Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
Hisui found herself waking up inside a pale room, with no furniture at all besides the bed she was sleeping on. The windows gave off an intense light could only be found during the most active parts of the day. Though groggy, Hisui felt like she could run a marathon, it was the best she felt in a week that she's been working as the mayor of Magnolia. Finishing her morning rituals was trivial, and the shower knocked the lingering sleep out of her system. Hisui stumbled her way to the kitchen having not familiarised herself of the layout of the building and opted for getting to know her office a lot more. Hisui found her servant washing the large pile of dishes in her usual clothing.
"Karie?"
"Hisui-sama, you're awake!"
"How long has it been?"
"Around a day and a half."
"What!? I need to get back."
"Unfortunately, Natsu-sama has requested that I forbid you from working just after you woke up."
"You don't take orders from Natsu-san, why should you listen to him?
"Hisui, I'm listening because it's the best for you. I'm not listening to him because I'm defying you, he just made me realise that formality isn't important if it comes at the sake of growing cold with you. That's why, as your friend, and someone that knows you, I won't let you go back until you rest for another day, we know what's going to happen if you keep this up, her highness should have taught you that lesson.
"Her love for this country was profound, if that was her fate, I can't bear the thought of having you go down the same path, especially if your love for this kingdom is perhaps greater than Caroline-sama's. Please understand, his majesty wouldn't want to see his daughter leave before him."
"You're not being fair…bringing mother and father up…"
"I'm afraid that I have no choice but to. I know that once you get into something, you won't stop."
"Can I at least do some light work? For instance, signing papers or anything along those lines. Just reading the letters that arrived will be enough, I won't do anything beyond that."
"Absolutely not, your brain will start turning about the meetings and other plans for improving the city."
"But people are expecting my replies!"
"I already sent word about your condition, please relax, they all agreed to wait for another day or two."
"Then what am I supposed to do for the day?"
"Why else did you ask to move in here to begin with? To make some friends. We'll be doing that for the day. But first, you must eat, please wait for a moment, I'll get things ready soon." Karie stacked wet plates out for dry instead of drying them. Instead, she took several clean plates, ingredients and got to work.
Hisui was walking down a road to Fairy Tail with Karie holding a parasol above the two of them. The sounds and sight of nature attracted Hisui to no end, the chirping of birds was something rare, much less seeing ground squirrels dashing across the grassy plains. Winds that weren't restrained by buildings blew freely, whipping up dead leaves as they went pass Hisui.
"I still believe that I shouldn't be under a parasol, people would think we're equals." Karie reminded Hisui of their relationship.
"You just said you don't want our relation to grow cold." HIsui pouted and pulled Karie closer to the shade as oppose to having her stand at the rim.
"My bad, old habits."
"Besides, we didn't use any protection, I would hate to see your skin get damaged from sunlight, your suitors will be sad."
"My duties comes before handling those shallow people."
"Guess it's no surprise that father assigned you to me."
"Duty before happiness…in a way, I wished that you were assigned with someone else, someone that thought the opposite."
"Then don't be so talented in combat, not only do you match me in work attitudes, you're plenty capable in warding away attacks. That's enough about this topic, you're making me think of my job."
"Then once we enter, we shouldn't have time to think of these things, seeing how rowdy the rumors are." They two were closing in on Fairy Tail's doors, no less than a few steps away.
"That's right, you haven't been inside yet." Hisui pressed her palm on the guild door. "I think this will be a good exercise on your ability to protect me, who knows when will a stray chair come for my head."
"You're joking I hope?"
"Not at all." Hisui pushed the doors open, chaos entered the two's eyes. Just by opening the door, Karie caught a wood shard flying to Hisui's direction. A full brawl was underway, compared to last time Hisui visited, that one was tame as only Natsu and Gray was fighting. One way or another, a full-blown fight occurred between groups of people.
"This is unacceptable, to target Hisui-sama, is deserving capital punishment." Karie reduced the wood shard to fibers effortlessly. "Please find safety Hisui-sama, I'll take care of this." Karie's magic power swelled as she casted her uniform to the ground, revealing a grey tank top along with a tactical vest and blue shorts. Strapped to her thighs was two daggers, glinting in their holsters. The rage-filled eye was enough for Hisui to know that she can't persuade her servant to stop. So, she sneaked past the fighting to get deeper in the guild.
To the lesser guild members, they were no matched for Karie's acrobatic movements, vaulting over backs while delivering a chop to exposed necks. The cat continued its frenzy, pulling out it's claws in the form of a wire, diving between punches and magic projectiles before tugging on the wire, capturing five people in a tight bond reinforced with Karie's magic. A flash of red followed by a sword was intercepted by Karie's dagger.
"Erza-sama!?"
"Karie? What are you doing here?" Like dragonflies, they danced through the crowds of people as they tried to understand the situation.
"Hisui-sama recovered and I brought her here to talk with the members here. However…" Karie flung a man over her shoulders. "A wood shard attacked Hisui-sama, now I'm trying to punish the fool."
"I see," Erza slammed the pommel of her sword to the person behind her. "I think we have the same goal, shall we work together?"
"Let's." Karie summoned a fan of blades, signaling Erza to do the same. When the steel was unleashed, their feelings for order caused the blades to glow and join, producing two new weapons; a dagger and a sword—both holding gaudy designs. The silver metal radiated of magic, etched and the flat of the blade, were runes. The hilts had similar appearances, gold with more runes. Erza and Karie took their respective weapons; swinging it lightly created a giant gust that blew the surrounding people away.
"I never heard of a Union Raid like this…"
"We'll investigate this later. For now,"
"Punishment!" "Retribution!"
While Karie and Erza was going wild, Hisui found a sign told the direction of a library and followed it—stepping over limp appendages to do so. The library had two levels, climbing down a ladder led to three rows of book shelves—not including the ones on the walls—each one packed with books. The level Hisui was on, had nothing but table and chairs. There, Hisui found a group of girls huddled together in a circle.
"This is the second time this week! Why does this keep happening?" Lucy whined.
"Luc-chan, the record is a fight a day. That week, Master and Erza was out." Levy pointed out.
"That doesn't make me feel glad at all!"
"Lucy, though no one else is here, we're still in a library." Lisanna warned.
"Sorry…"
"If do feel bad for Wendy though, it must be tough, to heal so many people."
"N—no, I treat it as training." Wendy explained. "I want to catch up to the others."
"You're too kind Wendy, you'll get used by people at one point."
"But…but, I can't help it…"
"Excuse me, can I ask a few questions?" Hisui spoke up, standing behind the group. They turned to the new voice.
"Hisui-sama!?"
"Please, have a seat!" Lucy exclaimed, being the first one to recover from the shock.
"Am I interrupting your talk?" Hisui asked, now seated next to Lucy and Lisanna.
"Not at all! S—so what do you what to ask?"
"How often does this happen?"
"I don't know, it seems like every day to me, Levy-chan, do you know?"
"Around once every two weeks, depends on luck."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, fights of this scale happen from a chain reaction, generally one person angering another, so it's down to luck whether we get fights like this."
"Will it calm down soon?"
"Since Erza is out there, I would say so."
"That's not the point, I want to ask something from the Princess!" Lisanna jumped in. "If that's fine with you of course."
"I don't mind."
"Then, what's being a Princess like? Is it anything like the stories?"
"If only it was…"
"I thought that it was fun." Wendy said.
"No, it's tedious. If you'd like, I can talk more on it."
"I—if it doesn't bother you."
"I guess I'll start with the people. How should I say it? You can't let your guard down at all, at least, in front of the people you can't trust."
"What do you mean?"
"Being an only child means that I'm most likely the one to inherent the throne, so lots of nobles will try to get on my good side. Of course, that isn't a bad thing, they just want to maintain their status as nobles. However, others will try to trick you in by pretending to be nice, these include the nobles that try to take my hand in marriage. They hold no affection for me at all, only the kingdom that's tied to me. Even the people that are attracted to me are looking for a wife for decoration.
"When you go into parties with people, it's not relaxing at all, you have to look into people's characters, scan for the smallest expression changes. If not, I'm afraid you might just end up being used. There is little honesty in the capital."
"That sounds terrible…" Lucy placed a hand on Wendy that was looking sympathetically at Hisui.
"Even when I'm not dealing with lies, no one will try to get close to me, everyone is weary for each other. For example, the servants won't hold a conversation with me out of fear of being accused of trying to get ahead. But, I hear them chatting blissfully when I'm not around.
"And then comes the tutoring, though things weren't as harsh as they used to be, I still remember being tutored for an entire day with little breaks. I would sneak out to get away from all the stress. If it wasn't for my parents, I wouldn't have a childhood, I would become an adult the moment I was old enough to understand the world around me. It was…so lonely…" Hisui wiped away a stray tear from her eyes. "Sorry for boring you with such a story." Wendy ran to Hisui and wrapped her small hands around her back, rubbing it in circular motion. Hisui returned the hug readily, running her hands through two streaks of dark blue hair. "Thank You, Wendy-san."
"You're welcome."
"I…I think that's enough about that topic." Lisanna interjected.
"Then, can you tell me about your guild? I think it's only fair."
"I'll start first!"
Back at the brawl, only Karie and Erza was standing. The rest were either unconscious or unable to move. Groans and curses dominated the space. Broken benches and tables could be found in the strangest of place, on a support beam, stuck to a pillar.
"As expected of the strongest female in the guild, I'm no match for you."
"I'm surprised that you could fight so well. You're not an ordinary maid after all."
"It's the weapon, my body felt lighter than normal."
"I know what you mean." Erza stared at the dissipating swords that handled flawlessly.
"I believe we should start cleaning up."
"I'm grateful. Even though this is my responsibility, you helped me more than I deserve."
"I caused some of the damage as well. Plus, we're the only ones that will." Karie pointed to the bickering Natsu and Gray, bruised but still shooting venomous words at each other. "You have some amazing people here."
"A pain for me unfortunately." Erza grabbed the pieces of furniture that looked salvageable and stacked them together while Karie swept away the ones that couldn't. It was clear that Karie was far more proficient than Erza is this regard, removing shards and blocks of wood methodically without sacrificing time. While Erza picked up the pieces that were close to her, moving to the next when one was finished. Mirajane came back from her trip to the market and helped move the wounded to the infirmary. Soon, the guild was back to what it looked like before the fight started, only with several tables and benches missing.
Karie—back in her uniform—was walking down a corridor to find her master, the pool proved to be fruitless. Kitchen; empty. Bathroom; silence. The library was the next place in mind. While Hisui wasn't an avid reader due to the lack of time, Karie knew Hisui enjoyed reading whenever she can. What she found brought a smile to Karie's lips. Hisui was laughing with a group of people, rid of her duties and letting the charming Princess shine pass the soul-stealing stares and calculating, business smile.
"Karie! You're finished?"
"With the help of Erza-sama. I trust that you had a good time?"
"More than that, everyone here is friendly."
"Then for their sake, don't push yourself too far."
"I won't, having you worry is bad enough."
"I suppose it's fine to tell you now then."
"And that is?"
"Hisui-sama's plan to construct a school on the outer edges of the city is going underway. We have yet to receive notice of the other schools however."
"That more than enough, I don't expect multiple schools to be constructed at once. If anything, I'm glad that those children can have a shot at their dreams."
"Always thinking about others huh?"
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
"I suppose not."
Thanks for reading! I hope that my spin on Unison Raids isn't too off putting!
Anyway, this chapter was so much easier and quicker to write. I might as well take this time to explain exactly what I find hard about writing this story. There are a few things:
One: I'm scared that the city building isn't deep enough for people to enjoy. Of course, I don't expect to write an actual city plan, just deep enough to show that I put some thought into the story and not use things that's stupidly obvious too much i.e. Not enough highly educated people? Just build more schools. Thinking of ways to develop the city is also a frustrating time.
Two: I'm having a hard time in finding a balance in explaining parts things without making it seem like I think you guys are stupid. I personally think that most of you guys are more than capable in figuring the subtle stuff I'm throwing in here and there—one reason why I tend to avoid straight-up telling people the emotions of the characters, I expect people to figure out how angry someone is by how they speak. A time where I had to point something out is when Hisui interrupted Rex as a sign of anger to the point where she is willing to abandon her upbringing. I'm doing all this so that everyone can follow along. I read one story—not a fanfic—where I'm too stupid to understand what's happening and, the writer didn't explain too much.
Three: I'm trying to balance out the interactions with Natsu and Hisui as well as Hisui's duties. It's also tricky to find an excuse for Natsu to be around Hisui in the first place but, a thoughtful person in the reviews already pointed that out.
Four: I feel like I'm not taking advantage of doing a third person story enough—I'm going to point out the advantages because I'll be here all day—in my previous story with Juvia, I was able to use a first person point of view to decent effect(I think). Now, it's not the case. In fact, here's a thing you can do right now: try to imagine this story written in first person; not much will change besides a few paragraphs every chapter. That's because most of this story is in a dialogue format and dialogue between the two perspectives are(in my opinion) not that different. So, I got ways to go before I'm satisfied with this story.
Now that I finished forcing my whining down your throats and turned off my entire audience; I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! And, have a great day!