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I only remember asking Ichiya over and over again if he was telling the truth because I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t fucking believe it. All this freaking time he was in Blues Pegasus. BLUE PEGASUS? Seriously? This didn’t sound like him. At. All. Like them, for that matter.
Well, maybe… Freed… might’ve been the perfect Blue Pegasus member, but Bickslow and Ever? Not to mention Laxus? Naaah. Never. If someone would’ve told me a year ago that they’d join Blue Pegasus for the time being I’d have laughed them out of court. I mean…well, I’d still do that.
While trying to come to terms with the fact that I was obviously totally fucking wrong about Laxus I sat down with the others around the campfire. The last couple of days had a lot of campfire romanticism in them. Gajeel and Levy were constantly mocking each other, and still, every evening they were sitting side by side. Last night Gajeel even handed Levy his jacket after she started to shiver: Gajeel-ish without a word of course. Even though the days were hot as fuck the temperatures dropped in an instant once the sun set. It really was a pain in the ass. A campfire was only able to keep you warm for so long and once you left the fireplace the cold hit you hard. That was the reason why I generously took the task to look after the fire after everyone went to bed - meaning: I slept right next to the fire so I wouldn’t freeze my beautiful ass off. The advantages that accrued were numerous: I didn’t have to set up a tent. I mean… even if I wanted to set up a tent I couldn’t because I didn’t even own one. So sleeping right next to the fire was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Besides: Levy insisted that everyone should do something in order to make ‘life on the road’, as Gajeel referred to it, as enjoyable as possible, and by having a look after the fire I killed two birds with one stone. Warm ass. No other duties.
‘So, Cana, tell us. What have you been up to the last year? Everyone but you has already shared their stories,’ Levy asked. I didn’t even noticed that they’ve been talking the entire time. I should try to not lose myself in my thoughts that often. ‘Not much, actually. Been here and there and everywhere. I even trained a little bit.’
‘Ah, come on, Alberona. As if that’s been all,’ Gajeel grunted displeased. ‘Oh well, actually yes. It wasn’t that exciting. I worked as a barmaid in some clubs… speaking of… Hand me another beer, will ya?’ I politely asked Juvia who shot me another glance of ‘Don’t you dare drink to much’. Well, I didn’t care, but I faked a smile and nodded. Not a second later she grabbed a bottle from the beer case right next to her and chucked it to me. Without any sign of hesitation I attached the bottle to my teeth. It was my usual way of opening a bottle when no opener was in sight.
But someone interrupted me.
‘Woman. Still haven’t learned that opening a bottle with your teeth is bad for ‘em, have you?’
‘Say what?’ I couldn’t believe my ears so I slowly turned around to where the voice came from. There he stood flanked by his fan club. They awkwardly tried to fight their way out of the shrubberies.
For once I was happy to be left speechless. Though…
DAMN. What the heck has happened to them?
What the heck has happened to HIM?
He looked so… different.
All four of them did.
And there they were. Standing right in front of us. I couldn’t believe my eyes, though it seemed like I was the only one.
I didn’t even notice that I still sat there kind of frozen with the still sealed beer bottle at my lips.
Without hesitation Laxus took a few steps closer to me and snatched MY beer out of MY hands. Normally this would’ve been the moment where I’d throw a temper-tantrum. Nobody dared to take MY liquor out of my hands. Not even out of my cold, dead, and boney hands! No-fucking-body!
Well… Except maybe Laxus.
My jaw dropped.
Everyone’s jaw dropped.
With every second passing by my brain adjusted more and more to the fact that firstly: Laxus was back. And secondly: my beer was fucking gone.
And the latter one made me definitely not very happy. Laxus seemed to notice my mood, opened the bottle with a lighter, which he casually pulled out of his pocket, and gave it back to me.
While I just stared at the bottle, still looking for words, everyone jumped to their feet and pretty much ran the four of them over.
For the shortest moment ever I wasted a thought on getting up and squeezing the life out of the blonde and his fan club, but well. I still had this untouched beer so I rejected it out of hand and took a big sip. A whiskey would’ve been so much better in this moment. Or Stroh Rum for that matter. Dammit. Why did I let Juvia talk me into not bringing ALL of my liquor supplies again?
As the situation calmed down I finished my beer in another gulp and handed the bottle to Juvia, who was making herself comfortable next to Ever and Bickslow. The smart girl that she was she immediately reached for the next one and threw it across to me. But before I could even reach for it Laxus caught it. I was mere milliseconds away from a fit of rage — and he knew it. ‘Calm down, drunkard,’ he muttered calmly and handed me the beer after he opened it.
‘Y’know. I can open my beer all by myself. Lemme help your memory for once, because you were the one who showed me how to open a beer with my teeth when I was fourteen. Remember?’ I snarled. Should finally learn to contain myself a little better.
He chuckled.
Seriously? I did not intend to be funny. But he wasn’t impressed. As always. He’d never given much thought to me being overly emotional because when it came to my temper… well. You would not wanna mess with me.
‘Well, I was a teen back then, too, Alberona. Remember? And I was a pretty stupid one, if I may add. So you might wanna change for the better and forget about all the bullshit I taught you back then.’ Tsk. Arrogant as ever. I really did miss him. With one of his infamous cocky smiles on his lips he sat down next to me. I really didn’t know if I was happy or mad about that. For the past year I’ve been trying to get him out of my head. But to no effect. It was frustrating how much energy I put into forgetting this guy and now he just came out of nowhere, let’s just forget about the thing that I actually went on a trip to look for him, and now my feelings were all over the damn fucking place. All. Over. Again.
Things didn’t go as planned. Nothing new to me. I sucked at planning. I should listen to my cards more often.
In a bid to take my mind off of these things I had a look around one. Mira and Freed obviously had a blast. Well… maybe not obviously but you know… they seemed to have quite a nice chat. I knew Mira had a thing for Freed. She told me once because I kinda pumped her. She thought I was to drunk to remember the next day. I wasn’t. In return she made me promise that I’d make a move on Laxus as soon as I’d get the chance. I didn’t get one. And during the last year I desperately wanted to convince myself that I did not even want a chance either way. How could it be different: it did not work out.
‘So… what have you been up to?’ he asked casually.
I eyed him warily.
‘Not much. At least nothing interesting. Why ya wanna know?’
‘Because I’m curious. I haven’t heard from you for like a year. We’ve never lost contact for so long,’ he now mumbled.
‘Well, to say nothing from your excommunication, you mean, huh?’ I gave him a scowl.
He deserved it. But it didn’t seem to impress him much as he just smiled at me.
Damn guy.
‘So?’ he asked expectantly.
‘Worked as a barmaid. What about you? Ichiya told us you worked as an entertainer in Pegasus, right?’
Now it was my time to chuckle. The thought of him, Bicks, Ever and Freed stealing Ren, Hibiki and Eve the show. Grand!
A silent laughter escaped his lips.
‘Kind of. I preferred… working in the background though. Haven’t been around there much, anyways. I rather trained on my own.’
‘As always,’ I grinned.
I eyed him up. He really changed. You could see the twelve months of training quite clearly. I didn’t know how he managed doing it but he appeared even more ripped than before. His hair had grown a few inches. He looked more mature. I didn’t want to admit it, because it meant I was getting old, too, but I thought I even saw some tiny wrinkles around his eyes. He looked damn good.
For a while we just sat there at the fire. While the others eerily chatted and shared experiences, we sat there in silence — until he absentmindedly broke it. ’I missed ya, y’know.’ ‘The guild? Yeah. I missed them, too.’
I hated to admit it, but I during the last year I really missed everyone. I’d have loved to share a fish with Happy. Or just chill with Gray… no pun intended. Have a fight with Natsu. A chat with Lucy. A beer with my father whom I haven’t seen for what seemed like the longest time ever.
I have really missed everyone.
‘I didn’t mean the guild, drunkard,’ still starring into the nothing he interrupted my thoughts.
‘Enlighten m’…’ It clicked. I grinned.
‘Didn’t know you were capable of actually expressing your emotions,’ I teased him. ‘Didn’t even know you had emotions at all, for that matter.’
‘Why does everyone think of me as a cold-hearted asshole?’ he laughed, but still didn’t manage to look me in the eyes. He just continued sitting there like a marble statue with his sight directed to the fireplace. I raised my left eyebrow. ‘Rhethorical question, I guess.’ I started laughing.
‘But I missed you, too, Sparky.’ I missed him more than I ever wanted to admit, because admitting it would make it even more real that I depended on him. I really did. My mental safety depended entirely on him being… around. Alive.
‘Didn’t know you were capable of expressing your feelings while you’re sober’ he now counter-attacked.
‘Well… even though I’m more comfortable expressing my feelings when I’m wasted… When I’m sober I don’t seem to regret my actions as much as I do when I was drunk’, the words nearly flew out of my mouth - I couldn’t bring myself to emphasize any of them. They seemed to be spoken without a hint of an emotion. I just wanted them out. He smiled lightly because he knew that this was the closest to a confession he’d ever get from me. I knew it was exactly the same the other way around.
I was relieved that everyone already went to bed because the next moment I reduced the space between us and leaned on Laxus broad arm. My head rested on his shoulder and I intertwined my fingers with his. I missed his smell. Dammit. I missed him. Everything about him. Nobody would ever know how grateful and truly happy I felt after it had come to my ears, that his excommunication was reversed. After he finally started showing up at the guild again. And after we’ve finally reconnected again. And then Fairy Tail disbanded. And now… It felt way too good to be true, but even if it was just a dream. It was a peaceful and beautiful one. I closed my eyes trying to enjoy the moment. He kept the fire burning for the night so I wouldn’t freeze and even laid his coat around my shoulders.
I couldn’t care less about the fact, that Mira would find us in exactly this position the next day.