Jem Island Mishap
"Well here we are!" shouted Natsu as he suddenly kicked the doors to the Guildhall known as Fairy Tail.
For one quick second, everyone turned in his direction before groaning and then went back to whatever each person was doing.
Beside Natsu stood a young woman wearing a pink dress. Her strawberry blond hair laid down her back, with a pink bow tied on top of her head, which went well with her brown eyes and speckled freckles below her eyes. She stood up to Natsu's shoulders and from one look, the two looked like a cute pair.
"Wow! This is so awesome!" Amber exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know!" Natsu grinned. There hovering above them was Natsu's trusting friend, Happy.
"Welcome back Natsu," Mirajane greeted as she walked over to the two as they entered the hall. "Who is this young woman?"
Natsu turned to the former devil woman. "Oh hey Mira! This is Amber."
"Welcome to Fairy Tail," Mirajane smiled. "Are you wanting to join?"
"Yeah sure!" Amber smiled. "Natsu made it sound so great. He even told me he once brought someone else here before too."
"Yeah, her name is Lucy. I think she's out on a mission," Mirajane replied.
"Really? That's so cool!" Natsu blurted. Just then he was kicked in the head. He was quick to turn. "Why you…"
"I've been trying to get your attention you idiot," replied a man who was only wearing pants.
"Gray, I'm going to kill you!" Natsu thundered as he lunged at the man.
"Bring it on, you Pyro!" hissed the man as his hands began to produce frost.
Amber blinked. "Wh…what's going on?"
Mirajane giggled. "Natsu just being Natsu," she replied. "You'll find that a lot here in Fairy Tail. Gray and Natsu work on the same team most of the time but lately they've been taking separate jobs again. It's a good thing Erza and Lucy are out on a mission. Those two can't really be themselves when the two are nearby."
"This is definitely not what I was expecting."
"Neither was Lucy when Natsu brought her here and she joined."
"So how does one become a member?" asked Amber.
"Simple," Mirajane smiled before walking over to the bar and produced a stamp. "I just use this stamp here and the magic of the stamp produces a tattoo. I can give you one right now if you'd like."
"Really?!" Amber gasped. "Sure! But I don't want it to be visible, if you don't mind."
"Sure," Mirajane replied. "Follow me into the infirmary. No one is there right now so we can go there and you can show me where you'd like it."
Both young men continued to fight as Mirajane took the young girl into another room. They emerged several minutes later with Amber producing a very bright blush. Mirajane wasn't bothered in the least and went back to the bar, offering someone a drink. Since Natsu was busy with his fight, creating a bar brawl, Amber made her way to the landing where she saw a build board full of missions with rewards.
"So became a member huh?" asked a woman.
Amber turned to the woman, seeing her not be much taller than her and she had beautiful blue hair. "Yeah. Mirajane told me about this mission board."
"Yeah, this is where the daily new missions are added. My name is Levy, what's yours?"
"Amber," the girl answered. "I've heard many stories about Fairy Tail and it was quite remarkable how I met Natsu."
"Well if there's anything I can help you with, don't…" Levi stopped suddenly as she looked towards the entrance of the guildhall. Her eyes suddenly bugged out of her head as suddenly several dozen swords went flying crashing into the wooden tables.
The entire room went into dead silence as Amber turned to see what got Levy's attention.
"I turn my back for three days and this is what happens. Natsu! Gray! I take it this was your doing!?"
Amber looked to the pink haired man to only see him visibly shaking, giving a fearful look. "Well… Erza… you know how it is…"
"Yeah…" Gray stuttered too. "I had to say hello to Natsu…"
"That's what it only be," the woman at the entrance blurted as she walked further into the hall, making her way to the bar. "Hey Mirajane, can I have my usual."
"Of course Erza," the polite woman answered.
"Who's she?" whispered Amber.
Levy looked to her. "Erza. She's usually on Natsu's team. Erza is a good person."
"Who's this girl?" asked Erza as she stepped over to the mission board. She had noticed Amber with Levy and decided to check her out.
"Amber…" Amber shyly answered.
"She's new to the guild," Levy answered.
"Yeah! And I brought her here!" Natsu replied as he stepped over to them. "So, Amber what you looking at?"
"Mirajane just made me a member and told me to look at the request board."
Natsu looked at the board, letting Levi take her chance to leave. "Well let's see here." His eyes scanned the board for several minutes. "What do you think Happy?"
"I'm not sure," muffled the little flying cat that had a fish in his mouth.
He looked at the board for several more minutes. "I can't figure out which one would be good to take." He looked to Amber. "I know, since you're new, how about you choose. Lucy hasn't returned yet, so I can't take a mission for all my team to take until she returns."
"You want me to choose?" Amber blinked, stunned.
"Sure, why not?" Natsu grinned. "Besides, this will give you some experience."
Amber gave a quizzable look as she looked at the board again. Soon something caught her interest. Reaching up she snatched it off the board and handed it to Natsu. "This one!"
"This one!?" he blinked as he read the quest. "This looks like a sissy quest."
"Please Natsu," she pleaded. "You did say for me to pick one."
"But this doesn't sound like a good enough mission for your first time."
She gave him a puppy eye look, again pleading with him.
He looked at her and then smiled. He couldn't say no to that. "I did say that, didn't I? Well then lets go! I'm all fired up now!"
The quest the two were taking was to find a rare and beautiful butterfly known as a Zerithyan. They were only known to be in one place called Jem Island and it would take a bit to get there. Natsu would often swallow his pride when it came to travelling. It would just take him a bit to recover, as he was really bad with motion sickness.
Getting to the island was Natsu's worse trip ever. They had to first take a train from Magnolia station to another town that had a pier that would be able to take the two to the island they needed. But before getting to the island, they had to transfer to another boat, which they had to rent and go on their own to Jem Island. They couldn't figure out why the locals wouldn't help them. It actually reminded Natsu of another mission he once had that was measured as "S-class" and he got in serious trouble for it.
This time the mission wasn't an 'S-class' and it was just him and his new friend Amber taking the trip. No Lucy this time or Gray trying to stop them or even Erza demanding for them to return. This mission was actually approved by Erza.
Once on solid land, Natsu drowsily crawled on the ground, trying his best to stop himself from hurdling. Amber felt bad for the young man. She wished there was something to help him with his motion sickness. Just like everyone else, she thought it was strange how flying with Happy never made him sick.
"You going to be ok?" Amber asked.
"Yeah he will," Happy answered for Natsu. "Just got to give him time to adjust to being on land again."
The pink haired man groaned, feeling completely dizzy.
"So what shall we do until he feels better?" she asked.
"The same thing we did when we got to Magnolia," Happy answered. "Sit and wait."
For an hour the two waited and soon Natsu began to feel better, he gave the boat one look and felt like hurdling but then turned away. "Well we can't sit around here all day, we got to find that butterfly, so lets go!"
"Aye, aye sir!" Happy called out.
Amber smiled as she stood and began to work the kinks out of her back from sitting so long. "So where shall we start looking?"
"Where else?" Natsu asked. "That way!" he pointed in the direction of inland. "We won't find anything here by the water."
"True."
The three then began to travel into the trees, making their way inland. Soon though, they were forced to stop, learning they weren't the only ones on the island. Hiding behind some bushes, the two humans and cat found themselves observing a battle.
"This isn't good," Natsu whispered. "Other guilds."
"What's going on?" asked Amber.
Happy looked at her. "Each time there's a job posted, every guild gets a copy of the same job. People are so desperate to do something they will advertise the job all over the place."
"And sometimes we'll come across a guild doing the same job," Natsu answered. "And each time a request has been successful, the master of that guild will contact all guilds to inform the other masters the job is done."
"So is this a battle between other guilds?" she asked.
"Yes, I would assume so," Natsu quietly answered. "But we're going to get there first." He then stood.
"What are you doing?" she rushed.
"Going to give these guys a taste of their own medicine." He then ran out from the bushes, jumping right into the middle of the battle, firing one of his strong attacks, taking out most of the fighters. Any he didn't, were blasted back.
"Now that's a way to clean out a room!" he called out. "Let's go Amber. The coast is clear!"
Amber and Happy came out of hiding, carefully walking over the sea of unconscious bodies. "Your attack can be quite scary."
Happy smiled. "It's because he's a Salamander."
"A what?"
"I'm a dragon slayer," he offered to summarize it up. He turned away, not knowing a few he didn't take out were getting up.
The two weren't too far from the ocean as they could hear the waves still. Jem Island was not very big and probably could travel it from one side to the other in less than two hours.
The two humans began to climb a hill, heading further into the island though she could still hear waves but it was getting a little quieter as she moved further inland. With her searching, the two soon came upon a cave, which was dark inside.
Remembering the details of the mission said the butterfly would be found in a cave, they ventured forward into the cave. Using her light magic, she created a small light that appeared from her eyes, illuminating the cave in front of her, wherever her eyes looked, the light would follow, allowing her to see each crevice and corner.
"Now that's cool!" Natsu grinned. "You're going to be a very useful wizard of Fairy Tail.
"Thank you," she smiled.
They then ventured into the darken cavern, looking for any sign of the butterfly. Pulling out a small like torch, she then used her light magic again, turning the torch into a light but one not made of flames.
"This is so cool!" Natsu exclaimed as she handed him the lit torch.
She then moved away from him and began her search, looking between cracks and under rocks. She didn't pay attention to how Natsu was searching; she just kept to her own searching. Wanting to find this butterfly really bad before someone else did. It was nerve racking knowing more wizard guilds could be searching for the same object and that probably could include dark guilds.
The search continued for what seemed like hours before soon the two found themselves with a fork in the road. Before them, were four tunnels, each leading to a different location.
"Now which…" Amber began. Just then was a giggle, which sounded like a girl. The sound came from the third tunnel. Without hesitation, Amber ran off, going down the third tunnel.
"Wait! Amber!" Natsu tried to call after her. "Happy I don't like it, something's off."
"Aye!"
"Let's go!" Natsu hissed. Natsu began to break into a run, working on making his way down the same tunnel but then suddenly the entrance closed and he slammed into a rock wall.
"What the heck!?" he gasped after getting over the shock of slamming into a wall.
"A rock wall!" Happy pointed out.
"Yeah, which means Amber is falling into a trap of some kind. We have to get to her and fast!"
Meanwhile, while Natsu and Happy were trying to figure a way to get through the wall, Amber continued to run down the tunnel not knowing something wrong was happening. Soon though something forced her stop as a feeling of getting an electric shock, shook through her body, causing her the light to leave her eyes, sending her in total darkness.
When the shock left her body, she stood there a few moments trying to figure what was going on. Feeling scared, she tried to reactivate her light magic but nothing seemed to work. The light wouldn't come back. Getting a bit panicky, she turned back the way she came and tried to run back, blindly in the dark, but her face slammed into the wall, forcing her back onto her butt.
"Ow…" she whimpered. "What the…"
Remembering she had the ability to use her light magic to give her a form of night vision, she was able to activate her night vision and found herself trapped in a room. The path she came from was gone and the path she saw ahead of her before she stopped was gone too. She was trapped in what looked to be a jail cell with no light or door. Slumping to the floor, she curled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.
"Natsu…" she breathed. "I should have turned back."
Since there was nothing else for her to do, she began to sing.
"All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you,
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very, very
Mad world, mad world."
With the song over, Amber had nothing else to do but to lie on the cold save floor and rest. She was sure Natsu would find her and save her. She shouldn't have been so reckless. She had heard Natsu shout at her to wait but she was very curious.
She soon found herself asleep, falling into dream world with snow all around her. She felt safe and happy. In her dream she had snow in her hands and throwing it at Natsu's face, he was trying to dodge it but would get hit and fall into the snow, shouting it was cold.
Amber would start laughing, as the dragon slayer would melt all the snow around him with his fire. She would not give him a second after he was done before tackling him to the ground. They'd fall into the snow, holding hands and laughing. However the feeling of coldness going through her clothes jolted her awake.
She sat up as tears were running down her face but had a grin from the dream. "Natsu…" She stood and decided to take a look around to find out if she could find a way out. Activating her night vision once again, she looked around. "Natsu, if you can hear me, please help."
With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the wall of the cave but soon jolted off the wall in fright.
"You're in my cave!"
Amber was quick to look around, not seeing anything. "H-Hello?" she asked in a quiet voice, spinning around to be sure no one was behind her. Just then something cold touched her arm and she screamed.
A large man with a beard was staring at her with big red eyes. Another scream escaped her throat as she stumbled backwards only to bump into another bulky man with dark brown eyes. Moving away from that guy, she soon found herself bumping into another man who was covered in blood and wore glasses. From his look, he looked skinny. They looked like some of the same guys Natsu fought earlier.
Running to the center of the room, Amber collapsed to her knees, crying, holding her hands over her ears trying to block out the noises the men were making. "This isn't real, this isn't real, it's just a dream, it's just a dream! Natsu help!"
"Not this time you little tramp!" one of the men called out as he stepped forward, intending to grab her.
Suddenly a loud crash was heard from the wall that lead to the tunnel Amber came from. She had time to glance up as a very angry man busted through the wall, fire roaring in both fists. His pink hair was whipping around the top of his head from the thrust of the smashing rocks. His wild eyes looked around to see three men about to gain up on Amber.
"Amber Duck!"
Not needing to be told twice, she ducked down, crouching completely to the floor as flames went suddenly flying past her. She could feel the heat of the flames on her back. Natsu had showed up to save her.
"You jerks think you can get the drop on us. I don't think so! Amber is my partner and I won't allow you to harm her!"
With hearing that, Amber gasped; feeling relieved to know Natsu was there. Hearing his words, she couldn't get them out of her head as she ignored the rest of the fight until she heard another crash into a wall. Afraid to get up when the heat died down, she stayed where she was until she felt a tap on her hand.
"Hey, it's ok. Natsu beat those ugly guys up."
Recognizing the voice, Amber looked up. "Happy?" she blinked. She then saw the blue cat smile. "Oh Happy!" she cried as she grabbed his small body and hugged him close as she climbed to her knees. "I was sooo scared!"
"Ah! You're crushing me!" Happy squeaked.
"She's happy to see you Happy!" Natsu laughed as he came up to her. Kneeling on one knee, he tapped her on the shoulder. "You ok?"
Pulling Happy away from her, she looked into Natsu's eyes. "Natsu!" she cried as she jumped into his arms, surprising him. She began to cry in relief, happy to see him. Wanting to help calm her down, he held her close, allowing her to enjoy the embrace.
"It's ok," he replied. "You're safe now."
Soon she pulled out of the hug and stared into his green eyes. With a smile, the two then stood. Now that he was taller than her again, she went up on her tippy toes, and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
He blushed, but gave her a smile back. "I protect those in Fairy Tail," he declared.
She was about to say something when suddenly she heard the giggle again like from before when she ran off. But this time the giggle sounded very close. Both pulled fully away and looked to the left only find what they were looking for. A Zerithyan butterfly. Amber gasped at the beauty of the butterfly. It had light pinks wings, and a face of a little girl.
Seeing as she had both their attention, she flew over to Amber, landing into her open hands. "Thank you for cleaning my island, I'm very impressed with your friend here. I tried to get your attention to come down this tunnel but then saw the wall come up around you. I was afraid for you."
"You can talk?" Natsu gasped.
"Yes. And I was the one who called for help. What you fought today were not members from another Wizard Guild. They were men from somewhere who wanted to capture me. I've been fighting them off for months now and decided to finally and ask for help. I knew asking for protection probably wouldn't get a response so easily so I stated to come and fine me."
Amber smiled. "I'm glad we came to help you."
The butterfly smiled, giving a nod. "You will find your award on the shore line. Thank you again Wizards of Fairy Tail." With that she then flew off, disappearing into the darkness.
"Well now, all this time we were to safe the butterfly from being captured. Who knew?"
Turning away from the dark 'cell', the two left the cave with Happy, flying. When Amber was able to see light she was overjoyed.
"You know Natsu, that butterfly kinda looked more like a fairy than a butterfly."
"You picked up on that too eh? Yeah she did look like a fairy." He then pulled her close suddenly as he laughed. "But Fairy Tail is better!"
She giggled. "Hey Natsu, you think we could have a snowball fight someday."
He blinked, surprised by this as he pulled her away. "Huh? Why, you know all I'll do is melt the snow."
"I know Natsu, but trust me, it'll be fun!" she added with a giggle.
He shrugged. "Well why not? Can get Gray to help us on that," he mused.
The two then continued back to the shoreline where their awaited for them and their boat ride home.
