Guess who's back! And for the most cracked out chapter yet!
Seriously though there's a lot of silliness in this chapter, just wanted to have the characters have some fun... because this is the last silly chapter for a while. Not that there won't be moments of silliness but overall, its about to get more serious and darker (vague description intentional XD).
Also, in this chapter I implemented (or at least attempted to) some ideas given to me by some frequent readers- CoolCarnage, CairnCircles, and HaruHaru_19. Thanks guys! Hope you (and everyone else) like what I included :D
ALSO ALSO- Not sure who did but someone nominated this story for this term of the Guild Awards! Big thanks to whoever you are! Never thought people would enjoy this so much it'd get nominated so it means a lot! :)
Anyways hope y'all enjoy the chapter!
KEEPING SECRETS CHAPTER 17: ONE OF US
Natsu, Zeref, and Invel's fishing day came to a close when Zeref refused to store anymore frozen fish in his requip space. This was despite Natsu's fierce protests, since it would leave Invel the winner of their little competition, albeit by a smaller margin than the ice mage cared to admit.
Zeref teleported them back to the palace, giving Natsu the incentive of the palace chefs cooking a nice meal for them from the day's catches for his brother to finally admit defeat. After a shower and change of clothes, Natsu joined Zeref and his regular dinner entourage, as he had begun to call them- Invel, August, Yajeel, and Jackal (who insisted since Zeref's chief guard gets to eat with them, he should too!)- in Zeref's private dining room, with the scent of grilled catfish and walleye filling the air.
"So, who won, Mr. 'I can out fish anyone in the Twelve?' Jackal mockingly asked Invel.
The Winter General didn't even look up from his food. "I did, obviously. My title remains undisputed... though Natsu was much more skilled than anyone I've fished with outside my own family."
Natsu looked up from his plate. "I bet I would have won, if you had let me have that fish both of us had hooked." He grumbled.
"Now, now, Your Highness, I already complimented your skills. Please don't be a sore loser." Natsu's scowl deepened as he saw a small smirk on Invel's face.
"It sounds like everyone had a good time," Yajeel said, smiling. "I was never much of a fishman myself, being from the desert... but I'm grateful for your skills, Natsu, Invel. These fresh fish are delicious."
"There's something special about grilling the fish yourself over a campfire... but I gotta admit, these are really good too!" Natsu exclaimed. "Those guys in the kitchen sure know what they're doing."
"Indeed... I personally prefer the kitchen prepared food to doing it myself, though I admit this has to do with my own personal circumstances before I met His Majesty... I spent a lot of time alone attempting to catch fish and cook them myself as a small boy." August said, the second part of his statement clearly laden with sadness.
"I can understand " Natsu said, looking over at August. "Why don't you come with us next time, August? Maybe together we can make some better memories for you!" He beamed at the old man, who smiled as well.
"I'd like that very much. Thank you, Natsu."
"Well I wanna go too, so I can see His Majesty wear a tracksuit and Lord Invel wear fishing clothes." Jackal said, laughing.
"You don't need to go with us to see that! Here," Natsu slid his new communication lacrima over to Jackal. The etherious picked it up and began snickering upon looking at it.
Zeref frowned. "What did you mean by that, Natsu?" He said in a very unamused tone. He furrowed his brow when he felt his own lacrima vibrate, and upon taking it out of his robes, his eyes widened when he saw a picture of himself, Natsu, and Invel at the waterfall from earlier in the day. "How did you get this picture on there?!" His frown deepened when Natsu just laughed at his distress. "This isn't funny!"
"Well, Your Majesty, perhaps if you spent a little time exploring the features of the lacrima, instead of just sporadically answering messages and calls, you'd know it has a camera." Invel said matter-of-factly, with an amused smile on his face.
"You can't be serious... why aren't you more bothered, Invel?"
"I see nothing to be bothered by. As I told Natsu, I simply dressed for the task at hand."
"Ughhh... Natsu, get rid of it." Zeref demanded.
"Eh, well, I may have sent it to everyone in the Twelve already..."
The rest of the room laughed as Zeref slammed his head against the table.
After their dinner, Natsu tried to turn in for the night, but Jackal insisted on doing something together since they 'were friends now and you didn't invite me on your fishing trip!'. Natsu decided to play a game on one of the consoles in his room hooked to the lacrima vision. He hadn't been interested in games much before, but he admitted they made for fun time killers when he had been more or less confined to bed and needed a break from Invel's lessons or his trip planning. And as with most aspects of technology, the games in Alvarez seemed more advanced than the ones he had seen back in Fiore.
He and Jackal played a game set in a tech- based world with no magic, requiring players to rely on sets of complex weaponry. Natsu had played it a few times during his recovery, and had a basic understanding of the controls, unlike Jackal, who, ironically, ended up killing his characters with explosives more often than not, to Natsu's amusement and the etherious's great frustration.
After a little less than an hour of this, Jackal threw in the towel and declared he'd get his own game console so he could get better than Natsu. Natsu laughed as Jackal stormed out of the room fuming, before he shut the lights off and fell asleep.
The next morning at breakfast, Jackal demanded Invel buy him a gaming console, only for him to get an icy glare from Winter General, a look that perfectly suited his title. "I am not your servant, Jackal. Go buy one yourself."
"Oh, okay." Jackal didn't seem to be fazed. "I probably have loads of jewel anyway since I'm the prince's main guard."
"You receive a salary monthly. However, the vast majority of this month's salary has been used to cover your room, food, furniture, and other essentials..."
"What?! NO FAIR!" Jackal yelled. "Boss didn't have to pay for any of that stuff!" He gestured at Natsu.
"Well, since Natsu is my brother, my money is more or less his..." Zeref said.
At that, Natsu stopped eating. "Wait, really? Do you have a lot of money or something? I always figured you were broke since you were living out in the woods on Tenrou Island... I thought I might have to look for some jobs before we left on our journey, to make sure we had enough to eat and stuff..."
August and Yajeel snickered, to which Zeref smiled a bit sheepishly and said, "Well... I was there to try and keep others away from my curse...I could probably rebuild your guildhall a hundred times over and not notice a change in my savings..."
Natsu's jaw dropped. "You have THAT much? So, I have as much money as like Lucy's family used to have?!"
Zeref went to say something, but Invel spoke first, "Before you start growing jewel signs in your eyes, I will point out your brother's money comes from the Imperial treasury... and while we have never set an allowance for him because he has generally been frugal about his spending... I do not think we will be awarding you those same rights, as we all know from your stories how destructive you, especially with your guild, can be."
Natsu's smile melted off his face. "Well that 's not fair."
"Don't look so down, Natsu." Zeref smiled. "You certainly won't have to worry about not having enough to eat on our trip... which, by the way, I hope you are packed for. We're leaving tomorrow morning."
"Wait really?! You're not kidding?!" The dragon slayer nearly shot out of his chair in excitement.
A small smile on his face, Zeref shook his head. "Nope. We're going to see Lord Saylor off today... and then I believe you asked for a night with all of the Twelve at that bar Ajeel and Dimaria like so much?" Seeing his brother's already wide smile grow even more, he said, "Thank August and Invel- they arranged it so everyone could be there. And it wasn't easy either, by the sounds of it."
"Woooo! Thanks August, and you too Invel! I'm all fired up now!"
After breakfast all seven of them met Lord Saylor and his men at the docks, several miles from the city- Lord Saylor thanked them profusely again before boarding the ship and promised to be in contact, as he prepared things back in Caelum to formally declare independence. It was a simple goodbye, yet simultaneously filled with a deep found gratitude and respect. He also wished Natsu and Zeref safe travels on their own journey as well before boarding the ship.
Upon returning to the palace, Natsu quickly packed a backpack had bought (Invel had given him some of his mentioned allowance to acquire things for the trip) with his notes on different places to search, maps he had gotten from the palace library, and some other essentials- mostly snacks- as well as some 'important' things Zeref insisted he take, such as shampoo and soap- his brother had told a slightly offended Natsu he wouldn't be traveling anywhere near the dragon slayer if he smelled like he had when Zeref had found him in the wilderness in Fiore about a month ago.
With his things packed, he wolfed down a quick (by Natsu standards) lunch at the palace's massive cafeteria before finally getting to spar with Jackal- and by spar, they meant hurling fireballs and explosion curses at each other for several hours. Ajeel came by the training room towards the end and joined them for a little bit before they called it quits for the day.
Since he wouldn't be back for quite some time, Natsu thought he'd try out a quick swim in the palace's massive pool- and after said quick swim, he decided he'd definitely be visiting the pool again whenever he got back. After a shower, he made his way to the palace's main entrance where he found Zeref waiting for him at the massive doors.
Stepping out into the slightly crisp evening air and almost instinctively handing Zeref his scarf, Natsu said, "You know... I've had a blast here in the empire so far. Even though I miss my friends in Fairy Tail... being with you here, it's been great." He flashed his brother a big smile.
The scarf instantly darkened, and Zeref's eyes softened for a moment. "You have no idea how happy that makes me Natsu."
Natsu chuckled. "Yeah, I do." He laughed even more at the partly bewildered, partly amused look on Zeref's face. "That's why I said it!"
Zeref shook his head, but his smile didn't fade. "I've wanted this for so long- to be close... to be a family again. And after everything... I never thought it would be possible."
Natsu blew a raspberry. "You literally brought someone back from the dead... and you still believe there are things that are impossible? I've never let anyone tell me what's possible or not. I decide for myself! And it's time you do too!"
"Well, you may have a point, Natsu..." Zeref brought a hand to his chin as he walked, and his smile slipped a bit. "Still, I doubt breaking my curse will be easy... I feel like we have a long journey ahead of us."
"Hey, I never said it was gonna be easy. Just not impossible! I'm glad I'm finally starting to get through my big brother's thick skull." Natsu said happily.
The bar wasn't far from the palace, so after walking only a few minutes, they reached the familiar aged building lit by neon signs. Quite a few people were surrounding the outside of the building, and being turned away by hired guards, by the looks of it. As the crowd began to point out Natsu and Zeref, Invel came through the doors of the restaurant and quickly ushered them inside.
Upon entering, Natsu was surprised to see only the bar's staff and several members of the Twelve spread throughout the bar. Seeing the confusion on Natsu's face, Invel explained, "I took the liberty of renting out the entire bar for the evening. I thought it would allow everyone to relax without interruptions."
Zeref nodded, "Good thinking, Invel. I take it you paid them a fair amount for the trouble?"
"When they told me what the price would be, I offered them double." Invel looked uncharacteristically pleased with himself.
Already at the bar was the group that had met for an evening out before Natsu's matches, minus Wall. Natsu made his way over, and joined them, laughing and smiling as they greeted each other. The camaraderie in the air was already infectious.
Natsu heard the door open, another familiar scent entered, and then footsteps rapidly approached the bar. "Alright, August. Where is it?" Turning around he saw Irene, eyes narrowed at August, who simply smiled and held out a small, square shaped box.
"Here you are, as promised." He said, as Irene snatched the box out of his hands.
"I wish you'd just tell me where you're getting these already..." Irene grumbled. She opened the box, and her face lit up on seeing its contents. She happily walked over to an empty table and took the contents out of the box. Natsu hadn't even needed to look in it to tell what it was- he could smell the strawberry cheesecake the second Irene had flipped the lid open.
Scenes of Erza, highlighting her love for strawberry cake- and horrible rage whenever someone accidently knocked into her table and caused said cake to fall to the floor, usually during one of the many daily brawls that often occurred in the guildhall- flashed through his mind, giving Natsu an odd feeling of deja vu. "Guess that explains where Erza got her love of strawberry cake from." He muttered, once again not even needing to look to know Irene was now narrowing her eyes at him from across the room, no doubt having heard his little comment with her dragon enhanced hearing.
The door opened again, and a new set of footsteps crept across the floor. Natsu watched as Larcade sat at the end of the bar and ordered a drink, not bothering to look up at anyone else in the room. The etherious's obvious attempt to keep eyes off himself worked- for the most part. Unfortunately for him, another etherious had noted Larcade's presence and was already racing for a confrontation.
"Well, well, well, if it ain't the golden boy himself." Jackal sneered as he approached Larcade. "You think you can just waltz in here like nothing happened after the shit you pulled on the boss?"
The bartender slid Larcade's drink across the bar to the etherious, who didn't even look up at Jackal as he replied in a flat tone, "I'm not here because I want to mingle. I'm here because it was an order- from your 'boss' too, no less. I have no interest in picking a fight with you, Jackal."
Jackal raised his eyebrows in surprise, and looked back at Natsu, who looked exasperated. Jackal scowled as he said, "Yeah, well, I got my eyes on you, Larcade. Don't think I won't blast ya outta here if you start causing trouble."
"Noted." Larcade said as he sipped on his drink, evidently done with the conversation. Jackal looked like he was gonna blow a fuse, but before he could say anything else, he noticed yet another etherious, Bloodman, headed toward the other end of the bar. Beaming, Jackal approached the Grim Reaper, as he was known among the Twelve.
"Yo, you must be Bloodman! I'm Jackal, I'm an etherious too! I was-"
"One of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros. I know." Bloodman finished, his voice cold and void of emotion. "I possess all of the curses of the Nine Demon Gates."
Jackal's grin faltered, his confidence wavering. "Wait, what?! You mean-"
"Yes. I am your entire guild- but better." Bloodman turned back to the bar and began to drink the blackened liquid in the glass before him.
Jackal's confidence melted away as he said, "Oh... right... nice meeting you, then." He slunk away from the bar, ears against his head, looking quite embarrassed, his ambitions to impress the other etherious dashed.
Meanwhile, Natsu approached Larcade. "Hey, Larcade! Glad you could make it!"
Larcade didn't look at Natsu. "As I told your new friend over there, it was an order, I couldn't just ignore it."
Natsu shrugged. "From what I hear, you ignore Invel and August's orders about coming to 'mandatory' meetings all the time." His grin grew as he saw Larcade stiffen. "Good seeing you here Larcade, I hope you have fun!" He beamed at Larcade and threw up his hand in a lazy wave as he walked off.
Natsu wasn't sure if Larcade was just feeling embarrassed or if he had forgotten about Natsu's exceptional hearing, as the dragon slayer heard the etherious quietly say after he walked away, "Thank you, uncle." Natsu smiled to himself.
The door to the bar burst open again, and the most dramatic member of the Twelve leapt into the room as he often did. "I, the magnificent God Serena, have been released from the captivity of the hospital! And just in time! I nearly missed this wonderful invitation from our glorious prince to join him for an evening of camaraderie! Which I regret to say, I so foolishly brushed off in the past." The monologue from the eight-element dragon slayer wouldn't have been complete without several convoluted poses, several of which were gestured towards Natsu.
"Uhh... hahaha. Thanks God Serena, glad you could make it!" Natsu smiled, which looked a little more strained than usual.
God Serena bowed. "Of course, Your Highness. Now, I will join my comrades in the partaking of-" God Serena cut himself off with a gasp, catching a glimpse of the sulking etherious at the end of the bar. His smile morphed into a scowl as he closed the distance between himself and Larcade. "Oh, if it isn't the un-magnificent Larcade." His lip curled in disgust as he sneered down at the etherious.
Larcade scowled and his grip tightened on his glass. Jackal had been easy to brush off, but there was something about the former number one wizard saint that irked the etherious to no end. "Oh, if it isn't Baldreena , still pretending to be relevant."
"Ha!" God Serena's confident smile returned as he ran a hand over his buzzed head. "Better bald than a dishonorable deceiver. From what I hear about your etherious form, it suits you, that is for sure! His Highness may have decided to magnificently forgive your actions, but I most certainly have not."
Larcade pushed his chair out, and turned on his heel, bucking up against God Serena. "Oh, really? Fantastic. I've been looking for an excuse to knock you into a permanent pose!" Larcade said, temper rising.
God Serena opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a hand grasped both his and Larcade's shoulders. They both turned to find Natsu glaring at them. "This is supposed to be a fun night for everyone. So, you two are not gonna ruin it by bickering!" He shouted.
Almost immediately, the other dragon slayer and other etherious backed off from each other and leaned against the bar. "Of course, my prince!" God Serena declared, smiling widely. "Larcade and I were just agreeing to set our differences aside!"
Larcade, eyes closed, and his tranquil smile returned, added, "It's true, uncle. I think he and I can learn to be friends."
Natsu narrowed his eyes. "I don't care what you two do, just behave ." He hissed the last word, before walking off to look for the bathroom.
As soon as he heard the door to the bathroom close, God Serena grabbed Larcade by the front of his robes, and declared, "The prince is too magnificently gracious for the likes of you!" He reared his fist back, clearly readying a spell.
Larcade sneered. "Magnificently gracious is right, he'd have to be to put up with you!" He pushed the dragon slayer before he could fire off an attack... and his reared back arm collided with a person walking by, and the sound of something shattering against the floor followed.
God Serena turned around to find he had collided with Irene, who was viewing whatever she had dropped to the floor with a forlorn look on her face. "Lady Irene, please forgive me! This buffoon caused me to lose my balance!" He spun and faced Larcade, gesturing to the floor, where remnants of a plate and her strawberry cheesecake lay. "Now look at what you've done! You've ruined Lady Irene's delicious dessert!"
"It's just cheesecake. And it's YOUR fault, anyway!" Larcade fired back.
Before either of them could fire off any more assaults, verbal or otherwise, they found themselves being yanked off the ground by the front of their respective tunic and robes, by a very angry redheaded dragon slayer, whose bloodlust was practically radiating off her. " JUST cheesecake?! You haven't the slightest clue how hard it is for me to enjoy food like a normal person due to my... situation. Sweets like this are one of the few things that actually taste good to me!" Irene hissed. "And this wasn't just cheesecake! This was the best damn cheesecake in Vistarion... that August still refuses to tell me where he gets it!" She glared over at the Spriggan 12's commander, who was speaking to Zeref, and clearly ignoring her. She turned back to the two men she had in her grasp, their eyes widened, and teeth clenched in fear. "I think... I'll share some of my pain with you!" She smiled sinisterly.
God Serena's and Larcade's fearful whimpers turned to screams as she dragged both of them towards the door. Meanwhile, everyone else in the bar watching the scene unfold felt their tension evaporate as their emperor flatly remarked, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Case in point."
Natsu came back from the bathroom to the sound of laughter and caught a glimpse of Irene as she dragged the other two shields of Spriggan, now begging for their lives, out the front door of the bar. He approached his brother, and asked, "Hey, what the Hell was that?"
Zeref shrugged as he took a sip of his drink. "Cheesecake casualty."
Despite the vague description, Natsu didn't even have to ask for more details, knowing full well what a wasted dessert meant to Erza, a sentiment evidently shared by her mother. He shivered as an even stronger feeling of deja vu came over him.
"Hey, Natsu!" Natsu turned the direction of the familiar voice calling out his name, finding a grinning Wall striding towards him.
"Hey Wall! Good to see you!"
"Yeah... I guess it's been a while. Sorry I didn't come see you in the hospital, I was busy working on the blueprints for the new class of airship we're about to launch into production... and it's gonna be motion sickness free for you, I promise! Still working on the how, but... oh yeah! I made this for you too!" Wall held up an action figure- of Natsu. He pressed a button on its back and a flame appeared in its hand.
"Whoa! That's amazing!" Natsu exclaimed as Wall handed him the action figure.
"Yeah, I made one of everyone in the Twelve before their 'official' line of action figures launches. It talks too! Go ahead, press the button next to the fire one!"
Natsu pressed the other button on its back, only to hear his own voice declare, 'I'm all fired up now!' "Hey, this is amazing!" He pressed it again and it said, 'Fire dragon iron fist!' Pressing it one more time, it said, 'Long live Emperor Spriggan!' Natsu laughed pretty hard at the last one.
"Ughhh." Came a voice from behind him. Turning, Natsu found his brother looking exasperated. "Wall, why would you pick that of all things for one of its lines?"
Wall looked a bit puzzled. "Uhhhh... sorry, Your Majesty? August told me that'd be a great line to include..."
Zeref narrowed his eyes at his commander, who was currently talking to Brandish and ignoring his glare. "Is that so?"
"Uhhh... I can change it, if you want..."
"No way! This great, Wall! Thanks!" Natsu beamed at the macias before turning back to his brother. "What have you got to be so mad about, big bro? I said it just for you, after all!"
Zeref looked at him with an unamused look on his face. "Yes, and it was as flattering now as it was in your speech... which is to say, not at all."
"Oh, come on, I know you don't know how to take compliments, but you don't need to be shy!" Natsu. He attempted to grab his brother's face and force him to smile, only for Zeref to teleport himself across the room. "No fair! You still need to teach me how to do that!"
During Natsu, Zeref, and Wall's little chat, the final two of the Twelve, Jacob and Neinhart had both made their way into the bar. As he sat down with his drink, Jacob smiled and said, "I don't take time off often, but this seemed like an ideal time to, since the prince was nice enough to suggest it and Invel and August were nice enough to plan this whole thing-" At that moment he looked up and gasped in shock. He stood up from his stool and approached the green haired young woman at the end of the bar. "Lady Brandish, I understand this is a casual affair... but... why would you wear something so… indecent?!" He covered his eyes.
If he hadn't, he would have seen Brandish roll her own eyes and give him a very annoyed look in response. "You know I always dress like this, right?!" Jacob looked even more aghast.
"Hahaha!" Neinhart laughed as he approached Jacob. "I have to know, how has our esteemed head of intelligence failed to notice the wardrobe of his own comrades?"
Jacob scowled. "Well excuse me, I'm busy watching our enemies, planning moves against them before they can strike us- but I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that since you seem physically incapable of attending meetings with the rest of us?"
Neinhart whistled and looked away.
Still looking very annoyed, Brandish asked, in her usual monotone, "You just picking on me tonight, or are you gonna say something to Irene and Ajeel too?"
Jacob looked offended. "Lady Brandish, your words wound me. I am a perfect gentleman- I am nothing if not fair." He turned, looking for Irene and Ajeel. As it so happened, Irene had just walked back into the bar, evidently finished with whatever punishment she had given God Serena and Larcade. "Lady Irene, that choice of clothing is-" He was cut off as Irene's gaze snapped to him. He felt a shiver run down his spine as her gaze practically pierced his soul. Seeing God Serena and Larcade limp back into the bar behind her, looking bruised and beaten, didn't help things.
"Errr...never mind."
He turned around to find Ajeel having a drink at the bar. "Ajeel! Stop being so indecent and put a shirt on!"
The assassin growled when Ajeel simply raised his middle finger at him, not even bothering to make eye contact. "I'll be bringing this up at our next meeting..." He grumbled under his breath.
Jacob's crusade effectively over, Neinhart, despite his usual standoffish nature, approached the bar. "How about we liven things up a bit?" Zeref started to ask for clarification but was drowned out by most of the others enthusiastically agreeing.
The bartender brought a hand to his chin. "Well, we do have that old portable karaoke machine in the back, I don't think management would mind if we rolled it out for the empire's finest."
"Perfect!" Neinhart yelled, clearly excited by the idea.
"I don't know about this-" Zeref was cut off by a smack to the back of his head, delivered by none other than Natsu.
"Come on, don't be a party pooper!" His brother yelled as Zeref scowled at him.
As the bartender and one of the managers rolled the karaoke machine out, Neinhart smiled at Zeref. "No need to be shy, Your Majesty! You only have to sing if you want to! And with that, I will go first!" Neinhart proceeded to break out into a surprisingly well sung, if not a little overly flamboyant, rendition of Srank Finatra's 'My Way'.
God Serena, recovered enough from his beating, made his way to the front next, and performed a lively version of The Dyers hit song, 'Eye of The Tiger'. He surprisingly didn't sing horribly, as long as he stayed away from the high notes... which, to everyone's distress, he did not.
Dimaria whispered something to Ajeel, who looked a bit surprised but nodded regardless. After they pushed God Serena out of the way, they performed a duet of the song 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' by Citizen. They both sang surprisingly well, if not perfect, but the rest of the bar couldn't help but smile and laugh with how much the two lovebirds were clearly enjoying themselves.
When the song ended, Ajeel was showered in praise for his surprisingly solid singing voice. Dimaria was as well, but it seemed most important to her was the approval of her 'best friend' in the Twelve...
"Randi! What'd you think? Not bad right?!" Dimaria said with a cheeky smile.
Brandish looked her way, her face as void of emotion as ever. "Yeah, I admit, you didn't sound bad." Dimaria's face lit up even more until Brandish followed the compliment with, "But maybe next time, pick something less corny. You're not a blushing schoolgirl anymore, after all." She turned away from Dimaria's now shocked face, having left the other Shield of Spriggan speechless.
When no one stepped up immediately to sing after Ajeel and Dimaria, Natsu began scheming. He looked at Zeref and said, "Let's go sing one together!"
Zeref immediately responded with, "Absolutely not."
"Yeah! Come on, when else are we gonna get to do something like this?"
Zeref's face was starting to turn red, against his wishes. "I don't... I can't..."
"AWWWWWW, GUYS, HIS MAJESTY IS SHY!" Jackal yelled, his third... or fourth? Beer in hand. "Let's hype him up!"
Everyone in the bar- including the least likely suspects, such as Invel, Larcade, and Irene- began cheering for the emperor who did get up and stiffly move to follow his brother to the karaoke machine. "Natsu, I don't know any modern music."
Natsu's confident smile didn't vanish! "Just follow my lead! I'm a natural."
Natsu didn't specify that he was naturally terrible.
He picked a sappy country song about family and proceeded to sing from the top of his lungs completely out of tune. Zeref maybe would not have been as bad if he had known the song somewhat... but since he didn't, his voice made an awful cacophony singing along with his brother's. It was so bad that Irene walked out of the bar, hands over her ears. God Serena had a smile plastered on his face, giving the two a thumbs up, but it was undeniable from the look in his eyes he was in immense pain.
Everyone else was having a good laugh about it though. Natsu continued to belt out the lyrics with a confident smile on his face while Zeref looked more and more like he wanted to crawl in a hole and never be seen again.
Finding this most amusing was August. The scene of the two brothers bonding warmed his heart. After all his father's struggle, the fact he was finally together again with his uncle made him very happy, even if neither of them knew the truth of their relation to him.
"Guess musical ability doesn't run in the Dragneel family, huh?" A slightly monotone, yet simultaneously amused voice said. He turned and found Brandish had sat next to him. He smiled. The girl had been so cold and awkward upon joining the Twelve and now... well, she still was, but since the two had known each other since Brandish was a little girl, she and August had a close relationship, not unlike that of a grandparent and grandchild.
"No, I suppose it does not." August said, laughing. I've never attempted any musical endeavors myself... but after seeing this display, I am quite afraid to!
Brandish laughed too, a small smile forming on her face. She opened her mouth to say something but hesitated. Giving her a knowing smile, August reached out to her telepathically- "Something on your mind?"
Brandish's eyes widened for a moment, before returning to normal. No matter how many times they spoke telepathically, his initial outreach always startled the girl. She sighed, and then spoke to August's mind, "I uh...talked to Natsu about that Heartfilia girl. I promised I wouldn't take vengeance, and I won't... I know I shouldn't be blaming her for having Aquarius's key, it's not like her mom said, 'Here, sweety, have this key I killed my old friend to get for you!' But I still have this... unexplained anger towards her..."
August raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not confusing your anger for something else... such as, I don't know, jealousy, perhaps? I noticed the way you looked at him the night we came here together before his matches..."
Brandish, who had been sipping on a drink, suddenly spat said drink out on hearing August's statement. '"What?! No!"
August nodded, still smiling, and asked, '"So if he left Alvarez tomorrow and came back with Lucy Heartfilia by his side, you'd be completely fine with that?"
Brandish's face turned bright red, and she ground her teeth. " "Okay, okay, I get it, quit your teasing old man. " She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly not used to talking about her emotions so... openly, or otherwise. '"It's just he's... different. Genuine. There's not a lot of options for good guys around here, anyway. Ajeel's with Dimaria, Wall's too obsessed with tech, Larcade has too many daddy issues, and don't even get me started on God Serena."
August chuckled a little. "Well, what about Natsu's new chief guard? Or perhaps that new lieutenant of yours, Marin, I believe it was?"
Brandish made an annoyed face. "NO. Marin is a creep, through and through... you know he 'ranks' every woman he meets? And no, being an 'A plus plus!' on his ranking doesn't help. As for Jackal..." She watched the etherious, who was loudly singing along with Natsu and Zeref from his chair, perhaps even more out of tune than they were. "Ew."
Chuckling again, August replied with, "Ouch. That's a bit harsh... but... as far as I understand it, Natsu and Lucy aren't a sealed deal." The wizard king stood up and placed a gentle hand on Brandish's shoulder as he made to step away from the bar, adding as he walked by, "Plus, Lucy Heartfilia isn't here right now."
Brandish furrowed her brow and went to say something else, but August had already made for the door, evidently stepping outside for some fresh air.
She watched Natsu and the emperor (well really just Natsu dragging his brother down by the one hand he was holding) bow after their nothing if not bold performance. The old man had a point though. Natsu and Lucy weren't a couple... yet. She knew the window was small, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought she should try something, before she regretted not doing anything.
Outside, breathing in the cool night air, August smiled to himself at his handiwork. After all, if everything went well, he would be responsible for bringing two people who were very dear to him closer together.
His brow furrowed, however, when he realized he would be setting up his practical granddaughter with his literal uncle. Feelings now conflicted, he shook his head and took another deep breath, before walking back inside.
Wall was in the middle of performing a (surprisingly good) cover of a Dwellcellar song. August took his seat next to Zeref, who refused to look at him. Smiling, August said, "That was quite the performance, Your Majesty."
Zeref's head snapped to him, his eyes blazing with intensity. "Do not ever speak of that in my presence again, August."
Before he could reply, laughter came from next to Zeref, and Natsu stuck his head around so August could see him. "Nah, don't listen to him August, talk about it all you want!"
Fuming, Zeref turned to Natsu and yelled, "Don't undermine me, Natsu!" Natsu stuck his tongue out in response. August couldn't resist letting a little chuckle out, and Zeref just shook his head, and turned back to watching Wall's performance. He really did sound good.
Too good.
He wasn't making any mistakes at all.
August narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, August?"
He turned to face Zeref, who was also watching Wall with narrowed eyes. "Does your anti-magic work on alchemy?"
"I'm not sure, in all honesty, Your Majesty."
"Hmmmmm." A playful smirk appeared on Zeref's face. "Why don't you try it out?"
August smirked back. "As you wish." With a barely perceptible flick of his fingers, August cast a silent spell. In the middle of a very high note, Wall's pitch perfect voice suddenly went off key. The macias looked as shocked as the others in the bar, and grew increasingly frustrated as he attempted to recover, only to find each note he sang even worse than the last. He glanced around the room nervously, as the bewildered silence turned into laughter. He finally made eye contact with August, who was watching him with a faint smirk.
"What the Hell, August?!" Wall yelled out. "Quit it-"
"Oh no, I don't think so." Zeref said, smiling sinisterly at the macias. "Everyone else has shared their true voices with each other tonight- so let's not disguise ourselves with pitch correction spells, Wall." The macias grumbled and went to say something else, but Zeref added, "That is an order, by the way."
Wall sighed. "Fine. As you wish, Your Majesty." He said, clearly unenthused. As he continued with his now raw vocal performance, Irene made her way to where the karaoke machine was plugged into the wall and promptly yanked said plug out.
"That's enough! I cannot take one more second of... I'd call it singing, but I can't sanely call it that!" Irene declared. The bar laughed as Wall sulked back to his seat.
"AWWWWWWW COME ON! I DIDN'T GET MY TURN!" an etherious who clearly couldn't hold his liquor cried and made for Irene, trying to rip the microphone from her hand.
Irene scowled and held Jackal back by his face with her free hand. "What a tragedy." She said sarcastically. "I'll be singing next so hopefully everyone's- especially MY- eardrums can recover." Jackal grumbled something and went and sat back down.
Irene plugged the karaoke machine back in, but instead of picking a song, she opted to sing acapella, the song she sang focusing on returning home from a fierce battle. She sounded heavenly.
As Natsu listened in awe, Zeref tapped his shoulder. "This is a song from Dragnof, where she was queen." Natsu smiled wider at the revelation, and leaned back in his chair, enjoying the rest of his drink as he listened to Irene's song.
Afterwards, the Scarlet Despair had insisted on the karaoke machine going away, to Jackal's great distress and everyone else's great relief. As he smiled, laughed, and chatted with Zeref, Jackal, and the Spriggan Twelve throughout the night, Natsu realized how much the atmosphere reminded him of the guildhall back in Magnolia. The night ended in high spirits all around. Despite everything, like not knowing how the guild would take Zeref being his brother or that Natsu was a literal prince, he decided something before he drifted off to sleep.
He wouldn't accept anything less than a world where his Fairy Tail family and Alvarez family could relax and laugh in the same room together.
Not a bad send off, amirite? :D
As always curious to what everyone liked (or didn't) in the chapter as well as what you think will happen next!
I'm not done writing chapter 18 yet but I'm a good way through it so I should have it done by next Friday.
See you next time!