Legacy (FT Next Generation)

|Chapter 22| Eileen, Ezequiel, Sylvia

A few hours earlier...

"I understand why Silver isn't present, but may I ask where Tempester is?" Kyouka asked, formal as ever.

"The king asked him to look after that Fullbuster girl," Jackal mumbled out, barely lifting his head to look at the other gates.

Seilah scoffed, "why him?"

"I don't believe he trusts anyone else," Keyes said.

Torafuzar licked his lips, "good choice on his end. Those two smelled delicious."

"Can you contain your starvation for two seconds?" Ezel said. "The boy didn't even smell good. He reeked of weak. Did you see the way he folded to the king?"

"Doesn't matter," Torafuzar shrugged, "children's blood always smell good."

"The point is," Jackal interrupted, not wanting Torafuzar to go into detail of how he liked eating children, such as Jackal himself. "You guys would either experiment on her or eat her. Tempester does neither."

"What about her brother?" Franmalth asked. He was definitely the most unnatural, with his strange round form that was basically made of jelly with a single eye. "Is he up for grabs, I wonder?"

"No," Kyouka let it be known, "the king asks that none of us even go near his cell. The boy is being used as leverage against the girl."

"That makes me wonder," Franmalth added, "what is the girl good for?"

"As far as I know," Kyouka answered, "she is being used to make the king numb to weakness. He will no longer be moved by sentimental things. However, her magic is temporary, so she must use it on him as much as he needs her to."

"The price!" Franmalth exclaimed, "what is the price she pays for such a magic? Not even Seilah could do such a thing!"

Kyouka smiled, "nightmares. Delicious, horrid, nightmares."

"Torafuzar, Kyouka," they hear a voice they know all too well. "You will not even go near Sylvia Fullbuster. Your temptation will exceed your restraint."

Everyone turned their heads and stood from their chairs when they heard King Zeref walk in.

They all bowed, and Torufuzar and Kyouka replied, "yes, your majesty."

Zeref worked his jaw and closed his eyes. He was obviously angry about something, the Gates just needed to know what.

"Sit," he said before taking his own seat at the head of the meeting table. "Can someone explain to me how it's possible that every single one of my little brother's guardians were alive?"

The Gates were silent. Jackal, Seilah, and Tempester weren't part of the Gates at the time of the invasion, so it all came down to the original six.

Zeref pinched the bridge of his nose, "and they all had children. More than that, my niece is alive. The only threat to my position, and she's alive."

"Your Majesty," Kyouka spoke first, "I understand that we failed you all those years ago."

"But?"

Kyouka took a breath, "but we barely won the war as it is. Natsu's men were extremely powerful, and we weren't expecting those unknown allies. Not only that, but the Fernandez's, Fullbusters, and Dreyars all had a child before the war."

Zeref took a deep breath, "I expected the children to be dead as well, but that's unimportant now," he knew better than to dwell on the past. "Update them on the unknown allies."

Jackal rose an eyebrow and turned to his right to face Kyouka, "you're talking about the Redfoxs?"

She nodded silently, "after Seilah and I questioned them, we learned that they were good friends of Lucy Heartfilia and Juvia Lockser."