The Future Guild
Chapter 11
The Mage Drowning in Affection
After talking with the Thunder Legion, I head into the guild hall, looking for Tacks and Nashi. I'd seen them at a table earlier, and they're still there. Now, I might have skipped this before, so I should give a brief description.
Tacks is Gajeel's son. He doesn't look much like him though. He's taller than me by a bit, and quite lightly built. His hair is an attractive shade of blue which he keeps out of his eyes with a headband. His eyes are red, but they're different to Gajeel's, round and gentle. I wonder what his mum must be like – he's nothing like the monster his father is.
Nashi is easier to explain. Imagine Lucy at about the age of eighteen, but with Natsu's hair colour. Her hairstyle is similar to Lucy's, except that she has a pretty braid that starts behind her ears and joins together behind her head to run downwards.
"Excuse me," I say, a little embarrassed to butt into their conversation.
"Oh, hey Gabe. What can we do for you?" Tacks replies, greeting me warmly. I'm a bit unsure of where to start but I explain the idea of thinking about looking for a team. Whether or not it'd be a good idea, or if they have any ideas on who I should team up with. As I finish explaining, I suddenly feel someone shove me really hard in the back and I stumble forwards. I fall over Tacks and land on Nashi, bearing her to the floor.
This was already pretty embarrassing, but it's the realisation that my face is buried in her bazoongas that does it. I mean boobs! I mean breasts! Chest, I mean chest. Damn, this is complicated. Flailing around like a moron, desperately afraid of placing my hands on anything, I manage to stumble to my feet. Nashi isn't looking at me, though. She's looking past me and I turn to see.
There's another girl there. Long blue hair, and I mean LONG. It goes down to her ass and it's got a lot of volume, like the waves on the ocean. Her eyes are blue too. As is her jacket, belt and shoes. Her trousers and top are kinda purplish, but the girl clearly likes the colour blue. Three bucks says her guild mark is blue too. She's glaring triumphantly at Nashi.
"Since he's looking for a team, why don't you take him, Pinkie? Then Tacks will be free to join me on a team." She swoons to grab his arm, making him flinch at her lovey-dovey expression. "Then it'll just be the two of us. Alone. Forever."
Scary.
"Hey! Why did you push me!?" I shout, annoyed. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"
"I, am the future Karren Redfox!" She declares boldly. "There shall be no Nashi Redfox while I draw breath!"
"I am not trying to be the next Redfox!" Nashi shouts as she stands back up. I catch Tack's disappointed expression. Poor bastard. The one he likes doesn't like him back. The one he doesn't is throwing herself all over him. "This is Karren FULLBUSTER."
"A temporary surname, I assure you!"
"That still doesn't explain why you pushed me!" I state angrily. She smiles and shrugs.
"It was fun to do it to Love-Rival."
Nashi's face goes bright red in frustration and she shouts. "Auntie Juvia! Karren is stripping again!"
"N-no I wasn't!" Karren protests, waving her arms about. A blue haired woman marches over. I have to say, Karren's mother could almost be her sister. Their height is identical and she's aged well. So, I guess she'd be Juvia Fullbuster from the conversation I'd picked up on.
"Then where is your jacket, young lady?" Juvia huffs. Karren looks down, clearly surprised by her own state of undress. "You know that it isn't right for a woman to be removing all of her clothes!"
"But dad does it all of the time! And I don't do it on purpose! It just sort of happens!"
"Can't you just make more clothes with your water body?" Tacks asks, butting in to the conversation. Karren leans over him.
"And what would you like me to wear?" She purrs, making Tacks blush bright red. Juvia grabs her wrist and pulls her back.
"Karren! What have I told you about flirting with boys!?"
"…don't do it in front of your love-rival?"
"Exactly. She'll use this information against you. Just like her mother, this one." Judging from the expressions on Tacks and Nashi, I'm beginning to feel that Juvia's grasp of reality might be thinner than her daughter's. However, she's now looking at me, which is not a good feeling. "I'd heard that you'd joined, Gabriel. Why haven't you spoken to Gray-sama yet? You know that he was a very close friend to your mother."
"I haven't given it much thought," I admit.
"You haven't thought about Gray-sama!?" Juvia exclaims, making me jump. She grabs my arm and pulls me along. "You must meet him right away!"
===][===
Juvia drags me and Karren over to the bar, where a tall, black-haired man is sitting. He's wearing a long white overcoat and nursing a drink. It might be my imagination, but I'm sure that an ice cube appears in it as I look. As he notices me, he smiles.
"Gabri-gurkh!" His greeting is ended as Juvia and Karren leap on him in a big hug.
"Juvia has missed her Gray-sama!"
"I love you, dad!"
Oooooooooooookay. I have no idea how this man is alive, if he has to put up with this every time he sees his family. He wearily pushes them off, clearly used to it and refocuses his attention on me.
"How are you, Gabe? I'd heard that – shoo, let me talk to Gabe! – that you'd joined the guild. How is your mum?" I sit down next to him at the bar, quickly ordering a drink from Mira. I frown and try to gather my thoughts. I'd heard of Gray before, of course. He was one of my mother's team mates. A cool sort with a stripping problem.
"Um, my mum's fine, thanks. She and dad are doing well, though I don't know what they're doing with me gone."
Gray nods thoughtfully. "And how are you finding the guild?"
"It feels a bit like I'm drowning in all of the attention and noise sometimes," I admit. Gray laughs loudly.
"I know the feeling of drowning in attention, Gabe! Trust me on this much – it's better than starving from a drought of it." I start a little, thinking on those words. They resonate with what Gajeel had said to me before. It's fine to want some solitude, but no one likes having solitude forced upon them.
"Isn't it a bit much for you?" I ask, nodding over to where Juvia is still watching the conversation from behind a pillar.
"Believe it or not, but she's much better than she was ten years ago. Back then, she'd follow me everywhere and make me these weird lunches shaped like my face and stuff. At least her cooking's improved, since she wants to be the perfect wife."
"A perfect wife stalks you!?"
"Well, no, but I think she always wants to be on hand in case I need anything. I tell her that I don't require her to serve me, but she never listens. I used to reject her attentions for a very long time."
"What changed?" I ask, becoming curious.
"I began to realise that I was always keeping myself at a distance from my friends. Our guild talks a lot about Nakama and friendship, but there was always this level of separation I maintained for some reason. I think I was afraid of getting hurt. I lost someone who I once loved dearly a very long time ago."
I'm fuzzy on all the details, but from my mum and dad I've heard of Gray and Ultear a lot. I think he's referring to Ur, Ultear's mother.
"For that reason, I never acknowledged that Juvia was in love with me. I'm not quite sure how I framed that thought – it seems like a lifetime ago now. Geez, I guess it's Karren's lifetime ago, anyway! The point is, I was keeping myself distant, and that was hurting both of us. Eventually, I learned to let go and let her in."
"I'm not sure that I can do that."
"Listen to me, Gabe. It ain't easy. I didn't say that it'd be easy. But be as open with your Nakama as you can be. Bare your soul for all to see – they'll love you for it, not hate you."
"I'll bear that in mind," I say absently, looking into my glass. "Jeez, my mum put you up to this, didn't she?"
"She did mention something about her son being an uptight asshole," Gray agreed with a big smile. "Then again, since she thought that I could identify with you, she mustn't think that much of me!"
"Gajeel said the same thing," I reply ruefully. "By the way, thanks."
"What for?"
"For calling me by my name," I reply, standing up. "Most people call me 'brat' or 'kid'."
"Well, I'd also tell you that names are things that other people give you. Salamander, Titania, Kurogane – those are names that were earned, not that were created."
I droop, head hanging. Damn it, I'm never gonna get someone to call me Lion-Heart or Gabriel the Lion, am I? I notice that Gray is looking at me, fingers on his chin in a display of thought. "What?"
"Your hair makes me think of your mother. It was distinctive enough to give her her surname, so who knows? Maybe you'll get your nickname that way?" That makes me perk up. There's a chance yet! Still, a thought comes to mind.
"Hey. What sort of nickname do you have?" At the question, Gray blanches. I'm not sure why, but Natsu is storming across the guild hall towards us.
"Oi, Slanty-Eyes! Did you take the mission to the Fukuhana Mountains!? I wanted that one, you damn Stripper!"
Oh.
"You wanna go, Droopy-eyes?" Gray roared, and his coat went flying – the rest of clothes somehow going with it. How the hell did he strip down so fast!?
"Gray-sama!" Juvia cried, hurrying forward with a new set of clothes. Now that's preparation!
"Yay!" Karren cries, throwing her own newly-acquired jacket aside, thankfully keeping the rest of her clothes on.
"Karren-chan!" Juvia cried, turning back to her daughter. And just like that, it's gotten very noisy. People are shouting at other people about five different subjects. That'd be bad enough, but more are gleefully piling in. I see Aiko throw a stein at the back of Natsu's head, causing Ignale to leap to his defence. I have honestly never seen a fight break out so fast. Something tells me that Gray and Natsu have done this a lot over the years.
I'm vaguely planning to back away when someone jumps at me. A flash of blonde and I realise that it's Laxus and Mira's daughter, Laura. I don't want to fight, but I can feel Gray's words – don't hold back, let loose. Her fist slams into my head and MavisfuckingVermillion that hurts! Laura is certainly as strong as she's made out to be. But at the same time, my counterpunch lands and knocks her back.
Damn, that feral grin is scary! She really wants to go at it and the entire guild has devolved into a brawl. Purple lightning begins to crackle around her body. Temperature drops near Gray as Natsu becomes wreathed in flame. A hundred other spells begin to form around the hall.
"WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING!?" On the top floor, shouting over the railings is Guildmaster Lucy Dragneel. More than that, around her is a shimmering effect like the stars in the night sky. Inside that darkness I can make out the head and shoulders of a titanic being, and without being told, I know that I'm looking at the Celestial King. It was his booming voice that we all heard and the guild instantly simmers down.
"GIHIHIHI!" With the rapping of his can on the floor, Gajeel Redfox enters the guild, coat flowing behind him. "I'm glad to see that this dump hasn't changed!"
"Gajeel! Fight me!" Natsu leaps at him, but a titanic fist squashes him flat to the floor as Lucy descends the stairs. After that, the King fades away.
"Gajeel! It's good to see you again! I think that she's in the library if you-"
"No." Gajeel became serious, talking more formally. "I have serious news, and it's for the guild. I need to talk to you in private, Guildmaster."
"Of course, Fairy Tail will hear anything you have to say, councillor."
===Author's Note===
Welp. I'm sorry in that I don't think that this chapter is very good. I find Gray a very hard character to understand. I think more than that, I'm unhappy with confining Juvia to comic relief – I like her more than that. She's getting better attention in 'The Strongest Princess' and my upcoming fic about the Element Four.
I won't give a spoiler, but the next chapter is called 'The Man Brimming with Manliness'. If you find that hard to understand, I can't help you. Hint: It's not not Elfman.
I've updated the character profile set found at my Deviantart page. I'll put the link in my profile as I didn't realise that it didn't work in the last chapter. It now contains all of the eight original children I designed, along with the two Exceeds debuting in Chapter 9. In addition, it has three 'new wave' designs of Bixlow's kid, Fried's adoptive son, and Evergreen's second child, forming the New Thunder Legion. I don't like asking for comments and stuff, but could I have some feedback on the design of Laura Dreyar (I was quite pleased) and the backstory of Frederick Justine? I liked writing it – Frederick's easily the deepest character I made. All that's left to do is Wendy's twins who appeared in Chapter 6, Sascha and Mischa.
===Reply to Reviews===
SakuraIchigoDark: You're worse than Juvia -.-
Neko-Chan2604: Fried has never been outright stated to be gay, but it is heavily implied, particularly with his lusting after the Trimen in a special chapter. I like assuming that he is – it makes him more interesting, IMO. FT needs more gay characters.
Luccian: Huh. I apologize to your keyboard, with the damage I caused you to wreak upon it.
Ulcaasi: Gabriel's first team mate will be a lot more the 'leap before you look' kind of guy. We'll have to see who he ends up with in the long run.
RubyDemonXoXo: Thank you, I really appreciate those words!