Weapons of the Old Ways
"Blah blah blah" - Speech
"Blah blah blah" - Thought
A/N: Just to give you a heads up, there is some pretty graphic violence in this chapter and that will be true for most combat in the future as well. That aside, there's something I meant to address in the last chapter. Kiwifan7 has been an enormous help on this project over the past year or so, to the point that it literally wouldn't exist in its current form without him. I really can't overstate the guidance he's given me. Please go check out his stories if you get a chance, especially if you're into Bleach, he's a significantly better writer than myself.
Chapter 2: Green, Pink and Red
Threading his fingers through his hair, Natsu released his mounting frustration with a hissing breath while his thoughts were whipped into a froth. "I know I passed that rock at least five times. I thought I was... What happened to the damn path!" After looking around for a moment, a tree that towered over its brethren caught his attention. Within a minute he was standing atop the highest limb that would support his weight, sweeping his gaze over his surroundings.
"There's nothing but green everywhere. I can't even see Lyme town anymore." After glaring at the endless forest for a bit, he placed his hand over the ridge of his brow and turned his attention to the sky. "Okay, the sun has barely moved so I couldn't have left that long ago. Maybe an hour, if that. The forest didn't look anywhere near this big when I entered it, so this doesn't make any sense." Sucking his teeth, he hopped his way down to the base of the tree and rested his back against it.
"I haven't been walking in circles, and I know I haven't been at this long enough to lose sight of...wait. Is this... Ah hell, I know I didn't walk right into…" Rolling his eyes, he let his head bang into the tree. "Of course it's a fucking trap." He breathed. "What else could it be?"
After staring blankly at the sky for a couple moments, an idea bubbled up in the back of his mind. "Maybe I should..." He glanced about in all directions, seeking any hint of white hair or jade eyes. "I'm glad he isn't here for this. I can't stand that annoying all-knowing look he gets every time I take his stupid advice."
Kicking a rock out of his way, he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. Sitting as still as he could and focusing on his breathing, his ears, nose and skin gradually brought things into focus that he'd been too irritated to take notice of before. The breeze wafted across his skin out of sync with the rustling leaves, certain sounds were repeating too neatly, and the animals he could detect were too few for a forest as massive as it seemed to be.
"So... Yep. I really am stuck in an enchanted forest or some other shit. Great. How do I even- How am I supposed to…" "Dammit!" He huffed, leaking smoke from his nostrils and bunching his pant-legs in a tightening grip. "This is bullshit, I don't get caught like prey!" Leaping to his feet, he started to pace. Waves of heat wafted from his lips with every muttered curse.
After a time, his irritation waned and he reseated himself on the forest floor. He inhaled till his lungs felt like they were going to burst, held the air for nearly a minute, and vented his remaining annoyance till his breath cooled to its normal temperature. "Okay… okay." Giving himself a full body shake, he laced his fingers in his lap. "Getting pissed off won't get me out of here any quicker." He darted his tongue across his lips and cleared his throat.
"Hard to believe meditation actually turned out to be so useful. I'm still mad Maro hit me with a stick every time I moved though." Closing his eyes once more, he repeated the mantra he'd crafted with a measured tone. "I own the fire, I'm in control. There's heat inside me, mind and soul. I own the fire..."
As all concerns outside of the forest faded from his thoughts, his senses became ravenous for information. Armed with a new depth of clarity, he sifted through layers of sounds, scents, and sensations till something unusual at the periphery of his perception caught his attention. Through the background noises of nature, he picked up on the distant sound of dead leaves scraping against each other in a consistent rhythm. Focusing on the noise as best he could, recognition began to dawn on him. "Footsteps. I think... I think they're coming towards me. It's moving slowly, carefully... stalking?"
Opening his eyes and peeking over his shoulder in the direction of the distant sound, he found nothing but plants and empty space. "Right, magic... Odds are that's not just some animal." He looped his arms around his knees and fixed his gaze on a tree stump, racking his brain for the best way to handle whatever it was that would eventually find its way to him.
After coming up with idea after idea that involved some combination of screaming, charges, and fire, a whisper at the back of his mind caught his attention. A flicker of a moment, a haze of noise and scales. He tried to grasp it, but he failed as miserably as his first attempts at catching fish bare handed. Eventually, when he was on the verge of giving up on the evasive memory, a hazy image of his father standing over the body of a giant peakauki filtered into his thoughts. Moments later, a familiar baritone filled his ears.
"Pride and power rule the ways of our kind, most dragons value strength above all else. But make no mistake, that doesn't mean you need to rely on brute force alone to take down a target. Cunning and patience are deadly weapons in the claws of an intelligent predator, especially when you're dealing with dangerous prey. If you lead with your mind, your fire and fists become much deadlier. No matter what, you should-"
Eyebrows scrunched together, he tried to recall the rest of his father's lesson. However, all that came to his mind was screeching and feathers. Snorting at his failure, he weighed what he'd managed to remember against his original idea of tearing through the forest at top speed and spitting fire at everything that moved. After debating with himself for several minutes, he rose to his feet and resumed his walk through the forest.
Fingertips painted like sapphires languidly caressed Macao in places that left him sighing with contentment, talented company to the color-matched lips marking a trail across his throat. He returned the exploratory touches with equal curiosity, intent on finding all the places that made the woman in his arms shiver. Grasping a handful of pliant flesh with his hand, he turned his lips to the shell of her ear and-
"Macao, you need to get up! We have a situation."
"Uhmph. Wha? Hmm?"
"Get up! Someone is-"
"Erza... Come back later... I was so clo- I need more sleep."
Erza waited all of five seconds before stomping over to Macao's bed and hauling him upright by his shoulders. The sudden movement snapped his head back and tore a throaty "urk" from his lips. Jerking away from her grasp, he leveled a glare at her.
"Dammit Erza!" He growled, rubbing the back of his neck "I was having the best dream! I told you I was sore and tired, what could be so important that it couldn't-" He froze, narrowing his eyes as he leaned to peek around her. "Wait. I didn't give you a key. Did you break the doorknob?"
"I'll pay for a replacement, that's not important right now." Crossing her arms, she continued. "I went and met with our client, an... unusual man named Bob. He told me that a young mage, some boy who breathed fire, came by earlier and took the job. He already left to deal with it."
"What? Did he tell you what guild he belonged to? Anything at all to give you an idea of where he came from?"
"No, and I didn't ask. He thought I was the boy's partner and I didn't want to correct him. At least we know this other mage might be working with someone. Whatever the situation is, we need to hurry. I'll fill you in on the details of the job on the way."
Macao sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ugh, I hope this doesn't end up in some mess involving the council. I need to take a leak and grab a bite to eat, I'll meet you out in the lobby after that. How long ago did the client say this mystery mage came by?"
Erza pulled a pair of keys out of her pocket and gave them a jingle. "He didn't, but he let me borrow his van. He even said that if it was banged up it's fine because it's proof of our art. I'd like to drive by the way."
"Okay then. Whatever that means." Scratching his stubble, he raised an eyebrow. "And you're what, thirteen? That's three years short of the legal age, Erza."
"We're driving down some abandoned roads, I doubt there will be an officer to be found. It's not like it's the first time I've been behind the wheel Macao."
After a moment, he hesitantly nodded. "I guess I can let you, so long as I'm in the car..."
With nothing more to say, Erza left the room and Macao started to prepare.
"Woah, shit!" Natsu yelped, stumbling through prickly undergrowth that snatched at his pant legs. Catching himself on a branch before he lost his footing completely, he grumbled angrily beneath his breath. Making a show of fixing his clothes and cursing out the bush that had snared him, he resumed his trudging through the forest with bowing shoulders and labored breaths.
As he pushed forward, he cut his eyes at the plant life and their shadowed depths. "That's right, just a little closer. We're almost there you asshole." He started to pool a modicum of his energy in his right hand, shrouding it in a faint film of heat.
Once he reached the clearing he'd been waiting for, he bent over and grasped his knees. Taking heaving breaths, wiping his brow, and fanning his face, he did everything he could think of to draw attention to his exhaustion. After a few minutes of his act, his stalker had come so close that Natsu could smell the citrus on its breath. Closing his eyes briefly and focusing on the breathing of the thing following him, Natsu pictured the trees and bush as he'd seen them in the light of day.
Once he felt he had a solid idea of exactly where his pursuer was, he spun on his heel and launched himself at it. A magic circle flared to life around his fist a split second later, serpentine lines that crackled with energy.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
A pained shout echoed through the trees as Natsu's attack landed, an impact that sent his target tumbling into a patch of thorny plants.
"Finally!" Natsu barked, embers fading from his fingertips. "Now try to hunt me!"
"Oh shit, oh shit, shitshitshitshitshitshit!" Tearing itself free of the bush and losing a chunk of its pants in the process, the creature ripped its burning tunic off and tossed it away before the fire could consume him.
Locking eyes with Natsu, it spat flecks of blood from its busted lip. "You… fuck!" Reaching for the short sword strapped to its hip, it started towards Natsu. "What the hell kid! Where the fuck did you-"
Darting across the grass and drilling his fist into the creature's stomach, Natsu forced it to double over and gasp for breath. Pressing his momentum, he grabbed its head and drove one knee after the other into its face with enough force to shatter its nose.
"Same thing I wanna ask you!" Natsu growled, keeping his fingers curled in the mass of inky black hair atop the creature's head. Releasing his grip, he pushed it to the ground. As it laid there moaning, he took a second to get a good look at it.
"Dark green skin, sharp teeth, big pointy ears, weird beard accessories... Definitely a goblin." After sizing up the downed goblin for another moment, Natsu began to walk towards him. "I held back enough to keep you alive. If you answer my questions then I'll let you go. Don't, and I won't have a reason to pull my punches anymore."
Before he could begin his interrogation, the rustle of something rushing through the forest sent a warning signal coursing through his spine. Reacting on instinct, he dropped to all fours as an object wooshed through the area his neck had just occupied.
Lashing out with a blind burst of fire at the footsteps thundering into his wake, Natsu forced a goblin who'd burst from the treeline to break off his attack and stumble backwards. Swiveling around, he launched himself at the goblin and tackled him to the ground.
"Get off me!" The goblin snarled, trying to outmuscle Natsu as his sword clattered off a stone. A jab to his throat made him choke and sputter, forcing him to shield himself in his growing panic.
Straddling the goblin's stomach, Natsu battered his head with a series of punches that left him slack and glassy eyed. After checking to make sure he was unconscious, Natsu dismounted him.
Striding over to the first goblin that had attacked him, who was still moaning on the ground, Natsu briefly rubbed his hands together. "Answers. You're the one who's still awake, so you're the one who'll give them to me."
"Well aren't you nosy kid? I don't know who you are but you've overstayed your welcome." A goblin, far more muscular than the two Natsu had fought, strolled out from the forest with a large serrated axe slung over his shoulder.
"You can't just come out here and start attacking people, where'd you learn your manners huh?" Shaking his dreadlocked head, the goblin made a tutting sound in the back of his throat. "Tell you what, my friends and I will do you a favor. We'll teach you some respect free of charge! Who said that we goblins can't be generous huh? Come on out boys! We've got some lessons on the agenda today."
Dozens of goblins strode out from the cover of the forest, brandishing maces, daggers, axes, and a range of other melee weapons. Shouting curses and threats at Natsu, they moved around the edges of the clearing into a large loose circle.
With a grin on his lips, Natsu started rolling his shoulders and stretching his limbs. Flames erupted around his hands, painting him in reddish-orange light. Smacking his fist into his palm, he locked eyes with the muscular goblin. "My dad didn't work on my manners all that much, but he did teach me how to beat and burn the shit out of people. Wanna see what I learned?"
Snorting at the invitation, the muscular goblin raised his axe and shouted "Destroy that little shit!" Part of the horde charged Natsu once the order was given, unleashing their war cries.
Natsu met the first of them head on, darting under the two handed sweep of her mace to crash a right hook into her ribs. Grunting in pain and leaning forward, she dropped her head directly into the path of a right uppercut that clinked her jaw shut and snapped her head back.
As she fell, Natsu straightened up and bounced on his heels a few times. Eyeing the pair of goblins who were quickly closing in on him, he spotted his opening and launched himself at them.
Rearing his right hand and creating a magic circle, he darted to the right of the goblin in front who was drawing his axe back much too late to catch him.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu's punch catapulted the goblin into his companion, knocking both of them clear off their feet. The flames that had caught on the first one's tunic quickly spread to the other's, swallowing them both in little time.
Tuning out their screams, Natsu turned his attention to the mass of goblins that were moving around the edges of the clearing to encircle him. Wary of being trapped, he sprinted towards the side of the circle that had yet to be completed.
"Nope. Nope nope nope nope nooooo-."
The goblins rushed to fill in the gap before he could reach it, with one of their number throwing a net at him that missed him by inches.
"Ha!" Natsu barked and blew a raspberry.
Seeing his window coming to a close, Natsu gathered energy in his hands and dove through the hole in their line. He felt something sharp catch his left arm as he cleared the ring, but he ignored the sting as he rolled to his feet and rapidly pumped his legs to gain some distance.
Spinning to face the goblins that were hot on his heels, a magic circle bloomed before him. Extending his arms towards the circle, he shouted "Fire Dragon's Exploding Shell!"
Alarmed by the spell, the goblins broke their pursuit and tried to scramble out of the way. But the sizzling sphere that shot forth from Natsu's circle moved far too quickly for a cluster of them to avoid, slamming into one who became the epicenter of the explosion.
As a group of them were flung in all directions by the blast, Natsu speared one who'd strayed too close to him in his dash for safety. After pummeling the goblin into unconsciousness, he sprang to his feet and glanced around at who was left.
"That didn't buy me as much space as I wanted. Damn."
"Swarm him again!" The muscular goblin shouted, smirking at Natsu and waving his axe. "Keep the pressure on him, don't give him time to breathe! He can't keep this up forever boys!"
The scattered goblins heeded the command and surged towards Natsu once again, flashing their weapons in anger.
Natsu took a bracing breath and responded to the renewed charge with heavy violence, pounding the goblins and unleashing spells whenever he had the space to do so. As the fight wore on, he felt the ache of magic exhaustion spreading through his core.
"I don't have more than one or two big attacks in me right now, but I can't take them all out one on one either... Fuck it, I'll just deal with whoever is left." After kicking a goblin away from him, he planted his feet and channeled his energy. A magic circle flashed beneath him, rapidly growing till its width had tripled his height, and he drew his arms across his body.
"Fire Dragon's Great Flare!"
As he flung his arms out to his sides, a torrent of fire roared from his magic circle that engulfed everything within its radius. The flames consumed muscle, plants, fat, and cloth nearly instantaneously, sending the goblins trampling over one another in their fear.
Those who hadn't been caught in the flames were forced to cover their faces in retreat all the same, fleeing the acrid smoke that had formerly been their companions.
Natsu's assault lasted mere seconds, but that was enough to leave him clutching his knees and panting over a ring of charred earth dotted by dying goblins.
"What! What the fuck was that! H-he... fuck! Fuck!"
"Billie..."
"I don't understand, how the hell is a kid this strong? He broke my mace with a kick and half of our squad is charcoal! No one said mages would be here, this shitty town wasn't even supposed to be on the map!"
Ignoring the gut-churning smell of the burning bodies he was nudging away from himself, Natsu greedily gulped down air. "Maybe I really do need that training. Ugh, I hate it when Maro is right." Suppressing the urge to take a seat and massage the growing numbness in his chest, he flicked his gaze around the clearing.
Staring the thieves down, Natsu let thick curls of smoke leak from the corners of his lips and the webbing between his fingers. A few of the goblins who'd yet to recover from his earlier attack backed away at the display, all shaking limbs and wide eyes.
"I've seen it before. A lot of these mages are stupidly strong, even at his age. Don't make assumptions based on how these freaks look, and don't let him intimidate you!" The beefy goblin spat, glaring at Natsu with a snarl twisting his lips. After a moment, he pointed at one of his companions.
"You, go warn the bosses that we've run into a mage here. These bastards have a habit of moving in groups, so he might not be here alone." The lanky goblin he'd pointed towards nodded and turned tail, vanishing into the night.
Taking his hands off his legs, Natsu rose into an open stance and locked eyes with the muscular goblin. After a moment, his gaze slid over the goblin's shoulder.
"Now then, this little shURK!" The muscular goblin dropped his axe, grasping at a leaking wound in his upper abdomen. "F-fuck!" Whirling his head around and meeting the jade green eyes of his attacker, he wheezed "wwwhoooo... who the hell a-". A sharp kick to his temple nearly made him kiss his shoulder, leaving him silent and motionless.
Pivoting away from the fallen leader, Kimimaro darted towards a group of three. The first one he reached was cut down before she could so much as raise her club. Another swung his sword in a wide sloppy arc towards Kimimaro as he approached, which he slid beneath.
Sprouting a spike from his palm as he rose, he stabbed the one that had slashed at him and pushed them into the path of the remaining goblin's attempt to bludgeon him with a mace.
Following the wet crack of bone and brain giving way to metal, Kimimaro swung his free arm over the head of the goblin that was impaled on his spike and fired the distal phalanges from his fingertips at the last of the three.
The goblin's shriek devolved into gurgling noises as it stumbled forward, desperately feeling the wounds in its neck and right eye before it collapsed. Withdrawing his spike from the corpse at the end of his arm and reducing it to particles, Kimimaro shifted his focus to his next target.
Natsu glanced at Kimimaro for a moment before taking stock of their remaining opposition. "They won't be able to rally again, half of 'em look like they're in shock. They might even-"
"Retreat!" A goblin with a heavily scarred neck screamed. "Return to camp!"
Natsu broke into a sprint towards the goblin closest to him, pumping his legs as quickly as he could. "As if I'll let you!"
The one in Natsu's sights startled at his sudden movement and clumsily backpedaled away from him, nearly tripping on their own feet. "Stay away from me!"
"Drop some cover!" The scarred goblin shouted, unhooking a dark green canister from his belt and clutching a lump beneath his collar.
Natsu had nearly closed the gap between him and his target when a massive cloud of smoke billowed through the clearing, enshrouding the thieves and filling his lungs. He was brought to a dead stop for a few seconds, hacking coughs ripping from his throat, before he picked a random direction and bolted.
After reaching breathable air, Natsu cleared his windpipe and looked around for the goblins. Upon realizing that they'd successfully disappeared, he smashed his fist into the trunk of a tree hard enough to dent its bark.
"Dammit!" He growled. "How the hell did they do that!"
Kimimaro strolled over to Natsu, casting his eyes over him in search of injuries. "I'm not sure, but I doubt they'll be gone for long." Grabbing Natsu's arm, he examined the trail of blood drawn across his bicep and shoulder. "It's shallow, but we should still clean it."
Natsu watched as Kimimaro took their storage book out and started extracting medical supplies from it. "The amount of stuff we fit in there really is crazy. Man I'm glad we don't have to drag a bunch of bags around everywhere."
Kimimaro mhmm'd in agreement. "I was thinking about that earlier, it's highly convenient." Tapping the gold-colored pages at the rear of the notebook, he continued "But I think the things your dad left inside have been even more useful."
Raising his arm, Natsu rubbed his chest in an effort to assuage his numbness. "I need some fire too, I'm running low on magic. Can you make some of those sweet torches you promised me this morning?"
"Sure." Kimimaro flipped to the grocery section. "We need to destroy the field spell before they return or we'll just be ambushed again."
Cocking his head to the side, Natsu queried "Field spell?" He paused, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Wait, how did you even find me?" Kimimaro pointed at Natsu's chest, and he stiffened. "Oh. Right. That. I didn't know..." Shuffling his feet, he turned away from Kimimaro. "I see."
"Natsu-"
"So what the hell is a field spell and how do we break it?"
Kimimaro looked at Natsu for a long moment before returning his gaze to the notebook. "It's a broad term for a class of spells that are cast over a fixed location long-term. It'll be generated or maintained by something, an anchor. If we can find that anchor and destroy it, that'll break the spell."
"Then all we have to do is blow something up?"
"I wouldn't put it quite that way, but pretty much."
"Couldn't I just save us some time and burn down the whole forest?"
After placing everything he needed on a nearby rock, Kimimaro put the notebook, pen, and case back in the pouch on his waist. "Do your solutions have to involve wrecking absolutely everything?" He squeezed a dollop of sanitizer into his palm and rubbed his hands together. "Why don't we find a way that doesn't involve accidentally torching a town?" Picking up a handful of clean cloths, he grabbed Natsu's arm and started applying pressure to the cut.
Natsu shrugged. "Can't worry about breaking something if you've already broken everything."
"... We don't have time for me to explain all the things that are wrong with that logic." He pressed a second cloth over the bloodied one on Natsu's arm.
"Hmm." Turning his head, Natsu peered into the belly of the forest. "Well, how do we find this thing? I really don't want to wander around this place any longer than we have to."
"You need to ignore your traditional senses. Loosen your hold on your spiritual energy and you should feel like something is disrupting it. Or, you may feel as if there's something wrapped around you." He removed the bloodied cloths and dropped them to the ground.
While Natsu closed his eyes and did as he was asked, Kimimaro grabbed another fresh cloth and wetted it with a water bottle.
"I think I can sense it... there is this faint pulsing wave coming from over there." He pointed southwest of where they were standing. "I don't think it's that far."
"Alright. That's as good a place to check as any." Kimimaro inspected the wound as he wiped it clean. "I don't see anything that needs to be picked out, and It's already starting to heal. It'll be gone in a few minutes." He picked up the two bloodied cloths he'd dropped on the ground and handed all three to Natsu. "Burn these, just in case."
Grasping the cloths, Natsu created a small flame in his hand. "Thanks for that. It did sting a little."
"You're welcome." Kimimaro stepped over to the remaining bag full of items he'd taken from the book, two thick apple wood sticks, a clean cloth, cinnamon sticks, matches, a magic maple flavoring cube, apple oil, and thin steel wire. As he collected them, he glanced at Natsu's wavering flame. "I'll make your torches on the way."
Natsu grinned broadly, and with that the two boys set off.
A lanky goblin sprinted through the mining camp as fast as he could, heading for the mansion at the rear. Once he reached the front door, he rapped his knuckles against it several times in rapid succession. After waiting for a few seconds and getting no response, he did so again.
"Hold on!" A voice shouted from inside the mansion.
The goblin paced back and forth as he waited, muttering under his breath. After a couple of minutes, a portly orc wearing a white tunic opened the door.
"What do you want, you know they don't like to have their downtime interrupted!" He whispered through pursed lips. "I swear, if someone's stealing the sweets again I'm going to gut everyone myself!"
The goblin clutched the door frame, his hand trembling. "This is important, we were attacked by a mage and there may be more on their way. I need to talk to them."
"What?" The orc's lips parted as his eyebrows rose. Grabbing the goblin's shoulder, he pulled him inside and pushed him to the end of the entryway. "Shit. Wait here, I'll go get them. Don't wander around, you know what she'll do to you." Shuffling off, the orc disappeared around a corner.
Staying rooted to his spot, the goblin tried to still the tremor in his hand by grasping it with the other. "That kid... I've never seen anything like that before. They'll know what to do, they have to." Working his bottom lip between his teeth, he glanced around what he could see of the interior of the house for a distraction.
The wood and stone construction of the mansion had that mix of rugged practicality and nature-inspired grandeur he'd always fancied, the sort of place he'd occupied in his dreams. He took in the plush rugs, tasteful works of art, lush plants, and the high end decor that was set around the place with stirrings of envy. Some of the pieces he recognized from previous raids, and others he assumed were from the time before their current operation had come together.
One painting in particular, mounted over a piano that was tucked away in a corner of the room, caught his eye. The painting consisted of an elderly man, draped in dark red robes trimmed in gold and grasping a bulging coin purse, being held at the point of a rusty dagger by a figure clothed in hooded rags. An emaciated little girl with a rotting book clutched to her chest hid behind the robed figure, holding its hand and staring at the elderly man with glistening eyes. The trio stood in an alleyway bathed in moonlight, with a sea of glittering buildings stretching to the horizon in the background.
As the goblin admired the painting, he noticed that something was scratched into the bottom left portion of the frame. Leaning closer, he tried to make it out from his spot in the entryway. "Don't…?" He leaned forward a little more, squinting his eyes. He was so engrossed in his curiosity that he didn't notice the approaching sound of leather sliding over wood.
"What is so important that you had to wake me?"
Nearly leaping out of his skin at the smoky voice drifting over his shoulder, the goblin snapped his head around and met the grey eyes of the woman that had addressed him. The flash of dusky skin beneath her silk nightwear drew him in for the briefest of moments, but her icy glare quickly extinguished the burst of heat beneath his collar. With his heart pounding a mile a minute, he started to give his report. "S-sorry Mist. W-we had a problem, there was a-"
"Spit it out, clearly. This better be important, or else you and I will have a problem."
"Relax Mist, sheesh. Let's hear him out before you start issuing threats. You're going to make the poor guy collapse from fright."
Turning to the fair-skinned man strolling across the living room, clad only in loose gray sweatpants and a tie around his lengthy brown hair, the goblin mouthed a silent "thank you."
The man winked at the goblin and leaned against a wall. "Go on then, what made you rush over here?"
"Y-yes- ahem- Yes Craft." Straightening his spine, the goblin turned to meet Mist's glare again. "A mage wandered into your trap at the main checkpoint a little over an hour ago. We thought he was just some lost kid, but when we moved to secure him he started attacking us with some form of fire magic. He... This kid was really strong, he managed to wipe out nearly a third of us in minutes. Anthony sent me back to warn you. What do you want us to do?"
Mist frowned. "He should have triggered an alarm." She looked at Craft, who shrugged. "Is there anything else you have to add? Did you see if he had a guild mark? Were any of your lockets broken?"
"No, not that I saw. And I wasn't close enough to see if he had a guild mark."
Mist hummed and tapped her jaw. "Still, he's probably from one guild or another so he may not be alone. If they have a way to slip past my alarms..." She started to pace, her frown deepening with every other step. After a time, she issued a command. "I need you to do a few things. First, run to the barracks and tell them we have a code white and they are to follow procedures to the letter. While you're there, tell the stingers that they are to meet me at the stone and inform our guest of the situation. After you're done, go to the mines and tell the guards to activate the barrier. Am I clear?"
The goblin nodded.
"Good. Go." She brusquely shooed him away, and the goblin ran off.
"Soooo... Mages huh?" Craft questioned with an easy grin.
"Don't start with me! You were the one who suggested we should stay and enjoy the quiet for once." Mist spat venomously as she passed him, hurrying to her room.
Craft pushed off the wall and followed her through the living room, eyeing her as she walked away. "I'll take the blame for that. But in my defense, this place is pretty nice and It would have been a shame to take off while the pickings were still so easy."
Mist huffed and rolled her eyes. "You've pushed your luck since we were kids and I've warned you that it would catch up with us for years now. I told you a week ago that we were playing with fire when one of my lockets went missing!"
Stopping short of following her all the way back to her room, Craft plopped down on a couch and swung his legs onto an ottoman. Reaching over to the side table, he nudged a stack of magazines and newspapers aside to scoop a handful of grapes from the fruit bowl. "No risk no reward right? We would've missed out on that jeweler's safe if we hadn't stayed. Besides, I'm sure we can handle whatever they throw at us." He paused. "Well, if there is an S-class here..."
"That's exactly my point!" Mist yelled from down the hallway. "It was a completely unnecessary risk for a little quiet that we could've found somewhere else."
"Eh. I guess. But it's a bit too late to dwell on all of that." He popped a grape in his mouth. "What's your overall plan?" For several minutes, shuffling fabrics and clinking metals were the only noises drifting from the hallway to her bedroom.
While he waited for her response, he amused himself by grabbing a copy of The Crocus Courant and scanning the articles. "Same pasta, different sauce. Pergrande is still trying to claim the savage lands, some celebrity got cheated on, the HOA is starting another recruiting drive, more crackpot theories about that cave that exploded a few months ago… Well well well, that's new. The Karnas brothers are moving into town, a ninety million jewel condo in Odyssa and a new flagship store in Brasha-nul. Interesting. I wonder if they still have-"
Looking away from his paper, Craft watched as Mist walked into the living room wearing a form fitting dark blue sleeveless shirt, black harem pants tucked into dark grey riding boots, and a chunky silver necklace with magical runes etched into the metal. "I guess you're taking this pretty seriously huh? Especially considering..." He gestured at the leather bandolier crossing her body, filled with scrolls and various metallic objects.
"I wanted some extra firepower, just in case." She squinted at the paper in Craft's hands. "Since when do you take an interest in the mainstream news? I thought journalists were the sock puppets of the moneyed elites, hmm?"
"They are, but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on their chatter right? Especially not in our business." He grinned. "You never know when a new opportunity will pop up. Speaking of which-"
"Craft. Please. Not right now, I need you to focus."
"Fine. Just remind me later." Tossing the newspaper back on the table, he rolled himself upright. "The plan?"
Mist took a short breath. "It's safe to assume that mages wouldn't be out here for no reason, it's no coincidence. That said, I doubt they're specifically here for us. They're probably here to investigate those attacks that have been plaguing the town."
Craft smirked, nodding his head. "You're probably right. Well then, I guess they need to find what they're looking for don't they?"
Mist peered intently into Craft's honey brown eyes, nodding in the affirmative. "That's the plan." She swiftly looked him over, pursing her lips at his bare abdomen and the sweats hanging low on his hips. "While you're dressing and making your preparations, I'll go check on our associate."
Craft tensed as she finished, a slight dip in his brow. "Alright. If you think that's necessary." Rising to his feet, he planted a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze "Stay safe while you're out there Mist, I'll handle my end. We got this."
"When you called it a field spell, I thought it'd be a lot bigger than this." Natsu halfheartedly looked over the spell in question, a formula applied to the interior of a large hollowed out tree. The array wrapped around the tree in a tightly packed band that he estimated was roughly a foot tall, dozens of glowing runes that he couldn't begin to decipher.
Though he had a slight appreciation for what he was looking at, he couldn't shake his disappointment that it hadn't turned out to be something more visually impressive. As his interest decayed, he shifted his focus back to the torch that Kimimaro had prepared for him. "Still can't get over having flavored fire, damn these are delicious."
"It's probably not a good idea to create a trap that's easy for your opponents to spot." Kimimaro investigated their discovery carefully, trying to gleam whatever information he could from its construction. Though runes weren't his area of expertise, he knew enough to have some idea of what the mage that had created the spell had done.
"That's why it's a great idea, nobody would think to look for a trap if it's made to draw your attention."
For the second time that day, Kimimaro looked at his charge. This time, Natsu held his gaze with a smug grin on his lips. The deadlock only broke when Kimimaro returned his attention to the runes before him. "Runes aren't my strong suit, but I can't see anything that looks too dangerous for us to destroy this thing. Go ahead and take it out."
Natsu smiled broadly. "Alright! I'm tired of being locked in here."
The two exited the tree and walked a good distance away from it. Natsu took one last bite of his torch, which extinguished it, and started to ready his spell. A red magical circle formed before him as he stretched his hands out, unleashing his attack a second later.
"Fire Dragon's Exploding Shell!"
The sphere unraveled into heat and light upon impact with the tree, turning it into shrapnel. A minor tremor rattled the ground, splinters of wood rained over the area, and Natsu beamed with satisfaction at his handy work.
As if an intangible tension was released, the world around the two warped and twisted until it snapped into place. The endless forest they'd been wandering in faded from view, and in the blink of an eye they found themselves standing in the middle of a large sparsely vegetated clearing.
In that moment, the mild unease that Natsu had felt since he'd walked into the forest vanished. "Ha, that was fun!" He laughed, clasping his hands behind his head.
"It was also extremely loud." Kimimaro cautioned, examining their surroundings. "Those thieves left for their camp a while ago. We're almost certainly going to walk into another trap or an ambush of some kind."
"Eh. They didn't seem like that big of a deal, we can take 'em." Natsu shrugged, stretched a little, and bounced on the balls of his feet. "But I don't want to wait around to be hunted down and attacked again, so lets make sure we get them first this time."
"Speaking of hunting, that reminds me. I have something that could help us with that."
A flash in the corner of Natsu's eye stole his attention away from their conversation. Turning his head, he squinted at beams of light that were winding through distant trees like an intoxicated snake. As the lights neared he caught glimpses of vivid and violently discordant colors splashed across the object behind them, forcing him to cover his mouth from the instant onset of nausea.
In addition to the victimization of his vision, chimes, whistles and a sound he found reminiscent of a cat shrieking at the top of its lungs struck his eardrums with intensifying volume. Suffering beneath the sensory assault, Natsu nearly tumbled to his knees.
Beside him, Kimimaro eyed the approaching object curiously. "What is that?"
"I-I think that's Bob." As he became conscious of the fact that the colors spread over the object actually formed a mural of a flower giving a dolphin a massage as its roots turned into rainbows that were being sipped by a jester, he amended his comment. "No, I'm sure that's Bob. Urf."
"Who is Bob? A mage? Is that some kind of weapon?"
"No. He-" Natsu heaved, clutching his stomach and loosing air from his lips. "He just has a strange taste in art. Nice guy though."
After wrestling control of his eyes away from his instinctive compulsion to stare, Kimimaro turned towards Natsu. "I really don't think that strange is a strong enough description."
As the object skidded to a stop a few dozen feet away from the boys, they realized it was one of the personal transports they'd seen all over the roads during their travels. The wheels had barely stopped turning when a blue-haired man wearing a cream shirt, black pants, and black boots spilled out of the passenger door onto shaky legs. Ashen faced and quivering, the man floundered to a tree and wrapped his arms around it. Murmuring something to himself beneath his breath, he stared off into the distance with an unfocused gaze.
Taking in the man's condition, watching his pulse flicker madly at the base of his neck in particular, a jolt of sympathy all but forced an inquiry from Natsu's lips. "Are... Are you okay?"
The man didn't respond, lost to whatever trauma he was in the grip of.
A streak of deep red and the gleam of metal drew Natsu's attention back to the transport as a girl who appeared to be around his age stepped into view. Her cuirass and spaulders clinked as she exited the machine, bulky additions over her white summer dress. The stony look in her honey-colored eyes, hand she had laying on the dull green hilt of her sword, and the willingness to engage in violence written over her frame all served to rile Natsu's instincts.
As tension took a hold of Natsu, he dropped into a defensive stance. The spiritual energy he could feel radiating from her intensified his anxiousness, bringing flames to his fists. She adjusted her hand from a state of rest to actively grasp her sword in response.
Kimimaro noticed none of their non-verbal exchange, as his attention was still riveted to the suffering blue-haired man.
The girl's eyes slid over to the still smoking ruins of the tree for a moment before returning to Natsu's blazing fists. "You're mages." She asserted in a tone laced with steel, practically daring them to refute her. "Did the two of you come here from Lyme Town?"
"Yeah." Natsu affirmed, flickering his eyes over her in search of the slightest indication of a coming attack.
As she shifted her right foot towards them, she pressed another question. "Are you here to investigate the monsters who've been attacking people's homes?"
Natsu opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by Kimimaro lightly tapping him in the ribs and offering his own response. "That's what brought us here. Are you looking into this situation as well? We're trying to find someone and this seems like the best lead we've gotten in months."
Making alternating eye contact with Natsu and Kimimaro, the armored girl took several moments before she replied. "I can understand that. But if you two are practicing mages, you know that you can't take on a job without being cleared by the Magic Council. By undertaking this you're claiming work that we had already accepted. What guild do you two belong to?" She relaxed her posture ever so slightly, but made no effort to release the hilt of her sword.
Though adrenaline was still coursing through him, Natsu's curiosity was piqued. "What's a guild?"
The girl stared at him for several seconds, blinking rapidly. "Are you telling me you've never heard of a guild before?"
Natsu shook his head and Kimimaro turned away from her to look off into the distance.
"Then you two are working on your own? That's very rare, especially at our age." She frowned. "Still, you must have studied the laws of our trade to pass your licensing exam regardless of where you took it. The Magic Council..." Trailing off at the blank look she was getting, a realization started to dawn on her. "You don't know what the Magic Council is either, do you?"
"Should I? And what do you mean by licensed?"
"I remember hearing something about a Magic Council back in that one town we walked through... Maple Grove? But, I don't recall any specifics." Kimimaro mused aloud.
"That one guy who kept trying to convince us to pay for his magic show? Still wish we'd stayed for that."
"I'm pretty sure that he didn't know magic of any kind, let alone work for some governing body."
"But he had a wand, cool robes, and a huge beard. You sure?"
Kimimaro looked at Natsu, shaking his head slowly. "It honestly bothers me that you're that accepting and naive sometimes, it doesn't make any sense. I know you're a little younger than me, but you're still an actual mage."
"He made sparkles and pulled a live bird out of his cloak, I saw it!"
"I'm going to strike you if you make one more dumb argument today."
"And I'm going to punch you in the dick if you look at me that way one more time! He. Made. Sparkles. Out of thin air. If that's not magic, then I don't know what is!"
The girl watched them devolve into an argument with parted lips, returning her hand to its resting place. "If they're not telling the truth then this is a ridiculous thing to lie over. This... This doesn't make any sense at all. Is this some kind of elaborate trap?" She racked her brain, trying to come up with some sort of coherent explanation. As they bickered and seemed to forget her entirely, the suspicion that she was being played started to fade. "You said that you're here to find someone, right?"
Choking off a remark involving his hands and Kimimaro's neck, Natsu turned back to the girl. "Uh, yeah. I heard a rumor a few days ago that sounded like it was related to my search... Still looking into that."
Casting a contemplative look over them, the girl started to drum her fingers on the hilt of her sword.
Taking advantage of the sudden quiet, Natsu studied the pair of strangers. "She doesn't seem like she's going to attack us anymore and that guy hasn't made a move towards us at all. I guess we're good." Extinguishing his flames and straightening up, he hooked his thumb in his left pocket. "So... Who are you two? I'm guessing you're not with those goblins that tried to ambush me."
"Ah. I'm Erza Scarlet, and my companion is-" She motioned towards the man standing by the tree. "Macao Conbolt. We're both mages from the Fairy Tail guild. Who are you two?"
"Natsu Dragneel." He offered with a smile. "I'm not trying to mess with your job or anything, but I had to see if what I'd heard was true."
"And my name is Kimimaro, Miss Scarlet and Mr. Conbolt."
Erza didn't quite smile, but her lips quirked briefly. "I would still like you to clarify some things, but we can talk after we've figured out what is going on here."
"By we, are you offering to work together on this?" Kimimaro asked evenly.
"I have a feeling that the two of you intend to look into these attacks regardless of what we say."
Natsu nodded, nonchalantly cracking his knuckles. "I didn't come all the way out here just to walk away from what could be my first clue."
"Then yes. For the time being, that's what I'm suggesting." After a beat, she turned towards Macao. "Is that alright with you?"
Macao stared at Erza for a moment before he spoke. "Unlike the horrifying exercise you call driving, I don't have a problem with that." He looked at Natsu and Kimimaro. "But as Erza requested, I would like to sit down with you two and get a better understanding of your situation after we're done here if you don't mind. Professional curiosity, mostly."
Natsu shrugged.
Glancing at Natsu, Kimimaro hesitated for a second before responding "That's fine with me as well, but we need to move. The goblins know we're coming and I doubt they'll stick around forever while we chat."
Erza looked around the clearing. "We'll have to hunt them down on foot, that brush is too thick to drive through and there doesn't seem to be a direct path to the mining camp anymore."
Reaching into his robe, Kimimaro pulled out a plastic baggie and tossed it to Natsu. "This is ash from a house that was attacked by the Goblins a few days ago. You can taste and smell the differences in fires correct? As well as pick out the scent of something burning from quite a ways away?
Natsu nodded slowly as he inspected the bag. "You know I can."
"Can you do that for things that have already burned, even if some time has passed?"
"Huh, no idea. I've never tried that before." Opening the bag, Natsu closed his eyes and sniffed its contents. After a couple of seconds he raised his head and took long draws of the air, turning his head at random intervals.
While Macao watched Natsu's test with interest, Erza took the keys from Bob's van and secured them inside of her cuirass.
After a while, Natsu fixed his attention towards the west. "I have it. It's weak, but I think I can follow the scent." Rising to his feet, he looked briefly over the Fairy Tail mages. "Are you guys ready? I don't really want to wait around."
Erza offered a curt nod.
"I'm not exactly at my best after walking all the way to Lyme Town." Macao shot a dirty look at Erza, who didn't so much as wince. "But, I'll manage. And these should make it easier for us to get around."
Dipping his hand into his pocket, Macao withdrew a dark metallic hemisphere that was slightly smaller than his palm. He grasped it with one hand as he used the other to twist it open, revealing a blue-tinted crystal lens atop a clear gel-like substance. While he pressed the lid of the hemisphere to his shoulder, he applied a burst of spiritual energy to its body. The instant he did, a wide shaft of soft white light was instantly emitted from it. After raising the body to its lid he released it, leaving it floating in mid-air.
"Magic lanterns, pretty useful for when you're walking through forests in the dead of night." After taking out another lantern and tossing it to Erza, who quickly attached it to her waist, he looked over to the boys. "You guys want one? I brought another pair as backups, but I'm cool with lending one to each of you."
"Nah, I can see just fine in the dark." Natsu responded, squinting a little. "To be honest your lights are kinda messing with my sight though."
Raising his hand, Macao touched the lantern and the light dimmed. "That better?"
"Yeah."
"And you, Kimimaro?"
"I don't need one either, but thank you for offering."
Turning towards the west, Natsu snorted a puff of fire. "If that's it, then let's go. I'm itching to figure out what's going on here."
Without any objections, the four mages started their trek into the depths of Lyme Town's forests.
(Chapter End)
A/N: I need to ask all of you a question. Happy isn't really relevant to the core plot, none of it was built around him. But I kept in mind that people may want to see him by Natsu's side, so I left myself some wiggle room to account for him. Do you want him to be a part of this story, or do you not really care one way another? Either let me know your thoughts in a review or message me directly and I'll take a tally to gauge the way that should be handled.
To answer concerns about Natsu immediately joining Fairy Tail instead of spending some time wandering through the world, don't fret! I really don't want to give too much away, but trust that he and Kimimaro have a lot of journeying to do even though they'll have to make certain decisions to facilitate that.
One last thing. Natsu's chest. That definitely didn't foreshadow what many of you may suspect it did given Kimimaro was the one who pointed it out. I promise it's something very different. But it might not be that far removed, conceptually, from something you've seen before. Give it time and enjoy the ride.
I hope all of you are safe and healthy. Good luck out there.