Marigold Blooms

**Volumes** | 1

**Marigold Blooms** is a spinoff and prequel to Fairy Tail: Next Generation.

## Plot

The story of Marigold Pollen after she firsts meet Tobias, long before her joining of Fairy Tail.

## Chapters

### Chapter 1: A Fine Introduction

Summer X807. Marigold meets Tobias for the second time, disappointed to find he doesn't remember her. She learns that the barn Tobias is now living in, as instructed by Marigold, has serious roof damage, and leaks terribly. Marigold, having been the one to suggest he live in the barn, offered to help by buying hinges for a new door.

She goes to Benny's Hardware Store, and meets Benny and his dog Leonidas. Seeing Marigold doesn't know what hinges to get, Benny takes her to the back of the store to get hinges of a proper size. Marigold comments on a picture of a young girl. She asks if the girl is his granddaughter. Benny nods, explaining how Eloise had died years before. Marigold asks if it was her fault, but Benny ignores her. He offers to install the hinges himself, and goes to Dan's Field with her and Leonidas to fix the bar up himself.

Benny works with Tobias to fix the barn up into a suitable condition. Marigold asks how Benny would like to be payed, he simply asks Marigold drop by every now and then to chat.

Tobias walks Marigold home, and suddenly has a breakdown while walking, forgetting where he was. He begins to panic, but Marigold calms him down and helps guide him through the dark.

### Chapter 2: Deep in the Mountains

Late Summer X807. Marigold visits Benny again, bringing him blueberries she'd grown herself with plant magic. Tobias arrives in the store, looking for parts to a clock. However, Tobias has no money. He asks Benny about the mountains surrounding Pride, where he explains diamonds were mined in the mountains.

He tells a story about two brothers who went into the mountains and found it filled with diamonds. The brothers kept it a secret until one day the mine caved in. The surviving brother had the choice of leaving his brother dead to conceal the secret, or going to get help and exposing their secret mine. The brother went to get help, sacrificing his wealth for his brother, but only returned to the mine to find his brother dead. All the diamonds were scraped out of the mine after it was discovered, and the town Pride was created.

Tobias decides to go up into the mountains, and enlists Marigold to join him. Marigold is happy to help, seeing Tobias as her friend. She tells her parents, Caesar and Rosemary, she's going off to see her friend, which alarms the two. They ask Coladome if he knows who her friend is, but he's only confused as to why anyone would be her friend. Sabrina and Chase join the conversation, and Chase explains how there's a new kid in town. Basil, who met Tobias, is dragged upstairs to explains who he is. Caesar drags the entire family and Col's friends to find Marigold.

Marigold and Tobias go into the mountain, breaking into he mines to find fresh footprints. As they continue into the mountain, they overhear Marcel and Louis talking about the Brotherhood of Order and mutagen.

Tobias confronts the two men, pretending to be a lost child. However, the men decide to capture Tobias and use him to experiment on. Marigold jumps out of hiding, and threatens to pull off her necklace if the men come any closer. However, Marigold is shot, the bullet just scraping her knee. She attacks them with plant magic, and runs away with Tobias. Unable to go far, Marigold is carried out by Tobias and down the mountain.

Tobias asks about the necklace Marigold wears, and she explains what happened two years ago with the Syramin. Tobias seems indifferent, but asks Marigold to tell her family that she fell when explaining the wound on her leg.

Marigold protests, claiming that they need to tell people about the men in the mines, Tobias presses his finger into her wound until she complies. Marigold breaks the tension between the two by offering Tobias a twinkie. They two eat until Caesar, Rosemary, and the kids all arrive. Tobias meets the Pollen's formally.

When going to Benny's the next day, she is asked by a man if Benny is okay. Marigold doesn't know what he means, so the man explains Benny had a heart attack the night before. Marigold quickly rushes to the hospital, and the man, who turned out to be Maurice, speaks with Caroline about Marigold.

Marigold arrives at the hospital and speaks with Benny. He explains his heart failure to Marigold, and that he'll die soon. He died by the end of summer, and it rained an entire week.

### Chapter 3: The Strange Friend and Friendly Stranger

Autumn X807. Marigold is now the owner of Leo, who sleeps with her in bed quite often. Marigold awakens in the morning with Leo, and accidentally wakes Sabrina up, who was sleeping on the floor of her bedroom. She'd spent the night, as it was the first day of school. The two chat about school, Marigold envious that Sabrina gets to go while Marigold stays at home.

Caesar and Rosemary remain in bed, dreading getting up to prepare food for the kids when the fridge is already empty. Rosemary asks if Marigold could go to school, but Caesar claims that the children wouldn't treat her well.

Coladome and Marigold get into their parents' bed, asking for breakfast. Rosemary explains that they've only got a small amount of food, Caesar refuses to eat the little they have. Caesar insists that if Col wants something different, he go out himself. Seeing he doesn't want to go, Marigold volunteers in his place.

She leaves to go into town, and plans on getting eight peaches. When she arrives at the market, she asks the salesman for the peaches, and he goes out of his way to give her the worst of the bin. She thanks him anyway, until a black haired man, who was Liddan in disguise from when he and Marigold came into the past, appears and attacks the fruit salesman, shouting at him for cheating a little girl.

Liddan gathers eight ripe peaches to replace the ones Marigold was given and helps her carry them down the road. She gives him a peach to eat, but he only pulls out the nut of the peach, giving Marigold the fruit to eat.

Liddan tells Marigold not to put up with those people, but she claims they aren't bad people, they just don't like her. Liddan claims that he likes her, and that's she's strong and brave for putting up with them. When he asks for her name, he's shocked to hear the answer is Marigold. She asks him to bend down to her level, then kisses him as a thank you.

Thanking him, she runs away to find Coladome running to meet her. He apologizes for being lazy, and then helps take the peaches.

As Marigold looks away, the older Marigold arrives and kicks Liddan for kissing her younger self. The book reopens, and the two disappear before Coladome's eyes. Marigold looks to see only the book left, Liddan and her future self having each returned to their own time. She goes and picks it up, planning to give it back after she meets Liddan again.