"Are you sure its okay for us to do this?" Wendy asked, "This feels wrong."
"Nonsense." Erza said, patting the Sky Maiden's head. "We are helping a comrade."
"Besides, Wendy." Carla said, "It was either us or Natsu and Happy coming to get her. Which do you think she'd prefer?"
The three mages of Team Natsu were standing outside the large white-brick apartment building where Su lived. Kinana had asked them to retrieve Su from her apartment, as the two had made plans. The barmaid had informed the group that Su had a tendency to forget plans she had, so they were hear to collect her. It was still early in the day, and lunch hadn't even hit.
Erza raised a gauntlet covered hand and knocked on the front door.
A few moments later the door opened, and a dusty-looking young man opened the door.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The man said.
"Does Su live here?" Erza asked, "We're her Guildmates and we've been instructed to come fetch her."
"Oh, you guys are from Fairy Tail?" The man said, "Come on in. I'm her landlord. Do you guys have a key?"
"Yes, Kinana lent it to me." Wendy said, beaming at the landlord, key in hand.
The landlord chuckled and stepped away, gesturing them inside.
"She's on the second floor. Door on the left." The landlord said, "Close the door behind you."
The group did so, and headed up the narrow stairs to the second floor landing. Turning to the left, they found a plaque with 'Su' written on it attached to the rough wooden door.
Wendy slid the skeleton key into the lock, opening the door and stepping into the apartment.
The three looked around Su's apartment. It was one small main room with two doors leading off from it. The floors were rough and had several scratches on it, while the walls were a powder blue colour with wood panelling coming the bottom half. Two beige loveseats, an armchair, and a small fireplace sat on one side of the room, making up Su's living room. Maxence was sleeping on one of the love seats, evident by a small snot bubble blowing out of his nose. The other half of main room, with the two windows facing the street below held a rustic kitchen and a dining table covered with a sizeable pile of papers and several books.
"She's probably in her bedroom." Carla said, "The other door is probably a bathroom."
"Most likely." Erza, walking to the door on the left and knocking on it. "Su? Are you in there?"
A muffled groan emitted from behind the door.
"I'll take that as a yes." Erza said, swinging the door open.
The scarlet haired woman peered inside the dark room. No lights were on, and the curtains were undrawn, so the only light in the room was coming from small rays that managed to seep through the fabric.
The dark outline of a cluttered desk, an open wardrobe, and a large bed told Erza, that this was, in fact a bedroom. Erza could also see that one of the walls was completely covered in books, and there were two trunk-like outlines at the side of the bed.
"Su?"
A hand stuck up from the lumpy outline of blankets and waved at Erza.
"Give me a minute, I'll draw les rideaux." Su said, her tiredness noted clearly by her slipping into her mother tongue.
The bundle of shifted, and Su's arm reached and pressed a switch, which automatically drew back the blinds.
Sunlight filled the room, to reveal a room similar the main room, except this one was much messier. Several rolls of blueprints were scattered around the floor, or overfilling in boxes in the corner.
And the trunk-like things from earlier?
Those were Su's legs, standing upright next to the bed, while her metal arm was draped on the nightstand.
"Matin, I mean morning." Su said, turning around and brushing some of her wild hair out of her face. "What are you guys doing here?"
"You have plans with Kinana today. She told us you're rather forgetful and sent us to fetch you." Erza said.
Su nodded.
"Right, that's what I was forgetting." The peach-haired girl said, rolling over and grabbing her arm from the nightstand.
The others watched in interest as she put the arm in her metallic socket, fiddling with it until it loudly clicked into place. Now with both arms, she pushed herself up, scutching to the edge and reaching for her leg. However, she was a little to far back still.
Noticing her plight, Wendy reached forward and tried to pick up the leg to pass it to Su, but found she couldn't lift.
"Woah, Wendy." Su said, "You shouldn't try to lift that. It's heavy."
Wendy sheepishly grinned.
"I just wanted to help, Su-san."
Su gave her a soft smile.
"Thanks for trying."
"May I?" Erza said, gesturing to Su's leg.
"Yeah, if you can pass me it, that would be nice." Su said,
The scarlet knight did so, passing one of the legs to Su who graciously took it off Erza's hands and connected it to the metal socket, once again fiddling it with it slightly until it fit snugly into place.
Su put one foot on the ground, bending it slightly, wincing as the metal didn't move as smoothly as it was supposed too. She then lined herself up with her other leg, lowering herself down and attaching her other leg.
"I need to oil these." Su said to herself, "They need more maintenance."
Su walked across the room, and reached into the wardrobe, grabbing some pants and a new shirt.
"Normally I would offer you guys some breakfast, but I don't have any food in the house right now." Su said, as she changed into her pants. "Could I, at the very least offer you guys some tea or coffee?"
"That would be lovely." Erza said, "We will take you up on that offer."
"Su-san." Wendy said, to the woman who had just stripped out of her sleep shirt. "Is that your Guild Mark?"
The dragonslayer was pointing to a white guild mark on the top of Su's left breast.
"Wendy, its not nice to point." Carla reprimanded.
"Sorry, Su-san! I didn't mean like that!"
"Yes, that is my Guild Mark." Su said, as she slid a fresh shirt identical to the one from the previous day on. "Let me get my hair out of my face then I can make you guys something to drink."
Su lead them out of her bedroom before pointing at the couches.
"Make yourselves comfortable. I'll be out of the bathroom in a minute." Su said, walking into the other door.
Wendy tentatively took a seat next to Carla on one of the loveseats. Erza plopped herself into the armchair, leaving the loveseat where Maxence slept empty.
"Su-san's house is so pretty." Wendy said, "It kind of reminds me of the Fairy Hills Dorms."
"Indeed." Erza said, "It is well decorated."
"If not a little messy." Carla said, "But I suppose Su is often on jobs, so it can be excused."
"I wonder how much rent here is?" Erza said, "I don't remember this building being around seven years ago."
"I don't rent."
The group looked up to see Su walking out of the bathroom, her hair slightly more tamed and pulled back into her normal high-pony. She had also tossed her normal jacket on as well, though this time with her hood down and out of the way.
"You don't rent?" Erza asked.
"This building is condos and apartments." Su explained. "I paid up front for it. My place and the one across the hall are both condos, while the other three are apartments. The landlord owns the building and rents the other places."
"How much did you buy this place for?" Erza said.
"850,000 Jewel." Su said, "This was place was pretty cheap since a lot of people haven't moved to Magnolia in the past while."
"I see." Erza said, following Su as she wandered to the kitchen, grabbing the kettle and filling it with water.
"Are you guys okay with Jasmine?" Su asked.
"Jasmine?" Wendy asked.
"Tea." Su said, as she started turned on the stove to heat the kettle before grabbing said box of tea.
"That would be great." Carla said.
"I'd love that." Erza said.
Soon, the four females were sitting in the living room sipping on jasmine tea. Maxence had awaken, and was currently curled in Su's lap. Su had taken a quick liking to the scarlet knight, exceed, and young dragonslayer.
Su had been worried that she wouldn't fit in with Team Tenrou, or she'd be tossed to the side by her guild mates, but now she realized she was being dumb. In someway, she felt almost a sense of protectiveness Wendy, much like she did with Asuka.
Eventually, once their tea had finished, Su gathered what she needed for the day, throwing it in a duffle bag before leading the others out of her apartment. The group made their way to the Guild Hall, where Kinana was waiting expectantly for her friend at the bar.
"Su!" Kinana called, "There you are."
"Hey Kia." Su said, setting her bag behind the bar. "When do you wanna go for dinner?"
"Hmm, my shift ends at 6. Does 6:30 sound good to you?" Kinana said, petting Maxence as she set down a bowl containing dried insects and berries on the bar for the fox. Maxence jumped down from Su's shoulder onto the bar and began devouring the food happily.
"Sounds great. I just have to work on my legs today, and that's my only plan." Su said, "These babies need some oil."
"Hey Newbie!"
Su turned around to see a familiar pink-haired dragonslayer.
"Natsu, I'm not new." Su said.
"Whatever." Natsu said, a determined grin on his face. "I challenge you to a fight!"
All eyes were on the two. Mostly focused on Su, waiting for the wizard's response.
"Sounds good. Let me get some breakfast then we can brawl in the back garden."
"What?!"
last edited: october 13, 2021
word count: 1,717