Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!
Grant was confronting Flare after her battle with Lucy.
"Let me just ask you one question…" The person walked closer to Flare until they were standing right in front of her, revealing themselves as Grant. "They said your name was Flare Corona. Are you by any chance from the Sun Village?"
Flare's eyes widened when she heard Grant ask that. "How do you know about my home?!"
"Because I was there eight years ago…" Grant answered. "A boy had to stop for a rest after a mission and came across the Sun Village. He was greeted by the local giants who welcome him, but what caught his attention was a human girl with bright red hair."
"… Wait…" Flare took a few seconds to put the pieces together. "… Grant?"
"So you are her… and you do remember me."
"I could never forget you." Flare now had a genuine smile. "You're the first human I've ever met."
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Huh?" Flare's happy expression was diminishing.
"The Flare I knew wasn't as sadistic as you are." Grant was now glaring at Flare.
"I-I'm not a sadist!"
"Then why were you abusing that poor girl?!"
"I…" Flare looked like she was about to cry. "Raven Tail really hates Fairy Tail, so I just went along with it to fit in."
"That's still no excuse for what you did!"
"Excuse me, young man?" Another voice spoke from behind Grant.
Both of them looked to see Raven Tail's guild master, Ivan Dreyar, standing behind Grant.
"If you're done talking, we must really be on our way." Ivan said.
Grant didn't say anything and just walked away while Flare looked back at him in sorrow.
Night had completely taken over the city of Crocus, the street lamps lit and almost everybody was indoors. One of the few walking about was Jayden, yawning from boredom.
"The games were pretty fun to watch, but I still wish I had a chance to fight." Jayden said. "Guess that's what I get for being picky about my guild. If only Mermaid Heel could let me in…"
His eyes moved about until he saw Soren walking into a particular inn.
"It's that kid from yesterday…" Jayden mumbled to himself.
As soon as Soren entered the inn, he examined all of the wizards that were celebrating their recent victories in the games, all of them belonging to the Lamia Scale guild. At one of the tables, Sherria and Jura were sitting down.
"Congratulations on your win, Mr. Jura!" Sherria said.
"If… you could call it that…" Jura hesitantly responded.
Soren walked slowly to the table and a gust of black wind rose from underneath the table and shot it at the ceiling, smashing it to pieces upon hitting it. This instantly caught the entire inn's attention and their sights were all set on Soren.
"Sherria Blendy…" Soren said.
"Wh-what do you want with me?" Sherria quivered in her seat.
"The Magic Council gave you your magic, didn't they?" Soren asked.
"Y… yes."
"Did they ever tell you how they got that magic?"
Soren walked over to Sherria, showing the intense rage in his eyes.
"Let's just say…" Black wind swirled around Soren's right hand. "They took something from me to get it."
"SHERRIA!"
A large rock shot up from underneath Soren and sent him flying out the doors.
"Mr. Jura!" Sherria exclaimed.
Jura walked outside and looked at Soren trying to get up.
"You're quite strong for your age if you withstood that attack." Jura said. "But I won't allow you to harm my guild mates."
The other members of Lamia Scale moved toward the entrance to catch the fight.
"That magic doesn't belong to her!" Soren shouted as he finally stood back up.
"We're giving you one chance to walk away!" Lyon shouted.
Soren looked at all of the Lamia Scale mages that were raring to fight, except for Sherria, who just looked at him in concern.
"… All right…" Soren said. "But know this… That girl's magic… has stained her hands with blood."
"Huh?" Sherria quietly gasped in confusion.
Soren walked away without saying another word and he eventually stopped when he saw Jayden standing nearby.
"What was that all about?" Jayden asked.
"How long have you been spying on me?" Soren asked.
"I believe I asked a question first." Jayden retorted. "But I'll humor you and say I happened to see you walking by before going in there a starting a raucous."
"Well, my life is none of your business." Soren then resumed walking back to where he was staying.
However, Jayden started walking side by side with Soren.
"Your dad's going to need an explanation, so I'll take the heat for ya and tell him I went a little too far in sparring."
"… Thank you…" Soren muttered while looking away and at the ground.
Back at the Honey Bone Lodge, in spite of Fairy Tail's losses in the games, they were partying and looking toward the next day. Flynn was trying to read a book and Zale was eating a meal, but the former couldn't concentrate with all the noise being made.
"Argh!" Flynn growled.
"Why don't you go upstairs to a room and read?" Zale asked.
"I thought I'd give Lucy some alone time after that match she had." Flynn answered.
"Oh… yeah… I still can't believe I never caught that hair behind Amber earlier!"
"Yeah, that really shook Sis up. Hours later, she still refuses to let Amber out of her sight. Seems we were all hit hard today." Flynn then stood up out of his stool. "Anyway, I'm going to head outside for a bit of quiet."
"I'll join you. I could use some fresh air."
Zale and Flynn stepped outside of the inn and looked up at the glistening night sky.
"Aaaahhh…" Flynn sighed in relaxation. "Much better…"
With the light from the inside of the inn and the outside lamp, Flynn was able to read his book in peace. While Flynn was reading, Zale saw Jayden and Soren walking the former of the two went up to him.
"Hey, Neptune!" Jayden greeted happily. "How's it going?"
"You can just call me 'Zale', thanks." Zale laughed dejectedly. "Let's just say it's been a rough day for Fairy Tail."
"Right, should not have asked." Jayden said. "I was just taking this kid back to his dad."
Jayden motioned to Soren, who just remained silent.
"You're the boy that found Wendy and Carla yesterday." Zale said. "Soren, right?"
"You already know each other?" Jayden asked.
"Wait, what's with the bruises?" Zale asked.
"Oh, that?" Jayden chuckled. "We just did a little sparring."
"I picked a fight with Lamia Scale." Soren spoke up.
Zale, Jayden and Flynn all stared at Soren blankly.
"… You're kidding, right?" Flynn asked. "By yourself?"
"Well, I was really only picking a fight with one girl." Soren said.
"Yes, but guild wizards don't take kindly to random attacks on their friends." Zale stated.
"A lesson I learned the hard way." Soren said.
"Why would you pick a fight with one of the continent's top guilds?" Zale asked.
Soren didn't answer him and turned to Jayden. "Just take me back to my dad."
He then started to walk away and Jayden ran up next to him.
"Hold on!" Zale called out to him. "Wendy and Carla are going to be all right. I just thought I'd let you know."
Soren once again didn't respond to Zale and continued walking with Jayden.
"… That's good to hear…" Soren muttered under his breath.
"You know, you try to act cool, but you're a real softie." Jayden said.
"I didn't say anything."
"Don't underestimate the ears of a Dragon Slayer, kiddo."
The next morning, Zale stopped by the infirmary to see Wendy and Carla before the second day's events started.
"Hey, Wendy, how are you doing?" Zale asked.
"Better than yesterday, but Ms. Porlyusica says I still need to rest today." Wendy answered.
"Oh, we never told you."
"Hm?"
"There's this boy who found you and Carla. His name is Soren. I just thought I'd let you know."
"If you see him again, tell him 'thank you'."
"Already did last night. How about I tell him you said 'thanks'?"
"Please." Wendy smiled widely.
Just as Zale was smiling, a loud nagging shattered the moment.
"All right!" Porlyusica came into the infirmary. "Enough chit-chat! Wendy still needs her rest!"
The event for the second day of the Grand Magic Games had started, Chariot. Unfortunately for Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, their Dragon Slayers chose to represent them in the event, Natsu, Gajeel and Sting, and the moving carts all of the wizards had to race each other on were making the Slayers motion sick. In the audience, Grant was watching the Dragon Slayers stumble about on the lacrima screen and face-palmed himself.
"This is beyond embarrassing…" Grant said.
He then looked over to where Raven Tail was watching the games, which wasn't too far from where he was seated. When he caught sight of Flare, he noticed that was covered in bruises all over her body.
*What the hell…* He thought. *When'd she get those? They couldn't be from her fight yesterday… Her Guild Master seemed pretty agitated when I saw him after the battle.*
Instinctively, Grant tightened his fists in anger, gnashed his teeth and drowned out all other sights and sounds aside from the Raven Tail members watching the event. The moment Flare started pointing toward something, her guild mate Alexei grabbed her by the mouth and tears were dripping from her eyes, which caused something to snap inside of Grant and his body started to heat up like a furnace and the people sitting next to him were backing off.
With a stroke of luck, both Fairy Tail teams had managed to not get last place in the Chariot event with and the audience started to respect them somewhat. After the first match had ended, Zale went to get some refreshments for him and his guild mates.
"I'm probably going to miss the next match, but at least this makes me feel useful." Zale said to himself.
As Zale got out of the line while carrying a lot of drinks and snacks, a familiar face walked into the concessions line.
"Soren!" Zale called out to him.
Soren looked toward Zale. "Oh, hey." He said unenthusiastically.
"Wendy wanted to say… Actually, the infirmary's not far from here." Zale said. "Why don't you come with me so she can thank you personally?"
"Do you see this line?" Soren nudged toward the crowded line for concessions.
"I can give you my snacks."
"Do you really think-"
"And I was really lucky to get them. It was the last pack of grape chews they had."
Soren's head practically snapped upward and looked straight at Zale.
"… Grape chews?" Soren asked.
"Yes." Zale answered.
"… All right." Soren said. "I'll come with you."
"Perfect! Follow me."
Zale began walking away and Soren sighed to himself.
*Curse my sweet tooth…* Soren thought before following Zale.
A few minutes later, they came to the door of the infirmary where Porlyusica was treating Wendy.
"Would you mind knocking on the door for me?" Zale asked. "My hands are kind of-"
Suddenly, Natsu came bursting through the door and was sniffing around.
"… Full." Zale finished his sentence. "I see you've recovered from your motion sickness, Natsu."
"Zale?" Natsu turned toward his friend. "Wendy, Carla and Porlyusica aren't here, and some strange guys' scents are."
"'Scent'?" Soren questioned.
"Soren, could you hold onto these for a moment?" Zale requested.
"What?"
Before Soren could react, Zale handed him the snacks he was carrying and the Water God Slayer looked at Natsu.
"Lead the way, Natsu." Zale said.
"Right!" Natsu started sniffing around. "This way!"
Natsu dashed down the hallway and Zale followed him until they saw four masked, hooded men, one of them carrying Carla in his arms, another with Wendy over his shoulder and a third with Porlyusica over his shoulder. All three females were unconscious.
"Found you!" Natsu shouted.
A/N: And I'm ending the chapter there! I hope you all enjoyed! Remember how I said I was going to a con and meeting several Fairy Tail voice actors? Well, I only got to meet and very briefly talk to Colleen Clinkenbeard and get some things signed from her, but Brina Palencia was a different story. I missed both autograph sessions, the second because of the insane number of people and how small the room was. I got to see her at a panel on the last day, but she had to leave for a flight. In other words, I didn't get a single chance to talk to Brina. A disappointment, but hopefully she'll be at another con soon enough. Anyway, the pairing poll is still open! Stay tuned for next time!