Chapter 2: A Quest.

Natsu stood before a pair of heavy oak gates banded with black iron. They were tough, even he and his flames would struggle to break through, if they even could. Luckily, for both of them, there was no need to test it as these gates would open without issue for him.

He stripped of his jacket and his t-shirt, not flinching despite the icy temperature, it was freezing cold up in the mountains even in the height of summer, and turned around. There on his back, in between his shoulder blades, rested a black mark. The mark of Torched Heaven. It was in almost the same spot as it was on his t-shirt.

Nothing visible occurred, no flash of light, no magical scan, but a heavy clanking sounded and then the gates swung open by themselves. Natsu pulled on his t-shirt, hanging his jacket over his shoulder.

This was Devilfire Keep, the guildhall of Torched Heaven.

The gates opened up into a large square courtyard, surrounded by walls and the front of the castle proper. In the centre of the courtyard was a tiered stone fountain, though no water emerged instead a golden flame burned beautifully upon its highest tier. That was the source of the all the protections that surrounded Devilfire Keep. It was the reason why the no one save a member could enter. It was the reason why, unless you knew exactly where it was, you would almost never find it. It was also what kept in intruders who managed to bypass these stout defences. Without that the castle was defenceless and anyone could stumble across it, including the council.

Because of that fact there was a small wooden plaque saying 'DO NOT EAT!' nailed to the fountains base.

This was of course placed there for the one member who could eat flames, Natsu if you hadn't already guessed. In fairness it wasn't his fault, he had been hungry and it had looked tasty. How could he be to blame for the Rune Knights invading or the subsequent move that had followed?

Besides the old shack they had been working out of was getting a bit small and in need of some serious remodelling. So instead they moved to this once abandoned castle, rebuilt it in areas, had to dig it out of the earth in others, added the protections, and then the plaque in order to avoid such issues in the future.

The crenelated walls guarding either side of the courtyard both had iron gates at ground level at about the middle of their length, those led down into the dungeons which also served as the sleeping quarters. Set in an archway in the centre of the keep's front was a redwood door, half the size of the main gates but still considerably large.

It was there that he headed, ignoring the main gates closing with a thud behind him, once again without any outside force moving them, and with a gentle push the doors into the keep opened up.

Hot air rushed out, blasting him with its heat, and Natsu entered the grand room. The hall was half as wide as it was long with a long straight staircase at the opposite ending leading up to a black wood doorway banded with gold and with a golden dragon head knocker in the centre. That door led into the archive and Charmain's private quarters. Only Natsu and three others were allowed entry in there, without Charmain's supervision.

All along the walls hung crimson red banners all displaying the same symbol, a long shaft of golden light expanding the further down the banner it got, but it was being consumed, from the ground up, by scarlet flames.

Two banners hung on either side of the stairway, two more on either side of the door through which he had just entered, and eight more on the other two walls, four on each, all evenly spaced. Two fireplaces burned in the centre of the two longest walls, large fireplaces of blackened stone burning with fires that had raged since the day they had made this place home, never going out.

Placed at the entrance at the bottom of the stairway were two cast iron bowls brimming with blazing fires, one on either side.

Two long wooden tables ran almost from wall to wall, leaving a space big enough for a man to pass through at the end closest to him and stopping just shy of overreaching where the stairs came to at the other. A long pathway in between the two tables, which, unlike the rest of the floor which was paved in simple flagstones and charred in places, was done in a dark red stone bordered by a thin black lines also made from stone, led all the way to the staircase where upon red carpet took hold.

It was this pathway that Natsu followed, he drew a few stares as he walked, a few comments, a few compliments, some called for him to join them drinking, others jested over his exploits, some even bowed. He ignored them all.

On the right side of the stairway, going up, was the request board, even dark guilds had them. There were far less requests than one would find in a legal guild and most of the requests were illegal activities, stealing items, destroying cargo shipments, blackmail, intimidation, assassinations that sort of thing, but they had one. Most requests posted had been written either by contacts in the major cities or by Charmain himself who received them from contacts but didn't consider them vital enough to assign a member personally.

But that held no interest to him right now. Right now he headed up the stairs the lightest touch opening the double doors at the top and granting him entry.

Two doors waited for him, both made from black wood with gold fittings. The one on his right led into the archives where all of the knowledge that Torched Heaven had gathered was stored. Fire magic's beyond belief, spells defying imagination and all sorts of other bits and bobs were in there.

But the door to his left was the one he walked through, the one leading into Charmain's private quarters.

He walked up a cast iron spiral staircase in the unadorned, box like room he had entered and walked all the way up, ignoring the three doors he passed on his way up, and taking only the last.

This one led into Charmain's study.

The walls were lined with black wood cases, containing books and artefacts, a sword that burned unendingly, though it did had a bite sized chunk missing around the base of the blade, courtesy of Natsu, sat upon its flame proof rack burning cheerily. What was supposedly a dragon's claw bone rested upon the shelf in another, along with numerous tomes clad in red leather and marked with golden lettering.

None of it held any interest to Natsu who instead approached the heavy wooden desk his guild master sat behind, reading over a scroll intently.

"Charmain."

"Natsu" Charmain didn't look up, he had known Natsu was here from the second he approached the main gate and had followed his movements since then. After half a minute Charmain finally put his scroll down and gazed up at his strongest member.

Charmain was an elderly man, his head was bald, while his chin was clad in a white-grey goatee. His stern eyes were an even grey, the perfect balance between white and black, and he wore a long red robe with gold flame like patterns around the end of the sleeves and the hem.

Stood before such an impressive figure, with a magic whose intensity could be felt without any exertion whatsoever, any man would be forgiven for being cowed.

"So what do you old man?" Natsu, however, was not cowed.

Charmain didn't react. He didn't care about Natsu's lack of formal respect because, despite that, he did have Natsu's genuine respect. He was powerful enough to go toe to toe with his most powerful member, and had done on several occasions. Natsu could be rather difficult to control at times and getting him to do what Charmain wanted when it wasn't what Natsu wanted did not usually involve peaceable talks. It involved fighting, explosion and fire, and both men's startling control over the element.

Charmain instead leant forwards on his elbows "The Dark Guild Eisenwald has plans for the magic, Lullaby. I trust you've heard of it?"

"Yeah, I investigated it a few years back" he didn't need to say anything more, that wasn't a mission either of them would forget.

"Indeed" Charmain said, for a moment his stern visage twitching with an unidentifiable emotion, before it resumed its stillness "How they managed to obtain this magic where we failed is beyond me. However…" he let a smile spread across his features "We will not let this opportunity go to waste."

Natsu grinned, if they destroyed Eisenwald then Oracion Seis would have no choice but to react or risk looking weak. That meant all-out war. And that, that, would be fun.

"Do not get your hopes up" Charmain quashed his thoughts of battle, his stern face returned full force "We will be working with Eisenwald in this case. It is likely that they intend to use it for some trivial purpose but I have offered them our assistance in return for what I have called 'partial ownership' of the magic. Assist them in making use of it, but avoid being caught in its effect. You may be more durable than any other mage I know" and that was a compliment coming from Charmain "but even you can be killed. And I cannot afford to lose you."

Natsu scowled, nowhere near as interesting as what he anticipated or what he had hoped.

"At the first opportunity you see I want you to steal it" Charmain continued "If there is no other option, fight the guild members, kill them if you must, I care not, but I'd rather we simply steal from them. A war with Oracion Seis is not a course of action to be taken lightly… But" a cruel smile twitched onto his stern face "that does not mean it is not a course we will take."

And Natsu's grin was back, bright and ferocious, like a roaring inferno ready to swallow the world whole.

"Just that I'd rather it be avoided if we can" Charmain leant back, sternness dominating his expression again "You will meet them in Onibus in a few days' time" he returned to his scroll content in the knowledge that his orders would be carried out "This will inform you of who to meet and where" he gestured vaguely in the direction of a sheet of paper carrying the full details of the mission "As well as directions."

"Great…" Natsu grabbed it and turned to leave "Um" he turned back "How do you get to Onibus from here?"

Charmain smiled, an amused one this time, as he looked up to condemn Natsu to the worst pits of hell "By train, obviously" the worst pits of hell by Natsu's standard that is.

Natsu blinked then skedaddled backwards "Fuck no! I refuse. There is no way in hell I'm going on this mission!" he declared angrily, shaking his head and crossing his arms to form an X to further demonstrate how much he was so not going on this mission.

A few days later Natsu sat on a train, barely conscious and very sick "I hate trains" he whimpered pathetically. Unfortunately for him this mission was going to involve a lot of trains.

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Lucy sighed contently as she thought back over her time in Fairy Tail. She hadn't been here that long but already she, from the bottom of her heart, loved this guild. It was the best guild ever! Sure it was a little rowdy at times, and sure there were a few odd characters, but every day was fun and different and just as exciting as the last.

Not long after she joined Erza had left on a job, from which she had still not returned, and Lucy had felt rather nervous and slightly abandoned. But she needn't have worried as she quickly made several friends.

First up was Levy Mcgarden a girl who shared her love of novels, they'd become so close than Lucy even promised that, when she finally finished her own book, Levy would be the first person to read it.

Then there was Gray Fullbuster, a stoic but not unkind boy who helped her out a week ago and accompanied her on her first real mission. He treated her very courteously, though that may have had something to do with the fact that Erza was the one who brought her into the guild, and was nice enough to hang out with, if you ignored his habitual stripping.

There was also Cana Alberona, an alcoholic mage who grabbed Lucy's breasts on her third day in Fairy Tail, in full view of the entire guild, because she, quote, 'wanted to'. And from which a beautiful friendship, of sorts, had formed. Their friendship mainly involved Cana trying to coax Lucy into drinking and jointly complaining about the lack of class the men of Fairy Tail had.

And Mirajane Strauss, Fairy Tail's beautiful cover girl and barmaid, who treated Lucy nicely and was kind enough to explain several things about being in a guild to her. Admittedly the silver haired woman was nice to everyone so it likely wasn't a unique or even particularly important friendship.

Finally there was Macao Conbolt who, though Lucy wouldn't say they had a strong friendship, they certainly shared some type of bond. The reason for that was simple.

Romeo Conbolt, Macao's son, had visited the guild on her first day there and asked after his father who was out on a mission. Master had answered rather brusquely that Macao was a mage and to not worry and drink his milk or something, and Romeo had punched him.

It was two days later, as she considered what her first mission should be, that Lucy found Romeo in an alleyway crying.

She had her own father issues, so to speak, and so could sympathise, on some level, with Romeo and so she had asked Master if she could follow him. Master told her Macao could handle himself and that she'd only hurt his pride if she helped.

"Is someone's pride worth their life?" had been her response "Is it worth their son's tears?"

A long tense pause followed, but Master finally said 'Do what you want' and told her the mission was at Mount Hakobe, and Gray insisted on coming along for some reason, though the words 'Erza' 'kill' and 'if you get harmed' might have something to do with it, just fill in the two missing words.

From there it had been one problem after another, a blizzard at Mount Hakobe despite it being summer, the cold, a Vulcan kidnapping her, both her, or rather Taurus, and Gray defeating said Vulcan only to find out it was Macao, a heavily injured Macao, who had been 'taken-over'.

They patched him up as best they could, with Gray being forced to seal the most serious wound with ice. It was the best they could do, otherwise he would've bled to death. He woke a small while later, and called himself pathetic, asked how he could face Romeo like this, and Lucy slapped him. She screamed that no matter how pathetic he was he had a son who loved him.

And since then, according got Mirajane, Macao had gained a crush on the Celestial Spirit mage.

Her first mission was a whole other matter. She decided to take the two million jewel request for the destruction of the book Daybreak, and once again Gray tagged along saying 'Erza' 'kill' and 'if you get hurt', one word changed but it carried the general gist of his previous reason.

The fact that the request demanded a 'blonde maid' was certainly not the reason she selected it, nope not at all, that wasn't even considered, in fact she didn't even notice and the fact that she packed a maid outfit in her luggage before heading out on the quest was pure coincidence. But… she was blonde and looked damn good in a maid outfit so they made use of that.

However Duke Everlue had a rather unique taste in beauty… to put it lightly.

So instead they were forced to sneak in, they had to fight Everlue's ugly-bitch maids… I mean, odd looking maids, whom Gray handled with ease, and then she found the book in Everlue's library, while Gray was busy with some pornography that he had found.

A whole series of events followed that but in the end the man who requested the job, Kaby Melon, turned out to be Zekua Melon, who wrote under the pseudonym of Kemu Zaleon who was a famous author and writer of many of Lucy's favourite books, son and the book Daybreak, turned out to be a fake and was actually named Dear Kaby a book written for Kaby personally and all ended well.

Though Gray steadfastly refused to accept the two million jewel payment because they didn't complete the request, and eventually managed to talk her out of wanting to take it. Lucy really did want the money but the pride of Fairy Tail was more important or so Gray convinced her.

And now she stood in front of the request board with Nab, who always seemed to be standing there, wondering which request to take this time.

"Search for a magic bracelet, removing a curse from a walking stick" they seemed pretty standard, the next one she saw didn't "Fortune telling love with astrology?" people could request that sort of stuff? And the next was even more out there "Exterminate evil spirits living in a volcano?!"

"C'mon Lucy, choose one already" Gray moaned at her from the bar.

Lucy frowned "Why do you care? If you want to go on a job, go by yourself."

"She's right Gray" Mirajane entered the conversation "Why are you so insistent on doing jobs with Lucy? Don't tell me you…" Mira's eyes sparkled "…you like her!"

Gray stared flatly "I prefer to know someone better before contemplating such things" he said in monotone "But I'll die to protect her…" while Mira glowed with joy at hearing such a romantic declaration, Lucy sighed as she heard his next mumbled words "…because what Erza'll do to me is worse."

"Let me know if you find a job you like, okay?" Mira told Lucy "Since Master's not here right now."

"Huh?" Lucy glanced around only know realising the small perverted old man was nowhere to be seen "Oh yeah, you're right."

"He has to attend the Regular Meeting, so he'll be out for a while."

"Regular meeting?"

"It's a meeting where local guild masters gather and give their reports" Mira explained "It's different from the Council meeting, but… Uhmmm, I guess it can be a bit confusing" she turned to a round man sat at the bar "Reedus can I borrow your Light Pen" a Light Pen is a magic item that can be used to write in the air using 'light', there are currently seventy two different colours available.

"Oui" Reedus passed her a Light Pen from his pocket.

"You couldn't possibly know the organizational chart of the magic world when you've just joined a guild right?" Mira drew a chart in the air "At the top are the ten Council members" she pointed to the box with the word 'Council' written within it "They are connected to the government and are tasked with maintaining order in the magic world, they also try mages who commit crimes. Below the council" she pointed to the box just below the box labelled 'Council' of which she had drawn three all connected by lines to the box labelled 'Council' "are the Guild Master Leagues, where the Guild Master's assemble. They relay the decision of the Council, smooth out communication between guilds in the area, and keep us in order" each other these three boxes were labelled 'Guild Master League' and below that were numerous boxes labelled 'Guild' "It's quite a hard job to do, right?"

"I had no idea there were connections between guilds" Lucy really wished she had read up more on the subject now, but compare 'Structure of the Magical World' a four hundred thousand word dissertation on the make-up of the magical system of Fiore, and 'Weekly Sorcerer' a magazine that listed new spells and magic items, had numerous articles on famous mages and photo spreads of them as well sometimes, and it was obvious which the majority would read, and Lucy was part of the majority in this case.

"Cooperation between the guilds is important, you know? If we neglect these then… Dark Guilds will rise up and gain lots of power" Mira drew another circle this one unconnected to the others, with the words 'Dark Guild' written in it.

"Dark Guilds? You mean like…" Lucy frowned, visions of charred flesh and a dead man flashing before her eyes "Torched Heaven."

"Ah, that's right, you first met Erza when she was hunting 'Salamander', didn't you?" Mira looked rather sympathetic just then, she had heard exactly what had occurred during that "But yes, Torched Heaven is an example. They aren't a part of a Guild Master League, and they don't follow the law of the Council, that means the requests they take usually aren't legal and can involve criminal activity."

"Anyway" Gray spoke up "pick a job already."

"Gray, your clothes" Cana mentioned offhandedly from her table, well used to this routine by now.

"AHHHHH!" Gray cried as he searched around for his unconsciously lost clothing, luckily he had left his boxers on, if Erza found him walking around naked again she'd probably kill him.

Lucy watched him annoyed, it might be slightly funny, if it weren't mentally scarring.

An arm wrapped around her shoulders unexpectedly "Forget about him. Why don't you form a team of love with me?" Loke, formerly someone she harboured something of a crush on, he was now firmly crossed of her list of 'Mages You'd Most Like to be Your Boyfriend' because he was just like the rest of Fairy Tail, a battle hungry idiot.

"Huh?" was all she could in response.

"You really are beautiful" Loke told her, unbridled passion filling his voice "If I were to look at you without my sunglasses" he smiled a gentle, sensual, smile "I'd surely go blind."

"Then please take them off" Lucy told him flatly.

The keys on her waist clinked as she shifted drawing Loke's gaze down, he hadn't been ogling her sizeable bust, not at all, and he flinched back violently upon seeing the gold and silver keys "Y-you're a Celestial Spirit Mage?!"

"Yeah" Gray returned with half of his clothes, it was just the top half but it was still a half "She has a cow and a crab and some weird doggy thing too."

"AH, WHAT A TWIST OF FATE!" Loke cried to the gods above "Sorry but this is the end of us!" he shouted back, running away from her, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Was there even an 'us' to begin with?" Lucy asked rhetorically as he ran away. She shook her head and turned to Mirajane who stood a small ways behind her "What just happened?"

"Loke isn't good at dealing with Celestial Spirit Mages, apparently something involving a girl happened in the past."

"As I thought" of course it would be something like that, it was so obvious Lucy nearly sighed "Ah, he came back" Lucy noted as Loke ran back into the guild.

"Gray!" he screamed running up to the still half naked ice mage "Erza's back!"

A moment, that felt like an eternity, passed in a silence deep enough to drown the whole world.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And then everyone started panicking and screaming, Gray stood frozen stiff, Loke sweated nervously, others ran about, a few tried to escape, Cana gulped down her barrel with a resigned enthusiasm.

"Do they always do this?" Lucy wondered looking around at her guild mates most of whom seemed shit scared. Erza wasn't that bad was she, she had seemed rather nice to Lucy.

"Yep!" Mira told her brightly.

Heavy thunderous footsteps sounded outside the guild, making everyone quiet down "It's Erza" one girl muttered fearfully "Those are Erza's footsteps" Wakaba, if she remembered right, said "She's back" Macao gulped.

'Has she put on weight?' Lucy wondered, Erza's footsteps certainly weren't this heavy before, she then decided to never ask that question. Lucy rather liked her face the way it was and didn't want it rearranged by an angry red haired mage who, as Lucy herself said, was still a girl and would likely take comments regarding her weight with some anger, or a lot of anger.

"I think I'm gonna go home" Loke said, his voice shaking.

Before he could the scarlet haired mage entered… with a giant horn several times larger than herself held casually on her shoulder.

"I'm back. Is master here?" Erza addressed Mira, placing her horn down with a thud, though thankfully the floor didn't crack from its weight.

"Welcome back!" Mira greeted cheerily "Master's attending the regular meeting right now."

"I see."

"Erza-san, what is that huge thing?" Max asked nervously.

"Hmm? This?" she smiled fondly "The horn of a monster I slew. The villagers decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Will it be a nuisance?" she asked with a pointed stare.

"No, not at all!" he cried.

"The horn a demon she subdued, huh" someone behind Max said.

"Whoa."

"Think she knows about Hakobe?" Cana teased, somehow managing to gulp and speak at the same time.

"Shit, I might really get killed" Macao realised.

Lucy could actually hear the heartbeat of Nab, who was still stood in front of the request board with her, she hadn't realised just how afraid of Erza everyone in this guild was.

"You guys!" Erza snapped, getting everyone to jump "I heard rumours during my quest about Fairy Tail causing trouble again. Even if Master forgave you I won't. Cana!" she turned to the alcoholic card mage "That's an inappropriate drinking posture" the brunette shook with fear and moved quickly to sit in a more appropriate fashion at her table "Vijeeter, do your dance outside. Wakaba, your cigarette butts are all over the floor" she didn't even turn to face the spandex wearing dancing mage or the chronic smoker, and both hurried to make amends, Vijeeter running outside and Wakaba picking up his finished cigarettes with his bare hands from the floor "Nab, are you just standing in front of the request board, as always? Do a job. Macao!" the blue haired man flinched, but instead of the scolding he expected Erza just closed her eyes and sighed.

"Say something!" Macao screamed, at least wanting to know if his death was oncoming.

"Really, you guys give me so much trouble. I won't say anything for today."

'I think you already said a lot' Lucy thought, glancing around at the terrified and chastised faces of her guild mates.

"Lucy!" Erza stomped forwards until she was stood right in front of the blonde mage.

Lucy almost screamed "Y-yes" she stood rigidly straight, waiting.

Was Erza going to scold her too? Was it about Everlue mansion collapsing? Because that really wasn't her fault. No, seriously, it wasn't. She hadn't done anything, it was all Duke Everlue, she just dodged around, he brought down his luxury mansion by himself with assistance from his annoying tunnelling magic.

Erza smiled "I hear you fought off twenty Vulcan's by yourself and defeated a mercenary gorilla with one finger. Well done."

"Err" Lucy wasn't sure how to respond, Gray defeated the 'mercenary gorilla', Virgo really had looked like a gorilla hadn't she, no wonder she was a virgin, and Macao defeated nineteen of the Vulcan's and she only helped in defeating the last one, but contradicting Erza, after everything she had just seen, was not something Lucy was keen on doing.

"Gray, Lucy!"

"Yes, ma'am" Gray snapped to attention, his entire body shivering in fear, sweating dripping down his bare torso. Yeah, he managed to lose his shirt again.

"I heard some troubling rumours while working" she confessed "Normally I would consult Master about this, but as he isn't here and since I consider this an urgent matter" her eyes snapped open and she stared intently at the pair "I want you two to help me."

"Huh?" they both said in unison.

They weren't the only ones shocked by Erza's request, or was it a demand? Well… it was Erza, they were practically the same thing.

"What's going on?" Cana wondered, staring in shock.

"Erza's asking for help, this is the first time I've ever seen such a thing."

"Someone who can defeat such a huge monster too."

Mutterings such as those were floating throughout the entire guild, but Erza paid them no mind instead staring solely at Lucy and Gray "We're leaving tomorrow. Be ready" she told them before turning and leaving the guild.

"I never thought Erza would be part of a team" even Mira seemed shaken by the revelation, as she stared at Erza's retreating back "Erza, Gray and Lucy… you three might just be… Fairy Tail's strongest team!"

Lucy blinked "Mira… please tell me I misheard you."

Okay so here's the next chapter of Torching Heaven... nothing much happened did it? Sorry about that, but stuff'll happen soon enough, I promise... well it might do, probably, possibly, maybe. By the way, do you know how much of Torching Heaven I've written in the week since posting the first chapter? The sum total of jack (i.e. jack shit). Yep, nothing, nada, not a bit. I did have all the way up to Chapter 9 written then I decided chapter 7 and 8 were shit and began rewriting them, and I'm still in the process of it... and getting nowhere... fast.

By the way, for anyone wondering, I update weekly (or I try to) so the next chapter will be around a week from now, with any luck. You know, provided I don't die or suffer crippling injuries or break my computer in the meantime.

Well anyway, thanks for reading, please review if you have the time and energy or care enough about this story to, and I hoped you enjoyed it.

Toodles.