"Just for taking out some bandits?" Karissa chewed on a piece of chocolate. She averted her eyes away from the flyer to look at Gray who was seated in front of her.
"Guess he must be pretty desperate." Gray crossed his legs and propped his head up on the side next to the window.
"Still, 70,000 jewels is pretty big. This guy must be pretty rich then." Karissa covered a yawn with her sleeve.
For the past few months, Karissa had been going on jobs with Gray every now and then. They weren't a team, but because it was more fun as group, they decided to stick together sometimes, they enjoyed each other's company.
It wasn't until they became sixteen that they decided to become an on and off team. Sometimes Gray preferred going on jobs alone. Karissa did as well but also liked going on jobs with Pandora and Van every one in a while. To the girl, it was always more fun as a group, it was less lonesome and dull.
The long haired girl sighed as she sat in a criss cross manner. She paused. "My god… I can't believe we're becoming adults next year…"
Gray lifted a brow, he glanced at his friend. "Where's this coming from?" he spoke behind his fingers.
The girl only shrugged as she brushed her bangs away from her eye. "I'm just pointing it out. We're… not kids anymore." She said, almost sadly.
The boy in front of her lowered his hand and gave her a slight incredulous look. "You want to stay a kid?" his voice carried a playful tone.
"That's not what I meant." Karissa rolled her eyes. "Things are going to change when we become adults and stuff."
Her friend just laughed a little at that. "C'mon, it's not going to be a major thing. We're going to be able to do more things in life once we become adults. Trust me, it'll be fun."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Well, the law can't stop me from drinking alcohol once I turn eighteen."
"At least you could wait for that unlike Cana." Karissa snickered and just put her hood on. "I'm staying the heck away from that."
"Geez, you need to get a little excited about it."
"Nah." Karissa lowered her legs and reached in her back for her headphones. "Wake me up when we get there. I'm going to sleep since I slept late last night." She told him before shutting him out of her music-only world.
Gray just chose to watch the moving scenery outside the window to pass the time. They weren't going to get off at any station to change trains. It was a one-way trip, but because the town was located somewhere further to east of Fiore, that meant that the trip was going to be a long one.
He wasn't sure how many minutes had passed but he was starting to get sleepy himself. He chided himself for not bringing something from his house to keep him busy during the ride. From his peripheral vision, he could see Karissa's head slowly falling forward and then shooting back upwards before repeating the cycle. He could just doze off right now too. He caught sight of her head thumping against the window next to her right as he looked away from her.
"Ouch." Gray whispered to himself as he lowered his hand on his lap, observing her for a few seconds. Then with a soft sigh, he grabbed his bag as he stood up to sit next to her. He gently reached for the side of her head and nudged it towards him so she could rest her head on his shoulder in a way where she wouldn't feel uncomfortable with her headphones.
He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back as stared at the window again.
There was some chatter coming from somewhere in the cabin that accompanied the usual sound of the moving train. Still, his ears were more focused on the soft ballad. Her music was leaking out of her headphones. The gentle music had his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier.
Gray blinked slowly. There wasn't any point in fighting it anymore. He just succumbed to the gentle embrace of sleep.
…
…
…
Karissa slowly opened her eyes, she breathed out through her nose while she gathered her bearings, and then wondered why she was resting her on something stable. Seeing that Gray was absent in front of her, she shifted her eyes to look down at the side where she found the familiar dark green pants he was wearing earlier along with the long white jacket.
With a finger, she pushed up her hood to look up like a curious child.
Yeah, he was knocked out. She inwardly smiled at his act of kindness.
With a poorly covered yawn, she lifted her head off his shoulder slowly and gently to not wake him. When she successfully sat up properly, she checked the current status of the train's schedule. The girl felt relief and a slight scare flood her when she noticed that their stop was next.
If I didn't wake up… we probably would've skipped it.
After meeting up with the client, which was revealed to be the mayor of the town, they were given a quick briefing of the situation. Apparently, the group of bandits were in town but they were blending in with the townspeople. No one had an idea about what they looked like since they were always masking their faces whenever they looted a store. So far, four stores had been robbed, leaving the owners in quite a depressed state.
All they knew was that some of the bandits liked stopping by the pub to kill time until nightfall. They just could never tell who they were among the customers.
That was more than enough for Gray to come up with something.
Instead of paying for two separate rooms, the two ice mages sometimes pitched in for a single room with two beds. That only happened when the inns or hotels had ridiculous prices. It was easier on their wallets that way.
They shared a single bed only three times due to certain problems in the inn or the hotel. But all they had to do was jam a pillow between them while he kept in mind her threat of killing him if he tried anything, and then everything was all good. Of course, she never told this to Pandora or else she would have flipped out and probably killed him.
The single bed agreement was hush-hush.
She threw her bag in the middle of the nearest bed in the room and sat on the longer side.
"So, what do we do?" Karissa played with the keys of the room by gently tossing it up again and again. "Do we go asking around if someone has seen anyone suspicious lately? From there, we could… find them and interrogate them?"
"Nah, that's too much trouble." Gray sat at the end of the of her bed instead of his. "We'll just go to the pub and act as employees. After all, that's where the mayor said those guys like to hang out. It'll be faster that way to track down the rest of them."
Karissa jerked her head in his direction. "… Y… You mean like as a waiter and waitress…?" the keys fell on her lap.
"Yup."
"… Uh, Gray. I don't think I can do that." Karissa scratched her neck with an uneasy expression. "That's a freaking bar where all the drunkies hang out. I don't wanna go there. I… I don't feel comfortable." she said, feeling intimidated by the thought.
Gray scratched the back of his head. "I get that you're feeling anxious but just think about it."
He understood that she got anxious about certain things. At first, he used to take it so lightly and used to call her out for being silly. His obstinate self back then once made her too uncomfortable to the point where she just walked away from him and hid herself somewhere to calm down. After getting an earful from Cana, he went to apologize. Since then, he learned to take her worries seriously, allowing him to get an idea of how much of an obstacle anxiety was for her sometimes.
"But I don't know how to act like a waitress! What if I fuck up?!" Karissa bit her lip and stared at the wooden floor. "I don't know what's going to happen…" the girl felt her arms get warmer as she started overthinking the dreadful scenario.
Plus, I have to wear a uniform to play the part… A damn skirt.
Ugh, no. I don't want to work in there!
I might even get too distracted to focus on the mission.
I rather be on an S-Class quest that I'm not ready for!
Gray put up one leg on the bed so he shifted around and look at her while she looked lost in thought. She was freaking out about the idea of trying something out of her comfort zone. That wasn't a new sight for him.
"You don't need to really be a waitress. You're just pretending to be one." Gray pointed out.
"… What?" Karissa gave him a perplexed look.
"You're not getting paid to act like a waitress. If you don't want to smile and greet them, then don't."
She paused, now thinking about what he was saying and adding sense to it. The dozens of worries and thoughts in her mind were still somewhat going wild but slowly becoming less.
"Can I just drop their orders on the table and leave without saying anything?" she finally asked after a moment of silence. "I don't need to tell them 'enjoy your damn order' or anything like that?"
Gray smirked at that. "Just do what you want to do. All we really need to do is keep our ears open for any suspicious chatter."
"… Will you help me if I get stuck or something?" Karissa asked, hopefully.
"Sure. But, don't worry, it'll be fine. You don't need to worry so much if it hasn't even happened."
Little nudges for her to step out of her comfort zone was immensely helpful, she just didn't realize it.
"Just don't toss the food on the table and run." Gray teased her with a playful grin which was responded with a chuckle.
"I'm not that shy."
The girl understood that everything he said made sense, but she still worried about whether or not she could accomplish it. She trusted Gray.
She had to play her part and not hold him back.
With a heavy sigh, she grasped a handful of the sheets like as if grasping onto some courage.
Okay.
…
…
…
Karissa gripped the counter.
I'm mentally exhausted.
She was wearing a classy waitress outfit. A white dress shirt, a block bow, a black vest, white stockings and a black skirt. Oh, she felt so uncomfortable. Not to mention that her hidden bare arms were prickling.
I feel hiding in my own bed after all this.
With the mayor's help, they were permitted to work in the pub alongside the other employees. She absolutely despised walking up to the tables and taking orders out of fear of not catching what the customer wanted and screwing up. But she kept recalling that she wasn't a real waitress so it wouldn't matter if she messed up. That thought alone got her to relax a bit. Every now and then, when she passed by Gray, he would pat her on the back to encourage her to keep at it.
The tension from those four hours she spent working and gathering information was released from her body. As much as she hated to admit it, it was actually easier to do their job this way. Karissa and Gray communicated every now and then when they were free for a minute or two. They were able to learn where they were planning on meeting up in the town, and with the pub owner's help, they were able to figure out which place they were trying to steal from.
Thank god everyone is leaving now…
One of the waitresses working there passed by her behind the counter and gave her a smile, she could probably see how worn out she was. Karissa's only response was an uneasy forced smile.
Karissa whipped around.
THE FUCK?!
She found a young man smiling innocently at her behind. However, his hand wasn't quite as innocent as his face considering how it was moving away after touching her waist.
"Can I help you?" Karissa asked suddenly in a defensive manner that sounded quite rude. Her mind didn't feel like back peddling to rethinking what she just did since she was currently in a semi-fight or flight mode.
"Yeah, just wondering if you're working here again tomorrow." Karissa leaned away when he got closer. He stunk of booze. "Because I've never seen you here before. I dig chicks with black hair."
Ah? So as long as they have black hair you have hormones raging? Gotcha. MOVE, BUCKO!
Before she could say anything, Gray stepped in and put the tray in between the two's faces and gave the man a business-type of smile. "Sir, I'm afraid we're closing so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. The owner is quite strict about his schedule, you see."
Karissa stared at Gray from behind the tray.
"Who the heck are you?"
Karissa looked at the tray with a frown.
"Just a guy working part-time."
"Well you should mind your own business." The man clicked his tongue in annoyance and shot Gray a glare before turning around and leaving without another word.
…
…
…
"FUCK THAT GUY!"
Gray shut the backroom door behind him and just stared at the mess.
A box got blow to bits after receiving several wind blades.
"Calm down. It's over and dealt with." Gray walked past her to go and grab his bag that had his usual clothes inside.
Karissa ripped off the bow around her collar and clutched it in her hand tightly. "Out of all the girls waitressing here, he chose to hit on me?! He needs to get his eyes freaking checked out!" she spat, greatly repulsed, tossing the bow in a nearby chair.
Gray patted her shoulder as he walked by her with his things. "Well, you looked good in the uniform."
Flustered by the out of the blue compliment, Karissa grimaced in order to hide it. "Yeah right."
After changing back into their regular clothes, they headed out and took a longer route to the place where the bandits were supposed to be at. They were targeting a store that was selling jewelry.
Behind a wall, Karissa held out a hand. In her palm swirled wind that shot up into the dark night and darted to the other side of corner, searching. She concentrated on her magic like as if she was threading a needle. By focusing on the wind and keeping a part of it with her, she was able to create a sixth sense.
"… There are about ten or eleven of them just around the corner." She said before dispelling the wind before they could notice. She looked at Gray who was standing next to her. "Let's go?"
Gray nodded once with a sneaky grin and then took a head start as they ran. Karissa had to smack his shirt away from her face when it flew off him.
Curiously, one of the bandits peeked around the corner when he heard the incoming footsteps. He jolted when he felt magic power in the air that was caused by Gray preparing a magic spell.
"Ice Make: Lance!"
The bandit let out a shout and leaned away. "Shit! They're on to us!" he narrowly avoided getting hit by Gray's attack.
Gray and Karissa heard the bandits running away down the street on the other side.
Perfect.
Without saying anything, Karissa created a small ice platform which she used as a springboard. She jumped into the air and let herself get carried away by her wind magic. From above, she could see the bandits splitting up into two groups after reaching the end of the street. She flew downwards and moved past Gray to point him in the direction where one group went after he reached the end of the street. From there, they split up and chased after their targets.
I think it's better if I stay in the air.
Karissa looked like she was gliding against the concrete floor while she chased them.
"Fire Net!" one of them casted towards her. A huge net of fire appeared in front of her, making the nearby townspeople scream in fear.
Karissa held up two fingers near her face and narrowed her eyes. "Wind Blast!" she sliced the air, creating a powerful blast of wind that won against the fire, successfully putting it out, protecting herself and the people around her. With her other hand, she made a straight hand and made a similar slashing motion. "Wind Lance!"
She casted her spell so quickly that the bandits barely had enough time to react. An arc of wind shot towards them from behind. The ones closer to her got knocked down, reducing the number of people escaping. The others had a quicker reaction time as they avoided the wind attack.
She stopped her wind and stood in front of those who were on the ground. Before they could try and escape, she slammed her fist into her palm and stepped back. "Ice-Make: Coffin!"
A huge coffin made of a thick layer of ice shot up from underneath them, shocking them all. When it became tall enough, the cover shot up and slammed closed. She heard them trying to break free but the ice was too reinforced for them to fight through it. Karissa tapped the surface with a grin. "Yeah, don't try to fight it." she muttered.
She blinked when she remembered that she was still in the middle of the street. The girl looked around and saw the people staring at her. Her gaze skittered away from them as she rubbed the back of her neck.
There was a brief silence.
"... Can someone... alert the military personnel or something...?" Karissa asked awkwardly.
A young woman with glasses blinked and then snapped out of it. "Oh, y-yeah! Sure!" she said as she ran off.
Okay...
Karissa looked ahead and saw that the bandits were getting further away.
Oof, we can't have that.
Karissa ran after them until she was running at full speed. "Coming through! Make way!" she warned the people before her wind carried her.
"SHE'S COMING!"
A flurry of magic flew her way but she easily evaded them.
Then, with her wind magic, she flung herself forward until she was a few feet ahead of them, causing them to skid to a stop.
"What the hell?!"
"She's so fast!"
"Ice-Make:" Karissa slammed her fist in her palm as her shoes scratched the floor when she skidded to a stop and she swiveled around to face them. "Ice Halberd!" she gripped the polearm tightly and zoomed towards them like a predator, making them shriek at the sight of her. The next thing they knew, their gut collided with the pole which knocked any fight out of them. As soon as they fell limp on the ice pole, she darted back with a burst of wind whence she came while carrying them. With a simple swing, she flung them onto the coffin and knocked them out.
Completely, oblivious to the fact that she just wrecked several stands with the sharp end of her weapon.
Karissa stopped a few feet away with her ice weapon in her hands.
These bandits didn't really put up much of a challenge.
The remaining culprits she captured were restrained with sturdy ice handcuffs.
I didn't even deplete that much magic.
Karissa opened and closed her hand under the moonlight when she felt the chill of her ice magic fade.
As she grew older, the abnormal amount of magic power she possessed as a child continued to grow larger, allowing her to cast spells without really breaking a sweat. She trained hard to become a mage worthy of it. Her container of Ethernano was way larger than the average mage. That simple difference was what made her different from others. It worried her a little since she didn't know what kind of consequences it had on her body internally. But Master Makarov had told her that her parents never once had an issue about it, that somewhat quelled her worries.
If only I knew the cause...
From the hearing all the commotion, military personnel that was dispatched nearby, came running. They found Karissa sitting on a plate of ice that was being gently swayed by the wind up in the air, motioning them to come over and take care of the bandits she was watching. Not long after, Gray came back with an ice cart that had all his targets unconscious in it. They looked pretty battered from dealing with him.
"How'd it go?" Karissa brought herself closer to the ground.
Gray shattered the ice cart, making the bandits plop on the ground in a pile. "They got pretty far, I'll admit, but they were weak—"
"Gray! Your clothes! Your frigging thing is hanging out!" Karissa slapped her hands on her eyes.
"Wha-?! Shit!"
"Ugh…"
Karissa looked at the one groaning in pain. It was that same guy who put his filthy hand on her, his mask had broken, making his face visible. Immediately, she was filled with the same repulsion from earlier. When the bandit saw that she was staring down at him on her plate of ice, she huffed and closed her eyes before hopping off. She landed on his hand, causing him to yowl in pain.
Gray sweat dropped and cringed as she skipped over to him like she didn't just crush some guy's fingers.
"Let's go get that reward~!" Karissa sang innocently. "... After we fetch your clothes."
…
…
…
Since the night was still young, Gray and Karissa decided to look around town after receiving their reward from the mayor. It was after finally receiving their reward that they realized that they were hungry. They had not eaten anything since they arrived in the town which was exactly five hours ago, so, they went to some nearby restaurant that was not quite filled with people.
Karissa was left astounded by how much her friend ordered. He wasn't a glutton like Natsu when it came to appetite but he certainly had his moments whenever something good was presented in front of him.
Gray leaned back in his chair and sighed happily. "Oh man, this food was great. Definitely one of the places I'll come back to when I'm nearby."
Karissa just chuckled. "Yeah, the food is good but I'm not a fan of their pork. The way they seasoned it tasted funny." She scooped up a piece of her mango. She was glad that the restaurant had some fruits on the menu, especially one she liked since it was rare to see it on a menu in a restaurant.
"You wanna keep looking around while places are still open?" he asked her while she chewed. "Because I'm still curious about the stuff they have here. I saw an interesting place while chasing those guys."
"Nah, I think I'll head back to the inn. I'm getting lethargic from eating." Karissa pointed her spoon at her empty plate. Then she plopped the skin of the fruit on the plate.
Gray just chortled in response. "Alright, I'll go pay."
Karissa blinked as he started getting up. "You want me to pitch in?"
"Nah, it's fine. I got it." He said coolly, "Just stay here."
"Kaaaay." Kairssa drawled.
…
…
…
Karissa looked over her shoulder to watch Gray wander off on his own. She stopped walking and kept staring at his back until he completely disappeared from her sight. Then she smirked to herself and started walking the way he went but turned halfway to the left on a corner of a street.
"Hopefully I can get something good…" Karissa muttered.
…
…
…
Karissa shut the door and then sat down on her bed with a satisfied smile. She pulled out a box from her jacket's pocket and opened it, pulling out the object inside.
"I think it looks cool." She mumbled while playing around with the object in her hand. "And it's pretty simple so I think it's okay."
She flopped backwards on the bed and held it up to the light.
"I hope he likes it."
The next morning, Karissa was eating bread with melted cheese on top at some random breakfast café she found after aimlessly wandering the streets. She woke up before Gray and found him sound asleep with his back facing her, obviously, since he stayed out longer than she did. She wasn't sure how long he was out for since she was really dead asleep minutes after closing the lights. After getting up slowly and quietly, she left the room after changing in the bathroom and went off on her own with her wallet to get something to eat.
On her way to the café, she found a Sorcerer magazine and decided to use it as a distraction while she ate.
Karissa took a long sip of her orange juice and flipped the page.
She read through a page that focused on Natsu. They were writing about the Salamander's destructive nature once again. It seemed like Natsu was usually pointed out in one way or another in the magazine since it helped the magazine write great articles.
On the next page, she found Mirajane and Pandora posing for some fashion outfits. Karissa couldn't help but think how pretty her sister looked in the picture. She wondered how could her sister project that much confidence in just a single picture.
Karissa bit off a piece of her bread.
There were times when the magazine had requested the Sinclost siblings to come and model in some cool outfits in the past after having done some interviews. They gained popularity after people learned that they were offsprings of Zack and Domilia, but, because of their own unique identities and skills, they were able to separate themselves slowly from their parents' popularity. Karissa felt a bit anxious about answering questions in an interview, she couldn't imagine what kind of stress she'd be in if she stood in front of a camera. For that reason, Van decided to play the hero for her sake and turn down the offer so that the majority of the family wouldn't have to go through with it. Pandora, however, thought it would be good to do it for the sake of moola so she still ended up doing it once in a while.
Karissa refused to do it two years ago.
But now…
I wonder if I would be able to pull it off…?
… Agh, no. What am I saying? I can't.
She could handle the interview questions now since she got used to them, but the idea of doing what Pandora did still made her feel uneasy.
"Morning."
Karissa glanced up, her eyes followed the person until the took a seat in front of her who dropped something near her foot. She didn't have to look under the table to understand that it was her bag.
"Oh, good morning." She greeted Gray back. A tray was settled in front of her. He got himself some type of sandwich for breakfast. "Took you exactly… An hour to get up. Pretty long if you ask me."
"Who cares, we're not in a rush anyway." He took a bite out of his sandwich.
"I could have left you there and just went home." Karissa grinned and continued reading.
"You're messed up."
"Heh."
She stuck her finger in between in a random part of the magazine and then flipped it open. She was on page 31.
Karissa and Gray narrowed their eyes at the page.
There were a bunch of pictures that focused on pairings in Fairy Tail.
Why, that looks an awful lot like me and Gray in this picture.
"Great. What's this?" Gray angled the magazine around so he could get a better look, making the two inch closer to the edge of the table with angled heads.
Karissa Sinclost and Gray Fullbuster! Two ice mages from Fairy Tail! Quite the intriguing pair, especially with their long history together!
There was a picture of her and Gray walking side by side.
Next to their picture was one of Bisca Mulan and Alzack Connell.
It was a gossip type of article.
"Long histo… what the? Who told them?!" Karissa's jaw dropped. She looked at Gray, "I bet it was Mira or something. She likes to gossip."
Gray heaved out a sigh and moved the magazine back in front of her. "Bah, just ignore it."
Karissa titled her head a little, "You're not annoyed?"
"They're just doing it for the readers. Whatever they come up with are just going to be rumors." He replied, cool and composed, not perturbed by the article in the slightest.
This made his friend laugh mockingly and gave him a scornful look that he knew was hiding amusement by the glint in her eyes. "Right. And to think that just years ago, you literally pushed me for getting teased about it."
Gray dropped his head at that which only served to amuse her even more. He lifted his head and his mouth had formed a thin line. "I was a kid! Are you never going to let that go?!"
Karissa faked a pleasant smile. "Nope." She said, popping the 'p'. "I'm afraid my good memory won't let me forget."
Gray clicked his tongue. He leaned back in his seat continued eating. Always count on Karissa to remember specific details of the past.
"Can't believe took two days to apologize."
"You kept running away!" he shot back.
"Did I?" Karissa looked up thoughtfully.
Gray didn't entertain her with an answer and just continued eating his breakfast. He was thinking that they should just take their time and maybe look around one considering how they finished their job pretty fast. It was probably better to choose a more challenging job next time. It was good to look at the reward money but also to consider the experience earned.
When his friend reached down for her bag, he didn't really pay attention and just looked outside the window behind, watching two children playing around together. Then when he felt his plate bump against his hand, he looked down and saw that she was silently looking at him.
He brushed the side of his mouth with his thumb to wipe away a crumb. "What?" he looked down at the table and found a rectangular black box on top of the magazine. "What's that?"
"I got it for you." Karissa gently knocked her finger on its side. "Open it."
Gray put down his sandwich and wiped off the crumbs on his hand onto his plate, and then reached for it, wondering what was inside the box. It felt light. He carefully held the bottom of the box by the edges before lifting off the cover, revealing a necklace inside.
"Whoa," Gray put down the cover and stared at it. It was a silver necklace that had a piece that was shaped like a cross and a sword with a small stone in the middle. Puzzled, he looked at her with clear question marks in his eyes. "Why?" he lifted the sword-cross with his finger.
Karissa put her elbow on the table and propped her chin up with her hand. "Well, Van got a wine glass from Loke when he was seventeen since he was turning eighteen. I thought that was a cool way to celebrate his eighteenth. So… I decided to do the same for you." she explained slowly to make sure she got through to him. "I tried getting something pretty simple. That was the only thing I saw last night that would probably suit your taste."
"Oh, so you got this while heading back." he nodded in realization.
Karissa nodded. "But yeah, that's what I decided to get you since you're turning eighteen."
She grew a little concerned when he just looked back down at it without saying anything. "But, er, if you don't want it, then it's fine. I can still return it."
Yeesh, maybe he doesn't like it… I probably should have just copied Loke and just gave him a wine glass.
Her gaze skittered away for a moment, wondering what else she should say. She looked back at him, and at last he finally responded, he was smiling as he took the necklace out of the box.
"Thanks. I really like it."
Her eyebrows rose after blinking several times, "Really?"
"I mean, I didn't expect to get jewelry from you, but I like it enough to wear it everyday."
"Whoa now, you don't have to go that far, Gray." Karissa lowered his hands when he was about to put it on.
"Why not? It looks cool."
Karissa lifted a brow and then leaned away a little to give him a knowing look. "You serious?"
She knew he was all about looking cool and all that, but she just wasn't sure if he was playing around.
"You don't have to wear it everyday."
Gray lightly flicked her forehead which made her stare at his finger with furrowed brows, feeling slightly offended by the gesture.
"Ow?"
"I'm not about to say that and lie." Gray simply told her as he reached behind his neck and clasped it, letting it drop in front. "It's mine now. So, I'll wear it whenever I want."
Karissa blinked. "Um, okay..."
It looks good on him. It suits him.
"Thanks again. You know me well, huh?"
Hearing that, Karissa straightened up with pride. "Of course!"
When they got back at the guild, Karissa and Gray parted ways when they were greeted by the other members. Elfman and Gray went to sit somewhere while Karissa went with Mirajane to the bar where she asked for a glass of orange juice.
"How did the job go, Karissa?" Mirajane asked with a smile, sliding her glass in front of her.
"Hm… kind of quick. Those bandits weren't much of a challenge." Karissa grabbed a straw next to Mirajane and plopped it into her cup. "I didn't exert much magic power. I know the reason why… but I just…"
Mirajane patted her head. "Aw, don't worry about it. The master said that you shouldn't be so concerned about it."
Karissa sighed and bit her straw. "Yeah, I know. But I still can't help but wonder if something is wrong with me… Like what if I'm getting some internal damage or something and I'm not even aware of it? I'd be dead on some random job and you guys wouldn't even know about it. You'd find my body mutilated by some crows that were scavenging for food."
The white haired woman removed her hand off her head, giving her a cheeky smile. "Yes, but I'm sure Gray would do his best to keep you alive with all these jobs you guys keep going on together recently."
Karissa snickered and gave the guild hall an observation in order to find Gray, she found him with Cana, Van and Elfman, his shirt and pants long gone, leaving him alone in his underwear along with the new necklace. "He better or else I'm going to haunt his ass."
Mirajane was quick to spot the necklace he was wearing and notice that it was not something he usually wore.
"Has he always had that necklace?" Mirajane wondered, curious.
"Hm?" Karissa looked back at her at her question. Mirajane just made a motion with her hand that resembled the shape of a necklace on her chest. "Oh, that. No, I gave it to him hours ago." She said simply flatly after gulping.
Hearing this, the bartender made a little gasp and then leaned on the counter, grinning brightly. "Oh? What was the reason? Is there some secret meaning?"
"Hm, not really. It's not a secret to me that Gray is turning eighteen soon. So, I got him something for it." She reached for her neck and rubbed it sheepishly. "I literally just copied Loke when he got Van a wine glass."
"Really? That's it?" Mirajane gave her an unconvinced look.
"… I can't think of another reason why I would give it to him. Oh, wait," Karissa smiled a little. "He's my best friend so that's another reason I guess."
Placing a hand on her cheek, Mirajane sighed dramatically. "I don't know if I should be glad or sad about how you still have some degree of innocence."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You guys are so close, I think you'd make a cute couple." Mirajane suddenly said cheerfully with her hands clasped together.
"Haah?" Karissa slumped in disbelief.
"Nothing, nothing~" Mirajane sing-songed as she straightened up. Karissa lifted a brow and watched as she walked away to attend to someone else who sat down at the counter.
Ever since Lisanna passed away, Mirajane had become quite the soft person. She used to be this tough girl with great magical ability, a quality that allowed her to become an S-Class mage, but she just lost her strength and will to fight after the incident. She had become this caring and loving person within the guild, she became motherlier than Pandora.
Karissa gazed at her juice as she recalled the youngest Strauss within the sea of her memories. She really did miss that girl.
Her parents, Mister Silver and Miss Mika, Ur, Hilda and Lisanna. Each event reminded her painfully that life was such a precious thing. Once that person's life vanishes, she would never see them again no matter how much she longed for it. There was no second chance. At some point, she even began to fear death, something that made her quite uneasy a night.
She shook her head. Get those dark thoughts out of here.
Just then she remembered the article she read a few hours ago, she pouted as she stared at Mirajane who was busy making a cocktail.
I'll be sure to ask her if she told the magazine…
"Hey, Karissa."
She blinked when she felt someone settle into the seat next to hers. He had orange spikey hair and hazel eyes that were hidden behind a pair of tinted blue shades. His familiar dark green coat was a dead give away.
"Oh, hi. What are you doing here, Loke?"
Loke shrugged and twisted a little so that he was facing her, he put his arm on the counter and leaned on bit. "Got back from a job just now."
"No, I meant, what are you doing here."
Feigning offense, he put a hand on his chest. "What? I can't greet a fellow member of my guild?"
Karissa gave him a look. "Well considering how you like to slither your way into some girls' pants after a job—"
"You don't know that. Don't go making assumptions." He reached and flicked her nose. She scrunched it up in annoyance. This was the second time she had been flicked today.
Loke was the resident flirt of Fairy Tail. He had joined around the time she was sixteen. His friendly personality made it easy for him to get along with others around him. He flirted with just about any girl he saw, but he never really acted that way around Pandora and Karissa. According to him, Pandora seemed too motherly like Mirajane to the point where Loke actually felt bad of flirting with someone who resembled his mother. He also preferred to keep his head on his shoulders by not incurring Pandora's wrath if he tried flirting with Karissa.
Karissa could sympathize with that fear.
"How did your job go?" Karissa asked before sipping from her straw.
"It wasn't that hard. I was just collecting a bounty. After that, I ended up meeting a nice lady at the bar."
The girl narrowed her eyes at him with a frown. "Yeah, you could have kept that last part out. I didn't ask."
That evoked a laugh out of him. "Okay fine. How did yours go?" he asked her with a grin.
…
…
She grimaced.
"Alright," Loke straightened up in his seat. "Now I'm curious."
Karissa ran her hand across her face, pulling the skin under her eyes with her fingers, blowing out hot air.
Remember when I said there were 3 more chapters left until we reach the canon timeline? NAH. Next chapter, we jumping straight into it! Thankfully, all the necessary parts were crammed perfectly into this chapter!
kpop1392as: Thank you for saying that! I'm excited to rewrite this story properly and share it with others! You'll also learn more about each sibling as the story unfolds.
See you in the next one!