Hi everyone! This is here to continue the story from Return of the Dragons (Hint: you need to read this one first!) It starts a little slow, but I hope you enjoy!
It was just like any other morning in the guild of Fairy Tail. A few tables were either on the wrong side of the building or flipped over. Various members were scattered around the hall, having been too drunk to walk themselves home the night before. Considering that it was now almost 10 o' clock, it was time to wake them up and get them out. And so, Mirajane, Grandine, and Erza went around doing just that.
"Elfman, it's time to get up." The snow-haired bartender lightly shook her younger brother, who had gotten knocked out in one of the previous fights. He grumbled something that almost sounded like 'five more minutes' before rolling onto his other side.
"Elf-nii, don't make Nee-san mad." Lisanna warned from her stool at the bar where she was drinking a chocolate milkshake. She had decided it would be better to watch the three women wake up the other guild members from a safe distance away. It was a good decision on her part to, because Elfman didn't even need her warning to feel the sinister aura coming off of his older sister. In moments he was on his feet and working to help move table and chairs back to their original places, not that they would stay there if another fight started.
Mirajane simply gave him a sweet smile, completely masquerading over the demon that was his motivator. "Thank you, Elfman." She walked lightly over to the next drunkard, letting her brother continue cleaning.
By that time, Erza had already managed to get three people awake and they were either walking home or resetting furniture. "I want this place spotless!" Her voice shook another couple of members awake, causing them to also assist in the cleaning. And then there was the last one, Grandine.
Not only was she angry because several of the male members, who had been too drunk to remember who she was, had been just a little too friendly last night, but also because she didn't get a wink of sleep. Since Mirajane had been tending the bar, it was Grandine's job to make sure that none of the drunks choked on their own vomit while they were passed out. Even though she knew that she wouldn't get any sleep when she accepted the job, she was still cranky. The two people, whose table she had walked over to wake them up, would regret that fact.
"Igneel! Metalicana! Wake the hell up!" Grabbing tangles of orange and gray, one with each hand, she slammed their heads together with a satisfying CRACK. Their reaction wasn't something the pink-haired dragon expected. They just mumbled, replacing their foreheads on the wooden table while sloppily moving their arms to try and cover the spot that got rammed into the other dragon. "I said: Wake up!" She yelled while smacking her palms down on the table, causing glasses to shake and a few cracks to appear in the wood. Okay, now they woke up.
"Geez, don't be so loud. What time is it?" The fire dragon asked, slightly slurring his words together as he raised his head and back so that he was almost sitting all the way up, facing the pink-haired woman who was causing all the racket. Metalicana didn't even bother responding and just kept his head down on the table, trying to recover from a hangover he got from his drinking contest he had with Igneel the night before. It was a new thing for him because dragons didn't feel the effects that alcohol had on humans, so they neither drank nor got hangovers. But now that they were humans, they did. Since the two of them had been drinking long into the night, no one paid attention to who drank the most, so a winner remained undesignated. However, that wasn't the primary concern at the moment.
"It's 10 o'clock in the morning. You two have been here all night, so now you have to help clean." Grandine hissed at the dragons who were suffering hangovers. "Both of your sons are out on jobs right now, not being lazy bums like you two." She smacked the side of Metalicana's head, making sure he was paying attention. "Now get up." Even though she had quite a bit of anger in her voice, the iron and fire dragons didn't move.
"It's not our fault we can't go out on jobs. A, we're not members of the guild, B, we barely have any magic because we haven't been in this world as long as you, and C, the sad excuse for a doornail sitting next to me is still recovering from being in prison. It's only been, what? A few days since we got back?" Despite the pounding in his head, Igneel was able to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why they had just been hanging around Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, it was true, they really couldn't go on any jobs, but Grandine had a solution for that.
"Well then, go get a regular job in the town or something." The pink-haired dragon didn't look like she was angry at the other two anymore. "Magnolia's pretty big. I'm sure that someone needs hired help somewhere." After a few moments passed with no response, she became slightly irritated. "Okay, now you actually do have to get up so I can at least clean the table." The fire dragon nodded and shoved his drinking partner off the edge of the wooden bench, causing him to land on the floor with a solid thump.
Igneel nearly fell on his face when he tried to stand up, but he managed to get steady himself before he moved over to Metalicana, who was snoring lightly. 'How in Earthland is he still asleep? I mean, I knew he was a heavy sleeper, but really?' The orange-haired dragon simply shook his head and bent down to grab on of Metalicana's arms. He then began to drag the iron dragon to the other side of the hall, away from the woman who interrupted their sleep. "Man! Were you always this heavy?" Igneel gasped when he realized he couldn't pull his friend more than a few inches. 'No, of course not. You used to be an adult dragon, weighing several tons.' He thought to himself bitterly.
Luckily for him, right at that moment, Gajeel, Levy, and the rest of Team Shadow Gear, came in to the guild hall. "Hey, Gajeel!" He called, grabbing the iron dragon slayer's attention. "He's your problem now!" Before he could be caught, the fire dragon made his way out the door faster than a criminal making a break for it. He knew he shouldn't have forced his iron eating friend onto his son, but he really didn't want to deal with Metalicana when he woke up and realized he had a headache.
"Ah! How nice the fresh air feels!" Igneel exclaimed as he stretched his arms over his head. He'd been to a lot of places, but he decided that Magnolia was definitely one of the best, with friendly people and clean air to breath. He let out a sigh. 'Why did you have to be right, Grandine?' He knew that the two of them shouldn't be just hanging around Fairy Tail, but he didn't know what else they could do. It was hard enough convincing the dragon slayers that they wouldn't disappear while they were out on jobs. And to tell the truth, they had tried to get jobs in the town, but they didn't last very long, mostly because the dragons had never done jobs before. Metalicana ate all the visible metal and Igneel ended up burning something, without even using fire!
Not to mention the crazy 'dragon enthusiasts' who kept trying to talk to them. Igneel swore that he was going to punch the next one that asked him to show them some of his magic. Usually people stayed away from dragons, but now that it was common knowledge that they had been turned into humans and were at the guild Fairy Tail, they wouldn't be left alone ever again. 'I just hope this day doesn't get any worse.' He thought to himself, shortly before running his head into the light post that was there to do just that, make it worse.
"Aw, dangit!" Igneel yelled softly, bringing his hand to his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding, sniffing a few times. It was then that he smelled something that he recognized. 'Natsu and his friends are back.' He started walking toward the origin of familiar aromas.
He caught sight of them when he turned the corner in front of Fairy Tail. Even though he was far away, he was able to catch snippets of their conversation. "I can't believe we had to give back over half the reward money because of damages!"
"It was Natsu's fault for burning that library."
"But that was the only way to keep the guy from escaping! And at least I actually did something, unlike you, Stripper!"
"I was busy making sure the rest of the town didn't go up in flames, you pyro!"
"Be quiet all of you! Natsu, Grey, you're going to come with me to explain what happened to the Master. Do you understand?"
"Hey look! It's Igneel!" Happy yelled, interrupting the conversation that was going on between his teammates. The cat and his corresponding dragon slayer ran forward to meet the other fire eater and, partially, to escape a certain armor mage.
"So, how was the job?" Despite having heard part of the conversation and being able to figure out most of what happened, Igneel wanted to hear Natsu tell his story.
"Well, first, the order was to catch a guy who had been robbing banks, so when we got there-Ow!" Erza had the hair on the back of his head locked in a death-grip and had begun dragging him towards the building.
"I told you. You, Grey, and myself are going to explain to the Master what happened before he learns it through someone else. You can tell your father afterwards." Natsu stretched out pleading arms as he was forced into the building where punishment was waiting for him. The fire dragon just shrugged and followed them in, sitting down at the bar while the three of them went to the Master's office.
Igneel sighed and let his head thump on the table. His hangover finally caught up to him. Or was it a new headache from running his head into a pole? It didn't really matter, all he knew was that his head hurt. There was a sudden flash of heat behind him, but it didn't have any malice in it, so he didn't bother turning around. A squeaky voice let out. "Igneel-sama! I'm bored!" Just great. Another headache to deal with.
Aw, poor them. I guess it's hard to adjust to being human after being a dragon for so long. Oh well! Read and Review!
