"You're now officially part of Fairy Tail," said Mirajane, a silver headed girl as old as Erza, as she stamped my right shoulder with an emerald green Fairy Tail mark.
"Arigato Mira-san!" I replied, marvelling at the new mark on my shoulder.
I turned around in my seat next to the bar counter. The main room of the guild was swarmed with members-my new nakama- drinking an laughing together. A brunette wearing what appeared to be a bikini top was drinking barrels and barrels of beer as three men stared at her in shock. A somewhat intimidating man with long, black hair and dozens of piercings covering his face, was wearing a white suit and playing a guitar on stage. The pink-haired boy and a black-haired boy with no shirt were having a food eating competition while a blue cat cheered them on. Wendy, Charle, and a boy my age also watched them and kept bringing more food to the table.
"This place is pretty crazy, huh?" asked Lucy, sitting on the empty chair on my left side.
I nodded. "But it's a fun kind of crazy. Everyone seems so happy!"
"That's Fairy Tail for you," she replied, smiling.
"I heard about Fairy Tail on my travels. People always said it was a strong guild- especially one team that ended up destroying half the town they were hired to help. I had also heard of a great mage with requip magic that most feare - and she had red hair. So, I began to learn more and more about Fairy Tail and slowly made my way in the hopes that Erza-nee would be here and she is!"
Lucy giggled. "That team that destroys everythig happens to be my team - Team Natsu. Natsu, the pink-headed boy over there," she said pointing to him as he stuffed chicken in his mouth, "Gray, the black-haired boy next to him who often strips his clothes for no reason," her finger moved to him, "Happy, the blue neko, Erza, myself, and occassionally, Wendy and Charle."
"You must go on a ton of adventures then," I said, smiling.
Lucy groaned. "You could call it that. It can be a huge headache."
I laughed. "You still have some really great memories though!"
Lucy looked out in the distance, at all the guild members around us, a smile curving her lips. "Yeah, I do."
I turned to face the guild, feeling the love and joy that each member that belonged to this giant family shared. Sorrow filled my heart slightly and Lucy took noticed of my sudden change in expressinons. She opened her mouth to say something yet we were quickly interupted.
"Eat up Red," said Erza, as she brought trays and trays of food to the counter, somehow balancing them all on top of each other without runing the delicious looking food. Both Lucy and my eyes grew wide when we saw the amount of food that she placed in front of us.
I stuttered, "Erza-nee! I...um...um..so much..."
She gave me a slight smirk but her eyes held some saddness. "It's been a while since we have eaten together and who knows how much you ate before you arrived here."
At that, I looked down in shame. It was true. I hadn't had a decent meal in a while.
She patted my back and I looked up to her. "For dessert, I made vanilla cake..."
"YAY!" I yelled.
She chuckled. "But you better eat first,' her hand motioning to the trays.
"I'll do my best!" I replied, grabbing a chicken leg to devour.
Both Erza and Lucy sat with me and ate. I, determined to eat vanilla cake, ignored the sounds around me and focused on the food. Erza was right and I was incredibly hungry.
"I haven't had a meal like this since...," I thought, my tongue enjoying the exquisive tastes of meat, salad, and fruit.
"Whoa! Erza, mini you sure can eat!" shouted the pink-haired boy, Natsu.
I stopped eating for a moment and turned towards him. "I'm just hungry."
At that moment, a chicken leg hit Natsu's head. Surprised, he turned around to see Gray smirking at him from the table.
"Oi! Flame Brain! Give up already?"
"Like Hell!" shouted Natsu. "Whatcha do that for?" he asked, stromping towards Gray.
"You just got up and left. I thought you were giving up since you knew you would lose to me," replied Gray, expressing no emotion.
With that, Natsu punched Gray across the room and a huge brawl began between the members. Food and bodies flew everywhere.
"Fire Dragon's Fist!" shouted Natsu, as he attempted to hit Gray but was blocked by a shield of ice.
"He...he...he knows dragon magic!" I thought nervously, staring at him in disbelief.
Unfortunately, I did not notice when Gray hit Natsu until he hit me. Literally. Natsu slammed into me, stoppig himself by grabbing the counter while I flew and hit the wall, the air knocked out of my lungs. I slumped to the ground in pain, trying to stop the spinning in my head. However, I could not stop the slight tears from escaping my eyes.
The Guild remained silent and still as Lucy and Wendy rain to me while Erza stood, head down, shadows covering her eyes. She slowly made her way to Natsu who was oblivious to what had just occurred.
"You're gonna get it Popsicle Stick!" yelled Natsu.
"Why did everyone stop fighting?" he asked, finally noticing everyone's shocked and fearful expressions.
"You idiot," growled Erza, spreading her killer aura around. Natsu, scared, turned to Erza just as she threw a punch at him. He flew, hitting the Guild doors and flying outside. Everyone continued to look at Erza, fearful of what she would do next. All of them realized that Erza was much more dangerous if her sister was involved.
"Poppy? Poppy? Are you okay? asked Lucy worridly, ignoring all that had occurred in the hall.
I groaned and shut my eyes. "My head..."
"That idiot! You are still injured!" cried Lucy. "Wendy, can you heal her?"
"I'll try," she replied as she placed her hands on my head. Immediately, I felt relief as the pain diminished.
I opened my eyes weakly, smiling. "That's a lot better. Thanks Wendy!"
Lucy and Wendy helped me stand up as I was still quite dizzy. I leaned onto Lucy, feeling exhausted.
"Poppy, are you alright?" asked Erza, walking to me with worry.
"I'm okay," I replied, smiling in an attempt to reassure her.
She looked over me and saw me leaning on Lucy.
"Didn't you make cake Erza-san?" asked Wendy, watching the two of us.
My eyes grew wide. "CAKE! ERZA-NEE, can I have some cake? Please! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!" I begged, stumbling towards her and wrapping my arms around her waist as I gave her my remarkable puppy eyes.
Her brown eyes met my green ones and she chuckled. "Take it easy Red. I'll bring out the cake but you sit here and wait," as she led me to the bar counter.
"Okie-dokie!" I responded, sitting down in anticipation.
She smiled and went behind the bar to the kitchen area whie Lucy and Wendy sat next to me.
"Lucy-san, should I check up on Natsu?" asked Wendy.
Lucy drank some water. "I'm sure he'll be okay. He's taken a lot harder hits than that."
"That idiot will be fine. He deserved it," said Erza as she joined us, carrying a huge cake about my height.
I couldn't take my eyes off the cake as Erza began to slice pieces up. She placed a large slice in front of me.
"Dig in," she said, happily.
"Mmm," I mumbled, feeling myself move up and down.
"Huh, you're finally awake now," said Erza, turning her head to face me as I slowly opened my eyes.
She was carrying me piggy back style as we walked on a trail under the night stars. My head was resting on her right shoulder. My arms were wrapped around her neck and she held my legs up around her waist.
"I can walk," I mumbled sleepily.
"I don't mind," she responded quietly.
I smiled, "When did I fall asleep?"
"After you ate all the cake, I went to wash the dishes and I found you asleep when I came back. I knew you were tired so I left to take you home."
I layed my head on her shoulder, yawning. "I am tired."
She smiled as a large, rectangular building came to view. "Well, we are here now. Welcome to Fairy Hills."
She walked down the hill and towards this marvelous building. I stared in awe.
"This is where some of the Fairy Tail female guild members live. Cana, Wendy, MIra, and Levy all live here."
"Wow..."I gasped as we entered, staring at the giant hallway with glass chandeliers hanging from the decorated ceiling.
"This is where you will live from now on, with me,"said Erza.
"It's huge!"
She didn't respond immediately, instead she sighed. "Where did you live before Poppy?"
I didn't answer.
She sighed once more, "You will tell me right?"
I nodded. "Of course Erza-nee! Just...not now."
"Fair enough... I'll always be here for you Poppy. I'm never leaving you again," she replied as she opened a door.
The room we entered was large, with a king size bed in the middle. Armor and weapons laid about and two other doors led to other rooms that I assumed contained more armor. Other than all the armor and weaponry, the room appreared clean. Next to the bed was a small night stand that had a photo in the frame. I hopped off of Erza's back to see it.
It was of us. I was on Erza's back and we had a barrel of strawberries in front of us. I held my arms out as though I was trying to fly while Erza smiled back at me. We both had bright, happy grins.
"Erza-nee! Look how many stawbewwies I have! They're so big! Are we gonna make more cake?" I asked, tugging my sister's sleeve and pointing at the small pile of strawberries I had wrapped around my shirt.
"Good job Poppy! We will definitely make some strawberry cake and we can even share some of it with the villagers!" she said, smiling down at me and ruffling my hair, "Let's put those strawberries in the barrel before you get all dirty again."
"Okie dokie!" I chirped, dumping the strawberries carefully into the barrel by her feet, "All done!"
"Alright Poppy, why don't you stay here by the barrel? I'm going to get a few more from down the hill and then we can go back home," said Erza, pointing to the field on the otherside of the hill.
"Okay!" I replied, sitting by the barrel and looking up to her, "I wait wight here until you come back. So huwway back!"
She chuckled and began to jog away, "I'll be back in no time. Just wait right there. If not, no cake for you. I'll it all by myself!"
I gasped, "No, Nee-san! I want cake! I stay here."
I layed back on the grass and began to look at the clouds. Soon enough, I fell asleep.
"Poppy? It's time to wake up?" said Erza, shaking me slightly before lifting me up.
"Erza-nee?" I mumbled sleepily, wiping the sleep from my eyes.
"I know how to wake you up...How about I take you flying?" she said and I instantly jumped out of her arms, looking up to her and waving my arms up and down.
"Flying?! Please please please! You said so Erza-nee! Take me flying!" I rapidly said, tugging at her sleeves again.
She laughed and then lifted me to her back, "Alright you ready?"
I wrapped my legs around her, "Ready."
She began to run and I put my arms out, shrieking in delight while Erza laughed. At that moment, I heard a click and a villager took a photo of us.
"That was the only item left when I went back to the village," said Erza as she stood behind me.
I turned to her and hugged her once more. "I guess we'll just have to take more!"
"I guess we will," she replied, hugging me back.