Happy Friday, friends! I got distracted by work-stuff for a bit, but now I'm back! The good news is that I used this time to take care of something important: namely, rickrolling more than 150 of my work colleagues at a business function. Clearly time well-spent. XD
But I missed you guys, and I'm glad to finally get this next chapter up. This week's chapter is a little self-indulgent. I really wanted to do a little worldbuilding and imagine what Prohibition-era Fairy Tail looked like before we get too much deeper in the story.
- K. Chandler
The Magnolia City streets shot by in a nauseating blur in his peripheral. Natsu clenched his eyes shut to block out the streaks of light.
'Progress,' they said. 'Innovation,' they said. Natsu leaned back against the seat, swallowing hard. He hated cars. These rust buckets were going to be the death of him.
What was wrong with a horse and carriage?
"You okay, there?" Erza asked.
"Anything I can do?"
"Why not just shank me with that knife of yours and put me out of my misery..." Natsu moaned.
"I could knock you out if you think that'll help," Erza said.
Natsu let out a shaky breath. He couldn't tell if the bearcat was joking or not.
"Can't you slow down, Gray?" Erza said.
"I'm barely over the speed limit," Gray protested. "Slowing down would take us even longer."
"Look on the bright side. At least Gray's not weaving through lanes like Erza. Now, that was stomach-churning," Cana laughed.
Natsu groaned. "Can you just not...?" The last thing he needed was to think about things were 'stomach-churning.'
"Oops! Sorry!" Cana chirped, sounding anything but.
Erza's jacket rustled as she shifted around, the seat dipping as she reached past him.
All of her moving about wasn't helping.
"Leave it alone, Erza," he huffed.
"Sorry," she muttered.
The sharp squeak of the window crank made Natsu wince. A cool breeze swept over his sweaty face. He managed to relax a little, admittedly grateful.
When Gray rounded the corner into a darkened side street and squeezed the fordor jalopy into one of the remaining spaces along the busy street, Natsu could literally have kissed him out of sheer gratitude.
Eh, maybe not literally…
Natsu took a couple of deep breaths to get his feet under him again.
Gas streetlamps flickered dimly in front of the store. Through wide glass windows, shelves of battered hardbacks with yellowed pages and torn jackets lined up like kids on their way to school. The name of the store, Fairy Tail, was painted on the glass in fancy calligraphy.
This bookstore served as more than just the family's namesake. This was also where the family conducted their business, both official and less so.
As Natsu followed Erza's crew into the shop, the smell of musty paper and worn leather hit him. He grinned. It smelled like home.
He spotted the cute clerk sitting at the front desk, pouring over a book. Natsu went up to her, leaning against the counter in feigned casualness, almost a parody of their clientele.
"I'm here to see a man about a dog," Natsu said. "Maybe you might be able to help me."
"Natsu!" Lisanna said with a bright giggle. She put the book down, holding her finger in the spine to keep her place. "You know that's not this week's phrase!" she scolded.
With her fashionable bob and smart seafoam green dress, Lisanna was the picture of innocence. Certainly not the type to be frequenting this sort of questionable establishment.
That's what made her the perfect lookout.
Most of the time, Lisanna acted like a run-of-the-mill bookstore clerk. However, her real job was to screen customers and only let through those who knew the correct signal phrase for the week.
The signal phrase was normally literary in nature, and it changed each week, based on the display in the front window. Last week, speakeasy customers knew to ask for 'an eternal mystery.' This week's phrase was to ask for a book about a 'never-ending adventure.'
For anyone who was able to provide the phrase, Lisanna would tell them that she had just the thing. She'd take them to the back to help them find the special book they were looking for. By this, it meant that she discretely let them into the underground tunnels where the real Fairy Tail operated. But for any coppers or G-men nosing around—or anyone who really was looking for a book, she'd make a suitable literary recommendation.
"Heya, Lisanna." Natsu flashed a grin at her.
"You smell like cheap booze," she complained, wrinkling her nose.
"Better than Gray, covered in gunpowder and blood spatter," Natsu said, nodding at the other man. His white jacket showed everything.
Gray and the girls had headed towards the 'backroom' to head downstairs.
"Hey! You can't go back there like that," Lisanna warned. "You'll scare off the customers."
"Huh?" Gray looked down at his soiled clothing. "Aw, nuts! I thought I made out okay today."
"Hurry it up, would ya?" Cana complained.
"I'm coming. Hold your horses," Gray said. He shrugged off his filthy jacket, folding it inside-out to hide the mess.
"And so, the stripping starts," Cana quipped.
"I don't hear you complaining about it," Gray said coolly.
"What's that supposed to mean!"
"Just pointing out that a certain someone seems to pay a lot of att—"
"I do not," Cana said with a huff. "I do not!"
"Enough, you two," Erza said. "Cana, leave him alone. Gray, keep your clothes on. Fine. The jacket can go, but that's it. How many times do I have to tell you not to wear white to work? Natsu, we're leaving," Erza said.
And Erza was in mother-hen mode again. So much for a fun evening. Maybe he should give her a chance to cool off before trying to talk to her.
"I'll meet you down there," Natsu said. "Save me a seat."
"I'm surprised to see you with Erza," Lisanna said, after the others filed away.
"I'm just helping out," Natsu said, shrugging. "I couldn't just leave them high and dry."
"So thoughtful," Lisanna said. "What happened to your crew?"
"They had another job," Natsu said. "Routine stuff."
Lisanna's sister was one of the family's higher-ups, but Lisanna stayed out of the details. She was just an associate, so Natsu tried not to expose her to too much of the family's less legitimate business dealings.
"Will you be down tonight?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Maybe after the bookstore closes," Lisanna said. She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Elfman just finished another run. And I hear he's got some good stuff." She punctuated her statement with a cheeky wink.
"Your brother's in town?" Natsu asked, leaning in eagerly. "I'll have to stop by and see him then."
"I'm sure he'd like that. And, then, maybe you and I could—"
"Looks like we have customers," Natsu interrupted in a low voice. He jerked his head towards a young couple who had just come in.
"Aw, rats! Well, duty calls, I suppose," Lisanna said.
"I'll leave you to it. Don't take any wooden nickels, huh?" Natsu lifted his hand to his temple in the approximation of a hat-tip. "I'll help myself to that book of yours," he added, mostly for the benefit of the young couple behind him. They were dressed up for a night on the town, so they were probably customers, but one could never be too sure.
"Right in the back – you know where to find it. Don't forget to give me a holler if you need anything, Natsu," Lisanna called after him.
"You know I always do!" Natsu raised a hand in a backward wave as he strolled towards the door marked Staff Only.
Above ground, a lot of the businesses were like the Fairy Tail or Sol's, blind pig storefronts that hid underground businesses run out of a back room or—in Fairy Tail's case, literally underground. Down the narrow, corkscrew stairs Natsu went, the metal creaking under each wing-tipped loafer until he reached the bottom.
Part of him wished that the other gals in the family could be more like Lisanna, friendly and fun. Their line of work tended to attract some unique individuals. And if the guys were strange, the dames were even stranger.
At the bottom of the staircase, Natsu made his way down an unadorned hall. His footsteps echoed on the labyrinth of tunnels that crisscrossed under the city like a spider's web. The passages twisted and turned, connecting different corners of the city without rhyme or reason.
Judging by the water-stained walls and crumbling brick, these tunnels probably pre-dated Prohibition, though he wasn't sure by how much. It was an excellent place to hide Magnolia City's speakeasies, drug deals and other questionable dealings.
The remnants of a torn bill poked out from beneath official-looking signage. Natsu could barely make out the Fairy Tail family's mark—the same sigil that Natsu had tattooed on his shoulder—beneath proclamations of Closed. No Entry.
And it was true. There would be no entry for those who didn't know the secret.
Between the tunnels, the misleading signage, and Lisanna's passphrase, all the layers of security may have seemed redundant, but it was necessary given the crackdown. Everyone had a stake in this action, from the G-men (from the Federal Bureau of Prohibition) who wanted to shut them down to corrupt local coppers looking to exploit them for some quick scratch.
Natsu rapped sharply on the door with his knuckles. A well-hidden rectangular peephole opened with a scrape, revealing a pair of narrowed eyes.
"Password?" a low voice asked.
Natsu made a face. "C'mon, Laxus. You know who I am."
Natsu and Laxus had never been best friends, but the big fella had been on his case since Don Makarov had promoted Natsu to Capo. Of course, there wasn't much Natsu could do about that.
Laxus was family. Literally, in his case.
Most of the family wasn't related by blood. The only thing they had in common was Don Makarov's acceptance and the oath they swore to Fairy Tail and all it stood for. Nothing christened the bonds of brotherhood faster than a gunfight.
While there were a few relatives in this family—Macao and his son Romeo, Lisanna and her brother and sister, and even Cana and her father—they were the exception, not the rule.
But Laxus was Don Makarov's grandson, so this gave him special privileges, like bossing everyone around and acting like a hotshot. Generally just being a pain in the neck.
"Password?" Laxus asked again.
Natsu couldn't see the rest of Laxus' face, but he wouldn't be surprised if Laxus was smirking back there.
He wanted to see a hand sign? Natsu would gladly show him a hand sign. Slowly and deliberately, Natsu flipped him off.
"Wrong finger," Laxus growled.
"My mistake." Natsu grudgingly showed the correct family's hand signal, a half-clenched fist with the thumb and index finger extended.
The peephole slid shut and the door opened.
Laxus let Natsu through, taking a long drag from his cigar. With a smile sharp enough to draw first blood, he blew out a lazy lungful of smoke in Natsu's direction. "Have a nice night."
Jerk.
"Yeah, thanks," Natsu muttered under his breath.
The whole room was filled with smoke and the sharp, sweet scent of alcohol. Stepping through the speakeasy door always made Natsu feel like he had been transported back to once upon a time and a long time ago, back when drinking wasn't illegal.
Round tables peppered the floor where men gathered to drink and play cards or catch up on the happenings of the day. Some were customers here to have a good time, others were members of the family, catching up on business or spending their cut of the dough.
Bouncing strands of jazzy piano filled the air as Mirajane laid into the piano, her soulful voice carrying across the smoky room. Part-time bartender and part-time canary, this dame knew how to strike a balance between modern flapper glitz and classy old-fashioned romance. Her long skirts and fussy sliver-blonde ringlets were out of style, but they didn't change what a looker Lisanna's older sister was. She looked like she'd stepped off the silver screen.
But Mirajane was more than just looks.
Back when they were kids, Gray and the other fellas had goaded Natsu into flirting with her once. And like a knucklehead, Natsu did, and what a mistake that was! In a voice like liquid silk, Mirajane had threatened to pump him full of lead if he ever tried again, the pleasant smile never leaving her face. Natsu wouldn't have been surprised if she was still packing heat.
Natsu made his way to the bar, sidestepping the other patrons and greeting soldatos from other crews as he passed.
"Hey, there, Sam. Warren, good to see ya," Natsu said. "Mickey! Heard about you and Joey - took care of Riko's boys, huh? Nice work."
Natsu grabbed a seat next to Gray and Cana.
Gray had abandoned his jacket and his vest was nowhere to be found. His tie dangled over the back of a chair. This left him in just a shirt and a pair of suspenders holding his pants up.
"Careful there," Natsu said, as Gray worked down the first buttons of his collar. "You're about to lose your shirt."
"What's it to you?" Gray said, sounding vaguely amused.
Natsu raised his hands innocently. "Nothin', pal. Just tryin' to keep the ol' bearcat off your back."
Gray's mouth twitched as he fought a grin, though his eyes darted to the side. Cautious Gray had always avoided criticizing their boss, though Natsu was pretty sure they both felt the same way about Erza's pushy attitude.
"Lost cause." Cana back the last of her drink, slamming the glass on the counter. She picked up another. "You know how she is. She wouldn't be Erza if she wasn't terrifying."
"And how!" Natsu agreed, eying the impressive collection of empties lined up in front of her. Cana was the unmatched champion when it came to drink.
"Cana, she'll hear you," Gray warned in a low voice.
Cana shrugged, not bother to lower her voice. "Yeah. And?"
Natsu wasn't sure if Cana was fearless or just stupid. Or maybe her pedigree gave her protection and kept her out of trouble.
"Forget Erza. Why don't you two join my crew instead? What d'ya think?" Natsu said.
"Pass," Gray said. "Work under you? Fuhgeddaboudit, Flame Brain."
"Oh, come on!" Natsu protested. "You make it sound like a bad thing."
"I think tryin' to keep your firebug habits in check would be more responsibility than I'd want," Gray shrugged.
Natsu gave an impatient tsk. Gray didn't seem to have any issue putting up with Erza's overbearing nature or trying to rein in Cana's trigger-happy ways. And he was afraid of a little fire?
"Speaking of fire, I need a smoke," Cana said.
Like a conditioned response, Gray extracted a deck of Lucky Strikes from his shirt pocket and pushed it over to her without a word of protest.
"Either of you fellas have a light?" Cana asked, looking at Natsu expectantly.
Cana had grown up as a Mafia Princess, and at times like these, it showed. Her father ran the Onibus branch of the family, and she probably never worked a day in her life because of it. But unlike most Mafia daughters, Cana didn't stay ignorant of their family's true business dealings. She embraced the lifestyle, and she had more than earned her place as a made man. Or woman, in her case.
Natsu dug his lighter out of his pocket and slid it across the counter. "With as much as you two smoke, how do you not have your own lighter?"
"'Cause I know you always have one, Pyro." Gray held out the lighter to help helped Cana light her cigarette.
Cana caught Gray's wrist and tugged it closer. She leaned in a little too close and stayed a little too long, holding Gray's gaze when their eyes met.
Natsu squirmed, suddenly realizing that Gray almost never smoked. Yet he always carried a pack on him. Natsu was starting to suspect why.
Blech.
On the cabaret stage, Mirajane crooned her last sultry note to thunderous applause before blowing a kiss to the audience. She returned to her place behind the bar, sweeping up the empty glasses in front of Cana as she passed.
Natsu waved her over. Anything to distract himself from his two friends making eyes at one another.
"Mirajane! How about a Southside?" Natsu said.
"You got it."
Cana groaned, tapping her cigarette into one of the ashtrays on the counter. "Why? Why would you ruin perfectly good gin that way? If you're going to water it down like a kid, then drink soda."
"We can't all be like you, watering booze down with hootch," Natsu said.
"And then chasing it with more booze," Gray added.
"Lightweights," Cana said.
Mirajane plonked the cocktail glass on the counter in front of him. "Here ya go, Natsu."
She may have been a sultry dame, but Mirajane was no dumdora. As Don Makarov's Consigliere, she was practically second-in-command. Even though she didn't have a crew to lead, she was one of the most influential people in the family.
She was nothing like… the bearcat.
Erza.
That dame was something else. She wasn't an It-girl like Mirajane, with curves in all the right places. She wasn't a sweet peach like Lisanna, dressed sharp and fashionable. Nor was she a trigger-happy firecracker like Cana, likeable but spoiled.
No, Erza was a bearcat with gunmetal grey eyes that made it look like she was taking you apart, or possibly deciding which of your vitals she wanted to strike next.
And she could do it too…
If she was a cocktail, Erza would be one part deadly, one part deadly-serious, and one part just plain nutters with a splash of fire-whisky spirit served neat. She was as good with a Roscoe as she was a Tommy. And she was even better with a knife—or her shiv, as she called it. In her sturdy suits and Hamburg hats, she may have dressed like she was sharing a wardrobe with the fellas, but she moved like a goddess of battle. And she was ab-so-lute-ly terrifying!
Natsu would never admit it, but he had been impressed by how quick she was, from the first moment he'd laid eyes on her. In that moment, with a flash of silver blade and scarlet hair, she was breathtaking. She moved like a shadow and struck with a single-minded decisiveness that Natsu couldn't help but admire. The way that she controlled life and death got his pulse racing through his veins. And in an odd, sort of scary way, she was almost pretty.
Almost.
If you were partial to frightening, murderous, femme fatale sort of dames, that is.
Not that Natsu would know anything about that…
"Payday today," Erza said.
Natsu jumped, almost spilling his cocktail.
Erza edged between him and Gray. She reached inside her jacket and extracted a wad of bills. Or, rather, two stacks, already counted and folded neatly. She handed one to Gray and the other to Cana.
Gray shoved his into his billfold after running a thumb across the side of his stack. Cana rolled hers up and tucked it into the heel of her boot. Neither of them bothered to count it. Erza was a stand-up gal. Not the type to pull a fast one on them.
"I saw that you didn't pick up your share yet," Erza reminded Natsu. She tucked her short hair behind her ears primly.
"I know," Natsu said. "And I will. Later."
"Do you need me to do it with you?"
"Nah, Erza. Everything's jake."
"You sure?"
"I know how to split the dough," Natsu sighed. "Just don't want to do it right now."
"Don't forget," she said.
"I won't," Natsu said through gritted teeth.
That was the real problem with Erza. Even though she was the same age as the rest of them, she treated them like kid siblings.
What did he have to do for her to see him as an equal? One day, he'd show her.
"Natsu!" Don Makarov bellowed. "Get in here! Now!"
Now what?
"Someone's in trouble…" Cana teased, elbowing Natsu in the ribs.
"Whatdya do now, Flame Brain?" Gray asked.
"Aw, put a sock in it," Natsu groaned. He bit back a sigh as he slipped from the barstool and headed back to face their leader.
Ruh-roh... Wonder what Makarov wants.
As a departure from canon, you probably noticed that most of our characters are dressed closer to period. Hopefully the references to hats, flapper dresses, and cropped hair aren't too jarring. Mirajane is the exception to that, because her canon dress and hair didn't re-imagine well as a flapper dress. And I couldn't see her rocking menswear like Erza and Cana; she wouldn't have a need to since she's not out and about.
The other change here is Cana. In canon, Macao is the chimney and Cana's the drunk. But given that this is Prohibition-inspired, so attitudes towards alcohol would be different. Attitudes towards smoking were different as well. So I made Cana a chain-smoker in addition being a heavy drinker to cover her indulgent personality.
Next time, in The Godfather's Heir, Don Makarov gives Natsu a stern talking-to: "Well, yeah, but this is our turf though," Natsu said. "I thought we made the rules here."
"Being a leader doesn't mean getting to make all the rules," Don Makarov said. "What was going on in that head of yours when you decided to leave your crew on their own without a leader?"
Stop back for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.