answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Mr Guest: It's not so much interest as more of he's now on her radar. Towards the very edge of it, but he's on it.
Zayden StormVoid: There's gonna be plenty of horror like moments throughout this story.
The Storm Master 567: Ohhhh Erza's gonna lose a few battles in this story. And I mean she's going to LOSE. He isn't an S-class mage because he hasn't been chosen for the S-class trials yet. Gray and Natsu, who've been with Fairy Tail three times longer than Peter have yet to be selected despite their obvious power.
Distorted Mage: She is part of it.
Alex-Flyppy: I think I have something in mind that could possibly bring Ur back but even if I do go through with it, it'll be a long, long time, like post Tenrou Island time skip until she gets involved with the harem.
Gamerslegacy: That's a bit of a tall order, mainly because I haven't seen One Piece in years.
Darkspyder: Yes I've seen it, prefer Brotherhood over it though. And yes the idea of a crossover has cross my mind from time to time.
superpirece: It is, but as the story goes more and more of it will be revealed.
Guest: Lisanna is staying with Natsu, they make a cute couple.
spider-fan: Possibly.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Fairy Tail characters seen, mentioned or used.
"Who would've thought that fresh air would smell so sweet!? I'm gonna breath it in all day!"
Peter's brow twitched as he watched Natsu begin running around with excitement as they finally returned to the Guild Hall after their overnight stay in the Magic Council's jail cell. A fate that he was forced to endure because of said man's actions. Granted Elfman wasn't above blame either but he'll leave that to Mirajane to sort out.
"I hope you choke on that freedom" Peter said with a scowl as Cana brushed past him and towards the bar.
"Ugh, I could use a drink after the hell you all put me though" Cana moaned while Elfman made a beeline towards his sister who was looking at him with a look of mock anger.
"Elfman, I can't believe that you'd go and get yourself arrested on your first mission with your new team!" Mirajane said with a shake of her head, causing the younger but taller Strauss sibling to flinch as he looked at the ground with a sullen expression.
"Sorry big sis..." he muttered.
Peter considered letting Mirajane know that her brother had given him a concussion while they were on their mission before seeing Mirajane continue to express her displeasure, fake as it might have been, to Elfman who seemed to think it was genuine. With a shake of his head, he decided to let the matter be, sides if anyone was guilty, it was Cana and Peter was determined to make sure the alcoholic beauty paid, with interest.
'I'm sure I can convince Mira to cut Cana off for a few days... kukuku' Peter thought with a evil grin as he rubbed his hands together before he noticed that Erza had retreated to a secluded table by herself. With a brief glance towards Mira to see that she was now wagging her finger at Elfman, whose since fallen to his knees in despair, Peter quietly made his way over to the armored woman and took a seat across from her and removed his helmet.
"What are you doing here?" Erza asked with some surprise.
"Misery loves company I'm told" Peter snickered.
"I'm not miserable" Erza said with a eye roll as she returned her attention to the small cup of tea in her hand "Just... distracted is all"
"I know what you mean" Peter said with a nod as he made a show of looking around "This place sure as changed since our incarceration began. I can barely recognize half the people here now!"
"We were in a cell for a single night, not a decade" Erza said with a faint grin.
"Oi, time may have flown by for you while we was in the slammer, but not for me" Peter said with a shiver as he hugged himself "The things I saw, I can never un-see them"
Erza snorted at this before she looked at Peter and noticed something about Peter's face, he had small bags under his eyes and his eyes themselves looked exhausted. It was than the memory of the man she and Peter saw flashed through her mind.
"Peter, I-" she began before Natsu's voice interrupted them.
"Say Erza, how about we pick up where we left off?" the Dragon slayer asked with a excited grin.
A flash of annoyance and anger raced through Erza's body before she took a deep breath and silently exhaled it through her nose before giving the pink haired mage a mild glare of annoyance "I'm not in the mood"
Natsu's response was to encompass his fist in fire and sprint towards her and Peter with a grin "I'm not giving up the easy!"
"Uh Erza-" Peter began before the scarlet haired beauty was up and rammed her fist right into Natsu's gut, knocking the wind clear out of him and causing the flames in his hand to go out.
The Guild, Peter included, gaped at the sight of Natsu on the ground, withering pain while Erza looked down at him with somewhat less annoyance than before as she placed a hand on her hip.
"Satisfied?" she asked.
Natsu's response was a pained groan before it was drowned out by the rest of the Guild breaking off into fits of laughter at the quick, one sided battle.
"When will he learn?" Peter said with a yawn as he felt his eyes getting heavier 'Man I'm tir-'
It was than that Peter felt the magical presence in the air and he felt his brow twitch as he realized that his desire to sleep was far from natural... Mystogan had returned.
Every time the mysterious S-class mage returned from a job, he almost always casted some sort of powerful sleeping magic that caused just about everyone in the Guild minus Master Makarov and Laxus, if the latter was around, to fall asleep. Even Erza and Mirajane weren't immune to the spells affects and would find themselves succumbing to the spell's power.
"That... mother..." Peter began as he felt his eyes grow heavy and the desire to sleep increase until everything went dark as he fell face first into the table he was at.
Than just as suddenly that Peter fell asleep, he was wide awake!
"Ah man..." Peter said as he sat up and rubbed his eyes before standing up and reaching for his helmet and slipped it back on with a huff "Hate it when he does that"
All around him the various members of Fairy tail also displayed their displeasure at once again being put under Mystogan's sleeping spell.
"Dammit, was Mystogan here again?" one person muttered.
"What a jerk" another said.
Lucy let out another yawn as she struggled to wake herself up fully before rubbing her head as she felt a mild headache coming on "Who's this Mystogan guy?"
"For one, he's a contender for Fairy Tail's strongest wizard" Elfman revealed as he came to stand next to Gray and Lucy.
"Really?" Lucy said with shock.
"Yeah..." Peter said as he rubbed the back of his neck to work out a kink that's developed from sleeping on the table's hard wooden surface "Gut can pretty much put everyone here asleep barring the Master"
Lucy gaped at this while Gray sighed as he folded his arms across his now bare chest "Don't worry, he only ever does it when he comes by for a new request. And he usually takes long term missions so it's not like this is a weekly thing"
"More like every two or three weeks" Peter said while Elfman scoffed
"What kind of man casts sleeping spells whenever he stops by? not very manly if you ask me" he stated.
"No one did, big guy" Peter quipped.
Gray nodded towards Makarov as the man seemed to be deep in thought "Master Makarov's the only one that's ever gotten a good look at his face-"
"That's not true" a new voice interrupted "I've seen him before"
'Oh joy, he's back too' Peter thought with a sigh as he and a number of other wizards looked up towards the second floor of the Guild Hall.
Stand there was a young but large muscular man with short blonde hair, a lightning bolt shaped scar over his right eye, dressed in a leopard-print, orange colored tunic with dark-lined sleeves reaching down below his elbows with fur on the lower edges. He also had on a bright red cape tied on the front with a knot, with a large Fairy Tail symbol on the back and loose baggy dark pants tucked inside light metal greaves. Around his waist was a simple belt to which he attached the device linked to his Magic Headphones that sat over his ears, likely blaring that rock and roll music he loved so much.
"And there's the other guy that's a contender" Peter said as he leaned in towards Lucy "Laxus Dreyar"
Lucy blinked at the last name "Dreyaer?"
"Mystogan's just a little shy is all" Laxus said with a smirk "You should all respect his privacy"
"Did I just hear Laxus say the word respect?" Peter said with a loud gasp "I thought I'd never see the day!"
The blonde haired man's eyes narrowed dangerously at Peter "What was that little man?"
"You heard me sparky" Peter shot back, causing a faint flare at the base of his skull.
It was than Natsu, who up until now was still asleep because of a combination of Erza's strike and Mystogan's spell, sprung back to his feet and looked at Laxus with a determined expression on his face "Alright Laxus, you and me right here, right now!"
"Glutton for punishment, isn't he?" Lucy said with a small grin.
"Pretty much" Peter said with a shrug while Laxus looked down at Natsu with a amused grin.
"If you can't even beat the red head, why bother with me?" he said.
Anger washed over Erza's face at this "What are you trying to say?"
"I think he's greatly insinuating he's stronger than you" Peter said, causing Erza's glare to snap towards him "Oh, you weren't being serious... hehehehe, sorry"
"Oh yeah?" Natsu said as he leaped over the counter for the bar and sprinted towards the stairs that would take him up to the second floor before Makarov suddenly turned slightly to extend and enlarge his arm, bringing it down on Natsu in the blink of an eye.
"Ouch" Peter winced as did Lucy and Mirajane covered her mouth in shock while Makarov didn't even turn to look at Natsu.
"Your not allowed on the second floor Natsu... at least not yet" Makarov stated while Laxus looked down at them all with an amused grin.
"Aww, I think you made him grumpy-"
"That's enough Laxus" Makarov snapped in annoyance at his grandson's behavior.
"The most powerful wizard in the Guild isn't some chick or hooded weirdo" Laxus proclaimed as he pointed to himself "Your looking right at him!"
Peter blinked at this before he made a show of looking around "So wait, Gildarts is back? When'd he get here, I didn't see him come in. Was it when Mystogan knocked us all out?"
Laxus gritted his teeth as lightning flared across his left arm for a brief second before Mirajane was suddenly in front of Perter, looking up at Laxus with a dark look in her eye that many of the current wizards in the Guild either hadn't seen in years or never seen in the first place.
"Laxus… Back. Off" she warned in a low voice that caused a chill to crawl up a number of people's spines, even Peter's.
"Hey, Mira..." Peter said as he placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder "It's fine. I doubt he'd actually hit me"
Peter was confident that he could dodge a extremely half hearted lightning bolt from Laxus. The fact he even had a few arcs of electricity visible over his arm was clue enough to Peter that he wasn't considering hitting him with anything too serious. It'd probably hurt a lot should it hit him yes, but Peter's seen just how powerful, and just how fast of a blast Laxus can hit people with and knows that he'll be lucky to get off with only some minor electrical burns.
Mira meanwhile held Laxus's gaze for a moment before the blonde scoffed and turned away and walked out of sight "Runt's not even worth the effort..."
Peter didn't know if he should be insulted by that remark or not but was glad that Laxus didn't decide to follow up on his threat. He'd rather Mirajane not get caught up in this because he felt like pissing off the blonde haired powerhouse... again.
Once the arrogant S-class mage was out of sight, the atmosphere became much lighter than before. Lucy went over to pry Natsu out of the floor that Makarov slammed him into Erza retreated to a remote table to sit at. The rest of the Guild resumed business as usual, Gray insulting Natsu, Elfman glaring at Peter out of the corner of his eye as he spoke to Team Shadow Gear on their first and only mission as Team Manly Drunken Spider, Cana pillaging the bar and leaving no liquor untouched and Makarov himself watching it all with a distant but pleased look on his face.
Peter was just about to head for the request board, the payment to deliver the Master's letter to the Magic Council was revoked on account of Elfman and Natsu's actions.
'Note to self, never be on a team with Elfman or Natsu, especially Natsu, like ever!' Peter thought as he took two steps before he felt a familiar hand grab him by the shoulder and drag him to a chair and pushed him into it.
"Peter, you really need to stop egging Laxus on like that" Mira said as she looked down at Peter with a look of disproval after he settled in the seat she gave him "Don't fall to his level"
"Sorry, but's so funny getting him all riled up" Peter said with a sheepish grin on his face.
"It wont be when he's electrocuting you" Mira warned.
"Probably" Peter agreed with a nod "But until that fateful day, I'm gonna keep lighting him up with quips and jokes galore. Get it, lighting him up? Cause he uses lightning which is a form of-"
"Yes Peter I get the joke" Mira said with a tired grin on her face before she slid into Peter's lap and rested her head against his chest and let out a relieved sigh "I'm just glad your back"
Peter couldn't help but chuckle at this "Man Mira, you make it sound like I was put away for a decade"
"It felt like it" Mira giggled as she lifted Peter's helm off and planted a kiss on his cheek "I waited for you, you know? I just knew you'd be out someday after you did your time!"
"Well aren't I just a lucky guy" Peter said with a wide grin.
Mirajane grinned before she noticed a faint bruise on the side of Peter's head and raised a gentle hand towards it "What happen here? You tried to work out in that jail's weight room and dropped something on yourself?"
"You can thank your brother for that" Peter said dryly.
Screw it, he's making the massive oaf pay for hitting him so many times on that job.
Mira's eyes widened at this before she glared at her brother's back who seemed to straighten under the weight of her gaze "I'll be having a talk with him later about hurting you"
"And Cana" Peter nodded towards the bar's resident drinker "She set him off"
"Is that right?" Mirajane said with a hum as she tapped her chin in thought before she grinned "Than I guess I'm going to cut her off for a few days. Let her think on her actions with a clear sober mind!"
"Here, here" Peter nodded with a snicker as he pressed his forehead against Mira's "God I missed you. That had to be without a doubt the longest night of my life"
"Sharing a cell with Elfman and Cana will probably do that to ya" Mirajane said with a giggle.
Peter nodded in agreement "Along with Erza and Natsu"
For the briefest moments, Mira's angelic smile faltered a bit and the warmth in her eyes slightly cooled at the mention of Erza's name "Oh, she was in a cell with you- all of you?"
"Yep" Peter said with a nod before he laughed "Which in hindsight wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. She only beat Cana, Elfman and Natsu"
"How lucky of you" Mira said as she looked over her shoulder towards Erza to see that said woman in question was looking right at her and Peter with a oddly serious expression on her face 'If that look is for what I think it is, you better wipe it off right fucking now!'
Erza seemed to hear Mira's thoughts and her look only steeled itself against Mira's slowly darkening glare.
"Yeah..." Peter said with a nod as he pulled Mira closer to him and buried his face in her hair, enjoying the scent of it.
This caused Mirajane to return her attention to the man whose lap she was on and grinned playfully as she ran a hand up his chest "Down Peter... we can 'celebrate' your release from jail after I close the Guild for the day"
Peter smiled at this before he remembered the events of last night and sighed as he pulled back and cupped Mira's chin "Hey Mira?"
"Yeah?" she said with a grin though it fell when she noticed the look on Peter's face.
"Can we talk?" he asked as he nodded towards the door that would take them behind the bar and into the storage area where the Guild kept a lot of it's drinks and food "Somewhere private?"
"Peter, what's wrong love?" Mira asked with a bit of fear and uncertainty in her tone.
She hoped this talk wasn't what she think it was.
"Nothing, at least I don't think there is" Peter said with a shake of his head "It's just something's come up that I didn't think would and it might affect you so I wanted to talk to you about it"
"Is it serious?" Mira questioned as she felt somewhat better, she feared this was going to be the 'break-up' talk.
Peter nodded, causing Mira to frown before she nodded and quickly stood up and gestured for him to follow her. As they made their way though the hall to the rooms in the back, Mira couldn't help but notice Erza's gaze on them the whole way. She looked both equal parts pleased and annoyed for some reason and this did little to abate her worries on what Peter wanted to talk about.
'So he's decided to tell her himself' Erza thought as she watched Peter and Mirajane disappear behind the bar, likely to utilize one of the storage rooms back there for privacy.
t least, she hoped hat's why they were going back there. The thought that Peter and Mirajane simply giving into their carnal desires for one another instead of discussing Peter's very real and very dangerous stalker annoyed her greatly. She hoped that if they really were talking about the man that Erza saw last night, that Peter wont try to downplay the seriousness of it like he normally does. That man's perception of what was dangerous and what wasn't was almost as warped as Natsu's. What was seeming death for one was an inconvenience to him.
'He really needs to be more responsible with his welfare' Erza thought with a cowl of annoyance 'He's acting too cavalier with his health by brushing something like this off'
As Erza was lost in her thoughts, Lucy quietly approached her with an unsure expression and stood just at the edge of her vision. Curious, Erza glanced at the blonde with a raised brow.
"What is it?" she asked in a curious tone though it sounded more like a demand, even to her ears.
Lucy flinched at the tone before she responded in a nervous voice "I-I was just wondering if I could sit with you for a while... please?"
"Why, is something wrong?" Erza asked.
"Well, it's Natsu and Gray-" Lucy began before both women heard the two's voices on the other end of the Hall.
"Get out of my face you damn stripper!"
"Why don't you make me your pathetic candle sucker!"
Erza's brow twitched as he two broke out into a fight that several other members joined in on. Lucy chuckled sheepishly as Erza gestured for her to sit across from her.
"Thank you" Lucy said with a sigh of relief.
"If they keep giving your trouble, let me know" Erza said as she folded her arms across her breast plate "Those two tend to forget that not everyone apricates their rough housing"
"Think you can keep Natsu from barging into my room whenever he wants?" Lucy asked with a chuckle.
"Has he stolen anything?" Erza asked, causing Lucy to blink.
"Er, well no-"
"Damaged anything?"
"N-No-"
"Made any sort of unwanted advances that hint at a sexual nature to you?" Erza pressed, her voice darkening at the last one.
Lucy blinked at this before she frowned "What? No he just barges in and makes himself at-"
"Than I don't see what the problem is" Erza said with a shrug.
"But when he did the same to Peter-"
"He was intruding in Peter's personal space" Erza cut Lucy off again with a wave of her hand.
'That's kinda what he's doing to me' Lucy thought dryly before she sighed, it seems that Erza wont be helping her out like she did Peter.
The two settled into a somewhat awkward silence as the noise from Natsu and Gray's brawl increased by the minute and more people join in. So far none had dared to start anything up near Erza's table, likely afraid she was still in a sour mood from her night in a jail cell and being pestered by Natsu and insulted by Laxus. Finally it got too much and Lucy decided to find something to talk about.
"So, why can't we go up to the second floor?" Lucy asked as she pointed towards where Laxus was earlier "Is it like a seniority thing?"
"No" Erza said with a shake of her head "Only S-class Wizards such as myself and Laxus are allowed up there, and the master of course. And Mystogan for whenever he decides to stay longer than to get a new job to go on"
"Ah, so second floor is for the elite of the Guild" Lucy said with a nod of understanding before she frowned "So what's it like up there? Massage chairs? Better food and drinks than what's down here?"
A small grin etched itself on Erza's face "Nothing like that I'm afraid. What's up there are S-class, and SS-class requests"
"S-class and SS-class?" Lucy said with obvious confusion "What are those?"
"Their job requests that can really only be completed by a S-class wizard such as myself" Erza explained as she brushed some of her hair behind her ear "They make the missions you've taken with Natsu seem like child's play in comparison. One wrong move on a S-class or SS-class job will cost you your life... if your lucky"
Lucy paled at this "What happens if I'm unlucky?"
Erza was silent for a moment as she recounted a few of the S-class jobs she's been on in the past and almost shivered at the memory of some of them.
"Their are things worse than death in this world Lucy... much worse"
...
Today had been quite an education in Lucy's opinion.
She learned a bit more about the members of her Guild in the forms of Laxus and Mystogan, the kinds of highly dangerous requests that them and Erza go on and the overall powerhouse hierarchy of the Guild. These new things gave her a few ideas for the book she was working on and was already eager to find ways to incorporate them into her slowly developing story before she found her plans for the night derailed when she arrived back at her apartment. To absolutely no one's surprise, least of all her's, it was Natsu Dragneel and Happy that caused it.
At some point before the Guild Hall was closed down for the night, Natsu had Happy sneak up to the second floor to swipe one of the S-class requests to go on without the Master's approval. She was against going on the quest for a number of reason, chiefly being the conversation she had with Erza earlier that day, before she saw that on top of seven million jewels as a reward, a Celestial Gate key was being offered.
Lucy is willing to admit that may or may not have caused her to agree with Natsu's crazed, possibly suicidal plan and agree to go with him. The fact he purposely left the request sheet in her apartment may have had something to do with it.
"Alright Lucy, before we go we need to make a quick stop" Natsu said after Lucy ran down from her apartment to catch up to him and Happy.
"Really, what's that?" Lucy asked with a frown before Natsu made a beeline straight for the apartment complex next to her own. It took her a second for it to click "Wait, we're taking Peter with us?"
"Yep" Natsu said as they made their way around the building until they were under Peter's apartment window and look around the ground for something before he grinned in triumph and picked a stone off the ground and tossed it towards Lucy "This should get his attention"
"You want me to throw a rock into Peter's window?" Lucy said with confusion, causing Natsu and Happy to both nod.
"Yep" the pink haired dragon slayer said with a nod while Happy pointed towards Peter's room.
"If were gonna solve this curse, than we're gonna need Fairy Tail's resident expert on curses" the Exceed stated with another nod "Peter's taken on more missions that deal with that kind of stuff than just about anyone else"
"Well, if we need him can't you two just go knock on his door or something?" Lucy said as she held up the rock that Natsu gave her "Why do we need to break his window to get his attention?"
"Lucy" Natsu said as he gave her a amused look "You really think that an apartment as pricy as Peter's, with all of it's little fancy security spells and stuff, will have one of it's windows broken by a mere rock?"
"Yeah Lucy, that doesn't make any sorta sense" Happy agreed.
"...Fine" Lucy said with a sigh as she reared her arm back, took a deep breath, and than threw the stone with all her might towards Peter's window and hoped that whatever protection spell was on it did t send it back towards her head.
'CRSSSSH!
Lucy's jaw dropped as her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she watched the glass shatter as her rock connected with it. The blonde's body twitched for a second before she rounded angrily on Natsu and Happy only to see that they were gone!
"Are you fucking kidding m-" she began before a light switched on and Peter was at his now broken window... with his helmet on!
'Does he ever take that thing off?!' Lucy thought with some bewilderment.
"Lucy" Peter said in the driest tone she's ever heard as he lifted the window up and looked down at the sheepish girl while holding the stone she threw up in his hand "Is there a reason you decided to break my window with a rock? I know I said if you needed something, let me know, but I was expecting you to simply catch me at the Guild or something. Not break a six thousand jewel window"
'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!' Lucy thought, sweating bullets as she rubbed the back of her head "W-Well you see, Natsu-"
"Say no more" Peter held a hand up with a sigh as he tossed the stone over his shoulder and let it hit something else before leaning on the window frame and gave Lucy an expectant look "I hope you realize though that it'll be you paying for this, right?"
"Yeah... I figured" Lucy said with a dejected sigh before something occurred to her and she looked back up at Peter with confusion "Wait, I thought your windows were like, all shatter resistant or something"
"You'd think that after all the bells and whistles that my landlord put into this place" Peter said dryly as he gave the building he was in a lazy look "But I guess he ran out of money towards the end and settled for regular old windows... cheapskate"
"Well, I'm really sorry about this" Lucy said with a regretful expression before she glared at the spot that Natsu and Happy were once standing "When I find those two, their dead"
"Just be glad that Mirajane wasn't here when you did that" Peter said with a snicker "She'd rip your head off"
"G-G-Good to know" Lucy said with a strained grin on her face as she imaged the sweet, beautiful Mirajane trying to rip her head off in rage.
It wasn't a very pleasant image.
"Yo Peter, sup!" Natsu said, causing Lucy to jump as she found the pink haired dragon slayer next to her all of a sudden.
"Natsu" Peter nodded towards the slayer before he saw that Happy was floating next to his opened window "Happy"
"Aye sir!" the Exceed said happily as he landed on Peter's window still and placed his little paws on his little waist "Saddle up Peter, we're going on a job!"
"At eleven in the evening?" Peter said with a raised brow before he noticed Lucy's nervous expression and Natsu's more eager one. He couldn't help but sigh at this "Natsu, what'd you do?"
"Nothing, nothing" Natsu said with a wave of his hand "Now are you coming or not? We could really use your help on this mission"
"And what is it?" Peter asked suspiciously.
Natsu gave Peter a challenging grin as he held up a folded piece of paper "Why don't you come down and give it a look? I'm sure you'll b very interested in it"
Lucy stood there and watched as Peter silently stared down at them with a unknown expression underneath that helm of his. Happy had long since made his way back down to her and Natsu's level and settled for landing on his foster father's head and join him in looking up at Peter. After several moments, Peter made a sound that sounded like a sigh as he leaped through the window and landed before them in a crouch before standing back up and held his hand out.
"Alright, let's see it" Peter said in a resigned tone.
Natsu cackled as he gave Peter the request sheet and waited eagerly as Peter unfolded it and began to read. Lucy watched as Peter's grip on the paper tightened slightly as he brought it close to his face to read before his head snapped up towards Natsu and gave him a glare that could be felt even though is helmet.
"You didn't!" he hissed while Natsu simply smirked.
"I think it's abut time that I show gramps and the rest of the Guild that I'm ready for the big leagues. Since this is gonna be me, Happy and Lucy's first S-class mission, we've decided to go with the easiest one. And with you on board, it's practically a piece of cake" Natsu said with a wide toothy grin before Peter's fist slammed into his face, knocking him to the ground.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!" Peter shouted as he grabbed Natsu by his scarf and began to shake him "YOUR TALKING ABOUT GOING TO SOME REMOTE ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN WHERE IT'S INHABITANTS ARE SUFFERING FROM SOME UNKNOWN CURSE AND YOU THINK IT'LL BE A PIECE OF CAKE? IT WOULDNT BE AN S-CLASS JOB WITH THAT WERE THE CASE YOU DAMN MATCHSTICK!"
"Wow, he seems ticked off" Lucy said nervously as she watched Peter continue to berate Natsu while Happy sat down and began to munch on a small fish he had.
"Yeah, Peter's kinda a stickler for the rules" Happy said with a grin before taking a bite out of his fish.
"I can see" Lucy said as Peter finished his rant and let out a sigh as he released a dazed Natsu and turned towards her.
"You!" he pointed towards the blonde beauty.
"M-Me?" Lucy pointed to herself.
"What are you thinking going along with something like this? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one of the group" Peter said with a shake of his head "For crying out loud woman you've been around Natsu too long, it's already starting to affect your judgment!"
"W-Well..." Lucy looked down towards the ground and poked her two index fingers together "I thought it couldn't be all that hard-"
"She's just in it for the money and the Celestial Key and the fact we'll be on a tropical island the whole time" Happy interrupted, causing Lucy to glare at him.
"Shut it cat!" she yelled at the cute little blue talking cat.
"I-If you want, you can have a share of the reward too" Natsu said as he struggled back to his feet with a queasy expression on his face, the man looked like he was about to throw up from how much Peter shook him.
"Your implying that I'll be coming with you and not webbing you all to the ground right now and taking this request back to the Guild Hall before someone noticed it's gone" Peter growled in annoyance.
"Hey if you don't wanna come, that's cool" Natsu said as he held his hands up for a second before placing them behind his head and turned around to look up at the sky "I'm sure those poor innocent people suffering from that horrible curse will be fine. I mean, eventually someone's gonna head over there and help them right? Sure a few people might die until than, probably kids, but what can you do? I'm sure we'll all be able to sleep soundly at night knowing that"
A tick mark appeared on Peter's forehead as he glared at the back of Natsu, knowing the pink haired dragon slayer had a smirk on his face.
After several moments of tense silence, Peter sighed as he turned to head back up to his room "Wait here while I got get some things together... and cover the hole that Lucy made in my window... jackass"
"Alright!" Natsu howled in excitement along with happy while Lucy gave them an unsure grin.
Something told her that this mission wasn't gonna be anywhere near as simple as the request sheet made it out to be.
...
And done.
Next chapter, The Cursed Island of Galuna...