Even though they were in the beginning of war, the guild hall was fairly quiet. Master Mavis and Makarov had moved closer to the bar, so they could continue planning through things while still being close enough if Warren had an update they needed to hear. But there wasn't much else going on at the guild, which was how Verani had found herself walking down the hall for the infirmary.
"Look after them for me, Sparky." She contained the groan of frustration that wanted to rise in her throat. It wasn't at those words that her brother had left her with about an hour ago, it was the fact that she was headed to the damn infirmary again. It almost felt like the people closest to her had been constantly in the infirmary or a hospital since they got back from the Grand Magic Games. Sure things weren't as bad when they were Blue Pegasus, actually it was an odd period of calm that the blonde hadn't known she needed. But now that Fairy Tail was back in action, someone was out of commission again.
'Worry about yourself, Laxus.' But she knew that would get her about as far as she did when trying to talk Kia out of a crazy idea or a promise.
Verani was beyond done with seeing everyone covered in bandages.
'Maybe it's my fault....' her internal voice tapered off, 'maybe that asshat is right and I am just a walking bad luck charm.'
It had been so long since she had let those thoughts run through her head. She had honestly thought that she had moved past it, especially since she hadn't even seen that man in years. Though she had made the comment to Laxus that she had wished she could have seen him punch the deadbeat, the rest of her wondered if she was really as removed from him as she always acted.
"You're the reason she's gone." Ivan's voice echoed from her memory, "Your mother knew how much of a problem you were going to be and didn't see a reason to fight to survive."
How do you say that to a four year old? How do you say that to your own daughter?
It didn't matter that it had been seventeen years, she could still remember that night clearly. She hadn't been feeling well and Laxus had tried to stay home to take care of her, but V had told him not to miss the parade for her. He was going to be in the parade for the first time and she didn't want to be the reason that he missed it.
'You ruin everything you touch.'
For a few years, Verani had wondered if Ivan had been right. Their mother died giving birth to her. It wasn't until after she was born that Laxus started getting sick more and more. Amber lost her parents after she joined Fairy Tail and befriended her. Her thoughts continued to spiral, creating connections until she was finding ways to blame herself for the seven years they had spent asleep on Tenrou Island.
Her mood had drastically dropped by the time she pushed the infirmary door open. The room was quiet. Porlyusica had the curtains only half drawn so that the daylight could keep things bright enough to see, but not bad enough that it threatened to wake her patients before they needed to be roused. But that hadn't stopped a certain mage from waking up on his own.
Freed peeked up from where he sat on the edge of the bed at the sound of the door. He offered the blonde a casual smile. She only responded with a single nod before moving across the room. Her eyes immediately snapped to the other figures she had come to check in on.
Bixlow and Evergreen seemed to be resting peacefully. She could even hear Ichiya muttering to himself in his sleep, so there was no doubt that he would be alright as well.
Freed watched her as she walked across the room. He could see that there was something going on in her mind from the way she had only nodded at him when entering. Normally, the younger Dreyar wouldn't have wasted any time in telling them that they needed to pay better attention to what was going on around them. But there was a heaviness in her hazel eyes that hadn't lingered in years.
"Verani, has something happened?" He kept his tone clear, but his voice low so as not to disturb the others.
Her body didn't react as she responded, "The back-up teams just left for the Northern and Southern fronts."
"Laxus mentioned something about that earlier." He sighed, thinking about how much he did not like the idea of the Lightning Dragon Slayer heading to the front line with such a small group. It wasn't that he didn't think the blonde was capable of taking care of himself, he just knew how he could overdo it. It had become Freed's job to quietly remind him that he needed to be more thoughtful when it came to going all out because of the lingering effects that he had from their fight with Tartaros a year ago. "He also mentioned that Natsu and Kia had run off."
Verani hung her head, letting her eyes come from the sleeping figures. Her voice was soft, "Yeah."
He easily read her tone, "They aren't back yet."
"No."
The bed creaked a little as Freed pushed himself to his feet. He stepped over, resting a hand on her shoulder, "They are reckless, but they always come home."
"Yeah..." Her voice trailed off again.
"Verani?" He resisted the urge to squeeze her shoulder, "What else is on your mind?"
V exhaled as she turned to finally face him. When their eyes met, she knew from the look in his that he had begun to figure out what was going through her mind. None of it would be new to him. Freed had been her confidant when she didn't have Laxus around and the Mythics hadn't become a thing yet. He had become a surrogate brother when she knew she couldn't explain these thoughts to Laxus when they were younger. He had been too conflicted with their father being expelled from the guild and she didn't want him to think that she didn't trust him. She was too afraid that he would think she was hiding things from him or trying to side with their grandfather over him.
"Don't worry about it, Freed." She exhaled silently, letting some of the tension that had formed in her shoulders exit her body with the air. "I'll be fine.
"Are you sure? I'll listen." He turned a little so that he could gesture to the edge of the bed he had just stood up from. "I've been told I'm rather good at it."
"I know," she rolled her eyes. "I'm someone who has told you that before."
A softness coated his eyes as he looked at her again, "Then don't be afraid to come to me if you need to, Verani. I know that you are closer with the Mythics now, but you will always be a part of our team too."
She gave him a nod. That was something that she had wondered about when the guild had first broken up a year ago. She knew that going with her brother was the right thing for her to do, but it had been years since she had worked with him and the Thunder Legion. But any worry she had soon faded away as they fell back into a rhythm that worked. It was nowhere as seamless as her teamwork with Kia and Amber, but it didn't feel foreign either.
"I know." A calm smile came to her lips.
A warm expression crossed his face as well, "Just making sure."
"Thanks, Freed."
And that was when the infirmary door swung open, revealing Cana and Lucy carrying in an unconscious Brandish.
||~x~||
The sun was just starting to rise for the day when Amber had found herself sitting on the grass in front of two very familiar graves near Kardia Cathedral. A bouquet of wildflowers from near the old country guild hall had been placed in the small space between them.
"I'm sure you two are aware of what's going on with all the commotion around here yesterday, but I wanted to stop by anyway."
Honestly, there was a lot running through the Blood mage's mind and she wanted to get it off her chest. That was why she had decided to stop by and visit before she checked back in on Natsu with Porlyusica after breakfast. Happy had come back crying with an unconscious Natsu and no sign of Kia anywhere. Even though Amber had yet to disagree out loud with Porlusica's anti-ether-nano tumor diagnosis, she had a pretty good feeling that it was something else. A part of her was grateful that Brandish had offered to shrink the mass before she had to offer up any of the information that was fueling her own theory.
Everything was crashing together. It almost felt like everything she had done with the girls hadn't done them any good. They weren't able to rewrite the book or stop Zeref before things could turn into a huge fight, let alone a war. She was also concerned for if and when Ancologia was going to make an appearance since Kia's eldest brother thought it would be a great idea to challenge the Black Dragon. And she was also still worried about Gray and Juvia out on the front lines. And Lamia Scale too.
Her fingers found their way to her knife pouch, absentmindedly playing with the snowflake charm that dangled from it.
'You all better come home.'
But then there would be more issues to deal with, namely Kia's declaration that Gray could slay her if he saw it was necessary.
'You are so predictable,' she grumbled in her head. 'Though you could motivate him to survive in a better way then fueling a stupid hatred to kill you.'
Sighing, Amber pushed herself up to her feet. Most of those things were out of her control or in a future they hadn't won yet, she needed to focus on the things that she could be doing now. As much as she wanted to run off with Verani and find their missing teammate and friend, there were other ways that they could help. She knew that Kia would want her taking care of Natsu right now, especially since she had a better understanding of the full situation.
She dusted herself off, a gentle smile coming to her expression. "I'll see you after all this craziness is over. Love you, Mom, Dad."
She didn't imagine their response in the back of her mind, that was something Amber had stopped doing a few years back. Parts of her still wished they hadn't taken that special mission that had forced them from her, but she had come to terms with their death some time ago. She would still always miss them.
'This war may make you come to terms with death again.' Her thoughts added before she could stop them. She wasn't going to focus on how things ended; they would get there when they got there.
The chill autumn breeze sent a slight shiver up Amber's arms as she turned for the main street that ran through the heart of Magnolia. It was getting a little warmer as the sun slowly ascended. She began to debate if it was later in the morning than she thought, wondering if she should be prepared to be jumped by a certain impatient blonde for her lack of punctuality.
But all of those thoughts scattered when she noticed the person who was laid out half in an alley ahead of her. The person looked as if she had fallen in on herself, her hair hanging haphazardly over her face.
"Kia!"
Amber sprinted the short distance, dropping to her knees beside her friend.
Onyx eyes struggled to open as the Phoenix Slayer's body shivered. "A-Am-Amber..."
"What happened to you?" Amber immediately reached forward, her hand already glowing as she began looking for what could reduce Kia to this kind of state. And she nearly jumped at how icy the pinkette's skin felt. Kia never felt cold.
Said girl tried to get an answer out, but another tremor and her own chattering teeth kept stopping her. She was trying to tell the Blood mage what was wrong and who had caused the problem, but she wouldn't have to.
Amber had never been one to make odd noises, but the sound that grew in her throat was only a few seconds from becoming a growl. "He turned your curse off again and that Winter General was able to attack your flame directly."
Kia gave her a shaky nod as she shivered again. The dark-haired mage shrugged off her jacket to wrap it around the other. The pinkette's lips were beginning to turn a shade of blue that was only making Amber's heart race faster.
"I need to get you back to the guild so I can get you warm."
Again, the only reply she got was a nod. Kia didn't fuss as Amber lifted her onto her back and started off toward the guild. As her feet carried her quickly, she prayed that every Fire mage had already shown up for the day.
||~x~||
Not only were both Conbolts at the guild when Amber arrived, they were both in the main area of the hall. The abrupt appearance of the Blood mage with the Phoenix Slayer semi-conscious on her back was quick to cause an uproar, but nothing that she couldn't silence immediately.
"Shut up!" Amber shouted as she purposefully strolled across the hall. Everyone instantly listened, none of them having ever seen the dark-haired mage really raise her voice or take charge like that. "Romeo, Macao, I need you to come here. And can someone grab me a stool from the bar?"
The Blood mage was so engrossed in making sure that Kia continued to stay conscious that she wasn't even sure who had brought the stool over, but she did hear the quick steps that were coming from the direction of the infirmary.
She didn't even look in that direction, having a pretty good guess who was moving that quickly their way. All of her attention was placed on the two males who stood before her. "I'm going to restart her curse power, but I need the two of you to mold your magic to swirl around us at the same time."
They nodded, moving to stand on opposite sides of the pair before extending their hands forward. Amber took in a deep breath, placing one hand on Kia's chest and the other on her back. It was about to get uncomfortably warm for the set up she was creating, but she couldn't worry about that.
"What the hell happened?" Verani stopped a few feet away, not wanting to get in the way, especially since she was gauging the severity of the situation on how quickly the Blood mage had taken charge of the room.
"He turned off her regeneration and their ice wizard took advantage of that." Amber didn't go into anymore detail as the swirl of purple fire created a makeshift cage around her and Kia as her own magic began pumping into the pinkette. If she could get her Curse of Regeneration working again, it wouldn't take very long at all for her friend to recover.
Master Mavis and Makarov had walked over as well, coming to stand next to Verani as every pair of eyes in the guild hall watched the extremely quick and precise measures that the Blood mage was taking in order to help the Phoenix Slayer.
The ones standing closest watched as the color began to return to Kia's face, her lips reddening as her eyelids grew heavier. Amber felt the sudden shift inside her friend as her body began to heal itself, including the burned flesh on her left hand. Kia slumped over into her friend more as she let out a shaky breath, "Thanks, Amber."
The dark-haired mage gave her a nod as she let her gaze come up, "Thanks guys. That's enough."
Both Conbolts let their magic cease, the older one a little short of breath from how long and intense they had kept their flames. Max walked over, offering to carry Kia up to the infirmary so Amber could take a minute and also explain what had happened. She thought about arguing, but ultimately decided to just thank him for his help. Now that she wasn't working in tunnel vision, she could feel the stickiness against her skin from how much she had started sweating in that whirl of fire and her hands were even tingling from how forcefully she was pumping her magic into Kia.
As soon as Max had walked away, Amber sat on the now-empty stool, wiping the bottom of her shirt across her forehead.
"Can you explain what the hell that was?" V stepped around so that she wouldn't be talking to her friend's back.
"Yeah," Cana popped her hip out as her hands went to rest on it, "I didn't think she could get cold like that."
"She shouldn't." A sigh left Amber as she bawled her fists, "It looked like the Spriggan with Ice was able to directly attack her internal flame."
Verani's blood ran cold. Master Mavis and Makarov stiffened a little.
"It was almost completely encased in ice when I found her in the street. It's actually pretty amazing she even made it back to Magnolia like that."
V clenched her jaw, forcing herself to focus on controlling her breathing through her nose. The list of people she was going to throttle just kept getting longer and longer.
||~x~||
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to say that I totally forgot to add Alexa's picture into the chapter she appeared in (sighes). I will be going back later today to add it into the chapter once I get it transferred off my tablet. It will be in chapter 54 (and likely 55 as well).
Beyond that, hope you are enjoying everything as we move into the main fighting of the war before it all ends.
See you soon,
Kiki