Chapter 46: Debt
It was a long train ride to Iceberg. They traveled through the night, making a stop at the border of Bosco and Stella. Jezran had made sure to get them an enclosed booth on the train. They needed to be as hidden from the public eye as possible, as this was a stealth mission. Macbeth slept on and off through the ride. Jezran did not sleep. He remained staring out the window at the dark shapes going by.
When the train stopped at the border, he closed his eyes and smiled fondly at memories. "Dear me…" he mumbled thoughtfully to himself. "Do you know, I first met dear Dreamer here, in Stella. Less than a mile from this spot."
Macbeth, who had been somewhere between sleep and a darkened state of wakefulness, opened his eyes. He sat cross legged and arms folded, across from the old man. There was a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"Oh?" He knew how Dreamer and Piper had met. He'd gotten that whole story in a restaurant near Love and Lucky. He realized he knew almost nothing about Jezran. The old man was a mystery—who often faded into the background to play the role of the kind butler, always bringing Dreamer mustard sandwiches. Macbeth didn't even know what magic he used, yet guild members often spoke highly of his tracking abilities, and he could vaguely remember him using those abilities in Rose Garden to track Syllest.
"Shall I tell you the story, Macbeth?" Jezran smiled warmly under a white-streaked mustache.
"There's nothing else to do for the next couple of hours," he pointed out. "It might quell my boredom."
"Very well then, dear me." The old man chuckled. He folded his hands on his lap and closed his eyes, drawing forth bittersweet memories.
"You see, before I met the charming young lady, I was a debt collector," he said, after a long moment.
"You haven't always been a butler?" Macbeth couldn't resist this interjection. Jezran merely smiled. He didn't continue to explain, so Macbeth raised an eyebrow and shuffled in his seat. "Debt collecting. Not a particularly respectable job." He remembered Piper talking about how Dreamer had essentially rescued both Jezran and himself from dark lives, as she had now done with the assassin-turned-fairy. But, while debt collectors might be considered scummy, it didn't seem like the type of life-style one might need saving from.
"No, not respectable at all, dear me." Jezran gave a quiet laugh. "Particularly unrespectable when one is a juice-collector for the Excalibur Family."
"Juice-collector?" He cocked his head to the side, inquiringly.
Jezran's smile didn't falter. He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he unbuttoned his suit jacket and took it off, folding it neatly before setting it on the seat beside him. Macbeth raised an eyebrow as the older man began to unbutton his white dress-shirt next. Underneath, he wore only a white muscle-shirt. He removed the dress shirt completely, folding it and placing it on top of the suit jacket.
Macbeth's lips parted in shock, eyes widening.
The docile old man's chest and arms were thick with muscle—though it wasn't his surprising fitness that caused the breath to catch in Macbeth's throat.
It was the tattoos.
They covered his arms completely, sleeves of ink. It was apparent that they continued below the collar of his shirt and over his shoulders. Besides this, there were many pale scars that tore through the designs of the ink, some that looked like burns, others that looked like knife wounds. He lifted his shirt to reveal a tattoo over his heart, printed on a muscular pectoral. The image was a crest of some kind. A shield with a sword pointed downward, lodged in stone, surrounded by ancient lettering.
"You see, dear me," Jezran said, his kind voice and mustached smile totally unbefitting of the form he had just revealed, "when I say I was a debt collector for the Excalibur Family, I mean, it was my job to ensure, by any means necessary, that those in debt to the Family paid their fines. Could they not pay in jule, I was responsible for making them pay in blood."
Macbeth felt the color drain from his cheeks. He didn't say anything for a long moment, just stared at the tattoos and listened to the tick of the old man's pocket watch.
"The Excalibur Family…" he swallowed nervously. "They're a gang, aren't they? And you were a thug."
The man pulled his shirt back down and unfolded his dress shirt to put it back on. "On the surface, the Excalibur Family is the most respectable, wealthy family in Pergrande, besides the royal family of course. Beneath the surface, dear me, my Family is the most feared presence in the underworld." He slid the dress shirt on and began to button it back up, hiding the tattoos away again. "I would hardly say I was a common thug, however." His eyes seemed dull. "I was the final stage to the collection of debts. When someone had failed to pay their debts after three warnings, it was I who was called."
Macbeth felt an unwarranted tremble go down his spine. He had no idea this man was so powerful and frightening. He could never have guessed that, under the kindhearted façade, a feared power-house lurked.
Jezran fixed his cuffs as he continued. "Five years ago, I was collecting a debt in Stella. The debtor was a man who had borrowed a loan from the Family to start a business, but his business had tanked, dear me, and he owed a great deal of money. It was approximately 1:00 AM, in the south-east district of town between Cherry Grove street and Mella Avenue. It was a brisk night, possibly between fifty-seven and sixty-two degrees farenheight. The alleyway was located between an abandoned sewing facility and a bakery. I had confronted the man some thirty feet from the street, where the light from the streetlamp could not reveal us, dear me."
His attention to detail was astounding. That he could remember this much five years later, only added to Macbeth's newfound awe.
"I struck him eight times, once in the lower abdomen, twice in the ribcage, once in the inner thigh, and four in the face. I took great care not to knock him unconscious of course, as one can only truly learn a lesson if they are conscious for it, dear me. It was as I raised my brass-adorned knuckles for a ninth time, that a rather unexpected thing occurred." He pulled on his suit jacket as his expression grew fond. "A toddler, no more than two years of age, wandered into the alley."
"Syllest."
"Indeed." He closed his eyes again and leaned back, once his suit jacket was buttoned. "I was surprised, to say the least. It is an icy feeling, to stare into the pink eyes of an innocent child—one whom can barely maintain balance on her fawn-like feet—whilst holding a man by the collar, your hands dripping with his blood."
Macbeth shivered and rubbed his arms. He thought back to the night in the graveyard, when a child's mother told him that her son had witnessed him kill his father, from a closet.
"Unfortunately, following her almost immediately, was a girl. She was no more than a child, herself. Fifteen years of age—far too young to be caring for a toddler alone. Far too young to be as gaunt, hungry, and dirty as she was." He looked grim as the memory of a homeless Dreamer and Syllest flashed in his mind.
"I had no choice, dear me, but to take them." He gave a long sigh. "The young woman was a witness to my crime, and she had seen the Excalibur Family name printed on my skin. Thus, I held them for the night in a nearby motel, room number twelve, as I tried to decide what to do with them."
"Did she use her magic on you? Dreamer?" Macbeth was completely immersed in the story. He felt himself leaning forward, cocking his head to the side.
"I imagine she must have, dear me." He chuckled. "Perhaps I would not have taken such compassion on them, had she not. At any rate, obviously, I could not bring myself to dispose of the girls, dear me. Nor could my conscience allow them to continue to live as they had been. When the girl told me they had been on the streets for two years… Her, and an infant, after she witnessed the grotesque murder of her own sister, I simply could not leave them alone."
"So you joined them?" He guessed. He twisted a curl with his finger, engrossed.
"Not quite, dear me." Jezran looked out the window again, as the train began to slowly return to speed. "I felt I could not leave the Family on the account of two children, so I did what I considered best. I bought them a home in Stella and sent them money regularly. I was able to keep this up for exactly seven months and three days. I visited them when I could manage, and each time I did, dear me, young Dreamer would attempt to convince me that I was better than a debt-collector for the Excalibur Family. She saw endless potential in me, naturally."
Macbeth couldn't help the smile that touched his cheeks. Yes, that sounded exactly like Dreamer.
"Unfortunately, dear me… I was careless. An enemy gang had been watching my movements. Once they learned of my harboring the girls, they made a move. They took Dreamer and Syllestra hostage."
"You let them take her?" He spoke without thinking, the words spilling from his lips as he responded to the unbelievable tale.
Jezran met his eyes levelly, his expression sad. "There is nothing I regret more in this life, dear me."
He folded his hands back on his lap. "The Family ordered me to remain still and not make a move, but I could not stand for that, dear me. I tracked the girls and stormed the enemy's stronghold." Fury flashed in his brown eyes. "When at last I held the boss of this gang of cretins at knife-point, dear Dreamer called out to me. She begged me not to kill him. You have been in the same situation, if I recall."
Macbeth gave a brief nod. Yes, Dreamer had stopped him from killing the grunt on the rooftops who'd kidnapped Syllest.
"At her behest, I obeyed." He nodded. "However, I could no longer continue to harbor the girls without the knowledge of the Excalibur Family, so I escorted them to the estate in Pergrande. I willingly handed over my rights as heir to the family, in exchange for the freedom and life of the girls. I—"
"Rights as heir?" He interrupted.
"Oh yes, dear me, did I forget to mention that?" He gave a deep-bellied laugh. "I am the eldest son of Arturus Gallavantia Excalibur, head of the Excalibur Family."
Macbeth's eye twitched.
"I asked to hand my rights to my younger brother, Terrence, in exchange for the safety of the girls. My family agreed. More than that," he smiled warmly, "after what I suspect was some charming on the part of that rascal, Dreamer, my father welcomed Dreamer and Syllestra into the Excalibur Family as adopted children. This simply means that, should we ever ask for it, the Family will loyally supply the resources and help necessary to the girls, as if they were one of our own. It does well to have such a powerful ally, dear me."
"How did you end up in Fairy Tail with them?" Macbeth asked.
"The girls had successfully captured my heart after these escapades, dear me." He laughed again, stroking his mustache in thought. "I simply could not abandon them again, so, with my father's blessing, I joined them, as their guardian. It was my idea, dear me, to escort them to Fiore. I had heard good things about the guild and its devoted loyalty to its members. With the protection of both the Excalibur Family, and the Fairy Tail family, surely no harm would ever befall these precious treasures I had found."
A few moments went by. Macbeth leaned back against the seat, taking it all in. So, Dreamer had reformed a debt-collector/mob prince, an alcoholic gambler, and now an ex-assassin. What couldn't she do?
Neither man spoke for a few minutes. Finally, Jezran leaned forward, elbows rested on his knees, chin resting on his knuckles. His expression was serious as he looked at Macbeth from the shorter space between them.
"Macbeth, those girls are special." His tone was meaningful. "In all of Earthland, there are none like them. Understand, that you have taken a burden of responsibility upon your shoulders by joining Team Derelict Heart. Should any harm befall Dreamer or Syllestra, you will be held responsible, as will myself and Piper, dear me."
Macbeth swallowed nervously at the depth of the expression in the old man's eyes.
"Dear Dreamer cares for you." His hands tightened on each other. "She trusts you. That being said." He cracked his knuckles, gaze never leaving Macbeth's. "If you hurt her, that will be a debt you will never be able to repay."
He understood the threat, loud and clear. He averted his gaze, still shaking slightly. Satisfied, the old man sat up straight again.
"Now," Jezran's voice took back on its cheerful quality. "Let us work together to put an end to the threat of the King of Diamonds on our beloved treasures. Family must be protected, at all costs, would you not agree, Macbeth?"
"Don't worry, Pops," for the first time, Macbeth used the nickname given to him. "When I'm done with Resmond, he'll never be able to hurt Dreamer or Syllest again. I'm going to make him pay his debt in full."
Jezran laughed out loud. "Dear me, that is what I like to hear, dear me. Then let us collect his debt, for Dreamer."
For Family.
A/N: There you have it! Some backstory on Jezran Excalibur! I know it was a long time coming, but finally you guys get to see a bit more of who he is.
Just a note on that, in case it seems to ridiculously convenient that Dreamer would have a rich and powerful mob on her side... I hope to imply that, first of all, the sheer distance between Fiore and Pergrande makes any help they could receive from the Excalibur family limited, at least in terms of time. Secondly, it should be clear that asking favors from a gang doesn't ever come free. I'm saying this so that you can rest assured that I won't be using the Excalibur family as some deus ex machina. I make light of Jezran's wealth because it's funny as a gag, but in reality, any money he receives from the Family would come only with promises of services. He basically came from the mafia. xD
Also, Simana, the fact that you watched a Fairy Tail episode and imagined Team Derelict Heart in it, has completely fulfilled my dreams as a fanfiction writer. I can now die in peace. Though... I suppose I should wait to die until I finish this fic, huh? Otherwise, you guys might kill me. xD
As always, thank you for your kind reviews and messages! Please, tell me your thoughts and any questions or clarifications you need, so that I can make sure I'm consistently making sense as the plot begins to pick up pace!