To say that Makarov was concerned was like saying Natsu's attacks did as much damage as tap to the head with a finger. After the fight with Demyx, who had been somehow brought back in an instant, Vanitas brought him back to the guild for questioning. Vanitas thought it would be best to let Makarov know of what was going on as well, as he might have answers on how to proceed.
When they all arrived, they were surprised to see Demyx, who looked a bit like an old-fashioned boy band member. They were all making jokes at first, quite amazed to see Vanitas hanging out with someone so eccentric. However, they were quickly silenced when they saw the serious look on Vanitas' face and the looks of concern on Natsu and Happy's face. They soon understood that whatever what was going was no laughing matter.
A number of the members asked if he was okay, to which Vanitas gave them a weak smile and apologetic smiles, apologising if he was causing problems and would explain what was going on later. With that, they went up to Makarov, who was reading sorcerer's weekly. As the group entered the room, he was laughing at how the members had upset the school teachers when the kindergarten's came to visit, even though the kids were happy all the same. He saw Demyx and asked to be introduced. After a quick introduction, Demyx got to work on his explanations.
He told them about the Heartless, creatures of pure darkness being made of hearts that have fallen to darkness. Either naturally exist in the Realm of Darkness, or people can turn into them if they give in to the darkness of their own hearts. They were all over the worlds, as Xehanort had ensured the creation of a new breed of them, the "Emblem Heartless" that wore the symbol of the Heartless. The "Pureblood" heartless were those that didn't bear the emblem but were mainly shrouded in dark colours.
He went on to explain that when a strong hearted person turned into a Heartless, their souls would take control of their now hollow bodies. Beings without hearts called "Nobodies", hence called because they were never meant to exist, nor is it certain if they really exist as they were basically living ghosts. They came in the shape of a variety of creatures, all of whom still retained their intelligence, unlike the heartless, who were beings made up of corrupt hearts and only had their instincts to guide them. He also said that the toughest of the tough would retain their human form if they turned into Heartless. They would be gifted with incredible power as a result, which they can keep if they returned back into human form.
A while ago, Xehanort had gathered thirteen of these special Nobodies, wanting to gather up hearts into an artificial Kingdom Hearts using their thirteenth member, another Keyblade wielder, to collect hearts. Said Keyblade wielder returned to his somebody (the person he was before) and that person was able to take down the organisation.
"After that, I'd have imagined that it would've been over. But he somehow came back, and he's trying to make a new Organization XIII, which he wants to use for its original purpose, to use them as pieces to make the most powerful Keyblade of all, the "X-Blade", the very counterpart of the true Kingdom Hearts.
"Hold on!" Natsu interrupted. He had decided to stick around because of his interest, despite Happy leaving out of respect for their privacy. Vanitas and Makarov didn't really mind, just as long as they could get the information they were looking for.
"If this guy wiped you all out, how come you were still around to fight Vanitas?" the pyromancer asked.
"My Heartless wasn't destroyed yet, so Xehanort was able to bring back my Nobody. My Heartless must have been destroyed between that time and now, because I've become a somebody again." Demyx explained to Natsu.
Vanitas was silent for a moment before asking 2When you saw Xehanort's nobody, did he look old and bald or was he in his thirties and had hair kind of shaped like horns?"
Demyx was slightly perplexed. "Uh, the latter. Why?" he asked.
"The former form wanted to corrupt another Keyblade wielder to the point that he could use him as a new, stronger vessel. He seemed to have succeeded. If that's the case, it means they must still have that power on their side. Xehanort wouldn't give up anything that would give him an edge.
"Ahhh!" Demyx said. "That explains the old dude who was standing next to Xemnas when I was brought back!"
"Xemnas?" Makarov asked.
"The name of the younger guy's Nobody." Demyx explained.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Natsu took it upon himself to break the silence. "So… what happens now?"
"Well, I bet that they're going to keep sending member after member until they defeat you or until you defeat them. Though with what I've seen, you're going to tear them to shreds." Demyx answered.
"I second that!" Natsu said.
Makarov then raised his hand. "I need to ask you all a favour." He said. They all nodded in agreement. "I want you all to stay silent about this. Everyone is having enough problems without having this on their shoulders as well. If it's necessary, I will allow it, but for now, please don't mention anything about it." They all nodded again.
Demyx sighed and said "Well, that certainly won't be a problem with me. I won't be here to tell them."
This caught the other three's attention.
"Vanitas, I have to say, when we fought, you really gave it your all. I was able to hold my own against you. With my heart back now, I've got a little more strength now. If I train hard enough, I'll be able to help my friends."
Vanitas remembered what he said back at the museum. "So, you're going at it alone, are you?" he asked.
Demyx nodded. "For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid of getting into any form of conflict. But you showed me that I'm stronger than I though. You showed me that if you strive hard enough, you can win out. It's time I stopped acting like a coward and actually did something about it."
Demyx was about to say something else when Vanitas held up his hand. "If this is a very long thank you for giving you the confidence you always wanted, then you're welcome. I've got a weakness for long speeches myself, but I don't always have the patience to listen to them." Vanitas said.
Demyx nodded. "Alright. Well, it's time I got going." He clicked his fingers and opened up a dark portal.
"See you around Demyx." Vanitas said casually with a small wave.
Demyx turned back and smirked. "You can call be Demy. Demyx was my Nobody's name." he said, before walking through the portal and vanishing, the portal following suit quickly after.
About five seconds later, Natsu spoke up again. "Oh, by the way-" Natsu started before zooming out of the room, coming back just as quickly with the museum owner bound with a lot of rope. "What are we going to do with this guy?" He finished.
Vanitas stared at him. "What's your deal with this… Organization XIII?" he asked.
The museum owner trembled where he was, as Vanitas was giving him a cold and steely glare. "They… they promised me power. They gave me control over darkness and said… in exchange, I was going to have to kidnap a list of people for them." He answered.
Vanitas was silent for a moment. Then, something clicked. "If the "X-Blade" is the counterpart of Kingdom Hearts, id imagine it'd be made of Light and Darkness. If Xehanort's gathering darkness'-"
"He's after pieces made of light." Makarov finished.
Vanitas laid back in his chair and said "Well, there isn't much we can do until they make another move, so I say we just live life as normal until they make another appearance. Until then, Natsu… burgers or hotdogs?"
Natsu rushed out of the room yelling Hot Dogs, which answered his question. He stood up laughing and made his way out of the room. Before he went through the door, he said "Mater… two things. One, we will beat these guys. No matter what these guys will throw at us, I will make sure they won't hurt anyone. I'll do what I have to do to keep them safe." Makarov was thankful to hear that and let out a small sigh of relief.
"Secondly, I noticed you can get pretty hooked on that magazine for some reason. And if I find that it's for the reason I think it is… I won't show any mercy." Vanitas soon said, which caused Makarov to sweat uncontrollably.
"Vanitas, I, uh, I've no idea what you're talking about." Makarov said unconvincingly.
Vanitas' eyes narrowed as his glare intensified. He decided to let the matter drop and left the room. Makarov went back to reading the magazine. He was about to turn a page when Vanitas' words rang in his head, and skipped the pages he was planning on reading… or rather, staring."
"Wow, he can be scarier than Erza!" he thought with surprise.
….
Vanitas took the liberty of returning to the person who gave him the job and informed him that the owner of the museum was stopped, and all the magic he was planning on selling was recovered. The employer was relieved and paid Vanitas what he owed.
Vanitas returned to his apartment and decided to read the newspaper, curious to see if there was anything going on that he wasn't aware of. While the rain had stopped and it was now nice and sunny, Vanitas decided to wait until the outside was a bit more dry. He was halfway through his first article when he heard a knock on the door. He got up, threw the paper on one of the seats and opened the door. Standing outside was one of the gunslingers of Fairy Tail, Alzack. His specialty was using enchanted bullets, each one having a very useful effect. He had black hair that stood up into spikes, earrings and wore a poncho, a red top underneath, trousers and regular brown shoes.
"Hey, Alzack, right? Everything alright?" Vanitas asked.
"Yeah, everything's great. I was just wondering if you could do me a favour." Alzack replied.
Vanitas grinned. "Sure, what can I do?"
Alzack stepped to one side and, much to Vanitas' surprise, a little girl with long, black hair, dark eyes and was wearing a cowgirl outfit.
"This is my daughter, Asuka. Say hi pumpkin."
"Hi Mr. Vanitas!" Asuka said, glee present in her voice.
Vanitas smiled. "Hi Asuka, it's nice to meet you."
"Likewise." She replied.
Alzack was starting to look nervous. Vanitas, however realised what he was going to ask. "Are you going to ask if I can watch Asuka?" Vanitas asked.
Alzack gave him a nod of defeat. "Yeah. I would normally ask the guild to keep an eye on her, but they're pretty preparing for the fantasia parade."
Vanitas quickly became confused. "Fantasia parade?"
Asuka took the Liberty of explaining what it was. "It's this big parade that the Fairy Tail guild performs during the harvest festival. It's full of amazing special effects, cool shows, happy people and all that stuff!"
"Wow. I didn't know about that. I'm surprised I haven't heard about it sooner." Vanitas said.
"Well, with you taking on so many jobs it's nearly impossible to get in contact with you. Anyway, it might be a good break for you." Alzack said.
"Well, that would sound nice. In the meantime, I've no problem looking after her." Vanitas said.
Asuka screamed "Yay" and hugged Vanitas. Vanitas was surprised and gave Alzack a questioning look.
"She's pretty energetic. Hope that's not a problem." Alzack said.
Vanitas smirked. "Not at all. Best of luck with the preparations."
Alzack gave him a nod. He then hugged Asuka. Asked her to be good and then headed off. Asuka took the liberty of taking a seat on one of Vanitas' chairs, kicking her legs up and down in anticipation of something. This didn't go unnoticed by Vanitas.
"What's got you so excited?" he asked.
"I'm just so excited about the Fantasia parade. It's going to be the first one Fairy Tail held in nine years." Asuka answered.
Nine years? I thought from what you said that it was an annual event?" he asked playfully, trying to mask his concern. Usually if there hadn't been a celebration in a long time, it meant something bad happened.
Asuka lowered her head and continued speaking. "Yeah… about nine years ago, Natsu, Lucy, Happy and a lot of the other members were hit with an attack by a dragon that we thought destroyed the island they were on at the time. Tenroe Island. They were really in a kind of safety bubble, but it didn't wear off until seven years later. Then, because grandpa was worried about something, he disbanded the guild. Then, when it got back together again, the guild was so busy helping out those who were hit by Achnalogia's attacks on Fiore, we missed the Harvest Festival." She explained.
Vanitas was silent for a moment. He quickly felt guilty about asking as it seemed to resurface a lot of unwanted memories. "I'm sorry for asking, Asuka."
Asuka quickly lifted her head with a look so positive that Vanitas suddenly became a bit more cheery.
"Don't worry, it's not so bad. Now I get to see the parade for the first time EVER!" Asuka said, jumping off the chair and running around the apartment. Vanitas wasn't too worried, as he kept the apartment quite tidy so he wouldn't have the land lady breathing down his neck, so there was nothing she could trip on. He still kept a sharp eye on her in case anything happened. She came to a stop right in front of Vanitas and said. "I want to go outside."
"Wow, pretty assertive of you." Vanitas commented. Asuka soon gave him a look of confusion.
"Assertive- being able to make your point with confidence and with no aggressive- mean- ways to do it. One of the most important aspects of a leader." Vanitas explained.
Asuka beamed at him. "Does that mean I'm the leader for today?" she asked.
This caught Vanitas off guard. He was going to say no, but the hopeful look on Asuka's face couldn't allow him to do it. He sighed with defeat and answered "Yes."
Asuka punched the air with excitement. "In that case, we're going to the park to play tag." She said. She tapped Vanitas on the knee and said "You're it!" and ran to the door.
"Hey, don't run off like that- not before we hit the park anyway." He said, the second half of the sentence he added as an amendment. He jogged after her, firing a beam of energy at the now closed door of his apartment to lock it and kept up with Asuka.
"Okay… this might be tougher than I thought." He admitted to himself.
…..
"This is amazing. I've never had fish like this before." Stated Happy, who was enjoying a plate full of sushi. Lucy was with him and had some herself, as well as giving the cat a questionable look.
"Seriously, you've never had sushi? The cat who tried to eat fish from a public aquarium?" Lucy asked with surprise.
When she mentioned something about an aquarium, Happy asked her not to speak of it again. This caused Lucy to chuckle a little bit. She ate a couple more pieces of her dish before asking where Natsu was.
"Aw, Erza nabbed him to help practice for the fireworks for the Fantasia parade. Everyone's working hard this year since we never had one for a while now." Happy explained.
Lucy rested her head on one of her hands and looked up at the sky. "Yeah, the last time Fairy Tail had the Fantasia parade, everyone was beaten up from Laxus' attempt to take over Fairy Tail. We managed to cover that up as a kind of preparation for the festival, since everyone was fighting each other. It'd be nice to perform without feeling like a herd of elephants landed on me."
"Frankly, I'd feel sorrier if you were on top of the elephant, it looks like you gained a bit of weight." Happy said, simply trying to mess with her.
Lucy grabbed Happy by the head and threw him at a nearby wall, squishing his face.
"Want to say that again?" she said with an undertone of anger present in her voice.
"No thanks." Happy said after pealing himself off of the wall.
The two then heard the sound of laughter coming from the park nearby. They both recognised the laugh as Asuka's, nodding in agreement to go see how she is. When they arrived, however, they received the shock of their lives when they saw Vanitas lying flat on the ground, limbs outstretched, while Asuka was running around him in circles yelling "I won, I won!"
The celestial wizard and the flying cat looked at each other in confusion before Happy said "Lucy, I think you threw me at the wall too hard because I see Vanitas being worn out."
"I'm pretty sure I see it too." Lucy said. She then turned back to them. "Hey, guys!" she yelled at them.
Asuka was the only on to respond. She looked to the duo and ran to them, giving Lucy a big hug. "Hi Lucy, hi Happy. Want to play tag?"
"No thanks. Wait, were you to paying tag?" Lucy looked at Vanitas again.
"I knew Asuka had a lot of energy but I didn't think she could wear him out." Happy said. He brought out his wings and flew to Vanitas. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
Vanitas responded by rolling backwards onto his shoulders, pushing himself up with one hand and did a couple of spins before landing on his feet. He looked to Happy. "Yeah, I'm good. Why'd you ask?"
Happy paused for a moment before saying. "Uh, never mind. So, you and Asuka hanging out together?"
Vanitas shrugged his shoulders. "Alzack asked me to look after her while he did some things for the Fantasia. She's the leader for today so we're doing what she wants, starting with a game of tag."
Happy sighed. "You fell into the same trap as Natsu then."
"I don't know what that means, but I'll just say… guess so." Vanitas responded.
"So Lucy, you want to get ice-cram?" Asuka asked Lucy.
"Sure, got a preference?" Lucy responded.
Asuka paused for a moment before saying "Vanitas, bring us to Rob's rocky road, please." She said.
Vanitas heard her and, for the fun of it, gave her a formal bow, putting one leg behind him and raising one arm into the air at his side while the other was up against his chest. "Most certainly m'lady." Vanitas said.
Lucy fought hard to hold back the giggles. She didn't expect Vanitas to have this much of a silly side. It was interesting to see.
"Onward!" Asuka yelled.
…..
A group of people were standing beside a lamp post in the east side of the town. There were three of them, looking at a map, a big circle drawn around "Endless Sparke", a well-known jewellery shop in the market area. Ironically, no one has ever tried to steal from it, mainly due to the incredible security that they have there. The guards were well trained in swordsmanship and also knew some illusionary magic that helped to catch the thieves off-guard.
However, they all decided to get together and try sushi, which led to a number of severe cases of food poisoning from expired fish. They were forced to take some time off so as to recover. There were some regular guards filling in for them until they could come back.
Just thinking about how it all happened just made the group giddy.
"This is great. For ages we were trying to get in there without those stupid guards, now's our chance!" one thief with a black bandana around his forehead said.
Another with a scar crossing his right eye soon said "Well, considering that the boss was the one who gave them the bad sushi, is it really that surprising?"
The bandana thief raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? He did that?"
"Indeed I did." Came the voice of the largest in the group. He wore a grey tuxedo with a white bow tie, a black top hat and wore a very thick goatee. "Now that those guys are out of the picture, we've got a clear path to all those diamonds."
Another thief spoke up. "Boss, what about Fairy Tail? Two guys just took down the museum guy who was selling illegal magic. Won't they get in our way?"
The boss stroked his beard before responding. "Understandable, but there's no need to worry. They're so busy with their parade that they won't notice us when we sneak in and take in the goods. Right boys?"
The rest of the group all grunted happily in agreement.
The boss continued to stroke his facial hair. "Who could possibly stand in our way?"
…
"You've got to be kidding me." Vanitas said with a deadpan tone.
"What, I always get this when I'm here." Happy said, confused at Vanitas' disbelief.
"Well, it must be the only place in Magnolia – no, all of Fiore – to sell "Fish" flavoured ice cream." Vanitas responded.
"Oh yee of little faith, in time you will come to realise the wonders of our town." Happy said, pretending to sound like a wise, old elder.
Vanitas sighed. He and Happy decided to sit on a nearby bench and let Lucy and Asuka play together. After Lucy saw Vanitas lying on the ground like he was exhausted, she insisted on doing her part to help. Vanitas tried to explain that he was just playing himself, but Lucy was having none of it. Realising that she wouldn't relent, he agreed to let her take over for him for a bit.
"What is up with her anyway?" Vanitas asked himself out loud.
Happy knew the question wasn't aimed at him, but he answered anyway. "A while ago Natsu, Lucy and I watched Asuka while Alzack and Bisca were out on a job. She was a little more of a handful than we thought. We didn't mind, but Lucy's afraid others wouldn't take it well."
Vanitas sighed. "Well, looking after kids isn't exactly something I'm good at, I'll admit." Vanitas admitted.
Happy was surprised to hear this. "What do you mean? Asuka said she was having a super day today because of you."
Vanitas looked at Happy with a raised brow and widened eyes. "Really?" he asked.
"Yeah, you need to give yourself more credit." Happy said.
Vanitas remained silent for a moment. He never considered himself as someone who was good with people I general, never mind kids. While he may be a good person now, he was always afraid that the darker side of him would come back to bite him. Hearing Happy say what he said was a bit of a shock, and a bit helpful. He laid back on the chair, raising his head up to the sky.
Happy wasn't sure what Vanitas was doing, but he decided to follow suit. Vanitas was fully alerted when something came back to him.
"Wait, now I remember. That time you guys looked after Asuka, wasn't that the time you and Natsu kissed?" he asked, trying hard to supress the laughter.
Happy's face immediately turned green and trauma was clearly written on his face. "Who… told you that?" he asked.
"Asuka mentioned it before you guys showed up. Knowing the kind of incidents you two get into, it's not all that surprising. Although, if you're going to be doing anything weird later, let me know, a guy I did a job for owes me the use of his cannon." Vanitas said.
"What would you do with a cannon?" Happy asked, quickly recovering from his shock.
Vanitas gave him a smirk and an evil look in his eyes. "You'll see."
Happy was immediately shivering with fear, knowing that scary things was one of Vanitas' specialties. He couldn't imagine what would happen when Halloween came. Happy continued to eat his usual ice cream.
"So, do you think that there's going to be any more action today?" the tomcat asked.
"I certainly hope not!" Vanitas said. His mood was quickly shifting to that of annoyance and agitation. This surprised Happy.
"After that fight at the museum earlier, and after what Demy told me, I just want… I want a normal day for the rest of today. No crime, no fighting, no mayhem."
"What'll happen if it comes our way today then?" Happy asked.
Vanitas took in a deep breath, doing his best to lighten his mood. "To put it simply, Happy… I'll lose it."
Happy slightly moved away from Vanitas on the bench. He saw his training sessions with Natsu and Gray; seeing how vicious he could be made Happy wonder what would happen if he was to go all out. For a moment, they were silent, then Happy broke the silence by putting his ice-cream up to Vanitas' face and asked if he wanted a taste.
"No thanks, I'm still eating mine." Vanitas answered. He ordered a mint ice-cream with chocolate chips in it. It helped to lower his temper when he was in a bad mood. Vanitas caught Happy's attention and nodded his head towards Lucy and Asuka, using this as a silent question to see if he wanted to join them. Happy nodded with glee and hopped off the bench, making his way towards them. Vanitas didn't take long to follow him, although he was more relaxed about it than Happy was.
Vanitas suddenly turned his head to his right, sensing that something was amiss. His eyes narrowed and readied himself for something for happen.
"Hey, spiky!" Lucy yelled out loud. Vanitas turned back to her, her having succeeded in catching his attention and, seemingly, annoying him with the nickname.
"Spiky?" he asked.
Lucy smiled back at him. "Thought it would suit you. What's wrong? You looked pretty serious."
Vanitas shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He then stood in a defensive stance again. "We've got trouble coming." He said.
No sooner had he said it came a number of loud bangs from a nearby shop. He looked and saw a jewellery shop and saw smoke coming out of its windows. Soon, a number of men came running out with large leather bags, a number of gold items falling from the bags.
Vanitas' expression didn't change as he made his way towards the thieves. Deciding not to use his Keyblade, he opted to use his fists instead. She zoomed towards the criminals and managed to land a fist on one of the thieves left temple, causing him to fly into a nearby building.
Another thief looked back and saw Vanitas, recognising him immediately. "No way, that guy's in Fairy Tail, I thought the boss said they were all busy!" he exclaimed.
"Don't mind that, just run!" said another. They were about to sprint off when they each felt a hand wrap around their legs. They looked down to confirm their fears, which were indeed confirmed. Before they could check to see who it was, they felt their legs being pulled back, causing them to fall flat on their faces. Before they could register what had happened, they felt themselves being lifted into the air. While hanging upside down, they saw the spiky haired swordsman glaring down at them. His head was blocking out the sun, which caused his face to seem completely covered in shadows except how his eyes seemed to be glowing red from his fury.
"So… you think you can just steal this stuff, huh? Tell me, who told you guys you can just take what isn't yours. I'd be okay if it was a homeless person who was desperate, but you guys don't fit the bill." Vanitas said.
The two thieves were shivering with fright. They were quick to give up their boss.
"His name's Billiards Bronco, a retired mob boss who hires people to rob stuff to keep is pockets filled cash. He told us we would get a cut of the profits."
Vanitas was silent for a moment before he let them go and, as soon as he clicked his fingers, encased them in ice. He then looked back at the shop, hearing movement inside. He ran inside and checked for survivors. On the outside, Lucy, Asuka and Happy stood in silence as they saw what happened.
"I think Vanitas is about to lose it." Happy said.
"What's he going to lose?" Asuka asked, a bit confused at what he said.
Before Happy could reply, Vanitas was shot out of the building with incredible force. He reacted as quickly as possible, summoning his Keyblade and digging it into the ground, slowing his speed and helping him land properly. He looked behind him and saw the trio, all of them looking concerned. Vanitas gave them a small smirk.
"What? You didn't think that would hurt, did you?" he asked.
"Oh my, did I not put enough strength in that attack?" came a voice from within the shop.
Vanitas readied his battle stance, Lucy and Happy standing at either side of him while Asuka hid behind a bush, still not being able to fight, but was smiling at her certainty of her friends being able to win the fight to come.
Soon, the man in the tuxedo strolled out of the shop, holding a silver cane.
"I'll be sure not to make the same mistake. I must say, I didn't think that you Fairies would be in town today, instead I assumed that you were working on that silly parade."
Lucy and Happy's eyes twitched. Vanitas' peripheral vision caught this, surprised that they were being easily irritated. Vanitas put it in the back of his mind, focusing on the figure in front of him.
"So, you think you can pull off a robbery and think we wouldn't notice? Big mistake." Vanitas stated. He took the liberty of making the first move, teleporting behind him and swung the Keyblade at the top-hat thief in the arm. However, the Keyblade simply bounced off of him when the Keyblade impacted, not even leaving a mark. This shocked Vanitas; the opponent looked behind him and gave him a menacing smile. Not wanting to be out done, Vanitas charged his free hand with energy and conjured a ball of lightning. He slammed his hand into the back of Billiard Bronco's head and let the lightning flow all over him. Vanitas then quickly rolled backwards to avoid getting shocked himself. However, the lightning didn't seem to be affecting him as the lightning faded away.
"What the heck are you?" Vanitas asked.
The formally dressed thief swung the cane upwards and rested it on his right shoulder. "This little get up here is a fighter's best friend. The tuxedo protects me from any form of weapons, while the hat protects me from magic." He flicked the rim of his top hat. "Not much you fairies can do against me, is there?" he asked. He then turned back to Lucy and Happy, smiling at them with a smile that said that he felt superior. This irritated them both.
"Like you can talk, we know how to fight, while you just stand by and let others do the fighting for you. We know your type, you coward!" Happy said.
The thief's smirk changed to a frown, anger starting to get the better of him. He quickly brought the cane to his side and held it like a sword. He quickly made his way towards them, planning to beat them with it (perhaps not the best idea since they were experienced fighters); however, Bronco had stumbled back when something struck him in the eye. Lucy and Happy were surprised to see this. They looked behind them and saw Asuka holding her toy gun up. They soon connected the dots.
"Great job Asuka!" Happy yelled.
"Asuka, get out of here!" Lucy said with fright.
While it managed to catch him off-guard, the thief was angered by what happened and soon started running in Asuka's direction. Lucy tried to kick him but he grabbed her leg and, with surprising strength, threw her away. Happy tried to get in his way, but it ended with him being caught by the tail and launched in the same direction as Lucy.
While she knew that the thief was coming towards her, she showed no fear, unafraid to show what she was really made of. However, before she got the chance, Vanitas intervened, palm striking him in the sternum area, sending Bronco flying in the opposite direction. When he got back up, he was shocked. Asuka was impressed, but not surprised at all. She heard about his power and skill from her parents, so seeing him striking him a huge man like that seemed like child's play.
"How did you do that?" Bronco asked.
Vanitas grinned. "I'm pretty strong and I know your weakness. You're invulnerable to magic and weapons, but you never mentioned if fists would make a difference. Glad to see that I can use my fists on you after all."
Vanitas looked around him, looking at different areas to see if he could find a less populated area. That's when his eyes met a particular area, reminding him of a certain wish he always had when he first learned about them. He looked back to his opponent and said "Let's take this somewhere else."
…..
Erza sat in a chair by the fireplace of the "Chestnut Glass" bar, looking around at the mixed customer types present. Some were regular people while others were quite tall and muscular people, waiting for something exciting to happen. One of the bartenders went to Erza and asked if she wanted something else to drink. She held up her glass and asked for more water. He took the glass and left Erza alone, letting her reminisce about the day so far. They managed to build a lot of the floats, the costumes were ready, they just needed to practice their routines for the show. She breathed deeply and smiled widely, enjoying the piece and quiet now that she was finished.
"Nothing can ruin this moment." She thought to herself.
However, she was soon proven wrong.
A loud crash could be heard at the entrance. She stood up ans quickly turned to see two men fighting each other, one pushing the other into the bar. He released his opponent and Erza saw that it was Vanitas who had pushed his opponent into the bar. He tried to land a right hook to his face, but the opponent caught the fist and launched him towards the bar, causing Vanitas to fly high and land behind the bar. Erza looked at the opponent and recognised him as the gentleman thief "Billiards Bronco", the thief that never got his hands dirty and never got into a fight. It was surprising to see that he could hold his own against Vanitas.
After Vanitas landed, it caused one person at the bar to spill his drink and threw his glass away in frustration; the glass hit one of the larger customers who didn't seem too happy about it. He got up and punched the glass thrower, who fell from his stool and had his head hit the foot of one of the other formal customers. They were not happy either, so he pulled out hit can and whacked it across the tall customer's head, knocking him out cold. During this, other customers had started fighting each other, being inspired by the surprising entrance of Vanitas and Bronco. After a few more seconds, it had officially turned into a full-on bar brawl.
Erza stood still for a moment, observing what was going on. When she decided to intervene, she saw Lucy enter the bar with a worried look on her face. When she saw Erza staring at her, she turned as white as a sheet, clearly being gripped by fear of what Erza might think.
"I assume you were having difficulty with a job." Erza stated.
Happy flew into the bar, looking around for Vanitas. When he saw the brawl, he couldn't help but come up with an idea. He turned to Lucy.
"Hold on a sec, Lucy." Happy said before flying off.
"Happy! Where are you going!?" Lucy screamed.
It turned out that Happy was flying towards a man who was sitting at a piano. He whispered something into the pianist's ear and handed him what looked like a thousand jewel. The pianist soon started playing fast paced bar music, the only kind you can play when there is a bar brawl going on. Lucy let her jaw drop in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me." Lucy said.
…
Asuka waited outside the bar, waiting for Vanitas, Lucy and Happy to finish. It must've been very difficult to finish since they were in there for a while now.
"Asuka?" came two voice behind her. She turned to see Alzack and Bisca, the latter having green hair, a cowboy hat, a sleeveless jacket, a short skirt and long, leather boots.
Asuka smiled. "Hi Mom, Hi Dad." She said gleefully.
"Where's Vanitas?" Alzack asked, worry and fear in his voice after seeing his daughter alone in the street.
"A thief robbed a store near us and he, Lucy and Happy tried to stop him. They took the fight into that place there." She said, pointing at the bar with the broken windows and the music playing.
Bisca suddenly realised something, making her shiver with fear. "Isn't that the place Erza goes to?" she asked out loud.
Alzack widened his eyes with shock. The question was answered when they saw everyone in the bar start to spill out like liquid from a picture. When they were all gone, Erza slowly made her way out with another customer in her hand.
"Had you not spilled my water, I would've let you all still have your fun. It didn't have to end that way. Now, you won't get into a bar fight again, will you?"
The customer shook his head quickly, which caused her to let go and let him drop to the ground. He ran off, leaving Erza to look around her. When she saw Alzack and Bisca, she smiled at them.
"Don't be angry with Vanitas, he only got into this because he was trying to protect your daughter. I'm sure he'll be done in a moment."
…..
Vanitas and "Billiards Bronco" stood face to face away from each other, both clearly worn from the fight. Lucy and Happy were hiding behind the bar with the bartender, all three fearing for their lives after seeing Vanitas trying to strike down the thief with a large barrel of ale. It was surprisingly scary to see him losing control like that. Both opponents stood still for a moment before making their way to the bar and taking up a stool at the same time. After another brief moment of silence, Bronco made an order.
"Give me a glass of your best champagne, please." He said, the tiredness present in his voice.
"Root…beer." Vanitas managed to say.
The bartender nodded and gave them their respective drinks. They downed them rather quickly and slammed their glasses onto the counter without breaking them. Vanitas reached into his pocket when Bronco reached his hand in front of Vanitas' face.
"I'm paying." He said.
"That's nice of you, but I'll take this one." Vanitas replied.
"I won't have that, I won't disrespect a great opponent like that."
"Likewise."
Lucy and Happy were shocked to see this. "Are they arguing over who should pay?" Lucy asked Happy.
"Looks like it." Hapy replied. "I wish that he would pay for my fish at the market."
They continued their debate for a little bit longer before Vanitas came up with an idea. "How about I pay for yours and you'll pay for mine."
"Deal." He said. They shook hands and each paid for the others drinks. Vanitas looked at Bronco for a moment.
"Now then." Vanitas stared. He continued by punching the thief so hard that he was sent flying towards one on the non-broken windows, ending with him crashing through and landing outside a large crowd. Vanitas saw that the top hat had been knocked off and decided to try it on. He turned to the pair behind the bar.
"How do I look?" he asked.
"Not bad, the hat suits you." Happy said.
Lucy sighed. "This won't end well.
After Lucy and Happy got out from behind the bar, they made their way outside and saw a hug e crowd cheering for them and saw the town's guards taking Bronco into custody.
Vanitas and Happy gave each other a high five.
"This turned out to be a pretty good day, right?" Happy asked.
Vanitas chuckled slightly. "It would be… except we may need to start running for our lives in a moment.
Happy was confused until he heard Lucy scream and turned to her. He was confused until he looked to where Lucy was looking and saw Bisca aiming a rifle at them… a very big rifle.
"Oh… Hi, Bisca. How's the shooting performance practice going?" Happy asked. She fired a bullet that was just a centimetre away from hitting Vanitas' right cheek, hitting the wall behind him.
"You tell me." She said with murder in her eyes.
Vanitas gave Asuka a thumbs up, which she smiled at, before he grabbed Lucy's hand and dashed away, avoiding the extra bullets that Bisca fired at them.
"WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO MEEEEEEEEEEE!" yelled Lucy, crying her eyes out.
Alzack couldn't help but feel sorry for the group. He knew they didn't mean for this to happen, but that wasn't going to stop his wife, who would show no mercy if her daughter was put in harm's way.
He felt a tug on his sleeve and saw Asuka smiling up at him.
"Can Vanitas look after me again, please?" she asked.
[And there you have it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long, I had a lot of stuff happening that kept me too busy to write. But now I'm back and ready to. I know this chapter was a bit different than the rest, but I always wanted to do something like this. Anyway, whether you liked it or not, feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think, I won't mind at all. See you all later.]