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Uptown Girl Chapter Two: Keeping the Faith

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Chapter Two: Keeping the Faith

When Natsu and Gajeel strolled into Quatro Cerberus they didn’t immediately see their work mates but once they walked further in they found Erza killing some pool with Gray. The two of them thoroughly enjoyed playing the game, and while Gajeel found it fun, he had a mission to carry out, drinking that God damned Salamander under the table. He got a bottle of the cheapest Vodka from the bartender and two shot glasses, as he proceeded to walk towards a table at the back of the bar near where his co-workers had started playing.

Erza’s brilliant red hair was up in a braid while she played pool, keeping her ridiculously long hair away from the table as she lined up for her next shot. The girl was freakishly strong, so she could hit the balls in ways some other people couldn’t. It was starting to get colder outside so she sported a flannel shirt and jeans with some ugg boots. Across from her stood Gray, the interior detail artist for Fairy Tail did meticulous games taking his time and giving off a cool impression, but despite the cold the guy was constantly shedding his shirt. He said it was because he too hot, and that he loved the cold, but with the build he had, Gajeel always wondered if he just lost his shirt to pick up chicks at the bar, but then again he never really saw him go home with anyone.

Upon seeing Gray, Natu called him out in his usual fashion, “Hey, Ice Princess wanna drink with us?” Natsu had given Gray the name when they were kids. The story went that the two had gone ice skating and while Natsu had shown no aptitude whatsoever, Gray was skating circles around him, and started doing some tricks. Natsu who fell on his ass, couldn’t help but feel offended in the moment. He immediately called out the words, “Freakin’ Ice Princess.” The nickname stuck.

Gray looked over at Natsu and rolled his eyes, “I’m a bit preoccupied Flame Brain.” Natsu, natsu was just a bit of a pyromaniac. Something that showed through in his work at Fairy Tail. He did work on exhaust systems that spit fire and even worked on NOS systems for racing cars. He liked to test out his creations to see what sort of effects he got in the cars. Then again Natsu had a pentiant for fire no matter where he was. He was a menace in the kitchen burning everything, including pasta, with the claim that it, “made it taste better.” He was also constantly messing with a lighter he kept on him, despite the fact he didn’t smoke. It was fancy, and he’d had it as long as he could remember. The lighter was gold and the top cover was made to look like a European dragon’s head. On the bottom corner the square lighter had initials I.D. were professionally etched into the side. It was pretty, but the kid was always messing around with it.

Natsu looked at Gray in annoyance. “What is it Gray can’t manage to do things at once?” Gray stared back at Natsu. The two of them had been rivals since the time they had been eight and sometimes it felt like there was some sort of pure energy that called for a fight between the two. However, as was most often (but not always) they started slinging insults at eachother instead of swinging fists. Gajeel may have a row with Natsu every now and again, but Natsu would fight with Gray physically once a week and the insults were a steady stream that never stopped. The two were in the middle of shouting off at each other when Father Makarov entered the establishment with a joyous smile plastered on his face.

Father Makarov’s parishioners covered a wide swath including those in this bar, but tonight he had come simply to visit a few of his “Children.” After losing his wife Makarov had felt the call of Mavis’s messages and become a priest. He had been one of the latest to come to the priesthood already having an older son, but most thought that this had given him a touch of understanding with the Mavin’s who came to his church. It was also why when he finally earned his priesthood he had been sent to a church with an orphanage. He had presided over the St. Zeira’s Magnedral in the heart of Manhattan for over 25 years.

The Magnolian Church was old and respected and the oldest branch of the Mavin faith, and it’s members were called Magnolians.There were offshoots like the Gaebolgians, who thought they were chosen at birth and everyone else would be cast to the wayside, The Raven Orthodox Church formed in the early days by a king in England who had wanted an annulment  and was told he could not, and the Warridians who formed when Warrod, originally a Magnolian Priest, had nailed his 95 Theses on Indulgences to the Castle Church of Wittenberg. In the end though, they were all Mavins who had different views on the same Biblical story of the Mavis the Small and Zeref the Spriggan.Their tragic fate and drastically different reactions to the same curse built a faith that had many followers. They believed She watched them in Her sleep and would counsel those on the path to a happier life and one day She would rise again to fight the Spriggan in a mighty war of love and family against the evil and loneliness that the Spriggan and his denizens sought. One that overtime had gained many interpretations.

However, most in this modern era thought the faith was more of a cautionary tale than anything that was real. In recent years there were even a few people who mockingly called themselves  Zerefinists who professed their love for their dark Lord, but no one took them seriously instead chalking them up to Atheists. Most in the Uptown area of Manhattan were Magnolian, with a few of the even older religion of the Lawish Faith, often called Laws.There weren’t many other branches within New York, and that was for those who actually practiced the faith.

Upon seeing him Erza instantly stood up from the table and went over to meet their surrogate father. Gray and Natsu who had continued to quibble, ceased and went over to greet the older gentleman. Erza, Natsu, and Gray had grown up together at St. Zeira’s in the orphanage wing, and it was here that Makarov had met them and helped raise them. His visits were frequent and despite his age the old man was as hale as he had ever been.

“How are my children the evening?” He queried. Erza told him about the garage and how Fairy Tail was getting more and more regular customers and how Jellal, her husband, was a stay at home husband now taking care of their young son Simon. Jellal had met Erza when they were very young. His parents had died in a robbery when he had been home with the babysitter and the two had been friends in the orphanage ever since. The kid had always been fascinated with her red hair, nicknaming her Scarlett, but as they grew older, fascination turned it’s head towards being smitten with the young woman. Erza who had a solid, no nonsense type head had liked Jellal and had dated him for awhile, but when thing started to get heavy she insisted she was saving herself for marriage. Jellal took the matter seriously finding a job with ….

She gushed about Simon who was only a few months old, and how he had just started standing a week ago. She showed pictures to the old man.

“He looks to be a fine boy Erza. You should be proud.”

Erza smiled and her eyes softened as she looked at the photo of her son and her husband. “I’m proud of them every day.” She turned off the phone and put it away as Gray started talking.

“Hey gramps, I haven’t seen you outside of church in awhile. I was beginning to wonder if we had offended you somehow.”

Makarov with his lidded eyes kept a stoic face and just snorted. “Boy, if I had a problem with you, you’d know it and I certainly wouldn’t shy away. So tell me about the hockey team.”

Gray’s eyebrows furrowed in mild surprise as he hadn’t really mentioned to anyone that he had been taking the classes, but Makarov always found out about things like this one way or another. “Well I joined about a month ago, a really nice woman runs the classes, she looks sweet but man can she bruise a guy when she wants. Anyway I’m playing forward with a kid named Lyon Vastia. We don’t have our first game for a couple weeks.” Makarov nodded Listening and watching Gray.

Whenever he talked to Makarov, Gray always rubbed the thick silver chain around his neck. It was from his father, hanging from it was a silver sword with a blue aquamarine. Gray’s father had died when he was seven in a car accident, his mother had died a few years earlier from cancer. The miniature sword was one that had been in the family a long time and it was one of the few things that Gray never took off. On the same chain was a silver set crystal, a sign of the Mavin faith. It was believed that Mavis slept in a heavenly quartz crystal. It was one of the most popular pieces of Mavin jewelry, accepted and worn among the many sects. Gray’s crystal was a present from Makarov on the day that he left the orphanage. A token, he had been told, to remind him he could always come home.

“Well if you give me the date and the place I have a few children who would love to see you play.” Gray smiled.

“Sure thing old man.”

Natsu listened with mild interest, but couldn’t understand how someone would want to be skating around in a frozen fish bowl for fun. It sounded like torture to him. With the vodka bottle in his hand he raised a glass and looked over at the older man, “Hey gramps, Do you want to join in the drinking game? Gajeel and Gray are in.” Despite being a priest, Father Makarov still had a penchant for drinking vodka, but the old man typically didn’t really make it a competition as sitting the corner nursing the alcohol throughout the night.

“Dang it Natsu!” said Gray, “I thought I told you I wasn’t going to.”

"Yeah, yeah you're just sayin' that cause you think you can't win." Gray pinched the bridge of his nose feeling the back of his neck ache and contract in annoyance.

"Freakin' rocks for brains." Said Gray as Natsu looked over with a challenging stare, it was one Makarov noted he had mastered as a petulant child, one that simply said, until you prove it I won't believe it. Gray just flung more names back at his friend. The two of them had been like that since they were children. Makarov interrupted before the two could continue on with their bickering and lose all focus in the room.

"I'll take a little of that Vodka Natsu." The pink haired man's ears perked up as her heard the request.

"See even Gramps can take a challenge!" He pointed at Makarov in emphasis. Gray just threw his hands up in the air that he was never going to get through the thick skull of the idiot in front of him. "Yeah, whatever I've got practice later and I don't feel like being off kilter."

At that statement Natsu's eyebrows went up in surprise as a wide smile of forgiveness spread across his features, "Well why didn't you say so? If you've got other people to beat I totally understand that!"

Gray just stared in disbelief at his childhood friend and rival, "I just got through telling Makarov about that!"

"Yeah well who wants to hear you talk about a freakin' ice rink, It's just no fun."

Makarov had tried over the years to get the two to understand each other, but had learned overtime the only way they knew how to interact was through bickering and fighting. It was the only time the two could really come to any sort of consensus, was that all out brawling with one another was some of the most fun that they had together. He cleared his voice, and coughed pointing at the vodka bottle.

Natsu smiled, "Sure, sure one or two fingers?" Makarov put up two fingers getting ready to settle in for the night observing the ones he had watched grown up when he noticed Gajeel sitting in the back of the bar.

Makarov's face fell a little. He hadn't raised Gajeel as a kid, but he still thought very deeply upon him. Gajeel had been a troubled youth and Makarov had reached out bringing him into a better position in life. Gajeel was sipping what was left of some of the vodka he had started on. When he looked over he noticed Makarov's attention and nodded in a silent acknowledgment of respect. Gajeel was not one to share his personal life and it was the shadows that enveloped his life that worried Makarov. It had been years since he had caused any trouble for anyone, but all the same Makarov worried for him. He needed someone who could focus on him. He nodded back in acknowledgment and made a note to stop by and ask Gajeel how he was doing before he left for the night.

Natsu handed him the small glass and he drank a mouthful savoring the burn. He figured it was why Natsu always reached for Vodka. The sting was an irresistible warmth that could heat the whole body. He was enjoying it thoroughly when he noticed one key figure in the group was missing. Father Makarov squinted looking around the dive bar trying to find the very wide frame of the male Strauss siblings. “With all of you here I was certain I would see Elfman, Where is mister Strauss? He’s not one to miss out on a drinking match.”

“His sister is having her confirmation party today.” Makarov sat still for just a moment in thought, as his eyes widened. He promptly stood up.

“Well children, it seems my thoughts are leaving me in my old age, I believe I was supposed to be there half an hour ago! I guess I had better get going.” His face spread into an embarrassed smile showing his teeth and raising his eyebrows as he rubbed the back of his head.  Before he turned he looked at the group of kids he had come to see as his own, “Now don’t get too wild while you’re here.” He stared at them with his eyes wide open glancing out of the top lid of his eyes acting the part of the scolding father, then he put a bowler cap on his partially bald head and ran out the door in a fashion that mimicked a tin toy soldier marching in double time to grab a taxi.

Gajeel watched the whole cabal take place from the back of the bar as he sipped his vodka and waited for his challenger to come back to the table with the vodka. He liked Makarov sure, but he’d never really felt like he was one of the man’s children. He owed Makarov a lot, more than he could ever repay, and to some extent it was a burden for him, that didn’t allow him to complain. He went to his sermons every Sunday and listened to him preach and he didn’t understand half of what the man said, and the stuff he did hear he couldn’t really fathom, but he tried to live up to it, and the pain of feeling he was always one step short of what he should be had left him with a dry mouth when it came to the old man. He just never knew what to say to the man that could prove his investment wasn’t being wasted. Gajeel's eyes steeled for a moment as he finished what was left in the glass looking blankly at it tasting the bitter bite and looked up at the rest of the Fairy Tail crew. “Like hell I’m letting the past get in my way,” he muttered as he stood up and walked over to Natsu grabbing him by the scarf that he always had around his neck.

“Hey, I believe you and I have a score to settle.” He cocked his eyebrow and lifted the shot glass in his other hand to eye level rocking it back and forth tauntingly between his thumb and his pointer finger.

Natsu’s eyes narrowed in on the movement and his ever present enthusiasm turned on to the challenge, “Oh hell yeah, your shot, I’m all fired up!”
This is a continuation of Uptown Girl. More edits may come. I will include an excerpt from my forward here to those who may be put off of the direction I am taking this. For those of you who don't know this AU is based on the works of Billy Joel and Fairy Tail. I own none of the characters.

"...Lastly, on a stranger note some will notice that this piece will have several references to faith in it. I am personally not a person of faith, but I was once. As I wrote, I found out that (Billy) Joel too has also been in the same spot I was in. Writing on and drawing from religion for the creative process. This piece is not meant to say any one thing good or bad about faith. For me it was just a depiction of several of the feelings I have held for it over time. Some very positive like community, true faith, and a feeling of reliance, and some very negative betrayal, cynicism, and anger. It was something that just happened as I wrote. Whatever your beliefs, I hope you enjoy what I have put together and look forward to hearing from you about it."
© 2016 - 2024 Tsubasa-wing-child
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