So? Minerva is very OOC I know, I said she would be. I am starting to really like this story. But increasingly harder to write.

This will be in... Dun dun dun... Natsu p.o.v.

I burst out laughing and started pointing at the door when Orga came back into the room with Malory and er... What is her name? Ah, Minerva! Orga had his hair in plaits, Malory on one shoulder with Rufus' mask on and Minerva on his other wearing Rufus' hat while holding the glue bucket. They both jumped down from him and sat next to the fire while he stood in the doorway trying to get his hair out of the plaits. "SOMEONE GET THESE DAMN PLAITS OUT OF MY HAIR!"

Lucy tucked her hair behind her ear, causing her fingers to brush my cheek. I turned my head to look at her as she was talking, I caught her scent. She smelt like vanilla and strawberries. "We'd have to cut it all off then." She giggled, and her eye sparkled in the dimming light. "You really want to be shaved?" I burst out laughing, not sure why because it was not particularly funny and I think everyone else though the same as me because they were looking at me like I had more than one head.

"So should we start learning about this 'religion'?" Erza asked, she had had to abandon her armour so was walking about in a plain white tunic that held a cross near the bottom. She had borrowed it from Lucy.

Micky, the short red guy I think, tapped a scribe against a wooden block. "Yes, it would be good for you to be able to do that. Make you fit in more." His legs bumped against the stool he was sitting on top of as he swung them back and forth. "You can pick it up easily, but you may as well go to the church. Ask the High Ones."

"What are 'High Ones'?" The stripper, Gray, shouted. I think that was a question we all would have liked to have shouted at them, as it made little to no sense to us.

The girl with brown hair, Kelly, jumped up, "The High Ones are a bunch of believers who have shrouded themselves fully in our religion." I think she learned that. "They're like priests or pastors or ministers or whatever you call them." Oh, now we know what they are. Just really whacked up dudes! Do not think I should say that out loud though...

"And where would we find these High Ones?" Hibiki said as he leaded over the back of a chair to look around at everyone, probably to use his Magic thing.

"The giant Cathedral." I think I saw that on the way to and from work. Giant with grey spires and bands that come from the main building. It was massive! "They stay in a room around the back." Lucy answered him, and my grip on her tightened slightly. Hibiki, that pervert, was looking at her intently. "There is actually an initiation thing you will have to go through." I did not like the sound of that.

I blanked out when I caught her scent as she leaned forward onto the table; I saw the front of her grey shirt bunch up because of her chest. From where I was sitting I could see down the back of her blue shorts because her shirt had rolled upwards. Her bandanna around her neck seemed dull in comparison to the blazing blonde of her hair, that settled on her back. She was stunning. Her eyes were a rich mahogany with chocolate swirled in. I stiffened in my seat when I realised what I had been thinking about the curvaceous girl beside me. She was beautiful, but I was not that type of person. Was I?

I thought I heard someone calling my name, I blinked opened my eyes and noticed that I had fallen asleep. "Natsu." Erza was an inch from my face and I flung myself back, which caused my chair to fall over. "Natsu, we're going to the Cathedral to get introduced to the faith. Get up." Her face scared me and I jumped up, I heard laughing behind me. The guy who looked like Rouge, Sting and stripper Gray were laughing at me. I charged at them, but the girl with the over-sized green dress or shirt raise her hand at me: I had no wish to be frozen so I stopped running. "Thank you, Shadow."

We walked down the streets, it was getting late out so people had placed candles just outside their doors so that the cobbled streets, that chop at the feet through material, were illuminated in measly light. The sky's above were clear and devoid of blemishes as polished glass, the stars sleeping silver twinkled in the silken dark demon blue to send a radiant glow onto the snow blanketed mountains. Any footstep taken bounced through the narrow channels between the rough stones, through the backstreet's and out into the plains, making for a near soundless journey. I walked behind the group, my arms tossed behind my head so I could watch the stars as we travelled in the darkness. I smiled up as I thought about what could happen over the time we were going to spend in Izantec. And I swear the stars winked back down at me, as if the looming bodies in the heavens could know my darkest wishes.

The next thing I knew I was sitting on a wooden bench - called a pew - and listening to a man with red hair talking about some weird deities. "We shall start with Noah and Yagil. They are Fathers of History and Celebration, and therefore are present at every festival. Noah is the personification of People Past, and of history itself. Knowledge is included into this. He and his child, the Oak, watch over humans and make sure we do not copy our past mistakes." I watched as his white robe swished as he walked. "The colour of the Monarch House of Noah is white: I am a member of this order and therefore wear this colour." There was a clatter and many scrolls fell onto the ground. Our tutor paid them no mind and said to us, "Out of clutter we find simplicity." I rolled my head back and spotted Lucy, she was watching the man intently. So I paid attention to him too. "The Monarch House of Yagil is red. Yagil and his child Agi, are the youngest personifications. The personification of always being happy, and to never be sad. Yagil and Agi watch over us humans and ensure that life treats us fairly. That all life is balanced."

Another man, this one much older sat beside him with a fallen scroll. "April, the Mother of Seasons, and Accalia, the Mother of the People are next. April is the Mother of the Seasons and her Monarch colour is purple. Her child is called the Ril. April and Ril swing with the times and the weather, so that we always have fun." This guys robes were also white. "Accalia's child is called the Alca. They are the personification of all Human Perfection. Accalia like a mother and Alca as a sibling. Ready to receive in death, and to give in life. The colour is grey."

The younger one. "Aberforth and Autumn." He took a deep breath: all of this seemed a little pointless to me. "Aberforth is the Father of the Sky and Water. His child is the Rorth. Together they are the current that keeps the world flowing and alive. The house colour is blue. Autumn is the Mother of Food and Harvest. Her Monarch House colour is green. Her child is the Tumn. They give power to the people to reap the crops and strength to the crop to grow." He opened a scroll and rolled his fingers down it. "Alister and Ardwinna. Alister is Father of Resources. His child is the Ista. They are Human Hope. They give what is needed in times of disparage and displeasure. Their House colour is beige. Ardwinna is Mother of Animals, her child the Imal. They are personified Animal Life, they guide animals to their work and death." I feel sorry for Philip. "Their colour is brown." Are beige and brown not the same thing?

The old guy unrolled another scroll, I think they were looking at something else because they kept losing focus. "Thea and Yuugure are the most important of all the spirits." He looked us each in the eye. "Thea is Mother of Day, Life and Sun, her child is the Hea." He breathed in and out as the wind whistled through the top of the building, "They watch over the bright hours to protect the people Accalia and Alca worked hard to create. Hea and Thea carry the souls of new babes to parents for Accalia and Alca. The Monarch House colour of Thea and Hea is yellow." He looked behind us, and we did to, to see Malory and Lucy looking at him. Willing him to continue. "The Monarch House of Yuugure is black coloured. Yuugure is Father of Night, Death and Moon. His child is the Guru. They are the ones who watch over the unseen hours, and keeps the darkness from entering Izantec. Yuugure and Guru ferry the souls to Accalia and Alca. They are the bodies of the Moon and the Night."

Hang on... Lucy, Malory and Conrad worked together to kill people and to bring them life? Oh hell no. I did not like that idea. My Lucy was to innocent for that! Woah, my Lucy? Where did that come from? I spotted all the other Slayers and a few of the Others looking at me curiously; at that point I realised I had let out a low but possessive growl. I was thankful that Lucy had not heard; but that could have been something to do with Maria having her hands over Lucy's ears and Maria staring at me over the other blondes shoulder. I saw the two High Ones glance up curiously, but then they looked back at their scrolls. Every other Mage was glancing back and forth between those who were looking at me in confusion.

There was a light chuckle and a chilling midnight breeze from the door, "My my." Sparkling green eyes lavished us all as another chuckle followed the short sentence. "Look at the time. It's getting late." There were twelve long and loud strokes of a bell, hanging some way above our heads; away from our prying eyes. "We must be getting home." Malory defused the tension in the room that had threatened to snap as soon as someone was foolish enough to speak. Slowly, with agitated movements we all jerked our way through the door. I could faintly heard the distant crunch of her soft boots against the jagged streets. "Goodnight. I hope you learnt what you needed." Her eyes closed and tilted up with her smile. "It is a shame, but you will have to be initiated another day." Our door closed with a hard thump as she allowed it to close with no warning as she whisked from our view to her own house.

"The hell was that, Flame brain?" Gray said as Gajeel hit me upside the head. "That fucking growl."

"He thinks he's gonna claim her." Sting laughed from his lounged seat on a bag filled with grain, I was about to lunge at him, but his next sentence stopped me. His eyebrows drew together and he looked down at the ground. "Did... Did any of you see their reaction? It was..." He stopped and looked up. "They knew he was going to growl. Us Slayers barely even heard it, but it was like they heard a second into the future." My head tilted backwards as I thought about it. They had. "They're senses... Are better than that of a Slayer?"