He stayed so close to you. So close, you could feel his heartbeat. You could tell he wasn't as worried as you were, due to the fact that he had seen and lived worst during his S-class quests. You, on the other hand, were a little bit worried but kept a straight face.

But unfortunately, you had to admit enclosed spaces were not your forte. So, you did start panicking even more.

He ended up concluding that the only possible way to get out of that cell was by using magic.

"Y/N, stay down for a minute. I'm going to attempting to crush the room. Hopefully it'll work."

You were about to say something but shut your mouth. You sat down next to his legs and waited but did look up to watch him. You'd always find his magic magnificent.

You were kind of sad your magic was a more mental thing since you couldn't really assist him in times like this. But for him to be able to crush everything in a beautiful symmetrical way was always intriguing to you.

Unlike his, your magic wasn't exactly the aesthetic kind so it was always nice to admire his from up close. Although it took him several hits until a decent hole was made, he still persevered and did not give up making it bigger.

"I think it's big enough for us to get out. Ladies first !" He said happily.

You looked at him at him with a shy smile.

"Such a gentleman... Thanks by the way. That was pretty cool back there." you said thankful for him being there.

He smiled at you and continued walking. "Thanks for the compliment."

It was a pretty long walk. Everything was looped and repeated. The maze was filled with emptiness. If you lent your ear, you could hear precocious screams from afar. You both weren't saying anything so you took it upon yourself to start a conversation.

"You still haven't told me... How was your job like ?" you asked concerned. You knew that that it didn't go so well, remembering the scar that you had seen the night before.

"It was okay. Same old, same old."

His lack of response worried you. He would usually rant about how being an S-class mage was the most demanding thing he had to be and how time consuming it was.

He looked at you for a moment and then turned away.

"Don't be worried, kid. A little job like this is nothing to faze me down. You on the other hand..."

You froze.

Fighting with your magic was never something simple. Since you mainly fought with others as a companion, you had lost a lot of faith in it as a standalone magic.

Plus it did require a lot of mental training which wasn't easy in the least.

"Have you even taken jobs ever since I left ?" he continued.

"Not by myself, no. But I've been assisting a lot of other mages. For example, a month ago, I fought alongside Sabertooth's Sting."

"You've got to start taking jobs by yourself, Y/N." He told you seriously.

"I know... I will." You looked down. You continued walking

°

In front of you was something eye catching.

"Oh look !" You exclaimed when noticing signs on the wall nearby.

Leaves from various trees were connected by a cord to numbers. In front of them was situated a door with yet another padlock.

"I guess we have to figure this out." Gildarts said sighing.

"I'll look for them while you put them in alright ?" You walked towards the decorated wall.

"Sure." He walked near the door and looked back at you, waiting for instructions.

"The oak leaf is connected to the... 9 ?"

"You sure ?" He questioned.

"Yeah, I got this, don't worry !"

"I trust you, Y/N." He continued, his back facing you.

"Um... the birch is connected to the 5.

"The poplar to the 2."

"And the elm leaf is connected to the 8."

"So 9-5-2-8 ?" He proceeded to use the numbers you had told him previously on the padlock.

"Yeah. Is it working ?" You asked him, hopeful that you hadn't screwed up anything for once.

"Hold on... Yeah. Good job !" He opened the door before stroking your head.

"You did good Y/N." He smiled at you warmly. "You... you wanna go first ?"

"Eh... Are you scared ?" You grinned at him advancing in front of him.

"I'm not..!" He said defensively. He put his hand on your shoulder. "I just want to watch you from behind.."

Your face heat up. What did he mean by that ? "Uh...?"

"I didn't mean that way. Stay focus, kiddo." He sighed hitting your head, making you whine.

°

"This is fun, don't you think ?" You asked happily. This situation, how weird it was, was surprisingly really entertaining.

"I guess..." Gildarts replied not really paying attention."It is weird to not use magic... "

"I'm glad actually, feels different." You started. "This is a little spooky though..."

You looked around for a bit trying to find something helpful to figure out the treason for the maze appearing. You continued for awhile, before you found something on the ground.

"There's a note over here."

"Really ? What does it say ?" He asked sprinting to you. He leaned towards you and you advanced the paper closer to him.

"The room is filled with number connected to letters. Find those letters to decipher the secret message." You read what had been written on the note.

"What is this, a treasure hunt ?" He remarked sighing.

"Seems like it." You chuckled moving away from him to look out for the number.

°

"16-21-12-12-20-8-5-18-15-16-5," He told you.

"A,B,C,D,E...-" You started singing.

"You really have to sing it ?"

"Surprisingly, yes. Or else I can't remember it," You chuckled embarrassed. It was a force of habit.

"Cute." Grinning, he approached you in order to find out what the secret message said.

After a few minutes of decoding, you managed to find out which numbers corresponded to the letters.

"Pull the rope," You said aloud walking near him.

"Pardon ?" He asked confused.

"Pull the rope ! That's the message." You told him looking around for the object written on the table.

"Let's get this over with..."

This was it. You and Gildarts looked at each other before pulling the rope down. The moment it was down, a woman had fallen from the ceiling from behind you. The both of you screamed holding each other down.

"It's.. fake !" You said confused, "What the hell ?"

The two of you turned around when you

The village keeper walked towards you clapping his hands. "Congratulations Fairy Tail Mages !"

"What the hell is going here ?" You questioned him annoyed.

"Let me explain. I'm terribly sorry ! This was all a ploy to make you try our escape room !" He kneeled down at your feet.

"Your.. escape room ?"

"We haven't had visitors for years now. A villager suggested building an attraction, so we proceeded with that idea. But still no once came. So we put up flyers using our remaining money in order to get more attention. And what better promotion than Mages ?"

"But what about the screams ?" You were really confused at the moment. Nothing made sense.

"The screams were made by various villagers..." He said bowing his head further.

"Where's the reward ?" Gildarts asked.

"Right. One moment." The old man left for a moment before coming back with a bag full of jewels. "Here you go, miss ! And you too sir !"

You looked inside making sure that it was the right of money. You weren't one to be played with when it came to money. In the end, it was indeed the right amount luckily.

"Thank you, sir ! We'll be taking our leave now." You told him bowing down.

°

The both of you walked out of the village.

"Well, that was a bummer." You said grinning.

"Yeah... Sorry Y/N." Gildarts apologized to you sincerely.

"Why ? It wasn't your fault." You stopped walking, looking back at him.

"No... I think I remember reading something about an escape room on the flyer. I think I switched up our job... I should have paid more attention, sorry." He mentioned scratching his neck.

"Really ? Well, you're pretty oblivious to most things so I'm not really surprised.. It's fine though, I still had fun !"

"That's good to know. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Thanks for bringing me along Gildarts..." You said warmly.

"It was nice to work with you, partner !" He wrapped his arm around your shoulders as the two of you left to the train station.

°

Gildarts sat down waiting for someone.

You had fallen asleep on his shoulder ten minutes into getting in the train. However it hadn't started yet.

Looking in the window, he thought about the interesting moment the both of you had passed. Like most people, looking out of windows always did make him think a lot.

He really did have a lot of fun with you these last few days.

He turned around upon seeing the keeper of Aster City, who greeted him with a a handshake.

"Thanks for doing this for me, sir." Gildarts thanked him, shaking his hand.

"Oh, no problem ! I think it's really kind of you to do this for her !" The old man spoke, "Are you sure she won't wake up ?"

"Nah. When Y/N gets like this, nothing can wake her up." Gildarts took out money out his bag, counting them before giving them to the old man. "Here's the money I promised."

"Thank you. Was the maze entertaining enough ?" The keeper asked.

"Yeah. You guys really surpassed my requests."

"I'm glad, then." The old man bowed down, touching Gildarts's shoulder. "It's fine ! You're welcome to come back anytime. You and... your girlfriend ?"

"Not my girlfriend. But thanks we will." Gildarts said sighing. The village master waved at him goodbye before taking his leave.

He looked out the window, hoping you'd forgive him for this if he ever were to tell you that he had organized all of this without anyone knowing.

But then he looked down at your sleeping face again and all his worries went away.

He sighed looking down at you smiling to himself, stroking your cheek.

"Hope you had fun, Y/N."

˚˚