Natsu: ALRIGHT LET'S BEGIN
Mirajane: konsu does not own Naruto or Fairy Tail
Erza (ties up the screaming Naruto): That's my job Mira
Mirajane (smiles sweetly): Sorry, but I wanted to try it at least once
Erza: It's your first time here
Mirajane: Hmm?
Erza: Forget it
(Lucy sits in a corner reading the latest chapter of Fairy Tail, frowning miserably)
Lucy: Yeah, that really was painful
Erza (ignores Lucy): Let's begin shall well
"Hahaha, you're pretty good."
"I could say the same about you."
Okay, this was a lie. Lucy was out of her league against this guy. Not only did he have her beat in stamina, but also in strength and speed. The boy was a monster. Actually, the boy reminds Lucy a lot of Naruto. Both were monstrous when it came to fighting. Strong, fast, and overwhelming, these were the terms that describe Natsu and Naruto. She could not win. It was not something stated out of poor confidence, it was something stated from experience.
"Although you're not very strong, your flames are tasty, the best I've had in awhile."
That was another thing. The boy was eating her fire. It was the strangest sight, right up there with Naruto downing ten bowls of extra large ramen filled to the rim with meat. The boy was a human garbage disposal, and this boy in front of her was a human fire eating machine. It was just too strange.
"I don't know what that means, but you're strange."
"Igneel told me I was strange all the time."
"What's an Igneel?"
"My father."
Maybe the boy was not so strange after all.
"He's a dragon."
Scratch that, the boy was very strange.
Nearly dropping her whip in disbelief, Lucy shakes her head, trying to clear her mind of the boy's craziness. The Fire Empowerment was not working on Natsu. He was just gobbling it up like it was food. Seeing how things were not working in her favor with her current tactic, she would have to make a slight adjustment in her tactics. The flames surrounding Lucy's whip fades, earning a small confused stare from Natsu. Striking the ground with her whip, a bright light bursts from the tip.
"I won't lose to you," Lucy strikes the ground with her whip once more, another flash bursting from the tip on impact. "Empower!" A golden light engulfs the whip. "If fire doesn't work, then I'll have to use light." Natsu claps at the sight, delight shining in his eyes.
"Awesome, show me what it can do. I wonder if it tastes good."
Seeing the drool escaping Natsu's mouth, Lucy rolls her eyes, but she could not help but laugh a little. It was a little cute. Laughter slowly fading, Lucy's eyes darken. His words about his father strike something within Lucy. An image of One appears in her mind and then her drying mother. Everything suddenly comes back to Lucy and tears quickly gather in her eyes.
"Mommy."
Without another work, she turns on her heel and runs in the direction she hopes was home. A bit put off that Lucy abandoned their fight, Natsu watches her go frowning.
"Hmm, that sucks. Now why did she go and abandon our fight like that," Confusion quickly turning to anger, Natsu stomps on the ground, throwing a fit. "HEY COME BACK AND FIGHT, DON'T RUN AWAY, COME BACK HERE!"
Very put off and upset, Natsu turns on his heel and walks away, silently promising to finish his battle with Lucy at a later date.
'This isn't over.'
XxXxXxXxXx
"I'm so tired."
Collapsing on the side of the road, Lucy rolls on her back and stares at the bright blue sky.
"Mommy, are you okay?"
Rubbing her tired eyes, Lucy quickly falls asleep. For hours she has walked, not coming across a single life. No water, no food, Lucy was running on empty. With nothing to keep her running, falling asleep was all she could do. Thankfully, luck was on her side, and a person appears on the road. He walks slowly, the blazing heat not bothering him at all despite wearing heavy clothing. Coming across Lucy, he stops and stares down at the heavily sweating flushed girl.
"Now what do we have here?"
The man bends down next to Lucy and rests the backside of his hand on the girl's forehead, checking her temperature. Yeah, the girl was running a high one. Reaching for the flask on his waist, he twists the top off and brings the flash to the girl's mouth. Tilting her head up slightly, the man pours the water into the girl's mouth.
"Come on now, drink up young lady."
Even while unconscious, the girl greedily drinks the water. Cracking a small smile at Lucy's reaction, the man, Gildarts Clive, pulls the flask from Lucy's mouth and attaches to his waist once more. Lifting the girl bridal style, he wordlessly carries her down the road, taking her to his home, a home he has not been to in years, Fairy Tail.
XxXxXxXxXx
A few hours later, Lucy sleeps peacefully in a room within the guild of Fairy Tail. In the room, watching over the little girl was Gildarts and Makarov.
"Lucy Heartfilia, is she perhaps related to Layla?"
"It's her daughter."
This was surprising. The man did not think he would run into the daughter of Layla Heartfilia, a mage who was being recommended by the magic council to become of the Wizard Saints. A year ago, Layla made quite the uproar when she challenged him to a duel. Apparently it was to settle a debate between her children about who was stronger between the two. The debate was silly, but to the children it was a serious deal. The son bet his collection of ramen on Gildarts win, while the daughter bet a series of books she's been collecting on Layla. Once again, it was a silly bet, but to them it was serious. To Layla however, it was one big headache because the debates were becoming fights and the last thing she needed was for Lucy to become a tomboy, Jude would not let her hear the end of it. So, in order to settle the debate, she sent a challenge to Gildarts and arranged a meeting for them to fight. Of course he did not think much of the challenge, thinking it was just another woman trying to get at him, but when he saw the woman in her battle gear, whip in hand, face set in pure unimaginable annoyance, he knew she was serious.
"Ah, what a tough battle that was."
It was a tough battle, a tough battle that resulted in the landscape changing drastically, but in the end, Gildarts came up on top. He was more than impressed with her might and with Makarov in attendance to ensure things did not get out of hand, the woman had quite the audience other than her children. Word quickly spread about the battle, even reaching the ears of the Magic Council, where they quickly debated about making the woman one of the Wizard Saints. Gildarts did not care about that however, and neither did Layla. The woman wanted to return home with her children and rest, while Gildarts wanted to return home with Layla and get to know her personally. When he told her this, he remembers her reply and he smirks recalling it.
"As amusing as that would be, I must decline. As you can see I am a married woman, a happily married woman with two children. Maybe if I was single, something I don't see ever happening, I would take you up on your offer, but, in the words of my son. I don't think so, dattebayo."
The woman had flashed him the silliest grin he has ever seen on a woman's face. When he saw it, he remembers one of Cornelia's smiles, one when she was at her happiest. The moment he saw it, he quickly gave up trying to bed the woman and promised to meet the woman again one day so they could battle or just go out for drinks as friends. Layla had smiled at that one, promising to take him up on it one day if they every meet again,
"That's right; this young lady was there at that time."
Staring at Lucy, he nods, remembering the cheering girl when her mother a laid an lightning empowered punch on his face. Yeah, it all comes back to him now. The girl cheered so loudly when it happened that he had to stare at her, which resulted in another punch to the face.
'Makes me wish I had a child to cheer me on like that.'
Well, the boy cheered him on, but he was also cheering on Layla which really didn't count in his book, but it was something.
"Do we return her home then?"
"Yeah, Layla would be worried about her. I'll do it first thing in the morning," Makarov rubs Lucy's head gently. "She's exhausted; she'll be out for awhile. For now let her rest. I'll be in my office writing a letter to her mother, explaining that she's in our care and we'll return her in the morning."
Liking the plan, Gildarts spare Lucy one last look and leaves the room. The man heads to the mission board on the second floor, intending on getting his next mission when he was stopped by one of the newer members, Cana Alberona (11).
"Oh Cana," Gildarts pats Cana's head affectionately. "You've grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you," Cana smiles brightly at the praise. "Is there something you need help with?"
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Cana shifts nervously on her feet. This time she was going to spit it out, this time was going to let him know the truth. Lips trembling as they part, a sound similar to a squeak escapes her mouth.
"I'm."
Quickly losing her nerve, Cana shuts her mouth, and walks away without a word, hiding the shame on her face. Watching her go with a frown, Gildarts shakes his head, not understanding Cana's strange behavior. Shrugging he makes his way up stairs when he pauses. There was something about the face Cana made. It was familiar, but he could not for the life of him figure out why. Taking a glance back at Cana, he found the girl sitting alone practicing with her deck of cards. He could read the misery on the girl's face, something that really confuses him. In such a loud and happy place, he could not understand why anyone, especially a child could make such a face.
'I think I'll take her out for ice cream or something before leaving. All kids love ice cream.'
He immediately scratches the idea seeing the girl snatch a mug beer from the table and down it one go. The girl quickly grows flush and jumps on the table shouting loudly.
"YEAAAH!"
Chuckling a little at the sight, Gildarts shakes his head and continues up stares to pick his next mission.
'She'll be alright by the looks of it.'
Down below, Cana stops shouting and falls off the table, landing on Mirajane Strauss (12). Crying out in surprise, Mirajane is flattened by the girl.
"Dammit Cana get your drunk ass off of me."
Throwing Cana off of her, Mira cracks her knuckles, suddenly grinning like a demon.
"Haha, I guess today you finally die."
Burping, Cana rolls on her back and crosses her legs, staring at Mira with a raised eyebrow.
"Anytime," Mira stops grinning seeing the tears in Cana's eyes. "Anytime your ready."
Quickly losing interest seeing Cana's sorry state, Mira groans and gives Cana a swift kick to the side. Ignoring Cana's cry, Mira walks away and to the mission board, upset and angry.
'Stupid drunk.'
Snatching a random mission off the board, Mira reads it, and her grin returns full force.
"Cool."
Yes, the mission was a simple one. Defeat a couple of bandits terrorizing a town, and collect the reward. Oh yeah, it was very simple. With this mission, it would be easy for her to improve her magic. By the time she was done, she would be that much closer to perfecting her Satan Soul Take Over. Liking the idea of killing many birds with one stone, Mira quickly runs off to get permission from the Master to take the mission running past the stumbling Cana along thw way.
As for Cana, the girl makes her way into the clinic. After only one drink she was wasted.
"I need to build up my tolerance."
Stumbling into a random bed to rest, she crashes instantly, right next to the lightly snoring, happily smiling Lucy. While one girl was dreaming of building a father-daughter relationship with a parent who did know he was a parent, the other was dreaming about the good times with her family. However, the dream fades as a voice calls out to her, a familiar voice, one full of desperation and hope.
"Help me."
The voice was faint, but Lucy heard it loud in clear.
"Who is it?"
She calls out to the voice, trying to find the owner within the darkness. The world around Lucy fades as her eyes flickers open. She floats in a thick muggy darkness. It was hard to move, hard to breathe, but she could and she calls out to the voice once more.
"Are you there?"
"I'm here."
The voice comes from below and that is when she saw her. Down below, sinking further and further in the darkness was her, Lion Mask. The woman seemed to be sleeping to Lucy. However she could tell this was not the case. She was conscious, conscious and suffering.
"Can you hear my voice?"
"I can hear it."
"We can hear it!"
Appearing next to Lucy was a light. Staring at it, Lucy saw an image of a teenager with hair as blonde as her own appearing for the briefest moments. Glancing from it to the sinking Lion, Lucy and the Light speaks in unison.
"We'll save you!"
XxXxXxXxXx
Elsewhere, Naruto walks into a restaurant intending on filling his empty stomach when a gun is suddenly in his face. Blinking once, twice, and then three times, Naruto stares from the gun to the man holding it, eyes slowly growing wide as the realization that he was at gunpoint. In an effort to defuse the situation, Naruto raises his right hand in the air and gives a small wave.
"Hi there, I'm Naruto."
A second later, Naruto was on the ground, a bruise quickly forming on his cheek where he was hit by the man's gun. Cheek aching painfully, Naruto stares up at the man only to see his boot inches above his face.
"Shit." Cursed Naruto
A second later, Naruto was unconscious before he knew it. The owner of the gun lifts Naruto by the back of shirt and turns to his boss sitting at a table, eating a large serving of expensive food that he did not pay for.
"We got another one boss."
The Boss stops chewing his steak to stare at his subordinate, a twitch in his eye.
"I can see that. Go and toss him with the others," The Boss grins nastily. "This kid, I can feel his strength, he's a strong one. He'll do well in the arena."
The man nods and quickly leaves the restaurant to put Naruto with the other captives. Many miles away from the isolated town, Mira boards a train, bag in hand, ready to start her first real mission. Seeing her off was her siblings, Elfman (11) and Lisanna (10). Giving the two a small wave goodbye from her seat through the window, Mira grins, anticipation shining in her dark eyes.
'I can do this. I'll show you all that I can do this.'
Mira was ready to prove her worth to her guild. She would show them that she was not just a badmouth little girl who was always causing trouble, she would show them that was a powerful badmouthed little girl. This would be her first mission alone away from her siblings. She would not bring them with her on something like this, not just yet. They were still learning to control their powers and they would be useless during a fight. At least with her magic she would be able to hold her ground, but not them, not yet.
'I'll be back soon.'
The train moves and once her siblings was out of sight, Mira allows her grin to drop. Right now she needed to think. Before she left, she went to check on Cana in the clinic knowing she would be there, but when she arrived, she saw the girl asleep, hugging on some kid in the bed. It was a strange sight, but she did not really care. What she did care about was the girl she was hugging on in her sleep. The girl was familiar, but she did not know why. She saw her before, she was certain of it, but for the life of her she could not remember where she's seen her before. It was troubling. If the mystery of the girl was not so troubling to think about, she would have worried more about Cana, but she could not. The Mystery of the Blonde Brat was really bothering her
"I could so make that a kickass book title."
Thoughts quickly drifting to plots of making money, Mira shake her head, trying to focus back on the mystery at hand.
"Right, right, I have to think about the girl."
Strangely enough, when she thought of the girl an image of a middle finger appears in her mind followed by whiskers. It was odd that she would think of the two together, but it was all she had to go on. Deciding that this had nothing to do with her mission and that losing focus could be fatal, Mira thinks of how she would take down the bandits.
"I think slaughtering them all is a good enough strategy."
Yeah, thinking this was a good enough plan, Mira crosses her arms over her chest and falls asleep. It was going to be a grand adventure for her, she knew it, and she could not wait for it to start. Unfortunately, this mission was not going to be easy, it is a mission that should have been considered S-Class. This mission will test Mirajane's might as a mage and a member of Fairy Tail. This mission will also be one that will reunite her with the boy she could not fully remember, a boy that was similar to her many ways.
Sitting on top of the train, grinning from ear to ear was Thirteen. By her side, sitting on the edge of the train with her legs dangling was a woman in a black hooded cloak. The woman's frowns at the meeting to come, she was not looking forward to it, she did not want to meet like this, but she had a mission to accomplish. The woman was the Messenger of Death, and she was here to take care of an annoying spirit.
"Hahaha, it sure is annoying isn't it Ku-chan?" Thirteen's eyes shine in delight. "I bet your real happy about this."
The Messenger of Death gives Thirteen a small glare.
"One, stop narrating, and two, I am loathing this meeting. I would like to meet him under better circumstances than this."
"At least you get to meet him."
"Whatever."
Yes, the year X777 is a time for many events, a time when destiny comes together, and a tome where meetings of fate take places.
"Let the games begin."
The girl known as Thirteen to Time or Thirteen to Zero laughs loudly.
Naruto: Time is really pissing me off
Lucy: Everything pisses you off
Naruto: Well, Time more than anyone else
Erza: Hmm, I wonder when I'm going to appear
Mirajane: Maybe soon, but I did. I sure was cute as a child
(Erza stares at Mira blankly)
Mirajane (smiles sweetly): What is it?
Erza (looks away): Nothing at all
Natsu: We'll see you all next chapter