Ahh yes, more filler. I feel like I haven't established on West enough, especially on his relationship with Haru. All West has been so far is the shota boy who ships everyone, and I want to make him more than that. West has a bigger impact on Haru's life than anyone thinks. I think I'll also elaborate more on Jun and Ty, while I'm at it.
I don't own Fairy Tail bc I can't fucking draw.
The revelation that Romeo Conbolt did, in fact, like Wendy Marvell explained so much now that he thought about it, like how awestruck he was when he saw her on that first day of school, how jealous he got when he found out that she was going to Haru's house, how the need to protect her came before anything else. It just made sense. And oh, Mavis, he really wanted to slap himself now, because he had made it so obvious.
Like, seriously, how many times had he stared at her and just marveled (no pun intended) at how absolutely cute she was in a single day? How many times had he grabbed her wrist, a tomato red color forming on their cheeks? And okay, so he got pretty jealous whenever another guy around her age got too close, but he had hoped and prayed that his jealousy came off as a more protective vibe like the Dragon Slayers.
He stared at her some more, probably enough to be creepy, but he didn't care. It wasn't all that surprising that he (or anyone, for that matter) had fallen for Wendy. She was sweet, attractive, and a capable mage. Okay, so maybe Wendy was terrifying in the mornings and maybe she inherited too much from her fellow guildmates, like Erza's love for strawberry cake or Natsu's thirst for adventure (fortunately, she could control this much better than the pink haired man) or Lucy's fondness for cute things (thankfully, the only thing she inherited from Gray was his ability to know the fact that there was a time to have fun and a time to work; if she earned his stripping habit, the Ice Mage would have been killed, multiple times over).
The hard part was figuring out how to ask her to the dance. He knew she'd want something romantic, but at the same time, he didn't want to be cliche. Perhaps he could go with her to see the cherry blossoms. They were still blooming, right? And then he could ask her and she'd blush and accept and then she'd lean in and—
"Dude," Jun whispered, "you're acting like a huge creep right now. All you've been doing is staring at Wendy-chan."
"I've finally realized that I like her," Romeo whispered back. "How do I ask her?"
As Romeo and Jun exchanged ideas on how to ask Wendy out, they both failed to notice the very obvious blush on the petite Dragon Slayer's cheeks.
I don't know whether to be happy or sad that I have advanced hearing, she thought.
About halfway through lunch, David, Jun, and Ty excused themselves. The former two said they had to served detention, while Ty explained that he had just remembered he was supposed to meet his dad for lunch. When they were out of hearing range, Haru pulled out several books from his back. Each of them had the school's logo on it, along with various years.
"The mage I was dueling last week seemed familiar," Haru explained. "I brought over my sister's old yearbooks. I think he may have been one of her old classmates."
"You think your sister may be in on it?" Romeo asked.
Haru winced. "I know she is."
"Then why don't you just tell her to back off?!" Romeo cried. "I mean, for Mavis's sake, if Natsu-nii and the others knew your sister was behind this, it'd probably be over by now!"
"It's not that easy, Romeo-kun," Wendy said.
"How? I mean, she's your sister, right? Even if you have no clue where she is, she's still family. She has to love you, somewhere deep down."
West swallowed and put a hand on Haru's shoulder. "Romeo-kun, I think you should find out who she is before you judge. In the yearbook, her name is Haruna Shinji."
Romeo grabbed the most recent one, from year X788. He immediately went for the back pages, until Haru said, "She's on the seventh page."
Romeo opened to said page. Ten photos were on the page. The top read "Fiore's Top 10 Graduating Students, X788." One photo caught his eye. The girl in the photo and slightly tan skin and her dark hair had a faint navy tint to it. Her eyes were slanted and were a moss green color. Just by the photo, Romeo could already tell that she was Haru's sister. They had the same nose and eyes, despite Haru's being navy blue and lacking the slant. They both had angled features and an unreadable emotion in their eyes that was a cross between despair and hope. Romeo read the text below the photo.
Haruna Minerva Shinji:
Accomplishments: #1 in all classes, valedictorian, president of ETYM
Family: Jiemma Shinji (father), Jimena Shinji (mother; deceased), Haruka Shinji (younger brother)
Future Plans: Join Sabertooth and possibly become next guild master
Quote: "Power is everything."
"Your sister...she's Minerva Orlando?" Romeo asked.
Haru nodded and then bowed. "I know that she is the cause for a good portion of the animosity between Sabertooth and Fairy Tail. I apologize for any kind of harm she caused your guild mates!"
Romeo smiled. "Gray-nii's already forgiven Rufus-san for what happened at the tournament, so I don't see why I can't forgive you."
Haru glanced at Romeo and the corners of his lips curved upward. "Thank you."
"But seriously, your name is Haruka?" Romeo laughed. "Haruka?"
Haru bit his lip. "Yes. My parents wanted my name to match my sister's."
"What's your middle name, then? Jasmine?"
"Mou, Haru-kun wishes!" quipped West. "At least then, he could go by 'Jay'. No, it's Athena!"
"Athena?" Chelia repeated, suppressing a giggle. "Your full name is Haruka Athena Shinji?" [1]
Haru's eyes widened just slightly and forced himself not to look mortified. He choked out, "I-i di-didn't asked to be named th-that! It's not my fault!"
The group began to laugh even more. There was something amusing about watching the usually-composed male becoming embarrassed over something as trivial as his name. Fortunately, the bell rang, allowing Haru an outlet for his embarrassment.
P.E. that day was, at the very least, interesting. Apparently the Magic Council wanted a census of the young mages for whatever research purposes they needed. Coach Exaldrus had to take the height and weight of every student in the gym, and plus test them on their capabilities. After each kid was done (with Chelia, Wendy, and Haru scoring the top three in that order), the physical education teacher had an announcement. [2]
"We've got a minor training camp," he said. "It's only for two days. The inn we're staying at is called Rasken and the town we're going to is Yale."
Chelia grinned brightly. That's the town where I live!
"It's free," Coach Exaldrus continued. "Thanks to the donations by the guild Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, and Blue Pegasus, we managed to get enough money for all of you."
The five guild kids glanced at each other. The fact that all four guilds in the Allied Forces were donating money to this cause was a little more than enough for suspicion.
West whispered, "Should we be worried?"
"I don't know," Romeo replied. "I mean, sure, Fairy Tail's got more money now since everything Natsu-nii breaks Ultear-nee can repair, but..."
"I think I understand what you're trying to say. It's still weird," Chelia said. "And Yale's where I live. It's right by Lamia Scale."
"Maybe they've found something worth looking in to?" offered Wendy.
Haru shook his head. "We've got the four strongest guilds in Fiore on this. There's no point in sending in fifty inexperienced kids when two mages from any of the guild could handle it better."
"We've got a meeting today though, right?" Romeo said. "They'll probably tell us about it then."
Coach Exaldrus stared at the heads of blue, black, pink, and blond and smirked. The ability to detect when something is wrong even though it seems completely fine. Mavis, you guys are gonna kick ass some day.
The guild kids had agreed to walk to the meeting together. While Romeo and Wendy went to go get Asuka, Chelia excused herself to the bathroom. Haru watched her figure as she walked away. West smiled.
"Ne, Haru-chan, you really like Chelia-chan, don't you?"
Haru nodded. "Yes, I do."
"Are you gonna ask her to the dance?"
"No."
West's grin faltered. He thought of Chelia, her large blue eyes sparkling with the hope that Haru would ask her out. He then imagined those pretty orbs clouding over with disappointment and tears. "Why not?" he managed to say.
"She's too good for me."
"You need to get over what happened with your dad and sister. It wasn't you fault."
"I abandoned them, West—"
"They abandoned you!" the blond snapped. He couldn't help it; Haru didn't think about how Chelia would feel if he didn't ask her, how upset she'd be. The thought of two of his friends going through some type of sadness made his blood boil. "You're only fourteen, Haru-chan! You're four years away from being a legal adult! You're still a kid! Sure, you act like you're thirty, but that doesn't matter."
"They gave me a choice"
"And you had to choose between the guild that was improving on kindness or your family that was declining in humanity? That's a no-win situation! Whatever you chose, you'd lose something important."
"I don't know if losing my sister and father is worth the same as the guild."
"And where would you be now if you went with them? Would you be one of the people against us? Would you be using your brains to figure out ways to steal Chelia-chan's magic?"
"I...I don't know. I just want my family back."
"Haruka," West said.
Haru gulped. West never called anyone by their full name without an honorific unless he meant business.
"Sabertooth is your family now. Remember all those team building exercises Master Sting made us do when he first became guild master? He said we needed to make bonds out of love, not power."
"Love, not power," Haru repeated. "It used to be the other way around with my father."
"That was then, and this is now! Now, you've got friends and guild mates and a stunning pinkette who loves you with all her heart! Stop thinking you don't deserve that, because you do! So what if you're estranged from your sister and father! That doesn't matter! You're the most amazing person I know, Haru-chan"
"I am?"
"I'm not very powerful, not compared to you or Wendy-chan," West stated. "And no matter how hard I work, I know I'll never surpass either of you. I know about the requests you get from other mages asking you to join their team and how you turn them down because you want to stay with me. I thought it's because you felt bad for me, but then Rogue-san told me it's because I'm your pillar, right? I'm the thing that keeps you from falling."
"That is true."
West beamed. "But, I think that you're your own pillar too. It takes a lost of courage to survive all the stuff you have. You lost your mother when you were only four, you dealt with your father's abuse, and you lost your sister somewhere in that too. But you're also kind and handsome and intelligent, and the youngest mage to ever be accepted into Sabertooth on the first try. I'm jealous of that, Haru-chan."
"You shouldn't be," Haru stated. "Jealousy is what drove me and my sister apart. I'm not letting it break me and you up, too."
A light laugh could be heard before West continued, "I love you too, Haru-chan."
[1] get it bc minerva is the roman goddess of wisdom and her greek counterpart is athena hell yeah im so fucking clever
[2] I didn't wanna include it in the chapter, but here are the main character's height and weight (I know I did another chapter on that but I wasn't really feeling it so I deleted that and the new ones are here)
Wendy:
Height: 4'7"/140 cm
Weight: 77 lbs/35 kg
Romeo:
Height: 5'/153 cm
Weight: 112 lbs/51 kg
Haru:
Height: 5'7"/170 cm
Weight: 143 lb/65 kg
Chelia:
Height: 5'2"/158 cm
Weight: 103 lbs/47 kg
West:
Height: 4'8''/142 cm
Weight: 88 lbs/40 kg
Jun:
Height: 5'/152 cm
Weight: 100 lbs/45 kg
Ty:
Height: 5'1''/155 cm
Weight: 100 lbs/45 kg
David:
Height: 5'8"/173 cm
Weight: 150 lb/68 kg