Chapter 39: Friends Don't Leave Friends Behind

Dreamer sat in the guild garden. It was a piece of land tucked behind the hall—small and partially hidden by the property wall. Despite its size and closeness to the building, it felt like its own world. Vines grew along the fence, obscuring the view beyond. Young willows canopied the sky. Tall bushes and flowers helped to give an aura of distance. A white bench sat beside a simple fountain. Up until recently, the fountain hadn't been working, and most of the plants were overgrown. There weren't many people who cared about it. But in the past month or so, someone had been maintaining the garden. The bushes were trimmed, vines cut back, weeds pulled. It even looked like some vegetables had been planted along the west wall.

Bees buzzed peacefully from flower to flower. Two butterflies rested on the head of the fountain to get a drink, sunlight accentuating the patterns on their wings. Birds sang playfully in the branches of the trees, sometimes sending pale leaves down to the ground below. A rose petal rested in her hands, catching a tear that fell, and cradling it like a tiny pink teacup.

She knew it was Macbeth who'd been taking care of the garden. She knew because it was one of the tasks she'd assigned him in his early days at the guild. She could remember the conversation like it was yesterday.

"Midnight, you really should be doing chores around the guild. It's part of the deal with you staying here."

"I already told you and the old man, I'm not serving fairies."

"Could you at least take care of the plants in the garden? I don't have time and if someone doesn't do it, they'll die."

"Let them die. I don't care."

But the following day, the gate to the garden had been fixed, and the flowers watered.

Remembering this only served to increase the flow of her tears. She set the flower petal on the bench next to her and looked up at the draping branches of the willow. She couldn't believe he was really gone.

"Hey, watcha doing, Darla?"

Feet thudded on the soil nearby, causing her to jump.

"Natsu?" She rubbed tears out of her eyes so she could see clearly. There was the salamander, crouched on the ground less than five feet away from her. He must have jumped over the fence. "My name's Dreamer, by the way," she sighed. "I'm not sure why no one seems to remember that."

He sat on the bench next to her. She quickly grabbed the flower petal before he could crush it, then gently sat it in the water of the fountain.

"What's up, Dreamer? It looks like you've been crying."

She sniffled slightly and scooted a little farther from him. "I'm fine," she mustered a cheerful smile. "What are you doing here, Natsu?" They didn't often interact much. There was no personal reason, it was just that Dreamer wasn't part of his main group.

"Huh? Oh, me and Happy are playing hide-and-seek!"

She gave a strained laugh, and rolled her eyes. Of course they were. "Well, go ahead and keep playing. I'm just enjoying the sunlight." She kept her perfect smile painted on.

Instead of leaving, Natsu leaned uncomfortably close to her, sniffing the air.

"What's the deal?" She leaned away, the arm of the bench now digging into her side.

"You smell like the sleepy-head."

Her cheeks took some color, and she quickly looked away. She supposed she must have been carrying his scent, after laying in his bed—in his arms—for most of the night. That is… before he disappeared.

She couldn't hold it back anymore...

She burst into sobs.

"W-Whoa, hey!" Natsu jumped ten feet back, flailing his hands. "What did I do?!"

"N-No, it's not you!" She held up her hands, even though the sobs didn't falter in the slightest. "I'm sorry, I just… Macbeth is gone!"

The words hung strangely in the air. The garden seemed quieter—the birds weren't singing.

"What do you mean he's gone?" He relaxed slightly.

"I mean, he… he left Fairy Tail." Her words were broken cries. "The Oracion Seis broke out of prison and Erza told him about it and he left last night to join them, even though he's a member of Fairy Tail now—the Oracion Seis were his friends and family and now he's left to be with them and he'll probably never come back and there's a really good chance I'll… I'll never see him again!"

She shook her head, wiping tears in an act of futility.

"Is that all?"

He didn't sound concerned in the slightest. She couldn't understand the nonchalant attitude. When she looked at Natsu, he was looking at the fountain, arms folded over his chest.

"What do you mean, 'is that all?'" She trembled. "Did you hear me? He's gone."

"That's not true," he didn't miss a beat. He looked at her with a cheery smile, one sharp canine showing. "Come on, Dreamer! You don't actually believe that, do you?"

Her eyes widened. She was trapped in his confident gaze.

"Macbeth's a member of Fairy Tail!" he exclaimed, as if it was all so obvious. "And Fairy Tail members don't turn their backs on their friends."

She looked away with a sigh. "It's not that simple, Natsu… Besides." She watched the flower petal float on the water, still cupping her tear. "He already left. He made up his mind."

"Alright." He held a hand out to her. His expression was determined. "Then let's go."

"Go?"

"Yeah! Let's go get him and bring him home!"

It was clear that he was sincere in this idea.

"But, I don't…"

"Hey, listen, Dreamer." He dropped his hand for a moment, gaze getting even more serious. "Mac probably feels like this is something he's gotta do. All he needs is for someone to beat some sense into him! I bet Gajeel would love to get in on that with me!" He smirked. "Gray, Erza, even Lucy… They've all gone through the same kind of thing."

"Really?" She drank in his words, feeling a spark of something in her chest.

"Yeah. Back when we went to Galuna island, Gray kept trying to kill himself to defeat that demon Delicious or whatever it was called—'D' names are so hard to remember… Anyway, he just forgot that he had friends to live for and he had to be reminded."

She listened in awe. A butterfly landed in his pink hair, but he didn't notice.

"And Lucy went back home, because she felt like she had to tell her dad she was going to stay with Fairy Tail! She shoulda told us and we'd have gone with her!

"Then there was Erza, and she tried to sacrifice herself in the Tower of Heaven and I had to stop her."

The butterfly fluttered away.

"Everybody has stuff they think they gotta do," he said, clenching a fist. "We can't let 'em forget that they have friends to help them! So, he thinks he has to see his old friends, big deal! He can pay 'em a visit and then come back home to Fairy Tail! And if they really want to be his friends, they can join Fairy Tail, too!"

"Do you know what you're saying?" All of the Oracion Seis in Fairy Tail? It was absurd!

"What I'm saying is that Mac needs his friends, right now. So," he offered up his hand again, "are we gonna go get him or what?"

She gaped at him, hardly believing her ears. "I don't understand… Natsu, not long ago he was trying to kill you and your friends on Nirvana. Why are you doing this for him?"

"Aren't you listening? Geez," he sighed. "I don't care about all that stuff. Macbeth's one of us, that makes him family. And I'm not going to let a member of Fairy Tail go off and make some stupid mistake like joining another guild! I'm gonna beat the crap out of him until he remembers he's one of us!"

She giggled in between tears, at the contradiction between calling someone family and also wanting to 'beat the crap' out of them. Finally, she gave a brief nod and took his hand. He pulled her up off the bench.

"Okay… Let's bring our friend back home."

She wanted to believe that it would be that easy. She wanted the same hope and confidence that she felt radiating from Natsu. Maybe the fire dragon-slayer was right. Maybe letting Macbeth go wasn't something she had to do… And she didn't want to either. She wanted him to stay at Fairy Tail and find his freedom here with them—with her. She wanted to tell him how she felt, or… well, at least that she cared.

As Natsu led her out of the garden, she found herself wondering what she would do if he chose to stay with the Oracion Seis, even after they went to bring him back. No… She shook her head fiercely. He would come back. She needed to believe in him. The Macbeth she had grown to love was good, he was loyal, he cared and wanted to protect his friends. He would never return to a life of assassinations and darkness—a life of fear and rage.

She—and the rest of Fairy Tail—wouldn't let him.

A/N: Thanks everyone, for your continued support and reviews! Special thanks to those who have commented on my writing abilities and suggested that I work on my own original work. That's such amazing praise to receive!

Cheezy, I am horribly sorry I made you cry on your birthday, but, in my defense, all the signs pointed to the fact that the chapter was going to be heart-wrenching, and you chose to read on anyway. Tis the risk you take. ;)

Simana, yes, Midnight's memories were intended to be reminiscent of Ultear's stay under Zero. I think it's safe to assume that the members of the Oracion Seis were held there at a certain point in their lives, as well. I always figured they were subjected to cruel experiments, and obviously they were groomed into seeing Zero/Brain as something of a god or ultimate authority figure.

If anyone else has birthdays coming up, I recommend holding off on reading this fic. This isn't a very cheery portion of the story. There, now I've warned you ahead of time. xD