Yo! Hiya! I hope you like this chapter and sorry about the beginning if it doesn't seem that well written, I wrote that last night and was a bit tired. Also, I'll have you guys happy to know that I'm trying to lengthen my chapters and that will start out slowly at first as I'm getting used to it, but hopefully over time they will be longer. I'm also doing this on my other stories too! Thank you for those who reviewed, favorite, and followed! It made my day! Please leave a review and favorite! Farewell and Enjoy!

-let there be midnight

ME NO OWN FAIRY TAIL

Warning

"It's been a while." Natsu said as he crossed his arms and pushed himself off the wall to look at the man, pulling down the hood of his own cloak as they looked into each other's eye. The man smiled a little at Natsu, nodding slightly.

"So it has." he agreed, his smile increasing just a little when he saw the ends of Natsu's mouth twitching a little up at the ends.

"A little too long for my liking." Natsu admitted, a small smile finally gracing his lips. "Wouldn't you say so Uncle?"

"Been too long." the man replied smoothly, Natsu nodding in agreement. "I was almost thinking that you'll never come and see me, or you were avoiding me at least." there was a small twinkle in his eyes as he said this.

"Yeah, well, things have happened." the pinkette said offhandedly, making a small hand gesture as he did. The man suddenly grew serious when he heard this.

"King?" was all he needed to say, and he saw by the way Natsu moved his eyes slightly down when he said this that he was right. He sighed and shook his head, his fears confirmed. "He's being more of a tyrant now-n-days, wouldn't you say? Ever since he killed that witch he's been missing a few screws and has been cruel, and what's worst… he's been gaining even more power. Don't know how he's doing it, but he is." Natsu looked up at him when he said this.

"Was this after I left on the five missions?" he asked, tilting his head. He was first sent on a mission three months prior, on his way home Happy had delivered another mission to him. It had taken a week to get to the destination then another to find the target and instantly wipe them out. When he was leaving the town one of the other guild members had come and given him another mission, this time taking him around a month to get to the place since the target was located in a shrine on top of a mountain that took five weeks to climb, and another five to get down. After that he was given two easy missions that took an easy two days to wipe out in some villages that were connected so both targets were easy to get to and didn't take much time to take out. After that he was on his way back to the guild when another guild member named Juu had come to him when he was passing through Mongolia and given him the one that led him here.

The man gave a small shrug.

"Didn't know you were gone that long, but it could've happened during the time you have been gone since that was around the time King has been acting weird." he said. "I was coming back from that yearlong mission of hunting down a rich man in one of the outlying mountains when I came to the guild. Half the place was in ruins, and some of the guild members were dead while others fled. The stupid ones stayed to try and calm King down, but they ended up dead, too. I watched from a distance and it took him three days to calm down and after that he rebuilt the guild again and was calm as can be. Ordered the fleeing members back on their life and everything resumed." He blinked up at Natsu slowly, something telling him that he had more to tell him.

"There's something else…?" Natsu urged.

"He has requesting random members to his office." Natsu's eyes widened upon hearing this. King never requested members to his office. No one in Death Bringer has seen King's office except for the second in command, Tumishi.

"Why?" Natsu asked a little bewildered, forgetting to keep up an emotionless façade in front of the man he viewed as an Uncle.

"Why? I don't know, but no one has seen them come out. They simply enter, but they don't simply come out. No one dares question what happened to them because when someone brought it up to Tumishi, he beheaded him in an instant. After that all the gossip about the missing members was hushed and every time someone new was requested, they all turned a blind eye." he explained with a small shake of his head, a little disgusted at his own guild. "But what's worrying me even more, he started out with the weaker members, and now he's starting to slowly build up. Just yesterday he took Rinku."

"Rinku?" Natsu echoed, a little dumbfounded. The man sighed heavily, nodding as he bit the side of his bottom lip for a second before he let it go and continued.

"I'm afraid that if you come back… you'll be next." The words were whispered, but Natsu heard them nonetheless.

"But I have to. I plan on taking Happy and leaving before King could ever notice I'm there." Natsu confessed, the worried look on the man's face growing.

"Take the cat and hope he'll never notice you're there?! That's outlandish! Of course he'll know you're back Natsu!" he shouted, his voice just loud enough not to be detected by those outside the alley. "You'll step inside those runes that he's placed a hundred meters around the guild and he'll instantly know you back! He always does! How do you think he knows when we return from a mission? The runes warn him Natsu, and even you can't get pass them, you know this!" he said, a little angry that the pinkette even thought of the dumb chance to slip pass the runes. Natsu shook his head.
"Iumi," Natsu said in a calm gesture to quiet the man down before he alerted anyone who might stray closer to the alley in the dead of night. "Don't you think I know this? I've been in this guild since I was a kid, I know the ins and outs of it like I know my magic. I know how the runes work and I have been researching on how to bend around them." Iumi opened his mouth to give an angry retort before Natsu gave him a slight look that shut him up. "I know King's runes are obsolete, but even obsolete runes have their weaknesses, and that means King's too. All I have to do is find their weakness, slip in before it's too late and slip out with Happy and by the time King has noticed my absents along with Happy, I'll be on some far away continent he's never even heard of." Natsu said, Iumi shaking his head harshly.

"You're young and naïve, even though you might've been through a lot that people your age have not, it seems to me that you simply don't understand." Iumi said in disappointment. "Slipping in and out is harder than you think even if you bend the runes. You won't manage it because you're not a rune mage and you've never even messed with them. Also, what are you going to do with those Fairy Tail mages you've brought with you? Why are they even here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at Natsu who raised one in slight confusion.

"How do you know they're from Fairy Tail?" he asked curiously, Iumi rolling his eyes in fake exasperation.

"I'm old enough to notice a guild mark when I see one and recognize it too." he snapped, Natsu nodding thoughtfully.

"I'll have to somehow hide them then." he told himself, thinking of ways to obscure their guild mark.

"That's beside the point!" Iumi snapped, getting Natsu to look up. "Why are they even here in the first place?" Natsu looked a little shameful as he looked away and refused to look into Iumi's slightly angry eyes.

"That was my last mission. To take out the Titania of Fairy Tail: Erza Scarlet. But I thought her to be an easy target so I played my game with her, the one with no magic, and lost. Then that led to some emotional shit that I am not all that proud of, and here we are. Discussing why they're here." Natsu said, finally looking into Iumi's momentarily unpleasant eyes as he moved around his jaw in an effort to unsuccessfully control his anger.

"Is that so?" he said, his voice obviously trying to hide the anger within him. Natsu nodded. "And what, pray tell, did I first tell you when we did a joint mission together so long ago?" Iumi quizzed. Natsu looked down in shame as he remembered the words Iumi told him when he was eleven.

"Never underestimate your enemy and let them have a chance that'll work in their favor." Natsu replied regrettably. Iumi nodded.

"Yes, I seem to remember those were my words. Now please tell me why you took no heed to them?" Shame from Natsu's eyes flooded onto his cheeks.

"I forgot." he mumbled the lame excuse. Iumi gave an irritated sigh and waved his hand at him.

"You have no excuse." he lectured, Natsu nodding numbly. "Now, it's time to go. I have important matters to attend to in the morning and I can't waste all night on your stupid antics and trying to teach you." he took a step forward, aiming to walk around Natsu before he paused. "Oh, and one more thing." he said, never looking at the pinkette. "You will need to know this for when the time comes." Natsu looked at him through the corner of his eyes as Iumi went on. "The longer you play a game, the longer it'll take to win." And with that, Iumi walked pass Natsu and into the darkness of the alley. Natsu nodded, never looking behind him once.

"Thanks, Uncle." he said softly as he exited the alley from the opposite side that Iumi exited from.

Neither assassins noticed Gray who had somehow successfully hidden in the shadows where the wind didn't blow his scent in their direction.

Once everyone had waken the next morning and had breakfast, Natsu had them out of the town of Skugga and while they were walking an uninvited guest suddenly waltz on in.

"Naaat-chaaan~!" a familiar voice from the day before shouted, shivers running down everyone's backs instead of Natsu who kept on walking as if Kuro didn't at all exist. The group spared glances at the tall creeper who tried to match his pace to Natsu's long strides. Unlike yesterday, Kuro had his midnight blue hood down showing dark blue hair and black eyes along with skin that was so white, it looked to belong to a dead man. "Aw~!" Kuro whined annoyingly, a pout striking his face as he leaned down more to Natsu's somewhat short stature. "My Nat-chan is ignoring me!" his hand flew to his heart as he threw back his head, shouting with grief. Natsu went on as if Kuro wasn't walking beside him and shouting his annoying grief to the heavens above. "What makes my precious Nat-chan ignore me? What have I done to get such treatment from one as lovely as my most precious Nat-chan?! Must I drown myself to win the lovely look that belongs to the loveliest eyes of all of Fiore? Must I jump off a bridge so high up in the sky to win the voice of yet a thousand angels? Must I ruin my heart with a bladed knife and coat my hands with my own blood just to get the most gorgeous smile from an angel so sweet?" Kuro shouted as if he was reciting a play written by Shakespeare to an invisible audience.

As the scene unfolded before their own eyes, they could help but sweetdrop and feel sorry for the pink haired assassin who had to deal with this annoyance.

"Kuro," the suddenly dead voice broke through the annoying man's mantra. Kuro instantly stopped his shouting of nonsense and turned shining eyes upon Natsu, eager to lick up every word the pinkette had to give. "If you don't stop talking, I will cut off your own tongue and shove it so far up your ass your dentist will be picking it from your teeth." Natsu said. "And better yet, leave." And with that, he kept on walking, leaving behind a still Kuro who stood in shock.

"Gee," Lucy whispered to Erza as she looked behind her shoulder to Kuro who had yet to move from his spot. "Don't you think that was a little too harsh?" she asked, feeling a little pity towards the tall man. Erza shrugged, not seeing any fault in Natsu's actions.

"He was being a little obnoxious, don't you think?" Erza suggested as she kept her gaze forward, not wanting to look at Kuro. Lucy bit her lip and gave a small shrug.

"I guess…" she muttered, only for a loud shout to startle everyone to a halt (well, except Natsu, who of course kept on walking) as they turned to look at Kuro who was suddenly crying… tears of joy?

"Oooooo~!" he shouted in delight, doing a graceful spin as he looked up at the high heavens. "My wonderful Nat-chan has spoken words only a goddess could utter! And how wonderful were they upon my ears! It should be a sin to hear such wonderful words from such a sinfully beautiful voice! But yet here I stand with the pleasure of hearing it on this wonderful midday with my heart fluttering about my chest like a hummingbird after a feed!" Kuro sang, head snapping in their direction, eyes only seeing Natsu who continued to walk on. "And there the angel walks on with hair so delightful! It would be such a disgrace if I were to sit about here and carry on my day as if he were not to exist!" he added, skipping until he was once more at Natsu's side. "Now beautiful maiden! Lay upon me more words of your angelic voice! Give me the pleasure to hear a voice uttered from your lips! I must hear! Oh~! Must I hear!" There was a moment of silence as Kuro waited patiently for Natsu to speak.

"I'm not a maiden." Natsu said, his emotionless voice sounding like it was carrying out more of a threat. Kuro shook his head dramatically, head down to the ground.

"Oh, dear me! How you are right my dear! You are not but a maiden nor an angel or anything of the like, but you are a beautiful death god who stands before all with wings tainted deliciously black and eyes upholding the most glorious of death!" Not a second later Kuro was on the ground with bruises and cuts, muttering in pain as Natsu wiped his hands together as if getting rid of dirt, continuing to walk on.

"About time too." Gajeel muttered, crossing his arms as he walked past Kuro. "Was going to do that if he wasn't." he added with a small nod to himself.

"Waiiit!" Kuro shouted, but no one heeded, finally having enough of his silly shenanigans. "Nat-chan! I have a reason to follow around you and your loveliness! I have a message for you from the gracious King!" Time seemed to stop as Natsu slowly turned around, eyes looking to be tinted gold as he stared straight at the kneeling Kuro behind him.

"King…" he muttered, slowly walking to the tall assassin, his eyes looking like what they were just two days prior.

"Yes! He gives me a message to lay upon you! A message about your most wonderful lion Happy!" he continued, not yet noticing the haunted look in Natsu's eyes until it was too late at the pinkette was lifting him up by the throat and looking into his eyes with nothing Kuro had ever seen.

"King… Happy…" Natsu muttered sounding like a broken child before his gaze hardened slightly and his grip on Kuro's neck tightened and cut off his airways. "Tell me now. Or die."