Things in stories take time. The plot will explain itself as it develops. The years will fluctuate but I will never go back in time unless stated. This is all leading up to when the actual anime starts. Conspiracy theories are welcome. As for the "who's talking" questions/comments: i write context clues. You can usually figure out who is talking without me actually saying so. But since I do understand the frustration of it when you want to speed-read it, I will try to drop names or synonyms if it seems right.

Thank you all very much for your feedback.

-Duchess

"You could at least pretend to like them," Makarov said one night, after everyone had gone home.

The guild was dark, and strangely quiet. The barmaid has long since left after cleaning and straightening furniture. She was polite enough to give conversation to the Master as she did so, smiling and laughing at his awful jokes. The woman locked the front doors on her way out.

Sasuke gave a disgruntled look.

The older man shrugged at it, before giving him a smirk, "it might make the council nicer to you." He moved to massage his hands—it's been a long day.

"I don't do forced politeness," the Uchiha replied, "that won't earn respect."

"Maybe not for you," Makarov gave a grunt when his knuckles popped. A tiny giggle from the floor made him smile, "besides," he looked down at a blonde child, "if you're civilised, then that will shock them much worse than your biting words."

Sasuke followed his gaze, meeting the eyes of Laxus Dreyar. They were so innocent and so happy. "I am civilised."

"Showing your contempt for a council that dictates all the rules in our magical society is quite the counter argument to yours."

That was a fair point. But Sasuke is taking it away so the score can stay even.

He hates being beaten.

—

"Move!" Sasuke snapped at the crowd, deflecting another spell. "Stay inside!"

They didn't seem too worried at his words. They instead awed at the magic in front of them.

As if it was a sport.

He turned, bringing a sandalled-foot to the staff aimed at his midsection. A hideous laugh rang out before the attacker disappeared.

He hates The Guild Games.

"Ya could just let them get hit," Ivan muttered, jumping down from his spot from the rooftops. "They're not real, and nothing more than a nuisance."

Sasuke almost gave a scathing response back. You're less important to me than they are. Instead, he settled for raised brow, "That's not the point of these games."

"You really care about this kind of stuff?" The other asked, nonplussed by the lowly goons circling them. "People just want to see a fight—…" he sent a punch the in the direction of a face that got too close, "...—and see who is the strongest guild."

The Uchiha gave him that. This event happened every year since (X712), and was always recorded live for people in Fiore. And every year since Fairy Tail joined it, they win without much effort. They were the favourites and people loved to cheer them on.

Makarov even found it tiring.

So did his son.

"We're always expected to participate and it's getting boring," Ivan complained, resting his hands in his pockets. "I want something more exciting."

"We do this every year for notoriety, you said that yourself a few times."

"Yeah, we get noticed by locals and towns all over," Ivan replied grumpily, kicking a particularly vicious ghoul in the gut. "I want other guilds and that stupid council to actually see us for once."

"You can't expect to be handed things," Sasuke spoke, watching the wizard.

Ivan turned from a goon and sneered, "Like how you handed this guild to Makarov?"

Understandably confused, the Uchiha didn't say anything back. Other than raising his eyebrows and letting the man explain.

Said man scoffed, "been here since the beginning and don't even know your influence."

"I have no power," Sasuke murmured, seeing as they were getting surrounded by overly-ambitious competition. The cameras would be on them soon. "Merely a guard—…"

"...—yeah, I've heard that since I was young," Ivan drawled, his anger quickly forgotten to be replaced by annoyance. "You and that other guy have nothing else better to do than just stick around like frauds with fake identities."

Ivan growled at some of the over ambitious guilds lurking in the alleys. Waiting for an opportunity. They backed down a bit, but he knew they weren't going to stop until he beat some sense into them.

"If this is all because you're bored," Sasuke side-stepped a spell, "You could teach your son that lightning technique he wants to learn."

"Last time I checked, that's your area of expertise." The older man gave him a nasty look as he replied, and took down the remaining people nearby. "I've never used that kind of elemental magic anyway."

Sasuke let it go, seeing an unneeded argument, and left to find other 'people' to help. He'll be kicking himself a few years down the road for being uncaring. But he wasn't a hero.

—

"Are you done?"

Laxus looked down, and giggled. "No!"

"I see," Sasuke replied placidly before getting comfortable once more beneath the tree. "It'll be dinner soon."

They sat in silence for another hour with color in the skies above changing colors. The hum of autumn was gentle and warm—made for a quiet evening. Magnolia was famous for this kind of weather, right next to the Fantasia parade, of course.

Sasuke didn't like either.

Silence made him paranoid.

"Did you see the Guild Games today?" Sasuke asked suddenly. "Your dad was on it for quite a bit."

"Yeah!" The blond chirped, not taking his attention of his toys. "Grandpa let me watch from on top of the bar!"

The Uchiha watched him with an upturn of his eyes, "Oh? Did he help explain them?"

"Kinda, but then he got drunk," Laxus grinned, "I mainly watched you! You're way cooler than dad!"

"Ivan knows a lot, you could learn from him sometime," Sasuke offered, following the movement of an action figure flying through the air. "Or even Makarov—they both would be willing to—…"

"...—grandpa doesn't have time," the boy muttered, his face dropping, "and dad is mean and hurts when he teaches."

Sasuke wasn't surprised. Both statements were highly true from Laxus, and almost everyone in the guild knew it. There was plenty of tension between the two anyway, without the added stress of a child just asking for attention.

"So you'd still rather have me? You would have to wait until after my mission. I'm not very nice either," he finally said and began to stand. "I would leave you on a mountain."

Laxus laughed, putting his toys away into his backpack. "You wouldn't abandon me!"

Yes I would.

"No," Sasuke murmured, holding out his arms. "Not yet."

The boy grinned, and jumped off the branch—knowing he wouldn't fall.

—-

"That's not how we operate here!" Makarov's voice boomed and effectively ending all conversations within the guild. Laxus startled from where he sat with his toys.

Ivan chuckled before him, shrugging at the anger, "yes, I get it old man. But that doesn't mean Fairy Tail will continue like this when I receive it."

Standing from his seat at the bar, the guild-master pointed a finger at his son. "This organisation isn't an inheritance, brat! It's a right of passage!"

"Which is rightfully mine, dear-old dad," Ivan sneered, curling his lip at his son's grubby fingers tugging on his pants. The man smacked them away forcefully, "stop being a baby! You're crying is annoying to me and everyone around you!"

At the yell, Laxus tumbled backwards, sobbing full-force. A barmaid rushed to him, stabling the boy before picking him up. She glared at Ivan before heading back to the bar with the crying child.

Laxus just wanted his nice dad back. The man who promised to teach him magic, take him to the next Guild Games, and he just promised to be there.

"Besides," Ivan continued, "you only have this job because Sasuke gave it to you!" At the gasps within the guild, he grinned and turned to them. "That's right everyone! Your guild master was hand-picked by someone who isn't even a part of Fairy Tail!"

"Is that true?"

"That's awful! Our last master, Precht, would never let that happen!"

"Have we truly never seen Sasuke's guild tattoo?"

"He's never admitted to being in our guild."

"Aw come on guys, Sasuke has our guild mark," Macao called out, standing amidst the murmuring, "we've known both Makarov and Sasuke for years—…!"

"...—-You can't just tell us that they've been nothing but secretive these past couple of decades!" Ivan yelled, overpowering the other wizard, "when was the last time you've seen either of them speak of plans to further expand this guild!"

"We never needed to go beyond our limits since our founding," Makarov snapped, closing his eyes in irritation. His staff was quaking from how tight he was grasping it. "The audacity to ignore the warnings of our Founders that have been passed down for generations will be proof of our ignorance!"

"There are no warnings about us gaining more members for this guild! Or asking the council for another title!" His son bit back, "we could easily gain a national label and gain more fame and acknowledgement than ever before!"

"Enough!" Makarov finally rumbled, the building shaking before his might. The guild went silent immediately, like it was earlier. "My decision is final, Ivan."

They glared at each other for a few moments, before said man turned on his heel and walked out of the guild. His magic fuming around him as he slammed the doors.

All that could be heard was a little boy crying.

—

"Why are you covered in snot?"

Laxus startled, dropping the action figure in his hand. He cried out when it began to tumble into the river—

A pale, scarred hand grabbed it.

"Sas'ke!" Laxus yelled, his mood lightening at the appearance of the Uchiha. "You're back!"

Unfortunately.

Sasuke nodded. He pointed at the backpack Laxus had, and gestured for him to hand it over. Once he received the bag, Sasuke placed the toy within and tied it back securely; and handed it back.

"Try not to lose the things you find important," the Uchiha spoke quietly.

Laxus mumbled at the scolding, digging a shoe into the ground, "you just got back, and I'm already messing up."

"Merely a suggestion," the raven-haired replied. "Have you eaten?"

The boy shook his head, gazing anywhere except the man in front of him. His posture had turned rigid and uncomfortable. "Grandpa and dad got into another fight."

Sasuke watched him, before sighing. That wasn't new. Must've been bad enough to make Laxus leave the guild without a guardian.

Or he snuck out.

"Wandering around, alone, and at night," Sasuke listed off, standing as he did so, "is dangerous for a kid and someone who has untrained magic."

Laxus flinched, before offering a cringe-worthy smile, "merely a suggestion?"

"Let's go eat," Sasuke didn't grace him with an answer.

The Uchiha didn't like to be beaten—even by a kid.

—

"Stop being paranoid."

"Wonderful advice," Gildarts muttered as they walked through the halls, "since you're my full-time therapist, maybe you could help me fix all my broken relationships?"

"That would require money you don't have," Sasuke bit back, eyeing the guards as they passed.

The other man forced a chuckle, "what? I can totally afford you—…"

"...—don't finish that sentence, because I'm not afraid of prison."

He wasn't kidding, so Gildarts moved onto another, safer, subject. "Are you not even wondering why we're here?"

"No," Sasuke replied simply, "I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt."

Such a bullshit answer. Gildarts didn't call him out on it.

"How uncharacteristically of you, it makes me even more suspicious."

The raven-haired really hated the idiot sometimes. "I'm already sick of you."

Gildarts pouted, "aw don't be like that! I've only been home for two days!"

They gained a few strange looks, mainly from the volume of the conversation. Their voices echoed off the walls, disturbing the quiet work-space the employees of created.

"You're also being a pain," Sasuke said in exasperation, "and getting us into trouble."

Gildarts rolled his eyes, and almost ran into their guide at the sudden stop. Sasuke didn't even flinch.

The frog turned to them, "the council is waiting for you inside. Please be courteous," a pointed look at the Uchiha, "and listen," another glare at the Crush Mage, " when you enter."

The doors were pushed open, and the duo were practically shoved in before they slammed closed. When the darkness overwhelmed them, it faded into a blue light that warmed the room.

The Magic Council didn't care much for decoration, Gildarts mused. They often just went for the flare of dramatics and theatrical. Like the huge flaming pit of magic in the center of the room.

You know, dramatics.

Gildarts could already seeing this go badly.