A/N: I'm baaack! And with a new chapter :D welp, without further ado... please review and enjoy ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Although with the latest chapter, I wish I do :'(
Chapter 13
The First Job pt. 1
Gray ran toward the streets looking for the new member, Sapphire. He searched in every alley and corner of every street and even asked a few people if they've seen her. He kept on running and searching, he even tried the rooftops to get a better angle but to no avail. He couldn't find her anywhere in the city. He sat on a bench feeling exhausted and at a loss on what to do.
'What the hell am I suppose to do now?' he thought.
There was a slight breeze blowing in his direction ruffling his hair a bit. For some reason he felt that the breeze was somehow connected to Sapphire and so whatever is said to the wind would be conveyed to her.
Inhaling a deep breath he said to the wind. "Look, Sapphire, I hope you're listening 'cause I look like a complete idiot right now, talking to myself and all. I just want to apologize okay? Sorry for frightening you or whatever, though I don't think it's something to be scared about but- I just- agh!"
He wiped his face in frustration. "I'm sorry if my stripping scared you alright? It's not like I'm aware of it though, it just happens from time to time. It takes some getting used to I guess," He rubbed the back of his neck. "But if it'll make you feel any better, I'll try to control myself next time... So please come back. Don't go leaving us like that. It's been a while since we got a new member." He sighed.
He slumped in the chair in deep thought. 'Well, I said what I need to say.' He thought. "What now?" He said aloud.
Just then a strong breeze blew in his direction further ruffling his hair and clothes. He closed his eyes and covered it with his hand protecting it from any debris that may come his way.
'What the hell is with this wind?'
By the time the wind had subsided he went back into his slumped form but did a double-take on his left side and was surprised to see Sapphire was already sitting beside him.
"Gah!" He exclaimed, almost falling from his seat.
But Sapphire only giggled at his reaction. "I'm sorry for surprising you."
"The hell d'you come from?!"
She cleared her throat. "One of the perks of being a wind mage is that you can become the wind itself. It's my most favorite ability aside from the ability to fly."
"Huh. Sounds interesting. Well, unlike yours all I got is forming things from ice, nothing interesting there."
"That's not true... Personally, I find your magic to be quite beautiful and dangerous at the same time. It's perfect for a mage of your caliber."
"Thanks... I guess."
They both went silent, seemingly out of words to say to each other. When Gray grew uncomfortable he decided to break the ice.
"So..." he started, "I suppose you heard my apology."
Sapphire feigned innocence. "What apology?"
"Wah! I – You know! The–"
"Just kidding!" She laughed, "Yes I heard it." She wiped the small tears that formed in her eyes. "And I must say it's a bit sloppy for an apology."
"Well sorry for being a bad talker. I'm not used to this you know?"
She chuckled. "It would seem so. But I do appreciate the thought. And you don't have to go so far by changing your ways for me. If that's how you really are then I won't complain. I'll just accept it as it is. Though, it may take some time for me to get used to it."
He shrugged. "Meh, you'll get used to it."
"I hope so." She smiled. "And don't worry, I'm not going to leave you all just for a reason like that. Rest assured I won't leave the guild for a stupid reason."
"Really? That puts me at ease then." He sighed.
"I'm really sorry about that."
"Apology accepted."
With that out of the way he proceeded to ask her about that one thing that's been disturbing him since he left the guild.
"So who's Jade by the way?"
She flinched at the mention of the name and he noticed that Sapphire had her guard up the moment he asked her the question.
"W-why do you ask?"
"You mentioned it awhile back when I was introducing myself to you. I got curious on who this 'Jade' person is."
"Tch." She muttered to herself and went silent for awhile while staring at her hands.
While Sapphire looked deep in thought whether to tell him or not he stared at her and waited for her reply. Ever since she went silent his feeling of curiosity towards this 'Jade' person intensified but decided to quell it for now and investigate on the matter later.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity she replied.
"Jade... is my twin brother."
This caught him off guard. Her answer made no sense to him. If this 'Jade' person is her twin brother then why did she react like that when she first saw him?
"That's because you bear a resemblance to him."
He realized he just said that question out loud but Sapphire still continued.
"Actually, to tell you the truth everything about you resembles him, except for the stripping habit. Your look, your way of speaking, you even have the same magic type. All you need to do is dye your hair white and you'll look exactly like him."
"Then wouldn't that make him my twin brother instead of yours?"
She laughed. "You're right. I was afraid I might've met his doppelganger or something when I saw you."
He smirked. "Somehow I wanna meet this brother of yours."
This time her smile faded. "... You can't."
"Why not?"
Another pause, Gray gulped. Somehow he had a bad feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. "... Because he died 5 years ago." was her reply.
They both went silent. 'Ah... so that explains her reaction.' He thought. He felt guilty for prying especially when it's obviously a sensitive topic for her but for the sake of his 'investigation' he felt it was necessary. "I'm sorry" was all he could say.
She shook her head. "It's fine. It's my fault anyway; I'm the one who called you that by mistake so it's natural that you'd be curious."
"Still, I'm sorry."
"It's just that... I still miss him even after all these years. He was my family after all."
He placed his hand on her shoulder trying to console her. "Don't worry... we're your new family now and we'll be sure as hell to treat you like one." He smirked. "So cheer up, Sapphire, everything's gonna be alright from now on."
"Thank you."
Just then they heard Lucy calling them. They both looked up at the celestial spirit mage running towards them in a rush.
"Heeey! Graaay! Ah! You've found Sapphire, perfect timing!"
"What's with the rush, Lucy?" Gray asked.
"Natsu... wanted... to do a... job together..." she panted. "He insisted that he wants Sapphire to come no matter what."
"Is that why you're rushing?" Sapphire asked.
"No. Erza said she'd wait for all of us at the train station in 30 minutes and if we don't show up by then there'd be hell to pay." She shuddered.
"No surprise there, Erza hates waiting. We'd better hurry off now or we'll be late." Gray said.
"Ah, my house is around here so I'll be going now." Lucy said.
"Me too." Sapphire said.
"Really? Well, I'll be running ahead then."
They each said their goodbyes and they went to their respective homes to prepare.
While Lucy was walking towards her house which was just around the corner Sapphire followed suit.
"Umm, Sapphire?"
"Yes?"
"You're not following me, are you?"
"Ahh... it must've looked that way." She giggled. "No, my house that I moved into just happens to be near yours that's all."
"Ah really? Okay."
When they arrived in front of Lucy's house Sapphire was still standing beside her.
"T-this is my house." She pointed.
"Hmmm..." Sapphire speculated. "It must be quite spacious inside, right?
"Yes... it is." 'At least big enough for Natsu and the others to stay in.' She sweat dropped.
"I'd like to see the interior but it seems we're pressed for time."
"Right! Erza must be there by now."
"Then, I'll be going inside now."
Lucy nodded. "Me too."
Lucy went to the door and was opening it with her keys just as Sapphire went inside the larger house next to hers.
Lucy stopped in her movements and stared at the spot where Sapphire was. 'Ah... so that's her home.'
She paused.
"Wai- EHHHHHHH?!" She exclaimed.
'She lives next to my house?!'
Her discovery completely caught her off guard was feeling a mix of emotions about having the new member as her new neighbor. Although she has no problem with it, she was just surprised about not knowing that she'd be having a new neighbor until now. 'Since when did she move here?' she thought. When the rush of surprise had subsided she decided to let it go and went inside, only to find Natsu and Happy all packed and ready waiting in the sofa for her.
"Yo! Lucy!" "Heey, Lucy~!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
But Natsu only shrugged. "What's the big deal? We're here all the time."
"Aye sir!"
She sighed. She completely forgot about these two habits of entering and staying in her house unannounced.
"By the way, what's with the scream just now?"
"Yeah yeah Lucy. Why did you scream?"
"Ah. That. It's nothing; I was just surprised that Sapphire lives next door. It seems she just moved in while we were gone."
"Ehhh... really?" Then both of them exclaimed. "EHHHHH?! REALLY?!"
'So slow!'
"Then, are you saying Sapphire is living there right now? Right next to your house?!"
"That's what I've been saying all along." She sighed.
"Yosh!" He stood up from the sofa. "Hey, Happy! Let's head over there right now and give Sapphire a welcoming surprise! Come on!"
"Aye sir!"
"Just a minute!" She pulled on Natsu's scarf and Happy's tail. "You two aren't going anywhere. Gray already made her run out of the guild in fright, who knows what she would do if you scared her the second time."
Natsu and Happy pouted but recalling how Sapphire ran away when she saw a half-naked Gray they decided to just stay put and leave her in peace, for now. When Lucy finished packing her stuff they went out just as Sapphire went out of her house and off they all went to the train station.
When they've arrived, Erza was already looking pissed waiting for them to arrive.
"You're late!" She said when Lucy and the others arrived.
"Sorry, Erza." Lucy apologized.
"Yeah well, at least we're here so no worries there." Natsu grinned.
"Aye!"
"Really, you guys ought to train yourselves to be early!"
"We apologize for our tardiness, Erza." Sapphire apologized.
She sighed. "Well, I'm glad that you didn't run away for good so I'll let you off the hook this time."
"Nice, nice! Sapphire!" "Aye, good job!"
"Huh? Wait, where's Gray?" Lucy asked.
"Come to think of it, he isn't with you, is he?" She checked her watch. "Really that guy, just when we're in such a hurry."
Just as Erza was about to storm off the station in search for Gray, the ice mage arrived.
"Yo." He said nonchalantly.
"Gray! Where in the world have you been?! We've been waiting for you!" exclaimed Erza.
"Sorry, sorry. I had to convince a certain someone not to come." Lucy sweat dropped when she saw Juvia hiding a few meters away and staring daggers at her direction.
"And yet she still came anyway." She muttered.
"Juvia!" Erza called, noticing the water mage and surprising her as well. "What are you doing hiding from over there? If you wish to come with us, come out."
"N-no, it's not that." She stuttered feeling embarrassed at being found out. "Juvia does not intend to join you on your job, although Juvia wishes to." Then she muttered. "So that the love rivals won't do anything to Gray-sama."
"What the-?" Gray exclaimed. "Didn't I tell you not to follow me?"
"No it's not like that, Gray-sama." She said, frantically shaking her head in denial.
"She's here on a different job," Gajeel interrupted. "But this time she's with me."
"Gajeel?!" Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Happy exclaimed.
"Ah Gajeel," Erza addressed "You and Juvia are going together?"
"Yup." Gajeel said as Juvia came out of her hiding spot and stood beside the iron dragon slayer. "I figure it's been awhile since the both of us did something together so I asked her to come along."
"Sorry, Gray-sama, Juvia wanted to come with you but at least Juvia will get to see you off."
"No, that's fine." Gray replied.
"By the way," Erza remembered. "Gajeel, you haven't introduced yourself yet to Sapphire."
"Ah! It's fine, Erza. Natsu already introduced him to me so-"
"Nonsense." Erza cut her off. "You should still introduce yourselves personally. Gajeel, go on, introduce yourself."
"Fine, fine." He brought out a hand to shake. "Gajeel Redfox, Iron Dragon Slayer."
She took his hand. "S-Sapphire, Wind Magic. Nice to meet you."
Gajeel tilted his head. "Hmm... I didn't notice it before but this close you look familiar. Have we met somewhere?"
"No! I d-don't think we have." She stuttered.
He shrugged. "Must've been my imagination then."
"Alright!" Erza announced. "Now that everyone's here, we should all get going before we turn up late. We'll be heading off now, Gajeel, Juvia."
"Great, it's time for us to board the train too. Good luck on your job."
"Yours too."
Sapphire bowed down to the two mages before following Erza and the others to the train. But before Gray could board the train he whispered to Juvia.
"There's something between Newbie and Gajeel. Find out what you can on your side and I'll go investigate on mine."
"Understood."
"I'm counting on you."
And they both boarded their respective trains, taking them to wherever they needed to go. Out on the corner of the station a hooded figure watched the team of mages from the shadows and walked away with a menacing smile on its face.
"And so it begins."
A/N: A normal day chapter showing their interactions with the newbie :D also a bit spoiler alert in the manga, just wanna rant out... but really I'm crying my eyes out because of chapter 499, I can't believe it! :'( I've been a die hard fan since the beginning and this is what happened! Just when he finally admitted it! why Mashima? T.T okaaay, that's enough haha :D for those who haven't caught up, you better hurry, the story's getting better ;)