Phoenix

Thanks, Kira

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"Electric hail!"

Small lightning bolts rained from the sky as they shocked the ground around the cloaked girl.

"Interesting. I'm quite fond of this spell. It could come in handy when--"

Emi stopped her rambling when she felt someone near her. She prepared herself for an attack and decided to make the first move.

"Fury bolt!"

A large lightning bolt struck behind a nearby tree and exploded on the ground.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!"

Emi walked over to the tree to find Sting laying on the ground in pain. He looked up at her and started yelling.

"Why would you do that?"

"Why were you spying on me?"

Sting fell silent as a blush appeared. He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a nervous smile.

"Well, Kira and Ayame said that they wanted to go on another job with y--"

"No."

"You don't even know what it is yet."

"I work alone."

Emi picked up her book on lightning magic and began to walk away.

"It's gotta be tiring being alone all the time!"

Emi looked back at him.

"It is."

With that, Emi disappeared into the forest surrounding Crocus.

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"Mommy, Daddy! Look what we found!"

Emi was walking down the streets of Crocus, families and couples passing by each second. Emi kept her head down as she listened to the happiness that their voices held. She could feel the love that they all felt towards each other.

"Was I...ever as happy as this?"

"Happy as what?"

Emi jumped at the sudden noise before turning to see Kira standing there.

"Sting said you totally blew him off the other day about that request we wanted to take, so I'm here this time to ask if you want to join us for one that we're taking tomorrow. It's fairly easy."

"If it's easy then why do you need me to go with you?"

"Well we don't need you to go with us, but we definitely want you to."

"Why would you want that?"

"Listen, I'm not good at the whole 'friendly person' thing and I can be blunt most of the time but I really like you and I want you to hang out with us again."

"I can't."

Kira sighed before dragging Emi to a stream in a nearby park.

"Look," Kira stated as she drew out a couple drops of water out of the stream, "this amount of water is the fun I have with Sting."

"That's awfully small."

"Believe me, all he does is complain and yell. He has way too much energy for me to deal with."

"I like this girl," Rogue laughed. "She tells the truth."

"Oh yeah? Say that again! Emi, what do you th--"

Sting stopped as he saw that Emi was intently watching the memory with a small smile on her face.

Kira pulled up a lot more water, saying, "This is how much fun I have when it's just me and Ayame."

"That's more."

"And this," Kira said as he pulled up a massive amount of water, "is how much fun I have when both Ayame and Sting come with me on jobs."

"That's a lot of water."

Kira laughed and lowered the water back into the stream. She looked to Emi as she smiled wide.

"Do you see what I'm getting at? Friends make things seem more enjoyable, even if it is a lame Vulcan job. I really had a lot of fun when you tagged along. I got to see spells that I have never seen before. And I got to meet someone new who really doesn't seem phased by my harsh personality. So, will you please join us again?"

"I never knew you two spoke like that."

"She might have a brash exterior, but Kira's caring and kind hearted."

Emi looked to the stream and saw that teardrops were falling into the water from her face. Kira held Emi's shoulder and smiled.

"So what do you say? You wanna come?"

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"Move aside, weaklings! The two most powerful female wizards in Crocus are here!"

"Yeah well the strongest male wizard is also here."

"No way!" Kira screamed excitedly. "Makarov Dreyar is here?!"

Master Makarov laughed at the girl's enthusiasm as she looked around for him. Sting and Emi laughed quietly to themselves.

"No. Me!"

Kira turned to Sting and kicked him in the back of the knees, making his legs buckle and fall over.

"You dickhead, you actually got me excited."

"Who's Makarov Dreyar?"

Kira turned to Emi with sparkles in her eyes, replying giddily, "He's only the coolest wizard ever! He's part of the Ten Wizard Saints and he's a guildmaster. He leads Fairy Tail, the best guild ever."

"You better not let Master Rue hear you or else you're going to be in trouble," Ayame laughed.

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"You two need to relax a little. It's a nice day."

Sting was laying down under a tree as Emi and Kira continued to spar. Emi was wearing her cloak and Kira wore a dark outfit.

"You're both gonna get a heat stroke and I'm not taking you to a medic."

Kira turned to the dragon slayer and huffed, "Some of us aren't lazy and actually want to improve instead of laying there and doing nothing all day."

"What about you, Emiko? Are you ready to stop and take a break? You two have been sparring for two hours now."

"I would like to train for longer."

Sting smirked at her and suggested, "You know, we could always get some ice cream and take a quick break before you go back to training."

Emi's ears perked up at the thought of ice cream. She looked over at Kira for a second.

Sensing that his plan was working, Sting continued, "Yeah, I know a good ice cream stand by the palace that we could go to."

"Kira, I do think it's time to take a break," Emi stated.

Kira grumbled, "You just want the ice cream. Fine. But Sting is paying."

"Hey! I never said I would pay!"

"You haven't done a single thing today and it was your idea, so you're paying."

"You guys suck."