Disclaimer: I don't own the story line (at least up to chapter four), RoxyStar05 does, and I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does!
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Author's POV
"Natsu," yawned Happy, flapping his wings tiredly as he flew over to sit on the pinkette's head. "I'm sleepy..."
Natsu reached up and patted the Exceed on his head just as his wings vanished from his back. "I know, pal," he told him softly. He took him off of his head and placed him in his arms. "We're heading toward our dorms, now. I'll fry you up some fish and then we can sleep, aaaaaall night!" He gave the feline a large, goofy grin. "How does that sound?"
"Good, sir!" smiled Happy in his arms, nuzzling into him.
"Do you know where we're going?" Gray asked the male, raising a brow as he crossed his arms.
"Of course I do," Natsu replied. "We're following Erza, aren't we?"
"Natsu," Erza spoke up. "I'm behind you. We're following you."
The pinkette paused, blinking in surprise. He looked behind him to confirm that everyone was, indeed, following him and not Erza. Uh oh. But, not wanting to look stupid (and also not wanting to give Gray any sort of satisfaction in knowing that he had called him out), he puffed out his chest and gave a confident smile. "Of course," he mused. "I was just testing you to see if you were paying attention!"
"You have no idea where we're going," snorted Gray.
Natsu shoved his face against the noirette's. "What was that, Ice Cube?" he growled.
"You heard me, Dragon Breath," the other return. The two continued to bicker back and forth until Erza stepped in, shoving the two apart. Gray was the first to shoot back up. "What the Hell, Erza?!" Though a single look from her shut him up.
"We're almost there," she told them both. "Professor Dumbledor said that our dorm would be behind a painting of a young man with brown hair and green eyes..."
"That describes about more than half of the paintings here," Gajeel said with a roll of his eyes. He fell quiet when the red head shot a glare his way.
"You mean like that painting?" Lucy questioned, pointing down a flight of stairs towards a bored looking painting, playing loosely with his brown hair. He looked so... well, bored out of his mind. His green eyes looked dull, glancing up at them. They narrowed, as if to say, Quit gawking and hurry up. I don't have all day.
"That would be the one," Erza nodded, grabbing Natsu's and Gray's ears roughly. Lacking a hand to do the same to Gajeel, she glanced at Levy. "Can you, please?" Levy nodded, reached up, and roughly grabbed the lobe of the noirette's ear, electing some cursing and growling that was aimed her way. They continued to go down the stairs until they reached the painting.
"Passwords?" grunted the male in the painting. Each of them had a different password since Dumbledore didn't trust some of the students and the easy making of Polyjuice Potions. They each had to whisper it to the painting in order to be let in. The scarlette of the group released her captives, motioning for the bluette to do the same.
"Igneel," grumbled Natsu, rubbing his ear sorely.
"Fish!" smiled Happy.
"Ur," Gray murmured, rubbing his own burning ear.
"Jellal," Erza told the painting.
"Shadowgear," Levy whispered.
"Layla Heartphilia," Lucy said quietly.
"Metallicana," Gajeel grunted.
"Edolas," Pantherlily said, crossing his arms.
"Gray-sama!" swooned Juvia.
The painting grunted, swinging open just enough to allow them inside. Once inside, it closed behind them.
The common room of the Fairies' dorm was decorated in various colors (though, judging from the colors of the banners that hanged from the walls, they were supposed to represent each of the present Guild members' emblem colors; red, white, pink, blue, green, and black); two black leather couches sitting at the sides of large, roaring fireplace and two cushiony, velvety purple seats sitting across from the aforementioned fireplace; a desk sat in the corner, covered with a stack of parchment, a new quill, and two, full inkwells; two doors resided on either side of the common room, assumingly leading to the seperate dorm rooms, one side for the males and the other for the females; and the overall atmosphere was warm and cozy...
Now, if there were to be a full out brawl to break out, then it would have definitely reminded all of the Fairies of home.
Natsu jumped onto one of the two couches, sitting closest to the fireplace. He looked perfectly at home sitting there, stretching out his legs and arms. He was grinning while the others calmly took their seats as well. Gray sat at the far end of the same couch, Lisanna sat beside the pinkette, Juvia sat across from Gray on the opposite couch, Levy sat beside the Water Woman, Gajeel sat beside her (occassionally stealing glances of the small girl then looking away all flustered with a light blush on his cheeks), Lucy sat in one of the two chairs, Erza sat in the other one, Pantherlily sat on Gajeel's lap, and Happy sat on Natsu's head. All of them were quiet, relaxing slightly in their new, temporary home.
Then, Lucy spoke up. "Who all wants to enter the tournament?"
Before Natsu could say that he did, Erza shot him a look.
"Natsu, you will not be permitted to enter," she told him sternly. She then looked at Gray and Lucy. "Neither will the two of you."
"What?!" Gray exclaimed, shooting a glare the woman's way. "Just why not?!"
"Because the tournament is too dangerous," the woman replied sternly.
"Which is exactly why Master chose us to go on this mission, isn't it?" frowned Lucy. She squeaked when the scarlette shot her a frown.
"Though I do trust Master Makarov's decisions in the matter, I, for one, do not want you any of you three in the tournament and that is final."
"Come on, Erza!" Natsu whined, not liking the idea of not being able to participate in the event. "We're strong enough and we can do it easy!"
"No," snapped the S-Class Wizard. "I said that I don't want you in the tournament that is final. End of discussion." She stood. "I'm going to head to bed now." She then went to the girl's dorm, intending to go to sleep.
"I can't believe her," grumbled Gray in annoyance. "Who does she think she is? Saying we can't try to participate...?"
"Just go with it," Levy told the male. "Erza is just worried about you two, that's all..."
"But still," frowned Lucy. "That just makes us dead weight if we don't even apply..."
"Why don't you three just sign up when she isn't looking?" Gajeel questioned in amusement.
"They wouldn't do that," Lisanna pointed out, tilting her head. "Erza would find out and kill them... Or, at least, beat them within an inch of their lives..."
"I-I don't want to die," swallowed Lucy anxiously.
"She won't find out if your name isn't the one that comes out of the Goblet," pointed out Pantherlily.
"If Gray-sama doesn't want to get caught, Juvia can place his name in the Goblet," offered Juvia with a smile. The noirette male in question blinked, looking at the blue haired woman in surprise.
"You would do that for me?"
Juvia smiled, nodding. "Juvia would."
Gray gave a small smirk. "Then could you...?"
The woman shot up, beaming. "Juvia will do it tonight!"
"I'm coming with you," Natsu said, standing. He handed Happy to Lucy. "We'll be back. If Erza finds out the two of us are missing, tell her that we went to get something to drink."
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Yay...! All done. XD
Read and review please!
~Lenore
