Sorry for the really late update. I'm trying my best to get back on the saddle and write some more. As always, thanks for your support.
The Iron Dragon of Magnolia
Chapter Two: The Knight and The Gypsy
The streets were filled with life. People of the town were dressed as characters from classic fairy tales, the theme of the Fairy Tail Festivals were always fairy tales. Men wore metal plates to pose as crude knights as maidens wore elaborate frilly dresses. Children ran around, looking for their friends to look around the plaza with.
A man stood alone in the bustling town. The reigns of his rare blue horse breed secured in his grip. His white pants and gold-trimmed one-sleeve black jacket were hidden under his red overcoat. The heels of his black boots clicked against the cobblestone street. The wind wisped through the man's strange spiky pink hair and his white scaled scarf wrapped firmly around his neck. His onyx eyes had a playful gleam that matched the childish grin on his face. He stopped and turned to his horse.
"Doesn't look like it's changed, huh Achilles?" the man said. The horse neighed in agreement. "Shall we continue to the Palace of Justice?" The horse nodded.
The man laughed and pulled on the reigns a bit so Achilles would walk. As the two walked through Magnolia, people would stop and look to the man in awe. His grin never left his face as he heard what the townspeople were saying about him.
"He's returned?"
"I heard that he's the king's best knight!"
"The Fire Dragon of Fiore is in his hometown!"
"I can't believe it! That brat's grown up."
"Daddy," a little boy said. His little hand pulling on the older man's shirt. "Daddy, why is everyone calling him the Fire Dragon?"
"He has magic that could slay dragons. Particularly fire dragons. He's the most powerful mage and the best knight in the king's army. The Fire Dragon of Fiore, Natsu Dragneel, captain of the King's Guard."
Natsu flashed his grin and waved to the people of his hometown. He made his way through the streets until he reached a pub. A brunette barmaid was sitting crossed-legged on the bar, drinking from a wine bottle. An older man was cleaning a mug while a couple of white-haired girls mopped the floor.
"This place doesn't get old, does it Old Man?"
The older man looked up and smiled. His orange-brown hair was tied back and his dark eyes looked proudly at Natsu.
"You're back, huh Brat?" the man named Gildarts said.
The barmaid looked up from her wine bottle and smirked. "PAR-TAY!" she yelled before she drank the rest of the wine.
One of the white-haired girls laughed and looked back to Natsu. Her sapphire eyes gleamed and her long hair sat perfectly on her shoulders. "Welcome back Natsu."
"Thanks Mira."
"Did you kill any dragons?" the other asked. Her short hair was neatly combed under a bandana and her blue eyes shined.
The Dragon Slayer sighed and shook his head. "Didn't even see one, let alone kill a dragon Lisanna."
"That's because they don't exist," Gildarts said.
"Oi Dad!" the barmaid yelled, swinging her bottle all around. "Let the kid dream!"
"The chances of meeting a dragon are as close as Cana is to sobering up."
"Oi! I can quit drinking anytime I want!" Cana yelled.
"Why not now?" Lisanna asked.
"Not today…The stars aren't aligned!" Cana yelled, spilling her wine everywhere. "The stars…" She looked up as if looking at the stars, but fell behind the bar in doing so. "…Not aligned…Can't do it!" Her hand with the bottle shot up from behind the bar and swung around. "Not today!"
Gildarts held his hand to his face, attempting to cover the embarrassment of his daughter. "That girl and her booze."
"You raised her Gildarts," Natsu said.
"I raised you too, and look how you turned out Natsu," Gildarts said, throwing an arm around the knight. "Captain of the King's Guard and Fiore's best knight. I think I did well."
"Oh sure," Mira said. "Let's not forget Gray's stripping habit, Erza's anger issues, Natsu's destroying tendencies, Juvia's obsession, Cana's alcoholism, and-"
"Speaking of Gray and Erza…They passed by a little while ago. You should go look for them."
"Thanks Gildarts. I'll come by tonight for a drink."
"Be careful of the gypsies Natsu!" Lisanna said.
"Yeah, yeah," Natsu said in a nonchalant voice as he waved his hand, walking out of the bar.
"Did he even listen?" Lisanna huffed.
Mira placed a hand on her little sister's shoulder. "It's Natsu, he won't let gypsies get to him."
Natsu untied Achilles' reigns and walk him out to the streets. "Tch. If Lisanna thinks gypsies could give me trouble I've been gone too long."
As the knight and his horse walked through the cobblestone streets, a large crowd caught his attention. He managed to walk up to get a better look at what enchanted the people around him.
In the centre of the crowd were two gypsies dancing with a few others playing instruments and a small, snowman-looking, white thing with a yellow cone nose shaking its booty. The small creature wasn't what had caught the audience. It was the two females dancing in the circle formed by the crowd.
One was cute, shorter and had a more petite stature than the other with short blue hair with most of her bangs held back by a green headband that matched her white-and-orange dress that reached her knees. There were green ribbons tied around her legs and she was barefoot on the stone ground. She whipped around a tambourine as her dance intertwined with the other and the music. She didn't catch Natsu's eye as the other did.
The other had more of a physique than the blue-haired girl. Her golden blonde hair was half up, held up by a baby blue ribbon that matched her white-and-blue dress that reached a little bit above her mid thigh. There were baby blue ribbons wrapped around her legs as she danced to the music barefoot.
The grace and agility they showed as they danced was incredible and blew Natsu away. As the music stopped, the blonde bent at her waist right in front of Natsu. Her eyes were focused on the ground as Natsu watched her heavy breathing.
"Plue," the blue-haired girl said.
Natsu watched the snowman-thing, named Plue he guessed, pulled out a wooden basket. It walked around, collecting loose change from the audience. Most of the people gave a bunch of silver ones while others gave a few gold ones occasionally. When the creature stopped in front of Natsu, he pulled out a small sack of coins that probably contained ten gold coins with a few silver coins.
The blonde looked up, curious at what he put in the basket that made so many noise. Her brown eyes were set on the sack of coins. She gasped, looking up to Natsu, locking her eyes with his onyx ones. Her lips formed a small smile as his turned to a grin.
"Lu-chan!" the blue-haired girl said. "Let's go or we'll be late."
"Uh…" The blonde bowed her head. "Thank you." She quickly turned around to help the other gypsies to clean up their corner before he left. Natsu didn't notice that the blonde gypsy watched his back and sighed to herself.
A whistle sounded out, signalling knights, and the gypsies quickly scattered with their things. As the blue-haired was running, she dropped some of their earnings. Cursing under her breathe, the blonde's attention was grasped.
"Levy-chan?" Her eyes were set on her friend, kneeling down and picking up some coins with Plue. "Levy!" The blonde saw a couple of shadows coming close to them and heard the clanks of armour. "Damn." The blonde grabbed Levy and pushed her to where the other gypsies were.
"Lu-chan?" Levy cried. "Lu-chan!"
"Don't worry," the blonde whispered, turning to Plue. "Go with Levy-chan Plue."
"Plu-puun!" the creature said, hopping over to the blue-haired girl and jumping into her arms.
Natsu, from down the street, heard the yells of the gypsy girls and turned back with his horse to investigate. From around the corner he saw a couple of knights in armour standing over the blonde who was kneeling on the ground, picking up some fallen coins.
The first knight was a male. His dark hair looked like a shade away from being midnight blue to black. His navy eyes stared down to the blonde with a slight amusement. He stood tall in his silver armour.
The second knight was a female. Her red hair was a crimson shade that reached the middle of her back while being pulled back by a black clip. Her brown eyes were narrowed, looking down to the girl as well, but with more of an authoritative glare as her hand rested on the hilt of a silver sword on her hip. Her armour was well kept, shining as if it was freshly made.
Natsu smirked to himself; Some things never change.
"What do we have here?" the female knight asked.
"I think we got a thief, eh Erza?" The female nodded in agreement. He tilted his head to the side. "Where d'ya get the money Gypsy?"
"I got it from something called hard work," she said, standing up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be l-" She walked passed the knights, but the male knight grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Excuse me?"
"Are you sure that you didn't steal it?"
The blonde glared to the man before her.
"Because," the woman knight said, "if you did, there will be punishment awaiting for you." She unsheathed her blade, running the blunt side across her palm. "I'm sure you understand, yes?"
The blonde pulled her arm away from the man before running in Natsu's direction. She passed him, glancing at him from the corner of her doe eyes before going behind him. He looked back, watching her create distance between herself and the knights. Achilles walked over, also admiring how her hair bounced and her movements as she ran. The horse nodded.
"I know, right?" Natsu turned to his horse. "She's a looker, eh Achilles?"
"Horse!" the knights yelled as they crashed into the horse's side. Both, owner and horse, looked down to see the knights trying to get up. The man pulled himself up, using the horse's rear for leverage.
"Achilles, sit."
The horse obeyed, bringing down the man with him. The man laid on the ground with the horse's rear end on his chest.
"Wha?" the female knight said.
"Get this brute off me!"
"Oh! I'm sorry," Natsu sarcastically said. He turned to Achilles. "Bad horse, very, very naughty of you Achilles." He turned back to the knight on the ground as the horse got off him. "I'm terribly sorry, I just don't know what to do with him, you know."
"We could have you punished for that, Peasant," the man said. His navy eyes glaring into Natsu's onyx eyes.
Natsu punched the male knight into a pile of garbage across from them, leaving both of the knights confused. Natsu turned to the female knight as she pointed her sword to him.
"Peasant, huh?" Natsu asked, snapping his fingers. Fire formed around his fist. "I swear I was a couple ranks above you, Gray."
"Natsu?" the female knight said.
Natsu tilted his head over to the female knight. "It's been a while, eh Erza?"
"Flame Head?"
"That's Sir Flame Head now, Stripper."
"I'm not a stripper Idiot," Gray said.
"I think what you're wearing speaks otherwise, Gray," Erza said, pointing to his discarded pieces of armour on the side of the cobblestone road.
"Wha? Again?!"
"Things really do never change," Natsu laughed.
"What brings you home Natsu?" Erza asked, sheathing her blade. "You became the strongest knight in the land, I don't know why you'd be here instead of by the king's side."
"I was sent for actually," Natsu said, picking up Achilles' reigns from the ground. He noticed a few coins on the ground that the blonde dropped, picking them up in the process. "Someone needed my leadership or something along those lines."
"Where ya headed now, Sir Flame Head?" Gray asked, slipping into his armour.
"The Palace of Justice."
"Don't tell me…" Erza said.
"What?"
"That Lord Jose sent for you?"
"That's the guy, why?"
"Be careful around him," Erza warned.
"He has a corrupted soul, I wouldn't trust him if I were you," Gray said.
"Can't do much about that. But thanks for the warning."
"C'mon," Erza said, walking ahead of Natsu and his horse. "We'll take you to the Palace of Justice. It's on our route anyways."
"After you're done maybe we should get a couple of drinks back at the bar," Natsu suggested.
"I'll take you on in a drinking contest like the old days!" Gray said.
"I'd like to see you try and out drink Cana," Erza said. "You'd be down in five-minutes flat."
Natsu laughed. "You guys haven't changed one bit!" Natsu said, leaving a grin on his face.
As they got close to the Palace of Justice, Natsu saw a couple of beggars sitting on the side of the road. Both were covered in rags, but one had a yellow cone-thingy sticking out from the opening. Natsu knew who it was, as he and the knights passed them the coins were slipped into the cup the other held.
When the coins clanked against the cup, the one holding it pulled down their hood slightly, revealing the blonde girl who smiled at his back. The other turned to look at the blonde then to the knight then back to the blonde.
"I think you have a crush, Lu-chan."
"Shut up Levy. C'mon," she said, standing up. "We'll be late."
Natsu saw the tall, castle-like building that was called the Palace of Justice. It was dark, basking in the shadow of the sun. It loomed over the city of Magnolia, as if it overlooked the citizens to make sure no one went out of line. Standing on the steps of the building was a man that looked as dark as the building. He had an eerie smile gracing his face and his hands were intertwined with each other. There was a sadistic look to his eyes.
Natsu understood why Erza and Gray didn't trust him. Natsu sensed that this guy was evil, he could smell of old blood on him.
"Sir Natsu Dragneel! It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"You must be Lord Jose Porla. It's a wonderful job what you've done for the city since I was here last."
"Oh yes! Magnolia is your hometown," Jose said. "It must be wonderful to be back home now, isn't it?"
"I suppose," Natsu said. "I was wondering why I was called down here."
"You see, Sir Dragneel, I have a problem. There's been a growing number of insects in the city."
"An infestation? Of what, may I ask?"
"Of gypsies."
