Author's Rambling:
Each chapter just gets more difficult to write. I won't let it stop me, not at all, I really do have some exciting plans with this story. So not to worry, it'll be updated, I'm aiming for weekly- fortnightly updates of 5000 words plus. Not sure exactly what I think about this chapter, but I'll be trying to pick up the pace in the next chapter.
Mirajane Strauss couldn't quite bring herself to reconcile the unconscious mage with the man she remembered from her childhood years. To her shame, she didn't really know the man before her, in those days she'd been a little rude and rebellious, so it wasn't so surprising that her recollections of an older member were scant. Oh dear, she truly was ashamed that she had been so negligent in getting to know a member of Fairy Tail.
Resolved to make amends, Mirajane had sat by his bedside in wait for him to awaken. Once Porlyusica had applied some salves to the raw looking scars that covered him, the elderly witch had announced him as stable, and simply left. So she entertained herself by watching the sleeping blonde. Even with scars, she had found herself giggling coquettishly when his sleeping shirt had rode up, showing the lean muscular planes of his stomach and chest. Her hand covering her mouth, trying to muffle her giggles lest she wake him up before he was ready, had been the image she would have presented to any who popped their heads into the room.
Despite him being much older than Mirajane, she had to acknowledge that like many of the males of Fairy Tail, he was rather handsome. That was all there was, what really was making the barmaid curious, was his story. Her role in the administrative side of Fairy Tail, and serving at the bar meant that she heard the woes, joys and fears of all her fellow Fairy Tail members. Not that Mirajane minded at all. She enjoyed helping them in any way she could.
She knew everyone in Fairy Tail.
Except Naruto Uzumaki.
It truly was an oversight that could not continue, especially when she knew that he had been a member of Fairy Tail for seven long years! Mirajane reached out a hand, touching his forehead, smoothing creases that had formed, obviously his sleep wasn't particularly restful.
"Who are you Naruto Uzumaki?" She asked aloud, stroking through blonde stubble that was beginning to grow out a little. "I wonder just what is making you so stressed while you sleep." She mused as she adjusted his blankets so that they reached further up his chest.
And she kissed him. Full on the mouth, something that was bold, so unlike her gentle nature. Naruto didn't complain, and instead threw himself into the kiss, taking control of it, savouring the gasp that escaped from her as his hands found their way around her waist. One hand crept up her side, over to her shoulder, diverting only for rough fingertips to stroke the curve of her neck, before returning to its original destination of her thick hair. It was everything he had imagined, smoother than the petals of the Abaina Flower; a sheen to it comparable to the ocean pearls found by the Caelum Kingdom.
The kiss was clumsy. Both inexperienced, but enthusiastic in exploring this new experience gave it a quality that not even well-practiced skill could give, this was all passion. They pulled apart only when their body begged for oxygen, they pulled apart reluctantly, staring at each other, drawing in ragged breaths all the while. "Why did you kiss me?" He had asked stupidly, looking at his childhood friend, seeing her differently. He didn't see the girl she had been, no, all he could notice now was the curve of her breasts underneath her blouse, the way she dipped in at the waist, flairing out at the hips, and curve of her bottom.
Crimson splashed across her cheeks, something that he found fascinated him immensely, for the contrast of her creamy coloured skin with the bright red made her embarrassment pretty. Both of her hands met, fingers entwining as she averted her eyes downwards. "I..I...like you." She managed to say, and he could tell how badly she wanted to run from him.
Naruto Namikaze felt a wide grin spread across his face, pink spots appearing on his tanned cheeks, and his striking eyes of blue staring into hers. "Heh, I, er, really like you as well." He admitted bashfully, averting his gaze towards the water, but sneaking glances at the other 15-year-old.
She eeped, a noise that Naruto had never knew even existed, and she fell into his arms, and they stood locked in an embrace.
Naruto Uzumaki shook his head looking at fellow recruit Kiba Reddawg. The Earthland version of his old comrade Kiba Inuzuka. "You don't get it, it's better this way, it is better for her." He snapped at the spiky haired prospective Rune Knight. And it truly was better for her - Naruto Uzumaki wasn't quite the boy who professed love for her. He brought a hand to his temple, gritting his teeth at how Kiba unknowingly rubbed salt in the wounds.
He loved her, even if he wasn't the same person, not quite. It was because he felt this all-consuming force of passion towards her that he couldn't deceive her, he couldn't claim to be Naruto Namikaze. It didn't matter that Naruto Namikaze was Naruto Uzumaki now, no, because the memories might be there, but he hadn't lived those memories. He wondered how many tears she would shed, falling from her perfect eyes, he'd loved looking - no, Naruto Namikaze had loved that. His fists curled, nails indenting into the flesh of his palm, drawing blood that beaded along the small half-moon cut.
"What the hell is up with you, Namikaze? You've been acting strange for weeks now, you think you're too good for us all now that you've been taken out with fully trained Knights?" Kiba had snarled, advancing towards Naruto, eyes flashing furiously.
"It's Uzumaki. U-zu-ma-ki, and I'm fine. Stop bothering me." He answered in annoyance. He automatically registered the brown-haired boy as a threat, tensing and magical power rising, boiling below his surface, just waiting to be allowed to erupt.
The brown-haired teenager scoffed. "You know what, screw you, and your mother. I don't give a damn, you've changed, Naruto. It wasn't for the better. When you decide to remember your friends and the girl who loves you, maybe we'll talk." He pushed Naruto backwards, a shove to the chest, storming out the room and closing the door with a slam.
Naruto watched it helpless to say anything, or do anything to mend the bridge that had just been burned into cinders.
She stood before him, earnest eyes meeting his own, even if he tried to cast his gaze away. She looked beautiful, even dressed in a shapeless smock,with that lovely hair that he loved piled into a chaotic bun. He swallowed, his hands reaching out to touch her, except he pulled them back as if she was a naked flame, and simply drank her in. Steeling himself, he struggled to control the tempest of need within him, need for her. Instead he stared at her, expression slipping from his face, and replaced with blankness.
"Naruto..." She called out to him, her eyes moistening when Naruto didn't move to respond. One soft delicate hand reached out towards him, he encircled the wrist before it came close to touching him, and pushed it back towards her. "Naruto..." She repeated once more, once again not continuing the sentence.
He shook his head. "Get on with your life, don't wait for me. Don't. I won't be returning, no matter how long you wait." Each word was torn from him, leaving him filled with such intense hatred towards himself that he wanted to physically vomit. He wanted to wrap himself around her, kiss her full on those lips, and soak in the soft perfume lavender that was her, only her.
Tears filled her eyes, she nodded violently, spinning around, and ran.
"I'm sorry." He whispered sadly, knowing she would always question how true his love for her had been. "I'm so sorry, just know that my love for you doesn't change, even if I'm not the one you loved."
She was long gone by then.
The pain lessened with time, as he found himself smothering many of the less essential memories belonging to his counterpart, the boy that had merged with him. Being a Rune Knight wasn't like being a ninja, but it was close enough to what he was familiar with, and left him in the position to advance his knowledge and exploration of magic.
Naruto was remarkably good at being a Rune Knight. He ran faster than the others, his quick grasp at new abilities gave him the title of being the strongest, and his skill gave him recognition higher up the ranks.
He missed home, for Konoha was home, even if he ate often with Ayame, the Earthland one. She was probably the sole selfish pleasure he allowed himself, he had given up her, but he kept the sister -like figure, even if he wasn't the Naruto Namikaze she had watched grow up.
She'd married within a year, so he knew he'd done the right thing, she had a son, although he didn't know when he'd been born. Naruto thought of all this, sitting outside his tent, on the damp grass as he stared out into the fire, wondering if that child would've been his if he'd been selfish enough to play the man she'd loved.
His heart had burned, twisting around inside his chest, jealousy towards that man who had her love, who had fathered her child. The child that should have been his. They had a family now, and Naruto envied that man who had her love, who she gave a child, for he had what Naruto had wanted. Yet she must be happy. Therein lay the consolation prize, to know that she would watch a child, one with her eyes play, perhaps roughhousing with a tall faceless man. A man who should-be been Naruto.
The first time that he had met Gildarts Clive had been the first time since Morta Island that he had found himself something other than apathetic. Staring out into nowhere, drinking whiskey with no real concern as to how much he was consuming, Naruto had been brought back to awareness by a loud and cheerful question.
"Why you so sad-looking? Did someone kill your puppy, or something?" A tall man, well, around the same height as Naruto, but since Naruto was hunched over a bar, sitting on a stool, he seemed smaller when faced by the man who stood.
Naruto had ignored the man, he had taken note of the aura of strength that surrounded the man, but sensed nothing threatening. He didn't feel like talking, he honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do now. In his life, he had always had clear goals, always knew what he wanted. Now, he didn't know. Where did he go from here?
The man had frowned in response. "Ignoring someone isn't very nice," he pointed out," Unless someone really did kill your puppy. In that case, oops. My ex-wife always did say I was insensitive."
Under different circumstances Naruto might have snorted, instead he flashed a quick, reluctant smile. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm just newly unemployed and celebrating an end to a short and notorious career." Why did he share it? Naruto didn't know, but the man did seem to set him at ease, or maybe it was the fact he'd been drinking plenty of whiskey for what seemed like hours. Probably just the whiskey talking.
"I've been there before," the man had sympathised. "The name is Gildarts. Gildarts Clive of Fairy Tail."
Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of Fairy Tail. "Makarov Dreyar's Guild, right? I've heard good things about it, it's predicted to rise to take over from Phantom Lord as the top Fiore Guild in a few years." He'd said, trying to make up for his earlier rudeness. Not that the young blonde didn't have an interest in the rising Magnolia based Guild.
Gildarts Clive had just smiled proudly. "Got some good young ones in Fairy Tail. Our future is bright, what with having such talented kids."
"Ah, the name is Naruto Uzumaki, ex- Rune Knight Commander, as of today that is," He introduced himself with forced brightness, trying to make light of his circumstances, being a Rune Knight was all he knew in Earthland, and now he was without that.
Recognition filled the chestnut haired Fairy Tail mage, and Naruto knew that he was probably realising that Naruto was the lone survivor. The media had latched onto it for a few weeks, a heroic lone survivor of a tragic expedition to protect the people of Fiore, of Earthland, really. Naruto had reasoned that it could have been worse, they could have started a slander campaign against him, blaming him for the deaths of fifty men.
"Nasty business that was, but I guess you know that, kid." Gildarts had simply said, stealing Naruto's bottle of whiskey and drinking straight from the bottle. "There sure is some monsters out there, ones that even S-rank mages like us are childs play for. All you can do is do better next time, no use drowning yourself with expensive whiskey, leave it to old guys like me to finish it...you can come to Fairy Tail. If anything will tear you from your funk, well, those brats back home will. Besides, I'm away too much, going to need someone to keep an eye on them. What do you think?"
Well, Naruto thought that the sly older man just really wanted free expensive whiskey. And was making a pretty good offer. What did he have to lose? This was exactly what Naruto had been wanting, finding what to do next. "Sure." He answered with a shrug, before retrieving his whiskey and taking a swig.
Gildarts reached out a hand, grabbed the whiskey from Naruto again. "Didn't your mother ever tell you to share?" The older man had asked, smoothly draining a third of the liquid that remained in the bottle with practiced ease.
Flashback Sequence End
It was with great reluctance that he opened his eyes, the room was dark, it was empty except from him, but opening his eyes meant acknowledging that the antiseptic smell was real, and he was in a hospital room. Again. He remembered everything from the moment that black blood that burned him from within, through his veins, and out from old scars.
To be frank, Naruto was still a little scared, to think that for seven years that poison had lurked within him, and only now bled from him. What had it been doing to him? It was as if his blood had turned to ink. Ink that had been heated to beyond boiling, then like the burst nib of a fine fountain pain, his scars had leaked blood.
He knew exactly what had happened, or what he was guessing had happened. Up until he was speaking to Makarov, drinking some whiskey, and discussing plans for the future, then suddenly he had involuntarily rewarding the ground with his blood. Oh, the pain, he remembered the haze of pain. Blood flowing through his veins had seemed to turn to acid, forcibly suctioned out of his body, he couldn't help but shudder at the memory. That had really hurt.
It was only when he heard a light snore that Naruto became aware that there was another in the room. Curled up in one of the chairs, head tilted back, and mouth slightly open was Mirajane. Sitting up made his muscles protest at the sudden movement, but there was no stiffness, nothing to indicate that he shouldn't be moving, so he let the blankets slide down, twisted his body so his feet touched the ground.
Mirajane must have been watching over him, he realised feeling rather touched at the gesture.
Grabbing the blankets from the bed, he placed them over the sleeping barmaid, she didn't stir, but simply curled up a little tighter, making strange snuffling noises. Naruto couldn't help himself when he snorted at the sight. Mirajane Strauss had a force of nature back when she was younger, and to see her so demure nowadays still took him off guard, yet when she slept, she looked much younger, and vulnerable.
Naruto walked towards the curtains, it took him a few seconds to wake his legs up, and he made a tiny gap between the two curtains, looking out into the streets as to acertain where he was. Satisfied that he knew exactly where he was, it was now up to him to find some proper clothes to wear. He had been dressed in a long sleeping shirt, which had a picture of a rabbit on it. Yeah, he really had to get proper clothes to wear, he wouldn't dare walk outside wearing this, not when sooner or later the media would be chasing him due to his appointment as a Wizard Saint.
Wizard Saint, he was going to be a Wizard Saint. Did it truly just hit him, did the fact that he was in name joining the ranks of the elite, and would be amongst the most famous men in Earthland? It hadn't hit him until that moment the weight of the title he would now carry.
"Listen up! What are all you guys doing? This isn't time to hold a wake, get moving, and go and see Levy!" Stepping through the doors into the building Naruto crossed his arms against his chest and stared expectantly at the other members of Fairy Tail.
"We were trying to be respectful. Erza told us that we had to behave ourselves and conduct ourselves in a solemn and thus suitable manner for the tragic events that have happened to our fellow comrades." Naruto was told that by at least three different members of Fairy Tail, and the twenty-six year old man couldn't help it, he just laughed. He had known for years that Erza was considered scary by those in Fairy Tail, yet still found it odd that even those double her age were scared of her.
"That is the wrong thing to do. Levy wouldn't want you guys to act differently, that'll just make the pain she feels worse, what she wants is for some normality. Which means that you idiots get to do what you do best, destroy things!" Despite knowing that because he was a Commander with the Magic Council he probably wasn't supposed to be encouraging Fairy Tail antics, Naruto didn't care one jot.
Everyone was beginning to perk up again. Naruto watched their antics with a certain fondness despite the suspicion rearing its ugly head that he would soon be regretting his encouragement. Fairy Tail was famous for its destructive tendencies, and that was just by accident, it wasn't so hard to fear the results of encouragement in actively doing so to cheer up one of their fellow members.
Naruto seated himself by the bar, beside the brunette Cana Alberona.
"Does Mirajane know that you've broken into the beer supply room?" He asked her, figuring that judging from the three empty barrels, that Cana had taken advantage of the barmaid being gone, and liberated several barrels.
Hiccuping Cana shook her head. "Not at all, making good use of her absence, she's watching you, well, she was since you're now here." The young woman frowned staring at Naruto with an unusual look in her eyes. "Why did you start bleeding, Master never told us what happened, and it looked bad."
How did he explain it to anyone. They might know of his position, none of them would know of why he joined Fairy Tail, but Cana stared at him evenly, despite drinking enough beer to kill lesser people, and he found himself inexplicably reminded of another Fairy Tail member - Gildarts Clive. Naruto chuckled, for a few brief seconds he had seen Gildarts in Cana's place. "You remind me of Gildarts when you push for answers, that man never takes no for an answer." He commented.
Cana paled, dropping the barrel she was drinking from on the ground.
"Hey! It was a compliment, he might be strange, but Gildarts is a good man. I first met him in a bar, the bastard stole my whiskey," Naruto recalled with a faint smile. "He invited me to join Fairy Tail. I wonder how the old man is doing, not heard from him much since he went off on that quest of his, but to answer your question, it was just an old injury flaring up."
Cana went from white-faced to dubious in the span of a second, narrowing her eyes in suspicion, and pushing her chest out as she straightened her posture up wagged a finger at Naruto. "I am nothing like that old guy!" She protested loudly. "And that isn't a proper answer, Naruto!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You don't see it? You drink just as much as him, and you have amazing latent magical reserves, Cana. You do remind me of him, in a good way, it's strange, there is something about you that makes me think of Gildarts. I don't know why it does." Naruto frowned as he tried to work out what it was, he stared at Cana, remembering her throughout the years, it was only then that he realised why. "Your determination, you are just like Gildarts because of the expression you both get when you are determined to do something. " He realised with a rather proud grin spreading across his face.
Cana was strangely quiet after he spoke, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had said something wrong.
"You still didn't give me a proper answer." She finally spoke up again.
Naruto gave a shrug in reply. "I guess I didn't. I'll tell you, I've learned recently that I've lived too long in the past, hoarding it close to me, and letting it eat away at what ever happiness I found myself gaining at Fairy Tail. It's not an easy process, discarding the chains of my past, but sharing it with others helps. Although, are you sure that you want to stay and listen, I'm sure you'd rather go see Levy."
Cana nodded in reply.
"Levy has others to be with her right now. I want to hear your story, let me understand your pain, Naruto."
His eyes widened at her demand.
"Cana..." he stared at her in surprise, warmth welling up within his chest, Cana Alberona was more than what he had ever realised. He nodded at her demand. "Okay." He looked around the room, it was empty, the others had listened to him, and while he had been occupied with Cana departed from the Guild. " I'm not from Earthland originally." He admitted and felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
"Huh, but your parents, your dad was Minato Namikaze, how?"
"Mortally wounded during a battle with a misguided man. I think that the horrors of war that he endured sent him spiralling into despair and insanity, he hatched a plan to deploy a giant illusion that would control everyone. Nobody would fight each other, the cycle of war would be broken, it sounds good right?" Naruto asked Cana evenly.
When Cana nodded despite looking dubious.
Naruto slammed a fist against the bar, the wood splintered beneath the blow, and he shook his head. "No! It isn't good. By taking the free will of the people, there wouldn't be any true living, people would be mere puppets. What he was doing was wrong, there is more to it, but you wouldn't understand. To defeat him and his army, all ninja discarded their respective loyalties and entered the war under one banner. So many died, yet we all kept fighting onwards, as it were, I engaged that man in one desperate battle. I won, but the price of such a result was my death. Overtaxed, my body was shutting down..."
"You aren't lying, are you, Naruto?" Cana interrupted him with the question. "It sounds all so impossible, but I can tell, you aren't lying to me. That world really does exist, but I don't understand how you could not be of this world, yet have parents here."
"In Earthland, a young trainee Rune Knight lay dying, a demon of Zeref had been set free, and he was the first casualty because he had taken it upon himself to hold the demon back while the others evacuated the village. I don't know how, or why, but we ceased to exist as counterparts, and we became one person. However, my will to live was stronger? Or maybe he was simply weakened too much, but it was me that became the dominant Naruto. I had all of my counterparts memories, feelings, and abilities, but Naruto Namikaze ceased to exist that day, and it was I that lived."
Cana retrieved her beer and took a mouthful, and swallowed. "There I thought that I had it bad when my mother died, and I came to Fairy Tail to..." she trailed off suddenly. "Finish the story before I drink enough to knock me out."
"I took on this life, there was nothing else for me to do, and I became known as a prodigy. Within two years I had my own Division. You might not know it, but seven years ago, I was a favourite of the Council. They like having skilled and loyal mages under their control. I was happy, at first it had been hard, but I reconciled what had happened. It wasn't my fault, and I was grateful, I missed my old world, but just as Naruto Namikaze had loved his life...I did as well. Earthland was peaceful, it was like something from my dreams. " Naruto beamed at her, despite knowing what was coming next in his tale. "I devoted myself to fighting against those that threatened that peace - dark mages. Seven years ago, we received information that people were going missing near the shores of an island. I led them to that place, and one man killed all of my friends, all of whom were also my comrades. He defeated me, left me to the ocean, I would have died also if not for being picked from the seas by a passing cruise."
They lapsed into silence, the brunette female already guessing the conclusion to that story, and content to think on it.
"Wow. " She finally said. "You sure are the mysterious guy that I pegged you as being. Who else have you told all of this?"
"Nobody." He answered slowly. "Cana, I want to thank you for listening, this has been a burden to me for many years, and to finally share it...I have no words." Naruto smiled at her gratefully, he knew he looked tired and worn, yet he felt so much lighter by sharing all of this, even if to the most unlikeliest of people.
"Gildartsismydad," the brunette mumbled quickly.
"Gildarts is...?" Naruto asked her, she had spoken too quickly for him to make out all of what she had said.
"Gildarts is my dad."
"He never said that he had a daughter," Naruto replied stupidly before actually thinking. "He doesn't know, does he?" Naruto realised looking at Cana for confirmation, she nodded in reply. The young woman was peering into her beer barrel, as if she was debating drowning herself in it. "Right! Well, that will have to be changed, definitely! Parents and their children shouldn't be apart unless they have to be. "
He raised his hand, a small Communication Lacrima appearing on the palm, in the shape of a crystal ball, it was compact and seemed like an ordinary sphere. "Gildarts Clive!" Naruto yelled at the sphere, holding it above Cana's reach, the brunette abandoning her beer as she tried to stop him from doing so. He knew it was really up to Cana to tell Gildarts, but his friend deserved to know that he had a daughter so close to him.
Naruto could never take it if he had a child that he didn't know about.
A bleary eyed chestnut haired man appeared. "Naruto? What's going on? Hey, is that Cana?" Gildarts Clive began to reanimate, while he tried to work out why he was being contacted so late at night.
"Say, what do you think about being a father?" Naruto asked his friend.
"Doubt I'd be a good one, so did you contact me just to ask that?"
"Oh, no. I called you to congratulate you on being the father to a nubile eighteen year old!" Naruto could help, but grin wickedly at his friends wide mouth, that began flapping open and shut. " Say hi to Cana Alberona...Clive."
Cana squeaked and grabbed the lacrima, smashing it against the wall, the last thing both of them hearing from Gildarts was something reminiscent of choking. "How could you do that to me?" Cana demanded. "It was for me-"
Naruto lost his smile. "It was for you to tell him, but you had about twelve years to tell him, Cana. You didn't tell him. Were you ever going to tell him? He deserved to know. It may not have been for me to take that choice away from you, yet I cannot regret it, not when he is my friend. Do you want to know what he told me once?"
Taking the bait, she nodded, her anger at Naruto's actions momentarily appeased.
"He told me that his biggest regret in life was losing any chance of a family with his ex-wife. Even to this day he loves Cornelia. Gildarts would have loved to know he had a child, his greatest regret was not having a family! You were being selfish. "
"Cornelia..." Cana repeated softly. "They were married? He loved her, he actually loved my mother." Having never laboured under any delusions that she had been anything more than the result of a fling, it was strangely wonderful for her assumptions to be smashed, and to find that her existence wasn't as unwelcome as she had long believed it would be to Gildarts. Tears trickled down her cheeks, before they began to flow freely, the weight of years of secrecy and assumptions washing away as she cried.
Naruto watched her cry, seeing that not only had she freed him from his own burden, but that he had in return also helped her.
"Should I warn the Master that Gildarts might be back sooner than expected?" He wondered aloud. An emotional Gildarts tended to be a destructive one. Naruto could recall a few memorable missions, years back, which ended with a stone fort being nothing more than dust. That was when Naruto had confided in Gildarts about his confusion of feelings towards the woman he loved still.
He still was reeling that his friend had a daughter. Gildarts was forty-five years old, just about old enough to be Naruto's own father, yet they had bonded over a bottle of whiskey, and those bonds were hard to break. He looked at Cana who through her tears was smiling, and knew that when Gildarts did make it back, well, Naruto sure didn't want to be in the vicinity of Magnolia.
He wondered how long it would take before it would occur to Cana that she would have a S-rank mage as a parent, one who would probably be overbearing at first, he wondered how Cana would react when Gildarts tried to force her to move into an apartment with him. He knew Gildarts quite well, so was confident in knowing that he would drive her crazy with trying to put in place restrictions at first. It kind of made Naruto wonder what his parents would have been like in raising him.
"Naruto," Cana spoke abruptly. "Thank you."
Jura Neekis looked to Ooba Babasaama. "Indeed, a new Wizard Saint has been appointed, Master. " He told the elderly woman who had asked for confirmation on what the Guild Master Weekly newsletter had said.
Ooba Babasaama opened her mouth wide and yelled loudly. "Did you lazy fools hear that? Did you all hear that? Fairy Tail got themselves another Wizard Saint, and what do we have? Jura. We have Jura. I want to see you working harder!"
Lyon Vastia lazily spoke up. "Chill a little. There is no way that Gray's Guild will defeat any of us! Most don't even have a Wizard Saint, Ooba Babasaama." The shirtless Ice mage pointed out from where he was lounging around.
Jura watched at the young man was picked up by the elderly Master, flung outside, minus his pants and shirt.
The Lamia Scale rapidly emptied after that, some grabbing hasty missions, others babbling promises to train until they couldn't move.
All except Jura.
"What of our guest?" Ooba asked calmly, any traces of her earlier passion gone, her attention focused entirely on Jura.
"Yet to wake up, Master. The injuries were too much for a quick recovery, survival was a surprise, if I am to be so bold to say as such. The huge muscular man shifted under the piercing gaze of the formidable old woman. "I recognise her, however, as belonging to the Rune Knights. She accompanied a squad to arrest Oracion Seis."
Footsteps alerted Jura that someone had entered the room.
Dressed in a blue nightdress, a thin dressing gown tied over it, was the curly brown-haired woman that he had recognised, and helped save only two days before. Unremarkable in appearance, she had curly brown hair that was unbrushed, and brown eyes. What made her remarkable was the strength in the brown eyes.
"My name is Tenten Steeling," she said quickly, leaning on a chair for support. "I have to get a message to Magnolia quickly, can you help me...again?"
Ooba complained loudly. "I thought you said she wasn't awake? Were you lying to me boy?" She looked at Jura expectantly, completely ignoring Tenten's request.
Jura patiently reassured the elderly woman that he hadn't. "Master, why do you not go and oversee the training taking place, to ensure that none decide to slack off in their pursuit of strengthening their minds and bodies." He suggested calmly. Jura pitied the younger members of Lamia Scale, it didn't stop him from convincing the Master to go on her way.
He then turned to the newly introduced woman. " I can relay a message to Makarov Dreyar, it isn't entirely correct in the usage of the lacrima, but your tone and the circumstances in which I found you belay urgency. Will that suffice?"
The brown-haired woman named Tenten nodded in relief. "He must warn Naruto Uzumaki that the man is after him."
Jura froze. "You mean the honourable new Wizard Saint is in danger?" Jura had met the man once before, and found the man agreeable, not that he had spoken to him. The way he had promised to aid the fugitive Jellal Fernandes had shown that he was a mage of honour. Jura knew exactly what he had to do. "Tell me everything, Miss Tenten." He requested softly, yet in a firm tone that invited no refusal.
"There isn't time for telling you everything, and it is Tenten," she was impatient as she answered Jura. "The man who defeated me can teleport with impunity, he could be in Magnolia now, and Naruto is in Magnolia!"
"Very well. Leave it to me, and once I have sent your message, we will set out to Magnolia together, if you have recovered enough." Jura said unthinkingly as he left the room swiftly.
Leaving the brown haired mage to exclaim loudly. "Wait...Wizard Saint?"
