Timeless Love ~ Kinabra

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

"Her memories hadn't ushered in as the gradual unfurl of a crepuscular night sky... They'd invaded her life as an unexpected outburst of tremors, quaking her being. But they didn't hurl her off those verges of uncertainty, for with their dawning, her hopes of finding Erik finally saw redemption"

~~~

9 October, 1890.

Fairy Tail Guild

Magnolia, Fiore.

"... And they had to kick us straight out, Kinana! I was actually counting on this mission to pay rent this month! What am I going to do?" Lucy cried to the lovely purple-haired bartender.

Kinana gave her an apologetic smile and tried to comfort her pretty blond friend before the regular havoc of Fairy Tail caught her attention. She saw the strawberry cake she'd spent all morning preparing hurled through the air and land on the infuriated face of Lady Erza Scarlet.

Kinana was a little hurt at that but she knew that seeing the injured Natsu in the aftermath would surpass this. She watched as Erza rose to take revenge for both, harming her as well as the cake.

Natsu seemed to be busy aiming at a shirtless Gray to see the chair headed his way. Of course, beyond this, Kinana wasn't exactly shocked. She had accepted the truth that this was the 'way of life' in Fairy Tail!

She looked over at Lucy and smiled helplessly. She was, somehow, a little happy inside... She started recovering her past and had spent some good time discussing it with the master and Lady Mirajane.

Now, it felt like a great burden had been lifted off her shoulders. True as she hadn't found Erik yet, she felt a sort of reassurance that she soon would.

She couldn't believe how she'd been so blind to the liveliness of the Guild because her sorrows had been in the way.

She listened to Lucy and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Lucy had to go through this even during the missions, regardless of the elegance of the occasion.

~~~

Lucy explained to Kinana, the traumas that a woman faced when her friends decided to be loving enough to join her on a mission that she was quite capable of handling.

Did they have to come? Did they have to help her by making things worse? Was it their call in life to destroy everything that looked like it was a fashionable event? Or was it her destiny to never be able to afford rent?

She thought back to how the job request had been so alluring at first sight. Attending an exquiste ball and keeping it safe from violence was easy.

The great sum of reward was all she had needed to accept it imediately! It was no wonder that Gray, Natsu and Erza with Wendy had joined her without invitation.

One messy train journey later, they'd been invited with open arms and fine provision of garments. Lucy had found herself looking forward to attending the party.

The rich family that had requested their assistance had been expecting some thugs from a family rival to sabotage the beauty of the evening. Why did they need feuding adversaries when they'd asked for Fairy Tail?

Sabotage? Ha! They'd extinguished every opportunity for the enemy to cause destruction. The pain was when they'd accomplised it so smoothly that the victims had conveniently misjudged them to have been hired by the rivals themselves!

She remembered how Gray had frozen the dance floor to get Natsu. Of course Natsu had fallen for it... rather literally; along with many guests. Scenes of seeing him slide through the halls setting those sophisticated, fancy curtains afire refused to leave the eye of her mind.

The hosts weren't exactly happy to see that he was motion sick... from gliding!! It had been chaos to say it mildly. She highly doubted the possiblity of the attackers even being a bit as destructive...

Of course the damage rendered was irrecoverable. The hosts had been merciful enough to stop with just kicking them out shamefully. Atleast the rivals knew where to look when the next ball happens...

Something odd, though, had roused Lucy's concerns: Erza had been her ever-dynamic self until a certain dignified guest had captivated her attention. She wasn't around for a while, and then she was strangely quiet.

Shaking those thoughts away, Lucy looked up to see Kinana slightly bothered. She looked up to see Fairy Tail at its finest: an onslaught. It didn't help that Elfman was towering over everything, hollering something about 'fighting being manly'!

She sighed helplessly. Of course Kinana was agitated... who was going to clean everything up when the mighty warriors eventually get exhausted?

~~~

Kinana wiped the last traces of food and cinders from off the floor. She wondered if she needed to thank the banana peel that Elfman had slipped on, making him crush many under his lavish body in the process of falling.

She sighed. At least the cleaning was over. She was immensely grateful to Laki, Lucy and Levy for helping her. Max had been of great assistance too. She smiled. It was nice to have some... passive friends.

Admiring their tidy work, she made her way to the sink to clean things up. That was when she noticed Erza. Of course, it took more than the aggression to tire the great Titania... who else could redeem the victims of Elfman's fall?

Erza seemed to be in deep thoughts. Kinana had always seen much of past scars in her as she had in many others; that is, before what she didn't see in herself eclipsed everything.

She'd always known that Erza had looked out for her. Last night, she'd understood why. A certain scarlet-haired child had been there in her dream; and if the vision was truly of her past, then she knew that Erza had played a role in it.

She could understand why Erza had never told her anything... her past seemed to be a very dark period that nobody would want to bring up. Now, watching the majestic redhead, she wished to console her and redeem her of those vexing thoughts that seemed to be compassing her.

The only thing that she could think of as a means of cheering her up was strawberry flavoured cake. Chiding herself for being so childish, she approached Erza.

"Are you alright, Lady Scarlet?" her sweet voice chimed, tearing the mightly warrior from her contemplation. She looked up at Kinana and smiled cordially, "I'm fine, Kinana. Thank you for your concern", being her only response.

Then, she arose to her feet and and ascended the flight of stairs that stood on one side of the guild hall, leaving a very worried Kinana watching.

The sound of her boots against the wooden slabs reached her ears and Kinana looked down at the hands clasped in front of her. She knew that Erza had built up walls around her and did not trust anyone to penetrate them.

~~~

Erza stood by the railings of the balcony, looking out into a distance.

'Scarlet'

That one word was enough. Memories... Beautiful, sweet memories... Now turned bitter...

She remembered the ball. It had indeed been a very lovely occasion; She had, however, encountered someone there... a certain man who'd changed the only shreds of beauty from her anguishing past to darkness... a certain Fernandez.

~~~

Author's Note:

Hey, guys!

Sorry I didn't update for so long... Complacency, ol' buddy hung around me longer than necessary!

So,... What did you think? And yes. There is a Jerza chapter coming up! XD

I hope I don't mess it up... Anyways, I hope you liked it! XD XD!

And for now, good bye!

- NikiFanfic.