A/N: YOSH! The final chapter of the challenge is completed and posted and on the last day of the challenge too! Phew! I made it!
But I had so much fun with the challenge! And I was able to finish the Milada Arc and begin the X790 Grand Magic Games Arc! So I find it fitting that the last chapter of the challenge is the first chapter of the new arc! I'm so excited to get into this arc too! So I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of it as well!
Oh and the song used in this chapter is 'Holding Onto You' by twenty one pilots. I do not own it!
Fun fact #14: I actually didn't finish Diesel's history until just recently. I had most of his stuff mapped out, but I felt like something was missing for him. Then I heard the song 'Work Song' by Hozier and it hit me! He's the only character that I created without having a fully made history going into the story. Sure, I've added some stuff to my other characters, but Diesel is the only one that had an unfinished history when I began writing. And now that I have his full history completed, I really just want to hug him since it makes me a bit sad! But we'll learn about it in time!
Now! Onto the reviews!
CrazyAnimeForever - I was a bit stuck on his flirting, but it's so much fun! And he still has some girls left to flirt with, lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
WaterDragonMaverick - I'm glad to hear that you really enjoyed that last chapter so much! That Milada and Maddox reunion seemed to turn out well. And yeah, Riku continues to fail with all the girls! And eventually we'll get to see something played out with Anna and Liam because that's just too much fun to pass up. And it might take a while, but we'll eventually see what Phantasm has planned. But I'm glad that you're enjoying Thana's character so much! And I'm glad you enjoyed all the moments with Zander and his team. And Eddie! I'm glad you liked his character too! And yes! The team finally has a name! CHA! I hope you enjoy the final chapter of the challenge!
Momochan77 - Yep! Team Aftershock! LOL, I'm glad you enjoyed the flirting scenes! Glad you liked the chapter as a whole and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
halobeast - CHA! I finished the challenge! And I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter as well as Eric's reaction to Riku. And his physical unveiling may happen here soon, but I don't have an exact timeframe for it. But I do plan to have it be in this arc! So I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Benthino - ^.^ Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! And yes! Always poor Rey! And yeah, it seems Riku has a special talent for really getting people angry. And I'm glad you're still enjoying the romance parts of the story as well! And now you have my curiosity sparked with Beautiful Sam, lol! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Dreadburner94 - YES! We can finally say Team Aftershock! It's been so long since that name has been created and I'm happy that we can finally use it now! And I'm glad you enjoyed the reunion between Milada and Maddox. And yeah, we finally got to have Zander see the state his room is in. I hope you enjoy the reunion of the siblings in this chapter! And I'm glad to hear that you're still enjoying the scenes between Phantasm and Thana! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
DoodlePig1220 - Glad to see a new reader! And I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far too! And I'm glad that you have interest in Thunder Stone, but as of the moment I am not accepting new characters. The only thing I will accept right now are villains. If you would like to send in a villain, you can PM that to me, but like I said I don't have any open spots for Thunder Stone for the time being. But I still hope you enjoy the new chapter!
The Baz - Haha! I think both Rey and Riku are the punching bags of the guild with a bit of Titan mixed in. I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Joshua1277 - Glad that you liked the reunion between Milada and Maddox! And I'm still working out their teams, but I think they may get split up a bit. There will definitely be more Nightmares to come in the story and definitely not all of them will get along. And I'm glad that you enjoyed the scenes with Zander and his team! Especially that last scene with Eddie! And I think Walker needs to be drunk a bit more often as well, lol! And I'm glad you like the new team name! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Blazingfire55 - Glad that you enjoyed the family reunion between Milada and Maddox! And yep! First team name for the story, so hopefully we'll have more names to come! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Credits
Christopher Lohr - MyDearWatson
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 45: Welcome to Crocus!
A long line of carriages filled the path to Crocus, the caravan holding the entirety of the Thunder Stone guild. It was still early in the morning, so the large group was fairly quiet. A few members were up, watching the sunrise from atop their carriages. Maddox sat in the very first wagon along with Milada and Samuel. He was flipping through the names in his head for the team he had chosen to participate again, wondering if he had really picked the right people. He had ample time to chose the right people and he had actually waited a week before they were scheduled to leave to announce who the main five man team was; but he felt like he had a pretty solid team together with the mix of strength, intelligence and magical abilities they brought to the table. Plus, they had all proven themselves worth their places on the team from not only the time period since he had made his announcement of participating in the games, but before that as well.
"Maddox, my friend," Samuel interrupted his thoughts, causing the master to look up from the floorboards of the wagon he had been staring at intently, "You need to stop questioning yourself over who you chose. I think it's a fine team. And we gave you our advice as well when making the decision," he said, motioning over towards Milada, who sat next to Maddox. She smiled up at him while nodding in agreement with Samuel. Even if she had only been with the guild for a couple of months, he had trusted her judgments. He smiled in return when she laid a hand on top of his, showing off the new, black Thunder Stone guild stamp on top of it.
"Still, it feels odd to not have chosen at least one S-Class mage to be on the team," Maddox said, looking over at Samuel, "I'm surprised you turned down the invitation to join the team."
"That would almost not make it fair for the other guilds," Samuel chuckled, "Besides, it's far more interesting to see what the kids will be able to do. I want to see what they can do for their guild."
"Same here," Milada said, "I think they'll be able to handle themselves just fine."
"We still have to get through the preliminaries," Maddox stated, "And I still haven't decided on who should participate in that if it's not a team challenge."
"Well, Titan and Kokou both have the strength to tunnel through all their opponents," Samuel smirked.
"The strength, yes, but the smarts…well, we all know how they are in that department," Maddox sighed, "If it's something that takes a high intelligence, then I'd rather Azielle be the one to do it."
"Yes, but both Kainen and Zander are highly intelligent too," Milada said, "Maybe not at a genius level like Azielle, but their determination and strategic skills make up for that. Plus, their magical abilities and magic reserves are very high as well."
"So are Kokou's and Titan's," Samuel added, "Although, you did make Kainen the leader of the team, so choosing him might be the better choice."
Maddox sighed heavily as he dropped his head into his hands, "I'm just hoping it's a team challenge then. Some of the other guild members are still upset that I didn't choose them."
"You really mean the Cipini twins," Samuel laughed, "Those two are never happy, but they are both S-Class so I'm sure they're upset that you didn't pick at least one of them to be on the team."
"Well, if they could just learn to get along better with the rest of the guild, then maybe I would have picked one of them," Maddox grumbled, "But Planteggs is such a primdonna and Snagget is…well…he's Snagget. I thought he might have been making some progress thanks to Hikari, but obviously it isn't working that well."
"I think it's working," Milada mentioned, "Just very slowly. You can't expect a person to instantly change."
"I know," Maddox sighed again, "Luckily the rest of the guild seems to be over not being picked, especially your niece and nephew," he said, looking over at Samuel.
"Yes, well, they're rather excited to be coming to the capital, just like the rest of the guild. Plus, it'll be fun just watching the games and cheering on their friends," Samuel explained, "Besides, Rey still has a lot to prove after that whole fiasco with Tartarus and Raina still needs to learn how to control herself a bit. That's what I think anyways. That's why I told you not to choose her."
"Well, thankfully she can participate through Kokou," Maddox said, "I think she's one of Kokou's biggest supporters."
"That's not surprising," Samuel said, "Those two have been pretty close since Kokou came to the guild. Their personalities match fairly well."
"I don't think creating havoc is a good personality trait to have," Maddox replied, but laughed along with Samuel.
"What's that sound?" Milada asked, interrupting the men. They all went quiet to hear singing coming from atop one of the wagons.
Maddox smiled at the sound, "That would be Tejil. He's one of the more musically inclined members of our guild. If you listen long enough, you should be able to hear Titan join in and maybe even Hikari."
"What if he wakes everyone up?" she asked.
"The sun is already up, so the guild should be too," Maddox answered with a smirk, "Just listen though."
The three in the front carriage went quiet as they listened to the singing that began to float over the entire caravan.
Tejil was on top his wagon, which was third back from the front. He laid flat on his back while he watched the sky quickly become brighter with the morning sun. He was singing a quiet song that he remembered from his childhood when Titan suddenly pulled himself out of the carriage door and up onto the roof with the frequency mage.
"A song like that is gonna have everyone depressed when we enter Crocus," Titan said, staring down at Tejil with an annoyed look.
Tejil shot a look back at him, "Is there something you suggest I sing?"
"Well, you can't be having all the fun," Titan suddenly smiled widely, "So I propose a collaboration."
"Yeah? Which one?"
"Holding Onto You."
"Hmm, I suppose that would be a good one to roll into the capital with," Tejil said, "We should be there soon and all these idiots are still sleeping…most of them anyways."
"Then let's get them up!" Titan shouted, "You know you need to start with the beat!"
"Yeah, yeah," Tejil said, waving him off before he began to constantly change the frequency around them to create the music first, followed by creating a beat with his feet.
Once the pace and melody were set, Titan jumped right into speaking the words quickly, "I'm taking over my body, back in control, no more shotty, I bet a lot of me was lost, T's uncrossed and I's undotted, I fought it a lot and it seems a lot like flesh is all I got, not anymore, flesh out the door, swat!" he said, his voice rising and beginning to wake up more of the caravan. Some of them poked their heads out of their wagons to see what was going on and a few of them even jumped on top of their own roofs to watch the show, "I must've forgot, you can't trust me, I'm open a moment and close when you show it, before you know it, I'm lost at sea, and now that I write and think about it, and the story unfolds, you should take my like, you should take my soul."
Titan stopped and took over the beat of the song while Tejil began to sing the chorus. During this transition, Hikari had pulled out her violin to add to the melody of the song while standing on top of the roof top just in front of the two men's.
"You are surrounding all my surroundings, sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain. You are surrounding all my surroundings. Twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes," Tejil sang before taking the beat back over for Titan to began the next verse.
More and more people began to wake up and watch the show, swaying back and forth and even singing along if they knew the words. It had been a while since the more musically inclined of their group had put on a show for them. Their song continued as the sight of Crocus began to come into view of the caravan. Everyone was in high spirits as they realized they had finally made it to their destination as the climax of the song seemed to set in.
"Lean with it, rock with it, when we gonna stop with it," all three of the entertainers began, their voices rising the more and more the lines were repeated, "Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought. Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat. It ain't the speakers that bump hearts, it's our hearts that make the beat!"
This verse repeated several more times, their voices rising with it. It seemed to rise the spirits of their guild mates even more, sparking excitement in them at the prospect of the start of the games coming soon. They were singing again as they came to large and wide gates that led into the city. A few guards came to look at the huge group, quirking their eyebrows at all the people that covered the wagons and the three singing. Maddox laughed as he came out of his wagon to greet the guards once they came to a stop.
"Good morning," Maddox began, "We're here for the Grand Magic Games. We're the guild Thunder Stone and I am the master, Maddox Huxley."
One of the guards looked over a list he was carrying with him and flipped a page until he found the name of the guild on it, "Ah yes, you're on the list for those that replied that they would be participating this year. If you all exit out of the carriages, we'll take care of them from here and you all can head on in-"
Before the guard could finish his sentence, a rather tall and muscled man came running out of the gates and even knocked a couple of the guards out of his way as he shouted, "Is this Thunder Stone?!"
The guards still standing paled while Maddox let out a booming laugh.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it Christopher?" Maddox asked, smacking the man hard on the back, "You haven't been out to Magnolia to visit for months! But it's good to see you haven't changed one bit!"
The large man, now known as Christopher, looked over at Maddox with a wide smile. This man stood at 6'4" with tan skin, broad shoulders and thick muscles. He had dark brown hair that was cut short with the bangs spiked up a bit along with hazel eyes. He wore a loose-fitting, green yukata tied with a white sash while the top of the yukata was left slightly open to show off his muscled chest. On the back of the yukata was the kanji of the man's last name, Lohr, in large black print. Finally, he wore a pair of straw sandals.
"Maddox!" Christopher shouted, "It's great to see you! I was beginning to wonder when you would show up!"
"Show up? We arrived two days early!" Maddox retorted.
"Well, all that matters is you're here, so…wait! You're here! So that means that-"
Maddox interrupted him with another round of loud laughter, "Yes, it means she's here too," he said, turning to look over at the caravan. The three that had been singing had switched over to another song, keeping everyone else distracted for the moment, "Hey!" Maddox shouted up to them, but they paid him no attention, "OI! SHUT UP!" he roared out, causing everything to stop instantly and for his guild to look down at him, "That's better," he mumbled, "Quinn! Someone is here to see you!"
Quinn popped her head up above the roof of her carriage, being in one of the ones farthest in the back. She had changed clothes for the games like some of the other members had, wearing a pair of darker jean shorts still with her black boots and her black holster belt that held her sai. She now wore a tight, green cut-off tank top with a short sleeved, black jacket over it. The jacket ended just past her chest and she left it open as well as the collar popped. On the back of the jacket was a Thunder Stone guild print in green. She had gotten rid of her bracelets and replaced them with short, fingerless leather gloves. She had also put her hair up into a high ponytail to help beat the summer heat, the loose hair falling down in soft waves while her bangs framed her face still.
Her eyes lit up in happiness and excitement when they landed on Christopher. She then pulled herself onto the rooftop and took off at full speed towards him, jumping over and twisting around the other guild members on the rooftops. Once she was at the last wagon, she leapt off of it and straight towards the large man. He easily caught her and hugged her tightly, Quinn returning the hug just as tightly. He then began to twist back and forth with her while little flowers radiated around him, causing the rest of the guild to sweat drop at the sight of the muscled man and dancing flowers.
"I missed you so much! And you're still so cute!" he suddenly shouted, "How have you been?! Have you been training while you've been away?! Have your missions been going well?! Have you been eating well?! Has Maddox taken good care of you?! What about the boys?! Please tell me there aren't any boys! I'll take them out with my bare hands! Who needs magic?!"
While the man's antics had annoyed her when she was younger, Quinn didn't get to see him very much anymore now, so she simply smiled and basked in the attention he was giving her, "Okay! In order!" she began once he had set her back on the ground, "I've been great! And yes, I've been training in between missions! I have a family name to live up to!"
"The Lohr family honor!" they both shouted together while striking a quick victory pose. A moment passed while they stood there and the rest of the guild just stared at them in shock and exasperation.
"Back to the questions!" Quinn shouted, breaking their moment, "My missions have been fun and interesting! Although, a bit dramatic too," she mumbled the last part before she reverted back to her excited tone, "Of course I've been eating well! Does it look like I'm wasting away?! And Maddox is the best guild master! So yes, he's been taking care of me! And you should know by now that there's always boys! But they're good boys! I promise!"
"I'll be the judge of that!"
"Uhhh," Tejil began, interrupting the pair, "Who is this guy, Quinn?"
"Hmm?" she hummed as she turned to look at the caravan to see many curious stares, "Oh! Yeah! Some of you haven't met him yet!" she smiled as she pulled the man to stand beside her, "This is my dad, Christopher Lohr!"
"I always forget what your dad is like!" Rey laughed, "No wonder you're so weird!"
Quinn puffed her cheeks out in irritation at the shadow mage.
"Is he one of the boys you were talking about?" Christopher asked.
"No, he's fair game for you," she answered with a smile. It had already been a great couple of months ordering Rey around and now she got to add her dad beating him up to top it off.
Christopher began making his way towards Rey's wagon, the shadow mage not paying attention due to the fact that he was still laughing. Christopher easily yanked him off the roof he was on and began laying into him, "Make fun of my baby will you?!"
"What the hell?!" Rey shouted, trying to pull away from the man, "Call him off, Quinn!"
Quinn simply huffed and stuck her nose up in the air at him in response.
The guard that had been interrupted took that moment to start speaking again, looking over at Maddox, "As I was saying, we'll handle your wagons from here and you all can make your way into the city. I'm sure you've books a hotel ahead of time, correct?"
"Correct," Maddox answered with a smirk. The hotel that he booked was actually a surprise for his guild, so he was a bit excited to get to it. He then turned to his guild, shouting, "All right! Everyone out of the wagons! We'll be walking through the city from here!"
At his command, everyone began to pile out of the many wagons, holding any luggage they had brought with them. The guards began to take over the wagons while the mages began to gather towards Maddox.
"Quinn," Maddox began, "As much as we're all enjoying it, you should call off your father so we can head into the city."
"Fine," Quinn sighed, "I think you've proven your point, dad! You can leave him be!"
Christopher stopped his winning match, the man being a master in the martial arts like Maddox, and dropped Rey to the ground. He then walked back over towards Quinn, leaving Rey swirl-eyed and twitching on the ground, "Are you coming to the dojo then?" Christopher asked, looking down at his daughter.
"I will soon," she answered, laughing when a large and fake pout appeared on his face, "I promise I will come by as soon as I can. But I really should go to the hotel with everyone else first, okay?"
"Yeah, all right," Christopher sighed before turning on the guild, "And if any of you boys think of doing anything to my precious daughter, I'll kill you myself!"
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad," Quinn groaned, pushing him back through the gates with a blush, "Why do you have to say things like that?!"
"I'm just trying to protect my baby! Boys can be bad, you know!"
"Then I'll beat them up if they are!" she hissed, "Now go home! I'll see you later today!"
"You promise?! How long will that be?! Where's your hotel at?!"
Quinn's eye twitched at all his questions, "Like I'm gonna tell you! You'll just show up there ten minutes after we get there ourselves! Now go home already! I have other people to see, right?!"
"Oh! Right!" he said, "I should let them know you're here!" he added before he took off down a street.
Quinn sighed in relief before she turned back to the guild, seeing many people already smiling and laughing at her and her father, "Shut up! Say anything about what just happened and I'll take you all out!"
"You really are a daddy's girl," Walker teased, appearing next to her.
"What did I say?!" she shouted before tripping the blonde.
"Totally worth it," Walker grinned as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"All right," Maddox interrupted them, "Let's head to the hotel before there are other interruptions."
. : + : .
Thunder Stone had made their way through the city fairly quickly, having to keep a few wanderers in line that hadn't ever been to the city before. They finally made it to a rather large hotel that had three stories. Maddox practically had the doors bursting open, finding it exhausting having to keep so many kids in line. The hotel manager and one of the front desk employees stared in shock as they all came tumbling into the main lobby. The manager quickly shook his head when he saw the multiple guild marks on the group, having been expecting them to show up some time soon. He straightened his tie and made his way over to Maddox, assuming he was in charge of the entire group.
"Good morning," he began in a polite tone, "My name is Jonathan Sanders, manager of this hotel. You are Maddox Huxley, correct?"
"Correct," Maddox answered, "I booked the hotel with you, right?"
"Yes, we've been expecting you," Jonathan said, "We're happy to be housing a guild during the games, but before we get into anything there is the matter of your payment."
"Right, right," Maddox answered, lifting up two briefcases and setting them on the front counter. He popped them both open to show stacks upon stacks of jewels lining both sides of each case.
"Holy shit!" the rest of the guild shouted when they saw the large amount of money, "What is all that?!"
"There's a reason I've been going down the bars in town lately," Maddox smirked, "I've been winning money off all the chumps down there that think they can beat me. It's way easier to bet against them than any of you."
His guild stared at him in what almost looked like shame at the thought of their master winning money against the civilians of Magnolia.
"Don't look so upset," Maddox laughed, "They were all willing to play against the master of Thunder Stone, so it was fair play…mostly," he added quickly before moving on, "So I've been saving up this whole time in order to buy out the hotel while we're here."
"The entire hotel?!"
"The entire hotel," Jonathan repeated with a smile, closing the cases of money and having another employee take them to the back room, "No other person will be in this hotel while you are here for the games."
"Yep," Maddox added, "I paid for the entire duration of the games, so we can stay and watch them even if we don't make it past the preliminaries. And there's a little extra in there for any damages that may happen," he said, looking back at the manager. Jonathan simply laughed at the comment, thinking it was a joke. Maddox's face suddenly went completely serious, "No, really, there will be damages," he said, causing Jonathan to sweat drip a bit.
"Well," Jonathan began again, trying not to think about his hotel getting trashed, "The top two floors are filled with hotel rooms, so please choose which ever you like. The first floor has hot baths for both men and women as well as a swimming pool, a large bar and an entertainment room. It also has a small infirmary in the back for those of you that may be injured during the games."
"So," Tejil began, "This whole place is ours?"
"It seems so," Jonathan answered, "You can make yourselves at-"
"I call the biggest room!" someone shouted before the entire guild took off running upstairs.
Jonathan had to jumped back out of fear that he'd be trampled to death. Once they were all gone and it was just Maddox left in the lobby with him, he righted himself and handed a key over to the guild master, "The key to the master suite, just as you requested."
"Thank you," Maddox smiled as he took the key, "I'll try to keep them in line to the best of my abilities, but they can be rather…uh…excitable."
"I think excitable might be an understatement," Jonathan said, "But you did pay extra, so things should be fine so long as the hotel doesn't blow up."
"I'll make sure to not let that happen then."
Jonathan felt his composure drop at that realization that he was housing people that actually could blow the place up. Maddox simply chuckled at his reaction and made his way upstairs.
. : + : .
Tada stood outside of the hotel, finishing up the last of the cigarette he had lit. He had changed his clothes like many of his guild mates. He now wore a blue Monaco suit that had skinny styled pants. He had a slightly darker blue, slim-fit dress shirt tucked into his pants with a slim-fit blazer that had two buttons, only fastening the upper button. He also wore leather dress boots in a maroon color that reached his ankles. He had on a black, wide-brimmed fedora along with round-framed retro sunglasses since the sun was high and bright. His hair had grown out a bit, causing it to be a bit wavy, having it combed backwards under the hat, and he had light stubble along his jaw.
It had only been a few months ago that he had been in Crocus, but at least then it was for a mission and he didn't have time to stop and speak with his father. It's not that he and his father were on bad terms, but it was always annoying to have to hear his father tell him on how he really should be following in his footsteps and trying to gain a spot on the Magic Council. After being with a guild for so long and seeing how the work affected his father's attitude, Tada had grown a distaste for the Magic Council.
He sighed out a long line of smoke before smashing the butt of his cigarette on the ground, "I really should get this over with now instead of waiting."
"Get what over with?" a light voice asked from beside him.
He looked down to see Azielle staring up at him. She had revamped her own wardrobe and he had to admit that she looked rather cute. She now wore short, coral colored shorts with a white tank top. Over the tank top was a mint colored, thick mesh shirt so one could see the tank top underneath and the mint shirt sat skewed enough that it fell off of her left shoulder in order to show off her gray guild mark. She wore white tights that reached her mid-thigh along with her brown ankle boots. She had gotten rid of the ivory flower necklace, but she still wore the brown necklace with metal charms that Miyako had made for her. Her hair was still worn down, but she had let it out of the low pony tail. Finally, she wore a white Newsboy cap.
"You should really let me take you to my tailor some time," he smirked down at her.
"What is that supposed to mean? You think I look bad?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking away from him.
"No, not at all," he answered, "In fact, I think it would make you look even cuter," he finished with a soft chuckle.
Azielle felt a blush cross her cheeks instantly at his words, "Stop messing around!" she said, only causing Tada to laugh a bit more, "Now what do you have to go do?"
"Ah, right," he said, his smile fading a bit, "I want to get seeing my father over with."
"You mentioned he was on the Magic Council. Do you not get along with him?"
"No, it's not that really. He can just be rather pushy when it comes to my future."
"I see," she replied, feeling a little guilty that she had a father that wanted both her and her brother to go out and live their own dreams.
"Don't look so sad," he said, placing a hand on her head, "We don't have a bad relationship. We just don't see eye to eye when it comes to my career."
"Maybe…maybe if you had someone go with you, it wouldn't be so bad?" she asked quietly.
"Would you like to come with me?"
She looked up at him in slight surprise. It was always hard to get something past the man. Maybe she should have remembered that before she asked her question. She looked down to the ground, "Well, I mean, I'm sure you already have Bishop to take with you."
"Actually, I don't," he replied, causing her to look back up at him, "He really hates the Magic Council, so he wouldn't do well in the presence of my father. So I think being here for a long period of time will be hard for him and I don't want to push him. He'll probably try to stay at the hotel or coliseum when we're participating in the games. Or maybe even my apartment if it's been fixed," he explained, "Speaking of my apartment, I should go check on that first to make sure it's back in one piece again."
"So you'll be alone without Bishop?"
"Seems that way."
"Then…I'd like to come with you, if you don't mind that is."
"I don't mind," he smiled, "You don't mind if we head out now then, do you?"
"No, let's go."
The two then began making their way away from the hotel and down one of the streets that would lead up to his apartment location. Azielle let Tada lead the way since he was more comfortable in the city than she was still. The two walked quietly for a time before Tada started up another conversation.
"I'm surprised you left your friends behind," he mentioned.
"Well, Miyako was too busy running through the hotel and checking everything out. And she dragged Remi with her."
"But not you?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. Miyako was always dragging both Azielle and Remi everywhere, so he was a bit surprised to hear that she might have been left out.
"After being friends with Miyako for so long, you tend to learn how to sneak away from her before she can catch you," she answered with a smile.
"And so you came to find me instead?"
Azielle went to answer him again until she realized what he had just asked. Whatever she was about to say quickly died on her lips and she blushed again. Tada laughed at her reaction again, finding it entertaining that he could get her all flustered so easily.
"You really need to stop doing things like that," she mumbled.
"But it's so much fun. It's more entertaining to get you all worked up than Bishop sometimes."
"Why's that?"
"You're much cuter."
'I'm going to die from overheating,' she thought as she looked away from the man beside her with an even heavier blush.
Silence covered the two again and eventually they made it to the apartment complex that they had stayed at a few months ago.
"Looks like everything's in order," Tada said, seeing that the complex was completely rebuilt.
"Don't you want to go inside and check it out?" Azielle asked.
"Nah, I can do that another time," he answered, "I'm sure things are in perfect order and if they're not, I'll just hunt down Lahar and his lovely Lieutenant," he said with a smirk that almost made Azielle feel bad for Evelyn, "Plus, I would like to get seeing my father out of the way now," he added before he started walking again.
Azielle quickly followed him and noticed that they weren't heading towards the castle like she thought they would be, "Shouldn't your father be at the castle?"
"Normally, yes," Tada answered, "But we should be able to catch him at home before he heads into work," he explained as they came to another, larger apartment complex, "He lives on the top floor. Owns the whole floor too."
'I don't know how to feel about these Tadoa men and all their money,' Azielle thought as they continued to stand outside of the complex.
"Now," he began, taking off his sunglasses and hanging them from his shirt. He looked down at Azielle with a serious face, "If my father comes off as rude to you, it's only because he's very business oriented. Don't take anything he says to heart and I'll step in if he goes to far with anything. But he does have manners, so it really shouldn't be too bad. Plus, I think you know how to hold your own as well," he finished with a small smile.
"Thanks for the warning," Azielle said before they entered the building.
. : + : .
"What are you getting flowers for, Selena?" Sherry asked as she and Reese watched the blonde woman pay for flowers from a small cart.
"Thank you," Selena said to the woman who handed her the flowers. She then turned to look back at her friends with a sad smile, "They're for my family."
Reese stared down at the flowers for a moment with a straight face, having heard Selena's history before. He didn't like that she was going off to make herself sad even before the games started. This was supposed to a fun time for all of them. Though, he still understood her need to pay respects to her family. She had done it a few months ago when they had taken Rachel home, but she had managed to wander off alone to do it then. She hadn't found a way to get away from him and Sherry this time and had just let them tag along with her now.
Sherry frowned at her answer. Since they had become friends, Sherry had realized that Selena never spoke of her family. She had mentioned a few times that she had come from Crocus, but she never went into any detail of it, "I didn't mean to ask something I shouldn't have," she said quietly.
Selena continued to smile sadly as she laid a gentle hand on top of Sherry's head, "You didn't do anything wrong. Eventually I would have had to tell you about my life. But I am sorry if it makes you sad."
"But I want to know," Sherry replied, looking up at Selena with honest eyes.
Selena was quiet for a long moment before she took a deep breath, "Ten years ago, my parents were killed at our home and training school. Any students and teachers in the school were killed too and my family's house and school were destroyed too. I don't really remember how, but I managed to survive the attack."
Sherry felt herself tear up at bit at the story, "I'm sorry, Selena!" she cried, hugging the woman.
"I told you it would make you sad," Selena sighed, but hugged the younger woman back nonetheless, "But any time I come to Crocus, I make sure to go out where the house and school were and pay my respects."
"Is it all right if we come with you then?" Sherry asked, not wanting her friend to have to face something like that alone again.
"I would like that very much," Selena answered, "So long as you don't mind another sad scene."
"I can handle it if it's for you, Selena!"
"Thank you," she said, looking over at Reese. She saw that he still wore a straight face. She knew that he was worried, but he wasn't very good at outwardly showing it like Sherry. And she knew he would probably stay silent until this was over with, but she was happy to know that he would be there for her just like Sherry, "All right you two, let's go. I'll lead the way."
. : + : .
"So you'll show us around the city then?" Yuna asked, looking over at Quinn as their team walked out of the hotel.
"Of course I will!" Quinn smiled brightly, "I grew up here, so I know all the best places to see!"
"What about going to see your dad?" Walker asked.
"He can wait a bit while we check the place out. Plus, once we go to the dojo, we won't be able to leave for a while," she said.
"We? You want us to go to the dojo too?" Diesel questioned, "What about your dad? I'm pretty sure he's just looking for a reason to kill us guys off."
"He's not so bad," she waved off the comment, "I'll be able to pull him off of you if he gets too bad anyways. What? Are you suddenly scared?"
"Hell no!" Diesel shouted.
"And anyways," Quinn continued, "I want to be able to introduce you guys as my team at Thunder Stone, especially now that we have a team name."
As the group continued to talk about looking around the city and the eventual trip to the dojo, Quinn looked over at Zander who had been unnaturally quite since they had entered the city. She watched as he looked around the city, as if he was keeping a look out for something or someone. She had also taken note of his new clothes as well. He now wore black jeans that were held up by with a black leather belt that had a rectangular steel buckle. The jeans were tucked into dark gray, steel-toed boots that reached up halfway on his calves. He wore a dark gray, skin tight sleeveless shirt that stopped halfway up his neck. Over top of that was a fitted steel cuirass that bore the Heart Kruez insignia in gold. On his arms were dark gray, fingerless gloves that had steel armguards on them that also bore the gold Heart Kruez insignia. If it hadn't been so hot, he would have been wearing a burgundy jacket that had black shoulders and was black on the inside with the Heart Kruez insignia in black on the sleeves. He currently had the jacket tied around his waist. He had a black leather belt over his chest in order to carry his long sword that Mercury had made him. And finally, he still wore his dark gray beanie, but it now had a small steel plate attached to it over his forehead that bore the Heart Kruez insignia in gold and around his neck was his sword-shaped silver necklace.
"What?" Zander grunted when he noticed that Quinn was staring at him.
'Crap! I was totally staring longer than I should have been!' she thought while trying to think of something to reply back with. She couldn't help it if the redhead looked good in his new clothes, but she couldn't let him know that, 'His freaking ego would skyrocket and he wouldn't let me live something like that down!' she continued to shout in her head.
"You better think of something to say quickly," Walker whispered next to her playfully, "Or else he might figure out your little secret."
"There's no secret!" she shouted, causing the rest of her team to eye her with wary stares, "Ahaha, did I say that out loud?" she asked, laughing nervously.
"Yeah, you did!" Walker answered, laughing at her.
Walker, Yuna and Diesel continued to pick on her for her outburst, but she didn't really hear anything they said as she looked over at the redhead. He had really seemed anxious this whole time, almost afraid even. He was clearly uncomfortable being in the city, but they hadn't gotten a chance to be alone for her to ask him what was going on. He caught her staring at him again, but he didn't say anything this time. He saw the concern in her eyes and he knew snapping at her out of his frustration again wasn't going to help things. He tried to get himself to relax and enjoy the time with his team, but he couldn't get the tension out of his body.
'Damn, this is annoying,' he thought, trying to roll the tension out of his shoulders, 'How am I supposed to fight feeling like this?'
Quinn went to say something to him when she saw that annoyed roll of his shoulders, but another voice interrupted them.
"Alexander!"
Zander's eyes shot open at the sound of the voice. It was a bit different than he remembered it being, but then she had been younger back then. And he couldn't believe she had found him so quickly after he had just arrived and settled into the hotel. Was she that determined? He really didn't want to look up to see those angry eyes staring him down. He knew her eyes would be angry at him and he had no words that he would be able to give her that would calm her down.
The rest of his team watched as a woman with long red hair and dressed in a Rune Knight's outfit came walking up to them in a steady pace. She stopped right in front of the group, staring down Zander with hard eyes.
"Don't ignore me!" she yelled, balling her hands up into fists.
Zander finally looked up to meet the eyes of his sister, seeing that he had been right about her anger. Guilt suddenly washed over him at the sight of her. She had grown since he had last seen her, Evelyn still being just a kid when he had left home. And it appeared that she had followed down the path of the Rune Knights that he had turned away from. It was hard for him to believe that this was the little sister he had left behind. She seemed so strong when he felt so weak in that moment.
"Hello Evelyn," he said quietly.
"Is that all you have to say after all this time? Hello?" she asked lowly, trying her best to keep herself composed. Though, she knew it was a losing battle the longer she stared at him, "And to your own sister, no less."
"Sister?" Diesel questioned as the team looked over at Zander.
Quinn eyed the redhead for a moment, but she didn't yell at him. She had already been putting the pieces together. Even if Zander didn't say anything about it or he would lead her away from the topic of his past, she wasn't stupid. She had grown up in Crocus and the name Ealdwine was a widely known one here in the city; and it wasn't a very common last name either, so it was very likely that was the family he was from. Though, she had stopped bothering him about the subject since she could tell that he was bothered by it all. Still, that didn't stop her from being curious or wanting to know more about his past, so she didn't interrupt the scene as she normally would have.
"Oh? He didn't tell you that he's from Crocus or has a family here?" Evelyn asked, looking over at the rest of the team.
"Had a family," Zander corrected her.
"So I don't matter anymore? You just want to forget about me?" she snapped, turning back towards her brother, "You just left me, Alexander!"
"You don't understand what happened back then," he tried to explain, "You don't know what happened because of our parents."
"That doesn't mean you just leave your little sister behind! You didn't even try to send a letter!"
"I…I couldn't," he said, looking away from her in guilt again.
"Is that so?" she asked, attempting to regain some of her composure. She stood tall and straight as she stared him down with another hard stare, "Well then, I only came here to give you a message, but maybe I might be unable to do that myself now."
Zander kept quiet at her remark, causing Walker to step forward for him, "If you can't give him the message directly, then maybe you can give it to me instead."
"Very well," Evelyn said curtly, "Our parents, Lord and Lady Ealdwine request his presence at our home estate while he is here in Crocus. They have things they wish to discuss with him and they expect him to dress for the occasion as well. And they do expect him to show up, no arguments."
"Yeah, all right, you've told him what you wanted, now beat it!" Diesel growled, not happy how everything was affecting Zander. He had never seen the redhead back down from anything, even when they were facing Norman. It didn't suit Zander and if getting rid of the woman would at least temporarily fix things, then he would make sure that she got lost fast.
Evelyn stared at Zander for a moment longer, as if she was waiting for him to say something to him, but he just continued to stare down at the ground with guilt and sadness in his eyes, "I expect to see you at the estate soon, Alexander," she stated before walking away from the group.
Things went quiet once Evelyn had disappeared, the team unsure of what to do or say. Though, it didn't take long for Diesel and Yuna to try and lay into the redhead for lying to them again.
"Let's head to the dojo!" Quinn shouted over them before they could get too far with their words. They all stopped and looked over at Quinn.
"What?!" Diesel shouted, "But this whole time he didn't tell us-"
"And you didn't tell us about Milada," Walker interrupted him quickly in a hard tone.
"And he didn't lie," Quinn added, "He just…omitted the truth."
Yuna gave her a flat stare, "Yeah, that's called ly-"
"Omitting the truth!" Quinn said loudly, ending the conversation for good, "Now let's head to the Lohr dojo!"
"I thought you wanted to wait on that, girlie," Diesel said.
"Yeah, well, looks like I've changed my mind," she retorted before walking right up to Zander. She grabbed his arm and pulled him forward with her without saying anything to him. He tried to fight her at first, wanting to disappear back into the hotel for the time being, but her grip tightened and he wasn't able to get away. The dojo had always been a place that brought her happiness and peace. It was filled with good memories and she hoped at least a bit of those feelings would transfer over to Zander. She wanted to cheer him up like he had done for her so many times and this was the only thing she could think of. The others followed her without argument, watching as Zander ever so slightly moved in closer towards Quinn for comfort.
A/N: There we go! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Still so excited that we have reached the new arc! And I'm pretty sure I actually made myself laugh when Christopher was introduced, lol. So I really hope you all enjoyed the beginning of the X790 GMGs!
I'll have the next chapter up soon!
Please remember to review!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson
