The Muggle among Mages|
Muggle Definition: (From Harry Potter) A non-magic user born in a non-magical world.
"So what you're telling me," I asked as we walked towards the train station. "Is that you think your father is in Hargeon?"
"I heard a rumor that a Salamander was there! So it's my only lead!" Happy was all too eager to concur with his dragon slayer friend after he said that.
"Huh, I think that was the point in our world where your story began. You were looking for your dad, and then you met someone else while looking for him." Darn, I forgot who it was. There's a good chance it might have been a blonde girl though.
He suddenly stopped and turned to me. "What really!? My story started with me going to Hargeon!? T-Then do you know the end of it?"
I shook my head. "Sorry, Natsu. I was busy with work and other things. I never fully invested in your story so, besides a few character names and quirks here and there, I barely remember a thing about the future for you… and even if I did know, I have a bad feeling telling you would change it badly."
"What?! What do you mean?"
I sighed as we got our tickets. "Are you aware of the butterfly effect?" I'm going to assume no and continue anyway. "In my world, it means the smallest things affect the big things in big ways. If I did know and told you were Igneel was, you'd drop everything and run towards that direction. However, doing so right now would have major consequences to the world if you met him when the time wasn't right. I've seen short time travel stories that depict the smallest changes could end up killing hundreds if not millions of people."
Natsu was thinking hard at what I said.
"Long story short: if I told you, bad things will happen that will affect everyone. You're going to have to be patient, and trust me. I feel for you. I want to go home to my family, but I know there might be consequences if I take reckless risks."
The fire mage seemed to take that much easier than what I tried to say earlier. "Is Igneel at Hargeon?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe, maybe not, but I'm sure going there will start your adventure into eventually finding him."
"Okay! We're heading there!" Natsu pumped his fists up. "Hargeon, here we co—"
It had completely slipped my mind that Natsu had motion sickness. In all fairness, I didn't know much about him besides his name and a few vague summaries here and there, but I probably should have done more to recall this bizarre quirk.
"Happy, is Natsu really that motion sick?" I mean I've seen people get queasy, but to Natsu, it's like Kryptonite that is sapping all of his energy like it would to Super Man.
"Aye! He can't handle vehicles at all!" Happy jubilantly answered me as we took the train ride.
There was a grumble or moan coming from Natsu's weakened form. It was probably a question on how long until we'd get there.
"I dunno, maybe ten minutes, fifteen?"
A chime rang through the train as an operator's voice spoke out. "Attention passengers: we will arrive at Hargeon Station in… three hours."
"Whoops. I sit corrected." Natsu made his face wallow deeper into the seat after hearing that.
Happy sighed nonchalantly. However, I guess now was a good time as any to see what I still have from my homeworld. It's been so busy yesterday that I never really checked my possessions.
In one of my pockets, I found a deck of cards. This was because I was using them for some of my magic tricks. Though, I was surprised at how dry they felt. Shouldn't they have been drenched when I fell into the river? I searched for more in my pockets.
"Ahh? What's that?!" Happy asked as I took out a small but stretchy elastic object.
"Balloons. I keep them around for party tricks. The chicks love balloon animals." I'm lying; I'm a nerd with barely any social life. The only reason why I'm up late pulling all-nighters is for reviewing case files.
"Oooh! Ooh! I want to see!" Happy excitedly said.
Well if the cat wishes, who am I to decline? I could tell people around the train were watching me as a colorful blue balloon caught their sights, and after a few twisting and quick turns, I handed the finished balloon animal to Happy.
"Voila! Here you go, monsieur, a blue four-legged cat."
"Wow!" Happy, and even Natsu, cooed in awe as they looked at the balloon animal.
The pink-haired mage, momentarily forgetting about his motion sickness or fighting it hard, looked on with excitement. "Ooh ooh! Do one for me!"
"Me too!"
We turned our heads towards the aisle beside us. A kid looked at me with excitement. One of the parents of the child quickly looked at their child with wide eyes.
"Sweetie, don't bother them. I am so sorry, sir." The mother said towards me as she tried to hug her child closer.
"What type of animal do you want?" That caught the child's attention as the family looked at me. "How about this one?" I picked up a yellow balloon and after a while, I finished the animal and handed it over to the young boy. "This is one is a giraffe."
The young boy gasped as he took the balloon toy in his hands. However, more sounds came from around the train. "Ooh! Me too! Me too!"
I had attracted more of the children around the cart. I didn't have that many balloons left, but I'm sure there should be enough in this cart.
Time flew by as after giving the last kid a balloon poodle; we had finally arrived in Hargeon Station.
"Hey, Kain, I want one now!" Natsu, feeling somewhat better now that the train stopped, demanded of me as we got off the train.
"Natsu, I gave the last one to the girl," I responded, much to his dismay and obvious pouting.
"I didn't know you could do that." Happy said as he continued to play with his balloon cat.
"I worked as a magician for children's birthdays." I mentioned. It was my favorite thing to do, and I'm glad I still technically get to do that here.
"Wait, I thought you said you weren't a mage?"
"I said magician, not mage. I don't have any magic, but I can do tricks that people aren't able to pick up on and make it look like magic. Here, I've got one with this deck of cards."
I took out my deck of cards and held them all in my hand. After making a few preparations without either of them noticing, I dropped one card to the ground. "Don't pick it up, now… watch this…"
By just putting my hand out, the card I dropped slowly went back to my hand the same way it fell down.
Natsu and Happy gapped. "HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?"
I stared in disbelief at the two. "Natsu, you can summon fire at will, you were raised by a dragon, and you fought a demon yesterday, but something like this surprises you?"
"But that was magic! Y-You said you can't do magic!"
"I can't! This is a trick to make people question how I did it."
"Well, it worked! How did you do that!?"
"A good magician never reveals his tricks. It removes what little magic they have in them." I smiled as I put the deck of cards back into their box.
"Aww come on, tell me!"
"I can't. It's part of the magician code."
"Please!?"
"Aren't we searching for your dad?"
Natsu blinked before realization hit him like a truck. Did he forget that for a second?
"Ahh right! Igneel!" He ran ahead with full speed with happy flying right after him. I rolled my eyes and looked around. There was no sign of the dragon here. Though, there was the problem that I didn't remember where Igneel was or if Jerry told me where the father of Natsu was in the first place.
Oh wait, Jerry kept the spoilers to a minimum because he wanted me to experience them for myself. Well, that has come to bite me in the ass.
But what exactly did, he tell me? All I seem to recall at the top of my head are people like uh Juvia, Gajeel, Laxus… and a few here and there. I think there was mention of these really, really important characters called the Jiggle Butt Gang.
I… I'm going to trust Jerry on that last one. My life does technically count on it. I hope he wasn't joking with that last one; I could never tell with him some times.
As I kept thinking about these things, I saw Natsu up ahead moving through a crowd screaming about Salamander. Instantly, I spotted the pink-haired mage deflate. Considering there wasn't a huge dragon hidden among a fan of cooing girls, I'm going to assume it wasn't his dad.
"Man, that's not Igneel…" Natsu walked away from the crowd while the man was in the middle of talking. I noticed the gang of female looking dangerously at Natsu's direction.
Some were even running up to him before I stood between them and raised a hand motion to stop them.
"L-Ladies! Please, be reasonable, my friend here is just… thought your friend was an old friend of his." Yeesh!? What the heck? Are fangirls really that vicious or is it only in this world?
"He's right, there's no harm in a misunderstanding," The man in the center, he had purple hair and rather extravagant clothes about him strode towards me and Natsu and quickly wrote down on two pieces of paper. "Here, as a sign of good fortune, take these autographs."
Unfortunately, Natsu seemed to misunderstand how bloodthirsty the girls were around us. "No thanAAcck!?"
Oh no, who could have stepped on his toes like that?
"Thank you very much, sir." I took the cards out of his hands and sent a look to Natsu despite him asking why I did that.
To my surprise, the man—or Salamander to the girls—activated a magic circle that allowed him to fly on a string of fire.
Wow. That's a lot cooler looking in real life. How are his clothes not burning? At least for Natsu, I'm assuming he's fireproof or something, but how do his clothes work without being singed or burned?
Salamander invited everyone to some party at the docks, maybe we could crash it for free food or something later, so I took note of it.
"Who was that guy?" Natsu was confused, but I could tell he was disappointed this was a dead end.
"He's a scumbag," We turned around and then I noticed this beautiful blonde walking up to us. Lucy Heartifila right? It wasn't hard to see her near every picture of Natsu Dragneel when it came to this series. Was she the one we had to meet? "Thanks a lot, you guys. I owe you."
We owe her? How?
Eventually, she wanted to treat us to lunch for her thanks. I declined politely.
I tried to decline politely, but Natsu and Happy jumped for joy at the offer.
To be fair, when we were in the village, the few meals we had were rather small. Heck Natsu didn't even want to eat if it wasn't bad manners towards our host. Here, though… he was stuffing himself full along with Happy.
I apologetically looked at Lucy. "I'm truly sorry about this, Lucy."
"Oh, it's the least I could… hey, wait! How'd you know my name!?" She didn't say it yet? Hmm, I might need to be more careful about that in the future.
"Kain here is from another world! And he says that we're all part of a fictional story!" At least Natsu had the decency to swallow before he said that though it did absolutely nothing in explaining anything to anyone.
Lucy eyed me weirdly. "Another world? That's impossible!" Okay, yeah. That was a much more appropriate response to people if I had told the truth.
"It's true!" "Aye!" Natsu and Happy tried to defend me as Lucy slowly looked at me. I did appreciate them willing to go far, but now I was feeling judged for taking advantage of them.
"I don't mind if you believe me or not, but if I may ask, why are you thanking us? I don't think we did much in the first place." She seemed surprised. Maybe she assumed I would say that I was just joking, or saying it was a trick. However, it looked like she pushed thoughts about me being crazy or insane on the side in favor of explaining what had happened.
Lucy explained about one of the rings the Salamander wore being something that attracts females against their will. That's a rather scary and despicable thing to do, but the thought of their being magical tools… maybe I could get one in the near future. I'd have to make another note of that.
The conversation continued beyond that. Lucy asked who we were and after introductions, she asked who Natsu was looking for.
"Wait, a dragon? Something like that wouldn't have been in the middle of town." Lucy pointed out.
Natsu and Happy stared with dumbfounded reality.
"Don't tell me you two only thought about it now!?" Lucy said before looking to me. "What about you?"
I put the glass of water down calmly. "If the person himself wasn't here, who's to say there isn't a clue to where he is? Maybe this Salamander guy took the name after seeing Igneel somewhere else."
I was startled by Natsu suddenly standing up from the table and slamming his hands down. "What!? Really!? Auuugh! And I didn't ask him! Kain, why didn't you say anything about that!?" After rubbing his hair frantically, Natsu looked at me with shocked eyes.
"I honestly didn't think about it until now. Sorry." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Now we gotta find that guy again and see if he saw Igneel somewhere! Uhh, where did he say he was going?"
"The docks, Natsu, though I think he was inviting only the females." I answered nonchalantly, it's been only a day and I already feel as if that even though I've told him, he's just going to ignore me and go there anyway.
"Then let's go!" And there we go.
He ran up before stopping in his tracks. "Ah right! Thank you for the meal!" Natsu and Happy prostrated themselves before Lucy, making the girl feel uncomfortable before he and Happy bolted out the door.
I looked at Lucy with a nervous smile. "Sorry about that. I should probably go after him. I do hope he knows where the docks are though."
"Wait," She stood up a second after I did. "What Natsu said about you being from another world, is that true?"
"That's for you to decide!" I yelled back as I ran after Natsu even if it was slower than his pace.
After some time chasing down Natsu, we were all able to get down to the docks. It wasn't hard to figure out the large luxury cruise with all the women lining up to had to be the one Salamander was in.
"We gotta meet the Salamander!" Natsu tried to talk to the bodyguards preventing us from going close.
"Sorry, kid. Ladies only." Though… it was strange. For security guards, they looked awfully like goons or henchmen for bad guys. Not to mention, they're not even wearing proper security uniforms if they worked on a cruise ship.
Then there was the stuff they were bringing in into the ship. The ship itself looked like it was powered by steam since I'm assuming that Fairy Tail was early Industrial Revolution when compared to Earth, but the amount of coal they were bringing to the ship… it seemed a lot more than just for a cruise ship around the bay area.
Even if it was for refueling, in the long run, there was something else that caught my attention: the amount of food and supplies going in. There was a lot more than just for the party, I may not be qualified to judge what's needed, but the number of supplies they were bringing looked more like a trip than a cruise.
And lastly, even if I was wrong on the food and the amount of coal being brought in… there was something else. Some of those boxes had items inside them that sounded metallic and something that gave me a feeling that you shouldn't be bringing those to a wooden ship.
"Is there going to be a problem here?" It was strange to hear another voice while Natsu and the bodyguards were arguing—maybe he saw that Natsu was about to deck the guy before stepping in—but I noticed that he was the first person I saw that looked completely official.
He wore a white navy suit and hat and had colorful looking badges decorated on his suit. He was much more handsome than Salamander with his sharp but soft face, white short hair, and gray eyes.
The captain was holding some kind of container for food before he introduced himself to us. "I am Captain Fero of this cruise, is there anything I can help you two young men with?"
"I'm a cat!" Happy proclaimed.
"Yeah, and Kain here is with us too!" Natsu pointed to me while keeping his sight on the captain.
Chosen over a cat huh? Well, that's a new low.
Anyway, Natsu demanded to see Salamander since he had a few questions.
"I'm sorry good sir, but he is an honored guest. I can't call him out, but I can leave a message for you if you would like. When he does come here, I will be sure to ask. You can come back here before we leave and I'll be here to tell you the answer."
"Oh in that case!" While Natsu was telling him the simple question, I noticed Fero looking at me. For one instant, I swore his smile wasn't as sincere as he made it to be.
Fero took a dish and opened up, revealing a gross and putrid looking dish that made me close my noise. "Now then with that settled how would you like to try this Purredian Broalisk Bowl created from the intestine of a decaying ice monster?" Oh god, that was sick! And—oh right! Natsu has a better sense of smell than me. That's why he looks like he's going to barf again.
"N-No thanks! Come on, Happy, let's go!"
"A-Aye…"
The two ran ahead to get away from the dish.
"That's such a shame." I heard the captain say before I took one more look at him… then left after Natsu and the others.
"Ack! Ack! It smelled so bad I can taste it in my mouth!" Natsu cried as he started wiping his tongue with snacks I was sure to save before we entered the city.
"What kind of sickos eat monsters intestine? Especially a Boralisk?" Happy whined as he licked fish constantly to remove the smell and taste.
…
Something about this doesn't feel right, and no it's not asking what a Boralisk is, I can ask that later. Jerry never really told me much about the very first chapter. He did want me to experience it myself—just not experience it while being in the story.
"Something wrong, Kain? You keep looking back at the boat."
Without facing Natsu, I answered him. "What do you guys think about that captain?"
"He seemed nice enough to me." Happy spoke up.
"Although, now that I think about it," I looked back to Natsu who seemed to be thinking about something. "He smelled weird."
Smell? "What smell in particular was it that made you think it was weird?"
"Well, he smelled like the ocean, but there was another smell. Maybe bleach? Might have been his clothes with how clean they looked, but it was kinda strong."
Bleach?
Why bleach? From the top of my head, I saw bleach used a lot in crime shows to cover up blood, but again that's just jumping to a conclusion. Maybe he was just a guy who liked being clean.
{Lucy explained about one of the rings the Salamander wore being something that attracts females against their will.}
Wait a second.
Why was he carrying out food for us? And now that I think about it, the 'guards' were surprised with what was in the dish too. If that was food he was giving out, would that mean that it would have been served at the party? But Natsu didn't smell anything from the food passing us by— only the one he brought… to us specifically.
Why offer us something that wasn't going to be served?
Unless he knew we would go away from the offer!
"Natsu, I think they were trying to get us away!"
"Huh?"
"Something's been bothering me ever since Lucy said something about the Salamander used."
"Luigi?"
"No, Natsu, Lucy. The pretty blonde girl who gave us lunch?"
"Oh yeah! Wait, what about it?"
"I have a feeling that Salamander isn't even a quarter charming as the ring he's abusing. And if I'm imagining the worse, there are people in danger. If I'm wrong, I might be just making a fool of myself."
Natsu seemed silent for a second as he folded his arms.
"They're not going to tell me where they got the name, are they?" I blinked in surprise at what Natsu said.
But I shook my head, "He might keep his word and ask Salamander where he got his name from, but I think he was trying to make sure we weren't anywhere near the boat. If anything, I think he came to us not because we were causing trouble, but because I think… he noticed we were attracting too much attention."
"So what? Do we go in there and kick their assess?"
"Under what charge? We can't prove they're lying if they even are. But…"
"But?" Natsu and Happy tilted their heads.
If I'm wrong, I'm making a fool out of myself for nothing. But If I'm right and I do nothing, innocent people will get hurt.
However, I can't do anything if…
"Ugh! We need to get into the boat somehow! There's just so much bothering me but we can't do much unless we get into that boat before it sails off!"
"Hmm… oh! Hey, I have an idea!" Natsu spoke up as I quickly turned to him.
Instead of explaining, he pointed to something behind me. As I turned around, my eyes widened at the implications.
"We still have the money the Juter village gave us!" Natsu happily said.
It was insane! It was stupid! It was crazy!
And it might be enough to work.
I sighed and turned back to Natsu. "You are so lucky that I too would be desperate to find a way back to my dad."
"Ah, Fero! Have some lobster, my man!" Salamander cried out as he was fed a luxurious meal.
"Bora," The purple-haired mage flinched as he heard the sound of the Captain's voice lower. "The attraction ring works best on females without any exposure to magic. Yet it has come to my attention that you've invited someone who wishes to join Fairy Tail, in other words: a mage? You are aware that even a two-bit mage can resist its power?"
"D-Don't sweat it all, Fero! I totally got this!" He couldn't stop the sweat from falling down his cheeks nor could he stop the need to pull his already loosened and opened collar. It wasn't hard to be afraid of someone whose magic they were so aware of.
"Do you realize two young men were looking for you? Ahh, excuse me, two young men and a talking cat?" He walked behind the mage sitting on the couch and slowly put his hands on Bora's shoulders.
"O-Oh them? They were just curious about me. There's nothing to worry abOUT!?" Bora squeaked when there was more pressure applied to his shoulders.
"I'm sorry I should have warned you that I was going to start messaging you. You did seem tense." Fero lightly said as he did start messaging Bora. It felt good, but Bora couldn't truly feel at peace with it. "I know that I am simply here to chaperone you, but if I may make a suggestion? We might want to leave earlier than planned. One of those boys you met… he was far sharper than he looked."
"The pink-haired brat?"
"The brown-haired one."
"The plain kid?"
"Yes well, for a plain-looking boy his eyes were wandering around dangerously close to things people should not have been paying attention to," Pero stopped message as he got back up and started walking. "Now I must go and make preparations to walk out. Please do enjoy the party."
Bora let loose a breath he didn't know he was holding. "If that guy's magic wasn't so creepy… bah! Time to find and see if that cute blonde is coming over!"
"Mhhmmpp! Mppphfff!"
"Happy?" I do my best to ignore my laughing purse as I try to walk in a straight line. "Please, stop laughing, they might hear you."
"MPPPff!"
"I will zip up this purse, forcing you to suffocate." I managed to whisper, making the cat try and calm himself down.
"Oh my what a lovely place to be, isn't it, Kayla?!" I did my best to ignore my throbbing headache as I looked to Nats—I mean. Natalie while we walked towards the boat.
"Natalie, dear sister, I do believe we should be careful not to make a scene." I can feel Happy staring at me through the purse as we both continued to walk in dresses towards the boat.
"Hello, ladies~" One of the guards emphasized with special huskiness as he eyed me down and up. "Are you here for Salamander?"
"Why it was quite an honor to be invited by him, though I do believe I ain't worth much."
"Nonsense! Come right this way, ladies."
"OhOHOho!" Natalie fanned herself while laughing in a manner that was far too much.
The two guards seemed to blanch when looking at Natalie's direction. "Err, anyway, enjoy the ride ladies!"
I grabbed Natalie before we walked up the plank.
Before we made it up, Natsu turned to me in surprise. "How the heck are you so darn good at acting like a girl?"
"I took drama classes when I was in middle school and high school. I was a fan of theater, and a few times I dressed up as a woman for fun." Oh, those were fun—awkward as heck—but fun.
Sigh, I do miss home—focus, Kain. Stick to the plan: survey what doesn't feel right then get out of the boat.
The plan should be nice and simple— "Are you kidding me?!" I whispered harshly as Natsu suddenly looked sick. "We're still docked!"
"I-It's still swooshing around?!" Natsu cried out as I tried to help him find some form of stable ground.
"H-Hey, are you two alright?" Crud! The last thing we needed was to be catching attention.
I turned around quickly, trying my best to put up a front. "Oh dear me! I do apologize; I had forgotten my sister has what you would call a motion sickness."
"That's so sad to hear," Huh? Why did that voice sound familiar? Wait, Lucy?! What's she doing here!? "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"It's L—" *ZIP!* I don't need you to give us away Happy! I had to zip that purse! Thankfully, Lucy didn't notice my act since I was sure to distract her with my other hand by waving it at her. "Why, I must thank you so much! You truly are nice!" I thought she wasn't coming here because of the attraction ring!?
"My name is Lucy, what's yours?" Wow, she doesn't recognize me or Natsu. That cloth shop owner and his crew did a good job after all.
"Kayla Smith! And this poor gal over here is my older sister, Natalie Smith." Crap! I had a feeling something would happen but not this! Calm down, Kain, you're probably overreacting. There's still a chance that this could all be some misunderstanding.
"Kayla Smith huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful lady such as yourself." Aaannnddd there's Salamander. Crud.
He opened a palm towards Natsu who didn't seem to notice. "I can have some of my men bring your poor sister to the medical bay, in the meantime though, why not come with us? I have a private room aboard…"
Hmm? Lucy is the one who seems surprised even though I should be the one confused.
"Oh but I can't leave her, she is my sister." I faked,
However, Salamander insisted "Don't worry, my lady, I'm sure she'll be treated with the finest care!"
Natsu on the other hand tried to struggle to move as he tried to support himself on a nearby railing. "I-I'm urgh!" And then he unleashed his lunch.
There was a splatter, and a shrill cry coming from below. "OH GOD WHAT IS THIS STUFF ON M—"
"Perhaps, I should take you up on that offer." I said quickly, trying to avoid the voices and grabbing Natsu off the railway.
"Here, Natalie, take this." I handed the purse with Happy before leading both Lucy and Salamander away.
"Uh, miss? My room is the other way."
"Then we'll take a scenic route then." I respond without missing a beat.
"I like the way you think." And of course, I noticed the huskiness in his tone. Man, women do need to be treated better in all worlds.
Hopefully, Natsu will open the bag and let Happy out—did he just open and barf into it?!
"Is she going to be—"
I chose to ignore everything but moving everyone out of the way of that mess. "Let's all walk with more urgency shall we?"
Eventually, we did come into the room. Several times Salamander tried to talk with me, and it was hard to stick to character, but I did my best to care. And when he placed a few sexual innuendos in his talks, I pretended not to be interested or naïve. All the while, I noticed Lucy seemingly on edge. She seemed to be worrying over to me but glaring over at Salamander. Does he have leverage over her? Is that why she's here?
Salamander's voice cut me out of my thoughts. "So tell me about yourself, Kayla, you've got a unique accent. Where are you from?"
"Actually, may I ask something first?" It was the first question I posed after listening to this man lie about some missions he had here and there.
"What is it, little flower?"
Ignoring the undertone, I asked what Natsu had been looking for. "Where did you get the name Salamander?"
"Hmm?" Even Lucy seemed surprised by that.
"Why, it's because I'm a famous mage of course."
"Well yes, but why a Salamander? Would not being called a dragon be more threatening than a lizard? If that's what people called me, I would not like being compared to that of a lizard, and I would have tried to be known as something else. Unless did you hear that name elsewhere before taking it?"
Finally, silence hit the room, but I was unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Hahaha! You are very curious, Ms. Smith," The purple-haired mage laughed before calming down. "I'm not a fan of those types, but I can respect them. You see, I had heard of that name when I visited Sun Village, the home for Giants."
This one… this adventure sounded genuine. Sun Village? Home for giants?
"Some giants explained that powerful fire dragons were called Salamanders, so I can understand why some uneducated people may not now, but to magical beings, a Salamander is the same as a great fire dragon, so I took the name."
"I see…" I stood up. I haven't seen much wrong, so I suppose I was just imagining the worst after all. Time to leave with Natsu. "Excuse me, but I believe I need to see my sister now."
"Ah wait!" I was stopped as Salamander physically blocked my path towards the door. Not a good sign. "All that time, and you must be thirsty! Here, have a drink." There was a fruit punch in the middle of the room someone had brought in earlier. Instead of getting a glass, some water droplets started floating towards me.
Yet while that drink was there the whole time… Salamander himself never drank from it.
That screamed suspicious. But it would be wise not to alert him that I know what he's trying to do. I should probably just politely decline.
"That's enough!" Lucy cried out, swiping away the bubbles from me. So much for playing the subtle game.
"You've been trying to get me and this girl to sleep this entire time! It's one of your other rings, isn't it!" Huh? Sleep ring? I didn't feel sleepy at all. Weird. Lucy pointed at Salamander. "I don't care if you are from Fairy Tail, this behavior is unacceptable!" Wait what? This guy isn't from Fairy Tail.
"Oh really?" Salamander smiled in a manner that I recognized all too well on Saturday morning cartoon villains. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the curtains all held a bunch of goons holding some of the other women at the party.
I didn't spot Natsu among them though…
Well, that was one potentially good thing among this horribly descending situation.
"Something's been off this entire time." He started speaking as I backed off. Lucy quickly stood in front of me as if she was trying to protect me, but we were surrounded. "The blonde, I could understand, she knew about the attraction affects so it didn't affect her much. But you?"
He looked at me questioningly. "You showed no real signs of infatuation. Even Blondie here fell for it a few times. Wait… are you…"
D-Did he see through my disguise!?
"Are you interested in girls!?"
… What?
"I mean," Why was Salamander blushing!? "Thinking about it, this place is full of beautiful women, I guess it wasn't that farfetched to have someone here who swung that way…" he looked back at me and shook his head. "It-It's not like I'm saying that's a bad thing! I had an uncle who liked men and he's living happily with his husband!"
Oh my god.
Okay, why was Lucy slowly turning to me with a flushed face? "A-Are you into girls?"
…
Without hesitating I pulled the wig out of my head, shocking everyone in the room.
"WWWWHHHHAAAATTTT!?"
"I'm a straight male, so yes, I am into girls." I deadpanned my most deadpan deadpan.
"Wait a second!" Lucy pointed to me with a realization showing on her face. "Kain!?"
"Sup? Could we take two steps this way please?" I said as I grabbed her arm and slowly started to take a few steps back.
Good angle. If I can pull this off subtly…
"W-What are you doing here!? How did you get here?! Why were you cross-dressing!?"
I turned back to Lucy after she asked all those questions. "All lovely questions, but here's another one: are you ready to run?"
"Huh?"
It was such a good thing I was wearing my sneakers underneath this long dress. In one instant, I grabbed the bowl of punch, which I was assuming was a drinking agent that was the same as the one that put all the other girls to sleep, and threw it right into the surprised and shocked Salamander's face who still was trying to process the fact I was a guy. Maybe if he was prepared he would have avoided or used magic to protect himself, but the fact he was still stunned at my disguise—or the fact that he found himself attracted to me must have thrown him off his game completely.
"Bora!" Some of the men cried before I grabbed Lucy and rushed for the door, then slamming it behind us and running for our lives.
"What the hell are you doing here dressed like that!?" Lucy yelled at me with her face… wow, that looked bigger than usual.
"That is a funny story I can totally tell you more about after we find Natsu and a way off this damn boat!" Oi vey, running with a dress is hard, I have to lift it and stuff.
"Natsu is here too—Natalie? How did I not see it! I didn't recognize you!"
"It's called acting," I said as we ran, "and the reason why you didn't recognize Natsu was that you haven't seen how bad his motion sickness is. Poor guy didn't even need to act like a different person."
To my surprise, I spotted Natsu at the very front of the ship. He was hung over the rail like a drape.
"Natsu! Change of plans, everything is falling apart! Where's Happy—" Why are there ropes on him?
"After hearing a poor lady with severe motion sickness aboard, I came to help in any way shape or form," Oh no, not him. He seemed decently competent compared to Salamander.
Oh crud, it's the Captain. And why does he have Happy tied up in a fishing rod!?
"Imagine my surprise to see a girl with a familiar blue cat covered in upchuck?" He continued as the realization hit my face. "With the cat here, I put two and two together and realized my feeling about you two was correct: you were all trouble."
"Release Happy this instant!" I cried out even though I had no power at all in this situation. I spotted the men catching up to us, only for all of them to stop and leave the entire deck to watch us.
It was like they were trying to be safe from this guy!
"Are you with Bora!?" Lucy asked after my demand that in hindsight he would agree to due to his leverage over us.
"He is a client of ours, so yes I am here to chaperone him since he is a source of potential income.
Income?
My eyes widened. "Holy shit, you're human trafficking?!"
The captain said nothing as the fishing rod started unwinding and placing Happy right behind him. "Jewels are jewels, blood on them, or not."
As soon as he said this, a cloud started traveling over us, making the night far darker than it should have. The only thing I could see was Lucy's blonde hair.
"You heartless monster!" Lucy screamed with anger suddenly, she took out something from the back of her dress, revealing a whip and holding out keys at the side of her hand.
"Monster? I suppose it wouldn't be untrue to say that." For some reason, he started unfurling his fishing rod—oh shit. That's a magic fishing rod with how those strings are flying around him, isn't it? Still, if Lucy is a mage, she should have the obvious advantage… right?
Fero sighed at the same time the cloud started passing by.
However, I realized we were beyond screwed now.
Why? Because all around us, reflecting moonlight and revealing what was not seen in the darkness... was the string.
Magic string.
So not only are we trapped in a boat with both Natsu and Happy out of the way, but now we were surrounded by enemy magic that would more than likely turn us into sliced ham.
This bloody world is trying to kill me.
Fero reached the air, holding several pieces of string… then he pulled.
"Duck!" Lucy said even after my own body screamed at me to do so, even though I practically kissed the wood, I felt the air where we used to be cut by the string. I looked back up, seeing Fero expertly trail his hands along the string.
I panicked when I saw him pull the string and rod in different directions. I jumped then heard the wooden floor slashed into pieces.
Oh yeah, magic string that can cut wood with ease. That makes sense.
There was a shine in Lucy's keys as she held one out.
"Open, Gate of Cancer!" She cried out as a puff of smoke appeared, revealing a guy with crab legs on his back and… a barber? The heck?
"Giant Crab!" Happy managed to scream out with… is he that hungry?! And why is he so dependent on the guy saying crab at the end of his sentences?
"Ms. Lucy, do you wish for me to cut your hair—shrimp?"
"I'm disappointed." Happy, you're trapped by strings that can cut you like butter; shouldn't you care more about that?
Lucy ordered her scissor wearing-thing to cut the wires, even the one on Natsu. Quickly, I went behind to check on the guy.
"Hey man, how's it going?" I'm going to assume his moans say he wants to leave now. "Well, I'm working on it. Can Happy carry three people?" And of course, he shakes his head to say no, because that would be too easy if it was.
"Hmm, a gold key? I see you are a Celestial Mage with some rare spirits. But I must ask you fairly, miss. Do you believe yourself to be the only one who was smart enough to cut my strings?"
Aww shit! I looked down and quickly jumped just before the strings could clamp down on just above my ankles.
"Cancer—AAH!?"
After I landed, I noticed that for both Lucy and her Spirit: both of them had string wrapping around their ankles. Cancer tried to move, but suddenly the strings around him tightened. Lucy acted quickly and returned the scissors barber guy from where he came from. However, as the blonde tried to get another key, a string whacked her hand throwing the keys from her person and to the floor in an unreachable spot.
"Make any more moves, and I will cut your ankles and let you bleed to death." Fero said coldly before his eyes turned to me.
"You, brown haired boy," The captain glanced over to me. "You don't have magic, don't you?"
"…What makes you say that?" I sling Natsu's arm over my shoulder, even though I have a feeling I know what's going to happen.
"Because the only reason why I haven't killed your friends yet was that I intended to use them as bait in case your magic happened to be a counter to mine. But since you're a non-magic user, nothing is stopping me from killing all three—four of you." He quickly corrected.
But come on brain, think! Think! He's about to turn us into pieces! What can we do!?
"Wait!" I screamed out. Come on brain work some magic!
{"Happy, is Natsu really that motion sick?" I mean I've seen people get queasy, but to Natsu, it's like Kryptonite that is sapping all of his energy like it would to Super Man.
"Aye! He can't handle vehicles at all!" Happy jubilantly answered me as we took the train ride.}
Oh come on, that was the best you could come up with it?!
"I just have one question for you!"
Fero narrowed his eyes while the back of my mind was screaming at me to come up with a better idea than the one I just came up with. "I believe it to be in my best interest to kill y—"
And that was my cue to choose the lesser insane evil. "Can someone get sea-sick by swimming in the water?"
"Wha?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures! I turned with Natsu, jumping high and tossing his body weight over with my own…
AND STARTED FALLING!
"GERONIMO!" I yelled out as gravity started pulling us.
"Kain, what the hell, man!?"
Natsu finally yelled just before we dipped into the water—and dear god it hurt like hell even though I knew I had to dive to lessen the impact! Thankfully, my parents thought me how to swim while Natsu himself started swimming up with me.
"What was that for, Kain!?" Natsu cried out.
"It was the only thing I could think of Natsu! You don't get motion sickness in the sea!"
The pink-haired mage blinked before he realized he was back to his normal self. "Oh right! I'm better now! Whoo!"
I looked back up. "If you believe yourself to be free, you're sorely mistaken!" And Fero looked at me as he launched his fishing rod—oh right.
However, I heard steam as I looked beside me to see… the area around Natsu was boiling?
"Oi, white suit! You're going to pay for what you did to Happy!"
Fero's string stopped as he looked down and shouted back, "You mean the cat I had the decency to clean after your little episode?"
Natsu turned to me, his bubbles boiling even more. "That was Kain's fault! I didn't know Happy was there!"
"Did you not see him get in there when I told you we had to hide him!?" I yelled back.
"Uh, guys!? Still trapped up here!" Lucy's voice came out.
Natsu turned his head back up. "Oh right! Don't worry, Luigi! We'll save you too!"
"It's Lucy!" The girl shrieked back quickly.
Fero's eyes sharpened. "Enough! My rod can also kill things in the sea, regardless of what magic you have, you're as good as—"
During his little tidbit, I didn't notice Natsu inhaling deeply and taking his hands out near his face.
Then the magic circle appeared. "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" He unleashed a powerful breath of fire right where Fero was standing.
A few seconds later, Kain heard Lucy screaming something about a gate of Aquarius.
Fero's instincts screamed to him that he had to jump out of the way of the large burst of fire.
"A fire mage!? One that powerful!?" He cried out before he realized the flames had caught on his string and burned his fishing line to the point that it loosened the restraints on his captives.
"I'm free!" Happy cried out as he sprouted wings from his back. Lucy quickly capitalized this moment and grabbed her keys with a dive.
She took her opportunity to summon another spirit, seeing as how the boat was on fire, her subconscious made her choose in key, in particular, to combat the fire spreading on the wooden boat.
"Open, Gate of Aquarius!"
In another flash of light, a beautiful blue-haired mermaid appeared. Happy commented on another fish, but Lucy urgently pointed when she saw Fero recasting his weapon.
"Aquarius, stop him!"
"Tch! Stupid girl, you dare command me in the middle of my date!?" It took a second for Lucy to recall that this spirit was rather… uncooperative.
The giant shadow that appeared behind her only solidified this fact.
"Is that a tsunami?" Natsu asked as he noticed the giant wave of water towering over them and only growing in size.
Kain, while afraid, was strangely zen at the sight of something that could easily kill him. "I was not expecting this today."
And then the tsunami hit the boat and the two young men.
Despite being tossed around like a ragdoll in a washing machine, somehow we made it back to land into Hargeon's beach.
"Oh god, how am I still alive without any broken bones?" I checked it again. Somehow, I was in one piece by something that by all means should have broken at least a bone or something.
Am I more durable here?
"Mrghpff!" I looked to my side to see Natsu somehow comically planted into the sand before pushing himself out and spitting out said sand.
Did I hear more voices behind me, seeing both Happy and Lucy with some flying blue mermaid? Okay, I'm willing to admit that the Bubak, the crab/barber guy, and Happy are things that I'm sure as hell wasn't expecting, but I'm starting to draw the line at how much I can process fictional things being real.
Happy and Lucy winced when the mermaid snapped back at them—and she has a boyfriend? Huh, that's funny, a mermaid has a love life and I don't.
Wait, where's…
"Hey, guys?" I stood up and noticed the crashed ship. "Where's Fero?"
Out of the wreckage, Fero came out along with a group of bandits, along with the still sleeping Salamander.
"C-Captain Fero!? What do we do!?" One of the mugs carrying Salamander—or Bora as I heard—asked the disheveled and drenched man in a suit.
He glared at us, causing Natsu to get ready to fight—
"We leave. That for sure would have attracted the royal guards." Fero spoke up before looking over. "Leave the girls they'll only be dead weight to us. And you four?"
He looked over to us, making everyone but Natsu tense.
"I do hope we don't meet again." With that he swung his fishing rod, making debris of the ship to fall in front of them and hide their path.
It was then that alarms rang over the town, causing Natsu to drop his stance and look on with panic. "Oh crap! Royal guards! We gotta go!"
"Aye!"Happy cried out before he and Natsu started running.
"Hey!" I called out to Lucy. "You coming?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Cause, Natsu and Happy are from Fairy Tail, not that liar!" I motioned my thumb at the two making a break for it.
"W-What!? Really!?"
"Yeah. Come on, I'm sure you'll fit right in!" I managed to say before running right after those two.
After a few seconds, I noticed Lucy running after us as well.
Hopefully, after this fiasco, we can finally head to Fairy Tail. And I can find some way to get back home.
Huh.
Wait one second.
Was this how the first chapter was supposed to go?
Omake: Fashion for Action!
Natsu dragged Kain into the clothes store quickly. "Yo! Is anyone here!?"
"Welcome!~" To Kain's surprise, a rather flamboyant, and a round man jumped out of some curtains in a ballet jump. He landed gracefully for someone his size and twirled beautifully. "How may I help you, dear customer?"
Natsu then patted his hands on Kain's shoulders and said, "I want you to make a dress for my younger brother here!" Before the owner and Kain could question that for different reasons, the fire dragon slayer continued, "You see, it's always been his dream to crossdress but he's been too afraid to admit his passions!"
Kain and the owner gaped. For different reasons.
"Kyyyaaaa! How beautiful! Don't worry young man! The world of cross-dressing is a beautiful place that will bring you to heights unimagined!" The owner clapped his hands, revealing several other fashionable men speeding out of the back room. "Men, it's time to bring this man into the fold!"
Kain opened his mouth… trying to find anything he could do to talk out of this madness, but instead, his mind made him see what they needed to do, so instead, he then sighed and resigned to his fate. "Is there a possibility for me to wear a wig? I've always wondered what it would be like to have purple hair if that could work. Or about contacts? I like my eyes, but brown is kind of plain."
It was the time for Natsu and the Owner (and Happy to pause.) The Owner's smile only grew. "Y-you're going to go far… men~!"
The men grabbed Kain's arms and started leading him towards the back room with or without his consent.
However, both Fairy Tail members noticed the dark and silent glare on Kain's face before he left with them.
A little later, the dragon slayer and the exceed noticed the curtains come up and out revealed a rather beautiful young woman with purple hair and yellow colored irises.
However, Natsu and Happy's response was to…
"AHAHAHAHA! It looks so good on you, Kain!" The pink-haired mage laughed so hard he was starting to cry.
"You're so skinny that you could make it work!" The blue cat cried out between the howling fits of giggles.
However, instead of embarrassed, Natsu and Happy slowly realized that Kain wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. In fact, he was smiling evilly?
"Oh, dear brother," their stomach dropped as they heard Kain speaking in a southern accent that was pitched enough to sound like a girl, but not as shrill or squeaky. "I wish to go out, but I'm too terrified to go out on my lonesome! Which is why I wish from the bottom of my heart, dear brother, that you could join me so I feel less alone?"
"Don't worry about it! Of course, your older brother would do this for you!" The owner proudly said as all men now looked to Natsu like predators.
"W-What?" Natsu started to sweat as the men slowly stalked him.
The last thing he saw before the men were upon him was Kain mouthing out the words, 'Take that, you bastard.'
Natsu learned to never mess with Kain again.
{Author Notes}
Whoa. I wasn't expecting this much support for a Self Insert. Thanks a lot, guys! This was just a project for fun, but wow.
So, this was my take on how the first episode went. It kinda sets the stage of how the story might go from here on out, so I was a little worried.
Hopefully, you'll forgive the shift of villain to an unknown OC. His purpose was more or less to elevate the stakes, rather than be more of the plot.
Thanks for reading!
"Bora, wake up. Wake up."
The purple-haired mage gasped as he shot up from a bed. "F-Fero! W-Where are we?"
"Heading towards Kakanarin albeit it's a little longer route than the one we planned. I've taken the liberties to report what had happened."
The fake Salamander started to sweat. "O-Oh? I-I see." Fero warned Bora several times he was taking things not serious enough and now this happened?! He couldn't stop his imagination from thinking of the worse.
"Bora, you can calm down," Fero's usually calm voice had the opposite effect on the faker. "We were strict, but we are not going to kill you for failing horribly. We're not people who are mindlessly evil even though we do things that are officially and actively against the law."
He could hear his heartbeat slow down to an acceptable pace. "R-Really? F-For a second there I thought I was a goner."
"No, Mr. Ryan Peloth is far more merciful than he seems. However, he will force you to make amends for losses."
And then his heartbeat quickened again. "W-Wha… how will he do that?"
"This is the second time I will calm you down. I can understand he seems scary, but at times he can be surprisingly merciful. He's not some monster," Bora sighed in relief. "He'll probably send you to do kidnapping missions though."
"Kidnapping Missions?"
"Yes, for some reason, Mr. Peloth does love those types of missions in particular for his mysterious reasons." He took out a picture that was slightly wet but showed a beautiful woman with black hair accompanied by a flying chick. "For example, I was asked to find this person after this mission: Éclair, a four-hundred-year-old immortal from the ancestral city of Veronica."