Date: N/A
Time Left: N/A
Location: N/A
Natsu sighed as he soaked the sun's rays onto his skin. The rock his body laid on was remarkably comfortable…then again, he had lived in a cave for most of his young life, so he guessed he couldn't really quantify how comfortable something was in an accurate fashion. Nonetheless, from what he knew, this rock was comfortable!
"Wah!" Natsu's peace and quiet was interrupted by the sound of a scream, followed by a large splash.
"Goddamnit, Wendy!" Another splash was heard, though this one was noticeably more deliberate.
"Serves me right, trying to get all nice and cozy like I was…" Natsu sighed before hopping to his feet and jogging towards the commotion. It only took him a second before he came across a blonde and a black haired pair of boys that were arguing with one another about something or the other. Though, more importantly, Natsu saw a soaking wet girl being chastised by an equally wet boy no older than he was, "Yo!" Immediately, everyone turned their attention towards him, "What the heck just happened!?"
"It wasn't my fault, it was Rogue's!" The blonde immediately deflected, causing the black haired boy to wrestle him to the ground in revenge.
"Don't lie to Natsu, Sting! We were both rough housing with Wendy near the lake, and…well…" Rogue lost all his momentum as he tried to make his excuse sound better than it was.
"She lost control, and used a Dragon Slayer spell!" The angry looking boy said with a sneer, causing Wendy to sink lower into herself, "If I wasn't here to rescue Wendy, she would've drowned!" The angry boy looked at Wendy with a sour expression, "What were you thinking Wendy, using your Sky Dragon's Roar like that!? You're lucky you didn't hurt Sting or Rogue with the spell!"
Wendy whimpered to herself, "I-I'm sorry Gajeel…" Before she ran off into the trees in a fit of tears.
Natsu furrowed his brow at Gajeel from his tone, "You idiot! She's just a kid Gajeel! She didn't know any better!" Gajeel scoffed, but looked away in slight embarrassment. Natsu turned to the other two boys with a stern expression on his face, "Sting, Rogue!" immediately, the two stopped bickering before standing at attention, "The dragons will be back soon, try not to kill each other until then."
"Sir yes sir!" The two replied, giving a salute to the pink haired mage.
Natsu sighed at their antics before jogging off after Wendy into the brush, "Wendy!?" Natsu dodged a branch by centimeters, "Wendy!?" Natsu pushed leaves and vines out of his way before moving forward, "Come on Wendy, we need to get back before the dragons return!" Natsu stopped, he could hear soft sniffling with his Dragon Slayer senses coming from his right.
Natsu broke through the brush to find Wendy crying to herself in a small clearing, her watery eyes taking just a moment to notice the other Dragon Slayer, "Oh…hey Natsu…"
Natsu sighed before walking up and sitting down next to the small child, "Hey Wendy, you know you can't just run off like that. How are Gajeel or I gonna be able to protect you and the boys when we don't even know where you are?"
Wendy pouted even further at that, "I know…it's just, Gajeel can be so mean sometimes…"
Natsu chuckled to himself, "Yeah…that's just his way of showing he cares."
Wendy looked at Natsu suspiciously, "Really?"
Natsu replied with a big toothy grin, "You betcha! Do you think old metal head would get scared of something he didn't care about drowning? Of course not! Gajeel was just scared you had gotten hurt."
Wendy huffed at the explanation, "Well…it didn't sound like he cared when he yelled at me…"
Natsu sighed again, it was hard trying to explain this kind of stuff to normal kids, but Wendy, Sting, and Rogue were all really young. Trying to explain stuff like, Gajeel's anger being a way to show he cared, was almost impossible for him to do to them, "Yeah, I guess you're right. He shouldn't have raised his voice to you in that manner, and I should have been there to make sure no one got hurt, I'm just sorry I wasn't."
The two sat in silence for a moment, Wendy's tears and dress drying slowly but surely, "Natsu…"
Natsu glanced over at the blue haired girl, "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I used the spell like I did…I just-I just got a little too worked up, and I thought I could blow Sting and Rogue back a little. I should have known that I'd just throw myself in the lake…" Wendy brought her knees close to her chest.
Natsu just shrugged his shoulders at that, "Eh, forget about it. All that matters is that you're safe and sound." Natsu gave another bright smile, "Now come on, we need to get back soon."
Natsu dusted off his pants before motioning for the small girl to hop on his back, which Wendy did happily, "Okay Natsu!" Before the two jogged off into the brush again.
Date: XX/XX/0784
Time Left: Approximately Seven Years Before Disaster
Location: Train to Oshibana
Natsu woke up with a start, his head spinning and his stomach churning as the rickety movements of the train caused his motion sickness to essentially cripple him. Natsu moaned as bile started to make its way up his throat, the Dragon Slayer doing everything in his power to quell the war that was going on in his digestive tract. What was that weird dream? Before scanning the seating area of the train with a confused glance. Where was everyone?
Sure enough, Gray, Erza, Lucy, and Happy were all gone, seemingly nowhere to be found. Natsu's confusion grew even more at that, the mage completely forgetting about the strange dream he had just had in favor of trying to understand what had happened while he was asleep. Alright, let's see…he had gotten on the train with the rest of the Fairy Tail mages, he knew that, the train caused his motion sickness to act up out of nowhere, then Erza knocked him out with a punch straight to the gut in order to save him from the worst of the train ride.
Natsu rubbed his exposed stomach a couple times, a faint pain of the slug Erza threw at him still present. Now, Natsu didn't know all that much about Erza's past before she came to the guild, but with a mean hook like the one she gave him, he wouldn't be surprised if she spent her early childhood in the ring. An image of Erza wearing boxing gloves came into his thumping head in response. Natsu wanted to laugh, but was stopped when his stomach lurched again.
Still, this didn't answer his most pressing issue. Where did they all go? Suddenly, as if getting struck by lightning, Natsu realized the undeniable truth, "They left me behind!? Those assholes!"
Natsu's anger flared, and for a brief moment, his motion sickness vanished as it was replaced with absolute rage. The fire mage felt his left eye twitch for just a split second as the train around him started to fade away for a more fire and brimstone aesthetic. Natsu felt his blood boil underneath his skin. How could they leave him behind? Was he really that forgettable? Did they plan to leave him behind from the very start? Why invite him if they were just going to abandon him? Did they really think so little of him? Did they really hate him that much!? Did Igneel hate him the same way!? Is that why he abandoned him!?
No…
No! He wasn't some piece of trash to be thrown away whenever they were done with him! He was better than that! He was so much more than that! He was the one who would burn this world to ash! He was E.N.-!
"Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I take a seat here?" Natsu instantly snapped out of his train of thoughts as a man with…weird pineapple shaped hair gave him an inconspicuous smile.
Totally forgetting what he was just thinking about, Natsu just gave a non-caring shrug, "Sure…" The very most he could say without blowing chunks across the train car.
The smile of the man grew wider, "Much appreciated…" Before taking the seat right in front of the Dragon Slayer. Natsu kept a wary eye on the newcomer, not just because he could smell a weird stench coming from the man with his heightened senses, but also because, in a train car absolutely filled with empty spots to sit, the man decided to sit right next to him. So either this man just really liked making new friends, or he just had no concept of proper train etiquette.
Natsu was about to say something to that effect, but was somewhat taken aback when the man across from him pulled out a new copy of Weekly Sorcerer's before immediately flipping to the modeling section, "…huh?" It wasn't like the man was even hiding it either, he was fully ogling the women on the page right in front of Natsu without a care in the world. Natsu blinked a couple times in surprise. Okay…if this guy starts talking about the woman in the magazine, that's the last straw.
"You know…" God-fucking-dammit, "…Fairy Tail's really got some hot babes in their guild." …alright Natsu was zoning out at this point. Listen, he would have paid attention if he could, he really would have. It's just that, coupled with his motion sickness, listening to Mr. Pineapple essentially gush all about hot babes in his guild, something about ranking their appearances out of ten, and if Natsu had to guess, something on a similar caliber of virgin-ness, was super not interesting to him. In fact, the only reason he even snapped out of his lull, was because of a specific person the man had named, "…Mirajane's gotta be the hottest out of the bunch though." Natsu's ears instantly perked up at her name, before his eyes grew dangerously intense, "I mean, in my guild we've barely got any chicks, and the ones we do have are nowhere near her levels of hotness!" Natsu hid his snarl under his scarf, "I've been trying to get my guild to invest in some diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to get more active women in the guild, only for my plea to fall on deaf ears."
"Sounds rough…" Natsu spat, trying and failing, to hide his contempt for the man.
The man threw his hands up into the air, "I know right!? How's Eisenwald supposed to compete with legitimate guilds unless we implement these programs to support women!?" He swung the magazine around haphazardly, revealing for brief seconds the page of Mirajane in a swimsuit that he had been ogling at not moments ago, "But no…apparently there are better resources our guild funds could go towards other than attracting hot babes to Eisenwald! But I don't buy it for one second! They just want to keep the guild a little boys club, and I won't stand for it!"
Natsu once again zoned away from what the man was talking about as he began to go on a tirade about gender-based discrimination within dark guilds while taking a few seconds every minute or so to ogle some more at the magazine's modeling section. Meanwhile, Natsu's brain was working on overdrive, as the pineapple man in front of him said something that caught his attention. Eisenwald.
Natsu focused hard on the word, where had he heard it before? Natsu sat like that for a minute, before finally remembering! Erza! She had said before she knocked him out that a dark guild by the name of Eisenwald, was planning to use a powerful magic item known as Lullaby to cause mass destruction!
A vein on Natsu's forehead bulged out as he thought harder. If Mr. Pineapple over here was talking about Eisenwald…then that must mean…he must be affiliated with it in some way! Natsu gave himself a pat on the back for that one, honestly, his genius was just too much sometimes. "Way to go brain…"
Natsu's celebration was cut off by a shoe being shoved right in his face, "But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Fairy Fly?" Natsu wanted to retaliate, to shove a fist right into the face of the dark mage, but his motion sickness, coupled with his slight headache, was keeping him from doing anything other than growl at the slight towards him, "Yeah, don't think I didn't notice the guild mark on your shoulder. You're a Fairy Tail mage aren't you?" Natsu grumbled something under the shoe, though the dark mage didn't listen as he squished it deeper into his face, "Guess you're here to try and stop me, right? Well good luck with that! I'm Kageyama, from Eisenwald! The greatest dark guild this side of Fiore! Just because you legal guilds decided to go all goody two shoes doesn't mean squat! We're still the best-!" Kageyama couldn't finish his little speech before he flew back from the train lurching to a halt. The dark mage spiraled across the floor as a wooden flute tumbled out of his coat pocket.
Natsu took a deep breath and allowed a wicked smile to stretch across his face. Looks like his motion sickness was no longer an issue, Natsu slammed a flaming fist into his other hands palm, which means it's time to teach this dark mage a lesson about reading softcore pornography while in a public fucking area, "You!" Natsu pointed, his eyes growing intense with sadistic glee from the beatdown he was going to dish out, "Your ass is mine!"
Kageyama gave a disgusted sneer, before he noticed the wooden flute on the ground, causing his face to contort in fear, "The flute!" Kageyama dove for the instrument and moved to put it carefully in his jacket, "Now that you've seen it, I can't let you-!" Before he was completely blindsided by Natsu.
Natsu flung a burning fist straight into the unexpecting mages gut, causing him to drop the flute as he went flying into the next train cart, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu gave a flick of his nose at the quick handiwork, before the flute knocked him on the head and fell into his open hand. Natsu looked at the weird instrument with a level of confusion as well as some morbid fascination, noticing subconsciously that it was where the weird scent was coming from. The flute was rough, it almost looked impractical with how it was shaped, with a three-eyed skull carved into uneven and practically splintering wood, "Geez, you are one ugly son of a bitch…"
Natsu didn't know what he was expecting from insulting the flute, but what he definitely didn't expect, was for it to talk back, "Well you're not much to write home about either you fuck!"
Natsu did a double-take, almost dropping the flute in the process, "You can talk!?"
It seemed the flute was just as surprised as he was if its tone was any indication, "You can hear me!?"
Natsu had half a mind to burn the instrument right then and there, but stopped himself as his curiosity got the better of him, "How can you talk!? Are you one of those ghost things that haunt objects they were close to in life? Wait, were you a magician in your past life!?"
The flute grew an annoyed tick mark on top of its wooden skull, "It's pronounced 'musician' you simpleton!" Before pausing, and continuing with an even more irritated tone, "And no I'm not a musician, or a ghost, or anything like that! I'm Lullaby! One of the demons from the books of Zeref! You are blessed to be in my presence even in this concealed form, and you will bow to my greatness!" Suddenly, almost as if a switch was flipped, Lullaby switched his enraged tone to a much more curious one, "Though…I was under the impression that only my Etherious brethren and similarly powerful demons could hear me while in this state. Mortal! Tell me, do you happen to have any demon blood in your lineage?"
Natsu was taken aback by the question. Demon blood? In his lineage? Let's take a look at his entire family tree for a second…his father was a dragon…no, no long lost demon relative he could think of, "I don't think so…"
Lullaby hummed in thought, "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter…because soon I will play my forbidden song of death! And once I feed on the souls of all those dumb enough to listen to my deadly symphony, I'll return to my true form and return to my master Zeref! And together we will destroy this pathetic, human infested world!"
Natsu just looked on with an apathetic look as the flute cackled like a mad man, "That's nice pal, but I'm kind of in charge of making sure that doesn't happen so…"
Natsu lit a finger in his hand on fire before bringing it close to the demon, much to its horror, "Woah, woah, woah! Let's talk about this! No need to do anything drastic now!"
Luckily for Lullaby, Kageyama had finally woken up and didn't quite like the idea of the Lullaby flute being incinerated in front of his eyes, "Shadow Pull! On cue, a shadowy hand swiped the flute from Natsu's grasp before returning it to the awaiting hands of Kageyama, "I won't let you do that you Fairy Fly! You have no idea how much me and my guild sacrificed to get this stupid thing! Shadow Knuckle!"
A similar shadow hand like before formed from darkness magic, before curling into a fist a flying towards Natsu at rocketing speeds. Natsu wasn't that fazed by the spell, merely stepping to the side as the fist flew past him. The Dragon Slayer sighed, and here he thought he was gonna have a good fight, "With a flame on the right hand…and a flame on the left hand…when you combine the flames together…Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu brought his flaming hands together, causing a massive explosion as a result. The entire roof and the seats of the train car went up in flames as a result, leaving only the charred floor.
Kageyama gasped in pain as he was once again flown back from the explosion and covered with various burns. He grew a slight edge of fear at the sheer display of power that the fire mage showed, he was certain that if the light mage wanted to, he would have killed him with the blast. Kageyama grunted before throwing the surprisingly untouched Lullaby flute in his jacket pocket before surrounding himself with shadowy tendrils. It wasn't uncommon for light mages to kill criminals and dark mages whenever they came across one another. In fact, even though the Magic Counsel had banned the posting of assassination quests and any quest that paid for the harming of 'innocent' people, those hypocrites in their ivory towers were more than happy to encourage the maiming and killing of dark guild members. An obvious rules for thee, not for me mentality that was part of the reason Eisenwald became a dark guild in the first place, "Shadow Orochi!"
Natsu sped back as the dark snake heads of the mages' shadow magic beared down on him, lunging in an attempt to put down the light mage for good. Natsu's face contorted into a disgusted scowl as he grabbed one of the snakes in his hand before setting it aflame. He really couldn't stand dark mages, the Magic Council, while a huge pain in the ass, was also responsible for all uses and misuses of magic in Ishtar. At the end of the day the Council wasn't to blame for the new laws banning assassination missions, it was the people who had for decades at this point convinced the magical sect of government to take action on such a grave oversight. Just because you couldn't go around killing people anymore didn't mean you could just lash out in such a childish way, "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu's forearms were engulfed in flame before he swung them around like he would a whip, sending strands of powerful flames to attack the shadow mage.
Kageyama dodged the first few swings, but was simply no match for the overwhelming firepower that the Dragon Slayer had to offer, being bombarded with destructive flames before collapsing to the ground singed from the onslaught, "You-you bastard…"
Natsu let out a victorious laugh in celebration, "Yes! Now I've got a fire in my bel-!" Though his celebration was short lived as the train cart suddenly lurched forward before moving faster and faster on the tracks, sending the contents of Natsu's stomach to leap up to his mouth.
Kageyama pulled himself up into a sitting position with a surprised look on his face, "Wait, what? I thought you were going to kick my ass, what happened?"
Natsu grumbled to himself as he fell to the floor in pain, "Ugh, fucking…trains…"
Lucy held onto the bare back of Gray for dear life, the ice mage having lost his jacket and shirt a while ago. Currently they, along with Happy and Erza as the driver, were speeding across the side of the rails on a magic-powered four-wheeler. Erza had taken it upon herself to attach her own arm to the magic suction tube that went to power the motor and speed towards the train they left Natsu on. Lucy still felt like a complete and total idiot, as did the rest of them, for leaving their resident fire mage on a train. One moment, they were discussing mission details on the train ride, the next Happy pointed out the lack of a Dragon Slayer among them as the train pulled away.
Erza had taken it especially hard and, even though Lucy literally just met the woman a few hours ago, she became more than a little aware of Titania's more…mentally unstable tendencies. She had heard from Gray that apparently Erza, Natsu, and he would take baths together when they were younger. Now that might sound very weird, and she certainly didn't think so at first either, but then he said that they stopped a couple years ago, when he and Natsu were fifteen and she was seventeen…
That's too old for 'friends' to take baths together…
She also became acutely aware of why Erza was so feared even in the guild…and that was because she was essentially the guild's mom. Or, she at least saw herself as the guild's mom. It seemed to Lucy that she more so took the role as an overprotective sibling with incredible levels of attachment issues…and that was putting it lightly.
As soon as Erza realized her blunder of leaving her guildmate behind, she had broken into the trainways control room, 'asked politely' for an unauthorized stop to the train, 'borrowed' a magic-powered four-wheeler, and sped off to go and 'rescue' Natsu. At least, that's how Erza saw it.
In reality, Lucy, Gray, and Happy had to bear witness as an armor-wearing madwoman broke what was assuredly multiple laws in order to save someone who, while almost certainly queasy, wasn't in any real danger to their knowledge. And Lucy was complicit in the whole thing!
"Erza, slow down! You're gonna burst the tube with how much magic you're pumping into it!" Gray cried out, a concerned look on his face.
Erza didn't allow her gaze to leave the road, but still grew a steely look anyway, "Natsu can't survive long on any moving object, you know this! If we don't get there soon, who knows how long he'll last!"
Gray felt a sweatdrop form on his forehead, and he could tell by Lucy's reaction that he wasn't the only one concerned about the intensity of Erza's actions. Though it seemed Happy was more than willing to go along with her insanity, "Aye sir! Natsu is worth committing multiple felonies for!"
Gray annoyance flared with that comment, "Don't encourage her you damn cat!" Just as the train became visible in the distance.
"Urgh, okay, I think I've kicked your ass enough for today…Errr…" Kageyama attempted to put on a confident facade but was almost immediately brought back to reality as the damage he took from their skirmish caused him to double over in pain.
Natsu scowled in between heaving breaths, "As soon as this demon machine stops moving, I'm gonna take that flute in your pocket, and shove it up your ass!"
Though their conversation was cut short as a crescent blade of wind cut the train car in half, leaving the part with Natsu on it to slowly fall behind as the front part was carried off further down the track, "You won't be taking any flute and shoving it up anywhere, Salamander. Be seeing you." Natsu looked around for the source of the voice, but found nothing, almost as if the noise was carried by the very wind…
"Natsu!" Happy's voice called out before the Dragon Slayer felt a familiar fluffy tail wrap around his waist before carrying him off the devil contraption.
Natsu felt the motion sickness slowly leave his body as he was carried by his best pal in all the world, "Thanks pal! I'm not sure how much longer I would've lasted on that-!" Before he was dumped onto the four wheeler, his motion sickness coming back in full force "Happy, you traitor…"
Gray instantly made a face at the queasy look of his rival, "Hey, Barfbag! If you're gonna blow chunks anywhere, do it behind me!"
The ice mage barely finished his sentence before he was clobbered in the back of the head by a very angry Lucy, "You asshole! I'm back here!" Natsu groaned in pain, though that didn't last for very long, as Erza immediately put on the brakes and skidded the four wheeler to a stop.
"How could you be so careless!? Being trapped on the train like that!" Erza chastised, her metal gauntlets shaking the still slightly motion sick Natsu around, doing more harm than good to his pained state.
Natsu pulled his weak head up to respond, "You jerks were the ones who left me behind on that helter skelter."
Erza froze for a second, before dropping Natsu and bowing low for him, "Of course, it's all my fault, I should have been more aware, especially since I'm the senior mage on this mission! Please, hit me as recompense!"
Lucy had to check to make sure she wasn't hearing things. Did Erza Scarlet, Titania, ask to be physically hit by Natsu as a form of punishment? The Celestial Spirit mage could feel her sanity start to slip at the sheer absurdity of Fairy Tail and its mages. She had already gathered that Erza, Gray, and Natsu didn't have the most normal of bonds…but this was kind of overkill!
Natsu spat the small amount of bile left in his mouth onto the ground off to the side before giving an exasperated look at Erza, "Not now Erza! When I was on the train, I met with a member of Eisenwald!"
Instantly everyone's attention was on the mage. Erza's gaze grew far more serious than before, "Tell me everything."
Natsu gave a grin at that, "Kageyama, the dude I met, was carrying this weird talking flute that called itself Lullaby." Natsu made extravagant hand gestures to help tell the story, "From what the flute said, it was something called an Etherious, which he said was some really powerful demon or something. I think Eisenwald is planning to use it for something."
"Etherious?" Lucy asked, a flash of recognition crossing her eyes as she heard the word.
Gray turned to her with interest, "You know anything about it?"
Everyone's attention was now on the novice as she closed her eyes in grim thought, "Etherious…I've only ever heard that one time before. They're said to be powerful demons made by the Black Wizard Zeref. I recognised the name Lullaby before, but I didn't think that anyone would be so idiotic to try and control such a being. It's said that Lullaby has the ability to emit a sound that kills anyone who hears it."
Natsu nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, that sounds like what the flute told me. He also said that he needed to consume the souls of people in order to obtain his 'true form.' Whatever the hell that means."
Erza stepped in with a stern look, "Regardless, we must stop these evildoers before they take innocent lives." She pointed at Natsu with her gauntlet, "Natsu, do you think you can track the dark mage?"
Natsu took a couple sniffs in the air before rubbing his nose, "Oh yeah, I can smell his virgin ass anywhere…" Natsu took another whiff of the air before a weird expression crossed his face, "Huh, he's at the train station, and he's not moving."
As soon as he finished his sentence, Erza grabbed him and everyone else and threw them into the back of the four-wheeler, "We have no time to waste, let's move out!"
Natsu tried to escape the automobile before his motion sickness kicked in, but was unsuccessful as they all sped off towards the station only a few miles down the road, "Fuck…transportation…"
Happy snickered at his best friend's misfortune, "Aye sir! With Erza in the driver's seat, things are sure to get rocky!"
Almost as if on cue, the vehicle hit a rather large rock, causing Natsu to almost lose his lunch for what felt like the tenth time today. Gray made sure to lean far away from the fire mage the best he could, "Don't you dare, Dragon Prick! I don't want a repeat like last time we went on a mission together!"
Erigor, the Shinigami of Eisenwald, watched from the train station's railings with a less than amused look, his iconic scythe lazily resting on his shoulders as the vast majority of Eisenwald prepared for battle. He twirled the flute in his hands haphazardly while he lost himself in thought. This…wasn't how today was supposed to go. Kageyama had just broken the seals guarding the Lullaby flute this morning, and as soon as he did he was ordered to meet with Erigor at Oshibana station.
Then the train was delayed, Erigor was Eisenwald's Ace, the strongest mage within the guild, capable of taking care of any issue without fail. He got to this point through a long and bloody career as a mage, so he had more than enough experience to know when something has gone wrong. And the train being late was an obvious sign that things had definitely gone wrong. Erigor let a slow breath leave his nose, Fairy Tail, or Fairy Flies as his guild mates had taken to calling them, had somehow gotten word of their movements.
An oversight on his part, he knew having most of his guild involved in this little plot would mean a higher likelihood of someone who shouldn't listen in doing just that. More mouths to speak means more ears to hear after all. Still, if it wasn't for the blabbering idiot that was Kageyama, Fairy Tail wouldn't have found out about Lullaby, they wouldn't have been able to locate them before the plan was finished. Kageyama had put the entire plan in jeopardy, and for what? Just so he could have a pissing contest with a mage that was way outside his league? Kageyama cowered away as Erigor sent a glare in his direction, his body covered by patches of bandages for the injuries he gained from the battle with Natsu, as well as ones that weren't…
Erigor gave a cruel thin smile, he had made sure to let Kageyama know just how…disappointed he was in him. Still, this wasn't how things were supposed to go, the only reason he had brought the rest of the guild into this was to make the path towards their targets just a little clearer. Instead, because Kageyama had so royally screwed the pooch, he was going to have to use the bulk of his guild mates to act as bait. Erigor chuckled at the thought. Yes, bait for some Fairy Flies, so that he didn't have to worry so much about them stopping him on his true mission, to kill the masters of all the major light guilds.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages!" The front door to Oshibana station froze over, before a flaming fist smashed right through it, the grinning visage of Natsu flying through with a wild look in his eye, "Get ready to get your collective asses kicked by Fairy Tail!"
That was Erigor's cue to leave…but he wasn't one to let a chance to showboat pass him by, "Oh? You finally came. Good…I was afraid I would have to enact our mission without you as an audience."
Erza pulled in front of the rest of her guild mates and pointed her sword at the wind, "You foul villain! What are you planning to do with the Lullaby!?"
Erigor chuckled as he summoned a small tornado to sit on, allowing him to float in the air. He ignored the talking blue cat thing talking about his magic as he motioned to the station around him, "What do you think? This is the perfect spot to use such a powerful magic item, don't you think?"
Erza's eyes widened in shock, "You fiend, you plan to play the deadly tune over the intercom system of the train station! Killing potentially thousands in the process!"
Erigor paused for a second, before giving another chuckle. That…wasn't actually that bad of an idea, he was mostly just talking about the general large crowd of people that must have gathered outside the station. If Erigor's plan was to just kill as many people as possible, that might have actually been quite the good plan, unfortunately for Fairy Tail, he had a much more devastating idea in mind, "Huh, you're smarter than you look, Fairy Flies." Erigor then motioned to the rest of his guild, "Eisenwald! Buy me the time I need, show these flies the true strength of our guild!"
Erza furrowed her brow as Erigor made a break for it, "Natsu, Gray, don't let him get away!" The armor-clad mage instantly threw herself into the mob of dark mages that were charging at her, "Lucy and I'll take care of these small fry here, Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!" Erza's form sparkled with bright light for just a second, before her standard armor was replaced with another one that bore bladed wings and what appeared to be an armored dress. The dark mages stopped in their tracks as dozens of identical swords swirled around Erza in a dance of blades.
Gray summoned frost around himself and got into a magical stance, "Ice Make: Stairs!" and a path of ice formed in front of him that went over the dark mages, allowing him safe passage, "Don't worry Erza, I've got-!" Though the ice mage didn't quite have it as thin black ribbons flew from out of nowhere and grabbed the unsuspecting mage and yanked him towards the middle of the station.
"Don't think you can get away that easily, Fairy Fly!" The ribbon mage yelled as he sent more of those thin strands to attack Gray.
"Eisenwald is more than just a couple of pushovers!" Kageyama shouted, his body emerging from the shadows as dark tendrils shot from his form.
Gray grunted as he dodged ribbons and shadows, receiving a few nicks from the attacks before forming a shield of ice to buy him some time, "Looks like I'm gonna be preoccupied for a bit. Hey Flame Brains, go and take care of Erigor, I'll catch up after I'm done dealing with these bozos!"
Natsu gave a big grin at that, "Hell yeah! Happy!"
Happy's wings popped from his back and his tail wrapped around Natsu's waist, "Aye sir! He won't get away that easily!" The two sailed through the air, dodging spells and attacks left and right as they flew deeper into the station.
"Alright, now where is that bastard?" Natsu asked himself before taking a big whiff of the air, "That way bud!"
"Aye sir!" Happy replied as he sped down the hall where Natsu picked up the scent. Natsu let the wild grin spread across his face even more, they were gonna catch him! He was sure that if anyone could give him a good fight, it would be the Ace of a dark guild! The halls were long and winding, very easy to get lost in. Natsu had to be smart about this, if Erigor was gonna use the flute to kill everyone around the station, he'd obviously head to the intercom room to do just that!
"You're a fucking idiot, you know that right?" Happy's voice said, though it sounded warped, as if it had been said underwater.
Natsu was taken aback from the harsh tone Happy gave from behind his head, "Hey! No need to be so mean, bud!"
Though Happy seemed confused by Natsu's sudden outburst, "Woah, what are you talking about Natsu?"
Natsu furrowed his brow in annoyance at his friend, "You just said I'm an idiot! Where the hell did that come from!?"
Happy's confusion only grew at the statement, "Natsu…I didn't say anything…"
Now it was Natsu's turn to be confused, though that was cut abruptly short when the dull headache he'd been ignoring up to that point, became a searing pain behind his left eye. Natsu gasped in pain before tightly gripping the left side of his face. What was this, magic?
Through his fingers one could see his left eye flitting crazily in his socket for a few seconds…before it rolled back into his head, leaving only the white of his eye on display. Soon after, thin black tendrils crawled up the edge of Natsu's now white eye as the train station slowly crumbled away to an oddly familiar hellscape, "I-I…I…"
Happy called out to the man in his arms, not knowing that Natsu could barely hear his friend's voice before it slowly faded away, "Natsu? Natsu!? Naaatsuuu…"
"Where…is this?" Natsu asked himself as he looked around himself, volcanic rock and magma made up every bit of land there was, the smell of ash and sulfur suffocating the heightened senses of the Dragon Slayer. The wails of unholy beasts and shrieks of unimaginable terrors assaulted his ears, and for the first time in a long time, Natsu was scared. This wasn't a normal type of fear either, this was something more primal, something more…familiar…
Natsu spun around, taking in the sight around him, a new feeling blossomed in his chest, or perhaps a very old one, one that was once forgotten. He'd been here before…and he loved/hated it…
"Natsu!" Before the slap of a really large fish slapped him back to reality, the tendrils around his eye disappeared as his pupil came back into focus.
"Ugh…what the hell just happened?" Natsu said as the intense headache slowly receded back into the dull pain from before.
Happy spoke up from behind him a worried tone to his voice, "You just went limp on me for a few seconds!? What happened!?"
Natsu waved away the question, "Nothing, I think I must have been hit with some weird spell from a dark mage. Let's keep going." Happy hesitated for a second, but decided to continue to fly forward, trusting that his friend was really alright. Meanwhile, Natsu was busy thinking to himself, now that his brain had calmed down from the battle crazed state it was before, he was able to think a little bit more clearly. Was Erigor's plan really to play Lullaby on the intercom system? When Natsu really thought about it, it didn't make sense. The entire guild of Eisenwald was here, if Erigor played Lullaby on the intercom system, they'd all die as well.
Natsu's brain worked overtime as he tried to figure out the conundrum. He was pretty sure that Lullaby had some protection measures for its wielder, but he doubted that would apply to everyone within Erigor's guild. So what were they planning? Why bring his entire guild here anyway? Why didn't he play the flute before he and the rest of his team got here? It wasn't like he didn't have time to do that. Something was off…
That's when Natsu and Happy were hit with a crossroads, as well as the fact that Erigor's sent split off into two separate directions. One towards the exit, another towards the intercom office, "Well, I guess I'll go this way-"
"Wait, Happy!" Natsu stopped his companion as he thought to himself. Erigor was a wind mage, it wasn't so outlandish to assume that he could have blown his scent downstream to throw off anyone that was on his tail. The only question was which path was the correct one? It was mostly instinct that drove Natsu's decision, "The exit, he's heading for the exit!"
With the signal, Happy zoomed down the path towards the exit, "Aye sir! I sure hope you know what you're doing…" Natsu held his tongue, he hoped he knew what he was doing as well.
"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray incanted, sending shards of ice to assault the mages. Normally, small fry like this were no trouble for him to handle, a few ice spells here and there and he was golden. However, fighting two on one with an entire guild behind them to distract him whenever he got too comfortable, that made it a little more difficult.
"Rayule, the left!" Kageyama called out as he sent another fist made of shadow Gray's way.
"I got it, I got it!" Rayule replied before skidding to a halt to the left of Gray and swung his black ribbons with enough force to shatter rock.
Gray clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in annoyance, "Ice Make: Shield!" the dark mages attacks smacked against the protective shell that Gray put on both sides of himself. This was bad, those Eisenwald mages were making sure to keep their distance from him, using ranged attacks to whittle him down, forcing him on the defensive Looks like he was going to have to be a little more creative, "Ice Make: Floor!" Gray cried before slamming his palms into the ground, creating a thin layer of super slippery ice to trip up his foes.
"Holy-Kageyama look out!" Rayule shouted before grabbing the ceiling with one hand of ribbons and pulling himself off the ground.
"Mind your own business you mummy wannabe, I'm fine!" Kageyama responded as he sunk into the shadows, completely unaffected by the icy floor, "Nice trick Fairy Fly, but if you think neat little tricks can beat Eisenwald, you've got another thing coming!"
Gray smirked at the comment, "Who said my tricks were for you?"
Kageyama was confused for a second before the collective groans of his guild spoke up behind him, every other Eisenwald member except for him and Rayule were slipping and stumbling over themselves on the icy floor, "You-!"
"Ice Make: Geyser!" Kageyama was interrupted as Gray capitalized on his distraction by summoning a giant geyser made of ice, sending the dark mage flying from the attack.
Rayule grew a sneer on his face as his guildmate was defeated with a powerful spell, "Don't look down on us you fly! Urumi Snare!" Rayule flung his ribbons at Gray, trapping the ice mage within layers upon layers of ribbons, "Take that you-!"
"Blumenblatt!" Rayule felt the ribbons that were connected to the ceiling cut, causing him to fall hard onto the frozen floor. Rayule looked to see the cause, only to witness Erza send a flurry of her swords to swiftly incapacitate all of Eisenwald. Her impressive blade show was accompanied by a weird sunglasses-wearing barber with crab legs on his back swinging scissors to give all his guild mates a close shave. The two created a storm of slashes and cuts that utterly decimated Eisenwald in a second.
Rayule was in shock, how could two mages possibly take out an entire dark guild so effortlessly!? He was so taken aback, that he didn't even notice the ribbons that he had ensnared Gray with slowly freezing until the ice climbed onto his fingers, "What the-?" But he couldn't finish before his entire body, with the exception of his head, was frozen solid.
"You guys should really pick a different career path." Gray joked, before flexing the frozen ribbons off his body, his pants somehow being lost during the time he was trapped, "Preferably one that doesn't bring you around me or my guild, it'd be great for your mental and physical health."
Rayule grit his teeth, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break from his ice prison. But…it didn't matter, Erigor would have already set up the Wind Wall by now, so as long as they didn't find a way through, Erigor was fully able to take care of the light guild's masters without any interruption.
"Erza?" Lucy said, unsure of what she was looking at. Rayule chuckled to himself as the mages walked outside to find the Wind Wall spell making it impossible to leave. There wasn't a single thing they could do, unless they wanted to be torn to shreds by the spell, there wasn't any way to leave until the spell wears off!
"Wait, that shadow mage was the one that got past the seals on Lullaby. Maybe he can dispel the wall!" Erza spoke up, a happy expression on her face for thinking of the solution
…Rayule was suddenly very aware of the fact he was encased in ice, as his blood froze in his veins. He couldn't allow them to use Kageyama to bypass the spell! They're entire future as a guild, as Eisenwald was at stake!
"Ra-Rayule?" Rayule turned his head to see one of his guild members poke out of the wall using some form of phasing magic.
"Karacka!?" Rayule was actually surprised to see the mage, the rotund man was more of an espionage mage more than anything else, usually phasing into walls to gather juicy blackmail material. Which was to say, not a mage suited for battle, "How'd you get away from the crazy redhead?"
Karacka rubbed the back of his head in shame, "I'm sorry Rayule…but when she summoned all those swords…well, I hid away…"
Rayule felt an irritated tick mark appear on his forehead at the cowardice of the man. No, none of that mattered now, in fact, this might actually be a good thing, "Hey Karacka." Rayule whispered, drawing the phase mage's attention, "Those Fairy Flies are planning to use Kageyama to get rid of the Wind Wall. Make sure that doesn't happen, okay?"
Karacka understood what his guild mate was suggesting and wasn't so thrilled in doing it, "I'm not sure, Rayule. Isn't that a little too far?"
Rayule felt the urge to strangle the coward with his ribbons, only to be reminded of his current situation, "Look, you're the only person who can stop them. Erigor needs more time to get to the guild masters, so make sure he gets that time, alright?"
Karacka still looked a little uneasy, but nodded his head anyway, "Alright, for Eisenwald." Before sinking back into the wall.
Rayule looked down, a tired expression filling his features, "For Eisenwald…" And passed out.
It was a trap…and Natsu fucking called it!
Happy now owed him twenty jewels when they got home, because almost as soon as they left the station, a giant dome made out of wind encircled the entire thing. Natsu knew his brains were simply unmatched by any and all who would say otherwise, but he swore, his intelligence bordered on precognition sometimes.
"Natsu, he's a lot faster than we are." Happy stated, and sure enough, no matter how close they thought they got to the dark mage, they further he seemed to get from them.
Natsu couldn't help but allow his annoyance to spike, "Isn't flying the one thing you do!? Can't you move any faster!?"
Happy didn't take that insult very well, "Well maybe if I wasn't carrying around your lard ass, then maybe I'd get there by now!"
Natsu scoffed at the suggestion, "Don't even try Happy, we both know my abs are immaculate!"
Happy peaked over Natsu's shoulder and glanced at the Dragon Slayer's abs with a defeated look, "They are immaculate…" The cat muttered to himself, "Fine, I know one spell that will catch us up to him lickity split, but it'll waste all the magic I've got left. You'll be on your own."
Natsu nodded in understanding, "Got it, fire away Happy!"
Happy gave a wide grin in acknowledgement, "Aye sir! Max Speed!" Like a bullet, Happy blasted forward, his pristine white wings glowing bright with magic as he did.
Erigor grew closer and closer to them, both Happy and Natsu giving out a warcry as they grew ever closer. The dark mage barely had any time to turn to look at what was making that strange noise before he was tackled by the two Fairy Tail mages, "What the-!"
Natsu tumbled with Erigor onto the tracks below, the two of them stopping on top of a bridge that overlooked a large ravine, "Sorry Natsu…I think I'm gonna take a nap now…" Happy mumbled before falling gently to the ground asleep.
Erigor got over his initial shock rather quickly with a sneer towards the mage that was still holding him to the ground, "Get the hell off me, you Fairy Tail fodder!" And sent a blast of wind magic to build distance between them.
Natsu maneuvered himself expertly through the air before landing right next to Happy, completely unharmed from the blast of magic, "Hey bud, you did great. Make sure you get some rest now." He smiled at the blue cat before wrapping him up in his white scarf, making sure to keep him safe for the battle that was to come.
Erigor let his feet leave the ground as a thin stream of wind made him go airborne once more, "Impressive, I thought my little fib would've caused you to get trapped with the rest of them, but…you seem smarter than most of the light mages I've fought. You even saw through my little scent trick."
Natsu gave a few practice stretches as a big grin stretched his face, "Yeah, I know. I'm pretty much Fairy Tail's resident brainiac, ask anyone, they'll tell you."
Erigor chuckled at that, "Oh I've heard of you, Salamander. Fairy Tail's very own Dragon Slayer, and infamous for the level of sheer destruction you cause on your missions. Most who've had the displeasure of fighting you have called you little more than an animal with how you fight." Erigor twirled his scythe in a lazy fashion, "You're also one of the most elusive to find any information on. No interviews, no history, not even a single photo! You must really hate the limelight."
Natsu shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, Weekly Sorcerer's been trying to get an exclusive with me for a while, but after all the hit pieces they've made on me!? Like hell I'm giving them that! They don't even deserve a picture of my good side!"
Erigor hummed in interest as he analyzed Natsu with a calculative gaze, "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now anyway, since you're not gonna survive the fight against Eisenwald's Shinigami!" The very air seemed to thicken as Erigor surrounded himself with powerful cyclones of sharpened wind, "You want Lullaby so badly!? Come and take it, Fairy Fly!"
Natsu gave a hearty laugh as he slammed a flaming fist into his palm, "Now I've got a fire in my belly! Let's go!"