Disclaimer: I, of course, have no ownership over Fairy Tail or any of its characters. I only use these sexy bastards to write my story.

Ages:

Natsu: 16 (soon to be 17)

Elfman, Cana, and Gray: 17

Mirajane and Erza: 19

Lisanna and Levy: 16

Makarov: 87

"I want you to stay away from Mirajane" -Erza said finally, after cutting the tension that lingered in the air for the past few hours. Natsu was confused, to say the least, what was with Erza acting like this all of the sudden? It is true that the redhead had always been bossy and constantly wanted things to be done her way. Hell, she had even forced him to do with her on more than one occasion, like the one time she "taught" him how to read (even though he insisted that Igneel had taught him). However, there was something on Erza's words this time that didn't fit with how she normally acted. Could it be because of her hatred towards Mira? They had always been rivals and it is pretty much obvious that they could not stand one another, but Erza had never suggested staying away from the eldest of the Strauss siblings.

"Aww, that isn't fair Erza! Why should I stay away from Mira now that she has been teaching me all this cool stuff?" Natsu asked annoyed. Erza seems to have noticed his expression, but instead of smashing his head, she closed her eyes and simply shook her head. That took Natsu off guard. He was clearly not the brightest guy in town, but he wasn't as stupid as most people, even himself, could think. At least, when it came to people's body language and emotions. However, he remained quiet as he could tell that Erza was about to speak.

"Perhaps, that doesn't mean she is a good influence for you" -she answered –"It is quite the opposite, in fact.

"Look Erza, I know that Mira and you aren't in the best of terms" -he started, noticing that, for the first time, he actually had room to argue with Erza without provoking her ire –"But she is actually a good girl. She's been training with me and teaching me cool stuff? Do ya know that I always left my guard open when I attack?" -he asked, to which Erza simply nodded.

"What I'm trying to say is that Mira is a good friend and she's been very nice with me recently, well, as nice as Mira can be, but that's beyond the point! She has even taken me to an S-class mission" -he finished, though he instantly came to regret what he said. Erza looked displeased, disappointed and anything that shows that she clearly was not proud of his progress as Mira has been.

"You are not ready for that" -Erza said, seriously. Natsu's temper started to raise at Erza's assumption. Why does she act like she is his damn mother?! She has no right to question what he and Mira had been doing in their off time!

"And how do YOU know that huh?! All ya do is hit me and tell me I'm not ready! Mira has taught me good things and has taken me to missions to improve my magic!" -he yelled, losing his composure. Erza looked beyond pissed with his sudden outburst. Yet instead of beating the crap out of him as she normally would, Erza managed to maintain her composure. Suddenly, Natsu felt a little guilty about screaming at her, just a little, she still had no right to pry on this level.

"Your combat style is brash and so are you, Natsu, you are simply not ready for S-class missions. Why do you think that the Master has not even nominated you for the S-Class exams? You are not mature enough" -she said, and Natsu felt the coldness of her words. This time, however, he did not burst into anger. No, he would not give her the satisfaction of being proven right.

"That's all you do, that's what you have always done. You always underestimate me, put me down, and tell me that I'm not good enough without actually telling me what I'm doing wrong" -he replied, in equal coldness. Wait…coldness? This was not like him, not at all. Even Natsu himself recognizes how much of a bright and colourful person he was, even in the direst of situations.

"Natsu, look on your heart, you know that is not true" -Erza replied –"I also never said that you were not enough, I said that you are not ready for S-Class missions or even taking the exams. And I'm certain that is Mira who had been poisoning your mind with the idea."

"This again?! What's with this sudden need of keeping me away from Mira? You have never done this before and now that she's been helping me, you want me to stay away from her…" -he cut himself, suddenly realising what was actually happening. Natsu smiled brightly, as he usually does, as he took the word once again.

"That's it! You're jealous of Mira and how we are getting closer" -he said, now directing the smile towards Erza. How smart of him! He figured out exactly what was troubling Erza because she looked shocked as if she had been discovered.

"R-right, as if I could be jealous of that harlot" Erza stuttered, further proving his point. Natsu then got closer to the older girl, embracing her. He felt her shake slightly before she returned the embrace back.

"Erza, just because I'm friends with Mira doesn't mean we ain't friends anymore! You are like family to me, and so is the rest of Fairy Tail" -he said warmly. Erza simply closed her eyes and increased the tightness of the hug.

"Oh, Natsu, why are you so naïve…?" -she whispered lowly, but enough for the Dragonslayer to catch. Naïve? What does she mean by this? Natsu, however, decided not to question it any further. After all, he has learned that when people speak that slow, even if he can catch it with his dragonslayer senses, they did not mean to say it out loud. Poor and innocent Natsu, the light of the Guild, he who sees good in everything and everyone ignores what he drove him unease a year ago. He ignores what the others can see, but fear and do nothing about because the gentle hand of Makarov feels hope for the future. They are both fools.

As he entered the guild, the pinkette noticed that Cana was making gestures for him to approach. Natsu liked Cana, regardless of how self-destructive and bad her drinking habit had become, but he also was not in the mood to bear when she starts acting weird. Well, "flirting" as Mira called it once. Not that he understood what it meant either, but alas, he could feel it was a little annoying. Besides, he almost instantly noticed that the Ice Freak was sitting to her left.

"Hey, Natsu! Get your ass here, will ya? Are we not enough for you know?" -Cana asked as she took a sip from her…fourth barrel? He was not sure; it seems this was the first one since he could not see any others around. Before he could deny that fervently, Gray opened his stinking mouth.

"Come on, Cana! Why do you insist on inviting this loser over? I don't think you'll like his fire-stinking breath" -Gray said, much to Natsu's annoyance.

"What did you say, Stripper?!" -Natsu yelled as he approached Gray, his fit already covered in flames. However, before he could do anything, he felt his ear being pulled his extreme force. As he complained in pain, he could hear Gray's laughter being cut by Cana hitting his head with a barrel.

"Natsu, stop causing trouble!" -Lisanna said, seriously. Right, Lisanna can be scary…but he did not expect Cana to actually do something about Gray.

"Calm down Lisanna, they already stopped fighting, so I don't think they'll cause more trouble" -Cana stated calmly as if she had not hit Gray with a barrel seconds ago. None of them said anything, as Natsu and Lisanna took a seat. While having Natsu and Gray at the same table usually led to a disaster, Cana and Lisanna were sitting between them…And so was Levy, in the middle of both girls. Yes, Natsu had just noticed that Levy was there, but who could blame him? Her smell was not as characteristic as Cana's alcoholic stink or Lisanna's smell of lavender. Not to mention, the blue-haired girl is always quiet to everyone but Erza. It seems that she wanted to open up to them, a little at least.

"Yo, Levy! Been a while since I saw ya" -Natsu said with a bright smile.

"Yes, it has been I guess" -Levy answered with a shy smile. Suddenly, Cana hugged the smaller girl, pressing her head against her breasts by accident.

"Come on, Levy! No need to be all shy around us" -the brunette said, though even Natsu could tell that the smaller girl was more focused on Cana's breasts.

"Anyways, what are you planning for your birthday, Natsu?" -Gray asked, seemingly making conversation with Natsu without fighting for once. Wait…what?

"Mmm what do you mean?" -Natsu asked, confused. Lisanna seemed slightly offended as if he had forgotten her birthday instead of his own.

"Your birthday, Natsu! Tomorrow is your birthday, you silly goose." -the short-haired girl said with a pout. Right…he forgot about it. Lisanna places too much value on birthdays, but he could care less about it. It was just a year older, nothing worth celebrating. If anything, his reunion with Igneel would be worth celebrating. Cana must have noticed his expression because she was next to speak.

"Oh, man! Don't be such as killjoy! That's Erza's job" -she said casually, fully aware that the redhead was not in town and could not kill her for what she had just said. Natsu simply shook his head in disapproval.

"We shouldn't talk about our nakamas like that" -the pink-haired young man said.

"We are not saying anything wrong about Erza though" -Levy replied, though her eyes were still focused on Cana's breasts. Was it really jealousy…? Because right now, it did not look like it. Cana was not paying attention to that, or she was simply ignoring it.

"Yup! So let's do something for your birthday" -Lisanna stepped in once again. This time, she was smiling brightly and Natsu could not help but feel a bit anxious. He did not know what Lisanna wanted, but every time she organised something for his birthday it was something corny that related to that silly game they played when they were children.

"Now, I think they got a point" -someone said seemingly out of nowhere. Natsu smiled slightly as he noticed who was this new person…

Huh, I'm smiling? Since when I smile when Mira's around? She's scary! Right…?

The woman in question smirked as she approached the table.

"Lisanna" -Mira acknowledged her younger sister, who seemed happy to see her.

"Heh, one day you'll regret drinking that much, Cana" -Mira said to Cana, who had just finished yet another beer barrel.

"Nice to see you as well, Mira" -Cana replied sardonically as she finally released Levy from the hug. The blue-haired girl shook her head, trying to remove as much alcohol from her hair as possible. Cana was not exactly very clean when it came to drinking after all…

"Hello, Mirajane" -Levy said shyly. Mira simply smiled at the smaller girl as she gave her a quick greeting.

"So, what are you gonna do, Pinky?" -she said, taking a seat beside Natsu.

"Hey! I asked first, also why you are ignoring me?!" -Gray snapped, receiving a nervous glance from literally everyone at the table, Natsu included.

"Ice Princess, I know we don't like each other that much, but I don't think you should talk to Mira like that…" -he warned his rival. However, before anyone could say anything, Mira replied.

"Sorry, thought you had quit the guild and finally joined the Nightingale" -she replied, a cruel smirk on her face. Everyone stares at her, shocked, that was brutal, even for her. Gray, who did not express emotions most of the time, looked genuinely hurt.

"Is not my fault I accidentally strip, it was part of Ur's training…" -he said, looking straight into Mira's eyes. Then, Natsu noticed that the previous sadness had turned into rage.

"Bullshit, you just want us to see your small cock" -Mira replied.

"Alright Mira-Nee, that's enough" -Lisanna intervened, at last- "You are being mean to Gray!"

"Awww don't be like that, Lisanna! I'm sure the Stripper needs a reminder of what is his place" -Mira said, once again focusing on Gray. The young man in question clenched his teeth, and for the first time, Natsu really wished that Gray would shut up. Unfortunately, shutting up was not like him.

"You call me a whore, but you are the one who's constantly sleeping around!" -the raven-haired boy yelled. Before long, his face found itself slammed against the table, the strength of Mirajane's heel pressing against his nape.

"MIRA-NEE/MIRA!" -both Natsu and Lisanna yelled in unison.

"I thought you weren't a whore, but here you are being my bitch!" -she said darkly, a twisted smile forming in her face.

"Mira-nee that's enough" -Lisanna said, grabbing her sister from the arm trying to pull her away from Gray. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Lisanna was simply not strong enough to push her sister away from the know unconscious Gray. Finally, Natsu stepped in.

"Mira…stop, Gray, will apologise later. He learned the lesson" -he said, slightly shocked that he had actually called his rival by his name. More so that he had begged Mira to spare him.

"Alright, if you two insist…" -the older woman said as she finally released the pressure from Gray's nape. Immediately, Cana rushed in to get him on her back. As it turns out, Gray is heavier than he looks, and Cana was about to collapse until Jet arrived to give her a hand. The orange-haired man got Gray on his back and rushed quickly to find Porlyusica. Cana went followed behind, not before she turned to Mira and snickered a quick

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" -With that, Cana left. Mira, on the other hand, seemed unbothered and borderline annoyed.

"Oh so now I'm the bad guy! That idiot called me a whore" -she said crossing her arms. For his part, Natsu simply shook his head. He was disappointed, very disappointed. Lisanna seemed to as well since she was the one to say what he was thinking.

"You could have killed him!" -the younger Strauss said, staring at her older sister accusingly. Only then, did Mira seemed to understand what she had done. Still, the Demon of Fairy Tail looked bored once again.

"Look, stop bitching about it okay? Nothing happened to him"-the woman said, crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Mira-nee! We have talked about this if you want them to sto-" -Lisanna could not finish what she was about to say before her sister glared at her. Natsu was surprised, he had never seen Mira act like this towards Lisanna. Not even when they came from that mission. Whatever the Strauss sisters were thinking, they did not utter a single word. Lisanna quietly grabbed Natsu's hand, causing him to look at her with confusion. Lisanna looked visibly uncomfortable and while she was silent, he understood that she wanted to go elsewhere. Natsu did not say anything but started to lead the way back to their old, where they had cared for Happy's egg all those years ago. There were many places in which they shared memories together, both happy or painful, but that little hut was their special place away from anything or anyone. Either one or both of them went to that place when their world was crashing down. Yet as they left the guild, he suddenly felt completely uneasy, like he had done something he was not allowed. That he had disobeyed someone important to him. Natsu did not understand this feeling, neither did he understood the cold glare he was receiving from Mirajane.

The annoying sound of birds in the morning was something that always drove him off the edge. In movies and books, it was romantic and beautiful to be awoken by their signing. Yet Natsu was completely sure that there was nothing beautiful about being woken up from his sleep, especially so early. The young man stood up quietly, stretching his arms as he walked his way to the bathroom. Unlike what many people thought, Natsu paid special attention to his general hygiene. Being constantly on fights and missions, Natsu came to understand how dirty someone can get if they have not cleaned themselves properly. He also makes sure to trim or slightly burn out an inch of hair from his body (except his hair and eyebrows, of course), not because he was disgusted by it, but become he learned that he would stench more if he had them. That was probably him though, being a Dragonslayer meant that he could smell filth from miles away, especially his own.

As he left the shower, he was met with Happy flying towards him, arms opened on a hug and a huge smile on his feline face.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATSU!" -the cat yelled as he landed on Natsu's arms. The pinkette smiled at his friend's antics. He did not care much for his birthday, that is true, however, he appreciated the gesture.

"Thanks, Happy! So, what you got for me, buddy?" -Natsu asked with a toothy grin. Suddenly, the blue cat looked down, ashamed as he softly patted his paws.

"Ehhhh…" -was all that Happy could say, though that was enough for him to realize what was going on.

"You forgot didn't ya?" -Natsu asked, rhetorically. Of course, he did!

"H-hey, don't blame me! I realised it was today as a woke up, I didn't remember yesterday and couldn't get ya anything" -Happy said rather quickly, though regret was written all over his face and words.

"Hey, I was just kidding, Happy you know I don't really care about my birthday" -Natsu said, trying to comfort his friend. Though it did slightly bother, why remember the damn date if he did not get him anything? It seemed as if Happy wanted to play a joke on him or something…

"But Nashu! Lisanna says that birthdays are important! And on my birthday, we had a big party with balloons and fishes! Tons of fishes!" -the cat started to drool as he remembered his birthday party. Natsu sweatdropped at his friend's antics, still, he could not blame him. He had fun at that party and Mira even cooked the fishes herself! Granted, she had demanded to be repaid for her service (even though the damn thing was Lisanna's idea). At the end of the day, for some odd reason, all she wanted was a hair strand from him. He had no idea why she wanted it, or why he had given her the hair strand anyways, but it a rather easy request and he did not hesitate to give her what she wanted.

After a few minutes, Happy went about with his business, probably to get more sleep or play some of the games he had begged Natsu to buy him. Natsu really hoped he was using them…they had been very expensive after all. The young man quickly took a set of clothes from his closet (not that his closet had a variety to choose from anyways) and left for the guild, this was surely going to be a long day…

The Dragonslayer was suddenly met with a loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATSU" the moment he set foot on the guild. The pinkette smiled softly as he noticed the decorations and the big cake in front of a group of gathered tables. More importantly, though, it seems that this year they have not been as obnoxious about his birthday as they had been in years past. It seems that they were finally listening after all.

"NATSSUUUUUUUUU!" -Lisanna's sudden scream was followed by the short-haired girl pulling him a big hug. Well, a huge as big as a small girl like her could give to someone. The Dragonslayer could not decipher what the girl was saying, she was talking too fast and saying too many things at once, but he definitely returned the hug and gave her a simple thank you.

This seemed to have pleased Lisanna, who grabbed his hand and guide him towards the cake. Even though they had given him their best wishes as a crowd, as they made their way to the cake people quickly gave him their personal best wishes. The young man found himself a little embarrassed by his guildmates antics, after all, he did not like the fuss about the whole affair. Once they reached their destination, Natsu suddenly found his head meeting a strong metallic surface.

"Happy birthday, Natsu! I hope you'll learn to behave better this year" -Erza said, not realizing that she had incidentally hurt him. Everyone sweat-dropped at Erza's antics, still not used to them after all this year.

"Alright, brats, time to party!" -Makarov yelled, raising a mug as his children followed their master's action.

While the whole guild had found a way to throw a huge messy party without Erza spoiling everything, the birthday boy was not actively part of the celebrations allegedly in his name. Not because he was a killjoy, but because people did not want to fight and were far too drunk for Natsu's liking. According to the birthday boy, any event without a brawl or two was a dull one. Even Lisanna was enjoying it, drinking with Cana, and laughing loudly at God's know what. It was in this moment of solitude when the Dragonslayer noticed that Mirajane was nowhere to be seen. He understood that while the young woman was not really a fan of parties (or any large gatherings really) and that he had made it clear that these types of birthday parties were unnecessary, he still felt slightly hurt the girl was nowhere to be found. Natsu quickly realised that, with the current mood, nobody would miss him if he left the party right then. Sneaking out (if just walking out could be considered sneaking out…) was rather easy and he soon made his way home. Normally, he would have tried to get Happy, but he could not find the cat and he was sure that he would likely just follow Lisanna when she decided to leave. If she decided to leave at all.

The whole way to his house was grimmer than he had anticipated. Was it the right thing? To leave without saying anything? They would have tried to stop him, that was certain, but they had put effort and money into this not-so-surprising birthday party and a small part of him felt that he was underappreciating their efforts. Furthermore, a bad feeling started to creep down his spine, he felt – no he knew that something was going on. Like a gut feeling of sorts, which made the whole situation even worst in his eyes. Natsu never had gut feelings, his Dragonslayer magic gave him more developed and acute senses compared to the rest of humans. He could smell and hear anything from miles away, and if he had felt their scent before, he could distinguish who or what was going on around him easily. And yet here he was, feeling hopeless of his surroundings like everyone else, not like a dragon, but like prey that was about to feel the rage of its predator. This crumbling feeling was consuming him, dominating him to the point where, suddenly, he started to become afraid…but afraid of what exactly? He could not tell.

As he reached Magnolia's outskirts, the young man was met by a strong smell…a smell he was well familiar with. To be fair, he was certain that most mages were also familiar with it, but no one could sense it as well as he could and he was certain of that…well, no one that was not another Dragonslayer that is. Despite his best instincts, despite how the dragon inside him yelled -no screamed that he should leave that place at once, his curiosity got over him as quickly as an eagle pounce over a snake.

The stench on the air surrounded him, to the point that it was becoming almost unbearable. It was too strong, and the butchery scattered all over the place was yet more disturbing. Whatever had made this…is clearly not human because who would be capable of this cruelty? Even if this was the work of a dark wizard, they had lost their humanity to commit something like this.

He had no idea how long he had been in this place, nor how far he was from the city, but he had surely lost track of time. So much, that what snapped him back to reality the squishy sound of meat on his sandals. Natsu almost threw up as he saw the corpse, or what remained of it. The large amounts of gore scattered around now made some sense, no human could lose that amount of blood or flesh unless what remains of them was nothing more than a mere pulp. A fresh, bloodied and stenchy pulp whose size and form made him shudder in fear. There was no way this was a single person; many would have been dismembered and put together to form this abomination based on the size of this thing. Whatever did this, was clearly having fun before he arrived. Because yes, this was too fresh, too obnoxious, and disturbing to have gone under the radar. The creature had clearly left when it noticed that Natsu was approaching, and much to Natsu's surprise, there was no other smell besides the gore. That thing knew him because it made sure to leave no trace behind, nothing that could be used to track it.

The young Dragonslayer left the scene, horrified. His heroic side wanted to knock the Rune Guard's Barracks that very moment, no matter how late it was. But the fear and repulsion that won for the first time in his life and drove him away. That night, Natsu Dragneel, the most fearless of the younger generation of Fairy Tail, could not sleep because of the horror he had just witnessed. Little did he know, that the horror had just started…