Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon

Chapter 4

"Wow, look at that!" Gracie exclaimed. "I've never seen anything so beautiful!"

Gracie, Lucy, Erza, and Nikolias were all in an old antique shop and having a look around while Natsu, Gray, and Happy stayed outside, claiming that antiquing was 'too girly'. Natsu and Gray were surprised, however, when Nikolias went along with the girls. They thought for sure he would share their views. They asked him why he was going in there, but he only shrugged and said, "Why not?" However, he soon detached from the girls to look around on his own.

Gracie held out an old sword to the small group around her. "What do you think guys?"

The sheath was bronze and was tastefully decorated with rubies, amethysts, and emeralds. Gracie unsheathed the sword slightly to look at the blade. It was still in excellent condition. Although the blade had dulled and rusted a bit, it still shone when the light hit it right.

"I love those jewels!" exclaimed Lucy.

"It looks like it was a truly powerful and feared sword in its prime," Erza commented.

"I think it's marvelous," Gracie said while admiring the blade.

"Do you fight with swords, Gracie?" Lucy asked.

Gracie nodded. "Among other things. I dabble in all sorts of weapons, but I specialize in only a few."

"What would they be?" Erza questioned.

Gracie unsheathed the sword fully to gaze upon its elegant features. "Dual wielding katanas, broad swords, and halberds." She swung the blade a few times and inserted it back in its holster. "I like it! I've been looking for a new sword to test out."

"Those are certainly impressive weapons to master, but why those in particular?" Erza asked.

Gracie smiled at her. "It's simple, really. Each weapon fits into a strategy to fight alongside each of Nikolias' forms; human, partial-dragon, and dragon. The katanas are for his human form, the broad sword is for his dragon form, and the halberd is for his partial-dragon form."

"I'd love to spar with you to see how good you are with these weapons," Erza said.

Gracie clapped her hands together. "Oh, that sounds like fun! We can figure something out when we get back!"

Nikolias, having finished his private tour, walked back over to the girls. Upon seeing the sword in Gracie's hand, his eyes widened. "Gracie, where the hell did you get that?"

She turned to look at him questioningly. "I got it here. Where else would I have gotten it?"

His gaze was fixed on the blade. "Shit, you have no idea what you're holding, do you?" he asked, his voice trembling from what could have been either anger or fear.

"Clearly not. What's the big deal? It's a nice sword."

"It's a monstrosity," Nikolias hissed, causing all the girls to step back nervously, including Gracie.

"Niky, what's gotten into you? It's a quality sword. How is it a monstrosity?"

Nikolias glared at Gracie and pointed to the sword. "That sword is a Dragon Hunter, Gracie."

Gracie stared at the blade. "A Dragon Hunter?"

"What's a Dragon Hunter?" Lucy asked.

Nikolias closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. "Dragon Hunters were swords created long ago to destroy dragons. The smiths that created them were mages, so they used their magic to empower the blades. If the blade connected with a dragon, the scales would begin to disintegrate and a poison would seep into the flesh. At first, the dragons wouldn't know they were infected, but over time, they would begin to feel weak and lose all desire to eat or move. They would slowly die and right before the end, they would experience unrivaled pain so that they would welcome death and not try to fight the inevitable."

"How awful," Lucy said, a hand over her mouth from shock.

"Niky, I'm sorry. I had no idea. I won't buy the sword if it would make you feel uncomfortable," Gracie offered.

Nikolias opened his eyes. He stared at the sword again. "I thought they were all destroyed. I can't believe one survived all this time." He eventually tore his eyes away from the sword to look at Gracie. "As much as I hate the sword, if you really want to buy it I won't stop you."

"But what if it somehow accidentally cuts you!" Lucy asked.

Nikolias smiled at her. "There are two reasons why that doesn't concern me. First of all, Gracie's skill with weapons is unmatched. There's no way I would ever be cut by her accidentally. Second of all, the poison doesn't affect me."

"Why doesn't it affect you?" Erza asked. "Is it because you're a Half-Dragon?"

Nikolias shook his head. "No, that's not why." He looked at Gracie, a serious look on his face. "The poison that was used to empower the blade was derived from that virus."

Gracie's eyes widened. "You're kidding…"

Nikolias shook his head. "I wish I was. That's why I'm serious, Gracie. If you want the sword, buy it. It will definitely be powerful enough to serve you well. Besides, I'd prefer it was in your hands than in the hands of someone else."

Gracie looked at the sword with a sad expression. She then lifted her head and looked at Nikolias. "I'll buy it so that we can destroy it, Niky."

Nikolias smiled at Gracie. "Always so thoughtful, aren't you?"

"Wait, what are you guys even talking about? What virus?" Lucy asked, annoyed that she was so clueless.

Gracie smiled at Lucy. "Nothing to concern yourself with, Lucy."

"So have we all looked around enough?" Erza asked. Everyone nodded and they proceeded to the checkout counter so that Gracie could buy the sword. Once she had made her purchase, the four went back outside to meet up with Natsu, Gray, and Happy.

"Finally. You guys took forever," Gray said.

Nikolias covered his eyes with his hand. "For the love of God, why the fuck are you naked?"

Gray looked down. "GAH! Where the hell did they go?" He searched frantically for his clothes.

Nikolias shook his head. "First a Dragon Hunter and then another guy's dick. Just my luck."

Gracie giggled. "So where to next?"

"Can we go somewhere fun?" Natsu whined.

"Sure, where would you like to go, Natsu?" Gracie asked.

He thought for a moment. "I heard that there's a really cool magic shop here. Let's check that out!"

"Great idea!" Lucy said. "I bet they'll have some awesome Gate Keys there."

"I hope they have fire stuff!" Natsu said, a wicked grin on his face.

"Sounds good to me," said Gray, returning fully clothed.

"Okay, we'll go to the magic shop!" Gracie said excitedly. "But first, I need to destroy this." She detached the Dragon Hunter from her waist. "How do I destroy it, Niky?"

He smiled at her. "There's no special way to go about it. Just…" He suddenly stopped, his eyes wide and alert and a growl escaping his lips.

"Nikolias?" Lucy asked.

"Something wrong?" Erza asked.

"What the hell are you doing?" Natsu asked.

Gracie, however, knew exactly what was going on. "Niky, who do you see?"

Nikolias reached into his pocket and pulled out a small book, quickly leafing through the pages.

"What's that?" Natsu asked.

"It's our Business Book," Gracie said as she moved behind Nikolias and looked over his shoulder.

"Business Book?" Erza inquired.

Gracie nodded. "It has a page dedicated to each mark, which includes pictures, basic information, list of crimes, etc."

"Wait, 'marks'?" Lucy asked. "What are 'marks'?"

Gracie sighed. "I guess you were gonna have to find out someday anyway." She looked at the group of wizards. "Niky and I are Hunters."

"Hunters?" Gray repeated. "What are those?"

"Basically, we hunt criminals who managed to avoid getting punished for their crimes. We gather information in the towns we visit, acquiring names of anyone who committed a serious crime, such as rape, murder, kidnapping; really any crime that significantly impacted other peoples' lives."

"So you're like bounty hunters?" Natsu asked.

"Not really. The people we hunt tend not to live after we find them."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"You two kill people?" Lucy exclaimed.

Gracie nodded. "Yeah, we kill criminals. That's our job. We don't get paid for it, but we consider it reward enough knowing that a lot of bad people are gone."

"H…How could you do something like that?" Lucy stammered.

"It's what we do. You have no idea what kind of people we hunt. They're bad people and deserve what comes to them."

"So when you came to Magnolia…"

"We came looking for information on any crimes or criminals. We got some information, but none of the crimes were serious enough to warrant punishment and if they were, law enforcement already punished those responsible."

"If you kill people, how are you any different from those you seek to punish?" Erza asked, her face contorted with anger.

"Because what we do helps the innocent lead safer and better lives," Gracie responded. "I never said that we are saints, but what we do helps even the score a bit."

"I can't believe you didn't tell us," Lucy said. "That's kind of major information."

Gracie sighed and walked away from Nikolias who was still frantically flipping through the book. For a tiny book, it had numerous pages and it was clearly rather unorganized. She approached her companions and stopped in front of them. "We never said anything because you never asked and it's not something that naturally fits into a conversation."

"You still shoulda mentioned it," Gray said.

"Look, the only reason I'm telling you guys this is because both Niky and I like you guys and Fairy Tail. We don't want to lie to you guys and had it come up earlier we would've mentioned it then," Gracie explained.

Suddenly, Nikolias stopped flipping and stared at a page, another louder growl escaping his lips. "I knew it."

"Who'd you find?" Gracie asked, turning to look at him.

"Lord Darius Nato," he growled, his voice rough.

Gracie nodded. "Alright. Lead me to him." Nikolias started sprinting off with Gracie close behind. Gracie turned over her shoulder while she ran. "We'll meet up with you guys later!" she called out to the companions they were leaving behind before turning back around to keep up with the incredibly fast Nikolias.

The four Fairy Tail mages were left there, dumbstruck by the new information they just learned.

"They kill people," Lucy whispered.

"I never thought for a second that they were into that kind of shit," Gray said while shaking his head.

"It's disappointing to learn about, that's for sure," Erza said.

"I think it's awesome!"

Everyone turned to look at Natsu.

"What the hell is wrong with you, ash brain? They kill people!" Gray shouted.

"Who hurt other people. It's not like they're cold blooded murderers. They help people to protect their loved ones, their friends, their homes. I think that's pretty awesome."

Everyone thought about his words.

"Still," Lucy spoke up, "they talk about it like it's easy to take lives."

"It could be the way that they deal with something that could be traumatic," Erza offered.

"Well, I wanna watch!" Natsu exclaimed as he began running off in the direction that Nikolias and Gracie had gone.

"Natsu, stop! We'll wait for them here!" Lucy called out to him, but he wouldn't stop. She sighed. "Great. Now what do we do?"

Gray shrugged. "I say follow him."

Erza nodded. "We probably should. I'd rather Natsu not get involved in their business. He could prove to be a hindrance and that could be dangerous."

Lucy nodded slowly. "Alright fine, we'll go."

The three Fairy Tail mages ran after Natsu, all a bit curious to see what would happen when they found Gracie and Nikolias.


Nikolias shot into an alley and concealed himself in darkness just before a large group of people passed by. He peered around the edge of the building and the corner of his lips curled up. There was no mistake. The person in the center of the group was definitely Lord Nato.

Nikolias felt someone move beside him. Without moving from his position, he spoke. "No doubt about it, Gracie. That's Lord Nato."

"What can you tell me about him?" Gracie asked.

"He's the worst kind of trash. He's a major crime boss syndicate. He has his men collect wages from all kinds of people and the poor have to pay the most. All who can't pay him the correct amount are killed on the spot, no exceptions. He's also a 'gun-for-hire' kind of guy. If someone needs manpower to do dirty work, they call him. His prices are steep, but his men are effective. Aside from that, he also apparently enjoys taking daughters and wives as forms of payment or punishment for his own twisted lust." After finishing his explanation, Nikolias spat on the ground in disgust. "I hate guys like this. They think just because they have money and power, they can do whatever the hell they want. It makes me sick."

Gracie put a hand on Nikolias' tensing shoulders. "Take it easy, Nikolias. We'll get this guy, no doubt about it. After today, he won't be hurting anyone anymore. First, we need a plan. It seems he has a lot of bodyguards and if you're description of him was correct, none of them are pushovers."

Nikolias nodded, trying to resist the urge to charge Nato right then and there. "Right, so what do you suggest?"

Gracie pondered. "Well, there are multiple things to consider. The first thing to consider is the numbers. There are a lot of them and their skill level is currently unknown. That would normally suggest the Air-Ground method. However, we then have to consider the population. We don't know this town at all, so we can't predict where he is currently going. There's always the chance that when we engage him, he could be in a heavily populated area, which would mean we would have to hold back on power. That would suggest the Ground-Ground method. Finally, we have to consider Nato himself. We don't know what kind of boss he is. He could be a 'run-and-hide-til-the-mess-is-cleaned-up' kind of boss or he could be the kind of boss who gets involved in the fight. Since we don't know his anything about his abilities, we would have to treat him as a major threat, which would suggest the Air-Air method, but then you have to consider that we aren't in a wide open space, which would heavily restrict our movements and options."

Nikolias gave her a deadpanned look. "None of this is actually helping. You just listed all of our categories of strategy. Which one are we gonna use?"

"I'm working on it," Gracie shot at him. "Just keep your eyes on him while I think things through."

"Right," Nikolias said, nodding. He started to leave, but was stopped by Gracie grabbing his arm. "Gracie, what's wrong?"

Gracie gave him a sad look. "Do you think they hate us now?"

Nikolias gave her a sad smile. "It's possible, but I don't know for sure. It sure didn't sound like they approved, but who knows?"

Gracie tried to smile. "I really liked hanging out with them. They were fun."

Nikolias sighed. "I know you had fun and I'm really sorry if things don't work out, but this is what we do, Gracie. We can't apologize for it. If they don't want anything to do with us anymore, then that gives us back the freedom to roam and do what needs to be done, although I'm sure that's not what you want to hear."

Gracie looked down. "We finally had new friends. I wish it didn't have to end."

Nikolias put his hand over Gracie's hand that was on his arm. "We don't know how they feel yet. We'll find out later, okay? And who knows, maybe they won't think down on us. It's not over yet," he said softly, trying to reassure her.

Gracie smiled at him and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall. "You know, you're quite the ladies' man in Fairy Tail."

Nikolias chuckled. "Is that so?"

"It is. Rumor has it that Mirajane is really into you."

"I'm flattered. She's a beautiful girl."

"My, my, Niky. I've never heard you say anything like that before."

He smiled and gently removed her grasp on his arm. He then quickly left the alley and jumped up to the roofs of the buildings, following Nato and his men as discretely as possible.

Gracie watched as he jumped up and giggled. "I'll never get used to how high he can jump."


Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy finally managed to catch up with Natsu as they ran down the streets. They had long lost sight of Gracie and Nikolias and were relying solely on Natsu's nose.

"Anything Natsu?" Lucy asked.

Natsu sniffed the air. "Uh oh."

"What uh oh?" Gray asked.

Natsu sniffed the air again. "The scents are separating."

"What?" Lucy shouted. "Why are they separating?"

"If I had to guess, Nikolias is beginning to engage the enemy while Gracie is patiently sitting back and waiting to strike," Erza said.

Lucy nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. Nikolias does seem more like Natsu and Gracie seems more like you, Erza. So who do we go to?"

"We go to Gracie. That's our best chance to assist," Erza responded.

"Wait, we're getting involved?" Lucy asked surprised.

"Kick ass!" Natsu shouted. "Finally, something fun!"

"Where's Gracie, Natsu?" Erza questioned.

Natsu sniffed the air and quickly turned down an alley. "There."


"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Gracie asked, completely caught off guard when her companions showed up in the alley she was sitting in.

"We want to help," Natsu said, a big smile on his face.

Gracie was taken aback. "You…You want to help?"

"Yes, we do," Erza said.

Gracie smiled and tears started to fill her eyes again. "I thought for sure you guys hated us."

Lucy smiled at her. "We could never hate you guys. Maybe we don't agree with what you do, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?"

"Th…Thank you, Lucy, everyone," Gracie said, fighting back the tears.

"So what can we do?" Gray asked.

Gracie wiped away the tears from her eyes before answering. "I appreciate you guys coming and offering to help, but there's too much about this guy that we don't know. It's best if you guys hang back."

"Aw, what?" Natsu whined. "No way, we're fighting, too!"

"No, Natsu," Erza said. "If Gracie wants us out of the way then we have to respect her wishes."

"Thank you, Erza. I'd say you guys can watch, but you may not want to."

Lucy shuddered. "I think you're right."

"Where's Nikolias, anyway?" Gray asked.

"He's tracking while I come up with a plan. I think I have our strategy in place now, so all we have to do is find him."

"I can find him!" Natsu said excitedly.

Gracie giggled, knowing full well that she could easily find Nikolias on her own. "Alright Natsu, lead us to him."

Natsu gave a large grin and took off to where he could smell Nikolias with the others following closely behind.


Nikolias squatted on a roof, looking down at Nato and his band of douche bags. He gritted his teeth as he watched the group stop in the middle of the square and start harassing civilians, wanting more than anything to jump the guy and tear him to pieces. However, he knew better than to engage a large group without a plan in place and Gracie was coming up with that plan now. All he could do was watch and wait for Gracie to show up where he was. He always made sure that he kept in a straight line when he was moving without Gracie beside him so that they wouldn't get separated.

"C'mon Gracie, where are you," he whispered to himself.


Natsu led the group down the street at a quick pace. He seemed eager to find Nikolias, most likely because he had already forgotten that he was banned from fighting.

"How close, Natsu?" Erza asked.

Natsu sniffed the air. "Really close! Just a few more blocks."

Erza nodded. "Good. Gracie, where should we stand so that we're out of the way?"

"The plan has yet to be decided since I don't know where our mark is. However, I can say with certainty that you should keep a safe distance. I'll leave the specifics up to you, Erza," Gracie said.

Natsu ran past a building and into a large rounded area. He stopped and sniffed the air. "Hmm, I could've sworn he was here."

"Nice going, fire ass. You led us into the middle of town. You probably smelled food and led us here," Gray mocked.

"Shut up, ice prick! I was following Nikolias' scent!" Natsu shouted.

"What'd you call me?" Gray shouted back. The noise was beginning to attract attention.

"You heard me!" Natsu bellowed.

"Enough you two!" Erza commanded. Alas, it was too late.

Gray unleashed a roundhouse kick to Natsu's head sending him flying into Lord Nato.

"Gray, you moron!" Lucy scolded.


"Gray, you moron!" Nikolias hissed.


"Lord Nato! Are you alright?" one of the bodyguards asked as he helped Lord Nato to his feet.

Lord Nato stood and roughly shook the man off of him. He glared down at the barely conscious pink haired boy at his feet. "Insolent fool! How dare you collide into me while I am doing business with these peasants! Do you know who I am? I am Lord Nato, the most powerful man in the world! Your actions shall not go unpunished!" He reached for his belt and pulled out a curved dagger with a golden hilt and jewels of all kinds. He lifted the dagger over his head, murderous intent in his eyes.

Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. Natsu was about to be killed. Natsu…no it couldn't be. Natsu wouldn't die. Get up, she begged. Natsu, get up! The dagger began its descent towards Natsu. "NATSU!"