Happy tears streaked down the faces of nearly everyone as an area of civilisation surrounded by tall, crudely-built walls came into view.
We'd been walking relentlessly for days, and we finally knew we'd made it.
Needless to say, it was a great feeling.
As we came closer, I could see watch-towers with gobsmacked people running around in them, every now and again pointing towards the group of refugees that had shown up at their front door.
"What's happening?" I asked Quentin, who'd already morphed his ears into ones that would hear better.
"They're fighting over whether to let us in or not." He mused nonchalantly while the rest of us stared at him in horror. Would they really allow us to die out here?
"W- What?" I stuttered.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. One of the people who didn't want us in almost got chucked off the top of the watch tower. The majority of them are pro-refugee."
I breathed a sigh of relief, almost whacking him over the head for not saying that in the first place.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
About two hours later, we'd been welcomed into the town and gathered at the port so that they could figure out what to do with us. Kind citizens were exchanging stories with us, giving us the food they could spare, as well as extra clothing to replace what we'd been wearing for several days now.
Meanwhile, others were running around, trying to find spare houses and rooms to accommodate us all. I was overwhelmed by the sheer generosity within this town.
I didn't blame them in the least for being disorganised. In fact, I was glad at the delay of being issued a place to live from now on.
Why, you ask?
Never before in my life had I seen the sea. And here I was, being given an opportunity to stay here and explore it.
I was ecstatic. As much as the loss of my old town stung, I couldn't deny that this was what I had been waiting for.
There was water as far as the eye could see, and a strong smell of fresh salt and seafood. There were wooden boats – like the ones in my textbook – lined along the shore, just begging me to steal one of them and sail off.
I imagined the wind rippling through my hair as I looked into the clear waters to find all sorts of new wildlife. I would sail as far as the town restrictions would allow me, diving into the sea when I wanted a swim and finding an area where the seaweed tickled my feet. I could experience all of that right now… and all I needed to do was to hop into one of those boats un-noticed.
And I would've if Dylan hadn't grabbed my arm, dragging me back towards an exasperated Levy.
"Must I remind you of the basic principles of being a good citizen, Alice?" she asked me condescendingly, no doubt having noticed the determined look in my eyes as I made a beeline towards the boats.
"Must I remind you that there's a difference between stealing and simply getting a closer look, Levy?" I retorted with fake innocence.
She huffed and I grinned. After all, I would get plenty of time to explore later anyway. Probably legally.
"Hey! Guess who just powered up by releasing an eel trapped in a net!" Quentin announced, approaching us.
"Nobody wants to hear about your newfound slime powers, dingus." Dylan taunted him with a disgusted expression.
I sighed, taking a step closer to Levy and away from the boys. Trust them to make a scene in a crisis like this.
"You're just jealous that you can't smell underwater!" Quentin bellowed angrily.
"I can't- I- PAHAHAHA, that's so lame, you think I'm jealous of that?" the colour mage instantly broke down in a fit of giggles, only adding to Quentin's rage.
"You're jealous that you'd be powerless against me in every terrain, chameleon!"
"Yeah? You wanna test that out, slime ball?"
Bored with their antics, I decided to see how the locals were reacting to this amusing display. And I must say, I wasn't disappointed. As my two best friends wrestled on the floor, I swear I even saw people placing bets on who would win.
But my eyes eventually locked onto the eyes of one person, about 20 metres away, who looked far from amused. He was old – I'd say over the age of 65 – and very tall. A girl about my age was attempting to get his attention, but evidently failing. His red eyes were fixed onto the fight… wait, no, they weren't…
They were fixed into the thing right next to me; the back of Levy's head.
He looked like the sort of person who would be quick to anger, which made my muscles tense up. I wasn't close enough to see his expression clearly, but I knew in my gut that something was wrong.
"Levy." I whispered cautiously, grabbing her arm, not taking my eyes off the man.
"Yeah, yeah I know, I'll break the boys up once they blow off a little steam-"
"I think we should move. I'm pretty sure this dude is giving you the evils right now." I said quietly. I'm sure I imagined it, but I could've sworn the old man's eyes flicked to me angrily before returning to Levy.
Before I could stop her, Levy glanced around to look in his direction.
The change in atmosphere was instantly noticeable. It was like an electric shock had passed between Levy and the old man when they finally made eye contact. I almost convinced myself that there was foul magic at play when they simply froze, both with mouths slightly open in complete and utter shock.
Tearing my eyes away from this confusing display, I saw that both Quentin and Dylan had stopped fighting and were looking at Levy with worried expressions.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask what the hell was going on, I felt Levy's arm firmly pulling out of my grip. I looked back at her to see that she had started walking towards the man, almost in a dream-like state.
Just as I was about to follow her, she quickened her pace.
The man she was heading towards, who I quickly deducted must be someone from her past, simply stayed rooted to the ground. His eyes were now wide and disbelieving; he almost looked scared.
So, if he was from Levy's past… was he a good or bad guy?
All I knew was that I'd never seen my mother figure act like this. Good or bad, this guy was definitely bringing up demons from her past.
Levy eventually slowed down to a halt about two metres from the man. I made sure to stay behind her in case things took a turn for the worst, even though I knew I wouldn't really be able to do anything.
A single word came out of Levy's mouth.
"Gajeel?" her voice was wobbling and sounded painfully fragile.
The man suddenly slipped out of his daze with a deep intake of breath. There were tears forming in his eyes.
"Shrimp." Was the only word he uttered.
And I would've laughed at the oddness of saying the name of a random crustacean if it hadn't been for Levy's instant reaction.
With a sob, she leaped into the man's arms with unexpected agility. I was worried the old man would fall over, but instead he leaned into the embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist as he dug his face into her hair.
As I stared at the scene in front of me with fascination, the realisation came to me. This was a reunion. And not just any reunion. The scene replicated that of two newlyweds; two people who loved each other. In that moment, their age, surroundings, past, anything but each other was irrelevant.
So if this Gajeel guy was evidently extremely important to her, why did she never mention him?
"I thought you were dead." Levy whispered as she reluctantly drew away from the tall man. She kept her hands tight on his arms and her eyes fixed on his face though, as if she was afraid he would disappear as soon as she looked away.
"Y-you took that hit for me. I don't understand how-"
"I'm not the only one who should've died, shrimp. There was no way…" Gajeel trailed off, a sudden look of pained distrust in his eyes.
"I swear to Mavis, if I'm dreaming again-"
He couldn't finish his empty threat before levy tightened her grip, silencing him.
"Stupid dragon. This is real. Even if it doesn't make sense, it's real." She sobbed quietly, digging her face into his chest.
I didn't know whether or not to look away from the tear-jerking scene in front of me. I'd never really been one for romance… but if I were to be with someone one day, I hoped it would be like this. Not the tragic separation, of course, but just the sincere… love. Love so strong it looks foreign to everyone but your significant other.
"You're with the shrimp woman, right?"
The sudden gruff voice next to me made me jump out of my daze. Tearing my eyes away from the lover's reunion, I came face-to-face with the girl who'd been with Gajeel earlier.
They may not have looked similar, but they clearly shared an aura. Everything – from her shaved punk-style black hair to the slant in her brown eyes to the pierced septum - screamed intimidation.
But she didn't look like she was going to beat me up… yet.
"Wish I was. I love seafood." I replied with a straight face.
Okay, so maybe I was trying to hide how daunted I was with a half-assed joke. God, she probably thought I had a screw loose or something…
"Don't listen to Alice, her attention span is shorter than your hair." Dylan jumped between us, clumsily draping an arm over my shoulder.
I noticed that both he and Quentin were avoiding looking at our mother figure sobbing while the weird man hugged her, too.
"Her name's Levy, actually. And I'm Quentin. Pleased to meet you…?"
"Whatever. I don't know what that shrimp did to the old man but he's suddenly turned all gross on me. You guys wanna ditch them?" the girl expertly failed to respond to the nature mage's prompt.
A sudden idea struck me. She knew the area, right?
"I want to go exploring." I found myself blurting out, failing to hide my enthusiasm.
Damn it, Alice. Way to weird someone out in one minute. Maybe if I just said something normal now she wouldn't think I'm a total-
"Good thinking." The girl quipped unexpectedly.
"Wait, what? Really? You'll show us around?" I asked, a grin creeping onto my face.
She smiled back, and I tried to hide my shock over the revealing of her pointed teeth.
"Sure. If you tell me all the gruesome END details." She replied with a slight mad tint in her eye.
As I contemplated her request, I surprisingly found myself to be more at ease in her presence. I don't know why. Maybe the fact that she was bat-shit crazy appealed to someone like me.
"Are you really sure you want to know? We saw a lot of stuff that's not really for the faint hearted…" I lied effortlessly, feigning reluctance.
"What are you talking about? We didn't-"
I slapped a hand over Dylan's big mouth before he could ruin my plan.
"I know we didn't plan on talking about it, Dylan. But I really think talking will ease our minds of the trauma we've just been through, understand?" I drawled dramatically, before turning back towards the girl.
"So, where do we get to explore first?" I asked.
Another glint of her sharp teeth, and I knew she'd fallen for it.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Wait, so when that guy got decapitated, was it like a fountain of blood or did the flames cauterise it?" her eyes bored into mine as I attempted to weave the most ghastly story I'd ever had to come up with.
"I don't know, I was too busy watching the head as it flew away." I replied with a shrug.
"Poor bastard. So you guys didn't get any battle scars?" she asked enthusiastically.
"I'm afraid if I said no, you'd try to make up for that." Quentin confessed, eyeing the girl suspiciously. Needless to say, both the boys found her utterly terrifying. Luckily, after Dylan finally understood why I was lying, he added a few details to the story.
His contributions stopped once he started getting asked very… specific questions. Meanwhile, it looked like Quentin was trying not to throw up. It was kinda hilarious.
"Oh no, I'm not a fan of inflicting too much violence. But if it's there, you might as well admire it, you know?" she reassured him, stopping in her tracks before he could respond.
"Anyway, over there's the beach. And there's the centre of town. Oh, and that's the way to the hospital… Just in case." She droned, pointing in different directions.
I expected her to keep going, to tell us where the best places to relax were or even where her favourite place to hang out was. But, as I watched her simply smiling at us as we stood there, looking around… I realised that that was it. That was our tour.
Maybe I should define the term 'explore' to her…
"So tell me more about what END looked like. Was it like the text books or what?" she asked, her voice losing its monotone quality instantly.
"Oh, yeah." I replied half-heartedly. "Exactly like the text books."
I saw a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes before she suddenly perked up as if she'd heard her name being called.
"Gajeel and shrimp are looking for us." she murmured.
"Erm… am I the only one who didn't hear anything?" Dylan asked with uncertainty.
Both me and Quentin shook our heads and looked back at the girl who had made the claim.
She simply chuckled and pointed to her ears.
"Magic dragon slayer hearing. You guys are totally missing out on comedy gold right now." She cleared her throat, taking on an even deeper and more gruff tone, "Get your ass here or I'll double your training times!" she imitated.
"Ooh, let's see if I can hear it." Quentin said, his ears being replaced with the bat ones for the second time that day.
"What the hell…" I heard the girl mumble under her breath before being spoken over.
"I can hear someone shouting about asses… calling for Rome or something." Quentin observed, frowning slightly.
"Yeah, Rome's my name, but more importantly… what…" she left her sentence unfinished, simply staring wide-eyed at the big, black ears.
"Calm down, he's just a nature mage. If you wanna see something cool, you can watch me turn into a rainbow." Dylan interjected, already adorning a blue face and red hands.
The girl, Rome, took one gobsmacked look at Dylan before looking at me questioningly. I responded to her silent enquiry by holding up my celestial keys.
"I don't know why you're acting so surprised, being a mage yourself." I commented.
"Are you kidding? As far as I know, the old man and I are the only people who can use magic here." She replied, still staring at us in awe. "Is it, like, common where you're from?"
"Not really. There's nobody else our age who could use magic." I replied.
Rome seemed to be lost in thought for a while before grinning widely.
"I've always wanted sparring buddies." She exclaimed with a crazed gleam in her eye, looking at the three of us as if we were pieces of meat.
She then ran off, saying something about Gajeel getting impatient and motioning for us to follow.
All the while, I was making mental notes never to let Pablo or Lyra within a 5 mile radius of this somewhat intriguing, yet terrifying mental-case of a girl.
A/N: what's this? An update? So I'm not actually dead? It's a miracle!
Yeah, sorry guys. I'm kind of on hiatus right now but I managed to get this update out. Honestly, I wanted to get a lot more in this chapter (like how gajeel survived etc) but I'll have to leave it till next update.
I also really enjoyed writing the original character of Rome. Like, really enjoyed it.
So, I received loads of mixed responses about the OC romance. I've decided where to go with it, and the only spoiler I'm giving out is that there will not be a love triangle (love triangles are my least favourite plot device, sorry)
Thank you everyone for the reviews, keep them coming!
-usnoozulose