Colors of the Will 'o' Wisps Chapter 3

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, I knew something was up and braced myself accordingly.

“They found them,” Dad said shellshocked, hand shaking slightly as he placed his Cat-Pad down, having

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.

---

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.

“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 neightborhood, 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 building 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.