Heya! Ok actually never mind…I'M SORRYYYYYY! I know I have no excuse to not update but, but, but…ok yeah, I have nothing to say to justify myself…I'm sorry m(_ _)m
Although I still hope that you guys will enjoy this depressive chapter…ok now up you go!
Anger, frustration and a tad bit of betrayal was portrayed on Natsu's very expressive features as he stood in front of Cobra's closed room. Thinking about the rules and regulations his brother has put on them and made their life styles a living hell by insisting that they be followed (specially by the younger ones) made him so infuriated. He could not believe that Cobra could do this to them!
With these lingering thoughts, Natsu had not bothered to knock and, instead, busted the door open, thus, making the raven headed siblings to sweat drop.
"You bastard!"
The poison dragon-slayer, who was in a deep state of slumber, woke up with a start when the broken door flew on the wall-missing him by only a few millimeters.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled as he was confused about what was happening. His eyes sparked in anger when they found the culprit who bothered him during his sleep and was equally glaring-if not with twice as much force-at him.
"Natsu! You motherfucker! What the fucking hell do you think you're doi-"
When his eyes spotted the two other intruders, his voice suddenly was lost. Gray was not his problem. Well he is but not at the moment…He learned, in the few days the fire mage was hospitalized, to accommodate to the idea that the ice mage is going to be a new addition to the family in the future. Hopefully it will be in as far as it could be! But no, surely it is an ice mage causing him discomfort but not this one. In fact, that person was an ice mage yet not an ice mage. Fuck! Ultear…
"O-Oh! W-What are you doing here Ul?"
"E-Eh?! M-Me?" She turned her head, looking at her sides as she pointed at herself to make sure she was the only Ul in the room and that the purple headed teenager had not meant someone else other than her. The unexpected attention she got made a very tiny blush spread on one of her cheeks but being the strong woman her mother taught her to be, she regained her composure easily. Clearing her throat she said, "About that, we're somewhat going to be some kind of family? I'm Gray's older sister! And, well, I thought that maybe I can come say hello? Nice to meet you by the way," a bright smile spread on her lips as she waved her hand in front of herself (trying-in vain- to lighten the mood around them).
The four teenagers were now sitting on the floor of Cobra's definitely not closed room. Natsu had his hand propped on his knee while his head rested on the palm of his hand, glaring daggers at his older brother. Gray sat next to him with his legs crossed and his hands were lightly clenched on his ankles. He was staring at his boyfriend the whole time with a worried look. He was worried that this outburst of emotions would be the cause of another collapse of the younger teenager. But seeing that said teenager was very angry convinced Gray not to mention this piece of information to him…An angry Natsu can be a very scary Natsu and the ice mage was not in the mood to deal with an angry Natsu right now…
On the other hand, not willing to risk to sit next to the fire mage, Cobra took the spot between both ice mages while trying extremely hard to avoid his younger brother's usually beautiful green eyes. He was sure that if he dared give a tiny single look he would see a toxic green instead of an exotic emerald green on the other's orbs. Not to mention that he was more than sure that if looks could kill, well, then…he would be dead a long time ago. Since the moment the pink head stepped in his room to be more precise. The only person who was somehow relaxed in all of this tension was Ultear who was lying on her stomach with her feet swinging in the air as if the situation was nothing to worry about.
Having enough of this tension in the air, Natsu took the initiative and opened the conversation with a simple, "So? Care to justify your actions?"
Cobra flinched at the unusual tone that was used by his younger sibling and he tried to avoid the matter in hand by saying something else but the glare that was sent his way made him tense even if there was quite the distance between him and Natsu.
He sighed and finally turned his face to stare at the fire mage and said, "Look here Natsu, I don't see why I gotta explain myself when you did the same thing with Gray and do I need to remind you that none of us made you justify your actions," he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "And here you are dating him as if you haven't done something wrong by revealing everything to him so I don't see with what right you come and point fingers at me!"
Cobra was about to sigh in relief when he heard his brother say, "Oh right, you have a point! I'm really sorry for getting angry at you. Forgive me yeah?" But, unfortunately, things never go the way he wants and that was proven by the pillow that collided with his face as soon as Natsu finished asking his so called question.
"You really thought I'd say that?! You're an idiot you know? It's not like I got out of telling Gray about it without anything! There was a compromise between us and he held on to his promise besides, he's not far from what we are ourselves! He's a devil-slayer so there's no risk of him betraying our trust, my trust in him! I'm not saying that Ultear is any less trustworthy, in fact, what I'm so angry about isn't that you went and told Ultear about us being dragon-slayer but that you did exactly what you've been denying us for years from doing!"
Natsu's voice was getting louder and louder with each word that was pronounced which brought the attention of the young Wendy who just came back from school. She heard the fire mage yell at the top of his lungs when she was taking off her shoes to get in the house and worried about what was going on she climbed the stairs to where she assumed the yelling came from to find herself at the doorway of Cobra's room. The broken door was not what fazed her but the sight of the really furious Natsu that was yelling very loudly at the poison mage who got up from his position to retaliate was what made her gape soundlessly.
The poison mage was being accused and his pride would never let it go without a fight!
"What the hell Natsu?! If I ever insist in these rules and regulations that you guys keep on calling stupid is only because I care for you and I want to avoid the dangers that I know you guys would encounter if I didn't take these precautions!"
"Ohoho! So now you care for us?" snarled Natsu.
"Of course! I've always cared for you guys! Every step I take and everything decision I make are to make sure that you and the others live safely, especially after what happened to us in the past!" Cobra desperately tried to make the fire dragon-slayer understand his reasons but the other was too stubborn to let go. Sensing the gravity of the situation the ice mage siblings made out for the door and stood next to Wendy who was joined earlier by Sting and Rogue who were curious about what was going on.
At this point, Natsu was laughing hysterically which caused all eyes to be on him. They all thought that he finally lost his mind but when he calmed down a united sigh of relief could be heard from the doorway of the room, "Sure, I can easily believe your words…Why don't you go feed your lies to someone who's willing to be fooled by your words bastard."
The pink headed boy was about to leave but stopped in his tracks when he heard the other say, "Natsu I really don't understand where you're getting with your accusations…"
"Fine! If you want me to make it clear to you I will!" He turned towards the younger ones and said, "You guys go to your rooms now," and of course none of them listened.
"Listen here Cobra-nii, you've been disappearing without a word for years now. You go and never come back before months and months go on. And to make it worse, during our most important part of our lives you just outright disappeared for three whole fucking years and didn't come back before a week ago. You can't expect from me or anyone who lives here for a matter to take your leaves as something great! You're our brother, our sibling, our family for god's sake! You can't just disappear from our lives and come back when you just feel like it. We're not a bunch of charity cases that you decide to visit at dire times only! You're, somewhat, a necessity in our lives!"
Natsu was now, gasping for air from all the emotions he was feeling. He felt his eyes sting but would never allow the tears to fall. It was about time someone chastised this moron about his actions and since he started he was not going to stop until he made it clear to the other that his actions have been hurting them all. So he continued before losing the courage to do so.
"That's not all what your selfishness has been doing! Tell me, tell me where were you? Where were you when Laxus was left all alone to take care of us all? Where were you when he was working his ass off making sure that we all had something to eat by the end of the day during the first year you left us? Where were you when he gave up his future and dreams to support us? If it weren't for Gramps we wouldn't have been able to manage! He was the one who offered Laxus to work as a physics teacher since he was really good at it. With the money he made we were able to build this huge mansion with our own strength! With that money we were finally able to eat well and finally get the children to school. What about Gajeel? Do you know how much he suffered back then? He used to look up to you so much. But you left! Tell me! Where were you when Gajeel used to come back extremely drunk from bars at ungodly hours of the night? When he came back from red districts drunk and stinking of sex and alcohol? When he got embroiled into a gang of dark magic users? When he, afterwards, joined a high school of dark mages which he still is in? When he's unable of detaching himself from his past that's following him everywhere? When he got engulfed by the dark? Where were you? And where were you when Sting used to come back home from school crying? When he refused to go to school for months until Laxus went to see what was happening at school to make him totally refuse it? When we discovered that he was bullied just because he was parentless? When he was accused of fucking prostitution at such a young age just because he looks like a playboy? When Rogue was mistreated? When he was insulted of many things by his so called friends just because he doesn't like the same things the others do? When Rogue was being accused of murder by his peers just because he was obsessed with the color black? When they both were told they were monsters by their schoolmates? Tell me Cobra, where were you back then? When Wendy collapsed because we discovered she used to consume drugs without her own knowledge? Where were you when we discovered that someone used to feed them to her by infusing them in her favorite juice? When she discovered that that person was her best friend? When she was hospitalized for weeks because she had to get it out of her system? When she started to have trust issues because of it? When she refused to socialize because of it? When she was scared of people because of it? Where the, fucking hell on earth, were you?"
By the end of his ranting Natsu's voice got louder and it was wavering with each word that was pronounced. The memories alone were making him feel anxious and want to curl up in on himself and shut down the whole world that was surrounding him but the arms that were suddenly wrapped around his torso made him release all the pent up stress he was feeling during all these years with a long and loud sigh. He would turn his head to see who the one that embraced him was but the scent of mint and pine gave it all away. Gray…
The fire mage leant on the others chest and took comfort in the embrace's warmth and how soothing his lover's scent was. Gray who felt how the younger boy's figure was relaxing between his arms tightened his hold and buried his nose in pink locks.
Meanwhile, Cobra was left stunned by his younger brother's rambling. He was unable to believe what he heard, how come no one told him about any of these happening during his absence? He directed his gaze to the ones that were standing under the doorframe to find that Gajeel and Laxus had joined them in the middle of Natsu's revelations. Not only that, but Sting was tightly holding onto the elder of their siblings by his pants while Rogue was hiding behind the iron dragon-slayer's leg. Gajeel had a strained expression featured on his face and Wendy's lips lifted into a sad smile as for Laxus he left his expression unreadable-it was blank. In the same time, Ultear was giving Cobra a worried look which he tried to avoid by staring back at the fire mage to find him hiding his face in the ice mage's chest. That was not what made him hold back a whimper, but the fact that Natsu's figure was shivering and that Gray was doing his best to comfort the younger boy. I made him cry…I caused my family-the ones who accepted me-a lot of grief and sadness!
Cobra tried talking, saying anything, he never felt the need to ask for forgiveness as much as how he was feeling it right now before! He wanted to make things right again, he wanted to go back to the past and refrain from doing many things but he knew, he knew it was too late for that right now…Instead, he let out in a low whisper a, "What about you? You mentioned how the others suffered but what about you?"
He regretted his words as soon as he saw the pink head flinch. He pursed his lips together and glared at the floor without saying another word as the guilt rose inside of him.
Laxus came back home to hear no one greeting him. Not used to such a thing, he got curious and so he headed to the second floor but stopped in his tracks when he heard (with his draconic hearing) Natsu rambling about what they went through during Cobra's absence which made him run through the last of the distance. He was worried about what brought the fire mage to talk about that. He knew no one would bring such a topic up unless something bad happened.
When he reached the room he found Gajeel already there in addition to the younger ones as well as a woman he never saw before and when he got a glimpse inside of the room he found Gray standing next to Natsu hesitating about hugging him or not. Although, when Natsu (who weirdly has not realized the other's presence) yelled his last sentence with so many emotions, the ice mage got rid of his hesitation and embraced his boyfriend with a pained face. Seeing that the pink headed teenager was taken care of for the moment he stared at the room's owner and found Cobra expressing a lot of pain and grieve on his face.
Laxus did not like this one bit; his family was in a tight spot and was in extreme need of a talk about what was going on, for he still was not aware about what brought all these revelations and shouts up. Not to mention the tension that was in the air. As he sighed, he pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "All of you downstairs now. We need to talk and I'm not taking no for an answer by any of you. Gray and you woman are to join us."
With that he headed to the ground floor before them and left them all staring after him with wide eyes.
Did you enjoy? Or did you find it a bore? Tell me what you thought by reviewing! And thank you so much for even taking the time to read this new chapter ^^
