"Were almost there, Natsu." Lisanna said to the sick mass deemed Natsu. He just let out a another moan. Of course, during the two years away Natsu had yet to get over his motion sickness. After a grueling five minutes the train arrived at the station and the two got off. Natsu, now on solid ground, was ready for the mission.
"Eh, Lisanna. What is our mission anyways?" Natsu asked realizing he had no clue what they were even doing.
"The son of a wealthy businessman is transporting an important item to another city. We are to go along and protect the package from any bandits that would intercept the convoy. Sounds easy enough and the pay is very good." she said noting the two hundred thousand jewel reward.
"Just some bandits. I was hoping to fight somebody strong." Natsu said disappointed.
"You never know. There could be some Mages too. Just don't destroy the package or anything else if you could, Natsu." Lisanna said remembering his destructive tendencies.
"Yeah. Well hurry up, Lisanna. I want to get this mission on the road." Natsu shouted running ahead. Lisanna was amused by his impatience. She followed behind him until he finally stopped realizing he didn't where he was going. Lisanna happily pointed it out and it was just a short walk to a manor overlooking the city.
They approached the manor and knocked on the door. After a few minutes the door was opened by the Butler. He stood just a little taller than Natsu and was entirely bald; he had grown an impressive gray mustache which had been the only hair remaining on his face.
"May I help you." he asked impassively.
"Yes, were the Mages from Fairy Tail. Were here for the mission." Lisanna answered as Natsu stood as patiently as he could.
"Ah, yes. Please step in and I shall show you to the Master." he said letting them in and leading them through the halls. After what had been minutes he turned into a room that resembled a small library that had a set of doors at one side.
"Please wait here. I shall see if the Master is ready for you." the Butler said as stepped through the doors. He returned very quickly and motioned towards the open door. "The Master will see you now."
"Good afternoon. Please, have a seat." the man behind the desk called out. The young man behind the desk appeared to be a very tall man. He easily stood a foot above Natsu and he hadn't even seen the man stand. He had slick blond hair and blue eyes. His nose was small and pointed and he had a smile that showed the greed and self-loving he contained.
As his guest entered the room he had observed every move they made towards the chairs. He had looked over Natsu swiftly and then studied Lisanna as if she had been an intricate painting on the wall. Natsu paid no attention to it, but Lisanna had seen his stared and tried her best to not show her discomfort. The two sat down and the man introduced himself.
"My name is Atticus Whittaker. I was the one who requested the assistance from Fairy Tail." he stated.
"Yes, we are from Fairy Tail. My name is Lisanna Strauss."
"And I'm Natsu Dragneel." Natsu said hating the formality he half-tried acting with.
"Ah, the famous Salamander. I have heard much about you. I have heard of a Mirajane Strauss, but never of Lisanna Strauss. I am surprised I have never heard of a Mage as beautiful as you are." he said.
His last sentence caught Natsu's eye and it gave him a weird feeling in his gut. Lisanna had seen the type of man he was before. He was a self-centered, greedy bastard that saw women as nothing, but a display to gawk at. Many women would willingly lowered themselves to that level in order to have access to untold amounts of wealth, but Lisanna wasn't somebody you could simply buy over.
"Mira is my older sister. Now if you could explain the details of our mission." Lisanna said hoping to speed the meeting along.
"Of course. Would you two like a drink? Alfred, why don't you fetch us some refreshments." Atticus ordered his servant.
"Yes, sir." he said before leaving.
"Allow me to play some music. This record player has been in my family for generations. My Father, his Father and even his Father used this record player while doing business. It is as if it had been a part of our families success. Very soon I shall take over my Father's roll and I shall be the head our families business. Then, someday I shall have my own son that will make use of this same record player." Atticus had pulled out an old record and played it on the old fashion record player.
Alfred, as the butler had been called, brought in several glasses and poured a substance into each. Natsu observed the drink and gave it a smell. Confident it wouldn't kill him he took a drink and immediately spat it out. Atticus paid no attention to him as he drank it himself. Taking from Natsu's example, Lisanna set hers aside.
"That's a nice story and all, but can you tell us what our job is now." Natsu said impatiently trying to get rid of the foul taste he had.
"I need you two to protect a special heirloom of our family. Tomorrow I shall be signing the papers that will allow me to take over the family business. That package must arrive at the meeting place at all cost. I shall be leaving in the next half hour to take care of some early business. The precession with this item will be leaving in two hours once they are prepared. I shall meet be waiting in the city tonight for you two to arrive and when you do you shall receive the reward."
"Since you will be leaving soon we should leave you to get ready." Lisanna said standing up.
"No need to rush. Just in case, my life is also in danger. Enemy businessmen could use this moment to try and take our fortune. Perhaps Miss Lisanna should accompany me just in case." Atticus said endearingly to the female Mage.
"If your life is in danger, then Natsu should accompany you. He is much more capable than I am."
"Don't worry. I won't let anybody near you." Natsu said reassuringly.
"Never mind then. This package is of much more concern to me and will need both of you. Alfred will show you to the wagons taking the package and I will be off." Alistair said as Natsu and Lisanna followed Alfred out of the office. Atticus thought that he would just have to try harder, because nobody would deny him what he wanted.
Natsu and Lisanna were shown to where the wagons were being loaded. They had two hours to spare so they sat in the shade of a tree near the loading area. They had offered to help, but they insisted they had everything handled.
The two sat in silence in the shade of a tree. They were both startled from their recent meeting. Natsu couldn't shake the feeling he had. When he had called Lisanna beautiful he had gotten the feeling. It wasn't that she wasn't beautiful, because she certainly was in Natsu's opinion. Rather that the idea of somebody else calling her that bothering him. He also saw the way he had stared at her the entire time. Then asking her to accompany him to their destination. It had been clear the man was making a move on her.
The thought of the two together brought a distasteful smile to his face. Along with his disapproving face he felt a pang of anger and jealousy. Just as he had gotten Lisanna back, others were already trying to take her away. The thought of her leaving again was painful, but knowing she was gone and was still alive was a different pain. She was alive, yet out of his grasps; a constant, heart tearing torture in actuality.
Lisanna sat in thought of the meeting as well. She knew the man would only try again and that reasoning with him was highly unlikely. He was a spoiler rich kid; he had everything handed to him on golden platters. He would hardly take her denying him very well and that would only lead to more problems and headaches. She only wanted a nice and simple mission with Natsu. Had that been too much to ask for?
Looking to distract herself she turned to Natsu. He had a distasteful look that captured her interest. It wasn't him to be upset about something in such a way. The look on his face was truly something that made her a bit worried; anger with underlying pain. Not liking the Natsu before her, she tried to bring him from his thoughts.
"Hey, Natsu?" she asked gently and worriedly.
"Eh, Sorry. I was busy thinking. What did you need?" he said burying his emotions.
"That's new. You were thinking." Lisanna said letting out some laughs at his expense. Natsu acted visibly hurt, but just happy to see she was in happier mood. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. What were you thinking about?"
"Just about the guy who hired us. I have bad feeling about him." Natsu admitted.
"I don't like him either. Let's just get through this dealing with him as little as possible. Once we arrive at the city tonight we can collect our payment and be done with him." Lisanna said, but Natsu just sat their in thought. She tried desperately to think of a way to make him cheer up. Doing so, she remembered the times she had listened to his stories and the way Natsu had always portrayed them. He always got into them and he had forgotten all his worries in the process. "Natsu, you think you could tell me a story? I'd like to hear more about the mission's you've been on."
"Sure! Now what to tell you..." Natsu thought immediately forgetting his troubles and focusing on one of his recent missions. After a few moments of deciding he picked out their mission to take out Oracion Seis. Natsu went on about their mission with the Blue Pegasus and Cait shelter. For the two hours Natsu had entertained Lisanna with his outlandish storytelling. She knew he was exaggerating, but she couldn't bring herself to destroy his claims. She just sat and enjoyed his presence.
As they had been told, after two hours the caravan had left and they set the storytelling off for later; focusing on the task at hand. There were three wagons filled with whatever their client needed. The two walked in the middle of the wagons so they could easily protect any of them. With Natsu's heightened sense of smell they would easily know if anybody had been close enough to prove dangerous.
The trip went on for hours. They went through two small villages; neither of them being the destination the Mage's hoped for. Just before the sun began setting on the horizon they came to the edge of a big city that was thankfully their destination. Natsu pouted in disappointment. He hadn't seen a single enemy on the way he could have fought with. Lisanna was just happy to have arrived and ready to get the mission over with.
"Good! It looks like everything went okay." Atticus exclaimed as the carriages arrived in front of the hotel he was renting. Lisanna walked with Natsu entail to him in order to finish things up.
"Yes, we had no interruptions. If we can have our pay we will be heading out." Lisanna said plainly.
"Wait a moment, dear. I must check the package first." Atticus said walking to the carriage which he opened up and stepped in. In curiosity Natsu followed him and looked into the back of the carriage. Lisanna followed also to see what was so important they needed to guard. Atticus opened the safe and brought out a pen.
Atticus held the pen as if he was holding an ancient artifact in his hands. To Natsu and Lisanna, it was just...a pen. Atticus stepped out of the carriage and brought it to full display for them. He was clearly memorized by it's presence and nothing had managed to steal his eye from it. It had been the first time he truly to his eyes off of Lisanna when she had been in his presence.
"Truly beautiful, isn't it?" he said with clear admiration.
"It's...a pen." Natsu said missing the clear glory Atticus saw in it.
"I wouldn't expect an impudent fellow like yourself to understand. You must clearly see it, Miss Lisanna. It is as glorious as your beauty, as I'm sure you know. This was the same pen my Father and his Father and even his Father used when taking over the family business. It is the beginning key to our families success and if I am to start out with any chance, I must sign the contracts with this pen tomorrow." Atticus stated earning annoying glances from the two.
"I can understand sentimentality, but this is a bit extreme. It's not like the pen made the business successful, it was the people running it." Lisanna said.
"Ha. If only it was that simple. Other businesses have failed while ours has remained successful. That's proof enough that I need to use this pen. Now, you have a long day. Why don't you join me for dinner? I only have the finest of meal prepared." Atticus said holding his hand out towards Lisanna.
"I'm sorry, but we really need to get our pay and be on our way." she stated with no intentions on dinning with the man.
"Fine then. Follow me and I shall give you your payment." Atticus said walking inside with no intention of giving up. The two stayed in the foyer while Atticus walked upstairs and came back carrying a suitcase.
"Here is your entire payment." Atticus said handing over the suitcase which Lisanna checked.
"It's all here. We'll be on our way then." Lisanna stated turning to leave.
"Hold on a second. I highly suggest you take my offer. You can have lavishing food and a fine bed to rest in tonight." Atticus said stepping in between them and the door. Natsu had enough. The sight of the man brought a disgusting taste to his mouth and him pressing these matter's further pushed his frustration over the line.
"We said no and the answer is still no. Now get out of our way." Natsu stated firmly.
"It's not as if I was asking you in the first place. Why would I choose to dine with a brute like yourself? No sense of class or gentleness. Somebody like Miss Lisanna here should only have the best. Now I shall ask again, will you be joining me?" Atticus said looking towards Lisanna. Natsu was about to take the guy out, but he had waited in interest for Lisanna's own answer. Looking at her she had become quite angry herself.
"No. I don't care if you could buy me anything I ever wanted, because you can't buy what I want. Don't think that you can talk down to Natsu either. Just because your family is rich doesn't mean you get the right to put people down. I would pick Natsu any day over you. Your the one lacking any sort of class and gentleness here. Let's go, Natsu." Lisanna said grabbing his arm and pulling him behind her. They left Atticus in a fit of anger, but he soon dropped it knowing he could women far more beautiful than she had been.
Lisanna stormed down the street with no destination in mind. She was still dragging Natsu who was surprised by her outburst. Lisanna had always been a gentle person, but she could also be feisty. It wasn't something he wanted to or intended to get on the receiving end of.
"Lisanna? Can you stop walking?" Natsu called out from behind her. Realizing she was dragging him along she stopped and let go of him.
"Sorry, I got carried away." she said.
"It's alright. Are you okay now?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah. It's just that he just so infuriating. I couldn't stand it any longer."
"I know. I was about to blow too. Just be glad we got paid and out of their." Natsu said looking at the brighter side of things.
"I know." she said.
"Let's get some food and a place to rest." Natsu said looking for a restaurant.
"That sounds good. It has been a long day." she said as she stepped up beside him and walked down the street in search of a restaurant.
"I'm still kinda mad though. We didn't get to fight anybody today." Natsu said lingering on that yet.
"Is that all you ever care about?" she asked with a laugh.
Author's Note:
A bit shorter than I would like, but it was a nice place to stop.
Thanks for reading everyone.