Chapter Five: Zagnois
A/N: Jeez, this was like chapter TEN with the last one. What was I thinking? Oh well, let's GO!
The next morning, Natsu slips off the bed and silently leaves the infirmary. When he reaches the main hall, Laxus is already there waiting for him. His bags are resting on the far side of the bar and Natsu is glad he doesn't have to explain how they won't need them.
Then they head out, shoulder to shoulder, and in a flash of lightning they begin their trek, cracking between spurts and scaring a few civilians as they go.
Not too long after, the sun rises higher in the sky and the mages in the infirmary wake up. There are few grumbles about the dragon slayer absences but most work on getting prepared. Some were even convinced to leave, all but Natsu's old team and the ever-faithful dragon duo left.
It's strange how tied to the hip they are with both each other and Natsu himself.
"When will they be back? A few days?" Lucy openly ponders between well-loved pages. She had long been packed with the help of her adoring spirits (read: mostly Virgo who was intent on getting a 'reward.' She did not.)
"They better not take a few days. We have a train we agreed to catch." Erza nearly thunders in the empty hall and Lucy would almost believe her. If it weren't for the fact that the woman had nearly paced a hole into the wood in clear worry. Perhaps, the others thought with a clear sweatdrop, she should have told Natsu about the train.
"Erza, sit down, you'll bring the hall down at this rate."
"Oh," she finally pauses and they all pale to see she has indeed left a light imprint, "my apologies. I will tell Master promptly."
"Master Natsu won't care. It adds 'character.'" Sting says with a sagely nod. Erza seems to pause once more before offering a mechanical nod.
"Right. Yes, Natsu would not care."
Oh right, both Sting and Rogue notice as they see the tension in the other mage's bodies. It doesn't last too long.
"We're back!" They all jump at the new voice and turn to see their saving grace: Rokem and Mira. He rests on her hip, smile small but almost as bright as a certain pinkettes.
"Mira, Rokem, we thought you left!" Lucy almost cheers at the sight and in a moment her hand is on Rokems soft curls. He leans into her touch and they bask in the warmth of his cracking innocence.
"No, we just went shopping." Mira laughs and they all join in, allowing for Rokem to as well.
And for that sweet, tender moment, the joys of life outweigh the sorrows and the light at the end of the tunnel is so much closer than before.
They spend most of the day like that, huddled around Rokem or tending to their own issues. Sting and Rogue set about locking everything up. Natsu would always forget something, but the two of them could always be trusted, so often Natsu would leave it to them. He used to leave it to Macao and Wakaba, but they began rubbing in how they'd be a better Guild Master, seeing as Natsu can't even handle the smallest task. They were joking, of course, but when Sting and Rogue heard, they refused to permit the help of those two old men again.
It was almost comical how they stole the job, really.
The soft purr of a lacrima calls their attention. Lucy is the one closest and so pulls it out from behind the bar. In a moment, the hologram of Natsu can be seen with Laxus resting in the background.
"Ah, Luce! Perfect!" he calls into it and turns back to deal with Laxus' grumbling.
"Are you okay?" She asks and soon they've crowded around the lacrima. Natsu laughs at all the smushed faces and waves at them.
"Yes, we're fine, calm down. Zagnois is gone." He doesn't direct the statement to Rokem but they all feel the boy relax.
"He is?" The question almost doesn't pass through the lacrima, but the small words still reach Natsu's ears. That, or he watched the question pass across the boys face. Either way, Natsu's face softens and he offers a small smile.
"Yes, Rokem. He's gone. And you can thank that grumpy dragon slayer." Natsu prods at Laxus and the other man just huffs but doesn't move. He does, however, catch the beaming smile Rokem sends his way and offers little more than a lazy wave. "Anyway, Luce -"
"We have a train to catch, I expect you will be here in time?" Erza says and the gleam in her eye means business.
"Oh, um… How about me and Laxus meet you guys there?" He isn't going to mention how he did not in fact know about the train, and his response seems to make Erza pause for a moment.
"Very well." And she's off, probably to finish up some packing.
"Anyway, Luce," he pauses, half expecting another interruption, "I forgot to give you something before I left." Sting and Rogue shift enough for Lucy to understand that they too know what he's talking about.
"Okay?"
"Could you head up to my office?" He asks. At first, his timid tone confuses her, but then the memories rush. Last night, which seems so far away. When he had been in too much pain he practically ran away from them all, and to his office. Silently, she obeys and heads up the stairs, lacrima in hand. The others watch her for a moment but no one dares to follow.
She's familiar with the path, but it's odd to think she isn't going to Makarov's domain.
Walking up a faint trace of smoke enters her nose. It's a smell she's more than familiar with and it aids her in finding the office. The scent strengthens the closer she gets to the office, and as she gets to the door, she opens it a crack. On the lacrima, Natsu stays silent. She's the smartest person he knows, and, he smiles although Lucy doesn't see it, she was my best friend. The past tense hurts but not for too long.
The cold and hot temperatures hit her at the same time. Lucy slips in the room and leans on the door to close it, her eyes wide. Looking around she sees evidence of Natsu's release from last-nights damages to his left hand.
Scorch marks litter the desk and floor, the light pen thrown onto the ground carelessly. Evidence of ice and frost are also found on the walls and desk, confusing Lucy to some extent but not enough to ask. Not yet.
"Oh yeah, sorry."
"Don't be." She doesn't admonish him. He had never been one to consistently clean up after himself, and this should be no exception. "Natsu-"
"Look in the closet." He means to cut her off. She let's him and heads to the wooden wardrobe behind his desk. It hardly counts as a closet, but she lets it slide. Instead, she sets the lacrima on the desk and places her hands on the doors.
Opening it up, she's forced to jump back as presents fall toward her. They're all manner of shapes and sizes, some with clear birthday wrapping while others are beautifully intricate.
There are seven.
Natsu's voice drifts in the background and vaguely Lucy hears how they're from your father. She sits, not daring to touch the wrapping paper, not yet.
"He would come in person each year on your birthday."
Lucy drops to her knees and heavy tears roll down her face. She tries to stop them from dampening the paper below her but everything's just too blurry. She chokes on a sob, eyes burning and cheeks flushed, she would be embarrassed if it were anyone other than Natsu.
"He loved you, you know."
She lightly sweeps her hand over the presents, words falling from her lips although she hardly pays attention to what she says.
Natsu doesn't tell her about how he would visit Fairy Tail more often than necessary, always came to them for jobs, no matter how small. Always asked if, perhaps, his daughter would return in less than seven years. Natsu wished he could have shortened it for him, if only so that changed man could have seen his daughter one last time.
"I… was he happy?" The words sound garbled and she tries to wipe everything off her face to no avail.
"He was. I… I'm sorry we couldn't keep him alive long enough for you to see him."
"Don't be sorry." She says in a choked laugh that's too close to a sob. "But, that's not why I came here." She knew her father had been dead, knew he was a changed man, although the presents allowed those emotions to wash over once more, she was strong. She could stand and do what she needed, regardless of her father's presence. She wipes her face a few times, rubbing it raw in her need to be presentable for a moment. "I'm just glad he was happy."
"He was." He says and watches as her gaze sweeps across his mess of an office once more. He's sure she spotted the ice, he's sure she's seen everything that is a clue to something. But she doesn't ask those questions.
"I won't make you talk." She knows he's too stubborn for that, and for a moment she laughs, because some things really do never change. "But… you can if you want to. At any time." Her hard stare softens into a smile. "We will all be here for you, Natsu. Just, remember that, okay?" She doesn't stop. She refuses to, not until she knows that he has fully understood her. "I know it's been seven years for you, but it hasn't been for us. You're still my best friend."
They both wish this conversation were in person. Natsu is more of a touchy person, one who would have enveloped her in a hug and held her until she had finished crying. He would have grasped her hand and listened to her, nodding and smiling and trying to get her to laugh. Instead, he's stuck, just listening to her crying, and again he's stuck listening to her fight for him.
"I know, Luce," and he does, he knows what she's saying so well it hurts, "and I will tell you everything. Someday. I swear it." On the other side of the lacrima, Lucy smiles at him, and he offers her his own smile. "See you in Crocus."
She laughs and her eyes once more flick to the presents.
"Yeah, see you there." He hangs up on her and turns to the eavesdropping Laxus.
"Just tell 'em."
"You don't even know what it is." Natsu doesn't growl, but Laxus is prodding at uncharted territory. The lightning slayer huffs before sitting up and eyeing the pinkette.
"You were never one to keep secrets."
Natsu doesn't respond at first, because he's right. He never did keep secrets, not unless he just forgot about something. And yet here he was, keeping everything buried under lock and key and not doing a good job at it at all, considering that everyone has noticed. Just that the only people who won't stop prodding him are back.
"You're right."
-x-
Finally on the train, in Erza's opinion, Team Natsu and Team Slayer sit across from each other, with Mira and Rokem in a separate cart. Lucy chose not to bring her father's presents and instead neatly piled them back into the wardrobe, more than content with opening them after the Games. When she's truly earned them.
She'll make her father proud.
"You're dragon slayers," Gray asks, although it was obvious with their motion sickness, "who're your dragons?" Rogue is the most composed of the two, but they both practically glare at Gray for asking such a question while on the death trap. Instead, Rogue motions to Frosch and Lector to respond. They gladly do.
"Rogue's dragon was Skiadrum!"
"Sting's dragon was Wesslogia. The strongest pair of dragons that ever lived!" They both boast and stand at each exclamation, something that immediately lightens the mood. "Maybe even stronger than Igneel?" Lector asks and both Sting and Rogue, even in their sorrowful states, shake their heads.
"No way! Igneel's the strongest!" Happy intervenes, cheeks puffed out. And while he would go toe to toe with most anyone, doing so with an exceed is far less terrifying.
"Frosch agrees. Igneel was the Fire Dragon King."
"But-" It's interesting to watch such an argument. Team Natsu is more used to more opposition, no, my dragons stronger! No way, Metalicana was way more powerful. IGNEEL IS THE STRONGEST!
"Frosch thinks that's why we joined Sabertooth. And Frosch didn't like that place, so Frosch thinks you're wrong." Lector pauses for a moment before pouting and sitting back down.
"Ah, you're right. But Skiadrum and Wesslogia were still strong!"
"Frosch agrees!" And the odd exceed sits too, both content in the discussion.
Team Natsu, however, is left flabbergasted.
"Sabertooth?" Lucy voices and Erza hops on that train.
"What is this Sabertooth? I have never heard of it before."
"Sabertooth is our old guild." Rogue half-moans out and allows the exceeds to pick up.
"Yup, but the Guild Master was evil."
"Yup yup!"
"That's not unheard of..." Gray comments, more than aware that Fairy Tail has always been something special.
"Sabertooth even won the first Grand Magic Games."
"Not Fairy Tail?"
"Nope, Fairy Tail got sixth. But that's okay, Frosch thinks, because Fairy Tail won all the rest thanks to Rogue."
"And Sting."
"And Master." Sting groans, his only contribution. "He's the - blegh, I'm gonna, no. No, never mind - he's the reason we left Sabertooth after the - urgh - the first Games." Team Natsu almost prods for the story, but they can fill in the blanks themselves, and they'd rather not sit through Frosch and Lector attempting to tell the tale.
They arrive in Crocus much to the Slayer's relief. As the train stops, Sting and Rogue spring to life. While Sting and Lector race off the train in Natsu-like fashion, Rogue takes his time. He pauses and turns to the old Team Natsu.
"We have to be at the Honey Bone Lodge at midnight. Any later and you can't participate in the Games. I'm going to find Sting." And then Rogue vanishes. Team Natsu shares some small talk as they get of the train but once they reach the streets they freeze. The streets are filled, crowds wild and overpopulated thanks to the Games.
"So this is Crocus." Gray says with his jaw dropped. Not too long after, Mira and Rokem have joined them. He's clearly afraid of all the people, and being so short doesn't help. So, without asking, Erza lifts him up. At first, he screeches but then calms as he's placed on those broad shoulders. His eyes sparkle and he can ignore the metal under his thighs, because he can see and it's beautiful.
"Hm, I assumed Master Natsu would have arrived with you." A cloaked figure, one they had failed to notice, is suddenly in front of them. His eyes are overshadowed and he seems like too much of a threat to ignore. They shift, Erza silently materializes a blade and Lucy slowly reaches for her keys, all of them prepared to battle and protect the hoards of people around them, somehow. "Do not be threatened," he says and lowers the hood to reveal an unfamiliar face, "I am Proxi." And they then spot the trace of the Fairy Tail mark on his neck. "S-Class mage, same as you, Titania. I know who you all are, so no need to bother." Although his eyes flick up to the child resting on Erza's shoulders. "Although I was unaware you had a child."
In typical Erza fashion, she immediately turns beet red and garbles out how the kid is not hers, she doesn't have a kid, why would she have a kid? Who would even be the father, what-
"Then… you must be a demon's child." That cold voice cuts through them and Rokem almost wilts under it. He mumbles a response into silky red hair and Proxi ruffles for a moment.
"Apologies. Master also saved myself. Mine was Vespire, and yourself?" He doesn't seem like the sort to be open, yet Proxi has no difficulty in talking about something so traumatizing. Rokem doesn't have the heart to respond, so Mira does for him.
"Zagnois."
"You must learn to speak up for yourself." He doesn't bother addressing Mira and keeps his gaze on the young boy. "What is your name?" The child offers a muffled response. "Speak up."
"Hey, no need to be rude." Gray bites but Rokem ignores the help.
"Rokem." The boy obeys, even though he's shaky and nervous because this man - Proxi - is more than terrifying, his eyes seem to pop out and glare them all down. Proxi stays silent for a moment before nodding.
"And what's your magic, Proxi?" Mira asks and they can feel the anger simmering underneath. He had been rude, and to a recently traumatized child no less.
"I see no reason why I should tell you." He then turns back to Rokem and ignores the angry mages. "Let's leave these competing mages to their devices. Would you like some ice cream, Rokem?" Team Natsu ruffles at the blatant disrespect and they almost fight the supposed Fairy Tail mage, but then shyly Rokem nods. His eyes are no longer filled with anxiety but rather with a level of respect, or admiration.
"Yes," he says and they all turn to look at him, "please?" Rokem would obey them if they argued, but for some odd reason this brash, rude mage has gained his trust.
Begrudgingly, Erza lowers Rokem from her shoulders. But she keeps a hold of his upper arm.
"And you are a Fairy Tail mage?" In response, he pulls down his color to show his mark in full. The deep purple pops out on his pale skin, and any member of Fairy Tail is their family.
"Let us know if you need us, Rokem." Lucy says softly but secretly she pushes Happy towards the boy. "And take Happy with you, he loves ice cream too!"
"But I-" Happy doesn't get through the thought as he receives the glare of four terrifying mages. "A-aye Sir!"
Happy sits on Rokem's head as the two leave, and all of them keep their eyes on Proxi until they vanish.
"I can't believe Natsu would let someone like that into Fairy Tail." Gray grumbles and no one disagrees.
"But we can trust him." Lucy says with a firm nod, although they are more than aware of backstabbers that have been in their midst before, they doubt Natsu would allow any sort of thing. Plus, Rokem wanted to go, and they weren't going to prevent him from getting ice cream.
-x-
Natsu and Laxus reach Crocus just in time. And while the pinkette sends Laxus to the Honey Bone Lodge, he wanders Crocus for some time. Soon, the maze has begun and he can only cackle at their plight. But, they'll be fine, he knows it. And so, he follows a familiar scent and comes across a small hedge garden. Inside, he spots Rokem sleeping with Happy as his pillow, also sleeping. Beside them, Proxi sits with an unwavering gaze on the two.
"Proxi," Natsu says softly, careful to not wake the two.
"I ran into your old friends today." Natsu has no doubt as to just who he met, seeing Happy and Rokem are with him now. With a sigh, Natsu sits beside Proxi.
"Were you nice?" Proxi's silence is all Natsu needs. "Well, that's okay. I can't imagine you fought them for Rokem. I think I would have heard about it by now." he admits and attempts at a laugh but Proxi doesn't join him. "Anyway, I think I found someone who can help with your magic."
"Oh? And who is that?"
"My old Guild Master, Makarov. He's pretty smart when he isn't chasing women." Again, a joke that doesn't quite catch. "Could… will you at least try and listen to him? He can really help you, I think. Better than I can, at least." Proxi looks back to the sleeping duo before sighing and turning his sharp gaze to Natsu.
"Yes, I'll try."
"Great. How'd your mission go?"
"It was a success." Natsu barks out a quiet laugh that turns into a soft snort, not the sort of thing he'd be proud of in any normal circumstance, but he doesn't mind. Not with these kids.
"Good," Natsu says before standing and moving to pick up Rokem and Happy. Proxi beats him to it and scoops the two up, careful to not wake them. Natsu doesn't comment on it and silently they head for the Honey Bone Lodge, ready for the next day. Ready for the Games to Begin.
A/N: Hm, my last update was June 1st, so I don't think this is the longest I've done between updates. Although not the best, I can admit. But they're coming, I promise. School has begun, and college through Corona is… interesting, to say the least. We'll see when the next update happens. Maybe it'll be around Thanksgiving? Yeah, we'll try for that. Thank you all so so much! Til next time, see ya!