It was always nice when the temperature in Magnolia decided to drop.
Sometimes there would be snow, the largest signal of the warmer months coming to an end. Sometimes it would rain, disrupting the marketplace and sending people to flee beneath the cover of their homes.
Sometimes, it would be as simple as the sun refusing to shine.
Any of those options suited him fine. If not for his temperament, then for his magic alone.
Too bad that today, the weather had decided to be an enormous prick about everything.
Gray groaned as he rolled his shoulder, willing the sunlight to stop its assault against his senses as he slowly made his way through the main streets of Magnolia. His bones, if possible, groaned louder at his actions, fairly annoyed that their owner had the audacity to elicit such a reaction from them after falling asleep on that train seat.
Gray couldn't blame them. He knew what the problem was going to be, even if the seat was fairly comfortable when he first got into it. Such were the ways of the train; such a fickle beast in nature, the repercussions of getting too familiar with their innards typically leading to one's downfall.
The chimes lining the bottom of his trench coat rang gently as a shiver ran down Gray's spine. Or maybe that was just the large majority of his back muscles all choosing that moment to spasm, it was slightly hard to tell.
Maybe he should go see a chiropractor?
A second, smaller gust of wind drifted through the lane Gray had chosen as a shortcut, making his coat chime again as the sides drifted apart and allowed the wind to play out across his bare chest. Having spent the last few weeks in a far warmer environment, the almost foreign feeling of external cold sent another shiver down his spine, and Gray dismissed his latest quandary with a shake of his head.
Nope, he could tough it out, no chiropractor necessary. Putting a shirt on would also probably be an option, but he hadn't bothered wearing a shirt in months, and he wasn't looking to ruin that streak now.
His bones creaked at the mere thought.
Or maybe that was just another of his vertebrae being finally giving in to the strain of his muscles and shattering. How was he supposed to know? He didn't speak body language.
Another turn in the road, and the familiar visage of Fairy Tail had appeared on the horizon. Gray gave another pitiful moan as he kept walking, the odd glances his expulsion gained him going unnoticed upon his realisation that he would have to climb the stair to get into his Guild.
That settled it. No longer would he choose missions that involved the very real risk of falling asleep on the train. No matter how good the pay was or how many good excuses it gave him to blow something up.
The mission itself hadn't even been hard. Just a standard hunt and destroy S-Class in some far off town he had never heard of and would likely never visit again. Hell, it had barely been an S-Class threat! Just some weird animal… thing the size of a house, which had apparently stolen children in the dead of night and could breathe fire.
Hah. Child's play. The thing hadn't even noticed his coat pealing as he walked up to it.
At least he'd gotten a decent pay check out of it, even if the conflict had barely lasted a quarter of a minute. Thinking back on that…fight? No, it was far too pitiful for that. Thinking back on that… event just made him sort of feel bad.
Almost as bad as he felt once he found out how annoying it would be to try to kick the door open in his current state.
At least the hole where his heart should be could be filled in with all the money he'd received for a job well done.
Gray grimaced as he finally came to the top of the stairs, his foot already lowering in dismay. If he'd decided to think things through, he probably wouldn't have hopped up to the door in anticipation for no reason, but that was neither here nor there.
The point was that now, left with no choice, he was forced to push the doors open calmly like some sort of commoner (or his brother, ugh). At least a gust of wind decided to take pity on him in that last second, making his entrance a little cooler than it would have been without having his coat billow off to the side.
It got caught on the door on the way through, but nobody had to dwell on that.
Forget it ever happened.
The Guild looked exactly as he'd left it. Filled with people drinking their livers into submission with the sun still high in the sky, swearing to their heart's content and every now and then the brief sounds of combat.
The perfect picture of serenity. Natsu mustn't have been in.
His awkward gait drew some jeers between the welcomes as Gray made his way through the Guild, intent on making his report, maybe getting something to eat, and then finding somewhere soft to lie down. His eyebrow raised once he found the slumbering form of his brother, and with some fancy footwork that left his back screaming to the world about how much of a prick he was, Gray managed to upright, and subsequently crash into, a stool that lay nearby.
Smooth, Gray.
"Welcome back, Gray." Makarov apparently decided to turn a blind eye as Gray climbed back to his feet, picking the stool up like a normal person and actually being somewhat cautious as he sat down this time. "How was your mission?"
Gray propped his arms up on the bar, being careful to avoid the small puddle of drool that Silver had decided to create. The coffee that was lying in front of him was no longer letting off any steam, which led Gray to believe that the man had been there for a while.
"Not too bad." Returning Laxus' nod, which was probably a form of greeting, Gray ordered his lunch as he poked Silver in the side of the head, turning back to Makarov once he came to the conclusion that his brother was well and truly out of it. "Did you know that keys to the city are still a thing? Because I got-"
"Key!" Gray's neck snapped back around, his back giving a little, teeny tiny twinge of pain as Silver's head shot off the bar, his own momentum sending him backwards off his stool and crashing unceremoniously to the ground.
Gray watched, utterly unamused, as Silver leapt back to his feet, missing his cup of coffee twice before he managed to grab it and down the rest of its contents with one gulp. His eyes were bloodshot, to an almost disturbing degree, and Gray found that he did not like the slightly manic gleam in them one bit as Silver turned tail and sprinted for the front door.
He made it two steps before he tripped over his own feet, laying prone on the floor for all of a heartbeat before a deep snore echoed through the otherwise silenced Guild.
Gray blinked down at his brother's unconscious form, taking in his utterly haggard appearance before sighing and coming to his own conclusions.
"You put something in his coffee again, didn't you?" He inquired, turning to face Laxus in time to see the man roll his eyes.
"When he starts showing a modicum of being able to take care of himself, I'll stop spiking his drinks with sedatives." Laxus grunted, glancing down disdainfully at the wet patch of bar. "Until then, he can sleep on the floor. People eat here."
Maybe if he hadn't been witness to some of the insane things his brother would do on less than a whim, Gray would be more inclined to argue for Silver's dignity, at the very least. As it had been lately, with a lack of bags under Silver's eyes being the more uncommon occurrence than any other, Gray decided to remain quiet as he gathered his food and made his way to the second floor.
His back wasn't in the mood to take part in, or initiate a brawl right now. Dignity could be reserved for the people who didn't sleep in their own drool.
XxX
A yacht hadn't been Bora's first choice of getaway vehicle when he'd started out his slavery ring.
Initially, he'd decided on a car. Plain, simple, easy to repaint in the event of a repaint being necessary. It had worked out splendidly for him too, up until he'd started gaining others to help regulate his slavery ring. Naturally, out of necessity, he'd decided to take it one step further.
He decided on a flying car. A big flying car.
Unfortunately, it was soon pointed out to him by a henchman who was no longer with him, bless his soul, that the only flying car in the known world was currently in the possession of one Silver Fullbuster. The very same Silver Fullbuster who had been the focus of a featured article in one of the most infamous editions of Sorcerer Magazine.
(The accompanying picture had been of Silver shoving a sword so far into an enormous Demon's head that it was poking out the other side. Obviously, there was no fucking with someone who could even hold a sword that ridiculously massive, so the flying car was a no go until further notice.)
There had been several other selections between the flying car and the yacht. Bora had cycled through so many options that he'd eventually opened it up to public henchmen vote, which had resulted in many an unconventional decision, including a train and a crop duster.
The times of the crop duster weren't even worth mentioning. If you did mention it, you would generally find yourself walking the plank.
The yacht didn't even have a plank. You had to go out and buy one to walk off yourself.
It had been one young man at the end of his patience, who isn't worth naming because he's not important to the overarching plot whatsoever, that had suggested a yacht, and in that moment, witnesses could swear they'd heard a chorus of angels sing down from the Heavens.
Because a chorus of angels would obviously be all for some dude running a slave trading business on a yacht. Morons.
Unfortunately for all the henchmen who had signed the contract of service for life (not all of them were actually aware of what a contract was, and even less knew they had signed one), that single day of not having to listen to Bora's bitching would very quickly lead into a life filled with stress and seasickness.
Because Bora, despite not knowing the first thing about boats, was very in to screaming orders in the general direction of whichever mook (as their contract forced them to call themselves and each other, nobody wanted to get sued, after all) was unfortunate enough to be in the same room as him.
So when Bora crashed through the very closed window, in a very real panic and enveloped in very purple flames, there to meet him was much dread and maybe one or two comments about whether or not having a fire inside a very wooden boat was the very best idea Bora had very ever had.
It was up there, but that's not the point.
"Weigh the anchor! Port to starboard! Batten down the lifebelts!" More than one person left the room to go find an anchor to weigh. One of the unlucky few who hadn't soon found himself being shaken back and forth after Bora grabbed him by the collar.
"Get someone to the crow's nest!" The man didn't get enough time to point out their lack of a crow's nest before Bora threw him out of the broken window. "Pink hair! Get us out of here! Mush, mush!"
"I don't have pink hair…" The person who was usually in charge of steering the yacht muttered, somewhat insulted by his boss' lack of attention to detail. With a small sniff, the man shuffled sullenly into position, kicking the section of wall that had been marked after that one time the ignition stalled and they had to find an alternative to jump starting the boat.
The wiring behind the wall shifted, and the boat roared to life… before launching into a coughing fit and spluttering out completely.
Oh, right. They'd stopped by Hargeon to refuel, hadn't they?
Launching into a very convincing act depicting a person who'd just started hyperventilating, Bora turned to the nearest person and grabbed them by the collar, causing the man to wish he hadn't decided to climb back in through the window as the world starting quaking again.
"Send someone out to get us some fuel! NOW!" Bora threw the man out of the window again, ignoring his heartfelt cursing completely. He was a sailor after all, he'd gotten used to it after a while. "Now, everybody hide! Actually, no, everyone hide ME! I don't care about any of you! In fact, someone get out and push! Get me out of here!"
Everyone within hearing distance glanced at one another, before shrugging and leaping overboard. Maybe being underwater would make Bora's annoying voice easier to listen to.
Besides, it couldn't possibly be more difficult than that time they'd had to get out and push the crop duster.
XxX
"So…transportation, huh?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Lucy giggled, her head still struggling to wrap itself around that information. "I can't believe it; the Salamander has a crippling fear of transportation."
"I'm not afraid!" Natsu crossed his arms, sounding a little too petulant to pass as completely honest. "I've just been in a car with Gray driving too many times. Wait, no, I mean, it's a Dragon Slayer thing!"
Happy floated past, clucking like a chicken, and Natsu waved the cat away before raising his nose to the air again. The purple fire had long since dissipated, but the smell of ozone burning still remained (and it smelled worse than it usually did, yeesh), forming a trail that was all but visible to Natsu's trusty nose.
Lucy, for lack of anything better to do, had decided to tag along on their journey through Hargeon's many ports.
It had been all too easy for her to follow along with the example Happy had insisted on setting.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of." It was so improper, bantering with a person she barely knew, but maybe that was where all the allure lay for her. Her life up until that point had been so…lonely, it was difficult to resist Natsu's and Happy's infectious, upbeat auras. "I heard somewhere that the ace of Blue Pegasus can't function properly if he's got germs on him."
Plus, watching him sink further and further into his crossed arms like an annoyed child was just too precious. For the first time in a very long while, her life was starting to look pretty bright.
Maybe this was what having friends felt like?
Abruptly, Natsu straightened up, his arms falling down to his sides as his nostrils flared. Lucy almost tripped when he suddenly stopped walking, and she felt a weight that had become familiar to her over the course of their journey on her shoulder as Happy came down to land.
Following his line of sight, Lucy glanced at the yacht docked beside them, her head cocking to the side and her eyebrow raising slightly at the sight that greeted her.
The man that had drawn Natsu's attention was doing his best to shimmy around the pole he'd wrapped his limbs around, which looked to be the tallest one on the yacht. He seemed to be trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
In Lucy's opinion, the whistling wasn't helping any.
"He's on that one." Natsu frowned, one hand coming up to stroke his chin. Lucy watched on as he took a step forward, feeling before seeing Happy ascend from her shoulder. Flames flickered into life along his arms, gaining Lucy's rapt attention as he sank into a fighting stance. "I'm gonna blow it up."
"But what if he's got slaves on there?" Happy pointed out, plonking down into Natsu's hair and making himself a little nest in which to reside.
The fire died down, and Natsu's frown deepened somewhat as he straightened up.
"Damn, you're right." Natsu narrowed his eyes at the ship, before shifting his gaze onto his new companion. Lucy gulped as their eyes met, and after a moment Natsu looked away, taking a deep breath through his nostrils as he did so.
"Lava Clone." He announced, before… bending over and vomiting onto the pavement.
Lucy eyes widened in alarm, her mouth opening as she stepped forward to see what the problem was, only to stop dead in her tracks as the puke started to… rise up from the ground.
Before her eyes it began to take shape, first with a pair of feet, moving on to the legs connected to them. More and more seemed to appear from where there was once nothing, and bubbles began to form as a vest was constructed.
Natsu cocked his head as the top half of the construct was completed, taking in what was apparently supposed to be the hair as it flopped down flat on the thing's head. From where she was standing, Lucy could see patches of where the – what was apparent now – lava had cooled, with most of the construct's arms and some of its chest being more reminiscent of stone than magma.
"Still needs work," Natsu muttered to himself, before pointing at the ship. His Lava Clone turned sluggishly to regard it, a bit of his hair dripping to the ground and hissing on impact.
"Go find our guy and bring him out here. Don't attack anyone else unless they throw the first punch." The clone nodded, slowly beginning its journey towards the yacht. Natsu wiped away some lava that had splashed onto his cheek, a result of a particularly large bubble popping a little too close, before calling after his clone, "and don't touch anything that looks like it can catch fire!"
With that, Natsu linked his fingers behind his head, falling backwards onto the ground and staring up at the clouds above him. Happy toppled off his head on the way down, rolling down his face and chest before landing and making himself comfortable on Natsu's stomach.
Lucy stared as the Lava Clone tripped over the yacht's railing, a small fire bursting to life across the beam of wood, before turning incredulous eyes on the lounging boy and his cat.
"Did you just spit up lava?"
Natsu hummed, shifting his legs so they were crossed at the ankles. "Yep."
Lucy blinked, before settling herself on the ground. Her keys jangled as she adjusted her skirt and, with a moment's hesitation, flopped onto her back with a grunt. "Why? Wouldn't it be easier to go in yourself?"
"And leave you alone here, unprotected?" Natsu scratched the back of his head idly. "Nope, not a chance."
Lucy turned to glare at him, her tone fairly indignant. "I can protect myself!"
Natsu cocked an eyebrow as he tilted his head, and for the second time in as may hours, Lucy found herself being subjected to a serious look that seemed out of place on his face.
"I've never seen you fight, so I don't know that for sure. Nobody can ambush me, I'd smell them before they could use a spell. Plus, going in myself would mean I'd have to go on the boat." Natsu ticked off three fingers, before shaking his head and going back to using his hands to cushion his skull. "Besides, my Lava Magic still sucks. If that guy can't take out a Clone, then fighting him would be so boring that it's not even worth thinking about."
Lucy's eyebrows rose as she turned back to the boat, her mild ire having been extinguished in the face of Natsu's surprisingly sound reasoning. She probably wouldn't say it out loud, but the thought of having to face down slave traders that could use magic on her own made her feel slightly sick in the stomach.
She was confident in her abilities, sure, but she'd much rather her fight serious bout be against someone not known for kidnapping people of her age and gender.
Enjoying the calming feeling of the sun's rays on her skin, Lucy's eyes had almost slid shut completely before movement entered the edge of her vision. The sun left a large dot in her vision as her eyes snapped open, but Lucy found it easy enough to ignore as she watched a relatively short man fall over the same beam that had been set on fire barely a minute prior, an extremely large canister being cradled in his arms.
For a moment, all was quiet.
You can probably guess what's destined to happen next.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed Natsu's nostrils flaring, his eyes snapping open a second later. With enough speed to make Lucy's head spin, he'd shot to his feet, leaving Happy to catch himself with his wings as Natsu charged towards the yacht.
"Back!" He yelled, a swirl of flames propelling him over the last few meters separating him from the yacht. Feeling something wrap around her stomach, Lucy glanced down, coming to the conclusion that Happy had managed to pull her most of the way off the pier in the amount of time it had taken her to acknowledge the fact that his tail was touching her.
She probably would have made a comment on that particular ability, had the yacht not decided to take that moment to blow the fuck up.
XxX
"What are they doing now!?" An untraceable and very mysterious voice echoed through the portion of the yacht that had been dubbed the 'Command Sentah', with an 'S'.
Maybe it was a ghost. It certainly sounded very spoopy.
Mook numero uno glanced through the Sommand Sentah's window, addressing the very spoopy presence that was sharing the room with him a moment later. "They're just standing th- no, wait, the guy just threw up."
The spoopy presence was very confused with his numero uno mook's words.
Very spoopily confused.
"What do you mean, threw up? Is he sick?"
How the fuck am I supposed to know, mook numero uno wanted to say, but the presence was too spoopy to allow insubordination. No insubordination allowed in the Sommand Sentah, not whilst the spoopy presence was there.
"I don't know, he seems…what."
Bora poked his head out from under the blanket that had been draped over him, glaring at his subordinate from the corner he'd decided to curl up in.
"What's 'what'?" He hissed.
The mook blinked twice, before rubbing his eyes and blinking once more for good measure.
He then blinked one more time, just for really good measure.
"The vomit's coming right at us." He announced, turning around to fix his boss with a look that told him that he'd now seen everything.
Bora raised an eyebrow at him, before slowly tucking his head back underneath his blanket. Mook numero uno watched him disappear, before turning to face the wall and contemplate the meaning of life.
Nobody bothered to move as the vomit slowly stumbled into the room, its head turning this way and that, lava flicking from its bangs to set fire to the room. They were content to merely sit there in silence, or in Bora's case, content to emulate a turtle in the corner in silence.
It was peaceful, they decided. Up until when the man Bora had thrown through the window tripped back in through said window, the canister filled to the brim with fuel flying from his arms. That probably wouldn't have been too big a deal, had the Lava Clone not taken the duty of catching the canister before it could make a mess upon itself.
Life, mook numero uno decided as the Lava Clone stared down at the reddening canister stupidly, was a fragile, beautiful thing. Over in a blink, chasing the shadows away with light purified by innocence.
Or maybe that light was just the explosion that was now consuming the room. Either or, really.
XxX
Happy, Lucy decided, was not panicking nearly as much as he should have been right now.
"Natsu!" The duo watched as the explosion sent pieces of yacht flying in many different directions, some even impacting the strangely high amount of people that had decided to take a swim around the boat. Interestingly enough, there were no flames, though there definitely was enough sound and smoke to make it very clear what had happened.
As soon as it had stopped raining yacht, Happy swooped back to the ground, depositing Lucy on the pavement before making a beeline for the water. Many shouts filled the air as people started making their way over, sailors and civilians alike wondering exactly what had transpired.
Lucy ignored them all, sprinting to the edge of the water with her heart climbing into her throat.
"Natsu!" She called again, whipping her keys off her belt. Before any summoning could happen, the sound of someone spluttering entered her ears, and her head snapped around so quickly that most of the people watching were worried that she'd seriously hurt herself.
"That's the worst fire I've ever tasted!" Happy's winged emerged from the yacht's main cabin, with Natsu dangling from his front paws. The Dragon Slayer looked completely fine, with not even a smudge on his clothes. For whatever reason, he held a strange, blanket covered lump in one hand, using the other to rake at his tongue.
Before his feet had even touched the ground, Lucy had launched herself at him, her arms twitching sporadically as she found herself stuck with a dilemma.
To hug him, or punch him in the stupid face?
Eventually, the fact that there were quite a few witnesses around spurred her into making a decision, and Natsu squawked in surprise as Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck.
So she could start strangling him.
"Jumping into the explosion!?" She shrieked, almost hearing the peanut Natsu called his brain rattling around in his skull as she shook him to and fro. "What the Hell were you thinking!?"
Seeing as Natsu was kind of preoccupied, Happy answered for him.
"Natsu's immune to fire, and most explosions are fire. He ate it so nobody would get hurt."
Lucy's hands stilled, her confusion-powered glare seeking out Natsu's slightly crossed eyes. "You ate it?"
"'Sa Dragon Sla'rr 'ing." Natsu slurred, his face slightly blue. Not one for committing murder, Lucy released the boy, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head before snapping back into position.
"Your fingers are really strong, Lucy." He commented, rubbing his throat with his free hand. The blanket covered lump under his arm groaned, drawing Natsu's attention away from Lucy's flushed features.
"You're…the real…?"
"Yep." Lifting the blanket off his load, Lucy caught sight of the man that had drawn a crowd earlier that day, before Natsu sent a fist into his face and he slumped back down. Natsu cracked his knuckles against his chin as he flipped Bora onto his shoulder, turning around to address the silent audience that had gathered.
"Someone call the cops, they're all criminals. Kay? Thanks."
With that, he turned around, making his way back towards town as Happy made himself comfortable atop his head.
And just as the legends of the future would depict, Lucy jogged away to join him.
XxX
Alright, so the TV Tropes page actually happened. You have no idea how happy typing that sentence made me. It's the main reason that I decided to get off my lazy ass, or on my lazy ass, if you want to get technical, and write this chapter. It's the shortest one yet, but the previous chapter was the longest, so if you think about it, I'm just keeping the story balanced.
You know the deal by now. If you see any mistakes, please let me know. Until next chapter!
X
