Burying Your Children
A/N: So as flyingmutatedmonkeysqurrils23 (nice username by the way) asked I will continue this story at least one more time! So this will also be another reaction to the events of the first chapter and before the funeral, so ENJOY!
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A small old man walked past the once proud gates that led to Magnolia. The gates were now like him, old and falling apart. Sure, master Makarov had decided to disband the guild and let his children run free, but he also knew this would be his one of his last decisions he would ever have to make. Yet that was not why he was an emotional mess: no that wasn't it. He had made sure that if guild members, well ex-guild members now, could contact each other freely by giving them lacrima frequencies that only they could use. And he had put in a feature that had only one purpose: an emergency of life and death.
He had only put that feature as a feature that no one should ever have to use; yet here he was, on a call on the secure frequency using that emergency signal. It had caused the old man and worrying father that master Makarov to leave within twenty seconds of receiving the message. Luckily he did not have to go very far, he lived in Hargeon now. Magnolia was too painful to stay in, yet he wanted to keep a watch over the city he had called home for so long. He would not allow anything to befall this place. ANYTHING.
He walked past the ruined buildings he had seen rebuilt numerous times, many because of his adopted children, and could manage more than a glance at any of them. All of them being like this, barely able to be considered a building more like four piles of rubble that made up walls, and it broke his heart. He had hoped people would rebuild, but many left when Fairy Tail did, they were the heart of this town after all. It would seem that when Fairy Tail left, so too did the will to rebuild.
Makarov sighed, wondering why Lucy had sounded the alarm. Surely it was her, she was the only who still lived in Magnolia and would be the only logical person who would sound the alarm. And the reason was probably Natsu, he would always make Lucy worry. He checked the lacrima so he could find the location of where the call was coming from. The location was now clear and it was not surprising at all, the guild hall was his destination. Or its ruins, he had not rebuilt it and it surely was not rebuilt. Why rebuild it if no one is there to use it?
"I swear, if the brats are playing a trick on me… Goddamn brats." Makarov said to himself, a small smile on his lips thinking that it could actually be a ploy. They could be trying to reform the guild and want him back. Makarov chuckled to himself, his brats would do something like that.
"Oh master! There you are!" Called out a voice that belonged to one of his oldest brats, the prodigal son: Gildarts. He had not seen him since before Tartarus, no before even the grand magic games. It had been a very long time since he had even heard news of Gildarts, let alone see or hear the man.
"Ah, Gildarts! What brings you back to Magnolia?" Makarov asked of the man he had once hoped would bridge the gap from himself to Laxus. He had really hoped he would but Gildarts was a wild spirit, a nomad. A womanizing nomad. No, he never would have stayed any one place for very long.
"Uh, I'm coming home. What, you really forget that our home is here?" Gildarts replied, causing Makarov to realize that Gildarts had not been informed of Fairy Tail's disbanding. Makarov immediately felt guilty, how could he have forgotten about one of his oldest brats like this? Imagine, coming home after a very long time to find that your home was gone. That would be like a stab in the back. It was a stab in the back, the man he considered a father had up and left him homeless. Makarov felt some of the hope that had been in his heart leave him, until Gildarts said, "I actually also know that Natsu is coming home soon so I want to see his progress. I saw him a while ago and he had made some serious progress."
To hear that Gildarts had seen Natsu alive and well and stronger meant a great deal to Makarov. It meant that he was strong enough to care for himself, that he was alive and well, that the call was a ploy. The hope returned to his heart and he smiled at Gildarts. "That is good news. But I unfortunately have some bad news." Makarov said.
"What is it?" Gildarts asked, his face scrunched up in anticipation for the worst. Gildarts could only assume that someone had died, or that master had retired, or that someone had left the guild a.k.a. Cana. He had always wondered about how she had been doing, he had not heard much of her and hoped she was safe.
Makarov sighed and knew from his many walks that they were near the guild ruins. "After a massive battle and seeing that the brats had a need to spread out, I disbanded Fairy Tail. I'm only here because I received an emergency call from someone who was in our guild." Makarov said and Gildarts had stopped walking from the shock.
That had to be a joke, right? Makarov had not stopped walking and Gildarts looked at him. This was a joke, right? Why was he so serious? Gildarts followed after him about to ask him what the real bad news was until he saw the rubble that was the guildhall. He wasn't lying. HE WASN'T LYING! What?! How could Makarov do such a thing and not tell him? And why had no one told him? What about Natsu, did he know as well?
Gildarts fumed silently as he was about to ask what his thoughts had asked himself until a third voice interrupted them, "Master! Gildarts!" Both men looked to the source of the voice and saw Levy there with Gajeel, Juvia, and Gray. No Natsu or Lucy, which surprised the two of them as they had expected one of the two to be there. And her tone was also a bad omen, it was small and full of sadness and… something neither man could put their finger on.
"Levy! Were you the one who called out to everyone?" Makarov asked the small woman who nodded her head. Gajeel looked at the two and looked like a mess, as did both Juvia and Gray, especially Gray. Gildarts had seen that face before, when he had first brought Gray to Fairy Tail. He had done something that was haunting him.
"Gray, what's wrong? Why the long face?" Gildarts asked of one the two people he had considered his son, the other being Natsu. They acted like brothers, always fighting and arguing, never seeing eye to eye unless it was serious. He wanted to know what bothered his son, and he would not take no for an answer. HE WOULD NOT.
Gray hesitated, then closed his formerly open mouth. He seemed as if he could not find the words or simply did not want to. But Gajeel wasn't having it, as he said, "Oi! Tell them! Tell them the truth! TELL THEM WHAT YOU DID!" His voice was angry, malice and vileness seeping through every syllable. He was angry, but why was now the question. Why was he so angry with a man he usually only feigned hatred towards? Why did he seem so broken on the inside? Makarov did not like the tone and knew something very serious had happened. But what? WHAT?!
Gray took a deep breath and nodded before saying, "There is something that you must know. Natsu is END. END stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel. It is the truth, Loke told me and Loke heard this from the Spirit King who was around when END was first created. And my mission was to destroy END. So Juvia and I came back here to wait for him and… confront him." Gray paused as he choked up for a second, neither old man liking where this was going. Gildarts only hoped that Natsu had run away, that this whole thing was a ruse. But Makarov knew immediately what happened.
What he heard next only confirmed it, "So we arrived here yesterday to find that he was here, with Lucy. So I confronted him and we… came to an agreement. He needed to die and asked me to do so. He… knew that this was what the world needed, no more of Zeref's demons. He had already defeated Acnologia and Zeref himself. He was the last piece of that terror, so I obliged. I- I… I killed him" Gray stammered out the last part and Makarov could not believe his ears. His own brats, killing each other? Gildarts was in the same boat, his own sons killing the other? HOW! How could his sons who he had believed to love each other do this?! HOW?! HOOOOOOWWWWW?!
Makarov lost it, he may be old but he was still a strong mage and proved it. He transformed into his muscular, larger body and attacked Gray. He punched Gray square in the jaw sending Gray flying. Makarov's eyes were filled with tears, his heart broken now beyond repair. How could he have to bury his own child, how could he?! He was old! His children should have buried him! Not the other way around! "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THIS?!" Makarov yelled, his anger having reached it maximum level. He was beyond angry, he was so beyond any human emotion he could not even register any thoughts other than anger. Gildarts was still too shocked to even move, his son that he had only seen a while ago was now dead. How…
Makarov took some more steps towards, until, "WAIT! Master, there's… there's more.", Juvia cut in, throwing up a water wall to cut off Makarov before he could reach Gray. Makarov looked at Juvia, how could there be more? "After Gray-sama assisted Natsu-san in finishing off Zeref's evil… Lucy-san was heartbroken. She… she did something rather irrationally silly. She…" Juvia started but could not finish, the memory too fresh. Both men now were reeling, they both knew what she meant, but could only hope she was covering for Gray, she loved him.
But their hopes were dashed, Gajeel finishing the truth for everyone to hear, "She killed herself. She decided to live forever with the idiot in death rather than die alone." The words that Gajeel said brought the world down around them. Lucy? Committed suicide? She AND Natsu dead? DEAD? How… no… why? WHY?! Makarov immediately shrunk back to normal and simply stood where he was. He couldn't even move anymore, his heart was now more broken than the rubble he was standing in. He had been falling apart when he made his way here, but now he was just dust. Broken into a million pieces and ground into dust. He now had to bury two of his children.
Gildarts was in the same shape, his son and the woman he clearly loved both dead. How could this be? He had to bury his own son? HOW COULD THIS BE?!
This was the question the two men were asking themselves as they waited the week that it took everyone to return home and hear the news. Makarov had not moved an inch on his own, glued to the spot where his world had shattered. People had helped him move everywhere, tears staining their clothing as they did so as Makarov cried every last tear in him.
Gildarts was able to move, his daughter being the only person who could get words out of him. But his words were hollow, much like he was now. His world had crashed around him, he had no real soul anymore.
The funeral came, where the only words said were broken and said with the tone of a zombie. The burials came as well, and those officially ended any hope Makarov had of recovering. Seeing his children buried before him, it led to something even graver. He disowned and banished Gray. He told Gray to leave and never return to this city, Gray was never allowed to step even a toe in the place he had called home for so long. Juvia joined him of course, but Gray accepted his punishment. And no one contested the decision, their adopted father had spoken and his role as the patriarch had not changed. He was in charge and no one argued with him. Gray was now alone, no place to call home. What better punishment for a man that betrayed his family, he had done it before with his own flesh and blood so there was no choice or doubt. He had forced him to bury his own children, he was no longer considered one of them. For what greater tragedy is there for a parent than having to bury your own child?
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For now, Fin. If you want more let me know. ADIOS!
