A/N: I am so glad people enjoyed reading my story, it just started and you guys already want more. Anyway this chapter begins after Lisanna's "death". So sit back, relax and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I, unfortunately, am not him. I do however own any OC characters that will appear later in the story.

People speaking "Hello Hello Hello"

People thinking "Geronimo"

Magic Spells "Fire Dragon ROAR"

Creature/Dragon speaking "I am ALIVE"

Creature/Dragon thinking 'Come along'

Chapter 2

The Vow to Get Stronger

These past few days were not the best for the Fairy Tail guild; a few days ago one of its precious members had died during an S-class mission. This member was Lisanna Strauss, the youngest of the Take-Over siblings. She had died while trying to save her older sister and brother from a creature known as The Beast; her brother Elfman had tried to perform a Full-Body Take Over on The Beast and it backfired. Elfman had gone on a rampage and started to attack an already injured Mirajane, who had gotten hurt from fighting The Beast while making sure her younger siblings were safe. Lisanna had come out of the forest, where Mirajane had told her to go until Elfman gained control or she defeated him, and tried to snap Elfman out of it with her words. But her words had no effect as the possessed Elfman landed a fatal blow and sent Lisanna flying into the forest. Her death triggered Elfman to take control again and by the time he and Mira had gotten to Lisanna, she was inches away from death's door. Even with Mira trying to heal her, Lisanna passed away, her body disappearing without a trace.

When the two returned to the guild, everyone mourned the loss of the little sister of the guild; even Laxus had a few tears in his eyes at the news. Natsu had been enraged when they had told him that Lisanna was dead; now Natsu didn't have any romantic feelings for Lisanna, contrary to what people thought. Lisanna was actually Natsu's very first friend and they had become close friends as the years progressed, and to hear that the girl was gone was too much for the Dragon Slayer. He was angry at many things; he was angry at Elfman for not protecting Lisanna when he said he would, he was angry at Mira for not taking him along to help, and mostly he was angry at himself for not being strong enough or being there to protect one of his best friends.

After he had yelled a bit at the siblings for their mistakes; he ran out of the guild, with Happy right at his tail. Natsu wasn't seen for days, he didn't go to Lisanna's funeral nor did he go to the guild hall and Happy had tried to get Natsu to leave his house but nothing he said worked. A week after the funeral was when Natsu disappeared from the house, without letting Happy know.

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A woman was walking from a sit-in bakery, having eaten a slice of strawberry shortcake a little while ago; she was carrying an umbrella to protect herself from the rain. This woman was Erza Scarlet, Fairy Tail's Titania; she is a young woman who has long, scarlet hair and brown eyes. She has a slender figure and large breasts. Her usual attire consisted of armor that was made by Heart Kreuz, a blue skirt, and black boots, but at the moment she was wearing a white blouse with a black skirt. Currently she was thinking about the strange weather, it had been raining non-stop this week; when she had mentioned it to Master Makarov he just replied.

"It seems even the heavens are crying for the loss of Lisanna's life."

She didn't dwell on the weather that much, this week had been hard for everyone, even her. It reminded her of her time when she was a slave at the Tower; the suffering that people had gone through, the friends that she was forced to leave, and Rob's death. All of that came rushing back at the fact that a precious friend she had made in Fairy Tail was no longer going to be there. Erza's thoughts were interrupted as she saw a familiar blue cat flying in front of her, he was soaked from the rain but didn't seem to care as he searched for something.

"Natsu! Where are you!?" Happy shouted as he began to worry for his best friend.

"Happy? What are you doing in the rain?" He heard as he turned and saw Erza staring at him with curiosity.

"Erza! I can't find Natsu anywhere; he left the house without saying anything! He wasn't at the guild or any of his other usual spots." Happy cried as he explained the situation to the scarlet-haired wizard.

"Calm down Happy, I will help you look. So what areas haven't you searched yet?" Erza questioned, wondering what was happening to Natsu.

"I was going to go to either the Cathedral or the house that Lisanna and Natsu made." Erza nodded at this.

"Okay then, here is what we'll do. I will go to the Cathedral and you head to the hut. After that we will convince Natsu to come to the guild." Happy agreed to the plan, wanting to find Natsu as soon as possible.

They went their separate ways, Erza arriving at the Cathedral in minutes. She looked around the building before coming to a stop as she saw a figure sitting in front of one of the grave stones. She walked closer to the figure to get a good look at him or her, and she recognized the rose-colored hair the figure had. Natsu is a lean, well-built man; he wore a black waistcoat with gold trimmings over his chest with no undershirt, white knee-length trousers, and a thick black wristband on his left wrist, black open-toed sandals and a white scaly scarf. Erza said nothing as she moves to stand next to Natsu, covering him a bit from the rain with her umbrella; she looked at the tombstone and instantly recognized it. The tombstone before her and Natsu belonged to Lisanna; it surprised her to see him here. Though she was worried about Natsu, she couldn't think of what she should say to him, as much as she didn't like admit it sometimes but she was not good with comforting; it was something she was still working on. So she decides to wait for Natsu to acknowledge her, as he continued to stare at the grave.

It was a while before Natsu said anything to Erza, he looked at Lisanna's tombstone; thinking of the past. When they met, when they first became friends after she asked him questions about Igneel, how they hatched Happy from his egg and all the fun times they had; those moments were gone now. Because of the fact that he wasn't strong enough and he couldn't convince Mira and Elfman to take him with them on the mission.

"…Erza…" She turned her head towards him, his head down as he stared at the pavement.

"…Yes Natsu?"

"…It hurts. I thought if I came here to grieve and say good-bye I would feel better, but the only thing I feel is more anger and sadness. For some reason I can't help but think that I am to blame for her death…Lisanna's death." Natsu finished as he continued to look at the ground.

Erza shook her head as she placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder. He noticed she didn't have her gloves on so Natsu only felt warm from her hands instead of the usual feeling of cold metal.

"You're wrong Natsu. No one is to blame; not Mira, not Elfman and especially not you. Lisanna died because she loved her brother and sister, she tried to save them and no one is at fault." Erza maybe not the best at comforting but she knew what to do now; make sure Natsu didn't blame himself.

Natsu was silent for a few moments before pulling Erza's arm forward as he began to hug her, making her drop the umbrella. Erza froze a little, not sure how to react and that's when she noticed; Natsu was shaking, trying to hold his tears back. She smiled a little before moving her arms around Natsu, bringing his head a little close to her shoulder to cry on. They stayed like that for a few minutes, getting wet from the rain and holding each other; not noticing the rain was starting to dissipate. When they finally separated they saw the rain had stopped; they both stood up before looking back at the grave. Natsu stared at the grave with a look of determination on his face before shifting his gaze toward Erza.

"Erza…I am going to get stronger; I don't want this to happen to anyone else that I care about. I can't believe I am asking this, but could you help me get stronger?" he asked.

"I am glad you want to get stronger Natsu, but I don't think I will be much help. I might be able to help you train and such, however I don't know Dragonslayer magic." Erza replied.

"I know that, but you are one of the strongest people I know. I can always create my own moves, but if I don't have the strength or power to do it then what would be the point of doing it?"

Erza nodded at his words before thinking about what to do. She knew that Natsu had the potential to surpass anyone at the guild, even her; and she herself was getting stronger everyday as well. If the two of them trained together than it would not only help them both benefit from the training but it also could mean they could think of new ways to fight; as they say Two heads are better than one.

"Alright, if you are fine with it; we will get stronger together to protect the guild." She said with a smile, which Natsu responded with his usual smirk.

"Yosh, I'm fired up!" He said, pumping his arm in the air.

"We will start tomorrow; for now we will go back to the guild, everyone is worried about you." She grabbed the umbrella, closing it, as she started to walk toward the guild.

Natsu nodded before starting to follow; he stopped after the first step to look back at Lisanna's tombstone one last time.

"Lisanna…Just you watch, I will get stronger to protect everyone. So cheer me on okay." Natsu smiled before running after Erza, "ERZA! WAIT FOR ME!"

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It had been a year since that day and many things have since then; such as new members joining the guild. Natsu had apologized to Mira and Elfman for what he had said to them about Lisanna's death being their fault, and while they accepted it, they knew that Natsu had been right. Mirajane had stopped going on mission and started to work at the bar in the guild hall, while Elfman continued to take missions; though he would never use his Full-body Teiku Ōbā again.

True to her word, Natsu and Erza had trained nonstop and had gotten much stronger then what they were a year ago. Natsu had changed in many ways thanks to Erza's training; he had increased both his strength and speed to incredible levels, his intelligence had gone up a bit after Erza taught (CoughBeatenToDeathCough) the importance of thinking before acting, though he still had his moments. Erza learned that Natsu actually was a mid-battle planner, he thought of great ideas and strategies during battle rather than before; it made sense because she knew he was a kinesthetic learner, which meant he learned by doing rather than talking or reading.

Another thing that Erza work with Natsu on was his greatest weakness, motion sickness; the "training" that she had Natsu go through go through was, in Natsu's mind, his toughest yet. But it was worth it because now he doesn't get extremely nauseous, instead it is a bad stomachache and the best part was it was only one year of training, so he could get a lot better.

At the moment if Erza could give Natsu a rank on how he had been doing, she would have to say he had started out High B-class and was now between High A-class to a very low S-class, and the scary thing was he was still getting stronger. Evidence of that was shown in his results and he had awakened a new power during one of their training sessions.

It was a form that releases flames from every part of his body; cloaking his body in a pure red-orange aura. It amplifies the powers of his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic without exhausting him at all. His physical performance improves to amazing levels as well. Natsu and Erza had decided to give the name of this new power, Fire Drive. When Natsu had used this form on members of the guild during spars, he overcame a lot of them; he lost to Laxus after the battle lasted for a while before Laxus had activated his Dragon Force. After the battle Makarov had Natsu swear not to tell anyone about Laxus's Dragon Slayer Magic, though he had to tell him about the Dragon Lacrima that was inside Laxus after Natsu continued to press him about it. After that Natsu left Laxus alone, wanting to get even stronger before challenging him again.

Erza had gotten stronger as well; she had more magic armor to fight with and she trained with Natsu to think of attacks that would work well with her armor. Erza herself had change a bit too, being with Natsu had gotten her to open up more. She felt comfortable enough around him to not wear her armor around him. It had felt weird at first but she had to admit, after a while it would feel weird to WEAR the armor when Natsu was around. She had gotten closer to the guild as well, she was also more lenient on disciplining the guild; she still did it just not as much as before. Though if you had asked her, she still rather be with just Natsu than in a crowd and because of that, they decided to make a two-person team. Some people joked that it was a real fairy tale team because it was made up of a knight and a dragon; though Happy always commented that he was a part of the team as well.

Since Erza was an S-class wizard; they had many jobs they could take, and while they were on those missions Erza taught Natsu some on the ways to perform certain missions. There were many missions that required different tactics such as locating and capturing a dark wizard, exterminating monsters, looking for important artifacts that could destroy towns; and Natsu had learned that not all of them had fights. The only thing that was an issue was the fact that they never held back so it caused a lot of destruction, much to Makarov's dismay.

But the S-class Monster Extermination mission they were about to take would change both the Fairy Tail guild and Natsu's lives forever.

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Natsu and Erza were on a train heading toward Twilight Town, which has been attacked by a monster that according to the Makarov is one the council has personally chosen Fairy Tail to destroy. That actually got the two wizards a little curious because of the fact that the Magic Council had wanted the destruction of this monster and when they asked the guild-master why they wanted Fairy Tail specifically to do it; he replied.

"Fairy Tail is one of the strongest guilds in Fiore and since destroying things is what we do best, the Magic Council wants us to destroy it." The two nodded, while sweat-dropping, at that before getting ready to depart. Natsu and Erza decided to leave Happy at the guild because of the danger the mission presented and they didn't want him to get injured or worse.

Natsu was looking out the window in slight boredom, in the past when he had actually felt the motion sickness he would lay his head on Erza's lap and sleep until they got there; but now that he was able to handle trains and such, he easily got bored. Natsu looked at his companion, who was looking through the information the council had given them on the monster, before sighing a little.

"I'm bored" Erza didn't even look up at his words.

"Take a nap or something" she replied.

"I'm not tired, and besides I only sleep on these things when I am lying on your lap." He was telling half the truth, he did sleep on them; but only because Erza knocked him out each of those times.

"Then walk around the train, get something to eat or whatever." Natsu could tell Erza seem agitated about something.

"Is something wrong Erza, you've been angry ever since we left the station."

Erza moved the mission briefing from her face as she gave a sigh of exasperation. Without saying a word, she handed Natsu the paper, motioning him to read it. He grabbed the sheet and gave it a look over and after he finished reading the briefing, he could tell why Erza was not in a good mood. There was barely any information on the monster they were after, according to what it said, anyone who went to get even a description of the creature was killed by it before they could send the report in. If there was one thing Erza didn't like on missions, it was when there was not enough information; she didn't like going on missions without getting details and being ready for anything. That is actually why she always traveled with so many supplies and luggage, so she could be prepared for almost any situation. He put the paper down and looked at the female wizard, who was frowning a little.

"So there isn't any real info on the thing, big deal. We'll just go there and kick its ass before it has a chance to attack. You and I will be able to handle it Erza."Natsu stated, at which Erza shook her head.

"This is serious Natsu, having all the information is important to a successful mission. That is one of the reasons Mira's last mission went wrong." Erza said with her eye closed, before they shot open as she realized what she said, "Natsu…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright Erza, I know getting to confident is a bad thing. I also know that information is important, however not everything will be explained to us. We will just have to get the information ourselves when we get there; after we arrive at the town, we'll ask what the townsfolk have seen and come up with a plan then, okay?"

Erza smiled and gave a small nod.

"That's a good plan Natsu, we should go to the mayor's office first and collect what information he has, and then we will ask around the town. I am glad to see those lessons I gave you paid off."

"Of course they did. With a teacher like you, I don't think anyone would have an issue learning anything." Natsu commented.

That was true; Erza had a unique style of teaching. He remembered when she taught him vocabulary when they were kids, she had him do drills with each and every word, and he didn't want to think about the stuff she had made him do to learn battle plans and tactics. His body started to shake a little from the memories of his tortu-training. Erza looked on as she saw Natsu shaking; which was weird because he was never cold, it was one of the perks of being the Fire Dragonslayer.

"Are you alright Natsu?" She questioned.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Never better." He answered.

Natsu saw her raise an eyebrow at him before getting up, and moved across to sit next to him. She stared right at him before putting her head on his shoulder, causing him to blush a little bit. During the year he had spent with Erza; he started to get feelings for her, he wasn't sure what to do about his feelings; he didn't want to ruin what they had by confessing and her rejecting him, so he kept quiet.

"Erza? What are you doing?" Natsu asked with a little squeak to his voice.

"We still have a couple of hours before we arrive; I figure it would be best if we rest up a bit before starting our search." She answered while thinking, 'Natsu is so warm. I could get used to this feeling.'

What Natsu didn't know was that Erza actually had feeling for him as well. Being with him during the year had been one of the best times of her life; true most of it was training and doing missions, but she had seen a side of Natsu during that time that made her heart beat through-out her chest. She had the same fear as Natsu, that a rejection that ruins what they have, but she had another fear; one that involved a certain Tower and blue-haired man doing something to hurt Natsu, so she decided to wait until after the issue with the Tower and him was resolved before saying anything to Natsu.

"I can understand that, but why did you come to this side when you had more room where you were?" Natsu asked his female companion.

"There is no real reason; I just want to sit here instead. Is there a problem?" She answers with a question of her own before a coy smile appeared on her face, "Usually a man wouldn't complain if a woman wants to be near him."

Natsu's face turns red as he turned away sharply. He looked towards the window as he said in a mutter.

"I never said I didn't like it." Erza closed her eyes as she rested on Natsu's shoulder. They stayed like that for about thirty minutes before Erza heard Natsu speak.

"Erza…You smell nice."

This time it was Erza's turn to blush a little as her head turned a little so he wouldn't see her face. She hesitantly moves her head in Natsu's direction, but as she moved her head she saw his face up close and his eyes closed; Erza started to panic a little until she heard soft breathing coming from Natsu.

'H-He's asleep! Why that basta- Wait, was he just talking in his sleep? Is he dreaming about me?' Erza thought as she saw the peaceful look on his sleeping face, 'He really has become handsome since he was a kid all those years ago.' Her attention was drawn to his lips and a thought came to mind, '…I wonder…'

Erza started to lean forward as her lips got closer to Natsu's but just as their lips were about to touch, she stopped and pulled back a little. She closed her eyes as she shook her head a little, a small smile on her face.

'No, if I want to do that, I will do it when he's awake.'

She was about to move her head back to his shoulder, but the train made a turn that jerked a few people around in the train; and that jerk was all it took as Natsu's body moved closer to Erza's. The next thing Erza knew, her lips were touching Natsu's for a few seconds before he slid down further and his head fell into her lap. The red-faced Titania was shocked with what just happened; she brought one of her hands to her lips as she stared at the sleeping Natsu before giving out a little giggle.

"I think I will keep that a secret for now." She moved the hand from her lips to Natsu's hair, stroking it as she started to fall asleep herself. The duo slept for the rest of the train ride, silently enjoying each others warmth.

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"Finally, we arrived." Natsu exclaimed as he stretched his arms into the air. Erza nodded in agreement before heading to the train car that held her equipment.

"Yes, it was a long train ride. But the good thing is we got plenty of rest before we arrived; now we should head to the Mayor's office to confirm that we are here." She told Natsu as he helped her get her stuff off the train.

"Right, but after we go there and get some more information on the monster…Could we get something to eat?" Natsu asked with a hopeful tone.

Erza thought about it for a second before answering Natsu as they started on their way to the Town Hall building.

"That wouldn't be a problem; being on the train for so long did make me a little hungry. But we'll eat after we get more info on the monster, got it?" She had her no discussion tone in her voice.

"Alright, it's a date then." Natsu replied with a small grin.

"D-d-date! What do you mean a date?!" Erza started to panic a little, as Natsu sweatdropped at her reaction.

"Erza, it's a figure of speech."

As Erza heard that she realized that Natsu was not being serious about it being a date before she started to calm done. She then gave Natsu a look of wonder; feeling a bit uncomfortable at her just staring at him, he broke the silence.

"What?"

"I didn't think you even knew what a figure of speech was." She said before she got a teasing look on her face, "Who are you and what have you done with Natsu?"

"Oh shut up." Natsu shot back before quickening his pace, Erza following him the rest of the way.

A few minutes later they arrived at Town Hall, it was a building that looked twice as big as the Fairy Tail guild hall. They walked through the entrance and saw a woman sitting at a desk. She had purple hair tied up in a bow, her eyes were blue and the body she had was voluptuous. She looked at Erza and Natsu walking through the door; studying their appearances before she started to smile at them.

"You must be the Fairy Tail wizards that the Magic Council had sent to help our town." Erza nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, we are. Is the mayor here? We wanted to see him to get more information on the monster we were sent to destroy." Erza explained to the woman, to which she answered.

"Alright, I go in and let him know you have arrived." She said before the woman walked into the next room.

Natsu and Erza stood in the lobby, not waiting long as an older man came out to greet them. The man was short, and a little on the chubby side, his hair was white from his old age and a bushy moustache on his face; he was wearing a red business suit and glasses that hung on his nose.

"Welcome Fairy Tail wizards; my name is Phoenix Berlic, the mayor of Twilight Town. I hope your travel was smooth and easy." The man said; he had a nice personality as well.

"Yes, we were able to get here without any trouble and are ready to begin the Extermination Mission" Erza answered with a smile, Natsu was also smiling behind her.

"Excellent!" He said enthusiastically, "I was a little worried that no one would take the mission because of the dangerous monster, but when the Magical Council themselves took an interest, I was happy to here they were sending some of their strongest wizards. If there is anything you need while you are here, let me know."

"Actually there is something. We were wondering if you could tell us any information on the monster we were sent to destroy." Erza questions.

Oh, of course. I can tell you what I know, but it is not much. Let's go to my office so I could give you the details." The mayor gestured to his door, to which Erza nodded before turning to Natsu.

"Natsu. While the mayor tells me what he knows, you go around town and see if you can get any information from the locals."

Natsu was about to disagree with the idea, wanting to hear what the mayor knew; but one look from Erza and he knew that it was not a good idea to argue with her and nodded him head as quickly as he could.

"Aye sir!"

"Good, then we will meet at the café that we saw on our way here at 6:30; understood." Erza stated to which Natsu nodded his head before heading towards the door. He stopped before he walked out and turned his head back in Erza's direction.

"I'll see you at 6:30…. I know I was joking before but did you really want to go on a date?" His answer was a blush and a blunt object hitting him in the face; sending him flying out of the building.

Erza was panting a little with a small blush on her face. Damn that man. She calmed down and looked at Phoenix, who was giving her a knowing look. Her blush deepened as she apologized for the scene; but he waved it off.

"It's fine, it's fine. Seeing a wizard couple like you two having a moment is interesting to watch; much better than my wife's soap operas. Now then, lets get to my office where I keep my information on the monster."

He already walked through the door before Erza could deny her and Natsu being a couple. She looked towards the door where Natsu left before following the mayor, a small blush still on her face at the thought of dating the fire dragonslayer.

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A/N: Chapter two completed, I hope it was enjoyable for you readers. Be sure to review and no flames. I will ignore them and they will be given to Natsu.

Omake:

A chibi Erza and Natsu stood infront of the mission board.

Natsu (Excited): Yosh, It's one of our biggest missions yet. I'm fired up.

Erza (Serious look): Don't rush into things recklessly Natsu. Remember what I taught you on handling S-class missions.

Natsu (Shaking like crazy): R-right, I still have nightmares of what you did to make me learn.

Erza (Arms crossed): I know it was tough but you can't forget things like this when you are fighting powerful monsters.

Natsu (Saluting to Erza): Aye Sir. But I will kick it ass, that a promise.

Natsu & Erza: Next time on The Fairy Flame Dragon…Chapter 3 – The Demon and The Message

Natsu: I swear I will protect you, no matter what!