Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙞 𝙙𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙮 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨
❛ 𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭. ❜

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Rose woke up that morning at the crack of dawn, still tired. She snuck out of the tent silently, hoping she wouldn't wake the slumbering requip mage beside her, and relit the dying fire.

Breakfast would have to wait until she'd had a cup of coffee – despite her exhaustion, she'd found it difficult to sleep the night previous (for obvious reasons). She heard the zipper of Kou's tent being drawn before the dark-haired child emerged from the tent.

"Good morning," Rose mumbled to him. He returned the greeting sleepily, plopping down on top of the log and holding his hands out to the warm fire. Rose passed him a mug. "Here. It's hot chocolate."

"Thanks," Kou murmured as he cradled the drink in his hands. Rose smiled lightly at him, not hearing the footsteps behind her until it was too late.

Rose felt hair brush against her neck lightly, as someone whispered, "Boo."

"Holy shit—" Rose spun and came close to dumping her coffee on Adell, who caught her wrist before the scalding liquid could hit him.

"No need to assault me over it," he chirped in a chipper tone. Rose rolled her eyes as he stole a sip from the mug before releasing her hand.

"You could have just asked me for another cup," she retorted hotly.

Adell smiled lightly. "Where's the fun in that?"

"... you two need to stop flirting," Kou muttered in an irritated tone. "I don't want to be the third wheel."

"What?!" Rose spun and shot daggers at Kou with her eyes. "We're not flirting!"

Kou shrugged nonchalantly, though she could see the devious glint in his eyes. Rose could feel the blood rush to her cheeks, and she quickly busied herself with her mug of coffee before anything else humiliating happened. Something draped itself over her shoulders – Adell's cloak, Rose realised. The requip mage mussed her hair lightly with a small smile, before stepping away.

"I'm going to go check the area out," he told her.

Rose nodded, watching as he faded amongst the trees, and downed the remainder of her coffee. The mug made a dull sound as she placed it down on the log and turned her attention to securing the cape. Breakfast was her duty today, so she left Kou to finish his drink and collected her bag from the tent.

By the time Adell was back from his venture, Kou had already finished breakfast and Rose was halfway through hers. The requip mage plopped down on the log beside her and snatched a piece of bacon from the plate. Rose grumbled, used to it by that point, and passed him his own plate.

"Thanks," Adell said with a grateful smile.

Rose eyed him for a moment, still mourning the loss of her bacon, before taking another bite from her toast. "I really don't understand your need to steal my food..."

"I bet it's because he likes you," Kou said in a bored tone. Rose coughed abruptly, and could tell that both she and Adell were blushing. "What? It's true, isn't it?"

"You... you're too young to talk about that," Rose cut Kou off before he could say anything more. She practically inhaled her food in her haste to get away before she died of embarrassment, and Adell was the same – she could spot his tomato red face from a mile away.

A short while passed, and the campsite had been completely packed up. The heavy scent of a storm lingered in the air. It seemed it would rain soon. Rose slung her pack over her shoulder and cast a glance at the cloudy sky, eyes darkening.

"Let's get going!" Kou tugged at her sleeve impatiently.

Rose withdrew her gaze from the sky to focus on the dark-haired boy, who gestured to where Adell was extinguishing the last of the embers from the campfire.

"Right," the girl murmured distractedly. "Let's go."

Rose spent the trek through the valley in a state of introspection, expression more stoic than ever. Her mind was occupied with the happenings of the days previous. Why had she been feeling so odd? She'd never felt quite like this before, which was saying a lot considering her age.

And the source of all her troubles?

The armoured mage in front of her, who was currently reading a map upside down.

"Adell," Rose interrupted his muttering, planning to correct him, only to find she didn't have the heart to tell him. He'd never been too good with directions, which led her to wonder how he managed to survive on his own. "Why don't you... take a break, from... navigating? I'll take care of it from here."

"Okay..." Adell pouted as he reluctantly passed the map to her, holding onto the paper a little longer than necessary. Rose could tell he was completely clueless about their position on the map, judging by the look in his eyes. Shifting her gaze from the man to the paper, she felt her expression fall into a deadpan.

'He was going in the complete opposite direction...'

Still, she couldn't bring herself to ruin the pleasant atmosphere, so she led them in a small arc through the woods which didn't lengthen their journey by too much. Only enough to convince Adell that he had been successful in his role as navigator. It was a few hours later when they stopped for a lunch break on a large, flat stone from where they could see over the tops of the trees.

Adell plopped down on the edge of the rock, allowing his legs to dangle, and Kou was investigating some of the plants nearby. Rose pocketed her compass, casting a glance at the map one last time before placing it in her bag. She'd check their position once more when they reached the next landmark.

"Want some water?" Adell said, holding his canteen out to her from his seated position. Rose hesitated, before accepting and lowering herself to sit beside him.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem," Adell winked. Rose tried to ignore the sudden heart palpitation, but part of her began to suspect that perhaps she had arrhythmia. It wouldn't be too farfetched, considering how irregular her heartbeat had been as of late.

What could have caused it? As a phoenix slayer, she was nearly invulnerable to physical ailments – why was her heart suddenly acting up?

The first time had been when Adell showed up at the guild hall, then again just a day later – then the night previous, when he'd...

'Oh, hell no,' were her first thoughts. Rose suddenly turned to stare daggers at the mage beside her, who looked befuddled. Gradually, the intensity of her stare began to make him uncomfortable. 'Do I... on him...? No!'

Abruptly, she spun back around to glare at the distant horizon as though it had done something to offend her. 'No no no no nope nope nope NO!'

"Are you okay, Rose?"

The phoenix slayer was frowning deeply at this point, despite the tell-tale tinge of red to her cheeks. Adell's question had her even more flustered, though he couldn't possibly guess what it was she was thinking about.

"I—I'm fine! Absolutely, no problem here!"

Published: 18/01/2018

Edited: 24/09/2018