"Papa..." I said as I stepped up to Makarov. He turned his head to glare at me. I held Eevee in my arms without looking at him. Lucy put a hand on my back in comfort. "I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did. But..." I looked into his eyes with a smile. "I want to be an S-class Mage. Am I still able to be one?"
I felt Natsu look at me at his table with wide eyes with everyone else, and Makarov humphed. "Are you sure? You didn't seem happy about it before."
"I know," I nodded, Eevee twitching her ear. "But now I am. Because I know that I'll be happy in Fairy Tail!" I hoped my sweetness helped a little with it. I heard Natsu smile.
Makarov smiled too. "I accept your apology. Welcome, the sixth S-class Mage of Fairy Tail!" Makarov announced, sending the guild into an uproar. I let out a giggle in response, feeling that love and happiness overcome me again.
"All right! Now I can fight you for real!" Natsu charged forward, trying to pounce Eevee with a flaming fist. All that happened though was a Dragon Slayer being roasted by her Hyper Beam. She huffed, and I laughed at the sudden failure.
""I love your enthusiasm, Natsu!" I giggled, Eevee smiling with me.
"That's not all you love about him..." Lucy said softly and with criticism.
I blushed wildly. "Sh-shut up!" I said, and she giggled herself.
"Let's celebrate! Buffet of food and drinks on the house!" Papa yelled. Everyone cheered, and Natsu screamed in happiness.
I laughed again, seeing my family do their usual routine of partying.
~~
The next morning was a fresh new day. I stretched from my bed in Lucy's room. I offered to move out from going on so many jobs, but she said that she would slit my throat if I did that. I agreed to stay then, not wanting to get into a battle that should never be fought.
"Can we at least buy myself a bed?" I asked. "I don't want you to keep sleeping with me and giving you bruises from moving all the time..."
"Uh, yes!" Lucy replied. "I was just going to tell you that! I've been waking up so many times at night because of your Ellie Kicks..."
"Lucy, you have to tell me things like that way ahead of time! Now I feel bad!"
"Then you buy the bed!" And that's how I spent 50,000 jewel on a brand new bed with brown wood and a brown comforter with tan flowers on it. It was perfect.
I got out of bed, and ran my fingers through my frizzy hair. Eevee was still curled up into a ball of silver and white fur, sleeping soundly on the comforter. I hopped in the shower, feeling the warm water massage my skin. Ever since I came to Magnolia a year ago, my life changed for the better. For me and my Pokémon. And I was so happy...
But sometimes I did feel a slight pain in my chest for leaving Kalos so suddenly. Like now... How did everyone cope with me leaving? Or, since it was in a different time and space, did time not pass at all there? Was a year here only a second there?
I didn't know, and frankly as I thought more about it, didn't care. Nobody respected me or my team there, and I've yet to meet a trainer who cared about their Pokémon as much as I did for mine. The bond we share is unlike any other, and that's why we were part of Fairy Tail.
When I was done, I stepped out of the bathroom in my bathrobe and a towel in my hair. Lucy was just getting up, yawning hugely. "Good morning," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Morning," I answered back. "Did you sleep well?"
"Mm-hm," she said. "I had a great dream, too."
"What about?" I sat down on my bed, Eevee putting her head on my waist to have me stroke her awake.
"You and Natsu getting together. Both of you were holding hands, and you were confessing to him..."
"That is NOT what you dreamt!" I yelled, my face red as a tomato.
She laughed. "I'm kidding!"
I looked away, my heart beating a hundred miles an hour. If anything Lucy, you should be the one getting with Natsu... I thought, remembering how she looked at him at times that he spoke out for his guild among other things. The look in her eyes made me jealous, but I also understood why.
"You know Lucy," I started. She stopped laughing then. "From what I've seen, you seem to be the closest to Natsu. Maybe you have feelings for him too?" I mocked evilly. It was still an assumption though.
This time she turned beet red. "What?! No way! Not to him!"
"Oh, come on! I've seen the way you look at him! You liiiiiike him-" I gave her a Happy impression.
"Shut up, cat, or you're gonna get hurt!" She pointed a finger at me, and we both stared at each other for another minute. Then we started to giggle hysterically like it was all so stupid.
That's when Eevee stood up with her ears twitching. I felt it, and quit laughing immediately. "What is it, Eevee?" Her stance scared me. Something was wrong.
Lucy quit laughing as well, and that's when the door slammed open. Gray was in his underwear with a shocked look on his face. "We have a problem!"
"Gray, put some clothes on!" Lucy shielded her eyes.
"No time! There's been an attack on the guild!"
"What?!" Lucy yelled. "What do you mean an attack?"
"The whole guild hall is in ruins, and a bunch of guild members are injured! Even Natsu was too weak for them!"
With no more questions asked, Lucy and I quickly got dressed and sprinted to the guild.
~~
I was horrified at what I saw.
The entire guild was torn to shreds, and there was barely any building left. All I could see was the back wall. "What...happened?" I whispered as tears of horror dripped down my cheek.
"An enemy guild happened," Papa walked up to us. "We didn't even know what hit us."
"Why would they do this?!" Lucy asked.
"We don't know," Makarov answered. "But I fear it has something to do with Elena."
"Me?" I pointed to myself.
He nodded. "Cana!" Papa called, and a girl with a bikini top and jeans with wavy brown hair walked over. "Show her the note."
Cana stepped up to me, unfolding a piece of paper. I took it, feeling Eevee's concern for what I was about to read. I swallowed my fear, and moved my eyes across the paper.
We know who you are. And what your friends can do. Bring them and come to this location. Alone.
It ended with a map and x and a frightening looking emblem shaped like a heart torn in half. I folded up the paper. "Who are they?" I asked.
"Not sure," Cana said. "No one's ever seen that emblem before."
I knew exactly what they wanted. "They want my Pokémon. I have to go alone."
"No way!" Lucy countered. My hair swished as my head moved to look at her. "They destroyed the whole guild hall! This is our fight. Besides, there's no way we would let you go alone."
That's when I heard something within earshot. I turned to look. "Natsu!" I ran over, crouching down to see him clutching his side. "You're hurt!"
"Those bastards..." he grunted, making me let out a surprised breath. "They destroyed our guild! They're gonna pay for this!"
"Natsu, calm down. I have to heal your wound." Wendy put her hands on Natsu's side, and a blue light shimmered onto his skin. He grunted again, feeling the wound react to the spell. "There." The wound was completely sealed with nothing but dry blood on top.
"Let me help," I said, pulling out the green and tan pokéball. Leafeon popped out, swishing his leafy tail. "Hurry, Leafeon. We have to heal everyone!"
He nodded, and followed me to the next patient. Makau was straining to stand, and I ordered Leafeon to use Synthesis. He glowed, and blew his mouth onto the middle-aged man, and immediately his wounds closed and healed completely. "Thank you, Elena." He sighed in relief. "And you, Leafeon."
"Of course," I said. "Let's keep moving!" As I moved between each patient, my thoughts were running wild with guilt. All of this was my fault, and I had to obey them. But I also knew that my guildmates would never let me go alone. I had to think of something that would have me sneak away.
Once everyone with open wounds was treated and recovering, I called back Leafeon to replace him with Glaceon. She helped me make ice bags to put on anyone who had concussions or throbbing pains. I was halfway done when Lucy walked up to me making another ice bag.
"Elena," she tried, but I was busy stressing over the tiny bag. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not going to happen."
"Ice Beam, Glaceon." A beam of cold ice covered the inside of the bag, turning into solid ice cubes. "Here Evergreen," I handed her the bag, and she gladly took it to put onto her head in pain.
"Elena!" Lucy grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her. "Are you listening?"
"No!" I yelled. "Just leave me alone!"
"Listen, I know exactly how you feel!" she cried. "The same thing happened to the guild because of me once. But guess what? The guild didn't just fight for me, they fought for our pride!"
"Lucy, I have to go alone! The guild got hurt because of me, and who knows what they'll do next if I don't!"
"You're not going!" Erza yelled at me. "I won't allow it!"
She tried to glare at me, but I just glared back. "Who made you master, Erza?! You don't scare me!" Everyone gasped in shock at what I just did, but I didn't back down. "You have no right to order me around, Titania."
"What did you say to me?" She pulled a sword out, glaring wildly at me.
"You heard me! Back off!" I yelled. That hit her hard. She prepared to strike, charging forward with her sword raised. "Eevee!" My partner hopped off my shoulder and blocked the sword with a strong shield of Protect. She held her stance while Erza kept her sword on the shield.
"E-le-na..." Erza growled as we stared at each other with anger.
"That's enough!" Papa stepped forward. "Erza, I expected better from you!" She lowered her sword in shame, and Eevee listened to Papa as her Protect disappeared. "And Elena...I forbid you to go off on your own."
"But-"
"That's an order!" I flinched.
"El-e-na..." I heard a familiar voice, and turned around to see Natsu stumble up. "You're not going..."
"Natsu! You're hurt! You need to rest!" I stepped forward in worry, and he grunted in pain.
"You're not going on your own!" Natsu said, making me let out a breath of surprise. "Not without me..." I blushed. Wha...? "They'll pay for what they've done!"
"Natsu! You can't fight in your condition! Go back and rest!" Lucy started to push him back to the shattered guild hall, and my feelings disappeared. Of course. I should've known that he would only go with me for the fight, even if it was at all. "Besides, there's no way we could just barge in through the front doors! They'd see us coming from a mile away."
That gave me an idea, and my depression vanished. "Wait, you're right!" I said, snapping my fingers. "But...I could go in the front while you go in the back doors!"
"Huh?" Cana asked.
"Live bait," I clarified, pointing at myself. "It would just be me and Eevee going in while the others have a different member of Fairy Tail. That way, there won't be a barge in, but a sneak in. We could take out the guild from all sides of building!"
"Hmm..." Makarov sounded impressed. "That could work. It would also be the safest route since we don't know how strong they are."
"Right?" I clapped my hands. "Okay. I gotta think about who would go with who the best while everyone recovers." I spun around, and headed back to our house with Eevee trailing behind me. I could feel everyone smiling at my back as I ran away from the guild.
~~
"Okay. Here's what will happen." Everyone who was part of the infiltration was present at the meeting. Erza, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Laxus, Juvia, and Mirajane were everyone I picked for the mission. It was a small but strong team. "Each of you will pair up with one of my Pokémon, and you'll sneak into the guild from a different side. That way, there won't be a huge fight from either side, and there won't be any casualties."
"Who said there was going to be casualties?" Nastu crossed his arms. "I want to give them a piece of my mind, not sneak around like a ninja!" He widened his eyes, then grinned. "On second thought, let's do it!" He then wrapped his scarf around his face, revealing only his eyes. "I need to practice my ninja skills..."
I sweat-dropped. "Sure, Natsu. If you say so." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, I'll give all of you your Pokémon." I pumped a fist. "Then we can finally get payback!"