Y'ello. Tis Scar, of the 'let Sun Frosts. … Idk, just, just read the thing. (ง •_•)ง
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"We don't want you here!"
Aki propped herself up, pushing the pain of her injuries away as Gray bore down on her.
It was a couple days since being made a part of the guild, the first days having been spent at Fairy Tail's physician, Porlyusica, healing their wounds to something of a tolerable degree. Still, they were spending the nights at the strict doctor's treehouse until they were properly healed. Zeref, who had been eager to leave and be with Mavis, whom Aki couldn't bear to be around, had taken off the second he could. Natsu and Erza, who had been specially requested by a client, weren't at the guild right then. Lucy, too, had been requested by yet another client, leaving Aki alone in the guild hall but for the strangers who reviled her.
She wasn't the least bit surprised at her current situation.
"I don't know why Gramps let you stay, but our guild mark shouldn't be on someone like you!"
Aki didn't meet his eyes, still not speaking. After all, she agreed with him, an ice wizard whom Deliora had orphaned. She didn't belong here; didn't deserve to step one sullied foot in the building; didn't deserve the Fairy's mark.
Yet she had it.
"You probably threatened him or something!"
She still didn't answer, but the idea that Makarov could be blackmailed into endangering his guild was ludicrous.
"What?!"
When she didn't respond except to incoherently, and seemingly unwittingly, mumble, Gray snapped. Dropping into a making stance, he started, "アイスメーク:ハッマ–"
[Ice Make: Hammer-]
A frying pan flew into the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the floor. "The Edo-!?" he started, jumping up, but he instantly backed down, blanching. "M-Mira-chan?"
"Gray," Mira said sweetly, smiling her smile. "I know you weren't about to attack a sweet, injured, little girl, right?"
"Sweet little-" Gray started, but—
"It's fine."
All turned to see Aki wobbling to her feet, a hand to her lips.
"It's fine, Mira-san," she repeated, face hidden.
Mira merely scowled. "If it's fine, then let me see your hand."
"It's fine. Let him be."
Mira puffed out a cheek, and Gray immediately backed away. Angry as he might be, between anything and Mira, anything would have to wait.
When Aki remained silent, you could almost hear the echo of Mira's honey meter breaking.
Macao and Wakaba, watching, shook their heads remorsefully. "She might be Aki, but to think she'd fall victim to the she-devil so soon…"
"What is wrong with your hand?" Mira insisted, taking a step forward.
Aki retreated a step, giving a half smile. "It's fine. I'm-" She let out a hiss as someone grabbed her arm from behind. "Le-Levy-san?! Let go! Please let go!" She pulled desperately, but was hindered by her barely sealed wounds, which, if pulled on too much, would rip open.
Levy gasped, along with Mira, who had somehow teleported to their side the instant Aki had been distracted.
"What is it?" someone said, coming forward, and, ignoring Aki's desperate pleas, Levy yanked her sleeves up.
Aki instantly flexed her magic, using a transformation spell to hide the scars before the rest of the guild could see. Sure, they could see the cloud the spell had produced, but they would be none the wiser as to what had been there before.
However, though this worked for everyone else, it was too late for Mira and Levy.
"What happened?" the former breathed, appalled.
Aki trembled, her expression twitching between mad, sad, and anxious. Finally, she mumbled, "I already said it's fine-"
"Yes, you've already lied," Mira cut in. "So, how about you try the truth?"
Aki opened her mouth, forming silent words for a few moments before turning away.
"Aki, you can tell us. We're here for-"
"You shouldn't be!" Aki snapped, stopping Mira's hand as it reached for her shoulder. She shook her head vehemently. "You shouldn't care, and that's why I'm not- not- that's-" She seemed to struggle for a minute before finishing forcefully, albeit lamely, "It's fine."
"It's not!" Levy retorted, uncharacteristically angry. "Tell us what's wrong!"
"I won't."
"What?!"
"I won't!" Aki shouted. Several flinched as she looked up, but Levy and Mira hardly noticed her burning pupils, preoccupied with her wet lashes.
"Tell us, Aki-chan," Mira pressed.
"… stop trying to-"
"Be nice to you?" Levy interrupted testily.
"YES!" Aki erupted again, her bottom lip trembling. She seemed to suck in a breath before glowering at them all, a murderous aura penetrating every corner of the guild hall and seeping into the everyone's veins.
Except for Levy and Mira, Levy shaking her head in exasperation. "This is why I thought that curse was the worst I'd ever heard of," she muttered, striding up to the cornered ex-Black Mage. Said mage snarled up at her, a cornered animal. "Aki," she offered, "how about you tell me and Mira?"
The animal twitched.
"I want-" someone started, but they withered as Mira glared at them.
"I don't-" Aki yelped as Mira hoisted her over her shoulder.
"Bye!" Mira called, waving to the dumbstruck guild as she and Levy hauled the flailing ex-Black Mage out the guild's front doors with shocking ease.
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"There!"
Aki, despite her efforts to swallow the noise, yelped a little as they dropped her onto a patch of sand. It was blocked from view of the rest of the beach by a peninsula of trees that had encroached upon their boundaries. There, she glared up at them, but found them entirely unperturbed by what had sent humanity scurrying for so many centuries.
"So," Mira started, sitting down on one side of her.
"Tell us what happened, and we won't force you to say it in front of the guild," Levy finished, sitting down on her other side, blocking off any escape.
Aki scowled at them. They thought she wasn't going to answer, but-
"You- you promise?"
They started at how meek her tone suddenly was – quiet, scared, small.
"You p-promise not- not- to not-…" She trailed off, mumbling incoherently.
"We won't tell anyone, we promise," Levy said, guessing what she had meant to say.
When Mira didn't follow her up, Levy shot her a look; Mira pouted. Levy pointed at Aki, who had hunched over, covering her head with her arms, and gestured emphatically; Mira responded with a petulant shake of the head. Levy glowered, making faces and ever more exaggerated gestures as Mira doggedly continued her refusal.
"…I- I don't want anyone else to know…" Aki breathed, voice painfully constricted. "Lucy already freaked out; I can't stand it…"
As she buried her head deeper into her knees, Levy directed an 'I told you so' look at Mira, who winced.
Glancing at their charge, she relented, sighing, "I promise not to gossip about it. Really," she added indignantly, seeing Levy's raised eyebrows. "I do love gossip, but I want to help Aki-chan more-"
"Stop!" Aki burst out, pressing her hands to her ears and making them both jump. "Stop saying that! You shouldn't care about me!"
"Aki-" Mira started, concerned, but Levy put a hand up, eyeing the back of Aki's shirt; they needed to know about her hands before they could ask about anything else.
"What happened, Aki-chan?"
Aki shivered, mumbling inaudibly. "…You don't need-"
"Tell us, or we'll chant how much we care," Mira threatened on impulse.
At this, Aki cringed, cowering into herself – both Mira and Levy were appalled that she would react that way, but forced themselves to remain silent. After a minute, Aki mumbled, almost too quietly for them to hear, "I just, I was just used for some rituals on Galuna."
"WHAT!?"
"It doesn't matter!" she reiterated, looking up frantically. "I don't want you to feel bad for me! I don't want anybody to feel bad for me!"
"I don't deserve anyone feeling bad for me!" said a new voice.
"I don't deserve to be cared for or loved!" came a second.
They all looked up to see Lucy and Erza emerging from the underbrush.
"You deserve plenty, Aki-chan."
Aki blinked, then hunched forward again. As Erza and Lucy joined them, Levy started gently patting Aki's back; she could feel Aki's muscles tensing and releasing, shuddering at the contact. "Why didn't you teleport away?" she asked curiously. "You can, can't you?"
"I can't teleport on my own if I'm touching someone," the other muttered, her head twitching as Levy continued rubbing her back. "It's a higher function of Teleportation Magic… you would have been brought along anyway… and- and I thought that it would be better if… like, a good faith thing… and even if I had managed it, you would have assaulted me every time I entered the guild hall…"
"True," Levy agreed amiably. "I know you don't want it," she added, switching to seriousness, "but is there anything we can do to help?"
"'m fine."
"You aren't fine," Erza snipped crossly.
Lucy clapped her hands together, and all three looked at her expectantly, Aki uncurling only as far as was necessary. "We can take you out around the town!"
Mira beamed, Erza giving an approving nod.
"That's a great idea, Lu-chan!" Levy cheered, but Aki shook her head.
"Why? What'd be the point-"
"Not everything is about cold logic, you know," Lucy interrupted easily.
"Come on," Levy cajoled, poking Aki in the side. When Aki only grunted, her and Mira's eyes glinted. Both, first nodding at each other, stood up.
Before they could begin their tickle attack, though, Lucy was there, picking Aki up and ignoring her protests. "You're still injured," she shushed, holding her bridal style. "I know you get tired out easily, and it hurts to move too much, right?"
Aki didn't respond, merely looking down at her hands. Her eyes widened as they started down the beach. "Wait! My gloves! Give me the gloves!" she begged, wiggling in Lucy's arms. When all four raised their eyebrows at her, she shrank back. "You- you promised," she whimpered, her tone switching again. "You said you wouldn't… you said…"
Erza raised an eyebrow at Mira and Levy, and they sighed, nodding. "We did," Mira admitted, reluctantly holding the black gloves out. Aki sniffled as she took them, pulling them on and holding them to her chest.
"Where should we go first?" Lucy asked, trying to lighten the mood as they stepped onto the cobbled streets of Magnolia.
"Cake!" Erza said instantly, eyes sparkling.
"We should do what Aki-" Lucy fell silent as Erza turned towards her; while the look was still happy, within it laid bare a threat of great violence, and Lucy didn't have a death wish. "Cake it is," she said, letting out a sigh of relief as the monster- her friend (her friend the monster) turned forward again.
Erza marched ahead in front of them, ending at a little cake shop that knew her very, very well as a… special type of patron. (Forty-nine cakes again, Erza?)
They were about to enter, when- "Please don't take me in…"
"What?"
Aki all but mewled from Lucy's arms, not meeting their gazes, "Don't- I don't want to go in."
They glanced at each other.
"Why not?" asked Mira. Aki didn't answer, and Mira- perked… up? "I have an idea," she said encouragingly, and Aki looked up with a flicker of hope. "If you tell us why, we'll let you stay outside while we go get the cake."
The rest seemed to very much like the idea, though Aki looked aghast. "But-!" she protested. "But that's not-"
"You have your chance right now, Aki-chan," Mira interrupted pleasantly.
From Aki's point of view, the other four girls towered over her, eyes gleaming and grinning widely, shadows swallowing the rest of their faces along with any hope of resistance. She glanced at the shop window—she could already make out three people.
"Guess we're going in," Levy shrugged, turning.
"No! Wait-!" Flushed, held captive by a blonde, threatened by a bluenette and snow-white, enforced upon by a redhead, she quailed. Whatever else happened, they already sort of knew, right? She stared at her stomach, forcing out the whisps of words, "I'm scared that- that everyone's gonna- they'll all die, if… I… g…o…"
Tears stung her eyes.
She hated it. Since when was the murderer allowed to feel fear? Since when was she so weak that she would tell someone her worthless, petty problems? Since when?
Aki didn't hear as they spoke, didn't see as Lucy sat down at a table, didn't feel the celestial mage stroking her hair, far too horrified by her own daring.
I'm too scared? Me? What about all the people I've killed? They were terrified, I —she shuddered violently— saw their faces as I crushed them with magic, and for what? Nothing! Nothing, ever, only because they happened to cross my path – for amusement…
Lucy glanced down at the shivering puddle in her lap. "Maybe we shouldn't have made her say that," she said uncertainly, looking up at her friends.
Erza shook her head, swallowing a bite of cake. "She needs to hear it. She has to admit it, or she won't move on."
"But it might hurt more than it helps," Lucy worried. They all exchanged anxious looks, unease fluttering between them.
"I think it will help her," Mira said eventually. She nodded firmly as they turned to her. "It might not be good for her, but I really think it will be good for her; at least we can try."
"Is there anything else we can do?" Levy asked, looking down at glassy eyes.
They sat in thought for a while, Erza steadily steamrolling through her ten cake slices – she hadn't felt too peckish – before Lucy started, "Maybe we can judge it on a case-to-case basis? Like, we can decide when it comes up whether she has to say."
"She needs to admit that she's hurting, though," Erza reminded her.
"And she can still do that," Lucy said reasonably. "I just mean, if it looks like it's too much for her, then we can give her a pass."
"Maybe she can choose which- no, listen to the whole thing!" Levy whined, seeing their ludicrously high raised eyebrows. "She can choose which to not say, but she can only choose not to speak a certain number of times."
Lucy considered this. "Then… then, if it really upsets her, she can say so…"
"And we won't be forcing her to acknowledge all her pain," Levy said happily, causing Lucy to wince.
"I don't think we should force her to relive any pain…"
"Other way round."
They all jumped – sans Erza, she's a boss (a cake boss, if nothing else).
Slowly, Aki righted herself in Lucy's lap, looking sour. "I get to decide whether I answer; you can only make me answer once—and today is already used up!" As they began to protest, she snapped, "I could leave at any time, tail you ambushing me at the guild." She shifted uncomfortably, lowering her head, staring at her lap. "… but, but I do want to- to-" She trailed off, unable to give voice to the words.
I want to be friends with you all, even if I don't deserve it…
You're all so bright – lighter than I should have, than I have been since then… I know I don't deserve it… But, still, I want it! I want it, even though–! I can't… I shouldn't…
But…
I want to be…
"-so I'll stay. If you agree!" she added, glancing up, prepared to see their scowls– she wasn't prepared.
No, she wasn't prepared for the warm smiles and happy beams of the people of the light, or their kind words.
"If that's all you can manage, then that's all we can ask." Erza nodded.
"It wouldn't be right to make you so upset; we didn't understand how much it would hurt you," said Levy.
Mira beamed ever more brightly. "We want to make you feel happy, not bogged down or attacked."
Lucy glanced at the rest, then turned back to Aki, saying earnestly, "You don't need to tell us anything you don't want to, Aki-chan. We shouldn't have forced you like that. It's your choice how to heal."
"Yeah, sorry, Aki-chan," Levy echoed. Aki looked at them all; Mira looked uncertain, but nodded.
Even Erza bobbed her head. "I guess we weren't thinking much about you so much as what we thought would work," she conceded, taking a sip from her straw of the cherry-colored drink in her hand.
Mira shook her head with a sigh. "I suppose so…"
Aki could only stare at them. "You… You aren't mad?" she finally managed. Lucy blinked down at her, apparently bewildered. Even after rejecting them…? Why…
She shook her head, giving Aki a squeeze; Aki didn't pull away. "Of course not."
"You… you…"
"We trust you, Aki-chan."
"Trust…?"
Lucy pulled back, revealing her blotchily soaked blouse and a watering can by the name of Aki. "You're part of Fairy Tail now," she said firmly, hands on Aki's tiny shoulders. "We trust each other and love each other, and we always stick together."
"I think I heard you mumble something about wanting to be friends," Mira contributed, and Aki and Lucy turned to her, Aki with the addition of a little gasp.
She's beaming so brightly, so warmly and kindly… All that was lost to me so long ago…
"But I don't know who you're talking about, since we all already are."
Aki squeaked, looking quickly around; they were all nodding assuredly. For a minute, she didn't notice them speaking whatever glorious light they had chosen to deliver now, one thought in her mind too loud to allow anything else. Friends…? Me- me? Part of something so- so- no…
A sob broke from her, and she instinctively made to bring her hands to her mouth, but another hand stopped her. She looked up to see them smiling so, so brightly, how did they do it?
They were speaking, and, her hearing kicking back up, Aki caught the last of their words: "-and we'll always stick with you, Aki-chan. We're here for you."
She trembled. I can't, I shouldn't, I don't deserve-
"You do deserve it," Lucy reprimanded, seeming to have read her mind. "And we'll keep saying it until you believe us."
"Even if you never do," Erza added, "we'll be there to help you through it, saying it for you."
Aki looked down, and they all sighed; it hadn't gotten through.
Yet.
But then Aki looked up at them again, and they all started in surprise; surrounded by tears, the slightest, most tremulous smile twisted her lips upward. She rubbed at her nose, sniffling, "I d-do… I r-really do… I'm sorry… I know I sh-sh-shouldn't, but I want to be f-f-f-f-f-friends with you… with all of you… 'm sorry…"
They all beamed, and, sharing a quick nod with each other, got up, giving Aki a group hug she hadn't thought to feel the love of ever again.
No, she wasn't free, as she whimpered involuntarily, unaware she was speaking aloud of her fears and regrets, and no, she wouldn't be able to move on for a long time, if ever. But it was a start.
As she tried to hug them all back at once, not raising her face as she wailed into their shirts, they knew the time would come. They wouldn't give up on their new sister any more than they would give up on saving the guild from a villain; it was time to help the ex-Black Mage- no, to help Aki back into the light. Fairy Tail would defeat any enemy that hurt their family, and then be there to pick up the pieces right along side each other. That was what Fairy Tail was.
That was Fairy Tail.
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Heeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I had this chapter taking a really different route in the beginning, like what they ended up deciding to do about the 'deal,' but I ended up hating it, so I switched it. I'm sure it's better this way, Fairy Tail is supposed to be my therapy, after all. :P
Y'know, I didn't realize how many chapters were going to have Gray being antagonistic at the beginning of A Mage's Mark. But there's only one more of these, so. Well, I think so.
Oh, and if you have any questions about True Tale, I'd be more than happy to answer them, or at least try to, so long as it's not secret plot stuff, obviously. :)
Oh (part 2), if you have any ideas that would have a backstory for Acnologia, I'd be really interested to hear them. It's hard to give the guy much depth because, like, you know, in the main series, I don't think he had much to begin with (^^;). So hit me with your ideas, please!
Alright, see you sometime in the next two weeks! Coming up next is more hurt/comfort, yesssss! (Really, did you expect anything else from me at this point? But don't worry, I have some humor and fluff and fun stuff too, just, not next chapter.) Bye! （＾∀＾●）ﾉｼ