TO MY READERS: Unfortunately, school is back in session so that means my upload schedule will probably get pretty erratic again...I'm really going to try hard to keep writing chapters for you guys and getting them out, so please just bear with me! I promise it'll be worth it as this story progresses. Anyways, please enjoy this new chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN any of the characters or places mentioned in this story. It all belongs to the original creator, Hiro Mashimas.
Seven
The next morning was Saturday, which meant a day off for Natsu and his colleagues. While anyone else would've been glad for the day off, Natsu felt like he was going to lose his mind. Before the day ended yesterday, Erza told Natsu and his team they weren't to step one foot into the office over the weekend.
"You all deserve a short break, if only two days," she said. "I want you all to try your best to relax." At that, she gave a stern look to Natsu who sighed, shook his head, and crossed his arms.
"That applies to you as well, Detective Dragneel," she said pointedly. Natsu raised his right hand and promised everyone in attendance he wouldn't look at the case for the entire weekend.
Now, at seven-thirty in the morning, Natsu was already feeling anxious. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat in his apartment's living room in front of the flatscreen, mindlessly flipping through channels to find something to distract himself. While he sipped his hot coffee, his oddly colored blue cat, Happy, jumped up on the couch and snuggled up next to him, purring as Natsu stroked his back.
"Well, at least I get to spend the weekend with you," he smiled, scratching the top of Happy's head.
It didn't take long for Natsu to find a fairly interesting show to watch, but as interested as he might've been in it, his mind kept drifting to all the work he and his friends still had to do. Juvia and Gray were to start looking into details about Lucy Heartfilia and her family's affiliation with Zeref; Levy and Gajeel had to get more information on The Pegasus, it's decoy, and where they both ended up going after the raid; and Jellal was to pick up where he and Cana left off when investigating the potential hideout for Zancrow's faction. There seemed to be so much that needed to get done and here was Natsu, relaxing on a Saturday morning at home. He sighed and threw his head against the back of the couch.
"Everyone else is probably having a nice, relaxing day," he whispered to himself. "You should do your best, too. You're the leader and you need to set a better example for them."
After a few more minutes sitting in front of the television and focusing way too much on what was going on in the show, Natsu rose frustratedly from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Happy jumped down and followed his master, his little paws padding gently on the hardwood floors.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Natsu said, innocently pouring himself another cup of coffee. He looked back at the cat, his tail twitching slightly and his little face contorting in what Natsu thought seemed to be an accusatory look.
"Hey, when I make a promise, I keep it. Don't I?" Natsu asked him, sipping his coffee. Happy's response was only a twitch of his tail.
"I'm not going anywhere today," Natsu said a little more agitatedly. "I wish you would stop looking at me like that!" As if realizing how upset his master was getting, Happy turned and trotted away towards the door of the apartment, behind the kitchen's granite island. He stared down the hallway at the door, his tail perking up again but instead of just twitching, it started thrashing around.
"What is it, Happy?" In reply, the cat meowed.
Natsu immediately went into his detective mindset and gently placed his coffee down on the counter, taking care not to make any sound as he did. He moved slowly and quietly through his apartment and towards the large decorative wooden chest in the middle of his living room. Underneath it was a gun. All he had to do was grab it…
Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Natsu silently cursed to himself but continued moving to the chest.
"I'll be right there," he called back out. Just when he grabbed the gun underneath the chest, the person behind the door knocked again.
"Hold on!" Natsu shouted again. Finally releasing the gun from its holder, Natsu moved a little faster to the door, taking the safety off and holding the gun behind his back. Another knock shook the door as he got closer.
"I'm coming!" Natsu shouted again. He turned to Happy who meowed again, his tail swaying more rapidly now. Natsu raised a finger to his lips and Happy was smart enough to take the hint and bound for the living room. One more knock bounded on the door as Natsu took the doorknob in his hands. Quickly, he turned it, swung the door open, and raised the gun at the uninvited guest.
"Whoa, whoa!" The visitor shouted, jumping back with his hands in the air. Natsu sighed, heavily, lowering the gun as he stared at Gray.
"Holy shit, Gray! You couldn't've said it was you at the door?! I thought it was one of Zeref's cronies come to kill me!" he shouted, turning around to go back into the apartment. Gray followed him and closed the door behind him, locking it all three ways.
"Sorry," Gray replied, walking into the living room. "I didn't think you'd greet me with a gun to my face." Natsu walked past him into the kitchen again with his coffee and grabbed a mug for his friend.
"Can't be too cautious," he said. "Where's Juvia? I didn't think there was any time when you two weren't attached at the hip." While Natsu got a good laugh out of that, Gray's cheeks reddened, embarrassed.
"It's not like that!" he shouted back.
"Sure it's not," Natsu said, rolling his eyes as he poured Gray's coffee. "It's not like you two live together or anything." Gray's face continued to get redder.
"She was having trouble finding a cheap place and I had the extra room..." he said feebly. Natsu shrugged his shoulders as he handed Gray his coffee.
"Hey, man, it's not my place to judge. Plus, I think what you and Juvia have is nice. You're never alone," he said, handing Gray the steaming mug & sipping his own. Gray remained quiet as his drank and his face started turning a normal color.
"So, what's up? Must be important since you're visiting me on our required day off," Natsu said, heading into the living room and sitting on the couch. Gray went and sat down in one of the love seats to the left of the couch, balancing the mug on his thighs.
"Yeah, about that... I couldn't get on the whole 'two days to relax' thing. I've just been thinking about the case all day and it was driving me crazy. So...I did some digging on our secret informant." Natsu stared at Gray in shock. He couldn't believe his friend had lost control quicker than he did and went ahead with the investigation. Gray always presented himself as even-tempered, someone to follow orders, not break them.
"And you're here because...?" Natsu asked once he got over his shock. Gray finished drinking and rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"Because, Squad Leader, I figured you'd like to accompany me to visit our secret informant," Gray said in an aggravated tone.
"You've already talked to Makarov Dreyer?" Natsu asked, astonished. Gray really wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't take these two days off.
"Well, his grandson," Gray said, drinking more of his coffee. "His name is Laxus Dreyer. At sixty-five, Makarov got really sick and was forced to retire. He was a huge smoker and it got a little out of control while he was working on the Zeref case. He was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage three. He was in the hospital for a long time while he was getting treated. Eventually, the cancer started shrinking before it completely disappeared. He was allowed to go home and was living normally for about a year.
"Then he ended up going back to the hospital, complaining about excruciating pain in his ribs. It turns out the cancer came back, and with a vengeance. He now has stage three bone cancer at seventy. Given his age and the aggressive treatment, he's not expected to live very long. He was offered hospice care, but denied it and opted to stay home. His grandson takes care of him now at Makarov's apartment in the heart of Magnolia." Natsu was quiet for a while as he took in all the information.
"How'd you find all this out?" he finally asked.
"After I talked to Laxus, I decided to do some digging. Turns out the office had all the information already, it was just a matter of finding it in their system. I figured we'd need to know the basics about him before visiting. And, if I'm being honest, we don't have a lot of time before he…well, you know." Gray didn't need to finish his sentence. If Natsu and his team really wanted to use Makarov in their new investigation, they'd have to do so keeping in mind his life expectancy was fairly short.
"So, what do you say, Natsu?" Gray asked, placing his empty mug on the chest. Natsu quietly sipped his own until he was finished and looked at his friend with a knowing smile.
"I think Erza will be pretty pissed if she finds out what we did this weekend," he said. "But, with all things considered, I don't think it would hurt to pay Makarov and his grandson a visit. Especially since they're now expecting us." Gray smiled and stood up.
"I was hoping you'd say that. Go get dressed and I'll drive," he said.
It took Natsu and Gray only fifteen minutes to get to Makarov's townhouse which looked like a miniature size Victorian mansion squeezed between two other townhouses. The entirety of the house was painted a dark grey with matching stairs leading up to a dark-wood door. Two large bay windows indicated the building only had two floors but, despite the fact of Makarov's illness, the house looked like it was being taken care of.
"Pretty nice house," Gray said, slamming his door and coming up beside Natsu on the sidewalk. The two men walked up the stairs and stood in front of the door, noting a metal mailbox to the right overflowing with letters. Most of them appeared to be from the city's hospital.
"Doesn't seem like he's been keeping up with the bills," Natsu pointed out.
"Chemotherapy's gotta be expensive, especially considering how much he probably needs," Gray said. While Natsu continued to stare at the mailbox, Gray used the dark brown door knocker to announce their presence.
"Just a minute!" a deep voice answered. Gray and Natsu backed up a little and waited until the door opened to reveal a burly, blond-haired man standing in the foyer. He wore a pair of paint-stained jeans and a black work shirt which undoubtedly had seen better days.
"I'm sorry, gentlemen," the man said, wiping his hands on a dirty washcloth. "We're not interested in anything you're selling."
"Wait, wait!" Gray said, stopping the man from closing the door with his hand. "I'm sorry, my name is Gray Fullbuster. We spoke on the phone earlier today about visiting Makarov Dreyer. We're detectives from the MPD."
"Oh, sorry, fellas," the man said, laughing and stuffing the washcloth into the pocket of his jeans. "You wouldn't believe how many people have tried selling us insurance lately. It's nice to meet you." The man reached out and shook Gray's hand, turning to Natsu.
"Hi. I'm Natsu Dragneel, lead detective on the case," he said, shaking the man's hand. "And you must be…?"
"Laxus, his grandson," he replied, his eyes narrowing to Natsu. "Dragneel… Why do I know that name?"
"Because I happen to be Zeref Dragneel's reformed brother," Natsu said. Laxus's eyes widened in understanding and he stepped aside to let Natsu and Gray through.
"Oh. Well, come on in, guys," he said. Gray and Natsu walked into the dimly lit foyer, a case of stairs leading to the second floor at the end of the short hallway.
"I have to admit, I was surprised to hear they were opening the case again," Laxus said, closing the door and leading the men to the living room on the left of the stairs. "Someone even contacted my gramps the day the investigation started. Said they might have some of the detectives come to question him." Laxus paused in front of a pair of dark-wooded slider doors, lowering his head and sighing. He turned to Natsu and Gray.
"I'd like to ask you to keep the conversation as short as possible," he said. "He's taken a turn for the worse. The pain has gotten exceptionally worse and he's on so many painkillers he can only stay conscious for a short period of time. I haven't given him anything too heavy yet but he'll likely need it in another few minutes. I'm guessing you'll have about ten minutes before he falls asleep after that."
"The doctors," Natsu said. "How long do they think he has." Laxus sighed again.
"Only about a month or so. He's too weak to even go to his chemotherapy appointments and I've moved him into the living room so I can get to him faster when he needs medication or food. Like I said: just keep it brief. There's always tomorrow." Gray and Natsu nodded and Laxus turned to open the slider doors.
The room reeked of disinfectant, like an actual hospital, and despite how nice the rest of the house looked, the living room was a mess. Piles of books were scattered throughout the room as well as dirty dishes and glasses. Papers and files were also scattered across the floors, some of them simply crumbled into balls like forgotten thoughts; useless. To the left of the entrance was a long hospital bed pushed up right against the window looking out on the street. In the bed was a small, old man who already looked like a ghost. His eyes were sullen in his skull and he had large dark circles underneath them. His skin was extremely pale and it looked stretched and taut across his bones. Natsu's heart clenched as he, Gray, and Laxus approached Makarov: he felt like they were being disrespectful just by disturbing this poor, sick man.
"Gramps, these are the detectives I told you who were going to be visiting today," Laxus said, walking to the side of Makarov's bed.
"Hello, gentlemen," Makarov said in a raspy voice. "I hate you have to see me in such a miserable state, but I suppose there's no avoiding it at this time."
"How are you feeling, sir?" Natsu asked. Makarov laughed which turned into a long, painful sounding cough.
"I've certainly felt better in the past but I'd like to help you with your investigation as much as I can. No morphine for now, Laxus," he said, patting his grandson's hand who wore a worried expression.
"We promise this won't take long, sir," Gray said, coming closer and crossing his arms. "We just have a couple questions about Zeref and the location of his base. Or even the base established here in Magnolia." Makarov tapped Laxus's hand and pointed to a stack of files on a bookshelf against the back wall, stuffed with books and papers.
"When I heard the MPD was reopening the case, I can't tell you how happy I was. Just to hear a new generation of detectives would have a shot at capturing this monster was enough to get me to going again," Makarov explained. Laxus stood in front of Gray and Natsu again, handing them a small pile of files.
"Since I'm pretty much bed-ridden, I asked Laxus here to go and grab my old case files I saved after I retired. Hopefully, everything you and your team might need is there," Makarov said. Natsu took the files from Laxus and opened the top one, a man's picture staring back at him on the first piece of paper in the folder. Gray took the rest as Natsu flipped through the papers, noting the mugshots on the top left corners. Paperclips kept the stacks together, each one containing about five or more sheets. As Natsu continued skimming the file, he noticed one of the stacks had a newspaper clipping stapled to it, featuring an odd-looking man dressed very extravagantly. His interest piqued, Natsu slipped the stack out of the folder and looked at the mugshot with a name in bold on the top middle part of the paper: MACBETH.
"Who's Macbeth?" Natsu asked.
"He was a member of the Magnolia faction back when I started the investigation," Makarov said. "He was the only solid source we had to interrogate, but he was almost impossible to crack." Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Almost?" he asked. Makarov grimaced.
"My partner, Porlyusica, and I went off the books to do it, but after months of getting nothing but lip from him, we decided Macbeth needed more…persuasion. We used methods of interrogation the MPD frown upon. Things that both Porlyusica and I regret, even to this day," he explained.
"But why? He was part of Zeref's factions and he probably did a lot worse," Natsu said. Makarov glanced at him sternly.
"That kind of thinking, son, is exactly what got the investigation shut down in the first place," he said. "I used to believe the same thing. Porlyusica tried to talk me out of it back then but I didn't listen. I knew I was going to have to retire soon but I couldn't leave the force knowing one of the most powerful criminals in the kingdom was still loose. I was willing to go to any lengths to destroy what Zeref had spent his whole life creating. But, once the higher-ups found out what Porlyusica and I were doing, the case was shut down and we were given only simple paperwork to file until we both were to retire." Natsu's eyes widened in shock.
"I thought the investigation was closed because there was no solid evidence to go on," Gray said. Makarov shook his head.
"That's the official reason. I was considered unfit to run it after Macbeth's…accident." Gray and Natsu exchanged glances and looked back to Makarov.
"Accident?" they asked in unison. Makarov sighed.
"I took it too far one day and Macbeth suffered from internal bleeding. He didn't receive the medical attention quickly enough so by the time the doctors took him into surgery, he slipped into a coma. As far as I know, he's still there but completely incapacitated.
"I was lucky I wasn't fired. I didn't even think of fighting with the officials about my position. I knew what I did was wrong and I was willing to accept all the consequences that followed. Instead, I simply put to work doing filing, along with Porlyusica who also admitted to helping me during that time." Makarov was silent for a while as Natsu suddenly remembered something.
That's why Erza was so defensive about what happened to Zancrow when he gave us the details on The Pegasus. She didn't want what Gildarts did to Zancrow to get the investigation shut down again.
"Anyways," Makarov continued, "if there was anything we were able to get out of Macbeth during that time was a strange and ridiculous riddle. He told us it was the key but we had to be 'smart enough to figure it out'." Makarov shook his head, his frail hand clenching into a fist. "I remember how badly I wanted to clock him in the head for that comment. But we needed him conscious, so I had held back the urges."
Just as Makarov was about to say more, he groaned and slammed his head back in pain. Laxus immediately bolted out of the living room and returned a minute later with a bottle of pills and a glass of water. He quickly took out two white pills and handed them to Makarov who threw them into his mouth and chase them with the water.
"What the matter?" Natsu asked worriedly as Makarov continued to groan in pain.
"He's in pain," Laxus said impatiently. "I just gave him two morphine pills so you'll only have another minute before he goes under. Finish fast." Natsu raced to Makarov's side and grabbed the bars on the hospital bed.
"Detective Dreyer," he said as fast as he could, "what was the riddle Macbeth gave you. Please, we need to know. It could be a break through." Natsu wasn't even sure if Makarov had heard him. He shook his head and his hands clenched the bedsheets as the pain rippled through his body. Suddenly, the warmth of the morphine flushed through him and as the pain began to loosen it's grip, his mind became hazy.
"Detective Dreyer," Natsu called again, praying he could get through to the man. "Please!"
"That's enough! He needs to rest now," Laxus reprimanded. Makarov turned to Natsu and gripped his hand, staring at him with glossy eyes.
"Tall and penetrating… They loom like…guardians," he began, struggling to make his tongue form the words before he went under. "Good or evil, they hide it…all away… Cloaked in darkness, hidden from the world…viridescent…" After the final word managed to escape his lips, Makarov could no longer resist the pull of sleep and he allowed his eyelids to close.
"Did you get that?" Natsu asked, snapping to Gray who was scribbling the riddle in his notepad.
"'Cloaked in darkness, hidden from the world, viridescent.' Yeah, I got it, but it doesn't make any fucking sense," Gray replied. He looked to Laxus. "Would we be able to come back tomorrow to get clarification on this?"
"I have a nurse coming in to check on him. I'll have to wait until she gets here and until she leaves to give him his medication and he'll be wiped by then anyways," Laxus said.
"And we have to be back at the office on Monday," Natsu sighed, standing. "Well, we'll take what we have and see if it really means anything. Thank you so much for your time, Laxus. And when your grandfather wakes up, tell him just how important his information has been to us. We'll see ourselves out." Gray and Natsu gathered the information Makarov had given them and headed towards the door of the living room.
"I've heard that before…" Laxus mumbled to himself as Gray and Natsu headed to the front door.
"What was that?" Natsu asked.
"Gramps sometimes mumbles parts of that riddle after I give him the morphine," Laxus clarified. "I know it sounds confusing, but that's the stupid riddle Macbeth gave him. The one you have to be 'smart enough to figure out'!"
"Then hopefully someone on our team will know what the hell it means," Gray mumbled.