章節 224: {A New Path}: Expectation Vs Reality!
When the father-son duo left the guild after the wave of shock and awe that Amell had created, it was quite late at night. Guild master Makarov had intended for the party to go on into the night, but what could he do when one of the founders said, "Go home and sleep." After that point, most members left and went home to rest up for the coming day.
Along the streets of Magnolia, the two were walking side by side in complete silence. The city wasn't awake any longer, and the silence enhanced the comfort around them.
"How's mom doing?" Gildarts said finally. You might think that after so many years apart that they would have lots to talk about, but it was quite the opposite. Sometimes when such a long time passes between meetings, it becomes overwhelming and you end up not talking about anything.
"Sylvia is good. The war over their tore on her, but she's recovering very fast, she's more mentally stable than your old man." He laughed. Both of them knew how strong Sylvia was. She had to be because she was together with Amell, who always left for years-long journeys.
"Good, I've meant to come and visit, but this place has kept me busy. The dangers that plague Ishgar is more than I can handle alone. Sometimes it feels like I'm fighting a losing battle."
"Really? I heard from Sebas that you have been doing very well. I didn't think someone with such a carefree attitude could feel any form of hopelessness." He teased his son.
"I'm not like you, dad. I don't have the strength to simply laugh this off. Keeping the world safe isn't an easy task, yet I still enjoy doing it. I just wish I could do more."
A growl came from the side and they both looked at the grumbling tiger walking beside Gildarts. "I think you are doing more than enough. If you ask me, you're the one running away from the world and they are the ones that need to get their things together and catch up. In time, you will possess unmatched strength so maybe you should enjoy this time when you can still find challenges."
"Atlas has a point," Amell said. "You should enjoy the time where you can still find people to challenge you. Take me for example, I rarely get involved anymore since the world would never progress if I constantly intervened and fixed things for it. Plus, once people know you are very powerful they will come running and begging for your help over and over. So, enjoy your time now when you can still fight freely."
Gildarts just shrugged his shoulders and said. "Maybe you're right, dad, I'm probably just looking for something to complain about. Overall, life is pretty great."
"That's my boy," Amell said happily. He suddenly remembered he had forgotten to announce the most important family news. "On another note, back to our family again. We had twins!"
"What?! More siblings?" Gildarts looked over in shock and horror, mostly for having the temporary image of his parents doing it. "When did this happen? Is it two boys, two girls, or one of each?"
"It's a boy and a girl. Valerie and Valerius. They are turning ten this year. They actually begged me to let them come, Valerie desperately wants to meet you, and well, Valerius really just wanted to see how advanced the world's technology was. But, I'm sure he wanted to meet you too." Valerius had his mother's view on fighting, he let others handle it. He still had power, since he was Amell's son, but not like his sister who actively sought out anyone stupid enough to fight her.
"Hahaha, well I would love to meet them." Gildarts looked around sarcastically. "So, I guess they didn't come along."
"No, your mother is still not comfortable with the whole concept of travelling between worlds, especially when it comes to the twins. She says they're too young. Ridiculous, right!" He scoffed at the idea. "Does she not trust me?"
"I think it might be more that she will not see them for twenty years. You do have that tendency, dad. She is the parent that would start crying rivers if she missed just one birthday. Unlike a certain someone." Gildarts deliberately coughed into his hand as he glanced at Amell.
"Ouch, your old man still has feelings, you know. And by that logic, she ought to be furious with you, my boy. She has missed almost as many birthdays as I have." He said, defending himself.
"I don't think so. I'm just too damn lovable, she wouldn't stay mad at me for long. Though she probably hates you. Without you, our family would still have stayed here and not ventured off to different worlds." Gildarts said in an attempt to rile up his father.
"I hope that not's correct. If I do anything more to piss her off, I might have to sleep on the couch when I get home. You should follow along, to distract her, so she won't remember that she's mad at me."
"No, no, you're on your own, dad. And who knows, maybe I'm wrong, she might not hate you for how you split up our family." He said again with a smirk on his lips.
"You're evil, just like me. I guess you are my son." Amell said.
"I guess I am." And the two continued their back and forth through half the night as they walked around Magnolia.
While the father-son duo bonded after a long time apart, there was a third person, belonging to this cosmic and awe-inspiring family sitting inside the guild building. She was hiding tears with the cup of alcohol she was downing again and again. She had asked not to be disturbed, but Mirajane who stood quietly behind the bar just didn't seem to be able to look away. When a friend was crying in front of you, could you let it be?
Mirajane came to the final conclusion that she couldn't, so she walked out from behind the bar and approached Cana silently. In an attempt to not startle the young brown-haired woman, she took a long way around the hall to arrive at the table at the back where Cana was sitting alone. "Is it okay if I sit down?"
"I'd rather you wouldn't, Mira. Just leave me alone, I'm fine." Cana was holding the over-sized cup in front of her face so Mira couldn't get a clear view of her. But the signs that she was crying, or had been was still clear to see from the wetness on her face.
"I know my ale is magical in taste, but I don't trust it to heal a broken heart. Would you please let me sit down, we don't have to talk."
"Fine, I don't own the building, you can sit wherever you like."
"Thank you," Mira said and lifted up her dress to climb into the seat.
Mira sat there watching the table most of the time, while only occasionally glancing up at Cana. The card mage sat watching the ale in her mug storm around like a vortex as she yanked the mug from side to side.
"You know," Mira began, "The more you stir the ale and the longer you let it breathe the more the taste will fade. This isn't exactly a fine wine. You should go ahead and drink up before it spoils." She tried to ease into the conversation, but Cana didn't leave a lot to work with.
"Who cares, I don't drink for the taste."
"I've noticed," Mirajane said and smiled a little cheekily.
Cana looked up at Mirajane and now she could see how red Cana's eyes were. A clear sign of crying, yet Cana didn't seem to care. She got up, drank the last of her drink and slammed the mug down on the table. "I'm going home." She got out of her seat and started walking wobbly towards the doors.
"See you tomorrow," Mirajane said calmly, but only got a quiet grunt in return. As Cana left the building, Mirajane was left inside with a frown on her face.
"Don't let it get to you," Makarov's voice appeared from the side. He had at some point in the last five seconds appeared on the table with a drink in hand.
"Master, I thought you were preparing the trials for tomorrow. You're not skipping work, are you?" Mirajane's voice got dangerously dark and sinister, to such a degree that the hair on his skin stood erect.
"No, I'm certainly not. I'm just taking a break. We're right on schedule." He said as he lied through his teeth. His plan was just to wing it, and if something happened he would blame it on someone else. That was something that had always worked for him.
"I have my eyes on you, master."
"Yes yes, I always know you do."
"Anyway, it's right on time, isn't it. Her behaviour."
"It is. Always around the S-Class trials. She is one of the candidates this time as well, so let's hope she can pull through."
"She's strong, much stronger than people give her credit for, including herself," Mirajane said.
"She's still very young, eventually she will find her way, and we shall be there at every step of the way, supporting her. That's our job as her friends, as her family." Makarov felt the drowsiness slowly take him over, so he shook his head and stood up. "Well, it's time I also find somewhere to rest my weary head, I need to be tip-top shape tomorrow."
"That is a good idea, master. I shall leave for home as well. I'll lock up before I go."
"Good, I can always count on you, little Mira," Makarov said as he too wobbled away.
"Of course. Good night, master."
"Good night!" He said as his small frame disappeared from sight.
"It's my job to cheer them up, so I should get some shut-eye so I can do my best tomorrow as well." Mirajane started her routine cleaning of the guildhall before she went home.
********
The next day, the guildhall was packed to the brim much earlier than usual. Today was, of course, the day of the S-Class trials and this was one of the days of the year no one wanted to miss. Natsu and Grey had been the first to arrive, or so they thought, it turned out that Erza had come in two hours before the sun rose, almost at the time when Mirajane had finally left the guild to go home. And, she had only gotten four hours of sleep, yet it didn't show at all on her that she was sleep-deprived.
The entire guild was gathered in front of a huge stage upon where Makarov together with the current S-Class mages stood. Gildarts included into that roster, yet Amell was nowhere in sight like he said he would be. They had separated last night and he had no idea where his dad had gone.
This was at the back of Makarov's mind but he couldn't wait for him to show, so he began talking to the impatient mages below. "You all know why we have gathered." His eyes drifted over the crowd, and his gaze lingered on Cana, she looked better than last night but still not top-form. "Today is the day where we find out if we have another S-Class mage in our midst!" His words caused an uproar of cheerful yelling.
"As you all know, not everyone has what it takes to become an S-Class mage, but there are more than one of you that have shown during your time here that you definitely have the capabilities of one. The question is, ARE YOU BRAVE ENOUGH TO FACE THE CHALLENGES!?" His sudden increase in volume earned another massive cheer from the members. Natsu who stood in front was yelled as loud as he could. So loud that a few people backed away.
"If you're children of Fairy Tail your answer better be, HELL YES!" Makarov's powerful voice shook the eardrums of a few that stood too close, including Mirajane that stood right next to him.
"Listen up brats, for now, comes the announcements of this year's S-Class participants." Everyone quieted down except for Natsu who stood as the one-man choir and cheered without a care in the world.
"He has lost his mind..." Lucy said and lightly face-palmed. "Someone shut him up, please."
"SHUT UP!!" Cana turned up her ferocity to the max and hit Natsu with all she got.
"Holy shit, you knocked him out!" Gray said as he watched how Natsu's head bounced against the floor. "Well, done!" He flashed a thumbs-up as he simultaneously threw off his shirt causing Juvia's nose to start bleeding.
"THAT'S A MAN!!" Elfman threw his arms up and winked proudly at Cana.
"She's a girl!" Wendy lectured harshly to the man four-times her own body-size.
"A MAN AMONG MEN!" He continued like he hadn't even heard her. Mirajane had to speak up to finally get her brother to shut up.
Lucy was sitting down with her head between her knees while complaining. "Why does this always happen. Why can't Fairy Tail just be normal?"
"It's nothing weird about us, if anything, you're the weird one, Lucy," Gray said as he stood shirtless with his hands in his pockets. Juvia was just inches behind him taking deep breaths to breathe in the smell of his body.
"Yeah, sure, I'm the weird one." She answered while looking at the creepy blue-haired water mage behind Gray.
"Enough!" Makarov said after he felt this was enough of these theatrics. "I will now announce the candidates." Before he did so, he took a quick gander around the room to see if Amell had sneaked in, but there was no such luck. Instead of pondering over that, he started to announce the teams. And while he was doing that, Amell was off somewhere completely different and dealing with an issue that had followed him from the council.
He was currently a few miles outside Magnolia and his actions with Crawford has resulted in this current predicament. In front of him stood multiple of Tartaro's demons.
"It took you a while, I didn't think you guys would ever show." Amell stood with his hands cupped behind his back with the winds blowing gently around them.
"Did you think Crawford was our only rat in the council. We practically own that place, at least until you interfered. Now, most of our rats are being rooted out and cleansed from influence or killed. You ruined years of progress."
Amell stared apathetically at the horde of demons in front of him and after several seconds he responded. "I know you expect me to ask about your plan, or plead for my life, or whatever your kink is. But, herein lies the issue. I care so little for you or anything that you do that I don't even have a clever response to what you just said."
"You bastard! How dare you disrespect me!? ME, JACKAL! I will show you, you pathetic mage that you lot can't stand against our power!" Jackal, one of the nine demon gates of Tartaros raised his hand and swung them around in a circle before pointed both at Amell with closed fists. "DIE!!" He roared and around Amell, the ground started glowing and soon it all exploded in a massive explosion. The whole ground shook as the demon horde celebrated loudly.
"A human thinking he can stand against me, I don't know what Kyoka was so worried about. This guy is pathetic." Jackal said to the other demon gate standing beside him.
"I don't know Jackal, Lady Kyoka wouldn't fear him without reason. We should be wary, this might not be over." He stared at the smoke cloud the explosion had created. Even before the explosion, Amell didn't release any form of magic so they couldn't sense his presence.
"Don't worry, Franmalth. He's dead, no doubt!"
"You should have listened to Kyoka." Amell's voice came drifting out of the smoke. "If she said that you should fear me, she is a lot smarter than I gave her credit for." With a wave of his finger, the smoke blew away revelling Amell standing in the middle of a crater with not one scratch on him.
"WHAT!?" Jackal and his horde of demons stood with eyes wide at the sight of Amell. "How are you alive!? No human can survive that!"
"That, little demon, is your fault. You came here to me, made the presumption that I am human. You could have asked and I would have told you that I stopped being human a long time ago."
"Jackal, we should retreat! We don't know enough and I think we need more than two of us to beat him."
"Wise choice, but I'm afraid that I won't let you leave now. You see, I wouldn't have come after you since you are so incredibly weak in comparison to me and just not worth my time. But when you take time to come for me and try to blow me up, I can't very well ignore that, can I?" Amell sliced the air horizontally with his finger and the demon horde got cut in half, literally.
"Shit! Help me kill him, or we'll die here!" Jackal said. His arms starting glowing as the horde of demons behind him turned into magical particles. That was all they were, even the Demon Gates.
"Fine! Let's kill him!" Franmalth gave in and started off directly by trying to transform into his real demon form.
"A little too late, demon." Amell faded in behind him and sliced off his head in one smooth motion. Jackal was still looking at the previous spot Amell stood, he couldn't follow the speed at which he moved.
"One down, one to go," Amell whispered into Jackal's ear before appearing at his original position. "I would have more fun with you, but usually I do not play with my food. Are you prepared to die?" Amell's magic started rising lightning-fast and Jackal froze when he felt it.
"M-Monster!!" Jackal tried ordering his legs to carry him out of there but all control he had over his body was gone. His eyes were red and he had a maddening expression on his face. The fear inside of him was something he had never experienced before.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!" He threw his arms up and summoned an explosion, but he had so little control that it was barely any power behind it. Amell just walked up to him and hovered his index finger in front of his face.
"Wherever demons end up when they die, hopefully, it's a terrible place." Amell smiled kindly as he released an air bullet from his finger that pierced Jackal's head and killed him.
"So that's Tartaros. No wonder Zeref spoke ill of them. They seem terribly annoying to be around. Maybe I should exterminate the rest." He thought for a second, "Nah, I'm sure Natsu would appreciate the challenge." Amell started his walk back to Magnolia, and he had already almost forgotten about the fight he just had. The power he possessed had truly changed him, and Amell wasn't entirely aware of the changes it had done to his mentality.
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End
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