Happy New Year, everyone! This chapter will be a bit longer since I wanted to fit in a bunch of moments in here without having to split this. Hope you all enjoy!
While most of the members of Fairy Tail were having fun riding on rolling barrels, Zale was sitting at a table with his face on the table as the guild's newest member, Jayden, came up to him.
"Why so glum?" Jayden inquired. "Our teams're almost in the lead! You should be celebrating!"
"One…" Zale didn't lift his head one bit, so his voice was somewhat muffled by the wood. "I've never been a party person. Second… my girlfriend and I haven't had a proper date in months… To us it felt like days, but that's a long story…"
"There are still a few days left in the games." Jayden stated. "That's plenty of time to come up with something."
"What if she gets fed up with me before that? She's the first girlfriend I ever had and it's more than 100 percent likely that I'll never find someone else."
"Exaggerating much?"
"Have you ever known what it's like to NOT have a girl attracted to you?"
Jayden placed his finger on his chin and thought about Zale's question. As he pondered, Zale noticed something sticking out of pant pocket.
"Um, what's that?" Zale pointed to the mysterious object.
Jayden looked to where Zale was pointing and took it out. "Oh, I like to read these to hear what people wrote about me."
It was a sealed letter stamped with a heart-shaped sticker.
"Another heart? Probably another one of those." Jayden said as he ripped the top of the envelope.
"Please…" Zale held his hand out. "Don't read it... Now."
Jayden put the love letter back into his pocket.
"If I don't come up with something soon, she might go to that jerk, Lyon!"
"The dude an ass?"
"He's an ass, alright! He wants to take Juvia from me and doesn't care about how it'll affect my well-being!"
"… You have issues." Jayden said plainly.
"A pool, you say?" Erza's voice drew the ears of the two water wizards.
"Wow!" Wendy's voice sounded full of joy.
"And it's close by?" Lucy's voice spoke this time.
Zale and Jayden looked to the voices of the girls, who were talking to Levy.
"It's one of Fiore's most famous summer leisure spots, Ryuzetsu Land!" Levy said.
Zale's eyes widened as Levy's words gave him a great idea.
"How about-" Jayden was about to suggest something.
"Way ahead of you!" Zale interrupted Jayden, his face filled with excitement.
"But is it okay to go without the Master's permission?" Lucy inquired.
"The Master is out, and he took Laxus with him." Erza answered Lucy's question.
Zale quickly went up to Levy and grabbed her by the arms.
"Thank you, Levy!" Zale said with extreme joy before dashing off elsewhere in the inn.
"Uuh… You're welcome?" Levy nervously replied.
Jayden looked upwards as he thought to himself. "… You know, I could use a good swim…"
While most of the people in Crocus were in for the night, the wizards of Fairy Tail all went to Ryuzetsu Land, a giant waterpark within the capital. Zale was wearing his blue-striped, black swim trunks and a dark blue swim tee and Juvia was in a purple bikini.
"No looking at other girls while we're here, Zale!" Juvia pouted.
"Heheh…" Zale nervously chuckled and blushed.
"I presume you two want to be alone together?" Jayden asked as he walked up to them.
Jayden had a pair of simple dark blue trunks on, showing off his impressive physique. He might not have been anywhere near as muscular as Laxus or Elfman, it was pretty evident he worked out a lot.
"Great… Another one…" Zale quietly groaned.
"What?" Jayden asked.
"Nothing." Zale quickly replied. "And yes, it'll be just me and Juvia. Off to flaunt yourself in front of the ladies?" He asked that in a somewhat sarcastic tone.
"Nah, I'm just gonna go swimming." Jayden stretched. "I do a lot of that."
"That explains the bod." Zale mumbled almost silently under his breath.
"Why are you wearing that?" Jayden pointed at Zale's swim tee.
"Just because other guys expose themselves doesn't mean I have to."
"But isn't that uncomfortable?"
"Not as uncomfortable as showing your unattractive body in public."
"Don't say things like that, Zale!" Juvia clung onto Zale's arm.
"Well, you two have fun!" Jayden waved and walked away as he muttered to himself. "I wonder if she's here…"
"Zale, shall we go on the Love-Love Slide together?" Juvia got excited and pointed to a large, winding water slide with a heart-shaped gate at the top.
"The name's a bit redundant." Zale said.
Juvia had her hands on her cheek. "Juvia heard that two people ride together, locked in a firm embrace! Teehee!"
Zale blushed and gulped at the thought of being incredibly close to Juvia. "I-I l-like the sound of that."
"Then let's go-!" Juvia was ready to head to the slide's line.
"Very well, I shall take you!"
Out of nowhere, Lyon picked up Juvia in his arms.
"Lyon?!" Juvia exclaimed in shock.
"Godammit, why can't you just leave us alone?!" Zale questioned.
"I could ask you the same thing." Lyon said.
"Because she's MY girlfriend!"
At a table by the snack bar, Callista was having a drink in her tan bikini with Amber munching on some snacks and Flynn with his head lying on the table in shiny gold trunks.
"Why the long face, Lil' Bro?" Callista asked.
Flynn sighed. "It's me and Lucy…"
"Not going well?"
"I overheard her earlier today… She's… unsure… about our relationship…"
"Clearly you're doing something wrong."
"Why's it my fault?!" Flynn leered at his sister.
"Not to worry, Lil' Bro!" Callista then pulled out an issue of Sorcerer Weekly out of thin air. "I figured there might be problems, so I did some research just to be safe!"
"And you don't think that's weird?"
Callista quickly flipped through the pages until she reached one in particular. "According to one of her interviews, she seems to have a thing for assertive guys and you really seem to be lacking in that."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence…" Flynn sarcastically responded.
"It wouldn't kill you to stand up for yourself a bit more. Even if Lucy weren't involved, it'd be good for you. I'm not asking you to change who you are; I'm just saying that you could gain quite a bit for being more assertive."
"Can it wait until tomorrow at least? It's already rather late."
"Nope. I ain't gonna let you relax 'til you finally get a firm backbone! Come, Amber!"
Callista helped Amber out of her seat, grabbed Flynn by his wrist and started walking off to another part of the park.
"Wait! Sis! SIS?!" Flynn shouted that last part.
While Jayden was swimming around in one of the deeper pools in Ryuzetsu Land, a flock of girls and young women had gathered to watch his athletic feats and admire his physique. After a bit of time, Jayden got out of the pool and took a few gulps of his juice.
"I wasn't going as fast as I normally do." Jayden said. "Then again, perhaps it's because I'm not naked."
As soon as the audience of girls heard that, they all fell backwards from their simultaneous nosebleeds. He then spotted Grant lying on one of the lounge chairs and walked up to him.
"Grant! Been a while!" Jayden greeted.
"Oh, Jayden…" Grant said.
Grant was wearing tight, orange swim shorts with red flames along the sides. He then looked at Jayden's left pectoral muscle and saw an ocean blue Fairy Tail emblem tattooed on it.
"Now you're in Fairy Tail, huh?" Grant asked. "I had really hoped Blue Pegasus was your true calling."
"Probably, but something rubbed me the wrong way about most of them." Jayden said.
"They flirt with anyone of the opposite sex?" Grantn guessed.
"… Yeah… Speaking of which, why aren't you trying to woo those ladies?"
"For one, they're here for you. Second, I haven't been… feeling it lately. I don't want to talk about it."
Jayden took a seat on the lounge chair next to Grant and he groaned in exacerbation.
"… The other day, I saw someone…" Grant started. "Someone I haven't seen in… many years… I have… so many questions I want to ask her… But I never got the chance to…"
"Did she die?" Jayden inquired.
"No."
"Is she dying?"
"No."
"Then there's a chance you'll see her again."
"It's not tha-" Grant stopped talking upon seeing a familiar shade of hair. "… I'm sorry, but I think that chance is now."
Grant got up and quickly walked in the direction he saw the head of hair go on.
"… Well, back to swimming for me." Jayden got up and dove into the nearby pool.
Not far from where Jayden was swimming around, there was a high dive platform that must have been almost two hundred feet high and standing on it was Flynn.
"… Sis, how is this supposed to make me more assertive?" Flynn shouted so Callista down below would have a chance to hear him.
Unfortunately, Flynn was so high up that his sister at the bottom of the ladder couldn't even hear him.
"Mommy, why's Uncle Flynn so high?" Amber asked.
Callista knelt down to Amber and petted her head. "Sweetie, Mommy told Uncle Flynn to jump off from the highest high dive in the park. All he has to do is say 'no' and he passes."
Up on the platform, Flynn looked down and had a moment of vertigo.
"If I die, Sis…" Flynn said. "I hope I somehow take you with me. Zale will take good care of Amber."
"… Mommy, Uncle Flynn's falling." Amber pointed to the high dive.
Callista looked to where Amber was pointing and saw Flynn falling almost haphazardly.
"… How am I going to tell Mom and Dad about this?" Callista reacted to the sight.
Flynn hit the water with a large splash and his body floated to the surface, completely motionless.
"Oh God! Somebody help my brother!" Callista shouted.
Jayden swiftly swam to Flynn's body, grabbed it and brought him to the edge of the pool where Callista and Amber were. The moment Jayden brought Flynn's body out of the water he checked his heartbeat to notice it had slowed significantly.
"Breathe, damn you!" Jayden then repeatedly punched Flynn in the chest. "Hya! Hya! Hya-hya! Hya!"
Flynn started coughing up water, regained consciousness and gasped for breath.
"I'm alive!" Flynn panted. "I'm-Heha-I'm alive!" He then turned to Callsta, who had her hands over her mouth. "Sis, you-Why are you looking at me like that?"
Jayden looked to the water and pulled something out of it. "Hey, uh… Are these yours?"
He lifted the object to reveal to Flynn that it was his trunks, making his face turn completely red.
"Mommy, why is Uncle Flynn hiding a hot dog?" Amber asked.
Grant had followed his mark to another part of the park, where Flare was sneaking up behind Fairy Tail's Lucy.
*It's that girl Flare fought in the games.* Grant thought as he took cover behind some decorative plants.
"Blondie!" Flare called out to her.
Lucy became startled and fell down on her hands and knees before seeing that Flare was behind her.
"You're that girl from Raven!" Lucy said as she turned herself around. "Weren't you arrested by the royal military?"
"We broke the rules, not the law." Flare stated. "They just took us in for questioning.
"Wh-what are you doing here?"
Flare looked down and her previous creepy expression had changed into genuine shyness as she looked away from Lucy and seemed a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry." Flare almost squeaked.
Any sense of fear Lucy had of Flare suddenly vanished as the red-haired mage turned around.
"That's all I wanted to say." Flare then walked away.
Grant, having watched the whole thing, smiled to himself. Unbeknownst to Flare, she was about to walk right past him and when she did he came out of the fake fauna.
"So you haven't changed that much since then." Grant spoke up.
Flare was startled and quickly turned around to Grant.
"Grant!" Flare exclaimed.
"When we first met, you had no idea what to say to me." Grant said with a smile on his face. "But now you can at least talk to people. You've come a long way from that shy little girl I knew…" He then looked over her partly exposed, curvaceous body tightly gripped by her red one-piece. *Mentally… but mostly physically.*
"I… I should get going." Flare stuttered a bit and was about to walk off.
"Wait!" Grant grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. "I… wanted to talk to you. You know? Catch up."
"I'm afraid there's not much to catch up on…" Flare said sullenly. "A couple of years after I met you, I joined Raven Tail. Nothing else happened all this time."
"But a lot has happened to me."
"Huh?" Flare's expression perked up.
"It'll be just like when we first met." Grant her a friendly smile. "Listening to all of the adventures I've been on."
Flare just stared at Grant for a few seconds before finally smiling.
"Oka-I guess I can stay and hear your stories."
After finally losing Lyon, Zale and Juvia were at the top of the Love-Love Slide and next to go on down. Just to be certain they were alone, Zale looked all around him again and no sign of Lyon was in sight.
"Ready, Juvia?" Zale asked.
"I am, my love!" Juvia replied happily.
"Forget him and ride it with me, Juvia!" Lyon suddenly appeared between them.
"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" Zale became incredibly frustrated, his fists clenching tightly and arms trembling. *This guy is just infuriating! I want to punch him in the face so bad! … But what if Juvia hates that and breaks up with me! What the hell am I supposed to do?!*
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Zale turned toward the sound of the scream and saw Natsu literally flying toward him and he crashed headfirst into Zale's head. His body slowly tilted backwards until he fell onto the water slide and his unconscious body slid down with the flow.
Several minutes later, Zale was stirring back to consciousness.
"Zale… Zale!"
His eyes opened to a beautiful sight, his girlfriend Juvia standing over him with the night sky above her.
"Oh, Zale, you're finally awake!" Juvia caught Zale in a bear hug while he was still lying down.
"J-Juvia?" Zale asked groggily. "W-what happened?"
"After Natsu crashed into you, you were going down the water slide. You would've been gone if not for Lyon."
"Lyon? … Lyon?!" Zale sat straight up in an instant.
"He froze the water so you would stop. He saved your life, Zale."
*If he only did that to get closer to Juvia, he's in for it!* Zale thought before speaking again. "I'll have to thank him when I see him."
"Although… Natsu didn't like that, so…"
Zale then looked around and saw that the entire water park was now lying in ruins.
*… Now I hate Natsu, too!* Zale's eye twitched as he tried to repress his anger and frustration.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!