Unblinking eyes stared at a dark ceiling. Erza watched the unmoving planks of wood that decorated her roof. The sun had set a while now and the members of the guild had returned to their homes to rest. Though she didn't knew, many others stayed up thinking about the events they saw on the lacrima projection.
Who could have guessed Natsu was related to the Black Mage himself? Erza was still processing that reality in her mind. She didn't want to believe the Lacrima, but everything it spewed out strangely fit together. The only way to fully confirm what it claimed and showed would be to prove something it had shown is true. The only thing she could think would fit those needs would be if Natsu actually knew the council woman and that girl Lucy joined their guild; Which would happen in a week from now when Natsu returns. If what the Lacrima stated the date of events to be was true as well.
She got to her feet and walked to her bathroom and twisted the nob to fill the bath. It was only when she saw her own reflection that she realized she still hadn't removed the armor, even when she lay in bed and ready to fall asleep she frequently forgot wearing it.
Erza stared at the metallic suit, a Hearts Cruz set of plate armor, she had it ever since she had risen in rank as a mage and still remembered how she got it; Gifted in celebration of her ascension by Natsu. She still even remembered the words he said that day.
"It was due for a change! Your old armor barely fits you anymore … and, you won't stink up the guild as much now" he promptly scratched his nose.
She hit him for that last comment. That was before she got home and realized how much that old armor smelled, she'd never washed it after all.
She felt a smile creep into her face and a bright light emitted from her body. Once it dissipated Erza's armor and clothes underneath disappeared, only to leave her skin exposed to the chill air seeping into the room through an open window. Laying on her tub she let out a sigh once only her head was left unsubmerged in the hot water. The feeling of the nearly-boiling water against her skin relaxed her muscles and she sunk further into the tub. She thought that forgetfulness she always seemed to have for that armor. Hearts Cruz, or Crossed Hearts a symbol of: honesty, honor and love.
The story of Hearts Cruz originated long ago. One of the many stories imbedded into a legend through the years as one of many Fairy Tales told to children in their beds all over the continent. The tale of two individuals who through their mutual trust in each other were able to deal a pivotal blow to the old empire of the west; which ended in its defeat centuries ago.
The story changed through the years and places onto whether the two individuals were Dragons, humans, or something else, but what always stayed the most concistent is that the two could have only won their fight due to their trust; sometimes love, in the other. It was a story she loved to hear in those cold nights inside that miserable tower; Uncle Rob's version especially. It had one be a human and the other a dragon. A great dragon and warrior noble working together despite their differences to beat the 'bad guys'.
She felt her her eyelids to close halfway the relaxing bath brought her a great drowsiness, coupled with not sleeping pre mid-night. 'Why is that I wonder.'
A sudden crash erupted from the living room and Erza's eyes shot open only to be blinded by the light of the morning dawn. "What the?" she noticed she had fallen asleep in the bathtub. She jumped up slammed the bathroom door open and with her Requip magic and was adorned in her Hearts Cruz armor, pointing a newly appeared sword at the direction the commotion came from. She had to blow away a few wet strands of hair that clung to her mouth in the process.
Erza noticed one of her stands lay fallen with the armor it displayed strewn around on the floor around it. Erza looked around for a possible cause, but ended empty handed after a few minutes of inspecting her apartment; 'how strange'. Letting out a sigh she Requip'd her towel to dry her body and she sat on her bed; where noticed a blue light emit from her bookshelf.
'Was that always there?' she thought. The light emitted from in between two books where she found a blue envelope sticking out. She pulled it out and inspected its paper; it read.
To Erza Scarlet and Fairy Tail
She quickly opened the envelope and letter and read through its writing.
Dear Fairy Tail. Yesterday you all viewed the capabilities of the lacrima I and my associate gifted you with. We let you have a free run of it for a bit, but we ask of you to follow our instructions in future uses. The Lacrima was made to follow a set path of 'revelations' after all. I guarantee that what it will show in this set path will eventually answer all questions you might have. Once all of you are in the guild and ready for another session of episodes another letter will appear beside the Lacrima, which will contain further instructions on its use.
Makarov finished reading the letter and set it to lay beside him on the counter. "I still wonder what this fellow gets from all this." he rubbed his chin, overlooking the much more mellow guild in the morning.
"The first letter said "If you wish for Fairy Tail to endure." So they might be doing it to help us" Levy proposed.
"It would help if the letter wasn't purposefully vague" Mirajane said, handing the master a pint afterwards.
"Its still strange. This lacrima uses versions of Projection, Archive, Time-manipulation, Hearing, and other magics I can't fully identify." He inspected the lacrima, hoping he found something he missed previously in its surface or capabilities. "Its impressive. The work of a most amazing artisan."
"I guess so, but what would be its "set path"?" Mira asked.
"I'm not sure Mirajane."
"Hey Gray."
The sudden call and cold gauntleted hand on his shoulder nearly made Gray spit out his breakfast. But managed to keep it together enough to respond a few seconds later. "Hey Erza. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. What I'm wondering about is you, how have you been taking what we learned yesterday" she asked.
" … I'm not sure. Its a lot to take in-" he gulped. He patted the seat next to him and Erza promptly sat to listen. "I haven't told you, or Natsu. Only the master knows" he began.
"I lived in a village in the north. In Iceberg. I was only ten when the village was destroyed by a demon of Zeref; the Giant Deliora. My parents died that day, but I somehow survived and a while later a mage and her disciple found me and took me in. Her name was Ur Milkovich." While speaking Gray trailed of in thought to the councilor acquaintance of Natsu. 'She looked just like master and she said her name is Ultear Milkovich. So, she must be Ur's daughter, but Ur said her daughter was dead …
"Gray?"
He was pulled out of his thoughts by an expectant Erza. "Sorry. Two years later Deliora reappeared and I left my new master to kill it-" Gray grew a hollow smile as if he found amusement in his past stupidity. "Its safe to say I was powerless against it. She came to my rescue then and fought off Deliora, but she and her other apprentice died in the battle. It wasn't long after Master found me; he was sent by the council to stop Deliora, but he had been too late … That's how I got into Fairy Tail."
" … "
"Sorry to bother you with my rambling. Its-" he bit his lip. He was interrupted from saying anything else when the same gauntleted hand rested on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Her smile made Gray feel the urge to nod back as if everything was alright.
"Its fine Gray. We all make mistakes, especially when we're still young and inexperienced. Though, keeping all that to yourself sure is one of those."
"huh?"
"Bottling up all that. Everyone here has one or two stories to tell."
Gray let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Yeah. There are no shortages of orphans in Fairy Tail are there." He looked to Levy, Cana, Mira and Elfman; and those were but a small number of all of them.
"Try to talk to others more. You might not notice, but everyone thinks you're antisocial."
"Really!? You're one to talk" he said. 'Miss Disciplinarian' he rolled his eyes.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Erza tilted her head in response.
Gray's eyes shot open. "You-you're clueless?"
"What? I'm not clueless." She'd heard Mira say that before; many times.
Gray didn't seem to listen "-And I thought Natsu was clueless." 'Yes. Clueless is more fitting, she doesn't even realize she's a hypocrite.'
Erza was about to press further, but were silenced by the sudden scream of Levy. "What's wrong?" she asked, passing through the crowding members of the guild. She saw Levy, her face was red at all the attention her startled scream got. She shakily lifted a letter from her lap that had suddenly appeared in a small flash of blue light.
"It's nothing, just surprised is all." she reassured the crowd. She handed the letter to Makarov, who promptly read it out loud to the entire guild.
Dear Fairy Tail
This letter holds the instructions for further use of the A.K.L. (All-Knowing Lacrima.) Understand these instructions are in place to complete the intended purpose of the lacrima; it will not follow any instruction other than those written here from now on. To access the instructions, pour a bit of magic into the seal on the back of the letter.
Makarov did as the letter instructed and a book suddenly appeared in his hands. He flied it and read the title on the cover and spine of the book. Fairy Tail Origins; it read. His curiosity at the title was set aside and opened it to look over the first page.
There are many chapters in F.T.O. all which need specific key codes to active. Each key code will appear once the previous chapter has been completed.
CH 1: Done
Ch 2: 002FS-P
Makarov's eyes narrowed. 'Fairy Tail Origins. As in the origins of the guild'? He sighed and handed the book to Erza. "You can start it now Erza."
Erza took the book and read the code out loud. Once she did the lacrima acted once again and the projection began.
X349 Alakitasia
July 16th
Bare feet ran past the broken stone roads and earth, skin damaged and bleeding; and hushed whispers were said by breathless, exhausted children. Two in particular; brothers of different ages ran for their lives. One, the younger brother tripped with a piece of debris on the road.
"Natsu! Come on get up! There might still be more dragons around here." Zeref said, but soon noticed he wasn't moving. His hands on the floor and face covered by his hair from Zeref's eyes. Natsu's head rose and Zeref saw the boy's teary eyes; tears ready to fall at any moment the black haired boy was silenced by the unfamiliar sight. His gaze saw past him set on something Zeref couldn't figure out.
Natsu jumped up and ran at Zeref a fist raised, he punched the older boy with a blow that tumbled him to the ground. Falling on his rear on the paved road, before Zeref knew it Natsu was above him sending punch after punch at his downed form as he felt a drops upon drops of water landing on his face. Raising his arms to cover from the hits Zeref let his brother wail on him until he ran out of energy. "We could have saved her!" he heard him shout.
Zeref's lack of response only infuriated Natsu further "If you'd have let me go I could have saved her!" he hit again, and again and again. After a while his punches began to slow down, the pain all over his body now getting to him. "We could have at least. Done That. Done … something." He stared at his knuckles now red and bleeding in some places. The floodgates were severed and his cry brought tears to his brothers eyes.
Zeref remained silent despite the tears now dripping from his eyes. He helped Natsu up and the two continued their travel to the Duke's castle further north; silent.
"A-am I the only one who forgot this happened?" shakily asked Wacaba.
"After what happened there I didn't want to remember it either." Macao replied.
X349 Alakitasia
September 12th
The guild stayed silent, they were suddenly reminded of the traumatic event that the two brothers had survived.
The mid-day sun shined on the great town of Cálicia; Located to the mid-east of Alakitasia on the province of Mesa in the country of Lecia. Summer was nearing its end and Autumn was close to arrive. On a hill overlooking the town stood a large building, made of wood and stone. It had many rooms where children of many ages lay, slept, played, or simply hang out. On the front door of the place lay a large wooden sign. Saint Jean Orphanage, it read.
Zeref sat in one of the rooms of the orphanage. Many papers strewn around the room, alongside a table where a large book lay open on the middle; the book Franz gifted the young teen. He was looking over the book and writing notes over its contents. As its title called so, it held great deals of information over the most prominent of civilizations of Ishgar. The continent being far more diverse in its animals, plant life, and intelligent life than Alakitasia; where only humans and dragons ruled.
The door sprung open and an ecstatic Natsu entered the room, a cylindrical casing in his hands he got to the table and opened the casing. "You got it?" Zeref's question was ignored as Natsu pulled out a large map from the casing. While Natsu did that Zeref sighed and moved the notes and book from the table leaving it clean for the map to rest atop. Pulling it to its full range the map was a world map, it showing two of the main continents of the world and the latest known countries and landmasses to the Cartographers of Alakitasia.
"Okay. Now that we have it." Zeref flipped through the pages of the book while Natsu looked at the map.
'With this we'll find Irene' Natsu thought.
"Oh, they're still looking for the girl" said Alzack.
"Quite persistent of them." Bisca said with a smile on her face.
"Here." Zeref stopped on a page of the book. Titled Dragons of Ishgar. The book had many drawings of dragons native to the continent at which he looked to Natsu. "I didn't see the dragon that well. I only noticed it was red, but that doesn't tell us anything; what was it like?"
Natsu got to think and recall back the appearance of the dragon that took Irene. "Well, it was different from the other dragons since it had two arms and wings instead of its arms and wings being combined. He also had a big jaw and its head was more square-like than the other dragons; its scales were also like squares."
"The fact that it had arms separate from its wings confirms its a dragon from Ishgar." Zeref replied and continued to look over the diverse range of dragons in the book.
"It was also 'gentle' with Irene … It didn't try to harm Irene, it took her and just flew away." He then put his finger on a corner of the landmass of Alakitasia, where their coastal town once stood. "It flew to the sun, and it was near night so it flew east. I remember … "
Zeref stopped on a certain page which caught his eye. "The kingdom of Dragov." he read out loud.
"You found something?"
"hmm. The King of Dragov kind-of fits your description of that dragon."
Natsu looked over the drawing of the king of Dragov. Belserion was its name and was similar to the dragon he saw, but there was something wrong he could tell just by a glance. "No, it can't be, the dragon didn't have that horn or that 'thing' on its chin and those big teeth. Though if it wasn't for those things then it would look just like that dragon."
" … Maybe a relative of the king?" 'Hm, if that true then why was a relative of a royal of Ishgar in Alakitasia.' thought Zeref.
Natsu took the book and cross referenced with the map the location of Dragov. He then pondered on the direction the dragon flew. "If it came from Dragov then it would fit its look. Since it flew to the sun and across the sea, and the direction the sun sets is … " He traced a strait line with his finger from their town to where the sun would set from that vantage point. It passed a few islands across the sea between the two continents, but it also crossed a few countries in the Fiore Confederation and Dragov.
"Damn, this Natsu is smarter than ours." Gray looked on impressed.
"Then they are going to go around the world for Irene?" Mirajane face held a smile at the boys' dedication. 'I knew it. Even in a past life those two are made for each other.'
'The kingdom of Dragov.' Makarov recalled what he'd learnt of the ancient kingdom many years ago in the Magic Council's archives. A grand dragon-ruled kingdom, second to the capital of the Fiore Confederation as the hub of trade, education, and technological developments in the continent. That was until it fell during the warring period four hundred years ago. If he'd remember correctly, it would only be a bit more than a decade until the war that destroyed the country began, (In the two boys' time.)
"Yes! That's where Irene must be." Natsu smile seemed to light up the room.
Though Zeref he held a sense of doubt. 'The dragon could have still done something to Irene, but I don't want to hurt Natsu with those thoughts. Even if we never find Irene its still be better to go to Ishgar than to stay here.' "Its time to save up then, a voyage to another continent costs way more than a simple map. But, we have a goal. Now we need a Plan." Natsu smile didn't waver for a second at the new challenge on their way.
X350 Alakitasia
October 5th
"Now that's a time jump." Macao said.
"And more than a full year too." Laki was surprised at how the lacrima just skipped through days and weeks and now months like nothing. She wondered how much the two boys would have gone through in that year that the lacrima skipped.
It was dawn on the town of Cálicia, and in the town square merchants, foreign and local were beginning to start their work days eager for Happy hour at noon for their goods to sell until their stock vanished. On the main row of stands, (where the comestible goods were sold) a group of merchants were discussing.
"No, no no! Another one!?" a man screamed, in the crowd. Others simply sighed discontent or began to worry of the possible future. They were looking at the news board. Updated every week or so from local to geopolitical news in nearby countries or of new conflicts stirring up.
"We already had a feud end a few weeks ago, why's another one starting up?" a member of the crowd asked fervently.
"Apparently the king of Luntu wasn't satisfied with conquering the south of Lecia. Tsk! Greedy bastard I say!" another man in the crowd replied.
"Though its still quite some time before they get here. Lecia is on its last legs, but will still last for some time." A particular older man in the crowd spoke.
"Master Cruz, How much do you think we have?" One of the men turned to an older bald man in the circle of merchants.
"A year, year and a half at most, from there Luntu will take over Lecia and reach Cálicia." He sighed, "I am afraid our profits will take a great hit."
"Does that mean we'll have to disband the guild next year?" another merchant asked.
"If we don't want to be subservient to Luntu, that is." Cruz said.
'A merchants guild?' Gray wondered, he hadn't heard the word 'Guild' be used for groups of merchants that much, now-a-days. It was now mostly reserved for general combat or intelligence centric groups; Those were mostly Magic Guilds, which were vastly different from what someone would consider a guild to be. Magic Guilds are backed by the Magic Council with the approval of the King, and by proxy had to abide to set rules and stipulations for further regulation of their activities far more than a regular non-magic guild. (Job request money could only go so far as to fund a Magic Guild).
Fairy Tail was the outlier as unlike any other guild in Fiore it was privately funded, (Gray himself didn't know where all the money Fairy Tail paid to repair all the towns that they destroyed came from.) and not under the stipulations set by the Magic Council for a guild to follow, due to this Fairy tail was generally stigmatized by the Magic Council and lower sects of the government and government owned or funded newspapers. Privately owned newspapers like Sorcerer Weekly however, played up the feud between the Guild and the government to sensationalize them, to something akin to Freedom Fighters in leu of the many uprisings against the Monarchies of Ishgar in the past decades … 'Here I am rambling again' …
Makarov turned to Levy curious as to what the girl was doing since she began writing notes on the events shown by the lacrima. He was surprised as to what he saw. She was packed with various notes books laid around her table, ordered by type to be as organized as possible. They were titled People, Places, Events, and a final one titled Timeline.
"You're quite invested in recording all of this." he told the girl.
"huh? Oh Master! yeah, yeah I am." she showed him the current page she was working on, titled War in Cálicia and Luntu-X349-? "Well right now I'm just writing the headers of the pages. I still need more information to write more than that."
"I see … " Makarov didn't really know what to say at the girl's enthusiasm on the subject. He simply wanted to see what danger to the guild could come up in the future, but seeing the pacing of the events shown by the lacrima, it'll probably be months until they reach the current year. "Might as well." he smiled at levy and her assistant sitting beside her writing notes as well. "Though how did you convince Erza to help you record keep?"
Erza was staring at the screen, not at all paying attention at the discourse around the guild or curious glances thrown her way, she instead wrote down what ever came up as a possible important detail in on of levy's notebooks until the blue haired girl would snap her out of her trance. Levy grew a quite red blush on her cheeks and looked away from the red head girl "It's nothing."
"What is this though?" While looking through the pages Makarov found a particular one that caught his eye; headed as Reincarnation Theory.
"Oh just a thought Mira had, I talked about it with her yesterday and she was convinced it was true."
"Hm. I think its quite interesting. Mind telling me how she came up with this idea?" Makarov asked, partially fascinated by the concept, but also a bit nostalgic. He remembered Precht talking about it to him on occasion, though the previous master didn't ever explain the reason for his fixation on the subject.
"Okay. Uh, well the idea of it came when we saw Irene for the first time. Mira couldn't believe that it was a coincidence that her and Natsu looked just like our Natsu and Erza; but it wasn't anymore than an assumption until Natsu said those words to Happy in Argeon town while dinning with Lucy." Levy cleared her throat and tried to make the best Natsu impression she could "It's just. This girl reminds me of someone." Then later when he speaks to Councilor Milkovich "I'll tell you this. You remind me of someone. Lucy as well and a few other people too, not like a sense of familiarity either; Its more like I met you before and we both don't remember it." Levy finished coughing her voice a little sore.
Makarov was surprised. If he was sincere he hadn't paid a much attention to what Natsu was saying and now felt a little dumb for not noticing the potential meaning behind Natsu's words. "When you put it under the umbrella of Reincarnation his Feeling quite eludes to it." "Though this idea doesn't meld well with the Locket Erza has."
"Oh yeah" Levy rubbed the back of her head. "I might have forgotten about it, but it might, I'm not sure. She said it has a piece of his soul, and his soul is scattered in many pieces." She began writing on her notes again, now a page for Erza's locket.
"Reincarnation is a mysterious topic, most in Fiore don't believe in its existence, but it might be a thing, we don't know. The problem too is that we also don't know how it would work. Are you reborn with your person/personality or with your past memories? Does it work on everyone or every living thing or on a select few? There's so much we don't know about it to even agree on what Reincarnation exactly is." Makarov was given a pint from Mirajane who had been listening to their conversation while cleaning the bar top.
"How did Natsu join the guild Master?" Mira asked.
"Let me remember … " Makarov kept quiet for a few minutes, browsing through his memories to remember than moment. "He just appeared on the front door one day. Nine or so years ago, a bit before Gray joined the guild."
"Did he say anything about why he was joining?" Mira asked further.
" … He had nowhere to go, and said that he felt he should be in the guild."
"He Should. So he had that Feeling that he mentioned to Ultear. A feeling that attracts him to other people and feel like he's met them before. So, maybe we've all met the Natsu in a past life, and he somehow remembers it happened and that why he joined Fairy Tail and the Lacrima will show us our past life with Natsu four-hundred years ago." Mira preached her words with conviction and a smile, convinced of her theory's validity.
"What kind of Hogwash is that?" Gray startled the excitable barmaid inserting himself into the conversation. "Your theory has all kind of holes and assumptions in it that you're completely ignoring."
Mira smiled sheepishly at the Ice-make mages accusations. "Well yeah, but don't you think its cool?" she as well high five's herself with a quiet 'yeah' at the end.
"Well yeah, kind of. Though why would only Natsu 'remember' his past life and have that 'feeling'? Like Master said reincarnation is pretty mysterious and your theory only works on assumptions on how it might work."
Mira didn't seem to react to anything Gray said to counter her theory. "Do you think it's romantic?" she said.
"What?" Gray was thrown for a loop at the sudden change in topic.
"Beautiful, lovers even beyond death. 'Till death tear us apart'? Yeah no, forever together even after. Such incredible dedication to the other, truly my greatest OTP!" Mirajane was now bawling her eyes out. Wiping her tears away with a handkerchief and blowing her now runny nose with the same.
Levy gasped at the white haired girl's monologue. "You came up with that whole theory to justify an OTP?"
"What's an OTP?" immensely confused Gray asked and received no answer. Makarov was laughing his ass off, while Levy was trying to console the wailing Mira; who still rambled about her OTP.
While the group by the bar spoke, Erza continued writing down everything that happened. While the old man Cruz, seemingly the master of the merchant guild spoke another man came up to him with a news paper and the two began discussing and arguing. One of the merchants in the back watching the two argue called the man "Antonio" and that he was the investigator for the local police of the city. The two apparently had a history.
After a while she felt her fingers get tired, (she wasn't used to writing things down) but she remembered what Levi promised her in exchange. 'Think, think about all the cheese cake, she promised a lot … So much' she swooned.
Passing by the discussing crowd of merchants were two cloaked figures one taller than the other, but both still taller than each and every merchant in the square. They walked slowly and lumbered around the square, their steps haphazard as if they were drunk or faulty in the leg. A merchant in the crowd left to attend the potential customers of the guild.
"What can I offer you good sir? We have a wealth of foods in here, from all over the continent and even from Ishgar too. You can call me Frederick by the way." he directed the two to watch the many baskets in the stands of the guild, all filled to the brim with fruits and vegetables home-grown or imported there was a variety no other guild could match in their specialty.
"I-its fine. We'll pick ourselves." the taller of the two spoke.
The merchant Frederick found the tone the tall man spoke in strange, it was gruff but as if it was forced. 'He's seems to have a injury in's leg, must've been trying to act tough n all, not to seem weak.' he concluded in his mind. "Oh that's fine sir, browse as much as you like." With those words, the merchant left to meet his colleagues again.
"Anything strange about those two?" one asked, his finger pointed at the two cloaked persons who already had a basket filled with apples, carrots, and several stacks of wheat.
"Nah, the big lad just injured is all." He stayed silent for a moment, waiting for the two customers to finish. When he looked back at them they had another basket filled. He grew excited at the sight, it wasn't a frequent one at all in these parts. Before he could tell his friend of the his soon massive sale he was hit by a strange sound that he noticed his colleagues had also noticed. A loud hiss that seemed to come from just outside the square.
"What's that sound?" Gray felt the sound to be vaguely familiar, but the memory was missing him at the moment.
A sudden bang and explosion erupted from where the sound came from. The group of merchants all felt their ears ringing at the blast as well as a sudden panic of what could have caused the explosion. —Is this an attack?—Is Luntu already here? No it can't be.
"Someone run to the Firefighters, if we don't do something quick a fire could spread!" Master Cruz shouted at the startled crowd.
A rumble and the sound of footsteps coming their direction surprised him. Coming to the scene were the city firefighters. "What? How'd you arrive so fast?" Cruz asked one of the team running to the site of the explosion.
"Someone left a letter on the doorstep of the Department, of an explosion happening at this site and hour; this morning." The answer only confused Cruz. Beside Cruz Antonio wondered, 'So this was planned? For what purpose?'
A worried Frederick looked back to check on his customers, only to find them nowhere on the square and his stand all empty, his baskets of fruits and vegetables missing.
"A planed burglary!?" Laki shouted.
"For food? How petty." Wacaba commented.
"More like desperate." Laki struck back, "No one steals food just because, those guy's must-have been starving." The two soon got into an argument about the justifications of a burglary of this caliber.
'Sigh. I wish those two would stop.' Macao looked at the two arguing like … Well he could only compare it to a father reprimanding his daughter and her talking back just as fiercely. 'Cab needs to get his shit together. At least he should interact with his actual daughter.' He took a gulp from his pint. 'That sound. The explosion was certainly fire magic. I'm sure its another one of Natsu's schemes to help others.' His thoughts were interrupted by Wacaba flying and crashing his way. 'They started fighting?'
Getting up Wacaba ran back to Laki and the two started to fight in the corner of the guildhall the trio sat. Macao simply stared at the two confused. 'again?...' after a few seconds he looked back at the rest of the guild surprised, 'no one is going to stop this?' He noticed Erza's cold, unforgiving gaze on him and for a moment he froze on instinct trained for years by the authoritarian rule of the read-head. Though after a few seconds of nothing he realized Erza wasn't going to do anything, she stayed on her seat and continued watching the projection. 'Oh, so its my turn to calm this down.' he sighed, '—Now that I think about it, where's Romeo?'
Outside the town square the two cloaked figures walked through the desolate streets of the south of Cálicia. Each carried two baskets filled to the brim with all manners of fruits and vegetables. It wasn't until they reached the outskirts of town walking to a tall hill overlooking the town did the two stop. The two figures lay the baskets on the floor, while their forms diluted and fell to the floor no longer resembling the figure of tall lanky men. The cloaks were moved aside to reveal two pairs of kids. A kid on the shoulders of another to present the image of a tall figure under the cloak.
"Hey!" a shout came from behind them. Coming up was a boy taller than the rest, he had long disheveled pink hair that reached to below his chin and wore old and tattered clothes. Walking to the group they noticed the scratches and burn marks on his skin and sweat pouring from his forehead. in his arms he held a large object covered by a handkerchief.
"There he is. I wondered when we were going to see him again."
'So he's the one that caused that explosion. That sound seemed familiar.' Gray thought, 'Though when did he learn the magic? During the time-skip?'
'Oh they're so cute!' Mirajane gushed.
"Hello Natsu." a young boy in the group called out.
"That smells good." another said.
"Hey Boss, are you alright?" another particularly blonde boy in the group asked. He like the other boys wore old and tattered clothes, some wore shirts and pants that reached to their knees and sagged on their feet, far bigger than their size required.
Natsu, or Boss as the blonde boy called him, smiled at the group despite his exhaustion. "Its fine. We got the food, so its all worth it." He signaled the group to follow him, and after a few minutes of walking through the forest they arrived at a large building, overlooking the town.
"That's the orphanage Natsu and Zeref were staying at, right? Saint Jean-something wasn't it?" Elfman asked to his fellow watchers, but received no answer to his question.
Entering through the backdoor the boys set the baskets on a few tables and sat on the floor. Natsu himself left the room to another and a shout was heard by the four boys. It wasn't long till the door open again and following Natsu were dozens upon dozens of boys and girls far younger than himself. They bumped into one another as they walked, as they all had their eyes on Natsu the oldest boy in the room, trying their best to obediently follow him despite their rumbling stomachs.
"Make a line and don't worry there's plenty for everyone." He said and the kids followed his lead as best they could. Each of the four boys gave the kids fruits and vegetables as they passed through the line one by one. Once the line ended there were still three basketfuls left despite the children gorging themselves as much as their tiny bodies allowed them.
Erza couldn't help a smile to form on her face. An unfamiliar sight in her own childhood, but no less wanted. She felt her heart flutter at the view of the smiling children.
Watching the children eat Natsu felt a smile creep into his face, he also noticed the group of boys who stole the foods weren't eating themselves. "Its okay boys. You can eat now." he said; and following his order the boys joined the children eating the goods they stole, except for one boy. "Jackal, why don't you join the others?"
The boy who called him Boss, Jackal was only two years younger than him, with bright blonde hair and yellowish eyes that complimented each other quite well. He was quite energetic and had taken a liking to Natsu, calling him boss, since they had met a few months ago.
"Why aren't you eating Boss?" He asked.
"I'll eat in a moment. First I have to take care of this." Natsu held up the object he had been carrying, he pulled away a bit of the handkerchief covering it to show it to be a large piece of meat, most likely a piece of a lamb or cow. "I'll have it ready in a few hours don't worry."
Jackal nodded excitedly, already imagining the meat cooked and ready to eat.
Natsu left the room and walked down the halls of the orphanage to arrive in the left wing; where the kitchen was. He placed the lamb on a table about to rinse and clean it, but heard the door to the kitchen behind him open. Turning around he locked eyes with his older brother; Zeref. Natsu's smile faded to then show a crooked brow and a displeased frown. "Why did you tell them of the plan?" he asked.
Zeref himself did not show his emotions outwardly, and simply replied with "I told you before. I was going to send the letter if you decided to go through with your thievery."
"I was almost seen by them and they might recognize me now. The hood I had on caught on fire after the explosion and I had to leave it behind," Natsu scowled.
"And I told you to not use your untrained magic in such a way." He pointed to Natsu's arm, a bit red with burn marks on his palms and hands. "You've been holding it in, but you hurt yourself plenty casting that spell. Just like before, when I told you to not use it again."
It was an uncomfortable sight to Gray to see Natsu's doppelganger hurt by fire. It was something he'd never thought he would see. Natsu a Dragon Slayer hurt by his own fire? By default he should be immune to fire. That brought the thought; when did this Natsu become a dragon slayer? did he ever? When would their own Natsu become a Dragon Slayer then? How does one become a Dragon Slayer? Is it killing a dragon, like the name implies or something else? Is it inheritable? Just seeing the projection gave Gray way more questions than he would've liked. It didn't help that Natsu never explained to them how he obtained Dragon Slayer Magic.
"I did it to help the others. We've been starving ever since Granny got sick; we haven't had as much as before and I don't see you trying to help them!" furious he retorted, glaring at the black haired teen.
Zeref bit his lip. "I've tried to talk with the guild, if it wasn't for your intervention they might have helped us. I'm sure the headmaster will suspect us for the robbery and refuse."
Natsu himself seemed to grow even more furious at Zeref's statement. "Just because Mr. Isaac helped us doesn't mean everyone there is not an asshole! The headmaster hasn't even helped once in all the time he had to help! They only care about their money and whatever makes them more money!"
"That doesn't mean you can just go and steal from them. You're lucky they haven't caught you yet." Zeref retorted, stroking his forehead and looking away from Natsu's gaze. "If you keep doing this you'll be caught. Remember what happened to that other thief; remember what they did to him!?" At his response Natsu's eyes widened and his face turned slightly green.
"Then what? We just starve and die? They aren't going to help no matter what we tell them." Natsu retorted.
Zeref sighed. He'd tried to talk Natsu out of trying to steal from merchants around town before. At first he thought Natsu had begun doing it out of spite; due to an unsavory encounter they once had with a merchant a year ago. Then he learned it was to help a few kids on the street, among them was the kid that now followed Natsu around like a sidekick and called him boss. At that moment he was proud of him and his conviction to help others even when they didn't offer anything in return, he still is. The problem now was that Natsu was doing too much, escalating his burglaries to the point that a Wanted Poster of what the authorities had managed to attain on his appearance was all over town. He was afraid Natsu would be caught in not too long if he kept this up. But he was right, Zeref had achieved nothing trying convince Headmaster Cruz to cooperate.
"I know Natsu … " Zeref sat on the floor leaning on a box of ingredients behind him.
A pin drop could be heard across the guild if one fell.
He looked up to meet his brother's eyes. His younger brother; that was something that had bothered him for some time, he turned to the ground dejected. Natsu was his younger brother by five years, he was sixteen while he was only eleven. Yet Zeref didn't have the foresight to understand that trying to talk it out with the merchants wouldn't help. He couldn't find a way to prevent Natsu from endangering himself. He couldn't understand how his brother could be so selfless as to put himself in danger to help people who he would never see again by February next year. They would be in Ishgar just in a few months and would never come back to their continent of origin. He only wanted to honor his mother's wish to take care of and protect Natsu (and Irene); why couldn't Natsu understand that?
"I don't know what to do. You're right we can't convince them, I just don't want you to get hurt again. I'm worried for you, like any older brother would be, I'm frustrated nothing works!" he let out. He felt water in his eyes, barely not sliding across his face.
Not a word was spoken in the room. Minutes passed and Once Zeref noticed Natsu's silence he looked up to see his brother's face. He saw tears roll across his face.
"I'm frustrated too." he said. He sat beside his brother not bothering to clean the tears staining his face. "Scared too." he muttered after.
Zeref stared at the boy for a moment. Tears now fully falling from his face.
"I'm afraid I could not see Irene again. That the promise I made to Mr. Delos will be for nothing. What would happen to Granny and everyone else if I get caught." he confessed.
Zeref could only do what first came to mind, and that was to scoot closer to Natsu and wrap his arms around the now sobbing boy.
A few minutes later after the kitchen was silent once again did Zeref dare to speak. "I once told Father my dream."
"Your dream?" Natsu cleaned the leftover tears from his eyes.
"I was pretty vague at the time, I still didn't understand what I even wanted." Zeref smiled at the thought. "Though, now I do. I just want to help people. Better their lives in some, any way. And I lost sight of that. I wanted to make sure we were safe, no one else mattered to me as long as we remained together. But you couldn't help yourself and butt in to other people's problems … " he said, Natsu's tear stained face looked down ashamed at the worry he caused his older brother. Zeref's tears grew and pulled Natsu's face to look at his eyes and said "—And, I'm so proud of you, I'm sure mom and dad would be too; and know that I will do anything to keep you that way. As your older brother let me help you in this."
Natsu nodded in response a small smile now on face. "You're pretty smart. I'm sure you'll trick those old farts to give all their money to us." he said.
"What ever told you I was smart?" Zeref's own smile grew.
"You read a lot of books. You leave piles like this big, and never clean up." he gestured the piles to reach as high as he was tall.
"I don't think those two are conducive."
"And you say big words like that too."
Zeref couldn't help but think back to his thoughts when Natsu confessed his fears to him. 'The thought of walking by and minding your own business never crossed your mind did it?' "We'll solve this problem Natsu, trust me. I know talking won't work, so I'm taking a page from your book okay?"
"Okay?"
The two got up and Zeref noticed the chunk of meat that Natsu had left on the kitchen counter. "This is lamb?" he asked at which Natsu nodded. "Were you going to cook it?" once again Natsu nodded.
"Do you want it just like mom used to make it?" Zeref offered.
"Yeah, I'd like that." he smiled.
Erza wiped away a stray tear that had slid across her face. That conversation between Natsu and Zeref wasn't something she was expecting, she was sure no one in the guild expected that. Especially Zeref's conduct. She was shortly brought out of her thoughts by Levy poking at her shoulder.
"Are you okay Erza?" her worried and watery eyes told Erza, Levy had cried at the scene too, much harder than her it seemed.
"Yeah." she said, though at the sight of the amount of tear tracts on levy's face brought Erza to ask "What about you? Are you well?"
Levy seemed surprised for a moment, but quickly responded, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine … Its just that brought up a lot of old memories." she wiped away her tears with a handkerchief Mirajane handed to her.
That comment brought a realization upon Erza, one she felt stupid for not realizing. Levy's life before Fairy Tail was a mystery to her. Why such a scene between Natsu and Zeref brought seemingly negative memories to the forefront of Levy's mind. She decided to put that thought off for later and tried to bring Levy's thoughts from whatever may have happened in her past.
"Levy, why is the lacrima showing us this part of Natsu and Zeref's lives? What do you think?" her question was heard by Makarov, Gray and most of the guild who sat around the bar.
"Oh, well I think that its showing this to show the kind of people Natsu's ancestor and Zeref were." she shakily answered.
"Could you elaborate?" Erza softly asked.
"The entire point of the discussion Natsu and Zeref are having is around helping the other kids, in their orphanage. Natsu wants to help everyone as much as he can, while Zeref wants to do the same; he prioritizes his brother above the rest while Natsu has no regard for himself, only for others. The scene when they discuss the dragon that took Irene shows the same. Natsu prioritizes his friend and to make sure she's safe and sound and is willing to cross half the world for her, and while Zeref agrees with him to do so, its because he wants both of them to be safe from any possible war that might start in Alakitasia." She took a deep breath to regain her bearings. "I think that by showing us this, the Lacrima is preparing us to see the situations they'll find themselves in the future through their thought processes; like in a book series or play." she sighed, content to finish her explanation.
"That does seem sound," Makarov said.
"But is that really the type of person Zeref is … or was?" Gray had a hard time trying to think of the boy he saw on screen as the black wizard who was responsible for Deliora's and the Etherius' creation.
Makarov turned to address the ice mage "Gray" he said.
"Yes?"
"I know what's bothering you so let me tell you; Its much easier to think about a figure such as Zeref as someone who was evil from the beginning. Many books slander his name from the day he was born to his death, even though we have no records of his early life. Another title given to him, Father of Demons exemplifies this. Seeing someone like Zeref as something other than human immediately separates us from him fundamentally. As the regular person can't or doesn't want to rationalize how someone like them, who shares the same ability to have desires, needs and aspirations could commit acts as horrid as Zeref did."
Gray's his ears got a little red at the newfound attention from the entire guild listening to Makarov's words to him. "I understand" he said. "From the moment we learned how the Fairy Queen died I've been trying to think of things from Zeref's perspective. T-to try to understand his actions better."
"That's good. Many don't think the simple thought to walk in another's shoes." Makarov smiled at the young mage. "The fact you realized that so early brings a warmth to my heart my boy."
"Thanks master." Gray sheepishly lowered his head, embarrassed by the sudden compliments thrown at him by nearby guildmates.
"Hey guy's" Laki called out, "the lacrima is starting again."
X350 Alakitasia
October 6th
"First; Go to the library and read as much local and international law as possible."
"What?" Natsu raised a brow at the seated Zeref. The two had been discussing what to do in order to solve their crisis. Zeref especially wanted to prevent any chance of Natsu or any other kids being caught doing any illegal activities in order to sustain the orphanage.
"If we can't fight them, or reason with them, we'll hit them where it will hurt them most; their profits." Zeref explained.
"Oh. I get it." Natsu smirked for a second, but remembered what Zeref mentioned. "Ugh, but we'll have to read a bunch of boring books."
"Don't worry, I'll do this part. I just want you to bring me as many books you find on the subject while I take care of Ms. Jean" and as he said those words Natsu got ready to leave to start the mission.
"Me and the boys got this okay?" Natsu pulled a thumbs up and left, on his way to assemble his most trusted cohort.
X350 Alakitasia
October 7th
The projection changed to show a Zeref peering over a large pile of books, titled from Law of Lecia to The Nature of Conflict to Customs of Alakitasia. The pile was stacked haphazardly and Zeref separated it into many stacks, totaling to over eighty books in total. He sat in a chair, picked up a book and began reading.
X350 Alakitasia
October 15th
Beside Zeref now lay a tall neatly stacked pile of books of which he'd just finish the last one. Though he looked significantly more disheveled than he'd ever done before. But he'd finally finished and was confident in his next course of action.
"Ah … " to the guild it looked like Makarov had realized something, a grin fostering on his face. "What a little rascal" he said. When he noticed the curious looks his kids were giving him but didn't say anything to quell their curiosity.
"I wish I could read that fast." Levy awed at the speed of Zeref's reading.
"Can't you read much faster with your glasses?" Erza asked.
"Yeah, but I mean without magical assistance." Levy clarified, "He read all those books in such a short time, and look how thick they were, five-hundred pages at least for each."
"Hm." 'At least she seems to be doing better now' she observed.
"So what are we gonna do?" Natsu with Jackal and a few boys beside him asked the disheveled Zeref who'd finally come out of the room he was locked in for a week.
"Step Two: Where you and your group will sneak in to the guild at night and steal documents from the guild master's office." Zeref's eyebags were no hinderance to show his grin. "With those we will set our next course of action." He then handed Natsu a paper, "These are the types of documents I want you to take, and when you sneak in do it from the back of the guild, at two in the morning." Zeref finished.
The paper read Tax Returns, Income Tax, Gross Income, Investments, International, Local, Imports, Exports. At which Natsu stared back at Zeref, confused by the many words unknown to him in the paper.
"Don't worry about what the words mean. Just bring me as many documents that have these words on them, and try to not make it too obvious that someone sunk in. The Guild Master will report it, and we won't be able to act against them for a while" Zeref explained.
"Okay" Natsu nodded.
Midnight had already passed and as such the group of boys sunk through the deserted streets of Cálicia. It wasn't long until they arrived at the guildhall. It was large, larger than a guildhall for a merchant's guild needed to be. Its walls were decorated with images of women and men in robes carrying another larger person above them; the boys didn't particularly knew what it represented and they paid it no mind as they reached the back of the guild.
"There it is." Natsu whispered into the air. As just above them was a window, the window to the master's office. Though when he saw how high the window sat Natsu had to rethink his plans. He turned to address his partners in crime, "Okay boys, what we'll do is we'll make a stack of boxes to better reach the window, separate into two groups and push the boxes here." he signaled underneath the window.
As he ordered the boys pushed the many boxes of storage around them with great difficulty, Natsu being the only one to be able to push a box on his own and together put the boxes above one another to get closer to the window. Once there were enough to Natsu's liking the boys formed a human ladder, pushing Natsu to just enough to reach the window.
He prodded open the window and once in the room he pulled two of the curtains and tied them together to form a rope. Once it was ready and secure to the room, he tossed it to the boys outside to climb up.
"How are these kids more competent than some of the dark guilds we've fought?" Gray wondered out loud; his question turning heads and making many guildmembers think why such was the case.
Once everyone got in the dark office Natsu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He imagined a light on the tip his finger and the room lit as the morning and with a crackle a streak of fire danced around him and lit. On the tip of his index finger now rested a small, but bright flame that illuminated the room entirely.
"Woah, you got it Boss." Jackal grinned at the bright sight. Behind him the other boys agreed in whispers.
"Okay, remember what Zeref said lets look over the papers." To Natsu's surprise the job was far easier than he imagined. There were a Lot of papers on the topic in the office; not that well hidden too and while he didn't really understand what they said, all the zeros' on the papers told something was weird.
"Let's go." Jackal told the three other boys with them, the papers rolled up and stored in a long tube they had brought with them. After that they cleaned up the place to look as undisturbed as they could and booked from the place walking into an alleyway in the direction of the orphanage.
"Dang, what a job well done." Jet called out
Turning a corner to another alleyway the group was surprised by a towering man standing in their way, unsurprised by their silent appearance.
"Spoke too soon." Droy whispered to the speedster.
" … Dang."
The man was tall and lanky. He wore a red suit and hat, suit pants and dark polished pointy shoes. His face was angular with silver colored eyes and he an unkempt stubble beard along long silver hair reaching all the way to his chin. For a moment no move was made, no sound uttered or thought vocalized in the alleyway. The face and wear of the man though shrouded by darkness clicked something in Natsu's mind. "Mr. Isaac?" his words unsure if a response would even be made.
The howl of the wind flowed across their blocked path, the boys behind him shivered but remained steadfast the man in front of them stood unmoving like an unfeeling predator, his eyes staring through them yet without the call they would not retreat.
"Natsu? Is that you?" like day and night the man's demeanor changed completely. He hunched over and knelt in front of them, closing one of his eyes and glaring at the fire mage to get a better look. "Who are these kids with you?" he turned to look at the boys behind Natsu, the group very confused at Isaac's sudden change.
"They know each other?" Elfman asked.
"He's someone from the guild how helped him and Zeref a while back." Erza answered, looking through her notes. At her statement now the question remained, how would the man act?
"They just some friends I made a while ago." Natsu tried to hide the tube behind him as best he could.
"Oh is that so? How is your magic doing then?" Isaac changed the question once again, carefully looking at the boy's seared hands, covered in bandages.
"It's getting better. I've got more control of it than ever before." With a gesture from Isaac that Natsu recognized he put one hand forward to show the man.
At the flicker of light and subsequent small flame —"Oh marvelous, far gentler than the first time. Say were you responsible for the ruckus the other day? That was a Bang; Much more like I remember" Isaac said.
At that Natsu stopped himself before he could say any more, 'He already knows'. For that split second of silence Natsu saw Isaac's face twist into a smirk. He gulped, 'I can save this.'
"We were just passing by … "
"—Passing by at two no. Three in the morning." Isaac interrupted. "In a lonely alleyway, carrying a suspicious cylinder after breaking in Master Cruz's office." He recited to the group his hands on his bent knees and hunched over.
"H-how did you … " Jackal trembly asked the man.
"—A little birdy told me some kids were planning a break in. Now. why is that?" Isaac asked turning his gaze to the pink haired leader looking up at him. His eyes seemingly glowed in the dark of the night.
"Oh dear. He has them cornered." Mirajane worried over the man's possible intentions.
Natsu began to sweat a little. The constant interrogation and Isaac's piercing stare was doing a number on him. So, he quickly and rashly decided to reason with him. "It's because of the guild!"
"—The guild? What do you mean by that?" He raised a brow.
He took a deep breath "the guild sells at too high prices and has a Mono-Monopoly on the food sold in the town. Since the mayor doesn't seem to want to change that we at the orphanage started to steal just to keep by. That asshole Cruz doesn't want anything to do with us "dirty street kids", no matter what Zeref said he didn't change his mind a little over the last six months."
"So this is what you little munchkins have been doing since I left." Isaac didn't seem the least surprised at the accusations Natsu made towards his guild master. "Well then how does stealing from Master Cruz specifically, help you in any way?"
"I don't know exactly, but its Zeref's idea. Legal stuff I think." Natsu answered, a bit relieved at Isaac's attitude.
"He he he … Is that so; O very well then, pass by." Isaac moved aside, pressing himself against the wall of the alley and leaving the way clear for Natsu's group.
"You're letting us go?" a boy in the back asked.
"Oh yes. My cards tell me something interesting will happen if I do." Isaac replied, twirling between his fingers a card with an ethereal glow coming from it.
"Oh yeah another card mage!" Cana cheered between gulfing down a pint.
"Was that your little birdie?" Natsu asked as he passed the man, his group following him closely.
"Yeah. Not as feathery as you'd imagine … " Like before the man knelt in front of the group and clasped Natsu's burnt hands. "You know Natsu, ya Got to take better care of these boy. Wouldn't want to lose them and disappoint some future lady would ya?"
"Yeah! Go get her Natsu!" Cana slurred through her words, still excited at seeing another card mage.
"What are you saying?"
"What I'm sayin is … wait, how old are you again?"
"I'm eleven." Natsu reminded the blonde.
"Oh. Then forget that. Just don't lose your hands training your magic." Isaac stood back up and walked by the group. Suddenly leaving as if nothing had happened.
"Is he … going to tell anyone?" Jackal asked in the mire of confusion that hit the group.
"No Isaac is a weird guy, but not an asshole." As he signaled the group to follow him through the alleys he began to speak again, "He taught Zeref and I magic and helped us discover our own. We met him after one of his shows and was impressed by something he saw with his cards, I don't know what, and chose to look after us for a bit."
"His show's?" a boy asked.
"He's a stage magician. Isaac is just his stage name; I don't actually know his real one." Natsu replied. "Its a relief he doesn't like Cruz too."
"So that isn't even his name huh?" Erza wrote that detail down on the page.
It wasn't long till they returned back to the orphanage and left the documents in the hands of an expectant Zeref.
It would be a surprise to Natsu when he woke up that afternoon to find Zeref still sifting through the papers. Large bags framed his tired eyes, but nonetheless a detracted from his mood.
"Natsu?" he asked, just realizing his brother stood just in front of him.
"You didn't sleep did you." Natsu shook his head.
"Well I had to do this. Even if at a … " he momentarily closed his eyes before snapping wide open "Even at a detriment to myself." he pushed a stack of documents Natsu's way. "These are what I've gathered so far."
The documents were separated into several sections, seemingly ranked on level of illegality from what Natsu understood after skimming through the papers for a bit. "The guild has engaged in several illegal activities for quite some time." He pushed forward another stack of papers. "There is a lot so i won't bother you with the details, but from what I've seen so far the most egregious of their crimes are: bribing government officials, breaking international trading laws, and tax fraud."
"Damn!" a guild member called out. All the while Makarov was laughing to himself at his correct prediction.
"That's a lot, right?" Natsu had no idea what Zeref was talking about.
"Yeah." He groaned and gestured towards the piles of papers and said "With these it should be enough to prove Cruz and many other member's criminal activities and how long its been going on … "
"There's more isn't there?"
"Due to the importance of the guild to keep the town fed, its likely that Cruz and the other members won't be arrested, but instead fined heavily and maybe Cruz will be forced to resign as guild master due to backlash."
"That's bullshit!" Natsu's anger was like a wave of hit that warmed up the room. To Zeref it felt like he was standing in front of a fire place during a winter night. The heat made him sweat a little bit in the warm weather of the mid-day.
"Yeah, it is. However, this might also be an opportunity" he pinched his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked after waiting a few seconds to calm down, unaware of the heat irradiating from him.
Zeref moved towards the window of their room, overlooking the city from their high vantage point. "Once the evidence presented to the public the guild will lose a lot of good faith from the community. Many citizens will turn to local vendors or traveling merchants instead of the guild, despite possible higher prices." Natsu joined him by the window his gaze falling on the prominent guild hall in the skyline of the city.
"The guild's profits will tank and will try to do anything to regain the goodwill they once had, and we'll give them that opportunity." At his words Natsu immediately turned to him with his arms crossed, just waiting for Zeref to explain himself. Instead he pointed to a small building on the north-east of town, made of wood and very close to the guild.
"We are in one of two orphanages in town. Before we reveal any papers we'll contact that other orphanage and organize the older kids of both to go on the streets and place posters of the directions to both orphanages and interact with the citizens to make them aware of our presence. While they do that, you, I and some other kids will follow members of the guild and write down whatever they do when they're out of the guild, especially how they treat their families."
At the revelation of Zeref's increasingly intricate plan Natsu's hopes grew far more than ever before. "There are some evil bastards in that place" he said.
"Most likely we'll find instances of abuse towards their children and wives from a few guild members, and we'll send our recordings of those as well; though they'll be naught but allegations. Still the allegations alongside the criminal evidence will burn their reputation further to the ground and it will be then when they turn to us." Zeref's tired face framed a toothy smile with no friendly implications to the guild. "To save face they will turn to food pantries for the city and try to make agreements with both orphanages to supply us with food; After all a starving orphan brings a lot of sympathy out of people."
Zeref's face softened and looked to Natsu with a smile on his face. "This is it, its only making sure the papers are sent to the right official and done; and I know exactly who, the Police Investigator Antonio, he'll help us with this." A long silence was formed in the room. Both simply contemplating on everything that'd happened. It was minutes later before another word was spoken.
"—Thank you Zeref, now the other boys and I won't have to … " Natsu stopped himself for a moment, wiping away quickly forming tears in his eyes. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
"Its alright … Its time we won't have to worry about this kind of stuff. We have a sea to cross, remember?" Zeref's smile shined brightly to the light of the sun.
"Yeah. 'sniff' We'll find Irene." Natsu agreed, resolute in his words.