Savior of the Slayers

The Creek by the Meadow

        "You know Ray, you can aways come with us if you want," Erza said to me as she side into the booth across to me.

        "I know you're not really comfortable using your magic around people, but that doesn't mean you can't come with us on jobs," Gray added, sitting next to me. 

        " If you don't mind me asking, why is it that you're not comfortable using your magic in fornt of people?" Erza asked me. I noticed Gray give her a horrified look. Gray, after asking many times, realized that it was not a subject I enjoy talking about.

        "It's a personal preferance, I guess," I told her, looking down at the table. Erza nodded at me, telling me she acceted that as my answer. Gray let out a sigh of relief, happy that I didn't go on a crazy rampage.

       "In all seriousness though, we would love it if you came with us. You can choose the job too, if you want," Gray smiled at me. I smiled back at him.

        "Thanks, but I'm better off working on my own. Not saying that anything would happen, but I would always blame myself if anything happened to you to if I was with you," I told them, avoiding eye contact.

        "Well, I can see we aren't going to win this one Gray. Anyway, we have enough money to get by for a while, so Ray, what's something fun we can in Magnolia? All I've really ever done here was guild work, I haven't been able to enjoy myself here." Erza said, looking at me expectantly.

        " We could take her to the meadow! You know, the place where we met," Gray piped up.

        "You know what Gray, that's a wonderful idea. Come on, let's go," I said, getting up from the table and walking towards the guild door. I looked behind me to make sure they were following me, and noticed they were talking in hushed voices. They looked up and noticed I had stopped, they stopped talking and gave my a sorry look.

       "You know, Gray knows where it is just as well as I do, so you don't even need me," I said coldly. Gray's eyes got really big,and Erza looked disappointed in herself.

        "We didn't mean any harm! We're sorry if we hurt your feelings, we just can't help being curious," Gray said, putting an arm around my shoulder. 

        "Curious? Curious about what?" I said, turning to face him.

        "You. You're just so mysterious, we can't help but wonder why you're so closed off. We understand that it isn't something you want to talk about, but you can't get mad at us for wondering," Gray responded.

        "How could I? How could I hurt one of my comrades? Ray, I would feel better if you punched me," Erza said, bowing down in front of me.

        "Erza, it's fine, really. I'm not mad at you, Gray's right, you guys are curious and I understand that. Look, one day, I will tell you, I'm just not ready yet. And no, I'm not going to punch you. Now please, get up off the ground," I told Erza, helping her off the ground.

        "Isn't it beautiful?" Gray said, pointing towards the landscape. We were standing in the middle of a lush, green meadow lined with pink and white flowers. On the right side flowed a clear, blue creek, filled with all different types of fish. 

        "It really is. So, this is where you met huh?" Erza said, nodding towards us.

        "Ya," I said, sitting in the grass by the creek," I was coming back from a mission and found him sitting here. He was really shy back then, weird seeing that he's even the same person now that he was then," I chuckled, lightly nudging Gray.

        "Hey, I wasn't the only shy one, Erza was pretty shy too!" Gray protested, nudging me back.

        " She warmed up to things pretty quickly though, way quicker then you did," I responded, earning a dirty look from Gray. 

        " What were you like, when you joined the guild? You were here way before most of the guild members, so everyone I've asked couldn't answer." Gray asked as Erza gave a supporting nod.

        " You just haven't been asking the right people then, I guess," I chuckled. "That's why I went kind of hard on Lisanna when she got mad at you for not talking to her," I said, pointing to Gray." I was the exact same way, worse actually. I barely even spoke to Master. It was at least a year before I held a single conversation." I muttered, just loud enough for them to hear me.

        "Well, I'm just happy you're friends with us, even though it takes you a bit to feel fully comfortable with people." Gray smiled, hugging me from the side. 

This was kind of a filler chapter, but you did learn a bit about Ray. I try to put in information about her in every chapter, so keep an eye out for that!

~AJ