Chapter 2: Arrival

It's almost noon by the time we reach Magnolia Town. Misty is taking his time, but I can't slow down. I'm too excited.

'You can go on ahead,' he says, when we're only a few blocks away. 'I have to take care of something.'

I frown at him, but I don't ask. I've learned pretty early on that questioning him is useless. You'll never get a straight answer.

Just a few weeks ago, while on the job, he left to 'take care of something', which meant the responsibility of the entire quest fell on my shoulders. We accepted a job hunting down this giant pig – sorry, boar – and I just barely managed to keep it busy till Misty returned. If the master ever found out he left me in charge of an S-class quest, he would...actually, I have no idea what Makarov would do to Misty. And I still have no idea what Misty was doing in that time away.

I fasten my pace and I feel the eyes of the people of Magnolia on me. When they notice the guildmark on my wrist they nod in a friendly manner. I never know how to respond to that, so I lower my eyes to the ground. Which is why I don't realize the guild looks different until I'm standing in front of it.

For starters: the roof's gone. Or rather, it's not there yet. The place where the guildhall used to be has turned into a construction site. The walls and the skeleton of the building are there, but it's far from being finished.

'What the hell…?' I hear myself stumble. My travel bag falls off my shoulder. Something smells fishy here.

Speaking of smell; there isn't much. There's the regular stank of sweat and beer, but the foundations of the hall smell completely different. I don't remember anyone speaking of redecorating when we left, let alone rebuilding.

I throw my bag over my shoulder and enter the new guildhall. Immediately two heads turn, just like they did in the old guildhall: Wakabe and Macao.

'Yo, Rain!' Macao says, holding up a pint. He has a bandage over his eye, but seems cheerful. 'Welcome back!'

I just nod, and attempt to smile. Even after two years, I still find it odd and kind of uncomfortable when other members greet me as if I'm their family. I know they go nuts for that word, 'family', or 'comrades'. That's cool and all, just not my thing.

But I don't want to be rude, so I walk over to their table.

'What the hell happened here?' I ask. The two men seem pretty tired.

'You... don't know?' Wakabe asks.

I try not to sound annoyed. 'I wasn't here, so no.'

'Well,' says Macao, scratching the back of his head, 'we had a little...altercation with Phantom.'

'As in Phantom Lord?'

He nods. 'They came to kidnap Lucy. You know Lucy, right? And, uhm, they beat the crap out of all of us in the process. But we won in the end!'

I look around and see that more members still wear bandages and have fresh scars over their arms and faces. 'How long ago was this?'

Wakabe shrugs. 'A few weeks now, I think. We could only start rebuilding after the council paid a visit – hey, where are you going?'

I've turned my back to them, leaving my bag behind on their table.

A few weeks ago. I don't have to ask for the specifics.

I find his smell easily. He's not far, just at the edge of East Forest. Practically waiting for me, leaning nonchalantly against a large oak tree. He doesn't flinch when I grab the collar of his robe.

'You jerk,' I spit at his mask. 'Fairy Tail was at war and you didn't tell me?!'

'So now you care about the guild, huh?' he responds, calmly.

I squeeze harder. He's taller and stronger than I am and this doesn't hurt him at all, but I want him to feel how upset I am. 'Shut up. Why didn't you say anything?'

He places one hand on my arm pulling his collar and sends a spell through my body that makes me drowsy.

'You want me to shut up and talk at the same time?' he says, but not to humor himself or me. It's more an observation. 'You know why I didn't tell you.'

I let go of his collar and I feel my legs trembling under me. 'Because I'm weak, right?'

He lifts the spell and doesn't answer. I stand up straight.

'The hall's in ruins,' I say, watching his eyes. He's avoiding me. 'Everyone's hurt.'

'I know,' he says then, 'but I didn't join the fight either. I went to all the outskirts where Phantom Lord was hiding, and delivered my own justice for what they did. The guild's disbanded now. It's over.'

He says it very matter-of-fact, like we're in school. It annoys me.

'I could've helped! Instead you left me alone with some giant pig?'

'Boar.' Misty tilts his head slightly. 'You really don't know, do you?'

'Know what?'

Now he does look at me, and not just making regular eye contact. It feels like he's trying to figure something out.

I realize I've never been this close to him before. His dark eyes have even darker dots in them. There is something hiding in there I don't understand, almost as if he's wearing masks here too. That would be shades then.

'Know what, Misty?' I ask again. His eyes change, the unexplainable thing disappears and I imagine there's a smirk under the mask.

'Misty. You're really going to keep calling me that?'

'Don't change the subject!' I snap.

His eyes turn serious again. 'Fine. I should have told you about Phantom. But there's no point in being angry now, because he's perfectly safe. It takes more than some rival guild to take down the Iceman.'

My cheeks flush with color. Of course, I never thought Gray would get hurt in something as silly as a guild dispute, he's obviously too powerful and meant for greater things. But it's still a relief to hear it.

Misty steps away from me. 'You're not worried about the guild.'

'I am!' I say, but I know it's not entirely true. I feel the anger rise up again. Misty is in the midst of turning his back to me and walking off, who knows where to, but when I open my mouth he stops. 'Just now you were saying something. What don't I know?'

I can tell he's carefully considering what to say next. I cross my arms and wait.

To my surprise, he says: 'I'm sorry I let this go on for so long.'

Then he lifts his cloak, throws it around dramatically, and vanishes.

For a few seconds, I just stand and stare at the empty patch of grass. Then I yell so loud every bird within a one mile radius flies off: 'Asshole!'

I then start walking back to Magnolia, just fuming.

You might be thinking: why are you giving him a hard time? He was just trying to protect you by keeping the information about Phantom to himself. Right?

And of course, I appreciate all he's done for me. Without him, I probably would've died in Bordertown. He was the first person besides Grandpa who actually thought I could be something else than a monster. I can never repay him for that.

But everytime I ask a question, he dodges it. Every conversation we have ends with him saying something mysterious along the lines of 'You wouldn't understand', or 'You really don't remember, do you?', or 'I think it's best if you don't know'.

He knows something about my past and refuses to tell me, but he has no right to do that. He's not my family. He's just some guy who wandered into Bordertown at the right time.

I'm at the gates of Magnolia Town and find myself stopping.

Another thing I don't understand about Misty is why he keeps letting me tag along on quests. I asked once and ever since he's just expected me to come with him each time. He seemed excited almost. I don't know how to explain it, but something in the way he would walk up to me, holding a new request paper in his hand, while he put the entire guild to sleep around us, made it seem like he couldn't wait to go back on the road again with me. We always split the money evenly, even though he does ninety percent of the work.

And all I do is complain.

He just makes it so hard not to be annoyed by him with his dodgy answering.

But in the end, I do care about him.

And now he's run off somewhere and who knows when he'll be back. Trying to find his scent would be useless, when he vanishes he makes sure no one can trace him. Not even me.

I take a deep breath and start walking again, back to the guildhall, where I left my bag. Nothing I can do about it now, I think sadly. We'll just have to work things out later.

For now, I have to focus on what is more important: asking Gray for my quest.