This is probably going to be the last one for a bit of time, since I'll be working on 2 fanfictions from here on out until one of them is done. When this crack fic is updated again, just know that it is because I'm about to blow my head off and need something to laugh at. Like this chapter right here. Let's have some fun with this! ;)
4
The Early Mouse Gets the Cheese
Zeref was peeking into Natsu's house through his window, just to make sure no one was awake. When he saw no one he quietly opened the window farther. 'Good thing I opened it a crack earlier while Natsu was out,' thought Natsu's older brother with an evil grin on his face and softly chuckling to himself with shadows covering his eyes with only a red shine in one of them.
He crawled through the open window and made his way over to the fridge. Once in front of the cooling device, Zeref opened it and looked in to find the right product he was looking for. 'There it is!' He grabbed the cheese from the fridge while cackling to himself quietly. 'Now to curse it!'
He placed his curse onto the cheese, and then laid it back where he got it from. With one more chuckle, he closed the door of the fridge with a soft thud. After that, he made his way to the front door. He pulled out a slip of paper and tape from his toga, and then stamped them onto the door for his little brother to find later when it was already too late.
Once checking to make sure the paper was secured, he headed back to the window he came in from. He slipped through the gap again and closed the window fully this time before walking away from the house. 'Good thing I know he eats ham and cheese sandwiches on days he's supposed to go on a mission the moment he wakes up.' With that last thought, Zeref teleported back to his palace for some sleep.
Natsu walked into the kitchen so he could get a quick bite to eat before meeting up with his friends at the train station. He had to make something small, or else he would be under threat of coughing it back up later.
He strode over to his fridge and took out the ham and cheese from within, and then grabbed the bread. He made his sandwich and quickly ate it while making his way to his shower. He had a hard time removing all of the dirt and dried up sweat that formed in his sleep, but he managed. After he was finished with his shower, he put his clothes on and headed for the door.
Just as he was about to twist the handle he spotted a note taped onto his front door. His body and mind froze. He didn't want to read it, but he had a feeling that he was already cursed by Zeref... again...
He grabbed the note off the door and read it. It said:
Within the hour of eating the cheese, you'll turn into a mouse. -Zeref
Natsu was right; he was too late, but by how much? He quickly looked to his clock to see the time, and much to his horror, he only had ten minutes left before he turned. 'I have to get to the guild, NOW!' He swung the door open as fast as he could and ran straight for the Fairy Tail guild hall.
Nine minutes, it took Natsu nine minutes to get to the guildhall. 'That is a new record,' he thought, 'but now I have only one minute to explain everything!' Natsu slammed the doors open when he entered the guild, making everyone jump since they thought Natsu would be with his other teammates and not here.
"Gramps! I don't have much time! ZererfcursedthecheeseandnowI'mgoingtoturnintoamouse!" he said, but not everyone was able to keep up with his fast pace of speech, so some of them mumbled, "What?"
Not even ten seconds after Natsu said what he said, a pink cloud surrounded him in a great, big POOF! Everyone watched to see what was happening to Natsu this time. When the smoked cleared, they didn't see anything for a moment. They were wondering if he became invisible or if he was teleported to some uncharted island, but then they got their answer from the sound of a squeak. They all turned their gaze down to the floor where they heard the tiny noise, and there on the wooden ground is a small, pink-furred mouse with Natsu's scarf shrunken down to fit.
There was silence within the guildhall. It became so quiet that the people outside were worried about the members of the guild because they have never heard the building so quiet before, not even when a lot of their most powerful went missing for seven years.
The silence was finally broken with everyone shouting, "NATSU!" They tried to make a grab for him, which made Natsu's prey instinct kick in and make a run for it toward safety. Wherever that was. He tried to get behind the bar, but Makarov was there, and he managed to grab the small, pink mouse from the ground and hold him close.
"You brats! Knock that off!" All members of Fairy Tail froze. "You all scared Natsu half to death acting like wild beasts. Not only that, but you also almost crushed him. So until the curse wears off, I'll be holding onto him. Is that understood?" Everyone nodded their heads. "Good."
A half-hour went by since Natsu turned into a rodent, and it was at this time that his team decided to check up on him.
"Master, have you seen flame brain?" Gray asked.
"Yeah, I have him here," said Makarov, confusing Team Fairy Zeal.
They walked over to see what their Master was talking about, only to see a small, pink mouse in his hands. Lucy screamed in dismay, Gray laughed, already knowing who the mouse was, Erza was confused as to why the master was scratching a mouse on the head, but also thought it was cute, the same thought was going through Wendy, and Happy was just staring at it like he didn't know what to do with it. Whatever the look was all about, Natsu's instincts were telling him, 'RUN! IT'S A CAT!'
"Are you telling us that Zeref cursed Natsu again, and this is the result of it?" Carla asked.
Makarov grinned, "Yup! Natsu came charging in here like a kelpie was after him. He only had one minute to tell us what happened, which was that Zeref cursed his cheese. After an hour went by after eating it, he turned into this," he explained. He also held up the note that Natsu didn't realize he brought to the guild with him.
Gray snorted a laugh. "Zeref should have given it a longer time limit. That way he would have turned while on the mission."
"That's not nice, Gray! We might have not noticed then, and then Natsu would have been forced to run all the way back to the guild on his own as a mouse. That would mean that cats and birds would be trying to eat him the whole time!" said Lucy.
Gray turned to her with a look. "...I find it even funnier that you would think we would have left him behind without even bothering to look for him."
"Wha- That's not what I meant! Of course we would have searched for him! I'm just saying that if we couldn't find him, I'm sure he would have found his way to the guild on his own and would have been able to take care of himself. It's not like we would have known he would turn into a mouse!"
"That is enough, you two!" Erza said firmly. "Natsu will stay here, while we go on the mission. Is that alright with you, Master?"
"Yes, it is perfectly fine!" Makarov said cheerfully. They all turned and left the guild again, making Natsu breathe a sigh of relief now that Happy was gone which made his prey instinct to shut up.
'Maybe I should stay with gramps until the curse wears off. It is much safer this way,' Natsu decided.
Team Zeal had returned from their mission a few hours ago, and now it was close to midnight, much to Natsu's joy. Everyone was going home, but some stayed, like Gray and Erza. Gray stayed because he wanted to see Natsu turn back so he can pick on him a little more. Erza was there to make sure that Natsu turned back at all. Mira was closing up the bar, and Makarov still had a hold on Natsu; although, in a few seconds he was going to put Natsu on a stool so he can transform on that and not on him. Elfman was still at the guild too, because he wanted to make sure his older sister got home safely.
Happy had gone home with Lucy, not wanted to stay at Natsu's place in fear of getting cursed himself. He started staying with either her or Wendy on the third time Natsu was cursed. Natsu, himself, wanted to stay with Lucy, but he didn't want to get her caught up in Zeref's game.
It was a good thing too, because when Makarov put him on the stool with only five minutes left for the curse to wear off, Zeref came into the building, shocking everyone who was still there. He had a box in his hands, which made Natsu very nervous for some reason. What was that smell coming from the box?
Zeref grinned evilly and opened the box. Out came ten cats. Natsu's mousy instincts kicked in on overdrive, taking Natsu's logical brain to the backseat. He ran, darting as fast as his little, tiny legs could carry him. The ten cats saw him and gave chase.
While Natsu was running for his life, Makarov, Gray, Erza, Mira, and Elfman tried to save him by jumping for the cats. They kept missing them by a hair. It did help a little though. Since the cats had to dodge the humans, they lost course with their prey.
Natsu kept weaving and dodging the cats for five minutes, all the while Zeref was laughing. The black wizard was rolling on the ground while kicking his legs up in the air, with tears streaming down his face. When Five minutes were up, Natsu was covered by the same pink smoke from earlier. When it cleared, it revealed Natsu had returned to his human form. The cats stopped dead in the tracks, and so did his friends. It became silent in the guild hall again. The only noise to be heard was Zeref gasping for breath.
Natsu grinned happily and gave the ten cats the stink-eye. "HA! Take that, you darn fur-balls!" he said excitedly. The cats, themselves, hadn't moved an inch since Natsu transformed back, making everyone wonder why. Natsu poked one of the cats and it fall over, not losing its position, with a thud. It sounded like wood. Natsu then picked the same cat up, worried it was dead, only to find out that the cat was nothing more than a wood-carving that Zeref animated.
They heard a gasp of breath from the dark mage by the door of the guild, and they turned to look at him. He was standing back up while catching his breath, and once he recovered, he said, "These are supposed to be harmless pranks. You really thought I was going to allow Natsu to be eaten by real cats? These wood-carvings can't really harm him." He chuckled a few more times, which only served to make Natsu angry with him.
The fire dragon slayer got up from the ground and charged at him. He attempted to tackle the black-haired, young-looking man, but instead of hitting him, Natsu went through him. "ACK!" Natsu grunted when he landed on the hard floor. As he was getting back up, he heard Erza say something about projections. 'Makes sense that Zeref wouldn't be here in person. He knew I would beat him up for that scare, as well as for the other times he cursed me,' thought Natsu.
"Well, this has been fun, but I must be going now. LATER!" With that said, Zeref vanished.
Natsu's growl was the only thing heard in the hall. Makarov, Mira, Erza, Elfman, and Gray turned to look at their friend and backed away when they saw the wild look in his eyes. "Zeref, I swear that when I get my hands on you, you will regret ever feeling bored and deciding to use ME to relieve yourself. I will get you back for this," said the angry demon in the form of a dragon slayer.
"Soooo...can I keep the cat carvings?" asked Erza, making everyone sweat-drop.
I know some of you are probably wondering how Zeref got those cats in the guild if he wasn't really there. The answer is simple. He was really there, but he replaced himself with a projection shortly afterward. No one was really paying any attention to him so it was easy for him to switch. :)
Natsu: At first, I thought you were going to sic real cats on me.
Enj/Dark: I'm not that evil. I only get that bad to bad guys. ;P
Zeref: Does that mean you would do something like that to me?
Enj/Dark: I don't really see you as a bad guy. :/ You are more in the gray.
Natsu: Acnologia is a real bad guy. Can you get him at some point?
Zeref: *whisper: Maybe you should turn Natsu into a mini-Acnologia, but only in looks.*
Enj/Dark: *whisper: Like a baby?*
Zeref: *nods and whispers: But really tiny. Like the size of a baby bearded dragon.*
Enj/Dark: Hmm, what do you guys, the readers, think? And if any of you have any ideas for a prank, please let me know.
Natsu: What are you planning? :(
Enj/Dark: Don't worry about it too much. ^-^
Natsu: Now I'm worried.
Zeref: Please review! :3
