#miramard

Mirajane stepped gingerly away from the glimmering shards of broken glass strewn across her floor, holding the hem of her dress with one hand and a delicate flute of champagne in the other. Though it probably mattered very little now if it did happen to join the rest of the sharp pieces of what had formerly been Mirajane's hallway mirror. Of all nights to have worn her favorite black dress, and matching stiletto heels. There was no way she could clean up the mess properly in her current attire.

"Sorry, Mira…" mumbled the man at the center of the mess, his pink hair littered with glittering shards of glass.

"It's alright, Natsu," Mirajane softly assured him. "Accidents happen." She let out a giggle. "Especially when alcohol is involved." Or, more rather, accidents happened whenever their friend group convened. Mirajane really should have anticipated something like this happening. "Why don't you get the glass cleaned off of you? Lisanna, could you help him?"

Her sister glanced quickly between the shattered mirror on the floor, to her sister, to Natsu, then back to her sister again. Nodding tightly, she moved to assist Natsu in extricating himself from the epicenter of the disaster, taking him by the arm and leading him towards the bathroom.

"You alright, Sis?"

Mirajane smiled up at her younger brother, who despite his bulk had somehow managed to quietly appear at her side. "It's alright, Elfman. Quite a refreshing start to a housewarming party though, I must say!" When Elfman wasn't dissuaded from his concern, Mirajane passed him her drink to hold, effectively distracting him instead. Turning to the rest of their gathered friends, Mirajane released her hold on her dress and clapped her hands together. "If everyone could move to the dining room, I'd appreciate it."

Quiet conversation sparked amongst them as they dispersed, allowing Mirajane to finally breathe a little in their absence. "Can you get this cleaned up?" Mirajane asked her brother, taking her drink back from him. "I'll get Natsu to help you once he's free. After all… he did cause this little catastrophe." And this would be the last time she ever offered him alcohol.

The corner of Elfman's lips twitched, the urge to smile at the veiled threat in his sister's tone almost too much for his worry to hold back. "A real man cleans up his own messes."

"Indeed they do."

Returning to her guests with the thought of rekindling the party, Mirajane hoped that the superstition about breaking mirrors and seven years bad luck were just that – a superstition.

Or, barring that, that the bad luck would be transferred to Natsu instead, as the perpetrator of the crime.

***

Large, antique mirrors were not easy to replace, as it turned out. At least… not cheaply, they weren't. Natsu's wallet was meager at the best of times, but things had been especially tight for him recently. So here they were, resorting to a flea market in order to find something suitable for Mirajane's wall. At this point, Mirajane was ready to accept pretty much anything within their budget in order to fill the blank space they mirror had occupied. The wall was far too bare for Mirajane's taste. And she wasn't super attached to the idea of a mirror there, anyway. But she did enjoy watching Natsu struggle to find one, under the false assumption that only a mirror would do. She wasn't about to tell him otherwise just yet. Not until she'd squeezed all the fun out of this that she could.

Lisanna and Elfman had decided to accompany the pair on their mirror hunt, vastly enjoying themselves as they fawned over everything that was on offer. With their infectious enthusiasm, it was difficult for Mirajane to hold herself back. She knew that if she allowed herself to cut loose like her siblings, she'd go home weighed down with far more items than she had the space for. As it was, it was looking like she might have to stage an intervention on her siblings before they went ahead and did the same.

Before she could begin any attempt to rein her siblings in, a shout drew her attention away from them. "Mira!" Natsu waved his arm over his head like an excited child, trying to get her attention. "Come look what I found!"

To her great surprise, Natsu had found exactly what they had come for. An antique mirror, with a beautiful iron frame of thorny vines. It was a little smaller than the one Natsu had broken, but that wasn't of much concern to her. It needed a good polishing as well. But the longer Mirajane looked at it, the more she liked it.

"Is this a great find or what?" Natsu asked her with barely contained glee. "And it's cheap, too! So what do you think? Will this work as a replacement for the one I broke?"

The seller blanched at Natsu's words. "You broke a mirror, dude?" he asked, his face the very picture of disgust. "That's like… super hardcore bad luck, man."

Natsu shrugged. "It's working out okay for me so far. I think." Other than Natsu having to pay for the mirror's replacement, anyway.

Looking over the price tag, Mirajane nodded in response to Natsu's earlier question. "Yeah, I think this mirror will work perfectly. Now fork over the cash."

Reminded of his monetary obligation, Natsu sighed, but willingly coughed it up. Then he jolted in surprise as Mirajane thrust the heavy mirror into his arms with a sickly sweet smile upon her face.

"Now you get to carry that back." Her smile spread just a little further. "Though I think you may have to hold onto it for a while. I don't think Lisanna and Elfman are quite ready to head back just yet."

Natsu whimpered, suddenly remembering just why it was Mirajane had been called "Satan Incarnate" back when they were kids. Her modeling career and growing up had hidden the worst of her personality traits, but they were far from gone completely. He sighed, and resigned himself to an afternoon of lugging around the mirror in its iron frame.

***

After waving farewell to her siblings and watching Natsu stagger off with limp arms, Mirajane shut her door and strode down her hallway. Once she arrived at the mirror now hanging on the wall, she smiled at her somewhat foggy reflection. Tomorrow she would see about getting it polished up. For now, though, she was content with having it in its proper place.

Feeling the pangs of hunger, Mirajane turned away from her new mirror and departed for the kitchen.

In her wake, a dark shadow moved within the mirror's depths. It hung there suspended for a long moment, as if in contemplation. And then it faded back away.