Chapter 4 - Decision Time

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

A New Day
Amber slowly rolled over in her bed, turning away from the sunlight shining through the window. It took a couple seconds to fully wake up, but remembering everything that had transpired over the last two days made her thankful for a full nights rest. Everything after leaving the guild the day before was a blur; between Axel and Zeke's incessant questioning and Shelly trying to give a brief tour of the city, it was a wonder she made it into a bed at all.

Upon pushing herself up into a sitting position, Amber stretched her arms above her head and took a look around. Shelly had called it her family's guest room, through save for the bed it looked more like someone's home office. She spotted Armeria slumped over on a desk while scanning over the room, who immediately spoke once their eyes met. "Shelly said to come downstairs." Upon hearing this, Amber caught a whiff of something cooking. "She said she was making breakfast."

Amber drowsily nodded, slowly getting out of bed and stretching again to work the stiffness out of her back. She didn't have a change of clothes to sleep in, so Shelly had let her borrow a pair of pajamas for the night. Evidently they were her own, as Amber found then a bit snug. That and the fact that they were covered in cute looking rabbit faces was also a dead giveaway. Despite all that, Amber welcomed the gesture none the less. Too tired to change, Amber simply picked up Armeria like a teddy bear, put on her glasses, and made her way downstairs.

The smell of food grew stronger as she descended down the staircase, making Amber's stomach growl the more she thought about it. She found the kitchen fairly quickly by following her nose, and peeked around a corner to see Shelly working away over a stove. The floor creaked as Amber shifted her weight, drawing Shelly's attention. "Good morning Amber." She said with a smile. "How did you sleep?"

"Really well." Amber admitted, sitting down at the table with Armeria on her lap. While she did so, Shelly scooped a bunch of scrambled eggs onto a pair of plates and bring then to the table to join her. "Thank you for having me. It's been a while since I had a good night's sleep."

"Really?" Shelly asked, making Amber realise she had said more than she meant to. "What do you mean?"

Amber scrambled to think of an excuse, still not willing to talk about herself. "I uh... I mean, I just..." Armeria tipped her head back to look at Amber, who met her gaze and calmed slightly. "Traveling can be tough sometimes. Finding a place to sleep isn't always easy."

Shelly slowly picked up a fork and took a bite of her eggs, smiling again after swallowing. "I see."

Amber was about to do the same, then remembered that Shelly had said exactly the same thing when she tried to lie to her before in the guilds library. Amber suspected that she had seen right through her deception before, and was beginning to get that feeling again. "And, well..." She spoke without thinking, but already had Shelly's attention and didn't like the idea of lying to someone who had just sheltered her for the night. "I don't sleep very well. Sometimes..." She slumped over, trying to hide her blushing face in Armeria's orange hair. "Sometimes I have nightmares."

"Oh." Shelly seemed taken aback, not really sure what to do with the information. "About what?"

Amber shook her head. "I can never remember. It all becomes a blur once I wake up." It wasn't necessarily a lie. She would remember being scared or uncomfortable, but the specifics always found a way to elude her somehow. "It just makes it hard to sleep."

Shelly sighed, playing with a bit of food with her fork. "I'm sorry." An uncomfortable silence fell over the pair of them, nether one knowing what to say to the other next. The doorbell ringing was enough to make them forget their conversation, and Shelly turned her head to the side quizzically. "Who is...?" She had just enough time to rise to her feet before remembering something. "On yeah! Amber, wait here a sec."

Amber had no time to say anything before Shelly ran off, leaving her and Armeria alone at the table. Hearing her stomach growl again reminded Amber how hungry she actually was, and moved Armeria from her lap to the next chair over so that she could eat. The eggs were a bit too salty for her taste, and where still a little runny, but she didn't care to complain. "She seems nice." Amber jumped a bit upon hearing Armeria's monotone voice. "You should stay Amber, they are a nice group of people. You can be happy here."

Amber tried her best to ignore her familiar but found that she couldn't completely dismiss the thought, no matter how hard she tried. Before coming to a conclusion one way or another, she heard two sets of footsteps coming back from where Shelly had run off to. A moment later Shelly re-entered the kitchen with a petit redheaded girl with glasses following after her. Amber couldn't really get a good look at her, as she seemed to be intentionally hiding from sight behind Shelly's back. "Amber, this is..." Shelly began, before also noticing she was being used as a shield. "Come on out, she's ok."

Amber got a better look at the girl once Shelly pulled her out of hiding. She had her hair tied up in pigtails and wore a long black shirt and knee length pants under a pink dress, and stared back at her with soft pink eyes behind a set of purple frame glasses. She looked to be younger than Shelly, by about the same margin as Shelly was from Amber, but looked far more timid than one would expect for the situation. "H-hello." She said quietly, almost whispering. "My name's Carra."

It took a second for Amber to respond, trying to swallow her last bite of food as quickly as possible. "Hi. I'm Amber." The pair of them stared at each other momentarily, nether one knowing what to say to the other, when Amber finally decided to break the silence. "Are you a guild member too?"

"Uh-huh." Shelly shook her head, putting her hands on Carra's shoulders. "She doesn't go out on jobs, but she works with Jon as a waitress at the guild." A low wine echoed from the other room, and a small puppy strolled in just as everyone turned to look. "Oh yeah, and that's Chico. These two go everywhere together."

"Shelly..." Carra began tugging at Shelly's shirt, still keeping a wary eye on Amber. "We have to go."

"Right, right. I remember." She assured, turning back to Amber for a moment. "I promised to help out with something this morning at the guild. Do you mind coming with us?" Amber thought about it, but Shelly seemed to read her mind almost instantly. "You don't have to help or anything, it's not that big a job. But Dad made me promise to not leave you home alone."

"Well..." Amber exchanged glances with Armeria, who had an uncharacteristic smile on her face. "I guess so." Upon hearing this, Carra left for the front door and Shelly was about to follow when Amber called after them. "W-wait a second, I..." She half stood up and her face went red as she looked back down at her borrowed pajamas, only realising now that they had left most of her stomach exposed. "I-I have to change first."

After allowing Amber a moment to get dressed before departing, the small group begun walking to the guild for the day. Amber had no idea which way to go, thanks to yesterday's numerous detours on the way to Shelly's house, so she thought it best to simply allow the others to lead the way. Shelly seemed too preoccupied with leading their little troupe to talk, however Carra appeared to be growing more comfortable in Amber's presence. At least, she'd stopped hiding from her behind Shelly. "So, you work in the kitchen with that Jon guy?" Amber asked, growing tired of simply following along in silence.

Carra looked down sheepishly, apparently trying to avoid eye contact. "No, I just bring people food."

"Oh." Amber said slowly, beginning to grow annoyed with the girl's shortness. "Well, you're a mage. Right?" Carra nodded, still not looking her in the eye. "Do you go out on jobs too?"

Chiko jumped up on Carra's leg, and she picked him up to hold him against her chest. "Sometimes." Amber was just about to give up on keeping a conversation when Carra continued. "But I like staying at the guild more." A tiny smile grew on her face as she looked down at the puppy in her arms. "Chico does too." Chico barked twice, apparently agreeing with her statement.

Amber laughed a little, then heard Shelly call out ahead of them. "Hey Amber, we're almost there." Taking in their surroundings for the first time in a while, Amber found that they now stood at the edge of the city, facing down a single path running alongside a forest. "Do you remember how we got here?"

"Uh..." Amber looked back down the street behind them, unsurprisingly finding nothing familiar. "N-no."

Amber blushed slightly, making Shelly giggle. "It's ok, I can show you around a bit later. But the guild's just up this road. It will take you right by the door." Amber was confused at first, but seeing Carra take half a step down another street cleared things up fairly quickly. "Do you mind running ahead on your own? I forgot I had an errand to run." Amber took another look at the path leading away from town, then nodded back at Shelly. "Sorry, it'll only take a few minutes. I'll make it up to you, I promise." With that, Shelly and Carra both ran off down another side road, leaving Amber standing at the edge of town by herself.

A cool breeze blew over her from the forest, brushing dust from the road over her feet. A thought came to Amber's mind while she stood there, something she had been avoiding for the last little while. Nobody knew where she had come from, or where she would ever go should she decide to leave. Nobody was around to tell her to stay, nor did she believe she would ever see any of these people again if she left. The easiest option seemed obvious; leave the town and the guild behind and never look back. However just thinking about doing that tied her stomach in a knot; even more so when she considered leaving without saying goodbye. She couldn't make a decision one way or the other, and rested her hand on her large belt after a few minutes of indecision. "Armeria, what do you think I should do?"

Amber's belt jumped from her waist and reassembled into her Imp like companion, blankly looking up at her from the ground. "You already know what I think." She said flatly. "You've made friends here. I think you'd like it."

"Friends?" Amber repeated. "I've only known them for a few days."

Ignoring Amber, Armeria simply repeated herself. "You already know what I think." Amber sighed, expecting something a little more insightful than an opinion, and crossed her arms over her stomach as the tight feeling grew. Still weighing her options, Amber suddenly realised that she couldn't think of a reason not to stay. Everyone seemed friendly, she loved the food, and she had just left one life behind. Thinking back, she found it strange that she had been pulling away in the first place, especially since she had nowhere else to go.

Feeling Armeria's hair brush against her leg drew her attention back to earth, and she looked down to see her offering up a hand to hold. Deliberating for just a second longer, Amber glanced back at the city, then slowly turned in the direction of the guild and took Armeria's tiny hand. "Well here I go... I guess." A smile crept across Armeria's face, just before she jumped back around Amber's waist as a belt once again. Amber stumbled slightly from her familiar's abrupt return, but quickly recomposed herself and began the long walk to Blazing Soul.

It took less time than she remembered to get there, but before long Amber stood in front of the large gates to the guild. Taking a deep breath to help build up courage, she pushed up against one of the doors and stepped into the property. She found it much easier to move then one would have expected for a door of its size, slowly swinging back into place after Amber had passed it by.

The guilds courtyard was just as quiet as it was yesterday; even more so without Axel and Zeke asking her opinion on the place. She found it a nice change actually, slowly warming to the idea of spending more time here. Her chain of thought was interrupted however, when she heard a small yet familiar voice from behind her. "Hi Amber." She spun quickly, just in time to see Axel step through the gate and Zeke looking up at her from just a few feet away. "How's your head feel?"

"F-fine." Amber stuttered, reaching up to feel the bandages around her forehead. With everything that had happened recently, she had forgotten all about their incident back in Johdine. "It doesn’t even hurt anymore."

"You know, you could probably take that bandage off now." Axel suggested, walking past her to hold the door to the main building open. "That bump should be all better by now."

"Already?" Amber asked confused. "But it's only been one day."

"Jaina's a really good doctor. She has this medicine that makes wounds heal quicker." Zeke declared, now floating in the air to be at eye level with everyone else. "It's not very useful with big stuff, but it gets rid of bumps and scratches almost overnight."

Zeke flew through the door as Amber began undoing her bandages, then felt around her forehead for her wound. Much to her surprise, they were right. There was no bump, no scrape, not even a scar. No indication that she had been hurt in the first place. "That's incredible." She blurted out, watching her bandages as the wind carried them away.

"Yeah, it can come in handy." Axel waved Amber through the door, stepping inside himself once she was through. The guild was still void of people, as far as Amber could see at least, until Axel made his way over to the kitchen and stuck his head in the door. "We're here dad." He glanced back at Amber for a moment, then added. "Amber too."

After hearing a bit of shuffling from within, Jon immerged once again, wiping his hands dry on a hand towel. His mustache curled up into a smile when he saw Amber. "Hello Ms. Amber, glad to see you decided to pay us a visit."

"Yeah I..." She stopped herself just short of announcing her intention to join the guild. The thought made her feel sick somehow, so she decided to simply avoid the subject. "Thanks for having me."

"Any time." Thankfully for her, Jon seemed oblivious to Amber's internal tug of war, or at least had the courtesy to not dwell on it. "Well I must be getting back to work, I hope my son can be a more courteous host today."

Amber stifled a laugh as Axel's face grew red, sticking his tongue out at the elderly man as he disappeared back into the kitchen. As Axel flopped down into a nearby chair, Amber took notice of the large corkboard hanging on the wall opposite the kitchen, and the numerous papers hanging from it. They looked a little like wanted posters, except with large blocks of text instead of pictures. "Are these all jobs?" She glanced over her holder at the others, then back at the board before she got an answer. "There's so many...”

"Yeah, we get them from all over the place. Sometimes even from outside Bantia." Zeke announced, landing on a table next to Amber. "Jaina said you could have one to make up for what happened in Johdine. Why not take one now?"

Amber thought about it for a second, then lowered her head sadly. "But I'm not a guild member..."

"Oh..." Zeke seemed concerned upon seeing Amber's sad expression, racking his brain to think of something that would cheer her up. "Well, I think it would be ok. There's no rule against it, right Axel?"

"I don't think so." Axel admitted, half spinning in his chair to face them. "But if it's bugging ya' that much, why not just join the guild and take a job afterword?" Amber's stomach grew tight again, and she turned away from Axel and Zeke to look at the job board. "You could do that, couldn't you?" Amber tried not to think on it, hating how seemingly every conversation she had somehow came back to her joining the guild. Once again however, the sound of a door opening cut off the conversation before she had to give an answer. Shelly and Carra flowed through the front door, apparently having finished whatever they had to do in town. Seeing as how the guild was pretty empty, it didn't take Shelly long to spot Amber while Carra disappeared into the kitchen. "Hey, you made it."

"Yeah." Amber wasn't really sure how to respond. "I did."

"So have you made a decision yet?" Shelly inquired, resting back on the wall next to the job board. "About whether you'll join the guild?" Amber didn't answer, trying to hide her annoyance over everyone bringing that topic up. "You came by, so you must like it here. Don't you?"

Amber was about to answer when something somewhat unsettling came to mind. Was leaving her alone some sort of test or something? Did Shelly know that she had considered leaving after they had left, or worse yet, counted on it? Her innocent smile seemed to cast doubt on that theory, however Amber still couldn't shake the feeling that she had been tricked somehow. "Well, not yet."

"She wants to take a job." Zeke chirped excitedly. "But she feels bad because she's not a guild member yet."

Amber glared back at him, hating how he could just blurt something like that out so easily. Oblivious to what she was thinking, Shelly carried on. "I don't think anyone will mind. Jaina invited you here, so I think you'd be ok."

"But joining does have its perks." Amber spun around to see Jaina leaning on the doorframe of the guild's main entrance. "Newbies eat free." She said with a grin.

"Really?" Amber blushed slightly, realising she had sounded more enthused than she meant too.

"Really, really." Jaina repeated. "So what do ya' think, little girl? Want to be a part of a guild?"

Amber's stomach began to cramp again upon feeling everyone's eye on her, waiting for an answer. Slowly looking back at the job board on the wall, and the others watching hopefully, Armeria's words began echoing in her head. "Yeah..." The tightness in her stomach immediately went away, allowing Amber to take a sharp breath to calm her nerves. "I want to join you guys."

Shelly and Zeke cheered, and Jaina smiled. "Alright good, I'll get the stuff. Don't go anywhere, ok?"

Just as Jaina headed up the staircase to the second level, Shelly took Amber's hand and led her over to the table Axel was sitting at. "You'll really like it here. Everybody's really nice." She paused for a moment, apparently being mistaken about something. "Well, most of us are at least. But the library's a great place to hang out, and some of the jobs are really fun."

"And there’s the arena." Axel added, a little disgruntled. "Can't forget about that."

"Right, right, there's that too." Shelly waved him off, apparently sharing Amber's disinterest in the battlefield behind the guildhall. "We also-."

Suddenly, the guild's back door burst open and a woman with short pink hair strolled through. "Greetings companions!" She bellowed, raising an arm to wave at them. Amber recognised her from the day before, or more specifically, recognised the bandages covering her right arm. Terra; or something similar at least. She took a moment to look around, however her eyes soon fell on Amber. "Ah, you are the one from yesterday. The girl who ran from the arena once the alarm broke."

"You... Remember me?" Amber asked surprised. "You uh, you where sort of busy when I showed up."

"A warrior must always be aware of her surroundings." She said with pride. "Even in the midst of combat, one must take notice of everything around them." After taking a moment to take stock of everyone present, Terra stood up straight and asked. "So what is all the commotion about?"

"Amber here's decided to become a part of our disjointed little family." Jaina announced from the second floor balcony, before vaulting over the banister and landing with a thud in the center of the floor.

Amber found it strange that she was so active, despite missing bothan arm and a leg, but didn't have time to think about it too much before Terra began roughly patting her on the back. "That is wonderful news, companion Amber. We must do battle some time."

"Hey, hey, go easy already." Jaina insisted. "She ain't even a member yet, so save it till she's got a few jobs under her belt." Terra stepped away and bowed her head in respect, though Amber began to have second thoughts about joining. Failing to notice this, Jaina pulled what looked like a stamp out of her back pocket and handed it to Amber. "Alright, so where do you want your guild mark?"

"Oh..." She suddenly felt apprehensive having now committed to something. "S-shouldn't we wait for the guild master to get back?”

"Dad won't mind." Shelly explained. "He's always happy to have new members. As long as he knows who you are at least."

"Dad?" Amber through back a bit, remembering the hulk of a man Shelly had called father the day before. It took a few seconds, but Amber was able to piece it together soon enough. "Your dad is the guild master here?"

"Uh-huh." Shelly nodded. "You met him yesterday, so that means you’re in the clear."

"Besides, I was the one who made the big guy guild master in the first place. So I'd say I got seniority on him." Jaina's eyebrow twitched, apparently becoming annoyed with something. "I mean... I've been doing it longer than he has. Not that I'm older than he is." Amber was still confused, but noticed everyone had taken half a step backwards as a vain popped in Jaina's forehead. "I'm not old dammit."

Amber tried not to laugh, finding Jaina's stuttering somewhat funny. Picking up on this, Shelly took the stamp Jaina had giving her and quickly said. "So uh, Amber. Where do you want your guild mark?"

"Guild mark?" Amber asked confused. "What's a guild mark?"

"Like this." Zeke said, hovering beside Amber and holding up his shirt. On his back was a green mark resembling a burning skull, the same one that hung above the guild’s front entrance. "We all have one." Amber looked back to Axel, rolling up his sleeve to show a similar one on his shoulder, and Shelly holding up the waist of her shirt to show hers just beside her belly button. "So come on, pick a place." He said, landing on Shelly's shoulder.

Amber thought about it for a moment, wondering what other significance there was to this, then rested back on the table again. She looked down at the back of her hands, apparently deciding that was a good a place as any. "How about here?" She said, pointing to the back of her right hand.

"Works for me." Jaina pressed the stamp against Amber's skin, which caused a slight glow. Upon removing the stamp, in its place was an orange version of the Blazing Soul mark. As Amber held up her hand to admire, she felt someone's arm around her waist and heard Jaina say. "Smile, new girl."

Amber blinked away from a bright flash, then heard the sound of a camera winding. She looked down to see Shelly let go of her, as well as release Axel from an apparent head lock, then back up at Jaina again. "What was that for?"

"Call it tradition." She said, somewhat sarcastically. "Or a hobby of mine, if you prefer." Still trying to blink away the vertigo in her eyes, Amber felt herself pulled back toward the bar again. After poring herself a drink, then taking another from a bottle, Jaina said. "So, little girl. Ready to venture into the unknown? Make friends, kick ass, have the adventure of a lifetime? All that jazz?"

Amber looked back at the others, from Shelly and Zeke beaming at her to Axel and Terra's slight disinterest; she finally felt like she had a place to belong again. "Yeah." She looked down at her guild mark again, then smiled. The first sincere smile she had had for as far as she could remember. "Sounds great."

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