A panic erupted in the city, one loud and chaotic enough to be heard from the mansion, quite a distance away. Edwyn didn't take time to put his shirt on, he just burst from the bed and ran down the halls as quickly as possible. Guards had lined up in a thick formation infront of the bedroom of the owner of the mansion. Roxanne quickly caught up to Edwyn a few seconds later, subconsciously reaching for his hand as her anxiety built up. Now's not the time for a damn panic attack, Roxanne! She berated herself with that thought, calming down with the help of Edwyn reassuringly squeezing her hand. She and walked with him to the gaurds, asking what happened. "There was an explosion in town, I know your job is to protect our boss, but we have that covered. Go check out the town, quickly!" the commander of the guards said to them.
The mages stepped outside to see a pillar of smoke rising from the smoldering ashes that was once half of a building, people panicked in the streets, trying to subdue the fires spreading at a rapid rate. Memories rushed back of her watching her house crumble and burn. She tried to clench her fist, forgetting she was holding onto Edwyn's hand, and gripped his hand tightly. Edwyn had memories of his own come back to him, memories of a long struggle against the two mages that had taken Roxanne, the fight was clear, besides the two that offered help from behind as he fought them head-on. He replied to her squeeze on his hand with a squeeze of her own, he said nothing, staring over the awful sight before them in silence. "What should we do?" Roxanne asked finally breaking the silence, her anxiety coming back. "Go help with the effort to stop the fire, I'll go search for whoever caused this." Edwyn said, determined. He turned to run off in search, releasing his grip from Roxanne's hand, she held on to his hand, not letting him go. He turned back to her, looking up at him, her eyes staring directly into his, she thought carefully before she spoke, "As much as I don't want you to go alone, I know I'm needed down in the town," she inhaled deeply as she continued, "Whoever did this, assuming it wasn't an accident, will be dangerous. . . Just be careful." Edwyn gave her a hug, "I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She nodded against his chest. "I'm gonna go search now, you go help out." He said, letting go of her and running off to search. It took all her willpower to not run after him.
By the time she made it down towards the fires quite a bit had been subdued, at the cost of a few buildings. She found any ways the she could to help, from helping the few who were injured, to helping subdue the last of the fires. The panic had not ended just because the fires were out. People were bustling about, families with their children and belongings leaving. The panic, after a brief respite, came back in full force. Roxanne, feeling a need to do something, climbed to a high point and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Everyone! Calm down," she said, pulling back her sleeve to show the mark on her forearm, "I'm a Fairy Tail mage and there is another mage here from Fairy Tail also, he is currently searching for whoever did this. Just stay calm." The crowds stopped, mostly everyone calming down, others began yelling, "Why did you let it happen in the first place if you guys were here?" The unrest reaching a larger point than the panic did. Her anxiety coming back, her vision began blurring a bit as her heart rate skyrocketed and breathing becoming harder. She quite often had a problem with panic attacks.
Edwyn was near the town on his search when he hear Roxanne yelling, attempting to calm the crowd. It worked briefly, but he heard more unrest and people yelling at her, angry with her for not stopping it in the first place. He stopped searching and began running in the direction of the unruly crowd. He climbed up to the are Roxanne was at from behind and yelled at the crowd below, "Quiet! Everyone quiet, we are here for a mission, we weren't here to protect the city from anything, we didn't even expect it otherwise we' have done everything in our power to stop it!" The crowd silenced at the authority in his voice, "Now, if anybody has any information on who did this I need to know." "He's gone," said one man, "he blew up the building killing most inside, and just poof, he was gone." Mumbles of agreement from the other witnesses spread across the streets. Meanwhile, at his side, Roxanne was recovering from her panic attack, letting Edwyn handle it. He always was much better with people than her, she hadn't had much practice, between living out mostly isolated and spending years in a dark guild.
Hours later they returned to the house after gathering information, Roxanne heading off to the bedroom while Edwyn talked with the guards. "We're going back to sleep, I doubt that whoever caused the explosion is gone. If you need us, wake us. This person is dangerous, whoever it is, try to avoid a fight." He explained. The commander replied, "Will do, we also sent a message to your guild, requesting further help. This shouldn't cut into your pay for the mission though." Edwyn nodded and walked off towards the bedroom. He opened the door, spotting Roxanne already in the bed. "You came just in time," she said, "I apparently caused a larger upset rather than calm them. All the people yelling at me started a panic attack." Edwyn pulled the covers back, laying down, "It wasn't your fault, they were riled up and it doesn't take much to send them over." Roxanne scooted over leaning on Edwyn, listening to his chest vibrate as he talked, replying every now and then, but mostly looked at the scar on his side. She put her hand there, rubbing her thumb over the scar. "It's pretty bad isn't it?" he asked, snapping her out of her trance. "No, no, not at all." she said, looking up at him, "I was just looking at it." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back for a moment, then he looked down and gave Roxanne a kiss on the head, "We should get some sleep." Roxanne mumbled an ok and closed her eyes, falling asleep quickly. Edwyn had a harder time sleeping, his thoughts raced, who caused the explosion, was it someone from the guild who had taken Roxanne, did they find out she was here and come for her? Too many questions, he decided he should sleep, rather than dwell on these questions.
Thunder erupted through the night waking the two mages. The sudden shock caused Roxanne to grip Edwyn tightly, his arm wrapped around her. More thunder rumbled, shortly after a flash of lightning shown from outside the window. "Oh thank god." Roxanne sighed, her grip loosening. Edwyn looked over at the clock on their bedstand. 6 P.M. They still had time to sleep. Edwyn laid back down, pulling the covers back over them. They sat there, silently listening to the storm, the patter of the rain causing calm to wash over them. Roxanne nuzzled her head into Edwyn's chest and broke the silence, "I love you." she said simply. Those words fell heavily, she didn't mean to say anything it just slipped out. Once again, she felt the embarrasment from the other night returning. "I love you too." he replied, knowing she felt embarrased once more, her blurting things out and acting without thinking is the only way he'd be able to have the thought, even courage, to say these things or act upon his feelings. Abrupt as it was that they had just confessed their love, it had been a long time coming. Roxanne had been feeling oddly about him since their reunion, only during his time in the infirmary did she realize how much she cared for him. Unsure of how he had felt, she had taken a large leap into an abyss, the chance paid off however and she was damn greatful.
There was a knock on the door, and the storm was still raging outside. Another knock resounded, waking Edwyn. He stood up and put on a shirt, opening the door. It wasn't the guards coming to wake them up, instead it was Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray. Edwyn was about to tell them they'd be right out, but Erza walked inside before he could say anything and sat down, the others following suite. Roxanne woke up and felt the empty spot next to her, her eyes closed and not knowing others were around, "Edwyn?" She opened her eyes and looked at the group sitting at the end of the room. Flushing red, she crept under the covers. "Come on out Roxanne." Edwyn said. She slowly crept out and walked over to the group. Hiding a bit shyly behind Edwyn. "It was a matter of time." Gray said bluntly. Knowing what he meant, Roxanne said anyways, "Huh?" "Don't act like that, if it wasn't obvious before, you calling his name in bed while feeling the spot next to you kinda gave it away." he pointed out. "Gray enough," Erza said sternly, "that isn't why we're here." "Speaking of that," Edwyn said, somewhat perplexed, "I thought you guys wouldn't be here until tomorrow." She looked up at him, "You should let a person finish before talking. He rubbed his head apologizing.
"Anyways," she said bringing out a newspaper, "there have been a series of attacks on council members, around one-hundred died in the first attack, including nine members. This happened recently, around the time you left on the train. Ever since they've been targeting former council members also. The guild doing this is Tartoros, a very powerful dark guild." Roxanne was visibly relieved that it wasn't the dark guild that took her, yet she was upset about the attacks."This home, if you didn't know, is the home of a former council member, he foresaw this and that is why he put the request out." "Will you be staying here and helping us guard him?" Edwyn asked. "No, we are only staying for a little while. We stopped here on our way to the council member we're going to guard." "That doesn't mean we won't help while we're here, though." Natsu said, his usual grin spread across his face.
Erza split Edwyn, Gray, and Natsu into a group, taking Lucy and Roxanne in a group with her. The nightly rounds were made much better with company, even the sound of the storm alone would've made it better. "So, look's like I owe Mira some money." Gray said, walking along with the group, his hands behind his head. "You bet her that me and Roxanne would get together?" Edwyn asked, somewhat amused. "Kinda, she bet me that you two would get together before Natsu and Lucy." Natsu ignored the statement completely, focusing on something else. "Do you guys hear that?" he said. "Obviously not, we aren't dragon slayers, ash-for-brains." Gray said, still relaxedly walking. "The hell did you say ice princess?" the two, about to quarrel, were interrupted with more explosions, a mage bursting through the wall. "Miss me?" a voice cackled crazily.