Disclaimer: Fairy Tail characters belong to Hiro Mashima, and all characters from Treasure Planet from the 200-something movie belongs to the talented people who made them.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER SEVEN
"OUCH!"
"Goddammit Delbert, will you be careful?!"
"Natsu! Language, you insolent weasel."
"Why do you get to call me a weasel, but I can't say 'damn'?"
"Because I'm your mother. Now apologize to Delbert, in a formal manner."
Natsu glares at his mother, but complies unwillingly. He looks toward the Inu, who steps back slightly. "I formally apologize for any inappropriate words I might have used recently. These are troubling times, and I was wrong to have used words that added fuel to the fire." He looks back at his mother. "Happy now?"
She nods slightly, eyes drooping from lack of sleep. "Yes, Nashu. I'm just gonna head on to bed…" But before she can make a move to ask where she will be sleeping, her snores fill the room.
Delbert sighs, and he picks her up, indicating to Natsu that he should follow him as well.
The silence is more than Natsu can take at the moment, and he blurts, "Thanks, Delbert...for letting us stay here. I know I'm not always the best kid, but I do think that you were pretty badass back there." Delbert walks on, seemingly lost in thought, and Natsu pulls at his earring in his agitation. Natsu opens his mouth to backtrack his moment of kindness when Delbert interrupts him. "Natsu...how have you been doing since...Thomas?"
He feels the boy stiffen behind him. "Why do you ask? He's dead. We don't need to talk about him."
"But we do. You see, your mother has been worried that you haven't...been coping well with what happened that time. I convinced her that you need time. Time...away from Planet Delta. From everything that's been keeping you from moving forward." He stops in his tracks, oblivious to the raging war within the young man. Delbert turns around to face Natsu.
"I believe in you, Natsu. You're a good kid. I know that, and I'm offering you a way out. See the galaxies, travel, learn about worlds that surround you."
Natsu stared off at a wall, swallowing back the emotion that he had previously thought had left him years ago.
Sadness.
But Delbert continues, reaching out a hand and placing it on his shoulder.
"Think about it. The ship that I have arranged for the research crew will leave tomorrow in the afternoon. I've spoken with your mother, but this is all up to you."
Delbert's mind flashes back to how similar this was to the day that the family lost their independence, when Natsu came to him one day with bruises covering his body, tears streaming down his face. Too young and too weak to find a solution to the hell that they had found themselves in.
The young man before him was a stark contrast to the boy who was living in hell years ago.
The woman who raised him, albeit scarred and slightly broken, now a stronger, more independent person because of it.
And Delbert has never been more proud in his entire life. Not even finding another galaxy and having it named after him can fill him with this much pride, at seeing the only family he knows grow strong enough to face the battles ahead of them...whether they be together or not. He knows that this young man can face the odds.
And win.
"You'll find your bedroom up these stairs as well, but on the left side of the room your mother will sleep in. Good night, Natsu. Sleep tight, Dragon."
Delbert continues up the stairs, and Natsu looks on, contemplating the option that Delbert has left him with.
To leave Mom, huh, he thinks distastefully. But then again...she'd have Delbert. And I'd have freedom.
His heart pulls at him in two directions, and he clenches his teeth in confusion. What should he decided? What he's always been looking for? Or what his mother expects him to do? A chance to live off, just like the pirates he's read as a little boy, or to live off of tips and minimum wage the rest of his life.
The young man's mind wanders until it screeches to a halt at the previous moment before.
Just the name of that devil makes his blood boil. Makes the long-forgotten scars burn and sting.
But the memory of the last time he saw him makes it run cold in the next instant.
His mind takes him back, to when he was still trying to figure out why he was never good enough, and then stops when he realizes that his body was quivering in fear. Fear for someone that will never hurt him-or his mother- again.
In that instant, the young man realizes that his past will always haunt him only if he continues to surround himself with memories best forgotten.
But also, he realizes that his pocket is on fire and the reason for it makes him shout in surprise.
The globe that the pirate handed to him earlier was placed in his hands, but at the time Natsu had pushed it to the back of his mind, intent on living to see tomorrow instead of taking time to understand what exactly the man had lost his life for.
The sphere burns its way out of the pocket, and Delbert appears at the top of the staircase, concern plastered all over his face.
"Nastu! What's wrong?"
"The- the thing! It burned me! What is it?!"
But both were silenced at the moment that the sphere opened up, and answered all of their questions pertaining to what was reality, and what was myth.
(A/N): So! How'd you like it so far? I'd like to thank the people who recently favorited/followed my story! That means a lot! Please know that I want to go and give you a hug, but I can't from here, so I'll just do it via internet... (~￣▽￣)~
Stay tuned for another chapter of Journey to Treasure Planet!
bye bye now!