Walking down a forest path was the duo that had left the guild stunned, Natsu had his hands behind his head while Happy just floated alongside him. The feline was uncommonly quite for the most part of their short journey to their forest house, however there were some questions that were floating around in his usually fish-filled head.

"Hey Natsu, I know I just kinda went with the flow back there but it really didn't seem like you weren't joking about that last bit. I'm not gonna force you talk about it but I'm still curious."

Natsu turned his head a little to look at his companion before giving him a small smile, "Don't worry buddy, if you can wait till the team is together I'll tell you all together. I'm sorry for kinda keeping to myself recently, there's just been a lot going on so fast that I couldn't really keep up. I ain't really the smartest with this type of stuff, so it took a lil bit to work through it so that I could understand it all."

Happy returned the smile before floating up and landing on his usual perch, Natsu's head, before responding. "We understand. You've had to deal with a lot from Igneel dying last year all the way up to the war and then the stuff with Zeref. We know you haven't had it easy but just don't forget we are all here for you."

"I know, I could hear you guys talk about it all the time. It's just the stuff that I'm gonna tell you, there really isn't any way you guys could help. It's all stuff that involves me or is about me so it was better for me if I figured it out for myself. Mira was an exception due to her having taken over Seilah and being able to talk to her. She had some answers to questions I had and I know Mira was happy to be able to help to. She was getting really worried."

The Exceed seemed content with his response and they had arrived at their house so they went in to gather their mission essentials. This particular mission meant that they would likely be camping out for 2 or 3 days but it was just an extermination mission so there wasn't much needed other than small personal comfort items. Paired with the fact that the two are getting the hang of re-quip magic, their loads were relatively light.

"You ready to go Happy? I wanna get something to eat before we head out." Slinging his pack over his shoulder, he did a last scan of the room to try and make sure he wasn't forgetting anything while making his way to the door.

"I'm ready to go!" Happy zoomed towards him and took his usual spot in the nest of pink hair. "Where are we getting food from? The guild? That might get annoying and we might be late for the train, Erza wouldn't like that."

"Nah, Mira is still resting so it's not worth it to deal with all that. Probably just gonna grab something from the food stalls in the market. There's something I wanna check there anyway."

A smug grin came to Happy's face as he looked down at his companion. "So Mira would make it worth it to tempt Erza's wrath? You liiiiiike her~!"

A small blush lit up on the dragon slayer's face as he awkwardly tried to look to the side while walking out the door. "I think I really do actually. A lot has happened recently and the main thing that keeps going through my head is 'How would Mira react to this' or 'I want to show this to Mira' or something like that. I thought that way with Luce, Erza and Wendy on jobs but it was always job related stuff or just something in the moment, but with her it seems different. Is that how you feel with Carla?"

Not expecting the upfront confession nor the questioning getting turned back on him, Happy froze. "I-uh, uhh…. Yeah, it really is. Every time we would go out on missions and I see something like a horizon or something neat, I wish she was there so I could share it with her. Then when she is there I get so excited I start acting like an idiot and ruin it half the time."

The duo started laughing at each other as they made their way back down the forest path back to town. After they settled down, they just stayed quiet and enjoyed the forest scenery that they had become accustomed to after all these years. Hardly anything every changing except the path they walked on became a little more worn out. Observing this, Natsu decided that he wanted a little change.

"Happy, when we get back from this mission, we're going to ask our white haired heart thieves on a date. We are the best team ever, if we tackle this together, I know we will come out on top like always!" He raised his fist in a cheer and was quickly joined by his longtime best friend, "Yeah! Nothing can beat us when we are together!"

Sharing a laugh, they entered Magnolia and started making their way to the market.

As they were making their way to their favorite food stalls, Happy was singing a fish song that had no tune or rhythm and pretty much just consisted of him saying 'fish' in various different ways. When they had collected all of their eats, they made their way to the East Park to sit down and relax before they made their way to the train station after picking up Lucy at from her apartment. The one time he didn't do this, she seemed really upset and it took him going out shopping with her to get her back to normal.

Suddenly stopping eating, Natsu put his nose in the air and started stiffing, "Oh, it seems your white haired one is make her way to you." Natsu put on a teasing smirk behind his hand, looking down at Happy sitting next to him on the bench. At that, his eyes went wide and glanced around him at all the fish bones. Letting out a short cry, he started hurriedly clean up the bones and the bench.

About that time the heard the familiar voice of the youngest dragon slayer call out to them. Putting on a cheerful grin, Natsu waved back as the mirror pair of slayer and exceed made their way over to them.

"Hey Natsu, Happy, are you guys about to head out on your mission?"

"Yeah, we were just grabbing a quick bite to eat before going over to Lucy's place to help her pack and then head to the station. Erza likes us to get there like 15 minutes early in case there are changes to the train schedule. What are you guys up to?"

"Oh, um. We were just, uh-." Wendy had started fidgeting and playing with her hands while looking down, for some reason she seemed really nervous.

"Oh come on Wendy, out with it! You can't be shy like this forever. If you keep this up, you'll never be able to con-." Wendy quickly grabbed the nagging Exceed and put her hand over her mouth. "Carla, don't say it out loud! I'll do it when I'm ready!"

Looking back up at the pair on the bench, she readied herself and asked, "If it's not too much trouble, can I come on the mission with you guys? I don't intend to be on the front lines because I know I'm not ready for that. However it is an S-class mission and I figured it would be better if you had a healer close by in case someone gets hurt." Letting out a long breath, she released her captive and looked back up at Natsu with hopeful eyes.

"Sure, I don't really mind. The safer the better but we still gotta ask Erza first. She is still the only S-class on the team at the moment, so she has the final say on stuff when we go on S-class missions. If you can be ready for a 3-4 day campout mission and be at the train station in like 40 minutes then we can ask her there."

A large toothy smile, reminiscent of Natsu's own, broke out on her face, "Sure! I'll be there!" With that she took off towards Fairy Hills. As they were leaving Natsu turned to Happy and asked, "You ready to head to Lucy's? I'm sure she has some stuff for me to keep in my bag for her."

"Yeah, let's go. I wanted to ask Carla if she wanted to join me for a pre-mission fish though."

Chuckling at his friend as they left the park, "Just wait till we ask for the date. If you behave yourself on this mission maybe she'll see a new side of you and agree to the date. We gotta try and be better men for the women in our life."

"So basically we ignore everything Master, Gildarts and the other perverts tell us?"

"Exactly."

Making their way through Magnolia and arriving at Lucy's apartment, Natsu and Happy made their way to the front door and Natsu brought out a key from his storage space and unlocked her door and they walked in and he locked the door behind them.

"Did you borrow her spare key from Mira again?"

"Nah, Luce gave me this one. Said she might as well if I was going to keep coming into her apartment anyway. She just wanted me to come in the front door like a normal person and swear to never lose the key. Part of the reason I wanted to learn re-quip magic, makes it harder to lose things."

Acknowledging his answer the pair made their way into the living room and were making their way to the couch before they heard Lucy yell out at them. "Natsu, is that you?"

"Yeah. Me and Happy were stopping by to pick you up and see if you needed any help packing."

"Could you do me a favor then? I left my towel on the bed, could you bring it to me?"

"Sure," Natsu responded as he made his way to her bedroom and Happy went to her couch and grabbed one of the many magazines on the coffee table. "Though it's kinda silly of you to forget your towel."

"Well it ordinarily wouldn't be a problem to just get it myself but its not good manners to walk around your house naked when you have guests."

"It's just me 'n Happy. Happy is a cat and I've lost count how many times I've seen you naked." Having grabbed the towel and opening the bathroom door to hand it to her to be greeted by the nude form of one Lucy Heartfilia in the tub. "See? I'm not gonna turn into some mindless pervert just cause I saw a beautiful woman naked."

Rolling her eyes at her friend walking in and him seeing her naked for the umpteenth time, she made no effort to try and cover herself either. "Natsu, girls are usually raised to not show their naked bodies to anyone but their significant other." She stood up out of the tub and pulled the plug to let it drain then grabbed the towel from Natsu. "And it's a little off putting that you don't react to my body, it doesn't do my self-esteem any favors."

Natsu just shrugged his shoulders. "I was raised in a forest by a dragon and then came to Fairy Tail where Erza violently insisted that skin ship and bathing together was perfectly normal, so I'm not gonna apologize for my view to be different from most peoples. As for me not reacting to your body, that is due to Erza, Mira, and Lisanna. They pretty much beat into me that I shouldn't ogle women or objectify them. You're beautiful Luce, don't let anyone tell you any different."

While they were talking, Lucy had wrapped the towel around her and they had made their way over to her vanity where she sat down and grabbed her brush but paused when Natsu complemented her. Her skin turning another shade of red from her bath. "Thanks Natsu, that makes me feel better." When she went to start brushing her hair, Natsu grabbed her brush from her and she gave him a quizzical look.

"We are running short on time, I'll do your hair and you can do you lotion."

Keeping her quizzical look, "You can do hair?"

Laughing Natsu responded while he started to brush her hair, "Not anything amazing like Cancer but things like washing, brushing and basic hairstyles like pigtails, ponytails and braiding I mastered a long time ago with Mira and Erza. I even did a mini spa day for Mira, Erza, Levy, and Cana one time. I did a natural mud bath, a massage and I washed their hair. It wasn't anything fancy, but they said they enjoyed it and now Mira and Erza come and ask for a massage every time they come back from a photo shoot or a long mission. Levy and Cana ask me randomly for one too."

By the time he was done talking, Natsu had finished brushing her hair and had put it in braided pigtails that went over her shoulders and Lucy had finished with putting on her lotion. Standing up she walked to her closet and pulled out her travel bag and set it down before going back in to get dressed.

"Wow, I never knew you were so multi-talented. Why haven't I gotten a massage? I'd kill for a spa day."

Natsu walked over and grabbed her travel bag and put it into his storage before responding. "Well since you joined the guild it's been a huge roller coaster of events and I only ever offered to them that one time. They came to me after that for it. That and you're really sensitive about people seeing and touching your body so I guess I just instinctually avoided it. Sorry"

Lucy giggled at him as she came out dressed from her closest in what seemed to be something akin to a school girl outfit, a short sleeved white button up shirt that was tied at the bottom, a red plaid skirt that only covered half her thighs and knee high black boots. "It's ok, to be honest if you had just offered a massage out of nowhere I probably would have kicked you." She twirled around showing off her outfit, "What do you think? I bought this the other day."

Natsu looked her up and down and shook his head. "I think for someone so sensitive about people ogling her you sure do dress like you want them to look. Other than that, you look sexy. You sure that's what you want to wear on a mission?"

Happy at the 'sexy' comment she let out a smile. "I just feel more comfortable in clothes like these. I got my body from my mom and I want to be proud of it and not keep it all wrapped up all the time. I know it invites unwanted attention sometimes but I'm confident that I can beat any of the perverts that want to get to handsy. I'm not a Fairy Tail mage for nothing, you know! And I have my Star Dresses for fighting so it should be fine, these boots are actually special made to be good for hiking as well as being sylish."

"I always knew you were weird. Come on, we are running out of time. We gotta ask Erza if Wendy can come too. She wants to come to be an on-site healer and get some experience."

They walked out of her bedroom with Natsu calling out to Happy telling that they are leaving. With him joining them, they walked out of the apartment locking it up behind them and made their way to the train station.

"So Natsu, you mind explaining about your mistresses and secret love nest?" Lucy gave him a playful glare. She knew that there was a joke in what he said when he left the guild but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was some truth in there as well. Not that she would admit it to anyone but during her bath she was thinking about a possible future of her and Natsu having children and what they would look like. She was pleased with her results.

Receiving a chuckle from both the males, Lucy got a curious look on her face before Natsu spoke up. "Sorry, Happy asked me the same thing and I expect Erza to as well. Just wait till we are on the train and I'll talk about it and what has been on my mind recently too. I know you guys have been worried about it and I feel like I can talk about it now that I've gotten some answers for myself."

Satisfied with his answer, she grabbed his hand and arm and hugged it as they were walking and laid her head on his arm. "Good, I'm glad. I've been worried but unlike a certain somebody I know how to respect someone's privacy." She looked up at him and cutely stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep it up and I'll start getting in the bath with you."

"I feel like you would really do that…" Lucy nervously chuckled.

"Like I said, 'violently insisted that skin ship and bathing together was perfectly normal'. No part of that was a joke. I can understand it from your point of view that you don't want just anyone looking at you but if you trust that person with your life, even if you don't intend to have sex with them, there what's the point of being bashful. I'll never take advantage of you. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like seeing you naked or enjoy it when I accidently cop a feel but I'm just not going to make a big deal out of it because that's what makes it awkward. As for my apparent lack of shame, you've seen me naked before, tell me what exactly I have to be ashamed about? My body is forged from my hard work and training. Just like you said you got your body from your mom and want to show it off, I'm proud of my training."

"Besides," Natsu grabbed one of her hands that was wrapped around his arm and placed it on his abdomen. "I know for a fact that you like the results of my training." His teasing smirk paired with her hand feeling his iron-like abs and her brief though of his nude body from the conversation left her with a health blush that was quickly matching the color of Erza's hair.

"She liiiiiiikes you~!"

"S-s-shut up!" Stumbling over her words she takes a deep breath. "You know what, I do like it! You admitted to liking my body earlier, so it's only fair that I do the same. Your body is very attractive to me! So, I like it…" The blush returning full force, she gathered up her courage and looked straight into Natsu's eyes. "I like y-." Stopping her from talking suddenly was Natsu's fingers over her mouth. Shocked, and a little disheartened, Lucy looked up at him with a questioning gaze.

"It isn't that I don't appreciate your feelings, or even that I don't return them... it's just that something like that with me isn't an easy road. Luce, there's things about me that I've never told you mostly due to it not being a conversation topic that one just randomly brings up but a relationship with me isn't something someone like you deserves, you deserve better."

On the verge of tears, "Don't you think that's something for me to decide?"

"I do, but only after you know everything. It wouldn't be fair otherwise. I'll explain it to you all later after I tell the team the other stuff. Erza already knows it, Gray knows too but it isn't relevant to him and Wendy, well that isn't for me to decide if it matters to her or not."

Trying to calm herself down and not let her heart get broken while she hangs on to her sliver of hope, she allows Natsu to wipe away her tears. "Does it have to deal with you being a demon? That doesn't bother me Natsu, I saw and read your book. I know that you are a good person."

"That's part of it, but it's not that I don't think because I'm a demon I don't deserve love or I can't love. What I'm talking about will be part of what I'll be telling you guys on the train."

Accepting his words she rewrapped her hands around his arm and laid her head back against his arm as they arrived at the train station. Looking around they seemed to be the first ones there so they walked over to an empty bench that would leave it easy for the others to find them. They sat down with Happy on his perch of Natsu's head and Lucy sitting right next to Natsu, so he draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in. She just nestled herself into him embracing his warmth.

They didn't have to wait long for the next teammate to show up in the form of an ice make mage. He walked up and greeted the trio before sitting down next to them. Natsu decided to not let the silence break over them.

"Is Juvia coming along?"

"Nah, she said she's made plans to go on a job with Gajeel and Lily last week. She was kinda bummed that she didn't get to go with us on this job."

"Well damn, I'll have to apologize to her when we get back. Maybe she'll like to fish with us again, she enjoyed it last time."

Curious, Lucy looked up at him, "You've gone fishing with Juvia?"

"Yeah, we had tons of fun! I've actually gone fishing with a lot of the guild members. Mira, Lisanna, Cana, though she just napped most of the time. Went with Erza once, never again. Macao and Romeo go with us once a month and Wakaba joins us every once in a while. Gramps and Gildarts go all the time. I've gone with Bisca and Auska when Alzack was out on a job. I've invited Levy before too, but she didn't fish and just read and watch me and Happy play around. Laki made our fishing poles with her wood make magic so they won't break even with the bigger fish. Juvia is like the best person to fish with when we are actually wanting fish. She can catch the fish with her magic every time."

Giggling at Happy's enthusiastic "AYE SIR!" Lucy was amazed. "I didn't know that you spent so much time with all the other guild members. I usually see most people stick to their own groups."

"That habit likely came from Lisanna's outgoing personality when they were younger and it rubbed off on him, thankfully in a good way. I've never heard any complaints when other members go on outings with Natsu, so I assume things go well." The new voice startling almost everyone in the group, Natsu having smelled her coming knew she was close, Erza had shown up.

"Erza you're the only one that I've ever met that screwed up fishing. You got angry because none of the fish were biting and changed into your Lightning Empress armor and was going to electrocute the whole pond." Natsu retorted.

Embarrassed at her shameful actions being revealed and the sound of sniggering coming from her teammates, she turned her head away from them with a small blush and murmured, "Shut up!"

"Don't worry Erza, there's other stuff we can do besides fishing. I enjoy just getting to hang out with you." Natsu tried to make her feel better with a smile added on. It seemingly worked because despite her blush staying she gave him a smile back.

"By the way Erza, Wendy wanted to go on the mission too. I told her I didn't mind but since it's an S-class you had the final say. Since its monster extermination she wanted be an on-site healer and I think it could be a great experience for her. The mission is clearing out a nest so having her there with us can only help."

"Hmm, having a healer there would be advantageous and enchantment magic would likely be of great help as well. Very well, I assume you told her to come here then so we shall wait another 5 minutes before we board the train."

"Don't worry, she's almost here. I can smell her."

Lucy shook her head, "No matter how many times I hear that, it still sounds weird."

The group laughed at her comment and waited another couple of minutes before they could hear the fast footfalls of their final companion rushing up to them.

"Sorry I'm late everyone! It's my first S-class job so I didn't know what all I should bring and I ended up re-packing several times."

Erza smiled down at the youngest dragon slayer, "Worry not, if you are missing anything that is needed, just let me or Natsu know. Extermination missions are Natsu and I's specialty, so we can cover the essentials."

With this being the first time Lucy heard of this, looked at Natsu questioningly. "Luce, I'm a dragon slayer. My magic is designed for taking down the biggest and strongest beings that have ever walked Earthland. Everything else is just small fries. I guess gods are about the only thing that can match dragons but I got something for that too." As he finished his sentence, he lit his hand that wasn't around Lucy on fire. However it wasn't his ordinary flames, they were black.

Wendy having been there when Natsu first saw and acquired the flames spoke up, "Are those the god slayer flames?! I didn't know you could use them again."

Extinguishing the flame, "Yeah, I only recently got the knack of it when I was training with Dimaria when I went to Alvarez."

""ALVAREZ!"" Erza and Lucy shouted, looking at the dragon slayer in shock.

"Shhh you dumbasses! Don't just shout that out like that. The war only ended 3 months ago. Come on, let's get on the train. Stuff like that is gonna be a part of what I wanted talk to you guys about anyway." With that, he stood up walking over and grabbing Wendy's pack and put it away in his storage just like with Lucy's.

"Oi! If you're carrying peoples stuff, get my bag too!" Gray held out his bag towards the pinkette.

"Carry your own shit, Popsicle dick. Haven't you ever heard that it's polite to carry a ladies bags for them? Sorry, but I don't intend to become one of Juvia's love rivals."

With Natsu walking away from him towards the station entrance and the girls giggling at him, Gray just clicked his tongue and threw his pack over his shoulder and started following the group that had also started toward the station. The group entered the station and went to the boarding area, scanned their passes and then headed towards the train.

"Guys, down here. I wanna show you something." Natsu spoke up as they were about to board one of the carriages.

"Natsu, I don't think this is the appropriate time to go on one of your misadventures." Erza strongly declared.

"It's fine, we are getting on the train, just somewhere else. Follow me."

After walking past a couple of carriages Natsu spoke out, "Ah, here it is. Look." He pointed to the door of the carriage that nobody else was bothering to enter. The group looked closer and saw the Fairy Tail Emblem on the door.

"What is this Natsu? I wasn't aware that Fairy Tail had a personal car on this train."

"A month ago, we didn't. However after talked to Toma I worked out a deal with him. Let's call something like a reward from the kingdom for our efforts in the war. There's more to it but that's the easiest explanation."

"Toma as in King Toma? Natsu, I know that he favors you and have a complete disregard for authority but I cannot allow you to refer to the king of our kingdom just by his name!" Erza's anger nearly peaked.

"Calm down Erza, he told me to call him that," Natsu said casually while opening the door and walking into the carriage. "You will understand better when I tell you my story. Besides… it's better than the other name he insisted I call him…"

Lucy, trying to diffuse the situation, spoke up. "So what is so special about this car? Is it really only for Fairy Tail members?"

"Yes and no. Any Fairy Tail member can use it, but it has a different purpose that's unique to Fairy Tail and Sabertooth. Wendy already had some experience with it."

"The anti-motion sickness lacrima? The one that Blue Pegasus developed?" Wendy curiously questioned.

"Bingo!" The group had all gotten on the car and sat down with Gray sitting across the aisle from the others, Wendy sitting next to Erza and Natsu next to Lucy. "I convinced Toma to install them on at least one car on trains that go to Magnolia, Crocus, and that town I can never remember near Sabertooth's guild. The end plan is to have them on all the cars, but they aren't easy to produce so it's pretty slow going. So until then, we get a little special treatment."

Happy, after having been quiet for a while, spoke up. "I was wondering how you were planning on telling us your story on the train when your motion sickness was going to make you useless."

Everyone in the car started laughing at the Exceeds comment.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up now. You won't be laughing soon you filthy peasants. Anyway, I owe you guys this, so here's what's been going on with me since the war and what happened earlier in gramps' office."

Natsu then proceeded to tell his team about his inheritance from his brother, his trip to Alvarez, his demon physiology and the meaning behind his joke when he left the guild as the train left the station.

A/N: I know its been a while since updated. I apologize for nothing. I said previously that I hadn't really planned anything after the last chapter so I had to think up a bunch of stuff that I could write about to add to the story. I've got part of the next chapter planned out but I have no idea when it will get done, I have my kids this weekend so I will be paying attention to them rather than anything else. If you have any ideas for stuff you wanna see then leave a review with it or message me. Keep it slice of life based, I don't plan on this having any major conflicts in it. Also I'll be updating the previous chapters with their corrections (grammar, spelling, ect.) as well as my other story. Thank you for reading!