All these are prompts from Fariy Blitz going on at deviantART. Some will be drabbles, some pairings. Others...not so much. I'll put if there is a pairing, so if none is mentioned at the beginning, there isn't one.
Disclaimer: If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.
DATE : June 20
THEME : Action
SETTING : Amusement Park
CHARACTERS: Natsu & Gajeel
PROMPT : Crush and/or Solstice
+…+
"Dodge, you idiot!"
"I wouldn't have to dodge if this character could fight!"
"Then pick a better character!"
"You're the one that picked it!"
"Blue side wins," taunts the robotic voice, pausing the bickering of Natsu and Gajeel for only a moment.
"See what you did?" growls Gajeel, eyes narrowing in annoyance. He bumps the shorter boy away and grabs the joystick. "Give me the controls! I can get us to the next level."
Natsu makes a skeptical sound in the back of his throat and makes a grab for it. "Yeah right! Let me have it!"
Lucy sighs as she watches her 'team' for today literally tear apart the fighting arcade game they're playing. The poor machine's joystick groans in pain as the two dragon slayers yank it between themselves, completely forgetting the fight taking place on the screen.
'Really, we're at an amusement park!' she thinks with a sigh, taking a bite of her blue cotton candy. 'I know Natsu gets motion sick and all, but still!' Her brown eyes scan around the crowded park, looking around for, of all things, fairies.
"Game over. You lose," informs the game.
Natsu and Gajeel glare at each other, both fishing around in their pockets for coins to play again. They look at their empty palms forlornly. "Hey Luce~!" Natsu starts in a sing-song voice, holding his hands out for coins as he approaches.
"No," the blonde says curtly, finishing off her food and throwing the bag away.
"Can we get some funnel cake?" Natsu asks eagerly.
"No!" Lucy rubs the bridge of her nose. "We're not here to have fun, we're here to look for fairies to see if they have tails." She gives a pointed look to Happy as he heads for the ferris wheel.
The blue cat sighs and flies back. "You're no fun, Lucy."
Gajeel growls. "This is such a stupid tradition. Why do we have to waste time looking for fairies? I could be out on a job." Natsu and Happy nod in agreement, Natsu turning out his empty pockets.
"It's the summer solstice. We can do a job any day, but this is the time to look for fairies." They give her a blank look. "Midsummer?" she tries. Still nothing. "You know, the period of time focused on the summer solstice? It's said that Midsummer is one of those days when magic is at its strongest."
"We're spending a day magic is the most powerful looking for fairies?" Gajeel demands, sounding offended. "There's nothing exciting looking for-
Fine," Lucy sighs, cutting him off wearily. "If you don't want to, go home. I'm going to keep looking." She turns on her heel and disappears into the park, Happy flying after her.
"Happy?" Natsu yells, a little put out.
The blue cat looks back apologetically. "I want to see fairies, Natsu. Won't it be cool?" When his friend doesn't move, Happy goes on ahead, weaving around people to catch up to Lucy.
The Dragon Slayers exchange looks before setting off, both thinking about the different requests on the board that could pay the most. It's not till they're literally knocked over that they notice the small ball of light hurtling towards them.
"Help!" a bright voice screams, diving into the salmon hair of Natsu. It crouches behind one of his stuck-up locks and making its light dim so no one can see it. "Make them stop!"
Natsu frantically swats at his hair, the pleas of the thing not really registering until Gajeel grabs his wrist keep him from squishing the light.
"What do you mean 'make them stop?'" Gajeel asks. He looks around, suddenly noticing there's no one else around them. There's not a speck of trash on the ground. None of the rides nearby are moving. The booths aren't open, and the smell of popcorn and other goodies is gone from the air.
"What's going on?" Natsu demands, yanking his hand out of Gajeel grip and fishing around in his hair for the light. "Who are you?"
Gajeel smirks in anticipation as a looming shadow of the figure appears on one of the booths ahead of them. It's shapeless- a blob, if you will- and neither can tell what exactly it is. Natsu stops picking at his hair and gets in position, bending his knees and letting fire come to life in his hands. Gajeel copies his motion, turning his arm into a sword.
They're not ready for what they see.
"A hedgehog?" Gajeel demands, completely abandoning his stance and letting his arm turn back. "A hedgehog!" he yells again like he can't believe it, throwing his arms up in annoyance. "I don't care how big it is! This is so-"
"Look out!" Natsu yells, pushing the Iron Dragon Slayer out of the way in time to avoid quills as thick as his arm from impaling him. He shoots a ball of fire at one of the quilla, just barely managing to incinerate it in time to not become a shish kabob. Both dive to the right as another volley comes at them. They creep around until they come to crouch behind a booth that sold funnel cake behind the hedgehog.
Gajeel peeks out from the corner, watching the ten foot animal look around for them with beady black eyes. He turns his arm into a sword and gets up on the balls of his feet, preparing to stab the thing. "Ready?" he asks Natsu.
"Mmf!" the fire mage assures, shoving the last of the funnel cake into his mouth, white sugar all over his checks.
"This is no time to eat!" Gajeel roars, successfully catching the attention of the massive hedgehog. The monster curls itself into a ball, every inch protected by spikes. Natsu and Gajeel jump up on the top of the booth, using that momentum to jump over to the booth next to them safely. The hedgehog manages to change direction and head for them. They barely manage to make it to the next roof over, the previous one they were on becoming crushed.
They continue traveling via roof, Natsu shooting fireballs and Gajeel attempting to hit it with his iron. It has no effect. Soon it's all they can do just to dodge. They don't notice they've been in a circle until they go to jump again, only to see all the booths are destroyed. They're back the funnel cake booth.
Nastu quickly comes up with a plan. "To the left, then hit it with everything you got!" Gajeel nods that he understands. Both tense in preparation to jump, waiting till the last possible moment to dodge to the side. They roll for all it's worth, coming up ready to.
Sugar bursts up in a cloud as the wood splitters from the quills as the booth is destroyed. Natsu sniffs in sadness as he watches the funnel cake flop to the ground. 'Those would've been so good.'
Dough and sugar sticks to the hedgehog now coated in white. It makes a high-pitched squeal of distress, stopping to uncurl and try to rub its face free of the blinding powder. Natsu and Gajeel spring into action at its moment of weakness, each landing a solid kick on its exposed belly. The hedgehog's eyes bug out before it explodes into the furious flutter of wings.
"Ow!" Gajeel slaps at his face he's bitten. Natsu ignites his hands and swats at the wings as his hair is pulled. "What the hell are these?"
"Pixies!" screams the airy voice in Natsu's hair, holding on for dear life. "Make them stop! Get rid of them!" it yells, squealing in pain as one of them gets a good swipe at it. Natsu winces as his hair is pulled out.
"How?" the dragon slayers scream, running aimlessly in an attempt to get out of the painful cloud of raging pixies. They smack into an invisible wall, almost breaking their noses with the force before falling back, dazed. The evil little beings take advantage of their disorientation to scratch and claw at every part of skin they can reach.
The light in Natsu's hair gasps. "They put up a barrier! You can't get out! You have to fight them!"
Natsu throws fire at them, but it as no effect whatsoever. In fact, it seems to only urge them on. He clamps his hands over his head to try and shield the light in his hair, but a few pixies mange to squeeze in through the gapes of his fingers.
Gajeel snaps, turning his arm into an iron pole and swinging wildly at them, taking out a good chunk of the group. The pixies all scream at the sight of their fallen comrades were hit. They take one look at the big hunk of iron before flying of in a hurry, shoving each other in their flight to get away. Natsu and Gajeel can only look at them in shock, surprised at the sudden silence that overcomes them again.
"What the hell just happened?" Natsu asks, a ring of wonderment in his voice, looking in the direction the pixies left. Gajeel can only shake his head. They get up, both wincing as the small but bleeding scratches on their bodies open up even more.
A light shines from Natsu's head. "Thank you," it chimes shyly. "Sorry to bring you into this." It floats out from its hiding place and comes to rest in front of them. Its light dims to show a tiny little girl dressed in white, smiling. "Let me return you to where you should be."
"Wait!" both yell, gaping at the fairy.
It smiles, not understanding. "Don't worry. I'll reward you as well."
The whole world goes dark, shapes melting together and colors bleeding into colors. The only light becomes the small girl as she floats forward to touch Natsu's then Gajeel's cheek. A sudden weight falls into their hands before the light disappears along with their awareness.
+…+
"Guys!" Lucy's voice groans, cutting through the blackness. "Again? Really?" There's a heavy pause before Natsu feels the weight in his hand disappear. "Where'd you get this? It's so pretty!"
Natsu is the first to blink open his eyes. He groans and sits up, a dazed expression on his face before he suddenly remembers. "Where'd the fairy go?" he demands. "And the pixies? The hedgehog? My funnel cake?" He recalls the booth's unfortunate demise. "No! Why?"
Gajeel sits up a minute later, not nearly as loud as Natsu. He takes a moment to regard the lamenting mage before looking around himself. "Where'd the fairy go?"
"Not you too!" Lucy sighs, turning the shining jewel Natsu had in his hand around in the sunlight. The shape of a fairy can be seen inside, dancing as you change the angle the light hits. "A fairy's not going to explain all the damage you guys caused…again."
It's only then the two really notice where they are: the same place that were with the groundhog, wrecked booths and all. Even a part of the roller coaster that was close by is gone, giant holes from the hedgehog's quills in it.
"You do have money to pay for this, right?" asks the silky voice of the park's owner, suddenly popping up behind Lucy and earning a scream from the girl. He catches sight of the jewels in her and Gajeel's hand and nods. "That should be enough." He quickly grabs them and walks off, leaving Lucy with a heartbroken expression.
Happy flies over to Natsu, landing next to him. "You saw a fairy, Natsu?" he asks, excitement shining in his eyes. His friend nods, finally moving from the destroyed booth. "Did it have a tail?"
Gajeel and Natsu both have to refrain from slamming their heads into the ground. "We forgot to check!"