When daylight came, he was left in the ruined state of an unknown city. It was in a similar state of that of his hometown when it got destroyed.
After being blamed for their master's death, the young boy stayed rooted in his spot until the footsteps of his former classmate and friend disappeared from the area. No matter what he said, he couldn't stop him as he so furious and disappointed that his dream was ruined because of him.
He could only silently cry on in his arms on his knees in front of the huge block of ice that trapped the monster he used to want revenge on.
Gray sniffled and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "I'm sorry..." he said to no one around him.
Revenge wasn't worth it in the end. It wasn't worth losing even more.
"In the western countries, you'll find that there are a lot of more powerful mages than me."
He resolved himself, for his sake and his master's, he would start a new path. Darkness would not easily shackle his heart again. He would strive to become the stronger as an ice molding mage to make her proud. He would never speak ill of her magic again either.
"I'll go to Fiore." He told himself as he slowly rose up to his feet.
According to what Ur told him, Fiore was a kingdom in the west that many more mages compared to the eastern countries. If there were that many mages that could be just as powerful or even more powerful than Ur, he could probably find a way to undo the Iced Shell.
"C'mon Gray, at least promise me that you jerkbag!"
And she deserved to know the truth.
―
...
...
...
Two months had passed since the Sinclost siblings had arrived in Fairy Tail.
For the first month, Pandora wasted no time in taking some odd jobs inside the town to earn some money so that she could set it aside. Along with Van, she was training the magic she discovered she had after running a few tests with some magic items that Makarov had store in the guild.
Apparently, their parents' had left them another gift other than the large amount of magic power. Their magic was passed down to them.
Pandora had light magic from her mother. Van had earth and Karissa had wind from their father. Van's earth magic wasn't that big of a surprise after they realized that's what caused the crack in the floor back when they were traveling. The two trained to get better at using their gifts while Karissa just slacked off since she thought that having her ice magic as her primary one would be good enough for. But she did occasionally work seriously on her wind magic as well, just not as much as her ice magic.
When the second month came around, Pandora decided to take on jobs outside of Magnolia that were close by. She actually enjoyed taking on jobs from the request board, saying it was fun to experiment with her magic in real situations instead of just training. It was also a learning experience was an immigrant. Van was often training with Macao or Wakaba who were glad to help him develop his magical prowess. Karissa heard he was planning on taking a job with them since he wanted to go outside of town to satisfy his curiosity about what a job was like.
Karissa didn't understand that desire to venture out. She was perfectly fine with staying within Magnolia and explore whatever the town had to offer. There was still so much she didn't know in this new place she was in.
Then one day, Makarov called over Karissa while she was sitting with Cana.
Karissa slid off her seat and jogged to where Makarov was where she found a guy standing there in front of him. It was a Laxus. It was Makarov's grandson. She learned that he was the guy who she ran into that one time when she first went to visit her parents' graves. Laxus was looking at her with a lifted brow before looking at his grandfather questioningly.
"Laxus is going to run some errands for the guild since we're running out of stuff." The little old man informed her, "Why don't you go with him?"
"Hah?!" Laxus' hands that were once stuffed his pockets flew out as he held them up, palms open.
"Why?" Karissa asked after seeing his reaction, feeling uneasy.
"Hm, good question." Makarov rubbed his chin. "He needs help carrying some bags."
Laxus' eye twitched. "No way."
Karissa felt uncomfortable. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. Currently, her sister was out on a job while her brother was out somewhere in a nearby forest practicing his magic on his own. She wanted to do that thing where she would look at either one of them to silently asking them for their opinion. But they weren't there so she was left feeling all nervous on her own.
She eventually just tuned out the conversation between the two and looked behind her. She found her friend Cana looking at her with an obvious question mark above her head. Karissa just shrugged slowly.
Makarov rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll pay you." It seemed like the only thing that might work since his grandson had been fixated on collecting and hiding away some money lately whenever he earned it.
"..."
Eventually, she heard Laxus click his tongue in annoyance, prompting her to look at him. He looked at her and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Come on, we're going." He said bluntly before walking off, not bothering to check if she was following after him.
The girl looked at her guild master for confirmation. He just nodded and made a shoo-ing motion with his hand.
"O...Okay...?"
As Makarov watched the young girl tail after his grandson, he was approached by Presa from behind who looked a bit uneasy.
"Are you sure of that?"
He merely played with his mustache. "That boy needs to learn some patience so having him watch over someone younger than him might be beneficial. Besides, it would be nice to see him form a bond someone connected to the two people he once admired."
―
...
...
...
Karissa's right eye twitched.
She was literally on the verge of freezing Laxus' head in an ice cube. He was annoying the hell out of her and they haven't even arrived at whatever store they were going to.
The blond teen wouldn't shut up.
'You're so slow!' 'Walker faster!' 'What are you waiting for?'
Him and his long ass legs had no right to keep yapping at her.
I swear, if he says something again... I'm pitching an ice cube at his head.
As if on cue, Laxus glanced over his shoulder, causing Karissa to blow out hot air in annoyance. She picked up the pace until she was literally speed walking past him. She didn't even know where they were going so that probably wasn't the best strategy. Laxus had to be the one walking in front.
Then she heard a couple of older kids laughing and running behind her, but that didn't stop her from moving. What did stop her was the sudden impact she felt when one of them practically ran into her, knocking her down. She winced when she felt her knee collide with the concrete floor.
She looked up when she heard them still running. Her eyes watched as the two older kids looked behind them before chuckling and turning away.
Wow, are you serious?
The two teens were startled when they found Laxus in front of them, lightning sparking around him. Just a moment ago, he was behind Karissa. He looked at them with a glare and didn't say anything.
"Wh-What?" one of them said.
Laxus motioned his head towards the girl. "Help her up."
The other scowled. "We don't need to listen to you."
His big shot persona immediately became non-existent when Laxus stomped his foot on the ground and made lightning strike on the spot next to him. That did the trick. The two immediately ran to where Karissa was and muttered apologies as they helped her up. Then they scurried off to who knows where after glancing one more time at the other teen. Laxus' eyes followed them until they were no longer in sight. He didn't know why it was so funny to hurt someone like that. That just pissed him off.
A low hiss brought his attention on Karissa. She was poking the fresh scrape below her right wrist. She was bleeding from it. Judging by the way she was slightly limping; he could assume that she hurt herself on her knee but he didn't know to what extent.
He ignored the stares of the people around them and approached her.
"You gonna be okay?" He tilted his head.
"I guess." She shrugged.
Laxus didn't respond to that. Instead, he turned and continued walking to the store but not without slowing down his pace for her. They walked side-by-side silently.
...
...
...
Instead of following him inside the store, he told her to simply wait outside on the bench facing the store. He didn't need her help. Instead of feeling somewhat offended, Karissa was glad to sit back and wait. She didn't feel like adding more pressure on her knee or something.
It reminded her of when she used to wait with Gray and Lyon while Ur bought food. She spent time thinking back to those days while he was gone.
The girl checked her left knee while he was gone. Fortunately, she didn't get anything on her knee. Instead, she found the side of her ankle skinned. Her mouth twisted into a frown, displeased. She started picking at the skin, removing the little part that came off. When no one was looking, she put saliva on her fingers and rubbed it on scrape like some sort of salve.
That should at least do something.
Then she lowered the pant leg back down and did her best to not move around so the saliva wouldn't get wiped off somehow.
She ended up playing with the ice magic to pass the time.
When Laxus returned, she just observed him approach her until he was sitting next to her. He put down the bags and started digging inside. His back was facing her since he twisted around to dig inside the bag, searching for something. She had no idea what he was doing but if she had to guess then she figured that he was rearranging stuff so she could carry a lighter bag.
Karissa rolled her eyes, Right, if he's actually considerate.
"Got it." Laxus muttered under his breath. He turned around and held a small squared packet. Karissa eyed the object in his hands, really confused. She shifted her eyes back at Laxus, giving him questioning eyes. Laxus patted the bench. "Put your legs up here."
"... Why?"
"Just do it."
"But why?"
"Put it on the bench!"
Karissa flinched at the sound of authority in his voice. Timidly, she put up her legs on the bench and sat in position similar to a fetal way. His hand suddenly locked around her left ankle, causing her to let out a small eep. He made sure to avoid touching the flesh wound.
"What are you doing?"
He ignored her question and simply ripped the packet open with his teeth. Then he pulled out a white tissue from it with the help of his other hand. Then he pushed back the pant of her leg, revealing the wound she got from falling.
Realization dawned on her. "I-Is that... boo-boo wipes?"
"Yup."
Laxus pressed the disinfectant wipe on it.
Karissa let out a hiss, her hands shot up and made crab-hand motions above her head . "Ow, ow, ow!" she tried to free herself by wiggling her leg around. "L-Laxus! Let go!"
Even if she wanted to escape, she didn't dare try to kick him off with her other leg. She feared for what might happen to her.
That stings!
Laxus only rolled his eyes and held her tighter. "Suck it up."
He set the wipe on his knee before taking out a band-aid. Karissa just watched him put the band-aid on her knee with both of his hands. She didn't try to run from him. Laxus glanced up at her and found her staring at him like if he was some creepy creature from the south.
Then he grabbed her wrist and did the same for her other scrape. This time, she flinched but she didn't try to fight him like last time. She let him put a little band-aid on her arm afterwards.
"Gramps would get pissed at me for letting you get infections or something."
"..."
And I thought he cared, my mistake.
He was nice enough to carry all the bags himself (not that it would be any trouble for him in the first place) and just let her walk next to him with the same pace he took a few moments ago.
She didn't know why but Makarov kept insisting that Karissa accompanied Laxus on whenever he went to get some stuff from the store for the guild.
The second time they went together, Laxus walked side by side with her instead of speed walking away. An improvement that she noted. She always tailed after him and tried to help him get the stuff he needed. There were times when he got annoyed when she dragged her feet but he never urged her to hurry the hell up like that first time.
The third time they went somewhere together was at the grocery store. They went their own way inside the store to make things faster. When they found each other after getting all the items they needed, Karissa playfully demanded she be rewarded with some chocolate. At first, he tried to brush off her request, but she just ended up pestering him into buying one for her much to his dismay. Despite his initial annoyance, he was getting more patient with her.
As they took on more trips together in town because of his grandfather, the two started forming a better relationship. It was at that point where Karissa wasn't asked to tag along anymore. She just wanted to go with Laxus since it was a fun little routine. Whenever they had extra money from the errands, they would buy a small snack on the way back.
When she felt confident about being comfortable around him, Karissa would tease and play pranks on Laxus, causing him to get irritated and try to get her back with something worse. He once put a small lizard down the back of her shirt, causing her and Cana to freak out.
Every now and then she would steal his magic headphones and listen to the music without his permission.
Honestly, it felt like having another big brother.
―
...
...
...
"I told you it was a bad idea!"
"I was just curious!"
...
...
...
Despite Cana's protests, Karissa decided that they should go into the forest where Porlyusica's house was. They heard rumors about that lady from the other members in their guild. Apparently, she was the guild's Medicinal Advisor.
Van called her a misanthropy, whatever that meant.
Curiosity was killing her. Karissa wanted to know what kind of place this Porlyusica lived in. Cana was walking behind her while holding the back of her sweater like a rope. She felt uneasy about venturing so far into the forest. Hell, she didn't even know how Karissa managed to rope her into this.
"It's so silent and creepy here."
"Oh, come on, it's daytime. There's nothing scary here!" Karissa laughed at her for being silly. "Besides, if we see something coming for us then we'll just use magic to hit it."
"I guess..." Cana still felt uneasy despite her rational reasoning. "So, um, I noticed that Pandora doesn't really interact with other girls in the dorm. How come?"
Instead of focusing on the fact that they were in the forest, she decided to keep her mind off it by bringing up some random subject.
"Hm, Pandora hasn't really had any friends her age before. It's because she was usually too busy for it. I guess she still feels awkward about being able to now."
During the past two months, Cana and Karissa had become close friends. That privilege allowed Cana to learn more about Karissa's past. She and her three siblings became orphans two years ago when their parents died. It left the oldest child with the responsibility to take care of the two. Cana thought that they lived a hard life even without Karissa going into too much detail. However, she was told that it wasn't really the case as they had a family who occasionally offered their support for them since they knew her parents. Life was hard as orphans, but not too hard.
"I hope she realizes that there's no reason to feel awkward." Cana sighed.
"Me too. She'll have more fun that way."
Suddenly, there was a sound behind them.
Cana and Karissa flinched and then whirled around only to find a lady with pink hair staring down at them with her arms crossed. It was Porlyusica.
"HAH?" she looked down at the two kids with a scary face, causing them to cry out in fright before bolting back whence they came.
Thankfully, Porlyusica didn't make an effort to chase after them.
...
...
...
"We told you that she doesn't like being around people." Macao laughed with a shake of his head.
"Getting too curious will get you into trouble, Karissa. Don't you know that curiosity killed the cat?" Wakaba ruffled her hair while she only grinned sheepishly. Then she pushed off Wakaba's hand when she remembered something. "Where's my brother? I thought he was training with you guys?"
"Eh," Wakabe rubbed the back of his head. "We were supposed to but one of the kids at the dorm said that he's been hauled up in his room sleeping."
Macao shrugged his shoulders. "We warned him not to overuse his magic power but he didn't listen."
"Is he sick?" Karissa wondered.
"Nah, just really tired." Macao waved his hand dismissively.
Karissa let out a puff of laughter. "That dummy. They warned him not to overdo it."
During their first month at Fairy Tail, Van was able to have his seal removed but not without catching a fever like his little sister. Thankfully, the head of his dorm took care of him even though Pandora was insistent on doing it herself. Like Karissa, his mark faded away after a week, leaving behind no trace of its existence.
He simply had to do what Karissa had to do when she got sick: get his body used to his abnormal amount of magic power by expelling it through training. It took a while but his body had gotten used to it. He was ecstatic about it. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't at the risk of feeling drained and exhausted from pushing himself to the point of running empty on magic.
Master Makarov and Pandora warned him about it.
Van didn't listen.
That side effect probably came from their abnormal amount of magic power. For Van and Karissa, it was like getting drunk and drowsy from absorbing so much Ethernano after expelling all of it.
Wakaba who stretching his arms and twisting around a bit caught sight of their guild master pointing at Karissa and asking her to come over with his hand. The brown haired man nodded his head and relayed the message to the girl. Without questioning him, she got off her chair and started making her way to where Makarov usually sat on the counter. She wondered if he was sending her to go with Laxus again. If so, she'd be glad to.
As she got closer to where he sat after maneuvering her way around, she caught sight of someone standing before him. He was dressed in a white jacket on top of an orange shirt and some dark blue pants. What she noticed on him was the backpack he carried, he seemed like a traveler who was about her age.
"Ah, here she comes." Makarov smiled.
Upon hearing that, the boy in front of Makarov began to turn around to see her approaching them. The moment she saw his face, she stopped in her tracks and gave him a surprised face. Next thing he knew she was bolting towards him excitedly and stopped just before she could tackle him to the ground.
"Gray!" she said with clear surprise in her voice. "What are you doing here?!"
Even if she just looked surprised, she was super happy to see her friend that she thought she wouldn't see any time soon.
He mustered a small smile in front of her. "Hey."
"Gray here tells me that he came to this guild because he knew you were here." Makarov explained. "And as of today, he's a member of Fairy Tail." he announced.
"Wow! Seriously?!"
"Well, I have nowhere else to go..."
He seemed quite different from when she last saw him. She honestly expected him to give her a coy answer or just put on a scowl and act all grumpy like usual. No, it felt like he was acting a bit more like he used to.
She smiled.
Well, that's a good sign!
"Hm, why? What happened with living with Ur and Lyon?"
Makarov chose to drink his booze, pretending like he wasn't hearing their conversation. Gray had briefly told him the details to explain how Ur ended up using the Iced Shell on Deliora on the northern continent. Before asking to become a member, he asked him if it were possible to undo the spell and revert his master back to normal.
He knew that Karissa was a student of hers alongside Gray and some boy named Lyon that she spoke of. So he understood the sadness that she was going to feel from hearing the news. However, it wasn't in his place to drop the bomb.
Instead of spilling the truth right out in the open, Gray grabbed her wrist and simply told her to come along with him. He wanted to go outside somewhere to tell her without having random strangers listening in on them.
"Huh? Why?" she let him drag her.
"Just wait."
Karissa just ended up letting Gray drag her along without questioning him. His hand felt tense around her wrist. She spotted Cana, Wakaba and Macao looking at them curiously. The girl could only shrug with her free arm before turning her attention back on Gray. They found a bench underneath a tree not too far away from the guild hall. There weren't many passerbys. They took a seat next to each other. Gray had put his bag on the ground and his fingers began to fidget against each other while Karissa watched him silently.
"What's wrong?" Karissa tilted her head.
She could tell that something was wrong with him, it was so obvious. But she didn't pressure him into spitting out whatever he needed to say. He appreciated her patience. He was taking his time in order to steel himself for whatever outcome might come out of him telling the truth.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Ur... She..."
Karissa blinked. What happened to Ur?
Two months after she departed for Fiore, he heard that Deliora had moved to the northern continent, somewhere in Brago. Being the revenge obsessed fool that he was, he packed up his things and made his way there despite Ur telling him not to. He told her that Lyon and Ur clearly told him to stop since it would be impossible. But he didn't listen. He still went and the result ended just as they said. He stood no match against it and he was even terrified of fighting it.
Ur and Lyon went after him which resulted in Ur sealing the demon away with Iced Shell. Upon hearing the name of that spell, her eyes went wide. She remembered Lyon reading a book about it back when she went with him to the warehouse.
It was a spell that utilized the caster's body in order to freeze a target.
Ur was no longer around as a person. She became the ice sealing away Deliora.
He had asked Makarov if there was any way to undo the spell so he could fix things. There wasn't any.
Karissa didn't say anything.
Gray didn't have the courage to look at her face, he simply stared at his shoes.
There was silence.
"... What happened to Lyon?"
"He left... I don't know where he went."
So, they went their separate ways...?
She didn't say anything for a while and it made Gray worry.
Karissa turned away her head to the side, prompting Gray to glance at her. His eyes shifted downwards to see her hand gripping the wooden bench. The boy turned away and chose to look at his shoes.
If Karissa didn't feel any type of anger or sadness then she would have needed a heart of stone or even no heart at all.
Her hand clenched into a fist and hit the spot between them, making him flinch. "Damn it, Gray... how could you be so stupid!" she suddenly raised her voice. She turned her head to look at him, her face twisted in anger. "They told you not to do it! You should have known that you weren't going to stand a chance! It's simple logic! You're just a freaking kid!"
How cocky did he think he was?!
"I'm sorry..."
Karissa scoffed and got up from her seat on the bench and stood in front of him. She glared at him when he looked up at her. "You're 'sorry'?! That's not going to fix it!" she ran her fingers in her hair in frustration and despair. All her sadness was being suppressed only to be ejected in the form of anger. "Ur is not here anymore! This is all your fault!"
That did it. His eyes started to sting. He knew full well that things ended up this way because of his thoughtless actions. He was starting to cry again even though he resolved himself not to just in case things went bad. He was still vulnerable right now. 'Just in case'... he should have expected her to act like this. He didn't know what to say.
He knew that Karissa saw Ur like another mother.
"If only you weren't so obsessed with your damn revenge with Deliora, then things wouldn't have to be like this!" she spat at him, and then turned around and started walking away from him.
He didn't call out for Lyon when he left and he didn't call out for Karissa either. He couldn't. He felt like he had no right to.
As Karissa kept walking, she kept staring down at the street. She wanted to cry out for Ur. She wanted to cry and hide her tears behind her hands like a child. Ur was gone. It was hard to believe. It wasn't supposed to end up like this.
In the past two months, Karissa had actually began to wish for the day where she would be reunited with the woman she thought of as a mother and just show her how much she grew as a person and an ice molding mage.
Karissa wanted to show Ur that she could live up to her expectations.
She once dreamed of that potential future at night.
But...
That wish was no longer possible.
All because of Gray.
That stupid idiot!
If it weren't for him... Lyon would still be able to work on his dream... and I might've seen Ur again...!
Karissa's fists clenched tightly at her sides.
...
Ur pulled out two dark red scarves from her pocket. She wrapped one around Gray first and then Karissa.
"This will warm you up a bit."
"Thank you." she smiled behind it, her nose red from the cold.
...
"Ur..." she whispered her name sadly.
...
"I'm going to miss you, Ur..." Karissa admitted with tears. "I want to stay here and keep learning magic with you."
Ur just sighed and chuckled lightly when she felt her student hug her tightly. The woman rubbed the child's back. "I know. As much as I want to let you stay, you know that I can't, right?"
Karissa nodded.
"You belong with your family."
"I know..."
"And as for magic, I don't really need to teach you. It's like I told you, molding mages are powerful because they create their own style. As long as you keep refining your style, you can become as powerful as you want." Ur pulled away from Karissa and held her arms. She wiped away the stray tears that fell. "You're going to be a wonderful mage. Make me proud even if I don't watch over you."
...
Karissa stopped in her tracks as she dug her nails lightly on her forehead as she cried in her palms. Her tears escaped her eyes as the memories of Ur appeared in brief moments in her mind.
"Not again..." she whimpered. "It's not fair..."
...
"It hurts, I know it does." Ur said while looking forlorn. "But you're never alone. As long as you have other people you care about and have people who care for you in return, you won't be alone. I'm here, Gray and Lyon too... we're all here. That's what we humans do; we look out for each other."
...
Her pace started to slow down until she stopped walking completely.
...
"I can tolerate playful arguing but not fights like this. You two will just make things awkward at the dinner table later if you don't fix whatever happened between the two of you."
...
Karissa lowered her hands from her face and sniffled.
I don't think Ur would want us to fight.
She always wanted us three to get along.
Karissa glanced back where to where she came from.
She would want us to look out for each other.
... And I don't want to fight.
Even though she hated Gray right now, she would never try and severe that their friendship and make him hate himself even more than he did at the moment.
He made a mistake.
I get it. He gets it.
Karissa inhaled a sharp breath before turning on her heel and running back to Gray, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. She found him still on the bench. But this time, he put up his legs on the bench so he could rest his arms on them and bury his face in them, hiding his crying face from the public. Karissa wasted no time and hurrying on over to him. She felt bad, it was kind of her fault he was crying right now.
Before Gray could lift up his head when he heard the sound of running footsteps, he was enveloped in a tight awkward hug because of his legs. He slowly lowered them back down and made a confused sound when he realized that she had returned.
"K-Karissa...?" he said meekly.
He thought she was through with him just like Lyon.
I really hate you right now.
But I don't hate you enough to leave you alone.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Karissa said softly, hugging him tighter. "I was angry and sad. The words just came out without thinking."
That somehow just brought him slight hope. This scenario was different from the one he had with Lyon. The boy dropped his head on her shoulder and shook his head. "No, I get it... you have every right to be. Ur is gone because of me..." Gray reciprocated her hug. They were both in need of a comforting hug. "It's all my fault. I know it is."
"Her sacrifice is not worth losing my best friend over, y'know?" Karissa told him honestly.
"I'm sorry." Gray said in a broken voice, shaking from both the sadness and the relief. He didn't voice it out but he was glad Karissa still thought of him as her best friend.
Saying that it was 'okay' would be a lie.
"I know." Karissa pressed the side of her head on his and closed her eyes, rubbing his back.
She knew from experience that, with time, they were eventually going to be okay.
Her hate and love for her best friend would simply have to coexist with each other for now.
"I swear, I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I know."
Eventually Karissa sat back down on the bench and shifted around so she could wrap a comforting arm around her friend, she was getting tired of standing. He was able to calm down after a while, leaving the two in silence with the occasional sniffling.
"You know I hate you right now, right?" Karissa glanced at him.
Gray made a thin line with his lips before nodding. "Yeah. I'm not surprised."
"But I still care about you."
"Hm. Thanks." Gray turned red a little from her honesty.
...
"Gray. You have to stop acting like such a rebel or else you're going to drive away others who care for you."
Gray slowly lowered his gaze to look away from his teacher.
"Trust me, you don't want that to happen. Especially with someone like Karissa who really cares about you. Those are the kind of friends you want to have in your life."
...
He could see how right she was.
Seriously, Gray could only thank his luck for having this kind of friend in his life.
Karissa sighed as she pushed herself off the bench. They couldn't keep moping outside. She put her hands behind her and motioned her head towards the direction of the guild. "Come on, we should go back to Master Makarov so we can ask him if you can get a room at the dorm."
Gray quirked up an eyebrow. "Dorm?"
"Yup." Karissa picked up his bag and held it out to him while he slipped off the bench. "Kids like us get to live in the dorms which is like 100,000 jewels per month."
Gray nearly tripped. He stopped and gaped at Karissa. "What?! I don't have that kind of money!" he exclaimed.
This made Karissa grin as she purposely left out the rest of the information to try and lighten the mood. She turned away from him and led the way,"I knew you'd react like that. But no, the rent is covered until the age of fourteen. When we turn fifteen, we have to pay half of that 100,000. So, we're good for the time being. You just need to take on jobs later to earn money!"
She turned to him and gave him a small thumbs up. "With our magic, we can— WHAT THE HELL?!" Karissa backed away from Gray, mortified. She pointed at him with a shaky finger. "What are you doing?!"
Gray tilted his head and gave her a puzzled look. "What?"
"Why did you strip down to your underwear?!" she shot back without missing a beat.
He was standing there clad in dark blue boxer shorts while the rest of his clothes were left behind on the ground. Karissa looked around uneasily when she heard people snickering at Gray. The boy gasped in horror and started running back to gather his clothes.
"The hell's wrong with you?!" Karissa wondered as she watched him get back dressed hastily. "This is not the mountains!"
"Not my fault! Ur's training did this to me!" Gray shouted from afar as he put on the last article of clothing.
Karissa face palmed. "Yeesh, now you're a real weirdo!" she chuckled.
"Sh-Shut up!"
After seeing Makarov and dropping off Gray at the male's dorm, she went back to the girls' dormitory. Instead of going back to the guild, she chose to head back to her room and be alone for a while. She was so focused on going back to her room that she even ignored Hilda who called her name. She wasn't in the mood to go through a lecture if that's what she wanted to say to her.
Karissa entered her room and softly closed the door, locking it. Her hands remained on the wood for a few seconds until she just slipped them off slowly. She walked to one of the drawers and opened it quietly.
Her room didn't feel so empty anymore. She had some traditional art supplies along with some markers that used magic laying on around. It could draw in the air. She had more clothes in her drawers and closet compared to when she first arrived. There was a small deck of cards that Cana gave her sitting on her desk. She also had a few stuffed animals on her drawer since having just one sitting there looked lonely.
She took out the gray beanie and the black and white checkered scarf that Ur had given her, she stared at the items in her hands before slowly taking a seat on her bed.
"Life really is a precious thing..." the girl muttered as she hugged the only thing she had left of Ur. She plopped herself on her bed and stayed still.
"You're going to be a wonderful mage. Make me proud even if I don't watch over you."
...
"... I'll try."