All rights go to the God that is Hiro Mashima
Enjoy and let me know what you think!
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Natsu woke up in the morning with a massive headache, "Uhh…how much did I drink?" he looked around his empty tent and got up, getting dressed he through on what he had on the night before, throwing on his cloak he opened the flap to his tent and walked outside.
It was early morning as he walked out, Erza, Gray and Happy were sat around having breakfast and packing away, and almost ready to leave, Erza seeing him waved him over.
"Hi Natsu, after last night I'm surprised your up this early," she said giving him a small smile before returning back to packing, "Yeah about that how much did I drink?" he asked rubbing his head, "You were wondering around outside the wall's shouting stuff," Happy said snickering and covering his mouth with his paw's.
"Oh that kinda drunk," Natsu said chuckling before sighing, looking around Gray gave him a nod too which Natsu returned, he also noticed the lack of someone, "Where's Lucy?" he asked looking at Erza.
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "She was taking care of you most of…no all of last night so she's probably asleep still," Erza finished what she was saying and walked off towards her tent to grab the last of the stuff.
"All night huh," Natsu walked off towards where Lucy's tent was.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Arriving at the tent he could already hear light snoring coming from within, he opened the flap and walked in, walking in he spotted clothes thrown everywhere, some less decent than the other, ignoring this he looked to the cot and spotted Lucy quietly snoring away, "Ahh jeez I shouldn't have got that drunk last night," he sighed and began to pack away her stuff so she wouldn't have to when she woke up.
Putting her clothes away he placed them all in her bag and picked up…well a piece of silk that really didn't leave much to the imagination, "If someone walked in and saw me like this…," his cheeks reddened slightly before sighing, about to put it away out the corner of his eye he saw Lucy's eye's flutter open, "Natsu?" she asked still dazed from waking up, 'has he got my…' she sat up eye's wide and cheeks red when her eyes finally adjusted.
"Yo your finally awake sleepy head," Natsu said picking up her bag, "I tidied up and put everything away for you, I left some clothes for you on the end of your bed, were all ready to go so don't take to long," Natsu walked out of the tent not even waiting for a response leaving Lucy with her thoughts, she stood up and started to get ready, "I swear he had my underwear in his hand," she mumbled to herself, her cheeks went a shade of red that would put Erza's hair to shame, steam slowly and magically coming off her head "No, bad Lucy," she said slapping herself.
Outside the tent, Natsu slowly unzipped the bag and took his hand out of his pocket, the piece of fabric still in it, and put it back in the bag, he then rezipped it and waited for Lucy to come outside, "…Now her scent is all over my hand," he sighed as Lucy exited the tent her cheeks still bleared red from before, "All set?" he asked, a light dusting on his own cheeks.
"Y-yeah," with they both walked towards where the others were.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Waiting for Erza to get back Gray, Lucy, Happy and Natsu were sat around, Lucy was adding the final bandages to Gray, "Hmm, that one on your forehead is going to leave a scar," she said sitting back and dusting her hand off, "Huh? That's no big deal to me," he said crossing his arms, "That's your face you know!" Lucy said crossing her arms herself, "I don't care where I get my scars…well the ones you can see anyway," he shut his eyes and smiled smugly, "Oh that's well put," Lucy said giggling.
"Heard better," came Natsu's reply who was using wind magic to keep Happy afloat mid-air, while said cat was fast asleep obviously quite relaxed, "Shut up! I'm being cool here," Gray shouted at him as Natsu chuckled, stopping his magic he let the cat fall before catching him before he fell.
"Where did the ones who gave you that scar get too anyway, haven't seen any of them," Natsu said placing Happy down in Lucy's lap.
"They left last night because they couldn't eat anymore," were the first words that left the cat's mouth as it woke up, Natsu sweat-dropped before replying "Right,".
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Wh-what you're not going to take the reward money," Moka asked shocked, Erza smiled and spoke "That's right the sentiment alone is enough," behind her the others weren't so agreeable, Gray and Lucy stood depressed, while Natsu stood appreciating the large amount of luggage Erza had brought along, "Oh err but-," Moka stumbled over his words, "You see our guild never officially accepted this job…some of more foolish members decided to undertake this mission without permission," she finished casting a dark look behind her, scaring Happy, Gray and Lucy.
Moka smiled "Even so that doesn't change the fact we've been saved! Would you accept is a token of our appreciation instead?" the man asked desperate the reward the wizards.
Lucy Gray and Happy all stood staring at the man, wishing for their prayers to be answered, Erza sighed "Putting it that way makes it difficult to turn down," She said smiling, behind her the three were ecstatic, "Seven million Jewel! Gray said excited, Lucy simply squealed.
"But accepting his would go against are guild rules and principles, so we will happily take the golden key you promised but nothing else," she said in finality, again behind her Happy and Gray screamed, "WE DON'T NEED THAT!" while Lucy shouted less loudly "We do! We do!".
Boba spoke up from beside Moka, "At least allow me to take you back to Hargeon," he offered, again Erza shook her head, "Don't worry I already have my own ship sorted,".
At the coast sat a daunting and terrifying-looking pirate ship, "A pirate ship!?" Gray asked dumfounded, "Don't tell me she hijacked it," Lucy said shivering, Natsu simply chuckled a sly smile making its way onto his face, "I've captured bigger," Erza looked at him a small tick mark appearing on her forehead, "This is all I could do on short notice, I would have gone bigger but," Natsu looked at the ship again before sighing, "Sure you can use that excuse," the tick mark on Erza's forehead enlarged several time, "YOU'RE THE ONE'S IN TROUBLE," she took a deep breath before reequipping all her item's into her space, and with that, the group waved off the villagers and began walking towards the boat.
Getting aboard the pirates greeted Erza, "Welcome aboard Sis," the crew called out, everyone apart from Happy and Erza sweat dropped at this, "Sis?" Lucy asked tapping Erza on the shoulder, Erza nodded "They seem to be quite fond of me," she answered nodding, "Wow that's the great Erza for you," Happy said jumping for joy, Lucy sweat dropped again and walked over to Natsu.
Natsu was leaning on the side of the ship overlooking the sea, the sea breeze blowing his hair back as his cloak rustled in the wind, Lucy would be ashamed to admit how long she stood just staring at him as the ship move its way into free ocean…'He's so…' Natsu turned to her and threw her a small smile as he walked over to her, "You doing okay there?" he asked raising an eyebrow, Lucy went red and looked down at the floor, "Oh do you have motion sickness? I used to have that nasty stuff…I have some pills for it if you need em'," he said summoning them from his re quip space.
Lucy shook her head and mentally screamed at herself, which seemed to work, she looked back up and him a light dusting of pink still upon her cheek's, "No…no I'm just…er really worried about my rent, it's due in soon and I have nothing to give to the landlord," this wasn't even a lie she was screwed if she didn't pay her rent.
Natsu smiled at her and sighed, "Ahh well for taking care of me last night I'll pay your rent for this month and the next…a kind of compensation for me getting that drunk last night," he patted her on the back as he walked past her and down below the top deck.
Lucy stood till for a few seconds before pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and turning around, the dusting of red having been amplified tenfold, she looked down at the floor before going even redder, 'No bad brain bad…can't be having those thoughts…what if he can mind read…' she shook her head and sighed.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Arriving back in Magnolia had taken them a full day, it was early afternoon as they arrived in the city, Gray smiled and turned to look at the cathedral, "Were back," he said smirking, Lucy smiled as Happy flew around excitedly repeating Gray.
"Man after all that work, we got just one lousy key as a reward," Gray added, sighing, "It was an S-class quest too!" Happy said flying over his shoulder, "It wasn't an official job anyway so that's enough of a reward," Erza said hauling her luggage, Lucy beamed a smile happily holding out the key, "I'm not complaining," Happy deadpanned and shot her a look "You're the only one who profited anyway blondie," Lucy attempted to grab the cat by the tail "ITS LUCY!" she screamed at the cat shaking her fist in the air.
Natsu who was on the other side of the luggage to Lucy spoke up, "Although it's not like you can find a zodiac key anywhere, there's only thirteen in existence, twelve if we're being official though," he explained, "There are only twelve zodiac keys Natsu," Lucy gave him a weird look before he shrugged, "Must have miscounted," with that he threw his hands behind his head and went quiet again.
"What key did you even get?" Gray asked looking over his shoulder and they walked through Magnolia, "Sagittarius, half human, half horse," Lucy said holding out the key, "Half human, half horse?" Gray asked surprised, "Yeah he has the upper body of a human and the legs of a horse," she explained, that was when they heard Erza sigh.
"You all seem awfully carefree…" she said with her eyes closed, stopping mid-way into Magnolia, "Surely you haven't forgotten about your punishment," she said a small smirk making its way on to her features.
"Wha…punishment?" Lucy said surprised, "Hold on I thought we were passed on all that!?" Gray said sweating slightly, "Don't be foolish," Erza said crossing her arm's "I only permitted your actions due to the situation at hand…You still need to be punished," she finished, "You can't be serious," Happy said perched on Natsu's shoulder, "For the most part, I'm willing to forgive your action's," a sigh of relief came from the three stood around, the smile on Natsu's face that had been there since the start still present, "But it's up to master to decide on your punishment, I have no intention of defending your action's," she said closing her eyes and uncrossing her arm's.
"Be ready for the punishment you deserve," her eyes opening, a deadly look in them sending a shiver up Lucy, Happy and Gray's backs, that was when Happy went wide eyed, "You…you don't think he'll make us do that!?" happy said panicking, Gray clocking on immediately crouched to the ground gripping his hair, "No anything but that!" he stood up and looked around before latching onto Natsu's leg, "Natsu c'mon man you've gotta do something, haven't you got any magic that could save us," Gray pleaded, a very worried looking Lucy and teary eyed Happy nodding as well, "What do you mean other type of magic's Gray? I thought you said he only had fire and reequipH!" she asked alarmed, a sudden gust of wind blowing her hair back surprised her, looking at the perpetrator she looked to see Natsu with his hand extended out, "Nah I've got a few hidden trick here and there," He walked on from the group leaving them behind, "Huh you guys didn't know he had wind magic? He also has lightning as well," Lucy said walking after
Erza eyebrow twitched as she, Gray and Happy watched the two walk on, "Natsu's pretty cool," Happy giggled as he watched Erza turn her stare to him, his chuckling replaced with fear, "Scary," with that he flew after the duo who had walked away, Erza sighed before looking at Gray, "Anything else you want to tell me about him before I blow a fuse?" she asked him, he shrugged his shoulders, "I knew he knew a few more magic's than he let on but none that powerful," he then also walked after them, Erza took a few deep breaths before also following after them.
She turned a corner and saw the group standing still staring, her eyes followed to what they were staring at as it seemed time stood still for a few seconds.
The fairy tail guild hall had been destroyed, iron poles sticking out of the building's structure, it looked like it had been stabbed several times, "The guild hall!" Gray shouted angrily his magic gathering around him as he stared up at it his bangs covering his forehead, Erza's magic quickly snuffed out any Gray had even begun to gather, a red hue donning her form as the air began getting heavier.
"What has happened here!?".
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Bit of a shorter one, just finishing off the last arc and starting the new one, btw watch the new Cyberpunk Edge-runners show on Netflix if you can, it's amazing, the chapter was written just to promote that show, genuinely incredible.
A cyberpunk-themed fairy tail…now that sounds interesting.