Chapter 20
Deserving
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic and my Ideas
.:+:.
Frea and Chase walked down the tunnel in silence, the surrounding walls were smooth and the air was cold. As they traveled deeper and deeper into the tunnel, the more the light grew dim.
Frea narrowed her eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the darkness as best they could. She paused a little when something on the cave wall caught her eye, and she saw a dark round plant growing on the wall.
She tilted her head and quickly tapped it, smiling as it lit up with blue-green light, and hundreds more out up all around them, illuminating the dark cave with its cold light.
They kept traveling, and Frea glanced sideways when she noticed Chase narrow his eyes as he stared at the ground.
"What's up kid?" She asked and he let out an annoyed sigh at the name, before turning his dark blue gaze in her.
"Is it just me, or the more we travel the more all of the Energy around here becomes distorted and confusing?" He asked and she nodded.
"Yeah I noticed it too, there must be something about this island that is making it harder for us to discern different Energy's. And I suspect that the farther inland we go, the less we will be able to feel any Energy and make any sense of it." She replied.
"Won't that be a problem?" Chase asked and she smiled a little.
"You might not be able to tell what's around you right away, or as clearly, but as long as you stay sure of your own Power, you should be ok." She promised and he nodded.
They both stiffened slightly as a very immense amount of power sprung up over the island and she saw Chase sweatdrop. "What the hell... Is that Gildarts?" Chase asked in disbelief.
"Yes. I think it would be better if you just block out all the Energy besides what you need to focus on, at least for now. Don't focus on Gildarts' power, that much at once will drive you crazy." She warned and he nodded slightly.
"So Teach," Chase began and she nodded a little to show she was listening, even though her gaze was focused on the path ahead. "Why do I get the feeling you don't want to be here?" He asked quietly.
Frea let out a low sigh, she had known there would be no way her attitude would go unnoticed by him.
"I don't want to be here." She replied.
"Then why didn't you tell Master you didn't want to? I'm sure if you don't want to, he could have picked someone else." Chase told her and she glanced his way.
"Master has asked me every year if I wanted to be a competitor in the Exams." She told him. "Every year, I have told him no." She looked away. "This year, he didn't ask me beforehand. I can tell he's making me give the Exams a shot, even if I refused he would have made me come anyway."
"These Exams seem like a big deal... Everybody looked like they would love to be chosen." Chase murmured. "And you, your probably one of the top picks for becoming an S-Class, that's probably why you had been given the chance every year. But why wouldn't you take it? It seems like a really big honor, and I'm sure many people think you deserve it." Chase told her and Frea's eyes narrowed.
"I don't deserve it." She muttered. "Somebody who has harmed her Guild-Mates, destroyed their homes... Does not deserve to be given the chance to become an S-Class. I can't be trusted with that, and I know I don't deserve it." She hissed.
"Master seems to think you do." Chase replied and her fists clenched.
"Master can be a fool at times. He can't honestly believe trusting me with the rank of S-Class is a good idea. If he does..." She trailed off and narrowed her eyes in frustration.
"You think anybody in the Guild is still holding that slip up with Shadow against you?" Chase asked, she had told him about the destruction that had been caused when Shadow had switched places with her back a few years ago, and how everyone in the Guild had gotten hurt. "I don't think they are, I've seen the way everyone is around you. They trust you, they like you. Your given more respect by many people in the Guild, than I think you realize."
Frea glanced away from him and her fists unclenched.
"I think you deserve to be an S-Class. And if anything, I think you owe it to yourself to give it a try." Chase told her firmly and she was slightly surprised by his tone.
Should I give it a try...?
She wasn't sure, she still felt horrible about harming her Family... And honestly she wasn't sure she was ready for being and S-Class... But Chase made a bit of sense... They had to have forgiven her by now, right?
Maybe it was time for her to forgive herself...
Frea smiled and hooked and arm around his neck, "Alright kid, I'm not sure I deserve it or not, but I'll give this Exam a try at least." She promised and he smiled back as she let him go.
"Who do you think we'll see at the end?" Chase asked and she blinked.
"How am I supposed to know? It was all random, it depends on who the others did, or didn't meet." She replied. Her silver eyes narrowed, who were the other competitors?
Elfman... Cana...Gray...Natsu...Juvia... Levy... Freed... Mest... Mest?
She honestly couldn't think of ever having a Mest in the guild... Let alone Mystogan having a student...
"Huh... Have I really been that out of it lately? That I just can't remember him?" She murmured under her breath and Chase glanced her way, eyebrow raised.
"Remember who, Teach?" He asked and she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Mest." She replied.
"He's one of the competitors..." Chase murmured and she smacked him upside the head.
"I know that! Don't think I'm that crazy!" She hissed. "It's just... I really don't ever remember him joining the guild... Or ever being in it before now." She murmured.
"Really? Everybody else seems to think he's been in the Guild for years." Chase replied and she nodded.
"I know... That's what's weird about it... Why do they remember and I don't? I can't have just forgotten... I never forget anybody..." Her voice died off as she tapped her chin with a finger and her eyes narrowed even more until they were only slits.
"Nobody would blame you for forgetting him, you have been rather busy lately. Besides, Mest doesn't seem very social, he's so quiet you hardly notice he's there." Chase told her, but he too found it odd she couldn't remember Mest. Teach wasn't one to forget people, especially people in the guild. "Master remembers him, so he must have been in the Guild for awhile yet, especially if he was chosen for the Exams this year and last year." Chase told her.
"I still don't like it, I should remember him, even if he doesn't talk much." Frea replied.
"Don't worry about it to much, alright? Maybe there is a good reason you can't remember him right now." Chase said and Frea let out a low sigh.
"Maybe..." She murmured but he could tell she was still troubled by it. Frea pushed Mest to the back of her mind when light filtered into the tunnel ahead and the plants growing on the walls thinned out until there were no more that way.
They reached the end of the tunnel and stepped out into the sunlight. Trees rise up out of the grass and a soft wind made the leaves shift. Looking around there was nobody in sight, and considering the magic of the island was messing with all of the Energy, she couldn't feel anybody around here, but her nose told her nobody was around. A tall pole with a red flag on it, symbolizing this was the end of the First Stage.
"Looks like we're the first ones." She murmured. They took a seat together on a piece of ground that rose higher up like a table and they settled down.
"No fights, looks like we went down one of the 'Calm' paths." Chase murmured and she nodded.
"Yeah... Damn it why can't I remember him?" Frea growled and Chase sighed.
"Maybe you don't want to remember him." He suggested.
"That's not it, I just... I don't think there was anybody in the guild named Mest before." She replied.
"There must have been, everybody else knows him, everybody remembers him." Chase told her and she sighed.
"I know... Have you seen Jynx lately?" Frea asked, changing the subject away from Mest.
Chase shook his head, and leaned back a little propping himself up with his hands behind him. "Nope, not since we left the mountain." He replied.
Frea swept her silver gaze over the tree and the grass, she had started to block out the feeling of all the Energy around her, if she tried to focus on any of it for too long, she would probably get a headache. All of it was too distorted and confusing to make any sense of.
"Wonder why she hasn't showed up...?" Frea murmured and Chase shrugged in response.
"Maybe she had something to do?" He suggested and she blinked.
"Like what? She is a ghost, a ghost that has only shown herself to us. What would she be doing?" Frea asked and Chase smirked.
"Maybe she's spying." He replied and Frea smiled, shaking her head at him.
"Because Jynx would spy on people."
"I wouldn't put it past her Teach, she did spy on us for a good two months without either of us noticing." Chase pointed out and Frea crossed her arms over her chest.
"I suppose that's true." She smiled and they both glanced sideways when the bushes trembled. Levy and Gajeel stepped out of the trees and they smiled at the two.
"Hey guys. What path did you end up with?" Chase asked and they walked over.
"We got lucky and went down a 'Calm' Path." Levy replied as she took a seat on a similar piece of land to the one the Energy Mages were sitting, that rose up in front of them a ways, and Gajeel sat next to her.
"That means everybody else had to fight." Frea murmured. "Wonder who'll come out next?" She asked and Chase shrugged.
"Who the heck were you two talking about?" Gajeel grunted and chase exchanged a glance with Frea, before they both smiled at him.
"No one!"