Chapter 9
The guild hall was bustling with all sorts of activities at the ground floor, that was what Erza Scarlet observed once they were dismissed by their Guild Master Makarov. She glanced at her two other colleagues: Mirajane and Gildarts. Both of their faces were showing a blank expression.
Erza sighed, wanting to start some sort of conversation to shake off the off feeling of receiving grave news of Mr. Ivan Dreyar's critical condition, followed by a lengthy discussion regarding the future events and projects that Fairy Tail will be undergoing in the next few weeks.
"You two," Gildarts said suddenly, his tone reminiscent of that of Rune Knight Commanders addressing their subordinates.
Along with Mirajane, Erza turned towards the older man. "Yes?" they asked.
"It should be noted that whatever has been discussed must remain in utmost confidentiality," he said evenly. "I know that you both have your own teams, and the feeling of excitement cannot be avoided; however, we are S-Class officers, and it is our duty to wait until the Master has given the signal to reveal the details of the meeting to the other members."
"Certainly," Erza agreed whereas Mirajane nodded.
Mirajane then offered her own sentiments, "Let us also wait for the Master or Laxus to talk about Mr. Ivan's condition. Many of the current members do not even know who he is, so it would be better for them to be the one to do explain to avoid gossip within the guild."
This time, Erza just nodded.
"Okay," Gildarts agreed. "Dismissed."
With that, the three of them silently went their separate ways. Gildarts remained on the third floor, excusing himself to enter another room. Perhaps, the older man intends to rest away from the hubbub in the lowest floor.
Erza and Mirajane walked side-by-side and began their descent in the staircase.
"Ne…Erza," Mirajane started.
"Why?" Erza replied.
Mirajane hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I think the Master is not yet done with the matter regarding Lucy."
Erza gulped. "You don't mean…"
"Yeah…I think he's fully convinced that Lucy is actually getting married."
"N-No…" Erza denied. "But we already said that…"
"I think it's safe to say that you're also doubting whether our explanation was enough," Mirajane offered, scratching at the back of her head as she chuckled hesitantly.
Erza facepalmed, letting out a nervous chuckle, "If this reaches the ears of Team Natsu, I don't know what mayhem is about to happen."
Mirajane also let out a nervous chuckle, "It's a good thing that we were able to keep Laxus out of the conversation."
"For the love of gods, that's his grandson," Erza said. Realization sank inside her about the ramifications should Laxus be named as the supposed-to-be groom of Lucy.
"Given everything that happened, I honestly can't predict how Master would react," Mirajane nodded. "Let's call a truce in the meantime."
"Truce," Erza agreed. There was no use arguing for the position of the Maid of Honor given the risk that everything could spiral out of control just because of a simple misunderstanding.
A few seconds later, Erza cannot contain herself anymore. "Mira," she said, suddenly stopping by the second floor. Quickly, she took her white-haired colleague and practically dragged her towards an empty sofa set.
The set consisted of four large bean-bag chairs made of plush ash-colored cloth. They were positioned around a low-set wooden coffee table. Below the set is a dark wool-like carpet.
Immediately, Erza and Mirajane sat down in the bean-bag chairs next to each other.
"What?" Mirajane asked.
"So…Lucy and Laxus?" Erza said, straining to compose herself but unable to prevent the heat creeping up to her face, that surely makes her color like a tomato. "What gives?"
Mirajane's face lit up like a firework. "Wait a second," she giggled before running towards the railing to shout, "Kinana, one order of Spiced Honey Chai Latte with two pumps of honey syrup with extra cinnamon sprinkled on top, and one order of Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino topped with whipped cream and java chips. Add two orders of Milk Cake Blocks topped with three fresh strawberries. Second floor."
'Damn,' Erza observed. 'That memorization is impressive.'
Mirajane basically bounced with each step before diving down to the cushion seat. "Now, where were we?"
"Laxus and Lucy," Erza said simply, but heat still crept up to her face. She must be blushing mad right now.
Mirajane saw this, and Erza saw how much Mirajane tried to contain her squeals. "Okay," the white-haired mage said, fanning herself using her hands. "Okay, remember that time when the Phantom Lord Guild started a Guild War against us?"
Erza remembered some of it. She did spend some time bedridden after trying to defend the guild building from being obliterated by the Jupiter Cannon to kingdom come. 'Ah, the good ole days.'
"Yup," Erza replied.
"Well, at that time, I asked Laxus to come back and help us."
Erza recalled that too…bits of that, while the rest of the details were filled in by some of the guild members. At that memory, Erza found her mood souring. "Yeah, and his highness basically demanded Lucy as payment for his help."
"Yeah…real asshat that he is," Mirajane agreed, her voice steely. After a while, she continued, "You know what, I don't think I like him that much for Lucy. Maybe we should be working on separating the two of them," Mirajane suggested in jest.
Erza gave off a hearty laugh, that it even brought tears to her eyes. "Hahahaha."
"Order," Kinana's voice echoed from the stairs. The violet-haired barmaid then brought the tray to their table, reciting, "One order of Spiced Honey Chai Latte with two pumps of honey syrup with extra cinnamon sprinkled on top; one order of Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino topped with whipped cream and java chips; and two orders of Milk Cake Blocks topped with three fresh strawberries each."
"Thank you," Erza smiled towards Kinana. 'She's such a good girl.'
Kinana returned Erza's smile before addressing Mirajane. "Did I get it right?"
"Yup! Thank you, Kinana," Mirajane smiled at her too. "Put it on my tab."
Kinana nodded before taking the stairs to descend.
"Now, where was I?" Mirajane faced Erza, sipping her Chai Latte.
Erza drank from her cup as well. "Phantom Lord."
"Okay, so Laxus basically said that. And we agree that he is an asshole for even saying it in the first place," Mirajane sipped again. "But here's when it gets interesting. I thought that was just, I don't know, a way to mock the guild but well…that was until certain things that are far from coincidences began happening one after the other."
Erza shivered from the amount of sugar that she had consumed from her Frapuccino and cake. She felt so much energy that she was not able to filter her next words. "Girl, spill the tea."
"Exhibit Number 2," Mirajane took out her Portable Communication Lacrima, clicked the On Button and scrolled through her gallery. She stopped for a moment, brandishing her Exhibit Number 2, and practically announced the picture as if she was reporting a crime scene. "When we were suddenly turned to stone during the Miss Fairy Tail contest, Laxus placed his arm over Lucy's shoulder."
"Okay, Mira, how were you even aware that that event even happened?" If Erza could remember, Mira was also petrified at that time
"Girl, I have my sources. Besides, although we were turned to stones, we are very much aware of what was going on."
"Okay," Erza acquiesced, taking another bite from the perfection that was the cake. "But Laxus was just leaning on Lucy."
"Hello!" Mirajane suddenly exclaimed. "Have you met Laxus? Do you not know how he is with that kind of contact?!"
Erza considered that for a moment. Well, she has known Laxus for years, and she had never seen that man doing something as intimate as leaning on a woman like that…not even to his own teammate Evergreen. "Y-You're right," Erza realized.
"Well you better believe it, sister," Mirajane cheered, nibbling on a piece of the cake. "Exhibit Number 3…I don't know if this reached your ears, but Laxus lent Lucy his prized coat."
"Woah!" Erza mouthed. She was floored. Laxus is very touchy regarding that fur coat. No one messes with that coat. Erza even has a sneaking suspicion that that coat is enchanted with a protective Magic Spell, just so that it will never get destroyed.
"Here," Mirajane scrolled through the screen once again, There, in the foreground of the picture was Lucy flanked by Bickslow, Evergreen and Freed on all sides. Lucy was indeed wearing Laxus' coat. Laxus was at the background of the picture, walking away while waving.
"Oh. My. Gods," Erza beamed with joy. "Kyaaa!" she quealed minutely.
"Exhibit Number 4," Mirajane scrolled towards a video clip.
"There's more?"
"There's more."
"Here," Mirajane clicked the play button.
The video showed Laxus' fight against Raven Tail during The Year X791 Grand Magic Games. In the clip, Laxus was facing off against Flare Corona. After disposing of the other members, he was shouting, "This is for Lucy!" before blasting the red-head with a Thunder Dragon's Roar.
"That's overkill," Erza observed, measuring the proportion of the height and width of the Thunder Dragon's Roar Spell.
"Dost thou now but a believer?" Mirajane said in sagely voice, turning the Communication Lacrima off.
"Indeed, I am," Erza bowed dramatically, earning a few chuckles from her white-haired companion.
"But wait, there's more!" Mirajane expressed her elation that seemingly bounced in the chair. "Okay, this is something that I overheard when The Thunder God Tribe were talking about Laxus."
"Wait, when was this?"
"This is years ago, girl!" Mirajane exclaimed. "This is back before Laxus was excommunicated by the Master. If I remember correctly, it was night time. The guild was about to close, and I was just cleaning the remainder of the glasses. The Thunder God Tribe were the only people there. I don't know where Laxus was. Anyway, the three of them: Freed, Ever and Bicsklow were drinking. Believe it, there were a lot of loose lips then," Mirajane said, upping the suspense.
"Mira!" Erza exclaimed in anticipation and impatience.
Mirajane laughed. "Freed basically complained about something to Evergreen and Bickslow. He said that Laxus should really not waste his time becoming such a jerk to Lucy."
"Okayyy…" Erza trailed off. Indeed, it was a Laxus-Lucy thing but it somehow paled in comparison with Mira's supposed Exhibit 1 to Exhibit 4.
"...after all, he's the one who let her go, and caused a red mark on his otherwise-perfect Mission Success Rate ," Mirajane supplied, a look of confusion suddenly crossed her face.
"What?" Erza asked, confused as well as to why Mira has suddenly become silent. "Mira?"
Mirajane was suddenly lost in thought.
"Mira?" Erza tried again.
"Oh," Mirajane said, snapping back to reality. "Now that I'm hearing it in my own voice, it's beginning to get weird."
"What's weird, Mira?" Erza asked, unable to grasp the sudden turn of mood.
"Erza, did Lucy ever meet Laxus before she joined the guild?"