Ryker and Erza burst through the guild door in the early afternoon, returning from their mission against the trolls. The guild was packed, many mages took the weekend to go on quests and now they were waiting for a rest for the next adventure. Wizards don't have a set day to work, so taking a break on the weekend would not be unusual.
"Let's fight Ryker!" yelled an expansive Natsu, who ran towards the other mage with his fists blazing and ignoring Erza's presence at his side.
Ryker made light of the situation, at the right moment he dodged the attack. Synchronizing a sweep and shove on the fire mage's back sent him flying out of the capsizing guild. The other members of the Natsu team sighed in defeat when they saw their friend lying on the ground, not understanding what happened. The Dragon Slayer did not give up and went again against the mage who had just returned. Again he dodged his attack. He stopped beside the fire mage facing the opposite direction he was. With a quick movement Ryker grabbed the neck of the pink hair, with his right arm and with his right leg, he tripped him from behind, knocking Natsu to the ground with some violence.
"Hold it right there," Ryker told a stunned Dragon Slayer. Everyone in the guild laughed at the vexing situation that the mighty Natsu was subjected to, again, by the rookie.
"Stop laughing!" yelled Natsu with fire coming out of his mouth.
"You better calm down Natsu," said a serious Erza.
"Yes ma'am!", said Natsu sitting obediently, but with a face of few friends at his table, together with his friends.
"Lost again, flame brain," chuckled Gray.
"Want to go ice princess ?" , Natsu replied facing the cold mage. Their faces were practically glued together.
"You bet, hollow head full of ash!" Gray returned, growling.
" Ice cube !" , Natsu replied, growling back.
But, before leaving for a fight, they were knocked out by a redhead with no patience for fights, even more so returning from a mission.
"How was the mission, Erza ?" asked a sweet Lucy.
"It went well. They were just trolls," she said, sitting at the table with her friends.
"What about you, Ryker?" the blonde asked.
"Me!?", he said, taken by surprise. "Nothing new. Like the queen here said, all right," he said lightly and playfully.
"Queen!?", the blonde said a little confused.
"Ah yes. I found out that Erza is a queen. The Queen of the Fairies. It's not interesting? Does she deserve a crown?" he said mockingly.
Erza was serious, but not in a bad way, but in an amusing way, amused by the situation. She had a light air. In response she nudged him with her elbow, it was more like an elbow, as he was standing beside her, Ryker, after his air had returned, returned the gesture more gently, placing his hand on her shoulder, pushing lightly.
"Don't you know how to play, redhead!?" he said and she shrugged impassively.
Lucy saw that interaction and couldn't help but smile at both of them. Apparently there was something between them on that mission, she thought. There was an air of complicity, a friendship deeper than before she could feel. Those two wizards created a new and strong bond, a true friendship. She was happy for both of them.
Happy, seeing the scene, can barely contain himself with excitement. Her eyes sparkled, her body trembled, her paws in her mouth. He wanted to speak, he wanted to express himself, and the smile on his feline face betrayed his words.
"Better keep your mouth shut, cat, or I'll barbecue you," said a Ryker annoyed at the cat menacingly.
"And I help him," said an Erza in the same way.
"Lucy, save me !" , cried the blue exceed hiding behind the celestial mage.
"I don't think I can do much", the blonde said with sweat on her forehead.
After a while, Ryker was at the guild bar drinking his beer, quiet as usual. Sometimes he exchanged a few words with Elfman and Lisanna, they knew each other well, but they didn't have the same relationship as Mira. This one, by the way, was very busy waiting on tables.
"Ryker, I'm glad I found you," Makarov said.
"Master! I haven't seen you in a while," he said.
"Yes a little. I've already talked to everyone, but since you weren't here, I'll talk now", the master says, catching the magician's attention. "Tomorrow we will have many activities. So be prepared early, okay?" he says smiling warmly at one of the people he considers a son.
"What activity would they be?" , the magician says calmly.
"Well, in the morning we will have a checkup on all guild mages at the local hospital. And in the afternoon a reporter comes here," he says excitedly.
Ryker grunts, hospital and journalists, two things he didn't like at all.
"Now if you'll excuse me I have… business to attend to," he says with stars in his eyes as he sees one of the waitresses passing them. Ryker nods yes. That old man has no way.
Although the guild was full and noisy, he wasn't excited, it felt like today was boring for some reason. He looked around, wondering if he was going to walk around town or continue around. Away from him was Erza, who had just sat down at the bar with a piece of strawberry cake. At a table, Cana was drinking his barrel of whatever with two other old perverts. Gray, Natsu and Gajeel were dragging other guild members into a fight. Levy was reading a book at the same table as Lucy, who was tired of the wizards' fights. Juvia was supporting her beloved Gray-whatever, behind one of the pillars, she had hearts in her eyes, it was weird. Why does she do this? They are lovers for God's sake! What a bunch of weird people, he thought, but in a good way, he'd come to like it without knowing how. With nothing to do, he decided to talk to Erza.
"What's so good about this cake?" he said taking a seat next to the red-haired mage.
She looked at him in surprise. How someone in their right mind would ask such a question for a piece of paradise in the shape of a candy. "This is a gift from the gods. The perfect candy, in every way", she said with the happiest face in the world, enjoying the treat.
"I bet chocolate is better," he said superbly.
"Not in a million years," she snapped fiercely, defending her dear and beloved piece of sugar.
"Well, if that's the case, there's only one way to know," he said taking the spoon from Erza's hand, cutting half of the piece of strawberry cake she had and putting it in his mouth. To the utter horror of the mage, who was looking at him in terror and panic.
The once noisy guild suddenly went quiet, not even the crickets making noise. A sepulchral silence descended on Fairy Tail as never before. Gajeel, Gray and Natsu who were fighting until recently, were hugging each other and in a cold sweat, shaking with fear. The other guild members weren't too different. Scared, terrified were euphemisms. Nothing could describe the fear and horror and panic they were feeling right now. And all this because they saw the rookie, he could only be a rookie, steal a piece of Titania's cake. God, she doesn't have that nickname for nothing!
" He, he , he took a piece of… E...Erza's … cake !" Natsu, in shock, stammered in pure terror.
"That idiot wants to die!?" shouted Gajeel, in pure panic.
"No! He's already dead and so are the rest of us if we get caught up in her rage," Gray said, he's never been so scared in his life.
"Juvia will protect you Gray-sama!" shouted a confident and protective Juvia as she hugged him. "Although she doesn't think she can do much," he said realistically.
"AHHHHH! What does he think he's doing!?" Lucy said desperately.
"It's the end! It's the end!", shouted Happy, desperate flying everywhere.
"I don't want to see this," Levy covered her eyes with her hands so as not to see the massacre.
"At least don't destroy the guild, Erza!", begged a Makarov, worried.
Mira was just stunned by her friend's audacity. She just stood there, apprehensive about what was going to happen, even though she already had a pretty good idea of the end result, knowing Erza as she did. It would be better to say goodbye to her friend, it's good to meet new people once in a while. And may God have mercy on his soul.
Similar murmurs could be heard from the other guild members, their dread, fear, anguish and worry could be seen in their voices and faces.
In the bar Erza had a black aura, her eyes turned to pure hatred and an anger rose inside her like never before. It was a true vision of the devil, anyone in their right mind would be afraid and terrified of it. She had two swords in her hands and was ready to attack the man in front of her, no matter what the circumstances.
"How dare you? How dare you steal my lovely piece of cake?" , she says with menace.
"Oh, relax!", Ryker says nonchalantly. "I'll buy you as many cakes as you want later. Hmmmm! This cake is really good, but chocolate is better," he says, kind of teasing the mage, which only increased Erza's anger and the guild's dread.
He looks at her and sees her facial expression, the anger written on her face and he smiles. Although that way scared a lot of people, he always thought she was pretty angry, and that situation was no exception.
"Don't look at me with that face. You know what I think when you get mad," he said looking at her with a tender smile.
Upon hearing those words Erza's face heated up and turned bright red, it was clear that she was embarrassed. This to the point that she forgot her anger at losing her cake, and a slight smile touched her lips, a shy, charming smile. She began to behave shyly and awkwardly. Now she knew she was hardly going to be deeply irritated by Ryker.
At this point, the entire guild was open-mouthed with what was going on, they had no idea. Was it another Erza? Was the universe ending? The implications were dire.
" Come!" Ryker said getting up and heading for the door.
"Go where?" she asked shyly.
He turned to her with a smile. "Didn't I say I'd buy you a cake? Let's go to the candy store then."
"You said you would buy me as many cakes as I wanted," she said with a knowing look and smile.
Ryker stopped, and a sweat trickled down his forehead. Realized the stupid thing he did, now he would be broke. "Eh… whatever. Hurry up !" , said leaving the guild and being followed by a totally happy Erza.
After they left nothing could be heard in the noisiest guild in the world. It was deathly quiet. Not even the noise of the wind was heard inside. What you saw were whitish wizards with their eyes wide and jaws down to the ground.
"I think they like each other," Happy said, breaking the silence, but no one was able to utter a word. Everyone was in shock, still. Only one person responded, however.
"Shut up, cat," said a demonic and very angry voice. His eyes showed his state. This was Mira, who was looking directly at the Exceed in a demonic way.
"Help, Natsu!" he yelled flying towards his paralyzed friend.
A few days after the incident, it was not expected that Natsu would try the same technique (he thought it was one) that Ryker used on Erza. As he was a Dragon Slayer he listened to the entire conversation but didn't know the context. Have you seen it? He thought it was some kind of new technique that could be used to control Titania, and as powerful as he found himself, he thought he would quickly master it. And he went to take the test against the magician, even against the warnings of his friends. Well just Lucy, the others wanted to see him get screwed. Yes, he stole half the piece of cake the redhead was eating at the time, and said the same thing as Ryker. Underdog...
Well, what can we say? Obviously it didn't work out and Natsu, well he was sent to the Hospital. He died, but he is doing well.