"Ugh that was horrible. I'll just sleep outside before I do that again." I said while walking through town. "Jeez I've slept on rocks softer than those chairs." As I continued to complain about my sleeping arrangement from last night I decided to take a walk through town to explore.
After my quick tour of the city I decided to head to the guild for breakfast, "It's still pretty early so not likely many people will be there." Arriving at the guild I saw that I was right. Only a hand full of members, including Master Makarov, Erza, Mira and her siblings, and Natsu were here. Strolling up to the bar counter I asked the waitress, who I didn't recognize from the show, to order me something good to eat.
The waitress gave a quick nod and let me know it would only be a few minutes as she headed to back. While waiting for my food, Mirajane and Elfman both took a seat next to me at the bar.
"Nate your back! Master said you went on a mission with that red haired girl." Elfman said.
"Yea I decided to go ahead and take a mission, you know contribute my worth to the guild." I told him as the waitress from before sat a plate of rice and chicken down in front of me. "Wow, looks good, thanks!"
The waitress smiled at me, "No problem! That will be 950 jewels!"
"Oh. Yea no problem one sec." I said fishing through my bag for money. "Here you go, ma'am" I said giving her the jewels. Turing back to meal I immediately began to dig in.
"So that mission you went on..." Mira said while I ate, "It wouldn't happen to be the same mission you said was to dangerous for me, would it?"
Swallowing my food, "Well you see, I have been traveling and fighting monsters like that for a while so to me that wasn't a big deal." I noticed she was still staring at me not wanting to admit what I said might have been true. Deciding to push my luck I continued, "And actually after going on the mission it was good call. Definitely way to much for a litt-" but my joke was cut off as a large blast destroyed the chair I was in and knocked me back several feet.
"What were you about to say?" I heard a demonic voice say as I set up. Looking back at my seat I saw it was completely destroyed. Looking to Mira I saw that she had used her Satan soul magic and transformed to her demon form. I could see the intense anger in her eyes as her shadow darkened her face leaving her eyes with a red glow. "It sounded like you were calling me a kid..."
Laughing silently to myself I watched as she slowly approached me, another energy ball forming in her hand. Just before she reached me however, a armored hand grabbed her shoulder stopping. Mira and I both turned to see Erza standing behind her with a serious look in her eyes, "Take your fight outside if you must, but I can't allow you two to destroy the guild hall."
"Oh is that right." Mira said shaking off her hand and standing face to face with Erza, "And are you gonna stop me?"
Looking around the hall I could see the worry on everyone's face. Even Makarov seemed scared to come between the two hot headed mages. Rising to my feet I watched as their auras flaired around them. "Aw man. This might be the most frightening scene I seen since coming to earth land." I chuckled to myself, slightly nervous myself about stepping between the two of them. "Alright guys, let's cool our jets here." I said placing a hand on each of their shoulders.
Without a second of hesitation they both turned to me and simultaneously punched me in the face. Normally I could have easily dodged it, but the fact that it came was such a surprise I had my guard down. Their combined hit along with my unprepared face made it a instant K.O., leaving me unconscious with a bloodied nose by the time I hit the floor.
A Couple hours later
"This is all your fault, Pig!"
"My fault? You're the one that hit him, Tramp!"
"What's going on? Where am I?" I mumbled out sitting up and grabbing my head. "Owwww damn" I said a little louder. Looking around the room, everything was blurry as my eyes adjusted to the light in the room. "Mirajane? Erza? What's going on?" I asked seeing them at the foot of my bed sitting in chairs watching me. "Why am in a bed?"
As soon as I finished asking my question, both of them jumped up and ran to either side of my bed. "I'm so sorry!" They both said together.
"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked confused. "Oh wait... That's right! They were fighting and I tried to get between them." I said as my memories came flooding back. "Oh don't worry about! I'm fine. You two sure throw one heck of a punch." I said laughing. Looking between them I could still see slight tears in their eyes, sighing I said, "Guys, don't worry about it. Im fine alright?" giving them an encouraging smile to boot.
They both looked at me for a few more seconds before letting out a sigh of their own. Sliding myself off the bed, I stood up and looked to them. "Come on guys see look! No permanent damage!"
"You know I'm kinda surprised we managed to knock you out like that." Erza spoke smiling slightly as she headed to the door.
"Yea I kinda agree with Red. Thought you'd be strong enough to take on two little girls atleast." Mira said also walking to the door.
"What?! Little girls my ass! You two could bring down the guild hall in an instant with your power!" I shouted after them as they left the infirmary leaving me alone. "Tch. Acting all innocent like that... Whatever." I said turning around a grabbing my shirt which was laying neatly folded on the bed side.
"Well looks like you're feeling better." Makarov said, entering the room.
"Oh, Hi Master. What's going on?" I said pulling down my shirt and turning to face him.
"Nothing much my boy. Just coming in to check on you. Most people would be pretty banged up after taking a hit like that you know." He said eyeballing my face.
Placing a hand on my face I noticed I didn't have any bumps and other than some slight soreness where their fists had impacted, there was no sign of damage. "Hehe well I've always been pretty thick skin, besides I'm sure they weren't going all out."
Makarov nodded in agreement, "Yes I'm sure they wouldn't go all out against their family." Walking back to the door he said, "Come on! I'm sure you'd much rather be hanging out with everyone than cooped up in here."
"Yea! Sounds good to me!" I said catching up to him as we left the infirmary together. I followed Makarov back to main room since I wasn't sure where I was going. Entering the room I saw that everyone was currently in a brawl out on the main floor, Natsu and gray in the center of it.
"MY GUILD!" Makarov shouted as several chairs smashed into the wall right next to us. I watched in suppressing a laugh as they continued rumbling, unaware of the giant beast heading there way. "WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?!" Makarov shouted now in his giant form standing in the middle of the room.
"You don't scare me! Igneel was three times the size of that!" Shouted a idiotic Dragon Slayer as he charged towards the pissed off giant, only to be slammed down by a large foot.
"You stay quiet! As for the rest of you!" Makarov said as he began shrinking back down to his original height, "Do you know how much money this is gonna cost me?!" He said now down to his usual size with large amounts of tears coming from his eyes. Everyone quickly began laughing at this before apologizing to the master and returning to their groups and continue talking.
Once everything was settled and peace had returned to the guild hall I walked to the bar to order myself a drink. Finding a recluse seat in a booth off to the side I took my drink and sat their. Looking around I could see everyone in guild was having a good time, laughing a drinking together. I sighed, "It's so weird... I feel like I've known them for years, yet they hardly know my name."
"Hey, Nate. What are you doing over here?" I heard someone say as they say down opposite of me.
"Laxus! Bout time you got here. What have you been up to?" I asked taking another sip of my drink.
"Since last night? Nothing, actually been here a while. In fact I arrived just in time to see you get knocked on your ass." He said Laughing and placing his hand on his head as my eyes went wide, "Man talk about a good laugh! They just sent you out cold too!"
"You were here?! But I didn't see you when I came in?" I said surprised that he was able to hide in this small building.
"Oh well I was up on the second floor. It's only for us S-Class wizards!" Laxus said pointing his thumb at himself.
"Oh. Makes sense why I didn't see you then. So you S-Class? Cool!" I said impressed that he was already that powerful.
"Don't think too high and mighty of him just yet," said a voice as Gray hopped up on the seat next to me, "I mean he did just become S-Class like a month ago." Gray continued shrugging.
"Beat it brat! Doesn't matter when I became S-Class. Especially to someone like you who'll never reach me." Laxus retorted before getting up and walking back to the second floor.
"Whoa! What was that? His demeanor completely changed when Gray walked up."
"Don't mind him. He's always like that." Gray said, now suddenly stripped down to his boxers.
"Uh, yea. I'm sure he'll be cool soon. Anyways what happened to your clothes?"
Gray looked at me confused for a moment before looking down at himself before screaming and running off. "Wow he is fast at that!" I though watching him search for his clothes.
"I see you've noticed Gray's little problem." Came Erza's voice from behind me as her head came up beside me as she leaned over the seat.
"Oh hey Erza. Yea that's quite a issue he's got there." I said laughing, "So what you doing?" I asked.
"Just finished eating a slice of cake, saw you sitting over here with Laxus, then Gray then you were alone so I figured I join you." She said walking around and taking a seat opposite of me.
Taking a sip of my drink I let out a sigh of relief, "Sounds good! So wanna fill me in on what was happening while I was unconscious?"
"Nothing much. Immediately after we hit you, we snapped out of it and carried you to the infirmary room. After that we both waited around till you woke up." She replied with a shrug.
"Ahh. Ok, was I out long?" I said.
Before she could anwser we were interrupted by another voice, "Nate! You're awake!" I heard a small voice say drawing our attention. Standing over to the side walking up was Lisanna and following close behind her, Mirajane. Erza and Mira immediately locked eyes as Lisanna came over and set next to me. "Hi! I'm Lisanna! I'm Mira's little sister." Lisanna said to Erza who broke her gaze with Mira to greet Lisanna.
After a few minutes of small talk between the the four of us I decided to get up and exit the guild. The guilds fun and all but I still really wanted to explore Magnolia. "Oh, Nate!" I heard Erza say as I stood up from the booth.
"Huh? What is it Erza?" I said turning back around to face her.
"Don't forget about the deal." She said with a devilish smile. "The strawberry cake deal?"
"Haha, glad you said something. Completely slipped my mind. You want one now?" I asked pointing to the bar.
"No! There's a baker in town. He makes the BEST cake. He was closed today but I was thinking tomorrow you could take me there and buy one." She said, slightly blushing and looking away, while saying the last part. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Mira's eyes went wide when she said it.
"Yea, sounds good. Meet me at the guild tomorrow and you can show me where it is." I said smiling as I continued heading out the door.
"Nate!" Mira said behind me. Turning around I saw she was standing up looking at me, "Do you have a place to live yet?"
"Well... No not technically." I said silently cursing myself for forgetting about finding a place.
"Ok. Then... I guess you can come to our house, its the one you told us about. It's on the outskirts of town and its big enough we'd have room for you." She said now much quieter and with a slight blush on her face.
"Mira... I don't kn-."
"No! You have too! You gave us the money so I can't let you sleep on the street! Now be there tonight!" She said before turning away and walking back to the rest of the guild, leaving behind a wide eyed and slightly red faced Erza who's face was in shock. Lisanna simply smiled as said bye as she followed her sister.
Letting out a defeated sigh, I left the guild. Walking through town I found a shop selling fishing equipment. I quickly ran inside and bought a brand new pole and some bait and a bucket to hold what I catch. After getting some quick information on good fishing spots I headed out into the woods to see what I could catch.
Quickly finding the pond the old man had talked about I sat down and cast out. After around a few hours, I had already caught several fish, when I heard a sound of footsteps on fallen leaves. Turning to face them I saw that is was none other than Gray carrying an beat Natsu through the woods.
When I stood up to flag them down they saw me and came over to talk. Sitting back down, I returned to my fish as they approached.
"Hey Nate. What are you doing way out here?" Gray asked as they caught up to me.
"Eh, well I heard from an old man in town that there was a great fishing spot out here. But what are you guys out here for? And why aren't you fighting?" I asked shocked that they were actually being peaceful together.
"Just out for a walk. And we don't always fight you know. Besides flame brain over here just got into a fight with Laxus so he's not really in much of a condition to fight." Gray said pointing to the now collapsed Natsu.
"Darn. Must of been one hell of a fight if he's this out of it."
"Nah, Laxus put him down in one shot. He's just that powerful."
"Oh, I see. So what are Y'all walking out here for? You two don't strike me as the type to take a walk in the trees to relax." I said with a laugh.
"Yea you got me. Erza made me walk him home so he didn't get lost." Gray said sighing.
"Hahaha, I'm sure she's just worried about him." Suddenly a massive pull on the line let me know I had a bit. "Whoa! Here we go! This is definitely gonna be a nice size!"
As I fought with the line I noticed Gray on the sidelines watching intently. Giving one final tug I ripped a massive fish out of the water. It was easily 10 feet if not longer. I could see Gray starring in amazement at the size of it. Suddenly, before the creature even hit the land, it was engulfed in fire as a certain pink haired child launched up into the air swallowing it in one bit.
Gray and I looked on in shock as Natsu landed on his back and patting his now enlarged belly, "Ah, that hit the spot!" Coming to his senses he looked over at us surprised, "Oh hey Nate, what're you doing here."
Gray face palmed as I let out a laugh, "Glad your feeling better now Natsu." I said. The three of us talked for a while as I continued to catch fish, though none as large as the once Natsu ate. As the sun began to go down we all said went our separate ways. I headed out to the Strauss siblings house.
Arriving at their door, I knocked seeing as how just walking it would be kinda rude. Hearing footsteps draw near, the door slowly opened revealing Elfman, "Hey Big Sis said you'd be sleeping over here. Come on in!" He said as the door swung wide and I entered.
"Gotta admit it is a nice house. Perfect size for their small family!" I thought looking around the cozy wooden house.
"Big Sis is in the kitchen fixing dinner, and Lisanna is in her room decorating. Since we just moved in it isn't completely to our liking yet." Elfman said as he left the room, "I'm gonna go help her. See you at dinner!"
Deciding to see what Mira's up to I walking around until I found her standing in the kitchen staring at some cabinets intently. "Hey." She swiftly turned around to see me standing at the door, "Elfman said you were cooking? Need any help?" I asked stepping forward.
"I wouldn't mind any, however I can't find anything to cook up actually." She said as she returned to searching the cabnets.
"Oh well if that's the only problem, I did happen to catch a ton of fish today at the pond." I said holding up a bucket full of fairly sized fish. Mira's eyes both immediately grew wide as she saw the amount of fish I was holding.
"Nate! When did you have time to catch all these?!" She said rushing over and taking the large bucket. "Don't tell me you caught all these after leaving the guild a couple of hours ago?!"
Smiling I replied, "Yea. They were really just hopping into the bucket one after another!"
"Well I can definitely make use of this! Go get Lisanna and Elfman, tell them dinner will be ready in 10 minutes." She said taking the bucket over to the stove.
After Dinner
"Wow Mira! I seriously can't thank you enough for cooking up those fish as well as you did! It was delicious!" I said sitting on their couch in the living room. Lisanna and Elfman had both went to bed right after dinner, leaving Mira and I to clean up the dishes which we had just finished with.
"No. I should be the one thanking you. If you hadn't brought us that food we'd be starving right now." She said taking a seat in the couch as well.
"Ehh don't worry about it. Never would have at those by myself anyways." I said leaning back and closing my eyes. "Oh right, I had something I wanted to ask you." I said sitting up and facing her.
"What is it?" She said looking back with a questioning look on her face.
"Well I was gonna say if you still wanted to go on a mission, you and I could do one together. With both of us we could probably do a nice high paying job too." I said think about all the missions I saw on the board today.
Mira looked at me for a second before sighing, "It's not that I don't wanna go with you or anything, but I need to do the missions alone for the most reward. Other wise I might end up running several missions a week to pay for the three of us. Sorry but I think I should say no for now." Then she stood up and began to head to leave the room. "Alright well I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow. Oh, and Nate?" She said as I turned to look at her, "If you try to perve on me I will kill you."
Watching her disappear around the corner I could t help but let out a slight chuckle, "Dont worry Mira you're cute but I'm not doing something like that." Laying down on the couch I grabbed the blanket they had laid out for me. "Gotta say. This couch might be the most comfortable place I've slept in a long time!"
The Next Morning
"mmmm what time is it?" I said as I let out a long yawn and stretched my arms. Sitting up, I looked around the room, "Looks like no one else is up yet." I said as I quietly stood up and folded the blanket. Letting out a few more yawns I headed out the front door, "Guess I'll go train for a while since I've been slacking off recently." I said heading to the trees.
I spent the next few hours doing my usual work out of 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and 100 sit-ups. Of course I followed it up with my usual run afterwards.
By the time I was done I saw the sun was now well into the sky. "It's probably almost 10 o'clock. Guess I'll go wash up and head to the guild." Grabbing my shirt off a tree branch near by, I began walking to the huge pond I had fished in yesterday. "It looked plenty clean and all so I'm sure a quick dip will be enough to rinse me off." I though as I reached the small water hole.
After a quick dip and time to dry off in the sun, I headed for the guild figuring most people would be there by now, "Oh and I can't forget my promise to Erza about the cake." I told myself.
Exiting the woods, I took a quick detour through town. "Not like I'm in any major hurry anyways." As I walked down the road I saw that plenty of people were already out and about, opening up shops, buying groceries, some seemed just like me, out enjoying the day. A few towns people stopped to speak with me, apparently news of a new recruits in Fairy Tail quickly became the talk of the town.
Continuing my way to the guild hall, I saw Laxus walking alone down the road. "Hey! Laxus good morning." I said catching up.
"Oh. Morning, Nate. Going to the guild?" He asked slowing down so I could catch up.
"Yea. Figured most people would be getting there by now so I should pop in to."
As continued making conversation we quickly approached the guild. Upon entering, Laxus said goodbye and headed across the room towards Makarov who was currently in his usual spot in the bar.
Looking around I could see most everyone was here. Macao and Wakaba were at a table together drinking. Natsu, Lisanna, Cana, Elfman, and Gray all sat in the corner with a look of horror on their faces. Following their gazes I saw they were rightful scared as Mira (Thankfully not in her demon form this time) was staring face to face with Erza, each of them muttering something unintelligible at the other. The Auras around them seemed to be cracking the floor under them.
Stifling a laugh I thought, "I know they're rivals but this is insane." Taking few steps in to room, both Erza and Mira turned to look at me at break neck speeds, freezing me in place as a nervous sweat rolled down my head. "uhh... Hi?"
Before I could utter another word Erza dashed forward leaving Mira behind, and grabbing my by the collar, and hauling me out of the guild. Erza continued on her mad dash until we were half way into Magnolia. Finally stopping, she dropped my shirt as she looked around for something.
"What was that all about?" I asked standing up and dusting myself off.
"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked innocently, walking up to me.
"The whole dragging me by my shirt through town thing. And what were you and Mira fighting about?" I asked crossing my arms as I stared at her.
"Oh that. Well you promised to buy me a cake today and I didn't want to wait any longer." She replied, turning to walk down the street as I followed, shrugging she continued, "And we were fighting, she just asked if I had seen you and that you were gone when they woke up I simply informed her that I hadn't."
"Somehow I doubt that's all that was said..." I said but I could tell that she was ignoring me. Sighing I decided to drop it, "So is that cake place around here?" I asked looking at all the shops near us.
"Yes. It should be just a few more houses down."
Reaching the small cake shop, Erza immediately found the one she wanted. She went straight for a small table set up in the shop. Rather than heading back to the guild I decided to walk around town now that I had kept my promise with Erza, after all going back to the guild meant dealing with an evil Mira. I think I would rather pass on that.
Walking back to the door, Erza called out to me, "Nate? Where do you think you're going? Come, sit down and eat."
I looked at her in shock. "Erza? Offering to share strawberry cake? Is this even possible?" I thought taking a seat next to her. I watched her curiously as she inspected the cake before Requiping a knife into her hand and slicing a small cut and handing it to me.
"Here. This is yours." She said before turning to the rest with heart shaped eyes.
After Erza and I finally finished our food we walk outside and went our separate ways. She seem a little surprised that I wasn't going back with her but she let it go and headed back. Waving good bye, I decided I was gonna walk through the city to find something I desperately needed. A house.