Sorry for the single update, they're going to take a little more time since I won't be able to work on them all day anymore. Spring break is coming to an end, which means that I've got to get to all of the homework due in the coming week. Nothing much, just a couple of 2k word essays in History and Geography, a couple of human evolution labs, and a works cited outline for a research project in English. Basically, I can get it all done tomorrow, and most of it isn't even due till Friday.

Enjoy the beginning of the Lullaby Arc.

Natsu's P.O.V.

A voice floats towards me in a darkness. "Get up."

Five more minutes…

"Natsu, get up." The voice is gentle, like a warm summer breeze.

Leave me alone…

"Natsu! Damn it! Get your ass out of bed now!" The voice is not so gentle anymore.

The world suddenly turns on its head and my head hits the floor, along with the rest of me. I groan, rub my head and open my eyes. And standing above me is my little sister with a light pack on her back. And she does not look very happy.

"Ciara? What's going on? Why are you here?" I rub the back of my head gingerly. "And why did you toss me out of bed?"

She sighs, putting her hands on her hips. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're sleeping in, again. If you don't hurry up, you're going to be late to the train station."

So that's it… I dig in my heels stubbornly. "But I don't wanna go on a mission with Erza and that pervert."

Her face goes really cold, really fast. "Well, Erza asked for our help, so we're going to give it. I don't care if you don't want to go on a mission with Gray. If it's an emergency and Erza needs our help, then damn it, we're going to help her!"

"Alright…" Going on a mission with the monster and the pervert is not my idea of a good time, but Ciara will never let me hear the end of it if I turn down the mission. "But couldn't you have given me five more minutes to sleep?"

"Nope, train leaves in half an hour." She picks up my pack and dangles it in front of my face. "So come on lazybones, or I'll fly you there instead of walking."

I suddenly experience a sinking feeling in my gut. The last time that she flew me somewhere, she finished the flight by dropping me. I could have broken something, or everything. "Fine…I'm coming."

Pulling myself to my feet, I nudge Happy. "Hey little buddy, it's time to go."

"Aye…" He yawns sleepily and crawls out of bed, my weight having kept him from falling out when we got flipped. "Time to go…"

"Good, now let's meet up with Erza and Gray, they're waiting for us." Ciara tosses my pack onto my head and walks right out the door.

How bored is she? She's way too eager…

Ciara's P.O.V.

After waking up my lazy big brother and his silly cat, the three of us head to the train station, where a familiar head of blond hair is sitting on a bench next to a far too familiar head of black hair.

I wave over to her, trying to be friendly. "Sorry we're late! Natsu didn't want to get out of bed!"

Lucy looks at me curiously. "Then how did you get him up?"

I shrug. "Yelled at him and dumped him out of his bed. Just the usual. Works every time." It really is nothing to me.

For Natsu, on the other hand, it's a real pain in the ass. He's up in Gray's face immediately. "RAHHHHH! I hate this! Teaming up with you is the worst idea ever!"

But Gray is acting no better than Natsu. "Yeah, tell me about it! Erza made a huge mistake asking a loser like you to come along."

"Fine! Then why don't you take care of it yourself! I don't wanna go anyway!" No kidding, you didn't even want to get out of bed, Natsu.

Gray likes the sound of that. "Sounds like a plan to me. Then I'll get to watch her beat you senseless!"

I sigh heavily. I can't believe I dated one, and I'm siblings with the other… I really don't want to deal with these two right now.

And it looks like Lucy doesn't want to deal with them either, because she just sits on the bench with Happy, and a small white creature on her lap.

Thankfully, the Fairy Queen herself makes her appearance with her usual cart full of luggage. "Sorry I'm late. Have you been waiting long?"

The boys start behaving themselves immediately, giving me the chance to greet Erza. "Not really, I just got here with Natsu. I had to drag him out of bed this morning."

Happy takes one look at Erza's stuff and gapes. "Whoa! Look at that luggage!"

Lucy gets an eyeful of it and her shock meter must go straight through the roof, judging by her reaction. "All those belong to you!?"

"It's time to go good buddy!" Gray and Natsu start dancing around in a panic. "Aye! Haha!"

"Listen, one Happy's enough!" Apparently, my brother's Happy impressions are creeping Lucy out more than a little.

"Good, I really love to see the two of you getting along." I snort at Erza's thickheadedness. You only think they're getting along because you don't hear the cursing going on in Natsu's head right now. Unfortunately for me, the idiot isn't very good at closing our link when he's pissed off. If you could hear what he's thinking, you would be washing his mouth out with the strongest soap you could find.

Erza turns her attention to Lucy, the one uninvited member here. "And what was your name? I believe I saw you at the guild yesterday."

Lucy gets up to introduce herself. "My name is Lucy, and I just joined Fairy Tail. Mira asked me to come along with you guys so I could learn a thing or two. I hope that's okay with you." And right behind the two of them, the boys are fighting again, not that Erza would notice.

"The more the merrier. I'm Erza." She introduces herself like Lucy doesn't already know who she is. "Wait, you're the girl I hear about…" She spares a backward glance to make sure the boys are behaving themselves, before turning back to Lucy. "I was told you defeated a mercenary gorilla using only your pinky finger. It'll be great to have a wizard like you on board, thanks for your help."

I try not to burst out laughing. Defeated a mercenary gorilla with her pinky finger!? Looks like poor Lucy has become the unfortunate product of Fairy Tail's inability to play the telephone game!

The boys finally stop fighting long enough for Natsu to confront Erza. "Hey Erza, I'll come with you, but only on one condition."

I slap my forehead. Not again… But Erza is intrigued by this condition. "Oh? Well then let's hear it."

Natsu grins and raises his fist. "I want a rematch when we get back to Fairy Tail."

I groan and shake my head. I hope that you remember what happened the last time you challenged Erza to a fight…

Hey! That was forever ago!

It was three months ago…

Yeah! It was forever ago!

But Natsu is undeterred. "I'm a lot stronger than I was last time. This time'll be way different! Cause I'm gonna beat you."

Erza sports a small smile. "Yes…I can tell you've improved. As to whether or not you can beat me, I suppose we'll have to see. I accept your challenge."

"Oh yeah! I'm fired up!" And in Natsu's usual excitable style, his whole body catches fire as soon as his emotions start raging.

I glance over at the platform. "Hey guys, looks like it's time to get on the train. Wouldn't want to miss it."

Natsu pales immediately. "Already…?"

I roll my eyes and grab his arm. "Don't worry, we'll deal with your little problem once we're on the train."

I drag my poor big brother towards the train, the only thing in the world that currently surpasses Gray in how much Natsu hates being around it.

Saw this coming a mile away…

As I sit in the seat across from Gray, and Lucy sits between me and Erza, we all watch as Natsu succumbs to the effects of his incurable motion sickness.

Gray glances at my brother and sighs. "I swear, you're totally pathetic, Natsu. One minute you're picking a fight, and the next you're like this."

"It's gotta be tough on him getting from place to place." At least Lucy is showing him some sympathy.

But as I start to ready a sleeping spell, Erza takes over. "Don't worry, he'll be fine." She motions to Natsu. "Come here and sit with me."

Lucy looks a little anxious as she switches places with my brother. But Natsu nods groggily. "Aye…"

"Now, just relax…" Erza's tone makes me wonder what the hell she's planning on pulling. But I don't have to wait long, since she gives Natsu a punch straight to the gut, knocking my poor big brother out like a light. And she looks all proud of herself. "There, that should make the trip a little easier on him."

I groan a little and slam my palm into my forehead. "You know…if that's what you were planning, you should have just said so. This is the whole reason that I learned sleep magic in the first place."

She looks at me, blinks, then bows her head. "I'm sorry, I should have asked you first about your methods for dealing with his motion sickness."

I sigh and look out the window. "Whatever…one way or another, at least now he doesn't have to moan and groan the whole way there."

There's a moment of silence before Gray breaks the ice. "Erza, I think it's about time you started filling us in. I mean, what kind of mission are we going on here?"

"Of course." She acquiesces easily to Gray's request. "I have reason to believe the dark guild Eisenwald is planning something big. I'm not sure what exactly, but it has to do with a magic item called Lullaby."

"Lullaby?" For some reason that seems familiar to Happy and Gray.

Lucy too, apparently. "Wait, that thing from before?"

I frown at them all. "Why am I the only one out of the loop? What happened while you were all gone?"

"Yeah." Lucy turns to me with the information. "See, when Natsu, Happy and I were coming back from Shirotsume, we ran into Gray. A little while later, Happy got kidnapped and almost roasted by these guys who attacked us."

Happy shivers. "They were gonna make me taste funny."

"Okay…?" Somehow, I would be more concerned about getting roasted than tasting funny, but Happy's always had some pretty strange priorities.

"Anyway. So after Natsu and Gray beat them, we tied them up, and one of them mentioned Lullaby." Lucy looks back at Erza. "It might be the same magic item that you're talking about."

Erza catches on quickly. "I see, so you've run into the Eisenwald Guild before."

Gray mulls it over a little. "Well, I'm not positive they were part of Eisenwald. But they did mention Lullaby."

"It sounds like they were members who dropped out of the guild and went into hiding. Perhaps they wanted no part in whatever it is that's coming." What Erza is suggesting is not good, especially not for the six of us, since we're obviously headed straight for them.

Gray seems to share my apprehension. "So this thing is so bad it even scares dark wizards?"

"I'm only hypothesizing." Erza may be making a guess, but she sure sounds like she knows what she's talking about. "But, whoever you saw dragging off Happy's kidnappers that day must have been from Eisenwald. It's obvious that they didn't want their plans getting out."

"What do you think they're going to try?"

"Let me start from the beginning." Erza gears up for one of her stories, meaning that this is probably going to take a while. "Just the other day, I was heading home after completing a job. I stopped by a pub in Onibas that I knew was a gathering spot for local wizards. There was a group of five over at one of the tables who were being rather noisy, so I listened in on their conversation. They talked about an object called Lullaby, as well as it being sealed away."

"Lullaby? That's like a song you use to sing kids to sleep."

"Yes, and the fact it had been sealed away means that it must be very powerful magic."

"You sure the guys you saw at the pub were with Eisenwald?" As always, Gray remains a skeptic.

"Yes…" Erza hangs her head a little. "I can't believe I was such a fool that day. I didn't recognize his name… Erigor, the Ace of Eisenwald. He only accepts assassination requests, which is why he's earned the name Erigor the Reaper."

"He kills for money?" Lucy may be astonished and horrified, but I'm not. I've rounded up bandits and fugitives before, some of them were very dangerous, so I know that there's no limits to what people will do for money.

Erza nods. "When the Council outlawed assassination requests, Eisenwald decided that money was more important than the Council's rules. As a result, they were kicked out of their wizard league six years ago. But that didn't stop them. They've disobeyed orders and remained active to this day."

Lucy starts sweating up a nervous storm. "Okay, I should be heading back home now."

Happy squirms a little. "Lucy's slimy all of a sudden."

"It's sweat!" And I make a mental note that Lucy hates the word slimy, and that Happy is never going to let this joke drop.

I clasp my hands and stare at my fingers. "Now I see why I'm here. You wanted my unique skill set along for this ride, right?" I glance at Erza, a deadly serious expression on my face.

She nods, her own expression becoming harsh. "How could I have been so careless? If only I had recognized Erigor's name that day…I could have pulverized them! I could have forced them to reveal their scheme to me!"

Gray quickly gets the measure of the situation. "So if I got this, Eisenwald's planning to do something with this Lullaby, and you want to stop em, because after what you overheard, you're sure it's gonna be something bad."

"That's correct. And I'm not foolish enough to believe I can take on an entire magical guild all by myself. That's why I asked the three of your for your help." Erza's caution is wise, especially considering that we're dealing with a dark guild. "We're storming the Eisenwald Guild."

Still, I wonder how the inter-guild treaties are going to affect this. Because even if it's a dark guild, we're not really supposed to go to war with them. Maybe it'll be alright if it's just the six of s, but it means that we can't go getting the rest of Fairy Tail involved.

But Gray is eager to get this party started. "Sounds like fun to me."

I give a faint smile of anticipation. "Well, no going back now. Might as well get some exercise while I've got the chance. I haven't gotten into a good fight in a while, so I guess this is my chance to go a little wild." Hey, I never said that Natsu is the only one who can go a little crazy in a fight. I just don't do it as often as he does.

One train stop and a lunch break later, and we're in slightly better spirits. And Lucy gets right down to business with that curiosity of her. "What kind of magic do you practice, Erza?"

"That's a good question." Erza seems to approve of Lucy's curiosity, which is good, because sometimes out magical swordmaster can get a little angsty around questions.

Happy smiles quite contentedly. "Erza's magic is really pretty, she makes her enemies bleed. A lot!"

Lucy starts shivering a little. "I dunno if I'd call that pretty!"

Erza takes a bite of her cake, her favorite food to eat ever, before turning the topic around. "Personally, I think Gray's magic is much more beautiful than mine."

"Oh, like this?" Gray holds his hands out in front of him, so I lean back a little. Cold wind bursts from his hands and a small ice sculpture shaped like the Fairy Tail emblem rises from his hand. "I use ice magic."

Lucy smiles and claps her hands together. "Now I understand why you and Natsu don't get along! He's fire and you're ice! Talk about not mixing very well."

Erza looks up from her cake. "I never thought about that."

Gray shrugs and smiles. "Nah, I just hate his guts."

I snort with laughter. "And he hates your guts too, for several reasons."

Gray's eyes widen, and he looks stubbornly out the window. But Lucy looks back and forth from me to him in confusion. "Wait, what happened there?"

Erza stays quiet, so Happy raises his hand. "A couple years back, Ciara and Gray were doing the kissy kissy, and Natsu walked in on them. He was so mad that he threatened to kill Gray." Happy's tact really could use some work. "Now they don't make the kissy kissy anymore."

"No kidding…" I sigh dryly. "It was a long time ago. And I'm not making that mistake again."

Gray keeps looking out the window, and Lucy's eyes widen. "Wait, you two dated!?" She covers her mouth suddenly. "No wonder Gray and Natsu fight so much. He must not like it when people get too close to you."

I glance down at my still unconscious brother. "You've got that right. Until about a year ago, he was as overprotective as it's possible to be. So when he caught us, he was not happy. Not that it matters, I stopped caring about it a long time ago." I stare straight at Gray and smile. "That means that you should too. Stop acting like I'm going to bite you if you talk about it."

"Sorry…" Gray rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "I just…didn't want to bring it up if you didn't."

I roll my eyes and smile. "Whatever. Now pass me a sandwich, I'm hungry."

"Right." He smirks at me and tosses me a couple of sandwiches. "Because you Dragon Slayers just eat one helping."

"Tch, not my fault that we burn calories faster." It's true, for some reason, me and Natsu burn calories like there's no tomorrow. Our appetites are enormous. Not that I let anyone see how big my appetite really is.

After passing the rest of the train ride by, talking about different kinds of magic, and a few stories about jobs that we've gone on, we finally arrive in Onibas.

I get off the train first with Lucy, since She's closes to the aisle, and I've got the best mobility. Plus, Erza is going to need to wake Natsu up before getting off the train.

So after I busy myself with getting Erza's mountain of luggage from one of the back cabins, I drag it over to the platform where I see the rest of them standing around.

"Alright, I've got your luggage." I hand the reins to Erza gingerly. "Though I still don't get why you carry around so much stuff. Honestly, one pack is enough for me."

Before Erza can answer the question I've asked a million times, Gray butts in. "You think the Eisenwald guys are still gonna be in this town?"

"I have no idea. That's what we're here to find out." Erza leads the way away from the trains.

But I'm a little irritated. "If only you could have brought back a smell sample. One sniff, and I could be tracking them down with Natsu right now."

Then Happy pipes up confusedly. "Hold on, where's Natsu?"

I look around, but he's nowhere to be found. "Natsu!?" I focus in my head. Natsu? But it's no good. "I can't contact him, that's so weird." Then a terrible thought occurs to me. "Wait a minute, if I can't hear him, then he's either unconscious, or…" I groan and slap my forehead. "Motion sick."

Happy looks at the departing train. "Uh oh, there he goes."

Lucy drops her luggage, and Erza turns around in horror. "I was so busy talking, I forgot bout him!" She clenches her fist in disgust. "I'm such a fool, Natsu hates all forms of transportation! This is all my fault, I need one of you to come and hit me for my penance."

Lucy leans over uneasily. "That's a little much."

"No it's not." I walk over and give Erza a good whack on the head. "You were the one who knocked him out, which means that you were responsible for him. If I had used a sleep spell, I wouldn't have ended up leaving him behind, since I can feel when the magic is active and when it's not. So fix your mistake and go get him."

Erza, in all of her awkwardness, nods shamefully. "Of course." And just like that, she storms off towards the emergency stop controls, pulls the lever, stops the train, and gets into a slight disagreement with one of the platform staff.

"I'm starting to realize that all of the wizards in Fairy Tail are just a little insane." And while Lucy is right on most counts, I like to think of myself as one of the few who is completely sane.

"Well not all of us." Gray contends the point, but he's once again stripped down to his underwear, so he hardly makes a convincing stand. He's as crazy as the rest of them.

Erza jogs back over to us after a conversation with another of the platform workers. "Alright, I've found us a way to get to Natsu. Come with me."

I sigh as the four of us run after her. I hope that this plan of hers actually works…