Chapter 11: Blissful Innocence

The cherry blossom festival was only a week away. Per the custom of things, wizards were coming home to Fairy Tail from all over Fiore in preparation to celebrate the annual vacation. Which meant that the guild hall was much busier this time of the year.

The constant chatter and activity made it easier for Midnight to fade out of general sight. It had now been almost two weeks since Dreamer brought him to Fairy Tail. The ex-member of Oracion Seis was still slinking in the darkness—and still refused to do any of the chores he was regularly assigned, but… Lately he'd been in the main hall much more often, watching the daily buzz of activity. He even wandered down from the second floor at times to sit on the sidelines of the guild floor and observe in silence. He claimed this was because he was "so bored" that he'd "almost rather be tortured by the Magic Council." He had to find something to do in the few hours he was actually awake.

As for Dreamer, she paid him daily visits, which were mostly met with cold silence and an unyielding glare; sometimes a few select words expressing his complete distaste for her. She and Piper still weren't talking much, but at least he'd started sitting next to her at the table for meals again. The blue-haired wizard hated Midnight and the feeling was mutual. When they shared the same room at night, neither slept. In fact, Piper was only catching a few hours of sleep in the afternoon, which probably contributed to his overall grumpiness.

The tension between everyone might only have lost its edge, but at least it was giving away somewhat. That gave Dreamer hope.

The guild hall was roaring with excited chatter and laughter. Afternoon sunlight illuminated Fairy Tail insignias everywhere. Arms, shoulders, waists, necks—a tongue—in all sorts of colors, showing the loyalty and love everyone in the room had for their beloved guild they called home. Well, almost everyone. There was the exception of the man leaning against the railing on the second floor, scowling at the happy guild with an air of superiority.

Lucy sat reading Sorcerer Weekly and chatting with her friend, Levy, about the upcoming festival.

"I'm so excited." Lucy said, dreamily. "This will be my first time seeing the blossoms."

Levy nodded cheerfully at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, it will be Gajeel's first time seeing them too. He'd never admit it, but I can tell he's excited." She giggled at some memory. "He's just like a kid when it comes to some things."

"Oh, I know all about that, trust me," Lucy said with a groan. She was watching Natsu dance on a table across the room with his scarf wrapped around his head and bells on his wrists. God only knew what he was doing. "How's Gajeel doing, by the way?" Lucy rested her chin on her hand and looked up from the magazine at her. "You think he's assimilated to the guild now?"

Levy thought about it. She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded slowly. "He's doing a lot better. It was hard for him at first, and he's still rough around the edges, but… At least I see him laughing and joining in on conversation with everyone else now." She gave one of the fondest smiles thinking about it. She tilted her head back and looked up at Midnight on the second floor. "You know, I feel like Midnight has a lot in common with Gajeel."

"Really?" Lucy asked, incredulous. She followed Levy's gaze up and watched the strange man stand up straight and make his way toward the stairs.

"Well, yeah, think about it." Levy watched him walk down the stairs and carefully sit at one of the tables. His red eyes glared suspiciously at anyone and everyone who dared walk too close to him. Luckily, the majority of people kept a wide berth. "Gajeel came from a guild that was Fairy Tail's enemy too. He did some really awful things before he joined us."

"Yeah, you're right… I almost forgot." Lucy thought back to the pillars of iron that had been evidence of Gajeel's role in destroying the old guild hall. Not only that, but he'd beat team Shadow Gear—Levy included—totally unconscious and then hung them from the tree in the center of town to humiliate them. Lucy could clearly remember the pain she'd been inflicted at his hands, when she was a prisoner to Phantom Lord. That felt like it was so long ago…

"No one liked him when Master let him join the guild, either. Remember how everyone threw stuff at him when he played guitar on stage? Then there was Laxus, and Jet and Droy… Piper reminds me of those two. I don't think they'll ever get along with Gajeel. And I don't think Piper will ever get along with Midnight."

"Wow… I never thought of all that." Lucy looked at Midnight in wonder. He had crossed his arms over his chest and was people-watching with an unreadable expression—something close to disgust. "I guess there are a lot of similarities."

"It's true, Phantom Lord wasn't an assassin guild," Levy added, cautiously. "I'm not sure if Gajeel has ever… you know, killed anyone. But…" She sighed. "I guess I can relate to Dreamer. If she sees something good in Midnight the way that I see something in Gajeel, then maybe one day he'll be a valuable member of Fairy Tail."

"Maybe you're right," Lucy said quietly. She personally couldn't relate to the situation as well as Levy could, but she did know what it was like to care for someone even after they'd hurt you, badly. She thought of her own father. It was so strange, overwhelming even, to think of the fact that everyone in this guild had a story of their own—and some of those stories were tragic and full of hard relationships.

She continued to watch Midnight for a long moment. He was so peculiar… Unnerving, even. His skin was pale, nearly as white as Juvia's. His dual-colored hair was carefully maintained, the black portion spiked and the white underside, straightened. His dark makeup served to accentuate his harsh, red eyes. Nails perfectly painted. He probably spent as much time on his appearance as she did, if not more.

Currently, he was absentmindedly twisting the beaded part of his white hair around his finger, sharp eyes observing the activity in the room—a scowl on his lips.

Lucy tried to imagine what about this man could have possibly convinced Dreamer to take compassion on him. At the very best, he was strange and unsettling. More realistically, he was a powerful assassin who had attacked members of Fairy Tail, served under a heartless criminal, and probably murdered more people than she could count. Did Dreamer really think he could become a member of the guild, like Gajeel?

"Where is Dreamer, by the way?" she asked, realizing in her wandering thoughts that she hadn't seen the woman at all today.

"She's on a job," Levy explained. "She and Jezran left yesterday to earn some extra money before the festival, since there probably won't be any jobs to take for the rest of the week. It's always slow this time of the year."

"Why didn't Piper go with them? Aren't they a team?" Lucy caught sight of a sky-blue Mohawk a couple of tables away, with a deck of cards in front of him.

"They are, but I think Piper's in charge of keeping an eye on Midnight. You can tell he's not too happy about it." Emerald eyes shot across the room in a sharp glare, at a black-haired wizard sitting isolated near the stage.

"Is he sleeping?" The last time Lucy had looked at Midnight, he was wide awake, watching the room. Now it looked like he was drooling. He had slumped against the table, head resting on his arm, a finger still twisted in his hair.

Levy laughed awkwardly. "Ha ha, it looks like it."

"I don't know how anyone could sleep with all this noise."

"Ah yeah! Fire Dragon Dance!" Natsu shook his butt on the table. Macao hooted and threw a dollar.

Sweat drops, followed by laughter.

"You can't help but love Fairy Tail," Levy laughed.

Lucy was in the middle of agreeing when a voice rang through the guild hall.

"Romeo! Rooomeeeooo!"

Lucy didn't recognize the voice, so she turned in her seat and looked at the guild hall doors. In pranced a girl, maybe seven years old. Charcoal black hair hung all the way to her waist. She wore a navy romper with a brown string belt and diamond pattern. She had large, round eyes—thick eyelashes surrounding irises as pink as the blossoms to be celebrated a few days from now.

"Oh?" Levy sounded shocked. Lucy tensed at her surprised reaction.

"Who is that?" She asked. The girl skipped through the hall, looking for someone, with a great smile set between her rosy cheeks.

"That's Syllestra." The child's black hair whipped around her as she spun, expressive eyes searching the faces in the crowd. "She's Dreamer's daughter."

"Daughter?" Lucy's jaw dropped. She had no idea Dreamer had a child. She didn't look like she could have been too much older than Lucy—maybe Erza's age? There was no way she was older than 20... How old would she have to have been to have a daughter this age?

"I had no idea," she said in amazement. She could see it now. Syllestra and Dreamer had the same eyes.

"Not many people know about it," Levy said. "And only Piper, Jezran, Mira, and the Master know the whole story. I do know that Dreamer doesn't talk about her much, and she almost never comes to the guild hall." Which is why it was strange to see the girl climbing up on a bench now, to scan the crowd for Macao's son. She stood on her tiptoes in little brown sandals and put her hand over her eyes to shield nonexistent sunlight.

"I wonder why…" Lucy cocked her head curiously, her author brain mulling over a thousand different possibilities.

Syllestra surveyed the crowd with her little hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Finally, her pink eyes stopped. Her eyelashes fluttered and lips parted. Her cheeks took on a deeper shade of pink. She stared wide-eyed at a figure in the crowd.

"It's you…"

The little girl, without warning, leaped off of the bench and ran. With a final hop, she landed roughly onto the lap of none other than the infamous ex-dark wizard… Midnight.

"Macbeth!" she squealed in girlish joy.

The guild hall had fallen instantly silent. Midnight was no longer asleep. He was leaned back, body rigid as one of Gajeel's iron rods. His red eyes were retracted until they were hardly more than beads in completely flabbergasted eyes. The only movement in the entire room, was the swaying of the magenta beads fastened to the white part of his hair.

"You're him, aren't you!" The girl had absolutely no sense of concern about her. In fact, her smile was wider than ever. She threw her arms around Midnight's neck and squeezed him in a tight hug. The dumbfounded man gritted his teeth at the motion, but didn't react other than that. It was as if he was too stunned to move.

"My mom's told me all about you! You were a bad guy, but not anymore, right? That means we can be friends! That's what happened with my uncle, Piper. He was a bad guy too, but Mom made him a good guy and now he's my family! That's why I wanted to meet you, because you'll be my family, too, right? But for now, we can be friends. I don't have a lot of friends because Mom doesn't let me go out much—except Romeo, he's my friend. We go to school together—have you seen him, by the way? I need to give him something but he wasn't in school so I thought he'd be here and—You really do look like a girl, just like Mom said! That's okay, though—there's that guy, Master Bob with Blue Pegasus, and I think he's a girl, but everyone says—"

The child talked as fast as a magic vehicle on full power. The only sound in the entire guild hall was her unending sentence, perforated with excited squeaks and dramatic gestures. Midnight's teeth remained gritted and his expression was that of a harassed man who had absolutely no idea how to respond to this direct violation of space. Now she was commenting on his skull earrings while tugging on one, at the same time petting the fur collar of his vest.

"Alright, kiddo!" Piper to the rescue. He scooped the girl up in his arms and made a few quick strides away from Midnight, forcing distance between them. "Time to go."

The dark wizard's eyes lingered on the girl, his lip trembling from some unknown emotion.

"Uncle Piper!" Syllest exclaimed, already forgetting Midnight. She ran her fingers through the long part of Piper's hair and then squeezed his neck. He chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"Hey, ya little rascal. I t'ought your mom told ya to stay away from the guild hall," he chastised. "Ya better have a good reason for disobeyin,' ya hear?"

"I do!" She dug in her pocket and pulled out a tiny Natsu figurine. "See!"

"Hey, it's me!" Natsu was still standing on a nearby table, frozen in a dance pose.

Piper ignored the interjection and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

Syllestra blushed deeply and hid her eyes behind a curtain of black hair. "It's for Romeo, for his birthday…"

"Aw, why didn't ya just say so?" Piper planted a kiss on her forehead. "I coulda took you's to him myself!"

"Really?! Oh, look! I made this, too! Wanna see, wanna see?" She reached back into the loose pocket of her romper and pulled out a pink diamond rose, tiny enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

Piper reached out and touched it with his pinky, outlining the perfect shape of the petals. "You make this? With your magic?" he asked, with muted amazement.

"Yeah, but don't tell Mom!" She stared seriously at him.

"You got it, kiddo." He closed her fingers around the small creation. "Long as you promise not to hang out around here. And…" He glanced over his shoulder at Midnight, who was just barely regaining some composure. "You stay away from that guy, alright? I don't know what crap your mom's been feedin' ya, but he ain't a good guy. He ain't nothing like me, got it? He's bad news, so don't talk to 'im."

Midnight's eyes narrowed. He stood and gave a dramatic yawn, as if he were utterly bored with watching this exchange. He plunged his hands into his pockets and strode back up the stairs, purposely stomping his boots on the stone floor just slightly. He slouched his shoulders, showing disinterest, never once looking back at Syllest or Piper—only tugging on an earring as he faded back into the darkness.

Syllest watched him walk away with a confused expression. Before she could open her mouth to argue with Piper however…

"Syllestra?" Another child's voice called out.

"Romeo!" Syllest squirmed out of Piper's hold and booked it across the room to the boy, who was shaking and blushing at the sight of her.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" He asked. There were some chuckles and someone elbowed Macao's side suggestively at the sight of the two kids.

"Happy birthday, Romeo!" She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cherry red cheek.

"A-ah! S-Syllest! Didn't I tell ya not to… you know… k-kiss me?"

"He loooooves her!" Happy flew over the two of them.

"Tada! I got you presents!" Syllest presented her gifts to Romeo. He took them with shaking hands, but finally smiled widely, albeit still awkwardly. He laughed and threw his arms around Syllest, returning her hug. The young girl's cheeks took some color as well. Giggling and chuckling all around.

"Ha ha, well…" Levy wiped her forehead, "crisis averted."

"You're not kidding…" Lucy looked up at the darkness of the second floor, but Midnight was nowhere to be seen. "That could have been bad."

"I don't think so," Levy argued. "Like I said, I think he's a lot like Gajeel. And I don't think he'd ever hurt a kid. I was more worried about Dreamer walking in at the wrong moment. She's scary when it comes to Syllest!"

Lucy wasn't so sure about Midnight not hurting a kid, and obviously neither was Piper. The wizard may have been smiling warmly at Syllest, but his shoulders were tight as a coil ready to spring.

It didn't take long for the hall to fall back into the previous state of laughter and drinking, the exchange with Midnight and Syllest forgotten. Piper let Romeo and Syllest play together, but he watched over them like a hawk now, his eyes occasionally darting to the stairs to check for any perceived threat. He sighed and pinched his eyebrows together to ward off a headache.

"Dreamy…" he muttered. "What the hell are you thinking?"

Syllestra Cumula. The girl in a blue romper, showing Romeo how the Natsu figurine could shoot plastic fireballs. Hair of a raven, flowing out around her like a cloak. Eyes of pink diamond, matching the cherry blossom eyes of Dreamer Cumula.

A heart of blissful innocence.

A/N: Well, Monday seems to work best for people, so I'm going back to posting every Monday! Thank you for your feedback and reviews!

And I just wanted to do a little shout out to lili91! I really appreciate that you left a review even though it was difficult outside of your native language! Don't worry, I understood everything you said and I appreciate your encouragement! (Even if you don't like Piper. ;)

Thank you for supporting my fic, all of you!