(authors note; so im going straight to the phantom lord arc, in the manga the group returns to the guild after galuna & sees the guildhall destroyed so i decided to follow that timeline ahah)
guest review; tysm for ur review! i'm so glad you're enjoying the story & think sera is an interesting oc, im excited to keep telling her tale:)
bungster; hehe, glad u found the ending interesting! i can't wait to delve into her past more!
pinkpaladin; i'm in love with your reviews, thank you! i tried to get their interactions down to how they act in the anime & it's good that u think it seems realistic. i'm so glad you like this story & i really hope you continue to:)
also very big thank u to all you that are favoriting & following :)
It was a restless and heavy day in Magnolia town, quite different from the usual amicable mood the citizens tended to have. Though, the somberness made sense, as what had happened just a couple nights prior was no happy matter.
"We're home!" exclaimed the cheerful voice of Natsu Dragneel.
"Aye, Sir!" Happy added.
"Wow!" Seraphina smiled as she looked back at the beautiful town. It was kind of surreal to be back after everything that had happened at Galuna. "It's so great to be here," she then grinned, "I bet Jinny has a Cinnamon Roll with my name on it!"
Saying she was addicted to sweets was a bit of an understatement. It was kind of a similarity she held with Erza, as crazy as that might sound, the Great Fairy Queen Titania had a weakness for deserts, strawberry cake in particular.
"I'm kind of bummed though," Gray admitted. "All that time and hard work for a lousy gate key."
Seraphina sighed, of course he had to remind them of that. She was eagerly waiting for the reward money, they each would've had a little upwards of a million jewel. However, Erza being the very righteous person she was, insisted that they couldn't take the reward. Yet somehow Lucy was still gleaming with glee while she held her new Gold Celestial Gate Key.
As if on queue the blond cut in, "you guys should quit complaining! Erza does have a point."
Seraphina pouted, obviously the gold Zodiac Keys were very important, but Lucy got a reward for all their hard work, unlike the rest of them.
Happy knitted his brows before exclaiming, "Ooo! I have an idea we could sell it!"
Lucy screeched, seeming absolutely offended, "How could you even suggest that! You guys just don't get it. They're hard to come by. Sure, there are a lot of silver gate keys, but there are only twelve gold Zodiac Keys. And I'm lucky enough to have five!"
"Out of twelve!" Seraphina exclaimed, she then held out all of her fingers and began to count. However, she failed to realize that she'd only have ten fingers available.
Gray noticed this and chuckled, "Pretty sure you're gonna need more fingers than that."
The Flash Mage pouted, "Hmph whatever Gray."
"I was just saying!" He responded with his hands up in the air feigning innocence. He then looked over to Lucy curiously, "So, what gate key is it?"
The blonde smiled, glad that she could finally reveal it, "Sagittarius the Centaur!"
"It's a horseman?!" Gray asked, sounding a little too excited.
Seraphina smiled widely building off of his excitement, "oh my gosh that is so cool!" She raised her arms visualizing a strong brown steed running across the oceans. "Now I want one!"
"Horses can't run across water you dummy!" Happy exclaimed upon seeing Seraphina's vision.
The Flash Mage pouted once more, "they can if you believe…"
Gray frowned, "you're going to have to believe pretty hard."
"Aye…"
Seraphina crossed her arms and looked off to the side dramatically. Her idea wasn't that out of the ordinary, have they met some of Lucy's spirits? She wouldn't be surprised if there was one just to do backflips.
Since she was turned away from the group though she could see the faces of townspeople, and their troubled expressions didn't sit well with her. They seemed to be talking about them and her ear twitched as she attempted to listen in.
"Are those Fairy Tail wizards?"
"They must not know yet…"
"I feel so bad for them."
Seraphina frowned and lowered her arms cautiously. What was even going on right now? They seemed to be feeling immense pity for the Fairy Tailers, but she couldn't imagine why. Did something happen while they were away at Galuna?
"Why are they staring at us?" Gray asked and Seraphina pursed her lips and nodded, it was good that she wasn't the only one who noticed this.
"It's not the good kind of staring…" Happy pointed out and Seraphina couldn't agree more.
The lavendette laughed, "they must be staring at my silly haircut!" She touched the split ends of her hair gingerly, it took her forever to grow it out and Kaya just went and chopped some of it off.
"I doubt that's the case," Erza said, "it feels like pity."
Seraphina agreed with the redheads statement, but from the whispers of the townspeople she couldn't piece together what had happened. The least they could do was be specific on what they felt bad about.
She sighed and looked up to the sky, admiring the pretty blue and puffy white clouds that adorned its surface. As she set her gaze back to the path in front of her something caught her attention.
The Fairy Tail guild looked so… weird. Seraphina frowned and wondered if it was a trick of the light, but as they got closer she knew this was no mirage.
"Why does the Guild Hall look so bizarre?" Erza asked.
"Maybe they wanted to try a new architectural style while we were gone?" Seraphina responded, her answer sounded more like a question. "Pillars are in style, right?"
"Not through the guild hall!" Natsu growled before running ahead of the group. Seraphina began to run as well, she needed to see what happened up close.
And it was not a pretty sight.
The entirety of the guild was struck through with giant iron rods. It made the hall look like a monstrosity, and not the safe place many wizards, including herself, basically called home.
"No way…" Gray breathed out.
"Our guildhall," Erza began, "what happened to it?"
"I don't understand…" Lucy said covering her mouth, the blond sounded close to tears.
Seraphina just stared up at it in awe, who would do such a thing? Sure Fairy Tail didn't have the nicest reputation in the magical world, but this was a little extreme. Slowly anger began to bubble inside of her, she wasn't going to let anyone who did this get away with it. They couldn't mess with Fairy Tail, her friends and her happy place without consequences.
Natsu seemed to be absolutely livid, and he hid none of his emotions. The Fire Dragon Slayer was shaking, filled to the brim with red hot rage.
"Our guild…" he growled both of his fists clenched and teeth grit. "Someone did this to our guild!"
"Who would do such a thing?" Erza demanded.
"It was Phantom."
The group then turned around to see the dejected face of Mirajane Strauss. Seraphina felt awful seeing Mira sad, much like her the white-haired wizard always had a positive happy look, and seeing her down just didn't feel right.
"Are you serious?" Gray questioned.
"You mean Phantom did this?" Natsu continued.
Seraphina couldn't believe it. Phantom Lord. Fairy Tails supposed "enemy" was another legit guild? It would make more sense for a dark guild or group to attack Fairy Tail, but she supposed Phantom Lord wasn't too far from that end of the stick. Even though they did a lot of good they were a shady group of wizards, and Seraphina never got the best vibes off any of them.
"We couldn't do anything to stop them," Mira explained. "They got us good."
With that she began to lead the group to the basement of the Fairy Tail guild hall, where they'd be operating until repairs could be made. There was plenty of talk about Phantom, and Seraphina couldn't stand how depressed everyone seemed. Fairy Tail was usually a place of light and happiness, but right now they might as well have been the very definition of gloom. She supposed it made sense but still… they should be doing something! Not just sitting around in the basement.
She decided she would take her grievances to Master Makarov, if she got to talking she may have been able to convince him to retaliate.
"Hey Kids, how's it going?!"
Seraphina was taken aback, the master was completely and utterly drunk. She supposed that wasn't very surprising but still, right now? It just didn't make sense.
"Uh… hi?" Lucy said, the blond being the only one to greet the master properly. It was shocking to her as well to see him in this state.
"Sorry master," Erza apologized, "we should've been here sooner!"
"Why the heck are we just sitting around down here?" Natsu demanded.
Seraphina almost opened her mouth to question him as well, but Makarov was chugging his beer, and she sincerely doubted any of their questions would be answered the way they wanted him to. She let out a sigh and hoped taking another route would cause him to reveal something at least.
"Come on Master, it's not Happy Hour yet!" Seraphina called out teasingly, she tried to play it off as a joke but she really wanted to knock that mug out of his hand.
"Ah!" he jumped up, "you're right! But you kids want to know what time it is? Punishment time! How dare you go on a S-Class quest without permission?!"
Seraphina blinked… seriously? Their guild hall was destroyed and that was his main concern?
"THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT!" Natsu shouted.
"Bad!" The master announced before whacking Natsu on the head, hard.
"Bad!" Makarov slapped Gray next causing the Ice Mage to grimace, "Bad!"
He hit Happy before fixing his gaze on Seraphina and Lucy, a mischievous glint was present in his eyes and Seraphina wondered what he was up to.
"Bad!" Makarov said before slapping Seraphina's butt, her face flushed and she narrowed her eyes, pervy old man. She placed her hands on her butt to make sure he didn't try that again, and since he was drunk it wouldn't be surprising if he did.
He had slapped Lucy's ass as well, which warranted some reprimanding from Mirajane. The master laughed and chugged more of his beer, which made a certain fired up Dragon Slayer even angrier.
Seraphina inched closer to Lucy as Natsu yelled at Makarov, "I feel a teeny bit violated, how about you?"
Lucy nodded vigorously before sighing, "the downsides of being so cute! It really hits hard sometimes…"
"Oh definitely…" Seraphina trailed off, that wasn't quite the reaction she was expecting, but it was Lucy after all. That in mind she grinned and turned to the blond, "wow! I really love your confidence Lucy, go you!"
"Master, do you understand the gravity of our situation?" Erza questioned harshly, and Seraphina figured now was a good time to listen in.
"Oh you kids," Master answered apathetically, "quit being so dramatic. It's not anything to make a fuss about."
That sentence didn't make a whole lot of sense to Seraphina. It was something to make a fuss about. Their guild, their home, shouldn't have been something some punk could just come and destroy without any consequences. Plus, if she was gonna complain about a couple inches of her hair being cut off she most definitely was going to complain about the Guild Hall being destroyed.
"Plus, just goes to show you how cowardly those dunderheads in Phantom Lord really are. They struck while nobody was here, is that anything worth bragging about?"
Listening to that gave Seraphina a little bit of relief, at least no one had been hurt.
"We shouldn't trouble ourselves with people who don't even have the guts to face us head on," Makarov continued, "Forget about those fools."
Seraphina swallowed thickly but didn't respond, not even attempting to make a joke. He really wasn't going to let them do anything about this, so there was no reason to waste her breath.
The familiar sound of wood being destroyed sounded out next to her and Seraphina watched as Natsu punched a crate out of anger.
"Ain't gonna happen Gramps!" Natsu shouted, "we can't let them trash our place and get away with it!"
"I'm not talking about this any longer," Makarov said with finality, "We'll handle job requests from the basement until repairs are made upstairs."
"What?" Natsu exclaimed, "We shouldn't be worrying about jobs right now!"
"Natsu!" Makarov cut in raising his voice, "that's enough out of you!"
He raised his hand and Seraphina assumed he was going to smack the Dragon Slayer on the head again, but-
"And you slapped me because?" Rang out the voice of Lucy. Seraphina rolled her eyes, why did all old men have to be such creeps? She respected the Master and what he stood for so much, but still.
"Hands to yourself Master." Mirajane demanded.
The old man laughed gleefully before jumping off his seat and running away. Seraphina watched inquisitively as he held his arms out and ran across the basement floor.
"Where are you doing old man?" Natsu questioned. "Come back!"
"Oh, keep your dress on," Makarov slurred. "I gotta take a leak."
He disappeared from view and the whole group watched him. Seraphina nibbled on the inside of her cheek as her nerves were running sky high. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing, and neither could the rest of the guild, it wasn't fair.
"I don't know why he's being like this…" Natsu said, sounding a bit defeated.
"Listen, this is just as hard on him as it is on you," Mirajane answered. "He's mad, but conflict between the guilds is strictly forbidden by the Magic Council."
"We don't need to have conflict," Seraphina cut in. "I'm sure if we go to Phantom and ask them to say sorry then it will feel a lot better! And if they don't say sorry we just beat them up in secret… Ninja style! Hi- ya!"
The lavendette then went along to show off her "ninja fighting moves". Natsu grinned and used his scarf to cover up his face before he joined her.
"Isn't that the very definition of conflict?" Lucy asked as she watched Seraphina and Natsu go around and punch the air replicating how they'd beat up Phantom Lord.
"Aye…" Happy replied.
"You idiots couldn't be ninjas," Gray called out with a smirk.
"And why not you Pervy Popsicle! I'm sure we'd be a lot better than you!" Natsu shouted. He then bowed and looked off to the sides suspiciously "Ninja."
"You're way too loud ya Flame Brain!" Gray responded, "ninjas are supposed to be quiet."
Natsu growled and slammed his head against Gray's, "are you saying I don't know how to shut up?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying!"
Seraphina frowned, Gray didn't just get to call her an idiot and fight with Natsu and forget about it.
"Hey!" She shouted wiggling between them and pushing the pair off each other. Seraphina looked up at Gray and frowned, "who said you could call me an idiot! You… meanie!"
Gray smirked and looked down at Seraphina, "I don't think Ninjas call each other meanies."
She opened her mouth to retaliate, why did everyone have to question her insults? However Erza cut in, "Ninjas or not, none of us will be attacking Phantom," she ordered, "if the Master wills it we must not retaliate."
Seraphina pursed her lips but knew better than to back talk Erza, "Hehe, I would never! Me breaking the rules? Nuh uh, doesn't even cross my mind!"
With that she slowly began to back away from Gray, but made sure to gesture at him with her two fingers first pointing at her eyes and then the Ice Mage, so he knew she'd be watching him.
Seraphina then scanned the guild hall looking for anyone she'd want to sit with. Truthfully, she was hoping Arjun would've been here, but him and Aru must've still been on a job. They went on a lot, and were one of the most popular duos in the magical world. It made sense though, they were powerful twins with magics that were opposites yet complimented each other perfectly.
Since he wasn't there Seraphina wasn't even sure she wanted to be at the guild hall. Natsu had already left with Happy as well as Lucy, so there was no one she could mess around with. Cana was tipsy and she didn't want to deal with Loke's flirting or Team Shadow Gears obsession with Levy.
Plus just knowing the state of the guild was making her feel sad, a feeling she really wanted to keep at bay. Fairy Tail was such a beacon of light to her, especially because she joined after such a dark point in her life. Seeing it like this wasn't something she wanted to commit to memory.
She began to walk off but Mirajane called out to her,
"Hey Seraphina! Where are you going?"
"Hmm," the lavendette hummed with a grin, "I think I'm going to go get a Cinnamon Roll! Or maybe even a bear claw! I'm excited, it's been far too long."
The white-haired beauty looked at her a little nervously, "Okay… just be careful. Maybe you should have someone go with you? There might be more of Phantom around, and I know you don't live at Fairy Hills so you might run into them in town."
Seraphina resisted the urge to snort. She hoped one of the Phantom Lord guys would try and mess with her, because then she would have a perfect excuse to beat them up.
However, she wasn't going to tell Mira that and have her personally escort her home.
"Don't worry Mira!" Seraphina responded, "I've got the big guns, tehe! If anyone from Phantom tries to mess with me, which I most definitely do not want at all and will avoid at all costs, I'll be fine, don't you worry girl!"
Mira looked conflicted and would most likely try and convince Seraphina otherwise. She wanted to let her know that truly, she'd be fine, but the air next to her got a bit cold and Seraphina swerved her head to see Gray. She looked at him a bit curiously before crossing her arms when she remembered she was supposed to be mad at him right now.
"I have to go into town anyways so I can go with you," he said.
Mira nodded, "thank you Gray, that makes me feel a lot better. Also, don't forget about tonight!"
"Yeah, don't worry I won't," Gray responded. He started to go up the stairs before looking back to see Seraphina standing in the middle of the basement still with a pout.
"What's your problem?"
"Hmpf," she huffed, "I'm still mad at you. You called me an idiot, and honestly that was just so uncalled for."
A bead of sweat went down Gray's face, "I was just kidding with ya."
"Hmm," Seraphina hummed while staring at Gray suspiciously. She wasn't mad at him at the slightest, but she always thought it was fun to mess around. That in mind a huge smile grew on her face and she grabbed Gray's hand.
"Alright! I forgive you, now onwards!"
"Sooo, what's going on tonight?"
That question had been on Seraphina's mind ever since Mirajane had mentioned it earlier at the guild. Seraphina and Gray were now at the lavendettes house since he had walked her home. She had forced Gray to go with her to Jinny's Cafe, in order to get her incredibly necessary Cinnamon Roll fix. Afterwards they decided to go to her house to eat since it was so close.
Gray reached into the bag from the cafe in order to get his food before replying, "Going to Lucy's house for a sleepover. It will be a lot safer, power with numbers you know?"
Seraphina watched him unwrap his plain croissant and visibly gagged, how someone could eat those was beyond her. She supposed chocolate ones and other flavors were fine, but plain? Gross.
"That sounds so fun!" She remarked as she stole the bag from Gray and held her Cinnamon Roll with anticipation. It was going to taste amazing. Seraphina took a bite before mentally pouting though, it kinda was silly how she wasn't invited to any sleepover. "I'm sure you guys will have a lot of fun at Lucy's place! I've heard from Natsu and Happy that it's pretty cozy."
Gray quirked his brows in confusion, "what do you mean sounds fun? You're coming too, you know."
"Oh," Seraphina said smiling, so she was invited, cool cool. "Yay! Sounds even better!"
"Yeah, there's no way I'd let you spend the night alone," Gray responded.
Seraphina bit her lip and smiled slyly, "Wow, isn't that forward Gray! Who knew you knew how to pick up the ladies~, let me guess you've been taking lessons from Loke?"
The Ice Mage flushed red and stood up, "Phantom might try and pull something! I wouldn't put it past them, since those punks already destroyed our guild."
Seraphina clenched her fists, crushing the wrapper of her pastry within her hands. It was so beyond unfair how Phantom had destroyed their guild and they were to do nothing about it.
"That's true…" a warm feeling then spread throughout her chest as she thought about how Gray was concerned with her safety and she smiled, "Thank you for caring though Gray, guess you really are a charmer!"
A few moments passed before Seraphina gasped dramatically, "I really hope whatever meanie did this doesn't try and destroy my home! I love it too much!"
Gray looked around before nodding, "They won't. But honestly, I forgot how nice of a house you have," he gave Seraphina a smirk, "you'd think your house would be messy, but it's pretty great in here I will admit."
Seraphina smiled, she couldn't argue with him— her house was super nice. One day she decided to go on a walk through Magnolia and absolutely fell in love with the complex. It was a charming townhome building with the coastline of Magnolia practically in her backyard, and she loved the beach. The inside was two-levels as well as spacious; with a decent sized room for herself upstairs, a small study room that she supposed she used for 'academic' purposes. Downstairs boasted a large living area with a full kitchen plus her backdoor led to the beach.
"For 175,000 jewel a month I guess I can't complain," she responded, which was downplaying, she absolutely loved her house. "Hmm, if I had known about any sleepover earlier I'd say we could all come here!"
Gray choked on his croissant, "175,000 jewel a month? Jeez, that's a lot of money."
"Hmm, I guess so, but honestly it's so worth it!"
Speaking of money…
Seraphina grabbed her jewel wallet and keys before turning to Gray. He rose his brows inquisitively and she grinned.
"I'm going to go buy Lucy a pastry tray for her new apartment… it'll be like a nice thing to do!"
Gray snorted, "yeah, right. You just want snacks for tonight."
Seraphina grabbed her heart in mock hurt, "wow… the fact that you would suggest that just hurts so much."
…
"But you're right!" The lavendette grinned, "if you hurry I'll buy you one of those sticky buns you like~"
Gray smirked and got up from his chair, "Sold."
Seraphina hummed harmoniously as she laid on the floor of Lucy's apartment building. She wasn't going to lie, she was a bit bored and eagerly awaited the blondes return to her own home.
The lavendette was currently twirling a random quill pen she had found between her fingers and she scrunched her nose as she tried to spin it as fast as she could. She had a good run going but eventually it slipped through her fingers and fell on her face.
"Ow," she commented, rubbing skin kinda near her lips, the pens point had landed in her skin so that was kinda annoying.
Slowly she began to sit back up and released a huge huff of air before glaring behind her. A certain ice mage said that she should wait for Lucy to get back before she could have any more pastries. Even though Seraphina had bought the variety pack for the blond it didn't mean she couldn't have any, right?
The doorknob leading inside Lucy's place began to wiggle and Seraphina jumped up in anticipation, she was finally home!
"Welcome Back!"
The group, besides Natsu, eagerly greeted Lucy who yelled and freaked out, and honestly Seraphina expected that.
"Why are you here!" Lucy exclaimed as she tossed her suitcase at Natsu.
"Since the guild's been attacked, we can assume there are Phantom Lord members in town," Erza explained to her.
"They've probably found out where everyone in Fairy Tail lives by now," Gray added.
Lucy seemed to pale at that and Seraphina just rose her arms excitedly, "Their detective work might be better than mine… so we just gotta be ready! You never know who might show up at your door."
Her words didn't seem to calm down the blonde who was most definitely having an inner freak out.
"Where we live…?" Lucy didn't want anyone from Phantom breaking into her house, especially considering what had happened to the guild. Plus she had enough of that with everyone from Fairy Tail treating her place like their own.
"Aye!" Happy replied holding a steamed fish and chomping down on it. "That's why everyone from Fairy Tail is having a slumber party tonight!"
"You and Seraphina are attractive teenage girls, after all, so I didn't feel entirely comfortable leaving you alone with Natsu and Gray," Erza said with a satisfied smile. "I felt as if I could only relax if I were to spend the night as well!"
Seraphina felt a little bit of an ego boost when Erza called her attractive, since the redhead was really beautiful herself. Plus she didn't mind her spending the night with them. Erza could be super overbearing on missions, but she was a great person to be around at other times.
"So, it was already decided that you all would stay with me?" Lucy asked before frowning. "Why'd you have to come to my place?"
Seraphina knit her brows at the first question, they were all basically a team now so Natsu, Gray, and her being chosen to stay with Lucy just made sense. The house question… well everyone just liked breaking into Lucy's house, and Seraphina was starting to see the appeal.
"Your house is really cute, Lucy!" Seraphina commented as she stepped around the quaint apartment. "And for 70,000 jewel a month? That's kinda a steal!"
Lucy smiled before she realized something, she had no idea where Seraphina lived. "So, do you live in Fairy Hills with everyone else? Honestly, I was thinking of moving in there but 100,000 jewel a month just seemed like a bit much."
Seraphina twirled a strand of hair around her finger and laughed, if Lucy thought 100,000 jewel was a month she was going to die at her rent.
"Actually I live in this townhome complex near the Oceanside!" Seraphina responded, "my rent is 175,000 jewel a month, but honestly it's so worth it for how big my space is."
Lucy's jaw dropped, that was more than twice her rent. To think that she struggled nearly every month to make enough money to cover her rent, but Seraphina had to pay way more than that.
"You'll have to come by sometime!" Seraphina continued, "but I absolutely adore your place Lucy! I can see why everyone always breaks in!"
The blond sweat dropped, "please don't join the club…."
Seraphina winked, "I'll think about it."
"Whoa, Lucy, you sure have a lot of dirty clothes!" Happy called out which caught the blond's attention. Lucy freaked out, as she always did, before running off to confront the cat.
Erza had decided to take a bath, which was a good move on her part; it was very relaxing. She came out of the bathroom wrapped in towels and not caring about the boys or blue cat that was in the room.
"That was quite a relaxing bath," the redhead said, mostly addressing Lucy, "I will have to add it into my daily routine."
Seraphina looked up intrigued, she wanted a relaxing bath!
"Hey Lucy!" She called out whilst rummaging through her stuff, "Do you have an extra towel I could borrow?" Seraphina then put a finger to her chin and smiled sheepishly, "I also might need to borrow some PJs… if that's fine with you!"
"Uh, sure I guess," Lucy said before sighing, at least Seraphina asked and didn't just do it.
"This is so exciting!" Seraphina commented with a grin, "look at us sharing clothes! Basically, it's just the next level to our friendship!"
"Wow Lucy, that bath was amazing!"
Seraphina stepped out of the muggy bathroom smiling widely. Her hair was wrapped in a towel to let it dry and she had already changed into the pajamas Lucy was letting her borrow for the night. The outfit was quite simple, a pair of shorts and a comfortable T-Shirt, but she appreciated that she didn't have to sleep in the same clothes she wore all day.
"Glad you enjoyed it," Lucy replied, "but now it's my turn!"
The blond hurried past Seraphina to get into the tub, muttering something about how there better be hot water still. Everyone else was lounging about the blonds apartment and it was surprisingly quiet. Natsu was snoring on the living room table, Happy was mowing down on some fish, and Erza was sitting on Lucy's bed seeming quite content. Gray was sitting at Lucy's desk and hunched over, as if he was reading something.
Seraphina took an interest in Gray, "hey, hey, whatcha reading?"
"Lucy's book," he replied, not looking up from the paper. "It's actually pretty good so far."
"Ohh, this is Lucy's book?" Seraphina remembered Natsu telling her how the blonde wanted to be an author. She had always wanted to at least read part of her story but always forgot to mention it to her.
Gray was super focused, and had praised her work so Seraphina knew it actually had to be good.
"Well I want to read too," she stated whilst looking down at Gray, "scooch over!"
"No, go grab your own chair," Gray responded, he then frowned and looked up at Seraphina, "do you even like to read?"
"Why, yes, yes I do," Seraphina replied simply, "I loved to read, especially when I was younger. It was always so fun to pretend to be in another world… you know?"
Gray put the papers down and looked at Seraphina after she had said that, weighing her words in a way. There probably wasn't anything extra to it, Seraphina had a vivid imagination and an eccentric personality and it was probably why she loved being in other worlds as she called them.
It was weird though, because the way Seraphina acted you'd think everything was perfect in this world.
Gray silently shifted over and Seraphina immediately brightened, he did have a heart. She moved to sit next to him and looked to the papers he held eagerly.
"Here," Gray said as he adjusted himself in the seat. It had enough room for the both of them to be sitting half and half on, but he certainly was more comfortable when it was just him. "I only got to read the first two pages, but it's starting to get interesting."
Seraphina leaned over to get a better look at Lucy's writing and was a lot closer to Gray then he realized. She hummed softly as she read over the black text and with their proximity Gray noticed that she smelt really good. It was because she had just gotten out of the bath but still, her hair... her hair always smelled amazing.
Because she wasn't talking Gray actually got to have a decent look at her and he couldn't help but think... had Seraphina always been this pretty?
It felt odd to be staring and Gray didn't want to be weird, but he didn't stop himself from admiring how good Seraphina looked at the moment. Her chest rose up and down softly in tune with her relaxed breaths. Her lips were parted slightly and every second or so she'd mutter something about the story to herself. Her purple, no lavender, hair was damp and tousled over her shoulders lazily. A hand reached up and pushed a couple of clumps behind her right ear and through the fringe Gray could see her deep green eyes eagerly scanning the words below.
Obviously Seraphina had always been attractive, but there was something appealing seeing her relaxed like this. She had a lot of energy and was constantly doing something so this was a nice change.
Suddenly green eyes met his own onyx ones and he looked away with a twinge of red on his cheeks and his heart pumping rapidly. He really hoped Seraphina didn't notice him staring at her.
"Wow, Lucy really is a good writer!" Seraphina exclaimed, giving no hint that she had.
"WHO SAID YOU COULD READ THAT!"
Lucy ran from the bathroom entrance and immediately wrenched the story from Seraphina's hands. The lavendettes jaw dropped and she was absolutely offended, how could Lucy do this to her?
"Woah there, give that back meanie!" Seraphina demanded.
"Yeah," Gray agreed, "you can't take it away without telling us what happens next."
"Yes, I can," Lucy shot back. Seraphina crossed her arms, Lucy was really stubborn so she really wasn't going to let them read it, "I promised Levy she'd be the first to read it, so you two are just gonna have to wait your turn."
Seraphina glared and stuck her tongue out at Lucy which caused the blond to sigh out in exasperation, was that supposed to offend her?
A moment passed before Seraphina jumped up from her shared seat with Gray and smiled, "okay! I'm over it now!"
"I'm so glad to hear that…" Lucy replied before a realization dawned on her, "oh, I've been meaning to ask, do any of you know why Phantom attacked us out of the blue like that?"
Seraphina bit on the inside of her cheek, now that was the question of the hour. She had been racking her brain trying to think of any reasons but to her the attack truly was random. Obviously Phantom and Fairy Tail had never been on the best terms, but the destruction of their guild hall made absolutely no sense to the lavendette.
"I'm afraid not," Erza answered for the group, "we've had our fair share of scuffles with them in the past, but nothing of this magnitude."
That's also what didn't make sense to Seraphina. Phantom was so annoying, but they never hit the extremes. Destroying the Guild Hall was completely unwarranted and aggressive, which really made Seraphina think there was an ulterior motive.
But what?
"If Gramps wasn't so scared of them we could wipe out those punks for good." Natsu grumbled. He was definitely speaking from a place of anger, but if it came down to it he knew deep in his heart Fairy Tail could win.
"Come on man," Gray replied and Seraphina turned to him curiously, here came the voice of reason. "You know the Master isn't afraid of them. You seem to be forgetting that he's one of the Ten Wizard Saints."
Seraphina giggled, "which means we could totally wipe the floor with them any day of the week! Boom! Boom! Clap!" She stopped the theatrics before looking at Lucy mischievously and winking, "did you know I'm the secret twelfth wizard whatcha call it?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, "oh yeah, who's the eleventh?"
"Happy of course!"
Lucy wanted to retort before she realized something, she didn't even know what the Ten Wizard Saints were.
"What's with the Wizard Saints anyways?"
"It's an honor bestowed by the Magic Council," Erza replied, answering the smarty questions once again. Though everyone in the room, besides Lucy, mostly knew this stuff anyways, it just sounded better coming out of Erza's mouth. "An extremely coveted title held by the ten most powerful wizards on the continent."
The title of Wizard Saint messed with Seraphina a little bit. To her the idea that just because you had a ton of power you should be revered was kind of odd. She had met plenty of people with power who were just plain awful, and the possibility of one of them being a Wizard Saint was high- Master Jose for example, who Happy had just mentioned was a member. Though on the other hand it was important to acknowledge the power of others, and good wizards, such as Master Makarov, definitely deserved the utmost respect that came with the title.
Natsu slammed his hand on Lucy's table which woke Seraphina from her momentary lapse.
"He is afraid!" Natsu declared, "he thinks Phantom has too many members for us to handle!"
"Could you please use your inside voice!" Lucy pleaded hesitantly. Natsu was seriously getting fired up about this, and she'd been in the guild when he destroyed stuff because he was mad, and she really didn't want the same thing to happen here.
"That is not true and you know it," Gray insisted, "it's just like Master and Mira said before. The consequences of us going to war with Phantom are nowhere near worth the fight. The order of the magical world is at stake here."
Seraphina giggled, "I'm sorry, but they hit us first!" She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "If it's self defense then I think the magical world will understand."
That was also an issue Seraphina had with the Magic Council. Wizards needed to be regulated, yes, absolutely. But their laws made it hard at times for justice to properly be served, like right now.
Plus, she really wanted to blow off some steam about what had happened. To think that she'd have to go to the guild everyday and see it destroyed like that… no, that wasn't okay at all.
"But what I don't understand is why?" Lucy said, "are they that strong?"
"They've got nothing on us!" Natsu replied with his usual cockiness. "We could take those clowns!"
Seraphina pumped her fist, "hmm, honestly I could probably take them on my own!" That was a lie. "Especially if we do it together Natsu, we'd be unstoppable!"
"Yeah!"
"Idiots…" Gray murmured.
"No, if we were to engage with them in battle neither guild will survive," Erza said and Seraphina couldn't help but pout, party pooper. "Their strength equals ours. Phantoms Master Jose is also a part of the Ten Wizard Saints, which means he's on par with Makarov. They also have an elite group of wizards similar to our S-Class known as the Element 4. Building off that are the two forces of nature, The Lightning Thief and Poison Ivy."
Seraphina frowned upon hearing that, she knew about the Element 4's existence, and even if she didn't it was easy enough to assume their powers. Water, Earth, Fire, Air, the four elements. However, she had never heard of the other two, but she had to assume their powers had to do with lightning and maybe plants?
"However," Erza continued gravely, "their biggest threat may be Black Steel Gajeel. I believe he's most likely the one behind the guild halls destruction. He's known as the Iron Dragon Slayer."
Seraphina's frown deepened when Erza brought him up. She had never met Gajeel but knew of him, especially because he was a Dragon Slayer. But even if he wasn't one, or more like if she wasn't one, she'd know about him; the rumors were infamous.
"He's a Dragon Slayer too?" Lucy exclaimed, "but I thought Natsu was the only one!"
Seraphina resisted the urge to laugh, if only she knew.
"Wait," Lucy began and Seraphina didn't miss the fear laced in her voice now, "if he's the Iron Dragon Slayer does that mean he eats iron?"
There it was. That's how Seraphina knew she'd never be accepted with her real magic. If Lucy was that scared about iron imagine if she knew what kind of Dragon Slayer Seraphina was. She wasn't going to whine, but it still hurt, another thorn reminding her why she'd never expose herself. Everyone in her life was better off not knowing that it existed in the first place.
"Look at you connecting the dots!" Seraphina called out trying very hard to hide the bitter edge she knew her voice had, "guys, honestly, I'd love to talk bad about Phantom all night, but it's really late and I want my sleep."
The others nodded in agreement and Seraphina went to go lay in Lucy's bed, she had sat on it earlier and noticed how comfortable it was. Erza said she had a futon and Lucy said that she'd share with her, leaving Seraphina to deal with the boys.
She got as close as she could to the window, it was cracked the slightest bit and she loved the cool night air drifting in. Natsu and Gray were fighting about who would sleep where but Seraphina couldn't care less. She placed her arms under her head and closed her eyes slowly being lulled into the world of sleep.
