OH_MAH_GAWD, another story?!
That's right! I have returned with yet another story! This time it's about one of my favorite anime's of all time, Fairy Tail!
I actually wrote this first chapter MONTHS before I wrote my Halo story, but at the time I was too shy and insecure about my writing to submit it. After finishing my most recent Halo chapter I revisited this story and its synopsis, realizing that it needed an extreme overhaul.
Since then, Fairy Tail has progressed further than I thought it would and I've remained a major fan of the show. So I'm dusting this story off and giving it a nice polish for fanfiction! Expect some fluffy love and pulse-pounding action; this is the first chapter of Fairy Tail: A Guild Life!
-A Guild Life-
-Chapter 1-
The sun burned brightly through the clear blue sky over the beautiful port town of Cedar, reflecting its morning beams of light off of the expanse of the ocean. Seagulls squawking as they flew through the air were muted only by the sound of ocean waves gently splashing against the portside. Citizens went about their daily lives, be it fishing on the port or transporting crates of food to and from several boats.
Suddenly, an explosion in the center of town shattered the peaceful morning as it shakes the very earth. A mushroom cloud of smoke rose from the point of origin, and several villagers fixed their gaze upon it. What could've happened?
From the smoke emerged a figure; flying through the air until he landed upon a nearby rooftop. He donned a black open-collared, one-sleeved waistcoat which was tucked in and zipped up. Around his neck rested a white checkered scarf given to him by a very important figure in his life. He was a lean, muscular young man of average height with a slightly tan skin tone, black eyes, and spiky pink-colored hair.
He grinned as another figure leapt out of the smoke and landed on another nearby rooftop. This older man wore a black and white patterned coat, silver-chained necklace, and matching black combat pants and boots. He had long slicked-back blonde hair, as well as a full beard and serious eyes.
"Nice try, but you'll need to do better if you want to hurt me." The man claimed with a smirk.
"Give me a minute." The pink haired dragonslayer replied. "You'll be balling your eyes out by the time I'm done with you, yah creep!" He yelled as he leapt forwards, flames enveloping his hands. The older man blocked his punch, turned his arm into that of a stone golem, and punched the salamander right in the chest which sent him flying backwards. He managed to adjust himself in mid-air and land on his feet before glaring at his foe.
"So you're like Elfman, huh?" He asked. "Take this!" The salamander lunged towards the older man and summoned wings of flames to his arms. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" The flames smashed into the older man and sent him flying backwards, falling off of the rooftop, and smashing into some crates of peaches. The crates broke into splinters and the peaches inside were crushed.
"You think you can just kidnap those girls and get away with it?!" Natsu asked as he looked down at the man. "It's people like you that make me sick!"
"Natsu, calm down!" He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a crimson haired woman in knightly armor land on the rooftop next to him, as well as a black-haired gentlemen wearing a black shirt and white coat.
"We have to be careful, flame brain. We're here to subdue Grent Maxis and find the kidnapped girls, not to destroy the town in the process." The black haired man noted.
"Erza… Gray!" Natsu paused. "The only thing I'm going to destroy is this jerk's face!" Natsu replied as he jumped down towards Grent, whom was climbing out of the ruble. Natsu's entire body was enveloped in flames, giving him the appearance of a demon.
Grent immediately regretted his decision to try and fight the salamander head on. "Whoa, hold on, can't we talk about this?!"
"How about we don't, and say we did!" Natsu shouted as he dashed forwards. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He threw a punch of flames at Grent, landing a direct hit to his gut. The air left Grent's lungs in a loud whoosh sound, and his back smashed into a stone wall as he fell to the ground in a heap.
Natsu popped his neck before walking over to Grent, grabbing him by his collar, and lifting him up to eye level. Grent groaned as he looked into Natsu's raging eyes. "Now then… one of the girls you took is a good friend of mine. Where are they?!"
Grent chuckled weakly. "You think… I'd tell a runt like you?"
Gray and Erza materialized behind Natsu, both wearing enraged expressions on their faces. Erza pointed her sword at Grent's neck. "I'm getting impatient. Where are the girls you took?"
"Spill it, or else I'll freeze your eyes into ice cubes!" Gray threatened, wielding ice magic in his left hand.
Natsu's body became enveloped in more flames. "If you don't talk, I swear I'll burn you until there's nothing left but a pile of ashes!" Grent let out a womanly shriek as he stared into the trio's eyes.
oooOOOOooo
Isolated in a dark, damp, stone basement were several girls of various ages; mostly in their late teens. They were all locked behind a wall of metal bars, and each girl had their hands bound with some kind of magic rope. Most of them had ceased crying, as their tears had dried up days ago. There was a handful who continued to cry and cower in a corner, terrified of what would happen should the old man return. Every time he came down to the dungeon he would either bring in a new girl, or take one away and never have her seen again.
The most recent of these girls was a certain blonde who had orchestrated her own capture with the intent to find the lost girls. She knelt down next to another girl, who was crying, and smiled warmly. "Hey, what's your name?" She whispered.
The girl looked to the blonde through her tears and struggled to speak. "S… Selena." She choked.
"Hey Selena, I'm Lucy." She replied. "Don't worry; I'll have us out of here in no time."
"Don't even bother with that." Another brunette girl butted in. "Every wizard in here has tried to get out, but these ropes negate any magic power they touch. There's no way out of here."
"Not with that attitude there's not." Lucy retorted, surprising the girls. "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, and we never give up!"
"Whoa, you're with Fairy Tail?!" Selena asked. Almost as if on cue an explosion above the basement shook the whole building, shaking several pebbles from the roof above them free. Some girls screamed in fear while others gasped and ducked down.
Lucy smiled as she looked towards the wooden door of the basement. "That would probably be the cavalry."
"Lucy!" A voice shouted from behind the door.
That's Natsu! Lucy thought. "Natsu! I'm in here!"
The wooden door to the dungeon blasted into pieces as the raging salamander stepped through the dust and illuminated the whole room with his fire. Natsu looked around for a split second before his eyes fell on Lucy. His expression immediately changed from livid to elated. "Lucy!" Natsu ran over to the steel bars and grabbed hold of them. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine! Now get us out of here!" Lucy said, smiling.
"With pleasure." Natsu grabbed hold of the metal door. "Everyone stand back!" The girls did as they were instructed, and Natsu began to pull on the door with all his might. The metal hinges snapped apart and Natsu threw the door across the room, releasing the girls from their prison. Lucy ran up to the whole in the bars next to Natsu.
"Wait… we're free?" Selena asked as she walked out of the cage towards the duo.
"That's right. Here; let me see your hands." Natsu requested. Selena held up her hands to Natsu, who proceeded to use his fire to burn through the ropes.
"Um, magic doesn't work on-" Before Selena could finish, Natsu's flames had burned through the ropes and freed her hands.
"It might negate normal magic, but not Dragon Slayer magic!" He replied with a smile before looking to Lucy. "Give me your hands." Lucy complied with a smile and gave Natsu her hands, who proceeded to use his fire to burn through the ropes.
Once Lucy's hands were free, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him into a hug. Natsu felt his face get hot for some reason as Lucy smiled. "Thanks Natsu... I knew you'd save us." Natsu remained silent, earning a confused look from Lucy when she released the embrace to look at him. Natsu was looking to the ground with a nervous look before his eyes met with Lucy's brown orbs. "Natsu... are you ok?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Natsu cleared his throat and looked at the rest of the girls. "Alright, line up! I'm going to get you guys out of these binds."
oooOOOOooo
Lucy rubbed her wrists as she, Natsu, Erza, and Gray walked down the sidewalk of Cedar Town towards the train station as Happy floated next to them. A few hours had passed and the sun was starting to set in the distance. "Man, it's good to be out of those ropes." Lucy claimed.
"I still can't believe you got yourself kidnapped on purpose." Natsu grumbled as he rested both arms behind his head. "That was reckless."
"Like you have room to talk!" Lucy retorted.
"Well her plan worked." Erza smiled as she crossed her arms. "We actually completed a job without destroying a whole city block."
"And the reward was well worth how difficult it was to track that bastard down." Gray smiled.
Lucy jumped up and down in delight. "Yes! Now I have enough money to pay my rent for the next five months! Nice work finding the trail of hair I left, Natsu! I wouldn't have thought that that creep would be hiding in Cedar Town."
"Yeah, no problem." Natsu replied without giving her a glance.
Happy flew down next to Lucy and smiled. "Oh Lucy, you should've seen Natsu when he was looking for you! He almost cried when I joked about you being gone forever." Natsu sweat dropped and glared over at Happy.
"Wha- No I didn't! Don't lie about that stuff you fur ball!" Natsu yelled, trying to grab the flying cat.
Happy flew over Lucy's head and looked down at her. "He even rushed ahead of everyone towards that abandoned house to find-" Natsu jumped up and grabbed Happy, covering his mouth.
"I said shut your trap, you flying fleabag!" Natsu pulled Happy close to his chest and whispered so nobody else could hear. "What is wrong with you? Why are you telling her this stuff?"
Happy narrowed his eyes at Natsu and smiled. "Because, I'm tired of waiting." He whispered back.
"Waiting for what?" Natsu asked.
Happy shook his head. "Ugh Natsu… you really need some help with this."
"What are you freakin talking abou- wait…. How did you-?!" Before Natsu could finish asking, the sound of a train whistle cut through the air and surprised the pyro.
"Here we are. Right on time, for once." Erza commented.
"Oh man… do we have to take the train?" Natsu asked, already getting sick just from thinking about it. He released his grip on Happy, whom proceeded to fly through the air.
"If you want to walk, then be my guest." Erza joked as they walked into the train station.
"Oh man… I wish Wendy was here so she could cast that spell thingy on me." Natsu complained.
oooOOOOooo
Lucy stepped onto the train right behind Gray and looked around for a free seat as Gray sat down next to Erza and took out a book to read. Lucy noticed Natsu sitting in a window seat, across from Erza and Gray, looking out at the sunset. She saw that the seat next to him was open and figured that it was as good a spot as any and took her seat next to Natsu. This earned a surprised look from the Salamander that came complete with a flushed face.
They stared at each other for a moment before Lucy smiled warmly at him, which made Natsu look away from her and out of the window. Lucy raised a hurt eyebrow at this, wondering what had Natsu acting so distant from her.
The train whistle blew, signaling the train's departure. The compartments buckled forwards for a moment before moving normally, and Natsu immediately began to feel sick. "Uggghhh... grgle..." He held his stomach as he tried to keep his lunch down, but despite all this he kept his gaze away from Lucy.
Lucy kept a sad expression on her face as she glanced over at Natsu, wondering what could be bothering him so much. Besides the motion sickness, of course. "Hey, Lucy." Gray called quietly. Lucy looked to Gray with a questioning glance. "It's a long ride. You may want to get some sleep."
"Yeah… that's probably a good idea." She nodded, before placing her head against the back of her seat and closing her eyes.
Natsu… She thought to herself. Did me getting kidnapped on purpose really bother you that much? She wondered as she started drifting to sleep.
After about half an hour, all of the Wizards of Fairy Tail, save for Natsu, had fallen asleep. The sun had set beyond the horizon to usher in a starry sky, giving the inside of the train a very peaceful atmosphere. Happy opened his eyes and peeked at the team below him, taking notice of how Natsu was still facing away from Lucy despite his motion sickness.
Why does he have to be this way? Happy thought to himself. He quietly floated out of his storage compartment to the seats behind Natsu and Lucy. He made sure that Lucy was asleep before grabbing Natsu by the back of his shirt with his paws. You'll thank me for this later, Natsu. Happy smiled before tugging on his shirt and gently setting Natsu's head on Lucy's lap.
While still awake, Natsu wasn't paying as much attention as he should've been. He hadn't even noticed that his head was lying down on Lucy's lap; however the same didn't go for Lucy. Her eyes fluttered open as she felt something on her legs, and Happy quickly made his way back to the storage compartment before he could be seen.
Lucy looked down at her lap and noticed a motion sick Natsu leaning his head on it. "Natsu! What are you doing?" She whispered. She then noticed that Natsu had squeezed his eyes shut and silently grunted as his face contorted in pain. "Oh… are you ok?" She whispered again, placing her hand to his head.
What's this feeling? Natsu wondered as he felt something comforting on his head. It feels… nice.
Lucy blushed as she did this, but continued on to comb her fingers through the salamander's hair. Natsu shifted his head to bring himself closer to Lucy, which earned a quite gasp from the blonde. As quite as it was, Erza still heard it and opened her eyes to see what was happening. Lucy failed to notice that Erza was watching as she ran her hand through Natsu's hair, seemingly calming him down and ceasing his motion sickness. A smile crept its way onto Natsu's face as he started to fall asleep, shocking Erza.
He's actually sleeping while riding transportation? Erza thought to herself. What magic did she use? I didn't notice her use a spell or anything…
"Mmmm… What's up… happy…" Natsu mumbled in his sleep.
Lucy giggled silently. How cute… he's talking in his sleep.
Oh I see. Erza smiled. It's not magic that's helping him with his motion sickness.
"Lucy…" Natsu mumbled, surprising Lucy.
She smiled and bent over to get closer to Natsu's face. "Yes, Natsu?" She whispered.
"I..think… I love… you…"
Lucy's eyes widened at this as she stared at the Salamander on her lap. She opened her mouth to say something, but only air came out. It took her a few tries, but eventually she regained her ability to speak. "You… what?" She felt a knot tighten in her chest, and her face exploded into a vibrant shade of red.
Natsu… loves me..?!
Hooooo boy, what'll happen next?!
That's for me to know and you to find out! =D
Anyway, yes I know this chapter is a short one. I promise that the rest will be longer, but this one was just to establish what I was going for. Anyway, I hope to see you on the next chapter! PEACE OUT!