A/N: Sorry I have been away for a few days, I had a long flight and was tired when I arrived back in Japan so I had to sleep off the jetlag, So Hope you all enjoy my comeback chapter!

A bang on the door pull Natsu from his sleep, he rolled onto his feet and rubbed his eyes as he opened the door, the blonde from the day before stared at him blankly, he snorted and stretched to the roof his tail flicking out straight behind him and his ears twisting slightly.

"What?" He asked simply

"Your equipment is ready." The woman answered flatly.

"What equipment?" Natsu asked

"The Queen wished for you to be better protected for your journey, please follow me." The woman bowed slightly before turning on her heel and striding away.

Natsu merely raised an eyebrow and retrieved his jacket from a peg beside the door, slipping it on as he walked down the hallway, they turned a few corner and crossed one of the grass fields before coming to a garage like building, he stared at the wide double doors for a few seconds before pushing one open slowly and walking inside, Erza tapped her foot impatiently, he black cloak tied firmly around her shoulders and the hood drawn up against the bite of the night cold, instead of the usual white shirt and black skirt that was the Academy uniform she wore a dark gray shirt and a long black dress, he frowned at the color pattern but dismissed it shortly after, he didn't really care…She still looked good, his mind admitted before he really had time to think about it.

A balding man stepped around a corner, Natsu recognized him as the teacher the day he had been summoned and he was fairly sure he had met him on one of his walks around the Academy, he wore long dark blue robes that covered most of his body accept for his hands, and carried a long wooden staff, he raised the staff and uttered a short incantation a set of lanterns around the room lit to life allowing everybody too see clearly, Natsu covered his eyes and allowed them to adjust back to a now lit room, the slits in his eyes widened and he let out a sigh of relief as the dull ache in his eyes receded.

"So? What's this about equipment?" Natsu asked flatly.

"Ah, Yes, Lord Dragneel I was-" The balding man started before Natsu cut him off.

"Lord?" Natsu asked a little surprised

"The Queen's guard informed me you had been promoted for your exemplary service to the country, it is merely customary," The man bowed "Now, as I was saying I was commissioned to build you a suit for your travels one that would be effective in both of your forms and not adhere your movement allowing you to fight effectively, we cannot have one of our best being killed by a stray arrow you understand?"

Natsu nodded.

The man smiled before pulling a large white sheet off a small pedestal, revealing a shining suit of armor, it was different from anything Natsu had ever seen before, he had to admit it looked cool, he walked towards the suit and placed a hand on his chin as he looked at it, the Helmet had what looked like the indent of a snarling wolf over a metal faceplate a small three pronged symbol sat on the forehead like a wide trident on the top two ear like folds opened up, two black holes for where his eyes would sit, the chest plate glowed faintly in the pale light of fire, it was incredibly thin, The hand guards easily would cover his entire forearm and a small amount of his wrist with the same paper thin metal, the shin guards were the same, two handles stuck out of either shoulder and Natsu reached up to retrieve the two weapons, it was on odd style of sword with no cross guard, the handle led into a small hook style barb before curving into a long thing sword not unlike a Katana, he spun them over his wrist and back into his hands they were incredibly light and seemed easy enough to handle.

"This is impressive," Natsu commended as he turned back to the maker of the suit "You are clearly quite skilled."

The man nodded with a smile "You are to kind, my lord."

Natsu's eyes narrowed slightly, he didn't like being treated better for no good reason, he kept his mouth closed though. He turned back to the suit and pulled the helmet up before placing it over his head, his ears slotted into the fold perfectly and his eyes seemed to glow a little brighter behind the mask, he pulled the small swords off of the back of the chest plate and rested them against the rest of the suit before pulling the chest piece over his head, he turned in the metal and allowed his body to get used to it, the man was right it didn't impair his movement at all, he was rather impressed, he picked the swords up and slipped them back into the sheaths on his back, he slid the gauntlets on and then the shin guards, he gave a few experimental kicks and punches to make sure they didn't slip and he could still move at his speeds, the armor was almost weightless.

"The suit is enchanted to change shape with that of its wearer," The man explained "It should work in both of your forms, My lord."

Natsu placed his hands on the ground and focused for a few seconds, and true to the man's words the armor shifted with him, the face plate extended over the top of his snout but allowed him to open his mouth, the armguards slid along his bell and the chest plate created an almost scale effect over the sides of his back, the swords shifted into two larger metal talons on his front paws, he regarded them for a few seconds before shifting back.

"There is only one last piece you require," The man said again, Natsu raised his eyebrow in question "It is standard for all noblemen and women of this country to wear a cloak, like the one of your mage, only with your I was allowed to…alter it, I do hope you find it satisfactory."

Natsu stared at the man for a few seconds before nodding, he would just remove it when he left, he wasn't one for wearing things that would get in his way, the man walked out of the room before coming back after a moment, he brought a white jacket more than a cloak, the thing split about where Natsu's back would end and his tail would sit and the two separated bits of cloth would fall to about the back of his knee, the collar was slightly high and the corner's held the badge Erza used to tie her cloak around herself, he placed the thing over his shoulder and rolled his shoulder's as it fell snugly around him, the fabric seemed to move into the metal, the white showed through on his upper arm, the collar covered most of his neck and the two splits of fabric fell in triangles behind his legs leaving his tail free to move about freely.

"I hope you serve this country well, My lord." The man said with a bow before leaving the room.

The blonde woman cleared her throat and drew the pair's attention "Now, your cover is simple, Erza you are a simple cloth merchant traveling cross country to visit relatives, Natsu is your guard and Fiancé whom you wish to introduce to your parents before you marry, understood?"

Erza nodded, although her cheeks colored slightly, Natsu just nodded outwardly calm, behind the mask his cheeks burned slightly.

"Under no circumstances break your cover, you are expected to do any and all things possible to complete the mission you have been assigned." The woman finished flatly.

"I am assuming you have prepared a cart for us then?" Erza asked

The blonde nodded "Yes, it has also been filled with the various fabrics in case they check it at the border."

The pair nodded again in complete understanding. Erza left in front of him, as Natsu placed his hand on the door to leave the woman voce stopped him.

"Wolf, the Queen trust's you…Do not let her down…I will have no trouble killing you." The blonde warned flatly.

"I think you will have more trouble than you think." Natsu responded looking over his shoulder at her "Besides, I made a promise a long time ago, I intend to see it through."

The woman just stared at him in confusion before he left the room, he jogged up to the cart Erza was currently sitting on holding the reigns to the pair of brown horses that stood in front of it. Natsu noticed how a large portion of the school was in the fields watching the pair leave. his ear's picked up the hushed conversations easily.

"He's the one right?"

"Yeah, people are calling him the White Wolf of Avaran."

"They say he killed twelve men on his own and saved a bunch of girls from elves…He fought against Elves! Elves!"

"Yeah, and he can't even do magic!"

Natsu tuned out the conversations and stepped up onto the side of the brown simple carriage, he held onto the side tightly and nodded to Erza, who nodded back and cracked the reigns the horses neighed before galloping out of the Academy grounds.

After a few hundred meter's Natsu pulled up and sat beside Erza "How many day's ride to Gridaynia?"

"Two." Erza answered simply.

Natsu crossed his arms behind his head and put his feet up on the front of the carriage, before closing his eyes and letting his ears keep a small distance around them in case they got into trouble.

The First day was almost uneventful, they stopped for lunch and watered the horses before continuing towards the border, as they entered the only town between the Academy and the Gridaynia border, the noticed the deteriorating state the town was in, Erza pull the horses to a stop and looked around, Natsu frowned behind his mask and placed a hand on the hilt behind his shoulder, a feeling of uneasiness churning his stomach as he stepped off the carriage, Erza followed after him after a moment.

"We were supposed to resupply here before going over the border," Erza said worriedly looking around "What happened to everyone?"

Natsu raised his head to the air and took a long breath, nothing came to him….Nothing at all it was like everyone in the town had just suddenly disappeared, Natsu moved down the street and pushed the door to one of the thatched houses open, inside was nothing but dust and an old table and chairs, the walls may have been painted once but they were bare white stone now, the stone under his feet was old and uneven the whole town seemed washed out, he made his way to the centre fountain and looked down each of the four streets, each was lined with the same broken down or decrepit buildings.

"Erza, I think we should go, we can restock on the other side of the border." Natsu said flatly.

"But what happened to all the people?" Erza asked moved up to him

Natsu stared down at the fountain in disgust "We aren't going to find anyone here." He said simply as he spun on his heel and walked back to the carriage.

Erza walked over to the fountain carefully and let out a horrified gasp as he hand came to her mouth, inside the fountain was stone instead of water and what seemed like people, it was like someone crushed them until they were as thin as paper and then encased them in the centre of the town.

"Who would do something this horrible?" Erza managed to get out

"Apparently, Gridaynia wants to start a war with more than just a small island continent to the south." Natsu spat from the carriage, Erza walked over slowly before cracking the reins on the horses, the reared their legs and ran around the fountain and continued for the border, Natsu sat slightly forward one swords across his knee's and his chin resting on the fist of his left hand, the other keeping the sword where it was.

"Have you ever heard of something or someone doing that?" Natsu asked flatly.

Erza shook her head "All I can tell for sure is it was magic, but that was clear enough from the start."

Natsu nodded and kept his eyes locked on the road in front of them.

The next few hours went by with nothing but the clacking hooves as Erza and Natsu sat in silence, The gate of the border Wall finally came into view and Natsu's grip tightened slightly on the hilt of his sword.

"Just let me do the talking," Erza said quietly "And try to stay calm."

A guard in a simple steel cap and a green and blue checked cloth tunic stood in front of their carriage with his hand up, he carried a large spear, three more guards stood to either side of the carriage and slowly walked down investigating the sides and underneath of the carriage, one stared at Natsu for a little while, Natsu trained a glare on the man made all the more intimidating by the fact that all he could see was a golden glow behind a mask, the boy paled and turned away and Natsu turned his head back to the gate.

The man that had stopped the walked leisurely around the front of the horses and came to the side of Erza.

"What is your business in our country?" He demanded.

"I am returned to my family I wish to introduce them to someone,' Erza responded cheerfully with a large smile "Is there something wrong? I have not been back in awhile."

The man watched Erza boredly, he looked over at Natsu and regarded his weapons carefully, Natsu turned his head and looked down at the man with an unchanging expression.

"Who is he? And what's in the carriage?" The guard demanded.

"Various cloth's for my work that is all," Erza responded cheerfully "And this is my Fiancé, I wish for him to get the approval of my parents."

The man looked at her blankly "Why are you armed?" The man addressed Natsu directly, Natsu turned his head to the side and watched the man calmly "Never know what kind of filth could be prowling the countryside these days, Why just in the last town the entire population had been crushed and placed in the fountain, I want to protect what is precious to me."

The man seemed to pale slightly and staggered away from the carriage "Did you lot find anything?" He asked turning to the other guards

"Good, let them through!" He shouted before almost running away from the carriage. Erza stared at Natsu in surprise before cracking the reigns and pushing the horses forward and through the gates.

"What did you do?" Erza asked quietly.

Natsu snorted "He was practically choking me, apparently he knows exactly who did that little stunt back in that town, he is feeling guilty over it I guess, well he reeked of guilt anyway."

"You can smell emotions?" Erza asked carefully.

"If they are strong enough, yes." Natsu responded

"You know if he reports that we may have a problem," Erza warned "We are supposed to try and stay undercover."

"Are you saying you don't want to get the bastard that did that? They were people of your country." Natsu fired at her.

"Of course I want to find the sicko, but I also want to complete this mission." Erza replied aggressively.

"This way, we get to do both." Natsu responded flatly turning his attention back to the road ahead of them.

The pair was unaware of the pair of eyes watching them from the wall, the guard from the gate ran towards the man and placed his hands on his knee's as he breathed heavily.

"They saw the village to the north of our border, what do you wish to do master?" The man wheezed.

"Ready the horses, we do not need some upstarts starting rumors or those rumors getting back to Avaran, not when we are so close to crushing the measly prince in the south."

"Yes, Master, right away." The man bowed before scurrying back down the stairs.

"That armored one is interesting." The man mused as he descended the stairs to where his men were readying themselves.

Natsu poked the pairs small fire idly, his faceplate sat beside him allowing him to take in the scents in the air a little easier, the wind picked up and pulled at his hair and at the same time carried with it the scent of horses and men, he picked up the small chunk of metal and it snapped over his face with a metallic click, he kicked dirt over the fire and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness before standing up and scanning the surrounding area, the place they had chosen was quite open and he continued to scan the open plains of grass carefully, a small light winked into the edge of his vision and he focused on it, the light gradually grew in size coming towards them from the border, he smirked and focused a little harder on the light, the worlds around him seemed to twist as he focused on the face of the man leading the small band of guards, he had a black mask on and a hood drawn up to conceal his hair, the only thing he was sure of was that he had blue eyes, Natsu dropped into a low and thick part of foliage and crawled on his stomach slightly before shifting into a wolf and positioning himself to pounce, he was downwind so the horses would not help the men by sniffing him out and giving a warning, and there he waited for what seemed like forever as the light slowly got a little bigger, with the sound of hooves dragging up dirt one of the men drew his horse to a halt a small distance from where Natsu currently lay in wait.

"Where the hell are they? They couldn't have gotten further than this," He complained, Natsu pounced, tearing the man from his horse as he tore through his neck cleanly as he continued over the horse, which let out a terrified whine as it reared on its hind legs before taking off, the other horses panicked and followed, most bucking their riders off, the blue eyes mage at the head jumped off his horse as soon as he realized he could not calm it. The remained group stood in a wide circle scanning the black that they could only see a few feet into because of their lack of light, Natsu's padded feet were quite loud against the hard pack dirt, the men's eyes darted around on front of them and he could smell fear. Natsu went high, leaping the men in front of him and taking one of them into the black beyond their light source before dispatching him, the group stepped back linking their shoulders together and dropped a little lower, Natsu knew he wasn't going to be able to do that again, so he let himself become a man again. Drawing the swords on his back with a long drawn out rasp of metal.

Natsu placed the tip of the blades in the dirt, dragging the weapons with him, occasionally they would hit a stone causing a small chink to ring out in the otherwise quiet night, the men would snap to the source of the sound instantly, Natsu flipped a blade in his hand and threw it sidelong across his body, the silver weapon streaked out of the black and slammed into the chest of a man who barely had enough time to widen his eyes before walling to the ground.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" One of the men shouted in fear.

"My name is not for you to know," Natsu replied darkly "But some have referred to me as a White Wolf."

"What kind of sick joke is this?!" One man shouted "Fight as like a man!"

"Is that what you said to the town you crushed with Magic?" Natsu asked threateningly "All those people you murdered?"

"We didn't murder anyone!" One Man shouted in defense.

"But you stood by and watched as someone else did? As someone crushed all the people that lived peaceful and innocent lives you just watched?" Natsu growled out.

"Enough!" The blue eyed man announced coldly "Enough of your games Wolf, My men would never betray me…They still fear me more then you."

"And how many of them do I have to kill to change that." Natsu growled again, letting his eyes flash against the otherwise black. Natsu flipped the other blade and sent it into another of the men on the edge of their small formation.

"Now you are unarmed!" the Blue eyed man shouted in victory "How do you expect to kill trained soldiers without a weapon?"

"I have had enough of toying with you," Natsu growled "Surrender the mage and the rest of you can leave."

The men gulped and looked at the blue eyed man carefully, as if considering their options, before shaking their heads and gripping their weapons a little tighter "If you want to kill him, then you have to kill all of us as well!"

"I gave you your chance," Natsu growled, before springing off his back foot, slamming his fist into the jaw of a man to the edge of their small formation, he flew into the man beside him and Natsu ducked a spear flew at him, gripping the hilt of one of his swords as he spun under the blow before whipping the blade around and taking the head of the spearmen who had attempted to strike him, the man he had punched staggered to his feet but was still hunched over, Natsu rolled over his back placing the blade against his throat and drawing it across as he did, before flipping his legs and slamming his foot into the side of another man's head continuing with the momentum he rolled on his shoulder and pulled the second swords from the ground before blocking a two separate swords aimed at either side of his head, he pushed the blades back and spun holding the blade out to either side of him as he turned taking the two swordsmen out instantly, he turned to the blue eyed mage who was the last man currently on his feet, he stared at Natsu impassively like the death of his men didn't faze him in the least, but Natsu could smell every ounce of fear currently rolling off of the man ahead of him. The mage raised his hand in front of him and pointed his palm towards Natsu. Natsu just watched him carefully, the ground split under Natsu's feet and he jumped into the air, sending one of the two blades rifling towards the man in front of him, who turned slightly letting the blade embed into the ground behind him before raising his hand to the sky, a spark lit up in his hand before a large ball of fire roared to life and rocketed towards Natsu, who opened the hand that held no weapon with the runes that marked him as a familiar on the back of his hand, they glowed brightly as the magic slammed into his hand, He redirected it into the ground and flipped over the top of the attack, Landing with a soft thud behind the blue eyed mage before darting towards his swords gathering both weapons together he brought them across the mages eyes widened before his head rolled along the ground with a thud. Natsu let out a long breath and closed his eyes, he flicked the blood from his sword before rolling them in his hands and resheathing them behind him. He turned on his heel and strode back towards the carriage.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and i am glad to inform you i will be back to my regular updating schedule now that both my health seems good and i will be slightly ahead this week so my flight back won't interrupt my writing :) (Edit) I wrote this yesterday and The website had a spaz attack and wouldn't let me upload.