To the angry and agitated guest reviewer,
I'm not going for a love triangle. If I was I'd make it abundantly clear. At the time I began writing this story I had no idea what the pairing was going to be, so therefore I made two love interests that he could choose from. I asked readers to comment who they believe should be together. They chose NaLu. So, to calm you down and show that I, in fact, know what I'm doing, the pairing is NaLu. I did this simply to be spiteful. I also believe you're wrong - seeing as I'm writing this story and have a plan in place - I believe his connection is more with Lucy. Childhood friends mean nothing.
The tags aren't just for pairings, they're for important characters.
Your's sincerely,
The Author of This Story Who Knows What They Are Doing. :)

Chapter 27: Reunion.

The journey through the forest was long. Too long for Natsu to be able to comprehend how much his feet hurt and how many mysterious blisters had appeared on his feet. The rain was heavy, the wind was heavy and Natsu's mind was heavy with fatigue. He had spent too long doubting himself on his choice to leave school, and during that time he had lost Gildarts and Jude in the heavy rainfall. He was nearing the age of 20 very soon, yet all this talk of regret and doubt made him doubt whether he was ready to fight the man who had taken his father.

It was too late to think about it now.

The rain thickened; it soon began to hail small shards of ice that pelted his skin like blunt arrowheads. He decided it would be a smart idea to head for shelter till the rain and hail ceased, then he could move quickly towards the distant outline of a castle in the distance. Why a king would live in such a lonely area was beyond him. He wouldn't question it either; he just had to get there and talk to him about whatever he wanted and then deal with it smoothly and swiftly. That way he could go back to training in seclusion - if it can even be called that with Gildarts there.

He took shelter in a small cave; he could touch the ceiling of it with the palm of his hand, which meant he could feel the smooth ridges which had been formed from erosion over a long period of time. The cave smelt damp and had an unrecognisable scent to it, which Natsu could only scrunch up his nose too and squint his eyes. Although the first metre of the cave was wet due to the direction of rainfall, the middle and back we're dry and cool to sit on.

It had taken about an hour or so for the rain to lighten, but it wasn't going to cease. Natsu decided on a gut feeling that things weren't going to get any better, thus he made his way from the cave out into the light spring shower and began to run at a leisurely pace.

He ran for a while, about 5 miles or so, before stopping to check his surroundings. He'd noticed about two miles back an ominous black shadow following him through the woods; he was confused, a little on edge and his body was preparing for its flight or fight reaction. It was something he'd recently become comfortably accustomed to.

"Who is there?" He said into the darkness of the forest, the figure masked himself in the shadow of the foliage.

"No one important, keep going." It was a meek voice - it sounded like a young boy who was tired from running so much.

"You sound like a child, come out and I'll help you if you're lost." Natsu slowly paced towards where the voice was coming from. Instead of a small boy, he was greeted by the sight of a half breed beast.

"I'm not lost..." The half breed stuttered. "Actually, maybe I am, just a little."

Natsu laughed, amused by the sight of the little boy with grey scaley skin with horns twisting out of his head. His eyes were a bright blue and his fangs protruded by half an inch over his lip. His hair was shaggy and white, it also was matte which caused it to stick in one place just above his eyes.

"Humans don't normally talk to me, they say I'm a freak and run away." The small child played with his fingers, twisting his tiny foot into the dirt.

Natsu bent down to become eye level with him, "Luckily for you I'm not a human too, however, I have the ability to hide my form. Where are you going?"

"To the castle, I work for the king there; I run errands around the halls. I'm super fast!" The boy demonstrated by running to a tree in the blink of an eye.

"Awesome!" Natsu said, pumping his fist up in the air he gave a wide smile. "I'm heading to the castle too, we can head there together."

The boy nodded quickly, his hair barely moving due to the amount of dirt in it. Then they began running through the forest again quickly and eventually made their way through the castle gates and into the main hall. Here Gildarts and Jude were waiting, along with a group of four others and the king who sat impatiently tapping his fingers on his throne.

"Well thank the God's that you are here now!" Gildarts yelled improperly, he bowed and excused his behaviour. "The people we're to work with have already arrived, ambassadors from your school."

"Sorry, I got lost and then met up with this little one here." He pointed down beside him, showing off a little boy who looked at the ground with shame. "I'm here now, so let's being."

"Natsu?" Hushed a voice reached his ears, a voice very familiar to him. "Late as always." The voice scolded.

"Gray," Natsu smirked. "Complaining as always I see."

"We're in the presence of a king, can you two reframe yourselves from childish antics." He noticed the flash of red hair, knowing too well that this harsh voice was Erza's.

"Juvia is very happy to see you after such a long time, Natsu." He looked up to see her small smile and he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Juvia, nice to see you too!" He looked to the last person of the group. "Who would have known that you'd all become ambassadors, especially Gray, but I knew Luce had it in her!"

The king cleared his throat, introducing himself as the King of this tiny country, which he was very proud of nevertheless. He explained that the country was having a bandit problem and he'd like them to help. But there was a twist...

"You see, these thieves stole my princess!" The king yelled, smacking his hand off of his chair. "These princess thieves have stolen my daughter, my wonderful daughter. She has never wronged anyone in her life, she's so sweet and humble and caring. These bandits wish to use her as an advantage, a pawn, I won't allow it! Nope, I will not!"

"You want this team to save her?" Gildarts said, his hand gesturing towards the five friends. "Natsu and I could have easily done it together."

"The point is that their skill set is best." The king explained quickly. "These bandits are far more than the common rabble you see around now. They're apart of the Ominous Bandit Group, known as OBG, that have been around for centuries. They have skilled mages on their side, they need to be handled quickly and eradicated. This team is best for that, they contrast the skills of the bandits."

"Are you asking us to kill?" Lucy asked; the king nodded. "I can't kill another person, it's not right. They should be imprisoned, then dealt with to proper accord."

"I'll kill them, you guys just defeat them," Natsu said, staring blankly at the king. "You knew they wouldn't kill because they're students, that's why Gildarts and I are here. You've heard that we've killed before, so you decided that the mages will knock them out, immobilise them and save the princess, then Gildarts and I swoop in a kill them, right?"

"You catch on quick" The king laughed.

"I won't go against the ethics of the group, deal with them yourself. We'll bring them to you tied up and capture. But you have to kill them through proper authorities." The king and Natsu stared each other down.

"Fine." The king seethed.