Oh, new arc! Some staple characters will be revealed in this arc, so exited. Enjoy!
Nashi knew he was back when she saw the airship floating above the guild hall from her dorm room. He very rarely came around, so she knew it was something important. it wasn't Erza or Simon's birthday, so that wasn't it.
What other reason did Uncle Jelly have to come home?
Nashi smiled at the thought of her 'uncle'. Jellal was one of her favorite people, just because he was that uncle who spoiled everyone. Simon was obviously at the top of this list, but Jellal treated everyone like his own. Nashi bounded down towards the guild hall, hopefully he wasn't on his way out. Right when she got to the front door, she ran into a man wearing Crime Sociere's cloak. Upon running into him, his hood fell down, revealing his black and white hair.
"Oops." Nashi said with a laugh as the man stumbled back. "Sorry Macbeth, wasn't watching where I was going."
"No shit." The man replied, staring at her. "Watch it next time."
"Will do." Squeezing past the reflector mage and into the guild hall, Nashi found Jellal near the bar, speaking to Erza and Nashi's mother. Both women saw Nashi sneaking up behind Jellal, and she signaled for them to be quiet. As soon as she got close enough, Nashi launched herself at Jellal, latching onto him.
"Gah!" He shouted in surprise and Nashi laughed manically. "What the fu...Nashi? Is that you?"
"Long time no see, Uncle Jelly!" Nashi shouted as he danced around, trying to get her off of his back. "How are you?" Nashi could tell Jellal was holding back a laugh.
"I've been good." he replied. "How about you, kid?"
"I've been on fire!" To emphasize her point, Nashi lit her hands on fire, causing Jellal to panic. Finally getting thrown off by Jellal, Nashi smiled up at him as he smiled down at her.
"Magic huh?" he asked. "Where'd you learn that?"
"Dad." Jellal seemed surprised.
"He's back?"
"Yep!" Nashi pounced back up onto her feet. "And some pretty crazy stuff has happened recently too!" Jellal laughed and ruffled Nashi's hair.
"You'll have to tell me all about it later." he told her. "I can't stay long, so I just came to say hi."
"You're to modest, Jellal." Nashi and Jellal turned to find a pink haired woman there, and she smiled at Nashi. "Good to see you up and moving, Nashi!" Nashi smiled weakly at her, before laughing awkwardly.
"I feel like I should remember you." Nashi told her. "But I don't." The woman made a face before laughing.
"Understandable" She said. "Last time you saw me while you were conscious was when you were really little."
"When I was conscious?" Nashi asked weakly.
"I was the one that got you guys out of the Phantom Dove situation." She said. "Meredy." Nashi had very vague memories of a woman named Meredy, but now she could place the name. Jellal's second in command, bubbly, nice, all of that.
"Nice to see you, Meredy." Nashi told her. Nashi was about to say something when Ultear appeared over her shoulder, smiling at Jellal.
"Hey Jelly." Ultear greeted, then cast a glance over her shoulder. "Meredy." Nashi caught the almost sad look Meredy gave Ultear.
"Ul." Meredy replied quietly. Nashi knew Meredy had been close with the original Ultear, so the hint of sadness in her tone was understandable.
"Hey Ultear" Jellal said with a smile. "How are you?"
"I'm alright, what's up with the visiting, you barely do that." Jellal shrugged.
"We were on our way to take out some dark wizards and we passed by." he replied. "Figured we'd stop by." Ultear smiled.
"I'm sure Simon will love you see you." She joked, which actually made Jellal laugh.
"Where is my son, anyway?" He asked.
"Probably still asleep." Nashi replied.
"Come on Simon, you're going to see him!" Drake did his best to drag the requip mage out of bed, but he was holding on with all of his might.
"No!" He shouted. "You can't make me!" Drake sighed in exasperation as Damien appeared at his side.
"I tied the rope to the tree." Damien told him, handing Drake the end of said rope. "Tie it around his body."
"You sure?" Drake asked, and Damien laughed.
"Trust me, this'll be great."
"Yeah, he is a pretty heavy sleeper" Ultear agreed, releasing Nashi from the one armed hug she'd been in. Jellal shrugged as a deep voice laughed.
"Jellal, you bastard. How have you been?" Nashi turned to find her father walking up to them, and Jellal chuckled.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" He asked, clasping Natsu's hand. "Is that Natsu Dragneel?" Nashi's father laughed at the comment and the men released each others hands.
"Yep, in the flesh." he agreed with a laugh.
"Good to see you back Natsu" Jellal said, casting a glance at Nashi. "I'm sure you were a little shocked when you came back." Nashi reddened a little at the memory and her father laughed again.
"That's putting it nicely, Jellal." he replied. "More like stunned beyond all reasonable belief. You seen Simon yet?" As if one cue, a huge explosion sounded in the distance, and Nashi turned just in time to see a tree crash outside the guild and Simon, who for one reason or another was tied to said tree, flew into the guild and landed on his face. Damien and Drake landed in the doorway and burst into laughter upon seeing Simon face down.
"Bulls-eye!" Damien shouted, giving Drake a high five. "I told you it'd be awesome!"
"I hate you both" Simon grumbled as he stood shakily. He made eye contact with Jellal and nodded. "Dad."
"Simon." The silence lasted for far to long, and Elise cackled, turning her arm into a sword and swinging it back and forth between Jellal and Simon.
"Look guys!" She said. "I can cut the tension!" Nashi snickered as Simon shoved Elise away from him. He didn't make a move to hug is father or anything, and Nashi knew where he was coming from. She hadn't done any of that when her father first showed up again. Jellal coughed awkwardly.
"Anyway." He said. "it's good to see you all again."
"My dad here?" Drake asked. Nashi knew Drake didn't want to sound hopeful, but he did anyway.
"No," Macbeth answered from near the door. "He's already on the trail of those dark wizards." Drake nodded, and Nashi felt bad for him. As oppose to Simon, Nashi knew Drake missed his dad, a lot more than he was willing to tell anyone.
"Yeah." Jellal said. "Which reminds me, we should probably..." Jellal stopped abruptly and made a weird face, before whirling on the door. "Macbeth! Reflectors around the guild, now!" Macbeth answered with a lightning fast response. Nashi saw the reflectors go up just in time to stop a huge swirling typhoon of black magic that would have hit the guild and obliterated it careen of to the right back into the sky. Everyone ran to the doorway and saw a few dots jumping away across the rooftops of Magnolia, and Jellal raised two fingers to his forehead to use telepathy. "Sawyer, after those two!" Nashi saw a black dot jump from the airship above and zoom after the two culprits that attacked them.
"What the hell was that?!" Erza demanded, and Jellal growled.
"Someone just tried to take out the whole guild in one go." he replied. "Not sure who, but whoever it was must not like you guys."
"That doesn't exactly narrow it down, Jellal" Gray pointed out. There was silence until the dot that went after the attackers returned. A man with a very pointy nose appeared in the doorway, and Nashi vaguely recognized him from King Jellal's council from Edolas.
"Did you find them?" Jellal asked, and he shook his head.
"The were fast." Sawyer replied. "Faster than I anticipated. I wasn't able to catch them, but their cloak got caught on a tree a few miles outside of the city. "There was this insignia on it, so I figured I'd take it back. Sawyer tossed the cloth to Jellal, who unfurled it and stared at it curiously. Nashi looked over his shoulder and instantly felt confused. It featured two blades crossed over each other and a horned head over them, a morphed skull and crossbones.
"What is that?" Nashi's father asked.
"No idea" Jellal replied. "It's most likely a dark guild." Nashi paled. Dark Guild? That sounded bad. Especially after her last encounter with one.
"Well whoever it was." Master Laxus said. "They clearly have some kind of death wish." Little by little everyone dispersed, and Jellal had Macbeth stay on point in case they were attacked again. Nashi was sitting by herself, playing with the mug in her hand.
"It's the Balam Alliance." Nashi jumped and turned to find Drake sitting next to her, and she frowned at him.
"How can you tell?" She asked wearily.
"Jellal was talking about it with Sorano." Drake replied. "She confirmed it for him, it's the Alliance." Nashi knew that Sorano had worked undercover for Jellal in another Alliance guild, so she'd know.
"It's our fault" Nashi told him. "If we hadn't been captured, then Phantom Dove wouldn't have been destroyed, which means this new dark guild would have never had been given reason to attack us."
"Ah, don't blame yourself." Elise said, sitting on her opposite side. "Shit happens."
"Uh huh." Nashi replied, sticking her tongue in her cheek. She neglected to say Elise was the reason they'd been captured at all, partially because that may have been the straw that broke Doranbolt's programming.
"So," Damien said, approaching from the other side of the table. "We're gonna deal with this, right?"
"What are you suggesting?" Nashi asked.
"Well," Simon said, appearing over Damien's shoulder. "The airship is currently docked, with every member of Crime Sociere except the pilot down here." Nashi could see what Simon was getting at and she grinned darkly.
"Are you suggesting we stow away with your dad?" Nashi asked, and Simon chuckled.
"Exactly." he replied. "I heard him and Sorano discussing it. She knows where it is. We stow away go to where it is, knock some heads, and come back like nothing. Easy." Drake laughed.
"I like how you think, Simon." Nashi complimented, and a strand of water fell from the roof, materializing into Ultear.
"I found a broom closet we can stow away in." She said with a grin. "Ready guys?" Nashi jumped to her feet with a grin.
"Let's do this."
He growled to himself as he walked back into the meeting chamber, his partner is crime close behind. They knelt in the center of the chamber, and waited as their Master walked towards them.
"You're back." he spoke. "I trust you were successful?" He grimaced and shook his head.
"No Master." he said quietly. "Crime Sociere was there, I couldn't..."
"So you both failed?" He gulped and nodded his head once, and he heard his Master growl. "I sent you both in good faith that you could complete this mission. I see that was a mistake, now wasn't it."
"Master," His partner spoke up. "the reflection mage was there. Our attack was not stopped, merely deflected. Had he not been there..."
"Silence!" he flinched as the attack struck them both in the back. "You failed, there is no more to say. Leave me before I kill you both" He got up and left behind his partner, doing his best to leave as fast as he could. "Oh, and Katsuchi?" Katsuchi flinched and looked over his shoulder at his Master, who was giving him a deadly look. "You will do well to not mess up again. Otherwise you will face my wrath. Understand?"
"Yes, Master" Katsuchi replied quietly, turning and leaving the chamber before he could anger his Master again. Sighing as he got far enough away, Katsuchi looked down at his hand, which burst into black flames. "I'm more than strong enough." He hissed to himself. "I'll show you Master. First Fairy Tail, and then Crime Sociere. Both will fall to the fire of the Gods."
Boom! I'm so hyped for this arc, I gotta say. And yes, Nashi and the others are stowing away to deal with this themselves. I want this team to come into it's one and deal with it's own problems, so here we go.