The Fairy Files (on hold)

Kinabra- Safeguard

Then his face softened, going from startled to sentimental in a moment, even a hint of mischief as he smiled wider exposing his pointed teeth. Kinana's finger ran back up again, ghosting over the scar tissue on his eye.

Then suddenly his head snapped to the side, and for a moment Kinana thought she'd gone too far with her touches.

"Get behind me." Erik ordered, one arm pushing her behind his back as he snarled at some invisible foe she couldn't see. All the soldiers on this field were defeated. So who was this no-faced newcomer?

Kinana stood up on her tip toes, trying to peer over Erik's shoulder. There was an old man standing before them. He sported an impressive mullet-mustache-beard combination. In his hand was a long wooden staff with a glowing egg shaped orb on top of it, either a weapon or a cane. It was hard to tell. He was also shirtless, a habit a senior shouldn't get in the practice of, even on the battlefield. Even Erik still had his shirt on.

At first she'd thought he was some senile shirtless old man, but then she felt it. A wave of immense magic power that sent shivers crawling across her skin and down her spine, making her knees go weak.

The only thing she'd ever felt like it was when Master Makarov had powered up to fight the dragons rampaging in the streets of Crocus, but whatever it was... this was no dragon. Erik was the only thing with that likeness, thanks to the Lacrima the bad men had put inside him, after they'd cut him open. Kianna knew he still had the scars. A big X across his chest. Wait, her brows went together, how did she know that? She'd hadn't seen Erik without a shirt the two times they'd encountered.

You've seen him shirtless before. Something in the back of her mind whispered and she blinked, confused by the sudden thought. And completely naked, all those baths in rivers and streams- Kinana squeaked, bringing up her hands to clasp at her burning cheeks.

The elderly man pounded his staff on the ground, calling for attention. If he noticed her sudden outburst he didn't let on, and neither did Erik, not daring to take his eye off of the enemy. "I am Augustus." He announced. "I will defeat you in the name of the Emperor."

"You mean Zeref? The big bad black wizard everyone is talking about? I honestly don't see what the big fuss is about." Erik shrugged, unconcerned. A purposeful taunt that Augustus easily fell for.

He scowled. "Emperor Spriggan is our mighty leader, he is-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Erik interrupted, making a hand gesture that opened and closed like a mouth, strolling across the field as he did so, pulling Kinana along with him. "We get it. It's okay to try and commit genocide if you're an Emperor."

Augustus nostrils flared so wide that you could fit walnuts up the cavity. Erik continued on, with little quips and jabs about Zeref or even outright insulting the Alvarez Nation. Then Kinana noticed it. How Erik was slowly shifting their position close to a pile of boulders. A perfect cover position. His monologue a ruse to distract Augustus from his true goal of getting her to safety.

The urge to grab Erik and hug him tight washed over her, but she kept the desire capped. This wasn't the time for that. It wasn't just her common telling her so, it was that something roiling inside her gut. Instinct. The feeling belonged to the 'something' that crawled under her skin and made her eyes go slitted. The Master had always been so careful around her, asking her how she was and if the voice was still there, and telling her to ignore it. To ignore Erik.

A sudden spike of acid hot anger roared in her ears. The Master... he had kept Erik hidden from her, had kept her in the dark and watched as she spent everyday wondering what that voice was. Kinana had thought she was going crazy.