Title: Invitations
Ship: Nasch x Durbe x Thomas
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 2,500
Genre: Fantasy, Romance||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: Zexal Aus, E26, K rated; zexal10thanniversary
Notes: This is an AU with some flavors of canon but not actual canon. Technically a royalty AU but also magic and such.
Summary: If you don't want someone to come to your party, don't invite them. That usually works – but not always. Not where a fire-mage is concerned.

Nasch's attention flickered from the tiny girl seated on the throne to his left hand to the door, then over to the knight who stood to his right.

"Everything's working fine," Durbe told him, voice pitched low to avoid being heard by anyone who wasn't the King. "All of the invitations were delivered properly."

Nasch's eyebrows narrowed ever so faintly. "Including the one to Vector?"

"Yes," Durbe nodded. He'd been in charge of seeing to that particular invitation, while common heralds and messengers managed the others. The effects of their work showed here and now.

As did the effects of his – there wasn't any sign of Vector anywhere, nor had any of the guards posted sent a warning of any sort. Perhaps the false celebrations they'd set up elsewhere would be enough to keep him distracted.

Tiny Princess Isis – a child Nasch and Merag found after a harsh battle in a distant land and brought back with them – sat on the finely carved throne, her hands resting on her lap, glancing nervously about. This party celebrated her official adoption by Nasch and Merag, bringing her into their family.

Neither of them were inclined to marriage or offspring. Merag had pledged herself to the God of the Ocean and while it wasn't forbidden for her to wed if she'd met someone, everyone knew that the odds of her meeting someone she'd choose were slim to non-existence. Nasch had other reasons for not wedding – reasons that Durbe knew very well indeed.

Almost all of the guests had arrived. Emperor Leonius arrived early, along with his favorite gladiator Alit. Rumors ran that Alit was far more to him than a mere gladiator – a common arena fighter wouldn't be brought along on this sort of trip. Nasch didn't question. It wasn't as if he didn't know the teasing allure of those who weren't born to a royal title.

Someone new entered the chamber – two someones, in fact. Nasch glanced up to see who it was. Durbe knew them at once, of course.

"Mizael!" Durbe moved over, smiling. Nasch recognized the name as that of a famous dragon tamer who protected a land to the north and east. Someone he didn't know stood next to Mizael, glancing around, a bit uncomfortable here. "Who is your friend?"

"This is Ryou," Mizael said, nodding towards him. "We met a few months ago. I thought he would enjoy visiting here too."

The stranger nodded politely. "It's as lovely as I was told."

After a few more words, Mizael and Ryou moved on, while Durbe returned to his position at Nasch's right hand. He didn't move away from it except to greet another famous guest, a general who'd won great acclaim on the battlefield and appeared here with his newly wed wife, an accomplished singer and musician. Not every guest deserved to be greeted by either the King or his Knight personally.

Nasch considered having a meal brought. It had been a very long day and his stomach rumbled. He started to gesture for one of the servants, when a noise came from the entryway, and Durbe stiffened at once.

"He wasn't invited," Durbe muttered. Nasch's eyes narrowed as whoever it was moved closer.

"Who is it?" He demanded to know. Durbe glanced back at him.

"Do you remember the sorcerer Arclight?" the knight asked, his attention returning to the approaching figure. Nasch nodded; he'd heard many tales of the sorcerer and his three sons. "That's Thomas, the middle son. I know no one invited him. But he's here."

Nasch's lips thinned at that. It looked as if he wasn't going to be getting his dinner as soon as he hoped he would be. But he wasn't going to allow anyone to ruin tonight's celebration. He could see Merag also glaring at the approaching sorcerer – or whatever he was.

"Does he share his father's mage-talents?" Nasch asked. He'd heard a few things about how the youngest of the three was a skilled swordsman and the eldest took after his father in mage-craft, but not very much about what this middle child could do.

"He's a fire-mage," Durbe murmured. "Very talented with them, too."

Fire-mages were rare and hadn't appeared often in his realm, which was far more dedicated to the ways of water magic than anything else.

"What are you doing here, Thomas?" Merag asked, standing next to Iris and glowering with all the fury of the ocean at the newcomer.

The fire-mage laughed, tossing his mane of red and gold hair, sunlight glinting off of it. "Well, hello, there, Merag." His eyes glittered hungrily. "I suppose I should have expected to see you here."

"Considering this is my realm too, yes," Merag snapped back. "No answer me. You weren't invited."

"What does that have to do with it?" Thomas crossed his arms over his chest. "You invited all of them." He waved one hand to where Emperor Leonius and Alit, Mizael and Ryou, General Gilag and Sanagi, and everyone else. "So why can't I show up if I want to?" He smirked. "Not enough golden plates to eat off of?"

"We don't' eat off of gold," Merag replied flatly. "You weren't invited because no one wanted you here."

Silence fell. Thomas's lips thinned before he looked past her to where Nasch began to rise to his feet.

"Well, if it isn't His Majesty." Thomas smirked, waving one hand, tiny flames dancing on the tips of his fingers. Nasch tried to tell himself that the sight wasn't attractive and failed rather miserably.

You have Durbe already. But there stood Thomas, blazing bright, with gleaming dark red eyes.

"What do you want here?" Nasch asked, fingers twitching. He knew his guards watched carefully; if Thomas made a move that he didn't like, then he'd be a pincushion inside of a handful of seconds.

Thomas smiled. It was much like the smile of a shark. Normally Nasch liked those, but this gave off a different feeling.

"I'm here for the same reason as everyone else is." Again he waved one flame-tipped hand. "This is a party. I even brought a gift for the new little princess there."

Merag moved closer to Iris. It had been her idea to adopt the little girl, who now wrapped one hand around Merag's, trembling. Nasch stood next to his sister, glaring sharply at him.

"What kind of gift are you talking about?"

"Why, just this." Thomas twisted his hands and then held out a small gem to Iris. "This is a sunstone – a gemstone connected to the power of fire. It will always keep you warm, no matter how cold it is around you."

"We don't get cold weather here," Merag said. "Why do you want to give her that?"

Nasch wondered the same thing. It never got that cold here. So what was he thinking about?

"She might not spend her entire life here," Thomas pointed out, doing his level best to appear innocent, and not being very good at it. "But it also carries a powerful protective spell in general. You can throw it in the ocean if you don't want it. But it's hers – shouldn't it be her decision if she takes it or not?"

Nasch glanced at Iris, whose attention focused on the sunstone. Thomas flicked his fingers again and now a silver chain hung from the gemstone. He offered it to her, and she reached for it slowly.

"Thank you, sir," she murmured. "It's beautiful."

Thomas smiled. It was probably the most genuine expression that Nasch had ever seen on his face. "It's yours, then. Slowly he moved forward. Nasch found himself tempted to alert the guards, but he didn't. Maybe the fire-mage actually meant well. He was just an ass – it wasn't as if Nasch himself wasn't the same way sometimes.

He slid the chain over Iris's neck, then stepped back, glancing at Nasch and Durbe. "I didn't just bring presents for her."

Again his hands flashed with fire that coalesced into two polished gemstones, both of them a reddish-brown, a great deal like Thomas's own eyes, along with flashes deep inside of red, orange, and gold. It reminded Nasch thoroughly of fire itself.

"I brought these for you two," Thomas said. "They're fire agate." A twitch to his lips. "Would you like to know what these gems mean?"

Nasch started to open his mouth, but Durbe beat him to it. "They increase physical energy and stamina. Or so the stories say." He rested one hand on Nasch's shoulder, and Durbe suspected there was something more to those gems than just stamina.

"That they do," Thomas agreed. "But I also added something else for them. When you want to see me, all you have to do is touch them and call my name."

"Why would we want to see you?" Nasch wanted to know. None of the tension had faded since he'd entered the chamber.

"Oh, who knows. You might want to talk. Or something else." Thomas smirked. "Now, I came all this way. I want something to eat. You do have refreshments, don't you?"

Nasch crossed his arms. "I could use something myself." And he would definitely want to make sure that Thomas still didn't cause any trouble.

He wasn't sure of where those gemstones vanished off to. Perhaps Thomas just made them disappear again. But perhaps it didn't matter, as for the moment, the fire-mage seemed content to accept a plate of food and settle down to eat. Durbe and Nasch picked up their own food, while Merag had a couple of plates brought to her and Iris.

Thomas nibbled on one of the finger foods and sipped from his wine cup. "This is a very nice party," he said. "Let me guess, you didn't invite Vector either?"

Nasch didn't question how Thomas knew Vector. Everyone knew Vector, whether they wanted to or not.

"Of course we sent him an invitation," Durbe said, a quick smile over his lips. "It just didn't invite him to this party."

"Clever." Thomas leaned backwards. "I'm surprised you didn't try the same trick with me."

"We didn't know you'd even want to come," Nasch admitted. The Arclight family had been considered for the guest list, but Merag hadn't wanted to. Nasch suspected that she knew more about the scar on Thomas's face than either of them were ever going to talk about.

Thomas rested one hand over his heart. "I should feel wounded. Why wouldn't I want to come? Now, my brothers – Christopher is busy with Prince Kaito. I think they're sending a present of their own. Michael is busy somewhere else. I couldn't say where – he's trying to collect some ancient treasure or something. His lips pursed. "I think he teamed up with the son of an adventurer. They're probably going to be busy for a while.

He shrugged and nibbled more of his food. "But I wasn't doing anything and if you'd sent me the invitation I probably wouldn't have bothered." Again that fiery glint in his eyes and Nasch tried to avoid thinking about it. He knew very well he was doing a very bad job of it. "But you didn't – so I did."

Durbe took a deep drink of his own. "So you just showed up because you weren't invited."

"Yes." Thomas admitted without a care. He tilted his head up. "I probably won't stay long. Too wet around here." He caught Nasch's eye and grinned. "But you can always invite me back with those gemstones. They'll only work if you both use them at the same time. I wouldn't want to break the two of you – up."

The pause between words had to have been deliberate. He licked his lips slowly, eyes still fastened on Nasch and burning with an intensity fit to evaporate the ocean. Nasch didn't look away, not even when he felt Durbe's hand closing around his.

He's offering – is he? Nasch wanted to think he knew but this was the first time Thomas had ever stood face to face with him. Why would he make an offer like that? He couldn't possibly mean it.

Durbe's thoughts ran in the same direction. "You hardly know us. Why would you claim that?"

"Claim what?" Thomas needed a lot of practice if he were going to sound innocent but he certainly gave it a good attempt. "I said you could invite me back. What do you do with guests to your kingdom?" He waved both of his fire-tipped hands again. "Really." He also tried to sound offended. He was much better at that.

Nasch refused to commit himself and concentrated on getting his dinner finished. The other party-goers ate as well, mingling and chatting amongst themselves. Nasch could hear a few whispers that seemed more or less wondering exactly what Thomas was up to. No one else dared challenge him, and Nasch wanted to believe they thought that he could handle the matter if necessary.

Once Thomas finished, he rose to his feet. "It's time for me to go. But as I said, invite me back any time. Perhaps I could get used to your realm if I see it often enough." He glanced to where Merag glowered towards him. "And a good day to you as well, Highness."

In between one breath and the next, a column of fire erupted from his feet, and when it faded away, Thomas wasn't there anymore. Nasch glanced at Durbe, who looked more than a little relieved at his departure.

"Later," Durbe murmured. "After the party."

Nasch agreed; this was something far better discussed behind closed doors. The party didn't last much longer after that; everyone finished their food, bid Nasch, Merag, and Iris good night, and retired to their quarters. The celebrations would go on for another three days, and Nasch expected everyone would be exhausted by the end.

He hadn't been in his room long before the expected quiet tapping came, and Durbe followed a breath afterward. He moved over to embrace his lover for a few seconds.

"Do you think he was serious?" Durbe wanted to know as they settled down on the bed. Nasch brushed his fingers through Durbe's wind-roughened hair. He'd probably gone on a flight with Mach before coming over.

"I doubt it. But we can test him to find out if he is. He claimed he'd be a guest. Let's show him what the real hospitality of the realm is." Nasch smiled his own shark-like smile. "He's a fire-mage. He should know it's not wise to play with water or air either."

Durbe regarded him for a few moments before he laughed. "You're right." He slid one arm around Nasch and pressed a kiss against the king's lips. "But we can talk about that later, too."

Nasch definitely agreed. Planning how to turn the tables on Thomas could wait until after he and Durbe relaxed enough to truly enjoy it.

On the table next to the bed, two fire agates gleamed.

The End

Notes: I couldn't resist sneaking my new OTP in there (Ryou x Mizael) and I'm beginning to like the idea of Durbe/Nasch/Thomas as well. The sparks would fly in every direction!