I feel like my body has been fried like an egg. I can almost hear Mira yell out,"Who ordered an Alexa Dreyar over easy?"
I'm in the infirmary along with other people, and somebody is looking at me with a concerned expression. Funny. It's Mira. I try to pick up my head. At first it feels horrid, but then I'm not too bad.
"Alexa! You were supposed to stay in the guild! You could have gotten yourself killed!" Mira, I'm thinking. What happened to your voice? You sound almost like Gray. Oh, maybe that's because it is. Okay. He's pissed off. It's hard to talk because my mouth feels like it's full of cotton balls.
"I had to help. There were so many of them."
"But you're younger than us. You're still growing. You should have let us take care of it." He's looking at me with a frown. "You look like crap. How many did you take out?"
Should I lie? I probably took out five. "I think maybe two? Anyway, the younger you are, the easier it is to come back from an injury." I have no clue if that's true, but it sounds good.
"That sounds like bullshit to me. Whatever. At least you're better." He goes out. Of course,
At some point he'd lost his shirt, because that's the thing about Gray. Aside from swearing way too much, he has this ridiculous stripping habit. I didn't even bother saying anything. I know someone else will say something and sure enough I can hear Cana yelling "Gray! Your clothes!" and I smirk. I love this place. And I can finally call it home.
An hour later I see a familiar face. He's all bandaged up, but I'd recognize that blonde hair, the ridiculous looking fur fringed coat and the Dreyar eyebrows anywhere. Laxus.
"Alexa." He looks uncomfortable and ashamed. Well, he should be. At least it's a start. I know he's not like our father. He's so much better. "You weren't supposed to be here. Why aren't you with father? I didn't want you to get hurt." I almost want to laugh. Those last two sentences don't quite fit together.
"Well you know what father always says. I'm a weakling and a waste of space."
"Alexa. Don't-" I have no clue what he was going to say because Gramps is calling him into his office. When Laxus comes out, he runs out looking extremely upset, and for good cause. He's been kicked out of the guild. Okay, so he deserved it, but it's hard not to feel horrible for him anyway. Okay, it's hard for me not to, because he's still my older brother. I also think that aside from this really being bad for Gramps and for Laxus, I also have no place to stay anymore.
So the next order is finding myself a place to live. I really had liked the idea of sharing an apartment with somebody, especially the idea of being with my brother, but I know that now he's kicked out of the guild, Laxus is not going to be sticking around Magnolia. I hope I can talk to him before he leaves.
I had slept the night in the infirmary but it's the next morning and I have to make plans. I wish I could share an apartment with somebody. Somebody who could maybe not take the place of Laxus, because nobody can, but someone who can be like a brother to me. Somebody like hmm…
Gray has a two bedroom apartment. I remember because I once stayed there when I visited. Unless he got a roommate, maybe he'd be willing? It's a bit unorthodox, but he's exactly the person I'd want to share an apartment with. It would be cheaper than Fairy HIlls or getting my own apartment, and I've known him forever. I want someone older who can be a sort of honorary older brother. Not to replace Laxus of course, I mean nobody can do that, and if I share an apartment with somebody, I'll feel safer too.
I find him sitting at a table. It's weird, but there's a beautiful pale faced girl with blue hair hiding behind a pillar nearby who's just standing there staring at him. He is either oblivious or pretending to be. I wonder when she joined. I go up to his table and sit down. I hope he's not still angry at me.
"Hey, Gray. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you yesterday. You're always right. I was being foolish. How are you?" Okay maybe I'm overdoing it with the 'always right' comment, but that's why it's called buttering someone up.
"I'm fine. The question is, how are you? Are you going to be okay enough to go to the Fantasia parade?"
"I'm good now. I almost forgot all about the Fantasia parade!" How could I? I always go to the Fantasia parade. It's one of the highlights of the year for our guild and for Magnolia. "I was just concentrating so much on running away, and then this whole battle, I completely forgot it was happening."
"Get your emblem and maybe Gramps will let you join a float." I move a bandage a bit and point to my emblem. That was one of the first things I had done this morning. I'm surprised he didn't notice it.
"Nice." It suddenly occurs to me how weird it is. Laxus has left and I've come in. It's somewhat of a downgrade for the guild. In place of an S class wizard they're getting a weakling, but whatever. I'm still here, and I'm going to train and become strong.
Anyway, a place. I take a deep breath. If not now, when? What's the worst thing that could happen?
"Gray, I have a weird idea. Don't say no until I've finished, okay?"
He looks up and raises his eyebrows. "Okay." He looks dubious.
"Can I move into your second bedroom in your apartment?" I move on very quickly. It's a bit awkward. "I always thought I'd move in with Laxus, and I know you're not Laxus, and honestly you don't have to be Laxus, but I always kind of felt you're kind of like a brother to me and I'll go on jobs and help pay the rent and you should see how I've kept my room before I'm very neat and I know it's weird 'cause you're guy and I'm a girl but-"
He's laughing. "Slow down. I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not so sure Gramps is going to like the idea of you staying with me, though. Wouldn't Fairy Hills make more sense?"
"I know, but it's expensive, and I want to live with you. I have money saved up, and it will be easier for you because rent will be cheaper, and I'm a really good cook too! I can cook soup, fish and pasta!" That's sort of correct. I can open up cans of soup and tuna and I'm an expert at boiling noodles, but how difficult can cooking be? I'll learn the rest as I go.
It takes more prodding, and me begging Gramps and also begging forgiveness for not listening to him before Gramps says it's okay, and Gray gives in. The blue haired girl is having more difficulty with this than Gramps is though.
She's introduced herself to me at least. Her name is Juvia, and she's a water wizard, and she knows that I'm really young, but wants to let me know just in case that she loves Gray, and to please try and understand her feelings. I try not to laugh. Doesn't she realize I'm thirteen? I guess I look mature for my age. She's very sweet and polite to me, but she appears to be obsessed with Gray, and obsessions are never very good for someone. She doesn't seem so thrilled with me moving into his apartment either. I really hope she doesn't think I've got some sort of crush on him or something. That'd be too funny. No thanks! Maybe she'll go on jobs with me though. I'd love to see her in action, and Gray's not the only one whose magic complements hers, although to hear her talk, he's the only meaningful one.
I'm excited, though. The apartment isn't that far from the guild, and it's not far from Southgate Park either. I love it already. It's airy and sunny. I've already gotten my own key, and we're worked out rental arrangements. The whole place costs 140000 Jewels. For now, I'm going to pay 10,000, but as soon as I'm earning a steady income, we're going to split it half and half. Just because I'm 13 doesn't mean I can't pay my own way. Gray's stubborn and saying he doesn't want me to pay more. I don't care if he already was paying the entire rent by himself, and nobody was using the second bedroom. Those excuses don't work with me. Oh, well. In the meantime, I'll cook dinner, wash the dishes, and do the cleaning.
The only snag I have so far is Ice-Make magic. He's refusing to teach me. It's the only thing I've asked him to help me with since I've moved in.
"But, Gray! You promised."
"Our deal was if you stayed in the guild I'd teach you Ice-Make magic. You broke the deal. I wasn't so thrilled about it anyway. At this stage you should be working on training and becoming stronger in your own magic, not trying out mine. I know we have the same element, but the two are quite different."
"You're right."
"I get paid to be right." He smiles at me in a teasing way and musses up my hair. He goes off to prepare for the parade.
I didn't bring so much with me just clothing, a couple of books, toiletries, my guitar, and the picture of Mamma, Laxus and I so it's a completely breeze to unpack and get settled. I'm 2 in the picture and Laxus is 12.
There's not too much furniture on the room, but that's fine. A bed, dresser, night table and a small desk. Plenty of space. The photograph goes perfectly on my night table. That way I can look at it if I wake up in the middle of the night and see Mamma.
The apartment is kind of small. When you enter, there's a two seater couch against the left wall and directly across the entrance is my room. Next to it is Gray's bedroom. Further down there's a small table perfect for four, and a bathroom and a kitchen. The whole thing is probably 75 square meters in size.
Before I know it, it's time for the parade. I usually watch it with Gramps, but this is my chance to find Laxus before he leaves. I know he always looks forward to the parade, even if he acts tough and never admits it. I'm relying on him being there. At least he should have my address so he can write to me.
The parade is wonderful. It's almost like there hadn't been a battle. Everyone looks amazing. Gray and Juvia are like a king and queen on their float. They're even wearing matching clothing. Gramps is hilarious in that funny hat of his. Everyone just makes me so proud to be in Fairy Tail.
Laxus was in the back, looking at the parade somewhat wistfully, I thought. Gramps did the Fairy Tail one sign with his finger, and Laxus was leaving, so I ran after him.
"Laxus! Wait!"
Has he been crying?
"Lex."
"I know you're leaving Magnolia," I hand him my new address. "I just moved into Gray's apartment. Please write, and you know if you visit there's room for you to stay with us. Just... Be safe." Great. I'm crying again. I'm great at doing that. I hugged him, because who cares. He's leaving and he can tease me as much as he likes.
"Hey don't cry, short stuff. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me."
He pats my head and walks off. Maybe he'll write back and let me visit him.