So I want to apologies for no second update last week, but I am running out of chapters and don't have time to write more. So please bare with me as we go to one update a week (Sundays) for the time being.
Lastly, if this story seems to jump around a lot, and confuses people, please let me know. It's been about 5 months since I've first started and sometimes I confuse myself on what details I've already put out, and that's even after I've reread the previous chapters. If you left me a question in the comments section and I don't address it during the author notes, it's because it will mostlikely be answered in a later chapter.
Thanks again and please leave a review!
Clackclackclackclack, clackclackclackclack, clackclackclackclack, clackclackclackclack.
The sound of a horse drawn carriage grew louder as it approached Natsu from behind. Natsu simply reached up and pulled his worn woodland cloak deeper over his head. Underneath his cloak, he hid his bow and quiver, as well as his pink hair.
His unnatural hearing allowed him to hear the conversation between the driver and the passengers.
"There's a lone highway man up ahead," came a low gruff voice.
"You don't think he's dangerous do you?" questioned a soft feminine voice.
"Not sure. He doesn't look that tough," Natsu felt insulted, "but you never know," Natsu perked up a little, "there could be more of them," and Natsu was crushed again.
I'm not weak, I'm lean you bastard thought Natsu.
"Hey will you watch where you're going! You almost spilled my beer!" rang a third voice through Natsu's ears.
"Are you seriously drinking on the job, Bora! You're a member of the Third Legion, be professional!" yelled the gruff voice from before.
At that, Natsu stiffened a little and sighed, great, not another member of the Third Legion.
"Relax, a little bit of alcohol is good for one's senses," the Legionnaire answered as the carriage began passing Natsu. "For example," the Legionnaire continued as he stuck his head out of the window and made eye contact with Natsu, "that guy right there, perfectly harmless. Wouldn't even be a match for you Gajeel."
The carriage slowed down incredibly, "What's that suppose to mean, you drunk?"
Natsu just stood along side the road and watched on as the carriage finally came to a halt, and a large man with thick black hair came into view, peering over the side to get a view of the drunk.
"Exactly as I said. That guy wouldn't pose any threat to the girl as long as I'm here."
"Not that part, the part after that!"
"Oh, you mean the part where even a person who isn't a part of the Third Legion could beat that guy?"
"Yeah! That part! Are you saying that I'm weaker than you?"
"Well, let's look at the facts. I'm a member of the Third Legion, and you aren't. So yes, I'm stronger than you." Natsu could hear the smirk in the drunk's slurred voice.
"You want to go right here, right now?! Just cause I refuse to join the Third Legion doesn't mean I'm not strong enough to beat a third wheel like you!" the man was now jumping off of the carriage and making his was towards his challenger, who still had his head sticking out of the window.
"Umm, guys," a blue head popped out of the second window, Natsu could tell it was the same voice as the female from earlier, "can we not do this right now? I just want to get back to the city."
"Of course," responded the man outside the carriage, all hint of anger gone from his voice.
"Oh, how cute! Your little lover coming to your rescue!" squealed the drunk.
"Eep!" blushed the younger girl with blue hair, "we aren't lovers!"
"Tck," was the only noise you could hear from the man as he got back on the carriage, "you heard her, let's go."
With that, the man got the horses moving again and the carriage continued on it's way, away from Natsu.
"Well that was interesting," Natsu mumbled with his head tilted to the side, before continuing down the road, following the same path the carriage took.
After walking down the road about three miles, Natsu could hear the distinct sound of fighting. The smell of the three travelers that had passed him earlier was strong, and so was the smell of blood.
Natsu quickened his pace, almost coming to a full run, sliding to a halt as he crested the hill and peered down at the mayhem.
A couple of bodies laid sprawled out on the ground, there were about thirteen guys standing in front of the carriage. One of the two horses that had been pulling the carriage laid in a crumpled heap on the ground, a couple of arrows sticking out of in it. The two men that had accompanied the carriage stood between it and the group of men. The bluenette was standing next to the man who was inside the carriage, out in front of the man who was driving the carriage.
"Bora! What is the meaning of this?! As a member of the Third Legion, this is below you!" shouted the driver.
"Oh shut up Gajeel, and did you actually believe I was a member of those goodie-to-shoos? I will never be a part of the Third Legion again, there is so much more money in the selling of slaves. Especially, cute ones like her," Bora pulled the girl closer to him. "I'm taking the girl , want to break her in before making some money off of her. I'm going to be leave you with these guys," Bora retorted while motioning with his hand, that wasn't holding on to the girl, to the guys behind him.
"Damn it," Natsu muttered to himself.
Right as Natsu spoke, he saw the man named Gajeel whip his head back towards Natsu and heard him mumble, "Shit, there's another one behind me."
Natsu was taken a bit by surprise. He was still a good three hundred meters from where Gajeel stood and it appeared that Gajeel had as good of hearing as Natsu.
"Besides," Bora continued, causing Gajeel to bring his attention back to the man that held the girl that he was suppose to be protecting, "it's not like there's a lot you can do, being outnumbered fifteen to one. I'm sure they will let you experience exactly what your girl is experiencing before they kill you."
"Like hell I can't do something," Gajeel muttered as he took a wide stance, as if to summon some unknown force from within, "Please forgive me, Levy. I never wanted you to see me like this."
Natsu was the first to sense the atmospheric change, and quickly put the man's statement and the situation together.
One of the larger bandits standing behind Bora, began running towards Gajeel.
"Oh no you don't," Natsu mumbled before dashing off down the road towards the crowd.
Closing the three hundred meters in mere seconds, Natsu leaped into the air, using the carriage as a secondary push off location to gain more height.
Gajeel, saw the large man approaching, but there wasn't much he could do. He knew the attacker couldn't cause any damage, but he couldn't fight back until his body gathered the power he needed.
Everyone was taken by surprise when a cloaked figure can crashing out of the sky and onto the large bandit.
Natsu had come flying over Gajeel's shoulder, crashing his fist into the attacking bandits face, and slamming him into the road. Dust quickly obscured the whole area.
As the dust cleared, the only thing people could see was the a small vague figure. As the dust cleared completely, it was obvious why the figure looked small. He was standing in a two foot deep crater.
Stunned silence grasped everyone.
"I know what you are," Natsu whispered for only Gajeel to hear, "and if you aren't ready to show her, then I'll take care of these guys."
Natsu could feel the sudden loss of power behind him, and he could help but smirk.
"I recommend releasing the girl," Natsu stated simply.
"Who... who do you think you are?!" cried Bora, his voice laced with nervousness.
Natsu began slowly walking out of the crater towards Bora and the girl.
"I am the demon in the night. I am the fear in the Counsel. I am the Salamander." Natsu's words brought trembling knees to all those in front of him, as he now stood a foot from Bora. "But to you, I am death."
With his final words, a wave of fire shot out from Natsu towards the bandits, quickly passing over Bora and the girl, but engulfed the bandits behind them.
The cries of the burning men haunted the air as Bora quickly turned and witnessed his men turn to ash.
Turning back to Natsu, Bora stammered, "What... what are... you?!"
With a wicked grin Natsu replied, "I am the equalizer," and with that he softly reached out and pulled the bluenette away from Bora.
"He's all yours," Natsu plainly stated as he stepped away with the girl.
"Wha...?" Bora tried to question before a large fist crashed into his face.
"Thanks for leaving this shit bag for me," Gajeel grumbled.
"But of course," Natsu grinned happily, "he threatened your girl. Obviously, it should be you that deals with him."
Natsu could make out the slightest blush on the man's face, but could definitely feel the heat radiating from the girl next to him as she tried to control her ever reddening face. Natsu simply shot her a friendly grin.
Bora was hardly back to his feet before he was doubled over with Gajeel's knee in his gut, and as Bora flew backwards, Gajeel was on him before he ever touched the ground.
Gajeel continued to beat the life out of Bora for another three minutes before Bora suddenly burst into flames.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Gajeel yelled as he turned his attention back to Natsu.
"Well, you obviously weren't going to finish him, so I figured I would," Natsu countered, before whispering the next part while pointing his head towards the girl beside him , "Besides, do you want her to see you kill the guy and think that you are a coldblooded monster?"
"Tck," was all the noise Gajeel made before standing straighter and crossing his arms across his chest, and then whispering, "I knew that."
"Anyways," Natsu spoke loudly, catching both of their attentions, "I'm going to get going now. You two have a safe rest of your trip."
At that, Natsu turned to continue walking the direction he was previously heading before being distracted by the fight.
After a few steps, a soft voice brought him turning back around.
"Umm... Thank you for saving us," came the quiet voice.
"Hmm? Oh, don't worry about it. Besides, Iron Man over there would have saved you," Natsu grinned before shooting Gajeel a knowing look.
"Eh?" was all the bluenette could respond with.
"Oh nothing," Natsu returned his attention to the girl, ignoring the death glare he was receiving from Gajeel. "Anyways, I better get going. I still have a long ways to travel."
Before Natsu could turn around, the bluenette spoke up again, this time with a little more confidence, "Do you need a ride? We can give you a ride, it's the least we can do!"
"Where are you all heading?" Natsu questioned.
"We are heading to the Royal City, but I'm sure we can drop you off where ever you need to go," the bluenette chimed.
With the mention of the Royal City, Natsu quickly turned his gaze onto Gajeel. The girl could tell that the two were sharing a conversation, but how they were understanding each other through all the nonverbal signs confused her.
"What are you all talking about?" the girl finally asked, fed up with the silence.
"Uh, nothing of importance. By the way, I'm Natsu," extending his hand to the girl, who graciously took it.
"And I'm Levy," she returned Natsu's smile, and then motioning to her companion, "and that's Gajeel."
"Well, it's nice meeting both of you. Are you sure it's ok for me to travel with you?"
"Why, cause you are a magic user?" Levy tilted her head in confusion.
"Uh, yeah," Natsu shrugged his shoulders, as if the statement was obvious, "Usually, people freak out, or try reporting me to the authorities."
"Well, to be honest, I was really scared at first, but since you helped us," Levy motioned to herself and Gajeel, who had made his was over and was now standing directly behind Levy's right shoulder, "I figured you couldn't be that bad of a guy. Also, we have no authority to arrest you, or report you to the authorities, because magic is legal in Alvarez," Levy concluded with a smile.
"Wait, you mean you all are citizens of the Alvarez Empire?" Natsu questioned.
"No, we are citizens of the Fiore Kingdom," Gajeel replied, and seeing the confusion on the pinkette's face quickly continued his explanation. "We are currently in Alvarez territory. We came here as part of a diplomatic party."
"Then why would you be so willing to let a known magic user travel with you into Fiore territory?" Natsu continued his questioning.
"Well, the way I see it," it was Levy who spoke this time, "as long as you don't use magic in Fiore, we don't have to report you."
Natsu made it obvious that he was thinking things through before agreeing to travel with them. "Ok, but if I sense and plotting or betrayal from you two, I'm out."
"Fine with me," Gajeel grumbled. "Help me unhook this horse so we can get going."
As Natsu and Gajeel bickered back and forth, neither of them noticed Levy walk a short distance away. Neither of them were paying enough attention either to hear what she mumbled next.
"I finally found him. I'll bring him back. I promise."