I Do Not Own Fairy Tail.
"You have an hour down here alone. If you want to play horse or sleep on the floor then you can leave and do that at home." She spat before turning around and heading back to the stairs.
I growled, "I got knocked back!"
"I don't care. Continue." And with that she was gone... for an hour.
I groaned in frustration, this is already annoying me! I dropped myself on my back. Bad idea.
I hissed in pain, "Gah... freakin' nuggets!" I rolled over onto my stomach.
Maya sighed as she reached the top of the stairs. Rae was happily sipping some coffee, he smiled at his wife and pointed the other mug at the other side of the table.
She smiled softly, "Thank you."
She took a seat in front of him and stared into the mug.
Rae took another sip before placing the mug on the table. "By the sound of that impact, it sounds like she tried putting her magic energy into Astra."
"Yes she did."
Rae chuckled, "That must have been painful... Gain strength only to lose strength. I wonder, will she be able to accept the loss?"
Again, again, again... I repeated it... only to still get knocked back. I thought I was doing the right thing because getting knocked back by the spear was the only reaction I got from it. I thought to myself, if I tried hard enough... maybe just maybe I could make it work. It never did, much to my dismay. So, I eventually ran out of time and was kicked out of the training room and Maya's house by Maya herself. She dragged me by grabbing onto my hood and literally dragged me up the stairs and merely tossed me outside in the dark. I haven't realized how dark it had gotten or how much time I had spent in there.
So here I was, walking out in the dark streets of Magnolia.
I was cautious as I walked, I didn't want to get jumped or anything like that. I put on my hood on my head and continued walking. I listened to the soft sounds of my footsteps on concrete, the only sound to soothe my uneasiness of being alone. I just wanted to get home and start thinking about the answer to that damned spear...
I sighed.
I continued walking, letting my feet lead me home. However, I stopped when I noticed that I was actually near something. This something was actually Kardia Cathedral... I took off my hood and looked up and the big edifice.
"I wonder if it's open..." I whispered to myself. Open or not, I'll still go in... it's been a while since I paid them a visit.
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Nah, I'll just head home. I can't waste my time right now.
I continue walking without taking another look at Kardia Cathedral. The sounds of my footsteps continued to echo with every step I made. Slowly, rain drops started coming down. The more I walked away from Kardia Cathedral... the more rain came pouring down on Magnolia and getting me soaked.
It's as if... mom and dad were crying because I wouldn't visit them. Haha.
I should hurry and head home but it's still pretty far and I'll most likely get sick tomorrow at this rate. I quickly ran to in the streets looking for something that might offer some shelter from the rain. The rain was getting heavier the more I ran, much to my dismay. The only thing I could think off that could offer some shelter was in front of Lucy's apartment. The front doors' steps had a roof above them, I could probably sit there for a while until the rain lets up. Then I could just run home.
So I ran to Lucy's apartment and took a seat there. I didn't know if she was home or not, but I didn't want to bother her this late if she was home. I didn't want to cause her problems by making her pick up this drenched stray cat. I leaned back against the doors and let out a heavy sigh while I watched the rain pour. I wasn't cold, which was a good thing.
My eyes just watched the rain pour and pour. Splattering on the pavement and never letting up...
The rain...
It reminds me of that.
I was young. My parents were still alive back then.
C.J and I held our mother's hand as we walked down the streets of the town. Yukio, who was walking next to me, was holding my father's hand along with Tsuki. We were all laughing happily while walking, our steps would have a little bounce now and then. We were walking home after watching a firework display that the town had done for an event. The six of us were sitting on top of a hill just a few kilometers away from the town just so we could have a perfect view. When the fireworks were over, we stayed on the hill a little while longer. My mother had insisted we leave right away but Yukio begged that we stay out late just this once. They gave in to our request since we were all looking at them with puppy eyes. Although, forty minutes later our father said it would be best to head home since he had a feeling it would start pouring. He was really good at predicting bad weather.
"Mommy, tomorrow for breakfast, can we have waffles?!" C.J beamed happily.
I tugged her arm and nodded, "Yeah, can we mommy?! Can we?!"
Yukio gasped, "No way! Daddy promised he would make eggs!"
Tsuki chuckled, "Uh oh, another breakfast fight!"
C.J and I narrowed our eyes at Yukio. He simply gave us the same narrowed eyes.
"Waffles!"
"Eggs!"
"WAFFLES!"
"EGGS!"
"Waffles are cool!" C.J insisted.
"Well, eggs are healthy!" Yukio pouted.
"But waffles are way tasty!" I said and C.J nodded in agreement.
"Gah! Tsuki, back me up!"
"No way, I'm not picking sides this time. Last time I did, it always ends up with one of you guys not talking to me!"
"Tche!" Yukio scowled. He looked up at his father, "Dad! You'll make eggs right?"
Zack looked at his son with a frown, "Uhh... Well-"
"Mommy! You'll make waffles right?"
"Umm..." Reiya started, "Well... um... Zack?" The two of them looked at each other.
Tsuki sighed exasperatedly, "Look, why don't we just have both? I'll even help!"
My father nodded with a grin, "Yeah! Exactly, I was about to say that!"
My mother laughed, "Of course, Zackie~"
My siblings and I stared at each other weirdly, "Zackie?"
My father groaned, "Don't call me that in front of them!"
Reiya giggled, "No need to be embarrassed."
I looked up at my mother, "Why did you call daddy 'Zackie'?"
My mother opened her mouth to reply... but nothing came out. She froze. My father as well. At the same time, the released our hands. My mother ran off in the opposite direction leaving us behind with our father.
I stared at her with eyes wide, "Mommy! Where are you going?!" I started to move to try to follow her, "I wanna come-".
My father stopped me, much to my surprise. "Daddy?"
"All of you just go home, we'll be back later." He said quickly before running off as well in the same direction as my mother.
The four of us were left behind, staring at their backs as they ran. We were left behind, in an empty street.
Drip... drip... drip...
It started pouring down on us. We were all rooted in our spots and getting drenched as we continued to stand there. That was the first time. The first time they left us alone. They left us there in the heavy rain near midnight in the cold. It was a little dark, we had much difficulty trying to find our way home by ourselves with only Tsuki leading the way. It was quiet when we arrived back at home. Tsuki told us to change clothes and get ourselves cleaned up since we were soaking wet. When we were all cleaned up, we all waited in the living room in hopes that they would come back soon. After midnight had passed, Tsuki told us to sleep. We slept in our parents' room.
Some of us felt lonely. Some of us had cried in the bed.
We never thought 'we'll be back later' meant 6 o' clock in the morning.
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...
That was the first time... and it was from then on that it got more frequent...
"...sa...issa...Karissa!"
I blinked. I was pulled away from my memory.
I looked up and saw a man with rather delicate features with mildly short spiky orange hair.
"Hm? Loke...?"
I noticed he was wearing his regular green jacket and all the rest of his regular attire. This time however, his shades were not on his face. He was holding up an umbrella after all it was still pouring.
I looked at him weirdly, "Where are your shades?" I said while pointing at his face.
"Uh well... I somehow kinda lost them while running away from Lucy."
I scoffed, "What is wrong with Lucy? What's so bad in her that you have to avoid her like she has the plague? I swear the only thing bad she's got is the fact that she's horrible at making traps. I swear I've seen her trap."
Loke rolled his eyes, "You know I'm not good around celestial wizards. More importantly, what are you doing out here? In the rain? You'll get sick and make Tsuki worry."
I stood up and straightened up. I stretched a bit, "I was trying to find shelter so I wouldn't get sick but hey, if you think I'll still get sick sitting here then I'll head home. The thing is, I've got no umbrella but you my friend got one. Mind walking me home?"
Loke gave me a small smile, "That was my intention the moment I saw you. Come on, let's go." He stepped back and motioned me to get under the umbrella with him.
I thanked him then stood next to him and started walking with him. I yelped when he placed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. I looked at him as if he grew another head but all he did was give me a dazzling smile, I'm guessing this is the smile he uses to woo girls? Heh, too bad that crap won't work on me.
"What's with the arm?"
"Just making sure you won't get wet."
"Dude, small little drops won't kill me."
"Still. Your sister would have my head for letting you get wet even if just a little."
"Oh please. My sister isn't that protective."
"I think all women should be well taken care of. Therefore I should take care of you."
"Geh, I'm not a china plate! I'm an iron plate! Plus, hearing you talk like that makes me wanna puke."
"Still not letting go."
"It was worth a try."
From afar, from a window inside a cafe, a dark haired male watched the two walk closely to each other. He set down his cold drink that he was about to sip. He saw his guild renowned flirt and his childhood friend under the same umbrella to shield themselves from the rain. The flirt had his arm around her and for some odd reason, she didn't seem to be bothered about it. In fact, she seemed to be laughing at something he had said. The male watching didn't know how to feel about this.
He always thought that his childhood friend would never fall for Loke's charm. She had even admitted it herself that she wasn't interested. Loke didn't seem interested either considering he had never flirted with the women of her family. Instead he seemed to be good friends with his friend's older sister and her as well.
Maybe he didn't for a reason? Hiding true feelings perhaps?
The observer didn't know for sure but he did know that seeing them like that was not pleasant for him.
After all, a flirt is most likely to flirt with many people... which would cause hurt for Karissa wouldn't it?
Gray shook his head, "Nah, not possible. She would never. She knows better to fall for a player." he whispered to himself before sipping his cold drink with a soft chortle.
Gray chose to trust her. She wasn't that foolish.
"Anyway, what were you thinking about when I was calling out to you?" Loke asked.
Karissa shrugged, "Some boring memory."
Loke gave his full attention, "A 'boring memory'?"
"Yeah, nothing big. Just my parents abandoning my siblings and I in the rain."
Loke's eyes widened for a moment, "Wait what?"
"Exactly as I said. But you know? It's not that important. My parents are gone." Karissa said with a dry laugh, "They raised me for only I'd say 4/10 of my life. The rest was Tsuki's doing. Much more than them don't you think? Sometimes, but not all the time, I think that we weren't that important to them in the end. If we were, they would have never left us all the time. They should have stayed. But hey, what's done is done."
Loke looked back in front of him, they were nearly at her house. "I might not know the whole story, but... you shouldn't talk about your parents like that... they are still your parents."
Karissa sighed and nodded, "Yeah I know. Hey... look we arrived. Thanks for walking me home Loke." He removed his arm from her shoulders and nodded with a smile, "You're welcome."
He watched her go inside her house and locking the front before heading home himself.
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...
"I doubt that Zack and Reiya 'abandoned' you guys. I know one thing for sure, they always cared about their children... They might not have been in your life that long but they've already shown the greatest proof of their love for you. Abandoning and leaving was their way to show their care and love."
"Hehe, you must have made her worry if Momma Tsuki's scolding you." Yukio chuckled from the kitchen.
Once Karissa entered her house, Yukio who was in the kitchen hollered for his older sister. Tsuki came rushing down while spitting out many words of scolding. It got even worse when she noticed that her little sister was wet from the rain. She ran to get a towel and started drying her wet hair much to Karissa's amusement. Yukio merely watched from the kitchen while eating eggs he had cooked not too long ago. The family knew about how she asked Maya to help her get stronger since Rae had stopped by the house to tell them when she was down in the training room.
"Never do that again!"
Karissa sighed, "Hey, in my defense it started raining out of nowhere. I didn't know it was going to rain, I swear."
"Doesn't matter!"
Yukio laughed with his mouth full, "Dohf ebef fhry ftho ahrgue (Don't even try to argue)."
Tsuki turned around and wagged her finger at him in disapproval, "Swallow Yukio. Swallow."
The second oldest of the siblings nodded.
"Anyway, how was your training?" Tsuki asked while putting down the towel on the kitchen's counter. Karissa sighed and walked to one of the couches in the living room and just fell on one. The first floor of the house had the kitchen and the living room in the same place. Karissa was tired from the rain and just wanted to lie down on something soft that was nearest to her. She didn't want the solid chairs of the kitchen.
"I can't seem to make any progress... Yukio you trained with Maya again at some point too right? How did you- oh wait... I can't ask..."
Yukio titled his head, "Hm? Why not? I'll be glad to give you advice."
Tsuki nodded, "Your big brother is always there to help you."
Karissa shook her head, "No, I can't. Maya said he can't help even if her tried because mine is completely different from his style with the tonfas."
The two elder siblings asked about the style she was learning. She merely replied that her spear would have to become one with her ice magic but first it would have to disappear. This confused the two of them greatly, they had never ever heard about something like that.
Yukio stayed quiet. "That sure is different..."
Karissa scoffed, "Ya' think?", she sat up with a heavy sigh.
The oldest sibling came up from behind her little sister and wrapped her arms around her neck. "I have faith you can do it. You're a smart girl. You can do anything if you do your best." She encouraged with a gentle smile. The youngest Sinclair laughed a bit before leaning back into her sister's touch and patting her arms. "Thanks..."
"What are sisters for?"
"Hmm."
"No go hurry up and take a shower."
"Alright."
Yukio watched his two sisters from behind with a frown. His older sister released his younger one and he just watched Karissa go up the stairs to take a shower.
"I wonder if she can handle the loss... does she even know about it?"
"Hmm? Did you say something Yukio?"
His sister came up in front of him with a curious look. He did a small worried small with a shrug. He ruffled his dark hair and messed up his hair, he shook his hair and messily let his bangs rest upon his eyes. He saw one of his purple strands and started playing with it.
"Do you remember? After I learned how to use the tonfas... I can't seem to use my Sailex Hand properly anymore... no it's more like I'm losing the ability to use it." Yukio said while lifting up his right hand. He clenched his hand into a fist, "I can only use my Lava Magic properly... I learned how to use Houken knowing there might be consequences... Maya warned me but did she warn Karissa?"
Tsuki stayed quiet, "So... you're saying that you lose the magic passed down from mom and dad?"
"I guess."
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...
Tsuki laughed dryly, "What do you know? Everything related to them is slowly starting to disappear... just like them."
Yukio's eyes softened, "Tsuki..."
"I'll go check on C.J, he said he had a stomach ache earlier. I wanna go check on him." She quickly said before heading upstairs herself leaving only Yukio by himself on the first floor of their house.
"Disappear... huh?"
The next few days were the same. I was tired of it, I wasn't making progress at all. I was greeted with the same treatment from the damn spear. Slammed against the damn walls.
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...
"DAMN IT!" I yelled out of frustration, I grabbed the spear and threw it across the room out of my intense frustration that was accumulating within me. "I CAN'T DO THIS!" I ran my fingers in my hair and scratched my scalp roughly before sitting down and glaring at the spear. How was I supposed to do this?! Maya won't help me at all! It's not fair.
"I don't believe I gave you the spear only for you to throw tantrums with it." Maya's voice came from behind me. I glanced behind my shoulder to see my aunt entering the training room with a cookie in hand.
"Tche." I narrowed my eyes at the cookie before looking at the floor in front of me. "What do you want me to do?! I don't know how to make this work!"
"You wanna give up then?" She said with a mouth full of cookie.
My eyes widened. "No, of course not." I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists, "For a while now it's always been the same thing! The only reaction I am getting from that stupid piece of metal is pain! What the hell does that thing want me to do?! You and Tsuki say that I'm smart enough to figure it out but I'm starting to think I really can't figure it out... What is it that I am doing wrong?! I don't understand..."
I heard Maya sigh behind me. I heard her footsteps approach me and she placed her hands on my shoulder. "Why don't we call it a day."
I jerked my head back, "What?! No! I can't! I need to figure this out!"
"No! What you need is to think! You need to think instead of doing the same mistakes! All you're doing is coming here without thinking about it at all!"
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...
My eyes widened, "Mistakes... giving it magic energy is the wrong answer?"
She didn't answer me. She helped me get back on my feet and held my hand so she can walk me out of the training room. "I can't tell you anymore than that. If I do, the results won't be as effective. So for now, just stay away from here and think about it alright. Take your time, there's no need to rush things."
I nodded slowly, "I understand..."
I decided to listen to aunt Maya's words and take my time thinking. However, I wanted to go to the guild first. I haven't been there for a while since I always went to Maya's house. If I count it's been exactly six days since I went to the guild... well six days since I saw my friends. I wonder why no one's asked for me... they didn't come see me once. I wonder why... I think Gray told them to stay away so they wouldn't bother me...
When I entered the Fairy Tail guild, I was greeted by questions like 'Where were you?' 'It's been a while' 'How are you doing?' and more. I replied to their questions with simple words that made them settle down. There was someone I was looking for when I entered the guild and I actually found them sitting not too far away from me. I walked towards them, they didn't know I was approaching them since their back was facing me. When I was near them, I placed a hand on their shoulder.
"Hey, Gray."
He seemed surprised, he looked behind him. "Oh, hey Karissa."
I took a seat next to him, I folded my arms and rested my head on them.
"Are you alright? What's got you bummed out?" He asked me with a casual tone. I turned my head to the side to look at him. I explained to him what just happened with Maya in the training room. He nodded and seem to understand Maya's advice that was given to me.
"Well, she is right. You should take your time to think about this before just rushing it."
I guess this is why I wanted to see him. He always took things seriously but in a rather cool and relaxed way which makes me at ease.
I hummed and nodded, "I just want to take my mind off it first. I wanna distract myself first before I start thinking about it."
I watched him as he paused for a while. I observed his features and noticed the smallest details on his face that told me he was thinking about something. His eyes seemed to have narrowed just a tiny bit. His mouth made a tiny movement upwards.
"How about this?" He said quietly. He looked around a bit before leaning down closer to me which threw me off and confused me a little. "How about we take a job together to take your mind off things?" He suggested.
"You and me?"
"Well yeah."
"Not an S-Class, right?"
"No dummy."
"Now?"
"I don't see why not. I've got nothing else to do."
I sat up in my seat next to him. I nodded, "Yeah okay."
For some reason I felt all warm inside when he suggested the idea. The fact that Gray was willing to help me get a little distracted for a while made me all happy. I smirked, "Aww, are you actually a little softy for me?" I teased.
Gray raised an eyebrow and he leaned away while letting out a dry chuckle, "What are you talking about? The way you are right now is only going to get worse if you can't distract yourself."
"Eh? So I don't have any special place in that icy cold DARK heart of yours?"
He rolled his eyes, "So now you're calling me dark?"
"Come on, do I have a place in your heart or not? I am your CHILDHOOD friend."
"Yeah okay."
"Yaaaay." I laughed to myself.
"Anyway you want to get ready? We can meet-"
At that moment, we both heard Lucy tell Mirajane she would be taking a job on her own then Natsu popped up out of nowhere with Happy. He grabbed the paper out of her hands and read it.
"Yep, this seems like a good job! Nice choice Luigi!"
"Aye!"
"It's LUCY! A-And what... but I...! I was going to do it-"
"Yes, this does seem like a good job to take. It will also give you experience Lucy."
"E-Erza?!"
"Alright, we head out tomorrow!" Natsu said loudly with a grin.
Happy flew up next to him with his arms in the air, "Aye sir!"
"Gray, Karissa you understand?" Erza called us from afar while Lucy looked shocked. Poor girl, she probably wanted to do it on her own.
I sat up and looked at Erza with a frown on my lips. I sighed and pouted, I really wanted to go with Gray... and we were just about to too! I hung my head in disappointment. While my head was down, I felt one of Gray's bigger hands land upon my head. I jumped a little at the contact but he just ruffled my hair and gave my shoulder a pat. I pulled my head back up with my still present pout and looked at him.
He just gave me a grin, "Next time, alright?"
"Fiiine."
"Come on, we'll all be together. No danger this time just a simple job with all of us together, it'll be fun."
I let out a heavy sigh, "Okay. It won't change the plan, I'll still be taking a job and getting my distraction."
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I never thought that after finishing the job... my distraction would get longer with this new problem I would have face when I came back home to Fairy Tail.
The six of us approached the guild that was not in its normal state. The whole building was impaled by many enormous metal beams. I bet everyone all knew the cause when we set our eyes upon the damage.
Someone did this to our guild. Someone wanted to attack us.