[Last updated: 04/23/18]
After we all finally got to the outskirts of Hargeon and away from their army, Natsu slowed down to a moderate pace and let go of us and we started walking down a dirt path that led roughly North by Northwest according to my HUD. Since the events in the town had taken up most of the day, the sky was taking on the vibrant colors of sunset off to the left. I relayed my concerns to Natsu about lodging for the night as I could tell we couldn't make the journey today, assuming we didn't continue through the night; either way I was ready. He looked at us, smiled, and gave me a thumbs up. "Nah, it's ok. See, there's this place I know not too far away from here we can rest for the night for a little money." At that, Lucy's face took on a dour expression. "And I suppose you need me to pay for it?" She sighed. "Fine, yeah … I'll pay." I looked at her and said, "I am sorry Lucy, I haven't been here long enough to make any money." She brightened up and waved dismissively at me, "No, you're fine. I could tell by just looking at you that you just got here. Just pay me back when you can, ok?" She turned to look at Natsu. "But you.", she poked him in the back, "Why couldn't you pay for some of this? As I hear it, the wizards of Fairy Tail get their fair share of job requests!" Happy, who had been silent up till now, looked over at her and said, "We spent it all already on food on the way to Hargeon." Lucy and I face palmed. From what I've known of them thus far, that didn't seem too far-fetched.
About an hour after the sun had gone down, we closed in on a roadside building. I could tell it was one of those places where you prepaid at the front desk and they handed you an actual metallic key to a room; you know, the old-fashioned way. Though, the logic of the pricing system eluded me, and there was a mysterious symbol I could only surmise was their currency. After we went inside, I saw above the desk was a hand painted sign that read, "1500 per head per night". As Lucy paid the fee for us, Natsu and Happy received their key and sleepily climbed the stairs to the second level. (Which I correctly assumed were all rooms for rent) Lucy followed them upstairs to her room stretching and muttering how she needed a shower. I received my key and stored it before I went back outside and laid in the grass on my back looking up at the unfamiliar stars.
'Well, even if we can't place them … they still do look beautiful no matter what, right Mira?' Yes … they do … I could tell she was deep in thought; she was currently running many complicated mathematical equations in parallel, or that's what it felt like. She was keeping herself busy. 'Mira … what are we going to tell them when they ask who we are and where we come from? I can't just keep dodging questions and giving half-truths indefinitely.' She was silent for a moment before responding. Tell them what you can, but we don't completely know if they will be allies – though I hope they turn out to be, we could sure use some. If it turns out they are, we should tell them everything; just lay it all out. I can help you if you need it. I stared out into the night sky for another ten minutes lost in thought before retiring to the room number that was ornately engraved onto the small metal key before carefully getting into bed and closing my eyes.
Fog. Fog was everywhere, obscuring my vision until I could only see a few feet ahead of me. I then noticed a figure running from out of the fog towards me … they were holding something out to their side, but parallel to their shoulders … and pointed at me. I then heard the distinctive electrical crackle of an energy sword being ignited.
I woke up in a cold sweat. Jai! Jai, are you ok? You've only been asleep for a few hours at most … I shook my head. "Did … did you see that as well?" I saw something about a figure … and fog … I nodded at that, "Yes! That!" What about it? "I … I don't know. It just feels me with a sense of dread …" Well, it's over now. Can you try and go back to sleep? I shrugged and climbed back into bed. I ultimately didn't get back to sleep, however.
Come morning, I was the first one up and had returned the key and was sitting in the lobby waiting for my companions until they eventually showed up. As we followed the dirt road North by Northwest again, Natsu had taken lead and Lucy had fallen back to accompany me. She looked over to me and asked, "So … what was up with the voices I heard last evening over the thing you gave me? I heard some screaming." Natsu took interest at this and slowed down a bit to get closer before he asked for clarification. I quickly filled him in on what went on after our party split up. "As soon as I saw him, Bora never did set well with me – and we all know how that ended up. So, while Lucy was above deck with the party, I went below deck to see if there was anything funny going on down below; if nothing else, it would disprove the funny feeling I had in my gut. As it turns out, I wasn't wrong; I eventually ran into some hired muscle as I was snooping below deck in a restricted section of the ship. They became aggressive when they saw me. I identified the threats, and neutralized them. After that I rescued the two rooms of captive women they were guarding under lock and key. There were about thirty to forty in all."
Lucy and Natsu shared a look of concern. "You don't mean…" I stepped in before they could assume any further. "No, I didn't kill them; I said neutralized, not eliminated. They may die someday if they continue being thugs, but not because of the actions I took today." I thought for a moment before briefly amending what I had said, "Although … a few may require low level medical attention. Especially one individual in particular. I kind of crushed his hand." I smiled grimly at the thought of the men I had fought that night. Natsu smiled widely, oblivious of my body language. "Oh. Well that's good, you knocked them out then I take it?" I nodded. "Of a sort, yes." That reassured them. "All six of them." Natsu grinned wider and slapped me lightly on the back. Lucy meanwhile was staring at me incredulously. "SIX thugs!? Only six?! And they were armed, I assume?" Again, I nodded. I shrugged and said, "They were pretty easy to take down. They didn't have anything too dangerous, they were wielding pretty simple weapons: one had a crossbow and brass knuckles, another had a large dagger, a few had swords and a bat, and the leader tried to come at me with fisticuffs." I punctuated that last one by impacting a fist into an open palm loudly. "They even wanted to kill me; it was cute … in a pathetic sort of way. I said they could try." Natsu made a sound of approval, "Heh, it sounds like you can do well in a fight. I think you'll fit right in at Fairy Tail."
Eventually, we came into a large town they called Magnolia. It had a population of sixty thousand inhabitants, and was a merchant city that had been proficient in magic since eras gone by. Such a reputation was supported by the fact that the town housed the strongest two guilds in the country. Magnolia possessed an enormous built-up area, extending to both sides of a large river that lazily split the town. Running through the town was a series of large roads, affording it a grid-like look. As we walked, I noted that the whole place felt western in style, with its buildings being mildly reminiscent of neat Medieval ones; a design scheme I've seen shared everywhere I've been so far. Located along the central road is a large cathedral nearby signs called Kardia Cathedral, one of Magnolia's most important and distinctive landmarks, if advertisements were to be believed. As we walked, I saw more signs for various businesses that were sprinkled throughout the town. They were typical landmarks such as the train station, the HalfCocor Hotel Bar, the Toy Store, the Lendis Magic Store, and the Fiore Transport Co.; meanwhile, on the town's Western border, was the entrance to a large park. However, it was the Northernmost part of the city that held our objective.
I followed Lucy and Natsu along the road leading to the Northern part of the town and found an imposing large, two-story high building. The building before me consisted of three floors and incorporated several architectonic styles: it took on a shape reminiscent of a pagoda, with each floor being smaller than the one below it and sitting on the latter's roof. The roofs also bore great resemblance to those of real pagoda, consisting of extremely long, arched tiles lined up one after the other and possessing simple curved protrusions jutting upwards on the building's angles. On the highest roof, topping the summit of the building, sat a simple, round and pointed dome, highly reminiscent of those seen on Arabian buildings, which bore a flag on its point. The roof below the one with the dome, the middle one, housed a large banner with Fairy Tail's symbol on it, held up by a pair of vertical poles. The building's large entrance again seemed Arabian in design, with its shape being reminiscent of that of the dome on the summit, and above it was the guild's name, topped by a protruding, stylized heart shape and flanked by a pair of carved fairies. Stylized heart shapes were also visible on the frames of the numerous, large pentagonal windows located on each floor, with the top floor housing smaller, arched windows partially covered by banners. We all stood before the building looking up at the Fairy Tail symbol on the flag above the door as Happy said, "Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Natsu kicked open the large wooden front doors and yelled, "We made it back alive!". Happy exclaimed, "We're home!".
Inside, most of the large first floor was one room occupied by quite a few wooden tables accompanied by long benches and short stools for people to sit at. Mugs of different liquids and plates of food were everywhere. There seemed to be at the very least fifty people alone on this floor; though there could easily have been more. From one of the tables nearby, someone who had rather unfortunate dentistry and quite prominent buck teeth commented towards our group in a slight lisp (That was no doubt the result of said dentistry, or lack thereof), "So, I hear you went all out on Hargeon, Natsu. Just HAD to go starting troub-" The man was cut off from finishing his sentence by a kick to the face by Natsu which sent him flying across a few tables and eventually came to rest under wooden debris when a wall broke his momentum.
Lucy, shocked at this, turned to Natsu and said, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Natsu took no note of her outburst and strode to the nearest stool, planted a foot on top, and shook a fist at the man saying, "You lied about that Salamander! I'm going to kick your butt!" The apparent source of this information sat up through the debris covering him and retorted, "Don't get mad at me! I'm not the one to blame here, I was just passing along a rumor I heard!" This riled Natsu up who grew incredulous. "It was just a RUMOR!? You want to fight? LET'S GO!" One of the two was quickly thrown through a few tables as Happy shook a paw dismissively at Natsu and said, "Now, now, Natsu … I think you need to calm dow-" Happy, too, was cut off from his sentence when someone was thrown into him which sent the poor cat careening about the room like a little blue furry pinball. This was apparently more than enough for a full scale bar fight to ensue. It was just chaos as people were fighting, glass was shattering, tables were being broken … the works.
I looked over to Lucy as she witnessed this. She merely smiled and said more to herself than anything else, "Oh wow! I'm actually standing inside the Fairy Tail guildhall!" I noticed motion (That wasn't fighting … for now) as someone turned around and shouted with a fierce expression towards the door where we were standing, "So, Natsu made it back to the guild, HUH?!" (The look the man sported intimidated Lucy more than a little bit for a moment) He was quite noticeably clad in nothing but a pair of black boxers and a stylized metal cross on a silver chain around his neck. (I learned later that his name was Gray Fullbuster; one in a long line of names I would have to soon match with faces)
His most prominent feature is his spiky black hair. He has dark blue eyes, and his body is leanly toned and muscular. (And I learned slightly later that he had an intriguing habit of taking off the majority of his clothes … for some reason) As Gray started walking towards a nearby brawl, a women drinking what I assumed was wine from a small cask at a bar turned towards him and reminded him of his clothes. Gray turned towards her with a stomp of a foot and shouted that he didn't have time for that.
The woman in question was Cana Alberona. She was a tall, slim, young woman with an ample bust and tan skin. She had long, mid-back length brown hair; two shoulder-length strands of hair framed her face, with the left one starting from a prominent, high fringe. She had large brown eyes and visibly long eyelashes. She possessed a very voluptuous figure, with large breasts and curvy hips. Her black Fairy Tail stamp was located on the lower left part of her abdomen, right above her hips. Her outfit consisted of a light blue bikini top which featured a camouflage pattern, a pair of Capri pants, with two bands hanging from each leg and a light belt covered in heart motifs loosely tied around the waist. The outfit is completed by wearing a pair of high-heeled sandals. She also had a pair of metal bracelets adorning her biceps, bearing an incision composed of many "A"s, and three simple, round metal bracelets on her right wrist. She also currently holds the record as the guilds heaviest drinker. She rolled her eyes as Gray jumped headlong into the fray and turned towards Lucy. "You see? I don't date any of the men around here because they don't have any class." … Right before picking up an entire barrel of what I assume to be alcohol and started chugging away on it, which Lucy could only gawk awkwardly at.
Meanwhile, Gray was making his way over to Natsu, kicking debris out of the way as he went. "Come here and fight me, Natsu!" Natsu, on the other hand was comically pounding the face of the man who had given him faulty information into a wall as he said that. He turned his head towards Gray and let the man's head fall from his grasp as he laid there groaning. "Not until you put some clothes on!" Off to our left, a large man could be seen walking towards Lucy and I in wooden sandals. This man was Elfman Strauss. He was a large, muscular man with tanned skin, whose height caused him to tower over most of his fellow guild members. His long white hair was kept styled upwards in long, wavy spikes, his dark eyes possessed no visible eyebrows and his rectangular, elongated face had a stitched scar running down its right side, crossing his right eye. His black Fairy Tail stamp was located on the left part of his neck. I would later consult Mira, and the two of us would place the clothes he wore as having an old Terran Japanese schoolboy look to them. His usual outfit resembled that worn by said stereotypical Japanese high-school hooligans: it consisted of a dark blue jacket with purplish blue inners, held closed on the front by a line of large buttons, with similar buttons on the sleeves' back and the zipper located on the high collar that was often left open. On the back of his usual jacket were stylized words in a language I couldn't identify, which were later translated to mean 'The Greatest'. The jacket itself seemed to usually be worn over a light red shirt, while sometimes seemingly replaced by an A-shirt covered in many vertical lines. His outfit was completed by loose pants matching his jacket which were held up by a simple belt, and wooden sandals – which were again reminiscent of old Terran Japanese culture; I believe records had them termed as Geta sandles – held in place by bands colored the same as his jacket's inners. (I quickly consulted Mira on all of the consistent Japanese culture that was seemingly prevalent in Earthland; we both agreed that it was weird, but were forced to accept it as we couldn't exactly do anything about it.)
Elfman said in a loud voice, "It's only noon, and you boys are whining like spoiled babies!" This only provoked the quarreling duo of Natsu and Gray into briefly teaming up and delivering a synchronized punch that threw him high into the air. Lucy gasped. "They knocked him out that easily?" I heard feminine laughter emanating from behind me, and as I turned around, I saw a man who was sitting on a bench relatively nearby who had a giggling woman sitting on each leg. He was apparently the resident lady-killer. He was hit in the head by what looked like an errant can of peaches, which caused the two women to check after him. In a moment, he had extracted himself from his seat saying that he was going to go fight … but only to protect the two women he had enthralled, who practically swooned after him. [For real this time, no spell … well, you know what I mean] Lucy got out a book and a marker and made a large red X over his face; a reputation corrupted. The man in question was known as Loke. He is a young man of average height, distinguished by his delicate facial features and his orange hair. His hair was kept in a mildly short, spiky cut, with spiky strands covering his forehead, and other, longer ones jutting upwards from the top of his head. His hazel eyes were almost always covered by a pair of azure-tinted sunglasses with a thin frame. He wore a green coat with a wide collar, complete with prominent, spiky, brownish-white fur trimming lining the hood, over a light red shirt covered in many flower-like motifs, black pants and whitish sneakers, each adorned by a pair of light green stripes.
Lucy closed her book and put away her marker before looking around at the bar fight that was still going on. "What the heck is wrong with these people? There's not one sane person in this whole place – save you and I of course." I noticed a yellow blip come up behind us on my motion tracker, which was going crazy over all of the constant motion on all sides. "Hello! Are you new here?" Lucy and I turned around to meet another beautiful woman who was carrying a wooden serving tray with thick glass beer mugs on it. She had shockingly white hair and a lovely sleeveless, ankle-length maroon dress with a pleated skirt. The chest is adorned by a large, pink bow, and similarly colored trimmings frame the rather ample neckline, acting as straps, and circle around the waist.
This was someone both Lucy and I recognized. (Albeit I only knew her from her centerfold, but that's neither here nor there) This was none other than Mirajane Strauss. She was a slim young woman of below average height. She had long, white hair which curled slightly at the ends, with two bangs framing her face and reaching down to her chest; her hairstyle's most distinctive trait is a short, upward ponytail obtained by gathering and tying the hair covering her forehead. Due to her always adopting such fashion, her hair seemed to have adapted to it, with the hair on her forehead remaining pointed upwards even when not tied. She had large blue eyes and a curvy, voluptuous body, with large breasts. Her white Fairy Tail Stamp is located on her left thigh. She was widely known for her beauty, being Fairy Tail's drawing card and having posed many times for Sorcerer's Weekly. Lucy started bringing out her fangirl again which merely made Mirajane emit a smile and a giggle of contentment.
Lucy adopted a look and gestured vaguely before asking if we should break this up. Mirajane merely looked around calmly with a smile. "What, this? It's always like this around here; I'd just leave them alone. Besides I-" Mirajane was cut off when Elfman was thrown bodily into her. Unable to bear the strain of her brother in her current stance, she fell to the floor with an unconscious Elfman pinning her to the ground. She smiled up at us and said, "It's kinda fun, don'tcha think?" right before passing out. Lucy began to freak out over Mirajane before Gray went flying into her … naked. I turned to the left and I could see Natsu standing on a nearby table grinning like a fox, twirling Gray's boxers around a finger. I heard him yell, "GIVE ME BACK MY UNDERWEAR, JERK!" Lucy, meanwhile, was screaming a little and was trying (Unsuccessfully) to cover her eyes as a deep blush colored her face; Gray came up to her and asked if he may barrow her underwear and she kicked him into a far wall shouting, "As if!" The resulting change in stance was too much for her to sustain and she began to fall before being caught by Loke bridal style saying, "These guys are all so insensitive, a woman has needs-" before being punched out of the picture by Elfman (Who had apparently awoken) who shouted, "Real men speak with their fists, Loke!" before he too was sent out of the picture by a fiery punch from Natsu saying that he had told Elfman to butt out.
Sensing movement, I looked back over to the bar where Cana was resting her chin in her palm, clearly annoyed as she complained about not being able to have a relaxing drink. She got out of her chair, sat on the counter, and whipped out some kind of card which started to glow as she 'suggested' that they all knock it off. The card glowed brighter and projected an intricate circle of runes – a magic circle. Gray, too, readied his magic by placing a fist into his open palm in front of him which started glowing light blue, "Oh yeah, says who?" Things were beginning to heat up, and quickly. Elfman roared as he stuck his right arm into the air, producing a large circle and his arm glowed magically before it was encased in rock. Something similar happened to a ring Loke was wearing as he sighed and said that they could all be a nuisance. Natsu simply made flames up to his elbows and said, "I'm ready for you!" Clearly taken aback, Lucy adopted a worried look as she asked Happy if they always acted like this, which he unhelpfully said, "Aye!" It goes without saying, things were escalating quickly.
The next thing I knew, a large black foot slammed into the ground with a deafening roar. A dark figure loomed above in silhouette, yet on closer inspection, it looked like it was almost … stretched, unnaturally so, which afforded its' limbs and torso incredible length. It looked about thirty to forty feet high, with two large doglegged horns sprouting somewhere around his head. It sported a pair of rather long, lean, muscular arms which almost reached its' feet. It bellowed in a deep, resonating voice, "WOULD YOU FOOLS STOP BICKERING LIKE CHILDREN!?" Lucy was immediately intimidated, who then clung onto my back in fear; I however, calmly spawned my DMR in a soft blue flourish and readied it but kept it down and at my side, wary for any hostile movements as I stared up at it. I hadn't exactly fought something of this scale before, but if it came to a fight I figured it couldn't be that hard. It looked humanoid enough that I knew that all I probably needed to do was just take out a vital point here and there then go for the head; if it came to it, that is. Fortunately for me, it didn't. The figure's loud exclamation caused the whole population to stop in its' tracks and look up at it. I then noticed Mirajane come into sight near the figure. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were still here, master." Wait, did she just say master?! The figure looked down to Mirajane.
I could hear Natsu laughing; he had gotten up on a table and was laughing with his fists on his hips in a proud stance. "Man, talk about a bunch of babies! Looks like I won this round you bunch of lo–" The rest of his statement was cut off as a giant foot from above came down on him and pinned him to the ground. The giant figure then looked over at us, "IT SEEMS WE HAVE A COUPLE OF NEW MEMBERS?" Lucy, who was by now so intimidated she was bordering on panic, couldn't stop staring at the figure who directed its question at us. I stepped forward about a foot and answered his question, "Yes, sir!" The giant smiled, then let out a roar before shrinking down into a very small man that looked to be (Currently) about three to four feet tall. This was Fairy Tail's guild master, Makarov Dreyar, who was an extremely short, elderly man. He had black eyes and was growing bald with only the outer rims of his head containing white hair, with a thick white mustache. He had a black stamp of the Fairy Tail guild mark that covered his entire chest area. He was dressed in a casual manner consisting of a white shirt with a black Fairy Tail stamp in the middle under an orange hoodie. His attire was completed with matching orange shorts and an orange and blue striped jester hat. He held out and arm and gave us an informal salute. "Pleased to meet 'cha!" Lucy incredulously blurted, "He's tiny! This little guy's really in charge around here!?" Mirajane laughed and formally introduced us to him.
Master Makarov promptly turned around and jumped up to the railing of the second story with the aim to land upon it. Unfortunately for him, he had timed the pitch of his spin incorrectly and impacted the railing not with his feet like he had intended, but rather with the back of his head before coming to a rest on the railing on his back. He groaned from the impact before standing up facing the crowd and cleared his throat before speaking to the crowd as a whole. "You've gone and done it again, ya bunch of clods!" He held up a large stack of papers in his left hand. "Just take a look at how much paperwork the Magic Council sent me this time! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet!" I deactivated the external mic and quickly asked Mira about her thoughts on this "Magic Council". I don't know for sure, but this Magic Council must be some kind of ruling body or government that keeps tabs on the magic guilds … or something like that. I really don't have enough information to make a more accurate guess right now, sorry.
Master Makarov was positively shaking with emotion. "Have you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher ups mad at me!" He took a moment to pause and calm down. "However …" He leaned back and magically lit the stack of papers on fire. "… I say to heck with the Magic Council." He grunted and threw the fireball over the railing and into the airspace above the first floor where Natsu jumped at it and caught it in his mouth like some kind of light-ish red dog after a chunk of meat. He even made a chomping noise. Mira softly snorted in amusement at that inside my head. "Now listen up! Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power – it is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your entire being and come pouring out of your soul! If all we do is worry about following the rules, then our magic will never progress! Don't let those blowhards on the Council scare you, follow the path you believe in …" He held up his right arm straight up above him, made a fist with only his thumb and index finger out and twisted his arm so that the back of his hand was facing the crowd. "… because that's what makes the Fairy Tail guild number one!" Everyone around us mirrored his action and cheered. Lucy and I shared a look; she smiled at me, and I nodded while grinning inside my helmet. This feeling that was being generated in the room right now … I don't think I've felt it before; it felt … inviting, nice even. I could feel my body relaxing at the mood; I wouldn't mind experiencing more moments like this one.
A small while later after everything had calmed down and the damaged furniture was replaced, everyone had ordered drinks and food and things were going back to a more peaceful mood. Lucy and I were off by Mirajane getting our guild marks. Mirajane wielded a comically large stamp that when she pressed it to the back of Lucy's left hand, the pad glowed, and when she removed it, Lucy had the Fairy Tail symbol on her hand in pink with a darker pink border around it. Mirajane smiled, "Now you're an official member of the Fairy Tail guild!" Lucy was staring at her hand and was off in her own little world for what was looking like a little while. Mirajane turned to me and asked where I would like my stamp and what color it should be. "Could I have it on my left shoulder pauldron in royal blue and a black border?" I asked presenting my left shoulder towards her. "If that's where you want it, sure!" After a moment, "Umm, Mirajane? Will this penetrate to my skin underneath my bodysuit?" She said that if I wanted it to, she could do that. She pressed the top of the handle of the stamp with her thumb and pressed it against my armor, and I could feel a momentary warmth on my skin before it dissipated with the glow of the stamp's pad. I thanked her for the stamp and she congratulated me for officially joining the guild.
By that time, Lucy was over by Natsu yelling at him for some reason. (I wasn't really paying attention as I had been talking to Mirajane) As I walked over to them, I could see they were standing in front of a large cork board that was absolutely covered with papers with a painted sign above that read, 'Request Board'. "I'm guessing this is where we get our jobs, right Natsu?" Natsu, who was lost searching the board, tore his attention away at the mention of his name. "Huh? Oh, yeah. This is where the jobs come in from people from around Fiore, but mostly from places in and around Magnolia." Fiore? Is that what they called the land we were in? I mentally shook my head to rid myself of the thought before I stepped forward to take a better look; time to make some money. There was a job that promised an amount of money with quite a few zeros after the number. But, I had no way to tell if that was a large sum of money or not; anyway after I skimmed the text, all that was required was to go get some book from this rich guy in a mansion. But I could tell that Natsu and Lucy were eyeing this one in particular, so I would leave that one to them.
I noticed a job posted off to one side all by itself where a group of thieves were terrorizing a town to the East of Magnolia in what looked like a heavily wooded, mountainous area. The town was called Lynna Village. It appears that after raiding the town of anything of value, the thieves in question had apparently deemed that they still needed more and had taken the village's young as hostage to ransom whatever they had left; in short, they were bleeding the town dry. The job boasted in large font that this was a dangerous job only to be attempted by a team of skilled wizards. I thought back to all I had lost … my friends, my family, my home … my very childhood … all gone. I then thought of similar things happening to the denizens of this town; the thought of it brought my blood to a boil. No! Not again … not on my watch! I walked up to it and ripped it off of the paper clip it was hanging on to; danger level be damned. I took a few smaller similar jobs and sent them off to storage by throwing them up in the air as they dematerialized in a show of red fire.
"Woah, those were some high level jobs you just took, you going to be alright to take them on alone, what with you just having joined and all?" The comment of friendly concern came from one Nab Lasaro. Nab was an extremely tall, heavily muscular and massive young man, towering over most of his guild mates. His straight dark hair was styled in a bob cut, with a light-colored band circling it near the top, and two curved bangs emerging from under it, framing the upper part of his face, which had a somewhat rectangular shape. He had prominent thick lips, and a pair of wide, horizontal white stripes, each covering one of his cheeks, somehow reminiscent of tribal war paint. Both of his shoulders are adorned by a white tattoo consisting of several circles, with a larger one in the center being surrounded by smaller ones, in a shape resembling a stylized sun. I looked over at the man and said, "Yes. I'm confident I can take them." He smiled. "That's the attitude! Well, by all means then." I paused, and then added, "Aren't you going to take a job as well? There are certainly enough here …?" I trailed off as I noticed his hesitance. Before I could continue our dialogue, someone from a nearby table commented how he never took a job, and began to argue with Nab. I just sighed internally and left them to quarrel in peace.
I made my way over to the bar and ordered a couple of large mugs of something cold and non-alcoholic before taking it over to one of the tables near the far corner of the room, where I could drink and contemplate in relative peace. I gently sat down on one of the benches that looked the sturdiest of the bunch, and sat my mugs down. As things were settled down, if at least for the time being, I took the time to isolate and scan each individual I met in Fairy Tail up till now and tagged each as 'Friendly'. It would prove to be a slightly longer process for my helmet computer whenever I would next come into range of another member; instead of simply registering the FOF transponder imbedded into the backs of the necks of friendlies when they enlisted, (A rather invasive process I assumed they wouldn't exactly go for) the individual would instead be scanned and matched against a database of bio-signatures I was building with the assistance of Mira, which would be then classified as normal: either red for enemy, yellow for caution, and green for allies. That done, I leaned back a little and rolled the pads of my fingers together pensively and took my time. I activated a function in my helmet that extruded what amounted to a straw and was gently sipping on a sweet tasting fluid as I contemplated on what I should tell them with Mira in my head. A few minutes went by and a green dot came closer on my motion tracker. I looked over as Master Makarov took a seat nearby with a mug of his own which, if I were made to guess, held some kind of whiskey.
"I know that body language: slowly consuming a beverage while staring into its' depths while lost in thought with no doubt a thousand mile stare. You are a soldier, are you not?" This caught me by surprise as I almost choked on the mouthful of liquid I had practically inhaled as he merely laughed. 'He knows!' "So you are … forgive me. I've spent my fair share of time as a youth in taverns around army vets old and young; I think I can just about spot them from a mile away by now." He smiled and took a draught before adding, "Well, it was that and your not at all conspicuous armor. If you don't mind an old man prying, where are you from, son?" Thinking fast, I replied, "I'm not at liberty to say a few things, but suffice to say I'm not from anywhere around here. I came from a far land by ship to retrieve a captured comrade that had been taken prisoner by enemy forces. I spearheaded a rescue effort with a team of my own design and we rescued our friend. However, before we could escape, events happened and the ship … well, it exploded … and my team and I were separated in the event. I was picked up by a wandering traveler and found myself in this land with my team's fate unknown. My goal as of now is to find them as soon as I can, but it seems I'm here to stay as I and my team have most likely been marked as killed in action by my military by now. As such, I have taken a few jobs from your board so as I can pay my debt to Lucy for the kindness she has shown me thus far as well as purchase living quarters." He looked at me for a moment before smiling at me. "Well, that is rather unfortunate to hear, but I'm glad you ended up with us. I do hope you find your team one day soon. Which jobs did you take, by the way?" I brought out the jobs I had taken; the one that had led to Lynna Village was on top when I showed it to him. "Ohh, it's this one is it? Normally I would caution those who would take this particular job up, but if a soldier – no doubt seasoned – from another land thinks they can lend a hand, who would I be to stand in their way? Though, if you find you are in need of help, there's no shame in coming back for reinforcements. I trust a soldier like you already knows that." He said that last part with a paternal smile. Afterward, when I had turned slightly to draw from one of my mugs, I could see him glance at me with a knowing look.
As we were talking, I noticed a small form creep up behind the Master and tug on the back of his hoodie. A small voice could be heard asking, "How come my dad hasn't come back yet?" Makarov had been drinking before the question was posed, and as such sat his mug down and sighed softly. "You are starting to work my nerves, Romeo." He scooted around in his stool to look at the anxious boy. As he did so, I was able to briefly get a clear view of the boy. Romeo is a slim, young boy with straight, dark hair. His bangs were particularly prominent, covering part of his forehead, with some smaller strands jutting outwards from the top of his head. He had large eyes and a small, mildly round nose. Romeo's outfit consisted of a dark T-shirt adorned on the front by some kind of stylized symbol, lighter-colored pleated shorts with two large pockets on the back, and simple sandals, each held up by two bands joined by a round button.
"You're a wizard's son! Have faith in your father and wait patiently for him." This apparently wasn't what he was hoping to hear because he continued pleading to the Master, "But sir, he told me that he'd be gone about three days; and he's been gone for over a week now!" Master Makarov grunted into his mug again thinking and said before taking a drink, "Hrm, if I remember correctly, he took the job up on Mt. Hakobe." Romeo raised his fists in a determined stance, "That's right, and it's not that far from here so why won't anyone go and look for him?!" Annoyed, Master Makarov sternly looked at him and replied, "Listen, kid! Your old man's a wizard, and like any other wizard in this guild he can take care of himself!" He then sighed and let out as much frustration as he could and adopted a somewhat gentler approach, "Now go home, have some milk and cookies and wait!"
Romeo closed his eyes and raised a fist, emotions obviously fighting for dominance within. Finally, he executed a right hook to the master's face that I could have told him was coming for the last week before shouting 'Jerk!' and running off trying not to cry, shouting that he hated him, hated us all. Of course he didn't really mean it, he was just worried about his dad … poor kid. Makarov, having been thrown off balance enough to fall to the floor onto his back, groaned as he held a palm to his face, covering an impressive looking welt growing on the bridge of his nose. I extended a hand and hauled him back up to the stool in an upright fashion. "You ok, Sir?" He sighed and said, "Yeah, yeah … looks like his old man's been giving him some lessons."
I decided it was time to get up to refill my drinks and to give him some space while he nursed his nose. I went up to the bar and pulled up a stool near Lucy and Mirajane. She was solemnly washing plates while Lucy sadly looked towards the main entrance that Romeo had just exited through. Lucy made a small noise and commented, "That's gotta be tough." Mirajane looked over to her. "I know it sounds like he doesn't care, but he really is worried." Just then a loud crack could be heard from the vicinity of the Request Board. I looked over and Natsu was pulling his fist out of a hole in the board. Nab was surprised by this, "What do you think you're doing Natsu?! You almost broke the board!" Natsu was silent as he put his hands into his pockets and strode out the door presumably after Romeo with his backpack in hand over his right shoulder with Happy following after. I could hear murmurings around the various tables and could tell that this wasn't good and that Natsu might go after Romeo's father on Mt. Hakobe. Someone nearby sighed and asked to no one in particular if that kid was ever going to grow up.
Nab and Makarov eventually made their way to the bar to get more drinks. Nab set his mug on the counter and Mirajane indicated she would get to it. "This doesn't look good master, you know how Natsu can be, I bet he's going after Macao. Going after him isn't going to do anything but hurt his pride." Makarov, who had applied first aide to his nose, had slipped onto the counter and was calmly smoking slowly from a long pipe he produced from somewhere. "Remember Nab, we can't choose another's path. Just leave him be." Lucy asked why Natsu got so upset. Mirajane was facing the opposite wall filling orders. She softly replied, "Probably because he and Romeo have a lot in common … I think he sees himself in Romeo. Just because we're members of Fairy Tail doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and loss." I bowed my head in remembrance of all those that were lost, reflecting on her words. I think she saw me do that. "Many years ago, Natsu's father left and never came back. Well … technically, it wasn't his real father, but the one who raised him. He was actually a dragon." This blew our minds, Lucy's, Mine, and I think Mira's collectively. It wasn't exactly new information; but for it to be verified … an actual dragon. Mirajane continued, "When he was a little boy, a dragon found him wandering the forest. He took him in and taught him all about language, culture, and magic. But one day, the dragon disappeared and never returned." Lucy and I shared a look, "So that dragon must have been Igneel!" Mirajane nodded. "That's right. And Natsu lives for the day when he'll see Igneel again." She let out a small laugh. "It's sort of cute, don't you think?"
I got up from my stool, mugs of the cool, sweet liquid forgotten, full of purpose. 'I have to ask someone what that stuff is, it's delicious' Confused, Lucy got up and asked what I was doing. "Come on, Lucy! We're going to help Natsu get Romeo's dad back!" She blinked at me for a second before she grew serious and nodded curtly. I continued as I headed for the door, "But most importantly, do you have a set of winter gear?" She stopped for a second with what could only be a curious expression on her face as she asked me why. "Well, his dad's on a mountain, and since we don't know exactly how far up the mountain we need to go to get him, it would stand to reason that if we needed to go anywhere near the summit that it would be rather cold. Safety first." I eyed her briefly. "And no offence Lucy, but I don't think your outfit is suited for cold weather." She tried to keep pace and ended up hastening her walk to keep up with me. "Huh, I haven't looked at it like that. And no I don't, but I think I can find out where to get some."
About fifteen minutes later found us looking for Natsu with Lucy clutching a shopping bag. We eventually found him in front of the Fiore Transport Co. looking at the building with intense distaste. We both called out to him. He brightened up when he saw us, "Hey! I was kinda wondering if anyone would come with me! This is perfect! Now I can see what you guys can do!" Happy, who was laying on Natsu's head on his stomach emitted his trademark 'aye'.
Three hours or so later found us riding in some kind of wooden enclosed wagon: the doors on the back were wood, wooden walls, wooden benches, and an angled wood roof; it was essentially a very small wooden shack on wheels. Lucy was polishing her key collection and I was waking from a nap. Natsu, who had been holding his stomach and moaning the entire time, jumped up at the first chance he could get once we stopped moving and was so excited he actually danced a little bit, a small amount of flames dancing excitedly around him. "ALL RIGHT! WE'VE STOPPED MOVING!" Man, he really has a problem, doesn't he? From outside the cabin, the voice of our driver could be heard. "I'm sorry, this is as far as I can take you." I opened the door and jumped out of the doors and into a pile of snow up to my shins. My visor immediately took on a drastic tint in response. Lucy merely stared out at the landscape before us. "Where the heck are we, Natsu?! It's a frozen wasteland!"
About ten minutes later we were following Natsu down a snowy path with a shivering Lucy. She asked, "Why is it so cold? I know we're on a mountain, but its summer! There shouldn't be a blizzard like this anywhere!" Natsu, who was taking lead of our triangle formation, replied, "That what you get for wearing light clothing." I agreed with him, which earned me a look from Lucy. "Oh please, you're not even dressed for it! Now, hand over that blanket!" Natsu moved Happy to his shoulder. "Man, she just keeps on talking, right?" Happy merely replied, "Aye." I stepped in and gently pried her off of Natsu's gear. "Lucy, that's his things, you can't just go taking other people's things at your discretion." She turned to me with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Oh, and what about you? Are you even wearing clothing under that armor? How are you not cold?"
I cocked my head, trying to think up a response and decided to go with the blunt truth, "Besides this bodysuit, no. I don't need to. Between the two, they form a complete barrier to the world around me. I could probably walk into a cryovolcano or a magma flow and I probably wouldn't feel it." (Although, to be honest, I don't think I really want to test that theory …) I could tell that last one went well over their heads, but the general sentiment was still felt. 'Right, right. Lower tier civilization.' I calmly directed Lucy's attention from us to the bag she was still carrying in her hands. By the way she was mumbling, I could tell she was seething at herself for forgetting all about the winter gear she had just bought for this expressed purpose.
A few minutes later saw Natsu and I with a much more comfortable (And much quieter) Lucy. She was wearing a fur and leather themed outfit: a hat reminiscent of a pilot trooper aviator hat, thick fur and beaten leather gloves, a thick leather jacket that was lined with some variety of even thicker animal fur that framed her bust nicely, with some kind of sort of tight fur lined leather pants (That showed off her ass rather nicely, which Mira and I silently appreciated), and a nice pair of warm looking leather boots that had bits of metal on the bottoms that were undoubtedly meant to act as cleats for if she stepped on ice. This entire outfit she simply put on over the clothes she was wearing. "Hahh … that feels much better. So, what sort of crazy job would force Romeo's dad to come to a place like this anyway?" Natsu crossed his arms and said, "Well, you should've asked that before coming on this mission. He went to slay a Vulcan, it's a big monster." A shocked and faintly timid look crossed her face momentarily as she said she wanted to go back to the guild. Natsu merely shrugged indifferently. I locked eyes with her for a second through my visor and motioned with my head for her to continue. She took a second to come to a decision before walking back after Natsu. I easily fell into step beside her.
Natsu began calling to our missing comrade over the fierce and probably biting winds. Lucy looked inquisitively over to me. "Hey, how did you come up with this anyway? And how did you know I would need this gear on this job?" I shrugged and commented without thinking, "It's called situational awareness. It comes naturally to most people, but even more so with training. I've been trained so much over the first few years of service, so many things are like second nature anymore … this, is no different." I tried to take it back, but it was far too late; with that comment, what would have probably been an enlightening conversation for them and a headache on my end about what I could tell them about my training was (Thankfully) averted by a large form coming down onto us from above and occupying the space that had grown between Natsu and us. It hit the ground fists first, causing a massive shockwave and a large crater where it hit.
The creature before me was a Vulcan. They appear to be large, anthropomorphic monsters that resemble primates. They possessed distinctive facial features: elongated chins, prolonged ears and pointed heads that resemble a single horn on top of their head. Vulcans have gargantuan arms, and subsequently large hands that attach to their muscular torsos. In comparison to their upper body, Vulcans evidently possess a pair of smaller-scaled legs that feature a long tail connected to the bottom of their torsos. The fur on their arms forms a decorative pattern unique to each species.
As its back was turned to Lucy and I, the first people that the Vulcan saw was Natsu and Happy. He grinned. Happy freaked out about how big it was. The creature took a few pig like snorts through its nose before giving its best shit-eating grin and rushed towards Lucy. Natsu shouted after the Vulcan, "Hey, wait!" The Vulcan was in front of Lucy before I knew it and was leaning in rather close to her face. "Me like human woman!" It picked her up and carried Lucy away without a second thought. Natsu ignited his fists and commented on how the Vulcan could talk. We could then hear her yell above the winds, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, HURRY UP AND SAVE ME!" And just like that, it was gone.
A small while later, I learned that Natsu apparently had the nose of a bloodhound as he tracked her scent all the way up the mountain to the summit. I bet Lucy is thankful for her gear now, eh? By the time we found his cave and went inside, the Vulcan was standing over Lucy with eyes full of … intent. Bleh. I don't even want to think about that. Natsu charged forward into the cave towards the Vulcan, "Hey you big ape! Where is he? Where's Macao?! TELL ME!" His charge was going well until, well, he slipped on the ice and went spinning like a top on his head before careening into a wall like a bowling ball. Lucy and I face palmed as Lucy complained about how that wasn't cool at all. "Why do you feel like you have to make an entrance all the time?" In his crater in the wall (And upside down), Natsu was still questioning the Vulcan. "Spill it, monkey! Where is my friend?" This brought the creature's attention to him and away from Lucy, who was able to run behind me for cover. "You understand me, right? He's a Human man. Now tell me where he is!" He brought a large finger up to his lip and made a thoughtful expression. "Man?" Natsu wore a serious expression as he pointed at him. "That's right! Where are you hiding him?" Lucy slowly looked towards him with a curious expression before asking, "Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions?"
The Vulcan waved at us to get our attention as he grunted excitedly as he pointed to a hole in the far wall; it didn't look like there was a floor on the other side, more like it was an icy window to the outside. "Man! Man!" This is a trap, isn't it. Natsu perked up excitedly, "Hey! I think he's going to show me!" He followed the Vulcan to the hole in the wall, leaned out and yelled, "MACAO!" The next thing that happened was Natsu was sent through the hole in the wall and into the cold, blizzardy abyss with the help of the Vulcan who pushed him. Oh look, it's a trap. Who could've predicted it. Lucy called after Natsu as she and I scrambled our way over to the hole and looked over. Indeed, a black abyss awaited those who fell. Meanwhile, the Vulcan was in the middle of the room doing a little tribal dance, chanting, and making rather apelike grunts as he did so, and was repeating, "No like man, me like woman!" Lucy and I backed away from the hole as she looked at me with a worried look, "This is bad, he can't survive out there!" She called out to him again. Aaaand now the Vulcan is just chanting 'woman' over and over while grinding his fists together. Earthland had some weird creatures. I snorted a little in amusement. 'And we've only been here a day and a half. Just think how many more things are in store for us.' Well … when you put it like that, that actually sounds a little exciting. And if you throw the guild into the mix … things could get pretty interesting around here …
Lucy took on a serious expression as she turned around and fished out her Celestial keys. "Alright you pervy monkey! You're going down!" She took one of her golden keys out. On this one, the head of a bull is carved in the base of the key with two horns sprouting out on its side, surrounding a white center with the crest of the Golden Bull, colored in black. The blade of the key is designed similar to that of a two-sided axe, each side designed with an S facing in opposite directions. The blade then finishes off with a pointed tip. She slashed it through the air like a blade, first a downward left-to-right diagonal slash, then a downward vertical cut. "Open! Gate of the golden bull! Taurus!"
So this is the kind of things she can summon, eh? Taurus was an extremely tall, heavily muscular and athletic humanoid whose physical features are highly reminiscent of both a bull – as his theme implies – but, most notably, of a cow. His body was covered in a black and white pattern similar to those of dappled cows, and the upper part of it from the waist up seemed more massive than the lower one. His head was bovine in shape, with small, elongated ears jutting outwards from the sides of his head, and a pair of horns – testifying him as a bull – sitting on top of it. He had dark eyes, and his flat nose had a large golden ring in it. He also wore what amounts to a pair of swim briefs held up by a thick leather belt. He wore simple dark boots with lighter upper edges, consisting of three lines circling his legs, and has a red belt circling his neck, to which a golden cowbell is attached. His forearms are wrapped in bandages, and he wears brown fingerless gloves. Crossing his torso diagonally and passing over his right shoulder is a large, plain dark belt closed by a simple buckle, to the back of which Taurus attaches his signature axe when he's not using it.
Taurus roared and flexed his muscles as he was summoned. The Vulcan dumbly asked, "Cow?" Lucy was serious, and as such, I was going to respect her and let her fight this one. If she needed help, I would be more than glad to step in, but until then, I was content to watch for now. Lucy grinned confidentially, "I should warn you, monkey boy, Taurus is the most powerful celestial spirit that I have a contract with!" Taurus then began to flirt with her, which caused the Vulcan to shout, "No touch my woman!" Taurus leveled a look at him. "Your woman? Them's fighting words, you moooonkey!" Taurus jumped into the air, equipped his double bladed two-handed axe, and delivered a vertical slash to the ground which then caused a fissure to open up and quickly move towards the Vulcan, who easily dodged the attack. The Vulcan came up to Taurus' left and was about to blindside him with a punch to the face before Natsu came back into the picture out of nowhere with a flying kick to Taurus' face, which incapacitated him on the ground while his axe went spinning and buried its blade in the ice, handle up.
Lucy could only stare at Taurus and comment, "Epic fail!" Meanwhile, completely clueless, Natsu asked why there were more monsters now than when he left. "He's a friend, dummy! One of my spirits!" Natsu gestured behind him with his thumb towards the Vulcan, who looked just about as confused as we were, "You mean that guy?" I stepped in. "Whoa, Natsu. How were you able to survive? We thought you were a goner." Natsu merely grinned and gestured above him to the blue flying cat. "Happy came to save me. Thanks little buddy!" Happy grinned, "Aye!" Lucy crossed her arms and asked why he couldn't handle other modes of transportation, but he could fly with Happy. He looked incredulously at her. "What kind of stupid question is that?! Happy isn't a mode of transportation! He's my friend! I mean, duh!" Lucy adopted a deadpan look and sarcastically said, "You're right! It was totally wrong of me to compare the two."
The Vulcan apparently had had enough, and shouted 'my woman' as he jumped up towards Natsu and attempted to make him into paste on the ground with one of his giant fists, which Natsu easily blocked with his right forearm. "Now you listen up, I consider everyone in the Fairy Tail guild my friend!" He was sent back about thirty feet by a kick from the Vulcan, which he blocked by crossing his arms in a defensive X formation. "Whether it's gramps, or Mirajane, or even those annoying jerks Grey and Elfman, and Happy and you guys … you're all my friends." He started to glow with an inner fire as the Vulcan charged at him. "Which is why…" Natsu launched a fiery kick in the Vulcan's abdomen. "… I'm not leaving without Macao!" The kick sent the Vulcan crashing against the ceiling of the icy room before coming back down in a ready stance while icy stalactites rained on down from above; some of which were large enough around as my upper arms.
Taking advantage of this, the Vulcan brought his hands together quickly in a clap-like fashion hard enough to shatter the stalactites by the sheer air pressure. Lucy panicked and dived out of the way of the icy shards; Natsu meanwhile, tanked the full force of the barrage like a champ. "Your ice attack has no effect on fire!" However, the attack appeared to be nothing more than a smokescreen because when the cloud of debris cleared, the Vulcan was holding Taurus' axe and had a cocky grin on his face. Natsu and Lucy backed away slightly when they saw what had happened. Natsu commented, "That's not good." With a worried expression, Lucy said, "He got Taurus' axe!" From elsewhere in the cave, I faintly heard a weak plea. "Please be careful miss Lucy!" It was Taurus. He wasn't in anything resembling fighting shape, but he wasn't completely out of the battle either, it seems.
Back to the fight, the Vulcan took a one handed swipe at Natsu with his new weapon, which he easily did a one handed backflip to avoid. The Vulcan kept slashing and Natsu kept avoiding it, cycling through a precarious dance of attack and avoidance. That is until Natsu slipped on the ice and landed on his butt. Lucy yelled, "No! Natsu!" The Vulcan grinned and walked up to Natsu and raised the axe overhead with both hands, prepared to execute a fatal blow. Before it connected, I appeared between the two fighters and caught the axe just below one of the shoulders of the closest head. "Mind if I cut in Natsu?" Natsu breathed for a second before nodding. "Thanks, man. I was about to try something drastic."
I took a firmer hold of the axe before swiftly kicking the Vulcan between the legs so it would drop its hold on the weapon. I quickly followed up with a kick to its abdomen to give myself some room to play with. I twirled the giant axe skillfully in my hands until I was able to bring it to bear before I swung at the Vulcan and hit it on the side of the head with the flat of the axe. Now dazed, the creature remained where it was, it's stance faltering noticeably. I took that time to fix the axe across my back and requipped the Strength Boost armor enhancement, grabbed the creature by the shins, hoisted him into the air, and slammed him into the ground on the other side of me. I repeated this maneuver a couple of times before throwing him up into the air and side kicking him into the opposite wall. He landed in a pile of debris upside down. I turned to Natsu, who was looking at me in awe, Lucy meanwhile, was just flat-out gawking. "What? Do I have something on me?" I quickly brushed off a little ice off of me.
Happy exclaimed, "We beat him!" Lucy cocked her head to one side, thinking. "Yeah, but wasn't this monkey supposed to tell us where Macao was?" Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly. "Heh, yeah … forgot about that." Lucy looked over to me. "Hey now, I did what was necessary to avoiding losing a teammate and a new ally; if I hadn't stepped in when I did, he would've killed Natsu." She walked closer to the unconscious form and bent over it slightly and supported herself on her thighs to get a closer look.
"Well, uh, I don't think he's going to do much talking." Happy laughed until the Vulcan began to glow a yellow-white light as a magic circle appeared. Everyone covered their eyes. "What the heck was that?" asked Natsu and gasped. "Macao?!" Lucy gaped at the man slumped upside down against the wall. "Are you telling me that big, perverted monkey was actually your friend this whole time?!" Happy quipped, "Yeah, he must have been taken over by that Vulcan." I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Taken over?" Happy chimed in, "Yeah, it must have used a possession spell against him. You see, Vulcans survive by stealing people's bodies and taking them over. They're evil body snatchers!"
I walked over and gently picked up the unconscious man and placed him on my back and walked to an unmarred patch of ground and waited for Lucy and Natsu to spread a blanket flat on the floor before I slowly laid him down onto it. The man was a little worse for wear, but was easily identifiable as Macao Cornbolt: our missing friend and Romeo's father whom we were sent on the behest of his son to find.
He was a slim, mildly muscular man of average height with short, straight, slicked back dark blue hair. He had linear dark eyebrows, dark eyes, and a prominent nose with a flat, rectangular front. The lower part of his face was covered in quite a large amount of stubble, which includes a thin mustache. Macao's outfit consisted of a knee-length white jacket, often kept open, with a wide, dark purple collar and matching edges, with the sleeves kept rolled up. The sleeves of the simple, dark shirt he wore underneath this jacket were visible sprouting from the latter's own sleeves, and reach down below his elbows. He wore brown, pinstriped pants held up by a lighter-colored belt bearing a snake-like pattern, with a simple, square-shaped buckle, partially obscured by his shirt, and a very distinctive pair of shoes, adorned with a leopard pattern. Around his neck Macao wore a large, serpentine necklace, which was held up by a chain.
A first aid kit appeared and Macao's wounds were treated and wrapped in bandages. Happy silently landed next to him. "It looks like he put up a pretty good fight before that Vulcan finally got to him, though." Very worried, Natsu kneeled on the floor over Macao and forcefully exclaimed, "Don't you die on me! Romeo's waiting for you! Open your eyes!" Fortunately, Macao stirred and opened his eyes. "N … Natsu." Lucy laughed and Natsu brightened up immediately. "You're ok!" Macao sighed softly. "I'm so pathetic. I defeated nineteen of those brutes. But the twentieth … man, that's the one that got me. I'm so angry with myself … I'm kind of embarrassed to go home and face Romeo." Natsu raised a fist, "C'mon, don't be like that! You beat nineteen monsters!" I could tell by her expression that Lucy was surprised. I stepped into the conversation. "You know, it was Romeo who sent us to find you." He heard that and smiled weakly. Natsu grinned and extended a hand and helped him to his feet. "Now, let's go home. Your little boy's been worried sick about you." Macao grinned and nodded.
Before we headed back out of the cave back towards Magnolia, I helped Taurus up and gave him his axe back. He eyed me for a second before smiling and thanking me right before he glowed a brilliant yellow-white light and vanished.
As we neared the guildhall, we could see the small form of Romeo crying silently on some steps nearby. Natsu called out, "Hey, Romeo!" Macao was walking with us, albeit supported by an arm over Natsu and I with Lucy leading ahead. Natsu waved at Romeo with his free arm and grinned widely. Even from here, I could tell his eyes grew as large as saucers as his mouth fell agape. Next thing I saw, Romeo had run over and tackled Macao screaming 'DAD!' at the top of his lungs. Needless to say, a tearful reunion on both sides.
Natsu, Lucy and I smiled at each other before Natsu gestured towards the guildhall and we walked away, giving them some privacy. Before we got too far though, we heard Romeo yell, "Natsu! Happy! Thanks for your help!" Without breaking stride, Natsu raised an arm and waved back at him without turning saying, "No prob, kid!" "Aye!" And then I heard Romeo again, "Lucy! Jai! Thanks for helping them bring my daddy back to me!" Lucy turned, waved, and laughed. Without breaking stride, I looked back to him and gave him an informal two fingered salute.
[Yay! Jai found and joined Fairy Tail and went on his first mission with Lucy and Natsu. He seems to be having fun, don't you think?]
