BlackLynx17: I say new, you say chapter! New! New! I say enjoy you say I will! Enjoy! Enjoy!
"Do you remember these two Doranbolt?" Wendy asks.
"Ah, Anna and Alla." I say leaning back a little bit.
The white tiger growls at me while the orange tiger simply stares, whipping its tail around as it lays down on the ground. Wendy giggles at my reaction and grabs my hands, tugging me forward to meet them again.
"Calm down already Doranbolt, you're starting to make me nervous. They aren't going to bite you as long as you mean no harm to them. Anna, Alla, come." She says.
The two tigers twitch hearing their names and get up, prancing towards us. I take a step back, but find myself being pulled back by Wendy's strong grip on me. The tigers purr as they brush against Wendy; she pulls my hand and makes me touch the white tiger's head.
"This is Anna, she's a girl and her husband is Alla, the orange one. They have three kids together, but they're really young so we can't let them play outside until their older. Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane are our animal tamers. As long as you let the animals know you they'll like you back no worries."
"Anna." I say softly, gently patting her.
She stares into my eyes, her dark blue ones, then yawns loudly and allows me to continue petting her. I chuckle a little and show Alla some attention next, soon the two of them rubbing against me like they did for Wendy.
"See? They like you already." Wendy smiles.
"Alright, so Anna and Alla aren't as bad as I thought." I admit.
"Glad to hear, come on. We have a lot more animals to show you, like Peter for instances!"
"Peter? Who's Pe- OH MY GOD!" I yell.
This enormous grizzly bear starts running towards us, two times the size of a normal bear, and my instincts act up again. I grab Wendy and teleport us someplace high, away from that monster!
"Doranbolt! What are you doing?!"
"DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT THING?!"
"That's Peter silly! He's our pet bear!" Wendy yells.
I blink, "why the hell is that bear so damn big?!"
"We don't know, he's super friendly though. Peter!" She calls out to him.
"No Wendy! Don't call him!"
Peter comes running over and stands up on his hind legs, easily reaching us. His head lands on the roof and Wendy bends down to brush his fur coat, wiggling her nose against his own.
"Peter's a big softy, wouldn't even hurt a fly." Wendy giggles jumping onto him.
She slides down on his back and lands on the floor, leading Peter away from me. I lean over and jump off myself, my heart racing inside of my chest.
"I don't want to meet Peter just yet." I tell her.
"Fair enough, soon you will though. Peter's nothing compared to Anna and Alla, they actually bully him. You're too nice for your own good Peter." Wendy rubs his belly.
Peter starts growling and that's when things get a little bit too weird for me. Wendy shooes him off before walking back with a smile on her face.
"That's two times I was able to see your magic, both of them because of me."
"Well, don't flatter yourself."
Wendy giggles and starts me off slowly with the next animals, some dogs. These are easy to handle and really cool to play with. All of a sudden she skips a couple of sizes as she shows me the family of elephants they have here. Six in total, all huge and peaceful looking.
"We have Lolly, Dolly, Molly, Folly, Holly, and Dumbo. Here's a little secret, I named Dumbo." Wendy whispers towards me.
"Wow, and who named the others?" I asks walking up to one of them.
"Lisanna when she was a kid, Mira tells me she likes to rhyme things together."
"I like these the best, I always wanted to touch an elephant up close."
The one I'm petting blows its trunk and starts walking away, leading the others away.
"It's feeding time Dumbo said, hold on one second as I get them some fresh water." Wendy says running away.
And she leaves me alone in this horrible place filled with scary creatures like Peter, Anna, and Ally. I stand completely still and wait for her to come back, running over to help as I see her dragging two buckets of water.
"You could have asked for help." I tell her.
"Why? I had it." She says.
We toss the water in this mini swimming pool and the elephants flock to it. Wendy walks me back a few feet as we watch them start drinking water, then spray it on each other.
"What the?"
"It's their way of cooling down since it's so hot today. I wouldn't mind getting sprayed on right now matter of fact." Wendy sighs out.
I look over and see her tug her shirt up a little bit to get air moving through. It's like the elephants heard her though because the water starts hitting the two of us. Wendy squeals while I stand still, shivering.
"Alright!" I yell out.
Wendy giggles and leans over to me, suddenly a lot taller then me. Lips press against mine and I pull away, confused.
"Wendy? Why'd you do that?"
"Because it's funny to see that face." She laughs at me.
My eyes furrow, "how exactly is that funny?"
"How is it not?"
We have a stare off, me glaring as she raises her eyebrows at me.
"You get offended fast huh?" She asks.
"I-"
She kisses me again and I growl, "stop that!"
"Then stop making it so easy." She giggles.
I teleport away from her and watch her look around for me.
"Aw Doranbolt, that's not cute at all."
"I thought you didn't like me Wendy."
"Of course I like you Doranbolt, we're friends."
"You know what I mean!"
"That, oh yeah. Hmm, I can't help myself. The last time I kissed you, you acted so cute, so funny, I wanted to see it again."
"That's not a reason to kiss somebody!" I tell her teleporting back in front of her.
"Isn't it? Hmm." She hums wondering.
I make a face at her and turn around, covering my face with my hand real quick. I shook off whatever embarrassment I feel and nod my head.
"Animals, other animals. Anything else you want to show me before I help Erza with the performance?" I ask.
"Erza doesn't need help, she's our ring master. You haven't met Gray's penguin's though, or Natsu's iguana's, or my giraffe and birds! Oh they sing the most beautiful music."
"The giraffe?" I ask turning back around.
"No silly, the birds! If only Shorty could sing, that would be so cool." Wendy giggles.
I blink, "Shorty? You named your giraffe Shorty?"
She smiles at me, "I know. Funny, right?"
I shrug and Wendy pouts, walking over. "Come on Mister stuck up, you know for a second I thought I got broke down some of those walls, my bad though."
"Years of growing up in this town, our name before Era was Stuck-Ups." I tease.
Wendy laughs and shakes her head, "oh Doranbolt. You being around me is doing you some good, now if only other people could hang around us. Maybe we can free this town of the clones and clones of you."
I roll my eyes and scratch the back of my neck, "come on. Are you going to show me these animals or can I make sure your family doesn't have to have an early leave?"
"I knew you cared for me, come on. Shorty's around back."
I follow Wendy, thinking back of myself before all of this. I wasn't stuck-up, I did have a problem though like everyone else. We all did have our own free wills, but we're all programmed a certain way, raised to be the best, to be a model citizen, to be a leader and so on. Things are expected of us, but being here. Nothing is expected from Wendy's friends and I have to wonder what that feels like. To have no expectations at all, to be your own person, to be different, to be free.
It must be a nice feeling. Free.
"Doranbolt, come here for a second."
I stand up and nod, following Yajima into the next room. We are both dressed up in our council best, the full on uniform including cape as well. I hear the whispers from everybody as we leave the room, one of them even whistling a death song. I have a feeling it was Natsu.
"I just want to thank you personally for this chance Yajima, you have no idea what this means to them." I say once we we're alone.
Yajima chuckles, "before joining the Council I traveled all around the world Doranbolt. I know all about Circus Fairy Tail, their old master and I were friends. It's a shame what has happened to him."
I blink once, my eyes widening, "really?!"
"That was in another life though, let's just keep that little secret between us okay? But at least now you know my reason for supporting you, now Doranbolt I want you to tell me your reason for supporting them."
Huh? What does he mean by that? Yajima looks me straight in the eyes when he asks me and I gulp.
"Because I saw their performance and though everyone in Era should have the chance to see it."
"Is that all?"
"What other motive could I have?"
Yajima sighs and shrugs, "why did you think you felt that way?"
"Because their performance was amazing?"
"Doranbolt, you always seemed to perfect, always seemed like the idealist person to join the council. To tell you the truth it frightened me a bit, everyone here carries something that doesn't seem to fit the council but you and your friend Lahar... it was like you were bred to work here."
"Sir?" I ask questionable.
"Finally I'm seeing something else though, I'm finally getting a grasp on your character. You know I'm retiring soon and my chair is going to be given up."
My voice gets caught up in my throat, "you don't mean-"
"I wish, sadly the council won't let me choose my successor. If so, what would they look like if I chose you, huh? The reason I've been staying here so long, fighting so hard, was because of people like those friends of yours in the backroom."
My eyes scrunch up together, "for circus people?"
"For mages son, for magic. I'm the only one who believes the good in it, how it could help and benefit others, and now I can retire with ease knowing that someone's going to join who will continue on that legacy."
"No," I start shaking my head, "no, no, no, no, no! I'm not like that, I mean I don't hate mages, I don't particular like them either. They're a grey area to the council."
"And there goes your council self talking. Doranbolt, I can see your passionate about your work and also for mages. I saw how you defended them, I know with how far you're going to help them. It's alright to be different."
No one in Era is different though, that's the thing. We are all born successors. We're all smart, we're all religious, we all graduated and work at the Council because that is just what children from Era do. No one here leaves, no one here tries to change the rules. We are all the same with just different personalities. So why is Yajima standing here telling me it's okay to be different?
"I'm going to ask you one more time Doranbolt, and please give this old man an honest answer. Why are you going to so much trouble for these mages?"
"... because they're different." I tell him.
Yajima nods at me expecting for me to continue. I bite my bottom lip, clenching my hands into fists. Could I tell him? Could I tell him the truth? My secret? Yajima isn't like the others, he loves mages, he was best friends with the ringleader of Fairy Tail it seemed! Telling him... it might not be a burden anymore.
"Because I'm different."
I didn't ask to be born like this, I just was and I should be happy. Out of the thousands of children born alongside me, I'm the special one.
"Because we're actually the same."
There is nothing wrong with me, I'm just like everybody else. I proved it to everyone. I was the highest in my class, I was successful to my family and secured a job for the council even before graduating, I was a model student and son. I was just like everyone else, one thing made me different though.
"Because when I saw them, using their magic, I thought, no, I hoped that if the townspeople of Era could accept and love them... that they could accept and love me as well. Because we aren't the same as everyone here, because we're mages." I answer.
Yajima hums and nods at my answer, "and there is nothing wrong with that. Doranbolt if you left this small part of the world, you'd discover how highly mages are thought of. They're heroes. Growing up in a place like Era though with magic, I can see how you don't embrace your magic."
I nod, my head held low.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"It's nothing to be proud of either."
"You just haven't realized how truly special you are yet, I believe you will though once you start hanging around those circus. You'll see just how much fun it is to be different." Yajima says with a smile.
All of a sudden his hands started glowing and he quickly vanished into thin air. I'm surprised, left standing in the hallway blinking as I look around for him. No way, Yajima... he's a mage?!
"What?" I whisper, turning around.
I quickly control my shocked face before walking back into the room. It all makes sense now, why Yajima is helping me, how he never feels weird about mages and how he's always sent to befriend our mage visitors.
"Dude, is everything alright?!" Natsu asks running towards me.
"Yeah," I nod, "everything is alright. I hope everyone is ready, you're going to have a tough crowd in a minute." I warn them.
Erza stands up and walks over to me, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Doranbolt," she says in a soft voice, "I know how much this means to you, I mean what it will do to you. Mystogun told me all about it, you're staking your reputation on us, aren't you?" She asks.
My eyes scrunch together slightly; I'm touched that she cares about me, but how does she know that? How does Mystogun know that?
"You're risking a lot for us, everything you've built up for yourself for us and because of what? We're just some circus people you met a few days ago and yet you're betting it all on us."
"Stop trying to scare him Erza." Laxus calls in the back.
"Shut up, I just want him to know how much this means to me and be relived to know that we aren't going to let him down. We're going to put on the best performance of our lives all for Doranbolt, thanks to Doranbolt." She says.
I smile lightly. All of a sudden a huge weight is on my back as Natsu wrapping his arms around me.
"Yeah, don't sweat it Doranbolt. We're going to knock their socks off." He starts laughing.
I chuckle lightly, "hopefully they're wearing socks."
"If not we can always knock their pants off." Gray grins.
"Juvia can do that easily with her magic, if that is what you wish Gray." Juvia fawns.
"Great pep talk, can we go now?" Laxus asks.
And right when he asks that, the doors open and a low level council member comes walking in.
"We're ready for you." He says.
I nod and look back at everyone, Natsu, Laxus, Gray, Juvia, and Erza. Each of them fixes something about themselves, tightening a tie, brushing their dress down, fixing their hat, straightening their collar before they take a deep breath.
"Fairy Tail, let's knock some socks off." Erza grins, tilting her hat.
"Yeah!" They repeat after, walking into their fate.
I stay behind for a second, standing next to the low level council member.
"How do you feel about the circus?" I ask.
He blinks, "I don't know, I've never been."
"How do you feel about mages then?"
He shrugs, "I could careless. There isn't really any differences between us except our abilities. Those old goons of the council are only scared of them because they realize mages have the power to beat us. If anything we should be stocking up on mages ourselves, not bookworms."
I chuckle, "I like the way you think. The circus is every Saturday at 7, you should really check it out. Get a first hand experience at how strong mages really are." I laugh.
"What about you sir Doranbolt, how do you feel about the circus and mages?"
"Same as you buddy, I could careless. I think pretty soon though... I just might actually start caring."