"Ava!"
The black hair Seals-Mage had been walking down the cobblestone street leading from Fairy Hills, the dormitory most female Fairy Tail members stayed at, to the guild when she suddenly stopped, hearing her name being called by a higher, distinctively female, voice. Turning to her left, where she felt like the voice came from, she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair and brightened. "Lucy!" She acknowledged her teammate. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you say about a girl's day out? I got Erza, and Natsu and Gray are still on their mission." The blonde mage practically sparkled as she clasped her hands together, her chocolate brown eyes big and pleading as she gave her best pleading look. "We're meeting at the square."
"I suppose..." Ava said doubtfully, flicking her hair with her finger as she tied it into a ponytail with her free hand with a golden ribbon that matched her eyes. It was more practical that way. "Anyone else coming?"
"Nope, just us girls." Lucy laughed, shaking her head, tapping a finger on her chin thoughtfully as she added, "Wendy's coming along too, if it's okay. I think that Cana's going to crash our party too, when I was talking to Wendy she seemed interested."
"That's fine." Ava rolled her shoulders, flexing her arms. "The more, the merrier, am I right?" At this, the blonde brightened, her blue ribbon bouncing in the sunlight as she held Ava's hands in her own, saying her gratitude multiple times. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou-"
"Woah, there." Ava held up a hand, a little surprise showing in her face as her copper eyes flickered with an emotion...was it understanding? She couldn't really recognize it. "Slow down. What's got you so excited about this?"
"I never really got to hang out with girls back...home." Lucy's eyes turned melancholic for a second as she seemed to reminisce about something. "My parents were always worrywarts." Her teammate sensed that there was more to the matter than that, but she let it be and didn't press further. Lucy was an important person to her: as a teammate and as a friend. She was important to their whole team: the sane (comparably to the others) companion to Gray, the confident to Ava, the best friend to Erza, and the crush (oh, yes, Ava had noticed those subtle moments of blushing and linking hands between the Dragon Slayer and Celestial Mage) to Natsu.
"Ah," Ava nodded in understanding. "I see." Feeling the uncomfortable mood and wanting to lift her teammate's sadness, she smiled at the blonde as Ava pulled the girl to the streets. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head to the square!"
Lucy brightened. "Yeah!"
If they were to arrive, they were to arrive in style. It was the unspoken rule of Blue Pegasus, the guild with some of the most gorgeous people of the era in it. Originally, it had been a small guild but the Trimens had managed to allure many beautiful females, which in turn brought in more male mages. They might not be the powerfullest guild in Fiore: that honor went to Sabertooth at the moment, a new guild that had rose shortly after Fairy Tail's fall, but they still held power as the fourth most powerful guild in Fiore, and they had to keep up that title with honor.
Ichiya suddenly stood up, signalling they were nearing the Fairy Tail guild, and stood up on the figurehead of the ship: a noble pegasus, its legs raised slightly as if about to take off. He sniffed the air a few times, and his teammates watched silently. "...It reeks of sentimental perfume…" He posed for a moment, emanating sparkles before letting himself drop to the ground quite literally. "Tohh!" Ava ran to the side of the ship, peering curiously as she saw Ichiya land on the ground, but it seemed like he was largely unaffected by the drop.
"Come on," Ren nudged her as his Air Magic swirled around the remainder of the team, letting them slowly descend to the ground. Ava's eyes darted around, seeing several familiar figures that had all changed from what they used to. Laki, Droy, Jet, Macao-the list continued, and a small forlorn smile found itself on her lips as she gave them a small smile.
"You…" Macao said, stepping back a few steps as he took in the team's presence.
"We understand how you feel, Ichiya-sama, but won't you settle down a bit?" Hibiki asked, his hands shoved in his pockets as he sighed-an action he had done a lot whenever his team was around.
Seeing some of Fairy Tail's mages questioning looks, Ren said, "I am...a user of Air Magic." He was still solely concentrated on their slow descent, just in case something went wrong and they would plummet to the ground.
"It's been a long time, everyone!" Eve smiled, but the flicker in his eye was hard to miss as he gazed at the remains of the once-powerful guild. As they landed, he couldn't help but giggle. "Getting older, Macao-san?"
"Blue Pegasus…" "What the heck is going on?" Ava heard several mutters from her former guildmates and she sighed, slipping her hands in her pockets as she gave an acknowledging nod to those who glanced at her before looking away. She knew that there would be mixed feelings about this trip. She turned to glance at her teammates before finding them surrounding Laki, thrusting out various compliments as Laki just looked confused.
"Boys, let's get down to business." Ava plugged her nose, motioning towards the doors as she turned to Macao. "May we come inside?"
"...readings. Master Bob's checked several times just in case it was nothing, but these readings are off the charts! I even checked myself just in case." Hibiki concluded, his eyes serious as he displayed several of the Eternano readings to Macao and the rest of the guild. His teammates were seated next to him: Ava to his left, Ren to his right, and Eve next to Ava. "I believe there is something out there. Usually Eternano is concentrated in small amounts so it's nothing unusual to see some of those pop up sometimes, but this…" He gestured to the readings, which were graphs with several sharp inclines. "...is very unusual. It's up to your guild of how you want to deal with this situation though."
Fairy Tail casted several glances towards the other members of the room before Macao spoke for all of them. "We'll check it out," he said finally. "Thank you." Turning to his guildmates, he asked, "Who is willing to come?"
"We will." The doors opened, revealing Alzack and Bisca. The last time Ava had seen them was at their wedding, which she had been invited to but only stayed long enough to give her congratulations before continuing on her journey around Fiore as a Solo-Mage despite the couple's protests. A boy...was that Romeo? was standing behind them, hands crossed and pressed against his chest as a prominent frown was on his face.
Soon after the couple volunteered, other hands began to shoot up. "I will." "Me too." "Well, I suppose I'll join." "We'll go." Max, Warren, Jet, Droy rose their hands in unison, exchanging looks as the other members of Fairy Tail gave guilty glances towards the ground. They just...didn't want to keep their hopes up.
"Ava." Macao addressed her for the first time in the whole conversation, his voice serious as he asked his next question. "Would you like to go with them?"
Suddenly placed in the limelight, the girl froze, her fist clenching as her gaze was directed downwards, a myriad of emotions and memories flying through her mind before she looked up and gave him a rueful smile. "No thanks. I'm...I'm going to stick with my team." Turning to face her former guildmates that were about to set off, amber eyes glinting with some emotion Hibiki couldn't really discern, even though to his annoyance her ex-guildmates seemed to get it. She gave them a painful smile. "Bring them back to us, okay?"
An understanding smile lit up on the group's faces as they clapped her on the back, giving her a look of confidence that she hadn't seen in her former guildmates for so long. "Of course we will."
The wait was more agonizing than Ava had ever imagined. She stayed inside the guild, pacing back and forth on the wooden floor until Macao jokingly told her that she would wear out the floor if she kept doing that. Instead, she sat next to teammates, silent, face in her hands as she breathed in and out.
"Nee-chan." Eve nudged her. "Why don't you talk to some of your old guildmates?"
"Don't wanna…"
"You're acting more childish than Eve right now." Ren snorted, but all of his heart didn't really seem into it as his eyebrows knitted together in slight concern. "Just sitting here won't do any good. Talk to them."
"..."
"Ava…" Hibiki took a deep breath, laying his hands on her shoulders as he made her look at him straight in the eye. "You need to get over this. Talk to them."
"What if I said I didn't want to?"
"That would be a lie and you know it."
Slowly, after a few moments of silence, Ava rose and gave a deep sigh. "Alright." Taking a glance at her team, she added a quieter, "Sorry about this, guys."
"We're part of a team. This is what we would do for a teammate, whether it be you, Eve, Hibiki, or I." Ren leaned back nonchalantly as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Just go."
"Thanks." She repeated again, her eyes slightly lowered as she stood up and started walking to Romeo, the not-so-small boy leaning against the wall with a scowl present on his face. The last time she had seen him was at the wedding, and he was just as grumpy as he was now. Romeo...Romeo used to be like the Sun: always smiling, welcoming the team back whenever they came from a mission. He was like the little brother of the guild. "Romeo," she said flatly.
"Ava-nee." He said in an equally flat voice. It seemed like he still wasn't over Fairy Tail's core members disappearing, although Ava had to admit she hadn't either. After all, wasn't she trying to forget them by leaving all those years ago?
"How have you been?" She tried, playing nervously with her hair as she waited for his response. Her teammates had been the ones to find her, broken, and pull her back up to her feet. She was stronger now, both mentally and physically.
"Terrible. Especially after everyone began to leave." He deadpanned with no remorse as she winced. A low blow, that was, and she knew that Romeo knew it was one. Even so, the boy didn't retract the statement, and Ava had to admit it was her fault partially for him ending up like this. If she hadn't left...what would have happened to the guild then?
"Why aren't you going along with everyone?" She tried again.
"Why aren't you?" He challenged, and she faintly heard Macao yell something at him in disapproval as the members of Fairy Tail diverted their attention to their conversation. She gave him a small smile.
"I don't deserve to." She spoke the honest truth, closing her eyes as she thought back to those moments with Lyon, his silent disapproval of her decision yet supportive answer. Her naive nature, her hurt, her pain...all of it. "I thought quitting would help me forget, but it turns out I was just running away." Tilting her head, she looked at him and smiled. "Isn't that right?"
Romeo stayed silent, but Ava knew that her words struck a chord somewhere deep inside his heart, and she gave him a small smile and ruffled his raven black hair just as she used to as she bent down to look at him in the eye. " I'm proud of you Romeo," she said softly, and she knew he heard it because of the slight stiffening of his back. Pulling back, she walked over to Reedus.
"Can I see what you've drawn?" She asked, and the orange haired mage looked up from his sketchbook and brightened. Ava had always used to compliment the man when she was a part of the guild and was one of the few people who appreciated his artwork. He hesitated, his eyes darting to his sketchbook before reluctantly handing it over. She opened it warily, steeling her heart as she peered through the book.
The smiling faces of her with her team met her. In the first picture was them...Team Natsu in all their glory. Gray was sitting on the barstool, smirking, next to a younger, happier Ava who was at that moment taunting an infuriated Natsu, his back facing the picture. Erza and Lucy were slightly off to the side, the Celestial mage in the middle of scolding Natsu and Ava as Erza was cracking her knuckles ominously. The second picture was a picture of the entire guild, rowdy, as they all were smiling and patting each other on the shoulder as they partied like Fairy Tail used to. With trembling fingers, Ava continued to flip the pages as her breath nearly caught on every single on. Finally looking up, she smiled at Reedus, eyes reminiscent yet guilty. "They're wonderful pictures, Reedus-san."
The man began to tear up, and Ava wondered how long it had been since he had last heard those words. Too long, it seemed. "T-thank you Ava-san."
"You're welcome." She smiled warmly, feeling her cheeks warm just a little bit as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. She opened her mouth, intending to say something comforting, but suddenly there was a loud thud as the door was forced open with a slam, and she turned to see several people standing at the doors of Fairy Tail. Eve, Hibiki, and Ren tensed, their bodies ready to spring up at any time, but for the moment stayed idle.
"Oi, there are a lot fewer people today. Rather than a guild, what is this? Some kind of friendship club?" A man with curly black hair laughed maliciously, his hands in his pockets and guildmark proudly displayed on his right arm. Behind him, his subordinates laughed, their eyes narrowed as they gave a cursory glance around the guild.
The remaining of Fairy Tail's guild members stood up. "Oi, Teebo! Payment is due next month, isn't it?" Ava's eyes narrowed as she glanced at the man. She had heard that Fairy Tail had taken a debt to some other guild, and that the guild was pushy with their debt, but she didn't expect utter mockery of her former guild. Her hands snaked to her bag of scrolls, but didn't move yet.
"It's a problem if payments are not made on schedule." The man grinned sinisterly, "If Master said it, then it can't be helped."
Ava suddenly jumped hearing a sharp sound, and her head swerved to see Romeo, who was reading a book of spells until that moment, shutting the book with a slam and standing up, fire in his eyes just as his role model used to. "We don't have money to pay to you guys."
Ava realized that he was about to start a fight, and heard Macao try to stop his son as the boy started to walk towards Teebo. She took a deep inhale, speaking up. "But I do." All attention in the room was turned to her, Romeo momentarily stopping, and Hibiki shot a warning look towards her to which she gave an acknowledging nod. She slammed her hand against the table, eyes focusing on the man. "How much do they still owe you?"
The man grinned. "Now you're talking. Lookie here, boys: this is a real woman." He swaggered over to her, slinking his arm over her shoulders as she visibly tensed. "Now, what's a beautiful girl like you doing in this junk-guild?"
"Visiting some old friends." She answered coldly, flashing her Blue Pegasus mark on her wrist with pride. "The name's Ava Lucioni, former Fairy Tail mage and now part of the Trimens. Remember that." And with that, she gave him a sickenly sweet smile before clenching his fist a little too tightly to be friendly and brightened at the sound of cracking.
"Damn bit-" As soon as he drew his sword from the sheath on his back, he was sent flying by a powerful kick. Several things happened at once, and Ava had to blink to make sure she wasn't hallucinating as she felt her breath take a sharp intake, her amber eyes widening. A few punches straight to the face, and the rest of Teebo's teammates were down.
No... She took a step back, her breath quickening as her eyes widened, her mouth agape.
.
"Yo."
.
No. She took another step back, slowly shaking her head as if to deny what was right in front of her eyes as she heard other voice resound from behind her, all familiar and all bringing back memories of the past.
"We've come back~"
.
It couldn't be…
.
"Wahh, isn't it wonderful?"
.
No… Ava's face filled with both horror and joy as she turned around slowly, everything seemingly stopping in time as she bit her lip anxiously, afraid of what she would find.
.
"Alcohol, alcohol~"
"What's up with this tiny guild?"
.
Her ears were ringing as she took a sharp inhale, trying to steady her breath as she turned around.
.
"Sorry for the wait, minna!" Natsu grinned, his face illuminated by the light shining behind him, his obsidian eyes just as bright and happy as they were seven years ago, and his teeth showing as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly while he smiled.
A/N: The end. LOL, no. This was originally 5000 something words but I cut it into two chapters, so...yeah...expect a quicker update sometime next week.
Anyways, what do you think? Too cliche? Gets you excited? What characters do you like best?
Oh, and by the way I created a POLL on my page on the character thing. There's a lot of options.
If you have the time, please drop a review~ I love hearing what all of you think about this story, whether it be Ava, the plot, etc. It helps my inspiration a lot~
Anyways, thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows/reads! Your support helps me a lot!