Chapter 5: The God of Death, Erigor!
Natsu had returned to Lucy's house just after sunset, he noticed he had a few scrapes and bruises from his fight with Kageyama so he did his best to hide them while he walked through the doors, Lucy was sitting on the couch with Happy, her laptop and a notebook while Grey's Anatomy was playing on the television, she hadn't noticed him walking into the house, so he quickly closed the door behind him and decided to go take a shower. He snuck quietly behind the couch and walked over to the stairs.
"Where were you?" Lucy spoke without looking up from her laptop where she sat typing away.
"I was just taking a walk." Natsu lied, taking a few steps up the large staircase.
"Okay, well what are you up to now?"
"I'm just taking a shower."
"Okay, well when you're done if you want we can go out and get a bite to eat? Just the two of us."
"Yeah...That sounds nice Luce."
"Glad you think so, let me just finish up my homework and then I'll change."
"Sounds perfect, I'll try to be fast!" Natsu then sprinted up the stairs and into Lucy's bedroom, he then walked into the bathroom connected he let the hot water pour down his body wincing as his bruises stung when the water hit it, but it didn't bother him that much, what bothered him was the revelation he had a little while ago. He had never heard about Eisenwald. Or Erigor, they weren't necessarily as big as the Balam Alliance….Natsu sighed. The Balam Alliance, Fiore's largest crime family, consisted of three major groups. Grimoire Heart, Oración Seis, and Tartaros. They were responsible for 90% of crime in Fiore, nobody knows if they have a true leader or if they are just independent, for that matter nobody knows where they are stationed, what their objective is, if they have one at all. They were a mystery, Natsu knew that if he were to go down this road as Salamander he would eventually cross paths with them, but he wasn't going to worry about that for now, something else was on his mind.
"Eisenwald?...I have no idea who they are...If they are going to hunt me down though I need to be ready." Natsu stood there letting the water bounce off his skin for a few more moments before a knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.
"Natsu I just finished my stuff, so I'm ready to head out when you're finished." Lucy called out from the other side.
"Okay one second Luce!" Natsu replied and shut off the water, he stepped out and looked around for a towel, but he had forgotten to grab one and there wasn't one in the bathroom. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Might as well try it, I need to get the hang of using my abilities anyway…" He took a deep breath and focused, he felt a warmth spread around his whole body and soon he started steaming as the heat he was producing evaporated the water. He smirked it was working, he was drying of Salamander style...Then things went haywire and his entire body was engulfed. He let out a yelp and stepped into the shower and turned the water back on, putting himself out, okay maybe he didn't have total control of his powers quite yet. Once the flames were gone Natsu turned the water off.
"Natsu? Are you okay in there?" Lucy called out Natsu walked over to the door and unlocked it, he cracked it open and hid behind it.
"Yeah, the water just got really cold….umm by the way can you grab me a towel?" Natsu looked at Lucy's face from behind the crack in the doorway, he saw her smile and roll her eyes.
"Sure, just give me a moment." She walked away and Natsu closed the door once she left, he walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection.
"Deep breaths Natsu, you just got a little carried away….you can do it. You can control it."
"Who are you talking to ya weirdo?" Lucy opened the door a little and threw a towel onto the floor. Natsu picked it up, flushing that she overheard him.
"I think you're hearing things Luce, we should get that checked out. They say hearing voices is a sign of insanity." Natsu quipped as he dried off.
"Oh Ha. Ha. Haaaaa!" Lucy's voice dryly joked back. Natsu cracked a smile at her response.
"I'm just saying, it's only a matter of time before you are that one kid from that one movie!" Natsu cringed at himself the second he heard Lucy snicker.
"You're doing great sweetie! You mean the kid from The Sixth Sense?" She laughed.
"No….not that one it was animated and creepy!" Natsu corrected throwing on a pair of boxers and sweatpants.
"Ohhhhh ParaNorman?"
"YEAH THAT'S IT, You're like the kid from ParaNorman….good ol' what's his name?"
"...Natsu…..it's Norman….." Lucy giggled and Natsu's face turned redder.
"I knew that…" Natsu threw on his shirt and flung the door open.
"I'm sure you did, you are sooooo smart." Lucy pinched his cheek and Natsu put on a pouty face.
"That hurts." He fake whimpered, but Lucy immediately stopped and took a step back, her eyes as large as saucers.
"Oh no I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to upset you…" Lucy's voice was soft and quiet. Natsu frowned and he walked forward and hugged her.
"Hey, I'm okay Luce I promise…" Lucy squeezed him back.
"Are you sure? I don't want to upset you...I know it's been hard for you. I just want to make it less hard…"
"And you do...I couldn't be able to get through this without you, you are amazing."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Okay good….Let's go get food then, my treat." She smiled up at him, he made eye contact and smiled back at her.
"You'll regret saying that." Natsu grinned deviously. Lucy giggled as he took her hand and ran out the room, they got into her car and took off. Natsu turned on the radio.
"We will continue to update you on the strange weather patterns happening to the north, back to your regularly scheduled broadcast." The DJ spoke and soon Rudolph the red nosed reindeer was playing. It didn't take long for the two friends to sing along. Natsu's mind forgetting about everything that has happened in the last two days, for a split second he was teleported to two weeks ago. They soon pulled through a local drive-thru. About twenty minutes later they were back at Lucy's house. They walked in while Natsu carried the bags of food.
"Forty-five dollars, at McDonald's? How do you eat that much and look as good as you do?" Lucy read the receipt as they walked up the stairs, Natsu just looked over to her, his mouth full of fries.
"I domb knom, I jusp like foo.." He spoke, Lucy looked disgusted.
"Natsu….swallow your food and then you may talk…" Natsu apologized and swallowed his mouthful of fries.
"I said that, I don't know, I just like food." Natsu reached back into the bag for more fries.
"Hey wait..You ate your fries in the car I saw you…...NATSU DRAGNEEL THOSE ARE MY FRIES AREN'T THEY!" Natsu looked guilty and didn't respond. Instead he ran.
"NATSU! GET BACK HERE!" Lucy chased him up the stairs until he slammed her bedroom door shut.
"OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" She pounded on it after noticing he had locked it.
"I don't think I will...mmmmm oh man these fries are so nice and salty…."
"This is cruel and unusual punishment and you know it!"
"Oh well…" Natsu chuckled and unlocked the bedroom door, he was instantly tackled by Lucy. She pinned him on the ground laying on top of him, Natsu squirmed, she leaned in close so that their nose's were touching so they could feel each other's breath on their mouths. Small blushes stained both of their cheeks. Their breathing became shallow as they laid on the floor looking deeply into the other's eyes.
"Goodness, I'm so sorry to intrude Miss Lucy!" Caprico's voice made them jump and scramble to their feet, both of their faces burning.
"NO, NO! IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE I SWEAR!" Lucy pleaded, but Caprico just laughed.
"I know, you two were quite loud regarding the custody of your fries. I just thought it would be humorous to make a joke."
"Oh….okay then…" Lucy replied, and it shouldn't have been possible but her face got even redder.
"Anyway, I just came up to tell you that your father might not make it home tonight, the storm up north is getting worse, they are saying it could be the largest tornado in history. Needless to say his office is on lockdown." Caprico explained, Natsu and Lucy looked at each other.
"A tornado? We never get those." Lucy pondered out loud.
"Much less in the middle of winter, I thought they were a summer thing?" Natsu added, Caprico just shrugged.
"Nothing is quite as unpredictable as mother nature." He spoke, as he turned to walk away before turning around again.
"I do trust that even though it is a weekend you will both be in bed by a normal time?" And with that he walked away, Lucy turned to Natsu, Natsu could see the gears turning in her head trying to put everything together.
"This is really weird, I have never heard of Magnolia having a tornado. I'm worried about my dad." She spoke, Natsu walked over and handed her the fries.
"I'm sure it's okay, the news has a way of making things seem worse."
"I guess so…."
"Come on Luce, worrying won't do any good. Let's just eat and watch something." Lucy nodded and allowed herself to be pulled into the room all the way. They sat on her bed eating and watching TV in silence after about an hour Caprico knocked on the door and asked for Lucy to come downstairs for something. She did so and left Natsu alone in her room, he whipped out his phone. He opened up the browser, and typed:
'Magnolia, Fiore tornado history?'
Clicking the first link he found he read that Magnolia had no history of tornados, however over the past few months weird wind patterns had started occurring. These wind storms were primarily focused on one area though. Coincidentally at about the same time of the storms, and in the same locations, a string of robberies happened. This piqued Natsu's curiosity and he started looking up more about the robberies on specific dates.
"Let's see, Nightclub...dock…..resturants…..Damn it none of these places share anything in common." Natsu muttered. He cracked his neck, and then remembered something from earlier tonight. He typed into the search engine.
'Eisenwald.'
Sure enough he found a police report about a local string of robberies made by a gang known as Eisenwald. All of them matching the dates, all of them matching the locations.
"This isn't some freak storm….It's Eisenwald….They had a guy who could become a shadow, they must have someone who can control wind….Which means….Jude!" Natsu's eyes widened. Eisenwald was going to attempt to take out the mayor? Natsu stood to his feet immediately.
"I can't let that happen….I just lost dad….I can't let Lucy lose hers as well." Natsu looked down at his clothes, he couldn't go out like this though. He didn't need people putting together that he and Salamander were one person. At least not before he actually found out who killed his dad.
"Wait dad that's it!" Natsu rushed over and picked up the briefcase from earlier. Opening it he took the contents out of it and stripped out of his hoodie and jeans. He was soon dressed in the white pants and sandals. He grabbed the one sleeved black jacket with gold trim and put it on zipping it up. He flipped up the hood, and finally took the white scaled scarf. Wrapping it around his face so that only his eyes were left uncovered. He looked himself over in the mirror and smiled under his mask. He looked out Lucy's window and walked over to it opening it up.
"I promise Luce….I won't let anything happen to your dad." He then jumped out of it, he landed on the snowy ground with a crunch. He rolled onto his feet, and looked through a window and saw Caprico and Lucy cleaning the kitchen. He turned and ran in the direction he knew the Mayor's office was. Running was never a problem for him, Igneel had trained him for years so he wasn't in bad shape. In fact he was really fit, so he just continued running. He ducked into an alley so he wasn't spotted. He climbed up the fire escape and was soon running across the rooftops. He definitely noticed the closer he got to Jude's office the wind was getting stronger.
"Bout time you showed your face." A familiar voice spoke, stopping Natsu in his tracks. He looked across the dark rooftops and saw two men standing there. One was Kageyama, and the other was a short fat man with no nose and spiked up green hair. He wore a red jacket that was unzipped showing off a white shirt that was too small for him, along with dark green pants and blue boots.
"Looks like the boss' plan worked. You hero types are so predictable. Aren't they Karacka?" Kageyama chuckled, the fat man nodded with a gross grin on his face.
"You got that right! Little fish fell for the bait…"
"What the hell is this about?!" Natsu snapped at the two, Kageyama walked forward.
"You messed with the wrong gang buddy….Our boss is going to make you pay...but first he's letting us get a chance at you."
"Who is your boss? If he's as weak as you then I guess I have nothing to fear…" Natsu quipped unsure of where that came from, he just rolled with it though.
"You wish that was the case don't ya? Sorry to disappoint, but you should be afraid. Our boss is known as the God of Death….He is Erigor, the wind reaper!" Kageyama explained as him and his partner Karacka started circling Natsu. Natsu got into a fighting stance.
"Sounds interesting...who gave him those nicknames? Sorcerer Weekly?"
"SHUDDUP WOULD YA!" Karacka shouted and rushed forward.
"I guess the conversation is over?" Natsu ducked Karacka's punch and Natsu stepped back, but he couldn't move. He glanced down and saw something grabbing his legs and holding him down in place. Righttttt he could control shadows, Natsu thought looking over at Kageyama. Karacka attacked again and Natsu was unable to dodge, so he tried his best to block the strong punch, but it still sent him back onto the roof of the building. Natsu rolled back onto his feet.
"My turn." He spoke focusing his energy into his hands, his fists ignitined, but then a second later they went out.
"Shit…." He muttered trying to reignite them. Kageyama and Karacka grinned and rushed forward at the same time. Natsu once again was left immobile by his own shadow and tried to block their onslaught of punches and kicks. He groaned out in pain and soon fell onto his knees. Kageyama morphed into a shadow and slid across the roof, until he was under Natsu, he then sprung out of the ground delivering a fierce uppercut to Natsu's chin, Natsu fell onto his back. He hopped back up, wincing in pain. Karacka charged at him from one side while Kageyama rushed from the other. Natsu once again couldn't move. He closed his eyes and begged his powers to work.
"Come on pleasepleasepleaseplease…." A warmth soon surrounded both his hands once again, he grinned and threw a flaming punch at both the oncoming attackers. At once he felt his legs becoming freed from the shadow's grip. He charged at Kageyama cause of the two he was the bigger threat. He hopped into the air focusing the flames to go into his feet. He sent a kick to Kageyama's head, burning his face and sending him stumbling backwards. He landed on the ground and continued his offense by punching Kageyama in the gut, Kageyama bent over coughing. Natsu heard Karacka running towards him and sidestepped the hefty punch that smoked Kageyama in the face knocking him out.
"KAGEYAMA NO! I'M SORRY!" Karacka shouted realizing what he did, he turned to face Natsu who held out both his hands above his head. A small controlled fire ball in both of them. He smirked as Karacka stood motionless staring at the flames. Natsu clapped his hands together combining the two fire balls into one larger one, Karaka's eyes widened as Natsu hurled it at him.
"Oh….no……" He held out his hands, but upon contact the fireball erupted in a small explosion sending Karacka flying across the roof, out cold. Natsu smiled triumphantly, but soon a strong gust of wind pushed him forward.
"So….you are the Salamander." A whispery voice spoke from behind him, Natsu turned to but saw nobody. He then looked up and saw the source of the voice. A man sitting crossed legged...in the air? Holding a large scythe behind his neck.
"And you must be, Erigor?" Natsu asked, the man slowly lowered himself onto the rooftop.
"Indeed I am the leader of Eisenwald. The God of Death….Erigor…."
"What do you want with Mayor Heartfilia?" Natsu asked, Erigor wore a smug look.
"I want nothing from that oaf. He was just bait, and you fell for it...:"
"Wait...so that tornado, it was just so that I would come here? Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? You are a nuisance who has embarrassed me! I am here for payback!"
"This whole thing was just to fight me? That's messed up man, but nonetheless….I'm getting kinda what's the word?"
"..."
"Oh I know! I'm getting fired up!" Natsu ignited his fists and stared down Erigor who sighed and held up his scythe.
"Then prepare to die, Salamander."
"Bring it on…"
Chapter 6: Salamander vs Erigor!