AN: Hey, I'm pretty new at this kind of thing, so go easy on me. I've written in the past, but never anything for Fairytail. I've been thinking about this story for awhile, and it's going to be a little bit of a slow start, but I intend to pick up the pace by the third chapter. Please leave comments and criticisms. I really would like people to enjoy reading this story.
Magnolia is a small-ish town located roughly twenty miles south-west of Seattle, Washington. While not as hectic and frantic as it's sister city, Magnolia is one of the state's biggest trade cities. With two ports, three railways, and access to two interstate highways, it is the place to go for commerce. However, as a result of its trading and business industries, Magnolia also soon became a place of some renown.
It really kicked into high gear when Magnolia opened its first major University back in 1902- The Vermilion College of Engineering and Arts. However, nowadays it is commonly referred to as The University of Magnolia. To the world, the college was built for the same purpose anyone builds a college- to teach young minds and to increase the flow of people into the city. However, the founder of the school, Mavis Vermillion, had other ideas in mind. Yes, the school would be a college like any other, teaching the world's youth, preparing them for the adult world, and letting them earn their degrees. But the school would also, in secret, train specially gifted people known as mages. These mages would then go on to join guilds throughout the world to help fight crime and stop mortals from discovering magic.
Magic has been around for centuries. However, there has always been a fear that mortals, those without magic, would be jealous of mages, those with magic, and war would break out between the two. So mages, along with their craft and their world, have kept themselves hidden. This could only be done, however, with high amounts of organization and cooperation.
Thus the High Magic Council and the Guild System were born. This highly organized shadow organization became it's own working government and spread its authority across the globe. The High Council would make the laws, and then the Guilds would enforce them. These laws pertained to the magical realm and their main goal is to stop mortals from discovering the magical world. The other goal is to put a stop to those that would use their magic for nefarious purposes. These aforementioned Guilds would be the ones responsible for accomplishing these goals. After numerous legislations and once being approved by the Council, anyone could form a guild. Their newly formed guild would then be assigned an area of land to monitor and enforce the magical law.
Fairytail, was one such guild. Founded in the city of Magnolia, Fairytail's first major goal was to enforce the law. However, after a mere seven years of being established, Fairytail had a fairly tight grip on the state of Washington, it's assigned area, all thanks to their brilliant master of tacticians and founded, Mavis Vermillion. However, during those years, Mavis discovered that all the mages that joined her guild were estranged to the world of magic and lacked proper training. This was not their fault, she knew, because their was no place that they could learn and practice such things. So, Mavis decided to build a school to train and educate young wizards in the world of magic.
And here it stands today. The University of Magnolia. A place where inexperienced mages come from all over the world to learn more about who they are, what they can do and, most importantly, how to hide themselves from mortals. Some others have taken up Mavis' lead and formed colleges of their own, however, The University of Magnolia was the first and most successful of them all.
Now, of all the things that could've occupied his night, this was not one that he wanted. All Natsu wanted was to go to his classes, take a fucking bath, and get to bed early. Yet, here he was. In the middle of Warren Park, chasing after a werewolf in the middle of the night. Needless to say, this was way less relaxing than bathing and sleeping.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu bellowed, releasing his fiery breath towards the beast. Sadly, the werewolf jumped out of the way and Natsu's fire smashed into the tree.
"Careful, Flamebrain!" Gray called out as he rushed to the tree and, cooling the air around it, put Natsu's fire out.
"Sorry…" he muttered. This wasn't going very well. When they had gotten the call to chase down this guy, Natsu actually groaned. He knew they only asked him to do it, because of his heightened senses. He also knew, from experience, that werewolves generally smelled like week old garbage mixed with a sweaty gym sock. This one was no exception.
The werewolf had broken into a local gas station and startled the hell out of the mortal owner, while it ripped apart the tiny little ice box that housed various frozen treats. Mages were on the scene within minutes to take care of the logistics of magic-mortal interactions, such as wiping the memories of mortals that saw or heard too much. However, the team didn't arrive in time to apprehend the werewolf, so Natsu and his team were dispatched to catch it. With Natsu's enhanced scent, it wasn't hard to find him. It was sleeping nearby, in a bunch located in Warren Park.
It was mostly humanoid in shape and size, but it was covered in fur from head to toe. Claws protruded from its hands, like fingernails that hadn't been cut in a decade. In it's comatose state, it had curled up into a ball, much like a dog at the foot of its owner's bed. The werewolf had a tail protruding from the small of it's back that swayed back and forth to the rhythm of its dreams. As silently as possible, Gray approached the werewolf. Their job was simply to detain the werewolf and then call for a retrieval team that would take the beast back to the guild and figure out what to do with it from there. So, obviously, Gray was the most suited among them to trap the werewolf. Unfortunately, as he got close to the beast, he stepped on a twig, snapping it and startling the sleeping werewolf. It took off into the wooded area of the park and now they're here.
"Circle around it! We cannot let it get away!" Erza called out, as she did her best to get in front of the beast.
"Aren't werewolves people too? Why can't we just reason with it?" Lucy asked, as she ran to get into position.
"Great idea Lucy!" Natsu mocked. "Let me know how that works out for ya! In the meantime, we're gonna try and take him own swiftly and without a fuss." Natsu lept at the werewolf, aiming to kick it in the head. Unfortunately, it rolled out of the way.
"I'm just saying it couldn't hurt!"
"Sounds like a perfectly sound idea to me." Gray added.
"Fine, but can we at least corner him first?"
Eventually, the four of them successfully surrounded the werewolf, causing it to stop in it's track to assess its situation. It was down on all fours, all of its hairs seemingly sticking on end. His red eyes glared at the group, and it appeared ready to pounce at any given moment. Silently, the four mages began to converge on the beast.
"Listen, we don't want to hurt you." Erza said, he hands raised in a peaceful notion. The werewolf snarled at her. Obviously, it didn't believe her.
"Flamebrain, can you talk some sense into him?" Gray asked.
"What? Just cause I'm a dragon you think I can talk to muts?" While none of them could understand the werewolf, the werewolf sure as hell seemed to understand them, because he turned towards and gave Natsu a death glare at the word 'muts'. "Huh? You wanna go? You mut!" Natsu yelled at it, egging the werewolf on. He quickly glazed to each of his teammates in turn, silently telling them to be ready. "C'mon! You smelly little dog! You probably couldn't even take down a squirrel you pathetic excuse for a-"
Natsu didn't have time to finish his insult, before the werewolf jumped at him. Quickly, Natsu prepared himself for the impact, igniting his fists. However, it never came. Before the werewolf had even landed, Lucy had pulled out her whip and expertly cracked it, wrapping it around the werewolf's leg, which in turn caused him to crash to the ground. Natsu took the chance to jump onto the werewolf's back, slamming into him as hard as he could, in order to incapacitate him. For added measure, Gray ran up and froze the werewolf's limbs to the ground.
"Yay! We did it!" Lucy exclaimed, winding up her whip.
"Yes, indeed. Good Job everyone." Erza inputted.
"So what do you think happened to it?" Lucy asked, sitting down next to a tree to catch her breath. "I mean, normal werewolves don't just raid grocery stores."
"I mean it could've been freshly bitten? Most humans-turned-werewolves don't understand what's happening to them." Inputted Erza. Natsu spoke up, sniffing the air as he did so,
"Nah, I would've smelled the blood from the bite wound. All I smell is filth… and chocolate ice cream…. but mostly filth."
"Maybe something made him mad?" Gray suggested.
"Well, either way, it doesn't matter. Our job is done. Now I'm sure you guys are tired, considering its," Erza paused as she checked her phone for the time, "11 o'clock. I'll wait here till Master sends a retrieval team, if you guys want to head home." Gray and Natsu nodded in affirmation, but Lucy said she'd stick around and keep Erza some company. After saying their good-byes and good nights, the guys left the girls behind.
"So…" Gray said, trying to alleviate the silence, "How's the new apartment?"
"Oh it's nice. Kinda cool to have my own place, ya know?"
"Dude, you gotta let me move in."
"No can do. It's only a one room apartment, there's no room."
"C'mon. I'll sleep on the couch! Hell, I'll sleep on the floor."
"I can't, man. My dad said tha-" Gray cut him off by gripping his shoulders and turning Natsu towards himself.
"Natsu. Please. It's been two weeks and I already cannot stand dorming with Loke. He brings back girls nearly every night and it's just insane!" Natsu laughed a little at him. Part of him felt pity, but the majority of him felt humor at his dilemma.
"Like I said, my dad doesn't want anyone living with me. 'No bad influences allowed' or something." Gray let go of Natsu, defeated.
"Your dad knows me though! I'm sure it'd be alright!"
"I asked him, Gray. When we were looking for apartments, I asked if he could get a two bedroom one, but he said no." Natsu responded, beginning to walk again. Gray, mopping slightly, trailed behind him.
"Damn…. It was so much nicer dorming with you." Gray chuckled a little. "Hell, it's hard to believe that it's already been a year, aint it?"
"Yea, I guess?"
"Dude, were sophomores! In college! We can basically do whatever we want- we're adults!"
"Except drink legally." Natsu pointed out.
"Whatever man. Don't be a bummer!" Luckily, Warren Park was very close by, because they soon arrived on campus.
"See ya tomorrow?" Natsu asked as they reached "Zera's Market", one of the campus' grocery stores for students and the closest thing to a mid point between Gray's dorm and Natsu's on-campus apartment.
"Yep, like always."
AN: So, this is my first chapter. I hope ya'll enjoyed it. It isn't much, and I know that some things weren't explained to their fullest. I working on it. Basically, It's a modern AU, but that still has magic. Also, other supernatural and magical things are apart of this world, such as werewolves and vampires.