"So, Luigi, have you found a team to join yet?" Lucy jumped as she opened the tiny apartment she had found to live in a few days after joining Fairy Tail.
'BAHHH!" She screamed as she slapped the intruder in the face. Instead of getting angry, the intruder just laughed it off. "Oh, Natsu-san! It's you! AND MY NAME IS LUCY GOSH DARN IT!"
"No problem, Luke, didn't even feel it!" To prove this, he jumped up into the air and did a flip, but ended up hitting his head on the ceiling. He fell back down to the floor, but shook it off quickly. "Anyway, did you find a team to join yet?"
Lucy gave up on him learning her name, and replied, "Yep! Levy-chan invited me to her team, with Jet and Droy! They're called Team-" Natsu cut her off.
"Shadowgear, yes, I know." Lucy blushed in embarrassment, realizing her mistake. "Have you decided to take on a job yet?" Lucy's face lit up.
"Yep! We're going to go grab some really rare book or something!" Natsu nodded, not really interested.
"That's awesome, Luffy. Seems like it'd be perfect for Levy. Keep an eye out on her for me, alright?" Lucy stared at him, making him laugh. "I care for my nakama too, strength doesn't change that."
A few hours after Team Shadowgear left, an orange-haired wizard named Loke rushed into the Fairy Tail guild hall. "Erza's coming!" He huffed out, slightly out of breath from, presumably, a long sprint. "Erza is... coming..." The man then passed out on the floor. The guild hall was frozen for a second, before people started scurrying around.
Natsu, however, calmly sat at the bar, talking with Mira, munching on some flaming chicken. "Natsu!" Macao yelled. "Why aren't you helping us clean up, aren't you worried about that monster?" As if summoned, the doors blew open, making all of the members freeze in their tracks.
"What's this I hear about a monster?"
"N-nothing, Erza!" Macao squeaked out.
"Erza, fight me!" A dark-haired boy shouted, summoning particles of ice into existence. Erza just fondly sighed as they bounced off her armor.
"Not right now, Gray. I have... bigger fish to fry..." The entire guild gulped at these words. Lucky for the members, though, she turned directly to the bar, and the entire guild could feel the magic pressure increase with every step. She stopped inches away from Natsu, who was talking uncaringly to Mira still. "Natsu." Natsu didn't respond, making her growl slightly. "Natsu!" She tried again. Once again, she received no response. Veins popping out, she slammed a gloved fist onto Natsu's head, a resounding CRACK bouncing throughout the guild hall. The entire guild hall was silently mourning their inevitable deaths.
Slowly, Natsu turned. "I think I just got bit by a fly... Oh, no, hey Erza!" He smiled. "How's it going?" If glares could kill, Natsu would be a pile of bones. As it was, he sat calmly, still eating some flaming chicken.
"Natsu Dragneel... we have to talk." By the time she had finished her sentence, Natsu had already turned around and gone back to talking with Mira, giving no more than a 'No thanks' in response.
"Natsu." Erza tried again, getting ignored. "Natsu!" No response.
"Natsu Dragneel!" Erza yelled for the third time, finally prompting the salmon-haired boy to look at her.
"Fine. What? You have ten seconds, go." Erza blinked.
"I was on the way back from my mission, and had stopped in a bar while I waited for the train to get to the station." Erza was speaking rapidly, while Natsu was looking bored.
"I don't see why this concerns me." Unfazed, Erza continued.
"While I was drinking, I overheard a conversation-" "-Stalker..." Mira whispered. "-between a group of men, and they were talking about some magic that one of them had discovered from the-" Erza was cut off.
"Ten seconds is over." Natsu starting turning back to Mira.
"From the Book of Zeref, Natsu!" At the mention of Zeref, Natsu's face became stoic. After a few moments, he sighed.
"Alright, Mira, you're with me. Erza, we'll meet you at the station in ten." Despite Mira's cry of, "You mean I have to spend time with that red-haired bimbo?", he got up and glared at Mira, who instantly shrunk back a little.
"That 'bimbo' is your nakama, show some respect. Be at the station in ten. No complaints." Mira, who was not on the receiving end of Natsu's glares often, stayed still until he had gone outside, and a pink light shone in the direction of the forest.
"Hey Mira," Wakaba yelled, "whipped!" Flashing a glare in his direction, Mira quickly reminded the old man of why she was called the Demon.
Outside the train, alongside Happy, Natsu waited for the other two. And then... he heard it. Two women arguing. Sighing, he made his way over, silently creeping up behind Mira. Erza saw him and froze, squeaking out, "H-hi Natsu!" with a slight blush. Mira, who was currently ranting, said,
"That won't work on me, you ska-"
"A-hem." Natsu cleared his throat from behind the white-haired girl. "Hello Erza, hello Mira." Mira's name was said with slight annoyance. Aforementioned girl was blushing furiously, trying to save face.
"H-hey Natsu! I was... was just tell E-Erza here how l-lovely she l-looked today!" She giggled awkwardly. Natsu raised an eyebrow in response. "S-sorry..." Happy whispered in Natsu's ear,
"She liiiiiiikes you!" In response, Natsu help up a finger of flame. Even though Happy knew Natsu would never burn him, the element's presence always spooked him for a second. A whistle blew. Since it was noon, two trains were currently leaving the station, one going in either direction, luckily enough for the group.
"Where are we heading, Erza?"
"What for, Natsu?" She replied in confusion.
"Tickets, Erza. Normal people use them to board trains instead of threatening the attendants." Natsu made a slight jab at Erza's perferred method of... persuasion.
Erza blushed again in response, her face going the color of her hair. "O-of course! Well, when these guys were talking-" Another whistle cut her off, showing that the train was going to leave soon.
"Just tell me where we're going."
"Oshibana!"
"See, that wasn't so difficult." Natsu rolled his eyes and walked towards the ticket booth. "Doesn't need to have an entire damn story..."
After picking up three tickets, thanks to Happy counting as a pet and riding free apparently, the four boarded the train. On the ride down to Oshibana, Erza managed to explain the situation.
"So, basically, dark mages found dark magic, and we need to go beat them up?" Natsu summed up the situation rather eloquently. Erza nodded.
"Exactly!"
"So why is this Lullaby so dangerous, again?" Erza put a finger to her lip.
"I... have forgotten. You may hit me."
"Tempting, but save it for the bedroom." Natsu teased, making Erza once again blush furiously. Mira, in an attempt to get Natsu's attention off of Erza, spoke up.
"It's a type of Living Magic. It's said that anyone who hears the flute's song will perish instantly, other than the caster." Natsu nodded.
"Seems unlikely, but okay. Worst case scenario, it's true, we die, the end. Oh well." Happy, who had been sleeping on Natsu's lap, woke up suddenly.
"Dying? We're going to die? No!" He started crying, instantly getting picked up and snuggled by Mira, who had always been captivated by the little creature. Natsu rolled his eyes and tried to ignore his tortured stomach's churning. Despite having done resistance training for three years after coming to civilization, the motion of the trains still seemed to affect him. Mira and Erza, despite their hatred for each other, plastered on a smile.
Because, of course, Natsu was stronger than either one of them individually. And, although it had never happened, even if they managed to function properly as a team, he would most likely still beat them together. Neither one cared that said mage was almost asleep, his senses were superhuman at the very least. He would have no trouble hearing them if they made a fuss. And, if they weren't lying to themselves, each mage found the conversation without constant insults slightly nice.
A few hours later, nearing Oshibana, Natsu made his way towards the bathroom. His stomach could no longer bear the strain of the train ride, it seemed. As he knelt over the toilet bowl, barfing his guts up, the other three managed to be so into making sure that Natsu didn't get mad at them to realize that Natsu wasn't with them. Somewhere along the break, the train stopped, and the occupants were informed that Oshibana was making emergency repairs to its infrastructure, and no trains could pass.
Erza recognized this for what it truly was - Eisenwald putting their plans into action. Rushing off the train, pulling Mira and Happy with her, and still so focused on making Natsu happy, all three managed to leave Natsu on the train.
A few minutes later, Natsu exited the bathroom, slightly less queasy, not even paying attention to the lack of occupants on the train. He collapsed into a booth, directly across from him was the only other passenger on the train. "Sick?" The other man asked. Natsu shifted towards him with half-lidded eyes.
"Something like that," he replied. In shifting, Natsu had revealed his guild mark, which was right below his right shoulder.
"Oh, so you're part of a guild, eh?" The other guy replied.
Dazed, Natsu smiled. "Yeah, Fairy Tail, the best of em..."
"Oh, Fairy Tail, huh? Man, you guys have some great girls... Heh, you should share em with the rest of us! It's only fair you know..."
"Yeah, they are some real pretty girls, huh...?" Natsu sighed wistfully, and thought to himself, 'If only they weren't crazy...'
Suddenly, the other man had an idea. If he was a Fairy Tail mage, if he could capture him, they could use him as bait or as a hostage for the rest of the light guilds! Those puny light guilds were so weak, they'd give up anything for one of their own. "Hey, bud, can you come over here real quick?" He spoke aloud.
"Yeah, sure..." Natsu stumbled over to the other guy, who suddenly swung a powerful punch of it. Snapping into action, the tired persona he had adapted melted away into his true identity. "You smell of dark magic, bud." He spoke. Kageyama, the other guy, started sweating. He was by no means a weak man. Who was this guy, who had just blocked his punch like it was nothing?
Growling, he summoned up shadows to attack the man. However, that plan was foiled as flames started to lick down the man's arms, giving off enough light to dissolve the shadows. As he saw those flames, Kageyama started to piece together who he was dealing with. Fairy Tail, strong, fire magic... "P-... Phoe... Phoenix..." he choked out.
"That's right." Natsu said, a slightly sinister smile on his face. "And you're going to tell me all about your plans, or you're going to start to feel very, very, very hot..." Kageyama considered resisting. He was a light mage, after all? He wouldn't really hurt him, right? But, another look at Natsu's face told him another story. "You know, they passed a new law at Era recently, which makes it legal to take physical action against dark mages... after all, you are the scum of society, according to the Chairman..." Kageyama paled. He quite liked having all of his limbs, and he'd take dying to Erigor later over dying to Phoenix now.
Ten minutes later, Natsu hit Kageyama over the head after he had told him everything he had needed to know about their plans. He made sure to pocket the flute that the man had tried so hard to keep the knowledge of from him. After that, he sat in a seat and waited for the train the dock at Oshibana station, for, after all, that's where it was heading to next.