MARIELLE:
"No way! You are going on a mission with Romeo with no one else?" Wendy squealed. I looked down at my feet and nodded. "Marielle, this is no time to be embarrassed, you are going on a mission with Romeo, your crush!"Â
"Wendy, I doubt this is anything worth getting excited about. I mean, even though I like Romeo-kun that doesn't mean that he likes me back in that way. Besides, we're just friends..."Â I said in a soft voice, mumbling the last part. Wendy chuckled and gave me a pat on my shoulder. She sat down on her light pink bed and gestured for me to sit on my lavender bed. I sat down and placed my hands on my knees as I watched Wendy place Charles on her lap.Â
"Marielle," Charles started. "Before we can continue this conversation, I think that you should tell us when did you start to develop feelings for Romeo." I blushed, I was too shy to be discussing something like that. All of a sudden, the door swung open. My head immediately turned around to see who had just rudely barged into the room. To my surprise, it was Levy.
"Wendy! Charles! Marielle! Change into something cosy and head over to the living hall! There's going to be some sort of gathering at 10pm!" She called out and left. I turned back to see Wendy and Charles sharing the same confused expression as I had. We shrugged and changed. Wendy was wearing her newly bought sky blue dress with intricate flower designs on it; Charles wore a white tee with a black skirt and I was wearing a silver blue tee with pale green shorts. We packed some snacks and brought our pillows over to the living hall.Â
I gaped. Seeing nearly all the guild members, both male and female, crowded in the living hall shocked me to the core. What is going on?! I wondered as I turned to see Wendy having the same shocked reaction as me. "Marielle! Wendy! Charles! You're finally here!" Someone called out from the sea of people. I tiptoed, trying to peer over the heads to see who had just called us but thanks to my height, I failed miserably. Thankfully, that person came over to us. It was Lucy. She smiled widely at us and gestured for us to follow her into the sea of people. I was immediately swallowed up by the huge group of wizards and was separated from Lucy, Wendy and Charles.Â
Seeing all the familiar faces whom I seldom talked to, made me feel uneasy. Shyness taking over me, I slipped through tiny gaps, hoping to find someone I knew very well. I was wandering through the living hall, thinking, Wow, this place sure seems bigger than usual. All of a sudden, I bumped into someone, landing on top of them. I grunted in pain and slowly opened my eyes to see Romeo lying on the floor, face scrunched up in pain.Â
"Hey, watch where yo-oh, uh, hi Marielle." Romeo stuttered. He was blushing and so was I.
"Hi Romeo..." I whispered. I was mesmerized by his perfect blue eyes. How long we were in that position, I did not know. All I knew was that I heard Happy snickering in the corner which snapped me out of my trance. My face burned bright red as I quickly got up, brushing imaginary dust off of my attire. I glared at Happy when he started making lovey-dovey comments about us, even though I was still blushing.
"Marielle! Romeo!" Someone shouted. I looked around and saw Lisanna running towards us while frantically waving her left arm to and fro in the air.
"What's wrong Lisanna?" Happy asked.
In between gasps of air, Lisanna replied, "Huh? Oh, nothing's wrong. Just that Mira-nee wants Marielle and Romeo to go out to the field. They're about to start the celebration."
"What celebration?" I asked. Romeo, Lisanna and Happy shot me a puzzled/shocked look. I just stared back at them in confusion, with my head tilted to the side.
"Oh right. You recently joined the guild so you didn't know about it." Romeo said. "Well, anyways, uh, this celebration is actually to commemorate Fairy Tail's birthday. It's turning....97 this year. I think."Â
"Oh..well then, we don't want to be late for the celebration right?" I replied with a small smile on my face. Lisanna smiled back and the three of us, with Happy flying behind us, walked out to the field. Upon exiting the building, my jaw dropped. I was awestruck by the beautifully transformed field. It was normally just a plain patch of grass but now, neon lights were tied around trees, balloons of different shapes and sizes were strewn on branches, benches and some were even placed on the floor with stones acting as weights. Everything was magical. I titled my head up to gaze at the starry night sky. I sighed, it was truly a beautiful scenery.Â
"Everyone! Gather around! We're going to start the mini-games!" Mirajane hollered from a makeshift platform. I walked over to the platform, along with everyone else. "Now, all of you are to get into groups of 5 . Master, Erza, Gildarts, Laxus and I will be the judges." Mirajane said with a smile, while gesturing to the other 3 S-class wizards and Master. She then proceeds to talk about the rules and instructions of the mini-game competition. "Everyone clear about the game? Ok, then good luck to all of you and let the fun begin!" Mirajane squealed and fireworks simultaneously shot up into the sky. My eyes wandered around the sea of wizards, hoping to find some people to group with. Sadly, nearly everyone was in a group except for one. Levy's group was short of one member. I walked cautiously over to Levy, Gajeel, Jet and Droy.Â
"H-hi..." I mumbled. "Are you guys in need of another member?"Â
"Yeah, we are! Welcome to the group, erm, Marielle, right?" Jet said. I nodded. "Sorry, its just that I seldom see you in the guild and you are rather quiet. So I guess I just didn't really pay attention-"
"Its fine. I get that a lot." I interrupted, I could tell how awkward Jet was feeling. I shifted my gaze to Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer. I noticed that Lily was nowhere in sight, without thinking I blurted out, "Gajeel-san, where's Lily?"Â
"Hm? Oh, apparently Mirajane wanted him, Charles and Happy to be lookouts or something." Gajeel responded before looking somewhere else, apparently annoyed by my appearance. I was about to walk over to Levy when Gajeel said, "Hey, kid. You're the one who went on that 9,000 Jewel job on your own right?" I nodded, wondering why was he so interested about that all of a sudden. Gajeel chuckled and continued, "Nice to see that this guild has got a prodigy. Bet we're going to win this game with you in our group!"Â
"Gajeel! Don't scare Marielle!" Levy said with a tinge of frustration in her voice. She rushed over to my side before replying, "This is not just about winning ok? This whole mini-game competition thing is to get us to know each other better." Upon seeing Gajeel showing an annoyed look, Levy said a little louder, "And it does not mean you get to pummel the other groups' members in during the game!" Gajeel just smirked at her comment.Â
Is Gajeel always like this? They seem to be having some sort of love-hate relationship...I wondered, thinking back to all the romance novels I have read about couples who act like they are not in love but they actually are.Â
"Is everybody in a group? Yes? Ok then please send 2 representatives for the first mini-game: Combined Magick." Erza announced. I turned back to face my group members to find Droy, Jet and Levy standing mere centimeters away from my face, staring at me with puppy dog eyes. A little too close for my comfort. I jumped back and inquired, "Um, why are you guys looking at me like that?"Â
"Marielle-chan!! Please please please please please please pleaaaase go with Gajeel to represent our team!" Droy begged. I shot him an inquisitive look.Â
"Why can't Levy go? She and Gajeel seem like a great pair." I blurted out. The moment the words came out of my mouth, I immediately regretted it. Levy was blushing like mad and trying very hard to defend herself while Jet and Droy were whispering to each other, giving me an eerie feeling. Afraid that this would go on any longer, I admitted defeat and sighed, "All right, I'll go." Levy flashed me a huge smile as Gajeel and I headed towards the platform. Hopefully this game won't be too difficult. I thought as I gathered around the platform with the other representatives, awaiting instructions from the judges.
