Ch. 20

Marcus and Holly walked around the festival grounds for a few hours, checking out the local entertainment and games. There was food, puppet shows, and a lot of other fun looking things that the two saw as they walked around. There was even that one game with the hammer, where the person tries to see if they can ring the bell when hitting a lever. After watching a hand full of very strong looking men come close, but not quite close enough to the bell, Holly stepped up to give it a try.

"Careful darling. Don't hurt yourself," one of the men said as he watched her drop the hammer, which she was obviously doing to humor them. Marcus could hardly contain his laugher as he watched her mock struggle. He knew as well as anyone that Holly had incredible physical strength that would put most men to shame. When she brought the hammer down on the lever, it sent the metal slider up at such speed that it tore the bell off the top of the game. Holly and Marcus grabbed each other's hands as they ran away, laughing as the game master yelled at them that they would pay for the broken game.

Finally stopping when they figured they had lost the angry man, they sat down on a bench, still laughing at the man chasing after them. Finally, Marcus noticed that their hands were still intertwined. When Holly made no move to let go, he felt happier than he had in a long time.

"Wow. It's really cold tonight. I should have packed warmer," Holly said as she began to shiver. She was wearing one of her skirts and a shirt that did little to keep her warm. Marcus took off his jacket without thinking and wrapped it around her shoulders. Holly stiffened at bit at the action, and Marcus was worried he'd made the wrong move. After a second of hesitation, though, Holly sighed and rested her head against her date's shoulder. Marcus had forgotten that Holly was an ice mage, therefore she was basically immune to the cold. Wow he's stupid.

"Hey Marcus?" Holly asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why do we hate each other?"

"I don't think we hate each other. Not any more at least. Although I think it has something to do with me running into you and ruining your skirt the day I came back from the forest," Marcus answered.

"That was my favorite skirt," Holly replied, remembering how cute it looked on her. "But even before that, when we were kids. Before you.." Holly hesitated.

"Before I disappeared. You don't have to be shy about it. I'm happy it happened. Ignatius was a great teacher." Marcus replied. Though he rarely talked about his time when he was missing, and even rarer he talked about his teacher, he had no problem when other people talked about it.

"Ya, before you disappeared. Even then we didn't get along. Maybe it was our dads. I know that they're rivals and are always arguing, but that's just in their nature. They're actually best friends. Have you seen any of their wedding pictures? They were each other's best man. They're always going on jobs together. Why can't we be like that?" Holly asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I don't know how I feel about you. Ever since we were little, I felt really strongly about you. I just couldn't decide whether those feelings were positive or negative," Marcus replied.

"I know what you mean. I thought I hated you because you were weak. But you're not anymore. You're one of the strongest wizards I know, if not the strongest. I think you could give Makarov a run for his money. And who knows what other powers you get from being a phoenix slayer. Maybe there's something like the dragon force that you just have to unlock. When you do, you could very well be unstoppable." Marcus was shocked by Holly's confidence in him. He thought about it for a minute. He then made up his mind that he was going to find Ignatius again, and see the other phoenixes. He would become even stronger. He would become stronger for the guild. For his family. For Holly.

"What do you think our dad's would say if they could see us now?" Holly said interrupting his train of thought.

"They'd probably start fighting with each other. Your dad would be calling mine an over-sized lizard, while my dad would be calling yours an exhibitionist" Marcus said, eliciting a laugh from Holly.

"You want to do something fun?" Holly asked.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Follow me."