**I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. That all belongs to Mashima

It has been brought to my attention that I forgot to include Panther Lily's whereabouts in the story. He was with the dragon slayers when they were fighting Acnologia. If I go back and rewrite, I'll have to make sure to include that detail.

Anyway, this chapter marks the beginning of the Grand Magic Games Arc. Thanks for reading and for the reviews.

Oh, and I believe I did say I know Gray was OOC in the last chapter. Has nothing to do with Gray bashing. I often take characters and play with the way they react to circumstances, and in the last chapter I decided Gray was going to be pissed off and drunk and make some bad decisions.**


~~~GMG Arc Start~~~

"Salamander, open up already dammit!"

Natsu blinked, opening his eyes slowly. He untangled his limbs from Wendy's, kissing her cheek gently as she stretched with a cute yawn.

"SALAMANDER!"

"Alright, keep your panties on!" He yelled through the door as he threw on a pair of boxers and pants. Showering would have to wait. "There'd better be a good reason you're here."

He saw Wendy pull the covers up over her shoulders. That was her, "I'm not getting up yet and you'd better take care of this now" signal. He sighed and cracked the door open, somewhat surprised to see Gajeel and Laxus outside.

"What's so important you're outside my door this early in the morning?" He asked, not even trying to hide his irritation at being awakened.

"Early?" Gajeel guffawed. "It's almost 10, Salamander."

"Well, I guess 10 is extra early today," Natsu growled. "Now what do you want?"

"We're just here to help you move," Gajeel said.

"Why would I be moving?" Natsu asked. "Wendy and I are happy right here."

"Two reasons," Gajeel grinned. "First, that house isn't fit for you and Wendy, let alone the two babies you've got coming. Second, your new place has a room for Happy and one for Carla, so they won't leave every time you guys fuck. Which also means me and Laxus won't know every time you guys are fucking, like you were last night."

Natsu glared at Gajeel, but he realized they were both good points. "Give us 10 minutes to get ready," he said, knowing Wendy would hear. "I need to eat something before we do any moving."

"10 minutes is all you get," Gajeel said with a grin. Natsu closed the door and headed to the kitchen. Wendy groaned as she rolled out of bed.

"You could've gone a little easier last night," she said as she slipped her underwear on, a little shaky on her legs.

"I think it was more the duration than the intensity," Natsu replied with a laugh. "Or maybe a little of both. That's the longest we've fucked since…. Well, since ever I think."

Wendy blushed as they heard a choking sound outside the door. "You didn't have to say that so loud," she said.

"That's what they get for waking me up early," he replied irritably. "I didn't even get my morning snuggle time."

"Aaww, poor baby." Wendy giggled as she headed into the kitchen. She was wearing one of Natsu's favorite dresses. A black, knee-length number that really showed off her shapely hips and cleavage.

"We got enough time for a quickie?" He asked loudly, hearing Gajeel gag again outside.

"Behave yourself," Wendy smacked him lightly on the back of the head, making him drop the egg he was currently flipping prematurely into the pan.

"Meh," he said. Salvaging what he could of the egg. "This is yours now." He indicated the slightly mangled lump.

"Umm. No," Wendy said with a sweet smile. "I'm pretty sure that's yours. I don't like mine with the yoke broken."

Natsu knew it was pointless to argue. He'd tried, before, and discovered that there are ways to lose without losing in battle. He really didn't want to lose any arguments with Wendy after that. He put the egg on his plate, along with the four others he'd already made, and started making a few for Wendy.

"Aren't you gonna' shower?" he asked as he finished the cooking.

"10 minutes isn't long enough to shower," she replied with a grin. And besides, if we're moving, we'll want to shower afterward anyway."

"You're right," Natsu sighed.

"When am I not?" She replied with a smirk.

Natsu didn't argue. He just handed her a plate with eggs and a good portion of bacon before taking his own plate and joining her at the table.

"We can start moving while you stuff your face," Gajeel's voice said from outside.

"Sounds good," Natsu said through a mouthful of food. "We don't have that much to move anyway."

Gajeel and Laxus came in and headed for the dresser. "Leave the top drawer alone!" Wendy called out blushing as they started emptying drawers into a bag.

"Ge hee." Gajeel replied. Natsu laughed. The top drawer was their 'kinky drawer,' filled with all Wendy's most daring outfits, but, more embarrassing to her, a list of sex cosplay fantasies she wanted to try. She'd made the list in the other world, where they didn't even have that kind of commerce yet, and Natsu promised her they would buy the costumes and accessories for these fantasies once they went on a few quests for the guild.

The other thing that was in there was something that would be somewhat embarrassing for both of them. It was an illustrated diagram of sexual positions, drawn by Wendy (who Natsu discovered was a very good artist). Each position was labeled, and carefully marked depending on who found it the most enjoyable. Positions that neither of them had much enjoyed were marked with a big red x. However, the biggest reason that it would have been embarrassing was that Wendy had drawn all the positions using Natsu and Wendy as the models. Natsu teased her about that, saying if she'd chosen to illustrate it with imaginary people she could've sold it.

Fortunately, Gajeel and Laxus both knew better than to mess with Wendy, so their secrets were safe in the top drawer. For now.

"That's all I'm taking," Laxus announced as he headed out, a bag full of clothing and bed linens over his shoulder.

"Right behind you," Gajeel said. He had more clothes, some pillows, and random odds and ends from around the house. "Hey Laxus," Natsu heard him say as they left. "Did you touch those sheets?"

"Well, I had to touch them to get them off," Laxus replied irritably. "Why?"

"Ge he." Gajeel snickered. "From the smell, I'd say those sheets were really well used last night."

"That's fucking gross!" Natsu could imagine the lightning mage's face. "See if I help them move again."

The conversation faded into the distance, and Natsu and Wendy finished breakfast. As soon as they were done eating, Natsu packed as much as he could of their dishes, cooking ware, and silverware. Wendy went to the bathroom and packed their shower and bathroom supplies.

Then Natsu broke off the entire wall of memories. There was no way he was leaving that behind.

As they were getting ready to leave, something dawned on Natsu. "How are we supposed to find this new place?" He asked Wendy.

Wendy pointed toward his face. Natsu looked in the mirror, confused. Did he have something on his face? How was that supposed to answer his question.

"Use your nose," Wendy sighed.

Oh. That made sense. The trail was still fresh enough that he wouldn't even have to bend down to follow their scent. Sometimes Natsu wondered why he didn't think of these things.

They'd walked almost a mile, drawing stares from the townspeople with the big wall Natsu was carrying on his back, when they saw Gajeel and Laxus coming to meet them.

"Ge he," Gajeel said, looking at Laxus. "Told you Salamander's nose could track us this far."

"Hmph," Laxus snorted, looking away. "They still need to see which place is theirs."

"Right," Gajeel grinned. "Which is why we couldn't wait for them at the house."

Laxus didn't say anything. He just turned on his heel and started heading back.

"Well, come on." Gajeel said with a grin. "You can probably go a little faster if you don't have to focus so much on the nose."

Natsu and Wendy grinned and followed them through the town.

Soon they came to a large, 5 acre lot with three houses sitting on it. Gajeel and Laxus opened a gate and motioned toward the house on the right. "That one's yours," he grinned.

"Wow, that's great!" Wendy said. Natsu had to agree, silently. Even without going inside he could already tell it was tons bigger than their current house.

"Thanks guys," Natsu said. "Seriously. I thought it would take ages to save up enough to buy a new place."

"It probably would've," Gajeel smirked. "Especially since your appetite hasn't diminished much."

Natsu couldn't really deny it. He sighed. "Well, hopefully gramps will let us take S-class quests now so we can stock up and shit." He said.

"He'd better," Gajeel smirked. "I mean come on. You could take his whole S-class section yourself."

"I don't know about that," Natsu said. "If I had Erza, Mira, and Gildarts to deal with all at once, I'm pretty sure I'd lose that one."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But still…"

Natsu smirked. "Well, I'm sure we can figure out ways to make money if Gramps won't make us S-class."

"Ge he," was all Gajeel said.

Then Natsu and Wendy headed into the new house. Natsu had to go sideways in the door, since his wall of memories was still on his back. Once inside, he let everything drop rather unceremoniously to the ground.

Carla and Happy were already in the house. The exceeds had already claimed their rooms – which were on the second level, and as far from the master bedroom as they could get. There were two more rooms on the main level, as well as a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a bathroom.

"Wow, this really is nice," commented Natsu as he looked around. The place had hardwood floors in the main rooms, with ornate tile floors in the bathrooms. There were large windows in all the main rooms, with large, dark-red curtains that didn't let much light through if they were closed. They also had granite countertops and the most durable fireplace and cooking equipment in Fiore. Yep. This was going to be a great place to live.

~~~At the guild, a little after noon~~~

Erza sighed as she leaned back. Her strawberry cake was gone, and the guild was rather quiet. She wondered if this would be a good time to go on a request.

No, master Makarov was going to make an announcement concerning the Grand Magic Games today. She needed to be around to hear that. Everyone was going to be gunning for Fairy Tail this year, after all. They'd won every GMG so far, but this year Sabertooth was sure they were going to win. After all, they had the two dragon slayers that killed real dragons.

Erza wasn't so sure. As much as she thought Sting and Rogue believed they killed actual dragons, witnessing the power of dragon slayers who she knew had killed real dragons made her doubt their claims. She wasn't even sure that the pair would've measured up to Natsu and Gajeel before their 7 years absence. She was certain they wouldn't come close now.

But either way, it wasn't just Sabertooth gunning for them. Every guild knew Fairy Tail was the guild to beat. In fact, some had even requested that they not be allowed to participate this year, especially with two wizard saints on the team. The only other guild with a wizard saint was Lamia, and Jura was ranked 6th, right behind Mirajane.

Of course, that wasn't even counting four of the most powerful mages on the continent – if not in all earthland.

Just then the doors were kicked open with a resounding bang, and the four dragon slayers came in, accompanied by their three exceeds.

"Still have to make a dramatic entrance, huh Natsu?" Erza said with a small smile. Despite the 7 years of war he'd been through, the pink-haired dragon slayer was still the same person deep down. There was some comfort in that, at least.

"Alright!"Natsu yelled. "We didn't get to party yesterday, so we're gonna have a real kick-ass party today! Hope you're all ready!"

Erza watched Wendy, who usually stayed close to her mate, retreat to a remote corner of the guild as the dragon slayers were charged by Elfman, Gray, Freed, Bickslow, and several others. Soon the brawl was in full swing. Chairs and tables were flying and breaking everywhere.

Suddenly a piece of wood smacked Erza's face, knocking her off her bar stool to the floor. She got up, her features darkening into a glare. "CRETINS!" She yelled. "It's time to mete out some discipline!"

Gray, Elfman, and Freed instantly froze. The rest, including Laxus, who usually didn't even get involved in the brawls, kept going as though she weren't even there.

Ok. That was the last straw. It was time to teach these brats some manners, again. With a determined glare she marched into the fray.

"NATSU!" She yelled. The pink-haired dragon slayer started, then grinned at her. "What's up Erza? Gonna' join the party?"

Shit. Apparently 7 years was long enough to train his conditioned fear response out of him. Well, this would have to go the hard way then. Mustering all her strength and will, she jumped into the brawl, getting as many hits in on the dragon slayers as she could.

"ENOUGH!" A towering giant with glowing eyes appeared in the room, emitting a dark, angry aura. Mages scattered as the giant's foot came down, ready to crush the brawlers under it. Only Natsu remained where he was. "Ha ha! You guys all chickened out. That means I win!"

"I said enough!" The giant bellowed, his foot coming down. To everyone's surprise, Natsu caught the foot on one arm, but otherwise didn't move.

"Sorry gramps," he said. "We're done now." He moved to a table as Makarov shrunk down to his normal size.

"Alright everyone," Makarov said now that he was his usual short self again. "I have an announcement to make concerning the Grand Magic Games. There's been some discussion, and I think the best thing to do is for you all to go train and prepare yourself for the games. I'll announce the team when I get back."

"Aawww," everyone groaned. Erza was as surprised as anyone else. Surely the master knew who the strongest mages in the guild were. There was no need for some asinine training period.

"Well, that sucks." Gray said from his table. His clothes were already gone. "I was really looking forward to getting called."

"Called for what, popsicle?" Natsu taunted. "Do they have a stripping contest at the magic games?"

Gray glared at the fire dragon slayer, and moments later the two were butting heads again, like nothing ever happened. Erza was surprised, but she supposed Natsu was never the kind to hold grudges.

Erza sighed. She didn't really need to train outside of her normal training regimen, so she could just enjoy the time doing something fun for a change, or maybe go on a job request. Then again, requests were scarce with the games so close. Especially good ones. Nobody wanted the strong mages to get injured before the games.

"Hey Mira," she called. During the 7 years the dragon slayers were gone, the two had become best friends. "Why don't we take some time off at a resort."

Mira smiled. "That would be fun," she said. "We'll leave the training to the people who really need it." She looked at Lucy and Gray as she spoke.

"Yeah, that's right!" Gray said, apparently noticing her comment. "I don't have time to waste fighting you flame brain. I've gotta train to be sure I make the team! Let's go Lucy, Elfman!"

"Juvia will come too!" Juvia said, hurrying after them as they departed.

"Don't think you're going anywhere without me," Evergreen said, hurrying after them with Jaina in tow.

Natsu whispered something to Gajeel, who turned a little red and snapped at him. Erza watched, interested now, as Natsu replied with a smirk and a wink.

For a few moments nothing further happened. Then, slowly, the iron dragon slayer made his way over to the table where Levy was sitting with team shadow gear.

"Oy Levy," he said gruffly. "If you want to get your ass ready for the games, stick with me. I'll show you how it's done."

"Ok," Levy said with a shy smile, and Erza almost laughed out loud. It was a good thing for Gajeel that Levy didn't require the romantic touch.

Of course, it wasn't like Laxus was much better. He was next to Cana at the bar. "You're coming with us. You know that right."

"Uh, sure?" Cana raised an eyebrow at him.

Erza just smiled at the duo. The fact that she was still single all these years later was a testament to the fact that Cana actually harbored feelings for the lightning dragon slayer. This would be an interesting three months, she thought with a smile.

She decided it was time to join Natsu, who now sat with Wendy at a table not far from the bar. She headed over to the table and sat down with a smile.

"So what are you going to do for training, Natsu?" She asked.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not planning on anything more than my normal routine," he said. "What about you?"

"Same." She shrugged. "There's not really much point. No one there would really provide competition for me anyway."

Natsu laughed. "Not even these true dragon slayers I keep hearing about from Sabertooth?"

Erza sighed. "Natsu, I've seen them fight. And, to be honest, I don't actually believe that they have the power to kill a real dragon."

"Well, guess I'll just have to find out at the tournament," Natsu said.

"Assuming master puts you on the team, of course," Erza smirked.

Natsu shrugged. "Whether he does or not, I should be able to gauge their magic power well enough from watching them fight."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Erza said.

Just then Mira popped in at the table. "Hey Natsu, Wendy. What are you guys doing for training?"

Natsu lifted an eyebrow. "Wendy's not training," he said. "She won't be participating in the games. I'm just doing my normal routine. No point in any hard training for something like this."

"Great," Mira grinned. "Why don't you come to the resort with us?"

"Resort?" Natsu looked at Erza, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

Erza rolled her eyes at the take over mage. "Mira and I were talking about going to a resort near Crocus to relax a bit before the games. But the games are still 3 months away. I doubt any of us want to spend 3 months at the resort."

"Nah, but a month would be fun," Mira grinned. "Long enough to enjoy all the amenities, but short enough that it doesn't get old."

"I think we'd be glad to join," Natsu said. "I'm pretty sure Laxus and Gajeel would be happy to cut their training time a little short for something like that, and I'm also pretty sure neither Cana nor Levy will be on the team."

"You're probably right about that," Erza sweat-dropped. "Though Levy probably could be, if she wanted to. She's not really into fighting much."

"I guess that never changed," Natsu said with his trademark grin.

They talked for a little while longer about nothing in particular, and then they split off to go their separate ways. Erza headed out to Fairy Hills. She could've bought a house in town by this time, but who really needed one? Fairy Hills had great amenities, and she didn't have to worry about anything but her own little room.

As she headed to bed later that night, Titania couldn't help but wish that something exciting would happen at the games. A large part of her missed the years of battling enemies that tested her strength, of coming within inches of death and having to depend on her guild mates to pull through. She thought the desire for that kind of fighting was done with, but it seemed that Natsu's sudden reappearance had awakened that urge in her again.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.