Chapter 9: Shopping time
"Sheesh… You are evil" I said. We had finally stopped, and I was allowed to step on my feet. "Where are we anyways?"
"This is one of the main streets in Magnolia. It's only 10 minutes from the guild, that is, if you don't run all the way down here" Levy explained, looking exhausted.
"Here, let me help" I stood in front of her, my hands in her temples, and started working my magic.
"Woah, awesome! I don't feel tired at all!"
"Let me try, let me try! Please!" I did the same to Lucy. "Aaah… this feels good…"
"Erza, do you want to try?" I asked, after finishing with the blond haired girl.
"No, thank you, I'm fine"
"B-but you carried me all the way down here! And with that armour!"
"I'll be ok, I've done much worse" She said, with a warm smile. "Thank you".
"I-I…"
"Aria, that was so nice!"
"Yeah! Let's do this more often!"
"U-um…"
"Aria" Called Erza, her voice serious
"Y-yes?"
"Smile" She said, and started tickling me. Soon, the other girls joined her.
"A-AH HAHAHAHA STOP! PLEASE, STOP! I GIVE UP, I GIVE UP!"
"So now don't be awkward. We are here to have fun!" Smiled Levy.
"YAAY" Shouted Lucy.
"Okay, girls" I accepted, giving my best smile. "Let's go shopping!"
"Ooh, look at this dress…"
"Levy, it's the same as the one you're wearing"
"That's why it's fantastic! Do you know how hard it is to find a dress in which you can sit comfortably, AND don't show your underwear while trying to get books that are too high?"
"Then what about this one?" I offered her an ankle-long, blue dress made of cotton. "It combines with your hair"
"Ooh, I love it! I'm going to try it!" With that, she ran to the fitting room.
"So, what kind of clothes do you normally wear, Aria?"
"Uum… actually, whatever I can find" I offered a smile, in a poor attempt to avoid being pitied.
"Does that mean you don't have a set style?" A terrifying smile crept through both their faces. That's when I realized what I'd done. "Then…"
I spent hours- literally, HOURS- posing as a model for the three girls, while they played with me as if I was some mannequin they had to find the best attire , honestly, I really enjoyed it: I felt as if I was somehow important to them.
"Oh-my-god! Laxus is going to love that!" Lucy exclaimed, as I came out of the fitting room once again.
"L-Laxus? I-I… Why Laxus?"
"Hehe… Aria, you don't need to hide anything from us, we know."
"Know? Know what?"
"How you both feel attracted for each other" Whispered Levy, with a mischievous look in her eyes
"T-that's not….!"
"Say all you want, I can see it in your eyes" Stated Erza
"B-but! That's not it, really, we are just friends who trust each other!" I tried to explain.
"Aham… just friends, right? A quick friendship, considering it's Laxus we're talking about."
"ANYWAYS" Lucy interrupted the conversation "doesn't matter who you are dressing for, you are going to conquer them all!"
"That's right! You look good, girl!"
"I'm not really…"
"Aria?" A voice sounded from the door.
"Evergreen! Come join us, we were shopping! Look at this dress Aria found for me!" Levy showed the Fairy the blue dress. "Isn't Gajeel going to love it!"
"Oh! I'm sure he won't take his eyes off you!" They both squealed, to which the rest of us laughed. "And who are you dressing for, Aria?"
"NOBODY!" My face was burning, and I'm sure it was rivalling with Erza's hair.
"Then I'm sure that "nobody" will love that outfit"
"Evergreen! You're mean!" I pouted, trying to hide my embarrassment.
"Let's go to the next shop! I've heard they have the cutest accessories!"
"Can we go first to the magic across the street? I wanted to look for a couple things" I said, mentally calculating how many jewels I had left.
"Yeah, I wanted to look for a few keys myself!"
We paid for our purchases and moved towards the shop. Please, sell scythes. Please, sell scythes. Please, sell scythes.
The place itself was quite small, barely enough to let the five of us in, but I could sense the magic in the air. It was a bit dark, as it had no windows; and because it was made of wood, the temperature was lower than outside. I immediately loved the site.
Shelves all over the walls displayed hundreds of small magical items- potions to run faster, orbs to see the future, magic rings to put the adversary to sleep… I felt my imagination run wild with all the new possibilities each item I set my eyes in held. Suddenly, a soft gust of wind caressed my ear, tickling my skin when my hair danced to its tune.
Trying to find its source, I turned around, and, dodging Levy, I felt the wind rotating around a small wooden box, carved and adorned with a labradorite. I took it in my hand, the magic from the item blending with mine, and opened it slowly, feeling my heart thumping in my ears from the excitement.
Inside, a silver flute, same size as my little finger, was attached to a thin chain.
"Oh! So that small item caught your eye? It's supposed to be the Pied Piper's flute." The owner explained.
"Pier Piper?" I asked.
"Ooh, I've read about it!" Exclaimed Levy.
"Of course you have" Muttered Evergreen.
"The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a child's story that talks about a piper with a magical flute, that allowed him to control all living beings to his will."
"A child's story…" I remarked, looking suspiciously at the salesman.
"Oh, but all stories have some truth in them, right?" He said, sweatdroping.
"So, it's supposed to control people?"
"That's what the person who sold it to me said, though I wasn't able to make it work…" I took it in my hand and a sweet melody started to sound. The four girls around me stilled, and I saw their consciousness fading in their eyes.
"DROP IT!" The man shouted.
As my skin lost contact with the silver object, the music disappeared, and Erza, Levy, Evergreen and Lucy regained self-control.
"What just happened?" they looked disoriented, as if they had just woken up from sleep.
"I-I… I think I made it work?" I said, uncertainty clear in my voice.
"That's our Aria!" Lucy exclaimed, jumping to my shoulders to give me a hug.
"You are not mad?"
"Why? It wasn't as if you planned to make us dance all night to exhaustion" Evergreen laughed.
"It was truly a miracle. To hear the song of Hamelin…" The shopkeeper murmured.
"How could you not fall in the spell?" I remembered he didn't seem affected.
"I have a lot of magical items that cancel magic. Otherwise, it wouldn't be safe for me to work here! But I'm intrigued about how exactly you made it work."
"Well, she is a user of wind magic" Erza explained, a hand to her chin in a thoughtful way.
"Yes, maybe the wind that always surrounds me made it work?" I suggested.
"That is indeed interesting. It seems as if the item was made for you." I saw an evil gleam in his eyes. "I'm sure you can afford the 70.000 jewels it costs."
"70.000 jewels? That's all one month of my rent costs!" Lucy protested.
"I'm afraid I don't have the money, sir" I told him, trying to look as innocent as I could. Come on! A lot of people pity me already, please make it an advantage for once!
"Oh, then maybe your friends here would like to give you a present?" My four guild mates sweat dropped.
"That is a low blow…"
"They can't do that, sir. As you said, the item seems to be made for me. I have to be the one that pays for it."
"Then maybe they could lend you some money."
Levy took the box in her hands. "Huh? What is this label? 10.000 Jewels?" She said, with a smirk.
"O-oh? That old label is still there? My mistake, it shouldn't…" He tried to take the box from the script mage's hands, but she held it out of his reach.
"Let's do something" I offered, getting rid of my innocent façade. "I'll pay for 20.000 Jewels for the box, the flute, its chain and the object that cancelled its effect, which, of course, I will test myself to make sure you don't try to fool us again. If you have any objections" I continued, as he opened his mouth to counterattack "I might call the Rune Knights and" I used my best poor-innocent-girl voice "tell them that an evil man is trying to take advantage of me"
"Or I could show you how to properly treat ladies" Erza added. The man turned pale at this. Everyone in Magnolia knew the Titania should be feared.
"O-of course, now that I think of it, it's a great offer, yes, yes. That would do."
After he calmed down a little bit, he explained that he was only trying to keep his shop, as he had been lately earning too little for a living, and was about to close. He offered me the real price for the two objects- that ended up being 13.000 Jewels- but I refused, arguing that it was well worth 12.000 just the flute and the box, so that was what I was going to pay anyways.
"Now that I think about it, everything makes sense now" He said, once I convinced him that I was paying the 15.000 Jewels. "You see the stone in the box? You can remove it" I tried it, and, indeed, I could withdraw the stone, realizing that it wasn't round but cylinder-shaped, and it had a hole that pierced it from side to side . "And it becomes the perfect case. You can fit the flute in the stone, and it would look like a random necklace. It won't touch your skin, so you can wear it without fearing that your magic would start playing it. It certainly makes sense now, how would you wear it otherwise?"
I smiled looking at the magical item. I hadn't realized it before, but the silver object was engraved as well, with delicate patterns that reminded me of the wind's flow. I had put the magic-cancelling object - that ended being a thin, golden ring- in the box as well, a precaution in case I was accompanied by a guild member and had to use that magic, and thanked the salesman yet another time.
Once again, the wind told me exactly what I was looking for without even realizing it.
After another half an hour, we exited the shop, Lucy with a new silver key; Erza with a small, light knife she could hide in her shoe; Levy with an ancient book that could shrink for travelling; and Evergreen with a set of glasses that could make the lens disappear, so, she told me, she could use her "other magic" without having to take her glasses off.
"Please, feel free to come back anytime, I'll treat you as the privileged customers that you are" The shopkeeper said as farewell. I smiled. He wasn't a bad person, but he had been unlucky enough to have more than he could swallow.
When we were far enough, I let myself sigh. It had been an exhausting day.
"Hey, girls, what if we go to that bakery and try some strawberry cake? I've tasted it, it's exquisite" Erza proposed. "We can go back to the guild after we eat something, my treat" We headed to the bakery with smiles on our faces. It had been a tiring day, but I knew with a certainty that I hadn't felt better than ever since I could remember.
A/N: Chapter 9 ends here! We are starting to get a taste of the real Aria! (well, at least the usual way Aria behaves, no wariness or anger for once), and it looks like she is making friends with the girls at Fairy Tail! (Next chapter will reunite them, and she has new clothes... ;))
She's also gotten a new toy… Look forward to the moment she uses it, I assure you it will be interesting ;)
I want to know what you think of this chapter, so if you can, please review! :D
