Chapter 2 - the partition

Dusty.

Dusty. Messy. Dirty. Abandoned. Simply of no comfort. That is what Aya's room looked like at the moment.

She was actually one of the cleanest Fairy Tail members, always tidying after herself, organizing her documents. She had to with all the files lying around in her apartment. Some of them were cases she had been following, suspicious activities which wouldn't have left her alone until she had known if they had posed any threat – so she pursued them. Others were simply data she had been gathering for missions, finding it easier to know everything and anything about cities, villages, dangerous woods and all sorts of mages to complete the tasks without unneeded confrontation.

The latter would hopefully bring her an advantage in the games (minus this infamous Sabertooth guild, where she still had to do her fair share of digging).

All those files had neatly been categorized and placed in a large closet together with her books, maps, and all sorts of other information on basically anything. And even though all of them would probably be coated in a thick layer of dust they weren't the problem.

No, the real problem were her clothes which had been scattered all over the place, some on the floor, others thrown over furniture. She had left for Tenrou Island in such a hurry that she hadn't even got the chance to properly pack. So she'd ended up rummaging through all her items in a haste to find the most comfortable fighting clothes and had quickly stuffed them in a backpack.

Now however, she was back in her room in Fairy Hills to find this mess, when she should already be packing for her next journey.

"Oh God in heaven, what have I done?", Ayaka mumbled in utter shock. "How am I supposed to even find anything?"

Plotting down onto the bed (by the way also littered with clothes) face forward she fell into her pillow only to scream into it in frustration. This had to be some cruel joke one of her comrades played on her, enchanting her place to look this messy when in reality beneath the spell was a beautifully organized room. It simply had to be.

"A-chan?"

Face still planted firmly into her pillow Ayaka answered the intruder with a 'yes?' which actually just sounded like 'eeeth'.

A light weight suddenly landed on her lower back, two soft paws grazing over her exposed skin gently as if afraid to hurt the young mage. "A-chan, are you okay?", a high-pitched, premature voice asked.

Another 'eeth' followed.

"A-chan, you don't look okay, though." The paws on her back moved, seemingly turning around to take a look around the room. Then came a giggle. "A-chan, your room's a mess."

Ayaka huffed, plainly annoyed by her little companion now. Propping herself up ever so slowly so the little creature on her back wouldn't be moved too erratically she retorted, "Thanks for the info, I really didn't notice."

The weight suddenly was lifted from her again and the little paws of the cat now were placed directly in front of Ayaka's face. "A-chan, don't be mean", the light-pink cat reprimanded with a cute little pout on her lips.

"M'not mean", the other protested weakly, clearly unbothered by the usual scolding of her partner. Aya rolled onto her back, now lying sprawled out like a star fish, gaze on the ceiling. Her tight black crop-top had ridden up through the movement and now exposed her rips completely.

A sigh passed her rosy lips. "Training's not gonna be easy, Mika, you know that, right?" Admittedly, it would probably go faster for the little exceed sitting on her left to regain her strength since she wasn't a fighter herself. For Ayaka, though, it would be a hard three months. Seven years ago she had practiced every single day on her flexibility and speed as well as her physical and magical strength. So even if time had stopped in regards to their age they had still slept for several years, ceasing to move in any way.

Mika bopped her nose with an adorable giggle. "A-chan has had more stressful times than now. And you like practicing. It's all you ever do."

Whirling her head around to face her partner, Ayaka's strawberry blonde hair landed in her face. Both girls erupted into laughter at the mistake and soon Aya forgot that Mika basically just called her a workaholic.

"Okay, enough with the nonsense. We have a journey to pack for."

"I still can't believe that you're not coming with us. Like we are a team, it's basically our duty to train together!", Lucy complained once again.

"Yeah! Who am I gonna fight against now?!" Natsu gripped Aya's shoulders, rocking her back and forth aggressively as if to shake some sense into her.

"Oi! Fire for brains! Leave her alone!"

"What did you just call, pervert?!"

And again, it took them approximately 0.3 seconds to be in a headlock about to start brawling in public. They should be glad that Erza wasn't here yet otherwise they would have been knocked out by now.

"Hey guys, stop it!", Aya called, not really wanting the entire rail station to be looking at them, but they didn't even acknowledge her. "Oi! Fuckers! Cut the crap!" Nothing.

"You should be glad that I'm not wiping the floor with you, icicle on legs!"

"How about you set your own ass on fire, dumbass?"

"Sicko!"

"Idiot!"

Ayaka growled. Releasing just enough of her anger in form of magic to change the atmosphere around them, she stepped closer to the two mages. The air around them had turned cold and heavy with pressure as the light drained from the area. "Stop it now."

They immediately let go of each other and jumped at least two meters apart. Just as fast as they had stopped fighting they started apologizing profusely.

"Leave it, I don't really care as long as you don't start sparring at the fricking station. That's just irresponsible." Ayaka shrugged it off, stepping back again and taking her magic with her. She really didn't want to make a scene in public with the reputation her guild already had.

In that exact moment Erza strolled in, packed full with suitcases as per usual. "Hello, Aya. I thought you told us that you'd be training on your own?"

"Erza!", the ginger-head smiled sweetly, "I am, I am. Just decided to say goodbye." She waved it off, blushing slightly. "Oh wow! You are travelling light this time, aren't you?" She asked, gesturing at the mountain of bags in front of her.

"Ah yes, I decided to just bring the essentials for our training."

She laughed, decidedly ignoring the unbelieving mutters of her team mates behind her about how emthat/em was supposed to be light. Lucky for them Erza didn't seem to even notice.

"A-chan!" Mika landed on her head erupting in giggles. "A-chan, Juvia told me that you emlike/em Gray." Another childish giggle left her mouth at the word 'like' as if it was naughty even saying it.

'Of course she would say that, jealous thing doesn't see the difference between friends and lovers when it comes to her Gray-sama.'

"Did she now?" Ayaka had to strongly suppress the urge to roll her eyes. This had been happening more often than not and even after explaining to Juvia that she, indeed, had nothing to worry about, she still somehow found things to get jealous about.

Mika made a small sound of affirmation before adding, "She even told me that you didn't want to train with the others because you'd get jealous of seeing Gray and her together."

'The fucking irony.'

Gray must've overheard the conversation judging by his more than irritated facial expression and the not-so-subtle eye roll. He didn't bother to say anything, though, way too used to the overbearing woman by now.

All at once an idea popped into Aya's head. "Ka-chan", she sing-songed sweetly, "would you tell Juvia something for me, please?"

Eagerly Mika flew from her head to hover in front of Ayaka's face and leaned in to listen to the secret message she was about to deliver, nodding animatedly with every word her partner told her and noting it down somewhere in the back of her mind. When Aya leaned back again, Mika rushed in a hurry to find the water mage.

"What did you just do?" Lucy and Levi joined the strawberry head, after watching her suspicious actions.

"You'll see", she answered cryptically, stopped for a second to think, then added, "In three, two, one…"

"GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia ran up to the ice mage and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug. Ayaka nearly had the mind to feel sorry for him, but then again, it was Gray so she really didn't care that much.

"Gray-sama, Juvia had no clue that Gray-sama wanted to be alone with her so badly that he even told his best friend not to come! Juvia is sorry that she abandoned Gray-sama for so long, she will not leave his side on this trip. Promise!"

If it had been possible for Gray to look even more annoyed with his stalkerish admirer, he had definitely reached his limit now.

Then, a horn blasted through the station, signalling a train coming in.

"Okay, everyone, let's go now. Our train is arriving!", Erza demanded then turned to the team mate she would have to leave behind. "Good luck with your training, Aya. Take care of yourself!"

The addressed smiled softly and answered with a simple 'you too'.

Then everyone gathered around her to hug or otherwise wish her farewell before boarding the train. Well, everyone except Gray, who was still trapped in Juvia's embrace and now looking at his best friend desperately.

She, however, only shrugged nonchalantly at his predicament, then proceeded to chuckle lightly and say, "Have fun, you two lovebirds!" And she could have sworn she heard Gray try to shout out for help, but it must have been muffled by the gigantic boobs currently suffocating him.

After everybody had boarded the train, Ayaka waited for it to leave patiently with her little fluff ball in her arms. Then, seconds before the train started moving, Natsu leaned out the window and shouted, "Let's do our best for Fairy Tail, Ayaka!"
And the young mage never could've agreed with anything more.

Author's Note: Hi guys! This one was a bit of a chaotic chapter haha, but there will be more storyline in the next one - I promise! I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyways.

See you soon for the next update.

Kisses and Love,

Franny!