VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

20. Tomorrow's Ice.

"If you're well enough, run on now. I don't like the smell of humans."

And unceremoniously, just like that, Gray is tossed out of the cantankerous curmudgeonly old lady's house.

With a bag of cookies.

"Don't eat those," she warns, "they're for Eir and if you eat them, you'll regret it."

Well, if there's one thing Gray learned from Ur, it's the fact that old ladies are very scary. And he remembered something about how his cookies were his medicine or something, so Gray isn't going to risk it either way.

"Are these gingersnap cookies?"

Gray wandered to Fairy Tail-- and from there, only bad news came and went.

-

-

-

"C'mon, Eir, pleeease?"

"Gimme a second, Cana."

Laxus grabbed the girl by the scruff, lifting her off of the bed. "Stop that, Cana," Laxus chided her. Tossing her over his shoulder like a suitcase, he turned toward the door. "c'mon, let's go on a job."

"Ehhh I don't wanna go on one with you!" Cana whines, "Eirrrr!"

Eir rested the back of his hand against his eyes with a shoulder-sagging sigh. The sun was high in the sky, but he was still lying on his bed, too upset.

"Sorry, Cana," Eir told her, "maybe tomorrow. I want to be alone for now."

Cana's face fell. In Laxus' grasp, she stopped struggling.

This time, when Laxus continued to walk out, Cana followed and didn't say a thing.

-

"C'mon, you're going to be all sad, too?" Laxus asked her when they made their way back to the guild. "We've got enough moody faces in the guild already."

Cana's head hung, her expressions sullen.

If there was anything they knew-- it was the fact that Eir never chased them away. Eir considered himself a lone wolf-- but there wasn't a time he'd ever avoided other people. He felt most at ease between Laxus and Cana, and anyone could see that.

And yet.

("I want to be alone for now.")

That's bullshit and Cana hates that she can't bring herself to yell at Eir about how he shouldn't be lying like that.

Laxus groaned beside him, rubbing the back of his head in a troubled manner.

"C'mon, people are gonna talk if I'm walking around with you and you're crying your eyes out," Laxus crouched down in front of her. "Eir's going to kill me."

Cana was irked. She barked at him. "Well he should, because I hate you!"

Laxus just stared, with the most unimpressed and unamused expression he could muster. "That was totally uncalled for."