Chapter 49

Fantasia Arc – End


Makarov


I sat behind my desk wearing my outfit for the Fantasia Parade. It was a clown-like costume with green pants, a yellow shirt with pink and purple stripes, and a cat-like hat. Standing beside me was Porlyusica. In front of me was Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe. In the corner of the room was Mystogan.

"Laxus…I can't overlook what you did." I began slowly.

Laxus remained silent. He was still wrapped in bandages and recovering from his injuries. While Wendy could have easily healed him right up, and I'm sure she would have no issue doing so, Porlyusica insisted that he recover on his own. She insisted he needed to learn a lesson, much like Natsu had too.

"You endangered the members of this guild, and even used that magic that we forbade you from using." I continued, "It is for that reason that I must act with a severe punishment. Laxus, I am stripping you of your membership as a Fairy Tail mage. As for the rest of the Thunder God Tribe, I am requiring that you disband for the foreseeable future."

Freed jumped forward in opposition, "Master, you can't do this! We are just as much to blame as Laxus!"

Even Bickslow stepped in saying, "This isn't fair."

"Knock it off you two." Laxus finally said, "Gramps has spoken. That's all there is to it."

Freed and Bickslow stepped down immediately.

"This wasn't an easy decision. But I hope that this will be a learning experience for all of you."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I need to be getting to the parade!"

Laxus spoke up before I could even jump off my chair, "Before that, I have something I want to ask you. In private."

I raised my eyebrow, wondering what it was that he could want to ask. Regardless, I dismissed everyone else so I could speak with my grandson in private. Once everyone was gone, we sat in silence for a few seconds. I could tell something was weighing heavily on Laxus's head.

Finally, he asked his question, "Why did you kick Dad out?"

I was surprised by his question. I genuinely wasn't expecting it, but I could understand. He knew it was because of the incident with the Lightning Dragon Lacrima, but by now, he must have realized that there was more to it.

"You're father, my own son…after what he did to you, he proved to me that he was a danger to you and the guild. He did things behind my back, things I cannot forgive." I explained, "Truthfully, I didn't want to do it, but he left me with no other choice."

Laxus raised his hand up, stopping me in my tracks, "Have you really been out of contact with him, all this time?"

I nodded my head yes, "I tried reaching out to him, but he didn't want to hear it. After that he…"

"Formed a Dark Guild."

We both fell silent. It was a heavy subject, and one neither of us really wanted to discuss.

Laxus stood up and made his way to the door, "I don't know what I'm going to do, but…I'll be in touch."

I cracked a smile as Laxus exited my office. My eyes started to water up. I had a feeling that he was being genuine with me. I wasn't ready to just give up on him just yet, but I had to do what was best for the guild.

Either way, I had a parade to take part in. I rushed outside to the floats lined up outside the guild hall. The plan was that they would parade around Magnolia and circle around back to the guild hall for the after party. There was already a large crowd gathering at the street where we were to begin. I made my way to the last float. It looked like a castle of sorts, and at the top was a horn. Erza and Mira were practicing their dance on the float, while Mystogan and Levy were hiding in the back talking with Natsu and Wendy. Guild members were littered about the floats, preparing.

I climbed to the top of the castle and waited to make sure everyone was ready. Natsu and Wendy flew up to me, assisted by Carla and Happy. Natsu stopped beside me, while Wendy continued flying around with a wide smile on her face.

"We're all ready to go Gramps!" Natsu gave me a thumbs up.

I gave Natsu a thumbs up and reached for the horn. Natsu called for Wendy and the two of them flew forward as I blew into the horn, signaling for the parade to begin! When I did this, Levy hopped off the float and headed back into the guild hall.

The first float began to move as Natsu and Wendy flew by the crowd. Natsu uses his magic to make trails of fire in the sky. Wendy follows up by flying around the fire and using her magic to disrupt it. The result was a firework-like display as small embers fall into the streets. I trust that the two dragon slayers were skilled enough to make sure nobody catches fire. Seeing as nobody was screaming in pain, I was relieved.

The next big attraction came on the float with Cana and Gray. Gray used his magic to create a large mountain of ice. Beautiful as it was, it had an abstract form and looked incomplete. Cana remedied this by throwing some cards at the ice, causing it to explode! As ice shards rained down on the people, many of which were melted by the combined efforts of Natsu and Wendy, the remaining ice took on the shape of a well-built man. The crowd was wooed by the display.

Gray and Cana left the statue up while they worked with Reedus on the next design they were to make with their magic. After we passed a few blocks, Gray and Cana detonated the statue for a spectacular rain of ice. They then repeated their act a second time, creating a different statue.

Behind Gray and Cana was Lucy and Loke. They had a dance routine which involved them using Loke's Regulus to make a light show. Lights shot out around them as Loke twirled Lucy around. They were dressed in an elegant suit and dress combination. The crowd roared in awe.

The next big act was between Elfman and Lisanna. They had a little circus act going on, with Lisanna using her takeover to turn into a bear balancing on a ball. Elfman was dressed as the ringleader and pumped up the crowd for their act.

Finally, the last major attraction was my float. I waved to the people of Magnolia as Mira and Erza did a dance below me. There wasn't much special about our float. Originally, Laxus and Mira were supposed to dance together and use their magic to enhance the performance in the same way Loke and Lucy did. As Laxus was banned from the parade, along with the Thunder God Tribe, Mira couldn't do it anymore. Fortunately for Mira, the routine didn't have to be completely scraped. She somehow managed to convince and teach Erza how to do it with her. They did scrape magic from it though.

Behind me, Mystogan was preparing for the final part of our parade. As we began to reach our guild, Natsu and Wendy began the final part of the parade. The two dragon slayers flew in front of us and turned around in front of the guild. There, they unleashed their dragon roars in my float's direction. The wind, mixing with the fire, created an intensely burning fire that was headed right for us. It was angled so that it would just miss my float but would absolutely torch the ground and seriously injure a bunch of people.

Fortunately, that is what Mystogan was for. He leapt up into the air and used his Three Layer Magic Circle to reflect the attack back towards Natsu and Wendy. This time it was angled further up. Natsu and Wendy were far out of the way when the attack reached the top of our guild hall. There, it hit something. The sky above Fairy Tail was lit up with our guild symbol!

The crowd went crazy when that happened, and it was then that every member of Fairy Tail raised our thumb and index finger to the sky for all of Magnolia. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Laxus, and tears began to flood my eyes.

Soon after, the flaming symbol was extinguished, and all the floats were back at the entrance of the guild. Staff from the city got to work almost immediately to take care of the floats, freeing us up to have our after-party celebration!


Natsu


We entered the guild to find volunteers from the city tending the bar and performing the various other duties associated with maintaining this party. It took all of five seconds for the party to shift into full gear. The entire guild was taking part in the celebration. The music was loud, and a majority of the us were dancing on the floor.

I instantly paired up with Lisanna and we danced together along with everyone else. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Gray was dancing with Juvia, and Gajeel had somehow paired up with Levy. I thought it was odd that Jet and Droy were nowhere to be found, but I didn't have the time to ponder that, as a certain girl who got me in a ton of trouble with Lisanna entered my field of vision.

Lisanna must have noticed that I saw her because she audibly groaned, "What is she doing here?"

Our attention lied solely on Kagura Mikazuchi, who was accompanied by her brother Simon. I gave them a smile and waved. Kagura returned the gesture while Simon remained stoic. Lisanna didn't seem to be thrilled to see them, or at the very least she wasn't thrilled to see Kagura.

Kagura said something to Simon and the two of them split up. Once her brother was gone, she approached us. She bowed in front of us.

"I would like to apologize once more for kissing your boyfriend!" she yelled over the music, "Had I known, I wouldn't have done it!"

Lisanna looked at her with an irritated expression, "Just…don't do it again."

She rose back up and shook her head furiously, "It won't happen again, I promise!"

Lisanna turned away from her and grabbed my hand, intent on pulling me away, "Then if you'll excuse us."

"Uh, actually, there's something I need to talk to him about!" Kagura said.

"What?" Lisanna did not sound happy.

"It's kinda private." Kagura said it just low enough that I could hear her over the music. As she said this, I noticed her pat the sword strapped to her waist.

"Oh really?"

"Lisanna." I said.

"What, you think I'm gonna let you run off with her alone?" Lisanna hugged my arm.

"This is really important."

"I'm sure it is."

Kagura groaned in annoyance, "It's about Igneel."

Instantly, I grabbed Kagura and dragged both girls out of the guild. If Kagura had information on Igneel, I wanted to know about it. Now.

Once outside, we were able to hear each other more clearly.

"Are you sure you want her to hear this?" Kagura asked, "Although…it's probably better for her to be here…"

"What is it about?"

Kagura unstrapped her sword from her belt and held it up, "Do you remember this? It's the sword Igneel had when he rescued us. He left it with me when he dropped me off at Mermaid Heel."

I scratched my head in thought, "I kinda remember it."

"A dragon had that sword?" Lisanna asked.

I nodded my head, "Yeah, when he first met us, he looked like a human. He said it was a transformation thing that made him look like that. Something about not scaring us."

Lisanna seemed to have accepted that answer, so Kagura continued, "This sword is called Archenemy. Its true power is drawn out when the name of your archenemy is inscribed onto the sword. I never wrote a name. I reserved that for whoever kidnapped my brother, but I guess I'm that won't be necessary anymore... Anyways, there was a name written on the sword though, and I can only assume it was written by Igneel."

I was getting excited. I thought this might be clue as to where Igneel went. Whatever the name was though, Kagura didn't look happy. I could tell she was hesitating to tell me it.

"The name on the sword is…Natsu."

All we could hear was the sound of the party going on in the guild hall. It was haunting to say the least to hear that Igneel wrote my name on the sword.

"Okay, well that doesn't mean it's my Natsu." Lisanna said, tugging on my arm.

"I've met a few people named Natsu and tried to see if the sword would react. It never reacted to them. It wasn't until I was on the battleship with you guys that I confirmed it." Kagura pulled the blade from its sheath. The blade gave off a blood red glow, and the name Natsu was indeed etched into it. I could feel the magic radiating off of it. It was powerful.

I was left speechless. It was fairly obvious that it was reacting to me. I couldn't understand why I would be Igneel's archenemy.

"But…why?"

"Natsu…" Lisanna held me close.

"I'm sorry to kill the mood." Kagura apologized, "I've been worried about this for years now, and I was worried that he may have killed you."

I shook my head, "Igneel never treated my badly. He loved me. Maybe someone else wrote it. Maybe he stole it from a Tower of Heaven guy?"

It was unlikely, but I wanted to believe that Igneel wouldn't want to kill me.

Lisanna tugged at me, "Come on, let's go back and enjoy the party! It's not good to dwell on these things!"

I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the sword as Kagura once more apologized. Lisanna was right though, I shouldn't dwell on this issue.


Makarov


I sat at the bar with Porlyusica overlooking the party. I had a big grin on my face as I chugged down another mug of ale. Everyone was partying and enjoying themselves. I was happy to see the new boy, Shô, was mingling with the other mages. Notably, him and Cana were running a poker table. I might join them later.

I was most happy to see Erza enjoying herself. Ever since the Tower of Heaven incident, she had been depressed. I was most surprised that she was enjoying herself WITH Mirajane. The two weren't even fighting, they were drinking and dancing together. I was curious to see how their relationship would change in the future.

Finally, was Siegrain. He took a seat next to me and ordered a soft drink.

"Come on boy, get something harder!" I said.

"I don't drink." He said, waving me off.

"Don't go trying to force him to drink!" Porlyusica said, slapping me on the back of the head.

"I'm not, I was just messing around!" I switched to a more serious tone, "I can't thank you enough for what you did."

"I didn't do anything." Siegrain replied.

I chuckled to myself, "I know…but still."

"I'm putting my faith in you. Honestly, I still think I should have pressed charges against her. But I agree with you, people should be given a second chance. And if you think she's worth it, then I'll put my faith in you."

"Thank you."

Siegrain smiled at me, "Plus after all Fairy Tail did for me, how could I not throw you a bone."

I chuckled at that.

"I wanna know what you're going to do about Jose."

"Phantom Lord's master?" Porlyusica asked.

"Rumor has it that he paid for all her legal fees." Siegrain explained.

"Don't worry about that." I answered, "I already took care of it."

Porlyusica gave me a strange look but didn't push any further.

At that moment, a visibly drunk Lucy ran up to us.

"Siegrain!" she cried, "Come on, dance with me!"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his chair.

"Whoa, Lucy!" he replied.

"Come on!"

Porlyusica and I started laughing as the blonde pulled the Wizard Saint onto the dance floor. Porlyusica stopped immediately when we noticed Wendy running away from Erza and Mira, who were in turn being chased by a frantic Mystogan. Erza and Mira were both holding bottles of beer, and I could only assume they were trying to get the poor girl drunk.

"You two, KNOCK IT OFF!" Porlyusica yelled as she joined in the chase, much to my amusement.

I took a swig of my mug and gave a hearty laugh! It was times like these that I loved being Fairy Tail's Guild Master the most.


Thank you for reading!

So that concludes the Fantasia Arc, I hope everyone enjoyed it. The past few arcs have been kind of...intense, so this next one will be a bit lighter. I hope you enjoy the next arc, I had a lot of fun writing it.

What do you think about Natsu's name being on Archenemy and what do you think it means? Let me know in a review!

Please review and let me know what you thought of this arc and the story in general. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.