#while makarov has been searching for them for YEARS after them both going missing
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Makarov after Price practically steals his family and refuses to give them back: You really are the most devious bastard in New York City
#au for mw3?#in all fairness price didnt technically steal them#he just kinda collected them like a makarov distribution system#makayuri#should i post my makayuri child oc?#i just like how in the au that Price has Yuri and the son that Makarov and Yuri parented#while makarov has been searching for them for YEARS after them both going missing#all the while going to war#their son is very feral#i hold him close to my heart compared to my other oc's due to his mischievous and often unhinged nature#i would write them but i need to write my soapghost fic first#he reminds me of something close to a spider monkey#maybe i should post him
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A Proper Send Off
Gratsu Week 2021
Prompt: Goodbye
Pairing: Gray x Natsu
AO3
Summary: Natsu is having trouble coping with everything he learned during the Alvarez War and tries to sneak away again, but Gray isn't about to let him go alone.
They take off together and find all their friends waiting for them at the Magnolia town marker. After all, no one is allowed to leave Fairy Tail without a proper send-off.
0-0
Gray caught up to Natsu and Happy about a mile from the Magnolia town marker.
“You going somewhere, Flame Breath?”
Gray’s heart caught in his throat when Natsu refused to look at him, his eyes staying firmly on the ground.
“I tried to talk him out of it, Gray, but he wouldn’t listen.” Happy complained, “It’s just like last time.”
“Don’t worry about it, Happy, I’m not about to let him make the same mistake again.”
“I have to go.” Natsu said in a strangled voice. “Please don’t try to stop me.”
Gray wasn’t really surprised. He’d been expecting something like this for days.
Tartaros, Alvarez, Zeref, END…
Any one of these was a lot to handle, but all of them at once? It was just too much.
For both of them.
Things still hadn’t gone back to normal between them, and truth be told, Gray was still worried that Lucy’s attempt to rewrite the book of END might have changed Natsu somewhat.
But he knew that wasn’t exactly fair. It wasn’t so much that Natsu was different now; it was more that he didn’t know how to act around others.
And who could blame him? Even the people around town who had always treated Natsu as a friend had begun to treat him differently.
On top of that, after spending years searching for answers to his past, he’d certainly learned more than he’d bargained for. Who his family was, how he’d ended up with Igneel, the connection he shared with Wendy, Gajeel, Sting and Rogue as well as Lucy’s ancestor.
Even more, he’d learned what he was and the purpose he’d been meant to fulfill.
How many people had been killed or had their lives destroyed because of Zeref’s attempts to resurrect him? How did anyone live with that knowledge?
It was something Gray could easily sympathize with. After all, guilt was something he dealt with daily. For the people who had died so he could live, for not returning Juvia’s fervent affections, and for not being able to offer his father the peace he’d asked for.
And now he could add trying to kill the person he loved most and breaking a promise to the list.
Gray didn’t know how they were going to come back from any of this, but he knew that as much as he wanted to tell him he was wrong, Natsu was on to something. He needed to leave to sort through all of his doubts and fears, including this new one that he was a danger to his friends.
Zeref might be gone, but that had never stopped dark sorcerers from searching out any vestiges of his magic, and that was part of what Natsu was now.
But Gray wasn’t just about to let him do it alone.
And he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Who said anything about stopping you?” Gray said. “I’m going with you.”
Natsu’s head jerked up and Gray pointed at the travel bag that hung on his shoulder.
“But what about Juvia?” He blurted out before adding in a softer tone, “And the others?”
“Juvia will never get over her creepy obsession if I stay, and as for the others,” he paused, because the truth is this part did make him sad. “They’ll be fine.”
The members of Fairy Tail had been his family for so long, he knew he’d miss them all terribly.
But everyone had to leave home sometime. It was part of growing up, and he truly felt that his future lay with Natsu.
He knew mending their relationship wouldn’t be easy, but it was important to him to try. Besides, he’d already discussed it with Gramps, and the old man had agreed. This was what was best for Natsu right now, and it would be much better if he didn’t go alone.
“I don’t know where I’m going.” Natsu said, looking a little embarrassed by the admission.
“I expected that from a Flame Brain like you.” Gray laughed. “That’s okay. We can figure it out on the way. I doubt it matters much, anyway.”
“Are you sure about this? It could get dangerous.”
“Standing next to you is dangerous,” Gray scoffed. “Don’t worry about me, love, I can hold my own.”
“Love?” Natsu said, sounding puzzled at hearing the familiar term of endearment. “But I thought…”
“Well, that was your first mistake,” Gray quipped, but when Natsu didn’t laugh, he gave up the pretense that everything was alright between them.
“I know I fucked up. Said and did things I didn’t mean, but that doesn’t mean I stopped loving you. And I know it won’t be easy, but I want to work on us again.”
Natsu searched his eyes for the briefest of seconds, and satisfied with whatever he found in them, he began walking, pulling Gray along with him.
Happy flew around them, looking much more cheerful now that he knew Gray was joining them on their journey this time around.
They heard the commotion before they saw what it was, and Gray groaned as they got to the top of the hill, only to find Erza and just about everyone else in the guild waiting for them.
“You didn’t really think you’d be able to leave us without a proper sendoff, did you?” Erza asked, looking incredibly pleased with herself as everyone else snorted their agreement.
Yes, he’d rather hoped so. Gray hated scenes and he could already feel Natsu stiffening next to him. He shot an annoyed glare at Gramps, but the old man merely shrugged his shoulders unapologetically.
Natsu was examining the ground again, and curious what brought that about, he looked around and noticed Lucy heading towards them.
“It’s alright, Natsu. I’ll be just fine this time.” Lucy smiled. “I’m even working on a book about all of our adventures. Levy is helping me.”
Natsu looked up at that. She wrapped him up in a quick hug, and Gray backed away to give them some space.
“I-I just wanted to say thank you for everything. All the times you saved me, and all the fun we had. These last couple of years I was able to find a family again, and it was all thanks to you. I’m going to miss you. You too, Gray!”
“We saved each other,” Natsu corrected with a fond smile, even as Happy flew into Lucy’s arms and hugged her.
“Don’t let him destroy too much, Happy, okay?”
Happy nodded solemnly and gave his customary, “Aye, sir!”
Everyone jumped in with well wishes and words of encouragement until there were only a few left.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t cry,” Wendy wailed as she hugged them tightly.
“It’s okay, kiddo. You’ll see us again!” Gray assured her, hoping that he was right. He didn’t know how long this journey of theirs would take, but he hoped they could return someday.
“Try to keep your pants on,” Cana said as she hugged Gray. She whispered, “Unless you don’t have to…”
“Cana!” Gray protested as he shoved her away playfully.
“I heard that,” Natsu grumbled.
“I know,” Cana winked, capturing him in a hug as well. “Take care of each other, and say hi to my old man for me if you bump into him on the road.”
Natsu nodded.
Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna came as a group. Mira handed Natsu a bag with food.
“Here you go, I packed you both some lunch.” Mira fussed over them, “Don’t forget to eat, and write us letters from time to time to let us know how you’re doing.”
Lisanna giggled, “Like Natsu would ever forget to eat.”
She gave him a big hug, “Take care of yourselves.”
She whispered something into Natsu’s ear that Gray did not catch, but his face turned an interesting shade of red, and he shushed her.
Interesting…
Gray had little chance to think about what she might have said because Elfman enveloped them in a hug and slapped both their backs hard enough for it to hurt.
“Elfman, are you crying?” Mira asked, watching her younger brother with an amused smile.
“Crying is manly,” Elfman wiped away at his eyes.
Warren stepped forward and handed them each a mobile lacrima device. “Here, take these, in case you want to get in touch or something.”
“You don’t have to-”
Gray got no further as Warren turned away, muttering “Just take them.”
“Is he crying?” Natsu whispered, and Gray could only shrug in response.
Macao and Romeo came next, and neither made any effort to hide their tears. “Take care, you two, and try to get along, will ya?”
Romeo only stared at them and it was then Gray remembered he’d been the one who’d never given up on them all those years they’d been stuck on Tenrou.
“You’re going to have to train hard,” Natsu told him, “Cause I’m leaving you in charge of the guild while I‘m gone, okay?”
Romeo nodded, and like Wendy before him, hugged them both at once. Gray found himself petting his head, as Macao used to do to them when they were younger. It didn’t feel like it had been all that long ago, really.
“I’m not gonna say goodbye, since I plan to pop in on you now and again.” Loke gave them each a fist bump. “So make sure you have interesting stuff to tell me.”
He stepped back to stand between Cana and Lucy.
“Juvia doesn’t see why Natsu has to take Gray-sama with him,” Juvia wailed loudly to anyone who would listen.
“Try not to get too lost in that little head of yours, alright?” Gajeel slapped Natsu on the back. He shook Gray’s hand and muttered. “I’ll try to keep the crazy away as much as I can, but you guys might want to hurry the first couple of days, so there isn’t a trail for her to follow.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Gajeel waited while Pantherlily and Carla said their goodbyes to Happy.
That left only Erza and Gramps. Erza pushed Makarov’s wheelchair over to them.
“I better not hear you two are running around destroying towns and bothering people,” Erza started off sternly, but by the end of her scolding, there were tears in the corner of her eyes.
Gray could feel matching tears coming on and he could hear Natsu sniffling next to him too.
“Come here, you two,” Erza said, grabbing them both into a fierce hug. “You’ve come so far. You’re going to be just fine, I just know it. I’ll- I’ll miss you.”
They held on to her tightly, letting her cry over them. Gray had known she’d be the hardest. For as strict as she’d always been on them, they shared the most history. Not to mention she’d also been the one to force them to get past their stupid rivalry.
They finally let go of her, smiling as they wiped away their tears.
“There’s only one thing left to do.” Gramps said, and everyone lined up behind him.
“While you are leaving us, always remember that Fairy Tail will always be your home, and should you, no, when you choose to return, it will be here waiting for you.”
“Now, as you know, there are three rules that any mage who leaves Fairy Tail must abide by.
Number One - You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live.
Number Two - You must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain.
And Number Three - Though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might. You must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live.”
Gramps looked so small in that wheelchair, fragile almost, and Gray had a passing thought that this might be the last time they got to see him. He felt his heart clench at the thought, not ready to think about losing anyone else that was important to him.
“Thanks, Gramps.” There was so much more Gray wanted to say to him, but he had a feeling the old man knew. “For everything.”
“Yeah, Gramps, thanks for taking me in.” Natsu smiled, the first genuine smile Gray had seen since the war had ended.
“The pleasure was mine,” Gramps grinned, “Well, most of the time anyway. Now, get going!”
“Take care of yourselves boys, and try not to be so reckless.”
“Bye everyone!” Natsu and Gray called out, waving to everyone before turning around and walking away.
Gray reached out for Natsu’s hand, wanting to test the waters, and was pleased to find Natsu didn’t fight him off.
Now that they were finally on their way, the wave of sadness lifted and the excitement creeped in again, and as they turned back one last time they saw everyone had lifted their hands in air making the Fairy Tail hand signal.
Even if we can't see you... no matter how far away you may be... we will always be watching you.
“We’ll be back someday,” Gray squeezed the hand he held in his.
“I hope so.”
Happy took one look at their joined hands and squeaked. “I knew it! You looooove him!”
“Do not, shut up!” Natsu yelled, pulling away from Gray and chasing after the Exceed.
“You looooove him, you looooove him!” Happy chanted, flying just out of Natsu’s reach.
Gray watched them and chuckled, glad to see Natsu acting more like himself. They had left their home behind, and it would be tough going, but in the end, he truly hoped Natsu could find the peace he was looking for, and he wanted nothing more than to share it with him.
But of course, there was nothing wrong with having a few adventures along the way!
0-0
A/N: This is immensely personal for me. Today is the last day of the last Gratsu Week hosted by @becausewhenyoupracticeyouimprove and the @gratsu-week blog on Tumblr. It was the first event I ever participated in back in 2018, and it's an event that I have helped organize for the last three years. It's very special to me.
So it is very fitting that the last ever prompt was goodbye.
More than just a story, this represents my goodbye to canon as well. I will go no further than this point.
I was one of those people who was really excited by the announcement that Fairy Tail would continue in 100 Year's Quest, because God knows I wasn't ready to let go.
But from the moment it first came out, I was horrified by what it turned out to be (a horrible story whose only purpose was to further the big 4, with even more fan service than before, and I won't even get into the character assassination). As such, I refuse to have anything to do with it. So I have ended things my way, because if the point of Fairy Tail is now ships, then I will sail with mine.
Hopefully, this will also provide some of you with the same comfort it gives me.
#fairy tail#gratsu#gratsuweek2k21#gray x natsu#natsu x gray#natray#ftfanfics#prompt: goodbye#Gratsu Week 2021
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Summary: Forced to be sociable by his so called friends, Laxus finds himself attending a five week cooking class. An insulting and stupid idea, and one he resents them for doing. He would have thrown it in their faces, if it weren’t for the smug prick teaching the class, with his handsome face, delectable body, and annoyingly enticing way of keeping Laxus on his toes. [Fraxus One Shot]
Notes: Hi. I wrote this on my phone while sitting on the beach, so who knows how it’ll turn out. But it’s got them both being cocky, both being flirty, and both being in love, so what else could you want. Hope you all enjoy it.
Links: FFN, Ao3
Set To Boil
Or: 4 Times Freed taught Laxus a recipe, & 1 time Laxus returned the favour
Week One - Pizza
"Laxus, you need to get out more."
"Laxus, there's no reason for you not to give it a try."
"Laxus, you're an antisocial brat and you need to get out more."
Fuck them all. Fuck Evergreen for her haughty sense of self belief. Fuck Bickslow for having no tact and being and coming up with good points. Fuck Makarov in particular, for being a rude old coot who threatened to change the damn lock. And when Laxus found out which of the interfering bastards had been the one to come up with this stupid idea, then fuck them too.
It was ridiculous. Yes, perhaps Laxus had become somewhat insular as of late. Maybe his friends had been putting in more effort than him as of late, but it was important. He was newly hired in his sports journalism career, and he needed to focus on his writing.
What he did not need was a five week cooking course!
Why the hell did cooking courses even exist anymore? If you wanted to learn to cook, there was this brilliant new invention called a computer. They had hundreds of step by step recipes, none of which required Laxus to trudge through a damn rec-centre at eight at night!
Seriously, fuck them all.
He was late, too. The bus had missed his stop, and as such he was now ten damn minutes late. He was half-tempted to leave the rec-centre before he found his classroom - Ever, Bicks and Makarov wouldn't find out if he didn't use the damn voucher, after all - but then he would have to spend the next five weeks thinking of ways to pass the time every Thursday night. He really needed to move out of Makarov's damn apartment; the old bastard apparently had nothing better to do than to keep tabs on him. Bastard.
He was in front of the classroom door before he knew it, and he faulted. Dammit, why had he agreed to do this? Why couldn't the bus have gotten him there on time? Why was he nervous about this?
No; he was a grown man dammit. Fuck his nerves,
With false confidence, he walked into the classroom. Eight benches, all with sinks, ovens, cooktops, an array of cutlery and equipment, and a basket of ingredients filled the space. Five people stood behind some of the benches, and Laxus somewhat guilty slinked towards the nearest bench, at the back of the classroom.
"Mr Dreyar, I presume," A voice, deliciously smooth with underlying authority, made Laxus pause.
He looked up to see a man standing at the front of the room, behind a larger and more professional looking cooking worktop, and Laxus paused. If you were to encapsulate all of Laxus' ideal qualities in a man, his new teacher was apparently as close a person could come. Tall, obviously with some muscle, tight and sharp facial features, a little pale, and with long hair. He wore a button up shirt that hugged his form, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off a near-indecent amount of his forearms. He was quirking his eyebrow towards Laxus, and he felt ensnared by the expression.
Dammit, of course. Almost every other cooking class in the country would inevitable be taught by a homely housewife or a tedious Ramsay wannabe, but not his. He gets a stud with veiny forearms, high cheekbones, and narrowed eyes that made Laxus shiver.
He couldn't justify it, but Laxus was inclined to blame his grandfather for that.
"There's a bench up here, if you'd like to take it," The teacher said, motioning towards one of the cooking stations at the front of the room. Laxus cringed; even in school, he'd been one of the kids who sat at the back. That wasn't a habit he was ready to lose.
"I'd rather stay here, if it's all the same to you," Laxus mumbled, annoyed at himself for not speaking clearly. There was something about teachers that just… what did you call someone who intimidated you but also kind of excited you at the same time?
God, this was going to be awful.
"And I prefer it if my students arrived to my lessons on time," The teacher smirked a little, and Laxus almost stuttered in search of a reply. "And, as tends to happen with a student who shows up late on the first day, you'll likely act out further. As such, I want you close by so I can keep you on the straight and narrow," He tapped his finger on the surface twice. "This counter, please."
Though only a few steps, the walk to the counter at the front of the room was humiliating, it served to make the asshole teacher appear less hot, if nothing else. Because Laxus definitely did not like a man who knew how to be firm with him.
This was going to be hell, wasn't it?
At his assigned counter, Laxus felt a little lost. Nestled in the ingredients was a recipie - they were making pizza, apparently - and Laxus slightly found himself floundering. The cooking lessons weren't just to make him more sociable; he had no idea how to cook.
The teacher, who was looking at him from behind his work surface, sighed and approached Laxus. In his hand, he held a chopping board with what appeared to be a large mound of dough. He placed it before Laxus, who drowned down at it.
"Normally I would have taught you how to make dough yourself, but my plan's require the full hour," The teacher said, as if that was an explanation. "Rather than you lagging behind and not getting the whole experience, you should start from the same point everyone else is at. So put yourself to work and start to kneed this. It'll require a few more minutes to get to the right consistency."
Laxus looked down at the dough, grinding his teeth. Kneeding was rubbing it, right? And occasionally you punch it? That didn't sound right.
"Like this," The teacher said, pulling the chopping board towards him. He started to kneed the dough - it wasn't what Laxus thought it was - and the attraction came back with a sudden force. God dammit, why did his sleeves have to hug his biceps like that? That just wasn't fair.
The dough was pushed towards him again, and Laxus rolled up his sleeves and started to emulate what the teacher had done. The teacher didn't leave, and Laxus squirmed a little under, and found himself speaking to fill the silence.
"I ain't gonna learn, y'know," His mouth said before his brain could intercept. "Don't give a shit about cooking."
That a'boy Laxus. Turn up late, fail at a basic thing, and insult the guy's career. Real classy.
"You will." The teacher said, as if it were undeniable.
"I will?" Laxus scoffed.
"You will," The teacher repeated, smirking, "Once you realise what a good home cooked meal taste like, you'll be desperate to learn what else you can do."
"You seem awfully confident about that…" He drifted off; he didn't even know the damn guys name,
"Freed," The teacher supplied. "And I am confident. You'll love cooking by the end of it. I'm sure."
"You talk a big game," Laxus chuckled a little. He almost forgot he was kneeding the dough, but Freed looked down at his hands and grinned a little, which got Laxus to pause. Just because he was kneeding dough it didn't mean he cared; it was basically a workout. That was all, and Freed needed to know that. "If you're that sure, then I'm gonna insist you eat everything I make, no matter how shitty it turns out to be."
"So long as you don't sabotage yourself on purpose, I can agree to that."
Well, Laxus had slightly wanted to make Freed eat combinations of food that tasted like crap, but this could work. Laxus really was that bad of a cook, Freed might not be able to know the difference.
"Deal," Laxus nodded, offering Freed a hand to shake. The chef did so immediately, with a firm squeeze and… oh damn, those veins!
——
Week Two - Curry
Laxus had been right. Even putting in the effort and following the recipie as best he could, he was still a shitty cook. Unless, of course, a curry was meant to be accompanied by a waft of dark, burning smoke when you opened up the oven. Laxus coughed a little as he removed the dish from the oven, placing it on the counter top while shutting the oven door with his foot,
Freed was storming over immediately, flapping at the smoke with a dish towel and immediately turnoff the extractor fan on to suck up the smoke before it reached the detector. He had previously been working with a pink haired bastard, who was snickering at Laxus' failure. Asshole.
"What on earth did you do to it?" Freed demanded, more confused than angry.
"I followed her recipe," Laxus retorted indignantly. "Can't blame me."
"Everyone else has the same recipe and they've managed fine," Freed muttered under his breath. "Explain to me what happened."
Laxus bit down the instinct to tell Freed to choke on something, patronising ass that he was. He had made a deal with Freed the week prior that he would do what he could to make the most of the lessons, and he would enjoy knowing how to make a few meals, so admitting his mistakes was something that he would have to do. Even if it was to a smug, ego-centred teacher who Laxus could definitely take in a fight without breaking a sweat,
Maybe he should suggest some boxing lessons. Laxus had given up pro fighting the year before, but kept it up for fun. If Freed was acting like Laxus was stupid for not knowing the basics of cooking, Laxus would act like Freed was stupid when he didn't understand how to box.
Fantasising about punching Freed in the stomach - which was no doubt toned and sexy as hell - made talking through the process easier. Freed wore a slight frown, apparently not seeing anything wrong with what he had done. Laxus was about to boast that he was right, and that it was Freed's instructions that had gotten the burned pile of mush that filled the room with smoke, but Freed's expression turned to one of understanding when he looked at the oven,
"These work on Celsius, you set it as though you were using Fahrenheit," Freed explained. "You essentially nuked it."
Fuck. God-fucking-dammit!
He could have dealt with it if he was unable to do some cooking thing he'd never had to use before. But this? Misreading a piece of paper and setting the wrong temperature on the damn oven, how the hell had he managed to do that? It was humiliating! He was a grown ass adult, a retired sportsman who was forging a career to be respected. But an oven had made him look like an idiot who couldn't do anything for himself. Fucking brilliant.
With clenched fists, he rested against the workbench and leant on it with closed eyes. This was why he didn't do shit like this; he needed to keep in his lane and do what he was good at. Not cook, not have this weird hate-boner for his teacher. None of this.
"How soon after the class do you need to leave?" Freed asked, cutting through Laxus' spiralling thoughts. He frowned, but answered.
"Don't have any plans after."
"If we start again, we can have you finished ten minutes after class. That way it won't be an act of futility," Freed said, and rolled his damn sleeves up again. Thankfully he was moving around the counter, turning the oven down and fiddling with appliances fast enough to stop Laxus' eyes from lingering. "I can teach you how to spice things to your own tastes, as well. Normally that's next week, but I can advance you for your troubles."
"Advance me?" Laxus frowned. "Kinda need to be good at the basics first."
"You are, everything you said was correct. You made a small mistake that I should have noticed," Freed shrugged, walking to the counter he taught from and taking a box of ingredients to place on Laxus' desk. "I thought you'd learn better left to your own devices, and while I expect that was true, I shouldn't have left you alone. That was my mistake and as such, I'll amend it. We'll make a curry suited towards your tastes."
This was an olive branch, Laxus was sure of it. Freed had apparently noticed Laxus' shift of mood, and took the blame for Laxus' mistake. He was thankful of it, but it was still embarrassing.
Thankfully, a way of saving face had presented itself.
"I don't know if I can believe ya," He said with a small, somewhat forced smirk. "I mean, you don't have a record for keeping promises, do ya?"
"Don't I?"
"You told me you'd eat some of everything I made," Laxus shrugged, looking towards his pot of 'curry' that lay stagnant in the pot. It was grey, somehow. Food shouldn't be grey. "That was a lie."
Freed sighed, but didn't back down. He pulled a dessert spoon from one of the drawers, carefully scooped up some of the ruined mush and brought it towards his lips; damn they were pretty. He openly winced at the smell, swallowing preemptively as it got closer to his mouth. He glanced towards Laxus for a split second, who was watching him with crossed arms expectantly, and let out a resigned sigh. He opened his mouth, took in the spoon, then ate.
First he gagged, then he coughed, then he struggled to swallow. Even though Laxus had worked hard, and a small part of him thought Freed was exaggerating, he laughed at the reaction. Freed was fighting to keep the burned, disgusting food down. Once completely swallowed, he turned to Laxus with a wince.
"Delicious," He lied, trying to hide how thoroughly unhappy he was.
"If that's the case, there's plenty more," Laxus smirked, and Freed actually winced. That, of course, spurred Laxus on further. This was more fun than cooking. "Eat up, I don't mind."
Freed seemed to think for a moment, before standing up straight, rolling his back, and doing something Laxus never would have expected. He pulled out a plate and a ladle, scooped a portion large enough to fill two fully grown adults would struggle to finish no matter what the taste, and placed it on the countertop as if it was something to be proud of.
"A deal," Freed proposed. "I want to teach you one on one for the rest of the session. No distractions, no changing the subject, simply me telling you how to cook. Essentially, until you've cooked something successfully, I want your full attention."
Laxus nearly scoffed, Freed already had that. Instead, he said: "What's my 'delicious' curry got to do with that."
"If you make an attempt to distract me, to get out of lessons in some way, or continue with the mindset that this course is not suited to you, then for the rest of your time learning under me, you'll stay after class and clean everyone's dishes until I'm satisfied with the result."
Laxus winced a little. "And if I don't do any of that."
"I'll eat all of this," He motioned to the plate of ruined food. "And you may watch me do it."
Thinking for a moment, Laxus grinned. "Your funeral," He then glances at the food and winced. "Possibly literally."
Freed waved off the comment, stood beside Laxus with his new range of ingredients, and began explaining the basics of how to get a flavour you desired from your ingredients. On instinct Laxus wanted to taunt the man, suggesting the best way to get a flavour was with a take-out menu, but he managed to stop himself before the words slipped out. Mainly it was to avoid four weeks of dish washing, but also because he hasn't seen Freed like this. He was passionate when he spoke about cooking, and Laxus didn't want to ruin that.
And when Freed's arm slid against Laxus' as they moved, somehow at the same moment Freed looked at him with a genuine smile, Laxus felt shivers roll over him. This was… there were worse ways to spend a Thursday evening.
——
Week Three - Chicken Soup
"Y'know, if you're gonna make such a big deal about-" Laxus cut himself off. Holy shit.
He had been ready to blast into Freed about puntuality. Laxus had gotten to the class on time, only to see that Freed was not there. Eight minutes into the lesson, the door had opened, and Laxus was fully intending to lambast Freed about how much of a big deal it was when Laxus was late, and yet Freed was just as bad. He only stopped when he saw the state Freed was in. Because dammit, the man was drenched to the bone.
What the hell had happened to him? Sure it was raining, but Laxus knew he had a car, and surely the walk from the parking lot to the building hadn't been that bad. He looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a lake and lost.
"Everyone to your work stations please," Freed instructed, removing his coat as he walked to the front of the class. "I apologise for being late, but it shouldn't be too much of an imposition if we all focus."
Laxus was focusing. Focusing on the fact Freed's white shirt was clinging to his chest, showing off strong pecs and the taunting glimpse of a six-pack. It was a temp tight sight, and far too indecent for a classroom setting.
He shook his thoughts away. He needed to focus, because last week's lesson had proved a lot of things. One: Freed was willing to eat a whole plate full of disgusting food to prove a point, which wasn't relevant but Laxus still thought funny to think about him gagging and going green. Two: Freed was actually a damn good teacher, he just apparently hadn't know what Laxus needed from him until the latter half of the class. Three: Laxus actually could cook, if taught well. Because the second curry he'd made was indescribable, and it had tasted just as good when Laxus had cooked it two nights prior.
So, the lessons were actually working, and Laxus decided he was going to fully allow himself to be a student. Groping the teacher with his eyes wasn't going to help that, so Laxus remained quiet and let Freed explain the lesson.
To learn how to flavour things correct, they would all be making a series of different soups throughout the hour. Five basic recipes has been placed on their workspaces, and an entire array of spices, ingredients and flavourings had been scattered through the room. The point of the exercise was to follow the recipes, but also put other ingredients into their soups while doing it so that they can experiment with flavours. It was pretty smart, and Laxus felt like he had an advantage given Freed's impromptu lesson with spices the week before.
Once Freed stopped talking, they began cooking, and Laxus felt oddly confident in himself.
About ten minutes into the exercise, Freed made his way to Laxus' workstation. Wordlessly, he picked up a plastic ladle and scooped out a small amount of the soup Laxus had cooking. Laxus watched with only a small amount of anticipation as Freed brought the soup to his lips and swallowed it, and didn't focus on the flipping of his stomach as Freed smiled at him.
"It's very good," he praised, and Laxus did not preen at the words.
"Thanks," He muttered instead. "Any advice?"
Freed smiled a little at the request, placing the ladle in the small sink. "I'd use sea salt from now on, it'll bring out the flavour of the chicken more. But your instincts have served you well, it works very well together."
"Oh, thanks," Laxus mumbled awkwardly, and Freed didn't help by leaning over the table to look at Laxus' recipe, bring their faces far too close. Thank god the heat of the room has fixed the slight transparency of Freed's shirt, because knowing about the body below the clothes was tempting enough with him this close. If he could see the man's body, he might explode.
"You've put everything you've added onto this, haven't you?" Freed asked, tapping the recipe that had Laxus notes covering it. Laxus nodded weakly. "Then, if you can recreate it as it is now,I then it's time to experiment. Pick something at random to add and see what it tastes like. If it's bad, remake what you've already done."
"Anything huh?" Laxus quirked a brow. "You know you have to eat it, right? You wanna give me this much freedom after last week?"
"So long as you choose your ingredients thinking it will taste good, I'll uphold my agreement," Freed shrugged. "Though I must admit, I'd prefer not to spend the night with stomach cramps and a bucket beside my bed again, if avoidable."
Laxus barked out a laugh. "Kinda thought I'd killed ya when you didn't show up on time. What happened?"
"My car's broken down," Freed explained, looking over the herbs Laxus had added. "It took longer to get here than I expected."
"You walked in this?" Laxus glanced towards the heavy rainfall beating down on the windows.
"Indeed," Freed nodded. "Not my smartest decision."
Laxus winced a little at a roll of thunder exploded outside, apparently trying to make sure Freed knew just how stupid his decision had been. Freed didn't seem too bothered by it, though, and instead walked towards the old woman who worked behind Laxus, tasting her version of tomato soup and giving her advice on how to give it an extra kick.
The rest of the lesson continued on like that. Freed would work his way around the room, helping where he could. Laxus experimented on his soup, finding parmasean to be the missing ingredient.
Freed actually licked his damn lips after trying that. Did he know what he was doing to Laxus?
Once the lesson was over, the storm still lighting up the sky, Laxus walked to the door of the rec-centre. Freed was lingering there, wrapped up in a large red coat and clearly not looking forward to his walk home. Laxus understood that; the rain was so hard it probably would hurt to be under it.
"I'll drive ya home," Laxus said, his tone not leaving room to argue.
"What?" Freed asked. "No, that's not-"
"Didn't give you a choice, did I?" Laxus crossed his arms.
"You intend to kidnap me?" Freed joked.
"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "If you walk out in that, you're gonna get sick for no reason other than your own stubbornness. If that happens, the. Eat I can do for you is give you the recipe for this," he patted the container of chicken soup he held, "but I kinda think driving you might make more sense."
Freed considerd before speaking. "I insist on paying for gas, at least."
"Course you will, I ain't a cheap date."
The words came before Laxus could stop himself, and a flush of worry spread through him. Freed simply laughed, murmured a teasing "I expect not," and walked towards the door. He held it open for Laxus to walk through, and with a small grin, Laxus did so, with Freed by his side.
When the rain hit them, Laxus didn't care, and it certainly didn't diminish the silly smile that he hoped Freed couldn't see.
——
Week Four - Meringues
"What are you looking at, Laxus?"
Freed seemed amused as he spoke, and he walked towards Laxus' working area. Laxus had been trying to catch his teacher's eye for around a minute, with probably a stupid little grin on his face. He couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed about being caught out.
The drive home with Freed has been a long one - thirty minutes in the car; how long would it have been if he'd walked! - and they'd talked throughout. Laxus had learned that, until recently, Freed had been a professional chef for the TV show 'Sabertooth Chefs', a cooking competition watched by millions. He was off camera, making the meals that the celebrity judges claimed they had cooked to use as an example for their contestants. Apparently he quit because of a lack of passion.
That, and apparently Rufus Lore - the judge he cooked for - was obnoxious and could barely bake a loaf of bread if left on his own.
Laxus spoke about his own life. How he'd felt obligated to quit his pro-boxing career after a nasty head wound that resulted in his scar. How he was now a freelance writer who did sports analysis for some of the sports magazines and websites. Freed had seemed impressed, and claimed he'd watch out for his work.
They were closer now, and as such Laxus felt comfortable joking with him.
"I've got a question," he said when Freed was close. "You said you'd taste everything I cook, right? Well, for food, tasting something means you're experiencing it, right?"
"I suppose," Freed agreed, though seemed to know he was walking into a trap.
"Well, with meringues, you showed us that trick, right," Laxus smirked. "Where if you've made it correctly, you can turn the bowl over and the mixture won't fall out."
"Yes," Freed was wary now.
"Well, you also said for the best experience," he put emphasis on the word, "then you tip it up over your head. If you've done it right, it stays in the bowl. If you ain't, it covers ya."
"I did say that," Freed muttered.
"Well, if you're gonna experience everything I make, surely you should do it." He smirked; and pushed the bowel of mixture towards him.
Freed looked down, resignedly.
Then he perked up and reached into his pocket, pulling out a coin. He flipped it with flair and caught it, covering it before either of them could see the result.
"Heads or tails?" He requested, and Laxus chuckled.
"Heads."
Freed removed his hand, and Laxus let out a cry of triumph. He nudged the bowel towards Freed, grinning wide and ridiculous as Freed openly sighed. Laxus crossed his arms to hurry the man up, and it seemed to work.
With quick, resigned movements, Freed lifted the bowel. The thick white mixture jiggled slightly, and Freed turned it upside down above his head before he could stop himself.
And… it stayed in place.
For a moment, Freed seemed to be wincing in anticipation, before a look of triumph flooded onto his face. He turned the bowel back over and placed it on the counter.
"Kinda anticlimactic," Laxus said, picking up a spoon.
"But it means you did it correctly," Freed smiled. "You can take solace in that."
"Guess so," Laxus nodded. "Or I could do this."
With neither showmanship nor hesitation, Laxus used the spoon so scoop a dollop of the mixture up and flicked it towards Freed's face. For a moment, all Freed could do was blink, and Laxus burst into stifled laughter.
It had splattered over his lips, nose, and left cheek. Equal parts ridiculous and oddly attractive.
"Mister Dreyar," Freed spoke calmly, but he was trying to hide a smile. "I will be seeing you after class."
He turned away. Laxus snickered.
Although it was tempting to be a dick for the rest of the lesson, Laxus behaved himself. This was the only lesson that they did on desserts, and Laxus wanted to learn. That, and he felt Freed wasn't going to take his little prank lying down, so he probably shouldn't piss him off further.
When everyone else was gone, and Laxus was left alone with Freed, there was a moment of quiet. He motioned for Laxus to approach the desk. Laxus did so.
He was hit in the face by a spurt of ketchup.
It continued, splattering across his face. He gasped, and Freed apparently aimed for his mouth at the moment. It was a stupid moment, not helped by the noise the bottle was making, and eventually the spray died out.
Neither man spoke for a moment.
They both started laughing at the same time, and Freed handed Laxus a napkin to clean himself with.
"You're an asshole, you know that right?" Laxus said with mirth in his voice. "You still got the balls to want a ride from me again?"
"Is the offer still available?" Freed chuckled.
"Sure, just as long as you don't mind me getting some glue and those decorative feather things from a store on the way back," Laxus smirked. "There's a smug asshole who needs to be tarred and fathered."
"Perhaps I'll get the bus," Freed grinned, then frowned a little. Perhaps without thinking, he reached up and stroked Laxus' cheek to rid it of a remaking fleck of sauce.
They both halted, frozen for a moment, and Laxus' mind was set alight. In that moment he knew one thing for sure; he couldn't let Freed go.
——
Week Five - Solyanka
"That will be all for our time together," Freed said, standing at the front of the class. "I hope you all enjoyed your time together, and that you've all learned something. At the risk of promoting myself, I have other courses available that last longer and offer more flexibility with what you'll cook, if you want to further your culinary pursuits. If not, then it was a pleasure working with you all, and I wish you well in your endeavours."
It was weird seeing Freed using his teaching voice; the things he said weren't Freed-like. It was kind of funny.
Laxus hung back when the rest of the class funnelled out. Some of them spoke to Freed before leaving, orbits just left, but Laxus decided to hang back and wait. As he did, he pulled out a small plastic tub from a bag he'd brought with him, waiting for Freed to take note. Once everyone was gone, Freed saw him still standing at the end of his cooking surface.
"Laxus," He said, and he seemed pleased Laxus was still there. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, just wasn't ready to leave yet," Laxus passed it off as a joke, but the stopped himself. "I, Erm, well, there's this recipe my family's been making for years. Generations, actually. Just wanted to know what you think."
"You want me to critique a family recipe?" Freed frowned.
No. No he didn't. He wanted to share something with Freed that was important to Freed. It was ridiculous to think, but this old Russian dish was something he had loved for his life, and he wanted Freed to love it too. It seemed stupid now he was thinking about it, but they only really had food in common right now, and Laxus felt like it was his turn to add something to the conversation.
"It's called Solyanka," Laxus said instead of answering the question. "It's a soup. For sausages, olives, cabbage. A lot of things, really."
Laxus didn't say anything else, and picked out a pot from the cupboards to place on the stove. He emptied the contents of the container into the pot and stated to bear it up.
"It tastes better when it's not been reheated but-"
"It smells beautiful," Freed said, cutting through Laxus' backtracking. "And I'm sure it will taste just as good."
"Thanks," Laxus mumbled a little.
As they waited for the soup to heat, there was a comfortable quiet between them both. Freed seemed engrossed in the cooking - the growing scent, the occasional stirring - and it gave Laxus the chance to watch him. He had known Freed was hot from the moment he'd seen him, but he was also fucking beautiful. His hair was pulled out and flowing over his shoulders, and his expression was calm and relaxed.
Laxus was glad he had done this, suddenly. He would have regretted it. This couldn't be the end of his relationship with Freed; it just couldn't.
He went to speak, but Freed went first.
"I think it's time to take it off the heat," He said gently, as if wanting to avoid offending Laxus by telling him how to cook his meal. Laxus quickly removed the pot from the heat.
With now familiar movements, Laxus pulled out two bowls and poured them both a portion. Laxus sat on one of the stools, waiting a little nervously as he saw Freed spoon some of the soup up and take it into his mouth.
"Wow," Freed whispered. "It's incredible."
Pride bloomed inside Laxus, and he didn't tamper it down. This piece of Laxus had pleased Freed. It had made Freed smile such a brilliant smile that it was like a shot to the heart. He was speechless, and Freed spoke again.
"You're incredible, Laxus," he said with equal sincerity.
"What?" Laxus frowned slightly.
"You're incredible, Laxus," Freed repeated, smiling now. "You've made these five weeks remarkably fun for me, and I'm sad to see you go."
"I'm sad to be going," Laxus mumbled, unused to speaking honestly about these kinds of things. "These have been… the best part of my week."
"Mine too," Freed admitted, and the words sent lighting throughout him.
There had been a small part of Laxus that had thought it had been in his head. He felt like he and Freed had been steadily growing closer and closer, in a way that couldn't exactly be called platonic. It felt like this was the moment where a choice had to be made. Laxus could either hide from his feelings, as he had often done in his life, or he could take the dive. Just like he'd done when he had quit his job. Just like he'd done when he'd come to the class in the first place. Just like he should have been doing all his life.
Freed was going to speak, but the urge to act overtook Laxus and he moved before it could dwindle. He launched himself toward, took Freed by the back of the neck, and kissed him.
It wasn't perfect, but the imperfection made it better.
The feeling of the desk jutting into his hip might have been a bother, but it was nothing compared the the brilliance of soft lips moving against his own.
The lingering spice on Freed's tongue could have been a distraction, but it only added to the searing sensation flying through him.
The scent of Laxus' Solyanka might have drawn focus, but instead it nudged with Freed's cologne and created a beautiful feeling of mingled familiarity and uniqueness.
This was the type of kiss that was unforgettable.
Freed's hand was grazing the back of Laxus' neck, scratching at the usually untouched skin in a way Laxus was tempted to put at. He smiled a dopey smile, leaning further into the kiss.
When they pulled apart, breathless and smiling, they couldn't look away from each other.
"Don't know how this works with a chef," Laxus began in a whisper. "Don't wanna offend your sense of pride, but d'you maybe wanna get a bite to eat some place?"
For a stagnant second, that felt like an eternity to Laxus, Freed didn't say anything.
"I'd love that," Freed nodded a little, though his head still rested against Laxus'. "So long as you don't mind me critiquing everything?"
The joke was trumped by the honesty in his voice. Freed really wanted it!
"I can deal with that."
They shared a quiet, private smile. One that promised excitement, passion, and if Laxus allowed himself to be optimistic, perhaps a future as well.
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Golden Death
“Ivan! Ughn.... please... help me.”
Aurelia’s whimpers came from the centre of the crater. A dark cloud wrapped around her ankles, pulling her towards a larger cloud behind her. Ivan knelt on the ground further to the side, out of exhaustion and subsiding fear but also in unexpected delight. Fear, for, while the demon was pulverized and dealt with, its demise brought an unexpected counter-attack. His shikigami shielded him from a direct hit, but Aurelia hadn't been so lucky. Out of magic and injured, she was unable to move and was desperately clinging to the ground, hoping her husband would rescue her.
And that was the delight. A chance for Ivan to rid himself of this woman. The guild members were busy elsewhere and the final life of the demon holding on to Aurelia would be gone in a few seconds, taking hers as it seems, with it. How easy it could be to hesitate, to come too late to rescue her.
"Just keep watch of the kid, woman", he’d usually tell her when she requested to team up. Every time she cried and attempted to pull at those heartstrings of his that aren't there. If ever he had loved her, those times are more than 10 years into the past. Even that may be putting things in a sentimental way. He always just regarded her to be an attractive woman and partner, and for some time that was an absolute delight to experience. And then she started the nagging, the jealousy, the attempts of control, the desperate clawing to keep him close, the insistence on marriage, her malicious deceit to get Laxus against his wishes - just everything about her turned into a pain to deal with. He had thought that, when she left with the boy to live with his father, it would be the end.
But she just couldn't let go. What a persistent and stupid woman. This wasn't the first time he thought of ways to get rid of her and while he had cursed this joint effort in the beginning, he now considers it a blessing to have been paired up with his wife one more time. This sudden turn of events was playing right into his hands.
Might anyone question the situation? Oh, yes, there might be some fellow guild members who will. Ivan was well aware of what was spoken about him behind his back. But could anyone possibly prove anything? No.
“Oh god, Ivan, please...”
Her begging brought Ivan’s mind back to reality. Aurelia was struggling to escape. Her entire legs were already gone in the mist of darkness and it kept engulfing her more. Ivan remained were he was. He slowly lifted his hands to use some of his shikigami torrents but instead of aiming to dispel the darkness at her legs, he missed purposefully. In partly faked exhaustion he leaned onto his hands and uttered a few breathless words.
“I am... sorry. I can't do anything.”
“No! No! Don't say that. I know you... have still magic left... darling, please.”
Ivan looked up and over to his wife again. The fear for her live carved deep lines of terror into her still young face. Pearls of sweat glittered on her brow and her tense fingers dug lines in to the ground. The dark cloud wrapped itself around her chest. It was very soon time. Ivan shrugged slightly and tilted his head a little.
“As said... I can't do anything. What a pity to loose you.”
Aurelia’s eyes widened as she realised he had no intention to help her. She held her breath, unable to swallow the knot in her throat. Tears of desperation started to run down her cheeks as she attempted to speak.
“No… please, darling… I--”
The lingering darkness crept around her face and put an end to her broken voice. For a moment the black cloud floated calmly, hiding the contours of its content. Then it started to pulsate around her and began to flow backwards into the small hole of the crater centre, dragging the body within along. When the darkness finally disappeared, it left behind the dried up, mummified remains of Aurelia Dreyar.
Ivan stared at her contorted body for a few moments before lowering his head. He didn’t expect that sight and all colour had left his face. She had been so beautiful in life and was now so ugly in death. Yet, that was it, he thought, and a faint smile drew the corners of his mouth up. That was it. She was gone forever.
When Ivan heard the cries of his guild mates approaching, his hand shot up instantly to comb through his hair, covering his face with his bend arm.
“IVAN! AURELIA! Are you all right?!”
It was young Gildarts who had called out to them. He was followed by a few other guys from the team and together they stumbled down the crater walls to join the older wizard. Ivan noticed that he was shaking a little and placed his hand onto the back of his neck. How soon would the accusations start? He felt Gildart’s hand on his shoulder.
“Are you ok? We saw the demon vanish but there was still--My god, what is that?!”
His sight had fallen onto the remains in the centre. With dread he recognised the clothing and golden hair to be that of his friend and fellow guild member, Aurelia Dreyar. There was a moment of shocked silence among all of them.
Finally Gildarts found the strength to speak.
“What on earth happened?”
Ivan kept his eyes on the floor in front of him. He furrowed his brows and opened his mouth slightly, as if searching for words. He couldn’t help glancing over to Aurelia’s body and he believed to see her face distort even more, nearly screaming back at him. It wasn’t his intention to turn away from the sight so suddenly and didn’t expect cold sweat on his neck. No matter, it should all work in his favour. It took Gildarts to step and kneel right in front of him, shaking him by the shoulders, to get Ivan’s attention.
“Ivan, come on! How did that happen?!”
Ivan stared back for a moment but remained silent. Anything he might say, would be used against him. He then avoided Gildart’s gaze and shifted his weight backwards, drawing up his knees and resting his forehead against them. Seeing as Ivan wasn’t going to communicate right now, Gildarts disregarded him with a scoff and left to join the others.
....
Somehow they ended up taking care of everything. They had Ivan walk back to town with them. They recovered Aurelia's body and returned it to Magnolia. They reported to Master Makarov to the best of their knowledge. Ivan himself only spoke to his father about the accident. He generally held back, in words and gestures, attempting to appear like a mourning husband. It worked. Nonetheless, he dutifully took care of administrative matters but was glad he did not have to organise much for the funeral.
Naturally, Ivan had to attended his wife’s funeral. He noticed the suspicion in the eyes of some people around him, especially of his own father. They probably imagined all sorts of fantastic things and in the end they were not even wrong! Yet, what possibly could they do? Nothing. The public version was that Aurelia had died on a job, by an enemy attack that Ivan was not able to prevent. That's the matter of fact. He has been accused of many things, but never of wilful homicide. Because, if he could have saved his wife easily, why ever would he choose not to do so? That is unfathomable.
For some time after the incident Ivan was riddled by a mixture of two feelings. On one side he enjoyed of forbidden delight at the death of his annoying wife. On the other, the haunting, contorted features of Aurelia Dreyar send chills down his spine when he was alone. Both subsided soon enough.
Now, 20 years later, he still felt relieved as the annoyance of that woman would bother him no longer. Yet, he had to admit, he did not find the same thrill, bliss and satisfaction of their early relationship in any other companion since.
Even though he felt no guilt, occasionally her dead face crept into his mind, reminding him — if even for a brief moment — what an eerie emotion fear can be.
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DAY VII:- EUPHORIA
A/N: Finally Gruvia week comes to an end. This was my very first participation in this awesome week. I have been a fan of this favourite ship for ten years. And in these years, my favourite couple have come a long way. Hope to see them get together officially.
Hope everyone liked my works for this gruvia week. Hope this awesome event continues every year. Thank you everyone..enjoy.
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When asked about the best moment in their life, for an individual person it might be the moment they have achieved some goal or an important thing they have longed for.
But if you ask a parent, they will say anything done by their children is their euphoric moment.
Mika Ul Fullbuster, 9, youngest child of Gray and Juvia was a very special child. Of course, every child is special for parents but what made her even more special is that; she was born prematurely around two months before the due date which greatly affected her development and immune system.
On top of that, the little girl developed magic sickness, a condition where a high amount of magic power was in her system much similar to Ultear's childhood condition which Ur had mentioned as Gray remembered.
But Porlyusica and Wendy made sure to treat and completely heal their little girl with the magic portion due to advancement in magic and medical facilities.
Due to this sickness, Mika had always been a slow and dull child. She would easily be exhausted as compared to children of her age.
There was not even a day where Gray and Juvia never stopped worrying about their daughter's condition but made sure to be optimistic in front of her so that the little girl doesn't lose hope and keep fighting.
It was just a year back Wendy had informed them after Mika's monthly check-up that by age of ten, she would be alright as there was improvement over the years and also her magic level was stabilizing.
Even though Mika was slow and dull most of the time, she never forgot to smile and be friendly with her friends and uncles and aunts at the guild.
She was very fond of her elder brother, Ur Silver Fullbuster, 15, who also felt the same for his sister. He took it upon his shoulder to protect his little sister in their parents' absence.
When it was time to start education for Mika, by that time, Magnolia had its own magic school where it taught the children of mages and others skills and combat style related to the type of magic they specialized in.
It was due to Queen Hisui's ordinance to teach the younger generation the art and glory of magic, she had set up this magic academy at every major town and offered a three years course on the same.
Most of the children of Fairy Tail studied and graduated from this academy. So when it was time to enrol their little girl, both Gray and Juvia were reluctant in sending her adhering to her health condition.
But once Master Makarov, Porlyusica, Wendy and their friends convinced them that it would be a new atmosphere for the little girl and would aid in her recovery, the parents finally agreed.
Their friends made sure to teach their kids to be helpful and protective of their friend if any other kids teases or harasses Mika.
As truth to the words, once she started school things with her began to have a positive change as she didn't show much exhaustion and tiredness as compared before, all thanks to schools and medical aids.
Her friends, Igneel Dragneel, 10, youngest of Natsu and Lucy, Eva Redfox, 10, youngest of Gajeel and Levy, Rob Fernandez, 10, middle child of Erza and Jellal and finally, Wenma Conbolt, 9, eldest of Wendy and Romeo were her friends.
Even though Mika was actually good in academics, she didn't flare much in practical and sports class which disheartened her very much.
Gray and Juvia will always encourage her every time when she loses her hope just like now.
The Fullbusters were currently having dinner while Juvia served them happily and made sure they had taken much to fill their tummy.
As Ur told his father about his recent mission which he had taken with his friends enthusiastically which made the Gray feel proud of his son as he was the main reason his team could complete the assigned mission.
As soon as Ur finished telling Gray his tales, Mika butted in, "Papa, do you know in two days time, our school is going to conduct 'Sports Day'. So I'm thinking of taking part in it."
Mika said gleefully but the parents began to frown, "Oh that's great dear, so what all events are to you taking part in? Can we also come?"
Juvia butted in before Gray could say something which the little girl wasn't expecting her father to tell.
Gray looked at his wife but she smiled and handled the situation. Mika happily told her parents the list of events she wanted to take part.
"Okay dear, so from tomorrow let's practice and make you fully prepared for the event." Gray encouraged her and showed his fist which his daughter bumped in agreement. Even Juvia and Ur did the same.
Later at night, when Gray asked Juvia, "Why didn't you stop her from taking part? I know she's excited but I don't want to see her to be depressed like last time and fall sick." He said and looked sad at the memories of last year.
It took nearly a week to convince the little girl which greatly hurt the parents to see their child being upset and fell sick which took another week to fully heal. For them, if their kids are happy and healthy that meant everything to them.
But for Mika, winning a prize seemed way more important and didn't give a care about her health condition.
"I know Gray-sama but she's excited and this time she believes she will win at least one event and make us feel proud. That's what she told me now." Juvia told her husband and placed her hands to his cheeks.
"Juvia, the way she's now itself makes me feel proud about her. She doesn't need to prove anything else. I don't want my baby to fall sick even more. You know right, we still have a year until her condition stabilizes, so why to add unwanted pressure and stress and make all the treatment futile." Gray gave his reasons as he still can't forget those moments where he saw his little girl suffer.
"Even I can't forget those memories. I also want Mika-chan to get well soon. That's what, I have been waiting for these many years, Gray-sama. But we can't discourage her and break her hopes right. Let's make sure she doesn't stress out much." Juvia tried to convince her husband which she succeeded finally.
Then for the next two days, the Fullbuster men trained Mika in such a way that she didn't exhaust her completely.
But her water magic was still of low power, even though her sickness was pertaining to high levels of magic in the system but she couldn't yield much out and that's what made her sickness difficult.
"Papa, why come my magic's not powerful? See it couldn't even break that log of wood." Mika began to cry. She looks clearly defeated and lost hopes in winning this particular event.
Gray knelt down to her height and patted her head, "Dear, it will take time as you are drinking these magic portions to control your instability of power. See next year, once your problem gets sorted out you will become so stronger than us. So dear, tomorrow just try your best and know one thing we are proud of you no matter what because you are our Mika."
He hugged her and held her in his arms like a baby even if she was a bit old for that.
The next day, Mika's friends had come to fetch their friend so that everyone could go together.
"Good morning kids" Juvia greeted them happily.
"Good morning, Aunty. Is Mika-chan ready?" They asked in unison.
"She just finished eating her breakfast. Come inside while she gets ready." Juvia invited the kids to the living room and went to the kitchen to prepare some sandwiches for her son who would be up in half an hour.
Mika came down and went out of the house along with her friends after shouting bye to her mother which Juvia said back.
But after sometime, that's when she realized that her baby didn't drink her portion.
Soon she went to wake her Gray-sama's and urged him to get ready so that they could go for the sports day together just a few minutes before so that Mika could drink up her healing potion.
"What? Juvia, how can you be careless? Just wait, let me get ready. We will leave soon so get the things ready. Is Ur coming with us?" Gray asked as he kept yawning.
Juvia informed that Ur was going with his friends and left the room so that her husband could get ready.
Once they reached the academy and went to the playground where the event was going to take place. As they searched for a place to sit, they spotted their friends calling them out and showed them the empty spaces.
"Gray, Juvia, what made you guys run late? Event has already begun. Luckily, you guys just missed the torch lighting ceremony." Lucy exclaimed.
"Yeah!! You should have seen my boy. He looked so manly, my Iggy." Natsu exclaimed proudly.
"Oh shut up! My boy was the one to pass that torch to your son Natsu. Even my Rob looked so gallant." Erza reasoned out but Jellal stopped her and adjusted his 5 year old daughter, Rose, on his laps also.
Juvia worried and hoped to find a small gap so that she could give her daughter the potion before the events.
Soon the main events began to take place, as said in the inaugural speech by the principal.
Firstly, it was a 200m race for boys. Then Gray spotted his daughter near the stage who looked serious but he smiled as she looked quite adorable thinking about something.
Then, he saw her turning and talking to one boy whom he didn't recognize but from the looks it looked like that little guy was making fun of his daughter as he saw her tongue and went to get part in the race.
Gray clenched his fist and made sure to talk to his parents about this later. But the race was won by him not only but most of the events were won by that boy in either of the three positions.
When it was time for the girl's event to commence, Gray and Juvia were shocked to see that their girl's name was almost there in every game which made the parents worry.
Sensing their discomfort, Lucy and others asked for their reason and slowly they disclosed everything to them.
Juvia got up and went to meet her daughter so that at least, she could drink that medicine but the teachers didn't allow her stating it might cause hindrance to her during the games.
Juvia then went to meet her daughter and convinced Mika to not take part in every competition but her daughter was so determined and consoled her mother not to worry about her.
Once Juvia reached her place next to Gray, she couldn't stop tearing up and watched her baby struggle in a way to finish every game.
Till now, she had competed in almost every game but she couldn't secure even one small victory and ended up coming last which earned laughter from her classmates especially the bullies.
Mika's friends warned those bullies but they didn't stop and kept on teasing her with words like 'weak', 'pathetic' and 'loser'.
The parents could see Mika was literally on the verge of breaking down and was also physically exhausted.
Gray couldn't take it anymore and went to the teacher to retrieve his daughter back before her condition became worse.
"Mika dear, come. It's enough. You are exhausted, baby. Please don't stress yourself much. Enough please come with us." Gray called out to his daughter and his voice began to crack as it hurt him to see his child being in pain and suffering.
Mika almost agreed to her dad's advice and began to move towards him until the boy who bullied her in the morning spoke," Yeah! You are a baby weirdo. You are not fit to be a mage. You are just an eye sore, that's why your parents don't want you to perform." He began to laugh.
Gray dashed to beat the shit out that little punk for speaking bad about his daughter but luckily Mika stopped her dad and wiped those tears.
"Papa, let me just take part in this one game. I'm sure. I will win this. Please!" Mika pleaded with him, clearly tiredness laced in her voice.
But her friends told her she doesn't need to prove anything to the bully who left before he got beaten by Gray.
Gray knelt down, "Dear, you look tired. If things keep happening, you will fall sick which will affect your health adversely. Please try to understand,dear." He patted her shoulders.
But Mika didn't budge and was determined to finish this last game called MPF.
All the kids of her class were part of it. This was basically to count out there magic power levels.
Mika was made to stand at last so that she could rest a bit before the match. Juvia was crying to see her baby struggling to prove herself even if her condition was not proper.
Till now, it was Igneel and Eva who held first and second place respectively. Then Rob took over Eva's spot. And the third place was held by that bullying punk.
When it was Mika's turn finally, Gray and Juvia just prayed to God that nothing serious should happen to their daughter at the end.
But the little girl was determined and concentrated her water magic before blasting the MPF with her full power.
"Water Hurricane"
Juvia's eyes widened in surprise and got up, "Gray-sama, that move requires more power. This will cause her immense damage to her body." She kept on crying and soon moved towards the ground after excusing herself.
Once the MPF registered the attack, Mika fell unconscious. Soon her friends, teacher and parents came to her aid.
After an hour, at the guild's infirmary, when Mika woke up, she felt her body beaten up and slowly turned around to spot her mother crying while her dad consoling her mother.
"Mama"
"Oh my God!! You are finally awake, dear" Juvia hugged her daughter and kept sobbing while the little girl patted her mother's back.
"Dear, are you feeling alright?" Gray asked and sat next to them.
Once Juvia broke the hug, Mika began to cry, "I'm sorry, mama, papa. I couldn't make you guys proud. I'm such a loser. I will never achieve anything in my life"
Both the parents hugged her simultaneously and teared up a bit and patted her little body, "You know what dear, you made us proud. We were in euphoric state right now because you not only won second place in that MPF game but also your sickness got completely cured. We are elated dear. Finally, our prayers had been answered. We are proud of you, Mika-chan"
Juvia smiled and disclosed the happy news.
Mika's blue eyes widened due to shock, "Mama and papa, I'm happy that finally I made you both feel proud of me."
"Yes dear, you are our precious child. We were beyond the world to see you accomplish something this great. As your parents, we are extremely happy and proud." Gray said gleefully.
Of course, as a parent they were extremely happy and joyful to see their child who not only accomplished something she worked hard upon when she had an disadvantage.
And they were sure for the rest of their life, this moment will always bring euphoria to them whenever they think about it.
#gruviaweek2020#gruviaweek#gruvia daughter#gruvia family#gruvia#gray x juvia#ft gray#fairy tail gray#gray fullbuster#gray#ft juvia#juvia loxar#fairy tail juvia#juvia
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Dangerous Game (Gruvia and NaLu fanfic) Chapter 6
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Plenty of Gajevy and Gajuvia.
Title: Her Strength
Pairings: Gajevy, Gruvia, Gajuvia brotp, very minor MesCana
Link: Chapter 1, Chapter 6
Happy reading!
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Chapter 6: Her Strength
September X791
"I can't believe Fairy Tail is disbanded." Gajeel glanced around as everyone regrouped to discuss Master Makarov's statement. I feel so different than when Phantom Lord disbanded.
"I know." Levy frowned. "I'm not ready to say goodbye."
"I felt the same way when I left Edolas." Lily told them. "But I'd rather see this as an opportunity to try something different."
"Like what?" Gajeel asked. I don't know what my life is outside of Fairy Tail anymore. What will I do?
"Oooh I could work at the National Library in Crocus." Levy's mood lightened once she considered this.
"A library? Really?" He raised a brow at her.
"It's a wonderful idea." Lily told the petite woman with a bright smile. "We should all do something we love."
"What about you, Gajeel?" Levy turned to him, brown eyes shining. "What would you like to do?"
Gajeel thought about it, but nothing stood out to him. No immediate plan or dream. However, once he looked at her one thing became clear. I wouldn't mind having her around, wherever I decide to go.
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January X792
In the end, they decided to join the Magic Council after a suggestion from Warrod and an offer from Jura. Being in the Custody Enforcement Unit turned out to be a lot of fun and the trio really enjoyed their missions.
Gajeel also liked having a certain status once he was wearing the uniform, since people looked at him with admiration and respect. It was a high contrast to the days he used to be in Phantom Lord or even before that, when everyone would stare at him in fear.
What he enjoyed most about this job, though, is that he was granted access to files that the Council had on everyone. This allowed him to learn the whereabouts of former Phantom Lord members such as Sol and Aria.
Tracking down Juvia also became easier. She had disappeared after the disbandment without even a goodbye, presumably following Gray. However, no one knew where they were, not even the Council.
"She looks great in that picture." Levy suddenly came behind him as he sat on a chair in their shared apartment.
They had decided to move in together soon after joining the Council. While the primary reason for this choice was being economical, there was also the fact that they started dating not long after the war against Tartaros was over.
"She looks happy." Gajeel didn't tear his eyes from the image of Juvia from an old edition of Sorcerer Weekly.
"I know you're worried, but we'll find her." Levy squeezed his shoulders gently.
Will we? Doubt filled him and he placed the magazine on the table with a sigh. "What time is it?"
Lily, who was waiting by the door, answered. "Almost time to go."
"We shouldn't be late." Levy warned while getting a cup of coffee.
"I know." Gajeel said, thinking back to the meeting they would have soon. "According to what I heard, these Avatar guys are no joke."
"I am curious to find out more about them." Lily stated.
"Me too." Levy offered Gajeel the coffee.
"Thanks." He finished the drink in record time.
"Great. Now you go get dressed while I finish cleaning up the kitchen." She told him and stepped away, but he grabbed her hand.
"Wait." After he pulled her close, she turned around in confusion.
"What is it?" His answer was to kiss her, which she soon reciprocated. Gajeel pulled apart and smirked at the look on her face and blush on her cheeks. "Now I can get ready."
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September, X792
After a year of searching, Gajeel finally found her during their mission to take down Avatar. Juvia was proven to be alright, but he was suspicious and decided to keep a close eye on her.
During Fairy Tail's reunion, everyone found out the hard way that something was definitely wrong once she threatened to kill Lucy.
After watching her interactions with Gray and word choices, Gajeel quickly realised that it wasn't really her. No, someone must be pretending to be her.
But that wasn't the case. Once she let Lucy go and warned Natsu to get her to safety, Gajeel saw the Juvia he knew. While briefly confused, he quickly came to the conclusion that she must be under someone's control. Zeref? Is he the one behind this?
Gajeel tried to get her back, believing their friendship should be strong enough to break whatever spell she was under.
He wasn't the only one.
"I love you." Gray confessed without hesitation and Gajeel was surprised, but also glad. It is about damn time.
Juvia was back, but before anyone could rejoice, she had grabbed the dagger which had almost killed Lucy. "What are you doing?" He asked even as he knew. She wouldn't. She can't.
But she did. Gajeel watched in stunned silence as she stabbed herself, but inside he was screaming. You idiot! What the hell do you think you'll accomplish with this?
He wanted to talk to her, but Levy suggested he let Gray do it first. Eager as he was to rush to Juvia's side, he held himself back. Maybe Gray can convince her to come to her senses.
Apparently, he couldn't. When he tried to stop her bleeding, she refused. Does she really want to die?
After she said that she wanted to be free, Gajeel grew angrier. Not like this.
"We'll find another way." Gray promised.
Damn right we will. But first, I need to know what the hell is going on. "Free from what exactly?"
"From Lilith." Mirajane answered, surprising everyone. Wait, who?
"Who?" Erza asked, now back to her normal armour.
"She's one of Zeref's demons." Mirajane explained. Of course. This makes sense.
"How the hell do you know about her?" Gray asked, glancing at her in surprise.
"I've been looking for her for a while." She answered. Well, you've done a terrible job apparently.
"Gray..." Their attention soon returned to Juvia who was getting concernedly paler. She needs to be healed and now.
Gajeel suddenly remembered Wendy and looked for her just as Gray did. "Wendy!" They screamed in unison.
After receiving a nod from Natsu, who held Lucy tighter once she began to wake up, Wendy ran towards the ice mage.
"Please, you have to save her." He pleaded.
"No." Juvia protested. "We have... to stop Lilith."
Gajeel frowned before he let go of Levy's hand. "Wait...Gajeel..." Her protest was unheard as he rushed towards his dying best friend and knelt by her side.
Once he had her attention, he told her firmly. "There must be another way!"
Juvia was about to say something, but the arrival of an unexpected ally caught their attention. "Gajeel is right." Everyone stared at Doranbolt in confusion and shock while Gajeel was suspicious. He used to work for the Council. Why's he here?
"Mest?" The first person to properly react was Cana. "What are you doing here?"
Gajeel frowned. Mest?
"I've missed you too, Cana." Doranbolt said with a familiar smile. What is happening?
"You sure took your time coming back." She noted with slight annoyance, crossing her arms.
Before these two could properly catch up, Gray spoke. "You said there's another way to save Juvia. What is it?"
Doranbolt looked at him, but didn't answer right away. "Gray, I am sorry it has come to this. If I had known that Lilith was possessing Juvia, you both wouldn't have to suffer so much."
"It's not...your fault." Juvia told him, weakly.
"There's no way you could've known." Gray said.
"We had no idea that she could even possess people." Mirajane informed, making everyone look between her and Doranbolt.
"We?" Cana asked, a hint of jealousy in her tone.
I'm so confused. "Seriously, what is going on here?" Gajeel asked, fed up.
"We'll explain later." Doranbolt turned to Gray and Juvia. "Now we must stop Lilith and save Juvia."
"How?" The ice mage asked, hopeful. Why is he taking so long to explain this?
"Mirajane will take over Lilith, then Gray will eliminate her." Doranbolt answered.
"Of course!" Mirajane exclaimed. Why didn't she think of this before?
She approached the couple and Gajeel reluctantly stepped away, allowing her to kneel down by Juvia's side.
"Mira..." Juvia whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open.
"Please save your strength." Gray pleaded, squeezing her hand again.
"She...so strong." The only reason she could be heard was because everyone had fallen silent.
"She should be weakened now that you hurt herself." Doranbolt said.
"I'll be fine." Mirajane assured, placing a hand on the water mage's shoulder.
Gajeel gasped once a dark blue smoke suddenly came out of Juvia's body and enveloped Mirajane. Is that Lilith?
"Mirajane?" Lisanna asked her older sister after a moment.
"i can handle it." Mirajane opened her eyes and Gajeel could tell she was struggling to control Lilith.
"Gray, it's your turn." Doranbolt called the ice mage who was staring worriedly at Juvia, who had fallen unconscious.
"But Juvia..." Gajeel placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll stay with her."
"And I'll heal her." Wendy told Gray.
He looked between them unsurely. After taking a few deep breaths, he nodded. "Okay." He gently kissed Juvia's forehead before carefully passing her to Gajeel.
Once Wendy started using her magic to heal the water mage, Gray stood and faced Doranbolt. "What happens now?"
#fanfic#gruvia#gajevy#gajuvia#fairy tail#avatar arc#tartaros#demon#plot twist#angst#doranbolt#mest gryder#mirajane strauss#panther lily#wendy marvell#dangerous game#chapter 6
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Fraxus fake Boyfriend AU part 1/?
So it’s Fraxus day, but this isn’t finished yet so I decided to split it up. Here’s part one folks! (it’s a modern au)
"No Freed, you can't hack your father's bank account. The feds will get you and then I will be tragically best friend-less."
"No, you don't get it", Freed says and on the grainy computer screen, Laxus can see him shake his head. "If I go to jail, it'll probably be in Crocus, which means you can actually visit me instead of videocalling me at stupid o'clock in the morning. Also orange is an excellent colour on me."
A quick glance at the lower corner of his screen and a bit of mental math tells Laxus that it's indeed way too early in the morning for Freed to even consider to talk to him. "Justine it's three in the morning there, why are you even awake?"
Although it's hard to tell with the awful videoquality, Laxus thinks he can see the other man pout. "Talking to my bestie, duh", Freed replies and bashes his eyelashes obnoxiously, drawing a huff of laughter out of Laxus. "What are you, a fifteen year old schoolgirl? The lack of sleep is clearly getting to your head."
Smoothly ignoring Laxus' criticism of his horrendous sleeping habits, Freed continues the earlier topic. "Speaking of besties, made any friends yet?" Groaning, Laxus rolls his eyes. "My roommate is an actual nutjob and I don't know why I'm fond of him. He introduced me to his absolute bitch of a friend and I think I like her even more", he confesses and the pixelated image of Freed gives him a smug smirk. "It's because you like to be bullied, Laxus dearest. You won't say it, so I'll say it for you : bottom rights baby."
"I hate you and if you were here I'd smack you", he half-heartedly threatens and Freed replies "Kinky" without missing a beat. While the two of them are engaged in a staring match without actually being able to make out each other's eyes in the blur of colours on the screen, Bickslow throws open Laxus' bedroom door and yells: "Time to hide your porn blondie, it's time for reallife interaction with actual human beings!"
On instinct, Laxus does click away and as soon as the connection with Freed breaks he sees it fit to pout like a child. Their schedules matching (or one of them not sleeping for a day) and their wifi allowing them to see each other is a ridiculously difficult situation to stumble upon and now he's wasted his chance. Bickslow looks at least apologetic. Laxus was going to forgive him, until he opened his godforsaken mouth. "Dang man, the porn that good?"
"I hate you too", he says without clarifying to Bickslow who the other despised person is. He doesn't seem to mind as he plucks Laxus' computer from his bed, plops it down the nearby desk and sits himself down right in front of Laxus, legs in lotus position and bouncing with way too much energy. "I had a great idea", he announces and Laxus immediately doubts him.
"You see Ever and I, we thought you were a bit lonely and it might heal your soul to... Nah, scratch all of that, Ever and I were really fucking bored and we thought : Hey, let's set our absolute bestie up on a date! So here we are. Get dressed, you're going on a date."
"I can't", he says and desperately tries to come up with a reason. Uni work won't fool them, because they know that he's actually a good student, other activities won't work either because he's a social recluse and not even Makarov can save him because for some reason, the little shits he calls friends are all buddy-buddy with his grandpa.
"My boyfriend would hate it", he continues, cheeks colouring. It's because of the lying, not because he can only come up with one boyfriend-candidate in his mind. The statement is bland and straight to the point, which makes his words sound all the more true. Of course, Bickslow doesn't even buy a little bit of it. "Prove it", he demands.
While mentally apologising to Freed, Laxus digs up his contact information and futily tries to call him. After the third time trying, Bickslow looks even less convinced, which is an impressive feat considering he didn't believe Laxus from the beginning. Sighing, he goes to their chat instead and unlike their usual nonsense, he finds a sweet (?) message from Freed.
Damn, the wifi is really fucking with us huh? Wish we could talk more and I wish I could see your pretty face instead of a black screen and some smudges of colour here. X from the most beautiful man you know."
'Conceited brat', he thinks fondly and replies: Cymbeline (Act 3, Scene 4) Line 35-39, but replace 'slander' with 'you bitch'. They've adopted this weird system where Freed uses slang and Laxus literary references, just to meet each other's vibes somewhat. Sometimes it works, most of the times it really doesn't, but at least it's fun.
"Bro have you forgotten about my entire existence already? Stop smiling at your phone and admit that you don't have a mans!" Wordlessly, Laxus passes his phone to Bickslow who gasps. "Book quotes? Shit man, you're in deep. I'm gonna tell Ever." Without a warning, Bickslow disappears through the window, probably giving Evergreen her twentieth heart attack of this month by landing on her balcony. If the school thought a floor would seperate girls and boys, then they clearly hadn't met Bickslow.
Too late Laxus realises that Bicks has taken his phone with him and hopes his friends somewhat value his privacy and don't scroll too far up. There are the occassional way too deep talks around midnight but also a one time onceler x barry b benson bdsm roleplay (Freed had needed help with a creative writing assignment and Laxus had contributed a whole lot of nothing).
Barely five minutes later, Evergreen marches right into his bedroom, heels clicking snappily on his floor. "What", she spits and waves with his phone, "is this?"
"My cellphone."
Unperturbed, she continues her dramatic rant. "You have a boyfriend and you don't bother telling us?" Her tone turns sly and she elegantly flops down on his bed, rearranging her body to give herself a 'stern posture'. She looks like an irod rod trying to do yoga. "Or are you just making things up? Feel free to prove me wrong by showing us what he looks like."
"Why would I bring my photoalbums to uni?" he asks dumbfounded and Ever looks at him as though he just came down from Mars. "Laxus, honey, snapchat is a thing? Email if you're oldfashioned? Where are your boyfriend's nudes?"
"You're in a relationship."
"With a great guy who loves and trusts me and knows I ain't gonna cheat on him. Show me the dickpicks." Annoyed, he gives her a little shove. "I don't have any, I'm used to him being around. He's on another continent now and I just recently realised that all my memorabilias are at home."
"Convenient", Ever remarks dryly and Laxus sighs deeply and stretches out his hand. After she dumped his phone in it, he sends Freed a message ('Bro send me a pic of u ppl wanna know u exist') and shows it to both of his friends. "There."
Surprisingly fast, he gets a message back. 'No. The paparazzi and the FBI agent assigned to me will have to try harder than that to get a hold of ME (why is this man so ridiculous).' He shows it to Ever and Bicks and the former uses this opportunity to snatch his phone, typing a response before Laxus can properly register what's happening. "Hi I'm Laxus friend and I don't believe you're his boyfriend. Send a thirst trap to prove you exist. Or nudes", she reads aloud. Bickslow guffaws at that and Laxus sighs, resigning himself to face the consequences of his actions. What he does not expect however, is for Freed to send a picture back.
It's an awful photo of high school-aged Freed, complete with braces and a very unnatural smile. He's gangly, thin and looks like the walking embodiment of an awkward teen. 'This is a nude, as my soul has never been as bare as in this one picture', the caption reads and Ever laughs. "You know what, he passes the test." She purses her lips. "For now at least, I'm going to need more concrete evidence of this being an existing human being, because everyone can pluck a photo from the internet. Anyway, you're way too late for your date, so you get off easy Laxus."
After brushing nonexistent dirt from her skirt she opens her arms for Bickslow. "Take me home, spiderman", she orders and he gives her a salute. "Roger madame!" he yells before plucking Ever from the floor and leaping over the balcony railing. Their trust in each other is remarkable, but Laxus does think they're weirdos.
The very next day, Ever once again bursts through his door and Laxus mentally curses because he hasn't had the chance to discuss this whole thing with Freed yet. "Laxus", she says, voice dead-serious. "Evergreen.", he greets back as she half-crawls under the covers of his bed. "It's fucking cold", she clarifies before opening her laptop. That seemingly insignificant action makes Laxus weary, as Ever is holding her rickety laptop that's for illegal purposes only.
"I reverse searched that pic of your boyfriend and before I tell you the results, I'd like to know how exactly you met him."
He recognises her nosiness for what it really is (worry) and with a sigh, he gives her the sparknotes version of their history.
"We lived in the same town and we became friends because both of our fathers were absolute shit. They were friends so we became friends. At age thirteen he moved to Alakitasia and we reconnected because we matched on that stupid tinder profile you guys made me."
"Are you sure you weren't catfished?"
"Yup, because we skype regularly."
"Okay. Then certainly you're aware that he's a billionaire? Like, the heir to Justine Industries, the biggest technologie giant at the moment?"
He tries to see the whole situation from her perspective and has to admit that 'I have a boyfriend overseas, who's also a billionaire', sounds a bit too over the top to be true. "Yep, his pa's job is the reason he moved. I know this whole situation sounds like a huge lie to stop you guys' antics (probably because it is), but I swear it's true (it really isn't)."
"Okay then", she mumbles before putting her feet into Laxus' lap. The audicity of this woman, he thinks as he does absolutely nothing to move her. "I'm sorry for the whole 'setting you up' thing, it was rude of us. We just wanted you to have someone, you know? Because you deserve it and we can also see that you kind of want it and we wanted to help. We were too overzealous."
Ah, what a festive feeling brews in his chest. Nothing like a bucket of guilt to get your morning refreshment. The worst part is that Evergreen isn't even done yet with her sentimental speech. "Also, you get really happy whenever your man sends you a message, so all in all I'm glad our big plans didn't work out. I'm still going to be weary of his actual existence until I meet him, I hope you don't mind." He shakes his head. "Nah, be weary all you want."
After dropping Evergreen off at her boyfriend's, he rushes to his room to send Freed a message to update him on his situation (he even uses the actual sms-system instead of the internet, which is crazy expensive but he's in a bit of a panic). Unlike most of the time, Freed responds quickly. Laxus wonders why his wifi is absolute shit if he's rich enough to pay for intercontinential messaging. An agonising five minutes pass as the speech bubble ominously keeps showing that the other is typing. When it finally shows up, all it reads is :
"Lol"
"That's all you have to say?" he furiously types back, but before he can hit send, he gets another message. "Whatever man, I'll be the hottest boyfriend ever." After that, it's radio silence again.
The silence between them is broken a few days later. Laxus is trying to enjoy his lunch while Bickslow and Evergreen bicker over something or other, when his phone pings. Little gremlins that they are, they've already looked at the message as soon as it pops up. They read the godawful collection of words "Send me a pic of your feet" before he does.
"Romance at its finest", Bickslow dryly jokes and Evergreen turns to him with big worried eyes. "You're sure he's not a catfish? Or is this what you consider a raunchy picture?" Laxus would answer if he knew what the fuck is happening. Another message appears : "With measuring tapes surrounding them, not in a weird, gross, fifty year old with a feet kink kind of way. I want to spoil my boyfriend (with my father's creditcard)."
"Aw how sweet, he's committing crimes for ya", Bickslow croons and Laxus grumbles. "I'm not about to give him anymore excuses to commit theft.", he says while typing "Absolutely not." At the other side of the table Evergreen collects her phone from her bag and opens Instagram. After looking for and finding Freed's profile, she sends him a selfie with Laxus and Bickslow in the background and adds a thoughtful message detailing Laxus' feet. "Honey, you need shoes that fit you. No stores have your size and if your insanely rich boyfriend's dad can involuntarily provide, why not take the chance?"
A few days later, the shoes do arrive. They're the most comfortable pair Laxus has ever owned and there's no obnoxious trademarked name smacked on it. He thanks Freed, but asks him to please not do something along those lines again. Knowing full well that Freed himself would never be financially bothered by it, he still feels guilty. Freed apologises (he really shouldn't, he's been nothing but an angel while Laxus is being bothersome) and drops the matter.
"Where are you rn?" The message feels somewhat ominous, but Laxus ignores his gutfeeling that tells him that today is going to be weird. "The western outside food court of Crocus' uni, why?" The response that he gets is a simple : " :) ". Like a dumbass, he decides to not question it.
While he's chilling out, head resting on his crossed arms, he hears an unusual amount of chattering. Although he and his friends had chosen this place because of how little people came here, it seems like that peace is now gone. Rest in peace, piece. Vibrating bothersomely, his phone grabs his attention. "Got ya another present!" Brows furrowing, Laxus reads the new incoming message : "Kids and their phones these days. Look up darling !"
#fraxus#fraxus day#Freed Justine#Laxus Dreyar#freedxlaxus#evergreen#bickslow#fairy tail#fanfic#TheFairyWrites
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Snippet of AUW One-Shot
(okay so- this will not be posted for a WHILE as I want AUW to catch up, buuttt I couldn’t resist sharing a little XD)
It was warm for a late November day, the air was just crisp enough to be refreshing without forcing Wren to find a jacket. Lovely day for doing something … though supervising a sparring match —massacre— between Erza, Natsu, and Gray was definitely not what she’d had in mind. Gray and Natsu made a show of warming up their punching arms as they stalked out of the guild on either side of the icily fuming redhead. Erza eyed the two boys as they stepped out and formed a loose triangle, “So today it’s both of you at the same time?”
The two boys grinned wildly —clearly they hadn’t learned from the literal months of abuse they had put themselves through this way— and Natsu stamped his feet enthusiastically, “Just me is enough!”
Gray shook a fist in Natsu’s direction, “You took the words right out of my mouth!”
Wren whistled sharply to catch their attention before they could start punching each other again and signed, “Focus! It’ll be two on one, the two of you against Erza. That means no punching each other until one of you has defeated Erza, got it?”
Gray and Natsu nodded emphatically, already shouting about how they were going to be the one to defeat Erza, not the other boy, and Wren almost missed the sound of a strangled whisper from off to the side under all of their noise. She didn’t quite miss it though, and spared a moment to look around in confusion. There seemed to be no one else in the street though… She narrowed her eyes and decided to deal with it after starting the sparring match. Raising a hand to the sky, she counted down with one whistle, two whistles, a trilling three and then dropped her hand down in the signal to start.
Both boys sprung forward at the same time with identical shouts of, “Today, I’ll beat Erza for sure!”
The sound of metal impacting skulls repeatedly never did seem to get any less brutal. Especially since Erza clearly wasn’t even winded. Not for the first or last time, Wren wondered if it had really been such a good idea to let Laxus help train Erza. It had improved her skills with her chosen magic in leaps and bounds yes, but it also made Natsu’s and Gray’s attempts to defeat her even sadder than in the anime.
A high pitched “eeeh!” Off to the side distracted her from Erza’s taunting question of whether the boys were done already. She almost would have thought she imagined it … if she hadn’t looked over to the tent and crates Master Makarov had set up to stash their extra supplies while the storage unit was rebuilt and seen a collection of very familiar heads sticking out from behind them, watching the chaos.
She stared. Those couldn’t be who she thought they were. Right?
Two indignant, completely unsubtle cries of, “What are you doing to the younger me, Erza?” Confirmed what she hadn’t wanted to be true and she facepalmed. Hard. Why. Just …. why? How did they even get here? Wait, dumb question. She glanced over at the younger trio to see that they were all still completely preoccupied by their spat —well, more like Natsu and Gray were trying to recover from their concussions and Erza was subtly gloating—, and hadn’t even noticed the shouting going on just a few yards away.
Wren slipped away from the arguing trio and discreetly slipped over behind the boxes to observe the older group from behind. It consisted of Erza, Natsu, Gray, Happy, and Lucy all looking as if they’d just stepped out of the anime. Also in their group, to her faint surprise, was a calm blond with shaggy hair and black-rimmed glasses that could only be a teenage Pauz. Pauz was —not surprisingly— the only one who was staying quiet, but even he was too busy watching the mini-trio to notice Wren watching them from behind.
Older-Erza’s face had taken on a reverent look as she stared at her younger self, “I still remember this day,” she murmured softly, “Get up … stand up … the younger me will say these things…” Older-Gray and Older-Natsu gasped and turned reverent eyes on the scene in anticipation. Wren just narrowed her eyes in confusion. The scene felt oddly familiar … but also didn’t sound like something the Erza she currently knew would say at all.
Erza drop-kicked Gray and Natsu into the air, eyes flashing with wrath as she roared, “Get up! Stand up!” Thought so. That’s the Erza I know.
“It’s not like your memory at all!” And that would be the older Ice and Fire duo, showing off their sparkling skills at subtlety and discretion by screaming their heads off at the abashed Older-Erza. How did they expect to not be noticed again? It was truly a miracle that Erza was too busy chasing Natsu and Gray around trying to achieve justice for her missing cake to notice the yelling. Wren made a note to work on the three’s awareness training later, because that kind of volume really shouldn’t have been ignorable.
At least Older-Pauz agreed with her, shushing the older duo with a mild little, “Gray-kun, Natsu-kun, they’re going to notice us if you keep screaming like that.”
Lucy giggled from where she was standing in plain view —obviously stealth was never going to be a part of the Team Natsu skillset no matter what changes to the timeline Wren might make—, “Still, everybody seems so cute at this age.”
Older-Natsu flinched as he watched his younger counterpart barely avoid a vicious kick to the head, “Erza’s always been ferocious. Even when she was small…”
Older-Gray cringed as Erza finally caught up with the duo, “What, had you forgotten that already?”
Happy waved his arms and —in a stunning display of discretion that made Wren facepalm— cheered, “Run away, Natsu!”
Older-Erza shushed Happy, “Now’s not the time for that. We have to find a way back to our own time.”
“Why? This looks like fun! We should stay for a while.”
Older-Gray grinned at Older-Natsu, “Good idea.”
Older-Erza leveled a glare at the guild building, “Idiots, haven’t you ever heard of a time paradox?”
Happy made a confused noise and Lucy, Older-Pauz, and Older-Erza began to explain the theoretical dangers of time paradoxes and accidental alterations of the future … while Happy, Older-Gray, and Older-Natsu up and ran off, muttering to each other about disguises. Wren watched them go —they still hadn’t noticed her, she wasn’t even in Shadow Form for Pantherlily’s sake— and considering stopping them but … nah. For one, she distinctly remembered an episode —or had it been an OVA— in which this happened. It had been one of the most entertaining ones of the entire show, so despite the years Wren actually remembered it fairly well. Well enough to know that Older-Natsu and Older-Gray running off would work out somehow, so long as they were found before the timer ran out on the spell that brought them there.
For another, Wren had enough trouble corralling their younger counterparts, she really didn’t need to add corralling their hormonal teenage time-traveling versions to her to-do list.
Older-Erza, Lucy, and Older-Pauz finally noticed the absence of the idiots and Lucy shrieked, “Seriously? They’re already gone? Even Happy?”
Older-Erza exploded, “Those guys … I never thought they’d do something THAT stupid! Idiots!”
Older-Pauz frowned, “It would probably be a really bad idea for anyone in the past to see us … I thought even Gray-kun would know that…”
Older-Erza nodded imperiously, “Exactly. Lucy! Wear this!” Wren blinked and, yep, Older-Erza had somehow just changed everyone’s outfits into animal cosplay. Lucy shrieked over her bunny suit, then over Older-Erza’s catsuit, while Older-Pauz just sighed mournfully at his floppy puppy ears and onesie-style costume. Older-Erza steamrolled over the protests, “It’s a disguise, Lucy. No one will recognize us now! Now, you and Pauz will go search for the others and bring them back while I decode the book. And remember, don’t let anyone from Fairy Tail see you! Even with your disguises. We can’t have them have any memories of what we’ll look like the future. Just in case.”
…And the stupidity had just become too much to resist. Wren coughed pointedly from where she was still standing in plain sight, then deadpanned at the girlish shriek that came from all three persons there. Really Pauz? And puberty was so kind to you physically. The three time-travelers stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. Wren deadpanned back. Older-Erza twitched guiltily, Wren merely crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
Older-Pauz seemed to be speechless at the moment and Lucy was quite clearly freaking out inside her own mind, so it was Older-Erza who coughed and woodenly said, “Hello there … random person I … do not know … at all … can we … help you somehow?”
“Hello, kohai.”
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Tomb of Time and Destiny: Chapter 6
Juvia POV
Before Mira left she unlocked my room with a smile. “Everyone will be gathering shortly in the dining hall. Would you like me to escort you and your sister?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Juvia…um…needs a moment.”
“Of course.” She nodded a little and exited.
I paced the floor, suddenly feeling on the border of insanity. What are we going to do? How long could we keep this up? And more importantly, where in the world are Lucy and Levy?! Are they in danger? Did they get captured by the enemy? Phantom Lord, I think. I halted my pacing as fear seized me.
No, I thought as I turned an yanked my door open. Juvia must believe that they are okay and that they're looking for us too.
Two strides later I'm reaching up to knock on Erza's door just as she opens it in a hurry.
“Juvia.” She says in relief. "I was just going to go looking for you."
“What are we going to do Erza? I said in English, stepping into her room. “What happened to our clothes? And what's up with this weird language and why can we suddenly speak it?! How are we going to get back? How are we going to find Levy and Lucy? Can we even get back without them?”
I hadn't even thought of that last part till now.
“Well, the time travel thing only worked when all of our hands were on the hand prints, so I would assume that to get back, all four of our presence is crucial. As for the rest of our fears…. I'm not so sure.”
I swallow and look down.
“T-they use magic Erza.” I whisper.
“…. I know.”
“That shouldn't be possible!” I said, mostly to myself. Erza nodded, deep in thought.
A silence hung in the air as we sat on the bed.
“Well,” She said after a moment. “Right now our main focus is finding Levy and Lucy and ensuring their safety.”
I nod. “In that case, we need to work on our story.”
Erza blinked at me.
“We can't just tell people we come from, say, 600 years into the future and we're looking for our sisters whom we lost in a magical tomb! We need a backstory! Geography and family is everything to these people!”
Erza ran a hand down her face in frustration. “We need more ti-”
A gentle knock at the door made us jump. “Erza?”
Erza looked like a deer caught in headlights as Jellal deep voice rumbled from behind the door. I didn't miss the light blush in her cheeks or the miniscule shake in her voice when she answered “Yes?”
I gave her a ‘You're so totally crushing in him’ smirk and she glared at me.
“It’s time to eat. Won’t you and your sister join us? Gray and I will escort you.”
Gray.
~Doki doki.~
A blush rose to my cheeks. ‘What the hell was that?! Calm down Juvia! He’s taken bacon! You aren't the type of girl to steal another girl's man!'
I lightly slap my face and shake my head wildly.
“Of course, please give us a moment.” Erza answered, shooting me the same look with a smug grin.
“I guess there was no way out of it.” I muttered with a glare. Mira and now Gray and Jellal all seemed bent on our heading to dinner.
Erza nodded and moved to the door, flipped the latch, and opened it. They stood here, a slight smile on their lips. We smiled hesitantly at them as they escorted us.
“Can’t quite tame your hair, can can you?” Gray said while looking to my hair, a gentle, teasing smile on his lips, trying to make conversation.
We passed a mirror he I could see that my hair was indeed a wind-blown mess. Curse these blue curls! If only I had Lucy’s silky, blonde, straight hair. “Oh,” I said in dismay.
“No,” he said, looking suddenly remorseful. “I only meant to say…” He clamped his lips shut a moment, then, “It reminds me of how you looked when we found you. Two nymphs of the woods trapped in a tomb, just waiting to be set free.”
I tried to swallow but found it difficult under his searching gaze. These guys were clearly intrigued. With us? Or just our weird story?
We moved down the corridor through to the courtyard. With this weird dress, my hair a mess, towers all around, and a couple of guards checking us out, I almost freaked out again, very aware of how far away home really was. But I managed to keep it together. Mostly.
“You two are the tallest women I’ve met.”
Well, that was no surprise. That was something that was mentioned everywhere we went. Frankly, I'm surprised they just now said something.
“J-juvia thinks we are going to get that a lot.”
“Yes, well, I rather like it. It’s far easier to hold your arm than Ava’s.”
“Or Carmen's”
They said their names in a mumble, as if realizing too late, that their compliments to us was a dig at their girl.
We entered the Great Hall. There was a long table on a slightly elevated dais at the front of the room where Makarov, Gray's friends, Ava, Carmen, and their peeps, that tall, thin man, and a few others were already seated. All the men rose to their feet, looking in our direction. Some sort of old-fashioned chivalry? I could feel the heat of a blush climb my neck and cheeks, as well as the piercing cold of Ava’s stare- along with the stares of girls who surrounded her, despite their gentle smiles. Below them, two tables stretched outward, each easily seating twenty. All the men at these tables also rose and looked our way.
Ava looked up at me sweetly as I took a seat across from her. “Miss Lockser, Miss Scarlet, I trust you are refreshed?” She glanced left and right, all wide-eyed and innocent. Innocent Juvia's ass. “We feared you had taken sick when you did not appear to dinner.” Her glance moved to Gray, who was watching the exchange with interest, and held there. Yeah, right. You mean you hoped we’d gotten sick enough to die. You’re not fooling me or Erza. Gray and Jellal left our side and walked around the table, then stood behind his chair.
“We are quite refreshed,” Erza said. “Sorry for being late.”
Makarov rose and gave us a smile. “Don't worry about it. You are here now.”
I looked at my goblet an glanced at Erza. Nothing but wine to drink. No water. No juice. We had tried it before, but never had a whole glass. Erza tilted her head slightly an I nodded. We’d have to be careful. The last thing we needed was to get wasted and start yammering about modern medicine and space travel.
I took a tentative sip, analyzing the girl across from me. She wasn’t the overly mean girl, she was the smarter, more dastardly popular girl who was always nice to your face and ripped you apart in the shadows. The one who managed to steal your boyfriend before you even realized she was a threat.
It was good that Lucy wasn’t here. This kind of girl routinely destroyed my naive, artsy, trusting ‘sis’. But me? Well, I’d never dealt with it personally, but I'd seen it before. Of course, I didn’t want to take her on. There was no need. I’d be out of here soon enough. But if she thought she had me figured out, she had another thought coming. “So…Ava. Please, tell Juvia about yourself. Where did you obtain such a fine, amazing dress?”
I'll admit, her dress wasn't really my style, but her friend, Carmen I think, smiled, obviously pleased by my compliments, and I sensed a bit of a thaw, but I didn’t get the same vibe from Miss FancyPants. She answered my question as Gray carved a slice of chicken for each of us. But while words were emanating from her rosebud lips, her eyes were fastened on me, considering me, considering her next move. Like chess players. I suddenly had the desire to take her on at a chess table. Knights and queens and horses on a table before me while I was literally surrounded by real knights and horses. How many people could say that? Ha!
But as much as we had to keep an eye on the cat with her claws barely concealed across from me, we were drawn into the banter of Natsu and Gajeel to our left, and across from them, Makarov and a sickly looking young man to his left. The young man, whom I guessed to be about twenty, looked at me and gave me a small smile and a nod. Had we been introduced? He seemed so familiar, and yet not. I could have sworn he hadn’t been there when I arrived.
Jellal saw the direction I was looking and stood. “Juvia, Erza, may I present my cousin Simon.”
“Miss Lockser, Miss Scarlet, welcome,” he said tiredly, but there was kindness and warmth in his eyes.
I felt Ava and her girl's bristle across from me. Oh, I get it. They didn’t want us to hook up with any of the boys here. Gray made other introductions, to Ava and Carmen’s ladies-in-waiting, the other knights, to Bora, the tall, thin man I’d seen earlier. Gradually, I learned that he was Ava's father’s trusted man, here to escort his charge and watch over her. Was it my imagination, or did the man look at me like us like we were the worst sort of nuisance?
“Miss Lockser, tell us of your sisters,” Makarov said, interrupting my thoughts. “Perhaps one of our people has come across her today.”
“Your knights were rather occupied, Father,” Gray said. Was there an edge to his voice? I glanced between him, his brothers, and his father, trying to figure out the dynamics there.
“Yes, and you all saw it through in fine fashion,” he said, like he really couldn’t care less. He turned back to me. “Miss Juvia and Scarlet, your sister? Describe them for us.”
I thought back. She’d been wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but lord knows if the tomb changed their clothes too.... Best to steer clear of the clothing. “They’re quite a bit shorter than both Juvia and Erza-“
“Thank the heavens,” Ava said, giggling. “How might we deal with four women so tall?”
I sent a fake smile in her direction and went on. “Especially Levy, she only comes up to Juvia's shoulder.” I chuckle lightly as I say it.
Erza continued “Levy has short blue hair, a few shades lighter than Juvia's and Lucy has long, blonde hair-“
“Blonde?” Natsu repeated, clearly surprised.
“Gold. The color of straw, long and straight. They have brown eyes. They're both quite cute.”
Natsu rose, dragging Gajeel up with him. “Permission to go in immediate search of these young maidens, sir,” he said.
The other knights erupted in laughter. In front of us, two girls of Ava's posse bristled.
Jellal smiled but then waved them down. “They were not there when we found them. You know that as well as I.”
“Unless Phantom Lord somehow spirited them off,” said Gajeel lowly.
We looked down the table at him, alarm gathering in my chest. He was not joking.
Gray met my eyes and shook his head slightly. “She was not there. I swear it upon my grave.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wasn’t back at the tomb, I told myself. I didn’t leave her behind. There was no doubt in Gray’s mind.
Still, doubt lingered. “Could we… could we go in the morning? To be certain? I mean, we became separated. Maybe they took another path, and even now, are there, trying to find shelter for the night.” Erza asked.
“With castles within view? Why not beg shelter from us or even Phantom Lord?” Carmen said, her voice ringing with the echo of judgment. “Assuming she knows nothing of them, of course,” she quickly amended.
“This is a new land for us, far from home,” I said. “We were so lost, we became fearful of trusting anyone.”
“Logical,” Gray said, stabbing his chicken with his knife and placing it in his mouth.
I stared at him for a moment and then looked down to my own utensils. Only a knife. Well, this’ll be tricky…. The Pre-Fork Era.
“Tell us,” Makarov said. “Where are you from?”
Several people nearby leaned in, studying us.
I glanced at Erza an swallowed. We hadn't figured that much out of our story.
“Enough,” Gray said. “Father, she is our guest.”
“A guest we know precious little about. They could easily be a spy for Phantom Lord or even witches. Their hair color is not normal and their clothes are unusual."
I’m sure our faces showed our surprise and confusion. They thought we were spies or... witches?
I mean, the spy thing I guess could understand, but witches?!
“Juvia fears Juvia’s sisters are in grave danger,” I said. “If Phantom Lord is as dangerous as it seems, Juvia and Erza need to redouble their efforts to make certain they haven’t fallen captive to them.”
Ava coughed. Did I imagine that she muttered something about wishing we had both gone to Phantom Lord?
Beside me, Erza twitched slightly. She did not take well to people speaking ill of her friends. I tapped her knee twice in a discrete warning. 'Calm down Erza, not worth it.'
Jellal shook his head. "I don't believe they're witches. You should have seen their faces of shock when they witnessed our usage of magic! It is obviously unknown to them."
"And I don't detect any magic energy emanating from them." Natsu said while sniffing in our direction.
"Do you really think that we'd bring them if here was the slightest doubt in our mind?" Gray asked him. Makarov silently stared at us before nodding, trusting his sons judgement.
"Sir, we ask for your aid,” Erza says, setting down her knife. “Might your men help us search for our sisters, come morning? We won’t be able to sleep, we're very worried.”
The tall, thin Bora leaned forward, weaving his fingers together and studying us with clever eyes, but Erza's eyes never left Makarov's. "You have our word that once we find them we will return home! It will be as if we never crossed paths"
Makarov regards silently for a few moments as if sizing us up. "Where did you say you were from?"
I could read straight through Erza's stoic face and could see that she was panicking internally.
"Juvia and her sisters are from Bellum." I blurted out. Bellum. That knight from Phantom Lord asked us if we were from Bellum or if we were witches. Clearly, a witch was not a good thing to be, and our limited knowledge of the land leaves us with no choice. I can only hope this doesn't end up condemning us.
"Bellum?!" Jellal said shocked. "That's quite a ways from here!"
Makarov harshly stared both me and Erza down, analyzing us for lies or deception, before nodding slowly as if being from Bellum suddenly explained a lot about us.
“We shall aid you in your quest." Makarov said after a moment. “Take your rest. In the morning, our men will set out and report to you come evening. They are most thorough.”
“Juvia begs you to allow us to join them in searching for our sisters.”
Makarov’s face twisted in astonishment at my request. Then, after a breath, Simon leaned over and whispered in his ear. Makarov straightened and looked hard at us. “I had heard Bellum women were quite audacious, but I did not think so much so.... I grant you permission, even though I believe it foolhardy. Be advised that while my sons and his men won the day, it was but one battle in a long war with our neighbors. I can promise no rescue if you are captured. Or, indeed, if your sisters are already in their foul hands.”
“We understand.” Erza said with a nod. “Thank you.”
#fairy tail gruvia#gruvia#nalu#fairy tail nalu#fairy tail jerza#jerza#fairy tail gajevy#gajevy#fairy tail gale#gale#juvia lockser#gray x juvia#gray fullbuster#gajeel x levy#levy mcgarden#gajeel redfox#erza scarlet#jellal x erza#natsu dragneel#natsu x lucy#lucy heartfilia#fanfiction#fanfic#fairy tail#fairytail#fairy tail juvia#fairy tail erza#fairy tail lucy#fairy tail levy#fairy tail natsu
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Master List
Unreleased WIPs:
Title: Between the Lines: Scripted in Iron
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 2
Summary: “‘You did not ruin me, Gajeel Redfox. You hurt me, broke my body in a way that even Porlyusica could almost not do anything for, but you did not ruin me. You made me realize how much work I have to do to live up to others in my guild, but I am here. I am alive. I lived to fight another day. When you came after me, you didn’t ruin me, Gajeel. You ruined yourself.’”
Notes: How Levy and Gajeel got together in the BTL-universe.
Title: In Tenebris {Rewrite}
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 4
Summary: After discovering a trio of scientific experiments who are the equivalents of dragons, life for Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden gets flipped upside down. Apparently, protecting dragons brings a few others like them knocking and makes things crazy. It doesn’t help that some of the “others” are a whole lot less friendly.
Notes: Bet you didn’t think I was still working on this. REWRITE! This is gonna be a whole lot darker than the original.
Title: Out of Reach
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Sting x Rhith Vila (OC), Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: 1
Summary: When a series of odd dreams leads Natsu, Sting, and Rogue to an anti-magic village in the mountains near Crocus, they’re alarmed to discover that things aren’t quite as peaceful as they seemed to be. Acnologia’s returning, the entire truth of END is brought to light, the stars are going out, a supposed god has come knocking, and the dead are apparently coming back to life.
Notes: Sequel to Not As It Seems. Got inspired when reading reviews and drawing Rhith.
Title: Withstanding
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: When Makarov gives Natsu a small, in-town job, he doesn’t expect to find himself in a hostage situation. Things take a dark turn, and Juvia, undercover, is devastated to realize she can’t help him, nor can anyone else until the demands are met. Time is running out, and Lucy finds herself having to make an impossible decision she isn’t sure she can make.
Notes: A story akin to A Game of Life and Obsessive Impulsive. I’ve got plans, my friends.
WIPs
Title: Between the Lines: Tales of Fiore
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Various
Chapters completed: 3
Summary: A collection of stories from the universe of Between the Lines.
Title: Of Dust and Shadows
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: 38
Summary: After falling through time, Lucy Heartfilia finds that history – both the world's and her own – isn't as black and white as she thought it was. With the discovery of magic and the fact that she's arrived in a three-year period no one knows anything about, Lucy is determined to stop the devastation she knows is coming – all while being irreversibly tied to the one who creates it.
Notes: A delight to write and share.
Title: Skinwalker
Series: Supernatural
Pairings: Dean x Alex Montgomery (OC)
Chapters completed: 44
Summary: After confronting a young British woman about a dog that mysteriously appears at several crime scenes, the Winchesters gain an ally in their war against what comes knocking in the dark of the night. Except this ally may or may not be one of the very things they're determined to kill.
Notes: Let’s see if I ever finish this.
Title: Songcraft
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, various other pairings included throughout
Chapters completed: 22
Summary: "Perhaps we were someone else, once upon a time. Perhaps we even hold their memories in our heads. Maybe it means something that we've found one another now for some strange unknown reason, but it doesn't mean we are them."
Notes: Reincarnation AU
Title: To the Stars and Back
Series: Doctor Who
Pairings: 10th/11th Doctor x Jayden O’Connors (OC)
Chapters completed: 17
Summary: Tagging along in the TARDIS after being rescued from a situation she was sold into, Jayden O'Connors finds that life isn't quite as pointless as she thought it to be. When the Doctor's involved, it's full of adventure and constant running. But the clock is ticking, and it doesn't look like running is an option - especially when you're facing death.
Notes: Someday I’ll finish this one as well. I have a lot of work to do.
Complete:
Title: Between the Lines
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, various other pairings throughout
Chapters completed: 343
Summary: In a world that knows nothing of magic, there's a hidden society of people with incredible abilities. After joining the Fairy Tail guild and partnering with a crazy pyromaniac by the name of Natsu Dragneel as well as his flying blue cat, Lucy Heartfilia begins to learn that everyone has secrets - some of which even lie within her own family - and that nothing is ever as it seems.
Title: Not As It Seems
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, Sting x Rhith Vila (OC)
Chapters completed: 18
Summary: When Rhith Vila, an illusion mage employed by the Magic Council, is sent to investigate an influx of magic in Magnolia, she discovers that things are worse than originally thought. Meanwhile, Natsu and the guild are thrown into chaos when something that was never thought possible is discovered, leaving them brimming with determination to find their nakama and bring her home.
Title: Obsessive Impulsive
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 20
Summary: "'I've been trying to find you alone for weeks, but you've been avoiding me.' He clicked his tongue, as if scolding her. 'I tried approaching, but you always had someone with you to give me nasty words and looks. They turned you against me, Miss Levy.'" [Not for sensitive readers!]
Title: Oculto
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 20
Summary: When Levy takes a job requiring that she retrieve a treasure from ancient ruins, she doesn't expect there to be a guardian. In fact, she rejects Mira's offer of sending someone with her or even the idea that she should invite anyone other than Lily with her. "Good thing it's Mira, she's probably already sent Gajeel after us." {Gajeel x Levy}
Title: Paranormal
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: 31
Summary: Living with a mostly friendly poltergeist and dealing with his "generous" acts of "kindness" is one thing. Figuring out just how he ended up there is a completely other matter that has Lucy's head spinning. And it certainly doesn't help that he's getting to be not nearly as friendly as time goes on. {WARNING: some of the content might not be for sensitive readers!}
Title: Paranormal: Tranquility
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: Saying goodbye is the hardest thing in the world. But sometimes, it's impossible, and Lucy knew that it was what trapped her there for so many years. {One-shot}{Semi-sequel to Paranormal}
Title: Redemption
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: There is a story rarely told, only beneath the comforting light of a full moon with a brightly lit fire as an offering to the demon they speak of. It is said to be a sacred tale that no man wishes to whisper unless it is done freely, beneath a blanket of stars that help to remind the demon of vows long since lost. A tale in which a demon breaks beneath the weight of redemption.
Title: The Game of Life
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 13
Summary: "You're new here, so I'll explain the rules once. Winners get one lash, losers die. It's quite simple. The last one standing gets no lash. We do one game a day here and you live as long as you can stand it. If you somehow miraculously try to get away, I kill you. It's quite simple really." [Not for sensitive readers!]
Title: The Traverler’s Song
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: "The song is not a popular one, only known by a select few that it has been passed down to. She's grateful that it was entrusted to her by the last member of the Fairy Tail guild before they'd passed away. It is known as the Song of Travelers and tells the story of a woman who travels with her lover and friends in search of help escaping from a bargain."
Title: The Twelve Days of Fairy Tail
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: "Every year, we do a little Christmas tradition that we call the Twelve Days of Fairy Tail. From the fourteenth of December until the twenty-fifth, one person will get on the nearest table at around ten in the morning and blurt out the song lyrics they've made for the song as well as the last set." In which Lucy experiences her first real Christmas in years and a guild tradition.
Title: Shattered Boundaries
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: N/A
Chapters completed: N/A
Summary: The day Lucy was cursed, the Celestial Realm went into an uproar. Time shifted, the gates closed, and there wasn't much that could be done. Not that Loke didn't try.{One-shot}{Third in the Shattered Series}
Title: Shattered Dreams
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, various other pairings throughout
Chapters completed: 25
Summary: Lucy knew her dream of being a part of Fairy Tail was complete when they became her family, but sometimes when following your dreams, you forget that nightmares are dreams too. {First in the Shattered Series}
Title: Shattered Reality
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Gajeel x Levy
Chapters completed: 13
Summary: As Lucy battles her nightmares, Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily set out to rid the world of the one behind them. Joined by someone they never expected to come across, it falls upon their shoulders to stop what could quite possibly be their demise alongside the destruction of Fiore. {Gajeel x Levy}{Spin-off of Shattered Dreams!}
Title: Shattered Souls
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: N/A
Chapters completed: 8
Summary: Team Natsu is a mess. And that's putting it lightly. {Last in the Shattered Series}
To Later Be Deleted...
Title: In Tenebris {Original}
Series: Fairy Tail
Pairings: Natsu x Lucy, Gajeel x Levy, various others
Chapters completed: 29
Summary: After purchasing a beautiful mansion for a ridiculously cheap price, Lucy and Levy are suspicious but can't find anything wrong with it...until Lucy discovers a trio of scientific experiments in a dungeon. Apparently, when confronted with the challenge of protecting people that are practically dragons from others like them, life tends to get a little crazy.
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Anime I Am Enjoying - Upcoming NEET Design Schedule
Anime I am Enjoying
The summer 2019 season has some great series. From fire starters to family curses this anime season has many great stories. Here are a few of the anime I am watching:
Fire Force
Image from Wikipedia
They aren’t your average firemen fighting your average fire. In the Fire Force universe some building fires are caused by fire demons, and the best people to fight them is the Fire Force made up of specialty firefighter, Nuns (the religious kind), and pyrokineticist members who fight these demons. Fire Force follows Shinra Kusakabe and the other members of Special Fire Force Company 8 as they fight the demons and investigate the other Special Fire Force divisions for their illegal actions. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
At an unspecified point in the future, world sea levels have risen and the world is in a shambles. The rising sea levels have been carving up continents and causing the disappearance of many countries. Japan is now much smaller with people gathered within the small Tokyo Empire where the Holy Sol Temple and Haijma Industries have developed the Amaterasu, perpetual thermal energy plant. In the year 198 of the Solar Era in Tokyo, special fire brigades called the Fire Force fight increasing incidents of spontaneous human combustion where humans beings are turned into living infernos called "Infernals" (焰ビト Homura Bito). While the Infernals are first generation cases of spontaneous human combustion, later generations possess pyrokinesis while retaining human form. The Fire Force was formed by combining people with these powers from the Holy Sol Temple, The Tokyo Armed Forces and the Fire Defense Agency, and is composed by eight independent companies.
Shinra Kusakabe is a third generation pyrokinetic youth who gained the nickname "Devil's Footprints" for his ability to ignite his feet at will. He joins the Special Fire Force Company 8, which features other flames users who have the task of both work to extinguish any Infernals they encounter and investigate companies 1 through 7. As a faction that is creating Infernals appears, Shinra begins to find out the cause of a mysterious fire that killed his family 12 years ago. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Force
Fairy Tail: The Final Series
Image from Wikipedia
Fairy Tail follows the adventures of Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragniel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Wendy Marvell, Happy and Carla, the rest of the Fairy Tail guild, and their friends as they fight for their lives, home, country, and their survival against the Alvarez empire, and their evil emperor Zeref. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
The world of Earth-land is home to numerous guilds where wizards[4] apply their magic for paid job requests. Natsu Dragneel, a dragon slayer wizard from the Fairy Tail guild, explores the Kingdom of Fiore in search of his missing adoptive father, the dragon Igneel. During his journey, he befriends a young celestial wizard named Lucy Heartfilia and invites her to join Fairy Tail. Lucy forms a team with Natsu and his cat-like Exceed partner, Happy, which is joined by other guild members: Gray Fullbuster, an ice wizard; Erza Scarlet, a magical knight; and Wendy Marvell and Carla, another dragon slayer and Exceed duo. The team embark on numerous missions together, which include subduing criminals, illegal dark guilds, and ancient Etherious demons created by Zeref, an immortal dark wizard.
After several adventures, Natsu and his companions find Zeref living in isolation on Fairy Tail's sacred ground of Sirius Island.[8] A battle over Zeref ensues between Fairy Tail and the dark guild Grimoire Heart, which attracts the attention of the evil black dragon Acnologia. The Fairy Tail wizards survive Acnologia's assault when the spirit of their guild's founder and Zeref's estranged lover, Mavis Vermillion, casts the defensive Fairy Sphere spell that places them into seven years of suspended animation. After later participating in the Grand Magic Games tournament, Fairy Tail wages war against Tartaros, a dark guild of Etherious that aim to unseal a book believed to contain E.N.D., Zeref's ultimate demon. When Acnologia returns to annihilate both guilds, Igneel – revealed to have sealed himself within Natsu – emerges to battle Acnologia. However, Acnologia kills Igneel in front of a helpless Natsu, who departs on a training journey to avenge Igneel.
One year later, Natsu returns to discover that Fairy Tail's master, Makarov Dreyar, has been futilely trying to postpone an invasion by the Alvarez Empire, which Zeref governs. Zeref and his forces assault Fiore, intending to acquire Mavis' body preserved beneath Fairy Tail's guildhall, which houses a wellspring of infinite magic power called Fairy Heart. While battling Zeref, Natsu is informed of his own identity as both Zeref's younger brother and the true incarnation of E.N.D., whom Zeref resurrected as a demon with the intention of being killed by him. When Natsu fails to do so, Zeref absorbs Fairy Heart from Mavis in a bid to rewrite the present timeline with one where he might prevent the atrocities he and Acnologia have caused. After Natsu defeats Zeref to stop the drastic changes to history his actions would create, Mavis lifts her and Zeref's shared curse of immortality by reciprocating his love, which kills them both.
Meanwhile, Fairy Tail and their allies detain Acnologia within a space-time rift created by the use of Eclipse, Zeref's time travel gate. However, Acnologia escapes while his disembodied spirit traps all of the present dragon slayers within the rift to maintain his godlike power. Lucy and the other wizards across the continent immobilize Acnologia's body within Fairy Sphere, while Natsu accumulates the other dragon slayers' magic and destroys Acnologia's spirit, killing him and freeing the dragon slayers from captivity. The following year, Natsu and his team depart on a century-old guild mission,[9] continuing their adventures together. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Tail
Fruits Basket (Season 1)
Image from Wikipedia
Fruits Basket follows Tohru Honda, an orphaned highschool student, as she navigates her life living in the house of the famous author Shigure Soma and her housemates Yuki and Kyo Soma, as she learns of the Soma family curse. As the story continues she manages to help every member of the Soma family get over their social problems, anxieties, and the family’s internal strife defeating the Soma family curse. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
When high school student Tohru Honda's mother dies in a car crash, Tohru decides to live with her grandfather. Renovations on the house and unsupportive and unkind family members cause her to move out of her grandfather's house temporarily and, since she has nowhere else to go, Tohru begins living in a tent and supporting herself. That is, until she finds a home in the least likely of places, inhabited by her popular classmate Yuki Soma and his cousin Shigure. The first day Tohru moves into the Soma house, an orange haired teenager crashes through the roof of her new bedroom and starts attacking Yuki. This newcomer is Kyo, Yuki and Shigure's aggressively angry cousin. Tohru ties to stop the fight by holding him, causing him to transform into an orange cat in front of her.
The Somas live with a curse. Twelve members of the family (not including Kyo, who is the cat) are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac and turn into their zodiac animal when they are weak, under stress, embarrassed, or when hugged by someone of the opposite sex.
When Tohru discovers the Somas' secret, she promises not to tell and is allowed to keep living with them. Although the Somas' curse is deeper and darker than Tohru realized, her presence and her acceptance of them soon becomes a large, positive influence on those possessed by the zodiac. She sets out to break the curse and, on the way, meets and discovers the Soma's vengeful zodiac spirits. Each has a different personality, just like the animals in the Chinese zodiac. One by one, Tohru's existence changes the Soma clan's lives forever. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruits_Basket
Schedule Changes
In the first 2 weeks of September, NEET Designs will be closing so that I can facilitate systems upgrades and backups to files. That means no artwork for the first week of September. I will still try to post articles as usual. This scheduled closing may change as we are waiting on parts, and with my busiest season coming up everything is in flux.
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The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 11 (Natsu)
What's so special about Natsu?
How else did you think we were going to start talking about characters? Now that the basics of the series are over with, I can finally talk about the main cast of the series. And who better to start with than the face of the Strongest Team and this blog’s namesake.
One of the most common complaints I see about Natsu is that he's generic. Sure, he beats major enemies and spouts off about his friends. So does every other shonen action protagonist. (Yes, I refer to him as a protagonist for the sake of this post.) What makes him so special?
Incidentally, Mashima was asked this question on his last trip to the States during NYCC 2017. HIs response was beyond disappointing. He said that Natsu is unique because he has pink hair and motion sickness. I wish I was joking. While I think that this is actually probably true (at least of what I know about), I'm going to need a bit more than that. If the series is partially possible because of him, there has to be something about him.
I talked about this when I talked about Team Natsu, but one of the most important things about Natsu is his search for Igneel, I think that it's hard to talk about him and not address this. (At least, I'd like to think that.) Natsu wanting to find his dragon is more important to him, even among dragon slayers. Gajeel seems to have mostly given up on the search. Both his and Wendy's arcs deal with other issues. Sting and Rogue thought they killed their dragons up to Tartaros.
On its own, that's fairly interesting. Usually, the protagonist's journey in a story similar to Fairy Tail is about trying to become something. Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage. Ichigo Kurosaki wants to become strong enough to protect the people he cares about. (WHICH IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF BLEACH, YOU-) Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero. Asta wants to be the Wizard King.
In contrast, Natsu's goal is about trying to find something, or technically someone. Of course, this isn't all that unique on its own. After all, something, something One Piece, blah, blah Luffy, whatever, whatever treasure. And, of course, Gon in Hunter x Hunter goes through his quest in order to search for his dad.
This comparison will be relevant later on, but the interesting thing about this from Natsu's perspective is how it deals with its end goal. Natsu's search actually does end with him finding Igneel. But his discovery is tainted by two big things.
First, the fact that he was searching for not reason as Igneel was always inside him. Even just saying that should show how Natsu's search became almost immediately invalidated. No matter where he went or how hard he searched, he wouldn't find him. That's almost as if Luffy were actually to find out the One Piece was the friends he made along the way. (I understand this not to be the actual case, so that's a thing.)
Second, and most obvious, Igneel was killed by Acnologia. Of course, it's not like their reunion was bound to last long given the circumstances. However, is it that hard to see the difference the other dragon slayers seeing their dragons fading into the distance and Natsu seeing Acnologia tear into Igneel.
From this perspective, I think that what makes Natsu special is that he is searching for something, but he isn't allowed to get it. At the same time, in searching for Igneel (what he considered to be his family) he found Fairy Tail (what would be a new type of family). If you remember back in Part 1, this lines up perfectly with my own interpretation of the never-ending adventure.
That's pretty cool, right?
Well, there are some issues with this.
When it comes to Hiatus x Hiatus, every single arc relates to the search for Gon's dad in one way or another. The positions Gon finds himself in connect to his search for his dad in some way, as I argued in the first part.
This is not to say that this aspect can't or doesn't already matter to Natsu. After all, he does want to become S-Class because he thinks it will help him find Igneel. He goes to ask Acnologia almost instantly if he knows where the other dragons are. His being in Fairy Tail, as a whole, could be attributed to making it easier for him to search for Igneel. However, I don't think the idea that Natsu wants to see Igneel gets explored enough.
This was part of the reason behind a few different changes made so far. With the separation of The Strongest Team, Natsu has some more freedom to go out and look for Igneel than he would be in a formal team. With the time skip being shortened, Natsu has more time to dedicate solely on searching for Igneel.
With these changes in mind, why not just restructure Fairy Tail so Natsu can go on long extended searches for Igneel on his own, not unlike Gildarts? As tempting as that is, there are two big reasons I can't do this.
The first is that as per the rules I've set up for making this rewrite, doing so would fundamentally change Fairy Tail into something too different. Despite no formal team, Natsu still has to be around for most arcs to happen anywhere near as close to how they happen. Imagine most other arcs, manga or anime, (note that I don't say "every single arc") without Natsu's presence. It can be reasonably fixed in a few spots where his presence may not be as important other characters, but not having Natsu in most arcs would be jarring.
And even if I could fix that, the second issue comes from OVA 3. Gray mentions that Natsu was searching for Igneel years before the series started but stopped after not being able to find him. Is that enough of a reason to stop him from searching at all? Not unless Natsu is so myopic to think that he'd only find him around his immediate area. What that could mean is that he'd keep his ear to the ground and see if Igneel does show up around him. He might be waiting somewhere he hasn't heard of yet. Heck, the entire reason he goes to Hargeon at the start of the series in the first place is that he was told that Igneel might be close by and it turned out to be a bum lead.
Ultimately, the issue becomes creating enough space for Natsu to search for Igneel more as well as justifying his not searching for him at any specific moment in the series. Considering enough time has been spent on discussing the first part of this issue, some time should be spent on the latter: explaining why Natsu isn't currently searching for Igneel. If the issue with this isn't clear enough, I have to justify Natsu not trying to achieve his character goal at a specific moment. Thankfully, this isn't impossible.
An easy way to justify Natsu not searching for Igneel is physically not being able to search for him. One of the more interesting changes I've been playing with involves keeping Natsu out of the Galuna Island arc. After the Natsu vs Erza fight, they both end up in jail. Considering his action was arguably worse than what Erza was in for, not to mention past actions, he gets held for a few days longer than Erza does. That might not sound like much, but that effectively means he misses the arc. It also means that he can't search for Igneel during this arc.
Another way to do it is a matter of threat. Here, we have some good canon explanations for not searching for Igneel during specific arcs. He has to go through with the Sun Village mission because it's coming from a founding member of Fairy Tail. Makarov chooses to send him and the Strongest Team to take out Oracion Seis. And I can imagine attendance during an event like Fantasia being beaten into Natsu.
Canon also presents somethings as more immediately important. Again, there is the S-Class trial being seen as a necessary break in order to potentially help him find Igneel faster. However, this can help explain why he doesn't break away from the guild to search for Igneel whenever someone like Phantom Lord attacks the guild or Tartarus starts targeting Magic Council members.
However, I feel like one of, if not, the most important reason for Natsu to not search for Igneel is becoming or being emotionally bound to the guild. This sounds like a weird thing to say, but consider the implications of changing the nature of the time skip. With the guild landing in trouble, there would be little reason to stay with Fairy Tail, to begin with. The reasoning that being in the guild could help him with his search holds less weight if the guild is in financial trouble.
The line of reasoning itself, which could even be explained as protecting a child from hurting himself, would probably ring as less true as a young adult. What's to stop Natsu, as he searches for Igneel, from dissociating himself from Fairy Tail, either in joining another guild or eschewing guilds entirely?
What I think should happen is that Natsu makes an important connection to the members of the guild that makes him want to stay. Ultimately, he should recognize that the guild has become his family and, similar to Igneel, he cares about their best interests. If you can't tell, the idea of family is already something that is important to Natsu in canon. In canon proper, however, it is implied that this connection is made before the series starts. This is evident as early as the end of the first arc.
One of the big changes I want to make in regards to Natsu's character is having this process during the span of the series. That means Natsu will start out not caring too much for too many of the guild members but end up thinking about all of them like family. I don't want to make the journey too long and drawn out. By the end of Phantom Lord, it should be clear that Natsu thinks of members of the guild, at least Lucy in particular, differently than he did during Macao or Daybreak. After Tartarus, he should consider the guild to be his family.
I know this may seem like a controversial change. I was a bit iffy on how far I was bending the rules to make this change. However, in doing this, I want to give Natsu something he had admittedly little of in canon proper: character progression. As much as I clearly enjoy canon proper Natsu, I think this change will give him more room to grow as a character.
Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
#fairy tail#natsu dragneel#the rewrite of fairy tail#part 11#okay one down#how many more to go?#at least one more today#and then the rest of the team#side characters#this will be an interesting year#if you read my post on reddit#i was working on this and the tenrou post#around the same time#it really shows
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Fandom Quest ch 10
This Is Our Fairy Tail
“Mom! Big bro! I’m headed to the guildhall,” Emilia called to her family inside their ranch house. They bred most of the horses in Magnolia, and they just so happened to be wizards in the infamous Fairy Tail guild.
“Bye dear! Good luck with that job request today!” Emilia’s mother, Tori called back as she washed dishes from their breakfast. Her brother didn’t respond, which was usual for his broody self.
Her strawberry blond hair blew with the breeze as she ran down the streets of Magnolia and townsfolk called their hellos as she passed by. She and many of her friends have grown up in this town and with the guild, so everyone has become one big family at this point.
Emilia approached the hall and heard fights happening from within, which was actually a normal occurrence around the place. “Gray! Where are you?” she called. Gray Fullbuster was a fellow guildmate that she happened to be dating for a few months now, much to her brother’s disapproval. Said man was currently butting heads with his friend Natsu, a pink-haired hotheaded dragon slayer. The two throwing pitiful insults at one another in a desperate attempt to win the fight.
“Flame brain!”
“Ice princess!”
“You wanna try backing off of my girl? She may be a fire wizard but you can’t have her!”
“You must be a complete idiot if you think I’m hitting on her, Gray!”
Gray growled, pushing back against Natsu even harder, casting an ice-make spell to form a sword in his hand. “Now you’re saying you wouldn’t hit on her! You must have a death wish!”
Emilia sighed at their banter, pushing between the two, a hand on each of their faces to keep them away from one another. Their eyes widened and they mumbled a groan in response. “That’s enough, boys! We have a job request to go on, remember?”
One Emilia removed her hands. They both groaned and crossed their arms, pouting with their backs to the woman. “I remember,” the two said in unison.
With a sigh of relief, she turned around and instantly spotted another two of her friends. She trotted over to them as they sat at one of the tables.
“Erza! Lucy! You guys all packed up?” Emilia asked, a bright smile on her face as she draped an arm across both ladies’ shoulders. Erza, the scarlet-haired woman who always wore armor, and Lucy, the blonde with a habit of getting her clothes almost completely torn off during every battle, both smiled to their friend and responded with a yes.
After Emilia’s routine of greeting all her friends and guildmates finished, the group of teenagers gathered their things and left on a quest a few towns away. A small dark guild was causing trouble for the town and the mayor put up a large sum of money as a reward for whoever took care of them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Over the past year, Katy, who was now 16, did more experimenting with the portal and added upgrades. During the summer, there had been a point where she had a very strange faze with Sam. She got a little clingy, hugging him with every opportunity she had and quietly thanking him. The first day that the faze started, she hugged him for a solid five minutes crying tears of joy. When questioned why she responded with: “The you back home gave me peace. I couldn’t do this there, so I wanted to come hug you.” The good thing was that this strengthened her relationship with Sam and Kate, helping them learn a little bit more about her.
A couple of months after that faze, she mainly worked in the library and traveled to different worlds in the search for an answer on her scar, but she never told anyone that part, only that it was personal business. The worlds she went to had some degree of healing magic which was how she found herself with our little guild mentioned only a few moments ago.
Katy was currently at a little outdoor restaurant close to the guild, having some snacks to kill some time until the group had left.
“Erza! That’s more luggage than the whole train can carry!”
“And?”
“We’re gonna be gone for like, three days.”
The conversation continued between Lucy and Erza as they strolled down the street, but soon they were out of earshot and Katy waltzed on into the guild
“Hello, miss! How may I help you today?” Mirajane asked in her usual sweet tone, hands clasped in front of her as she gave a smile to Katy.
Katy smiled in return to the girl. “Hi, Mira! I just need to talk to Makarov. Is he here?” Before Mira could even respond, Katy spotted the tiny master sitting on the bar, drinking and talking with Cana, the guild’s heaviest drinker. “Sorry to leave, Mia.” Katy patted the girl's shoulder, Mira stumbling a goodbye as Katy walked off.
“Gramps! Long-time no see,” Katy chuckled a bit as she walked up to him, the old man spitting out his drink onto Cana who stared at him with disbelief before laughing and going to clean herself off.
“Iro? What the hell are you doing here?” Makarov stood on the bar’s counter, making him a little taller than Katy who stood in front of him.
“Well, I was hoping to get your help, if you didn’t mind.”
“With what? I would think it would be the other way around.”
Katy huffed a laugh, shaking her head no. “Nah, but I’d be happy to help if you ever need me. Although right now, I was hoping you had any books that might help me figure out why the scar on my face is the only one I can’t conceal.”
“How’d you get it?”
“Another god named Loki gave it to me while I was fighting him.”
Makarov hopped down from the bar and gestured for Katy to follow him to the guild’s library. “Well, have you been hurt by a god before? Maybe it’s just when gods hurt each other.”
“I thought of that already, but no. I’ve been hurt by another before and I can conceal that scar.”
He hummed, scratching his beard. The conversation continued with a couple more questions before he left Katy in the library for as long as she needed then headed back upstairs. People were questioning who she was and what she was doing here, mainly Mira since Katy knew her by name yet they have never met beforehand.
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Days had passed and Katy had never left the library, or at least to the guild’s knowledge. She did, in fact, stay there for two days but left that morning, the same day the group would get back.
They had been successful in taking down the guild and collecting their reward. Lucy ended up being the one to hug the bag all the way back to the guild. When they returned, Erza, Natsu, and Lucy parted ways but Emilia and Gray walked towards the ranch house discussing the job some more.
The pair got closer and closer to the house, laughing about Natsu’s motion sickness. Emila then stopped in her tracks, switching to a fighting stance with her fists engulfed in flames of blues, greens, reds, and purples swirling around. “Gray, stop moving.” her voice was quiet and stern.
When Gray turned to look at her, his smile slipped from his face and was replaced by a serious look, using his ice-make magic again to create another sword, looking in the same direction as Emilia.
The ranch house’s lights were on, a window was broken, and the door busted in. without any more hesitation to examine the situation from afar, Emilia led the way into her house, gasping a little at the sight in front of her.
Chairs and dishes were broken, papers were scattered, and a couple holes and cracks in the walls. The thing that caught her attention the most was the bloody handprint on one of the legs of the chair. With closer examination, there was a letter on the table with a knife stuck into it. It was from the guild that they had just taken down. Seems like they were a bigger guild than they had originally thought.
“What does it say, Emilia?”
Her breathing was heavy and her body was shaking with emotion. The letter burst into flames and so did her hair as she pushed passed Gray, headed outside. “I’ll burn them all!”
“Emilia! What happened? Talk to me.”
“They guild took my family for what we did the other day!” she shouted, turning to face him. She was steaming with anger, letting off so much heat that the ground cracked a little. “I’ll fucking burn them to the bone and enjoy watching, those bastards!” she screamed, turning away again to head to the guild.
“Emilia!” Gray called, gently taking hold of her hand. Luckily, he had put a strong layer of ice around his hand and forearm so he wouldn’t get burned. She stopped in her tracks again, making her flames disappear as she looked back at Gray, this time with a look that held more fear than vengeance. “I know you’re scared and worried about them. We’ll help you get them back but you need to control yourself.” His tone was gentle and his eyes sorrowful.
Tears slipped from her face and she nodded, taking hold of his hand and they both rushed back to the guild. Bursting through the doors, everyone went quiet for a moment to see who was at the door. “My family has been kidnapped!” quick and straight to the point.
“What? Tori and Jax are gone?” Mira questioned, worry in her tone.
“We got back to their house and the place was a mess: papers everywhere, chairs were broken, holes in the wall, blood, and the front door was busted in,” Gray explained, squeezing Emilia’s hand to try and comfort her a little.
“Well, we’ll get them back! Don’t you worry kiddo!” Mako stood from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. Secretly, he had on Emilia’s mom when they were children that never really went away, but morphed into admiration.
While everyone talked about plans to save the pair, Emilia snuck away from Gray to find the scarlet woman. “Erza? I have a request.”
Currently, she was munching away and savoring every bite of her piece of cake. “Yes? Anything.”
“I want you to teach me your magic.”
“Right now?” she asked in a surprised tone. Emilia always liked her magic, but she never thought the girl would ask to be taught it. “Why the sudden interest, if I may ask?”
“I’ve always liked it and wanted to learn it. This is the perfect time, especially if it’ll help me save my family.”
“Wait, so you’re saying you want me to help you master it by the time we find them?”
Emilia nodded.
Erza sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before smiling a little. “Quite a task you want to accomplish. We better get started, then.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
During the following week, the group found where the guild’s hall was and prepared to fight. Emilia barely slept or ate, only doing the bare minimum of both. Instead, she spent her time mastering Erza’s magic: Requip magic, that is. To sum it up, it’s like a giant closet that no one can see and only she can access it, whenever she needed to.
The main party going to fight consisted of Emilia, Gray, Erza, Natsu and Happy, Lucy, Wendy and Carla, Juvia, and lastly, Gajeel and Lily. Of course, the dragon slayers needed their wonderful flying/talking cats with them.
The tall tower that they came upon was nothing breathtaking, but quite the opposite. It was dark and gloomy, sitting on a little island connected to the mainland. There were many windows, but none with actual glass, just large openings.
The group charged the tower, most of them casting different spells as they got closer. Erza and Emilia just got one of their swords from the invisible armory, Emilia letting her rainbow flames swirls around the blade. Natsu’s fists were on fire, and Gray’s hands were frozen over to make his punches harder. The others just ran in, prepared to fight.
They hadn’t even reached the doors when wizards started flooding out the doors, each Fairy Tail wizard up against at least two others.
Finally, they had made their way in the doors, splitting up into smaller groups to find the family members. Gray, Emilia, and Erza were a group, Natsu and Happy were another, then Lucy was with Wendy and Carla, and Gajeel was with Lily and Juvia.
They fought their way up further and further into the tower, but no one had found them yet. Making Emilia come to the conclusion that they were taken to the top of the tower.
Emilia, Gray, and Erza were the first ones to the top, being greeted by more wizards, the guild’s master, and Emilia’s family being held back with knives to their throats. “Ah! Looks like the Fairies finally made it! Emilia, dear, why don’t you say hello to your family. They’ve missed you,” the master boasted, a large smirk on his face. He found their suffering entertaining and could barely contain himself at the thought of what was to come.
Emilia growled, the flames around her sword howling as they grew. “Let them go, you bastard! If you wanted revenge, you should have just taken me!”
The master gasped, a hand on his chest in a sarcastic display of fear. “How scary! A little fairy prepared to take us on? We’ll see how that goes when she’s crying and screaming like the child she is!”
“Don’t hurt her!” Tori and Jax both shouted, trying to force themselves from the grip of the guild members.
“Oh don’t worry. You two won’t be here to watch,” the master smirked, snapping his fingers.
For Emilia, time slowed down to an agonizing pace as she watched the scene in front of her, the faint sounds of Erza’s shouts of horror humming in the back of her head. The only sound she heard clearly, was her heart pounding. It even covered the sound of her own screech. The sound of both of their bodies hitting the floor snapped her out of her daze and she instantly ran to her mom and Gray to Jax, pulling him closer to Emilia.
“Mom! Mom, it’ll be okay!” Emilia’s breathing was quick as she clung to her mom who stared up at her, blood gushing from her neck. “Wendy!” Emilia screamed, looking to the doors in hopes that the little girl would come through. The wet feeling of her mom’s hand gripping her own pulled her attention back down to her mom.
“I love... you. Emilia.” Tears streamed down the side of her mom’s face as her sentence came out in fragments, but Emilia made out what she was saying.
Emilia’s own tears fell from her face as she looked between her mom and brother, both with their throats slit. “I love you mom, Jax, I love you. I’m… I’m so sorry,” she reached across her mom, gripping both family members hands.
Gray had taken off his shirt and held it tight against Jax’s neck in a desperate attempt to save him, but to no avail.
Emilia got to see one last loving look and smile from both her mom and brother before they had their last breath just as the next group came through the doors: Natsu and Happy. The others not far behind them, following the screams up the tower.
When Natsu ran in, the bloodbath of a scene wasn’t what he expected to see. He was frozen in his tracks for a moment before his anger took over with clenched, flaming fists, and teeth snarled. “You monsters! You’ll pay for this!” he was snapped out of it, if only for a moment, by another scream from Emilia of anger and sadness before the room went quiet, everyone, especially the master, waiting for what she’d do next.
Growls flooded from her mouth as she slowly stood back to her feet, hair glowing and slightly raised from her flames. “I’m going to butcher you like the pig you are, you bastard!” she screamed, fists clenched as she stood in a fighting position, ready to fight the master himself.
“Well, little fairy. Come fight me!”
Within a second, there was a small explosion as her body burst into swirling flames of different colors, sword in hand as she charged the master. Every other fairy tail member attacked their own enemies, the others now present to join the fight.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Each one was harder than our friends had expected. Natsu and Erza had finished off their men and were helping the others with their own enemies.
Emilia and the master were at a standoff, both panting and obviously worn out. “Well, fairy. You’re stronger than I expected.”
“That was your doing, bastard,” Emilia growled, using the rest of her strength to tightly grip her sword, allowing her flames to swirl around it.
The master also gathered his last bit of strength, gripping his sword. Both parties giving a small battle cry as they charged one another. The other fairies finished with their fights, turning to see the master fall to the ground, Emilia still in her ending stance with her back to her friends. Seeing the master fall, they couldn’t help but cheer for a small moment.
“Emilia? Are you okay?” Gray asked, narrowing his eyes a little, waiting for her to turn around. His eyes widened, watching in fear as she slowly turned around, stumbling a little bit.
The master’s sword was sticking out of her side, blood dripping down her torso. “Gray,” she called, reaching for him.
For Gray, this moment felt like it was slow motion. Rushing forward, he reached out to grab her, barely missing her hand and she fell from the window of the tower. When Gray landed on the ground, leaning over the window, he screamed for Emilia, tears falling as she saw her body hit the water down below.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The room was white. No walls, only a floor and the light above her, even Emilia’s clothes were white. The last thing she remembered was falling out of the tower window, reaching for Gray.
“Ah, good to finally meet you, Emilia.” a woman’s voice echoed, causing Emilia to spin around, prepared to fight if she had to.
“Who are you?”
“A friend.” the voice called. It sounded closer now, but there was nowhere in sight that someone could actually be hiding. So where was it coming from?
“Where am I?”
“That’s not really a question that I could answer easily.”
Emilia spun around again, coming face to face with a woman smiling at her. She didn’t seem older than her, she actually looked younger. Her hair was a bright yellow and up in a ponytail, only her bangs framing her face and Caribbean green eyes. She wore Jeans, boots similar to anyone else in town, almost like pirate boots, and a darker purple blouse. “Who are you? And don’t say a friend.” Emilia’s voice was stern, still on guard with this strange woman.
“I’m known as Iro, the goddess of imagination. But I go by Katy.”
“And what do you want with me?”
“Well, you are my god slayer, so I needed to come and ‘unlock’ your powers for you. Are you ready?”
“What the hell do you mean by god slayer? Like that dude we met on the island?”
“Precisely. Now get ready, it’ll hurt just a bit.”
Before Emilia could strike her, Katy had blocked it, placing two fingers on Emilia’s forehead and two on her chest, emitting a blue glow. When the glowing started, Emilia froze in her tracks before letting out a small scream from the pain. The knowledge of certain spells had flashed through her mind, not to mention the enormous amount of power flowing into her.
Once the last flash of spells and knowledge of Katy went through her head, the pain spreading through her body switched its focus to mainly her torso. The warmth of sunlight shining on her face made Emilia realize she was waking up. She had survived the fall?
“Emilia? Are you okay?” Gray called, gently giving her hand a small squeeze. After a week in the infirmary, Gray had never left the room, staying right by her side.
“Gray?” her voice was scratchy and quiet, her eyes slowly opening to look over at Gray. he looked exhausted and pale from malnutrition, but he was overjoyed by the fact that she was going to be okay.
“Hey sweetheart,” he whispered, tears dripping down his face as he gave her hand a light kiss. “How are you feeling?”
“I hurt, but I’ll be okay.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“How am I alive?”
“Juvia jumped out the window after you, manipulating the water so it would break your fall and not harm you more on impact. You were out cold and had lost a lot of blood, but we stopped the bleeding until we got back to the guildhall.” Gray explained, a few yawns escaping as he spoke.
“Can I see them?”
Gray’s eyes darkened with emotion, glancing down at his feet then back up to her. “Em, they di -”
“I know, Gray. but I want to see them, and my friends. So that they know I’m okay.”
A slight grin made its way onto Gray’s lips as he nodded, standing from his chair and helping Emilia out of the room to see everyone.
“Emilia!” everyone cheered, all full of glee that their friend was okay. They all had said their ‘hello’s and ‘get better soon’s, but the girl at the bar, chatting with Makarov, caught her attention.
“Katy?”
“Good morning kiddo.” Katy smiled up at her, patting the seat next to her so she’d sit down.
Of course, Emilia hesitated but sat anyway. “So that dream. Was that all real?”
Katy nodded, taking another sip of her drink. “Yup. I’ll be training you once everything has settled down, so not to worry.”
The conversation continued, a few people joining and leaving the conversation as it continued.
A few months had passed and all of Emilia’s wounds had healed, physically at least.
Emotionally, it had been extremely hard for her. She got the house sold, along with most of the houses, and stashed away most of the money for an emergency or something else. She visited the graves almost every day for a few hours, always coming back home with red and puffy eyes from all the crying.
Emilia had secretly been a flame god slayer, Katy being the god. Of course, she never actually slew a god, but according to Katy, had been given the ability.
“Emilia,” Katy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before hopping off of the rock half-wall. “Try again, but this time you need to focus on the target.”
“Don’t you think I’m doing that?” she groaned, glaring at Katy for a moment. When her eyes focused on Katy’s she seemed a bit… frustrated. Although it didn’t seem directed towards Emilia.
Without another word, Katy snapped her fingers, creating an illusion to make the dummy look like the master from the dark guild. “Attack him.” Her tone was cold.
Emilia’s eyes widened and her whole body started to tremble. Flashes of that day went through her head and it was all she could do not to scream. What kind of sick training was this? After sending another glare to Katy, she dug her heels into the dirt and took a deep breath in.
Fire God Bellow!
She screamed the chant in her mind as she let out the so-called bellow; flames escaping her mouth in a swirling motion towards the target, making it fall to pieces. Katy’s few claps behind her brought her back to earth.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted, lunging towards Katy and gripping the collar of her shirt, fist in the air and aimed towards Katy. “Do you think that day is some kind of joke? My whole life was turned upside down!”
Calmly, Katy removed Emilia’s hand and gently pushed her fist away. “I know, I’m sorry about that. Sometimes people need a push to reach their best selves, not all are okay to deal with.” Her apology was sincere, it was obvious in her eyes.
“Fine,” she pulled away, crossing her arms with her back to Katy. “Did I do it right?”
“You did it perfectly, actually. Great job.” Katy smiled, even though it wasn’t seen. “I need to go. Tell everyone I said bye.” Katy gently squeezed Emilia’s shoulder, trying to comfort her a bit. “Good luck kid. Keep up the good work.” With that, Katy’s hand was gone, along with her whole body, of course.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hello, my lovelies! Well, that’s ten chapters done and many more tortures to put Minecraftian through! Yay! :p Hope you all enjoyed and we’ll see you for chapter eleven (and the little special in-between chapter)!
~ K-The-Queen
I’m not entirely sure I got everything in this chapter, but I tried.
~ Minecraftian121
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They’re not the same.
Alternatively titled, “A post I wrote over two months ago where I compare the issues with the two ships I talk the most against, but am only posting now in response to the comparisons other people have been making about them for like a week and I can't mention them pre-cut by name because Tumblr's search system is stupid and I don't want to fight people over this post or use weird forms of their name but you probably already know what I’m talking about.”
But this isn't a light novel.
Despite my pseudo-title, this is actually in response to another post I saw a while back. Now, let me say that I feel like there will always be a divide between pro-fandoms and anti-fandoms. We're never going to fully understand each other and I don't think that's a big deal. After all, if we did, there would be no reason for the different sides to exist. Though, I can't help but be worried when someone argues that Nalu is essentially gender bent Gruvia, in the way of problems, that maybe this divide is worse than I would have thought.
Let's start with the simple stuff: invasion of privacy.
On one hand, there are multiple accounts of both. Juvia's followed Gray without his expressed permission more than once. Natsu's broken into Lucy's house more than once. Both are technically illegal.
Well, there's more to it that that.
With, Juvia, there's the argument over its existence since joining the guild. Has this aspect of Juvia gotten better or worse? Does she need to stalk Gray considering they're in the same guild?
With Natsu, depends on your view of the trope. Many people have broken into Lucy's house throughout the series. About the only important people in the guild who haven't are the Strauss kids and Makarov. Is the trope itself annoying or is it the fact that Lucy's partner and best friend the go-to example of this? Has Lucy, as some people argue, gotten used to Natsu breaking in and, as I would argue, is that a good thing?
Notice, I'm not answering the questions, but am bringing up the issues commonly faced with these kinds of things. The point I'm trying to make is that there is a different discourse happening over things that seem to be similar.
Another shared issue is to an extent sexual harassment. I say to an extent because they're pretty different.
Gray groped Juvia once and apologized immediately. No real discussion happens over this.
Natsu groped Lucy twice. (What Stone Age Omake?) One time, he got mad at Lucy for even being naked. The other time, he treated it like it was no big deal. The argument is whether or not this is disgusting fan-service/sexual harassment or reason to like the ship even more?
I'm really trying not to argue this one.
In addition to the groping, Juvia tried to sleep with Gray and Natsu "accidentally" (what did he think was going to happen?) undressed Lucy. Arguments the same for Nalu and the anti-Gruvia fandom takes the same side as anti-Nalu on their end.
However, this brings up a big issue that hasn't been brought up for the pro side of Gruvia: comedy. This is just a small example many moments that one side of the Gruvia discourse will say kill the ship while the other side questions why this is such a big deal. And I could pull out a ton of moments from the series and it would be the same thing, including, so some extent, the aforementioned stalking.
And that's about it for similarities. I mean, there's probably smaller stuff I'm missing, but that's all the big stuff that is similar, problem wise. And even in the similarities, we can see the big arguments about the ship are fundamentally different from each.
The big over-arching issue with Gruvia is whether or not it's a healthy ship. How do we interpret Juvia's actions? Is it a good idea for Gray to accept Juvia's feelings? Does Gray accepting her feelings make everything okay anyway?
The big over-arching issue with Nalu is whether or not it's actually romantic. Have the hundreds of chapters proved the ship to be romantic or not? Have other ships involving either Natsu or Lucy, with less character to character interactions, surpassed the ship as romantic? Are there clear moments when Natsu and/or Lucy fell in love? More personally relevant, how do we interpret Natsu leaving her for a year without a letter? (You know I had to bring that up at least one more time.)
To be fair, there is some crossover between these issues. I've seen people argue that Nalu is an unhealthy relationship and Gruvia has no romantic setup. And you can definitely boil down to whether or not the ships are actually good.
But to say that they're basically the same, issue-wise, is incredulous to me. Like, I couldn't just take my super long post about why I don't like Nalu and apply all the issues to Gruvia just with different moments. And ac-fairytail probably couldn't just take their post about why Gruvia is bad and turn it into a post about why Nalu is bad just by changing names and moments.
It doesn't work like that.
#anti nalu#anti gruvia#for the record#i don't like either#i'm shocked this fight is even happening#it's almost like nh vs ss#only those two were actually canon ships#so worse
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