A/N: *rises from the dead* I liiiiiive
So uhh good news: I graduated university and probably have a job now. Bad news: I made you guys wait four months for a new chapter.
"Silver Fullbuster," Gajeel said, his eyes drifting to Gray. "That's a familiar name."
"That's not possible," Gray said, leaning forward on the bar. "Silver Fullbuster is dead."
The barkeep furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know why ya'd think that. He's certainly been alive and kickin' in Seven for five years now. He came outta nowhere, that man, and just took over everything right quick. Guess his name doesn't get around much though, just the name of his company."
"Absolute Zero does sound familiar," Gajeel said. "They started out specializing in anti-magic weapons, right?"
"This kid knows it," the barkeep said. "Ya'll don't hear about all this much in Fiore? It's been the political situation here for years at this point."
"We do hear things, but it must be very filtered," Lucy said.
"Nobody wants to badmouth President Keyes," the barkeep said. "I think it's a bunch of superstitious nonsense, but some people think that badmouthing him brings back the vengeance of the dead. Probably because he looks like a skeleton. Nobody's really sure what species he is, but he sure ain't human, and you know how us humans can get about other races."
Natsu frowned. That was pretty strange for a rumor, but if this president guy really did look like a skeleton, he supposed it did make sense. But with Silver Fullbuster apparently back from the dead and a conspiracy going on between the politician and the tycoon, they couldn't rule out the possibility that something fishy was up with the two of them.
Lucy elbowed Natsu to get his attention. He leaned down so she could whisper into his ear. "Keyes sounds an awful lot like Keith, doesn't it?" she said.
Natsu leaned back and looked at her. She'd misheard the barkeep the first time Keyes's name was mentioned. But if Keyes was Keith, and Keith was a demon with the ability to raise the dead… But why Silver?
"Thanks for the info," Natsu said. He slammed a few coins on the bar, a little extra included to pay for the information. "Come on, guys, let's find a hotel. We're gonna need a place to sleep tonight."
They ended up at a shoddy inn, but it was clean and well-kept, and the owners were delighted to have guests. Apparently tourism was becoming scarce in this town, a fact that surprised no one.
"Lucy has a theory," Natsu said the moment the innkeeper left the bunch of them alone in one of the rooms.
Lucy repeated her Keyes-Keith comparison, and said a lot of the same things Natsu had been thinking. They all agreed that something was suspicious. Juvia pulled out a communication Lacrima, and they called up Makarov at the guild to report their findings and get additional insight.
After hearing everything, Makarov sighed. "And to think I didn't want to start an international incident. I didn't realize I was sending you on a political assassination mission."
"I can't believe your sources didn't help you make this connection on your own," Gajeel said. "You might want to get some new informants when it comes to Seven."
"I'll say," Makarov said. "That barkeep of yours knew a lot more than I was told. I'm sorry to have misled you like this."
"Don't worry about it, Gramps. What matters is that we have the information, so now what do we do with it?" Natsu said.
"I still don't believe this Silver is my dead father," Gray said. "What would my old man be doing as an industrial tycoon in Seven? And in Tartarus no less. He was killed by a demon, you know. I saw it with my own eyes, and I've remembered it clear as day ever since." Tears were visibly welling up in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.
"I can't tell you those answers," Makarov said. "What I can tell you is that a man named Silver and a man named Keith are working together to gather power in Seven without regard for the citizens, and they share their names with two members of Tartarus. This is a lead you need to keep pursuing. I won't ask for an assassination, but at the very least we need more information. We need proof."
"Juvia will get that proof," Juvia said, speaking up for the first time in a while. Her eyes were set with a determined gaze. "Juvia will save her hometown."
"Juvia…" Gray said, his frown deepening.
"I'll be counting on you," Makarov said. "That goes for all of you. Stay safe out there. Let's end this now to save energy in the lacrima for your next report."
"Understood," Lucy said. "We'll get back to you when we find something."
The lacrima's light flickered out, as did Makarov's voice. Several of them let out long sighs, the tension in the room still palpable.
"This is intense," Natsu said.
"It's what we signed up for," Gajeel said. "Anyone have any ideas?"
There was a round of silence as they all stared at each other nervously. None of them knew how to approach this. They were after the two most powerful men in a foreign country they hardly knew anything about; it wasn't an easy job.
Slowly. Natsu raised his hand. "Once we see what this Silver guy's house looks like, I could probably sneak us in there."
"The security will be tight," Gray said.
"I know. Just follow my lead when we get there; I'll figure it out for sure."
"So you want us to just waltz over there and follow you blindly as you make things up on the spot."
"Have any better ideas?" Natsu said.
Gajeel crossed his arms. "You? Why should we rely on you?" he said. "You're not exactly Mr. Strategy."
"I didn't survive for years as a wanderer for no reason," Natsu said. "Rich people are guaranteed good food and money, if you know how to get past their security."
"You little thief," Lucy accused, but she was laughing.
"Well, I'm glad your little self-imposed exile had some use. Don't mess this up, Fire-Breath."
"Like I need you telling me that, Minty Fresh."
"We can definitely trust him on this. If Natsu says we should play it by ear, then that's what we should do," Lucy said. "Right, Juvia?"
Juvia, who was already smiling, nodded firmly. "Natsu is a man of his word. Juvia trusts him."
"It's decided, then," Lucy said. "Any objections?"
Gray and Gajeel looked at each other. Gray shrugged.
"I don't think of Natsu as being particularly sneaky—"
"More like a fucking bulldozer," Gajeel added, to mild snickering.
"—but if he says he can stealth us into a rich guy's mansion, he's our best bet. But Natsu, if this guy really is Tartarus, it won't be as easy as your average rich dude's house. He's a demon; he has curses on his side, and I'm sure he has his residence well-protected."
"Like I said, we'll see when we get there," Natsu said.
"Where exactly is it, anyway?" Lucy said.
Juvia pulled out their map. "They said he was near here, up in these mountains," she said, pointing to a small mountain range near their location. Natsu remembered seeing them over the Dogwood skyline when they were approaching the city, low mountains that seemed more like large hills.
"Do you know the best way to approach it?" Gajeel asked.
Juvia nodded. "Juvia used to go hiking up there when she was younger," she said. "There was an old villa on this mountain here. He probably either renovated that villa or built a new mansion on this other mountain, which is the tallest. It would be easiest to defend from that location."
When they got there the next day, they discovered the mansion so easily it was almost comical. Juvia was right about one thing: he'd built his house on the tallest mountain. Thing was, he'd shaved the entire top of the mountain flat in order to do so. It was a distinct disruption of the otherwise beautiful natural landscape, a bold statement of wealth and power. This Silver guy wasn't exactly subtle.
"This was such a beautiful view," Juvia said, eyes watery and sad as she gazed upon the familiar scenery. Lucy put an arm around her and patted her shoulder.
"So, that's the main complex, right? He lives there?" Natsu said.
"The guy at the inn said Silver was in the area recently, so he might still be in there," Gray said.
Natsu cracked his knuckles. "All right. I'm gonna scope the place out, so stay quiet and stay out of my way."
"Yes, Your Highness," Gray droned sarcastically. But when it came down to it, they all obediently followed behind him as Natsu got to work.
It was boring work, quite frankly. He circled the house a few times, taking careful note of all the walls and gates that surrounded it. He spent a long time just feeling the ground, trying to detect any traces of magic or curses. Nothing. It was just like any ordinary rich person's mansion, as far as Natsu could tell. A little unexpected given this was supposedly some supervillain lair, but Natsu wasn't going to complain.
He found the servant's entrance bustling with activity; the owner of the estate was definitely home.
"How're we supposed to get in with all those servants?" Gray said, looking skeptical.
Natsu turned around and grinned. "Through the front door, of course!"
Rich people usually only stationed permanent guards at the front gates of their homes, if at all; the rest of the property was protected by a fence or wall. Of course, with magic, getting over such obstacles was a breeze. So long as they were quiet about it and weren't spotted by any staff, getting inside the property was the easy part. Finding the desired target without crossing paths with a servant or ending up in the wrong place, well, that was the hard part.
Virgo dug a tunnel under the wrought iron fence for them all to enter through, and from there, Natsu could only use his instinct from years of practice to find his way around.
Luckily, most rich folks built their mansions alike. The architects who planned out these things put most of their creativity into the look of the architecture rather than the overall layout of the building. It seemed there were some fairly consistent design standards as far as which rooms connected to where, which was good for petty thieves, Natsu included.
The first place for them to look would be Silver's private quarters, or a hidden room attached to them, and that's exactly what Natsu intended to find. If he managed to get the whole bunch of them through the mansion without being spotted first, that is.
"Happy, do a little scouting for me, will ya?" he said. "I don't sense anyone, but can't be too careful with all of us here." He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. They'd managed to enter into what seemed to be the library through a low unlocked window, but now he had to get all six of them through the hallways without being spotted. Gajeel in particular was rather hard to hide.
"No one's out there," Happy reported after a quick foray into the hall. "It's pretty quiet."
"Good. Happy, you fly a little ahead of me. Gajeel, you have a good nose too, so you stay at the back to watch our tail. The rest of you, follow me."
It felt a little strange calling the shots on a mission — usually that was the job of someone like Erza — but it was a good kind of strange. He was in charge. No getting bossed around. It was great.
Natsu followed his nose and his instincts to a basement-level room that connected directly to the master bedroom via a hidden door and a winding spiral staircase. The air seemed different here; it was a faint feeling, but it was a sure sign they were getting close to the center of demon activity in this estate.
How much further they had yet to go, Natsu had no clue. He was almost certain the master of the house was in, based on staff activity, but he had yet to actually sense the man's presence. In fact, whatever lay beyond them seemed empty. Sharing a look with Gajeel, he confirmed that the other dragon slayer couldn't sense anyone either. There must be another, deeper lair beyond this room. That was the only explanation.
"Wanny try some doors?" Natsu said, looking back at the others. There were two doors other than the one they came in from, both identical. Since he couldn't sense anything beyond either of them, they had to find their next route by trial and error.
"Aye!" Happy said. "Let's try the left door first!"
"Denied. My instincts say it's on the right," Gajeel said.
"You know your way around mansions? We've been following Natsu's instincts this whole time, not yours," Gray said.
"So? You tryin' to start a fight?"
A sense of danger pinged close on Natsu's radar, sudden as if appearing out of thin air. He barely had the time to ignite fires in each palm before a door opened ahead of them and a tall, broad-shouldered man with familiar black hair and eyes strode through.
Immediately the entire team was on edge. How neither dragon slayer had been able to sense this man before that very moment, Natsu didn't know, but now this man who definitely looked like he could be Gray's father was standing before them, smiling gently at a very shocked and suddenly very pale Gray.
The man didn't seem at all surprised by their presence or intimidated by his guests' fighting stances. If anything, he seemed amused.
"I was wondering when you'd come," Silver said. "Now, let's get started, shall we?"
A/N: I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! It took me a long time even after I was writing again, because I didn't know how to keep it interesting. This story is too long-winded at times, methinks. A lot of chapters could be combined and have the extraneous parts cut out, and this entire chapter was probably an example of that. I'll have to look into it when it's all finished *jots down notes*
I bet you all missed my meta commentary in the author's notes, huh? haha
Anywho, next chapter should be...interesting. Poor Gray. I keep traumatizing him. First Deliora, now Silver...
