Life After Near Death

A Time to Celebrate

"My lips got lost on the way to the kiss—
that's how drunk I
was."
― Rumi

Fantasia!

Last year, Gray missed Fantasia because he was still in the hospital. He remembered how depressed he had been feeling, furious at his bad luck, hating life, wishing he had just died in battle, feeling that would have been more noble than the wretched life he had, filled with pain, surgeries, blood transfusions, and staring at a mutilated leg that doctors warned would never work again.

Now, he could not be happier. He and Natsu teamed up for a fire-and-ice float. Natsu was the flaming dragon atop a makeshift mountain they made on the float, and Gray was the gallant prince defending from the dragon's flames with his sword and shield of ice. The kids loved it!

It was a parade of lights and magic. There was always a special emotion associated with Fantasia, memories of the past, both good and bad. Mostly it was a time to be with friends, show off a little to the townspeople, laugh, drink, and party. It was the harvest festival, and food abounded.

So did girls!

It was normal, almost traditional, for young men and women in the town to rush up to their favorite wizards after the parade and flirt with them. Lucy loved the attention. Erza was indifferent but looked generally happy. Evergreen flaunted her fairy wings. Juvia looked overwhelmed and dizzy. Lisanna laughed with the men and agreed to many animal transformations, apparently oblivious that she was making some men's fantasies come true. Timid Wendy shied away from admirers, Carla did her best to defend her, until finally Mest and Romeo both came to her side and shoved aside a few perverts. Mira, of course, had the most admirers by far and posed for many pictures.

The men were no different. Admirers vied for the attention of Laxus, Freed, Elfman, Gajeel, Gray, Natsu, and others. Each acted in their own ways. Laxus looked utterly unconcerned, standing there for photos with folded arms and a stone-cold face. Freed looked ready to panic from all the fawning women and tried to hide near Laxus. Elfman awkwardly blushed as girls cooed over his muscles and called him manly. Gajeel had grabbed Levy out of a mob of men and split so fast, townsfolk looked around in confusion, wondering where he could have gone.

As for Gray, he personally liked this part of the festival. In the past, he would flirt around, slip away with a group of girls, and end up with one—sometimes more than one—by the end of the night. It was a good time to get laid.

Even now, although he had no intension of going home with any of them, he smiled and chatted with the ladies. He thanked their compliments and showed them magic tricks. He gave one lucky lady an ice rose.

Natsu was trying to deal with the people around him. He signed some autographs and blindly accepted a few business cards with girls winking and telling him to call them on lacrima sometime. However, he kept looking over to Gray.

Gray looked like he was having fun, but seeing him around a lot of girls made Natsu burn with jealousy. He knew how Gray used to be. People said he was only slightly better than Loke when it came to women.

Did he really like all the female attention?

Natsu usually fled to the guild, just like Gajeel had done. He might pose for a few pictures or accept some gifts, but he never stayed around like this before.

He never realized how many admirers he had!

Happy flew up with a large sack and began to put away the boxes of chocolate and wrapped candies from girls, excited at the idea of eating all these sweets later. Natsu was almost amused by all the candies they were getting. Maybe sticking around was not such a bad thing.