Kai wandered over toward the rest of the group still partying with his father. They reveled in big laughs and Ichigo telling baby stories about Kai. A small smile touched the boy's lips as he watched his father bond with his found family. Everyone got into it, everyone got into his sense of humor.
He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the slides in the water park. A shame that Fairy Tail wasn't around when Ichigo was looking for a guild. He'd have fit in perfectly with this bunch.
Maybe he would join up with them after the Games. Now that he knew Kai was back and that his family was really with Fairy Tail—his grandchild would more than likely be with Fairy Tail—it'd make more sense for Ichigo to jump into this guild. Kai's heart stuttered. He'd have a real family in this guild.
What did Kairi think of that? He frowned a bit, wondering why Kairi never mentioned that Ichigo was alive…and potentially over a hundred years old somehow. That much still bothered him. That was a significant detail that his father was notably leaving out of telling Kai, despite how much they'd talked last night and, Kai thought, that they'd caught up.
Ichigo wandered away to get a drink and spotted Kai, calling the boy over. Kai followed.
"Your friends are amazing," Ichigo said. "Fairy Tail isn't just powerful, they're so friendly and fun!"
"Sure are," Kai said.
"Something wrong?"
The Ice Dragon Slayer sighed. "I don't know. I was talking with our First Master and she mentioned that she recognized you as a famous wizard."
"Well, I don't wanna brag—"
"That was over a hundred years ago."
Ichigo's bravado crashed. He dropped his grin and sagged his shoulders. "Oh. Found out about that?"
"Not all of it. And I'll be honest, I'm a little unsure of what to think of it."
Ichigo sighed and rested a hand on Kai's shoulder. "Son I…look, that's not the easiest thing to discuss for me. There's a lot of baggage there."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"But look, not tonight, right? We're out here having fun!"
"Now I'm out here worrying and you avoiding the topic isn't really helping me not do that, honestly."
Ichigo nodded. He rested his hands on his hips. "Fine. Come over here."
The two wandered off to the side, away from most eyesight. Kai gestured and his father leaned back against the wall, as if searching for the right words to find. Kai's heart thundered in his chest.
"Ever hear of the Ankhserham Curse?"
"No."
Ichigo nodded. "I'll have to explain that too, then. So, four hundred years ago, some stuff went down, Kai."
"How many?"
"Four hundred years ago, I lived like some other humans in harmony with dragons." He looked over his shoulder toward the rest of the group. "I was friends with someone who looks remarkably like her, like Lucy. It was her ancestor, Anna Heartfilia. She, like myself and Zeref, stood against the rising tyranny of Acnologia."
"You worked with Zeref?"
"Zeref's rise as the Dark Wizard hasn't existed for all time," Ichigo said. "Back then, he was just a man looking to save the life of his little brother. And I looked to stop Acnologia. Our goals collided, but we decided to join forces. He thought a God Slayer would be instrumental in solving his problems. That I may be strong enough to take on Acnologia.
"One day he told me about a plan that he and Anna had been concocting to defeat Acnologia, about a powerful tool they could use to one day thwart him, as his power only grew and grew and our chances of defeating him slimmed. And while they did that, I thought I would replicate it. They were armed with eight weapons, and I wanted to replicate one for my own purposes. However, the replication or manipulation of life is something the god Ankhserham doesn't necessarily think highly of. Thus, I got my curse of contradiction: in order to destroy life, I had to create it."
"I—I don't understand? Eight weapons? What happened to them?"
Ichigo sighed. "I—I can't say. Zeref and Anna went off to do their own thing. Anna disappeared and Zeref…well, you know."
"But that was still four hundred years ago."
"It's the beauty of the contradiction curse. If you think you're good enough to cheat death or life, you certainly will. I am burdened with immortality, Kai, forced to forever walk this world until…I'm not sure."
Kai's heart sank. "Then, do I have—"
"Brothers or sisters? No. I, uh, only ever had you. Your mother was special, and I refused to be with anyone else. I worried it would kill them. I worried that expressing love in any way would kill that person that I loved. But hey, here we are now. My son and I getting to talk in a water park."
"So, father, if we break the curse."
Ichigo nodded. "Yup. And on some level, Kai, I think I am ready."
"No, wait." Kai grasped his father's shoulder. "I just got you back, you can't say that."
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Ichigo smiled. "Look. I don't plan on going anywhere. You and I have long years ahead of us, and hopefully, several of them will be lived without Acnologia." Ichigo removed Kai's hand from his shoulder. "I've got a new plan. Some new allies that I've been working with to defeat Acnologia. Zeref's plan was good, but, for years I couldn't figure out how to outdo it. I focused on my magic or just on surviving and not starving, but now….now I know what to do, Kai. I know how to defeat Acnologia. And I think you and Fairy Tail can help me."
"Really?"
"Really, really. Kai, we don't have to worry for much longer. Let's just enjoy our time together before that though, huh? It's the Grand Magic Games, son! We're not here to just punch and get angsty with one another, we're here to have fun!"
He held his hand out and Kai clapped it, nodding. Ichigo ruffled his hair and nudged the two away. Kai sighed again, but this time, it was to alleviate his worries. He didn't fully understand what the Curse of Contradiction meant, but he understood that his father wanted to defeat Acnologia, that he even though he once allied with Zeref, he knew his view was twisted.
Ichigo wanted to help Kai. He was the first person to really get what Kai sought to do. And that was more than enough.
They returned to the group and Iggy pushed Kai into the pool, onto a floaty while Erza drifted nearby. Ichigo hung out in the back with Makarov and Bob from Blue Pegasus, who'd shown up recently, too.
Kai closed his eyes and drifted, listening to the sounds of laughter and chatter of his guild mates.
Something stirred in the water beneath him and he was blasted off the floaty by Elfman. He flipped end-over-end in the air and landed back in the water, floating back up and turning to yell at Elfman.
But he turned right into the chest of Cana, practically burying his face into her cleavage.
"Kai!"
Erza's booming voice silenced everyone. Kai flew back. "Sorry, Cana!"
"What do you think you're doing with another woman?"Erza barked.
Mirajane chuckled. "Oh come on, Erza, how can anyone help themselves?" She, in her bikini, modeled for Erza. Kai accidentally glanced that way and steam rose from Erza's head.
"Why you—"
"Yeah, Erza, hard to resist any of this." Cana modeled and then shimmied her chest in Kai's direction.
Kai wished to just melt into the water and vanished.
However, the water around him shot up.
"There is only one woman of whom my darling Gray's eyes may fall upon!" Juvia roared.
"And all of you shall not flaunt yourselves around Kai!" Erza shouted.
"We can't help it," Mirajane said with another cackle.
Erza shook her fist. "That's it, women of Fairy Tail! Mirajane may have defeated a meager opponent in her swimsuit battle earlier, but she's never faced me! I challenge you all to a rematch of the swimsuit competition!"
"Oh no," Kai muttered, trying to shrink away.
"A swimsuit contest?" Lucy spun around. "Alright!"
"Alright!" Macao and Wakaba exclaimed, blood spurting out of their nose while Romeo just face-palmed.
"Where is my darling Gray, you must watch me defeat these others in a contest to prove I am the most beautiful to you!" Juvia exclaimed, floating above the others.
"Kai, get over here, look at this!" Erza roared.
"Did someone say contest?"
Kai's eyes shot open and he turned toward Natsu, who came sprinted forward.
"No, wait, Natsu, not that kind of contest!"
"I'm all fired up, belly-flop contest!"
"It's not that you doofus!"
Natsu jumped in the air and pushed himself into the water with a spurt of fire, blasting all of the water out of the pool and dousing everyone nearby.
Gray came flying in with a quick punch while Elfman shouldered him into a slide, Evergreen cheering him on.
"No, Gray look at me!" Juvia exclaimed.
"Natsu, stop!" Lucy shouted, running over, but the slide tipped over and crashed into the pool.
Kai just shut his eyes and, at Iggy's beckoning, sprinted away from the scene of the crime, along with a few of the other wizards.
Later that night, in their room, when Erza arrived, she made sure that Kai knew she was the most beautiful and sexy of the Fairy Girls. Kai couldn't have agreed more.
The next day, Kai filed into the balcony with a sullen Makarov and Mavis, who knew that even if they won the Games, some of the money would need to go water park repairs. But in the grand scheme of the winnings…it wasn't that big of a deal.
Kai waved down to Lucy and Ichigo as they wandered out into the field of play. His smile faded at the sight of Minerva of Sabertooth, whom the crowd seemed to get riled up over.
Mato strolled out on the field while a giant ball of water formed overhead. Everyone in the crowd gasped. Ichigo nodded at it while Lucy reached to her side for a few keys. Minerva couldn't care less.
He explained the rules of the coming competition, the Naval Battle: contestants entire the sphere of water and push each other out. Once there are two contestants remaining, the final two will have five minutes to duke it out in which case the one who is knocked out will automatically receive last place.
"So it's a bit of a gamble," Mavis said. "If you're knocked out third-to-last, you automatically get second place. But staying in means you can win and get the ultimate reward."
"Or split the winnings," Makarov said.
Kai leaned forward. His wound from Jiemma was entirely gone. Millianna sat on the balcony on the same side as the Exceeds, leaving Romeo with Kai.
"You think Lucy can win?"
"For sure," Kai said. "She has Aquarius. Maybe she can even have Loke shoot pot-shots from outside the bubble into it and knock people around."
"There's no way that Juvia loses this, though," Romeo said. "She's literally made of water."
"Lots of tough wizards in this competition," Makarov said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see your father come out on top, Kai."
"That Minerva woman is something else, too," Kai said. "She has Spatial magic. Lucy's going to need to be careful."
Mato waved his arms and the contestants were flung into the massive orb and lacrimal screens appeared around the arena.
The contest began, with Ichigo immediately on the offensive, clashing with Juvia in the center of the bubble while Minerva flung out a member of Quatro Cerberus. Lucy, predictably, summoned Aquarius, who took to fighting Juvia as well.
"No whip?" Kai muttered.
"Even if she latches onto someone," Mavis began, "she may be pulled out by them."
"Good point."
The fighting continued, with Ichigo taking on Aquarius directly in a fairly equal fight while Juvia swam toward Lucy. Minerva blocked her path.
"Weird." Kai glanced at Sabertooth, who snickered at the sight. Kai pursed his lips.
Minerva knocked out another contestant. Aquarius eagerly approached Ichigo once more as Juvia attempted to take down Lucy once more, and it sounded as if she called for her "rival" to get knocked out. Everyone in Fairy Tail just sighed, exasperated.
"Sounds like Juvia's fighting two competitions," Millianna purred.
Once more, Minerva intercepted the attack, prompting Lucy to try and propel Juvia out of the bubble. However, Juvia extended the sphere and caught herself, pushing herself toward Ichigo.
"Heavenly Cyclone!" Ichigo roared, and the entire sphere shivered and trembled before Juvia was blasted out of the sphere, leaving just Lucy, Aquarius, Minerva, and Ichigo.
"Oh, me oh my!" Chapati Lola exclaimed. "Looks like Ichigo Nakamura is playing for keeps. Now we're down to the final three. This will decide our winner, our loser, and our first runner-up!"
Lucy floated along, two other keys in hand, clearly trying to assess the situation while Minerva floated in the sphere unwavering.
"Gonna be tough for Lucy to get her way out of this one," Kai muttered.
As if on cue, Lucy turned and bolted toward the edge of the sphere.
"What's she doing?" Makarov blurted.
"Securing more points," Mavis said. "Lucy isn't confident she can win, but by escaping, she guarantees not getting in last place."
Lucy was just about to reach the edge when something blasted her back inside. Someone wanted to keep her in.
Ichigo flew toward Minerva, who used her magic to redirect him almost out of the sphere. She crossed her arms, as if trying to arrange Lucy and Ichigo to fight. Lucy gestured at Ichigo but Aquarius shrugged and vanished.
"Typical," Kai muttered.
Lucy groaned and prepared some other keys as Ichigo flew at Lucy. Minerva, though, blasted at Ichigo, almost knocking him out.
"Why is she constantly saving Lucy?" Millianna asked.
Mavis hummed, and it wasn't a happy one. "She's keeping in a victory."
"Unless my dad can beat her."
Ichigo spun toward Minerva, aiming an attack right at her. She grinned and waited for it.
"Celestial River!"
He opened his palms and a stream of water magic soared toward Minerva, who just held out her hand and a ball of ethereal magic appeared in front of her, then completely redirected back at Ichigo in an invisible current, one that just surged him free of the bubble.
"Ichigo Nakamura is out!"
Everyone in Fairy Tail tensed. Ichigo flipped and landed outside of the bubble.
"Damn it," Kai saw him mutter.
"He couldn't see the current of Minerva's attack," Makarov muttered.
"I think it was more like the force of it," Kai said. "It just pushed him out. He couldn't push back fast enough to realize what Minerva was doing."
Lucy floated near Minerva, who just smiled down at Lucy and said something that wasn't quite caught by the lacrima.
She swam toward Minerva, holding her two keys out. However, with a swipe of Minerva's hand, the keys vanished and reappeared on the ground beneath her. Lucy paused and Minerva slammed a fist into her, shooting her toward the edge of the sphere, but another orb caught Lucy and bounced her back into Minerva's knee.
Everyone in Fairy Tail froze as Lucy swung around but Minerva easily blocked it and pummeled Lucy with a series of fast blows before sucking her back into the water sphere.
"As long as Lucy stays in," muttered a horrified Happy, "she…"
"The fight can't end," Makarov said.
Kai's hands dropped to his sword as Lucy once more swung and missed at Minerva, only for the woman to scorch her with another searing hot orb. Lucy screamed so loud that everyone in the arena could hear.
Kai gripped the handle of his blade quite tightly. Millianna moved on over to him, lacing an arm through his.
"Stay calm," she purred.
Lucy floated in the water, struggling just to move, and she glared at Minerva. She pushed herself toward Minerva before two ethereal orbs slammed into her sides and then Minerva dropped an elbow onto Lucy's head, caught her face, and punched her hard twice before flinging her back into the orb.
Lucy still had three minutes left. And she couldn't even move.
Minerva continued to toy with her, pinging her around the orb and ensuring she never escaped. Not even a hair dropped out of place.
Finally, Minerva caught Lucy and dangled her outside of the sphere of water, holding her by the throat, both suspended in the air, before letting her drop.
Millianna caught Kai. Natsu, Gray, Wendy, and Erza leapt away. Natsu and Gray just barely managed to catch her and set her down gently. Wendy got to quick work kneeling next to her.
Minerva dropped and Ichigo glowered at her. Kai continued to tremble.
"Millianna, let me…"
"Don't even think about it," Makarov said.
"Don't even what?" Kai roared. "Look what she did to Lucy! I'll—"
"Do nothing." Makarov glowered at Kai. "Unless you want any hope of us competing in these Games to be dashed."
"They have to pay."
"Oh, they will." Mavis stood up. "Third Master? With me. We have things to discuss, I should think."
"Plenty."
Both of the masters left and the Exceeds watched, horrified, as Sabertooth converged in front of Minerva and blocked her from Gray and Natsu. Erza helped push the two back but made sure she got in a good glare at the others.
"You better have a plan, Masters," Kai muttered, then stepped back, unable to watch, and headed down to the infirmary.
Kai sat opposite Natsu on Lucy's bed. She smiled faintly at the both of them. Natsu moved some hair from out of her face and Kai squeezed her hand.
"You'll be okay," Natsu said.
"Ms. Porlyusica will work her magic and you'll be better in no time, trust me," Kai said.
He gave Lucy's hand on last good grip before stepping back and giving Happy some room to talk to Lucy.
Kai stalked over to Erza. Gajeel and Laxus hung in the doorway while Gray remained at the foot of the bed.
"I can see it in your face," Erza said. "That rage you're trying to hide."
"That I can do nothing about."
"You're doing the right thing."
"Nothing?"
"Standing aside. Every member of Fairy Tail wants nothing more than to give Sabertooth the reckoning they deserve, but we have to abide by the rules. We have to be better than them. You're still part of our team, Kai, by cheering us on."
She rested a hand on his chest where the scar from Jiemma had come in. He reached up and held her hand.
"It's just down to you guys," he said. "You're in third place. You've got to get past two Wizard Saints and two Dragon Slayers."
"Right." Gray nudged Kai with his shoulder. "That's why we've got three now. And Erza, our own Saint."
"Yeah, and some Maker wizard."
"The bests Maker wizard in the whole damn tournament."
"G—guys…"
Lucy sat up, weakly. It caught everyone's attention, even Laxus. Lucy smiled at them, and then raised her arm to give them a thumbs-up.
"Finish this. Not just for me. For all of this."
Everyone straightened up. Natsu rubbed Lucy's head.
"We will."
He moved away and the five headed out of the room. Kai smiled back at her and then also left, but headed toward the tunnels.
The new Team Fairy Tail was revealed. Kai stood at the edge of the tunnel, standing just beyond the touch of the light.
Mato announced that the rounds of combat would be tag-team matches. Kai nodded. So, Natsu wouldn't get to fight anyone one-on-one? He probably wouldn't be too happy about that.
The fights commenced, and Kai stayed in the shadow of the tunnel. The way it shook out, Fairy Tail was going to wind up fighting Sabertooth after all. Kai crossed his arms, watching each fight go down, all the while the tension in the arena got tighter and tighter.
A set of heavy footsteps echoed toward Kai after the middle fight, leaving only the tag battle between, inevitably, four Dragon Slayers.
Gajeel emerged, walking stoic. He eyed Kai and nodded. Kai held his fist out and Gajeel tapped it.
"Go get 'em."
"They're dead meat."
When he passed, lighter footsteps echoed, followed by the light pitter-patter of Exceed feet.
Happy and Natsu also approached, with Happy giving Natsu one last cautious thumbs-up. Kai pushed himself off the wall.
The crowd roared at the sight of Sting and Rogue. Gajeel stood waiting for Natsu.
Kai walked up to Natsu, whose face changed from calm and confident to sheerly serious. Kai stopped Natsu.
"You know what they're capable of," Kai said.
Natsu nodded.
"You know what you're capable of."
Natsu nodded again.
"And you know what you have to do to anyone that makes an enemy out of Fairy Tail."
"Win."
"Win."
Kai and Natsu then crossed paths, Natsu continuing out to the arena and Kai back into the tunnel, where Happy shook off some nerves. Kai gestured.
"Come on," Kai said. "Let's watch them beat the hell out of Sting and Rogue."
The fight came with so many twists and turns, but the outcome was exactly what they, in Fairy Tail, anticipated.
The Drive ability of Sting and Rogue piqued Kai's interest, as did their ability to tap into Dragon Force at will.
As Natsu and Gajeel seemingly got pushed back by Sting alone, the tension in the Fairy Tail balcony rose a bit, but Kai never got worried. Kai remained solid, remained confident.
Even when Natsu shoved Gajeel down the mine and took the two on one-on-one, Kai knew what would happen: Natsu, standing victorious over the unconscious and weak bodies of Sting and Rogue.
Everyone in Fairy Tail burst into cheers and some tears: with this victory, Fairy Tail vaulted up into first place in the Games. Kai joined in the cheers, too, shattering his calm visage. He couldn't help being genuinely excited and happy about the proceedings.
They partied quite hard that night at the inn, with even the innkeeper getting into the revelry. Lucy showed up, still a bit wounded.
Since the next day was a break day, nobody was all that concerned about a hangover or losing energy or anything like that. Even Mavis was getting down with the partying, but obviously not the drinking part.
They sang and danced late into the night, with Natsu going on and on about how he beat Sting and Rogue. Levy couldn't help constantly reminding him that he knocked Gajeel out of the match, a rather jerk move.
The euphoria was quite contagious. Kai couldn't get the smile off his face at all that night. Happy was just delighted that he could make fun of Frosch and Lector now, too.
When Gajeel arrived, the partying only increased, but he seemed quite a bit worried about something. He called Kai, Natsu, and Wendy away from the partying.
First, he punched Natsu away for a second, then yanked him back.
"Listen," he said, "after Natsu sent me on a little joy ride, I got dumped out in a place filled with bones."
"Like a graveyard?" Wendy asked, spooked.
"Yeah. But the bones were from dragons."