"T-That's your name, right? E-Eric? Eric Creed?"

"That is me, yes. Um, do we know each other?" Eric feigned confusion since while he did know of Erza, he knew of her in another life and not like she knew of him in his new life.

Apparently, they were friends as she looked both hurt and confused.

"D-Do you not remember me?"

"Not really, no. I kind of woke up with amnesia in the middle of a forest a little under a year ago."

"O-Oh, I see." She muttered with a downcast expression and that made him feel bad as he looked at her before he sighed.

"However, since you're the first person that actually know who I was before the…incident, I would like to get to know you too. See what I was like before the whole amnesia thing."

"R-Really? That's wonderful. D-Do you still like egg fried rice with two poached eggs and a plate of bacon sliced thinly?" She asked, making his eyes widen as he slowly turned to Flare who looked just as shocked.

"…Okay, now I'm a little bit jealous & mad when another woman knows your secret go-to meal."

"Wait, you're mad at me?" Eric asked in confusion, blinking confused as the girl gave an unsure nod before letting out a sigh at Erza's words.

"I-I'm sorry. Can I ask who you are?"

"I'm Flare Corona, his girlfriend." Flare said and Eric blinked at the confidence in her voice before his eyes widened as Flare wrapped his arm around her waist while also planting his hand palm flat against her ass.

'…What…the…fuck?' Eric thought with wide eyes, unable to help his instincts as he slowly clenched and unclenched his hand on the supple cheek in his grasp.

Ignoring Erza's squeak of embarrassment and Flare's bright red blush & triumphant smirk, he gave a pleading look to the other three men outside before letting out a sigh as he watched all three laughing their asses off.

"H-How scandulous! Are you not ashamed to do so in public?!" Eric blinked as he heard Erza shout that, turning before giving a deadpan stare at the sight of the woman having her hands over her eyes while peeking through her fingers.

"…Forget what I said earlier. I'm not mad at all now." Flare spoke as she stared at Erza, making Eric sigh as he went to pull his hand off only to raise an eyebrow at Flare as she put his hand back.

"Hm?" He asked, smirking as the girl didn't look at him and kept looking forward.

"Why don't we take this inside? I'm sure Master & Bacchus would like to rest as well before we return back to the guild, right?" Eric said while flicking a finger at the group, Erza & Makarov's eyes widening while Bacchus & Goldmine groaned as the two Masters and the drunk were lifted from the ground & placed on their feet once more.

"Uh, sure. Kinana! Could you please make a plate of egg fried rice with two poached eggs and a small plate of thinly sliced bacon on the side, please?!"

"I still hate that she knows your secret order." Flare muttered as she & Eric followed after the other redhead, to which Eric just chuckled before Flare squeaked as the mage leaned down & gave her a soft kiss on the temple.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

"Y-You better! A-And your hand is too tight! Loosen your grip a bit moore~!"

"So, you're telling me I was a quiet kid that kept to myself?" Eric asked, a bit doubtful as Erza blushed and nodded.

"Yes, when we tried to get you to play games with us, you would either deny wanting to do so or outright tell us not to bother you."

"…That doesn't sound like me."

"Yep, that's Eric/ Ah, now it makes sense how much you hate having to go out on a bar hop with us." Flare and Bacchus said respectfully, Erza giggling as Eric huffed before he blinked as he noticed a pink-haired guy the same age as him staring directly at him.

"So…you're Erza's friend, huh? Like Mittiana & Simon & the others?" Natsu Dragneel asked with a frown as he sat opposite of the Gravity mage and despite how calm he was, Eric smirked as he felt the draconic aura just oozing off of the dragon slayer as the two held each other's gaze.

"It's Millianna, Natsu, and stop antagonizing everyone. Sorry for his manners." The cute blonde next to him apologised and it took all of Eric's willpower to not look down at the absurd amount of cleavage on full display as he just smiled and nodded.

Dear gods, Eric knew that Lucy liked showing off and that she was blessed in the chest area, but he could just as well call her the Tsunade of Fairy Tail because how is one the size of his head?!

"It's quite all right. This is all new for me too."

"Erza said you have amnesia right? What's that like?" A black-haired guy asked with a frown and Eric ignored the fact that he was taking off his shirt with that same frown as the mage shrugged.

"Well, it's kind of like how you thought something to yourself and then a few moments later, you can't remember anything about what you thought about."

"Oh, it's like when you want fish, but you can't remember that you want fish so you decide on steak!" Natsu said with a nod, making them all blink before Eric chuckled as he nodded.

"A bit more simple than I expected, but yeah, it's exactly like that."

"Um, mister? C-C-Can I ask you a question?" A shy voice asked and he turned to its owner, smiling softly at the sweet blue-haired girl who squeaked as soon as he turned to look at her.

"Of course. Ask away."

"W-Why do you smell like Mr. Natsu, Mr. Gajeel, Mr. Laxus and I?"

"That's where I recognized that smell from! You're a Dragon Slayer, aren't you?!" Natsu exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to their table as Flare just giggled while Eric smiled & nodded.

To everyone's shock bar Flare, Goldmine & Bacchus, Eric lifted his hand before a scorching hot flame surrounded his right hand, watching as Natsu stared at the flame and lifted his own right hand before Eric smirked as orange-scarlet flames covered the Fire Dragon Slayer's hand.

"I-is…."

"I know what you're going to ask and no, I'm not a Fire Dragon Slayer. To be precise, I'm a Hell Flame Dragon Slayer or, perhaps I should say, the Hell Flame Dragon Slayer."

"Are you like blondie here?" Eric heard a gruff voice ask to the side and turned to stare at a man with a mane of unruly spiky black hair and round studs all over his body, watching as Gajeel pointed at the muscular blonde man dressed in his signature mafia-boss outfit before letting out a chuckle as he gave a so-so gesture.

"Kind of. I did have a teacher, but I also have his lacrima embedded in my heart. I guess you could say I'm like a weird hybrid between you guys."

"Hmm." Was all Gajeel said, the petite bluenette next to him rolling her eyes as Eric shrugged before turning back to Natsu only to reel back as the pink-haired Dragon Slayer leaned forward with an excited grin.

"Fight me!" He exclaimed, making everyone in the guild groan as Eric looked at him before he grinned.

"No."

"Come on~! Just one fight!" Natsu whined as Eric, Flare, Goldmine and Bacchus walked out of the door, the Hell Flame Dragon Slayer looking helplessly up at the sky as the pink-haired slayer had his arms wrapped around his leg & was being dragged behind him.

"Okay, fine! BUT! It's one match and the first one knocked down wins, okay?!"

"Okay!" Natsu agreed instantly with a grin as he was up on his feet, Eric just shaking his head before giving his fellow guildmates sour glares as they were already standing on the side next to the rest of Fairy Tail that had come out to watch the fight.

"Place your bets, people! Will Natsu win or will the newcomer show him a thing or two?!" Eric stared at the brunette in a bikini top & jeans taking money from anyone that approached her while she sat on a beer barrel, letting out a sigh as he turned back to Natsu who was stretching happily.

"When this stone hits the ground, the fight begins. Understand?" Eric said as he picked up a small pebble, watching as Natsu nodded with an excited grin before letting out a sigh as he flicked it up into the air.

The air instantly switched as everyone watched the pebble slowly reaching its apex, Eric smirking as Natsu went into combat mode as the pebble came down and it was silent as the pebble neared the ground before it landed with a soft thud.

"Fire Dragon's Ro-!" Natsu tried to activate his spell, but wheezed as he felt the air being ripped from his lungs and an invisible force slamming into his chest, Eric disappearing from his spot and reappearing in front of Natsu just as gravity returned to normal.

"Hell Flame Talon." Eric whispered as he activated Attract around his hand that was already coated with crimson flames, Natsu's eyes rolling over as the fist slammed into his chest while it also felt as if his spine was being pulled into his chest.

Not finished, Eric leapt and spun rapidly before delivering a heavy heel kick that had Natsu spinning through the air while groaning as the world twisted around him, Eric smirking as he froze Natsu in place before slamming him back first into the ground.

However, he rose an eyebrow at Natsu as the dragon slayer was still wide awake, gritting his teeth as Eric changed the gravity forcing him to the ground to fifty times that and let out a sigh as the pink-haired dragon slayer was forced to lie back down.

'At least I know my gravity attacks are good enough to disorient anyone as strong as Natsu or anyone weaker than him.' Eric thought with a subtle frown as he placed Natsu on the ground, dispelling the gravity and forcing Natsu back down just as the mage tried to stand up

"Your chest is going to hurt for a while and your vision might take a while before it stops spinning. Take slow breaths." Eric said and Natsu blinked a few times in drowsy confusion before he winced as he took a deep breath & felt a stab of pain in his chest, making Eric chuckle as he nodded.

"Yeah, like that. Just keep taking slow, shallow breaths and you should be fine."

"U-Um, I can help." Eric turned as Wendy stood next to them before smiling as he nodded, softly placing the still disoriented Natsu on the ground before looking in fascination as he watched Wendy using her Healing mojo.

'Copying this for later.' Eric thought with a smirk of awe as he watched Wendy effortlessly changing her ethernano to match that of Natsu before accelerating the healing process of his cells while also replacing the stem cells in his body that was used to speed up the healing.

'Yep, I call hax. The medics of this world are way too OP.'

"W-What did you just do? H-How did you win the fight that fast?" Eric was knocked from his fascination as he heard Gray speak, turning to see the Ice-Make mage along with the rest of Fairy Tail in shock.

Well, all apart from Erza who looked to be in awe, Makarov who looked intrigued & fascinated, Laxus who would have looked stoic if not for the excited gleam in his eyes and Gajeel who had an excited grin on his face.

"It's rather easy. I increased gravity by a factor of 50 to throw off his balance and then, I used an attack that would make him feel like his spine wanted to stab through his chest. Then, I just used a kick that would rapidly switch the gravity around his head from as heavy as a boulder to as light as a feather a few times within a split second and that's it. Nothing too hard."

"Ah, you're a technical fighter, then?" Makarov spoke with a grin and Eric chuckled as he nodded.

"Technique and power, but mostly technique. I don't like a fight going on longer than it needs to if I can help it."

"Well, that's a lie." Bacchus chimed in, making Goldmine chuckle & Flare giggle as Eric rolled his eyes.

"Well, excuse me for not beating you earlier in our fight when you could cut through a sea of flames like it was nothing."

"Wait, you fought Bacchus?!" Erza asked with a smile, making Eric blink as he leaned back slightly from her excitement whilst nodding.

"Uh, yeah, it was for my S-Class exams."

"You're an S-Class?!" Lucy exclaimed and Eric smirked as he nodded.

"The idiot also holds the record for the shortest time it took a mage become an S-Class mage in Ishgar since he has only a mage for eight months."

"…Damnit, we missed on this one." Makarov muttered, not caring for the shocked looks of his 'children' as Goldmine grinned proudly while Flare & Bacchus gave their exasperated guild mate/ boyfriend a thumbs-up.

"Urgh…did anyone get the number of the Wyvern that hit me?"

"Oh! And the brat holds the title for beating an Ancient Wyvern on his first job!"

"For the last goddamn time! The Wyvern wasn't that strong! Stop making it seem cool!"

"So, how did you find Fairy Tail?" Goldmine asked Eric as he sat in the gravity sphere, Bacchus snoring peacefully whilst leaning against the back of the sphere as Eric sat next to him with Flare resting peacefully on his lap.

"Truthfully, if I didn't find you guys first, I would definitely have joined their guild."

"Haha! That's not surprising. Fairy Tail has that…aura around it that just makes them more tolerable than most mages."

"Just tolerable?" Eric asked with a smirk, to which Goldmine just rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

"Also, about your new girlfriend-!"

"Friend. Nothing more." Flare spoke up as she snuggled closer to Eric, the dragon slayer chuckling as Goldmine nodded.

"Of course, friend. How was it meeting her?"

"Hmm, I guess nice. I don't remember anything from what she said, but the more she spoke, the more some things slowly began to come back. Just from that one conversation with her, I managed to remember most of my memories from the tower she spoke of as well as a few memories from before it." That was actually not a lie as Eric had actually began to remember stuff that he didn't know he knew, like how Rob liked to give the kids most of his meals while only eating bread himself and how they used to celebrate birthdays by doing most of the birthday person workload and letting them pick one thing from everyone's plates.

"That's good. So…do you want to visit again? Just so we can see if your memories might clear up more."

"That would be nice…but not now. After feeling their auras, I've felt how utterly weak I was compared to their heavy hitters and that won't do. The Grand Magic Games is in three months, right?"

"Yep, want to be part of our team? I've already have a few people down as members." Goldmine said with a smirk, to which Eric chuckled before shaking his head.

"Sure, but not yet. I've learned the only way I can become stronger & a better mage is by doing the hardest quest available to me and I faintly remember there being one S-Class job that I asked you to reserve for me."

"The bounty hunt for Zash Caine? Just if you're certain because the man is one of the most wanted men in Fiore." Goldmine spoke, to which Eric smirked as he nodded before turning to Bacchus.

"How about it? You, me and perhaps Warcry & Guy if they're not busy?" Eric asked the mage, the drunk raising an eyebrow as both Goldmine & Flare looked surprised at his request.

"All four of us S-Class mages on one job?…Ha! I like it! Count me in.

A/N: A short chapter, but I didn't have much to write, so here we are.

And we begin with the next arc before the GMG…The Dragon's Cry Movie!

Next chapter, the journey to Stella!

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!