Chapter Ten : Mission Finder
The sun had just about set beyond the horizon, when Natsu and Lucy arrived back at the guild. Night was drawing slowly closer, but the day had yet to end.
As it turns out, Cana had started a betting pool on how long it would take Natsu to rescue Macao, and return to the guild. Various people were underestimating his abilities, since he hadn't taken a mission or seemingly done any training since his return, more than a year ago. As such, when he walked in only 5 hours after setting off, Cana raked in the cash with relish, no one had seen it coming. Most were betting it would take him the better part of the day to deal with it, but he beat that with several hours to spare. Natsu had given no inclination that he cared about the bet, merely walking past the now crying people who had lost a good sum of jewels, and sat himself at the bar.
Lisanna walked over to Lucy with Gray and Makarov, to hear the specifics of what had happened, leaving Mira with Natsu.
Natsu had given no impression that he was about to talk anytime soon, so Mira broke the silence for him. "How is Macao?"
"Not too bad." he replied dully.
"Uh… any trouble up there?" she asked nervously.
"Lucy got herself kidnapped." He replied simply. His expression hadn't changed since they started talking, and he wasn't giving out much detail. So instead, Mira busied herself in getting him a drink and some food, the silence was slightly unnerving for her. She knew Natsu was often like this, but it still got to her at times. Sometimes she couldn't help but hope the old Natsu was talking to her, but so far her hopes had been unfulfilled.
Meanwhile, with Lucy, Gray was now exclaiming "You got yourself kidnapped!?"
"It wasn't quite that bad! And can you put some clothes on!?" she cried out. Again, another string of expletives were uttered from Gray's mouth while he ran around searching for his, yet again, missing clothes.
"Well. I can deduce that Macao was the Vulcan that kidnapped you." stated Makarov. "What I'm more interested to know is how Natsu dealt with him."
"Well he was great! He beat up the Vulcan with his bare hands." exclaimed Lucy.
"Bare hands? Wasn't he using magic?" asked Lisanna. "Natsu's magic uses flames when he attacks, what about that?"
"Hmm no, he didn't use any fire magic. He didn't need to did he?" Lucy asked. "He seemed more than capable of beating up the Vulcan. He wasn't even tired after!"
"I don't know whether that's good news or bad news to be honest." stated Makarov. "It could be good news that he can beat a Vulcan with his bare hands, but…"
"Ha. I could beat a Vulcan with my bare hands if I wanted to." scowled Gray, who was now back wearing his clothes.
Makarov flashed him a quick glare before continuing, "…but I'm concerned that he's refusing to use magic at all. It could be as you say, he didn't need to, but nobody has seen him use magic once since he returned." Makarov frowned slightly as he weighed up the facts. "I think we should try and get him on another mission. I need to know what he's actually doing, for his sake. He's still an S-Class mage, and definitely capable of doing missions."
"Leave that to me master, I'll get him to pick out a mission to take Lucy on" Lisanna said smiling. "I'm sure me and Mira-nee can convince him."
"At least he listens to you two from time to time. Even I couldn't convince him to do anything." Makarov frowned. "I'll leave it to you."
In the background Gray was still cursing and muttering under his breath. It was mostly unintelligible, but fragments of it could be picked up, such as 'Vulcan' , 'Natsu' and 'Bare hands'.
"I hope that's okay with you Lucy. He knows you better than we do, so he might just be the right person to choose." asserted Makarov.
"That's fine." Lucy smiled, before looking at the time in horror. "Oh god, I have to go sort out my apartment!" before dashing out of the guild hall.
Back with Mira and Natsu…
Natsu had thanked Mira for his food and drink, before returning to silence and pondering the thoughts in his mind.
This was interrupted by Lisanna calling out "Mira-Nee! Natsu!" as she made her way over to them. Natsu gave her a slight acknowledgment before zoning out again.
Lisanna whispered to her sister, "Help me out with this please…" before turning to Natsu and asking him, "Hey Natsu! How was your trip with Lucy?"
Natsu simply said "Fine." and left it at that.
"I was wondering… since you know Lucy better than any of us, could you pick out a mission for her? She's busy right now, and wants to find a good one for her as her first real mission." Lisanna asked this carefully, she avoided mentioning 'for the both of you' as she expected Natsu to flat out refuse.
"You can do that." He replied.
Lisanna glanced at her sister for a moment, and inclined for Mira to help her out. Mira got the message and smiled slightly before turning her attention to Natsu.
"You know… You could just pick out a mission for her. It's not too hard is it?" Mira asked.
Natsu looked at her for a moment, before noticing her 'Pretty Please?' smile, and inwardly cursed. She's not going to let this go without getting what she wants is she?
Lisanna also got in on the action with a smile of her own, leaving Natsu caught between a rock and a hard place.
Several of the guild members noticed what was happening and were whispering, 'Poor guy. He's not going to have any choice but to do what those two want. That's a deadly combination.'
Again Natsu complained inside his head. Why the heck am I the one who's got to do this? Something's up here!
Natsu then growled in irritation, as he stood up and walked over to the requests board to pick out a mission.
Jaws dropped. He's picking a mission!? That's some persuasion.
He looked over the board for a few moments before picking one off and taking it back over to Mira.
He glanced at them for a moment before saying, "I'm not going on this one. She can take Gray instead, he's still upset."
Lisanna groaned at his words. Dammit. I thought that worked! I always used to beat him an argument when we were younger too!
He then walked out to head home, leaving the request on the bar counter for Mira and Lisanna to look at.
Mira giggled for a moment as she read it. "He may not be the Natsu we once knew, but he still has a sense of humour." Lisanna could only help but agree when she saw what the mission details were.
At Lucy's apartment…
"Ok. How did you find my apartment so soon, and why did you break in!?" shouted an irate Lucy. "And you're naked!"
She had woken up in the morning to get ready to visit the guild, and instead, she found Gray sitting on her sofa naked, and a weird blue 'cat' on her desk, reading through some papers.
After a few heated moments where she started beating the 'cat' for reading her 'secret' work, and kicking Gray in the groin several times for good measure, a knock at the door came from one Mirajane Strauss who now joined them.
They were now sitting around the table drinking tea, after Gray found his clothes again.
"So why are you guys here?" Lucy asked.
"Ah… Natsu picked out a mission for you." Mira smiled giving off a faint dark aura, which gave everyone else the chills.
"Flame-brain isn't going to do the mission, so I'm helping instead." stated Gray. "And Lisanna wanted the cat to come with you."
"Hey! My name's Happy!" he squeaked.
"Yeah whatever." grumbled Gray. He was still annoyed that he was filling in on a mission Natsu was supposed to have picked.
"So what's the mission?" asked Lucy.
Mira simply handed her the request sheet with a smile on her face, while Gray and Happy also seemed slightly amused.
"Wow, two hundred thousand jewels to steal a book from some rich guy named Duke Everlue!" she exclaimed.
"It's a piece of fish!" exclaimed Happy, as he started chuckling darkly, along with the occasional snicker from Gray.
Lucy's enthusiasm was short-lived. It was now painfully obvious to her; Natsu had only one thing in mind when he picked it. A chubby man with a curly moustache and perverted smile was Duke Everlue, but what freaked her out was simply a part of the mission information.
'Duke Everlue is looking for maids with Blonde Hair'
"Oh god no!" she cried.
Too late.
A little while later at the guild house…
"Did someone already take the book stealing mission?" inquired a small Blue haired girl called Levy. She was standing around with her team, Shadow Gear, made up of two other members, Jet and Droy.
"I'm sorry Levy, but Natsu picked out that mission last night for one of our new recruits to do. We didn't manage to get him to go on the mission though." Mirajane said as she walked up to them.
"Aw. That was one of the best missions on the board for the reward too!" exclaimed Levy, pouting slightly.
"Don't worry about it Levy. They've changed it a bit." interjected Makarov. This caught the attention of Natsu who was sitting at the bar again, but he made no motion to show that he was now listening.
Mira frowned slightly. "What do you mean master? Was it cancelled?"
"No, just the opposite actually. The client informed me the reward has gone up." He answered. Now knowing he had their attention, he continued, "The reward is now two million jewels." he smiled at that.
A tinkling noise could be heard, as Natsu involuntarily dropped his glass.
Makarov chuckled. "Got your attention did I?"
"Kinda." he muttered, before turning away.
"Two million jewels!?" exclaimed Levy. "And Natsu picked it? NATSU! Pick one for me!"
"Do what!?" he asked slightly shocked by her question.
"You probably should Natsu, you might be a good luck charm." giggled Mira.
Before he could protest, Levy dragged him away from the bar by his arm and pulled him over to the request board. Jet and Droy also stood around him, blocking his escape route.
Damn. They're getting more aggressive. He thought to himself.
While he busied himself with browsing the requests, a messenger bird flew in and headed over to Makarov.
"Message for Master Makarov from Erza Scarlet." It chirped. He took the letter from the bird and opened the seal to see a small image of Erza appear. It was based on a recording type of Lacrima. A visual message could be recorded, and played back to the recipient.
"Hello Master. I hope you are well. I am just letting you know, the mission went well, and I will be returning to the guild in a few days. Makarov listened as Erza listed off the mission results, before the message ended with "Goodbye."
"Well that's good news." stated Makarov.
Although the same could not be said for many in the guild. The Erza Glare was truly legendary, and every bit as frightening as the legends foretold. Doom was approaching.
That's this chapter done. Lucy, Gray and Happy will do their mission in the next one, erza returns etc.
I'm happy with it, so please enjoy. (And this is the third chapter today you lucky people – it'll be four, I intend to complete the next one for today too)
As always, leave a review, etc.