The sun is hanging low in the sky and the air is in the process of cooling off from the hot, humid summer day. The ground is getting moist with the afternoon due and the moon is peering over the horizon. A chilling wind is creeping through the streets of Magnolia putting an unwelcoming feel to the town.

People were noticing the change but kept going upon with their regular business. Some town folk were starting to put up umbrellas and street awnings.

Big black/grey clouds moving in from the sea. The weather man had predicted this later in the night, but it moved in faster than they thought. Before long, rain was pouring down from the sky like someone had just turned on the sink.

Thunder cracks were being heard the same time lighting was striking the ground. The wind is tearing the roofs off buildings and shaking their very foundation.

"Damn, it's really coming down out there," A strong hearted Cana said while looking out of one of the guild hall's windows.

A kind, strong sliver haired woman approached Cana at the window handing her, booze, "Oh dear. What a nightmare. This storm wasn't supposed to pop up until later tonight."

The brunette turned her head to look at the bar maid, cocked a smile, and chuckled, "Well I guess those trusty meteorologist can't be right all the time, isn't that right Mira?"

Mira chucked, "I just hope everyone got inside the guild ok. The storm seems to be picking up."

"Well I know some people are out on jobs, but was anyone supposed coming back today?"

"Let me think," Mira put her hand to her chin, "I know that Gajeel and Levy are in Hargon dealing with some bandits, Wendy just got back from a mission this morning. Uhh…" She thought some more, about everyone who was on a job. "Team Natsu is out, but they should be back soon, I just hope they are ok and have found some sort of shelter."

A grin was moving onto Cana's face with a soft chuckle, "Whoever thought it was a good idea to call them Team Natsu?"

"I don't know," Mira said as she laughed. She then turned around and started to walk back to the bar, where she is serving the others booze and food. "Well excuse me, I must get back to the counter. I have customers to tend to."

Cana nodded and raised her glass into the air, to show thanks in way.

~In the East Wood Forest~

"Hurry up, Natsu! We need to get back to the guild!" Lucy was shouting behind her while running through the though terrain with Erza and Gray. Going Up and over logs, under Branches and through the bushes. To make it back to the guild.

Lucy was holding her jacket over her head and was looking for something to take cover under. She thought about hiding under a tree but the rain was coming down so hard that the cover of the leaves was useless. The rain was passing through them like nothing. Their only hope of staying out of the rain, is to make it to the guild.

On the other hand Natsu was trying to keep up with everyone. During the job he was injured pretty badly.

At the time, when he got the injury he didn't think it was a big deal, and thought nothing of it. But now his wound was proving to be quite the pain in his side. The only thing was, Natsu hasn't told his team mates how bad it actually was.

The team knew he was hurt, they even saw the wound. The wound had pieces of the attacker's weapon inside of it, but Erza managed to pull most of it out without a problem. After that it just looked like something had scratched him. Lucy took the time to close it up, and wrap his side with an ace banged.

The man who attacked Natsu was tall and slender. In fact, He didn't have any correlation with the job itself. The man was just trying to rob somebody of their money. Unfortunately that somebody happened to be Natsu. The attacker figured that since Natsu is a wizard of a well-known guild, that he would have some sort of cash on him.

He came out from behind a corner in the town square, when the Team was about to go get their reward. The blade the attacker used was flimsy, as soon as it entered Natsu's side just above his hip, the blade shattered into pieces that went into his body. The attacker fled as soon as the knife shattered. Making the scratch about the size of fists.

A couple hours later, on their way back to the guild, running through a thick forest during a torrential down pour, with a reopened wound on his side was killing him. Needing to take constant breaks to rebuild his energy, Natsu is starting to slow down, but in order to keep up with his team, he can't afford to rest. He was already starting to fall too far behind.

With all of the running Natsu was doing his side was starting to burn and sizzle. He was heaving, the pain was so bad, making the wound tear open, causing it to bleed more and more. On top of that the fire dragon slayer was throwing up the chicken he ate before the journey back home.

Looking down at the red patch on his vest. 'What the hell, it's just a scratch. So why, why is it causing me this much pain' the mighty dragon slayer thought.

Leaning up against an old oak tree, Natsu unzipped his vest and peeled away the neatly wrapped bandages. What he sees is almost unreal. The scratch on his side, was no longer a healthy reddish/pink color. It had turned to a black and dark olive green. Pus and blood was mixing together making the wound even more atrocious. It had torn itself open to almost double the size of when he got it.

"Hey guys, I don't see Natsu behind us." A small flying blue cat said concernedly. Stopping to hover above the rest of the group. "I think we should wait."

"He's usually in front of all of us, with one to many steps in-between. Maybe your right, we should wait for him" The Titania spoke.

"It shouldn't take to long for him to catch up. But isn't that just pathetic, he can't even keep up. It was just a scratch." Gray chuckled.

"Now, Now Gray, let's not start a fight. We don't even know how bad it actually is."

Looking back on the path the group just took, they waited for a Salmon haired man to come out from behind a tree, but there was nothing. They waited and waited but nothing.

The rain was coming down harder than ever, before long. Lucy jacket was no longer a help. The rain passed through it like a sieve and sand. Happy was clinging to Lucy head, under her jacket in a desperate measure to stay dry, even though it was useless.

"I think something wrong." Happy cried.

Standing there with a concentrated look in her face Lucy was watching, waiting, and hoping that he would show up quickly.

Clawing at his side to get some sort of break from the burning sensation, Natsu thought. 'Why, why does it hurt so bad. It's only a scratch. It's only a scratch! So why! Why!'