Mickey said this would be fine, Gisela reminded herself. She trusted Mickey, so far the woman hadn't led her wrong.
It would be fine.
Mickey also said that fighting a Sarlic would be easy.
Gisela was not going to think about that as she knocked on the door.
"Who is it?". It sounded rough.
"Gisela, I was wondering if this was a good time".
"Come in", came the tired shout.
Gisela pushed, not expecting the amount of resistance as she shoved the door open.
It didn't creak as it opened, somehow Gisela was a little disappointed.
The room was a riot of old paperwork, it hung out in stacks. Gisela was pretty sure that was the resistance she had encountered when she had tried to push the door open the first time.
The room smelled faintly like ash. He has fire magic, right? Gisela mused, trying to remember everything she knew about the Guildmaster.
Like his name, that would be a good thing to know.
"Right, what do you need", the Guildmaster, Macao, Gisela was pretty sure, his name was Macao, asked.
She clenched her fists, trying not to squeeze to tightly.
I have been eaten by a sarlic. Gisela tried to grab onto what she had felt then, that refusal. "I was wondering how much I owed".
"Owed?".
"For the medical care, Porlyusica has looked after me twice". Her arms still itched slightly from the new skin, it was still better than it had been before.
He leaned on his hands, "are you any good with budgets?".
"Pardon me?".
"Are you good with accounting".
Was she? Gisela remembered back in Caelum, Before, carefully going over account after account, the math had been annoying, but it had been doable. "Why?". It was better to keep her tone flat.
"Do you see all this paperwork", the Guildmaster asked, spreading out his hands dramatically and knocking over a pile. He kept talking, seemingly obvious, "do you see all this. As the master of Fairy Tail this is my job. Now, I won't force you to help me with paperwork and payments with Porlyusica should be worked out with her. But if you want to do something else to help out you can help me with this".
He knocked over another pile, groaning as he watched the papers flutter to the floor. "I really should just burn the lot", Gisela heard him mutter, she didn't comment on it through. She didn't know if she was supposed to or not.
It was actually the start of a rhythm. Gisela ran missions with Mickey, and if they were in Magnolia with Chico as well, not a single one of them going to plan.
It was always something, normally something having to do with an angry wild animal attempting to maul them. Swans, leopards, it was even a business of weasels on one occasion.
It was kind of sad really, how no one was surprised by the chaos. Then again, Gisela was beginning to see that nobody in Fairy Tail had missions that happened normally.
"You know", Gisela muttered while poking the new bruise from a rhino like creature that had escaped from a menagerie, "back when I was with Mermaid Heel I didn't do jobs like this".
"It's more fun this way through", Mickay said. Gisela would have said something back but Mickey's black eye made Gisela feel like she should at least try to be sympathetic.
They were quiet for a bit, but it was a nice silence. It was the kind of silence that did not make Gisela itch or butterflies rise in her belly.
It was nice. Which was why she was so surprised when Mickey broke it.
"Did you join Mermaid Heel?".
"No", Gisela said tentatively.
"You mentioned taking missions with them through, why'd you leave?".
The anxistity was back, a lump in her throat and lead in her stomach as the weight of the world pressed down on her.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
"-okay?".
She could hear Pi-chan chirping in the background.
"You okay?", Mickey was glancing at her, one hand forward but not touching.
Gisela appreciated that, her skin itched and the idea of someone holding onto her, trying to hold her down.
It was fine. "I'm okay".
She was fine.
Gisela took a breath, "Mermaid Heel was rough", Gisela said and it had been fine, she had been fine except for the outfit that had made her sick when she was waiting tables and Kagura and she was fine but she couldn't stop talking and it was all coming out, "and a bit after was Twlight Ogre and they were both-".
Gisela trailed off.
"You don't need to tell me", Mickey said, jumping in the silence. "I was just wondering how long you were planning to stay at Fairy Tail for".
"You were?", Gisela asked, latching onto the change in topic and holding on for dear life.
"Yeah, we work well together,'' Mickey said with a shrug, "I won't come with you if you leave through, not without a really good reason".
"Thats fair". It was.
They kept going, the silence restored.
This time Gisela was the one who broke it, "I would miss you through".
They kept walking, Gisela was starting to notice a theme to her life.
"Where are you staying?".
"Staying?".
"Yeah, you know, when you are not at Fairy Tail? Where do you stay?".
Where is this going? "I stay at the Open Flower Inn".
"Not anymore".
"I don't have anywhere else to stay".
"You're staying with me", Mickey commanded, arms crossed over her chest.
"I don't want to be a bother". Gisela looked down at her boots, kicking a stone out of the way. Then her vision was full of blue.
"Not a bother, not a bother", Pi-chan chimed in, flying carefully in front of her as Gisela stopped walking.
"It's your space".
"You can chill on the couch, it's probably better than the Open Flower, everyone knows how cheap that place is".
"I make it work".
"What do you do for food", Mickey had stopped too, arms crossed in the middle of the road. Gisela could see a carriage over her shoulder, it's path blocked.
"I eat at the guild or in one of the cheaper restaurants".
"Really, you've been staying in a hostel for over a month. No. When we get back you are going to stay with me".
The carriage was getting closer, there were people on it and Gisela could already imagine them yelling at her because they were blocking the way and it was bad and- "What can I do for you", Gisela blurted out, starting to move again.
"For me?".
"To make it fair, I can't just stay with you".
"Yes you can. I own my own house, it's small but there's room for both of us".
"I just can't".
"Can you cook?".
"Yes". Hope started to rise in Gisela, maybe they could work something out for both of them.
"Great. Then whenever we are at home you can be in charge of the cooking, deal". Mickey nodded to herself like she had just solved the secrets of the universe.
It still didn't answer Gisela's questions. She took a breath, Mickey, Gisela had observed, liked cheek and arguments, she would be fine with Gisela's question. Probably. "Why".
"Why what".
"Why care?". There was a reason.
"You're my partner".
"I don't belong to Fairy Tail". She was still a wandering mage, she just happened to be moving less than normal, that was all.
"You could", Mickey said offhandedly, "if you wanted to".
"I'm not through", Fairy Tail was the home to Mickey and Chico and Mio and Kianna and Laki and Natsu and Lucy and Erza and Grey and Loke and everyone else who was just so big and so larger than life.
Gisela was just Gisela, just an awkward mess of a person who couldn't seem to last a day without upsetting someone.
To Gisela's eternal relief she let the subject drop, instead they were back to the silence. This time through, it was only for a few minutes.
"You still are moving in with me".
Gisela glanced at Mickey, she was ready for a fight. Which would make her more upset. "I will".
That didn't seem to work either. Now Mickey seemed upset.
Talking. Should I talk. What would I say? Was it only a token gesture or was I supposed to be making plans for floors or do I need to pay a rent or-
"You don't have to if you don't want to". It took a moment for Gisela to realize it was Mickey talking the tone was so much softer than normal. More hesitant too. More like something that Gisela would say than her brash, confident partner.
It was wrong. Gisela didn't like it at all.
Gisela needed to say something, somehow it got around the lump in her throat. "I just don't want to be a burden".
"Is that the only reason?", Mickey asked, her eyes narrowed as she seemed to try and pry Gisela open with her gaze.
"Yeah".
"Well I'm telling you that that is not a problem, me you and Pi-chan will be just fine".
"As long as I'm not a burden".
"You're not".
She needed to keep pushing, needed to know. "You will tell me if I am?".
Mickey huffed. "You won't be". Gisela opened her mouth, that still didn't tell her and she needed to know. Mickey kept going through, "and if you ever for some strange reason were a burden instead of my partner I would tell you, I swear on my bond".
Pi-chan's cry was sharper than normal.
"Thanks", Gisela whispered, breaking the moment.
Of course, as usual, Gisela underestimated Mickey's determination to do something after she decided on the plan, as soon as they had let Fairy Tail know the job was completed Mickey was rushing them out. Technically Gisela didn't need to be guided to the place she had been living for the last month and a bit.
Mickey didn't care.
Gisela signed as she made sure to stay fast enough that her hand wasn't wrenched out of it's socket by the enthusiastic grasp.
I hope this is a good idea.
Either way, Gisela was committed. There was always a funny feeling to packing up what few things she had left in her room.
This time it was even less than the apartment that Gisela had rented with Kagura before. Suddenly the room was blank and impersonal.
Except it wasn't sudden. Was my room always this empty?
She was jolted out of her thoughts by Mickey, "are you sure that's all you have?".
"Yeah". What more am I supposed to have.
It was quite a lot really, considering the fact that she was supposed to be on the move.
Mickey seemed quiet for a moment before perking back up again. "Right", she cheered, smashing her fist into the palm of her hand, "lets go".
Then they were back to running, ducking out of Magnolia proper and heading back to the woods."We're almost there", Mickey shouted, responding to Gisela's unasked question as they kept moving.
Then Mickey stopped. "Here we are,'' she announced, spreading her arms out to the world as they pushed the whippy branches away from their faces.
Well, Mickey pushed the branches away, Gisela took advantage of Mickey pushing them aside in order to pass mostly painlessly. She only felt slightly guilty about doing it.
It was beautiful, a new type of lump appeared in her throat at her first sight of Mickey's house. It looked almost exactly like the type of place that her from before would have wanted to live in so badly. A small cottage in the woods with a red slate roof and stuccoish walls.
It looked like the sort of place that belonged to someone in a fairy tale, even if it was a Fairy Tail in this case.
"It's beautiful", Gisela whispered when she saw Mickey start to fidget. "Do you really live here". The second it was out Gisela regerted her words, through thankfully Mickey just took them as a reason to start talking.
"Yup, when I first came to Fairy Tail I looked at all the houses and none of them looked right, but for various reasons I may or may not have have turned out during one of Master's lectures Fairy Tail has ownership to a good portion of the woods so a bunch of us live out here".
"Who else used to live out here?".
Mickey fidgeted. "A lot of the girls still around are in Fairy Hills, but Max has a house a bit that way", she pointed to her left, "and so does Nab and Vijeeter, they live together. Natsu used to live out there too, but he was much farther out because he decided to get stubborn about where he built his house, kinda near Reedus, they were always arguing about who had the better views".
Mickey stopped for breath, and Gisela jumped back in. "does Poryuscia live around here?". It was probably better to be prepared.
"Yeah, buts she's much farther into the woods because she likes her space. She is definitely our scariest neighbor through".
Gisela had absolutely no doubt about that.
It was a nice place through, even as she tried to hide her relief that they were not near Porlyusica, Gisela knew how much she owed the woman and figured that they best way she could repay her was staying out of her hair.
Not that Gisela was very good at that.
A for effort, f for everything else. Gisela forced herself out of her thoughts and back onto the quick tour that she was being given. "And this is your room", Mickey said, as they ducked out of the living room kitchen and into a short hallway.
Gisela sneezed as the door opened, dust motes dancing in the late afternoon air.
"Sorry about that", Mickey said with a quick grin.
"It's fine". It was a cozy room with a bed and a bed stand, both of which seemed equally dusty. It would take a little work to make it clean again, but Gisela had slept in much worse places. She tried not to shiver as she remembered the hollow in the tree.
That had been one of them.
Moving in was quick. All it took was dropping her pack down and helping Mickey to wash and dust the place.
Pi-chan was helpful with that as well.
"How did you get Pi-chan?", Gisela asked while wiping down the dresser with a damp cloth. Gisela could feel the sudden tension behind her, "I was just wondering if Pi-chan belong to another mage or something because you have two bedrooms but I haven't seen you with another partner except maybe Chico and she lives in Fairy Hills and…"
"I did used to live with someone. His name was Tomo, he left around four months ago to join another guild".
"Do you miss him?". Abort. Abort. Abort.
"No, he left us".
"Sounds foolish of him". It was the truth. It also had the wonderful effect of easing the growing tension behind her.
Both were benefits.
Things went quickly after that in cleaning up the room, and soon she was settled in. It was funny how little her rhythm changed through, all that mattered is that Gisela no longer walked home alone.
When she wasn't trying to do work and avoid getting mauled by the random animals Gisela helped with paperwork.
It wasn't pleasant, at least, not the budgets.
"I just can't get the numbers to add up anymore", Macao groaned, "we don't have to pay more damages like we used to but still", he groaned, smacking his head down.
Gisela glanced through the accounts, trying to see if there was anything they could cut. "We could donate less?", she suggested. It wasn't a nice suggestion.
It still needed to be said.
Macao groaned again, "that just wouldn't be right, they need that money and we've been doing that for years".
"I don't see much else, if we increase the fee then even more roaming mages will leave", not that they had to many anymore, even Gisela noticed the decrease in people in the tavern downstairs. "And we need money for if something in this building broke down", not to mention they were still making payments on the loans for building the place.
That was the worst of the expenses.
There was the search as well, but Gisela had no idea how to broach that idea. It just sounded so not tactful. How was she supposed to phrase that? Gisela could just see herself saying, hey, maybe don't look for your lost guild members.
Yeah, there was no nice way that Gisela could think of to say that.
"We have something of a rainy day fund, I just wanted to avoid breaking into this", Macao sighed again, deep, self recrimination that was just a little too familiar for comfort.
Gisela fidgeted, and forced herself to keep her gaze forward instead of glancing at the door like she wanted to.
"It's not your fault", she tried to say. It came out more like a mumble.
"What?".
"It's not your fault".
"The third could", Macao muttered, sounding much more like a rebellious teenager then the adult that Gisela supposed he was.
"The third had a lot more powerful mages and wasn't draining funds by keeping a search open". Shit.
Macao had frozen. Gisela felt sick.
"You don't think that the search is a necessity".
There was nothing Gisela could do, nothing she could say but what she had been thinking. "I think that they would come back if they could.''
"We can't just give up on them. They could be anywhere and we need to find they. They wouldn't stay away like this, we can't just give up on everyone".
"Stopping the search wouldn't be giving up. They could still come back, you just can't stay in the past the whole time".
"We are not", Macao said, Gisela opened her mouth for a moment but the stone was back. "Just let it out, nobody else around here holds back".
Nowhere to go but forwards.
"I mean", Gisela started hesitantly, "the search isn't doing anything, waiting isn't doing anything. We both have seen the paperwork", through why they were letting a non guild member look was beyond her, Gisela suspected it was because she was one of the rare people actually willing to do that work, "I think you need to move on. Fairy Tail can't run the way you guys used to. Not the damage or the jobs".
"I'm not going to give up on them, no one here is".
"I just think there's a difference between giving up and holding on". If somehow, somewhere Gisela was able to meet someone from before-
There were so many people she missed, people Gisela hadn;t realized just how much she valued until they were gone and she way trying to fill herself back up with copies that didn't quite match and getting upset when they were not the people she lost.
Gisela had learned better than that.
It just didn't mean she could do nothing but think about people from Before. She had been there, done that and messed up the family to prove that. "Excuse me", Gisela said and slipped out of the office.
She was outside the door before she realised that she hadn't waited to be dismissed.
She was shaking as she pushed open a window and jumped out, the cloud she summoned catching her and lowering to the ground.
I should move, Gisela knew that she had moved, that she had pushed to hard and the pressure was back.
I should go and say sorry and pack my stuff and figure this out.
She couldn't though, all she could do was sit against the cold, rough stone wall and breathe.
Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut?