25th December – 12:45 AM
"Oh, you're still here?" A woman in a white hooded cloak addressed another woman in similar attire, with the only difference being the materials that their buckles and clasps were made from. "I thought you had gone home already."
The gold-adorned woman glanced over to the brass-adorned sister and gave her a gentle smile as she held up the checklist in her left hand for woman to see. "I'm just going over the checklist one more time before I head home, Sister Agatha. I won't be here for the morning sermon or any time throughout the day since I want to be able to look after a friend."
"Well, please don't take your time, Sister Lelyanna." Agatha requested. "It's very dark outside and it looks like snow is on the way, going by the look of the clouds. I know people are attending the fireworks show and the Carols by Candlelight, but that means this part of the city is fairly deserted right now…"
Lelyanna lightly gripped the woman's shoulder with her free hand, trying to reassure her with a gentle squeeze and her persistent smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be perfectly fine on my way home. My friend has been teaching me how to look after myself, and will come to me if he senses something wrong."
Lelyanna roamed around the decorated prayer hall, a serene smile on her lips as she ticked off the to-do list. With a satisfied hum, she marked off the final task and returned to her office where she deposited the list in her desk. Her smile drooped slightly as the sound of carols being sung drifted in through the window; it might have been late but it seemed many people all over the city were still celebrating Christmas eve, or maybe it was for Christmas day, they could be planning on celebrating all night long due to the public holidays.
The priestess hurried to the cathedral's back entrance and slipped out into the cold, dark night. Fog blew from her mouth in long, gentle breaths as she turned her eyes to the black sky. There was movement above her; small flakes of snow had begun to descend from the heavens.
"I should get home before this gets too heavy…"
Lelyanna took off at a brisk walk, her murmur carried away by the gentle winds, and she made her way through the streets. A tingle ran down her neck, something felt odd; usually you would cross paths with one or two pairs of guards on the route to the manor, but it was strangely quiet. While it wasn't odd to see cars parked on the streets, she could feel eyes on her, many, many eyes. It wasn't the looks she'd normally receive either, these looks were predatory.
A fancy, expensive-looking car sat parked ahead of her, resembling Natsu's Leopard but this car was a sedan. It was an all too familiar sight for Lelyanna and she grit her teeth. "Mnng, of course you're still trying to come after me…"
The rear-left door of the fancy car opened and an ornate cane preceded the leg of a well-dressed man, then a mop of strawberry blonde hair. "Good evening, my sweet Lily."
"Do you want me to shoot you again, Sebastian," Lelyanna spat out the man's name like it was the most disgusting thing she had tasted in her life. "No one is here to stop me at just the knees this time."
"Funny you should mention that, because I was talking with some friends and we came to a decision," Sebastian slowly approached the woman, a prominent limp in his gate as he used the cane to take some of his weight off his knees. He came to a stop just ten metres away from Lelyanna, and not a single step closer, with both of his hands resting atop the golden cane topper. He gave the woman a menacing toothy grin and let out a shrill whistle. The doors of half a dozen cars around them opened and five men stepped out from each vehicle, with the exception of Sebastian's car as he had four men accompanying him. "We're going to break you, Lily, and you're going to fix the damage you did to me. I hope you've said goodbye to your fellow sisters, because you won't be returning to the cathedral."
Lelyanna let out a gentle, melodic laugh which caused some of the men to look at each other. Her body was shrouded with light for a moment before it faded to reveal the white winter outfit that she had put together for working alongside Natsu. Her pale-turquoise eyes darted from one man to the next as they closed in on her from three sides. "I would say 'over my dead body' but it won't get anywhere close to that. In fact, I'd be surprised if you managed to land a finger on me."
"You're cocky, do you really think you could take on thirty men, even with that strange handgun of yours?"
"One bullet in the chamber, fourteen inside the magazine loaded in the grip, plus one more magazine; that's what, twenty-nine?" Lelyanna made a show of counting each man around her, one-by-one, by pointing her finger at each one. "One bullet for each of your goons, that just leaves you, Sebastian, and a knife is all I need for the likes of you. Now, look under my right arm and tell me how many magazines you see there?"
"Three?" Sebastian replied, dumbfounded by the weapon's capacity.
"Correct." Lelyanna drew the word out, emphasising it with a grin. She was, of course, putting on a front as her heart was racing and she barely contained her shakes. "One plus four lots of fourteen is fifty-seven. In other words, I have fifty-seven bullets for thirty people. Not only that, but I've got so much more stored away using Requip. More than enough to fill each of you with a dozen holes, especially if I use my machine-pistol, which holds thirty per magazine."
"Boss?"
"She's got to be bluffing, I've never seen or heard of such a weapon." Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the priestess while flexing his fingers against the gold kraken atop his cane. A strange feeling washed over him, not from the woman they had surrounded, but from somewhere above and behind him. It felt like the spectre of death had stepped into their world and was watching the scene unfold, to see which souls were to be ripped from their bodies.
"I seemed to have neglected one crucial piece of information." Lelyanna called out to the blonde in front of her. Now that the familiar oppressive aura was surrounding her, her nerves quickly began to settle down and she grinned confidently. "Most people think they have a guardian angel looking over them. But I wouldn't call my guardian an angel." She reached up to her chest and drew her pistol from the holster under her left arm. "If you're going to come at me, you better bring everything and everyone you have. Because the second you make your move, you'll unleash the wrath of a very protective demon."
Now that the woman had drawn her weapon, the ominous presence coming from behind Sebastian suddenly vanished and a chill ran down his spine. However, he steeled his resolve and pointed to Lelyanna with the tip of his cane. "Bring her to her knees."
"It's your funeral. Knowing him, it'll be either an empty casket or a closed one." Lelyanna shrugged and held a hand over her heart in a one-handed prayer before darting down the alleyway on her right. Something felt off but she pushed onward, not slowing down for anything. Unfortunately, her hunch was correct as it seemed Sebastian had placed people on all of her routes away from the ambush, a fact quickly made known as two men stepped out from the shadows of doorways.
"Come here, girly, we'll show you a good time."
Lelyanna gave the men a disgusted scowl and raised her pistol while maintaining a full sprint. It was hard to get a solid line on an immediate lethal shot, so she settled for critically wounding them and unleashed a barrage of bullets into their chests around their hearts. Thanks to the mental and magical conditioning from Natsu, the casings ejected from her pistol vanished less than half a metre after beings spat out and were sent to her personal requip dimension. And the physical conditioning that she had been put through was nothing to scoff at either; she leapt over the two men as they fell to their knees, clutching at their chests, and sprinted around the corner while Sebastian bellowed orders on the street.
"You four; run up the road and try and intercept her. I want you ten to chase after her, and the rest of you in cars and blocking her path! I'm not paying you lot to let her slip through our grasp!"
"We're not being paid to die!"
"You're being paid to capture one little girl! And regardless, your payment stays the same even if some die. So guess what? The more she kills, the bigger the cut to those left over. Just don't die and you'll be making more than what you earn in months just for capturing that one fucking little girl!"
The voices faded into the distance as Lelyanna sprinted down the alleyway. Her heart was thundering in her ears and her eyes struggled to see through the darkness, with her only being able to make out basic shapes. It made her wish that she had eyes like Natsu. But when she spotted movement ahead of her, her mind automatically registered them as humanoid and therefore were a threat to her. Her heart began to thunder in her ears once more and her eyes widened as they tried to decipher features from the shadowy figures.
"There she is!"
The four men that were sent to head her off had managed to outpace her thanks to their considerably greater height and longer legs and were now blocking her path. Lelyanna maintained her speed and raised her pistol, but before she could open fire on the men, a shadow flickered behind them and the shrill whistle of a fast-moving sharp object pieced through the cold winter air.
"What was that?!" One of the two men at the front shouted as they both spun to look behind them. The remaining two members of their group were falling to the ground, dead; both sliced cleanly in two, one from the left hip to the right armpit and the other from the left armpit and out the right side of the neck. "What the fuck happened?!"
Lelyanna didn't give the two remaining men much time to think as she shot a volley of bullets into their backs. She heard the wet thumps of the rounds punching through the bodies followed by the sounds of the bullets ricocheting off the brickwork beyond them. She leapt over the steaming remains of the bisected men and skidded along the frozen ground before finding her footing and shooting down between two buildings and out onto the road.
The priestess shot across to the other side of the road and slipped in the alleyway between the buildings, once again using the narrow corridors to thin out her pursuers. It was too dangerous to remain out in the open where she'd have to deal with all of them at one time if they managed to surround her. While she did have Natsu watching over her, it would be far easier to eliminate all of the hostiles in tight spaces.
"I'm starting to think like him…" Lelyanna mumbled under her breath as skidded to a halt and her back pressed against a wooden door, disappearing into the doorway's shadow. She forced herself to calm down and slid the magazine out from her pistol. It wasn't empty, but that didn't matter since if she was caught with low ammo and she ran out when she was about to be grabbed, then she wouldn't be able to reload in time and all she would be able to do is pray that Natsu could save her. To prevent that unwanted outcome, she quickly replaced the magazine with a full one as the heavy footfalls of her would-be captors drew closer.
"Where the hell did that damn bitch go…" One man muttered to the five other members of his gang as they entered the alleyway. "She's fast for such a shorty."
"I saw her run in here, but she's vanished. Maybe she's further in."
"What the hell was that whistling? Did anyone see what attacked those guys?"
"Nah. They came around the corner just up ahead of her but out of nowhere, two of them fell apart. I heard that strange whistle too. But I didn't see exactly what was behind it, only a dark blur."
"I think I saw a person behind them for a split second but when I blinked, they were dead and the woman was jumping over them."
"What the hell is that gun of hers, anyway? Where's the bang? It just goes clack, clack, and you're dead."
"I don't know, it was hard to see when she drew it while we had her surrounded. I have heard of self-loading pistols before, they're a new thing but nothing I've seen in magazines looked anything close to that thing."
Lelyanna held her breath and brought her pistol close to her chest with the muzzle pointed at the group. Her heart was racing once more as the men had come to a dead stop right in front of her. She stiffened and prayed that they wouldn't hear her or that she didn't bump into something. But thankfully, they didn't seem to notice her next to them as something ahead of the froze them in their tracks and they became fixated on something she couldn't see.
"What the hell? I'm not seeing things right, there are small red lights over there?"
A heavy gust of wind blew through the alley and Lelyanna's short skirt fluttered around her thighs. The men who had been standing just a metre away from her had been instantly sliced in half, right through the middle of the chest and their remains fell to the ground with sodden thumps. Their blood and entrails spewed out of the bodies and tinted the fresh snow a pinkish-red, like a grotesque clump of shaved ice.
The priestess swallowed the bile that threatened to force its way up her throat and slowly let out her breath in a shuddering sigh. Her shoulders slumped heavily and she lowered the pistol. The path ahead was opened once more and she needed to get a move on before it closed up again. Without any further hesitation, she darted out from her hidey-hole and raced through the alley.
Between her and Natsu they should have taken out twelve men total, but she wasn't sure if Natsu had been thinning their numbers outside of making sure she was safe. There were the occasional nearby shouts which sent her heartrate soaring but she was able to avoid confrontation with her would-be kidnappers.
Lelyanna slowed down and took a brief moment to allow her breath to come back but she knew that she couldn't afford to dawdle for long, so took off at another full sprint after just a few seconds. A shadow flashed between the buildings ahead of her, moving perpendicular to her, and she raced after it since she hoped it meant safety.
As she neared the alley's exit, a car skidded along the road with the passenger side caved a good metre into the cabin and the windows broken. The car was spattered with fresh blood from the barely alive and groaning men that had been crushed from the sudden impact from an unknown assailant.
It came to rest on the top of a slowly spinning yellow seal which flashed brightly and suddenly exploded, viciously blowing apart the car and reducing the occupants to bloody chunks, some of which were thrown through the dark sky and with blood trailing behind in their wake.
Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the carnage, she was no stranger to seeing Natsu's curses but this was the first time she witnessed his bomb curse used against people. She had only seen it in use against buildings when he blew a hole in a wall to initiate a surprise attack. Knowing his history, she didn't doubt the man could hide the sigils and most likely even add properties from his other curses to create a firebomb.
There wasn't any time to loiter around and watch the car tumble down the road though as footsteps thundered towards the crash site. Her head snapped around at the cacophony of noise, from shouts to screams, whimpers of those on death's door, the occasional boom of a cursed mine being triggered, and while hell was unfolding around her, she could hear the cheerful voices in the distance that sung Christmas carols at the top of their lungs and let out raucous laughter as they set off fireworks and firecrackers. It was a surreal dichotomy of sounds, like two vastly different worlds somehow existing in the same plane of reality.
"Move, now." She quietly urged herself with a shake of her head to clear the fog from her mind. "You have to move."
Her body finally listened to her pleading words and instead of passing between the next set of buildings, Lelyanna ran up the road and past the mangled wreck that was dripping blood into the snow-covered road surface.
This was different to that night the horde attacked, different to when they assaulted the nest of goblins. They weren't up against monsters this time; these were mere men… and killing mere men was what Natsu excelled at as a product of war. That oppressive feeling that had washed over her when she was surrounded had vanished as quickly as it came. It was just Natsu announcing his arrival in an effort to reassure her but not give away his position. And now this manmade monster raced through the alleyways or across rooftops without a single noise, without emitting even the faintest trace of magic or curse power that would lead to him being detected.
She could only imagine how terrifying the sight of his glowing, bloodred eyes would be for those that were unfortunate enough to see him in their final moments. At least those men would've seen their death coming, others weren't so lucky.
At the beginning, there had been thirty surrounding her, but since there had been two more men lurking in the alleyway then there could easily be even more than that dotted around the path back to the manor. She didn't know how many had been killed and how many remained, or even if Sebastian had been killed for coming after her. All she could do is run and shoot whoever got close to her because the moment the substantially larger men managed to get a hold of her, it would be all over.
"SHE'S OVER HERE!"
"No-no-no." Lelyanna muttered quickly, her eyes going wide as she snapped around to the shout's origin. Twenty men had come barrelling out of the alley behind her and were charging at her. They completely dwarfed her in both height and width and looked like a horde of charging rhinoceros.
The woman shifted her grip on her pistol, taking her right hand from the two-handed grip and lowering the pistol down to her left side while her MP10 flashed into existence and filled her right hand. Starting from the left, she held down the trigger and swept the fully-automatic weapon across the line of men, sending a barrage of subsonic 10mm bullets at them.
More than half of the group stumbled and fell to their knees before slumping facedown onto the snowy road in less than a second while the rest staggered a few more steps forward. Lelyanna's left arm flicked up once more and she finished off the remainder of the men with three carefully aimed shots each; two to the chest and one to the head. The gun was a bit jerky in her off-hand but the charging men had been slowed by the initial burst from her machine-pistol which gave her enough time to steady her hand.
She lowered both weapons and let out a shaky breath, her eyes were wide as she stared at the dead and dying laid sprawled out in front of her. Finally, something within her snapped from the strain of being hunted and killing to survive.
"You Utter Morons! Just how much is Sebastian paying you that you all would march to certain death like lemmings? Are you all so desperate for money that when faced with a monster like him that you don't run away in fear? Why? Why do you force me to kill you just to protect myself?!"
When her frantic questions were answered with naught but the weak groans of men in the final throes of death. Her head drooped and she let out a weak murmur, "What a pointless waste of life… I thought intimidating you would be enough to stop this harassment… But now you've gone and unleashed hell upon yourself, Sebastian. I hope you're ready to face your own death, after sending these poor men to slaughter."
Lelyanna sent her MP10 away in a flash of light and turned her back on the dead men. She wasn't far from the manor so it wouldn't take long for her to reach the safety of the walled estate. But that wouldn't be the end of her ordeals, Sebastian would still come after her as he had before. It needed to stop here, tonight.
A pair of small red lights that stood out against the oppressive darkness caught her attention and she looked up at a rooftop at the end of the street, it was the familiar glow of Natsu's demonic eyes. He was watching over her and could likely sense the freight train of emotions thundering through in her mind.
A small flame danced just below the glowing orbs then moved to the right; he was pointing the way for her, but for what? There was only one answer to that, only one reason he'd direct her away from the manor in such a way.
"You found him, haven't you?" Lelyanna asked quietly, though she didn't need an answer from the man. She offered him a weak smile and lowered her head, a gentle sigh slipping through her lips and turning into a thick white fog. The pressure of his gaze shifted off of her and her gaze snapped to the rooftop but the man had already moved on.
The priestess returned her pistol to her right hand and checked the magazine under the light of a nearby streetlamp. It was running low again and while she doubted there were many threats left alive or who hadn't already fled, still she loaded a new magazine into her pistol in case it was needed.
She took yet another calming breath to try and ease her frayed nerves but she was beyond her wit's end and wanted to end it once and for all. With her mind settled down, or at least as much as it could, she headed to the intersection and turned right and ascended the slight slope.
After a few minutes of walking, she found the luxurious sedan that belonged to Sebastian. It looked like it had been forced to crash into a section of brick wall that bordered the neighbourhood's park and there were tracks leading from it to the nearby archway entrance into the park.
Following these tracks into the park, she came across a gruesome sight; a one-sided massacre. She glanced around while she approached the only man remaining alive and she murmured, "Here you are."
While Sebastian was seemingly unharmed save for the multitude of yellow lines running all over his body like a fine web and being hung from a tall tree by his wrists with vines, the four men that he had accompanying him weren't as lucky.
One had been reduced to a fine red paste scattered across the snow with his clothes shredded and dispersed. The fine fragments of flesh formed a wide cone that started where the man's footsteps had ended. Lelyanna knew that Natsu could impart enough force to over-penetrate, but it was clear that he also had the means to dump all that force into a target. It wasn't his bomb curse either, since she didn't hear an explosion coming from this part of the neighbourhood.
The second man's corpse was covered in still-burning maroon flames. He laid in a trough of snow and looked to have tried to put them out by rolling around. But this hellish fire was Natsu's Napalm and it couldn't be extinguished unless he snuffed it out himself.
The third looked to have been sent flying significantly into the air, either that or he had been driven into the ground with such force that his body had become a gruesome, gory and still steaming mess of organs, bones, flesh, and blood on the footpath.
The last man laid scattered across a small patch of grass – just less than a metre – and looked to have been shredded by a whirlwind of clean cuts right through his body. His organs had been cut to pieces by the flurry and he had likely died before any piece of his body touched the ground.
"I did warn you." Lelyanna let out a dejected sigh and came to a stop in front of the hanging man. She gazed up at him with dulled, saddened eyes; weighted down by the lives she was forced to take. "And because you forced my hand, many families will be spending Christmas without a father, brother, or son. You lusted after me so much that you decided to resort to kidnapping to get your hands on me, and now I have to bear the weight of taking their lives. And you forced him to kill civilians just to protect me."
"T-t-that man is a monster! A Demon! He's the goddamn Devil himself."
"I know." Lelyanna replied as if it were common knowledge. "I've known that ever since I met him and he isn't exactly secretive about it. It's why I warned you to not come after me ever again, why I tried to intimidate you. Well, it was part of the reason. You are going to die here, and your family is already aware of that fact. I warned them that if you came after me, that you'll be killed by my friend. That you'd unleash a demon's wrath upon yourself."
"I've made sure that no one will be able to find his body, either." The devil himself appeared from within the shadow of a nearby building and approached the priestess and nobleman with silent footsteps. "I covered you in explosives from my Bomb Curse – those yellow lines that have made a fine net across your skin. When they detonate, you'll be reduced to a fine pink mist on the breeze."
"How many, Natsu?" Lelyanna asked quietly as her eyes drifted over to the pinkette. He was in his normal clothing, minus his coat, so it was surprising that the buckles and boots weren't making their usual jangles and clacks. He had his pair of Messer short-swords at his hips and a knife and handgun strapped to his left and right thighs.
"Forty-seven dead, twenty deserted. He's the only one left."
"So there were far more than what had initially surrounded me…" The priestess let out a soft sigh and lifted her gaze back to the hanging man. "Forty-eight families will be in mourning during Christmas because of you." She flexed her fingers against the grip of her pistol and bit her lip in frustration. "Natsu, do you mind?"
To Sebastian's shock, he started to descend towards the ground but he came to a stop before his feet touched the grass. "What are you planning on doing?"
"You've forced me to kill many innocent men today because of your unyielding desire to subjugate me, this will serve as vindication for the actions I've taken. You deserve far, far worse than this in my eyes, so consider yourself lucky." Lelyanna lifted her M12 and rested the end of the suppressor against the underside of the man's chin. "Enjoy your stay in the underworld."
The slide of the pistol snapped back and the man's skull exploded out the back of his head in a gory shower of skin, bone, blood, and brain matter. Lelyanna watched the light leave the man's eyes. After a few seconds she finally turned her head away, but when she took a step away from the corpse, her legs gave way and she fell to her hands and knees. Her stomach instantly flipped and she ended up spewing out the contents of it as she began to shake uncontrollably.
Once there was finally nothing left to bring up, she lifted her head and gazed into the man's cold, merciless eyes with a frightened gaze. "I-I-It's over, isn't it?"
"Yes, you're free from his tyranny." Natsu replied gently as he knelt down beside the woman and placed a comforting hand on the woman's back and gently ran it up and down her spine. "Let's get out of here."
"I-I don't think I have the strength to move anymore…" Lelyanna whimpered. She tried to push herself up to her feet but her legs shuddered and she collapsed once more with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Can you help me, please?"
"Right." A short chuckle escaped Natsu's lips as he sat her up on her knees and cleaned her lips with a handkerchief. "It seems like our positions have switched."
"Hm?" The priestess blinked rapidly at the man while he wiped her mouth. Once he finished, she turned her head and spat some spit out onto the ground to try and get rid of the awful taste in her mouth. It was a rather unladylike gesture, but she couldn't bear the acrid taste of bile for one moment longer. "Ah, yes. When you came across Erza not long after coming here, I did the same for you." With a faint sigh, she rendered her pistol safe and slipped it back into the holster under her left arm. "Thank you."
Natsu eased the woman up a little then slid an arm underneath the woman's thighs. He hooked it behind her knees and raised her up into his arms so he could carry her from the walled garden. As they passed through the threshold, a vicious explosion ripped apart Sebastian's corpse and rendered the tree he had been hung from into splinters.
"There's going to be an investigation. What with the trail of bodies we've left behind."
"I can handle that when it happens. Even though there are survivors, I think they'd be reluctant to do anything now. I doubt they'd go to the guards about this, knowing that you're watching over me." Lelyanna was trying her best to be positive, but she could feel herself shaking against the man. She looked up at Natsu and let out a weak chuckle as she attempted to crack a joke. "We should've called you Charon; the ferryman of the river Styx who takes souls to the underworld."
"It's a bit too late for that suggestion, don't you think?" Natsu smiled down at the woman and leapt up to the rooftops. They weren't far from his manor, in fact, he could see it just a few blocks across from them and it would only take a few minutes to reach it if he went at a casual pace.
"I guess so." Lelyanna laughed lightly, her spirits were gradually lifting thanks to the man's mildly playful attitude. She let out a gentle yawn and curled into the man's delightfully warm body. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep alone for a little bit… at least not tonight. Not after this."
"It's not like I'm going to walk you back to your room if I find you in mine."
"Oh, I'm well aware of that." Lelyanna purred in an adorable imitation of Natsumi's naturally sensual voice.
10:00 AM
"Natsu~, Natsu~,"
Natsu groaned softly at the gentle voice as someone tried to lightly shake him awake. But as he stirred and the drowsiness receded, he realised what was actually happening; Lelyanna was bouncing on his lap, driving his morning wood into herself. "Anna…? I'm surprised that you're still raring to go."
"I'm sorry, Natsu, I woke up horny, even though you – oh god~ – turned me into an overfilled éclair during the night." Lelyanna replied bashfully. She was unable to meet his gaze and her skin rapidly became flushed from the embarrassment of being caught in what she considered to be a little bit of an immoral predicament. "And you were standing so big and tall… I just couldn't help myself~."
"It's fine." Natsu grasped the woman's hips and flipped their positions, hovering over her with a small smile. "But I can sense people down on the first floor. I'm guessing Natsumi has invited people over for Christmas. I wouldn't be a good host if I locked myself away and fucked you until you fell unconscious again."
"Just one more, please. It'll be quick, I promise."
"Alright, but I'm not going to go easy on you." Natsu carefully turned the woman over and stood her on her knees with her face buried into his pillow. "You might want to bite onto that."
"Are you going to do it rough?" Lelyanna looked over her shoulder at the man, her eyes sparkling with curiosity but she did as she was told and bit on the corner of the pillow. A groan slipped from her gagged lips as she felt the man slide back. Her eyes shot wide open and the pillow almost slipped from her mouth as she was suddenly full once more and the man's hips shot back and forth at an outstanding pace. "Mmmm~!"
Natsu placed his hands on the delicate priestess' shoulders and held her against the bed, groaning softly at her rapidly tightening body.
Lelyanna was quickly turned into a mess of muffled moans and something within her felt like it had just been corrupted, like the man had thoroughly stolen her innocence. She released the pillow for just a moment to beg, "Oh, Natsu, keep fucking me like that~ Please~!"
Natsu pushed her face back down into the pillow, trying to muffle her loud moans since he knew that some of the people below would be able to hear them easily. "Shh~."
The priestess began to twitch and quake as an orgasm tore threw her and stars exploded in her vision but even when her walls had clamped down on the man's cock, he wouldn't let up and she wasn't able to relax. She lost track of how long Natsu had been ravaging her for but when she felt a hot flood of goo fill up her womb once again, she shuddered and moaned loudly into the pillow.
"There, happy?" Natsu huskily groaned into the woman's ear as he released her.
"Fuck yes~," Lelyanna moaned and she lazily looked over her shoulder at the man before realising what she had said. "Oh my… don't you dare tell Natsumi about what you've turned me into, she'll never let me live it down."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Natsu chuckled quietly and he pulled out of the woman.
"Let's go have a quick shower and go greet the guests then." The young woman shakily got to her feet and pulled the man toward his ensuite.
"Did you know of this?" Natsu asked while allowing the tiny woman to lead him into the shower.
"She did ask me if it was a good idea." The priestess nodded rapidly. She brought the water up to where she liked it – a gentle warmth – and started to wash the man's body. "I said that it would be, since it gives you more time to mingle with them and they'll accept you more readily. Though, I did stipulate that Natsumi said that it was her that is the one inviting people to the manor, and not you. I don't want them thinking that you're showing off."
"It's probably for the best that you did that. It might be a bit odd if someone they barely know invited them all over." Natsu gave her a thankful smile.
He put a little bit of shampoo into her silvery hair and began to massage it in. The thought had crossed his mind more than a few times since he met her, but she always felt so delicate in his hands due to her short stature and slender frame. It made him be extra cautious when handling her body because it felt like she'd break with the slightest twitch of his hands. Though in reality, thanks to the magic that flows through her body as a mage, she was considerably tougher than she looked. But even so, she was still only human, mage or not.
"Something on your mind, Natsu?" Lelyanna asked, raising her eyes from the man's chest to look at his face. "Your gaze has this absent-minded quality to it."
"Only that you feel kind of frail to me."
Lelyanna blinked at the man then burst out in a fit of gentle laughter. She gave him a light shove, though it didn't even budge him a centimetre. "Of course, I'd feel like that to you. I mean, look at these muscles!" The priestess tried to wrap her small hands around his thick right upper-arm and gave it a squeeze. "They're almost as big and hard as the weapon of mass seduction hanging between your legs. Speaking of, how can you say that when you just railed me!"
Natsu chuckled and ran his hands down the woman's sides, spreading out soap across her skin. "You're one to talk; for your small body, you're not exactly modestly sized when it comes to the breasts."
"I'm lucky, all the fat I store goes right there before anywhere else. Though, I'm not as big as Natsumi or even close to Lucy, I'm still pretty proud of my body. Even if I don't flaunt it like those two."
"Huh, Lucy's the same. But the size runs in her family. I don't know about Natsumi though since we're too different, that and I've been mutated and my body requires a higher nutritional intake when I'm highly active, like in prolonged battles. I don't have all my additional power without any consequences. I burn a lot of fat, so I try to keep my intake high, and why I sometimes munch on nutrient bars or mixing up special drinks."
"How bad is it?"
"On a normal day or when I'm not running at max output for long periods of time, I can get away with consuming just a little bit more than the average guy my size – probably about fifteen to twenty percent on top of the standard meal size needed to function. If I was on a prolonged combat operation without my bars to replenish energy and nutrients, I'd probably go through three times the amount a normal guy would, maybe even more. It depends on my energy output." He paused for a moment and looked up at the showerhead in thought. "You know, Lucy and Erza were in the same boat… How the hell did both of them keep their huge tits that big when burning as much fat as the rest of us...?"
"I'm guessing they had eaten a little more than what was needed, just to keep their size constant," Lelyanna looked down at her own breasts and gave them a gentle squeeze, "or maybe they just have naturally large mammary glands."
Lelyanna shifted her gaze to the man's body and placed her hands against his chest. She could feel the firm muscles ripple under her fingertips and she smiled. Every time she touched him, it always amazed her just how little fat she could feel. It was a low percentage but it didn't feel to be an unhealthy one, she knew that he would've made sure to keep a certain amount so he wouldn't run dry and start cannibalising muscle tissue for energy.
While her mind was dwelling on the man's eating habits, her body decided to speak up and inform them both of its need for nutrition by growling loudly and causing the woman to hide her face against the man's chest.
"Sounds like we should finish up soon." Natsu chuckled lightly and rinsed the shampoo from the woman's hair, replacing it with conditioner before moving further down her body and washing her legs. While he was knelt down, he felt Lelyanna's small hands slide through his hair and slather shampoo through it.
Lelyanna smiled down at the man and leaned down with a smile, bringing her lips down near his ear to whisper, "Merry Christmas, Natsu. I wish I had more of a proper gift to give you but I've been incredibly busy at my cathedral…"
"It's fine, Anna, and Merry Christmas." Natsu slowly rose to his feet and looked down at the short woman. "I haven't exactly had the forethought to get a gift for you nor Natsumi. I've been too busy and too far in my own head to think of something to getting something."
"I'd like to think the efforts you went to just to ensure my safety last night were more than enough of a gift. I don't know if I would've been able to handle all of them myself if they all came at me at once." Lelyanna rubbed her cheek softly and shivered as she felt herself slowly start to leak semen. "Hm, but if you're serious about wanting to give me something besides a – um – cream filling, could I maybe have a shotgun to add to my small collection of firearms?"
"I've got enough parts to easily make another one of my M18 shotguns. Though, it is ten-gauge but the self-loading system soaks up a fair bit of that felt recoil. That's the same with the battle rifles, but prolonged use really digs into your shoulder."
"Yes please." The priestess nodded her head enthusiastically, a bright smile adorning her cute face. "Since I'm more of a defensive member of the team, it would be best if I have things that can deal with anything at close range. A shotgun will work well for me."
"You'll have to train yourself to be familiar with it and be fluid with your movements." Natsu quickly finished up in the shower and stepped out. The water sliding down his body began to sizzle and turn into steam as he glanced back at the small woman. "Well, since I'm doing this for you, I might as well make that new battle rifle for myself too since Henrietta has my only one."
"I'm going to be a little longer. I need to shave; I'm getting a little bit prickly. And I'll be putting on some moisturiser afterwards too. And, um… I'd like to push your semen out… as much as I like the warmth, I don't think it would be good to be leaking it or smelling of it with those sharp noses on some of the guests…"
"Alright. I'll see you downstairs." Before Natsu left the bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth and threw on some deodorant and cologne. He quickly dressed himself and stepped into his boots. After briefly checking his appearance in his full-length mirror, he strapped his knife to his left thigh and grabbed his holstered pistol, quickly putting it on his right thigh. "Since it won't be long before those guns get introduced to the masses, I guess I won't have to worry about hiding the guns anymore…"
As he stepped out of his bedroom, he was hit with a tidal wave of noise that caused his ears to ring. He started making his way down the stairs and glanced over the railing for the second-floor stairwell at the crowded first floor. He recognised most of the people gathered in their various social circles, but what stood out more was that there seemed to be people from outside Fairy Tail as a whole. Some looked to be family members, but others were from other guilds.
Natsu gritted his teeth and let out a long, slow breath through his nose. He suppressed his presence so he wouldn't draw any unwanted attention and began his descent down the stairs. Thanks to the modifications he had been making to his equipment and clothing during Christmas Eve – namely the micro-etching of passive sound-suppressing runes – he was once again able to walk silently through the crowd which was a feat that he hadn't been able to achieve in this world due to the clacking and clattering of his boots and buckles, along with the rustling of fabric.
Of course, he did politely greet those who bid him a good morning, he wasn't completely without manners. Among the various social circles stood people with various faction markings; a stylised 'S', the head of a sabre-toothed cat, a snake-woman, a horse's head, a stylised '4', and a stylised 'M'. It seemed that each person followed the general theme of being a Jaeger and were dressed in their own unique brand of fashion that stood outside the general cultural norms.
He entered the dining room and spotted Team Natsumi plus an additional blonde sat on the stools at the bench, chatting away merrily. He murmured a quick "Morning" to them and received a joyful chorus of voices in return as he passed through to the kitchen.
"Sorry for the surprise Christmas party, Natsu." Natsumi grinned at the pinkette while not at all sounding even the least bit apologetic at all. "I figured it might be a bit lonely with just you and Lelyanna here."
"I had a feeling that you might have gone and done something like this, but I wasn't expecting you to bring in people from outside the guild…" Natsu replied with a short sigh. He weaved through the busy android servants and collected everything he'd need to create some Eggs Benedict for himself and Lelyanna when she finally finished up.
"Mother, this is Natsu." Lucy smiled to the slightly older looking woman sat beside her. "He's… um," She quickly looked at the man's back, silently asking for permission and hoping the man would understand what her gaze and hesitation meant.
Natsu huffed and placed the ingredients down beside the stovetop. He turned and approached the line of women, resting his elbows down atop the bench with his chin sat on his interlinked fingers. He was standing in front of the two blondes, looking between one and the other. "Layla, it seems that Lucy hasn't told you anything about me bar my first name. So, I'd like for you to humour me; can you guess who I am?"
Layla reached out to the man's face but hesitated to touch him, her eyes on his lips. "May I?" She didn't get a verbal reply from the man but the right corner of his lips tugged up into a small grin, and she took it as the 'okay' to touch him. She ran her fingers across the man's stubble and was instantly surprised by his warmth that surpassed even Natsumi's. Her thumb caught on his top lip and lifted it to reveal a dangerously sharp fang. Her eyes darted to the nearby dragon princess then back to the man in front of her. "You're like her, but not at the same time. It seems you share more than just a name, right?"
"As much as I'd like to stay quiet on the matter, since I know that there are prying ears that are undoubtably listening into our conversation – even if it is passively – I suppose I'd have to come clean eventually." Natsu placed his dog tags down in front of the woman and nodded to the shards of metal. "Read this and you'll understand, probably."
Layla mouthed the words she read on the dangling tags, Commander Natsu Dragneel, and her head immediately snapped to the side and her jaw began to sag. The tags only confirmed that this man had some kind of strange connection with the pink-haired woman who sat on the other side of her daughter.
"You can think of him as a kind of 'foreigner', Layla." Natsumi gave the woman a bright, fanged grin and chuckled at the woman's stunned face. "It's a long story, but he immigrated here not long ago and only recently became a part of the guild."
Natsu tucked the tags back under his shirt, his eyes remaining on the mature blonde while he let out a slow breath through his nose. He was wondering just how much he should show her, but decided that even though her real daughter was sat beside her, she could probably be wondering about the one he knew. "There's one more thing I think I should show you… I'll have to go and grab them."
Layla watched the man curiously as he silently darted out of the room and returned a few minutes later. The clinking of metal drew her attention to his hand as he held out two rings and another set of dog tags.
"The one he knew, that he was married to… she didn't survive." Lucy murmured. She watched her mother pick up the tags which clinked together in her lightly shaking hands and then inspected the rings. "Died at war, in his arms."
"I'm the only one left out of everyone. Where I come from… all that remains is desolation." Natsu collected up the tags and rings from the woman's hands and he carefully slipped them into a pocket in his waistcoat. He turned his back on the group and returned to the task of making breakfast. "They know about my past, so you can ask them about it later on when there will be less people potentially listening in. Or you can corner the archbishop when she finally comes down and ask her, since she knows everything considering she was the first person I met when I came here."
Layla swallowed her sorrow and gave her daughter a quick hug before returning her attention back to the man. "So – er – what was she like?"
"Kind, loving, mischievous." Natsu rattled off. "I'm sure she was very similar to the woman sitting next to you. Of course, she was a few years older than her, and apparently, I'm a bad influence, so she wouldn't be exactly the same. Maybe she'll decide to show her face considering she's taken to haunting me, I did say she was fairly mischievous after all."
"Excuse me, Master." A pleading whine announced Henrietta's arrival.
Natsu turned to look at the ashen-haired woman and noticed that a short blunette was practically clinging to her with an almost psychotic fascination gleaming in her eyes. "Levy, why are you bothering my head maid?"
"How is she an android?" Levy blurted out. She prodded at the woman's waist and felt up her thighs. "I mean seriously! She feels completely normal, like an actual incredibly fit woman, what on earth is she made from?"
"I've already told you, Miss McGarden." Henrietta swatted way the woman's hands and placed a stack of plates down next to the sink. "I'm a biosynthetic android. My body is made from organic materials. Can you please stop groping me."
"Levy, look around." Natsu threw his arms out and gestured to the kitchen appliances around him. "This might not seem like much on the surface, but you do realise that where I came from was much more advanced than what you know, right?"
"Take me there!" Levy demanded, her eyes lighting up with eagerness. "I want to see what I can learn from the stuff there."
"No. It's too dangerous." Natsu shook his head and turned his back on the woman.
"He's right, Levy." Lelyanna chimed in, announcing her arrival. She gave the blunette's shoulder a gentle squeeze as she passed by and began to help the man with their breakfast. "I've been there, and you have to be very careful where you go. And make sure you take a Geiger counter to measure the radiation. It was dangerous for me to be there, so much so that it took a lot of convincing to get Natsu to allow me to come with him."
"Then at least give me stuff that I can reverse engineer."
"That's impossible." Natsu shook his head. "You guys don't have the kind of technology and machines available to reverse engineer and construct things from there. At least electronics-wise. But even the machinery has complex electronic components and computer systems running them, which can't be replicated here. In fact, I'm surprised that the automatons work as well as they do with a rudimentary artificial intelligence."
"I'm sorry, Miss McGarden, but Master is right. The most that can be done is to adapt the hardware so we can run the appliances, like what we have done to the manor. It was a tough task building something from scratch that allowed my body to interface with the existing hub, and even build the equipment needed to interface with two completely different systems. The technological divide is just that vast."
"And it was a chore doing that, and that's not even talking about coding a new intelligence for Henrietta to allow her to use that body to its full capabilities." Natsu took his breakfast to the bench with Lelyanna right on his heels. "Bear in mind that I'm just a soldier, not some brainiac scientist or computer whiz or something. I impair the quality of life, not improve it."
"Levy, it's Christmas… could you let off on your rampant fetish for reverse engineering slash inventing new things just for today…" Lucy groaned while hiding her face behind her hands.
"Look, I just want to make magic tools useable by non-magical people. Which, if you remember, is a large percentage of the population. If we can lessen the reliance on mages, then that allows them to focus on more meaningful things instead of being mobile charging stations for regular people."
"That also puts people out of jobs though, Levy." Layla calmly reminded the enthusiastic woman. "I know it sounds rich coming from the matriarch of a wealthy family, but people work those jobs to put food on the table and keep the lights on. Yes, it may not be as glamourous as being a Jaeger, but not all mages are geared towards combat and these mages take rolls beneficial to society. You, yourself, should understand what I mean by that since you're more of a researcher than a combatant."
Lelyanna nodded quickly and hastily swallowed her food. "I agree with Lady Heartfilia. Take myself as another example of that. I used to be one of those non-magical people but now I have incredibly powerful healing magic thanks to the blessings of Goddess Ceres. But even so, when I find myself in combat, I'm useless without a weapon. I have to rely on Natsu for protection, for him to eviscerate anything that tries to harm me."
"Which is why I've armed her and have been training her to defend herself." Natsu added offhandedly. "Speaking of… Henrietta, can you bring the Connell family's weapons up to my office and once I've finished eating, have the family brought up there."
"Of course, Master."
"Armed?" Layla asked curiously. Her eyes darted down to the man's thighs where his knife and pistol sat then glanced at the priestess who just continued to smile adorably.
"I have those very same weapons you see on him. And he'll be assembling another weapon for me as a Christmas gift; a self-loading shotgun."
"Self-loading?" Layla perked up, and even Levy's attention snapped to the man. "May I see?"
"One of Henrietta's clockwork units can show you to the manufacturing building and the stockpile if you wish. Just don't touch the machinery, I'd rather that you don't get injured." Natsu took his empty plate to the sink and gave it and the cookware a quick handwash and stacked them on the drying rack before head out of the kitchen. "I've got to deal with Bisca and Alzack. If anyone needs me, just ask one of Henrietta's bodies and they'll tell you where I am."
"I'll have them brought to the office now." Henrietta said as she fell in step behind her master. "The weapons are already there waiting for reveal."
"Hey Natsu?" Lucy called out to the retreating man. She smiled brightly at him when he half-turned towards her and looked back over his shoulder at her. "I was wondering; since you've already gone on a job with Natsumi, would you mind if our team tags along with yours on the next job that you guys go on?"
"That depends on what it will be. That kind of manpower would mean it would be more of a combat orientated mission, like a monster elimination task. But in that regard, Hellhound operates differently than Team Natsumi does and we focus on a different style of combat; firearms combined with strategic use of magic on my part. Yeah, I do use my swords, but I'm most comfortable with my guns. I don't want to put you lot in the back just because your style isn't what I'm used to and have you get antsy because you aren't seeing any action."
"I won't get antsy, I promise." Wendy spoke up. Though her words held an underlining defiance, she was still polite.
"If you do decide to take us along, then we'll defer to your leadership and follow your orders. If those orders are to avoid close-in fighting, then so be it." Erza backed up her friend. She did have an ulterior motive, however, as she was curious to see what the man was capable of in a more traditional battle instead of a city defence. "All of us have some form of ranged attacks that we can use to remain clear the firing line and block off various routes. Though, it's not my specialty, I do have various ranged weapons I can use."
"Leave the idea with me." Natsu conceded with a quick placating wave of his hand. "It probably won't be for another week or two since I've still got business stuff to deal with, so maybe in the first half of January. If you're planning on going on a job in that time, then just go ahead."
"I'm alright on cash for now." Lucy replied. Due to her rent and spending habits, she was the most hard-up of the team, and the look she got from the four other members only cemented that fact. "What? I haven't found anything interesting recently."
Leaving the girls to bicker among themselves, Natsu headed out of the dining room and hurried up the stairs. Alzack, Bisca and Asuka were already waiting out the front of his office by the time he reached it. "Sorry about the wait, I got hung up with Lucy and Erza as they want to do a joint mission the next time that I take one."
"That's fine, we weren't waiting for long." Alzack replied with a small reassuring grin. "The three of us are really eager to see what you've got for us. Isn't that right, Asuka?"
"Yes, Papa!"
"Let's head inside then." Natsu chuckled softly and led the way into his office. He waved them over to the couch while Henrietta took him behind his desk where she had left the weapon cases. "You'll have to tell me what you think about the cases too. Because if you like them, they may become standard for the sale of my weapons."
"Bisca's are on the left, Master." The android murmured softly. She picked up two of the smaller cases by the carry-handle and took them over to the couches, with Natsu close behind with the rest.
Natsu placed the ebony wood cases down on the coffee table in front of their respective owners and plopped down on the couch opposite the Connell family. "You can keep these carry cases, by the way."
Bisca was the first to open a box. In her eagerness, her fingers fumbled on the gold latches but she quickly opened the longest of her two boxes. Inside was an immaculately presented and absolutely beautiful Self-Loading Rifle Mark 2 which was sat perfectly cushioned within its own cut-out in the shadow-blue felt base. In the small pockets around the gun sat two different scopes, six magazines, a suppressor, cleaning and tool kits, and a manual that instructed the owner on how to operate and maintain the weapon.
"Hot damn." She murmured excitedly and let out a low whistle. She noticed her husband lean in for a closer look so she shuffled aside on the couch to give him some more room. "She's a beauty. And I love the presentation of it too."
"Yeah. You've knocked it out of the park, Natsu." Alzack nodded enthusiastically.
"I wasn't able to get my hands on basic scopes just yet, so I've given you a 1-4x scope and a 6-10x scope from my personal stockpile of equipment." Natsu leaned over the back of the box and pointed to the two optics. "These sights are capable of Infrared Night Vision and Thermal Imagery, they can also range-find with the press of a button, and it will save the distances to these ranged targets so you can set up a series of shots before eliminating each one. While they do run on electricity, they have a long battery life and also charge from any light source though inbuilt solar cells."
"So, these are the same ones as what you have on your rifles?" Bisca asked while lifting the beautifully engraved rifle and lower powered optic out of the box. She checked the mounting system then placed the scope onto the rails and tightened it into place with the thumb screws. "I'm vaguely familiar with them already from your little show-and-tell."
"Alzack, if you open up the long one in front of you, you'll see the Mark One variant which only has the 1-4x scope. I decided to give you one too so both of you are capable of laying down some pretty heavy gunfire."
"Sounds like both Bis and I will be having a fair bit of range time in the near future." Alzack replied while opening the case. The contents were almost the same as Bisca's with the exception of the Mark One variant and a single scope. "This booklet, it tells us how to use it?"
"Yeah. It contains everything an owner will need to know about the gun. Every single one of the guns that I will be selling will have that included. And everything you see there – with the exception of the smart scopes as they'll just be regular variable zoom scopes – will come with the weapons. I've gotten patents for all of it due to those prototypes, and thankfully, I managed to get patents for many other designs, actions, and locking mechanisms because I provided detailed schematics to the Patent Office."
"Damn, you've been busy." Bisca murmured and flashed the man a quick smile before taking the scope off the rifle and placing everything back into the box. Once it was closed up, she placed the smaller box on top of it. Inside of it was a P10 pistol – a semi-automatic pistol chambered in 10x28mm with contoured and textured ebony wood side panels on the grip – with four magazines, along with another cleaning kit and a manual. "Wow, she looks pretty nice too."
"I'm proud of the trigger on that too. Very crisp and snappy. And like I've said, I can give you more magazines and speed loaders for all these weapons if you need them. This is just how it is all sold as."
"And now it's time for the main event." Alzack announced, grinning widely as he closed the rifle case and placed the two smaller cases on top of it. He opened both at the same time and revealed a matching pair of revolvers with eight speed-loaders between the two of them. Like all the other weapons, the revolvers had ornate and beautiful engravings which had gold leaf laid into the engravings to make them pop against the dark metal. "Damn, everything you've given us is just so god damn beautiful."
"If you take a closer look at the grips," Natsu shifted over and flipped over one of the revolvers. "They have an asymmetric diamond pattern cut into the wood. The inside of them, so the side that the cylinder swings out to, will be the finer pattern. Larger to palm, smaller to fingertips, not by much but it's noticeable when you have it in your hands. This is a custom job, so normally it would be symmetrical. Well, technically the entire thing is custom since normally they wouldn't have the engravings and pure gold accents. Same with the cases, the hardware would normally be brass, not gold."
"So Natsu, what's inside the sixth box?" Bisca asked and pointed to the unopened box that sat just off to the side.
"A supply of ammo for the weapons, as well as casings, primers, powder, and a handloading guide so Alzack can do those magic bullets that he was talking about. I suggest reading the manual extensively before doing it though as the last thing you'd want is to have a gun blow up in your hands because you used the wrong powder or the wrong amount of it."
"Damn, we really need to go and practice with our new babies later on!" Bisca exclaimed while bouncing eagerly in her seat.
"There's one more thing, I didn't have enough time to package them since I've had my hands full." A flash of light obscured both of Natsu's outstretched hands and they were filled with three tanned leather holsters; two for the revolvers and one for the pistol. "I had these made up by the same artisan that did Lelyanna's white leather holster that is usually hidden under that capelet of hers. They're made to fit your new handguns and are designed to attach to your belt, unlike mine which is sitting on my thigh."
"Heh, it really is Christmas, isn't it?" Alzack laughed heartily and took his new holsters from the man. He quickly fastened them to his belt and slipped his new revolvers into them. "It's snug, but they are brand new. We'll just have to wear them in while we practice with them."
"Sounds good to me." Bisca agreed. She took the holster and slipped a magazine into her new pistol then slotted it into the holster and placing it on her right hip.
"Can I have a gun too?" Asuka asked innocently, her eyes shifting between her mother and father then to Natsu and Henrietta. "Please?"
"Heheh, give me a little time and I'll make something for you. It'll probably just be an airgun that fires cork or rubber bullets, hm, maybe I'll make a set for you." Natsu leaned back on the couch and lifted his gaze to the ceiling in thought. "Would you prefer a revolver like your father or a pistol like your mother?"
"Can I have a revolver and a cowboy rifle?"
"A lever-action." Bisca quickly clarified. "If you don't mind, could they be something she could grow into? They could use the 10mm ammo in both."
"Yeah, I can do that." Natsu clapped his hands together and dropped his gaze back to the family with a rarely seen warm grin that he used to be famous for. "Just give me a little bit of time to sort it out. I'll probably make it by hand down in my workshop in the basement when I have free time. I'll do it up like the rest of the guns, something nice and fancy, just make sure to look after it."
"Heh. Don't worry, take all the time you need." Alzack returned the man's grin and gently ruffled his daughter's hair. "What do you think, Asuka, are you happy with what he'll be making for you?"
"Yep! Thank you!"
Natsu chuckled softly and turned his full attention to Alzack and Bisca. "Don't bother being frugal in your use of the ammunition as I'm happy to just give you more, doesn't matter if it's just for training or to restock after a job. I'd rather you have a surplus than end up running out when you need it most. That box there has a thousand rifle rounds each, and double that in pistol ammunition. So go hog wild and train your hearts out."
"As much as I really want to get out and shoot, I think we should stay here a little bit and get familiar with the guns and manuals first." Bisca took the booklets from the pistol and rifle cases and sat back in Natsu's comfortable couch. "I don't want to accidentally break something and have to come back so soon."
"If you do come across any issues, just let me know and I'll fix them." Natsu put his hands on his knees with an audible slap and rose to his feet. "You should be alright though since they are all tried and true designs. Anyway, I better return to the party before someone somehow breaks something."
He made his way to the door but stopped with his hand on the handle and turned back to the Connell family. "Oh, if you want to test out those handguns today and don't feel like travelling all the way out to your range. I have a small range set up in the yard, one of Henrietta's units could show you the way. And don't worry about the noise they'll make; people can just put up with it."
"We'll take you up on that soon." Alzack looked up from the manual for his revolvers and grinned at the pinkette.
Henrietta made to leave but before she followed her master from the room, she turned and offered a quick but respectful bow. "Please enjoy the rest of your day."
That's this chapter's rewrite completed. It saw an increase of 200 words, and had an addition of the brief scene with Lelyanna in the morning.
The following chapters include a crossover with thehappy's Shifting Through Realities, involving Mira, Erza, Levy, and Kagura from that story. This has been in talks for a little while behind the scenes and I hope I do his characters justice.
The crossover occurs between Chapter 28 'The only good bug, is a dead bug' and Chapter 29 'Doomsday'. On my end, it happens during the next job and the week following, upon which they move on to their next unplanned destination.
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you all in the next one.