Ch 8: Guard Duty
"What the hell is wrong with you!" shouted a man wearing a black set of armor as he rolled out of the way of a red stream of fire that obliterated everything in its path.
"Nothing really, I just heard that you were supposed to be the big shot in these parts, so I thought I'd just drop by and say hi. But to be honest you're not that impressive, I seriously don't know why anyone would be afraid of you." replied Natsu as he continued to throw fireballs at the man that was just barely dodging the explosions that followed after they hit anything.
"That's your reason for attacking me and my men!" shouted the knight as he charged Natsu and started to slash away at him. But never even came close to landing a hit as the dragon slayer easily dodged them to only then counter him with his few punches to the knight's armor that was surprisingly still intact.
"Well that and apparently there's a bounty on your head that should keep me fed for a while." he answered with his creepy grin that he was using quite often now days.
"You picked a fight with me just for food money?" asked the knight after recovering from a hit that sent him to the other side of his office, which happened to be where they were fighting.
"Does it really matter why I'm doing any of this? All you need to know is that if you don't give it your all you're going to die here today." he stated while spreading the fire that was almost covering all of the walls already.
"You're going to take the down the whole place you fucking moron!" shouted the knight as he wanted to flee but one very big problem stood in his way and was clearly not going to let that happen.
"That's the plan, because otherwise this fight would be way too boring for me." he said as he lunged at the knight again. Once again starting their skirmish where Natsu clearly had the upper hand despite all of his attacks landing on the man's breastplate.
"You can say that all you want Salamander, but thanks to my armor you can't hurt me." taunted the man as he tried to sweep his legs, which Natsu easily dodged by jumping into the air. That was exactly what the man had been waiting for so while his opponent was still in midair he slashed with his sword while putting a lot of his magic into to the blade. Not underestimating the Salamanders strength or endurance like he did when the man attacked his compound just a few hours ago.
But as the blade got closer to reaching its mark he watched as Natsu leaned back while shooting fire out of his mouth. Getting it so that the blade was only an inch away from cutting into the chest of the fire mage that then landed on his hands only for him to then tuck and roll so he was just a few inches away from the knight. While still being underneath his arms that just finished the attack that the man hoped would be the end of this fight.
"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" shouted Natsu as he smashed his right fist straight into the knight's chest piece. The result of that was red flames to shoot around him as he was once again launched away from his attacker and sent crashing into a wall. But as he struggled back to his feet he noticed that he felt lighter, so with a quick glance down he was shocked to find his breast plate shattered into tiny pieces.
"That was supposed to be unbreakable." he stuttered out as he looked at his pride and joy as it lay completely ruined on the floor.
"So far I haven't found a single thing that I couldn't destroy. And since I proved to you and the rest of the world that your precious armor can't withstand me I should finish this up." stated Natsu as a wicked grin spread across his face as he advanced on the terrified man, who lost all hope when his armor broke.
"Please don't kill me." he begged now on his knees as a few tears escaped his eyes.
"Sorry but your bounty says dead or alive, and I've already added your mark which means you have to die." answered Natsu as he kicked the man in the chest so he fell to his back and slid back a few feet.
"What mark are you talking about, never mind I'll pay you more than the bounty if you turn me in alive." pleaded the man as he tried to get back up but was stopped by Natsu's boot coming down on his chest and breaking a few ribs in the process.
"The mark is something I decided to do to remember important kills, but it would appear that I jumped the gun on you. I guess that mark will have dual purposes; the first one of course is your death while the second one will be that rumors are just that. And I should see for myself before I deem someone worthy enough to get a mark." he explained while applying more pressure and also lighting his foot on fire causing the man to scream out in the hopes that someone would come to his rescue.
"No one is coming for you, and the only person you should blame is yourself since you were too weak to protect what you care about." he hissed while watching the man claw at his boot in hopes to get him to stop.
"What about the jewels." screamed out the knight, knowing that his only chance was to hopefully buy his freedom from Salamander.
"I'll get even more jewels if I just kill you now and get them afterwards." he replied as a look of horror flashed over the knights face only for it to be blasted with a stream of fire from his attacker's hand. Killing him in just an instant so that he would no longer have to listen to his girly screams and pleas for mercy which always just aggravated him more than he already usually was.
So with a few swipes of his arms Natsu was able to get rid of all his own fire, allowing him to then suck in all of the remaining flames just before he would have to start worrying about the structural integrity of the building. As he surveyed the office he noticed that the two places that the knight's scent lingered the most were his desk and a picture on one of the walls. So with a slight smirk he headed to the picture frame and ripped it off the wall exposing a hidden safe in the process.
"How do other mages function with normal noses?" he asked to himself out loud with a little chuckle as he quickly burned the lock on the safe. As the safe's door swung open he was greeted with stacks of jewels and a few other documents that were actually the real reason that he was sent there. After completely emptying out the safe and storying all of its contents into his pocket dimension that only contained his jewels, a few odd documents and his final gift from Happy he grabbed the charred corpse and headed out of the building.
"What the hell Salamander!" shouted a Rune Knight as soon as he stepped outside.
"I did exactly as I said I would, you no longer have to worry about him or any of his men bothering your town again." he replied with a slight grin as he dropped the body of the knight at the Rune Knight's feet.
"Yeah because you brutally beat all of his men and killed him while also almost taking the whole building down with you." said the Rune Knight as he glared at him.
"Did a single innocent civilian get hurt?" asked Natsu as he now glared at the officer.
"No, but…" he started to say.
"But nothing, I did my job and you should just be happy that I didn't kill all of his men along with him. Now hand over the reward or what I just did here is going to be the least of your concerns!" growled Natsu just a foot away from the Rune Knight, which allowed him to see the fire in the back of the dragon slayer's throat that was just begging to be let out.
"Here, and please just leave." he replied while handing over a bag with the reward in it.
"I planned on it, oh and if you don't want someone to kill the person you're after then it would be smart to not have the bounty say dead or alive." said Natsu as he started to head towards the harbor. Leaving the Rune Knight with a shiver that went down his spine as he looked at Natsu who stood right in front of him just moments ago. He also couldn't believe that the man who just left used to be considered a respectable mage from Fairy Tail that only just destroyed things on his jobs. That part appeared to stay the same as the building behind the Rune Knight collapsed, but now it seems that the Salamander had become just as bad as the rumors have recently said about him.
"There's no fucking way that was a mission at the Wizard Saint level, I would have to say that it was closer to maybe A-Class. But then again now I'm no longer really concerned about hurting my opponents so maybe that's why it was so easy for me." Natsu thought as he headed into an ally and took a seat on a crate.
"Are you going to attack me again or is this just going to be a friendly chat?" he asked while putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
"Let's go with a friendly chat, slash me coming to pick you up for your next job if you're still interested in working for Siegrain." said Ikaruga as she dropped down from a roof with a sly grin.
"Don't you mean Jellal and what happens if I decide that I don't want to work with that blue haired bastard?" he asked while opening one eye to look at her with a grin of his own as a look of surprise flashed over her face.
"Then I'm supposed to return to Jellal and continue on like normal, for some reason he thinks that you could still be of use to him even if you turn him down." she answered as she made her way towards him, deliberately having her hips sway more than she usually does.
"That's what you're supposed to do, but what I want to know is what you would actually do?" he asked while taking note of her slightly different walk than the last time they met.
"I would kill you this time of course; I can't have some random guy knowing where and whom I'm going to be working with. It's a policy that I have and has kept me alive a lot longer than most people in my line of work usually are." she replied with a smile as she sat down on the crate right next to him.
"And what line of work is that exactly, because once again you have me at a disadvantage Ikaruga, since I only know your name." he replied while looking over at her and was shocked to see her resting her head on his right shoulder. Once again being completely confused by this woman he decided to let her do as she pleased but kept a watchful eye on her since she proved to be a worthy opponent last time.
"I'm an assassin from Death's Head Caucus." she replied while taking hold of his right arm.
"So that's what the emblem on your outfit stands for, and you guys have quite the reputation." he said while she inspected his right fist.
"Failure is not an option, those who fail either commit suicide or are eventually killed by other members of the guild." she stated as if that wasn't a harsh way to run a guild.
"That's definitely one way to make sure that your members are loyal. So why did you once again just sit back while I fought that guy and his crew?" he asked since he noticed her presence before he even started taking them on.
"Because they were all weak and you can learn a lot just by watching someone fight. And after watching all of that I'm even more impressed with you since our last meeting." she replied while intertwining their fingers together as a slight smile spread across her red lips.
"Fair enough, but you do realize that what we're doing right now is kind of weird since you stated that you plan to kill me if I don't do this job." he said with a little chuckle.
"I am obviously hoping that you accept this job, if not then at least I'll have these last few moments with you to remember." she stated as she finally looked at him, and just for a second Natsu thought he might have saw a pleading look on her face. But before he could be sure she once again had her usual smirk but otherwise unreadable facial expression back on.
"You're making that sound like you're positive that you'll be able to defeat me." he stated with a sly grin.
"Of that I'm certain Salamander." she replied while once again resting her head on his shoulder and caressing the back of his hand with her thumb.
"Considering that our last time neither of us were going all out I'd have to say that isn't something you can be certain of." he pointed out to her, but was surprised to hear her slightly chuckle at that.
"You might have been not giving it your all Salamander, but I wouldn't be able to go much harder on you." she replied with a bigger smile than he'd ever seen her have.
"Then how in hell did you ever expect to beat me?" he asked while turning to her, which got her to no longer be resting her head on his shoulder.
"By doing something like this." she replied while slipping her arms around his neck and bringing him into a passionate kiss. Just as he was getting into it and about to advance to the next part he felt something sharp pressed up against his throat as she pulled away from him now with a knife in her hand.
"Very clever but now that you've shown this move it's never going to work on me again." he stated with a little anger in his tone as his inner dragon roared in frustration at once again being stopped before claiming one of his mates. Another reason why he was angry right now was due to the fact that he seemed to be only finding definite mates with women that were most likely only going to complicate his life since they are both members of dark guilds.
"True but I don't need to do it Salamander, especially since I can tell that you couldn't even kill me if you wanted to." she said with her knife still to his throat as she sat on his lap and licked her lips seductively.
"And how could you know something like that?" he asked while grabbing her wrist with one hand while the other one snaked its way around her waist.
"Because I read people Salamander and I can clearly see that you want me right now and could even possibly love me somehow. The way that you responded to me kissing you was clearly that of someone who wants more, not to mention that I can feel little Salamander wanting to make an appearance. But I guess little wouldn't be a very good description of what I'm feeling right now." she replied while shimmying on his lap with a sultry smirk spread across her lips.
"You're very attractive and I'd have to be gay to not be aroused when someone as deadly and beautiful as you throws herself at me. And yes I can also read people as well Ikaruga and right now I can see that you want me just as much as I want you." he whispered in her ear after tossing her knife and sword to the side.
"That's another reason that I like you Salamander, your senses are the sharpest that I've ever encountered. But there's one big difference between the two of us on this and that is I don't love you which can't be said for you." she whispered right back to him and gave him a quick nip on the earlobe.
"And how exactly do you know that I supposedly love you?" he asked, honestly surprised that she somehow figured out already that he couldn't kill her. But he was glad that she didn't know that it would actually be hard for him to even hurt her now that he confirmed that she was one of his mates.
"Okay maybe love was too strong of a word for whatever you have for me but it was the best that I could come up with. And I could tell that by looking into your eyes which told me that even if you had to kill me right now you couldn't bring yourself to do it." she answered while looking into his onyx eyes with one of her hands cupping the side of his face.
"I've heard that the eyes are the window to one's soul. And just so we're clear I don't love you, I just can't kill you for other reasons which doesn't mean I couldn't get you to a near death state." he stated with a little smirk as his free hand went up to her neck as he brushed away her hair to behind her shoulder. As he then gently traced her neckline and continued downwards until his hand met with her kimono that she was almost already slipping out of.
"So what's it going to be Salamander?" she asked with a sly grin as he looked back into her green eyes.
"I don't think you're really giving me much of a choice here." he replied as he slowly started to slide he kimono down further.
"There's always a choice Salamander, and if you choose to say no we can have a little fun before we get down to business." she said while adjusting the position on him so she was now straddling him with a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Do we still get to have fun if I say yes." he asked as he started to trail kisses down her neck line and pulling down her kimono just a little bit more.
"I see no reason why we couldn't add a little bit of fun to our business as well." she replied while looking into his eyes that were no longer lust filled like they were just seconds ago. Making Ikaruga think that she might have gone too far with all of this and he was now just angry with her.
"Then I say yes, and just so you don't get the wrong idea about me I was going to say yes before all of this." he stated with stern look as he stared at the woman straddling him right now.
"Interesting, but why did you feel the need to tell me that?" she asked with an eyebrow raised at him.
"So you know that you can't sway me with your body like you probably can with most men. So let's get to that fun part shall we." he replied only for her to hop off of him and quickly fix her attire and then grab her weapons.
"Sorry Salamander but that'll have to wait till later, but don't worry I plan to have a lot of fun with you." she stated with a smirk as she started to walk out of the ally. Leaving behind her a slightly confused and aroused dragon slayer that couldn't help but stare at the retreating figure that once again drew his eyes to her ass as she walked away.
"So are you coming or are you just going to keep checking me out." asked Ikaruga as he looked at him over her shoulder with a sultry grin.
"I'm coming and you women are going to be the death of me." he stated while hopping off of the crate and catching up to her.
"Women you say?" she asked with an amused grin.
"Yep, one of the reasons I'm confident that I don't love you. So what's our job and how much am I getting paid?" he asked with stern look sent her way.
"You could love multiple women Salamander, but getting straight to work is something I can agree with. It's just a simple guard job that if we're lucky we might get to face strong opponents that want to stop Jellal from using his tower. As for the pay that's something you'll have to talk to Jellal about." she replied once again having her usual smirk on her face as they headed towards the docks.
"I think you want me to love you, is it because you've never had that before in your life?" he asked her with a big grin.
"That is definitely not true." she stated as she led him through the crowd of fishermen and sailors.
"Which part Ikaruga?" he asked in an amused tone.
"Both Salamander." she hissed at him while hopping into a boat and looking back at him still remaining on the dock with a slight glare.
"You know you can just call me Natsu, and do I have to get into that thing?" he asked while pointing at the boat that was already making him sick just by looking at.
"Okay Natsu, and yes you have to get in here unless you want to go swimming for a few miles." she responded with an amused look now on her face as she looked at the man who just a few moments ago was looking down her blade without a hint of fear. But right now he looked as if he was just given the worst news in his life.
"I think a nice long swim sounds pretty good right now." he replied while starting to do some stretches, obviously getting ready for a swim.
"That was a joke Natsu, now get in the boat this instant." she commanded with a stern look and tone sent his way.
"It's always fucking god damn transportation." he mumbled while climbing in and instantly looking a little greener.
"I honestly thought that was a joke about you Natsu." she said with a little giggle as she started to steer the boat out to sea.
"Shut up." he replied while looking like he was going to barf any second now which only caused Ikaruga to start laughing at the pitiful state he was now in just because of being on a form of transportation.
At Fairy Tail:
"Gray, Erza, look at what Loke just gave me." said Lucy with a big smile as she waved four tickets to the Akane Resort in their face.
"Wow, he just gave you four tickets to that place." replied Gray with a skeptical look on his face. Now wondering why Loke would ever give something like that to Lucy when he could have used them on his usual group of fangirls.
"Those must be pretty expensive." stated Erza as she stopped working on the guild hall which was only just a few days away from being completely rebuilt.
"They are, the package includes all expenses paid for three whole days." she replied with a huge smile.
"Too bad that we can't use them since there's still work to be done on the guild." replied Erza as she went back to work as Lucy and Gray both now rocked sad expressions.
"It would be a shame to waste such a gift, why don't you three go. And before you start to protest Erza you've all done enough work and really could use a break to get your minds cleared and have some fun." stated Makarov with a small grin as Lucy and Gray both perked up at this.
"Fine Master, but who are you going to give the fourth ticket to Lucy?" she asked while turning to look at the celestial mage that was now in a thoughtful pose. She would have invited Levy but she and the rest of Shadow Gear decided to go on their first job as a team again today since the incident and wouldn't return in time. Besides her and the two that she was already with the only other person at the guild she really connected with was Natsu and Happy. But she knew that he wasn't going to randomly show up and join them on a little vacation, she was broken from her thoughts as Mira set down a pitcher of water for them.
"Mira would you want to join the three of us on a trip to Akane Resort?" asked Lucy with a hopeful look.
"I'd love to but I'm pretty busy with my other duties, why don't invite Juvia? She rarely talks to anyone and still feels a little unwelcome here after the whole thing with her previous guild." suggested Mira with a bright smile.
"Really you want us to take her with us?" asked Gray with a confused look that turned into him rubbing his head after a steel gauntlet smacked him.
"There's nothing wrong with her Gray, I think you would probably be nervous joining the guild that you helped attack just a little over a month ago." said Erza as she glared at him.
"Then why the hell did she join us if she was just going to keep to herself?" he asked back with a glare that was soon overpowered by the knight's.
"I think she wanted to join us since we're Natsu's old guild and he even recommended us to her." stated Mira with her usual smile.
"How did those two even become friends?" asked Lucy, since said dragon slayer didn't seem to care about anyone else from Phantom as he turned on them and saved Fairy Tail from being completely destroyed.
"From what she told me he was actually like his old self when he was with her. She used to have rain following her everywhere she went at all hours of the day which scared off most people before they even got to know her. But of course that didn't stop Natsu at all and he even told her that he liked the rain since it calmed down the world for a little bit." she replied with her smile being even bigger than before.
"How the hell do you know this?" asked Gray with a puzzled look on his face.
"I've talked with Juvia a few times already since she joined, and she still is afraid that some of us might resent her for what she did. But I still didn't even get to the best part about why they're friends, apparently Natsu heard one of the members of Phantom Lord speaking ill of Juvia and he then beat the shit out of him for it. Doesn't that sound like something he'd do without caring about the consequences and seeing how much he cared for her finally lifted the rain that was following her around. He even promised just to come and visit her again sometime soon." she continued in a clearly excited tone at the possibility of Natsu forming new bonds with people. Something that she was afraid he wouldn't do after everything that happened to him recently.
"You're really weird sometimes Mira." stated Erza as she too couldn't help but feel a little better about Natsu apparently being like his old self a little.
"I've got no problem with her joining us." said Lucy with a small grin since she wanted to talk with the woman about said dragon slayer.
"It's Lucy's ticket and if she's fine with her joining after being captured by her my opinion really doesn't matter." stated Gray now just standing there in his boxers.
"Then it's settled, I expect to see all three of you at the train station bright and early tomorrow morning. But until then we'll have to make up for the work that we'll be missing." stated Erza with a grin before getting back to work. Gray joined her on the construction of guild while Lucy on the other hand went to go and find Juvia to invite her along knowing that she had to convince the rain woman to accept otherwise Erza would be upset with her.
Next day at the Tower of Heaven:
He opened his eyes slowly as he tried to figure out where he was since the last thing he remembered was passing out because his constant complaining got on the nerves of a certain swordswoman. Thinking of said woman brought him a slight grin since she was unlike any other woman that he's met so far, not only was she extremely beautiful but she was just as deadly. So with his mind set on going to talk to said swordswoman Natsu tried to get up but felt an additional weight on his chest that stopped his movement.
Looking down he was instantly greeted with a mess of long salmon hair like his own that belonged to none other than Ikaruga. But he only looked at her hair for a second since her current attire instantly drew his attention, which would probably be better described as a lack of attire. She was just down to her bra and underwear, which were both a light blue and reminded him of what Happy found in one of Lucy's drawers because of how frilly they were.
All of this took him off guard since he had no idea how any of this came to be. Because even though they both made slight advances on each other just the other day he never would have guessed that he would find her half naked sleeping with him and holding onto him with a content smile spread across her face. This caused him to finally realize that he was just down to his boxers as well, which caused him to start worrying that they might have done something together with each other last night.
So wanting to know for sure Natsu took in a big breath with his nose only to let out a long sigh of relief since he couldn't smell any of the scents that are always accompanied with two people having sex. But apparently his sigh was just loud enough to wake the beauty that used to be sleeping on his chest as she then let out a little yawn that he could only describe as cute since it didn't fit with her personality at all.
"You should stop making so much noise Natsu." she tiredly said to him as she closed her eyes again and looked like she was going to go back to sleep on him.
"I only let out a sigh, I'm honestly surprised that something as quiet as that woke you." he stated with a little grin as he started to trace small circles on her back.
"You never know when someone might try to attack you, and when someone is sleeping they are usually the most vulnerable. Something I really think you need to work on Natsu since you were out like a light." she replied as she started to trace the scars that he had on his chest that she wasn't covering with her body.
"I'm perfectly fine when I'm asleep Ikaruga, I could obviously tell that I wasn't in any danger with you there." he stated causing her to look up at him with a curious look.
"And how is that a reasonable excuse for being completely out of it?" she asked, which was more like demanded to know if you went by the tone that she used.
"Sometimes you have to let others have your back, which is unfortunately what I have to do if I'm on any form of transportation. That is the reason that I don't use it unless I absolutely have to like we did yesterday and before you even say it I couldn't feel any killing intent directed at me while I was asleep so why wake up." he explained with a smirk.
"I don't know about that whole thing of letting someone watch your back, but I know for a fact that you need to keep a lookout for more than just killing intent." she stated while looking into his onyx eyes that seemed endless.
"That's where all my other senses come into play and since it was just you and me I had nothing to worry about." he said causing her to now have a frown.
"Are you saying that you're not afraid of me at all?" she asked looking away from him now starting to wonder if sleeping with him like this was too much.
"Not at all, but if you were going to do anything to me you would wait until I could fight back. And I know this since you and I are both the same in that regard, we both like to have a good fight if we can." he replied with a smirk which actually brought back a smile to Ikaruga's face.
"You're still actually afraid of me?" she asked him with a small smile.
"Of course I am, just the other day you told me that you would kill me if I turned down this job and I could tell that you definitely would have tried to do it." answered Natsu, finding it funny that she was happy at learning that he was still a little afraid of her.
"Not tried Natsu, I would have succeeded." she stated with her usual smirk.
"So care to explain why we're both dressed like this and I already know that nothing happened?" he asked and saw a flash of disappointment go across her face at not being able to trick him about what happened between the two of them last night.
"I didn't think you would want to sleep in your usual clothes and you were too warm for me to wear anything but this." she answered as she started to trace his abs with her fingers.
"So I take it we're at the Tower of Heaven." he said while starting to run his fingers through her long pink hair.
"Yes we are, but how are you so informed about all of this stuff already? From what Jellal told me you shouldn't even know his name yet you do while also knowing the name of his tower as well." she asked now looking at him intensely.
"Let's just say that I've got a few friends that know all about his plans and how they're doomed to fail." he replied with a devious smirk.
"If that's true then why did you decided to work with him?" she asked.
"I thought it would be interesting and I always demand to be paid upfront so it doesn't really matter if his plans fail. And you being here was a pleasant surprise that is sure to make it even more exciting than it was already going to be." he answered.
"How do you know that his plans will fail?" she asked him hoping to figure out who filled him in on this.
"A very reliable source told me, that's honestly all I can tell you. So how about we go and get something to eat?" he suggested while trying to get up but was forced back down by the woman on top of him.
"After we lay here for a few more minutes." she said before once again closing her eyes. Enjoying the heat rolling off of him and that weird sensation that came along with it, that she could only compare to the few times in her life when she wasn't on high alert for someone trying to kill her. She could only guess that this was what someone felt like when they were being protected by someone that they knew could defend them from any harm.
A few hours later:
After lying in bed together for almost a full hour they both got dressed and ate an early breakfast since they both called it an early night last night. And just as they got done Ikaruga's team showed up and were introduced to Natsu, who instantly wasn't liked by the two men since he slept in her room last night and seemed to have caught her eye after the first time they met. Something that her teammates weren't happy with since it looked like Natsu could possibly ruin their team which happened to be the best that Death's Head Caucus had.
But after a few glares from both of the pink haired duo Fukuro and Vidaldus decided it was already out of their hands. And after hearing about how he was capable of fending off Ikaruga and even killed a Wizard Saint they knew they didn't really stand a chance against him and left the two alone. That was when she decided to give Natsu the grand tour of the tower as they made their way to the top where Jellal was going to be waiting for them. It was indeed an impressive tower that had pretty much everything a person could want and a whole lot more.
But a few levels down from the top they ran into a group of four coming down from a meeting with Jellal. The group consisted of a tan blonde haired man that overall looked pretty normal which couldn't be said about the rest of the group. That one of their members was a huge man wearing a turban and eye patch with a weird metal jaw on his head even though his normal one was completely fine. The only female member of the group would have looked normal if she didn't have her hair styled into cat ears, clearly showing that she loved cat probably more than anyone ever really should. And the final member of the group was a man dark purple suit, but what made him the weirdest of the group was that he was completely composed of boxes.
"This is Jellal's first line of defense for the tower." stated Ikaruga with a smirk that caused the other group to glare at her.
"I have no idea why Jellal hired a group like you." stated the blonde as he continued to glare at her. Natsu couldn't help but feel as if the large man with the turban kept looking at him as if he didn't believe that he was there, which made him instantly suspicious of him since he's positive that he's never met him before.
"Sho calm down, I'm Simon and this here is Wally and Millianna." said the man in the turban as he introduced the rest of his group.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, I'm Natsu Dragneel." replied Natsu and was then surprised to see a look of shock go over most of their faces.
"The mage from Fairy Tail?" asked Millianna with a slightly scared expression.
"What in the world is one of them already doing here?" asked Sho as he pulled out some cards, ready to launch them at Natsu if he came at them.
"Easy there guys, how long has it been since you left this tower?' he asked while having a stern look on his face.
"It's been a few months, but why does that matter?" asked Wally as he adjusted his hat.
"Then that explains why none of you know that I got kicked out of that guild and did a few other things that people seem to like talking about." he answered now having a slight smirk.
"Why did you get kicked out of Fairy Tail and what did you do that everyone is talking about?" asked Simon, who was counting on Natsu being on their side of things when everything went down. So finding him here right now with Ikaruga definitely didn't make him feel any better about the likely hood of his plan actually working.
"I completed an S-Class quest without permission." he replied while stepping around them with Ikaruga.
"You got kicked out for that?" asked Sho with an incredulous look on his face.
"Yep, and right after that I got blacklisted from all the other legal guilds so it was just me and my best friend trying to make it on our own. But an asshole thought it would be a good idea to alert a few dark guilds about my expulsion so they could gang up on me and try to take me down." he said after coming to a stop with his back to them.
"How many went after you?" asked Millianna, since she wanted to learn more about the person that used to be at the same guild as Erza.
"I lost count after taking out more than seventy of them, and I am only still alive today because of my friend sacrificing himself for me. But don't worry I killed the people responsible for taking him away from me." he stated with his fists clenched as he was once again reminded of how weak he actually is.
"I'm sorry Salamander, and I can see why something like that would be talked about." stated Simon who couldn't help but feel sorry for him right now. And started to think that he needed to do a little more fact finding about what recently happened to him before he tries to get him to help stop Jellal.
"That's not what people are talking about anymore." he replied while once again starting to walk away from them.
"Then what are they talking about Salamander?" asked Wally.
"They're talking about how I killed that asshole who did all of that to me, you might have heard of him Jose Porla." he answered before heading up the stairs with Ikaruga.
"Who's Jose Porla?" asked Millianna with her head tilted to the left.
"One of the Wizard Saints." stated Simon with a completely blank look on his face. Because if Natsu actually opposed them and helped Jellal then their chances just got a whole lot smaller, but if he could get him to come over to their side then they definitely had a really good chance of succeeding.
"So he killed someone as strong as Jellal?" asked Sho now actually shaking in fear.
"Jose actually outranked Jellal." stated Wally who wasn't shaking but now had a really nervous expression and bad feeling about the pink haired man they just met.
"But he's on our side right?" asked Millianna as she looked to Simon.
"I sure hope so Millianna and since he's already here with her that is pretty much a guarantee." he replied with a fake smile, while thinking to himself that he sure hoped Natsu was still on the good side.
"Yeah Simon's right, and it seems like Erza is still fine with betraying her friends." stated Sho no longer shaking in fear, but now had an angry expression on his face as he thought of her. None of them noticed the slight frown Simon had at the mention of Erza and their anger being directed at her right now.
"Let's head out right away guys, there's a few things I want to check on before we reunite with her." said Simon as he took the lead with the rest of them following.
With Jellal:
"So what do you think of my tower Natsu?" he asked as the two pink haired mages entered his throne room.
"Definitely not what I was expecting to wake up in but I've woken up in worse places." replied Natsu with a smirk as Jellal actually started to chuckle at his response.
"I don't doubt that my friend, but I'm afraid that we need to get straight to business since things have already been put into motion and now there's no way of stopping it." he said as he took a seat on his throne.
"Tell me exactly what you want me to do and I'll tell you how much that will cost you. Oh and I won't do anything other than what we decided right now so it would be smart to be very clear with your orders." stated Natsu as he leaned up against a pillar as Ikaruga decided to stand to his right side.
"Then this should be easier than I thought it would be, and is there a reason why you're still here Ikaruga?" replied Jellal as he gave the woman a slight glare.
"I think I should be informed of what Salamander is doing if we're to work together. Also I want to make sure that we aren't being ripped off because he happened to get lucky and kill a Wizard Saint." she replied with her usual smirk.
"Luck had nothing to do with it, Jose betrayed me so there was nothing that was going to stop me from ending him. Something that I hope the two of you don't try since it will only end the same way as it did for Jose." said Natsu now having his eyes closed as if he was in deep thought.
"I'd like to see you try Salamander." she declared while smirking at him, who still wasn't even looking at her.
"Enough and I can now see why it might be smart to have you know what's going on Ikaruga. So what I want you to do Natsu is prevent anyone other than Erza Scarlet from reaching me up here, and that also includes everyone else in this tower right now." he stated with a wicked smile as he studied Natsu's facial reactions to this. And he was once again surprised to see no reaction to this at all as the fire mage let out a little sigh after a few seconds only for a smirk to slowly make its way across his lips as he opened his eyes.
"Well this job just got way more interesting than I thought it would, since other mages of Fairy Tail are bound to follow her. And add in the fact that you think some of your own people are going to betray you and what you have right there is some entertaining fights heading my way." replied Natsu as his smirk only got bigger.
"Correct on all accounts Natsu, which is still shocking to me since until you left Fairy Tail you were known as an idiot across the country. But now it seems you can see most situations quite clearly which is something that is required for a mage to continue growing in his trade." he stated with an amused look.
"As I've said before Jellal, I finally see the world for what it truly is. And that's a place where only the strong survive, so how many people do you think will actually make it to me?" asked Natsu as he once again closed his eyes and lost his smirk.
"I would guess maybe three if you include Erza." said Jellal with pleasant smile.
"There's no way that three of them will make it pass my team." stated Ikaruga with a slight glare directed at Jellal.
"I hope you're correct Ikaruga, but Fairy Tail has a knack for defying the odds set against them. And if you couldn't tell by the conversation that I had with Natsu just now I need Erza Scarlet alive for my plans to work." he replied giving her a slight glare back.
"I was hoping to go up against the famous Titania." she said with a slight frown.
"Just because you can't kill her doesn't mean you can't fight her, and she's one of the few people at Fairy Tail that could possibly give you a challenge." stated Natsu with a grin.
"Natsu does have a point there Ikaruga, but she has to be able to come to me on her own." stated Jellal as he looked at a chessboard in front of his throne with a little smirk.
"Then she will be the only one that gets past me and my team." she stated with her smirk returning to her face as she mentally got ready for what she hoped would be a good duel tonight.
"How does two million jewels sound for a guarantee that no one other than Erza will reach this room of yours?" asked Natsu as he got up off of the pillar he was leaning on seconds ago.
"Sounds fair to me, and don't be concerned about killing anyone that tries to get past you." replied Jellal as he got out the jewels and handed them over to Natsu as if it was nothing.
"You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to, so when do I start doing this for you?" he asked while sending the jewels to his pocket dimension.
"I'll make an announcement through the tower's speakers about the game beginning, which will be the que for both of you to get to your positions." answered Jellal.
"Sounds good to me, well I'll be heading out unless there's anything else you want to tell me." he said while heading towards the stairs.
"You're not curious about what the rest of my plans are?" asked Jellal with an eyebrow raised since most people are curious enough to at least ask.
"Nope, don't care and since you didn't tell me it shouldn't affect me from doing what you paid me to do. And I know that you're not stupid enough to try and cross me Jellal, so why poke my nose where it doesn't belong." came the reply of Natsu before he went down the stairs.
"He's one of the strangest mages I've ever seen." stated Ikaruga as she looked at Jellal who looked completely shocked by Natsu's response.
"That he is, but something's off about him." said Jellal who was now growing suspicious of the dragon slayer that just seemed interested in his jewels. That was the main reason that he wanted to use him, that along with how much it would hurt Erza to see Natsu working for him. But the way Natsu acted it made it seem like he might already know everything about this place and what was going on here. Something that was impossible for the dragon slayer to know, so all Jellal could do now was make sure to keep an eye on him.
"Maybe he's just being professional, and considering how his last job ended you can't blame him for only wanting to know the bare minimum." she stated while heading to the stairs as well.
"Maybe, but you should keep an eye on him for me." he said and watched as she just gave him a wave of acknowledgement before disappearing from sight. He would have been worried about her as well, but since she was a member of Death's Head Caucus there was no chances of her not completing whatever job he gave her.
At Arkane Resort later that night:
"Okay I'll come, just please don't hurt my friends." said Erza quietly with a sad expression.
"No, don't do it Erza!" shouted Lucy from her tied up position on the floor.
"Juvia doesn't want to lose her new friend either." said Juvia from inside of a card that she was trying to break out of with all of her might. But unfortunately was having no such success, which made her even angrier since this was almost exactly what happened to her with Natsu. And she made a promise to herself after she last talked with him that she was never going to let that happen to one of her friends again.
"It's very commendable that you stick up for her like that, but unfortunately it's of no use." stated Simon as he put magic suppressing cuffs on Erza's out stretched arms.
"Seems like you decided to keep your past from them Erza-chan." stated Sho with a little grin.
"That's none of your business Sho, and aren't you supposed to be taking me?" she asked back while not being able to look at any of them in the eyes due to the shame she felt.
"Very true, but it would seem that you can't help but betray those around since you've done it again." he replied with his grin growing ever so slightly.
"I've never betrayed anyone at Fairy Tail." she declared with a glare as she locked eyes with him for the first time. Needless to say, Sho was a little terrified by the look that she was giving him and was thankful that he waited until after the cuffs were on her before saying any of this.
"I think Salamander might have a different opinion on that Erza." said Wally as looked at her with a slightly angry expression that most of them had when looking at her.
"Wait, why are you talking about Natsu?" asked Erza with a slight trembling in her voice. Now starting to wonder if he indeed was part of this due to that little goodbye he left her with the last time they talked.
"Natsu-sama?" asked Juvia, only to intensify her attacks so that she could break out of there and go to him.
"Because he's the most recent person that we know you betrayed Erza-chan. I'm guessing that you and the rest of your guild doesn't see it that way since he broke a stupid rule that your guild has. But you'd be wrong about that, you all betrayed him by just sitting back and letting him go from the one place he thought he belonged and because of that his best friend died." said Millianna with a whole lot of venom in her voice. Erza and Lucy both became really quiet after she said that because they had both been starting to think that on their own, but the other female present had a few different thoughts on the matter.
"You don't know anything about Natsu-sama then; he would never consider either of them as betraying him for only following the rules of the guild. He's smart enough to know where the blame really belongs to, which is why Jose is dead." she declared while glaring at Sho who was now holding her card. Neither of them noticing how those few words from her really helped Erza and Lucy brighten up in this terrible situation.
"You're a feisty one." he replied with a chuckle.
"Juvia will show you how feisty once she breaks out of here!" she shouted as she went back to trying to break out.
"And how do you know all of that exactly?" asked Simon, only for her to not answer as she was too busy trying to escape.
"I think I might just tear your card in half and if you didn't know that would happen to you as well." said Sho as a wicked grin spread across his face as he got ready to do it.
"She's one of his few remaining friends, that's how she knows all of this!" shouted Erza, after seeing the look in his eye and knowing that he was about to do it. All of her old friends looked at her with a slight look of disbelief mainly since the few things that they learned about Natsu while on the mainland was that he didn't seem to even want friends after he lost his best friend.
"And you all know what he did the last time a friend of his was taken away from him." stated Lucy from the ground, who was happy to see a look of horror spread across all of their faces except for Simon's.
"Sho I think you shouldn't do that." stated Millianna who now looked like she just wanted to run away. Because along with learning about Natsu no longer being interested in making friends they also learned of how brutal he was to anyone who just said a few wrong words around him. After hearing that she could only imagine what hell he would put them through if they actually harmed or god forbid killed one of the few people he still considered his friend.
"I have to agree with her on this one Sho, the last thing we want is Salamander hunting us down because that would be anything but dandy." said Wally.
"Let's go, we've already stayed here long enough." declared Simon as he turned and left while Erza followed behind him. She looked over her shoulder at Lucy who was staring back at her and gave her one last smile before leaving the room with him.
"Don't worry, once I reach a certain distance you'll be back to good as new." said Sho as he carefully placed Juvia's card back on the ground as he then ran after the rest of his group.
"Juvia is a complete failure, she let it happen again." said the rain woman as she stopped trying to break free.
"What in the world are you talking about Juvia?" asked Lucy as she rolled over to her card.
"Juvia let another one of her friends be taken away from her." she replied while looking like she was about to cry. Thinking that Natsu might have left her because she wouldn't have been able to help him in anyway at all while they traveled across the country together liked she dreamed of doing with him.
"This is different than what happened to Natsu, because this time we can go and get her back." declared Lucy with a small smile.
"You're right, Juvia needs to stop thinking less of herself like Natsu-sama told her." she replied with a now determined look, that reminded Lucy of the last time she saw it which ended with her being captured in a matter of seconds. So seeing it now not directed at her while she wasn't an enemy of the rain woman made Lucy smile and know right then and there that bringing Juvia along was a really good idea.
"Great to hear, now we both just need to break free." stated Lucy as the two of them tried to break free.
Two hours later:
"So that's what happened to us." explained Lucy to Gray who just rejoined them a few minutes ago and filled them in on what happened to him.
"Then it's obvious that we need to go after them, and this time none of us will be caught off guard." declared Gray as started to lead them out of the casino.
"Juvia wants to know if you even know where they took Erza?" she asked with a slight frown.
"Shit, in a situation like this Natsu would usually just follow his nose and we would follow him." he replied with an angry expression. Still clearly upset about the whole situation of Natsu's departure from the guild, not really knowing who he should be angry at exactly. So he's just been focusing that anger at his enemies which he just seemed to have gotten a lot of today.
"Gray, what's that you have on your necklace?" asked Lucy while pointing at a something wrapped around the chain of his necklace.
"No idea." he replied while carefully unraveling it, which revealed that it was a note.
"Dear friends of Erza
If you want to get her back you need to come to these coordinates as fast as possible. Also once you're close you'll need to find a way to sneak in or you'll be blasted out of the water by the tower's defense system. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you're my only hope for saving Erza and possibly the rest of the world.
From a true friend of Erza's."
"Well know we know where to go." stated Gray with a grin as he started to head towards the docks of the resort.
"Are you sure we should trust this stranger?" asked Lucy with a little apprehension in her voice.
"Don't really have any other option." he replied.
"Why did they leave it on your necklace?" asked Juvia who had been wondering about that for since he took the note off of it.
"Because whoever left it obviously knows about his weird habit of stripping." stated Lucy while she shook her head at how someone could even develop something like that.
"He strips?" asked Juvia with wide eyes as she then looked at Gray who was just in his boxers already. All Lucy could do was giggle at Juvia for finally realizing this about him and she also came to the conclusion that Natsu was indeed correct about Juvia fitting right in at Fairy Tail.
"No I don't, now let's go save Erza." declared Gray who was completely unaware that he was down to his boxers. As his two companions followed after him both picking up his clothes that were tossed to the ground just moments ago.
End of Chapter
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it. So yeah I decided to make the Tower of heaven a two chapter arc that could possibly turn into three depending how things turn out in the next chapter. Sometimes I start writing and don't even realize how much I'm doing and then bam I have more words than I would like to have in a normal chapter. Also I know that this chapter didn't have much action in it either, but you can't just have action even though that is what the next chapter is pretty much just going to be after I get past the beginning scene I have planned for it. Well that's all I got so don't hesitate to leave me a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Until the next Chapter
Digem Out!
