space | fairy tail

1 | the sleeping dragon

Fairy Tail was lively as ever, now that Team Tenrou had returned. The guild was rejoicing, save for the Fourth Master.

"Where the hell is that girl?" Macao gritted.

"I'm sorry Macao, who are you referring too?" Makarov asked him from his spot adjacent to the distressed man.

"It's one of our members. Her name is Galatea, but we all call her Tea." Macao said, "She left for a job four months ago and hasn't returned yet."

Mira, being near the two perked up.

"Why not send out a search party or ask one of the other guilds to look out for her?" Mira asked.

"We would but the nature of her magic makes her impossible to track down." Macao replied.

"So what's she like?" Makarov asked, "Have some strong Fairy Tail energy in her?"

"Yes, but lucky for us she rarely destroys anything. She hates drawn out fights, so her damage to her surrounding is almost always low." Macao explained.

Makarov look relieved.

"And, has she been enjoying guild despite how different it is?" Makarov asked.

"We don't see her around often, but of what we see, yes." Macao said, "She already had several re-occurring clients before she joined us, and she helps pay most of the bills since her jobs are often the only high-paying ones."

"The council even likes her, well mostly." Wakaba commented, "They sometimes send job requests over."

Makarov seemed surprised.

"She sounds like an interesting lady."

"She is."

The conversation lulled, and suddenly the air in the guild tightened. Makarov immediately felt a strong magical presence around him.

Everyone prepared for the attack, and a black and purple portal opened against the wall, startling quite a few people. A young woman stepped out of the portal.

"I'm back..." She said in a tired tone as the portal closed behind her.

The woman had long, wavy light purple hair that was partially pulled into a secure bun on the top of her head while the rest tousled down her back. She had light blue eyes that blinked tiredly while also curiously scanning the room. Of her visible figure, she was toned and had rather tanned skin. She was dressed in a dark blue gown that covered her toes, and its sleeves puffed out before gathering at her wrists tightly. Over top of the dress she had a black front-laced stay with gold fleur-de-lis covering it. Poking out from her stay, on her right collarbone was a black guildmark.

"Where the hell have you been?" Macao questioned, clearly annoyed.

She simply took a seat at the open table and laid her head in her folded arms.

"..."

"Don't play dumb with me, young lady."

"...I overslept, Macao."

Many were surprised by the girl's raspy tone, which sounded like she just woke up.

"You've been gone for four months." Macao said, ready to burst a vein.

"Again, I overslept." She muttered, barely loud enough for people to hear.

Macao felt a tick appear on his forehead.

"GALATEA SPARKLINGS!" Macao boomed, "YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE THE GUILD A HEART ATTACK."

A few people flinched, but the girl, Galatea, looked like she was about to fall asleep.