called after her, Ebony stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back around to face him. "I saw your face when you found the flowers"

She walked up to him a dark aura surrounding her, poking his chest hard with her index finger.

"I'm only helping you because I want to know who this scent belongs to, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again...I will slice off your balls and make you eat them" She hissed.

Jaden let a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and once the dragon slayer had stopped poking him, he placed a hand to spot where she assaulted him, sighing as he knew that when morning came a large bruise would form.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot, and hurry up!" Ebony shouted from further ahead. Jaden quickly walked after the dragon slayer, the two of them beginning their search for the scent.


Jade had come to the conclusion that Ebony Redfox was trying her best to make his life a living hell; the small mage purposefully chose the route with the dense amount of trees, which had the lowest of branches. Weaving between the trees and ducking beneath the low branches was no hard task for Ebony due to her small frame however this proved to be difficult, for a much taller Jaden the branches would constantly smack him in the face and every so often he would get a face full of leaves.

"You don't suppose we could...I don't know slow down!" Jaden panted as he narrowly avoided getting hit in the face by a large tree. Ebony slowed to a walk, a small smirk on her face as she turned to face the water mage.

"Fullbastard, if you want I can just leave you here and carry on by myself" Ebony suggested as she started to walk ahead once more.

"If you leave me here, who's going to protect you if you run into trouble" Jaden said with a smirk, which only earned himself a warning growl from the dragon slayer. Once he had walked up to where Ebony once was she quickly pulled on one of the low branches towards her, once Jaden was standing not too far away from it she released it, causing to smack against face.

"Ah...Ebony!" He hissed, as he quickly placed a hand to his throbbing face, looking between his fingers he saw Ebony clutching her stomach in laughter.

"Oops it slipped..." She said with mock sweetness once she had recovered from her laughing fit.

Jaden sighed mentally making a note to himself to get revenge on the dragon slayer.

"You know some would say that finding joy in others pain is a bit-" He stated, however Ebony placing her hand in the air stopped him. Wondering what her gaze was focused on he slowly walked up to her, only to see nothing in front of them. Coming to the conclusion that the dragon slayer had lost it, Jaden sighed and started to turn when suddenly he heard it, a snap of a twig.

Ebony started to walk ahead toward where the sound came from; Jaden noticed that her body was kept low to the ground and her movements quick yet cautious and calculated like a predator stalking prey. He mimicked her movements, which proved to be difficult since unlike her, his father didn't specialise in stealth, so he knew for sure that he looked ridiculous.

Ebony came to sudden stop, not yet standing at her full height but her body wasn't as low as it was before, she stood partially hugging a large tree with her head poked out the side. Jaden stood behind her suddenly spotting the figure ahead. Draped around the figure's shoulders was a large cloak, making it difficult to decipher whether it was male or female, all that was seen were the heels of their feet as they poked out the back of their sandals due to its back was facing them.

"Does it have the scent?" Jaden whispered to Ebony, her head still facing the figure her only response was a nod.

They kept their focus on the figure for a few more minutes; Ebony was certain that from their hiding spot they wouldn't be spotted thanks to the dense amount of trees and the lack of wind.

The figure suddenly pulled of the cloak and what was revealed caused Jaden to barely hold back a gasp. The pair came to the realisation that the figure was indeed female after placing the cloak down,

But that wasn't what surprised them, what surprised them was the salmon hair that cascaded down her shoulders that was placed in a high pony tail and the slightly tanned skin tone, as she turned around they caught a flash warm brown eyes as she scanned the area.

"Ebony she looks so much like her..." He sighed only to get no response from the dragon slayer, looking around he noticed that she wasn't there.

"Ebony!" He whispered loudly once he noticed the dragon slayer walking towards the nameless salmon haired girl.

"Ebony!" He whispered loudly once more only to get no response from her; she only continued walking towards the nameless girl.

The bushes rustled once Ebony passed them, the sound causing the nameless girls focus to shift to the area, she froze once she spotted him smaller mage approaching her and started at her wide eyes. Her posture shifted as if on high alert causing Ebony to take a step back. The nameless girl tilted her head to the side with confusion, wondering what the mage's motives where.

"Layla...?" Ebony whispered, her voice thick with a mixture of emotions; sadness, confusion and hope. The nameless girl's eyes widened even more and there was a pregnant pause between the mages. Then suddenly like a deer in the head lights the nameless girl was gone.

"Wait!" Ebony shouted as she readied herself to chase after her, only to be stopped by Jaden pulled at her wrist, she desperately tried to wriggle free of his hold but her efforts where in vain.

"Ebony, we can't..." He sighed sadly.

"But ...it could have been her!" She exclaimed, her eyes watering. He shook his head sadly, only this only made Ebony angrier as she yanked her wrist out of his hold and stormed off away from him.


Running through the forest wasn't as easy as it looked, the nameless girl found it difficult to avoid the sharp branches and every so often would fall victim to pieces of clothing getting snagged on branches or her skin getting scratched. However she kept running and ignored the pain, she barely avoided running face first into a tree, when her thoughts once again drifted to the two mages she had met moments before, something about them seemed...familiar.

Suddenly coming to a stop she bent over placing her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath, something about them was similar to the faces of the people who had haunted her dreams and her nightmares.

She heavily sighed knowing that if her adoptive father, Sinclair was still around he would have been able to tell her why the people seemed so familiar why she wanted to hug them...and that name they called her 'Layla'; something about the name ...she shrugged off the familiar feeling perhaps it just was the similarity to her own name.

Walking on she suddenly stopped once she spotted her name sake, azalea, picking up the small purple flower she smiled remembering the day she first got her name.

She stood in the small living room, nervously fidgeting with her hands. The mud was gone now and so was the smell, the horrid smell of rotting flesh and sadness. She tried to usher away the feelings of loneliness and tried to forget the black and the walls of her wooden prison only it was too much and once again the tears threatened to fall. As if on cue, her saviour a man who had called himself Sinclair appeared, the smile he wore when she first saw him was still on his face and it caused his blue eyes to brighten and lines to appear at the corner of his eyes. He crouched down on one knee so he is at her eye level, his blue eyes searching her brown ones.

"So child, tell me your name..."

She lowers her gaze to the floor, her salmon coloured bangs covering her eyes, she whispers back.

"I...I don't know"

He sighs and then suddenly stands up, the movement causing her to look at him with curiosity.

"Well I guess we should pick one for you" He said, the smile still on his face. He placed a finger to his chin in thought the nameless child still looking at him with big brown eyes.

"Sophie...?" He asks, only to receive a shake of her head in disapproval from the child.

"Hmm...Haru?" He asks, only to receive another disapproving shake of the head. Whilst he paces around the room the nameless child's attention quickly focuses on a vase of flowers. She gasps as she quickly walks over to them, admiring the many colours.

"Azaleas'..!" She gasped as she picked one up, causing Sinclair to turn around and witness the child's smile as she admired the purple flower.

"Azalea..." He whispered to himself

"Hmm?" The child said, looking up at Sinclair

"Azalea...you like that name?" He asked, almost afraid that he once again receive a disapproving nod.

"Yep..." She said with a toothy grin, somehow the name sounded right.


Jaden suddenly started to feel uncomfortable as Ebony continued to send evil glare's in his direction, he shifted his place hoping that not being able to see her would help however it didn't as he could still feel the intensity of her glare.

"Jaden, what did you do now?" Cadence asked as she took a seat opposite him, arms folded out in front of her.

"Cades I did nothing wrong..."Jaden said before he glanced back over to Ebony who was still glaring at him.

"Well that doesn't explain why Redfox over there is giving you the 'evil eyes'" Cadence said "And besides this looks serious...almost emotional"

He sat up, bow raised, he knew that Cadence had gotten better at 'reading' people, she could tell by body language alone how a person was feeling however whenever she 'read' him it never ceased to surprise him.

"You know Cades I hate it when you do that" Jaden said with a smile.

"What?" She asked which earned her another smile from her brother.

"When you read people" He pointed out, causing his sister to smile.

"Oh that, I just find it easy to read people...you know you probably are the easiest to read" She said however with the last part she added a smirk.

They sat in silence for a moment before Cadence stood up to leave.

"You can tell me later...if you want" She said before she left.

Despite the emotions that the day brought everyone was acting pretty cheerful; and not looking at it as another year Layla missed it was an opportunity to celebrate the life she had.

The guild was starting to slowly return back to their old selves, which mostly meant that the guild brawls had once again started. Cana and Stella were having a drinking contest only Gale was certain that the fifth teen year old would lose despite having her mother's genes.

Igneel and Lucy both sweat dropped as Holly and Erza both argued over Erza's love of cake whilst the rest of the guild member happily enjoyed the day. However one thing wasn't normal and that was his sister glaring Jaden Fullbuster, Gale knew that the two never did get along but the intense glaring was unusual even for Ebony.

"You've glared at Jaden for the past twenty minutes...is something wrong?" Gale asked as he placed his empty glass down at the bar.

"Tch. I don't need a reason to glare" She growled before she took a bite out the iron pipe she had concealed in her dress, causing her brother to shake his head whilst wondering why his sister couldn't just carry around a purse like normal girls.

"Well you've glared at him more than usual, so he must have done something..." Gale concluded.

"Gale, I'm not some stupid book that you can study, so can you just drop it" She snapped before taking another bite of the iron pipe. Now Gale knew that something definitely was wrong; never had Ebony insulted his love of books, because she loved books too. Seeing a link Gale thought another question to ask his sister.

"How does my azalea look?"

Not facing him, still glaring at Jaden she only growled back a reply.

"Stupid"

Now Gale was certain that this wasn't about Jaden it was about her. For some reason she was angry at their lost friend. Getting ready to ask his sister another question he was suddenly interrupted at the arrival of Marvin Dreyar as he took a seat next to his sister and flung an arm around her shoulders.

"How's my favourite dragon slayer?" he asked, clearly not taking any notice of Gale's presence. Ebony glanced over at Marvin's arm as it hung over her shoulders; she turned to face him with a growl.

"Get your fucking hands off me..." She growled as pushed his arm off her shoulders. Gale could barely hold back a laugh at Marvin's look of 'hurt' at Ebony's display.

"Aw Ebs, don't be like that...I was only playing" He said as he reached for her shoulder once more, only for Ebony to slap his hand away.

"Well I wasn't and I'm not going to tell you again to leave me the fuck alone" Ebony snapped before turning away. Marvin smirked clearly taking Ebony's response as a challenge, as he readied himself to approach her once more.

"Marvin..." Gale said in a 'touch her and she'll kill you' tone only for the blonde dragon slayer's smirk to return once more and for Gale to come to the conclusion that Marvin was crazy.

"At least let me have a hug..." He said as wrapped his arms around the smaller mage, which was the last straw. Before Marvin or Gale could register what was happening, Ebony swiftly elbowed Marvin in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the floor. Stepping over the blonde mage's body she walked out of the guild, the doors slamming closed behind her.

"You know you asked for it" Gale told the blonde dragon slayer, which only earned himself a moan. Getting up he set out to follow his sister.

And leaving the rest of guild to wonder 'what the hell just happened'


Ah sorry I didn't like update for a while I feel terrible

So um what did you think of that

I'm not sure what I thought of it

Let me know

JustAnotherFairy :)