Colors of the Will 'o' The Wisp (Fairy Tail AU with Slight Katekyo Hitman Reborn Elements)

[Philosophysics]

With the strongest members of Fairy Tail gone for seven years, the wisps of Fairy Tail fell into decline. In another timeline, they'd have fallen stagnant and simply waited, but in this world, a Black Wizard has a chance meeting with an unremarkable child. Dying to the Curse of Contradiction and being contrary enough to live regardless, Romeo Conbolt lives each day to the fullest with a dying will. Fairy Tail still falls, but the climb back up started that much sooner for those wisps left behind.

---

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons

Michael Whitmer
Adam Barnette
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin, First of Their Kind, May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.

---
Regrets.

What a funny thing. To live life in this world was to accumulate regrets. For Zeref, his newest regret was a child named Romeo Conbolt.

Zeref had warned the child that first day, but the child, as most children did, ignored him.

To his regret, Zeref hadn't done enough to warn the child away. Perhaps he hadn't done anything at all. Perhaps he was lying because Zeref knew he was lying when he said he hadn't looked forward to the child's visit.

For one such as him, life was lonely. To hear a child's small talk, to share small tales, Zeref had found such guilty pleasure in not being alone.

And now it was that much more lonely now that the child was dead.

Death always sounded soft. Not silent, not quiet, but soft. It didn't matter whether it was in the tranquility of the forace or the roar of war, death always sounded soft to Zeref.

When his curse had rebelled against his wishes, thrashing about against his control, Zeref had shouted to the child, but too slow, too late, too much and then too gone. The black shadow had grazed the child and then it was gone.

Was he cursed to always kill fairies? What mattered if they had tails or not when every Fairy he met died soon after?

Mourning was numb and quick. He was too used to it after all with his contradictory curse, and so the Lonely Immortal set about the sad routine of burying the dead. Zeref dug a grave for the child. He used no magic. There was no need to desecrate the child's body with any more of his own tainted magic. Using bare hands, he cooped out a shallow grave to help shield the body from the elements, but not too deep so that searchers could not find the child.

Then, carefully making sure not a single bit crept close to the Child, Zeref crafted a spell to ward off the animals who devoured meat and another to preserve the body, Zeref mourned that this final gift was one that he had to give as he left.

If only he had not met this child.
If only he did not have this curse.
If only the God Anksheram hadn't cursed him.
If only he hadn't angered God Anksheram.
If only his brother hadn't died.
If only his mother and father hadn't died.
If only he hadn't been born.
If only he had not loved.

With these regrets echoing "if only", did the Lonely Immortal madden himself into calculated apathy once more, once more attempting to tame this Curse of Contradiction. The more he loved, the more he killed. The less he loved, the less he killed.

Ah, if only he could die, but the curse only killed that he loved.

And the Black Wizard knew nobody hated him more than himself.

Thus did the Lonely Immortal leave the child.

---​

The thing about regrets is that they do not magically disappear upon dying. They magnify, they linger, they transform, but regrets tie things down.

Here's another thing about regrets. They're only called regrets when the target is themselves. When the target is outside forces, such as people and nature, gods and fate and destiny, these are called grudges.

The Child had regrets, for sure. All living things had them. It regretted not being careful enough. It regretted being such a brat to its father. It regretted not being strong enough. It regretted not hugging its guild members enough. It regretted many things large and small, but mostly small, nothing enough to tie a spirit down.

But it had grudges.

It had grudges against the Lonely immortal for killing it, but it was a small one for the child knew the truth of the story and mourned the regrets of that lonely immortal with it.

It had grudges against fate and destiny. These ones were still small, for the child was young and the young know the future is limitless and untied and unbound by fragilities such as fate and destiny.

It had grudges against the Gods, specifically the God Anksheram though the child could not pronounce the name, and this one was the largest one. It was a childish anger, the one where a child drives the parent to insanity, questioning the basis of unjust rules, but here the child felt quite justified in anger, for what is a god but a parent to mortals?

And the child knew a curse to punish one who sought to cure death with the rampant and uncontrolled ability to kill was a shit curse, pardon the language.

Such a punishment taught nothing, muddied everything, and brought in outside innocent in to die for yet more nothing.

So the Child's spirit refused to die. It had regrets, and it had grudges, and it still had a body to work with. In childish ignorance, the child set to work to defying a God.

In the field blessed and protected by a lonely immortal, the buried child's mortal will fought against a detached god's of death's idle whim.

One hand burst out of the mound. Grasping blindly, it fell limp only to close itself into a fist, bursting into a bright white flame. Near immediately, black, shadowy shades crept out of the forgotten crooks and crevices of the surroundings to drown out the flame.

Anksheram's Curse of Contradiction had killed this child. By the God's idle whim, what had died to the curse would remain dead, no matter how just or unjust it was for a life taken in such a way.

Flickering and wavering, but never dying, the child's flame of will only strengthened, growing brighter and changing colors; Changing to storm-red to destroy the shadows' initial strikes, changing to sky-orange to harmonize the weakened shadows into a weak flame that took the shade of the shadow, changing to sun-yellow to activate and revitalize the captured shadowy flame, changing to lightning-green to harden the containment of this contradictory flame when it began to rebel, changing to rain-blue to tranquilize and tame the strengthened black flame, changing to mist-indigo to construct the rules to contain this new strange flame, changing to cloud-purple to propagate and create more of the shadowy flame, changing back to the first color when more shadows attempted to drown the flame.

And through the cycles, the child found teachers. A Fighter guided the child's storm in the defense against the shadow. A Dreamer told the child a tale on how to tame darkness. A Hitman taught the child how to help the shadow become more than a curse. A Scientist showed the child the way to contain shades. A Soldier trained the child how to discipline death. A Fortune Teller tricked the Child into blurring the line between life and death. A Stuntman performed for the Child the largesse of life. And an Avenger showed the Child the glory of a life well lived and death gloriously defied.

That initial pure white flame never appeared again amidst the drowning onslaught of shadows. No, if it did, it was a trick of the eye as the cycle of those seven-colored flames cycled faster and faster, taking in the incoming darkness for its own until that rainbow cycle burned bright white in the dark-black of night.

Another hand joined the other and rainbow fire trickled down both arms as the child pulled himself out of the grave. Eyes open, unseeing of the material world and seeing only the underneath of the veil, the child's forehead burnt bright with white-life.

Taking a few stuttering steps against the drowning dark-death, the Child fell to his knees as he gritted his teeth into a rictus of a smirk. Both hands alight with the rapidly cycling rainbow flames, still capturing the shadows of death, the child forced both fists together and claimed the Dark Flame of Night for his own.

White to rainbow to black to back to white and towards and forwards and against the darkness, the child defied the God Anksheram's Curse of Death with these words, banishing all the shadows and shades and darkness and death onslaughting the small, mortal death-touched, life-filled Child.

Two fists knuckle to knuckle with one another, three eyes burning bright, Romeo Conbolt Stood Up and Declared.

"With my dying will, I'm still here."

Then as night broke to day, the flames flickered away as the child fell backwards into a snoring, much more temporary sleep.

The flames did not die though. So long as one who held them struggled to the death to live to the most, these Rainbow Flames of Will were Undying. Not that Romeo Conbolt knew that. He had just recovered from being mildly dead.

Fate and Destiny had other plans though.

A Vulcan, a disgusting monkey-like ape of a monster, had found Romeo's tired body. A magical beast, dangerous to even well-trained mages, they specialized in a form of parastism, using Take-Over magic to steal a person's body and autonomy for their own.

Romeo's miraculous feat of defying a God had drawn in a greedy and opportunistic one. If the Vulcan succeeded in stealing Romeo's body, well… it could survive off the magic for years if not decades!

And here the Child may have died, may have suffered a fate worse than fate if not for something else.

Remember the philosophizing upon regrets and grudges? Here's one last thing about them. They have a third sibling. Softer, harder, stronger and louder, weaker and quieter, there's no real name for them. Some call it attachments and relationships, others oaths and promises, but it's a soft thing that ties the spirit down with friends and family.

Fate and Destiny were fragile. Romeo's guild, Fairy Tail, had been searching for him when he had not returned by evening that day. Weakened by the loss of its strongest members in a draconic and apocalyptic event, Fairy Tail had been much reduced from its former glory as Fiore's strongest, but make no mistake, they were strong, strengthened in the same amount as they were tied down by regret's and grudge's sibling.

The small guild had worked through the night to find the child, and it was by luck, fate, or destiny that brought Romeo's father to bear witness.

But then again, fate and destiny were fragile things. It was luck that Romeo's father had found him in that moment of crisis, but if it was not Romeo's father, then it would have been another member of Fairy Tail.

Regret's and grudge's third sibling was a dirty player and always defiant to Gods, Desinty, and Fate.

The only thing destined was the vulcan's fate when Macao Conbolt stumbled into the scene, having followed Romeo's bright flare of magic.

Currently Fairy Tail's current guildmaster, Macao Conbolt had once fought against a herd of Vulcan all by himself for nothing more than the approval for his own son a few year's back. To beat down a single one? A single one who dared to even attempt to subject his son to that nightmare of having a body stolen?

Macao Conbolt didn't need an iota of magic to punch the vulcan's head from its neck.

Fate and Destiny were fragile things, easily broken by bonds.

When he woke up later to his crying father and guild, Romeo would vaguely regret not staying asleep upon the scolding he received.

But he didn't regret waking up to his family. He never could.

---

AN:

So this is my newest project. Fairy Tail is one of my fave manga. It's all over the place, it's not the greatest, but hot damn, is it fun to rewatch and the music simply gorgeous. I don't know how long I'll stick with it, but expect a fair bit of drama about two halves of the guild reuniting, one that moved on and evolved and one still stuck seven years ago.

I'll admit, I just got annoyed because Romeo Conbolt could've been so much more cooler. I remember seeing this one SI who was dumped into Romeo. First thing that SI did was collect the remnants of Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer magic to make a Fire Dragon Slayer Lacrima and try and insert it into himself. It was just one chapter long, but damn it it wasn't impactful.

I hope I can do somethign similar to this. Have the world of Fairy Tail feel alive and moving and just... be better than the original.

I have mucho feelings on the original. It's how you can tell I love the series!

Leave comments and questions! Meaty ones that I can reply to. They give me inspiration and energy to write!

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons!

Adam Barnette
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin
First of Their Kind
May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.
Michael Whitmer
Many Like Them, More Fear Them.
May they be as Remembered as They Wish to Be.

---
Life's so simple when you're about to die.

Things are great then. Fight or flight engages, adrenaline spikes, your systems run high and pain shuts off; life's so great when you're about to die. If there's nothing you can do, you close your eyes and just enjoy the natural drugs your body pumps out.

If there's something you can do? Well, then it's literally do-or-die and if you fail? Well, then.

You don't have to live with the consequences!

Because you'll be dead!

Fucking great.

That being said, I'm not dead, so I'm stuck having to dodge serpent spittle on a surfboard. I've never even surfed before today, so that's fucking stressful. Nice part is that the serpent spittle is highly acidic, so if I get hit by it, I'll only have seconds to cringe at how lame my death would be before I melt into blissful non-existence.

Holding my fedora down onto my head with one hand, I kept my other hand behind me, blasting flames behind me to rocket through the waves as I skidded on a Mist-Indigo board. Mist's Construction was great for making tools on the go. Instantaneous in usage, ephemeral in existence, Mist-Indigo created whatever I needed as I willed it so.

I could end this with a simple burst of Storm-Red Flames to the serpent's head, but since the gods hate me and Mister Zeref is way too fucking good at making demons, this sea serpent had the intelligence to try and make the entirety of this part of the ocean fucking acid with its unique Curse magic.

Technically, it claimed the acid was poison, but tomato tomahto, potato potahto. Either way, if I didn't use Storm-Red flames to carefully destroy the poison/acid, it was going to destroy Hargeon Town. And then Fairy Tail would be fined for that shit again because the Magic Council sucks at their jobs except when it's to fuck over us.

Fucking hells.

"IT ISSS USSSSELESSSS, MORTAL!" the sea serpent roared, thrashing around in his own filth. Ostensibly, it's ocean water that it converted into acid, but I'm calling it his own filth. Makes me feel better, "EVEN IF I DIE! YOU'LL DIE TOO! THIS PITIFUL TOWN WILL BE ERASED FROM THE EARTH IN THE NAME OF LORD ZEREF!! I AM JORMUNGAND! THE SERPENT THAT WILL DEVOUR THE WORLD!"

That was a huge tidal wave of bullshit nobody, but specifically me, needed to deal with. Why in the evliving hells would anyone need something to make that much poison? Oh, right. Mr. Zeref needed it because he was a suicidal maniac, but come on! Can't you be a little less casual about collateral damage!?

Cursing softly, I flung myself into the air and sent out a wall of Rain-Blue flames backed by Storm-Red flames. The Tidal Wave crashed through the blue flames, and the Tranquil Nature of Rain took away all the energy, forcing the tidal wave to settle down to a much more manageable size. The Destructive Nature of Storm destroyed the poison in the water, purifying it back to regular water. I may have messed up a bit and purified it from ocean water to pure water, so that may fuck with the ecosystem just a tiny bit, but I was doing my best, damn it.

I'm one fucking kid.

You want to know what that thing was actually devouring, by the way? That thing was devouring my patience, that's what it was doing. What is it with demons created by Mister Zeref having… I don't know. Daddy issues? Genocidal tendencies? Superiority complexes? A mixture of all of the above!?

My mother fucking ditched me and my dad when I was three. You don't see me going around killing every woman like some damn idiot.

Stupid-sea serpent, my amazing ass. It's a fucking demon created by Mister Zeref. Why didn't the Magic Council put that on the mission listings?

Oh, wait, I know. It's because the stupid Magic Council can't investigate for shit. This is a damn S-Class mission, at least. Worst part is that if any collateral damage happened, Fairy Tail would get fined for it, and we just spent all of our money buying back the old Guild Hall.

We could not leave any opening for the Magic Council to shut us down now. No fines. No collateral damage, and I will die, literally die, before allowing any casualties to happen.

Unfortunately, thinking about what shouldn't happen left an opening for the sea serpent. Having hung too long in the air, Jormungandr had jumped out of the water, spinning around to flick his tail down like a whip and smacking me down the ocean hard enough to leave a crater.

For a thing that big, it's fucking unfair how fast it is.

Crackles of Lightning-Green Flames sparkling around me, I was so fucking thankful for the Reinforcing Nature of Lightning. The impact would have broken every bone in my body, and I'd just be a meatbag of bloody bone slurry. Unfortunately, a God tried to kill me once when I was seven and I said fuck that divine nonsense in particular, so a demon was shit out of luck killing me.

That bein said, I still coughed up an alarming amount of blood though. My internal organs had gotten jostled, but aside from a minor case of internal bleeding, I was mostly fine. As they say, so long as the blood's inside you, it's all good.

Summoning Sun-Yellow flames, I Activated my body's innate healing systems and pushed them to and past their limits. Reinvigorating, empowering, the Sun shone down and gave energy.

Spitting out a wad of blood and wiping my mouth, I looked up to glare. I am going to--

Fucking drown. Surviving the crash was great and all, but when I was slapped down to the ocean floor, I had also left a vacuum of water that was now being filled by the ocean.

I survived because, of course, I did. I may have wanted to die, but fuck being killed. Nobody's allowed to kill me, not even me. Spinning to and fro, tossed back and forth, I eventually fought/floated my way up to the surface. Laying back in the angriest starfish position I could mak., I grit my teeth, one thought echoing in my mind.

I am so pissed.

Coating myself in purple flames, I made myself ourselves. Numerous clones of me floated in the waves, the Cloud-Purple power of Propagation empowering our existence. Multiplying, enlarging, if there was less, than just like Clouds, there would be more.

"Impossssible!" Jormungandr roared, "Thou isss but a flame mage! How many magics do you know!?"

"About eight," we answered before letting out jets of rainbow flames to rocket forward in a flurry of hits. Each of my clones was maintained by Cloud-Purple flames. Using anything other than Cloud-Purple disrupted the cohesion and made the clone disappear, the violence of which was determined by the flame.

So I made every one of my clones Kamikaze with Storm-Red, the embodiment of destruction. Scorching, burning, scarring, the clone-bombs surely, but slowly wore the serpent down.

While they were doing that, I was surfing around once more on a Mist-Indigo board to clean up the surrounding area once more. I absolutely refuse to give the Magic Council a single excuse to pin this disaster on Fairy Tail.

I don't know whose fault this is, but I rank the number one suspect of this mess the Magic Council because they fucked up on clearly defining the mission parameter. This was an S-Rank mission. An S-Rank mission that should have had at least three different Guilds sending their top teams to work together.

Second is me for being a dumbass who didn't call for backup. I should've retreated long ago, but then Mr. Noodle-Basked-in-Acidic-Bullshittery-and-Poisonous-Pissassery decided that today would be a great day to finally destroy everything after weeks of being a nuisance.

Third is this fucker. Fuck you, Jormungandr. Please stop being such a fucker. Preferably by dying, but I'll also settle for you just leaving.

"ENOUGH!" the serpent roared, releasing a powerful explosion of poisonous mist. Annoyingly enough, this killed all my clones and prevented me from using the suicide-bomer tactic anymore.

Raising its head above the water, the serpent declared, "Thou may hath burnt my poison, but behold a poison that could kill even Gods!"

I braced myself, but the serpent did the bastard thing and didn't attack me. Instead, it coiled itself to leap out of the water towards Hargeon Town. From Jormungandr's fangs, poisonous mist boiled from its mouth to coat the rest of it's body, changing it's already titanic body to one that needed to roll to kill to one that simply needed to exist to kill.

[BANE OF THOR] Jormungandr hissed.

The passive toxifying effect the serpent had going on intensified into affecting even the air, thickening the air into a purple-black armor that enveloped the sea serpent. Each movement sent waves of toxic sludge through the ocean. A poor seagull flew too close, smelled the poison, and dropped. Its body dissolved before it could even touch the water.

With that destructive raiment, Jormungandr barreled down towards land.

This was supposed to be a simple monster extermination mission.

Just go to Hargeon Town! Kill the sea serpent attacking the ships! It'll be nice! Get to eat seafood and shit! Nice, simple, sweet, easy A-Rank Mission.

But no! I'm fighting a fucking demon of a sea serpent. One that uses poison. One that has a passive ability of slowly poisoning the entire area, and now it's aiming for an entire fucking town.

Fucking hellfire of the Fourth to Sixth Hells, life is never going to be as easy as just being fucking dead, is it?

Burning Night-Black flames around myself, I disappeared from that point of existence to reenter in front of it.

Omnipresent as the Night, Night-Black flames were simply there, just underneath the veil of the world and ready to burn into existence to turn everything into more of itself. They were both the easiest and hardest flame to use. Easiest because they were already there and took no effort to call forth. Hardest because while the flames had no will, that lack of will was infectious. If I didn't fill it with intent and willpower and left it aimless, it would consume me.

I've got Will to burn in spades though. Coating my hands in Night-Black, I burnt together the front of Jormungandr's attack to his back, creating a bigass burning night-black portal that connected head and tail of the serpent. The effect was the serpent's head devoured the tail. Before Jormungandr could react, I closed the Night-Black portals, beheading the serpent dimensionally.

Then I dropped, the backlash of using all my Flames in with such intensity finally catching up to me.

Landing into the sea, I found myself struggling to keep my head above water as I turned into my chibi-form. I hate being a toddler.Tiny ass limbs can't do shit. Floundering a bit, I eventually conjured a small floatie with Mist-Indigo Flames, praise be their infinite and constructive utility. I then checked the crystal-shaped pacifier around my neck, sighing with relief that it wasn't damaged. Previously clear, it now swirled with and cycled through all the colors of my flames, an excellent sign that it had captured the overflow of my Flames.

Before I would have to struggle to not burn myself alive in an eight-flavored myriad of esoteric effects as my own Will fought to free itself from my mortal body. Now I just shrunk in what I liked to call the Chibi-Failsafe. My magic's much less powerful in this form, but much more controlled in this state.

Kudos to the Exceeds at Cait Shelter for designing such an effective limiter. I'd have to buy some sashimi for them.

And kudos to them for getting the shrinking enchantments on the clothes working properly. So glad I'm not naked this time. Fucking hellfire, it used to be that whenever the Chibi-Failsafe activated, I'd be a naked-ass toddler running around.

This is amazing.

"Aahhh," a sigh reverberated through the ocean water. Judging by the literally toxic stench and the size of the sigh, it was fucking Jormungandr, somehow still alive sans a body.

That wasn't as near as amazing. That was just fucking fucked up. Why in the fucking 9 Hells is the damn sea serpent still alive? I wish I could say I'm surprised, but Mister Zeref knew how to make demons durable. Every time. EVERY TIME I think they're dead, they're still alive.

Taking a deep breath, I let out all my frustration. Then, blasting out of the water, I landed on the forehead of the serpent. While its main body floated lifelessly in the water, Jormungandr's head was still alive, its eyes staring dourfully at me. Carefully cycling my Will through my much-smaller body, I built up the firepower to deal the finishing blow, prepared for any sign of attack.

To my surprise, the serpent spoke instead.

"Peaccce…. Mortal…" Jormungandr breathed, its breath still exuding enough toxicity that I had to keep up a shield of controlled Storm-Red flames to purify the air, "You have… won."

"Forgive me for not relaxing then," I smiled blandly. Demons were as tricky as they were powerful.

"Who am I to…defy your… will?" the serpent wheezed.

…Huh, I forgot about this bit about demons. For all their daddy issues, all their power, all their arrogance, they stayed true to their tenet of might makes right. In defeating the serpent, I was now the superior being in this scenario.

…It's rare I get a chance to question a demon. Deciding to stave off finishing off the demon, I began asking questions. I kept cycling. Just to be safe.

"Why'd you come here?"

"Does… a disaster… need reason?"

That's a shitty explanation for being an asshole. Disasters are disasters. They don't really have the higher thinking to choose not to do something. Demons have no such excuse. They're arseholes because they choose to be.

…No use lecturing a dying one though.

"What were you created for?"

"The sssame… reassson…. Asss all demonsss… To kill Lord Zeref… Asss… per hisss… firssst command…. and greatessst desssire…"

"Shitty way to do it," I grumbled.

For a man who wanted to kill himself the rid the world of his presence, Mister Zeref sure left a lot of things that went around wrecking problems in his quest for suicide. Fit in line with my experience with the Black Wizard though. Even if it was little more than half a decade ago, I still remembered those long chats.

Kind, but distant. Caring, yet callous. Wielding only the weakest of magics and having the deadliest of presences, Mister Zeref was and still is a contradiction. I couldn't even blame him for the death and destruction left in his path, only that shitty god who cursed him.

Time for reminiscence later though. I had finally gathered enough firepower to finish off the serpent once and for all. I could ask more questions, but that would be pointless risk and well… A review of things I already knew.

"You're going to die now," I explained, "Any requests?"

Was it dangerous to ask that question? Absolutely. It left room for one last attack, a final curse, and sometimes, if you're stupidly honorable, a really annoying task to do, but in my experience, those near death became quite honest in the strangest of ways. A last request, a final question, at the end of things, people confessed deep secrets unknown even to themselves for the living to ponder. If I could understand a demon's mind, maybe I could understand Mister Zeref's mind and then…

…Well, I'll figure it out when I get to that point.

After a moment of silence, Jormungandr whispered, its whisper still enough to cause ripples of toxicity in the ocean waves, "What isss…. your name? I wisssh… to know the name of my conqueror."

…Huh, guess it took death to cause some things to learn humility. Made sense though. Those immortal never understood the struggles of the mortal until they were facing death. Straightening my tie, I cleaned myself up as best as I could.

No reason to be crass about this. Better to be classy.

"Romeo," I answered, "Romeo Conbolt."

"Ah… Fiamma Dell'Arcobaleno," the serpent sighed, sounding satisfied by my answer, "There isss no ssshame in thisss death then. To die to one of the few that our Lord Zeref ssstill mournsss. "

And my theory on death bringing out strange honesty remained true. Interesting to know that Mister Zeref still remembers that old idiot of a kid that I was. Not sure what to do with that information. Not sure how to feel about that actually. He killed me, but… he also started me in my life as a mage. If he hadn't killed me, let me know that thrill of death, would I have been content to just… wait out my years for a miracle?

…He also made demons that still plague the world to this day, have cults that perform atrocities in his name, and… Well, I guess he did kill me that one time, but I got better.

Despite all that I've learned of his past, all that I've seen of his demons; literal and figurative, I still can't help but remember him as the man who taught me the basics of Flame Magic, the basics that I still use today.

I should hate him, but I can't help but respect him. I should pity him, but I wanted to have a cup of coffee with him sometime. Despite only having known him for a week, I felt like the next time I saw him, it would be like meeting an old friend.

Heh. I guess he wasn't the only one who was a contradiction to himself. I guess that's just part and parcel of being alive though.

Bowing my head, I tipped my hat to the serpent, "Die well then."

Coating my index finger in Sky-Orange flames, I shot a burst of fire through the serpent's head. Spreading across the head and jumping the gap to the tail of the beheaded body, I began to burn the entirety of Jormungandr, a feat difficult with my limited power.

But I had Will to draw upon, so I pushed through anyways. I refused to leave anything that could be a danger. Poisonous miasma, poisonous water, poisonous bodies, I was going to cleanse it all.

Sky-Orange Flames were as encompassing as the sky, embracing and Harmonizing all the things within it together into a beautiful tapestry. Neutral yet adaptive, it made all my other flames work together in ways unknown.

Just as all the flames together became the Flames of Sky, the Orange Flames could become any of the other ones. Carefully splitting the Sky-Orange flames into a mixture of Storm-Red's pure Destruction and Rain-Blue's peaceful Tranquility, I thoroughly destroyed Jormungandr as painlessly as possible.

Some may have wanted the serpent to suffer. Jormungandr had killed relentlessly and maliciously, as unthinking and uncaring as a human. It had tried destroying Hargeon Town over and over. An execution would have only been proper most would argue.I'm not some. I'm not most. I'm Romeo Conbolt and I know what death is like on both sides of the equation.

Let the dying have dignity, what dignity left could be salvaged.

"What… a… gentle… flame…" the serpent whispered its last, the sound drifting away into silence. Storm-Red flames burnt pure enough to leave not even ash.

When all was said and done, all that was left was the skull of Jormungandr, the part of the body with the most toxins. While I'd like to have left nothing behind, burning away the poison had taken what little I had left and this would just have to be good enough.

All in all, this was a successful mission. Collateral damage was set to a minimum, Jormungandr was neutralized, and I got a few more answers to the enigma that was Mister Zeref, an unexpected bonus. Today went from manageable to stress-inducing to bone-melting relief, and that last feeling almost made getting out of bed today worth it.

Almost because I still have to figure out how to get back to shore now.

---

AN:

AND HERE IT IS!

Experimenting and practicing with a first person POV. I'm probably going to switch to a third person limited as needed, but don't worry. I won't do the stupid thing where I'll go

WENDY POV
NATSU POV
HAPPY POV

That sort of thing will absolutely not be happening. I'll trust that the American Education system didn't fail you on that bit, and that you'll have enough reading comprehension to understand WHO's pov is happening at any given moment. I'm also trusting in my writing skills which I am strangely confident about.

I hope you liked the explanations for the powers! I wanted to have a sort of tutorial-like thing for how the Flames worked. They'll be expanded on later, but here's the base uses.

I had a throwaway Zeref demon to show off how that meeting changed Romeo's standing in the larger magic world and just to imply his reputation. Just a bit.

Hope you had fun!

COMMENT! THEORIZE! GIVE ME THIGNS TO INTERACT WITH! They give me ENERGY! Inane compliments are nice, but bigger comments are nicer! They give me will to write! Some might say... the DYING WILL?

Kek.

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons!

Christopher Bennett
Edward Ferreira
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin
First of Their Kind
May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.
Michael Whitmer
Many Like Them, More Fear Them.
May they be as Remembered as They Wish to Be.

---

Some people say that you don't know what you have until you've lost it. I say you don't know what you've lost until you've taken it back.

Opening the doors to Fairy Tail was a heady feeling. It was early days yet and there was still that vague feeling that we might lose everything again, but… here and now? Just sheer happiness, full of pride that Fairy Tail had finally reclaimed her home.

"I'm back!" I shouted to an empty room.

…Though that joy was tempered with melancholy at how lonely the guild was right now. Still, like I said, it was early days. One day soon, there'd be more mages, more noise, more of that special something that was inherent to the Fairy Tail of old.

The old place was still being fixed right now. Seven years of neglect will do that to a building, but at least we owned it again. It's a wreck, but it's Fairy Tail's wreck.

First floor was a bit barren right now. We had to throw away all of the old tables and chairs because they were rotten. The bartop was salvageable, but the shelves behind the bar were not. Second floor was flat out a write-off with the gaping hole in the middle of the floor and the lower half of the stairs leading up to it missing. Surprisingly enough, the roof was as intact as it was back then.

So full of holes from the last brawl that never got fixed. Still fun to reminisce about though. The first day back? Well, lots of tears, but also lots of fun. While we were ostensibly more responsible than the Fairy Tail of yore, we had decided to indulge in some old-school rough-housing and just brawled to destruction the entirety of the second floor and the roof.

Laki Olietta, our resident Wood-Make Mage, was leading the reconstruction bit of renovation. Not just because of her magic and her experience with working with wood, but also because she had the mythical ability of long-term planning. The current plan was to rebuild it from the ground up while destroying the broken bits. Not sure how that worked since the floor and roof were already gone, but Laki knew more than any of us.

As it was, the roof had already been replaced while I was gone, so who knows what the plan was now? All I know for sure was that it was nice being able to walk along the ground floor without having to worry about stepping to and through a rotting plank. Laki must have replaced the floor too along with the roof while I was gone on my mission. Wish I could compliment her, but… Laki wasn't here today.

Actually nobody was here except my old man, nursing a drink at one of the few tables left. Even his assistant and best friend, my Uncle Wakaba, wasn't there to accompany him.

…Fuck, it was that time of year, wasn't it?

"Welcome back, Romeo." Dad raised his mug in greeting.

"Hey, Dad," I returned, joining him at the lone table. A quick snap of my fingers, and a cup burnt into Mist-Blue existence. A flick of the hand and a Night-Black flame burnt a hole through which an amber stream of mead flowed through.

Technically speaking, I would have to pay for this since this was from the guild's stash. Technically speaking, my old man was the current Guildmaster of Fairy Tail. What's a bit of nepotism between family?

"You're paying for that, by the way" he grunted.

Shutting off the portal and cutting off the stream of mead, I grunted back my displeasure. Fucking cheapass. I call him that affectionately. Dad was only looking at the bigger picture after all.

Dressed in a classy but casual style, Dad preferred simple colors for his attire, preferring a simple cloud-violet undershirt as the only splash of color. His white coat-jacket went down to his knees, accented by a darker hue of cloud-violet at the edges. A trimmed mustache, a carefully combed hair, Dad exuded the aura of a Guild Master with a cool glare nowadays.

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I styled a bit of my outfit after him. Not much, I just decided to pick a suit, and I kept it cheap with a simple suit-jacket instead of the large coat-jacket, but I did decide to wear a suit because of Dad. He made it look clue. I made sure he didn't notice that he had influenced my dress style by choosing a black color-scheme instead and adding a fedora.

The few splashes of color on my outfit were all mine, carefully chosen as a bit of a self-indulgent reference to the Flames I had inherited from the Greatest of another world; a red button-up shirt for the Fighter, an orange scarf for the Oracles, a yellow ribbon around my black fedora for the Hitman, green-tinted shades for the Scientist, a blue fingerless gloves for the Soldiers, an indigo chain around my neck for the Fortune-Teller, a small violet piercing on my right ear for the Stuntman.

Other than that? Well, just a classy suit similar to Dad's.

While there was a distance between us nowadays, it made me happy to know that there was a connection between my dad and I. A smaller one that I'd like and still one that I'd like to keep a secret from him. Not out of any real logic, just…

…It's kind of embarrassing to admit that you want to dress up like your dad, isn't it?

After a long silence where the both of us simply nursed our drinks, Dad eventually asked, "How'd your mission go?"

"Magic Council messed up," I grumbled, sipping my drink. Nice and sweet, just the way I like it, "It was another demon. Not that they're going to admit it. Again"

Dad took a sip, "Anything we need to prep for?"

"Nope. No collateral damage, so the Magic Council won't have an excuse to fine us to oblivion like last time," I sipped. Then, biting the bullet, I asked the question I already knew the answer to, "Where's everybody else?"

Taking a longer draught, he set his mug down with a sigh, "Blue Pegasus thinks they made a new breakthrough in finding Tenrou Island. The others have all gone out to search the area again."

Well, at least this time they actually had something to go off of other than baseless rumors. Smiling blandly, I shrugged, ".Huh, well, I hope it works out for them."

"You could help, you know. Your Flame-Radar could help a lot," my dad commented.

I swirled my mug, admiring the lacquer on the handle, "I guess."

It wasn't really anything special. Just extending a thing layer of my flames, preferably Cloud-Purple ones for the maximum range, and reading the disturbances. Anybody could replicate it really just by expanding their magic thinly.

…None quite like me, so I guess if I joined on those expeditions, we would have a better chance in finding them. Not much, but the chances would be better.

"...Do you not believe they're coming back?"

Now, I never said that. I quickly clarified to him my thoughts."There never were any bodies, so they could still be alive."

…In retrospect, that wasn't clearing up my thoughts on the matter so much as committing to being as non-committal as possible.

"But you're not trying to help find them," Dad didn't quite accuse.

"We have more things to do nowadays," I explained, trying my best not to imply that there were better things to do, "Missions, working with the Exceeds on the various projects we've got to do, planning things"--I shrugged with as much casualness as I could-- "I don't know. I just always seem to be busy when these searches happen."

"Seem to be, or plan to be?"

…Why did Dad always get perceptive at the worst times?

"Romeo. I'm your father. I…" he hesitated for a bit before laying a hand on my shoulder, "don't know what you want, but I know that these searches always bother you."

"They don't bother me," I denied, only slightly lying. I didn't begrudge them, the older mages who lived through Fairy Tail's glory days, but I… Huffing a sigh, I tried to work out my feelings aloud, "...We've gone out for seven years searching for them." It's something of a morbid anniversary at this point. We go out around this year, spend a week searching for them, and then come back. We haven't found a sign of Tenrou Island."

"Do you think they're dead?" he asked again.

"There never were any bodies," I repeated.

"Romeo," Dad stated.

…Fuck it. We've been doing this weird dance around for years now. I'm clearing the air now.

I took a deep breath, killing my initial response to snap. Anger was useless and passion was a luxury to the weak, and control was the duty of the strong. Looking at the empty wall of trophies, once filled with the pride of generations of Fairy Tail mages, now an empty and bleak reminder of all that had been lost seven years ago, I laid it all plain to my father. "I don't want them to be dead, Dad, but at some point, I decided I wouldn't live waiting for them."

"But we're not waiting for them," Dad squeezed my shoulder, sounding genuinely confused. I pitied him. I pitied everyone still searching for them.

I took a fortifying sip. Then, deciding that wasn't enough, I downed the whole mug, barely tasting it. Placing it gently back down, I gave up on being gentle in my explanation. "We weren't waiting now. Not now, not anymore, but seven years ago, when we first lost them, when we started to lose everything, you all… we all just waited. Waited while the Magic Council fined us to near-bankruptcy, waited when we lost the guild hall, waited when we went into debt with Twilight Ogre, and waited as our reputation plummeted, and we just waited."

Standing up and slipping my shoulder away from his hand, I walked towards the empty trophy wall and placed my hand on the smooth wood. Here. Here, alone was the only place unmarred by time and it was that much more painful to see proof of how stagnant we as a guild had begun.

Taking a deep breath, I continued, "It took a meeting with Zeref, it took me dying to finally realize none of us were living, Dad. It's better now, but everytime the rest of the guild goes out to hunt for the lost members, it feels like we were just looking for a reason to grieve again, and… I decided I'm done with that."

"But we don't do that."

"Not anymore, but early years was just stagnation and waiting and--," I burnt Rain-Blue flames internally to keep my anger contained. It was pointless, and like I said, the guild was trying again, "I remember how Nab kept on ditching quests halfway through, how Droy just drowned himself in food, you and Uncle Wakaba just drinking and drinking and… It was little things. Just little things, big things, just things that we all did to pass the time for the sake of not living then. It all felt so stagnant and dead, and I hated those days. It felt like we were just waiting back then."

I didn't yell, but glancing at my father, I think he would've preferred it to these dispassionate, not-quite accusations.

"Romeo…"

"If they come back," I said, not quite cutting him off, "they come back."

"If they don't…" I trailed off, trying my best to voice my thoughts. Eventually, I gave up and snapped my fingers, burning Night-Black flames to summon Jormungandr's fang. Before it could drop to the ground, I kicked it, spearing the fang point first into the trophy wall.

There. Let the fang of the first demon I solo-ed be the declaration of reclamation of Fairy Tail's glory. Let that be the representation of my passion here and now.

Turning around, I answered my father, "If they don't, then we live on."

Silent and stoic, my old man simply walked over and past me. I didn't realize how tense I was until he placed a hand on my shoulder and murmured, "I'm proud of you."er.

Grasping it with a hand of my own, I nodded mutely. I had a reputation to uphold and I didn't think I could pull off a single manly tear right about now.

Dad and I… Well, there was a distance that had grown through the years as I barreled on through life, but he was trying to catch up, trying to force the guild to catch up, and… I saw that and I was trying to reach back, so that had to count for something.

This moment could be the start of something.

"Snazzy place you've got here," a voice filled with smarm, "I like the renovations."

"Twilight Ogre," my dad growled, "Why are you here?"

"We're here for our debt," the usual arsehole said, the usual two sidefuckers standing menacingly at his sides.

I'd describe them, but that'd be implying I thought them important enough to know, so I'm just going to call them Smarm, Dumb, and Stupid. Smarm was the brains of their little operation, but honestly? Even he was stupid.

Twilight Ogre popped up in Magnolia after we lost our strongest members seven years ago. They took all the jobs, undercutting us in prices, and well…

Fairy Tail coasted on its strength back then, and when that strength disappeared? Well, strength made it so that a lot of things were forgivable, but weakness was unforgivable. Memories were long and grudges longer, and when Fairy Tail buckled under the weight of all the fines, Twilight Ogre swooped in with a loan we couldn't refuse.

And they've been holding it above our heads ever since.

…Fairy Tail took on a more circumspect approach to collateral damage after the Magic Council tried to destroy us via legal attack and financial extortion. That being said, I'm going to help with the reconstruction efforts of our guild by destroying every single rotten support pillar with this fucker's face.

It's fine. It's fine. We paid off the debt. I think we did. Pretty sure, we did.

…Okay, fine. I don't know for sure if we did, but if I concuss them hard enough, they'll forget about the debt. Or remember not to ask about it. Either/or, I'm not picky.

Placid smile on my face, I began walking over. As always, no need to be crass about this. Better to be classy.

Unfortunately, my father stopped me, tightening his grip on my shoulder. Stepping past me, he growled, "That's been done and gone. We cleared all of our outstanding debts before we brought back our guild. It was the only way Magnolia Town would have let us. As the Guildmaster, I am invoking my right to ask you off this property."

Shaking my shoulder free, I stepped next to him, arms crossed and still smiling to show solidarity. I did give him a side-glare in a silent demand for why the fuck he was stopping me from sending these fucks off.

A small wink and a tap on his nose was all I got. I didn't know what the fuck that was supposed to mean, but… I'd just trust him for now.

"The debt's been cleared, but you still have to pay off the interest," the smarmy fucker raised his arms in a 'what could you do' manner, drawling, "And well…. It's five million jewels."

Dad nodded along or a bit. For a moment, I thought he was actually going to agree to this bullshittery, but… only for a moment.

Cracking his neck side to side, Dad chuckled, "That's bullshit."

Blinking twice, the con-man shook his head, pulling out a deed, "No, no. See? It's in the contract you signed. Every month you don't pay, it's a percent interest that compounds and-- FUCK!"

He dropped the burning scroll. As much as I'd like to take credit for that, Dad was the one who did it. Blowing out the purple wisp of flame on the finger-gun he used, Dad chuckled again, "Nope. That's bullshit. Shut up about that bullshit. What is it you actually want?"

Choking back a growl, the lead idiot smarmed a smile on, "We want our money, but if you don't have it? Well, your Guild Hall's fine too."

…Fuck being classy.

Stepping forward, just to telegraph, just to let this chucklefuck know exactly how he fucked up, I declared, "Fuck you. This is--"

Dad stopped me with an arm bar. Father. I love you. But if you keep on from obtaining the violence I so dearly crave, we will have problems.

"I had a feeling this would happen," Dad said, ignoring my glare, "The guild went into debt seven years ago to pay off the Magic Council's fine on all of our collateral damage in the past. Do you remember that, Romeo?"

"Yeah?" I said. I almost talked about how it was lowkey his fault that we were in debt back then, but to be fair, things were desperate back then. I still wanted to kick somebody's ass and familial relations may not be enough to stop me from kicking yours, Dad.

"Then Twilight Ogre comes in with all those loans, next year," Dad sighed, shaking his head dramatically, "I took it because we had no other choice to survive as a guild, but I made sure to only take the loan after the guild hall was impounded by Magnolia."

I was so surprised at that confession that I forgot to be angry. "That was on purpose?"

"Oh, absolutely," Dad nodded, grinning like he had just won a date with a nice girl. Creepy grin if I'm honest, "The Guild Hall was classified as a historical site during that time. It cannot be destroyed nor developed upon without the express permission of the guildmaster." "Even if we didn't own the land, so long as Fairy Tail existed in some form, the guildhall was untouchable by developers, Twilight Ogre, hells, even the Magic Council couldn't touch the land until all surviving members of Fairy Tail, former and current, died. Holdover from a little known law from the founding Fiore back when things were much more Guild-centric"

…Okay, Two, no, three things. First, I'm glad that Dad was the one who pointed it out because I was going to do that and I would've been so much more awkward about it. And angry. Second. That was on purpose? Three. How the fuck did he make going into debt and losing the guild the smartest sounding thing?

Dad ignored that my view of him had been completely upended in the span of a minute, continuing to explain his madcap plan that… actually fucking worked, holy shit. "Twilight Ogre was waiting for us to buy back the guild hall, letting the debt float uncollected until they could collect what they really wanted. But if it's a historical site, why do they think they can take it?"

The Twilight Ogre mook reminded me that he existed by coughing, "Because now that it's in active use again, ownership has shifted back to you guys which means it's no longer classified as a historical site. Those protections are gone." "So are we going to do this the easy way or--"

"Hard." Dad grunted, shaking the hand he had just used to punch the idiot, "I'm going to make it hard."

Oh, now I see. You weren't trying to stop the violence, you were curating it to be that much more… fun. The only thing better than violence is righteous violence. Moral is good, but legal preferable.

And this was going to be morally right and legally satisfying. Or vice versa. Who cares. I get to finally, finally tear Twilight Ogre a new one.

"This is illegal!" the idiot blubbered through his bloody nose, "You owe us a debt."

"We owed you a debt," Dad cracked his neck, "But the keyword is owed. You see, the Guild entered debt with you seven years ago, a few months after the guild hall was impounded." "The guild tried our best to pay it back for seven years with records proving that we tried our reasonable best."

"Wait," I cut in, tapping my forehead to clear my confusion. If my father kept on dropping these bombshells, I might actually respect him as more than just a father. I might start respecting him as a Guildmaster, "Is that why you had us trawling through those law books way back when?"

"Got it in one, Romeo. Remind me how long the statute of limitations on debt was?"

"About three years, Dad," that explained the muttered cursing/ dancing four years ago. More importantly, it meant I was still goign to do a bit of creative demolition with this fucker's face in the morally righteous, legally protected, and economically fantastical way.

Holy fuck. Three for one. Okay, dad. You've earned the title of Fourth Guildmaster in my eyes. Took seven years, but you've somehow done it.

Sensing he was in danger, the mook signaled for his cronies to stomp forward, babbling, "But if you pay it, it still counts as valid. You revived it when you paid off the debt!"

"Aye, you tricked us four years ago into extending the statute of limitations for our debt. We got stuck with trying to pay for it for another three years," Dad nodded as he coated his fist in Purple Flare magic, "But this is year seven."

"And wouldn't you know it," I cackled, burning Sun-Yellow Flames underneath my skin.

"The statute of limitations passed again," Dad stated, punctuating his declaration by pummeling Mook 1 in the face and knocking him to the--- Nope, he went through the wall. It's fine. That wall was rotting anyway.

Joining in on the fun, I ducked underneath the swinging fist of Mook 2 to grab the collar of his shirt. Pulling down hard, I brought a knee up into his face. "And we didn't pay it this time this year."

I let the unconscious mook drop to the floor, grimacing when I saw blood dripping from his face. Fucking hell, that was going to stain. …Actually, I hoped the blood stained. Be a good story to reminisce about in the future.

"Better question is…" Dad sighed softly as he knelt down before the last standing Twilight Ogre henchmen with a small grin, "You want to do it the easy way? Or the hard way."

We never got to hear his answer. The fucking idiot pissed himself as he fainted.

Annoying. Now Laki was going to have to replace this part of the floor again. Bloodstains were one thing, but the piss smell was eternal.

"Well, that was fun," I said, clapping my hands off in a show of dusting off.

When he didn't respond, I adjusted my fedora as I asked, "Anything else we forget?"

Stroking his mustache thoughtfully, Dad mused, "What say you and I have a bit of father-son bonding?"

Following his gaze, I grinned when I saw that he was looking at Twilight Ogre's guildhall.

"Sure. Let's get coffee after though."

Shoving my fedora over my eyes, Dad chuckled, "Sure, my treat."

Stumbling only a little bit as I yanked my fedora back into position, I jogged with as much dignity as possible after him.I refuse to admit it, but my dad's pretty cool sometimes. I'm glad that weird distance is closing.

Yeah. You didn't know what you've lost until you have it back.


---
AN:
Woohoo! I wanted to show off a bit of Romeo's character here. Next chapter too.

The chapter after that is where things get real spicy.

As you can see here, Romeo lowkey has given up on the others returning. They will be returning though. THere's a reason for the seven year timeskip after all! We don't have to rehash all that.

Also, I just didn't feel like creating characters and OCs and plotting those shenanigans when there is perfectly good homebrew canon chaos to draw from.

Or potentially canon chaos. Hiro Mashima, while an excellent artist, has a habit of trying to... 'float' emotional beats, especially after timeskips. He tries to go "Oh look! GOne for a long time! Here's a reunion! Enjoy!"

And it's fun, but it's... popcorn fluff. Very unsubstantial. There's still the happy reunion, but the theme for the next couple chapters is... how does one reunite with those one has already let go?

That's goign to be Romeo's conflict. Just him trying to get used to the fact that people have returned. He's moved on, but apparently, he moved on too soon and FEELINGS are happening.

I hope that's how it comes across at least.

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons!

Christopher Bennett
Edward Ferreira
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin
First of Their Kind
May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.
Michael Whitmer
Many Like Them, More Fear Them.
May they be as Remembered as They Wish to Be.

---
I didn't like surprises.

Happy. Sad. I just… didn't like surprises.

I could tolerate them, even appreciate them after the fact, but in the moment? That upheaval of the status quo from one state to another?

So when Dad's face went slack after picking up a call during our after-fight coffee celebration at our favorite cafe, I knew something was up and braced myself accordingly.

"They found them," Dad said, hand shaking slightly as he placed his Cat-Pad down.

I finished my coffee. Then I continued to pretend to sip from the empty mug as I tried to figure out exactly how to respond.

I don't like surprises. Really just throws me off my game. I went from the high of demolishing Twilight Ogre's guild hall in the best father-son bonding session I've had in years to enjoying the nice chill time of having a cuppa coffee with dad, and now I'm just… having to wrap my head around the fact that people I've mourned aren't actually fucking dead.

"...Well, somebody better pick up Asuka," I said, planning a retreat from the situation. I needed time to think and to plan on how I was going to present myself.

"Don't you want to see them though?" Dad asked as if that wasn't the fucking problem.

"And forget about Asuka?" I smiled. Smiles are fucking great, keeps people calm, hides your thoughts, let's you wriggle your way out of most situations. Placing my cup down, I joked, "How cruel of you, dad. Just--"

"Romeo," Dad said softly, "You're deflecting"

"Whatever for?" I deflected, "Somebody--"

Fucking dad, being way too perceptive and shit. He cut me off, "You only do that when you think there's going to be a problem but haven't thought of a solution yet."

While I love that he pays attention enough to know me so well, I also fucking hate that knows me that well. It's annoying.

"...I'm overjoyed about this," I sighed, leaning back whilst pulling my fedora down to hide my expression, "Don't get me wrong, I really am happy they're back, but I'm also not looking forward to all the problems that this will bring."

"What do you mean? They're back!"

They're back. They're back. Of course, they're back. That's the whole problem. Just-- How do you-- Seven years. THey-- I…

How do I say it without sounding like a nitpicky asshole? Like… Sure, they're back, but it's going to be hard for them and for us. We've changed. They… may or may not have changed, I don't know. Seven years passed and a lot happened in seven years and just… Things have changed.

…I… I… I don't know how to say it properly with all these thoughts jumbling around. Maybe it's nothing, maybe it won't happen. I hope it won't' happen, but there's going to be problems with them getting used to the changes and just…

…Shit's going down. I hope I'm wrong about that, but shit is probably going to go down. Hopefully later than tonight, but fuckign hell. Shit is going to go down at some point when we all realize what seven years of change really means.

I"m hoping it won't happen. It'll be a nice, happy reunion with no problems.

…But shit is probably going to go down.

"...That's the problem," I eventually sighed, "They're back then, but we're here now."

…Maybe a bit too cryptic, but… Dad deserved a hint, and maybe I'm wrong. I really fucking hope I'm wrong about this.

Then, partly out of drama, mostly out of sheer not-wanting-to-deal-with-this, I snapped my fingers and burnt out of there with Night-Black Flames, ignoring my dad's questions.

Sorry, dad. Let me be emotionally immature about this just this once. I need time to think.

---

Ostensibly, the child of Mr. and Miss Connell (I cannot get used to calling them Alzack and Bisca, no matter how much they tell me to do that),Asuka Connell was kind of just… Fairy Tail's kid? Whenever she wasn't at school, she was always being watched over by the rest of the Guild. If her parents went on a mission, the guild watched over her.

Asuka Connell was the epitome of "It takes a village to raise a child." Or Guild as it were. Everybody taught her a little something, and I liked to think that she could come to any of us for her problems. Kind of like my childhood at the guild except with hopefully less wars.

"So they're back!" the small girl in a cowboy hat shouted, bouncing up and down on my shoulders.

Picking her up from Magic School was always a delight. There's just something about her childish optimism that makes me want to be better and not the salty-ass fucker I usually am. I'll be honest, I was taking my time taking her back to the guild and just idling along.

"Eeyup," I smiled. Children are a menace, but Asuka was my kid sis. Still wish she wouldn't yell directly into my ear when she's sitting on my shoulders though. "They're all back! Seven years gone, but now they're here."

"...You don't sound happy about that," Asuka stage-whispered.

…What am I? An open book? My dad, I could excuse, but even small, sassy children are reading me? I swear I'm better at being okay and shoving my problems into boxes.

"Eh, it's more I'm just… unsure," I sighed

"Mmhmm" Asuka hummed, "want to talk about it?

Tempting, but no. I'm the cobbled mess that comes out when a child tries to take on the weight of other people's traumas and problems grows up. I am NOT making another one of me. One of me is already fucked up enough.

"That's for me to worry about. You're just a kid. Go worry about kid things."

"But Big Bro Romeo! I can be mature."

It's not about being mature, I wanted to scream. It's about not making kids do shit that they aren't ready for. About making sure they-- Nope. Burying those trauma. It's fine. Everything's fine. I do NOT need to unbury those grievances. I've forgiven the guild, I've forgiven Dad, I am not angry anymore.

I chuckled and smiled, "And you shouldn't be. You should be bratty and whiney and ask for unreasonable things that I'll say no to like the mature and responsible teenager I am."

Was I projecting my lack of a childhood on her? Maybe, perhaps. Perhaps. But one of us deserves to not be a traumatized angsty teenager when they grow up, and it's already too late for me. The only reason I'm not any more goth or emo is because I'm too classy for that.

The Fedora makes it so. Also, my amazing sense of humor.

"You're thirteen," Asuka said, distracted easily like the child she was, "Doesn't that make you a pre-teen?"

"Fourteen which means I'm a teenager now."

"That's silly," Asuka sulked, defeated by my superior logic.

"Well, I'm older so bleh," I stuck my tongue out, finding joy in her giggles, "So what's down with the kiddos at the pre-school now? Is it all on fleek or something?"

"Big Bro Romeo," Asuka growled, deadly serious, "I love you, so I'm going to be honest with you. You're trying to be cool again, but you're just being cringe."

"Really?" I feigned at being ignorant.

"If you were any cringier," she stated, messing about with my fedora angrily, "I'd be getting cramps in my face with how hard I'm cringing."

"Shocked and betrayed by the youngest member of Fairy Tail," I sighed, shaking my head ruefully, "What have your parents been teaching you?"

"That you're very silly."

"That I am, but I'm also cool."

"No, you're not. You're cringey.," Asuka patted my fedora softly, "It's okay I still like you."

"Shocked and betrayed," I refused her pitying condolences as dramatically as possible, spinning around to make her scream in delighted fear, " How could my fave little munchkin betray me so?"

"Oh, shut up!" Asuka giggled. Then kicking her legs up and down, she pushed my fedora down onto my head as if it was a button, "Hurry up. I want to see them!"

"Hahaha!" I laughed, pushing my fedora back up. Yeah, a silly chat with my little sis was just what I needed to brace myself for the runion. I was actually looking forward to seeing them again now. Things have changed, but not all of it was bad. Let's share the joy! "Sure! You want to hop on the roofs?" I asked her.

"YEAH!" Asuka yelled, throwing two hands in the air. I readjusted to compensate for her unbalancing naturally. Can't have her bonking her head before the big reunion.

"Then," I crouched down.

"Here," coating my body in Sun-Yellow flames, I readied to jump.

"We," Asuka curled up, hugging my head tightly. Just to be safe, I used Mist-Flames to create a few ropes to tie her legs down to my shoulder.

A moment of focus to make sure everything was ready and then we were off with a duo-shout of "GO!"

Her shriek trailed high into the sky as I leapt off the street and then low back to earth as I landed onto the rooftops. Softening the landing with a series of Rain-Blue Flame platforms to slow down my descent, I began running across the roofs of Magnolia.

Magnolia was beautiful. Large, sprawling, we had been lowkey banished from the town proper, but now that we had brought the guild hall back? Well, this was Fairy Tail's territory once more and I delighted in running around.

The cafe district, the merchant district, all of it passed under my feet as I leapt from neighborhood to neighborhood, scampered across burnt yellow roofs and shiny blue tiles, skimmed across green verandas filled with plants and just laughed.

Life felt lighter than ever as I carried my little sis up. Just for fun, I took a small detour to run up the biggest building in Magnolia, the Kardia Cathedral. Perching on the ledge of the belltower, I lingered there for Asuka and me to enjoy seeing all of Magnolia Town.

Coming to Magnolia Town used to felt like a chore, an endurance test where every judging look was only compounded by a pitying one, but… It was back. All back. Seven years to fall all the way down and claw all the way back up, but Fairy Tail was back. Guild Hall, respect and power, even our lost members, it was… It was all back.

…Fuck it. Why had I been so scared of that reunion? Things may have changed, but things always do. Come what may, come what has, come anything, Fairy Tail stuck together and this was just one more reunion.

With a wordless shout, I leapt off once more and began running straight towards the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.

I ran fast enough that the wind fought against me. As it was, I had to take a small detour to catch Asuka's hat when it flew off and then another one when my fedora flew off. Then it was back to leaping across the roofs of Magnolia back home to the Guild Hall.

I was excited, happy for everything once more, and damned if I wasn't going to rush back in.

"Hey, Big Bro Romeo," Asuka shouted over the wind, "why is Twilight Ogre's Guildhall caved in?"

There was still time to enjoy past delights though. Just a bit.

Leaping and grabbing to a weather vane, I fortified the shaft with Lightning-Green to allow myself to spin around to a stop. I leaned out, saluting to block out the sun as I admired my father's and mine's handiwork.

The gaudy ass purple building had stood tall and intimidating, a tower that stretched upright into the sky like a giant ass dick. It even had the weird phallus crown thing with the way they had crafted the dome to be shaped like an ogre skull.

Supposedly, it was for aesthetic, but really, it only showed off what dicks they were. It soothed seven years of pettiness to see the skull caved into itself. Pity that they had put out the flames, but hey. We can't have everything.

"Father-son bonding time!" I answered with chipperness in my voice and that chip in my shoulder finally wiggling loose. If I ever had another chance to do this… I absolutely would because fuck those purple assholes, but I was pretty happy with how Dad and I had settled all of the guild's debts with Twilight Ogre. All of them, financial and otherwise.

Leaning her chin on top of my head, Asuka mumbled, "Did you save me any teeth?"

I blinked twice. That was a question that took me straight out of being smug to being completely confused.

"What? No!" I refused after regaining my emotional center. I didn't want to touch any of those nasty Twilight Ogre mooks beyond inflicting bodily harm, and I definitely didn't want to have Asuka touching any of that filth, "I don't want you touching anything from those chucklefu-- chucklefudgers. No. I have much better teeth for you from my last quest. Well, tooth. More part of a tooth."

Who the hell gave Asuka the obsessive collection to collect teeth?

…I did. Fuck, you try and tell one bedtime story about putting a baby tooth under the pillow for money to calm down a crying kid, and you somehow make a teeth-obsessed child. Thankfully, Asuka also has other loves, more normal ones like buns and knives, but the teeth thing is just disturbing.

"Really!?" Asuka grinned, wriggling in excitement.

"Yeah," I chuckled, readjusting my grip so that she wouldn't fall off as I began to bound across the rooftops once more "I beat a giant sea-serpent! I'm having Cait Shelter make a custom knife just for you out of one of the smaller ones."

"You're the coolest, Big Bro Romeo!" Asuka howled as we chased that need for speed. Ah, bribery. The best way to keep the cool bro status.

Sliding down a roof to build up momentum, I cackled, "Hah! That I am!"

Fuck it, I'm so ready for this reunion now.

---

AN:

One more exam and then I'm done for Spring and off to summer. I'm obviously going to be writing, but I'm also going to be working more to save up money for life's needs, helping my family, and, of course, merchandise. Still got to make that Cirno figurine I got from KawaiiKon.

Thoughts on this one? I know it's a bit slow, but they can't all be fast-paced breakneck "BAM! POW! HERE'S YA PLOT!" Sometimes I just want to write a Slice of Life thing to establish that my character may be a delinquent type, but he's the old-school yankke-with-a-heart-of-gold kind guy.

Don't worry. Next chapter it's time to make an old man cry and pick fights with his grandson too.

This one is still written very much by the seat of my pants, similar to Pacification of the Asuras, but I like to think I have a better idea of what I want to do with this one. The main theme I want to tackle is how does one handle anger.

Or something. I at least have a better outline for how I want the first arc to go. Surprisingly enough, most of it is original conflict, but has little to no OCs whatsoever. Just an exploration of what it really means for a group of people who were dead to suddenly come back alive and find that seven year's of events has happened.

Really excited to show you my version of what should've happened to the Exceeds. Hint: Think MonHun's Felynes. Also, I'm actually defining and giving a bit of my own version of how I think guilds work at some point.

Comments are an author's food pellets. If likes, subscribes, and bookmarks water a writer, than comments, especiially the detailed ones, are food for the author! Please leave comments! I'll endeavor to do my best to respond to all of them!

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

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---
The party was loud and noisy and chaotic. Typical Fairy Tail party from what I remember as a kid, but… it felt unfamiliar. I mean, why wouldn't it be? These past seven years, we didn't have much to celebrate, so something of this level of excitement would naturally be out of sorts.

I was having fun though. I got my mug of mead, which I didn't have to pay for this time because everything was free, take that, dad. But I got my mug of mead, I got some snacks to nibble on, and I had my corner. My nice corner where people didn't talk to me.

Which was fine because what would I say to them? This was a time of celebration and my usual personality is… uh… not the greatest for this sort of thing. I mean, I'm happy they're back, the members I had grown up with were happy they're back, THEY'RE happy they're back. What more needs to be said?

There needs to be something to denote those who lived through the seven years and those who were stuck in Fairy Sphere. Maybe Wisps and the Awoken? Because those who stayed were the Wisps of Fairy Tail? And those who were stuck in the Fairy Sphere had just Awoken from their slumber?

I watched as Gray and Natsu suddenly broke several tables in their brawl. Maybe not Awoken. Awoken implied that they were wise and circumspect. How about Dreamers? Yeah, the Wisps and the Dreamers, the two halves of Fairy Tail split apart by seven years of difference.

There are definitely going to be clashes between us two. I can already see it. The Dreamers will have bad habits from when reckless collateral damage was the norm, we Wisps will be annoyed when they think us too naggy, and… Yeah, there'll be classes.

See? This is why I'm not joining the party. I'm already making myself depressed thinking about all the crap that could happen. Fucking who knows what'll happen if I actually start talking.

…I'm really glad they're back. I want to kick past!me for even thinking about not being happy about this. What was that cringey-ass monologue about not liking surprises? This was great! Everybody's here. Except for the bit where we are probably going to get into a shit ton of fights over how we handle missions and teaching hte new protocols and practicing fixing things after we break them and--

…Hah, maybe I should head home. I think this party's a bit too high energy for me and I am hella depressing right now.

Getting up, I only barely refrained from yelping when I almost knocked over Asuka. Okay, you know what, maybe past!me had a point in hating surprises. Holy fuck, I almost punted you, you little munchkin.

"Big Bro Romeo, are you scared?" Asuka asked, uncaring of the fact that she had almost gotten hurt.

"Whyever would you think that, my dear?" I denied immediately, "I am perfectly in control of my actions and emotions. There is no need to worry about silly old Romeo.""
She raised an eyebrow, "When you panic, you start talking funny like an old-timey play or something.

"Perish the--" I cut myself off with a cough, "I mean. I am perfectly fine, Asuka. You just go on and have a good party with the rest of them." I patted her head,, "Cheerio, that's a good lass."

I then froze, having recognized exactly what I said.

Why did I say that last part? I just proved her point right. I quickly replayed the conversation just to make sure. …Fuck, I cannot unhear it now. Fucking hells, have I always had that obvious a tell? I talk like I'm giving a dissertation at the shitty Crocian Academy of Magic when I hear myself talk like this.

It's been years since I've been unofficially expelled from there. Stop infecting me with your elitism, you shitty institution of magical meritocracy.

I rubbed my face. Fuck, what a mess I am.

…Don't. Don't pat my hand, Asuka. Please don't pity me. I'm your big bro. Let me at least pretend I still have my cool points.

"...I'm kind of scared to meet all of these new people, Romeo," Asuka simpered, pretending to be shy and demure, "You've met them before though! You can show me around!"

…I know exactly what you're trying to do, sis. It is adorable in how you're trying to help encourage me, but it's only making me more self-conscious and… Fuck it. Might as well meet the Dreamers. This is an embarrassment to myself. I'm classy, not a fucking coward.

"Well, then," I held out my hand, silently asking for help, "Where do you want to go?"

If she was going to offer help, who was I to refuse it? Not very classy of me to refuse a maiden's help, eh?

Grabbing my hand, Asuka pointed with a small bounce, "Them!"

Following her gaze, I did not gulp when I saw it was Team Sky Dragoons. Natsu, Happy, Lucy were all sitting on a table, enjoying the food and drink. Gray was off to the side chatting with Laki and competing in Make Magic sculptures. Erza was chatting with Mister and Miss Connell about… something. ALl in all, it was picturesque and lovely and I do not feel ready to cat with my childhood heroes at all.

"Uh, let's save them for last?"

Smiling indulgently, Asuka nodded and dragged me elsewhere.

---


"Are you sure we should go to the bar?" I frowned. I mean… Granted, this was Fairy Tail, and when I was a kid, I sat at the bar all the time, but… my childhood was fucked up, so let's not use that as a measuring point.

"Well, I'm not going near Mama or Papa when they're flirting," Asuka said, twisting her face in disgust, "Besides, I hear this is where the Ace is!"

Hm, well, if she wants to see the Ace, sure. Taking a step, I marveled at how quickly the barstools had been replaced. Were they… A quick scan with Sky-Orange Flame Radar revealed that, yup, they were Laki's handimake. She really was the lynchpin behind Fairy Tail's architecture, huh?

I took a seat and just sighed. Felt like I was six years old again and asking for a mug of milk.

Kinana was manning the counter like usual. Fitting that she served 'poison' given her poison-aligned magic. Setting down my empty mug, Kinana immediately refilled it before sliding it back to me with a smile. Bowing my head in thanks, I sipped. Mm. Just like my usual.

…Should I order a milk refill? Just for old time's sake?

"Hey!" somebody shouted from beside me. Oh right, I was here to meet up with the returnees with Asuka. Turning to face him, I smiled politely at a tall ginger-haired man and a lady hugging a barrel of beer.

…That last one was weirdly nostalgic. What the fuck. Why would I remember somebody hugging a barrel of beer?

"You're Macao's kid, Romeo, right?" Gildarts said after snapping his fingers in his efforts to remember. He chuckled, "You're so much bigger now," turning to face Asuka, he made to pet her head, And you must be Alzacks' and Bisca's kid."

"Hello, Mr. Clives," I tipped my fedora, greeting the orange-haired ruffian that was our guild. Somehow, he still felt just as large to me now as he had to me when I was seven. Strangely nostalgic in a way.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ace" Asuka grunted, stepping back and hiding on the other side of me. Don't do that, Little Sis! You're the one who's supposed to shield me! I kid. I kid. Use me as a shield as much as you want.

"Cute as a button, eh?" Cana Alberona cut in, slamming her, and I say this with clear confusion, barrel of beer down. Long, silky black hair and dressed in an alluring bikini, she wore her sexuality as a weapon. Though, seeing her kneel down to smile reassuringly at Asuka softened that bit of her.

"I'm Cana," she said before sticking a thumb behind her to gesture at Gildarts, "You don't have to be scared of this doofus. He's the strongest, but also a huge softie."

"Aww," Gildarts groaned good-naturedly, "Don't go ruining my image like that!"

Asuka giggled, "Well, I'm Asuka! Fairy Tail's youngest mage!"

"Ambitious little bugger," Cana snorted, reaching out and ruffling Asuka's hair. Ah, it was nice to see my little sis bonding well with--

Oh fuck, now I remember her. She was the one that Dad hit on with Wakaba. Her and… the nice lady with white hair. Don't remember that one. It's been forever since I've met these people.

Then, I felt a tug at my hand to drag me out of my reminiscence. Looking down, I saw Asuka jerking her head. Oh, she wanted me to say something. RIght. Uh… Let's just go with the first thing in my mind.

"Sorry, my dad used to hit on you," I bowed deeply, "He's better about it now."

WHY THAT, ME!? WHY THAT!?

Things were silent for a bit and then Cana laughed, just a bit forced, waving a hand, "Oh, that's all in the past. You know I had a crush on him once."

"You had a what?" Gildarts cut in, a tinge of anger creeping in.

Keeping up a smile, I politely said, "I never want to know about my father's love life, but thank you for that information."

Asuka, why'd you squeeze my hand so tight just now.

…Oh, the awkwardness is palpable. Noted, Asuka. Hand-squeezing meant I said something awkward.

"I'm going to kill him," Gildarts growled, his mug shattering into pixellated cubes, "I'm going to find Macao and kill him."

"Stop, dad," Cana growled, tossing a few cards at his head, "You're just embarrassing me."

"Oh, so you're daughter and father?" I chuckled, hoping to change the topic from trying to murder my dad to something else, "Neat, that's kind of the reverse of what happened to me and my mom."

They went silent. Shit, they must not have understood the joke.

"See," I explained, "It's because you two acknowledge each other's relationship while my mom just ditched me and-- OW!"

Why are you stepping on my foot, Asuka!?

Looking down to glare at her, I found that the munchkin's returning glare was much stronger. Jerking her head, Asuka nommed her lips together as if she was trying to shut herself up. No, wait, she was trying to mime for me to shut up.

Looking up, I saw how forced the smiles were on Cana and Gildarts were. I replayed the conversation and… ooh. Right. Yeah. Most people don't joke about that sort of thing.

Tipping my fedora, I kept up my bland smile, "Whelp, it was nice meeting with you two. Sorry about the horrible joke on my part. Don't worry, I'm sure your relationship will work out much better than my mother's and mine."

Asuka kicked me in the shin as she followed me away from that disaster. I deserve that.

---

Retreating to the back of the corner, I nursed my mug as Asuka paced back and forth. I gave her the time to ponder over what exactly had happened. It was painfully obvious that she had never seen me interacting with 'new people'. People I knew already? Completely fine. People I had just met or reunited with after a long time? Absolutely horrendous, if a mome could be burnt, those absolutely should.

I was resigning myself to never being the cool bro again.

"What was that, Big Bro?" she snapped, eventually whirling around.

"Stupidity," I muttered. I didn't bother trying to defend myself.

"For sure!" Asuka growled. Tugging her hat down around her ears, she let it flop back up as she clapped her hands together, "Okay, new plan. How about I talk with them for a bit and then you jump in when it feels good?"

"Sounds good," I lied. This was going to go horribly, and the Hitman inside of me was reveling in the chaos.

The Hitman was a bit of an arsehole if you didn't know. He didn't care about much except the chaos.

I fucking knew I should've stayed in my corner. It's so fucking sad I have an easier time bantering with literal demons trying to kill me than actual people who I should, theoretically, know well already.

Following along, Asuka brought me over to a table in the corner where four people sat. Uniform in the theme of yankee-styled delinquency, the quadro paused in their conversation to look at us intensely

"Hi! I'm Asuka! This is my Big Bro Romeo!" Asuka chirped, uncaring of the aura they emitted, "Who are you?"

While Asuka chatted them up, I remained silent, disassociating myself as I stared at the four of them, trying to put names to faces.

They were the… Thunder God Tribe. A team where a trio of highly skilled mages acted as a backup to an S-Class mage that… I could not remember the name of. Looking at the spiked headphone-wearing yankee, I felt childhood fear goad me into remembrance, but… I just didn't remember him. Who the fuck was he?

I remember the other three though.

Long-green hair and dressed like a refined noble, the leader of the trio was Fried Justine; Master of Letter Magic to the point that he could use it on the fly in combat. Having dabbled in Letter Magic, it was impressive to say the least. Metal visor holding down a metal hood, Bickslow's mystery was ruined by his boisterous demeanor; User of Seith Magic that he uses in conjunction with his puppet totems. The Femme Fatale of the trio, Evergreen somehow combined the yankee-girl trope with the megane-trope; self-proclaimed Fairy that used "Fairy Magic". Really, it was just a combination of Earth/Light magic to produce the "Fairy Dust". Devastating to fight though.

Asuka tugged at my hand, trying to get me to say something, but two problems with that. First, I was not paying attention to the conversation. Second, I was trapped in a staring contest with the boss of the Thunder God Tribe.

Who was this guy? Laxus? He was definitely some top-notch wizard, having been an S-Class that could access the old second floor. I remember him for something else though, but what. I should definitely know him. I remember being terrified of him when I was a kid, always scurrying away when he stomped up the stairs to the exclusive second floor just for S-Class mages, but… he was so different now. So much more smile-y and softer. Shit, what was it that made him so spooky?

Thunder God Tribe. Lightning Dragon Slayer… OH, SHIT! The Thunder Palace! That thing! He made that thing! From the battle right before the Fantasia Parade! And that whole war thing! This guy's responsible for that! I finally remember who this guy is!

Snapping my fingers in victory, I finally jumped into the conversation with my important revelation, "I remember you now! It's been bugging me this whole time, but I finally remember! Laxus Dreyar! Son of Master Makarov! Didn't you throw the entire guild into civil war that one time?"

The conversation didn't screech to a halt, so much as just stop breathing to fall flat, dead on the spot, punctuated by an audible smack as Asuka slapped her face with her hand.

I deserved the footstomp Asuka gave me. Also, the hell grinding. Could've done without the pummeling as she herded me back to my corner.

---

Back in the corner again, I swished my mug. Mead was getting low. I should probably bug Kinana for a refill.

"Okay, how about this," Asuka prayed, keeping her two hands cupped together in front of her face. "You just go up to them and say how happy you are to see them. Just that. And then we leave. Immediately." She punctuated each statement by tipping her clasped palms forward and back as if chopping away my stupidity.

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled blandly, keeping a thumbs up. When in doubt, smile. It hides the pain, the shame, and all of the game! "...Side question. How many cool points do I have now?"

She glared, "The fact that you think now is a good time to ask just made me take away more points."

I sipped in response to that. Savage, but I respect it for how classy she kept it. She didn't even stomp on my foot this time.

This time she dragged me over to a white-haired trio that were catching up with some of the Wisps. Drinking, chatting, unlike the previous one, this table exuded warmth and friendliness. This time, I immediately tried to place names to faces, so I didn't have an unfortunate outburst like last time.

The eldest sister, the middle brother, and the resurrected youngest sister, the Strauss Siblings specialized in Take-Over magic, defeating beings of their specialized type and incorporating the forms for their magic.

Lisanna Strauss. Short-haired, but sporty, she seemed nice. I don't actually know much about her. She was supposed to be dead, but came back after the Edolas Incident. Still don't know what was up with that, but I guess she's come back from the dead twice now. She used Animal Soul, a take-over magic that used animals.

Elfman Strauss. Big man who loved being called manly. For some reason, he brought to mind a Boxer who shouted 'EXTREME' all the time. Never met a boxer who did that, so it must have been one of my inherited memories. He used Beast Soul, a take-over magic that used monsters. …I really hoped he didn't have a Vulcan Soul. My dad and I have… a grudge against them.

Eldest of the three and a former model, Mirajane Strauss was my childhood crush. She was nice and was like… the nice big sis to Erza's no-nonsense one. I'm not ashamed to say that I liked her; she was one of the models on Sorcerer's Weekly. Hers was the rarest of the three; Satan Soul, one that could take over demons.

Wish she was around these past couple years. Would've made things easier. I'm pretty sure Mr. Zeref wasn't trying to kill me with demons, but holy fucking shit did I have to meet and kill a lot of them.

Still! I was ready. I had my compliment planned as we stopped before the table.

"Hi, I'm Asuka! This is my Big Bro Romeo," Asuka smiled before squeezing my hand tightly, gritting her teeth at her next statement "Big Bro Romeo, say the nice thing and then we can leave."

"I'm glad you're not dead," I smiled with a tip of my fedora.There. Nice. Simple, and cla-- and I just got a stomp on the foot.

"Oh, come on!" I grumbled as Asuka dragged me away, "I followed that one perfectly."

---

Asuka didn't drag me to my corner this time. Instead, she dragged me to where my father was sitting with Uncle Wakaba and Master Makarov. Sitting on a chair, I was still taller than her standing, but as she placed her hands on her hips and glared, I felt quite small.

"I am going to leave you with your dad," Asuka said, "Please do not say anything more embarrassing."

"Hai," I muttered, "Thanks for trying. I'll buy you ice cream."

"I deserve three stampcards!" Asuka snapped, holding up three fingers.

"That you do."

A huff left her lips before she broke into a smile to hug me. "Thanks for trying, Big Bro Romeo.

Returning the hug, I whispered, "Have fun tonight. They're a bit rough and very silly, but they're good people. They were kind to me when I was young, and they'll be kind to you."

Letting go, Asuka rolled her eyes as she scampered off, "You're being way too intense again, Big Bro. Relax!"

I sent a construct of a crow after her, one borne of Cloud-Purple. Squealing in delighted anger, Asuka ran off to join her parents in meeting Erza and Juvia. Despite being an armored S-Class mage and a former S-class Water Mage, the two girls were blushing as Bisca recounted her wedding day.

Lighting a finger with a Night-Black Flame, I carved a connection from where I was to the bar-counter. Sticking my empty mug through it, I watched Kinana take the mug and refill it with mead. As she gave it back to my disembodied hand, I shouted, "Thanks, Kinana!"

Ah, distance refills. What a concept.

Pulling my mug back through the closing portal, I sipped. Mmm… Nice and sweet with that soft burn.

"So how was your day?" Uncle Wakaba puffed, his signature smoke tightly wafting around him in a polite manner. I didn't have to look at his face to know he was wearing a shit-eating grin.

I rolled my eyes, "You say that as if you haven't been watching that disaster for the past half hour. Greetings, Master Makarov."

"Greetings to you too!" Master Makarov shouted, holding up a frothing flagon "You've certainly grown from your younger years!"

"Kek," I chuckled, cheering him with my mug, "Yeah, I've been around."

As we shared a sipping moment, I sighed, trying to sort my feelings on the Third Master. While everybody that had stayed in Fairy Tail these past seven years, the Wisps, had fond memories of him; all I remembered of him was being angry at him.

…Imagine a child, worried about a father gone for a week after he had promised to return in three, going up to a guildmaster and asking for help. Only for that guildmaster to refuse. Being thankful to a Dragon Slayer and a Celestial Mage and a damn flying cat for saving his father, but holding a grudge against that Guildmaster.

Have that child grow up just a bit and watch that Guildmaster's grandson almost kill him, see that might guildmaster be laid low by his own family and pity him. Have that grudge soften and almost disappear.

…Imagine that child growing up to having half that guild disappear. Having to deal with the residue and leftovers of all the guild's faults in resolving quests. Having a grudge fanned and cooled in equal measure over seven years.

Imagine me sitting here wondering whether to put faith or not in that Guildmaster. I… I know Dad has been wanting to step down from Guildmaster ever since he got it. He wasn't the best guildmaster at the start, but he got better, and having learned why he had let the guild get impounded today, well… I thought he was a pretty damn good guildmaster.

But I also remembered how happy things were under Master Makarov. I wanted things to be like that again.

After a long moment of silently listening to the hustle and bustle of the guild, I asked, "What's the guild leadership going to be like?"

"Well, I was thinking of leaving it to your father." Makarov cackled, "I mean, he's certainly held it well for seven years!"

I took a sip of my mead. It was good mead. Nice and chilled, bit bitter, but still sweet. Fuckign love sweet mead, and it wa soothingly cool. It did nothing to quell the burning anger at the audacity of this old midget who dared laugh at my fucking father. He wasn't the best dad, not the best guild leader, but damned if he didn't try and that was enough for me, so, pardon my language, so fuck Master Makarov for laughing at my father.

Maybe I should take a step back. Master Makarov was old, senile. He didn't understand. He wasn't here when we had to call off the search, wasn't here when my father reluctantly took the spot of Guildmaster, wasn't here when we began to slowly lose everything.

…He wasn't here when we began fighting to take everything back, wasn't here when my father plotted a seven year plan by himself to protect the secrets of the guildhall, wasn't here when we finally won, wasn't there to know everything we went through, just sleeping on a faroff island and Dreaming.

"Good idea," I nodded, gently placing my mug down, "I mean we had to deal with the fallout of your laissez faire management when the Magic Council fined the guild into near-bankrupcy."

"...What?" Master Makarov blinked.

I smiled. Smiles are great. They hide your thoughts, lull your enemies into a false sense of safety, one should always smile when in doubt. Not that I was in any doubt.

"Oh, you didn't know?" I cocked my head to the side in a mocking facsimile of confusion, "We lost the guildhall because we almost went bankrupt thanks to the council's little ploys. It was all the little big incidents, you see. Little big incidents like destroying half of Hargeon Port, breaking Nazuna Observatory, destroying so many clock towers and churches, so many little big incidents that they carefully stored and remembered until you were all gone. They saved all their grudges until they had the perfect opportunity to try and take everything in one go."

"But… we have the guildhall," Master Makarov gestured to the guildhall.

"Aye, and who do you think is responsible for protecting its secrets these seven years?" I challenged with a smile, "Responsible for playing the little tricks and ploys, planned the path to get it all back?"

Master Makarov remained silent.

"That's right. My father. Seven years he fought a losing war and it was scarcely a month ago that we won that war," holding my mug up high, I emptied it in one chug before slamming it down, "My father and I just put the finishing touches on Twilight Ogre's guildhall today."

"So, yes, Master Makarov," I leaned in, toasting my empty mug against his still one, "When you think you should leave this guild to my father, I agree quite well. Despite my doubts over the years, he's certainly proven himself and risen to the occasion. At the very least, you shouldn't laugh at my father's efforts to fill your spot as guildmaster."

Ah, this felt great. Just laying it all out. What should I go for next? Bring up how many damn secrets this Guild has? Ask about why the fu--"

"-meo! Romeo!"

"What!?" I snapped before sucking my teeth in. Shit, didn't mean to snap at Dad.

Hands in pockets, eyes shadowed, my father softly growled, "Enough. Take a breath. Look around."

Following his instructions, I did as he said. A deep breath and I looked around. The guild hall had gone silent, the mood dead as grief. The people at the bar had all twisted around to stare, flagons and mugs untouched. The various tables had frozen in stunned shock. Even the Thunder God Tribe, loners that they were had stood up to creep forward to watch.

My breath unnaturally calm, I finally turned around to look at Master Makarov. Stoic and silent, his face a mask, I couldn't help but notice a small tear down his cheek.

…Fuck. I went overboard and snapped. A-fucking-gain.

Master Makarov was probably just making a crappy joke like I usually did. He didn't know the full context of what we had gone through. Hells, if it was me a couple years ago, back when I was way more edgier and angrier, I may have laughed right alongside him. He didn't deserve my anger.

I wasn't sorry that I said it at all though. That was the worst part. I wish I had chosen a better time for it, but if Master Makarov thought it was okay to laugh at my Dad's efforts these past seven years, then I'd call him out on that bullshit in a heartbeat.

Just wish it wasn't this particular heartbeat. Just wish I had done it kinder.

Rubbing my face, I sighed. Why do you only think of better options after you've chosen a shitty one? Swiping my hand down from my face in a smooth downward motion, I burnt Night-Black to escape the party.

Ah, what a coward I was.

Guess I wasn't ready for a reunion after all. Wasn't that a fucking pleasant surprise?
---

AN:

YEAH! MORE ANGST!

AFter a bit of lighthearted comedy. I promise, next two chapters are going to be light and fluffy, then there'll be a fight scene.

*Checks docs*

Yeah. Fight scene soon-ish. More of a sparring session. That one will also be an info-dump for how I headcanon the guilds should work because CANON does not work like-- Yeah, pausing there. I'd go onto a RWBY level rant about how the world-building is incoherent.

Still fun though. Still fun. After that, I have a few plans and drama, the Velveno episode will be expanded upon, then the Hour Clock thing will be, and then we'll go into the Grand Magic Games!

Hopefully. Theoretically. ALso working on a Worm/Touhou crossover where it'll be a bit of an indulgence as I do use my Touhou OC in that one. We'll see how that pans out. I've got a few rough ideas and plans, but eh, I'm having fun, riding along, pumping along.

This was supposed to come out yesterday, but I puked in my x-ray yesterday, so you get it today! Hooray!

Anything else? Anything else? ...Nope! I think that's all for now!

Comments are an author's food pellets. If likes, subscribes, and bookmarks water a writer, than comments, especiially the detailed ones, are food for the author! Please leave comments! I'll endeavor to do my best to respond to all of them!

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons!

Drake
streambolt
Gabriel
Christopher Bennett
Edward Ferreira
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
KAFFING
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin
First of Their Kind
May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.
Michael Whitmer
Many Like Them, More Fear Them.
May they be as Remembered as They Wish to Be.
Wolfdog
The Unholy and Unplanned for Union of Wild and Tamed
May they Exist in Defiance of the Order and Find Meaning in the Chaos

---
Funny how I came back to playing the guitar when I was sad.

…My mother liked the sound of guitar. Apparently, that's how Dad wooed her. By playing accompaniment to her dancing. The few memories I had of her, I remember her dancing to the guitar. Dad would play it in the living room, and she would dance, twirling and swirling, her magic accenting her fluid movements sharply, softening her quick steps into smooth slides. She always seemed so light, light like a fairy, light enough to fly like one.

…Light enough to suddenly disappear when I was six.

Even after all this time, even after speaking with her one last time, even after having made my peace with her at her grave, I still found myself unbearably angry at her for leaving dad, for leaving me whenever I remembered those lonely first days after.

…And yet I still missed her. Still love her. Still found myself playing the guitar when I was lost in sadness and anger.

A jingle of coins landing my downturned fedora drew me out of my thoughts. Nodding in thanks, I leaned back and began a new song, sad and somber because fuck it. My guitar, my music, I'll choose the mood.

I liked sitting near the riverside and busking for money. I got to practice my guitar and earn a bit of money. Not that I needed it with the payout of my missions and having Mr. Heartfilia's accountants investing the surplus, giving me more than enough Jewels to buy the stupid shit I liked, but… there was something about counting the meager amount of money I earned with my musical skills and buying a nice cuppa coffee.

Even though it was late in the evening, there were still people passing to and fro. Most simply passed by, some tossed a coin before passing on, and a few stayed and listened. The most recent person who had donated to me had also stayed through several repeats of my favorite tune to play. By this point, even I was growing tired of being angsty.

Deciding to award such patience, I looked upland smiled, "Any reques-- Oh, it's you."

I didn't mean that in a disgusted or annoyed way. I was just shocked to see a girl with Fairy Tail's guildmark on her shoulder.

I didn't expect any of the guild members to be out and about right now. I figured they'd still be at the party. …To be fair though, the party had probably died out right after I ruined it with my rant at Master Makarov.

Fucking hell.

Long blue hair, innocent floral dress, the girl was… surprisingly short. I was sitting on one of the benches and I could still stare her directly in the eye even as she was standing up. This was Wendy… Marshal? No. Marvell. Wendy Marvell. The youngest Dragon Slayer of our Guild, she was aligned with Sky and was one of the rare few magical healers in the world back then. She joined Natsu's team shortly after the Oracion Seis. Strangely enough, due to Fairy Sphere, I was actually about the same age as her now.

Her companion Exceed, Carla stood by her side, looking at me disapprovingly. White-furred with a pink bow on her tail and wearing a classy but subdued dress, she had the demeanor of a prissy-ass rich kid. Except, you know, shrunken down to a pocket-sized cat. It almost made me laugh. Reminded me of those prickly-ass rich kids at the Crocian Academy of Magic. You know, the ones who flushed your books down the toilet because you were a poor kid from the boonies and then cried for mummy and daddy when you beat their ass in the ring.

Ah, good times. Good times.

…Her demeanor also reminded me of something else though. While I joked about her being prissy, she was the regal sort of prissy. Dial it back, soften it a bit, Carla could pass for a princess. She looked a bit like… actually, a lot like another Exceed I had met. Wait, was she Miss Shagotte's dau--

"Hello," Wendy waved shyly before tucking her hands behind her back.

Eh, I could unravel the mystery of Carla's parentage later. Bowing my head since my fedora was being used to busk, I returned the greeting with a strum of my guitar, "Hello."

"I heard some nice music," Wendy muttered, swinging back and forth on the balls of her feet, so I… uh… Came over."

"Huh," I muttered. Didn't know quite what to say to that, so I just nodded with a smile, "Well. Thank you kindly then!"

The lovely thing about playing music is there's never an awkward silence. We simply shared in the soft staccato of a melody that I finger-picked from the guitar.

"...I thought you went home," Wendy hesitantly asked, "You know… After… the… thing."

Ah, yes. The thing. What a remarkably polite way to call me snapping at Master Makarov. The thing. Joking aside, I appreciated her attempt to keep the levity right now.

"Home's not far from here," I replied, jerking my head to the direction of my house, "I just wanted to be dramatic about being depressed, and I figured playing guitar near the river fit that well enough."

"...Good moon for it?" Wendy said, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, absolutely," I nodded, forcing myself to keep the tempo steady. WHy was she talking to me? Shouldn't she hate me for snapping at Master Makarov? At least find me weird or something? Next thing you know she's going to ask to sit next to me or something.

"...Can I sit with you?" she asked, almost as if she read my mind.

Only one thing to say to that. I am way past my limit of polite conversation. It's a miracle I haven't fucked this up yet.

Before I could cut in, the cat pulled at her skirt, whispering loudly, "Careful, Wendy! He's… unsteady."

"He's sad," Wendy whispered back, equally loudly.

,,,These two have no idea what subtlety is. You whisper to hide communications. You don't whisper in front of the person you're talking about. Behind, yes. Not in front like…

First off, to Carla, rude. I know it's true that I'm fucking cracked, but you don't have to say it like that. Second off, to Wendy, awkward. I know it's true that I'm also perpetually depressed, but you didn't have to just put it out there like that. That being said, I'm feeling more petty than embarrassed.

"I was going to say no, but now I'm going to say yes to annoy the cat," I interrupted their conversation, still playing along, "Also, not sad. I'm melancholic."

I strummed, leaving the two gals to look at one another in antsy embarrassment. Hey, I didn't like pointing it out, but somebody had to. Get them to know how to properly gossip.

"Is there a difference?" Wendy asked, blushing even as she steadily ignored the previous awkwardness.

"One sounds cooler, but no. Not really," I admitted

Wendy giggled as Carla huffed. Her giggle was soft and whispery, but oddly pleasant. I don't know why, but it felt nice to know I made her laugh like that.

Taking a seat on the bench next to me, Wendy asked,"What are you playing?"

"Oh, just some random tune right now."

"Mm. Sounds strangely familiar."

"You're not the first to say that you know," I remarked, repeating it idly once more, "It's one of my favorite tunes. My dad taught me the basic melody." I chuckled softly, "Maybe it's our Guild's theme, eh?"

"Maybe," Wendy kicked her legs, "Feels like a call to adventure."

Never thought about it like that, but… now I think I'll introduce this tune like that.

"...Sappy," I remarked

"Oh, is it?" Wendy stammered, "I'm--"

"I don't dislike it," I cut her off before she could spiral, "Feels like a call to adventure, eh? Sounds perfect for Fairy Tail."

"Oh. Thanks!" Wendy nodded, smiling, "...It seems sadder than it should though?."

"Well, I'm in a sad mood, so I'm playing sad music."

"Oh, sorry. You were just…" she trailed off.

"So angry earlier?" I finished for her. Hey, I was a bit of an ass. Part of being classy is freely admitting that.

Wendy stayed silent, fiddling with her fingers. Carla glared at me. Eh, I've been glared at by worse things, and I definitely deserve this glare. I think we're going to be buddies, Carla. You'll call me out when I'm being stupid. I always need more people doing that.

Tossing aside thoughts of future friendship, I stopped playing and looked up at the night sky. "Yeah, but anger is just sadness you don't want to admit at the moment," I murmured. Letting silence fill a bit, I cringed at how emo that sounded. I angrily strummed my guitar, "Or something sappy like that. Fucking hell. Damn guitar's out of tune."

I wasn't lying. I had been playing all evening, it was bound to be a little bit out of tune. Got to tune things before they went out of tune. I was pre-tuning stuff. I'm classy. I don't get awkward. If it distracted Wendy from trying to get 'feelings' out of me, that'd be great. Or something.

Was I overreading this? I was probably overreading this. Let's just tune. How'd it go again? Even Average Dogs Get Bones Eventually. E. A. D. G. B. E. Thickest to thinnest, top-down.

"...Your dad told us about the seven years," Wendy said after I had finished tuning up to the third string.

"Heh," I chuckled as I began tuning the G-string, "I hope he said good things about me."

Carla cut in, "He had to apologize for you, you know."

"Carla!"

"...Yeah, I fucked up," I sighed with a frown, testing all six string. Fuck, something twanged when it should have twinged. I fucked something up pre-tuning things. Now I was actually going to have to tune the guitar, "Fully admit that. I'm going to apologize to Master Makarov tomorrow."

"He also explained about what you did too!" Wendy cut in. Taking a deep breath, she spoke quickly, "He told us about how proud of you he was and talked about how you were the first one to start taking quests again and lead the charge for everybody to train and be stronger. To wait for us without just… waiting for us. Your dad thinks you're great."

I plucked the strings loudly, using the excuse that I was tuning to drown her out with mindless noise. Looking only at the strings, I hoped I wasn't blushing. That'd be embarrassing. Playing a few bars, I regathered myself before correcting my father's enthusiasm, "...I didn't do much. Just trained and took missions. To be honest, that was mostly because I figured you guys were never coming back and… Well, I kind of gave up on your guy's return."

Wendy ignored the fact that I basically left them for dead, shaking her head to stubbornly say, "You still helped keep the guild's spirit alive."

"I really didn't do much. Just took fights, picked missions, just… I just did stuff."

I didn't even start doing the big missions that got me my epithet as the Fiamme Dell'Arcobaleno until I was 12. Before that, it was just me running around and fighting every damn arsehole that tried shitting on our guild.

Hellfire, I even went to the Crocian Academy of Magic for like… two years to try and drum up goodwill with the Magic Council. Waste of two years too, since I practically failed so hard in the classes that the only reason I didn't get kicked out was because I got expelled for beating up this fucker of a teacher.

I'd do it again. Fucker was creeping on Sherria. Point is, I usually made more problems than I fixed.

Shaking her head, Wendy disagreed, "Not according to them. They all apologized for you, but they also talked about how much you did for the Guild. You dragged them out of just waiting with your passion for everything! You helped take care of Asuka. You got Droy to get back into shape and you helped your dad plan out the new way the guild works and you did so much stuff! Did you really get Nab to finally do missions, by the way?"

Okay. Wow, why is she so determined to uh… whatchacallit? Build me up? It was nothing special. I focused on tuning even though I had just finished doing that.

Trying to force my cheeks under control, I mumbled an answer to her last question, "I got annoyed with his wishy-washy piss-assery about a mission only he could do. He kept on getting the guild into more debt everytime he dumped a mission halfway through. ...Told him that if he didn't stop half-assing missions, I was going to halve his ass."

Wendy nodded, "That's what he said too."

"I'm not going to apologize," I strummed, finding pride in successfully tuning a guitar without the use of a tuning Lacrima. "He was weighing down the guild back then."

"No, no!" Wendy shook her head, "He's actually thankful that you helped him get past that block."

"...I may have hit him on the head too hard then. Definitely going to have to give him a checkup."

"Everybody who stayed in the seven years thinks you're great. A bit rough, but great"

"Yeah, I am great," I nodded, arguing with her over… something. I don't know what, but it's important to correct her misconception, "Great at fighting and shit. Just that. Nothing else."

Wendy pouted, "You're kind."

Why is she so stubborn about this!? We literally just met.

"I just confessed to threatening to halve the ass of a half-assed man."

Carla nodded, eyebrow raised in confusion, "That he did. If he's anything, he is brutally honest. And just plain brutal."

Thank you, Carla. You know what I am.

"That's the thing. He's just honest," Wendy frowned at her friend before aiming the frown at me to repeat, "You're just honest. I think you try to help, and you do help, but you're just… rough about it."

"I made the Master cry," I reminded her.

"Yeah, and you feel bad about it?" Wendy asked.

…I thought you were supposed to be a ditz. Why are you being so pushy and… perceptive? Time for a tactical retreat from this uncomfortable analysis. Goign to be smooth and classy; she won't even notice that I've changed the topic.

"Oh, hey, I finished tuning," I grunted, "Here's the same song from earlier, but with less depression."

Changing from minor to major, I played the song just a tad faster to help vent my feelings. If the previous version sounded like a sad remembrance, this one was a triumphant boast to charge forth to better times.

Letting me go through one complete round of things, Wendy, thankfully, let the previous topic drop and sighed, "Things are different now, aren't they? Seven years is… so long."

"It's surprisingly shorter when you live through them. Can't imagine how all of you feel, having lost seven years. Sorry about ruining the reunion by the way"

"Mmm…" Wendy hummed, "The party's still going on, you know."

"What? I thought I ruined it!"

"Just a bit, but nothing too bad. Master Makarov was still a bit sniffly when I left, but he was laughing at some of the stories your dad was telling him last I remembered."

"I suppose that's the best anyone can ask for." I smiled. Hey, just because I have pentup anger at the Master doesn't mean I want him to be sad. I was glad the old geezer was laughing again, "I hope Asuka's having fun."

"She shouted something about shooting your kneecaps though," Carla answered. Wow, she really was living up to the stereotype of being catty.

"Not looking forward to that," I grumbled. Still, glad that Asuka was getting to know the rest of them without me fucking things up. "That offer still stands, by the way. Any requests?"

Surprisingly, Carla was the one who requested the most. We ended up whiling away the night, listening to love ballads of every sort. For such a catty feline, Carla was a bit of a romantic. What a great way to end a shitty night, just playing music on the riverside with… friends. I hope they'd let me call them friends.

Guess I wasn't that much of a fuckup if I still got to have this sort of peaceful moment.
---
AN:

Every angsty teen needs their emotional support ditz!

Bit of a cooldown chapter. Next chapter should be the finish to the introduction arc, and then we start a few slice of life episodes to fully explore what changes have occured in the past seven years. Then I have homework to do and we'll go on a short hiatus for this! I've got to watch the Clock Arc!

Some of the filler in Fairy Tail actually looks interesting, so here's hoping it's good. If not, I'll toss it.

Comments are an author's food pellets. If likes, subscribes, and bookmarks water a writer, than comments, especially the detailed ones, are food for the author! Please leave comments! I'll endeavor to do my best to respond to all of them!

I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

Spoiler: Thank you to my Patrons!

aliencandle
Drake
streambolt
Gabriel
Christopher Bennett
Edward Ferreira
Romain BETTINELLI
Big Sloppy
Fellwinter
Pathfinder
Richard Arsonault
KAFFING
Rimgaudas
Alxariam
The D M

Spoiler: Special Thank you to these Patrons!

Indigoblin
First of Their Kind
May their Lootings Be Fruitful and Noticed Too Late.
Michael Whitmer
Many Like Them, More Fear Them.
May they be as Remembered as They Wish to Be.
Wolfdog
The Unholy and Unplanned for Union of Wild and Tamed
May they Exist in Defiance of the Order and Find Meaning in the Chaos

---

Despite how depressing I usually am, I'm quite the morning person. Sometimes I woke up late, especially if I went to bed late last night or shit happened, but typically speaking, I woke up before my favorite coffee shop did to be one of the first, if not the first customer.

Having already gotten my usual; an iced coffee with eight shots of espresso, eight sugarcubes, a bit of cream, and a lot of mint essence, I was almost ready to deal with the aftermath of my bullshit last night.

Not the bit where I fell asleep with Wendy and Carla on a public Bench. That wasn't bullshit, so much as awkwardness. We had woken up at around the same time, finding ourselves cuddling one another. There was a beat, and next thing I knew, I was in the river, Carla was laughing herself silly, and Wendy's voice was trailing away as she shouted 'sorry'. I think what happened was that Wendy pushed me back in embarrassment a tad too hard.

It's fine. We went out for a bit of coffee at Fae Java after. It was nice.

No. I mean the other bullshit. The one where I snapped at Master Makarov for… I won't say no reason because I had reasons and still have many reasons to be angry, but I snapped at him for a shitty reason in the shittiest manner possible.

Talking with Wendy and Carla last night made me realize that… maybe I'm not a complete asshole. I'm still an asshole, but not a complete one.

I just have bones, many bones, so many fucking bones to pick with so many people. Master Makarov for example, but I had bones to pick with everybody. Bones to pick with the rest of the Dreamers over the shit they left us to deal with in their collateral damage. Bones to pick with the Wisps who stayed because, yes, they've improved from the moping and 'just waiting' of the first few years without the strongest hitters of the Guild, but damned if I let them fall back into bad habits.

And I have a bone to pick with myself because what the fuck was last night? Collateral damage, that's what. I got pissed, lost my class, and just let loose. No aiming, no thought, just sheer anger.

I'm an asshole, but I'm a classy one. I take my anger and I aim the damn thing. My passion is mine. I will control the rage. It shall not control me.

One last sip for luck, I pushed open the guildhall with a smile.

"Good morning!" I grinned. Fucking four hours of subpar sleep on a park bench outside, halfway through an eight-shot espresso iced coffee, I am so fucking ready to negotiate, argue, and debate my way to victory. "I have brought coffee!"

People groaned at how loud I was. Perfectly understandable seeing as most of them seemed to have just woken up to a nasty hangover. Perhaps I should've been quieter in my arrival, but I am feeling hyped, pumped, and actually ready for once.

The drunkards at the bar table had barely stirred. Precious few were alert, but Dad, Uncle Wakaba, and Master Makarov seemed to be having a discussion. Or were having a discussion. All three of them were looking at me with an undefinable look. I resisted the urge to flinch. That was definitely not a conversation I was looking forward to. The Connells weren't here, but they'll probably be here later. Good thing too. Didn't want to have the conversation with the leaders of the guild around Asuka.

Pulling over a table, I cleared off the top and snapped my fingers to open up the Night-Black Portal that dropped an array of donuts, cakes, and pitchers of coffee. To the side, I put the plates and utensils along with access to the milk and sugar. That'd distract most of the audience hopefully. Or give them something to snack on while the drama happened. Probably the second.

As the zombie-like partygoers began to line up to obtain my meager offerings, I sipped my coffee. Should I just bite the bullet and talk to Master Makarov now? Or should I--

"Hey!" a voice shouted. Turning, I saw that it was Natsu with his fists alight. "Fight me!"

Ahah! A distraction I'm not scared of meeting a childhood hero of mine now! No longer shall awkwardness scare me, I have fucking espresso. Eight shots of espresso! Best see what he wants before I talk to Master Makarov.

"And a good morning to you, Natsu!" I nodded up and down, sipping. Small sips. Small sips. This coffee has to get me through everything today. "What do you want to fight me for?"

"For talking shit to the Master," he growled, stomping through the line, "You left before I could beat your--"

I'm going to assume he was going to say something about beating my ass, but he had tried getting in the way of Laki and her coffee. Before Natsu could react, he was bound in a wooden stockade, arms held in place to the side of his head, and then kicked to the side.

Fixing her glasses and sipping from the pitcher of coffee she had commandeered, Laki glared at me as she declared to the guild, "If I have to do repair work on the second day of this party, I will dismantle this guildhall to the ground."

"Natsu just got beaten by Laki!" Happy exclaimed, holding his cheeks in surprise.

Happy, nice Exceed. Tended to be the peanut gallery, but he was the fastest flyer in the guild from what I remember. It feels so nice to be taller than him for once.

Tossing his head back, Gajeel laughed, "Ha! Flame-brain just got--" The Iron Dragon Slayer was suddenly pulled down by his collar to stare into Laki's slightly manic eyes"Huh?"

Gajeel Redfox. Iron Dragon Slayer. Demolished the guild that one time back in the Phantom Lord V Fairy Tail Civil War. I think Laki's held a grudge over that for years. Rest in peace, good man.

Side-eying the Dragon Slayer as she gulped down coffee, Laki scowled, "You're an Iron Dragon Slayer, correct?"

Looking side to side in confusion, Gajeel answered, "Uh, yes?"

"Are your Iron Constructs Ephemeral or Eternal?"

"Huh?"

Huffing a bit, Laki rephrased her question, slowly saying, "Do your. Iron Constructs disappear after a period of time or do they stay?"

"Uh, stay?" Gajeel answered. He then stumbled back upright when Laki let go.

Patting his chest twice, Laki informed him, "You're part of the Reconstruction Department. Add me on TomeWork when you get a Cat-Pad."

"What?" Gajeel blinked before scowling, "WHat!? You can't just tell me what to do!"

"I can and I will, Mr. 'Former Phantom Lord'' " Laki mercilessly reminded him of his past affiliation.

Tucking away her book, Levy stomped in front of Laki to yell, "Hey! He's better now!"

Looking down, Laki smiled softly, "Oh, I'm not angry about that. Not anymore, at least. I'm just exhausted being the only one having to fix EVERYTHING around here. It's so nice to have another Molder Magic that can create Eternal class objects." Blinking twice, Laki then grabbed Levy's shoulder, causing the girl to squeak, "Tell me, can you also create Eternal Class Objects?"

"Uh, depends on the material?"

Leaning in, Laki purred, "Excellent. You too are now part of the Reconstruction Department. I expect to see you at our monthly meeting."

While it was comedic to watch them flounder in the wake of Laki's efficiency, I noted several things amongst the reactions of the guild. While the Wisps had all returned to their original activities, the returning Dreamers had all stood in surprise, some still gaping with a gasp. As I feared, there was a disconnect.

…Was it something to worry about? Probably not, but I am a paranoid idiot, so something to keep note of.

A burst of flames reminded me that Natsu was here. He roared, "Fucking fight--"

I'm going to assume he wanted to say 'fucking fight me', but a pile of ice froze over him as a naked man scolded, "This isn't what we talked about, Natsu!"

Sizzling and melting, the ice quickly disappeared as Natsu escaped. Brushing off a bit of slush, Natsu growled, "But he was a fucking asshole to the Master"

"He's also fourteen," Gray shot back, "And remember what Erza said. We have to be polite."

Gray Fullbuster. Premiere Ice-Make Mage, and Lyon Vastia's brother-disciple. Cool guy, pun fully intended. I liked him even if he liked to strip a lot. He used to make me ice sculptures to play with when I was a kid.

Clenching his fists, Natsu glared at me, "You were a fucking asshole to the master. Please fucking fight me."

I sipped and smiled, "Fair enough! Thank you for being polite and not immediately attacking me ten. I would have hated to spill my coffee. I would love to fight you after I finish my business."

Meeting my gaze, Natsu looked for something. He must have found what he was looking for because he snorted and stepped to the side.

Before I could leave, Gray stopped me, one hand on my shoulder, "Hey. Are you… really Romeo?"

What a loaded question. Was I Romeo? I technically died way back when, when Mr. Zeref had accidentally killed me with that god-awful stupid-ass fucking horrible curse that asshole Anksheram slapped on him. That wasn't even touching into the memories that I used to learn how to fully utilize my Dying Will Flames. What does it even mean to be--

Oh, wait. He's asking for something way simpler.

Patting the hand, I nodded, "Yeah. I'm Romeo."

I'm sure it was a cold comfort to the Ice-Make mage. I can only imagine what it felt like from his perspective. To have what was formerly a young kid you remember suddenly become this angsty teen seemingly overnight. Hah, while a childish part of me still resented all the Dreamers for having disappeared, the more mature me pitied them and their temporally displaced lives.

Still, as much as I wanted to indulge in distractions, sit in my corner and just people-watch, I came here this morning with a goal. Make up for last night. Apology cake and coffee for the guild and an… honest discussion with Master Makarov.

Stepping forward to the table where Uncle Wakaba, my father, and Master Makarov met, I steeled myself with a smile and bowed.

"Good morning, Romeo," Master Makarov said, remaining seated as he puffed on a pipe. Dad and Uncle Wakaba remained standing to either side of him. Dad was glaring at me.

Yes. Yes. I get it. I am literally making up with him right now. Please stop trying to send me a telepathic message. That's Warren's skillset, not yours.

"Morning, Master Makarov," I returned and then bowed, taking off my hat as I did so, "I apologize for my words last night. What I said was meant to hurt and I could have said them in a kinder manner." Standing upright, I slipped my hat back on and did another small bow with my head, "Once more, apologies."

Once more, dad. You don't need to glare so hard. Stop trying to send a message to me. Just text me on your Cat-Pad if you're so angry. Not that I'd read it, but you get the point.

"...But you don't apologize for saying them," Master Makarov eventually sighed.

"No."

Dad finally gave up. "Romeo!"

"They needed to be said, Dad," I shrugged before sharpening my posture. This was just like a fight. Every moment, every stance, every word would be carefully chosen to get my point across, "My father has done the best he could over the years to keep this guild safe. That being said, he has no wish to continue being guildmaster and would happily return the position to you."

Dad gaped while Uncle Wakaba simply sighed. I can't help it. I fight for what I think is important, and I think this is important.

Chewing on his pipe for a bit, Master Makarov grunted, "But you don't agree."

"No, I don't," I confirmed, carefully keeping my voice level, "At the very least, there should be a transition period, one where he teaches you the new systems that have been implemented and current political landscape that shapes the current Guild system."

"What happens if I have another successor in mind?" Master Makarov asked.

"Then Uncle Wakaba and father would be their advisors," I answered, confused as to why he asked that question, "I don't particularly care who leads the guild, so long as it is led. As I said, there needs to be a transition period, one where he teaches you, or the new guild leader, the new systems that have been implemented and the current political landscape that shapes the concurrent Guild system."

Silence fell. Surprisingly enough, Dad's glare lessened and his eyes shone with exasperated pride. Thanks, Dad. Love you too.

"...Are you angry at me, Romeo?" Master Makarov suddenly sighed.

"Yes," I smiled, reminiscing about a time when he told a scared child to simply wait for a missing father to return from a solo Vulcan extermination. I reminisced, letting the anger boil just a bit, and then buried it once more, "They're old and have no bearing on this discussion though. What I was angry at was you disrespecting my father's efforts, but that's an easily fixed mistake."

Chewing his pipe, Master Makarov's eyes roamed up and down my profile before he suddenly asked, "Master Macao, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

Stifling a flinch, Dad fell into his polite persona, "Master Makarov, I couldn't possibly pres--"

"Your son speaks the truth," Master Makarov cut him off. While I'd have probably used that as an excuse to snap at him, I couldn't blame him this time. Dad's polite persona is annoyingly flowery, deliberate simpering to pander to the prideful asses of the Magic Council. "I'll admit that I may have laughed at the thought of you being the Fourth Guildmaster, but seeing your son defend you passionately last night and logically just now… Well, it seems I'm still a bit of a fool. I want to know, truly know. What are your thoughts on the matter?"

Looking at Master Makarov, then at me, Dad took a deep breath and slipped from his polite persona to his political one.

"While my son could have worded it better," Dad said, giving me a side-glare, "I do agree with him. We are overjoyed to have you all return, but things have changed and we will need to guide and help you adapt to these changes. Rest assured, we have no intentions of encroaching on your, or whoever you so choose, authority "

Silent for a bit, Master Makarov suddenly threw his head back and laughed, "Hahahahaha! I never thought I'd see the day where a Fairy Tail mage could speak so politically-like so well!" His laughter cut through the tension that had been building underneath and I found myself oddly relaxed. Wiping a tear from his eye, Master Makarov nodded with a puff of smoke, "We should have a discussion then. You, me, Wakaba, and my successor. We'll hammer out the details on how the guild as a whole will be moving forth."

That's good. That's great. Fuck yeah. This is what I've always wanted. A real go-getter. That passion from the days of old is back! I mean, it was coming back before they came back, but.. Gah, you know what I mean. I mean I know what I--

Fuck it. I am so ready for this new era for the gui--

"Later though!" Master Makarov shouted to the groans of the many still-hungover people, "We still have a party to continue!"

"Huh?" I stumped, my smile dropping in surprise. Wait, what? Wasn't that last night? We literally just had a party?

"It's a reunion seven years in the making. Seems only right that the party should be proportional at least"

"With all due respect," I said, my respect levels for the Master that had recently recovered also recently taking another nosedive, "that seems grossly irresponsible, Master Makarov. Shouldn't we get back to work?"

Staring at me, Master Makarov's outline somehow seemed to become… cartoonish as he stage-whispered to my father with a small grin, "You son seems to have a bit of a…"

"Stick up his ass?" my father fucking betrayed me, "Yes. He's a bit of a workaholic."

I work hard, train hard, get all y'alls off your asses, and this is how you betray me? By insinuating I have a work ethic? I do all this work, so I can be fucking lazy. I resent that implication. It's your damn fault that I don't think I can take a break.

"I am absolutely not a workaholic. I'm lazy. I like fun," I corrected. Being a workaholic meant you had an abundance of energy. As it was, I was running on fumes after having to be so polite for so long, "I do plenty of stupid shit for fun. I resent that statement. No, I just think we need to hammer out the details as soon as possible. I mean-"

"Romeo," Wakaba cut off my rant, "A break won't hurt anyone. We still need time to actually plan the details out before we even begin, as you call it, the transition. I doubt that you want any of the returnees to just delve into the new Quest system blind, right? We still need to get them the Cat-Pads, teach them how to use the new Lacrima-tech, how to navigate the new Quest and job classifications and guildboard, there's a lot that needs to be gone over before we even start the guild back up proper. Not to mention having to renovate the guild hall."

…Damn, I didn't even think about the fact that Cat-Pads are a relatively new thing. THey're like… what? Three years old? Holy shit.

You could always trust Uncle Wakaba to pick out the things everybody missed. He's chill like that. Just to be safe though…

"Just to be clear," I asked, "you guys will be using this break to try and plan a course of action?"

Yes!" Wakaba snapped his fingers, relief entering his shoulders, "That! We're going to be doing that."

I scratched my chin, "Do you need help then?"

Dad shook his head, "Romeo. Just let us do the planning. Be a kid, okay? Relax, have fun, and introduce yourself to everybody again."

Huh, I didn't think about it that often, but the way I live my life must be pretty damn stressful for dad. Full-tilt, non-stop, I've been doing a lot of things that a kid my age shouldn't. …I wouldn't stop. Life's too short to not go at it with your all, but maybe a break would be fine. Just a small one. Let my dad not worry so much.

"Fine," I nodded, "A week." Keeping my smile up, I injected a little darkness in as a warning, "But if you guys start dragging your feet, I'm going to start dragging this guild forward again."

While Master Makarov smiled indulgently, it was gratifying to see Dad and Uncle Wakaba pale slightly and frantically nod. Always good to have my… promises understood to be a matter of fact.

Turning on my heel, I waved, "Ciao for now then."

That's my bit said and done. They've got a week to get their asses moving and plan a course for the guild. After that, if nothing's improved, then I'm going to have to try and muddle it through just like before. What's another seven years of grinding?

I am fucking exhausted. It takes a surprising amount of effort not to fucking snap, and damned, if I didn't do the good boy thing and not snap and cuss like I really fucking wanted to.

…I know I promised that fight with Natsu, but I only said after I finished my business. Not immediately after. So long as I fight him at some point, I'll be fine. SO it could be later today, a week later, or hell, even years later.

You know what. Fuck it. Week's break. I'm going to use it to catch up on sleep.

---

AN:

So, no fight. I lied. That's how writing works. I realized I didn't want to write non-stop soap opera levels of drama, so here's a neat little confusion. Don't worry, the conflict will still show up. Fairy Tail's full of big personalities and those personalities will clash.

I can only hope to do it well enough.

Watching a bit of the Fairy Tail anime, I realize... Holy shit, the animation is PRETTY damn bad. I want to get into blender and 3D animation, but just looking at how much they abuse stills and dialogue, holy shit, animation back then was really, really cheesy. I'm hoping the new Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest has MUCH better animation as the industry moves forward to using the Demon Slayer model of animation.

That being said, definitely going to use the anime filler. Surprisingly easy to put into canon. It never made sense to me that right after the lost guildmembers come back, they immediately go to the Grand Magic Games. Having a few slice of life episodes and a big arc makes the pacing that much better in my opinion.

Next chapter for this is going to, hopefully, be a third person perspective on how much the world has changed for the returning guildmembers.

After that, it's off to Oshibana town. These next chapters is goign to be me trying to nudge Romeo away from his lone-wolf tendency and joining an actual team. Who's team? Pretty obvious, but I'm not going to put it into words for now.

MIght also take a break for now. I'm about to go on vacation (A very big surprise to myself) and if I die in Florida, please note that I want my projects to be carried on in some form. SO write fanfiction of my fanfiction! Also, if a year passes without me giving any updates of any sort on any platform, I'm probably dead at that point, so anything that hasn't been released to the public still hidden on my patreon, please feel free to post it to the public.

Only after a year of inactivity please. One full year. No updates whatsoever. I'll be posting updates on my discord and patreon if I have any sort of medical emergency(Which I've had many in my lifetime) or something drastic has happened.

I'm still planning to write whenever and wherever possible. Just planning out my fandom will in the event of a worst case scenario happens in Florida.

Projects I'm working on? Always working on A Gensokyo Transmission, but I've decided to try my hand at a Worm/Touhou crossover and also rebooting that old RWBY idea. The RWBY one is a purely self-indulgent one with a fair bit of Mary Sue tendencies, so that's my quiet indulgence, but the Worm/Touhou one is going to, hopefully, be a rebuilding of Gensokyo after the Entities destroyed it.

On the bright side, this version of Gensokyo will finally have a sea!

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I have a Patreon! Feel free to help out there! It gets you big thankies and also previews and sneak peeks to finished chapters. You'll get episodes a week ahead, but you'll also possibly get to comment on completed scenes. You also get discord roles. It's just for things. There's also a Discord! Check out my Tumblr Memoirs too!

 

[Philosophysics]

As Gildarts followed Master Makarov through the secret underground staircase, he couldn't help but think that this smelled like responsibility.

Being back was great, it was fun catching up with the guys, drinking with Macao and Wakaba. It was hard hearing how the guild had struggled and lost so much, but also heartening to see the spirit stay strong and learn of how they got it all back.

The homecoming party was one to go down in history, and it was great. Really. It was great.

Which made Gildarts seriously contemplate just leaving right now instead of following the Master further down. Master Makarov had waited for everybody else to fall asleep or go home before asking Gildarts to follow him.

Trusting Makarov like a father, Gildarts had naturally followed, but he had been expecting a small discussion about things. Maybe talk about Romeo and how reintegrating to the present would look like. Instead, Gildarts found himself learning secrets about the guildhall.

Secrecy equals responsibility and thus Gildarts was giving serious thought to running as the stairwell opened up to reveal a grand chamber with ornate doors. The cave walls were aged with glittering moss and glowing mold, giving the cave an almost fairytale look.

The doors were of electrum, glimmering in the ambient light of the flora. No knobs or levers were near, but the symmetrical split showed that it was meant to be open. All in all, it was the sort of secret that seemed timeless.

Which was why it was so surprising to find someone leaning on the door.

"Macao?" Makarov squinted in confusion, "What are you doing down here?"

"Waiting."

Gildarts glared. He understood that the past seven years were rough, but seriously? First, the son, and now the father. When did the Conbolts become so flippant?

"You shouldn't be here, Macao," Makarov growled, hands clenching his staff in preparation for a fight. Following his Master's cue, Gildarts prepared himself also. Was this another Ivankov situation? Gildarts really hoped not. He liked Macao even if he and his son had gotten a bit too big for their britches these past years, but if Macao became powermad like Master Makarov's son, then… Well, Gildarts would defend the guild.

Contrary to both of their preparations for battle, Macao simply continued leaning against the ornate doors, lax as could be. In spite of being in front of two of the strongest in the guild, he took out a pack of cigarettes (Lucky Seven brand, Gildarts noted) and lit one.

Taking a puff, tapping off the ash, Macao raised an eyebrow, "Is this who you're picking as the Fifth Master? Really, Makarov? I've been trying to hold my tongue on all sorts of things since you came back, but really? This is who you pick? Gildarts? He's not responsible enough. The man didn't even know who his daughter was for a decade."

Gildarts clenched his fist, but didn't… couldn't say anything. Fuck. He knew he wasn't responsible, and he was trying, damn it, but damned if Macao wasn't right. Gildarts wasn't the type that could be trusted to lead. Trust him to break things, to fight for the guild, but don't… don't trust him to care and nurture and… Gildarts hated Macao for speaking the truth so bluntly. He hated himself for not being able to deny it. Or even wanting to.

"This is reserved for Guildmasters," Master Makarov stubbornly insisted.

"And was I not the Fourth Guildmaster of Fairy Tail, Makarov?"

"...This isn't the same thing," Makarov sighed. He loosened his grip and relaxed, consciously taking a step back from escalating.

"Isn't it, Makarov?" Macao scowled, "I held the weight. I know the responsibility. That man looks as if he's ready to run just from seeing this door."

Gildarts had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming true.

"He's strong," Makarov returned.

"Not in the ways that count for a Guildmaster, Makarov," Macao shook his head ruefully, "Gods know I wasn't until I saw how much I had failed my son."

Silence. What could they say? While he was honored that Makarov thought so highly of him, Gildarts knew he wasn't good for the position of Guildmaster.

"It doesn't matter. I'll just pick up the pieces of what's left and fix it. I've done it before; I don't mind doing it again," Macao waved his hand dismissively, his voice and tone being far too chipper for the bitter words he spewed, "More importantly, this is a secret people are willing to kill for. Why the fuck is it under the old guild hall?"

Okay, that was enough. Gildarts stepped forward,"Hey, you need to respect the master. Just because--"

Faster than either of the two mages could react, Macao aimed a finger lit with purple flames at them, "Let's take a step back now."

Gildarts raised an eyebrow, "And what do you think that's going to do against me?"

"Nothing," Macao smirked, slowly changing h's aim to point straight up, "but it'll give the signal to Wakaba to blow the top off this place."

Following the sightline, Gildarts and Makarov gaped at the runes layering the top of the ceiling trailing back over the gate. Gildarts was no expert in the finer arts of magic, but even he knew at a glance that these were explosive runes.

"Those runes are enough to blow the guildhall skyhigh," Gildarts shouted, struggling to think of a way to stop the madman, "What are you doing?"

Macao choked. Affronted by the accusation "What!? No! We just got the guildhall back after seven years. No way am I blowing up all my hard work. No. That array is targeted at this fucking door."

Well, fucking hunky-dory. That made Gildarts feel so much better. Okay, it did a bit. It was nice to know that Macao didn't want to hurt his guildmates upstairs, but Gildarts also didn't like the idea of standing inside a blast radius.

How could he stop this? Crush magic dismantled, but could he dismantle it fast enough? It was high, but a few jumps and-- No. Gildarts was fast, but he wasn't faster than a magic bullet. Could he attack Macao directly? But what if he got the shot off anyways? Shit. What could--

"Why are you doing this?" Makarov asked, demeanor far calmer than Gildarts. Confused, Gildarts shuffled questioningly. Tapping his staff twice, Makarov motioned with the tip towards Macao, letting Gildarts see that the man had lowered his hand.

Oh. Master Makarov was stalling for time, doing that diplomacy thing. Gah. So lucky that the Master was here. This was why Gildarts wouldn't be a good guildmaster. Without Master Makarov, Gildarts would've just started punching and probably made things worse.

"Remember what I said? That this is a secret people are willing to kill for, Gildarts? I've killed for it too. At this point, I think I deserve to know exactly what I've been helping hide. "

"Bit arrogant of you, eh?" Gildarts scoffed. Maybe Macao wasn't another Ivan, but damned if the self-righteousness wasn't the same.

"It was seven years, damn you," Macao roared, suddenly aiming his finger towards Gildarts, flame extinguished, "SEVEN YEARS where you were gone. Fairy Tail fell far from its glory days. We lost the guild hall, we lost our homes, we lost respect, we almost lost one another in those first years, but damned if I didn't hold it together and damned if it didn't work because we could all party once more in the old Guild Hall together again."

"You lost the Guild Hall?" Gildarts whispered. He knew things got bad, but… not that bad. He didn't even realize. Everything had seemed normal, but… What?

"And more," Macao scowled, "Clawed it all back though, just in time for our reunion. You have no right to judge me for wanting answers. "

Having stepped in front of Makarov, Gildarts settled for glaring at Macao. They were at an impasse, but if he could protect the Master from the initial blast, then… then… Gildarts didn't know what would happen next, but he was sure Master Makarov could figure it out.

Just as suddenly though, the rage left Macao. Returning to aiming a lit finger at the ceiling, Macao wiped his face, "I'm sorry. Just… Got a lot of shit piled back." Turning around and leaving his back open, Macao sighed, "I'm not like your son, Makarov. Ivan Dreyar is a fucker and a bastard, and I guarded Fairy Tail's secrets from him while you were gone."

While Gildarts wanted to try and ambush, Master Makarov stepped around and forward to ask softly, "Did you kill him?"

"He's alive," Macao waved his free hand dismissively, the cigarette in between the two fingers drawing strange patterns as he did so. "Not for lack of trying on my part though. Fucker always was good at running."

"Macao," Makarov whispered, shocked at the casual admittance to the desire of murder, "What have you become?"

"Harder, sadly," Macao turned around, smirking with a coldness born out of determined desperation, "It's fine if you're soft, Makarov. Fairy Tail always was a soft guild, and that's why I love it. But when the chips are down, I'm more than willing to pull the trigger."

"What did you do?" Gildarts couldn't help but ask. This was… This was different. There was no doubt in his mind that in a fight, Macao would lose… but Gildarts didn't think he would win either.

And… And Gildarts didn't think he wanted to fight Macao anymore. He felt… so stupid. So stupid for thinking that Macao wanted power when he was just… feral. Feral was the right word here.

Looking up, Macao sighed as took another puff, "...I guarded Fairy Tail's secrets. When the Council started skulking around, I chased them off. I went into debt tying the Council up in court, and when that failed, I learned what temperature teeth burn at."

"...You've changed," Makarov murmured.

Macao chuckled darkly, "That's what happens when time passes by. You change. You haven't changed at all though. For better or for worse."

A long silence fell, a cold and dangerous equilibrium coming into stalemate. Neither side wanted to push, neither wanted to break something so surprisingly fragile, but… for a crack to be healed, a bridge had to be tossed.

"What do you want?" Master Makarove eventually broke the silence.

Shaking his head, Macao answered with a weight born of weariness, "I don't want power, I can tell you that much. I don't want fame or riches or any of that shit. I'm not Ivan. I just… I want answers, Makarov. I want to know whether Fairy Tail really is the guild my son loves. Whether it's a guild I can still love. Whether all the sins these past seven years were worth it."

"There's no going back once you know," Makarov warned.

"...My son died to Zeref, you know."

"What?" Gildarts asked. That was a… hell of a thing to claim. Hell of a thing to say all of a suddenin response to this whole… thing going on right now.

"Craziest thing. I know," Macao shrugged, "Romeo was wandering outside the city. Well, he ran away more like it because everything was shit back then. Spent an entire day searching for him and I had to punch a Vulcan dead when I finally did."

"That doesn't mean Zeref was there," Makarov frowned.

"Vulcans don't dig graves for children. They don't leave magic that feels like death's scorn. They don't leave tales of demons and curses and gods on my child's tongue."

Gildarts blinked. That was… Wow. That was more hoity-toity than expected. Macao was supposed to be a gentleman rogue, yeah, but… wow. Leaning into the gentleman.

"You've grown more eloquent," Makarov said.

"I had to learn to fight in a different way, Makarov,"

"Not Master anymore?"

"I've been debating on whether I can trust you ever since I found out how many secrets this guild has."

Gildarts wanted to say something in Makarov's defense, but the Master simply held up a fist when he took a step forward.

Macao sighed, a deep one that spoke of depths of weariness unknown as he tried one more time to plea, "You know, those flames of Romeo showed off yesterday? Everybody calls them Fiamme Dell'Arcobaleno. Flames of the Rainbow. Want to know what he calls them?"

Quiet.

"Dying WIll Flames. He died to obtain that power, and then he used those flames to drag the Wisps of Fairy Tail kicking and screaming out of the mud five years back. Nowhere near the top, but hey. At least, we have some respect. At least you people had a home to come back to."

Like father, like son. Gildarts thought it was just Romeo who got angry, but… Macao too? Different types. Where the son burned hot, the father burnt cold. Either way, the Conbolts had a way to make words scorch the soul.

"Me? Wakaba? Us old geezers? We knew Fairy Tail had secrets. We just never knew it was the kind of secrets that caused immortal dark wizards to come skulking around, have the Magic Council to pour bodies into the Earth to find out our secrets; we didn't know and we're tired of not knowing." Macao sighed with steel and pointed his finger back up, finger lighting with purple flare, "One way or another, I'm going to know exactly what Fairy Tail is here and now."

Clenching and unclenching his fist, Gildarts barely twitched to charge before Macao flicked away the spent cigarette and pulled out a glass tablet from behind his back. Immediately, Gildarts froze in place, wary of the new tool.

"Sorry, Wakaba's been listening in this whole time, Gildarts," Macao smiled wryly, idly waving what must have been an extremely compact communication Lacrima, "Even if you take me out, he'll activate it from his side. This secret will be known. Whether just us or for everyone, that's for Makarov to decide. If it helps, I want it to stay quiet. Let the adults be the only ones stressed."

As silence reigned, Gildarts found that didn't know what to think, let alone say. Was Macao the bad guy here? For wanting answers? It was easy for himself to say to just trust the guild, but Macao had acted upon that trust, guarding the secrets of the guild unyiedingly and just… Gildarts wanted to hate Macao for putting Master Makarov in this position, but he honestly couldn't say he wouldn't want answers after seven years of not knowing.

"...Who else is listening in?" Master Makarov suddenly asked.

"Just Wakaba."

"Call him down. You both deserve to know what you've been guarding."

"Master?" Gildarts whispered.

"It seems Romeo was right in more ways than one," Master Makarov sighed, shaking his head ruefully, "It seems that you really did hold the guild together in more ways than I had acknowledged. Thank you."

Nodding once in acknowledgement, Macao lifted that strange glass tablet to his face and spoke. "Enenra. This is Onibi. Veil is lifting, join us now. Over."

…Codenames? Wasn't that a bit childish? Gildarts refrained from voicing such thoughts aloud since it seemed practiced and rehearsed, but… Damn. They made it look cool and professional.

Message sent, all three waited tensely.

Then they waited patiently.

They they just waited.

"...So is he coming?" Gildarts eventually asked.

Macao somehow made the act of shifting in boredom look badass as he deadpanned, "It's a long walk down."

"Oh, right," Gildarts trailed off, only mildly jealous at how Macao was pulling off the cape and making boredom look cool.

They waited a bit longer.

Fully aware that they had been close to coming to blows, Gildarts caved into the boredom and attempted small-talk, "So, how you've been?"

Silence.

"Okay," Macao eventually answered.

"That's good," GIldarts acknowledged.

And then it was back to silence. Awful, awkward silence.

Finally, mercifully, a trail of smoke slipped into the room and coalesced into a pompadour that slowly grew a man. Puffing a smoky circle, Wakaba raised a hand in greeting, "Sup." He then took a stance, albeit a casual one with his hands in his pockets, next to Macao and side-whispered, "id you do the super-intense thing again, Macao?"

"No." Macao grunted, glaring intensely

Wakaba raised an eyebrow.

Macao closed his eyes and sigh, "Fine, yes."

"Like father, like son, I guess," Wakaba shrugged, his lackadaisical nature surprisingly help loosening the tense mood, "You better clean up before we open up the door though."

A quick snap of the fingers, and Macao easily and quickly dismissed all of the runes. "It's clear."

"New trick with the smoke magic, Wakaba?" Gildarts said, trying to jump in on the easygoing nature of Wakaba. Gildarts was not used to being this serious with guildmates, and Wakaba was a breath of fresh-air compared to the mood just now.

Wakaba chuckled, "Eeyup! Since Macao's kid decided to upend and revolutionize a whole subsection of fire magic, I figured I'd try my hand at it. Why manipulate smoke when I can become the smoke, eh?" Tracing a smoke ring in the air with a slowly dissipating finger, Wakaba coalesced the smoke back into a finger to snap, " It's not much, but it's a neat little trick for fights."

"Makes you hard to hit?" Gildarts guessed, already guessing at the utility. He was fairly certain that he could still beat Wakaba, but it'd be a lot harder trying to [Crush] smoke.

Priming two finger-guns, Wakaba mock-fired with a grin, "Got it in one."

"Enough joking around," Makarov's voice cut in, "This is a serious matter that only Macao seems to understand."

Gildarts rubbed his head guiltily, but Wakaba only puffed with an idle smirk. Taking measure of all the participants, Makarov had a grave frown as he stated, "Remember that this is to be kept secret."

Wakaba chuckled, "Can't be harder than the bodies."

Ignoring that morbid joke, Makarov turned on his heel. Stepping forward to place two hands on the door, Makarov channeled mana through them and into the magical gears and leylines engraved and hidden.

Shining fairy-white, the doors opened.

For a moment, all four stood in awe, simply basking in the roiling aura of Lumen Etoile. The shimmering light refracted by the crystals of purest Etherano; for a brief moment, there was a moment of silence as leaders of Fairy Tail and their most trusted paid their respects to Fairy Tail's greatest secret.

Then, dragging a hand down his face, Macao sighed, "Why do we have the dead body of a loli in our basement?"

"It is not some dead loli's body!" Makarov snapped, barely restraining himself from hitting Macao, "It's the First Master's body!"

"Doesn't make it better," Wakaba interjected. He took a bracing puff from his pipe, "Actually, I think it makes it worse. Makes us seem like a cult."

Makarov looked to Gildarts, eyes all but begging for help. Gildarts carefully looked to the side and ignored the soft cough of despair from the Master. While he could feel the barely contained power emanating from the First's body encased in the crystalline Etherano, it was kind of fucked up to have a dead girl's body in the guild's basement.

"It only sort of looks like a cult?" Gildarts tried, "I mean we don't hold a secret ritual for it, right?"

"No, we do not hold a secret ritual for it," Master Makarov didn't quite stamp a foot, but it was a near thing. "Because we are not a cult."

"Then why do we have it?" Wakaba asked. GIldarts was glad Wakaba asked, because he was too afraid to ask himself.

"Are you--" Makarov pinched his nose, "Do you want to have a ritual for it?"

"I mean…" Wakaba cut in, "If we're just going to keep something in the basement, we should try and use it at least? It's kind of like acrappy China tea set otherwise. Look, but never use."

"The First Master is NOT a crappy China tea set!"

"Whelp, I've seen enough," Macao sighed, "I've got to ask though. Why is she naked?"

Another question that Gildarts was also too afraid to ask but was glad somebody else did.

"I don't know! She was like that when I learned about this! Can't exactly break open the crystal and dress her up now can I!?" Makarov grumbled, closing the doors, "This was supposed to be all dramatic, and we would all pay respects to the First Master, but instead I get you yokels judging me."

"I feel perfectly in my rights to judge you," Macao said.

"Judge the Second then! He's the one who dumped this on me!"

"THades! The guy who turned evil and literally betrayed us? Why are we keeping anything from him!" Gildarts exclaimed, the thud of the doors jostling him out of his numb acceptance, "We have a dead loli body in our basement because of him!"

Starting up the stairs and the long hike back up, Wakaba nodded in agreement, "I'm not comfortable with having dead loli bodies in our basement. Especially if they're from evil turncoats."

"Seconded." Macao echoed.

"Thirded," Gildarts nodded, feeling a strange connection to the two now. He supposed knowing about the dead loli body under the guild would do that to you.

Following the three, Makarov sighed, "I'm not happy about it either, but it's the First Master's body."

"Then build her a statue or something," Macao grunted.

"Or a mausoleum," Wakaba suggested.

Whirling around, Makarov gestured silently and angrily, hands and arms trying to mime the idea of largness like a… Like a giant crystal. ….That would make it hard to bury the First Master, wouldn't it.

"...Right, right. Giant crystal."

Nodding at their understanding, Makarov turned and continued onward up the steps, sighing, "It's also our final weapon."

"What? So it's like etherion or something?" Gildarts joked, "Oh, no! We're doomed! Quick! Fire the Loli-laser!"

"More like…" Makarov struggled for the right words, "Mega-etherion?"

Gildarts stubbed his toe a step. Hopping and hobbling to keep pace with the others, he groaned, "I was joking, Master. Please tell me you were joking."

"If anything, I was understating it."

"...Wow, so we have a loli-shaped mega-etherion in our basement. We figured the secret was dangerous, but apocalyptic?" Wakaba tilted his back to laugh, just a hint of panic tinging the undertones. Elbowing his partner-in-crime, he chuckled, "At least, we protected something useful, eh, Macao?"

"I suppose. We are taking this to our graves and beyond," Macao stated, resolutely keeping his gaze forward and upwards. He really had changed, Gildarts noted, just a bit sad. Seven years really hardened a man, huh?.

"I'm glad that you see the importance," Makarov smiled, happy at the maturit.

"Beyond fucking over the council, it also just sounds horrible to admit that we've kept a dead loli in our basement," Wakaba pointed out before taking another puff.

"It is the First Master's body!" Master Makarov grumbled, "Nothing to be ashamed about.

"The first Master's dead body,!" Wakaba refuted, "That's like the first thing you check if a Guild's going cult is if they have a dead body in the basement. At least you haven't tried telling us that she talks to you and gives you orders." He puffed and then frowned, "She doesn't do that, right?"

"No," Makarov grumbled, indicating quite clearly that he didn't want to speak of this any more.

Silence reigned just for a bit.

"The First Master's dead body," Wakaba suddenly chuckled, "Surrounded in crystals and sealed behind a door to be displayed like Fine China."

Makarov sighed.

"The First Master's naked dead body," Macao cut in, letting in a rusty but still immature humor, "Preserved and waiting like the finest of wines.

Makarov groaned, "You're making this sound much worse than it actually is."

"The First Master's naked dead loli body," Gildarts couldn't help but cut in, "Exuding power and aura. Resting until the day the Guild needs her once more as the prophecy foretold!"

"Gildarts!?" Makarov asked, scandalized and betrayed.

"Hey, I'm glad you trust me that much," Gildarts put two hands up in the air in surrender, "But I'm not going to be guildmaster. I'm doing my best to destroy any and all expectations right now."

Not even bothering to act ashamed of his plan, Makarov complained, "Then how will I retire!?"

Macao sighed theatrically, "While I feel vaguely insulted that you didn't even consider me after my distinguished seven years of service, I'm going to cut in here and say that I'm retiring as Guildmaster. Maybe Wakaba?"

Wakaba shook his head and crossed his arms, "I was your assistant. I know the work and paperwork behind such an honor. Absolutely not."

Gildarts raised his hand, "I vote Makarov."

"I vote Makarov." Wakaba raised his hand.

"I vote not Makarov!" Makarov shouted.

Then, unexpectedly serious, Macao raised his hand, "I vote Makarov with the caveat that me and Wakaba are held on as assistants."

Gildarts cocked his head, "While I'm all for that, why add that caveat?"

"Because Fairy Tail's changed and you two don't know how much. Worst comes to worst, I don't want a repeat of the Battle of Fairy Tail where it's the old guard versus the new guard."

"It can't be that bad."

"Fairy Tail's got smaller but that only made us more… What's the word?"

"Intense?" Gildarts suggested. Yeah, that summed up Macao's changes best. He was intense. His son more so if last night was anything to go by."

"Yes," Macao nodded with a smile, "We're much more intense."

"Like I said, can't be that bad." Gildarts shrugged dismissively.

"I was ready to blow us all up just now," Macao reminded.

How'd he forget that? Gildarts winced, "...Good point."

"Agreed," Makarov sighed, "You have to help with the damn paperwork."

"Fine."

"Fine."

In unison, the three responsible ones sighed while Gildarts fist-bumped the air.

No idea how, but responsibility successfully dodged.

=====

AN:

Bit sick, so not much to say.

I had the bones of this chapter written months ago, but only recently, did I figure out how to add the meat on. Fairy Tail is one of my main three MUSTFIX fandoms alongside RWBY and MHA. I'm always revisiting how to do it better and this is one of two published attempts.

I might reboot this, but I don't think I will. Feline Fighty definitely needs a reboot if I'm ever to continue that one. Sorry for not saying as much. Bit tired. And sick.

Oh, right. Changes incoming to the patreon. Might do a poll system, definitely going for a 2 week exclusivity, then 1 week, then public release schedule.

Didn't follow through this month, but that's mostly because it's unofficial.

Also, Fate: False Farce is currently being worked on. About a third the way through of where I want to be. Funny story. I've plotted out chapters 7 and 8 better than I have chapter 6. Damn you, Kotomine! Why must you be difficult!?

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