10
Water is Clear & So are You!
Natsu stumbled into his house late into the night. His muscles were sore, but he felt satisfied with the mission he took today. There was a dark guild forming and they were already causing all kinds of problems for the townsfolk. Natsu saw the job on the request board and knew he just had to take it. He had been denied fighting anyone for the past week. He needed to fight someone - or a few - to take out his anger on thanks to Zeref, who was still pranking him with no end in sight!
The fire dragon slayer decided to sleep early tonight and soak in the lake the next morning. Hopefully, Zeref won't curse him sometime in between.
Zeref was standing outside under the moonlight. He loved to feel the cool breeze hitting his face and listen to the sounds of nature, but alas, he couldn't stay long in fear of killing everything around him. He cast his curse for Natsu to find tomorrow and gently laid down a note upon a rock. He paused, he should make sure that nothing moved the note, so he cast a spell on it so that only Natsu could pick it up. After he was done he left for the Fairy Tail guildhall. He summoned a box into his hands and laid it down in front of the door and a note saying: The box and its contents are not cursed.
With that all done, Zeref smirked and teleported back to his palace and went to sleep, but not before setting his alarm. He needed to watch the LIVE feed of everyone's reaction, after all.
Natsu woke up with the sun shining into his eyes. He wished he could glare at it, but knew that would be a bad idea, so he didn't. Instead, the pink-haired, young man got up from his bed and left for the lake with a towel.
When he got to the lake a little ways behind his house, Natsu stripped of his clothes and climbed in, sinking into the water and stopping just below his chin. He used his magic to make the water warm - more like hot since the lake was steaming like a hot spring.
Natsu sighed in bliss. Not many knew, but he loved to relax in a bath after a long day like yesterday. That guild wasn't all that tough, but there were many and he went solo. The dark guild's master was a little tougher than the rest, but he was nowhere near as strong as Erza.
Natsu leaned back against the wall of the lake and looked up at the sky to watch the birds flying overhead. That was when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his right and spotted a small, folded piece of paper laying on a rock. He felt panic start to set in. He just knew who placed that note there.
As quickly as he could, Natsu stood up and reached out for the note, but froze when he saw his arm, or rather lack thereof. He brought his hand up to his face, but he couldn't see anything, his hand, his arm, everywhere he looked on his body, were done. He could still feel himself, he just couldn't see himself.
He grabbed the note, which was the weirdest thing since it looked like it was floating, and opened it up.
Wherever the water touches, that part will turn invisible. -Zeref
Natsu was freaked out. Sure he could use something like this to his advantage, but he was not that kind of guy. 'It's like that time with Lucy all over again, but this time it's me!' he thought. So he carefully got out of the water so none of it would touch his face and tried to see if he could dry himself off - maybe that would make him visible again. He grabbed his towel and began to remove the water. Natsu felt dismayed when he still couldn't see himself, instead, the towel was losing parts of itself or fading.
Natsu quickly finished drying off and put his clothes back on. He ran back to his house to find a cloak to hide the rest of his not-so-seeable parts before leaving again to go to his guild and tell them what Zeref did this time.
Natsu made it to the guild without any hassle. He walked in and noticed everyone standing around something he couldn't see due to them standing in the way.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" he asked.
"Oh, hey Natsu. You're here early," said Lucy.
"There is a box here with Zeref's handwriting on it. The note says it's not cursed, but..." said Wendy.
"Oh, well I can assure you it's not cursed. He already got me," replied Natsu.
Gray turned away from the small, brown box and asked, "What did he do this time? You look fine to me. Hmm...why are you wearing a cloak?"
Natsu sighed, "I'm wearing this because of what he did. I was taking a swim in the lake by my place when I noticed a note on a rock. I reached out, only to find this." He brought his hand out from under his cloak and showed everyone what was wrong.
Every one of his guildmates stared in wide-eyed shock. It must have been strange to see the cloak move seemingly on its own and show only his clothes underneath.
"Okay, I wasn't seeing things," said Happy. "I thought I saw some faded spots on your face, Natsu, but it seems I really am seeing faded spots."
"What happened?" asked Lucy.
"Zeref cursed the lake," explained Natsu. "Everywhere the water touched would turn invisible. I guess that since I only got drops of water on my face that it looks more faded than actually invisible."
"What kind of guy are you, Natsu?" asked one of the perverted guys. "If it were me, I would dunk my head in completely and spied on..." Before the man could finish, he was jabbed in the back of his head with the butt-end of Erza's sword. Natsu flinched at hers and all the other girls' expressions. He sort of felt bad for the guy, but he didn't envy him at all.
"Finish that sentence, and I'll make sure to cut your eyes out," she said menacingly.
"S-sorry, Erza..." the man said.
"Well, now that we know that box isn't cursed like Zeref and Natsu said, I guess we should see what's inside," said Gray, who turned and open the box. Natsu was disappointed that nothing happened. Why couldn't Zeref go after at least another member of his guild and give him a break? (What Natsu didn't know was that Zeref was giving him a break. What did he think Zeref waited for a week before cursing him again for?)
After Gray opened the box, Natsu saw a small lacrama crystal inside. He knew that it was a projector type. Did Zeref send a message to let them know he was stopping, or did he plan to up his game?
"Hey, there is another note inside!" said Happy.
Gray grabbed it and began to read it: The video you are about it see is the result of Natsu and Happy's bet from two weeks ago. -Zeref
'The bet from two weeks ago?' Natsu thought in confusion, trying to remember what bet he made. By the time he remembered, it was too late for him to stop Gray from pressing play.
"Let's see what this is about," said Gray as he pressed play. The lacrama projected a clean, spacious bedroom that appeared to belong to a mansion or palace. It appeared to be dark, but that could have been due to the blackout curtains covering the windows.
Natsu was worried about what he was about to see. He decided to turn away and wait for the screams of terror from the men - he didn't have to wait long. The men screamed bloody murder - Natsu thought the noise came from the girls at first - when Zeref came into view from the bathroom if his hair dripping wet was any indication. The man was in his birthday suit, not even bothering to cover himself with a towel. Zeref even turned toward the camera and winked, making Mavis blush an apple red color.
Natsu looked around that his fellow males and saw they are all looking away in horror, and muttering curses to themselves. The only ones not looking away were the girls, except Wendy and any of the other younger girls. They kept staring at the projection of the attractive young-looking man, who was showing no shame in his body. It was clear that he was prideful about his looks. He was hot and he knew it! For some reason, that just made Natsu angry from both embarrassment and jealousy. Not the kind of jealousy that he wasn't as prideful, but the kind that felt more like a rival.* Where did that come from?
"N-Natsu... I admit defeat... you win the bet. Zeref clearly doesn't care if someone sees him naked," said Happy, handing over Natsu's winnings. Natsu slowly took it from the tiny, blue paws with a soft thanks, but he certainly didn't feel like a winner.
*I added the rival thing because I figured that, well, they are brothers that are both good-looking. So they would see it as a challenge to one-up the other.
Anyway, I might update this again next week too. I'm trying to write up the fight with Lucy and Minerva, and Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rouge for 'Master of Death in Fairy Tail'. It is slow going, so I'll be sticking with this fanfic for a little. Enjoy! ^-^
Natsu: NOOOOOOO! How could you?! Why would you want to torture me like this?! DX
Zeref: The prank itself wasn't too back, so I don't see why you're complaining.
Natsu: I saw you naked, though! D=
Zeref: Yeah, your face was priceless. *evil grin*
Enj/Dark: Please review! ^-^
