Chapter Three - Roar

It was a sunny day in Magnolia. The sky was blue, and the crystal clear water of the lakes reflected its colour. The sun was warm and the city was content, calm and prosperous. Nothing could have gone wrong today.

The day was a little different for a certain celestial mage.

"There hasn't been a decent job in ages," Lucy pouted and rested her head on a wooden table next to the job board. She stayed there most of her time for the past few days in hopes of having Erza or Makarov pin something, anything to the board; helping a cat out of a tree would have been fine even. Her rent was coming up and she couldn't afford to miss another month. The landlord was already close to evicting her. "That's it, my life is over. It's all Natsu's fault. I'll miss everyone. I'll have to go back home and…"

"She's talking to herself again," Gray mumbled. He sat with Cana for a game of strip poker which he was intentionally losing on purpose to take off his clothes; as usual. "Why doesn't she just move in the guild?" He dealt the cards.

"Becauuuuuuse there's no privacy hereeee! –hiccup-" Cana said and she downed another beer in excitement at her...winning hand; she had one pair while Gray had a royal flush but Gray was using her drunkenness to his favour. Gray lost his pants and was now only in his boxers. "Another round; another round!"

A loud kick was heard at the front of the guild, "I'M BACK!" A handful of people looked to the entrance to see Natsu burst through Fairy Tale's large doors, smashing Gajeel's face in the process. He was sent flying into the bar. "What a beautiful day! How is everybody?"

"Aye!" Happy followed not far behind Natsu, carrying a huge, rainbow coloured fish; specially picked for his lovely Exceed. "Carllaaaaa! I have a fish for you!" He flew quickly away to the back of the guild where Carla sat with Wendy, almost getting hit by flying mugs full of beer, and the occasional magic spell.

"Natsu!" Lucy bounded towards the salamander with a look of determination in her eyes. As she made her way to him, dogging the dangers of flying chairs and mages, Natsu chanced a quick glance at her in the everyday chaos of the guild. He eyed her flowing blonde hair and her hips; right-left-right-left. The only thing going on in his head was how pretty she looked today. Of course she looked pretty every day. She had that smile, she had that laugh and she had those curves... He knew she was just his partner of course, but hey he was a growing boy, and it didn't hurt anyone if he snuck a quick peak here and there. He shook his head to get out of the trance he was in, just on time to realize she was about an arm's length away from him. Wow, she smelled good.

He grinned at her, "Hi Lucy! How are-" He was cut off as she grabbed his vest in a vice grip, her pretty eyes now reflecting death...and future pain for the Salamander.

She spoke to him sweetly, "Natsu, my dear good friend, do you have a job lined up for us?" Natsu's thoughts of pretty Lucy quickly changed into that of fear.

He chuckled nervously. He was out of town for almost a week on an individual job since it was in the same area he planned to search next for Igneel, and he preferred searching on his own. He actually forgot to find a job for the two of them, "Hehe, uh….no." A fist flew to his face at that moment and he was thrown to one of the walls of the guild. He looked up shocked to see it was Gajeel who threw the punch; in revenge for his face being smashed with the door upon Natsu's entrance.

"You idiot!" both Lucy and Gajeel yelled out at the same time.

"I-thought-you-left-for-a-few-days-to-get-a-job-fo r-us-you-know-that-I'm-late-on-rent-and-we-have-no -food-I-mean-you-can-eat-fire-but-I-can't-you-know -that-oh-my-god-Natsu-how-could-you-why-would-you- do-this-to-me-" Lucy was turning in circles around Natsu, speaking at a speed incomprehensible to most people; he cowered in a fetal position trying to cover his head from her many poundings.

"I'm sorry I forgot!" Natsu tried say in between Lucy's high pitched screeches. He tried to get up to run away but was held down by Loke whom Lucy summoned to help her beat Natsu to a pulp.

"She's ranting again," Grey stated, now fully naked but still continuing the card game with Cana who was still happily drunk.

On the other side of the guild, Carla was hiding behind Wendy in an attempt to blow off Happy as he tried to give her the fish that he caught. "Come on Carla! I got this specially for you!"

Makarov and Erza were located on the second level of the guild, overlooking the disastrous mess down below. Regardless, they smiled at each other in content. The guild was peaceful for quite some time now. The mages came and went as they pleased, new nakama were made and joined the guild. No S-class mages were there today though; they were on special missions which had high reward values. It was nice that everyone was happy, but the guild still needed money. "I think we should have a feast when the S-class mages come home don't you think Erza?" Makarov looked at Erza. He was a father figure for most of the orphans in Fairy Tail, Erza included. She decided to stay behind today.

She smiled, "Yes I think that would be great."

Down below, Natsu walked towards Grey and Cana's game; he finally got out of Lucy's wrath after agreeing that he'd pay for this month's rent. His focus was now on Grey's poker game with Cana who was now only in her underwear. "Yo popsicle put some freaking clothes on why don't you!"

Grey retaliated, "Who died and made you king fire brat!"

"No one likes it when you're naked all the time!" A punch was thrown, by who it was hard to tell, and the sparring battle commenced; Grey somehow grabbing a set of underwear and putting them on before they reached the floor.

On the second level, Erza changed into her Knight form and charged at the two boys in frustration. "How many times have I told you not to fight each other!" She made her way to Natsu and Grey and was ready to join the spar. To her surprise however, Natsu stopped in his tracks to hit Grey over his head with the leg of a chair. She was quite bewildered, "Eh? You listened to me?"

Natsu, in a daze, pushed away his two nakama and ran towards the outside of the guild. He bounded past the game table and almost knocked Lucy to the floor; his dragon instincts were taking over. What is that? His anxiety levels started to increase. He made his way outside and noticed that Gajeel and Wendy were already at the front of the guild. They were overlooking the city's sky. "What's going on?" He asked. He sniffed the air hoping to find an answer.

Wendy continued looking to the sky, "I don't-AHHH" The three dragon slayers fell to the ground in fetal position and held their ears in pain; a loud roar boomed around them and shook the sky. The sound had a sense of longing and rage and was louder than any of Natsu's dragon roars. He couldn't take it anymore; Natsu's eyes started to tear in the agonizing pain. The rest of the guild members raced outside after hearing the three slayers shout in pain.

"What's going on?," Lucy shouted, she was frantic. "There's nothing there!" She raced towards Natsu and grabbed onto his shoulders. She didn't understand why he was in pain; why was he holding his ears? The day was calm and quiet, there was only the occasional bird chirping, did he get attacked? "Natsu answer me!" she begged.

He looked into her eyes, "I can't...too loud." And suddenly the roaring stopped. Wendy and Gajeel lay on the ground and Natsu slumped into Lucy's arms.

Makarov came and stood before the three guild members, a look of confusion in his eyes. "Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy what's going on? Is someone attacking the guild?" The three dragon slayers were panting; they looked at each other. Makarov eyes narrowed, "Answer me!"

"Impossible," Wendy said.

"We might be going crazy," Gajeel spoke.

Natsu was the one to admit, "It was a dragon."