daunting, adj.

After his return, he wondered when she had gotten this intimidating. She still got nothing on Erza, of course, but she towered over their nakama, strong and reborn with new confidence since she had finally solved the Gildarts-problem. In a way, this stubborn pride amused him to no end. Fairy Tail had been ruined under Macao's leadership and yet, she firmly believed that one day, the guild would return to its former glory – no matter how unrealistic this sounded right now.

She still believed in Fairy Tail's big dream, in the old fairytales and her faith encouraged him to with the Thundergod Tribe when everyone left to train. Everyone had to grow now, had to become stronger now, even him.

deadlock, n.

They were walking in circles, ever since the Dark Guild Crimson Ace had messed with Fairy Tail, ever since she had broken her arm. He felt guilty because he should have protected her but he had failed. He withdrew, took more S-classed jobs and kept his distance without truly letting go as she hit new lows, drinking more and more whenever he got hurt on a job. Every drop of blood he shed was answered with another barrel of beer and the more she drank the less he could bear to see her this depressed.

They were spiralling down, down, down – completely out of control and whenever one of them fell deeper than before, the other one fell as well and so they dragged each other down.

deciduous, adj. bot.

Even Cana Alberona who was infamous for her pants-bikini-top-combination she wore most of the time was sensible enough to wear pullovers and coats when winter hit Fiore and snow covered the landscape. Strangely, this was the time of the year when she took the most requests. Gray always claimed that she did this because she needed the cash for the midwinter presents but Laxus who had known the Card Mage even longer knew that Cana did this because her mother had been a huge fan of the winter and so Cana had grown up in the North, among snowball fights and hot chocolate after days on the ice rink. But Laxus was still happy as soon as spring came and the coats and pullovers disappeared again because he had, after all, a certain weakness for attractive women and Cana was a very attractive one.

defunct, adj.

It was a common knowledge in the guild that Laxus had a soft spot for Cana even though he tried to hide it at least a little bit. Many of the women envied the Card Mage – not for the fact that Laxus gave her so much attention but the fact that she got someone who usually brought back little presents from his jobs. (Seeing that Laxus had been reinstated as an S-class mage right after his return and that he took S-class jobs meant that he got to more interesting places and could bring back really awesome presents.) Bisca would be able to tell a story about all the pretty bracelets Laxus had given Cana for the most random of reasons, Erza would be able to remember all the foreign candies Cana had gotten along the years for any remotely important date but Juvia was the one who knew about the greatest present Laxus had ever brought back from a quest because she had been the one who had been there when the parcel had fallen into Cana's lap.

Later on, Cana had explained that it had been the date of the fifteenth anniversary of their initial meeting and this very special present was a set of ancient magical cards, no longer to be used but extremely expensive and barely to pay for an ordinary mage. This was how the Card Mage explained her emotional outburst and why she had kissed Laxus right there.

Lucky for her and him, Juvia had been the only one to see and Juvia could keep a secret.

detachment, n.

She had always been very gifted at distancing herself from whatever was heavy on her shoulders. Maybe this was the consequence of losing the mother at such a young age, she did not know. She only knew that it was often a gift to be able to judge from afar even though you were directly involved. Of course, he had betrayed her just as much he had betrayed the rest of the guild and she had felt like he had backstabbed her – which he had done metaphorically by ordering Evergreen to petrify her and literally by ordering Fried to kill her but she could forgive him these things.

He had apologised after all and knowing how rare his apologises were, she had accepted it even though it had hurt to know that he had denied her. But then again, neither had she taken responsibility for the terrible events of Fantasia and all the injured people. She had been his girlfriend for two years until they had broken up shortly before Lucy had joined the guild and she should have been there to bring him back to reason instead of being a fancy statue.

And seeing that she blamed herself, she easily shed of her loyalty to the guild as well as her love for him to judge him fairly. She could accept many things as long as she understood the reason behind it and therefore, she would stay neutral on the topic until there would be an explication.

disabuse, n.

Cornelia Alberona had been a very wise woman and therefore she had given her daughter advice before the mission had killed her. One of those words of wisdom had been "Only wear shoes that fit perfectly – the blisters aren't worth it even when the shoes look amazing" and along the years, Cana had realised that her mother had not really spoken about shoes – which would not even have made sense because her mother had mostly worn high heels, beautiful but hardly comfortable shoes. No, Cornelia had talked about opinions and especially about opinions on other people.

And so Cana adjusted and readjusted her opinions on everything and everyone whenever she deemed it necessary. When Gray became her friend, he was no longer that weird boy who always strips but the awesome Ice Mage who is really tough and when Juvia appeared, Gray was labelled as either absolutely dense or simply ignorant and when he finally accepted Juvia's feelings, she called him the only member of Erza's gang who actually realises something.

But no matter how many times she adjusted her opinion on Gray, she had to revaluate Laxus many times more because he was simply confusing and always sent her mixed signals. Half the time, she had hardly been sure whether he considered her a friend thus he became her pair of uncomfortable shoes and along the years, she lost count of all the times she wanted to kill him for being such a rude jerk. He was her friend, sure, but she still sometimes wanted to shove a few explosive cards down his throat because no matter how socially awkward he was, he had not to bully the younger members of their guild. (She sometimes wondered whether he had left her alone because she had been his only friend or whether it was because she had been there longer than anyone else.)

But in the end, she always realised that she still loved him, no matter how much of a jerk he was.

disarray, n.

To be excommunicated was embarrassing and he sure as hell would not stay in Magnolia where Fairy Tail resided in all its glory. No, he would leave the city and travel, always hoping that he would find a place where he would belong to. And so he returned to his apartment which he would never give up and packed his bag. And as he looked for his stuff, he found her old magical cards everywhere. They were in between of his books, partly hidden under the carpet and generally scattered all over the rooms. For a moment, he considered picking them all up to return them to her but then he shook his head. She most likely knew where they were and when she wanted them back, she would have her methods to break into the empty flat to steal them back from him.

She probably still had the key to his apartment anyway and so she would be able to enter without a problem and since so many cards of hers were still here she come very soon. He had apologised and now, he could only wait ad wonder what she would do next.

As he turned to leave and opened the door, a few of her tarot cards fell from the doorframe onto him and he could not help but sigh. Lovers. Fool. Magician. Strength. Wheel of Fortune. Taking a guess, he assumed that those cards had ended up there via coincidence and yet, he wished that she had left them there for him to find by sneaking into his apartment right after the battle.

dispel, v.

Cana had been drinking in the guildhall as usually, depressed and feeling miserable just as always since the Battle of Fairy Tail and just when she was about to consider taking a job to leave the town for a moment, Mira and Erza approached her and the way Erza looked at her with hazel eyes full of guilt and how Mira grabbed her hands and apologised over and over again.

"We are so, so sorry," Erza said as she held out a strawberry cake. "We were terrible friends!"

"Could you tell me why you think so?" Cana asked as she looked at the cake in terror. Erza did not share her cake so it had to be a devious trick.

"We caused you so much pain, Cana," Mira said as she nearly broke the Card Mage's hands. "It was us who caused all the little coincidences … Erza and I threatened the owners of the inns into telling you and Lax- him that there's only one free room left … I blackmailed Natsu into pushing you into broom closets before I pushed him into it as well."

And this was how the former rivals finally unravelled the mystery why those things had always happened to Cana and Laxus even though it was sad in a way because the old mystery had always fascinated Cana and it had been the subject of thousand drunken musings.

dissonance, n.

There was one big difference between them. She needed Fairy Tail as a replacement for her lost family and she craved power to pass the S-class exam to overcome her fate of watching her father from afar all the time while he needed power to overcome himself and his pathetic limits while he craved for the control over Fairy Tail because how could someone who had harmed his nakama join his guild? It was not even that Levy McGarden and her pathetic teammates meant something to Laxus. He knew them because Fried always said that Levy was really smart but under normal circumstances, he would not even have cared. But during the fights against Phantom Lord, Cana had been in the crossfire and while she had not been visiting the sickbay, he had heard from a few former Phantom Lord mages he had beaten up for good measure that she had taken minor injuries. And so, he was not a fan of Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser as nakama.

doldrums, n.

"…Lu-chan, the last few chapters were pretty dark and … unhappy," Levy said as she sat down with the blonde. "Is something on your mind? Do I have to worry about you?"

"No, it's just … I felt very inspired to write dramatic dialogues lately," the Celestial Spirit mage replied as she looked around in the guild. "Seriously, Levy-chan, I'm not depressed – it's only that … well, it's Cana, okay? For some reason, her sadness influences my ink and my writing."

The blue-haired girl bit her lower lip. "It's really bad with her, huh?" she sighed. "She was in the guild long before I joined, sure, but in all the years I've known her, I never saw her so unhappy. And she is really bad a hiding her growing desperation. Mira says that a man is involved but she didn't mention any names … and that's what worries me because it's Mira. Mira gossips all the time as long as she doesn't feel like she has to protect someone."

"Erza snapped at Gray for teasing Cana yesterday," Lucy sighed. "Maybe something happened and Mira and Erza both know but refuse to say anything because they promised."

dumbfounded, adj.

Natsu was not as stupid as he looked but he was slightly confused and pretty much lost when he noticed the first signs. He smelled Cana's scent on Laxus' clothes and his on hers – and as long as Laxus was not borrowing bikini tops from Cana to wear them, there was no other explanation but that they had been very close lately. But this was only the first hint. Others followed soon enough. There was this strange bruise on Cana's neck and the smug smirk that tugged on the corners of Laxus' mouth as Gray mentioned the bruise – only that he called it a 'hickey'. Natsu saw all the pieces and as he put them together, he came to the conclusion that the two other mages were most likely dating.

The only thing that made absolutely no sense to the Dragon Slayer was why someone as kind and normal as Cana even bothered with a jerk like Laxus.