Here's chapter seven, all. I hope you all enjoy it.
Enjoy!
Chapter 7: A Visitation Interrogation
After some begging, the Allied Guilds managed to schedule a visit with the Jester. Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus sent their best teams, but representing Lamia Scale was Master Obaa herself, who left Jura in her place at the guild. Happy had a protective arm wrapped around Carla, hoping to protect her should the need arise. As the group of wizards trotted through the jail, they saw all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly people there, and those mean, nasty, ugly people were giving them the crook eye, the stink eye, the evil eye, the hairy eye, the blind eye, the dirty eye, the flirty eye, and all kinds of other eyes.
"Okay, is anyone else uncomfortable by the way they're staring at us?" Lucy asked nervously as she looked around at all the criminals, convicts, and other such people.
"NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST," the Blue Pegasus team answered unanimously and coolly.
"So, uh—Men!—Princess, how is your mother holding up?" Nichiya asked Carla, trying to make small talk with her.
"My mother? She's fine. I'm so pleased at how happy she and Lily are together!" Carla answered casually as Nichiya hid how her answer broke his heart. "And Myo is so cute! I have to say that even though he is a little annoying, I do like having a baby brother."
"Oh, yes," Nichiya brokenly recalled, "I forgot his child had been conceived within her… That's nice…"
"Captain Nichiya, are you alright?" Carla asked, looking up at him in concern.
"Ahem! Quite fine, thank you," Nichiya suddenly straightened up and tried to be professional.
"I say 'liar'," Happy sang softly and smirked.
"Holy pants! Look at that guy! He's a mummy!" Natsu exclaimed and pointed behind a cell to a man in a strait jacket and a mask.
"Natsu, don't be rude," Erza instructed as she dragged him along. "It's unbecoming."
"I gave a good spin to at least forty-one of the crooks in here," Obaa informed them. "Just a random fact. I've been in the business a long time."
"Really?" Erza asked, utterly fascinated. "Master Obaa, you are a woman among women."
"I even invented a dance called 'The Spin'," Obaa boasted with a hearty laugh.
Unimpressed, Gray mused, "Doubt it." He kept walking along, trying to sense whatever magic energy he could detect from the Jester. The sensation he got from when they fought was like several small explosions bouncing annoyingly all over the place. Oh, wait. That was exactly what happened. But the vibe he got from the Jester was murderous intent that seemed self-consciously justified.
"What crawled up your pants? Hey! You're still wearing pants!" Natsu noticed and slapped Gray on the back.
"Will you shut up? I'm trying to focus," Gray requested (or rather demanded) and began to focus on the magic in the cells again. Even if the imprisoned wizards couldn't use magic, they still had the residual essence of their magic power lingering about them and their prison. It was like how a person's bedroom will start to smell like them.
"You sense him?" Erza asked him softly.
Suddenly, Gray stopped short, causing Eve to bump into him, and nodded. "Yep. About thirty meters and on the right."
"I knew it," Erza said, satisfied with the confirmation.
"It's the stench of unadulterated evil. And helium," Obaa growled. "I'm gonna spin him into next Wednesday!"
"Why Wednesday?" Hibiki couldn't help but ask, curious as to why she was specific.
"People show their true colors on Wednesdays. Either they're delighted the week is halfway through or they're moaning and groaning about it!" Obaa explained, having a very valid point. "They're either optimists or pessimists. Which are you, Pretty Boy Number Two?"
"Why am I Number Two?" Hibiki continued his questions, getting more and more perplexed by the old woman.
"Well, you are not as reliable as Ichiya, but you seem most capable of being a leader if it comes down to you and those other two. Now stop pestering me or I'll spin you!"
"Heh-heh-heh! So the Allies have realigned, eh?" the Jester snickered in his cell. "It's all I can do to keep from chuckling as I eye you little ducklings! Huh? Sweet fanny, a monster granny!" Of course, by 'monster granny', he meant Obaa. That irritating rhyming and that comment earned him a good spin from said formidable elderly woman.
"I have some questions I want you to answer," Erza told the Jester. "Okay, here we go. What inspired you to join Cursed Fang in the first place?"
"I honestly hated the state of the world! It was so fouled, I nearly hurled!" the convict answered as he was spun.
"He looks like he's going to hurl now," Lucy commented. "Like Natsu on a train."
"Hey!" Natsu seemed offended. Immediately he conceded, "Yeah, that's true."
"It's one of my favorite quirks about you," the blonde comforted him with a hug.
"So you two are a thing now, right?" Gray asked.
"So say Aquarius, Erza, and Happy's favorite idols. Therefore, it is absolute," Natsu informed him.
"You like idols?" Carla looked into Happy's eyes and asked playfully. She nudged him a bit with her lips in a playfully mischievous smile.
"W-well, there is this one group…" Happy answered awkwardly with a blush, trailing off.
"You hated the world?" Erza continued to press questions, tuning out her comrades.
"Yes, yes, the power struggle is too much. It made me feel like a broken crutch," the Jester groaned, now nauseous. Obaa then decided to stop spinning him so he could be further questioned.
"I think he's just saying words for the sake of rhyming," Wendy commented in a small voice.
"So in order to solve that struggle, your master intends to put everything under his absolute rule," Erza guessed. The giggles being let out by the Jester told her that she was right.
"Yes, yes! Then the world can de-stress!" the Jester rhymed excitedly.
"The world will be oppressed! This is mass homicide! This is genocide! All for the sake of a sick dream in which a human takes the role of a god, deciding who is to live and who is to die?! You want that?!" Erza demanded, furious at the answer she was given.
"Master Tiran can do many, many things! He's even mastered forbidden spells that no one ever knew existed!" the Jester informed them and laughed maniacally.
"…Like that Cosmic Avatar?" Carla dared to ask, thinking back to the time when Happy first invoked the Shining Aera and took on Tiran, who was enveloped in an avatar of cosmic energy.
"You're a smart little kitty cat. You know, I like that," the Jester said in genuine—albeit insane—admiration.
"What is wrong with him?" Eve muttered.
"He's stark raving mad. I wonder if he was ever sane to begin with," Ichiya explained somberly. "Such a waste of entertaining talent."
"Entertaining? He tried to murder me!" Gray yelled defensively, only to get a face full of Ichiya. "Back away, please."
Natsu aggressively grabbed the Jester by the collar, shocking everyone. The pink haired Dragon Slayer growled, "So you're using this 'new world' crap as an excuse to justify murder?! Listen here, these are living, breathing people that you and your guild are killing and terrorizing! They're not your puppets! They're not your toys!"
"Even toys should be treated with respect!" Happy chimed in, embracing his inner kitten. He took a chocolate bar out of his bag and peeled the wrapper off of it. He angrily bit into the chocolate bar for dramatic effect. There was that and he was also hungry. "I eat more than fish! I had noodles with Plue once. I'm starting to like tea, too. And chocolate is so good!"
"If you think I'm going to let you get away with this, you're dead wrong!" Natsu roared and threw the Jester into the floor of his cell, knocking him unconscious. He sighed in satisfaction, only to face a hoard of angry comrades (and Wendy, who was more terrified than angry). "What?"
"WE NEEDED TO GET INFO OUT OF HIM, YOU FIRE-BREATHING IDIOT!" they all yelled at him (except for Wendy, who was checking to see if the Jester had a concussion).
"I'm sorry!" Natsu panicked, back against the cell bars.
"We'll figure something out. Or ask him if he wakes up," Erza decided.
