Sup guys! I really have to thank you for all of the reviews and feedback. I got some amazing ideas from some of you, so thanks a lot. You know who you are. Now, I thank you for the support in my decision to keep it a single woman and not harem. Anyway, I hope you guys have a good day. I have three dragon slayer magics chosen out, because two were said multiple times, and the other ones were just really creative. Again, you know who you are. On with the Chapter!
Note: Done with the rewrite
Natsu found himself in the guildhall in the early morning, courtesy of one Mirajane Strauss. Gray and him had sparred last night so he had had to clean up before he dragged himself into the guild but seeing Mirajane so happy was worth it. Not much he wouldn't do for his friends. Gray had asked him to spar as his pride had taken a minor (major) hit after he watched one of his friends handily beat Erza's ass. As much as the two fought, the two found themselves behaving much like brothers would. Natsu could easily call Gray one of his best friends. Sure he was friends with Elfman and Jet and Droy and Max and Alzak but he really bonded with Gray. Erza too really, though they weren't anywhere near as close as he and Mira were. Gray might be one of his best friends but Mira was the one he'd choose every time.
As such, he found himself dropping into a seat at one of the tables and closing his eyes. He briefly said hi to Erza who was always up early. Damn morning people. She was chipper as ever (or as happy as one could be if they were an uptight metal clad female who liked an extreme degree of order) and tried to talk to Natsu. Unfortunately, she came to realize that Natsu truly was more reptilian than human as it seemed he wouldn't be fully functional until later. That being said, it was also five in the morning and he hadn't slept and the only reason Erza was up was that she planned on getting an early start on an important job.
Natsu's ears perked up as he heard the guild doors open. Perfect, she was finally here. Erza passed Mira on the way out. Natsu barely registered the quick snippet they traded but Natsu did notice the way Mira was smirking. It was kinda cute. Natsu yawned and stood up. She gave him a once over as they began to talk.
"Hey Mira!" Natsu greeted happily, albeit sleepily. Just a hint of a giggle escaped from Mirajane before she smiled and greeted him back.
"Hey Natsu," Mira said, "You're up early huh?"
"I wonder why," Natsu said dryly before grinning, "Care to tell me why we're here?"
"Well, I want us to go on a job!" Mira said, walking up to the quest board.
"Did we have to get up this early for it?" Natsu complained.
"For the job I had in mind, yes we did," Mira chuckled, walking straight past the quest board that she had gone up to. Instead, Natsu watched as she took the stairs up to the second floor and ripped a sheet of paper off the board up there. Natsu was confused.
"Oi Mira," Natsu said, "Isn't that an S-class job?"
"Mhhmmm."
"Are you sure you should take it as your first job back?" Natsu asked, the concern just barely edging its way into his voice.
"Sure! Why not!" Mira said happily, "Besides, you've beaten Gildarts in a fight."
"Yeah but what the heck does that have to do with anything?"
"Anyone who can beat Gildarts is overqualified for an S-class job, Natsu," Mira said before walking up and poking his chest, "unless you're afraid of a little job? I can always ask Gray ya know."
"Like hell I'm letting Ice Princess go on an S-class and not me!" Natsu said, shooting up to his feet, "Just tell me what to do and I'm your man!"
"I'll hold you to that," she smirked before handing him the paper, "Well, it says we have to go beat up some fire monster near the mountains west of Crocus"
"What's a Crocus?"
"Crocus is the capital of Fiore, Natsu."
"Oh," Natsu said, scratching his head, "Well I heard fire and that's all I need to know!"
"Of course it is," Mira teased, "Just more for you to eat huh?"
"Yep!"
"Sounds about right," Mira said, patting her own stomach, "Alright Natsu, let's go then!"
"Alright how are we getting there?"
"Train," Mira said simply, holding out two tickets.
"I've changed my mind," Natsu said while backing up and holding his hands up, "Don't make me go on that deathtrap! Please don't make me!"
"What's your deal?"
"I get motion sick," Natsu said, "Even thinking about transportation makes me woozy."
"I'm pretty sure that's not how that works," Mira said, bringing her hand to her chin.
"It is for me! Please Mira don't make me go," Natsu asked.
"Wait so why do you get motion sick?"
"My senses are too much for me and it causes a lot of strain," Natsu said.
"So if you nullify some of your senses it'd theoretically make it better, right?"
"Uh, maybe?" Natsu stopped. Huh, he thought, maybe it would work. He scratched his head, "I guess we can try it."
"Alright, well if it doesn't work, you're going to be stuck on the train. Luckily it's only about two hours away," Mira said optimistically. Natsu did not share this same optimism.
"T-two hours?" Natsu said shakily. Mira patted his head, "Okay. Two hours. I can do this."
"If you do make it, I'll cook as much as you want," Mira said over her shoulder. At this Natsu hopped up and practically raced onto the train. Well, he got to the train station then proceeded to almost throw up as he looked at the train. Mira ended up having to carry him onto the train. Once on the train, Natsu found that his motion sickness had gotten worse. Wonderful. Natsu barely made it onto the train before hunching over and muttering about how he wanted to die. Mira found a compartment for the two of them and then proceeded to drag the slayer into it by his hair. Natsu found this slightly soothing as the pain eased his nausea a tad bit. Interesting. Mira draped Natsu over the seat and sat down next to his mostly lifeless body. Natsu made a small hacking noise before Mira forced him to shut his eyes and pulled his head into her lap.
She sighed as she watched the dragonslayer grab onto the seat. It was at this point that Mira had an idea. She typically had a pair of earplugs on her because things could get loud. She quickly got up, forgetting that Natsu was in her lap, causing him to fall over and smack his head on the floor. He groaned but otherwise made no other noise. Mira quickly fished them out of her bag and forced Natsu to put them into his ears. Natsu seemed to ease up a little bit but he still seemed to be doing pretty bad. Oh well. Plan b it was. Mira slugged Natsu in one of his knockout pressure points. It... It sorta worked? Natsu groaned before flopping onto the ground. He grumbled a bit before trying to sit up. Mira promptly hit another one. Then another one. Then one more just for good measure.
This time, Natsu stayed down. He occasionally groaned but stayed mostly still. Eventually, they arrived at the station by Crocus. Now, Mira had a new issue. Natsu was still out. Hmm. She went to pick him up, only to watch him mumble something and stagger to his feet. He then proceeded to pitch himself through the open window onto the ground where he landed, splayed out on the ground. Natsu then stood up, took one look back, and ran as far as he could without leaving Mira.
"Never again," Natsu grumbled, suddenly feeling much better. Mira caught up to him after grabbing everything.
"You were awake?" Mira asked.
"I didn't want you to hit me anymore," Natsu said quietly, "My skins a bit too thick for pressure points to really work."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Mira asked incredulously.
"It felt better than being sick?" Natsu said. Mira stared at him.
"Suuuurrrreeeee," she trailed off, "Anyway, Natsu. We need to go to the little village up in the mountains in the west."
"How long will that take?" Natsu asked.
"Shouldn't be long. The mountains are just outside the outer limits of Crocus. It would be about an hour walk for normal people, but we are wizards and all."
"So," Natsu said before cracking a wide grin, "Race ya?"
"You're on!" Mira said before shooting off. Natsu laughed as he lazily raced after her and ended up passing her. It didn't take long for the two to get up into the mountain village. It was rather quaint, sorta cute really. Mirajane thought so anyway. Natsu didn't really care. He just wanted his meal. The pair eventually reached what seemed to be the chief's residence. Mira decided to handle the details while Natsu coasted along with her. Apparently, the monster they were supposed to kill was terrorizing the local villagers and had caused massive, irreparable damage to the already limited farmland and livestock populations.
"Alright Natsu," Mira said, "I want to handle this one on my own, okay?"
"Alright I guess, as long as I get to eat any fire that thing makes," Natsu said as he almost started drooling, "A monster that strong has to have some good fire. I wonder what it tastes like!"
"Well, why don't we find this thing and you can tell me about it," Mira laughed. He was cute when he was hungry. Natsu quickly nodded and the two set off. Natsu just watched as Mira followed the scorch marks that marred the land. He could have smelled his way to the monster but he wasn't super interested, plus he might make Mira mad and that was scarier than an angry dragon broodmother. Natsu shuddered at the thought. It didn't take Mirajane long to find the cave. It was at this point that Natsu started to feel a bit off. His nose twitched.
"Hey Mira?" Natsu asked.
"What's up Natsu?" Mira said, looking over her shoulder at the salmon haired man behind her.
"You might need to sit this one out, Mirajane."
"Why is that, my dear Natsu?" Mira asked in a sickly sweet tone.
"W-well, I feel really weird a-and there might be a dragon in that cave," Natsu said, "pleasedon'tkillmepleaseIdidntmeanit!"
"Alright Natsu, noted. If I can't handle it, I'll let you handle it, but I want to at least try," Mirajane sighed, "And please, I'm not going to kill you. Not yet anyway."
"Okay," Natsu said before grumbling that Mira was indeed scary and might indeed plan on murdering him. Mira walked into the cave and Natsu found himself lighting his hand ablaze and following her. His magic cast long shadows across the wide mouth of the cave. His ears pricked as he heard an almost inaudible rumbling. Well, that probably wasn't good. Natsu watched as Mira stopped for a moment before blasting her magic and quickly turning into one of her Satan Souls. She quickly hurled a ball of powerful magic down into the cave which turned out to be beneficial as it stopped the blaze of flame that tore through the cave ahead of them. The two attacks canceled each other out and Mira saw the glint of crimson scales and glowing red eyes.
She quickly sprouted wings and flew straight up over the jet of flame that flew towards her. Natsu proceeded to swallow them, "So Natsu? You said only a dragon slayer could kill a dragon right?"
"Yep!" Natsu said. Mira nodded and dashed towards the monster in front of her. She saw two wings and no front legs. That made this easier. She charged up her magic and quickly dodged the next burst of flame, only to have to cancel the magic and block the giant hooked tail that swung at her after. She was forced into a game of evasion and had almost no time to use her magic. So she wouldn't be able to dodge at range. If she got close though, she'd have to worry about its mouth. Oh well. She dashed in close and jumped up into the air above the head as the monster snapped at her, hoping to take a quick bite out of the woman. She stood atop the head and easily kept her balance despite the thrashing the monster did. She focused magic into her hand before unleashing magic straight into the roof of the cavern they were in. Natsu was impressed as he watched her nimbly dodge the falling rock that the wyvern below her could not. She was far smaller and more agile.
Mira watched in satisfaction as the rocks came down and smashed into the monster. Its wings got pinned and its lack of front legs made it so that it would be unable to move, "So Natsu, how was that?"
"I'm impressed! Not many would think to trap a wyvern rather than kill it," Natsu cheered, "Alright, let's get it out of there."
"Wyvern?"
"They're like dragons but have two wings as front limbs as opposed to dragons which have four legs and two wings."
"I see," Mira said before looking back. Mira sat down for a moment to take in the feeling of being in true combat once again. Oh it felt good! She became distinctly aware of a rumbling before feeling a bit hot. She looked at the wyvern, only to see glowing rock that soon liquified. The rock that had previously restrained it had simply melted away and lit up the cavern, showing the massive wyvern. She noted the way that its belly rumbled before her eyes widened as its gullet started to glow with stored heat. That wasn't good.
A torrent of fire raced from the beasts mouth and towards Mira. Fuck. She quickly changed into her Satan soul and smashed the ground beneath her. A small crater appeared and she fell into it, just in time to avoid the fire. That being said, she could still feel the scorching heat and groaned as she felt the flames lick at the back of her wings. That hurt. The flames died down and she saw the wyvern glowing once more. She was going to move but watched as Natsu casually stepped in front of her. Flame burst into existence around him at seemingly random intervals. Smoke trailed from the corner of his mouth and he spit out a wave of flame that completely engulfed the far weaker flames from the wyvern.
Mirajane heard a roar and the sound of claws on rock . She watched as the beast moved to snap Natsu up in its jaws. Natsu brought up his fist and slammed it into the monster's snout as it came closer. Natsu barked out something in a very guttural language. Maybe that was how dragons spoke? The wyvern roared and Mira winced at the loud sound but the sound was drowned out by Natsu's own roar which made her ears sting from the volume. The wyvern backed up. Natsu grunted out some more of the weird noises and Mira watched as the wyvern bowed its head a tad before answering back in a similar tone.
Natsu grinned over his shoulder at the girl behind him. She could have probably beaten the monster but Natsu's inner dragon had interfered a bit and he found that he was suddenly riled up. Oh well. She didn't seem to mind. The woman in question was confused. What were they doing, exactly? She shrugged it off. She was pretty sure Natsu would fill her in. She just sat down and thought about her fight. She was about as strong as she used to be, maybe even a bit more since her mind had continued to develop. She grinned, still S-class! Hmm. Probably not as strong as Erza was. Damn. No big deal, she could absolutely train to get stronger. Plus, she could always ask Natsu for help.
Speaking of Natsu, he seemed to be done as he was walking over to the platinum blonde, "So all in all! Things went pretty well, yeah?"
"I suppose so," Mira said before getting up. She groaned as she did so.
"You okay?"
"Just a bit of a burn on my back," Mira winced, "Not the worst ever."
"Let me fix that," Natsu said before lighting his hands ablaze with golden flames, "Hey can you lift your shirt?"
"Eager to get me undressed huh?" she teased, though she did comply.
"Who knows?" Natsu said airily as he pressed the golden flames onto her back. She let out a breath and felt her back ease up, though it was still rather hot. She felt a sudden flash of cold on her back and she sighed. That felt good, "Alright Mira, that should be better."
"I'd say so. Who knew you were so good with your hands?"
