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The horse-drawn carriage slowed as it neared its destination. The man, wearing a large, straw hat, pulled the reigns lightly as to warn the brown horse that their stop would be arriving soon. Once the rather colorful structure was spotted, the carriage stopped and the man jumped off, spitting off to the side once he was on the ground.
He raised an eyebrow at reading the large red letters above the door, Fairy Tail. It was such an odd name for a guild rumored to be so strong. Shouldn't it have something like Dragon Tail instead, or Vanquishers maybe to make them more intimidating? The man shrugged the thought away and instead glanced back to his carriage with a wary eye. This was the last place, the last guild that could help him with his and his village's problem. Should Fairy Tail fail him, he would be forced to take matters into his own hands and that is what he wanted to avoid the most.
No, he would not fail here. He would make sure that the Fairy Tail mages accept this job and, given their reputation, would have no choice but to see through. All he had to do was make them accept…
Clearing his throat, he walked to the door and knocked in three, hasty taps and stood back, waiting and standing straight. Nothing happened, so he tried again using more force. When he was once again ignored, anger began to boil inside of the man. For days, he had been traveling while burdened with this horrible job. No one else in his village had wanted to do it and as the leader, he felt it was his duty to protect everyone and volunteered, leaving his son in charge. Door after door had been shut in his face, all turning away from his plea, but it would not happen again.
With renewed determination, he pushed opened the large wooden doors and stepped inside. He didn't let the silence of his intrusion push him down. Instead, he eyed every person sitting on the tables, now pausing in their conversations to stare back. Puffing his chest, the man spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "I need to speak to your master; I have a very important and dire request."
"Sir?" The man turned towards the voice and was met by a young girl with long, almost white hair. She moved forward to take charge while the majority of the population in the room returned to their chatter now that the matter could be solved. "Sir, all requests need to be posted up on the wall. Then you wait for a mage to accept it."
The man quickly shook his head at this. "I do not have the time. Already, I have been on the road for weeks trying to find help but all in vain. Guild after guild refuses and this is my last option. As chief of my village, I must return quickly with assurance that the job will be taken care of." He bowed his head as a last measure of desperation. "Please! Help us."
The girl was somewhat taken aback; though it wasn't new for someone to arrive in person with a job, it certainly was rare. Their master was out at the moment on a short trip and wouldn't arrive until a few hours later leaver her in charge of keeping order. Here though, she wasn't sure of what exactly to do. Thinking fast, she pulled the man aside to a chair. "What is your request, sir?"
Sighing, the man began his concise explanation. "It's a demon. A demon that would be the death of us all! I need you to destroy, kill, whatever. We cannot deal with this on our own."
"A demon?" The girl mused. "Terrorizing your village?"
"Not anymore." The man looked down, unable to look her in the eye. "We managed to seal it inside a small container, which I have brought along with me." He suddenly grasped her by the arm. "Please get rid of it for us! I can't stand being near it anymore. Night after night, thinking only of how hopeless my trip has been as I lay next to that-that monster. "
The action and raise of volume was certain to attract the attention of another. A tall, young man with short pink hair and scale-like scarf stood before them with a curious expression. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and sat him back down. "Calm down old man, you're scaring Mirajane."
"I'm fine Natsu." The girl said, smiling. "It seems his problems are serious; he has a demon he wants us to kill."
The man quickly shifted his eyes to the other male. "I can pay. I brought the jewels we have in our village, and two celestial keys—"
He wasn't allowed to finish as a large blond head suddenly appeared besides Natsu with large beaming eyes. "Celestial keys? Two of them?"
With a hint of hope, the man searched his pockets until he pulled out a small silver key. "I'm not much of a key user, but I do know this one is Traingulum."
The blonde leaned closer, nearly startling the man backwards by how close she was. "Wow…We should accept it!" She exclaimed with enthusiasm.
The man nodded with equal feeling. "I am willing to hand this over now, Miss, just for agreeing, and the other once the job is done."
"Let's accept Natsu."
Natsu was nodding to himself as he thought about the offer. "Jewels for me and Happy, and two keys for Lucy, sounds great!"
The man nearly cried out in joy, but kept his compose just slightly. "I will retrieve the demon." He quickly thrust the silver key into the blonde girl's hands, who jumped up happily while marveling at her new key. The other two watched the man jog back out, then return a minute later pulling a large wooden box that was propped on top a flat plate with wheels.
He stood before them again then removed a small satchel that hung over his shoulder and dropped it on the box. "The demon is sleeping inside and I suggest you kill it before it wakes. The jewels I have with me are in the bag and the second key is around the demon's neck so once it's dead, you can take it." He walked to Natsu, deeming him the one responsible for the job and clasped his old hands around Natsu's. "I thank you, powerful mage. I also speak for my village when I say that we are all truly grateful. I hope we can meet again."
Natsu had been grinning, a bit embarrassed, as the man spoke. "It really is no probl-wait, are you leaving now?" He asked, taking in the man's last few words.
"I have to, my village is still waiting for my return. I leave this task to you." Before anyone else could speak about it, the man was walking away and was gone with the sound of a whip and clattering of hooves.
Natsu and Lucy kept staring at the door, then at each other, then the box that was settled before them. "Looks like…he was in a bit of a hurry to get rid of this…" Lucy said, staring down at the wood.
"So!" Natsu grinned, throwing back his scarf and tapping the lid. "Why don't I just blow this up and let it burn for a while, I'm sure that would kill the demon."
Mirajane put her hands at her hips at this. "Not in here. And shouldn't you investigate this a bit further first?"
Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Oh, right. But before that, I wanna take a look at this demon."
"What?" Lucy cried, already looking through the bag of jewels. "Don't tell me you're going to open this."
"Just a quick peek, it'd be cowardly to kill it without even knowing what it is."
"It's a demon." The blonde frowned. "And what if it wakes up?"
Natsu laughed lightly. "Don't worry about it, I'll be careful." He inspected the box and found nothing strange about it. Or maybe it was the lack of strangeness that did make it strange. There were no locks, no seals, nothing but gravity keeping the lid down. Already suspicious, Natsu got a hold of the lid and cautiously pulled it up. Once enough light had crept inside, his eyes widened at the sight. "This has to be a joke…"
Besides him, Lucy inched forward. "Natsu? What is it?"
Natsu removed the lid completely to allow the others to look inside. Lucy gave a similar expression as Natsu, unable to believe that a demon really lay inside, while Mirajane quietly gasped.
Sleeping inside was a boy cramped inside the cubed container. Were it not for the bruises, small droplets of blood here and there, the rope tying his legs together and his arms back, the cloth used as a gag and a similar piece of cloth wrapped around his eyes, it could have been a perfectly normal boy. With such a small frame, light crème skin, and silky white hair, only a true demon could have tarnished the child.
Lucy moved closer in, unsure of what to make of the sight. "M-maybe it's the demon's disguise…?" But even she was uncertain of her own theory.
"Demon or not, this isn't right." Moving with determination, Natsu reached inside and began pulling the boy out.
"Wait, Natsu. This could be a trap." Lucy was for the most part ignored so she decided to watch instead as Natsu pulled the boy into a sitting position and gently removed the gag and blindfold. There was a cut on his lip already covered in dry blood and the right eye looked swollen shut. The more he looked at the beaten face, the more disgusted he felt at whoever had done this.
He fiddled with the tight knots of the ropes at the boy's back. "Lucy, help me with the ones on his feet."
"O-ok." Hesitating, she kneeled down and began working on the ropes bound around the ankles. She was quicker having less rope to deal with and managed to remove it before her struggling friend.
Natsu had barely begun to finish up with one of the three knots when the frustrating ordeal was suddenly yanked away. The box with the boy inside had fallen backwards, fitting the floor loudly and sending the body inside rolling out. Instantly, the mages there stood up but stopped in their movements at seeing a large brown eye now staring back.
The boy had woken up and had put some distance between himself and the possible threat before him. With a clear panic evident in the eyes not bruised and still shut, Natsu, Lucy, and Mirajane knew better than to rush forward and terrorize him even more. However, the commotion had once again captured the attention of the room's occupants, many who felt their hearts throb in sympathy in the boy's pathetic state. A few stood, and a fraction of those moved forward in an attempt to help.
When a woman wearing glasses moved too closely, the boy flinched and toppled over on his stomach as he tried running away while his hands were still bound. The impact caused him to cry out in pain and yet, he kept trying to half crawl, half slide across the floor and away from everyone else.
Lucy rushed forward, unable to keep seeing the boy in pain. "Wait! You're hurt, stop moving around."
"Stay away!" The boy managed to creep beneath a table and made himself as small as possible while staring out at the rest of them.
"We won't hurt you." Using soft words, Lucy smiled and kneeled down by the table.
"Liar! You were paid to kill me, I know you were!" The boy cried. There was a moment of silence, no one confirming nor rejecting his suspicion. With a shaking voice he said, "Get away from me. I-if you get any closer, I'll use my d-demon powers and blow you all up!"
From Lucy's view, she could see the boy's body quivering and his eyes tearing up in fear and despair. Natsu soon joined her, crouching down to get a better look. He gave an intense stare, studying the strange child who was now doing his best glare back and appear threatening. "It's a bluff." Natsu said after a while.
"I-It's not! I'll blow this entire room."
"Then do it."
Again, it was quiet. Growing tired of waiting, Natsu got on his hands and knees and starting crawling after the boy. "If you're not coming out, then I'm going in there and pulling you out." When the kicking started, Natsu used one hand to block the hits and the other to grab one of his ankles and start dragging him out.
Once the boy figured out that kicking wouldn't work, yelled out. "BAKURA!"
For a second, coldness descended on everyone in the room and causing all of them to remain still as if frozen in their steps. Just as it appeared to get worse, it sudden retracted and a terrible cry of pain and anguish erupted from the boy. Natsu's hand was also affected by the invisible attack and he pulled his hand away in surprise. "Something shocked me!" He said.
"The boy. What about the boy?" Lucy shook Natsu in worry.
"What about me?" Natsu whined, yet he still reached for the boy if a bit slowly. When nothing happened upon touching him, he finished dragging him out. The boy remained unmoving but was clearly still conscious. Natsu returned to his previous task of untying the ropes while he watched the boy out of the corner of his eye.
He was sobbing quietly now, hiding his face as best as he could in his hair and facing the floor. "W-why is this happening…? I n-never…wanted anything bad to ha-happen…"
More people crowded around, whispering amongst themselves and asking what was happening and who this strange child was. The word 'demon' was thrown around but with sarcasm and something similar to disgust. This child? A demon? The poor boy was sobbing for his life, terrified and believing his death would be upon him soon.
Another member removed his coat and offered it to the pair on the floor. Even when it was placed over the boy, he simply flinched and cried harder, curling up tighter. Lucy joined them and extended her hand, calmly petting the white mob of hair; it was silky and soft, but the dirt and grime hardened it in some areas. "You don't have to cry, we won't kill you."
Using his one good eye, the boy studied her with a tiny spot of hope. Then his eye fell on the silver key in her other hand and the small light came crashing down again. "You've already been paid…" He muttered. There was a quaking sigh forced out from his lips as he attempted to quiet down. "Please, make it painless…w-wait until I fall asleep again…"
For some reason, those words angered Natsu and he grabbed the boy by the shoulder and turned him around so that he lay on his back. "So, you're giving up? Are you really going to let us kill you so easily after all that fighting just now?" No sooner had he said that that he received a hard punch to the back of his head, courtesy of Lucy.
"Natsu! That's not helping." Her angry face transformed to a happier one upon looking down at the injured boy. "Don't listen to him, nothing bad is going to happen to you." There was no response, which puzzled her. She leaned down closer and finally noticed that the boy was no longer awake. "He actually fell asleep."
Unable to stay angry, Natsu growled lightly and scratched his pink head. "I think there's a bed somewhere in here. We should just wait for Gramps to get here to see what we should do." With swift movements, he bent down and picked up the bruised body into his arms. There was no way he would be able to hurt someone is such a state. Looking down, he made his resolve to help him by getting to the bottom of this problem.
A slight reflection of light distracted him, coming from a chain on the boy's neck. It was the promised second key, golden but oddly enough, wrapped in strips of paper carrying strange symbols. It was almost like a seal…
A/N: I'm not too sure about continuing this crossover, but I already had this chapter written for a while now and if it gets enough reviews, I might write more for it. Thanks for reading ^^