I am dreadfully sorry for my absence! A lot of stuff has been happening in my life and I haven't had the chance to keep up with the updates :(. It's starting to get back on track, so I'll try to update regularly again, but I will state this now, updates will not be as frequent as they were before. Right now I'm aiming for every 2-3 weeks.
Also…
The first chapter of THE AFTERLIFE IS FOR LOSERS has been posted! You guys voted for it, now go and review it~!
This story takes place 1,000 years ago. The lord who ruled this land at that time had a beautiful daughter named Sandra. When she turned 16 years old, her sublime beauty was often talked about by many people, and men who wished to marry her came in great swarms from distant lands such as Greece and the Orient, crossing oceans and mountains to ask for Sandra's hand in marriage. However, no matter how food the marriage offer was, the princess never said did not stop her suitors in perusing her, so
Sandra finally issued a decree, "I will only be the wife of the strongest man in the world." Then, to test their strength, she told them to fight against the sword fighter, Vittorio who worked for their family. Vittorio fought over and over, battling men from across the world, who swaggered into the arena, confident in their skills.
Vittorio never lost.
The fighting continued, even after the Princess passed away from illness, and it is said that it still goes on even now, 1,000 years later…
"Kanda's missing?"Allen asked in concern; Timcampy was perched on his shoulder.
"That's his name? I thought it was Kimba…" Natsu muttered under her breath. She really wasn't good at names. Natsu cursed –she had lost her bet with Erza- as made a mental note to remember that his name was not 'Kimba', it was Kimbley… and that she owed a certain red head 100 jewels.
"If I remember correctly, he was heading to Rome…" Allen continued.
"Yes, that's right." Komui replied. "He went to collect the innocence found in the ruins outside of Rome, but we haven't had any contact with him in a week or from the finder that he took along with Akumahave been reported around the arena where they supposedly disappeared, so of course only exorcists can go in with any safety. I'd like to send you two to the task." the purple haired man took another sip of his coffee. Natsu wondered idily if he picked out his bunny coffee mug himself or if Lenalee was responsible.
Allen nodded his head in response. The dragon slayer however, decided to open her mouth and say something.
"You want us to go babysit Kito?" Allen, Komui, and even the 14th resisted the urge to sigh.
The two exorcists headed down to the boats despite Natsu's protests. Allen took his seat, and motioned for Natsu to enter as well while patting the seat besides him. Once she passed out, Allen wanted her to lean on him again like she had on the train. This time, both he and the 14th would relish it.
Just before she could get on the death machene, a voice yelled out from behind: "Just where do you think you're going, Natsu?" that voice undoubtedly Erza.
"Hi, Erza~! Me and Allen were assigned a mission." Natsu said happily with a grin. "I was wondering when we would get a chance to do some butt kicking! I've been dying in that place!"
"Allen and I,"Erza said automatically. Natsu blinked, then froze. Erza made sure to get rid of her grammar habbits when Natsu first came to the guild. "is correct, not 'me and Allen'."
"O-ok." Natsu said with slight relief, at least Erza wasn't going to blow up on her this time. The two fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Erza said nothing more.
Erza punched Natsu in the gut, effectivly knocking the dragon slayer out.
Erza hoisted Natsu over her shoulder.
Erza sat down in the boat next to Allen and lied Natsu's head on her lap.
Allen stared.
Then blinked.
… And then resisted the urge to cry. Now he had to deal with Erza and he didn't get 'Natsu alone time'.
"Onwards." Erza said. Nothing happened. A vain on the red head's forehead started to bulge. "I said, ONWARDS!" Allen snapped to attention, pulling his hand up into a mock salute.
"Yes ma'm!" no further questions were asked about the non exorcist coming with them. Why?
…Because he was scared of her since the closet 'interrogation' incident.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Natsu screeched. She turned to glare at Erza. "You knock me out before going on a boat, and then I wake up… AT A TRAIN STATION!?" Allen was taken aback, he had never really seen her angry, although it did look good on her (the 14th agreed with him on that one). Her mood took a complete one-eighty. "Ne, Erza, why are you here?" she asked with her cute clueless innocence… Allen imagined her coming up to him and talking like that. He loved it…at least in Allen's opinion. Not in Erza's apparently.
Erza knocked out Natsu again.
The majority of the people in the station turned to look at the trio. A half naked girl, a girl in battle armor, and a boy with white hair and a red scar.
Yeah, nothing strange here. The crowd dispersed immediately. The Exorcits used this station quite frequently, and because of that, the crowd was quite used to these outlandish displays.
"A Roman sword fighter who's still alive? So does that mean that this fighter has innocence?" Allen asked –the now conscious- Natsu who was suffering from motion sickness.
"I guess, maybe he's used a spell to keep him alive after all these years?" Natsu mumbled half heartedly. Hurridly, Natsu put a hand over her mouth to keep from throwing up. Erza shook her head.
"That's unlikely, Natsu. The people here do not practice magic. They have innocence, so Allen's guess is far more likely." Erza said calmly and ignored Allen's perplexed look when she mentioned magic. From inside Allen's mind, the 14th's eyebrow shot up. 'magic…?'
"If this fighter really does exist, then we have a mystery on out hands." Erza finished.
"According to this briefing, sources reported that Akuma only started appearing around the ruins of the fighting arena about a month ago." Allen commented while glancing over the report. Erza looked over her (Natsu's) report as well. "But it says here that not a single Akuma that went inside managed to escape. That's strange." Allen admitted. "Do you think that they could have been defeated by the sword fighter by using innocence?"
"That seems to be the most plausible answer, and in order for Komui to see if it was true, he decided to send Kimbley to Rome." the re-equip mage concluded.
Erza punched Natsu again.
"Move it! You're in my way!" a big, burly man pushed a boy to the ground. He snorted. "That's what you get for getting in my way." the boy ran off crying.
Nearby, a man stole from one of the food carts.
"Who are they? Do they think they're soldiers?" Allen asked, obvious signs of disgust laced into his features.
"They act as if they're trying to start a war." Natsu grumbled, agreeing with Allen. She was still mad at Erza for knocking her out so many times.
"I heard that! You want to say that again to my face?!" a man yelled out.
"Come on!" another man with a scar on his face yelled back.
"You say that again!"
"Calm down, you don't want to get hurt like this. Come on, lets go." the scared man's friend reasoned. The scared man brushed him off.
"If they're so big on fighting, I wish they'd do us all a favor and kill each other." a voice from behind them said. Natsu turned around, the guy had an eye patch!"This is a gathering of bounty hunters. We're all here because the Sardini family put out the call to anyone that can help find their missing daughter."
"Wait, bounty hunters?" Allen asked Eye Patch. Natsu's interest was peaked.
"A local girl is missing?" Erza inquired.
"You mean you haven't heard? It's all over, the Sardini's 16 year old daughter, Claudia, was abducted from their residence about three days ago. The man who took her identified himself as Vittorio." Eye patch said. Natsu's eye's widened.
"Vittorio?" Natsu asked.
"The sword fighter that's been living for a thousand years!" Allen finished. Suddenly, a man on a brown horse came riding into the square.
"Your attention please!" he announced, pulling the horse to a stop. "You will make your way to the Sardini residence. The Viscount Poletti will give instructions to those who wish to collect a sizable reward!"
"Who do you think Poletti could be?" Allen asked Erza. Erza frowned.
"I don't know." she answered honestly. Eye Patch pushed past them. Allen and Erza looked back at Natsu. Natsu had a fiery determination in her eyes. Her face broke out into a bull blown grin that showed her spiky teeth.
"Oh hell yeah! Finally a real job!" the eccentric fire breather rushed over to Erza and Allen. "Please, please, pleeeaseeeee can we take the job?" Natsu blushed and looked away. Erza ran over the facts in her head. They had a lead and it was connected to this case and it seemed like this job would be rather quick compaired to the usual quests they took back home.
"Fine. It's the only real lead we have anyways."
"YATTA~! I'm all fired up!"
I would like to take this chance to announce something very, VERY important…
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE PAIRING FOR NATSU!
So far the pairing count is at:
NatsuxGrey- 66
NatsuxAllen- 86
Already determined side pairings (let me know if you want a chapter focusing on one of these pairings):
ErzaxKanda
LucyxLavi
I have more story summaries, but I want to focus on the ones that I have published now and the ones that you guys voted on~!
~Slayerofthewind
