Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?

Beta Reader: volfwildman

Cover Art by KegiSpringfield

I couldn't help my grimace as I and the rest of my family, minus Gray and plus Lucy, stepped off the train. The streets of Crocus were teeming with people as they walked back and forth while a couple of magic-powered cars carefully made their way through the crowds. Magic-powered vehicles were still a new expensive thing and as a result, the streets were still ruled by people walking about. It looked like what I'd imagine an emerging industrial city would look like. Now if only there weren't so many people crowding the place up.

In the end, there was little I could do but sigh as me and the others followed Mom down the street. The reason for our visit was simple. There was a major art museum being opened today and they were getting all the big and famous artists in Foire to put some of their best pieces in said museums. And that just happened to include Gray's pieces.

The poor guy had only found this out a few days ago due to a mail malfunction when he should have been informed at least a month ago. But even being behind in transporting his art he simply sucked it up and selected his best pieces to bring with him to the museum as fast as he could. The people behind the museum have been rather understanding of the situation or at least that had been what Gray said the other night over a communication lacrima.

As for why we were here well Mom had decided that we all needed to be here on opening day to show our support for Gray. The Ice mage had even been able to get some tickets for the opening last minute for us as well.

In truth, I would have rather not come. It wasn't that I was supportive of Gray's art or anything, but I simply just hated heading to the bigger cities in Foire. Magnolia was technically a city too, but it was still small enough that you could walk around without feeling crowded. In Crocus, though it felt like I was in a sea of people that were forcibly pushing me along and getting far too close for comfort. I liked my personal space and this kind of thing was rather uncomfortable for me.

Let it not be said though I wasn't a good Big Brother though as I forced myself to come. Well, maybe that's a bit too much credit to me since even if I had tried to say no Mom would have vetoed that and any further attempts as well. That said I'd like to think that it was still my choice.

"Hey Lucy, how's Loke been doing? You know with him now being back in the Celestial realm or whatever that place your spirits live is called." Asked Erza as she kept an eye on the cars that were moving about the streets. Whether they were magic-powered or not car crashes were quickly becoming a concern for people who lived in big cities where they were becoming more common.

"He's fine. I haven't talked to him much, but he seems happy to be back." Said Lucy with a smile.

Oh right. The whole Loke incident happened like two days ago. I had been out at the time and when I came back it was over. Not like it mattered to me much since I pretty much never interacted with Loke. He also never interacted with me either, or Cana and Erza for that matter. I might or not be the reason for that.

"You sure you should be talking about another man, Luce. You might give Gray the wrong idea." Stated Cana with a teasing grin.

I rolled my eyes as Lucy stuttered out a response. Ever since the two of them revealed that they were dating Cana had been teasing them nonstop. She tried to get me in on the action, but I decided to decline. I simply just didn't feel like teasing Gray about his love life, I did mess with him for not revealing it until I all but forced him to but when it came to the actual dating and romance part, I had no interest in teasing him about it. Besides, Cana did enough work for two people on that front.

Before Cana could continue to mess and tease Lucy Mom spoke up. "Look Kids! There's the museum that little Gray's art is going to be displayed in!"

All conversations stopped at that point as we all looked over at the building. It looked like a cross between a cathedral and a castle. Mainly made of grey bricks that were all over the walls and spires that covered the building. It really made it stand out in the industrial modernism buildings that sat beside it. Apparently, they had wanted to make it feel like a grand art gallery of old or at least that what I had read when looking up some info on the place.

There was a decently long line of people that led out of the entrance of the place that we passed without a second thought. The tickets Gray had expressed mailed us were first-class ones that would allow us to get in without waiting. After showing said tickets to the guards at the entrance we were allowed in much to the anger of the people outside.

Upon getting inside we were greeted with the lobby that already had a good number of people in it. It didn't take much guesswork to see that the people were of the upper class as the clothes they wore screamed privileged. Some gave us dismissive looks while others appeared intrigued by our appearance. It didn't take long for me to hear whispers about the 'Famous Fairy Tail Mages' that had come. I even heard a few mention Gray's title of The Winter Fairy.

For the most part, we ignored this as we looked at the directions that were on the walls to the various exhibits on display. It seemed they were put into different rooms based on their style and Gray's Impressionism art was put with the modern section. I thought that weird until I remembered that Impressionism was decently new here.

As we walked through the exhibits I saw that apparently for opening day, they had the artist stand beside their paintings and tell people about them. Most of them seemed to wear a smug or arrogant smile as they told people about how perfect their art was. It didn't take too long to get to where Gray's art was displayed.

Gray had only taken eight of his pieces with him which was a decently large number since most of the artists seemed to have only three or four of their pieces here. I'm not sure if that was because the museum decided to not display the more modern forms of art and thus Gray had more room for his art or if they thought Gray's art would be more popular. Most common people in Fiore didn't care too much about art but since Gray was also a famous mage as well it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that people would be more interested in his work since he was practically a minor celebrity.

Gray himself stood awkwardly off to the side as he talked to some rather interested looking rich people. We ended up waiting as a group for him to finish up his conversation and upon doing so we made our way over. Once he saw us his nervous body language changed to a more confident one as he smiled and spoke. "Hey guys! Glad you could make it."

From there Gray talked to everyone as I stood back and glanced around at the art pieces. It was interesting to see this world's version of Impressionism; it was one of the few styles of art that I remembered from back when I was taking an art history class in college. I had ended up dying a week before the final project was due if I remembered correctly.

I was so busy looking at the art that I was surprised when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Upon turning I saw Gray giving me a smile. "Hey Bish, glad you came. I know that you don't like being in the bigger cities, so I appreciate it."

I gave him a simple shrug before glancing over at his work. Most of it I had seen before like the painting that showed what Natsu described Igneel to look like, The Slayer had been rather happy that his brother had chosen that as one of his paintings.

My eyes ended up freezing as I gazed at the last painting on the left. The painting itself depicted a man standing on a hill with little children around him. They cheered him on as the man held up his hand to the night sky and seemed to have various colors flow from said hand into the dark sky. The words underneath the painting said, 'The Illusionist, By Gray Vern-Fullbuster'.

After a few seconds, I swallowed a large amount of salivary that had built up in my throat while I stared. With a bit of warmness in my chest, I turned back to Gray who was giving me a hopeful look. I gave him a smile before putting him on the back. "Good job little Bro. You made some amazing art. I'm...proud of you."

In the end, I was glad I came.

"Hey, Big Bro what was your Dad like?"

I blinked in surprise as I turned towards the person who had asked the question. It turns out it was Natsu who had asked the question as he gave me a curious look. I shifted in the chair I was sat in, the rather comfortable one that was placed in the mansion's library. had been rereading an adventure book and as a result, I hadn't heard him walk up to me.

"Any particular reason you're asking this?" As I said this, I put a bookmark on the page I was on and closed the book while giving Natsu a raised eyebrow.

Natsu looked away for a moment with slight embarrassment on his face before sighing and turning back to me. He held a contemplative face for a few seconds before he spoke, "Back during the war, I asked Gajeel about the dragon that taught him Dragon Slayer magic. He said that his dragon left him too and… some of the stuff he said about it kinda got me thinking."

Natsu paused as he looked out the window. He kept looking as he spoke, "Did Igneel...did Igneel not care about me like I thought he did? Was...he just bored and took care of me until I didn't interest him anymore? I thought that he loved me as his son, but I was a kid then, maybe I was just seeing things that weren't there."

I kept silent as I stared at Natsu. It was clear to me that this had been eating at him for a while and was starting to really weigh down his mind. The irony of him asking me, a person that doesn't really understand basic emotions, about love would have been rather funny had the look of pain I was seeing in my little brother's face didn't make me uneasy.

After a minute or two I let out a long sigh that got Natsu's attention. I gestured for him to sit down which he did on the floor as I contemplated what I was going to say. Eventually, I decided to stop overthinking it and just let the words come naturally. "My Father...was a good man. Derek Vern was the type of guy that would help anyone he saw in need. Would take off his shirt and give it to someone if needed. Which according to mom he did one time."

I paused as I allowed old memories of my early days in this world to pass through my mind. "Father...Dad wasn't there that often. Not because he didn't want to be there but because he worked for nearly sixteen hours every day and didn't have much time for me or Mom. But he always tried to be there for both of us."

I once more paused as more memories passed through my mind. This time they were of my father from the world before, of a man that was never there because he thought work was more important just like his wife. "Dad worked because he wanted me and mom to have the money to be happy. He'd go out of his way to make sure we were happy."

I held out my hand and with a flash of Requip magic, my saber appeared in my hand. "...A week before he died, he took me sword shopping. He refused to get me a real sword because he didn't want me to hurt myself, but he saw how I looked at this saber and got it for me with the intention of giving it to me later."

I paused for a partially long moment as I thought about what I was about to do. In the end, I sent my saber back to my hammerspace and pulled something else out from it. An old piece of paper. I silently held it out to Natsu, and he slowly took it and looked at it. I saw his eyes widen as sadness shined through them. Eventually, after reading the words on the paper he handed it back to me. I hesitated for a moment before looking at the paper myself and saw the word that had long ago been written on it.

"Hey there Son, Happy Birthday! Or at least I think I might give you this on your birthday. Not sure yet. I wasn't going to get you any real dangerous swords but after I saw that intense stare you were giving this thing; I knew I at least had to reserve it for you for later. I hope you like it! Remember that I will always love and support you. Same for your mother too so remember that. Anyways try not to cut yourself with this ok. Don't want me and your mother worried right!"

There was a little smile at the bottom of the note. It had round glasses and a handlebar mustache.

It took longer than I'd like to amendment to place the note back into my hammerspace. After that, I and Natsu sat in silence. After a while I spoke up once more, "Dad might not have been there a lot but he truly loved me. I really don't know how I knew but I just knew. From every action to every second he was with me it was so plainly obvious that even I saw it with ease."

I turned to look at Natsu as he had a contemplative look on his face. "I want you to think about all the time Igneel spent with you. Think about how he acted and how he spoke and tell me if he loved you or not."

Natsu silently stared at me for a moment before closing his eyes. I sat there for a couple of minutes as Natsu silently sat and thought. As time passed a small smile appeared on his face that slowly grew wider and wider. Once the smile threatened to split his face, he opened his eyes and spoke. "I'm an idiot. Igneel...Dad loved me a shit ton. I... can just tell now that I'm remembering all the time, I spent with him."

I gave Natsu a small smile as I patted his shoulder. "I'm sure your Dad had a great reason for leaving you. Just like I'm sure he'll be back for you. Though if he tries to reclaim you, I'm pretty sure he's going to have to go through Mom first."

Natsu let out a laugh at my words after the laugh ended, he looked at me again with a grin on his face. "I believe you. I also believe that's not a fight that Dad is going to win. Whether he's a dragon or not."

I let out a chuckle at his words before standing up from my chair and offering a hand to Natsu. He takes it and stands up beside me. I pat him on the back before moving forward while speaking. "I don't see Mom losing that fight either. Now, why don't we head to that fancy pasta place and get some lunch?"

Natsu's eyes sparkled for a moment before he spoke, "The one that makes that special Baked Ziti on Fire for me?"

I nodded and Natsu rushed forward into the hall. I walk after him but stop at a full-length mirror that stood by the door and stare at my reflection. For a second I see a more mature version of me with glasses and an old-timey mustache before it disappears. I let out a content sigh as I looked at the mirror up and down.

It had taken a good few years to convince Mom to let me have one in my room after what happened to the last one.

"Places everyone! The show is starting in thirty minutes and we need to make sure everything is in place!" Shout the strange man who was directing the play that I and my team/family somehow found ourselves acting.

It had started out with us taking a simple job to help a new and upcoming play. Turns out that due to an error in the pay all the actors had left and as a result Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, Erza, and Cana volunteered to be the actors in the play. I had been dragged along but lucky had gotten out of being an actor by offering to use my illusion to help with the play and provided a new original story for the director to use.

Although to say that Romeo and Juliet were original was a bit of a stretch. Sure, it wasn't a thing here, but it still felt off present it has a story I had made up. Everyone had loved it but had also vetoed the ending and instead had Juliet wake up just before Romeo killed himself. The two would embrace before contorting their families and forcing peace and then the two would go on to living happily ever after.

On one hand, it felt wrong to change the thing that made the play so iconic in my world. On the other hand, I didn't really care and just wanted to get this over with.

Erza had ended up playing Romeo because she had impressed the director enough with her enthusiasm. Lucy got it because Cana didn't want the part. Cana, Gray, Natsu, and Happy would be playing random parts of the play. I'll be sitting in a seat in the corner of the front row where I would have a small divider separating me from the crowd while I worked the illusions into the show.

I pause as I walk by the entrance to the theater and frown at what I saw. From the windows on the doors, I saw a crowd of people waiting to be let in. The Director had advertised that the cast would be made up of famous Fairy Tail mages and as a result, people all over the city were wanting to watch. It didn't help that part of the advertisement was that this was an original play that I wrote, I had all but begged the idiot Director to not say that, but I don't think he heard me over the jewel's signs in his eyes.

I let out a sigh before moving on to help set the backgrounds up and got prop ready. Before long it was time and I sat in my assigned seat. People rushed into the theater as soon as they paid for their tickets. It was less than five minutes before the seating was all full and they allowed a few people to stand in the back and the sides before informing the rest that they were full. There were some arguments from what I heard but I paid no attention to that as I stared at the stage while ignoring the people seated near me that were trying to get my attention.

After a few minutes, the lights deemed, and the crowd quieted down. Erza stepped out onto the stage where she was going to give a brief history of the two families that were fighting and would set up the first scene, but she froze the second she saw the crowd. It didn't take long for me to realize that she had stage fright, my redhead little sister was an amazing fighter, but she was very shy when it came to large groups of people. She was usually able to get through it by simply feeling confident in her armor or at least that what she told me, but here she couldn't do that.

I swiftly weaved an illusion and in the blink of the eye, the crowd disappeared for Erza. She blinked in surprise before looking towards me. I had made it where the people on stage couldn't see anyone but me watching. I simply gave her a nod before waving for her to continue. She gave me a smile before flawlessly playing her part. The others were surprised at first when they didn't see the crowd but a few whispers later they understood the situation and continued.

After a while, I dropped the illusion while I worked on others, but my siblings were too caught up in the play to react. For the most part, I simply did small things like echo what was said on stage but louder for the crowd to hear and adding a special effort when needed.

Before long the play came to an end with Erza and Lucy pretending to kiss as they convinced their families to put an end to the pointless feud. The crowd cheered as the curtains dropped, I sat up and made my way to the backstage while the Director talked to the crowd. I quickly got beside my siblings as the curtain rolled up once more and the Director listed off our names and the parts we played. With that down, we gave a synchronized bow as the crowd once more cheered and some rushed up to talk and interact with us.

While my team distracted the crowd, I sneaked to the back and went out the back door. I had no intention of interacting with a bunch of strangers and was going to simply wait a bit until the crowd died down and left. I cracked my back as I looked at the setting sun from the alley behind the theater. It was a beautiful sight I thought.

Apparently, someone decided to say it.

"The sunset is a wonderful sight is it not Gatekeeper of Fairy Tail?"

My eyes widened in surprise and I turned around and saw that I wasn't the only one in the alley. They're near the door that I had come out of stood a familiar tall man in a trench coat and top hat.

Aria of the Heavens.

I tense as I see him but before I make a move, he held up his hand as a sign of peace and gives me a smile. During this, I noticed that he was in his usual outfit along with his blindfold with signs of it being recently mended. After a moment I spoke in a calm tone that did not show the slight fear I felt, "I must admit I never thought I would see you again Aria. Does this back-alley meetup have something to do with revenge?"

I had expected some snarky remark or even an overdramatic threat. Instead, I got a hearty laugh from the tall man. After a few seconds, Aria stopped and coughed to clear his throat before he spoke. "No, no, no, Gatekeeper. While I am saddened by the disbandment of Phantom Lord, I bear no ill will toward your defeat of me. I respect you as a great mage and illusionist."

He smiles as he ends his little speech. I narrow my eyes before speaking in a warning tone. "Then why are you here?"

"Oh, that?" Aria said while dropping his dramatics for a moment, "I was in town when I heard about the play and simply came to enjoy a good story. Didn't even know you or the other members of your guild were in it. I was going to leave when I noticed you heading back here and thought I would say hi."

I pause at his words. That's it?! He just happened to be in town and decided to watch the play and upon seeing me head out alone he decided to come by and say hi!

Aria seemed to notice my disbelieving look and let out a chuckle. "Well, I didn't have a question or two. Could you tell me if the play's ending was the original one? Didn't quite feel right to me."

I stared at him for a few seconds before letting out an annoyed sigh and decided to just go with the flow. Kinda just what you got to do to live in the crazy world. "No that wasn't the original ending. Romeo drinks the poison and dies and when Juliet wakes up and finds him dead, she stabs herself. Afterward, the two families mourn and end the feud upon seeing that it has done more harm than good."

Aria smiles and claps his hands once before letting out a short laugh. "Yes! I thought that ending felt off. Such a shame that the ending was changed. A good tragedy is a rather guilty pleasure of mine. Either way, it was a truly great play. I can't wait to see it done all over the kingdom."

I grimace at the last part before pushing the thought out of my mind. "I suppose the tragedy of what happened to your guild wasn't a pleasure."

Aria's smile lessened at my words and he let out a sigh before facing the sunset. "It is...bittersweet I suppose. It's sad to be sure but I get a strange sense of satisfaction from the thought that I was a part of a real-life tragedy. In the end though, I can't change the story so I must simply live on with the lessons I've learned from it."

We stood in silence for a minute, simply taking in the atmosphere. After that minute passed Aria once more turned to me and spoke. "I have one last question, Bishop the Gatekeeper."

I raised an eyebrow before motioning him to continue. He seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before breathing in a deep breath. "What is Fairy Tail to you?"

I stare at him for a moment before turning around and looking towards the setting sun. What was Fairy Tail to me at this point? I cared for it sure but that was mainly because I knew that the rest of my family would die for the guild. Did I truly care for the guild and the people within?

"...I guess Fairy Tail to me is...Home."

"Oh? It's a home for you?" At Aria's words, I toss and turn my thoughts in my head as I continue to stare off into the distance.

"...At one point in time if the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord had happened then I would have simply left. It was because of...outside reasons I joined the guild and only saw it a means to an end. But as time passed...it became more. I got sibling after sibling all of whom loved the guild and they ended up dragging me along with them. At some point...Fairy Tail became my home, a place I would defend without thought. A place I belong"

Once more silence settled in as neither I nor Aria said anything. During this, I thought of the words I had just said. I hadn't planned any of them out they...had simply come out. Either way, though I knew that I meant them, whether I liked it or not.

Eventually, the silence was broken by a chuckle from Aria. "Hehe...Thank you Gate- No thank you, Bishop. You have...help me come to a decision on a problem I've had for awhile. I wish you a good day."

I turn around to ask what he meant by a problem but upon turning I saw that the man I had been talking to was gone. After a few seconds, I let out a sigh at the dramatics before heading back inside.

And unfortunately ran into some fans.

I swallow down some pieces of the pancake on my plate before sipping my orange juice.

Lucy, Gray, Cana, and Natsu sat about in the dining room as they also ate breakfast that Mom had made before heading to work. Gray and Lucy were talking about something that I wasn't paying attention to while Cana had gotten into an argument with Natsu over some dumb thing. If Mom were here I would try to stop them, but she wasn't, and I didn't want to deal with them during this far too early morning.

I had just finished up my plate when Erza walked in with the mail. She started handing out letters to those that they were addressed to, I got a few that I recognized as fan and or hate mail. I simply put them to the side and start to get up to head to the bathroom when Erza spoke up.

"Oh? Well apparently, I've been invited to Akane Beach for a free weekend vacation. something about promoting famous mages to come to the place for vacation. And apparently, I can bring five other people too! How convenient!"

I paused as the others started talking about the vacation opportunity.

Fuck. Looks like Tower of Heaven is coming.

Guess I can finally stab Jellal. The thought of him and Erza together just made me want to stab him for some reason.

AN: Bit of a bigger chapter then I thought this would be. I was reading through some of the early chapters and realized that Natsu and Gray didn't get as much time with Bishop then I gave Erza and Cana so I decided to fix that. Gray's section was already planned but the Natsu section was due to a reviewer who is going to be getting the shoutout for this chapter. Anyway were heading into the Tower of Heaven arc is coming next. Not quite looking forward to it as the Phantom Lord arc but still got some ideas I looking forward to trying.

Thanks once again to volfwildman for being a Beta. This weekly shout out goes to Trackher for his suggestion for the Natsu scene in this chapter. Didn' think I would implant it so soon but I needed some more words for this chapter and thought it fit in well. Thanks man.

What is the difference between a saint and a monster? Saint give and give. They give all kinds of things out like money, food, and most important of all Reviews! Now be a saint and give a review you monster.

Have a great day.

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