"Did Wendy and Cynthia leave already?" Lucy asked as she looked around the guild.
"Earlier this morning," Mirajane replied with smile. "They might be in the middle of a train ride right now."
Natsu gagged just from the mention of a train ride. "Ugh…trains…" he groand slightly, his face going slightly pale.
"WE JUST MENTIONED IT!" Lucy shouted, amazed that Natsu's motion sickness was so terrible he got nauseous.
"I can't help it!" Natsu replied, flailing his arms around.
"I should've gone with them anyway…" Carla mumbled to herself, sighing that she decided to trust Cynthia.
"You don't trust Wendy?" Lucy asked, looking at Carla.
"It's not Wendy I don't trust," Carla replied. "I don't trust Cynthia."
"Eh, why not?" Cana asked, placing her mug on the table as she looked at the white Exceed with confusion. "Everyone around here trusts her, and so does Wendy."
"That doesn't mean I have to," Carla replied rather bluntly. "I know that girl is trouble somehow, and I can't believe I let Wendy get so close to her."
"She's a member of Fairy Tail," Gray said. "And they did save each other's lives in a way. You really expected to keep them apart after that?"
"And what do you mean she's trouble…?" Lucy asked, placing her hands on the table.
"I just…" Carla knew it wasn't easy to be the only one untrusting of Cynthia, but she had her reasons, and she intended to show everyone her insight on the matter. "My visions," Carla started. "I saw where Cynthia was holding Wendy above a cliff!"
"You mean before she ate Cynthia's flames, right?" Erza said.
"That right. I know Wendy said they planned for something like that to happen, but what if Wendy couldn't have eaten her flames?! Or she dropped her!?" Carla started once again.
"I get it…" Erza said with a small smile. "You're just worried. Don't worry, Carla, it's natural. You just have to trust Cynthia like we all do," Erza nodded slowly. "I remember when I first started to get to know her…"
{Flashback}
Cynthia's second day as a member of Fairy Tail consisted of her helping Erza around town. She wanted to get to know Erza better, and the town, but she found that helping Erza was a little more strenuous than she would've liked. "A-Are we done…?" Cynthia asked as she trudged behind Erza who was walking perfectly fine.
Erza nodded, a large smile appearing over her face as she made a beeline to the cake store. "Yes, we're done! Now we can relax for the rest of the day and have a slice of strawberry cake for our hard work." Erza's smile quickly grew at the thought of a nice strawberry cake.
Cynthia blinked a few times, standing up straight as she looked at Cynthia with an unusually confused expression. "What's cake?" Erza froze, a heartbroken expression replacing her wide smile as she turned to Cynthia slowly.
"You…you don't know what cake is…?" Erza asked as her eyes widened from shock.
"Nope…" Cynthia looked away awkwardly, trying to avoid Erza's gaze. That was all Erza needed to hear as she dragged Cynthia into the bakery and ordered two pieces of strawberry cake; Erza then handed Cynthia a piece eagerly, her eyes sparkling as she waited for her to try it.
"Em…" Cynthia slowly slid a portion of the cake into her mouth, and then took a bite. Hearts immediately filled the young girl's eyes as she grinned, shoveling the rest of the cake into her mouth. "THAT WAS AMAZING," Cynthia grinned, pieces of the cake she so messily ate resting around her mouth.
"ISN'T IT?" Erza said with a grin as she easily finished off her strawberry cake.
{End flashback}
"…THAT'S why she stole my cake…" Lucy huffed.
"My bad?" Erza cleared her throat awkwardly before turning back to Carla. "You really have nothing to worry about…"
"We don't even know much about her!" Carla replied.
"Does she really have to talk about her past…?" Lucy asked, rubbing her arm a bit. "Not everyone is into that sort of sharing…"
"If that past could cause potential danger to everyone…" Carla responded, placing her paws on her hips with a stern expression.
"We'll just take care of whatever happens!" Natsu grinned. "Heh, if we're talking about how we started to get to know here, I remember it clearly."
{Flashback}
Natsu and Cynthia were standing out in the middle of an open field, both panting heavily as they were sparring against one another. "Are we…done…?" Cynthia panted, hunched over.
"NOT YET!" Natsu reared his arm back, throwing his fist forward. "ONE MORE HIT!" Cynthia groaned, sidestepping Natsu's punch and elbowed his jaw, sending him spiraling into the ground. "We're done…" He groaned, sitting up slowly. "Man, you're so strong…" Natsu said with a smile.
"I-I am?" Cynthia smiled slightly, the thought of being strong appealing to her quite a bit. "I wanna be strong," Cynthia nodded, fixing her hair.
"Aye, sir!" Happy replied from the sidelines.
"Fairy Tail will keep you strong," Natsu replied. "We ARE the number one guild after all, and everyone here is really strong!"
"My work is cut out for me I guess…" She thought to herself as she simply nodded at Natsu's response. "I'm always up for a spar, anytime you want! I wanna get stronger and stronger!"
{End Flashback}
"Are we really doing this right now…?" Carla groaned, rubbing her temples with her paws. "This isn't what I was intending for!"
"Oh, come on," Lucy poked Carla teasingly. "You need to stop being so worrisome and let us explain why we trust and like Cynthia!"
"Why do you trust her then?" Carla asked, looking up at Lucy.
"I think the main reason I trust her is because she's already acting like how anyone else would here. She wasn't even a member of Fairy Tail and she risked her life just to save Wendy's. Can't you trust her about that?" Lucy asked.
"Well...I am thankful she saved Wendy's life…" Carla replied, looking down at the ground.
{Flashback}
Lucy invited Cynthia over to her house; little did Lucy know that someone else was also there, using her shower. "Is someone else in here…?" Cynthia asked as she took a seat on Lucy's couch.
"There shouldn't be…!" Lucy groaned before walking to the bathroom door, only for it to open with Cana stepping out, wrapped around in a towel. "Cana!?"
"Oh, sorry for not telling you I was in here," Cana shrugged smirking just slightly.
"Is that always a thing?" Cynthia asked, leaning back into Lucy's couch.
"IT SHOULDN'T BE!" Lucy groaned.
"Oh, lighten up, Lucy!" Cana replied, sliding over a mug of beer she brought over to Lucy. "Calm down and have some beer, it's what I always do!"
"What's beer?" Cynthia asked, hopping up from the couch, the strong scent of the beer not affecting her sensitive nose.
"It's the best drink in the world!" Cana replied with a large grin, picking up a bottle of beer she placed on the counter and started chugging it.
"Did you bring an entire stock or something!?" Lucy asked, looking in her fridge, only seeing beer.
"I was gonna finish it…!" Cana replied, finishing the bottle in her hands and throwing it away, pulling another out from the fridge.
Cynthia scooted into Lucy's kitchen, pulling out a bottle of beer as she popped it open and examined it. "Can I have one?" She asked in an innocent, yet curious tone as she slowly put the bottle to her lips.
"NO!" Lucy snatched the bottle from Cynthia's hands.
"WHY NOOOOT!" Cynthia whined childishly, sticking her lower lip out to pout.
"It's an adult drink!" Lucy replied, feeling like she was babysitting Cynthia or something.
"I'm thirteen! I think that's close enough!" Cynthia protested, flailing her arms up and down rapidly
"Not even!" Lucy replied, holding the body high above her head so Cynthia couldn't reach it.
"No fair!" Cynthia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, don't be like that, Lucy…" Cana said, her voice slightly slurred.
"…How much have you been drinking?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow at the fact Cana's voice was slurred.
"Not much…" Cana then tipped over, falling onto the floor, blacked out.
"…Is that normal?" Cynthia pointed at Cana, taking a baby step back.
"Sadly, it is…" Lucy sighed.
{End flashback}
"You're making this harder than it needs to be…" Carla muttered.
"You're only saying that because you're seeing that we're right and that Cynthia is nothing to worry about," Gray nodded, leaning back in a chair as she crossed his arms.
"How did you "bond" with her then…?" Carla turned, looking at Gray.
"Juvia remembers it like it was yesterday!" Juvia randomly chimed in, hearts in her eyes.
"Juvia where did you…" Gray started. "Never mind…"
{Flashback}
Gray and Cynthia were in the middle of a spar; it just reached the point where Gray was about to get serious, so he gripped his shirt, and tossed it off, causing Cynthia to blink. "Why…why did you just remove your shirt…?"
"It's time for me to get serious," Gray replied, smirking. "I hope you're ready." Gray smacked his fist into his palm. "Ice Make…"
"GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia appeared behind Gray, hugging his shirtless chest tightly.
"J-JUVIA!?" Gray was caught off guard by the surprise hug, causing him to almost fall over. "What are you doing here?! Cynthia and I are sparring!"
"Juvia saw Gray-sama and she couldn't help herself!" Juvia's grip slowly tightened on Gray.
"I'm going to be honest here…that's a little…creepy…" Cynthia coughed that last part out.
"Love rival?" Juvia immediately towered over Cynthia. "Juiva must eliminate all love rivals."
"I'M ONLY THIRTEEN I DON'T WANT HIM!" Cynthia flailed. "WAAAH!"
"Hmm…Juvia will keep an eye on Cynthia-san…" Juvia said as she narrowed her eyes at Cynthia. "If Cynthia-san really isn't a love rival, then Juvia would be happy to be friends with her!"
"C-Cynthia isn't a love rival! She promises!" Cynthia nodded a few times, not noticing the fact Juvia's habit of speaking in third person got to her.
"Juvia will trust Cynthia-san then!" Juvia nodded happily, shaking Cynthia's hand vigorously. "Juvia wants to welcome Cynthia-san to Fairy Tail!" Juvia's cold glare quickly replaced itself with a warm smile.
"Huh…I can't believe I forgot to do the same thing…" Gray shrugged walking over to Cynthia and shook her hand. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Cynthia." Gray said with a smile.
{End flashback}
"Okay…fine…fine…I see your points…I'm just worrying too much…" Carla sighed.
"Giehe, the brats something else alright…I was wondering why she was trying to take a bite out of me when she learned Dragon Slayers could eat other Dragon Slayer's magic…" Gajeel said, coughing awkwardly at the memory.
"She did that?" Lucy replied to Gajeel, raising an eyebrow.
"She's a special case…" Gajeel replied.
{Flashback}
A few day or two before the festival started, Cynthia approached Gajeel as he feasted on an iron bar in peace while Lily was just sitting on the table, thinking to himself. Cynthia sat next to Gajeel, poking his arm a few times. Gajeel looked down at the girl, raising an eyebrow as he swallowed the iron. "Whaddya want, runt?"
"I know you!" Cynthia replied with grin.
"That's great..." Gajeel shrugged her off, then blinked as he felt Cynthia continuously poking him. "What do you want!?" Gajeel asked in an annoyed tone.
"I wanna bite you," Cynthia replied bluntly, but it was in an innocent tone as well.
"...What?" Gajeel blinked, looking down at Cynthia with the utmost confused expression.
"I wanna bite you!" Cynthia replied, a childish twinkle in her eyes.
"What the hell...?" Gajeel took a step back, raising an eyebrow. "Listen, kid...don't touch me..." It was too late, Gajeel's words went in one ear in out the other as Cynthia opened her mouth, Gajeel covered his arm in metallic scales as Cynthia bit down on it.
"...Owwwy..." Cynthia mumbled, only increasing her bite.
"What the hell is wrong with you kid!?" Gajeel waved his arm around in attempt to fling Cynthia off. It was weird to Gajeel to say the least, but Cynthia seemed to be enjoying herself.
{End Flashback}
"Whatever the case," Laxus said as he walked in the door, overhearing the conversation. "She's a very strong girl." He nodded as he spoke, smirking slightly. "We sparred just before the idea of the festival came to be; she gave me a run for my money."
{Flashback}
"Is that all you got?" Laxus said, hunched over as he was panting somewhat heavily, his body covered in burn marks, and his clothes somewhat tattered, but he was smirking.
"N-Not even...!" Cynthia replied, hunched over as well, her hands on her knees to help support herself. Sparks were dancing around her body from Laxus's prior attacks, and she was covered in marks along with Laxus. She reared her arm back, semi dark red flames appearing around her fist as she charged forward. Laxus also pulled his arm back, electricity dancing wildly around his fist as she also charged forward.
{End flashback}
"You won, right Laxus!?" Natsu replied, pounding his fist as he started to think of challenging Laxus again.
"You could say that," Laxus replied.
"FIGHT ME!" Natsu charged forward, but Laxus merely threw an electrical punch, one hit Ko'ing Natsu. "Gah…"
"That was fast..." Alzack commented as he walked towards the conversation with Bisca and Asuka in his arms. "Are we talking about Cynthia?" He asked, letting his daughter take a seat on a chair.
"Yeah, we're just talking about how she's gotten to know everyone in Fairy Tail and all," Lucy replied.
"Oh, well if that's the case," Bisca started, a warm smile appearing on her face. "Cynthia is just the sweetest thing! She's so good with children too, especially Asuka!"
"Asuka like Cynthia!" The small child nodded with a gleeful smile, smiling from ear to ear.
"Even Asuka?" Carla sighed, knowing the battle she was fighting was a losing one at this point.
"Me too!" Roemo chimed in.
"Romeo?" Lucy looked over at the rainbow fire magic. "How did you and Cynthia get along?"
"Well..." Romeo started.
{Flashback}
Romeo was standing around the front doors of the guild, practicing his fire techniques, which ultimately attracted Cynthia to him. "Is that fire?" Cynthia asked, looking at the blue fire in Romeo's hands.
"Mhm!" Romeo nodded with a smile. "I learned how to use different color fire thanks to my teacher, Totomaru!"
"Ooooh...Mind if I had a taste!?" Cynthia didn't even bother waiting for an answer, she simply inhaled the blue fire from Romeo's hands, grinning with delight after. "MMM! That was delicious!" The young fire mage blinked a few times, just remembering that the new girl was a fire dragon slayer of some kind, so it was only natural she ate fire. "Do you have anymore?!" Cynthia placed her hands together with a hopeful look.
"Oh, yeah!" Romeo nodded, holding his hand out as a thick purple flame surrounded his hand. "I use this fire for attacking and I can mold it to grab onto things!" Romeo said with a smile. However, Cynthia wasn't paying much attention as she sucked the flames from Romeo's hands, still grinning as she rubbed her stomach.
"More please!" The young dragon slayer said with an innocent yet cheerful voice. Romeo couldn't help but laugh a little as she conjured up yellow fire around his hand.
"And this one-" He didn't have time for an explanation this time as Cynthia inhaled the yellow flames, only to start gagging several seconds later.
"GAH!" Cynthia coughed, shaking her head from side to side rapidly. "Ew, gross! What is THAT!?"
"Yellow fire...it stinks..." Romeo blinked, barely able to hold back a snicker.
"Gross..." Cynthia shook her head one last time before leaning in closer to Romeo, examining him. "You know...You look a lot like someone I used to know..."
"I do...?" Romeo blinked.
"Yeah...!" Cynthia put Romeo in a headlock and placed her fist in his hair, giving the young boy a noogie. "I always did this to him too!"
"Waaah!" Romeo struggled to get free, but he was at the mercy of Cynthia and her playful attitude.
{End flashback}
Romeo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly after telling the story. "Oh, that's cute!" Lucy said with a faint smile.
Markarov was listening in on the entire conversation, and he believed he came up with an accurate solution to Carla's situation. "If you truly believe that Cynthia may bring this guild some problems with her background, I will ask her personally to reveal her history. I know she wouldn't purposely put this guild in danger; I can sense how much this place really means to her."
"So, until then, will you at least TRY to trust her?" Lucy asked Carla.
"Fine…I will…I'll apologize for being not trusting of her when she and Wendy return later…" Carla said, still feeling a bit uneasy. She wasn't sure why though.