Chapter five
When Mirajane stumbled into the guild covered in bandages and her arm in a sling everyone stopped and stared. It had been a long time since the girl had returned to the guild that beaten up and injured. There was also the fact that Elfman had a new scar and Lisanna just looked tired.
The girl was covered in bruises and scratches but Mira seemed to have taken the brunt of the injuries in short they all looked like they went through hell and somehow managed to come out the other side.
The Master let out a sigh of relief that they all managed to come back alive. Even though it looked like Mira's pride had taken a harsh beating but it was also more than that. He hadn't been too worried when she took the job but at the same time Mira's over confidence was starting to worry him.
He was an old man and he knew the dangers of believing that there was no one out there that could defeat you. Mira had for a while now been looking at herself as invincible and that would not end well for her or her siblings. He had seen over confidence be the downfall of some good people and he hoped that Mira would not be one of them.
It seemed like this job had become a huge eye opener. He knew that the job had gone south before they called to check in. The hospital alerted all guild masters if one of their members found themselves in their care. It was a safety measure since many mages didn't have any other family.
He studied Mira when she returned there was something new in her eyes, something that he hadn't seen in her in a long time. She had known defeat and it probably had never tasted so bitter because she could have lost more than just a fight. She could have lost one of her siblings. She had learned a harsh lesson, one that only time and experience could teach.
As much as he hated to see the blood of his children he couldn't help but be glad that she had learned this lesson without losing anyone. This could have turned out very differently. The guild had come very close to mourning one of their own.
He called the Strauss siblings to him and the rest of guild listened carefully as they explained what happened during their mission but several things were worrying the master. He knew that Natsu had taken jobs near the town but why was he there?
He had received letters from the people who requested the job done. They all were thankful and he somehow managed not to damage anything but he should have left a day before the Strauss siblings attacked the creature.
"Natsu managed to save Lisanna?" he asked and the siblings nodded when Lisanna said something else.
"There was someone else with him. A blonde girl and I think she was a celestial spirit mage. When she blocked the attack, she landed in front of me. She opened a gate using a golden key and I heard her call the spirit Taurus."
The master narrowed his eyes, "A celestial spirit mage is rare. There hasn't been one of considerable power since Karen from Blue Pegasus passed away. She also holds a key to the zodiac and no one heard of her. That's a little strange."
Mira narrowed her eyes, "Master why is it strange?"
Makarov was silent for a moment before deciding that the information wasn't anything dangerous or something that she wouldn't be able to find out on her own so he replied.
"Celestial spirit mages often draw attention. To open a golden gate takes a lot of magic power. It may look easy but to tear open a hole in space and time, to punch a hole into the spirit world and hold that spirit in this world is not an easy task. Especially when you consider the fact that as the spirit uses its power, the mages power also drains. The Spirit is only as powerful as its owner."
Some nodded their head as they knew this, others were only vaguely interested as the master continued to explain, "Opening one gate is hard. Opening two gates is almost unheard of but there have been some mages capable of doing it. To open three is said to be forbidden for it will destroy the mage as the amount of magic needed will tear the mages body apart. The keys are rare, expensive as well. Normally a mage who uses the keys will draw attention."
Ezra narrowed her eyes at his explanation, "Do you think its strange that no one has heard of this girl?"
He just shrugged, "Some celestial mages like to keep a low profile not wanting to draw enemies towards their keys. She might just be one of them. Many dark guilds would pay assassins to kill the girl and steal her keys for themselves or just to sell it. Her magic isn't something seen every day."
Makarov took a sip of his beer before he continued, "It's a type of magic that has been boarding on lost magic for many generations as only one or two mages wield the magic in the same generation. At least those who use the gold keys are rare. Many have some silver keys and never become mages because their spirits lack defensive and offensive abilities. The gold key users are targeted but they can become powerful mages."
Gray couldn't but ask, "So who is she? How does she know Natsu?"
Lisanna just shrugged, "He said that he needed to take her to rest because she used too much magic. We can ask him when he returns."
They waited a few more days until Natsu showed up at the guild. He was wearing leather fingerless gloves. That was strange the gloves covered up to his knuckles. Natsu never showed an interest in wearing gloves before but the truth was that he didn't want to take off his wedding ring. It was actually Happy's idea to cover it up. He made sure they were flame resistant as well.
Mira thanked him quietly for his help but Natsu just smiled at her, "You would have won if you didn't try to take it on yourself you know."
Mira immediately got mad and Master narrowed his eyes at Natsu but he didn't notice and continued talking, "Elfman could have provided a good distraction while you and Lisanna could have targeted his head and spine taking care of business. You just didn't want to put them in the line of danger."
Mira grabbed him by the front of his shirt and growled out, "Of course I don't want them in danger."
Natsu hit her hand away and took a step back, "You're holding them back. Elfman managed to do a full body beast soul takeover. It didn't work right on a creature as powerful as the King of Beasts but he is ready to try other creatures less powerful than that like a weretiger or lizardman."
He narrowed his eyes at her as she clenched her hands into fists. He ignored all the signs of her anger because the truth was a bitter pill to swallow. She needed to get her ass out of the guild and get to training but she also needed to remember that her siblings were mages as well. They could take care of themselves but only if she let them so he continued.
"Lisanna managed to hold a takeover for over an hour. After clearing out the town and she managed to fly back to you. She's ready to try more advanced techniques and you as their elder sister should be teaching them. They are mages and you guys are a team. You cannot protect them from life and if you didn't notice you trying to protect them nearly got Lisanna killed."
Mira growled at him and attacked and for the first time Natsu sensed her coming. He hadn't been able to do it when he was younger and by the time he thought he would have a fighting chance against her she had already quit fighting. This time everything seemed to moving in slow motion or maybe she just wasn't as fast as she would become.
He grinned at the knowledge that he could finally fight the feared Demon. Natsu ducked under her fist and round house kicked her backwards into the wall of the guild. He ignored the gaps of shock and he simply told her, "Don't get mad at me for telling you the truth. Take them away for a little while, train them do be better so that something like this never happens again. I might not be there next time to save her so make sure that she doesn't need saving."
Ezra picked her jaw up from the floor and looked at Natsu. He seemed different somehow he felt more grown up and his magic was different. He seemed more powerful. He was more confident and less childish. It was like he had grown up overnight because she was sure that he hadn't been like this the last time that they saw him.
No one could even tell him that he was wrong because everything that he said was technically true. All he was doing was pointing out her mistakes and she didn't like that. He wasn't trying to be cruel either and Ezra wondered when he got so mature and how she had missed it. This was something that she would have expected from the Master not from Natsu.
"Natsu, you shouldn't be holding that against them." She reminded him and merely rolled his eyes.
"I didn't do it to sound mean. They really are powerful and they could do better if she stopped coddling them and actually trusted their abilities. You know if Mira goes away to train her siblings she might end up being more powerful than you."
Mira immediately declared that they were going to train as soon as she thought of finally beating Ezra. Mira didn't notice both her siblings looking at each other nervously and Lisanna face palmed. She wanted to talk to Natsu about the girl and now they were going away for who knew how long.
Ever since he got to the guild, she kept trying to voice the question but something always got in the way. Natsu and Mira got into a fight, then Erza started talking to him and then Mira got an idea in her head and once that happened she couldn't be stopped. It looked like she was going to have to wait to ask him about the girl that saved her. She owed her at least thank you and she couldn't help but want to know who the girl was and how she knew Natsu.
Ezra immediately declared that she was going to train once Mira had made her own announcement. Natsu then caused even more chaos when he called out something else, "You know she could claim to be the better teacher. Since she is going to train her siblings, you could take Gray as a disciple. He doesn't really have a partner and you guys make a good team."
It was true that while Gray didn't have a specific partner he did go on many missions with Ezra. The two of them were able to work well together. They were both level headed people and when they worked together they never ended up fighting each other. Unlike when Gray and Natsu worked together and got on each other's nerves.
They were a good team. They had similar thoughts on strategies which made it easier for her to work with him. When they worked together the damages weren't too bad either resulting in them almost always getting the full reward. The master was always happy when they managed to limit the amount of damage because it saved the guild a lot of money.
Natsu smiled as Mira dragged her siblings off while Ezra dragged a protesting Gray out the door behind her. He could also hear Gray claiming that he would get his revenge on Natsu when he returned. Natsu knew that there would probably some sort of revenge and that he should be worried. However at the moment he couldn't help but pat himself on the back since he managed to get them to go off to train without having too much difficulty.
Gray honestly didn't know how or why he had been dragged into this conversation. Or how Ezra managed to grab him and drag him out of the guild or where his pants were currently but he knew he was in this mess because of Natsu. Somehow ash for brains managed to get two of the most powerful women in the guild to go on training trips to get even stronger.
He resisted the urge to cry or face palm because seriously? Who needed those demons to be stronger? Where was the war or the army that Natsu wanted them to completely decimate single handily? He didn't want to go anywhere but at the same time he valued his life so he crossed his arms as he was dragged out of the guild vowing to knock one of Natsu's teeth out when he got back.
He figured a couple weeks of training and Ezra would let him go. Besides it had been a long time since he went up to the mountains and tested his abilities. It would be a good idea to get away for a little while. He had enough money saved up and he didn't have to go on many jobs. He just hoped that Ezra would get bored of him in a couple of weeks and let him come back home to kick Natsu's ass.
Natsu on the other hand knew that when they returned it would hard to have them keep up their training. No one who didn't think that a war was coming any time soon would want to spend all their free time training. The only reason why he and Lucy were so fired up about it was because they knew what was coming for them. He supposed that once everyone returned and he introduced Lucy, he could propose that they do team training.
They only ever fought in synch a couple of times. The time they fought with Hades being at the forefront of his mind but other than that they spent most of their time getting in each other's way and causing a lot of damage. If he could convince them that they needed to learn to fight as a team he could ensure that they got more training done without knowing while they did a couple of jobs.
It didn't take long for the guild to calm down once both the Demon and the Titania left the guild. Natsu disappeared during the chaos. The days passed in relative peace with so many guild members gone. Natsu showed up every now and then to take a couple of jobs.
Whenever someone asked him what he was so busy doing he claimed that he was busy with his training. Without Mira, Lisanna, Ezra or Gray around there wasn't many people that would look for him for too long. The truth was that he was busy training Lucy and he didn't have much time to go to the guild. He also didn't want people to ask about Happy. The cat just didn't know how to keep secrets.
Lucy had come far in the month that they spent together. She was working on powering the staff with her magic. She still couldn't use it more than three times and she hadn't figured out how to use elemental spells. She did know that she would have to enlarge her magic container before she could try and use the spells.
Lucy had gotten faster and she was actually force to reckon with her new weapon. She switched from whip to staff form so quickly that he was getting a lot bruises during their spars. It was a far cry from her not being able to stand on the beam for more than a few minutes before losing her balance and hitting the ground. She was also flexible and nimble which meant that while Natsu relied on strength, she relied on speed. She was quickly developing her own fighting style.
He was currently stalking the guild waiting for Gildarts to show up. Ezra and Gray were gone off on an S class mission and then they were going to train in the mountains near there. Apparently it was high enough for there to be snow the perfect place for Gray to get some training done. Ezra thought that training in a new climate would be good for her and they both had someone to spar with. He also heard that Erza needed a bit of backup on the S-class mission. Mira had taken her siblings into a forest rich with both beasts and animals for them to learn new souls and train their magic.
When Lisanna 'died' the last time a couple months later Gildarts showed up. After getting the news he left on his next quest. This time Natsu and Lucy decided to just reunite the long lost father and daughter and hope that he took her on a few jobs like he did the last time. They were also hoping to save him from the black dragon that he lost parts of his body too. He had more important things to do than tangle with a dragon he couldn't defeat, like training his daughter.
He didn't have to wait very long for the man to walk into the guild and order a drink. This time instead of bugging him for a fight while he was talking to Master Natsu started sniffing him. Gildarts and Master shared a look of confusion. Gildarts raised an eyebrow in a way that said, 'is this a normal Natsu thing' or 'is he losing his damn mind?'
Honestly it was hard to understand how those two men could communicate by means of eyebrow raises and frowns but they managed to do it. Eventually the Master just shrugged in shoulders meaning I don't know you deal with it. Several people wondered whether or not the man would make another Natsu shaped crater in the guild.
"Natsu, what are you doing?" and Gildarts fist hit his head, creating a new crater in the guildhall from where Natsu had been flattened into the floor.
"You smell like Cana." He said as he rubbed his head as he stood up and the master raised an eyebrow as Cana spat out her alcohol, looking at all three of them in horror.
"What are you talking about Natsu?" she cried out and he just shrugged seemingly innocent as he sniffed in her general direction and then sniffed Gildarts hair again.
"I never noticed before now. Your scents are similar, like how Laxus and Gramps share a similar scent but theirs isn't as strong as yours. No its more like Macro and Romeo, you both have the same earthy scent, like how the air smells after a storm."
Cana paled as he said it but Gildarts suddenly started looking very closely at Cana and before she could disappear since she was inching towards the door he caught her arm and narrowed his eyes.
"Cornelia, you look like her. My wife she left me long ago because I went on jobs all the time. She got tired of waiting for me to come home. I heard she passed away but I didn't know she had a daughter. You have to be her daughter you looked exactly like she did at your age. You are my daughter aren't you?"
She slowly shook her head, inching away from him and in denial even though he was smiling at her, "I chose your name you know. It was back when we were young and still dreaming of our future. Your mother hoped to have a daughter and I said we would name her Cana. Don't lie to me please child."
Cana couldn't help the tears that rolled down her cheeks and Natsu slowly walked backwards away from all the emotions around him and smiled sheepishly at gramps who raised an eyebrow at him.
"I didn't know." He said weakly.
The master merely chuckled at his obvious lie. His heart was in the right place after all. They both knew that he did know and he was just trying to help her out so the master let it slide. Cana had been coming to the guild for a long time but he didn't know that she had come looking for her father. They had many years to catch up on.
Gildarts took three S-class missions, normal ones this time and called for Cana go pack her bags. They were going to go away for a couple of months and do some father daughter bonding. Cana left the guild feeling more than a little bit overwhelmed.
Gildarts was so happy to call her his daughter. He was so proud to show her off that she couldn't help but let a tear slide down her cheek. This was everything that she ever wanted and she had Natsu to thank for unknowingly revealing her secret. She never would have said anything if it hadn't been for him.
Cana knew that she would have kept trying to become an S-class mage but she also knew that she was just using that as an excuse. She was afraid to talk to her father, to tell him the truth so she kept putting it off. Now she didn't have to worry about it anymore.
Natsu resisted the urge to jump for joy as he watched Cana and Gildarts walk out of the guild. Instead he saw Levy sitting a corner of the guild, reading a book. Team Shadowgear was not a combat team. They trained themselves to look for missing people or artifacts or search ruins and to solve mysteries.
Their magic was mainly defense and none of them ever had much interest in improving their offensive abilities. Jet and Droy never wanted to be one of the heavy hitters of Fairy Tail. They had wanted to go on adventures with Levy, exploring things that people hadn't seen for a long time. They wanted to solve mysteries, not fight every day for their live and Natsu understood that. He never looked down on them for not taking the crazy missions.
However Levy she had the potential to be on same level as Freed when it came to runes. She didn't have much confidence and didn't bother studying it in much detail. Levy was someone who sought knowledge because she enjoyed learning. She was not someone who gathered knowledge for the purpose of powering up. Natsu just needed to give her a gentle push in the right direction.
Lucy had picked up a book on runes from her father library. While it had been interesting to read it wasn't in her skill set. Lucy had enough to learn without adding another type of magic so she wasn't interested in really learning it. Natsu walked over to Levy and dropped the book on Levy's table.
"I found this and I thought you might like it. It kind of went over my head and I don't even know how I got it in the first place."
Levy stared at Natsu in shock for a moment. She picked up the book and read over the title. It was a really advanced book that with enough practice someone could put up some really advanced runes. She thanked him quietly before going back to her book but she placed it on top of her stack of books. She did really appreciate the gift. She was also quite touched that someone as powerful as Natsu believed that she would be capable of using the magic in this book. Natsu on the other hand, hoped that she would start dabbling into runes sooner than she did in the other timeline.
Freed was good for offense but Levy was the best at defense magic. Her team could provide some powerful protections but for now everyone was out there training. There was nothing more he could do for his guild mates right now.
Natsu decided to go back to his wife. They couldn't do anything more until they could locate Mystogan and he put everyone to sleep when he showed up. For now he managed to get a good chunk of the guild off their asses and off to train. That was the best he could for now.
Lucy was currently making lunch while Happy quietly munched on a fish in the lounge. She refused to allow the cat into the guild until she joined. The cat had a mouth bigger than his own body and she was pretty sure that he didn't know what a secret was supposed to be.
He would probably tell the whole world Natsu got married within the first five minutes of arriving. It was really easy to keep him distracted all she had to do was hand him a brand new fish. Happy was content to keep their secret while they trained even though he didn't understand why it was so important for this to be a secret.
Lucy put the stove off and went outside to pick up the laundry. The sun was shining and for a moment Lucy took a deep breath and listened to the silence that surrounded her new home. It was a sort of peace that she had never known.
When she lived in the manor, there was never peace, just loneliness. In her apartment, there was always someone there or something happening. It was shocking to her to realize that this was the most peace and quiet that Lucy had gotten in a long time. It was sort of ironic that she would find this peace with Natsu, after all the insanity that he brought into her life.
She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard someone walking through the woods near Natsu's home. She was wearing a pair of jeans one of Natsu's shirts. She was actually shocked to realize that he own normal looking shirts. He just didn't like to use them but they were absolutely covered in his scent and she was more than willing to wear them while she cleaned up their home and trained.
She followed the sound of footsteps as quietly as she could and found herself staring at someone that she had never really known. Mystogan was calmly walking towards the guild. It kind of made sense that he would use this route to get to the guild without being seen by the people in town.
Natsu was never home during the day and it was one of the quietest places just outside the town. It was the least populated routes towards the guild. Mystogan was the one person that they had been waiting for since they kind of needed his help to get their plans moving onto the next stages. All they had so far was the plan to get as many of the members in the guild to go train for a couple months.
"Mystogan." She called out his name.
Mystogan paused when the person following him called his name. Lucy expected him to turn around and talking to her. Mystogan on the other hand, flung his hand out towards her and a strange blast sort of black mist went flying in her direction.
She jumped out of the way and he came at her with a staff in his hands. Lucy panicked, she didn't have her keys but she did have her weapon. She sent a pulse of her magic into the bracelet and with a flick of her wrist she was holding a whip.
Lucy was flicking her whip at his staff trying to keep him away from her because she could sense the difference in strength and there was no way she was going to win against him. The staff in his hands prevented him from getting too close to her since she kept flicking the whip at him.
"What are you doing?" she cried.
Her question was lost in the flash of summoned lightening from one of his staffs. Lucy's eyes widened when the lightening came towards her. She jumped over the lightening blot, switched from whip to staff and swept his legs out from under him.
It didn't faze him as Mystogan back flipped to his feet. Lucy did the next best thing that she could do in a situation like this. She whispered Natsu's name and hoped that he heard her. She didn't want to risk shouting out his name and having him think that she was trying to hurt someone in the guild. As a member of Fairy Tail he would probably crush her if he thought that she was trying to harm his family.
Natsu's dragon senses were better than anyone else's. He was almost constantly tuned in to her. He once told her that he could sense her heartbeat half way across Magnolia because he knew her so well. They both knew that he could track her through storms, forests and into nearly any enemy territory so he hoped that he heard her.
Mystogan took advantage of the fact that she was distracted. He was suddenly way to close for comfort and she could see a round house kick heading her way. She raised her staff sloppily and used it to absorb the impact from his kick. Lucy could feel his amusement when she managed to do that even though it was going to leave a bruise with the amount of force that he used.
He knew that she wasn't a match for him. The fact that her block was sloppy only proved the difference in their strengths. Mystogan was toying with her and that kind of made her mad. Then again she didn't really know anything about his abilities but she did know that she wasn't on his level.
He came at her again and she spun her staff in tight circles. Lucy knew that this surprised him. She was creating a defense barrier using wind. It was similar to a wind shield that would be able to absorb the impact from his attacks. He soon got frustrated with not hitting her and jumped backwards getting some distance between them.
He would demolish her in close quarters and they both knew it. She was basically holding him back by the skin of her teeth.
He was going to come at her again when a pink haired dragon slayer with a fist of flames hit the ground between them creating yet another crater. She winced at the destruction. They were really messing up this forest.
"What the hell are you doing ya bastard? You don't just attack your guild members wife!"
Mystogan was so shocked that he dropped his staff, "Wife? I apologize I thought she was part of the dark guild I took on recently. Some of them had been tracking me as I travelled back. Wait, when did you get married? Who is she? She doesn't have a guild mark."
Natsu ruffled his hair, "It's a long story. We were waiting for you to come back. We need your help."
Lucy rolled her eyes at both men, "Will you join us for tea? No one knows you're here and our home isn't far but we do really need to talk to you."
Mystogan followed the blonde woman as she walked in the direction of her home while Natsu immediately took her hand in his own. He smiled under the mask. He never saw Natsu this happy or content ever since he had come to the guild. Then again he wondered how the hell Natsu managed to get a woman that looked like that to marry him and why he was keeping it a secret.
He was also shocked at the house. It was done up, the grass was cut and there was a stone pathway leading to the house. There was a lounge with black sofa's and a fireplace. The kitchen was all done up as well. All in all it was kind of obvious that a woman lived here as well. He remembered seeing Natsu's home a few times. It never looked this good or this put together until now.
Lucy glared at him when he tried to enter the house with his staffs, "Weapons by the door."
Natsu chuckled at his stunned expression from the surprisingly fierce woman. He placed his staff's next to the coat rack that she had set up. It just wouldn't be worth the fight. He was sure of that much.
Lucy decided to just rip the band aid off and tell him what they knew, "I know you're the edo-Jellal so you can take off the mask and hat as well. We know you look like Jellal and Siegrain and that's sort of the reason why we need your help."
Mystogan may or may not have choked on air while Natsu chuckled behind him at the announcement. Lucy decided to give him some time to process that they knew his biggest secret and left to make some tea. She knew that it was probably unnerving for someone to just state that they knew your biggest secret. A secret that he had spent a lot of time ensuring that no one would find out.
While Lucy made tea, Mystogan stared at Natsu and Natsu kind of cracked under the pressure of his stare and told Mystogan about the time travel. They two men spent some time covering everything that happened until they found themselves in the past. Then Natsu told him about the little changes that they had made to the timeline. He asked some questions here and there but mostly he just let Natsu explain what happened. Lucy noticed that Natsu didn't give many details.
He just explained who they faced and why they had to face those people and the outcome of the fights. She understood why he did it. If they told him every single thing that happened then they would be there for a month, maybe longer.
hey had already discussed it and they decided that since they needed so much help from Mystogan then they should tell him the truth. The whole truth and that included the whole time travel thing. He was trustworthy and he didn't really have any other problems to overcome or face again. Once he dealt with the anima and chose his place in the world, he would be free to do as he pleased without the burdens of the past.
"Why did you tell me?" he asked and Lucy was the one who replied.
"Mira has her siblings to worry about right now. Ezra isn't at the same level and she has her own burdens to worry about and Gray has his own demons. Laxus is still an ass and Master has a lot to worry about without knowing this much already."
Lucy watched him drink his tea as he stared at her with curiosity in his eyes. There was no anger and he seemed to believe them so she continued, "Simply put, many people in the guild still have to face their pasts. Their mistakes and their own guilt no matter how misplaced. We don't want to burden them with the knowledge of the future. There are still things to come in the future that they have to face before they are ready to move forward and it isn't fair to burden them with more than they handle."
Natsu took her hand in his own and gave her a gentle squeeze of encouragement as she continued, "We already got people training hard. That will ensure that they're at a higher level than before. They'll be better prepared for whats to come but we cannot protect them from the truth. Many secrets about their pasts will be revealed and they all have the power to overcome it but that is something that they can only do on their own. War is coming and we need all the help we can get preparing it but they can't know until they're done dealing with the past."
Natsu was the one who spoke next, "You're the one whose past can be dealt with now. We don't have to wait for the timeline to play out."
He raised an eyebrow at them, "What exactly do you want me to do?"
Lucy smiled at him kindly, "We want to know whether you want to stay here in the guild or go back to Edolas and become the king."
He looked at her shocked and she carried on speaking, "The last time you didn't have much of a choice. Most of the guild was trapped in lacrima and when we broke out we ended up destroying the town. You had the idea of rebuilding Edolas without magic. They needed a leader and you just stepped up so we separated the two worlds and you stayed behind because there was nothing else we could do."
Lucy too a deep breath and sipped her tea. She needed to get her thoughts together and when she was ready she continued, "We can wait for it to happen again naturally. We can let it play out and you'll end up staying behind as King again. However if you want to stay in the guild, on Earthland then I know of a way to help the people in Edolas and ensure that you come back here."
When Lucy stopped speaking, Natsu started, "We don't want you to make your choices based on what we need you to do. We want you to take your time and decide what you want to do. When you have your answer we'll tell you our plans. We wanted you to have a choice this time, to know that if you don't want to go then we will make sure that you can stay here with your family."
Mystogan agreed to come back in three days and left with a slightly dazed expression on his face as he took in everything that he had just learned.
Natsu raised an eyebrow at his wife, "You're hoping he stays here."
Lucy nodded her head, "It makes our plans easier and gives us another powerful mage. If he really wants to go back to where he was born then that's his choice and I will respect it but we can't make any other moves until we know what he wants to do. I also can't help but hope that he stays here."
They were quiet for a little while until Lucy asked him, "Do you think he will stay?"
Natsu shrugged, "No one knew much about Mystogan but he was loyal to the guild. Did you know during the Phantom Lord attack he destroyed the other branches of the guild?"
Lucy shook her head. She hadn't known that had happened, "Master found out. Mystogan was family. We didn't know him well but he protected us and he loved Wendy. He took care of her and I don't think he would want to leave. The last time there wasn't any other choice but now that he had a choice I don't think he would want to stay there. He spent more time here than in his world."
Natsu wrapped Lucy in a hug. If he stayed then their plans had a better chance for success. If he didn't then they weren't screwed exactly but there was a good chance that things would not go smoothly. Their plans would have to be scrapped and he didn't think that they would be able to pull certain things off without him.
Natsu also wanted him to stay because he felt like the guy deserved better. As loyal as he had been he never had the chance to connect with the guild members. Mystogan had been so worried about covering his face that he never made many friends. He wanted the chance to get to know him. Natsu firmly believed that the rest of the guild would want to meet him. They would want him to know that he was family. This time and he had a feeling that this time he would get that chance.