Natsu tapped his finger on the bar counter. Being bored was an understatement. There was absolutely nothing to do at the guild. All the good missions were taken and his mission partner and bestfriend, Happy, was too caught up with Charle to pay any attention to him. He scoffed.
The cat was head over heels for the the other cat. Almost to the point it gagged Natsu. He wouldn't be caught dead fawning over some girl. Life was much more exciting than some female. She stuck out his bottom lip in a pout as he crossed his arms. The barmaid, Mirajane, saw this and giggled to herself.
"Oh don't feel so down Natsu. There will be good jobs soon. You know how popular Fairy Tail has gotten. I'm sure there will be loads by tomorrow." The barmaid reassured with a soft smile. She set down a glass of flaming whiskey and watched him down the glass in lightning speed. Natsu sighed and leaned down on the counter.
"I hope so Mira. It's suffocating in here sometimes. I need to fight something!" He punched the air to emphasize his point. Mira giggled lightly.
"Well why not have a brawl with Gray? Or Laxus-"
"Oi!" Her sentence was cut off short by a rough voice. They both turned to see a man with blond hair glaring at the innocent barmaid. He pointed his glass of beer at her with a snarl. "Don't drag me in with his antics!" Mirajane laughed louder this time. Her boyfriend could be so funny sometimes. She wiped a tear away and pat the man's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Laxus. I was only joking around with you," The blond mage turned away with a huff, but Natsu could see the small blush on this cheek. Natsu groaned and turned away from the two. It was as if the universe was just trying to make him puke. Mira turned to Natsu and gave him a hum in thought. "I'm sorry Natsu. I really wish there was something fun for you to do. Erza probably wouldn't like If you started a guild brawl anyway." Natsu shivered at the thought.
"Yeah. You're probably right, don't want to get on her bad side." Laxus chuckled and took a sip of his beer. Natsu glared his way, but ultimately ignored it. He stood up suddenly and trudged his way to Happy. Maybe he could convince the feline to go fishing with him. He sat down across from Charle and Wendy, who was Charle's good friend.
"Hi Natsu-san!" Wendy smiled. Natsu gave her a genuine smile back, but then turned to Happy who tried to give a fish to Charle. Of course, the cat rejected it. She apparently didn't like fish.
"Happy, buddy, wanna go fishing with me-" the guild doors unexpectedly opened, it was loud and cut off Natsu's sentence. He looked to the guild doorway and gulped as he saw a familiar head of red hair. And she was heading right towards him. With a determined expression resting on her face. This wasn't good.
"Natsu and Happy, front and center! You too Wendy and Charle. I need to talk to you. Now where is Gray and Levy?" The table of people sitting stood up in front of Erza quickly. Not to anger her further. Natsu glanced around the room and pointed to Levy when he saw her. Once Erza saw her, she called the blue haired girl over. "Levy! We need to talk." Levy looked up from her book with a frown and walked over to the group.
"What is it Erza?"
"I need to talk to you all about something highly important. But we first need Gray," she narrowed her eyes, only to turn around and point at the naked man trying to sneak out. "Gray! Get back here and put on your clothes!" Gray froze in spot, before coming back over to their small group and begrudgingly putting on his boxers.
"What is this all about?" Gray grunted, slipping on his shirt. Erza slammed down a letter, a job request attached, on the table. Levy slowly picked it up and read it. Once her eyes reached the middle of the letter, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She read through it a couple times over in disbelief.
"What? What is it?" Natsu asked in curiosity. He tried to peer over the small girl's shoulder, but squinted at the fancy writing. How did anyone expect the letter to be read. He couldn't recognize a single letter.
"The kingdom of Magnolia was under attack last night! I heard some rumors but I didn't think they were actually true. This is the king's handwriting, and he personally asked for a group of mages from Fairy Tail to help fight against the dark mages attacking them. It states here that the attack was just a warning and that they plan to have a large scale attack with multiple dark guilds in six months!" A crowd of mages had surrounded the group by now. They all gave each other looks of worry.
"They need a group of mages to protect the castle and the princess personally. While the rest of the guild prepares for the attack. He asked for the whole guild." Macao looked at his friend Wakaba, then back at the group.
"Can someone even do that?"
"If they're rich enough." Gray scoffed.
"This seems to have really shaken up the king, to ask for the entire guild..." A new voice stated. Everyone looked behind them to see their guild master, Makarov, stirring a cup of beer in his hands.
"What do you suppose we do Master? I want to take Gray, Natsu, Happy, Charle, Wendy, Levy, and myself to the castle and protect everyone there directly. But I just want to run that by you first." Erza announced. Levy and Wendy gasped at this, fear stuck in their face. On the other hand, Natsu and Gray were excited. Especially Natsu. Finally, he gets to do something!
"Yes. a strong group indeed. Alright, then it's decided. You seven will travel to the castle of Magnolia and personally protect the royal family. The rest of us will stay and train for an upcoming battle!" Cheers rang out through the guild. Everyone was excited to fight for the kingdom. It was their duty after all. Erza smiled and tucked the job request in her pocket. Only for Gray to grab it and skim over it.
"W-Woah...the reward is twenty million jewel." Natsu cackled happily, setting his fingers on fire.
"All right! I'm fired up!"
...
Natsu felt as if someone was grabbing his stomach and twisting it in knots. He didn't know they would have to ride train to get there. He moaned when the wagon his a particularly hard bump. Gray rolled his eyes at the pathetic mage and turned to Erza. She was in deep thought. Before Levy interrupted it.
"Why did you bring me on this mission? I'm not all that strong. You should of brought Laxus or Elfman." Levy sighed. Wendy nodded along with her. Both women felt as if their powers really didn't matter when it came to the mission. Erza smiled slightly and looked up at the two.
"I brought Wendy along because if something happens to either the king or the princess, then she'll be able to heal them. And for you Levy, we need your intelligence. You're probably the only one out of all of us that will have a pretty thought of plan of attack. And I heard the princess had a love for books as well. I wanted you two to meet." Levy smiled at this. Almost no one else in the guild had a love for books like her. It would be nice to meet a fellow bookworm like herself. She could feel herself getting giddy just thinking about it.
"What do you all suppose the princess will be like anyway. I heard she was around our age." Gray mulled in thought. Erza hummed and looked up at the wagon cover.
"Unfortunately, probably stuck up. We all know first hand how princesses are." Erza sighed. This deflated Levy quite a bit.
"Yeah you're probably right. If that's the case, she won't even want to talk to me. What a bummer." Levy whined.
"Well, I bet she'll be really nice!" Wendy said hopefully. The cat she held in her arms rolled her eyes.
"You have too much faith in people, child. It makes you look naive." Charle said with a click of her tongue. Wendy blushed in embarrassment and looked away from everyone. Though Happy gave the small girl a smile.
"I agree with Wendy. She'll be really nice. And I think we'll all get along." The blue cat grinned. Natsu would of rolled his eyes if he could. He knew princess first hand, they were all stuck up and rude. He for one didn't really care to meet her. But he would have faith in her, for Happy's sake. Because for some reason, his friend was excited to meet the princess.
The wagon then stopped. Natsu gasped with a smile and ran off the death trap people called a wagon. He kissed the ground with a relieved smile on his face. Gray rolled his eyes at the dragon slayer once more and stepped over him. Natsu ran after the others as he could see them step into the castle.
"Woah, this place is huge!" Natsu yelled, getting his voice to echo throughout the dining room. Erza shushed him and as she heard footsteps come closer to them. Everyone, except Natsu, straightened out themselves once they saw the king of Magnolia. He was bandaged at the head and sporting a rather depressed expression. Wendy gasped and put a hand to her lips.
"Welcome Fairy Tail, it's a pleasure meeting you all." The king said with a bow. Erza stepped forward and copied his action.
"The pleasure is all ours. Once I saw the request, we made sure to come as soon as possible. Back at our guild, our mages are working hard to prepare for the impending war." The king, jude, nodded with a solemn twist of his lips.
"I apologize for dragging all of Fairy Tail into this, but I didn't know what else to do."
"No, don't apologize your majesty. Were glad to be helping the kingdom," Erza said, clearing her throat. "Anyway, what shall you have this team do for the time being?" Jude gave the mages a small smile.
"To just guard the perimeter of the castle mostly. And to help my daughter's advisor protect her. That's really all I ask. And to maybe...keep her some company. Since last night, I told her that I didn't want her leaving the castle at all. I won't be around much and Gajeel, her advisor, can't be her friend at the moment. He has too much on his hands as well."
"I'm not dependent, father. I don't need anyone to entertain me," A voice from behind the king said. Though it was light and teasing. Stepping forward, the princess of Magnolia slid next to her father with a smile. Her face was covered in bandages as well. "You're all from the famous guild of Fairy Tail, right? It's nice to meet you all." She stuck out her hand to the redhead, Erza immediately following.
"Your grace, it's very nice to meet you as well." Erza bowed. Lucy giggled.
"Oh, you don't have to be so formal. I don't mind." Lucy grinned. Jude seemed opposed to that, but he didn't say anything.
"Lucy," he mumbled. Lucy turned to him. "Can I count on you to show them around?" Lucy held a thumbs up.
"Course you can!"