"Where aarre you~?" He coos for me. I cover my mouth and scoot further into the small hiding spot I've found. "Come out, come out wherever you are~!" My heart thumps in my ears as I find myself slightly trembling, my eyes tightly closed.

He's going to find me.

I ignore the thought and make my body squish more into the small corner. There is a single ray of light coming through the cracks in the two doors, allowing me a small peeky hole. I can see his legs as he walks past my area.

     "You know I'll find you, I always do~!" He sounds like he's smiling, his voice coming from across the room now. The sound of chair scraping against tile makes me jump, which causes my down fall. My head hit the top of the space I'm in. "I hear you~..." With each of his footsteps my heart rate increases, making it hard for me to hear him walking closer.

It's too late. I won't make it if I try to run now.

I still try to keep my breathing silent as he stops in front of the doors, slowly crouching down in front of them.

     "I got you!" He exclaims as light floods the cabinet.

     "Nooooo!" Laughter bubbles out as he scoops me up into his arms.

     "Found you, Claud!" His smile is almost too wide for him to fit on his face as he gently squeezes my nose. "You almost had me there!"

     "Hey!" I laugh harder as I push his hand away, "You said you'd stop doing that!" I mock pout and rub my nose. He frowns and holds me with one arm as he uses the other to rub the stubbled remains of his beard.

      "Did I? I don't remember doing anything of the sort." We both erupt into fits of laughter. "Come on, we need to get back to training with Leo and Virgo. Don't you want to get a key?"

      "Yeah, but..." I make sure to look at him with the best puppy-dog-eyes I can muster, "One more game? Pweeese?" My begging only makes him chuckle as he shakes his head.

       "Not this time, Squirt." As he playfully tosses me over his shoulder, I catch my reflection in a small mirror on the counter.

Green childlike eyes stare back at me through bangs of wavy brown hair.

Wait, brown hair?!

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

I jump a little, inhaling sharply as I wake up. My back hurts from being hunched over for so long. I peek out from under the long hood of my cloak.

All of them are either drunk, or passed out.

I smile faintly as I sit up and stretch, my back popping in four different places.

    "You know," His voice doesn't startle me this time, I half expected it. "All of them are getting pretty curious about you, even if they don't show it." I look to the short man in his yellow outfit who has appeared into the seat opposite me.

      "I know." I look again at them, "And before you go on your usual path, yes. I know they'll accept me if I talk to them. Yes, I know they won't hurt me. And yes, I know that it's only a matter of time." I look back at him as his eyes fixate on me. "But... But I'm not quite sure that I'm ready to meet them, you know?"

He opens his mouth to reply, only to have the front door burst open. Natsu in the lead.

    "We're back!!" He shouts, waking up the vast majority of them.

A few of them are so deep in drunken slumber, I doubt an earthquake will bother them.

Even so, there are choruses of greetings from various points around the great hall. Master hops down and bounces over to greet them.

    "All went well, I suppose?" He nods to Erza's large pile of luggage that has grown with little presents scattered about here and there.

    "Not very." Lucy comes around the corner of the luggage mountain, "They completely destroyed most of the-!" Natsu laughs as he covers her mouth, Erza just sighs and walks her bags into the place.

Nothing surprising there.

I can see the rage building up in Master, he's fuming silently. I decide to zone out there, leaving him to get onto them.

I guess it may be time for me to go on a mission again.

I always avoid the mission board unless there is a good deal on the board nobody has taken yet, so I don't typically go out much. As a result, they get even more curious about me.

I just can't keep going out daily like they can, who knows what might happen while I'm traveling.

I frown to myself as I squint at the table below me.

Since when did I doubt Fairytale's power? That's... that's like asking Urza if she can do magic!

I slightly shake my head and then rest it back down on the table, my arms crossed to make a pillow.

I'll do it whenever everyone's asleep again. Then there's no awkward moments when-

     "Who are you?" A child-like voice makes me glance up. A kid, no taller than my waist, is looking at me with squinted eyes. "And why are you over here?"

I glance around the place.

Nobody has noticed he's over here.

    "I..." I falter as I sit up again, sure to keep covered from his curious gaze. "I'm... I'm Claudia. Who are you?"

     "I'm Macao's Kid, Romeo, it's nice to meet you!" He holds out a hand that I nervously shake before retracting my own back into the cloak.

    "Well, it's nice to meet you too Romeo, may I ask what you're doing away from your father?" I glance back up, there's still no one who's noticed.

    "They're so boring!" He complains, plopping himself down in the seat across the table. "You're new, so you're more interesting then they are." His comment makes me chuckle as I look at him.

     "Oh are they? Even Natsu? Erza? Happy? All of them?" I watch as his head falls onto the table with a groan.

     "Especially them! They think they're more special than they actually are!" He shakes his head. "And nobody tells them any different!"

     "Hmm. And so you think I'm more interesting than the strongest team in Fairytale. I'll take the compliment I guess." He beams at me as I shrug.

     "Yeah! I mean, you've got the cloak to hide yourself, you almost never talk to people, not to mention everyone avoids you, it's definitely more interesting!" He gives a short series of laughs as he leans back in the chair.

Ouch.

I knew they avoided me, but he's the first to actually come out and say it. That hurts even if they probably only do it because I don't seem to want to talk.

I shake my head as I remain hunched over in the seat.

     "So, what do you have?" He leans forwards again, smiling wide. "Can you show me?" I blink a few times from under the curve of the hood.

      "Show you... my magic?" The kid nods so fast and so furiously I think his head might fall off. "Can I ask why?" He gives me a look.

       "Because no one here has seen it!" He claps his hands together. "Pweeeese? I won't tell anyone!" His raising voice is barely heard as another fight breaks out in almost the center of the room.

Well... They seem preoccupied...

      "Alright." I smirk, "I'll make you a deal." He looks a little suspicious as he squints at me.

      "What kind of deal?" He sounds weary.

Smart kid.

       "I'll show you my magic, if you go get me one of the cakes Mary Jane is serving today." I've never had some of her cooking, just heard about it from the people here. "Do that, and I'll show you. I promise." The promise makes his suspicions melt away, replaced with joy big enough to make him grin.

    "Deal!" He jumps out of the chair and takes off at a run towards the bar. I watch him with a smile, his enthusiasm is refreshing. Mary Jane leans over the counter to hear him, then glances at me along with some other who were at the bar.

Nothing I haven't handled before.

It isn't until I notice the Master's smile that I shift in my seat. We make eye contact across the room.

What are you up to Old Man?

He takes the pipe out of his mouth and says something, getting Mary Jane's attention as well as Romeo. She smiles and nods, turning to go to the back room.

You ruin my cake and I'll knock you off that wall.

She comes back with a slice if cake and a fork, handing it to the kid with something else. I don't quite catch what it is, but I'm instantly curious. He comes back to me and sets the plate down in front of me, somehow he'd managed to get across the room unharmed.

     "Here you go!" He's grinning at me, his eyes shinning through his... glasses.

     "Thank you..." I slide the plate over to me, forcing myself to remain looking at the boy instead of the cake. "How long have you had glasses?" He blinks at me.

      "Uhhh...." He rubs the back of his neck.

Thought so. He didn't have those a second ago.

He pushes the dark green glasses up his nose... by touching the lens.

      "Did they-" I nod to the now Master & Mary Jane-less bar, "-put you up to this?" He sheepishly nods and looks down. I hold out my hand as he takes the glasses off, then peek over his shoulder. Sure enough, I catch Master peeking around the corner of the back room.

I hold up the glasses to him, making him smile goofily and give me a thumbs up. I snap them in half. The reaction on his face made it completely worth it. Romeo looks at me with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry, but I got your cake! And we had a deal!" He huffs at me, as if expecting me to not honor our previous agreement. I look down and use the fork to take a bite.

Oh. My. God. It's even better than they said it was.

I force my hand to put the fork down and look at the kid.

"Alright, a deals a deal." I lean forward and put a finger on my lips. "But this is our little secret, remember?" He nods enthusiastically and leans forwards as well. I scoot back, using my cloak to cover my hand, then focus. A grey, almost black, magic circle blooms from the center of my palm and floats upwards.

"Woah..." His eyes grow wide as he watches it.

"Favorite animal?" I ask, letting the circle hover a little closer to him.

"A dragon!" He throws his hands in the air, "With the big horns and wings!" I laugh lightly and put my finger back to my lips.

"Shh!" I giggle. He gets a serious look on his face and nods, putting a hand over his mouth. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, picturing a miniature dragon in my hand. In a few moments, the grey shrinks and shapes into a clay dragon. It chirps and looks at the kid, happily bounding over to him.

He smiles more and holds it close, the clay hardening at his touch as it rubs its horned head against his chin.

"This is so cool! What type of magic is this?" He whispers urgently to me as the dragon is set down on the table in front of him. It stands proud and flaps it's wings.

"Uh, that's a little complicated." I smile and rub the back of my neck. "There's not a name for it that's too widely known." He grins and nods.

"That just makes you even cooler!" His compliment makes me smile and I wave my hand, the magic circle below the dragon opening again. It chirps and vanishes into the magic.

"Thank you." I cover myself again and start back with the cake. The fight in the middle of the room is finally getting solved by Master.

"Romeo!" I look up at Macao as he calls for his son, the kid waves to me while he books it across the room to his father.

"Bye, see you next time!" I half heartedly wave back.

Well Master, I made a friend. You still going to bother me?