Fairy Tail: Swallow the Fire

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A dark aura hung around the cake shop, at the epicentre of it all was our table. I tried my best to ignore it and act like nothing was wrong, but the glare Mirajane was giving me from across the table was really, really hard to ignore.

Her brother and sister were faring no better than I was, unfortunately. They sat beside me with heads hung low as they tried to make themselves invisible.

That feat was nearly impossible, though, as poor Elfman was nearly twice my size.

Erza wasn't helping the awkwardness, either. Her previously cheery mood was sweeter than all the condensed mess of cakes sitting in her stomach. Now she's just as sour as Mirajane, but instead of glaring she was holding her posture stiff, her eyes closed, and she somehow learned a way to passive-aggressively eat her cake.

Frankly, I hadn't expected this in the slightest. Meeting Mira? Yeah. For them to be rivals or something? They've both said as much on multiple occasions. But for them to annoy each other this much? Mirajane already seemed annoyed with me in particular but the mood dropped significantly when the two ended up sitting next to each other...

"So, uhh, did I do something wrong...?" I asked as diplomatically as nicely as I could.

Mira's glare accomplished the impossible and somehow grew less harsh, instead she just pouted and looked away. Still no less angry.

I sighed and let my forehead hit the table. I hated trying to solve stuff with words. I'm a fighter, not a diplomat! Just let me punch my way through my problems!

Someone pulling on my shirt made me reluctantly raise my head to look at the similarly exasperated Lisanna. "She's mad because you stood her up..."

"Huh?"

Erza whipped her head up and looked back and forth between me and Mira with wide eyes, clearly having come up to a conclusion of her own while I was just confused.

Seeing the befuddled look on my face, Mira finally spoke up for the first time since she and her siblings, albeit through gritted teeth. "Three hours. I waited for you in the middle of a snowstorm for three hours only for you to not show up!" Erza's face grew into a stupified expression as she began to blush. "Didn't even have the decency to spend the twenty-minute train ride here to tell me you were cancelling in person, and I haven't seen hide nor hair of you since then! And when I do, I see you hanging out with the enemy!"

"Wait wait wait! Are you talking about when we were supposed to meet last month? I sent you a letter days ahead of time to tell you. Did you not read it?" I said, causing her to blush and look away which only increased my confusion.

"She lost the key to our PO box the day after we moved into our new house without telling anyone," Lisanna said with a disappointed look.

"T-This was late November if you were wondering," Elfman the gentle giant added earning a betrayed glare from their elder sister.

"*Snrk* Idiot."

"You wanna fight, you sentient menstrual cramp!?"

"Bring it on, oxygen bandit!"

"Airheaded freak!"

"Unruly bimbo!"

"Lardass!"

"Tramp!"

The two's bickering escalated to headbutting and then a shoving contest. I swear if I looked closely sparks of electricity were flashing between their foreheads.

"Are they always like this?" I asked the two sitting next to me.

"At least once a day they find something to argue about," the middle child spoke up, "I'm Elfman, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"And I'm Lisanna!"

"Lyssa, it's nice to finally meet you guys as well. Mira talks about you two a lot, so I'm surprised we haven't met until now."

"I know, right!" Lisanna said, practically bouncing in her seat. "She always talks about you when you two meet up, and even said you were the one that helped her get money for our new house! So we owe you quite a bit!"

"T-Thanks for that, by the way."

"Ah, w-well it was no problem. Ehe..." I replied while scratching my head awkwardly.

'Don't tell them about the illegal fighting ring. Don't tell them about the illegal fighting ring. Don't tell them about the illegal fighting ring.'

"So, how are you guys in a fight?"

'What am I doing!?'

Fortunately, the two weren't exactly surprised by my question. A perk of being in a career with a lot of fighting I guess. "I'm not really all that great in a fight..." the gentle giant squeaked out with a hint of shame in his expression.

"You just lack the confidence, Big Bro! You're plenty strong you just need to apply yourself," the younger responded while hugging him. She then turned to me and smiled before glitter-like sparkles covered her arms as they turned into cat claws. "My Animal Soul magic is pretty useful! Even if I'm not as strong as Big Sis or Big Bro, I can hold handle myself and do things they can't!"

"Like what?"

"Well, they can't fit into small spaces like a gerbil, or hold their breath underwater like a fish or mermaid."

'Don't tell her that you can do that with transformation magic. Don't tell her that you can do that with transformation magic. Don't tell her that you can do that with transformation magic.'

"But people adept with transformation magic can do that."

'YOU IDIOT!'

"Fufufu~! But they can't control animals like I can!" she said with a proud look on her face.

"I...okay, you win," I said raising my hands in surrender. 'Saved!'

Our conversation was cut short, however, by two hands grabbing me by the collar of my sweater. I followed the arms up to Mira and Erza who were staring at each other with pissed-off expressions. "Wait whaAAAAAHH!"

Without me even knowing what was happening I was dragged out of the cake shop by two aggressive women.

And I didn't really mind...

- * -

All of us ended up arriving on the shore of the frozen Lake Sciliora, the usual waves that would be crashing now stagnant under almost a metre of ice.

"Right!" Mira said, crashing her fists together in front of her with a reckless smile on her face, "Today's the day I make you kiss your own ass, Erza! And since you're here, too Lyssa, you can make up for the sparing day you skipped!"

"Fine by m-wait it was a sparring match?" Erza asked, initially matching Mira's eagerness for a fight before looking confused and semi-disappointed.

"Yeah? What else would it be?" "Obviously, thunder thighs."

"O-oh...I see." Mira and I looked at the flustered redhead like she grew a third arm (Not that there's anything wrong with having extra arms and I'll punch anyone that says otherwise!).

"Well, we're gonna have a bit of a problem if we fight over the lake," I spoke. "I might run a little too hot for it."

"Nonsense! Everything will be fine!" the punk said before marching confidently onto the frozen lake.

"Don't step on the white ice!" Elfman shouted out to her.

Erza just shrugged at me and followed out after her, a confident smile on her face. The sight of them not even bothering to watch where they were stepping made me sigh, the heat of the exhale entering the cold air immediately causing a cloud of steam to block my vision.

Waving it away I looked down at the platform boots I was wearing, smiling at how thick they were. "Might be able to after all," I muttered mostly to myself.

Slowly, I stepped out onto the frozen lake while being careful not to step off the blue ice. "One, two, three, four..." Each step was counted, amusement plastered clearly on my face as I awaited the inevitable. "...eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifte-"

*Crack*

The two rivals ahead of me looked back at the sound of the ice cracking beneath me, while all I did was give them a close-eyed smile and a wave before-

*SPLASH!*

""Lyssa!""

The two shouted before moving to try and save me. Before they could reach me, though, several violet flames poured out of the water in the shape of arms before slapping the ice and flinging me out of it.

I landed back on the shore after somersaulting and dramatically bowed. Seeing the terrified looks on the four of them forced an unwanted laugh out of me that left me keeled over and holding my stomach.

"What was that!?" Erza shouted.

"Ehihi...ohhh. Sorry, but I did try to warn you. My devil slayer magic causes my body temperature to bleed into my magic aura without my control, and since I'm a fire wizard that means the area around me is perpetually around a hundred degrees unless I suppress it. And since ice tends to melt rather easily..."

"You fall right through," Mira finished.

"And if we fought my body temperature would rise then we'd end up fighting in a fog of steam and one or both of you would eventually pass out as the temperature starts to rise and boil your brains."

"Please don't boil my sister's brain!" Elfman shouted.

"I won't, gentle giant! I'll just sit back with you two and watch the fight from afar."

"Oi! Don't act like I'm just gonna let you get out of this!" the punk stomped her feet which caused more of the ice to crackle beneath her. She quickly took several steps back so wouldn't get an ice bath before glaring back at me.

I just dropped to the ground with my legs crossed in response, giving her a lazy gaze as I propped my head up on my hand. "Mira. Honey. Babydoll. Suga-"

"Stop it."

"The way I've been the past week, the last thing anyone wants to do is to entertain me."

"I'm still not going to let you just sit ther-"

"Mirajane Odette Strauss," I barked with a sterner tone, "Have you not been told that no means no before?"

For her part, she actually seemed a little chided by that much to the surprise of the others. She sulkingly looked away and began walking back towards the centre with Erza in tow. Just before she could fully leave earshot I heard her murmur, "That's not even my middle name..." Which earned a chuckle from me.

As the duo of white and red left to do her own thing, I turned over to the younger siblings with a more relaxed smile while they just tried to act like they weren't slowly huddling closer to me for warmth. I grabbed the two by the shoulder and led them to a pretty snowless area on the shore, or rather it became snowless because I didn't want there to be snow.

"So, Elfman, I've been told you're a good cook, but can you catch your own ingredients?" I asked him with a smile.

"I've learned to fish a bit, a-and I grow my own herbs and vegetables! But I haven't had much practice hunting."

"Ah, that's cool! I cultivate my own garden, too!" I said with a smile, which was met with an enthusiastic grin in return. It was a familiar smile to me - the smile of an introvert who struggled to initiate conversation but now felt thrilled to connect over a shared interest.

The three of us then flew into a single-minded conversation about gardening, mostly led by me and the now excited gentle giant. And it didn't take long for the topic to turn to how they can grow cauliflower and I frustratingly can't...

- * -

"Say, Erza...wanna make this fight more interesting?" the She-Devil of Fairy Tail asked the future Fairy Queen as they walked, snow crunching under their feet.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I just feel like I got clam jammed by Lyssa bailing out," she sighed as she collapsed her hands behind her neck and turned her gaze towards the opaque white winter sky. "How about a wager?"

"Alright, what are the stakes?"

"Money?"

"That could work, but that feels a little bland if you ask me," the knight said as the gears in her mind began to crank together. That was, until her train of thought crashed into a particular idea, which caused the cars of the train to turn into a proto ship she was slowly becoming determined to set sail. "I have an idea, actually..."

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