Chapter 22: Bearing Down on the Obdurate
Dark eyes snapped open without a sight or sign of interference. Phantom pains raked across his aching chest from the dreams that were only too vivid, only for that pain to be made real as Gildarts tried to sit himself up on the couch he laid on. An aching groan came in a deep timber raspy from sleep, the noise betraying more years than Gildarts had even lived for a procedure as simple as righting himself in the beat up leather couch. The palms of his hands pressed into his eyes, clearing the images of the dream he had just escaped and the loose tendrils that sleep still had on him. Feeling the old cloak he had draped over him for slim coverings fall and pile in his lap, Gildarts turned his awakening gaze outward to take a look at his surroundings.
When he arrived, Gildarts had already indulged in too much alcohol with Makarov. The great reunion with the home he occupied when in town was limited to stumbling through the door and wrapping himself up on the couch to fall asleep before the hearth that lightly spewed heat from the lacrima surrounded by a mantle of brick. Taking a glance around, slightly refreshed and significantly sobered, GIldarts was happy to see that all was largely the same. Two broken-in recliners sat on either short side of the short table placed between the couch and the hearth atop a red shag rug. The table held miscellaneous books, a lacrima cradled in a fanciful stand fashioned in the likeness of vined overgrowth, and an array of cards that appeared blank. The door he stumbled through was positioned to his left, behind the back of the couch he sat in, and a short hallway shrouded in the darkness of the early morning lay in front of him where a bathroom and bedroom hid. That meant that a kitchen sat behind his back, separated from the living area by an extending counter, as did a space dedicated to the small dining table that fit not more than four tightly packed individuals. Seeing it, knowing it, made Gildarts smile a small, warm smile that was rarely found on his face.
Nothing's changed, was the reaffirming thought crossed Gildarts's mind as his hand idly ghosted over an angled path across his body, massaging tenderness that no longer existed. He was glad to see things remain the same after being away for two years. It brought hope to the small portion of his mind that was endlessly cynical. If the home went unchanged since he was last here, perhaps everything else was the same. At least close to it.
With a sigh, and another bout of grunts, Gildarts swung his legs off of the couch and pushed himself into a standing position that needed two or three shuffling steps to ensure his balance. Without a second thought or glance elsewhere, Gildarts gripped the cloak that was caught in his hands and walked toward the short, dark hallway. Fortunately, the door to the right was cracked open already, even if there wasn't much to reveal in the lack of light, making his sneaking easier. Last thing he needed was to wake his host up and earn himself a beating before he even got to the business Makarov had him doing.
It took a few long, silent steps across the length of the dark bedroom to approach the edge of the bed positioned in the far corner. Wrapped in a cocoon of blankets with a thick bundle of dark locks that covered where the blanket that stopped at the shoulders didn't. The warm smile on Gildarts's face grew as he gentle rested his old, ragged cloak atop the coverings of the sleeping girl, letting a gentle hand ghost over her head before he turned around and left her to her rest.
After he left the room, pulling the door as closed as he could without making noise, a deep breath filled the man's lungs. With a quick exhale, all the warmth that showed on his face was replaced with the serious visage required for the day. For all his well-wishes, Makarov didn't seem too keen on the idea of "working back up" when it came to him. From a failed mission to conducting a tough test on a tougher subject was not quite the break he had in mind, but if the Old Man said it was necessary then there wasn't much that could be done. Walking to the front door of the humble home, Gildarts was only able to swing the door open before he was halted by the sight of his short master with a hand raised in the air in preparation to knock.
"Ah, it seems we are running right on schedule, my old friend." Makarov smiled up at him before immediately turning on a heel and walking down the few short steps to the road. While the old man wasn't rushing down the street, it was clear that there was a sense of urgency in Makarov's short strides as he began navigating the winding roads of Magnolia. Gildarts wasted no time shutting the door of the home and taking a few hopping steps to catch up to his master.
"I didn't think we'd get an early start on this. I doubt you want to drag the kid around town before we even get started on the test." Gildarts prodded a little bit at the short man to his right. While Makarov made mention of the test, and doing it today barring any interruption, Gildarts didn't recall planning to do it first thing in the morning. Could be that he simply forgot. Even with the countless years of built up alcohol tolerance at his back, there was always a point where things got a little fuzzy.
"We weren't, not initially, but I couldn't help but notice the boy leading his new pupil through the town to get a start on their training during my morning walk. It seems that we'll get some insight on him before we get started." The explanation came without a skip in step or deviation from the well-navigated turns that led the pair toward the northeast of town and pushing more eastward. There weren't many people about, making the trip east, but an orange eyebrow began to raise when the normal roads were abandoned for alleyways and side paths that found them on the east of town and climbing a grassy hill that overlooked the land and true path leading out of Magnolia.
After a few moments of curious glancing around himself, GIldarts could help but blurt his question out to break the calm silence between the two. "Wanna tell me where you're leading us, Old Man? I don't see two runts duking it out." Turning to his right, Gildarts thought he heard something on the other side of the hill they walked on, but nothing that truly caught his attention. All Gildarts could tell was that they were walking on uneven ground toward a forest they could have gotten to by just walking down the road already there. HIs ankles weren't young enough to do this without something biting him in the ass later.
Makarov sent a tired glance behind him at the trailing Gildarts for only a moment before letting out an exaggerated sigh. "Just because you can't sense anyone outside of your obnoxious magic, boy, doesn't mean that it's the case for anyone else. They're to our right and we're going around them unseen." There wasn't any real bite to Makarov's words, just an intensity that was the usual when he had a chance to give Gildarts some grief. Still, the explanation gave Gildarts some pause as he turned his attention back to the grassy hill inclined to his right. He knew his shroud of magic was a pain in the ass, but for it to clog something so simple was just annoying. Rolling his eyes, Gildarts followed Makarov without further questioning, simply navigating the terrain until they marched off the elevated ground and into the forest to circle back and keep an eye on the pair of mages in the field.
Gildarts and Makarov watched in silence as the pair of younger mages danced around the field. Well, more so depicting a one-sided charge that had the small girl scrambling at every moment to hold off the oppressive force that hardly gave her an inch to breath. Natsu Dragneel. Gildarts's eyes clung to the boy's form as the draping fabrics of his clothes flew with each of his swift movements and pink hair danced in wild spikes atop his head. As much as Gildarts tried, he couldn't make out any true features of the boy's face in the distance between him, so he settled at analyzing his movements as much as he could.
While never quite considered a thinker, either on or off a battlefield, Gildarts has been around long enough and dealt with enough shit thrown at him that his eye was trained to see what was needed. The oppressive force that was Natsu Dragneel as he threw himself at the young girl was a lot more than a man who was simply applying pressure for the sake of it. Every step that was taken as he approached gave him leverage to deal a devastating blow, a killing one should the intent be behind it. Every strike thrown was precise and controlled through years of repetitions, never landing anywhere else but where he intended them to. Finally, the urgency that it was all done with made Gildarts raise an eyebrow with some interest. Urgency, especially forced urgency, made most people sloppy, kids or adults alike.
Not this one.
Fluid motion continued endlessly. It didn't let up, it didn't slow down, and there was no indication that reprieve was coming. Gildarts and Makarov simply watched as the young Wendy Marvel was thrown around with abandon. The only thing that kept the older men from interrupting the supposed training was that there hadn't been a truly devastating blow landed. Natsu restrained himself from landing flush or with any true power that did more than bruise and bump. It was all the danger of an endless attack with the control to allow it to continue for as long as he needed.
The sun had long come up and awakened the world around them before the charging practice was put to an abrupt halt. A gust of wind exploded from the downed girl just as it seemed Natsu was going to finally launch a decisive blow, ending the older boy away from Wendy for a peaceful conclusion. An exasperated sigh came from his left as a grumbling Makarov expressed his displeasure.
"The fool is lucky he was right." Makarov said with a raspy voice that just made it up to Gildarts's ears. "Could have just easily broken her before she found her resolve. A trial by fire should be a calculated risk, not the first option." The old man went about shaking his head and spoke other complaints to himself that didn't quite reach him but Gildarts couldn't help the chuckle that left his mouth at the master's displeasure.
"Now we aren't fans of trials by fire, Old Man? Should we leave now?" Gildarts's mirth only grew at the glare he was sent, not minding the man's displeasure in the slightest. Still, Makarov was right that it was risky. The girl just lived through a tragedy. Such pressure could have just as easily shattered whatever remained before she found the strength to fight back. Learning to attack was valuable, especially to those that refuse it naturally, but knowing when not to tends to be a more important lesson in the long run. Granted, Gildarts was touch-and-go with that particular lesson.
"You know this is different. Don't sass me, boy." Makarov scoffed without so much as a glance toward him. Shaking his head, Gildarts returned his attention back to the pair in the field, only to see Natsu's attention turned back in their general direction.
There was no movement, no flare of magic, and no visible show of warning. Yet, there were several long moments of Natsu simply staring. It was as if the kid wanted them to know he knew. Nothing more, nothing less. They weren't a secret.
"He's a dangerous one, isn't he?" Gildarts called down to Makarov as the boy turned from their hiding spot to refocus himself on his downed pupil. They watched as the training shifted from an intense pressuring bout to a calm display of wind and flame. "A bit more than some wandering troublemaker. This kid is a survivor, through and through. This one won't be an easy one to crack."
"And yet, we must." Makarov responded almost immediately. There was no hesitation or trepidation. "For his own good, we must find what's at the core and bring it to the surface. I don't know how, but I feel as if this boy will be an important part of the future."
Silence reigned between them after that final declaration, neither wishing to break it or stray away from the displays presented before them. Makarov's urgency gave Gildarts some pause. Sure, the kid was unique amongst a guild that was already pretty out there, but the old man was already pushing a lot on the kid's shoulders. There is always that last name. While neither had the truth of it, the name Dragneel wasn't a small thing. Maybe there was something to Makarov's lofty expectations, but that didn't mean that Gildarts knew what it was.
Within a few hours, there wasn't much else Natsu could draw from his pupil. She was laying on the ground absent of both physical energy and magical energy, her body soon picked up and taken away by a strange flying cat. Soon it was just Natsu standing in the field, his attention turned solely toward the hidden forms of the two older men. It took only a moment for the air to be filled with the kid's magic that poured out of his body in vicious waves of crimson flame and radiating outward with increasing intensity. Almost immediately, Makarov's hands extended in front of him before a silver magic circle flared to life after some delicate chanting under the man's breath.
"Give me a few moments to erect the barrier, then get to work. If this becomes a matter of endurance, I fear we will be here for a few days." Makarov gave the order and Gildarts was following it not a moment later, just as a golden magic circle came to life to overshadow the silver one it appeared in front of. There would be a third magic circle, even larger and shining in a bright platinum, before the barrier would be properly established and maintained by the old master. Once it was up, however, there would be no interrupting them. It would just be Gildarts and Natsu secluded in their own world.
His steps came easy and relaxed as he walked into the clearing, his face stretching into a smile as he drew the direct attention of Natsu. "Now, now, let's not get too feisty too soon, kid." He called in response to the heavy glare that was leveled on him, one that promised a pain that such a young kid had no right to know of. There was no naivete or arrogance of youth in the eyes that threatened to kill him where he stood. To combat the waves of fire magic bursting from the kid's body, Gildarts put a bit more emphasis on his own magic. It was just enough to make a statement, though not enough to start tearing up the lovely scenery around them prematurely. "We have to wait for the Old Man to tell us we're good."
It could have been that Natsu simply didn't hear him or outright ignored him, but Gildarts couldn't even decipher that the kid registered that words were spoken. An impassive face of stone lay before him until the third portion of Makarov's barrier was put in place and the immediate area was contained to them and only them. That, however, drew the boy's attention as his eyes wandered around him to try and decipher what happened. Sight, sound, and external forces were muted from one another on either side of the barrier. Magical energy would be halted in its entirety so long as Makarov was at the helm so Magnolia wouldn't even feel whatever was to come between them.
Let's see what you got, kid.
"Now, who are you Natsu Dragneel?" Where he initially only emphasized his magic naturally exuding from his body, now Gildarts was well and truly flexing the immense power he was born with. Immediately, the ground before him unsettled itself and grew soft under his mere presence while a faint white glow surrounded him. To his surprise, Natsu remained firmly in place and his magic unhampered beneath Gildarts's flexing. Sure, there were signs of new strain and discomfort, but it was far above what most would be able to display in the same position. His magic wasn't for the faint of heart, neither to use or be exposed to.
There wasn't another word shared between them, not before a burst of flame saw the kid cloaked in crimson and his body speeding headlong toward Gildarts. A small frown of disappointment showed on the older man's face as he raised his arm to intercept the foolish charge. With his head lowered and focused on the center of Gildarts's chest, a fist curled in his rising arm to cut a stiff hook into the side of Natsu's head. What he didn't expect was the sudden dip of his head just as his hand was about to make contact, gliding just beneath as if the kid could see the strike from the side of his head, and an abrupt kick began flying up with a red magic circle shining in front of it.
"Fire Demon's Talon!" Gildarts's right forearm was immediately in place to catch the flaming strike, the metal bracer over his forearm crunching under the strain of the kick and quickly brightening under the heat of the flames. With the boy momentarily caught in place as his leg caught on his bracer, Gildarts's opposite arm instantly rose toward the boy's chest. Expecting to knock him away with ease, Gildarts was surprised to see another growing accumulation of fire magic. "Fire Demon's Rage!"
A burst of spiraling fire was launched at a close distance that threatened to envelope Gildarts immediately in the inferno. It didn't even take conscious thought to make his hand in front of Natsu glow a brilliant white just as the fire launched. "Crush." The simple statement came with an immense burst of white magic that met the torrent of flame and completely dissolved it before it sent the kid flying backward. To his credit, Natsu seemed unperturbed as he righted himself in the air and landed on his feet as he slid across the ground while his momentum slowed. While Natsu's face remained relatively unburdened, Gildarts knew that his magic did damage beneath the surface. Be it regular bruising or cracked bones, there was damage. There always was.
"Is that who you are? One who attacks with a mindless aggression to remove who you deem a threat? The rumors are fitting then." Gildarts's voice was cold and concise. He wasn't even trying to rile the boy up, only make observations, yet the snarl that showed on Natsu's face proved that his words hit something too close to home. "Don't like that? Then show something better, because I'm not impressed."
Natsu straightened himself, having fully regathered his footing from being flung away, but didn't say a word. His eyes remained narrowed and focused solely on Gildarts, yet showed no intention to come flying back at him with the same haphazard intensity. Seconds passed long enough for Gildarts to grow slightly unsettled. Their little isolated world was still rampaging with rampant magic being exuded from the two combatants, a tension that was literally felt in the air around them. Still, there was no indication that Natsu meant to move anytime soon. The kid seemed more than fine simply watching.
And Gildarts let him.
It wasn't his job to hunt down Natsu until he was a bloody pulp, not really. They would stand there until Natsu found what he was looking for and continued to attack. Gildarts wasn't foolish enough to think that the first exchange between them would be the only one. Stagnant or not, Natsu had the look of a man prepared to fight until he couldn't. That point was proven when a delicate movement of lips that spoke words lost in the distance between them. There wasn't a noticeable shift in magic, or even the gleam of a magic circle that appeared around the kid. That is, until Gildarts took the time to look down and see the blazing crimson that appeared beneath his feet.
Just like before, Gildarts let his magic flow toward the attack as white wisps surrounded his feet before shooting out and into the red magic circle. Unlike before, when Natsu's spell was dismantled as it came to him, Gildarts's magic destroyed the circle itself. As crimson cracked with seams of a glowing white, the magic stored within it exploded outward with nowhere else to go. Fortunately, his magic had already removed the threat of the uncontrolled magic below him, but the rest of his immediate surroundings were engulfed in a plume of fire that temporarily shielded his gaze from everything else around him. There were only a few moments lost, but that proved to be a few too many as the flames cleared and showed empty space where Natsu previously stood.
"Aw shit." Gildarts grumbled to himself as he gave a lazy glance upward to see the kid floating through the air in a cloak of flame that seemed more intense around his hands that quickly flew up to meet above his head. Where his hands joined, a large sphere of fire burned in the open space directly above the floating Demon Slayer before a wild jerk of his body sent the ball of magic in a swift descent.
"Fire Demon's Infernal Blaze!" Came the call of the spell that, again, shielded Natsu from Gildarts's view. The older man didn't even need his eyes to linger on the large ball of flame before it was dismantled and made into nothing but a few stray embers. Before the spell was even fully dissipated, Gildarts was already turning his body to receive the ambush from Natsu freeing himself from his cover.
"You're going to have to do better, kid." He said simply as a jabbing punch was caught by the wrist in his left hand, grip tightening to feel the bone beneath buckle under the force. A kick from his rear foot sent the kid twisting in Gildarts's grasp, his head soon pointing towards the ground and his feet in the air, before his wrist ignited in tandem with a burst of flame exploding from his feet.
GIldarts's hand was forced to let go, lest it sustain more damage than the burns that instantly appeared within the moment of exposure to the incredible heat, as his head leaned backward to just evade another Fire Demon's Talon. Feet were already leaving the ground the moment they landed when Natsu came to rest with his back to Gildarts, using his momentum to twist his body around as ropes of flame were already snapping from his arms. "Fire Demon's Whiplash!" Two snaking lengths of flames crossed the short distance between them in a violent snap, but neither did much to break through the harsh defense of his magic. Yet, the short time it took for Gildarts to negate the spell, Natsu already covered the distance and was launching a flaming fist at the older man. "Fire Demon's Savage Fist!"
Well, he's doing better, came an errant thought as Gildarts leaned his body away from the first punch and cocked his head out of reach of the second. It was clear that Natsu wanted to keep this close range, knowing that his long range attacks wouldn't help him much, and meant to overwhelm Gildarts with speed and ferocity as flames leaked from every pore of the kid's body. There was aggression, there was power, but it was far from mindless. Strategy and tactics came easier than Gildarts had expected, but he needed to see more. When the third punch came at Gildarts, however, it met an open palm that halted all momentum. Natsu tried to move, be it in a shifting secondary attack or in retreat, but it didn't matter as Gildarts gave the fist he held a sharp tug and quickly snapped his leg up in a violent kick to the kid's midsection.
A series of coughs followed the kicked up dust of Natsu's bouncing body that was launched away from the older man. Gildarts followed Natsu's trajectory with slow, measured steps that slowly emitted more and more of his magical power into the air. Soon, Gildarts was glowing completely with his mighty magic that weighed heavily on the world around them. The sharp increase in power had the coughing boy's head snap up with a quick jerk, eyes widening slightly as he watched Gildarts's approach. Continuing his slow stalk, the older man saw Natsu push himself to a knee in a swift movement, with an arm wrapped around ribs that were surely hurting, that was soon to be followed by a full stand. Not wanting it to be so easy, Gildarts leveled more of his magic on the boy. Soon there was an entire column of brilliant, bright magic surrounding the now shadowed body of Gildarts that looked down on Natsu.
Over the years, there have been several that have gone through this test. It was a test that placed the mage before an impassable obstacle, one that was simply too strong to overpower. Gildarts himself has had the privilege to test the entirety of the newest generation of mages within Fairy Tail. Once each of them faced Gildarts as he was now, displaying his raw might after handily dispatching them, they all succumbed to the pressure he applied. Granted, he was rougher and more to the point with Natsu, but the intention was all the same. Knowing when to back down, understanding when there is something beyond one's own capabilities, was a trait needed to become a senior mage within Fairy Tail. Being able to lean on others and be more than an individual within the guild was a necessity. Yet, it seemed that, even with Gildarts's more aggressive approach to this test, Natsu had more to give.
While the boy's eyes remained widened under the pressure that fell upon him, there was a sense of stubborn refusal of the situation at hand that almost leaked into denial. Even as he leaned on his right knee, breathing heavily from exertion and the force of magic weighing down on him, Gildarts watched the kid's back straighten slightly. A glimmer of the eye, one that was almost lost on Gildarts, saw an invisible tether snap and the bandages crawling up his right arm to just under his red guildmark ignite into a flash flame that died out almost immediately to reveal the dancing black markings that depicted flames climbing up Natsu's arm. That black heated up into a bright, cherry red as those flames seemed to come alive and spread further up his arm and hide under the draping fabrics he wore. Gildarts watched closely as gritted teeth were revealed in a snarl that displayed lengthened canines, eyes bore into his own in a deep red that matched the markings across his skin, and the subtle lines that peeked above the collar of the boy's shirt and shallowly climbed up the right side of his neck. In response to the abrupt transformation, the magic around Natsu exploded to life and beat back the pressure of Gildarts's magic to allow the kid to easily climb back to his feat.
"Why choose to fight?" Gildarts asked coldly, his steely display never shifting in front of the kid to keep the seriousness of the situation intact. "Why choose to stand before me as an enemy?"
Again, Natsu's magic flared to beat back the strength of Gildarts's own, glaring eyes narrowing further at him. Neither question went answered as Natsu surged forward with explosive speed supplemented by audacious bouts of flames behind him. The first strike scraped off of Gildarts's right side with a stabbing pain, nailed lengthened to claws shooting forward in a jab with blinding speed within Gildarts's guard. The second strike, coming from an equally fast hook by the opposite hand, was caught on Gildarts's forearm before an elbow was thrown onto the extended shoulder of the kid. Natsu's shoulder popped loudly but earned no noise from the kid as he leapt up with a leg swinging toward Gildarts's face. Slipping underneath it, Gildarts felt the impossible heat emanating from the foot as it surged past his head before he stepped forward and shot out an arm to grasp the airborne man, catching him for a brief moment. The flames that poured from Natsu were sweltering, diminishing his clothes to smoldering embers with every passing moment, but that didn't stop Gildarts from tightening his hold and slamming Natsu into the ground below with a mighty heave.
From the force, and the magic leaking from his body, the ground that Natsu was driven into quickly ceded into a crater formed from the dirt that was blown into the air. For a precious moment, Natsu's visage was lost to Gildarts despite being within an arm's length. When that moment was gone, however, he was met with a pained scowl and eyes that spoke of only murder. Seeing as the kid wasn't done, Gildarts's grip tightened on the tattered cloth his hand rested on to lift Natsu up again and again until he would give it up. Building up the magic in the left arm that held the bulk of Natsu's weight, Gildarts felt his own bones tremble from his own magic and how freely he was using it. It was a side effect of the magic he used, the punishment of having such a brutal ability, but it was something he was used to. With Natsu hefted back into the air, almost limp in his awkward grasp, Gildarts gave no thought as he drove Natsu down again with a mighty shout.
"Mizuwari!" Magic reverberated through Gildarts's arm before it came to a head within the left hand that gripped Natsu as he drove him down. The shuddering energy was intense enough that the older man hardly realized the movement within his grasp with the stabbing pain and blinding heat that stabbed into his left shoulder almost took him off-guard.
"Fire Demon's Piercing Claw." The gritted teeth of Natsu barely allowed the spell to be spoken, with the clawed points of his right hand diving into Gildarts's shoulder with little gentleness to it. While the attack landed, it didn't do anything to stop Natsu from being driven further into the ground before he was launched away in a mass of flying debris as the Mizuwari ripped everything apart that it touched. If it were just a regular mage, Gildarts imagined that he'd be scraping the kid off the ground after a spell like that. The bones of his forearm ached and pained, something he'd be feeling for the next couple of days, and his shoulder was bloodied. There weren't many, especially at Natsu's age, that could pull that off. While he might be hurting, the Mizuwari wouldn't be enough to do him in.
When the cloud of kicked up dirt settled, Gildarts was greeted with a trail of destruction that covered nearly the length of their allowed area within Makarov's barrier. At the end of the destruction was Natsu's body trying to peel itself from the ground as tattered reds and whites of his clothes hung loosely off of his body. A tired sigh of disbelief had Gildarts's eyes looking toward the sky for an answer to an unasked question before he began walking toward Natsu again. His magic rose once again, shaking the very earth beneath their feet as Gildarts removed any restraint he previously had. Every step he took came with a crater of compacted dirt that had been previously ripped up by his Mizuwari and was echoed by a heavy thud that bounced around their isolated barrier. Natsu's eyes immediately trained themselves on Gildarts, watching the older man approach at a sedated pace while fighting his body to rise again. Flames that represented the boy's innate stubbornness flared back to life, but Gildarts was keen on seeing this end now.
"Why do you choose to fight?" He asked once again, his eyes not leaving Natsu's for a moment. "I didn't come with my fists raised. I didn't attack you first. I am not forcing you to stand back up again in spite of your injuries. Why?" Gildarts's magic continued bearing down on the stubborn Natsu Dragneel, who made no indication that he was giving up his attempt to stand. Gildarts had expected to have to kick the kid around a little more to get himself an answer, but Natsu surprisingly spoke of his own accord this time.
"What else would I do?" Natsu barked out with an intensity that betrayed frustration that seemed fairly hidden through their battling. The kid's chest heaved as he finally got to a knee, grimacing with every intake of air to betray ribs that were more than a little sore. Interestingly enough, there was a locket that hung around the boy's neck and gleamed in the light with a surface undirtied and undamaged. "You were watching me and Wendy. You're a threat."
It was so simple. There wasn't an ounce of deeper thought that Natsu needed to throw himself into a fight. Eliminate the threat. That was the first and last step of his process.
"Then why keep fighting? You can't win, Natsu. You're dangerous, you're strong, but you're not strong enough to beat me here." He pressed, watching the boy look at him with something that seems sadder than only a moment before. Perhaps it wasn't truly sadness that the boy showed, but that was what that look made Gildarts feel. The look of someone young and lost with no clue where to go from here. This was what he was waiting for.
"I don't know anything else." Natsu's words came in a whisper that was still somehow heard over the roar of their magics pouring from them. When Gildarts heard that answer, however, his magic ceased entirely. The air was lifted of the burden he put on it as the man sent a large smile down on the younger man.
"That's the right answer, kid. You don't know." Gildarts took another step forward to get closer to Natsu before he fell into a joint popping squat accompanied by a loud groan. When they were at eye level, GIldarts made sure that Natsu's attention was only on him before he spoke again. "But you can't know if you just sit around doing the same things you were before. You let the girl, Wendy, get away before you did anything, right? If I was a threat, why let her go off on her own?" He asked, not truly expecting an answer outside of the confused look on Natsu's face. "She's your responsibility, Natsu. If I was a threat, then you go with her and protect her. If you face someone stronger than you, wait for help or run before you get thrashed like you did against Oracion Seis. You aren't just Natsu Dragneel, the Akuma. You're a member of Fairy Tail and now a guardian of that little girl. It's time to start acting like it."
While his words were heavy, serious, and critical of the young man in front of him, Gildarts never let the smile drop from his face. In fact, once he finished and saw the widened eyes of Natsu look back at him, the smile only grew further. They weren't the blazing red eyes of the devastating combatant that was there moments ago, but the shocked black eyes of a kid still figuring things out. Teeth receded to normal lengths, the fire around him was doused, and the flame markings receded to no further than his right shoulder above his guild mark, leaving just a regular kid.
"Tch. And you old fools couldn't have gotten this through without causing this big mess, could you?" The snappish voice of Porlyusica suddenly called from behind Natsu, showing the woman slowly walking up from the trail leading away from Magnolia. Natsu didn't even react to the newcomer, his eyes falling toward the ground in intense thought as Gildarts stood with another groan to greet the woman after so long.
"You know how these things go, my old friend. Some things need the finesse of a needle, others the brutality of a hammer." Makarov called from behind Gildarts, interrupting whatever words he would have said himself. His reasoning only earned a scoff from the old healer before she looked between Gildarts and let a sigh of disappointment follow closely behind the scoff.
Makarov, Porlyusica, and Gildarts all enjoyed silent conversation as the healer went about mending the wounds caused over the short battle. It was a rarity to see the woman sit down and let her hands glow a soft green as she focused on each burn that covered Gildarts's body and the few bleeding wounds scattered about before her attention went to mending the bones that lay damaged beneath heavily bruised skin. Porlyusica was a healer in every meaning of the word, knowing more than most in any medium of treating injuries, but there were certain cases that she leaned on her prowess of magic, even when such a thing was more demanding than it seemed.
Surprisingly, Natsu's injuries were managed faster than Gildarts's own, allowing the boy to follow behind the trio as they made their way back toward Magnolia. Sure, the clothes of Gildarts and Natsu were mostly in tatters, but they went back to the guild in no worse shape than when they left. Makarov threw the doors of the guild open with the same enthusiasm as many of his guild members did just as Porlyusica gave her leave to return back to her home in the woods to the west. Attention was turned from the normal bustle of the guild to see the Akuma, the guildmaster, and the Ace of the guild all walk through the door at once. Yet, even as all the attention was turned toward them, Gildarts waited to find a singular pair of eyes that would light up his life.
"DADDY!" The shout that exploded from the otherwise unsettled silence preceded the charge of energy that was his daughter. A mane of dark, flowing hair and watery brown eyes burst through the crowd with his old, tattered cloak flailing behind her. In an instant, she was buried into his chest with her arms wrapped around him as tight as they could be while a loud, content chuckle came fluttering through Gildarts's lips.
"There you are, Cana. I almost expected to find you passed out before I got here." He teased, earning himself a furrowed brow and a stiff jab to his shoulder. His smile only grew before he jerked his head back to the door still opened behind him. "C'mon, let's catch up a little bit. I snuck a couple bottles back to your place from here."
His daughter's smile widened considerably as she pushed past him and led the way back to her palace with her hand tightly wrapped around his wrist to drag him along. Gildarts didn't spare anyone else a second glance as his daughter led him away, allowing her to do what she wished for the sole opportunity of seeing her impossibly wide smile linger for a little longer. Almost immediately, Cana started regaling stories that she's gathered over the two years he'd been gone, a warm feeling blossoming in his heart at the thought that she made sure to remember so much from this job or that just to tell him about it when he got back.
It was weird, feeling that way. Fatherhood was never a part of a plan. In fact, nothing permanent was part of any plans of his, yet the two most important fixtures were just that. Cana and Fairy Tail made all of Gildarts's existence these days. Even Cana's mother, Cornelia, was just a friend that liked to have fun as much as he did. It was never meant to be more. Yet, when he returned to the guild one day to see a thirteen year old Cana standing there and telling him that she was his daughter, it showed him that the best things tended to stray from the planned path.
For a time, Gildarts struggled with the idea of fatherhood. Not that he didn't want to raise Cana, or that he ever thought of relinquishing any of his responsibility, but it gave him too much reminder of what he left. Thirteen years had already passed where he wasn't there, now he had to figure out what he didn't know so he didn't ruin the years that followed. Never having a guiding voice himself, it was daunting to even think about. Fortunately, Cornelia raised Cana to be more than some thirteen year old runt. She could take care of herself already and had the presence of mind to know that Gildarts wasn't going to be perfect. The two of them could just appreciate that they found family in each other and figure out the rest later.
"So, how did your job go, Dad? A century quest and you came back in only two years? Pretty flashy." Cana teased with a smirk before she rose a bottle of liquor to her lips and drank deeply. That smirk was lost when her question was met with silence. Gildarts had to fight off the urge to rub a finger across his chest, silently thankful that Natsu's flames left his shirt in that area relatively untouched.
"Ah, it was too much for this old man." He shrugged with a facade of indifference, ignoring the spit take from across the small dining table they sat at. "That's not a story I want to get into right now, especially when I get to hear about what's all going on with you." He gave her a bright, dazzling smile to only earn an eye roll in response. He then straightened himself up in his seat and took on a serious visage once again, gaining Cana's attention immediately. "But there is something that I want to share with you…"
Cana leaned forward with rapt attention, the bottle in her hands set aside and forgotten for now.
"...it seems like we have another member of our family floating around here."
Another interesting one to go back and read, didn't really touch it at all aside for grammatical errors. Here is another opening for something I have in mind for later, just a little tidbit tho. My personal life has been fucking hectic, but we just ball I guess. Gotta take some shit on the chin and roll with it, but nobody likes a random ass suckerpunch