AN: Chapter 21

So I'm pretty happy how this chapter turned out. And I hope you all enjoy it too. Please don't forget to review because I would really like to know what you guys think about everything going on! :) or about the characters and how they are slowly making their changes in the story! ( also, i hope i caught all the errors in this chapter... i've been staring at this screen way too long - ; )

Depressica: lol I am too enjoying Rain and Bora's part of the story. always gives me the chills when I'm writing him… such a creeper! And hopefully you will be glad to see her in this chapter as well :) and as always. I love Leo. He is such a fun character to write! I just love him all around!

NavyNinjaHo: I know… its kinda hard to believe that I've gotten this far into the story and it's still not close to being done. Unlike my other two stories that would end in a few more chapters, this one will definitely be longer. And trust me, I'm not going to be happy when this story ends either. I really do wish I could get more people to read and review. It's just a matter of everyone giving this story a chance with all the OC's.

Finny-Kun Goddess: lol who knows? They might one day, they might not. ;) we'll see in later chapters! As for Rain getting finn to see the truth about Bora…. We will find that out in later chapters as well! * insert evil laugh *

Leo leaned back in his chair, his head hanging over the back of the chair with his arms hanging at his side as he listened to Lily explaining something about his Ancient Literature homework. Lily pulled back some of her hair behind her ears as she spoke, unaware that the blonde haired boy wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying.

"Ok, so onto the Iron Age. Iron Age texts predated Classical Antiquity: 12th to 8th centuries BC. Some examples are—" Hazel eyes looked up from her text book at the boy leaning back in his chair beside her, clearly ignoring her. Lily growled as she shut her book quickly, a loud thud scaring the boy next to her. He quickly moved back up in his chair and slammed his hands on the desk.

"I'm listening! I'm listening!" He said quickly.

Lily glared his way. "That's what you said an hour ago when you fell asleep."

"Yeah but I mean it this time! You were talking about something to do with your dad and his iron magic? Right?"

The dark haired girl let out a sigh. "Not even close Leo. Seriously, it's no wonder why you aren't passing this class. It's totally easy and you're not even willing to put in an effort to learn it."

Leo put his hands behind his blonde hair and leaned back once more. "I am willing to put forth an effort! You just make learning boring…. Finn would have made this into a fun game… he always knew how to make learning easy."

Lily shifted slightly at the mention of Finn's name. It had been a whole month since she had seen him. She so badly wanted to call the ice mage to see how he was doing, but knew it was best not to. She still carried the guilt of what had happened during the convention, completely convinced that Finn wouldn't want to talk to her still. Lily opened her text book back up and spoke softly. "How's he doing? Have you talked to him lately?"

Leo glanced over at Lily whose eyes were glued to the text in the book in front of her. "Yeah I talked to him the other day. He seems fine. He really likes it at the academy. He told me his magic has already started improving and apparently, he has this roommate who is a fire wizard. I heard him talking to Finn while he was on the phone with me. Heh… heh… he doesn't sound interesting at all." Leo started to say nervously, bringing his hands back to the front of his body and picking up a pencil. "Him and Finn are just roommates. I mean, come on, he couldn't replace his BFF." His hand pressed the pencil to the paper hard. "That guy doesn't sound half as cool as me. I'm not worried at all that Finn might have a new best friend. No. not at all."

Lily smiled slightly as she watched Leo panic as the thought of Finn replacing him began to set in once more. "That's good to hear. I'm glad he's doing better. He deserves to be happy. And don't worry Leo, I think it would be impossible for Finn to replace you."

Leo looked at Lily in excitement and relief. "Really?! You mean it?!"

"It's Finn, Leo. Do you honestly think he could forget about you that easily?"

Leo put the end of his pencil to his lip for a moment before grinning at the older girl. "Ha! Yeah I am pretty hard to forget!" The blonde haired boy pulled down his blue-tinted sunglasses and leaned back in his chair once more, putting his hands behind his head. "I am pretty awesome."

Lily shook her head as she looked at the time on Leo's alarm clock. "Well, I'm supposed to close up shop for my mom. So let's go." She said as she began to pack up her books in her backpack.

Leo shot her a glance. "What do you mean, let's go?"

Lily stood and threw her bag over her shoulder. "I'm going to practice some more driving with you. Come on, or else I'm gonna be late."

Leo shook his head and stood quickly, pointing a finger up in front of his body. "Oh no! I remember the last time we drove together!"

Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I've gotten better! I've been practicing with my mom."

"You think you've gotten better! You damn near killed me last time!"

Lily scoffed. "Leo, come on. I really need this. Either you help me now, or else I will stop helping you out with your class and you will fail. Your choice."

Leo glared at the dark haired girl. After a minute, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his keys to his car. "Fine. But only because I really want to pass this class."

Lily smirked as she took the keys. "Thank you."

Leo mumbled as they made their way out of his room and to the front door. As the dark haired girl opened the door, she turned her head slightly and spoke to Leo. "Keep calling me a dragon and serpent, and you can forget about me helping you out. You often forget that I can hear you even when you're mumbling."

Leo jumped back slightly, completely forgetting that she could hear him. "Fine, geez… I'm sorry… Lily…. There? Happy? I called you by your name."

Lily smiled and walked out of the house to Leo's car. "Yes. Thank you. Now let's get a move on! I really have a good feeling about this! I can tell we can make it to the shop in no time! And safely! So stop your worrying."

Leo got into the passenger side of his car, worry still over his face. 'That's easy for you to say, you are still learning how to drive! This is what my mom and dad used to feel when they were teaching me how to drive! I swear I'm never having kids… there ain't no way in hell I'm going to be the one to teach them to drive!'

Gajeel paced the bookstore, his crimson eyes watching the clock as Levy worked on putting some books back on the shelf. Her hazel eyes went to him as she turned around for another stack of books. She let out a sigh as she looked up to the clock as well. "Gajeel, don't worry. Lily said she would be here. You don't need to pace around like that."

"She's right Gajeel. Lily has been doing a lot better this past month. Have a little faith in her." Pantherlily said as he sat at the front desk. Gajeel growled as he ignored them both.

Heavy boots stomped over to the door as crimson eyes peered out in search of any sign of his daughter. "I know she's still up to something…. No one can just turn around in just a month…. That girl ain't gonna show up. And if she does, she's definitely going to be late!"

Levy and the black exceed look to each other, shaking their heads at the iron dragon slayer. Gajeel moved away from the door and began to pace once more, his eyes burning a hole into the clock hanging up in Levy's shop. Minutes went by before a car's headlights shined through the windows, causing Gajeel to turn quickly and march to the glass. He saw his daughter in Leo's car, with Leo quickly jumping out like his life was in danger. His head whipped back to the clock. His eyes grew angry as he pointed. "Two minutes!"

Levy looked to her husband with a questioning look. "What?"

"She's two minutes late! That brat probably is using Leo as a cover up! Oh I can't wait to find out where she's really been." The iron dragon slayer cracked his knuckles as he moved to the front of door, waiting for his daughter to walk inside.

A moment after Lily put the car in park in front of her mothers' book shop, Leo was out of the passenger side, throwing his hands up into the air as he shouted. "LAAND!"

Lily stepped out from the driver's side and pulled her bag out from the back seat. "Oh please, Leo! I wasn't that bad! Quit being so overdramatic!" The dark haired girl made her way around to the other side where Leo was, handing him his keys back. "Thanks for letting me practice."

"Yeah, thanks for not killing me this time." Leo said with a smirk. The blonde haired boy pulled down his sunglasses as he made his way to the driver's side of his car. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, making her way to the front door of her mother's book store. The young script mage opened up the door and was quickly greeted by her father.

"Where the hell were you?! You're two minutes late!" Gajeel growled.

Lily stared at her father for a moment before rolling her eyes and walking past him to the front desk. "Sorry I'm a little late mom, I was tutoring Leo again. Kinda lost track of time."

Gajeel clenched his fist as he was clearly ignored. Levy smiled as she walked over to Lily, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "That's alright sweetie. You sure you are ok to close up for me tonight?"

"Yeah. I have a lot of homework to do and Pantherlily already told me he would walk me home. So we'll be ok."

"Good. Now then…" Levy turned to Gajeel and grabbed her purse. "Let's head out Gajeel. We will be late for our dinner reservation."

The dragon slayer turned on his heels, pointing at his daughter. "No! I ain't leaving til I find out where you were and what you were doing! I don't believe for one second that you were with carrot tops' kid! You two don't like each other! Never have! Since when have you started to tutor him?! Some new excuse to use for when you're with your idiot boyfriend and band?! You know, using that ice mage as a cover up was better than Leo! At least I could believe that one!"

Lily shot a glare at her father, her blood beginning to boil. "Don't talk about Finn like that! He was my best friend! And I won't let you talk bad about him! And for your information, yes, I am tutoring Leo! He asked me for help since… Finn left… yes we have our differences… but that's beside the point. I'm trying to help him pass his class."

Gajeel growled as he clenched his fists at his sides. "I will find out the truth! You can't fool me, little girl! And next time your mother asks you to be here at a certain time, you better be here on time!" Gajeel said as Levy began to pull him out of the store.

"Gajeel! Just drop it! It was only two minutes! You're the one who is making us late now!" Levy said as she pulled on her husband's arm.

Lily made a face at the front of the store as she watched her mother continue to yell at Gajeel outside about giving her a hard time. The dark haired girl let out a huff as she sat down at the front desk. She reached into her bag and pulled out her homework along with a text book. 'He still doesn't believe me when I say I'm doing something good… I guess it doesn't help he doesn't know I quit the band and broke up with Chrono… mom knows I'm trying to do better now… it's still just so annoying the way dad is still grilling me….'

Pantherlily looked at the girls' expression and made his way over to her, sitting down beside her book. "Don't take his words to heart Lily. I don't think he's used to the idea of you going to school, and coming straight home afterwards. Not to mention you're not sneaking out anymore and is probably thrown off by seeing you in the morning again."

"Yeah well… I don't think he'll ever trust me again… no matter how hard I try…" Lily said softly as she began to write down notes to study. The exceed let out a soft sigh as he shrugged his shoulders.

"It's only been a month. Perhaps he just needs more time to become convinced you are trying to better yourself."

Lily nodded slightly as she continued to write notes down in her notebook, thinking over what the exceed had said.

Hours later, Lily and the exceed were closing up the book store, finishing up putting books away. Pantherlily flew over to one of the many book shelves, placing a book away. His ears picked up the familiar voice a few feet away from him. He turned his body to face Lily who had her back to the exceed as she placed a stack of books onto the shelf, singing softly to herself. Pantherlily smiled as he listened to the girl sing. He had missed hearing her lovely voice. No matter what song she was singing, the sound coming from her would always give the exceed a wide smile.

Pantherlily flew closer to Lily and hovered at her side as he spoke. "It's nice to hear you sing again."

Lily stopped singing and turned her head to Pantherlily, replying softly. "Yeah…" She turned around completely and went to the front desk and began to pack up her books back into her bag. Pantherlily followed her and stepped onto the desk.

"Do you miss being in the band?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders slowly. "I miss the singing part… I guess…."

"You can still sing. You don't need them to do that."

The script mage laughed lightly. "That's what Finn said… he would constantly tell me I could carry that band myself… he always did believe in my singing…"

The girls' heart began to ache as she thought back to what Finn had said to her the night before the semifinals. A hand came up to her chest and gripped her shirt lightly as her mind stayed on Finn for a moment longer. This was the longest time she's gone without talking to him. She would have liked nothing more than to hear his voice. Even if it was just for a second.

Pantherlily looked at the girl, concern over his face. "Everything ok Lily?"

"What?" Lily asked quickly as she turned her head to the exceed. A soft smile came over her face as she raised her brows lightly. "Yeah I'm fine. I just spaced out there for a minute, sorry. Let's lock this place up and head home."

Pantherlily knew something was still eating away at the girl, but chose not to push the matter. She had too much going on to be questioned by him.

Lily smiled up at the exceed who had transformed into his larger form while they walked home. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she spoke. "You know you didn't have to change into your larger form, Pantherlily… nothing ever happens around this place."

The exceed brought up a finger as he spoke. "You say that now, but when something bad happens down the road, you'll be happy that your cat transformed into his larger form."

Lily giggled as she wrapped her arms around the large exceed. "I know. That's why you are the best cat I could ever ask for. Always looking out for me."

The exceed smiled as he looked ahead, his eyes catching something interesting. As the two walked down the sidewalk, Pantherlily grabbed a flyer someone had put up on a nearby telephone pole. "Say, speaking of looking out for you, why don't you try this out?" He said as he handed the girl the flyer.

Lily raised a brow as she read it over. "Auditions being held for a singer at the Purple Flame Lounge? I… I don't know Pantherlily…"

"Come on! You said so yourself you miss singing. This would be a great opportunity for you to get back into that part of your life."

"You don't understand… I don't think I could sing in front of a crowd anymore… I'll just freeze up again."

"It's a small stage from what I remember, and the bar isn't that big of a place either, so the crowd shouldn't be that big. You should at least try it out. It would be a good way to earn some more money and it'll get you out singing once more. You shouldn't waste a talent like that just because you froze up one time, Lily."

Lily looked up to the exceed before looking back down to the flyer. 'Maybe he's right… I should give this a try at least… I mean… it's just an audition… it won't be in front of a large crowd or nothing….'

"So? What do you say?"

Lily smiled as she folded the piece of paper and put it in her pocket. "I'll try it out. But only because you believe that I can do it." Lily giggled slightly as she put her hands behind her head. "And because I could use the extra cash!"

Pantherlily smiled along with the girl, glad to hear her spirits returning to the young girl.

Finn panted heavily, the heat quickly surrounding him making it harder for him to do anything. He watched as his roommate grinned as he continued to create flames from his hands. Solid blue eyes glanced over at the instructor who was timing their match. Five minutes left. Finn stared back at his roommate from across the room.

The fire mage grinned wildly as he spoke. "What's the matter Finn? Heat getting to you?! Perhaps a bit more will help you think faster!" He said as he brought his hands together, creating a larger flame that began to surround the ice mage.

Finn cursed under his breath as he looked around, trying to think of something to do. 'I have to distract him somehow…' Finn looked up to the ceiling, his eyes widening as an idea popped into his head. 'That's it!'

The ice mage looked back to his opponent, quickly throwing up his arms and forming an ice shield as a blast of fire came right at him. Finn could hear his instructor yelling at him as the flames died down in front of him. His eyes went back to the clock behind his instructor; three minutes left. The ice mage put his hand and fist together, forcing them down at the ground quickly. Ice began to form from the ground, pushing Finn up into the air as he made the ice geyser grow upward towards the ceiling. His roommate laughed as he formed flames at his hands.

"You think going up there will stop my flames?! Think again ice boy!" He yelled as he thrust his hands upwards towards Finn, the flames quickly chasing after the ice mage. Finn smiled as the fire came closer to him. Within a minute, the emergency sprinklers came on from the detection of flames, filling the room with water droplets as they all turned on. Finn watched as his roommate covered his face from the sudden presence of water from the ceiling. "Damn it!"

"Ice-make… Ice cannon!"

The fire mage wiped his eyes as he heard Finn shout from above, his eyes wide in disbelief. Finn was holding onto a large, bazooka-like hand-held cannon, taking aim at the boy down below. He pulled the trigger and braced for the kick back. He watched as his attack went straight for his roommate, hitting him dead on. The ice mage formed a slide made of ice and slid down back to the ground floor, his breath heavy as he panted. He looked over at his instructor who had stopped the clock with 50 seconds to spare. Finn grinned as his instructor made his way over to him.

"Nice work Finn. Using the sprinklers as a distraction was a smart idea. But next time you want to distract your opponent, try not to use them again. It costs the academy a lot of money to get them turned off for a false alarm."

Finn rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that… it's just all I could think to do at the time."

The man standing before Finn smiled as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Well, either way, you passed. Good job Finn."

He handed Finn the paper he had written down on and walked away to check on the other students in the class room next door. Finn smiled as he looked down at his paper, his roommates' groans causing his eyes to shift downward. "Hey, you ok Ace?"

Ace rubbed his head as he winced. "Well… that ice cannon of yours sure can pack a punch. I didn't even think about the sprinklers up there. No one was ever smart enough to try that trick on me before."

Finn chuckled as he held out his hand to his friend. "Yeah well… when the heat is surrounding you like that, you have to think of something quick. You did pretty well yourself. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it after that last fire blast."

Ace smiled as he took Finn's hand in his own, letting the ice mage help him up to his feet. "Yeah, you like that one? I've been itching to use that on someone lately. Before you came along, I didn't have a strong enough sparring partner to use it on."

"Well then I will take that as a compliment. Come on, I'll get you something to eat at the dining hall to make up for blasting you in the face with my ice magic."

Ace grinned from ear to ear. "Sounds good to me!"

Finn watched Ace shove handfuls of food into his mouth, wondering how he was able to put it all away. Ace was an interesting roommate to Finn. He was a fire wizard, but very rarely was he hot-headed. When they first met, they bumped heads immediately, trying to get used to one another and each other's magic. He was Finn's age and around the same height. He had short, dark brown hair that seemed to spike out at the top and brown eyes to match. His body was a bit more built than Finns' but he said he looked just like the ice mage when he first attended the academy. Finn often saw a lot of Leo in Ace, which was probably why they eventually became friends after they sized each other up. During Finn's first week at the academy, the two didn't say one word to each other, and when they did, it was a blood bath of words, quickly turning into fist fights. One day, their sparring instructor paired them up and they fought it out. All their differences, all their strength and weaknesses. All poured out into that one match. At the end, the two were on their knees, completely spent of energy and magic. It was a draw. Finn honestly couldn't believe he had stood a chance against someone like Ace. He had been here longer than Finn and yet, in that short amount of time, Finn was able to match Aces' level.

With all of their vigorous training exercises, and the constant sparring matches they held throughout the week, it was no wonder how Finn was able to get as far as he was now in just a month. He grinned as the thought to himself. Ace looked up at his friend and grinned with a mouthful of food. "Oi! You know you took your shirt off again?"

Finn looked to Ace, confusion in his face. "What?" He looked down at himself slowly. His solid blue eyes went wide as he saw that Ace was telling the truth. He indeed had taken off his shirt. One of the habits his father had before he had started drinking. Now Finn was picking it up while he was training at the academy. He groaned as he put his shirt back over his torso. "Damn it… I never had this stupid problem back home."

Ace took in another mouthful of food as he spoke. "Honestly man, it's not that bad of a habit. I mean it could be worse. You could be striping your pants off! Or your boxers for that matter! Be glad it's just your shirt!"

"Yeah well it was one habit I really didn't want to get from my father."

Ace laughed as Finn picked up his fork to eat his own food before his roommate decided to help himself to his untouched food. Just as Finn was about to bring the food into his mouth, his phone rang. He set down his fork and pulled his phone out of his pocket, answering it quickly. "Hey! Leo! What's up?!"

"Hey Finn, you busy right now?"

"Nah, I'm just eating a quick lunch before I go back to practice. Why, what's up?"

Ace nodded slightly towards Finn as he pointed to the phone. "Is that Leo?!" Finn nodded as he listened to Leo on the other end. "Tell him I say hi! Also ask him what he's up to!"

"Oh, nothing much. Just checking up on my best friend is all. Is that your roommate? Again?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, Ace is here with me. Why do you sound so jealous? He's just a buddy."

"Your buddy?! I thought I was your buddy!"

"Oh my god, Leo, stop!" Finn said with a smile. "You're being so overdramatic about this."

Finn smiled slightly as he listened to Leo. Ace moved back in close to the phone. "Oi! Leo! You need to come here and check Finn out! He's gotten so much better with his magic!"

"Finn… I'm going to ask you this just once. Did you…. did you replace me with him as your best friend?!"

Finn rolled his eyes as he spoke. "Leo, seriously, you know I could never replace you."

"Oh, ok good. Just checking, caz you know. I haven't replaced you! I mean, yeah, Lily has been coming by and tutoring me lately, but I don't consider her my best friend like I do you."

Finn raised one brow and lowered the other as he spoke into the phone. "Lily?" He asked questionably.

'Oops…' Leo thought to himself. "Um… yeah… she's been helping me with my ancient literature class."

"Oh…"

Silence came over the two friends, the only sound filling the phone was the sounds coming from Ace beside the ice mage as he ate. Finn finally spoke after a few minutes of silence from both of them. "So… how's she doing?"

Leo quickly answered Finn. "Psssh! She's fine! I'm keeping dragon lady in check like you asked. I could pass my class no problem but I figured this was a good way to keep an eye on her while you are gone." Leo waited a few seconds before speaking again. "Now don't go and start worrying about her… worry about you."

Finn smiled as he shook his head. "Yeah I know…. Old habits die hard, ya know?"

Leo rolled his eyes on the other line, thinking to himself. 'Yeah… if they die at all….'

Finn looked to Ace who had nudged him with his arm. The brown haired boy was pointing to his own phone with the time displayed. "Hey, Leo, I hate to cut you short, man, but I've gotta finish my food and get back to class! I'll give you a call later ok?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Talk to you later Finn. I miss you! Not as much as I miss Rain! But pretty damn close!"

"Thanks Leo. Miss you too." Finn hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket, shaking his head with a smile. "Sorry bout that Ace."

Ace shrugged his shoulders. "No worries. Leo sounds like a pretty cool guy. I would love to meet him one day."

Finn smiled. "Yeah. He's an awesome friend."

Ace stood up and grabbed his plate, slapping Finn on his shoulder. "Better hurry up and finish! I'm going back for seconds and after that, we've got some work to do!"

"As if I wasn't sore enough from all our training!" Finn said with a laugh as he went back to eating his food, excited about his next steps in training, but dreading it all at the same time.

An: Hope you enjoyed! I might be able to get another chapter posted up on thurs. or Friday this week, so watch out! :)

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND LOVE IN YOUR REVIEWS! They really have given me some feels as I read them all. I can only say that I wish I got more. I honestly love hearing all of your thoughts and feelings about the characters, whats going on, etc. so pleeeeeaaasee! Please please please review!