Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail and all that noise. Only thing that's mine is the plot or whatever.
To DavArt03: No need to worry yourself about translating, I can get by just fine with Google. I'm glad you and everybody else enjoy the story, it's a fun one to write. As for the pairing, I've decided to make it Natsu and Irene. With the brainstorming I did for each of the options (Irene, Seilah, Anna, and Selene), she was the one that both fit the story the best and I had the best ideas for. So, she's who I'm deciding to go with. Sorry to anybody who was hoping for somebody different, if I decide to write another Fairy Tail story in the future I might choose one of them, but for now we're going with Irene.
To mairsarmy321: I can't just not work Alfia and Meteria into everything I write, now can I? Honestly, Alfia was meant to have a far more passive role in the chapter but she actually worked as a great foil for Natsu's development and was a good tool to use to help him question his interactions with the guild. Sorry about choosing a different pairing, but I think Irene will simply work best in this case. She will be entering the story semi-soon (in the year 781), I'd estimate maybe three more chapters before that comes, so I'm excited. Unlike in 'Great Spirit of the Skies,' the main ship is actually happening semi-early. Feels good.
To GreekfanFT: I've already responded in PMs, but to anybody who shares your concerns about Natsu being nerfed in this: Even without access to his Dragon Slayer magic, Natsu is still a force to be reckoned with. The reason behind my decision to lock his access is because it's how Irene herself was designed. Both were given human forms from Zeref, not by having the strength to transform of their own free will like Acnologia and the Dragon Gods. Irene's Sage Dragon Slayer magic is locked, so Natsu's will be as well. He will reap the physical benefits of being a dragon: increased strength, fireproof, etc. But he will not be able to perform the spells himself. The comment about Natsu's being weaker than Igneel was a comparison based on where Natsu was four-hundred years in the past to the Igneel who fought Acnologia in the Tartaros arc, so it's unknown how he measures up in the present day.
Now, without further ado: the next installation in 'Respect Your Elders'! I hope you enjoy and keep the comments coming! I love to read them.
Chapter 4: A lesson in demons and mages: I
Time passed by slowly.
More often than not it felt like it'd slowed to a crawl.
Natsu found he didn't mind.
For the first time in four hundred years, he wasn't waiting for anything to happen. He was just living his life with his family. It was nice, dare he say pleasant.
Of course, that's when everything went to shit.
Not really.
Things were still doing just fine. He'd just always wanted to say something like that, and since the triplets were all still asleep, Erza had moved into the Fairy Hills dormitory, and Gajeel was off on some job, he had to settle for thinking it.
So, no. Nothing was going to shit.
.. unless?
No, really, no. Everything was good. Great, even. Just wonderful.
Natsu chuckled nervously.
.. maybe he should knock on some wood?
Better safe than sorry!
Natsu crossed the kitchen of their small, temporary apartment to the table and rapped his knuckles against its surface. He listened quietly as the sound echoed through the room and out, rebounding over walls and furniture.
Everything went silent all at once, the echo dying off over the plush carpet and couches in the living room.
Then, a crash.
Followed by a cry.
Natsu sighed.
He jinxed it.
"Hold on, kids," he muttered while dragging a hand down his face tiredly, "I'm on my way."
He walked into the triplets' room only to find the usual scene with the usual culprit. Like he did every day, Rogue tried to cuddle the other two slayers, which was fine. Wendy loved being cuddled and Sting didn't mind either way.
However, there was one glaring issue.
Wendy was an absolute cover-hoarding demon.
Natsu had heard a myth once that dragons were these greedy creatures who amassed these large wealth's only to spend the rest of their lives protecting them. It wasn't true. Dragons cared little for human conceptions about what is and is not valuable. Gold? Very shiny, many dragons would admit that, but when there was no economy for it to have any usefulness in, why would they care about it? Precious gemstones? Certainly pretty, but again, what's the point?
No, dragons were not hoarders.
Wendy on the other hand. Well, Natsu had never seen somebody who amassed a collection of blankets so quickly. The little blue-haired girl ran cold at like all times. He wasn't sure if it was her magic or just a Wendy thing, but if there was a source of warmth, she wanted it, she craved it.
Most nights before bed, Sting and Rogue would beg him, beg him to hold Wendy until she went to bed. At least then they'd have a fighting chance.
Still, it always ended up like this.
If Natsu had to guess, Rogue wanted to cuddle but couldn't find any person to grab onto. Sting was on the opposite end of the bed and the shadow dragon slayer would have to climb the mountain that is Wendy's collection if he wanted to reach his brother. And Wendy? Well, all Natsu could make out of that particular child was a glimpse of her forehead and a few blue locks of hair.
She was buried.
So, with no human beings at his disposal, Rogue went for the next best option.
The blankets.
A mistake. One he made quite often.
As Natsu said earlier, Wendy was an absolute demon when it came to blankets. He swears she can feel people's desire to take them from her. It was some kind of weird seventh sense.
Instead of the handful of precious, fuzzy blanket as he'd been expecting, Rogue had instead gotten a face full of fist.
He'd been sent sailing, which is how Natsu finds him now.
Crying on the floor.
"Hey, little man. Did she getcha again?"
Through his tears, the black-haired boy nodded, his lip quivering all the while. Natsu was quick to scoop him up and place him on his hip, hugging him close to his body and dancing back and forth slowly.
They all just needed to be patient for a little while longer. He knew it sucked for the kids, having to share a bed, but the apartment was pre-furnished and.. well, he needed the money to finish up on the house he was building for them all. He was almost done, the jobs he'd gone on for the guild had seen to him having enough money to just nearly finish construction on their future home, he just needed a bit more time.
Most of that work could probably be attributed to Gajeel's help. Having a walking, talking nail gun with the ability to produce iron scaffolding is pretty nice, he must admit.
But none of that mattered right now, because he had a child to comfort.
Laying his head atop Rogue's and pressing a cheek into the child's short hair, he shushed him, willing the boy to quiet down and go back to sleep. The last thing he needed was for Wendy to wake up and see somebody hurt. He was running out of ways to convince the girl that all of these bedtime injuries weren't done by her, he was going to need to get more creative.
As much as he hates seeing Sting and Rogue hurt, he doesn't think any of them want to see a Wendy who knows she was the one who hurt them.
They'd be drowning in tears and apologies. No, thank you!
So, crying child now, guild later.
Great.
As per their new ritual, Natsu stopped just in front of the guild door. Sting and Rogue (who had until this point been perched on either of his shoulders) climbed down to the ground like the little gremlins they were and got into position.
So, with a mighty sigh and a squeeze to Wendy's tiny little hand held within his, Natsu reared back his right foot and shot it forward. If he was really going for showmanship, he would have added a few flames and maybe even a puff of smoke to his grand entrance, but this wasn't his entrance.
It was the twins'.
Because, just like every day before, they too reared back their legs and kicked forward. Unlike Natsu, though, they didn't lower their leg before the guild spotted them, instead they plastered on cheeky smiles and acted all uppity as if they were the ones who'd done it.
Little twerps.
Throwing their arms up in the air, the two strutted inside like they owned the place, dancing around to completely imaginary applause while Natsu followed along and shook his head in amusement.
They weren't fooling anybody. Not a single soul believed they were the ones to kick the door open day after day.
Nobody had the heart to tell them though. It was just harmless fun.
Unless, of course, your name is Makarov Dreyar. He had to pay for a new door the first couple times, it took Natsu a bit to adjust his strength to the guild's (weak) standard for hinges.
"Yo!" Natsu didn't salute, his one hand was fully occupied with making sure Wendy didn't sprint off and hurt herself, but he did have a good alternative. An adorably small hand rose up through the air, two fingers meeting an adorably tiny forehead before being sent away.
The sky dragon slayer saluted in his stead.
They all stopped at the booth closest to the bar, where Levy and Cana were already seated and waiting. At this point, months after joining the guild, it was pretty much on reserve for them. As the table closest to the bar, it had many advantages. Fast refills on drinks, easy ordering of food, the shortest distance to the bathroom, and (Natsu's personal favorite) a wealth of barmaids who were happy to watch over the little ones if he needed to step out for a bit.
"Hey, gramps."
"Ah, Natsu! It's good to see you. How've things been? It's been a few days since we last saw you in here."
"Heh. Yeah, the kids wanted to see the house and insisted they could help out so I spent most of my time there."
"Oh? That so?" Makarov smirked and pulled his mug down from his lips, placing it down on the counter he sat atop. His cheeks were already flush from the alcohol, despite it being early in the morning. "And how'd that go?"
Natsu grimaced. Not well, if he was being honest. Building a house for the first time was hard enough, harder still when you had three small children actively wandering around the build site.
"It went.. interestingly."
"Oh, I'm sure." The guild master gave him a smile then, a warm one that Natsu couldn't quite figure out the meaning of.
"What's with that?"
"With what?"
"The smile, old man, what's with that smile?"
"Am I not allowed to smile?"
Natsu groaned inwardly. What is with this geezer and the riddles? Can't he ever get a straight answer?
Makarov rolled his eyes at the pinkette's displeased face. "I'm just proud is all. It's rare, if ever, to see one of my children doing so well for themselves. They're usually so caught up in drying up all of my accounts with damages to care about being responsible."
A roll of the eyes. I'm older than you, old man.
The small man didn't seem to care about Natsu's age one way or the other, treating him exactly like he would any other member. It was equal parts great and awful. Natsu got babied far more than he wanted and far more than he should. He'd lived five of Makarov's lifetimes, he didn't need to be told what he could and could not handle.
"Besides, I'm hoping you'll be a good example for.. others."
His eyes not so subtly tracked over to where Macao was drinking next to a scowling Enno. The exotic dancer was stabbing at her salad with enough force to shake the floor with every impact of her fork on the bottom of the bowl. It wasn't difficult to understand why, the news that she was pregnant had spread like wildfire through the guild, at this point, you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody who didn't know all about it.
Still, Natsu had hope that the two would be good parents.
"I've seen worse." The fire dragon slayer shrugged before turning his attention back to the master. "Sometimes people will surprise you."
Makarov hummed, his eyes lingering on the impromptu couple for just a few more moments before redirecting to the opening entrance of the hall. "Speaking of.. "
"Hello, master. I have returned."
Erza smiled small as she waved to the old man, a gesture he was all too happy to return. Her gaze didn't stay on him for long, instead flitting over the guildhall and narrowing once she'd found her target.
"Macao!" She yelled, tromping across the room to stand before the man in question. She stared him down with a perfectly blank face, one that hid the rage stirring within.
"Y- Yes?" The navy-haired mage quickly corrected his posture, not wanting to make the same mistake as others had in recent weeks. "How may I help you, Erza?"
She growled, a sound coming from deep in her throat and escaping outward to the farthest reaches of the guildhall. Those who'd heard the sound in the past shivered, already knowing what it meant.
"You can start by explaining some troubling news I heard while on a job east of Oak Town. Something about a foolish drunk who'd decided to bring precious life into this world and not take responsibility?"
Macao sweatdropped. "You heard all of that so far from Magnolia? How?"
"That's not the point!"
Well, yeah, but still..
"Fine, fine!" He held his hands up placatingly. "I was going to take responsibility!"
"Oh, really?" She didn't buy it.
"Yes, really!"
"Prove it."
He coughed. "I'm sorry?"
"I said to prove it. Prove it to me."
"But— "
Erza glared and whatever excuse the man was going to come up with died on his tongue. Macao let out a strangled sigh before turning and grabbing Enno's hands, holding them between his own as he stared into her eyes.
"Enno."
"Y- Yes?" She squeaked, she couldn't help it. She was used to lingering gazes, it was what she thrived on, but this felt different. The fire mage was staring directly into her eyes, his gaze never once straying. It was like he was staring into her very soul.
"Enno," he echoed.
"Y- Yes? What? What is it?"
"Since the moment I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world. I have wanted nothing more than to grow closer to you."
"Err.. uhm.. w- wait, I— "
Macao shook his head. "Please, let me continue."
".. o- okay.. "
"This life we've created together, it means the world to me. I want to give him or her the best possible future they can have, so.. " And here he swallowed thickly, his hands shaking as he reached into the pack seated at his side at the booth. His hands closed around an unseen object and he pulled it out. Still, he could think of no place he'd rather do this than with all of his family and friends around him. "So.. would you do me the honor of becoming Miss Enno Conbolt?"
All of the guild's attention went onto Enno as she floundered for words, unsure of what to say.
She went with the first thing that popped into her head.
"It would be Missus."
Macao blinked. "What?"
Swallowing nervously, Enno repeated herself. "It would be Missus Enno Conbolt."
"Oh." The father-to-be rubbed at his neck where the stubble was growing in. "Yeah, I suppose it would. So.. is that a yes?"
Erza didn't even stick around for an answer, simply nodding once before stalking off to her next target.
"Natsu!"
Oh, dear gods, what had he done?
"Yes, Erza?"
"I've heard the news about your actions too, dear brother."
He sighed tiredly. "Alright, lay it on me. What did I do this time?"
"You wouldn't believe the things people are saying out there! They speak of a stripping mage," Gray took that as his cue to leave, "a ruffian who attacks the clients," well, Gajeel wasn't here, but they all know she was talking about, "and a father who endangers the health and safety of his children by letting them near dangerous construction projects." She narrowed her eyes as she stared Natsu down, trying to will fear into his heart.
Unfortunately, the fire dragon was far too confused to even pick up on her intimidation tactics (not that they would have worked in the first place.)
"I'm sorry," Natsu held a hand up, gesturing for the scarlet-haired girl to wait. "How have you heard about that? I only just told Makarov."
"I always know."
Natsu narrowed his eyes at her before turning to the guild doors. "You were eavesdropping from outside the guild weren't you?"
"N- No.. "
"You so were!" Natsu laughed uproariously. "You were listening in on people's private conversations!"
Erza stomped her foot, the thump! echoing out over the guildhall. "I was not!"
"Were too!"
"I was not!"
"Yes! You were! You so were! I can't believe it, the disciplinarian herself butting into people's private lives." He wiped a tear from his eye, still smiling with mirth as Erza floundered for any semblance of a good reason for her actions. "You didn't hear about Macao in Oak Town and nobody was talking about me out there. Yeesh, Erza, how long were you waiting outside for?"
Crossing her arms over her new breastplate, Erza averted her gaze away from her older brother. A curtain of scarlet hair blocked Natsu's view of her face, but he just knew her cheeks were pink behind those locks of hair. Call it a brother's intuition.
Soon after, though, she decided she didn't need to be embarrassed. She could just teach him a lesson instead! She'd been practicing constantly, going on jobs every chance she got, all while Natsu was playing 'dad' and building a house. There was no way she hadn't caught up to him yet.
Requiping a sword into her hand and lashing out with her newest technique: 'Fire Dragon's Talon.' A sweeping attack ignited the edge of her blade and heated the metal to scalding temperatures, a wave of dragon's fire arcing out of its blade.
Natsu didn't even seem fazes by the attack, merely waving his hand and banishing the flames with a surge of his own.
Erza absolutely hated Natsu's magic.
Stupid Nullification. Stupid Natsu. Stupid fire burning her fire.
How do you even burn fire? It wasn't fair! And his reason was completely stupid too!
'I didn't burn your fire, I burnt your magic.'
Like what!?
Erza stomped her foot. "Stop doing that!"
In response, Natsu smiled innocently, a gesture he picked up from Wendy after she used it on him so many times. "Doing what, Erza? I'm not doing anything."
Another wave of fire exploded forth from a scarlet magic circle only to be burned by Natsu's flames.
"That!" Erza growled. "Stop doing that!"
A shrug. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean."
Scowling, Erza spun on her heel, biting back a retort that was no doubt far too colorful for Natsu's present company. She marched out the guild without so much of a second glance, no doubt to go train more for her newly planned up-and-coming rematch with her brother.
However, just before she threw the doors open, Natsu got in one last word.
Or four.
"Love you, little sister!"
Erza stopped, her hands wrapped firmly around the doorknob, and spat out a 'love you too, jerk' in response. The scornful way she said such delightful words was so hilariously contrasting, Natsu couldn't help but smile. She certainly was as hot-blooded as any other fire dragon he'd met before.
Of course, Natsu wasn't alone at his table, nor was he alone in loving the temperamental guild disciplinarian.
"Bye, Erzie!"
She sighed as most of her anger leaked out of her. "Bye, Wendy."
"Erzaaaaaaa!"
Another sigh, this time bringing back some of the anger that'd slipped away.
"Fight me!" The speaker was elbowed in the side. "Ow! Us! I said, 'fight us!'"
Erza didn't entertain the idea for a moment. "You're too young to fight, Sting. Keep on training."
"What? No way! I'm super strong! Tell her, Natsu!"
The pinkette blinked, wondering why he was being brought into this all. "Err.. yeah, sure, sure. Stick is very strong." Rogue, who was sitting between the two male slayers at the booth, elbowed Natsu in the side. "Hm? Oh. Rock too."
"Hn." Erza made a noise that could honestly mean anything, not even Levy could decipher it, before shaking her head and pushing the front doors open. "Bye, Sting. Bye, Rogue."
"Wha— " The twins' jaws dropped as they were positively ignored. Their egos shattered. Their hearts broken.
"There, there." Natsu reached his right arm across his chest to give the two some reassuring pats on the back. "I'm sure she just wants to train some more so she could give you two a fair fight."
That seemed to placate the two for a moment.
Just a moment.
"That means we should train too! Come on, Rogue! Let's go!"
Rogue didn't even get the chance to respond, already being dragged through the air by the blonde-haired slayer as he raced out of the room.
"Well, looks like it's just you and me, Wendy."
".. "
".. "
".. Wendy?" Natsu looked over to where the girl had been sitting at his right side, only to find a vast empty space.
"Sorry, Natsu! I'm borrowing her!"
He looked up, finding Cana holding hands with his daughter and dragging her away to another corner of the guild, brush and hair ties already in hand. Wendy smiled and waved back at her father, not at all fazed by this new development. "I'll see you later, papa!"
Natsu could only pout. "Aw, man." They'd all abandoned him! What was he going to do now?
From his perch atop the bar, Makarov watched the guild's proceedings with a small smile. "You're a free man for the day, I see."
Huffing, Natsu joined him at the bar, ordering a mug of whatever horrid thing the master was nursing. It wasn't like it mattered either way, he couldn't taste a thing thanks to his curse. "Looks like it. What should I do now?" He didn't really want to build anymore today. Besides, he needed more nails to get most of the work done and Gajeel was still out of town. The kid has been taking a lot of jobs lately (and Natsu means a lot), so Natsu rarely saw him.
Beside him, Makarov grinned. "I have some paperwork you might like."
Maybe he should just buy some nails.
Seeing the pinkette's face, the master barked out a laugh and shook his head. "Why not just take a job. We can handle the kids until you get back."
"Hm." Casting a sidelong glance toward the request board, Natsu considered it. He supposed it wouldn't hurt. It'd been a while since he had the chance to stretch his legs and really cut loose. It would be nice to find a challenge and put his magic to the test. "Hey, Nab?"
The animal possession mage looked over, his hand still cupping his chin. Natsu was fairly sure the muscles in his arm had atrophied and it was just stuck like that, but he'd never asked.
Jerking his head back to the request board, Natsu spoke up again. "Anything good over there?"
A sigh. "I don't know, man! They all just seem so good!"
Yeah. He really should have expected that. The only thing Nab was worse at than picking a job for himself was picking a job for somebody else.
So, with a heaving sigh, Natsu hopped down from the bar counter and walked across the guild. It was still hard to read things at times, but he was much better at it now than before. As it would turn out, already speaking the language fluently was a great boon in learning the written side.
Now, what to choose? What to choose?
"Hey, Natsu?"
The slayer in question turned back at the master's call. The old man was holding a slip of paper, having not moved from his spot at the bar, but the real interesting thing was that he was frowning deeply at its contents. "We've got an emergency mission. Normally I wouldn't have accepted this one, but," he shrugged, "you might find it entertaining."
"Why wouldn't you have accepted it?" He grabbed it from the old man's hands, his gaze flickering to it for long enough to read the 'Elimination: A-Class.'
"Well, right now you're the only one in the guild strong enough to handle this. Everybody else is on jobs."
Natsu nodded, understanding where he was coming from. A-Class requests were something that required either a team of experienced mages or one mage approved by the guild master. Most of the heavy hitters in the guild tended to be in and out, so emergency requests were harder to delegate.
"But, there is something else with it too. Give it a read."
Natsu did, he disliked the contents just as much as the master.
With a grimace on his face, the two met eyes and nodded. "Keep an eye on the kids for me, if I don't make it back tonight would you mind staying at my place and watching them for me? They didn't seem to enjoy sleeping somewhere that was not 'their nest' last time."
Makarov laughed but assented. "Yeah, yeah. Just get going. And Natsu?"
The fire dragon slayer turned back.
"Be safe out there. I don't trust the request, but you never know what's going to happen on a job."
Walking away, Natsu waved his hand over his shoulder. "I've taken these types on before. Even if it's an honest request, I'm confident I'll be alright. No need to worry yourself into an early grave, old man. Besides, if they give me any trouble," he lit his hand on fire, "I'll just burn 'em!"
Makarov snorted amusedly into his mug, muttering a 'cheeky brat' as he turned his attention back to the guild. More specifically:"Damnit, Nab! Pick a job already, you lazy bink!"
Natsu hummed contentedly to himself as he made his way through Magnolia proper. Every once and a while he'd see a merchant he was more familiar with and let out a passing greeting. Of course, none he knew better than the bakers of the city (and chief among them being the staff of Meteria's Bakery); it felt like he was walking into a dessert shop every other day to restock from one of Erza's pantry raids. She doesn't even live with him; he has no idea how she always knows when he's restocked.
Where was he again?
Right, walking to the other end of the city.
Natsu fiddled with the edge of his scarf as he went, adjusting and readjusting its place atop his neck every once and a while as he kept himself lost in his thoughts. The mission's description was.. concerning. Elimination-type missions were the ones he preferred over any, mostly because he preferred the tests of strength they provided. There were other types, of course, things like clean-up, steak out and capture, retrieval, investigation, rescue, escort, defeat, and lastly, of course: elimination.
Now, it wasn't unusual to have elimination-type missions. It wasn't. In fact, most of the time when people sent out requests for a wizard's aid and filed them as a 'defeat,' what they truly meant was 'elimination.' They were just too afraid to call it that.
Nobody wanted to be the one to order the death of something, but if say.. a wizard shows up for a 'defeat' mission and makes the decision to slay the target instead, well, there's nothing they can do about it.
So, it wasn't unusual for the purpose of a request to be elimination, but it was rarely listed as such.
Yet, even then, that wasn't what made the request so concerning, but the description itself.
So, Natsu didn't hesitate to accept the job.
He just wished he knew where the hell this place was.
"Impro?" He'd never heard of the town before. Where exactly was it?
He probably should have asked before he left (let him rephrase that, he definitely should have asked), but luckily there was a map of Fiore in the center of town, so that's where he was headed.
.. now, if only he had a map to figure out how to get to the center of Fiore.
Natsu sighed as he looked around the street he was on, trying to find literally anything he recognized in the area.
Nada.
".. you have got to be kidding me.. "
He'd lived in this city for months! Surely, he would stop getting lost by now, right?
He missed the days when villages were smaller than a stone's toss and the number of streets could be counted on even an amputee's limited fingers. Nowadays, everything was so complicated. Hell, the guildhall had more intersecting hallways than his birth town had roads. It was ridiculous!
Natsu got lost about three times per trip out into the city. It was bad enough that a 'quick trip' home ended up taking him hours instead.
And the worst part?
The guildhall was on the main street of Magnolia.
The main street that went straight through the center of town.
The center of town that contained the map of Fiore.
The map of Fiore he needed to look at to figure out how to get to Impro, or whatever.
It really shouldn't be this hard.
Sighing, Natsu hung his head low and just kept on walking.
He'd find it..
.. eventually.
"Oh, thank the heavens."
Natsu emerged into the town square and immediately sprinted over to the map, taking it in its entirety.
".. Impro, Impro.. where is Impro?"
Seriously. Where is it?
Aha!
Impro Town.
Natsu tapped his finger over the teeniest, tiniest of specks on the map, his eyes searching for where he was on the map.
It's north of him.
It's very north of him.
Luckily, there seemed to be some form of expeditated travel between his location and his destination. If he just took this weird stripey-line thing, from Magnolia to Clover Town and then from Clover Town to Shirotsume, he should be able to easily walk to where Impro sat just southwest of the city.
Great!
Now, what's that line?
"Excuse me?" Natsu turned his head to the woman next to him. She jumped at the sudden attention, but smiled pleasantly toward him, if a bit hesitantly, not that he could blame her. He imagined it was rather.. disconcerting having a one-armed man suddenly approach you. "What is this?" Natsu laid his finger atop the mysterious line, his head tilted to the side just like Wendy taught him. Hopefully, it would be enough to ease her somewhat.
"Uhm.. err.. it's— that's the train."
The train.
Natsu mouthed the words, humming to himself. It felt weird on his tongue, but who was he to question it.
"Great! Thank you!"
Natsu spun around and began walking away.
"W- Wait!"
"Hm?" He looked back over his shoulder, turning to face the woman. "Did you need something?"
"Do you.. know where the train station is?" She spoke the question slowly, as if talking to a child. In fact, Natsu spoke to the triplets in the same manner quite often. He really appreciated that she was doing it for him, he found it was nice.
"Oh. No, actually." He laughed. "By the way, what's 'the train?'"
The stranger, too, laughed. That is until she realized he was dead serious. "Oh." She blinked. "How about I just show you?"
"That'd be great! Thank you!" Natsu smiled. Man, people are so nice.
"Have a safe trip!"
Natsu smiled and waved as the doors on the train closed behind him. That lady – whatever her name was, he'd already forgotten – really was just a kind person. The world needed more people like her. She'd taken the time to explain to him how trains worked, how to navigate the stations, even how to buy tickets and know when one is overpriced! She was a life-saver!
Now, all he had to do was sit down, relax, enjoy the ride, and switch trains once he reached Clover Town.
This was wonderful!
The train started moving.
"Hurk— !"
Natsu's cheeks puffed out as he turned a sickly shade of green and keeled over. The initial movement of the train starting up and whirring into motion was enough to make him feel the worst pain ever imaginable, at least on par with having his arm torn from its socket. At least.
He fell headfirst from his seat, his face smushing against the train's floor. Almost immediately all of the nearby passengers evacuated the area, giving him a wide berth as they exchanged nervous glances.
He takes back everything he ever said about that nice lady from before.
She was obviously trying to kill him!
Natsu, with his endless well of bravery and grit, tried his best to push himself upright, only to immediately collapse in a heap once the train rocked.
The floor was good too. Nice, secure, not likely to stab him in the back as map-lady did. Yes, floors were okay in his book.
"Salv.. hurk— salvation!" Oh, dear, sweet, darling solid ground, how he's missed you.
Natsu dragged himself off the train, doing his best to keep himself together long enough to not take another ride. He did not want another repeat of his first ride. Oh gods, please no. Not a repeat of the first ride.
The trip to Clover Town was bad enough.
The trip back to Clover Town.
So much worse.
So, so much worse.
Never again.
He was walking from now on. Either that, or he was undoing Zeref's stupid seal, risking Acnologia sensing his magic, and flying. Not even the Black Dragon from the Book of the Apocalypse would make him step foot on a train again.
He refuses.
He was fairly certain, and feel free to quote him on this, that trains were worse than childbirth. And not modern childbirth, with all of this 'medicine' bullshit. He means real childbirth. The act of bringing life into this world while out in the middle of an open field, with only a cloak to protect you from the elements while dragons reigned arcane fire down upon you from all sides.
That childbirth.
Riding trains was worse than that.
But, Natsu had finally made it.
Shirotsume.
No more trains for this guy!
Not shot to his feet, raising his hands into the clouds as he whooped and hollered with joy.
"Wooooo!" He laughed uproariously. "I'm alive!"
His shout drew a few odd looks but he paid none of them any mind. Nothing was going to bring him down from the high he was on right now. Not even Wendy calling him 'papa' could trump the sheer elation he felt right now. It was like returning alive from a battle you were certain was going to kill you.
There was truly nothing better.
"Imo—whatever, here I come!"
Natsu smiled as the village came into view. It had taken a while, with the getting lost in Magnolia, and then the trains (oh, how he hates the trains), then the whole hike along the river, but he'd made it.
He'd made it to the place he forgets the name of.
He did it.
He did it and he was never leaving home again. Not ever. How he ever managed to live in the outside world was beyond him, he much preferred the comfort of his home and guild. (Although, it was probably much easier back when he had no destination in mind and spent most of his days just decimating mountainsides and ecosystems with magic.)
But he was here.
Finally.
Natsu walked straight through the center of the village, heading directly for the biggest house. Logically, the biggest house would be the village elder's, so that's where Natsu needed to go. Nobody stopped him on his way there, which wasn't all that concerning considering he didn't see anybody.
Where were they all?
A flash of movement to his left caused Natsu to turn his head, just barely catching the face that peeked through the curtains of a small house.
This was all very, very weird.
Still, he had a job to do, so Natsu knocked on the elder's door.
"Hey? Gramps? You in there? I'm a wizard here for your emergency request?" Taking a step back, he looked around the seemingly deserted town and frowned.
Where was everybody?
He'd seen the one person, but that was it. Were they all hiding away indoors, or was it something worse? He didn't think it was anything like a mass die-off, he could hear something coming from each of the houses, but the noises were too muddled to make any sense of.
The creak on the other side of the elder's door, though, that was something he could hear.
Natsu turned back around, staring intently at the door and waiting for it to open.
There was a click, followed by a shink, followed by a low rapping noise and three more clicks and another shink and how many locks does this guy have?
In the end, the door opened just a smidge, barely enough to see even a sliver of skin, but enough for a conversation. (If you can even call this that.)
"A mage?"
"Yeah, I'm here to— "
"The house on the outskirts. Kill the demons inside."
Natsu sighed heavily. "Look, I'd love to get rid of your demon problem, but I need more information than that. Demons don't typically take up residence this close to a village and— "
"Kill them and you'll get your money! Now go!" The door slammed shut and in reverse order, all of the locks were put back into place. A shink. Three clicks. Four raps. Another shink. Another click.
Shaking his head silently, Natsu chocked gathering information up to a lost cause, and spun on his heel, shoving his hand into the pocket of his pants, and marching away. The elder said edge of town, so edge of town it is.
He checked each alleyway as he passed, just to make sure nothing jumped out at him.
Nothing did.
He kept on walking.
The only thing truly of note in the entire place was the church, which just above every window of laid shattered on the ground.
Odd.
The town itself wasn't that big, with the number of houses it was probably no larger than one to two hundred residents. Still, not a soul could be seen wandering the streets, visiting the market, or tending the chickens.
The outskirts of town were just more of the same. Shuttered windows, locked doors, and eerie silence.
Natsu was having a blast.
Humming a song to himself as he went, Natsu bobbed his head with the beat. He recognized the melody as one Wendy requested from time to time. There wasn't really any reason behind it, no deeper meaning, it was just really catchy.
And so, he hummed.
The old fart didn't tell him which house the demons were in, and it would probably be frowned upon to just go around putting entire blocks to the torch, so he wasn't entirely sure where to start. He could try knocking on doors, but the greeting he received earlier didn't exactly fill him with confidence that anybody would answer.
They truly welcomed him with open arms.
So, he simply walked around, trying to see if anything stuck out to him.
".. If I were a demon," he muttered, scanning his surroundings, "where would I be?"
He'd fought demons before. Quite a few, actually. The weaker ones were simple enough, hit 'em hard enough and they go down in one. It was the Etherious you had to look out for. He hadn't seen any of them in a long, long time which was equal parts relieving and concerning, but considering how much they loathed humans, he was doubtful to think this village's demons ranked among them.
Besides, surely they were running around like headless chickens with their master missing in action?
EED (which was a stupid name, Natsu had a few choice words for Zeref the next time he saw him) was locked away, the power of their curse inaccessible, and their memories all but shattered and cast to the four winds.
So, this was probably a lesser demon. As rare as it was for those types to work together, seeing as they were rather simple-minded, it was possible.
He just needed to find them.
Natsu stomped his foot into the dirt, huffing in annoyance as he looked around.
Nothing.
Why couldn't these demons just be easy to find? Usually, they had such a potent smell, so were they masking it somehow?
Groaning, Natsu held his face in his hands. This was taking so loooong. He wanted to just go home, even sitting around doing nothing would be more entertaining than this.
"Hey!" He'd had enough. "Mister or Missus Demon? Could you please come out here and just fight me? It's getting late and I'd rather not be here all night."
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
Darn. He'd thought for certain that would work.
".. who are you?"
Natsu did not jump, nor did he scream. To say he did would be a lie and he would deny it till the day he died. That said, where the hell did she come from!?
The girl giggled softly into her hand, but the laughter seemed muted. Natsu supposed that was to be expected, what with how grim everything around this village seemed.
"Uhm.. " Natsu looked around, checking to see if the girl was alone. She was. "Who are you?"
A pout. She was pouting. It was about as cute as Wendy's. "Mu~ I asked first!"
That's right. She did.
Smiling, Natsu leaned forward, propping his body up by the hand holding his knee. "Well," he began, "my name is Natsu. What's yours, little one?"
".. Lisanna."
A nod. "That's a very pretty name. What are you doing out here, Lisanna?"
She gave him a weird look, one that seemed to say 'you're out here too, weirdo' which was, admittedly, hilarious considering she was like.. five. Instead of answering, she simply posed a question of her own. "Are you a wizard?"
He nodded.
"Then.. can you help my sister?"
"Help her?" He tilted his head slightly. "Help her how?"
She hesitated, her tiny little hands gripping the gem of her pretty (but dirty) dress. "Will.. will you hurt her, if I tell you?"
"Why would I want to hurt her?"
Lisanna stared at him, saying nothing. He had to admit, she had a lot of grit for a small five-year-old girl standing in a dirty alleyway facing a mage. He respected that.
Sighing inwardly, Natsu came to a decision and shook his head. "No, Lisanna. I will not hurt your sister, no matter what."
".. promise?"
"I promise."
"Hm." She frowned, her eyebrows furrowing and her nose scrunching up ever so slightly as she stared him down. Eventually, she seemed to come to a conclusion on whatever unspoken debate she was having and frowned. "Not good enough?"
Natsu coughed in surprise. "W- What?" The hell!? His promise wasn't good enough!?
She held a finger up. "Pinky promise."
"I beg your pardon," he deadpanned.
"Pinky promise me."
"How is that any better than my regular promise."
"It just is."
What sounding reasoning.
Shrugging, Natsu walked closer and intertwined his pinky with the child's. His dwarfed hers almost comically, but the promise was made and their word binding.
"So?" Natsu waved her on.
"They call my sister a demon."
Mother fu—
That was the last time he trusted a woman. Twice in one day, they tricked him. First the train, now this? Never again. Wendy and Erza were the only females he would ever trust again.
".. "
".. "
Wendy was the only female he would—
He was never trusting another female again. No matter who.
Natsu sighed. "Lead the way, I guess."
She did.
"Really?"
Natsu looked at the door before slowly panning over to where he'd originally stood..
.. not even ten feet away.
He'd been sooooo close.
"Let's get this over with." He can't believe he was tricked into promising not to hurt the village's demon. How the hell was he supposed to get a fight out of this now? Stupid quest.
Lisanna entered first, pushing the door open with her entire body, grunting and turning red with effort. Taking pity on the poor child, Natsu pushed it the rest of the way open. Unfortunately, this had the side effect of taking away the thing the child was supporting her weight against and sending her flat on her face.
"Whoops."
"Ow, ow, ow! What the heck, Mister Natsu! Why'd you do that?"
Sighing, Natsu cast a quick pain relief spell on the child. "Sorry about that, little one. Didn't mean to."
"Whoa.. " Lisanna stared wide-eyed at the blue circle that spun before her face, relishing in the pleasant sensation that surrounded her face, sucking away the throbbing of her jaw. "How'd you do that? How'd you do that? That was so cool! How'd you do it?"
Smiling, Natsu pat the child on the head. She reminded him of Wendy. Shy at first, but incredibly brave and even more excitable. "Magic, kiddo. Now, where's this sister of yo— "
Natsu's arm lashed out, catching the—
"What the hell is wrong with your arm?"
—wooden looking arm that was lashing out toward his back.
Without so much of a care that she'd just tried to split him end to end with that weird arm of hers, Natsu tugged her closer and brought the afflicted limb up to his face to observe. "Hmm.. "
Was this really what people declared 'demonic' these days?
"Bah." Natsu threw the girl onto the couch and pouted. "Not even a real demon. Tsk. Why can't anything ever go my way."
The comment was meant to be to himself, but the two girls heard him clear as day.
Sighing, Natsu shook his head. He considered just casting 'Dispel' on the girl's arm but decided against it. Instead, he looked around their quaint little home.
He grimaced.
"The villagers do all this?"
He pointed to the trashed room. The furniture looked like it'd been attacked by wolves, the windows were shattered, the rocks that had been thrown through them were either scattered on the floor or embedded in the walls.
It was a sad sight.
Natsu caught the leg flying toward him without even looking. "You're not cursed, nor are you some kind of demon." He peeked over his shoulder, taking in the face of Lisanna's sister. She was cute, in a childish way. Certainly not somebody he'd wish this fate upon. "You're just some poor girl who got caught up in the world of magic. I can help you, but I won't be able to do anything here."
A lie, he could fix all of her problems right here and now, but that wouldn't do her any good.
The supposed she-demon scowled at him, flailing about as she tried to separate her ankle from his grip. He had to give her props, she targeted his left side both times, she had a good eye for strategy.
"Let me go!"
"No."
She screamed and kicked harder.
Natsu just lifted her leg higher until she lost balance and fell, at which point he just raised her higher still until she was dangling in the air. "You bastard! Put me down! I won't let you hurt my sister or brother!"
.. brother?
Natsu looked around the room, barely paying any mind to clawed hand swiping at his legs. Soon enough, he spotted another head of white hair cowering in the corner.
"Yo." He saluted to the boy. "How's it going, little man?"
The child squeaked.
"Good to hear, good to hear." A pause. "Would you mind packing for yourself and your sisters? We're going on a bit of a trip."
"Like hell we are! Stay away from us!"
An interesting premise, but unfortunately, he had no intention of doing that. "Nah. I'm good."
The young boy nodded quickly, obviously terrified and visibly trembling, rushing off into the back before the she-demon could let out an infuriated 'fuck you!'
Lisanna, in classic Wendy fashion, rushed off to help her brother. Such sweethearts.
Natsu stood rooted to his place in the entryway, humming contentedly as Fairy Tail's newest female mage to-be attacked him both verbally and physically.
"You've got quite the mouth." She really did. It might be smart to keep her away from Gajeel, the last thing Natsu needed right now is for somebody to teach that twerp more curses. The things Natsu heard after the iron dragon stubbed a toe should be illegal. No person should ever be subjected to something like that again.
There was a thump as a large bag fell to the ground, a red-faced, tired boy and girl slumping down atop it. "Ready?"
The boy gave a weak thumbs-up, but Lisanna smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically.
"Great!" Natsu kicked the bag, sending it into his pocket dimension with a flash of light, while simultaneously throwing two children to the floor.
Whoops.
"Ow, ow, ow! Natsu!"
"Shit, sorry." He winced. He really needs to start paying attention to where people are throwing their way around when he does stuff like that. "Heal."
Leaving the children to marvel at their improved injuries, Natsu turned and walked out the front door. "Come along, children. We've got a long walk ahead of us."
Lisanna rushed up to his side, skipping beside him as her beloved sister dangled in the air. She'd stopped trying to claw her way to freedom, which was nice. Now she simply crossed her arms and scowled. Much preferable, in Natsu's opinion.
The boy, on the other hand, was far more hesitant, but ultimately decided against abandoning his two sisters to the stranger.
They continued like that for a while (though Natsu eventually settled for casting a simple sleep spell – that one was pretty handy, thanks Mystogan – on the she-demon and carrying her over his shoulder instead, lest she pass out from blood loss or attempt to attack him once he set her down.) It wasn't until the sun was setting that Lisanna even bothered to ask where they were headed.
"Fairy Tail, of course."
Full steam ahead I guess. R.I.P. if you're one of my DanMachi readers but this is just above all I can manage to write right now.