Hey guys! Here's the third chapter: tolerate his presence.

Enjoy! :D

Lily xxx

Evergreen rubbed her arms, shivering. Summer wasn't quite over yet, but fall was coming and nights were getting colder. At least, the young woman guessed it was nighttime due to the difference in her vision. Even thought she could see as well in the dark as with daylight with her enhanced eyes, she could discern a difference in the colours as if a filter covered her eyes.

Sighing, she went into the tent they assigned her with three other ring bearers. One of them, the one who was laying next to the only free sleeping bag seemed to take a lot of space. When she sat on the said bag, she could get a look at the face of the massive silhouette. She sighed once more. How did she end up next to that Strauss crybaby? She, of course, had noticed him within the group of bearers. With such a stature, who didn't? However, despite his impressive structure, the young man had nothing of the elegance and the refinement Evergreen appreciated in others. On the opposite, he was on the boorish side. And that, not considering the fact that, under those ungraceful traits, a wuss was hiding.

After looking at him a little more however, she noticed that his eyes were dry. Worse, they were lacking any sort of emotions. He simply stared at the tent's canvas, noticing her presence only when she made noise by getting in the sleeping bag. She saw him squint his eyes to identify the newcomer before seeing his eyes open wider when he noticed who she was. He even seemed to shiver a little recognising her before according his attention back on the canvas. Even though she didn't mean to talk to him, the young woman was insulted for being ignored.

"You could at least greet me!" She exclaimed.

He put his attention back on her, this time showing a mix of fear and surprise.

"Your name's Evergreen, isn't it?"

"Yes it is! And you better remember it!"

He nodded, his movement filled with lassitude. Was he ignoring her once more? However, the young woman still couldn't understand why she was getting that bothered about it. Probably because no one payed her attention since the beginning of that exhausting journey. Maybe was it also because her nerves were all over the place since her brutal enrollment to something from which se didn't even really know the nature. Anyway, he only was a disgraceful imbecile. Then he looked back at her.

"Have you been a bearer for a long time?"

"That's not of your business!" She exclaimed even though she was glad, a little, of not being ignored anymore.

To her answer, he shook his shoulders.

"A real man askes questions."

The young woman raised an eyebrow, a disgusted look on her face.

"What an horrible way of talking!" she said, turning her back on him, Evergreen now rolled up in her blanket.

Elfman looked at her, dumbfounded, wondering what he had said wrong then shook his shoulders once more, turning his back as well to the one that frightened him with her petrifying stare and her mood swings. However, no matter how much he didn't like her, he felt sad of seeing her in that situation… Their situation. The thoughts he had before she got him out of it resurfaced. Mira, his only family. He probably would never see her again, but at least, she wouldn't risk her life against the fallen. Despite the fears he had about his own fate and the tears now back on his cheeks, Elfman knew it was a man's duty to protect his family and he wasn't regretting his decision.


"No way!" Grumbled Laxus as low as he could.

"It would maximise the odds of getting them back" insisted Mira.

"How the hell allying with you would help me finder her?"

The young woman gave him a glare. She had changed in the past four years. From the tempestuous nature she had shown since finding out about her ring, non of it really remained. She always smiled, was always in a good mood… but that man! She couldn't believe how much her old temperament, even if it was buried for a long time, was easily resurfacing with him.

To annoy him, she offered him one of her brightest smile.

"I forgot how much it was unpleasant speaking to you! Thanks for reminding me" she said in the same way she would truly thank someone.

"Tch. Just go find your brother somewhere else!"

"You want to find Evergreen, don't you?"

"Yes. And I don't need you to do so, so leave me alone."

On that, he turned back to where the guards stood, ending the discussion. Then he rose his head a little more, looking from left to right, more anger than ever in his eyes.

"Shit! With your bullshit of an alliance you made us lose their track!"

"If you could think about solving problems instead of constantly complaining, you would've notice they left footprints" she said, he light tone back on.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Following the path, of course!"

"Are you deaf? I refuse to let you follow me!"

"Technically, if you follow the footsteps yourself, you are the one that's accompanying me" she noted.

He emitted some kind of growl then walked faster to walk past her, as if she would simply vanish acting so. Despite her reticence to see him in her surroundings, Mira couldn't help a small satisfaction smile.


Elfman woke up without feeling like he actually had slept. His eyes where heavy and he almost listened to his body's request to lay back down when someone speaking got his attention. Slowly emerging from his sleeping state, he remembered that it was, in fact, some voices that woke him up.

"I said let go of me!" Said louder the feminine voice that frightened him more than once.

"Come on…" insisted a man's voice. "It wont be a bad thing to share a little heat… We're all gonna end up dead soon anyway."

Anger filled up the young man's heart. He sat in his improvised bed, this time wide awake. What he saw pissed him off even more. The man next to Evergreen was trying to drag her closer to him while the later struggled to push him away.

"A real man never forces someone to do something against their will!" he said with conviction.

"Find yourself another one!" Said the guy that degusted Elfman even more.

Without any warning, the young Strauss lifted Evergreen up, earning a painful hit on his jaw from the young woman. But that didn't stop him and he placed her on his own sleeping bag. Then, before she could even react, he took place where Evergreen stood seconds ago. A draft of alcohol invaded his nostrils as he was closer to the drunk man. The latter looked dumbfounded at the imposing silhouette, hesitating between attacking him or simply drift back to sleep. Either his common sense or simply his laziness made him opt for the second option as he glared at Elfman before crashing his head on his pillow. Loud snores soon filled the tent. When he was sure the guy wouldn't try anything, Elfman turned back to Evergreen.

"Are you alright…ow! What was that for?" he complained to the one that just hit him with one of her shoe. "A real man doesn't hit people without any reason!"

"First, I'm a woman!" She stated. "And second, how dare you touch me!"

"You complain a lot" let out Elfman, earning a second shoe hit.

"It never occurred to you that you may be the one that's getting on my nerves?"

"No, not really… but not that your talking about it…"

"You really are a lost cause!"

Elfman pulled a face to the reaction of that exasperating girl. Two things were obvious: she had a temper and she didn't like him. However, if the young man had Evergreen's sight, he would have seen the pink tint on her cheeks. Despite her strong reaction, once the surprise dissipated, she had to admit that he wasn't anymore the crybaby she remembered. A thought even crossed her mind: maybe she'll even manage to tolerate his presence.