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When the girl finally came to her senses and took in her surroundings, she was extremely confused as to what time it was, and what led her to this spot.
Then the memories hit her like a ton of bricks, as she recalled the events from the day prior.
Standing up she balanced herself before making her way to the guild hall. Based on the sunlight, she assumed it was about 9 in the morning or so.
Maki pushed the doors open and allowed the morning rays in behind her.
Macao stood from his seat and walked over to the girl. He took into account her disheveled hair, puffy eyes and upset demeanor. The girl was a mess and he felt awful.
"Listen Maki, about yesterday..." he said trailing off. What was there to say? Sorry for telling you about your guild mates dying? He had nothing to apologize for, so instead he said, "I promise you we will get through this. There's a reason why fairytail is considered the best guild out there."
The girl lifted her gaze and smiled sadly at the man, and mumbled a small, "yeah."
As she made her way through the guild hall, she took everyone's dementors into account. Romeo was passed out on the table, probably exhausted from staying up crying himself to sleep. Bisca and Alzack chatted quietly and a table alone, with solemn looks. Wakaba smoked his pipe while zoning off into no where. Warren and Max sat a table looking defeated, and Jet and Droy were looking through their photos with Levy.
They each had their own way of grieving. But Maki? She's been through this before, the whole "losing your family suddenly" situation. But this was different. The first time around, she was so young and didn't quite know how to grieve and how to accept that her family was gone. It was more of a gradual healing process without her even realizing it. This was her family she really grew up with. Her sibling-like bonds with the other members were stronger than the bonds she'd had with her own blood siblings.
She sat down at at empty table, with empty thoughts. 'What should I even do now?' She wondered.
Then it hit her. She wanted to punch something. Someone, something, anything. She had to let it out somehow, and she doesn't want to be an emotional burden to anyone, since they're ALL going through the stages of grief together.
She rose from her seat and made her way outside, no one questioning her actions. She made her way to a tree near the woods by the guild, and stared at it.
She stared at it for a while until she reeled back her arm, and punched the tree with extreme force.
The tree remained unharmed while blood dripped from her right fist. What else should she have expected? She has a weak build and didn't use any magic at all in her punch.
However, her fist didn't hurt that much. Instead, she felt kind of relieved. She punched again with her left fist. And slowly, she picked up the pace. She pretended the tree was that stupid dragon who took away her family. She punched and punched ignoring her stinging knuckles.
By the time she exhausted herself she had completely lost track of time, though Maki assumes it just have been quite a while. She looked down at her blistered fists. They were in extreme pain yes, but she felt more calm. Maybe this could help?
She made her way back to the guild hall, which was somehow quieter than it was when she first left, and made her way to the back infirmary to wrap her knuckles.
While in there wrapping her hands she felt someone lingering behind her. As she turned around, she noticed Romeo standing there looking up at her.
"Romeo?"
The boy didn't respond, he only started at the girl with an unreadable expression. So she read him.
He felt... guilty?
"I'm sorry." He mumbled.
"You're what?" Maki asked making sure she heard him right.
"I'm sorry." He repeated.
....
"Sorry for what...?" She asked with a puzzled expression.
"Before the trials started, I was with Natsu a few days before. We were out together when he realized he forgot you said you'd train with him." He said. "And by then it was too late." He finished.
Romeo inhaled one more time, "So I'm sorry for taking Natsu away from you. It was bothering me for a while."
The girl stood dumbfounded. Why exactly would she care? In all honesty she'd expected the pyro to forget their plans, she just offered because she head offered to help to just about everyone else. So, why did Romeo think she'd care so much?
Then it hit her. It may not have been a big deal to her, but if the roles were reversed and it had been Romeo he forgot about, the boy would have been devastated. He idolized Natsu with every fiber of his being. He wanted to be him.
Her lips parted slightly at this revelation, before saying, "No Romeo, I'm sorry."
The boy looked up curiously. "Why?"
"Because... now neither of us can have plans with him anyways." Maki said sadly.
The boy looked down at the floor, his eyes clearly brimming with tears. Both of them just stood there in silence.
"Do you think... Natsu really lost?" Romeo finally spoke out loud.
"The stories your dad reads to you every night always end with the hero winning. But, I guess sometimes... the hero doesn't always win." Maki said with a grim expression.
"But... the bad guy didn't win either." Romeo said.
"Hm?"
"If he did, the dragon would have taken out all of fairytail, we still have each other at least, right?"
The girl was once again shocked by the boys words.
"Hmph, I guess you're right, they defended Fairytail's name right until the very end. We can't that go down in vein now, can we?" Maki sadly inquired.
"Yeah, because no matter what, we'll always be number one." Romeo pointed his index finger in the air with tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Exactly." Maki said nodding lightly,
"So let's go defend our guild's name, for the Tenrou Team." _______________________________ I think these two are gonna have a special bond. Romeo will also be just a tad bit different from canon Romeo personality-wise. Why? Because he had so much potential and instead they made him an annoying wannabe "edgy" boy. I'm gonna do him justice.
