Romeo couldn't feel his, well, anything.
It was an increasingly familiar sensation, one that would tear away at his nerves, squeeze at his lungs, chip away at his breath. It felt as if someone had forcefully shoved a whole pile of rocks into his stomach.
"Oi, get up."
At the sound of Gajeel's impatient growl, Romeo groaned and spasmed, the numerous bruises that populated his body each singing their own tale of pain.
He blinked the wetness from his eyes, his stinging nasal making his vision much less clear then he would have liked. Romeo lifted his head, mind demanding body to take some sort of action, to not sit on his hands and knees defeated.
Their landscape, an impersonal terrain of flat tiled pavement that stretched past the horizon, the sky, an eerie blank white. It was as if the world they stood in had been created on a whim.
Gajeel's footfalls grew louder, "You wanted to prove yourself? Doin' a shitty job I must say."
Romeo's teeth grinded at that, his heaving turning to rebellious snarls.
"For someone so tired of sitting around doing squat, you sure like to remain on your ass."
His hands curled into fists as he stared up at the figure that towered over him.
Black Steel Gajeel.
An opponent Romeo himself had requested. Meaning this was a fight he wanted. These were bruises he had asked for.
Last week's incident with Gray, Mirajane, and Erza, had told Romeo he needed to put his training to the test.
Max, Warren, Vjeeter, they all stepped up to take Natsu's place as his mentors when the supposed Dragon King himself could no longer do the same.
He hadn't even gotten to see Natsu, not his argument with Gray, nor during what little time he lingered around thereafter.
But from what he could tell, Natsu wasn't Natsu right now.
That had made Romeo want to step up.
He had to make them proud, Natsu proud, his father proud, the guild proud.
Gajeel, arms folded, gave a yawn, "Learned ur place yet runt? Good. Now stop tryna be relevant and let the adults protect the guil-"
Romeo had enough of the coaxing. His memory bank was already overflowing with times of his irrelevance, he was not looking to sit back and continue to make deposits.
Gajeel was cut off when Romeo sprung to his feet and threw a wild uppercut, his arm leaving a swathe of purple fire in its wake.
When Gajeel jumped back as expected, the young boy threw a straight punch at the remaining blob of fire, causing it to spew out a dozen tendrils of determined projectiles.
They sped towards Gajeel with the hopes of tracking him down, only to be thoroughly outmaneuvered by Gajeel's blazing speed, most of them splashing against the floor where they donated harmlessly.
Romeo ignited his fist in broiling flames and swiped it vertically once more, going through the same straight punch at the hovering streak to produce another round of fiery pin missiles.
Gajeel stared at the oncoming barrage with bored disapproval, "Have you ever seen these types of attacks ever do anything?"
Romeo didn't respond, seeing as he was no longer where he was a second ago.
Gajeel was taken by pleasant surprise when the young boy appeared behind him, a strike reared and ready.
Quickly lashing out before Romeo could capitalize, he shoved a knee upwards, his young challenger's stomach its target.
Romeo jumped and pushed himself off it, deftly flipping over Gajeel's towering head just in time for his second wave of projectiles to appear.
This time however, he was there to personally ensure their arrival.
As he fell, he snatched two writhing spheres of fire out of the air and pushed them against the forearms Gajeel had sent to block.
With a colorful explosion, they donated point blank.
Romeo was far from done.
Stretching his arms outwards, he sent the remaining attacks to circle both him and his larger opponent with such swiftness they appeared to be solid rings of noble purple.
With area denial at play, and more attacks within arms reach, Romeo pushed his hand to hand ability to their limits and beyond.
A grinning Gajeel played along, swapping a flurry of jabs, hooks, kicks, and elbows with his smaller challenger.
When a skull rattling blow to the side of his head knocked Romeo back, he frantically reached out and grabbed another pair of nearby projectiles before leaping back into the fray.
This time, he detonated them against Gajeel's belly in tune with two heavy uppercuts.
Puffs of dust had no time to settle let alone linger as gaudy splashes of purple and black peppered the vicinity with vibrant explosions.
Romeo had kept the pressure up, pushing his body past what he thought it was capable of to move at a pace the expanse of the explosions themselves seemed to match the speed of a snail.
Nothing but a blur, he emptied the rest of his proverbial magazine, feeding Gajeel two projectile enhanced blows after another before finally leaping back.
The huffing Romeo forced quivering arms to pour out more magical energy in the blind desperate hopes that somehow, he would find another reservoir to draw from.
All he wanted to do was keep going.
A monstrous sphere of roiling dusk formed in his palms, swelling in gait at an alarming rate. Churning and vibrating, the swimming solid french flames let out a thrum upon being fully realized.
Romeo let out a hoarse battle cry as he chucked it at the ground, watching the blob descend like a falling star, drunk on its own mass.
He was frankly unsure how he had gathered that much power.
His own raining sweat could not even seep from his every pour, the heat at which he produced was too great to allow any hint of moisture.
Where did all that power come from? How did he manage to pull that out in his current state?
His vivaciously thumping heart offered no answers, not any he could understand at least.
The following explosion rocked the void for all it was worth.
The amethyst fireball could not maintain its shape for long, shrinking in on itself as if it was being gathered up by unseen superior forces.
Romeo quickly found out why, as from behind the surrendering attack came a smirking Gajeel, clothes singed but otherwise unharmed.
With one hand, the iron dragon slayer flexed his fingers and condensed the orb further until it was no larger than an aubergine.
Beneath his knuckles, Gajeel crushed the mighty ball into a feeble collection of indigo embers.
Romeo was not sure why he was surprised, he was fighting an opponent leagues above the likes of Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus.
At the slack jaw that nearly pulled the already swaying Romeo to the floor, Gajeel shook his hand and grunted,
"Good lord, what the hell they feeding yer ass? Since when did kids get so damn strong?"
Gajeel dusted himself off, grousing,
"Using yer old man's attacks like that was clever, but still too predictable. And you fight like he did back in the day, even the last spell was basically ripped from his playbook."
Romeo collapsed to his knees, shoulders limp as he fought for air, vying against exhaustion to stay awake.
His knife-like stare narrowed, demanding Romeo's full attention.
"Listen up brat, you're not Salamander, got it? You're not your dad, and you're certainly not the boy band you've been training with." he advised snippily, "Your Romeo. And if Romeo wants to be big and strong, he is gonna have to be his own mage."
Sweat nipping at his eye sockets, Romeo furrowed his brows, eyes unfocused and glazed.
Be his own mage?
Didn't Gajeel know how horribly that had failed in the past? The whole situation with Michelle, the fact he hadn't been considered for participation in the Grand Magic Games, the fact his own father didn't allow him to defend his own guild from Twilight Ogre?
All this time, while his family fought for their lives, he had been on the sidelines. Completely irrelevant.
Weren't all those signs being 'Romeo' wasn't gonna cut it? That the spells he invented were not up to task?
Gajeel shifted in place, gesturing upwards with two fingers, "Aight, come on, get up. Let's finish this. Throw somethin' at me that ain't some borrowed hogwash."
Romeo wheezed out in surprise, his body hollowed out of energy and will.
More? After all that, he wanted more.
He was exhausted, no he was far past exhausted. He had his fill of fighting for the day, or the next week in fact.
Why did this need to continue? It was done, he had lost, he failed. Their fight had gone on long enough, to continue would just be torture.
Why? Why did he have to keep going?
"Welp, I hate being right. Guess you ain't got the fire for it." Gajeel remarked, eyeing Romeo's defeated posture with disdain, "Sorry then kid."
Gajeel spread his feet and tilted his head back, his cheeks puffing as his terrifying magic power darkened the white skies.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel bellowed as he let loose a massive whirlwind of silvery gusts and razor sharp shrapnel from his gaping maw.
The tempestuous maelstrom ballooned in size as it hurtled towards Romeo, leaving any terrain remotely close shredded pastures of concrete.
Romeo stared at the incoming blast with dull interest, thoughts scattered and jaded.
One realization did manage to catch snag itself on his brain however.
Gajeel was right. As much as he loathed admitting it, he was right.
He was not Natsu. He was not the alpha. He was not the Dragon King. He wasn't all those things he had overheard Laxus and Gajeel calling him.
He was just Romeo.
Just Romeo.
And as Romeo thought to himself, he realized something.
He didn't do anything.
All his life he had been in Fairy Tail, and not once had he ever contributed to it in any meaningful way.
He didn't add anything of value, he didn't add any protection, he was just there.
Wendy was younger than he was, but she was so strong and amazing and talented and wonderful, she was the guild's pride and joy.
Everyone loved Wendy, as they should.
But what did he do?
He fought a few grunts during the war, but even then, he had been scared, he hesitated. Wendy didn't hesitate, she fought alongside the S-class, she helped saved the world against Acnologia.
What did he do?
Absolutely nothing.
Romeo looked up at the approaching storm of metal and magic before his eyes fell shut and he let out a ragged sigh.
Gajeel saying he should become his own person didn't work, because being Romeo didn't mean anything.
That left Romeo with one option.
Romeo would do everything he could to fix that.
He would give Natsu, he would give his father, a reason to be proud of him.
Something deep inside was boiling. Inside his chest. Inside his heart.
He could feel... fire. It was hot. Blazing hot. It kept getting hotter.
In the deepest parts of him, Romeo felt that fire wail for freedom, thrash about for the right to escape and just do something.
Anything.
Romeo wanted to give the world, give his guild, a reason to be proud, to look his way.
From his soul came a fire that shared the same goal.
As his eyes burst open, Romeo decided there and then, that he would make being Romeo mean something.
The fire inside him came out into the world roaring.
An inferno of raving sapphire burst from Romeo's form, its discharge sending storms of thick cerulean every which way.
Gajeel's roar bashed into the wall of lively cobalt heat that surrounded him, sending Romeo skidding back as his hands struggled to keep Gajeel's spell at bay.
Romeo let out a stalwart growl of his own, slowly but surely pushing forward, gaining ground one strenuous step at a time.
He would do it. He would push. He would become a wall, he would protect, just like Natsu did.
If Romeo cracked, he would just harden again.
Energy, hot and rambunctious, traveled to every end of his body, his blood stream its current. Dark purple hair bristled as his coal pupils gleamed so bright even Gajeel could detect their shimmer.
A potent pulse of briny fire came blowing past the dragon slayer, knocking him back just enough so he was forced to let his attack go.
As Gajeel stumbled, Romeo took a step forward, letting the fiery waves of optimistic blue amount to a massive aura around him.
"I'm gonna make something of myself Gajeel, ya hear!? I'm gonna make being Romeo mean something!" Romeo roared, his voice almost cracking from the sheer heights of volume he forced it to.
The young boy let out a harrowing battle cry as the bright cesious prye around him flared with all too familiar defiance, hissing bolts of magical fire gathering in one fist.
Romeo slammed the fist into the ground, booming,
"BLAST BURN!"
It felt as if the created dimension itself was being torn apart by the seams as the ground rippled violently like freshly disturbed water.
Beneath the surface, spurts of navy magma leaked violently, opening up a gargantuan fissure in the crust that made a beeline right for Gajeel.
All the energy that Romeo had sent into the ground erupted with such force it made the most dynamic of volcanoes seem like meek firecrackers.
Seeing rings of chalybeous lava sprout beneath him, signifying oncoming doom, Gajeel couldn't help but remark,
"How cute, he named it- Oh shit!" he cursed before being engulfed by azure destruction.
"This is about our future." Max stated emphatically.
"What?" was all Warren could say.
"This is about our destiny."
"What in god's good name are you talking about Max?"
"Oh, I feel a shout coming on."
"Oh no, no, no. I cannot talk to a charismatic preacher right now man."
"Can I get a 'mm-hmm' Warren?'
"You don't ask for a 'mm-hmm' dude, 'mm-hmm's' are voluntary."
"Come on, with a little branding, and some strategically leaked nude photos, we can be celebrity food wagon owners! Now come on- drop trou, have Nab take a pic of your buns."
"Hard no from me chief."
"That's alright, I'll just use the one I already have."
Cana had enough, "Holy crap, shut up!"
From across the table, Warren and Max flinched at the outburst, letting out girlish yelps.
The ruckus even disturbed Vjeeter sitting several seats down from them, who stopped reading 'Sorcerer's Weekly' to blink owlishly at her.
Slamming her mug down, sending droplets of booze cascading across the wooden table, Cana seethed.
"I can create an entire pocket dimension in one of my cards with an ancient lost spell, I can send a 15 year old boy in there to fight a man who could wipe the planet of life if he so chose to, but I cannot listen to your moronic conversations for another goddamn minute!"
Unpleasant silence settled as a passing Jet and Droy sent Cana truly disturbed stares before going on about their conversation.
Max studied the irate Cana with a narrowed stare before turning back to Warren,
"Just do it Warren, why do you hate art? Give me a little side ball, like one shot of the undercarriage."
"Hell no, the only person who touches down there is the Misses."
"Bro, Warren, think about it, so many people have settled down now, we gotta find our own path. Wan, Joey, Chicko, Mickey, Mikuni, Tono, Krov, Niggy, Enna, they all have their own lives now after leaving the guild."
"Difference being, they have made families, started businesses, y'know, productive stuff. Max, you wanna start a food cart."
"A food cart is a business Warren. Oh, I got it, you could be my shoe chef."
"It's 'sous' chef."
"Is there a chance you've heard both ways?"
"No, Max, no there is not."
"C'mon man, don't be exactly one half of an 11 pound black forest ham."
"Could ya maybe stop? I still like to pretend we have things in common."
Cana let out a long drawn out groan as her head sank down to plop against the table, wishing Gajeel would hurry up with mentally scarring the young boy.
If she had to be the responsible one, then the universe really was slowly heading towards its own heat death.
Apparently, Romeo needed a place to test out his supposed training without either public eye, or environment endangerment, so his mentors came to her.
If another fight happened within the same week of Gray taking Erza and Mira to school, the authorities would most likely get involved.
Levy had given her a scroll for some ancient card magic that could create a pocket dimension a good while ago after she had come back from some sinking library in the desert.
Luckily, the strength of the dimension itself was not linked to her own magic, or else Gajeel's mere presence would rupture the entire thing.
How they dragged Gajeel into this was beyond her, but considering his pregnant girlfriend or Wendy wasn't around for him to fuss over, maybe he had no excuses to say no.
Cana had tried, really, to talk the young boy out of it, but there was so much young Natsu in him, too much in fact.
Thankfully, she was spared from any more of the awaiting Max and Warren's quite frankly incomprehensible conversations when the card containing the pocket dimension, which in turn held Romeo and Gajeel, suddenly began to glow.
For the briefest of moments, a tongue of deep mazarine fire lashed out, sizzling the middle of the table.
Max and Warren were none the wiser, engrossed in their abstract conversation.
Cana's eyes widened in alarm as she quickly grabbed the now trembling card and tossed it on the ground behind her, hissing as the tips of her fingers were almost burned.
This action was taken just in time, as the card glowed even brighter, letting out a ominous blue flash that obscured her vision just long enough for two figures to take shape.
Romeo and Gajeel emerged from the glimmering broth, the latter of which looking far better than the former.
Gajeel stood with his arms crossed and eyes screwed shut in preparation for something, while Romeo, poor Romeo, was down on one knee, a fist planted in the ground.
The battered Romeo shriveled and swayed with heavy exertion as if each breath was a mighty battle.
There was fire in his eyes. That special fire. The same blaze that had often called Natsu's gaze home.
Whatever guild members nearby paid them no mind, the only people aware of what just occurred at the table in front of the two.
Gajeel was the first to move, lowering his burnt arms to take in his surroundings, "Oh hell, we're back."
Romeo meanwhile, still gasping for breath, stumbled back on his rear end as his frenzied stare darted every which way.
As Max, Warren, and Vjeeter scrambled to get up, tripping over themselves a few times too many, Cana hurriedly slid from her seat and crouched by his side.
Upon first touching him, his skin hot to the touch, Romeo bucked back and quickly attempted to stand, only for the Cana to hold his shoulders,
"Woah, woah, relax Romeo, you're alright." she cooed softly, quietly taken aback by the absurd magical signature that brewed within the wheezing Romeo.
The moment Cana held him to her chest, his breathing steadied, "You're safe, it's okay."
As Max kneeled down on the other side of him, Vjeeter was the first one to ask the obvious, "That seemed… exciting. What exactly just happened?"
Gajeel dusted himself off, exhaling shakily, "The twirp's last attack was too powerful for the pocket dimension to take."
"For real? Crap little man, you good?" Warren prompted as he stomped out the crackling cinders of the burning card.
"Yeah, Romeo, your magic feels absurd." Max said, noticing how Romeo's guild mark emit an obvious glow, "You got a mean shiner bud, are your dogs still barkin'?"
Romeo sat up, holding trembling hands in front of him. Rutilant turquoise flames flickered from his palms, burning with vitriol of a fire that refused to settle.
"W-what's going on?" Romeo breathed hoarsely, looking up to Gajeel expectantly.
Both Cana and Gajeel answered knowingly at the same time,
"Flames of Emotion."
Romeo blinked, "L-like… l-like Natsu's?"
Gajeel adjusted his bandana, "Yep."
"Really?!"
Gajeel's voice flattened, "I know what I'm talking about brat, the first time me and Salamander fought, he busted that out and handed my ass to me. I know it when I see it."
Cana's expression soured as she studied Romeo's bruises, "What the hell did you do to him Gajeel?"
"Don't you start woman, he asked for th' fight," Gajeel defended grouchily, "I used as much power as necessary, nothing more, nothin' less."
"Well, how'd he do? If he failed, is it possible you take bribes?" Vjeeter blurted out, earning him a punch to the thigh from Cana.
"He passed. As he is now, he would be stronger than Wendy, not by much though."
The collection of befuddled stares he received forced him to elaborate,
"She's a kid, an unfairly strong one, but still a kid. A kid who don't like fightin', or training. The squirt has got growing to do, and so do you."
Gajeel walked forward, shouldering Warren out of the way to tower over Romeo.
"Look, what you just did was..." he was still having trouble understanding how Romeo could produce that much magic, or how he could create an attack of such magnitude his arms were still buzzing.
His voice came gruff as he drew out his timbre, "Listen kid, you got potential, potential I don't even think Salamander got, but it's just that, potential. And if he were here right now, he would tell you the same thing I'm abouta'."
"Take. Your. Time." he advised, his eyes darkening.
"This ain't a race. The next generation or whatever don't need to be built in a day, and we got plenty of mages to protect this joint in the meantime."
The sadness that stained the steel of his face was impossible not to notice, "The path to power Salamander took was a path no one else in existence is surviving. You can look up to him, ya can wanna be like him, but don't do what he did."
Romeo bowed his head after giving a shaky nod, finally composed enough to properly control his fire.
With the flames extinguished, Romeo huffed and nodded.
"I-i understand."
Gajeel's face softened, "Hey kid- "
Romeo looked up, the fire of a warrior gone from his eyes. The gaze of a determined desperate fifteen year old boy had taken its place.
"You swam." Gajeel grunted with a smirk.
He turned on his heel, grunting in approval, "Thanks for the fun brat, but I gotta go take a piss. See ya."
As Gajeel stalked off, complaining about being hungry, everyone sans Romeo let loose a sigh of relief.
Before Cana could hug the boy to her chest and congratulate him on his progress, Max, Warren, and Vjeeter all threw their hands up and whooped with joy.
Romeo was hoisted onto their shoulders as they hollered their pride, chanting his name over and over.
Ignoring the multitude of confused stares from out of the loop guild members, the trio cheering was infectious enough to etch a wide boyish smile upon Romeo's bruised face.
Cana reluctantly broke up the celebration, "Hey, careful you dolts, don't drop the kid! Put him down!"
As soon as Romeo was standing on his own two legs once more, Cana leaned down to his level to inspect him, "How are ya feeling lil' dude? Anything bleeding profusely?"
The still breathless Romeo fervently shook his head,
"N-no, I feel fine! Like g-great even! I could go run laps around the city!" he announced anxiously, bouncing up and down on his heels.
Cana chuckled, "That's just the adrenaline talkin', so I would still go have a sit, have Laki treat those nasty bruises."
The brunette rested her hands on his shoulders and gave a quiet sight, her dad would have a field day seeing her be all soft.
"If I'm being honest, I don't know much about what is going on with Natsu, but Gajeel's on the money. You only get to be a kid once, enjoy it."
The quick cacophony of emotions that ran through him mirrored Cana's, allowing him to nod with crystal clear understanding.
Her solemn stare warmed to a smile as she pulled his face against her bust and ruffled his hair, "You're becoming a man now bucko, I'm proud of ya."
While the spectating trio of men would once watch young Romeo getting smothered by thinly covered breasts with jealousy, they could now only look on with pride.
"You're growing up to be quite the strapping man, ya know that, keep this up and Wendy'll start lookin' at ya the same way you do to her."
Romeo had grown up with all kinds of busty women hugging his face to their chests, calling him handsome, cute, and all sorts of things.
At one point, every women in the guild had swooned over how handsome he had become during the time the Tenrou group had been gone.
So in his current position, nestled between two soft mounds, he didn't feel a thing. After all, none of the women ever did it out perversion, just innocent doting affection.
But when Cana started singing about him and Wendy sitting in a tree, Romeo's cheeks went beet red as he spluttered and attempted to pull himself away from her noogieing.
All the while his so-called mentors offered not a single shred of assistance, choosing to chant 'one of us' over and over again like cavemen.
"Oh my gosh, Romeo!? What happened to you?!"
Romeo nearly dropped the tray of drinks he held over his head when a silvery voice gasped at him.
It was very rare for him to willingly volunteer to help Mira and Kinana with the lunch rush, but given he currently possessed more energy than he knew what to do with, there was no reason not to offer.
In fact, in the three days since he fought Gajeel, Romeo had been going out of his way to do things he normally would cringe in disgust at.
He ran errands for Levy and Evergreen, followed Jet on his morning jog and actually kept up, punching holes in the wind with his swiftness.
Just yesterday he had helped Gray fix his roof after a rather nasty hailstorm.
This action had earned him a proud pat on the back from Gray and a peck on the cheek from Juvia, who was there for some reason.
Turning on his heel in the filled aisles of conversing patrons, he mindfully placed the tray of filled-to-the-brim mugs on the table to his right before looking towards the source of the voice.
A returning Lucy came rushing towards him so swiftly that the main doors of the guild hall hadn't even closed before she was bending over him.
Her dainty hands came to tenderly hold his cheeks, her honey eyes churning with concern as she inspected his remaining black eye.
"Are you alright?! Wh-who did this!?" Lucy demanded urgently as she gingerly brushed her thumb against the dull purple skin below his right eye.
Romeo blinked, not even wincing when Lucy's fussing plucked at his nervous system.
"I-i'm fine, I promise." the boyish grin she received had Lucy reeling with deja vu.
Lucy frowned, porcelain brows distorted with distraught, "C'mon, enough hiding, what happened? Were you in that fight I heard about?"
"Nope." Romeo denied before stating with much more pride than he should, "That was different. I got this from Gajeel."
Lucy inhaled sharply, "He did this?!"
"Yuh-huh."
"Then Levy is going to be raising that baby alone." Lucy growled as she tried to rise to her feet, a bulging vein sullying her forehead.
Romeo quickly grabbed her wrist, "Wait! Ya got the wrong idea, I challenged him to a fight, it was all my idea!"
Lucy mouthed a silent baffled 'what' at that, to which the he elaborated, thoroughly pleased with himself,
"Yeah, I've been training hard this past year with Max, Warren, and Vjeeter, and I needed to test myself. Given he is super strong, it seemed like the right call at the time."
Lucy grimaced as she hunched back down, moaning airily, "Oh Romeo, why would you do that to yourself?"
Lucy's hands, as soft as her heart, came to rest on his arms.
"You could have been seriously hurt Romeo."
Romeo laughed it off, "Well pain may be a bad friend, but it's a good teacher."
Seeing as the remark only further worsened the swimming worry in Lucy's expression, he tried to soothe her angst.
"I know it was dangerous, but I was able to really push myself back there. Now I have more energy than I know what to spend on, a-and I wanna continue to train too! I have so many people to learn from!"
His voice lowered as he admitted, "I wanna mean something Lucy. I wanna do more. I-i just want to help out, you know, actually help. Just once."
Lucy's full lips pursed at his thoughtful response, unsure how to assert her apprehension without dirtying the fires of his youthful determination.
Romeo rested his hand, his palm rougher than it had any right to be, atop hers.
"I know you're antsy, but I already got the talk from Gajeel. I'm going to take my time, there won't be any torturing myself."
"Promise?" Lucy murmured uneasily.
Romeo grinned and chirped, holding up a hand and flexing his pinkie, "Pinky!"
His smile spread to Lucy, who brought him straight in for an embrace.
"You remind me so much of him, you know." Lucy said softly.
Romeo's arms stilled around her as he sheepishly uttered, "S-sorry."
She shook her head fervently, breaking apart from the embrace to look at him with a syrupy gaze.
"Don't be. I see all the best parts." Lucy crooned as she tousled his hair.
"T-thanks, uhh... you hungry, I'm sure Mira'll be happy to make you something to eat." a blushing Romeo tossed a thumb over his shoulder towards the bar, "How was your job?"
Lucy patted her satchel and followed him as he walked, "Perfect, the pay should cover my rent for a good few months. It was a nice gig, out in the countryside, very laid back."
"Although on my way into town I heard that there had been a big fight outside the guild hall more than a week ago." she indicated her curiosity, waving to the Thunder God Tribe as she passed them.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"Oh, that?" Romeo stacked his tray atop an unsteady tower next to the bar, sneezing as the tickle of alcohol's scent played with his nose, "Yeah, Erza and Mirajane challenged Gray."
This time, Romeo didn't understand the Lucy's look of horrified confoundment.
"Oh my gosh! Is Gray okay? Where is he?!"
Romeo flashed her an odd look and blurted, "Dumb question. Of course he is okay, it's Erza and Mira you gotta be worried about. They're just fine now, but that was an exciting day to say the least."
"Romeo, a-are you sure Gajeel didn't hit you too hard?"
"Honestly, no. But you can go ask Mira or Erza yourself, she'll tell ya the same thing."
"Tell me what?"
Romeo had to practically push her into a seat stool, suddenly aware of what the confusion was about.
"They both fought their hardest," Romeo began, pausing for effect before adding a hesitant if caustic, "but Gray bent them over his knee and basically spanked them."
Lucy felt herself blanch.
Against his better judgement, Romeo prompted honestly, "Why are you surprised? You've been best friends with Gray for years, how did you not see that coming?"
She stuttered in disbelief, "B-but it's Erza….it's Mira….Th-they're S-class mages."
"Well yeah, but Gray is Natsu's rival, and the war told us titles like that don't mean much to guys like them." Romeo scratched his head, conveying himself more blunt than he would have preferred.
"I really don't wanna be rude, but why are ya surprised? You watch your friends train, and then are surprised when they end up being stronger. " he pointed out, his chagrin becoming more and more apparent.
"You're crazy super strong Lucy, but I'm sure you weren't always like that. Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, sometimes it felt like all they did was train, after all that hard work did you really think nothing would change?"
Lucy's fingers played with her sleeve as she fell silent.
"I-i... never really thought about it." Lucy's voice had shrunk as shame had her staring down at her lap.
Romeo smashed a palm against his forehead, scolding himself before rushing to set things straight, "Hey, hey, hey! I-i didn't mean to be a bummer, I was just ranting nonsense!"
Lucy flashed a dim smile, saying, "No need to be sorry, you were right."
Shame burning the back of his neck, he chewed at the inside of his cheek, chest throbbing at the fact he had just made sweet as pie Lucy sad.
"Everybody has had a lot on their plates, and considering you guys just got done saving the world, I wouldn't feel too awful." Romeo reasoned aloud, "The only reason I get to spout junk like that is because you've been protecting the guild as I've grown up."
Lucy hummed a laugh of agreement, quoting, "Everyone is always learning new lessons."
"See? Nobody is holding it against you." Romeo reassured quickly.
However, as silence loomed, he scratched his chin, adding timidly, "Despite how much I made it sound like that was the case."
"So, with all this training, you gunning to become an S-class mage one day?" Lucy perked up and swiveled on her stool.
"Nah." Romeo shook his head, "Old ways don't open new doors."
"Way I see it, becoming an S-class mages carries a ton of schtigma, or whatever that word is, that you're unbeatable. There is always bigger fish, even if the fish comes out of nowhere, doesn't change the fact of its size. No way am I gonna limit myself like that."
"He really has rubbed off on you." Lucy expressed, fond yet solemn.
He turned, "Y-yeah, about that."
Romeo chewed on his lip before levying in his mind an important question, "Are you gonna freak out again? You've done it like three times since getting back."
Lucy flattened her stare, none too happy with the implications of the prompt.
Wilting, Romeo grew restless under Lucy's scathing leer before he broke.
"Natsu sorta kinda maybe definitely dropped by the day of the fight."
"What!?"
"See?!" Romeo immediately pointed out, clarifying himself, "I'm not tryna to hide stuff, I'm just tryna keep you from blowing a gasket."
It felt like a fatal risk being this obtuse with someone so restive, but he was clearly having a difficult time keeping his two lips together.
Lucy swallowed thickly, as if emotions were beginning to clot in her throat.
The way grief bunched up her posture, like all the screws in her body had been twisted too tight, it forced Romeo to reveal everything he knew.
She had a right to know.
"He came in to break up the fight, if you could call it that, and then he and Gray got into an argument."
"Argument? Why am I surprised?" Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose, voice quaking.
"This wasn't run of the mill bickering. It was serious Lucy."
She scanned Romeo closely, as if more proof was required for her to consider his retelling of his events.
Romeo understood her skepticism. Natsu and Gray had a defined way of going at each other, and seldom did they break from that routine.
The guild crawled to a halt whenever their childish brotherly bickering turned to snarling and hollering.
It didn't matter what had caused the rift to begin with, no one ever really listened to the specifics, no one was brave enough to disrupt them.
Erza had tried once. Once.
Romeo had never seen Erza slink away from an interaction with her tail between her legs before. The most Makarov could usually do was ask them to take it outside.
Nobody liked talking about times like those. Most did their best to forget they even happened.
"Do you have any clue what started it?" Lucy asked.
Romeo replied stiffly "Natsu wasn't too happy Gray accepted their challenge. Thought he was breaking a pact they made, think it was that they agreed to never become like Erza or somethin' along those lines."
"What happened afterwards?" Lucy quizzed, terse.
"Gildarts broke things up, so not exactly sure. Juvia said they made up though, both of them weren't in the best place at the time."
"He made sure Erza and Mira were alright, made nice with Gray, played with Asuka a bit, then skedaddled. Nobody has seen him since as far as I know."
"Are you sure he hasn't been back since then?"
I don't think so Lucy, nobody else but Gildarts or maybe Gramps would be able to answer that."
She hugged her arms to herself and leaned against the bar, the wheel of emotions spinning behind her eyes finally landing on grief.
It was hard for Romeo to witness, Levy's gracious temperance being soiled by melancholy made for a problem that he wanted to fix, but wasn't sure how.
"If you don't mind my asking, do you know exactly why he hasn't been around?"
Lucy deflated as she murmured faintly, "Not exactly. At first I was told he had fallen asleep for a few days straight, after that he was out doing relief work, then training. After he missed my party, I-i... I guess I got so angry with him I stopped caring.
Romeo rubbed his arm a bit too hard, "Sorry to pry."
That story was probably a common one among those who noticed his absence. After a while, life blended together and things became blurry. Romeo couldn't claim to be free of that either, training so hard that he sometimes forgot why he was doing it.
Lucy sniffled, not even acknowledging Romeo as he slowly hopped onto the stool next to her.
He played with the leather of the seat anxiously, "Can't imagine what you're going through, won't try to pretend I have a clue what's going through your head either."
If he could pick up that something wasn't right with Natsu, Romeo shuddered to imagine what thoughts were going through his partner's, his best friend's, head.
"However, knowing him, I'm pretty darn sure he wouldn't want you all miserable and under the weather." he used all his fingers to erratically tap the bar, no idea what else to do with himself.
Lucy tucked away her solemn expression for another day, shaking her head into a smile as she crooned her thanks for his reassurance and leaned down to peck his cheek, "You're a good kid, and you're going to be an even better man."
"A young Wendy will most definitely notice." Lucy hummed slyly under a simper
Ears burning hot, Romeo spluttered and leapt back to aim an accusatory finger at her, "Don't start with me, you've been making gooey eyes with Natsu since I was like 6!"
He continued. A fatal mistake.
"I'mma kid, I have an excuse! You've been madly in love with your partner since forever, surprise surprise, nothing but cold feet!"
The way Lucy's entire complexion was shaded cherry gave Romeo the slightest taste of satisfaction. Said satisfaction was ripped straight from his taste buds when her eyes narrowed, feral.
"Uhm...G-guys, need extraction!" he squeaked aloud to seemingly no one in particular, realizing his mistake far too late.
That was until Vjeeter dashed onto the scene, swiftly throwing Romeo over his shoulder, and ran off like hell was nipping at his heels.
Before Lucy could even retort with a defensive miffed bark, the two had fled the guild hall entirely.