Bells and Tales

Chapter 2

"Wow," Mirajane said as she looked around the room. "I think I've only been in here once. You know, when I was helping move you in."

"It's pretty…small," Ever said as Lisanna only went over to the bed and sat down, still in tears.

Sighing, Mirajane went to turn on the lights only to find that they didn't work.

"The bulb went out," Lisanna sobbed. "And Bickslow hasn't changed it yet."

"Oh, well, here. The sun's coming up." Mira went to open the blinds then, though her younger sister quickly moved to hide her eyes in her hands, blocking it out. "Lisanna-"

"What happened?" Evergreen asked her. "Were you crying before the shower?"

"No," she moaned. "But I was in there and I stepped on one of his action figures-"

"His what?" Ever asked.

"Oh. One of the action figures. You know, for when we take a bath?"

Mira frowned. "What do you guys do with action figures when you take a bath?"

"We reenact battles," Lisanna told her, sniffling slightly. "When we take baths together. Or we make up new ones."

"Reenact what battles?" Ever asked.

"You know. Ones that he's fought or I've fought. It's actually pretty fun."

"Well," Mira said slowly. "You were talking about how you stepped on one and then-"

"It hurt," Lisanna said. "And I jerked away, almost tripping and I started to get upset that he was being so careless. They're supposed to go back in the box when we're done with them."

"Right," her brother's girlfriend said slowly. "The toy box."

"We don't call it that," she retorted as Mira came to pat her on the shoulder and take a seat beside her.

"It's what it is."

"Evergreen," Mira sighed before looking back down at her baby sister. "Lisanna, what then?"

"Well, I was upset, like I said, and went to get in the shower. And while I was in there, I got some soap in my eyes and it really burned and then I thought that, you know, it was some really bad luck. Stepping on a toy and getting shampoo in my eyes. Clearly we're not supposed to get married. Right?"

"Wrong. You're looking for excuses because you're scared," Mira told her as she sighed. "That's all. Silly. So don't cry about how you're not meant to be. Look at all the good things that have happened today."

"Like what?"

"Well…" She looked around. "Uh… He made those super cute bodies for his babies. See? 'cause he cares about you."

She sniffled. "I guess your right."

"And Laxus even came all the way over here, before sunup, because he loves you. And he thinks that the two of you belong together."

"Elfman came to talk you out of it."

"Evergreen," Mira hissed then, glaring at her. "Are you serious?"

"What, Mirajane?" She came to sit on the other side of the girl. "Lisanna, you know that I moderately like you, right?"

She blinked before glancing at the other woman. "I thought you liked me more than that, but yes."

"And you know that I like Bickslow more than the average person."

"Uh-huh."

"I always thought like Mira, that the two of you belong together, but now? After hearing all this, I really don't think you should go through with this."

"What are you talking about?" Mirajane glared at the other woman over her sister's bowed head as she began to sob again. "Evergreen-"

"I'm sorry, but I mean, how long have you not had a light bulb in your bedroom, Lisanna?"

"Um…since October."

Mira frowned. "Lisanna, its June."

"We like it better this way."

Ever only went on. "Then this whole toy thing that no one knew about, well, that's beyond odd. Are you marrying a man or a little boy?"

"We like playing with them," she argued. "It's fun. We-"

"I highly doubt, too, that not having a light bulb in the bedroom's the only thing wrong with this place. What else is there?"

"Well," Lisanna said slowly, thinking. "Last week I caught Bickslow trying to shove a fork down the toaster because he says he got something caught down there. So we don't use it very much anymore, so we don't get electrocuted."

"Lisanna," Mira said slowly. "Just unplug it and then shove one down there."

"And most the burners on the stove don't work anymore, except the back one."

"Don't you guys have, like, a landlord?" Ever asked.

"Then you can't flush the toilet while the shower's going or else it'll overflow-'

'That's definitely something you should just talk to your landlord about."

"Bickslow says that he'll fix it and not to bother the guy," Lisanna told her sister. "Really."

"What do you guys do with all your time?" Mira asked. "Can't you at least change a light bulb?"

"We're very busy with other things, Mira."

"Like what?"

"Well…"

"Playing with toys, apparently," Evergreen said snidely.

"We're reenacting battles!"

The other woman only patted her on the head. "See, Lisanna? You need a man that can…take care of you, alright? Bickslow's a fun playmate. And if you stopped playing with your toys in the bath and just in the living room, fully clothed, like a normal seven year old-"

"We're not childish. We-"

"-then the two of you could just be friends and you could find a real man no problem."

Mirajane leveled her gaze at Evergreen. "A real man, huh?"

"Yes, a- Be quiet, Mirajane."

"My, my. You sound more and more like Elf everyday."

"You-"

"Look." Lisanna stood then, walking away from the bed slightly. With her back to them, she said, "I just…I don't think I can do this, Mira. Marry him. Today. Maybe-"

"Do you want another guy? Like Ever's suggesting?"

"No, I-"

"Then what do you want, Lisanna? Huh?" Mira got to her feet to, going to lay a hand on her sister's shoulders. "Some sort of unwavering assurance that this is the right thing? Because I can't give you that. I can, however, tell you that I felt like this too. Before I got married to Laxus."

"You did not," Lisanna sniffled, glancing at her. "I was with you the whole day of your wedding. You-"

"I didn't have this big dramatic moment, no, but I did question it," Mira told her. "The whole time. Even when I was walking down the aisle. And signing the marriage license. And even last night when he made me so mad about-"

"Wait, you've been married for a year now," Lisanna told her. "And you still think about-"

"Oh, I still kick him out of the house half the time. When he takes those long jobs, without the Thunder Legion? That's because he knows better than to come home for at least two or three weeks, when I'll have had enough time to miss him."

Evergreen frowned though she didn't stand. "This is quite a different story than Laxus tells."

"Laxus is stupid," Mira said simply. Lisanna frowned, wiping at her eyes before glancing at her sister.

"You must really be mad at him."

Mira huffed slightly. "Last night, I told him a thousand times that no, he wasn't allowed to drink because tomorrow was a very important day. And after, at the party tonight, I would let him get as drunk as he wanted. But then he had to go and drink and now he's hungover before the wedding-"

"Is that what's wrong with him?"

Mira nodded slightly. "I know it's hard to tell the difference, but yeah, he is hungover."

Lisanna sniffled some more. "But you were talking about how you weren't going to get married?"

'Well," Mira said slowly. "Even when he first proposed to me, I almost didn't say yes."

Lisanna widened her eyes. "Really? But you were so happy when you got to the guildhall and-"

"I was happy. Just to be able to say that I was engaged. But I was still hesitant about it being to Laxus Dreyar. I mean, we'd only been dating two years."

"Two years?" Evergreen snorted. "And you think that's short?"

"For us, yeah. He's always gone and I'm always working. And we would break up half the time."

"Ugh. I remember," the brown haired woman agreed. "He'd be a monster on all our jobs when that happened."

Mira nodded. "So when he proposed to me, I was hesitant, but ended up saying yes, just so it would give ma a chance to think more about it."

"When Bickslow proposed, I didn't even think about it," Lisanna said slowly. "I said yes and then just started planning our wedding."

"Everyone's different," her sister said. "But my point is that I question all the time. You know, being with Laxus."

"I really don't think you're allowed to say that, Mirajane, after you've been married as long as you have been," Ever told her, making a face. "I mean, if he told someone he questioned being married to you-"

"He doesn't."

"But if he did-"

"Did you not hear me say that he doesn't?"

Lisanna blinked, glancing between the two women before slowly saying, "Well, this is all helpful, I guess, but really, guys, I just can't marry him. At all. I…I…I've never even been with another guy, so-"

"Good point," Ever said, nodding her head. "You should-"

"That's not a good point," Mira said, frowning at Ever. Then, looking at her sister, she said, "You're only supposed to be with one guy, Lisanna. You-"

"How many have you been with?"

Mira frowned, blushing slightly. "It doesn't matter. Because Laxus is the only one that counts."

"In what way?"

"I'm sure he counts all the women before you," Evergreen remarked. Mirajane, done with her then, got a dark look in her eyes.

"I wonder what kind of fairy you'd be, Ever, without your wings."

"And I wonder, Mira what you-"

"Stop it." Lisanna walked further away from them, which was kinda of hard, considering the room wasn't very big to begin with. "Mira, I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I…I… My stomach hurts and I have a headache and I don't want to, like, leave Bickslow, but-"

"If you do this, Lisanna," Mira told her softly. "If you back out of this, then you are breaking up with him. It is over."

"Not necessarily," Evergreen told her. "I mean-"

"If you're not going to help, Ever," Mira told her with a frown. "Why don't you just leave?"

"I am helping, Mira. You're just pushing her into this because you want to see your master plan of a wedding go through. That's not right either. If she has honest doubts, then-"

"Honest? She doesn't want to marry him because she stepped on a toy and got some soap in her eyes! It's all in her mind."

Evergreen only shook her head. "If you think it's a bad idea, Lisanna, don't do it."

"And what are you then? I'm your sister, Lisanna," Mira said then. "You are going to marry Bickslow and you're going to be very happy. Trust me on this. I'm happy with Laxus, aren't I?"

"Well-"

"You know what it was, Lisanna, that made me decide to go through with marrying Laxus?" Mira asked, moving to take her sister's hands then and stare into her eyes. Lisanna only looked back.

"What?"

"The day of the wedding, I was really stressed out about, well, everything and Laxus-"

"I thought you didn't see Laxus before the wedding?" Lisanna frowned then. "Mira-"

"I was only suggesting it for you and Bickslow, Lisanna, because that's the traditional way."

"But it's different for you and Laxus because-"

"Everything is different for me and him. We're, like, so different from everything and everyone. We don't follow rules. We make them and then break them."

Ever sighed before prompting, "Anyways?"

"Anyways," Mirajane went on. "I was nearly in tears as Erza was trying to help me with my makeup and, as she was talking me into just doing it because if it didn't work out, well, me and her could probably take him and kill him with our combined magic-"

"Erza said this?"

"Erza had a little to drink before the wedding," Mira told her sister who only nodded. Sounded like her. "So as she was telling me this, there was a knock at the door I was getting ready in. And it was Laxus. And he came in and was real mad."

"About what?"

"Elfman. What else?"

"Continue," Lisanna sighed as Evergreen only rolled her eyes.

"So he came in there to complain about something stupid Elfman was saying, but when he saw me crying, he frowned and kicked Erza out. Which would have been a lot harder, had she not really wanted to get back to the open bar." Mira shook her head. "And once we were alone in there, he started asking me what was wrong. And when I told him that I didn't want to do it, he just came over to me and hugged me and said good, because he didn't want to either."

Ever and Lisanna shared a look then before the elder of the two women said, "Uh, Mira? What exactly are you getting at here?"

She only continued to look at her sister, smiling at her. "Laxus told me that he didn't want to be tied down to one woman and that, honestly, he'd been thinking about cheating on me for awhile. That he just wasn't ready to settle down. He hoped we could still be friends and everything and that he could still sleep with me, but-"

"What kinda of story-"

"Let me finish," she told Lisanna who only glanced at Ever. The older woman only shrugged, as she had no idea what was going on either. "So he was saying all that and I was getting more and more upset by it. Then I started yelling at him and he only tossed his head back and laughed. Laughed!

"That just made me more upset. And I was totally ruining my makeup then as I was crying for real then and Laxus only sobered up before coming closer to me. And then he hugged me even as I beat at his chest. Then he told me it was a joke.

"'You know that I love you, demon' he told me as I only glared at him," Mira went on, making her voice go deeper, as if to mimic Laxus, when she repeated his words. "'I was only proving a point of how silly you're acting. You know that I only do things once. And marrying you is just like that. You belong to me, Mira.' And then he was snuggling me and kissing my head and laughing because I fell for it. Then he patted me on the head, said he'd send someone not drunk in to do my makeup before heading back out of the room. And that cured my cold feet!"

Evergreen blinked. Then, slowly, she said, "Or he was telling the truth and when you flipped out, he started lying about how it was all a joke. I mean, considering it's Laxus, that makes way more sense to me."

Mirajane dropped Lisanna's hands then and went paler than usual. "What?"

"Ugh!" Lisanna took another step away from them then, wiping at her eyes. "Neither of you are helping!"

"Maybe it's because this isn't meant to be," Evergreen said as Mira only stood there, as if replaying her that story back in her mind, to figure out if Ever was right or not. "Mira's sitting here trying to persuade you, Lisanna. But if you don't think it's right, then it's not right. It's your life. Not-"

"What do you know, Evergreen, about getting married anyways?" Mira remarked, glaring at her then as she was the one that was placing doubt in her own marriage.

The other woman only rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're only going to be rude about it, I guess we need to discuss it, don't we?"

"No," Lisanna complained, still tearful. "I don't care. I-"

"Let's," Mira agreed.

And that was that.