"speaking"

"thinking"

On with the story

The days goes for Magnolia after the disease pandemic as every female in the town was saved

Natsu was currently at school as today was the Parent and Teacher counseling and the man was waiting for his turn

Meredy was taken to a Kindergarden school by Dan as the time has come for her to start learning and be with other kids than with him and the girls at all time

"Natsu" Éclair called out to him as Natsu glanced to her and smiled "have you finished?"

"not yet" Natsu replied "my uncle is taking a while and my homeroom teacher too. How about you?"

"already" Éclair said smiling "the others are going to be too soon"

"is that so?" Natsu replied before he sighs and leans against the wall "second year, huh? Time goes by so fast that it just passes so quickly"

"that's how time works, silly" Éclair said "no matter what, time will always flow like a river."

"yeah, flowing no matter what. can't ever be reversed" Natsu said as he looks to the scenery outside through the window "soon we'll graduate, get jobs or something, and then start anew"

"yes" Éclair said before hugging Natsu's arm and leans her head against his shoulder "we'll start anew together"

Éclair kisses Natsu's cheeks as the man smiled before giving her a passionate kiss in return

"Natsu Dragneel?" someone called out as Natsu and Éclair separates before they turn to see a teacher with Atlas beside her "it's time to start the meeting"

"be right back" Natsu said giving her forehead a peck before he walks to his class

Éclair waved to him as she watched him enter the class with Atlas and the teacher


"you are a Rank S student, you have a career job as a leader of a music/ dance group that produces songs that makes 10000 jewels per sold cd, and your grades are good" the teacher said looking at Natsu's grades, profile, and details before to Natsu "yet you state that you don't truly know what your desired career is?"

"yeah" Natsu said crossing his arms "being an idol, being a mentor, being a father to Meredy. These are somethings that I can never decide on to pick. Sure there are other good career out there, but for me….i can't pick on which one seems the best for me"

"if I may ask why?" the teacher asked as Natsu shrugs his shoulders

"I don't know why…it's just feels like…I don't know what my fate sets for me.." Natsu said as he looks at his hands "lots of things been going on with my life..becoming an idol, becoming a dad, becoming a mentor, and becoming friends….So many things happen to me so fast..it feels like being torn into picking one path from a thousand…but for now, I have my dream of being the best father that Meredy could ever have and that's my dream for now.."

"I see. It's good having a set goal in mind" the teacher said before looking back to Natsu's information paper "Being talented in many aspects is good but at the same time it will make one have a hard decision in choosing their own path"

"yes" Natsu said with a nod

"if I may state, my nephew is in need of time to choose so to speak" Atlas stated "taking a path from a thousand requires time and a reason to pick. If he hastily chose without rational thinking…he might not be able to turn to take another"

"I see" the teacher replied "then your choice of your career shall remain undecided to the time being, correct?"

"yeah" Natsu replied "for now"


The meeting soon ended as Natsu and Atlas bid the teacher goodbye

"unable to choose one's own path takes time and time is no one's ally" Atlas said before turning towards Natsu "chose the one path that is truly sets for you, nephew. The choice will not be made for you but you shall be the one to choose it"

"I know" Natsu replied before looking to the side as Éclair went to him

"now then, I shall be taking my leave" Atlas said walking away while using his staff to help him

"wait, just that?" Natsu asked "Éclair and the others plan to do some fun activities today. Won't you come with?"

"no need, this old bones of mine are not as what they used to be after all" Atlas replied while patting his back "I'll be retiring myself to the forest for some peace and tranquility"

"alright, but the offer still there for you" Natsu said as Atlas waved his hand off to him

Natsu sighs with a smile before looking to Éclair


Natsu and Éclair soon walked around in the hallway as they meet up with Lucy and the others with their parents or acting guardian

"yo! Been a while!" Gildarts who came to the parent teacher's meeting greeted Natsu with a grin while wearing a tuxedo for some reason

"yeah" Natsu said sweatdropping a bit to Gildarts outfit

"man, I can't thank you a lot for getting my Cana-chwan cured!" Gildarts said laughing a bit "tell you what, I know a good place that serves the best beer in Magnolia! I'll invite you around for the night!"

"thanks, I can drink but I'm not fond of it" Natsu replied

"you sure? It's the best beer in Magnolia!" Gildarts said with a grin

"some other time" Natsu said before looking to Simon who came as Kagura's guardian, and a blonde haired man wearing an expensive looking suit beside him

"hello, it's been a while." Simon said reaching a hand out to Natsu "Natsu…Dragneel, right? Thank you very much for helping my sister and taking care for her"

"no problem" Natsu replied before looking to the blonde man "and you must be..Lucy's father, correct?"

"yes, my name is Jude Heartfillia, president and co-founder of the Heartifllia industrial" Jude said before giving Natsu a business card "it's a pleasure to meet you, Natsu Dragneel"

"um, yes" Natsu said taking the card and looks at it

"I've heard lots of things about you from my daughter, and I thank you very much for taking care of her" Jude said bowing a bit "if it comes to go and that you need another benefactor for your music development, my company is willing to support and be a sponsor for you"

"yes, very much obliged" Natsu replied while pocketing the business card

"Father! What are you doing!?" Lucy came in while having a bit frustrated face "I told you to not do this!"

"Lucy, you have to understand that it's good for our company's business" Jude told her daughter "a chance of business is not a chance I'm willing to slip past"

"but you can't do it to my friend!" Lucy said puffing her cheeks a bit

Natsu sighs with a smile as he can see why Lucy is Jude's daughter and before long he started to converse with his mates' parents or guardians as he was being thanked a lot for protecting and taking care of them in their stead

A whole 10 minutes of conversing with them passed before Natsu's phone ring

"excuse me for a moment" Natsu said as he takes his phone and walks aside to pick it up "hello?...yeah….already?...yeah..alright…pick her up and get her home….thanks"

Natsu soon pockets his phone before he went back to converse with his mates' parents or guardians but just as he was about to speak, Zeref appeared as the man walks pass Natsu

His eyes widen a bit as Natsu whipped his head to the side but Zeref was gone

Natsu looks around but he was gone from sight

"you alright?" Gildarts asked seeing Natsu's action

"i-it's nothing, nothing at all" Natsu replied while shaking off what he was doing


Soon the day was over as the parent and teacher conference was done for the day

Lucy and the others bid farewell to their parents and guardian as they went home for the day

"now with my old perverted geezer and our parents away!" Cana cheered "let's go and party hard!"

"you do know that we're just going around shopping for the day, right?" Kagura asked while they all walked to the front gate where Azuma was waiting with the Limo

"yeah but that still considered as a party!" Cana said grinning as they got into the limo

"there's no changing that for you" Erza said as she was the last one to get in before the closing the door

Azuma gets in as he drives the limo off


In the limo, the girls chatted around while Natsu stayed quiet and was in the middle of texting Dan who was looking after Meredy

"do these girls ever stop talking about clothes and things girly? I mean always chatting about clothes or something for 24/7?" Demonic Natsu said as he appeared with White Natsu

"they are maidens of beauty, they must have a way to maintain their beauty" White Natsu stated

"heh! That's just you!" Demonic Natsu replied

"what's wrong with you two?" Natsu said looking to the two spirits who were now small and standing on his shoulders "you guys shrunk or something"

"and I thought he was smart, what does this look like?" Demonic Natsu asked while holding his hands up to the side

"we have a problem within our residential home which is your mind" White Natsu stated "another one of us had awakened a few days prior"

"another one of you? Great, what should we call this one? Crazy Natsu? or something?" Natsu replied as he texted a few messages before pocketing his phone away

"by crazy you mean, Dragon" Demonic Natsu said "the guy is more weirder than us two. Keeps rambling on balance and balance"

"so? where's this Dragon Natsu?" Natsu asked

"within your mind" White Natsu replied "he cannot come out for some reason unknown"

"can't come out, huh? That's a good thing" Natsu said

"yet I can speak to you" a voice spoke in Natsu's mind as this made his eyes widen a bit "I am who you have stated as Dragon Natsu, I am the third persona within you"

"great, talking in my head than talking to me face to face. Great talker" Natsu said as he rolled his eyes a bit "so? what are you on about? This guy said you're crazy about balance and balance"

Natsu waits for a reply but no sound came

"guess he can't talk for too long" Demonic Natsu said as White Natsu nodded

"this day just gets better and better" Natsu said sighing a bit


Natsu and the girls were soon in the Magnolia's shopping mall as the girls' shopping instinct awakens

"let's go!" the girls exclaimed as they grabs Natsu's hand and dragged him

"h-hey!" Natsu said as he was pulled into the clothes' store

3 hours of shopping later

The girls were carrying 4 shopping bags in each hand while Natsu carried some boxes

"you know when you guys said that we were going to mall to shop a little. This is not a little" Natsu said carrying the tower of boxes with one hand "I mean, why do I have to pay for some of these?"

"because you're our boyfriend and boyfriend are supposed to do that" Cana said with a grin

"oh brother" Natsu said sighing

The group went to the food court where they settled down for a bite before they heard a commotion in the center of the mall

"what's going on there?" Lucy asked as they see what appears to be a large crowd surrounding something

Natsu's nose sniffs the air before his eyes squinted a bit

"oh great, it's her" Natsu said sighing

"who?" Mira asked before they see a thug looking man flying up into the air, his clothes in shred

"you punks think that just because I'm a girl you can break me? hah! I've dealt with worse punks than you!" Kyria appeared as she spat on the floor while behind her were a pile of beaten up, clothes shredded thugs

"Kyria?!" Erza exclaimed in surprise

"even out of school, she does nothing but make trouble" Kagura said facepalming

"huh?" Kyria looks to Natsu and the group as her stare turns into a glare "you bastard! So you came here to pick a fight too?!"

"we came here to go shopping in case you didn't see the amount of shopping bags these girls have" Natsu said going in front of the girls and faced Kyria "and you are here for what? buying more ego for that mouth of yours?"

"like you know any better" Kyria said with a huff before cracking her knuckles "I've been looking forward to the day where I cut you to pieces"

"ho?" Natsu said as flames soon rages around his fist "thanks for the offer but you have a doctor's appointment today, right?"

The two stared against each other as a high tension rises in between

Before long the police came running to the scene

"tch" Kyria clicked her tongue before walking away "you're lucky this day"

Natsu watched Kyria before the flames around his fist disappeared

"that girl never learns" Mira said watching Kyria walking off to the nearby exit

"goes to show that she can't change" Minerva added in


The group got their meal and ate while chatting around

Natsu drinks a smoothie from the straw that came with it as he sucks on it to drink the content before he looks to the side and sees a store that sells dolls and toys

"I might as well buy one for Meredy" Natsu thought as he stands up before excusing himself for a moment

The man went to the store where he checks the items that they are selling

"a cat…or a dog?" Natsu said looking at two dolls as one was a pink cat and the other is a white dog "or maybe a dolphin?"

Natsu checks around before he decided to buy a pink Dragon doll

He went back to the girls but finds that they were not at the food court anymore as the shopping bags were the only ones left

"guys?" Natsu looks around as they were nowhere to be found "where did they go?"

Natsu sniffs the air a few times before he got their scent

he looks down the corner as he finds the girls going to at a store that was having a 50% discount on some girl's product

"right, girls with crazy discount sales sickness. Why am I not surprised?" Natsu said as he snaps his fingers and several copies of himself appeared before they all grabbed the shopping bags "sometimes, I just don't get those girls"


the girls were crowding around some sort of health product that is some weird looking wiggling meat sausage thing on a stick called Metamo

"this is pretty good" Lucy said taking a bite of the Metamo "it's like eating sausage"

"but a weird looking sausage" Erza said looking at the wiggly sausage meat on a stick before taking a bite "but you're right, it's actually good"

"it has a very…unique shape to it" Minerva said shaking her Metamo as it wiggles around

"why does it look like a lizard?" Ultear asked looking at the Metamo in the box brand

"at least it helps in losing weight" Mira said biting one down while holding a box that is filled with Metamo "but I have a hard time in believing that"

"but you can believe how a big discount that these things are being sold at" Kagura said as many women crowded the store buying the Metamo "they're going to run out pretty soon"

Natsu went to them as he sees on what they are trying

"what the heck are you guys eating?" Natsu asked seeing the strange Metamo food "a sausage?"

"it's called Metamo" Kamika said while eating one "it's like a diet food"

"a diet food that is like a sausage?" Natsu asked with a sweatdrop

"it actually has a decent taste to it" Kagura added in while holding one and was eating it

"you want to try?" Éclair asked while holding one for Natsu

"no thanks, I prefer eating real food and not some weird looking diet food" Natsu replied

"more for us then" Cana said with a grin as she bites down on a Metamo

"you should give some for Dan and the others" Ikaruga stated while slowly eating her Metamo "and for Meredy-chan too"

"I'll give her if it's safe to eat" Natsu said holding the box of the product and looks at it


The day turned dark as night came

Natsu was at home with Meredy who was playing around with her new pink Dragon doll

"Metamo, the miracle diet food of the century….what a load of lies" Natsu said holding a box of the said diet food "who will eat something that looks like a wiggly sausage? Éclair and the others are so kept on staying fit, huh?"

Natsu takes out one Metamo as it wiggles around so easily

"seriously looks like a wiggly sausage.." Natsu said looking at it before sniffing it "and it has some herb smell to it, that's just weird for something that looks like meat"

Natsu opens his mouth as he was going to take a bite but stopped when the doorbell rang

"yes" Natsu replied as he puts the Metamo back in the box before going to answer the door

Meredy who was playing with her Dragon doll looks to Natsu before to the box of Metamo as Natsu left it on the table

The little girl went to the table and takes out one Metamo

She smells it before taking a bite

Chewing on the wiggly Metamo, Meredy swallowed before gagging as it tasted weird

Soon Meredy yawned before going back to playing with her doll

On her neck, small purple veins appeared as they climb up her skin


That's a wrap!

Bye bye