We Have Each Other
"Alright again!" Soler shouted. Erza nodded and flicked a bucket full of water at Soler's command. Soler focused on it, he had to stop each drop in its tracks or else he'd get splashed. He has trained his entire life for this one moment. For this one moment of glory! His moment ended when his face got drenched again. A few days had passed since the Lullaby incident and everything had settled down again. Well as settled as things can be in Fairy Tail but Soler at least was able to get back to training with Erza which is what the two had currently been doing since the morning. And by training it mainly Soler practicing with Erza helping him. He wanted to improve his stopping abilities so he could stop multiple things at once so he got the idea of trying to stop water droplets. He was glad he had the foresight to take off his jacket before he started since his attempts hadn't been going as well as he wanted.
"Agh! I just can't get it!" shouted Soler as he laid on his back defeated. Erza went over and squatted near Soler looking at him a smile,
"You've been working incredibly hard on this one for a while so I'm sure you'll make a breakthrough." she said. Soler sighed,
"Erza I appreciate the optimism but I've been trying to get this down for a few weeks now ya know. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong." he responds.
"Well, I might be able to help. Tell me what it is you're attempting when you try to stop the water?" she asked,
"Hmm, I guess I imagine trying to stop each water drop individually. Ya know like how I do with other things but when the water comes at me I try to focus on each one but there's so many that I guess I get overwhelmed." he explained. Erza took a moment to think about his problem,
"So the problem is that there are too many individual objects for you to stop at once. So why don't instead of trying to stop each individually you just stop them all as one." she suggested. Soler sat up and looked at her confused,
"Stop them all at once? How could I-" he stopped his sentence thinking about what she said exactly. After a few moments his eyes lit up and a big smile spread on his face,
"Sol-" Erza was cut off by the hug he put her in. A blush made its way on her face from the contact since he wasn't wearing a shirt and was currently wet from all the water. He pulled her back so she could see a bright smile on his face,
"Erza you're a genius!" he said.
"I..uh-" Soler pulled her up on her feet handing her the bucket.
"I think you helped me figure it out. Quick let's try one more time." he said. Erza just nodded and went to the stream filling up the bucket with water. Soler stood ready and with a nod, Erza flicked the bucket emptying its contents on Soler. Soler put his hands up and at the moment it seemed he was going to get another face full of water all the water stopped right before it reached his hands, hovering in one big water drop in front of him. Soler smirked glad his idea worked now he just had to finish it. He focused his energy and in an instant the water vanished from sight. It quickly re-appeared over the stream still hovering in one unit. Soler eased his power and soon the waters time flowed and it splashed into the stream.
"Yes! I did it finally!" Soler shouted excitement in his voice. Erza smiled too can't helping being wrapped up in his excitement,
"You finally did it, Soler. I'm proud of you." Erza said. He smiled at her and nodded,
"Thanks. You helped me figure out what I needed to do so thanks for that." he responded. Soler used his energy to envelope himself to quickly dry. With that done he put back on his jacket/cloak,
"Ok, let head inside and see if Mira could whip us up something good. My treat this time." he said. The two made there way back into the guild but the moment they walked into the main hall Natsu was there in their faces his face serious,
"Alright Erza it's time to keep your promise." he said. Soler looked to Erza,
"A promise?" Erza nodded a smirk forming on her face,
"Yes, I promised Natsu that if he helped with Lullaby I'd fight him when we got back to the guild. I am a woman of my word so yes nows as best time as any." she said. Natsu jumped for joy at that really excited for the battle ahead,
"Aw yeah! It's time for me to kick Erza's butt!" he shouted. That got the attention of the rest of the guild and murmurs could be heard coming from the other members. Soler could guess what they were about though,
"Actually I could kill two bird with one stone and beat Erza and Soler at the same time! Oh yeah, today is going to be a good day for me." Natsu boasted. Now that got a rise out of the other guild members,
"Natsu beat Erza and Soler at the same time? Get real!" one of the members shouted. Natsu turned to the member angry,
"Hey shut up! I can totally beat them both." he responded back. The other members only laughed at Natsu causing the dragon slayer to blush in embarrassment but he shook it off just as quickly as it came and focused back to the point,
"Whatever Erza, Soler I challenge you two today!" he declared once again. Soler tried to hide his chuckle while Erza held a confident smile on her face,
"Well Natsu who about you fight me first and then if you beat me you can fight Soler next." she offered. Natsu's smiled as he literally jumped for joy,
Alright! Time to fight Erza!" he shouted as he charged out in front of the guild. Erza only chuckled as she and Soler followed suit. As this was all happening Cana had taken a breather from her drinking watching the entire thing and an idea formed in her mind for her to make a quick jewel.
"Hmm well, this escalated quickly." Soler, standing next to Lucy, Gray, and Mira were in the crowd of other guildmates as they were waiting for the match between Erza and Natsu to begin. Soler looked over to Cana who had a small booth set up and was taking in bets for the winner. Of course, the odds were heavily stacked against Natsu but there were a few who betted on Natsu but Soler still had his doubts.
"Who would have thought Cana could get this all organized so quickly." Soler commented.
"Well, it is Cana after all. She did get together the last betting pool when Natsu challenged you a while back." Gray added. Soler nodded remembering that time and how disappointed everyone was that the fight ended in less than 5 seconds. Lucy was more amazed by everything than the other veteran guild members,
"Are things always this exciting here?" she asked her voice almost un-audible over the rowdy guild,
"Um yeah pretty much." Soler answered back,
"Though the only way this would be complete is if Master was here to spectate." No sooner had the words left his mouth Master Makarov was in the front of the crowd. At the rise of his hand silence fell on the crowd as everyone watched the small man.
"Let the battle of Natsu vs Erza begin!" he shouted and stepped back to spectate. The roars of the guild returned as the fight was about to start. Natsu smirked and cracked his knuckles staring directly at Erza,
"Now it's time to get things started. I'm getting fired up!" he shouted as he fist combust into flames. Erza smiled feeling just as excited to see how much Natsu had grown. Her body glowed white and in the next second Erza was wearing a dark red armor with orange and black sections with the orange sections being shaped like flames and the black looking reminiscent of dragon limbs. The armor consistent with the gauntlets, breastplate, and greaves. The breastplate didn't have shoulder plates, revealing her shoulders, and extends down to her groin, exposing her legs. In a way, it looked like a one-piece bathing suit with the orange covering her breast and another piece circling her waist. The breastplate also had a pair of black dragon-like wings attached to the back. The gauntlets were mainly the orange flames with a hands having claw-like protrusions. The graves were shaped like dragon claws with the knees possessing the orange and the black extending from the knees covering her upper thighs. With all that Erza's hair was also into ponytails with black horn-like clips holding them in place. Soler always wondered how her hair changed with her armor. Lucy's fan girl kicked back in at the site of the armor,
"That's the Flame Empress armor! With that she gets fire resistance and can use fire magic!" she squealed in glee. Soler chuckled from her excitement having seen the armor multiple times in the past he was almost expecting her to equip it. Natsu's smirk stayed strong seeing the armor only pumped him up more. The moment Erza sword appeared Natsu charged in with his flame coated fist ready to slam down on Erza. Erza jumped back dodging the attack as Natsu flames spewed around. While Erza was mid-air she slashed her sword sending three flame strikes down at Natsu. The fire mage smiled as he jumped right up at the slashed not concerned at all by them since they were fire-based attacks. He simply blocked the first two and bit down on the third. Natsu sucked in some air prepping for his next attack,
FIRE DRAGONS ROAR!Flames shot from his mouth resembling that of a dragon its heat being felt by all those watching below. Erza smirked impressed by his attack as she let the fire consume her. No sooner had she let the attack hit Erza shot up from the flame right in front of Natsu surprising the boy completely. She knocked Natsu back down to the ground with a solid punch to the head sending him plummeting. As Natsu fell he spit out several small fireballs at Erza before he hit the ground. Erza blocked all of his attacks and landed on the away from him. Natsu recovered and stood ready to continue the fight. The deafening cheers coming from the spectators added to the hype of the fight. Honestly, everyone forgot about the betting and was just in it now to watch a good fight and Natsu and Erza were delivering. The two combatants got back into their fighting stances, Natsu igniting his fist again and Erza grasping her sword with both hands tiling the blade so it was pointing right at Natsu. Both fighters had smiles on their face enjoying this fight and knowing that this fight was just getting started. The two charged at each other once more ready to continue but right as the two were going to clash,
"This battle is over!" a voice shouted breaking through all the cheering. Erza, Natsu and everyone else stopped what they were doing, much to their unenjoyment, and looked to see one of the magic councils toads with a rune knight standing at attention. Soler groaned and shook his head,
Great, they show up. He thought as he broke from the cloud and walked up to Erza and Natsu.
"What the heck! What's the big idea stopping our fight?" Natsu complained. The toad ignored him and focused on Erza handing her a scroll. Soler and made it up to them and stood behind Erza reading the scroll as she read,
"As the scroll states you've been summoned by the council for the destruction of the guild masters building." it said. Natsu gritted his teeth in anger,
"What!?" he said but Soler knew Natsu to know he would do something reckless so he used his power to pause Natsu to keep him from hearing doing anything else stupid. The toad still ignored the fire mage focusing on Erza and Soler now.
"If miss Scarlet would be so kind as step into the carriage so we can be on our way." it said motioning for the carriage. Erza looked to Soler who just gave a silent nod and she walked into the carriage. The knight shut the door behind her and it and the toad got on the front road off to the council. The other members hadn't said anything during the whole excursion and once it was over master had them all disappears some going into the guild and others going their own way. Soler and Natsu were still standing there with Soler watching the carriage ride off into the distance.
"You two just gonna stay standing there?" Soler turned his attention to Gray who was walking up to them with Lucy and Happy in tow. Gray was obviously upset but was trying to hide by acting cool, unlike Lucy who was showing how upset she was about this.
"Actually I got somewhere to be so I'll be seeing you guys." Soler responded and teleported away. Gray sighed knowing where he was heading,
"He never changes." he said under his breath. He noticed that Lucy and Happy were examining Natsu who still hadn't moved an inch,
"Natsu? Natsu you ok?" Lucy asked waving a hand in his face.
"He's fine. Soler just used his time power to keep him quiet and from not doing anything stupid. With Soler gone he'll probably be moving again in 3...2..1.." as soon as Gray got to one Natsu exploded in anger his time unpaused,
"What did you sa-" he stopped looking around seeing no Erza, Soler, toad or crowd.
"Where is everybody?" he asked heavily confused. Gray sighed,
"Don't worry about it. Come on back inside the Master will explain. Also, you might want to pick up Lucy you startled her half to death." he said pointed to the downed Lucy. Natsu just picked her up and the four made their way back inside.
Erza sat looking out the window staring at the sky as the sun sunk lower in the sky. She knew it was going to be a long ride to the Magic Council, a long ride alone. She had switch back to her normal armor a long while ago knowing it was better to show up to the council as formal as a wizard should be. Her past visits to the council hadn't always been the best and it was mainly because of a certain member but she prayed that he wouldn't be their this time though she knew he would be. Erza sighed placing a hand under her chin,
"If only Soler were here." she said missing him already.
"Someone say my name?" Erza jumped back as Soler's head popped up from above the window with a smile. Erza regained herself quickly flashing one back at him. Soler quickly crawled his way inside and sat on the opposite side of her,
"You're like a genie you come at my call." she joked. Soler did a slight bow,
"Your wish is my command, Miss. Scarlet." he responded in mocked deep voice. That made her laugh which he always enjoyed hearing.
"So if I wished you'd take me away from here?" she asked.
"At your command milady, though I don't think it would sit well with the old geezers." he said. Erza nodded knowing he was right and the two went into silence just enjoying each others company. Some ways on their journey to the council Soler broke the silence,
"So your fight with Natsu was pretty epic. You two looked amazing." he said.
"Thank you. I have to admit Natsu has gotten fairly stronger since the last time we battled. He's definitely improved." she answered back,
"Oh yeah, he has. Though I know you weren't going at full power I saw you were getting into the battle back there. I haven't seen you enjoy a battle since the last time we fought seriously." he mentioned.
"That was a good battle though your speed is still always a problem for me." she admitted.
"Well your swordplay is still a challenge for me so you got me there." he answered back. She smiled and nodded and the two went back into silence. They didn't stay in silence as long this time since Erza broke it,
"Unlike Natsu, I'm sure you know that this is most likely just the council passing the blame for their failure to take down Lullaby by having me be there scapegoat for the master's guildhall. More or less just a slap on the wrist nothing major, so why did you come?" she asked.
"I came to let those old geezers know that they can't just keep using us wizards as scapegoats ya know. Sometimes they need to own up to their actions." he answered with a huff. Erza laughed a bit from his actions,
"I also came to make sure he doesn't mess with you much." he added. That stopped her laughing as a thoughtful expression come upon her face. Soler could see the change in not just her face but demeanour also. Erza shifted in her seat a bit avoiding his gaze,
"Y-You didn't have to come for that. You know I'll be just fine." she responded. Soler sighed and quickly moved over to her seat sitting next to her. He cupped her chin and moved it up so she was looking right at him,
"And you know I don't like that guy and couldn't stand it if you went there alone. Especially if could have gone with you." his voice was serious yet caring. Erza blushed at his words and close proximity. She couldn't help but gaze into his emerald eyes and they only showed how much he cared about her well being. She smiled and nodded,
"Thank you." Soler smiled hearing it and let go of her chin,
"Anytime Erza." he said placing his hands behind his head settling into his seat. The two sat in a comfortable silence this time the air being cleared between them though there was something else eating at Erza and even Soler but neither wanted to bring it up. Instead, Erza nudged Soler a tad making him look over to her. She didn't say anything but just had her hand out which Soler knew what that meant all to well. He smiled and placed his hand left hand on hers the twos fingers intertwined. Ever since they were kids they've always held each other's hand when the other needs some comfort. Though when they were younger it was mainly Erza holding his to help him but since they've gotten older there have been tough times they even Titania needed some emotional support and he was there to help. The two stayed like that for the rest of the ride not talking but just holding hands and glad that they had each other.
Erza, Soler and the toad walked to the meeting room having arrived not but a few minutes ago. Soler walked behind them bored and kinda upset he's back here so soon, but he had to be here for Erza. Erza had to walk in cuffs with the toad leading them. The sun was still hanging in the sky but from what he knows about the council and how much they like to hear themselves talk they might be spending the night here. Luckily the guest rooms were pretty comfy. The three walked in the destination in peace but that peace broke when the last voice they wanted to hear spoke up,
"Erza it's been awhile." The three stopped in their tracks as Siegrain walked towards them. The toad instantly went to a knee while Soler and Erza stood on alert.
"Siegrain." She said giving the man a strong glare. Siegrain only smiled at the glare she gave and he strode right up to her,
"Easy now Erza no need for you to be so hostile or you're little lap dog either." he said. Soler didn't say anything but just watched them his eyes never leaving Siegrain.
"As I said there's no need to be so on edge this is just a projection much like the old men in the next room are. We see no real reason to be here for such a trivial matter as this." he said. Erza didn't react but kept her poker face,
"I see. So I guess this means all this was your doing?" she asked. His empty laugh made Soler's skin crawl.
"Erza you think so little of me. No, sadly I'm not behind any of this, in fact, you can thank those old men for this. See after the whole Clover incident plus Lullaby they were afraid that they would share the blame so they made a plan to push the blame on to others. I'm sure you figured all this out already by now." he explained.
"I figured the council would do something like this. It isn't unlike them to try and shift the blame like this." she responded.
"Yes, yes we all know what the council capable of but that's not why I'm here." Erza looked at him confused,
"Then what are you here for?" Siegrain steps in front of her and placed his hand on her chin getting his face right in front of hers. All of Soler's red lights in his head went off at that. Erza kept her composer though she hated every moment he was touching her,
"I came to warn you. For both, our sakes let's not bring up the past shall we?" he said. That made Erza's facade crack as her eyes widened getting a sinister smile from the man. But Siegrain couldn't savor his little victory over Erza as his arm was slapped away from her face surprising the two. Soler stood now between Erza and Siegrain with all his anger pointed straight at the man,
"Don't you dare touch Erza again." his voice was trembling from how enraged he was. The aura he gave off was surprising to everyone even Erza. The toad on kneeing slightly scurried back afraid of the young wizard. Siegrain though just being a projection was even taken back by Soler though he kept the same smile on his face,
"Well, it seems the lap dog as stepped up to guard dog then. Either way, I've said what I came to say so I'll be leaving you two then. Have a good evening." he said and walked passed them all to go off to who knows where. Once the man was gone the rage Soler was giving off slowly died down and everything grew calm again. Erza though still looked to Soler concerned, not ever seeing that type of rage come from him before.
"Soler you alright?" she asked. He didn't respond right away but instead, he stayed quiet and took a breather to calm himself,
"Yeah, I'm alright Erza I just lost my cool. That guy really rubs me the wrong way and just seeing him get that close to you and...touch you it just...I'm sorry I won't lose it like that again." he said. Erza could hear the remorse in his voice and it saddens her to hear him like this. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his cheek causing him to see her smile,
"It's ok. We all lose our cool from time to time. If you ever have pent up anger let me know ok? I rather you get that out of your system then harbor it." she said. Soler smiled and nodded as he held her hand on his face enjoying the feel,
"Ok I promise I will." he responded. Satisfied with his answered Erza let go of his face and the two continued to the meeting.
Alright, this one is done. It's a bit short I know but I needed to get this one out. There's a lot of fluff in there for you guys soi hope you enjoyed. Anywho an update is that I'm going to posting on a Wattpad and Tumblr also. On Tumblr is probably just going to be some ideas or prompts that pop up while I"ll be doing some stories on Wattpad also. I'm trying to broaden out my writing for others to see on different media too ya know. But I won't stop my stories on here either which in total will be a challenge but I'm up for it! So anyway this has been Solerwolf...later!