Chapter 28: Looking Glass

Tessa had desperately wanted to go find Gajeel after the fight, but her body was frozen when the next fight was called.

"This is soooo cooool!"

"Please to the arena, Eve Tearm and Tessa Ivanov!"

Laxus snorted the moment he heard her last name again. He leaned over to Gajeel and casually said, "Somebody hasn't changed her last name."

Gajeel rolled his eyes, "Shut the fuck up and let me watch."

"LET'S GO TESSA!" Aria cheered loudly, bad mood completely forgotten since Gajeel had beaten the crap out of Bacchus.

She still didn't know what had possessed her to be with the man for close to eight months. She had met him a few months after what happened after encountering Marcea again and in all reality, she was not in a good mental state during the time. She needed a distraction and Bacchus was there and he was fun. She knew she was not going to have a future with the man. A drunk and a well known womanizer? No way that was going anywhere. But she had stayed and she had somewhat of a good relationship although it was mainly physical. However, although she did not see a future with him, finding him in bed with someone else made her furious.

She had almost revealed her magic to him in that moment.

Her eyes went from watching the arena, that had been magically reconstructed after the mess Gajeel did, to the blonde mage who seemed a lot more relaxed after Gajeel's fight. He still hadn't said a word to her.


Tessa smiled and waved at Eve, "It's been a long time!"

The young man smiled politely and bowed, "Indeed, you're as beautiful as ever!"

Tessa almost busted out laughing when she felt a strong feel of annoyance and jealousy from her mate through the link.

"I'm not going easy on you kid," She said as she got into a battle stance.

His blue eyes sparkled with determination, "Neither am I!"

The moment that the gong sounded off, the battle began quickly. Eve wasted no time as he extended his right arm forward with an open palm and placed his left hand on his right forearm, "White Fury!"

A snowstorm immediately was generated from his right palm and shot it directly at Tessa. The slayer was ready, immediately materializing her glass lance on her left arm and started to spin it at a fast speed in front of her, to prevent the snowstorm to collide with her. Eve intensified the amount of power on the snowstorm, but it seemed that Tessa was spinning her lance even faster. He finally stopped his attack and as Tessa dashed at him, he used his Snow Clone to throw her off, but just as he was about to attack her from the side, the woman had materialized two glass long swords and attacked him.

He rolled on the floor, and as he got up, his eyes were wide in disbelief since no one had ever been able to evade his attack like that before.

She grinned as she made the swords disappear, "I'm a dragon slayer kid, my nose doesn't fool me."

She sprinted towards him and with a quick roll on the ground, she landed behind Eve. Just as he turned around, she landed a magnificent upper cut on him. The crowd went wild at the sight. Gajeel's smirk kept widening.

"This is unbelievable folks! Another female dragon slayer in Fairy Tail!"

"A glass one from what it seems like!

"Indeed when Tessa and Gajeel have children I bet they will be a force to reckon with!"

Hearing that instantly made her go red in the face.

She took a deep breath shook away the embarrassment from Gajeel and hers. Her whole arms were suddenly covered in sharp pieces of glass, resembling scales, and she sprinted towards Eve again. However, he was smarter than what he looked and didn't fall for it a second time. He kept putting up walls of snow as a defense mechanism against her dangerous punches. He could see the sharpness of the glass on her arms and forearms.

He created a thicker wall of snow, to the point that she was having difficulties digging through it. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, "GLASS DRAGON IRON FIST!"

Her glass glowed beautifully with the sunlight and she completely broke through the snow wall, sending Eve crashing onto the ground again. The audience roared loudly, but the only thing that made her happy was the amount of pride coming through the link.

Eve panted as he held on to his arm, "I think it's about time to get serious."

His whole being started to glow a beautiful white color and the wind started to pick around him. Tessa got into a stance, heightening her senses as she waited for whatever he was about to throw at her. However, she wasn't fully prepared for what happened next. He extended his arm frontwards when a severe snowstorm covered the entire arena. The wind was blowing rapidly and the temperature was dropping dramatically. She quickly surrounded herself with her glass, in a shield type manner. But as she stood there, she couldn't see anything around her. The blizzard seemed to be just getting worse, and within her shield she wasn't having much luck of keeping herself warm.

Suddenly, a wolf like claw shot at her, but it crashed against her glass. This happened over and over.

I have to do something if not, time will run out!

She started to shiver more and more as the temperature continued to drop. But through the blizzard, she could barely make out a voice.

"…lass….sun….!"

She whirled her head around, "What?!"

"..g..lass….sun….me..lt…!"

She was confused for a moment, but then it clicked.

"Nice try Eve, but your snow is about to get melted off!"

She knew she had to act fast the moment she dropped her shield, but she knew the plan would work in her favor. Through the storm, she could see the small glimpses of sunlight and that's all she needed. She took a deep breath and dropped her glass shield.

She raised her arms and her aura exploded around her. Her arms glowed in their rainbow color and energy shot up, breaking through the storm.

The audience gasped as multiple layers of glass started forming over the arena, one over the other, to the point that it had created a magnifying glass. Her arms were shivering and she could hardly see when finally, peaks of sunlight started to break through. The heat started to rise as the sunlight was hitting directly her magnifying glass that the snow started to melt off around the arena.

Eve was baffled as all the snow from the arena melted, creating the storm to die down.

Aria grinned from her spot at the balcony. She had heard her.

Eve took in the way her hair was undone and now lay flat against her head and the way her lips were a slight shade of blue.

"I have to admit, that was rather impressive! But just because you melted my storm, it doesn't mean you've won."

Her eyes flashed and she grinned wickedly, "I just did kid."

She inhaled deeply, ignoring the contraction of her lungs since they were still cold. Eve's eyes widened, knowing damn well what she was doing, as it was a signature move in all dragon slayers. He tried backing away, but he found himself hitting a glass wall. He went right and then left, but he was trapped.

He didn't have the power to stop a dragon slayer's roar.

"GLASS DRAGON ROAR!" She screamed loudly as the roar came out of her mouth. The audience gasped at the beauty of it as it resembled the colors of the rainbow. All he could do was brace himself for the impact and he cried out the moment it did.

The explosion had been deadly, but beautiful at the same time as tiny spectacles of glass floated around the arena the moment the attack vanished. Once the smoke cleared, Eve was unconscious on the floor.

"THAT IS IT FOLKS! WHAT A SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE! FAIRY TAIL A TAKES TEN POINTS!"

" Two dragon slayers in one day! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

Everyone in Fairy Tail were the first ones to cheer loudly at her winning. Lily was practically crying, having both Carla and Happy on a bone crushing hug as he kept screaming how proud he was. She smiled widely and accepted the thunderous clapping and cheering from the audience. Sabertooth could only glare slightly from their balcony. Rogue could see that Gajeel was still living up to his reputation even after seven years of being stuck.

However, from the stands, Jiemma could only wonder if his niece was just as strong.


The two of them were walking side by side. They had gone back to their rooms to shower and change after the day's matches and both of them felt refreshed, specially Tessa since she dealt with really dramatic changes of temperature.

"You know," she said as she bumped him with her hip, "Part of me feels you overdid it with Bacchus but the other part of me feels it wasn't enough."

He rolled his eyes and grunted, "Can't never make you fully happy. Damn woman."

She laughed as she hopped and stood in front of him, "Oh you definitely made me happy with that."

She went up her tippy toes and pecked him on the lips, however before she could pull away, he put a hand on the back of her neck and the other one on her waist.

He kissed her more fully and when he pulled away, his chest rumbled low and pleasantly as he saw the beautiful blush on her creamy skin.

"That's better."

She smiled as she snuggled on his chest, "Come on. They're going to be wondering where we are at."

He grunted as they started to walk, "We could've continued our own celebration instead of coming down and seeing all them morons."

She smacked his chest, "Don't be an asshole. Besides, if you really think about it, I shouldn't even be with you right now."

He stopped walking and his face turned into a full on scowl, "The hell you mean?"

Her eyes were shining playfully as she turned around. She walked up to him, and looked around to make sure no one was watching, and she put her hand on the side of her mouth.

"I shouldn't be sleeping with the enemy." Her voice was in a harsh whisper.

He crossed his arms and gave her a look, "Oh really?"

"I'm fraternizing with the enemy!" She exclaimed louder. She turned around and attempted to take off but Gajeel immediately caught her, slinging her over his shoulder and gave her a loud smack on her rear end.

She gasped when she felt the slap and slammed her hands on his back "Put me down you brute! I can walk!"

"Nah I think we're going to continue walking like this. Please continue on on how you're fraternizing with the enemy."

Her laugh echoed on the empty street.

That night at the Fairy Tail bar, the partying was more explosive than ever. Everyone swarmed Tessa the moment she came into the bar with Gajeel, who had thankfully put her down before they got to the bar, various screams of congratulations thrown at her and him. Tessa's smiled grew when she saw Wendy running up to her to give her a hug.

"That was amazing!" Wendy exclaimed, "How did you figure out how to melt his snow?!"

Tessa grinned, "I heard a little voice, that I hardly ever listen to in the back of my head and decided to give it a try. It worked!"

"You know—if you listened to me more often how you did today, we would've gotten out of a lot of shit in our younger days."

Tessa laughed, "That was you?"

"I'm surprised you heard me through the storm."

Tessa stopped and looked at her confused, "I thought you said through our link?"

Aria shook her head as she drank her beer, "Our link was practically destroyed when you mated metal head. Which by the way," she said as she turned to Gajeel, "Thanks for that at the arena."

Gajeel smirked and ruffled her hair, "Now don't get sentimental on me. Not my fault you had shitty taste on men."

Aria glared at him through her now messy hair, "Please don't remind me."

Eventually, Lucy, Natsu, Wendy and the exceeds were going to check out an ice cream shop that would stay open 24/7 and they asked if they wanted to come along. Tessa and Gajeel refused and Aria was about to say no until Laxus came in with the Thunder Legion and his eyes immediately landed on hers.

She was the first one out the door just when Makarov needed to talk to everybody.

She hadn't heard what happened back in the infirmary until now that she was walking with them. Just like Carla, she could only wonder why Raven Tail was after Lucy.

However according to Happy, she had a knack of always getting kidnapped somehow.

The blonde tried to protest but she knew the blue exceed was right. For some reason the bad guys were always after her. It explained why Makarov wanted to talk to them. As they were talking, they came across the Celestial Mage from Sabertooth, Yukino.

Aria immediately had a bad feeling since she could smell the scent of water and salt. The young woman had been crying. Lucy offered to take her back to their team's room, to give them more privacy to talk.

The woman was barely holding it together, but it wasn't until Lucy refused to take her keys, that the woman finally broke down.

"I-I have never received such kindness!" She cried out, "It was just horrible. He made me strip in front of everyone in the guild and I had to remove my own guild mark."

Lucy gasped alongside Wendy and Carla. Natsu was beyond shocked.

Aria?

She felt like she was going to be sick.

The humiliation the poor girl had to endure just because she lost was sickening.

She stayed with them for a while, but then she mentioned how she had a train to catch and left.

Lucy was worried for Natsu. She knew how much the meaning of a guild meant to him. Aria stayed with them for as long as she could and ended up opening up to them about her own past.

"I'm not sure if Tessa has told anything to you guys but… Jiemma, Sabertooth's Master is my uncle."

Their eyes had widened dramatically she almost laughed. Almost.

"My mother died when she gave birth to me. My father was killed when I was a few months old. He was a soldier. Only remaining family members I had was my mother's sister Marcea and her husband Jiemma. It wasn't until I was old enough they started to train me, to get some sort of magic out of me but it wasn't working. Jiemma was set on being guild master and he didn't want anyone to be weak. When I was three my niece was born and I was prohibited to be around her. The abuse continued for seven more years…" she paused for a second as she unzipped her jacket and pulled her shirt down a bit, "When I was ten that's when they put the lacrima in me. However it wouldn't do anything, at least for a year. Once I started to show magic it was out of control. They would beat me and scream at me that I was just too weak to wield it and that I was useless… It was on the year 777 shortly after the dragons disappeared that I met Tessa… She practically saved me… I ran away with her and didn't see my so called family until I was sixteen… me and Tessa were trapped… Marcea stabbed Tessa and I lost it. My magic just splurged out of me out of control and I killed everyone including my aunt. After that I refused to use my magic again. Tessa could only do so much so I stopped using it altogether until Fantasia when I met all of you."

The room was eerie quiet when she was done. She was afraid to look at them in the eye. She was afraid to see pity or worse, fear of what she used to be capable of. Suddenly, the air was almost knocked out of her because Natsu pulled her into a bone crushing hug. Then it was followed by Lucy and Wendy. She could feel Carla and Happy hugging her legs.

She was shocked and her eyes were wide in confusion, "What?"

"No one deserves that," Natsu told her by her ear.

Lucy started to cry, "I'm so glad you're with us and don't have to go through something like that again."

Wendy squeezed her waist, "You're our family."

She felt herself shake and a lone tear fell down her cheek.

They let her go and Natsu said he needed some fresh air so he left with happy.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes that he left, that it dawned on Aria.

"I have to find him."


She didn't know where Sabertooth's guild hall was at. It was already late at night so it's not like she could just ask anyone. She ran around the streets for a bit. It wasn't until she caught a whiff of burnt firewood and a nearby explosion that she knew where she needed to go.

She sprinted and as she got closer she could hear him loud and clear followed by a huge explosion of fire.

"WHAT KIND OF GUILD MASTER ARE YOU THAT ABUSES THEIR OWN FAMILY AND THROWS OUT HIS MEMBERS LIKE IF THEY MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!"

She couldn't hear anything else as she arrived. There was debris everywhere and smoke. Suddenly, Minerva's voice echoed, telling Natsu that it was better to settle matters into the arena instead of getting the authorities involved.

That's when she walked in, to pull Natsu away so he wouldn't cause more issues. However, hearing Happy crying and Minerva threatening Natsu with the exceed drove her almost to the edge.

"You're just as sick as your father. Let Happy go Minerva."

Murmurs from Sabertooth's members were ringing in her ears. The smoke finally cleared and she came into view. Natsu turned around, shocked that she was there. Minerva's eyes widened but then narrowed.

"Well well. Are you finally coming back home cousin?"

Aria's eyes flashed as she stood next to Natsu, "Let Happy go. I won't repeat myself again."

Minerva smirked as she let go of the blue cat who immediately ran to Natsu crying. Happy kept apologizing over and over again and Natsu could only comfort him.

With that, the two of them turned around to leave.

"I didn't know that Fairy Tail accepted murderers into their guild. No wonder the guild fell at the bottom of the pyramid."

Aria was in front of her in an instant, her eyes seething with barely controllable anger.

"That's the difference with Fairy Tail that Sabertooth will never have," she hissed at her, "Second chances. An opportunity to redeem yourself. Funny how they have treated me like family unlike your Father and Mother."

Minerva's eyes widened, "Don't you dare talk about my mother!"

Aria's eyes turned cold, "Her death… she brought it upon herself."

Jiemma took a step forward and her cold hard gaze fell on him, "Don't even bother. I'm not afraid of you anymore. I'm out of here."

She turned to walk away and she heard Minerva's last words.

"We will settle this in the arena then."

Aria didn't bother to turn around, "We will."