Keeping Secrets

The Gathering Of The Clouds

SURPRISE!

Merry Christmas everyone! Thought I'd go ahead and upload this week's chapter early as Christmas treat.

I still owe some of you responses to your comments on the last chapter, I promise I didn't forget! Just wanted to upload this before it got any later.

Also, a very special thank you to Valeska001 over on A03 who beta read this!

Enjoy!

KEEPING SECRETS, CHAPTER 27: THE GATHERING OF THE CLOUDS

The next three weeks went by agonizingly slow for Natsu. Invel assured him things were coming along accordingly, but as the day of the invasion crept ever closer, Natsu's mind couldn't help but worry about the storm ahead. The weight of having to face his guildmates- his family- sat heavy on his shoulders, only further fueling his apprehension.

However, when he remembered why he was doing this- catching a glimpse of hope in Zeref's eyes as they talked or seeing a small, knowing smile from August- it all became a bit easier. They were his family too, after all, and he refused to let them down. Besides, his nephew was always quick to lend an ear if he thought Natsu was struggling.

He spent quite a bit of time with Zeref, who was busy coming up with strategies for the upcoming invasion. He would show Natsu all sorts of things, like notes, maps, intelligence reports on different mages they'd likely be facing- a lot of them Natsu's former allies, sadly- and attempt to explain why he was placing this platoon here or this airship regiment there, and the like. It was at some points interesting and at some points boring, but either way Natsu held his tongue because it all put Zeref in a good mood- this was his 'simulation game' after all- and that was far superior to him falling into a depression about... well, anything.

Jackal clung to Natsu like glue, nearly driving the dragon slayer insane with his overzealous attempts to 'be there' for his boss, in an attempt to emulate the way Natsu had described his guildmates to the etherious. In spite of everything, Natsu knew his odd friendship with Jackal had grown into something real. 'He had grown on Natsu like a fungus', as Rustyrose has so eloquently described it. All that said, Jackal still made for a good sparring partner when he needed to let loose. And he was slowly getting better at video games too. Or at least he wasn't throwing temper tantrums anymore...

Speaking of Rustyrose, the man had integrated into the empire quite well despite having been in a self-imposed isolation for quite some time. Whenever he was running errands for the Winter General- who seemed ever so determined to run him ragged- he spent most of his time hanging around Natsu and Jackal, the latter of which he finally recognized as being one of the demons he'd seen in Tartaros on the day he had come to confront them. His mood further soured when the etherious mentioned Rusty being thrown off of Plutogrim after his pathetic plea to Kyoka to reform the Ballum alliance.

That said, Rusty had eventually struck up a friendship with Neinhart, of all people, their shared love of being overly dramatic (in a 'tasteful way' and not in a 'God Serena way', Neinhart so pointedly reminded Natsu) evidently connecting the two. Now, if Rusty was in the hallway with Natsu, and happened to come across Neinhart, the two would start staring at each other, and say something about one approaching the other... they seemed really amused by that, but Natsu didn't get it.

Rustyrose also joined Natsu's sparring sessions. With Arc of Embodiment, Rusty was able to send a variety of opponents with differing skill sets Natsu's way, which definitely livened things up a bit. August had also taught Rusty his memory spell, allowing Rustyrose to effectively make use of Natsu's past opponents. It certainly amused Natsu when Rusty's Arc of Embodiment Zancrow and Precht began expressing their disbelief Rustyrose was spending his time around this 'Fairy Tail novice,' only for Natsu to pound them into the dirt- again.