Chapter 6: A Day Off
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
There's something to be said about how tranquil the forest surrounding Magnolia can be at times. The sounds of the wind gently blowing through the trees and the chirps of various birds just painted the perfect image of serenity. It's because of reasons like these that Natsu chose to live out in nature instead of the town itself. Sure he loved how lively Magnolia is, but he couldn't imagine dealing with all that noise all the time.
Having just finished his most recent training session, the pinkette is heading back to his house. Ordinarily, Wendy would be walking back with him; however, after one of their training sessions, the two dragon slayers found two unusually large eggs and have decided to take a short break to take care of them. However; that didn't stop Natsu from keeping up with his own training which has almost always been a daily routine for him.
In truth, he was actually thankful for finding those eggs when they did. With the amount of progress that Wendy has been making in her training, he was actually looking for something to use an excuse to give her break and let her relax for a bit. If he had to guess, in about another year, she wouldn't be too far behind where he was at that age.
Reaching his recently renovated house, Natsu heads in to get cleaned up. Afterwards he heads to kitchen to make something for breakfast, something that wouldn't be as able to do without the help of a certain take over mage. While he is by no means an amazing cook, he is a pretty good at making a few things. It didn't take long for him to hear someone walking into the kitchen. Given the number of people that live in his house that have higher than average senses, it isn't surprising that one of them would head to kitchen at the first smell of food. "Hey Wendy" he says while still focusing on what he is making.
"Morning Natsu" the bluenette said while trying to wipe the sleep out her eyes. "What are you making?"
"Pancakes" he says while placing another pancake on top of a short stack that was sitting off to the side.
Just seeing a stack of what is quite possibly the best breakfast food causes the bluenette's eyes to widen in excitement. "Can I have some?" she asked in a hopeful tone.
"Of course" Natsu says while handing her the stack that he just finished making. "One stack of pancakes with extra chocolate chips." He finishes as he gets started on making more.
"Thanks Natsu" Wendy said happily, quickly rushing to table to devour the heavenly cakes of amazingness.
He couldn't help but chuckle at how excited the younger mage would at the mere mention of pancakes. Most of the time, she is as bad as he is with steak.
"Do I smell pancakes?" came another voice. Said voice belongs a cat with black and white fur, blue eyes, pointed ears, and strangely enough he is walking on two legs. The cat is wearing a yellow bandana, grey pants, and a black utility belt. Walking into the kitchen, the cat saw the very thing that it had smelled. "Yay pancakes!"
"Really, must you be so loud this early in the morning." Came another voice. This time another bipedal cat with white fur and brown eyes that came into the kitchen. This cat is wearing a pink top and skirt as well as a yellow tie.
These talking bipedal cats are Morgana and Carla. The two dragon slayers first found these two cats by when they found their eggs, which did cause some confusion. When the slayers found the eggs they assumed that because of their size that some large creature must have laid these rather large eggs. Admittedly, both of them were hoping that they had stumbled across dragon eggs. Imagine their surprise when instead of dragon or another large creature that would justify the size of the eggs, two small cats were hatched instead. Now, neither of the slayers would claim to be an expert on cats, but both of them were fairly certain that cats didn't come from eggs. This not only confused them, but everyone else in the guild. Given how interested and entertained everyone at the guild was when they first learned about the eggs, it seems almost a little anticlimactic, almost.
Flashback Start
Having just finished training for the day the two dragon slayers are rushing to the guild show off something they had discovered. "Hey Gramps, can you tell us what kind of eggs these are?" Natsu said with both eggs in each of his hands. Wendy had tried to carry one of them but had trouble because the eggs were almost the same size as here and she couldn't see where she was walking.
"How peculiar, I've never seen eggs this big before" Makarov said as he looked at the eggs. Over the years he has seen many strange things as a guild master, though eggs this big would be a first. "I'm curious, where did you find these eggs?"
"In the forest near my house. They just fell out of tree I was about to destroy."
"Why were you about to destroy a tree?"
"Reasons, why?"
"Anyways, I'm sorry to say that I don't what kind of eggs these are." The master said while trying to move past the near tree destruction.
"Eh, oh well. We'll just find out whenever they hatch." Natsu said nonchalantly.
"Oh, I was hoping we could find out what kind of eggs these are." Wendy said, feeling a little sad that she would have to wait for who knows how long to get some answers.
"Sorry Wendy, but that's how it works. For life to truly flourish you must be patient and let life take all the time it needs." The old man says only to get confused from the younger of the two mages. "That means you just have to be patient."
"Oh" Wendy said now understanding what he was saying.
"So I can't just crack them open and hope for the best?" Natsu asked nonchalantly.
"Of course not you damn brat!"
"Natsu!" Erza yells as she approaches the group. "What are doing bringing those eggs into the guild hall?"
"Asking Gramps what kind of eggs these are. Didn't you hear us?"
"That's not what I meant. What I mean is why would you bring those eggs into guild, not knowing what they are? For all you know they could be extremely dangerous to everyone in the guild."
"Don't worry I'm sure it'll be fine."
"How can you be so certain? Are you really willing to put others at risk to sate your own curiosity?"
"Ok I see what you're saying. If whatever is in those eggs turn out to be dangerous, then I'll kick their new born asses just for you." Natsu said casually. Well, as casually as possible when talking about attacking infants. He knew what the knight was talking about and was simply trying to avoid any unnecessary risk that could potentially harm their guild mates. That being said, he couldn't pass up this opportunity to have some fun at Erza's expense. Mira would never forgive him for it.
"That's not what I mean and you know it!" Erza exclaimed, desperately trying to save face.
"Erza, why do you want Natsu to beat up some innocent babies?" Wendy asked with tears starting to pool in the corner of her eyes.
If everyone weren't already paying attention before, they were now. All of them quickly caught on to what was happening and not one of them wanted to step in to aid the knight. Sitting back and letting things play out is way more fun.
"I don't, I'm just saying that he shouldn't bring those eggs into the guild when we don't know how dangerous they are."
"So you want me to leave them somewhere where they can possibly be eaten by some hungry animals? How is that any better?"
"Again, that's not what I mean!"
"I must say I'm surprised Erza, I didn't think you would be cold to some unborn creatures." Makarov chimed in. While he sounded like he was disappointed in Erza, no one believes that he actually is. They all knew he found this just as amusing as they do.
"Not you too Master"
"Why do you hate babies Erza?" Wendy asked innocently.
"I don't, I'm just concerned for everyone's safety"
"Oh my god, this might be the best day ever!" Mira said, having just regained the ability to breath. She can't remember the last time she laughed this hard.
"Shut it!" Erza shouted. The last thing she needed was for that demon bitch adding to this. This whole thing is already bad enough thanks to Natsu and Makarov and she doesn't need her making it worse. Instead of the usual reaction of those two fighting, the Take Over mage once again started laughing at the redhead's misfortune. "Anyways, what if whatever laid those eggs comes looking for them?"
"Fine, I'll beat up their parents too if that'll make you happy."
"Stop making it seem like I'm asking you to do something terrible."
"Then stop asking me to do those terrible things."
"I'm not!"
Flashback End
A couple days later, both of the eggs hatched and revealed both cats. While everyone was happy about the newest additions to the guild, some were upset. But that may have been because of the betting pool centered what would hatch from the eggs and no one placed a bet on cats.
Natsu tried to jokingly ask Erza if she wanted him to beat up these cats but was quickly cut off when she threatened to castrate him with a rusty sword. Any retort after that was quickly silenced after that. He got her back when Wendy innocently asked what castrate means and he told her to ask Erza. It's the little things that can cause the most fun.
"Give him a break Carla; you know how excited he and Wendy get whenever I make pancakes?" Natsu said, trying to defend the two.
"And you shouldn't encourage them acting so immaturely." Carla said as she glared at the pinkette.
"You and Morgana we're born a couple weeks ago and Wendy's five. I'm sure you three are allowed to be at least a little immature." Natsu said as he handed a stack of pancakes to the 'immature' cat.
"Thanks Natsu" Morgana said as he rushed to the table to cake his pancakes in butter and syrup.
"You're Welcome. Anyways Carla, there's nothing wrong with being a little immature every once in a while; especially when you're still young."
"Hmph" was Carla's only response as she took the plate of pancakes from the pinkette. The reason that she was dropping the subject was because she knew how long this argument could go and it wouldn't have the results that she wanted.
"Do you guys have to make so much noise?" Sayla grumbled as she walked into the kitchen. Immediately everyone notices that she looks like death warmed over which is pretty normal for the demon every morning.
After getting her guild mark, Natsu offered to let her stay at his house until she could find a place stay, which she quickly accepted. Considering that Sayla didn't have any other options besides the guild's infirmary, the pinkette's house was definitely the preferred option.
Wendy was excited when she first met Sayla, mostly because she was the first demon the younger dragon slayer met as well as all stories she heard from Natsu made her determine to meet a demon. Thankfully her first experience with one was with one of the friendlier demons the older dragon slayer knows.
Like with any new guild mate, everyone at the guild was just excited to have a new member. While not particularly fond of how often the guild would get "rowdy", the demon did find being a part of Fairy Tail enjoyable and found that she fit in surprisingly well. Not surprising anyone, Sayla quickly became friends with Levy because of their shared love of books. What was surprising, if only to a couple people, was that she got along with Mira surprisingly well.
Out of everyone at the guild, the only person Natsu was worried about meeting Sayla was Mira. While he doesn't know much about the Take Over mage's past; he was able to figure out that something bad had happened because of a demon. Thankfully, their introduction went much better than he expected; not that he was expecting anything to bad happen.
Flashback Start
The party celebrating Sayla joining the guild has been going on for a couple hours. The party itself is at that point before the celebration turns into one of the guilds infamous all out brawls and everyone is enjoying the calm before the storm.
"So you're the new girl" Mira said as she approached Sayla and Natsu, who was telling the demon how fun the fights can get during the parties. "I'm Mira, it's good to meet you." She greeted the newest edition to their guild before gaining a serious expression. "Though, I got to say; I didn't expect that an actual demon would join the guild."
Immediately, Sayla was caught off guard having not expected to figure out what she is immediately upon meeting her. Natsu on the hand knew that something like this was going to happen. If Mira was able to figure out that he was a Devil Slayer just by being around him they it would the easiest thing to learn about Sayla.
"We just met, how did you figure out what I am?" Sayla asked curiously.
"Let's just say it's I know because of my magic." Mira replied before turning her attention towards the pinkette. "I just have one question. Do you trust her?" She knew of Natsu's history with demons and knew him well enough to know that he would never intentionally put anyone in the guild in danger.
"Of course" he answered.
"Good enough for me" Mira said while losing her serious expression. "Sorry if that came off as kind of bitchy Sayla, I don't exactly have the best history with demons."
"It's ok; I've heard plenty of stories where humans had suffered at the hands of other demons. I can't fault you for being at least a little cautious."
Flashback End
Since then, those two have become surprisingly close; despite Mira jokingly telling Sayla that she's going to steal her soul.
"Long night?" Natsu asks as he hands her a plate of food. "Let me guess, you got carried away while reading again."
Silently thanking him for the food, she grabs the plate and trudges her way to the table. "Yeah, I wanted to finish the book I was reading and once I was done I couldn't go to sleep so I started reading another book. Five books later I finally fell asleep." Let it be known that Sayla isn't the type of person, or demon, that will leave a task unfished, especially a task as important and interesting as those books. . "That was three hours ago." She finishes, hoping that her breakfast will wake her up or make her want to go back to sleep. At the moment; the latter of the two being is the preferred option. At least these pancakes are good start for either option. The blueberries added to them are a nice touch.
"It's amazing how little self-control you have whenever it comes to books." Carla said condescendingly.
"When you say it like that, you make it seem like I read too much" Sayla replied, not in the mood for dealing with the judgmental cat this early in the morning.
"Obviously you do if can't choose between your books and some much needed rest."
"The only time I ever stay up all night reading is when decide not to go on a mission the next day. Even if a job does come up that requires my full attention, I am more than capable to carry it out with little issue. But if want to try to convince me that it's possible to read too much than go ahead, preferably some other time that's not today, or this week for that matter."
"Carla, what did I say about scolding us first thing in the morning?" Natsu asked plainly as he joined everyone at the table with own stack of pancakes. Like morgana, he chose to cover his pancakes with plenty of syrup and butter. This effectively stopped the white cat; it didn't stop her from giving him the stink eye, not that it bothered him.
"You have to admit that it's impressive that you were able to finish that many books in a single night." Morgana said to Sayla. He's seen just how big some of the books she reads are and barely believed that she was even able to finish one in a single night. Most people would need at least a couple weeks just to make it through a single one of the demon's books.
"Thank you Morgana." Sayla said happily.
"How did you read that many books in one night?" Wendy asked. The bluenette couldn't figure out how it was possible to pull of such a feat.
"Skill" was the demon's answer. While true, it's not entirely accurate to say that it was all her skill. She might have deliberately left out the part where she may or may not have been testing the Gale-Force Reading Glasses that she got from Levy the other day. That information isn't really that important at the moment.
At The Guild
After eating their breakfast, both slayers and talking cats made their way to guild. Sayla decided to stay behind to get reacquainted with her bed and catch up on all the sleep she lost out on from the previous night.
Today is one of the calmer days in the guild where no one was fighting or being flung from one end of the building to the next. It wasn't even that noisy for the usually rambunctious guild. More than likely the reason it's so calm is because it's still early in the morning and no one is ready for the craziness that comes with the guild.
Upon entering, Wendy quickly runs off to hang out with the kids in their group with Carla and Morgana in tow. Natsu couldn't but laugh at how excited the bluenette would get whenever coming to guild. He understood why she would get way and couldn't fault her acting the way she does, but that doesn't stop him from getting a good laugh from time to time.
As we was about to join his group of friends, he notices Mira sitting by herself at one of the tables, picking at her food with her fork. Just by looking at her he could tell that something is bothering her.
"Hey, what's up Mira?" The pinkette asks as he approaches the Take-Over mage.
"Oh, hey Natsu" Mira said, not really paying attention to what the pinkette is saying.
"Are you ok?" Natsu asks, now starting to feel a little concerned. Seeing the Take-Over mage so out of it is just unsettling.
"Yeah I'm fine, why?"
"You seem like something is bothering you."
"Oh that; don't worry, I just have a lot on my mind"
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"It's nothing; Lisanna just went on her first solo job."
"Did she take one that was too tough for her?"
"Of course not, it's just a simple job gathering specific herbs in the forest just outside of town."
"Then you have nothing to worry about" Natsu said casually, hoping that he that he was able to reassure the Take Over mage. While he meant well, the pinkette's words didn't exactly have the desired effect. In an instant he was suddenly blasted across the guild. Seeing the pinkette get sent flying across the guild hall quickly caught everyone's attention, only for a couple seconds. After the dual slayer hit the ground all of them turned their attention back to what they were doing; no one wanted to get involved. Regardless of what the cause was, it surely isn't worth a potentially extended trip to the infirmary.
Stumbling back to table he was just at; Natsu realized something important, Mira's attacks are far more powerful when she's mad. Was that attack the strongest one he's ever been hit by? Not by a long shot. Did the attack hurt like hell? Of course it did. "Ow" the pinkette groaned.
"That's what you get; you ass" Mira said while glaring at her friend.
"I think you just fractured my kidney."
"Quit being a baby, we both know you've been through worse."
"What did I do?"
"You said something really stupid and you got what you deserved"
"All I said was that you have nothing to worry about. What's wrong with that?"
"You're just asking to get blasted across the guild again, aren't you." That was more of a threat than anything else. While she knew that the pinkette meant well that didn't excuse him from saying something so stupid. "Of course I everything to worry about! My baby sister just went on her first solo job. What if she comes across a dangerous animal it attacks her. Lisanna loves animals; she'd probably tried to be friends with it before the damn thing attacks her. What if some bandits come across her and kidnap her? They could sell her off before anyone." With every new hypothetical situation, Mira's anxiety and fear would get much worse. "I have to go! I need to make sure Lisanna is safe!" Now letting her fear get the better of her, Mira was about to rush out of the guild to make sure her sister was safe.
The only thing stopping was that hand that was holding onto her shoulder. Looking to see who was dumb enough to try to stop her, her eyes lock onto Natsu's.
"Calm down Mira" he said as calmly as possible. Right now the last thing he needed was to agitate her anymore.
"Either remove your hand or I will." her voice may have sounded calm but the warning was clear as day.
The pinkette calmly removed his hand, knowing that if he didn't it would lead to a fight that would be completely pointless and just make the situation far worse than it should be. "Mira, just hear me out. You know how good my sense of smell is. Because of that, I know where Lisanna is and if there is anything dangerous anywhere near her. " Hearing this at least caused the Take Over mage to calm down a little bit. "From what I can tell; Lisanna is perfectly safe and there isn't anything or anyone even remotely dangerous close to her."
Hearing this had the desired effect on Mira and calmed her down even more. She was still worried; but no more than she was earlier. "Thanks for that, I got a little carried away there for a moment." That was an understatement. If the pinkette hadn't said what he said when he said it; she would have bolted straight out of the guild to make sure her sister was safe. Mira couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself because of what she almost did. This was Lisanna's first solo job for her to complete on her own. Interfering in anyway would just show that she doesn't believe her little sister could do it on her own.
"Don't worry about it, I was just trying to help." He understood why the Take Over mage would react the way she did. Since coming to the guild, he has become really close with each of the Strauss siblings, Mira in particular. If he has learned anything about them since then, it's that they genuinely cared for each other. "I wonder; did you act the same way when Elfman went on his first solo job?"
"Of course I didn't." She lied. She was just as worried then as she is now. The only difference between then and now is that Mira didn't nearly rush out of the guild back then. Granted the only reason why she didn't was because Lisanna was with and she didn't want to freak her out. That and the oldest Strauss didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her little sister. "I knew Elfman wouldn't have a problem with that job."
If the flat look on Natsu's face was anything to go by, he didn't believe her for a second. Well, not the first part at least. "Yeah, I'm sure you didn't freak out." He said sarcastically, causing the Take Over mage to blush a little over being caught lying.
"Shut it!" Mira snapped back in attempt to save face. "I'm sure you'll be doing the same thing when Wendy starts going on jobs by self" she said in an attempt to turn this around on the pinkette.
"What are you talking about?" he said, falling for the diversion.
"Simple; since Wendy joined the guild, you two became really close. I'd say you two are as close as I am with Elfman and Lisanna." She isn't wrong. Both slayers have become close ever since they met. Usually wherever one of them was, the other wouldn't be far behind. Really the only they weren't hanging out with each other was when Natsu was on a job or on days like this when they were spending time with their friends in the guild. It even became a small running joke that the two slayers were long lost siblings. Even random people around Magnolia believed the two to be actual siblings.
"Huh, I never thought about that." Natsu said as he took on an inquisitive look. He knew exactly what Mira was try to do and is willing to just role with it for now. If it will help calm her down, he'll let this conversation go somewhere else. "Heh, I'm sure I'll be fine. I am training Wendy so I'm sure she'll be ready to take on whatever kind of job she takes when that time comes."
"Oh right, I'm sure you won't be worried at all." Mira replied sarcastically.
"Well if I freak out as much as you just did then you'll need Gramps to hold me back." This got a laugh out of both mages. "So, are you feeling better?"
"A little, I'm still worried but I trust Lisanna enough to be able to handle her job by herself."
"Well if it helps; from what I can tell, she's only a few miles from your house. If you're still nervous, we can head over to your place so if anything too dangerous does get to close to her, we can take care of it before it becomes a serious problem."
"Why would we have to go to my house?"
"Because Lisanna is just barely within range of my nose. If there is something too dangerous for her to handle by herself then I won't smell it until it gets to close. Plus it'll take less time to get to her from your house than the guild."
"I guess that'll be fine, hopefully we'll find to do to kill some time."
"I'm sure we will"
At The Strauss House
It's been a few hours since both Mira and Natsu had left the guild to hang out at the former's house. To kill some time; Mira decided to show Natsu how to make a couple more dishes, figuring that everyone at his house is either getting tired of the few things that the pinkette knew how to make or at least getting close to. Her assumption isn't exactly spot on, but it never hurts to be able to make a couple more dishes.
Natsu, for his part, was happy learn how to cook a few more things. From what he's figured out from previous lessons, there are not many things Mira enjoys more than cooking. During every lesson, the Take Over mage would always have the most genuine smile that the pinkette has seen on her whenever she was preparing something. If most people saw the oldest sister with that smile on their face they would say that it would be out of place on her. It's not like he's never seen her smile before; it's just that usually when she's smiling when she's beating the shit out of someone or whenever she's talking crap to someone, but those were different than what she has now.
Seeing the smile on Mira's face as she was preparing and explaining the dish she was working on just showed how calm and in her element she is. He could tell that at this moment she's the most relaxed she's been all day.
"What are you staring at?" Mira asked as she caught Natsu staring at her.
"Sorry, I got distracted."
"Oh yeah, by what?"
"Your smile, it's really cute." Natsu said nonchalantly. He knew exactly what he was saying and had a feeling what kind of effect his words would have. Prior to coming to Fairy Tail, teasing someone by saying something like is something that he wouldn't have done. After becoming friends and spending quite a bit of time with Cana, teasing people became of his favorite things to do.
Hearing that, Mira's face was instantly covered in a fierce blush. "Shut it. If you're not going to take this seriously, I'm not going to show you how to make anything else." she said as she turned away from the pinkette, trying to hide her blush.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." He said while chuckling, making the Take Over mage blush even more. "The only time I see you smiling like that is either when you hanging out with Lisanna and Elfman or when you're cooking something."
"I don't hear you complaining about that last one." Mira said as she turned back to keep doing what she was doing.
"I'm not dumb enough to do that."
"You sure about that?" She jokingly asked. "What can I say; I really enjoy cooking. It's one of those things that can always clear my mind."
He couldn't argue with that; on the occasions he's seen Mira cook, she always has a perfectly content look. Sometimes, she almost looked completely different person instead of the cocky, fight crazy, goth girl that he befriended months ago. "So, who taught you how to cook?"
"My mom; it was one of our favorite things to bond over. She would always walk me through it step by step. I would always get so excited whenever she let me help her in small way. Anytime I made a mess she just laugh and tease me for it while we cleaned it up. I almost lost my mind the first time she showed me how to bake. I'm sure at some point I drove Elfman crazy with everything I tried to make and had him taste test it. Especially with a few dishes I messed up."
"Let me guess, Lisanna was smart enough to hide." Natsu joked. He really did like seeing this side of Mira.
"She wishes, if Elfman had to suffer than she did to. But really, Lisanna always tried to be supportive. I'm trying to do the same thing for her now that she wants to learn how to cook."
"Explains why Elfman has been trying to take more solo jobs recently."
"He can try to run all he wants, he won't get away but he can try if it'll make him feel better."
"He'll get over it. He doesn't have much of a choice." He would have asked more about her past but he knew it was a touchy subject, one that Mira usually likes to avoid.
"Good point. Now pay attention, I don't want to have to explain this more than once." And with that they went back to what they were. Another hour later; this lesson was over and Natsu had learned how to make a couple more dishes. Now was time for his least favorite part of these lessons, cleaning the dishes. Part of the agreement for Mira giving him these lessons was that he had to clean all the dishes that were used. He also had to buy the food so that he wouldn't end up clearing out their fridge. Neither of these things was unfair in his opinion.
While cleaning, both mages were talking about the usual stuff: jobs, training, busting each other's chops. A short time later both mages were heading back to guild.
"Thanks Natsu, you really helped me calm down today."
"Don't worry about it; I was just trying to help a friend out."
"Hey Mira, Natsu" both mages turn to see who was yelling for them only to catch sight of Lisanna running towards them.
"Lisanna!" Mira yells back as she rushes to her sister. "How did your job go? Did everything go alright? Are you hurt?" she was asking questions as fast as she could of them while checking over sister to see if she is ok.
"Yeah everything went great" Lisanna said, not at all bothered by what her sister was doing. She saw her do the same thing to Elfman when he came back from his first solo job.
"That's great" Mira said once she was done with her impromptu check up
"Good job Lisanna" Natsu said.
"Thanks Natsu"
"Come on, let's go to the guild, I want to hear all about how your job went" the older sister went.
"You two go ahead; I have some errands I need to run." He lied. In truth he just wanted to give the sisters some space so that can have their family moment together.
"Ok, I'll tell you about my job next time then." Lisanna replied
"Sounds like a plan." He said as split off from the Strauss sisters; but not before seeing Mira mouthing the words "Thank you" before her and Lisanna made their way to the guild
Having nothing else to do, the pinkette decided to just go for a walk around the town. Even after months of being in Fairy Tail he never got tired of taking in the sights of Magnolia. Sure, it wasn't the biggest town he's been in but he just like the feeling of walking around, taking in sights of everything that's going on and taking in the smells coming from the restaurants and street vendors.
One thing he liked about taking a walk around Magnolia was that he always either found something to someone to kill time with. Apparently, today was no different. Walking out of bakery a block away from the pinkette is, unsurprisingly, Erza. Noticing that she hasn't noticed him yet, Natsu decides to have some fun as a devious grin makes itself known on his face.
Carefully sneaking up on the knight, he inhales as much oxygen as he can. "Hey Erza!" he yells.
Letting out an unusually girly scream as she jumps into air, she quickly turns to see who made the mistake of scaring her. Seeing the pinkette, who was struggling to not only breath but to stand as well, caused her to see red. "Natsu!" she yells as she requips her mace from her Purgatory Armor, ready to beat him to a bloody pulp.
Even though he could feel the bloodlust and killing intent coming from the redhead, he had trouble calming himself down from the obviously hilarious joke. He isn't worried though, at worst, Erza may just try to kick his ass. He's been through worse beatings when he did the same thing to a demon he trained with. "Sorry Erza, I couldn't pass that up. It was just too perfect."
As much as the knight would have liked to punish the slayer serious offense she knew that it was more trouble than it was worth and it likely wouldn't result in anything that would be worth the effort. That being said, beating the living hell out of pinkette really sounded like a truly great idea at the moment. "What are you doing here Natsu" she said as she requipped away her mace, still very much annoyed with him.
"Not much, I was just walking around before I saw you." He answered honestly, finally regaining the ability to breath.
"If that's the case, then I'll be on my way." The knight said tersely as she started to walk away, earning a sigh from the slayer. This was pretty much how the knight acted towards him most of the time since they went on that to capture Serov. She was either avoiding him or reprimanding him for something.
"So I take it you're still mad" he said as he started to walk besides the redhead.
"I don't know what you're talking about. What would I be at you for?" she said dismissively. Of course she was still upset. While Makarov did his best to explain everything, without showing that he condoned Natsu's actions, she couldn't help but feel disturbed by what she saw. Seeing him so callously rip off Serov's arm and shatters his other hand was something she couldn't get out of her mind. She could still remember the look in his eyes; it was look that showed absolutely no remorse towards the executioner. It was a look that showed just how much he wanted to end Serov's life.
"So you haven't been trying to avoid since we went on that job"
"It must be your imagination."
"Well, this is going nowhere" Natsu said as he picked Erza up and started walking towards a park that is nearby. With the way things were going he had to options; he could either let things continue as they are and hope things turn for the better or he could try to work it out now. If he was a more patient and less direct person he would've chosen the former.
"Natsu! What are you doing?! Put me down now!"
"Not until you agree to talk this out."
"Put me down now!"
"There's only one way that's going to happen" he said as he finally reached the park. During this time of day it's usually mostly empty with the exception of a few people here and there.
For as stubborn as Erza is, she had a tough choice to make. She knows Natsu is just as stubborn as she is, especially when his mind is set to something. She could either go along with what he wants and have a conversation she isn't too enthusiastic about or continue to be carried by the pinkette. It's a matter of what will win first, her stubbornness or her pride. "Fine, just put me down!"
Setting her down gently, he could see just how mad she is at that moment. Admittedly, he didn't go about this in the best way possible. "Why are you still angry about that job?" he asked bluntly. There really isn't an easy way talk about this so he figures it's best to get straight to the point. Thinking back on everything that has happened since they met, that job was the only thing that could have caused this kind of reaction.
"Why am I still angry?! You ripped a man's arm off, crushed his remaining hand, threaten to kill his followers and your plan nearly got an innocent person killed. And you still have to ask why I'm angry." She said as her voice kept getting louder and louder.
"Serov had already killed a couple people before we got there and he would have killed more if I didn't do what I did."
"And that justifies you ripping his arm off. I've seen how fast you are; you could have easily knocked him out."
"You're right, I could have. But I didn't. Seeing someone that has no respect for life and kills for fun like him set me off. Honestly, he's lucky that I went easy on him."
"Oh and that justifies your actions. Because he doesn't respect life; that gives you the right to do whatever you wish to him. And what about you? You've killed people to. How can you be mad at someone like Serov for his willingness to kill when you have killed some people moments after meeting them?"
Natsu was slightly shocked at this piece of information; he didn't expect Gramps to tell people about what happened when they met. It's not like the dual slayer wanted to keep it a secret, he just assumed that the older mage would prefer to not spread word of the pinkette's darker side unless there was a good reason for it. "Because unlike Serov I've never killed anyone that didn't it deserve. Everyone I've killed has killed a number of people themselves. Even then; I always give them a chance to walk away with their lives but they never take it seriously until it's too late. But the biggest difference is that I don't enjoy killing anyone. There's nothing I hate more than the pointless loss of life and those who enjoy it."
"Then how do you justify killing people especially when you find it so detestable?" Erza asked. Internally she's relieved to hear that Natsu doesn't enjoy killing. That being said; she couldn't rap her mind around what she's hearing. 'Why would you put yourself taking lives if you yourself can't stand such a thing?' she thought.
"Simple, I don't."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I don't try to justify killing anyone. I don't even know how to begin with something that ridiculous. Don't get me wrong I don't feel guilty for what I do, but I don't enjoy it."
"How? How do you not feel guilty?"
"Two reasons. The first being is that they all could have chosen something to walk away and live. Their deaths are the results of their choices and their mistakes. The second is that I was basically raised by dragons and demons; both are creatures that treat death and killing as a natural part of life."
The knight didn't know how to respond to that. Knowing that the slayer is basically the product of his surroundings did answer some of her questions; it also raised many more. From the stories she heard of both creatures, with the exceptions of the ones she heard from the pinkette, both of them were creatures that killed with little to no remorse. She's heard countless stories of demons killing people for no reason other than they could and if her history lessons told her anything about dragons; for the most part, they weren't much different. There lies the source of her confusion. Natsu has shown to be a kind and caring person at times, focused and determined at other times, and relentless and ruthless, in her opinion, at the worst of time. "I don't get it, what kind of person are you?"
There it is; the true source of her dilemma. In her albeit short life, she's only ever met one person that has shown such contradictory personality traits. And that one person is the source of some of her worst memories. She wants to have faith in Natsu and see him as a friend, especially since Makarov does and she respects her master more than anyone she knows. But she can't stop herself from feeling the way she does. She can't help but keep her guard up around the pinkette.
"I'm not going to lie. I'm someone who does terrible things for selfish reasons all with good intentions in mind. But you know what they say the road to hell is paved with." The slayer said calmly, sounding more mature than someone his age should. Since coming to Fairy Tail, Gramps has tried on a few occasions to convince him to stop killing people; to instead set them down different path and possibly turn them into a friend. He could understand this reasoning and respects it and he's even willingly to give it a try. But he hasn't met anyone that he could have helped in that way. Things were never that easy for him. "When Igneel was first teaching me how to kill, he made sure that I knew two things. How beautiful life is, and that if I ever started killing people because I can than I'll lose my right to call myself his son." He said in the hopes that it'll make the redhead feel better.
"He threatened to disown you?"
"Kind of. In dragon culture, for a parent to disown their child is a death sentence. For a dragon to disown their child, the child must have done something truly terrible. Igneel is one of the dragons that fought to protect humans and wanted me to do the same. He gave me that warning to make sure to I wouldn't go against what he trained me to do."
"If he's willing to go to that extreme, than why teach you to kill in the first place."
"In one way or another, we're all hypocrites. While he hates killing he sees it as a necessity at times. He asked me once if I had a choice between killing someone to save someone else or letting someone die and stopping the killer without killing them, which would I chose. It was a question without a right answer because no matter the choice, someone died. Like my father, I will always choose the former."
Erza couldn't help but ask herself that very question. She had to agree that there isn't right answer. On hand choosing the former meant that she would have to cross a line that she didn't know if she could. On the other hand, if she chose the latter, than she would be responsible for someone being killed, not directly but she would still feel responsible for not doing something because she couldn't cross a line.
"You wanted to know what kind of person I am." Natsu said as he looks Erza straight in the eye. "Well that's simple. I'm someone who enjoys good friends, good food, good fights, and bad jokes. I'm also someone that will get my hands dirty whenever I have to if it means protecting people."
Erza felt strangely relieved at this information. On one hand she isn't happy that Natsu would still kill people in the future; however, by the way he said what he said she's confident enough to believe that he won't let this darker side of his personality consume him. She finally understands what Makarov meant when he said that the pinkette is someone that can walk the line between light and dark. "Thank you Natsu, this conversation has proven to be very helpful." Swallowing her pride like that was a tough thing for her to do, but it isn't impossible when it's necessary. "And I apologize for the way I treated you since we went on that job."
"It's ok Erza; I'm not going to blame you for feeling what you did. I know that not everyone approves of the more terrible things that I do."
"I'm glad that we can move past this then." Erza said honestly. Is she completely over this whole thing? No; of course not, in her mind she will never see killing as a good thing. That being said, her relationship with the pinkette is much better than it was this morning. It'll take time for things to be a hundred percent again but at least they aren't still in an uneasy place.
"What do you say we head back to guild?"
"That sounds like a good idea" the knight said as the two mages made their way back to the guild hall. "Just so you know, I'm still going to punish you for picking me up like you did earlier."
"What? Can't we just move past that?"
"Of course not, you picked me up without my permission. You're lucky that I didn't beat you within an inch of your life then and there."
"Fine, I'll admit that I deserve it." Natsu said before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Doesn't mean I won't run like hell though!" he yelled as he started running away from the redhead while laughing at the situation he's currently in.
"Natsu! Get back her and take your punishment like a man!" Erza yelled as she pursued the pinkette. While she would never admit it, the knight is enjoying the chase just as much as the slayer is.
Later That Night
It's been a few couple hours since the last guild member has left for the night with the exception of Makarov. The old man is in a rather good since he has finished his paperwork much earlier than usual, he didn't have to write as many apology letters for his guild's actions as usually does, and he has a cold beer to enjoy in the unusually quiet guild hall.
"Master, may I have a word?" a young boy asks. Said boy is wearing a black long sleeved shirt, white pants, a dark blue bandana covering his head, and a green bandana covering his face. Additionally, he also has a couple magical staves on his back that are being held in place by a green strap.
"Of course Mystogan" the old man said as he turned to face the most reclusive member of the guild. Over the years, Makarov has made it habit to drop what he is doing to talk to or help his guild members. That being said, he couldn't help but be curious, and slightly concerned, with what the boy in front of him needs to talk about. In the short time the child has been in the guild, he mostly only talks to the master when he needs a job approved or when it involves a more "serious" development in a personal matter. Given the time of day, Makarov could only guess that this concerns the latter. "What is it that you would like to talk about?"
"It's about that matter I have told you about." the younger mage says, confirming the old man's worries. "There have been some unusual developments recently."
"What do you mean by unusual development?" the master asks, not liking how this sounds
"Recently I have been getting irregular readings that have been indicating erratic power fluctuations in the ehternano in various locations. Under normal circumstances, these results in the disappearances of towns we've discussed. However; only a little more than half those occurrences have resulted in the usual abductions we've discussed."
"Ordinarily I would assume that is a good thing; however, I have a suspicion that tells me otherwise. "
"Your suspicion would be correct. Instead of what usually occurs is replaced by inconsistent abductions. Sometimes only the population of a town would disappear while leaving the buildings unscathed while others would result in with large portions of the towns being destroyed."
"In those cases, are there any survivors or at least some witnesses?"
"Not that I've found, unfortunately."
Makarov could only let out a deep sigh at what he has learned. While he assumed that he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear, he didn't think it would be this bad. He's going to need a stronger drink. "Do you have an idea of what is causing this?" he asked, hoping for some good news.
"Unfortunately not" Mystogan replied, not liking that he didn't know what is causing these events to happen or why these cases are so different from the ones he's dealt with before. "That's what I came here for, to ask for some help."
"Just tell me what you need and I'll do what I can." The master replied, this situation was already a serious one to begin with and if the young mage in front of him is asking for help than this ordeal must be worse than he believes.
"Do you know any strong mages that know how to be discreet and are willing to get their hands dirty should the need arise?"
"It just so happens that we have couple mages in the guild that fit those criteria."
There it is, yet another chapter done. Sorry the long wait but life just kept getting in the way and I've either had no time and/or energy to write. Still, I'm sorry about the long delay and unfortunately I can't promise the same thing won't with future chapters. Recently I just started a new job and that takes up a lot of my time. I'll update when I can and hopefully I'll be able to update at least once a month.
Before I go any further with this AN there's something that I need to talk about that I just noticed. HOLY SHIT, what happened? 347 followers, 266 Favorites, and 14,658 views. Those numbers are insane. Thank you to every one of you, all of you are awesome.
This was kind of a slower chapter but it was a really fun one to write a chapter where the characters can just be characters. Let me know how I did for future chapters like this so I can improve where ever you felt was weaker. Anyways a lot happened in this chapter and going by what happened at the end I can guarantee everyone can guess what the next chapter will be about. I can't wait to get to work on the next chapter because it's where you'll see one of the bigger changes in this story and it's one that I've been planning for a while.
Now let's talk about the talking bipedal cat in the room. Yes, I did replace Happy with an exceed that's basically Morgana from Persona 5 except he's slightly less narcissistic and has a proportionally sized head compared to other exceeds. For those curious there are a few reasons for this decision. First one is that Happy is a character that, for the most part, I find really annoying. Besides flying Natsu around when necessary, all there is too Happy is some comedic relief that I don't always find that funny. Replacing him with Morgana was an easy decision that gives me a lot options for future chapters. And the main reason for this change is because I've been playing a lot of Persona 5 lately, first time playing one of the games in this franchise, and I couldn't help myself.
Now onto the results of the poll on whether Juvia should be a Water Dragon Slayer or not. And the results are in; Juvia will be one which as a result means she will now play a bigger role in the story. Thankfully not too much is none of her backstory so it will be pretty easy to work in.
Onto Harem news, like always, if you're not interested in this part then go ahead and skip this part. As it is now the current final list for the harem is: Mira, Ultear, Salya, OC, Cana, Erza, Kagura, Yukino, Mavis, Hisui, Irene, and Dimaria and Brandish. I saw that enough people were asking for me include all of the Alvarez girls so I hope everyone's happy with it. Anyways there's the full list. This list may change, for a few reasons in the future. I may add a girl or two if I feel like there's a good reason to do so. I have considered adding Juvia, Meredy, and Lisanna but I'm still on the fence for now. But for now the current harem is what it will be for the future of this fic.
Onto the reviews
Xerzo LotCN: As a heads up, don't expect anything "pleasant" to happen to anyone involved in with Tartaros. The part where Sayla hiding her being a demon is something that I set up in case I want to use it to tease a later chapter. Also keep in mind people in the FT universe are generally terrified of demons, even to irrational degrees. Just look at what happened to Mira with her old village. Oh and you have a lot of awesome ideas for different magics for Natsu to potentially learn. I may or may not have a way to introduce a couple of them in an unexpected way.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Thank you so much for your review. I've been getting concerned that I've started following along the same formula other OP Natsu stories fall into. That's something that I wanted to avoid and I will be putting more effort into future chapters to make sure that doesn't happen. I have plenty of characters already planned that will be more than a match for Natsu and those fights won't be a complete one sided stomp. There will still be some characters that won't stand a chance against Natsu, but I'll try to space them out a little more than I have been or just have them fight someone else.
That's it for the reviews. Thank you to everyone that has read up to this point and to everyone that has favorite, followed, and reviewed up to this point.
So what did all of you think of this chapter, loved it, hated it, think it has some issues, did it make you want to get some pancakes. Let me know, I'm open to any kind of feedback
Like always, if you have a question you can leave a review and I'll answer it in the next AN or just send me a PM and I'll answer it as soon as possible.
Anyways, I'm going to get some pancakes
Till next time
Mreh