It's that time of week again!

Also, we got more fanart! Minuitdanslalune on tumblr drew two scenes, both from chapter seven! Zeref in his favorite tracksuit, and Natsu's rude awakening with the bucket of cold water! Thanks again so much Minuitdanslalune! Be sure and follow her (I still suck and can't figure out how to post images or links here if I can, so just go to tumblr and look up her username XD)

Now onto the chapter!

KEEPING SECRETS CHP. 13- In the Meantime

Natsu received several unexpected guests that day.

He had initially regained consciousness around 2 AM that morning. By the time Invel had left, it was about 4:30. Which wasn't a big deal. Well, it wasn't until the door to Natsu's hospital room was flung open around 9:30, and Natsu was woken by a voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard to his sensitive ears. Its owner screamed, "BOSS!" At the top of his lungs, before literally pouncing on the bed, jolting Natsu the rest of the way awake as his already strained body was assaulted by the weight of another person.

"Get off, you moron!" Natsu yelled, wincing as he pushed Jackal off the bed. He grit his teeth from the pain.

After unceremoniously being dumped on the floor, Jackal looked up at Natsu, eyes wide. He finally stuttered out, "S-s-sorry... I...I... I was just happy to hear you had woken up, so I wanted to see for myself..."

Natsu's own eyes widened, and his eyebrows raised as he listened to Jackal's sniveling but simultaneously genuine words. He also didn't miss how glossy Jackal's eyes looked. His face broke out in a wide grin, and he began to laugh. "Wait, were you actually WORRIED about me?" He asked in a very amused tone.

Jackal's ears drooped a bit, and he turned away. "Well...a little...yeah...SO WHAT?!" Jackal's tone grew from sheepish to irritated as he said this, turning back around to face Natsu. "Y'all picked at me SOOOOOOO much back at the bar over the whole bonding thing, and then I try and do it and this is the thanks I get?!"

Natsu laughed again before he said, "I'm just surprised! Seems you've changed more than I thought over this past week."

Jackal grinned as he stood up. "Well seeing as my other option was being burnt to death in a fireplace, yeah, can you blame me? But ya know what? It feels good! When I got to watch your battles and cheer you on...seeing you go at it with those guys- I don't know, it made me proud to be working for you! I never felt that way about Mard Geer... but then again, I didn't particularly care about the guy either. Plus, if you lost, and had to leave like that Larcade guy said... I don't know what I would do! You said you didn't want me goin back with you to Fairy Tail, and I don't know if Lor- His Majesty would have a job for me. Knowing my luck if he did, he'd stick me with Larcade... and I want nothin to do with that guy, 'specially after the shit he pulled during your fight with him!"

Natsu was astounded at Jackal's words. He remembered the day of his matches, thinking he could grow to care about Jackal, but he hadn't considered that Jackal had already begun to care about him. His harsh words regarding Fairy Tail the day Zeref had brought Jackal back out of his book even made Natsu feel a little guilty now. "I'm glad you got my back, Jackal." Natsu said, smiling.

That seemed to make the etherious happy, since he beamed back at Natsu. "You bet! I said I had a lot to make up for, didn't I? Well I'm just getting started! But..." His smile disappeared as he brought a hand to his chin, before it reappeared a moment later. "Oh yeah, that's right! Lord Invel asked me to bring these for ya!" Jackal disappeared out the door, turning and grabbing something, and came back seconds later with a pile of books. "I don't know what they are, but he said they were important."

Natsu's eyes widened at the massive stack. Invel had said he'd send some books for Natsu to get started looking at, but he thought he meant a few, not Lucy level 'some'!

Jackal seemed to notice Natsu's shock and said, "He also said don't get intimidated, that he just wanted me to bring these to ya since he was part of those negotiations or whatever. He said you could start reading if you were bored but he'd be by to help you later." Jackal picked a book off the top of the stack, looking at its title curiously. "A Brief History of Imperial Government? Huh?" Jackal opened the book and flipped through it, before looking at Natsu, exasperated. "Why would you wanna read this boring stuff? There ain't even any pictures!"

Natsu snickered a little bit, but finally said, "Trust me, I don't. But... Invel was tellin me about how I could help by knowin some about this kinda stuff, and I tried to tell him how I wasn't smart but then he told me how he used to be like me when he was a kid, like, all angry and stuff, til some guy in his hometown started doing all these bad things and Invel couldn't fight him cause he threatened Invel's family. Then he read a bunch of books and got real smart and wrote a letter to Zeref about it and Zeref came to his town and fixed everything." Natsu paused, thinking the way Invel had told it was a lot more... inspiring. "Or something like that. But he said if he could, I could! And if I could help, I could make things move faster, and we could get started on looking for a cure for Zeref!"

Jackal listened to Natsu wide eyed. After he was done, Jackal grinned and said, "Well damn, never expected that Ice Britches used to have such a hot temper! But you know what? I'm with ya, I think that DOES make sense! In fact," Jackal sat down, and took another book off the top of the stack and said, "I'm gonna learn with ya!"

"Awesome! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu declared.

"Me too!" Jackal said. However, his grin disappeared as he looked at the cover of his book. "Hey boss... what's economics mean?"

"Uhh... no clue." Natsu said, scratching his head.

After five minutes of staring intensely at the first page of Economics 101, Jackal screamed in irritation, threw the book down, and stormed out of the room. "Yeah, I should have seen that coming. Thought that counts, I guess." Natsu muttered to himself, still trying to read the first book Jackal had initially picked off the stack, A Brief History of Imperial Government. He'd like to think he was doing better than Jackal, but it wasn't the easiest thing to follow. And it wasn't very interesting either.

He was not so fired up about this after all.

Natsu dozed throughout the rest of the morning but made an effort to read more of the book whenever he found himself struggling to sleep. Unfortunately, trying to read it just put him back to sleep. The head doctor he met on his first day in Alvarez, Dr. Williams, as well as some nurses, came to check on him every now and again, asking how he felt and wrote down things on their clipboards after talking with him and looking at the machines that were attached to him. They also brought him meals- thankfully, Zeref HAD been kidding about limiting his food, as they let him eat however much he wanted.

Shortly after he had finished his lunch, his door opened again and someone tried to leap into the room but didn't quite succeed, yelping in pain as he crashed to the ground. Natsu recognized his new visitor's scent- God Serena.

That was about all he recognized about God Serena, though. Instead of his elaborate tunic, he was clad in a hospital gown, and much of his body was covered in bandages. Most notably, as Zeref and August had joked about during their visit with Natsu, his long orange hair had been buzzed down to almost nothing. However, physical changes aside, he was still very much God Serena, attempting to pose as he shakily stood before finally settling for a slight bow. "My prince! It is truly magnificent to see you have awakened!"

Natsu smiled awkwardly. "Thanks God Serena! Sorry about... all your injuries."

God Serena held out a hand. "No, my prince, it is I who am sorry. I thought myself a god- but I am a man- name aside- and just as Icarus, because of my arrogance, my wings were set ablaze, and I fell back to Earth. However, the gods have given me another chance by allowing me to serve you! My current humble appearance is much deserved."

"Oh, alright then. Glad you're not upset..."

"Upset? No, Your Highness, I AM ENRAGED! The fact that the dishonorable Larcade would usurp the stage of battle for his own nefarious purposes! Well, his treachery will not go unpunished! I attempted to finish him off myself while you slept but my pursuits were halted by these... doctors..." He growled the last word. "But no longer! Now that you have awoken, we shall plan his demise in posthaste!"

"Ummmm... I guess no one's got to tell you yet, but Z-er, my brother told me to decide Larcade's punishment, but I didn't really want my first order as a prince to be hurting or killing someone else, so I told him to forget about it..."

God Serena stared at him, wide eyed, before he laughed heartily, placed his hands on his hips, and yelled, "MAGNIFICENT! Truly your mercy knows no bounds, Your Highness. Larcade should be kissing the very ground you walk on! However, with your permission, I, the magnificent God Serena, will-"

A nurse walking by saw God Serena and gasped, and then turned and yelled, "Doctor, here he is, in the prince's room!"

God Serena gasped himself, no doubt hearing the army of footsteps as the infirmary's staff tracked him down, and, due to his injuries, before he could make his escape he was surrounded. Dr. Williams stepped forward and angrily yelled, "God Serena, how many times do we need to tell you that you CANNOT be on your feet!" He turned to the nurse next to him and said, "Sedate him- AGAIN!"

God Serena yelped as the nurse stuck him in the arm with a needle. He turned to Natsu and waved and said, "Anyways good tooo seeee youuuuuu aaaaaaawaakeeee Youuuur Higgggghhhhneessss." His speech slurred more and more as the sedative took effect until he finally passed out, a nurse catching him under the arms. As God Serena was literally dragged out of the room, Dr. Williams apologized to Natsu for the trouble. Natsu told him not to sweat it as the rest of the staff filed out. With everyone gone, Natsu took out the book and looked at it intensely, attempting to make sense of what he was reading.

He eventually gave up and began dozing again, only to be awakened by a loud knock on his door. He groggily said, "Come in", and the door flew open, and Invel seemed to close the distance between the door and the bed in one step.

"Good, you're awake." He said. Natsu did not miss the slight alarm in his voice. "We've had an unexpected request. Lord Saylor wants to meet you."

Natsu looked at him like a deer in headlights. "Why?"

Invel sighed. "I believe it is his way of trying to be respectful to His Majesty during negotiations. Caelum is in quite the predicament and Lord Saylor is trying to win allies here. I attempted to dissuade His Majesty from the idea, but he failed to read my facial expressions and hand signals during our discussion."

Natsu snorted. "What an idiot. He always misses obvious things that are right in front of him."

Invel's expression was unreadable as he replied, "I'm not even going to comment on that statement. But are you opposed to the idea?"

"I mean, I don't care if he wants to stop by and say hi. I'm still not very far in these smarty pants books so I don't think I'll be able to talk all fancy and stuff."

"This is just an informal greeting so just... be nice and smile. And..." Invel put his hand to his chin for a moment before snapping, an idea having come to him, "Don't say anything to him like you would to your ice make friend in your guild- Gray, I believe it was."

Natsu chuckled and smiled wide back at Invel. "Ok, I think I can handle that!"

Invel's features seemed to lighten as he nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Alright, then. I'll let them know. They should be here in five to ten minutes." Invel pulled a rectangular device out of his pocket. It lit up and he tapped it several times before putting it away.

Natsu cocked his head. "Don't you gotta go tell them?"

Invel smiled and shook his head. "I already did. This," he said, taking the rectangular object back out of his pocket and holding it up, "is the latest in lacrimal communication technology. In a matter of seconds, I can have a written message delivered to another device. Or if I'd prefer, we can speak to each other directly in real time." The little rectangular object lit up again as he showed Natsu its features.

"Wow! That's incredible! How does it work?" Natsu watched Invel tap the screen and the words 'His Majesty' appeared, and underneath it was a series of messages between Invel and Zeref going back and forth.

"I'll try and give you the simple answer from Wall and Jacob's rambling, but basically it searches for other devices like it using the magic ether in the air. And before you ask, yes, we'll be getting you one eventually. I hope you will keep it on you more than His Majesty does... he is notoriously hard to get a hold of once he leaves the capital on his 'travels'..." Invel furrowed his brow as he looked at the book by Natsu's side on his bed. Before Natsu could express his excitement over the communication lacrima, Invel remarked, "I'm impressed, Natsu. A Brief History of Imperial Government isn't an easy read but it does provide a fairly in depth look at the inner workings of our government."

"I'm sure it would if I could understand it. But good grief, I think I'll start to understand something but then this 'Ferez Leengard' guy just goes on and on with a bunch of useless details with words I don't understand. I wish he'd just get to the point!"

Invel laughed- a real, hearty laugh- to Natsu's shock, and then he said, "Read the esteemed author's name backwards."

Natsu looked deep in thought for a moment as he looked at the author's name again, before his eyes narrowed and he growled, "You have got to be kidding me, that's the dumbest fake name he could possibly come up with!" Scowling, he added, "If you weren't here Invel, I would have turned this book into a pile of ash."

Laughing, Invel took the book from Natsu's side. "Well 'unfortunately' Mr. Leengard didn't author any more books after this one. His fake names became a bit smarter after this, I'll give him."

"He didn't write Economics 101 by chance, did he?"

Invel lifted an eyebrow. "He did not. Did you attempt that one as well?"

Natsu shook his head. "Nah, that was Jackal."

"Ah, that explains the fuss about a noise complaint I heard about in the library earlier today. Apparently, someone was getting very heated over a dictionary they were attempting to read..."

"Yea, I told him your story, I hope you don't mind. I didn't tell it as well as you though, but Jackal said he was gonna try and learn with me... and that lasted about five minutes before he threw a tantrum over Economics 101."

"Hmph. I can't say I expected my life story to move Jackal... however, if he wants a tutor, he'll have to find someone else." Invel smiled a little as Natsu quietly laughed. "When you and I start later today, we'll pick something a bit easier. Like..."

At that, there was a knock on the door, and Invel shot out of the chair.

"Uh, come in." Natsu said, a bit startled, having been wrapped up in conversation and not heard the approaching footsteps.

The door opened, revealing Zeref, and another man dressed in a nice-looking white overcoat. "Hey Natsu, how are you feeling?" Zeref asked.

"Hey brother," Natsu said, smiling. "I'm okay. Just drowsy."

Zeref offered a small smile. "I'm glad you're doing okay. Let me introduce you to Lord Evan Saylor of Caelum." Zeref turned back to the other man, Lord Saylor, evidently, and said, "Lord Saylor, meet my younger brother, Natsu Dragneel."

Lord Saylor stepped closer to stretch his hand out where Natsu could reach it. Natsu could see him much clearer now- he had sandy brown/blonde hair and a goatee. He wasn't scrawny but his figure wasn't imposing either, and he was a little taller than Zeref. Most surprising to Natsu was his age- when he heard the word 'lord' he expected some old hunched over geezer. But this guy didn't look much older than Natsu. "Lord Evan Saylor of Caelum, at your service. It is an honor to meet you, Prince Natsu."

Natsu reached out and firmly shook his hand, "Nice to meet you too!"

Releasing his hand, Lord Saylor said, "His Majesty was kind enough to share some footage on the lacrima vision during our discussions of your recent battles. Your power is unbelievable, Your Highness. The Empire is blessed to have such powerful mages in its leadership."

"I explained to Lord Saylor how you were fairly new to the empire and how several of my guard wanted to see your power for themselves... with one a bit too eager to prove his strength and resulted in my brother's stay in the hospital."

"Which he is being severely punished for, by the way." Invel sternly added.

"However, Natsu asked us to spare his life. That he didn't want his first order as prince to be ordering someone's execution." Zeref explained.

"Quite generous of you." Lord Saylor said to Natsu. Eying the books stacked on the floor near the bed, he added, "And I see you're making the most of the time off your feet by catching up on your studies. Very responsible of you! Seems you're settling into your new position nicely, Your Highness." Zeref's eyes widened as he looked at the books on the floor himself.

"Heheheh..." Natsu laughed nervously. "Well, to tell you the truth, I'm... not much of a studier. I'm a fighter. That's what I live for... I was never great at learning all this smart people stuff. But I thought I would give it a try if it helped my brother... and I mean, not like I can do a whole lot laying here anyway."

Zeref and Lord Saylor both looked at Natsu wide eyed. Zeref looked like he wanted to say something, but Lord Saylor spoke first, "If I may be frank, Your Highness, your willingness to learn something, especially something that wouldn't normally hold your interest, for the sake of helping someone else, is extremely noble. You have my utmost respect." Lord Saylor bowed, and then added, "It's nice to see that you care for your brother so much. Growing up in high society, it is quite uncommon to see such strong familial bonds... The most common relationships between noble siblings, in my experience, are either traitorous thoughts or blatant apathy. Your care for him is refreshing... in fact, it just adds to the fact that the way things are done in the Empire has been refreshing, overall."

"Um... thanks!" Natsu's smile was tinted with slight nervousness, as he internally laughed at the irony of that statement. Two weeks ago, Natsu was still out to kill Zeref, and Zeref was still convinced to use Natsu as an instrument for his death... Yeah, I don't think there's a good way to explain that to this guy.

"Lord Saylor, would you care to share your predicament with Natsu? Perhaps he can use his 'outside the box' thinking to help us find a solution." Zeref said.

Natsu looked a bit surprised, but Zeref nodded, urging him to go along. Lord Saylor hesitated, before saying, "Well, if you're sure it won't trouble you, Your Highness."

"Nah, it won't bother me. I think I can make time in my busy schedule!" Natsu chuckled.

Invel looked slightly panicked for a moment, and Lord Saylor initially looked confused, before he smiled and laughed a little. "Forgive me, in my line of work, peers with a sense of humor are rarely encountered. Now, as for why I'm here in your empire... the simplest way I can put it, is our island needs help. You see, Caelum is actually a part of Minstrel, a country on Ishgar's mainland. Several centuries ago, Minstrel conquered several warring tribes there. Caelum has been a colony of Minstrel ever since. Which has had its benefits in the past... but those benefits are seeming to run out. Our island is a popular spot for tourists and vacationers these days... and both those groups are a great source of revenue for our struggling treasury... or would be, if most of it wasn't collected by the King of Minstrel."

"The past few years, relations between the King of Minstrel and the previous Lord of the Isle, my father, have been tense. My father was friends with the previous king, the current king's father. Both of them served in the royal military together. Communication was open between the two and issues that arose were generally solved quickly and painlessly. However, the former king died a few years ago. His son, who inherited his throne, is a very different man than his father. He is, if you'll allow me to be frank, spoiled, out of touch, and self-centered. He allows no discourse if your opinion differs from his and refuses to listen to any issues I- or even other members of his court- bring to his attention. In truth, our infrastructure in Caelum is dated and in desperate need of renovation and upgrade, but he will not part with a single jewel for this end. All the while reaping in millions of said jewel from our tourists and visitors."

"On top of this, we have been dealing with an issue of pirates the past year. We have been able to resist them so far, but we are ill-prepared for any type of large-scale attack. And the pirates have been progressively growing in strength and number- yet King Pavone will spare not a single soldier from his royal military for our aid! I suppose they'd rather hold parades in their capital and give each other medals for their non- existent feats!"

"These issues drove my elderly father, whose health had already begun to decline, to his grave. As I am now Lord of the Isle, I do not want this future for my home and my people. I wish to cut ties with Minstrel and create a kingdom of our own... and I am here in your great Empire seeking your support, respectfully, Your Highness." Lord Saylor bowed as he finished his explanation.

Natsu furrowed his brow. Zeref cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at Natsu. "What are your thoughts on Lord Saylor's predicament, Natsu?"

"Well, I mean, that all sounds really bad. We should help them! We have like the strongest military in the world, right? No way some dumb pirates and that Minstrel place could beat us!"

Zeref smiled. "I'm sure Lord Saylor is very happy with your sentiment, Natsu. And it would be a good thing to help them, if we can- but there are a lot of things we must consider."

"Like what?"

Zeref glanced at Invel. "Invel, perhaps your first lesson with Natsu should be on foreign policy?"

Invel nodded. "I will see to it, Your Majesty."

Looking back at Natsu, Zeref said, "The answer to that question is quite complex, Natsu. Invel's going to give you a better answer than I could here in just a few minutes. Lord Saylor and I still have much to discuss. I'll stop by later today, if that's alright with you." Natsu nodded.

Lord Saylor bowed. "It was an honor to make your acquaintance, Prince Natsu. Thank you for listening to my woes. I'm glad to have gained your support. I hope I can gain your brother's as well!"

Natsu smiled. "Me too! Good luck with everything!"

Lord Saylor bowed again, and Zeref waved as they left the room. Invel sighed, seemingly much more relaxed. "That went better than I could have hoped. Then again, it does help that Lord Saylor is trying to impress us, not the other way around. The ball is in our court, so to speak." Turning to look directly at Natsu, he asked, "Why do you think it'd be a good thing to help Lord Saylor and Caelum?"

"Well, it sounds like they need help, and we can help them, so I think the question is, why aren't we?"

"We have to consider the consequences of what providing aid to Caelum would do to the empire and its place in the world. I'm sure you know of Ishgar's collective distaste towards us?" Natsu nodded. Invel continued, "The fact is if we supported Lord Saylor's secession campaign, we would, in the rest of the world's eyes, be directly interfering in Ishgar's political world. Caelum would no doubt be indebted to us for the aid we would provide, and while it is a good thing to gain allies, we have to consider, especially since they would be a newly independent country, that we would be allying with the weakest force in Ishgar- also, they would likely be relying on us not only for general protection, but military equipment and training as well- do you see where I'm going with this?"

Natsu scratched his head. "Kinda... I think... there's a lot to it, is what you're saying?"

"Yes. Though allow me to explain it a different way. I looked over our intelligence's file on Fairy Tail before we began negotiations this morning. You have other guilds you consider friends- Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Sabertooth to name a few. Am I correct?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, we like all those guys pretty well!"

"I see. Consider this scenario- it probably isn't a reflection of the current state of things but just go along with me for the example's sake. Imagine Blue Pegasus's master- Bob, was it? - steps down or passes away suddenly. And the next master, despite being another guild member, is nothing like Master Bob and refuses to listen to counsel or the opinions of the other guild members."

"That'd be awful! A lot of people would leave, I bet."

"Exactly. Now imagine, a prominent Blue Pegasus member came to Fairy Tail, and announced his intentions to start a new guild with other disgruntled members of Blue Pegasus. You may initially want to support such an endeavor- however, what would you do if the master of Lamia Scale contacted your guild master, and declared her intention to support the new master of Blue Pegasus... and if Fairy Tail supported the other member's group, she'd cut ties with your guild?"

Natsu furrowed his brow. "Well... I don't know what I'd do. I'd have to think long and hard about it. I'd want to do what's right, but..."

"You'd want what's best for your guild too, correct?" Natsu nodded. "What if 'doing the right thing' would lead to retaliation from other guilds that meant your guild mates got hurt in the future?"

"Simple- I'd take anyone who hurt my friends down!"

"But what if you could avoid anyone getting hurt entirely? Or, God forbid, one of your friends received a permanent injury... or was even killed? Would you still feel the same, knowing that?"

"Well if I knew that was gonna happen, I'd have to... ugghhh I don't know! This is impossible!"

Invel smiled a little. "It is definitely not an easy question to answer or an easy decision to make. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Yeah, I think so. Instead of guilds it's different countries, right? Like Alvarez and Caelum?" Invel nodded and Natsu smiled. "Hey, that does make a lot of sense!"

"I've found that instead of just rattling off facts or statistics to memorize, someone is much easier to teach when you take whatever you're teaching and apply it in a familiar way. Would you like to keep going with this? We can keep using the example of your guilds back home to explain the state of the world and Alvarez's place in it."

Natsu smiled. "Yeah, let's do this!"

Invel and Natsu talked about Alvarez and foreign policy for a few hours, which surprisingly went by very quickly for Natsu. Invel wasn't kidding, this stuff was a lot easier to talk about when he used real life examples. He could say he wasn't dreading Invel's lessons going forward!

Natsu's thoughts were disturbed by another knock at the door. He was hoping for dinner but instead found August entering the room, smiling and holding something in his hands. "How're you feeling Natsu?" He asked.

"Still pretty sore but otherwise good." Natsu said, smiling.

"Glad to hear you're not worse." August said, as he walked over to and sat in the chair by Natsu's bed. He glanced at the stack of books Jackal had brought. "I thought Invel was joking about tutoring you on 'official duties'..."

"Nah, he meant it! And you know what? It actually wasn't bad! He was able to explain it in ways that weren't boring, like we talked about foreign affairs and stuff, and he helped me understand it by using guilds from back home instead of countries for examples!"

August looked surprised but he smiled, and said, "Well, Invel does always seem to be prepared for anything, so I shouldn't be surprised he'd be a good teacher." August paused for a moment, before he said, "I can come back if you're trying to rest, I simply brought something to help pass the time for you here." He held up the object in his hand- Natsu realized it was a movie.

August handed it to him and Natsu looked intently at it. " The Siege of Zwolle? Based on a true story? Wait a second..."

"Yes, this is one of the movies I mentioned this morning... one of my favorites. It's based on a real siege His Majesty and I led against a city deeper in the continent many years ago."

"Really?" Looking back at the cover, standing on a cliffside looking over a city was a very muscular and chiseled man with black hair in familiar black and white robes. "Wait a minute, is that supposed to be Zeref?" Natsu asked, laughing.

August chuckled. "Indeed, and that," he pointed at a blonde, similarly built man in robes very similar to August's, "is me." Humor danced in the old man's eyes as Natsu looked at the cover in disbelief.

"Bahahaha!" Natsu laughed loudly. "Okay, we have to watch this now!"

Natsu and August watched the movie together to their great amusement. The acting was sterile, the effects were terrible, and every villain Zeref's and August's forces faced was either old, fat, ugly, or all three. Meanwhile, every ally or potential ally was young, fit, and good looking. Through his laughter, August attempted to point out what was true and what was exaggerated from the actual event.

About halfway through the movie, Zeref finally came to check up on Natsu and groaned when he saw what his brother and August were watching on the Lacrima vision. "Why would you show him this, August? This is one of the worst ones." Zeref whined.

"Nah this is fantastic!" Natsu said, laughing. "The casting is especially good, look how 'accurate' your actor is!" 'Emperor Spriggan' in the film was currently shirtless and wrestling a tiger that the enemy king had in his dungeons. Zeref just shook his head.

"This was always one of my favorites, Your Majesty." August said, smiling. "That entire siege was such a horrible affair and an unpleasant memory, I like to imagine it actually went like this" he gestured to the lacrima vision, "and what we actually went through was just a nightmare."

Zeref sighed. "I suppose that's one way to look at it." Zeref stood and watched the movie for a moment, frown on his face, before he left the room and returned a moment later with another chair.

Natsu chuckled. Looking back at the Lacrima vision, he saw 'August' obliterating an incompetent opponent in a battle of magic. "Did August really look like that though?"

"He wasn't that muscular but more or less, yes. Although... His hair was a different shade of blonde. It was pale, like Mavis's." Zeref explained.

"Really?" Natsu asked. "That's cool!"

"I thought so too... I actually named him August in honor of the month I first met Mavis. He resembled her quite a bit when he was younger."

"Wow, really?! Did you know Mavis, August?" Natsu asked. He then noted how, despite being relaxed and laughing with them moments ago, August now seemed incredibly tense.

The old man finally answered, his voice suddenly distant and sorrowful, "No... I did not. His Majesty projected a memory of her for me to view... the resemblance is uncanny. I…would have liked to have met her." Natsu looked at Zeref, wondering if he noticed August's change in demeanor as well, but found his brother's face unchanged, simply staring at the Lacrima vision. August seemed to have moved on from the topic as well, going back to watching the movie, so Natsu didn't press the issue.

After the movie ended Zeref and August had dinner brought to Natsu's room and ate with him, with Natsu describing Invel's lessons and the other two men summarizing the discussions they had with Lord Saylor earlier that day. The talks were just beginning, but it sounded like they were already starting to seriously consider supporting him. but they were still weighing all the risks.

Eventually they bid Natsu goodnight and left him to go to sleep. However, just as he closed his eyes, there was another knock at the door. Who could that be? Natsu wondered, before saying, "Come in." When the door opened, he was shocked to see who was on the other side.

Larcade.

Now that the battles are done, we're getting into the REAL story- 40 chapters of Trade Federation negotiations.

Kidding XD

That said the stuff with Lord Saylor is important for later. Also, I made everything about the political situation about Caelum and Minstrel up. To my knowledge we don't see either of those countries in cannon, but if I'm wrong feel free to fact check/ correct me!

I know I keep teasing stuff with August, and I swear he plays a big role in the story later. We just have to get there!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next week!