Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢. 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 {𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝}

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙯𝙖𝙮𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙡𝙛 𝙭 𝙣𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙞
❛ ... ❜

◊

Rose laid back on the hill, breathing softly as she sunk into the bed of grass. Kou was currently beside her, staring at the bright blue sky silently, and Adell had stayed back at the village to help Kairi prepare dinner.

Rose was surprised she hadn't noticed the similarities between Kou and his grandmother earlier. They had the same eyes- it was like looking into a mirror.

The phoenix slayer could recall the day that she had met Kairi. That was when the woman was a child, younger than Kou was now. Rose had spent a few decades working with the dark guild which had destroyed Kairi's village. It had taken place quite a while before she met Adell.

Rose still wasn't sure why she had let Kairi and her parents escape, but she was glad that she had. If she hadn't, Kou wouldn't have been alive now. For once she felt like her past self had done something right.

Her crimson red eyes fluttered shut as she enjoyed the cool autumn breeze which blew through the valley before she opened them again slowly.

The phoenix slayer stretched lazily in a manner which resembled a cat, her eyes closing once again as she began to speak.

"So... what should we do?"

There was a moment of silence before Kou answered.

"Do you know how to braid flower crowns?"

Rose paused for a moment, the question filling her with an odd sense of nostalgia. "Flower crowns? Yeah."

"Can you teach me? I picked a bunch of flowers on the way up here..."

Rose smirked, sitting upright as she flashed the kid a bright grin. "Sure. Pass me some, I'll show you the first step and then you can copy."

Kou passed her a bundle of various kinds of flowers. Their colours ranged from a pink-tinged white to a light coral.

Rose carefully removed the dead leaves, before crossing two of the flower stems over each other and bending one around the other, completing a few simple movements to lock the flowers into place. Kou followed her every movement carefully, and they both sat there for a while as they worked intently on their pieces.

Every now and then they would exchange words, but those were mostly about how to work different things into the crown and the other's opinion on how they were progressing.

Rose was relieved that they didn't talk about her and Adell leaving. That would have been an awkward topic. Rose wasn't entirely sure why Kou had gotten attached to her so quickly, though... was it because she had been the one to rescue him from the basement of the bandit's hideout?

She pushed her contemplative thoughts away, instead focusing on integrating more flowers into her crown.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they had finished.

"Ta-da!" Rose grinned, holding up her crown. She had incorporated some leaves from the trees around them into her crown, resulting in a brilliant mix of golden-orange, red and light pink. Kou held up his own creation, which was a bit crooked but still quite good for his first attempt.

The dark-haired boy had used pale pink and coral in his, along with a few white daisies. 

Rose grinned, placing her completed work on top of Kou's head gently.

"I bestow upon you this crown!" she cheered, as if she had just presented him with the title of king. Kou returned the favour, but his crown wouldn't rest properly on her head because of Rose's ponytail. The phoenix slayer pulled her hair tie away from her hair, allowing Kou to nestle the crown of flowers upon her head.

They both flashed each other bright smiles, before Rose pointed towards the sky.

"Hey, look! It's the sunset..."

Kou glanced in the direction she was pointing; beyond the village, the sun was setting, and casting brilliant streaks of colour across the sky.

"Woah..."

The stars had begun to appear, but the sun was still out; creating a startlingly beautiful sight to behold. The trees around them had their leaves transformed into a brilliant shade of gold, rustling in the gentle wind.

The two stayed there for a short moment, their attention completely captured by the awe-inspiring sunset.

A sudden breeze was what caused them to look away from the sight. Some of the leaves on the trees around them were sent blowing away in a shower, and Rose's untied hair was whipped around in all directions.

The phoenix slayer sighed, having realised that it was getting late.

"We should start heading back soon..."

Kou groaned disappointedly but listened. Rose got up from her position on the floor before holding a hand out for the younger boy to take, which he did so with no hesitation. Once they were both standing Kou spoke.

"Hey, Rose... will you come back?"

Rose blinked at the child curiously. "What do you mean?"

Kou's eyes were downcast. "You're leaving... will you die?"

The phoenix slayer hesitated. Why was he asking something like that? She was about to express her confusion, but that was before she realised the source of his worries.

"You heard Adell?" Rose guessed.

Kou nodded ashamedly.

Rose wasn't sure how she would handle this situation, so she decided she would just go with the flow. She was definitely not very good at dealing with children, but Kou was more mature than most kids so he would (probably) be easier to deal with.

Hopefully.

"Listen, Kou..." Rose sent the boy a reassuring smile. "I'm a phoenix slayer. I'm more than capable of dealing with anything which tries to hurt me. Besides, Adell was just being over-protective and felt annoyed I gave him a hard time during the battle we had yesterday."

Kou nodded slowly, as if registering what she had said.

"Do you promise? That you won't die?"

He held out his pinkie finger.

Rose smiled, linking her own finger to his. Her eyes seemed to hide a darker emotion, though it went unnoticed by Kou.

"Promise."

Promises are made to be broken.