Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 9
Mira wiped the bar counter at Fairy Tail while completely spacing out, a smile and blush on her face. She had been cleaning the same spot for about five minutes now since doing work was the farthest thing from her mind. The only thing that was running through her head was thoughts about her now completed mission with Nikolias. The festival had been wonderful; one of the best moments Mira could remember.
FLASHBACK
Bright lanterns lined the streets, piercing the dark night sky and bathing the town in festive yellow lights. Red banners were hung on the sides of the buildings and people who had windows facing the event hung fancy lights and signs to add to the festivities. The entire town was filled to capacity, making it difficult to wind through the streets. Food stands offering any food imaginable were set up all over town. Children's laughter could be heard everywhere as they played tag or won a prize at a booth.
Nikolias was dragged by the hand down the street by Mira as they snaked their way through the crowd of people, trying to find a place to eat. The grin on Mira's face from when Nikolias told her about the tickets never left as she searched for a place that looked good. Eventually, her eyes found a stand that was serving fancy pastries and elegant fruit platters. She turned to Nikolias. "Let's eat at that one!"
Nikolias looked towards the stand that she pointed to and smiled. "Looks good."
They walked towards the food stand and sat down. The man behind the wooden counter smiled at the two customers. "Hello there! What can I get you two?"
Mira looked at the selection before her. "I'll have a cinnamon roll and can I have that fruit platter there, please?" she asked while pointing towards a plate full of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, and grapes.
The man nodded and put together her order. "And how about you, young sir?"
"I'll have two of those mini quiches and that fruit platter there," he said with a smile as he pointed to a fruit platter with strawberries, pineapple, grapes, apples, pears, and cantaloupe.
The man nodded and put together his order before bringing both orders to the two hungry visitors. The two thanked the man before digging in. The man watched with a smile before his attention was called for elsewhere.
"Mmm, this is delicious!" Mira said as she took a bite of her cinnamon roll.
"A good choice for sure, Mira," Nikolias nodded as he piled some fruit into his mouth. As polite as he was, he still tended to eat like a dragon.
Upon finishing their meals, Mira stood up and stretched. The vendor noticed this and walked over. "Did you enjoy yourselves?"
"Yes, thank you!" Mira said as she began digging into her purse for payment. However, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Nikolias chuckling. "What?"
"You don't have to pay, Mira. This is my treat. Everything's on me."
"Nikolias, you don't have to do that. We just got our reward so I can easily pay for myself."
"Please, I insist," he said as he put a couple Jewels on the counter. He turned to the vendor. "This should cover our meals. Feel free to keep the change."
"Thank you, young sir," the man said as he scooped up the money. He then shot Mira a wink. "He's quite the gentleman, young miss. You're quite the lucky lady."
Mira blushed at the man's comment. "Umm…," she started but didn't know what to say.
Nikolias couldn't help but laugh. "Thank you for the food, sir. It was wonderful. So Mira, where would you like to go next?"
The two wandered the festival for hours, enjoying the various games and food stands that were set up everywhere, before Nikolias dragged Mira outside of the festival.
"Where are we going? The festival is back that way," she asked as she tried to keep up with Nikolias.
"I know. I just want to show you something," he called back without turning around.
"What is it?"
"You'll see."
After about a minute, a wide open hill came into view. Nikolias led Mira on top of the hill before sitting down.
"What are we doing out here?" she asked. "There's nothing out here."
He smiled up at her. "You'll see in a minute." He patted the ground beside him. "Sit with me."
Mira blushed slightly and complied. She sat on the ground with her legs underneath her and her arms behind her to support her weight.
"So have you enjoyed the festival so far?" Nikolias asked.
"Yes I have. I'd like to look around more, though."
He laughed. "We will. I just wanted to show you something." He sniffed the air. "It's starting soon!"
"What's starting soon?" she asked.
Suddenly, the air lit up with a wide array of vibrant colors as fireworks exploded in the sky. Nikolias smiled at Mira's reaction to the sight.
"It's beautiful!" she breathed. The reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and purples painted the black back drop in various patterns, making Mira gasp with astonishment with every new display.
"I'm glad you think so. I figured that we could get a better view of the show from this spot."
Mira couldn't tear her eyes away from the sky. "Good thinking. I can't believe how clearly I can see everything."
He smiled and turned his attention to the sky. He laid down on the grass and put his arms behind his head as he admired the pleasant colors. Suddenly, he felt a light weight on his left side. He moved his head slightly to see Mira lying down beside him, her arms gently touching his chest. "Mira?"
"Thank you, Nikolias. This has been one of the greatest nights of my life," she said as she cuddled into his side and stared at the fireworks.
Nikolias smiled. "Me too, Mira. Me too."
The festival was winding down as midnight approached. Mira had fallen asleep once the fireworks had ended, so Nikolias carried her bridal style back to the room and gently placed her into bed. Once he had showered and changed, he got into bed himself only to hear Mira stir.
"Wha…where am I?" she asked.
"You fell asleep when the fireworks ended so I carried you back to the room," he answered.
"I did?" Mira asked, trying to recall when she fell asleep. She felt like she had only closed her eyes for a moment. "Huh…well I'm sorry for making you carry me."
"Not a problem," he said, smiling at her.
"Nikolias?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you again for tonight. It was…it was magical."
"It was a lot of fun. I hope we can do something this fun again soon." With that, he fell asleep, the day's events finally catching up with him.
Mira smiled softly at him and blushed. "I hope so, too," she whispered before she, too, fell asleep.
FLASHBACK END
"Mira! Hey Mira! Snap out of it!"
Mira blinked as the voice broke the spell she was under. She looked up to see Cana, Lisanna, and Laki walking over to her.
"Hello girls. What can I do for you?" Mira asked with her usual sweet smile.
"You can spill your guts," Cana said. "What happened on the mission?"
Mira blinked. "It was a typical mission. We arrived at the town and went to the hotel. I got us a room while Nikolias went to inform the client of our arrival…"
"Wait, back up," Cana barked.
"You slept with him?!" Lisanna hissed.
Mira glared at her sister. "Yes we slept in the same bed, but no, we didn't sleep together."
"I don't believe you," Cana growled. "Like you wouldn't have taken the opportunity to make a move."
"I did no such thing," Mira defended. "We slept, nothing more." She didn't appreciate all of the accusations. She was proud of herself for not giving in to her lustful feelings that first night.
"Continue the story," Laki ordered.
Mira sighed. "Fine. The next day, we headed out to our mission. We found the monster that was terrorizing the town and easily defeated it. Then we collected our reward money."
"You're lying," Cana scoffed.
"I'm not lying," Mira said. She was starting to feel a little angry.
Cana threw back a beer, slammed it on the counter, and pointed at Mira. "If you two beat the monster so handily, then why did you just get back today and not yesterday?"
Mira blushed as she once again recalled the amazing night she had with Nikolias at the festival. The girls all noticed the blush. "You did something, didn't you?" Lisanna accused. "What did you do, Mira?"
Mira knew she couldn't escape this. "There was a festival in town that night. Once we got paid for our mission success, we headed to the room to pack. Nikolias said he was going to get lunch and when he came back, he had lunch as well tickets to the festival. That's why we didn't come back yesterday."
Lisanna whined. "It's so unfair! You got to spend so much alone time with Nikolias!"
"I bet you paid Nikolias back for the tickets on the second night together, huh?" Cana purred suggestively.
"Again, all we did was sleep," Mira said blushing.
"Oh come on, Mira. If any of us were in your shoes, we probably would have tried something, so sorry if it's hard to believe that you did nothing but sleep, do a mission, and hang out with nothing more intimate going on," Cana said. The other girls nodded their agreement.
"Believe what you want, but I intend not to rush into anything," Mira said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wait tables." With that, she walked from behind the counter and began going from table to table and taking orders.
Cana, Lisanna, and Laki all stared at Mira before looking at each other.
"We're falling behind," Cana said. "We need to make sure our names are in the running. Nikolias needs to know that Mira's not the only girl in the guild who's interested."
"Right. Mira got a head start but we can catch up," Laki agreed.
"We have work to do. May the best girl win," Lisanna said. The girls nodded and disbanded, determined to come up with a plan to get some alone time with Nikolias.
"Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me!" Gracie chanted.
Nikolias had his head face down on the pillow of his bed, trying to ignore Gracie as best he could.
"TALK TO ME, TALK TO ME, TALK TO ME!"
"Holy shit, why are you so loud?" Nikolias groaned.
"It's the only way to get to you sometimes. Now spill. How was the mission?"
He turned over and sat up to look at Gracie. "It was fine. Really easy, actually. Mira fights well."
"I'm glad she fought well, but I want some details! Come on, tell me! I told you about my mission."
"What's there to say?"
"Just summarize the whole thing."
"Alright. We got to the town, Mira went to get us rooms while I went to talk to the client. Real talkative mother fucker. When I got back to the hotel, Mira had gotten us a room so we went up to…"
"FREEZE! You got one room?"
"Yeah. Apparently there was a festival the next day, so the hotels were pretty booked. We were lucky to get a room."
"I see. Go on," Gracie said, a grin creeping onto her face.
Nikolias saw this grin. It concerned him, but he went on. "We went up to the room and we got ready to sleep. We went to bed and…"
"FREEZE! What happened in the bed? Anything fun?"
He gave her a deadpanned look. "We slept. That's all."
"Aww, that's disappointing. Nothing?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Well, I did have a nightmare, so we ended up falling asleep together since she wanted to comfort me."
Gracie stared wide-eyed. "Asleep together as in…"
He sighed. "In each other's arms," he said with a defeated tone.
Gracie squealed. "Oh, this is awesome!"
"You're reading too much into it."
"No I'm not! I've never seen you sleep like that before, not even with me!"
"You tend to sleep naked, so there's that reason."
"Oh whatever. What was the nightmare?"
He looked at her, the pain evident in his eyes. "It was the night they all died."
Her smile vanished. "So…not a nightmare. You were reliving a memory again?"
He nodded.
"Niky…When was the last time you relived anything?"
"I honestly can't remember and I have no idea what brought it around again."
"Well, let's move on then. So you fell asleep in each other's arms?" she cooed before giggling.
"Yes. Then we woke up and headed out to do the mission. We fought the fucking giant and took it down without much issue. I took its head for proof of completion, we collected the reward, and then we headed back to the room."
"Okay, now why were you two a day late coming back then?"
Nikolias looked away. "Well…I enjoyed spending time with her, so I bought an extra night in the hotel and purchased two tickets to the festival."
"Aww, how romantic."
"No, no, no. Not romantic. A fun night spent with a friend."
"Denial."
"Not in denial."
"Oh, you so are. You like her."
"She's a good friend."
"Niky, just admit that you're…"
"Stop!" he shouted before calming down. He looked away from her. "Just…stop."
Gracie frowned. "Alright, I'm sorry. So what did you do at the festival?"
"Ate food, played games, watched some fireworks; usual festival stuff really."
"Well that does sound fun! I wish I could have gone to the festival."
"You would've enjoyed it. Don't worry; apparently this place throws parties left and right. You'll experience a party or festival sooner rather than later."
She clapped her hands. "Good! Well, now that I have the details from you, time to get up and join everyone downstairs."
He collapsed back on the bed. "Hell no. I'm still tired. Wake me later."
"How can you be so tired all the time?"
"I dunno. Dragon thing, I guess."
"Lazy ass. Fine, sleep the day away. See if I care. I'm gonna go socialize!"
"Knock yourself out."
Gracie huffed and turned on her heels to leave. She stopped in the doorway to shoot one last sympathetic glance at a now face down Nikolias. 'Oh Niky. One day it'll stop hurting and you can see what's right in front of you.' She closed the door and made her way to the main hall.
Gracie walked into the main hall and sat down. She sighed as she put her chin in her hands. She knew that she wasn't wrong; Nikolias felt something for Mira and she knew that Mira felt something for him, too. She just wished that she could help her friend overcome the constant pain he was battling so that he could achieve happiness that she believed he deserved.
"Gracie, are you alright?"
Gracie lifted her head to see Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Erza standing in front of her. She gave them all a big smile. "Hi guys! Yeah I'm fine, I was just thinking about stuff. What's up?"
"You looked sad, so we wanted to make sure that everything was okay," Lucy said. It was clear that she was concerned about her friend.
Gracie giggled. "Oh I'm not sad. Sorry if I worried you."
Lucy smiled. "It's fine. As long as you're okay."
Natsu jumped forward. "I see Mira and Nikolias finally made it back. Where's Nikolias?"
"He's sleeping."
"Man, he sleeps more than Natsu," Gray commented.
"Oi, you wanna start something, ice prick?" Natsu threatened.
"Bring it on, coal boy," Gray shot back, preparing for a fight.
"Not now, you two," Erza said, causing the two boys to instantly separate.
Gracie giggled. "I'll never get over how easily you can control those two. It's quite funny."
"Erza's scary," Happy said as he flew over. "She can get anyone to do anything."
"I can tell that she is quite persuasive," Gracie said with a laugh.
"So anyway," Natsu cut in, "if Nikolias is back, do you think he can show me some stuff?"
"He might be persuaded into that," Gracie answered.
"Sweet! I'll go get him." He ran off before Gracie could stop him.
"He sure is energetic, isn't he?" Gracie said.
"You have no idea," Lucy said.
"Well, having a lot of energy can be very beneficial," Gracie said with a wink, causing Lucy to blush bright red.
"Are you alright, Lucy?" Erza asked. "You're very red."
"Maybe she has a fever," Gray offered.
"I'm fine and I don't have a fever," Lucy said, but didn't make eye contact.
"Then what's wrong?" Erza asked. "Why are you so red?"
"I…I'm not!" she stuttered.
"Yeah you are. You look like your face is on fire," Gray said.
"I…It's nothing, r…really," she assured as she felt her entire body heat up from embarrassment.
"It's not nothing," Gracie giggled, earning a glare from Lucy.
Lucy just wanted to hide somewhere. "Guys knock it off…"
"HEY! GRACIE!"
Everyone in the guild turned to see Natsu panting, a look of panic on his face.
"Natsu, what's wrong?" Erza asked.
Natsu looked at Gracie. "Gracie, come quick! Something is going on with Nikolias!"
Gracie's eyes widened as she sped to Nikolias' room with everyone following behind her.
As they ran, Gracie turned to Natsu. "What did you see?"
"I went in to wake him up and he was covered in sweat, he looked extremely tense, and he was making a lot of weird noises," Natsu answered.
They reached the door and Gracie threw it open. They all saw Nikolias sitting up in bed, panting, covered in sweat, and clutching his head.
Gracie gingerly tiptoed into the room, signaling everyone to stay where they were. "Niky?" she whispered. "Everything okay?"
He didn't respond. He just sat there, unmoving, his panting the only sign that he was even still alive.
Gracie sat beside him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Niky, talk to me," she said calmly.
"It happened again," he rasped.
"What happened again?"
He moved his hands from his head, allowing Gracie to see that his eyes were dragon-like and staring straight at the floor. "The nightmare."
"You relived it again?"
He nodded.
"Niky, I'm sorry. I know that's tough to see."
Nikolias' hand shot up and grabbed the Gracie's hand that was on his shoulder. He was gripping it tightly, causing Gracie some pain, but she swallowed it, knowing that Nikolias needed this for comfort.
"No one was here," he mumbled.
"What do you mean?"
Tears started falling from his eyes and his raspy voice was now trembling. "No one was here to wake me up…I had to see it all…I had to relive it all."
"Niky I'm so sorry. I should've stayed with you."
"It's not your fault," he said as he began to straighten up. His eyes were starting to calm down and began changing back to his human eyes. "I chose to sleep. It was my mistake."
"Come on, let's get you some food," Gracie said. She turned around and motioned for everyone to scatter. They all immediately obeyed, heading back to the main hall to give Nikolias his space. She stood up, helping Nikolias to his feet.
He moved himself from Gracie and smiled. "Thanks Gracie."
"For what?"
"For making them all leave. Now I have some time to compose myself before they see me."
"It's okay to cry, Niky."
"I know. I just don't want to have to explain myself."
"You may have to."
He sighed. "Fucking great."
She giggled. "Don't worry. I'll be there to help you anyway I can."
"Can you keep them away?"
She winked. "Probably not."
He chuckled lightly. "Thanks so much for the help."
The two made their way to the main hall. Much to Nikolias' delight, no one bothered to ask about what happened as he made his way to the bar with Gracie for some food.
Mira walked over with a worried smile on her face. "Would you like something to eat, Nikolias?"
He looked up and saw the pity in her eyes. He cringed slightly by the look, but tried his best to hide it as he smiled back. "Some sausage would be nice."
Mira nodded and went to get his food.
Gracie patted his hand. "You gonna be alright?"
He gave her a toothy grin. "Yeah I'll be fine. I've relived that moment and others like it multiple times and, while they never get any easier to see, I do recover once I realize there's nothing I can do about it anymore. As time has gone on, I recover faster and faster. As soon as I eat some sausage, I'll be good as new."
"Good!"
Mira walked over with the sausage. "Dig in!"
"Thanks Mira," he said with a smile as he began devouring the meat before him. He felt the pitiful stares on his back as he ate, which only quickened his pace. As soon as he finished, he stood up. "Thanks for the food, Mira. I'll be outside if anyone needs me." He began walking towards the door.
"What are you gonna do?" Gracie asked.
With a wave of his hand and without turning around, he called back, "Training." And with that, he walked out of the guild.
"Gracie, is he going to be all right?" Mira asked.
Gracie turned to look at her. "Yeah, he's fine. He just doesn't enjoy people looking at him with pity, which I'm sure he felt in here."
"Oh," Mira said as she looked down. She had been looking at Nikolias with sorrow and pity. She never wanted to cause him pain.
"Mira, I want to ask you about something."
"What is it, Gracie?"
"Nikolias told me that he had a nightmare while you guys were on your mission. Do you know anything about it?"
"No, he wouldn't tell me anything. All I know is that it was a memory and he didn't want to talk about it."
"Okay. Can I ask you a favor then?"
"Absolutely."
She leaned in close so that no one could over hear. "Niky won't admit it because of his past, but he really does like you. He's fighting it, but I'm hoping that soon he'll realize it's a losing battle. Can you just make sure you stay close to him? I don't mean live with him or stalk him or even do every single mission with him. I just mean let him know that you won't leave him and you'll always be there."
Mira blushed. She didn't know how to respond so she simply nodded.
Gracie smiled. "Thank you Mira."
Outside of Fairy Tail in the training area, Nikolias sat in a tree with his eyes closed.
"Why? Why do I keep reliving those events? How many years has it been since I last had those nightmares? Why are they coming back now?" he thought out loud. He opened his eyes and stared at the sky. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" He clenched his teeth in frustration, unable to reach any sort of reason for his recent nightmares. He jumped down to the ground and gathered shadows in his hand. With a cry of anger and frustration, he fired a massive Shadow Dragon Pulse into the air. He watched it travel, waiting for the pressure of the atmosphere to eventually cause it to discharge. Once it did, a black wave spread across the sky.
He collapsed to his knees while his gaze never left the sky. 'Why? Why now?'
After five minutes of staring at the sky, Nikolias knew what he had to do. He stood up and walked back into Fairy Tail.
Gracie saw him walk in. "Hey Niky! How was the training?" However, Nikolias didn't respond. He just looked at the ground. "Niky? Everything okay?"
He looked up, his mood never changing. "I'm leaving for a while, Gracie."
"Leaving?" she asked, confused.
"Yes, leaving."
"But…why?"
"I just…need to figure something out. I shouldn't be long. And don't worry, I'll come back."
"Well I'll come with you then."
"No, I need to go alone for this one."
"Nikolias, what's going on?" Makarov asked.
"Personal business, Master. I'm not leaving the guild, I'm just taking a solo mission, so don't worry."
"Why is it so important that you go alone?" Erza asked.
"Look, I don't want to explain it." He looked at Gracie. "I need to do this. I'll be back in five days max."
Gracie frowned, but nodded. "Okay. Just be safe."
Mira leaned in close to Gracie. "You're just going to let him go?"
Gracie nodded. "He's a big boy and he knows what he's doing."
Nikolias turned around to head back out. Once outside, he allowed his wings and tail to emerge from his backside. He flapped his wings a few times to stretch them out, sending dirt into the air. He turned to see everyone outside and looking at him. "Don't worry guys. Five days isn't that long. I'll be back before ya know it." With that he jumped into the air and flew off.
Everyone headed back inside while a few pestered Gracie with questions.
"Where is he going?"
"Will he be alright?"
"What's he looking for?"
"What personal business?"
"Does it have to do with the nightmare he had?"
"Will he really come back?"
Gracie just sighed. "Guys I promise you that I don't know much of anything. He'll be back, though. I know that for sure."
Mira was the only one who stayed outside to watch Nikolias disappear. She held her hands close to her chest. 'Please Nikolias, be safe and come back soon.'
Out in the woods sat a dark and eerie building. Bare and twisted trees lined the walls and a sinister black gate stood as the entrance. Inside of the building was a group of wizards, laughing amongst themselves.
"Quiet, everyone, quiet! The Master is going to speak!" commanded one of the members.
Out of the shadows walked a tall, lean man with black clothing. He had dark skin with red tattoos all over his face and arms. He stood among his people with a wicked grin.
He raised his arms to demand silence and everyone obeyed. "My friends! It is time for Dark Guilds to make a significant mark on this world! We will show everyone our power and make them bow to us! We shall have the Magic Council kissing the dirt beneath our feet!" A loud chorus of cheering erupted in the guild. The man raised his arms again and silence took over the guild once more. "We shall show the world our strength by proving that not even the strongest guild in Fiore can stop us!"
"All hail Master Severo!" called out one member.
"All shall fear the Bloody Moon guild!" cried another.
Severo lifted his arms once more, but this time with triumphant fists, causing the cheering in the room to intensify significantly. "We shall eliminate Fairy Tail and show the world true power!"
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it! To those who don't, enjoy the holiday season!
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my story. This is my first FanFiction, so obviously it's not perfect. I do love writing it, though, and I hope everyone else is enjoying it as well.
I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed. I always light up whenever I see a new review or see that someone has decided to follow or favorite my story. I hope you all continue to enjoy what I put out there.
Thank you all again! Should have a new chapter out before the New Year.
