a place to hide
Characters: Sherry Blendy, Lyon Vastia
Summary: She found it again and again.
Dedication: To the tumblr anon. I love you a lot right now.
Sherry Blendy was smiling brighter as the sun when Ultear finally managed to get on with her show and called up the next category – Best Actress in a Leading Role – because this was what she had worked for ever since she had graduated and even if she would not win, it would still be a huge success because she was still young and there were many years left before she would simply retire one day and then she would have to dust off the award she had won each day.
"…and the nominees for the Titania in the category Best Actress in a Leading role are Evergreen Strauss for her role in Cold as Stone, Soft as Rain, Sherry Blendy for her performance in Mannequin, Bisca Mulan for her role in Shadows on the Walls, Kagura Mikazuchi for her role in The Rise and the Fall and Jenny Realight for her role in Down."
"Sherry," Chelia whispered because she was her older cousin's biggest fan and she beamed and grabbed Sherry's hands to squeeze them tightly. "This is so amazing, I still can't believe it's true."
"I know, I know," Sherry said as she looked at her cousin before she caught sight of her ex-fiancé who sat by his friends and this meant one of her current rivals. She should have known. The same way those who had all gone to Lamia High or FairyAcademy had all either stuck together from the start when they had all thrown themselves into the circus, those of the Pegasus Institute had done the same.
(This did not mean that if influenced the frustration she felt.)
But Ren did not matter anymore. They had fallen apart just too easy and she sometimes wondered why it had hardly hurt, why missing the past had hurt so much more. And yet, she had allowed new people to enter her life and stitch her back together although she had never been that broken. (She was not crazy. She was an actress, she was whatever she had to be.) She had never needed help but she would never deny that it had been nice to know that people cared.
This was what she had always wanted, people to support her, people willed to catch her when she did actually fall apart (because this had happened far too often for her to ignore it). She had no more use for people who only cared for her long enough to watch how she fell apart when they stopped caring. She would see all of them in hell because this was quite obviously where she was headed for – not that she cared.
"You look really pretty," Juvia said with a wide and honest smile. "Your dream, no?"
"Pretty much, yes," Sherry nodded as she nervously chewed on her lower lip.
Gray turned his head and shrugged. "He is here, you know," he said after a moment. "I would've thought that he'd at least try to skip out on this – he hates this event after all – but he didn't complain at all when mom told him that he would have to go."
"Maybe he grew up?" Sherry suggested before her lips quirked upwards and she started to chuckle at his scandalised face. "I actually doubt it as well," she said and she wondered when she had become this easy to read or if it was still common knowledge that no matter what happened, she would look for Lyon first.
"And the Titania for the Best Actress in a Leading Role goes to … Sherry Blendy," Ultear said with a friendly and genuine smile which was rare enough for her. "Congratulations, Miss Blendy."
Sherry rose gracefully and shook a few hands on her way to the stage where she nearly tripped over her own feet because her knees were shaking. This was her victory, this was her triumph, this was what all her decisions and her hard work had added up to and she was grinning wider than she had in a long time because this as exactly what she had aimed for when she had left her small hometown to go out and become a raising star.
"Thanks you, Miss Milkovich," she replied after a second as she collected herself and accepted the golden statue. "I am eternally grateful for this ho-"
And her voice died as something ice cold and wet landed on her head.
She gasped for her because it hurt, hurt, hurt.
The cold was agonising against the naked skin of her back and as she looked down, she saw that her silver dress was entirely stained by something that appeared to be black ice. Juvia's words played in her head again. "Your dream, no?"
The answer was No. This was not Sherry's dream. This was a nightmare. This sort of public humiliation was not what she had aimed for when she had sacrificed so much for her career. She had wanted the glamour and the glory. And not a bucket of ice over her head.
"Ex-excuse me," she muttered as she rushed away, keeping her head high as first tears ran down her face.
The way she cried inside the room was painful for everyone in front of said room. Erza Scarlet, by far not the best friend or greatest fan of Sherry, was white in her fury. Juvia, on the other hand, was the exact opposite, her face crimson and her hands trembling.
"Sherry?" Lucy Heartfilia, no, Lucy Dragneel tried. "Please, we all know you are in there. We, uh, are all here to help you? – I can't do this, Erza!"
"Blendy!" the scarlet-haired woman said as she knocked against the door. "Get your ass out of there or, I swear to god and everything else that's holy, I will knock down this door!"
Silence.
"GO AWAY!" Sherry replied, sounding nearly hysterically. But this made sense because she had just been publically humiliated and this had to hurt her inside. And everyone knew that Sherry was long done being hurt and humiliated.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Three heads turned, only to face Lyon Vastia who had made his appearance in the hallway after all, as pale as Erza, as shaken as Juvia and a little out of breath as he had ran there.
"Oh, so here you are," the red-haired woman replied as she calmed down. Slightly. "Try talking with her, will you? She doesn't listen to us … she might listen to you."
"Pushing all the complicated jobs onto me, aren't you, Scarlet?" he sighed as he approached the door. "Sherry? It's me … would you mind talking with me? Really talking, no yelling?"
"Lyon?" she asked back and her voice was the embodiment of heartbreak and anger and pain.
"Yeah," he replied as he rested his forehead against the door. "Let us help you, will you?"
"I don't want to talk … I don't want any help … I just want to go home," she stated drily.
"Sherry, first of all, you have to calm down a little," he said slowly. "This … cowardly and rather humiliating attack wasn't even aimed at you … it was supposed to hit Clive but he wasn't even there yet. So … no one hates you, alright?" He exhaled. "You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. So right now, you have two choices … to surrender and go home like a little girl or to get cleaned up and go back out there and show them your teeth and that it takes more than a bucket full of black ice to take you down."
"My dress is absolutely ruined, my make-up is ruined – my entire night is ruined!" Sherry snapped and she had never sounded this furious in many, many years.
"You can have my dress," Juvia offered calmly.
"Or you can go out there in whatever casual clothes you brought for the after show party," Lyon said after a moment of silence. "You brought it, didn't you?"
"I had planned on going home to change there," she replied and the door swung open.
Sherry looked like the proverbial 'mess in a dress'.
Ugly black stains were on her gown, her hair was dirtied as well and dripping wet with the paint. Her make-up was smeared and her face tear-stained. The beaming and laughing woman was gone and had been replaced by a frustrated and annoying teenage girl who was facing the ruins of her dream. And there was no way to fix this with a few words and a towel. The dress was ruined and so was everything else.
"…I didn't think it was that bad," Erza said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "What are we going to do now, big boss? You said we would be able to fix this."
"We are," he said after a few heartbeats before he grabbed a towel and gently wiped away the ruins of her make-up. "Oi, Sherry, this is hardly the end of the world, alright? It's not that bad. We can still fix all of this and you can go back and own this … whatever you want to call it."
"Vastia, did you ever fix make-up before?" Lucy sighed as she approached Sherry. "We will wash the stains out of your hair … and I can braid it again and make it look pretty. Erza can make your make-up look okay again and Juvia … will you go and get new clothes? This dress will probably end up burned after it was proven where the paint came from."
"Not paint," Sherry said hoarsely. "This was ink."
"Ink," Erza said with a sly smirk. "So I think we all know who was supposed to be the victim, no? Ink means press and in this town, press means usually either the Raven or the Iced and I am rather sure that we all agree that Lyon's mother wouldn't do this, no?"
"You think slower than Alberona and Dreyar today, Scarlet, because they already stormed off … and from the way it looked to me, they will be difficult to calm today," Lyon sighed. "Anyway, Sherry, this night isn't over for you yet. Get cleaned up and don't let this hurt you, yes?"
"You have gotten nicer since you remembered your heart, Vastia," Erza said darkly. "So I guess you will stay here? It might make Sherry a little uncomfortable."
"I am not afraid," Sherry said as she ruffled her messed-up hair. "He can stay, I feel better when someone I have known for centuries is here as well."
"You make me sound old again, Sherry," Lyon complained. "But yeah, those two are out to avenge you … even though Jura and the others would love to do this for you…"
"Please remind me to never mess with the Lamia High Mafia, will you, Lucy?" Erza groaned as she sat down on a chair and shook her head. "Nonetheless, we have about twenty minutes for Ultear to scold Clive on stage and for the award to be handed over … then, you get to walk up on stage and remind them that you are the one who won this award and who has not been defeated by a bucket of ink over her head."
"Lamia Pride," Sherry said and she exhaled as she opened the buttons that kept her dress from slipping off her shoulder and onto the floor. She was Prom Queen. She had won a Titania. She was no longer a whiny little girl. She was an Empress who walked over the hearts she broke. She was an actress. She was Death and she was Life. She was Hades and she was Persephone. And if she did not want it, she could not be touched, could not be harmed. She was the story teller and as long as people listened, she wove stories and made people believe whatever she wanted them to believe. Storyteller … painter … creator. She was it all.
"Lamia Pride," Lyon said as he averted his eyes because he could understand her and the way she thought. They were the odd ones out in this room and in this business where Fairies were everywhere and everything was about friendship and peace and love. Their teacher had once said that they would buy the peace the others worshipped and that they could see the darkest sides of life and that they would know the deepest secrets. – And that they would sip poison from golden cups, forfeiting their freedom because if they were free, no one else could be. (It had been a weird lesson, he could admit that.)
"It's probably healthier for me not to understand, no?" Lucy asked as she turned away from the closet with shampoo and yet another mountain of towels – white, white as snow (Lyon pitied whoever would have to wash them afterwards) – and she held out her hand to Sherry. "C'mon."
"Fifteen minutes," Lyon said calmly because he had never been one to give in to the panic, not when there was so much more on the stakes. "I put my trust into your hands, Heartfilia."
"You all do know that I got married two years ago, do you?" the blonde said darkly as she led the older woman over to the sink. "Seriously, I really don't know why this is so hard for all of you."
"Yelling Dragneel when talking with you, well, it would remind me of the years where Gray and Natsu would fight all the time," Erza remarked amused as she opened the little bag that contained the make-up. "This will be fun."