Chapter Twenty-Six
Sorcerer Weekly
The streets of Crocus were heaving with people, and Natsu hated every second of it. What he didn't hate, was the way that Mira effortlessly navigated her way through those crowds, but never once left him behind.
She didn't have to look back to see where he was because she'd never let go of his hand. It wouldn't have mattered if she was a mile away from him, he had her scent, and it wasn't going to be leaving his mind for quite some time.
As they walked through the streets, heading to a destination that Mira knew like the back of her hand, he was lost in thought about the past few weeks and what he'd gone through.
He'd gone from being a pseudo dark mage, contracted to destroy the Fairy Tail guild, to defending them against Phantom Lord, and then still managing to get wound up in their business at the Tower of Heaven, though, he'd been planning on being his usual destructive self when he found the control tower of the R-System anyway, it was just coincidence that he'd been summoned there by Lucy.
Lucy, the spitting image of Anna, the girl carried a perfect replica of the Heartfilia gene if some such thing existed. She was important to him. He could feel that E.N.D. was drawn to her for the same reason that he was. It gave him a small amount of leverage in maintaining control when she was around.
Erza was the opposite, E.N.D. clawed at his cage when she'd managed to rile him up, and at first, it felt like all he'd wanted to do was to rip her to shreds, to take her life with his bare hands, but now… Now it felt like he just wanted a challenge, to be able to come out and play with someone who could give and take on that scale.
"It's just down here, we're almost there," Mira's voice pulled Natsu out of his reverie. He felt her give his hand another reassuring squeeze.
"Fine," he made sure to rid himself of the soft smile that had crept up on him. He couldn't let her see that he was simply enjoying himself with her. That would be too easy for her.
They reached the building that Mira had been aiming for and headed inside. The front face of it had been just as unassuming as the rest of the buildings in that part of Crocus, all a mildly dirt-covered brickwork, with little imagination in the designs, but the inside was as far removed from the outside as it could be.
All fancy white furnishings, large plush carpets, and numerous bookcases, of which Natsu had immediately been drawn. Mira had made her way to the small desk that acted as a reception and greeted the woman working there.
"Mirajane Strauss and Natsu Dragneel," she said casually.
"Oh!" The woman squeaked in a high-pitched voice. It caused Natsu to flinch, having been at far greater sensitivity than most others.
"You're just in time, Chapati is going to be your interviewer today. He was asked by the publishing director himself to come and host this interview. Something about generating the most hype and excitement." The receptionist explained with a vibrant smile.
"If you don't mind waiting for a few minutes, I'll go and assist him in setting up the interview room," with that, she darted out of an adjacent door, leaving the two of them alone.
"Find anything interesting?" Mira asked as she shuffled over.
"No," he responded adamantly, "this one is terrible; The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Dragons, and Fiore's various other mythological creatures. It's written terribly," he added.
"I didn't take you to be a big reader," Mira said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as she began peering at the books.
"Dragons hoard, that extends to knowledge, and the largest wealth of knowledge is in books." He said with a casual wave of his hand.
"I mean, not this one though, this idiot author is implying that Dragons aren't real. We're very real, I am insulted." Natsu pouted.
"Who is the author?" she tried to see a name written on it but it was too fine to see.
"Some idiot that calls themself Gold Code, they aren't even confident enough in their work to publish something that they can be proud to be associated with. What a loser," Natsu huffed, placing the book back on the shelf, picking up a magazine instead and parting it right down the middle.
"This one though, has very quickly become one of my all-time favourites," he said, his grin almost impossibly wide.
Smack-bang in the middle of the centrefold was a racy photoshoot of none other than one Miss Mirajane Strauss, wearing an incredibly revealing bikini.
She quickly grabbed the magazine from his hands, offering him a playful glare. She swatted him up the side of the head with said magazine before the receptionist came back in.
"He's ready for you now, just down the hall, second door on the right. We've got you scheduled for an exclusive interview and then a photoshoot. Have fun," she waved them on by.
"Will this photoshoot be like the one in that magazine?" Natsu asked her with a flirtatious glint in his eyes.
"Are you going to behave?" She asked, maintaining that mischievous glare that she wore so well.
"That depends," he said, donning another suave grin, "is that ship sailing back yet?"
Mira tried her best not to smile but it was a losing battle, she nudged an elbow into him, leading the way into the interview room where a man with a comically large head was there waiting for them.
"Welcome esteemed mages of Fairy Tail!" He said enthusiastically, "I have my doubts that there will be many readers more excited about this than I." He said.
"Hmm," Natsu hummed impassively, taking one of the two seats opposite the man.
"So, let's just jump right into the deep end, Mr. Dragneel, there are those who claim that you're a dark mage, and have committed numerous atrocities over the years, is there anything that you want to say to address these accusations?" He asked, his pen at the ready to write down Natsu's answers, verbatim.
A wicked glint crossed the Dragon Slayer's eyes as he sat forward. Mira, lightning quick, put a finger and thumb over his mouth, pursing his lips for him. "Remember that you are a Fairy Tail mage now, what you say can and most likely will reflect upon the guild, think before you speak." She told her, all traces of humour gone.
Once she'd let go, he couldn't help but feel like a child that had just been scolded. It might have been fair if she'd even given him a chance to warrant the scolding in the first place.
"Very well," he muttered, sitting back into a relaxed position.
"I had a disagreement with the magic council sole years ago that may or may not, allegedly, have resulted in the destruction of the then magic council headquarters. I was theretofore branded as a dark mage after that." He spoke calmly, his words calculated in a manner that Mira hadn't thought he would actually do.
"As part of an agreement between the grumpy old geezer-" Natsu began again but was cut off by Mira coughing, "between Master Makarov and the magic council, he bargained for a pardon for my previous, alleged, crimes in exchange I would become a Fairy Tail mage and the guild held accountable for my actions." He added, explaining the finer details of his involvement.
"So, the official on the record answer; not a dark mage?" He asked, writing as they went.
"Not a dark mage," Mira cut in, "Gruff and somewhat unapproachable on the outside, but he's a kind man who so far has gone to indescribable depths to help those in need."
"So, already feeling something here, I have to ask," Chapati said, chewing the end of his pen while darting a glance between them, "have you formed any particularly close relationships with anyone else in the guild?"
"Glad you asked!" Natsu had enough of playing nice, "I've enthralled all of the women, some of the men too. They answer my beck and call, see to my every whim, and then at the end of the day, or maybe after a particularly successful mission, we have a huge orgy in the guildhall, all of them slaves to my every command. Such is the terribly dark and evil power of a Dragon Slayer." He said, laughing maliciously.
Chapati stared at him, his jaw slacked so far that the pen dropped from his mouth. Mira had no words of response but simply covered her face with a hand, trying not to burst into tears of laughter.
"I'm joking," Natsu said at last, worried that he might have broken the interviewer.
"Right," Chapati said, an awkward laugh as he grabbed the pen, totally thrown off course.
"Titania beat me into the ground when I tried to burn Fairy Tail down, she's fun. Then there's Lara Heartfire, she tried to get me to join Fairy Tail as well, I don't hate her." He thought about it for a moment longer, "this one's ok as well." He hooked a thumb at Mira who scowled at him.
"Ok?" She whispered, "Erza got a kiss and I'm just 'ok?'."
"I get the distinct impression that you're trying very hard to turn this into a competition with her," Natsu whispered back, his eyes ever so slightly narrowing.
"Me? Compete with Erza? Erza and I are guildmates, there has never been a single time that we've been at odds, shame on you for suggesting it." She responded, refusing to meet his gaze. He found the whole answer to be incredibly suspicious, but this wasn't the place to call her out on it otherwise their words and implications may well end up in the interview.
"It has to be said, a lot of people have sent in questions for you, a frankly absurd amount of them asking if you are a bachelor. There is a, well, I would like to use the phrase 'poll of public opinion' as to whom is most likely to have taken your interest within Fairy Tail, could you shed some light on that?" Chapati asked, having managed to regain his composure.
"Gray Fullbuster," Natsu answered without missing a beat. Mira almost swallowed her tongue. For the second time that day, the interviewer had gone slack-jawed, "What can I say? Sorry ladies, I've left enough broken hearts in my wake, but when Gray and I work together, fire and ice are poetic, don't you think?" Natsu smiled mischievously, desperately hoping that this interview would be published sooner rather than later.
"He'll deny it, of course, but he's not as comfortable with our dynamic as I am at the moment, give him time, I'm sure you'll see us out and about on official Fairy Tail business soon." Natsu made sure to keep his laughter contained otherwise the game would be up and the answer may not be published.
"Well, that about wraps it up, the interview is always pretty short, it's mostly the photoshoot that people tune in for," Chapati stated as he got up from his chair.
"Tune in… to a magazine?" Natsu asked almost rhetorically. It didn't matter as their interviewer was already heading through the door to take them somewhere else.
"Natsu!" Mira tried to whisper, the tears streaming down the sides of her cheeks, "You said that you'd behave!" she followed up, unable to contain the utter awestruck smile.
"Miss Strauss," he offered her his hand as they both stood and followed Chapati, "I said no such thing," he said with a smug grin, knowing that no promises had been made.
"Now, we've prepared some outfits for you for the cover shoot, any issues and we'll have Taylor the tailor come and fix them up for you." Chapati gestured towards the two separate fitting rooms.
"Taylor… the tailor…" Natsu stared at him in disbelief.
"It seemed like an easy choice to make," a mildly feminine voice said. They turned their heads towards the person it belonged to, "Alteration magic for anything larger than clothing was a bit too much for me so I just leaned into the profession." Taylor shrugged somewhat. Taylor had short-cropped brown hair, tan skin, and emerald green eyes.
"Right," Natsu answered flatly, "And why can't I wear my own clothes? What's wrong with these?" he was slightly offended by the notion.
"Nothing is wrong with them but these cover shoots always have a theme to them, it wouldn't be very fitting if we were to let them do the shoot with the clothes we walked in off the street in," Mira answered, shaking her head slightly.
"Ah, so it's a nude shoot? Got it." Natsu held that iconic grin as he began taking off his jacket.
"Just get your outfit on, Dragneel," Mira said, glaring playfully as she walked through the door to her dressing room, sparing a second to turn and wink at him.
"Sorry Gray, she's winning," he mused to himself as he obeyed the she-devil and got dressed then made his way to a brightly lit room with several dozen different interesting appliances. Fabric sheets of various different backdrops were slung across one wall.
Mira had been dressed in mere minutes, a pro at the process when it came to these kinds of things, now she just had to wait for her counterpart.
Her outfit was a sleek black dress that showed off and accentuated her curves with an impressive degree of accuracy. A dress like that could go with just about any style, what exactly was it that Natsu was going to be wearing?
As he stepped out of the door to join her, she'd lost her ability to speak. Heat furiously rose in her cheeks as she stared in awe at the sight before her.
The Dragon Slayer strode out, confidence in the magnitudes. He wore a well-fitted black suit that tightly clung to every single muscle. A white button-up shit that had only been done up halfway sat underneath the suit revealing a decent amount of chest.
"Sir, the tie is part of the suit!" Taylor the tailor told him, trying to chase after him with a vibrant salmon pink tie that was the same shade as his hair.
"Trust me, this is good," Mira assured, unable to tear her eyes away from the mildly irritated man before her.
"I still think my clothes were better than this," he sighed before setting his eyes on her, "nice dress, that colour would contrast nicely against my bedroom floor." He whispered, somehow making the crimson blush deepen evermore.
"Ok you two, let's make some magic," the photographer said, beginning the shoot.
Half an hour had come and gone with many poses being done before the photographer was content.
"Which one are you going to pick?" Natsu asked, having only a mild interest in the action. He'd been able to get dressed back into his normal clothes far quicker than it had taken him to get into the outfit provided, so he'd decided to have a look at the shots while he waited for Mira.
"Honestly, this may be the first time I've experienced what I would call a flawless shoot, I'll run it by the big boss but I expect we'll be publishing all of them, but, this will probably be the cover shot." He said, pointing at one that Natsu had greatly enjoyed taking.
He stood in the centre of the page, one hand clutching Mira's body tightly to his own, her face nuzzled in the crook of his neck while he held a ball of fire up with the other.
Looking at it now, he thought back to a previous point about her 'competing' with Titania, and how suspicious her answer had been at the time.
In that photo, he could almost see the look in her eyes, like an open challenge to her guildmates.
"Yeah, it's going to cause a riot," Natsu agreed, though his words had meant something entirely different to what the photographer had initially heard.
He felt a strange pull from the summoning magic he'd put on Titania. She wasn't trying to summon him, but that small emblem was reacting negatively to something.
"That's… Probably not good," he said under his breath, eyes cast toward the ground.
"Has something happened, you've got a face like thunder," Mira asked as she joined him back in the studio.
"I don't think so, or at least maybe not yet, but I've had a strange feeling. Let's head back to the guild sooner rather than later." He told her, showing a brief glimpse of the moments when he wasn't shrouded in humour.
"Then let's go, race you." The she-devil grinned as the two of them took to the streets, heading back to the guild with Impressive speed.
A/N: Words hurt, Natsu, I didn't even write it :'(