Chapter 20 - Cohabitation

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

Axel rolled off the couch he had been sleeping on, landing heard on the floor while still only half awake. He was slightly winded by the fall, slowly recalling the last thing he remembered. He’d moved onto the couch after Amber had gone to bed last night, and just sort of nodded off watching a rerun. He'd even left the TV on overnight. "Dammit..." He grumbled, slowly rolling up and rubbing an ache out of his neck. "We need to get a more comfortable couch."

"Maybe you wouldn't have that problem if you slept in a bed once and a while." Zeke suggested, looking down at him from the backrest. "Or maybe we could get a beanbag chair. That could be cool."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll think about it next time we take a job." Axel assured, clicking the TV off. He stretched his arms up above his head, glancing out of a large bay window overlooking the town. "What time is it?"

"Almost noon." Zeke said from around a corner, having flown out of the room to get something to eat. The fridge opened and closed, and he walked back in a few seconds later with a muffin clutched in his small furry paws. "You really slept in."

"Yeah, it's been a long week..." He complained, pushing himself up to his feet. "Where's Amber?"

"Taking a shower." Upon hearing Zeke say that, Axel noticed the hiss of water running from the back rooms. "She's only been up a little while though. She must have been as warn out as you."

"Right..." He hadn't considered it before, but having someone other than him and Zeke living under the same roof felt a little strange. What was more, it was a girl, and right now she was probably... He shook his head to end that line of thought before he imagined anything lewd, and quickly stepped into the kitchen to give himself something to do. "Alright, whataya want for breakfast?"

"Bacon!" He chirped excitedly. "And tuna!"

"Bacon and Tuna." Axel repeated, holding back the urge to snicker. "Alright, one poor man's version of surf and turf. Coming right up."

Sitting under the hot running water, Amber had lost herself in the process of scrubbing her scalp clean. Despite her best efforts at the hotel after their job in Treetop, there was still a few patches of dried mud left in her long blue hair. And so much had happened between then and now that she hadn't really thought of trying to wash it out again. After sweeping a small bit of sand down the drain with her foot for the third time, she flicked her hair back over shoulder in content. She stood up and stretched out her arms, then glanced at a small shadow seen through the shower curtain. "Armeria, can you get my other clothes?"

With a small kick, Armeria hopped off the sink and headed for the door. "Sure."

She waited to hear the door click closed, then shut off the water and grabbed a towel off the nearby hook. She had been a little apprehensive about taking a shower at first, but Axel was still asleep when she woke up and she thought it'd be alright if she was quick. As she set about drying herself off, she heard the door creak opened behind her and spun around expecting Armeria to have returned. To her surprise however it wasn't her familiar, but Zeke instead. "Hey Amber, we-." Her face flaring red, Amber covered herself with one arm and flung her towel at him with the other. It covered him completely, and he began squirming underneath it. "Hey, what gives!?"

Acting quickly, Amber leapt from the shower and scooped up the corners of the towel like a bag, trapping Zeke inside. She took a few breaths as she crouched on the bathroom floor, still watching the towel kick about as Zeke squirmed about. "What are you doing in here Zeke? I'm taking a-."

"Amber?" Axel's voice echoed through the door, which to her horror had been left ajar when Zeke had entered. A shadow appeared on the floor of the hallway, and Amber's blood ran cold. "You ok?"

"Don't come in!" She screamed, scrambling towards the door and body slamming it closed. She rested there for a moment, waiting for her heart rate to go back down, when a gentle knock came through the door. "I said don't come in!"

"Everything ok?" Amber leaned her back up against the door to keep Axel out, holding the balled up towel over her chest as Axel spoke. "Did you fall or something?"

"I'm fine. Go away." She could hear Axel take a step away, but felt something kick against her stomach again. Hearing Axel approach made her forget all about Zeke, who was still wrapped up in the towel she now had against her chest. Face flushed red again, she cried out. "Wait, come back!"

The footsteps stopped. "Are you sure you're ok in there?"

"Hold on." She had to get Zeke out before he saw her naked; that is, if he hadn't already. She looked around the bathroom, but found nothing that she could use to cover herself with. Apparently Armeria had taken her pajamas with her when she left, and the only towel was being used to keep Zeke trapped. Out of options and growing cold on the floor, Amber slid herself up the door with the balled up towel in one hand and the doorknob in the other. "Look away from the door."

"What?" Axel asked confused. "Just look away!" Amber snapped. There was a brief pause, in which Amber realised she had sounded angrier than she had meant too. She felt bad for yelling at him, figuring that she owed Axel an explanation now. "I-I'm still naked in here, alright?"

"O-oh right. Ok." He stuttered quickly. It occurred to Amber that she had no idea of Axel would actually be watching or not as she slowly turned the doorknob, but she was getting cold and just want this to be over with. Her face grew an even deeper shade of red, but she proceeded to turn the nob and slowly push the door open just enough to put her arm through.

The air outside the bathroom was cold, sending a chill down her back, but she persisted on and dangled the towel out. Too embarrassed to look out herself, she began waving it back and forth in an attempt to get Axel's attention. "Here, take it..."

"A-alright.” Amber felt the towel pull away and immediately snapped her arm back through the door and closed it shut, hoping against all odds that neither of them saw anything. "What's-?" She heard Axel begin, quickly followed by a soft thump. "Zeke? What are you doing?"

"Amber threw a towel at me." Zeke accused. "I was just saying that breakfast is ready."

"Why didn't you yell through the door?" Axel asked.

"I didn't hear any water so I thought she was done." He said modestly, before calling. "Sorry Amber!"

"I-I'll be out in a second!" Amber yelled, wondering where the hell Armeria had gone off to throughout this whole ordeal. "Just leave the towel and go away."

She heard Axel step away almost instantly, and assumed Zeke had the sense to follow after him. She waited for a moment to open the door to get the towel back, but snapped her hand away when she heard another knock at the door and Armeria call. "Amber, I'm back." Quickly throwing the door open, she snatched her familiar and pulled her inside, reaching out one last time for the towel before slamming it shut again.

Axel and Zeke where waiting sitting at the kitchen table by the time Amber had remerged. Zeke had begun into his breakfast by then, a sandwich Axel had produced out of his food request, but Axel dared not move the second they laid eyes on each other. "Hey..." He waved slightly, which Amber returned with a glair. He slowly lowered his hand, deciding to forgo any attempt at small talk. "Look, I'm sorry about-."

"I want to make some rules." She interrupted, placing her hands on her hips as Armeria clambered up onto the table.

"Rules?" Zeke moaned. "Come on, Amber. I said I'm-."

Axel cut him off by placing a hand over his head, figuring that they owed it to her to hear her out. "Like what?"

There was a moment of silence, as if Amber hadn't expected him to give in so easily and hadn't given any thought to what she wanted to propose. "If there's a door closed, don't just barge in." She began slowly, apparently just going off the top of her head. "I could be changing or something, so I want you to knock first. Ok?"

Axel nodded; that sounded easy enough. "Ok.”

Amber leaned back against the wall, already coming up short as to anything else. "I don't want you to carry me anymore either." She said, nodding her head back towards the den. "If I'm sleeping and you want me to move, just wake me up, ok?"

"But you looked tired." Zeke piped up. "We thought you'd be mad if we woke you up."

"I promise I won't be mad then." She said, trying to make this fair for all four of them. "Same with the door rule; Armeria and I won't barge in without knocking if you don't."

Axel nodded again. It was a weird thing to single out, but again nothing outlandish. "Anything else?"

Amber sank back a little. This had apparently gone much smoother than she expected, and because of that any anger she'd been using to fuel ideas had quickly run its course. One last thought popped into her head when she saw Zeke's tail brushing back and forth on the table, and her face reddened a little as she added. "Yeah, I don't like being tickled..."

Zeke snickered, but quickly looked away when she glared at him. Trying to move things along, Axel spoke up to make sure nothing was misunderstood. "So in total; knock first, don't pick you up, and no tickling." Amber nodded, finding it a little annoying that he could sum up all her requests in just one sentence. Axel smiled again, glancing over to Zeke. "Sure, we can do that. Right?"

"Yeah..." Zeke murmured. He didn't want to look Amber in the eye, fearing that she'd still be glaring at him, and he just stared down at his meal. "Want something to eat?" He asked hopefully, looking for a quick way to change the subject.

Though she opened her mouth to say something, no sound came out. Apparently whatever it was wasn't worth the trouble to mention, and she slowly slipped into a chair across from them. "Thanks." Axel slid her a dish with one of his sandwiches on top, which she quickly took a bite of. Going by the face she made, the taste was new to her, but she didn't complain so they assumed she liked it. "So... What do you guys normally do?" She asked after clearing her throat.

"Most of the time we go to the guild and look for a good job." Axel said with a shrug. "With the money we just made, it might be a good chance to do a bunch of touch up work on the house though." He paused to take a big bite of his sandwich, as he hadn't touched it yet and had grown hungry watching the others eat. "Building this place was awesome, but it wasn't exactly cheap. We had to cut a few corners along the way."

Amber listened intently, becoming hung up on something he had said. She quickly looked around. Sure the place looked rustic, very rustic, but she'd never have guessed that it was a D.I.Y. job. "You guys built all this?"

"Yeah, a bunch of people from the guild gave us a hand too." He said with pride, and a mouthful of food. He waited a moment to swallow, then added. "Plumbing was a real pain in the ass though, and I had to call an electrician to do the wiring, but the frame and stuff was all us."

"You, of all people, had to call an electrician?" Amber snickered. "That's kind of funny."

"You know, throwing a lightning bolt in the middle of a fight and making sure the lights come on when you flick the switch are totally different." He huffed sarcastically, taking another big bite of food. "Besides, your familiar thing can-."

"Armeria." Amber corrected.

"Yeah, her..." He nodded. "She can turn into weapons and stuff, but you're not a blacksmith are you?"

It was a little obvious, but Amber was trying to hold back a smile. "I guess you've got a point." She took another bite of her sandwich, apparently becoming use to the combination of tuna and bacon, then took another look around. "So what did you still have to fix?"

"Some of the windows leak when it rains." Axel nodded to the large bay window in the den, then pointed to the back rooms. "And sometimes there's a draft coming in from... I guess your room now. Sorry about that."

Amber glanced down the hall. "I didn't really notice."

Confident that Amber wasn't mad at him anymore, Zeke spoke up. "It only gets really cold in winter. Or when there's a bad storm."

"Guess I should get working on that first." Axel added. "Jaina'd kill me if I let you get sick." Amber giggled a little; the irony of that, given what had happened to her the day before, was definitely not lost on her. "Besides, it'll give me a chance to clear out some of that junk back there too. Anything you want to keep?"

"The bed..." Amber said quickly.

"Well, yeah. I mean other than that." Axel huffed. "You don't want one of the dressers or anything?"

Amber thought a little more, finishing her sandwich in the process. After a moment she shrugged and nodded slightly. "Sure." Axel smiled, glad that he had at least one less thing to do now. "You don't mind, do you?" She added.

"Naw, it's cool." He quickly wolfed down the rest of his sandwich, then wiped his hands and sprang to his feet. "Well, I've already been talking to some people about updating the place. So I'm going to go see if I can set up some times." Zeke hopped off the table and glided to Axel's shoulder as he put his shoes on. "I'll probably swing by the guild later. Want to come along?"

"Sure." Amber wiped her mouth as well. It didn't seem right to sit this out, considering they were essentially doing it for her. She slipped her feet into her sandals just as Axel stepped out, and followed him down the road after he’d locked the door.

Though they had spent most of the morning going from one workshop to another, there had been little success in setting up a date for any sort of work to start. Everyone wanted their business to be sure, but the earliest date it seemed anyone could start was still at least a week away.

Needless to say this had put a damper on their spirits, as constantly being turned away had pretty much killed any enthusiasm they had begun with. "Sorry." Axel mumbled, trying not to look back at Amber. "I thought this was going to be easier."

"It's fine." She waived him off, though it was imposable to tell if she was telling the truth or just being polite. "It's really not that cold at night."

"We could get another blanket, if you wanted." Zeke said hopefully.

"I said I'm fine, guys." She huffed, growing a little annoyed. "Don't fuss over me."

"You sound like Shelly." Zeke snickered.

"Isn't there something else you could work on?" Amber continued, ignoring Zeke's comment. "Something that doesn't need to be set up a week in advance?"

Axel thought for a moment, wondering if there was anything he might be able to do himself. Unfortunately everything left to fix was all stuff he'd tried and failed to do on his own, but there was something that he'd glossed over in their morning of looking for a carpenter. "Yeah, I guess I could talk to a merchant about clearing out your room."

She shrugged. "So let's do that then."

Axel nodded, and soon the three of them wandered toward the port. The smell of seawater hung in the air, and soon Axel led them into a shop just around the corner from the docks. The inside was full of all manner of things; furniture, paintings, small statues, bits and bobs of every shape and size all strewn about the floor and lining the shelves along the wall. Despite the chaos it was apparently a very successful business, and Axel quickly moved through the maze of products to the counter. "Hey there."

The merchant looked up from a paper he'd been reading, but quickly folded it away when he realised he had a customer. "Ah, the local Dragon Slayer. What brings you to my humble shop today?" He said, hopping up from his chair.

"Remember that list of stuff I brought you a while ago?" Axel began digging through his back pocket, producing a small folded paper and handed it to the merchant. "I've decided to sell it. It's just been collecting dust, and it's in the way now."

Quickly looking the paper over, the merchant nodded and began writing down some numbers in a large book. "Right, I remember you had quite a few assorted pieces. Some of which looked pretty valuable." He flipped Axel's note open again, then began copying down its contents. "Let's see... A dozen assorted books, of varying age and length, two large and one medium sized dressers, various knickknacks, and one queen sized bed."

"Wait, the bed I'm keeping." Axel interrupted. "And one of the dressers too."

"Really? Whatever fo-?" The clerk stopped when he noticed Amber watching them from the other end of the shop. She and Zeke had been wondering around ever since they arrived, but Amber had been watching them hopefully ever since the merchant had begun riming things off. A slight grin cut across his face, and he looked back up at Axel. "I see, so that's how it is then."

Axel blushed, quickly looking away from Amber to hide it. "It's not like that. She's new at the guild and needs a place to stay." He quickly glanced over his shoulder again, breathing a deep sigh of relief when he saw Amber had looked away. "Besides, it'll just be for a little while."

The merchant's grin widened. "Yeah, that's how it always starts." Axel opened his mouth to argue but the merchant carried on regardless, obviously trying to have the last word on the subject. "Well, for the items on this list, minus what you want to keep. I could offer you maybe three hundred jewels."

"That's all?" Axel asked, a little surprised. "That seems kind'a low..."

"Well, that's if I take them all right now. Storage isn't cheap, you know." He leaned back in his chair, scratching at the back of his neck with a pencil, then said. "If you want to sell them on commission, you might get a little more. But it'll take time to find buyers, and the bed you had was going to be the bulk of your profit."

Despite having a nagging feeling that he was being swindled, Axel begrudgingly nodded. "Alright, if you say so..."

"Excellent." The merchant held out his hand, looking to close the deal with a shake. "We've got a deal."

The three of them left a little later, Axel clutching a fat envelope of cash and a delivery notice saying that someone would be picking up everything the next day. He hadn't taken his eyes off the envelope since they had departed, at least until Amber snapped him out of his trance. "You think he ripped you off, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think so..." He mumbled, stuffing the money into his back pocket. "How could you tell?"

"I overheard what he offered you." She sank back a little, apparently feeling bad for staying quiet at the time. "Most of the stuff in there was way pricier more than what you got."

Axel stopped dead, spinning back to glair at the shop down the street. A spark of electricity jumped up his arm as he gritted his teeth, causing Amber to take a step back. "Dammit, I'm never going there again"

Zeke flew up to the top of Axel's head, brushing the hem of his toque down over his eyes. "Forget it Axel. We got all that stuff for free, so there's no point in getting upset over it."

After a deep sigh, Axel pulled Zeke from his head. "Yeah, guess you're right." He stomach growling was all it took for him to drop the topic, and he quickly began walking down the street again. "You guys hungry?" He said, gripping at the envelope of money. "I'm buying."

"Yeah." Zeke barked, floating into the air on his wings again. "You like that Harbors place, right Amber? Want to go there?"

"No." She quickly shook her head, and the speed at which she answered was enough to raze suspicion. "I got a stomach ache yesterday from eating there, so Jaina said to avoid sweets."

"Oh..." They both said in unison. Axel scratched his chin while he thought for a moment, and had an idea. "How about if we go to the guild and have dad make us something? He's a way better cook than I am."

Excited at the prospect of trying more of Jon's food, Amber's face lit up and she nodded. "Sure."

With that, the three of them headed off towards the guild. Luckily for them, the path that led there wasn't that far from the port, and the prospect of a short trek seemed to brighten their moods a little. Axel began to fall back a bit however, aided by the fact that Amber had sped up in her excitement about a new meal. He couldn't seem to forget something the shopkeeper had said, which was weird because he hadn't given it much thought at first. The merchant's words made him wonder though; what exactly was his and Amber's relationship?

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