Into the Past

Chapter 4

Levy had a steady hold of Zera's hand and was lightly pulling her along behind her as they walked through town. She felt a little bad for rushing her along, as she was clearly interested in the things around her, they would have plenty of time later in the week to let her wander around and let her take things in. Zera had been stopping so frequently to stare at things that she had deemed it necessary to pull her along. They were in a bit of a time crunch this morning though, so as much as she would love to let Zera satisfy her curiosity she had to keep them all moving. Gajeel and Panther Lily were following behind them lazily, easily keeping up with her pace. She easily caught all of the curious looks the exceed sent the young girl. They didn't have that much time to chat this morning before she had rushed them all out of the house, so Lily was probably dying to ask his questions. He would have to hold back until they went back to the house later tonight. Thankfully, Zera hadn't seemed to mind the early hectic morning. They needed to do a bit of shopping before she took them towards the guild for the day. Zera didn't have anything on her besides the things in her backpack when she came here, which honestly wasn't much. So, they needed to do some clothes shopping for her. Not much this morning as they wouldn't have time to head back to the house before going to the guild, so a single outfit would have to do for now. Zera's current dress was a wreck and would certainly draw the wrong kind of attention at the guild. They didn't need the guild members sending her pity, that wasn't the kind attention that the girl needed.

Maybe tomorrow they could go on a larger shopping spree. She could recruit Lucy, Wendy, and maybe even Cana to help them out. It sounds like she might be stuck here for a while and Levy was determined to make her stay as fun and comfortable as possible. They could get her a few things for her room and definitely a new wardrobe. From the few books that had been in her pack, it seemed like she liked to read so maybe they could get her a few new books as well.

A short laugh escaped her as she was pulled to another stop. She tugged gently on the hand she was holding and thankfully Zera started walking again. This time it looked like it was the river that caught her attention, "Come on Zera, you can look around later in the week. Master Makarov is expecting us and I want to make sure you're all settled before I need to leave for my mission."

"You're leaving?" Zera asked with a frown. The thought of being separated from one of the only people who knew about her kind of freaked her out. Bix, who has been floating right behind her sensed her unease and quickly circled her head to try and reassure her. She sent him a little smile. He let out a little chirp before settling himself on top of her head.

"Ah, don't worry. It'll only be for a few hours. I was specially requested so I can't exactly back out and let someone else take it. I'll be back by suppertime for sure. Promise."

Zera hummed lightly, unconsciously tightening her grip on the hand she was holding. She knew that missions in the past were extremely different from the ones in the future. Much safer from the death sentences the missions she was used to hearing about. Still, without seeing for herself what missions were like during this time she still worried for her aunt, "Ah, right." She got out before deciding to change the subject, hopefully before her unease bled into her voice and stature, "Why aren't we heading straight for the guild?" she asked a bit distractedly as something else caught her attention. Levy had woken her up, made her change back into her dress (she had borrowed a sweater from Levy to sleep in. Not that she couldn't have slept in her dress), and pulled her out of the house babbling all the way. She hasn't been able to quite decipher through Levy's babbling with her tired mind to catch what Levy was planning.

Her surroundings didn't exactly help her focus either. There was just so MUCH to look at! There were so many people just out and about, she's never seen this many people gathered at the same time. None of them even seemed to have a care in the world, just going about their daily lives peacefully. How bizarre is that? People in the future tended to simply stay inside as much as humanly possible to avoid the attention of Zeref and his army. When she was able to tear her attention away from all of the people something else would gather her attention. All of the intact buildings and alive nature simply blew her mind. Herself, Liam, and Silver would sometimes sneak off when they set up camp near an old abandoned town. It was always so interesting to see where people used to live. To try and guess what the homes used to look like when they weren't destroyed. Guess what a shop used to sell, or what a certain building had been used for.