Chapter 4

Looking over the options in front of him, Logan thought this had to have been the most mind wracking decision he'd come across in recent memory.

"Come on! It's not that difficult! Do you want a chair or a couch?!" Lucy half-shouted at him in irritation.

Going over it again once more, Logan decided she was probably right and he was overthinking this. It was just a piece of furniture to sit on. He didn't need to agonize over it like the decision would change his life.

"Okay, let's get the couch." He said, putting a little apology into his tone.

Lucy's frown disappeared and she gave him an approving smile.

"Nice taste, Logan! I was hoping you'd pick the couch. This red leather is going to look so nice on top of that rug I picked out for you." She said.

OOO

It had been two days since the slumber party and Logan was still trying to get himself setup to live in Magnolia. In his second day in town, Logan had needed to go through a lot of formalities. He'd never realized how complicated a thing it was, living in one place. He'd had to sign the lease for the apartment below Lucy's, go to the town hall and get himself identified and provide his new address to be registered in the town census and then he'd also had to get his magic-cycle inspected by a town official to make sure it conformed with some law about noise pollution or something. The capper to that day was how Logan had been forced to pay resident taxes as well, losing an instant fifteen-thousand jewel to the town of Magnolia. Getting back to his new apartment that day, Logan had been so exhausted from all the waiting in lines and the relative stress of being in those crowds that he'd collapsed, falling asleep right against the wall.

The next day had not been nearly so hectic for him. After waking up with the first rays of sunlight, he'd gone out to get some breakfast at the first restaurant he found. After that, he'd spent the whole day just wandering around town. Logan didn't think he'd ever be fighting in the streets of Magnolia, but he still liked to know his way around. He explored through the shopping district, along the lake shore, and just milled around taking it all in. Around midday, he stopped in at a bakery cafe that smelled particularly good and bought himself some lunch. While waiting in line, he noticed Levy reading by herself in the corner. She saw him as well and gave him a big, friendly wave. Logan waved back without smiling, but he found there was something kind of pleasant about recognizing someone you weren't intending to drag to jail.

After that had just been more aimless exploring until near the end of the day, he'd decided to hike up to the guild hall to see if there were any good looking jobs. He only had around a seventy-thousand jewel to his name and that wasn't going to last very long, so he needed some work. When he got there, it looked like things hadn't changed since the big fight party. Natsu and Gray were in each other's faces, that Juvia girl was staring kind of lustfully in their direction and before he could even think to ask what was going on, Erza knocked their heads together, making them stop.

Logan had started noticing that most everyone seemed to be a little afraid of Erza. While he had certainly seen her being intense, he hadn't yet seen anything to make him think he should fear her. To his mind, from what he'd seen so far, he wouldn't think there'd be anything short of a hard wack to make those two stop. Logan couldn't quite tell yet whether Natsu and Gray just loved to tick one another off on purpose or if they really hated each other.

He ended up having dinner there at the guild. Even though it wasn't as elaborate as his first, it proved to be just as good and Logan had to hand it to Mirajane's skill as a cook. Halfway through his meal, he'd been joined by Lucy and they got to talking. It wasn't a very intimate conversation since Logan avoided saying anything about himself, but despite the overall banality of it, Logan enjoyed himself. They mostly talked about the guild, with Lucy going into exhaustive detail on the kinds of things she'd seen and been through since joining.

"I've talked more to these people than I have to anyone in the last six months." He thought to himself partway into the talk. It felt odd to Logan to have someone want to talk to him.

After they'd both finished eating, since they lived in the same building, Logan and Lucy decided to walk back together. On the way back, Logan made his first real contributions to the talk by telling stories of a couple freelance jobs he'd done before meeting all of them. It had been a pretty pleasant experience for Logan, but it was what had followed that had really lodged itself into his memory.

"You know, you may be kinda quiet, but I think we're gonna be great-"

Lucy cut off her sentence the instant Logan had unlocked and opened the door to his apartment. She gaped at the interior with a shock akin to if there had been the mutilated remains of some murder victim in the floor. After a second, she stormed in and positioned herself in the exact center of the main living area.

"What is all this?!" Lucy demanded haughtily.

"What do you mean? All of what?" Logan asked, honestly not sure what she was on about.

"That's my point exactly! You've been in town two days and this apartment is completely empty! Do you even have anything to sleep on?!"

"Well... no." He said with some embarrassment.

Logan had figured he'd get some kind of furniture eventually, but hadn't made it a priority in his mind. He'd been thinking about where he'd keep his magic-cycle close-by to the building more than he'd been thinking about furniture, and this told him he'd apparently already failed a little at being ordinary. He stepped lightly into the apartment, uncomfortable under Lucy's scrutiny.

"Logan, you cannot live like this! You need a bed. You need tables and chairs so people can sit and eat when they visit. You need plants and artwork to make this place look brighter and cheerful. All of these are must have items for living in any place for long periods of time!" She accentuated the end of her sentence by slapping the back of one hand into her other.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Logan replied slowly, thinking it over. "I guess I should get some of that stuff, but I don't have a lot of money and I'm not really sure what all I should have anyway. It probably wouldn't look very good."

Lucy sighed with both frustration and resignation, as if a massive responsibility had just been heaped onto her shoulders.

"Fine, fine. I guess I've got no choice in the matter. The rest of the team and I will probably be coming in here all the time, so it should look presentable. I'll take you to some of the shops in town tomorrow and help you pick stuff out."

"Really? Okay. Uh, thanks, Lucy."

"And I think we should maybe go clothes shopping as well. I'm guessing you washed it in the sink and that's why it doesn't smell, but that's the same outfit you had on when we met."

"Oh, yeah. Well, there was so much to do the first day with all the paperwork and such and I guess I just forgot to go get anything new today."

"That's alright. We'll take care of it tomorrow. Now, I would say goodnight, but I'm coming right back down because I won't be able to sleep unless I at least give you a blanket and pillow to use for tonight."

Lucy then moved to the door without saying another word, but turned back before leaving. She had this big, wide smile on her face.

"And cheer up, already! By the time I'm done with this place, you'll have the second nicest and coziest apartment in Magnolia, after mine of course!"

OOO

"Sorry, I got so bossy during that." Lucy said.

They'd picked out as much as Logan could possibly afford to buy and still feed himself for a little while. After they'd paid for all of it and arranged to get it delivered in a few hours time, they'd set off walking home together.

"No, it's alright. I guess I can be a little indecisive sometimes, huh?"

Logan said it with an almost self-deprecating tone, but Lucy didn't fail to notice how there was no smile accompanying it.

"He sure doesn't give anything away." Lucy thought to herself. She then asked aloud, "So, we got you a rug, a couch, a dining table and chairs to go with it, a few kitchen appliances, and I know you don't have much right now, but are you really sure you don't want to get a real bed? Do you really just want to sleep on the couch for now?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Those beds were all way too expensive and any soft, padded surface is okay with me." Logan said.

"You know, we could go back, I really wouldn't mind spotting you some for you to get a real bed."

"No, Lucy. I couldn't possibly let you do that. Not after you guys let me come here with you and everything else."

Lucy sensed he wasn't going to budge on that point, so she decided to change tactics.

"I know! What about something like a hammock? I bet that'd be really comfy to just swing there all night."

"No way. Absolutely no hammocks."

Logan's tone was so much more forceful than in anything Lucy had heard him say previously that was she was taken aback. It was such a surprise for her that she stopped walking to look at him.

"Okay... but why?"

"Hammocks are more difficult to get out of than anything you lay on top of. You're sleeping in a hammock and someone tries to sneak up on you, the time it takes to get out of that thing will likely result in your death." Logan explained.

Lucy had not been expecting an answer like that. She thought about it for a moment and had to conclude that it did make sense. If you were lying in a hammock strung between a couple of tree branches or something and someone who wanted to kill you came onto the scene, unless you could cut one of the lines holding the hammock up or something similar, by the time you got out of it, the attacker could probably close the distance and kill you.

"I guess you have to think about stuff like that when you're out there all on your own, huh?"

"Yeah... it's just... you know... not easy." Logan replied, once again becoming evasive.

At that point, Lucy decided it was time for an abrupt change of subject.

"Do you want to do something later? The local theater in town just got a couple of new movies. I heard that one's a comedy with that girl, uh... oh, I forget her name, she does all those romantic comedies, but this one isn't supposed to be like that. You want to go? I heard it's supposed to be really funny."

"Uh, well, thanks, but no. I think I'd rather just stay in."

"Well, at least he's back to his usual self now." Lucy thought but didn't say.

They walked the rest of the way back to Strawberry Street without saying much. At the door to Logan's apartment, he stopped while taking out the key and looked back at her.

"So, uh, thanks for helping with this, Lucy. And when I've got some more money, I'd, uh... I'd appreciate your help to pick out some more stuff."

Lucy gushed in response. "It's no big deal! I'm glad to help you out! And I'd love to do it again when we can."

Logan nodded and unlocked the door. The sight that greeted the two of them as he opened it was that of Gray standing in the middle of the living room in only his boxers.

"Man, how come you don't have any furniture in here yet?"

Barely half a second after Gray got his question out, the air was forcibly expelled from his lungs with the force of a Lucy Kick.

"You're already stripping in Logan's house?!" She yelled.

"Gray, I've only got two questions." Logan said, visibly regulating his tone. "How did you get in here and why?"

He wasn't even going to ask why Gray was naked. After what Wendy told him, that no one understood how it happened, he'd decided he wasn't going to beat his brains out trying to understand that one.

"I came here because there's a couple new jobs up at the guild and I thought you guys might want to check 'em out. As to how I got in, well, the window locks aren't very strong after they're frozen." Gray explained.

Lucy sighed. It was a drawn out, weary sound that left little doubt in Logan's mind that this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with something like this.

"Logan, all I can say is that I'm sorry for my team, and you'd better get used to this." Lucy told him.

"So... this happens a lot? One of your team members breaking into your apartment?" Logan asked.

"Your team members now as well, and unfortunately, yes. One of them, two of them, all of them. It varies case by case."

Logan said nothing. For a long moment, he just stood there, staring at them with this blank expression. Lucy and Gray couldn't tell if he was offended by this development, angry about it, or anything else.

"Okay." He finally said with no discernible tone. "Let's go to the guild hall."

OOO

Thirty minutes and one short detour when Gray spotted his pants later, they were all at the guild hall. Logan found that everyone in the guild was once again present when they entered, and even saw a few people he hadn't met yet. There was a really big guy with spiky blonde hair talking to Master Makarov by the staircase and he was surrounded by a guy with green hair, a brunette woman with glasses, and another guy with a metal cowl covering his head.

At the same time, he noticed that Natsu was talking to Lishanna at the bar, and that Erza looked to be deep in conversation with that one family within the guild. Logan had yet to learn and memorize everyone's names, but he thought those three looked like nice people. He'd yet to see Wendy, and to his surprise, he found himself wondering where she was.

"Hey, Logan. Any of these jobs look good to you?" Gray asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Logan returned his attention to the bulletin board.

"Yeah, you should be able to spot the good ones since you worked on your own for so long." Lucy added.

He looked it over carefully, but thought that none of these jobs would have been ones he'd have chosen for himself. Logan had discovered long ago that he seemed to have a great talent for finding people, so whenever he'd needed money he would just take whatever the highest paying bounty he could find was.

While the jobs available on the board, ones like relocating a huge pack of feral cats out of a town, bodyguarding the daughter of some foreign diplomat while she attended some kind of event in Croqus, and sanitizing a polluted lake all seemed like perfectly fine jobs to Logan, he didn't have a clue about which one might be the best.

"Uh, maybe the bodyguarding." He said, because he felt he had to say something.

Gray and Lucy turned their heads to look at the flier he indicated.

"Hey, that does look like a good one!" Lucy said. "Pretty good money, we'll get to go to the capital, and maybe even dress up for it."

"Yeah, sorry guys, but we can't take that one." Gray said suddenly.

Logan and Lucy both looked at him.

"Why not?" Logan asked, genuinely curious.

"The thing is, I kinda had a job that took me into that girl's country a couple of years ago and while I was there I might have, you know, broken a town... or three. Bottom line: there's a good chance they'd recognize me and then we wouldn't get paid." The ice wizard explained.

"Why am I surprised that I'm not surprised by that?" Lucy asked no one. "Sometimes I'm amazed that you, Natsu and Erza haven't been kicked out of THIS country yet."

"So, that one's out, but there's plenty others here."

"Well, uh, you guys can pick the job. I think I'm gonna go sit down. I'm a little tired." Logan said.

The other two both looked back at him blankly for a second.

"Yeah, sure man." Gray said.

"It's no problem. Just thought you might want to be involved." Lucy said.

Logan gave a half-nod of acknowledgment and then went to find a seat at one of the tables. He really was tired. Logan hadn't expected it, but the shopping trip had taken a little more out of him than he expected on top of everything else he'd had to do over the apartment. If someone had told him a week earlier that there was so much involved with being domestic and living in one place, he would have said they were crazy.

Sitting there, his mind wandering, Logan found his gaze leaning Erza's way, and he couldn't help but relive that morning two days ago.

OOO

Logan couldn't believe it, but without waking up, Erza had somehow managed to crush his body to her even more tightly. With his nose touching hers and looking right into her closed eyes, Logan had no idea how he could get out of that without waking her up. Just as he was about to throw in the towel and succumb to whatever fate had in store, Logan's salvation arrived.

"Uh, what's going on here?"

Gray had woken up before any of the others and was looking right at him and Erza, Logan could not be more grateful. While he'd seen Gray displaying just as much a temper as anyone else he'd met in the guild so far, he could tell that Gray was a much more controlled person than some of them. Once again, despite that it hadn't worked with Happy, Logan mouthed two simple words.

"Help me."

To his credit, and Logan's relief, Gray didn't say anything else, but just nodded his head. Gray got up from where he was sleeping, came right over and knelt down behind the sleeping Erza. Logan couldn't see what he was doing, but when he felt a sudden cold breeze, he deduced that Gray must have been using his Ice-Make magic to project cold at the back of Erza's neck. The effect wasn't immediate, but after about a minute, Logan could see Erza's expression scrunching up in discomfort.

At first, she only moved her head back and forth a little, her subconscious thinking it might combat the cold with a little friction. When the breeze didn't go away for another minute, just as Logan was starting to wonder if this would even work, it happened and Erza let go of him and rolled over on her other side to get away from the breeze.

The second he was free, Logan jumped to his feet and distanced himself from Erza just to eliminate any chance of her turning back to reestablish her grip. Gray had retreated away from her as well, and the two guys ended up side by side.

Logan whispered, "Man, thank you! I owe you one."

"How did that even happen?" Gray asked.

"I don't know. I just woke up and we were like that."

"Oh, come on! It's not like you didn't loooooooove it!" Happy chimed in, floating up to them.

Logan chose to ignore the little cat because he didn't want his anger and frustration over the lack of assistance from him to show.

"Really, Gray, thanks. There's no way I could have gotten out of that on my own without her waking up. She's got a grip like a vice."

Gray then gave a little smile. "Man, you don't know the half of it. I seriously don't think there's a tougher woman on this whole planet than Erza."

"Just wait til I tell her what happened!" Happy exclaimed quietly with a snicker.

Logan didn't miss a beat and said, "Keep this to yourself and I'll buy you two fish."

"Make it five."

"Three."

"Deal."

After that, the morning progressed much more smoothly. Everyone woke up in their own time, they all had breakfast together, and Logan did his best to act like he and Erza had not been locked in an intimate embrace an hour earlier.

OOO

"Hey, Logan!"

He looked up to see Natsu sliding onto the bench across from him.

"What's up, pal?"

"Well, nothing, really. Gray, Lucy and I came to check out the new jobs available, but there aren't any good ones." Logan said.

A sudden light twinkled in Natsu's eye upon hearing that, and it gave Logan a sinking feeling.

"This is perfect!" Natsu hollered at the top of his voice. "Logan, let's go! You and me! One on one!"

"What? You really still want to fight me?"

"Come on! Like you don't want to test your skills against me?" Natsu jibed.

"Natsu, I really don't think this is necessary."

Logan looked around, growing uncomfortable because everyone else was starting to look their way.

"Of course it's necessary!" Natsu said even louder. "We gotta see your magic and just what you can do! Plus, if you're gonna be on our team, we really gotta know you can keep up."

"What's going on over here?" Erza asked, stepping close to their table.

Logan fought a blush and looked up at her. "Well, uh, I guess Natsu wants to fight me. I guess he wants to see my magic."

"More like he simply wants to fight you only to fight you and see if his skills are better than yours. He does this all the time."

"Come on, Erza! None of us have seen him use his magic yet! Are you telling me you're not the slightest bit curious to see what he can do?" Natsu asked her.

Erza grunted, a tone as if she were dealing with an impudent child, but at the same time, she was considering it as well. After a moment's deliberation, she turned to Logan.

"Logan, while I certainly don't want to encourage Natsu's behavior, the truth is that I would like to know what kind of magic you specialize in, and for the sake of our team dynamic, I'm afraid we must have some idea of just what it is you can do."

Logan had to admit that what she was saying made sense. He couldn't very well expect them to trust him implicitly if they didn't know anything about what he could contribute to the missions, but at the same time, Logan knew he couldn't tell them yet. He just couldn't. He liked them, but he knew he wasn't ready to share the truth with them.

He was about to try and decline the fight when he finally took note of the gentle earnestness in Erza's face and then also saw that many of the others around the hall were taking interest in the unfolding scene, and Logan could tell they understood what was happening. He suddenly realized that there wasn't any good way to back out of this. They were all wondering about him already, but if he chose not to fight, he guessed they'd all only become insanely more curious. On the other hand, if he did fight, he knew they still wouldn't be satisfied, but maybe they'd be satiated enough not to strenuously try and press him. As Gajeel, Gray, Lucy, and some of the others started to not so subtly move in to hear better, Logan knew he had no choice in the matter.

"Alright, Natsu, fine. Let's do it."

OOO

They immediately moved the proceedings outside to the open space in front of the guild hall. Following the two guys out were Erza, Lucy, Gray, Happy, Gajeel, the family Erza had been talking to, and pretty much everyone who had been inside. Logan even noticed that Wendy had come out from somewhere in the back and she was standing next to Master Makarov, along with that group the Master had been talking to.

Logan and Natsu were standing eight feet apart from each other while Erza stood in the center between them, positioning herself as the referee.

"This is going to be a no holds barred sparring match. You can use any attacks you like, but keep it friendly. Nothing aimed for the eyes, the groin, and nothing that could cause serious injury. The match begins when I say, and it will end when I decide that a clear winner has been established."

Across from him, Natsu was grinning ear to ear, cracking his knuckles with barely contained, joyful anticipation. Logan could not do the same thanks to his gauntlets and arm-braces, which he'd put on before leaving the apartment out of habit.

"Man, I've been looking forward to this since the moment I saw you punch those Damien brothers." Natsu said.

"Let's just get over this with quick as can be." Logan snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Just like that."

Natsu gave a smug smile. "Don't worry, pal. I think I can make that work."

All around them, their guildmates were shouting epithets at them, getting into the spirit of the brawl.

"Burn him to a crisp, Salamander!" Gajeel yelled.

"Show him how us real Fairy Tail men do it!" Elfman hollered.

"You can beat him, Logan!" Lucy shouted.

"Put that punk in his place!" Gray added.

"Are you ready?" Erza asked them.

"Ready." Natsu enthused.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Logan said.

"FIGHT!" She declared and jumped back out of the way.

Natsu wasted no time, drawing in lungfuls of air, as much as he could take.

"Fire Dragon ROAR!"

Natsu roared, but Logan was already dashing forward at tremendous velocity and was a planting a short, hooking uppercut into Natsu's right jawbone before Natsu could aim his mouth. Natsu was taken straight off his feet by the raw, visceral strength of Logan's punch.

After falling back from his short flight through the air, Natsu sat up on his butt, rubbing his cheek and smiling.

"Man, Logan! That was some hit! Hades had a punch just like-"

Natsu dropped his sentence when he caught sight of Logan. His friend was standing less than six feet away with his hands protecting his face in an expertly held peek-a-boo guard, showing nothing but the top half of his face. His blue eyes were burning with an intensity and a concentration like Natsu had not before seen in his newest friend.

"Now this is a fight!" Natsu shouted with supreme satisfaction as he jumped to his feet.

He charged towards Logan and jumped into a flying kick.

"Fire Dragon Claw!"

Natsu expected for his trusty kick to inflict just as much damage on Logan and impress him just as much as Natsu had been, but there was no fire. Natsu couldn't believe it, but none of the magic flames Igneel had taught him to harness were coming out. His mind then tracked back to seconds before, and Natsu realized that he hadn't felt the telltale tingle at the back of his throat that always came before his roar attack.

Natsu was so taken aback by the development that he lost track of what has happening. Logan took full advantage, sidestepping to avoid Natsu's kick and then ramming his right elbow down into Natsu's stomach. At the same time, Logan whipped himself around to grab onto Natsu's ankle, and used the momentum to carry Natsu through a full circle and throw him.

As Natsu lifted himself to sitting again, Logan was bearing down on him fast. Reacting quickly and using his core muscles, Natsu flung his feet outward at the approaching Logan in a double kick. Logan took the kick in his forearms, not budging an inch, his body protected by his braces and his guarded stance. Natsu used the impact of his kick to push off from Logan's body and go into a flipping handstand, bringing himself back to his feet. He then dashed towards Logan, advancing head on and pulling his left fist back in preparation.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

Natsu smiled to himself, expecting this to be the turning point in the fight, but nothing came out of his fist. His flames were nowhere to be found. Logan then intercepted Natsu's punch with his right wrist and hurled his own left for a kidney punch, but Natsu slammed his free fist down into Logan's and then jerked it up to send his elbow colliding with Logan's cheekbone. Both of the fighters then jumped backwards away from each other to recover themselves for a second.

"What's wrong, Salamander?! Your pilot light go out or somethin'?!" Gajeel taunted from the sidelines.

"Hey, shut up!" Natsu hollered in response. He thought to himself, "What's going on here? I know I've been executing my spells the right way, so where's my firepower?"

Natsu then shook his head to clear it, smiling to himself at the same time.

"Aw, who cares if my magic's not working?! This is a great fight even if I do have to just pummel him straight up! I can chow down on some flames and figure this out later!"

Natsu ran at Logan at his top foot speed, extending his right arm out, intending to pass by Logan while nailing him with an open claw strike.

Natsu came within three feet of his target, but Logan hit him across the pectorals with the full length of his left arm and Logan then planted three fast and hard uppercuts into Natsu's liver thanks to the close proximity. The stinging bite of Logan's augmented knuckles fired fiercely in Natsu's brain, but being the longtime brawler he was, he didn't intend to be down for the count just yet.

Natsu lifted his knee straight into Logan's stomach, pushing him back a foot, and Natsu then laced his fingers together and swung his combined fist between Logan's shoulder blades. Logan staggered forward from the hit, but recovered himself after a few steps, made a quick squat and pivoted off his left foot into a jumping, spinning roundhouse kick that firmly connected with the side of Natsu's head. Standing firm while taking the kick, Natsu wrapped both of his arms around Logan's thigh, threw him through a half-spin, and planted a straight right into Logan's solar plexus before he left arm's reach. Both of them then fell to the ground, breathing hard and sweat breaking on their brows.

"Logan, I gotta give it to you, man. You're one hell of a fighter!" Natsu said with a big smile.

Logan said nothing in response. A little confused by this, Natsu looked closely and noticed that Logan was silently mouthing something to himself. Without a word, Logan jumped to his feet and sped forward again. Closing the distance quickly, he lifted his leg up and brought it down in an axe kick, but Natsu rolled out of its way, pushed himself onto one knee and then shot a jabbing kick into Logan's thigh. Natsu then used the force of the kick to perform a reverse cartwheel, tumbling backwards over himself and bringing himself vertical.

Logan went charging in again, winding up a clear right hook. Natsu thew his left arm up to block it, only to intercept nothing when Logan darted inside his reach, pulling off the feint and putting a double jab and uppercut combo into Natsu's head before stomping down on his ankle. Natsu reeled back and Logan advanced with a real hook punch, but Natsu diverted it with an elbow strike then kneed Logan in the stomach and followed it with a short straight, hitting Logan an inch to the right of his nose.

Jarred by the force of the impact, Logan retreated backwards a few steps and Natsu pressed his attack. He jumped up, slamming his knee into the bottom of Logan's jaw and then whamming his elbow into the top of Logan's head on his way down.

Natsu was about to send another uppercut into his stomach when Logan retaliated with incredible speed, letting loose a pummeling plethora of punches. The first half a dozen found their marks, nailing Natsu in the chest, shoulders and face, but then Natsu got his groove back and served up his own onslaught of strikes, equally blocking and counter-striking away with everything he had.

For a over a full minute, they just traded blows back and forth, landing one punch, blocking another, redirecting and hammering simultaneously.

Just as they seemed to be evenly matched with no end in sight, Logan threw a short left-hook and Natsu ducked underneath it, crouching down to all fours, taking Logan's legs out from under him with a sweep kick and standing up again all in one motion. With the momentum of his hook punch combined with that of the sweep, Logan was completely airborne, turning through the emptiness until he would fall onto his back and head. He could see Natsu smiling with the pleasure of perceiving that he'd won, but Logan wasn't done just yet.

With the strength in his abs, Logan extended his back so that his head would hit first, then stretched out one arm and got it planted on the ground. Logan then used the yet unbroken momentum of the spin to hook the instep of his foot onto Natsu's head, pushed up with a handstand, and grabbed onto Natsu's weight bearing foot with his free hand at the same time. Logan was hurtling through a nearly full circle while bringing Natsu back down. When they finally hit the ground, they were perpendicular to each other, Logan on his back, while Natsu's head was smashed into the ground by Logan's boot.

The expression on Natsu's face left little to the imagination. The impact with the ground had left him greatly stunned, his gaze far off and partially empty. Erza stepped towards them quickly.

"Alright, that's it! This fight is over! I'm calling it and declaring Logan the winner." She proclaimed.

Their surrounding guild mates all broke into a chorus of cheers and applause, except for Lucy, Gray, and Wendy, who also stepped forward to help their two teammates up. Logan released Natsu from his grasp and took the hand Erza proffered to help him to his feet. He stood up, but then almost tipped over with dizziness. Erza grabbed him before he could fall and pulled his arm across her shoulders to balance him.

"Easy, now. That was a tough fight. Let's get you inside so you can rest."

Logan was breathing too hard to say anything, but nodded in acquiescence, and they set off.

"Are you alright, Natsu?" Wendy asked her fellow dragon slayer.

"Alright? Are you kidding? I'm great! I can't believe how awesome a fighter Logan is! He and I are doing that again and I'm gonna get him next time!" Natsu yelled happily.

To mock him, Gray said, "Maybe you're not as big a hotshot as you think you are. I can't believe you let a guy beat you when he never used a single spell."

Natsu's good mood then morphed into anger with the effortlessness of flipping a coin.

"He's really good! He's a better fighter than you are! I'll tell ya that!"

Gray then became angry as well. "Oh, yeah?! We'll see about that! I'll take him on and show you who's the best!"

The two glowered and growled at each other for several seconds.

"Natsu, can I ask you something? Why didn't you use any of your Dragon Slayer magic on him? Considering he didn't use any magic against you, you probably could have won easily with some of your flames." Lucy said.

"They just weren't comin' out. I don't know why. Maybe I haven't eaten enough fire lately." Natsu said.

"Hmm." Wendy grunted, a thoughtful look on her face.

"What's up, Wendy?" Gray asked.

"Oh, nothing, really. I'm just thinking about something." She replied a little absently, clearly still working on whatever was on her mind.

OOO

Ten minutes later inside the guild hall, Logan was leaning back on one of the table's benches with a glass of water in one hand and an ice pack on his face. He was doing nothing but recuperating and wondering what, if anything, he might have inadvertently given away about himself during the fight. Hearing footsteps, he lifted his head and saw Erza standing in front of him through his one exposed eye.

"I thought you would want to know that I checked on Natsu and he's going to be fine. He's a bit banged up, but no worse than you are." She said.

Logan was glad to hear that. He'd fought to end it as quickly as possible and to keep himself from getting hurt as much as he could. Even though he'd pulled most of his punches and had avoided using any of the bone breaking techniques he knew, it was a relief to hear that Natsu would have no lasting ill effects from his strikes.

Without warning, Erza then sat down beside Logan on the bench with less than three feet difference separating them. Logan instantly felt his body tense and his pulse spike again, his mind flashing back to the morning after the slumber party and her body pressed against his.

"I wanted to tell you how impressed I am. I witnessed a sample of your abilities during our fight with the Damien brothers, but because of the fog, I wasn't able to truly appreciate it. You're an even more skilled warrior than I believed. Your speed, your execution, the tactical awareness you displayed, it was all top notch."

Logan looked at her out of the corner of his one eye. He hadn't heard much flattery that he could remember in his life, and even less flattery tinged with respect. Being a loner and a nomad, the most kindness and civil words he'd experienced had usually come from waitresses in inns and restaurants. It felt nice somehow. It actually took his mind off the awkwardness he felt about that morning before.

Erza went on, saying, "I typically train mostly by myself, but if you wouldn't object to it, I'd like it if we could train together every so often. I would greatly enjoy a few lessons in your hand to hand style since that seems to be your specialty."

Logan then looked away again. Training with Erza didn't sound like an inherently bad idea and from what he'd seen so far would probably go far in improving his own skills, but he wasn't sure.

"And if it would help, I promise I won't ask you anything about your past or even what your magic is." She quickly added.

"Uh, well... maybe. We can see, I guess." He answered hesitantly.

Her promise not to pry had been a skillful tactic to appease him, even though he could guess it was probably a genuine offer in an attempt to make him more comfortable. Despite knowing that, something inside of him wouldn't let him fully commit to the interaction. He had to pull back. He couldn't engage.

Erza smiled at him knowingly.

"That's fine. Any time you'd like to, just let me know and we'll arrange it."

She then got up and left, leaving Logan feeling both relieved, and for some reason, oddly unsettled.

OOO

A/N: Another chapter all done and I hope you guys liked it. Writing Logan and Natsu's brawl and his growing connections with his guild was a lot of fun. As always, I welcome any constructive criticism anyone wants to put out there.

By the way, I'm going to be taking a break from the fanfic for a little while because I really need to focus on doing the editing for my first real novel, but I promise you guys that I will come back to Logan and his journey with his Fairy Tail family as soon as I can, and we'll be getting into the Grand Magic Games when I do. Everyone taking the time to read this story is great and again, I hope you all enjoyed it.