Hello dear readers!
So, we left Dalila and Cobra a few days ago, and they were not doing exactly good... and prepare yourselves, because who know what is going to happen in this chapter?
Let's go back to Fiore!
A few days later, Fairy Hills...
The afternoon was going in the most pleasant way. Soaked into warm water until the palms of their hands and feet got covered with wrinkles, Dalila, Lucy and Erza had been chatting for hours now.
The Requip mage looked much less scarier when relaxing into the bath room of Fairy Hills, not having to run after Natsu and Gray.
Lucy, quoting her own words, 'could live in a house with a bath tube only', had gasped in surprise to know that Dalila had been to the hot baths only once.
"It was expensive were I lived. Maybe because it was a small city." had shrugged the wind dragon slayer, letting herself fall into the warmth of the water.
After chatting of this and that - mostly Erza and Lucy telling about their past jobs, and Dalila listening - the all have fallen silent, enjoying the warmth of the water.
From the huge windows of the room, Dalila could see the huge, reddish orb of the sun lowering over the roofs of Magnolia. It was a breathtaking scene, and she let her minds wander, as her eyes got lost among the orange and yellow shades of the sunset.
The air is so clear today...And those colours... Much like the sunsets I saw from Linveland...
She couldn't tell how many times, going home in the long days of summer, she had stop to marvel at the beauty that surrounded her.
The mountains looked like they were on fire, and the sky was purple and gold and red...
"Dalila?"
A voice called her back to Magnolia. "Oh, I am sorry, Erza! What were you saying?"
"The view is nice from here, isn't it?" smiled the Requip mage. "By the way, I was asking about your lectures with Gajeel. How are they going? Have you learned any spell so far?"
"No, no magic for the moment." Dalila shook her head. "He taught me about meditation, mostly... I am too weak to have a proper training, both magical and physical. But we do run a lot." the wind dragon slayer winked to their blonde companion. "I can't say everyone enjoys it..."
Lucy folded her arms. "Blame Caprico for this! I would not complain if the alarm clock was not set at dawn!"
That was the truth, and Dalila could not denied also her was having troubles getting up on time before the iron dragon slayer would come in her room and wake her up personally. "I can't but agree!" she chuckled, lifting her hands.
In the past days Gajeel had come to Fairy Hills every morning, and had taken Dalila with him and Pantherlily for a run, and then they meditated until three in the afternoon.
After that first day when Levy had joined them, the Script mage had always found a way to keep herself busy with work - she went away with Jet and Droy on a mission that very day - and had been able to avoid the training session with the iron slayer.
On the other hand, Lucy was not that lucky. Caprico had decided it was a perfect occasion for his Master to train with a 'expert fighter' as the iron dragon slayer, and so it was for 'her own good, and by her explicit wish to improve her magic abilities', that Caprico had been throwing Lucy out of bed for the past days, accompanying them in their run, and surveilling his Master when she was meditating. And Lucy hadn't dared to disobey the Celestial Spirit.
Therefore Gajeel attention had been focused only on Lucy and Dalila - or 'Bunny girl' and 'Featherweight', as he liked to call them. Taking into account that Caprico was always there keeping an eye on his Master, and that Pantherlily was taking part to their training sessions, there where more teachers than pupils, thing that was making Dalila's sneer everything she thought about it. We must give a very poor impression if they all feel the need to assist us!
But the wind dragon slayer was more than happy to have Lucy as a companion. Even the Celestial mage was giving Dalila some tips from time to time. Caprico was a severe adn exigent trainer, pointing out every little flaw in their position during meditation, or when they were not maintaining the correct posture when running.
Gajeel was less strict, but his advices were the most valuable ones, so far, even if they were never conveyed without a growl or a swear. Pantherlily was the most easygoing of all of them.
"If I had to be precise," had said the Exceed once, "I would be more exigent than these two put together. Before joining Fairy Tail I have been training recruits, after all!"
The run and the meditation afterwards, even if not moderately tiring physically, were enough to make Dalila fall asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, but she had endured it all, because she trusted it was the best way to start learning magic, after all.
"Surely, physical activity and meditation are the keys to gain the strength and the concentration to improve as a mage," had confirmed one day Lucy, "but at dawn!"
She had been complaining about the early hour until the iron dragon slayer had threatened her to pinch her tongue to her palate with a piercing. After that, Lucy had limited herself to glare to the iron slayer from time to time.
"Well, Gajeel and Lily left this morning." Erza stretched out in the water. "So you don't have to worry about training tomorrow, Lucy."
"But Erza, our train is at seven!" sighed the Celestial mage. "Can't we really catch the nine o'clock ride?"
Erza shook her head severely. "The client has asked to meet us at eight. We can't take the later train."
Lucy was more inclined to believe that the Requip mage had 'suggested' to their next client to meet at eight, and the client had been too scared of Titania to say 'no'. Lucy shrugged, defeated. I am going to sleep until lunchtime on my first free day!
"What is your next mission about?" asked Dalila.
"There is a small guild of robbers in a nearby town." explained Erza. "They are hiding in the woods, and the townspeople have not been able to localise them yet. Our job is to find them and bring them to the mayor."
"With two dragon slayers in our team, it will be done in the blink of an eye!" chirped Lucy, already day-dreaming about their reward, and the chance to sleep until one in the afternoon in a few days.
Right, thought Dalila, two dragon slayers this time.
"Are you sure Wendy doesn't want to come with you?" she asked cautiously. "I can always try by myself..."
Erza placed a hand on Dalila shoulder. "Don't you worry. Wendy and Charle are happy to stay in Magnolia and help you out."
Dalila smiled to herself, slipping in the hot water. I am happy as well! she thought, going back to the conversation she had with Gajeel a couple of days ago.
"Ya need to learn to eat yer own element. Yer magic is growin', but ya need to feed it." said the iron dragon slayer. "But this one thing I am not able to teach ya."
"Eh? And why is that?" asked Dalila. Gajeel had proved to be an excellent teacher so far - and Dalila, having been a teacher herself, was a reliable judge for that. She wanted to learn under his guidance.
"'Cause wind is different from metal. Ya see, ya can touch metal, feel it under your fingers... But wind, no. Even fire, it's not solid, but it's there. It is more perceivable than wind... Wind come and goes. It's a totally different element." Gajeel shrugged. "The best one for this is Wendy. She eats air, so she's the best to teach you this part."
"Wendy could stay in Magnolia for our next mission." prosed Lucy. "So that she could teach you how to eat the wind! And we could always find a close job, so if have an emergency, Charle will be able to bring her to us quickly!"
So, it was settled: Wendy had been enthusiastic about the perspective, and Mirajane had found just the perfect job for team Natsu, in the nearby town of Primula.
The plan was that Dalila was going to practice meditation and how to feel her magic, for when the iron dragon slayer and his cat were coming back, and train with Wendy at the same time.
Dalila could not have been more satysfied with the arrangement.
I don't have to be worried about Gajeel coming to Fairy Hills at dawn tomorrow... she thought. She was grateful to the iron dragon slayer, but that routine was very tiring. She was not an early bird, and it was only with all her will power that she was leaving the bed so early in the morning.
I am so excited, thought the wind dragon slayer, looking out of the window again. The sun had disappeared behind the roofs of Magnolia, and its last rays were colouring the bath room with rich shades of red.
"Lucy, have you talked with Cobra?" asked Erza all of a sudden.
The Celestial mage features suddenly clouded. "Yes... Kind of." she shrugged. "He said he is coming tomorrow."
A week has passed, however, things don't seem to get better. Erza sighed. We should have never allowed the Council to bring him back to Era...
She had seen Cobra at the guild but seldom the last days. The poison slayer had talked to anyone but Kinana, and once with Lucy, but only because the barmaid had insisted. Oh, and he had fought with Natsu at a certain point. But I guess that was because Natsu had set Cobra's chair on fire...
However, the poison dragon slayer was still lost in his thoughts, and the Requip mage had not idea how to take him, or what she could say to lift his mood. She had tried to approach him a couple of times, but he had always shoved her away, with that glare of him that was screaming 'leave me alone'.
"I guess a mission close to home, and not that difficult, might help him settle again." said Erza, thinking out loud. If not this, I can hardly think of another way to help him.
"Being busy helps a good deal." Dalila suddenly spoke. "I... I talk by experience."
Lucy and Erza exchanged a glance. The Celestial mage looked at the dragon slayer, as she stared out at the blazing sky. All of a sudden, Dalila was looking immensely sad. She was not crying, but her eyes were empty and her face so plain, when she usually was smiling so much, that Lucy felt her chest tighten a little. In all these days I have never asked her about this... She always looked so focused on what she was doing... She looked serene... Happy, even...
Lucy neared Dalila, and circled her shoulders with and arm. "We will do our best, I promise you."
Dalila left her head fall on Lucy's shoulder. "Thank you, Lucy..." she whispered, "Thank you so much."
The Celestial mage hugged the girl, scratching the back of her head. "Everything is going to be alright."
They both felt the strong arms of Erza around them. "Oh, girls! You make me so emotional." she bellowed, before squeezing them so hard Dalila forgot all her sorrows and became suddenly very concerned about the state of her bones.
"Er-za!" cried Lucy, trying to wiggle out the deadly embrace.
But the red-headed didn't heard her. "So emotional!" she repeated sniffing. "So much!"
The next day, in the woods around Primula...
The wood around Primula was bright in the light of the afternoon. Squirrels were jumping from branch to twig, and birds of every sort were singing among the crown of the trees. The scene was so serene and peaceful that time of the day, that one could believe that the wood was a heavenly place for its animals, and that its quietness had never been broke by humans.
However, that was not the case, as among the cries of the squirrels and the chatting of the birds, two dragon slayers could be heard arguing.
"I said right!"
"There nothing in that direction, Salamander!"
"But he have to search that way as well!"
"I fucking said I heard nothing coming from there!"
"What if you can't hear them?" "Sod off cat!"
Correction: two slayers and a flying cat could be heard arguing.
Natsu rolled his eyes. Cobra had been less tractable than usual. The morning ride on the train had not been the best way to start their day, and now the two had been sent by Erza exploring an area of the woods were the robbers had been seen last time.
Maybe we should have left him at home?
"Shut the hell up, Salamander..." growled the poison slayer.
But Natsu's brain had a will on its own that morning. Maybe he is still upset because what the Council did to him?
"I am saying it one last time." hissed Cobra. "Shut. the. hell. up."
"Ok, ok..." Natsu help up his hands. He knew better on insisting upon that matter. He himself was still upside down for one of his family being taking away. Because Cobra was family, for him. Whatever you may think, he added.
They kept advancing circumspectly among the woods in perfect silence.
Bur it lasted little.
"Have you heard them?"
No answer.
"And now?"
Again, no answer.
A few moments passed, and then again, "And now, have you heard them?"
"Keep this up cat, I am making a scarf out of your pretty fur..."
"Uaaa!" the possessor of the voice flew hiding behind Natsu. "Natsu, he wants to make a scarf out of me."
"Aww Happy, it's not true, I am sure. Why don't you go back to the others?" said Natsu "Tell them we have no news yet."
"Aye sir!" Happy threw one last fearful glance at the poison dragon slayer, and disappeared among the trees behind them.
Cobra huffed. "Have you realised that the robbers might see him?"
Natsu turned and looked at Cobra amazed. "Oh, you are caring about something that is not yourself! That is good to know!"
The poison slayer growled. "Watch your fucking mouth Salamander."
"Just saying."
They advanced more in the woods. The trees were growing taller, and the light was now almost hidden behind their heads. The robbers were not in sight, and both Cobra and Natsu knew that they were going to smell them as soon as they got close to their hidings.
"Erza said that there is no mage with them, right?"
Cobra made no sign of having heard the fir dragon slayer.
"I heard Lucy saying Wendy has to teach Dalila how to eat wind." said Natsu after a while.
Again, Cobra ignored him.
"I mean, poison and iron are easy. Fire maybe is a little difficult, but you see it al least! Air and wind as quite close, so I guess leaving Wendy at Magnolia was good idea for this time, isn't it?"
Silence.
"And we can always reach for her, if get into trouble."
Still no sign from the poison slayer.
"So, I was thinking that Dalila has an interesting power. Gajeel told me that her sense of smell is incredible. For instance, on Pantherlily she smelled 'another world', so I guess she perceived he was coming from Extalia! Isn't it incredible?"
That was too much.
"Oh, she did? That's incredible indeed!" Cobra grunted. "I wonder what she can do! What an interesting power!"
Natsu raised an eyebrow. "She is a nice girl. And she smells good, like snow, and-" "I don't fucking care of what she smells like." Cobra bite back. Snow! Like he liked snow. Snow meant cold and winter, two things he was not exactly fond of. Not at all. He was true calling her 'Snow White' then. The thought made him chuckled darkly, and Natsu turned to him once more.
"You should not mock her. She has done anything to you."
"Oh Salamander, you should know that people don't even need to talk to me, for me already to hate them."
"Wait, you hate her?" Natsu cried in disbelief.
Cobra shrugged. "I doesn't fucking matter."
"It does! She is nakama!"
"What has she done to be our nakama, uh? She is barely able to stand on her feet!"
"She has arrived at the guild ten days ago!"
"So what?"
"Cobra." Natsu stopped, and turned towards the poison dragon slayer. Cobra was taller than him, and Natsu had to look up a little to meet his eye. And eye that was void of every emotion now, but annoyance.
"What now?"
"You can't just say things like that and then get away with it!"
It was always like that, between them. Had Cobra been a little more like himself, he had never start triggered the fire dragon slayer. Because it was just what Cobra had done. He knew Natsu was not going to let pass he saying that he hated another guild member. Not so easily, at least.
As much as the poison slayer knew why he had just provoked Natsu that way. It was true that Cobra had been thinking about his time in Era. Short, but enough to cloud his mind with old memories, which he thought he had buried in the back of his head.
But a few nights on the cold stone floor of his old cell - the same cell he had been locked seven years - had had him remember all the cold, the emptiness, hunger and hopelessness of that place.
He remembered how he had felt when they told him he had been granted parole. Sure, it was Fairy fucking Tail, but it was the closest thing to freedom he had ever have.
Going behind bars again, was like losing the only thing that mattered to him. Fairy Tail.
The thought was hilarious, and had he been in a different state, he would have laughed his ass off, really.
"It's not that I am going to poison her or anything." he chuckled. "I have no intention of having the Rune Knights on my neck, thank you very much."
Natsu stiffened. "Just because of that?"
The fire dragon slayer had no idea why Cobra was showing this dislike for Dalila, all at once. It was true that she had crashed onto him on her very first day, but that had not been her fault. Dalila just lost everything. Her family, friends, her entire world has disappeared. And she has just started her fight to win back her happiness. Cobra couldn't simply 'hate' her. They hadn't even talked!
"I already told you I don't need to talk to people."
Ignoring the fact that Cobra looked ready to smash his nose, Natsu took a deep breath, before he started speaking. "Cobra, you are our nakama just as much as her. We may have been enemies in the past, but now, no one would dare to tell that between you and Dalila there is any difference."
Cobra sneered, mockingly, and turned to keep walking. "You are really so fucking naive."
Thinking that he and Snow White were considered as equal among the guild members? He has no idea. Cobra was always going to be the ex-criminal, the one you have to be warned of, and Dalila the poor, innocent victim.
"I mean the truth!" Natsu cried, grabbing him the arm. "Don't you dare give me your back."
Cobra growled. "What if I do?" he hissed, nearing Natsu, util their nose were almost touching. "Are you going to fight me again, Natsu?"
But the fire dragon slayer needed much more than this to be intimidated. "I am going to fight whoever thinks you are less than Dalila. And in the same way, whoever think she is less than you."
To this, Cobra had nothing to respond. He slowly retrieved from the fire dragon slayer. "Let's move." he muttered. "We have a job to finish."
First Kinana, then Natsu? That Snow White is nothing special. For fuck's sake, why everyone is keeping defending her? Hadn't he declared that he hated all the fairies, no one excluded, and no one had objected at that time? Why the hell should Snow White be different?
He was free to hate whoever he like, as much as he liked, and there was no doubt on that.
A few days later, Fairy Tail guild hall...
"Ok, I will show you!" chirped Dalila. "But promise..."
"Pretty promise!" cried Erza and Lucy in unison.
"Promise you will not laugh at me..."
"Promise!" bellowed Erza, slamming an iron-gloved hand on the table.
"... because my cheeks get all puffy when I do it..."
"Promise! Now do it!" Erza folded her arms on her chest. "Wendy has been teaching you how to do it, right? It can't go wrong!"
No, it couldn't. Lucy smiled encouragingly to the wind dragon slayer, and open the window next to them.
They came back from Primula that morning, after successfully capturing the robbers. Lucy had not been able to sleep until noon as she had wished, because Erza had made the whole team catch the first train in the morning to go back to Magnolia. The Celestial mage fought back a yawn. I am exhausted! But I really want to see what Dali-chan has learned!
"Are you showing off, Dalila-san?"
"Hello Wendy!" the wind dragon slayer beamed, and patted the sit next to her. "Come! I was about to show what you taught me!"
"You have been eating wind for a few days now!" Wendy chuckled, taking a sit with Charle in her arms. "Aren't you full?"
"But she has been starving for one hundred years!" cried Charle. "Come on Dalila! Show them!"
The cat had been witnessing the training Wendy had given to the wind dragon slayer during the past days. Dalila was a fast learner, and even Wendy had been amazed by her fats progresses. Moreover the two dragon slayers had started to build a strong bound. They seemed to understand each other perfectly, despite the age gap, and Dalila had proven to be just as caring as Wendy was. I hope Dalila and Wendy get closer! The age gap is not helping, but Wendy likes her so much!
Sure, Wendy loved everyone at Fairy Tail, but Dalila was another dragon slayer. If Wendy was considering Erza her adoptive bigger sister, Dalila was like a 'less-adoptive' bigger sister.
And I see also the other girls like her... thought Charle, seeing Laki joining them at their table, and Dalila joking with her as well.
"Ok, ok!" chuckled the wind dragon slayer clapping her hands. "Now that I have some audience, I feel ready to show you my incredible skills as a wind-eater!"
The others giggled. "Wind-eater!" "Sound good!" "Yes!"
Dalila looked outside the window. "We just need to wait until a little gust of wind passes by, and you'll see me catch it bare hands and eat it right here and now!"
"You truly are showing off!" Lucy snorted.
"Wait Dalila-san, I feel something is coming!" Wendy pointed some leaf moving on a branch of a tree.
"I am ready!"
Dalila felt the wind passing by. It was a mere evening breeze, but Wendy had taught her how to expand her magic to feel her own element. It was a strange feeling, but the sky slayer was used to it. "Air is around me all the time." she had explained, "So I got used to perceive it. It is not something that you can actually 'see' or 'produce'."
And so, Dalila had learned had to feel the wind passing by on her skin - 'feeling' with her magic, of course. It was not merely it touching her skin. And using her magic, she had found out that, in some measure, she could 'touch' the wind itself.
But it was easier to show than to explain.
The breeze passed next to the window, and a little wind entered the guild hall. Dalila reach for it with a hand, feeling it moving thought her fingers and then she... Grabbed it.
She heard the small cried of surprises when the air around her fingers took a silvery shade, and twirled around her hands, trying to break free, but Dalila was quick to shove it in her mouth. It was sweet, and warm as it melted on her tongue, filling her stomach and giving her a pleasant burst of adrenaline, like she was drunk for a second.
"Oh my stars!" cried Lucy. "You did it! You ate the wind!" She was used to see Natsu eating fire, and Cobra swallowing bottle of alcohol, medicines, and cleaning products - they were toxic, after all! - but she had never witness someone being able to grab the wind itself. That's true magic!
"Well done!" Wendy smiled happily. "How was it?"
"It tasted of..." Dalila clicked her tongue, "like the leaves of the trees, the evening chatting of the families around the dinner tables, and the flowers growing on the vases on the widow sills."
"Wait what?" asked Laki, while Erza raised an eyebrow. Even Natsu could tell when a fire was 'good' or 'bad', but the evening chatting of the families around the dinner tables? How can she tell?
Wendy chuckled at the amazed stares of the other mages. "Dalila-san has a very peculiar sense of smell and taste. She can actually taste that kind of things."
"She tasted children playing when we were at the park yesterday!" added Charle. "That was amazing."
"Yes, that was sweet. Like sugar, or something." Dalila nodded. "And I tasted also rats fighting once - we were on a bridge - and that had been hideous to eat!"
"That is peculiar indeed!" observed Erza thoughtfully. "I wonder how could you taste them."
Dalila shook her head. "I have no idea. It's like I already knew it..."
"It's your dragon instinct." Wendy said. "Like we can perceive when someone is scared, or ill. It's not that my mum told me, I just knew it." Wendy tapped her chin with a finger. "I wonder what Gajeel-san might say about this... Maybe he knows better than me!"
"Who cares about Gajeel now!" shrieked Lucy, gesturing towards the window. "Do it again! I want to see what you can taste next!"
"Ok, but if I get something horrible and I throw up, you take responsibility!" laughed the wind dragon slayer
From his corner at the bar counter, Cobra glanced in the direction of their table. Lucy and Erza, despite being tired from the job, had wanted to come to the guild to say hi to Wendy and Dalila. Natsu and Happy had crashed home, and for once the guild was silent. Well, more silent than usual. Gray was there, and even if Juvia was not there, filling his ears with her high pitched, enthusiastic wails, the Ice mage was arm wrestling Nab, and the crowd around them cheering and making bets was maybe more loud than Juvia herself.
And this was already one reason he wished he had stayed back home that night. But he had wanted to say hi to Cubellios, so he had come. And of course, Snow White had to be there.
After all, when was she not around, all smiles, laughing and singing, with that soul of her so loud he could hear her even when he was a few streets from the guild hall?
He tried to block out the little screams of celebration and the praises of the girls as Dalila swallowed another silver thread, but it was hard. They were too loud and annoying to be easily ignored.
And the cold that was entering from the open window was not making things more pleasant. Damn, he had his coat on, and he was freezing. Isn't she able to fucking eat her shit without bothering everyone else in the room?
"Good! Another one! I am hearing your stomach growling!" he heard Lucy saying.
Like she was a damn child. she's fucking twenty-something, you Tinkerbell!
"Ok, one last one, but then I should stop!" Dalila chuckled. "Or I will explode!"
As if we cared... mumbled Cobra in his mind, thanking whoever was up there that that ridiculous scene in front of him was about to end soon.
Ignoring the annoyance she was giving to the poison slayer, Dalila took a deep breath. The more she was eating the wind, the more she was feeling that warm, tickling sensation spread all over her body. It was like after a pint of beer, but being sober at the same time. It was an euphoric feeling.
"It's because you are recharging." had explained Wendy to her. "You feel your body filling with magic. It feels wonderful, doesn't it?"
Yes, it feels wonderful! thought Dalila, waiting for a gust of wind to drag to her mouth.
She felt a nice wave coming from the street, full of the smells and the sounds of the city at evening. "It's coming!" announced the wind dragon slayer, looking at the window expectantly.
The rush of wind came, entering the window. It was cold, but Dalila took a good load of it, and inhaled heavily from her mouth. Maybe a little too much.
The force of her breath, and probably her magic slipping under her control, caused a wave of cold wind to rush all over the guild hall, opening several windows and letting the cool air in.
Dust was thrown around, and it ended up into Nab's eyes, blinding him for a second. Enough for Gray to slam him on his back. "I won!" cried the Ice mage.
The crowd around cheered and clapped their hands, despite Nab's protests. "You cheated!" he grunted.
Their voices rise, the cold swiping away the warmth of the torches, and the compliments that Titania was paying to Dalila, threw the poison slayer over the edge. Let's see if you like this! he thought, puffing his cheeks and letting a small cloud of purple smoke coming out from his mouth.
The wind carried the purple poison right to the wind dragon slayer, that shoved it in her mouth.
But she soon realised that something was wrong.
She felt her eyes watering instantly, and the wind she just eat, that one minute before was sweet as a candy, started burning angrily in her throat. "Wha-coff!"
Dalila started coughing badly, bending in tow on her chair. Around her she, she heard her companions calling worriedly, but she couldn't answer. Her throat was pierced by a thousand needles, and with horror she felt the sensation spreading down to her stomach.
What did I eat? she panicked.
She felt like she was going to throw up, when two cool hands touched her back, spreading a fresh sensation all over her body. A few seconds, and the burn and the needles were gone.
Dalila raised her head slowly, swallowing and panting.
"Are you alright?" asked Wendy with a gentle smile, caressing her back.
"Yes-oh god-Thanks Wendy." breathed Dalila. "What was that?" she asked immediately. Is the air poisoned or something?
"Ehm..." Wendy looked hesitantly in the direction of the bar counter.
The young dragon slayer had seen the familiar shade of purple poison travelling to Dalila's mouth, but had not time to stop her. And then, as they al turned towards the red-haired slayer sitting on the bar counter, and seeing him smirking darkly, flashing his pointed teeth, they all had the confirmation of Wendy's suspicion.
Dalila gritted her teeth. How-That hurt! she thought angrily. Who does he think he is to do so? Maybe it was a revenge for having landed on him together with a tsunami? That has not been my fault!
But Dalila had the sensation it was not because of that. In her mouth she felt the bitter taste of aversion, and his mocking sneer was a confirmation of it.
"Oh, don't mind him." Lucy chuckled nervously, putting a hand over Dalila's arm across the table. "Sometimes he does such pranks. He didn't mean to poison you!" Lucy looked back where the poison slayer was sitting, but he had already turned facing his cup of beer. Cobra, next time at least tell us! she grunted in her head, before she went back talking with the other girls.
"Erik."
Cobra turned at the sharp tone. "What?" he spat.
"That was not nice from you!" From the other side of the bar counter, Kinana was looking at him with piercing green eyes, her hands on her hips. "You should go and apologise!"
"Me? And why should I?" the poison slayer shrugged. "She is too busy talking with the other girls anyway. Can tell you she has already forgot about it."
That was not true, and Kinana knew it. If not for the bitter glance Dalila had just thrown in the direction of the poison slayer.
"Erik-" "What now?"
Kinana gasped a little, but regained her composure quickly. I know why you are feeling like this, Erik. The barmaid had seen Dalila coming everyday at the guild, with that bright, kind smile, that made everyone fell instantly in love with the wind dragon slayer. And really, Dalila was nice and amiable, and every time Kinana had spoken to her in the past weeks, she had felt a warm feeling towards the new dragon slayer of Fairy Tail.
Maybe it's because Erik thinks we will prefer her to him? During his first period, he had talked to no one, saved her and team Natsu. And even Gray had refused to talk to him at the beginning, and Wendy and Charle were to scare to utter a word in his presence.
Dalila had been open and friendly to everyone since she woke up. She had not allowed her grief to come in her way when she was spending time with the rest of the guild members. Sure, Kinana saw that some mornings Dalila had red and puffy eyes, but that was it. No word on the subject had ever left the wind slayer's lips.
Yes, makes sense. He is the last one who joined the guild, after all...
"She is not going to win your friends' heart, Erik!" Kinana smiled kindly. "No one is replacing you!"
"It's not that!" hissed the poison slayer, grimacing when he heard Dalila's laughing over something Laki had just said.
Kinana glanced at their table. "Don't think things are easy for her." she mumbled. "Juste because she is laughing now, it doesn't mean that her world has not just been turned upside down. People have different ways of coping with grief, after all."
"Which side are you taking?" cried the poison slayer, slamming his beer on the counter and spilling it all over.
The tables around went deadly silent. Oh my Mavis..., Here he goes!, I knew he was going to kill us all one day or the other!
The whispers of the souls of the mages around them slicked in his mind, and he grimaced. Kinana had been frozen by his outburst. Erik... What-What is going on? What is happening to you?
He could have said a thousand things, but the tears collecting in Kinana's eyes made the words die on his tongue.
Erik lowered his eye. "Add this to my count." he mumbled, before slowly getting up and exiting the door.
Kinana was left there, with watery eyes, and the counter with spilled beer. She sniffed, trying to ignore the whispers she was hearing around her. "See, he has snapped at Kinana!" "Even to her!" "I thought those two were getting along well."
She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore them. She concentrated on cleaning the beer away from the counter. It's not Erik fault! she thought with all her strength, It's not Erik fault! It's just...
"Wrong evening?"
Kinana lifted her eyes, and behind the tears she saw Mirajane gentle smile.
"Oh Mira, I..."
"Here. Take this." Mirajane passed her a clean cloth, and giggled when Kinana moved to dry the beer. "It's for your eyes, dear! Don't mind about this, I got it!"
Mirajane Moved next to Kinana, and started silently to clean the mug and the wood, while the other barmaid was wiping away her tears.
"I... I just don't know, Mira. It's just... It has been almost two weeks since he... He should be ok, right?"
"Give him more time, Kina... I am sure it will be alright."
"I mean..." Kina blew he nose, "He has never spoke to me like that... raising his voice... I-I was almost... Almost..."
The purple-haired barmaid burst into deep sobs. Macao and Alzac, who were sitting in a table right next to the counter, moved to console her, but Mirajane waved her hand. 'It's ok, I got this!', she mouthed.
"I am sure he didn't mean that, dear." she asked softly, hugging Kinana. "He might have just been a little stressed. You know when you come home after a job..."
But Kinana sobbed even more, and Mirajane heard her trembling voice saying. "I was almost afraid of him."
Mirajane's eyes saddened. "Oh honey. Come here."
The mage held Kinana even more tight than before, caressing her hair. "You will talk this over in a few days, and everything will be fine again in between you two!"
"And he heard me! I feel so bad," sobbed Kinana. "So bad! I am not-not a good friend to him!"
"Kinana, don't even dare think such a thing!" Mirajane cried abruptly, and shook heavily Kinana. "How can you say that? After all that you have done for him!"
Kinana sniffed once more. "But..."
"No 'buts' on this point, Miss!" Mirajane scolded. "You are the most dare and caring and sweet friend once could ever wish for! Do not let a small moment of tiredness and stress having the better of your friendship." she added in a more sweet tone.
"Oh Mira." Kinana felt her eyes finally dried. "Thank you... Thank you so much! You think Erik will come and talk to me again? Will we talk this over?"
"Sure you will! Cobra is a s mart guy, he will not hold a grudge on you for whatever reason! And now," said the white-haired mage with a huge grin, "I order a glass of wine, maybe two, that have to be delivered to that table over there," Mirajane pointed Macao and Alzac table, "and I command also that you drink all of it and have a little rest for half of an hour!"
"But Mira-" "No complaints are allowed!" Mirajane winked and motioned Kinana to go and sit with the other two, who were waving and gesturing the sit in between them.
"Thank you Mira!" relieved, Kinana passed the bar counter and went sitting in between the two men. "Kina!" Alzac smiled brightly to her. "Don't be sad. Cobra might have his bad moments, but he is truly your friend!"
"Right, right!" Macao bellowed. "He will come and say that he is sorry, or I, the Fourth Master of Fairy Tail, will order him to do so!"
Kinana chuckled, and felt the tension on her shoulders melt away. Yes, Mirajane is right, she thought, chatting with Macao and Alzac. Well, not maybe on the point that Erik was stressed or tired for the job, because Kinana knew that the slayer had snapped her because she had touched some sensitive spots. And with Erik, touching sensitive spots meant touching very sensitive spots.
But she's right when she says we will talk about this. Erik would never fight for a stupid reason... and I don't want to fight with him. Thought the barmaid, sipping the glass of wine Mirajane had just brought her, and promising herself to talk to Erik as soon as he was coming back to the guild.
Later that night...
"Night' Wendy, Erza!" "Goodnight ladies!" "'Night girls! See you tomorrow!"
Dalila slipped in her room, and closed the door behind her. She went opening the window, and the breeze of the night leap into the room. She inhaled deeply, and carefully.
Damn it...
But the air was clean and sweet, just as always. No trace of venom was poisoning the gust of wind that Dalila swallowed. However, the dragon slayer bent slightly over the edge of the windowsill, searching with her eyes the garden below.
How stupid I am... Cobra is not here. Why should he bother himself coming under her window and breathing whatever his lungs could produce just to poison her?
Right, but at the same time, why should he had done so before at the guild?
Wasn't he also a dragon slayer? Didn't he know the importance of eating their own element?
Dalila shrugged. I should not think about this anymore. It was a stupid prank, that's it.
But the memory of it kept bugging her. She had felt her lungs burning, and an uneasy feeling in her stomach, like she was ready to vomit her very guts there and then. Had Wendy not been there, how worse could it have become?
She hadn't given him any reason to poison her, right? Apart crashing onto him a couple of weeks ago, but that wasn't my fault!
And with that soul hearing of him, he should better know that it had happened totally by accident. Why not blaming Juvia for it, then?
"How annoying!" hissed Dalila in the night. "That's nothing. I will not think about this matter anymore!" she declared, slapping the windowsill, as if it was ready to contradict her.
And in fact, there was someone who was ready to talk about it a little more.
"He is not that bad, once you get to know him..."
Dalila turned, and her frown immediately melted away. "Mavis." she smiled. "You are here."
The First was right in front of her window, a luminous aura surrounding her, as she gently approached the window and sat on the windowsill.
Dalila smiled brightly, and for a moment she forgot about the poison dragon slayer and all that was clouding her mind. She had not seen Mavis since the day she woke up, and had sometimes wondered why the ghost had disappeared. She would have enjoyed to talk to her - she was the only one she knew, after all.
"I haven't seen you in a while." said Dalila softly, leaning onto the window frame.
Mavis smiled back at her. "You could not see me, but I was there. I was watching you."
"That's creepy." giggled Dalila.
"I am a ghost." Mavis winked. "And you are talking to me. It is already creepy."
"I suppose so." Dalila's eyes went back wandering to the garden, and the two girls sat in silence for a few moments.
"I see you are doing well." whispered Mavis after a while. "With the guild members and with this..." Mavis gestured towards the city, "This new world you are leaving."
Dalila chuckled, and winked. "Jeans and sneakers are making it easy to bear." But the she went serious. "Really, I feel getting better. Everyone is doing their best to make me feel at home, and I can't but appreciate it. It means a lot to me, being part of Fairy Tail." Although I wished I had more time to think...
Mavis seemed to read her mind. "I seem there is a 'but' at the end of that sentence."
Dalila sighed. She knew she was too easy to read. "Keeping a stoic face isn't really my sport, isn't it?"
"No, it's not. Come on, what is bothering you, Dalila-san?"
"Nothing really." Dalila shrugged. "I just feel... Feel like I am not really realising what happened. I am drowning in novelty and keeping myself busy with magic, and being a dragon slayer and all... I had not really thought upon what had happened. It's not that I wish things to be differently at the guild, but... I hadn't even realised what is going on."
Mavis eyes saddened a little. "I understand." she whispered. "It feels like a dreams. Like you will be back home someday."
"Yes, like a dream." Dalila grasped the air with her hand. "Like... Like I am not really here. But still, I am. And I start perceiving magic flowing in me, Mavis. This is undeniable. So, it is true that I am a dragon slayer, and that I have been sleeping for a hundred years."
"You need time, Dalila." Mavis said gently, "Don't be so strict with yourself. Keeping you busy is not a sin. You are adjusting. There will be plenty of time for you to reflect upon what happened."
Dalila slowly nodded. It was true. I don't need to force myself. Everything will come naturally.
"I shall be happy Master Makarov let me stay here." said Dalila after a while. "I have no idea what could I have done if I had been alone in the outside world. Everyone is so kind here." she grimaced. Well, everyone but one person...
"I see what you are thinking!" Mavis giggled.
"Oh my, one hears my thought, and you see them!" Dalila chuckled. "No," she said going serious, "I didn't know what to do this evening. Cobra has a poor taste in jokes, if you ask me."
"Don't say that." Mavis was serious now. Her green eyes grew bigger as she spoke. "It took a lot of time for Cobra to fit into Fairy Tail. He has had a very rough life before."
"Are you excusing him, Mavis?" Dalila raised an eyebrow. "This is not like you."
"I do not excuse him, but seeing him struggling to fit in, I have come to understand him, up to a certain point."
Dalila tilted her head. "He doesn't look like he is struggling, Mavis. He looks like a child on the verge of a tantrum."
"Ok," Mavis raised her hands. "Maybe tonight it was more like a tantrum, I agree, but he is not like that usually."
"I wish I could have seen it. I have told Lucy I do not mind if she spends time with him, I understand, they are friends, aren't them?"
"Yes, they are." "So why was he so mean to me?" asked Dalila angrily. "That hurt!"
"Dalila, trust me when I say he has nothing personally against you." said Mavis patiently. "But maybe, seeing you so... easily accepted into the guild, and so friendly, when it took to him months even to say 'hi' to his team mates... You have to understand."
Dalila crossed her arms in front of her. "I understand Mavis, but not to the point to justify his behaviour tonight." Dalila shook her head. "I don't force to him to talk to me, or to be nice to me. He can simply ignore me, if he wishes so. And it's my character to be.. to be who I am. I don't see why he should judge me, and punish me for being who I am."
The wind dragon slayer lifted her eyes to the ghost, and they glinted with disdain. "He might have had a hard life before, and I will not judge him for what he was before, or for his behaviour towards the rest of the guild - although I think he is quite rude - but I ant the same treatment as well."
The First lowered her head. I see her grief now. Not in the way she speaks or behave, but it is clouding her understanding of others' pain. But this can't be helped. As soon as she will heal, she will be more herself. And she will be compassionate, as she was before.
"You will get along with him as well. Do not forget he is your nakama, as any other member." said Mavis.
"No, I won't forget Mavis." Dalila spoke with a tired tone. "But if he expects me to do the first step, he is wrong."
She didn't get an answer from Mavis, and when the dragon slayer turned, she realised that the ghost was gone.
Two days later...
"Come on Asuka... Please eat!"
But the child in front of her was more stubborn than what Lucy could ever believe. "Is everything ok, dear? Why are you know eating today? You are so good usually!"
"I don't like this!" cried the child, pushing the plate full of broccoli and carrots away from her.
"But come on, you have to eat them! They are so good for you!"
"No!"
"You will not grow if you don't eat!"
"I like being small!"
Lucy sighed, and threw a pleading look to the woman next to her.
Dalila bite her lip. Really, she knew how to deal with children as a teacher, but she had never baby-sit a kid before. And in my time, no one would have dared to refuse to eat.
The wind slayer had met Asuka and Bisca that very day, and was didn't feel so close to the child as Lucy was. So, she was keeping them company, waiting for team Natsu to come and pick the Celestial mage up to go to their next job.
Having a plate so rich like the one in front of Asuka would have made her mouth water - soft chicken Mirajane had prepared just for the kid, and vegetables passed in the oven with bread crumbles. The smell is delicious.
And it was already late, thought Lucy looking at the clock on her wrist. Crap! I had promised I was going to babysit Asuka, but I have to leave at four, and it's three, and she had yet to finish her lunch...
Bisca was not going to be happy about that. Alzac was away for a job out of town, and Bisca had to take care of Asuka alone. But she had to clean the house and go to the grocery store, and had asked Lucy a favour to be able to do all her errands without Asuka coming with her.
"She gets exited, and sometimes she is able to take her gun with her, the rascal!" had sighed Bisca that morning, "She doesn't realise she can't shot anything as she pleases. If you keep her company, I might be able to do all that I need in a few hours, instead of taking the whole day!"
"Don't you worry, Bisca!" had smiled Lucy. "I will keep Asuka with me until you are done. But I must leave at four."
"Perfect! I will be there by that time! Thank you Lucy, thank you so much!"
Lucy had always enjoyed the time spent with Asuka, but maybe because her father was away and her mother had been a little busy these last days, she was throwing a tantrum, and Lucy was about to lose her temper with the kid.
"Asuka, you don't want mommy to get angry, right?" asked patiently the Celestial mage. If she answer back at this, I have no idea what I might do to make her finish her dish!
It was not Lucy lucky day. Asuka raised her chin and folded her arms. "I don't care!" she declared petulantly. "You can tell her!"
That was it. Lucy frowned, and was ready to put the kid back to her place - that was not the way a good child should behave! - when an idea came up to her mind. It had always worked for me... I don't see why it should not work with Asuka as well...
Lucy turned quickly to Dalila. "Ehm, Asuka!" she said in a light tone. "Dalila is a great singer! Why don't you ask to sing something for you?"
"Me?"
From behind Asuka, who was now looking at Dalila with sudden interest, Lucy mouthed: 'please'.
"Are you really a singer?" asked the child suspiciously, glancing back at Lucy.
Dalila giggled. "I am a piano teacher. But yes, I like very much to sing. Would you like to hear something?"
The kid didn't seem convinced, but Lucy was ready to intervene. "Just sing us something Dalila, come on! We all know how good you are!"
"Oh, you flatter me Lucy!" Dalila played along, sighing dramatically. Asuka chuckled, and the dragon slayer winked at her. "Then I can't but accomplish your desire!"
Lucy clapped her hands happily. "Perfect! What are you going to sing?" If this works...
"Oh, this is an old song." Dalila straighten her back. "But many kids liked it. So," the dragon slayer cleared her throat, "Let me see if I remember all the words... Ah, yes! It goes like this: Prego, prego/Anywhere you may go/Make each day be a day full of fun!"
Dalila started to sing a captivating jingle, moving her head according to the music.
"If there's a game or a girl to be won/Do it with a bing bang bong!"
Asuka giggled, and started swinging her body following the rhythm. Dalila smiled widely at her. Children always liked that song. It was even a famous one, she believed, but she didn't remember where she first had heard it. "A bing bang bong!"
"Bing bang bong!" cried Asuka happily, clapping her hands.
Behind her, Lucy was carefully maneuvering the fork full of vegetables towards Asuka's mouth.
"Presto, presto, Do your very besto!/Don't hang back like a shy little kid!/You'll be so glad that you did what you did,/If you do it with a Bing Bang Bong!"
Yes! I knew it was going to work! cried in her head the Celestial mage, seeing Asuka swallowing her vegetables in the blink of an eye. We can make it in four more bites! Hah, Dalila, I am going to take you with me anywhere! I want you to sing away all my problems!
"A Bing Bang Bong!"
The wind dragon slayer was pretending not to see Lucy fighting for Asuka not to notice she was being fed with broccoli and carrots. She repressed a laugh, and turned her attentino to the child, totally enthralled by the fair woman.
"Be like Cristobal Columbo!/Take a chance, take a chance/Don't be a dopey or a dumbo,/Goin' round in a trance!"
Lucy fed Asuka another mouthful. "Yes Asuka! Bing Bang Bong!"
The Celestial mage was having fun herself. I should ask Dalila to teach me sometimes... It would be a good way to make up for the week spent training with her and Gajeel...
The wind dragon slayer was solely focused on the melody and on the child, lost in their own little world, and was singing carelessly, not paying attention to the eyes that were glancing amused in their direction.
"One step, two step/Step into a new step/Live your life with a zip and a zing!"
"She is good, isn't it?" asked Mirajane to Max, handing him the beer he had just ordered. But Max didn't make any sign to have heard her. He also was lost in his little world.
"He is in love, Mira! Don't mind him!" Macao elbowed the Sand mage hard in his ribs, awakening him from his daydream. "What? Can't leave me alone for a moment, old man?" barked Max, holding his flank.
"Hey! Is this the way-" "Are you in love, my dear?" Mirajane leaned over the table with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "It's wonderful isn't it? And who is the lucky girl?"
Max swallowed. Damn, even he knew it was a very bad idea to tell the demon such informations. "Ehm-It's not-I mean..." he stuttered, but he could not help glancing at the singing dragon slayer a few tables from them.
"You'll have the world on the end of a string/If you do it with a bing bang bong!"
"Oh!" Mirajane eyes were literally sparkling with interest. "Is that our newest dragon slayer, then? Has her beautiful voice bewitched you then?"
"I... I... Yes~" Max sighed. It was pointless to try to hide such in information to Mirajane. Pointless and impossible.
"Oh well!" Damn! I had already some plans for her! I have to talk this again with Mavis, we must review our strategy! "I am sure everything will go smoothly!" Mirajane chirped, and went to take Jet's order.
Macao followed her with his eyes. "I thought she was going to tease you more! It's not fun this way!" he grumbled.
"Yes~" Max sighed again, and a slightly dumb smile started to spread on his lips.
"Prego, prego/Anywhere you may go/Make each day be a day full of fun!"
Dalila looked so beautiful in the soft light entering from the windows. Her thin waist he could see under her sweater, and those delicate hands and ankles... Max sighed again.
Being able to just stand up and went to her, taking her hand gently into his... She would have blushed, a tint of pink on her pale skin... And then he might have said something funny, and she would have laughed, her bright and cheerful laugh... Then, she would have blushed again, and he would have asked her if she wanted to go to the park, or for a walk...
Maybe a date... he thought, mindlessly taking the mug of beer to his mouth and totally missing the target.
A beautiful date, and then dinner, and then a romantic walk under the mo- "Fucking moron."
"Ehi-what the-Oh, Cobra?" Max gasped. Oh-oh, is he going to kill me?
"Not today, you idiotic ass." hissed the poison slayer. "But keep thinking about that shit, and I will use your head as a doorstop."
It was not an inviting perspective, and knowing that the poison dragon slayer was perfectly capable of putting his threats into action, Max thought it better swiping any kind of thoughts from his mind. Beers, Dalila, dates and fights with Natsu went pushed aside in an instant, as a broom had been cleaning his mind, dusting away all his thoughts.
"Better." growled Cobra, leaving the terrified Sand mage - and a quite distressed Macao - and nearing the table where Lucy had finally finished to feed Asuka with her lunch, and Dalila was still singing.
"Presto, presto, Do your very besto!/Don't hang back like a shy little kid!" Dalila felt someone coming towards them. Maybe it was Bisca?
She turned with a bright smile on her face, ready to drag the mage into their little play, but the voice died in the throat as, instead of Bisca as she expected, she found a single purple eye looking down at them with scorn and disdain.
Cobra clicked his tongue and for a few long instants he stared at the wind dragon slayer, his mouth slowly deforming in a mocking grimace.
Dalila had frozen on the verse of the song. In her mind, the images of the evening of two days prior passed in her mind, and she frowned. What does he want now?
Cobra growled, and turned to Lucy. "Jugs." he grunted. "Move. The monster is coming."
Dalila's eyes went wide open. 'Jugs'? To Lucy? In front of the kid? Again, she asked herself who Cobra though the was, to behave so disrespectfully towards his friends.
The thing that made her more angry even, was that Lucy, despite frowning her eyebrows, limited herself to pick up her bag. "I am coming."
"Good."
Cobra threw one last glance to Dalila, that made her throat vibrate in a growl - yes, she had learned that as well. She was not very good, but hat had surged from her chest was definitely a growl. And not a playful one.
Cobra was more than ready to reply with a real growl, not that pathetic verse for an excuse of a dragon slayer, but Lucy came in front of him. "Let's go. Bye bye girls!"
Lucy had not heard the sound that had escaped Dalila's throat. She was too annoyed with the poison dragon slayer for calling her with that offensive nickname, that he had used mostly in his first months at Fairy Tail. He is going for Tinkerbell now, but I guess old habits are hard to die, she muttered in her head, glancing in the direction of the poison dragon slayer as they exited the guild hall.
Dalila follow them with her eyes as they left the guild hall. How arrogant! He didn't even say 'hi' to Asuka that was waving her hand to him.
"Dalila-san?" Asuka voice distracted Dalila from her dark thoughts. "Why Cobra has not say 'hi' to me?" sniffed the child.
"Oh, dear, maybe he was just thinking about the next job of team Natsu!" it was difficult for Dalila to excuse the poison slayer, but she did it for the sake of the young kid. I am not going to spoil Asuka's opinion of him. "Come on!" said the wind dragon slayer, "Do you want to sing something else, as we wait for you mum to come?"
"Yes!" chimed the child.
Singing along made Dalila's mood lift a little, but when an hour later Bisca came to pick up Asuka, the wind dragon slayer was still thoughtful and upset.
No, Cobra's behaviour had no excuse. And, for all that mattered, Dalila was not able to understand it either.
Don't hate me! Morgana will make up for this... See you next week lovelies! XOXO
