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Chapter 2: The End (of the World) is Nigh

Winter

Sighing dramatically (an art I'd perfected beyond the imagination of mere mortals), I dropped my forehead onto Candor's shoulder, cinching my arms tighter around his scrawny neck. He immediately stiffened, his own bony arms digging into my thighs as they tensed, as he angled his head back, narrow green eyes venomously boring into me (I could literally feel the force of his scowl, palpable as his irritation with me was).

"I know that sigh," he said lowly, his voice laced with suspicion. 

Granted, he probably was used to my antics by now, seeing as we'd been working together quite a bit after the whole incident with Loke; Master hadn't let up on his original deal, that the three of us form a team, partly to keep the little lawnhead's murderous exploits in check, partly to curb my self-sacrificing habits. I'd tried my damnedest to convince him I was only a martyr when my loved ones were on death row, but he was having none of it. Old geezer shut me down and threatened my membership in the guild if I didn't bow my head and let Candor tag along on jobs with me. 

Loke hadn't been too pleased about the arrangement either, though his reasons were a bit more ambiguous than mine (meaning I had no clue why his distrust of the guy ran so deep; I mean, it wasn't Loke who'd almost bitten the metaphorical dust because Candor wanted a malleable plaything). Too bad for him, he lost his say in the matter when it turned out he was a Celestial Spirit in disguise, as that sort of exempted him from any previous ties to Team Zodiac (the irony of that off-the-cuff name still made me break down in fits of totally mature laughter).  

On that note, I'd begun nagging Candor about us putting up flyers advertising for a new teammate. We needed a damn buffer, end of discussion. 

Anyway, long story short, Candor had reason to be wary of my melodramatic sighing - he'd been through enough outings with me to be very, very afraid.

Grinning into his shoulder, I swallowed a chuckle, then, raising my voice slightly to account for the inevitable muffling, demanded, "Are were theeeeerrrrreeeee yet?"

Candor's groan was highly expected and highly appreciated.

The job hadn't been the piece of cake I'd anticipated it to be, and as a result I ended up getting thrashed pretty badly by the resident baddies. Candor had to clean up the mess I'd made for myself and then proceeded to rag on me about my poor choices and ineptness in combat. He particularly made a point to chew me out for not bringing Loke's Key. And alright, I have to admit not asking for his Key from Lucy was probably not one of my better ideas, but in my defense the job description made it seem like my glorious combat skills would suffice. 

Then there was my whole thing about making sure Lucy had the better set of Keys. She'd fought me on this for years, but I wouldn't go out on jobs with our best fighters. I just plain refused to. Because unlike Lucy, if push came to shove, I could defend myself without them to back me up. This job did not support that supposed fact, but it was a freaking fluke, goddammit. 

Loke wouldn't see it that was, I was sure, but he didn't need to know about my latest near-death experience. Hopefully. 

I should probably bribe Lucy when I see her... little snitch looooves telling Loke all my dirty little secrets when he's around...

Sisterly love did not shield one from said sister's vengeance, apparently, and Lucy was sure as hell planning to get back at me for all the teasing I'd inflicted on her for her relationship with that hotheaded Dragon Slayer.

Back to my lovely stroll with Candor, though.

Black and blue as I was, Candor hadn't had a choice but to give me a lift back to the guild. Thank God the job had only taken us a few miles outside of Magnolia, because right now I had the sneaking suspicion that if Candor had to carry me much farther, we'd both end up on our asses - him collapsed from soul-sucking exhaustion and me slowly bleeding out on the cobblestone path.

Though he wouldn't admit to it even if I called him out, Candor's twiggy arms were trembling with the effort of holding me up. His breathing had changed perceptibly in the last hour, each breath shorter and shallower; his heartbeat had picked up its pace from a comfortable jog to an all out sprint, and I could hear it from my position on his back with startling clarity. It wasn't just that he was lacking in muscle mass; Candor'd kicked some major ass back in town and it had taken a toll on his stamina. He wouldn't last if we didn't reach the guild soon.

If I could do something to lighten the load, I would. But that would entail me either somehow magically shedding dozens of pounds (and likely killing me in the process), or injecting Candor with an unhealthy adrenaline boost. Possibly through a series of increasingly morbid scar tactics that would ultimately result in my untimely demise. And as I'd already been through a heart-stopping brush with death today, I didn't feel like earning the brat's (admittedly) fearsome wrath.

So yeah. My whining wasn't all about getting under his skin. But I had to get my kicks somehow because I was incredibly bored and my only two current options were nodding off and annoying the crap out of Candor. Considering I'd be forced to rest for like, a hundred years once the extent of my injuries was uncovered, guess which choice suited me better?

"Heh, least the pay-off for this one was good," I mumbled, turning my cheek against his shoulder so that my words were a bit clearer. 

"For you," Candor pointed out through gritted teeth. "The only merits I gleaned from this ludicrous request were that I was able to test my abilities against a group of semi-competent wizards." 

Here he looked at me contemptuously, and my lips twitched into a scowl, recalling the hell we went through subduing Candor the first time we crossed paths. The jab stung, yeah; I still had trouble forgiving myself for all the trouble I caused Loke and Levy, despite their insistence that it hadn't really been me at the time. But it was my hand that summoned Taurus, my voice that commanded him to execute Loke. So what if I wasn't in control of myself when it all went down? I was still responsible for being so easily snared by Candor in the first place.

But I was working on getting over that. I had to, if I was going to get along with the lawnhead for the foreseeable future. It helped that I caught glimpses of his humanity every once in a while - teeny-tiny glimpses, but glimpses all the same. He did risk his life for the guild at one point, before he was formally inducted into our ranks, and he'd helped me save Loke's ass from the brink of oblivion. He had his good points, he just didn't like showing them off, as for some reason he'd decided the human race wasn't worth his mercy.

Sometimes I remembered that I could have ended up the exact same way if Lucy hadn't been around, and that was enough for me to overlook all his psychotic shortcomings. At least for a while.  

"You're just jealous," I grinned, sticking out my tongue at him, to which he rolled his eyes and went back to staring dutifully ahead. "'Cause I'm adding to my arsenal while you're slacking. Mind control gets old after seeing it a few dozen times, Candor, don't ya think?"

He may have rattled off a list of disturbingly creative ways to disembowel me in response to my clever comment, and after that I may have stewed in stony silence, but I was in no way intimidated by him. Winter Heartfilia was a badass by nature; little crazy brats didn't scare her off.

...Yeah. 

The pay-off was worth it, though, in my opinion. I unhooked an arm from Candor's neck to finger the Key I'd recently attached to the ring dangling from my hip. The couple who'd contracted us for the job hadn't had much in the way of money, but they were too grateful for us getting rid of the gang that had taken over their hotel (and guilty about my stupidity-induced injuries) to let us leave empty-handed, so the woman, Carla, had given me the Silver Key to summon Lupus, Keeper of the Southern Pack. Mouthful of a name, but I'd been searching for this guy for years, ever since I stumbled across him in Mom's book of cataloged Celestial Spirits. Dude was cool in every sense of the word. Obviously he wasn't as powerful as a Spirit graced with a Gold Key, but he was up there in the lofty ranks of the Silver Keys, and I couldn't wait to see him in action.

Or ever just talk to him, really. I wasn't in any shape to expend the magic to summon him at the hotel, so I'd resolved to wait until Lucy and I were together anyway, so we could get the contract sealed right away.

It took another half hour of bickering (during which Candor threatened to abandon me to die multiple times for the simple sin of breathing) but finally we made it back to Magnolia and the relative safety of the guild. The place was packed, as usual, and the din of its occupants covered up our arrival so that very few people noticed as we staggered through the doors, ambling like some pair of undead monstrosities towards the bar, but I hardly minded. In fact, I was pretty damn ecstatic about it. 

 In the months that had gone by since Candor's admission into the guild, people had gradually begun to loosen up around him. No longer did they openly stare, or whisper behind his back; people didn't automatically freeze the moment he entered a room. They were getting used to him, and vice versa, whether he realized it himself or not. Right now was the first time that his entrance went completely unnoticed, where people didn't glance up from their drinks to track his progress across the room.

Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing he wasn't the pariah he was in the past. 

Lucy was, funnily enough, seated at the bar as we approached, chatting away with Juvia and Cana.

Oh. Right. Guess I should mention some of the, uh... changes Fairy Tail had undergone besides the whole not-seeing-Candor-as-demon-spawn-as-much thing. Juvia? The rain woman chick who'd helped to kidnap me and Lucy, the same girl who Candor and Gray had tried to put down during the debacle with Phantom Lord? She joined the guild. So did Gajeel, Lord of the Brainless Brawns. Now, understandably, I'd been pretty against this from the get-go, but... I dunno. Maybe I was going soft, but I still believed everyone deserved a second chance. I gave it to Candor (and he was an irreconcilable smart-mouthed bastard), why not these two?

There was also a quest that Lucy went on with Titania, Gray, Juvia and Natsu, after which Erza came back looking sullen and defeated, and I hadn't had the heart to demand just what the hell had happened while they were away. 

Ah, then that thing with Oracion Seis got started... Bunch of guilds got together to tackle the problem (yet another quest I wasn't invited to join) and obviously, things worked out. Eventually. After a lot of shit went down, from what I understand. And from that, we got ourselves another member of Fairy Tail: Wendy Marvel, Sky Dragon Slayer. I absolutely loved her, she was just freaking adorable to a fault. We got along fairly well, and she and Lucy liked each other, too, to the point where my sister actually didn't protest when I suggested we all go out together for a job sometime. Which was an improvement on a phenomenal scale, as she usually responded to my requests with a blank look and stiff departure, apparently not in the mood to give my idea any credit whatsoever.

Point is, I only cringed a little when Juvia spotted me. The glass she'd been nursing shattered in her crushing grip, and water splashed over the counter top, causing Lucy to utter a shrill squeak when a few droplets trickled into her lap. I stifled a sigh, offering a weak grin and a half-assed wave to Cana when she turned around to see what had enraged Juvia. Cana only rolled her eyes and went back to what I presumed to be her fifth glass of whatever delectable concoction she'd ordered from Mira today, though she did raise her brows at Juvia as if to ask what her problem was.

"I see you've made no headway in convincing Juvia that you've no intentions of stealing away her beloved Gray, then?" Candor asked quietly, lips barely moving, gaze roaming over the scene of Juvia frantically apologizing for the broken glass and Mira smiling away dismissively as she wiped up the spill.

"Haven't gotten her to budge an inch," I grumbled forlornly, once again muffled by his shoulder. "Somehow she got it into her head that I'm in love with the guy, or that he likes me or something? Gray doesn't have a clue what's going on with her, and I'm running out of patience. One of these days I'm just gonna sic Taura on her ass and be done with it..."

"Your self-restrain is oh-so admirable, Winter."

"Shut it, Candor. You're just as annoying."

"Why thank you."

"That wasn't a... Oh, to hell with all of you!"

"Winter? Why is Candor carrying you? Scratch that: Why are you always on someone's back when you come home from a job?"

Candor and I simultaneously looked to Lucy, who'd gotten over the horrible fright of sudden dampness, and was now staring at us quizzically. Mira, tending the bar behind her, smiled brightly and welcomed us back with a cheery greeting. I looked from her to Lucy pointedly, raising both brows to emphasize said point, and my wonderful sister merely sipped from her glass, unrepentant.

Candor set me down at a table adjacent to the bar, and after I'd snagged the back of his collar to keep him from sneaking off, he sat down across from me. While Mira helped bandage up the worst of my wounds, I recounted our not-so-heroic adventure in Castoria, with Candor interjecting every five minutes to correct a few of my altered details. Lucy, predictably, looked about ready to smack me upside the head, Cana burst out laughing halfway through when Candor helpfully reminded me how I tripped over my shoelaces and epically face-planted, Mira politely giggled, and Juvia... well, Juvia left two minutes into the story to go eat with Gray, giving me unsubtle death glares whenever our gazes met. Which Gray was oblivious to. Lovely.

Once I'd finished, I plucked Lupus' Key from my belt, presenting it teasingly to Lucy. Her eyes widened as I explained how I'd gotten it as a reward for a job very well done, and soon enough I felt up to calling him up so that we could get the contract situation settled. By now it was just me, Lucy, and Candor, as Mira and Cana had drifted off for whatever reasons, and so only the three of us were really witness to the glowing, keyhole-shaped portal that appeared and promptly deposited Lupus in the center of the guild. 

Dressed conservatively in black slacks and a loose white button-down, with shaggy black hair and moonlit silver eyes, Lupus regarded us curiously, head cocked, hands slid into his pockets. He glanced around the guild, taking no particular interest in any of its patrons, before settling on Lucy and me. He looked perfectly human, really, something that couldn't always be guaranteed with Celestial Spirits - apart from the fluffy-looking set of pointy, canine ears and matching tail I could see sweeping out from behind him.

"Which one of you is my contractor?" he asked, and I had to blink at how incredibly gravelly his voice was. Though he was speaking calmly, rather politely too, his words were sharpened by the perpetual growl rumbling in his throat, and a shiver raced up and down my spine without my consent. Goddammit.

"Both of us," Lucy and I answered in unison, me with my usual grin and her with a shaky smile. Seems it wasn't just me being affected by this guy's piercing vocals.

Lupus' eyes narrowed to slits, appraising us. His hands lifted free of his pockets and he crossed his arms, leaning back against the bar. I could already tell from the tense expression on his face that I wasn't going to like his reply.

Sometimes, I really did loathe being right.

"That's not happening," he said curtly, like that was the end of that. Well, that really must have sucked for him, because I wasn't anywhere near the finish line.

"Yeah, it is," I shot back tersely, curling my hand into a fist atop the table. The bandages across my knuckles stretched taut, fresh blood tainting their crisp whiteness with an ugly splattering of crimson. "That's how we do things with the Spirits who join us, Lupus. Got it? Me and my sister? We're a package deal."

And Lupus, clearly unimpressed, held my dark gaze with ease.

"I answer to one and only one contractor," he said, shrugging, which only spiked my anger levels further. Casually brushing off my concerns wasn't earning him any points, I hoped he knew that. Actually, he probably did, and he probably didn't give much of a damn. "You... I would think you were the one who liberated my Key from that couple. That makes you my contractor."

"The hell? What kinda logic is that?"

"Too much for you to comprehend?"

"Not now, Candor! Now you listen hear, you little--"

"Winter!"

I broke off, frozen under Lucy's temperamental glare. Slowly, I lowered the drink I'd unconsciously been readying to chuck at Lupus' face, dropping my hands into my lap as I slumped back in chair. Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and turned to Lupus.

"I'm sorry," she said pleasantly, shooting me another warning look. "For my sister, because you'll have to deal with her from now on. It's fine, honestly, that you'll only accept Winter. Winter," she added scathingly when I opened my mouth to protest, "it's fine. I have Loke and Aquarius, too, since you forced her on me last month. Now you'll have Lupus." 

With that, she stood from her stool and walked away without a backwards glance. I sagged deeper into my chair, mumbling incoherent insults beneath my breath, barely watching as Lupus produced a contract from the void and laid it flat on the table alongside a pen for my use. It was just so tempting to throw my abandoned drink at Candor and his infuriating smirk, but I refrained, if only because I knew I was wanted to drown my sorrows later.

I signed the contract, scowling all the while, and, satisfied, Lupus vanished back to the Celestial Spirit World.

And, as planned, I drowned my sorrows in hard liquor as the rain pounded down outside.

Thinking back on it, getting myself drunk was not the best course of action, considering what came next, but oh well. Live and learn. 


Okay... so this is very late and I'm very sorry. But I finally got around to trying my hand at this chapter again, after months and months of having it sit, untouched, in my drafts folder while I guiltily avoided the thing like the plague. But I had some inspiration earlier (might be because a friend on here just got really into Fairy Tail...) and this chapter was ultimately born! It's not quite as good as the first book was, or even the first chapter of this story, but... Ugh. I'm trying to get back into my Fairy Tail writing, and my Winter writing specifically, and it's hard, I won't lie. 

I hope you guys like the long-awaited chapter regardless, but tell me if Winter or Candor or anyone seems off and I'll do my best to remedy the situation, I promise! 







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