Chapter Text
It was a normal day at the guild hall, only a few weeks after the 24-Hour Endurance Run, a Fairy Tail tradition that involved all members of fairy tail running for the prize of first, or the prize of simply not being last. The season was always full of cheer and fun as it also was the time of the Flower-Blooming Festival, another event shared between guildmates.
People talked and laughed in the hall, some still enjoying the newest volume of the Sorcerer Magazine, in which some of Fairy Tails' most prideful wizards were forced to dress in embarrassing outfits for the whole world to enjoy (although it had been out for a while, magazine lifetime wise). But not all were merry.
Gray and Cana were discussing something at a table by themselves, glancing testily at a lax wizard at the other end of the room, tipping his glasses and chatting charmingly to a small group of girls. Despite the three being good friends, neither Gray nor Cana were entirely thrilled to see him.
“Can you believe that guy~” Cana snarled to Gray bitterly, gulping down her drink, “He left us for months and then showed up to do absolutely nothing.”
Gray looked down at the table thoughtfully, grasping his hands together on the table. Cana was right. From the last time they saw him around (sans being summoned into battle) Fairy Tail has had three major events; traditions that bind the family together. The Fantasia Parade in the fall, Flower Blooming-Festival in the spring, and (to Makarov at least) the 24-Hour Endurance Race to commemorate the beginning of summer. All yearly activities the guild was supposed to do all together. Loke didn’t show up to any of them.
The ice mage turned back to look at his friend again, who seemed to have been approached by Max and Warren. He cares to participate in idle chit chat but won’t even attend some of the guilds most important events?
Gray may have been staring lost in his own thoughts for a bit too long as Loke looked over in his direction and the two made eye contact almost immediately. Loke looked gently confused and Gray quickly went to look at something else (How long was his spaced out brain staring right at him??). Shrugging it off, Loke said his farewells to Max and Warren (who were making jokes and comments about Gray) and headed towards the table Gray and Cana were at.
“HI Gray, Cana” He addressed happily, walking over to stand beside the two seated guild members, “Y’know Gray If you wanted to chat you could’ve simply come to me. You didn’t need to stare at me.”
“I wasn’t trying to stare at you, bastard!” Gray defended loudly. Cana smiled and huffed a small laugh, but it was hard to enjoy their banter with how Loke had acted this past month. As Gray and Loke made simple conversation, she grew annoyed with his presence. He didn’t seem to realize at all that he was gone. He showed up today to do what exactly? Relax? He had left her for almost a year and he doesn’t seem to even realize it (And she couldn’t even say he was the only mage who made her feel that way this week)
“Makarov’s really pissed at you you know,” Cana said, purposefully breaking their flow of casual conversation (she didn’t feel like having that with him right now, and part of her knew Gray didn’t either). She sassily rested her chin in the palm of her hand, elbow on the table, gripping her beer with the other (though it was unfortunately empty already).
“Is that so?” Loke puzzled. He looked over at Gray, hoping for more information.
Gray thanked Cana for shifting the subject with a head nod directed at her (though to Loke it would seem more like he was simply agreeing with Cana). “She’s right. The old man definitely wants a word with you this time.”
Loke hummed thoughtfully at both their statements, tipping his glasses once more.
“What is it?” Gray asked, releasing the grasp his hands had; instead one hand grabbed the side of the table while the other’s elbow leaned over the back of the bench.
“It’s just,” Loke crossed his arms, “Warren said something similar…”
“Ehh” Gray noised
“I honestly don’t know why Master Makarov would be upset with me.” Loke wondered, releasing his ringed hand to hold his chin, “ I haven’t been at the Guild in a while so I’m not sure I could have done anything to upset him...”
Cana squinted her eyes at her now empty mug. She knew he could be oblivious at times but this was some next level dumbassholery. So he knows he’s been gone for a while and doesn't even care? That really pissed her off and Cana couldn’t hold in her anger anymore.
“Maybe that’s the problem!” She shrieked, standing up and slamming her mug on the table, too enraged to even consider shedding tears.
Loke was taken aback by his old partner's decree. One of his arms instinctively flung at an angle in front of his body and the other elbow bent back a tad in a confused and shocked stance.
Cana pushed Gray to the side so she could squeeze through to the open alleyway; standing not even a foot away from the lion spirit.
“C-Cana…?” He stuttered out in confusion as she approached him.
“You think the Master would let you ignore the guild for a whole year!?” she shouted.
“Ignore the... Cana calm down, I haven’t ignored the guild, I have just been busy.” Loke dismissed calmly, hand waving his prolonged absence.
“Busy? Busy with what!?” She leaned close to him, with her hands aggressively on her hips.
“Excuse me…” Mirajane addressed quietly, walking up to the feud from the side with the bar and stairs, trying to get the arguing mages attention (to little avail).
“I am the Leader of the Celestial Zodiacs. As Leo the Lion I have a duty to both those spirits and to my owner Lucy.”
“Loke, Master would like to…” Mirajane spoke again, but her sentence was quickly yelled over by Cana.
“Yeah right. Like Lucy really needed you to be in the spirit world when we held the Fantasia Parade!” She remarked, keeping the argument away from her own hurt emotions. They actually participated in that together in a previous year. All the item magic type users were designated to the same float. Back then they didn’t know too much about each other and all the item users worked together to create a grand spectacle (although they were leagues below the elemental float). He got a good smack for trying to flirt with her, but they became friends and got drinks together after the show.
“Well.. you see-” Loke stammered, trying to remember what event she was talking about. He had only been in the guild for two years, and they held a lot of seemingly trivial festivals, so it was hard to keep track (although the amount of alcohol they shared that night may also hurt his memory of the event).
Nevertheless, It hurt Cana to know he, once again, couldn’t realize what he did wrong. Her eyes sank from anger to bitter sadness. She had been here since she was a little girl. To her the guild was family. But maybe he really didn’t care about the guild; didn’t see it like she did. She couldn’t sway him by claiming he left the guild behind, but, to her, he left more than just the guild.
“You just disappeared, Loke” She stepped back from Loke and allowed her arms to fall freely by her side. She wrapped her arm around her belly, resting her hand on her guild marked side. She looked down at first but held her head to his gaze. She wasn’t able to talk to him before he left again, but maybe telling off Loke would quell her pain. “You left for a year and came back like it was nothing.”
Loke looked guilty at Cana, finally realizing that he was truly the one making her upset. As the two sulked, Gray was the only one to notice Mirajane was still waiting there, whimpering a bit at the growing tension.
“Mira, what’s up?” Gray greeted. Mira shook off her dismay watching the argument to relay the master's request.
“Ah Gray, Makarov wants a word with Loke” She explained gently. Loke nodded at Mira hesitantly and began to follow her. As she escorted him out, he glanced back at Cana one final time. They exchanged looks of regret and anger before Cana looked away vexingly. After this talk with Makarov he had to make things right with her.
Entering a small square room, Makarov stood furious and silent on the table in the center, back facing him. An aura of rage swirled around him and Loke’s whole body shivered as Mira waved goodbye and closed the door. He forgot how scary this man could get (he personally never got in too deep of trouble with him) and maybe going into this so relaxed was a mistake. A bead of sweat ran down his face. Maybe he should’ve patched things up the Gray and Cana before coming in here, because the way Makarov looked he was not getting out alive.