Hello all! We are officially into the third arc. Enjoy!
Chapter 15. Whatever Happened to Ophelia?
Reiki and Lia sat side by side on the kitchen counter top. Yury had challenged all the men to a drinking contest and managed to drink most of them under the table. Reiki quit after six drinks not wanting to pass out in the guildhall. Lia agreed to stay up with him until he felt less hazy. She never had a drop of liquor, as she was a notorious lightweight who got drunk after two drinks.
"Did you see your face when Yury downed another drink?! I didn't think a person's face could be green and red at the same time," Lia cackled hysterically. Reiki tried shoving her shoulder but with his sluggish coordination, she was able to move out the way in time. He landed face first onto the cold floor.
"Fucking idiot! We know you can't hold your liquor now."
Reiki climbed his way back to the counter. When he was situated he said, "With how badly you bully me it's a wonder how I can be in love with you."
Lia chuckled without processing his words. "Yeah…
A silence fell.
Lia's head snapped up. "Did you say… you're in love with me?"
Reiki burped before bobbing his head in a nod. "Took you long enough to notice, my little Chibi-Lia." His head drooped onto her shoulder. She had a pained expression.
"Now why did you have to go and say that for?"
Lia dragged an out cold Reiki up to his room. She laid a kiss onto his forehead then cheek.
"You know I've always loved you," she whispered.
Fairy Tail was preparing for the Fantasia Parade. October had come fast and they were quickly swept up in the excitement of the Harvest Festival.
They already had the Miss Fairy Tail Contest with Erza and Lucy tying for first place. Mirajane won second place and Lia got third place.
They were preparing the floats for the parade that evening and feast later.
Natsu sneezed. Flames shot out his nostrils and half of a float caught on fire. Juvia put out the flames while Gray started yet another fight with his rival.
"Break it up you two," Erza punched both of them in the head, pausing the fight shortly.
"Flame brain ruined the floats! We've been working weeks on those things and he goes and burns another one!"
"It's not my fault! It was an accident." Gray got another punch in before being subdued by Erza.
Makarov's eyes roamed over the charcoaled float. "We still have time to fix it before the parade. Someone get to work on that." Lia walked out of the kitchen. She had been helping Mirajane all morning make the dishes for the feast that night. Mirajane had gone out to get more supplies from the market and had left the Spacetime wizard to man the kitchen while she was gone.
"Whoa what happened to the float?" Lia asked.
Erza held up a bruised Natsu. "He happened."
"Damnit Natsu. That's the ninth one this week," Cana stated.
"We should keep him outside until the festival starts," Lily said.
Natsu sniffed the air. "Hey, what's burning?"
"Is it the fish?!" Happy screeched in panic.
"Oh shit!" Lia screeched. She ran back to the kitchen. All the ovens had smoke escaping from them. She got the fire extinguisher and put out the flames. Everyone crowded into the large roomy kitchen.
"Looks like we got two fire starters now," Cana said while sipping on her drink.
Lia's shoulders slumped. Natsu wrapped his arm around them. "Hey don't let them get to you. It's not our fault we can't control the flames." Lia pushed his arm off and went to take the burned food out the ovens.
Gajeel tasted the smoked ham. He spat it out. "This tastes like crap!"
Lia groaned. "I told Mirajane I was bad at cooking. I was very content just being her assistant and watching the ovens but noooo."
Lia lifted up a cake from one of the ovens. "Here's your strawberry cake Erza. I have to frost it first before you can eat it though."
Erza's eyes gleamed as she licked her lips.
"Oh dear. What happened in here?" Mirajane walked into the kitchen weaving her way around the crowd of guild mates.
"Lia's cooking sucks." Happy blurted out. Lia swatted him into a wall.
Mirajane tasted some of the food Lia had been working on. She grimaced.
"I have to say it's not that appetizing." Mira eyed the cookies Lia had frosted, "you were right Lia maybe you should just decorate the desserts."
"Where is everyone?" The guild mates exited the kitchen to see members from Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Sabertooth, and Quatro Puppy in their guildhall. With them were four of the Wizard Saints, Jura, Reiki, Warrod and Yury. They had come to watch the parade and dine at the feast.
Before the official start of the festival members from Fairy Tail were gathered in the guildhall in their costumes for the parade.
Lia was in a long red robe and blue top pointy wizard hat with the moon and stars. She would be on a float with the other three Miss Fairy Tail winners.
She walked up to Reiki who was conversing with Gildarts and the other older members of the guild. "Hey. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He nodded his consent and they walked out by the pool away from everyone.
"What is-" He was cut off with a steamy kiss from Lia.
He gently pushed her off. She leaned in for another kiss but was pushed further back.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm too old for this. For you." His frown further wrinkled his ancient face.
"Old? I don't see you as old?" Reiki searched her face before getting an angry look in his eyes.
"Really Lia? You put an illusion on me?"
Lia looked down avoiding his disgruntled expression.
"How long?" He asked.
"Since the Wizard Celebration opening. I put one on Yury and Warrod too."
"What can't handle that we left you behind?" He had a harsh and brash tone.
Hurt set in Lia's eyes.
Reiki sighed. "I still kinda hate you for what you did back then." He was referring to right before she was sealed inside Zeref's book.
"Hate?"
"Yes, hate Ophelia." She took a step back.
"It was selfish, reckless and insensitive. You abandoned us-"
"I saved your lives!"
"I didn't want to go!" He screamed back at her.
"I wanted to stay. With you. But you made the decision by yourself. You willingly gave up your life. And for what? It didn't work and now here we are.
He turned to leave. "Our romance has been over for over a hundred years." Reiki left her standing by the pool.
Tears built up in Lia's eyes. "For you. It's only been over for you." The tears didn't leaked down her cheeks in a steady stream. She only allowed one to slip down her face. There were worse things to cry about, she thought to herself. She sat at the edge of the pool and stared at the moon's reflection in the water.
"I truly am alone in this world now aren't I?"
"No you're not." Natsu stood over her. She cried some more, embarrassed that he might have heard the conversation between her and Reiki.
"I heard. That's rough."
She didn't respond back for a while. She could hear everyone getting the floats out of the guild to start the parade.
"I miss my family. My friends," Lia croaked.
"What about the guild?"
Lia shook her head. "What about it? I feel like a visiting stranger. I'm not part of this era. I've seen so many people die before me while I had to remain here without them. I would cut my own throat if it wasn't for the fact that I still have to complete the mission my mother bestowed upon me before her death…
"I was just thrown into this world without as much as a warning. I don't know this place. Everything is different. The guild is different. My friends are different. Two of best friends are dead. The others have grown so much without me to the point where Reiki wants nothing to do with me. I just don't want to do this anymore; pretend as if I'm not miserable when I really don't want this. I just want my old life back but that was destroyed the day I saw the true nature of the world."
Natsu's hands clenched. Reiki really did a number on her. He was furious that he made Lia cry and made her feel depressed and alone. He was surprised to hear her expressing her feelings. Usually she stayed nonchalant and reserved. Even then when she cried she held in most of her tears. Now that he thought about it, they didn't really know anything about her. Sure, she told them little tidbits here and there, but she never went into details, telling them as little as possible. He wondered what else he didn't know about her.
"You may not have your old life anymore but what makes you so sure you can't start a new one?"
Lia sniffled.
"You told us you moved to a new country and left everything behind when you were a kid. It must have been hard to do that but isn't this the same thing? A hundred years have gone by and now you have to start over again. You may not have your old friends anymore but we'll gladly rise up and be there for you. No one can replace them trust me I know but you can find new happiness with us. Don't give up on us yet Lia. We're just getting started."
Lia launched herself into Natsu's arms giving him a bone-crushing hug. He wheezed trying to find air to breathe. She released him and gave him a tightlipped smile once she realized how forward she was being.
"Thank you."
"Hey dry those tears. Or tear. You look kinda ugly when you cry. No one wants to see a crying wizard. People might leave then the parade will be ruined!"
Lia went to slap him in the face but he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the floats.
The Fantasia Parade was a beautiful affair and the town celebrated later with an outdoor feast.
Later that night the guild took the festivities back to the guildhall for a Karaoke night. Gajeel stormed the stage and they were subjected to his awful signing until Mira stole the mic from him.
"Hey Lucy," Erza leaned closer to the blonde. "What's going on with you and Loke?"
Lucy's cheeks reddened. "Huh? Nothing. We're just hanging out. We are friends."
"It's not good to lie Lucy," Erza chided. "But I always thought you had a thing for Natsu. What happened with that?"
Lucy sipped her ice tea. She watched as Natsu and the other boys had a drinking contest across the hall. "That's over with."
"Why?" Erza asked concerned.
"After the guild disbanded and Natsu and Happy left without saying goodbye I felt so alone." Lia felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She too had dealt with loneliness.
"Loke would always come out and comfort me. He was the one who suggested I go to work for Wizard Weekly so I wouldn't be so bored without everyone. He helped me train and kept me company. Eventually we just… came together. I couldn't hold onto my feelings for Natsu because I felt he had betrayed my trust in some way. It's silly but I still haven't quiet forgiven him for leaving me like that. I would have liked to have gone with him instead on being left behind. Anyways we're good now but I don't like him anymore."
'Is that how Reiki felt? When I let them go without me?' Lia silently watched Mira sing on stage.
Soon enough everyone was drunk and dancing on the tables and floor. Cana laughed loudly when Levy fell over and her skirt flew up.
Somehow, everyone wounded up outside and they drunkenly sang at the top of their lungs disturbing the townspeople nearby.
Mira stopped dancing when she noticed something odd. "Lia, what's wrong with you?"
Lia didn't hear her and continued to dance with Lucy and Erza. The rest of the guild watched the Spacetime mage body slowly disappear from view. Her body looked as if it was disintegrating and turning invisible. Lucy screamed at the sight startling Reiki who dropped his glass at the sight of his ex.
Lia swirled around and saw everyone watching her in horror. "What's wrong?"
They pointed to her and she looked down at her hands that were almost gone.
"What's going on? Why am I-" Lia vanished into the cool night air.
Fairy Tail was rooted into the ground not knowing what to do or think.
Yay! Should I be saying yay since my OC just disappeared into thin air? Anyways until next time :)