Author's Note
Chapter 20, hurray! So, get ready for a tour to Australia and a LONG (4,158 words!) chapter with a lovely cliffhanger! Thank You ALL who have supported me till now, I really can't thank you much. I mean, its all because of you guys I'm here, writing because I know there are some people who are reading.
THANKS A LOT to SilverSapphire34523, Ishita.d, AnimeforCenturies, Virgil Leonidas, ShadowMaster2014 and Scarlet Blue Frost! (I love all six of you, literally.) for reviewing.
SO ONTO THE CHAPTER!
Note: This is my mind made original fanfiction. Any resemblance is purely a coincidence. Also, I give my deepest regards to my sister, who helped me through this whole chapter because I needed ideas. A big thanks to her.
Disclaimer: Ok. So this chapter has a lot of real life references to places and hotels, and I own NOTHING. Anime goes to Hiro Mashima and all the other references go their respectful owners.
Best Friends for Life, zenkai made wa-
"How to disguise… hmm… How can we disguise so no one can identify us? Even with our voice?" Zeref asked, still staring into empty air.
"Why disguise?" A familiar female voice spoke from nearby. A look of horror was strewn over the two handsome kings' faces. Well, she heard them. But how much did she hear? The two were confident of their approaching death, as she approached them…
CONTINUED!
Bold: Me
Italics: Thoughts/or Flashback (when mentioned)
Underline: Call
Continued-
Present
B-778-A, Park Prime Road near Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydney, Australia
Time Check: 6:50 AM
The female approached the two and stood in front of them with her hands on her hips, her waist long hair swinging behind her because of the morning breeze.
"Uh, hey Mira!" Jellal waved, terror visible on his face, "What brings you out here? You wanted to call us inside?"
Zeref just waved and kept quiet, letting Jellal handle it.
"Hey Jellal and Zeref. Yes, I did come to call you inside… why are you two talking about disguising yourself up, though?" Mirajane brushed off a stray strand of hair off her face and smiled sweetly as ever. Even more sweetly than usual though, which always meant she had some… demoni- I mean, pleasant in a not-so pleasant way ideas and/or plans.
"Err… well, Zeref, you tell." Jellal nudged Zeref and glanced at him with a look saying 'I already said so much, now its your turn'. Zeref looked at him incredulously. Then glanced at Mirajane and after thinking for a while, spoke.
"Uh Mira… actually, the call Jellal just attended… uh… it was from this really rich man… um, asking Jellal to sing at the opening of his new 5-star hotel… um, and it's the same hotel opening uh, a friend of mine invited me to.
"So, we would go there but the problem is… he wants us to be there at 1 pm, tomorrow, for a rehearsal like, how the event would go… while it is actually at 5 pm onwards… so, till then we must be there, so we think a disguise would help us evade the… um, fans. Since there would be many, of course. So yeah." Zeref made up a horrible story, but as soon as he said the words '1 pm, tomorrow' her eyes visibly lit up. One could tell that she didn't mind the horrible story, from the way her eyes lit up.
"I see! Well, not to worry, I'll help you with telling you how to disguise yourself! Come on in now, lets all of us have a cup a coffee or tea and relax a bit after all the work, okay?" Mirajane smiled brightly, and gestured them to go back with her.
Well, of course. While Jellal and Zeref were out, the others inside led Jelarl to sleep again and then were discussing how they all would escape for their 'meeting' at the same time without Jellal and Zeref noticing. Their problem was now solved with Zeref's story, which Mira completely believed because she didn't pay attention to anything except their departure at 1 pm, tomorrow. Ah, beautiful fate.
And so, the trio walked back in, with all three breathing a sigh of relief in their thoughts. After going inside, Lucy suggested making coffee for everyone. While she made coffee, the others discussed about their world tour, lying lazily in the living room.
"So, the first stop is here, Sydney. And it is in 8 days from today. I guess its more than enough time for us, no?" Gray spoke, almost buried on his beanbag.
"Mmhmm." Jellal nodded, "We have to prepare two original songs… that would take about 3 days, lyrics and music all together; and the practicing will take about 3 days too. So we should be done in about 6 days, I guess…"
"Juvia is glad we will get a bit time to see around!" Juvia sighed gladly, with closed eyes.
"Oh Juvia, don't worry about it anyway! We still have 4 days after the concert before we leave for our next stop, so we will have enough time to roam about and waste time." Mirajane smiled, like always.
"Oh wait, I just remembered! At the meeting yesterday, actually, Rufus told us that he talked to the auditorium people. They want to postpone the concert to 3 more days ahead, because of some difficulties. Rufus agreed and said that he'd tell Master Makarov about it. He didn't tell you guys?" Erza spoke up, suddenly remembering about the meeting last afternoon.
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell too. Man, I guess we were really too tired last afternoon, huh?" Natsu wondered why none of them remembered to tell, but figured they were really too tired. Jellal and Zeref shared a sneaky glance, and kept quiet, looking around nervously.
Just then, Lucy entered the room with a tray of cups of coffee in hand, "And here's the coffee!"
She served the coffee to everyone first, earning a thank you from all of them, then sat down beside Natsu, "So, what were you guys talking about?" She asked.
"We were discussing about our first concert of the tour, Luce." Natsu spoke. As he spoke though, Happy suddenly came running from his comforting bed in Natsu's room and jumped on his shoulder, as if he wanted to be included in the chat.
"Yo, Happy." Natsu greeted the cat with a pat, and the cat replied in a soft meow. Yes, actually Happy was an exceed which transformed into a 'human cat' while not in Fiore.
"I see, its in 11 days from today, right?" Lucy recalled, looking at Erza for confirmation.
Erza nodded, "Yes. We have plenty of time. And according to the approximate time, which is 6 days, as Jellal suggested I think we can enjoy for today, tomorrow and day-after, since you guys from Magnolia just arrived and all. But after that, we will work very hard, Ok!?" She demanded. Everyone else nodded vigorously.
"So, what are we gonna do today?" Zeref asked.
"Hmm, I think today you and our dragons here can show us around a bit?" Mira smiled, suggesting a city-tour.
"Of course! Let's all get ready by 9 am and we can leave?" Natsu spoke enthusiastically, eager to show the phoenixes around the city.
"Yeah!" Everyone else chorused together and then dispersed to each of their workstations.
While you wait for them to get ready, please look at this advertisement!
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Present
B-778-A, Park Prime Road near Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydney, Australia
Time Check: 9:00 AM
By 9 AM, everyone got ready in casual summer clothes, hats and a few bags for water and a bit of snacks! (btw, the 'snack' was the packet of chips Zeref brought a sack of)
Since the group had decided they would walk to all the places for sight-seeing, they thought that it would be better that Jelarl could go to his friend's place to enjoy and won't have to bear all the walking and won't be left out with the adults.
"So, ready everyone?" Natsu asked everyone who stood around him with enthusiasm.
"Yeah! We'll first drop Jelarl at his friend's place which is not too far, right?" Lucy guessed, which earned her a nod from Jelarl.
"Yep!"
"Great! So, let's go guys!" Natsu raised his fist to air.
"Yeah!" Everyone else too raised their fists and they left the house to Snoopy and Happy who were free to do whatever they wanted.
After dropping Jelarl, their first destination was the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was nearest to their location.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge spans the city center to the North Shore. It is a wide steel arch bridge known for its beauty as well as function, providing a crossing for cars, trains, bikes and pedestrians. While the more daring can do the Bridge-Climb to the top of the structure, which costs jewels, anyone can enjoy a walk for free at the public pedestrian walkway.
And so, our beloved group did just that. Climb the Bridge-Climb! All of them went to the top of the structure, which earned them a breath-taking view of the city of Sydney. It was a really beautiful view and the group was glad that they decided to go up the Bridge-Climb.
"What a beautiful view up here…" Erza softly spoke, holding Jellal's hand from her right and Lucy's from her left.
"You're right." Jellal glanced at Erza, then gazed at the scenery.
"So nice… It was worth all the money and the walking." Lucy commented, not being able to take her eyes off the scene.
"Exactly." Gray replied from Jellal's right.
"You know, I think we should come here again after the concert and shout how awesome it was!" Zeref laughed, and everyone else followed suit.
"Juvia thinks we should definitely do that." Juvia grinned too, breathing in the fresh breeze.
"Then, how about we come here exactly the next day after the concert?" Mira spoke, not taking her eyes from the view.
"Yosh! We definitely would now!" Natsu yelled, raising his arms and enjoying the wind.
"Hahaha, Yeah!" Everyone agreed.
All of them then travelled back down and head to their next destination that was the Royal Botanic Gardens!
Jellal, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Natsu, Lucy, Mirajane and Zeref arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Phoenixes had heard how the gardens in Sydney were amazing.
The group of eight had a long relaxing walk of the whole Garden, admiring the flowers and the beauty of the Gardens. The luscious green trees and grass, beautiful roses, the curious and rare birds, the song of the birds and the tranquil, unique and varied plants!
But the main attraction in the park which definitely attracted – and scared – Lucy especially were the spiders and the spider webs around the whole garden. One of the spiders even took a visit to Lucy's hair, which resulted in a really loud cry which could've almost killed the spider.
Swearing never to go near any plants in this garden again, Lucy and all her friends left the garden and arrived at their next destination, which was the Art Gallery of New South Wales!
The group explored the Art Gallery, which had wide variety of tremendous Australian works and a very interesting Asian display too.
"Hmm, the paintings and work here are marvelous!" Juvia expressed, while walking hand-in-hand with Gray.
"Absolutely Juvia. I came here once before too, it is indeed a very cool place." Zeref commented, gazing at a certain painting which caught his attention. It depicted a black dragon with blue marks on its body, roaring into the sky. He didn't know why, he didn't like fantasy, but he was attracted to this piece of art; as if he was connected to that dragon in some alternate universe. He decided to forget it.
"And its cool here too… nice…" And so, Gray was just being Gray.
Meanwhile, Natsu was glaring at another picture highlighting all the vehicles ever invented, while Lucy, Mirajane, Erza and Jellal watched him sweat dropping from near so he doesn't scratch that picture and tear it down.
After Natsu finally stopped glaring the picture, all of them went ahead and looked at various other paintings. They admired how the paintings were drawn with such delicacy; as told by the staff around. Finally after thoroughly exploring the museum, they exited.
After that, The Red Dragons and The Blue Phoenixes decided to take rest in the nearby park and all of them settled on the springy green grass of the huge park in a circle.
"My feet are killing me!" Lucy groaned, taking a sip of cold water from the bottle she carried along, "Anyways… what next? I'm kind of hungry too…"
"I know right, we've been walking for so long, I'm really hungry now." Zeref commented from beside Gray, breathing in the fresh park air.
"Now that you said it, I'm hungry too." Gray sat back into the grass, almost half-lying with no shirt on like usual.
"Gray, your clothes," Erza reminded, leaning her shoulder on Jellal's left arm, "and actually, Lunch sounds good right now because I'm sure all of us are hungry by now. Its almost Lunch time too."
"Oh damn, when did I!?" Gray went to hunt for his lost shirt, which he found in a bush nearby.
"Yes, Lunch would be good. Where should we head though?" Mira wondered, resting her chin on her palm.
"Juvia suggests we should check out a fancy hotel here in Sydney!" Juvia suggested, stretching her arms and legs a bit.
"Yosh! I'm all fired up! Let's go to Hilton!" Natsu jumped up, raising a fist to the air. (Disclaimer: OF COURSE I AM NOT RELATED TO Hilton Inc. IN ANY WAY.)
"Huh… where does he get all his energy from?" Lucy commented, sighing and massaging her paining feet.
"From food, obviously, silly Lucy!" Natsu replied back, since he heard Lucy's comment because of his sensitive hearing. Lucy facepalmed and everybody shared a good laugh.
"Well then all's said and done, let's make our way to Hilton!" Jellal spoke, standing up and helping Erza up too.
"Yeah! But this time, we will get a taxi!" Lucy declared, because she could not handle any more walking. As usual, Natsu groaned but knew better than to defy a tired-Lucy and an Erza who was in full agreement to Lucy.
Present
Hotel Hilton, Sydney, Australia
Time Check: 1:30 PM
The group arrived at the Hotel through a taxi, and walked in. They went up to the reception.
"Good Afternoon. Today we're here for Lunch. Can we please be directed to the restaurant?" Erza greeted the receptionist and asked for directions.
"Good Afternoon Ms. Scarlet. Our staff member here will guide you to restaurant," The receptionist pointed to a lady beside the reception who bowed in acknowledgement, "And I must say we admire all of you present here and enjoy your work. Thank You for being such inspirational people."
"Oh no, we thank you and every person who takes out their precious time to listen to us, come to watch us and believes in us. We are just simple people like you whose main purpose is to make other people happy." Erza replied in a soft voice. All the others behind her nodded.
"It is your humble nature that makes us find a friend in you all, Ms. Scarlet. I hope all of you enjoy your meal." The receptionist bowed and gestured the woman beside to lead them. She too bowed and led them to the restaurant.
The woman led them to table of eight at the west of the large room and went back to the reception desk. All of them took a seat and admired the place. It was a large restaurant, with golden led lights at the ceiling. There was a huge and beautiful chandelier at the middle of the room, and two smaller ones at either of its side at a little distance. The walls were painted a beautiful golden and black in a texture paint which was extremely attractive. There was a buffet at the east side of the restaurant and even live cooking!
After the group was seated and looked around, they also noticed most of the eyes were on them. Natsu gave them a 'what-are-we-ghosts?' look and everyone turned away. The group was actually seated almost the same way, Mira and Natsu parallel to each other at the west corner, Lucy at Natsu's side and parallel to Juvia; Gray and Erza parallel to each other and at Juvia and Lucy's side respectively, and finally Jellal at Erza's side and parallel to Zeref.
A waiter immediately bought them water, while another asked them for their choice of meal.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Hilton. What meal would you prefer; buffet or order?" The waiter asked gently.
"We would like to go with the buffet, thank you." Lucy replied, smiling cheerfully. Natsu groaned. He wished to order 55 things he'd already decided from the menu, but that was out of question now…
"Sure. Please help yourselves." The waiter bowed and left.
All of them then got up, and walked (dragged, in Natsu's case) to the buffet counter and first got some soup. They had a choice between Chicken Hot & Sour Soup or Sweet Corn Soup. They got their preferred soup each and went back to the table.
Erza began, "So, how do you guys like Sydney so far?"
"Oh its fantastic! All the places are so interesting and breath-taking! Really cool, I'd say." Gray replied, trying to make his soup colder with his power secretly. He didn't like anything hot except some food, afterall.
"Juvia agrees!"
"Yes, I'm really enjoying myself so far." Mira too sipped her soup calmly, unlike Natsu who was gulping it down really fast.
"I'm glad we came sight-seeing on foot today!" Jellal grinned and the others followed suit.
"Yeah, we wouldn't have enjoyed as much otherwise." Zeref commented. Lucy and Natsu nodded, Natsu mostly concentrating on his soup.
"Well, the main attraction is still left. The Opera House! We'll visit it in evening, because that's when its actually worth even 1000 Billion Jewels." Erza smirked.
"Honestly, that is what I'm really waiting for." Jellal replied, already excited to see the famous Sydney Opera House.
Everyone else agreed with Jellal and finished their soup. After that, they got up and walked to the buffet section again. They explored the section and looked the variety of food places before them. From Seafood, to Lasagne, to pizza, to sushi and to pasta salad; everything looked delicious.
The group filled their plates with their desired food items (everything, in Natsu's case.) headed back to their table.
"Oh my goodness, it all looks so delicious!" Lucy exclaimed with stars in her eyes, "I can't wait to eat it!"
"Absolutely…" Erza replied, also with a dreamy look in her eyes. Everyone had a dreamy look and stars in their eyes and sighed.
"Well, let's eat!" Natsu announced and starting digging in his food. All the others did too.
"Amazing! This food is so delicious!" Gray munched on his lasagne. "The chefs here really have some cool talent, huh?"
"Yeah!" Juvia, Erza, Jellal and Zeref all said in perfect synchronization. Suddenly, everyone heard a loud beep kind of sound, as if signaling a message of some sort.
"What was that?" Erza wondered aloud when suddenly beside her Jellal choked on his food, coughing fits attacking him. "Jellal are you alright? Here drink this." She handed him his glass of water slapped his back not very hard.
Jellal drank a sip of the water and then immediately stood up, eyes widened. He ignored everything else and ran straight to the bathroom.
"Jellal wait!" The others yelled not-so-loudly behind him and that got them worried. Was Jellal fine? Why did he suddenly ran straight to the bathroom? They completely forgot about that beep earlier.
"Oh god, I hope he is fine…" Erza suggested, looking in the direction Jellal head off to, with a worried expression plastered on her face. "Gray, why don't you go check on him?"
Gray nodded, "Ok, I will just-"
"Uh wait here! I'll go, since I will have to get out eventually to have you come out." Zeref reasoned, interrupting Gray.
"Yeah, you go, fast!" Gray exclaimed and Erza and all the others nodded to him, with worry. He nodded back to them and head straight after Jellal.
Zeref entered the Men's washroom, and called out for Jellal, "Jellal?"
"Do you know I almost had a heart attack, Ultear?" Zeref heard Jellal's voice coming from one of the stalls. He sighed. Thank the heavens I realized that the beep was an incoming call from Jellal's Arc and prevented Gray from coming here. We would be screwed otherwise.
Actually, just like normal phones, the wizards had the option of setting their Arcs' volume. But if there was something urgent, the other person could sent an 'urgent call' which would result in a loud beep which keeps beeping every 20 seconds, with higher volume every time until the person took the call.
Zeref then waited for Jellal to finish talking to Ultear, and meanwhile fixed his hair while Jellal talked to her.
When the beep struck his ears, Jellal Fernandes almost had a heart attack. Someone was calling him through his Arc, and he was officially screwed. He suddenly choked on his food, and not thinking, just rushed straight to the bathroom; he could think of an excuse later.
After he reached the bathroom, he rushed in one of the stalls and found out that it was a call from Ultear. He answered it and immediately got a response from the other line.
"Jellal?" Ultear's voice came from the other side.
"Do you know I almost had a heart attack, Ultear?" Jellal ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry, I know it is no time to be disturbing you and giving you urgent calls but it is something really important, Jellal."
"Its fine. What happened?"
"Actually Jellal…" Ultear explained the whole situation to him, and by the time she finished Jellal's eyes were as big as saucers.
"Damn! You gotta be kidding me…"
-To Be Continued
And done! Uh-oh, what happened this time round, hmm? Let's find out in the next chapter of Best Friends for Life!
Well, I updated in March, yay! Actually, these holidays have been one heck of a ride. I don't have any excuse for this late update in March, I was actually enjoying the freedom of being… free. xD I'm so sorry. So, anyways, next update would most probably be before May, I mean, I will try my best, I have college in April, so yeah.
And, feel free to throw stones at me, that would make me wake up and inspire me to write I guess xD Haha, jokes would be good too, I will probably be inspired more if I get a good laugh or two. :P
So, stay tuned folks! Review please! I would love to hear your thoughts, especially about the beautiful advertisement. :P
#Peace #Out!
#Ash Lite