(New Chapter)
I do not own Fairy Tail Hiro Mashima does.
The Ichor City
***POTD***
"Are you alright Natsu," Elise asked worriedly, as they stood atop a peak overlooking the capital of the Scarlione Empire… Or rather, what remained of it.
Shortly after the Gildarts and Erza's distraction kicked off, Elise and Natsu had slipped through the checkpoint at Brinne Town, making their way up the highway toward The Ichor City.
What was once one of the largest cities in Ishgar, a city so majestic it shone brightly like the stars themselves, now looked like a barren wasteland. Countless hectares of land had been gouged out of the landscape, what remained being extensively damaged.
"I had a lot of good memories here," the Dragon Slayer muttered in reply, his eyes shrouded by his hair, clearly trying to steel himself. "This is where I met the old crew, met Illyandra… This is where I set foot on the path to becoming a man, Elise. This city…"
Elise took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Hearing his voice crack as he described what The Ichor City meant to him even had her feeling rather emotional, and it wasn't really hard to empathize, considering just how the place looked.
It was simply catastrophic.
"Natsu, I understand that you're hurt by all this, but we can't stay here. We're exposed," Elise said quietly, as Natsu gently nodded, his breath shaky as he responded to her.
"Yeah. Thanks for giving me a moment to take all of this in…"
"That damaged structure at the centre of the city… Is that the Ichor Throne?"
"Yeah," Natsu replied, running a hand through his hair. "It's taken some damage, but its still standing, which means Alvarez haven't breached Illyandra's vaults yet."
"What do you mean by that," Elise asked curiously, as they both leapt from the peak they stood upon, hopping down into the ruins of the Ichor City.
"I can't tell you that," Natsu grunted, as they landed on one of the main roads that spanned the length of the city. "This should be Highway Seven, which means we'll go past the area Shrikke's team last reported in before they went missing."
"You mean in that desert looking area up ahead?"
"Yeah. The Ichor City was designed in a rather unique way. Each regional type had three Highways assigned to them. Highways Seven, Eight and Nine possessed an arid biome, though it's a bit harder to tell since Illy isn't here to maintain it."
"So, we should keep an eye out for any sign of Shrikke or his army?"
"That's right. The primary mission is to secure what's in the vaults, but if we do run into any sign, we'll divert and investigate them," Natsu explained, as they began running up the ruined Highway Seven.
***POTD***
After running for what felt like hours, the duo gradually slowed down, noticing the telling signs of battle across the area. The pair eventually came to a stop near an overturned transport, scorch makes around the vehicle indicating that it had been blown up.
"Something tells me we're on the right track," Natsu hummed, crouching down and running a hand through the scorched sands. "If we're lucky, we might be able to find some tracks…"
"I think I might be able to do you one better Natsu," Elise replied in a grim tone, drawing the Dragon Slayer's eyes toward her. "Look there."
Natsu rose to his full height and moved toward Elise's position, his eyes travelling toward where she was currently looking, only to grimace.
Poking out of the sand off to the side of the road, was a semi decayed arm. He could tell just by looking at it that this arm was definitely attached to a body, and it hadn't been there more than a few months.
The duo slowly approached the arm, as Natsu gave it a closer look.
"Its badly damaged, but this gauntlet he's wearing is part of the Scarlione Military Standard Kit," Natsu sighed, as he looked around, not seeing any further bodies. "There's a high chance this is where the initial attack began, which means we'll likely start running into more bodies."
"Should we keep following the main Highway?"
"Yeah. From what I can see, there aren't any signs of battle leading off past this corpse," Natsu replied, as the pair took off down Highway Seven at a modest pace. "Keep an eye out for anything that looks even remotely military, from either Alvarez or Scarlione."
Elise nodded as they continued their run for the next twenty minutes, not finding anything of note. However, that soon changed once they reached a giant crater in the center of the Highway.
"Shit," Natsu sighed, peering over the edge of the crater, finding what he could only describe as a massacre. "Poor bastards didn't have a chance."
Down within the crater were the remains of hundreds of Scarlione troops, all of them having been completely slaughtered. What was interesting though, was that they were all laying down the exact same way, as if they'd been executed, just in a brutal fashion.
"This seems… odd," Natsu hummed, looking away from the grisly sight. "Alvarez fight hard and rough, but this seems a bit extreme for even them…"
"You're right, it doesn't make any sense. How can there be this many soldiers, yet not one of them has even drawn their blade," Elise mused. "There aren't even any signs of a fight, aside from the crater itself?"
"I'm honestly not sure what to tell you Elise, this is definitely suspicious. Whoever killed this many men knew exactly what they were doing. This was a completely one-sided slaughter."
"Do you think…?"
"No. I'd know if Shrikke was down there, and he's not," Natsu replied, his eyes narrowing further. "Actually, that might shed some light onto what happened here…?"
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it? If the Alvarez forces simply wanted to wipe out Shrikke and his Legion, then he'd be down there in that mess too, right? Thing is, he's not. I can't smell him, nor can I see him," Natsu explained. "This means that he was dragged off and taken prisoner."
"Maybe whoever did this knows that Shrikke is close with Queen Illyandra, and that they could use Shrikke as some kind of leverage?"
No. Shrikke's been missing for some time now, yet no word has been received by Scarlione Intelligence as to his whereabouts. Plus, Alvarez rarely take prisoners during battle unless they have a very specific reason, which leads me to one conclusion…"
"And what's that?"
"I think he's been captured by one of either the Spriggan or Leichart Twelve," Natsu replied with a deep frown. "They are definitely capable of carrying out a massacre like this, yet still capturing a target. Combine that with the fact that Shrikke is actually a powerful Mage, one that could fight SSS Rank Dark Mages, it seems almost certain that either the Spriggan or Leichart were behind this."
"That does check out," Elise agreed, before suddenly realizing where he was going with all of this. "You think they captured him to try and get into the Queen's vaults?"
"I'm almost certain of it," Natsu replied as they both looked toward the Ichor Throne, which wasn't too far from their current position. "This could go south really fast…"
"I've got your back man," Elise replied, rapping him on his left bicep with her knuckle. "Unlike the rest of the Guild who got stuck those past seven years, we both grew stronger. Together, I'm sure we can pull this off, even if there happens to be one of these Spriggan or Leichart Twelve there waiting for us?"
"Don't underestimate them," Natsu replied, though he did shoot her a supportive smile. "But you are right. I'm honestly still surprised at just how much stronger I actually am, now that I'm back at a hundred percent."
"Same. I increased my skill with God's Aura, and am now a true Demigod, even without using Aura."
"Hence the interesting hair choice?"
"Yeah. It's honestly really weird feeling this level of power at my fingertips… I never thought I'd get this powerful, yet here I am."
"Same," Natsu agreed, as he held his hands out in front of him, before clenching them shut and looking toward the Ichor Throne once again. "Come on, let's go."
"Right behind you Natsu," Elise replied firmly, as the pair took off toward the Ichor Palace at high speed.
***POTD***
The duo arrived at the heavily damaged steps that led up into the Ichor Throne. Elise watched as Natsu took the place in, his eyes going over the damaged statues that lined the sides of the grand staircase that led to the collapsed double doors to the castle.
"These statues, they were of the Shields of Scarlione, the Fortunis family. More specifically, the individuals who served and died in service of defending the Queens of Scarlione," Natsu explained, stopping before one that was missing the head. "This was Frollo's statue. I was here when they actually erected this one…"
Elise hummed as she examined the statue closely. From what the statue depicted, Frollo was a massive man, carrying a large tower shield in his left hand, and an ornate spear in his right. He wore full plate armor, the Scarlione insignia emblazoned over the centre of the breastplate, with another insignia borne proudly on the tower shield itself.
"That's the Fortunis family coat of arms," Natsu chimed in, noticing her gaze. "The outer shield should speak for itself, but their family animal is the Lion Turtle."
"There is no greater offensive than the ultimate defensive," Elise hummed, reading the plaque at the foot of the statue. "That saying sounds a little off?"
"It's a quote, actually, from seven hundred years ago when the first of the Fortunis family was sworn in to defend the first Queen. I suppose people spoke differently back then, but it does make sense."
Elise nodded slowly, as the pair moved on into the ruined entrance hall of the castle.
"Looks like the central staircase was destroyed," Natsu sighed, motioning up above where a spiral staircase abruptly ended around fifteen floors above their position. "We need to get to Illyandra's room first."
"Her room? Why?"
"It'll make sense later, trust me," Natsu replied, as he extended his right hand, his middle and index fingers glowing a faint purple color, as both of them began to float upward.
"Wow," Elise muttered, looking down at herself. "So, this is what it feels like for Gravity to go upward instead of coming down on us?"
"Yeah, feels weird, doesn't it," Natsu chuckled. "Keep in mind though that I'm heavily nerfing what would really happen if Gravity just decided to reverse itself. The real effects would be … well, catastrophic, to say the least."
"I don't doubt it," Elise replied, as they floated up to the seventeenth floor, before Natsu lightly bumped them onto the stairwell, cancelling his spell. "So, what floor are we going to?"
"Floor thirty-five."
"Couldn't we have just floated up to that point?"
"I'd rather not, just in case someone is waiting for us up there, you know?"
"Ah, fair enough," Elise hummed in agreement, as the duo ascended the stairs up to floor thirty-five.
Walking through the door, they found themselves in a long corridor. Natsu walked straight ahead, having seen it many times. Elise, however, opted to actually look around, curious about some of the portraits lining the wall to her right.
"Hang on." The War God Slayer muttered, pausing before one of the portraits that appeared to be of Illyandra herself.
Illyandra Scarlione I
The Founding Queen
The First Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Birth – X037
Died – X105
Her Royal Majesty who founded our beloved Empire
Responsible for the unification of the tribes and the abolishment of the Cult of the Black Dragon
Elise was thoroughly confused, since this woman, the original Illyandra Scarlione, looked identical to the Illyandra Scarlione she had met in the Kaarth Mountains.
Moving to the next portrait, she was again met with the exact same woman, another identical Illyandra Scarlione. The only difference between this one, the one she knew, and Illyandra Scarlione I, was that this one had her hair grown out down to her feet, and it was in a single long braid.
Illyandra Scarlione II
The Unshakeable Queen
Victor Of The War Of The Black Coast
The Second Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X085
Died – X192
Her Royal Majesty who crushed the Cult of the Black Dragon upon the back of the Black Coast
Founder of the great town of Lanstar
Elise found herself surprised at this Queen, who seemed to have crushed the cult that the previous one had supposedly abolished. The fact that this plaque referred to Lanstar City as a town, also didn't go unnoticed by her.
Moving along to the third portrait, again, it was an identical woman. This one had her hair cut short, and had a scepter held gently between her fingers, a bright diamond situated at its tip.
Illyandra Scarlione III
The Empathic Queen
Architect Of The Gaia Pact
The Third Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X172
Died – X299
Her Royal Majesty who won countless wars with naught but her wit, charm, and a trickle of her fair appearance
Architect of The Ichor Throne
Elise found herself surprised to learn about Illyandra Scarlione III. A Queen who supposedly won every war the country was in without even having to fight. Looking back at the portrait, she could tell just by looking at her, that this woman had a certain look about her.
It was the look of someone who knew they were going to convince you to see things their way, as if their way was the only logical way.
Moving along, this version was again an identical Illyandra Scarlione. However, this one was far different in the way she was depicted, with her golden hair in a V cut, multiple runic tattoos visible along her neck, and despite smiling, her gaze was hard.
Illyandra Scarlione IV
The Warrior Queen
Conqueror Of Nations
The Fourth Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X279
Died – X422
Her Royal Majesty who conquered all five bordering nations who threatened war upon the death of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Illyandra Scarlione III
The Queen who discovered the secret to delay death
Elise was floored at this revelation, now understanding why this Queen looked so wild, so powerful, compared to those who came before her. This Queen found a way to live long enough to crush the enemies of her nation, before allowing herself to die.
The War God Slayer could only wonder if the secret held within Illyandra's vaults contained this method of extending one's own life? Not that she needed it though, since she was destined for immortality through her own path as Eliza's Daughter and disciple.
Moving to the next one, again, it was an identical Illyandra Scarlione. This one had long flowing blonde hair and wore a larger crown than those who came before her. The image was also not a portrait, but a photo generated via a Lacrima.
In the photo, the Queen sat upon her throne, but she was grinning and holding up a flowerpot that had a strange cactus creature in it that was raising its strange limb up, presenting her a flower.
Illyandra Scarlione V
The Unifying Queen
Heart Of A Reunited Nation
The Fifth Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X402
Died – X631
Her Royal Majesty who quelled the flames of rebellion that flared within the conquered provinces left in the wake of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Illyandra Scarlione IV
A Queen who was loved by all, hated by none
Elise wasn't really surprised by the plaque this Queen had. Anyone looking at her in the photo could tell she was the bubbliest, friendliest one of the lot. Clearly, she loved everything about life, and would have undoubtedly been adored by her subjects if she treated them the same way she seemed to be treating the cactus entity she was holding in her photo.
Moving over to the next one, it was another version of Illyandra. This one however appeared far younger than the ones that had come before her. Where all prior versions appeared to be in their forties, this one looked like a teenager, and appeared rather shy, sporting a Princess cut for her golden locks, with small roses strewn throughout its length.
Illyandra Scarlione VI
The Tragic Queen
The Loss Of The Nations Final Innocence
The Sixth Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X611
Died – X644
Her Royal Majesty who was the brightest of the bunch, but was prevented from blossoming into the leader all of Scarlione envisioned
Assassinated by the reformed Cult of the Black Dragon alongside her Shield, Sir Aurelius Fortunis von Scarlione VI
Elise's jaw hung open as she looked at the photo of Illyandra Scarlione VI. She looked so innocent, so gentle, so shy… And yet, she was cut down before even being given a chance to lead her nation like all the others.
Elise didn't even know her, yet looking at her, and seeing her innocent eyes, it stirred feelings of rage on the slain Queen's behalf.
Shaking her head, she moved to the last Queen, the current one, and she was most certainly taken aback by what she read.
Illyandra Scarlione VII
The Vengeful Queen
The Righteous Blade Of A Frenzied Nation
The Seventh Seed Of The Ichor Throne
Born – X644
Her Royal Majesty, born the moment Her Royal Majesty, Queen Illyandra Scarlione VI was struck down
Emerging with the fury of Scarlione in her veins, Her Royal Majesty viciously slaughters all who bear the seal of the Cult of the Black Dragon, and any others who dare threaten our great nation
Elise was frozen in place as she read the last few portions of the plaque, almost unable to actually compute what she was reading.
The largest, and most glaring, point, was that the current year was X791, and the Illyandra she spoke with was supposedly born in the year X644, making her almost a hundred and fifty years old.
Despite this, she only looked like she was in her forties, which made absolutely no sense at all?
The other point that concerned her, was this Cult of the Black Dragon that had assassinated Illyandra Scarlione VI. They had been around since the inception of Scarlione itself, and it wasn't too hard to figure out which Black Dragon they worshiped.
"Best not to think about it Elise, trust me," Natsu chimed in, startling Elise out of her musings as she felt Natsu's hand gently clasp her shoulder.
"B-But-!?"
"Believe me, you'll likely be told in time, so just forget about it for now, okay?"
Elise wanted to argue, to demand an explanation of just who Illyandra Scarlione actually was, and why every single ruler of the Scarlione Empire shared the exact same base form. But ultimately, she knew Natsu was right.
And that aside, they still had a serious job to complete, and possible someone to save as well. There simply wasn't any more time for her to indulge in her curiosities for the moment.
"Right," the War God Slayer sighed, as Natsu motioned for her to follow him back toward the stairs. "Wait, aren't we supposed to be going to Illyandra's room?"
"I already grabbed everything I need from there," the Dragon Slayer replied, motioning for her to follow him once again. "We've got to head to the throne room now."
Elise nodded as the pair descended back down to ground level, simply leaping from the end of the stairs and landing on the ground floor, as Natsu led the way toward the throne room.
"You can really feel the effort put into this place," Elise noted, as everywhere she looked, there were damaged portraits and broken statues. "A shame so much of it ended up like this…"
"Yeah. Unfortunately, Elise, as you know, that's what War is, isn't it?"
"Yeah," the War God Slayer sighed, as they reached a sealed set of double doors made from solid gold.
"Right then," Natsu sighed, pushing the doors to the throne room open. "Shit…"
The floor of the throne room had been badly damaged, and part of the roof had collapsed. Yet, this isn't what had Natsu annoyed. Rather, it was the man standing at the foot of the throne's steps, seemingly in a trance-like state.
"This has to be a trap," Elise muttered darkly, as they both eyed the rest of the throne room cautiously. "What should we do?"
"I'm not certain just yet. Just look at Shrikke, he's frozen there, yet he's not even breathing," Natsu pointed out, as they slowly entered the ruined throne room. "It's almost as if-?"
"We're up against someone who can manipulate Time," Elise finished for him, as the pair heard an amused giggle come from across the throne room, followed by a clicking sound.
Both Natsu and Elise felt something shift, as everything within the vicinity of the throne room froze in place. Even the dust itself had frozen in place, though strangely, neither Natsu, nor Elise, had been bound.
"Well now, isn't this a surprise," an amused, boyish voice purred, as their attention shifted to the throne at the other end of the hall. "I'm surprised either of you can move within my Age Seal, since the only other people capable of it are August, and the Emperor."
Sitting upon Illyandra's throne, was a buxom young woman with wavy short golden hair and matching golden eyes. She wore a black leather jacket with golden accents, a dark red sports bra with black combat pants that had gold woven into the design in a wave pattern, and matching black combat boots.
The woman sat in a casual position, her head resting in her right hand as she studied the two Mages before her.
"You don't belong in that seat," Natsu growled, eliciting naught but an amused giggle from the woman. "Get out of it!"
"So, you're the infamous Knight Commander Natsu Dragneel eh? Gotta say, you're not as disappointing as I thought you were gonna be. Still, what makes you think you're in any position to tell me to do anything, especially since you obviously know who I am?"
"I couldn't care if you were Emperor Spriggan himself," Natsu replied with a deep frown. "Get off of Illyandra's throne!"
"No," the woman smirked briefly, before looking over at Elise. "And just who are you supposed to be?"
"None of your business," Elise shot back, eliciting a snort from the golden-haired girl.
"You know, it's meant to be my day off today, but then I got told that you two were headed to the Capital," the woman sighed. "So, naturally, I just had to come and see what all the fuss was about, y'know? Especially after hearing about the sizeable distraction you lot created just so two little ants could slip in here…?"
"Which one are you? Spriggan, or Leichart?"
"Spriggan," the woman smirked, still not shifting from her place. "Spriggan Twelve."
One Of The Twenty-Four Arms Of Alvarez
Eleventh Shield Of The Alvarez Empire
Commander Of Dimaria Squad
The Warrior Queen
Dimaria Yesta
"I thought so," Natsu replied with a deep frown. "That still doesn't change my demand though."
"Can't say I'm surprised, Natsu Dragneel," Dimaria replied, stretching herself out before rising from the throne. "After all, you are one of the Unholy Eight that fought Achnologia and actually managed to survive. To be honest, I'd be shocked if someone like you wasn't capable of moving through my Age Seal, especially since you managed to defeat Skkard in battle."
Dimaria's cheery demeanor faded away as she looked toward Elise however, her golden eyes meeting Elise's red ones.
"You though, I have a real problem with you. You're an unknown, yet you can move within my Age Seal… I don't like that."
"There's something off about you as well," Elise replied, as the two women sported near matching scowls. "I don't know what it is, but I feel compelled to fight you…"
"Heh. The feelings mutual bitch."
"Dimaria, stop wasting time with idle chatter," a new voice chimed in, as Natsu stilled in place.
Emerging from behind the throne, was another woman. This one however was dressed much more provocatively. She wore a gold and hazel colored bikini with a matching fancy overcoat that had a large purple fur collar and purple flowers printed across its length. Wearing the coat openly showed off her impressive body, including the Alvarez Empire mark on her right outer thigh and her golden high heels.
She also wore a dark brown choker that had golden chains attached to it, said chains wrapping under her armpits and behind her back. She also had two purple cross-shaped object protruding from her green hair which was styled in a bob cut, the bangs stopping just above her green eyes.
"Its you," Natsu muttered, as the bored looking woman glanced in his direction, before sighing and shaking her head.
"You again? Great, this just got far too troublesome," the newcomer sighed, as Dimaria raised an eyebrow curiously.
"You've met Dragneel before?"
"Yeah, around nine years ago," the woman replied dryly. "We clashed back then pretty often, though he was pretty weak back then. Now, I'm not so sure…?"
"You've fought her before Natsu," Elise asked, as Natsu nodded stiffly.
"She and I have a bit of a history, yeah."
"Well now, who'd have thought kidnapping that old Chef would've amounted to something as interesting as this, eh," Dimaria grinned. "Perhaps we're in for a bit of a workout, eh, Brandish?"
One Of The Twenty-Four Arms Of Alvarez
Seventh Shield Of The Alvarez Empire
Commander Of Brandish Squad
The Country Demolisher
Brandish Myu
"Dimaria, they are immune to your Age Seal you mustn't joke around," Brandish replied bluntly, her eyes still glued to Natsu's own.
"Was that some concern for me Brandish? That's so sweet! Tell you what, you and Dragneel can catch up on old times, while I fight the mystery girl," Dimaria grinned, as she drew the massive blade that loosely hung behind her back.
"Fine," Brandish huffed as Dimaria and Elise vanished on the spot, the sound of clashing steel growing fainter as they took their fight away from the castle.
Once they were gone, Brandish looked back toward Natsu, who whilst being on guard, also wasn't making any moves to attack her. As Brandish strode toward him, Natsu didn't tense up, or show any signs of fear, even as she got within a meter of his position.
"Brandish…"
"Natsu."
"You don't want to fight, do you?"
"Not really," the Spriggan yawned, motioning for him to follow her, which he did after several moments. "Come."
***POTD***
Brandish led Natsu back upstairs and toward the guest wing of the Ichor Throne, presumably to the room that she herself had been using during her time here.
"So, you made it into the Spriggan Twelve I see," Natsu began, as Brandish closed the door and made her way over toward the small dining table that sat near her bed.
"I did, yes. You remember our last meeting, right?"
"Ah… You mean the very last one, or the last one we fought each other?"
"The very last one."
"Ah," Natsu hummed in response, nodding slowly. "What about it?"
"It turns out, Emperor Spriggan thought it was funny, and decided to make me a member of the Spriggan 12."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Well, obviously I had a stellar military career, despite my younger age," Brandish continued, as she poured each of them a glass of brandy, offering one to Natsu who took it. "My age, my accomplishments, and then the Emperor's amusement with what we were doing, all led to my promotion."
"I mean, you still earned it though, right? Just like you said you always wanted?"
"True. I did earn it, the Emperor made that very clear," Brandish agreed with a curt nod. "But he found much greater amusement in the fact that I took your virginity, and you took mine. It was… slightly embarrassing, but I'd rather embarrassing than the Emperor's ire."
"Yeah, I'm not sure how to respond to the fact that somehow the Alvarez Emperor is aware of the fact we took each other's virginity," Natsu replied weakly, trying to decide if he should laugh, or be extremely concerned.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Brandish replied dismissively. "However, what I would be worrying about, is our agreement."
"You mean our truce, right?"
"Right. Do you want to maintain it?"
"Are you even allowed to maintain it now that you're a member of the Spriggan Twelve?"
"I can do basically whatever I want unless the Emperor orders me to do otherwise," Brandish replied with a shrug. "And, from what I can tell, the Emperor is fine with me leaving you alone. So, I can't really see any scenario where I'll be forced to fight you directly."
"And my friends?"
"…"
"Brandish?"
"Which ones?"
"All of them," Natsu replied firmly, eliciting a tired sigh from the Spriggan across from him.
"You know that I can't leave the Scarlione troops or Illyandra alone Natsu, right?"
"What about the others then? The ones I brought with me from Fiore?"
"You mean like the girl who was with you?"
"Yeah."
"…I might be willing to let outsiders slide," the Spriggan replied slowly. "Are you still single?"
"Technically yes, but also no."
"What does that even mean," Brandish replied with a blank look on her face. "You either are, or you aren't?"
"Well, it's a bit complicated. See, it looks like I'll be getting together with Erza pretty soon, but I'm also sleeping with her best friend in this weird three-way relationship thing. Then, the girl you met downstairs is another girl that those two want to involve into that relationship, but we're not really sure if that's going to happen or not because of outside issues unrelated to the relationship."
"…I cannot understand how you somehow fumble your way into scenarios like this," Brandish muttered in reply, shaking her head. "Like, do you even understand how lucky you've got it being able to have a threesome, let alone both girls wanting to add a THIRD girl into the mix!?"
"You seem surprisingly animate about this Brandish," Natsu noted, as the Spriggan blushed slightly, avoiding his gaze. "Interesting to know that a topic like this can make you crack."
"You expected it not to? Seriously," Brandish sighed. "Honestly, you are somehow so dumb and absurdly smart at the same time to pull something like that off. I both applaud and spit on you."
"Spit into my mouth at least."
"By the Gods…"
"How about we just both shut up and go stargaze on the roof of the castle for a bit, eh? Then we can negotiate me getting Shrikke back?"
"That seems … agreeable. We haven't done that together in eight years now…"
"And what makes it even better," Natsu grinned, holding up the bottle of brandy. "We don't even have to steal the alcohol this time!"
The Spriggan smiled, shaking her head at Natsu's momentary lapse in seriousness, as they got up and started making their way toward the tallest remaining tower. As they walked, they could see flashes of Elise and Brandish's battle off in the Desert Biome of The Ichor City.
"Who do you think will win between those two," Brandish asked idly, as they paused at a nearby broken window.
"Elise most likely. If she's losing too bad, she'll win."
"What does that even mean?"
"I can't really talk about it, just trust me on it," Natsu replied, eliciting an understanding shrug from the Spriggan, as they continued their ascent to the top of the castle, battle between the pair being avoided entirely.