What's up guys? It's been a while, school has been hectic. But I'm back! Some updates will be coming out. Phantom Lord part of the story so yeah. Not really sure what I'm going to do for some of it, but I have an idea. Anyway, On with the chapter
Natsu sighed inaudibly, staring at the scene before him. Three of his guildmates, friends, hanging from a tree. Mira was… Oh yeah. He had walked her back home. The town square was completely empty, silent. Nobody was there. Natsu pulled a lacrima out of his pocket and snapped a picture using it before flaring his magic. It only took a few seconds for him to feel a second, albeit smaller flare from the guilds direction. Gildarts could only flare his magic so much before it destroyed everything in a few hundred-meter radius.
Natsu lit a small, golden flame in the center of his palm and threw it at the tree, engulfing it in flame. The flames slowly crept up the dry bark, slowly reaching the three victims hanging there. The flames burned the metal bands holding them up before crawling their way onto the three. The flames seeped into their skins, causing them to glow briefly before all of the wounds disappeared and the trio slumped to the ground. At least they weren't in critical condition any more.
A minute or two later, a small burst of crash magic roared through the street straight toward Natsu and the trio behind him. Natsu didn't spare it a glance and simply held his hand out, pulling the magic out of it and turning it into fire. Natsu swallowed the portion of fire before turning around to see Makarov, Gildarts, and most of the guild trailing behind them. Gildarts accidently let off small bursts of crash magic as he ran, disrupting the others causing them to trip over each other more often than not.
"Natsu what happened?" Makarov asked, slightly out of breath. Gildarts slipped next to Makarov as Natsu pulled out the lacrima camera and showed them the scene before he fixed it. For a good minute, nothing was said. And despite all the people now in the square, not a single thing but the rushing wind could be heard. Natsu passed the lacrima around, showing the pure savagery of the culprit. The Phantom Lord guild mark glowed brightly on their bodies in the picture, sending one clear message.
"They can destroy my guild hall, they can desecrate our land, but this has gone too far. I draw the line at harming my children," Makarov muttered, "Tomorrow, we go to war!"
The guild cheered, which was kinda out of place given what had just occurred. Natsu again, sighed inaudibly. He glanced over to Gildarts who gave him a look. Natsu knew what it meant. Natsu walked over to Gildarts and sat on a bench towards the edge of the square.
"What do we do?" Natsu asked.
"Stay back. If either of us get involved, there won't be a Phantom Lord guild any more. We both know that. Neither of us would be able to hold back really, not well enough to prevent casualties at least," Gildarts said.
"But at the same time, we both know that something will go wrong and one of us will be needed," Natsu said.
"I guess," Gildarts said.
"At the same time, I have some business to take care of with one of their members, another dragon slayer. That might make it difficult. I'm fairly certain they are the one who is responsible for it. That means I have a bone to pick with them. Plus, I might know them so it all evens out really," Natsu said.
"Then I say go for it," Gildarts laughed, "Just don't kill anyone!"
Natsu nodded at Gildarts and ran off to find Makarov, slipping through the crowd, while keeping tabs on anyone that seemed to be missing. Everyone was there. Except Mira of course, but he had walked her home not ten minutes ago. Nothing could have happened to her, right? Natsu thought about it for a second, just as Makarov came into view. Natsu slipped right by him too, dashing through the streets towards her house. Even Elfman wasn't home, given that he had been one of the first to show up to the scene.
Natsu humped from roof to roof, eventually reaching Mira's house. Natsu landed in front of Mira's house, calmly knocking, his demeanor not matching his feelings. Natsu was slightly worried when the five-minute mark passed. Natsu decided that if nothing happened in the next minute, he was going in. Of course it wasn't proper, but rules be damned. If his friend was in danger, then someone was going to get hurt. Real bad.
The minute mark passed and Natsu grew tense. He wasn't willing to give it another minute. Natsu lit a small fire in his hand and pressed it into the key hole. The door clicked open and Natsu pulled the fire out. A perfect key. Natsu walked into the house. No foreign smells were in it, that was good. At the same time, all the lights were off, and everything was still. Natsu could hear a light breathing up the stairs. Natsu slipped up the stairs, lighting a pure black flame on his hands. They were some of the only flames that didn't glow. It was more like the sucked the very light out of the room. If it was dark before, it was pitch black now.
Natsu opened the door and found Mira lying on her bed. She seemed fine enough. Natsu felt kinda like an idiot, but at least he checked. Natsu was about to leave when a scent caught his attention. They were faint, nearly odorless, but his senses didn't let anything by. Natsu smelled it coming from the drawer next to the bed. Natsu recognized the smell. Natsu felt around the drawer and felt nothing. He slipped his hands against the edges of the of the bottom of the drawer. He felt a small nick in the wood, just wide enough for a finger. Natsu pulled out the wood and found a secret compartment under the regular part.
Pills. Not the good kind. Not even sleeping pills. Those weren't good either, but these were so much worse. Natsu pulled the bottle out and slipped the wood back into place. He knew he shouldn't be snooping but these would kill her if she took even a milligram to much. Perfectly full bottle too, which meant they were new, or she had never used them. It was better if she didn't have them. Natsu shut the drawer and slipped out, closing the door behind him.
Natsu rushed off to find Makarov who was probably still at the scene. Now he had two things to talk about. Natsu found Makarov, taking to some of the guild members. Natsu moved through the crowd, before ending up in front of Makarov. He wasn't quite done with the others. Natsu waited patiently for a bit before Makarov finished.
"Can we talk?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah," Makarov said.
"I think it was a dragon slayer," Natsu said, "Smells exactly like it, looks like it, feels like it, everything matches. If I had to say, it was most likely Metalicana's kid. Always headstrong and arrogant. Figured that he might have changed but I guess not."
"What do you plan to do?" Makarov asked.
"You are launching that attack of yours tomorrow, aren't you?" Natsu asked, Makarov nodded, "Well I'll trail along and follow up anything. If anything happens I'll step in, but if I am right about the dragon slayer, I'm heading in. IS that good?"
"I believe so, just don't do anything stupid," Makarov said, "we aren't here to kill anyone."
"I know. I'll be there in the morning," Natsu said, walking away.
The next morning, Natsu slipped out of his little area and walked over to the guild. Everyone was preparing for it. In an hour, everyone was outside the Phantom Lord Guild hall, or one of them at least. They were one of the few that had several. Natsu watched as everyone lined up, drawing weapons or preparing their magic. Natsu smelled the dragon slayer scent all over the guild hall. It had been decided that Natsu would be the first in and the others would follow.
Natsu took a few steps towards the door before stopping in front of it. Natsu hauled back his fist and slammed it into the door. The giant iron door easily flew off it's hinges, ripping stones out of the wall as it went, before stopping, imbedding itself into the wall on the other side of the hall. As soon as Natsu punched the door, everyone rushed in, causing mayhem all the way. Sounds of metal echoed through the air. Makarov himself walked calmly through the carnage and fighting, heading straight up to the stairs where he would find the guild master.
Natsu walked behind him after a few seconds, silently trailing Makarov. He was going to find that damned slayer and beat the shit out of him. Natsu smelled the scent coming from a different area than where Makarov was, so Natsu walked that way. He walked up the stairs but stopped at a different floor than Makarov who kept walking up. Natsu opened the door and almost immediately got a giant blast of fire shot at him with steel spikes following shortly after. Natsu felt the floor rumble ever so slightly and stepped to the side, avoiding the figure that came flying out of it.
Natsu walked through the fireball and the metal spikes melted as soon as they got within a foot of him. Natsu stopped in front of the two figures who were standing arrogantly before ducking under the punch from the third figure. Natsu grabbed the figures wrist and casually threw him over to the other two. The other two moved out of the way and the third slammed into the wall.
Natsu could see a younger man with long, black and white hair tied up on the back of his head, a portion of black hair overlaying the front and left side of his head, leaving the smaller white portion concentrated on the left. He sported a simple marking consisting of three horizontal black bars passing across the ridge of his nose and both cheeks in a linear formation, with the one in the middle being the longest.
The second figure was a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair. He had red eyes with slitted dark pupils. Most of his exposed body was covered in sets of round metal studs. The third man had weird green hair and a monocle with a small green mustache.
"Aren't you supposed to be S-Class mages?" Natsu asked rhetorically. Although they displayed considerable skill, it was much easier to fight someone when they were riled up.
"Not good enough for you?" the first man spoke, "Fine then."
Natsu didn't bat an eye and caught the blade coming for his head. He held the blade for a second before squeezing, metal shards flying as he did so. In another second, the first man was gone.
"If you could leave please? I want to have a conversation with somebody. You know, one on one?" Natsu said.
"Non non non. Are you crazy? Why would you think Totomaru-sama, Gajeel-sama, or I, Monsieur Sol, would just leave?" the green mustached man asked.
"Leave," the final man in the back said, "I want to have a conversation as well."
"Gajeel? Are you sure?" the man apparently named Totomaru asked.
"Leave, I want to have this conversation."
"Non non non, I simply refuse to leave you here Gajeel-sama," Sol said.
Natsu disappeared and was back a second later. A crashing sound could be heard a few floors down and some dust was in the air. Sol was gone, sent right through the floor. Totomaru left on his own like a smart man, not wanting to get beaten like his comrade.
"Metalicana's kid, huh?" Natsu said after a few seconds, "Figured he would have raised you better."
"What would you know about it? You reek by the way, reek of blood and death," Gajeel said.
"I'm quite aware. We both know you can't wash off scents like that. Why'd you attack them?" Natsu asked.
"Why should I answer you? You're probably some weak, incompetent mage with a flashy trick. One trick pony in other words, so what is it? What's your element?" Gajeel asked.
"That's no way to greet a comrade now is it? Accuse them of something like that. It's not true of course, we both know it. You even pointed it out yourself. Use that nose of yours, surely Metalicana must have taught you something. Reach back into your mind, you've smelled this before. All the slayers have," Natsu said nonchalantly.
Gajeel noticeably paused for a minute before shaking his head. Natsu gestured in a way that meant to keep going, and so he did. Gajeel stood there for a few more seconds before nearly falling down and scrambling away.
"You're his child?" Gajeel accused, still backing up ever so slightly. Natsu took note of the slight metal sheen coming from his hands, while not full metal, they were getting there. It was a good trick actually. He was trying to take advantage of a person's inattention blindness, where they wouldn't notice it because they weren't focusing on it and it was small enough not to be noticed. Natsu wasn't exactly normal, he had heard his heart beat race and his muscles tighten ever so slightly. It was part of being a metal slayer.
Natsu laughed boisterously, "No! Of course not! That sounds absolutely horrible. I've met him sure, plenty of times but I still hate him. Talked to him a bit sure, but never more than idle conversation as we fought or banter."
"I'm sorry, fought?" Gajeel asked before laughing, "Impossible, nobody has fought him and come out alive. Not even dragons could! To think that a puny slayer could just attack him and come out in one piece, let alone a live is impossible! Metalicana couldn't beat him, your dragon probably couldn't either. Nobody could!"
"Your nose isn't lying to you, and Metalicana has nothing on some of the dragons I've seen. Try Igneel why don't you? Fire Dragon King. Yeah, that's my dad," Natsu said happily, "Now what do you say? Plus I've had many extra years of training compared to you due to an… issue."
"Igneel, the fire dragon king?" Gajeel asked.
"No, Igneel the water god. YES, Igneel the fire dragon!" Natsu shouted.
"Even still, there's no way to beat him. And extra training? What issue?" Gajeel asked.
"Not important, we're off topic. I have a proposition for you. Join my guild, and I'll explain the true nature of our magic. And where you dragon went."
Gajeel laughed boisterously, "That's such bullshit, nobody knows where they went. They up and abandoned us."
"Suit yourself. I'm leaving, and I suggest you do too," Natsu said before hopping down the hole left by the green haired guy, Sol was it? Natsu walked out the stairs before realizing that Makarov was still in the guild hall. Natsu leapt from level to level, until he finally reached the top. It wasn't long before he saw Makarov struggling to stand and a weird purple haired guy talking to him. A second man in the corner stood there. He had bandages over his eyes and stood nearly twice as tall as the other two men.
Natsu slipped in and picked up Makarov before looking over to the other two men. Natsu then hopped off the edge and landed hitting the ground, throwing up a small cloud of dust. Natsu saw most of the other members of the guild running back before he spotted a mop of read hair and a glint of metal still in the guild. Natsu handed Makarov off to one of the guild members and rushed back into the guild. Natsu strolled back into the guild and punched a few enemies away before walking over to Erza and telling her about Makarov.
She was gone a few seconds later leaving Natsu alone in the now quiet guild.