"Hey Erza, want me to take a turn for a while?" I shouted to the front of the vehicle.
"No, I should be able to get us there on my own." Came her reply.
Sighing I knocked 3 times in the cart, our signal to stop. After a moment the car slowly came to a halt I hopped out and walk up front to Erza.
"What is it, why are we stopping?" She asked looking at me. I could see on her face that she was tired from expending so much magic.
"Hop up. I'll take over." I said stepping into the driver compartment and reaching for the reins.
"I said I was fine! Get back in your seat so we can go!" Erza said but the slight red on her cheeks was a giveaway at her exaustion. Not moving I continued to hold my hand out for the reins
"Come on. I'm sure you get us there but you're not gonna be much help if you're out of power let me drive for a while."
"Very well. I suppose you're right I'll rest in the back for now. We should be there in less than an hour." Erza said defeated as she handed me the magic drainer and hopped down.
Quickly adjusting myself, we were off back on our way to the desert village. After the train had gotten us to the town we decided it would be best to rent a magical vehicle specifically made for journeys in the desert. The shop owner told us it would be about a three hour drive so we should get there before dark. I offered to drive, since Erza had paid my half of the rent, but she declined saying she prefers being in control.
After driving for around 20 minutes I realized I didn't have a map or any guide on where to go apart from the direction Erza was headed when I took over. "Hey! Erza!" I shouted back. After not hearing a response I tried again. "Erza! I have a question!" Again I didn't hear anything so I pulled over and stopped.
Getting out and walking to the cabin door, I peeked in side to see what was going on. Looking inside I saw Erza laid out asleep on the seat, probably trying to recharge her magic faster, and below her on the floor was a map. Reaching in I swiftly grabbed the map and softy shut the door as to not wake her.
As I was heading back to the drivers seat, studying the map, I noticed a large amount of sand shifting not to far away. Walking closer to get a better look, the sand settled no longer moving. Watching it carefully, ready for any sign of danger I stood still. Suddenly I heard the door to the car open as Erza stepped out.
"Nate? Why are we stopped? Where are we?" She asked sleepily.
Deciding the danger was gone began to turn back to the car, when I felt the earth begin to shake slightly behind me. In an instant it was under me, but it continued forward. Immediately realizing what was happening I ran to Erza, "Erza move!" But just as the words left my mouth the ground beneath the cart exploded, sending our luggage everywhere, as a monstrous brown earth worm rose into the sky. It's head was round with a large circular opening littered with teeth.
Lucky, just before the full brunt of the attack, I used my Lightning Step to get to Erza and move her away. As I sat her down she wobbled slightly. One look at her foot and I could see it was probably sprained from the impact.
Erza quick to react changed weapons to a large double edged great sword. "Don't worry I'm fine! Focus on that thing!" She shouted flying off at the beast.
"Don't know why I was even worried. She is Titania after all." I said with a laugh before following her to battle.
Erza immediatly went for the kill as she summoned more weapons and sent dozens of swords down on the monster. Though her attack proved fruitless as they all bounced off the hardened skin. Trying my own hand at attacking I jumped in throwing a hard kick into him, leaving little more that a burn mark behind.
"That things got pretty thick skin!" I shouted to Erza, as the worm retailiated slamming its upper body down where I was standing. Dodging I caught a quick glimpse of Erza, I could see the wheels in her head turning, planning something. "Truth is I could easily take this thing down by myself but I would rather work together."
"Nate! I got a idea! When I give you the signal blast these swords with your lightning!" She shouted gathering five swords around her aimed at the overgrown worm.
Nodding I charged up lightning to follow her plan, pretty sure I knew what she had in mind.
"Now!"
I launched my magic at her swords, which conducted it perfectly. "YAAA!" Erza shouted as her swords propelled to the monster, however unlike before the blades completely pierced him and exited the other side. The monster let out a pained growl as it shook enraged by our attack. Before either of us could react, the worm attacked Erza, sending her flying into a mound of sand at break neck speeds
"ERZA!" I shouted running for where she landed, but also drew the attention of the monster. As he tried to attack me by smashing his head into me as he had with Erza. I stopped him, latching onto his teeth on either side of his mouth, sliding a few feet. "Alright, Now I'm Pissed!" I said gripping tight as I started walking backwards, taking him out of his habitat and into mine.
"Time to take you down a notch, overgrown cenipede."
When the last of his body left the hole I tossed his head high as I could without throwing him entirely up. I crouched preparing end it in one blow, I then shot up like a raging bolt and struck my knee into the head, simultaneously a massive bolt exited the opposite side, through his skull, killing the beast and solving the problem.
Making sure the fight was finished, I headed over to Erza to see on her condition. She was unconscious but alive and seemingly not majorly hurt. The sand around her had softened her fall and prevented any crazy damage, However the head on attack from the worm left a large bruise on her arms as well as cracking the armor she wore straight down the center. Deciding she'd be safest in the town for the night I lifted her on my back and pulled the map out of my pocket.
Several Hours Later
By the time we arrived it was dark out. Erza still hadn't woke so I made taking her to their doctor was my first priority. After a quick examination the doctor assured that everything was fine and she would wake by tomorrow morning at the latest. Giving the doctor my thanks I decided I should head to the town mayoral office to turn in our job.
"Excuse me. Are you the man who put out the wizard job?" I asked stepping into an office.
"Oh," the man said in reply. He was sitting behind a desk, seemingly stressed over something. "Yes. I was the one who put out the mission request, Mayor Markco. I'm guessing you're from fairy tail?" He said standing up and walking towards me. "Might I see your mark? And I heard there were two of you coming?"
I lifted my shirt while replying, "Yea, we actually already dealt with your monster worm thing on the way here." Putting my hands in my pocket I sighed, "That's actually why I'm the only one here. My partner got knocked out. She's in the hospital now, Doc said she'll be okay so I figured I would go ahead and collect our reward."
The man stared at me before turning away, "Yes, well be that as be that as it may, I'm afraid I can't pay you right now." He walked back behind his desk and began filing through some papers.
"I'm sorry? You can't pay us?!" I said Stepping forward a vein popping on my forehead. "My partner is unconscious from fighting your monster and you can't PAY US?!"
"Well... Yes. And no." He said bringing a piece of paper to his face before handing it to me. "Take this. Maybe then you'll understand."
"Tchh." Snatching the paper My eyes scanned it for Details. The paper was the same as the orginal job flier. However two major differences stood out. One was that the number of worms was increased from one to an estimated six. The second was that the reward was now nearly 950,000 jewel!
"As I'm sure you see I can't pay you because we still need your help." The mayor said now sitting down.
"Whoa! Dude you gotta be kidding! Nearly a million jewel?!" I said shocked by the news.
"Yes. I'm afraid the situation has become that dire. We didn't realize until recently that there were more than one. This paper was to go out tomorrow to all the available guilds." The mayor glanced towards me before continuing, "I realize you had no way of knowing this and your partner is out cold so you can't complete the mission, so I'm sorry but I can't pay you for a mission not done."
We locked eyes for a brief moment before I let out a laugh, catching Markco of guard. "Jeez. Don't worry me like that!" I said heading for the door, "Any idea where I can find these things?"
"What?! You can't seriously be planning to fight alone?" He shouted at me with a worried tone in his voice.
"Ehh I'll be fine. Now again. Know where I can find them?" I said now at the door waiting for his answer. Turning back I saw the Mayor staring at me.
"Very well." Markco sighed, "Taking the south trail out of town they'll come after you. So far they've attacked every traveler trying to take that road."
"Okay Thanks!" I shouted stepping out the door. A thought occurred in my head as I leaned back into the room, "Oh and if my friend in the hospital wakes up, don't tell her about this."
Without giving him time to respond I shut the door and headed to the trail south of town. The sun was already down, however the moon light succeeded in lightning up most of the outside. Leaving the town, I began jogging in the moon light attempting to draw in as much attention as possible.
I had been going for around 5 minutes when I saw large amounts of sand shifting in the dim light. "Looks like they found me..." Dropping my pace to a walk I tensed up for the incoming attack.
Watching the sand before me continue to move as it headed for me, I was completely blindsided as the sound of another of worms came from behind. Turing around, there was another worm heading straight for me at much faster speeds.
"Whoa... In this dim light I didn't even notice him." I thought jumping into the air to avoid his attack. Getting the birds eye view of things turned helpful as I say that three more of the worms were hiding not so far away.
Falling back to earth I managed to land on one. Using my location to my advantage, I began streaming a steady current of electricity into it. My plan worked as the rest of its body exited the hole and it began writhing in pain, causing the others of its pack to head towards us, wanting to help. Once they where all around us moving around trying to protect their friend I released my victim from my grasp.
"Ok I got them all together now. But what's the best way to kill them?" I thought, sitting and scratching my head. "I could just electicue them all in one go. Or would phisical attacks be better? I cou-" I said but was interrupted as guy I was riding shook suddenly causing me to lose my balance and fall into the dirt.
"Owwww! Ok you're going down first!" I shouted as the worm I was riding turned around and began his revenge attack on me. Immediately I charged up a large blue ball between my hands. Launching it at him, causing a direct explosion in his face completely doing away with his face and causing his body to fall to the ground, no longer moving. "NOVA SHOCK!"
The second one came right after leaving me with no time to celebrate. This one I let get close just to smash him away with my fists. Taking the offensive, I went after then next three using a series of powerful kicks and punches to take them out. The last one came after me by trying to attack from below. Moving to the side I launched a quick bolt of lightning at his head ending the fight.
The Following Morning
Erza and I are just heading out, back to the guild. Without our vehicle however, the trip is likely going to be a while.
I managed to get the money from the mayor and after split the shares between Erza and myself. At first she was really surprised and suspicious about the money, however after some talking (and promises to buy strawberry cake as well as getting her armor repaired good as new) she let it go and accepted the money.
The hospital had cleared her to leave once she woke so we decided it would be best to head back to the guild. Just leaving the city Erza turned and said, "I'm sorry for my weakness. Because of me you were left to fight the monster alone."
Surpried, I said, "What do you mean? Your swords basically had already defeated the monster. After he hit you, he struggled for a few more minutes but it wasn't exactly a fight."
"Yes, I know that much you already said, however you still were forced to carry me for hours to reach the city, and you saved my life." She shouted at me infuriated that I was arguing with her as she tried to thank me.
"Yea that's true, but it's not like you were any trouble you're pretty light honestly. And I didn't really save your life, Doc said you would have been fine. But sure you're welcome." I replied.
Erza was now looking at the ground, obviously upset, "Hey Erza" I said.
"What is it?" She replied, still having a slight tone of anger.
"We're Friends right?"
She completely stopped in her tracks at this, "What do you mean? Everyone in Fairy Tail is family."
Shaking my head, "No that's not what I mean. I mean are you and I friends? Like would you go on another mission with me sometime?" Seeing her face star at me blankly I said, "I mean it's not like you have to! I was just saying I had fun. I'm not usually working with other so"
"Hahahahaha!" I heard Erza say, "Of course we're friends! And yes we will definitely go on another mission sometime." Stepping ahead of me as we walked, "But you know everyone in Fairy Tail really considers you a friend too. You don't have to be worried about not having anyone to go on missions on."
I couldn't stop myself from smiling at her. We continued our walk in silence. Walking from behind I noticed, for the first time, just how red Erza's hair was, in fact it looked really good on her.
Noticing my sudden interest with her, Erza commented, "What?"
"Huh?"
"I said, what? What are you looking at?" Erza said now turning around.
"Oh, well I was just looking at your hair?" I replied.
"And what's wrong with my hair?" She asked, slight sense of challenge in her voice.
"No! Nothing! Promise!" I replied sensing the danger I was playing with, "Honestly I just was thinking that it's really nice and looks good on you." Seeing her turn away and continue walking, I couldn't help but smile at the slight blush I saw on her cheeks. "She does turn out to be pretty hot when she's older and i've always loved her i could... No. No, she's gonna be with Jellal..." I thought, as I followed her forwards.
After walking for several more hours we arrived back at the town (Luckly we happened to find all of her luggage near the vehicle wreckage our way) with the station. Erza demanded we head back to the magic vehicle rental service to let them know what happened, against my better thoughts. The owner was extremely understanding, atleast once we offered him the money for a new one he was. Once that was dealt with, we headed for the station to by our tickets and borded the train. Having several more hours I said, "So Erza tell me something, how did you come to join Fairy Tail?"
The train began pulling out of the station as she looked at me, "How did I join?" She said now shifting her gaze to the window as the town rolled by, "That's a long story, one that not many people know. Are you sure you want to know?"
Of course I knew her past. But getting her to open up to me like this could be useful whenever she needs someone to talk to about this. "Of course. We got nothing but time anyways. I mean you don't have to, you're choice I'll understand." I said giving her a way out if she needed it.
"No it's fine. I don't mind sharing my past with my allies." Looking back to me she smiled as she started the story, bringing me all the way back to how she was brought to the tower of heaven. As she spoke I could see on her face that a lot of bad memories were flooding back into her head. When she froze up on one part of the story I hopped over next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, I asked if she wanted to stop but she said no and continued.
By the time we reached Magnolia its was late afternoon and Erza had finished and the smile had returned to her face. It didn't escape me that she didn't mention anything about jellal or the other kids that she was friends with but I didn't push for that.
Entering the guild, we saw it was pretty empty having only the Master and a few faceless members still around. Heading straight for Makarov, he greeted us with a smile, "Yo! Good to see you too back in one piece. I'm assuming the job went well?"
"Yes sir. Nate did exceptionally well. I believe he will make a great Fairy Tail wizard." Erza informed the old man.
"Oh is that so? Great to hear it! Well, time for me to head home I suppose. Erza you mind locking up? See you kids tomorrow."
Waving our goodbyes we watched as Master left followed by several other members, leaving just Erza and I alone in the guild.
"Well guess we might as well head out to." I said heading for the door, "Need any help locking the place up?" I asked her.
"No, looks like everything's good in here. Just need to turn of the lights and lock the door." She replied, heading behind the counter grabbing a pair of keys.
"Alright, I'll wait for you outside so I can walk you home." I said opening the door and stepping outside. Standing around for a few moments I stared out into the now moon lit city. After a few minutes the door opened as Erza exited and looked the door behind her.
"Hey Nate." She said drawing my attention, "Thanks."
"Thanks? What'd you mean?" I asked.
"Back on the train. When you listened to my story about my past..." Erza breathed deeply and looking down before continuing, "no one here knows about that. Aside from Master and a few long time members. But telling you... Someone who's so close to my age... It feels like a huge weight has been removed that I didn't even realize I had. Thank you for that."
Placing my hand on her shoulder, she looked up to me as I smiled, "Don't worry about it. You ever wanna talk some more about it just tell me! Now come on. Let's get out of here, getting late." I said as she smiled back and began walking to fairy hills. Saying goodbye we went our separate ways as I walked back into town. Having no place to sleep I decided my best option was the giant Cathedral, that way if it rained I would be dry.
Heading through town I heard a familiar voice call out to me, "Well look who it is. How long's it been, Nate?"
Turning around a saw that the owner of the voice was none other than Laxus Dryer. "Yo! Laxus! How you been? Haven't seen you in years!" Running up to him, we shared a high five.
"So what are you doing in Magnolia? Taking me up on my offer?" He asked.
"Well actually I already joined!" I said, lifting my shirt to show him my mark.
"Wow, so the old geezer let you in huh? Surprising. He usually just allows loser and weaklings in." Laxus said as anger appeared on his face.
"Yea well I actually just got back from a mission not to long ago so I'll just catch up with you tomorrow. You'll be by the guild right?" I asked him backing away toward the cathedral.
"Yea I'll be around sometime. We should go on a mission together. Like to see how strong you are now," Laxus said turning around and walking away, "See you later."
"looks like tomorrow's gonna be pretty fun with Laxus in town." I thought as I continued on my path. "And I really gotta get a place to live."