Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to Chapter J of "The ABCs of Natsu and Erza!" And the theme for today is Jealousy!
I guess it's kind of a sequel to Date, since Shizuka is featured in it. Yeah, the waitress. Deal. Or No Deal? You decide. And I know I should be posting the rewritten chapters, but, well, this got done first. And I got nothing to say here, so let's just move on with the story, shall we?
I own Shizuka and her Yellow Fire magic, and I own the move Natsu used on Erza during their match. Everything else is Hiro Mashima's.
Rated T for a drunken Erza.
Natsu and Erza were training out in a clearing just outside of Magnolia. As usual, Erza was giving Natsu a run for his money, and it was all the Salamander could do to defend himself.
He found an opening and made his move. Holding out his hand with his thumb and index finger positioned like he was holding a gun, a small flame formed on his fingertip. "Fire Dragon's Piercing Flare!" he shouted. A beam of compressed fire energy shot from his finger and struck Erza square in the chest.
Fortunately, due to the effects of her Flame Empress armor, the beam didn't pierce through any more than her armor. Unfortunately, the beam was strong enough on its own to completely split the breastplate of the armor in two, thus nullifying the whole armor's effect. Erza quickly changed into her samurai outfit, realizing Natsu could and would do the same to any other armor.
Unfortunately for her, the split-second opening that she needed to Requip was enough so that Natsu could punch her in the stomach with a flame-powered fist, reducing the Titania to her knees.
"It seems this is your victory, Natsu," said Erza, genuinely impressed with her boyfriend's improvement. Natsu had come close before, but it was always Flame Empress that stood in his way. True, he had overloaded it before, but that usually took up more magic than she would've liked were she in his situation. That technique cleanly disabled her main strategy against fire users. "Where did you learn that move?"
"Macao taught me how to compress my fire to maximize its damage. Neat, huh?" Natsu said with a grin.
Erza smiled. "Yes, Macao does seem to know his stuff about Fire magic," she agreed.
"Natsu!" a female voice called. Both mages turned to see the newest addition to Fairy Tail, Shizuka.
"Hey, Shizuka!" Natsu said loudly and happily.
"Gray told me I could find you here, Natsu," said Shizuka. "I need your help with something."
"Sure. What?" asked Natsu.
"I'm working on a new technique similar to your Iron Fist move, but every time I ignite my hand, I feel it start to burn."
"Yeah, I remember having that problem when Igneel first started teaching me," said Natsu wistfully. "The trick is manipulating the flame's temperature to match your own." He lit his hand on fire to demonstrate. "Go on, grab my hand," the Salamander prompted the yellow-clad girl.
Shizuka did just as Natsu instructed and took hold of the fiery hand. She let out a gasp of surprise. "It isn't hot," she said.
"Yeah, I know. Cool, right?" said Natsu. Shizuka just giggled at the unintentional pun. "It takes a lot of practice, but if you do it right once, it'll become second nature to you in no time!"
"Thanks, Natsu!" Shizuka said with a bright smile. "It means a lot to me that a great mage like you is helping me." She turned to leave, and Natsu looked at Erza with a bright smile.
"She's gonna be great one day. Just you wait!" he said.
"Yeah. Great," grunted Erza halfheartedly. She wore an irritated scowl on her face as she stomped off back to the guild.
"That was weird," said a confused Natsu.
What was that, Erza? What the HELL was that? (Seems I had to add the exclamations in manually, though I'm positive they were there in the original Word document. Oh well.)
That was the question Erza was currently asking herself, sitting at the guild bar. Lisanna was sitting on her left side, Lucy and Cana on her right, and Mirajane tending the bar, as per usual.
"Another round, Mira," Erza ordered.
"Ah-ah-ah, I wouldn't give it to her, Mira," piped up Cana.
"What?" Erza growled, causing Lucy to flinch.
"Look, you just had three shots of straight whiskey, and at worst you usually only have two glasses of wine during movie night at Fairy Hills! That shit's too strong for a primarily social drinker like you to be drinking that much that fast!" Cana explained nervously.
"Cana's right, Erza," said Mira gently. "I think you should take it easy for a little while. Maybe even tell us what's got you in a drinking mood tonight."
Erza grumbled to herself about Mira always being right. "I just don't like how close Shizuka's getting to Natsu, is all," she said.
"You're jealous!" cooed Lucy. "I knew you guys were good together!"
"Welcome to the party, Erza," said Lisanna.
"Lucy, shut up! Lisanna, what are you talking about?" Erza barked.
"It's just, I remember when we were kids," replied Lisanna. "We all thought Natsu was the cutest boy in the guild, and we'd all get jealous whenever he smiled at one of us."
"Yes, well, thank God we're all more mature now than we were then," said Mira as she looked from Erza to Lisanna and back again nervously.
"I'll drink to that!" cheered Cana.
"What won't you drink to, Cana?" muttered Erza darkly.
"I dunno. Pedophiles?" Everyone laughed and cheered at this remark.
"Anyway," said Lisanna, continuing her train of thought. "When I came back from Edolas, I noticed just how close Natsu and Lucy had gotten, and you know what? I found it in me to move on and be happy for him."
"I thought I was Natsu's/Lucy's girlfriend," Erza and Cana pouted.
"You are! You are!" said Lisanna a little too quickly.
"Damn straight."
"Jinx!" exclaimed Erza. Cana shrugged and resumed her drink.
"My point is, we've all grown up, we've all moved on, and we can all talk about Natsu without anyone getting jealous. But you, Erza… you're still jealous of Shizuka just because Natsu is lending her a helping hand."
"So what?" said Erza.
"That's the magic of jealousy," said Lisanna. "It tells us just how much we love and care about someone special to us. It's the anger, the passion, the 'what-has-she-got-that-I-haven't got?' that drives our romantic endeavors. You care so much whether Natsu spends time with Shizuka because you love him unconditionally."
Erza's slightly drunken mind processed Lisanna's words and decided that she was right. She did love her Honey Dragon, and she needed to get to work on making sure he knew just how much his Baby Red loved him. "I know what I must do!" she announced, and she stormed away from the bar, though the effect was somewhat dampened by her drunken gait.
"This will not end well for Natsu," said Lisanna.
"Should we stop her?" asked Lucy.
"No," said Mira gravely. "We'll only get caught in the crossfire."
"I'm jinxed, so I got nothing to say," said Cana. Lucy punched her girlfriend in the arm and said her name three times.
Natsu walked home tired, yet satisfied. Shizuka was progressing well from what he saw. Her new move, Solar Breakdown, still had a few kinks to work out, but she seemed to be handling things just fine. It was Natsu's honest opinion that Shizuka would be ready for the S-Class Trials when they next came around, and she would have his recommendation, no problem.
When he got home, the first thing Natsu noticed was that his door was open. Figuring Happy had let himself in, he opened it and called out the Exceed's name a few times. Shrugging, he figured Happy was in their room.
That was when he noticed the scent of alcohol coming down the hall. Strange. Happy didn't drink, and Natsu hadn't been drinking tonight, instead opting for a refreshing chocolate smoothie. He would've opted for a cola, but the guild didn't carry caffeine-free varieties, and he didn't want to be kept up. Peering into his room, he saw…
…Erza, in her skimpiest black lingerie, passed out on his bed with a bundle of rope in her hand. Natsu wasn't the smartest guy in the world, of course, but even he shuddered at the thought of what Erza had in store for him with that rope.
Natsu poked Erza in the forehead as gently as he could, fearing that he was walking into a trap. All she ended up doing was moaning in her sleep. Satisfied, he removed the rope from her hand and tossed it as far away from the Titania as he could. He then stripped to his boxers and lifted Erza off the bed so they could slide under the covers. Finally, he pulled Erza close to his body and kissed her on the lips before finally falling asleep himself. All the while, he was oblivious to the seemingly unconscious Erza's smirk of victory.
Let's see him do that for his little protégé.
Once again, I'm positive I completely ran away from the theme. I dunno, a little feedback, please?
Until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt! And I'm sorry for like, no comments this chapter, but I got nothing else going on right now.