All righty then, here's Chapter 2 of The Dragon of the Sands. Hope you like it, and R&R!
"Are you sure this is such a good idea, Natsu?" Lucy asked. She, Gray, Gajeel and Levy were practically running to try and keep up with the Fire Dragon, and Erza followed a short way behind them, rolling her eyes at Natsu's foolishness.
"Of course I'm sure!" Natsu growled. "After all we had to go through to try and reach the S-Class-without any of us succeeding, even-this chump has no right to waltz in here and pass us like that! Right, Happy?"
"Aye!" the blue Exceed said from just over his right shoulder.
Gajeel snorted. "Personally, I don't think I'm gonna mind watching the 'Devil of the Sands' wipe the floor with our favorite hot-head," he said.
"I second that," Gray said, and Lucy giggled, unaware of the glare she was receiving from Juvia, who was hiding behind a nearby potted plant.
The motley group soon reached the men's dorms, and after demanding to know which room Alishar was in from a confused Freed, Natsu found the correct room and started banging on the door. "Open up!" he yelled.
After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Natsu's target, who sighed and ran a hand back through his tousled hair. "I'm busy unpacking my things, so this isn't the best time, Dragneel. Could you please make this quick?"
Natsu's eyes roared with barely-caged fire, and with a harsh voice he hissed, "I challenge you."
The hall was silent, and Alishar blinked, his blank eyes looking over Natsu's head at the door across the hall. Finally, he said, "As I said, this isn't the best time. Perhaps another day." He moved to close the door, but Natsu's hand slapped against the wood, stopping it in its path.
"You've got a lot of nerve, walking into our guild and skipping right up to S-Class like some sort of spoiled kid," Natsu growled, and everyone in the hall-including Alishar-seemed surprised at the young wizard's aggression. "If you want to be welcome here, you've gotta prove yourself, and a throw-down with me will get ya somewhere on that front."
"Just try not to kill him," Gray said. "Though I hate to admit it, he's useful in a fight."
Alishar was quiet for a moment, then a sigh was heard from under his bandages. "All right, I'll humor you," he said. "Where would you like to do this?"
"The sparring grounds out back will do," Natsu said, already walking down the hall. "Be there in an hour."
Alishar's Desert Whisper-a technique where especially small grains of sand constantly surround the user in an invisible cloud, which cannot be felt by others but allows for the user to form a 'bubble' where they can sense objects and their movements-told him that Natsu was gone, but that his friends were still in front of his door. "Is he always like this?" he asked, and he sensed that some of them jumped. "Yes, I know you're all still here," he went on, smirking under his bandages.
"Yep, that's Natsu for ya," one of them said. Alishar could 'see' her, but the most he could pick up was height, size, and dimensions, the last of which impressed him when he focused on her. "So Alishar," the same woman said, "why don't you come back down to the hall before your match? I'm sure everyone wants to meet you!"
Alishar shrugged. "I might come down in a little while," he said, "but I was serious when I said I was busy unpacking."
"Would you like a hand with that?" another voice asked, this one coming from a shorter, less endowed female wizard.
"Just because I am blind does not mean that I am helpless," Alishar said coolly. "Now if you'll all excuse me, my room is a mess."
After the door was closed in their faces, the group headed back down the hall towards the entrance to the men's dorms. "Nice, Levy," Gajeel said, "you pissed off the Devil!"
"Shut it, you big lug," she said, sliding her glasses back up her nose. Lucy saw the blunette's cheeks go a bit pink when Gajeel laughed, and when she nudged her friend's arm, she almost snorted at the vicious glare she received.
Mirajane was behind the counter at the bar in the main hall like usual, cleaning a glass and smiling as she looked out at the wizards who called this place home. Cana was at the end of the bar, and between glasses she seemed to be glancing at Laxus an awful lot, who was chatting with Gildarts about new high-risk missions.
"Can I get a glass of water?" Mirajane almost jumped when she turned to see the Sand Dragon Slayer sitting before her, his eyes closed and his fingers interlocked on the counter.
"Certainly," the white-haired wizard said, pouring him a glass and setting it down before him. As the wizard took a sip from it, she said, "It's Alishar, right? I've heard of you, you know."
Alishar set his glass down. "And I've heard of you, Mirajane Strauss," he said, making her eyes go wide. "Though I obviously haven't seen any of them, I've been told that your photo shoots are quite spectacular, and Laxus told me that you're a fellow S-Class wizard." He cocked his head slightly. "So what've you heard about me?"
Mira was still a bit off-guard from the fact that he could tell who she was without being able to see her, so it took her a second to get her thoughts together; being unable to look away from his pale, frosted-over eyes wasn't helping either. "W-well, I've heard that the Devil of the Sands is a brutal and dangerous independent wizard who shows up in guild halls, takes their highest-ranking jobs, and then vanishes. He's also feared for being an... exterminator of rogue wizards." Mira laughed nervously, and Alishar could sense her heart-rate increasing. "You're quite infamous, sir!"
Alishar laughed, leaning forward slightly as if he was now a bit more relaxed. "Please, such formalities are hardly necessary for me, Miss Strauss, as is your fear of me. Alishar will do just fine."
"And Mirajane is plenty for me," she said with a smile.
"Sure thing, Miss Strauss." When she shook her head and sighed, she heard him chuckle under his breath. "While I'll admit my reputation is… somewhat deserved, I'm here because I wish to join this guild and experience your well-known camaraderie, which is quite new for me. However, I'm… not particularly good with meeting people, and I'm not one for crowds."
"Well I'd be glad to help!" Mirajane said with a smile. "So I presume you use your Sand Magic to sense your surroundings, including other people?" Alishar nodded. "Well I could at least tell you everyone's names, and maybe a little something about them to get you started! How does that sound?"
The bandaged man spun on his stool to face the rest of the guild hall, then said, "Just tell me where they're standing in relation to the rest of the room, and I'll be able to tell who's who."
"Let's get started!" Mira said excitedly as she walked around the bar to sit next to Alishar. She was only in her seat for a moment before a strange sensation came over her; however, she pushed it aside as she began.
"Well, over at the other end of the bar is Cana Alberona…"
After thanking Mirajane for her time, Alishar left the main guild hall, his head stuffed full of names, personality traits and relationships. They're a wild bunch, that's for sure, he thought, his thumbs looped around his belt. This is certainly gonna take some getting used to…
The Slayer was snapped out of his reverie when he reached a junction of hallways and heard someone calling his name. Turning slightly, he focused his Whisper down the hall to his left and detected a number of familiar figures running towards him.
"Hey, Alishar!" one of them yelled as the group grew near. The speaker was the busty one from earlier, and her short friend was at her side, with the Iron Dragon and an oddly cold young man standing a bit behind them. Off to the side was someone who smelled like another Dragon Slayer, and a small mammal of some kind was standing on her head.
"Hello," the sand-user said. "Before you go off on what I'm sure will be an interesting tirade, would you all be so kind as to introduce yourselves? I'm trying to learn everyone's names, and put them to faces… so to speak."
"Well I'm Lucy Heartfilia," the taller female said, "and these are my friends Levy McGarden, Wendy Marvell and Gray Fullbuster."
"And you've already sorta met me," Gajeel said gruffly.
"Indeed." Alishar quickly tagged each person's name to their unique body shape, so he'd be able to recognize them in the future. "So I believe it's almost time for me to go and spar with your guildmate," he said.
"You mean our guild-mate, right?" Alishar turned to face the smallest of the group, who giggled. "Come on then, we'll show you where the grounds are!" the young girl said, who he firgured to be Wendy. Alishar nodded, and he was soon being swept along by the group of young wizards, who seemed content with allowing him to sit back and listen as they inanely chatted about recent goings-on at the guild.
A few minutes passed before the group arrived at a large door, which Gajeel pushed open to reveal the large, open area behind the guild hall. Alishar's senses went haywire for a moment while he compensated for the breeze, but it wasn't long before he was able to 'see' the large tree towering above him, and the people crowded in the shade of its branches. He felt a tug at his sleeve, and when he turned slightly, he heard Wendy say, "Looks like the whole guild's out here to see your fight with Natsu!"
"Wonderful," Alishar groaned; it was only his first day, and he was already drawing far too much attention to himself for his liking. Regardless, he made his way towards what appeared to be an empty area on the other side of the crowd, which parted before him so he could pass through easily. Oh, and they're treating me like a cripple… how lovely, Alishar thought, fighting to suppress his irritation.
"You ready to party, newbie?" Natsu bellowed, watching Alishar walk across the sparring field towards his 'starting end'. The Fire Dragon Slayer was smoking slightly, his fists already bundled in flames in anticipation of their brawl.
"I hope you realize what you're up against," Alishar said calmly. "I may not've come here looking for trouble, but I'm not one for holding back either."
"Pfft, don't think that cheating your way into S-Class makes you better than the rest of us," Natsu said, a cocky grin on his face. "I'm gonna kick your butt to the moon and back!"
As the two wizards faced off, Makarov came up to stand beside Laxus, who was looking on in rapturous glee. "What do you make of this, Laxus?" the Guild Leader asked.
"Let's just say that I don't think this'll take too long," Laxus said with a wicked smile. "Don't get me wrong, Natsu's got spunk, and he knows how to dish it out… but he's in way over his head with this guy."
Lucy, who was standing only a few feet away, overheard Laxus and immediately grew nervous. Oh geez, I hope Natsu doesn't get hurt… why does he always have to get himself into trouble like this… Shaking her head, she turned to her best friend, who was standing next to her with a book under her arm. "What do you think, Levy? Should someone stop this before it gets out of hand?"
"I think you need to relax," Levy said, smirking when she saw how shaken her blonde friend appeared to be. "Natsu can take care of himself! You know that as well as I do… but perhaps you have another reason for being worried about him?.."
Flushing bright red, Lucy turned away and crossed her arms, ignoring Levy's snickering. "I am not worried about him! I just… what if there's collateral damage? What if something happens to the guild hall?"
"I know for a fact that no one wrecks a guild hall better than I do," Gajeel said with a crooked grin, earning a jab in the ribs from Levy, who's glare made him recoil into Gray, who rolled his eyes and proceeded to strip. The Iron Dragon laughed nervously. "What? Too soon?"
Levy huffed and turned back towards the sparring grounds, and Gajeel frowned. "I think that's a yes," Gray said, and Lucy laughed as Gajeel Iron-Clubbed Gray up into the tree.
Erza stalked out onto the packed dirt, standing between Alishar and Natsu with a stern expression on her regal features. "All right gentlemen, if you're gonna insist on going through with this, let's at least keep it clean, okay?"
"Fine by me," Natsu growled, and his opponent nodded. Off to one side of the main crowd, Mirajane and her sister Lisanna stood side by side, both watching nervously as Natsu cracked his knuckles, sending sparks tumbling into the air. I hope he doesn't get hurt, the younger Strauss thought, her pale hands clasped against her chest. That guy's the real deal…
Please, Alishar, Mirajane thought, I don't want to see either of you in pain… please just back out!
Natsu's glare flew through the air like daggers, but they fell uselessly at Alishar's feet, who stood silent and still, his right foot bare against the dirt and his left wrapped in its spotless white bandages. "I'm fired up now, Sand-Devil," Natsu said, "so I hope you're ready for this!"
Alishar blinked, and with a bored expression on the visible part of his face, he lowered his gaze so his eyes looked right through Natsu's chest; when he sensed the younger wizard flinch, he grinned under his bandages, a wickedly sharp canine pricking at his lower lip.
"Shall we?"