First, thank you, all! When I asked you for reviews, I expected a few supportive ones. I got what I wanted and more! Your encouraging and kind words actually made me cry, more than once, and I spent yesterday refining this so you could all have a wonderful present. Thank you so much, guys.
Oh, yeah I forgot. First person I saw to spell it SilvUr was Jeptwin. And something I still need to add to DoD, but the person who gave me the idea for the relationship between our special blunettes was Chefbabe in Celestial Mage Wanted (a great Nalu story I already recommended back in chapter...I dunno, twenty three? Go read it).
Oh, and there will be one more chapter before Fantasia.
Chapter One Hundred and Two - Walks and Waltzes
It also wasn't long before it was the end of it.
"What do you mean, we can't do the song?" I asked him.
"I mean, you can't do the song!" Makarov replied. "It's like we're asking the Council to arrest us. Absolutely not!"
"It is not!" I yelled back. "It's just one verse, we can take it out! We took one out of Unstoppable!"
But he still asked me to change it, so I picked another by the same artist so we wouldn't have to change too much; we still had the same singer for that. Our plans didn't really change, other than Loke adjusting some of the choreography.
I also went through auditions for our ending song, which would be bigger than our opening number, and we finally settled on our singers for that as well.
Every once in awhile, though, some things would come up.
First, I had to have a conversation with several people.
"Why are we here, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.
I crossed my arms and looked around the room at Laxus, Erik, Macbeth, Freed, Juvia, and even Jellal.
"You guys need to stop being mean to Max," I said, without a beat.
The reactions were immediate.
Juvia whined, Jellal denied but also looked away in shame, Freed protested, and Laxus, Erik and Macbeth all scoffed.
I glared at them. "I'm serious. Stop being mean."
"He's mean to you, Ella-sama!" Freed vehemently spoke. "He doesn't deserve to be treated with respect."
I pinned Freed with a glare. "Max is your nakama. So he doesn't like me – so what? Not everyone will. Not everyone in the guild likes me. While some of you are…specifically attached…to me, not everyone in the guild is as close. You all know that. I'm not that close to half of the kids we rescued from the tower, or even Sawyer and Richard, or Nab. I don't see you getting on their backs. Hell, I'm pretty sure Master doesn't like me, either."
Laxus snorted, but said nothing.
"Onee-sama!" Juvia whined. "We can't just be nice to him."
I gave her a stern look. "Lucy is nice to him. Yukino gets along with him alright. Jet is friends with him. All of them are attached to me just as much, if not more than some of you. Let it go."
I gave each of them a look, before finally settling on Jellal. "And Jellal, I'm disappointed in you. You're supposed to be mature."
He flinched.
I sighed. "Guys, I'm not telling you you have to like him, alright? But he's your nakama, which means he's your family. You don't need to like your family, but he still is, which means you're stuck with him and that you protect him. Alright?"
Some of them exchanged glances.
I rolled my eyes. "Guys, I like Max, I really do. I got off to a bad start with him. From the start with most of you guys, it was emergency situations, so it was okay and helpful for me to be there for you guys, lending you aid. But that's not what happened with Max. He sat down with his friend to meditate, and when he woke up, there was a strange girl there he didn't know."
More looks were exchanged, and I could see a few of them starting to relax.
"What about Laki?" Macbeth asked. "She was there, too, right?"
I crossed my arms at him. "You should know better than to ask about her, Macbeth. You know how she works. Laki is Laki. I couldn't try to figure out how she works. Most people aren't okay with other people randomly breaking into their bedrooms for no reason."
"I was okay with it," Freed grumbled.
I rolled my eyes. "I had a reason to be there, Freed. You had just gotten into an argument with your father about running away. It was a good opportunity."
He huffed and crossed his arms. "You still haven't explained how you did that, Ella-sama."
I ignored him.
"What about Erigor?" Macbeth pressed. "He was fine with you breaking into his bedroom."
"Erigor was fifteen. Max was six. Or seven. The point is, he was young, he was confused, and I don't blame him for having a bit of a bad impression of me."
Laxus snorted. "Plus, it's not like Elle makes the most reasonable decisions."
"See?" I said, before… "Hey!"
Erik was tired.
Tired, but happy, especially with Kinana sitting next to him.
The guild was a loud place, and to be honest, it kinda hurt his ears. The other dragon slayers were still adjusting to the noise too, even months after joining (except for Natsu, because he tends to make half of it; he's already resistant).
There were always a million thoughts swarming through his head, but he didn't...not...like it. On the contrary, he loved to just sit there and listen to everyone's souls. It was entertaining, and he loved his friends.
In addition to that, though, hearing all of his friends' problems helped clear them up (there were already four or five that he had to pass to Elle).
For instance; the Erigor situation, because Macbeth was now very close with Laki after bonding over whatever reason Erik didn't want to know (he still knew, though).
He heard Erigor's jealous thoughts and went to do something about it.
He should have just sent that straight to Elle. Immediately.
He didn't want to think too deeply into half of these things, to be honest.
On the other hand, Erik found Gajeel's inner monologue very entertaining; particularly when he would drift off when Levy was trying to teach him. which would lead to getting his ass kicked.
Usually, Gajeel tried to come up with animal names for people.
He'd already nicknamed Natsu 'Salamander', Erik 'Cobra', Lucy 'Bunny Girl' (not Bunny, Bunny Girl) and Levy 'Shrimp'.
Erik still feels like he lost a horrible opportunity. With the amount of books Levy surrounded herself with, he should've called her 'Worm'.
He was still searching for more names, most of which related to powers or personalities, though he also ends up giving up on a few of them, which is why he calls Juvia 'Water Woman' – which lead to an argument between Lucy and Gajeel about why Juvia got the 'woman' title when she was only a few months older than her.
Gajeel, as he does with nearly all things, ended up ignoring this for the most part and continued searching for names he could match up with people.
Gajeel was also getting pretty close to Macbeth (which made Erigor upset, once again), and called him 'Beth' a few minutes ago, to which Macbeth responded, "Only Erigor gets to call me that."
Gajeel was thrown off by that, but shrugged and continued. "Fine. Panda. Panda Bear."
Macbeth didn't care; he was already half asleep, and Erigor kept nudging him, trying to keep him awake.
Erik sighed and continued surveying the room.
Max (who was currently titled 'Sand Boy' in Gajeel's head) still bugged him.
Erik did not like Max.
Lots of people didn't like Max.
Not because Max was a bad person.
But because Max didn't like Elle.
So to at least five people, Max was considered persona non grata.
But at least they were nicer to him now.
To be fair, if he hadn't been kidnapped by Brain and met Elle that way, he might've reacted the same to her.
So he kinda got where he was coming from.
But Max was her nakama now too, so they should all be friends.
Erik froze as a thought drifted from his mind, and perked up like a dog, looking for the one who said it.
"What is it?" Kinana asked.
Erik held up a hand, listening to the thoughts.
So what does this mean? The small sweet voice was asking herself. Could we be related?
He tracked the voice over to Levy, who was thinking deeply – so deeply, in fact, that Erik didn't want to venture in.
It's one thing to read someone's surface thoughts, but when he's going straight in, he's completely overwhelmed.
No, it's impossible. But I was still able to cast the spell…I don't understand.
Erik stared at Levy before standing up and shouting, "Bickslow!"
The kid drifted forward, riding on his souls. "Yeah? Is something wrong?"
Erik bit his lip. "I know you don't like to give away a lot of details in someone's soul. You only really check whether or not they're soulmates, and even then, you only give away information if they ask. But I need you to check something."
Bickslow nodded.
"I know that you can check ties between people, even through family," Erik hesitated. "Is Levy related to anyone?"
Bickslow nodded. "Yeah, and...I think I remember who, but I'll check the bond."
His eyes glowed as he activated his figure eyes, and he turned to Levy, before turning back and shutting off his eyes. "Yes, and I believe she's figuring it out. Her side is solidifying."
"Solidifying?" Erik asked.
Bickslow nodded. "If they don't know they're related, it's a type of transparent bond. Since it's getting darker on Levy's side, it means she's figuring it out."
Kinana frowned. "So Levy is related to someone in the guild and we didn't know? Why didn't you tell anyone, Bickslow?"
Bickslow sighed. "The more and more members we get, the harder it is to comprehend everyone's strings. Nowadays, the bonds between everyone are so strong I can almost see it all the time, even without my Figure Eyes activated. So I tend to keep it off because it starts to hurt. I remember noticing the string when they first met, but I forgot about it because I didn't know what the transparency meant."
Kinana nodded. "I'm gonna grab Levy. Grab her family and meet us in the closet. It's big enough for us all."
She ran to Levy, and Bickslow smirked at Erik, who was staring at her happily. "You're acting like a lost puppy, man. Get it together."
Erik blushed and looked away, taking note of Bickslow's thoughts. "Shut up, let's just grab her cousin."
"Where are you taking me, Kinana?" Levy asked the girl (who, while two years older than her, actually looked much smaller).
"It's important, Levy!" Kinana said. "And I'm not the best to explain. Come on!"
Levy looked back at her book sadly, before sighing and letting Kinana drag her off to…a storage closet?
"We really need to get a room for private conversations," Kinana muttered, right as the door opened.
Erik and Bickslow dragged Jellal in, who looked just as confused, if not more so, than Levy.
She started to feel a shiver of fear. If Erza found her alone in a closet with Jellal…
Levy tightened her grip on Kinana's sleeve.
"What are we doing here?" Jellal asked.
Bickslow let go of him and closed the door, activating the runes on it while Erik grabbed Kinana and sat with her over on a crate.
"Guys?" Levy asked impatiently. She was really starting to miss that book.
And there was still Erza.
Bickslow took a deep breath and looked back and forth between Levy and Jellal.
"You guys are related," he said.
All of the breath left Levy's lungs. She'd thought of the possibility, since she had accidentally cast (what she'd thought was) Meteor, but still…
"What?" Jellal asked, confused.
"You two are related," Bickslow said. "I can tell from your strings. You probably aren't half-siblings, since Levy had both of her parents with her when she was growing up…"
Levy nodded.
"…so I'd guess first or second cousins?" Bickslow continued. "It's close enough to register on your souls."
"We're…cousins?" Jellal asked.
"I…I get my blue hair through my mom," Levy said shyly. Yeah, this was Jellal (her friend), but he was also her cousin.
She still had family alive.
Jellal relaxed and smiled at her. "So do I. Cousins, huh? Why don't we get to know each other for real?"
Levy smiled and nodded to the older boy and they left the closet, going for a walk and talking about their families.
"Well, now what?" Bickslow asked as the last three of them exited the closet, too.
"Where's the Shrimp going, Cobra?" Gajeel asked. "And why's Firefly with her?"
"It turns out that Jellal is her cousin," Erik said to the boy. "And she's going to get to know him a bit more."
Gajeel looked at their retreating backs. "So they'll be busy, huh…"
He stood there thinking, before swirling around and marching over to Natsu and Lucy, grabbing Lucy, and running off. "Let's go, Bunny Girl!"
"Gajeel, what the hell?" she shrieked.
"GIVE ME LUCE BACK, METALHEAD!" Natsu shouted, chasing after them.
"Should we care?" Kinana asked, looking after the three worriedly.
Erik and Bickslow exchanged looks. "Nah."
"Gajeel, put me down!" Lucy screamed.
"No, I need your help," he said as he continued running throughout the guild.
"The put me down and talk to me about it!" Lucy shouted.
"I have to get you away from Salamander!" Gajeel shot back.
Lucy leaned in really close to Gajeel's ear. "What do you think Levy will think if you're kidnapping young maidens that aren't…her?"
Gajeel stopped at that, blushing furiously, and Natsu crashed into his back, topping the two slayers on the ground and throwing Lucy in the air.
She landed on the two of them and Natsu groaned. "Lu-cy? Why are you so heav-y?"
Gajeel scrambled away from the other slayer in horror, hoping to be spared from Lucy's wrath.
No such luck.
"Lucy KICK!" Lucy kicked Natsu, tossing him into Gajeel's stomach and throwing the two of them halfway across the room.
The two of them sat there, groaning.
"Now…" Lucy said, striding up to them and crossing her arms. "What do you need help with, Gajeel?"
"Who cares?" Natsu said, popping up and hugging Lucy as he glared at the other slayer. "Stay away from Luce, Metalhead."
Lucy rolled her eyes and pushed him away. "Gajeel?"
Gajeel eyed Natsu warily, but there was no getting rid of him.
God, the other slayer was probably going to hold this over his head for years.
But after the embarrassing attempt he made during the wedding and the Princess's birthday party, he had to ask; for Levy.
"I need your help learning how to dance, Bunny Girl."
Natsu burst out laughing. "D-Dance?" He was laughing so hard that fire was flaming out of his mouth.
Gajeel ignored him and turned to Lucy. "Please?"
"Why?" she asked.
He started blushing. "N...No reason..."
Lucy gave him a long, hard look as Gajeel fidgeted.
He hadn't had a mother, or even any woman in his life, before he was adopted by Metalicana. And while the dragon had warned him that females were dangerous, the girls in this guild went above and beyond his expectations.
They were terrifying.
Elle, Lucy, Cana, Sorano, Ultear, Evergreen, Brandish, Erza, - hell, even Levy (when it came to her books) and Juvia (when it came to her 'Onee-sama').
And Kagura was getting frighteningly more like her role model (that damn red-headed monster) every day.
Even the ones that weren't actively scary, like Millianna, Wendy and Yukino, were terrifying in their level of sway over others. All they had to do was look at someone and ask-
Lucy sighed and took his hand, pulling him toward the training room, which was luckily empty. "Fine. I'll teach you."
He felt a wave of relief rush through him, and he sighed happily.
"What? But we're supposed to spend time together, Luce!" Natsu said unhappily, and looking slightly like a kicked puppy.
Lucy gave the boy a stern look. "I spend a lot of time with you Natsu. You know that. Now I'm going to spend a little time with Gajeel. That's all. Get over it."
The boy slumped down, sad.
"But," Lucy continued. "If you leave us alone, I promise I'll play with you later, alright?"
The boy brightened. "Alright!"
Gajeel sighed and continued towards the training room, which was shut behind them.
"Now," Lucy said, smiling at him.
He felt a shiver of unease run through him, thinking that she looked suspiciously like a shark just then.
What had he gotten himself into?
Once again, thank you to Chefbabe for writing an amazing ass story! Check out her awesome story (once again, called Celestial Mage Wanted), which also made me cry.
...I tend to cry a lot.