Chapter 3: A Lull(aby) Before the Storm.
Kageyama, a black haired shadow using mage of the Dark Guild Eisenwald, walked towards the train station in Onibus with due haste, but also nervous haste. He regularly checked his bag, and glanced about furtively.
After all he was carrying the Death Magic, Lullaby, he was entitled to some paranoia.
His nerves were rather frayed right now, he was constantly expecting Rune Knight to come pouring out of the woodwork and then he'd be arrested and then Erigor would kill him in jail, the 'Shinigami' had managed worse, and then he'd probably be resurrected just to be killed again.
What he really needed right now was some legal mage to beat up for a while, but such pleasures would have to wait. Right now he had to get to where Erigor was meeting him.
He only noticed the pink haired man watching him intently when he stepped out, standing right in Kageyama's path.
For a moment they stared each other down, then Kageyama tried to casually walk past, but the man simply moved to the side he headed for and blocked him again his onyx eyes never leaving Kageyama's face.
"Do I know you?" Kageyama asked calmly. Inside his mind was awhirl with thoughts 'Who is this guy? What does he want? Does he know? Is he from the council? A rival dark guild? Shit, if I don't get back soon Erigor might really kill me!'
The man was of average height, with spiky pink hair and black eyes, he wore a strange scaled white scarf round his neck, a zipped up dark green jacket and a red t-shirt just visible in a v-shaped gap the unzipped area left bare and beige trousers.
"The names Natsu" the man said casually, walking forwards until only a single pace separated the two of them "But you can call me… Salamander" it was but a tenuous whisper, but Kageyama heard, and he knew that name.
Kageyama's eyes widened "Torched Heaven?" he whispered back.
Natsu nodded.
He gulped, Salamander, Torched Heaven's Salamander. He was not someone on Kageyama's league, hell he was right out of Kageyama's league and even someone like Erigor would have trouble with him "Erigor said you… partnered up with us" but they weren't expecting Torched Heaven to send Salamander, of all people "Could've arrived sooner though, I've already obtained it."
"That's nice" Natsu commented blandly looking to the side "And you think that what, it's all going to be plain sailing now. Tell me, how many bars did you shout loudly about Lullaby and Erigor in before you obtained it? How many mages overheard you, and how many guilds are going to be on your arse before noon?" Natsu should know, he had done that occasionally sometimes because he forgot the 'secret' part of secret mission, other times because secrecy could go hang, and more often than not for the good fight it always brought him.
Kageyama flinched, half at the accusations, which were painfully true, and half at how loudly Natsu spoke. He quickly glanced around but it wasn't very busy and no one had noticed thankfully.
"So, you are?" Natsu asked, turning and walking away.
Kageyama hurried to walk next to him "Kageyama" he responded after a moment.
"Kageyama, got it" Natsu committed the name to memory, i.e. he forgot about it in about two seconds "So where are we meeting with Erigon?"
"Kunugi" he said simply, not noticing Natsu's mistake as he continued onwards to the train station.
"Kunigi?"
"Yeah, the station" he didn't notice that error either.
"Station… y-you mean… train station?"
Kageyama blinked, was that fear he heard in the voice of one of the most feared mages in Fiore, no he must be mistaken, but… He turned to look at Natsu, and noticed his shaking hands and nervous eyes and the green tinge on his face "Um, yeah, train station."
Natsu let out a pitiful whimper, like a kicked puppy.
He hated trains!
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"Erza, are you gonna tell us what this is all about yet?" Gray finally asked, seeing how close they were to journey's end. Another five maybe ten minutes and they'd be in Onibus, though why they were going there was still unknown "You asking for help doesn't happen often" 'or at all' he added in his head.
Lucy put away her new key and made to listen intently. It was the Key of the Maiden, Virgo, which she had only just received. Apparently Virgo had given it to Gray to give it to her after Duke Everlue was arrested and he had forgotten it up until now. She hadn't made a contract yet though, she'd wait until this job was done. No point wearing herself out now making contracts when she might need her magic for later.
"Yes" Erza nodded "Let me explain. I had finished my job and was heading back to the guild, but decided to stop at a bar in Onibus where mages gather…"
"Oi, hurry up with our beer!" a man shouted at the waitress, who was hurrying over with a flagon.
"I-I'm sorry."
None of the group noticed Erza's gaze as she looked over to the commotion.
"Byard, don't get so angry" another man sat around the same table told his angry companion.
"How can I not be irritated by this?" the man, Byard, complained loudly, using magic to draw the beer out of the new flagon the waitress was bringing and into the one he was whining about being empty, much to the shock of said waitress "We finally found the magic, Lullaby, but there's a damn seal in our way!"
"Idiot, you're too loud."
"Yup, noisy" two of the other chastised him.
"Shit!" Byrad cursed, gulping back his beer, a vein twitching above his eyes.
"It's not like we can break the seal quicker with more people" calming voice spoke "So why don't you guys go back."
"Kage-chan!"
"Seriously, you figured out how to break the seal!"
The owner of the calming voice, a dark haired rather childish looking man, smiled "Tell Erigor-san that I will definitely be back with Lullaby in three days."
"Lullaby?" Gray said aloud.
"What is that? Some magic to put people to sleep?" Lucy wondered, curious as to what sort of magic would have that name.
"I don't know" Erza confessed "But if it's sealed… it's probably a very powerful piece of magic."
Gray then shook his head in confusion "I don't get it. You heard some guys talking about an unknown magic and a magic seal, so what? Maybe that was their job, it's nothing special."
"Yes" Erza nodded in agreement "that's what I though too and didn't pay it anymore more thought… until I remember the name Erigor" she gave them a piercing stare "The ace of the Eisenwald guild, Shinigami Erigor."
"S-shinigami?!"
"He earned that nickname by completing numerous assassination requests" Lucy shivered. An assassin? At that moment the train pulled to a stop and Erza stood up to leave and they headed to the mail cart to find her luggage, as that was the only place it would fit "Naturally the council forbade assassination requests, but Eisenwald ignored that, choosing the money instead."
"They didn't change their ways, despite several warnings. So then, six years ago" she told them as they headed down the freight plank with her mass of luggage "they were ousted from the Guild Master League, and Eisenwald is now categorized as a Dark Guild."
A bead of sweat ran down into Lucy's impressive cleavage, but that wasn't the point, the point is she was sweating in fear "A dark guild?" she murmured, thinking of Torched Heaven, and of Salamander, and of burnt flesh.
"I see" Gray adjusted his bag.
Two people walked past him, one almost having to drag the other, rather sick looking, guy. Gray briefly got an earful of their conversation.
"Wait, you said they were ousted, but didn't they get punished!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Yes, their master was arrested and the guild ordered to disband. Though most dark guilds ignore the order and keep functioning. Eisenwald did the same."
'Maybe I'll go home' Lucy thought, certainly the train behind her was looking a more and more appealing place to be.
"It was a blunder on my part, if only I remembered the name Erigor back on the scene. I would've made them all into a blood offering" the way she said it just then gave Lucy the chills. She sounded utterly, terrifyingly, genuine in her desire to slaughter them.
With a loud 'Choo Choo' the train slowly departed from the station, leaving a sweating nervously Gray to finally work up the courage to talk to the scary red haired mage.
"Um, Erza?" Gray said nervously.
"Yes, what is it Gray?"
"Erigor… and a guy possibly named Kage-something, right?"
"Weren't you listening?" she demanded angrily. She hated it when people didn't listen.
"It's just… two guys just walked past, one said 'I swear Erigor's gonna kill me' and the other said 'Shut up Kagemaru.'"
Erza blinked "Oh I see" she said calmly "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM?!" she screamed glaring at Gray and almost making the ice mage wet himself.
"I-I didn't think! And I just heard them, and you were talking, and I didn't want to interrupt and…" he had raised his arms up to protect himself from Erza rage. Then he blinked, something else occurring to him "Though to think about it, the first guy said something else… he said 'Are you really…'" Gray stopped and gulped, whether it was fear of Erza, fear of the name he was about to pronounce, or… no it was definitely fear of Erza beating him up for not noticing sooner "'Are you really Salamander?'"
Erza's eyes flashed "Gray, go find a vehicle, I'll stop the train with the emergency lever, Lucy with Gray!" she raced off not waiting for a response.
"C'mon!" Gray shouted back, running off without hesitation.
'Salamander' Lucy repeated in her head. She gulped back her own fear, and quite possibly some bile as well, and hurried after Gray "Hey, wait up!"
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The train stopped suddenly, sending Kageyama to his butt and knocking Lullaby out of his bag "Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed stuffing it back in and glancing around. Luckily the train was pretty empty and no one noticed.
"It… it stopped" Salamander said struggling to his feet.
"Err, yeah" Kageyama said, torn between amusement, bewilderment, and fear. Ever since the train started moving Natsu had been nigh on unconscious and incomprehensible. Apparently he suffered from severe travel sickness, who would've guessed? But such a powerful mage was not to be laughed at lightly, even when puking up his guts.
"Where are you meeting Eripor, and the final destination?" Salamander demanded hurriedly.
"Kunugi, like I told you. And Clover is where we're-Where are you going?!" Natsu was hurrying to the doors.
"I'm out of here, I'll meet you along the way" he shouted back.
"Huh?"
"There is no way I'm staying on this tortuous contraption any longer" Natsu explained "Bye" he hurried to the doors.
A voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker "We have confirmed that the emergency break was activated due to a false report, so we will depart again shortly. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. Thank you for traveling with…"
"No, no, no don't start moving" he cursed as the train started up again. Then he glanced at the window close by, and the wall as well "Desperate times I suppose."
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Erza drove the magic four wheeler hard, as fast, and slightly faster, than the thing could go and far faster than the instructions and safety manual advised.
Not only Eisenwald, but Salamander as well?
Erza was determined to not let them out of her grasp, neither of them would escape her a second time.
'Which carriage?' she wondered as they came up alongside the now moving train. Her earlier forced stop had managed to slow it down considerably and gave them chance to catch up, but she couldn't keep up this speed forever.
Then the side of the train exploded.
A blob of pink hair emerged… and promptly collided with the carriage just to her left.
Erza brought the four wheeler to a skidding halt, and the man slid gracelessly to the ground, landing with a heavy thump and a groan.
"Are you okay?" she asked, leaning over the side of the cart.
"ARGH!" the man scrambled back at the sight of her, at least she thought it was her "Keep it away from me. Keep that bloody cart away from me" he shivered nervously as he stared at the damnable thing "Bloody transportation" he dragged himself off dusting his clothes "Bloody Charmain, Bloody Eisenwald."
"Eisenwald?" Erza repeated. What was his connection to them?
"Honestly" the man continued, ignoring her quiet query and instead opting to glare at the fading train "What's the big deal anyway. It's just some stupid flute, not even a nice one either, I mean what's with those three eyes and a skull, what's a weird flute. Argh, fuck it."
"Who are you?" Erza spoke up, drawing the man's attention. And it was then, as he turned face her, that she noticed something, something on the front of his red t-shirt that was perhaps usually covered by his dark green zip up jacket. A shaft of golden light, being consumed by scarlet flames.
"Torched Heaven" she said quietly, her voice low but all the more dangerous for it "You are… Salamander!"
The man blinked before following where her gaze had been and looking down at his chest, upon seeing the revealed symbol he blinked and chuckled nervously "Haha, woops. Charmain's always lecturing me about secrecy and not giving away my guild to enemies. He'll be on my case about this too" he sighed "Ah well, I would stay and chat but I've got places to be" with that said and a small wave Salamander wandered over to the train tracks and began walking along one, balancing on the steel rail "Ah, a lovely stroll in the open air, and with such nice weather, what a wonderful day to not be dead" he murmured contentedly.
"Um, you do realise that walking there isn't safe, right?" Gray put in, not sure what was going on but warning the guy anyway.
"Huh, what do you…"
Choo, Choo!
And he was promptly carried away by the front of a train travelling in the opposite direction.
Gray stared at the vanishing train 'One actually came?'
Erza, meanwhile, glared at the final carriage as it faded from view. She wanted to pursue him so much that it hurt, but…
"Lullaby" both she and Gray turned at Lucy's quivering voice "It can't be."
"Lucy, what's wrong?" she inquired.
"It's just a story, it's made up… but… A cursed flute… Lullaby… Death magic!" the others looked confused "There's such a thing as Murder by Curse, right? Well Lullaby is worse. Once it was just a tool for the murder by curse, but then, the story goes, the Dark Mage Zeref changed it, making it a mass death spell! Anyone who hears its tune dies" Lucy shivered at the thought, it was just a story… but…
Erza felt her face turn cold with fury "Gray! Lucy! We're going after that train!" Salamander could wait, especially now.
But… 'I won't forget your face Salamander, I swear the moment this is done I'll hunt you down' she swore as she guided the four wheeler after the train again.
She still hadn't realised that she had already met him once before.
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"Get all the passengers and the driver off the train" Erigor said to his lackeys "Eisenwald is taking over."
They hurried to obey his orders, kicking off passengers and throwing the driver out of his cabin.
Inside the train Kageyama was waiting, calmly sat and smiling "I heard you were going to come on this train Kageyama, we've been waiting for you" though he asked no questions only a fool wouldn't know what he wanted.
"I broke the seal" Kageyama informed him, rather proud of his accomplishment, it was no mean feat after all "Here it is…" he handed over the strange, skull like flute with three eyes.
"I see…" Erigor examined it "So this is the mass death magic, Lullaby" he smiled.
Behind him the other members of Eisenwald cheered.
"What's up with the damage?" he asked suddenly, eyeing the missing wall on one carriage.
"Err… I met up with Salamander, of Torched Heaven, he said he'd met up with us along the way to Clover town" Kageyama hoped he hadn't made any mistakes in what he'd done, if he had then…
"Don't worry, I can handle Salamander" Erigor said arrogantly.
"Also" Kageyama spoke more quietly, not sure if he should speak out about this "the train made an emergency stop just outside Onibus, and there were some guys behind us on a four wheeler, I think they were chasing the train."
"You know who?"
Kageyama bit his own lip "I saw the… the Fairy Tail guild mark on this girls armour."
"Fairy Tail? Do they know about Lullaby" Erigor asked dangerously.
"I-I don't think so" he said nervously "But the girl… I think I saw her before, in a bar in Onibus… and… well… we might've, sort of, talked a bit loudly in there…"
His ears popped suddenly and he knew that the change in pressure had been caused my Erigor, and flinched back. Erigor's eyes were dark with rage, then he smiled "I see, hehe, then I guess we'll have to… greet our guests… haha!"
Kageyama almost felt bad for them, almost.
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Miles back, behind Erigor and the train and behind Erza and the magic four wheeler, Natsu, who had managed to remove himself from the trains grill in Onibus when it stopped, much to the shock of the driver, who hadn't noticed him, and the station attendants, who thought he was dead, glared angrily at the rails departing into the distance.
"Well… Fuck!" he grinned "Okay time for plan R, R for Rocket Powered!" and with that flames consumed his arms and legs and he was sent hurtling through the air. None to accurately as he crashed after ten odd seconds, but quickly he was back in the air, and this time he decided to go a bit higher, like fifty feet maybe and certainly not try skimming close to the ground.
He still managed to crash four more times.
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Hours later Natsu was staring at a wind barrier surrounding some train station in some town, he wasn't certain which. It was Oshibana town for clarification, but Natsu didn't know that, he just knew that wind magic was Erigor's speciality and therefore the giant wind barrier was as good a place as any too look for the guy.
"So… is he inside?" he wondered, his voice barely audible over the gusting winds the dome was creating.
The pink haired man kicked a cobblestone, which only really served to hurt his toe, but he regretted nothing, mainly because he forgot about it two seconds later.
"I'll just blast my way in then!" he decided cheerfully, gathering up the necessary magic.
An orb of fire formed in his palm, gradually growing in size from little more than a speck to the point where it spilled over his fingers. Natsu kept gathering the magic, forcing the orb to remain this easily managed size, until the point where the flames actually started to tingle on his skin, this showed their impressive heat and power and also told him it was ready.
"That should do it" and with that he tossed the fireball straight into the wall.
The barrier was consumed in a massive flaming explosion. Many people would swear that they had seen the entire town of Oshibana consumed in flames, other would say it had been wiped out entirely in a giant explosion, but in reality the dome over the station was covered in flames a few moments before it died down, the magic powering it burning away in Salamander's flames and the air that was manipulated by the magic facing the same issue.
As the wind settled Natsu came face to face with a group of people he had never seen before… actually he had just met them earlier but had already forgotten all about that encounter or possibly was suffering from memory loss due to being hit by a train.
So he surveyed the red haired, black haired, pink haired, and blonde haired people with a small amount of interest.
"Am I no longer necessary, Princess?" the pink haired woman, who was for some reason dressed as a mage, asked the blonde.
"Um…" the blonde blinked, then glanced wearily at Natsu, who glanced right back.
"Punishment?" the pink haired girl put in hopefully.
A sword appeared in the redhead's hand, and black haired guy gathered magic around his fists, icicles forming in the air around them.
Unfortunately Natsu noticed none of that having found something that interested him in the form of the half dead Kageyama lying wrapped in bandages at the station front "Whoa! Kale, you're all messed up" he poked the injured man with a finger, grinning with cat-like curiosity "What the hell happened?"
"Urgh…" Kageyama opened his eyes blearily "Sa-Salamander."
"Someone did a right number on you, mate."
"Salamander" a clank of steel behind him caused Natsu to turn and look up at the armoured sword wielding redhead who stood, towering above his crouching form.
He gazed at her a second, briefly glancing at her companions, the blonde had taken several steps back and was shivering, and openly flinched from his gaze when she noticed it, and the black haired guy was just watching though his magic was ready, meanwhile the pink girl just stared in a wide eyed, blank expression way "Hmm?" finding them not so interesting anymore he turned back to Kageyama "Oi, Kagemara, where's the windy bastard gone?"
"It's Kageyama" Kageyama wheezed, for what must've been the twelfth time since meeting Salamander, the guy really couldn't remember names "I told you, Clover" he mumbled, struggling for breath "along the rails."
"Okay" Natsu stood up "See you later, Kageyage."
"'yama'" he muttered, though Natsu paid no attention.
Cold steel touched the back of his neck, and Natsu turned his head to glance at the redhead from the corner of his eyes "You want something?"
"Do you think I'll let you leave, Salamander?!" Erza told him sternly, her face awash with anger.
Natsu just shrugged and shot a grin back at her "Just try and stop me sweetheart" and in a flash of bright orange fire, that very nearly burnt Erza and her companions, he was gone, rocketing away at incredible speeds and leaving a trail of flames behind in the sky that slowly faded away, but only long after Salamander had disappeared.
"Dammit!" Erza cursed, throwing her sword away in anger, but before it could hit the ground it was back in her pocket dimension, her magic automatically re-storing the blade "Grab him" she gestured to the near unconscious Kageyama "I'll find us another vehicle."
No one moved.
"Quickly!" and with a dark angry roar from the redhead they moved quicker than they ever had done before in their life, even the unconscious Kageyama moved a bit quicker.
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Erigor was rather enjoying his flight towards Clover town, having recovered enough magic to fly, the wind barrier he had used was draining even for someone of his level, and he was of course revelling in his victory as he flew. Soon the Guild Master League they had been kicked out of would know fear and, more importantly, death, their guilds would be in disarray, panic would set in, and above it all would be Erigor playing a sweet tune that would bring the end to them all.
He cackled at the thought.
Then a stream of fire burning right across his path almost knocked him from the sky.
The lauded 'Shinigami' landed nimbly on the rails, leaning his scythe over his shoulder, and waited for the blazing form to turn around. It didn't disappoint and turned in a reasonably wide turning circle and shot back towards him.
Erigor was ready for a fight, he didn't know who this guy was but whoever he was Shinigami Erigor was ready for him, and whoever it was, he wasn't ready for Shinigami Erigor.
The man crashing headfirst into the rails rather spoiled his thoughts of difficult and dangerous enemies.
"Ow…" the man slowly clambered to his feet "Fuck" he rubbed at his bruised forehead "Okay, I seriously need better accuracy."
"Who are you?" Erigor demanded coldly, twirling his scythe.
The man glanced at him "Are you Eligol, of the… err… what's it name? Aisenworld? Err, something like that. So are you him?"
Erigor twitched a bit, was this guy for real, but spoke in the same chilling tones as before "I am Shinigami Erigor, the Ace of the Dark Guild Eisenwald. Now who the hell are you?"
"Names Natsu" the man said, casually yawning, not at all affect by his angry tone "Also known as Salamander. I'm here from Torched Heaven… for some reason or another" Natsu scratched his head, why was he here again? "Oh, Lullaby! Something to do with Lullaby... what exactly, I don't know, but something."
Erigor blinked. Had he forgotten his mission? Was this guy really the feared Salamander? Did Salamander really have such a stupid looking and weirdly innocent face? "Are you really Salamander?"
"Tch, Shikayama asked me that too? Seriously what's up with you people, of course I am! Would I say am I if I weren't, of course I wouldn't, cause then I'd have to kill me for using my name when it wasn't my name…" Natsu scratched his head "Yeah, that makes sense" he decided after a moments deep thought, or rather a moment trying to gather up the effort necessary to think about it deeper, then giving up and deciding 'Fuck it, that'll do.'
"Shikayama?" Who the hell was that? What was the hell was with this guy? And was there a pun somewhere in all of this?
"Yeah, you know" Natsu shrugged "that shadow guy."
"You mean…" shadow guy could only really mean "…Kageyama?"
"Was that his name?" Natsu wondered, scratching his head "Ah well, I'm sure it was him" he was never the best at remembering people's names, but they were probably talking about the same dude. Probably.
Erigor could only blink.
"So" Natsu drew out the word "what are we using this Lullaby thing for?"
He shook his head. If this guy really was Salamander he'd have to be careful, but not too careful, if it came down to it he could handle Salamander, Erigor truly believed that "We're going to kill the Guild Masters gathering in Clover town."
Natsu blinked "And you need this Lullaby magic for that?"
Erigor scowled. Just what was this guy implying with that comment?
"Why not just fight them?" Natsu continued.
He almost snarled. Why? Cause he couldn't win against all of them, but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone, never mind Salamander.
Seeing that he wasn't going to answer Natsu pouted, the grinned "Hey, Erigog."
"What?" Erigor snarled, was this guy getting his name wrong on purpose? Pretty much everything about him made Erigor want to cut of his head, from the childish expressions he made to the relaxed manner in which he was talking to Shinigami Erigor.
"I have an idea" Natsu said proudly.
"An idea?"
"Yeah, a good idea, a fun one" his grin remained firmly in place.
"Well, spit it out" he snapped when Natsu didn't continue immediately.
"You know we're being pursued, right, by mages?"
"Yeah, a group from Fairy Tail" Kageyama had told him in Kunugi, and he'd met them face to face in Oshibana. Erza Scarlet and two others he didn't know, only Scarlet was worth any worry and they were all trapped in a wind barrier.
"Well, how about we fight them?"
Why would they want to do that? And besides… "They're trapped in a wind barrier in Oshibana" he told Salamander. If he followed the rails surely he wouldn't miss that.
"So that wind barrier was yours… I see. Well, they're not anymore."
Erigor scowled, there was no way "They managed to dispel it?"
"No. I destroyed it!" Natsu told him cheerfully.
For a moment he could only stare "Why the hell did you do that?!" Erigor shouted.
"Well I knew I was searching for a wind mage, and there was a giant wind barrier, so I assumed you were in there, and in there I met Kageyama, and he told me you'd headed on to Clover and the group from… Fair Pail was it, well they were there with him, and then I left to chase after you, and so if they pursued you this far they're probably still doing so."
Erigor growled. This guy was seriously pissing him off. His grip on his scythe tightened.
"So, let's fight them!" Natsu declared happily.
"Do what you want, I'm going to kill the guild masters" he turned to leave.
But a hand grabbed his shoulder, he turned his head, and came face to face with Salamander. Not Natsu, not the cheery and hyper boy he had been speaking to before. This was Salamander, a terrifying mage, one of the most powerful amongst all the Dark Guild's, and Erigor stood before him, an ant before a dragon "Erigor" this was the first time Natsu had gotten his name right, and Erigor felt like he was talking to an entirely different person. Staring into those eyes, feeling that aura of power that surrounded him, it was like, nay it was worse, than staring down a dragon "Let's play a game. We fight the mages pursuing us. If we win the guild masters die, if we lose then… well we die I guess."
"If we lose."
"Ah, good point" Natsu grinned, the monster Erigor had been terrified of was gone replaced by this grinning idiot. Didn't mean he could forget it "If you win then go kill the guild masters, don't wait for me, and if you lose, then… I guess I'll be claiming Lullaby, hmm?"
For a moment Erigor shivered, this guy, he really was Salamander, there was no doubt "Alright, fine, I'll play. All I have to do is swat a few fairies from the sky, right? Easy."
"Alright!" Natsu grinned, things were going to be fun, he was sick of the lack of fun this job had offered so far, so this would be a nice change of pace.
And with that agreed upon Natsu sat himself down while Erigor waited, leaning his scythe over his shoulder and glancing over at Natsu nervously.
He now knew why Torched Heaven's Salamander was so feared. Because he was a powerful, terrifying, awe-inspiring, hyperactive idiot prone to violent mood swings.
Not the safest person to hang around with.
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As two figures came into view in the distance, Erza's hand tightened over the four wheelers steering handle.
They were waiting for them, one was sat down, the other had a scythe slung over his shoulder. Both looked as though they'd been waiting a while. While they had been racing furiously to catch up, these two, all the while, had waited. Inside the carriage Lucy tensed up and Gray prepared himself mentally, while Kageyama sat there barely conscious. They had been forced to take him with them because leaving him to die just wasn't right and there wasn't anyone in Oshibana that they could see so they planned to take him to a doctor in Clover.
They skidded to a halt and Erza leapt down, as Gray and Lucy emerged from different side doors, and moved to stand nearer Erza.
"Salamander" Erza muttered, glaring at the pink haired man "Erigor" she glanced at the man next to him.
As Erigor scowled at them, a grin spread across Salamander's face, a grin that promised pain and suffering and death to any who crossed him.
The party was just getting started.
But won't continue for another week... hehe, bit of crappy party isn't it?
Anyway the long awaited Natsu Erza encounter is coming, like an oncoming storm, like a rain of fire burning down upon you ready to consume flesh, bone and steel alike, it come and if you are not ready it will burn, burn everything to ash, burn this entire world down to nothing. Be prepared dear readers, or else you may be burned as well.
Toodles.
