Fairy Tail FanFic - The Ice Dragon

Symbol

It was almost midday when Haylee arrive at the house of a rather surprised Lucy.

"Haylee! What are you doing here? We're you told it was alright for you to leave?" fussed Lucy, ushering her in.

"No... But I feel fine, and I was getting annoyed in there so I decided to leave..." Haylee replied, leaving out the argument with Juvia.

"You can't just leave! What if your rib was still bad and you made it worse!"

"I'm here now aren't I?" shrugged Haylee, shutting Lucy up. Lucy stood in front of her, arms crossed, scowling, so Haylee just stared at her blankly.

"...Fine." Lucy exhaled, arms dropping to her sides in exasperation. "Did gramps give you a grade? I know he's called of the rest of the fights."

"Um, yeah, seems kinda low down the alphabet though..." Haylee trailed. "Grey said something about being S rank in ability, and something about a test on some island..."

"A S RANK?!" Lucy exclaimed. "That's like, the highest level Haylee! Woah. On a par with Mystogan! Mind you what you did to Natsu with that armour was pretty amazing..."

"Yeah, but that armour is only effective against Natsu because it's just frozen dragons blood-"

"Blood?! Oh my, that's gross. Ew. Ew ew ew." Lucy squealed, interrupting Haylee and screwing up her face. "Don't touch anything until you've washed properly, don't want dragon bloody germs on my stuff!" she shuddered.

Haylee tried to protest, but Lucy was having none of it do she went to shower. It was a relief to have a moment to relax. She let the shower run cold and refreshing, being warm mostly made her uncomfortable anyway.

Haylee let her mind run through the days events. Three things stuck out, Grey's hand on hers, Grey as he walked away, and Juvia. Then a strange thought occurred to her. What if she did want Grey? The more and more she thought about it, how she was happy around him, how he was always good with her despite his sometimes sarcastic attitude, how he'd risked his own life to save her and how he still kept her secret. She suddenly found herself fantasising about Grey and herself being closer than friends. Maybe she did like him, but was it really that obvious to other people although she was only just figuring it out herself? She felt a pang of guilt. Although she wasn't by any means fond of Juvia, she had almost snatched Grey away, even as just friends. Just friends. She pondered the possibility that he might want more than that too. Too? So she did like him. A frown crosses her face and she shook her head slightly, clearing out the thoughts and focusing on the frigid water. Her concentration didn't last long. Grey was her friend. He probably pitied her lack of social skills and awkwardness. Maybe he found her a burden, being the one she trusted most. Maybe Juvia was right and he does love her and is just too shy to show it.

She was still puzzling over the scene with Juvia when Lucy knocked on the door, shouting that they needed to get back to the guild soon as the Master wanted them.

Haylee washed the remaining products from her hair and shut of the cold water, resenting the old man for dragging her from her moment of peace. She dragged a comb through her cerulean hair and side-plaited it since there definitely wasn't enough time to dry it. After drying herself quickly with one of Lucy's pink fluffy towels and equipping her usual gear, consisting of a denim bralet with an aztec print and studded black skirt, she found Lucy and they left for the guild, Haylee reluctantly dragging behind, not looking forward to bring around Juvia again.

We they finally got to the guild, they found the master sitting on his usual spot that the bar.

"You wanted us Master?" asked Lucy, sitting at a stool, Haylee standing awkwardly beside her.

"Yes, well, Haylee really." Replied Makarov, his eyes moving to the quiet girl. "Final part of your initiation to the guild!"

There was a pause as a confused Haylee glanced from Makarov to Lucy and back.

"The symbol, Haylee," sighed Lucy, waving the back of her right hand on front of the puzzled girls face. "Without one you aren't officially a member of the guild."

"Oh, okay! What do you use? Some kinda of branding iron or..." She trailed off due to the wide eyed states she received from the two members. After a brief pause, the master started laughing.

"A branding Iron! Good one kid, that's one way two encourage new members, 'come! Let's us burn you!', ah you really are from another planet!" Makarov laughed. Haylee was about to interrupt and explain that she wasn't from a different planet at all, but she sensed it may have been some sort of metaphor or jargon, so she let him continue.

"Nothing as sinister as that, thankfully. It's just a stamp with enchanted ink." explained Makarov, pulling the stamp and ink tray from behind the bar. "Now, where'd you want it?"

Haylee pointed at her right shoulder, and just as Makarov poised the stamp over her skin, Natsu burst into to the room.

It all happened rather fast. The Fire Dragon Slayer sped toward the group screaming about rematches and scars and hating ice. He was so fired up with his rants that he didn't have time to stop. The next things Haylee knew the world was spinning, then there was a dull ache from her head hitting the floor, a heavy weight across her legs, something soft underneath her chest and a slightly cold and wet sensation far too high up her left thigh to be comfortable.

She groaned and lifted her head. Among a shattered table lay Natsu. The soft thing underneath her happened to be Lucy. She turned her head to find Makarov across her calves, his legs stuck in the remainder of a bar stool, and his hand still firmly wrapped around the handle of the stamp...

"Ah, great." she signed sarcastically. Now she realised what the cold and wet feeling was. Let's hope nobody needs to see her Guild Symbol, because she wasn't gonna be lifting up her skirt for anyone anytime soon. She pushed herself up and freed Lucy, before pulling her legs out from underneath the Master.

"Oh my stars. Haylee, your symbol..." Lucy gasped, sitting up and rubbing her shoulder. Makarov huffed as he untangled himself from the bar stool and stood up, accompanied by a groan from the table wreckage.

Haylee leant back to try and examine the symbol, carefully pulling up the hem of her skirt, back away from the others.

"Any chance I can get another one Master?" asked Haylee hopefully.

"Not really... Don't worry about it anyway, they're not really of much importance and you'll be fine with other members with you." replied Makarov. He the turned toward Natsu, his eyes glinting with anger, who was just pulling himself up from the table. He stretched out and arm which increased in size and length and grabbed Natsu, picking him up an holding him high in the air. The display surprised Haylee, she knew the Master was a giant but she didn't know this kind of partial transformation was possible.

"AND WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Makarov's voice boomed, much deeper and huskier than usual.

"I... Uh... I was just messing aroun-" Started Natsu, wiggling a hand from the giants fist and rubbing his forehead.

"YOU IDIOT. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU DESTROYING EVERYTHING!" Roared the Master, and with that he swang back his arm and launched Natsu straight through the wall. 'Looks like he's going back the the hospital wing.' Thought Haylee, almost smugly.

"AND YOU CAN CLEAN UP ALL THE MESS TOO!" Shouted Makarov, his arm shrinking to normal size. "Sorry about that, Haylee." he said awkwardly.

"It's no problem, his fault." replied Haylee dismissively, gesturing towards the ragged hole in the wall.

"Well, now you can go on missions!" said Lucy with a grin as she got up and brushed herself down.

Haylee smiled back, eager to prove her worth and hoping that maybe she'd get along with people more now that she was a official member.

"There's not much left now, and it's a little late, you two should go home and start one tomorrow. Oh, and Haylee, make sure you tell Grey, he was looking for someone strong enough to go on a particular mission with him." said Makarov.

The two girls left, chatting about all the new things Haylee could do and how much she could earn with her strength.