Chapter Nine
Family
Both of them had been less than pleased when Bacchus announced that he had to take on an urgent mission. To make matters worse, he estimated that he would be gone for no less than two weeks because of how far he had to travel. Gage had been near furious that Bacchus wasn't taking him along and sulked through dinner that night.
While Cana had warmed up to her fiancé's student some after their talk last week, it seemed to her that the only thing the boy enjoyed more than training with Bacchus was driving her crazy.
Between how he'd smart-off to her, his terrible attitude and the pranks he'd pull on her (that regardless if she could prove he'd done Bacchus would brush off), her patience with him was constantly thin and left their bonding to feel strained and more like a punishment.
After the two of them saw Bacchus off at the station, they started back for her house. It was quiet for a while as Gage trained alone out in the backyard while she remained in the living room studying her cards and contemplating new formations for more effects.
Albeit they had little conflict, it became apparent after the second day of mostly silence that they already needed to speak at some point. She'd thought of taking him out again for lunch with Lucy and Levy when a better idea came to mind. As she changed course, the boy following behind her spoke up.
"Where are we going? Dally's was the other way." He sounded wary and had slowed down his pace. If there was anything Cana credited him for, it was his keen perceptiveness of events around him and his incredible memory. She'd reasoned that was why he was constantly glancing around at his surroundings, though she often wished he'd keep those observations to himself.
"We're going to the guild today." Cana shrugged and maintained her stride.
"In Clover?"
"No, my guild." She glanced over her shoulder to make certain he was still following her. He was, though he gave her a highly doubtful look and crossed his arms over his chest.
"This is your guild?" The boy eyed the large building suspiciously when they arrived outside of it.
"The greatest in all of Fiore." Cana smirked, an ounce of pride warming her.
As she reached for the door, a loud crash followed by muffled swears and shouts could be heard coming from the inside. Gage stepped back defensively, shifting his suspecting green eyes between the door and her, waiting for a reaction.
"Scared?" She teased him, taking a small joy in the way he immediately scowled at her.
"No." He narrowed his eyes and reached for the door himself. More banging and rowdy yelling rumbled inside making him straighten his posture warily. Elfman's loud and beastly roar bellowed at that very same moment, startling him. Unable to hold it back, Cana let a quick laugh burst from her lips.
"Let's see what everyone's up to, hm?" With a haughty smirk, she pushed open the doors and yelled out to herald herself in.
The noises they had heard outside were hardly any true indication of the ruckus that had occurred within the walls. Though what looked natural to her had left Gage gaping incredulously at everyone.
With a quick scan, she could see that a rather boisterous brawl had torn through most of the main hall, leaving a good sum of the tables and benches broken.
Mirajane was quick to greet them, even going so far as to squat down to Gage's eye level to speak to him.
"And this must be Gage. You're much more handsome than I thought."
Cana snickered at the flush on Gage's cheeks as he suddenly turned his face away from Mira. She urged him along and gave him the short tour of the guild's main hall and the inhabitants. They were settling in at one of the few unbroken tables when the guild began to calm and return to a more manageable sound level.
"Came to visit the guild today, huh?"
Cana looked up to see an exhausted looking Levy. Leif, who was already of height with Lily stood anxiously beside her and greeted Gage with an eager hug.
"This that new student of yours?" A voice like rasping metal that could only belong to a single man got her attention. She watched as Gajeel approached, glancing at Gage in time to see how uneasy he'd become under the man's studded red stare. Though the intimidation did not last after they all saw the gentle way he held his infant son in his arms.
"Bacchus' student." She corrected with a grin at the baby.
"What's that?" Gage asked Levy as he pointed at the item in Leif's hand.
"It's a light pen." Levy answered while activating it. With a few swift motions, the giddy toddler scribbled in the air, leaving trails of pink light as he went.
"Have you ever seen a magic item before?" Cana asked.
He huffed indifferently and looked away from her, though his gaze never quite left the pen.
"I'm using it to teach Lief how to write." Levy tried to coerce the boy into writing something he learned only for him to just scribble more.
Gajeel muttered something under his breath about filling the kid's brain with too many different languages, earning a swift glare from his little wife. He was quick to hold his tongue then.
"Do you know your letters?" Levy asked Gage sweetly. Gage shrugged and told her he didn't have use to reading.
"If you'd like and it's alright with Cana, I can teach you." Levy smiled down at him.
"Just don't ask Erza." A pink haired man with a small infant strapped to his chest told him as he passed by. He had a rather disdainful look in his eyes as if recalling something unpleasant.
The rest of the day went well as Cana introduced Gage to her other guildmates. A few heated discussions broke loose on more than one occasion, provoking the boy to ask her why everyone bothered to be friends with people they always fought with.
"Because we're family. Families always fight. But they know when to say they're sorry, too." Cana used her eyes to point out a suddenly very compliant Gray and Natsu who were being scolded by Erza about setting a good example for the children. She was more thankful that the two of them had taken up more of her attention instead of allowing her to focus on any others. Her tongue is sharper than any of her blades. Cana thought sullenly to herself.
As the evening came and mages began to trickle their way out and to their homes, Cana sat in observation as she usually would. Her heart always warmed to see how her friends were growing. They were getting married, having children, moving on, progressing. She remembered this feeling from a few years ago when she had first left the guild dormitories. What used to make her heart heavy, now made it feel light as a feather.
A child's giggling caught her ear as she glanced over at Gage. He had Leif in his lap, bouncing him gently as he watched Levy demonstrating how to use the light pen. Cana's thoughts drifted to the talk she and Bacchus had had about Gage staying with them. There was something troubling her about it. Something she couldn't understand.
The wine in her body made her move without realizing it. Subconsciously she pulled her deck from her bag and began a self-reading.
Her cards spread before her, she thought carefully about their meanings and interpreted them as best she could. But she felt stuck just staring there at them. Her eyes could see the cards, but the meanings would not come to her.
After a few moments she gave up and went back to her wine. She watched on as Gage played with Lief. He was holding Natsu's son Asher carefully, too. Kid's a natural with them. She thought to herself about if she and Bacchus would have kids of their own someday. After a long look at Gage, she grumbled to herself and poured more wine.
Gage came to her only a moment after asking if she could show him where the infirmary was. The baby had spit up on his shirt and he wanted to change it. She asked why he didn't simply remove his shirt and pointed at a half naked Gray sitting across the hall. After his initial bewilderment that no one seemed to be bothered by the fact that a grown man was sitting in his underwear in the middle of a guildhall he frowned and again asked if there were somewhere he could change. Cana sighed as she removed herself from her seat and brought him to the wash and asked if he needed help. He quickly told her no and waited to undress until after she walked out. Immediately after closing the door she remembered that she needed to caution him about the hot water and went back into tell him. The sight before her sobered her faster than she'd ever felt.
Gage's little body was covered with scars. His back had the worst of it, with old healed gashes likely from being whipped and beaten. There was an insignia on the back of his left arm that looked to be the freshest of all.
She stood in shock as Gage stepped back a few feet, his eyes wide and wild. She stepped forward, but Gage clutched his arm and turned, hiding it away. Cana had seen fear, true fear, plenty of times in her life to know when it seeped into a person as it had the child in front of her.
"Hey it's fine, I'm not gonna hurt you." She said as she eased her way over and into a crouch to be on eye-level with Gage. When she reached out, the boy flinched, his breath fluttered with unease.
"Let me see it." She said calmly. When Gage did not budge, she slowly reached toward him.
Either too afraid to move or knowing a struggle would only be worse, Gage did not resist as Cana gently turned him and touched his back and arm.
She was taken aback at first by the sight and size of it. Though it was mostly healed, it would leave an ugly and uneven scar on his skin as he got older and it stretched. The mark itself was about the size of the boy's palm and unfamiliar. It was in the shape of a crown with five protruding points atop it in the likeness of spikes. She did not recognize the symbol as being part of any known guild in Fiore that she had come across.
Judging from the look of the still healing areas, it was likely burned into his arm by a branding iron. The evident lack of even application to it suggested whoever had done it either had little experience or did not care. She did not want to think of how painful it must have been nor of how much pain he has likely been in during the healing process.
"Does it hurt still?" She asked him softly. Gage did not answer her, only trembled and tried to keep his breathing steady. "Lets clean it up."
Wordlessly, he let her tend to his arm, wincing and twitching whenever she touched it.
"Are you going to tell Bacchus?" He asked her meekly as she finished wrapping the bandage around it.
"We can tell him together." Her eyes met his sincerely as she gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
Gage didn't seem to be against it, but nor did he seem for the idea either. There was an evident unease on his face that tore at her heart. She saw him for the scared little child he was then, realizing what it was that Bacchus had been trying to show her about him. Abruptly she pulled Gage into her arms, holding him to her chest, careful to not rub his back or hold him too tightly. He was startled by the sudden movement and tensed in her hold, relaxing only after she began to speak.
"Wherever you came from, whoever did this to you, I promise they won't ever do it again." Cana told him as she hugged him. "You're safe here."