A/N: Okay, guys, I've had many requests to start posting twice a week. I was really hesitant about this at first because I was afraid of running out of material. However, I only have one more chapter left to write of this fic, so I think I can afford to publish twice a week for you from now on. :) You guys are the best!
Chapter 34: One Word
Romeo stopped running. He crouched, hands on his knees, to catch his breath. He looked frantically behind him for the pursuer. She could be anywhere… Behind that bush, around that corner, under that table, in that tree! Waiting to pounce like some kind of wild animal.
The air was quiet. Too quiet.
"Hey, Romeo."
"GAH!" The child screamed and fell back on the seat of his pants, scrambling away from the voice. Relief washed over him when he looked up and did not see pink eyes staring at him. "Oh, it's just you."
"Wow, son. I'm hurt." Macao crouched in front of him and gave a knowing smile. "Syllestra, huh?"
Romeo gulped loudly and checked their surroundings again. "Dad, she came to school in a wedding dress!" He was absolutely mortified.
Macao laughed out loud and roughly patted his son on the back. "Juvia's really getting into her head, huh?"
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" He pulled his knees to his chest and rocked for a moment. "It's weird. I don't like it." He pouted, a blush touching his boyish cheeks. "My friends keep making fun of me… Everyone keeps making fun of me."
"Listen, son…" The older man sighed and picked Romeo up so that he was standing. "First off. Don't worry about what everyone else thinks. We're all a bunch of old fogies who don't know anything about… well anything, honestly." He laughed at his own joke. "What you do need to worry about is how you feel about Syllest. Don't end up like Gray—just be straightforward with her."
Romeo's cheeks retained their color and he avoided his father's eyes.
"Speak of the angel…" Macao's lip twitched in a smirk and he looked over Romeo's head.
"Huh? Wh-NO!" Romeo ducked behind his dad's legs at the sight of Syllest skipping down the road with a bouquet of roses in her hand, still wearing a perfectly tailored little wedding dress.
"Later, Son!" Macao suddenly seemed to vanish, walking in the opposite direction.
"SOME HELP YOU ARE, DAD!"
"Hey, I gave you fatherly advice, didn't I?" He waved passively, then he was gone.
Romeo's muscles tensed as he prepared to run again. Instead, he remained rooted to the spot, sweating and swallowing lumps in his throat. Like an unoiled robot, he turned to face his attacker.
"Romeo! There you are!" She caught up, somehow not breathless in the slightest. She took a deep breath and puffed her chest out, chin held high, a look of fierce determination in her pink eyes. "Romeo Conbolt, I order you to marry me! Right now!"
He stumbled backwards, like her words had a physical effect on him. "Syllest, uh, I…"
"Just say yes!" She shouted. Her little hands smacked onto her hips—indignation clear.
"But, I—I'm not…"
"Look! I made us cute rings with my magic, too!" She frantically pulled a couple of rings out of the bouquet of roses. "They're made from diamond so they won't ever break! I guess I'll have to make new ones when we get older though because our hands probably won't be the same size forever… But that's okay! I can make as many as we need, just as long as—"
"Syllest, I don't like you!"
A crow cawed overhead. Evening hues cloaked the young pair in an orange blanket, suddenly dulling the vibrancy of Syllestra's pink eyes. Tears sprung and rolled down her cheeks.
"Y-You… don't?"
Romeo's cheeks flushed and he jerked around, awkwardly, still fighting the instinct to run. "I-I mean… I like you, cuz you're my friend, but I don't… like like you!"
"Oh…" Her head and shoulders slumped. The bouquet of roses flopped on the pavement.
"Syllest, you… You're acting crazy!" He flailed his arms. "We can't get married, we're kids! Where are we even gonna live? With your mom or my dad?"
She blinked as if she hadn't even thought about it.
"And I'm not even an official Fairy Tail member yet so how would I make money for us?"
"I guess you're right…" She stared at his shoes.
"S-Syllest…" He threw his arms around her suddenly, pulling her in for a hug. "I don't like you acting like this! I want my best friend back!"
Her tears rolled onto his shirt. "Best friend?"
"Yeah!" He pulled back and looked at her with a cheeky smile. "I want to catch toads with you in the forest again, because all the other boys are too scared! And I want to make a mud castle by the river when it rains! And I want you to help me practice my magic so I can be strong like Natsu and you can be tough like Erza, just like you want, right?"
She stared wide-eyed at him, her delicate cheeks taking on a pink shade as well. Slowly, she began to nod. "Yeah! I want to be the best Fairy Tail wizard there ever was!"
"You'll have to beat me!" He laughed and pumped his fist. "Let's be friends again and get stronger together, so we can protect Fairy Tail too!"
"Okay!" She giggled loudly and tossed the rings she'd been holding on the ground like nothing but trinkets. "Being friends is better anyways! Wedding dresses are itchy!"
"And you look stupid," he said honestly.
"You look stupider," she stuck her tongue out at him. Then she cocked her head in thought. "Do you think Eddie would marry me instead? I like his hat. And he called me cute yesterday in class, so maybe—"
"No way!" Romeo cut her off. "You can't just go marry someone else cuz I said no!"
"But—"
"We are gonna get married someday!"
"W-We are?" She blinked.
"Well, yeah!" He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You said you don't like like me."
"Duh," he rolled his eyes. "You're a girl. You have cooties. But when we're older and stronger—"
"Like Natsu and Erza?"
"Yeah! Then I'll like like you and we can get married! So you're not allowed to marry Eddie, okay?"
"Okay!" The logic made sense to both children. They nodded their heads in agreement before Syllest began to skip toward the guild hall and Romeo raced to catch up.
"Hey Romeo, I think my mom like likes Macbeth," she giggled quietly.
"Ew," he shuddered.
"If they get married, will that make him my dad?" Her eyes bugged out, mind blown. "Oooh, maybe she'll let me make her wedding ring! And I can be the flower girl and you can be the ring boy and they'll kiss—bleh, I don't want to see them kiss!"
"Do you think he'd take off his lipstick first?"
"THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!"
Their hyper voices drifted away on the cool dusky breeze.
/
Behind a bush, watching them walk away, was a weepy eyed Juvia.
"I'm such a failure!" She wept into her hands dramatically. "My dear, sweet child has abandoned everything I taught her about romance! Even casting aside the bouquet of roses she was meant to give to her beloved! Is this what they call rebellion? Have I failed as a mother? Surely I did not teach her to accept friendship instead of love! She should have kept trying! Eventually her efforts would have paid off and she would be walking hand in hand with her beloved into the sunset!" She imagined herself and Gray instead of Romeo and Syllest.
"What are you doing out here, Juvia?" The ice-maker's voice shocked her to her feet, a twig sticking out of her hair.
"Oh my darling Gray!" She threw her arms around him and wept into his chest. He jerked back in surprise.
"I thought that I would make a wonderful mother, but perhaps I'm not cut out for parenting after all!"
"Relax," he squirmed away from her. "You did fine. I mean you fed her and put her to bed on time, right? That's all there is to it."
"Gray…" She stared at him with eye brimming with emotion. "You'll make such a wonderful father to our children one day!" She squeezed him harder.
"Wait a second! Who said anything about 'us' and 'our?' Let me go, Juvia!"
"My sweet, darling Gray!"
Makarov sat on his desk with his legs crossed and eyes closed, a grim expression on his face. A clock ticked incessantly in the background. In front of him sat a blue-haired gambling wizard, emerald eyes uncertain.
"Piper…" The master's voice was serious. He didn't open his eyes when he spoke, thought creasing his brows further than age already had. "I need your honest opinion on this."
Piper scratched his goatee and trained his eyes carefully on the strings of his boot. His jaw clenched. "Gramps, I ain't the right guy to make a choice like this. You's oughta ask Dreamy."
"That is out of the question," came the stern reply. "She has clear bias on the matter at hand."
Tick. Tock.
"I gots bias too, gramps! I mean, I hates the guy!" He thought of his roommate. That mocking smirk ever-present on his twisted face. The eerie sense he felt around him, that came from the dark power of his magic. He thought about how the bastard always took over an hour in the bathroom and left it smelling like Master Bob's suite at Blue Pegasus' guild hall—and the damn black curls that got clogged in the shower drain—and that guy could snore louder than a bear! Plus, he was pretty sure he'd drank some of Piper's milk right out of the jug, even though it was clearly labeled "Piper's: Touch it and I'll murder you."
More than that, though, he thought about the way the wizard's blood red eyes followed after Dreamer whenever she was near. The way they would narrow—gleam with sinister intent—something predatory. He thought about the way he slunk around the guild hall like a black cat, stalking her—watching her. And worst of all… The way she watched him right back.
"That may be true." Makarov opened his eyes. "But I know that you're not the type to allow your emotions to inhibit the most logical choice. Beyond that, you are the only one who lives with him and has seen him in close combat. You may very well know his behaviors more than anyone else."
"You's gots too much faith in me, old man…" He sighed and looked at the black Fairy Tail emblem he wore on his forearm. He'd spent a lot of time lately wondering what it really meant to wear that symbol—what it really meant to be a part of this guild. The traits of a Fairy Tail wizard.
"What's your verdict, Piper?" The master prodded again. "Don't forget, the Magic Council is intent on punishing us if we continue to harbor him."
"Yeah, I know…" He picked at a nail.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
Dreamer… She hadn't fully recovered yet, but she'd been coming out of the room to eat and exercise. He loved everything about her… The way her cream-colored hair fluttered above her shoulder blades, her long neck and petite shoulders. Mavis, her smile. It lit up the room brighter than sunlight. It sparkled in her eyes, the infinite pink petals floating in a sea of hope. Her skin a field, softer than anything he'd ever touched and more delicate than porcelain. Her scent like the summer sky—like a cool breeze—like freedom.
He loved her. But he was no fool. She didn't love him back—and lately those infinite eyes and that sunlight smile shone for someone else. A darkness that could easily eclipse her, if only she could see the danger…
Piper hated him.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
This choice could mean the end of it. That bastard could be gone for good, locked up in a cell where he belonged, far away from Dreamy and Syllest and the hopes and dreams Piper had cultivated over the past three years. Piper just had to say the word. One word and it would be all over. He'd have his girl back.
He thought of her blushing cheeks. He could have sworn they once colored because of him, but when he thought back… He knew she'd never looked at him in exactly the same way she looked at Midnight. It made something vile rise in his throat—an emptiness, a bitterness, a wicked beast with a thirsty stomach desperate for the burn of alcohol—the fire that would consume the pain.
With trembling fists, eyes trained on bootstrings…
Tick...
"Yes."
Makarov's eyes widened. "Are you sure? I will make my choice based on your answer."
Piper met his master's eyes evenly. The emeralds were hard. Resolute. "Yes." Stone-like voice. "Do it."
Makarov sighed deeply and nodded his head as the clock ticked in the background.
"It will be done."