Chapter 242 - Return To Ishgar {20} Strauss Siblings Struggle

After Amell had left the siblings with his little rock golem they made their way inside the city with the help of that golem. They passed hundreds of people who most of the time greeted them with one of two reactions. One was awe as they assumed them to be young wizards thanks to the golem, the other one was of worry for seeing three kids walking alone through a big city. Mira tried putting on her distant and unfriendly attitude to warrant off anyone wanting to talk to them or ask them questions, but the more people stared the more nervous she got. The gazes were penetrating her and they made her feel as if they could see the true monster underneath her skin that she still believed she was.

The other two Strauss siblings never even seemed to register that people were looking at them weirdly. They walked after Mira with adorable happy expressions as they had never seen a city so pretty, or a canal running through a city before. Magnolia had already successfully charmed their childish minds. Beyond missing Amell, Lisanna and Elfman had no worries.

After walking for an indefinite amount of time they saw a large building that didn't really fit in with the rest of the architecture in this city. The city was mostly dressed in one colour, but this particular building was colourful and oddly enough the walls and roof seemed to generate life. Mira couldn't explain the phenomenon, but she felt as if the whole building was one big organism that was alive and breathing life. On the front of the building hung a great big sign that read [Fairy Tail]. Mira swallowed nervously and her breathing started becoming faster the longer she stood and watched the building.

"Is that it, Mira?" Elfman said and pointed at the colourful building. She stroked his cheek and nodded, "Yeah, that's it," she stopped hesitating and grabbed her sibling's hands and started walking towards the building. In front of the doors to the building stood the golem in waiting. After they reached where it was, it turned from their direction and placed its rock stump-like hands against the doors and swung them open.

Inside the building things were lively and people stood on tables and chairs and screaming at each other. Two kids over by some tables prepared to start throwing magic at each other. In another corner, a little red-haired girl sat eating cake with a satisfied expression. On top, the counter farthest into the building sat a middle-aged looking man. He was shorter than most kids in the guild and he was swaying back and forth from all the alcohol he had consumed.

When the doors opened, only a few people inside the guild paid attention to it. The short old man was one of them, together with the blond mean-looking kid that sat next to him on one of the stools by the counter. The golem didn't hesitate, it walked through all the chaos and up to the counter where it stopped. "Who are you, little friend?" The old man asked drunkenly. The golem pointed at the Strauss siblings then fell apart and from the broken down pieces of its body it spelt the words "Take care of them, they need a home" on the floor.

"Whoah, that's weird!" Said a blue-haired elder looking man as he came walking up to his guild master. "You know anything I don't?" He asked the short guild master of Fairy Tail. Makarov, the drunk little master shook his head and looked at the siblings. "You three, come here!" His voice loud enough to stop the others fights and whatnot. They all started noticing that three kids now stood in the doorway of the guild.

Mira while holding the hands of her siblings walked up towards Makarov under the curious gazes of everyone inside the guild. She looked into the eyes of the blonde boy first then looked at Makarov, the guild master.

"Who are you?" He asked and his tone wasn't that of a drunk any longer. He scanned the siblings and managed to pick up on a small amount of evil magic lingering around the oldest girl. He frowned at that since the evil she radiated was genuine.

"Mirajane and this is Lisanna and Elfman. We are here to join your guild." Mira tried talking with as much confidence she could muster, but her voice was still a slight bit shaken from her emotions regarding Amell's leave.

"Join us? Those two aren't even wizards!" The blonde boy said disdainfully. He didn't mind Mira since she actually radiated quite a lot magic power for someone so young, but the other two he already disliked since they looked about a naive as they come. "Laxus, quiet down!" Makarov said sternly.

"Tell me, Mirajane, who created that golem?" He pointed at the letters on the ground.

"The old man did it." She answered. She didn't know how much she should reveal about him to these people. Even though he trusted them, she definitely didn't.

"What is his name if you don't mind me asking?" Makarov was very interesting in this old man. Mira didn't like to be put on the spot, but she understood why they wanted to know about the old man.

"A..." Suddenly she caught herself in a very awkward position. She couldn't remember his name. She knew it began with an A, but she had no clue what came after. He had only mentioned his name a few times, and every time she had been busy thinking about something else. She glanced back at her siblings, but they shook their heads at her.

"W-We have always called him, old man. I d-don't know what his name is." Her cheeks started to become red from embarrassment. Laxus sneered at her and smiled arrogantly, "Can't even remember a name, how do you expect to become a powerful wizard?" He chuckled a little to himself.

"Shut up, idiot!" Mira yelled out without thinking, it was her hot-blooded attitude that came into play. She didn't like Laxus, and now she was definitely sure she didn't like him.

"What'd you say!?" Laxus jumped down from the stool and walked right up to Mira. "Say that again, I dare you!" He was inches away from her with his magic power starting to rise. In the corner of the room, a pink-haired boy wore a smile and yelled, "A FIGHT! GO LAXUS!!" He waved his arms around like a fool.

A young red-haired girl stepped between them before things escalated, "Calm down, both of you! Laxus go cool off!" Her tone was commanding and her attitude that of an adult more than a child that she was.

"Erza, reliable as always," Makarov said with a smile. "Mirajane, anything else you can tell me about your old man?"

Mira blushed at the question and pointed her finger at the guild master, "He is not MY old man! He is A old man that took us in for a few days, don't EVER make that mistake again!" She was fuming with anger on the surface, but deep inside she was both happy and embarrassed for reasons she couldn't quite understand.

"Oh my, I understand. Won't happen again, I promise!" Makarov placed his hand above his heart and promised. "Do you know if he's coming here anytime?"

"Yeah, he said he would come when the current goal for his journey was accomplished or something. I don't know when that is though."

"Alright then, well, I see no reason you can't join us. Do you have any money for housing and food?" Makarov asked.

"yeah, the old man gave us some and he said it should last us an entire year in this city."

"That's good. Then I welcome you to the guild Mirajane, Lisanna and Elfman Strauss. LET'S DRINK TO THAT!" Makarov yelled, and what followed was a great, cheerful and incredibly loud yelling competition between everyone inside the guild.

'A guild, huh," Mira said to herself.

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