It was a terrible day to be outside in Magnolia, the rain pouring from the clouds, its droplets crashing against the windows with a loud bang.

The Fairy Tail guild was, as usual, loud. Even without the persistent rain the guild was known to be loud basically all the time, however, when combined, the noise reached brand new highs.

A young, barechested man with raven hair pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed tiredly, taking in what he was just told by one of his many companions that sat by the table with him.

"All right, let me get this straight..." groaned Gray Fullbuster. "You burned that building down, because you thought it would save us time of searching for the target? Is that why you messed up the entire mission and made us pay for property damage again?"

His questions were aimed at a slightly older man with red dreadlocks. The man smirked proudly and nodded from behind his mug of beer.

"Yup." he said shortly and drank from his mug.

"I fucking hate you, Abir."

Abir put down his mug and arched an eyebrow at Gray.

Most of his locks were slid back, with only a few of them hanging on both sides of his face. His skin was of a slightly darker color than everyone else, with some hair dosing his chin. He was wearing a black coat with red clouds printed at its hip level, grey pants, which ends were covered by bandages wrapped from the middle of his shins down to his blue sandals that covered his feet. His blade, usually strapped to his left hip, was now resting by the table next to him, his headband resting on the tabletop.

His appearance was unique, even among the guild, something he never really explained to them in its entirety, much to their irritation.

"Gray..." sighed Abir and put down his mug, now leaning toward an ashtray, where his weird smelling cigarette was placed. "Explain to me, please, what is wrong in trying to make the job easier?" he asked and put it in his mouth, breathing some of it in with bliss. "I thought you hated when a job drags itself out."

Gray frowned. "Yeah, I do. I also hate when innocent people get hurt for no reason at all. You didn't even check who was inside, you simply light it up like a bonfire!"

"Hey, if they were inside of a gang's building, then they weren't all that innocent." shrugged Abir. "I say let them burn, kill two birds with one stone. You should never take any chances, Gray."

Gray scoffed and left the table and then the guild, leaving the rest of his team with the newcomer. The man shrugged and put down his blunt once again. Noticing that Lucy was giving him a nasty eye, the man got a little flustered.

"I don't take pleasure in it, you know." he said softly.

Lucy's eyes softened, although they still expressed a hint of disapproval. "I know you don't." she sighed. "I just wish things wouldn't get out of hand like that. One of these days a tragedy will happen."

"Look, this is the kind of mindset I simply had to follow back where I'm from." shrugged Abir. "If you let anyone get the high ground over you, it could very easily be the end for you."

"Yeah, where is that, exactly?" Lucy asked, once again trying to pull him by his tongue.

"I already told you, baby." smirked Abir and grabbed his mug. "In a land-"

"Far, far away, yeah, I heard that." interrupted him annoyed Lucy. "That still doesn't tell me anything. Would you just tell us already?"

Abir gulped down the remains of his drink and sighed in relief. "Sure." he smirked. "If you let me get a feel of your-"

"Forget it."

The man laughed and turned over to his last teammate. "Anything from you, pinkie?"

Natsu arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What, you're not gonna scold me for hurting innocent people?"

Natsu shrugged and crossed his arms on his chest. "Not really. They were all bad guys anyway, so nothing bad happened."

Abir blinked slowly. "Guess someone's starting to mature."

Natsu scowled and stood up. "You wanna go?!"

"Aaaand there we go."

Lucy sighed and reached over to a magazine left by Gray. It wasn't about things she'd be particularly interested in but as long as it would get her mind off the yelling that was happening around her, she'd take it.

"Are you still sulking about that sparring fight we had?" asked Abir with a frown. "My flames are just hotter than yours, nothing too special about it."

Natsu dropped his annoyed face, which now grew serious. "Unlike you, I'd never use my full strength against a friend."

"I never said that was my best, though. I could teach you how to make your flames actually warm, you know. For a small favor."

"In your dreams, pal!"

As the two continued to bicker, Gray ran back into the guild, winded and scared.

"What's wrong, Gray?" asked him Wakaba. "Did the new guy burn your house down again?"

"Erza!" yelled Gray, ignoring the older man. "Erza is back in town!"

Silence fell in the guild.

"Well, shit." cursed Wakaba and put down his pipe.

As quickly as the silence had fallen, the guild was now filled with noises of attempts at trying to hide evidence of activities the knight did not approve of, such as smoking, drinking, dirty magazines, or feet on the table. Everyone with half a brain was now busy with covering their tracks, even Lucy, who was guilty of eating a slice of Erza's cake. Well, almost everyone.

Everyone except Abir.

The man continued to relax in his spot, his face unable to look any more nonchalant than it did at the very moment, his blunt in his mouth, which he was now dragging from. He then snapped his fingers at Mira, who was one of the few people, who didn't have much to hide and whispered something to the barmaiden.

Lucy gave him an annoyed look. "Are you really going to piss her off on purpose again? Let me remind you, we all get smacked for it."

The man shrugged. "What can I say? She looks hot in general, but damn doesn't she look hot as fuck when she's pissed off. You should learn to admire that."

It took Lucy all of her willpower to not roll her eyes in embarrassment at his comment.

It didn't take the guild more than two minutes to get rid of any possible evidence that could get them in trouble. As they all sat down back in their spots, tense and sweaty, they could hear armored footsteps closing in to the entrance. Abir simply grabbed his blunt in-between his fingers and exhaled a massive cloud of smoke above his head, holding it in all this time just so he would make sure Erza saw it. In the meantime, Mirajane got back from the kitchen with a plate, which she placed before the man.

His wish was granted, for when the armored redhead stepped into the guild, his figure clouded with smoke was one of the first things she saw upon entrance, which was written all over her face in the form of a mild scowl.

"Yo, Erza." threw carefully Gray. "How was work?"

Erza ignored him, her eyes scanning the guild like a hawk looking for prey.

"Huh. You have become better at cleaning after yourselves." she gave the guild a short praise and took her backpack off her back, his holding it in her hand by the strap. "Still, I've heard some of you. Macao, I've heard those bottles under your table. Vijitar, I've heard the music from your radio. Wakaba, the guild still stinks of your pipe."

All of the mentioned men lowered their head in apology like scolded dogs.

"But most importantly..." followed up Erza and gripped her backpack harder.

With the force of a thousand suns, Erza threw her backpack across the guildhall right at Abir, who caught it with his face. The backpack slowly slid down his face onto his lap, as the guild watched him in silence. His nose was red and face a little irritated.

"Yo, ginger." he greeted her to everyone's horror and massaged his nose. "Be careful with your stuff. You almost squashed my special treat." he said and waved his blunt around.

"I am well aware." replied shortly the knight. "I was aiming at it."

"I know. That's why I took it out of the way."

Erza scowled. "Last warning. Put that thing down."

Abir smirked and leaned over the table. "Fine, if you insist..."

Fairy Tail watched in pure terror, as Abir grabbed his blunt and stuck it right in the middle of a piece of strawberry cake Mirajane brought him a minute ago. He submerged the wrapper as deep as he could, before giving it a solid twist inside the cake, his eyes glued to Erza's, a cocky smirk written on his lips.

It took the redhead every bit of self-control to not lash out on the man in pure fury and he knew it very well. That was the sole purpose of this stunt.

Once he was done, Abir took the sight in for a moment longer, before leaning to Gray.

"See? I told you. She gets even hotter when mad."

"You're crazy, dude."

Erza bit her lip and sighed deeply through her nose in order to calm down. Once capable of speech, she relaxed her previously clenched fist.

"I've heard some rumors about a job you have taken during my absence." she said to Abir, not falling for his provocation. "Is it true you have burnt down an entire building with no supervision, or intel?"

"Yup." nodded Abir and reached out for his beer. "Got rid of an entire gang. You're welcome."

Erza arched her eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I said: You're welcome. They dealt in some stuff you might be familiar with from...you know, your childhood. Now, they are rotting in cells."

Erza had reached her limit. She quickly crossed the hall and stopped just by his table, staring him down with a thousand daggers in her eyes.

"What you did was irresponsible and unworthy of a Fairy Tail mage." she snarled.

"Well, I ain't no mage." he shrugged. "I agree with the irresponsible bit, but truth to be told, I don't regret doing it. I did it so that I could see that pretty look on your face." he added with a smirk. "It was worth it." he finished and slapped the knight's butt.

The sound echoed through the guildhall at least five times, and so did gasps of shock. Without even much of a warning, Erza's fist smashed Abir's bench like glass, her face red from embarrassment and fury, splinters and pieces of wood flying everywhere. The man himself dodged it at the last second and was now on the other end of the hall, laughing.

"Damn, I didn't know you could get this flustered! This got much more fun!"

Erza grit her teeth loudly and stormed out of the guild, her face matching the color of her hair. With her presence gone, Fairy Tail could breathe in relief – no one would die in here today.

"Dude, she's going to kill him one of these days." said Elfman to Gray.

"I have to say, I am a pretty understanding guy, but getting off to furious Erza is just wrong." Macao shook his head.

"Find a new hobby, dude. We don't like being in the crossfire." Wakaba complained to Abir.

The man laughed out loud and adjusted his clothes. "Fine, I'll try to keep it down. All right, I'm off." he said to Gray, Lucy, and Natsu. "See you guys tomorrow." he threw in farewell and strapped his blade back to his hip in the doorway.

"Fuck off." said Gray, much to Abir's amusemrnt.

A minute later the man was strolling through the town, his trusty blunt back in his mouth.

"Man, I'm hungry..." he moaned to himself as he passed by a hotdog stand. "Yo, old man, how much for one?" he asked the man behind the counter and pulled out his wallet.

"5,000." said the man.

"Fuck you mean 5,000?! The board says 3,000!"

"You still haven't paid me back for the last one!"

Sighing, Abir paid the man his price and snatched the food out of his hand, only to devour it within seconds. It didn't do much, but it'd be enough for now.

"Pleasure doing business with you." bowed the old man.

Abir sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to pay you back. Take care." he waved his hand and walked away.

It wasn't long since he came here but he grew rather fond of the place. It had a rather unique feel to it, at least compared to his old home. It felt nice, not having to worry about upcoming attacks, or sudden calls for missions. The opportunity to pick missions by himself was something he'd wanted for as long as he could remember. At least here he still had someone, who appreciated him.

Becoming a shinobi was his dream ever since his mind allowed him to create complete sentences instead of weird blabbing. However, the older he got, the more he was convinced, that this dream was quite a foolish one, one he wouldn't mind never fulfilling.

Sure, he had talent, skill, fame that he'd earned with his actions. But how does this compare to losing a friend at least once per week? Strength was not absolute – this was one of the things he'd learned at a very young age. Losing everyone he loved within a few years taught him that much. No matter how strong you are, you can't save everybody.

At least not back there.

This world was weird. Something that was clearly chakra was known as magic power, Jutsu's as magic, technology was based on magic. No matter how you think of it, the similarities wrote themselves. And yet, it felt different. Much different. And if he were to give it one, solid name, it'd be safer.

This world was safer. And he appreciated the hell out of it.

That is why he adopted a new way of living. No chances, no risks. Step into the grey zone if needed – better to be safe than sorry. The people that took him in did not like it, but he didn't care. He would not watch anyone else die before his eyes, no matter how dirty his hands would get in result.

He wouldn't let anyone die on him ever again.

All of this thinking occupied him long enough to cut out majority of the way toward his favorite spot. It was a tree just outside of town, with a really nice view at the lake. He was never a sucker for nature but damn if it wasn't beautiful. And not just because of the nature.

Her red hair was flowing along with the wind, her armor glistening in the sun like some sort of a beacon.

His beacon of hope.

Erza turned her head toward him upon hearing his footsteps, a small frown growing on her face.

"You overdid it." she said in a scolding tone. "I won't forget what you did to that cake. Not to mention bringing up my past like that. I am aware, that everyone knows but I am still not comfortable with the topic."

Abir smiled and raised his hands apologetically. "I know, I'm sorry. I admit I overdid it. You really look cute when angry, so I thought I'd spice it up a bit, you know, to be convincing."

Erza arched an eyebrow. "I don't think the trees need convincing, you know. Put that thing out."

Sighing, Abir put his blunt down and sat down next to the knight, before smiling at her.

"I've missed you." he said.

"I've missed you, too." she replied and leaned in for a kiss.

The two kissed tenderly. Abir broke it after a moment and sighed.

"As much as I like seeing your angry face, I'm starting to dislike this whole hateboner thing." he said truthfully. "How long do we have to keep it up for? It's been weeks since we became a thing. Do we really need to hide around the bushes like some kids?"

Erza sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't know. The way you act around the guild, I really doubt they would be supportive of us."

Abir scoffed. "How is that our problem? They can either accept it or piss off, for all I care,"

"Maybe if you weren't such a stubborn donkey about showing your true self around them, they wouldn't hate you this much." she reminded him. Her face then softened. "You're so much more than you show in public. If you can be like this for me, why not the others, too?"

"Because I love you. Them: not so much." he said, which earned him a punch in the shoulder.

"I can't say I am happy with this kind of special treatment."

Abir breathed out through his nose loudly and looked into the horizon. "I can't help it, Erza." he said softly. "That's how I've lived thus far. The more people you love, the weaker you are. The more you have to lose. That's one of my life rules. I really like these guys, but I know, that if I let myself get too attached and something bad happens, I will be back where I was for half my life. In hell disguised as the world of the living."

Erza frowned sadly and took his hand into hers. "You're not in that world anymore." she said softly. "You won't lose us. You won't lose me."

Abir smiled. "I know. Because I won't let anything happen to you."

The girl smiled back. "And neither will I."

Abir smirked in pride. "It will take some time to get used to this, you know. But..." he turned his head to look into her eyes and smiled. "The least I can do is do my best to stop being a gigantic dickhead to everyone. Starting with our team."

Erza squeezed his hand and smiled back. "Make it the entire guild and you've got yourself a deal."

"One thing at a time." he chuckled. "Wait." he then added, his face growing serious. "What deal?"

Erza smiled mischievously. "I may or may not have bought an armor that is quite similar to Seduction Armor, so-"

"Entire guild it is."

Erza laughed at his immediate response and put her head back on his shoulder with a sigh.

Abir smirked and looked at the lake. Yeah, this world wasn't so bad after all. Even if weird. He had something he'd wanted for a very long time, something he'd never give up, no matter what.

And it was currently by his side