A/N: Hi everyone! We are back and ready with a new chapter to fulfill your hungry desire for them feels! Haha, we'll do our best, so continue to support us with your reviews. WE LOVE YOU ALL!~ -Julie & Jenny
Disclaimer: We do not own Fairy Tail of any of its characters. Hiro Mashima does. We also do not own That Winter the Wind Blows. The drama producers do.
The scene shifts to a sophisticated room filled with eager paparazzi and young company assistants ready to take in the words of the new CEO of the PL Group Company. All eyes and cameras follow the people who have entered into the room. Erza leads the way and everyone is focused on the young woman trailing after her. Gray follows suit with Jellal in tow. The applause rings and reverberates within the room.
Lucy is guided by Erza to the lectern and now faces the audience with a small, polite but fake smile. Despite her facade, she plays out a good pokerface as she maintains an air of dominance and businesslike mood. The applause soon dies down as Lucy begins to explain the plans for the company. "I'm a little nervous to be standing here today. I'm sure it's not because of my disability. I'm certain that my father would have been nervous as well." Some chuckles are exchanged in the room due to the fact that it was impossible to imagine the Jude Heartfillia with such trivial things as nervousness, because he was always stone faced and direct. Jellal smiles nervously at the crowd, grateful for Lucy's ice breaker. Lucy smiles genuinely herself a little, and continues her speech smoothly.
"Without further delay, please focus your attention to the screen." Lucy reaches towards the computer while hovering slightly over the keypad trying to locate the 'Enter' arrow key. She is successful and progresses to the next slide. "PL Group's main focus will be progressive design to propel us to the top tier design group." Multiple images of suits and fashion alike appear on the screen while the audience gazes at it, contemplating or jotting down notes. Lucy continues on without much faltering or hesitance. Jellal looks on in pride, seeing the confident stature she holds that reminds him of her father, while Gray stares at her silently. Lucy finally ends the meeting with a simple, "Thank you." Everyone rises from their seats applauding the new heir to the company, including Erza and Jellal who hold looks of admiration and satisfaction. However, Gray sighs heavily and glances away lazily and a look of indifference passes his face.
The scene changes with Lucy, Erza, Jellal, and Gray in the elevator. Jellal and Erza both share the same looks of joy from how well the meeting had gone while Gray contrasts against their joy with a look of boredom. Lucy in a similar manner is simply closed off and stoic.
Jellal, with an ecstatic grin, cheers Lucy by saying, "Today was a real hit! You were awesome! The way the investors looked at you was as if they were gazing at some celebrity with amazement. They were saying that your CEO status should be made permanent. Just thinking of how proud your father would have been of you, if he were still alive... makes me stupidly... makes me want to cry..." Jellal sniffles, and smothers his slight tears by blinking rapidly.
Lucy smiles towards him, even though she despised the meeting. To her his praises were meaningless. It still warmed her heart to hear Jellal's caring words, of course. Even if he wasn't blood related, to her, he was a part of her family. "It's probably just for today." Suddenly the happy aura leaves as a sullen atmosphere creeps up in the elevator, Lucy continues, "I know that I'm just a namesake President." Jellal's smile disappears. "When the three month's term ends, the shareholders will elect Representative Kim as their new CEO. Everyone only acknowledged me in the presentation today because my blindness is a valuable asset for this project. The press probably also looked at me in wonder, as if they were looking at a monkey in a zoo. Because a blind person like me, made a presentation."
Erza gently reaches over to squeeze Lucy's arm as a sign of comfort in this difficult position.
Lucy sighs but keeps smiling as she says, "Still, since it's not home or a charity center, but a place like this that I've come to... It was pretty fun."
The room falls silent. Lucy is taken out of the elevator to her awaiting car. Jellal helps her into the front passenger seat next to Erza. "Arrive home safely, Lucy." Lucy turns to his voice with a tinge of shock in her voice as she asks, "Jellal, aren't you coming to our place today?" Solemnly he answers, "Let's have dinner next time. There is something that your father asked me to do. Now that I'm looking after you, I just need to put aside my work and follow his will."
Curious as to what Jude Heartfilia could have entailed in the will, Erza asks, "What was the will?" Jellal smiles a genuine smile as he says, "It's going to be a surprise. Be excited for it. Now, watch the door Lucy and take care." He closes the door and fellow PL Group members bow in respect as they leave.
Suddenly Jellal's cellphone rings as he watches them depart. He picks up and answers, "Yes, this is Lawyer Jellal Fernandez... What? You found him?! Oh okay. Let's meet first." He ends the call and heads off.
The scene shifts to Lucy and Secretary Erza in the car.
Lucy turns to Erza and asks, "What did Jellal say?"
Erza chuckles a little as she answers, "I'm not sure either, but wait... When are you and Gray going to set the date?" It has already been two years since you got engaged."
The air around Lucy turns into a displeasing and stoic mood as she answers stiffly, "I'm not going to marry him. The engagement was Dad's idea. I have no interest in this."
Slightly shocked by such a harsh answer, Erza questions, "Why not? I thought you were interested in Gray. Aren't you?"
Lucy thinks resentfully, Why is Erza so pushy about this? She isn't even my mom. She's just my secretary; why is she trying to pry so much on such trivial matters? Hmph. Love? Marriage? What am I going to do with that? Those don't hold the same meaning to me. Love is petty. You'll just get yourself betrayed. Marry? Well, looking at the morals of men nowadays, they cheat on their wives and divorce. I don't need that. Lucy answers curtly, "Do other people get married just because they are interested in someone?"
Struck by such a blunt question, Erza falters in her answer, "T-That's... why?"
Lucy, hearing Erza's stammering, says in an irritated tone, "Are you saying I need to settle and marry him out of interest, since I'm handicapped?"
Hastily, Erza tries to assure Lucy upon hearing her sullen reply, "That's not what I meant, Lucy..."
"That's what it sounded like to me," Lucy retorts, "Let's just say it is an inferiority complex I have because I am handicapped."
Unable to say more, Erza remains quiet as they continue to drive homeward.
The scene changes to a hospital where we find Gajeel rushing down a flight of stairs.
"Damn it, where did he go?! Where the hell is he!?" Frustrated by the sudden disappearance of Natsu, Gajeel yells, "Where are you, Natsu?!" and patients turn to stare at him. One feeble man walks up to Gajeel and says, "If you are looking for the man with pink hair, I saw him leave earlier wearing plain clothes." Gajeel yells out in shock. "He changed and left? Where the heck does he think he can go in his condition! Ugh, he's such a freaking hassle!" He quickly hands the old man a bottle of water that he was unconsciously holding and dashes out the front door.
The comely scene of a hospital is swapped with a loud and disoriented lobby of a club. A man is angrily yelling into his phone.
"Did you hear me? Bring all the boys, Natsu is here, Natsu! Gather everyone at the back door of the club, NO exceptions. I won't tolerate it if anyone is a no show. Do you think I'll go down alone?" Suddenly a thud is heard as a swift punch is launched into Romeo by Natsu. Natsu continues to pelt Romeo with punch after punch, and despite the pain it causes, Natsu executes a severe kick directly into Romeo's stomach. As the boy collapses to the floor, the phone is launched out of Romeo's hand. He tries to reach for it, however his attempts are futile as Natsu is faster and kicks it away. Natsu, whose anger is reaching the boiling point inside of him, stares down Romeo with a fierce glare who cowardly looks anywhere other than the flaming pink-haired man's eyes.
"Did you call the guys?" Natsu says in a low voice.
"W-What guys? I wouldn't do that," Romeo lies poorly. He quickly grabs onto Natsu's legs desperately and kneels in fake repentance, "After all those years you looked after me Natsu, I wouldn't do that to you!"
Irritated by his obvious lies, Natsu grabs Romeo and pins him to the wall, letting him see the fiery anger within his eyes. "I thought the others might... But Romeo... You wouldn't do that, right?"
Romeo cries out, "O-Of c-course not, bro... I would never. You took care of me."
"And?" Natsu growls, "What else have I done for you?!"
Now in tears, Romeo stutters as his bloody lips tremble, "You helped me buy a house and saved my life a few times as well... GET HIM!"
His sudden yell surprises Natsu, and soon the thundering sound of many lackeys running in enter Natsu's ears. He pushes Romeo to the side and fights off the pathetic goons. Uppercut, Right punch, Left punch, Side kick, and so many still coming. Natsu takes out many of them, knocking some down the flight of stairs. However, one lackey gets behind him and manages to hit Natsu with a pipe, successfully dazing him, which allowed the remaining lackeys to land barrages of attacks on his already injured body. Blood slowly trickling down his head, Natsu's body gives out as he collapses on the floor. His vision becomes blurred, yet he fights to stay concious.
A pair of footsteps reach him and Natsu grabs on to the person's leg and brings his head up to look straight into Sting's eyes. He looks down at him with such disgust and contempt as if he had just stepped in dog poo. "Are you still innocent enough to believe in such a pathetic thing like loyalty? This isn't fun," Stings mocks.
Natsu could only reply in disgruntled pants and groans.
Sting crouches down to meet Natsu at eye level and says, "Time is going by fast, isn't it? You have 93 days now." Stings slaps Natsu's bruised and bleeding face and gets up, leaving him crouched over the floor. The lackeys eventually drop Natsu on the side of the street and leave him to either die or maybe somehow, if fate is merciful, find shelter. Natsu manages to get up and is hunched over as he stumbles out of the oncoming traffic-filled street and towards his home. Unable to climb upstairs, he pants heavily as he crouches over the balcony.
Meanwhile, Jellal climbs up the stairs leading to Natsu's house and tentatively approaches the hunched figure at the railed balcony. "Excuse me, may I ask you something? Is this-" His sentence is cut short as Natsu turns to face this unfamiliar man.
Upon seeing Natsu's many welts and bruises, Jellal takes a gulp and tries again, "Excuse me, is this Mr. Soo's house?"
Still in pain, Natsu replies shortly, "Yes."
Excited to have found the house of the man Jellal had been looking for, he asks, "Is he home?"
Natsu replies weakly using his nickname, "I am Soo."
Unable to believe his eyes, Jellal steps closer to analyze Natsu's marred face. "You're Soo? But why is your face...?"
Tired and annoyed, Natsu stumbles around the man to get home.
However, Jellal quickly takes a hold of Natsu's arm and says, "Hold on... I'm Lawyer Jellal Fernandez, your uncle. I can hardly recognize you."
Weirded out by this stranger, Natsu stares back at Jellal with a blank look.
Registering that Soo may not remember of his childhood, Jellal asks, "You don't remember me? I am the corporate lawyer for PL Group, your dad's company. Your dad and I went to the same school, and when you were young, we used to go fishing together. Don't you remember?"
Thoroughly confused by the this man's ramblings, Natsu looks down at the business card the man had handed him. It read 'PL Group company' and listed Jellal's name and job. After gazing at it, memories of this company hit Natsu as a flashback of Laxus starts.
Flashback (Also Natsu's thoughts):
"As PL Group's son and heir, even if I starve to death, I won't live like you guys," Laxus said. We thought he was joking... Was he really their heir?
"Laxus said to spread his ashes here as he was dying. And if living gets tough, to go to PL group for help and that they'd help if we told them about him," Gajeel said when we went to the frozen lake in the mountains after I was bailed out of jail.
"78 million jewels... You now have 93 days left," Sting said. Only a millionaire would come up with that money. And if I don't, I'll be a rotten carcass by then. Laxus... really was PL Group's heir! PL Group, a rich company, whose late heir's name just so happens to be my name. Pl Group, who doesn't even know if Laxus is still alive.
The newfound realization that this PL Group was his one way ticket to freedom had Natsu frozen in shock.
Concerned by Natsu's frozen state, Jellal hesitantly asks, "What's wrong, Soo? Do you really not remember me?"
With tears forming from the overwhelming turn of events that fate has brought, Natsu quickly replies, "No... I remember," Nonchalantly, he joked, "You've aged a bit, Uncle Jellal."
Happy to see that Soo had finally recognized him and as well as seeing the genuine tears of remembrance on his face, Jellal began to smile because he thought that he had finally found Lucy's long-lost brother.
A/N: WOOOOOAAAAAAH, NATSU!? YOU IS GONNA BE LUCY'S FAKE BROTHER! WAAAAAT!? *O* CRAZY! Also, sorry if updates may be a little slow. It's because Julie has to go to a PSAT academy which is a total butt! While Jenny's at home eating ice cream. (Jen: Lucky me ^^) Make sure to review and follow us!~ so please await the next chap! THANK YOU!~