This chapter just felt like it wrote itself. Suddenly, I'm back behind the keyboard and it feels great. Hope you guys like the new chapter. I'm taking some inspiration for Daro from a game, in case you were wondering. If you've played The Witcher 3's "Hearts of Stone" expansion and run into Gaunter O'Dimm, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Enjoy!
(P.S: You have no idea how many times I've wanted to write "Danzo" instead of "Daro." Curse you Naruto!)

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?
Life had just given me a big bag of rotten lemons.

Daro, his duster matching mine (to my chagrin) swept his eyes across the guild, a pleased smile creeping across his boring face at the nonreaction of the guild members. His gaze stopped on me and the grin widened. That cocky bastard.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to do. An attack right now would be completely unjustified, at least to the other guild members. I would be a traitor. It would look like I had gone mad.
But Juvia...

I was mad. Really mad. Like, tear Daro's head off and drop kick it into the sea mad. I couldn't do that though. Not only because I'd have Erza, Juvia, Mira, The Master and the rest of the guild hounding me afterwards.
But because I couldn't. I knew that if I flew to Daro with violence in mind, he wouldn't allow me to get a single hit in.

So I was going to have to get political.
Gross. I hate politics.

And then I looked at Natsu. His face was caught somewhere between laughter and bemusement. It didn't suit him. Then Gajeel, who looked like someone had just puked on his shoes.

Not that that was an unusual expression for him to have though.

"Gray," he said, measuring his words carefully, "what the hell is going on?"

And suddenly I got it. Wendy's reaction sealed the deal. For whatever reason, Daro couldn't manipulate one group of people at the guild.
The Dragon Slayers.

That changed things. That changed everything. I had allies now. Strong ones. Laxus, who would have been a hinderance, was now and ally to us just the same as Gajeel and Wendy.

"Explain in a minute," I muttered. I was dimly aware that Lucy had no reaction to Juvia's behavior around Daro. She wasn't a dragon slayer, so I guess that made sense.

I glared Daro right in the eyes and gestured tightly at a table sitting in the center of the room. He smiled again and obliged, Juvia in tow.
I turned to Natsu.
"You got my back, right?"

He cackled.

"Of course. I just can't miss this!"

When it rains, it pours.

And so we parlayed.

I sat down first. I wanted to start, to take control of this situation. As much control as I could hope for at any rate. There was no denying that Daro had the floor. He had the trump card and he had the power. I had no idea what his final goal was, but I knew that if he asked me to jump, I would have to grit my teeth and ask how high?

I didn't like it. I hated it. Everything about the shitfest was giving me chills. As I sat down, I noticed more and more that the otherworldly cold that had been bothering me was returning. It made me even more tense, but I gritted my teeth and pushed the tension and stress aside. I needed to be on top form.

I couldn't lose. For the entire guild. For Natsu and Lucy. For the Master. For myself.

For Juvia.

Bring it on Daro.

He sat down too, and Juvia rubbed up against his side, tersely greeting Natsu and I. That was a strange experience in itself. Juvia was treating me like a background noise, a side character. It pissed me off, as you might expect. It just wasn't supposed to be like that!

Natsu took his chair, look at Juvia, then at Daro.

"That is so wrong." He decided, then picked his nose. Classy.

Daro feigned modesty and shrugged.

"It's what I do," He grinned, then gestured towards the bar. Mira followed suit a minute later, carrying pots of coffee and mugs. I considered raiding her liquor cabinet, but decided against it. I needed to be alert.

"I'm sure you've noticed the flaws in you abilities," I began, before turning to eye Laxus on the second floor. He was watching us talk with an uneasy look on his face. I caught his eye and shook my head. Don't interfere.

He apparently got the message and nodded, then pretended to busy himself with the job offering scrunched in his right fist. That made me feel a little better. Laxus seemed like a muscle bound fool, but he was there when it counted and he'd shown far more intelligence than he had any right having when we really needed it. I'm not saying I like the guy, but he's an ally. Family. And family always helps family.

Daro on the other hand looked amused at my feigned confidence. His left hand went wandering and found a curl of Juvia's hair, which he began to twirl around his fingers. She didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Prick.

"I was aware of it, yes. Before today, naturally. Don't bother looking so surprised Gray, I'm far older than I look. I know my power better than any other mage here knows theirs, I'd wager."

His voice grated on me. He structured his sentences very deliberately and purposefully, but managed to do it without sounding uptight. He sounded bored more than anything and it made my blood boil.

"You said you were going to kill everyone I cared about." I said slowly. Juvia didn't seem to notice. It had to be his mental manipulation. I wanted to shake her, scream at her to snap out of it. But Daro could kill everyone here quicker than blinking. I don't know how I knew that, but I did.

I was in the most dangerous situation of my life.

"I may have gotten a bit carried away," Daro said sheepishly, his hand traipsing behind Juvia's neck. She giggled. I scowled, "But I do want to kill you, Gray Fullbuster. Make no mistake." He finished this last with an eerie smile that sent the horrible cold rushing through my body. I tried not to shiver and couldn't. There was a pregnant silence which was suddenly broken by Natsu thumping the table with his fist. He looked furious.

Let me explain Natsu to you. Or at least, Natsu when he's angry. Erza is terrifying, sure and The Master isn't any cakewalk when he's pissed either. But it takes a lot to get Natsu to stop mouthing off and get seriously angry. He was now. I noticed scales warping into shape on his neck and rising to his cheekbones. His eyes blazed. Not figuratively. I literally saw flames spark in his pupil. Juvia looked alarmed but Daro just smiled sweetly.

"I've had it up to here with your bullshit," Natsu said. He didn't shout, his voice simply boiled with immense fury. "If you know what's good for you, you'll get as far away from Magnolia as possible or I swear I will burn you."

"Natsu..." I tried to calm him. I was angry too. I was angrier than I'd ever been but we had to be very careful around Daro. I wasn't sure what it would take to set him off but if he did decide to throw down, I wouldn't be able to stop him. Not that I could stop Natsu either.

"Easy, dragon slayer. How about some privacy for our chat, so we can really get down to business?" Daro's voice and expression didn't change. But his eyes did. They were warning us. Not loudly, not angrily. It was just a warning.

Watch yourselves.

I rocked back a little, before huffing out a sigh and nodding. Daro grinned again and leaned over to whisper in Juvia's ear. She blushed (bastard) and left us, looking back at Daro with that look.

Yeah, you know the one.

The one she was supposed to be giving me.

The man then snapped his fingers and we were thrown into silence. The buzz and roar of the busy guild disappeared in an instant and all we could hear were our own heartbeats.

"Daro-" I began, but he cut me off and waved a hand.

"Let's dispense with this "Daro" business," he said, "It's but a moniker. You may refer to me by my true title. "Nothing."

I paused.

"Your... your name is nothing?"

"Nothing," he corrected, emphasizing the capital, "King Nothing in full, but you may call me "Nothing" for simplicity's sake. "Your highness," will also suffice."

Oh I really wanted to kill this guy.

I looked around the Guild for a moment. No one seemed any the wiser to our silence, bar the other dragon slayers who all leaned forward, as if wishing to strike. Laxus and Gajeel looked ready to kill, while Wendy was shooting me a very concerned stare. I shook my head at them, then turned back to Nothing.

"Nice barrier," I remarked. "Invisible, yet completely soundproof."

"Thank you, I made it myself." replied the mage sarcastically. He fished around in his pocket and fished out a cigarette. He snapped his fingers again and it was lit. He left us in silence for a moment as he breathed in the smoke, before blowing it in our direction. So he lit a cigarette. Big deal. Most wizards chose a certain magical element to use in combat and the like, but most guild worthy mages knew the basics. I could light a candle at twenty paces. It wasn't impressive. He was just trying to rile us. I wasn't going to let him. I felt myself fall into the back and forth of conversation. I was still on edge, but far less so. I was more and more convinced that Nothing had come to talk and nothing more. If we kept our hands to ourselves, we could survive the day.

"You're not human." I said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement. He wasn't one of us. He wasn't a human mage. I wasn't sure of much, especially in the face of this unknown threat. But I was sure of that.

"Correct. Not entirely, at any rate. I may have once been human, but that time has long since passed. Now, I am simply me. Simply... Nothing."
He laughed as if he had remembered a funny joke.

"So, if you don't just want to kill us all, what do you really want?" Natsu asked. He had calmed down slightly, but his voice still shook slightly.

Nothing smiled and stubbed the cigarette out under his booted foot. He took a sip of coffee and sighed. He was remembering something, some memory that filled him with human emotion. Or he wanted us to think that.

Then his smile changed. It wasn't like anything he had done that day. It had more meaning than any word could.

It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen.

"It's quite simple." He said.

"I want the end."