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Wheels of Fire	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 22718 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 26
- 27
- 28
A/N: I'm still dealing with a broken wrist. Thanks to the people who helped me out with getting this chapter finished. You guys are awesome!
While doing chapter research, I was slightly shocked to see that the man whose name in the manga scanlations was Purehito, is actually spelled "Precht." That is one heck of a change from the Romanji, but...okay!
Purehito = Precht
Chapter 27
A Name Overheard
A man wearing a fiery red cloak slipped into a bar in some no-name Edolas town. Narrow eyes shifted one way, then the other. It was a smoky bar with twangy music playing from some strange device the hooded man did not recognize, not the clear music of magical lacrima recorders, but scratchy and coarse.
An elderly eye-patch-wearing bartender looked up from where he stood mindlessly wiping glasses behind a bar. "Come on in, stranger," he encouraged. "We don't get many visitors around here."
Those shifty sage-green eyes narrowed hard, and the hooded man whispered. "Hades?" Although this Edolas lookalike sported a friendly, beaming smile rather than a sadistic smirk, that voice, the lengthy white beard, and the eye patch were unmistakable.
"Hades? Nah. The name's Precht. Are you passing through?" the bartender asked.
"Uh, yeah. I don't plan on staying long."
"Well, help yourself to a menu. What can I get you to drink?"
"Just water for now," Natsu said cautiously. He sat at the bar and took the offered paper menu with only ten choices of meals. He had not noticed a name outside of this bar, but now he saw it printed on the top of the menu. Grimoire Heart! His eyes flicked back up. "Precht … Gaebolg?"
"Eh? Nope, Precht Cúchulainn. Here's your water, mister." With a gentle smile, he set a glass down. "Take your time deciding. Things move slowly in this town, and so do I, haha!"
Those narrow eyes followed the old man warily. Hades! No, this was Edolas, where the man named Precht was a bartender in a hick town's only saloon called, of all things, Grimoire Heart. This whole dimension was seriously screwed up.
"Ya hiding?"
Natsu jolted in alarm.
"Ah, no need to get up in arms, sonny," the old bartender assured lightly. "It's hot out, yet you're wearing a cloak with the hood up. Sorry to say, but it's a tad obvious ya don't wanna show your face, hiding from someone. No worries. This here's a town where people just pass through, people who usually don't want to be seen in the big cities, and we don't mind what their business may be, so long as they don't cause trouble. We're such a small spitball of a town, we ain't got no police, just one sheriff who is over there." He nodded to a man passed out drunk across a table. "He ain't been sober in ten years and ain't arrested no one in twice that time."
"Bluenote," Natsu whispered. He gazed around the saloon and saw others who had familiar faces. "Azuma. Rustyrose." His eyes narrowed at a face he would never forget. "Zancrow!"
He glared at the blond. He looked almost the same, but instead of wild spiky blond hair, his hair was smoothly held back in a ponytail, where it flared out in something like a spiked tail. He held a wineglass and swirled the red liquid while sniffing it in a refined way. It was obvious that this was a different sort of Zancrow.
Precht tilted his head. "Ya know 'em?"
He jolted, and when he did his hood fell back, exposing Natsu's pink hair. "Ah!" He yanked the hood back up.
Precht shrugged nonchalantly. "Like I said, ya stick out with the hood, and we don't care who you are out in the big world. Relax, stranger. This town is safe for anyone. Why, they even took in a wanted criminal like me."
Natsu jolted harder. "Wanted?"
Precht chuckled and leaned back against the alcohol shelf. "You'd never believe it, but I used to be the leader of a bona-fide dark guild."
"Fairy Tail," Natsu whispered. So, some things about this dimension really were the same. Precht Gaebolg had been the second master of Fairy Tail back in Earthland.
"Oh, ya heard of 'em? They're far more infamous now than they were back in my day, especially after that whole fiasco some years back in Royal City, King Faust attacking the Exceed, the Great Demon Lord something-or-other stealing all of our magic, and Fairy Tail right in the midst of things."
Natsu turned his head down and chuckled. "Yeah, that was something."
Precht shrugged lackadaisically. "It didn't bother us much out here. This town never had much magic to begin with. We lost our icebox, but that's about it."
Natsu looked around again. It was obvious that this was no trap. His pink hair would have given him away in an instant. Precht, despite who Natsu thought he looked like, exuded an aura of relaxation, like a friendly grandfather more than an evil mastermind. The others looked content, bored, unconcerned by the troubles of life outside of this town. This was the sort of place where a person could vanish, and likely nobody in the outside world would ever hear of them again.
"Know what ya wanna eat yet?" asked Precht. "The fish-n-chips are really good."
Natsu looked back down to the menu and frowned. He pulled out a pouch of money he happened to have earned by helping an old lady get her cat out of a tree. Natsu was good with cats, at least. He set the tiny pouch on the bar.
"What will this get me?"
Precht fingered through the coins. "Not much. Is that all ya got?"
"I didn't really leave prepared," he muttered.
"It happens. Tell ya what, sonny. Soup's on the house, and you keep the money. Money begets more money, they say, so maybe that penance will get ya something."
Natsu grinned with excitement. Free food! "Wow, thanks, Hades."
"Really, don't call me Hades. The dog's name is Hades."
Natsu had smelled the dog, but now he saw the ugliest excuse for a canine plopped into a lump on the wood floor, right next to a brown goat and a massive chicken.
Precht left and came back in no time with a bowl of soup. "It's been sitting in the crock, but it's still hot. Eat up, sonny."
Natsu happily dug in, eating the soup and slurping the broth. Precht chuckled as he refilled that bowl three times. At his table, the drunken Bluenote lifted his head for only a moment. His unfocused eyes saw pink hair, and he moaned "Dragion?" Then he collapsed back hard onto the table, splashing out some beer from a mug he had been drinking.
As Natsu ate, suddenly he saw blond hair to his side.
"Yo, Precht," Zancrow called out. "Another god slayer."
Natsu choked and tried to swallow down his soup while coughing. "God … slayer?"
Zancrow looked down to the pink-haired man in a red cloak. "It's a drink old Precht makes. Crazy name, but it's my favorite. You should try it. Black, fiery, really burns you up inside." He laughed and slapped Natsu on the back.
Natsu stiffened, fighting the instinct to attack this man who, in another dimension, had been an enemy and challenging opponent. Of all places in Edolas, why did he have to end up in a bar filled with members of Grimoire Heart?
"Hade- … uh, Precht," Natsu said cautiously. "How close am I to Royal City?"
"Heading to the capitol, eh?" the old man said. "Is that your tanchimo out there?"
Natsu looked back to the purple animal. "Y-yeah, kinda."
"Riding a tanchimo, it'll still take you a week along the main highway."
"Royal City," Zancrow hummed. "I've been there. I know the place well. I could take you there. I know some good routes if you want to avoid any authorities."
Natsu grinned. If Zancrow in Earthland was a bad guy, that meant this Edo-Zancrow was a good guy. Perhaps he was trustworthy after all. "Really? That'd be great."
"Zancrow," Precht said in a low warning.
The blond's hand slithered around Natsu's shoulder. "It'll be fun, right? Two men out for an adventure. Someone who knows the way, someone you can talk to…" His fingers caressed along Natsu's collarbone. "…a partner to keep you company on the lonely road."
Natsu felt weirdly uncomfortable. "Well, I don't want to leave right now," he admitted. "I've been really tired. Got no strength anymore. I almost collapsed this morning."
"Poor guy," Zancrow soughed, rubbing Natsu's arm in comfort, but letting his fingers stroke a little too intimately. The blond ogled Natsu up and down and licked his lips lightly. "You're not from these parts, right?"
Natsu rolled his eyes. "You could say that, for sure."
Zancrow scooted in closer. "Have you got a place to stay? You're low on money, right? If you're gonna stay in town for a few days, you need a place to sleep. I have a nice little house on the edge of town, plenty of room, clean, quiet … private." He ended with a seductive wink.
Natsu leaned back. This Zancrow was really different from the insane man he had fought on Tenrou Island. "How much?"
"Free, of course, darling," Zancrow said, shrugging widely in an affable way. He eyed Natsu up and down again, smiling at what he saw. "Unless you want to compensate me … other ways."
Natsu thought about it, oblivious to the way Zancrow's fingers were playing through his pink hair. "I could work around the house. I'm pretty strong."
"Ehihihi! I bet you are," Zancrow purred.
Precht slammed a drink down between them and glared at Zancrow. "He'll be staying here. Take your drink and go bother someone else."
The blond removed his hand from Natsu, took the tumbler of black alcohol, and went back to his table.
Precht shook his head. "You're a real naïve one, sonny."
Natsu glanced up in confusion. "Eh? He seemed willing to help."
"I'm sure he'd take you in, feed you, pamper you, might even really show you all the way to Royal City, but you'd be paying for it every night … with your body!"
Natsu tilted his head. "I said I'm real strong."
Precht could hardly help but laugh. "You really are clueless." He leaned over the bar and whispered. "Zancrow will do just about anything for a night of fun."
"I like having fun. Maybe we could play games or challenge one another to arm wrestling."
Precht stared hard at him. How obtuse was this young man? "I mean sex, boy."
Natsu stared blankly. Slowly, his face turned pink, then red. "Him?" he shouted. He looked back to Zancrow, who was sitting with Rustyrose. The blond gave Natsu a wave and a seductive wink. Natsu turned back around with a mortified face. "Zancrow just … just flirted with me? A guy like him?"
Precht looked confused. "Do you know him?"
Natsu glared at the wild-eyed blond. "I knew someone very much like him."
"Is he your type?"
"No!" Natsu gulped down his water to cool off his frustration. "This place is so messed up," he grumbled. "Hey, I hate to eat and run, but I need to make it to Royal City."
"I thought you needed to rest."
"I do, but … well, no offense, but this place, Grimoire Heart … it's just … I don't think I should stay here."
Precht nodded solemnly, remembering what it was like to be a fugitive on the run. "You do what ya gotta do. I wish you luck, sonny. How about I pack you a sandwich for the road? There ain't another town in a day's ride."
"That's awesome. Oh, and take the money," Natsu insisted. "Otherwise I'd feel bad."
"You're a good kid," Precht chuckled.
Natsu watched the eye-patch-wearing old man. It was so hard to imagine this kind and caring guy was Edolas' version of Hades. They could not be more different from one another. Maybe this was how Precht was back when he was the guild master of Fairy Tail, before darker ways and forbidden magic twisted him.
While Precht was back in the kitchen, two more men entered the saloon. They were talking loudly already as they walked in. Natsu cautiously pulled his hood back up, just in case.
"Woo-wee! We were close that time, Zoldeo. Real close."
"Yeah, Kain. Almost had him. Hey, Zancrow! Getting drunk on that god-awful god slayer drink again?"
"Zoldeo! Kain!" Zancrow hailed, waving them to come over to his table. "Are you back from your chase?"
Zoldeo sat heavily on a chair. "Yeah, almost had him. That guy is a slippery bastard. He was right there, but he sped away. Nearly ran me over."
Kain declared, "We will get him for sure. Patience and determination shall prevail!"
Natsu picked up his glass of water and took a lingering sip, using the cup to hide part of his face as he turned and glanced back. The one named Zoldeo he did not particularly recognize, but Natsu guessed he had been a member of Grimoire Heart in Earthland too. The man named Kain made Natsu spit his drink out.
Natsu remembered the man who had fought him and Lucy on Tenrou Island, using his Ushi no Koku Mairi magic and that stupid doll to make them act to his will. However, Natsu was expecting to see the obese, towering, chalk white skinned villain wearing a speedo and cape. Although Edo-Kain was still incredibly pale, he was thin, muscular, a dashing hunk with wavy black hair and an aura of brilliance wherever he went.
"We do it in the name of justice," Kain declared, and Natsu swore he sparkled. It was incredibly annoying.
Zancrow ran a hand up the pale man's arm. "That's so sexy, Kain."
Zoldeo called over to the bar. "Precht! I want a capricorn cocktail."
"Coming up," the old man shouted. He returned with a paper bag for Natsu. "A sandwich to hold you over, sonny."
"Are they searching for someone?" Natsu asked. If somebody from Fairy Tail was in danger, he wanted to help, even if this was Edolas' guild.
"It was quite something," Precht nodded. "This crazy man rode into town, just another stranger passing through, we thought. Next thing we know, he stole Zoldeo's money and a load of food from my kitchen. It wasn't that big of a deal, but theft is theft. Kain there," he said, nodding to the thin, pale man, "is aiming to be sheriff whenever Bluenote retires. He decided to chase after the thief."
"Who was it?"
Kain stood up and dramatically declared, "He's the first person in twenty years to bother this town. Bluenote deputized me, so it is my solemn duty to find the thief and bring him to justice!" His hand covered his face in mock humbleness, and Natsu swore stars twinkled all around Kain's head. "No unrepentant criminal shall escape Kain Niteo."
Zancrow laughed. "Idiot. He wanted to know who he was, not hear a speech." Zancrow walked back up to Natsu and draped an arm around him. This time, instead of ignoring the closeness, Natsu tried to pull away. "Well, darling, if you're leaving immediately, I can still guide you to the city."
"It's fine," Natsu muttered, staring into those flirtatious red eyes. This was definitely way too weird.
"That's too bad. I didn't even get your name."
Natsu knew he could not give his real first name, or people might connect him to that crazy Fairy Tail driver. He could not even use just his last name, since he has posed at the Great Demon Lord Dragneel that one time. So he blurted out the next name to come to mind.
"Igneel."
Glasses thumped on tables, and everyone looked over in shock. Natsu gazed around worriedly. Here he was, in the core of Grimoire Heart, and every single member looked ready to turn on him.
"Igneel?" Rustyrose asked slowly.
The drunken Bluenote lifted his head. "I thought he was familiar. It's the hair. Dragion."
"Dragion?" Natsu asked sharply. "Igneel … Dragion?" He shoved aside Zancrow and raced over to Bluenote's table. "Oy, old man! What's this about Igneel? Do you know him?" However, Bluenote suddenly passed out again, reeking of booze.
"What is your relationship to Igneel?" Kain asked suspiciously.
Natsu felt his heart racing. Igneel! These people knew Igneel! "I've been searching for him for years. Where is he?"
Zoldeo chuckled. "You have pink hair like him. Are you maybe Igneel's bastard son that he abandoned, come back for revenge?"
Natsu grabbed the man's collar and lifted him up. "Don't you dare call me a bastard, you bastard! Now, where the hell is Igneel?"
"If you can find him, you can arrest him," Kain said with that pretentious glow around him again. "It was he who stole from this town. We chased him south, but ten leagues from here we lost his trail. Justice must be served!"
Natsu muttered, "So he's close, and to the south." Igneel! Here! Maybe it was a different Igneel, but he still really wanted to see his adopted father again.
Natsu grabbed the paper bag with a sandwich, tucked it into a saddle bag, climbed onto the tanchimo named Yusō, and shouted for him to go. They galloped off in a rush, heading south.
Zancrow stepped out and watched the red cloak fluttering with wild pink hair blowing in the wind as Natsu rode off. "That darling was a real cutey. I feel a burning flame inside my chest. Oh, my heart! I think I'm in love."
Precht walked out and whacked Zancrow across the head. "Learn to control yourself, Zanny. I wonder if that boy really is old Igneel's kid. I met the two many years back, passing through this town, that insane driver and his scaredy-cat son. I always felt sorry for the boy. Especially with a father that awful."
Zancrow looked over in surprise. "He just stole a bit of money and rice."
"Oh, trust me, Zanny. Igneel Dragion has done a lot worse than theft." Precht's brow tightened, and his hand drifted up to the patch on his eye. "A lot worse!"
End of Chapter 27
A/N: Hades, AKA Precht Gaebolg, was the master of Grimoire Heart. His last name comes from the Gáe Bulg ("Spear of Mortal Pain") which was owned by Cúchulainn in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. So for Edolas' Precht, I gave him the last name Cúchulainn instead. "Gae Bolg" (ゲイボルグ) is also a weapon that reoccurs in the Final Fantasy series, which is likely where Hiro Mashima got the name, since he is a hardcore gamer.
Kain's appearance is based on how this sumo-wrestling-appearing giant looked to Aries in his own imagination: a thin, hot bishie with strong, manly features. Also, his Earthland name is Kain Hikaru. Hikaru means "to shine." For his Edolas last name, I picked Niteo, which is Latin for "to shine." Same meaning, different languages.
I blame SrngDrgn and her current obsession with ZanTsu for having Zancrow act the way he is.
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Wheels of Fire