What is this?! A double update?! That's right. Looking through what I had for this chapter, I felt kind of bad just giving you this and only this, seeing as it's more of a funny way to recap then anything else. So we'll have this and next chapter, which I want you guys to guess what it's about. What hasn't happened yet? Something we've been waiting for, say, nine months in story? Probably longer in real life, honestly. When was chapter 100 posted originally?
Enjoy!
"Heads up girls, you've got about five minutes!" Nashi looked towards the closed door that the voice came from, frowning.
"Okay." Ultear called back, not looking away from her mirror. Nashi sighed and looked back at her mirror, staring at her face. Despite how great things had been going for her lately, she had a frown on her face.
That probably had to do with why she was here in the first place.
At it was at the moment, she and the others, not counting Steph, were in Crocus.
Specifically, they were in the studio for their interview.
"You guys got a minute?" Nashi looked up to find Laxus walking over to them, something in his hands.
"Sure." Damien replied, sipping his drink. "What's up Dad?" Laxus sighed and put the paper down on the table. From what Nashi could see, it appeared to be a letter of some kind. Steph picked it up.
"Dear Master Laxus of Fairy Tail," She read. "I'm a representative for the talk show Fiore Tonight. I'm writing to you today to ask if it would be possible if your Grand Magic Games team consisting of Nashi Dragneel, Drake, Elise Redfox, Simon Scarlet, Ultear Fullbuster, and Damien Dreyar would be interested in doing an interview with us and our host, Ross Kennedy. It would take place on a show taking place a week from the day you receive this, and would mostly be about them and their participation in the Games..."
"This sounds like a chore." Drake mumbled, looking unimpressed.
"Yeah." Elise agreed, staring down at the table, looking to be thinking things over. "Not really interested."
"...And we'd be willing to discuss their payment for such an interview, should it be within reason." Steph added, looking up from the letter.
This seemed to catch everyone's attention a little better.
"...Well, it doesn't sound so bad." Damien admitted, a small grin on his face. "When is it again, sis?"
"Next week." She answered. Nashi looked around at the others as they considered this. "Says here the interview would only be ten minutes long or so."
"Well, we have been kind of lazy lately." Ultear said. "Mostly just sitting around."
"After all the times we've nearly died I think I can be lazy for a month or two, Ul." Drake said, making everyone chuckle.
"My point being," Ultear continued. "This might be fun. We should do it."
"Agreed." Simon said. "Not to mention the pay is negotiable."
"That's definitely the best part." Nashi said. It was around here Steph frowned.
"How come I wasn't invited?" She asked quietly. Damien snorted and wrapped an arm around her.
"That's cause you ain't on the GMG team sis. Don't be sad. You might get to be next year." Steph narrowed her eyes at him.
After a few seconds, sparks flew.
Long story short, Nashi was now in a dressing room getting read for said interview. There had not been any kind of rehearsal for it, which she assumed was so the interview was an natural as possible. She knew very well that the show was live, so if she stumbled over her words everyone watching would see her do it.
And she'd look like and idiot.
Great.
"Are you guys ready yet?" Elise asked, near the door.
"Just about." Ultear replied, still combing her hair. "Stop complaining, would you?"
"I just want to get this over with, is that so much to ask?" Elise replied, looking impatient. "For all we know we're about to get embarrassed on live lacrima TV."
"Don't be so pessimistic." Ultear said. "It'll be fun."
"Yeah, sure." Elise muttered, looking over at Nashi. "What do you think, Nashi? You've been awfully quiet about this whole thing." She really had been. Nashi didn't really have a strong opinion one way or the other about the interview, and truthfully she'd expected they'd be asked for one eventually given how they performed at the Games. Her biggest concern was, again, making a fool of herself live.
"We'll be fine." She said. "We weren't even told to dress classy or anything." And that was something Nashi appreciated. Getting to do the interview in clothes she usually wore would make her, at the very least, more comfortable. The dressing room was just for any other changes they'd want to make to their appearance.
"One minute!" A voice shouted from outside the door. "Can you girls come with me to the curtain?" Nashi looked over at Ultear.
"Time to go." She said. Ultear smiled and nodded, standing up. The girl left their dressing room and followed the man, who lead them towards a backstage area and towards where Drake, Simon and Damien were standing.
"Jeez, you guys finally showed up." Drake said, looking a little miffed. "We've been waiting for ten minutes."
"We were getting ready." Ultear replied. "Did you guys even bother?" Nashi took a moment to look at the three of them. None looked very different then when they'd split up to different dressing rooms, and it looked as if they'd barely done so much as comb their hair.
"Not really, no." Damien said. "Too much work." Elise chuckled.
"I agree." She said. "Besides, classy isn't our thing." That was true. The Royal Ball proved that well enough. As the group talked, the man who'd led the girls there walked up.
"Alright you guys, you can walk on stage once Mr. Kennedy introduces you, okay?"
"Ah shit," Drake muttered. "I forgot Ross was doing this interview..."
"He is the host of the show." Ultear said. "So it makes sense."
"Doesn't mean his incessant hype won't be annoying." Elise mumbled. Nashi remembered Ross. He was the man who'd been the announcer for the Grand Magic Games. He'd been a loud and proud commentator, but Nashi didn't know he hosted a talk show as well. Well, at the very least it'd make thing more interesting.
"Curtains up, kids!" Someone called. "Show time!"
"Natsu, hurry the hell up!"
"Calm down Luce, it hasn't even-!"
"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Fiore Tonight! I'm your host Ross Kennedy!" Lucy spared a moment to look back at the screen to find the show starting.
"Natsu!" She called again.
"Coming!" Lucy watched as her husband rounded the corner into the living room with handfuls of food. She frowned at this.
"Really?" She asked.
"What?" He demanded. "I was hungry!"
"And tonight ladies and gentlemen, we have some very special guests for our show tonight!"
"Why ain't that the truth." Michael smirked as the guild watched the lacrima vision screen as Ross introduced the show. Nashi had told him about the interview, and Michael decided that he wanted to watch it.
Then the whole guild found out. And that's why everyone was watching.
"How come they get an interview?" Rina asked. "We got second."
"You saying you'd want to do an interview with Ross?" Keita asked her from across the table. This made Rina shiver, and Kyoko laugh.
"Good point." She said. "I wouldn't want to do that." Michael smirked at this exchange, before he frowned. Weren't they missing someone?
"Hey, Kyoko." He said, earning the girls attention. "Is Juno still feeling sick? She's been bedridden all week." Kyoko's smile turned into a slight frown.
"Yeah, she hasn't been feeling too good." She explained. "She has some kind of stomach virus, so best you don't get close yet."
"How come you can see her?" Rina asked, which earned her a venomous glare from Kyoko.
"Because I'm helping look after her." She said it a low tone, which made Rina look surprised. "No need for anyone else to get sick, am I right?"
"...I guess..." Rina said slowly, making a face. The two watched each other carefully and soon Rina's expression softened. "Whatever." She said.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, our guests for tonight!
"After their amazing showing at the Games last month, when they rocked us with their one point victory over Sabertooth, hailing strongest guild in Fiore, we have Nashi Dragneel, Drake, Elise Redfox, Ultear Fullbuster, Simon Scarlet, and Damien Dreyar!" Nashi listened to the studio audience lose their shit as they cheered, so she guessed that was their cue. This was further emphasized as music began to play.
So, taking a deep breath, Nashi walked out from behind the curtain and onto the set, to the sounds of cheering and clapping. She smiled and waved to the crowd as her friends filed out behind her, and she made her way for Ross. Once she reached him, she reached out and shook his hand, and he smiled at her.
"Showtime." He whispered. She just smiled and sat in the seat closest to his desk. Drake sat next to her, and Elise next to him. Ultear sat on an elevated chair behind Nashi, Simon next to her above Drake, and Damien next to Simon above Elise. Once they'd all sat down and the cheering started to die down, Ross also sat and shuffled the paper on his desk, still waiting for the remainder of the cheering to die away.
"Well, then." He said. "I'm not sure the audience has ever gone so ballistic." At this, the audience cheered some more, which made Nashi crack a smile. Typical reaction from a crowd Ross got riled up. "But, I wanted to thank you all for coming today, because I assume you've been pretty busy since the Games, am I right?"
"Oh, absolutely." Ultear said. "It was pretty wild there for a few days. Jobs just flooded us for a little bit."
"Master Laxus has to filter them out for us, too." Drake added. "Which, I mean, that says something."
"It certainly does, yeah." Ross agreed. "Have their been any joke jobs, or...?"
"I kind of like to think that's why they get filtered out, you know?" Nashi asked. "So that we don't waste our time with someone who's willing to spend five hundred thousand jewel for an autograph or something." This made the crowd and Ross laugh. This was fun so far.
"That'd be a scene." Ross said. "But anyway, first off I just wanted to, again, congratulate you all on your victory in the Games, it was a spectacular showing..." This made the crowd cheer again. "...Amazing resolve you all showed, just incredible. It really was."
"Thank you." Nashi replied.
"So while we're on the subject, I wanted to talk about what happened to you guys at the Games. Specifically, what happened to you at your hotel. Do you have any leads on that or no?" Nashi figured this would come up eventually. It was a pretty interesting topic all things considered.
"Uh no, not right now." Simon said from behind her. "So far there's not really much we know about it but to be honest, it's not a big deal anymore."
"No?" Ross asked.
"Nah." Damien agreed. "It happened, but we still won and we're okay now, so who cares?"
"Well, I guess I can't argue with that, can I?" Ross asked, laughing. "But one thing I did find interesting is that a few weeks ago, there were some rumors floating around that you and the other teams from the Games went to Ryuzetsu Land. I there any truth to that rumor, or...?"
"Uh yeah, that's true." Nashi said. "W went so that we could hang out for a bit and be friends instead of, you know, trying to beat the shit out of each other."
"I see, I see." Ross said. Nashi had to admit, he seemed calmer than she'd initially imagined. "Okay so, for the most part, I want to talk about you guys in this interview is that okay?" Nashi had no problem with it. No one else disagreed either. "Alright, so first off, I wanted to ask you guys mostly about your participation in the Games." He looked at Drake. "Want to go first, Drake?" This made Drake wince.
"Oh boy." He said, earning a laugh from everyone.
"You'll be okay." Nashi told him. "They might not know about the rabid fan club."
"Hold on, hold on." Ross said, smiling. "Rabid fan club? Care to explain that?" Drake looked rather unimpressed, so Ultear spoke up.
"Drake attracts single women like it's nothing." She explained. "It gets kind of ridiculous sometimes."
"Yeah..." Drake agreed quietly. "And sometimes they get a little crazy." Ross chuckled at this.
"Alright, well, we'll avoid it. Seems like it's not a topic you like."
"Got that right." Drake replied.
"Okay so, you were the first team member to compete on day one, in Hidden, right?"
"Right." Drake agreed, nodding.
"Okay so what I wanted to ask is, well, just how good is your Sound Magic for you to go the entire round without getting hit? Must be pretty powerful right?"
"Yeah, I can hear what your thinking, so I'd say it's pretty powerful." Ross leaned back in his seat.
"Really now?" Drake nodded. "What am I thinking?" Drake's ears twitched.
"You were almost late to the set today because your wife was yelling at you for not making dinner the other night." He said. This made the audience laugh, ad Ross just sat there to add to the comedic affect. Nashi and the others also had a small laugh. It was pretty funny.
"...Alright, moving on to your fight." Ross said, earning more laughs. "You fought Jackson on the third day, and you beat him by paralyzing him, correct?"
"Yep." Drake agreed. "Wasn't that spectacular, sorry."
"Ah it's okay. Still a great showing. Not to mention that amazing show of strength against Rina on the last day.
"That one was good, yeah." Drake agreed as Ross looked down at his sheet.
"Also, Ultear you fought Mami on day one right?"
"Right." Ultear said.
"First off, great fight. You did great." Ultear smiled at this. "But I wanted to ask about the agreement you two made on the battlefield. Has she stayed by that, or not?"
"Yeah, she has." Ultear said, making Simon sink in his seat. "It really isn't that big of a deal overall, honestly."
"I see. You're final day bout with Kyoko was also fantastic. And you and Damien also did great in the Scale Treasure Hunt."
"Yeah, we did." Damien said, smiling. Ross laughed.
"And you Damien, you did great overall. Thrashing anyone who you went up against. Well, save for that last day for a little bit." Damien faltered at this.
"Y-Yeah..." He muttered. "But I guess that's what happens when you're like us."
"You know, it's funny to think that the six of you could probably kill me if you wanted to, despite being half my age." Ross said with a chuckle.
"Don't give me any ideas." Elise said, making everyone laugh.
"Anyways, Next I wanted to talk to Oberon." At this, Simon laughed weakly.
"You don't have to call me that." He said, making Ross laugh.
"I know. I just thought it'd be funny." He said. "Besides, you're overall showing at the Games was one of the greatest I've seen in years. Years."
"Glad I could help you with that." Simon said.
"I mean, you taking on all 100 of those monsters in Pandemonium, that was incredible. How did it feel?"
"Well, it was slightly undermined by the fact that I knew it was a set up." Simon said. "I mean, let's be real. My mom did it, of course they'd want me to do it as well."
"So you knew you'd get to go first?" Ross asked.
"I had an idea, yeah." Simon agreed. "I bet even if I hadn't gone any of the others had gone instead of me we'd still get to be the first team in."
"Makes sense." Ross agreed. "You're other amazing fight was against Nami on the last day. Just incredible. You were both amazing. Worthy of that tie."
"Thanks?" Simon asked. Ross grinned at this, and is eyes shifted towards Nashi.
"I wanted to talk about probably the best fights for last, which would Nashi and Elise vs. Michael and Keita. Girls, there's no other way to put it. That fight was something else." Nashi smiled at this.
"Thanks."
"I mean, the way you four went back and forth like that, I was surprised none of you received life threatening injuries from that."
"Yeah, that is pretty surprising." Elise agreed. Ross looked over at her at this. When he did so, Nashi felt herself tense up. Was he going to talk about her fight with Keita?
"Elise, you did great in your foot race event and the final day. Is there an explanation for what happened to you on the final day?" Nashi knew it was coming. She looked over at Elise carefully, wondering what the girl was going to say. Surprisingly, Elise just chuckled.
"I wasn't feeling so hot after we got our hotel thrown on us." She said. "So I was pretty heated once I found him. I let it get the better of me."
"Hm. That makes sense. You seemed pretty pissed."
"Yeah..." She muttered. Ross than looked at Nashi.
"And you Nashi. Just wow. Like I said the tag battle was crazy, but you against Blake at the end of the final day? Now that was a spectacle." Nashi smiled, but it was rather empty knowing why she'd fought Blake.
"Thanks." She said. Ross looked down at his sheet again, and smirked.
"Also, I wanted to ask you about a specific rumor."
"Go ahead."
"How true are the rumors that you and Michael Eucliffe are in a relationship? Out of curiosity.
"Wait, what?" Lucy winced as Natsu perked up and stared at the screen. Of course Ross would go there. Of course someone found out. Lucy watched Nashi pale and her friends stared at her in surprise. Well, save Drake, who slid down in his seat, smirking.
U-Uh, come again?" Nashi asked weakly.
"You and Michael. People have been saying you two are together now." Natsu seemed to be paying a lot more attention to the screen now, and his facial expression darkened a bit. Lucy sighed.
"Sorry Natsu. We were gonna tell you at some point..."
"Wait, what?" Rina asked, staring up at the screen as Keita hid his smile. "What the hell does that mean Mich-Michael!" Keita looked up to find that Michael had slipped away from them. He was currently high tailing it out of the guild.
"Where is he going?" Kyoko asked weakly. Keita shrugged, still hiding the smile.
"No idea."
"Huh?" Terra asked, watching the interview with the others. "Nashi and Michael, huh?"
"I'm so happy for them!" Winter said gleefully.
"Of course you are!" Grace shouted.
"Say what?" Mami asked. "Nashi and Michael?"
"Their cute together, I guess." Bella said offhandedly from beside her. "Not like Damien and I, though." Mami rolled her eyes.
"Do you ever stop daydreaming?"
"Well, that was a left field question." Nami said, sipping her drink as he watched the interview. "Little Mikey got himself a girl."
"She looks so nervous, nyah!" Kumi said, making Nami laugh.
"She does, yeah. Poor thing."
Reyna lifted her head groggily and stared at the lacrima vision.
"Say wha...?" She asked.
"Who's Michael again?" Tetsu asked from across the couch. Katsuchi gave it a moment of thought.
"I think it's that blonde pretty boy in Sabertooth." He replied. Tetsu hummed at this and returned his eyes to the lacrima.
"Cool. Good for Nashi, huh?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"What about Nashi-sama?" Azzie asked, peeking her head in from the other room.
"Rumors she's going out with Michael. Blonde Sabertooth pretty boy."
"Oh, cool."
"Well, uh...They're true. We are together."
"Ah, excellent! You two look great together!" The audience began to cheer with Ross, making Nashi look like she was about to faint. Looked like the secret was out.
Juno buried her head in between her legs, hiding her eyes from the dull light the lacrima gave off in her dark room.
"Guess she said yes...Good for them."
Well, that concludes chapter 1 of the double update! Go read the next one! I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!