Chapter Twenty-Four
Mira's First Job
A couple of days had come and gone, and true to his word, Natsu had returned.
"Hey!" He heard Lucy cry out, "I was about to take that!" She said, stood next to Gajeel by the job board with all of the contracts.
"First to take gets the job, girlie," Gajeel responded flatly, "besides, this kinda work requires some fighting, wouldn't you be better suited to something else?" He asked with a raised brow.
"You won't be able to fight if I break that iron skull," Natsu announced himself.
"I'll throw down with you anytime Salamander, that Plan B of yours won't work again now that I know what it means." Gajeel sneered, his stance as aggressive as always, but there in front of Natsu, there was something unspoken. Like he knew deep down in his subconscious that he was a Dragon in front of a Dragon King.
"What's plan B?" Juvia asked, having been absent the last time.
"Don't ask," Lucy cut in, not keen on being caught in the centre of an explosion.
"I promised the geezer that I wouldn't accidentally murder anyone, I guess that means guildmates by proxy, so perhaps when you get stronger, you and I can get serious, but today is not that day, Gajeel," Natsu said, walking away and chuckling at the deeply insulted Iron Dragon.
"Silvertop," Natsu greeted as he sat at a barstool. It appeared that Makarov was asleep on his cushion, possibly after having had one too many beers.
"Mr. King," she responded, her voice salacious as ever when they spoke alone.
"What exactly is it that I am supposed to be doing? I'm not allowed to take any good missions, and I'm not willing to break the rules because the geezer put me to sleep for a week then last time I was caught in his spell, and I refuse to waste my time doing something that's beneath me. I. Am. Bored." He said, slamming his head down against the bar.
"Well, if you see an S-Class mission that you really, really want to do, you could ask an S-Class mage to accompany you, that's not against the rules, it happens all the time," Mira explained, continuing to do her chores behind the bar without a second thought.
"Ask someone to babysit me? Hmm, let me think…" he said, tilting his head at her with a mild glare.
"Well, I haven't gone on an S-Class job since my magic returned, I would love it if you came with me on one," Mira said, spinning the phrasing around.
"Would you do that? Let's go now!" He said, excitedly, he reached over and grabbed her by the waist, lifting her cleanly over the bar with ease before gently letting her touch the ground.
"Natsu!", she protested with a laugh, "I can't just leave the bar, we're going to be busy soon," Mira reasoned, crossing her arms.
"It's ok, you go ahead, I can handle this," another waitress waved.
"Are you sure, Laki?" Mira asked, concerned about the welfare of the other waitresses.
"I can handle this lot, don't worry about me." The mage insisted.
"It's not this lot I expect will give you trouble, it's that one," she pointed at the snoozing master.
"I'll be fine, go and have some fun for once." She said, shooting Mira away from where she stood behind the bar.
"Well then, I guess I'm free after all," the she-devil smiled so sweetly that nobody would expect what she was capable of with that magic.
"Well now, what might this be?" Mira asked coyly, looking at a particular piece of paper. In the top right corner was a little emblem of a fire.
"A special request for Mirajane Strauss to bring the newly appointed Fairy Tail member; Natsu Dragneel, to the city of Crocus for an exclusive interview agreed to upon by Master Makarov Dreyard." Mira read, seeing the various stages of understanding, betrayal, and anger work their way across his face.
"You little-big bitch," Natsu muttered under his breath, glaring daggers at Master Makarov.
"It's a special request and the Master has already given the ok, we're going to the capital after all." Mira beamed.
"But… I don't wanna." He said, looking like the weight of the world had suddenly been put on his shoulders.
"Come on, Natsu, it will be good for you to experience the hustle and bustle." She mused, pulling him on.
"Experience the hustle and bustle," he mocked, "I was there before it even had hustle and bustle."
"Well, I already have our train tickets," Mira explained, dragging him out of the guildhall.
"Wait…" he stopped dead. She couldn't pull him no matter how hard she tried, "you didn't even know if or when I'd be coming back but you brought train tickets for this 'special request' job in the capital." He said, eyeing her suspiciously.
"This was a setup!" He yelled in outrage, "You've gone too far old man!" Natsu yelled, causing an even bigger scene than he had before, pointing over at Makarov who continued to snooze. An enormous fist emerged from the tiny man and slammed Natsu against the ground.
"Quiet, boy," Makarov grumbled, still mostly asleep.
"Ow." Natsu said from the floor, looking up at the ceiling, "One day, you and I are going to have a real match of fisticuffs." He muttered under his breath, taking Mira's outstretched hand and righting himself.
"Don't be so dramatic, you know there wasn't any force in it and you know it would be like a bee sting to you," she shook her head at the Dragon Slayer's antics.
"It was the principle that hurt," he said, glaring at the master. He could have sworn that for a fleeting moment the old man had smiled.
Eventually, Mirajane managed to get him to the Magnolia train station, facing the gleamingly clean train.
They had been about to board when they felt a flicker of magical power, no longer than a brief moment, but it was strong, strong enough to make the Dragon Slayer stop.
"Natsu?" She asked, looking over at him, "What is it?"
"Hopefully nothing, but for a second there, I thought I felt the geezer's grandson," Natsu answered, staring into the distance.
"Laxus?" She peered out from underneath the brim of a large sunhat.
"Yeah, it's probably nothing, it just… No, it's probably nothing," he mirrored his own words before following Mira onto the train and finding their seats.
"What's wrong? You look genuinely unhappy to be here with me." She said, suddenly feeling self-conscious about something that she couldn't quite figure out.
"It's not you," he said, shaking his head, "I just hate trains. I hate wagons, boats, trains, just anything that moves in an internal perpetual motion." He said, looking slightly pale.
"Oh," Mira said, immediately feeling better, "well maybe you get motion sickness." She suggested.
"Something like that," he nodded, "It's ok, I'm sure I'll survive, it's only for twenty or so minutes." He sighed heavily
"Natsu," Mira looked at him with wide eyes, "The train journey to Crocus is usually at least three hours." She watched as the little colour that remained on his face slowly drained.
"Then let's take the fun way, you can fly can't you? I'll race you there." Natsu tried to grin but it just didn't look right where his face was so heavily drained.
"No can do, Mr. King," she said, putting that flirty tine back into her voice, "Besides, I wanted to use this time to talk to you." She said.
"Talk, about what?" He asked.
"Did anything happen at the tower on Erza's last mission, anything that she didn't tell us about? When you were unconscious, she was like I've never seen her before." Mira said, glancing at the floor, her expression unreadable.
Natsu took a long moment before he answered, "Titania almost sacrificed herself, she wanted to save us, or rather, me, but I couldn't let her do that, so I pulled her out of the crystal and traded places. I really thought I was going to die." he mused quietly.
"So you kissed her," Mirajane said thoughtfully.
"I didn't say that," he told her.
"You didn't have to. You've invaded that girl's heart and mind, it had to be something along those lines," Mira reasoned.
"Mirajane Strauss," Natsu said, "I am over four hundred years old, immortal to the passage of time. There have been innumerable attempts on my life, but this time I really thought I was going to die," he explained. His voice was soft while he gazed out of the window.
"So you stole a kiss." Mira smiled cheekily.
"I pulled her out of the lacrima and willingly took her place. My body was about to absorb two hundred and seventy million units of edea, then likely explode into as many pieces. I was getting a kiss for my troubles, sue me." Natsu pouted as he crossed his arms.
"I think you were brave to face that, and noble to put yourself forward, but, Mr. King, I would have rewarded you with much more than a kiss for saving my life," she whispered to him, her voice more sultry than he'd ever heard it.
"What?" his head swivelled round at alarming speed, his eyes wide.
"But, that ship has sailed, sadly," Mira smirked, pulling a magazine out of her bag and proceeding to ignore the Dragon by her side.
"Mira, what?" he repeated, demanding an answer from her. He received no response.
"I hate wagons, I hate trains, but now, now I hate ships the most… Ship has sailed." he mocked quietly as he continued to be grumpy for the entirety of the journey.
Back at the guild, Lucy had given up on finding a job for the day, the only good one having been snatched from her grasp by Gajeel.
She'd been sat by the bar, complaining about it to Laki who had no choice but to listen in Mira's stead.
"Why don't you ask Erza to take you on an S-Class mission, it's what Natsu has done," Laki suggested, referring to the reason that she was the one who stood there instead of Mira.
"No, Erza has gone off on a social justice rampage against the creators of her armour, something about it not fitting right anymore. Gray is off on a mission with Juvia, the details of which I purposely did not ask, and of course, Natsu…" she sighed heavily.
"Natsu is probably out fighting a God by now, especially with Mira by his side," the Celestial mage sighed sadly.
"Do I sense some jealousy there?" Laki asked with a raised brow.
"No!" Lucy shot up, her angry gaze softening almost immediately, "Maybe just a little. He's come into our lives with the force of a hurricane and now I've barely seen him." she said, laying her head down once again.
"Damn Dragon, he used to date one of my Celestial Spirits," Lucy cooed, absent-mindedly.
"Noo!" Laki gasped, falling to Lucy's level, "Was it Loke!?" she demanded in a hushed whisper. "I bet it was Loke, I can't unsee that now!" Laki put her hands over her mouth, wide-eyed.
"It wasn't Loke! It was Aquarius and now she won't even answer my summons." Lucy said.
"Doesn't matter, I ship it. That's head cannon now." Laki grinned mischievously, "And I won't stop until I see them sharing the steamiest kiss ever."
"It's not impossible, I guess," Lucy shrugged, "When he first saw Porlyusica, she slapped him, Aquarius too when she realized who he was. It feels like his 'type' is having an active heartbeat."
"Ah, I can't wait! I'm going to start referring to them as Loksu, ooh, or maybe Nake, no, that doesn't sound right… Nale? Well, actually, that's probably what I'd call it if you ever got with him. I'll stick with Natsu x Loke." Laki grinned her eyes were practically hearts at that point.
"What does the 'x' stand for?" Lucy asked, unsure if she wanted to find out.
"All of the x-rated things I'm currently imagining," Laki said with a slight drool.
Lucy never got the chance to respond or reprimand the wood-make mage as Cana had come rushing into the guildhall.
"Lucy! Come quick, there's trouble down by the park, Laxus is beating the stuffing out of Gajeel, you're good at putting a leash on these Dragon Slayers, get over there!" the magic cards mage yelled, somehow managing to get a jibe in toward Lucy at the same time.
"What do you think that I could possibly do to stop them!?" Lucy demanded, grabbing Happy from the bar, interrupting the flying cat's sleep.
"You need to do something otherwise someone is going to end up dead, I've never seen Laxus act this way before, something is seriously wrong!" Cana told her, the urgency registering at last.
"Damn it, why did Natsu have to be gone today, he could have solved this straight away." Lucy cursed, heading toward the entrance.
One of Cana's magic cards sprung to life, it was connected to the same one that Levy always held, "Cana, it's over, they've both gone elsewhere." the solid-script mage had said, her voice loud and clear to them.
"Problem solved?" Lucy grimaced, hoping so desperately that her words were true. "Please don't be gone too long Natsu, I can't handle other Dragons." she groaned before they left the guild hall anyway, heading back toward Levy to check on them.
On the train, Natsu had felt that same wave of discomfort, not from the movement of the vehicle, but from the fleeting sense of Laxus' power. It hadn't felt like it had before, there was something else, something secondary that followed it around like a shadow.
Having relented from his stoic grumpy posture, he'd been pulled into Mira's lap, where she gently ran a hand through his hair, still reading the magazine in her other, eventually, sleep had claimed him and rescued him from the movement-induced nausea.
He hadn't expected that his dreams would take him to the past, not when he was feeling comfortably vulnerable in the company of Fairy Tail's she-devil.
Nevertheless, here he was, reliving a perfect memory where his eyes had opened again as 'Natsu Dragneel' for the first time since his revival as the feared Etherious.
He'd always remembered that day as it was the first day that he'd ever seen her face.
A/N: There will be several 'dream-sequence' chapters in the past, not a huge amount, but enough for me to begin building up some key things that I want to introduce later.
And, cheeky review here and there?