VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

4. Baby Alberona

"Uh... when will Gildarts come back?"

It's X772, and Eir comes home to a strange sight. A little girl, couldn't be any older than five or six years old, was talking to Macao and Wakaba at the bar.

Wow. Dangerous.

"What are you pedophiles doing?" he asked, setting his bag on the desk.

"Who're you calling a pedophile?" Macao snapped back, "who even taught you that word, anyway?"

"Oh Eir, you're back!" Wakaba laughed, unaffected by Eir's remarks at this point, "this little one wants to meet Gildarts, but he just left."

"Hehh."

Eir crouched down. The girl was small-- really tiny. She held a leash for a white puppy, and had a small sack on her back. From the mud on her shoes and grime on her features, she had probably been travelling for a while now.

Such a small child, travelling alone? Eir softened.

"Hi there, what's your name?" he asked, and all people around him collectively released a dramatic gasp.

"I-" the girl stutterd out, a flush in her cheeks, "I'm Cana."

"Oh, that's a cute name," Eir responded with a smile, ignoring the idiots staring at them, "my name Eir. It's spelled with an E, but it's pronounced 'Air', weird, right?"

He chuckled a little, and Cana giggled.

"That's a really weird name," she agreed.

In the crowd, people were pinching each other and shaking each other desperately, pointing exaggerated fingers at the scene.

"You are seeing this, right?" Macao hissed at Wakaba, "that devil of a brat is smiling! This isn't a dream? I'm not hallucinating?? He's making a very soft and gentle voice but that's my imagination too, right?!"

Eir felt irked at that, face darkening in that direction.

"Your puppy's really well behaved," Eir smiled again, rubbing an affectionate hand on the little white puppy, "does he have a name?"

"Uhn!" Cana was a little excited for some reason, "his name is Dart!"

Eir couldn't help but fawn at that. She was adorable. Her hair was dark brown, slightly curled-- just like his little sisters from his past life.

"Then, little Cana, are you going to wait for Gildarts to come back?" he asked, and when she nodded, he continued, "it'll take a while... do you have anywhere to stay?"

Cana looked crestfallen. She didn't.

Eir blinked.

"Well, let's bring you to Fairy Hills for now and get you washed up, then," he said, easily winding an arm around the girl's frame and picking her up, along with her dog. "I'm sure Granny Hilda would be willing to spare a room."