Hi, guys! Sorry for the long pause, but here I am back again with a fresh chapter =) Don't worry I'm not one of those who abandon stories, besides I have it all mapped out already ;) The problem is I have little time to put my thoughts on electronic paper, because of my studies this time. So it'll probably take me a month to finish this story. Till then =)
Chapter 6: The Mission
Two figures stood turning their backs to each other on the ruins of an ancient temple. It was early morning and faint rays of sun forced their way through the shattered ceiling, which in some places still remained intact.
"So what happened to Iyashii?" a female voice was heard to utter from the darkness. One could not see the female's face, but her long silver hair seemed to shine through the shadows.
"He was defeated," a male voice stated plainly.
"Tch," the female grunted, "always knew he was a weakling. Did he at least fill his container?"
"I'm afraid that the failed at that too."
"Taku," the female sighed. "Why did we even let him join?" she asked rhetorically, irritation evident in her voice.
"Don't worry, Cho, I still have plenty of magic to gather."
"Ho-o!" the silver-haired mage smiled mischievously, turning to her companion, who didn't turn around to face her in turn, "you mean your little guild? I was wondering when you'll cut the act of pretending to be the kind, understanding guild master."
"You allow yourself to question my methods?" the male flashed her a glare, and as his sapphire eyes glittered dangerously, Cho held her breath in awe and admiration.
"Sumimasen, Kiken-sama," she bowed, "I wouldn't dare," she stepped back a little.
The blue-eyed mage nodded and turned to leave, his long black cape billowing behind him, with a flash of sun-light caught in his golden hair.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Erza was shown into a bright spacious study with French windows and expensive curtains. There was also a thick white bear fur in the middle of the long wooden floor, something that Erza enormously loathed. The only piece of furniture was straight across the room, unsurprisingly it was a wooden desk with an expensive armchair beside it. The armchair was empty, or seemed to be empty. From that distance Erza wasn't sure. The extravagance of the whole manor seemed to mock the humble conditions in which all the citizens of Lotus Town lived, and that made Erza fell angry and bitter for them, still she kept her composure and stayed alert, but her thoughts subconsciously travelled to a particular pink-haired mage. 'I wonder what I heard yesterday… or rather… felt? I'm sure I did feel something… Could it have been Natsu? If it were him, then Gray could find him today even! Or perhaps he's already found him! That would be a relief…' the scarlet-haired mage couldn't finish her thought as a door, disguised as a full-size portrait of some beautiful aristocrat woman, opened, revealing… a short, plump man in a tuxedo. He didn't say anything or even look at Erza at first, only walked towards the writing table and literally climbed onto the armchair. Erza raised an eyebrow and chuckled inwardly at the sudden idea of Natsu watching this act. 'He would have died of laughter,' the girl's inner voice commented, while huffing and puffing the client regained his composure, cleared his throat (rather loudly) and eyed Erza from head to toe with narrow eyes. It was that look that made Erza completely sure of what she already suspected on first seeing the short man, this guy… was definitely a creep. His narrow black eyes, his short black hair and even his black tuxedo, it all contributed to the general picture: a greedy little dwarf.
"Miss Scarlet, I presume?" he said rummaging through some papers on his desk. Erza nodded in response. "Good. I'm glad you came so early, since this is really a grave matter!" the runt said with such a serious expression on his face that made him look even funnier. Erza held back a smile. "My name is Alexander Black I own a large transporting company, which specializes in transporting important mage clients to whatever their destination," he said having finally found the document he was looking for, Erza's eyes widened and she gritted her teeth on seeing that it was her personal file. The dwarf looked through the file briefly nodding from time to time, while the Queen of Fairies was getting more and more impatient.
"Mr. Black, can we get straight down to business?" though the utterance was planned like a question it didn't one bit sound like it.
The dwarf nodded gravely: "Sure thing, sure thing. I'm a busy man myself."
'A greedy man you wanted to say,' Erza inwardly corrected.
"The situation is like this, Titania-san," Erza winced a bit from her nickname being uttered from such disgusting lips. "My travelling business is at risk of total bankruptcy at present. I deal with only on land transportation and my former mage clients won't travel by carriages or by trains anymore, because they are under constant attacks," he paused creating what he thought was a dramatic effect, but to Erza it was a mere waste of time. "These attacks are cause by 'The three Siblings'."
"Three Siblings?" Erza repeated.
Alexander nodded and putting Erza's file aside, opened the top drawer of his writing table and took out a black folder with some papers and photos in it. He took out one photo and handed it to Erza. The girl took the picture and couldn't understand what the greedy dwarf meant with it. She looked at the picture quizzically while Alexander jumped from the armchair and stood facing the window with his back towards the scarlet-haired mage. The photo showed a tall fit male of about twenty years, who was wearing a black tuxedo, but was smiling rather than frowning.
"Why are you showing this picture to me?" the girl raised an eyebrow.
Alexander turned his head and in the sunlight tears seemed to glitter in his eyes. Erza gave him a puzzled look. The man then told the mighty Titania the real cause of his request. It was actually him in the the picture and not some twenty or thirty years ago, but actually he looked like that several month ago, when his business was prospering and he himself was to be married with a wealthy heiress, whom he claimed to have adored not because of her parents' money, but because of her kindness and beauty. Which Erza considered to be rather doubtful. But it all fell apart when he was escorting several mages during their travel and "The Three Siblings" attacked their carriage. As Alexander recalled, they seemed to have sucked out their magical powers to a sort of silver container, and as Alexander had none, their spell had this – and he traced the lines of his new hideous body – effect on him.
"Of course, Julia would never look at such a dwarf like myself again," he said looking at the full-size portrait, with a door hidden in it. "Then it all fell like a card house: mages felt more secure when they travelled on foot, that made them more alert and ready for combat, so my business declined; no doctor could help me return to my normal state, no matter how much I paid them. My only solution was to post a request to magic guilds, but all were scared, because of the abilities of the Siblings," he looked at Erza quizzically.
As if reading the client's thoughts the girl answered: "Once I have taken up a mission I never back down until it is completed," she assured.
"So I thought," Alexander nodded approvingly again.
"I suppose you wouldn't have posted that request if it had no connection with your corporal state," Erza suggested in a business-like manner. She really wanted to get this conversation over with and be able to help Gray search for Natsu.
"I wouldn't have expected less from Erza, the Titania," he smiled, "Yes, you are quite right. The mission I am assigning and so generously paying for includes the elimination of 'The Three Siblings' and taking over their silver containers."
"What is there in those containers?"
"Magic. Magic of all those who are suffering with low abilities now. And most importantly my youth. You see one of the mage healers who couldn't help me asked about the container and by its description judged that it was a sort of vessel to contain magical powers and my youth."
"So it means that those three are gathering magical powers… But what for?"
Alexander simply shook his head. "That I do not know."
"I see," Erza stated plainly. "Is there any more information I should be aware of?" the female mage asked indicating she was about to take her leave.
"Yes, there is," Alexander said and once again climbing onto the armchair took out another photo from the folder and handed it to Erza. "I paid a great sum of money for this one. 'The Three Siblings' are depicted here."
Erza's eyes widened in disbelief. "It can't be!"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Gray was walking along the streets of Lotus Town with Natsu's picture in his hand. Well, it wasn't actually solely Natsu's picture, since Gray himself, Lucy, Happy and Erza were depicted there beside the pink-haired Dragon Slayer. Natsu was looking straight before himself and grinning widely, and Erza… she was looking at him from the corner of her eye with a small genuine smile, the one Gray saw so rarely.
'What's your deal with this bet, anyway, Natsu?'
'Don't get the wrong idea, Gray. It's not like I'm interested in winning myself, I'm just not interested in your winning either.'
Their childhood conversation flashed in the ice-mages memory and he frowned. 'What could have changed? Did he actually become interested in winning?' Gray thought as he asked another elderly woman if she had seen this man, showing Natsu on the picture.
'The deal will be cancelled on one condition then.'
'Huh, what condition?'
'If I win but leave the guild, everything will be cancelled.'
'Whoa! But you will NEVER leave the guild, torch!'
'My point exactly, popsicle!' Natsu said grinning and poking out his tongue at Gray.
"You did leave, though," Gray mused out loud approaching a small cheap inn. "Why would you do that? Why would you win and leave, Natsu?"
"Natsu you say…?" an elderly man smoking a pipe said eyeing Gray with a friendly smile.
"Huh?" the ice mage was caught off-guard. "Erm… yes. I'm looking for a young man called Natsu, have you seen him?" the brunette asked, showing the picture to the gray-haired man.
"Yes, he stayed at this inn for a couple of days, but I'm afraid you missed him," the old man said giving the picture back to Gray. "He left yesterday in the evening in a rather sulky mood I might say."
"Where did he leave to?" Gray asked urgently.
"Somewhere to the East I suppose…" the old man answered pointing his pipe in that direction.
"Thank you!" Gray yelled waving off, already rushing to the inn where he and Erza were staying, hoping that she had already returned from the meeting with the client. 'Natsu is close! So close! Hurry, Erza!'
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Natsu-san! Na-a-atsu-sa-a-an!" a familiar voice called from the shadows of the forest, and made the said pink-haired mage stop and turn around.
"Oi, hey there, Shikari!" he called back, waving at her with a smile on his face, waiting for the girl to catch up with him. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same!" Shikari pouted. "There's no way a powerful mage like you would be just strolling around during a mission!" she scolded, reminding him of Erza a little and he winced.
"I'm… I'm kind of… done with the mission actually…" he said somewhat sadly, hiding his eyes.
"Really?" Shikari blinked. "Then why are you here? Magnolia is in the opposite direction," the girl mused aloud, pointing behind herself. Natsu didn't seem to know what to answer to that one. "Natsu-san… is something wrong?" the green-haired mage asked with evident concern in her deep brown eyes. Eyes so much like…
"Nah, I'm ok!" the Salamander tried a fake smile, and tried to change the course of the conversation, "Hey, what cha got there?" he asked pointing to the basket in the girl's hands.
"Huh? Oh that, that's just food!" she picked the basked up a bit higher so Natsu could see better.
"Mushrooms?" Natsu frowned. "Who would eat that?" he pouted.
Shikari just gasped. "Natsu-san, you don't like mushrooms?"
"I don't know," he said seriously, crossing his arms, "are they tasty?"
Shikari just sweatdropped, and then grabbed his hand drawing him somewhere to the North.
"Hey, Shikari what are you doing?"
"I'm taking you with me to our guild, since you have no plans whatsoever and don't plan to return to Magnolia for a while as I understand, I might as well treat you to mushrooms!" the girl chirped happily smiling as she ran.
Natsu smiled as well. 'Thanks, Shikari.'
A FEW MOMENTS LATER
"Whoa! It's the Salamander of Fairy Tail!"
"It's Natsu Dragneel!"
"The famous Fire Dragon Slayer in our guild! This is so cool!"
"I told you I wasn't lying!" Shikari poked her tongue out at the other Purple Lotus guild members, while Natsu didn't pay much attention to anything, munching on his mushroom-meal.
"Fis is ery ood, Fikari!" the pink-haired mage said rather loudly with full mouth, then gulped and added. "I never thought that something either than meat, could taste… well like meat!" he exclaimed joyfully.
The purple-haired girl beside him just giggled, blushing a little being complimented on her cooking. Meanwhile Natsu noticed that he was being literally stared at.
"D-D-ragneel-san…" a scrawny purple-haired mage began stuttering, approaching the Salamander with what seemed to be a notebook and a pen.
"Huh?" Natsu blinked putting another mushroom in his mouth.
"C-Can I please have your autograph?" he finally spat out and almost fainted.
"An autograph?" Natsu repeated. "Sure thing," he said cheerfully. "What's an autograph by the way?" he asked Shikari. The girl's eyes widened a bit and then she burst out laughing, along with the other guild members. "Huh? Did I say something funny?" the laughter increased, but Shikari just smiled and hugged Natsu on the arm looking him in the eyes with childish cheerfulness.
"Now I know why they love you so much at Fairy Tail. You're not just strong, you're also very funny!" she grinned and then whispered into his ear, so that he wouldn't get embarrassed: "An autograph is when you put your signature on an admirer's sheet of paper, in case you didn't know, Natsu-san."
Natsu signed in the notebook but his thoughts were very far away. 'Fairy Tail, huh…'
"You know," Natsu confessed with a sad smile, "I caused a lot of trouble at Fairy Tail actually, so they're pretty mad at me right now."
"Trouble? What kind?"
"Well, I… broke some tables and benches and… well I almost destroyed the entire guild bar in a reckless fight…" he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"In a fight… that is sooo cool!" someone whispered from afar.
"Huh? Why would it be cool?" Natsu asked surprised.
Shikari just chuckled. "You see, Natsu-san, in our guild we do not have as much powers as you do. But most of us are a bit clumsy, so we end up breaking things constantly, but not through fights, but just because of being inattentive," she shrugged. "We only take up easy missions and seldom get in a fight…" she mused sadly. "So to us, you're a real hero!" she smiled at the pink-haired mage before her.
"A real hero you say…"
Shikari nodded and smiled.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So you say he went to the East?" Erza asked again rushing through the forest with Gray by her side.
"Yeah," the ice-mage confirmed. "At least that's what the old man at the inn told me."
"Then we'll be able to catch up with him at this speed in no time," she said enthusiastically, but winced in pain as her abdomen awarded her with another painful sting.
"Erza, slow down!" Gray urged. "Your wound is not completely healed yet and you still didn't drink the healing potion."
"My physical state isn't our top priority now, we have to find Natsu!" the female mage exclaimed without looking at Gray, and he didn't push it any further.
'Natsu… Natsu! NATSU!' was the only thought reoccurring in Erza's mind, while she pushed past her limits to reach to him.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So what's so great about this guy?" Natsu scratched his chin looking on the painting on the wall of the Purple Lotus guild.
"It's our Master, Kiken-sama!" Shikari exclaimed happily with glittering eyes, pointing her little finger on the tall figure of a male mage with golden hair and dark-blue eyes. The cape on the mages shoulders somewhat reminded Natsu of Laxus, but apart from that there was no similarity between the men. Sure the colour of their hair and eyes was the same, but there was no scar on Kiken's face + he head really wide eyes and his hair was much longer that Laxuse's. "He's very kind and caring!" Shikari exclaimed happily. "And he's also very strong! Kiken-sama said that if we follow his lead and do what he says we'll all be able to become strong and participate in various battles!" Shikari would have chattered on and on and on about her model, but the sound of opening doors caught everybody's attention. Even Natsu turned around to see who it was. The guild members gasped and bowed in admiration before the approaching figure.
"Hey guys, I'm back!" a male voice was heard to utter cheerfully.
"Welcome home, Kiken-sama!" the guild members said in unison, still bowing but each smiling a little, which surprised Natsu a bit. He wasn't bowing of course so the Salamander literally stood out among the rest.
"Well-well, I see we have a visitor today. And what a visitor it is! Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail!" the guild master said with a slightly mischievous smile on his lips. A smile that Natsu didn't like at all.