Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail and all that noise. Only thing that's mine is the plot or whatever.
Chapter 4: A lesson in demons and mages: II
Natsu cut through the guildhall like a man possessed, not even bothering to consider greeting anybody as he marched from the entrance to his usual booth. Without speaking a word, he put his arm between where Wendy sat next to Sting and Rogue, slowly pushing the twins away from the sky dragon. Then, he grabbed Lisanna by her shirt collar and deposited her in the new opening next to the blue haired girl.
"Wendy. A friend."
"O- Okay!" She saluted.
Spinning around, he turned to the still meek-looking Elfman. Now, he had a decision here. Grey or Gajeel, Grey or Gajeel.
Grey..
..or Gajeel.
Yeah, it wasn't that hard of a decision.
Grabbing Elfman by his collar just as he had his sister, Natsu dragged him across the guildhall and toward their resident stripper.
Gajeel would've killed the poor kid.
"Grey. Try not to scare him off."
"Huh? How would I— "
"Pants, Grey." Natsu helpfully pointed up to where the offending item were laying across the banister overhead.
"Aw! Crap! When did that happen?" The more important question was how they ended up in the rafters, but whatever, it wasn't Natsu's problem.
He didn't stick around to find out any of the answers. The inner machinations of an ice wizard's mind was no place for a mage like himself. He would never understand what went through that kid's head.
Besides—
Natsu grinned (and if he had two hands, you could bet your pretty little butts he'd be rubbing them together in excitement.)
—now comes the fun part.
"Jane— "
"Don't call me that."
"—follow me." Natsu grinned and strolled right past the cloaked girl, content to know he could actually feel the scowl she was hiding beneath her hood.
He made a beeline to where Levy, Gajeel, and Cana were talking. Keeping with the theme of the day, he didn't bother to say a word, merely walking up to the bluenette, wrapping an arm around her waist, heaving her overtop his shoulder, turning on a heel, and marching away.
Weirdly enough, Levy didn't say a thing, seemingly taking the apparent kidnapping in stride. Natsu found himself secretly proud of how well he'd trained them all that she no longer even questions it.
Gajeel, on the other hand—
"Hey! Salamander, give Levy back!"
—had more of an issue with it.
Natsu guessed it was just too bad that he didn't care.
"No, thanks. I'm good. Come along, Jane."
"It's Mira. Say it with me, asshole. Mi-ra."
The pinkette elected to ignore that little snippet of information. With how much of a piece of utter work she was, he felt a little vindicative. Serves her right for fighting him at every step of the journey. He still can't believe she was mad at him for walking the entire way back, as if he hadn't just saved her from the horror that is transportation.
"Yeah, yeah. No need to repeat yourself, I hear you loud and clear, jane. Yeesh." Natsu jabbed a finger into his ear as he held Levy up, twisting it around and trying to unclog some of the wax inside. "Come along now. You're wasting Levy's precious time."
"I don't even know who that is!"
Natsu paused, his left foot poised in the air and ready to take the next step toward the library, however instead of taking said step, he lowered it back to the ground. Then, he turned. Nice and slowly. His eyebrow was raised in amusement as he faced the she-demon and Mirajane couldn't help it as an embarrassed flush warmed her cheeks. Just to make sure everything was nice and obvious, Natsu used a quick light spell to create a giant, red, flashing arrow pointing right down at Levy's head.
"Sh- shut up!"
Natsu tilted his head to the side innocently. "What do you mean? I didn't say a word." A pause. "Lizzy?" He turned to the small child sitting at Wendy's side. "Did I say something?"
The little white-haired girl grinned. "Nope!"
"Thanks, girl."
Mirajane was far too distracted by the knife sheathed in her back to even realize she'd silently followed Natsu all the way to the library.
Levy, on the other hand, she had something to say.
"You're going the wrong way."
Damnit!
Shaking her head, Levy pointed to the right hallway (the one on the left, not the right.) He wasn't even going to ask how she knew where he needed to go, some things were just beyond comprehension.
The library was actually beneath the guild itself, down some staircase in the back that Natsu was sure led down to unspeakable horrors.
Regardless, they found it.
Natsu pushed through the double doors with his unoccupied shoulder, taking special care not to knock Levy's head against the wall as he did. (The last thing he needed was to concuss his guide.)
He placed Levy back down on her feet but said nothing after.
She huffed but stayed quiet as she waited for him to explain what he needed her for.
He did so sooner after.
"We're going to need books on transformation-type magic."
The blue-haired girl looked back and forth between Natsu and the hooded figure, her eyes narrowing skeptically as she took them both in. "Why?" She loved reading and she would be happy to find the books he wanted; she was just confused on the reasoning.
Natsu turned back to his kidnappee, giving her an imploring look.
"No."
He made a gesture with his face, one that seemed to say 'please?'
Mirajane, however, was resolute.
"No." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, curling in on herself with obvious discomfort, but didn't once falter in her resolve. She didn't like it. That girl, she was going to be just like everybody else. She didn't want to be called a freak anymore.
Natsu stared at her for a moment longer before sighing and taking a step closer. Mira immediately and instinctively took a step back but stopped short before she could fully sprint away.
She stared into Natsu's eyes as he approached, stared at his smiling face, and found herself subconsciously relaxing her muscles, lowering her metaphorical haunches.
Stupid asshole.
The dragon slayer kneeled down in front of her, letting her be the taller one for once, and smiled up at her face. "Mira— "
She huffed, finding herself oddly disappointed that he wasn't calling her that infuriating, little nickname of his.
"—you're safe here. Nobody is going to hurt you; nobody is going to think anything bad of you for what you've been through." Lisanna had told him their story. Of the parents who were missing for weeks before being found on the side of some road, left to rot by the bandits who'd killed them. And of her (wonderfully and spectacularly amazing, isn't she just the best, Mister Natsu?) older sister who defeated the demon hiding within their village, all on her own. "You're very strong, own that, that's good. But even the strong need a bit of help from time to time. So, let us," he gestured between himself and where Levy hovered nervously behind him, "help you."
Mira's eyes flickered back and forth between the two for a moment before she ultimately sighed and raised her arm, letting the cloak slip away from atop it. "Happy?" She couldn't bring herself to look into either of their eyes. She knew Natsu didn't care, he hadn't said anything about it the entire walk back, but that didn't mean there wasn't a part of her that was afraid. It didn't mean her heart didn't shudder every time she revealed it, a little bit of her believing that this was the time he realized she was as horrible as everybody said she was. "Now, you can go tell everybody you let a freak into your guild," she said bitterly, "a demon."
She sighed.
A monster.
Levy examined the hand for a few moments longer before ultimately shrugging. "Nah. I'm good." It really didn't seem like that all fun. "Besides, Gajeel's dad was a dragon. Even if you were a demon, I think's that pretty cool."
"It is cool, isn't it?" Natsu grinned, completely nonplussed by the dragon comment (unlike Mira), and looking like he'd just won a long-standing argument. For all Levy knew, he had.
Still smirking stupidly, he turned back to face Levy. "So? You think you can find us something to figure out what kind of magic she has?"
"Of course!" The blue-haired bookworm smiled and clapped her hands excitedly, though her reaction dimmed pretty quickly afterward.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just.. " She trailed off, sending quick looks Natsu's way before shaking her head and averting her eyes.
Natsu gave her a look. "Levy."
"It's nothing!"
"Just spit it out."
"I just thought that maybe.. I don't know.. maybe.. and this is just an option.. you should just ask master?"
".. "
".. "
A slap echoed through the library as Natsu slammed a palm into his face, slowly dragging it down to reveal a bright pink handprint over the center.
He can't believe he forgot to ask Makarov.
Levy chuckled nervously as she shifted back and forth on her feet, not really sure what she should be doing now.
Sighing, Natsu shook his head. "Back we go."
A few minutes of walking (and directions thanks to Levy) and—
"Yo! Gramps!"
"Ah. Natsu, I didn't see you return. Was your mission successful?"
Natsu scowled, not liking the reminder that he did not, in fact, get to fight the 'three demons that have taken refuge in our home, abused our kindness, and slaughtered our children.'
Stupid village elder and his stupid bigotry. Ruining a perfectly good job request. A world full of magic and the first thing that old fart thinks is that a sweet, little girl was a demon who needed to be slain. Stupid.
It really pissed Natsu off.
"No! There weren't even any demons for me to fight. Wasted a trip for nothing." He sulked, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking away. It was seriously lame! All he had to show for the mission was more responsibility. Not fun!
"Oh?" Makarov frowned. "Was the request fake?"
"Nah." Natsu shook his head and waved his hand through the air, dismissing the thought. "Just a bunch of fools who couldn't spot the difference between a dragon and a chicken." A sigh. "I've got something I want you to look at, see if you can figure out what's causing it."
Stepping to the side, he revealed the girl shying away behind him. "Go on, Jane, he's not going to bite."
"It's Mira," she murmured, but nonetheless stepped closer.
Makarov eyed her for a moment, taking in the long white hair spilling out from beneath the hood that covered her downturned face. Rather quickly, he made the connection between the two new kids hanging around with Wendy and Grey. It was a bit of an odd placement for them both if he was being honest. Lisanna looked to be at least twice Wendy's age and Grey wasn't exactly the best at first impressions, but who was he to judge. Natsu surely knew what he was doing, he'd known the kids longer, after all. There was no way he didn't think about those things.
.. right?
Oh, who was he kidding. Natsu probably thought Lisanna and Wendy were the same age.
The master of the guild was pulled from his worried musings by the wooden hand that emerged from within the cloak. She didn't show much, but she didn't need to. It's understandable she'd be uncomfortable with a deformity quite like that.
Humming thoughtfully, Makarov nodded. "I can't say I'm all that educated on the magic itself, but am I correct to assume this is a new thing? That you perhaps have taken on the form of a creature you've bested?"
The girl beneath the hood nodded, the weird ear-like projections from the cloak bobbing with the motion.
"Well, my guess is with Takeover magic." He shrugged. "Though I suppose it could still be illusory in nature or just a simple transformation spell."
"An illusion you can feel?" Natsu knocked on Mira's hand, drawing a growl from the girl, one that he promptly ignored.
In response, Makarov just grinned cheekily. "Never doubt the infinite possibilities of magic, things aren't always what they seem."
Natsu sighed. Cryptic as always.
"But!" The old man carried on. "In this case it's probably exactly what it seems."
"Well," Natsu turned and clapped a hand on Mira's shoulder. "There y'go, Jane! You're a wizard!"
He heard a muttered 'it's Mira' in response, but it seemed half-hearted and distracted at best, a stark contrast from the hot-tempered and snarky bites he was used to from her.
Frowning to himself, Natsu turned to look at the girl, but found her staring off over the guild toward her..
"Ah."
Natsu smiled softly as he watched Lisanna attempt to give Wendy a stern look, probably trying to reprimand her for something. The younger girl gave her the look and he could almost taste the defeat in Lisanna's eyes, which was impressive, considering he couldn't taste anything since turning into a dragon.
A little distance away, Elfman stood beside an arguing Gajeel and Grey, the kid raising his arms nervously as he tried to placate the two and prevent an all-out brawl from starting. Poor guy didn't even know it was a lost cause yet.
Especially when Sting and Rogue are out and about.
Speaking of..
Natsu looked around the room and—
A sigh.
—and spotted them dangling from the ceiling beams.
Yeah. Elfman should really start backing away, he wasn't going to get anywhere once those two little imps brought their plans to fruition.
Natsu thought about stopping it, but it wasn't like it was his problem. If the two boys were going to get doused with a basin's worth of water, well, it was their fault for not paying more attention to the guild rafters.
Situational awareness is key in battle. They weren't going to be cut any slack then, so they shouldn't be now.
So, as the twin dragons began tipping their pale of water over, Natsu turned to the takeover mage at his right. "Hey," he spoke softly, tilting his head to the side as he looked at her so he could see beneath her hood. "Things will be alright from now on. They'll be safe here. They can make friends, have fun." He nudged her with her elbow. "They can just be two happy kids. The way things should be."
She exhaled softly as she nodded, but didn't say anything in response, simply continuing to watch the two.
Of course, it wasn't long for Lisanna to see her watching them. "Mira! Come 'ere! Come 'ere!"
Natsu gave her a light push. "Run along now, don't wanna keep her waiting."
"I can't." She really couldn't. "I know nothing about this city. I need to go out and figure out some place we can rent for cheap; Elfman is picky about where he eats so I need to find a restaurant that's doors are triple-hinged, not double, or else he won't be comfortable eating there; and Lisanna gets afraid if she's alone for too long in an unfamiliar place, so I need to make sure she has somebody with her, and— "
Natsu's eyes went wide as she went on and on and on. Her words washed over him like a tsunami, bashing through his skull with lethal force. He couldn't even be fully convinced that she wasn't a word mage like Levy, the longer she went, the more physical damage he felt was being done.
"Jane," he interrupted because one, she needed to breathe and two, she was what? Eight? Nine? (Try thirteen.) In the end, it didn't matter how old she was, she was too young to be carrying that much responsibility on her shoulders, she was going to end up bitter and crotchety if things carried on like that. "Go. Have fun. I'll handle the rest of it in the meantime, okay?"
"But, I— "
"You need to be a kid for once. Even if it's just for today, let me help." He gave her an imploring look, one that he hoped contained the honesty behind the offer. Still, she hesitated, her mouth opening to say something before closing. Natsu sighed. 'I'll come to you if I have any questions, alright?"
"Elfman— "
"Elfman doesn't like to eat at places with two hinges on their doors instead of three. He also isn't a fan of the cooing of owls or the shifting of trees at night. It scares him. Fish isn't his favorite food, but he prefers it to rabbit. Eating rabbit makes him sad, because they're so cute, but he finds fish freaky looking so that doesn't bother him. He also sleeps on his belly, because it's the softest part of the body and he doesn't like thinking it's exposed. If he sleeps on his back, then he risks woodland animals finding him and 'bouncing on' on his stomach 'like a bed.'"
It was a long walk back to Magnolia.
Mira smiled softly at the description of her younger brother; he really was a lovable, little dork.
But, still, that didn't mean anything, not when Natsu hadn't proven he knew anything about—
"Lisanna doesn't care what she's eating so long as you don't tell her where it's coming from. She has a problem with automatically assuming everything given to her is grown from the ground. She's allergic to nuts to the point where just thinking about eating them gives her hives—"
He was still trying to work that one out himself.
"—but she also loves nuts, so you have to watch and make sure she doesn't ask anybody to share. When she was younger your parents took you all along with them to the market in Shirotsume. She wandered off and got lost when you all were distracted by a merchant, that's why she doesn't like being alone in new places. Coincidentally, it's also why she doesn't like shopping."
It was a long walk back to Magnolia.
So long.
So, so long.
Natsu crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, daring Mira to doubt his ability to keep two kids alive.
In the end, she just narrowed her eyes at him before walking away.
"So," a voice behind him drawled and – ugh – Natsu could just hear the amusement dripping in their voice, "the great dragon slayer does remember things."
"Oh, can it, Macao. Don't you have a fiancé to bother?"
Natsu brushed right past the sputtering fire mage, making a beeline for where Makarov stayed perched at the bar. Tiredly, he threw himself down into a booth and ordered some food, and only after several failed attempts at getting the slayer's attention did the bar maid depart. (Not without letting out a disgruntled huff, one which Makarov echoed.)
"All the woman practically throwing themselves at him, and yet he spurns them all. Damn lucky brat."
Natsu turned his head from where he'd pressed his face into the counter, glaring up at the old man from the corner of his eyes. "This 'damn brat' can still hear you."
"Good."
A sigh. "Why are you so interested in my love life, gramps?"
"So, he does know what love is. The mystery continues."
Natsu's brow twitched in annoyance and feeling more than a little vindicative, he couldn't help but grin and send back a retort of his own.
"Don't you have damage reports to file?"
Makarov choked on the ale he was slugging back, sputters and coughs combining into one unsightly display of the negative impacts of aging. "W- Why— !" Whatever he was about to say was cut short by the liquid the master was forced to hack up.
Natsu took that as his cue to return to his usual booth.
"Get back here, y— " Another coughing fit. "You damn brat! Why would you bring that up!? I was just starting to enjoy my night!"
Natsu waved cheekily as he retreated backward, not regretting what he did in the slightest.
"That's it!" Makarov turned away from Natsu. If the brat thinks he can get away with ruining his night, then he had a little something in store for him! "Macao!"
A sigh as the older mage turned to the voice that called out to him, wondering what it was he did to earn the master's ire this time. "Yeah?"
"You're free from escorting me to the annual conference! Natsu here just volunteered!"
"Really? You mean it?" He looked like he was close to weeping tears of absolute joy.
Well, Natsu didn't like the way things were going right now. Not one bit.
Makarov just belly laughed in response, only serving to make Natsu more nervous.
The hell is the annual conference!?
As if reading Natsu's mind, the guild master spoke up through his uproarious laughter. "Mark your calendar, brat! Two months from now, the 'Master's Conference'! Five days and nights of nothing but meetings and paperwork! That's right, Natsu! It's a no expenses paid trip to Era!"
Okay.
He regretted it.
"Mister Natsu! Mister Natsu!"
Gross.
Natsu turned. "Just Natsu is fine, Lizzy."
Lisanna ran up to him, skidding to a halt right at his feet and smiling up at him. In her hand was another hand, one that belonged to a small blue-haired girl. Natsu smiled at the both of them, patting them each on the head. It was only when he was forced to pat much lower for Wendy's head that he realized that maybe (just maybe) he'd misplaced Lisanna's age.
They were nowhere near the same height.
How had he even begun to think Lisanna that was five-years-old?
"Okay, I'll try my best to remember that, Mister Natsu!" She smiled then, a beaming smile with fluttering eyelashes and— and she was going to be a bad influence on Wendy. Wasn't she?
Natsu pitied the poor guy who was forced to deal with their innocent little smiles in the future.
Oh.
Wait.
That was him.
He was the poor guy.
He shook his head mournfully. "You two need something?"
Wendy nodded quickly, staring up at him with wide, brown, innocent, doe-like eyes.
Shit.
He really was the poor guy.
Natsu hoped (he really, really hoped) that whatever it was she was about to ask for was something simple, because there was very little chance he would have enough strength to say 'no.'
"Can we have a sleep over?"
".. what?"
"A sleep over! It's when your friends come and sleep in your room and you play fun games and— "
"No, no." Natsu shook his head. "I know what a sleepover is." It's not like they were a new invention, people did that when he was a kid too. "I just— " Natsu sighed and scratched his cheek. "I didn't tell you Lizzy and her siblings were going to be staying with us, did I?"
Wendy shook her head from left to right vehemently, blue hairs whipping through the air as she did.
"Oh." He laughed. "Well, they are. That okay with you?"
She nodded furiously. "Mhmm, mhmm! Lih—Lih—Lihz.. " Wendy scrunched her nose up as she tried to echo the name her father had called out but couldn't.
Natsu, recognizing her 'this word is hard but I'm going to keep trying until I get it right or somebody tells me to stop' look, cut her off. "You can just call her Liz, Wendy." He glanced over at Lisanna. "Liz is okay, right?"
"Mhmm! It's cute, I like it!"
"Well, there ya go. Liz is cute and she likes it."
As Wendy cheered, Natsu pushed himself back up to his full height and looked around the guildhall. It was getting late in the night and as the excitement of the day and three new faces finally ebbed more and more of the kiddos were crashing from the highs they were on.
Levy had returned to her books and Cana to her cards.
Gajeel was gleefully eating the fork that had come with his dinner, not caring for how many times the bar maids asked him not to.
The twins had.. crashed, quite literally. At some point they'd been gleefully running around but after taking a tumble they just stayed down and slept. Gajeel was nice enough to toss them out of the way and up onto the table, so that was where they stayed.
It was probably the main reason everything was as quiet as it was.
Small blessings. Small blessings.
Erza hadn't shown up today, so she was probably off on a mission somewhere.
Elfman had fallen asleep as well, his head falling uncomfortably far backwards as he snored toward the rafters.
And Mira was..
.. where was Mira?
"Lizzy?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's your sister?"
She shrugged, but Natsu could see the worry in her eyes as she searched the room quickly.
Great. Just great. He was just going to assume that meant she didn't take his advice and socialize, he knew (he knew) that he should have made sure she did what he'd asked. He should have seen this coming.
Natsu sighed. "Okay, how about you two go and ask if any of the others would help you search for her. It's about time we head home anyway. I need to grab a few things first, but I'll help you all look after."
Wendy saluted, already sniffing the air and trying to discern any unfamiliar scents to track.
And with that semi-dealt with, Natsu turned and made his way back to the library. Coincidentally, it would seem both of his goals were aligning.
Natsu rapped his knuckles softly against the side of the bookshelf he was leaning against. "Hey."
Mira looked up from the book in her lap, muttering a 'hey' of her own in return.
"What are you doing down here?"
If the dry look she gave him was any clue, it was pretty damn obvious.
".. right." Natsu nodded with closed eyes.
Yeah. That one's on him.
What else do people do in libraries except read?
"Lisanna's worried about you."
She nodded slowly, reaching up with her normal hand to rub at her eyes tiredly before turning the page.
Natsu took the time to look around, wondering just how long she'd been down here, searching for clues on how to fix the affliction on her arm. He couldn't help but think that he was going about this all wrong, thinking was never really his strong suit, but he thought (he really, really thought) that he was making the right decision.
Now, he wasn't so sure.
"Look, Jane, the books won't be going anywhere. You'll be able to make more sense of them in the morning. Let's head back. Try again in the morning.
He was promptly ignored; she didn't even bother correcting the name.
".. oh-kaaaaay."
So, it was going to be like that then.
Fine. That's fine.
Two can play that game.
Quick as an animal that is quick (he couldn't think of one off the top of his head), Natsu crossed the distance between them and touched the book in her lap, sending it into his pocket dimension with a mere thought.
Mira, because she's a spiteful, little thirteen-year-old with a grudge, picked up the next book in the pile and opened up to the first page – all while making incredibly aggressive eye contact.
It was off putting.
Natsu requipped that one way away, too.
And the next.
And the next.
How long was it going to take for her to realize he could keep going?
Apparently, until the end of the stack.
"Are you done now or are you going to keep being difficult?"
".. I guess."
Natsu thanked his lucky stars.
"Good, let's get going then. The others should still be upstairs."
He started walking toward the door but stopped when his keen ears picked up the distinct lack of footfalls following him. In fact, if what he heard was right (and it was) Mira was actually walking in the complete opposite direction.
Neat.
Today marks the day that Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel, father of Wendy (and maybe others, it was still very unclear), learned why teenagers were the absolute worst.
"You've got to be shitting me."
Mira waggled her fingers at him mockingly before using the same hand to pull another, completely random, book from the shelf. "Oooooh! The 'Woes and Throes of Kinglihood: A First-Hand Account of— '"
Natsu didn't even bother listening to the end of it. Just the title gave him the heebie-jeebies.
So boring!
"Are you serious right now?"
Mira leaned forward and smirked. "Deadly."
Fantastic.
That was the first and last time he ever gave her an 'or' option to a kid. From here on out, it was his way or the highway.
Mirajane Strauss had chosen to be difficult.
".. I wonder.. " Natsu hummed quietly to himself as he stared down at his hand, his gaze briefly flickering up to Mira's face before a smile spread across his lips. Then, with his right arm, he reached out toward the girl.
Her eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing no point to disguising his intentions, Natsu told her. "Seeing if Requip will work on you. It doesn't work on people, but you choose to be 'difficult,' so.. "
That.. doesn't make any sense.
She was still a person regardless of if she was 'difficult' or not. Besides, 'difficult' wasn't an object. It wasn't anything physical, it just.. it was. So even if she wasn't a person anymore and she was difficult, Requip wouldn't even work!
So.. how?
Either way, she didn't want to find out if Natsu's logic (or lack thereof) had any merit. She wasn't sure where all of those books went, but she did know she'd rather not follow after them.
"Fine, fine." She groaned and slid the shitty book back into its place on the shelf. "Happy?"
Natsu smiled and pulled his hand back, completely ignoring her bitter tone. "Yep!"
Then, he walked away.
"Come along now, Jane!"
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. it's Mira."
Natsu grinned.
There she is!
It was late now. Later than how it was before. Time had passed. Things had happened, but that was earlier, and this was now. Those things that had happened? They were before, as in earlier in the day (or would it be night?) and not now. Because if they were happening now then they wouldn't be in the past, they also wouldn't be in the future, because they'd be right now. In the present.
What he was trying to say..
.. or think?
What he was trying to state (yeah, state, state was a good word) was that it was late and he was tired.
So very tired
He had been up all night.
It wasn't the first time; it probably wouldn't be the last.
Except, he'd been up all night reading.
Bleh.
Reading?
As in, like, books?
Disgusting.
But, yes. He'd done it. He wasn't proud. He wasn't. What he was, was tired.
So tired.
So very tired.
And also? A little proud.
Did that make sense?
He hoped so.
Either way, he'd done it. He'd finished reading all of those books he's sneakily stolen from Mirajane. Because why simply Dispel a traumatized teenager's demonic-appearing arm and free her from the torment it was causing her when you can instead steal Levy's gale-force reading glasses and spend an entire night deciphering magic scripture just to learn how to perform a simple takeover spell, all so that you could then teach said traumatized teenager how to get rid of it herself.
Because you'd originally thought that it was important for kids to learn to be self-sufficient.
Yeah, in hindsight, not his best move.
Sighing tiredly, Natsu lowered his hand from his temple and extinguished the constant trickle of magic he'd been feeding into a healing spell to quell his raging headache. As it would turn out, the super-speed-reading glasses which already gave headaches when one knows how to read fluently were even more painful when you have to double back and reread every other word just to make sure you read it right.
(It certainly doesn't help that he had to mouth the longer words to himself just to try to figure them out.)
But he'd done it.
He'd done it.
Now, he just needed to teach Mirajane how to do it and he'd be home free.
"You look like shit."
Speak of the devil (literally) and she shall appear.
With a cup of tea, apparently.
Why does she have a cup of tea?
"I saw you reading about," she squinted her eyes and looked out the window, "fifteen minutes ago." A shrug. "Guess it was a really good book for you to be that interested. You didn't even notice me."
"Uhh.. yeah.. I guess it was.." He accepted the cup of tea with his hand, cradling it in his palm with no small amount of trepidation. "You're not.. trying to poison me, are you?"
She just smiled sweetly.
Well, that's reassuring.
Mentally shrugging, Natsu started drinking.
Mira, in a hilarious misunderstanding that Natsu would be telling everybody about, screamed. She screamed. And she screamed loud. "You idiot! I just got that off the kettle, you'll burn yourself!"
"Huh?" Natsu blinked tiredly over at her panicked face through bagged and lidded eyes. "What are you.. " He looked down at the empty cup in his hands and made an 'o' with his lips. "I'm immune to fire, Jane."
"You're immune to fire." It wasn't a question, but maybe it should have been because the she-demon looked confused as all-hell.
He nodded.
"You're immune to fire."
Yes.
"You—"
Him.
"—are immune—"
That's exactly right.
"—to fire."
Natsu nodded, completely unamazed by an apparently amazing (to Mira) feat. "Yeah?"
"That's not normal!"
It feels pretty normal. "Are you sure about that?" Weren't all people fire proof?
"Yes." Mira crossed her arms and frowned at him. "I'm pretty sure."
"Huh." Natsu placed the cup down on the table and shrugged, his one arm reaching up to rub at his eyes. "Guess I'm just awesome."
There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he was fire proof. One that was most likely related to how he knew he was fire proof without knowing how he knew. He was simply too tired to be bothered with figuring it out right now.
He yawned.
Mira, in a case of worryingly quick amnesia, completely forgot about the tea in favor of looking at Natsu's face again. "You look like shit."
"So," he yawned, again. "So, you've said."
Her frown deepened. "Was the couch really that bad to sleep on?" Natsu had offered up his larger bed for the Strauss siblings to share, insisting that he'd slept in the forests for a long time and a couch would be a luxury. So, why did he look so awful?
"Huh?" What on earth was she blabbering about now? Natsu shook his head. "I didn't sleep."
"You didn't sleep?"
Yet another yawn.
Well duh, he thought that was obvious. Wasn't that obvious? Why did Mira sound so disbelieving?
"Natsu."
He blinked up at her and hummed.
"Why didn't you sleep?"
Man, she really was motherly. Kids weren't supposed to be this motherly. It wasn't right. Kids were kids. They should be kids. They shouldn't be forced to grow up this quickly. There was no more war with dragons, they'd fought that to keep stuff like this from happening, so why was it still happening?
Mira sighed, more to herself than anything. "Great, now he's babbling.. " Nothing he said was making any sense. Well, the 'motherly' part was, but why in the world was he talking about a war with dragons? What war? What dragons?
Deciding enough was enough, Mira crossed the room and stood right above the softly snoring fire dragon slayer.
There was only one possible to wake somebody as infuriating as Natsu up.
Mira slapped him.
And, because the world hated her specifically, that was also the moment some random-ass redheaded, armored chick barged in.
Naturally, Erza would only finish up her latest job now. And what's the first thing she does upon exiting an early-morning train ride back to Magnolia? Why, check on her dearest brother, of course! She can't have him running amuck and mistreating such wonderful children like the triplets, now could she?
So, Erza barged through the door.
And she was just in time to see her brother get absolutely smacked.
It didn't hurt him. Erza knew he was stronger than that. (If the white-haired bitch's waving hand and hissing breath were anything to go by, it did more damage to her than him.)
But she could care less if it hurt him or not. This bitch just slapped her brother.
Nah.
That just wouldn't stand.
Naturally, there was only one recourse for such a heinous act.
Erza tackled the girl to the ground.
Natsu sighed as he requipped the last of his belongings on his own, making sure to keep heavy eye contact with the two girls that caused this mess as he did. He was sure it would have gone faster if he'd just gotten Erza to help, but he was mad at her, so he wasn't going to let her help.
Nothing says 'be better' like forcing somebody watch you punish yourself.
Shaking his head tiredly, Natsu walked past the two and picked Wendy up from the floor.
".. come on, everyone."
The little blue-haired girl held on to his shirt tightly and whimpered as he fished the keys to the apartment from his pocket, slapping it down into the landlord's palms.
"By the end of the month," came the nasally reply.
Natsu just waved him off, he hoped it showed his displeasure clearly enough. (Gajeel and Mira were far less subtle with their middle fingers.) "You'll get your money, Cecht. You know I'm good for it."
"Yes, well, I also assumed you wouldn't bring some.. some monster into my building and demolish your apartment, so.. "
He shrugged, blissfully unaware of Natsu's growl.
Natsu closed his eyes as he walked through town, allowing them the little bit of rest they so desperately craved.
(It wasn't like he was going to be any better at navigating the city with them open, anyway.)
Behind him, trailed his band of (less than) merry men (and women.)
The twins didn't seem to care all too much about their home being obliterated, in fact, Natsu had never seen them happier. Those two thrived on battle, this very well might have been the best wake-up call they'll ever receive in their lives.
Wendy was upset, whether it was because her home was destroyed or her blankets were, was anybody's guess.
Gajeel, well, he.. he looked angry. It was hard to tell if he actually was angry or not, he always looked just a tad sour.
Lisanna was humming contentedly, so it was safe to assume she was fine. It was honestly a little irksome for Natsu, considering it was his home that was destroyed, but whatever. He'd let the kid be happy.
Elfman was Elfman. Which is to say, he was curling in on himself.
It was Erza and Mirajane that were the worst off, the two girls wearing matching sullen expressions upon their downturned faces, the depressed air around them only shifting when either one of them decided to glare at the other.
That was just about as annoying as Lisanna's humming.
So, Natsu was choosing to ignore all of that. It was simply too much for his addled mind to deal with right now.
Lethargically, Natsu pushed through the doors to the guild hall – having been led there by Gajeel – and tromped across the center of the room, not even bothering to check where he was going as he yawned wide and with pride.
"Levy. Cana." He didn't even bother looking for them, they were probably in the room, and if they weren't then they would be later on. "I have brought you friends. Please play nice, kids."
He set Wendy down on the ground and gently nudged her toward the rest of them.
She didn't move.
She just stood there.
Still as a bee.
Were bees still?
He didn't know, but he was sticking with his metaphor.
"Wendy? What's wrong?"
In response, the child merely grabbed a fist-full of his pant legs and refused to let go.
"Oooooookay."
So, she's not leaving anytime soon.
Plucking her back up, Natsu returned the five-year-old to his hip and just wished he had another hand available to rub his eyes again.
It was getting harder and harder to keep them open.
"Mirajane." A yawn. "Come, come. Follow, follow."
Natsu spun on a heel and marched right back out of the guild, the she-demon following quietly behind him.
Nobody in the guild spoke as they watched the exhausted pinkette distribute his vast array of orphans around the guild before quickly exiting. It was.. honestly very confusing. They'd never seen the guy seem just so worn down. None of them could even muster the strength to question the poor guy, not wanting to add any more to his plate.
The kids, though, the kids were fair game.
So, as the front doors closed behind the backs of the three wizards, everybody collectively turned their attention to the ragtag group of children.
"Hey.. uhmm.. "
How should the phrase this? They didn't want to be rude but they also really wanted to know what was going on.
"Just spit it out already!"
Ah, Gajeel. Such a way with words.
The member who's originally spoke, did so again. "Fine. What happened?"
The iron dragon slayer grunted and jerked his to where Erza sat, joylessly prodding at a piece of strawberry cake.
"Tweedledee over there fought Tweedledum and— "
Lisanna cut him off because that was going nowhere quick.
"Erza and Mira fought each other inside Natsu's apartments. He was evicted." She frowned somewhat as she looked back toward the guild doors, but all too soon her natural smile was plastered back on her lips. Some of the members weren't even positive they hadn't hallucinated the whole thing. "Everything is going to be okay soon, though! We just have to believe it will!"
Cheerful, uplifting, innocent, and wholly wrong.
"Yeah. I'm not really okay with that." A guild member spoke up from the back of the hall, scratching his cheek as he watched the doors. "The whole 'believe' and 'hope' fixing all our problems thing, I mean. Nothing is really going to change that way."
It's not like prayers were going to get Natsu his home back; they weren't going to put a roof over his head, food on the table, nor find any beds for his children to sleep on.
If only there was some way for them to help him with all of those things.
Like an.. unfinished construction project just outside of town that had the perfect number of bedrooms for the family's needs.
With a collective sigh, all of the guild members shrugged helplessly and returned to their normal activities. It wasn't like a home that perfect was all that likely. Random houses don't just spring up when you need them most. That wasn't how life worked.
Unfortunately, that meant there was very little they could do to help Natsu.
From his perch atop the second-floor banister, Makarov shook his head in disappointment.
Must he spell everything out for them?
The evidence would suggest yes.
"Oy! You lot!" He stood up and stared down at the guild, his children. He'd do anything to help when one of his kids were in need, and right now more than one of them were. He swore that if he was ever in a position to help, he would do so without a second thought. They were his family and that's just the way Fairy Tail was.
It's just the way Fairy Tail was meant to be.
"Get off your sorry asses, follow Gajeel, and finish building Natsu's damn house!"
There was a collective blink from all of the members.
Oh, riiiiiiiight.
There was a house like that.
It didn't just spring up because they needed it to. The world didn't have to gift them a perfect home to finish; one already existed.
It was there before.
Because, on top of going on jobs, raising three kids, teaching them to read and write on top of dragon slayer magic techniques, Natsu was also building a house.
Man. He really does make the rest of them look bad.
All at once, the guild members jumped to their feet, raised their tankards in the air, and bellowed to the skies.
"Let's do it!"
No way in hell they were going to let Natsu keep showing them up like that.
Double upload go brrrrrrrrrrr!