(SORRY THIS IS SORTA LATE BY A LOT BUT SCHOOL, YOUTUBE, LIFE, AND FANFICTION IS HARD TO JUGGLE) I'll try update as regularly as possible, but it's sort of difficult re-writing a story… Especially when you're adding new things in as well.
Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters.
Claimers: I own my characters.
Red had moved Maemi to her bed upstairs, where the girl was unconscious. Bags had appeared under her eyes, and if her eyes were open, her pupils would be tiny, and would suddenly grow large as if in shock. Red almost never understood why it happened, though whenever Maemi would remember being knocked out, her reasoning would be because her magic is godly for a regular human being. That she was cursed for having it, and whenever she used it, the curse would remind her of her powers.
The exceed placed her paw gently onto the woman's forehead. There were sudden heat bursts and sudden cold bursts. Maemi winced in pain a couple of times.
Red knew that Maemi was lying about the reason why she became unconscious. She knew that it was caused by her magic, and it didn't always happen. It only happened when it came down to fighting other humans. If it were a monster, she wouldn't get the sudden attack afterwards, and would just be tired.
The small exceed could only wonder why she got them, and decided to explore her new home. The ginger cat hopped down off of the woman's bed, and leaped up onto a chair that was perpendicular to the desk. There was a drawer under the desk's top, and pulled it open gently, seeing a few of it's contents.
She could see some messy papers, a couple of journals, reading books, and a few crumpled up papers. Red was slightly annoyed on how messy the desk's contents were, and wondered if that's how Maemi was back then. She took out the crumpled papers and placed them on the desk. She took out the reading books, and read their covers. Dragons, Tales of Dragons, Dragon Slayers… The last one held a couple of bookmarks on their pages. All three of them were thoroughly read through, as far as Red could tell. She stacked the three books on top of each other.
She took out the journals. The covers of them had sticky notes attached to them, labeling which journals came first and which went after each other. The last one that Red located in the desk was number 5. Finally, she took out the messy papers. She inspected each one. They all had dates. Most were pictures. Curiously, the exceed flipped through a few of the pictures. One was dated back to when Maemi was very young. It was a crayon-made image, with her standing with her parents, who were seemingly holding a baby. It was titled as: New baby sister! With a big happy face next to the messy letters.
The next one was made after the first one. It read: Mommy and daddy are paying more attention to baby sister than me… With a big sad face now. It had a little girl sitting on her bed, a single tear rolling down her face. Despite these being a young girl's images and everything being stick figures, it clearly showed a bit of Maemi's past to Red.
The next image was made a year and a half later. New new baby sister! Maybe mommy and daddy will start playing with me more now! With a happy face again. She had drawn her first baby sister with a sad face, and a picture of her parents playing with blocks with her. Red had to admit, these pictures were pretty cute.
The last image terrified Red, however. It was made many years later. It showed the stick figure girl, who represented Maemi, with blood all over her hands, and no sign of her parents or little siblings. There were two shady figures who lied on the ground, bloody. Maemi, in the image was crying. Red noticed markings on the back. There were words.
They read, a couple of red stains on the paper: They're dead. There were smaller phrases all around the back of the paper, many that read: I'm a monster, I can't be forgiven, I didn't protect them. Red's heart felt like it had stopped. The pictures went from cute, little jealousies to murder? When did Maemi ever murder someone?
The shady figures were on the ground with a pool of blood around them, so she could only assume that Maemi had killed them. Red heard Maemi shift a bit behind her, and Red quickly put all four pictures under the two regular pieces of paper. They were notes. One read: Teaching my sisters their numbers and letters! It listed the alphabet and numbers up to 100. It was dated somewhere in between the murder image and the last baby sister image. The other piece of paper was dated many years after the murder image.
It mostly read that she was happy to be home and recently joined Fairy Tail. Cana and Levy are mentioned once or twice. It also mentioned something about her getting a foster father soon. That's when it ended. She placed all the papers under the journals. Red then began to uncrumble the crumbled up papers. They were pictures, all dated 14 years ago. They were all titled something. 'Cana', 'Levy', 'Gray', 'Erza'... Maemi had apparently tried drawing four of her friends. They all weren't scribbled out, but there were little side notes, mentioning how she can't draw, no matter how hard she tries. At least those images were more innocent. She put those under the journals as well, and began to place the items back in, in a more organized fashion.
First went the first three journals, and then the papers, and then the last two journals. Finally, the three hardcover books went in their own area, since all three were rather thick books. Red then pushed the drawer closed. The exceed glanced at the table's top. It was much more organized compared to the formerly messy desk drawer. Pencils, pens, markers, and some basic crafting supplies were in a small set of drawers that on top of the desk. A large sketch book sat in the middle of the desk, with a measuring tape and a desk lamp.
Red finally realized that Maemi was probably once very creative. The exceed opened the sketch book, and the first page said: Maemi's Clothes Designs! It was much more new, and seemed to be written when Maemi was about 11. Red turned the page. It had a beginning sketch of a female human's body, probably going to act as the model for the image. It was rather well drawn. Red then closed the book. A knock was heard from the door. The exceed turned on her Aera, and flew out of Maemi's room. She flew downstairs and looked through the peephole in the door. A man with blonde, spiky hair stood outside, a lightning-shaped scar across his right eye.
The exceed slowly opened the door. "Hello? How can I help you?" Red asked the man, unsure on who he was.
"Is Maemi in there?" The man had a rather deep voice. Red slightly frowned.
"Why does that matter, eh?" Red demanded. She got slightly defensive of her friend, seeing as she didn't know who this man was.
"I'm apart of Fairy Tail. She knows me."
"I'll have to check with her, if she's awake."
"I can come back later, though. The old man's gonna be pissed at me for not knowing how she is though."
"Old man?"
"Master of the guild, midget, old. You should know him at least. I'm his grandson."
"Sure," Red remarked sarcastically. Red then heard Maemi, calling from her room.
"Red? Is someone at the door?" Maemi called down, her voice obviously weak. The exceed turned around to call back upstairs.
"Yeah! Some dude who's claiming to be the Master's grandson wants to see you! He apparently knows you, but it seems suspicious!" Red squealed. There was silence for a moment.
"SHOCKY?" Maemi seemingly yelled out. The man looked at the stairs in annoyance.
"I heard ya, Shorty…" He muttered. Red glanced between the two voices, confused.
"Red, let him in. I know him. He probably muttered after that, if I'm right!" Maemi called out.
"Seeing how you have Dragon Slayer abilities, you probably could hear me muttering!"
"Well, you just confirmed that you were muttering! I don't even need to be one!"
"Anyways, cat, can I come in? Gramps is concerned for her. She seemed to be fine when she left, but I guess the old man's concerned." The man asked Red, and the exceed nodded. She figured it was alright considering that Maemi knew him. The exceed pulled the door open. The male stepped inside, and glanced around. "Oi, cat. Mind bringing me there?" The man seemed to make it a command.
"I wouldn't mind," Red answered, climbing up the stairs. Her Aera form had diffused away by now. "Might take me a bit to climb it…" She grumbled. The man then picked her up and walked upstairs, and placed her down on top of the stairs. "Thank you!"
"You're more polite than her, at least…" The exceed wondered what the man meant by that, but shrugged. She passed by two doors in the hallway, and by the third one, she pushed the door open.
Maemi seemed to be awake, her eyes returned to normal at least. Bags were still under her eyes. Her pupils widened more for a few seconds. It wasn't her adjusting to the light, though. Red knew that much.
"Well, hey there Shocky!" Maemi smirked when she saw the man. He just rolled his eyes.
"Ya doin' alright, Shorty? Old man's bugged," the blond responded, his arms crossed. Red grabbed onto the bedsheets and climbed her way up onto the bed, looking at the man in curiousity. She didn't want to call him Shocky, unless it really is his name.
"Sir?" Red asked. The blond man glanced down at the exceed. "I don't wanna call you Shocky, so what's your name?"
"Laxus," Laxus answered, looking back at Maemi. "You look younger than you should look. How old are ya now?"
Maemi sighed. "Still 19. The monster I was fighting paused time for 7 years. Which really messed Red and I up, but we just got back today," she explained, trying to keep the details brief and straightforward. "I bet you're hella old."
"Nope. I got stuck in time. Same with some other members…" Laxus sighed, and the man crossed his arms. "Anyways, you know the day that you left to fight the monster?"
"Yeah, I remember. I cried when I left, why?" Maemi inquired, now her arms crossed.
"Well, I got you something, but the train already left when I arrived, and considering that the gift I was getting you is outdated now, so here…" Laxus stuck his hand into his pocket and tossed a lacrima smartphone out. "Warren designed them. I was going to get you a music thing like mine, but this has music too, so I figured to keep you caught up with the times." The smartphone landed on the bed. Maemi reached slowly and took hold of the device.
"Thanks Sparky," Maemi smirked as she thanked him with a new nickname. "You just got an upgrade in a nickname!" The blonde said with a wink.
Laxus rolled his eyes in annoyance, already beginning to leave. "Get better, Shorty." Was his response as he left the room. Only a minute later, the front door opened and closed, signalling that Laxus had left.
"Red, I need you to get something for me," Maemi beckoned her companion over with her hand, and the little exceed hurried over. The blonde whispered into the exceed's ear and then gave directions to somewhere. The ginger-red exceed nodded, and left through the window in her room, using Aera.
Sorry for such a late update! I seriously had such a lack of inspiration, and I meant to get back onto it during Christmas Break. Oh well, things happened, I guess. I'll try get the next chapter out eventually!
~Strawberrycheezecake~