Reminiscing the Past

Natsu smiled as he replied to Sirius, "I didn't mention it until now, but yeah. I have a younger brother back at my hometown. Wow, this is so nostalgic. I haven't seen my bro for decades. I kind of missed seeing his face after so long."

"I'm curious what your brother and hometown look like."

"How about we go there some time? It's a bit farther from here but I can fly us there.", Natsu invited Sirius.

Sirius raised his right fist towards Natsu and declare for a fist bomb, "It's a promise then."

Natsu also raised his right fist, "Sure!" Both lads did a fist bomb as Natsu added, "That's a promise."

It is always good to have these times where one can always feel at peace, but unfortunately for every wholesome moment, there would always be disastrous and painful experiences that would soon come after. A calm would undoubtedly happen before the foul storm and as for this story, it would be sooner than one could ever hope for. It may be a blessing in disguise, but the worst-case scenario would be life being unfortunately unfair to them.

After death, karma is the second worst thing that could ever happen to any living organism in every part of the universe or the multiverse.

Now, get ready to grab your popcorns or any other food source available in your environment and some or a lot of tissues for those who were quick to shed tears for this is going to be a bumpy ride for all of you on the other side of the screen.

The wave splashed intensely against the cliff wall while both lads who were sitting on the mountain cliff laughed.

Sirius held his stomach and laughed non-stop like he was tickled by some sort of demon, "That's too hilarious! My stomach hurts so much!"

Natsu laughed as he continued to narrate and reminisce his memories, "Oh, yeah. There's also this one time when I always bring scissors with me to cut his belt so his pants would fall to his feet and reveal that he doesn't know how to hide his tail normally but wrapped it around his hips instead. But when he wore something that did not need any belts, I took off his pants manually! He would then burst into tears and his master would smack us for being such a cry baby and always messing around."

Without warning, Natsu's memories that were buried deep under the other pile of other memories began to resurface one after the other. In a beautiful garden filled with various types of blooming flowers from many years ago, the sun shone brightly onto the two cute children who were playing happily on the grass as their mother watched over them with a smile as soft as a cotton and as gentle as the breeze.

The older child who looked as young as seven years old and let himself be chased by the younger one in spite of having fast and agile legs, was the younger Natsu when he was still about 143 years old, who still did not hate to show his crimson red hair in front of everyone unlike today and a headband to top it off. The younger child who looked four years younger and the one who excitedly chased after the young Natsu to try to catch him, was Natsu's younger brother who was still 66 years old.

They ran at the grassy ground for hours without end until the younger one had fallen asleep for all the excitement from earlier on his mother's lap as she and Natsu sat on the grass and stare at the beautiful starry night sky.

"Natsu, do you love your younger brother?", his mother asked in a gentle voice that almost sounded quite similar to a lullaby.

"Not really. He always demanded impossible tasks for me to do like riding me like a pony all around the palace for how many months without losing any day of attendance. His crying voice... more like a screech from a gargoyle, sounded so horrible when he doesn't get what he wanted. Are younger siblings always like that? It's kind of unfair for all the eldest or older siblings if the world who experienced the same pain as I. Can't we get the justice that we deserve and not just 'because you're older so you have to adjust and give your siblings what they want' junk. In every nickel that my brother wanted something out from me, I would be richer than both of Gehenna and Elysium's budgets combined", Natsu sighed deeply with a glum look on his face as he explained.

His mother laughed as she tried to hold it back and replied, "That may be true. I apologize on behalf of your brother, but you have to understand. No matter what happens between the two of you in the future, no matter how apart you two were from each other, you would always end up replying on one another when push comes to shove. Trust me, I've also been there before and at first, I didn't believe what my mother had also said to me, but in the end, I realized it after what happened to me and your uncle. It's unfortunate that he already died a few centuries ago but the two of us relied on each other for every struggle that we faced and overcome all of them. So, just endure it for a bit longer, ok? You may not know it, but somewhere in the future, you may be the one who will rely on your brother the most unlike today, where your roles were reversed. You two are each other's strengths no matter what happens. So, endure it for now. At least, for your brother and me."

As his mother gently patted Natsu's wavy hair, he silently nodded and started to smile as he looked at his brother's adorable sleeping face. A face that he would rarely see whenever it's daytime where he's usually worn the spoiled brat face.

In the palace where their father spent all his time sitting in his office with all of his paperwork to take care of, their father was intently focus on signing one paperwork to another that was piled up on his desk as young Natsu stealthily flew behind him with his cute and tiny bat-like wings.

Their father looked behind and wondered what caused the breeze blowing his neck, but Natsu swiftly flew up and it was safe to say that he wasn't spotted. While distracted, his younger brother placed his left hand on the desk and set that one spot on fire with his blue flame and hid under the desk instantly. Their father went back to his work and was surprised to see a flame forming 'hello' on his desk, but a vein throb started to form on his forehead.

The young boys left the room as their mother awkwardly smiled and their father nagged non-stop. They could hear their father's angry muffled voice from the other side of the door as they walked away through the long hallway.

"It's fine, dude. You're unappreciated by your time, especially by the one called our father", Natsu pat his sad brother's head as a way to comfort him.

One day, when the two brothers were usually playing in their garden with their mother happily watched over them, suddenly someone, who wore a pitch-black colored cloak that covered their entire body, which prevented anyone who witnessed what was about to happen to recognize them, flew towards the two children with a dagger coated in black aura for each hand. They pointed the one from his right hand towards Natsu’s helpless young brother.

Everything was so quick that young Natsu could only stare in devastation at the inevitable. When the blade sliced the flesh, blood splattered on his face as he stared speechless of the event. There it was, tears started to flow and rolled down to his cheek as soon as he realized that it was their mother who was stabbed by the chest, who was protecting her children from the danger as her bat-like wings slowly tucked in and hidden again.

The mysterious Daemon pulled out their weapon from their victim’s body and was about to leap out, but Natsu’s brother grab a hold of their cloak as he cried uncontrollably of what happened to their mother. The cloak was set into flames in an instant and it was burned into dust in a blink of an eye. Before the flames began to devour them, they immediately produced a black aura all over their body for a brief moment to extinguish the blue flames as he quickly flew away from what used to be a happy place but now turned into a gloomy environment for the mother and her children.

The continuous wail that filled the air made the nearby maids to went to the garden, but all screamed and ran away as soon as they saw their madam’s dying body lying on the ground. Natsu continued to stand still in shock as his brother continued to hug their mother while still in tears.

Ashes also began to come out from her wound as Natsu thought to himself, “That mark on that Daemon’s arm… Based on the color, that assassin was a member from the Umbra Platoon (Latin for Shadow). Sh*t! Why’s a member of the Praesidium (Latin for Guards) tried to kill us brothers? Either someone of higher standing amongst the Praesidium ordered that Daemon to assassinate us or someone from the Kings themselves gave the stupid order? Damn it! Either way, the government itself tried to ice us from the start but mother tried to protect us and paid the price with her life instead.” Natsu reminisced a flash image of the fleeing Daemon that had a black armband tattoo on their right arm, and he clenched both his teeth and fists so much that they started to bleed as his tears rolled down to his cheeks again with a frustrated expression.

“Where is father now when we needed him the most?”

A few weeks had passed since the accident. Young Natsu left his home behind as he wore an angry expression and transformed into a hybrid cat to change his hair color into black while his crying brother tried to chase him but was stopped by his master.

Natsu stopped reminiscing for a split second but continued to narrate like nothing happened and the boys were still laughing at the story, "His master and I are the only ones who knew about his tail problem since he never let it out no matter what. I wonder if he learned how now, since my habit of bringing scissors with me even now would be a waste if he did."

Sirius sighed with relief from extreme laugher... no offense earlier for the Daemon in front of him... and wiped his tear of joy from his right eye, "Give him a break, Natsu. It should be a good thing that he learned how to control his powers now. If he does, you should tell him that you're proud of him. Even if he doesn't, you should act and love him like a big brother should to his younger sibling and teach him the ways. Make this one a part of our promise, too. Also, stop bringing your scissors with you."

Natsu replied sarcastically, "Are you my girlfriend or something? Fine, I'll promise to do that, too. But the scissors habit part may have to take a while to break so you will have to wait."

"Fine."

The cold wind blew while the two boys stared at the red ocean beyond the horizon.

Sirius commented, "All this remembering the past reminded me of the time when we first met at the Bermuda Triangle Trash Site."

Natsu replied, "It's been about 100 years since back then, huh?"

A hundred years ago, Sirius was found extremely injured and unconscious on the ground with the trash at the Bermuda Triangle Trash Site by a transformed Natsu with a pale expression, who ran towards him without hesitation.

At a bedroom in the Resistance Base, Sirius’s unconscious body lied on the bed with Natsu, Raaz, Eryl, Psalm, and the Boss surrounded Sirius. They all looked like a mafioso in a gathering.

Natsu noticed something moving and faced Sirius, “He's awake. Are you ok now? Can you tell us your name?”

Sirius went silent for a moment and decided to speak up, “...I don't know what's my name. Where is this place?” He looked down as his hands were trembling with fear, “I don't remember anything... I can't recall anything...”

The Boss scratched his head with worry, “This is bad. If we don't know his identity, we won't be able to take him back to his home.”

The 4th Captain raised his right hand and suggested, “How about I ask some togaes (Latin for Civilians) at the Puerto Rico District? Maybe someone may know him since we found him near there. If not, I have friends there that could help us find the place where he may have come from.”

Eryl scoffed with both of his arms crossed to his chest, “That's too tiring.”

Sirius’s eyes widen while Eryl continued to speak his thoughts, “How about we just ditch him, leave him to some togaes, and let them take care of him? We can't afford our healers to waste their energy to some rags who knows where he comes from when we already have our hands full with the Praesidum (Latin for Guards) and the Gotts.”

Raaz eye-rolled and faced Eryl as his expression changed into fury, “Here you go again, speaking irresponsibly. Why don't you mature and grow up already, you smelly and useless mutt?!”

Eryl snapped, “What did you just say, you bullsh*t?!” Both captains were holding hands to push each other.

Psalm sighed and closed his eyes, “There they go again.”

Sirius continued to tremble and thought to himself, "Praesidium? Gotts? I felt weird since I heard those words. I'm scared... Someone, please help me...”

Natsu approached Sirius very closely that his face was near Sirius and said to him in a cheerful manner, “How about we call you Sirius? It means 'brightest star' in Latin. I think that it suits you and you can stay here for a while until you fully recovered from your injuries. Then we'll all help and get you back home safely.”

Eryl and Raaz stopped arguing with each other, face Natsu, and yelled in unison, “Quit deciding by yourself, you 'my pace' bastard!”

Psalm looked amused and held his laughter, “Oh, they stopped.”

Natsu faced their boss and pleaded, “You're ok with it, right? I'll also take full responsibility in healing him.”

The Boss with a poker face gave Natsu a thumbs up using his right hand while Eryl and Raaz complained again in unison, “Hey!”

Sirius looked so happy that his eyes sparkled with joy and thought to himself, "Brightest star."