A Metal Rose

🌹 The Cleaning Up 🗸

WHISPERS.

That's what Natsu noticed first as his team got closer to the guild hall. The pity stares and pointed stares from the people of the town. Erza, who was dragging Natsu by the back of his shirt, was the first to say something.

   "What. . ." Erza trailed off. "Something is wrong with the guild."

Everyone turned to look towards the distance, seeing what the redhead had noticed first. The tall guild hall that used to tower over Magnolia was now deformed and looked like it was heavily hit.

   "W-What?"

   "This is. . ."

   "Our guild!" Natsu snapped, ripping his shirt out of Erza's loosened grip and dashing towards the guild hall. The team followed closely behind, rage and sadness filling their bodies as the sight of the guild hall became worse.

The details of the damage was clearer, metal rods were sticking out of their guild hall, along with metal vines wrapping itself through the walls. Glass windows were shattered, flags were torn.

With each new form of damage shown, it made the group even more upset.

   "Who. . .did this?!" Natsu seethed, tears filling his eyes.

   "What happened here?" Erza murmured.

   "Phantom," A soft, musical voice filled with sadness spoke behind them. They turned, seeing Mirajane standing there with a hand clutched close to her chest. "It's mortifying. . .but we were done in."

   "Mira, what's in your hand?" Lucy hesitantly asked. Mira let out a humorless chuckle, showing the grey object that she held close to her chest.

   "A metal rose."

There was a stilled silence as the members of Fairy tail knew who the rose was from. Everyone but Lucy.

   "A. . .metal rose?"

Before Mira could explain, Erza stepped forward. "Where is the rest of the guild?"

   "Follow me," Mira tilted her head slightly before leading the group towards the back of the guild hall and into the basement. There, they found the rest of the guild.

Most of the members looked mad, dejected, or were just drinking their problems away.

   "Yo, welcome back."

The Master of Fairy tail was the latter. He held his hand up in greeting, his other hand holding the mug of booze. The slight sway he had while sitting showed that he had more than a few mugs to drink.

   "We're back," Erza answered grimly. Natsu didn't waste another second to explode, being the first mage with rage to speak in the group.

   "Gramps! This isn't happy hour, is it!?"

   "Oh," Makarov slurred, hiccuping mid-sentence. "Right you are. Guys! How dare you go on a S-Class mission without request?!"

   "Eh?" Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise. He really didn't think Natsu was talking about that. . .was he?

   "Punishment! I'll give you your punishment now! Prepare yourself!" Makarov raised his hand.

   "It's not time for that right now!" Natsu roared, only to be hit on the head.

   "Bad!" Makarov exclaimed after he gave Natsu a karate-chop on the head. "Bad, bad!" He chanted, hitting Happy on the head, then Gray. "Bad!" Lucy squealed in surprise as she was hit on the butt instead.

   "Master! Behave yourself!" Mira scowled the old man, putting the metal rose down on their make-shift bar.

   "Master, do you understand the current situation we're in?" Erza started, her expression becoming pinched.