As he reached the bar, the wizard stretched his hand out and tapped the girl's shoulder while holding his breath in.


Michaela tensed as she felt a tap on her shoulder before slowly turning around and staring at whoever had approached her. A man, quite tall, dressed w... uncustomary. As the girl slowly looked up at the stranger's face, she shrunk back from the intense stare sent her way. Feeling inadequate for staring back at him so openly she looked down.

"Bickslow? Is there a problem?" Mira asked a bit sharply as neither from the duo did anything to start a conversation. It was obvious that the Seith mage knew the girl, but it seemed that she didn't recognize him and quite obviously felt uncomfortable by the attention she was receiving from the man.

Michaela's breath caught in her throat at what Mira had said. 'Bickslow?' She snapped her head up in disbelief, to make sure.

'His eyes. They haven't changed one bit. How could I miss that?' a small smile turned the corners of her lips up at the thought. Noticing that, the man let out the breath he had still been holding in.

Much to Michaela's surprise, the man lunged at her and wrapped her in a hug burying his face in her shoulder. Michaela had tensed at the sudden contact and she found it hard to relax in the predicament she had found herself in.

Realising this Bickslow immediately let her go to look at her, still keeping his hands on her shoulders, scared his little sister would disappear again if he let her go.

"Mika?" He asked unsurely. Was she afraid of him?

Hearing the worry in the man's voice, Michaela looked down shame washing over her in waves. This was her brother for heaven's sake! She should be able to trust him, be at ease with him. He didn't even seem angry with her. Why was this so difficult?

"I'm sorry..." she whispered her voice shaking, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes as her bottom lip trembled as sadness overflowed.

Mira noticed this before Bickslow and looked or rather glared, at the man. Noticing the way Mira was accusingly looking at him Bickslow gulped not sure what to do. If it was one thing he didn't know what to do, it was dealing with crying girls.

"Hey, hey! It's okay, okay?" Bickslow attempted to calm the girl softly squeezing her shoulders, however, the tears continued to flow down Michela's reddening cheeks. The mage looked up at Mira for help. The take-over mage rolled her eyes and looked around the guild noticing that they were attracting a bit too much attention.

"I'm sure Laxus won't mind if you occupy his office for some catching up," Mira said in an almost too sickly sweet voice as she sent a warning glare at Laxus the moment Bickslow turned to confirm what she had said. Bickslow looked up at the slayer and received a confirmational nod. Sighing a bit he started guiding his sister to the said office by taking her hand in his and gently tugging at it. Complying Michaela followed, her eyes still downcast, vision blurred from what seemed by now never-ending tears.

Entering the room, Bickslow quickly shut the door behind him, not before noticing that most of the guild was staring in that direction. Scowling in annoyance he locked the door, dreading the fact that the slayers would still hear the conversation if they paid enough attention.

Turning back to Michaela he noticed her standing in the middle of the room rubbing her eyes trying to stop the tears. It was almost unbelievable that this was the same girl from all those years back. She used to be the brightest, most cheerful kid in the village. The loudest one too. But this girl that was occasionally twitching when there was a louder noise from behind doors? Bickslow dreaded to know what happened to her to completely destroy the person she used to be.

Snapping out from his musings and handing her a napkin he led her to the only sofa in the room. the girl almost flopped down on it and let out a small squeak as she almost sunk in. This caused Bickslow to chuckle quietly at her as he sat cross-legged in front of her. It seemed she was starting to recover from her sudden wave of tears. After another minute or so only a couple of hitched breaths were hearable before Michaela took a deep breath and looked up at Bickslow who was staring back at her, inwardly hoping he looked encouraging.

Scrunching up her nose, Michaela tilted her head to the side a bit.

"Why are you making that face?" she whispered, clenching her hands and trying not to seem as scared as she had been a few minutes ago. She wasn't in any danger here. She hoped. The mage didn't know squat about Fairy Tail except for the rumors that had traveled even to the furthest parts of Fiore and even few bordering countries.

Bickslow blinked in surprise and slight disbelief. Rolling his eyes at her he reached out his hand and flicked her forehead out of habit. Michaela stared at him in her own disbelief that he would do this to her. Just like when they were kids. Scowling at him she rubbed her forehead and crossed her hands before a slight pout formed from the scowl. The seith mage chuckled at her.

"Now that's the Mika I know and love."


[edit 27.10.2017]