Main Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref
Other Mentioned Pairing(s): Gajeel Redfox x Levy McGarden (married), Loke x Lucy Heartfilia, Jellal Fernandes x Erza Scarlet
WARNINGS: AU , eventual Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned
AN: This is the sequel to my other story "Modern Fantasy" and begins shortly after the end of the prequel.
Pieces of Tomorrow
By V. Shalyr
1. Anonymity
Zeref cherished his anonymity. It was so easy for him to lose it. Perhaps that was why he was so absolutely and totally dreading going in for his first official day of work,. Work..,. Of course he'd worked before, and as an academic and intellectual person, he quite enjoyed having things to do. He just wasn't sure how right it was for him to enjoy it. So many terrible things had happened because of the work he'd done way, way back when he'd still been as young as he looked.
"Do you know what I will be doing?" he asked, trailing somewhat anxiously after Natsu towards the MCI building down the street.
"Erza wants to meet with you to discuss that. You sure you're feeling all right? You look sort of pale."
Which was saying something.
"I'm sure."
If "all right" included feeling like his stomach was trying to migrate into his throat anyway.
On the bright side, many of the people around the office had seen him already, so he drew only a handful of curious glances when he followed Natsu through the glass doors.
"Erza's not in yet," the receptionist said when she spotted them over the top of her tankard, "but I'll let you know as soon as she arrives."
"Thanks."
Zeref found himself staring a little, and once they turned the corner, he said, "She has two barrels of beer under her desk."
Natsu didn't appear surprised.
"Yeah, that's Cana for you. Drinking is pretty much her life when she hasn't got a field assignment."
"And... she works in reception?"
"Better than a lot of the other choices we currently have, trust me. And anyway, no one cares too much as long as the job gets done. It takes a hell of a lot of booze to get her actually drunk."
"I see..."
"This is the first time you've met her, right? She's been out a lot lately. Family matters, I think."
They arrived in the main office to find it bursting at the seams with activity. It seemed like everyone who could be in was. Zeref took a chair next to Natsu's desk and just tried to keep out of everyone's way while he waited for his meeting. The Dragon Slayer had a report to write. It was probably the part of his job that Natsu hated most, but it had at least gotten a bit easier with Zeref around to give him pointers on how to organize it, which details to include, and which details to omit.
The Black Wizard paused partway through explaining to him how best to outline the events that had led to the bar brawl downtown when he suddenly stopped speaking. Natsu stopped writing and looked up.
"Something the matter?"
"...Why is that person walking through the office with no clothes on?"
"Oh, him? That's Gray, one of the other field team captains—basically, his job is like mine. Uh, the clothes are a bad habit. Half the time, he doesn't even realize he's naked."
Zeref couldn't understand how someone could fail to realize something so... obvious.
"Nobody minds?"
"Of course people mind. There just isn't much anyone can do about it. Erza's beat him up a couple times because of it, and if that doesn't stop him, nothing will."
"It doesn't seem to stop you from challenging her," Zeref pointed out. He personally thought that was a bit of a bad habit too.
"Hey, that's different! How am I supposed to know if I've gotten any stronger if I don't have a measure?"
"Is that important?"
"It is to me."
Zeref thought about this then nodded and let the matter go. Different things were important to different people.
"You know," Natsu said, fixing him with a curious look, "considering most of the wizards I've met, it's kind of weird how much you don't care."
The shorter wizard took some time to answer, wanting to be honest but unsure if his words would sound arrogant.
"I know I am a very skilled wizard even by the standard of other skilled wizards, and I feel no need to prove that to anyone. Whether other people acknowledge my abilities or not will not make me any better or any worse than I am. Besides, I have found many things I believe to be more important. And my magic has brought me little but trouble."
Both because of the people who feared him like the government and because of the people who wanted him like the Dark Guilds.
"Guess I hadn't thought of it that way."
The Dragon Slayer frowned, his thoughts drifting back to Grimoire Heart. Being a great wizard really hadn't done Zeref much good. On the other hand...
"Well, at least one good thing's happened because you're a wizard." Natsu grinned. "I got to meet you. That wouldn't have happened if you were an ordinary human."
Zeref blinked slowly. He... hadn't thought of it that way either, but yes, he supposed that was true. The two of them had been born generations apart after all. Only magic would have allowed their encounter.
"Natsu?"
Zeref recognized the girl who approached them as one of Natsu's teammates. He'd seen the blue-haired wizard briefly on a number of occasions but never spoken to her.
"Hey, Wendy, what's up?"
"Um, well..." The girl glanced from her field team captain to Zeref then hurriedly back again.
The Black Wizard noted her wariness, and that in turn made him uncomfortable. He excused himself and went to survey the view from the large, office windows. The buildings lining the street and the cars racing by below on the sun-baked pavement all looked... pretty much the same as any other buildings or cars he'd seen in his very, very long journey. They failed to inspire much interest in him and he started to turn away only for his attention to be snared by a sudden and brightly colored commotion down below.
"Natsu," he said once the Dragon Slayer had finished speaking with his teammate, "there seems to be a lot of angry women outside the front door."
"Ugh, they're probably here to see Loke."
"Why?"
"You can think of them as his jilted lovers."
"...All of them?"
"He got around a lot before he and Lucy got together."
Zeref looked back down at the street. There had to be almost two dozen women out there. Half of them looked on the verge of tears while the other half looked like they wanted to kill something. Preferably the lion spirit or his new girlfriend.
"Do we... need to do anything about them?"
"I wouldn't recommend trying unless you want to get trampled. They're Loke's problem. Let him deal with it."
Zeref wondered where the orange-haired man was.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one.
"Have any of you people seen Loke?"
The woman in the doorway was tall and slim, all sharp edges with narrow spectacles and a twist to her lips like she'd swallowed something sour.
"Sorry, can't say we have," Natsu said for all of them.
The woman adjusted her spectacles with two long fingers and scowled. "That's just like him to go running off when he's needed. I don't see what Lucy sees in him. Men like him are so unreliable."
"Is she one of his former lovers also?"
Natsu slapped a hand over his mouth and hissed, "Don't let her hear you say that. She turns people to stone when she's in a bad mood and then we've got to listen to them complain."
When the Slayer removed his hand, Zeref asked, "The people who were turned to stone?"
"Yeah. That's a whole day of work down the drain right there."
That hardly seemed like the main issue.
It took awhile, but eventually, the office seemed to settle down. Desks emptied as people departed on patrols or specific field assignments. While Natsu went to pick up some reference books from the archives, Zeref busied himself looking over his partner's old case files. He'd really prefer to keep on assisting him if he could. It unnerved him to think that he might be assigned to a different team.
He'd gone through about half a dozen when a shadow fell over the page.
"So you're the one," the newcomer said, inspecting Zeref from head to toe. "You certainly don't look like a powerful, ex-dark wizard sought after by half the globe. Still, if Erza let you in here, you've got to be good."
That was the only warning Zeref got before an icy lion leapt for him—and evaporated in a blast of fire that narrowly missed incinerating a desk and granted a set of metal filing cabinets a distinctly melted look.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" Natsu snarled. He shoved Zeref behind him and followed his first spell with a second.
The pale-haired Ice Wizard leapt back, dodging the flames and summoning a flock of frozen eagles.
"I should be asking you that, Salamander. I thought that was how everyone in this department said hello."
"Yeah, well, Z's a special case, and you're not even in this department. What are you doing in Magnolia anyway?"
"Visiting Gray, obviously. And checking out the mysterious new addition to your ranks, of course. This is completely against standard protocol. "
"Like you've got room to talk. Your division's hardly the model of standard protocol."
"Now I'm even more curious. You're being awfully protective."
A shower of sword blades interrupted the fight before it could escalate any further.
"Stop it, both of you," Erza's voice cut through the sudden lull. "Natsu, I've told you time and time again, no fighting in the office. The damages are coming out of your paycheck. Lyon, this is no way to behave for a visiting MCI division representative."
Zeref peered around from behind Natsu's desk where he had taken shelter. It seemed that the Dragon Slayer's desk was quickly becoming his safe haven in this crazy place. If Natsu was at it, this was a bonus.
The scarlet-haired woman glared sternly at the two wizards.
"Now, I've got a meeting to get started. If you're here to see Gray, he's down in the practice arena right now. I'll send someone to fetch you when I'm done here so we can talk about what's been happening at your division."
Dismissing the Ice Wizard with this, Erza turned to Zeref. Her bearing was as intimidating as ever, especially with the armor she never seemed to be without, but this time at least, she offered him an amused smile.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. If you would please follow me to my office, we can get started."
The Black Wizard nodded and stood, feeling rather strange. Compared to most of these people, he felt practically normal.
TBC...
AN: Yay:) I've finally managed to connect some of the bits and pieces I had for this, so I'm starting to put some of it up. Sorry it took so long. Unfortunately, I have been—and still am, actually—having a really hard time with this.
As a heads up, the first few chapters will be more continuous, but I do not intend this to be a single long story like its prequel. This is meant to be a collection of short stories and snapshots from the characters' lives, hence the title "Pieces" of Tomorrow. Stories may also end up not being posted in chronological order. I'll do my best to make sure it's not confusing.
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