The poll on my profile is still open.
Soren helped guide Zale through the crowd to find the boy's father.
"My dad should be around here…" Soren said as he looked around. "… There he is."
They resumed until they came up to a middle-age man dressed in a tan jacket over a black shirt and blue jeans sitting in his seat. His scruffy amethyst hair along with the five-o'-clock shadow made his identity a dead giveaway.
"Sorry I'm a bit late, Dad." Soren said.
"Where have you been?" Soren's father asked a bit angrily, though with a clear hint of concern for his son. "I thought you were just getting a snack!"
Soren was about to say something, but Zale quickly interrupted him and kept him back with his arm.
"I'm sorry, sir." Zale said. "Your son helped a friend of mine the other day and she wanted to thank him personally. But then we had an incident and we had to wait in line again." He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head as he said that last sentence. "I'm Zale Aeon, a member of Fairy Tail."
"You still should have come to me and ask first." Soren's father scolded the two boys.
"Dad always worries about me." Soren told Zale.
"Anyway…" Soren's father stood up and walked up to Zale. "What's this about Soren helping your friend?"
"Wendy, who was supposed to be in the games, and her cat were attacked and Soren carried them back to us." Zale answered. "He saved them again earlier today when they were being abducted, along with our guild's physician."
"Sounds like you're a regular hero." Mr. Blake ruffled Soren's hair a bit.
"I just couldn't leave it be…" Soren looked away in slight embarrassment.
*Now that I think about it, I could probably ask Soren's father for more information on his mother.* Zale thought before speaking again. "Mr. Blake, may I ask which inn you and your son are staying at?"
"It's none of your business." Soren replied somewhat coldly.
"Soren, don't be rude!" Mr. Blake said before turning back to Zale. "We're staying at the Sleeping Giant. We don't do much after the games, so feel free to stop by."
"Thanks." Zale shook hands with Soren's father and then turned to the boy. "I'll see you around."
Soren didn't respond and Zale walked away from him and his father.
In the stadium halls, Grant was rushing through the crowd, apologizing to everyone he almost ran into without losing his momentum. He kept moving until he could make out familiar-looking red hair.
"Flare!" Grant shouted.
Flare was about to turn around, but Alexei grabbed her head and kept it facing ahead of them.
"Keep moving!"
She complied and resumed walking alongside her guild mates and master. Grant stopped, glared at the Raven Tail wizards and clenched his fists.
*Dammit!* He thought. *Looks like her 'friends' don't want me anywhere near her. I won't let them treat you like dirt and get away with it!*
Later that night, Zale stopped by a building with a sign of a face with closed eyes and the words 'The Sleeping Giant' right next to it. He walked inside to find that the inn itself was fairly small and not many people were in the main tavern. It was unlikely that any guild would be staying at this inn and was more for tourists who came for the games. He went over to the bar and saw Soren's father sitting on a stool with a small glass and a bottle of whiskey.
"Special occasion? Or are you just an alcoholic?" Zale jokingly asked as he took a seat next to Mr. Blake.
He turned to Zale. "Oh, hey… Want a drink?"
"No thanks, Mr. Blake, I don't drink." Zale answered.
"Please, just call me Sam. Every once in a while, I just need to drown my sorrows."
"… Because of your wife?"
Sam was about to take another drink when he stopped upon hearing Zale.
"Soren told me. Although, I don't know much aside from she taught your son magic."
Sam placed his glass down and lowered his head. "That's why you came here, isn't it?"
Zale was hesitant to ask, but he chose to be honest. "… Yeah… I didn't think Soren would be willing to tell me."
Sam sighed. "We used to live in the middle of a forest and I worked in a nearby town. When I came home one night, I found my wife with a hole in her chest and lying motionless in her own blood. Soren… he was just sitting next to her in a trance. I went to the Rune Knights to report the crime and discovered that a Rune Knight commander had forced his way into our home in search of her family's magic. He was arrested, but the damage was already done. The council had custody of our spell book and Soren and I changed for the worst. He's been distant from the world and I became an alcoholic. For the past couple of years I've started moderating my drinking, but I feel like it's too late for me to do anything."
"I'm not sure if you know anything, but are there any issues he has with the Lamia Scale guild?"
"Lamia Scale?"
"Your son… may have confronted one of their members about something."
Sam groaned and dropped his head to the counter. "I was wondering why he came back bruised like a peach… Apparently, the Magic Council gave our family's magic to a young girl in Lamia Scale. When Soren found out, he wasn't too happy. Though I was just glad the girl was so nice and gave the spell book back to the council."
"Might I ask what kind of magic was stolen?"
Sam just looked at his refilled glass for a second to contemplate a response. "… I don't know if I should tell you."
"It's Lost Magic, isn't it?"
Sam didn't answer, so Zale raised his arm and began surrounding it in black water, which caught Sam off guard and made him fall out of his seat.
"Th-that's…!" Sam stammered. "You're a God Slayer?!"
"I've inherited this magic from my family."
Sam climbed back onto his seat. "My wife mentioned others like you! Would your last name happen to be 'Aeon'?"
Zale nodded. "So does this mean your family's magic is-?"
"Yes!" Sam was out of breath. "My wife's family has inherited the ability to fight gods using the power of wind, Sky God Slayer Magic."
"Why did that Rune Knight commander try to take it?"
"I don't know the exact reason. All I was told was that he had a twisted sense of justice."
"I'm sorry to hear about your wife."
"I… just don't care about my own life anymore."
"Whoa! There's no need to go that far!"
"I'm not suicidal!" Sam clarified. "I meant that I don't care what direction my life goes in. All that matters to me now is Soren's future… How are things in your guild? I know Fairy Tail has seen better days, but…"
"Things… Yes, could be better." Zale smiled. "But now that we're back together, it's gotten a hell of a lot brighter."
"I really want my son to join a guild. I think it would really help him open up and talk to people."
"How come he isn't in one yet?"
"I tried to get him into Lamia Scale, but he quickly shot that down."
"Why would you want your son to be in the guild with the girl that's using his mother's magic?"
"Because his mother never finished his training. She managed to teach him all of the offensive abilities of Sky God Slayer Magic, but he has yet to learn the healing abilities. If he joins Lamia Scale, he can learn its healing powers from that girl and complete his training."
"I see… As much as it'd kill him, I can't argue with the results it'd produce."
"I can't force him into Lamia Scale… But perhaps he might be willing to join your guild?"
"Huh?"
"If what you told me is true, then perhaps Fairy Tail might be a good place for Soren. He already knows you, so it would make things easier for him."
"Let's wait until after the games before making any decisions. The future of our guild depends on us winning the games. If we lose and Soren joins our guild, he'll barely earn enough money to make a living."
"Then we'll see…" Sam turned back to his drink and took another gulp.
Zale didn't want to be rude, so he decided to stay and chat with Sam a bit more before heading back to the Honey Bone Lodge.
Late that night, everyone in the Honey Bone Lodge went to sleep. Zale was sharing a room with Flynn, Callista and Amber and was in a deep slumber in a white T-shirt and blue dark blue shorts until someone began whispering near him.
"Zale?" The voice whispered quietly.
Zale squint his eyes a bit as he stirred awake.
"Zale?"
Zale opened his eyes, unable to make out who was in front of him due his currently blurry vision and the darkness in the room.
"Wake up, my love."
Upon hearing the voice again, Zale knew who was in the room.
"Juvia?" Zale asked in a really groggy, but still hushed voice so he wouldn't wake the others in the room. "It's the middle of the night."
"Sorry, Zale, but Juvia hasn't been able to spend much time with you since the games started." Juvia whispered back. She was in thin light purple pajamas.
"Yeah, we've both been busy the last couple of days. Maybe tomorrow night we can do something together."
"Juvia would love that… but…" Juvia seemed hesitant and was blushing a bit.
"Hm?"
"Would it be okay if Juvia slept with you tonight?"
"Did you have a nightmare?"
"No, Juvia just wants to lie in bed with you."
Zale had to think it over for a few seconds. "… You're just going to lie down with me and fall asleep, right?"
"Mm-hm." Juvia nodded.
"… Nothing else?"
Juvia thought about what Zale just said and gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as her face turned red.
"But Zale, we can't make love with our friends in the room!" She exclaimed very quietly.
"I know, I just wanted to know you weren't planning on doing that."
"Juvia wants our first time to be just the two of us."
"… So do I."
Juvia leaned in toward Zale's face, they kissed for a second and Juvia got underneath the sheet from behind Zale and began cuddling him as she lied down.
"You feel so warm, Zale…" Juvia murmured and fell asleep instantly with a huge grin on her face.
Zale could feel that Juvia had a tight hold on him, but he didn't mind that much since it was a very clear sign of her affection.
*I'm sleeping with Juvia…* Zale thought happily and with a smile almost as big as the one Juvia had. *This feels really nice…* He then noticed the sensation of Juvia's large breasts pressing against his back, causing his cheeks to turn bright pink as he began to fall asleep. *Very nice…*
"… I love you… Zale…" Juvia mumbled in her sleep.
"I love you, too, Juvia…" Zale whispered back to his girlfriend.
Zale placed a hand over Juvia's before finally drifting off to sleep for the night.
At the Sleeping Giant, Soren had woken up from his sleep and turned to face the ruby pendant sitting on the nightstand next to him. He picked it up and examined it for a minute with a sad and melancholic expression.
*… Mom…* He thought to himself.
He closed his hand around the pendant as his eyes started to glaze over, but placed it back on the nightstand and went back to sleep.
A/N: There's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! Please continue voting in the poll! I'm surprised that with the number of followers this story has now that no one has written a review in a while. You don't have to if you don't want to, I'm just saying. Also, for any Pokemon fans out there, I recently started a rewrite of a story I originally started back in spring of 2014, Genesis Triad. If you're interested, check it out. Anyway, stay tuned for next time!