When I woke up the next morning, I was back in bed with Yolric. I was turned on my side with his strong arms wrapped around me. Reaching for his hand, I moved it to my lips and kissed it gently. He stirred slightly and pulled me closer. I heard him mumble something and attempted to hold in my laughter.
"What did you say, Bright Eyes?" I asked, turning over to face him and kissing his nose. His eyes fluttered slightly before they opened to show me his blue and gold designs. He kissed my nose back, looked down, and blushed.
"I had to, um, undress you some. Sorry about that. I just wanted you to be comfortable," he muttered apologetically. I looked down and saw I was only wearing a bra and underwear and he only wore his boxers. I laughed and scooted as close as I could to him.
"It's fine. Wouldn't be the first time," I whispered, kissing his Fairy Tail mark. I felt his hand wander up to my bra clasp and then stop.
"We can't, you tease," he groaned. "We have work to do, don't we?" I looked into his eyes and giggled.
"That we do. Get up and get dressed," I grinned. He sighed and flopped on his back.
"I hate it when you do that," he mumbled. Before I could reply, the sound of wings came to my ears. I looked at the headboard of the bed and saw the Phoenix with its head cocked to the side.
"We would have to get a babysitter for Eldrid, too," I said to myself, reaching up to stroke the bird's amber feathers.
"What?"
"Think of the children, Yolric."
Yolric put his palm to his face and Eldrid let out an approving chirp.
"When did you name her?" he questioned, hand still over his face.
"Just now. Everything needs a name. Now if only I could get her to talk to me..." She flew down and landed on my stomach. Like a cat, she circled around three times and then sat. I continued to stroke her soft feathers as Yolric spoke.
"Didn't you and Xavier make a device that allowed animals to talk?"
"That was for Cody... He was such a good dog. Smart, too. He and Loke were the first family I had."
"Right... Well, make one for Eldrid. Just modify the one you made for Codes. Make it into more of an anklet than a collar."
I took a long pause. Cody had been my companion for so long before he had his "accident". It was so hard for me to think about replacing him, but at the same time, he always said he never wanted me to be without a creature at my side.
"I'll think about it," I replied, patting Eldrid's back. She flew back into her open, golden cage as I sat up from the bed and stretched. "We need to meet up with the others and catch up. Let's get ready and go round them up."
Eventually, we were able to get everyone together in the front room of the guild. Even though it was still morning time, people were already drinking. Surprisingly, Darren was not one of them. He had clearly had enough the night before, though. Yolric went out and rounded up Vanya, who had been out in the woods for the second night. Xavier was the only one of us that looked halfway decent, considering he had been at the guild most of the previous day.
"So, where are we, Guys?" I began when we were all gathered. "Yolric and I got 145,000 jewel and a pet."
"A pet?" Xavier questioned, puzzled.
"Don't ask..," Yolric muttered.
"Madam, going with Elfman proved to be very beneficial. I was able to gather 20,000 jewel and much magical experience," Vanya stated. When she said Elfman's name, I could see her cheeks grow brighter. That alone was worth more than anything.
"Yeah, Cana and I didn't go on a high paying job. I got 5,000 jewel, though," Darren mumbled, sipping on a glass of water. Clearly, he had spent more time partying than anything else. Still, at least it looked like he was through with that for the time being.
"So, 165,000 jewel. Xavier, what did you come up with?" I finally asked.
"Well, I obviously got more than you guys without leaving Magnolia."
"Don't rub it in," Darren interrupted, slamming his head on the table.
"... But I also did a couple of jobs in town. I got us 900,000 jewel."
The three of us looked at Xavier, mouths agape, as he took a sip of coffee. Here he was, not a scratch, injury, or tired eyes, and yet he still made more than we ever could with one job.
"Obviously, I cashed in our money. For that I got 700,000 jewel, as estimated. Then I went around to medical clinics and such to help with patients and healing potions. When they pay you per patient and you're as quick as I am, it adds up. Along with helping the doctors come up with new medicine... I was able to get well over what we needed. In fact, I already gave it all to the master. He was so impressed that he said to call the last of what we owe even for the month. So whatever you guys made, we can just save. Everyone wins," Xavier explained. We all continued to look at him in shock, but he didn't seem to notice.
"H-," Yolric started. I gently placed my hand on his mouth and shook my head. I didn't want to question it. Xavier had a certain power over people that wasn't necessarily magic. People would do anything just to be near him. It was almost as if he was like the sun itself.
"So, a day without work or forced travel... What do we do with our time off?" I asked the team. Out of nowhere, Natsu and Happy ran up. With flaming fist, Natsu punched straight through the table we were at, scattering coffee and water everywhere. Hot coffee in my lap chilled me just enough to make my blood boil a little. "Dragneel..."
"We didn't fight again yesterday! I'm fired up for a rematch!" Natsu exclaimed. I stood up from the table, brushed off what liquid I could, and smiled.
"You don't give up do you, Natsu?" I asked. He gave his signature chuckle and smiled. I started walking toward the back of the guild and waved my hand for him to follow. Natsu ran out the back door with Happy flying close behind. Seeing Happy flying made me remember my own companion. I held my hand up in the air with two fingers up, much like kid pretending to have a pistol. When I pretended to shoot it, a thin stream of flames flew from my fingertips. The line of fire went up the stairs and through the building in a matter of moments. I felt Eldrid's warm presence when the embers found her. Almost instantly, she flew down the staircase and landed on my shoulder. I opened my hand and let the fire return to me as the guild looked at the bird with shock and confusion.
"Long story," I smiled, following after Natsu.
When we walked out into the fresh, open air, Eldrid took off from my shoulder, but she never flew out of eyesight. When Natsu and Happy saw her, their jaws were practically in the floor.
"Just because I'm not a Dragon Slayer doesn't mean I can't have a cool pet, too," I replied to their stares.
"Can we get a fire chicken, Natsu?" I heard Happy mutter. He just shook his head as if to clear it and then focused back on training.
"Where do you want to start, Salamander?" I asked, slowly covering my body with waves of fire. As I did this, he clenched his fists and wrapped them in flames, as well.
"How do you do such powerful attacks without saying a spell of any kind?" he questioned back. "Anyone can use magic without spells, yeah, but you manage to still make your attacks hit hard."
"Straight to the point, huh? Let's just say you never want to make me use a spell. It's bad for all involved."
"Not too bad for me!" Natsu shouted, running at me as fast as he could, fists aflame.
You think he'd learn.
Right before he got to me, I crouched down and kicked his feet out from under him. Immediately, he lost his focus and plummeted face first into the sand. I laughed as steam began to rise from the sand due to Natsu's hot temper.
"You have to learn to foresee what an opponent will do. Sort of like thinking before you speak, which I know you don't do often," I explained, still chuckling. He glared back at me as he continued to fume, mouth full of sand. "Now spit that out so we can do some real work, Dragneel."
We continued to train for roughly three hours with no breaks. As we fought, I noticed more and more Natsu's strengths. His power seemed to increase the more we wore on. In fact, his last attack of Fire Dragon's Sword Horn got me to the ground for a quick moment. The move hit me so hard in my midsection that I couldn't even think about absorbing the flames that surrounded it. Natsu's other strength was his persistence and recklessness. While these could win him a battle, it could cost him his life if he wasn't careful.
Maybe he knew this. Maybe my worrying was stupid. It probably was.
After his Sword Horn, Natsu paused and looked at me as I struggled to get up. My ears were starting to ring loudly, just as they always did when I used so much magic.
"Are you really not out of magic at this point?" Natsu panted. I stood up straight and gave him a smirk.
"That's another difference between my group and the wizards here... Our magic doesn't run out. We just have sharp pains in one area or another. My ears start to ring, but my magic... Changes, too."
"Changes?" Natsu questioned, plopping down on the ground. I sat next to him and smiled.
"Every wound my magic sustains, I sustain. If I trap someone in fire and they try to slice through it with a sword, I feel it. Someone tries to destroy my metal, I hurt. But it's only after my ears start to ring," I explained. Natsu looked over at me with awe and concern. "It's been a long time since that has happened. Don't worry about it. I know my limits."
"Unlike you, Dragneel," a third voice arose from the guild. We both quickly stood up and turned around to see two figures standing in the doorway of the guild. One was a tall, built man with a scar over one eye. His blonde hair was spiked up and a tight, purple shirt clung to his defined chest. He had an air about him that reminded me so much of Master Makarov.
"Laxus! You decided to show up again!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly.
"Who's the girl?" I heard Happy pipe up. Glancing over, I saw that him and Eldrid both were snacking on a huge pile of fish. I clicked my tongue and Eldrid flew over to land on my shoulder.
The girl in question had shoulder length blonde hair with bangs that went straight across her forehead. Light blue glasses framed her fair face and brought out her glistening eyes. A large coat with a fur collar covered the girl's body so much so that I could barely see her clothing beneath. What really caught my eye was the staff that she carried that was over half of her height, and she was less than a foot taller than Laxus. The staff was intricately designed with metal gears, orbs of all different sizes, and metal inscriptions that looked as though they told a story. Her eyes rested on me with a certain skepticism, as if she could tell I was not like the others in the guild.
"Elysia. Elysia Solon," she answered Happy, not for a second taking her eyes away from me. I was never one to feel uneasy, but I felt as though she was prying into me with her stare.
"Yeah, I just so happened to be on my way back from a job when I found her trying to defend herself from this wild dog beast," Laxus boasted as a little tinge of red came to his cheeks.
"Actually... It was more like a Chihuahua that had lost its way from its owner. I was just reading his collar and here comes this dummy, running off the dog with his lightening magic. No telling where he is now," Elysia corrected under her breath. I couldn't help but laugh to myself as Laxus' face continued to turn redder. Elysia glanced back at me for a second with a chuckle of her own.
"Regardless, she didn't belong to a guild, so I figured Gramps would give her a shot," Laxus' voice rang out, softer and less confident than the first time. Elysia sighed and patted his back.
"I mean, the coat is comfy... You didn't do all bad..," she crooned, trying to make up for blowing his cover. He blushed even deeper and quickly turned around.
"I-I need to talk to Gramps..," he stuttered before swiftly walking back into the guild.
"He's so sensitive..," she sighed, shaking her head and wrapping the large coat around herself tighter. Natsu, along with Happy, instantly started to cackle.
"LAXUS, SENSITIVE?!" Natsu sputtered. "He's not sensitive about anything!"
"A-Aye!" Happy piped up. I watched as Elysia's face got increasingly red and frustrated at the two. It almost looked as though she was a ticking time bomb.
"What kind of wizard are you?" I asked before she could get mad enough. She glared over at me, taking away her anger from the two that were finally getting a grip and directing it at me.
"Damn better than whatever you are, Scar Face," she snarled. For a moment, I felt my heart drop at the rude name. Even Elysia seemed slightly startled by her comment, but that didn't keep my blood from starting to boil. Eldrid made a small chirp and flew off of my shoulder. Natsu and Happy went from being cheerful to almost looking scared.
Serpents of steel began to form and slither protectively around my feet, violently hissing at the insulter. Outraged fire cloaked my being, such a dark red that it appeared as steaming velvet. The sand beneath my feet began to burn away.
"The scars of battle are nothing to poke fun at, Darling," I sneered, walking closer to her, "but if you want to experience the power of a God Slayer, then be my guest. Never play with fire if you don't want to get burned."
I felt an electricity pulse through the small space between us. Static was appearing all over Elysia's body, only it was not a normal spark. It was pixelated, almost like an old video game. Only this power was real.
"I might be a little glitch in your little philosophy," she hissed back.