A Big Puzzle

A Run In With a Man and a Tree

A dark cloud covered Serena as he tried to smile and place books on the shelf like he was supposed to. The ginger haired man's mind kept wandering to the five children he had left in the kids area of the mall. There were plenty of mothers there, they would be fine. right?

Serena closed his deep blue eyes and shook his head causing strands of his ponytail to land in his mouth. he not so gracefully spit the hair out and attempted to get the taste of cheap shampoo out of his mouth. He hated that stupid shampoo, his hair deserved better but he just didn't have the money for the luxuries he wanted.

the time passed and customers came and went. Serena always loved the days where the door to the bookstore practically stayed open. His lungs filled with fresh air and the noise of excited children and inwardly dead college students kept his mind from wandering too much. brushing a strand of pumpkin colored hair out of his face, Serena smiled and watched two high school kids geek out over a book. this job may not be the most glamorous and it may not have been the job Serena wanted, but it definitely had its perks.

"Excuse me," A deep voice said. Serena turned around to see a large man with long hair the color of the ocean's depths. His dark skin was covered in Tattoos and he had a very unhappy look on his face. "I'm looking for a specific book."

Serena gave a smile, as he was supposed to do for all of the customers and gave a cheery reply.

"What book? I'll see if I can help you out sir."

the man pulled out a decorative purple and blue sticky note from his pocket. It was pretty old seeing as the color of the note was very dull and the little paper had millions of fold marks. After inspecting it, the man read its contents aloud.

"Trails of Starts and winns."

"Do you mean 'Trails of Stars and wings?'"

the man squinted at the note and grumbled, "You try reading this mess..." he grumbled unhappily.

"Alright then." Serena met his bright, sky blue, eyes with his own which were as dark as the night sky. He outstretched his hand and smiled. With a scoff, the older man handed him the sticky note. After a minute or two of examining the damnably messy handwriting, Serena confirmed the book that the man was looking for.

Serena was able to find it fairly easily. He plucked the green book off of the teen romance section and handed it to the grown man who had seemed to only just now realize that the book was a teen romance. He looked at the book with anger in his eyes.

"of course that devil woman would make me read a teenagers love novel..." He muttered.

Serena was just about to ask if the man needed anything else but was cut short at the sight of a small blue haired girl entering the store. A pressure began forming on Serena's head and he knew he was in for a painful headache later when his siblings were asleep. Looking over at the customer, Serena gave a fake smile and played with his hands anxiously.

"If you need anything, you can get help from the other workers. I have to go now." Serena walked off before the man could say anything. He made his way to the little girl and saw that she was quivering. her brown eyes darted nervously around but seemed to soften at the sight of Serena.

"Big brother!" she cried in relief. Her little body charged at him with all it's might as she wrapped her arms around her brother's uniform.

A gentle smile formed on Serena's face, "Is everything alright Wendy?" he asked calmly.

"you know the tree outside the mall by that doughnut stand?"

Serena gulped. He already wasn't liking the way this conversation was going.

"The boys climbed up and can't get down."

Despite the limits of time, Serena was able to think of fifty-six colorful curses, most of them from Shakespeare plays. His anger at the four young boys dissipated and was replaced with worry. just how far up had they climbed? The young man leaped up and sprinted out of the store with the child close behind him. A tree full of vibrant yellow leaves sheltered four little idiots

The two youngest boys sat on lower branches. A black haired boy cried as a blonde one urged him to keep moving.

"C'mon Rogue! we have to reach the top before Natsu!" a whine was clear in the blonde's voice.

Rogue held onto the branch tighter, "No Sting, this was a bad idea.." tears had stained his cheeks and he clearly wanted to get off the tree.

"DON'T ANY OF YOU ASCEND ONE MORE BRANCH HIGHER!" Serena's yell gained attention from some people around them. the man didn't care, he just needed to get them out of the tree. It was easy enough to climb to where Sting and Rogue were and drop them off with Wendy, the real problem would be with the other two. Serena's mind raced as he climbed the tree. He wasn't too sure how high he could climb without the tree giving into his weight, little as it may be.

"GAJEEL, YOU RUSTY FACED MORON GET OVER HERE!"

A small feeling of pride surfaced in Serena's heart, he had taught the kids how to curse each other without cursing.

"Not my fault you got stuck in a branch Salamander!" Gajeel retorted from a higher branch.

"Both of you, get down now!" The boys face's were twisted with fear, they hadn't expected their older brother to see them doing this.

Gajeel muttered something under his breath and began descending but a gust of wind ruffled the branches, sending golden leaves all around.

"Don't move, I'll get you!" Serena called out. Gajeel was trying to keep tears from surfacing as the branch he was on swayed but Serena knew he was terrified.

the little kid looked down, his red eyes wide with fear. "WE'RE GONNA DIE" he shouted.

"Gajeel!" Serena had finally reached the child's branch. The child's black hair flew in the wind as Serena placed him on his shoulders. "Now for Natsu.." Panting, he scanned the area around him and saw the pink haired demon trying quite recklessly to get his leg out of two branches. "Natsu!" Serena called, "Don't move, I'm coming for you!"

The pink haired child looked back at his older brother and huffed but soon he was being helped by the ginger haired man. Serena began his descent down the tree with the weight of two growing children on his back.

Natsu grumbled as his older brother carefully made his way down the tree. A butterfly caught his attention and without thinking, reached out for it. he missed. a strong wind enveloped the three and the older said something but his words were lost in the wind. again, Natsu reached out but he went too far and fell down.

"NATSU!" The family gasped as the child made his way towards the ground.

CRASH

Serena prayed that Natsu was okay as he reached the bottom of the tree, he let Gajeel down and ran to where Natsu had fallen. a huge sigh of relief escaped his lips as he saw Natsu sitting in the remnants of the doughnut stand. it had broken his fall but was now absolutely ruined. A silly grin appeared on Natsu's face as he began to eat a smashed doughnut.

"If any of you ever do that again, I will leave you on the tree to die." Serena breathed out, trying to recover from the amounts of stress that had fallen upon him. He looked up and smiled, all that mattered was that all seven of his siblings were alive.

( any and all criticism is welcomed, I want to become a better writer. just don't be so mean okay? Thanks!)