Drawing back the bowstring I carefully aimed at the target, watching as it moved in a random pattern in the air before releasing my arrow, holding my breath as I watched it fly forwards before striking the target off centre. "Tsk. Still no good." Exhaling wearily, I looked around at all the other targets I'd been shooting at. The stationary ones looked more promising with a plethora of arrows sticking out from the middle circle, but those that were moving by magic enchantments weren't as neatly decorated.
Not giving up, I knocked another arrow from the quiver on my back, arms trembling as I pulled back the string of my ordinary bow, muscles straining and struggling against the strain before shooting again. A little better, but still not perfect. I still had a long way to go before I could be considered an expert markswoman. I'd been practicing for a while now, so I figured a little break wouldn't go amiss, at the very least I'd earned myself a snack.
Looking down at my hands I realised that they were covered in grazes and bruises from where I'd been using the bow for so long. "Big sis sure will get mad if she thinks I've been pushing myself too hard. Better put some gloves on just to be safe." Deactivating the training course in the backyard of the Fairy Hills girls' dormitories, I dispelled my bow and sent it into my magical spatial storage to summon later. Since I'd worked up an appetite, I was already wondering what kind of food I should order for lunch.
It was a beautiful autumnal day, with the trees turning different shades of reds, oranges and yellow I was looking forward to the coming winter and the snow that would come later. There was nothing better than sitting in front of a warm fire with toasted marshmallows after a long day playing in the snow with Erza, Cana and everyone else back at the guild. "Big sis! Where are you?" I called out in a singsong voice as I skipped into the guildhall, grinning without restraint.
"Over here Zera, you sure took a long time getting here today. It's already past noon." My sister commented with a smile as she looked around, watching as I raced up to her. "Don't tell me you were practicing all this time again?"
"Of course I was Erza, now that I finally unlocked my magic, I have to train hard in order to be self-sufficient. Although, now that I've stopped practicing for today, I realised just how hungry I was. Shall we eat lunch together big sis? How about you Cana?" I asked them both, making Cana turn her head from where she was shuffling a deck of cards.
"I already ate but thanks for the thought Zee, how about we grab a bite later?"
"Okay." Nodding my head eagerly in agreement, Erza accepted my offer to have food as she had been waiting for me all this time. Natsu and Gray were already beginning to kick off at one another, knocking heads and yelling at the top of their voices until my big sis got in between them, telling them to behave themselves or else.
"Honestly, can't you two get along for even five minutes? If you can't say something nice then just ignore each other, it's not that hard!" Erza towered over the two heaps of pummelled messes which were Gray and Natsu, both groaning from where Erza had effortlessly quelled them into submission.
"You're the one making the biggest ruckus Red, so why don't you take your own advice and just sit out for once?" Mirajane grinned, turning on my sister just itching for a fight. Wow, recently Mirajane has really come out of her shell, even wearing rather skimpy clothing instead of that oversized cloak all the time. Although I was glad that she was finally opening up to us as a guild and that she was making friends, I'm not so sure I like the fact she's struck up a rivalry with my big sister in a manner very similar to Natsu and Gray. If anything, they're both being a little hypocritical.
"What was that you said? You looking for a fight huh?" The two of them clashed heads and glowered with a rather intense and intimidating heat, cracking their teeth as they both tried to out-glare the other. Some of the adults merely chuckled, amused at the childish antics we kids displayed. Wasn't anyone going to stop those two? If they got serious, it would be even worse than when Natsu and Gray kick it into high gear.
"Hey, you guys? Please don't fight. We're all friends here so let's all just get along." I tried to mediate, but neither Erza nor Mirajane were having any of it and started to duke it out right then and there. Sighing in defeat, I shrugged it off and continued to eat my food peacefully, ignoring the chaos and violence happening only a few feet away from me. Wakaba and Macao were nearby, sharing a drink together as they observed Mira and Erza before chuckling.
"Kids, they've got far too much energy, I'm exhausted just watching them." Macao mused, the both of them as unperturbed as I was.
"They sure are a lively bunch." Wakaba agreed, cigarette hanging from his mouth. I couldn't remember ever seeing Wakaba without a pipe or cigarette. It was a rather gross habit that adults sometimes picked up, but I didn't like the smell much so I've always promised myself that I would never become a smoker when I grew up. "Hey did you hear? Laxus is on his way back. Already heard through the rumour mill that he's finished up his job."
"Oh really? That kid sure is the master's grandson alright, he finished up that job pretty quickly." Immediately my head lifted and I brightened, leaping up onto my chair as I smacked my hands down on the table either side of my half eaten plate of food.
"You mean it? Laxus is coming home already?" Eyes shining brightly, both Macao and Wakaba laughed with amusement.
"That's what they're saying. Judging by the location of his mission, I'd say he'll probably be heading back through town sometime in the afternoon." Macao informed me as he calculated Laxus's route, though he turned in his chair to give me a teasing grin. "You sure do like Laxus a lot little lady, you got a crush on him or something?" A crush? What the heck does that even mean? I'm telling you, adults say some really weird things sometimes.
"I don't know what that means, but I know I just like it when Laxus is around, because usually that means I get free cake or sweets or something." Pressing my hands against my cheeks, I squealed as my mouth started to water in anticipation. "He's tough and a little mean sometimes, but whenever I'm upset he always gives me something to make me feel better, like that time Natsu and Gray squished my cake, and that other time he gave me candy at the festival, or that time I caught a cold and he gave me chocolate so I wouldn't feel so rotten."
"So…you only like him because he gives you candy?" Wakaba clarified, making me giggle as I jumped down from my seat with an explosion of energy, already anticipating Laxus's return.
"Don't be silly, Laxus is Laxus, that's why I like him. He's fun to be around because he's so easy to wind up, though he picks on me too so I guess it's fair. In any case, I've been dying to tell him that I've beaten my previous record in target practice, and he said that once I could hit a stationary target one hundred times in a row dead centre, then he'd take me out into the forest for some real training. I gotta go find him now!" Macao and Wakaba just looked at one another as I dashed past them, abandoning my food in favour of seeing Laxus again to make him keep his promise.
It had been a passing joke he'd made when I'd been telling my big sister Erza how I was improving with my practice and Laxus had overheard us. He'd said that I was progressing so slowly that it's be a hundred years before I was ever a decent shot, but if I could make a hundred hits in a row, he'd help me with some special training to get stronger and better. Seeing as I was desperate to catch up to everyone else, there was no way I was going to make him forget his promise as I'd made him swear to keep his word. I remember it all too well, that dummy.
"You promise you'll help me train if I get one hundred bull's-eyes in a row Laxus? Be careful now, because once you promise you'll have to keep your word or I'll never forgive you. Swear on your life!"
"My life? No way pest, I'll swear on yours." He'd answered me, grinning a little as he'd ruffled my hair a little too roughly and pulled on my cheeks until it had starter to hurt whilst I just glared at him. "I'll swear on yours, because the life of a comrade is always more important than my own. Don't worry, I'll keep my promise no matter what, because it's not like you'll ever get that many hits in a row anytime soon."
"You big meanie! Of course I can do it, you just watch me Laxus! In that case, I swear on your life that I'll reach that target!"
"Whatever pest, whatever."
Smiling to myself as I ran out of the guild, I raced all the way to South Gate Park where I knew Laxus would go through on the way back to the guild. The first time I'd happened across him was also when he'd returned from a job was a mere coincidence, the second time I had purposefully waited for him to see if he always took the same route. The third time I'd been waiting with a bento full of snacks for him to eat, having thought that he might have been hungry.
Although he called me a pest for bothering him, he always walked back to the guild with me, slowing his pace so that I could keep up and even ate the snacks I'd brought for him, though he complained that I was a terrible cook. After that it became something of a habit. Whenever I heard he was on his way home, I'd always do my best to meet him. Sometimes I was early, sometimes I was a little late, but it became something of a tradition for us now. I'm not sure why, but I seemed to like Laxus quite a bit. Even when he pouted, I thought it rather cute.
Maybe it was because he was alone so often that it seemed like he didn't have any other friends that I made it my mission to make him feel included as much as possible. Very rarely did I see Laxus smile before, but after he started to make fun of me or I did something stupidly clumsy, he'd always laugh at my lack of coordination and tease me for being a klutz. Despite all that, we got along well and deep down, I knew that he was a good guy, quite sensitive too. He had a lot of emotion pent up in there, he just didn't let it out all that often.
Having finally reached the park, I sat myself down under the central tree in order to wait for him, grinning in anticipation. "Just you wait Laxus, you're going to be eating your own words soon enough! I'm so glad I recorded my training session with a visual lacrima, otherwise that dummy would never believe that I actually got one hundred bull's-eyes in a row." Praising myself for my own ingenuity, I patiently awaited Laxus's return. I had no idea when he'd stroll back through town, but I was not going to move from this spot until I saw him.
The shadows stretched as the afternoon wore on, my patience growing thinner by the hour until I let out a loud wail. "Agh! Come on your sparky brained dummy! I'm waiting here for you to get back and you can't even arrive at a decent hour? This sucks." Pouting as I folded my arms, I yawned widely as I started to feel the boredom and tiredness begin to settle in. Just for something to do I pulled off the gloves I had been wearing in order to inspect my hands which were still pretty scratched up from all my training.
"Hey check it out, it's that redhead from before." Lifting my head when I heard the sound of someone's voice getting closer, I saw four tall boys standing before me, each of them scowling at me harshly. It seemed like they recognised me from somewhere but I could not fathom why I would be familiar to them as I had no clue who they were at all.
"You've got some nerve showing up here after what you did to us, this time we won't be caught by surprise."
"Yeah, this spot is our claimed territory so what makes you think you can sit here without our permission? You should just get lost whilst you still can." My eyebrow immediately twitched in annoyance as I exhaled. Just great, a bunch of bullies, just what I need. Still, I had no interest in getting into a fight with any of them and considering the fact that none of them were wizards by their lack of magical aura, if anything were to happen then I would be the one who was blamed since I was naturally more dangerous than any of them were.
"Fine, I'll go." Getting up I dusted myself off from the grass then made to step past them, intending to simply go sit and wait in another spot for Laxus, but they four boys immediately closed up and blocked me in.
"Who said you could leave kid?" My brow furrowed further.
"You did." I responded tartly, lifting my chin and placing my hands on my hips. "You guys told me to get lost, right? So this is me getting lost. Move aside please."
"This kid's got a real mouth on her. Didn't anyone teach you any manners?" One of the boys asked me as he cracked his knuckles. Uh oh. I think I might actually be in trouble here. I'm not sure why exactly these boys were looking for a fight, but they sure did look mean and it seemed like they were mistaking me for someone else. I could tell from the old bruises and scratches over their hands and faces that they seemed to like getting into fights often, but why the heck would they want to pick a fight with me? Was it because I seemed like an easy target or because of the misunderstanding in identity?
"You better start grovelling otherwise we won't hold back. We're going to teach you a lesson after what you did to us last week." Huh? Last week? "This time we won't even allow you time to use your magic to summon a single sword, we'll pummel you into the ground right now!" Sword? Oh…I get it now. They think that I'm Erza, my big sister.
"Wait! You guys have it all wrong, I'm not the person you think I am." I squeaked, waving my hands at them as I quickly tried to explain. "If you got beat up by a redhead, then it was probably my big sister, but if you annoyed her somehow then I can't say I blame her for teaching you bullies a lesson. If you hurt me, then my big sis will definitely not let you guys off easy!"
"Huh? Big sister?" The four of them looked at one another as I trembled slightly, clutching my fingers into tight fists as I slowly backed up away from them, looking towards an escape route. "Come to think of it, isn't this kid a lot smaller than the one that beat us up?"
"Yeah, and their eyes are different too. Also, this one is a total wimp. Guess it really is the wrong one. Think we should let her off?" They deliberated among themselves, however one of them snapped with a deadly growl, raising his fists in determination.
"No way! This is perfect, since this little girl is just a loser, then it'll be even easier for us to teach that redheaded freak a lesson. It's not like she'd ever be able to find us again, so we should return the beating she gave us. It's only fair, right?" Yeah, I definitely need to get out of here. Dashing forwards I tried to make a break for it, however the one closest to me spotted my movement and quickly jumped in front of me with a foot raised, lashing out to kick me to the ground with one strike.
"I don't think so, you're not getting away that easily!" Crying out in alarm I stumbled over my own feet and hit the ground, my body immediately aching from where I'd been kicked. That was totally uncalled for!
"Stop it! You can't do this just because my big sister put you all in your place, you think she'll let you get away with hurting me? She'll beat you all so bad you'll never walk again!" I tried to threaten, wanting to negotiate my way out of there so I sucked down a deep breath and tried to run again, only this time I feinted to one side. Springing forwards I quickly changed directions as they all lunged for me, sprinting for an open gap but the moment I was past them, one of the boys caught hold of my scarlet hair and ripped me back around, dragging another pained cry out of me as I was again tossed to the ground and kicked.
Snivelling like a pathetic weakling, all I could do was curl up and tried to protect my face and vital organs, feeling their feet stomping against my small body until suddenly, I went very still. Static. I can sense static in the air and the sky had darkened with rumbling thunder overhead. Laxus. Almost as if my prayer had been answered, Laxus had appeared just when I needed him. A bolt of lightning struck the ground dangerously close to where the boys were, causing them all to cry out in alarm and fear as Laxus approached with a towering aura of rage.
When I sat up and tearfully wiped at my face, I looked between the bullies to see him with one hand in his pocket and the other grasping his bag over his shoulder, looking utterly relaxed at first glance, however I could see the tenseness of his shoulders and the tight clench of his jaw. He was mad and these guys weren't dumb enough not to realise that they were now in massive trouble. "So, was it you punks who made her cry?" Lightning flashed overhead with a quick succession of thunder, another bolt striking the ground as Laxus bared his teeth at the kids who looked utterly terrified of Laxus who stood a good foot or two taller than them sparking with static electricity, jaws dropped and looking as pale as ghosts. "You should know the consequences of messing with someone in the Fairy Tail guild."
"We're sorry!"
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it! Nobody can make that pest cry but me!" Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but think that although he was a dummy for saying that only he could make me cry, I was touched that he was so worked up over the fact that these boys had tried to bully me. What a moron. Sometimes he just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Still, I'm glad he's here. Unable to hold back my tears I wailed loudly like the big baby I was and sprung at Laxus, grabbing hold of his waist and hugging him tightly as my chin pressed against him, looking utterly pitiful in my wimpy state.
"Laxus they bullied me. They said they were going to beat me up, they kicked me and pulled my hair. It hurt. It hurt a lot, it really did Laxus. They're all so mean." Mewling like a kitten, Laxus was momentarily distracted by me, blinking as he looked down at my face before he relaxed, smiling and even placing a hand down on my head to rub my hair.
"You're safe now, pest. I'm here." Sniffling back my tears, I rubbed my eyes dry and nodded, managing to return his smile as I felt comforted by his reassurance. He could be so cute sometimes, that dummy. Glad that he was here, I hugged him tighter and nuzzled against him as I strategically sidled around behind him, gripping onto his shirt with one hand as I pulled at my eye and stuck my tongue out at the boys who were all trembling in fear, realising that they had made a huge error in picking on me. As if suddenly remembering they were there, Laxus sent them all a dry scowl. "You punks still here? You want me to beat you up?"
"Agh!" Bursting into tears, the kids all fled from the park as fast as their shaking legs could carry them, though they tripped up several times and as they ran, I burst out into a fit of laughter which brought tears to my eyes, glad to see that they had got what they deserved. I guess Laxus's scary face can come in handy like that sometimes, at least I know no one would dare try and mess with me so long as I was standing behind him.
"Thank you Laxus, you're my hero!" I cheered for him, lifting my hands up into the air with a grin. "I wanted to wit here in order to be the first person to greet you back. Welcome home! I missed you. Did your job go well? What happened? Did you fight a load of bad guys? Monsters? Was there any treasure?" Rattling off all my questions at once, I gripped my fists against my chin with sparkling eyes in the hope of an epic tale, but of course I was sorely disappointed considering…well. It's Laxus.
"Tsk, you dumbass." Lifting his hand he placed it down on top of my head, gently rubbing his fingers against my hair as he relaxed a little. "Still can't stay out of trouble huh? You're a pain pest, why didn't you fight back? You're a wizard of Fairy Tail so act like you got a backbone next time!" Laxus lectured me as the sky cleared, tugging at my cheeks with a pinch of his fingers and I immediately protested and complained at the painful sensation. "Jeez, such a nuisance."
"Hey cut it out! You're such a meanie Laxus! How could you pull on such an adorable face such as this? You really can be quite the brute sometimes, you know."
"This is the thanks I get for saving your butt? Next time I'll just leave you to fend for yourself." Laxus argued back, the two of us glaring at one another with a growl until eventually, I laughed. It always ticked him off when I laughed in the middle of an argument, but sometimes I just couldn't help it. For all his bravado, Laxus was just a soft hearted cutie pie.
"No you won't, you'll always come to my rescue, because that's what friends are for. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to save your butt every now and then too, that way we'll be even." Flicking off a few specks of dirt and grass, I made sure that my hair hadn't been messed up too bad, rearranging my twin pigtails so that they sat neatly in order. "But you did save me this time, so thanks a bunch Laxus. I'll have to owe you one for now, okay?"
"Whatever pest. Come on, let's get going. It's getting late already." Nodding my head I naturally jumped towards Laxus and walked at his side, smiling contentedly with myself. That had been a close one, if Laxus hadn't showed up when he did then I hate to think what could have happened. Putting that all behind me, I eagerly informed Laxus of the fact that I had achieved his challenge which meant that he had to keep his promise and take me for a training weekend into the forest outside of Magnolia for some real life experience to get tougher. "For real? You actually took that challenge seriously?"
"Of course I did, you promised." Pouting at him, I tugged on his sleeve a little impetuously. "So you can't go back on your word now, I even recorded it on this visual lacrima so you can't say that I'm just making it all up. If you don't keep your word now then that means you're not trustworthy."
"Fine, fine, I'll go training with you." Sighing in defeat, I leaped up with an excited squeal as I grabbed hold of his arm to hug him securely.
"Yay! You're the best Laxus, come on! Let's hurry back to the guild already, I bet you're tired after your job so you better rest up so that you can have enough energy for tomorrow."
"You're annoying, pest." Grinning up at him, I grabbed Laxus by the hand to hurriedly pull him all the way back to the guild, announcing his return with a trumpeting voice as I kicked open the doors in a rather dramatic announcement. Laxus looked like he wanted to squish me like a bug right there and then, but I ignored him and merely smiled, hugging his waist before then dashing off to find Erza and tell her all about the boys in the park. Needless to say, Erza was not amused. In fact, she stomped out of the guild like a demon and went hunting. I wonder if those boys ever lived to see the next sunrise?