Phoenix

Well...

"We totally scared the shit out of that guy, Emi. You're totally a badass. Who knew that a guy could piss himself just by you looking at him."

"You think I'm scary?"

"Oh come on," Sting reminded, "you pinned me against a wall with ice spears because I made you drop your ice cream."

"That wasn't why! You were following me all around the city! What did you want me to do? A random guy comes in everyday and watches me while I eat, follows me into a dark alleyway and then somehow finds me again on the other side of town to ask me to walk me home."

"Who knew you could be that big of an idiot," Kira scolded as she stood with her hands crossed.

Sting sulked as he watched the memory. Lector started laughing until he heard a scolding voice.

"And you, Lector, are just as bad."

"What? I was the one telling him to leave and he wouldn't listen. He wanted to talk to her."

"Either way," Ayame interrupted, "we all have an offer for you."

Emi looked at the group as they stopped walking and had big smiles on their faces. Kira looked at her and held her hand out.

"Would you like to join our guild?"

Emi stood there in complete silence. They all stood there for a moment, waiting for any type of response from her.

"Hey, uh Emi? Did we--"

"I can't."

Emi held her hands in tight fists as she began to walk away. Tears started to drip on her cloak.

"Emi where are you--"

Emi kept walking until she had disappeared in the forest, not looking back.

"Emi!"

Emi had sprinted through the forest and boarded the train back to Crocus. She sat in the back and tugged at her cloak as she waited for the train to stop. Tears continued to stream, causing an ache to pulse through her head.

--------------------------------------

It had been a month since the incident in the forest, and the group had not seen or heard from Emi at all. Kira and Ayame had been asking around to the townspeople asking if they had seen anyone in a cloak, but she couldn't get any solid answers. Sting would go out everyday and try to pick up on her scent, but he couldn't smell her anywhere.

Emi was staying at a rundown inn at the edge of the town of Era. She had left Crocus days after the incident and had been hiding since. She was lying low in order to not attract any attention, especially from the Magic Council. Emi heard a cough and looked up to see another cloaked figure.

"No way!" Natsu yelled.

"Well, it seems that it is really a small world," Erza observed.

"Mystogan, it's been a long time."

The cloaked figure had sat down next to Emi and watched the stars with her.

"What are you doing in Era?"

Emi laughed before turning her head to the stars.

"I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be staying away from Jellal and not stay in the same city?"