Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐯𝐢𝐢. 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙣𝙨
❛ 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴? ❜

◊

It was a few days after the subjugation request. Rose was seated in the guildhall on a stool (which surprisingly hadn't collapsed under her weight). To be honest, everything in the guild looked as though it would fall apart at a touch. Mira was doing a great job keeping the guild on its feet.

Rose stroked Cylene's scales, deep in thought. When would she leave? In a few weeks, or a few months? She couldn't just stay, could she? Besides, a month would be plenty of time to socialise...

But she wasn't sure she'd be willing to leave in a month. Rose actually like being part of a guild, which was surprising considering her usual take on company.

Gray and Natsu were fighting each other again. Even that was something she had grown used to.

Of course, the first couple days she was always on edge – on her third day at the guild, Gray almost had his face burned off because he grazed her cheek with an icicle. It had healed immediately, and Rose apologised, but her guildmates were all a bit more cautious about startling her.

While she was lost in thought, a stool came flying right at her face.

All of her guildmates besides two idiots, of course.

The guild went silent for a moment as a thud resounded. Lucy sent Natsu a shocked look. Was he trying to get killed?

Rose was tempted to cremate the stool, but she didn't want Mira to have to clean up the mess. Instead, she placed the stool which she had caught with her free hand on the ground. A hand mark had been burned into its surface. Rose was tempted to apologise to the stool. It hadn't deserved such a cruel fate.

Lucy let out a relieved sigh when Rose seemed to not want to start a brawl. Fights in the guild were hectic enough without the phoenix slayer also getting involved.

"Try that again and I'll burn your face off, you overgrown gecko."

Lucy had spoken too soon.

Thankfully, it was at that moment that Makarov interfered.

"Alright, brat's! Gather up!"

The guild master was perched on top of the railing which skirted the second floor. Rose glanced up at him apathetically. Natsu and Gray had to be silenced by Erza, but the rest of the guild congregated obediently.

"We all know that the Grand Magic Games will be taking place in a few months. Thanks to that, I have made the decision of who will be going."

Rose's curiosity was aroused. Grand Magic Games? They sounded interesting. Too bad she'd have left the guild by then...

"Those who will be representing Fairy Tail in the Games are Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Wendy Marvell and Lucy Heartfilia. The reserve will be Rose Fellia!"

'What?'

Why was... why was she chosen? Why had they chosen her? What was the Master thinking? She had been part of the guild for a mere few days... it made no sense! His decision wasn't even remotely logical! Wasn't this important to the guild? It was Fairy Tail's chance to prove that they were strong...

Why had they chosen a complete stranger?

Cylene peered up at the phoenix slayer worriedly, but Rose wasn't paying attention.

"Go on, my children, and make this guild proud!"

Children?

Her?

Why were they putting so much trust in her, of all people?

The master pointed his finger at the sky. The guild cheered and mimicked his action.

Rose merely clenched her fists. She had to leave. She couldn't stay with them. She couldn't become attached. That would be a death wish.

They didn't know anything. They'd accepted a monster into their ranks.

Hadn't any of them ever heard about the wolf in sheep's clothing?

Rose was thrown out of her contemplative state when Natsu barrelled into her. She managed to land in a crouch with Cylene cradled in her arms. Natsu grabbed the stool she had been sitting on and pitched it at Gray's face.

Rose scowled.

"Natsu..."

The salamander turned slightly and poked his tongue out at her.

Rose threw a fireball. Natsu absorbed the attack smugly. "I'm all fired up!"

"Ice Make: Hammer!"!"

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Flame Phoenix's Screech!"

The attacks destroyed each other. A foggy smoke filled the guild. Rose leapt upwards and used a blast of flame to direct herself at Natsu.

"Take that!"

Her kick smashed into Natsu's face. She used him as a platform and pushed, using the force generated to land on the ground behind Gray. The ice mage received a kick to the back of his knee. Rose grinned at them both smugly.

Lucy chose that moment to interrupt. "Hey, Rose? I wanted to talk to you about your magic since we're gonna be on the same team..."

"Huh?" Rose glanced at the blonde, who smiled at her hesitantly. "Oh. Sure, what did you want to know?"

"Do you have any special skills?" Erza asked.

Rose plopped down onto a stool which had escaped from the fight unharmed. "Special skills?... I guess I can heal myself – does that count?"

"Woah, really? So you can regenerate?"

"As long as I have a sufficient amount of energy, yeah. The more serious the injury, the more energy it takes to heal."

"Huh." Lucy placed a hand on her chin as if in deep thought. "What about your strength? And the range of your attacks?"

Rose didn't really feel comfortable discussing her weaknesses, but Lucy was different.

"Eh... well, I'm not as buff as the salamander but my physical strength is sufficient. I rely more on experience than anything." Rose glanced away from Lucy. "I can use spells for mid-range and I know how to fight in close combat as well."

"Wow. You're really skilled. You must have trained a lot, huh?"

Rose flinched, though it was quite subtle.

"Yeah... I guess you could say that."

Maybe she could stay. Just for a while – until the Grand Magic Games were over. Once Fairy Tail was back on their feet she would leave.

'Yeah, keep telling yourself that.'

Published: 26/09/2017

Edited: 17/06/2018