The brunette stumbled before the white-haired woman, her shoulders shaking in long sobs and her cheeks soaked with tears between which she barely managed to articulate the word "sake" to the barmaid. The barmaid leaned toward her friend and gasped in surprise at the empty usually purple pupils of the card mage. Gently, she tried to lift her body, now unconscious and devastated by alcohol.
In a quick gesture, she managed to free one heavy arm and began to take the second out of the curly brown curtain. Unfortunately for her, it carried the full weight of the brunette because she barely managed to move it slightly.
"Need a hand?"
His deep voice startled her as the lightning dragon slayer's piercing gaze met hers, appearing behind her as a gift from heaven to take over her impossible task, namely: moving her friend to the infirmary. The blond man grabbed the drunk woman by the nape of the neck and the hollow of her knees before lifting her up in one go and following the path indicated by the white-haired woman.
He put his drunk burden on one of the white beds and watched the barmaid cover her with white sheets and place a cloth soaked in clear water on her forehead. The barmaid looked up at him and stammered a brief thanks to which he replied with a simple nod.
"She's in a bad state," he said, disturbing the silence.
She nodded sadly. "She must have gotten drunk in a bar nearby and winded up here when she saw the light on."
"Shouldn't you have left already?" he asked her.
"I could ask you the same question." She smiled amusedly at him.
The thunder Dragon Slayer mage had fallen silent. For a few minutes only, the brunette's long groans disturbed the heavy silence. Not liking this dismal atmosphere he reengaged:
"Does that happen frequently to her?"
"Sometimes, but it's becoming more and more common these days."
The white-haired woman also fell silent. After all these evenings she had spent at the guild with Cana while she was empting up her drinks, she felt responsible for the brunette who, until recently, confided in her. But despite that, she was unable to know the reason for her friend's too frequent drunken episodes.
A tear escaped from the barmaid and crashed onto her black dress. She wiped it furtively and looked up at the blonde who was staring at her insistently. In a dash, he got up and walked slowly towards the door.
"You coming?" he asked her. "We're not going to stay here all night... or at least what's left of it," he said, glancing at the clock whose pointers were uniformly approaching the number twelve.
"I can't leave..." she mumbled.
"I really doubt she needs you to sleep." His sarcastic tone suddenly irritated her. Annoyed, she passed the door before him with a determined step and met his amused gaze.
He watched her striding away with a confident gait. She returned behind her bar and began to prepare some order. Her white hands fluttered among glasses and drinks with incredible speed. She washed, wiped and tidied up with natural ease while the young man sat at one of the stools and watched her.
There was no longer any trace of the sly smile she had managed to put on her angelic face earlier. Instead, she looked worried and uncomfortable.
"Can you get me something?" he asked.
"So now you're planning to stay all night?" she questioned, cynical.
He looked at her and wore that smirk which he had thought was gone for far too long. "Am I bothering?" he replied with the same smile.
The white-haired woman smiled even more and put the ordered drink in front of him as an answer, then straightened up and cast an amused look in her eyes. "Not if you can make conversation," she finally said.
The blond man sneered and glanced back towards the woman who was looking at him with eyes so transparent and opaque at the same time. Seeing that she was waiting for a reply, he sighed. "I wouldn't count on it if I were you. Talking is not my best feature."
"–oh yeah, I forgot you only knew how to communicate with fists."
The lightning mage widened his eyes and inspected the white-haired woman whose eyes were staring at him with an insolent and playful attitude. Did she just openly call him a bully? She may not have been entirely wrong, but not to the point of completely denying his ability to exchange a few words with her. It was a pure, simple and far too direct provocation.
"Well, my hands surely help me communicate with women, but I really doubt this is the kind of conversation you're expecting." He said each word by slowly detailing the body of the young woman who immediately blushed. She tried to answer but her words tangled in her mouth. She remained helplessly silent, standing still in front of one visibly very happy Laxus on his reply and the embarrassment he had still managed to bring about in her.
Suddenly, the little clock, whose ringing remained discreet during the day, rang twelve times, breaking the laden silence that had settled down. In the distance, they heard the repetitive coughing of the brunette who seemed to have a mad cough. The blond man turned his head towards the white-haired woman who made him understand the pointlessness of any action. After a minute that seemed like forever, the hiccups faded and the heavier silence re-established itself.
"She seems okay..." the demonic mage whispered, before launching towards her handbag to grab a small communication lacrima. "I'm going to call a taxi, take her to Fairy Hills before getting home quickly," she said in an unusually rushed voice.
The young man frowned. "I don't know if it's very safe for a girl to take a cab alone at this hour, you don't want me to come with you?" he suggested with an anxious half-smile.
And he was honest. He had heard horrific stories about rapes of young women who had taken taxis overnight and been found been overly pleasing with the driver. In addition, Mirajane was an attractive prey for people like that. She was beautiful, young, famous and surely already served as fantasy for a good part of the men in this country. That kind of man was easily capable of this sort of things if he saw her alone and exhausted from her work day.
The white-haired girl smiled sincerely and looked at the blond with kindness. It was rare for him to show thoughtfulness towards someone and she knew by his attitude that he acted without ulterior motives. He always managed to make her understand his meaning and not a sign of some sort of personal agenda floated in his golden gaze.
"It's nice to ask, but I can handle this kind of situation and defend myself when necessary."
Unfortunately, she already had to face it and only violence had helped with those men whose hands were a little too wandering for her taste and visibly attracted to the idea of payment in kind. She rarely used her powers in her daily life, which allowed her to have them available in the event of an assault, especially since always being alone at such times suited her to avoid being embarrassed when she refused a little too insistent "advances" with her claws.
The lightning mage looked at the young woman who seemed calm and confident. Surely she was right; she was more than able to protect herself. Besides, he was not going to force her to accept his presence when she clearly didn't need it.
"However," she said with a small grin, "I'm not going to turn down some help in order to carry her to the car. I'm going to call Erza to help me carry her to her room once there."
The blond man nodded, but the idea still seemed absurd to him. "Isn't it a little silly to wake her up in the middle of the night for that?"
"Men are not allowed to enter the building. Don't count on me to break this rule and get shouted at in the morning."
He laughed softly at her answer. It was true that this kind of regulation had been in place for a long time in the dormitory and he wasn't surprised that the knight mage continued to implement it.
"Honestly, I don't get the point of this rule," he replied while the transformation mage ordered the said taxi.
"To avoid outbursts, I think. I don't live there so I didn't have the details," she said between two of her calls. "I'll ask her if you want."
"I really hope she won't say it's there to preserve their virtue. Otherwise I'm renaming the place the Abbey of the Young Shy Virgins."
The white-haired woman laughed heartily but concentrated again when the sleepy voice of the redhead answered her call. After informing her of the situation and fixing the details, she hung up and turned to the blond man with a long sigh of weariness interrupted by faint hiccups. He understood right away and followed her to help him move the brunette out of the white bed. He lifted her the same way as before and walked outside while the transformation mage collected her belongings and closed the huge wooden doors of the guild.
The taxi arrived after a few minutes of silence which seemed an eternity in the eyes of the lightning mage who was beginning to feel the weight on his arms. The young woman opened the back door, greeted the driver with her usual politeness and motioned for the mage to put his burden on the backseat while she indicated the destination. Then she turned to the mage and started with a strangely embarrassed look.
"Thanks for the help..." she trailed off. She fell silent, not knowing what to say next. "And thank you for keeping me company, time flies faster with someone," she added with a dazzling smile. "See you tomorrow."
"See ya," he replied with his eternal sly smile.
He pivoted on his heels and started walking towards the city without glancing back. The white-haired woman remained a few seconds to watch the silhouette of his broad back as it gradually became distant before disappearing into the horizon. Then she remembered the presence of the taxi and got into the vehicle precipitately which started almost immediately towards the hill of the dorms.
When she arrived, her eyes immediately fell on the red-haired mage, with dark circles and disheveled hair, waiting for her. She asked the driver to wait for her, got out of the vehicle and smiled benevolently as she saw the tired face of her best friend.
"Sorry to bother you at this hour," she began.
The redhead replied with a sleepy smile and helped the white-haired woman carry the brunette to her room, which of course was on the top floor. The climb was exhaustingly laborious with the two women feeling the full weight of the unconscious brunette. They had a few scares when her body almost fell to the stairs several times. But they came to the end of it and succeeded after twenty long minutes in putting the sleeping girl in the bed of her respective room which the redhead had opened with her double keys. They both collapsed against the wall, panting loudly.
"We did it," the knight mage said.
"Finally..." the silver one exhaled.
"I don't know how you manage to do it all by staying up so late," the first woman said.
The second one glanced at her with a look full of questions.
"You work until I-don't-know-what-time and then you bring her home all by yourself," the redhead went on.
The white-haired woman blushed and replied, "I had a lot of things to put back in place since I was not there yesterday. Oh, and Laxus helped carry her to the taxi."
The redhead seemed surprised by the last piece of information. "Laxus? The real one?"
The demon mage laughed and nodded. "He was hanging around and he must have been surprised when he saw the lights still on. Then Cana went in..."
"He helped you carry her?" the knight mage asked abruptly.
The demon mage laughed softly since she was finding this last question so absurd. He wasn't a monster and wasn't not going to watch her carry Cana with great difficulty while sipping his beer quietly without lifting a finger.
"Uh...yes, is that so surprising?" she asked in turn, her cheeks slightly pink.
Her friend shook her head, smiling and replied, "Just unusual."
The white-haired woman nodded with a smile. A slight silence settled while the two mages were still panting.
"Besides…" the demon mage said, standing up, "he's asking what the point of prohibiting boys to enter Fairy Hills is."
The redhead widened her eyes and seemed to think for a little while. "I don't really know. It was a rule that was in effect when the former owner was still alive and I just keep it," she replied simply.
The white-haired woman smiled at this answer which was so much like her friend.
"But don't count on me to delete it," she continued in a much more serious tone.
The demon mage stared at her with a surprised look. She had never brought up the idea.
The knight mage added with her most solemn tone, "The rules are the rules."
The woman almost choked on laughing, remembering so much of the conversation she had the day before with her younger sister. Erza had launched her sentence with such a serious and theatrical air that her reply seemed carefully written and repeated in advance.
"Of course," she finished, still containing her laughter despite her huge smile.
Then she went down quickly, throwing a quick "good night" to her friend who stayed upstairs. She joined the vehicle that was still waiting for her and went home safely, despite the rather heavy remarks of the driver who kept telling her that he was at her entire disposal at all hours of the day and night. The young woman thanked him with a tense smile and finally returned home, after one of the most trying days of her life.
It had been a few weeks since that evening had passed. Life had gone on and Cana hadn't recovered from her troubling emotions. Erza and Mirajane had tried to make her talk about her too many drunken occurrences these days but received nothing from the brunette. Cana tried to pretend that these were only isolated disappointments of her private life. So she continued, drinking and stumbling to the bar late at night. The white-haired mage had learned to manage these incidents.
The guild was as noisy and messy as ever. In barely two weeks, poor Makarov had received enough complaints to make a staircase that would allow him to descend through the window of his office. He was considering the idea in order to avoid those damn mailmen more and more these days. They always came back with more complaints.
Fortunately, the pile of complaints remained proportional to the jobs' one. The board was abounding with jobs of all kinds, ranging from the annihilation of a clandestine guild to the delivery of important items - for their owners - through requests for monster hunting and gardening.
The white-haired woman had almost choked while hanging this particular request. It came from an elderly lady in the city who could no longer take care of her garden and who hoped "a few good souls to do it for her". She seemed so exhausted from her trip to the guild that the transformation mage didn't had the guts to tell her she could have just hired a gardener. Besides, the mission seemed perfect for Droy, she thought.
She hastened to prepare the last ordered drinks, including a beer which she placed just in front of the blond man who had been staring at her for a good minute.
"You look depressed," he remarked, taking a first sip of the amber liquid.
The white-haired woman smiled and continued to prepare the orders while cleaning everything that could come in handy.
"Just thoughtful," she replied with a sigh.
"About what?"
The transformation mage giggled and looked at the blond man with a raised eyebrow that he could recognize even among thousands.
"Oh, nothing. I just took a job in from a client who wants us to take care of her garden."
She shook her head as she said those words and laughed, as the situation seemed absurd. If the garden in question had been huge and wild, she would have understood the waste of money. Instead of finding a professional with a cheaper wage, she chose to seek for help from the less trustworthy mages at Fairy Tail – the guild known for its incredible gift of tearing apart everything in its path.
The lightning mage sighed in despair. "I hope it's a real jungle."
The white girl shook her head, laughing. "Not really... If you ask me, the grass is not up to four inches."
"Can't she just hire a gardener?" he went on, still falsely offended.
She nodded, smiling and going on with her activities. Then, when she saw that the blond was finishing his beer with his insulted attitude, she approached and took the empty glass with a mocking pout.
"I thought you'd be the first to jump on it. Is helping a poor old lady to take care of her green plants not worthy of your abilities?"
She almost exploded with laughter when he quickly turned his head to stare at her, insulted as if she had just damaged his honor and his bloodline's. Her blue eyes stared into his golden ones. He was just longing for making this eternal little pest who never hesitated to directly attack his pride regret her every word. He recovered and decided, before her laughing eyes, to respond with more subtlety.
"If your grandmother is a model and in her twenties, then it can be negotiated."
The white-haired woman blushed at his remark. As always, he must have had a knack for direct but very effective answers. He had once again managed to make her feel uncomfortable and he must have probably exulted internally to see her so embarrassed. She hated pretending to be the prude girl in front of him, but she couldn't help but think that his description, however small, described her perfectly.
A doubt invaded her. Was his last remark directed at her or was it just some worthless words? After all, the 20-year-old models were a common fantasy, so he could have said this without thinking of talking about her personally. Her pulse had accelerated over her thoughts that she had to breathe for a few seconds to calm down. She turned to the lightning mage who looked at her with a sly smile, obviously very satisfied with the result.
A comment. It was just a simple, unimportant comment with no specific target. He just threw it in to annoy her because he knew she was receptive to it. No, it didn't bother her. She was not a puritan like Erza and she could talk about sex with her friends - except her brother - without being embarrassed. At least as long as it didn't concern her. But the blonde's words could only be interpreted so much, and a part of her didn't take long to assume so. Above all, he always took special care to accompany his words with long nonchalant glances on her body with his eternal grin.
Her cheeks instantly caught on fire. Was he hitting on her? Wasn't his ambivalent behaviour of recent times as disinterested as she wanted to believe? She was used to heavy flirts, but from a guild member, from Laxus, with serious insinuations? It disturbed her way more. But how could she know if he was serious? He could just be enjoying embarrassing her. Or maybe he didn't realize what was going on and he was just talking about sex with a friend.
Friend.
Had they ever been? As far as she could remember, their relationship had always balanced between hostility and a sort of rather knowing and completely indescribable rivalry. She was unable to describe the relationship she had with him. Friendship seemed like a pleasant, if hypocritical, alternative. They weren't friends. Well, they were. In their way. But could we really call it friendship? Surely. They had known each other for a long time, appreciated each other - in their own way but still - and could spend time together discussing everything and nothing. They were friends and nothing else.
So why the looks he had on her did seem so interested? Why couldn't she get this idea out of her head? The possible thought that he saw her differently. That he wanted more than this simple friendship that the white-haired woman insisted on offering him. She turned her head towards him and met his golden gaze, still as amused and attractive. His eyes quickly returned to their original place and a heat wave suddenly invaded her against her will. She breathed deeply and felt her cheeks overheat as she became aware of what was happening to her. She shook her head violently to get her thoughts back on track, although a bucket of cold water would have been more effective.
They were just friends, why was she reacting like that? Why did she feel like she was thirteen again? How did he manage to have so much hold on her without even wanting to? Was that what he was trying to do? Did he want to have fun watching her lose all her sanity with a few words? Was he trying to flirt that way?
But what was wrong with her? They were friends. Comrades. How could she just imagine that he had any interest in her? How could she imagine that he could be attracted to her? She was just the guild's barmaid, or the little gothic scrappy girl to him. Nothing more, nothing less. She took a deep breath, resumed her biggest smile, and turned once more to reignite the conversation without him suspecting her troubles. Her grin faded and she froze.
He still looked at her, but completely differently. His smile and playful gaze had evaporated from his fine features. His strange eyes stared at her as if they could read right through her. His whole muscular body was leaning casually against the bar. He didn't say anything, he didn't make a move. She swallowed hard. He looked at her with such intensity that she was afraid of breaking into a thousand pieces at the slightest movement.
To just feel his breath slightly closer. To be able to run her thin fingers over his torso that she knew was perfectly sculpted and slide them gently through his wheat-blond hair. Feel his hands brush against her and violently caress her raw skin. Was she entitled to have such a desire towards a comrade? Wasn't it necessary to avoid at all costs seeing more into him than a simple friend? Because of the fear of overly complicating their already complicated relationship? Could she let go of her desires that were beginning to burn her?
A throat clearing suddenly broke the tension. A young woman with purple hair stood opposite them, on the side of the bar, and was visibly trying to get noticed by the two mages. They turned their heads with the same gesture and looked at the intruder who seemed horribly embarrassed to interrupt. After a short moment of awkward silence which felt long enough, the violet-haired woman finally released the reason for her appearance.
"Mira, could you check the alcohol supply? I think we're going to run out soon," she said quickly.
The white-haired woman blinked for a few seconds of misunderstanding, but recovered as quickly as she could and offered her brightest, fake smile that she hadn't given in years.
"Of course," she replied.
She quickly went to the stock door and fled the scene, sinking at full speed into the depths of the guild's basement. Her short breaths and rapid heartbeat made her tremble so much that she almost collapsed on the stone staircase. Her legs gave way next to a shelf full of all kinds of food as she collected the last clear ideas she had left. She. Had. Wanted. Laxus. She had felt the need to approach and touch him. He had looked at her. And that had been enough to ignite her. What was wrong with her? Should she blame herself or blame him? After all, he was the one who purposely disturbed her to put her in this state. No, she started it all by herself. But she would never have gotten there without help.
When she emerged from her thoughts, life seemed to have gone on regardless of her. Tables were flying, members were screaming and fighting relentlessly. Those who weren't involved were watching the fierce battle as they happily wagered on the winner.
Her eyes flashed on all the faces present without finding a catch. She stared at each person avoiding a flying chair but without realizing that she hoped to trip over one in particular. Faded. Gone. Without any trace of his former presence. The young woman wanted him to understand her way of thinking. How dare he play with her that way? This first class idiot knew perfectly what he had said and what she had understood. What did he want to achieve with his stupidities? Make her go crazy and make fun over her when she tried to have a more intimate relationship with him? Like this time?
Hello ! Thanks for reading this chapter, don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it (or not) !
