"Hey," Karissa crossed her arms and looked up at him. "The heck are you doing?"
"Sleeping here. What does it look like?" Laxus walked past her and dumped his bag on the bed nearest to the door, not caring about intruding.
"You have your own room."
"Yeah, and you might freeze this room in your sleep and make me pay for your mess. No thanks."
Karissa gaped. "Who do you think I am?! I'm not some lousy mage who loses control in her sleep! Pandora told me not to sleep in the same room as you!"
Laxus laughed mockingly and walked past her to go to the bathroom with clothes he pulled out from his bag. "Yeah if there was one bed. Look, don't worry, I'm not interested in eleven year old girls."
"Ew! You're gross!"
Laxus rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him, leaving Karissa in a confused and fuming state. She didn't understand why he suddenly wanted to sleep in the same room as her when he clearly had another key for his own room! Sure, there were two beds but it still felt weird.
With haste, she quickly changed into some clothes for the night. Loose black pants and a blue t-shirt with white socks to keep her feet warm. She folded her clothes and neatly set them on the chair before opening her bed to settle inside. She didn't want to sleep next to the window but it seemed like she didn't have a choice since Laxus already claimed his territory.
He might just toss her back the other bed if she tried to steal his.
When he got out of the bathroom, he was in more casual clothing that was suited for bed. He walked over to her and held out his headphones to her while she was getting comfortable.
"What?"
"I'll let you borrow it."
Karissa eyed it with an unsure look on her face before sitting up and glancing up at him. Laxus never liked it when Karissa took his Sound Pods from him since he always liked having music in his ears. It was rare for him to give them up without saying anything.
"Have you lost it?"
With an exasperated sigh, he just put them on her ears and forced her to lie down on the bed before taking her blanket and throwing it on her face.
…
…
…
Karissa opened her eyes slowly. As she squinted from the brightness, she realized that the train stopped. She recognized the station outside the window. She was back home in Magnolia. Without wasting another second, she uncrossed her legs and she reached in front of her to snatch her backpack off the seat in front of her so she can get off the train. She took her time walking out of the station.
When she stepped out of the entrance, she felt a breeze blow her hair and her hood off, messing her bangs in her face. With a yawn, she rubbed her eye as she walked into town.
Karissa rolled her shoulders back and brushed her long bangs away from her face. She noted how long they were and thought that she should cut them soon. Unlike when she was eight, her hair was no longer parted in the middle and curled behind her ears like her sister. Now, she had bangs that fell towards her left and sometimes hid her left eye whenever they got longer.
She tugged on the sleeves of her sweater to hide her hands. She had the habit of hiding her hands ever since another kid in the guild had made a comment about the hair on her fingers, causing her to cease drawing inside the guildhall or even showing her hands at all. It made her feel self-conscious about them when she was around other people. It made her want to hide away her skin that could be covered such as her arms and legs.
Weird dream. Why did I dream of that?
It was the year X779. Five years had passed since she joined Fairy Tail. She was thirteen. To her, it just felt like she joined the guild a few months ago.
In five years, she had more friends than she ever had back in Iceberg. There was Gray, Cana, Laxus, Erza, Natsu, Levy, Elfman and Lisanna. Along with a flying blue cat named Happy that was born a few months ago. To her, that was already so much.
"Oi."
Karissa turned her head to her left and then to her right when she found no one. To her right, Laxus was catching up to her with his long legs.
"Oh, hey." Karissa blinked at him. "I just got back from my job."
"Oh yeah? And how'd it go?" he caught up to her.
"… I was super nervous." Karissa sighed and scratched her cheek with a finger sheepishly.
"That's ridiculous."
"Shut up, you idiot!" she smacked his arm which he responded with an annoyed look. "It was my first solo job! Of course I was nervous!"
Laxus shook his head at her excuse. Despite his usual mean demeanor to the younger members of the guild (like Natsu), he had an unusual soft spot for Karissa. Most people around him would often just see him as 'Makarov's grandson' which had been annoying him immensely. They would even treat him as such. It was getting on his nerves. He hated being only seen as that. Everything he did was becoming something that was obviously expected from Makarov's blood. He was starting to feel like he wasn't getting credit for his own achievements.
It took him a while to see it but Karissa didn't give a damn. Sure, the only reason the two got along today was because of his grandfather who set them up that day. But she never cared for the fact that Laxus was someone's grandson. She just did as she pleased and treated him like someone who wasn't the blood of some important figure. Karissa even found his skill and rising fame as a mage amazing even though he was sure that his fame was only because of Makarov. A thirteen year old was seeing him for him.
If he could give a name to what he felt between them, it would be a bond.
That bond became apparent when she was eleven.
Back when she was still running around everywhere but at a more tame level, she had asked Laxus to go with her on her first job since he had obviously been on ones before. Karissa didn't feel like asking Van or Pandora since she wanted to go with him specifically. Laxus had more knowledge about Fiore since he was born there. At first, he was adamant about not going but she just kept pestering him until he said yes. That surprised everyone, even him.
However, the job she chose was too much of a baby level for him. So, he ended up taking a job that was of a higher difficulty even though his grandfather told him not to for her sake. He thought that if experience was the best way to learn, then it would be the best to take up a challenge. He expected that she was going to have a bit of difficulty since she wasn't used to it but she slowly adapted enough for him not to save her every minute which was impressive. That also showed how capable she was as mage. He clearly underestimated her training.
When he booked two rooms in a hotel for their stay at night in some town in the east, he overheard someone talking about the room that Karissa was going to be staying in. His ears were sharp. He couldn't find who said it in the lobby but he heard the type of voice that spoke. They sounded sleazy. Yeah, it was one of those sick freaks. For that reason, he chose to stay in her room at night and kept her ears muffled the whole time with some rock music that somehow lulled her to sleep.
He could still remember looking at them dead in the eyes in the dark that night.
…
…
…
Laxus was sitting on his bed in the dark, looking at the sky outside the window on Karissa's side until he heard a slight noise coming from the door. Taking that as his cue, he moved over to the middle of the bed and sat there facing the door with his elbows on his knees.
As soon as the door was opened, he was met with a bearded man kneeling in front of the door who slowly pushed it open. There was also a friend of his behind him.
To them, it looked like Laxus' eyes was glowing in the dark as he glared at them. He looked like a beast guarding something. Before they could run away, Laxus appeared behind him in flash of lightning and then grabbed the back of their shirts, dragging them away after gently closing the door.
He didn't know who they were but they weren't going to get anywhere near her.
She woke up that morning blissfully ignorant of what happened that night since he took care of it in complete silence.
…
…
…
"But it wasn't as bad as I thought…" Karissa mumbled softly, almost inaudibly, but she knew that he could still hear her.
"That's because you're just overthinking shit." Laxus rolled his eyes and looked ahead. Karissa curiously glanced at him and noted how annoyed he appeared and sounded compared to usual. It made her wonder if something happened recently while he was gone for three days.
Karissa viewed Laxus like another brother. When she was eleven, she discovered that Laxus was looked after by her mother and father a few times while his own father was away on jobs, it made her feel sort of connected to him. According to some older members, Laxus enjoyed being around them as a kid.
It was strange for her to feel like that with someone who was five years older than her.
Van had once made a joke about how Laxus was probably destined to replace his role as a big brother.
Because of how much time she spent around him, she was acute to the slight differences between his usual annoyed demeanor and the immense annoyance that was accompanied by anger. Right now, it was the latter.
"Hey, did something happen? I get the feeling that you're angry."
Laxus only shrugged and scoffed. "My dad got excommunicated yesterday by the old man. But it's no big deal, right? Since gramps easily dismissed him like that."
Ivan Dreyar. She never really felt comfortable around that man. He was always… eerie. She would never tell Laxus that though.
She didn't say anything to avoid stepping on a landmine.
"I don't understand why gramps would just kick out his own son like it's no big deal. Sure, he made mistakes, but that's his own son."
She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "… I won't pretend to know what Master Makarov thought about when he kicked your dad out. But I don't think it was easy. Like you said, that's his son..."
"Oh yeah? Well I don't think so. I doubt he even cares."
Karissa averted her eyes away as they turned around a corner of a street. She didn't really know what to say to him in this situation. It wasn't her father that got kicked out of the guild.
Laxus ran his fingers in his blond hair in frustration, "No point in getting upset over it now though. It's already been done."
"But what's going to happen now?"
"I don't freaking know. I'm just done." Laxus clenched his fist tightly and held it in front of him before opening it. "I'm going to get stronger and stronger until people stop associating me with that old man. I'm not like him."
"But I see you for who you are."
"Yeah, but you're one person."
Karissa sputtered, offended. "Oh-okaay. So, I don't matter?"
Laxus flicked her forehead and she yelped, missing the opportunity to bat his hand away. "It's the same feeling as always being compared to your parents."
"… Okay, I'll admit that's freaking annoying."
After getting some recognition thanks to taking on jobs, the Sinclost had caught the attention of Sorcerer Weekly magazine and was interviewed. Through that magazine, their connection to Domilia and Zack was revealed to the whole kingdom, creating some type of hype about them.
Lately, Karissa and her siblings were being seen as amazing by products of her mother and father. While Van enjoyed basking in the light of fame, Pandora and Karissa were getting a bit annoyed. Pandora just hated being associated to their parents' names for every thing she did while Karissa just didn't like the undeserved hype.
"By the way, where are those headphones? I thought you left town with them."
Karissa puckered her lips a little. "Well, I got scared of dropping them on the train so I just tucked them away in my bag."
Laxus face palmed. "Unless you're swinging them around by the cable then I don't think you'll drop it, stupid."
"Shut up, lightning freak."
They both entered the guild hall together. The first thing that Karissa saw was Natsu flying down towards Laxus after leaping from some table.
"Laxus!" he shouted with a fistful of fire.
"Ugh, not again." Laxus groaned before smacking the boy to the side as he walked further inside the guild.
Natsu groaned on the ground.
Karissa looked around the guild for any of her friends that wasn't currently knocked out on the floor next to her. She found Cana waving at her from a distant table with Gray sitting across from her. With a bounce in her step, started making her way to them. But on the way there, she felt someone lock their arm with hers with a cheerful greeting.
"Welcome home, Karissa!"
"Hi, Lisanna."
The white haired girl removed her arm. "How was the job?"
"Er… well, it went okay."
Lisanna gave her a skeptical look. "That didn't sound too confident."
"I mean, I did my job and got my reward. So, it did go okay."
Still unconvinced, Lisanna only hummed as she nodded her head.
…
…
…
"You know, I just realized something…" Lisanna swung her legs back and forth as she watched Gray and Natsu duke it out in the guild. Cana and Karissa looked at her curiously.
"Karissa and I are a bit the same."
"How so?" Karissa tilted her head.
"We're both the third and youngest sibling." she beamed a smile.
Karissa blinked. They were both three? Wait.
"Now that you mention it," Cana looked at Karissa as she stared blankly at Lisanna. "Yeah, you both have two older siblings."
Karissa snapped out of it. "Oh, right."
She nearly forgot about that one detail.
…
…
…
Karissa forgot how her father used to tell her that finding things in common with other kids her age was one of the keys to forming a friendship. He was right. That small little thing that they had in common became the foundation of their friendship.
Karissa waved at Cana and Gray as she and Lisanna approached the table.
…
…
…
Domilia touched her chest where her heart was. "There."
Karissa put a hand on her finger and repeated what her mother said with a cocked head.
Domilia nodded with a smile, "That's right."
…
…
…
Karissa unconsciously rubbed the spot where her heart was.
YEAR X781.
…
…
…
Karissa was fifteen.
Now that only half of her rent was covered, she had been taking on more jobs than before to pay for the rest of the rent. Her rent money needed to be given to Erza ever since Hilda died. It was really unfortunate to find out that Hilda died from a carriage accident. She missed that old lady. She had grown to like her after spending a year at the dorm. She was strict but she was still kind to everyone.
Karissa never knew what having a grandmother felt like but Hilda made her feel like she had one.
Currently, Karissa and the girls were in the lobby playing a game of Old Maid. She had just returned home from her first job with Gray so this was a good way to relax. Even though she preferred having alone time to recharge, playing a game of Old Maid was always a fun way to relax.
"HAHA!"
"Aww! I got the Joker!" Levy whined after Mirajane pulled out the card she needed to form a pair.
Mirajane slapped down the cards on the table victoriously. "Sucker!"
Cana laughed while leaning back on her hands. "This is your third loss in a row! You gotta work on that luck, Levy."
"Ugh, I know." Levy put down her Joker card.
"Maybe you should stop sitting next to Mirajane." Karissa suggested with a small smirk. "I mean, you always lose when you sit next to her."
The said girl twitched before turning her head to narrow her eyes at her. "What are you trying to say? I'm the harbinger of bad luck?"
"No, she's just saying a logical thing." Pandora interjected, immediately going to her sister's rescue. "Stop putting words in her mouth."
"Oh, be quiet." Mirajane huffed. "I didn't ask you."
"We're here for a relaxing night. It's not a night for fighting." Erza stopped them before an argument broke out. As head of the dorm, she had a responsibility to uphold. They weren't the only girls living in the dormitory.
"We're not fighting." The two older sisters looked away from each other.
Lisanna, Cana, Levy and Karissa all looked at each other quietly. Pandora, Mirajane and Erza were three scary girls whenever they got angry. They had all seen in the three of them got locked into intense fights when they were young and immature. Of course, the fights didn't occur as much as it used to due to their growth and maturity as both people and mages.
"Anyway," Lisanna smiled. "How was your job with Gray?" she asked Karissa to change the subject.
"Huh?"
"That's right, we never asked how it went. Was the job successful?" Pandora wondered curiously.
Karissa pouted. "Yeeaah…"
…
"… We got rid of the bandits stealing from your people." Karissa told him while rubbing her fingers together.
The man in a suit cocked an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, we got rid of the bandits."
"I can't hear you. Can you speak up?"
Karissa fingers twitched beneath her sleeve. She could feel Gray staring at her from the side as she started losing confidence to talk.
"Um." The black haired girl looked at Gray in a panic, she was beginning to sweat. Gray cleared his throat and spoke clearly for the man in front of them, repeating every word she said to him.
After getting their reward, Karissa silently walked next to Gray as they left the manor. The boy sneaked a glance when he saw her scratching her arm through her long sleeve. He lightly smacked her hand away with a look.
"Stop scratching it."
"It's itchy!" Karissa scowled. "Like shit, why does this happen to me?!" she whined.
"Look, just relax. We're leaving anyway. You can cool off when we get back in the hotel room, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah."
…
Karissa dropped her head in her knees as she remembered that scene. Cana, who was familiar with this pose, reached for her head and gave her sympathetic pats. Karissa always had this tough cool vibe to mask her anxiety and timidity that surfaced whenever something stressed her out. Some people were aware of how Karissa's skin would turn red and prickly whenever she started getting super nervous and stressed out. It happened around last year. When Pandora, Gray and Karissa were tasked with making a little show during the Fantasia Parade at the end of Harvest Festival, Gray was the one that pointed it out to the sisters at the end of the parade. Obviously, Pandora freaked out and nearly called a doctor if it were not for Gray, Van and Cana holding her back and trying to calm her down.
It wasn't really anything to be concerned about. It was appearing due to her feeling nervous. It faded away after twenty minutes or so.
Cana's friend had become the opposite of who she was seven years ago. It was surprising really.
"I got super nervous when the client kept telling me to speak louder." Karissa groaned. "I swear to god, that guy was probably doing it on purpose! I should have scattered his papers with my wind magic." she hissed.
"Good thing you didn't." Levy sweat dropped.
Erza clutched her fist tightly and lowered her head dramatically as she sympathized with her friend's distress. "They should at least see how uncomfortable you were."
"Seriously? Just for speaking louder?" Mirajane said, unimpressed.
"Anxiety is a complicated thing!" Pandora defended her, causing the older Strauss to raise her hands up in surrender.
"Do you think your anxiety is caused by feeling self-conscious?" Lisanna spoke up after giving her sister a pointed look. "Are you self-conscious about anything?"
Karissa lifted her head and was met with curious stares from all the girls in the lobby. With a sigh, she started to seriously think about it. Her hands were longer an issue for her since she felt tired of hiding them away behind sleeves to avoid comments. She needed her hands everyday for crying out loud. However, her arms and legs were usually hidden away since she felt more at ease wearing clothes that didn't expose her skin. She'd feel vulnerable showing it off since it felt so naked.
I can't really think of anything.
"… Other than knowing I'm not exactly pretty, I can't think of anything else— ACK! FUCK!" Karissa held the back of her head and gave the brown haired girl next to her a baffled look. "The hell, Cana?!"
"That looked like it hurt." Levy winced.
"I would have done it if she didn't." Pandora rolled her eyes.
"I don't know who the hell told you that but that's not true—"
"—That sentence was worth giving me a concussion?!"
"I'll give you another if you don't let me finish."
"…"
"Stop putting yourself down like that. You're pretty." Cana told her with a stern look, causing her to shift her eyes away. "Sure, you don't got the boobs like me, Erza and Pandora," Karissa furrowed her brows at that, wondering why she was suddenly talking about physical traits. "But you got a nice shape, including a nice butt and squishy thighs. There are guys who are into that." Cana slapped her thigh with her hand to prove her point, causing Karissa to grimace.
"I didn't come here to get sexually harassed." Karissa picked up Cana's hand like a dirty object and set it aside, "And I wasn't trying to get guys' attention, it's the last thing I want. Besides, I'm grateful for my smaller chest. You should hear Pandora complain about her back. I don't need back pain."
Pandora nodded her head in agreement with a soft sigh. She reached behind her and rubbed her back. "It does get painful sometimes."
"Exactly. I'm not trying to look like grandma over there."
That earned her another whack on the head, making her scowl.
"Who you calling grandma?! I'm only five years older than you!"
"Is that why you kept growing your bangs longer when we were kids?" Levy asked while pointing at her left sided bangs.
"Maybe, I dunno."
Erza, who somehow popped up at her side, patted her shoulder with a smile as she looked at her. "Don't worry, you're a pretty girl. I don't doubt that you'll find someone who will be attracted to you."
Karissa sweat dropped. "I just said that I didn't want to attract attention." Her voice dripped with exasperation. She sighed and shook her head, rubbing her face with her hand tiredly. "How did we end up with this topic?"
We need to move on from this…
Karissa dropped her hand on her lap and then scooted closer to the table to gather the cards together. "Anything new in the guild lately? Someone destroy anything?" she changed the subject while shuffling the cards in her hands gingerly.
The petite blue haired girl leaned back on the couch while looking upwards. "Well, I heard that Laxus formed a team with three people."
"Really? That arrogant guy did?" Cana raised a brow.
"Right!" Lisanna snapped her fingers in realization. "He teamed up with Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow. Apparently, they're calling themselves the Thunder God Tribe. Well," she put a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "I think it's the three of them that call themselves that. I heard that they act as Laxus' bodyguards."
"So, basically it's a team for him. He's not in it." Cana summarized.
"Apparently." Erza spoke.
Pandora snorted and crossed her legs as she leaned back. "Now he's got bodyguards? Geez, that guy's so cocky. He was always so arrogant but it's like he got even worse when we both became S-Class."
"You and Laxus were the S-Class mages of X778." Lisanna remembered. "I forgot about that."
"Thinks he's hot stuff, that ass." Mirajane scoffed in annoyance.
Without saying a word, Karissa gave her friends some cards while thinking about the person she used to be close with. The girl had no idea how fragile their bond was for it to fall apart so easily. Whatever comfortable atmosphere they used to have just died a year after his father got excommunicated from Fairy Tail. It was at that age that Karissa's timidity was surfacing to the point where she found it difficult to voice out her opinions, it made her fall silent most of the time. Despite that, she tried her best to approach Laxus every now and then to try and talk and somehow help him. She wasn't stupid, she could see how agitated and distant he was becoming as he stepped more into the world of adults.
However, he made it very discouraging for her whenever he acted harsher than usual. Just a look of annoyance was enough to get her to lower her head and avoid making eye contact with him. She really did try her best to push down her anxiety.
It just wasn't enough. She had lost her bond with Laxus.
If only she was stronger enough to keep it.
While Karissa finished passing around the cards, Pandora couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the saddened look on her face.
YEAR X782
…
…
…
It was time.
Pandora was finally going to live her dream: to live in a house with her family again. She had been waiting for this day for ages. She had made arrangements to get her siblings to move out of the dormitory and into the new house she bought for them with their help. They had asked some people, who were free, to help the siblings move into their new home, they just needed to wait for everyone to arrive.
All their belongings were set outside the dormitory, ready to moved.
Pandora was waiting outside the dorm as she was keeping an eye out for those who were needed. Cana and Gray were getting ready to leave their own apartments to help them. Natsu and Happy were on their way back from a job that could have given them a hint about where Igneel was. Erza and Karissa were together in the resources room reading books.
They were reading books that they didn't really want anyone knowing about.
They were reading… smut novels.
Karissa didn't know what was about those novels but… she just ended up reading them every now and then. Karissa wasn't a fanatic about it. In fact, she preferred fantasy adventure books any day. She wasn't as bad as Erza who literally kept some hidden in her room like a guy hiding some porn magazines under their bed. She seriously felt like she was going to hell for reading such a thing before reaching the age of eighteen.
She felt like a damn pervert and a sinner.
As Karissa read a kissing scene between two characters, she recalled a memory that took place in a similar setting. It was an immature yet embarrassing act from back when she was eight. She nearly dropped her book right there and she wanted to grab her head and scream.
Good god, why did my eight year old ass kiss Lyon?!
Obviously, she did not feel the same as she did back then as time passed. That kiss did not swell her heart with love or some crap like that for a boy she hadn't seen in years. No, it made her brain play that embarrassing scenario at night every once in a while when she just wanted to sleep. It made her wanted to crawl in a hole. If only she could just jump back and time and punch herself for giving that guy a kiss on the mouth.
Karissa let out a heavy sigh.
Erza, who was reading her erotic novel, averted her eyes away from the page and saw her friend with her head on the table, looking exhausted.
"What's the matter, Karissa?"
"I just want to end it all." She groaned.
"What on earth are you saying?" Erza asked, concerned.
"Hey! You guys in here?!" Pandora's voice echoed upstairs.
Karissa flinched. She didn't even hear her come in!
In attempt to hide the evidence, the book flew out of her hands and was pitched into a darker area of the floor she was on just before her mother could look down from the upper floor. Erza, the head of the dorm, gave her a reproachful look for mistreating the dorm's property which Karissa just ignored. Erza may be scary but her sister was even scarier sometimes.
The scarlet haired woman bookmarked her page and looked up at the older girl.
"I assume everyone is ready?"
"Yep! Natsu just got back and he's fighting with Gray outside. Let's go." Pandora said cheerfully, clearly excited. She skipped out of the resources room while humming a playful tune.
Pandora had changed a lot compared to her previous reclusive self. She had slowly come out of her shell and started getting more social with the girls in the dorm a year after they joined. This change made both Van and Karissa elated since it felt like she didn't have to carry such a heavy burden anymore, freeing her from so much responsibility and allowing her to live more freely.
"Those idiots better not end up freezing or lighting up any of my stuff!" Karissa shouted as she darted to the book she threw to place it back on the table.
Erza chuckled softly as she got up from her chair. "I do hope they won't be fighting during the move in. There's a time and place for that."
"Yeah or else my sister will just eradicate them on the spot." Karissa cackled as she ran up the stairs.
…
…
…
Gray whistled as they entered the house. "This is a nice place."
Cana nodded as she looked around. "Yeah, seriously."
"I was surprised when I first saw it too." Karissa said while taking off her shoes.
The brown haired girl sighed and shook her head. "That's it. I gotta sleepover in this big house one day. I have to." She shrugged lightly, making Karissa snicker.
"Take it up with Pandora." Karissa picked up a box meant for the kitchen area and shuffled to the counter.
With that, the two started helping Karissa with putting the boxes in their designated areas.
The party was divided into two groups. The first group was Gray, Karissa and Cana while the second was Pandora, Van, Natsu, Happy and Erza. The first group was in charge of taking care of the boxes while the second had to take care of the furniture that needed to be transported to the house. Gray and Karissa just needed to make some ice carriages to bring all the boxes to the house and then start putting them inside the house with Cana.
The house had two floors. The ground floor was pretty big as it had both the kitchen and living room in the same area. The second floor was where the rooms were located. They had four in total.
After dealing with all the kitchen-named boxes, Karissa decided to start with her own boxes. She went upstairs and, just like when she first arrived at the dorms eight years ago, her door had a piece of paper stuck to it with her name on it. She turned the doorknob of her room and pushed it open with her shoulder since her hands were busy. Inside, she found all the furniture she bought for herself. Her room looked quite similar to the one she had back at the dorm. Her sister thought it would be a good idea to get the rooms ready before they moved in so that could just crash on the bed when the day was over.
At the sight of the number of boxes that needed to be taken care of, she already just wanted to go and crash into her new bed.
Karissa made a small ice blade and then opened the box, revealing some sketchbooks, art supplies and a familiar beanie, a scarf and a stuffed animal. She seriously had no idea why she put those last unrelated things in there. With a small grin, she gently took them out of the box and looked at them.
"It's been so long since I've had these…" Karissa mumbled to herself as she walked to the drawer. She pulled it open and tucked away the beanie inside with the scarf. As much as she wanted to keep them out in the open, she knew they would just end up dusty by the time winter came. She still used them during cold weathers.
When her ears picked up the sound of feet walking towards her room, she looked at the doorway and waited for the person to show themselves. With two boxes piled in his arms, Gray appeared in her room and gently put down the boxes a few feet away from her door.
Great his shirt disappeared again.
"What are you doing?" he stood up straight. Karissa noted how tall he was.
Back when they were eight, Karissa was the taller one out of Lyon and Gray. But now, Gray was way taller than her and it shocked her when she first noticed it. According to Levy, boys get their growth spurts later than girls so it was pretty normal for him to grow taller than her.
"Just putting away some things."
Now that they were older, Gray had quite the laid back attitude. When he joined the guild, she got back that lively spirit he used to have before the whole Deliora incident. He even became quite the pompous and reckless brat since he was so confident in his abilities. But as he grew older and took on more jobs, he became more cautious and cared a lot about his friends. Sometimes she shamelessly took advantage of that whenever she got timid on a job they took together, letting him deal with the social parts of the job.
She didn't hate him anymore. He never begged for her forgiveness but she still gave it to him. It took her a while to fully forgive him though. Ur wouldn't want her to keep clinging on that hate since it wouldn't do her any good.
"Already?" Gray put a hand on his hip. "You can do that later, Karissa." he simply said while looking at the stuffed animal she had in her hands. He walked closer to her. "You still have this?" He took it from her and moved it around in his hands, listening to the gentle jingle.
Karissa raised an eyebrow at that. "What about it?"
Gray shrugged. "Nothing. Just a little surprised that you have it. I thought you'd give it away or something." he gave it back to her which she took back and settled it on top of the drawer in a sitting positing against the wall.
"Hell no!" Karissa exclaimed as she closed the drawer. "It's mine." She said in a slight childish manner which just made him shake his head with a small smile. Together, they exited her room and went back downstairs to go and take care of more boxes with Cana.
Not long after, the rest of the gang showed up at the house with all the rest of the things the house needed. Pandora and Erza dealt with moving around the living room furniture they brought while the rest was busy helping the others finish with the boxes and unboxing them. Gray and Natsu nearly destroyed Van's room when they met up in there, causing Erza to march up the stairs and give them a piece of her mind.
Cana and Karissa sweat dropped when they heard the two boys shrieking in fear.
Like when they first met, Cana and Karissa were in the latter's room putting away the clothes in drawers and the closet. It was such a nostalgic deja-vu.
Cana smirked and held up an underwear that was striped in fun colours. "Aw, how cute." She remarked as Karissa hung up her clothes in the closet.
The black haired girl looked over her shoulder curiously and gaped when she saw her friend holding up her underwear. With a groan, she strode over to her and tried snatching it out of her grasp. Cana just laughed and rolled away from her reach.
"You still wear this kind of underwear?" she twirled it around her finger with a laugh.
"What of it?!"
"Look at this! You even got a pure white panties! Man, you are such a pure child sometimes."
Karissa deadpanned. "I'm not trying to go risqué over here."
"You should try. I mean look at me." Cana gestured to her top that revealed most of her stomach.
"I'm sixteen!"
"So, what? Me too. Pandora still buys your underwear though? Man, she's such a mom."
Karissa swooped in and grabbed her underwear and the box she took it from away from her, making her pout in dissatisfaction. "She technically is."
"What's going on in here?" Van poked his head in her room, making her curl around her box to hide her undergarments from her brother. He blinked at the odd position his sister was in.
Cana grinned and waved her hand dismissively, "Nothing pretty boy. Run along."
Feeling unwanted, Van just gave them a pout before leaving without asking another question.
Her brother was still the same as he was when he joined Fairy Tail aside from the fact that he had developed quite the temper. The last time he got angry, Makarov had to write an apology letter to a town in the west since Van had destroyed something with his earth magic. That single incident made people wary about making the boy angry. Despite his occasional short tempers, he was a nice guy. He tried to control his temper to a certain degree. His temper was one thing that distinguished him from his father since he was told that he was a spitting image of him.
Karissa sighed in relief and sat up properly. Then she got up and went to close her door before anyone else walked in on them putting away anything that she didn't want other people to see. Karissa and Cana finished up emptying the rest of the boxes and then went downstairs with the empty cardboard boxes. They dumped them in the corner where the rest of the boxes were found.
Cana stretched her arms before plopping down on the couch next to Van. "Man, I'm so tired from all of that!"
"I'm so hungry." Happy sat on the table after flying around. "You got any fish, Pandora?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Boo."
"I have an idea!" Cana grinned. "How about we order some food and crash in the living room as a way to celebrate the Sinclost siblings moving into this big fat house!"
Karissa perked up in her spot next to Gray. "Oh shit, you were serious?"
"Of course! Look at this freaking place!"
"A sleepover like the good old days." Erza put a hand under her chin as a nostalgic smile graced her face. "It sounds nice."
"No way, I'm not sleeping in the same room as Mr. Stripper over there." Natsu pointed his chin at Gray with a childish frown.
Gray narrowed his eyes at the fire mage and then clicked his tongue. "Ditto. You're welcome to leave pyro."
"You leave, you flasher!"
"Don't tell me what to do, pink haired freak!"
Van rolled his eyes. "Great here we go."
Karissa sighed exasperatedly when the two continued trading insults from where they sat. Normally, they would physically be at each other's throats by now or something but Erza's presence in the room just made them stay put like good dogs. She glanced at Erza and still found her smiling at the fond memories of the past seemingly unbothered by the bickering.
Yeah right. I doubt it's happening.
…
…
It happened.
Karissa was exhausted physically from the whole day that she didn't bother fighting her sister's decision to have a sleepover when all she wanted was a night of peace and quiet. After eating and talking, everyone was knocked out on the living room from the long day.
She was currently on her back, staring at the foreign ceiling above her head as she listened to Natsu snore somewhere in the corner of the room.
Thank god I'm not sleeping next to that dragon boy.
She could actually handle noisy environments enough to fall asleep to it, just not tonight.
Karissa held her hand up above her and she could she clearly see that outlines thanks to the moonlight peeking through the curtains. She just kept staring at her hand without really thinking of anything.
Man... I'm already sixteen...
The girl felt someone's knee bumped into her side. Her hand dropped back down to her side as she whipped her head towards the person that broke her moment of spacing out. It was Gray. He literally rolled out of his bed and was sleeping on his side.
Karissa narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. "Geez." she muttered before frowning at him.
She shifted around in her bed to stick her foot out and push his body back towards his bed. With an annoyed groan, Gray rolled back into his bed with a soft snore, causing Karissa to snort silently.
"Yeah, get away you weirdo." she stuck her tongue out before throwing the blanket over her head.
I had several doubts about writing this chapter since I felt like the story could go without it. But I thought it would be better to add it since it was showing what kind of person Karissa grew up to be, her relationship with Laxus, and also some other stuff that will be explored later on. I'm trying not to spoon feed too much information lol.
I'd say we have 3 more chapters before we move onto the Eisenwald Arc. I aM FrIGGinG Excited!
kpop1392as: Thank you for reviewing for all the six previous chapters! About your question regarding Pandora's seal: Unlike her parents, Van and Karissa, she's normal. She doesn't have an abnormal amount of magic power within her body.
See you in the next chapter!