Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐯𝐢. 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞

Wendy broke the silence, striking up a conversation between herself, Erza and Gray.

After listening to them converse for about half an hour, Rose decided to sift through the small pack attached to her belt. A small, transparent bottle was produced from the pocket. Small eggshell blue pills rolled around inside.

"What are those?" Lucy asked curiously. Rose shrugged, peering at the contents of the container by holding them up to the light. Her eyes went round. "Oh, these things!" Rose popped the lid off and took one of the small pills. "They're for motion sickness. Here, try it."

Desperate for anything that could cure his sickness, Natsu took the pill hastily and swallowed immediately. A few brief seconds passed before he visibly relaxed.

"Wow!" Natsu exclaimed giddily, standing up and taking a few steps experimentally. "It actually worked! What was that?"

"Just something I came across a while ago. It went out of production a while ago, so this is one of the last bottles." That was true. She'd originally gotten it for her own case of motion sickness, but it hadn't worked. She must have forgotten to get rid of it, but it turned out to actually work. Just not on her.

"By the way, what kind of request are we doing?"

"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed, having only just realised that Rose had no idea what they were going to do. "It's a request to capture some criminals in Hargeon. Apparently, they're exclusively mages. The best part is the reward, though – 2 million jewel!"

Lucy went off on a tangent about her rent as the rest of the group ignored her. The train finally came to a stop, and they all got off. Rose glanced around her surroundings warily. The bustling port city of Hargeon, home to both trade and crime. She'd have to be cautious. The girl had visited a long time ago, only to run into a group of criminals who wanted to kill her (for various reasons). "Hell yeah!" Natsu hollered as he barrelled off of the train. "I'm finally off that stupid death trap!"

They spent a few minutes trying to locate the mayor's mansion, before finally discovering the extravagant structure had been erected on the other side of town. They were guided to the mayor's office by a butler with an exquisitely groomed moustache.

The mayor was a short man with a receding hairline and a small beard. He greeted the team before taking a seat behind the mahogany desk in front of a large window.

"The people who you are tasked with defeating are a group of bandits who happen to be closely associated with a dark guild. They have many mages on their side, and have recently begun to harass the townspeople." The mayor gestured for his butler to give them a rectangular sheet of paper. "That there is a map with the locations which they tend to congregate marked down."

"We will do our best to be of assistance to you." Erza pocketed the map before bowing to the mayor politely. She gestured for the team to leave with a tilt of her head. "Let's go." "I bet I'll beat all of them on my own!" Natsu boasted proudly, puffing his chest out.

"As if!" Gray scoffed, offended, before throwing his shirt into the air. It landed on the face of the butler, who remained still. "I can get more of them in one hour than you could in your entire life!"

"Gray!" Lucy covered Wendy's eyes. "Your clothes! Put them back on!"

"I'm all fired up," Rose spoke, though she didn't put much passion into it.

"Hey! That's my line!"

"Ha!"

"Stop fighting, you guys!"

◊

Rose sent a fierce uppercut to her opponent's jaw, only stepping away once he crumpled to the ground. She kicked him in the stomach to be sure he was down, before turning to face the next wave of mages. Crouching close to the ground, Rose sprung over their heads with the help of a burst of flame.

"Flame Phoenix's Razor Feathers!"

Rose hurled flames shaped like feathers at the incoming wave. The feathers sunk into their skin, eliciting screams and shouts of pain. In the wake of her spell was a pile of groaning bandits, the flames from the attack disappearing.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Regulus Impact!"

"LUCY KICK!"

"Ice Make: Lance!"

"Requip. Heaven's Wheel Armour."

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

The lair of the bandits was reduced to rubble. Rose found them to be almost embarrassingly easy to defeat. She was sceptical. Did they even know how to fight?

Instead of dawdling, Rose checked the perimeter of the base's courtyard.

'Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, the Exceeds...'

'Random moving thing... wait, what?!'

Rose stood dead still, eyes wide as an arc of lightning zipped past her and towards Lucy. The blonde was facing away, recalling one of her celestial spirits.

Everyone leapt towards the attack, trying to prevent it from reaching its mark. Rose felt as though she was moving through honey. Everything moved slowly. She could see the shock on Gray's face, hear a scream parting Wendy's lips, sense Erza's determined scowl, and feel her own heart pounding.

"Lucy!"

Lucy was tackled to the floor by Natsu. Time sped back up. The dust from the impact of the lightning against the ground cleared away, revealing Natsu hunched over Lucy. The livid dragon slayer was immediately off the ground, launching myself at the mage who had cast the spell.

Lucy stared after the male in surprise, a layer of scarlet brighter than Erza's hair dusting her cheeks.

"Don't you dare hurt Lucy, you small-fry!"

Natsu erupted into flames and began to brutally beat the remaining mages.

Lucy, on the other hand, was still blushing furiously as Natsu beat up the small fry.

Natsu came back a few minutes later, still clearly smouldering as he helped Lucy up. "You're gonna stay next to me until we get back to the guild."

Lucy turned so red Rose thought she was about to faint, but before she could Natsu grabbed her arm and proceeded to drag her in the direction of the mayor's office. "Let's grab the reward and get out of here."

Rose simply smiled at Lucy, uttering a light question of concern, before falling into step beside the others. Gray nodded to her in acknowledgement.

"You know, I thought you were a bit standoffish, but you're not half bad. Keep up the good work." The ice mage then lapsed into his own world, zoning out within seconds. Rose faltered in her steps and stared at him in shock.

Erza seemed to overhear and noticed Rose's expression.

"I think that this may be the first time that I've seen you look genuinely confused," Erza said.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You don't really display many emotions on your face, and even when you do," Erza pointed to her own eyes, "They don't reach your eyes."

"Oh." Rose glanced down at her feet and noted the cobblestone pathway. They were almost back at the mayor's home. "I... didn't realise."

"Well, it's not that big of a deal, but you're one of our guildmates now. We look out for each other, so don't be afraid to show emotion."

"... Right. Thanks."

Sure, she'd only be in the guild for a short while, but it wouldn't hurt to relax... would it?

Published: 12/09/2017

Edited: 21/05/2018