Chapter 6

Sitting at bars wasn't a hobby of Natsu's. Fighting, eating, sleeping, sure. But going to bars? Unless there was a drunken brawl—which Natsu would be in the center of—he couldn't bring himself to care. In a bar, he's supposed to sit down, stare at some ale, and reminisce with his thoughts and memories. Too bad he didn't feel like thinking, and he sure wasn't up for a ride down stupid memory lane.

Maybe if alcohol didn't smell awful, then he could get drunk. Cana, Fairy Tail's local alcoholic, had tried to determine what sort of drunk Natsu was—happy, social, depressed or angry. Much to her disappointment, his tolerance was too high for him to sit long enough to find out.

So here he was, sitting at a demons' bar.

When the five of them—Happy came too—got to Malba, Natsu had run around and smelled out any demon "dark spots." In cities, there were usually a couple dark spots, which Gray explained to Lucy as, "demon hot spots—legal or not." As Lucy, Erza, and Happy went who knows where, Gray checked out another dark spot. And Natsu sat in this one.

There was no "special meat" on the menu here, luckily enough. All Natsu had to do was sit at the bar and look uninterested as he secretly listened to the others' conversations for information on the demon gathering. It was simple enough. Except, Natsu had no interest whatsoever in their nonsense. Why did demons brag about their battle skills? What was the point in debating whose curses are stronger? They could just use their fists to find out for themselves. That'll answer all their questions, and it would also shut them up.

Natsu shifted on his stool as a demon sat down on his left. This blonde-haired demon, with dog-like ears and a thick yellow tail, reaked in that potent, undeniable odor of soil and cinnamon. He was probably a full-blooded demon, and an annoying one at that. There were three open bar stools on the left, but he had to sit next to Natsu. Couldn't a "demon" pretend to drink at a demon bar in peace?

Natsu watched as the bartender slid a drink to the blondie beside him. After taking a couple of sips, said blondie turned to Natsu. "So, what's your reason for being here?"

"Drinking," Natsu intelligently replied. "'Cause it's a bar."

The demon's laugh reminded Natsu of a cackling hyena. "I think we're gonna get along, ya little twit. The name's Jackal."

He stuck out a hand with sharp claws. Natsu hesitated, then shook it. Jackal's firm grip almost rivaled Erza's, if such a feat was imaginable.

Jackal stared at him for a moment, much to Natsu's confusion. "You haven't heard of me, have ya?"

Natsu cocked his head. "Should I?"

The demon's smirk widened. "If you know what's good for ya. You've got some fire, I'll give ya that."

Natsu smirked back. "You have no idea."

Natsu was tempted to ask if Jackal knew about the demon gathering—whatever that was—but interrogating wasn't really his thing. When he turned back to his near-full drink, Jackal shoved his arm.

"What do you say to an arm-wrestle?" Jackal asked. "Demon versus demon?"

This demon seemed impossible. A grip as strong as Erza's, and a level of annoyance on par with Gray's. Natsu wanted to tell him to shove off, but the words couldn't come out. Since when did he, Natsu Dragneel, refuse a challenge?

Their arms locked.

"So, when do we begin?" Natsu asked.

As he spoke, Jackal pushed against him. Hard.

"We already did, twit."

Jackal's claws scratched against his skin, though Natsu replied by pulling down on Jackal with a greater force. He could feel his muscles tighten as he pressed harder and harder, slowly pushing back Jackal's arm. Jackal pushed back with greater strength, and their arms remained in dead-lock.

"You're not bad," Jackal said. "For someone acting as a human."

Natsu froze. What did he just say?

The demon took Natsu's hesitation and forced down his arm. He let out another of his hyena laughs. "Man, your face. It was priceless!"

"Yeah? Well, I wasn't expecting such a stupid—"

"Comment," Jackal finished. "Yeah, yeah. Dirty move by me, whatever. I was just teasing ya."

Jackal hadn't been joking, of that Natsu was sure, but the demon's words didn't make any sense. Natsu wasn't acting as a human—he was a human. He could still remember his parents before they'd died, even if he'd only lived with them for a few years. Both of them were human. The other villagers had reminded him often, as they muttered how such a normal couple could end up with such a cursed child.

After they died… he remembered stumbling through the dirt roads as villagers looked away when he approached. There were a few mothers who'd been kind enough to him, who made sure that he was fed, but the villagers' weary glances never ceased. When Igneel had come, eventually leading Natsu to Fairy Tail, he'd finally managed to put behind the past. Mostly, anyway.

Damn it. He had so not been planning to go down memory lane today. Stupid jackals and bars.

When Natsu finally looked up, the dog-eared demon was already near the door. "There's a meet for demon recruits going on later," Jackal said. "An hour from now, in the big shitty gym on the city's edge. Ya might wanna go there."

The demon's back was turned. He propped open the door. "Next time we talk, I'd better be talking to a demon. My nose doesn't lie, ya know."

The door shut behind him.

Walking down Malba's streets with Erza sounded like the beginning of Lucy's end, though she quickly learned that wasn't the case. As strict as Erza seemed to be, she had her own soft side. One which she'd particularly reserved for the bakeries and clothes-shops they'd passed, and also for Happy the Exceed.

Lucy had forgotten about the little Exceed; when she, Gray, and Erza had finally arrived at the train station, the not-cat had come back, accompanied by his annoying personality. He was whining on and on about having been forgotten by Lucy, and how Natsu was the only buddy he could trust.

Lucy didn't know when those two had established the "buddy" relationship, but she let it slide. After all, Natsu was the one to tell the Exceed where they were going, and he also knew that Happy had been fishing at Magnolia's rivers. (Lucy was pretty sure there was a law against fishing there, though she supposed the law hadn't included "This Applies to Exceeds" in the fine print.)

There was, nonetheless, a positive to all of this—Happy had to act like a regular, blue cat. Which meant no walking on two-legs nor talking (nor whining about Lucy's incapability of walking faster). She'd thought that someone would be suspicious of a blue cat, though Lucy had been proven wrong.

It was Erza, after all, who'd met Happy and proceeded to ask, "Where did you find a blue-dyed cat?"

And thus ensued Happy's monologue about being an Exceed, having gotten lost in the whims of life as he'd adventured to find a home.

Which only confused Lucy further as to why he decided to stay with them.

Happy's tail harshly flicked against her leg.

"What was that for?" Lucy harshly whispered.

Happy, on all fours, let out an innocent meow. Lucy interpreted it as, "That's for dissing me in your inner monologue."

This cat had problems. And so did Lucy, for even bothering to consider them.

Erza had stopped at a bakery. She came back to face Lucy. "Lucy, if I recall correctly, you had mentioned a desire to grow stronger?" At Lucy's nod, Erza smiled. "Then I have something that will surely be of use."

When Erza closed her eyes and cupped her hands, Lucy was tempted to ask if she was praying to Mavis. But Erza's hands covered in a flash of light, and once the light faded away, she held a glass sphere in her hands.

After gesturing to Lucy's hands, Erza placed the smooth sphere into her opened palms.

"My magic is called Requip Magic, and it allows me to reequip myself in a variety of enchanted armor. It also lets me store some other objects, such as this ball," she explained. "This ball allows a wizard to concentrate their magic into a single location. For mages in need of experience, it serves as a solid method for strengthening and controlling your magic. Now, let us continue onward."

Erza took the lead once again, though she walked at a slower pace to compensate for Lucy's current focus. Lucy had to admire Erza's strength, as both a knight and a woman. But Erza's odd reactions hadn't gone unnoticed—how the knight winced when they walked past a clothes shop offering cat ears, or when they saw a tavern that claimed itself to be "Heaven."

Lucy turned her attention back to the ball in her hands and took a deep breath. All she had to do was focus on the ball. Simple enough.

She realized quickly enough that it wasn't hard to make the ball glow. But to make the light shining even stronger, to become even more concentrated in the sphere... that's where it became difficult.

Focus, Lucy. You've got this. Lucy repeated the mantra, over and over, as she followed after Erza.

For once, Happy left her alone. It was his own way of saying, "Good luck, Lucy." And she silently thanked him for it.