Hey there guys Ira here with the next chapter of Heart of Diamond! So last chapter I got a loaaad of reviews and they were all fantastic thank you guys so much for your support, but I also got a few questions so this beggining part is going to respond to some of the more concerning and rather good reviews this chapter to stay tuned if you want to read those if you dont. Well then you suck. Naw just kidding your amazing ;D
EndlessChains: Your review meant a lot to me dude. I woke up that morning and went to the website to kinda browse other stories and check out reviews and when I opened up my review box I saw yours there and read it like five times. You have no idea how wonderful the feeling is you get when someone leaves you a review like that so bassically what Im trying to say here is thanks dude :) (Also as to the chapter length, I do plan on making it longer in the future but for now I have decided that shorter fits better with my daily schedule etc.)
WolfGaming: Thank you for the compliment man :) As to your question about the lack of Natsu's description I was actually kind of hoping someone asked that question. If you havn't noticed already you will now. The lack of description to Natsu's appearence is in fact on purpose, if you remember I said how his appearence affected how people treated him in the past to the plan was to have a big reveal about it and have it affect a large part of the story. Glad you caught that so I could explain it better :)
Karlos1234ify: I might be a bit late but...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D
- IRA
Erza sat quietly in the back left corner of the inn with a cup of coffee in her hand staring out the window. She had Happy curled up in her lap snoozing away the early morning. Erza's hazel eyes followed the movement of the rising sun in the east as it crested the tops of the trees in the nearby forest. It was morning, very early morning. Erza had a hard time sleeping last night.
She took a another small sip of her coffee. Back when she was newly released from the Tower of Heaven by Jellal Erza couldnt sleep. She would go without out sleep for days on end, afraid of the terrible nightmares and dreams that would haunt her sleep until she eventually would pass out of exhaustion. Even then she could only stand the nightmares for a short amount of time before gasping awake in a cold sweat, like she had this morning.
Erza frowned slightly eyes still focused out the window. It had been many years since she had a nightmare like the one that had woken her last night. It wasn't of the tower exactly but...that power she had felt the night before, it wasn't exactly like Jellals but it was dang near on the same catagory. She gritted her teeth before tearing her eyes away from the rising sun and scanning the room one more time. Last night she had moved past a closed door that was next to her and the others room and felt a intense aura of power emitting from it. She had almost busted through the door to find out who it was but before she did she stopped herself. It would have been rather rude not to mention quite illegal and she had enough to deal wit has is.
After waking up in a gruesome fashion this morning Erza decided she would camp out the inn until she saw the person with the large aura walk out. She assumed that they would be down here if not leaving today and she would be here when they were. A flash of brown caught Erza's eyes and she squinted slightly focusing in on a masked man. He woar a long and ragged looking brown waistcoat that tapered off slightly at the waist before flaring out largely at the bottoms. He had a large hood covering his hair and eyes and wore a brown mask firmly tucked up over his nose and mouth. The man appeared to be wearing a tight black tank top with brown cargo pants and black combat boots. His hands were covered in brown studded leather gloves that had cut off fingers.
The most noticeble thing about the stranger however was not so much his appearance but the muffled raw power flowing out from around him. Erza narrowed her vision. The man was obviously powerful and wasn't to good at hiding it from other mages, that or he just didn't expect to encounter any here. Either way there was no mistaking the power she had felt last night. The man stopped and leaned on the counter waiting for his payment to get put away so he could leave and scanned the room slowly. His head moved only slightly but just enough to see that the man could obviously see her glaring his way. The two stood still for a moment neither acting until the owner returned with a slightly fearful glint in his eye and nodded to the cloaked man releasing him from the inn. The cloaked man picked up his gear and exited with building setting a brisk pace.
"E-e-eh Jake thats the guy that took off Gerard's arm last night" Erza heard one of the few patrons whisper near her. Her eyes widened slightly before her nostrils flared and she stood up suddenly spilling a now whining Happy onto the floor.
"Happy wake the others and tell them to find me, I'm going after that man" Erza hissed through clenched teeth and set off in pursuit of the cloaked man. She quickly ran out the front doors of the inn ignoring the complaining owner and scanned the mostly empty dirt roads that lead out of the small town. Looking to the right she could see the rapidly retreating figure of the mans back and requiped a sword. Normally she would have her doubts about charging an unawares enemy, espcially when they had their back turned but this man had harmed an innocent townsman and he wouldn't get away with it. Besides with his enormous amount of power she highly doubted she could win in a fair fight.
Erza knew she should wait for the others but this was one of the rare times her emotions got the better of her logic and as she took a deep breath Erza shifted her feet. Glaring at the mans back Erza pushed off and charged.
**With Natsu**
Natsu shook his head slightly as he walked away from that god awful inn. Something about that woman he had seen inside sparked a memory, one long locked away and it was bothering him. Normally Natsu would have no problem with this sort of thing but it wasn't so much her appearence as the glint of suspicion and determination in her eyes that had triggered one of his many locked memories.
Natsu just sighed and leaned his head back slightly uncovering his nose with his mask. It didn't matter now anyway, he was leaving this wretched town and he highly doubted that he would be back any time soon. Taking a deep breath through his nose Natsu took in all the different scents leaking through the air.
There was the scent of pine and sap floating in from the west were the forest was, along with those smells the scent of many kinds of different animals came as well. Natsu had always loved the smell of forests, it was earthy and natural and reminded him a bit of home. After the forest scent had entered his nose he was assaulted by all the typical smells of a small farming town. Cow dung, booze, unwashed knickers the lot of it. Of course this wasn't the most enjoyable of smells and Natsu reacted likewise, wrinkling his nose up in disgust. However the last scent that assailed his nostrils wasn't something he often smelled. It was fruity and sweet, much like the taste of strawberrys dipped in sugar. Natsu wrinkled his brow in confusion, actually now that he thought about it the scent was getting stronger by the second. Suddenly Natsu's ears twitched as he picked up the sound of something launching through the air at an intense speed.
Instinct kicked in as Natsu quickly dropped his gear and desperately rolled out of the way of whatever was hurtling at him. rolling along the dirt road and kicking up dust in his wake Natsu quickly used his momentum to spin himself back up to his feet and readied his body for the next strike. Looking up Natsu's eyes widened slightly in suprise. It was that red-head from earlier! she now wore a strange type of revealing lepeord skin armor. Natsu simply raised his eyebrow a bit suprised that she would pick such a revealing piece of equipment, but after he got over his initial suprise his eyes wandered towards the dangerously sharp sword she held in her right hand.
"Usually one would announce their reason for attacking a stranger on the road, that is of course unless your a bandit, which I highly doubt" Natsu called out his voice laced a bit with confusion and a rather evident hint of irritation.
"That man in the inn, you tore off his arm, that is unnaceptable" The woman responded her voice strong and unyeilding pleasently surprising Natsu.
Natsu just shrugged before smiling wickedly under his mask "He touched me, I didn't want to be touched, I gave him a fair warning"
"That does not excuse you taking his arm" The woman replied angrily her eyes flaring with burning fury
Natsu just shrugged again "Then you can try and take me in, but I will warn you, I'm out of your league"
"Tch" the woman replied before quickly pushing herself off the ground at blinding speeds surprising Natsu for a second before he barely managed to dodge the womans strike. Fast. He thought before noticing the small amount of magic leaking from the armor into the womans own aura. He smiled, so the armor was increasing her movement, and attack speed. Then he would just have to move faster. Switching his feet so that they planted themselves firmly in the ground Natsu charged the woman at speeds even faster than her own making her eyes widen "Diamond Hammer" Natsu chanted as his arm became coated in diamond and he swiped his now coated arm at the woman with as much strength as he could muster without killing the woman. He was fighting her sure, but that didn't mean he wanted her dead. The blow connected with her raised sword sending her tumbling backwards skipping along the road before finally rolling to a stop. She managed to push herself up off the ground shakily before raising her sword once more.
"Your armor increases your attack speed and movement speed but it seems like while it does that it also drains your defense. Useful yes but your lucky that I didn't actually want to kill you otherwise you would be dead" Natsu called out the woman. He didn't intend for it to be mocking, in fact he was meaning for it to be more of...a lesson.
"Who are you" the woman hissed through clenched teeth, it sounded more like a demand than a question to Natsu.
"I get called a lot of things, sometimes bastard, many times a bitch however unpleasent that is, I also have a name given to me by the locals though I doubt your one of them" Natsu said relaxing his stance a bit realizing that she wasn't in any condition to launch another attack on his "But you can call me Diamere" he finished. The woman just nodded before dropping lower into her stance.
"My name is Erza Scarlet, also known as Titania and I am a part of Fairy Tail" she replied sternly with a bit more caution in her voice now. Natsu's eyes widened once again. He had heard tales of the strong southern guild of Fairy Tail. Many of their large amount of descrution caused to the general populace but mainly of Titania. He smiled, she was not weak but she wasn't ready for this fight. That was certain.
"Well then Titania" Natsu said with no hostility in his tone "I do n-" he was cut off by the crushing weight of an ice hammer coming down on his back. God damn that hurt Natsu thought as he slowly stood up shrugging off all the broken ice from his now sore back.
"Grey!" he heard Erza shout
"Yo Erza! I got him!" the triuphent shout of a man called out through the dust haze.
"Are you sure you got him though" A slightly less confident female voice said
"Of course he did, Grey had a clear shot!" An exetremely high pitched and rather irratating voice responded.
"Yeah Lucy listen to Happy!" Grey said again. Natsu slowly felt himself losing control of his emotions but quickly reigned them back in. No matter how cocky this lot of idiots was they were not someone he wanted to kill. The dust slowly began to clear and Natsu just sighed before using some of his energy to send out of shockwave of magic clearing out the remained dust cloud revealing his hunched form as he slowly straightened out his back popping slightly with each movement.
"Huh.." an astonished Grey muttered "But, that should have sent him into unconciousness, no one has survived a direct hit from my magic like that and remained able to stand"
Natsu didn't respond and leaned down slowly to pick up a rather large chunk of Ice that was laying around the crater he was standing in before sniffing it. He supposed that Ice Crystals were technically a type of crystal and it didn't smell too bad. Shrugging Natsu took a large bite out of the crystal. He ignored all the shocked gasps and sighed as he felt magic flow back through him and slowly heal the bruises on his back. Man that felt good.
"Tch, ill just have to hit him harder this time" Natsu heard Grey say loudly before he heard him launch himself in Natsu's direction. Natsu just sighed and reached out one hand grabbing a hold of Grey's fist stopping him mid charge before turning his hooded face and looking at the idiot.
"You need to relax ice-boy, you can't fight me I'm way out of any of your leagues" Natsu said calmly trying to keep his anger in check. Grey just snorted and rocketed out his other fist connecting with Natsu's sternum. Natsu stumbled back a few feet before standing stock still. Fuck it, this kid has it coming to him. Natsu moved faster than any of them but Erza could see. Quickly reaching out and grabbing a hold of Grey's face Natsu slammed his head into the earth leaving a small crater. He felt the idiots blood fly out of his mouth and onto the palm of his hand but Natsu wasnt done yet. He tossed Grey into the air before spinning and landing a strong kick into his gut causing a small shockwave to emit from the blow and sending Grey crashing into the earth on the other side of the Crater. He turned to face the wide eyed blonde who he assumed was Lucy.
"You gonna try me to little girl?" he asked venom clearly lacing his voice. The girl rapidly shook her head before back away slightly. Natsu now turned to face Titania who had a look of rage on her face.
"Titania think about this before you do something stupid. I don't want to fight you anymore than you can win, you saw what I did to ice cube over there and you know what I can do when I want to. You need to calm down I don't want to fight anymore" Natsu tried to reason with the scarlet beauty but she wouldn't hear reason. She charged at Natsu making him quickly move out of the way before launching an attack at her now exposed rear. "Crystal Dragon's Diamond Fist" Natsu incited as he rammed his fist into the womans back sending her rocketing into the eath. Natsu noticed she was now out cold and sighed quietly. Stupid humans and their god damned pride.
Natsu looked up at the girl and the now flying blue cat who both looked exetremely scared "Help me carry these two would you, I'm pretty tired right now and I don't think I could hold them both" The two just looked at Natsu like he was insane. He just sighed, he probably was but hell he enjoyed it most of the time.
"Just pick up Grey I got Titania" he ordered now his eyes glinting with hidden steel making both of the other two salute and give a very shakey 'Aye!'. Natsu just shook his head before lifting the now immobile Erza onto his shoulder and climbing out of the crater to take hold of his gear. He was probably gonna regret this in the long run but its not like he had anything else to do. Besides he was tired of being by himself, he needed some sort of entertainment.
"U-u-m s-s-sir?" a tentative Lucy asked her hand raised
"Just call me Diamere" Natsu said with a small sigh " Whats up?" he asked
"Why are you taking us with you?"
Natsu stopped for a second before letting a smile grace his covered face making both Happy and Lucy look at one another a bit unsure of what that meant.
"You intrigue me, Fairy Tail"