Chapter 12: back together

After that incident in the streets I was brought to Sabertooth where I and Rufus could have a normal talk and, of course, tell others what the heck was going on between both of us.

"This is going to end bad..." I whispered through my teeth already feeling my skin heat.

"Don't worry, my Moon, I'll do the talking, if you don't want to. I believe you want to get over your own thoughts," Rufus whispered a little smile playing on his face. I noticed how much he was analyzing me, especially my lips. I broke the mind contact. Could he think of something else?

I shook my head. "Try to say at least one word you shouldn't and I'll..." I cut myself not knowing how to end. "Ugh..."

"I'd do anything to protect you," he said.

"For example, leave me?" I reminded.

"Yeah... About that... Can we move on from that? Now that we made it up. I don't want to remember that time when we were separated."

"I don't think it's that easy..." I murmured looking at my hands. I felt the strange stairs of another members of Sabertooth.

"I know... And I'm sorry for doing that. I though it'd be for the best if I vanished from your life, but you still pulled yourself into this mess. Why?" he asked.

"You showed me what I wanted. You unconsciously made me seek for my dreams and I did. Even if that didn't include you in my plans," I said with a shy blush. Yeah... It must hurt him when I said he wasn't in my future plans. But what did he expect? He himself left me. I wouldn't go and chase after him to come back.

"You have something planed?" Rufus asked. "So now that I'm here... Do I have a chance to be part of your future?" he gently placed his hand on mine. Sparks ran my skin. His fingers were so hot.

"Depends what future you want," I said back and rose my glance back at him.

"This time without you... I was never that sad. I thought you'd be in someone else's arms by now. And I couldn't bare to see that. I wish I could hold you the rest of my life and be here to protect you. From the moment I saw you I knew I don't ever want to let you go and those past months were the biggest mistake I remember making in my entire life. My memory can't recover anything worse than what you had to go through when I didn't come back and, believe me, I didn't feel any better. So... I hope we could move from where we ended and slowly step by step forget those horrible six months and maybe..." he cut himself, a bright blush on his cheeks. It was rare seeing him blushing. But I connected back to his thoughts to read whatever he was so much blushing about. I couldn't hold a blush myself, but wanted him to say it out loud.

"Maybe what?" I asked trying my best to stay calm. My fingers played with his, but our eyes were stuck at each other.

"Maybe I'll be able to finally put that ring on your finger and eventually we could have our own family..." he finally managed to say.

I smiled. It was really a lot he wanted from me, but he just said what he thought which I appreciated. I hated when people tried to lie, especially when I learned to read minds without physical contact. All those lies made me sick and as long as I've been with Rufus, he was always trying to be honest with me, so I'd trust him and he could trust me. He understood it was really valuable for me and I knew he valued that too.

And I couldn't imagine myself being with anyone else but him. I was still gazing at Rufus' eyes and when he said about the ring I could already imagine him proposing to me and walking with me to the altar ready to marry me. It was nearly impossible we actually could get married, but I honestly wanted to believe it.

"But my parents... They'll really kill you this time," I whispered as quiet as I could and looked at our fingers wrapped around each other. I saw those scars before my eyes again. This was inhuman. How can my parents do such thing when he didn't do anything wrong. All he did was love me and make me happy and in return got so much pain and suffering.

"We'll find a way. I'll find a way. We'll just have to be more careful, right?" Rufus asked. I looked back at him, he gazed back willingly.

I nod. "I want to be free. I want that future you suggest," I smiled weakly. "But I want magic in my life too. To practice it and learn more about it. I hope you won't mind me staying in Fairy Tail. At least for now," I asked.

He was quiet for a moment. "I can't force you to change you mind here, can I?" he asked. I shook my head. "Fine then. If you think you're safe with them, you may stay."

I smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

"Just tell me... Has anyone tried to hook up with you?"

My eyes widened. I saw a bit of a jealousy in his eyes. I wanted to laugh.

"Of course," I said.

"Who?" his gaze darkened. Yeah, he really was jealous.

"Half of the guild's guys," I said with a smirk.

Now his eyes got widened. I giggled. It was so nice to be able to laugh from him again. I stabbed his nose with my index.

"Not that I payed attention to their efforts. My heart always held a special place for a certain blond with a red mask and nobody else."

"Mine also belongs only to you, my Moon," he said warmly. His eyes looked at the viewers for a second before he looked back at me again.

But I noticed that. We had to reveal what was all of that about. I sighed. "Shall we explain them or leave in the mist?" I didn't want to do that, but I knew it won't make anything better.

"You decide," he answered. I stood up.

"We have to. Otherwise they'll eat you alive and I won't even be there to see that happen," I said.

He smirked. "Why are you always so sharp to me?" he asked.

"Because your face askes exactly for it," I joked.

"Does it always?"

I nod. "And I love seeing your expressions change," I added, but he stopped me and wrapped his arms around my waist pressing my body to his chest.

"They weren't changing much when you weren't around," he said and leaned forward to kiss me. But before he did it, he stopped and stood straight again. He let me go.

"You forgot we're not alone," I smirked and grabbed his hat from his head which I put on mine.

"You seal away all what's on and in my head. You should stop being so adorable," he said. "And this hat fits you, remember this."

I hated this hat though. It was uncomfortable and hid Rufus's face as much as that mask. And it was so heavy on my head. I felt like it was about to fall any second, but tried to not pay any attention. I just wanted to mess Rufus' mind a bit more.

But in this case, I found it handy. I buried my face under that hat and since I wasn't very tall, my face was more unseenable than I'd expected.

So we did explain everything to others. We hid some facts of course, like that I was a Lettercard, only keeping that my family didn't like Rufus in particular and managed to convince him he wasn't right for me. Also, I had to tell them nobody from my family knew I was in a wizard guild or that I was a wizard to begin with, so they should keep their mouths shut.

After that some members started to tease Rufus for not telling anyone he had a girlfriend, but he tried to defend himself he did.

"That's not my problem if you don't remember anything," he hissed. He didn't want me to think he never mentioned being taken.

"But she's too pretty for you!" another one didn't believe.

"This only shows how good taste I have. And she's the most beautiful in the entire world, so don't even try to compare her to anyone," Rufus said back.

I blushed brightly. "But I'm not..." I tried to say.

"You are. To me, you're perfect. Remember that."

I sighed. He was really stubborn.

Others teased me instead of Rufus though which was worse. Sting was still a bit embarrassed at first especially after what he saw, but got more comfortable with the time.

"So you aren't actually that shy, are you? I mean, the way you act around Rufus is absolute opposite of the way you were two days ago" he asked.

"No..." I bit my lip. "Sorry if I seemed to be rude last time," I apologized.

"I actually started to believe I was a creep. You looked like you're going to faint from fear."

I smiled a little. "I wouldn't. It's just... It's his guild and he had left me for half a year. It was hard on me, you know?" I tried to explain myself keeping the part that I have actually been terrified of the thought to meet the Twin Dragons to myself.

"Yeah, don't worry about that. I'm glad Rufus put's that smile on your face, because if he makes you cry again, just ask and I'll kick his ass for you, alright?" Sting offered.

"I surely will," I promised with a giggle. That'd be hilarious.

"You know, even before we met you, it was hard to believe he had a girlfriend. With the attitude and personality particularity of his... It's still hard to put you two together. You don't look like him at all."

"We have more similarities than you think," I smiled awkwardly to Sting. He nod.

"But don't hurt him either," Sting suddenly said. "He's a part of my family and since you're with him, it makes you a family too, but if you hurt him, I'll forget that."

Sparks ran my back. I cleared my throat. "I love him and will try my best to make him happy. I don't want to hurt him unless he'll really drive my nerves," I joked. Sting laughed with me.

"He can really do that," he said.

There was a comfy silence between us for a bit. Eventually Sting was the one to break it.

"Is our guild scary to you? I'm not talking about that you were shy for the first time. I'm curious of how others treat you?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment. "Everyone is nice. And I'm glad Rogue and Frosch was there for me the first time. It really made me feel more at ease."

"Yeah, he might looks like an arrogant and ignorant creep at first, but I think he's one of the most soft-hearted person of the guild," Sting said with a grin, but there were images in my head which I saw in Lucy's thoughts. But quickly brushed them away. She said Natsu cleared it all, so there was no need to worry. Sting wasn't worrying either and they were best friends. He'd know if something was actually wrong with Rogue, wouldn't he? I looked at the black haired Dragon Slayer who was smiling and laughing with Frosch and Lector. It'd be hard to imagine that destiny of his. Sting was right, he seemed to be the most kind-hearted person in that guild.

"I think you forgot you have a job to finish," I heard Rufus's voice near my ear reminding how distracted I was. My smile dropped from the thought how many letters I had to deliver. "Don't worry, I'll help you. You don't remember any locations anyway," he took his hat from my head and put back on his. I sighed. I should be thankful he offered his help. And lucky, because nobody there expected me to be an aristocrat. So I could feel a bit safer having Rufus so close to me.