DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail the honor belongs solely to Mr. Hiro Mashima-sama.

If I did own fairy tail, then they would have done some Halloween events by now.

A/N: This chapter is in Natsu's POV. The italicized words are Natsu's thoughts.

Chapter Four

The scariest thing in the world

"Ne, Happy did you have a good night's sleep?" I asked my best pal in the world.

"Eh? Hmm.. Now that you mention it Natsu, it was okay but it wasn't as great as sleeping beside Lucy." The blue Exceed said while nibbling on his breakfast of freshly caught fish.

Just then a gust of wind blew out of nowhere and scattered brown leaves all over the road. Happy sneezed at the cold and decided to ride on my shoulder for warmth. Hehehehe. It helps that I don't get cold so easily. Huh, I wonder if that fortune telling stand has always been there. Shrugging, I walked on when all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name. Looking back I saw that it was the lady who was sitting in the stand.

"Oi, Happy do you know who that is?"

"Nope. Maybe you know her and just forgot her like you usually do."

Scratching my head, I made my way to the woman. Better ask her. Looking at the lady I realize that she was pretty young to be doing the whole Gypsy thing. She had long and really curly reddish hair. She was wearing an indigo hooded cloak over her blood red dress. She had on a lot of jewelry. Her hands had a weird tattoo on them. Tilting my head to the side, I realized that if she placed her hands together it would look like some old weighing scales you could see at the banks.

"Hahahaha. Did you see something you liked?"

I blushed surprised at the husky tone she had. Looking at her, she gave off the distinct feeling of maturity beyond her years. She's probably as old as Mirajane though. Looking into her eyes, I saw that they were a golden hue. The earrings she wore weren't alike, on her right ear she had a hooped earring. At her left ear, she had on three ear pieces. I was suddenly reminded of Gajeel. But the ear pieces she wore looked better than the iron dragon slayer had on. The first was a star, the second and third were gemstones that shone with an inner light. The way she looked at me made me suddenly feel cold. She's not someone you would want as your enemy. The thought occurred to me. There's something not right about this lady. Happy was unusually quiet too and was clutching my scarf really tight. Now frowning, I answered her with a question.

"Do I know you?" I asked through gritted teeth.

She titled her head to the right and smiled at me, "No. You don't know me but I know you. I know for a fact that you don't know your real parents and that you are desperately looking for your foster father who had disappeared on you all of a sudden."

Gulping, I clenched my hands into fists and growled at her, "Who are you? Do you know where Igneel is? Tell me!"

"Now. Now. It's not nice to suddenly shout at people maybe you should keep quiet just like your companion, perhaps?" She said this sweetly.

All of a sudden, I felt as if someone had snapped my mouth shut. No matter how hard I tried to open my mouth it just wouldn't. Enraged, I moved closer to her table ready to burn it.

"Natsu, don't! She isn't someone you should anger. Please calm down!" Happy whispered at me shivering in fear.

Glaring at the woman, I saw that her crystal ball was now glowing with a red light. She was looking at it so intently; the hood she wore shadowed her eyes. She now more than ever looked foreboding. She smiled at the ball and waved her right hand over it causing the light to disappear.

She looked up at me and said in a voice that compelled me to listen to her, "Hear me well, dragon slayer. I have something that I wish for you to retrieve. What it is and where it is I can't tell you but something will soon happen that will lead you to it. After you find this item, I want you to give it to the one most suited to be its wielder. Do this and I might answer your questions, the next time we meet. But beware you're not the only one looking for it, also your friends will be thrust into this situation as well. Know this, just because they are not near you it doesn't mean they are far."

She stood up and passed through the table. Eyes now widen in shock, I took a step back and fell on my butt. Happy was whimpering in fear. The stand had disappeared and she was looking down at me. She smiled almost sad and leaned down to drop a pouch by my feet.

"Don't worry, son of Igneel. You are not going crazy this is merely a dream that isn't quite a dream."

As her words registered to my mind, I woke up. Taking deep gulps of air, I look at my room afraid that I would find myself in the street or worst with her in it. I didn't have a lot of time to look at the disordered mess though as a blue mass suddenly appeared.

"Natsu!" Happy screamed flying towards me from the end of the bed. "Natsu, that wasn't just any dream wasn't it?" He asked me his eyes wide with fright.

Shaking my head, I answered him hesitantly "No, Happy I don't think that was just any dream. After all, we don't usually have the same dream. I'm guessing that was her way of leaving a request and making sure we would take it."

Closing my eyes, I lifted the covers off of me. I heard Happy's gasp of surprise. No matter what I see, I won't be surprise. I opened my eyes and look down to see the pouch the woman had left in my dream and on top of it was a folded paper. Heart beating fast, I opened it and read "Surprise! Don't forget our deal."

~0~X~0~X~0~

I burst through the doors of the guild. I think that was the fastest I have ever run. Collapsing in all fours, I took deep long breaths. Beside me, Happy was doing the same thing, I think that was the fastest Happy has ever flown either.

"Natsu? What's wrong?" I heard a soft voice asking me.

I looked up to Lisanna's worried eyes, right beside her was Bixlow. His dolls were flying all over Happy and I, asking what was wrong.

I choked out, "Where's Levy?"

Lisanna blinked and glanced at Bixlow who gestured to a table in the right side. The dolls were now saying "over there" over and over. I gave my nod of thanks, waved at them and left to get to the table.

The table was occupied by Levy, Lucy, Gray, and Erza. The two other dragon slayers were sitting in the table also with their Exceeds.

"Natsu, I think something's wrong." Happy told me, the worry clear in his voice. Groaning, I made my way to them. Steeling myself up, I asked them, "What's wrong?"

Gray hit his head on the table with Juvia suddenly appearing and trying to stop him. Levy and Wendy glanced at Erza. Lucy stood up and approached me. I quickly took an assessment of my partner. She had her hair in pigtails just like the time she posed as a maid. She was wearing some kind of camisole and a blue skirt. She had on a pair of black boots which made her legs whiter than usual. I shook my head at this and listened carefully at what she was saying.

"…it might be better if the two of you take a pick first from the box."

"Huh?"

Sighing at my obvious lack of understanding, Lucy took hold of my wrist and led me to a box sitting on the bar counter. Mirajane appeared all of a sudden with a small notebook in hand and gestured at Happy and I to take something out of the box. Glancing at the puzzled blue Exceed, we both plunged in our hands into the box. Taking out a folded paper each, we opened it to see the initials T.B.S. Mirajane had gave off a happy squeal and quickly wrote down our names on the notebook.

I looked beside me to see Lucy shaking her head. I was going to ask her when she put a finger to her lips and flicked her head to the right. Taking her signal, we all made our way back to the table. After taking a seat, Gray and Gajeel both growled at us asking "What did you get?"

Happy answered this one, "We got a paper that had T.B.S. on it. What does that mean?"

After hearing it the two men gave us a look of absolute pity.

"What the hell do you guys mean by that look?" I screamed at them now annoyed.

The two looked at each other and gestured Lucy to answer it. Grimacing, she looked deep into my eyes and said, "The initials mean To Be Scared. Your part of the group, 'to be scared' just like us except for Erza."

I blinked. I twisted a finger into my ear. I asked her to repeat what she said.

"Huh? Why what did Erza get?" I asked. At this Gajeel started laughing.

"You really are slow aren't you flame-brain?" Gray told me with pity and annoyance clear in his voice.

Gritting my teeth, I asked him "What don't I get, Gray?"

Sensing that I was close to losing it, Lucy answered me "There are two groups in the test of courage, remember? A group that gets to be scared, and another group to do the scaring."

"Oh, no!" Happy said beside me.

My mouth fell open and I looked to Erza. What I saw made me forget about my creepy dream for a whole minute. Looking at her, I decided that the dream wasn't scary it was just weird. Cause Erza smiling at me like that is scary. I mean really SCARY. Looking at her gleeful expression, I knew that the test of courage was going to be hell.

Not much description on the fortune telling stand and the girl, Natsu doesn't strike me as the type to actually notice color coding or fashion. XD