The Fairy Heroes

Calm Before the Storm

The day was declared a lazy day, after the events at the mall none of them felt comfortable leaving the house till the trip. Best Jeanist had allowed Erza and Grey the weekend off. The two got pulled into the braiding circle to uphold the weekend tradition of braiding and bonding. It had started off with Lucy convincing Aizawa to let her braid his hair one evening, while Wendy would braid her hair. Then they would switch with Wendy braiding Carla's hair as Lucy braided hers. They would chat about anything and everything, usually telling stories about their adventures with Fairy Tail. Enthralled by the new tales he heard, every time Lucy asked to braid his hair they would do it during the weekend with the stories. Soon it had evolved into a weekly event Lucy didn't need to ask for. Elaborate styles, braids, and stories filled the evenings. Soon a hair care routine was introduced by Nemuri, which Lucy instantly agreed with. Despite his grumbling during the process, Aizawa would always make his way to the girl's room every Sunday evening. 

Erza and Grey didn't have a routine for them, but they had plenty of stories to add. Aizawa learned more about the guild from the perspective of people who grew up there and how it changed into the guild it became. They told him the founding stories they were told as children. The first guild master Mavis interested Aizawa, he recalled her from some stories of the magic games. When commenting on such all four of them started explaining the situation. Starting at different points. This led to a late evening of getting the history of all the stories straight. 

Erza pulled out a whiteboard for the timeline, confusing Aizawa as to where she got it from. As the mage wrote everything down with detailed descriptions, Wendy was practicing her french braiding on his hair. Carla or Lucy would occasionally speak up and add something Erza missed or wasn't there for.  

When the battle against Zeref came up a somber mood fell over the mages, something he saw with veteran heroes when their past battle was brought up. Aizawa was struck with the reminder of how old they all were before coming to Japan. The battles they fought to protect their home and family, and the friends lost along the way. Aizawa silently vowed to protect them from harm so they could have another chance to just be a teen. To not have to worry about whether or not they will live to see another day. To never fear they might see their friends for the last time. At least until they graduate from UA, fully prepared to fight to protect others. Until then he wants them to not have to worry, they have worried and hurt enough. 

"Hello, Listeners!" A cheery and overly loud voice of Yamada came from the kitchen dispersing the depressing mood, "I come with food!"

"And I have movies!" Nemuri's cheery tone followed.

Aizawa would never admit it but relieved to hear their voices, something he never imagined happening. Smiles back the mages followed each other out of the room into the kitchen where Nemuri greeted each of them with an over-enthusiastic hug. Especially with Grey as she pushed his head to her chest as she held him tight. 

"The fight with Zeref left us with a lot of scares, nearly losing friends and family in the fight. I guess we never realized how much it affected us till the threat came back," Carla said, in her human form, it was so matter-affect that it felt scripted. But over the years Aizawa has learned that if Carla is uncomfortable with something she shuts down all emotions. Leaving her cynical and blunt, almost robot-like.  

Nodding gratefully to the exceed Aizawa stood up with a groan, "Thank you for letting me know Carla, I understand how these things can be hard to talk about. I'll keep your words in mind for the future." 

The ridged set to Carla's posture softened as she nodded, standing up herself and making her way to the kitchen. Stretching tense muscles and tender joints Aizawa followed after, smiling softly as he entered the kitchen. Grey was making ice replicas of pizza, and Lucy stealing replicas to scoop her ice cream with. Erza was testing out the mix of ice cream and strawberry cake, as Wendy happily munched on her pizza. Aizawa repeated the premise to protect them from harm once more before joining them by snatching the last piece of pizza from Yamada.

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I know it's short but I wanted to get something out to you guys soon. Especially after not posting anything for most of last year. Plus my birthday is tomorrow so I wanted to get something out for that. Think of this as a little interlude/fluff before the trauma and angst begin. 

So I did get a new job, recently finished up my three-week training so that will be my main priority but I won't forget about you guys or abandon the story. Luckily my schedule is pretty flexible so I'll have time to write, Just need to worry about my creativity abandoning me. Or deciding it wants to spend the next three days straight writing a 17,000-word outline for a different fic. Completely different cross-over with two different fandoms. Luckily I have managed to keep myself from writing the first chapter but who knows how long that will last, my impulse control is horrible with stuff like that. 

Anyway, let's jump out of that tangent. I hope you guys like this chapter despite its length (Which is killing me but I can't pull anything out for things and the other thing I had planned doesn't quite fit anymore). For the next part, all I can say is to be prepared and be excited. We are getting close. 

Tell me what you think...

See you next chapter!!