Phoenix

Aftermath

"...Child?"

"Oh okay! I'll get Laxus to help then."

Happy floated away, leaving Emi and Erza to continue their walk.

"I don't recall ever seeing you around here."

"I'm just visiting for a job request with my partner."

"I see. What's your name?"

Emi stayed quiet for a few seconds before saying, "I'm Po, and my partner is...Pugly."

"Seriously?" Sting chided. "You couldn't come up with better names?"

"I'm not good under pressure!"

"Very well, Po. Here is Miss Sanctum's house. I'll be taking my leave now. Good luck."

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"Took you long enough," Sting complained.

"I had to ask for directions, and then she was eating so she made me sit down with her to have tea."

"All with your hood on?"

Emi nodded before flopping on the bed and moaning, "I'm so tired."

"Well yeah. You used up a huge amount of mana. It's a wonder that you can even walk on your own."

"I'm...used to working past...exhaustion. Cain always made me...train until I passed out."

"He sounds super harsh."

Emi smiled and added, "He was, but he was the best teacher I could've had."

"Well isn't that so nice of you, kid."

Emi gave a lopsided grin to Cain before laughing.

Emi got up and flung the covers down before jumping back into bed and holding her arms out.

"Come take a nap with me," Emi whined.

Sting let out a loud laugh before slowly laying on the bed. Emi fell asleep before he could even pull the covers up.

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Emi led the way through the forest as they looked for the camp. After a while, Sting's nose picked up a scent. They followed it right to the camp, where five men were sitting around a fire.

"So?"

"What?"

"How do you want to do this? Should we take them by surprise of maybe--"

"Hey assholes, give us back the violin!"

Emi rolled her eyes at Sting before following him to the camp. They all glared at the dragon slayer before rushing towards him.

"Earthworm!"

All five thieves were knocked to the ground. The first one to get up started throwing swords at Emi, which she quickly dodged. She grabbed one of the swords in midair and whipped it back at him.

'"Uh, Emi, we're not supposed to ki--"

"I didn't. He's just pinned to the tree. It's not my fault he passed out."

"Listen here, you cloaked freak. You're gonna pay for what you did to Kodama!"

The remaining four thieves rushed at Emi, causing her to sigh and ask, "Why does everyone always aim at me?"

"Probably because you instigated the whole thing."