"Blegh." Uldren gurgled. He stepped off of the train into Magnolia, once again cursing his motion sickness.
"I don't know why I do that every time." he said to himself.
He had just gotten off the train that had come from the capital, and he was in a rather sour mood. The quest there had been annoying to say the least. Sure, it wasn't hard for a wizard of his caliber, but boy was it tedious.
His hand rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation as he sighed.
"Well, at least that's done now. I wonder if Mira got any more of that brew I asked for."
Stretching widely, he prepared to once again head to his favorite place in the world, the guildhall. Maybe he'd even be able to surprise some people with his arrival. That'd be fun.
Shrugging, he set off towards the most obvious building in Magnolia. As soon as he set foot outside of the train station, he was bombarded with the characteristic smell and sound of Magnolia's central market.
"Yup, this is home." he said to himself.
"Morning Uldren!" someone called from one of the stalls. "How was your quest?"
"Morning!" Uldren called back. "Just the usual, you know?"
Uldren's walk to the guild consisted of much of this behavior, with many residents of the large town greeting Uldren jovially. Stronger than Gildarts though he was, his magic wasn't quite so uncontrollable in nature despite how much of it he had.
Maybe that was because of his race, but Uldren couldn't be too sure.
As the guildhall became closer and closer, Uldren picked up on a rather familiar noise.
A fight.
"Man, talk about perfect timing," he said to nobody. "I might just be able to catch a good…." he trailed off.
There was a new smell in the guild. Very new.
He pushed the doors open and was greeted with an earful of yelling and crashing of wood, as well as a flying beer bottle to the face.
Lucy had been incredibly excited to join Fairy Tail days ago. What self-respecting mage wouldn't be? It was the most powerful guild in the country!
But all of that excitement had quickly devolved into confusion when she watched everyone interact.
Natsu was fighting again, even though they'd just gotten back from saving Macao from Mount Hakobe.
She watched a beer bottle go flying as he joined the fray, and heard it shatter behind her.
Creeeeaaakkkkkk
Now, Lucy may not have been the bravest of people, but even she couldn't resist the urge to look at what had caused the entire guildhall to freeze. Natsu and Gray had effectively turned to stone with how fast they ceased moving, and everyone in the building was now staring in wide-eyed fear at the door behind her.
"I come back from a quest that's only two days long. Two. days. And you guys…."
Magic suffused the air, and Lucy could actually feel it rolling off the man in waves.
"Are fighting without me?!"
"ULDREN!"
Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin as everyone suddenly screamed in excitement from the appearance of this newcomer.
She'd admit, the man was handsome. Long, dark blue hair that cascaded down to the small of his back, and sharp blue eyes that seemed to pierce the soul. There were odd, deep blue tattoos that ran down the length of his face, arms, and torso.
Lucy also came to the realization that this man was the only place Natsu could've gotten his weird dressing habits. He wore only a pair of loose, baggy shorts with elastic bands just above the knees, and scant little else. Fastened on his neck was a broad black coat with a large collar, though its right side was open, leaving his impossibly toned body exposed to the elements.
And what a body it was.
'No! None of that Lucy! You just escaped getting sold as a slave less than a week ago by a guy who happened to be handsome!' she scolded herself.
The man was then promptly glomped by several guild members, Natsu chief among them Lucy noted.
"H-hey! I missed you guys too!" he yelled from underneath a pile of excited bodies. "It was only two days though!"
"About time you got back old man!" Lucy managed to make out from Natsu's muffled cries of excitement.
"I'm not that old!"
An explosion of flames then threw everyone off of the man Lucy now knew as Uldren, and Natsu was wreathed in bright orange tongues of fire.
"Oh yeah! If you're so young, try this on for siiiiiiiiiiii-"
Lucy's jaw bottomed out as Uldren didn't so much as move and somehow Natsu went flying like so much garbage in a windstorm.
"So, you want a fight, do you?" Uldren growled with a jovial smile that belied his true emotions.
"Yeah! Bring it on!" Natsu yelled back from his bowled-over position some feet away. "Fire Dragon Ro-!"
All Lucy felt was a rush of wind, and then Natsu was out cold in Uldren's grasp.
"Not inside the guildhall you moron."
Uldren's gaze then riveted itself to her own, catching her eyes and almost locking their stares together. She felt like she was being pried open and examined by him, every facet of her soul being studied.
"A new member!"
Uldren was ecstatic. A new member, and a woman at that! Now, he was most certainly not like Wakaba or Macao in that regard, but every time a new woman showed up to the guild, Uldren had realized that some serious paradigm shifts would occur.
Or if a woman left.
Sometimes he still found himself missing Lisanna.
The new young lady stood still as a statue in front of him, evidently terrified of his ability to put Natsu out like he did. Speaking of whom, he dropped the pink-haired troublemaker into a heap on the ground and walked over to the girl.
"Hey there. Sorry about the odd introductions, that's just how things go around here. My name's Uldren. What's yours?" he said. She seemed friendly enough, and he could already smell a bit of Natsu on her. That could only mean good things.
"Eep! I'm...I'm Lucy!" she squeaked. "Lucy Heartfilia!"
KILL
GATE
ANNA
Uldren stumbled backwards as a violent, angry voice boomed in his head upon hearing her full name. He clutched his face as a mastodonic headache suddenly exploded into being.
He fell to one knee silently as the pain left as quick as it came.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" Lucy yelled. Uldren quickly plastered a smile on his face.
"Yup! Sorry about that. I can be weird like that sometimes." He knocked a fist against the side of his skull and ignored the spike of pain it produced.
"O-oh. Okay. Well, yeah. It's nice to meet you mister Uldren."
"Don't call me mister. It just reinforces Natsu saying I'm old which, by the way, I'm not." Uldren growled. He had long since learned how it felt to be Makarov, being the (supposedly) second oldest person in the guild. Everyone assumed he was older than Gildarts given how much more powerful he was than the auburn haired man, though Uldren had yet to find any indicators to his actual age.
Maybe it was because he had weird bouts of wisdom every now and then. Only Makarov did that besides him.
Yeah. That was probably it.
"O-oh. Right. Uhhhhh, yeah. It's nice to meet you." Lucy said again. Uldren's previously forced smile gained a natural look to it as he experienced the usual awkwardness that came with a new member.
"You too, Miss Heartfilia."
Thankfully, the horrible pain and voice didn't come with his utterance of the girl's last name.
"So, Natsu's partner, are ya?" he continued. He watched her sigh with sadness in his heart.
"No, I just kind of tagged along for the last mission. We didn't get any money for it. I didn't really even do that much."
Uldren scoffed. Right. Like Natsu would ever allow someone he didn't think was useful to tag along. Natsu was pretty prideful like that.
Leave it to him being a dragon slayer, huh?
"Doubt it. Natsu is pretty choosy with the people he works around. For as long as I can remember, he's never willingly gone on missions with anyone besides me." Uldren said. "He's pretty picky."
"Wow, really?"
"Yeah, don't tell him I said that though. He'll try to chew me out."
"Wow! Thanks!"
Uldren watched with a smile as she basically scampered off to go and find Natsu.
"You never could help yourself, could you?"
Uldren turned to see Master Makarov standing behind him with a soft smile.
"Heh. Sue me, I like to see all the kids happy."
"You call them kids, but if I recall correctly you don't like to be called old."
"Eh. I don't like them calling me old. You can't call me old though, so it's fine."
Makarov chuckled.
"So, you're going to be sticking around for a while? That last quest was supposed to take a month."
"That it was. Though we both know that most S class quests won't take me more than a week usually."
"That's true. Just try not to destroy the town while you're here."
Uldren leaned down and clapped a hand on the short master's shoulder.
"No worries, Master. I'll do you proud."
Magnolia was as peaceful as ever, and Uldren couldn't find anything more to take solace in. He'd long since learned to enjoy the small, simple things that life threw one's way.
Like he was now.
Sitting in a restaurant, he sighed with pleasure as he finished his meal. It'd been a good cut of steak and it's price had been high to match. Thankfully, he'd amassed a rather hefty sum of money from his constant missions with no otherwise expenditures. He mostly did missions these days because he needed something to do.
It kept his mind off of the ever-present mystery that was his existence. Like who he was, and why he lacked any knowledge of who he'd been beforehand.
It bothered him some times more than others.
PTANG!
The entire restaurant went silent at the shriek of metal being snapped and Uldren jumped from his seat, his fists moments from attacking the first sign of danger.
"S-s-s-sir, I'm s-s-s-sorry that the f-food wasn't t-to your l-liking, but p-please don't attack the staff." one of the waitresses said to him with her hands shielding her face.
On the table laid the shattered remains of his fork.
"Ah. My apologies, ma'am. I...lost control I suppose. I assure you, the steak was delightful." he said with a downcast expression. He fished some jewel from his pocket and placed it delicately on the table, hoping it was enough to cover the replacement of the fork as well.
He hoped he'd be allowed back here. They had great food.
Guess what! Chapter 2 has arrived! I know this one's short too in comparison to my other stories, but I think I kinda like it this way. I might not keep it like this for every chapter, but for these first couple, the shortness of it all makes it feel a bit more comfortable.
I've been out of writing for a hot couple of months, and now that summer's here, I think I might get back into it. Maybe do some more work on my other stories, hehe.
For the reviews I did get, thanks again. Every single time I get a positive review, I feel like I want to write just that little bit more. So to all of you, thanks.
Special thanks to Hadrian371. He gave me lots on input on what to actually do with this story. I published the first chapter without a real idea on what I wanted to do with this, but now an idea actually exists in my mind on what the plan really is.
So nothing but good things!
Chapter 3 will be out god-knows when, but hopefully not this much of a delay.
Right?
Anyways, see y'all later. Tchiao!