Makarov beamed down at Wendy from his perch on the bar. Wendy smiled politely back at him, although she seemed slightly bemused by his eccentric appearance.
"So, Wendy. Erza tells me you would like to join Fairy Tail."
"Yes sir! Both of us." Wendy and Carla were standing side by side, and while she looked eager, I could sense an undercurrent of nervousness in her.
"I don't suppose they mentioned the entry test?" Wendy went pale.
"T-test?" Her voice squeaked a little. I saw people attempting to conceal snickers all around as they tried to keep going around their normal business while not obviously watching. 'Normal business' being a relative term. They were moving furniture aside to open a spot for dancing, pulling out more food from the pantry, and generally preparing for a party.
I left Wendy to sweat for a little bit as I leaned over to Vijeeter to whisper in the Dance Mage's ear.
"I don't think she'll be up for a Brawl right away. Pass it on, and tell them to keep it cool until the party is in full swing."
"Yeah, it don't look like it." he agreed in an undertone, grinning down at me. "Looks like you may have a little buddy with you in your bunker for the first time." I grinned back, showing a few more teeth than normal.
"I'm not planning on being in the bunker anymore." Using my new Magic Circle in a Welcoming Brawl would be a much more effective way of demonstrating my new level of skill than waiting for word of mouth to get the job done. Besides, with Wendy here, and a full member despite only being a little older than I was, I was hopeful that I might get a guild mark sooner rather than later.
Wendy was stammering with nerves and Makarov was clearly enjoying teasing her, but eventually he cracked and laughed.
"I'm only joking, Wendy. There is no test." Mira was already ready with the stamp. "We started the paperwork as soon as Erza sent word of your desire to join us. The only question there is now is where would you like your marks?" Wendy's face lit up with untold joy and I was then subjected to a mass 'aww' from the crowd.
"She's so cute and tiny...!"
"Yeah, but remember, it's always the quiet ones." I knew people were looking at Mira when they said this.
Wendy took her Fairy Tail guild mark on her right shoulder in dark blue, and Carla let it fall on her back in pearl pink.
"Alright Fairy Tail!" Makarov said, raising his voice. "We have two new members of Fairy Tail to welcome! Get to it!" A roar of human noise made Wendy jump in surprise and look around with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Every time a new person joins, we throw a party for them." I explained, coming up to the two of them. "It's pretty fun!"
"We would never see this kind of behavior in Cait Shelter." Carla said with a poignant sniff. Wendy didn't even flinch at the reminder.
"Well, yeah. But Carla, this isn't Cait Shelter. This is Fairy Tail, and we have our own way of doing things." I grabbed Wendy's arm and pushed her forward to the bar where food was already being brought out.
"Hurry up and grab some food, they're waiting for you!" It was the standard free for all for food and drinks, but people were waiting for Wendy even as Mira started up a lively tune on her guitar, drawing in every voice to sing along.
The sound seemed to be bothering Cubellios since she had quickly made herself scarce on the second floor. But Makarov was waiting for me to explain why I had brought back a venomous snake that was big enough to eat me.
I wove through the partygoers to where Makarov sat watching the chaos with fondness but a little ripple of sadness as well.
He misses Laxus. As a guild master, he couldn't regret banishing him from the guild. But he could miss his grandson, since he had practically raised him after Ivan-
Was banished for legitimate crimes.
That has secret written all over it. Don't touch it!
"So Fae, you seem to have brought several new friends to us." Or maybe he wants to talk about Jellal...
"...I am absolutely not sorry for this problem."
"I wouldn't expect you to be. Erza has informed me about your suggestion to keep Jellal safe and it is a good one, though it will require careful coordination between him and Mystogan."
"I actually need to talk to you about my other friend." The old man looked down at me with a grave expression.
"Erza also informed me of that situation. She mentioned her name was Cubellios, correct?"
"Yes, Master." I hopped onto the bar beside him. "She's been under this curse for at least ten years."
"This likely means there are counter measures in place to prevent anyone from interfering, and some components to force the spell to renew itself instead of dissolving as most transformations do."
"I know."
"It will doubtless take many years of effort and a great deal of trial and error."
"Mostly error."
"A curse of this magnitude will not be an easy task."
"Master, I know this will be hard. I know it will take a long time. I know I will fail hundreds of times before I get anywhere. But Cubellios needs help." And that was all I needed to know.
Living as she had would be incredibly dehumanizing, not being able to speak, or be treated as the person that she was. Only her friendship with Eric kept her from becoming a mindless animal from sheer frustration.
Makarov assessed me one more time...then nodded.
"If you feel this strongly about it, Fae, I would recommend speaking with the other curse breakers in the guild to learn where to start."
Levy, no problem. But...Freed's the other professionally certified curse breaker.
It seemed like everything I did was nudging me towards my former teacher. He was not with the other members of the Thunder Legion, but engaged with Mira on the far side of the bar. Since she had smacked him around in She-devil form, apparently Dark Ecriture recognized her as a friend. A classic take on Defeat means Friendship.
"I know." I know you mentioned this to Erza. I'll deal with it-
Mystogan is on the second floor.
Later. Totally dealing with it later.
I hopped down from the bar beside Master and wove through the crowd to the stairs. I'd have flown up, but I was still not supposed to fly indoors except in emergencies. The stairs were thickly occupied with both wizards and outsiders who had come to join the party, but I moved through them as if they weren't there. Mystogan was in one of the private rooms he used to come and go in his mist form and he caught me as I jumped at him.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask before-"
"Sh." He exhaled, petting my hair gently. "I'm far more concerned about you than about you borrowing my identity to save an innocent man's freedom." I had long since cried out all my negative feelings about being kidnapped and magically controlled and everything that had happened. But there were still a few little tears trying to force their way out as I basked in being near Mystogan again.
"I don't think I'll be going far afield for awhile." He told me, pulling back gently with a fond look in his eye. "You are far too trouble prone for me to risk that again." My brow furrowed.
"But...the Anima-"
"Is almost entirely neutralized and you are more important." Now if that didn't just give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling... I couldn't fight the smile on my face.
He loves you very much. G2 remarked. He will not leave you behind as he did her.
I saw a flash of what was unmistakably a young Wendy looking up at a younger Mystogan.
"...Fae, what did you just read?" And he had seemingly recognized my expression. Apparently I had a distant look come over me when I was hearing something.
"It was you Wendy met, not Jellal..." I said quietly, looking up at him with growing excitement. "You were still using your actual name though, so she didn't know the difference!" Wendy had accepted that Jellal didn't know her, but I could tell that she was very sad that he didn't seem to remember her.
"Yes. The Anima was far more active then, and she was too sickly to continue to travel with me. I checked on her every few months at first, but she seemed to be settling into Cait Shelter so well, I didn't want to uproot her." And Wendy would have gone in a heartbeat. A common trait among the Dragon Slayers I knew was unwavering loyalty. One could almost refer to it as imprinting. Wendy would have dropped everything and followed Mystogan to the ends of the earth regardless of her age.
I never would have guessed dragons were such social creatures.
"You have to talk to her."
"Fae-"
"No! You have to! Mystogan, her mom is something is someone she can barely remember. Her guild family, who she loved, literally disappeared, evaporated...But you're here, you're real. You weren't a dream. You can help her bridge her past into her future with us." I knew I was throwing puppy dog eyes at him. (I could never tell if they worked on Mystogan or if he was just reasonable to some requests.) But I couldn't help it. I owed Wendy a lot, and I knew she was trying to deal with a lot of change in her life. She was smiling and moving forward, but I felt that part of her was still terrified about what was ahead.
"After the party. I promise." And Mystogan always kept his word. So I was put at ease.
:hatchling?: Cubellios poked her head around the corner. :Is your den always so loud?:
"Friend of yours?" Mystogan asked with a smile at the richly colored reptile.
"Yep! Cubellios, come here!" I didn't hiss, but she understood all the same, slipping into the room and giving the kneeling wizard a look over.
:This is my teacher: Names didn't seem to have direct translations in Parseltongue. "Mystogan, this is Cubellios. She's actually human. She'll be staying with us while I work on breaking her curse."
"Pleased to meet you Cubellios." Mystogan said gravely. She dipped her head in acknowledgement of his words. She could understand humans, since that had been the only way Eric could talk to her. But the concepts still reached her more clearly in her own language.
Not hers. The language of her present species. She's human.
"Master mentioned you found a cursed individual. What are your first ideas?"
"Read her history as far back as I can to see when she was cursed, and work out the how and what the original purpose of the spell was from there."
-vVv-
Ok, so my intentions of participating in Wendy and Carla's Welcoming Brawl were put on hold. Mystogan and I started to work out how to help Cubellios escape her life as an animal. And G2.0 casually mentioned that Mystogan was unwilling to let me out of his sight just yet.
You are his student, and the one person he is closest to in all the guild. You were endangered while he was not there to protect you. He feels guilty as if his absence allowed you to be taken. That was...frankly ridiculous. I had been snagged from inside our own guild hall. Even if Mystogan had been nearby, unless he had literally been sitting on me the entire time, there was nothing he could have done that would have changed how this had worked out.
But I didn't really mind staying close to him. Nor escaping the boisterous noise of the guild below.
And Mystogan was helpful in identifying Carla as an Exceed, exactly the same as Happy.
"If they're both native to Edolas, how did they get here?"
"The Exceed are a nation in their own right. No doubt, they had something to do with it. But it must have been after I left, since no Exceed would ever leave their city willingly."
"It couldn't have been willing. Happy at least was still an egg when Natsu and Lisanna found him." I focused on Carla's story briefly. "Carla was an egg too."
"That is curious then."
The party seemed to be winding down on the first story, and I had kept a mental ear out in case Wendy got overwhelmed. But she seemed to have taken to the madness of her welcome like a duck to water. On the other hand, Carla had taken to us like a mildly annoyed swan to a lake crisscrossed by speeding boats. I had spent a few hours talking to Mystogan, so...
"I'm gonna go get food, and send Wendy up." I informed him. I had a feeling that this conversation was most suited to privacy. He had been Wendy's big brother after all. She had called him that and everything. (It was adorable. Li'l Wendy was so stinking cute!)
Mystogan sighed.
"I wasn't going to avoid her, Fae."
"I know. But she's currently trying to get out of a conversation with Max and Droy about the unique plants she's grown up around."
"Trying?"
"She's too polite to just leave, and they're asking her a lot of questions."
"I see."
Wendy gratefully took the escape I offered her, and soon disappeared up the stairs. I then proceeded to not look at either her, or Mystogan's stories until I saw them in person.
Natsu had passed out on the bar, Lucy was trying to move him with mixed success. The Nalu ship was giggling in the back of my mind. I could almost see G2 in my minds eye giving it an incredulous look.
Wait, that isn't coming from you?
Negative.
...That is slightly concerning.
Changing the subject immediately, why wasn't Juvia fawning over Gray? (Who had lost his shirt at some point. As expected.)
"Accio Gray's shirt." I mumbled.
Four different articles flew at me from various points around the guild hall. I gave them an incredulous look. He can't have lost all of these today...Can he?
But it also broke the question. Why hadn't Juvia collected them?
As it turned out, Mira had the answer as I collected some dinner from her.
"She was so upset that she couldn't go along with you that she took a job out of town to distract herself."
"You mean that she couldn't go with Gray."
"I meant what I said." The She-devil said lightly as she leaned on the bar, taking a break from clean up for a moment. I started to draw a simple Animation rune to make the rag and soap start to wash the dishes by themselves as I ate, just so I wouldn't feel useless.
Mira's hand reached out and grabbed mine as I worked. She turned my hand up to examine the orange circle that was resting on my finger tip. She gave me a knowing smile before letting go.
"Well, that's another good thing that came out of all this. A friend your own age, and progress in your magic." Cubellios lifted her head up to the bar and hissed inquiringly. I summoned a dish of water for her and she started to drink contentedly. Mira smiled at the cursed woman.
"Hopefully Fae can figure out how to transfer that translation spell to other people so we can all get to know you, Cubellios!" she tilted her head at Mira.
:I know she addressed me, but what did she say?: I translated the message. The purple head of the snake snapped around and looked at me in shock.
:you could do that?:
I scratched my chin.
:I don't see why not: It was basically an enchantment at heart after all...
And Cubellios would be able to think of herself much more as a person if more people could talk to her in a way she could understand.
I'll work on that too.
Since it would no doubt take a long time for me to break her curse completely, I would do this smaller task first to make the wait easier on her.
List of things to do in order of priority:
1: Make a transferable enchantment that enables Parseltongue in other people. You know, other than passing around a fragment of my soul.
2: Finish the Naruto headband. I need something that I can wear inconspicuously and constantly to avoid another fiasco like the Oracion Seis.
3: Start breaking down Cubellios' curse.
I was seated at my table as though I had never left it, and I was already tapping away at my rune syllabary to put together the enchantment for Cubellios.
I could do it almost instinctively for myself. I knew the story, so my magic "knew" what to do with the single word I was using to anchor the enchantment. But casting the spell externally on someone else who didn't know the story required a bit more detail in the runic base.
OK, so Salazar Slytherin is the most infamous Parseltongue speaker, so his story would be a good base. But Slytherin was also reportedly...not a nice person. Let's see if we can't change that...With a question: how did people first start speaking Parseltongue and what differentiates snakes from other creatures in having their own language?
So I set to work scribbling out ideas for how to create a story to fit the enchantment.
I would have stayed absorbed in that after the breakfast rush but Wendy's arrival drew my eye. It got everyone's attention actually since her skill set was incredibly useful in the monster control and combat jobs that most of the guild members specialized in. Watching from a distance as Wendy hovered near the job board, I got the impression she was starting to get a little overwhelmed at the surge of people willing to go with her.
Being ghosts, Cait Shelter typically couldn't send much by way of help on her jobs.
"Give her some room to breathe." Mira said by way of scolding for the other guild members, stepping forward and putting a gentle hand on Wendy's shoulder. "It's only her first day, and there will be plenty of chances for you to work with her." Wendy swallowed nervously and looked around, her voice soft and hesitant, I didn't hear what she said until Carla tapped her side and gave her a firm look. Wendy straightened and cleared her throat.
"Actually...I was wondering if Fae wanted to go do a job with me." I blinked in surprise as several people turned to look at me.
"Fae?"
"If that's alright." Wendy said hurriedly. "I know she's not a member yet, but-"
"I've done some jobs before, don't worry about it." I scratched my cheek though. "I've done foraging jobs with Mystogan and the identification part of curse breaking with Shadowgear. What kind of job did you have in mind?" The Sky Dragon Slayer shifted.
"I don't know. I've never done jobs with anyone else before, so I figured doing one of the ones you usually did would be something I could handle."
But mostly she wants to work with you. G2 commented.
I looked over my notes, Cubellios lifted her head from the bench I had enchanted to warm her and regarded me.
:The wyrmling wishes to do something?:
:She wants to go complete a job with me:
The snake considered this, her bulk taking up the entirety of the bench.
:If you wish to go, I will accompany you. You have been sitting here working at your magic all morning. It would be good to move yourself:
With her opinion given, there was nothing else to really do but pack up and go investigate the job board with Wendy!
-vVv-
"Why did it have to be this?" Wendy said with a sigh, gazing up the tree's large trunk.
The job request was retrieving some feathers from a certain species of bird. There was a crafting guild that made fans that provided super cooled air, popular with tourists during the summer months. They used the feathers of a bird that migrated up from the south during the winter months. And those birds typically nested in very tall trees near the ocean close to Magnolia. Winter time was when they restocked for the following year.
"It's usually hit and miss what they have us gather. But this is a seasonal request." I looked up at the tree with my hands on my hips.
"I hate heights..." Wendy shivered, looking up at the uppermost branches where the hastily built nests were. The bare branches made it easy to spot all of them.
"We'll be right there beside you. All of us can fly in one way or another, we won't let you fall." Wendy looked at me with some bemusement.
"I know you can fly, but-" Cubellios flexed her back and showed her wings, coiling her body beneath her in anticipation for flight. "-oh."
"You'll be perfectly safe with her. She doesn't have to swoop around to stay airborne-" Somehow. "So you can hold onto whatever we collect."
I was purposely making it sound simple, Wendy's ashen face was somewhat worrisome.
"We'll be right there beside you the whole time, child." Carla assured her, her wings already flashing into existence. I tapped one stud on my bracer which I had preset with 'flight' and pushed the requisite amount of magic into it. Tying runes down was much easier with a magic circle to use as an outline...
The Sky Dragon Slayer still wasn't moving. Alright, time for plan C for contact.
"Alright, Cubellios." I grabbed Wendy and balanced on the snake's back. "Take us up!"
"Wait-!" But Cubellios had already pushed off of the ground and shot upwards. Flying as a passenger on her back was distinctly different from flying on my own. It was actually rather difficult, and if Wendy had been alone, she would probably have fallen off. But since I had my wings out, and was holding onto her, I kept her balanced as we reached the bare, uppermost branches. Carla was already inspecting the closely woven branches for a route to the closest nest.
Wendy latched onto the nearest stable object, me, and closed her eyes. She was trembling and shaking-
Alright, now for a little nostalgia.
I couldn't recreate Grandeeney, but I could reach back into Wendy's past and recall how secure she had felt in the sky with her foster mother. The warmth emitting from her feathers had kept back any chill, and the assurance of not being alone in the heavens had made the fear of falling negligible.
"Wendy, think back and remember..."
"But-!"
"Wendy, were you ever afraid with Grandeeney when she took you flying?" This stopped Wendy's protests in her tracks and an eye cracked open to look at me. "You're having trouble holding onto those memories because you're automatically afraid of them. You remember healing and medicine best because you were on the ground for those. But the rest of her magic? You were taught that in the sky, she was sharing her element with you and took you to be as close to it as possible." I patted her hands and gently removed them from clutching me, lifting off gently as Cubellios hovered by the tree, head turned to watch us.
"We won't go higher than this. But I promised you I'd help you refresh your memories of Grandeeney, and that means we'll need to work on your fear of heights if you want those memories to stay fresh." Carla returned with a pawful of pale feathers, whole and unbroken.
"We'll work on it together, Wendy."
When I was certain Wendy wouldn't shake herself off of Cubellios' back out of nerves, I started venturing to other trees to find more feathers. There was no upper limit on how many we were supposed to gather but not all were suited to our purposes.
We had worked through most of them in record time, all of us being airborne and better able to reach sped the whole thing up immensely. Then G2 mused something quietly and I paused in my work.
Can you repeat that?
A talking cat among the frogs.
...Huh?
I've heard of 'cat among the pigeons' but that is a new one. G2 wouldn't have brought it up if it weren't interesting, so I delivered the last of my feathers to Wendy and drifted to the ground to investigate.
:what do you hunt?: Cubellios asked, gliding down gently out of consideration for her passenger. She could probably tell by some shift in body language that I was looking for something.
:a cat: I answered, heading towards the water. That was the most likely place I would find frogs after all.
"Fae?"
"I heard something, I wanna check it out. We're not due back until evening anyway."
"I say..." Carla lifted her head and sniffed. "I don't know this smell...it isn't the tomcat."
"He has a name you know..." My comment went unheard as Carla took the lead with the rest of us falling in behind her.
"So we're looking for another talking cat like Happy and Carla?"
"I guess. I heard he was 'among the frogs' so he ought to be somewhere around here."
Cubellios went still and suddenly leaned forward, her tongue tasting the air.
:I hear crying:
I relayed her words to the others as Cubellios slid over the browning grass. We all followed her to the water's edge where she was nosing around a green cat who was crying his heart out. A green kitten rather, he was about half Carla's size.
"Oh no, what's wrong?" Wendy moved forward first, kneeling by his side and gently touching his back. Big watery eyes looked up at her and then me.
"They're...they're gone."
"Oh kit." Carla wrapped her wings and arms around the smaller animal and drew him close, letting him cry onto her dress. "Just let it out..."
Ok...Who's gone? I appealed to G2 and got an answer as I moved closer.
Apparently unlike Happy and Carla who had been found by Natsu and Wendy, this cat's egg had been found by a group of Singing Frogs, a semi-intelligent species of amphibians who were known for their perfect multi-part harmonies and their mimicry of the human voice. This cat had been raised by them.
"What's your name?" I asked as Cubellios coiled around us all in a loose circle, the warming charm I had cast on her surrounding us and warding off the cold.
"Frosch is called Frosch..." The cat said, fresh tears still rolling down his face. "Frosch's family is gone..." I touched the water close by...then I smiled at the upset kitten still being nuzzled rather adorably by a surprisingly maternal Carla.
"Actually, Frosch, they're not." His eyes fastened on me, lighting with hope.
"Not?" I half listened to the way G2 was describing the story and tried to phrase it in the same words.
"Didn't they sing about a long sleep when the cold comes? They're only asleep until spring time when the water is warm enough for them and their food to survive."
Wendy looked deeply confused. "Fae, cat's don't hibernate." I gave Wendy a sheepish look.
"Would you believe I'm still not used to the realization that only I can hear what my magic tells me? When Frosch is talking about his family, Wendy, he's talking about the frogs that raised him."
"Frosch is frog." The kitten said firmly, making Carla look at him in surprise. He looked at Carla and smiled, his tears seemingly forgotten. "White frog?" He asked, touching her cheek.
"Goodness me, he doesn't even know what he is." Carla remarked, stroking his ears gently.
"Well he knows what he looks like. And all he knows to call himself is a frog. He just doesn't realize there is more to him." Wendy remarked, tickling the green kitten under the chin. "You are so cute..." She cooed.
Frosch gave an odd stuttering sound like the world's tiniest engine that died before it really started up. Carla let out a huff. An affronted huff, rather than a genuinely offended one.
"You don't even know how to purr. Honestly!" She looked up at us with a determined glint in her eye. "I cannot let this go uncorrected. The little one may think of himself as a frog, and he may do so. But he is still physically a cat and he will know what that means!" I stroked Frosch's back, and found his fur remarkably thick and oily. His magic may have been Aera originally, but he seemed to have shifted over to Aqua in order to adapt to his lifestyle better. Water resistant fur at least, but I'd bet if I took a closer look, he'd have webbing between his toes and fingers.
Fascinating...I wonder if he can create extra fins or something the same way Aera makes wings...
Getting the whole story took a bit of effort. Singing Frogs could reproduce any number of sounds, but details like grammar and syntax tended to get lost. But between the three of us asking the right questions and my being able to verify and explain what he actually meant, we learned what had led to Frosch believing his family gone.
Frosch had gone out to visit a friend a day or so earlier. He had gotten lost trying to come back, and had wandered for several days before finding the pond again. By the time he got there, the frogs had already settled into hibernation, leaving him alone.
We assured Frosch again that his family would wake up fine next spring when the weather started to warm up again. And then we helped him understand that he couldn't hibernate with them. The little sweetheart believed us without reservation. Frosch and Carla rode on Cubellios' head and conversed the whole way while we went to deliver our findings.
"It's not something in the breath, little one. Reach deeper."
"Is purring really that important?" I asked Carla as Frosch valiantly tried again.
"For us it is. Purring allows our magic to resonate within us and into our surroundings. It stimulates growth and proper development and also makes using magic much easier. As long as he does not know how, he will remain undersized, weak and scarcely able to access his true potential." Huh...I'll have to mention that to Happy later...
Wait.
Happy was normally...well...happy. According to what I knew, he had almost been nicknamed Magicmotor for how much he had purred as a kitten. He was just so content with his life that it had been a nearly constant thing...And even now he purred whenever he was eating, or spending good time with friends, a nice party, falling asleep...
Maybe he's already got the magical benefits...I mean, he's stronger than most normal people!
Since Carla was still absorbed in helping Frosch, Wendy and I decided to talk some things out while we waited for our payment. Such as what would happen with Frosch now that his family was no longer available.
"I don't see why he couldn't just come home with one of us. He's a sweetie, and he doesn't take up much room." We sat on a bench outside Magnolia's Craft Hall. Cubellios had a resigned expression on her face as she tolerated the two cat's who were still sitting on her head.
"Well...I think sending him to someone he already knows would be better for him. He mentioned a friend that he was visiting. Maybe they can take care of him. If he left his family to see them, he must like and trust them."
"Huh...Maybe."I looked at the small green feline. "Frosch, what's your friend's name? The one you were visiting earlier."
This made the little creature beam.
"Rogue!"
Ryos.
I waved off the additional random information with a shake of my head.
"Perfect! If I have his name, I can find him." Would he be good to Frosch though? That was a concern of mine...I'd just met the kitten, but I loved him already. Must be the Baby Effect. If it's small and cute, there is a natural inclination to protect and love. May also cause snuggles.
I wasn't getting any warnings about the idea of sending Frosch to live with Rogue, so...
"That's great, Fae!"
"Frosch thinks so too!"
It turns out, finding Rogue was a lot easier than we anticipated. He was actually really close by, calling for Frosch near the woods we had originally found him in.
"Rogue!" Frosch bounced on Cubellios's head, waving his paws eagerly. "Rogue! I'm here!"
Rogue was a dark haired boy near my and Wendy's age, his hair was a mess but he had an air of cautious reserve and his guard went up upon seeing us. What's his problem?
"So you're who Frosch has been telling us about." I said in a cheerful tone, determined to defuse the tension the boy seemed to be carrying with it. "He has something he's very excited to show you." Frosch leapt down from Cubellios's head and raced to the boy who visibly warmed as he approached.
"Rogue, Rogue, listen to what Miss Carla taught me!" He then let out a shaky, but audible and recognizable purr. Said white cat looked extremely pleased with herself.
"He may think of himself as a frog all he wishes, but he must purr if his magic is to develop properly." I could almost see Rogue's icy emotional wall melt as he held the purring kitten close to him and Frosch gave him a hug. Heck, I was pretty much melting at the sheer adorableness of the sight and Wendy was no better.
"...Thank you for looking after him." Rogue said, sheepishly meeting our gaze. "He gets lost really easily, and he's so innocent I'm always worried someone might take advantage of him."
"It was our pleasure!" Wendy approached, hand outstretched. "I'm Wendy, it's nice to meet someone who Frosch thinks so highly of."
"I'm Fae, and ditto!" The dark haired boy shook each of our hands. And I was promptly washed in a new surge of information.
Shadow Dragon Slayer.
I refer to my previous thought: Are they just falling out of the sky now? Cause not even three months ago, I only knew two. And now I've met five more of them!
-vVv-
We chatted for a little bit as we walked into town together, three kids, two cats and a very big snake. People looked at us pretty oddly... But even with all that, someone I didn't recognize happily hailed me by name and asked where I had been for Story Night.
"I was in Fiore!" I called back completely truthfully and in a deliberately cheeky tone. I had missed Story Night due to being kidnapped, but I didn't want to go into that when we'd been having such a nice discussion.
"Well that's not too specific at all!" He called back while his companions laughed.
"A lot of people have talked about that. It sounds like a lot of fun!" Wendy said, her face lighting with energy.
"Maybe for them, for me it's just a lot of people staring at me for a few hours."
"I've never been..." Rogue admitted, scratching Frosch's ears, who was still contentedly cuddling and purring.
"Well consider yourself invited!" I declared. "You and Frosch! I can even retell the Frog Princess for certain people." This made Frosch's purr get a little louder for a few seconds and Rogue show a flicker of a smile.
"Would...Gajeel be there?"
G2 showed me a something that made me coo on the inside.
A younger Rogue struggling against several older boys and a severely ticked off, also younger, Gajeel making them all run for the hills with a single glare and growl.
He's a fan of Gajeel!
"He might be! He's not as into it as others, but I can definitely ask him."
"I don't know him yet, but he seems to be...very intense."
"Frosch thinks so too!"
-vVv-
"Young ladies, do you have any idea what time it is?" Erza asked, hands on hips as Wendy and I came back to Fairy Hills. Erza was already in her PJ's and she was right, it was rather late.
"Way past dark, heat and reason?" I asked, yawning, but flashing a grin. "But totally worth it!"
"We met some people on the way back from our job." Wendy said in apologetic tone. "They were really nice and we just...lost track of time." Erza's eyes flashed.
"People...?"
"A cute little kitten who thinks he's a frog and a boy about our age named Rogue who's secretly a fan of Gajeel." I reported. Erza's scary face faded.
"Oh."
"Fae invited them to Story Night."
"Oh really?" There was a different sort of gleam in Erza's eye now. I instantly sent as many mental apologies to Rogue as I could and gave a half hearted glare in Wendy's direction.
Wendy, I love you girl, but you really have to work on not telling absolutely everything. Take it from me: sometimes, everyone's happier with just part of the story.
-vVv-
I was going over my notes for the evening ahead. Just a basic outline or story points and concept art for the images. Other notes were about the spell I needed to read Cubellios's curse. And most importantly: some counter strategies to keep Rogue from getting picked on by my overprotective guildmates.
So absorbed was I in my work and preparations, I was caught off guard when Bickslow marched up to up and bodily picked me up.
"Come on, kid! I've put up with the moping for long enough!"
"What?" I didn't fight his grip, persay, just tried to crane around to look at him. "But I haven't been-"
"Yeah you've pretty much gotten over it. But Freed hasn't." Bickslow marched me down to the storage cellar and tossed me inside the door. Evergreen was standing there with a stone statue of Freed-
Or rather, Freed's petrified form.
"You both get to come out when he's fixed." She informed me, adjusting her glasses as she stalked to the door. It closed behind her, and I saw it flash into stone, trapping us inside. At the same time, I also felt Freed turn back into his normal self.
"Faerun...What is happening?"
"Something I did not plan for when I woke up this morning."