The following days passed by peacefully and before long, the guild hall was fully completed. It was nearly twice the size of the original and the guild members were ecstatic. Everyone had put a lot of work into it so we were proud of the accomplishment.
After I had returned from my job with Hayden and Phillip, Master Makarov had pulled me aside to inform me that Rogue had come and gone rather quickly. A pang of guilt echoed in my chest when the Master explained how disappointed my brother had been. It sounded as if he had been to nearly every guild in Fiore and was beginning to think I wasn't even alive to be found.
It took everything I had not to run after Rogue, tell him I was alive and well. My brother had immense amounts of determination so I assumed he'd look for me till the day he died or at least found out if I were truly dead or not. That wasn't the life I wanted him to follow, he deserved to be happy with or without me.
I trudged into the guild hall that morning, dark circles under my eyes. My mind wouldn't allow me to sleep much the night before and I had no way of hiding that. Any time I closed my eyes, I saw Rogue's pained gaze so I found myself afraid to sleep at all, unsure of what my dreams would bring.
Phillip flew beside me, a carefree smile on his face as he had been lucky enough to sleep well. Over the past few days, he had been far happier than I had seen him since we joined Fairy Tail. Simply just having Hayden in our lives was enough to lift his spirits, something I was very thankful for. Each time I glanced in his direction, I found myself wanting to smile as well.
I got myself a cup of coffee, making sure to grab Phillip an apple before heading to sit down at one of the many tables. With the Harvest Festival coming up in the next couple of days, there was no need to go on any jobs. Master would likely start ordering us around soon to prepare and he'd kill me if I left before that. All I could do now was sit around and wait for those orders to be given.
A long sigh escaped my lips as I took a sip of my coffee. Nothing could beat a peaceful morning, even if I knew it would end quickly since Natsu and the others were bound to be back that day. They were bound to have tales of their most recent adventure, having ventured to the so-called Tower of Heaven to prevent the demon, Zeref, from being resurrected. Lord knows my peace would end the second they walked through the doors.
At that thought, the doors to the guild opened and when I glanced to see who it was, I narrowed my eyes in distaste. The Iron Dragon, Gajeel, had been allowed to join the guild despite everything that he had pulled with Phantom Lord. To say I wasn't pleased was an understatement and showed that the day he joined.
"You're joking."
The day after the guild had finished being rebuilt, Gajeel came walking through the door with Master Makarov by his side. I had been hanging near the bar, idlying chatting with Hayden and Phillip when I noticed the other Dragon Slayer. The aura around me went dark rather quickly at the sight of him. I hadn't been alone, the other guild members looking to Gajeel with anger in their eyes, ready to strike him where he stood. The only thing stopping us, was Master.
Master pulled himself on top of the newly built stage, clearing his throat to gain everyone's attention. "I know this isn't what you all would like to hear, but Gajeel will be joining us from now on." There was a cry of outrage, but he raised a hand to silence them. "It is against our values to leave a lost soul on their own. I understand you all have your concerns, but I believe he is good at heart. You will treat him as you do the rest of the guild, is that clear?"
There were a few murmurs of both concern and agreement, but I wasn't having any of it. This was the man that had destroyed our guild, injured countless members, how could we just let him join after that?
My hand squeezed the glass I had been holding, easily shattering it into tiny pieces. At the sound, Gajeel turned his head to look at me, his gaze as uninterested as ever. "Oh? Baby dragon has some bark in her?"
I narrowed my eyes, beginning to walk closer to the stage where Gajeel stood just below. "I'll have you know, I have more than just a bark." I stood in the aisle, facing him with a dark expression. "How dare you come here. Screw what Master says, you have no right to be anywhere near this place."
"Cece, leave it-"
"Nah, I wanna hear what she has to say." Gajeel cut Master off as he had tried to cut in, stopping either of us from doing something we would regret. "She thinks she's so tough, let her talk." His gaze angered me to no end. How dare he look at me as if I were weak!
My fists clenched at my sides. "Stop looking down on me. You are no better than me so stop looking at me as if I'm weak."
At my words, a grin appeared on his face. "You weren't much of a fight before. You're not much of an opponent."
"I'll show you what it means to be weak." I growled, beginning to step forward to charge at him, only to have two arms wrap around me to hold me in place. I struggled underneath the person's grip, looking to see that it was Hayden. "Let go of me!"
"You'll be no better than he is if you fight him right now, stand down." His grip on me stayed firm despite my attempts to break free. "He's making no move to attack so neither should you."
It infuriated me to be forced to stand down. Gajeel had done nothing to deserve joining Fairy Tail after everything he had done. How could a person like this be someone my brother looks up to? Why out of all options, was Gajeel the person Rogue aspired to be? Despite my ever increasing anger, I ceased my attempts to fight against Hayden's grip and allowed him to release me. "Fine." I snapped, glaring at the other Dragon Slayer. "You take one step out of line and you're dead."
"Whatever you say, baby dragon." The smirk on his face would normally be enough for me to kick his teeth in, but I resisted the urge. Instead, I turned and stormed out of the guild, refusing to acknowledge him as a member.
Looking at him now, my feelings were still the same. The only difference was, I was civil with him. Threatening to bash his face in would do nothing for me, no matter how much I wished it would.
"Morning, princess!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hayden walking towards me. He plopped himself down across from me, a dopey grin on his face. I simply nodded in greeting before returning my glare towards Gajeel. At my lack of attention, Hayden pouted. "Come on…" He mused, placing his chin in the palm of his hands. "Pay attention to me."
It took everything I had not to scowl at the boy I now considered a friend. Just the presence of the Iron Dragon Slayer was enough to slide me back into my usual habits. I had tried to talk it through with Phillip the night prior, but nearly started shouting at him when he tried to convince me to calm down. Needless to say, the conversation didn't continue.
"Sorry…" I muttered, forcing myself to look away from Gajeel. "I just don't trust him."
Hayden nodded in understanding. Despite his childish comments, I knew full well that he could at least empathize with my feelings. It wasn't that he disagreed with how I felt, he just knew there was no point getting upset. Gajeel was here to stay, it was something we would have to get used to. "I get it. Just try not to pay him any mind okay? It's not like he does much around here anyways."
He was right, all Gajeel ever did was go on the occasional job and sit around eating whatever metal he could get his hands on. I knew he was a Drag Slayer and had the ability to eat his element, but that had to be painful to chew. Whenever I saw him eating one of the plates from behind the bar, I was thankful my element was water.
"Whatever." I scoffed, taking a drink of my coffee. "I just want to go on a job…"
"Now that I completely understand." Hayden chuckled. "Rent's coming up again… And I decided to stalk the fridge without thinking of rent." He smiled sheepishly. "Once the festival is over, we'll have to pick a high paying job or I'm screwed."
The thought of screwing him over on rent was tempting, but nonetheless, I nodded in agreement. "Alright."
Hayden went to say something more in an attempt to keep the conversation going, a skill he had become quite proficient in, but before he could, my nose twitched. Char and smoke. Natsu and the others were back. My peace was over, how disappointing.
The door to the guild burst open revealing the group of four and Happy, their eyes wide in surprise. That was, except for Natsu, who had part of his face tucked into his scarf with his eyes narrowed. Ah, he wasn't happy.
"Happy!" Phillip exclaimed, smiling over at his fellow flying cat. Quickly, he got to his feet and flew over to the blue cat, giving him a high five. "Welcome back!"
Happy grinned, pulling his green sack off his back, pulling out a bright red apple to give to Phillip. "Here, I saved this for you!"
The two began to exchange joyful expressions, having missed each other greatly. A small smile crossed my lips at the sight. It wasn't often Phillip had a chance to spend time with Happy as I had never given him the opportunity to. From here forth, that would change. For Phillip's sake and for my own.
"Natsu, my dude, what's with the long face?" I watched as Hayden got up, walking up to the Fire Dragon Slayer, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Isn't the new guild awesome? They have action figures of us and everything!"
"It's different.." Natsu grumbled, crossing his arms. What a child, couldn't deal with change. He would need to get over it. Not like it was going to change back just for him.
Master Makarov approached the guild, explaining all of the new renovations before beginning to introduce the new guild members. When it came to Juvia, who had joined the day prior to Gajeel, none of them seemed to care. However, when they noticed Gajeel, it was a different story.
Gray and Natsu looked as if they were ready for a fight, Erza certainly wasn't happy and Lucy looked beyond scared. A grumble escaped my lips as I looked down at my coffee. At least I wasn't the only one who was upset about this turn of events. Master proceeded to explain to them that Gajeel was to be welcomed, just as he had explained to the rest of us. So despite their conflicted feelings, the group silenced their complaints.
The lights dimmed, the curtain to the stage opening to reveal Mira sitting with her guitar. This had become a daily event, Mira performing at least one song for the guild if not more. Her voice was in fact lovely, so I wasn't one to complain. Whenever she sang, I found myself calming down and feeling relaxed. A feeling I wasn't quite used to.
As the white haired woman began to sing, Hayden led Natsu towards our table, plopping both himself and the fire head across from me. Phillip returned to sit on the table directly in front of me, Happy in front of Natsu. When Erza, Gray and Lucy came over, the redhead sat beside me without a concern, but the other two were another story. It was clear they were unsure if they could sit beside me. They didn't even try to hide their apprehension.
Lucy shuffled down beside Natsu, leaving Gray to fill in the other spot beside me. I did my best not to bring attention to the ice mage's gaze as it was looking towards me out of the corner of his eye. What was I supposed to do? I don't even remember the last time I voluntarily talked to Gray. In fact, I didn't even think I had introduced myself to Lucy yet. I felt alright with Erza as I knew she had no ill feelings towards me, but then there was Natsu.
The last conversation I had with the pink haired boy was when I openingly admitted I didn't want to help protect the others in the guild. I had been able to get the boy to yell at me in true anger, something he wasn't exactly known for. Now he was sitting across from me and I did my best to not even look up at him. It was already hard enough that the smell of smoke was filling my nose because of him.
In an attempt to be subtle, I glanced over at him only to find that he was already looking at me. I tensed up his gaze. It wasn't exactly a glare, but he didn't seem very happy to see me sitting there across from him. Damn, why did Hayden have to bring him and the others over here? I wasn't ready for this much interaction.
What was I supposed to say? That I didn't mean it when I said I didn't care? What would that change? I had been distancing myself for years, what would one apology do? Then again, I didn't need to explain myself to anyone. I shouldn't have to connect with anyone else, Hayden was already more than enough.
Just as soon as Mira's song ended, another one began. I had barely been paying attention until I heard the dreadful sound fill my ears. My entire form shivered as I looked up to see Gajeel singing a putrid song he called 'Best Friends.' Phillip placed his hands up to his ears in an attempt to keep the sound out. "This is horrible.."
"At least he's trying to sing about friendship…" Lucy muttered with a sheepish smile. "I think."
Thankfully, Gajeel got pushed off the stage long before he could start a new song. The Iron Dragon Slayer trudged through the guild, grabbing a job request off the board before heading out. Grumbling about 'fairies not having any taste in good music.'
The lights turned back on and Hayden quickly began to ask the group around us about their most recent adventure. As much as I was interested to hear what had happened, I would have much rather learned about it through eavesdropping like I usually did. Thanks to my enhanced hearing, I could stick to myself and still hear about current guild events without talking to a single person. Sadly, this wasn't one of those cases.
I looked back and forth, a frown creeping its way onto my face. Gray and Erza were keeping me from making a hasty escape. Unless I wanted to jump over the table and make a fool of myself, I was stuck there. To keep myself from keeping my sanity, I tried to take a drink of my coffee, only to find my mug was empty. Of course it was… And I had no way of getting a refill.
"You two actually went on a job together?" I heard Gray question and I quickly realized that their prior conversation was over. When I saw Hayden grinning in my direction, I knew he had brought up our last job.
"Yup! You should've seen us, Cece and I make a perfect duo." The redhead mused. "Right, princess?"
Each person and cat at the table turned to me, looking for a response. Under their gazes, I pushed my back as far against the seat as I could, as if I could simply hide. If only that were possible. "I…I… Y-Yeah." Why couldn't Hayden just let this go? Maybe I should've been more clear about not wanting to connect with anyone other than him.
Erza smiled softly towards me. "I'm glad you are bonding with someone here. It makes life more enjoyable when you have friends to share your journey with."
At her words, I simply nodded my head, unsure of how to respond. I opened my mouth to give a generic response when Natsu spoke up. "I thought you didn't care about anyone in the guild." He grumbled, glaring over at me.
I stiffened under his gaze. I saw that one coming. He had every right to be upset with me after what I had said. "I… uhm…"
"I thought you only wanted Phillip in your life. Didn't think you actually wanted to be around us."
"Alright, Natsu, let up on her will you?" Hayden jumped in, smacking the boy's shoulder. "She's trying her best."
Phillip got to his feet, raising a paw into the air. "That's right! Cece cares a lot about all of us, so don't talk down to her!"
A sigh escaped my lips and I placed a hand on my companion's head to silence him. "No… He can say what he wants." I muttered, finally looking up to meet Natsu's gaze. "My words were uncalled for. And…Somewhat untrue. It's complicated and I won't ask for your forgiveness. Just know I'm…" I trailed off, trying to find the words. "I'm trying to change. So, say what you want about me. I won't argue with you."
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Erza smile to herself. I could practically hear her past words echo in my mind. I always knew you really did care for the guild whether you wanted to admit it or not. My willingness to explain myself the way I had likely confirmed her thought, she had always been right.
"Hah?" Natsu furrowed his brow, leaning forward and glanced around the table. "You all heard her talk too right? I swear that's the most I've ever heard her say." I deadpanned at his words. Was that really all he got out of what I said?
I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder and when I glanced over, I saw it belonged to Erza. "We all deserve a chance to change. I think we should give Cece a chance to do so as well."
"I'm taking her under my wing so we'll have her conversing with everyone in no time!" Hayden grinned, seeming to be rather proud of himself. Though, that only earned a sharp glare from me.
Gray let out a half hearted chuckle. "If you're the one helping her, then I almost feel bad for her."
"O-Oi!" Hayden snapped before rolling his eyes and getting to his feet. "I'm getting a drink, does anyone want anything?"
"Ah, coffee." I quickly spoke and the boy nodded with a grin before heading off to the bar.
At his departure from the table, I pulled Phillip closer to me to find some sort of comfort. I knew the people at the table, I respected each of them greatly. However, being alone with them sent a chill down my spine. I had hoped to keep my interactions to stay with Hayden, but it was becoming clear that this wasn't going to be the case. I'd have to learn to be comfortable conversing with the other guild members whether I liked it or not.
"Cece?" I glanced over to see Lucy smiling back at me. "I don't think we've ever had the chance to meet, I'm Lucy." She spoke as she held her hand out to me.
I reached over and shook her hand with a soft smile. "It's good to finally meet you."
She withdrew her hand and tucked her chin into its palm. "What's your magic? I don't think I've had the chance to see you fight yet."
"Water Dragon Slayer." At my words, her eyes widened. "Ah, it's not that big of a deal. It's the same as Natsu…" I muttered, glancing down at Phillip to see him smiling up at me.
"Cece is as tough as they come!" He mused, raising a hand. "And her water is so pretty too!"
A blush covered my cheeks. "That's a bit of an exaggeration."
"Now that I think about it," Gray began, glancing between Natsu and I. "Cece here could probably kick your butt flame brain."
"Eh?!" Natsu sat up straight, glaring at Gray. "What gave you that bright idea?!"
Gray smirked, cocking an eyebrow. "Water against fire? You do the math, idiot."
It took Natsu a few moments to realize what the ice mage had meant. Once it clicked in his head, the boy jumped up, pointing a finger towards me. "I won't lose to anyone, you hear me! Fight me so I can prove fire can beat anything!"
My eyes widened. A chance to fight Natsu? The boy who had shown me up against Gajeel? I couldn't ask for anything more. Fighting him would give me a chance to test how I had grown in the past week. Maybe show me if opening up to Hayden had helped or made my situation worse.
"You still haven't recovered from eating Etherion." Erza pointed out to Natsu. "It wouldn't be wise for you to fight right now. Give your body time to heal."
Natsu's bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "Come on… I'm just fine! I don't need to wait for my body to do nothing since it's as strong as ever!"
After consuming a magic energy source such as Etherion, Natsu wouldn't be in any condition to fight even if he tried. Realizing that, I slumped back and sighed. I had consumed odd sources of magic before in an attempt to regain my strength and each time it had led me to being ill for days. And that had simply been different elements other than my own. I could only imagine the pain eating pure Etherion could create.
"I don't like easy wins." I stated plainly and that only seemed to infuriate Natsu more.
"I am not an easy win!" He snapped, a vein popping out of his forehead. "Just you wait, I'll kick your ass any day, any time!"
It was then that Hayden returned, handing me my fresh cup of coffee. "My bets on Cece."
"I'd second that." Gray grinned over at Natsu, as if egging him on.
"Third." Phillip joined in.
"I'd put every fish I own on Natsu!" Happy chimed in to defend his friend. "Natsu can beat anyone!"
The group continued the argument and I could barely get a word in edgewise. All I could do was sip on my coffee and smile at their childish antics. Through their whole argument, that smile never left my face. I was happy to be a part of their useless argument.
Feeling eyes on me, I glanced up to see Hayden looking back at me with a soft smile. Was that a look of pride? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that under his warm gaze, I felt safe, comfortable. Even amidst the chaos at the table, looking back into his auburn eyes, I knew I would never feel alone again.