Chapter 11: Festivities

"What the hell? Who put out my fire?" Elfman screams as he looks around for the culprit. Natsu has been eating the fire for the barbecue for the last thirty minutes now and was laughing as he saw Elfman's reaction.

"Idiots are really easily amused." Gray comments with a snort.

Twitching his ear towards Gray, Natsu runs toward his stand point and gives him a quick punch before dusting his hands clean.

"Careful Gray, idiots also have a short-temper." Lucy remarks as she helps Mirajane with the preprations for the festival.

This in turn pops another angry vein on Natsu's head, "What the hell does that mean?"

Mina laughs at the atmosphere around her. It was the end of the harvest festival and she's never been too happy to be part of it. Reminiscing the event she had with Mystogan, she never thought that it happened in that same exact place just a few hours ago.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mirajane speaks through the microphone as she stood on stage, "Welcome to the End of the Harvest Festival." She welcomes them

A few whistles while some raises their beers towards her.

"There will be different events on this day. First is the all you can eat buffet, with Elfman's specialties."

"Cooking is manly." Elfman comments as he tends to the makeshift kitchen.

"Next are different games, first we have the drinking contest. Who can defeat our reigning champion Miss Cana?" Mirajane shouts through the microphone.

Cana raises the barrel and glugs it down in mere seconds, "The winner gets a year supply of beer! As if I'll let anyone win!" she laughs

Earning a sweat drop from Mirajane she continues, "After that is the barbecue eating contest, but with a twist, this time it's extra spicy!"

"I'm in!" Natsu shouts from the crowd.

"Let's not forget about the lottery! Where rare items can be won, or if you're that misfortunate, everyday items are what you'll get." Mirajane laughs as she remembered the last time they gave out dried herbs from the mountain.

Everyone shouts excited while some groan from their misfortune from the last lottery.

Mina watches them, enjoying the carefree smiles everyone are giving each other. Helping Elfman as he continues to tend to the different pots that are now being cooked she chops different kinds of vegetables one at a time.

"Do you know how to cook, Mina?" Lucy asks as she stares in awe as Mina chops at a fast paced speed alternating from one to another.

Mina shrugs as she takes out another knife and chops using her left hand to finish much faster, "During missions, you'll learn a thing or two."

Happy then rubs his chin, "Aye! Like what?"

She finishes the vegetables and throws them in the air as she grabs a container for each as they fall to their place, Lucy and Happy claps at her performance, "I was given a task to take down a sea monster. It was hard though, its scales where as hard as a diamond's, then I learned that the only way to defeat it was to use a special kind of sword."

"Then what happened?" Elfman asks as he was suddenly beside Mina.

"Of course I chopped it into pieces and turned it into sushi." She laughs as she remembers, "Though, the sushi tasted like seaweed and all of the villagers got scales all over their body and stayed that way for a few days."

Lucy and Happy share a look at each other before looking back at Mina, sweat drops on their head.

"Maybe that's the reason why there are human mermaids these days?" Mina shrugs.

Elfman pats her back, "Maybe you're only good at chopping."

Mina smirks, "Who ever said I was a good cook?"

As the festivities continue, guild members as well as the townspeople gathered around the rainbow colored tree, growing even brighter as more and more people came. Picnic rags lay all over the grassy plain, with people laughing and sharing stories with each other as the children played. The petals never stopped to rain down on them that had started at midnight, thus making the ambiance even more beautiful.

Mina spots Mystogan who now wore his usual attire; he was standing on the sides seeming to observe his surroundings. She rolls her eyes, she knew he wasn't that comfortable with a lot of people and heads on over to him.

She stops midway as she sees Erza now talking to him which she sees causes the spark in his eyes. Could it be that her theory was true?

That he might like Erza?

Shaking her head trying to remove any ideas, she turns her back and goes back to where she came from. What was she going to do anyway now that Erza is the only one that can make him happy? He might not show it but she sees it through his eyes.

Hitting her head with her palm she's aggravated as to why she keeps on thinking things like that. As if it concerns her, it most definitely does not concern her in anyway. Does it? Her head was hurting, now from too much pounding. Not the brightest idea.

Not knowing where she's looking she bumps into something, soft. (Not again.)

Losing her footing she tries to regain her balance but fails and waits for her butt to take on the impact, the grass is soft, so it wouldn't hurt that much, right?

Strong pair of arms surrounds themselves on her waist saving her. Looking up, electrifying blue eyes met with hers. As her brain registers what happened she realizes that she was staring face to face with Freed. Feeling dizzier than ever especially with the close proximity, she has mild claustrophobia, a trait she developed during the siege at her village.

"Is something the matter?" Freed asks as he steadies her, sensing that her feet are about to give up.

Mina holds onto her head, "W-what makes you think that there's something wrong?"

"Ladies that are distressed usually lose their awareness." He states

Shaking her head furiously she denies it and backs away from his hands that are still around her.

He raises his eye brow but leaves it at that. He's not one to pry in to anyone's business. He looks at her hazel eyes that have mysteriously turned black, he sees the sadness inside.

He lifts her chin to his eye level, "I would believe you, but your eyes say otherwise."

Feeling a blush creep to her face she looks away.

He sighs and gives up as he saw her look the opposite. She'll tell him when she wants to; he never liked making people do things if they didn't want to.

He grabs her hand and drags her into the center of the grassy plain where the buffet has started and already a lot of people have now gotten their share, especially the boys Natsu and Gray who are now having an eating contest. Well, more like who gets to choke on food first.

As he stood there watching everyone with smiles plastered on their faces he couldn't help but smile as well. It's been awhile since he's been with his fellow guild mates and some where just noticing that he was there. Friends from before such as Freed and Bislow came to him and chatted for awhile.

Now, it was Erza who approached him. Curious as to what she'll say this time, his eyes lit up. They both engage in conversations asking about ordinary things. Sometimes smiling behind his mask as Erza tells him stories of her adventures with Natsu, Gray, Happy and Lucy. Her happiness was contagious.

He notices a certain purple haired girl holding her head and a green haired man with his hands around her waist. Mina and Freed? Where they close acquaintances? He sees her hold on her wrist and drags her away. She was smiling. Why was he irritated?