The 'Blood' Dragon Slayer
"So what should we do?" Sienna asked. The four dragon slayers were sitting at a table, two on each side, in the outside café area while parts of the guild were being repaired. The request sheet was on the table in the middle, with all of them looking at it.
"I say we go! We've just got to find out what's up with him!" Natsu commented.
"Well of course you do! You jump at the chance whenever you hear anything remotely relating to dragons," Lily added.
"What was that?" Natsu shouted.
"Well, I think I'd like to go. This job says it can only be taken on by dragon slayers, so we're the only ones who can do it anyway," Wendy said.
"I guess. But I'm still not overly keen on the idea myself. We don't know anything really. It's kinda like jumping at shadows," Sienna remarked. She let out a sigh. "What about you Gajeel? I mean there is a big reward up for grabs," she asked as she turned to Gajeel sitting next to him. He paused before answering.
"Honestly…I think it may be worth checking out. If someone's as strong as that guy you lot saw before, there may be something to it…" he explained.
"But?" Sienna enquired.
"I'm not gonna go on a job…with HIM!" he snorted, looking at Natsu.
"Well I don't want to go on an idiot like you anyways!" Natsu retaliated. They both stood up.
"You challenging me, Salamander?"
"Yeah, let's take this outside!" Natsu replied.
"We are outside dumb arse!" Gajeel shouted.
"It's a figure of speech, you moron!"
"Yeah, a figure of speech you use when you're inside a building!" Sienna snapped and punched both of them in the face.
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP?" she roared. "Seriously, you guys like a couple of five-year-olds!"
"Oh shut up fish breath!" Natsu answered.
"What was that?" she yelled back.
"You heard!" The three of them were at loggerheads, growling at each other like a couple of animals. Wendy let out a sigh.
"Do you think they'll ever stop arguing…?" she questioned with desperation.
"Who knows," Carle added. The master then used his magic to increase his arm size and slap the 3 dragon slayers on the back of their heads. They all bent over, head in hands.
"Stop it! The lot of you!" he bellowed. The three of them then slumped back down into their seats. The master then jumped up at the table. "Listen, as the master of Fairy Tail, it is my responsibility to make sure that as many jobs are completed as possible. This request can only be completed by you four. So as master of this guild….STOP WHINING LIKE CHILDREN AND GET ON WITH IT!" he barked. Sienna let out a sigh.
"Fine, I'll go. So long as you don't keep insulting me, Natsu,"
"Fine, whatever…" he mumbled.
"And you Gajeel?" the master asked.
"No dice, I ain't working with pyro's," he said harshly.
"Gajeel!" Master said raising his voice. "If you're not going to go along with this job…then I'll make you pay…." he sneered evilly. Gajeel's face looked shocked.
"You don't mean…?" he asked terrified. The master nodded. Gajeel dropped his worried expression.
"OK, I'll go already!" he declared. The master's face lit up.
"OK then!" he answered.
"Gee I wonder what he was referring too," Natsu murmured.
"Beats me, but with the master you never can tell what he'll do next," Happy added.
"Hey master why are you so keen for us to go on this thing together anyways?" Sienna requested.
"Oh is that the time? I must be going…" he stated as he jumped off the table. "Have fun!"
"That bastard…." Sienna mumbled. Over the other side of the court Mira and Lucy were talking together.
"Hey Mira, do you think that those guys could actually work together as a team?" Lucy asked.
"Well, if they did, you can be sure that it would be a problem for anyone they went up against," Mira replied.
"How so? Lucy answered.
"Well, they would be probably Fairy Tail's strongest team,"
"What? But I thought me Erza, Natsu and Gray were the strongest,"
"Yeah but they're four dragon slayers. I don't think even Erza could challenge them all at once," Lucy looked down.
"Why does everyone think I'm weak…" she mumbled.
A couple of days later, the four of them were sitting on the train, ready to depart.
"So what do we have to do again?" Wendy asked. Sienna fished the request out of the top pocket of her black combat trousers.
"It says that he wants us to retrieve an artefact that was lost. Dragon Slayers may only take it on. Reward: 250,000 jewel," Sienna read out.
"I bet that artefact is the same one Genki was after. The one that could lead us to the dragons," Natsu commented. She put the request back into her pocket.
"Well we don't that for sure, but that does seem the most likely event," she explained.
"Does it even tell us what we're going up against?" Gajeel asked.
"Nope, nothing," she answered.
"Man, talk about being vague," he replied. The train shunted forward, and began to move. Natsu fell to the floor, about to regurgitate. He landed on Happy, who let out a little yelp, as he did. "Oh come on, you act like such a wimp!" Natsu didn't respond. He just continued to try and hold back the vile liquid. Sienna sighed and then looked out of the window, at the rolling countryside.
They soon reached the place they needed to go. The area was pretty baron; not much there except a couple of crop fields and some odd houses.
"So where is this place?" Natsu asked.
"According to the request, it should just be up this path," Sienna answered. They followed the dirt path, which led up a hill. When they reached the peak, they saw a massive house, almost like a mansion, below. They followed the winding path downwards, to the entrance.
"Woah, this place is huge!" Natsu remarked.
"Just what does he do anyways?" Sienna enquired. As they got closer to the door, the three exceeds suddenly banged into something.
"Huh?" Natsu asked. "Happy what's the problem?" The three of them tried to pass along the same path that the dragon slayers had walked along, but they couldn't seem to do it.
"It's like an invisible wall…" Lily remarked as he continued to bang against it.
"Invisible wall?" Wendy enquired.
"You don't mean-" Natsu began to say but then purple writing appeared across the path. "Damn it! Runes,"
"He must really only want dragon slayers to pick up this job," Gajeel commented.
"Does that mean, the exceeds can't come with us?" Wendy asked.
"Looks like it. Don't worry I'm sure they'll be fine on their own," Sienna added as she turned round and walked further towards the door.
"We'll back for you Happy!" Natsu called. He turned around along with the others as they headed towards the door.
"Aye…" Happy remarked. Sienna knocked on the large wooden door. It opened. In the doorway, stood a butler with a black moustache.
"You must be the Dragon Slayers from Fairy Tail," the butler said in a posh accent.
"We are," Sienna said showing him the request. He looked at it, and then looked back at the dragon slayers.
"I see. Mr. Hirako is waiting for you," he replied. He stepped back gesturing the wizards in. They entered. The house inside was as just as grand as the outside. After the butler closed to door behind them, he walked in front of them. "This way," They followed him down several corridors. Eventually they reached a door that the butler stopped in front of. He knocked on the door. "The wizards are here for you sir,"
"Good. Send them in," a voice came from behind the door. He opened the door and let the wizards in. The room was clearly deigned for relaxation. The décor was much like the rest of the mansion; oak panelling and crimson and gold curtains, edged with golden ruffles, and a few odd painting on the walls. There was a stone slab fireplace that stood on the wall that was to the right of where the dragon slayers had come in, with a large rectangular mirror hanging above it. Along the back wall, there was a series of windows, with a green cushioned bench that was attached to the wall. Down the other end of the room, there was a cabinet, full with expensive vintage wines and other alcoholic beverages. Along the wall where the door was, rang a long bookcase that ran from the floor to the ceiling, every inch of it covered by book. In the middle of the room, there was a fairly large oak table, with a few cups and saucers and a teapot with sugar and a pot with milk in. On either side of it where two plump green sofas, matching the room's antique look. On one of the sofas, sat a man with blonde combed hair, wearing a grey suit. He stood up.
"Oh do come in," he said gesturing towards the sofa opposite him. The dragon slayers walked in, and the butler closed the door behind them. They all sat on the sofa opposite him, with Gajeel at one end, Natsu next to him, then Sienna, followed by Wendy. The man sat down on his sofa. "I'm very pleased to meet all of you. I'm Shin Hirako, the man who put in the request,"
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer,"
"Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer,"
"Sienna, the Water Dragon Slayer,"
"And I'm Gajeel. Iron Dragon Slayer,"
"You certainly have an interesting mix of abilities," Shin responded. "Would any of you care for a drink?"
"I'm good," Natsu grumbled.
"I think I would like some," Wendy answered.
"Me too," Sienna added.
"I think the details of this job are more important right now," Gajeel commented.
"Oh come, come now! You've all had a long journey here, I think it's only fair you have a short rest before charging straight out again," Shin responded as he poured two teas for Sienna and Wendy. "Here you are," he said as he pushed the cups towards them. They both picked them up.
"Thank you!" they both replied. As Sienna lifted up the cup, she opened her mouth to take a sip but then stopped, and closed her mouth. Wendy did the same. Then the both of them slammed the two teas back down onto the table and shot up.
"What the hells' your problem?" Natsu asked.
"Do you really think you can fool us?" Sienna questioned.
"We're not armatures you know!" Wendy joined in.
"We're dragon slayers so we can smell that…" Sienna added.
"That the milk is off!" Wendy exclaimed. Everyone looked at her confused.
"Um, Wendy…I don't think that's quite it," Sienna commented looking at her.
"It's not…." She sniffed. "Yeah! It's not!"
"That tea is laced with poison!" Sienna claimed.
"What?" Natsu yelled angrily. Both Natsu and Gajeel stood up fists clenched.
"What the hell kind of prank do you think you're pulling?" Gajeel exclaimed.
"Well…I…err…" Shin stumbled. Suddenly Gajeel's ears pricked up.
"Hey, what's up?" Wendy asked him. He walked away from the table towards a spot next to the fireplace, and punched it.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sienna shouted. Gajeel ignored her and walked into where he had punched a hole. There was a series of loud bangs as he went through some more walls. It went quiet before two men flew out of the hole and landed on the ground, like they had just been kicked. Gajeel returned to the room.
"I heard what you guys said. Dragon Slayers are weak and pathetic, huh? Don't you know a dragon has exceptional hearing…?" Gajeel said. He punched one of his hands into the other, showing his anger. The two mean trembled on the ground in terror. Gajeel was about to beat them up, when they all heard some clapping. They all looked confused up at Shin Hirako. He had a smirk on his face as he clapped.
"Congratulations. You pass," he said.
"Huh?" they all exclaimed in unison.
"Surely you noticed. The runes outside…" he went on to say.
"Oh yeah…" Natsu answered as he recalled the runes that had passed over that the exceeds couldn't pass over.
"Those runes were designed so that no wizard other than a dragon slayer could enter this house. I then went further and tested your enhanced senses that dragon slayers have. That poison, could only ever be detected by a dragon slayer. Also those men were positioned several walls apart from us. Once again, only a dragon slayer's heightened sense of hearing could of possibly heard them talking," Shin explained. They all paused for a moment to take in what he had just said.
"But, why the hell would you go to so much trouble of finding out whether we were dragon slayers?" Sienna asked.
"Well…this mission is one that many people would want to take on, by impersonating dragon slayers. Therefore, I needed to prove that you were indeed dragon slayers. But there's more…" he continued to reveal. The dragon slayers all looked at him with interest. "The runes outside were designed not only to accept dragon slayers, but you four in particular,"
"Us four?" Wendy asked.
"Yes. But for that I needed to do a lot of background research. So right now I know quite a bit about you four. Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander, the Fire Dragon Slayer. Your foster dragon was Igneel," he stated as he looked at Natsu. He looked shocked. "Gajeel Redfox, Black Steel Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer. Your foster dragon was Metallica. You used to belong to Phantom, but after your guild was disbanded after going head to head with Fairy Tail and losing, you were invited into the guild, though many disapproved," he continued looking at Gajeel. He didn't look happy with the amount of information he had acquired about them, even though it wasn't really kept a secret. "Wendy Marvel, the Sky Dragon Slayer. You were once a part of Cait Shelter, a guild that temporarily teamed up with Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale, to take on the Oración Seis. Your foster dragon was Grandine," Like the others, Wendy was shocked at how much he knew. He then turned to Sienna. "And you, Sienna Hayashi, the Water Dragon Slayer. You transformed into a beast and murdered a village when you were only 12 years old. You were then living on the streets for 3 years before going to Fairy Tail, where you once again turned into a beast. Living up to your nickname as the 'Blood' Dragon Slayer," Sienna was angry. She growled at him and was ready to completely lunge at him, but Natsu put up a hand in front of her, to try and stop.
"Shut up!" he roared. Shin's smirk didn't change. "Don't you EVER call her that again, you hear?"
"What's the problem? You can't deny her past, nor can you, Sienna," he continued.
"…Maybe not," she eventually answered. "But…your sources clearly haven't been updated because the demon that used to posses me is now gone. The blood stains he caused could never be washed away with my water…but it doesn't mean I can't try and lift them. So if you ever think about calling me that again…" She looked Shin dead in the eyes, "I'll make sure you regret it! Got it!" she yelled. Shin's smirked dropped.
"Very well then. Now, shall we move on to the matter of this mission," he remarked. They all calmed down a bit and returned to the sofa. The two men that Gajeel had found left the room so they could talk in private,"
"This is the artefact I want you to retrieve," Shin explained. He showed the dragon slayers a photo of a golden box. It was fairly small, but it looked precious.
"What is it?" Natsu asked.
"It's something I have been working on for a good number of years. The box itself is precious yes, but what's most valuable to me, is what's inside. That, is a collection of 20 years worth of exploring and research," Shin continued.
"And what's that?" Wendy enquired.
"A secret I'm afraid," He took the photo away and replaced it with another one. It was a picture of a man. "This is the man who took it. He is currently just north of here. I want you to steal it back from him, and bring it back to me," Shin requested.
"I see…" Sienna said.
"This artefact means more to me than my life, so you must complete this job regardless of the consequences,"
"Right! Let's get going then," Natsu said. They all then said their goodbyes to Shin Hirako and set out towards the train station again. Shin Hirako was sitting on the bench looking out at the window, watching them leave.
" Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Sienna….I know you can reunite yourselves with your dragons, but it's not going to be easy…."