yin and yang ― ɴᴀᴛꜱᴜ ᴅʀᴀɢɴᴇᴇʟ

➷ EPISODE TWENTY EIGHT.

[ EPISODE TWENTY EIGHT ] 

✮

after the battle with grimoire heart, the fairy tail members returned to their temporary base. now that they had won, they could fully take the time they needed to recover before making plans to head back home. thunder legion were reunited, wendy was busy healing the injured, and the others were scattered around doing their own thing. 

off to the side, maya stood in the shadows of the trees, staring out at everyone. she wanted to join the others and pretend that everything was okay, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of being out of place, wondering how she was going to face them after months of being away without giving them so much as a hint of where she had been all this time. a sigh escaped her lips as she turned back around and slid down to the ground, leaning against the tree she had been hiding behind. her gaze lifted to the sky above her, squinting as rays of the sun peaked through the leaves of the trees, blinding her slightly from their brightness. 

just as she was about to lift her hand to shade her eyes, a head appeared instead. the bouncy, pink hair and piercing brown eyes caught her attention immediately as she scrambled to her feet in surprise, accidentally bumping her head against his upon doing so. 

"ow!" the two winced in sync, holding the place where the injury had been inflicted. glancing at one another, the two could help but burst into laughter, maya visibly relaxing as she felt comfort return to her body. 

"what are you doing over here?" natsu questioned as the two of them sobered up, forgetting about the pain on his forehead as he looked down at her. she avoided his gaze, also momentarily having forgotten her negative thoughts, even if it was just for a second. 

"aren't you mad at me?" she quietly questioned despite being afraid to hear the answer. 

"yeah, actually i am." he agreed, nodding his head. "but i have to hear what happened before i can be mad at you forever." he added with a smile, grabbing her hand before pulling her along towards the others. maya stumbled over her feet, protesting as she tried to resist his grip, but even after taking down the master and several members of grimoire heart, natsu was still stronger than her.

"maya, there you are." erza approached the pair, as did lucy, gray and happy, smiling at the sight of their friend. maya stopped resisting and instead stood behind natsu, hiding away from their gaze as she held her head in shame. upon noticing this, the dragon slayer pulled her forward in front of everyone, giving her no choice but to stand under the spotlight.

"why didn't you tell us you were leaving with laxus?" gray questioned, bringing up the topic first. 

"what did you do whilst you were away?" erza added.