Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon

Chapter 3

Nikolias grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed and dragged himself out of the room he was sleeping in. He got very little sleep last night, which tends to put him in less than pleasant moods. It had nothing to do with the bed, though. He actually loved the soft mattress and silky sheets. As soon as he lay down on the bed last night, he truly believed he could sleep peacefully.

But it wasn't to be, thanks entirely to his far too loud partner.

All through the night, Gracie and her new gal pals were shouting, screaming, laughing, thumping, banging, yelling—in summation, making far too much noise in their room to allow Nikolias to sleep at all. He was glad that Gracie could find people to connect to and befriend, especially since in their line of work, friends were hard to come by, but did they have to be so loud? They can be friends quietly, can't they? God damn it, he was tired.

He could hear the sounds of talking and laughing coming from the Main Hall, which was where he was attempting to drag himself. He remembered the clock reading 9:37 AM when he got up. Why the hell is everyone here already? Does no one value sleep anymore? He thought to himself.

Upon entering the Main Hall, he saw almost the same thing as yesterday; people talking and laughing, eating, and drinking. The only differences today were that Natsu and Gray were fighting off to one side of the guild and Gracie was sitting among the girls of the guild. Gracie turned her head slightly and saw Nikolias enter the Main Hall and waved excitedly at him.

"Good morning, Niky! How'd you sleep last night?" she called out to him.

"You were loud," he answered grumpily.

"Someone's cranky," she mocked.

He walked over to her. "What were you even doing all night?"

Gracie thought back on the slumber party's events.


FLASHBACK

The girls all gathered in the guild later that night with everything they would need for a fun slumber party. Gracie was waiting anxiously in the Main Hall and grew more and more excited with each arriving guest.

Lucy was the last to arrive. "Hi Gracie! Sorry I'm late. Natsu broke into my place again and I had to get him to leave before I could lock up."

Gracie smiled. "It's okay, we're all here now!"

"Where's Nikolias?" Erza asked, noticing the absence of the Half-Dragon.

"He's outside doing a little bit of what he calls 'pre-sleep training'. I think it's stupid, but he refuses to stop. Anyway, once he's done, he'll just head straight to bed, so he won't be in our way."

"He could join us," Wendy offered innocently.

Gracie laughed really hard at this. "Sorry Wendy, but that was hysterical. Niky would absolutely hate a slumber party, especially with people he just met."

"That's okay, it just means that we can gossip without fear that one of the guys might find out," Mira said while winking.

"True! So, do we go to my room now?" Gracie asked.

All the girls agreed and they made their way up to Gracie's room.

As soon as they were all inside and the door was closed, the gossip began.

"So who do people like?" Gracie started.

"You don't beat around the bush, huh?" Cana said.

Gracie smiled. "Why wait? We would get to it eventually, right?"

"Alright, well since you're so anxious, you start. Who do you like?" Cana asked.

"Unfortunately, no one. Niky and I travel a lot so there's no one I've really been able to get to know."

"You don't like Nikolias?" Mira asked.

"Niky's like a brother to me and I'm like a sister to him. We're protective of each other, just like family. I love Niky, but in a sibling kind of way."

"I see," Mira said.

Gracie got a mischievous grin. "Do you ask because you like him, Mira?"

Mira blushed but didn't answer.

"He's pretty cute," Cana said before throwing back a beer. "I guarantee I'm not the only one here who thinks so."

All the girls blushed a little in response, causing Gracie to laugh.

"I always knew Niky was good looking, but I never thought everyone here would think so."

"He does have a nice body," Lisanna said.

"And he's strong," Erza added.

Gracie clapped her hands together. "Oh, how nice! Well, I guess it is a popular opinion. Come to think of it, I catch so many girls staring at him wherever we go, but he never notices and if he does, he doesn't ever mention or acknowledge it."

"Why not?" Mira asked.

Gracie gave a sad smile. "Like I said, Niky doesn't have a great track record with people. I can't go into it, but just know that his heart has been broken."

"That's so sad," Lucy said. "So he's been in love before?"

Gracie nodded, but offered no more information.

"Poor Nikolias," Mira whispered.

Gracie shook away any sadness she was feeling and perked back up. "So who do you girls like?"

No one answered, so Gracie scanned the room. Her eyes landed on Erza.

"Erza, who do you like?"

Erza shook her head violently. "No one."

Gracie gave her a knowing smile. "Yeah right. No one says no that intensely. It's suspicious! Now spill. What's his name?"

Erza looked down, her face extremely red. "Je…Jellal."

"See, I knew there was someone! I'm never wrong about these things. Unfortunately, I don't know him, so you're lucky that I'm not gonna grill you on this," Gracie said as she began scanning the room again. Erza exhaled, grateful to not have to go into any detail. Gracie's eyes landed on the blue haired water mage. "How about you, Juvia?"

Juvia began poking her fingers. "Juvia likes Gray-sama."

"Aw that's cute! You two go together perfectly! He seems like a nice boy, but his stripping habit is a tad weird," Gracie said.

"Juvia doesn't think so…," Juvia mumbled while blushing.

Gracie winked at her. "I'm sure you don't."

Gracie kept scanning and calling out names, forcing the girls to spill their guts. If one girl refused to cave, the others would throw her under the bus, leading to screaming matches and making other girls laugh hysterically. Wendy admitted to liking Romeo, Levy admitted to liking Gajeel, and Evergreen finally admitted to liking Elfman, much to the surprise of the Strauss sisters.

Gracie arrived at Lucy. "Ah, Miss Lucy. I'd ask who you like, but I think I already know."

Lucy blinked. "I…I don't like anyone."

"Denial," Gracie said simply.

"It's not denial," Lucy protested.

"Oh come on, I've known you for less than a day and even I can see that there's something going on between you and Natsu."

Lucy blushed a deep red. "N…No there's not!"

"Oh yes there is. Look how red you are!" Gracie said giggling.

Lucy stood up and stomped her foot. "I don't like Natsu!"

Gracie just smiled up at her. "Argue all you want, but I know it when I see it."

"It's true, Lucy. We all see it," Erza said.

"You two are perfect for each other!" Mira cooed.

"Shut up, Mira! You like Nikolias!" Lucy threw back, causing the Take Over mage to blush and back off.

Gracie smiled sweetly at Mira before turning back to Lucy. "You can't throw me off the scent by trying to distract me. If Mira likes Nikolias, I'm thrilled, but I won't let you escape, Lucy. Admit it."

"I don't like Natsu!"

Gracie sighed. "Look Lucy. I know quite a bit about dragons as I'm sure you already know. As I understand it, Natsu is a Dragon Slayer, which is basically a relative to the Half-Dragons. Even though Natsu can't become a dragon, he still has dragon characteristics, such as the heightened senses. So let me ask you this; why do you think Natsu breaks into your place?"

Lucy stared at her. "To be annoying."

"Wrong answer. It's because he's drawn to your scent. Nikolias told me that when a dragon finds the one he or she wants to be with for life, they are attracted to the scent of the person. They can't get enough of it. Natsu is intoxicated by your scent so he keeps showing up at your place where the scent is everywhere. Trust me, he's into you, whether he's consciously aware of it or not. And if he's not yet, he will be soon since he's maturing."

Lucy felt her heart rate speed up. Did Natsu really like her? She shook her head. "Even if Natsu likes me, that doesn't mean I like him!"

"My my, your wrong again! The scent becomes stronger to the dragon if it senses that the object of their affection returns the feelings. The bond that forms is unbreakable. You two do missions together all the time as I understand it and he's always breaking into your place to be around you. You two appear to be inseparable. If you ask me, you two are into each other, but neither one of you wants to admit it."

Lucy had no response to Gracie's last explanation. All that was going through her head was "Do I really like Natsu? No, it can't be…"

"So if Nikolias was in love before, is that how he knows about this scent thing?" Mira asked.

Gracie nodded. "That and the fact that it's common knowledge among dragons."

"If he was in love already and it didn't work out, does that mean he can never fall in love again?" Wendy asked sadly.

Gracie sighed, contemplating how much she should actually say. "Niky probably could fall in love again, but I doubt he will."

"Was his heart break really that bad?" Mira asked.

Another sad smile from Gracie. "More than you could possibly know."

With all the girls' crushes out in the open, Gracie decided to better understand everyone's magic. They spent the rest of the night talking about their powers and missions that they had done before all of them eventually fell asleep.

FLASHBACK END


Gracie looked back at Nikolias and smiled. "We just talked. Sorry, it's top secret, so you can't know, Niky."

He sighed and made his way over to the bar. He sat in an empty chair and put his head down. He was still ridiculously tired, but mainly he was confused at what Gracie said. If they were just talking, why the hell did it sound like there was a festival in the next room?

"Is he always this grumpy in the morning?" Cana asked.

Gracie giggled. "Quite often, yes. Don't worry, it passes quickly. Just let him wake up a bit."

"It's fine. He's cute when he's grumpy," Cana said as she winked at the girls, making Gracie giggle again.

"Should I ask if he needs anything?" Mira asked, since she had left the bar to chat with the girls.

Gracie waved her hand. "Nah, he doesn't actually want anything. He's just sitting there since it's empty."

"Why doesn't he mingle?" Levy asked.

"Niky doesn't mingle well. He prefers to blend in and draw as little attention as possible. Well, when he's not fighting and sticking out like a sore thumb, at least." She laughed at this last part.

"Oi, Lucy!"

Everyone turned their heads to see Natsu and Happy running over excitedly with a piece of paper.

"What's up, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"We got a mission! It's a good one, too. Look how much money we'll get! You can easily pay your rent with this!" Natsu said excitedly with his trademark grin plastered on his face.

Lucy looked at the piece of paper. "Natsu, the money is great, but look at what they want us to do! They want us to act as bodyguards for a political function! Doesn't that sound a little crazy?"

Natsu gave her a confused look. "Not really. As long as there's something to beat up!"

Gracie giggled.

Lucy sighed. "Fine, we can go if you want. Erza, you feel like joining?"

Erza stood up. "Of course. I'll go alert Gray."

Natsu was less than thrilled that Gray was going to come, but then he got an idea. "Hey Gracie, why don't you and Nikolias tag along! It'll be fun and maybe Nikolias can teach me some stuff."

Gracie smiled. "Well I don't know about Niky being able to teach you anything, but if you all want us to come along, I see no harm in that." She turned to the bar. "Niky, come here!" she shouted to him.

Nikolias picked up his head and walked over. "What?"

"Wake up, we're going on a mission!"

Nikolias stared at her. "Why?"

"Because it'll be fun!"

Nikolias sighed. "Gracie, I thought we were gonna take off after one night."

Gracie just frowned at him. "Why would we do that? It's fun here and you would see it if you could just break out of your mood. Come on, I'm sure this mission will make you love being here."

"Gracie…," he started, but was interrupted by Gracie grabbing his ear and pulling him to the door. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! Let go, that hurts! Cut it out, Gracie!"

"We're going on a mission, Niky. Let's go!" she said, unwilling to relinquish her grip on his ear.

"Fine, okay, just let go," he begged. She released his ear and he immediately went to rubbing it. "Damn it, Gracie."

She gave him a smile then turned to the group. "So are we going now or what?"

"We have to prepare first," Lucy said. "We'll meet you back here in one hour after we all gather our stuff."

Gracie seemed confused by how much time they needed to prepare, but just shrugged it off. "Okay, we'll see you in one hour!"


Natsu and his team, along with Gracie and Nikolias, made their way to Freesia Town. According to the mission details, there was an important peace conference being held there that a number of people were upset about. The government officials were scared that powerful forces would try to stop the conference using violence, so they were looking for bodyguards to ensure that the conference was successful and the peace was kept.

When Nikolias heard about the mission details from Erza's en route explanation, he couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny, Nikolias?" Erza asked.

Nikolias wiped away a tear. "It's just so hysterical how paranoid these government guys are. This isn't even a major peace conference between major governments or nations. There's just no way anyone extremely powerful will show up."

Natsu pouted. "Damn it, I wanted some action!"

Nikolias clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Me too, Natsu. Me too."

Natsu looked at Nikolias. "So Nikolias, can you show me some of your attacks and possibly teach them to me?"

Nikolias smiled. "Perhaps. However, there are very few similarities in attacks between Dragon Slayers who use magic and Half-Dragons who use no magic."

"You don't use magic?" Natsu asked.

"Not even a little. Everything I can do is either from the Dragon Spirit, which isn't magic, or from my father himself."

"Wow. But what kind of similarities are there?" Natsu prodded, looking desperately for any clue that he could get stronger.

Nikolias thought. "Well I looked into Dragon Slayers and each one uses different power elements, much like it was for Half-Dragons. Since our power elements are different, though, that further reduces the likelihood that I can show you something you can learn or that you don't already know."

"What's your element?" Erza asked. She and everyone else were listening intently to the conversation.

"My element is shadow. I utilize the darkness for my abilities."

"So you can only use it at night?" Natsu asked.

Nikolias shook his head. "I'm even stronger at night, but I'm perfectly capable of fighting at 150% at any time of day."

"Well that's a cool element," Gray said.

"Yeah, so what can you teach me?" Natsu asked impatiently.

Nikolias scratched the back of his head. "Let's see, can you Roar?"

Natsu nodded his head.

"What about Fist?"

Another nod.

"Claw?"

Another nod.

"What about Haze?"

Natsu shook his head with excitement.

"You can't use the Haze technique? It's a pretty powerful one."

"What's it do?" Natsu asked. He sounded like a little kid about to get a new toy.

"It varies depending on your element. You're a Fire Dragon Slayer right?" Natsu nodded. "Okay, so for you, the Fire Dragon Haze inflicts burns that not only damage the skin, but can also damage someone internally if it's inhaled."

Natsu's eyes widened. "Kick ass! What's your Haze do?"

"I actually named my Haze something different because of what it does."

"What's it called?" Lucy asked.

"I call it Endless Nightmare."

Lucy shivered. "Endless Nightmare? Why is it called that?"

"Basically, my Shadow Dragon Haze isn't a physically damaging attack. Instead, it works on a person's mind. When they are exposed to the Haze, they begin to hallucinate. They see themselves facing their worst nightmares and fears forever until I break the Haze or kill them."

"How awful," Lucy murmured.

Nikolias chuckled. "It really isn't a move I use a lot. Only those who truly deserve to suffer ever experience that move." He then turned to Natsu. "Once I see you fight and evaluate your strength, I'll decide as to whether or not I will teach you the Dragon Haze technique."

Natsu shot him a questioning look. "Why do I have to be evaluated?"

"The Dragon Haze technique is extremely powerful and, if the user is not ready for the damage it can do, the using of the move could be dangerous to the user as well as the intended victim. I just want to make sure that you're ready for such a powerful attack."

Natsu pouted. "Not fair."

"Have you ever seen the Endless Nightmare technique, Gracie?" Gray asked.

Gracie shook her head. "Niky hasn't ever had to use it. He considers that one a last resort."

Natsu kept badgering Nikolias. "How about a move I can actually learn? Come on, there has to be at least one that you can teach me."

"Damn, you really don't quit. Alright, let me think…Have you learned the Dragon Pulse technique? That one's fairly simple to learn."

Natsu shook his head again.

"Okay, for this technique, you have to be able to focus as much power as desired into your hand."

"Better give up, cinder brain. There's no way you can focus enough," Gray shot at Natsu.

"Can it, freezer boy. I can totally do this," Natsu shot back. He then stared intently into his palm, creating flames in his right palm.

"Good, that's step one," Nikolias said. He then proceeded to call forth shadows into his own right palm. "The next step is to concentrate the power into an orb. If you keep it separated and loose like that, it just becomes a fireball." He then showed Natsu what he wanted. Without even looking at his palm, Nikolias collected the shadows in his palm and forced them to unify into an orb of blackness.

Natsu looked at his own palm and tried to get it into an orb. This was slightly more difficult for him, as he had never attempted to have his fire retain a particular shape before, but he managed to get it done with minimal effort.

"Excellent," Nikolias complimented. "The rest comes down to your aim. The person or object you hit with this orb will take the majority of the damage. Once this orb collides with something, it also instantly discharges, releasing a pulse of power to damage and knock away nearby foes. It's great for facing large crowds." Nikolias then fired the orb out of his palm and towards a rock face to the group's left. The orb collided with the rock face and sent a black shockwave outwards, spewing dirt and small pebbles everywhere. When the dust cleared, everyone could see that there was a significant dent in the rock face. "That was a low power Pulse, just for a demonstration."

Natsu stared excitedly at the orb in his hands. "Thanks, Nikolias! This'll be awesome!"

"Just make sure to practice it, okay?" Nikolias said. "Even a move as simple as this can have a serious drawback if used incorrectly."

Natsu nodded, indicating he would practice.

"You can do a lot of different techniques, can't you Nikolias?" Erza asked.

"Too many probably," Nikolias joked.

The team made its way to Freesia Town by late afternoon. Natsu was still playing with the Fire Dragon Pulse in his hand while Nikolias, Gracie, and Lucy smiled at his immediate fascination with the fire. It was like it was the first time he created fire.

Their mission didn't start until the next day, so Erza led them to the hotel they would be staying in. They were able to get three rooms, so the pairings were fairly straightforward; Natsu and Gray, Lucy and Erza, and Nikolias and Gracie. Once they went to their rooms and got situated, they all decided to congregate in the lobby to go sightseeing.

"I can't wait to see the town!" Gracie said excitedly.

"I know, I'm so excited!" Lucy agreed.

"Luce, you've been here before," Natsu said.

Lucy shot him a look. "Things can change. Besides, I didn't get to look around completely the last time we were here."

"Well, should we go then?" Erza asked and everyone nodded.


A large caravan marched through the gates of Freesia Town. There were groups of masked men surrounding a large horse-drawn carriage. As soon as the mass of people crossed through the gates, they all stopped. One of the masked men knocked on the door.

"We have arrived, sire," he called inside.

The door opened and out stepped a man in elegant navy blue robes. He looked around with a smirk on his face, a smirk that was slightly crooked due to a deep scar on the right side of his face that stretched from the corner of his lips to the corner of his eye. "So this is Freesia Town, eh?" he said with a calm yet confident tone.

"Yes, Lord Nato. We have brought you to Freesia Town, just as you requested," the masked man said, bowing.

Lord Nato's smile grew larger, showing off perfectly white teeth. "Oh, I will have some fun with this town."