“You’re joking. You have to be joking,” Erik said, glaring at Jellal, who sunk his head into his shoulders.
“Leave him alone,” Meredy glared.
“It’s just hard to believe,” Macbeth admitted. “He beat us all so easily in that fight, and now we’re finding out that he’s a Little? It’s hard to believe that such a powerful wizard could have that Classification.”
Meredy could almost agree with him. Anybody seeing Jellal fight never would’ve guessed. Meredy herself was honestly surprised he hadn’t slipped during the fight.
“In his defense-” Richard started.
“Don’t even remotely finish that sentence,” Erik glared up at the taller person from where he sat.
“Don’t start getting fussy,” Sorano scolded.
Macbeth sighed, “What were you going to say, Richard?”
“In his defense, there are many powerful wizards who are Littles.”
Erik scoffed, which led Meredy to believe that what Richard said wasn’t what he had previously intended to say. What confirmed that belief was when Macbeth awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, if we’re going to be guildmates now, you guys should probably tell us your Classifications,” Meredy said, ruffling Jellal’s hair while Jellal stuffed his thumb into his mouth.
Macbeth glanced around, when no one else spoke, he decided to. He pointed at each of the others, starting with Sorano, “Neutral,” then at Sawyer, “Neutral,” then finally at Richard, “Caregiver.”
Meredy chuckled. The Classifications seemed fitting for the three of them. Her chuckling stopped when she noticed Macbeth hesitate. He looked at Erik, who looked equally hesitant. The Dragon Slayer sighed, and nodded slightly.
Macbeth pointed at Erik, “Little,” then to himself, “and Little.”
Meredy’s eyes widened, “No way… You two couldn’t possibly be-” she was cut off by Erik, “Well, we are, so you better get used to it.”
“We treat it like some big sibling group,” Sorano shrugged, “Richard is the oldest and most mature, so it only makes sense that he’d be the Caregiver.”
“Sorano and I are kinda like the middle siblings,” Sawyer explained.
“And finally, you have the baby brothers,” Sorano hugged Erik and Macbeth. The former struggled out of her grip.
If what they were saying was true, then it was surprising that neither Erik nor Macbeth slipped during the fight either.
“It’s not surprising, it’s obvious,” Erik stated, “Do you think we’re just weak little toddlers that fall down and cry at every small inconvenience?” he raised an eyebrow. “No…” Meredy replied, “It’s just… all three of you got hurt pretty badly during that fight. I would’ve expected Littles to have slipped by now.”
“We’re used to holding it off. If I’m to be honest, my Littlespace has been bothering me ever since the fight ended,” Macbeth admitted sheepishly. “We were taught that our Classifications were unnatural. That we were too old to be acting like toddlers.”
“What? That’s horrible! Littles should never be led to believe that!” Meredy exclaimed, “And even if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to hold it off forever. What did you guys do when you did slip?”
“We hid it, of course,” Macbeth stated bluntly, “But we also learned how to hold it off for as long as possible, even in the middle of a fight.”
“But you don’t have to do that anymore! I mean, the rest of you guys are okay with it, right?” Meredy asked, sitting next to Jellal when he started growing fussy.
“Of course!” Richard nodded.
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Sorano asked.
“See? Jellal and I are okay with it too! So you don’t have to try and hide it anymore!” Meredy stated. Macbeth and Erik looked at each other, then back at Meredy. She continued, “And since you said it was bothering you, you two could slip right now!”
“That’s a splendid idea!” Richard agreed. Sorano giggled, “It has been a while, hasn’t it?”
“I’d say so,” Sawyer agreed.
“Don’t you three even start!” Erik growled, standing up. “You can’t be serious! Macbeth, you agree, right?”
Macbeth didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to for Erik to hear it.
“Macbeth! You can’t be considering it!” Erik exclaimed.
“You can’t tell me you aren’t thinking the same way I am. We no longer need to view these Classifications as unnatural. We have the freedom to actually be Littles now.”
“You make it sound like you want to be in Littlespace forever…”
“Well, not forever, but it would be nice to slip whenever it starts bothering me instead of having to put it off until we can hide it. Besides, isn’t yours bothering you right now?”
Erik made a quiet noise, placing his hand to his head. Eventually, he lowered his hand, crossed his arms, and sighed, “Fine, I’ll go along with it, but don’t expect me to enjoy it.”
“It should at least help with any stress you have,” Meredy said.
Erik glanced at her, then looked away with a huff, “Whatever…”
Jellal made a noise, then held up his arms. Richard walked over, picking him up. Jellal giggled happily. Meredy stood up. “We should probably get moving, and since we’ll just be walking for now, it’s the perfect time for you two to slip!”
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt…” Macbeth said, then closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he reached for Sorano’s hand. She gently took it, and started walking. Macbeth followed, humming quietly. He turned to look at Erik, holding his hand out to the Dragon Slayer.
Erik blinked, closed his eye as well, then opened it again. He grinned giddily, reaching out and grabbing Macbeth’s hand, while lifting the other to stuff his thumb into his mouth.
Meredy grinned. ‘That was easier than expected.’ She then looked forward, and kept walking, looking forward to what the future had to offer with these new guildmates.
