Year X782
It was late in the day, with the sun already down and the stars already out. At the edge of a cliff in a rocky formation was walking a pink-haired mage with a blue and white cat wearing a green bag sitting on his shoulder. It had been 4 years since the two met each other and they had grown into close friends especially since Natsu was the only thing Happy could consider family and even though the cat's hyperactive and enthusiastic nature occasionally tired the mage every now and then.
"Natsu, can we go get fish? I'm hungry." Happy requested.
"Again? You ate a fish like an hour ago." Natsu responded, honestly always surprised by his partner's black hole of a stomach and obsession with fish.
"I know but it was the last one. Now, I don't have any left and I'm getting hungry again." the feline whined.
"How do you eat so much anyway? You're like the size of my head." the wizard wondered.
"I don't know, it must be a characteristic of my species. Besides, it's no big deal, your water magic makes it so easy for you to fish."
"That's not the point Happy. If I had listened to you every time you asked for fish, we would probably have caused the extinction of some fish races." Natsu argued.
"Well, that would have been their fault for being so yummy." Happy countered…somewhat.
The pinkette was about to point out the ridiculousness of his friend's comment when his attention was drawn to the sound of a distant voice that his sensitive ears picked up.
"What are you doing?! Come back here!" the voice that was obviously feminine called out. Without a second thought, Natsu ran at great speed towards the source of the sound but he hadn't warned his blue-furred friend who found himself gripping to the shoulder he had been sitting on to avoid being knocked off. It only took him a couple of seconds to reach his destination but the sight he was greeted with when he did was rather unsettling.
The first thing he noticed was a huge beast as tall as a building, although it paled next to Natsu's dragon form. It was covered in brown and green thick fur, had long, large arms with sharp claws. Additionally, it presented white hair resembling a mane, pointed ears and canine teeth and a pair of stripped horns pointing upward, coming out of a plate on its forehead. It also had dark hooves as well as a pair protrusions sprouting from its shoulders, similar in appearance to its horns. Its only piece of clothing were dark blue pants with extremely prominent and spiky upper edges and a brown belt. However, its most prominent feature by far was its shiny bright purple eyes.
Then, he saw a petite girl with fair skin, shoulder-length snow white hair and blue eyes. She looked to be around 15 years old. She was wearing a short, dark red dress with a white collar and bow. Up on her arms above her elbows, she had gold rings with a pale pink fabric flowing down from them. She also presented tall, black socks along with brown shoes. She was standing in front of the beast, close enough for it to strike her but she didn't look the least bit scared about it.
A little behind her was another girl who looked to be a couple of years older with large blue eyes and snow white hair although hers were a lot longer, reaching her lower back with a large strand covering her forehead freely, and most of her hair tied in a high, large ponytail on the back of her head by a massive dark ribbon. She had a gothic-looking outfit that did a poor job of hiding her curvy, voluptuous body and large breasts. More specifically, she donned a dark, skimpy sleeveless shirt adorned with some light curved motifs on the chest, a pair of leather shorts held up by a studded belt with a demonic-looking buckle and thigh-high boots with stiletto heels, each bearing a skull adorned by a flower on their upper front parts. She also sported a bracelet shaped like a demonic arm around her right wrist, a ring on the same hand's middle finger, and dark nail polish. She was sitting on her legs on the ground and pretty injured. Nothing too serious, let alone life threatening but she was clearly not in fighting condition.
None of them was in range of Natsu's nose but he didn't need it to guess the two women were related. His attention was quickly drawn back to the beast when it roared and raised its right arm, preparing to strike the younger of the two women who only spread her arms wide.
"Come on. Don't be afraid big brother, we still love you." was all she said before being tackled by a pink-haired man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was lucky for her however, because as soon as she touched the ground she saw the large claw flying right above them, which means that if it hadn't been for that stranger, she would have taken the full blunt of the strike which could have very realistically killed her.
Then the stranger picked her up and jumped back next to her sister, just as the beast's fist came down on her previous spot. When they stopped, he put her down and they were joined by a blue cat with angel-like wings. Both girls were so shocked and confused, they couldn't do anything but stare at the man and cat, mouths agape. In the end though, it was him who broke the silence.
"Can one of you fill us in on what the hell is going on here?" he asked in a pressing manner which successfully brought both girls out of their trance. The oldest was about to argue and question him but her sister didn't give her the chance to do so.
"We are wizards from a guild and accepted a request to eliminate a beast attacking the town nearby but our brother Elfman tried to Take Over the beast and it was too powerful so he has lost control of himself." she explained as the beast was slowly walking towards them.
'So I can't just kill it uh? Just my luck.' he thought and then noticed the guild mark on the gothic's left sigh and the other's left shoulder in white and red respectively. 'That insignia…it's the Fairy Tail guild mark, Mavis' guild' he remarked but the girl started speaking again.
"Mira can't fight anymore and I'm not a good fighter, can you please help us?" she asked which earned her a sigh at first.
"Alright, but don't try to pull a stunt like that again." he accepted and dashed towards the beast.
"What do you think you're doing, Lisanna?! I'm an S-class mage and look what that beast did to me. This guy is going to get destroyed, maybe even killed!" she berated her little sister who was going to retort but was interrupted by a chuckle. Both girls turned their gaze to the source of the noise and, much to their shock, it was coming from the flying feline who had a paw covering its mouth and a teasing smile.
"You obviously don't know him." he teased. The eldest girl didn't really know how she should feel about all this but the one now known as Lisanna was just fascinated.
As Natsu was running to his enemy, he had overheard the conversation thanks to his enhanced hearing. 'Well yeah, I could defeat it in 2 seconds, but not without killing it and I'm trying to save that idiot. Even worse, the only way to do that is to severe the link between Elfman and the beast before the latter takes over the former's soul by hitting the beast on the head…fantastic.' he concluded.
When he got close to it, the beast put his two hands together and raised them above his head. It then brought both hands down on Natsu with all the speed it could muster. The pinkette effortlessly jump out of the attack's way, only to jump right back where he used to be, ending up on the beast's fists. He then began running up its right arm and climbed on its head. Positioning himself between the beast's horns and raised his right hand which got surrounded by bright purple energy.
"Gravity Dragon's Crushing Fist." he whispered so low that even the creature whose head he was standing on didn't hear him clearly. He then brought his energy-coated fist down between the beast's horns.
This action caused barely enough damage to draw blood but what it mainly did was propel the head of the beast towards the ground at high speed, making its chin crash against the grass and rocks. The shock was so strong, the whole creature bounced back up in the air a little before ending up flat on its stomach, knocked out.
As Natsu landed on his feet gracefully, the beast emitted a blinding yellow light and shrank to a human size. When the light died down, it revealed a very tall and large, muscular man with tan colored skin and long white hair styled upwards in long, wavy spikes. He also had no visible eyebrows and a rectangular, elongated face with a stitched scar running down its right side, crossing his right eye. Just like his sisters he presented a Fairy Tail guild stamp, except his was black and on the left part of his neck. He was not wearing any clothes, except the same pants as the beast.
Happy wasn't the least bit surprised by what just happened but the same couldn't be said about the two girls next to him. Mirajane was so shocked that all she could do was stare at Natsu, speechless. Lisanna was just as shocked as her older sister but that shock was ignored in benefit of the concern for her brother and she ran to his side. When she reached Elfman, she knelt next to him and started checking on him.
"How is he?" she asked the pink-haired mage without taking her eyes off of her male sibling.
"He'll be out for a while and when he does wake up, he'll have the worst headache imaginable but other than that, he'll be fine." he answered in an emotionless tone. These words gave Lisanna a visibly relieved look. She then turned around to look the man in the eyes.
"Thank you for helping us. I don't know what we would have done without you." she said sincerely.
"Think nothing of it. Happy!" the pinkette answered then called his partner who flew in front of him. "Take the oldest sister, I'll carry this one." he instructed as he pointed at Elfman.
"Aye sir!" the cat confirmed while raising his paw and then flew back next to Mirajane.
"Take them where?" Lisanna asked more confused than wary.
"Back to your guild. No offense but I can't imagine you carry both of your siblings back on your own." he responded while he flung Elfman on his shoulders. Lisanna nodded in agreement just as Happy returned while carrying a frowning Mirajane by the back. "Okay, show us the way." he told the only uninjured Strauss who silently complied and started walking towards the nearest train station.
As the others were following the young woman, the oldest of the Strauss was deep in thoughts. Ever since she joined Fairy Tail, she had prided herself to be one of its strongest members. She had grown arrogant especially since she became an S-class mage. Not only that but her feeling of superiority made her become horrible to everyone except her brother and sister. And yet, for all that strength and power, she couldn't defeat the beast and if it hadn't been for a complete stranger, her sister would definitely have died, there was a high probability of Elfman being lost to the monster he had tried to take over, and she might have died herself if the beast had decided to finish her off. It made her think. Protecting her siblings was the one thing that mattered the most to her, yet she had been powerless to do so. So was she really all that strong? And even if she was, that man was many times stronger than her and he didn't brag once. These thoughts would monopolize her mind until they reached the guild hall.
When they arrived in Magnolia, the city where the Fairy Tail guild resided, the rain was pouring which made the cat of the group complain endlessly.
Natsu, for his part, barely even noticed the rain. Number one, he was a water dragon. Number two, he was far too caught up in his own memories. The last time he was here was when the events that led to the birth of Fairy Tail took place. Of course, it was more than a lifetime ago and his involvement was done in secrecy. Still, these were very dear memories to Natsu and he was glad he could take part in the guild's creation.
When he escaped his own trance, Natsu found himself in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. He had been subconsciously following Lisanna to it. It was an imposing building consisting of three floors and incorporating several architectonic styles: it took on a shape reminiscent of a pagoda, with each floor being smaller than the one below it and sitting on the latter's roof. The roofs also bore great resemblance to those of real pagoda, consisting of extremely long, arched tiles lined up one after the other and possessing simple curved protrusions jutting upwards on the building's angles. On the highest roof, topping the summit of the building, sat a simple, round and pointed dome which bore a flag on its point. The roof below the one with the dome, the middle one, housed a large banner with Fairy Tail's symbol on it, held up by a pair of vertical poles. The building's large entrance had its shape being reminiscent of that of the dome on the summit, and above it was the guild's name, topped by a protruding, stylized heart shape and flanked by a pair of carved fairies. Stylized heart shapes were also visible on the frames of the numerous, large pentagonal windows located on each floor, with the top floor housing smaller, arched windows partially covered by banners.
When they got to the large red wooden doors, Lisanna turned around and looked at Natsu, silently asking him if he was ready to go in. A simple nod was all the answer she needed before she slowly pushed the doors open.
The inside of the first floor was similar to a large lunch hall, and mainly consisted of wood, possessing a parquet floor and a mezzanine held up by wood beams overlooking it. Several long benches and the related tables stretched across its length with a bar at the end and the request board beside it.
The second floor appeared to have a few, small round tables and chairs seated around the tables for sitting. In addition, there are also barrels, crates, and bags scattered in corners around the room. Another request board was located on this floor. It was a brown, decorative board that was set off into its own area of the hall. It was adorned by velvet curtains, which are tied with golden tassels.
When they stepped, or in Happy's case flew, into the room, every person inside the guild turned their gaze towards them. Some were shocked at seeing their guildmates' condition, some where enraged and others looked like they were on the verge of crying a lot.
But the only person who moved was an extremely short, elderly man with black eyes and a thick white mustache. He was dressed in a casual manner, with an attire consisting of a white shirt with a black Fairy Tail stamp in the middle under an orange hoodie. His attire was completed with matching orange shorts and an orange and blue striped jester hat.
"The infirmary is there." he told the pink-haired young man and the blue cat as he pointed to a door, understanding that these two had nothing to do with his children's sorry state, otherwise they wouldn't have brought them back to their guild.
With a nod of acknowledgment and a movement of the head to his partner, Natsu walked in the infirmary with Happy following him.
When they got in the infirmary and closed the door behind them, the old man turned to the only remaining Strauss and asked. "What happened on the mission my child?"