[====]-[===]-[====]
"What did I just walk into?"
Yoichi felt like his question was entirely justified to be asked, as he looked at the utter chaos the Guild had gotten themselves into once again.
Gildarts, who was sat at the bar only a few feet from him, physically lit up when he saw him. "Kid! You're just in time!"
"I am?" Yoichi's mouth moved faster than his brain in that moment. "Wait, what am I in time for?"
"The post battle brawl! This is where the real fun begins!" Gildarts laughed, tilting his head with practiced ease, to avoid a stray plate that had been thrown.
"If its so much fun, then what are you doing not participating in it?" He asked tiredly, moving to take a seat beside the man.
"I was waiting for you! I did promise to get you something to eat, after all."
"I remember," Yoichi nodded, catching a flying bottle of beer. "I just didn't think you actually meant it."
Gildarts smiled at him. "I'm a man of my word, of course I did. Besides, with what I earned, even if you brought every dish on the menu, I'd still be rich."
The All For One user gave him a curious look. "How much did you win...exactly?"
If it was possible, Gildarts' smile only grew bigger, becoming giddy as he leaned in to whisper the answer. Yoichi almost choked on his own spit when he heard the amount.
"That much?!" He exclaimed, feeling his eyes widen. "What the hell were the odds?!"
"Forty-six to one. All bets being placed between twenty to forty thousand jewels. Everyone thought they could rob me blind, but..." Gildarts laughed, not even bothering to hide his excitement. "You really did a good job!"
Yoichi couldn't help but join him. The joy on display was infectious, and it felt nice to just be able to laugh alongside someone after so long.
Though, once they both calmed down, and he moved to speak, he was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Turning his head slightly, he blinked as the younger girl from before—one of Mirajane's siblings—stood before him, with her arms crossed, and a pout on her face.
"Oh, um, hi...?"
"Lisanna!" Gildarts exclaimed in greeting, saving Yoichi from the embarrassment of asking for her name. "Come to join the winning team?"
'Never mind, this guy has no tact whatsoever.' Yoichi thought to himself with a sigh.
But, surprisingly enough, the pout on her lips vanished, and she gave a blinding smile. "Sure! But, only if you get me and Elfman some dinner!"
Her bright personality clashed so heavily with Mirajane's that Yoichi couldn't help but wonder, in that moment, if they truly were siblings.
'Then again, Tomura and I were siblings too, and we couldn't be any more different from each other even if we tried.' Yoichi thought with a small frown. It was never a pleasant feeling to refer to the mad man as his brother, after all.
"Bahaha! Of course I can!" Gildarts didn't even blink at the request. "Where is your brother anyways?"
"He's being manhandled by Natsu and Gray last I checked." Lisanna said with an airy laugh, moving to take the seat on Yoichi's left. Turning to him, she held out her smaller hand for a handshake. "I'm Lisanna by the way, Mira's sister. It's nice to meet you!"
"...You too?" He hadn't meant for it to come out as a question. But, as he shook her hand, he couldn't help but feel some whiplash. The sisters were so different in personality, that he wasn't sure how to react to one of them being not only polite but nice.
She giggled at his bewildered look. "You don't need to be so tense, it was just a fight, there's no hard feeling!"
"I...don't think your sister would agree," He muttered, remembering the sound of her crying as he walked to the Guild.
"Mira's a big girl, she'll be okay," Lisanna said, a small, mischievous gleam appearing in her eyes. "Though, if she tries to fight you again and you don't want to, just come get me, I can act as your distraction!"
Yoichi chuckled at her confidence, feeling his lips curl up into a small smile. "I'll keep that in mind, little hero."
"Eh?! Little? I'm fifteen I'll have you know! That's old!" Lisanna exclaimed, puffing her cheeks out.
'She's adorable. There is no way she's related to Mirajane.' He thought with a growing smile.
"Is that so?" He smirked at her, then pointedly turned to Gildarts who had been pretending not to hear them. "Hey, if being fifteen is considered old, and you call me a kid at sixteen...then what does that make you? Actually, how old even are you?"
Gildarts choked on his drink at the question, quickly pulling the mug away from his lips to cough, and regain the ability to breath. Beside him, Lisanna cutely giggled at the reaction.
"Don't you know its rude to ask such a question?!" He shouted through a cough, giving Yoichi a glare.
"I thought that rule only applied to women."
"It doesn't!"
Yoichi hummed in thought, holding his chin in one hand, and waiting for Gildarts to recover. Once he did, he very slowly leaned back in his seat, and not so quietly whispered to Lisanna. "He has to be in his sixties to react so strongly."
"Sixty?!" Gildarts yelled aghast. "That's not even remotely close!"
Both of the teenagers pretended to ignore him.
"Maybe he's fifty?" Lisanna asked, moving to hold her chin in the same manner that Yoichi did.
"Fifty?!"
"I was thinking more along the lines of seventy."
"Seventy?! Stop being so heartless, kid!"
Lisanna's voice trembled from barely restrained laughter as she spoke next. "You know what, I think your right. I did notice some grey hair on his head earlier."
"Grey hair?! What?! Where? A mirror, I need a mirror!" Gildarts scrambled off his seat, nearly falling over in his haste as he stepped on his cloak.
That was the final straw for the both of them, as with identical wheezes, both Lisanna and Yoichi burst out into laughter.
[====]-[===]-[====]
Eventually, they did calm down, and Gildarts, in his quest for a mirror, did return only a few minutes later.
"Here I was thinking you'd get along with Mira," Gildarts grumbled, nursing a new bottle of beer. "Apparently I chose the wrong sister."
Yoichi smirked as he ate some ramen—the dinner Gildarts had promised him—and remained quiet. After the mayhem of the past few hours, he was feeling exhausted. All he wanted to do now, was finish his food, and finally get some sleep.
"Speaking of Mira, where is she? I haven't seen her since the fight." Lisanna asked by his side, blowing on a steaming bowel of her own ramen.
Swallowing his food, Yoichi pointed his chopsticks at the door leading to the back of the Guild, and said; "She's still with Makarov. No need to worry."
Lisanna nodded to show her understanding, then after a brief pause, gave him a confused look. "Why do you call the Master by his name?"
"I'm not a member of Fairy Tail," He explained with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "And I'm not keen on calling someone 'Master'. I have some...less than pleasant memories, shall we say."
Both Gildarts and Lisanna gave him curious looks, but, thankfully, didn't ask for him to explain further.
Instead, the youngest of them decided to move the conversation in another direction. "Do you think you'll join Fairy Tail? You beat Sister Mira, so you have the strength for it."
Yoichi hummed in thought, but instead of answering, took another bite of his food.
Using it as an excuse to think, he decided to truly look at himself, and ask. Did he want to become a Fairy Tail mage, or did he need to become a Fairy Tail mage?
From what Gildarts had explained to him on their journey to Magnolia Town, it would suit him. A Guild provided mages with countless missions, and each of them resulted in various amounts of pay.
From what he had heard around the Guild in the last few minutes, Mirajane was considered one of the strongest, and he had beaten her easily whilst being severely weakened, so it wasn't like he'd struggle during any select mission.
Really, all he'd have to do was choose a combat based mission, complete it, accept the prize money, and relax in the days to come.
But...did he want to keep fighting? This was a new world after all. It was a chance for him to be something more than a solider, commander, and symbol. It was a chance to grow beyond his life of being a destroyer.
'What a life that would be,' He thought with a self-deprecating snort. 'Knowing me, I'd get bored of the peace within a week. All I know is nothing but combat and war.'
What sucked the most about it, was that he wanted a peaceful and quiet life. But, he also wasn't blind to his trauma and upbringing. Its not that he would one day wake up, and choose to go back to fighting. It was more akin to him knowing nothing else. His father had trained him to be a fighter, and his brother had taught him to be a survivor. His only place in the world was on the battlefield.
'But, what do I do when there is no battlefield?'
The dead voice of his father, Shigaraki Zen, answered the question for him. 'You adapt to survive. Just as you change between Quirks to better handle any situation you find yourself in that doesn't suit your vision of victory.'
'I hate that bastard.' He thought with a small, bitter smirk. 'And I hate how he's right, even now.'
In the end, his choice had nothing to do with wants and needs. Yoichi was good at fighting, and so, he would keep fighting. If along the way he helped others, and found a true reason to keep on fighting, then it was all the better. Such things, he knew, usually went hand-in-hand, after all.
"Yoichi...?" Lisanna's voice quickly brought him back to reality.
"Hm? Oh, right," He blinked, realising the food in his mouth was long gone by now. "I probably will, but I'll save the final decision for after I've had some rest."
"That's probably for the best," She said with a kind smile, and a nod.
Yoichi felt himself returning the smile, before he continued with finishing up what remained of his food. It had been a while since he had eaten anything, and he didn't want any of it going to waste.
As for Gildarts, he too felt himself smiling as he looked over the two teenagers. In his eyes, the decision Yoichi would come to make felt clear and obvious. There was a reason why, despite the little that he knew of the kid, he had decided to trust and bet so much on him winning.
It was because a single truth connected them both together.
Yoichi, just like Gildarts, was a warrior.
He could see it in the way the kid walked, talked, and even sat. Everything about him radiated strength, yes, but his eyes—the clearest window of the soul, showed him for who he truly was. Yoichi was someone who had never felt safe anywhere, so he had grown strong enough to make himself feel comfortable everywhere.
It was why, even as weakened as he claimed to be, he still radiated an aura of confidence.
It was nearly identical to the way Gildarts carried himself. With Crush remaining active at all times, he was untouchable, and as such, he was powerful and comfortable no matter where he went.
For people like them, an invisible barrier existed between them and the rest of the world.
It was why Gildarts was always on the move, why his marriage had failed, and why he was looking at soon taking on the 100-Year Quest. For those who stood at the very top of the world, a peaceful life could no longer exist, only the lies of one.
For Gildarts, Fairy Tail was that lie.
And soon, for Yoichi, it would be the same.
Fairy Tail was a home built on the love and connections of those around you, on the people you could lean on, and consider your equals.
Except...the Ace of Fairy Tail had no equals, so the best he could do was glimpse at a life he had only once had a chance to experience.
It was a sad reality. But, it was a truth which only the strongest—those who reached the peak of the summit—would come to learn to understand as a burden only they alone could carry.
"Hey," Gildarts was pulled out his musing by the voice of Yoichi. Turning his head, he was met with emerald eyes that held a knowing glint in them. "I just wanted to let you know I'm going to get some sleep. Thanks for the food, and...next time, its on me."
His breath caught at the words, and then, understanding dawned on him.
"Right, get some rest kid. You deserve it."
Yoichi gave him one last smirk, before he limped away to make the last of his recovery.
"What was that about?" Lisanna asked a moment later with narrowed eyes.
"It was nothing." Gildarts chuckled, sipping his beer.
Not that Lisanna brought it. Shifting his attention away from the wider Guild, he decided to entertain her teasing questions, even as a final thought flickered in his mind.
'Maybe I'm not without equals after all...'