Cole kept looking around the streets in search of her, soon after which a thought popped up in his mind.
'Wendy said by the lamp post, so that means she's right there..' mumbled Cole as he saw a big lamp post near the tavern. Cole walked towards it and saw Erza leaning against it and standing with her eyes closed and her arms folded.
'Erza..' said Cole as he stood near her. Erza opened her eyes to see Cole standing right in front of him.
'Oh, you're here' she replied as she looked at him.
'Yeah, Wendy told me you needed to talk so.. I'm here' replied Cole, right after which Erza interrupted him.
'I know.. It's just that, I wanted to thank you for the victory today' she replied.
'You don't need to thank me for that, I'm here because I want Fairy Tail to win, and that's what I did right there' replied Cole with a smile.
'I appreciate it' said Erza as she stared at the ground. Cole didn't reply for a while.
'Alright then, I'll join you at the Tavern, dinner's about to get served' said Cole after which he turned around and was about to leave. Erza caught hold of his arm.
'Wait..' she said, making Cole turn around.
'What's wron..' asked Cole, pausing in between as he saw tears rolling down her eyes.
'Erza?' he asked curiously.
'Cole, I'm sorry' she said as she wiped off her tears.
'For what Erza?' he asked as he was clueless over her sudden change in behavior.
'For all those times I misjudged you. I never really gave you a chance, mistreated you, made you look like a criminal in front of the entire guild. I did what I thought was right, but I was wrong. I shouldn't have kicked you out of the guild that day, Reaper exists because of me' she replied with tears rolling off of her cheeks.
'Erza..' whispered Cole, soon after which she looked at him.
'Look at everyone out there Cole, each and every single one of them welcomed you to the guild, except me' she added.
'Erza.. It's alright.. That was a long time ago, I really understand why you did that, you were just looking out for your friends' replied Cole.
'It's not alright, after all that, you have all rights to hold a grudge against me, Cole' she replied as she stared at the ground.
*Damn, I never really thought of what she did as something personal, well she does feel terrible for what she has done, but she shouldn't, because I never really felt bad about it*
'Erza, come on, I never really took anything personal, so there's no point on looking back at it. And yeah, don't blame yourself for Reaper being out there, he's my past and my responsibility, so don't take it out on yourself' replied Cole. Erza didn't reply and kept staring at the ground.
'I never had a grudge against you, I always respected the way you thought, you'd make a great guild master you know' Cole further added, which lit up her eyes.
'It's getting pretty late, so let's go have dinner shall we? You can sit with Wendy and me if you want' said Cole. Erza smiled and nodded as the two headed towards the tavern.
Back at the Sabertooth Tavern, after Jiemma was done with his speech, the guild members were making preparations for dinner. Reaper wasn't around the scene as the other members had their food.
'Hey, where's Reaper?' asked Frosh as he looked around. 'Beats me, last I saw him was him walking around the hall, he had a weird look on his face, probably went to his room after what happened with Master Jiemma' replied Lector as the two were having food.
'Oh, he'll miss dinner if he doesn't show up right now' said Frosh.
'He probably doesn't want to eat anyways' replied Lector. Frosh was bruised due to the previous incident. He stood up and took a plate, put in some chicken wings and a bread loaf.
'Where are you going with that?' asked Lector who was a bit surprised.
'I'll be right back..' he replied as he took the plate and left the dining area. Frosh had to climb up a staircase, which he managed to do so, despite being injured. Upon nearing Reaper's room, he knocked the door. Reaper was sitting beside the window and staring at the night sky, only to get interrupted by knocks on his door.
'What do you want?' yelled Reaper out loud as he looked at the door.
'I.. Thought u need some food..' replied Frosh.
'Frosh?' mumbled Reaper as he rushed towards the door to see Frosh standing right in front of him with a plate full of food.
'Oh.. Come in..' replied Reaper as he let him in and closed the door. Reaper took off the plate from Frosh and kept it on the table, soon after which he sat on the ground and looked at him.
'Now you're gonna tell me, why did you bring food' asked Reaper in a soft tone.
'You didn't show up for dinner and I thought you were hungry' replied Frosh. Reaper soon noticed the injuries on Frosh's body.
'Oh, Jiemma did that..' said Reaper as he held his paw.
'Ow!' yelled Frosh as Reaper held his paw a little to hard.
'Alright.. Lie down, this won't hurt a bit' said Reaper, to which Frosh lied down. Reaper gathered electricity around his hands and used his pulse heal on Frosh.
'Wow, I can move my arm again!' he yelled out loudly. Reaper grinned as he saw him move around, soon after which Reaper stood up and walked towards the window. Frosh looked at Reaper staring out of the window, he took the plate and walked towards him.
'Hey, you still haven't eaten anything' he said, catching Reaper's attention.
'Oh, you know what, you're right' said Reaper as he took the plate and took a bite of the chicken wing.
'Wow, I haven't eaten good food in years, so this is what chicken wings taste like' thought Reaper as he took another bite.
'Thanks Frosh' said Reaper as he finished his meal and looked at him.
'No problem Reaper!' replied Frosh as he lifted his paw. Reaper then walked towards the window and looked at people walking across the streets.
'What are you looking at?' asked Frosh in curiosity.
'Oh you're still here' replied Reaper as he sat on the ground. Frosh walked towards him.
'You look sad, is something wrong?' asked Frosh curiously.
'Nothing really, it's just, so complicated it's hard to explain' replied Reaper.
'Well if you can't tell me it's okay, but don't be all by yourself Reaper' said Frosh soon after which he hugged him. Reaper's eyes were lit up as he looked at Frosh hugging him.
'Thanks Frosh, for looking out for me, now you better get going before Rogue starts searching for you' replied Reaper as he stood up and walked towards the door.
'Goodnight Reaper' said Frosh, right after which Reaper closed the door without replying. He stood near the door for a while as thoughts began to pour into his mind.
'Frosh..' he mumbled as he sat on his bead. He opened his sling bag and took out the mask of Crimson. He wore the mask along with the black robe which covered his entire body and jumped out of the Tavern window.
Cole had entered the guild hall along with Erza, where the two had joined Wendy and had ordered food for dinner. As they waited for food, Wendy broke the silence by asking a question.
'So Cole, how's things working out at New Marais?' she asked curiously. 'Ah well, not much has changed. A lot of people did start respecting me though' replied Cole to which Wendy gave a smile.
'I'm glad everything is working out for you' she replied.
'But, I don't get it.. How come Ursa is older than Wendy now?' asked Cole curiously.
'It's a long story, we were trapped under Tenrou Island after Acnologia had attacked us, henceforth we were sealed in time, Ursa wasn't with us during that day' replied Erza.
*Sealed within time huh, well that does explain everything*.
'So Ursa is all of the sudden older than you now' said Cole, to which Wendy felt a bit embarrassed.
'Yeah that's true' replied Ursa as she came out of the kitchen with their food.
'Hey Ursa! Take a seat' said Cole, to which Ursa didn't respond, but sat a few seconds later.
'So, when these guys were gone you were here all by yourself?' asked Cole.
'Yeah, things weren't going good for us, for seven years I watched as the guild lose it's shape' she replied.
'Must have been tough for you' said Cole as he looked at her.
'It really was, but, we managed to hold ourselves together, as we knew our friends are out there and they'll be back no matter what' she replied as a teardrop fell off of her cheek.
It was an hour before midnight, as the streets got empty. More and more people shut off the lights of their homes, making the streets dim. A woman was walking by when suddenly, she was approached by a group of men.
'What's a lady like you doing outside at this time?' taunted a man.
'Damn, look at those curves' taunted another. The young woman felt uneasy and began running, seconds before she was caught by one of them. She began to scream for help, but no one came to her aid in the empty streets. Suddenly, a man in a black robe had jumped from a roof, knocking back the men.
'Let her go' said the man, revealed to be Crimson as he gave a deadly stare at the man. The man was about to take out his knife, seconds before he was shot on his head, instantly paralyzing him. The others saw the scene and were about to leave, only to be caught by the royal guards. As more and more guards walked into the scene, Crimson was standing beside the woman and looking around.
'Freeze, don't move or you'll be subdued' said one of the guards.
'Wait! He saved me' replied the woman, to which the guards stopped aiming their weapons.
'Princess Hisui! There you are' yelled out a man in armor as he came sprinting towards the two.
'Arcadios' she said as the man stood in front of her. 'Princess?' asked Reaper, soon after which Arcadios replied.'You've never seen Princess Hisui before?'
'Can't say I have, but a pleasure meeting you here your highness' replied Reaper.
'What just happened, why were you screaming for help?' asked Arcadios.
'I don't know, I was so tensed and just wanted to walk out without getting any attention' she replied, soon after which she looked at Crimson.
'Thank you for saving my life..' she added, soon after which Reaper replied.
'It's Crimson, and the streets aren't really safe during the night, personal experience' he replied.
'Crimson.. I am at your debt for saving Princess Hisui's life' said Arcadios as he bowed before him.
'Well, no need to get all formal about it, just make sure she doesn't go on her own' replied Crimson.
'Till our paths cross again Crimson' said Hisui after which she left the area. Reaper waited for them to leave, soon after which he climbed a rooftop and kept his eyes wide open.
'So that's how I ended up getting my powers' explained Cole as the others deeply listened to what he had to say.
'Wow, if only magic was that easy' replied Wendy.
'It's never too easy, took me a year to master my powers, was one hell of a ride, that's all I can say' replied Cole.
'Power is one thing, skill is another' said Erza.
'Well, speaking about New Marais,did you bring something from there?' asked Wendy curiously.
'As a matter of fact I did' replied Cole as he opened his sling bag and took out his phone.
'A slab of glass?' asked Erza.
'It's called a smartphone, you can do a lot of cool things, like for instance' replied Cole, soon after which he tapped onto the camera icon and opened the front camera.
'Wow, it's like a mirror' exclaimed Wendy as she stood near him.
'Let me see what's all the commotion about' interrupted Erza as she stood right in front of Cole. Erza pushed herself in to see how she looks like in the phone, almost making Cole drop it.
'Hey! What are you guys doing? I wanna join too!' yelled Natsu as he ran towards the trio.
'Hold it!' ordered Erza, instantly stopping Natsu.
'Interesting' said Erza as she extended her hand to take the phone off of Cole's hands. She moved it around, seeing her face in different different backgrounds. She then tossed it back to Cole.
'So it's like a mirror, what else can it do?' she asked curiously.
'Well, since you asked..' replied Cole as he tapped on his phone and then handed it over to Erza.
'Look at yourself now' he said, soon after which Erza looked at the screen, to see her face get covered with a dog nose and dog ears.
'What kind of sorcery is this?' she yelled out as she dropped the phone and began touching her face. Cole laughed over her reaction, to which Erza grabbed his collar and looked at him in anger.
'You think this is funny? Change me back or else..' she yelled, only to be interrupted by Ursa.
'Hey Erza, you're face is fine..' said Ursa as she handed over a real mirror.
'Oh..' she replied, soon after which she looked at Cole, who was looking at her.
'That wasn't funny' she said as she folded her hands.
'Wasn't supposed to be funny, they're called filters' replied Cole, who still couldn't control laughing over her reaction. Natsu picked up Cole's phone and looked at himself, to see the same dog filter on his face.
'Boring!' yelled Natsu, soon after which he swiped and selected the dragon filter.
'Alright!' yelled Natsu as he saw his face get covered with a Dragon mask.
'I am a dragon! I'll burn you all!' yelled out Natsu, walking around the tavern.
'Natsu.. Don't burn my phone please..' mumbled Cole as he looked at him carefully.
Cole looked around watched as Lucy punched Natsu's head and took the phone off him, she randomly pressed a button, and ended up taking a picture.
'Hey Lucy, toss me the phone!' yelled Cole.
'Okay!' she replied after which she threw the phone straight at him. Cole opened the gallery and saw the pic, to which he chuckled.
'Hey Natsu, come over here..' said Cole as he giggled. Natsu was clueless, but came nonetheless.
'Is that Lucy? Hahahahahaah! Her face looks like she ate a cow!' yelled out Natsu as he laughed out loud. Lucy's face got red as she heard what Natsu said.
'Hey Lucy! Thanks for the new wallpaper!' said Cole as he showed her the pic.
'What the? Noo!' she yelled as she tried to snatch Cole's phone.
'No way, this is a keeper' said Cole.
'Jerks!' yelled Lucy as she walked away.