Forty-Seven - Erza Knightwalker
"Have you seen that video going viral right now?" Erza asked as she, Coco, Hughes, and Sugarboy hung out with Mystogan in his hotel room.
"The one with that guy having a complete breakdown over graffiti?" Hughes asked.
"Yeah," Erza said. "It's so hard to watch someone completely humiliate themselves like that. I watched it four times."
"What video is this?" Mystogan asked.
Erza queued the video up on her phone and handed it to him. She saw his eyes shift from curious, to surprised, and then, as the video went on, to amusement. He started to laugh and she raised her eyebrows. Well after the video ended, he was still laughing. They all looked at him in confusion as he finally calmed down.
"Well, it isn't that funny," Sugarboy said.
"No, you don't understand," Mystogan said, his voice still full of amusement. "Siegrain is-"
He started laughing again and shook his head. Then he reached up and removed his headwear and face covering. They all stared at him in confusion. Erza looked between him and the guy on the screen. They looked exactly the same, minus the black eye on the guy in the video.
"I don't understand," Sugarboy said.
"So, that's you?" Hughes asked.
"It can't be," Coco said. "This video was posted just yesterday."
"It's one of your brothers?" Erza asked. "The one that got disowned?"
Mystogan shook his head, still mirthful. "The one who told our dad the truth," he said. "I'd like to shake the hand of whoever gave him that black eye."
"You have brothers?" Coco asked. "Ones that look just like you?"
"We're triplets," he said. "The one in the video is Siegrain, as you could probably tell. My other brother is Jellal." He looked at Erza. "He's the disowned one. But he's doing alright now."
"And?" Erza asked, waiting for him to continue.
"And what?" he asked.
"And what is your name?" she asked. She had been wanting to know for the longest time. Now that he had shown his face, maybe he would finally let her know. "Are you going to tell us now?"
"Oh," he said. "It's Myst. Myst Fernandes."
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Hughes spoke.
"Myst?" he repeated. "That's your name that you've been keeping a secret? You've been going by Mystogan!"
"Well, no one guessed my real name," Myst shrugged. "So it obviously worked."
"I guess that should be easy to get used to," Coco said. "Since that's pretty much what we've been calling you anyway."
"I can't believe I spent all this time wondering your name when it was right in front of me!" Erza said. "Also, what's with the tattoo on your face?"
Myst touched his right cheek. "You don't like it?" he asked.
She got to her feet and walked up to him, leaning over to study his face closer. To be honest, she did like the tattoo. Now that she could see it, she thought Myst had a very handsome face, and she was a fan of his hair. The tattoo somehow completed the picture, making him perfect. He smirked at her, appearing to sense what her thoughts on his appearance were.
"It's fine," she said shortly.
"You certainly look very unique," Coco said.
"Except for his triplet brothers," Hughes pointed out. "Why do you all have the same, weird face tattoo?"
Myst shrugged. "I honestly have no idea," he said. "We've had them for as long as I can remember." Erza touched the red marking with her finger and he raised his eyebrows. "You wanna get a little closer, Erza?" he asked playfully.
"We can just leave you two alone," Hughes smirked.
Erza scoffed and backed away from Myst. "Your family seems to be falling apart without you," she said. "Does that mean you're going back?"
"Something a little more drastic than a dent to Sieg's ego would have to happen for me to leave this tour," Myst said. "Especially since it's nearly over anyway."
"Good," Erza said. "I don't want you thinking you can just leave whenever you want."
She didn't pay attention to the snickers of her friends, instead locking eyes with Myst, who smiled at her. He genuinely smiled — not a smirk — a real smile. It made her happy. She wondered how many of those expressions she had missed, hidden behind his mask. She smiled back and found that she had made a decision about her feelings for him.