Chapter 38: Storming the Castle

"You win again….but one day….I shall enact my vengeance…I'll see you in Hell my enemy…" Natsu sickly groaned as he watched the bus he had just stumbled off of drive off into the distance. His face was a grotesque shade of green, a few people walking past him gave him a sympathetic cringe. The teenager took a few shaky breaths, relishing in the fresh air while simultaneously praying that the world stopped spinning. He could take on any kind of foe, no matter how strong they were, but the second he was inside of those deathtraps known as vehicles….he was rendered helpless. Probably the reason why he never used his driver's license, and always dreaded it when Igneel or Lucy drove him places.

Natsu's ears twitched, causing him to forget about the misery he was in. Standing up straight he looked around the bustling capital city of Fiore, and looked around for the sound he had heard. Turning his head he found the source coming from a large group of people standing in a circle.

"What's going on over there?" Natsu questioned to nobody in particular as the large crowd shouted angrily at whatever it was they were looking at. Natsu decided to walk towards them, temporarily forgetting about the whole reason he came to the large city in the first place. His feet carried him over to the crowd, unfortunately he couldn't see what was happening, there were just too many people. All of them were yelling stuff that Natsu was barely able to make out.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU JERKS!"

"YEAH GO BACK TO YOUR PALACE AND LEAVE US ALONE!"

"YOU POWERED FREAKS! YOUR NO BETTER THAN US!"

"HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU! YOU'RE BULLIES!" Natsu pushed his way through the angry mob, grimacing at how loud they were shouting in his ears. Eventually he had managed to shove his way past enough people to see what they were circled around. There were three men in the middle of the crowd. One of them was on his hands and knees, shaking whilst the other two. One blonde haired male, and another black haired one were standing over him with scowls and their arms crossed.

"P-please….I-I d-don't have the money….I p-promise, I'll have it soon though!...I'm sorry! Just don't hurt me!" The man on his hands and knees begged, Natsu's eyes darkened as he noticed a tattoo on the blonde's shoulder. It was white, and in the shape of a saber tooth tiger's head. The blonde was wearing a blue fur-lined vest with a shirt that both cut off before his abs that were left exposed. On both of his arms were sleeves that were unattached to his shirt or vest, they covered the entirety of his hands and stopped right before his shoulders. The final piece of the strange outfit were white and black sweatpants that seemed pretty baggy, but still clung to his waist tightly. Natsu watched silently as the blonde crouched down in front of the cowering man.

"Aw, come on man. Quit your groveling, it's pathetic! Look, Rogue and I don't want to hurt you….but we will if you don't give us what you owe our master." The man on the ground began shaking.

"P-please….I don't have a-anything to give him…..I-I need to f-feed my f-family…" He stuttered. The man named Rogue sighed and stepped closer to the other two, Natsu involuntarily clenched his fist. People near him sent him a confused glance as his body began to heat up.

"Sting, let's wrap this up and return to the guild...I'm getting bored of this…" Rogue muttered, he had long black hair that laid flat, covering half of his face, clad in a long sleeve grey shirt, a black cape, and matching skirt. Sting just rolled his eyes at Rogue's interference.

"Fineeee, whatever...but you are telling the master why we don't have the money." Sting slowly stood up, the man looked up at him with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but Natsu grew uneasy.

"D-does...this mean I am f-free to go?" The man questioned optimistically, but Sting's wicked grin pushed away any optimism he had. Sting and Rogue made eye contact with each other and Natsu felt a chill run down his spine.

"The way I see it...you have two options…." Rogue glared down at the man who frowned. Sting smirked and raised his boot into the air, hovering it over the man's head.

"You can either cough up the change…" Sting began and lowered his boot so that it was not resting to the back of the frightened man's head. Sting began to apply pressure, making the man fall flat onto his stomach with his face pressed against the unforgiven asphalt of the sidewalk. A low growl slipped out of Natsu's throat, he remembered about Yukino and his mission that brought him to Crocus in the first place.

"Or….you can cough up blood instead…." Rogue finished as Sting began pressing down on the man's head with more force. He let out a cry, and without thinking twice Natsu surged forward. Rogue watched Natsu in surprise, Sting however didn't even notice Natsu until his fist made contact with his cheek. Sting fell down to the ground hard causing him to look up at the person who had the audacity to punch him. Murmurs broke out in the crowd as they watched on, Natsu stood protectively in front of the man on the ground who was in too much shock to do anything, but watch from his hands and knees.

"You got a lot of nerve buddy…" Sting glared at him and slowly stood to his feet. Rogue walked up to Sting and stood next to him. Natsu just gave them a dark, murderous stare. Upon seeing that Natsu didn't back down, much less cower at the sight of the two standing side by side the crowd's whispers picked up.

"Is that guy insane?"

"He must have a death wish!"

"I can't believe he just punched Sting…"

"HEY KID GET OUT OF THERE THOSE ARE THE TWIN DRAGONS!"

Natsu ignored every single one of the comments, and just stayed focused on Sting and Rogue who were staring back at him.

"You think you're some tough guy huh?" Sting taunted, but Natsu didn't say anything. Instead he just rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"Nah...I just don't take kindly to people who treat others so horribly…." Natsu finally replied in a low, dangerous tone.

"And we don't take kindly to people who get in the way of Sabertooth's business!" Rogue spat back in an equally low tone.

"Sabertooth eh?...Good. Saves me the trouble of having to find you." Natsu smirked darkly and clenched his fists tightly. The air around them grew hot, Sting and Rogue just scowled.

"You want to fight us?! Do you know who we are?" Sting growled. Natsu just shrugged.

"To tell you the truth, I couldn't care less….all I need to know is that you are a part of Sabertooth, and you hurt a friend of mine." Natsu snarled.

"So you wish to fight us? The twin dragons of Sabertooth? You are no match…" Rogue placed a hand over his eyes in exasperation.

"Hey, if it's a fight you want...it's a fight you'll get!" Sting got into a fighting position, raising his fists. Rogue mirrored his actions, Natsu just stood completely still and watched them.

"Bring it…" Natsu muttered and the second the words left his mouth Sting and rogue shot at him. They simultaneously threw punches that Natsu blocked by raising both his arms, and stopping their fists from reaching his face. The twins shot each other a confused look, while the crowd went silent. They leapt backwards away from Natsu and prepared for another attack, but as they were getting ready to attack again the crowd parted. The three looked over to a large figure who was easily the size of a pickup truck. Sting and Rogue both fell to a knee with their heads bowed towards the figure.

"Master Jiemma…" Rogue greeted the scary man with a Sabertooth mark in the middle of his forehead. The crowd broke out in nervous chatter at the sight of this man.

"We were just about to come back to the guild...unfortunately this pest got in our way, and prevented us from putting that trash who owes you money in his place…" Sting glared at Natsu as he was talking. Natsu just looked on in shock, and horrified awe at the master of Sabertooth. He had seen some big guys before, but never guys that looked like they were straight up The Incredible Hulk.

"I see...I wondered what was taking you so long….nonetheless….it's time to return to the guild...we're leaving, these vermin aren't worth our strength...they know their place…" Jiemma glared directly at Natsu causing him to stumble back a couple of steps. Just his gaze was enough to put Natsu on edge, and make his skin crawl. The crowd of people began dispersing, wanting to be as far away from this guy as possible. Natsu knew why, if he was nervous around the master, the normal humans must be terrified.

"Come, we're leaving…" Jiemma turned and walked away from Natsu, who felt like there was cement in his shoes preventing him from doing anything except watch as Jiemma walked off.

"Yes sir." Sting and Rogue spoke in union before obediently following behind their master. It wasn't until they were out of sight that Natsu let out the breath he had apparently been holding in.

"Y-you're insane…" A voice from behind Natsu made him remember the poor man who was on the ground behind him.

"Ummm...you're welcome?" Natsu replied slightly offended.

"Oh no, no! Thank you! Seriously, there is no telling what they would've done to me if you hadn't stepped in...I'm just saying...you must have some serious guts to get in the way of the Twin Dragons….not to mention punch one of them!" Natsu smirked and crouched down, offering the man and hand to help him up.

"Don't mention it….I just don't like bullies, so I couldn't just stand by and watch….are you okay?" The man looked at Natsu like he was crazy, but then nodded.

"Yeah...I'm fine, just a little shaken up…" Natsu noticed a few scrapes and bruises on the man's exposed skin, but shrugged it off since it didn't seem to be bothering him.

"Who exactly were those guys? They acted like they owned the city…" Natsu questioned, but the man just frowned.

"Are you serious? Even if you're not from around here surely you have heard about them."

"Nope never. Aside from their names and the fact that they call each other the twin dragons, I know nothing…" Natsu ripped the back of his head causing the man's eyes to bulge out of his skull.

"Gee, no wonder you attacked them….you really have no idea who they are huh?"

"Nope, not one bit." Natsu chuckled.

"Well...it's kind of complicated, they are two of the three strongest people in Sabertooth, save for the master of course there's only one person who is stronger than them...they basically run this city. They look down on us normal people and use their powers to make sure we know that we are just ants to them….it hasn't always been like this of course, they used to be nice and protect us...but once Jiemma rose to power three months ago….things have changed for the worse…"

"So that Jiemma guy is their master right? Why don't they just overthrow him if he has changed things so drastically?" Natsu asked as he looked over to the direction the three Sabertooth members walked off in.

"To tell you the truth...I don't think they can, I've seen Jiemma's strength first hand….it's terrifying….so they just go along with it, of course not everyone is bad, there was this one girl who was nice to all of us, and actively tried to help us...I believe her name was Yukino, but I haven't seen her in awhile…" Natsu's expression turned sour at the mention of Yukino, his fists tightened as he felt his blood boil.

"Well, anyway stranger...thanks again for sticking up for me, not many people around here would've done what you did...I appreciate it! But I should head home, my wife is probably wondering where I'm at…" The man chuckled, and walked away leaving Natsu alone. His eyes widened at what the man said.

"I bet Lucy is wondering where I'm at….I guess I did just kinda leave without explaining anything….ah well, she'll understand." Natsu shrugged, but still felt a twinge of guilt for leaving his girlfriend in the dark. He looked around the city that was completely foreign to him, trying to figure out where the Sabertooth members went off to. He had some unfinished business. He took a step forward, but the memory of Jiemma flashed before his eyes, and he froze. His body began to shake as he remembered his eyes, the way they were in shadows with no pupils. He remembered having to crane his neck just to see the end of his long white beard.

"Why am I shaking? And why can't I move?..." Natsu asked as he glanced at his quaking body. He felt the way his skin began crawling when Jiemma glared at him, and could hear the deep, low voice that escaped his lips as he commanded Sting and Rogue, treating them like children and the way they obliged without any arguing. Natsu knew at once why he had frozen up, he was scared. The very aura Jiemma had emanated made his normally hot blood turn to ice. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but his heart was racing, it was getting hard to breathe. Why was he so scared of this guy? Natsu's heart was speeding up, his breathing was becoming unsteady and rapid. His body shook uncontrollably, his knees were too weak to carry his weight for too much longer, but then his phone buzzed in his back pocket. His shaking began to die down, and he managed to get control of his breathing. He grabbed his phone and looked at the notification.

Luce: Hey, where did you go? You didn't say too much, are you okay? Also Wendy says that Yukino is okay, all her injuries should heal in no time, she just woke up actually...I just wanted to make sure you're okay, I love you.

Natsu smiled a little at the text from his girlfriend, he was glad, and relieved that Yukino was going to be okay. He quickly sent her back a reply before stuffing the phone back in his pocket.

"Right….I don't care how scary you are Jiemma….you hurt Yukino...a member of your own guild, someone who only cared for other people…..I'm going to show you what true strength is like…." He took a shallow breath and began walking after the trio. Silently praying for the strength to confront them. He ignored the memory of Jiemma's callous, inhuman eyes and kept moving forward, with each step his heart sped up a little more, but he never stopped. He crept around the large city looking around for where their guild could possibly be. It had been over two hours before he came to the conclusion that he was completely lost.

"Damnit...this place is so big….I'm pretty sure I'm just walking in circles." Natsu mumbled to himself. He let out a yawn and sat down on a nearby bench, watching as hundreds of people walked by, it was a miracle anyone got anywhere in this place. It was like every square inch was covered by five people, he remembered his father had once said big cities like this tended to have an overpopulation problem. Sure Magnolia was pretty big, but Crocus made Magnolia look tiny in comparison. He looked around some more, and something caught his eye. Well more like someone, he couldn't make out their face but he could see that they were traveling with two other people. All three of them had a mark on various places, the mark of Sabertooth. Natsu's eyes widened, and he shot up from the bench he began to follow them and could hear them talking.

"Man, I can't believe how easy that job was!"

"You know it bro...master will be pleased with how much loot those suckers had!"

"Did you see the one kid's face when I showed off my gravity powers? Oh man it was hilarious he looked ready to pee his pants!" At that all three of them burst out laughing, and Natsu's eyes darkened. He really wanted nothing better than to put this guild in its place, and there was no better way to start than with Jiemma himself. The three people Natsu was trailing kept chatting about how they had successfully bullied a family into giving them money, food, and supplies. Soon they turned down an empty street, Natsu peaked his head around the corner and saw that the street led to a giant building that was easily the size of Jude's mansion before he got arrested. Outside of the large building were two large statues of saber tooth tigers.

"Subtle…" Natsu muttered as he compared the sizes of his guild and this one in his head. Natsu shook his head and looked up at the sky as it was getting dark. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath before running down the street after the three members.

"HEY!" He called out causing them to turn around in time for him to connect with a flaming punch with the one in the middle. Before the other two could react he spun in the air and kicked them both. He looked at their unconscious bodies and then back up at the larger, intimidating building.

"I hope you're ready Sabertooth, I'm all fired up!" He hyped himself up and ran towards the large doors, before kicking them straight off their hinges.

Sting let out a yawn as he laid down on his bed. A red cat jumped on his chest and laid down, causing him to chuckle.

"Hey there Lector...guess ya missed me huh?" The blonde laughed as his cat began purring while he scratched his ear. Sting closed his eyes and let out a yawn.

"Man what a day...I can't believe that chump punched me...he's lucky that master showed up when he did...I would've put that weakling six feet under…" Sting muttered, Lector just meowed angrily at the fact that Sting stopped petting him. Sting's eyes opened, and he let out a sigh.

"Still...there was something weird about him, he wasn't scared when Rogue and I were preparing to kick his ass…." Sting then remembered how Natsu had managed to block their punches with ease, he also acted so cocky and that rubbed Sting the wrong way, this stranger just got under his skin, but was also so...familiar? He looked over to his wall where he had a newspaper clipping taped next to his bed.

"I want to fight him one day Lector….ever since he showed up in Magnolia last year I have focused on nothing else...he's the reason I joined this guild anyway. I wanted to be strong like him, I wanted to be able to fight other strong people and beat them...God Salamander is so cool! To this day he is the only one to have beaten the famous Laxus Dreyer! I want to be just like him!" Sting grinned with a shimmer in his eye as he studied the clipping that talked about how Salamander had destroyed Kardia Cathedral in Magnolia during a fight that had broken out. Apparently the entire city had been turned to stone or something, and Salamander was able to save them!

"Just you wait, Lector...one day I'll be just as strong as him! If not stronger!" Sting looked at his hand and clenched it into a tight ball. He glanced at a couple more news articles that he had cut out and taped to his wall, from the first time Salamander had been spotted, to the most recent incident at Nirvana. He worshipped him. Sting let out another drawn out yawn as he stretched out his limbs and closed his eyes again. He just began to drift into slumber before a loud rumble shook the entire building. His eyes snapped open, and Lector jumped off of his stomach.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" There was a knock at his door before it swung open to reveal Rogue.

"Sting! You need to come down quick! The guild is under attack!"

"WHAT?! WHO THE HELL IS THAT STUPID?! HOW MANY ARE THERE?!" Sting through his vest on and stormed out of the room, past Rogue.

"Just one guy." Rogue admitted causing Sting to stop in his tracks.

"One guy? You can't be serious! They must have a death wish." Sting growled and marched down the halls. The sounds of fighting, and explosions coming from the main floor just below them. The building felt several degrees hotter than it was normally. There was another loud explosion that shook the entire building causing the two to stumble and almost fall over.

"Who the Hell is this guy?" Sting asked after yet another violent shake.

"No clue, I didn't get a good look at him before I came up here to get you." Rogue admitted. Sting just growled before sprinting down the halls despite the mass shaking. He all but flew down the stairs that led to the main floor, and was hit with a heat wave.

"Gahh...it's so hot!" Sting exclaimed after he reached for the metal railing to prevent himself from falling down the stairs with all the shaking going on.

"WHERE'S YOUR MASTER?!" A familiar voice shouted, causing Sting to look for it's source, he soon found it. His eyes widened as he looked at the teenager who had punched him in the face earlier that day. His salmon hair blew in every direction as he sent person after person flying through the air as he connected with fiery kicks, or punches. Sting watched in awe at the way the assailant fought with ease. He soon cleared his head, and with Rogue at his side they descended the stairs. They stood and were about to join the fight when a loud booming voice interrupted them from doing such.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS RUCKUS!" At once all commotion stopped as Jiemma appeared in the room. Several members of Sabertooth, Sting and Rogue included all knelt in his presence, but Natsu just glared at him. He took a shaky breath, as the nerves began creeping back into him. He glared up at the large man who stared coldly back at him causing his blood to run cold. He felt his fear returning but still tried to force it deep down, he needed to put this Jiemma in his place, not only for Yukino but for Crocus as well.

"You there!...You're the master right?!" Natsu swallowed the lump in his throat and called out, pointing at Jiemma who glared at him.

"Indeed, and who exactly do you think you are?" Jiemma questioned in a dark tone. Natsu smirked and his fists burst into flames.

"The name's Natsu...I'm a member of Fairy Tail!...And I'm here because of what you did to Yukino!" Sting's eyes widened, how did this Natsu person know about Yukino?! And what exactly was Fairy Tail? He had so many questions about this situation, but he glanced at his master who was clearly angry.

"What happened to her is nobody's business but ours...she was weak therefore she got what she deserved! We do not have time for powerless weaklings!" Jiemma snapped back, causing Natsu to growl, his flames grew in size.

"Is that so? Well you're wrong! You don't know what it means to be strong! You can have all the raw power in the world, but as long as you look down on others you will never be truly strong….perhaps you'd like me to show you." Jiemma eye's turned into a scowl.

"You dare come into my guild and call me weak! You shall pay for your insolence! That girl was always pathetically weak, she only served to bring us down!" Jiemma took a step forward, but Natsu had surged forward quicker than anyone could see, it was like he had teleported from where he had been standing to directly in front of the master. Sting's eyes bulged out of his skull. How was he that fast?! Jiemma's eyes widened as well as Natsu delivered a fiery punch to his gut. Natsu glared up at the master.

"You have no right to call yourself a guild master…" Natsu began and delivered another strong punch that Jiemma was forced to block, he stumbled back a little.

"A guild master's job is to help the guild grow strong! Regardless of who is a part of it!" Natsu continued his relentless attack, that Jiemma, as well as the rest of Sabertooth were stunned by. Sting watched Natsu's movements closely, he seemed so familiar.

"You are supposed to make a guild a home….a family! In Fairy Tail we would die to protect each other! We don't care about who is the strongest….because the only way to get stronger….IS TOGETHER!" Natsu unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks that Jiemma had no other choice but to struggle and block. He winced as a relatively strong kick got him in the ribs.

"WHAT YOU DID TO YUKINO WAS UNACCEPTABLE! I WILL BURN THIS PLACE DOWN TO THE GROUND! YOU ARE A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A GUILD! YOU SHOULD USE YOUR GIFTS TO HELP PEOPLE! NOT CONTROL THEM!" Natsu's blood was boiling, he thought about all his friends at Fairy Tail, and how he was beyond angry with Sabertooth. Sting's eyes widened as he watched Natsu attack his master, the way his flames swelled with the angrier he got.

"Salamander?..." There was no doubt about it, this person the way he moved, the way he fought, the way his flames burned...Sting was watching his idol in person. And now he knew exactly why he was able to block his and Rogue's punches with ease. It was, because he was in a class to himself...even Jiemma himself seemed to be struggling against Natsu's attacks.

"That's enough of that!" A femine voice broke through the room, and suddenly Natsu was teleported to the stairs behind Sting. Standing next to Jiemma who had fallen to a knee was a beautiful woman with dark hair. She wore a blue dress with matching blue eye make-up.

"Minerva….how dare you!" Jiemma snapped at the woman who rolled her eyes.

"Honestly daddy, must you be so prideful….I am merely protecting our guild from this intruder…" Minerva frowned and glared at Natsu who looked totally confused as to how he had ended up on the stairs. Sting knew what had happened, Minerva's power allowed her to change a person's territory completely. In this case she had swapped her position with Natsu's.

"Now...Natsu, was it? I suggest you go back to wherever it was you came from….or there will be...consequences." Minerva's voice darkened at the word consequences.

"What are you on about?" Natsu snapped back at her, she grinned darkly and snapped her fingers. Two small kids appeared besides her from out of nowhere looking confused as to where they were.

"Meet little Jackson and Jessica….and let's just say if you don't leave this minute….they won't be seeing their parents again anytime soon…" Sting's eyes widened.

"M'lady…." He stumbled for the words, he was in too much shock to actually form the words to protest her actions. Natsu just growled and stood up.

"Fine, I'll leave….just don't hurt the kids….I think I made my point anyway." Natsu stated and walked towards the doors. He took a satisfied look at how destroyed the guild was now thanks to him.

"Come on, let's go getcha both back home…" Natsu sighed and ducked down to look at the kids who all ran to him in fear. They hid behind him as he glared at Jiemma and Minerva one last time before leaving. Jiemma just frowned.

"He said he was a member of Fairy Tail was it?...Well then daddy….with your permission of course I do believe a little bit of revenge is order…" Minerva stated darkly once Natsu exited the building, she looked around the destroyed guild with a frown on her face. Jiemma looked up at his daughter darkly before standing back up.

"Indeed, this cannot stand….that boy just started a war….and soon he will find out the true strength of Sabertooth!" The guild hall burst out in cheers with exception of Sting who stood in place looking at the doors horrified.

"Natsu….Salamander….I knew you were strong….but...still…." Suddenly his frown flipped into a grin.

"This is my chance to show you that I am stronger."

Chapter 39: Retaliation!

Q: What do you think Sabertooth will do in response to Natsu?

Also bonus question: Just out of curiosity have you checked out The Storm yet, if so what do you think of it so far?