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"Robin?" Gray's sentence was covered by Jessie's voice. She was climbing out of the tent with a worried look on her face when she spotted us, she sighed thankfully then questioningly stared at Gray," oh I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were busy."
Gray stood up,"It's ok. I'll tell Robin later, you girls get some sleep, we're up early in the morning." He walked past Jessie and climbed into his own tent.
I watched as Jessie wandered over to me. She was still wearing her armour so obviously hadn't decided to go to sleep yet.
"I wanted to talk to you but you seemed upset all night. Are you okay?"
"I'm better. Gray helped me through it."
"That's good." She weaved her fingers in with the green flecks of grass and tugged at them as she spoke," did I interrupt anything important?"
I glanced back at Gray's tent," not really. It depended on what he was going to tell me,"
We stayed silent for a while," You and him are very much alike."
Her comment shocked me," What?"
"I said, you and him are very much alike. You both care for others without hesitation but when it comes to your own pain you leave yourselves to suffer alone."
"Really?" I stole another glance at the worn tent of Gray's.
"Yep, did Julian tell you about Natsu?"
"Yes, well sort of,"
"About two weeks ago, Natsu began his usual insult for Gray who was in the guild sulking. Instead of replying with a witty comment, Gray told him that he was not in the mood and aimed an icicle spike at his head. It missed but everyone was surprised at how much Gray was angry." She sighed," we still don't know what was up with him,"
"Wow! So he just cracked?"
"Yes, which is my point whatever he was suffering with he didn't bother to tell anyone about it. Like you,"
"Me?"
"Yeah, you sat here most of the night, sulking. You didn't let any one of us in but when Gray comes to speak to you, you immediately relate to him and he understands."
"Oh..." I murmured. It was strange. I didn't know that the carefree adult was suffering inside as he looked so happy and fun. Now I noticed all the little sighs and mindless stares into the trees that he had been doing throughout the whole day.
"Anyway, I wanted to thank you for Edward. You really helped him today."
"It's ok. My mom was a caring woman and I watched everyday as she cheered up all her customers with a simple sentence."
"I wish I could meet her- she sounds great."
"Oh, you can Gray said we could go see her after we've visited the client."
"Really? Yes, I don't have to go home tomorrow."
"Why don't you want to go home?" I said as I stood up. She joined me in a swift movement.
"Well both me and my mom love cakes and I kind of ate hers. So she's going to kill me."
I chuckled as we climbed into our tent quietly. Lili and Lana were fast asleep with their arms wrapped around my mother's book. I smiled inside, mom would be proud that her book reached Fairy Tail.
In the morning I woke up to an empty tent. I could hear voices laughing and chatting just outside. It must have been late morning judging by the sun's rays in the sky.
The sheets in the tent were all folded neatly and mine were still splayed all over my body. My mother's book was atop Lana's pile of sheets so I reached over for it. It was worn and had been read many times. The edges of some pages had been turned up to mark them. I opened the book to the first one and saw Lana had drawn a question mark in grey pencil. I rubbed my finger over it then tuned to the next marked page. It was the same.
After checking all the pages, I recalled the question mark drawing twelve times. I wondered what Lana was doing with them so decided to ask her later as I placed he book back on her stack of sheets.
I exited the tent and was met with bright light that my eyes had to adjust to at first.
"Hey, Robin. Are you feeling better?" Asked Lili with her quiet voice.
"Yes, Thanks for asking." I walked over to them as Jessie held out a plate of fruit for me. I took it from her and sat down next to Julian on the grass.
"We were going through what's happening today." explained Gray," now you're here let me continue. So... Where was I?"
"The client's house..." Prompted Lana.
"Of course. We will then head to the client's house, drop off the flowers and get our reward. "
"Woo!" Shouted the twins.
"Okay guys. Next we will be going with Robin to see her mother. " everyone looked at me with wide eyes apart from Jessie and Gray who knew.
I mumbled," hi," and waved my fingers.
"Now, that is done and Robin is out of her tent we can pack away and take the next carriage ride, outta here!"
We spent an hour getting everything ready as Alf started to mess around with his twin near the tents. He managed to fall and slam into the tent knocking it over. So we had to clear up the mess and sort the tents out again.
Gray called for a carriage and soon we were all sat uncomfortably on a red seat inside it. I sat in between Julian and Alf who was squashed into Edward. Edward was looking out the window with a queasy expression on his face and every so often he would glance at Alf in wonder. Julian was sat next to Elwyn who had been squashed into the wall. On the other side of the carriage were the other girls and Gray.
Lana and Lili were sat with a book in their hands. I couldn't tell what they were reading but they seemed excited about it. Jessie was sat opposite her brother and she stared at him with a stern glare; like she was telling him to hold on.
"So where do you live Robin?" Asked Alf who was staring at me with such childlike interest.
"Thurnsca, it's somewhere in the province of Doncastria."
"Wow! Is it nice?" Elwyn asked as he leant forward to see me.
"Yeah, there are wide fields of grass and beautiful meadows on the outskirts and in the afternoon, you can go to the main square and watch Mewto with his puppets."
"It sounds amazing," said Lili as she looked up from her book.
"It is... But because we are so prosperous we often get bandits and crooks trying to steal from us and..." I looked down from everyone and let my eyes wander onto my lap.
"So... What's your mom like?"
When Julian lightly changed the subject off of the bandits and my experience with them, I looked up again," she is so kind and generous. If anyone doesn't have enough jewels for a coffee or something like that she buys them one and doesn't ask for anything in return."
"Wow! I wish my mom did that..." Mumbled Julian who has a frown on his face.
"Yeah, mine too," agreed Alf.
"Well, until recently I thought Mom used to tell me everything."
"What happened?" Asked Lana, who slotted her book into her bag. Everyone was now looking at me with interest in their gazes even Edward who had managed to stop looking uneasy and pull his eyes away from the scenery.
"It started one day when I overheard her talking to Uncle Loke about if I had 'it'," emphasised the word 'it' with my hands," I couldn't tell what they were talking about but I knew that there was something they weren't telling me.
"Then when they told me about mom's past I got the sense they were holding something back. It really upset me."
"That's weird, I've never known Lucy keep a big secret." Gray pointed out and all the others stared at him.
"You knew Robin's mom?" They all called.
"Yeah, I was on a team with her, Natsu, Wendy and Erza." He said smuggly.
"Here," I said as I reached into my bag and pulled out the Sorceror's Magazine that included the special interview with my mom's team. There was a picture of all of them at the back of the interview with some fun facts of the team as a whole.
Lana grabbed the book off of me and started reading.
"Cool! Wendy looks so young!" Julian called out as he glimpsed the picture.
Lana gave out a tiny gasp then a small snort of laughter," I can't believe that..." She murmured then looked up and realised we were all staring at her in confusion.
She then clarified for us," it says that this team was the most destructive team in Fiore."
Gray shook his head," No! These magazines always get it wrong. It was Natsu who started everything so he was the most destructive."
I laughed when I recognised his denial," that's not true," everyone looked at me," it was you and Natsu who destroyed everything." I pulled out the picture of Gray and Natsu fighting among a graveyard of destroyed buildings while my mom watched on.
Everyone stared at it then at Gray who stared at me with a annoyed look in his eyes.
"Uncle Gray why did you and Natsu destroy all the buildings?"
Gray ignored the question and crossed his arms," I'm not talking about it. Guys, shush We're coming up on the client's house now."
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