𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙪/𝙧𝙖
❛ 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬? ❜
◊
"Alright, Rose, what are you?"
"A human." Rose deadpanned. A smirk curled the corner of her lip upwards beneath her muffler as Lucy scowled at her.
To be honest, Rose had actually forgotten how fun it was to get on people's nerves. She hadn't really been able to put her sarcasm to use for a while. Besides, more often than not, provoking her enemies would make it easier to defeat them. People tend to be reckless when they're angry.
Following her awkward introduction, the mages had forced Rose to return to their town with them. Magnolia. Currently, they were all cramped inside Lucy's apartment, with Rose sitting on the floor. Her bag lay beside her, abandoned, its contents somehow not in smithereens after falling from the sky. Cylene lay in her lap, half-awake, watching the mages attempts at interrogating Rose go downhill through slitted eyes.
"So what kind of magic do you use?" Natsu piped in, eyes sparkling. He seemed to be excited, for whatever reason. "That last attack was similar to one of mine!"
Rose went quiet for a moment, tempted to tell him that it was none of his business. Instead she decided to act indifferent, yawning tiredly before she answered. "I'm a Flame Phoenix Slayer."
"I've never heard of those... what is it like?"
Rose paused for a moment, staring at him with barely disguised shock in her eyes. She suddenly felt the unbearable urge to laugh, but she ignored it. 'He actually is an idiot...' "Well, Phoenix Slaying magic is really similar to your magic – Dragon Slaying. There are some slight differences, like the styles we use, and how we get our powers, but besides that, they are quite similar."
"But... when we found you, you were a phoenix. That doesn't make sense..." Gray's sentence trailed off as he watched her, clearly expecting an answer. Rose heaved a sigh.
"That was my spell. An actual phoenix is the same size as a dragon, and they're way stronger."
Erza put her hand up. "One more question. Is your companion a dragon?"
Rose ignored the slightly defensive answer she was going to reply with, instead reminding herself that they didn't mean any harm by asking. They were just curious.
"Nah. It's a pretty common mistake, but Cylene's a subspecies of the wyvern family." Rose fiddled with Cylene's wings, much to the wyverns irritation. "See? Unlike dragons, wyverns only have two legs and two wings. Cylene here is a Pygmy Ice Wyvern, which is why she's so small."
Cylene bobbed her head in agreement, pulling herself away from Rose's prying fingers. The phoenix slayer had a bad habit of fidgeting when she was nervous, although she didn't seem to notice that she did it.
"It's true. I'm technically an adult in wyvern years," Cylene quipped. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Cylene, Rose's friend."
"Wait... you can talk?" The blue-furred cat, Happy, exclaimed. The other cat, Carla, remained silent. To Rose she seemed like the kind of person who spent a considerable amount of time contemplating the mysteries of the universe and having existential crisis'.
"Well, yes... but considering that you are a talking, flying, blue cat, it shouldn't be so much of a surprise." Cylene remarked sassily, rolling her eyes at the feline. Whilst the two considered to speak, the mages returned to interrogating Rose. By the way they were acting, it seemed they were more curious than anything else.
"What were you doing in the woods?"
"I was attempting to have a peaceful, interruption-free trip to Magnolia, although that is clearly not what happened." Rose placed emphasis on 'attempting', a meaningful stare sent in Natsu's direction.
"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you visiting?" Erza asked. Rose felt a smile on her lips, although it (like most of her smiles) was fake. Erza seemed to be the most responsible out of the group, and also the weariest about her. The others, however, had seemingly no reservations despite the fact that Rose was technically a stranger. Hadn't their parents ever warned them about stranger danger?
"I'm not around from these parts – I came here to join a guild."
"Guild?! You mean, Fairy Tail?"
"That's the one."
◊
Rose stared at the guildhall, amazed at the sight.
It was old.
And dusty.
And a lot of the wooden planks which formed the outer wall had rotted away.
And it was set well away from the rest of the town.
It was nothing like what she had heard about Fairy Tail, but then again, she did have a tendency to drop off the map for months at a time. Any news about the guild had probably gone straight over her head. But that wasn't what was important; what was important that the guildhall looked like it would collapse at any second.
And yet, despite the termites devouring its walls, despite the faded, torn flags drooping from the flagpole and the weeds which had begun to encroach on the building... despite all that...
Something about the building seemed to emit a pleasant vibe. Even though it looked decrepit, Rose noticed a pile of wood stacked beside a nearby tree. She noticed the broom resting against the wall, the sheets pinned up on a clothesline to the side. The guild was falling apart – and yet the team she had met seemed to still have hope.
It was oddly refreshing.
A small, genuine smile found its way onto Rose's lips, even though it was hidden by her scarf. So this was Fairy Tail. The phoenix slayer sensed the confusion of Cylene, who was curled up in her arms – watching her worriedly.
"Come on, Rose!" Wendy called, her hand resting on the handles to the old double doors that were the entrance to the hall. A delicate push resulted in the doors flying open, squeaking ever so slightly.
Team Natsu relaxed when they stepped into the guild, their stances visibly loosening up. They seemed to be quite close to the other members of the guild, although Rose couldn't see anything from where she was outside the door.
"We're home!" Natsu announced, "and we have a potential member with us!"
Whispers travelled through the guildhall. It was obvious that they hadn't expected someone to want to join – not when they were in such a pitiful state.
"Who is it, Natsu?" someone asked, though Rose was unable to physically see them. Cylene had climbed onto her shoulder, and without anything to occupy her hands, she resorted to fiddling with the hem of her shirt. It was uncommon for the phoenix slayer to be this way, but this was the first time in a while that she would have to deal with a large group of people. It'd take a while to readjust.
Noticing the woman's reluctance, Lucy decided to take the initiative and grab her arm. Rose flinched away slightly at the unexpected contact, although the blonde didn't seem to notice as she pulled her into the guildhall.
"Where's the Master?!" Natsu questioned.
It was at that moment that the rest of the guild got a look at the strange female their friends had discovered; messy dark brown hair, a golden-brown complexion, and the eye which they could see was a bright shade of crimson that matched the muffler around her neck. Besides that, her entire body was clad in dark clothing. Not to mention the miniature dragon on her shoulder.
She was a strange sight.
"Is that a dragon around her neck?!"
"What type of magic does she use?"
"The Master's in his office!" The same voice from earlier answered, but this time Rose was able to see her face. It was a tall, pretty woman with long silvery-white hair and bright blue eyes. Rose's eyes caught onto the woman's gaze as they exchanged a long look, taking in each other's appearance.
"Thanks, Mira!"
The woman and Rose broke their staring contest when she turned to Natsu and waved happily. "It was no problem, Natsu!"
Lucy proceeded to drag the cautious phoenix slayer down a dusty hallway before pausing, releasing her hold on Rose's arms. Rose allowed it, her mind racing as she continued to wonder about the silver-haired woman—Mira, Natsu had called her.
There was something strange about her aura, though Rose couldn't put her finger on it.
She was broken out of her trance when Cylene nudged her. They had stopped in front of a plain wooden door with a plaque above it— 'Guild Master's Office'.
"Feeling nervous?"
Rose sighed and placed a hand on her scaly companion's angular head; taking reassurance in the cool, smooth feeling of the crystalline scales against her palm. Sometimes even she could feel a little nervous, and in times like those familiar presences helped to calm her down. At the moment that happened to be Cylene, but even an item like her scarf (which she had owned for forever) was comforting enough to stop her from freaking out.
"I'll get over it," Rose stated.
"Old man! We've got someone for you to meet!" Natsu yelled, before abruptly kicking the door down. Rose felt a bit concerned, hoping that no one had been behind the door when it was kicked. The group filed in through the door, as someone else (presumably the Master) began yelling.
"How many times do I have to tell you to knock before you enter!" he thundered, his tone deep and somewhat intimidating Although, the voice didn't seem to match his actual body at all. Seated behind the wooden desk at the front of the room was a very short man with a grey moustache and a beard, glaring at Natsu furiously.
"The next time you do that I- Oh, hello!" his annoyed frown turned into a welcoming smile when he caught sight of Rose and the others.
"Master, this is Rose. She's a phoenix slayer who wants to join the guild." Lucy introduced her politely, seemingly the more respectful one of the group.
"Oh? A phoenix slayer? How interesting..." the Master murmured under his breath, before turning to study the strangely shy girl carefully. "Well, if you have Erza's approval," Erza nodded when he glanced at her. "then you are more than welcome to join the guild."
Relief loosened the knot in her stomach, allowing Rose to release a breath she didn't know she was holding. How could the simple matter of joining a guild be so stressful?
Rose thanked the Master politely, her words soft and rather unlike her. She seemed to be in a state of happiness, which came as a shock to Cylene who hadn't realised the female was so stressed about joining. It was actually sort of funny to the wyvern, since Rose rarely acted in such a way. With her, it was usually dry humour and sarcasm with a witty comment thrown in here and there.
"You may register and receive your guild mark from Mira," The guild master continued, "but you will have to arrange a place to stay yourself."
"That's not a problem," Rose informed him calmly. Her eyes seemed to change with her mood – previously an intimidating, burning shade of crimson, but they were now a deep, warm shade of garnet. "I can take care of it."
"Good. Wendy, please take her to Mira so that she can be registered."
"Okay!" Wendy agreed, leading Rose back into the hall. The others quickly dispersed into the crowd, Grey and Natsu picking a fight with each other as Lucy and Erza talked together at a bench.
"Mira!" Wendy called over the white-haired lady from before, who was standing behind the bar; cleaning some empty glasses.
"Oh, Wendy!" she greeted kindly, sending her a brilliant smile. Her gaze turned to study the phoenix slayer who smiled awkwardly. "Are you here to register with the guild?"
"Y-yeah." She said, slightly startled as she was knocked out of her thoughts.
"Ok," Mira pulled a massive book out from underneath the bar, flipping it open to a page. She turned to Rose. "So, what is your name, magic and age?"
"Rose Fellia... I'm twenty years old, and I use Phoenix Slaying Magic. This is Cylene, my companion."
Mira wrote down her details and the date before closing the book and pushing it to the side. "Now, what colour guild mark would you like and where?"
"Can I have..." Rose paused to think, "one which is red at the top and fades to yellow, on my right shoulder? Please?"
"Sure," Mira smiled, "good choice!"
The blue-eyed woman pulled a stamp out of a pocket in her dress, before gesturing for Rose to reveal her shoulder.
Rose pulled up the sleeve on her right shoulder, and the cold metal of the stamp touched her skin. She felt the hum of magic as it heated up slightly before Mira pulled it away.
As her gaze fell on the mark, Rose couldn't help but wonder how long it would be there for. She found the members of Fairy Tail to be pleasant so far, despite an awkward first impression. Ignoring the new thoughts swirling around in her mind, Rose glanced to Mira with a grateful smile, one which wasn't hidden by her muffler.
"Thank you."
Published: 09/06/2017
Edited: 26/03/2018