Welcome to this week's chapter!
So, I know I told a few of you lovely readers that we'd be back to the opening scene in chapter 19... well, problem is, I got through about half of what I wanted to write for this chapter and saw my word count was 6700 words... so I split the chapter into two. So, we'll be back to the opening scene in chapter 20, hopefully.
Hope y'all enjoy!
KEEPING SECRETS CHAPTER 18: FOOTPRINTS OF THUNDER
Natsu stood at the main doors of the Imperial Palace, tapping his foot, waiting for Zeref. He said to meet him at 9:30 sharp... It was now 9:35. "Make sure you're not late, he says..." Natsu muttered to himself. The very next moment, as if hearing Natsu's complaints, the palace's massive doors swung open and Zeref, Invel, and August stepped through the doorway. All three of them looked very surprised to see Natsu.
"About time! I was starting to think I was gonna have to come hunt you down myself!" Natsu said, obviously irritated.
Zeref smiled lightheartedly in response. "I think I speak for everyone else when I say we're surprised we didn't have to come hunt you down. The only reason we took our time getting here was because we were sure you'd be late."
Natsu looked offended. "What makes you think that?"
"You don't want us to answer that, Your Highness." Invel said, flatly. Natsu scowled in response, and, with a hint of a smile forming on the Winter General's face, Invel continued, "That said, we wanted to see both of you off and wish you safe travels..." However, Invel's serious gaze returned as he said, "And remind both of you to check your communication lacrimas frequently in case of emergency."
"If you're reminding both of us, why are you just glaring at me then?" Zeref asked his chief of staff.
"Now, do I really need to answer that, Your Majesty?"
Zeref sighed. "I suppose not."
Nodding and then offering a slight bow, Invel said, "Safe travels. We look forward to both of your returns."
August opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud, abrasive shout. "Hey! Boss!" The group turned to find Jackal holding himself up against one of the massive doors, panting and clearly out of breath. "I wanted to... ugh... say...gaaahahhhh! My head hurts!" He grasped his head as he flailed about.
Natsu laughed. "Guess that was your first time drinking, huh? And that would make this your first hangover!"
Jackal, having finally calmed down, looked up at Natsu. "What?! But I tried to be responsible! I watched Lord Invel and didn't drink any more than he did!"
"My drinks were nonalcoholic." Invel said flatly.
"Wait, that's a thing?! No fair!" Jackal cried. Even Zeref and August were struggling not to laugh at his distress.
Sighing, Invel said, "Jackal, are you here just to complain about your poor life choices or were you hoping to see His Majesty and His Highness off?"
Jackal grumbled something under his breath but nodded. "Yeah. Save travels, Your Majesty." He said waving at Zeref. He turned to Natsu and smiled. "Safe travels boss! I..." Jackal turned away, and voice lower, continued, "I'm gonna miss you. It's gonna be lonely as hell without you here."
Natsu smiled. "You could always take this as a chance to make friends with Larcade!"
Jackal spun around, furious look on his face. "Larcade?! HELL NO! I'd rather blow myself up again!" And with that, Jackal marched back off inside.
"He actually seemed really sad there for a minute..." Natsu remarked, a little amused.
"Well, I did partially model Jackal off a dog, so I guess it makes sense he'd miss his 'owner'... or 'boss', in this case." Zeref said, a smile forming on his face as he spoke.
"I'll be sure to tell him that, so he knows he has nothing to be bashful about in the future." August said, stepping forward, an amused smile on his face. He bowed as he said, "Safe travels, Your Majesty, Natsu. I wish you both success in your search."
"Thanks August." Natsu said, smiling as well. He turned to Zeref. "Well, you ready?"
Zeref returned his smile. "Yeah. Let's go."
Bidding one more wave to Invel and August, Natsu and Zeref turned to the palace gates. However, they had only made it a few steps before a new voice called out, "Wait, Your Majesty, Natsu!"
The two brothers turned to find Brandish, bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Brandish?" Zeref said, a little surprised to see her.
"I wasn't aware it was even a remote possibility you could awaken this early, Miss Brandish." Invel said, arms crossed.
Brandish, breathing in check, stood back up, and seemingly ignoring Invel, said, "I just wanted to wish you safe travels, Your Majesty." She bowed in front of Zeref.
Who was a bit taken back by her sudden formality. "Um... thank you, Brandish..." His tone matched the slightly bewildered look on his face.
She turned to Natsu. "Uh..." Her face turned a little red.
"You okay, Brandish?"
Brandish clenched her fists. "Yeah. Best of luck, with helping His Majesty. Stay safe, Natsu."
Natsu beamed at her. "Thanks Brandish! I'll do my best."
Brandish nodded and turned to leave... but seconds later, spun back around, closed the distance between her and Natsu in the time it took the dragon slayer to blink, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.
Natsu's face turned red. "W...w...wha.. huh?" The bewildered dragon slayer stammered.
Brandish's face was just as red, but she also wore a confident smirk and as she waved. "See you when you get back!"
Invel, whose mouth had opened in shock, recovered to say, "B-b-b-Brandish! What on Earthland was that?! Why would you be so disrespectful to the prince... in front of His Majesty no less?!"
Brandish turned to give Invel a blank look before disappearing from sight.
"Hey! You can't just shrink yourself to get away from me! Come back this instant! I WILL freeze this whole palace to find you if I have to!" Invel shouted as he attempted to make heads and tails of where Brandish was.
Meanwhile, with an amused smile on his face, August waved at Natsu and Zeref again. "Better go before there are any more surprises. Safe travels."
Zeref, who had been silently laughing at the scene unfolding before him, nodded, and turned to his brother. "Alright Natsu, let's get moving."
Face still bright red, Natsu simply nodded and began walking forward.
Zeref chuckled again as he went to follow his brother. "Looks like the first few hours or so of this journey will be as quiet as I'm used to."
The fact that Zeref needed to avoid other people and the fact Natsu wanted to avoid any transportation, public or otherwise, on account of his motion sickness worked out quite well for the two brothers. It meant both of them were accustomed to being on their feet for long periods of time, traversing a variety of terrain in various weather conditions. Sure, the first geological feature they had to conquer was the massive Avesta Desert, since it was immediately west of Vistarion and was the only way to access other parts of the empire... but it wasn't like it was Zeref's first time doing so, and Natsu was accustomed to heat given the nature of his magic.
It only took them a day to cross the desert... an unprecedented feat, as Zeref remembered it taking nearly a week on his initial conquest of the continent many moons ago. The once daunting Waalwijk Mountains bordering the desert were conquered fairly swiftly as well, opening a pathway to... just about anywhere in the empire.
Their journey across the empire was more rewarding than either of them had expected. For the first time since they were small children, Natsu got to spend quality time with just his brother. It had been fun being with him in the capital, but getting out and exploring like this was something else entirely. There were no advisors or guards running back and forth, and no daunting responsibilities (Natsu was starting to see why Zeref usually didn't hang around in Vistarion for long). It felt relaxing to just spend time together- even if Zeref had to disappear from time to time, either to spend some time alone and balance his thoughts and emotions, or take Natsu's scarf to August, presumably, for purifying purposes.
Being away from the hustle and bustle felt nice, though they did cross through several large cities on their trek... none as big as Vistarion, but maybe as big as Crocus back in Fiore. They also got to see several smaller, quaint towns and villages. Natsu had passed through other small towns back in Fiore on jobs that were similar, but he had been through them so many times he didn't stop to really look at them anymore. There was something special about seeing a whole city or town for the first time- each of them had their own unique twist on the empire's overall culture, whether it was food, dialect, or art.
A lot of this owed to the diversity of the land itself. Zeref explained many people in Ishgar thought of Alvarez as one big desert... and while it did contain several big deserts, to say the entire empire is one was just completely untrue. There were quite a few impressive mountain ranges, rolling hill country, fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, crystal clear lakes and rivers, and canyons and valleys with rock formations unlike any Natsu had ever seen before.
All of it had a story, too. Zeref shared all sorts of trivia about the places they were traveling through- actually, he shared too much trivia. Natsu would listen, initially intrigued, but then Zeref would go on and on and Natsu would tune him out, causing the older Dragneel often to begin bickering with the younger.
Despite the occasional bickering, the two stayed in high spirits on their journey... even though there had been a frustrating lack of answers. Or clues about answers. Or really anything relating to Ankhseram. Searching various libraries, university archives, and even some archeological sites, Natsu and Zeref hadn't found much more than a mention or casual reference to the god of life and death. It seemed Zeref's destruction of his most populous place of worship had a great effect on what information still existed about the god.
Still, it was good to spend time together again.
One night, about three months into their journey, the two brothers stopped to camp in a grove near the shores of a lake. Natsu laid back on his sleeping mat, admiring the view of the mountains in the distance.
"So, I know you're just gonna tune me out again, but that lake there- Lake Larissa- was actually a massive crater that formed during the last recorded battle with dragons on Alakitasia. Those mountains over there," Zeref pointed to the mountains Natsu had been admiring earlier, "are where the Macias tribe- Wall's people- are originally from. They had created some type of anti-magic device with their alchemy that caused the dragons that had laid waste to their settlements for generations to fall straight out of the sky- and dragons are much easier killed from the ground than in the air, believe me."
"That's super interesting." Natsu said, yawning and looking up at the stars.
Zeref frowned. "Is that why you're yawning and looking like you're about to fall asleep?"
Natsu sat up and scowled slightly. "No, that's because I'm exhausted from walking all day. I don't tune you out all the time, ya know."
Zeref raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"
"Yes, really." Natsu insisted. He shot a fireball at a pile of timber he and Zeref had collected earlier, watching it burst into flames. Yawning again, Natsu said, "That actually was cool. Just like it was cool how that city- Aargau- is the biggest city in the world built in a cave. Can't believe it was even bigger than Magnolia."
He smiled, thinking of some other of the highlights of their trip so far. "Then there was that crazy lake... 'The Floating Lake of Helsingborg'... where some crazy water wizard who said he could talk to fish, somehow levitated the whole lake into the air to stop people from fishing there... never thought I'd see a boat ramp that took you up to go into the lake."
"And then my favorite- Ocala, home of the world's biggest peanut." He smiled.
Zeref sighed but smiled as well. "How did I know that would be your favorite thing?"
"Hey, you don't see a peanut bigger than a person every day! If Igneel were here- like, physically- I bet he would have tried to eat it."
They both laughed for a moment, before Zeref said, "Maybe it's somewhere you'd want to take Lucy in the future...or maybe Brandish, now?" His voice took on a teasing tone with the second part of his question.
Natsu's face turned red. "I... I... don't... good God, I don't even know what to make of any of THAT now!
Natsu scowled as Zeref laughed to himself, but then he said, "But anyways, the empire- it really is something special, Zeref. You should be proud." He yawned again and rolled over on the ground, and groggily said, "I'm proud to be part of it now, too."
Zeref looked over at Natsu, wide eyed, only to find his brother had closed his eyes and begun to snore softly. A small smile formed on Zeref's face as he said, "I'm glad you feel that way Natsu. I'm proud to have you here by my side." He looked up at the stars before his own body gave out from exhaustion, enjoying the peaceful night.
If only they knew it was the last they'd have for a long while.
The sun had barely begun to creep over the horizon and melt away the morning mist when Natsu was abruptly awoken by the sound of buzzing. He furrowed his brow and rolled over, thinking it might have been from a dream.
Not only was it not a dream, but the sound seemed to double itself... if that was even possible. He groggily opened his eyes and saw a light the size of a small rectangle shining in the grass a few feet from him... and as his eyes adjusted, he realized it was his brother's communication lacrima.
Natsu initially panicked, thinking something had happened to Zeref, but upon looking over his shoulder, he saw his brother, face against his own sleeping mat, slumbering away. Natsu rolled his eyes, realizing Zeref must have thrown the lacrima away from himself instead of actually waking up and answering it. Realizing what was going on, Natsu shook his head and pulled out his own lacrima, which showed Invel was trying to call him. He answered groggily, "-mmello?"
"Where are you, Natsu?"
Natsu woke up a little more, hearing the obvious concern in his voice. "Uhhh... about 20 miles from The Singing Forest of Krefeld, I think... is everything okay?"
"No." Came Invel's immediate reply. "Is His Majesty nearby?"
Looking over his shoulder again to see Zeref, still in the same spot and position he had been in a few minutes ago. "Sleeping about 20 feet away from me or so..."
He was expecting a quip about Zeref not answering the lacrima, but instead, Invel cut straight to the point. "Wake him up, Natsu. He needs to know..."
"There's been a revolt."
Natsu's lifetime record of 'not regretting anything he's done, ever' was shattered on that day. He woke Zeref, who grew extremely wide eyed on hearing Invel's news. Apparently, Lord Bradley Ashford, regional governor of Devereaux... yes, the same Ashford as Natsu's favorite now ex- senator, Montgomery, had declared Devereaux's secession from the empire, that they were now an independent kingdom, and Bradley himself was now king. He cited 'obvious lack of concern' from Zeref and the other officials in Vistarion... as well as the whole incident surrounding his uncle's sudden retirement from parliament. Apparently, his appeals for investigation into the matter of the 'accident' were denied, and claimed the evidence finally presented was 'shoddy'...
Natsu agreed with Invel at this point it would have been more satisfying to see the pompous man tried for treason.
Even in Deveraux, were the Ashford family had been in power more or less since Zeref conquered the region, they weren't at all popular- they were widely seen as corrupt, untrustworthy, and outright dismissive of their own citizens- proven by the fact the Ashfords had acquired a massive fortune for years of public 'service', only for over half of the population of Devereaux to be below the poverty line. No doubt they only remained in power due to their connections and dirt they had on others.
That said, even if they weren't beloved by the common people, the Ashfords had plenty of friends in the business and manufacturing world- especially Devereaux's magic weapons manufacturers. This seemed to have coerced a number of the population to join Ashford's new army. In addition, and most concerningly, he seemed to have a significant number of foreign mercenaries of unknown origin... indicating bigger, more sinister forces backing his little revolt.
It was, in all definitions of the term, a crisis.
Rubbing his temples, Zeref asked, "Are any of the Twelve in the area?"
"Irene has already converged on Ashford's last known location. How fast can you join her?"
"Send me the coordinates- we can be there within a few hours."
"At once, Your Majesty."
Three hours later, Zeref and Natsu stormed through Irene's battalion's camp until they found Alvarez's head enchantress. She turned to greet them, arms folded, with a smirk on her face. "Well, well, I'm impressed. I think that's a new record for Invel calling and you showing up, Your Majesty."
Zeref didn't look amused. "This isn't some petty bureaucratic squabble. I can afford to take my time with those. Not so much in a case like this."
"I'm sure Invel will be very interested to know you walk for his issues but teleport for something like this-"
"Not if you want to know about August's secret bakery where he gets you those cheesecakes."
Irene's smile disappeared. "Fine. My lips are sealed, Your Majesty."
Natsu scowled. "You still haven't bothered to teach me that teleportation spell yet..."
Zeref sighed. "Yes, well, we're a bit preoccupied for me to teach you about a field of magic you've never used before." He heard Natsu open his mouth to say something, but before he could, Zeref added, "Or would you like to accidentally end up several hundred feet below ground? Or be cut in half because you teleported into a building and ended up between floors? Teleportation magic is tricky, it's not often used for good reason."
Natsu rolled his eyes but said no more. As Zeref was about to ask Irene if there were any updates on the situation, they heard a familiar voice yell out, "Boss!" The trio turned and found Jackal striding over to them in excitement.
"Jackal! Good to see ya!" Natsu beamed at his chief guard.
"Lord Invel just knew how much you'd need my help, so he had Lord August bring me here!"
"More likely Invel wanted him out of his hair..." Irene muttered, smirking to herself.
Jackal heard Irene's sarcastic comment and turned to her with a look of offense on his face. "You don't know what you're talking about, lady! Natsu needs me here!"
"Right, I'm sure you're absolutely essential... like Ajeel's magic in a tundra." Irene deadpanned.
Jackal puffed out his cheeks like was gonna argue more, but Zeref cut him off, asking Irene in a serious tone, "What's our current situation?"
Irene's own features hardened. "We've encircled the estate of Lord David Langhans, a nobleman with his hands in a lot of Devereauxian manufacturer's pockets. According to Jacob's intelligence reports, Ashford was last seen here, meeting with Langhans. Ashford's probably long gone, but maybe we could get some useful intel from Langhans, and furthermore send a message by taking down one of Ashford's closest cronies. That said-"
As she spoke, Irene had been leading them through their camp. She brought them to a heavily fortified and hidden position that overlooked a massive plantation estate house. From their hidden position, they could see a number of Ashford's soldiers stationed around the property armed with state-of-the-art magic weapons. They also possessed some heavy magical cannons, not unlike the Jupiter cannons Natsu had seen before, which were being pushed around. Soldiers in sleeker looking armor, faces obscured by full face helmets- no doubt the mercenaries Invel had mentioned- seemed to be directing the other soldiers around.
"Their defenses are quite significant."
Zeref took in the scene before him. Sure, he was immortal and could hypothetically walk in and slaughter all of the enemy himself... but it'd also mean he'd likely be blasted with those magical convergence cannons, and immortal or not, he didn't want the pain of that on his resume. "Irene, let's head back to your tent. We can start drawing up a plan of attack."
"At once, Your Majesty."
As the two turned to head back to the thick of the camp, Jackal went to follow them, only to have a hand press down on his shoulder. He looked, finding Natsu still staring at the enemy. "What the Hell are we wasting time making some stupid plan for?" Natsu said. "Follow me. I got an idea."
Jackal grinned. "You got it, boss."
"So, I will lead the charge from the front, while you, Natsu, and Jackal press in from the sides while the bulk of their forces are distracted. It's not a perfect plan, but at the very least, it won't take long for them to be overwhelmed. They may be well supplied, but they won't be able to fight us off from all directions."
Irene brought her hand to her chin. "Not bad for being on such short notice, Your Majesty. I am a bit concerned about the forces you're leading, though. Will they be able to take that much concentrated firepower til the rest of our forces step in?"
"I'll have several barriers set up. It should block at least a few of the initial blasts from their cannons."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, Lady Irene." A new young, feminine voice entered. Turning, the two found one of Irene's enchanted dolls, Heine, had entered the tent, head bowed in respect.
"Not now Heine, His Majesty and I are finishing up our plan of attack."
"But-"
Irene shot Heine a look, and the enchanted doll held her tongue.
"I'm curious what your thoughts are, Natsu. You've been oddly quiet-" Zeref looked to his right, where he expected to find Natsu... but no one was there. He looked around the whole tent, but there was no sign of his brother.
"I was waiting to see how long it'd take you to notice." Irene said, smirking.
"Ugh. Where could he have gone off to..."
"Your Majesty, Lady Irene... that's actually why I'm here... Prince Natsu-"
"Did you tell them yet, Heine?!" Another girl's voice interjected. Irene's other enchanted doll, Juliet, strode into the tent, giving Heine a serious look.
Heine rolled her eyes. "I was about to til you interrupted."
"You're too slow! Now-"
"Enough." Irene said. "What are you two here for?"
The two dolls seemed to snap to attention. "Prince Natsu and Jackal have already made for the enemy's position."
Zeref cocked his head. "What?"
Before anyone could say anything, there was the sound of a huge explosion, followed by a massive vibration that nearly knocked everyone off their feet. Once they had regained their balance, all four of them made for the overlook. Upon reaching it, Zeref pinched the bridge of his nose as he witnessed the scene.
The rebel forces were in utter disarray. Several of the magic convergence cannons were nothing more than warped metal now, and massive fires near their remains had broken out. The rebels attempted to aim their final cannon and fired... missing a human shaped blur that flew by them. Seconds later, the final cannon was consumed in a fiery explosion.
Even though they were likely over 100 yards from the battlefield, they could hear the unmistakable cackling of Jackal. "I forgot what a thrill it was to blow stuff up like this! I'm having so much fun!" Jackal fired off several more condensed explosion curses, taking out even more of the rapidly dwindling rebel forces. The mercenaries were attempting to restore order, but most of the other soldiers had panicked, firing their weapons wildly... the ones that hadn't thrown their weapons down and fled in terror.
"Of course. Leave them unsupervised and they're already blowing things up." Zeref groaned.
Irene chuckled at Zeref's distress. "Well, that's one way to distract them. Might as well back them up." With an enchantment, Irene amplified her voice throughout the Alvarez camp- "The enemy's on the run- all soldiers, advance!"
Moments later, the entirety of Irene's division, plus the emperor, were charging towards the rebel forces Jackal hadn't already blown up. Even the mercenaries seemed terrified by this- they ordered the remnants of their forces to fall back to the mansion. However, as they started to run towards the building, everyone- both from Alvarez's and Devereaux's forces- were knocked off their feet as the mansion was consumed in a massive explosion. Flames sprouted from the husk of the building as it collapsed in on itself, smoke in debris spiraling into the air. When the dust began to settle and the soldiers regained visibility, they were met with the sight of Natsu dragging a very terrified looking nobleman out of the wreckage by his collar. The remaining rebel soldiers threw their weapons down, and got on their knees, putting their hands behind their head in surrender. The mercenaries dropped to the ground, limp as ragdolls, and moved no more.
Zeref stared at the scene in disbelief as Natsu dragged who he presumed was Lord Langhans across the ground towards them. As he got close, Natsu beamed at his brother, and said, "Hey, Zeref! Found your guy!"
When Zeref just continued to stare blankly, Irene chuckled and said, "Well, this works too."
Langhans had folded like paper mâché as soon as Irene began to question him. He spilled everything he knew about his former co-conspirators, Ashford, and the mercenaries, begging to be exonerated or at least have his sentence shortened for cooperation. To his distress, Irene said she'd think about it and left him sobbing in the tent as she went to inform Zeref what she had learned.
"I heard crying." Zeref said as Irene entered the tent. "What'd you have to do to get him to talk?"
Irene smirked. "Absolutely nothing. Before I could even try and guilt trip him about betraying the empire, he threw himself to the floor begging for forgiveness and for us 'not to blow him up'... guess you can thank your brother and Jackal for that. So, I told him to spill everything he knew... and he did. Troop movements, backroom deals, secret bases... he blabbed on it all. Heine wrote everything down; she'll be by with the finished report soon."
"That's encouraging. What's the bad news?"
"Well, as you might expect, he had no idea where our boy Ashford's run off to. Somewhere in the south of the region, probably... also, the mercenaries. He really didn't know anything about them other than the fact they're not from Alakitasia. They're strange- don't remove their helmets, don't make small talk with any of the other soldiers... and get this? We didn't capture any. All the ones who didn't die in the battle... they off'd themselves. Looks like they all had a back molar pulled and a cyanide pouch put in its place."
Zeref's brow furrowed. "That's troubling. It'd indicate Ashford has connections with an outside nation or perhaps another organization. I don't like the sound of that." Zeref smiled however, and added, "That said... It does make deciding on our next move easier. Due to the geography of the region, Devereaux really only has one port city on the coast... Boras, to be exact. Take that... and we ensure the foreign aid ceases."
Irene smiled. "We'll set out immediately."
Natsu and Jackal lay around a campfire with some of Irene's soldiers, celebrating their first victory. "You should have seen their faces when I started blowing up their cannons... they all looked like they were pissing themselves! Hahaha! Guess rebellion sounded better in their minds than the actual thing!" Jackal laughed.
Natsu and most of the other soldiers laughed as well. There were a few, however, that looked more conflicted. One of them spoke up; "All due respect Your Highness... a lot of those men probably didn't want to be there in the first place. Despite how it might seem... most of the population of Devereaux actually supports the empire. That said, Ashford and his buddies... since they control basically everything in the local economy... I'd say they issued orders down through their own cronies, like, 'Join the new army or starve!' and 'If you refuse to support our new brave warriors, we won't be able to stop lawlessness from entering your community'... so in other words, we're going to break into your house and take whatever we want, and do whatever we want to you..."
The others grew quiet at this. Jackal scowled, and asked, "Well how do you know all that stuff?"
The soldier's face grew even more solemn. "Because I'm from here. I've been an officer in the Imperial Military for about a decade now... fortunately moved my family out to the capital to be closer to them, but I've had friends and relatives that weren't so lucky..."
Jackal quieted up at this information. Natsu stared into the flames, feelings now conflicted. "I'm sorry..." He finally said. "I had no idea."
The soldier sighed. "No need to apologize, Your Highness. We're here to do a job and that inevitably means people they've conscripted are going to be killed... or they're going to kill us. I just... didn't feel right sayin nothin about it."
"Thanks for sayin something." Natsu said, smiling. "Now that I know... maybe we can do something about it."
The soldier smiled, and looked like he was going to say more, but another voice snapped them all out of their conversation- "Natsu!"
Hearing the voice of the emperor, all the soldiers around the campfire rose and saluted. Zeref stood there with his arms crossed at Natsu and Jackal who were looking up at him, still lying on the ground and now looking very out of place.
"At ease." Zeref said to the soldiers, who relaxed their stances. "I need to speak with my brother privately. Nodding, the soldiers saluted again before walking away. Zeref narrowed his eyes at Jackal, whose ears perked up, realizing that meant he should go too.
"Oh, uh, right, night then." Jackal awkwardly said before he walked away, leaving Natsu and Zeref alone around the fire.
Zeref sighed and sat down next to Natsu, watching the flames dance in the night. "You were impulsive today, Natsu." He said after getting comfortable on the ground.
"The sky sure was blue today, Zeref." Natsu said sarcastically. Zeref narrowed his eyes at Natsu, who sighed and shook his head. "Why are you saying this like it's new information? I've always been impulsive. And we won, so who cares?"
"Yes, we won, today." Zeref said, slightly exasperated. "But that's no guarantee we'll win next time. This isn't like taking down a group of thugs or a dark guild, Natsu. This is war- the longer we fight, the more our enemies learn about us- our strengths, our weaknesses- what if next time, they're expecting an assault like you and Jackal pulled off, and they have countermeasures in place?"
Natsu scowled, feeling like Zeref was fretting over nothing. "I've been doing things like this since... forever. I don't see a reason to stop now. Countermeasures be damned... we'll just be better than they are!"
"You don't get it, Natsu." Zeref said quietly. Natsu went to say something, but Zeref cut him off, "I'm not doubting your strength or ability- you've proven yourself over and over again in that regard. What I want you to understand is how serious war is- I've watched good people- strong people- fall because they insisted on doing things their way, and not the right way. War isn't like other battles you've fought before- the strong often don't win. The smart do."
Zeref looked at him, his gaze serious but not condescending. "What if Langhans had some important intel in his possession? You blew the mansion up without knowing if there were any documents relating to Ashford or his rebellion's plans. If there were, well, they're all ash now. Furthermore, these nobles... a lot of them like to collect rare, old, and even arcane texts... what if you had incinerated a book that had something on Ankhseram or the curse along with Langhans' mansion?"
Natsu's eyes widened. "I... didn't think about that."
Zeref's gaze softened. "I'm not saying that is what happened, just that it was possible. Trust me on this... I've fought many wars throughout my years. I know you're eager, but we need to be cautious about how we approach this. And maybe they'll be certain situations or battles we find ourselves in, your impulsive nature could give us an advantage. But we have to look at all the options before we charge in."
Natsu slowly nodded. "I think I get it... August, while we were training for our matches... he said that there have been super strong mages that lose battles to people way weaker than them because they don't use their power well... this is similar, isn't it?"
Zeref nodded. "Exactly." He laid a hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Just trust your big brother on this, okay? Let me come up with the strategies before you rush in... but as soon as it's time to reign hellfire down on our enemies, you'll be the first I tell, okay?" Zeref smiled.
Natsu grinned back. "Alright. I think I can do that. And hey, maybe I can help you eventually- with battle strategies and stuff? I'd like to think I'm good at adapting depending on the environment and enemy... I know I've never led armies or anything, but maybe the more I see what it's like..."
"That'd be great, Natsu."
Natsu nodded, but his smile slipped from his face as the conversation with the soldier around the fire earlier came back to mind. "Hey, Zeref... one of Irene's soldiers... he was tellin me how he was from here, and how even not a lot of other people that live here support Ashford... but he's, I dunno, threatening them and forcing them to be in his army? That... we can't let him get away with that!" Natsu clenched his fists.
Zeref's own smile faded as Natsu shared his thoughts, and he said, "I agree with you Natsu... but... the fact is, willing or not, they'll be facing us in battle, trying to stop our campaign... We can't afford to be soft when it comes to the enemy, no matter the circumstances. I know, you being you, want to save them... but we have to think about our own soldiers as well. They have families and loved ones waiting on them at home too."
"I know, I know. I... know people are gonna die, and there's nothing we can do about it, but also... I want to save as many people as I can."
Zeref nodded, and his smile returned as he stood up. "We'll certainly try. I do have some good news- Lord Langhans thinks Ashford went south, likely near the port city of Boras... where his mercenaries are flooding into the country. We go there and take the city, we more or less cut them off from any outside aid... and then it's only a matter of time. I think we'll end this soon."
Natsu smirked at this. "Oh, really? Well let's get going! I'm all fired up now!"
Well, well, if it isn't the consequences of Natsu's actions. Anyone see that coming? :P
In other news, I should finish writing chapter 19 today!
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. See you next week!