Chapter 9: Dragon Slayer in LA

Natsu looked around at vast white marble hall. "Is this your world?"

"No this is…" Buffy started, when a male voice greeted them.

"Welcome!"

"Hi Ankhseram, did you re-route my jump or did I do this by accident? If so I'm so sorry … I didn't mean…" Buffy started to babble.

"Nothing of the sort, Buffy, and even if you would jump here first, it would bring no harm to anyone," Ankhseram hurried to explain to the frantic girl. "I did bring you here because I wanted to meet Natsu in person."

"Me, why?" Natsu asked, and then the onyx eyes narrowed. "And who are you old man with no eyes?"

"I am the God of life and death, Ankhseram. And all right, I am old and I have a void for eyes," he groused. "And you Natsu are a bratty dragon slayer." Then said god shrugged. "As for why I wanted to meet with you … sometime in the future I will owe you an explanation, to your older brother as well, but mostly you."

"What brother?"

"You don't remember your life before Igneel, do you?"

Natsu shook his head, confirming the negative. Ankhseram nodded, "I thought so, you were after all the child, merely three years of age, when Igneel took you in, and your older brother, due to his curse, hadn't been around much, for your protection."

"Curse?"

"It's a long and complicated story."

"Can you make it short?" Natsu asked, and then added, "And less complicated."

"Aye," Happy piped in, and then settled quietly in Buffy's arms after she shushed him.

"Unfortunately, no," Ankhseram sighed. "But I can tell you this, if not for some unfortunate events, you would have grown up with your parents, who loved you and your older brother, and yes, you would have met Igneel as well. But you'd never have joined Fairy Tail."

"Is that all?" Natsu asked.

Ankhseram nodded, "For now yes."

"I don't know my parents or this brother," he started to say, and then he looked directly at the void eyes of Ankhseram. "I don't know either if I should miss someone I don't even remember, however Fairy Tail is my home and that is worth a lot."

"Good answer." Ankhseram nodded. "Then I also tell you this: Igneel is always close to you and he misses you. However you are unable to see him."

Then he raised his hand to prevent questions. "You will see your dragon father again, Natsu Dragneel, I can guarantee it, but you won't find him, he'll find you."

Natsu squinted at the god that just told him almost nothing, and then he nodded. "Then that is knowledge enough." And it was, he had more information on Igneel then he had when he started searching on the day his father disappeared.

"Then off you go the three of you. You can stay for couple of days in LA. I'm going to switch the passage of time; one day in LA is an hour in Earthland."

***Los Angeles***

Buffy squeaked in surprise when she tumbled out of Ankhseram's created portal; he was never gentle in his 'gating' her to any of the worlds. She barely shifted her weight as to not crush Happy by accident.

Natsu groaned when he tried to sit up, operative word tried. What that old man with void eyes did … he really hoped that when they do return, that Buffy's jumps between worlds weren't like that.

"They're not," Buffy said.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"No, but it's one of the questions I had when I first jumped, without Ankhseram interfering, or intercepting the jump. The landings are much easier."

"That's good to know."

"Aye!" Happy agreed, but was quickly tugged down by Natsu.

"Happy, stay close and pretend to be just a cat, not a talking or flying one, all right?"

"Aye, but why?"

"Because …" Natsu started to explain only for Buffy to tap his shoulder.

"I'll explain, okay Natsu?" At the dragon mage's nod, she turned to Happy. "It is bad if people here heard you talk or see you fly, because most do not believe in magic and might do something bad to you. Or those that do, well, depends if they are good people or bad. So it's better if you'd just pretend to be an ordinary non flying non talking cat. That happens to be blue."

"But it be boring, you guys will go out and …"

"And you will wait in the house with canned tuna and other fish, while watching Pokémon which is Samantha's favorite show."

Happy smiled then jumped a little. "Aye!"

"Come on; let's get you two to the house," she said tugging Natsu on the arm to get him moving from the side alley where they landed to the busy main street, with cars and pedestrians hurrying up and down the pavement, only to be pulled back into the side alley, by a now green in the face Natsu.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" He didn't answer; he just clamped his hand over his nose and mouth. "Natsu?"

"Fine, but how can you breath this?" Dragon's lungs can breathe this crap, Natsu thought, but he was a tad worried about Buffy, even if she was used to it, and Happy.

"Huh? Oh, the exhaust from cars … em I'm used to it?" He gave a grunt, and waved his hand in front his face to breathe past… what did Buffy call it 'exhaust from cars.' Those were cars and they weren't powered by magic?

Natsu let Buffy pull him along, since he was too busy gawking, Happy as well, at the sights. Of course when a plane went overhead, they jumped. It was not that they were unfamiliar with flying crafts, but the machines in Earthland were not this noisy. The expression on his face however went from slightly startled to pouty, when he felt, more then heard, Buffy hold in her laughter. Luckily for them they came to the destination without any more incidents.

"Who'd thought," Buffy said, when she made room for Natsu to slip into the house. "That the great Natsu Dragneel is so jumpy at the sight of planes."

He acutely growled at her, making her even more amused, even if she just knew that there was probably a prank planned for her in the near future. And when she heard another type of growl, she sighed, looks like she'll have to make a dent in her dad's money, money that her dad made available to her.

"Come on, you and Happy sit down in the living room, and I'll order us some pizza."

"What's pizza?"

"Food," and with that she turned around to phone in the order for twenty large pizzas with all the toppings, then noticing a flashing red light at the answering machine, she pressed play.

"Hey Princess," came her father's voice from the machine, "I'll be back on Friday, then we'll go buy a car. Congratulations on you passing the exams." Then there was a beep signaling the end of the message. Sighing she started to dial for the Pizza Hut place to order food that will tie down the dragon's appetite.

Hearing a yelp from the living room she went there and found Natsu glaring at the air conditioner. "Sorry Natsu," Happy wailed from the behind the sofa, and were those cat scratch marks on the wood? Yes they were, she'll need to figure out how to make sure that Happy won't destroy her dad's furniture while they are here.

"That's the air conditioner, Natsu," she said instead then picked up the remote controller from the coffee table. "See, you regulate temperature with this."

Then she stared at him for a moment, "before we go anywhere we better visit the mall, since you'll need a bit more appropriate shirt, which covers you a bit more; right now you look like Aladdin."

"And what's wrong with how I dress, I look cool in this."

"Oh wow, didn't know you were a fashionista."

"Aye, Natsu is fussy with his clothes, has to have matching colors with his scarf," Happy said. Buffy thought back, for the short time she has known them, Natsu hadn't been without a white scaled scarf; he even slept with the thing.

"Huh, yes, I haven't seen you without this scarf at all. So what's the story, is it important to you?" she asked, watching Natsu wrap his fingers in the scarf.

"Igneel gave it to me."

"Well in that case, we'll make sure that whatever clothes we get; they'll match your scarf, deal?"

"It's a deal," Natsu said, and then he sobered up. "So that was your dad, huh?" At Buffy's startled look, he shrugged. "I heard his message from- what is it? A communication lacrima? …"

"Answering machine?"

"Yes, that. So what is the story?"

"Ahh, dad's away … a lot, or my portal jumping back would be far more frequent," Buffy said looking away, then back to Natsu and Happy, "Dad doesn't know about all this and since my first attempt at telling my parents about magic and demons and vampires didn't go so well..." she shrugged, momentarily feeling the memory of that day resurface.

"Buffy," Happy said placing his paws on Buffy's leg. But Buffy just shook her head, "Sorry for the gloom and doom tune, but that was not the best time of my life."

"That's fine … hey food is here!" Natsu said perking up, and sniffing the air. "It smells nice …"

"Honestly Natsu, you have …" There was the ring of the doorbell and Buffy laughed standing up and going to the door. "Good nose," she finished smiling; the painful flash of a memory in an institution that her parents put her into was at the back of her mind.

'We'll have a conversation about that, hatchling,' came Phe's voice from the depths of her mind. Buffy tensed at that for a fleeting second, then relaxed. She did not want to visit those memories again, but to get pass them, heal from them, she'll have to have that conversation with Phe.

While on the outside Natsu and Happy gave their commentaries in response to Buffy's comment about how sharp Natsu's nose was.

"Yup." Natsu nodded, grinning in anticipation of food. Buffy's strange mood was momentarily shelved to the back of the dragon slayer's mind … for now.

"Aye."

"Here it is. Pizza. Sit down at the table the two of you!" Buffy called out, bringing a stack of twenty flat boxes, which smelled awesome to Natsu, like bread and meat and tomato and some other delicious foodstuffs. He was visibly drooling when he sat down and grabbed half of the boxes.

"Happy," Buffy said beckoning the cat closer. "I know there is some canned fish in the kitchen; come with me to pick it out."

"Aye sir!" and the cat disappeared into the kitchen with Buffy. After the meal they were going shopping for clothes. That might prove interesting and then after shopping Buffy promised him the arcade and some other stuff, before they visit a genuine magic shop.

And Natsu could admit, he was interested in what kind of magic shop this world held, after that, well he had some questions for Buffy.

***LA mall***

"So welcome to best shopping centre in the world, the epicentre of fashion in Los Angeles, The Beverly Centre. It boasts major retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Banana Republic, H&M, and Victoria's Secret, Express Men." Then Buffy turned to Natsu, "so which one do you want to hit first? And don't say food."

Natsu slumped. "Right, but we will get food later?"

"Yes, we will and along with fresh fish for Happy."

Natsu immediately straightened, "All right then, I'm all fired up."

"Just not literally, please." Her plea drawled a mischievous smile from Natsu. To distract her companion from any mischief he was planning, she pointed at the store. "Look, steel toed combat boots."

"Well, let's look at this then…"

In the end they got those boots for both of them, along with a couple of T-shirts with a red dragon printed on the front – these were claimed by Natsu almost immediately when he spotted them. Also generic jeans and cargo pants for Natsu, and that made Buffy almost laugh, that Natsu gotten for himself high collar leather duster that was a dark wine color with a black flame motif at the hem.

Natsu also helped pick out two articles of clothing for Buffy, a floral pencil sleeveless dress with enormous red poppy buds and in full bloom on the silver canvas and full embroidery of the shoulder in a red floral lace.

Then they hit a restaurant where Natsu ate most of it, and Buffy pretty much pushed her plate his way. Then they visited an arcade and bowling alley. Now that was interesting, since both teamed up against some college students and creamed them 21 to 1, whatever that meant. Natsu was not sure but he had fun, throwing that ball and wrecking those wooden figures. He managed to hit all of them every single time.

Heh. Awesome. More awesome that the stuffy assholes got what was coming to them – especially when they called him a loser fag, whatever that last thing meant, but by their sneering tone nothing good, and Buffy didn't even blink when the guys pants started to smoke and then they caught fire. She just gave him thumbs up and then asked him to accompany her to the legitimate magic store.

Now that sounded interesting, he could not wait to see what kind of magic Buffy's world held. They took a taxi, fortunately those flames Buffy fed him still held.

"Hmm 'Mystical Magicae' yep that is it," Buffy said when they came to the small store at the very back of the alley; it was walking distance from Buffy's dad's place they were staying at. Natsu could feel it though; there was something in that store. Something magical, different than he was used to, but there was magic.

***Mystical Magicae***

The chime of the bell alerted the female being of her customers. And for a change she sensed that they were different than her usual customer; she had warlocks, hedge wizards, the occasional occultist and techno-pagan, Wiccan, witch, sorcerer, warlock of any brand, and sometimes a watcher that dabbled in magic.

Sineya of the Shadow daughter walking in to her shop alone, without the men of shadow, that was rare. Rarer still was the feeling that mixed with the shadow; in this child there were forces at work, forces not native to the seed of magic that resided in this world.

Things were slowly changing, which meant that they would have to adapt or been swept away. And honestly she was tired for providing a cornerstone for the Powers that Be rule over this domain.

Her gaze drifted over to the young man that accompanied Sineya's own. His appearance in her shop was even more surprising and unexpected than seeing a Slayer in her shop. A magic user from another world, and now when she looked at the young woman, yes … she could see it now, whom is pulling the strings of change.

"Welcome to Mystical Magicae," she said stepping from the shadow to great her customers.

"Yo," said the young men, Sineya's daughter flickered her eyes over the shop at the same time as saying, "Hello."

"What can I help you with?" the female shopkeeper said, but before she could say anything a ball bursted with multicolored fire and from the fire a bird appeared, a phoenix. She hadn't seen the like in millenniums, ever since the second Time of Movement when the Ancients left this world to make room for the mortal races, and before the time of The Old Ones, whom later enslaved humanity and lost purchase in the world when The Ra-Tet Talismans, Excalibur, and its counterpart mʔ or more commonly known The Scythe were forged by Eldaars.

"Hello Ma'at," trilled the phoenix. "There are things we need. Will you and your fellow totems provide or will you perish when the Great Change comes?" the bird asked. The now named shopkeeper saw the daughter of Sineya and the otherworldly mage exchange startled and quizzical glances.

While Phe and Ma'at conversed in some strange lyrical language, Natsu, Happy who was smuggled out of the apartment in Natsu's backpack, and Buffy were on their own in the shop. The shop-keeper and the phoenix said that they could pick whatever calls to them.

"So did ya know about this?" Natsu asked while he watched the strange stuff that was packed on the shelves. Buffy shrugged.

"About the bird, her name is Phe, and she was with me for a while. And no I didn't know that woman Ma'at or whatever knows Phe. Phe didn't know either; she just said that we should go see this store. Because we could find something useful in here." Then Buffy exhaled. "Phe was surprised when she saw her." She tilted her head towards the beings that were arguing still, about something or other.

"So I can't tell you what all this means," she finished explaining.

"And your deal with old man?"

"Which old man?"

"Void eyes."

"Oh, Ankhseram, he contacted me with a preposition in helping him right the wrong, mostly what happened to your family and some general things."

"So you joined Fairy Tail because of a mission."

"Oh, the mission didn't state that you had to be my partner or best fried, which you did become so …" she trailed off looking at the shelf that contained various Athames of all shapes and size, made from steel, silver, bronze, or stone wood. Only to get another pat on her head, what's with Natsu and head-pats? Well he at least never messed up her hair.

"Aw, I like you to, weirdo," then his voice took a whiny tone and a pout found its place on his face, while his arm settled around Buffy's shoulders. "But I feel so used."

"W-what?" Buffy turned around so fast that she almost earned herself whiplash to look at Natsu's face, which was inches away, "used…but… what?"

"It's like 'Buffy married me for money and dumped me when she had enough.'"

"Don't say that!" Buffy yelled, drawing the attention of the two beings at the other side of the store. Phe immediately started to laugh, while Happy sighed and shook his head at them.

"Youngsters these days are so forward."

"Knock it off, kitty cat," muttered Buffy, then she picked out the athame made from wood that turned into stone; it was long and had the appearance of a small rapier. Perfect for vampires.

"Better pick out another athame, for waving spells, daughter of Sineya." At Buffy's questioning look, she elaborated. "You'll need an athame that is untainted by darkness of the fallen ones, such as vampires, to work your Craft."

"But Buffy and witchiness does not mix, that is Willow…" she started to babble, drawing an amused look from the pink haired dragon slayer; she immediately glared at the guy, who infuriatingly grinned even wider. The poop-head.

Ma'at nodded. "That is true, but I'm not talking of magic that witches use. I'm talking of magic that you can use as a Daughter of Sineya and as a Celestial Spirit mage and as Phe's Hatchling."

Then Ma'at turned to the still snickering Dragon Slayer. "You also have the potential to learn the Craft, Dragon child." Natsu sobered and then after a couple of heartbeats of thought, he nodded. It honestly surprised Buffy, his decision to learn; how did Ma'at put it craft…or rather by the sound of it, Craft with a capital C. She wondered what the difference was between magic that Willow was starting to learn and the magic that she, Buffy, as a mage used, and the Craft.

Testing took place in the back room; they went in separately of course for Ma'at declared that they needed to know their own truth of their powers. And wasn't that a surprise for Buffy when Ma'at told her the result of her testing; she was, as far as the slayer part of her was concerned, a Slayer of 'Air' her predecessor being a Slayer of Water. That with the combination of her being a Celestial Spirit Mage and Phe's hatchling – Buffy still didn't know what that exactly meant – she was declared an Enchantress and a natural Pythoness- she didn't know what that last one meant so Ma'at told her that it is female soothsayer or conjurer of spirits.

That sounded … not so bad and it gave her a vague idea, but she could not grasp it; it was like the idea came at her in her sleep and she could not remember it awake.

While she was inside, Natsu was having a conversation with another of the beings that appeared, a little girl in red; Phe stayed with Natsu, stating that she hadn't had a conversation with Mesektet in eons.

When she came out, Natsu was wearing his grumpy look as he was holding books. At her questioning look he mumbled, "I don't like books."

"Tough, kid, suck it up," said the little girl in red snidely. "After all you have the raw powers of a warlock and a sorcerer combined." Then she glared at him. "I told you, I like trouble – not chaos."

Ma'at then gave Buffy her share of books, "In here it will explain what the different appellations mean in each category – there is some crossover so you need to check it with care."

"What do ya mean?" asked Natsu, titling his head. "And Mastehart, give me a bag or something, unless you wanna see chaos. I can be pretty chaotic, ya know."

"Cheeky brat," Mesektet grumbled, then stomped to the counter; Ma'at watched the other being go to pick up a bag for the youngster now that was really unexpected, for Mesektet was the most malevolent of Ra's totems on Earth.

To be continued ...