More character arrivals! And fight scenes! Or, I try to put fight scenes. I'm not very good at them so I don't make them too long. I was at Wing Chun the other day and we got to train with (rubber) knives. I got really excited and was going "oh! I'm writing a fight scene in my story! get some people to show off!" and he teased me about it all class (in a nice way).

Anyway, don't own Fairy Tail and shit.

Reviews are awesome, keep em coming.


The Guild: Chapter 4

"Miss Lucy! Miss Lucy!"

It was one of the girls in the year below, running up to her.

It had now been a week since she arrived at Magnolia High and the situation had settled somewhat. With Natsu now less on edge, people had been less scared to approach either of them. He still didn't really want to interact with people and was likely to glare at first, but there was also now a chance that, on a good day, he might talk. With other students now reassured that they were unlikely to be punched, they had also felt alright talking to the girl who was always with him. None of this had translated into Natsu and Lucy making friends (which was perfectly fine with them) and nothing could make Natsu stop fighting altogether, but the fearful tension had disappeared. The fights were now more like a school challenge; see how long you can last against Natsu. It usually wasn't long. As for Lucy, a couple of people had asked her for tutoring once she'd made a name for being at the top of most of her classes, and people were happy to make small-talk with her in class or in the corridors. It was nice.

"Oh! Emily! What's up?"

"It's Dragneel, Miss Lucy. I thought you'd want to see. He's fighting someone near the entrance of the school. No-one knows who the other guys is, but he's lasted longer than anyone else!"

Oh yeah. She was also treated as being somewhat responsible for Natsu. She didn't really have that much control over him, as she'd tried to tell them so many times. However, she had asked him to only fight people when she was around, and he'd mostly listened to her so this was actually interesting news. That, and she wanted to know who in this town could possibly last that long.

"Mm, okay. I'm coming. Show me where."

Lucy followed the younger girl outside and immediately saw where the fight was. A huge crowd was gathered right next to the entrance of the school. She walked towards it, Emily trailing behind her. The crowd parted for her as she arrived, knowing full well that she was in control of these sorts of matters. Lucy smiled internally. She sort of felt like Erza who had been the enforcer of rules at their school. Though Erza normally stopped all in-fighting, so Lucy was way more lax. Once she was at the inside edge of the crowd, she stopped, watching the fight for a few moments. She tried to judge how much time was available. The main reason she tended to stop fights was to get Natsu to class on time. Deciding there was plenty of time, Lucy turned her attention to the boy that Emily said no-one knew.

He was taller and thinner than Natsu, but obviously well muscled and toned. He had midnight hair; so dark it was nearly black, but shined blue in the right light. His eyes were dark to match and gave his face a permanently bored expression. He had apparently also decided to remove his shirt in order to fight.

Lucy grinned. Looks like nothing had changed. She was sure the psychologists would have tried to 'fix' that stripping habit of his but was glad to see they hadn't succeeded.

Suddenly the crowd gasped. The new boy had whipped out twin butterfly knives and was spinning them around expertly.

Natsu pouted.

"Not fair!" He yelled, stamping his foot like a small child. "Lucy took all my weapons off me!"

"Well, that's your problem, idiot. Puts me with the advantage."

Lucy herself decided to step in before things got too out of hand. She started walking towards the two boys.

"Gray! Weapons aren't allowed at school. Hand them over."

"Wait, what? What kind of a school is this?"

"A boring one." Natsu muttered coming over to stand next to him.

"Yeah, I reckon. Also, hey, Lucy!"

"Knives"

"Yeah, yeah." He folded his knives back up and handed them over to the small blonde girl. Lucy gave the knives a few flicks of her own, enjoying their feel. Butterfly knives were Gray's weapons of choice and these large, barbed ones were clearly his favourite, a metallic blue on both handle and blade.

Gray lifted his arm to rest his elbow on the shorter Natsu, who was now standing beside him, treating him like an armrest. He grinned at the sight of the girl whom he regarded as his sister.

"Man, Natsu, we know some badass women."

Natsu laughed, lifting his outside hand to meet Gray's in a fistbump. "Damn right, we do!"

Lucy smiled at the boys, popping the knives into her handbag. These two fought nearly constantly, over any little thing. Gray, especially, took great pleasure in winding Natsu up and was one of the few people who could actually stand against him in a fight. Natsu enjoyed the challenge that Gray posed. Yet despite their arguing, they had grown up together and formed a close friendship.

"It's really good to see you, Gray. How are the siblings?"

"As annoying as ever. But good. Nothing's fallen back on them."

"I'm please to hear it. By the way, Natsu's been complaining that there's no-one worth fighting around here, so I bet he'll be happy you're around."

"Is that right? Happy to see me, eh? Getting soft on me, Natsu?"

Natsu scoffed. "Hell no." He shrugged off Gray's arm and put some distance between them. "Like I'd be happy to see your ugly mug every day. Besides, you're not worth fighting either. No chance of winning."

"What's that, hothead? I'm more than a match for you!"

"Boys, hold up! Gray, the only condition is that you both have to be in class, on time!"

Natsu looked over to her. "How much time is there until class?"

"Hm… About 20 minutes still."

"Plenty of time. Bring it, droopy eyes!"

Gray walked over to Lucy instead and stopped in front of her. After a second he smiled and reached out a hand to ruffle her hair.

"It's good to see you too, Lucy. Don't worry. We'll be there."

"Good. By the way, you two have about a week and a half to beat the shit out of each other before Erza arrives and puts a stop to it."

"Oi, Gray! Stop ignoring me, you dick!"

"Better get to it then!" He turned back to Natsu. "I'm coming, moron!" And with a jump towards his pink-haired friend, the fight resumed (minus the weapons).

Lucy was amused as she sat in the classroom, waiting for class to start. She could just imagine the reputation this was developing. A new student shows up who is actually able to challenge the 'violent psycho' and not only are they friends, Lucy can order them both around. Fortunately, she knew they'd now be too busy fighting each other to bother anyone else, and soon enough Erza will appear and put a total ban on fighting at school.

"Seriously, Lucy? There another ultra violent kid who you had to confiscate knives off of, and you've got him too?"

Lucy laughed. She got along with Aaron. He was one of the first to properly talk to her and wasn't scared of Natsu. Aaron would chat to her in class and even wave at her boyfriend in the halls. Natsu didn't mind him. In fact, he'd tested himself against Natsu and had lasted longer than a lot of people. Didn't do much damage back, but it didn't matter, the 'ultra violent kid' had respected his toughness. It also helped that he'd never once tried to hit on Lucy and was just a generally friendly guy. Currently, he was looking at her incredulously, having just heard about Gray's arrival.

"It's not even the same thing." Lucy was saying. "Gray is like a brother to me. And doesn't have a temper like Natsu."

"How do you even meet these people?"

"Ah…" That gave her pause. "Tough situations lead to hanging with an even tougher crowd, I guess. Put simply, they were my friends when I didn't have anyone else."

Aaron wisely chose to not press that any further, being able to take a rough guess at the kind of situations that would lead Lucy to be friends with these rough kids.

Natsu chose that moment to walk into the classroom, bleeding in multiple places, asking Lucy for the first aid kit. Gray followed just behind, also looking battered.

"So, who won?" Lucy inquired as the pulled her usual stock of bandages and disinfectant out of her bag.

"Duh, Lucy. I did." Natsu quickly responded.

"Bullshit." Gray butt in, grabbing the iodine out of Natsu's hands. "I totally won that one."

The class got excited. This new (and the girls thought, really good looking) guy had not only lasted longer than anyone else, apparently there was dispute about who had won the fight!

Lucy simply asked "Another tie then?"

"It wasn't a tie!" The boys chorused. Their heads butted together as they scowled at each other, seconds away from slugging it out again.

"I thought you said they were friends, Lucy?" Aaron was grinning at her.

Gray looked at him. "Who the fuck is this guy?"

Natsu waved a dismissive hand in Gray's direction. "Aaron's cool, man. Leave him be."

Aaron's presence was then promptly ignored by both boys as Natsu sat in his usual seat and Gray sat on the other side of Lucy. The teacher arrived and looked nervous to find another new student in their class. To his surprise, Gray was significantly less argumentative than Natsu, choosing to do what he was asked (though, half-heartedly with a bored expression) rather than glare and refuse.

Lucy settled into her seat as the school day properly started. She would properly catch up with Gray later. For now, it was simply nice to have him there.

It had become like tradition for Natsu to walk Lucy home at the end of the day. Back at their old school, it had just been to the dorm rooms, where he'd say hello to the other girls and head off again. Although, as soon as he got bored, he was back, climbing in her window to hang out. Her window being on the second floor didn't bother him in the slightest. So it made sense for him to walk her home here too. It had been two days since Gray had started school with them but today he'd chosen not to join them in the walk. He was temporarily staying in a motel and said he had things to do so they'd split with him not far out of the school gates. However, after a 'let's go the long way because there's a cute coffee shop you should see' from Lucy and a few more hours of exploration, it was dark and her and Natsu still weren't at her apartment. She was halfway through describing her room, with its pink-curtained, second story window that you could see from the side alley, when a voice called out in their direction.

"Hey, freak!"

They turned around.

"Oh, yo, Chase." The jock was behind them with 4 of his equally large friends. "Hey, for a brawler, you throw a semi-decent punch!" Natsu wasn't one to hold a grudge and had a certain level of respect for other fighters, no matter who they were or what they'd done.

"Don't 'yo, Chase' me, you gay shit!"

Lucy sighed. "Natsu, learn to read the situation better." He was useless at social cues. Subtle flirting had never worked, and threats were just challenges to him.

He ignored her. "Gay? Huh?"

One of Chase's friends decided to explain. "Because of your pink hair, you fag!"

Natsu tilted his head up slightly, eyes rolled back, trying to see his own hair. Some unknown genetic quirk had given him naturally pastel-pink hair. Scientists had wanted to run tests when he was a kid, but Gramps had told them all to piss off. He looked back at the group of boys, confused.

"I don't get it. Why is pink hair gay?"

They just spluttered in response.

Lucy snorted with laughter. Natsu was likely just playing dumb, but it was definitely funnier when the stupidity of their insults were pointed out to them.

Chase decided they were getting off topic.

"Look here, freak. You and your bitch humiliated me last week so I'm here for payback!"

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say. Lucy's not a bitch. And I was wondering why we hadn't seen you around." Natsu drawled back. He wasn't going to rise to this baiting. He was tired, hungry, and losing precious time with his girlfriend.

Lucy finally spoke up. "You don't want to do this, Chase. You think you do, but I promise it's a bad idea. Stop being so insecure."

Natsu sized up the opposing boys while Lucy talked. They weren't going to back down. In fact, they had tensed up and starting coming forward. Chase pulled out a crowbar and two of the other pulled out steel baseball bats. With a sigh, Natsu gave his shoulders a roll and cracked his knuckles.

"Want any, Lucy?"

"Hell no. I am not in the mood for this. They're all yours. Make it quick."

To Natsu's amusement, Chase faltered slightly, then smirked.

"You're not gonna hold your precious boyfriend back, bitch? I thought you didn't want him fighting."

"Not a chance. Again, I am neither his mother nor his handler, I am his girlfriend. I actually enjoy watching him fight. I stopped him at school for two reasons. One; because I wanted to surprise him and go to class. Two; because he was at risk of losing control and actually killing you. Right now, you're wasting my time."

Lucy took a few steps back, putting herself out of harms way. Natsu grinned.

"Bring it on, boys!"

They jumped forward at him.


Dammit, Chase. Gay is not an insult. Don't say shit like that. Arse. Can I dislike my own characters? He probably just needs a hug.

I keep forgetting about Natsu's obsession with fire. Lucy probably doesn't let him set things alight at school which is why it's not brought up more. Wait until the whole lot of them are back together, he will be fuckin around with fire a lot more.

Also, I totally forgot to describe what Natsu generally wears! I mean, imagine what you'd like but I picture comfy T-shirts, baggy, distressed, black jeans, his scarf, and lightweight black runners (like, the kind designed to do martial arts in). I sort of want to put him in a headband like Soul from Soul Eater, but eh.

Lastly, this chapter originally kept going for a while, but I thought the word count was way too long. I think this is a decent place to cut it in half. And it keeps new characters at a minimum.

It is now late and I am rambling and I have to go to uni tomorrow and cut things up (bug dissections!).