whoo boy so that took a while. what was i even doing. ehh, important note: this (and all of my other works) are not crossposted to ao3, though i'll keep updating here for as long as the site keeps it together. anyway, i'm hoping to finally get a new chapter of this up sometime soon. think i've left you guys hanging for long enough. until then, enjoy the rewrite of Chapter Four: Trains. Updated 6/6/21.
I've developed quite a cough recently… But I realized I hadn't updated since last year! So of course I have to update. Time to get used to writing 2016- 2017, DAMMIT. Also, I think a bit of Sherlock Holmes, the one done by Benedict Cumberbatch snuck into Natsu. Whoops. (I cut my finger again! Oww…)
Enjali, yes, I am channeling my inner smartmouth into Natsu. Glad to see its working!
PraetorFable, thank you. As am I, my friend. As am I. (I am a horrible planner. I'm even more clueless as to what's going to happen next than you are.)
Phoenix, yep. I'm looking forward to the Phantom Lord arc too… So I kind of did the Lullaby arc in two chapters… Whoops. And hey, the Elemental Four? They have fire, water, earth, and air. Now, which one of those does Natsu not have? Or maybe I'm misleading you… Ahahaha! I feel the power! Oh, ah, right. Happy New Year to you too.
Angryhenry, uh… Thanks?
Erza Ashley, no! Not my hair! Tell you what, if you take my hair I'm taking Natsu's.
Erza Ashley(2), welcome back! Don't worry, you're not annoying at all. (Actually you're quite motivational…) Oh no! Not my (nonexistent) pet bug horse!
Erza Ashley(3), well, I was aiming for humor in that scene, glad to see it worked out. :D
Kyu knows he isn't the most approachable, knows the habitats and climates he prefers are enough to drive away if not outright kill others, and that's more than fine— it's how he prefers it.
So waking up to something prodding at his muzzle is new. The small-warm thing pushes and tugs, occasionally letting out offended sounds as the sharper of his scales slice them, and Kyu determinedly ignores it until a small hand slips between two of his bigger scales to prod at the sensitive skin underneath.
He grunts, more out of complaint than warning before standing up and shaking himself off. His scales are long and sharp and dangerous— especially to humans and Empra would lecture them off if he saw how careless he was being, but Natsu just laughs as he tumbles away.
"What now, you little rat?" He asks, more of a growl than a question, but Natsu still giggles before answering.
"I wanna know how to freeze things in ice like— like whoosh!" He blows his hands up like Kyu has seen him do when describing explosions to— ugh— Igneel, and he hates to admit it but it's— well, it's cute.
Really, how silent the guild was should have been a warning sign. Natsu had never set foot in a livelier building, and now it was dead quiet— just because?
Well, not dead quiet— even from behind the thick oak doors he had been able to pick out some shouting, which cut off as soon as Lucy kicked them open.
Of course, these thoughts occur much too late, as Lucy goes quiet and still so does Natsu, and even ever-cheerful Happy curls in on himself. The guild seems to be doing its best to look normal, aside from the giant decorated horn left next to a table for no apparent reason, and aside from the red headed woman holding Elfman up with a single arm. Her head is turned around so that her glare lands instead on Lucy, and she drops Elfman without turning to face him, instead marching across the guild towards them.
Natsu debates the effectiveness of running, like he always does, and instead ends up hunched and miserable looking.
The red head seems to tower over them, anger wrinkling her features, until, "Lucy," and Natsu shivers because that tone of voice and that look he knows what's going to come next and he knows why the guild looks so miserable and terrified and he wants to move, to protect his new friend but he knows what happens what happens every single time someone tries to interfere and it always gets worse always makes it worse and—
"Welcome back from your job. Is this our newest member? My name is Erza Scarlet, it's a pleasure to meet you."
and Erza throws all of his expectations out of the window.
"Natsu. Pleasure to meet you. Too. Pleasure to meet you too." The words feel dry in his throat, but Erza simply smiles gently, and then turns back into the guild.
"Now that you're back, Lucy, we just need Gray, and then... oh, and if Natsu wants to tag along that would work, always good for new members to get experience..." she trails off, muttering, and a more relaxed air returns to the guild. Lucy herself sighs, and wipes her forehead as Happy floats up to her shoulder.
"Well, that's Erza. She's one of our strongest members, and she can be kinda scary— it's only because she cares, really."
"Oh, right," Natsu says, pretending to smile. How much of what Jude had done had been 'because he cared'? "Who's Gray?"
"Oh, haven't you met him yet? He's hard to mistake— just look for the guy without any clothes on." Lucy laughs, first at her own words and then at Natsu's incredulous expression.
Almost on cue, there's a loud thud from the other side of the guild, a roar of "Gray, put your clothes on!" And they're hurriedly joined by a black haired guy rapidly pulling a shirt on. The fact his pants aren't there doesn't seem to occur to him until they come flying out of the crowd to wrap around his face, and it takes him a moment to recover from that and pull those on too.
Only once he's certain he's got his clothes on does he bother to introduce himself, "My name is Gray, you must be the new guy."
"Natsu Drag— Dragneel."
Erza comes stalking out of the crowd moments later, cutting off any possibility of future conversation by grabbing the three of them and dragging them up to Mirajane. "We'll be taking the Lullaby mission, Mira," she says, and then as the barmaid gives a doubtful look to Natsu, "He's here for the experience."
Lucy shoots him an apologetic look over her shoulder, and Happy produces a little white flag and waves it around as if in surrender. He has to hurriedly shove it back in to his pack as Erza turns. "There! Now, you all know what the mission is about?"
"Uh—" they say in unison, echoed by Happy's "not a clue!"
"I'll explain on the way— it'll be an overnight trip, so go collect your things and we'll meet outside the train station." That said, Erza confidently stalks out of the building, to a general sigh of relief. Cana takes her first sip of beer.
"Well, that was—"
"Natsu!" Erza shouts, pushing the door open again, "I nearly forgot, come with me!"
Both Lucy and Gray give him pitying looks. Natsu tries to feel like he hasn't just been called into Judes office as he steps outside with Erza.
"...scary."
Erza ends up leading him directly to the train station, and they end up standing together in awkward silence until the reach the front of the line and Erza can buy tickets for all of them.
Then, it's more awkward silence. Erza makes a couple false starts to conversation, like she's not sure exactly what to say, and Natsu is too busy... too busy trying to divorce her from Jude. They can't be the same. They—they aren't, if how Erza has acted so far is any indication, but still.
"Uh, so, how come you wanted me to... follow you here?" Natsu eventually tries, voice carefully even.
Erza looks relieved that one of them has broken the ice, and then she allows an expression of intense concern to wash over her features. "You came in from Hargeon with Lucy to join the guild, but you didn't bring any bags. Do you need a suitcase? Changes of clothes?"
Oh. Oh.
"No— I know a little requip magic, I've been keeping my stuff in my hammer space." Natsu manages a chuckle, but Erza doesn't look convinced.
"If you need anything, I have— oh, you know requip magic?"
"I— yeah. I picked it up pretty quickly after J— after I started travelling."
"Well, I apologize if it seems like I was snooping. A lot of disadvantaged people often join guilds, and I do my best to look after members both new and old," she nods.
Suddenly, it is very easy to separate Erza and Jude. Jude never would have been so kind. Natsu nods in acknowledgement, and the silence between them is no longer awkward.
Gray is the next to arrive, carting a decent sized travel bag, and Lucy is a couple minutes later, arguing loudly with Happy, who is attempting to slip fish into her celestial summoning key themed bag. The argument stops with one harsh look from Erza, and Happy gives up trying to store his fish in Lucy's bag, instead deciding to eat it on the ride.
Erza hands out the tickets, before excusing herself to go collect her own bags. Natsu takes his with a mild grimace— train rides. Blegh. Lucy must notice, because she gives him a sympathetic smile. "Motion sickness, right? Is there anything that'll help you feel better?"
Natsu shakes his head. "Nah, I just gotta power through it."
Erza returns in short order, with a veritable mountain of luggage. The cart under it is groaning threateningly under the weight, the wheels bulging out to either side. A smaller bag dislodges from the top and tumbles to the bottom, spilling open along the way. Lucy and Gray seemingly take it in stride, so after a moment of shocked staring, Natsu forces himself to stop looking at it.
There are some things you just don't try to correct.
The train rumbles to life roughly half an hour after they board— most of the time spending spent in awkward silence, bar Happy's fish-eating-noises. As soon as the engines push into motion, Natsu feels nausea well up. The movement, the sounds, it's too much for the poor guy to handle, and his face goes pale as he doubles over.
"Yeesh, you weren't kidding," is Gray's only input, crossing his arms and raising any eyebrow.
"Gray! You could stand to be a little nicer to him!" Lucy scolds, before turning a cautious eye to Erza, who has gripped Natsu by the shoulders. Natsu focuses on her face after a moment, sweat beading along his forehead.
"Natsu." She starts, calm and steady as anything, "Would you like me to knock you unconscious." It isn't phrased as a question.
"Uh," says Natsu, and then "hrnk—!" as Erza's fist meets his sternum. He slumps down into her grasp, and she props his limp body back against the seat.
"Erza... I don't think..." Lucy tries, only to clam up as Erza turns to face her.
"He was suffering. He isn't suffering anymore."
"You could put it like that," Gray grimaces at Natsu, who is slowly beginning to slip forwards in his seat. "But is this really how we're supposed to treat new guild members?"
"He'll have to get used to it eventually!" Pipes up Happy, who is in the process of cleaning the last of the fishes bones.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Uh, nothing! Nothing at all. Heh heh..."
It's four hours into the ride that they reach their first stop. An announcement comes on over the intercom, declaring that they'll be here for half an hour, so there's time for passengers to get off and enjoy the fresh air. After a moment of deliberation, they decide to take advantage of the break, leaving Natsu('s unconscious body) to watch their seats.
"Besides," Lucy justifies, "there's a shop here I want to check out, I've heard that they carry celestial keys sometimes. It's a good a time as any!"
"Of course," Erza nods. "In any case, we will only be gone for half an hour. It's unlikely that anything will happen in that time."
Gray, for his part, is already gone, and it's not like Natsu is awake to plead his case. Erza adjusts him so that he's sitting (mostly) upright again, before leaving him there.
It's because of this that no one is there to protest it as someone takes the seat across from Natsu's, arms folded. The man doesn't pay Natsu much attention, instead looking out the window, one foot tapping impatiently. It's five minutes later that the train begins to move again, well ahead of schedule. A few people on the platform notice, a couple look like they want to try stopping the train themselves, but overwhelmingly, no one cares. A second announcement; "Please remain calm, everyone. The scheduled break has been cut short. We are continuing on to our final destination." The intercom lets out a mechanical screech as the conductor hangs up, and it's this, finally, that wakes Natsu up.
Blearily, he raises his head, immediately feeling the familiar nausea rise. Where did everyone go? Did Erza seriously knock him unconscious? Did they just... ditch him? Perhaps more importantly; who the hell is this guy in the seat across from him?
"Mmmuhhh... Excuse me?" He manages, "are you, uh, do you know where my... guildmates— hrk— went?"
The man turns to him, and Natsu is taken aback by the sheer expression of hatred covering the mans features. "Guildmates? Oh, you're one of those light guilds, aren't you? Think you're so high and mighty."
That isn't... reassuring, exactly, to hear. He'd protest— or deflect, probably, but he's too nauseated to care. "So you haven't seen them? I think you're in Lucy's seat..."
"Lucy?" The man tilts his head to the side, "isn't that a member of Fairy Tail? You're telling me that you're a member of Fairy Tail? Hah!" He stands up, leaning forwards to loom over Natsu. "Oh, this is precious! A member of Fairy Tail, incapacitated, and I didn't even have to do anything?"
"Yeah yeah, a member of Fairy Tail, I gottit." Natsu covers his mouth with a hand as the train passes over a particularly bumpy stretch of tracks. Don't vomit, don't vomit, don't vomit...
Oblivious to his plight, the man straightens back up to let out a villainous cackle. "Oh, this is perfect. I was hoping for a hostage, but this! Ha-ha! Perfect! No one will get in my way if they know what's good for them."
"Um, Erza?"
"Yes?"
"The train's gone."
Natsu grits his teeth, arms still wrapped around his middle. Damn this motion sickness! If he could just—just—lightning catches around one of his fists, leaps from finger to finger eagerly, but it's more of a Lightning Dragons Electric Finger than the fist attack he had hoped for. And besides, using even that much magic... he claps a hand over his mouth, letting the lightning dissipate into static, but it's too little too late and he leans to the side to vomit.
The guy on the other side of his table, the one that keeps cackling about Fairy Tail and hostages and... whatever else, Natsu hasn't really been listening, shrieks and tries to leap out of the way, but there's only so much you can do when you're sandwiched in with a sick dragonslayer and a high-backed chair. "Ah! Hey! Gross!" the man yells, trying to avoid stepping in the puddle of sick any more than he already has, which is a welcome change in tune from all the posturing of earlier.
"Sorry," Natsu manages, wiping his mouth. Well, at the very least, he feels marginally less ill, though that doesn't amount to much when he's stuck on this wretched metal death trap. Really, where is everyone? He'd almost accuse the guy of doing something to them, but that clearly isn't the case. Not when he doesn't have a scratch on him.
Speaking of, the man finally wedges himself free of the booth, though he almost immediately slips and crashes to the ground with a faint crunch. Natsu would almost feel bad for him if he hadn't been such an ass. He picks himself back up and starts patting himself down, muttering curse words. He produces, then, a long wooden flute that looks grown more than carved, a three-eyed skull in place of the mouthpiece. Deep purple magic is steeped into the wood, peering out from the eyes, and Natsu feels a shiver travel down his spine just at the sight of it. There is something wrong with that flute.
It's at that exact moment—just then, just as the man turns the flute in his hands, just as Natsu's eyes meet the caved pits, just as that shiver promises something else—just then does Erza catch up in her hi-jacked—borrowed—Magic Mobile, scraping it up the side of the train car for the narrow space. "Hey!" Gray calls from on top, and then quieter he adds "I can't believe we're doing this—Natsu! Hey! Out here!"
It doesn't matter that there's a pane of glass in the way, Natsu turns, shields his face with his arms, and leaps.
The Legend Of Zelda Breath of the Wild looks so good…. I've been super excited for it since the trailer… Man! I'm looking forwards to that one! Hey, guys! If I disappear after March 3rd, it's safe to assume I've locked myself in my basement and am playing Breath of the Wild nonstop. ~ShadeShadow