Gale made his way down the streets of Magnolia with his hands stuffed in his pockets and an unintentional scowl on his face. He was pretty sure his face was the reason passing pedestrians seemed to avoid making eye contact with him. Unfortunately for the iron dragon slayer, he inherited his dad's scary-looking demeanour. It frightened most people who didn't know him.

Gale let a sigh escape his lips. "Geez, this is boring..." He mumbled under his breath. Maybe he should've hung out with Nashi or even tried to find Storm. There was one thing Gale knew for sure in that moment and it was that he really missed his little sister. He wished Lily was her but she was Mavis-knows-where with Luke and Raiden. "I wonder what those three are up to..." 

Silently, Gale continued his journey through town. His eyes widened when a peculiar sight caught his eye. The short blonde hair was unmistakable; it was Quinn. It didn't take an idiot to know that she was crying as she frantically wiped tears that spilled over cheeks. Subtly, Gale changed his direction, avoiding the blonde haired girl at all costs. He headed in the opposite direction now. Guilt creeped into his conscience but he begrudgingly ignored it. There was no way he was getting involved in the mess that was Storm and Quinn's relationship. 

"Hey, Gale!" A soft voice called out to him. Gale stopped in his tracks raising a brow. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time. As he turned around, his eyes fell upon a girl with long dark hair that had been tied into a high ponytail, bangs that covered nearly covered half her face and piercing red eyes. 

"Kira?" Gale said with wide eyes. He hadn't seen her in a long while.

The girl's cheeks burned red as she smiled shakily and nodded her head adamantly. "Yes, that's me..." She mumbled. Kira was the daughter of Rogue. Her mother, Gale wasn't too sure on. "H-How have you been, Gale?" She stammered playing with the ends of her hair. 

Gale smiled. "I've been better if I'm being honest." He said. "What are you doing in Magnolia at this time, huh Kira?" He asked curiously. 

Gale didn't know it was possible but cheeks burned even brighter. "U-uh... I-I arrived with Quinn. She plans on p-professing her love to Storm..." She quickly said, her eyes intent on staying glued to the ground. "Uh... m-maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that..."

"Professing her love for that idiot? Well, I never thought I'd see the day that would happen." He said with a frown. Quinn was crying earlier... Storm must've rejected her, Gale concluded. He felt sorry the girl even more now. He sighed. "Quinn has guts, I'll give her that." A flash of Nashi's face appeared in Gale's head and he shook his head with disappointment looming heavily over his head. "I don't have the courage to confess my feelings to the person I like." 

Kira's eyes raised from the ground for the first time and she looked straight into Gale's eyes, biting her lip. "Me too..." She whispered softly. If Gale didn't have his dragon hearing, he might've missed it.

Silence fell upon the two as they stared at each other momentarily. Gale cleared his throat as he turned his head away from her; a dash of pink spread across his cheeks. "I should get going..." 

"Oh yes..." Kira squeaked as she looked to the ground again. "I... I must find Quinn as well... F-Father and Uncle wouldn't like... like that we came all the way to Magnolia without informing them beforehand." She babbled nervously.  

Gale couldn't help himself, a faint smile spreading across his lips as he looked at the stammering girl. He reached out a patted the girl head causing her freeze in her place. At this point, Kira was as red as a tomato. "It was good seeing you, Kira." He said. 

"Uh yes... you too, Gale." She responded sweetly. "Now I must go." 

Kira quickly turned her heel and scrambled away without another peep. 

Gale let out a breath, the smile somehow couldn't leave his face. That is until his stomach rumbled out loud. "Ugh... I need food." He grumbled.

___________

Nashi slammed the door behind her. "Mom! I'm home!" She called out. To he disappointment, her voice was met with silence. Nashi frowned as she kicked her shoes off and made her way up the stairs. 

As she approached Luna's room, Nashi was sure to keep her steps as silent as possible. Her dad had told her Luna was sick and she didn't want to disturb her little sister. Softly, she pushed open the door to Luna and Layla's room. The first thing she saw was Luna lying in her bed asleep and her mother watching over the little blonde haired girl as she snoozed. A pile of used tissues filled the bin next to her and a sizzling bowl of chicken soup sat on the nightstand.

"Mom?" Nashi whispered. Lucy's head darted to Nashi's direction and immediately relief washed over the woman's face. Jumping to her feet, she ran to Nashi and embraced her tightly. 

"Nashi, I was so worried about you." Lucy said with a smile. "My baby has come back home finally!" She planted kisses all over Nashi's face causing the pink haired girl to cringe.

"Mom! I'm not a little kid anymore." Nashi whined, a look of pure disgust on her face.  She pulled away from her mother and Lucy puffed her cheeks. Nashi took a good look at her mother and she didn't look too good. Dark circles were under her eyes and she looked beyond exhausted. "You look tired, why didn't you get dad to watch over Luna for a bit." Nashi asked with a frown. 

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Knowing your dad, he'd probably burn down the house trying to make the soup." She sighed. "I don't want to move houses again and someone has to watch over Layla. Unfortunately that little girl seems to like her father a little more than me nowadays." Lucy's head hung low in defeat, a dark aura emanating from her.

Nashi's frown only deepened. She threw her bag onto the ground and pushed her mother towards the door. "Why don't you have a shower and freshen up, mom? I'll watch Luna for a bit."

"No, Nashi, it's fine." Her mother shook her head.

Nashi groaned. "Mom, you stink! Go have a shower!" She ordered the woman.

Lucy gasped and she cupped her hand over her mouth. "I do not stink, you little brat!" She yelled swatting Nashi at the back of the head. "How dare you say that!"

"Mom, I'm serious. You need a break." Nashi said rubbing her head. 

Lucy sighed. "Fine..." She agreed crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks. "Just make sure Luna eats the soup." Lucy instructed.

Nashi nodded. "Okay, now go." She said practically shoving her mother out the door.

"I'm going you brat!" Lucy barked. When she was finally out, Nashi let out a breath of relief. She walked to Luna and gently shook her awake. 

Luna groaned and her eyes opened slightly. "Nashi?" She said. 

Nashi grinned. "That's me kiddo. Now sit up a little, I gotta feed you this soup so you can get all better." She said to Luna.

Luna groaned once again. " But I'm tired, Naaashii..." She whined trying to bury herself under the blankets. "I wanna go back to bed."

"I'll tell you a really cool story while you eat it." Nashi bargained. 

Luna's eyes peeked out of the blanket. "What's the story about?" She asked softly. 

"It's a true story about how I travelled back in time and beat up Dad." Nashi grinned. 

Luna frowned. "Did that really happen?" 

Nashi nodded. "It sure did... but to hear it you gotta eat the soup."

Luna narrowed her eyes at Nashi and she slowly sat up slightly in her bed and grabbed the soup. "Okay fine, I wanna hear it."

Nashi laughed as she took the soup in her hands. She scooped some of it out and began feeding her little sister. "Okay, it started with this really ugly old dude in this creepy mansion..."

___________

"HI-YA! HI-YA!" Rose grunted as she sliced at yet another one of her mother's attacks. "HI-YA!" Erza was having a hard time stifling her laughter as she fought her daughter. 

Rose stopped, a frown spread across her lips. "Mom! Stop laughing!" She whined jumping up and down in frustration. 

Erza cleared her throat. "Apologies, my little Rose. Your sound effects are just too cute." She gushed squeezing at her daughter's cheeks now. 

Rose groaned. "Mom!" She whined again, this time louder. "I have to beat Luke and Raiden so I can reclaim the Fernandez honour!" 

"What's this about Fernandez honour?" Hunter interrupted as he approached his mother and sister.

Rose's eyes lit up as she saw her brother. Instantly, she ran to him and tackled him into a hug. Consequently, both of them fell to the ground with a thud. Hunter smiled down at his sister, he had missed her a lot.

"What took you so long?" Rose asked frowning. 

"The mission was more took time than I thought, unfortunately." Hunter said patting the girl on the head. Hunter stood to his feet, hoisting Rose up to her feet as well. Just as he was on his feet, his mother immediately crushed him in a bear hug. "Mom, I can't breathe." He wheezed. 

Erza let go of his him, only to now crush both him and Rose together in an embrace. When they were finally released, Hunter regained his composure. 

"So what were you saying about reclaiming Fernandez honour, Rose?" Hunter asked crossing his arms.

"I'm also curious what you mean by that." Erza chimed in rubbing her chin. 

Rose frowned and looked at the ground in shame. "Both of you are capable of stopping fights with a single look and everyone is scared of you... meanwhile I can't beat up Luke and Raiden and no one is scared of me." She sniffled and Hunter could see tears start to form in her eyes. "How can I call myself a Fernandez if I'm not like the both of you?" She started sobbing and Hunter and his mother's eyes both widened.

"So that's it? That's why you're throwing yourself into these training regimes?" Erza stated. For a while, she noticed something in her daughter's demeanour change but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. 

Hunter frowned bending down to his sister's height. It was clear she was struggling with the pressure of being a Fernandez. Growing up, he also experienced this. Being the son of a former wizard saint and the great Titania, was never easy. Everyone expected him to be just as good and he had dealt with it. The fact that Rose had the same problem slipped his mind.

"You don't have to be the best of the best to be a Fernandez. Having people cower at your sight isn't a good thing at times, ya know." Hunter started trying to comfort his little sister. "You're a Fernandez by blood and that'll never change. It doesn't depend on how many people you can beat up."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Erza agreed ruffling her daughter's hair.

Rose sniffled. "Really?"

"Of course." Erza reassured with a smile. "Your father would say the same if he were here."

"Okay, I understand...can we still train? I still wanna beat up those two little brats for eating my strawberry cake." Rose asked.

Suddenly, Hunter and Erza's auras darkened tremendously. "We're gonna get those brats for doing that to you!" They both seethed.

__________

I am so sorry for this chapter taking so damn long. I've had exams and assignments due soo yeahhhh... the next update will be in the next few days so watch out for that!

this chapter may be boring but I feel like its a relief seeing as the previous arc was pretty hectic. I hope you liked Kira cause idk why but I'm in love her LOL

and I wonder what happened with storm and Quinn.....

comment what y'all thought

#unedited

(the gif is a clue for what the next arc is gonna be about ^_^)