Chapter 2 [Build Up]

Marideth growled, her eye flashing as it seemed she was about to activate an ability, but she stood down and went back inside, muttering under her breath.

"Should've set her on fire..."

Jade takes her clothes and walks off even more pissed than before.

"God dammit Jade get back here..."

Marideth sat back down at the bar, muttering to herself.

"The fuck was her deal...I tried to be nice and help her out and she just blows me off...I'll make sure to teach her a lesson later.."

Alanna still continues to run after Jade, being still very concerned for her friend.

Jade turns around to see Alanna following her "Why do you keep following me?"

"Because I fuckin care about ya." Alanna states in her defense. "Why else would I fuckin run after a friend when she fuckin pointed a gun at me when I fuckin know she didn't fuckin mean it."

"Didn't I? I am only a merc. Not a soldier." she says as she keeps walking. "I could have easily shot any of you in there out of pure anger."

"Yeah I fucking know that, and I'm still running after you." Alanna states.

While everyone was in the bar, Shinyo and Viola were in their home and Shinyo said to himself, "After all that shit today, I need a shot." He looked at Viola and said, "Hey Viola, I'm heading out for a drink. I'll see ya in a bit." Shinyo left the house and took a walk to the bar where he saw the shit going on outside and walked in. He got to the bar and asked Kiru, "Hey Kiru, you have any mead in here?"

Humonculon frantically squeezes out of Eric's hand and onto Gajeel's shoulder. Slots popped up and cracked up.

"SO THIS IS THE MIGHTY RAY? DON'T SEEM TOO MIGHTY TO ME YA KNOW."

"Why bother, I am nowhere near worth it. You are a good person. I am not." Jade says and sighs. "Everytime I get close to someone they die. My original squad, before I was discharged went Rouge and I killed him. Got discharged. Then joined special forces. After that my team was all wiped out by a napalm strike except me. I lost my friends, loved ones. I am not worth chasing after so why bother."

Eric smiled happily "a-assholes where have you both been! You missed the birth of my kids!"

Kiru was in a somber mood after the episode with Jade, she hoped that Alanna was making progress with her. She handed Shinyo mead, not thinking at all of messing with the drink.

"Because everyone has a chance to change. Trust me." As the two of them were talking, they heard Marideth's voice behind Jade. She slipped Jade's shirt back over her head and sighed.

"I know how you feel. My team got wiped out as well, and I kept thinking it was all my fault...It's a horrible feeling to live with but you just have to remember that there's always a second chance for everybody. Including you." Marideth smiled sincerely and extended her hand.

"Again...Sorry for earlier. Just a drunken mistake...So...friends..?"

"That doesn't fucking bother me. Your worth chasing because I fucking care about you. Your a friend to me. You may fucking think your not worth chasing but to me you are worth chasing." Alanna says to Jade. "You may have lost people you may have loved, but I am not going to be fuckin losing you. We like having you around Jade. Can't you see that. We're all friends, and we'll all get through whatever we fight against together. Its just what friends do." Alanna tries to comfort Jade.

"You know that was terrible right?" Asks Lilac, giving her thoughts on Alanna's speech.
"Well, unlike you, I actually like making some fucking friends." Alanna says in her defense in her head.

Shinyo took a sip of the mead and said, "So what was all that shit that happened outside and what is that circus girl doing here? Weren't we hunting her down?"

Viola was in the home and she saw Jaden and Echo outside in the park near her house. They looked very cute together and she said, "I figured those 2 would get together at some point." Viola looked back and looked at a picture she took with Shinyo 6 years ago and said, "I wonder if Shinyo thinks of me more as a friend or something more than that?" Viola shrugged and just decided to play her flute more.

"On a scale of 1-10, how much do we not care?"Humonculon stated rudely as he was flicked by Ray.

"Your kids aren't important to me right now, and I find it hard to believe you got laid in the first place."

Kiru sighed, "Not your concern Shinyo... but I better make sure that circus freak doesnt cause more problems.." Kiru left the bar, quickly finding the three girls, "Oye, everything cool with you all now?"

Marideth shrugged and looked down at the ground.

"I've been causing a lot of trouble, haven't I...sorry..." Marideth handed Kiru some more money as a tip, then turned and began to walk off.

"Thanks for the fun time, guys. I'll leave you to your moment." Placing her hands behind her back, she walked off with a sinister smile on her face.

I can't wait to tell big brother about these guys...he'll loooooove them...

She turns to Alanna. "Maybe, but in the end who can you trust? I would give my life for you, but would you do the sane. This life of a mercenary was easy. Granted I was lonely. Granted I wanted friends. But I didn't have to worry about the important people In my life dying. You are important to me Alanna. And I refuse to let you fall because of me."

This past week has been very interesting for Klaus. After the events of terrenus he has been locked up in his quarters studies everything he saw. He has been deprived of sleep only focusing on his experiments. ''All these findings have caused me to rethink the connection between humans and spirits,''said Klaus as he looks over a flask which seems to be holding something inside.
''No, no its not ready,'' said Klaus as he got up from his chair and leaves his quarters.

"I can trust my fuckin friends, and my team, but I would fucking trust my friends and my best friends more. I would take a fucking bullet for you, and I may have not been a mercenary. But I was also fucking to have friends, and I was also alone." Alanna replies to Jade, starting to cry a little bit. "Your important to me too jade, and I won't fall, and I won't fall because of you!"

"Well, m'lady, it seems you've taken a liking to their group." Penwood knelt, packing up the rest of the Darkarnival's belongings. Marideth stared down at the ground, a bit sobered up since the incident at the bar.

"What do I do, Penwood? You've always given me the best advice..." Marideth looked up at Penwood, who stood back up and pondered for a moment.

"M'lady...I think you'd be happier if you stayed here. You can find new teammates in them. They won't like you at first--not one bit...but you're used to that. You'll adapt fine, and you'll make them proud." Penwood smiled at Marideth.

"But...what about the Darkarnival...What about our Greatest Show?" Marideth looked up at Penwood, concern in her eyes.

"Don't worry...Alexander and I can take over for you. We'll be fine." With a loving embrace, Penwood hugged Marideth as they said their goodbyes, and Marideth saw the Darkarnival leave the town without her. Looking down, she began walking back to the bar.

Jade stops walking and turns around, noticing that she is starting to cry. She goes over to Alanna and holds her. "Its ok...you can cry...I won't judge."