AN: I've returned once more. Sorry about the surprise hiatus, but life got really hectic these past few months. Now that the obligatory apology out of the way, please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.
"It's nice to actually have some peace and quiet for a change." I thought to myself as I sat at the bar contentedly while waiting for Mirajane to bring me my order of ramen. I closed my eyes as I basked in the warmth that was Fairy Tail feeling one of my few fleeting moments of happiness ever since—
"No." I forcibly halted my train of thought before shifting my attention to something else, anything to keep me from recalling—that.
Thankfully, it was at that moment that the doors to the guild were forcibly thrown open, drawing my attention immediately. As I looked towards the entrance I immediately noticed Natsu and Happy who began to storm into the room.
Well, so much for peace and quiet.
My attention was then drawn to the unknown blonde female that was accompanying them, due to the keys that were attached to her belt I correctly assumed that she was a celestial spirit mage. She appeared awestruck by the guild and stared out across the room with wide eyes.
"We're home!" Natsu yelled instantly drawing the attention of the entire room to himself.
"Natsu, Happy, welcome back." Mirajane greeted happily.
"You overdid it again." one of the guild members, his name escapes me at the moment, directed at Natsu while his friends laughed at him, " I read about the Hargeon incident in the newspa..." he trailed off as he noticed Natsu's sandaled foot flying towards his face at high-speed.
"Bastard!" Natsu screamed as he sent the man soaring with a flying kick, "That info you gave me about Salamander was fake!" Natsu's attack set off a chain reaction causing the entire room to become engulfed in a full-blown bar-fight.
"Leave it to Natsu to turn the guild into a miniature battleground in a matter of seconds." I turned back towards the bar hoping that the conflict might go away if I simply ignored it.
Oh how wrong I was.
"My," I heard Mirajane comment casually, "now that Natsu is back, the guild might be torn apart soon."
"It's already being torn apart!" someone else screamed in response.
Just about everything else was drowned out by the ever-growing turmoil brewing behind me. I continuously heard the telltale crack of wood being broken, presumably sending splinters flying everywhere.
Thankfully I had yet to be hit by any shrapnel—or flying guild members.
The key word of that phrase being yet.
"Did you say Natsu is back?!" a voice, that I recognized as Gray's. I didn't even need to turn around to tell that he was, once again, wearing nothing aside from his boxers.
"Hey! Let's settle our fight from the last time!" My suspicions were confirmed when I heard a loud clang as the new girl's jaw hit the floor in surprise.
"Gray..."Cana spoke while taking a short break from constantly guzzling beer and other various forms of alcohol, "have you been walking around like that?"
"Ack!" Gray screamed in frustration and surprise as he realized he wasn't wearing any pants causing me to smirk ever so slightly beneath my mask, "Shit!"
"Another one of those undignified guys...that I really hate." she sighed exasperatedly before beginning to, hypocritically, guzzle beer straight from the keg.
There was another loud clang as someone's, I assumed it was the new girl again, jaw hit the floor.
"Heeeey! Natsu! Fight me!" Gray screamed in the distance.
"Come back after you're dressed." Natsu replied.
"What rubbish," Elfman muttered in disgust, "yapping in the middle of the day. You're not little kids you know..." he paused to take a breath before continuing, "so fight with fists to show you manhood!" he yelled towards Natsu and Gray who were in the middle of their own fight.
"So it all comes down to fighting after all..." the new girl stated exasperatedly.
"Get outta the way!" Natsu and Gray screamed in unison before shutting Elfman up forcibly.
"And he got owned!" the new—forget this, her name is Lucy—screeched.
"Hrm?" Loki questioned while, I assume (considering that I was still trying to ignore the proceedings going on behind me at this point), two girls hung off of his shoulders, "It's so noisy here."
"Ahh!," Lucy gasped in surprise, "The top ranked 'Mage You Want to Have as Your Boyfriend'!"
"I'll go join their fight!" he exclaimed before running off to do just that.
"None of them are normal..." Lucy despaired.
It was at this point that I was forcibly dragged into chaos that is Fairy Tail whenever Natsu is around. Hearing a slight whooshing noise, that indicated something—or someone—was flying towards me at high speeds, I ducked just in time to narrowly avoid a man who went flying behind the bar.
Before I even stood up, my mind began to race as it quickly formulated a stream of curses and expletives that would give any sailor pause. I rose up off of my bar stool as my temper flared and spun around to face my fellow guild members. My eyes quickly scanned the room in an attempt to figure out just who the hell had sent a ballistic thirty-five year old man straight at my head. I sucked in a huge breath to make sure that I didn't have to pause mid-rant. The tidal wave of curse words I had come up with threatened to pour forth and I opened my mouth to let them flood the entire guildhall.
And I was promptly shut up by a flying thirty-six year old to the face.
Wakaba slammed into me at what had to be at least twenty to thirty miles per hour sending both of us behind the bar. There was a loud crash as we slammed into the wall accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, but, by some miracle, I managed to not get cut by the numerous shards of glass that were crushed by my back.
Well, by miracle I really mean the sleeveless undershirt that I wear which extends upwards to cover the lower half of my face that's covered in more protective runes than you could count. Which is why my back was still in one piece despite crushing a good twenty or so bottles of liquor.
I was dazed slightly, but who wouldn't be dazed after taking a surprise grown man to the face? Despite this, I still managed to come to my senses before Wakaba did and I immediately shoved him off of me.
I hurdled over the bar while screaming, "Who the hell threw Wakaba!"
Immediately after those words escaped my lips I had to dodge yet another flung guild member.
After a quick evasive maneuver I glanced over and saw that he had been thrown by none other than, you guessed it, Natsu. People were, stupidly, attempting to get involved with Gray and Natsu's fight and would promptly get sent flying for interrupting.
Ignoring the cries of those poor saps, I began to weave through the throng of people to reach Natsu and Gray who had tumbled into the center of the mass of people. Within a few moments I had successfully navigated through the mass of bodies and began to exact my vengeance.
"NNNNAAAAAATTTTTTSSSSUUUUUUU!" I screamed in absolute fury as I sprinted towards him.
"Wha?" he looked up in slight surprise just in time to get blasted in the face by my foot. Natsu was sent flying and I immediately gave chase while Gray screamed at me for interrupting his fight.
Natsu tumbled across the ground before skidding to a stop and quickly rose before charging at me with his fist raised. A loud battle cry thundered forth as he swung wildly at me but I easily ducked under his sloppy haymaker. My left fist found its way into his gut knocking the wind out of his lungs and lifting him off of his feet. I immediately followed up with a right and another left before launching a massive right cross.
There was a loud crack as my fist slammed into his jawbone sending Natsu tumbling away once more, I immediately pursued and leapt high into the air while pulling back my fist for another strike. Natsu's eyes widened as he saw me falling rapidly towards him and rolled out of the way of my punch which managed to splinter the floor boards slightly.
He jumped up and charged at me while I was still crouched on the ground. I stood up quickly and readied myself for Natsu's charge. Learning his lesson from earlier, instead of throwing a wild haymaker Natsu threw a quick, but still ridiculously strong, right straight that was headed directly for my face.
I grabbed Natsu's arm while falling backwards to dodge the blow and pulled him down with me. Utilizing the momentum I rolled onto my back before kicking Natsu squarely in the gut launching him over me and into the air.
I jumped up and turned to face Natsu who had just recovered from my sacrifice throw and was glaring at me angrily. Suddenly his fists caught aflame signalling that things had been kicked up a notch.
"Let's go Naruto!" Natsu screamed as he sprinted towards me raising his fists once more. I silently began readying my magic as Natsu charged towards me while noticing that all around me people were doing the same.
"Cut it out you fools!" a deep voice, that I recognized as Makarov's, bellowed across the room as he towered above me and everyone else in the room. I shoved my hands into my pockets and began heading back to the bar. Natsu could keep fighting if he wanted to, but I really didn't feel like getting flattened by Makarov.
"He's humongous!" Lucy screeched in surprise as she stared up at him.
Apparently, the rest of the guild was thinking the same thing as me, and immediately all fighting halted as everyone was cowed by Makarov.
Everyone, but Natsu.
Natsu grinned widely before bursting out in laughter, "You all got so scared! This match is my win!—Gah!" he was cut off as Makarov purposely stepped on the Dragon Slayer to shut him up.
"Mu?" he questioned, "A newcomer?"
"Y-yes." Lucy stuttered nervously.
The old man began shrinking back to his normal size as he deactivated his Titan magic and I plugged my ears for what was surely to follow.
"Whhhaaaatttt!?" she screeched. Once she was done screaming I unplugged my ears.
"Nice to meet you." he stated while waving politely before suddenly taking a tremendous flipping leap towards the second level. He accidentally smacked the back of his head against the railing, causing me to smirk slightly, before pulling himself up to stand on the railing.
"You've done it again, fools." he called out while waving the papers in his hands for all to see, "Look at these documents I received from the council." He looked down at the papers before continuing, "First—Gray."
"Huh?"
"Good job on sweeping out the smuggling organization, but you walked around town naked afterwards—and ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried."
"But wouldn't it be worse if I was naked?" Gray grumbled.
"Then don't be naked in the first place." Elfman, replied.
"Elfman!" Makarov shouted, "You had a job to escort a VIP but you assaulted him during the mission."
"He said 'men are all about education,' so—" Elfman mumbled while sheepishly scratching his chin.
"Cana Alberona, drinking fifteen big barrels of alcohol, and charging it to the council."
"They found out—" she grumbled to herself while looking slightly ashamed.
"Loki—flirting with council member Elder Reiji's granddaughter. A certain talent agency has also charged us for damage compensation, too. And Natsu—" Makarov began while hanging his head in exasperation, " You destroyed the Devon Thief Family, but also destroyed 7 other houses that belong to the townspeople—levelled a historic clock tower in Tully Village. Burned down a church in Freesia, damaged parts of Lupinus castle, and Nazuna Ravine observatory collapsed forcing it to stop its top of that, you destroyed half of Hargeon's port. Alzack. Levy. Kulov. Reedus. Warren. Bisca. Etc. The only person who hasn't pissed off the council is Naruto!" Makarov shouted while pointing directly at me as I sat on a bar stool, "Guys," Makarov stated seriously, "the council members are angry at me all the time..." everyone in the room looked at the floor guiltily as he continued, "but—forget about the council members." he told us as he burned the papers in his hand.
"Eh?" Lucy gasped in surprise as Makarov tossed the burning papers aside which were quickly gobbled up by Natsu.
"Listen up. The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the 'spirit' flow within us and the 'spirit' flow within nature connects, they will form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring all of your soul into whatever you do is the magic." Makarov grinned widely before continuing with a proud smile on his face, "If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve. Do not fear the fools of the council. Do whatever you think is right!" Makarov shouted with his hands outstretched as the rest of the guild cheered in response, "That's the way of the Fairy Tail mages!"
The entire guildhall was filled with laughter and cheering as everyone began celebrating once more while I sat silently at the bar basking in the warm atmosphere once more.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully and the atmosphere of the building began to, slowly, calm down.
By Fairy Tail standards at least.
I stood leaning up against the wall near the bar nonchalantly with a mug of ale in my hands as Lucy joined the ranks of Fairy Tail. I raised the mug to my lips to take a small sip as I noticed Romeo, Macao's son, running across the room towards Makarov's current spot on the bar.
"Is my daddy back yet?" the small boy questioned.
"Mu. You're annoying Romeo." Makarov replied with his eyes closed, "If you are the son of a mage, be a good boy, and wait for him at home."
"He said he'd come back in three days," Romeo responded while starting to cry, "but it's been a week since then."
It was at this point that I became concerned about Macao's well-being. I had been gone on a job and had just gotten back that morning, so his unexplained absence was news to me.
"Macao's job is at Mt. Hakobe isn't it?" someone chimed in.
"It's not that far either!"
"Please look for him!" Romeo pleaded, "I'm worried about him!"
And it was at this point that I decided that someone should do something. I quickly downed my drink before slamming the cup forcefully onto the bar and pushing myself off the wall I had been leaning against.
"No Way!" Makarov shouted angrily, "Your dad is a mage! We have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and drink your milk or something!"
Romeo glanced down at the ground with tears in his eyes while clenching his fists angrily before he jumped up and punched Makarov square in the face. "Idiot!" Romeo screamed before running off crying.
"It's very strict here isn't it?" I heard Lucy ask as I began heading for the door.
"Master is like that," Mirajane responded, "but he's worried about Macao too."
There was a loud crunch behind me as Natsu put the job request he had taken back on the board in a—forceful manner.
"Hey!" Nab shouted as Natsu walked away seriously and eventually fell into step beside me, "Natsu! Don't break the request board!" Natsu completely ignored the man as he grabbed his pack from beside one of the tables and fell into step next to me as I shoved my hands into my pockets. Natsu and I both exited the guild in utter silence, we had known each other long enough that we both knew just what the other intended to do without having to ask.
And, in all honesty, it was pretty easy to figure out what the other intended to do anyways.
Both of us had lost the person that we considered our father when we were younger and—well—we weren't going to let anyone else go through the same hell that we did if we could help it. Especially if that person was the son of one our guildmates.
I don't know about other mage guilds, but here at Fairy Tail we're not just a guild. We're a family. And we look out for our own, no matter the risk.
On a side note, it was apparently during this time that Mirajane explained Natsu's past to Lucy and just why it was that Natsu and I had acted the way we had. When I had learned of this, I was extremely glad that I had decided to mostly keep my past to myself. I'm not exactly keen on the idea of people who haven't even been in the guild for more than a day knowing my past and my motivations.
In my opinion, the less people know about my past, the better. It's a lot easier to put it behind me that way.
On a happier side note, I slightly regret that I never got to see the expression on Lucy's face when she found out that Natsu had been raised by a dragon.
Natsu and I strode down the central road of Magnolia purposefully as we quickly closed the distance between ourselves and Romeo. I activated my Requip magic obscuring my body in a cloud of white smoke. It was underneath this cover that my clothing changed into something that was more—appropriate for combat. A leather breastplate with no spaulders that covered my torso appeared on my chest over a tight-fitting, black shirt with no sleeves. Black gloves with matte black steel plates on their back covered my hands and extended up to my elbows as a cloak materialized on my shoulders. I pulled the hood up as loose-fitting black pants covered my legs. Bandages secured them to my legs tightly near my ankles which led into black foot wraps that allowed me to move silently. Matte black greaves appeared on my shins over my pants and extended downwards to cover a part of the tops of my feet.
And of course, my trademark undershirt-mask remained as well.
Now, transforming at that point wasn't exactly what one would call necessary. But, my battle armor makes me look rather intimidating and rather badass. Considering how worried Romeo was for his dad he could use some reassurance, but Natsu and I couldn't exactly waste time consoling a small child. So instead, I settled for this.
And besides, what's more assuring than seeing a badass heading off to save your father?
My transformation took no more than a moment, and when it completed the smoke surrounding me parted swiftly as I continued onwards. Natsu, used to this by now, was completely unfazed by my sudden change in attire and didn't even break his stride as it happened.
We eventually caught up to Romeo and Natsu placed his hand atop the small boy's head as he cried and ruffled his hair in a reassuring manner before we continued onwards, both of our faces fixed in grim looks of pure determination.
We eventually managed to book a carriage to Mt. Hakobe, despite it being on such short notice—people tend to make exceptions when known members of Fairy Tail insist that it's a life-or-death situation.
They also tend to make exceptions when Natsu threatens to burn their carriage down—we're so damn lucky Makarov never found out about that. It was at this time that Happy caught up with us.
Oh, and Lucy joined up too.
I sat on the same bench of the carriage as Lucy while Natsu lay splayed out on the bench opposite from us as he struggled with his immense motion sickness.
"My name's Lucy," she said while turning to face me, holding a hand out in greeting, "it's nice to meet you."
"The name's Naruto." I replied gruffly while shaking her hand before re-crossing my arms over my chest."
"Pardon me for asking, but what's with the mask on your face?"
I sat there silently for some time before responding, "It's a memento from my master."
"What happened to him?"
Needless to say, this is an extremely touchy subject for me, and I wasn't exactly happy about it being brought up.
"..." I turned to look Lucy directly in her eyes before stating in a monotone voice, "He died." as soon as I finished my statement I turned away from her.
And, needless to say, I made the fact that I wasn't happy about it being brought up very apparent.
Lucy gasped loudly before immediately apologizing, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know." I could tell by her tone that she was genuinely sorry and I felt a slight twinge of guilt about the way I had acted.
I let out a deep sigh before replying, "Whatever, you couldn't have known. Let's just get some sleep while we can. I've got a feeling that tomorrow's going to be a long day." I closed my eyes, trying to follow my own advice, while she presumably did the same. Her breathing pattern shifted to that of a person who was asleep and, despite my best efforts, the constant movement of the carriage prevented me from falling asleep.
The next few hours passed uneventfully for me as everyone else was either passed out, Natsu suffering from motion sickness once again, or asleep. And the carriage driver and I weren't exactly on speaking terms after we had threatened to destroy his source of income.
"And so!" Lucy announced with a large smile on her face, "I'll visit Mira's house next time!"
"Don't steal her underwear and stuff, okay?" Happy responded from his spot on the floor near Natsu.
"Who would do that!" Lucy screamed in surprise and outrage as she turned to face the small cat.
"Why are you here anyway Lucy?" Natsu and Happy asked in unison while I turned towards her with a raised eyebrow that she could actually see due to the fact that I had pulled my hood back during our ride.
"What? Does it bother you?"
"Of course, a lot." Natsu replied.
"Aye." Happy chimed in.
"Because it's a chance." Lucy replied with a large smile on her face as sparkles surrounded her form, "I wanted to do something that'd help Fairy Tail."
And she obviously just wanted to improve her standing with the guild.
"But then, transportation really doesn't go well with you, does it?" she continued on, "I pity you."
"Huh?" Natsu replied.
"I need to find a place to live once we find Macao," she said changing the topic.
"You can live with Natsu and me." Happy offered.
"If you're seriously saying that, I'll pull out your whiskers, little kitty."
Natsu's eyes opened in surprise and joy as he suddenly jumped out of his seat, "It stopped!" he exclaimed happily.
"We're there?" Lucy questioned.
"I-I'm sorry," the carriage driver responded, "we can't go any further than this with the carriage."
Natsu threw the doors open, completely unbothered by the cold snow and vicious winds,
"What's going on!?" Lucy shouted as she moved to get out of the carriage while I stayed seated on the bench, "Even though it's up in the mountains it's summer time!" she shouted while regretting her decision to wear a short-sleeve shirt and a skirt, "It's weird to have a snowstorm like this!"
"Didn't you know that Mount Hakobe snows year-round?" I questioned while she shook her head no, "Sorry, not much we can do now." I stepped out of the carriage while channelling my magic power into my feet so that I could stand on the surface of the snow, rather than having my feet sink into the powder and soak my foot wraps. Afterwards I walked to the front of the carriage and gave the driver a large bonus as a gesture of gratitude. I asked him if he could come back up the next morning to take us home. He told me he'd see what he could do, but I wasn't exactly holding my breath.
"It's cold!" Lucy screamed as she stepped out of the carriage.
"That's cause you're wearing so little." Natsu responded.
"The same goes for you!" she screamed as my body was obscured by a cloud of smoke. My old attire was replaced by an arctic camouflage variant with a fur-lined cloak.
"Wha!?" Lucy gasped in surprise as she took in my new apparel, "How'd you do that?!"
"Magic." I replied nonchalantly.
"W-wait a minute," Lucy said while glancing around nervously, "where'd the carriage go?"
"Back to Magnolia obviously." I responded in a bored tone.
Lucy looked back at me and noticed that I was standing on the surface of the snow without sinking into it,"Wh-wha..." Lucy stammered with her jaw dropped to the ground, "How're you..."
"Magic."
"Arrrgh!" Lucy screamed in frustration, "I'm too cold to put up with this right now!" she turned to Natsu and grabbed onto the blanket on his pack like a lifeline, "Can I borrow that blanket?" she pleaded. Natsu nodded an affirmative and she immediately draped the blanket over her shoulders, "O-o-o," Lucy stammered due to her chattering teeth while holding a key in the air, "open...door of the clock," Lucy pointed the key forwards while shouting "Horologium!"
A large grandfather clock with arms on its sides and a face with a quite curly mustache appeared in a bright flash of light.
"Whoa!" Natsu exclaimed in surprise and excitement, "It's a clock!" Lucy immediately climbed inside the clock in an attempt to stay warm.
She murmured something while inside the clock, prompting it to repeat what she had stated, "'I'll stay here,' she says."
"Natsu, get her up to speed while I scout ahead." Natsu nodded in affirmation and I dashed off ahead. As I ran I created a cross with the forefingers of each hand while a magic seal appeared beneath my feet and I whispered to myself, "Shadow Clone." A large plume of smoke appeared that, once it dissipated, revealed at least a dozen different clones of myself. "You guys know what to do, fan out and search for the Vulcan and Macao. The second that you find something pop to relay the information to the other clones." I made a sweeping gesture with my arm, "Go!" The second that the word left my lips the clones dashed off into the distance and were quickly obscured by the snowstorm. I stood silently and waited for Natsu and Lucy to catch up to me.
Within a few minutes they had caught up to me and we set off to search for Macao in a group. The snowstorm began to pick up shortly after our search started and Natsu's repeated shouts of Macao were barely audible over the howling wind.
We continued on in this method for multiple hours and visibility began to get even worse as the sky began to darken. I was about ready to call off the search for the night and seek shelter when one of my clones dispelled.
Apparently the vulcan was at the top of a cliff directly above us, and it had just jumped.
Yeah, not exactly an ideal situation.
Natsu current yell of Macao was cut off as I screamed, "Shit!" while shoving him off to the side. I glared upwards and saw a large, shadowy figure falling through the air directly above me which was obviously the aforementioned Vulcan.
I leapt backwards while requipping a large amount of kunai and shuriken in my hands. I immediately threw them at the beast while it was still in mid-air and cursed as most of my weapons were blown off-course by the winds and the few that did actually connect were only glancing blows.
The beast landed heavily in the snow caught completely off-guard by the sudden barrage of shuriken. While it only hesitated for a moment it gave me enough time to requip a tanto with a plain black hilt before it charged. The beast raced towards me and attempted to gore my body on the large horn atop its head. I spun out of the way at the last second and managed to hamstring the beast with my tanto as it charged past causing it to fall to the ground roughly as its leg gave out completely.
As soon as it fell to the ground one of my clones fell from the sky and delivered a devastating drop kick to the beast's head knocking it out completely.
"Hey!" Natsu screamed as he popped out of the snow bank that I had shoved him into, "What was that for!" my only response was to point at the unconscious Vulcan lying beside me, "Oh." My clone popped which caused my mind to flood with a multitude of different memories as the rest of my clones popped as well.
"You could've at least let me get some action too." Natsu grumbled as he clambered out of the snow bank and began to brush himself off. "I mean..." he trailed off as the Vulcan began to glow brightly, "Uhhh," Natsu questioned while pointing at the Vulcan, "is it supposed to do that?"
I looked at the Vulcan in question as its form was obscured by a blinding flash of light causing me to shield my eyes so that I wasn't blinded. As the light disappeared I lowered my hands to see a heavily wounded Macao who was currently unconscious.
"The Vulcan must have used take-over magic on Macao. He looks pretty bad, but we can't treat his wounds out in the open." I stated. A plume of smoke appeared next to me as I created two clones, "Requip my emergency pack, set up the tent, and get the medical kit ready." I ordered before turning to Natsu, "Natsu! We need to keep his body temperature up so start radiating heat like crazy! Lucy! Do you know how to administer first aid?"
"'A little' she says."
"Good enough." I responded.
As soon as my clones had pitched the tent my clones and I gently lifted Macao into it before laying him down on the ground next to the medical kit.
"Lucy! Natsu! Get in here!" I shouted over the wind as I took off Macao's shirt to check for wounds.
What I saw was exactly what I wasn't hoping for.
My eyebrows immediately shot up as I saw the heavily bleeding wound in Macao's side. "Shit!" I swore, "Natsu, raise your body temperature to give off more heat, but no fire! I'd rather not be roasted alive! Lucy get the fuck out of that clock so you can give me a hand!"
I began to inspect the wound on Macao's side and began to swear even more once I realized how deep it was. Despite the fact that the Vulcan had taken over his body and during that time he hadn't been bleeding out of his wound, the fact that the wound had remained untreated for an extended period of time had definitely weakened him greatly. Now that his body had reverted back to its normal form the wound had begun gushing blood at a frightening rate, and that was on top of the deep wound I had given him in his leg.
"Fuck!" I swore angrily, "We don't have time to deal with this and the wound on his leg—Natsu!"
"Yeah?"
"Cauterize the wound on his side. It's the only way to close his wound quickly enough for me to treat his leg as well before he loses too much blood."
"Alright." Natsu stood up and walked over to me before crouching down beside him and covering his hand in flames.
"Sorry old man, but this is the only way for us to stop the bleeding in time. Do it."
Natsu pressed his hand on the wound causing Macao to scream in utter agony, "This is all we can do now! Deal with it Macao!" Natsu screamed as he applied even more pressure while I held Macao down, "Don't die! Romeo's waiting for you!"
As soon as the wound in his side closed I rolled Macao over onto his chest gently so that I could treat the wound in the back of his right leg.
"All right, Natsu, Lucy, hold him down so he doesn't move. I'm sorry old man, but this is gonna hurt like crazy, I'm going to have to reattach the tendons in your leg before closing the wound so that it heals properly, and I'm going to have to disinfect it. Here goes nothing." I stated as I picked up one of the many medical tools laying beside me in the kit.
All that could be heard afterwards were Macao's screams drowning out the howling winds battering the outside of the tent.
I decided that it would be best to not move Macao until the morning, so we spent the rest of the night in the tent on Mt. Hakobe. Which, due to Natsu's radiant heat, was a lot more comfortable than it could have been.
I sat vigil over Macao while the others slept making it two sleepless nights in a row for me. While I could have made a clone to keep watch, they only last for a couple of hours at most, and burning through my magic reserves needlessly would be a bad idea. Especially if Macao's condition worsened during the night. So, I decided to just stay up the entire night.
Yay.
Despite my sleep deprivation I managed to keep a close watch on him throughout the entire night on pure willpower alone.
The time passed slowly, as it always does when doing something like this. But morning eventually came with no incident, thankfully. As Natsu and Lucy awoke I had them keep watch over Macao while I requipped a small tea kettle, a cup, and some herbs and began to brew a concoction that would help ease Macao's pain once he awoke.
"Ah!" I exclaimed once he finally woke up, "You're finally awake. Here," I said while handing him the cup of tea while one of my clones helped him sit up, "this should help with the pain. And believe me, it's probably for the best if you down it as quickly as possible."
Macao did as he was told and swallowed the cup of tea in one gulp before gagging due to the taste. He winced in pain as his hand went to his heavily bandaged side, "Shit," he swore, "what a shame. I got nineteen of them, but I was taken over by the twentieth. I'm angry at myself, damn it, how can I face Romeo?"
"Just be glad that you can go back to face him." I responded somberly as I stood up, "It was a close call last night, be thankful that you'll live to return to your son. Dealing with twenty Vulcans on your own is a difficult feat to accomplish, it could've happened to anyone." I then brushed off my pants before extending a hand to Macao, "Now let's get you back to your son, I'm sure he can't wait to see you."
Progress on our way back down Hakobe was slow, but thankfully the carriage driver was true to his word and showed up. Thank Kami he did, with Macao's leg there would've been no way for us to get back to Magnolia easily without his help.
Romeo looked up from his book as he noticed us slowly approaching him. As soon as he saw Macao being supported by Natsu and me with Lucy and Happy behind us his face lit up with a radiant smile and he ran towards us.
"Daddy," Romeo said with tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry...I—"
"I made you worry." Macao stated as he embraced his son, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay I'm the son of a mage."
"The next time those brats tease you, ask them if their old man can defeat nineteen monsters by himself! Okay?" Macao stated with a cocky grin on his face. A huge smile could be seen on Romeo's face as he cried tears of absolute joy.
"Natsu! Naruto! Happy! Thanks! And thanks to you too, Lucy!" Natsu and I nonchalantly waved over our shoulders while Lucy turned and waved goodbye to Romeo while smiling.
Once we made it back to the guild Makarov opened his mouth to ask me how Macao was, but it was evident by the smiles on Natsu and Lucy's face that he was fine. I realized that I hadn't told Macao to take it easy for a couple of weeks, but I decided it could wait as I sat down at the bar and promptly fell asleep to Mirajane's great amusement.
AN: Well as you can see, if you've read any of my other stories, I'm trying something a little different this time. Let me know what you think, any and all constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Expect another update soon (I swear that this one will actually be on time) closely followed by an update to Justice Isn't Blind.
