Whaz up ladies, gents and other! I'm screwin' with the Galuna Arc, an' I know it's not in order, but I wanna give Natsu an' co. a chance to broaden their horizons friend-wise. Let's go over the facts: Natsu and Gray are Slayers, Sherry's younger cousin's a Slayer too, so they've common ground to base a friendship(Or at least an acquaintance-ship) on. I also wanna make Natsu grow so he can do what I'm plannin' later. Plus, his eventual reaction to Gray and Lyon's interaction's gonna be interestin' to say the least. I've been asked 'bout the animals I've been showin' y'all, an' I wanna tell ye so badly what their part to play is but I know better(Unfortunately). I don't own jackshit for Fairy Tail, an' I'm startin' to feel alright 'bout that. Can any'f ye imagine the pressure Hiro Mashima must feel with people askin' 'im to hurry and make another arc for his original series?! That'd be Hell for a fifteen year-old like me! Anyway, 'fore I start ramblin', let's get shit started!
Thoughts and or emphasis
'Paraphrasin'
"Normal speech"
"Draconic speech"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The moment Lucy walked into her apartment, she saw Natsu and Happy sleeping against and on her bed respectively. It didn't register right away, but when it did, "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Her shriek woke the two up like they'd seen a ghost, "What?! What's going on?! Oh, Daughter of Layla, it's just you...Jesus, don't do that!" Natsu scratched his head with closed eyes to calm his heartbeat back-the-fuck-down.
"Why are you in my apartment?! How are you in my apartment?! And where were you when we got back?! We expected you to be there exaggerating the way you destroyed an entire guild by burning and eating the lowest section." As if to emphasize her point, Natsu belched lowly, "Excuse me. Anyway, I've got a proposition for you..." Lucy looked at him pissed off, "I hardly know you and I thought you were a 'one mate kind of guy'!" It took a minute before what she said processed through, and when it did Natsu looked ready to kill!
"Don't assume shit like that, Lucy! I AM A ONE MATE KINDA GUY, AND DON'T DISRESPECT MY MATE'S MEMORY LIKE THAT!" When he yelled this, a fire could be seen at the back of his mouth near his false palate.(The flap of flesh at the back of the throat crocodilians and fire breathin' dragons have to prevent themselves from drownin' while eatin' or from a backdraft of fire) And that's when Lucy realized he had a forked tongue as she payed extra attention to the fire in his maw, "Eek! Your tongue, it's been cut in half!"
Her words received cricket sounds from her window, making Happy scratch at the glass in a vain attempt to get through to play with the noisy bugs, until Natsu began to bust a gut while rolling on the ground, holding his sides in minor pain. Lucy puffed her pink-dusted cheeks and pouted like a child does when proved wrong or told they can't do something. As soon as Natsu could breath evenly, he said, "Listen, Lucy, my tongue's always been forked. I can resist Dragonification only so much and it shows in minor qualities. Gajeel Redfox, Black Steel? He's the longest tongue of any human being I've seen. Let's see...I've a forked tongue, slitted eyes, thick hide..."
He was standing, arms crossed, and eyes closed in concentration before he snapped his fingers and smiled honestly, "My wings." And Lucy gave him a skeptical look while staring at his back expectantly, "Yeah, righ-" Suddenly Natsu was covered by a cloak of fire with draconic qualities, qualities including wings, "Not physical, but my soul when I manifest it. I can't use my wings like real ones, I channel the energy to the two spots where they'd be on this cloak and I rocket forward or hover. Laxus isn't a 'real' Dragon Slayer..." A growl escaped his throat at the idea that the Magic Council was so afraid of real Dragon Slayers that they would be so desperate to attempt at making their own.
"I know that he has a Dragon Lacrima implanted inside his body, but he's still a Slayer so isn't he-I don't know-family or something?" A chuckle rose from Natsu's chest and left as a happy sound, "Yes! That's what it means to be part of Fairy Tail! We are family, no matter if it's blood or not. Well done, you figured it out! Now, there are other qualities that come as drawbacks from Slayer magic..." His grin left and was replaced by a dark expression, "Dragon Slayers, we live very long lives and age slowly which leads to madness, meaning that I'm already nearing death as we speak. My years are numbered..."
Natsu sat down on the edge of the bed, looking to the ground sadly, "What's the number?" He didn't look up as he said, "If I'm lucky, and I use the term loosely...About ten," "Well that's not so bad."
"Months." And Lucy froze with a look that asked, 'Are you crazy'. "God Slayers live long lives and have a tendency to go mad after about a hundred years, since gods can't take the time to babysit specific mortals they don't expect long age from a young age like Dragon Slayers, they're humans with power they don't want after a while. Demon Slayer Magic was made by humans and perfected to the point that it might as well be natural. Demon Slayers can't use their abilities as soon as they learn them, otherwise their going to be putting their bodies through agony."
"Anyway," Natsu said excitedly, "Here's my proposition..." He unfolded the piece of paper and gave it to Lucy like it was just another job request. The buxom blonde opened her mouth to yell, but Natsu clapped a hand over her mouth and said, "Before you make our ears bleed from making a new magic based around sound," Lucy blushed that her guardian(Sorta) believed she could do something like that when she noticed Natsu's voice was raised slightly, like... He can't hear properly! I-I-I made him go deaf!
"Arre you going to let this chance pass you by and slip through your fingers?!" And she just then realized that he'd been talking. Getting his hand away from her mouth, she said in an embarrassed tone, "I, uh, kinda got lost in thought while you were talking...Sorry, could you repeat your little speech-thing?" Natsu then looked ready to hurt her, "I said, 'The reward is a golden Gate Key. You're a Celestial Mage, and you're trying to collect all twelve golden Gate Keys, right? This is your chance to get closer to that goal! Are you going to let this chance pass you by and slip through your fingers?!'"
He held a fire in his eyes, determination to help her while helping himself, "Why are you trying to help me? I know my mother asked you to, but you didn't want anything to do with me when we met. What's your angle?!" Lucy's question was met with a growl, "I was following a lead the day we met, and the lead led me to Bora instead of my mate or father, so I wanted nothing more than to be left alone with my hatchling. Anyways, if we do enough of these jobs we can make S-Class before the S-Class Promotional Trials. If that happens, we can do more than just odd jobs and get closer to our goals."
Taking a breathe, he continued, "You want to get all twelve golden Gate Keys, I want to find my mate and Happy's mother. If we get stronger, we can take harder jobs that will get us closer to our goals...And I for one ain't gonna pass up this chance to get stronger!" His eyes were glowing red, but this red seemed healthy and almost holy in some strange way. "I don't hate you, Daughter of Layla, I hate that your father got too close to the Clock of Infinity. That's another story for another time, right now we need to get some trustworthy friends to come along with us..."
"Aye, sir!" Natsu snapped his fingers, "Happy, you're a genius! I know who we're bringing with us..."
Docks of Magnolia, first day of Galuna Job(Sorta?)
"Why'd you decide that he's a good choice for this job?! And what about the other two? We-" Lucy's protests were silenced when Gray walked towards them over the ice, black markings across his chest and up his neck to his grimacing-in-pain face. "I'm here...Why'd you tell me to go that way, it hurts!" Natsu nodded to the ice path, making the Demon Slayer in-training look as well as everyone else, to see that the ice was either sinking or melting.
"Saltwater. We pave sidewalks with mineral salt to melt the ice during the winter, right? Well, I thought, as dangerous as that is to do, that if you were to use ice to walk across the harbor...it might melt quicker. And I was right! Anyway, we're going to Galuna Island." That made Loke usher his paparazzi off, not wanting them to overhear anything, one can never trust one's followers one hundred percent after all.
"Why us, though? I want to woo Lucy as much as ever," Said blonde glared at the glass-wearing womanizer as he finished calmly, "But our team chemistry isn't the greatest, Natsu. We've seen what happens when you and I cross beams..." Gray and Happy shuddered, having seen the two spar before.
"Exactly. Our team chemistry isn't the best, but that's the point. Our differences and flaws overlap each other and stitch together to fill those holes. I'm impulsive and need someone to keep me reeled in, so to speak. Gray's, ironically, hotheaded and emotional when instigated. Lucy has confidence issues, little-to-no combat experience and overthinks most things. Bora's no longer assertive anymore, he's still figuring out what he can do for the guild and magi-wise, and has a great amount of fear concerning our guildmates. Juanda probably hates me at some level still, has trust issues, and has a great deal of emotional turmoil to bare. And finally the lion in the room," No one laughed but Happy, while Loke held his head in his hands,
"I know my scent is like a lion's, but that was just horrible, Natsu." Said fire-breather nodded with a cheeky smile plastered on his face, "I know. Loke is going through something that I think is financial, a womanizer by nature and has a very eccentric personality. But those very problems make us a great team: We've two-and-a-half Slayers, a Light Mage, a Soul-Power Mage, and a Celestial Mage. We've a chance to get this job done better than most do!"
Gray nodded until he realized something, "Who's the 'and-a-half' Slayer? As far as I know, you and I are the only Slayers in this outfit." Natsu began snickering, while the woman in Gypsy garments began to tremble with pent up rage, "You shouldn't talk about people like they're not even there, Demon Slayer!"
"Oh, shit, sorry! I didn't know...Wait, what type of Slayer are you anyway?" To answer his question wordlessly, she moved so that she was closer to the sea, "Sand God's...BELLOW!" A sandstorm of black granules left her now-uncovered mouth and dissipated after a moment, "God Slayer Magic, the second youngest of the three Types. In a sense, Gray, you're the baby brother in this magic trinity!" Natsu's cheeky smile somehow grew into a simple smirk, expressing his playfulness better than a face-breaking grin or smile.
Before anyone could move, a shout came from the guild that sounded like the Master screamed, 'NATSU GET BACK HERE WITH THAT S-CLASS JOB, YOU BRATTY-BASTARD!', making said Dragon Slayer grab a random boat. "All aboard, the S.S. Getaway, everyone?! Come on, life's short for some of us!" Loke literally jumped in, soon followed by Juanda, Bora and Happy, "I still hate you, Dragneel, but I might as well make sure you don't die before you figure out a way to do it yourself. Our Magic Class is dying and we've got to watch each other's backs, I guess..."
The pyrovore chuckled, cheekily smiling still, "You know we're friends, besides, I'm hard to hate! If you're gonna rat us out we'll kidnap you!" Gray jumped in while carrying Lucy like luggage, "We're a go, now, how are we getting there?!" "Simple: Bora's flames!" The blue haired man sent flames to Natsu, getting him to eat them before growling, "Fire Dragon's...ROAR!...rrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHH!" And they were off, the force from Natsu's blast sending them forward at a speed no one was prepared for, making the bandanna-acting-as-a-veil-for-Juanda's-lower-face fly off into Bora's outstretched hand. "Thanks..." He just nodded, being right behind her at the front and the only one to see her face unveiled.
Her spiky, burnt orange hair looked like fire as the wind flew past them, "I can only get us so far, and then we have to walk the rest of the way to Hargeon. There we'll find a man who can get us to Galuna Island, any questions?! Fire Dragon's Roar! rrRRAAWWHH!" They were making great time, being about fifteen minutes in already and about half a mile away from the harbor.
Two hours later, four miles away from Hargeon
"We're making great time, it's about five and we're almost there!" Bora's optimistic attitude wasn't unfounded, but Lucy was less than enthused about the amount of progress they'd made, "Why does it have to be so far?! Why couldn't you have kept going, Natsu?!" Said salmon-headed prankster looked to his charge like it was obvious with bored eyes, "I need to conserve my energy for the battles we're going to be getting into. And Bora needs to be able to use his magic to do more than feed me, that'd be a waste if any of us were worn out before we got there, don't you think? Dragon Slayers and God Slayers can produce magic when using magic, it's a byproduct of the energy we make for our specific element. Like our namesake, we are beings of magic and nature, so we feel a connection to certain environments, temperatures and other things of the sort while also generating pure magic energy within ourselves."
Juanda picked up, "But we can't use the pure, unadulterated energy we generate because it doesn't coincide with our natural element, so we have to use our magic sparingly or we're putting ourselves at risk. Besides, it's not that bad, it's just four miles. Jeez, and I thought desert heat was annoying, but this chick's complaining is driving me crazy..." Gray spoke up now, still learning fundamental pieces of Slayer Class Magic, "What separates the each type of Slayer, anyways? Aren't we all just slayers of each other's namesake?"
Natsu tripped and landed on his face, while Juanda walked right into a tree. "Ungh! No, we're not all killers of each other's quarry. Each Slayer Type uses spells unique to that Type and element. Also, each type is trained in ways of a specific slaying style. God Slayers, like myself, are taught to use the elements of gods..." She rose her hand to about eye level and let black sand swirl in her palm, "The gods use once pure elements now tainted with their age, making the elements turn black and fatal against mortals. Dragon Slayers can eat a God Slayer's element as long as it corresponds to their natural element and as long as they're stomach's are empty."
The one who brought the group together continued for her, "Demon Slayer Magic was created by mortal men and women, hoping to attain the power of beings more powerful than they. But they were not fools, for they understood that a dragon or god must teach a human of their own free will to make said human a Slayer. So to remove this obstacle, these bold men and women began training in the hunting and slaying of demons that had taken to a path of evil. Those who trained to do this also learned how to use their negative emotions to power their magic, making their spells more akin to Curses than simple magic. It's partly why those marks spread across your skin, Gray." Now, the Son of Silver was interested, "What do you mean?"
Lucy answered with a dictionary definition, "Curses are spells powered by raw emotions, normally negatively-influencing emotions such as rage, sorrow, hate, jealousy, etc. But I don't see how that would be a problem, since we all have those emotions?" Natsu chuckled, "You're right, Lucy, that's what Curses are. But the first Demon Slayers made this type of magic, so it was an imperfect science at first, and to top it off, normal humans can't use Curses unless they train vigorously in the art for great amounts of time. Those who have great amounts of some emotions Lucy mentioned, like myself who have experienced them in near unbridled amounts, have a close equivalent to a Curse. That's what my bloody tears and black flames are: a half-assed Curse."
Picking back up from where she left off, Juanda finished, "So all Slayers are close to each other in how they work, but they are nowhere near the same. You use Ice-Make and Ice Demon Slayer Magic, a good combination, but your body hasn't healed from training to use your emotions as a powersource yet. So stick to using normal spells until you feel that your body is healed." Gray looked at her strangely now, "But, I feel fine, so...?"
Natsu snickered, "Not physically, Gray, psychologically. You're mentally healing from the training. It wasn't vigorous, but it's taxing on the mind. That's why Slayers are prone to madness. That and we have long lives, but Demon Slayer Magic carries the weight heaviest. Mortal men and women, learning to use their raw emotions as fuel for their spells, that'd drain anyone mentally. But that's all speculation, Juanda and I can't tell you everything we know 'cause it might not apply to Demon Slayer Magic..." Gray, Lucy and Bora hit the ground facefirst at that moment.
"B-B-But, you sounded so sure of yourselves?!" Juanda nodded, not looking back to him, "Sure we did, but we're only telling you what we understand from speculating, researching and gut-feeling. That's all we can do at the moment with our Class nearing extinction..." Gray just stared at them, he'd been under the impression that Natsu knew everything concerning Slayer Class Magic, but now his theory had just been dashed like broken glass.
"That'll teach me to believe everything I'm told..." Gray's glum expression made the others laugh, eventually cheering him up enough to laugh himself. This job was doing them some real good...
Boat to Galuna Island, midnight
"I...hate water..." The complaining didn't come from Natsu, who was sitting with his head over the edge with puffed cheeks trying to hold back vomit, it was Juanda this time. "Why are you complaining? I thought that of all of us, you'd be fine." Lucy's quip made the Gypsy-garbed woman glare at her, "Desert-dweller...not sea-fairer-Mgh!-the boat's rocking makes me sick...Ugh!" She laid her head against the edge of the boat, in case she needed to hurl, getting Bora to rub her back comfortingly.
Happy, being raised by the obnoxious Natsu and the Strauss siblings, piped up to Bora, "You lliiiikkkkeee her!" The feline was then bopped lightly on the head by the rower accidentally, "Sorry, little guy, but you're kinda in the way of my rowing." "Sorry, Mister." "It's fine, but I'd suggest moving towards the back of the boat where you're less liable to get hit again." "Aye, sir!" The sound of Natsu vomiting interrupted the pleasantries, "I hope he'll be alright once I get you to Galuna Island. It's been odd with everyone forgetting their true species, the moon turning-" A distant voice could be heard by the group, saying proudly, 'PURPLE!'.
"...Yeah, that. And the earthquakes that keep occurring. It's all very strange, and-Whoop, looks like we're hear. I'd better spread my wings..." The man transformed from an average-enough looking man into a demonic creature with wings, purple skin, dark purple spots, horns, and above-averagely-sized hands. "That's better! Now, to the village before I forget myself too." Getting off the boat slowly, Juanda and Natsu soon found their land-legs again as well as their suspiciously-missing-sea-stomachs.
"Yeah...let's follow, Bobo was it?" The demon nodded with a smile at Gray, "Let's get this over with, I feel something evil's here...and it's big!" Bobo strode ahead of them, looking to Gray uneasily at certain points until the Ice-Make Mage was kind of unsettled, "Is there something on my face or am I making the air too cold?"
"None," He said a little too quickly, "of those things! It's just...I'm a demon, as are the rest of the island's inhabitants, and I sense demon magic inside of you like Devil Slayer would have. It just makes me uncomfortable, is all." Lucy piped up now, curiosity in her eyes, "I thought the name of that type of magic was 'Demon Slayer', or is it just a difference in translation?"
Bobo nodded to her, "It is called that, but not everyone likes to hear someone is out to slay them, so we demons call them Devil Slayers. Not all demons are evil like in most campfire stories or folklore, we are as good and evil as any human. There are some demons who would risk the Balance and try to do evil things, yes, but not all of us are evil monsters trying to destroy the world and upset the Balance."
"It's a comfort thing, Lucy. Like something I might show you if..." Loke was then put at arm's length by the blonde, "Nope." "A Ce-" "Oh, Look! We're here!" Their guide took the hint as a pair of demons called down, "Who goes there?" Everyone groaned at that while Bobo called back up to them, "Can't you think of something more original to shout, Erinthre? It's me, Bobo, and I've brought us some help from Fairy Tail."
The sound of murmurings could be just barely heard from above the large gate of sharpened logs, "How do we know it's you?!" A tickmark grew on their guide's left horn while Natsu growled deeply before roaring, "YOU WANT TO BE BURNED TO HELL?! 'CAUSE I'M FULL OF FIRE IN MY BELLY TO GIVE YOU A FREE ASSKICKING FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!" And the gates were hastily opened. Bobo nodded with a contemplative grin on his face as he said, "Nice..."
"AAHHH-" One of the villagers who had screamed was stabbed in the chest, but the knife used didn't draw blood, "Oh, right, hehehe..." Though there was no blood, the sight still made Lucy nauseous and made the rest of the group have wide eyes, "That a normal occurrence at the moment?!" Happy's question was met with an answer from an old voice, "Yes, ever since the moon began turning-" Once again, the very far-off sound of a muscular man screaming the word 'purple' could be faintly heard.(I mentioned it 'fore in the last chapter, but I wanted to use in just one more chapter 'cause of the comedic effect)
"...Yes, that. Our memories are being clouded and our forms are being forced upon us by this light that shines down upon us." The chief of the village, a short, old demon with blue skin and enormous sideburns that reached from his head to his hips. "JESUS CHRIST, WHAT HUGE SIDEBURNS! TRULY THERE ARE FORCES BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING AT WORK HERE!" "Um, hehehe, my father's sideburns are naturally grown that large..." Bobo's words made Natsu's jaw close and he smiled sheepishly, "My bad, sorry. Please continue."
The group looked to the sky and saw that the moon was indeed a beautiful shade of violet, "So, you want us to destroy the moon?" Moka, the chief, hit tripped on nothing and hit the ground with his face, "I would have asked you to had I not been with my memories. All I ask is for you to find the reason this is happening, search the entire island and find what plagues our home, please."
"Gotcha: find the reason the moon's changing color, figure out how to reverse it, and if all else fails, destroy the moon! Piece of cake." Natsu was then slammed into the ground by a spear of black sand after everyone heard the call of, "Desert God's Anhur! That outta shut him up for a little while. I'm pretty sure we should start our search in the morning since Dragneel is out cold."
"Yes, I am not surprised that you say that. The moon has that effect on many of us as well as we begin to forget, but being human in this case must make it even more heavy. Rest tonight and begin your search tomorrow, we too need our rest..." The group dragged Natsu over to a spot next to the gate and woke him up, "Come on, Dragneel, I remember being told that you could dig tunnels pretty well, but right now we need you to dig us bedrooms for the night."
Bora's words did nothing but stir him in his sleep, getting Gray to do it the old fashioned way, "Wake up, Natsu, and dig some holes or your mate isn't going to get anything done." As Gray spoke the first part of the sentence he chuckled out the word, 'phrasing', and then punched the Ice-Make Mage in the throat, "I hate it when you do that. Getting my hopes up and then killing them like that. Alright, I'll start digging..." And true to his word, he began to do as he was asked.
The dirt was set aside for when they were done using the rooms to sleep in, while most of it was burnt and broken down. It was about ten minutes in and he got four rooms made. Each room's entrance was big enough to crawl in, and the inside was only big enough for two and to army crawl through, but that's when the occupants for the first room, Juanda and Bora, noticed that there was an opening big enough for them to fit their heads in shaped like a bowl.
"Hey," Natsu peeked his head in, looking like a total idiot above ground with his torso shoved down a hole in the ground, "I made those little openings above you in case of flooding so that there's an airpocket like for a grease trap in the average home's sink. Pleasant dreams..." He yawned the last part, before being blasted out of the burrow by a wave of black sand, sending him out of the hole and hitting his head on Loke's chin. The man with glasses, having lost his balance thanks to Juanda's sand wave, bumped into Lucy who was looking into one of the burrows, making her fall in and he soon followed after being pushed in.
"Well, that was easier than I expected it would be," Natsu rubbed his head sorely, "I'm also gonna go with 'ow'. You can use the last burrow, I'll be out here a while..." Gray nodded and crawled into the burrow Natsu had dug out, leaving the salmon-headed pyrovore to his thoughts and his son, "You're thinking about Limama again, Paatsu?"
No matter how much I try to, I can never hide anything from my son..."Huuuuhhh, yeah...Still can't get her out of my head, and what Aria said won't stop repeating up in my empty skull. What if Galuna Island's the island we'll find the clue to her whereabouts?" Happy looked to the starry sky, seeing constellations staring back at them, "I guess we've no choice but to wait and find out, Patsu. She always said..."
Flashback, two years ago, a few minutes until sunset
"Paatsu," Happy called, running to the confused, salmon-haired prankster. "they're after me again!" Natsu's slitted eyes narrow and he growls, getting down from his 'thinking spot' in the tree next to his house to stand in front of Happy as a small gang of delinquents come to a stop in front of the sign. "Hand over our dinner and you won't get hurt!" Said the first one, most likely the leader.
Natsu saw red at that moment, as if making his boy run and fly for his life was bad enough they just had to have a reason behind it besides cruelty. Clenching his fists to the point that the sound of skin stretching and knuckles popping could be heard, he set fire to his hands and rocketed into the first guys stomach feet first, making it look like he was defying physics like a spider does on a day-to-day basis.(The scum who tried eatin' Happy are delinquents, and obviously uneducated, so to them spiders defy physics 'cause they don't know shit)
The next guy to get hurt was the one in the back, only his cry was muffled by a large, padded, feline paw over his mouth. He was then slammed into the ground and saw long, silver hair belonging to a whiskered girl in a striped two-piece bikini with a belled choker around her neck. The girl was glaring frozen pointy things at him, until she kicked him crotch, "Root!"
She punched him in the abdomen, "Splenic, nya!" Even though she sounded cute, somewhat silly with the cat talk, and looked downright sexy, the guys were all afraid of her. Even a rage-filled Natsu was cautious around his beloved when she got like this, which was rare and terrifying.
Natsu punched the guy next to him in the weakest part of the body while Lisanna did the same, "Solar Plexus/Plexus, mreow!" They spun so that the were on both sides of the same guy, whom they kicked with their shins in the center of the chest/upper back area, "Heart/Heart!" They passed each other as they used the one they just hurt as a post to flip off of, before landing with their one leg outstretched. When they landed their respective outstretsched leg's heel hit the back of two guys necks, "Throat/Throat, meow!"
One of the guys ran in between them while their backs were turned to him, hoping to catch them off guard, when they spun around to stand on their hands and shoved a foot into the guy's forehead and the back of his head respectively, "Third Eye/Eye!" Jumping with their arms propelling them upwards, they landed on top of the guy's head in a pose that was used normally for a Unison Raid, "Crown, nyao/Crown..." The two of them didn't notice, but everyone else did, the resounding crack from the guys neck being snapped that came from the combined weight of two human beings dropping onto his head.
Those who remained were scared stiff, until Natsu's half-shadowed face revealed a glowing, red eye that promised to destroy them if they didn't leave quickly. They ran for their lives, screaming for their mothers to save them, when Natsu decided to forego kindness and prepared to turn the running-in-fright-delinquents. That is until his wife(Minus paperwork an' the ring) stepped right in front of his line of fire(See what I did there) with arms reaching to her sides as a defensive gesture, "Let them live, Honey, nya. They won't do it again, we can be sure of that, but don't kill them, mreow."
Her mate's grimacing let a hiss of gas leaking be heard, before he growled and stopped the sound and roared to the sky angrily. She waited for his tantrum to end patiently, like she always did when something like this happened, and was rewarded for her patience in the form of Natsu relaxing enough for her to embrace him lovingly.
"Our baby's safe," She said this, and as if to prove her point, Happy crawled up Natsu's 'sleeping jeans' leg to nuzzle against his head. "The bad men are gone," The natural calm of the area they lived in surrounded them, "And no one has to die. Today was a good day." Natsu nodded, holding the love of his life closer, taking in her scent and nuzzling into her hair, "But I keep worrying about you leaving tomorrow. I keep fearing that tomorrow won't be a good day...That you might-"
She kissed him, ultimately shutting him up long enough for her to come up with something that will ease his troubled thoughts. "If something happens to me, you'll do everything you can to save, find or avenge me. Remember that line from one of your greatest hits you made for me?"(Hits=poems in this case, cause he hates his singin' voice and his poetry writin' wasn't known at the time) He nodded with a nostalgic smile, "'Love transcends all boundaries, it is a pair of wings that will never let you down. It will never let the jewel that is thy own heart fall from your crown. No mountain can deter it, no sea can drown it, no valley can drop it. If ever you feel sad, alone, hurt or in pain, in your lap to comfort you it shall sit.'...Yes, I remember. All too well, do I remember the line that made you want to eat catnip so that you'd be high enough to act stupid."
His smile turned from nostalgic to lecherous as he caught scent of his mate's arousal, said scent made Happy run into a bush he'd cleaned up for situations like this. He growled deeply within his chest, making a reptilian 'purr' of sorts while Lisanna rolled her tongue in an 'r' sound and purred all too arousedly.
"You...me..." She said between Natsu's chaste kisses on her lips, "bed...now...need you...mreow-Ungh!" He began to lick her neck with his duct tape-thin, forked tongue in a tantalizingly slow manner, "Is that what you want, is it? Is that what you want?!" His smug tone of voice only gave her goosebumps, that night was a long one for the two...
End flashback
"Mmmm, that night was a great one." He then noticed his son's haunted expression, "But yeah, I know what you're talking about." Happy still looked somewhat traumatized at the fact that he had caught scent of his mother's arousal and had heard them going at it through the house's walls to the outside world the entire night. He didn't get a wink of sleep that blue moon, and just remembering that part of the day made him become sickly pale.
Unknown to the two of them, the others minus Bora and Juanda had been listening in. Natsu having mentioned what he had done to tease his mate had made a certain blonde excited at the prospect of someone doing that to her. That's when Lucy realized that Loke was still at the top of the tunnel, on top of her really, "...Do you mind?!" Her harsh whisper was caught by the two stargazers.
"...Nope, don't mind at all..." Natsu was then in the tunnel, "If you're going to fuck her, at least make it as silent as possible for the rest of us, Loke." Said Ring Mage got a serious nosebleed at the idea of going at it with the busty beauty underneath him, "No one's going anywhere near my crotch tonight, buster!" She used her elbow to hit Loke's face against the roof of the burrow forcefully.
"Well then, we'll just have to have earmuffs or earplugs tomorrow night then, won't we!" Now outside the burrow, Natsu began chuckling at the pissed blush Lucy sported as he could see colors in the dark like a dragon. (Eyes have 'rods' and 'cones' at the back that translate light for our eyes. Rods allow us to see black and white, while cones let us see in color and. Geckos have large cones, and in this story so do dragons so they can see in the night. Only drawback for this eyesight of enormous cones with few to no rods: Don't see black or white easily, so if ye've got a white baseball bat they won't see it comin' right away)
That night Natsu slept under the stars, with two individual stars shining brighter than the rest like a pair of eyes. The two stargazers dreamt of eyes glowing icy-blue, wings of scale and burning, tails of black steely iron, wing-like horns, and smooth, yet jagged scales. It was in the morning that they started their search, and they started in the most likely place on the island: The forbidden ruins.
"What are you doing in the clock, Lucy?" Said blonde was inside of Horologium again, only for reasons that were unfounded with the sun beaming down on them. "We don't know what's on the island, and I don't want to take any chances with an island of unknown dangers!" Happy looked to her like she was crazy but let it be for now, "Alright."
"The environment here isn't that different from a regular forest of the mainland, but the animals I've caught sight and scent of aren't familiar in any way to me. So your fear isn't unfounded." That's when a gigantic, blue rat wearing pieces from a French maid's outfit, "Well...didn't see that coming. Who wants to take the giant rat?" As if on cue, Gray said, "Ice-Make Floor!" The ground was covered in a layer of ice, making the rat trip and fall on its back where it couldn't get back up.
"That answered your question. Now, let's get back to the job, I don't want to stay here longer than necessary." Natsu nodded to Loke, understanding his reasoning because humans died quicker than Slayers, "Yeah, I smell something here but I can't tell what it is. The scents of the fauna and flora, as well as the smell of demons is overpowering the strange scent. All I can get is that it's ancient, and cold...I also smell something else, but that scent is indiscernible with all the others and it's making me feel on edge."
"I feel it too, something old is buried deep in this island, something that shouldn't be..." Juanda's words got Gray suspicious, making him look to the sky in thought, "What could make the moon change color and get two Slayers on edge..." The rat began to make noise, getting the group to run for the temple.
Natsu suddenly took a deep breath through his nose, opening his closed eyes to narrow them at a seemingly innocent-enough patch of floor. "...The scent...it's here...but there's something wrong with this spot. It feels," He knocked on the stones, getting them to fall with him on top, "SHIT!" Nearing the wall, he sank his claw-like nails into the dirt walls of the hole, making him grunt in pain from the stones he scraped against.
"'You okay, Natsu?!' She declares." The Dragon Slayer grunted as he got his talon-like, bare feet in the wall as he called up, "'I'm fine! Just a little preoccupied', I call back! The smell is stronger here and the presence feels closer down here, come down here as carefully as possible...I'm going down, YOLO!" He fell backwards, his playful grin saying all they needed to know as he turned to face the ground before sending energy near the spot he'd have wings, stopping his impending death.
"...Holy Shit...YOU GUYS HAVE GOTTA SEE THIS!" The others exchanged glances before doing as he asked. They were in for a shock, but near the harbor of Magnolia there was something moving in the water, and it was big. This animal was bipedal if its legs with webbed feet were any indication. Its wings looked like large fins in the place of arms, and its streamline body was built for underwater life. The creature's face was very piscine with beady eyes, gills near the hinge of the jaws, its arrowhead-shaped skull and the fin on top of its head. On its back was another fin, like a fold-up fan but larger and made of fish-like scales. The tail was paddle-like and there was a fin on the top and bottom of its long tail. The creature's entire length was eight feet long. The creature's scales were a rainbow of different colors. As it swam near the shoreline, fish swam too close to its head and were eaten swiftly as it roared, making all of the fish swim for their lives and making the boats on the surface rock...
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That's a wrap ladies, gents and other. I don't have anythin' to really say off the top of my head. So as always: R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism, and SEE YE-GOOD NIGHT!