Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢. 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 {𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝}

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙩. 𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙮
❛ ... ❜

◊

Rose walked beside Adell down the cobblestone pathway, her arms crossed behind her head. The trip on the train back to Magnolia had taken all night, so it was presently early morning. There was barely anyone out, besides the fishermen in their boats who were rowing down the canal.

The dark-haired girl's breath came out in misty clouds, and even though she didn't feel cold she adjusted the crimson red muffler around her neck. It was a habit of hers.

The muffler had been with her throughout everything, and even if it seemed silly she felt like it was one of the only things which stayed the same no matter how much time had passed.

Rose couldn't help but wonder about what she would do should a situation in which her friends lives were being threatened. She was surprised at how quickly her mind gave her an answer.

No mercy.

If anyone tried to hurt her guildmates, or Cylene and Adell...

Part of her wanted to kill anyone who'd dare try. But she knew that wouldn't happen. Her guildmates were too kind-hearted to kill, so she would have to restrain her slightly overprotective tendencies.

Rose recalled the bright smile on Kou's face as he waved goodbye to her and Adell when they left his home. Kou had still been wearing the flower crown which Rose had braided for him.

Kairi had stood beside him, a hand placed on the boy's back as she waved goodbye.

"Thank you," she had said.

Rose couldn't help but feel there was another meaning to the elderly woman's words.

Her gaze travelled from the path ahead to Adell, who had a strange atmosphere about him. He'd been especially solemn since they got on the train, and Rose was tempted to ask what was wrong- but at the same time, she was worried he might get angry.

Adell had ignored all of the phoenix slayer's concerned gestures, and it would have been awkward if they started an argument on the train, so she had stayed silent.

She had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Hey, is... is something wrong?" Rose finally managed to say, her gaze focused on Adell as she awaited his answer. The male clenched his jaw tightly in response to her words. His fists clenched by his sides.

"Yes, there is something wrong."

Rose blinked, wondering why he had suddenly started to act so strange. They stopped walking. The streets around them were empty, the stores having not opened yet. There weren't even any birds about, and the fishermen were long gone.

It was eerily quiet. Like the calm at the eye of a hurricane. 

Adell clenched his fists, before turning to throw the startled girl a frustrated look.

"Rose. You know what I mean. You need to tell them. They will understand, I know it. They're close to you." He paused, eyes darkening. "I... can't be by your side forever. You need more people to understand you. You don't have to be alone."

"I'm not alone." Rose refused to look at him, crossing her arms over her chest. She could feel her mood turning sour. "I'm happy with them. Nothing needs to change. You could even join the guild- then we could go out together on requests all the time!"

He was quiet, clearly taken by surprise. 

Rose revised what she had just said and began to feel flustered when she noticed how cringy she must have sounded. Since when was she in one of those sappy love stories- why was she even considering this to be a love story? 

The phoenix slayer felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she began to turn away, preparing herself to make a bolt for the guild. Maybe she should lock herself up in the basement and hide from humanity for the rest of her life?

Yeah. That sounded like a good plan.

Adell caught her wrist, careful not to squeeze it too tight.

"Rose," Adell's tone was distraught. He sounded like he was about to cry, and that upset Rose more than anything else. "That isn't what I mean. I... just want to make sure that you won't feel alone anymore."

For a moment Rose believed him. She wanted to tell them everything- how she became a phoenix slayer, how Felliora was taken from her, what she had done during her time in the dark guild, all about the fun she had in Fairy Tail... she wanted to tell them everything. 

Keeping it all to herself hurt. 

But she couldn't burden her guildmates with a history as awful as hers. She was scared that they'd stop seeing her as herself, that they would think of her as a monster- that they would hate her for the lives she had ruined.

Rose backed away from him, still avoiding eye contact. She could feel his eyes on her.

All of a sudden, her boots seemed quite interesting. Their dark shades contrasted quite nicely against the light grey pallet of the cobblestone.

"I'm not alone."

Lies.

The red-haired knight scowled, though the expression seemed kind of forced on his face. Rose had become used to his smile, so seeing such a disapproving expression directed at her by him hurt. A lot more than she let on.

"It looks like..." It seemed like it physically pained Adell to finish his sentence. "I have no choice, then."

Rose felt a chill roll down her spine, and she immediately removed her hand from Adell's iron grasp.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't answer.

Adell closed his eyes and began whispering some kind of chant under his breath. The air around them stirred in response to his words, and a pale blue light was emitted from his clasped hands.

Rose couldn't move.

The wind had picked up, and began to spin in frantic circles around the two. Streaks of blue light had begun to join the whirlwind, which had begun to shrink.

Rose didn't know what to do. Out of all the people she knew, Adell was the one person she had trusted the most. After they first met he had slowly earned her trust, bit by bit, and eventually he had become one of the most important existences in her life. If it wasn't for him she would still be in a dark guild.

She'd trust him with her life in a heartbeat.

So... why was he doing this?

Her vision began to dull. She felt dizzy, and her eyes slowly began to close of their own accord.

The wind stopped.

Rose fell backwards, having lost control of her limbs, but she was caught by Adell. He secured her in place, with one of his arms placed behind her back. His mouth was pressed into a firm line, as if he was forcing himself not to say anything.

Darkness crept into her vision. It was swirling at the corners of her sight, slowly pressing in on her. 

Rose felt an emotion which she hadn't felt for a while pierce her heart. Something soft and warm ghosted over her forehead, but it was gone before she could figure out what it was. Her vision had already faded to nothing.

"I'm so sorry..."