The doors to Fairy Tail pushed open, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy walking in with a sigh. Their expressions matched the mood because right behind them was Zelos, who stepped forward to make a grand entrance. "Hello Fairy Tail! Your glorious hero has arrived on the scene. Please, please, settle down. I'll take autographs one lady at a time. As for the dudes…good luck with that."
"…What the hell?" Cana peered away from her mug of beer to stare at Zelos. "Natsu, what did we tell you about picking up stray dogs and bringing them in here?"
"He does kinda smell like one now that I think about it…" Natsu had to cover his nose once Cana brought it up.
Zelos completely ignored Natsu's comment and slid on over to meet Cana. "Oh, who do we have here? You know…I bet you're as cute as a button when you smile. 3"
"…Am I under the table drunk again or is he actually speaking with hearts?" Cana stared while tilting her head.
"I think I saw them too…" Wendy said from a table nearby. She quietly sipped her juice while sitting next to Cynthia. It was clear that Zelos had everyone's attention with his entrance…now it was just a matter of how his first impression was going to go. So far it wasn't good.
"I take the blame for this…" Lucy said while rubbing the back of her neck. "I was just trying to get over here and I happened to witness his arrival…"
Mira placed her index finger on her chin, tilting her head curiously as Zelos spoke. "I think I've seen you around lately. Aren't you the one who's had the ladies around Magnolia help you out for free? Seems like you were taking advantage of them to me…"
"He was flirting with everyone. I doubt he even remembers their names…" Lucy scoffed.
"Rachel, Elizabeth, Sarah…" Zelos started to list off a number of female names. He went on for about a minute but it was staggering that he actually remembered all of them. "…And Rebecca. I take slight offense to the idea that you would deem me to be the kind of man that would get the help of 'random women'. All of those women have helped me settle into Fiore and I could not be more thankful for their assistance."
"Oh my." Mira smiled. "He's more courteous than I thought."
"…Did you get any help from dudes?" Romeo quipped in on the conversation. "And stop grinning like an ass! It's annoying."
Zelos narrowed his eyes at Romeo, a scowl replacing that grin of his. "You're an annoying brat, you know that?" And then his attention shifted to Erza, whom he tried to acquaint himself with. "Oh, and who is this red haired beauty over here…"
Erza wasted no time attacking Zelos. She grabbed his arm and hurled him towards the nearest support pillar in the guild. "HYAH!"
"WHOA!" Zelos was tossed like a rag doll across the building's interior! However…he was far more graceful than his appearance let on! With a simple, elegant flip, Zelos landed perfectly on a table and bowed. "That's quite the throwing arm you have there! Sure startled me!"
"...He reacted to Erza's throw pretty fast." Levy calculated Erza's strength, the arc, the velocity, everything needed to judge the impact force. "…That was faster than most people could react. Who is this guy again?"
"Ooooh…" Levy's smartness caught Zelos' attention. "Intellectual hunnies are always on the radar too!"
"Good god…he's just a walking libido…" Laki sighed heavily.
"What's that supposed to mean?! …Oh, I get it. You mean to say I exude masculine sexiness." Zelos quipped with a sly grin.
"…What's a libido…?" Cynthia turned to Wendy curiously, although Lisanna and Levy ended up covering their ears to avoid THAT conversation.
"Don't worry about it." Lisanna responded.
"Please…" Carla let out a sigh of relief with the two saviors. "Someone get this guy out of here…"
"Geez…" Gray sighed while shaking his head. This entire scene was just starting to make him sick. "What do you want already? Aside from checking out our women? Go to Blue Pegasus if that's what you're into…"
"Juvia agrees with Gray-sama! …She also belongs to Gray-sama, so don't come over here!" That said, Juvia latched onto Gray's arm and he began to freak out.
"This isn't how it works…!" Gray said while trying to pry Juvia from his arm, but alas her iron grip was far too much for him to shake off.
"Ah, beautiful love." Zelos brought a hand to his heart. "It's almost as beautiful as I am. I mean…have you seen me? I'm so pretty."
"And he's a narcissist to top it all over. Wonderful." Erza rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here again? …And what is your name?" She was thinking how nice it would be to have Laxus present to help deal with this man…but unfortunately it was just her and she was going to have to deal with him for the time being.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. I almost forgot to introduce myself! I am Zelos…but you all can call me the almighty handsome wonderful glorious Zelos! Or Zelos-sama for short. I wanted to see what this 'guild life' is all about. And seeing as how I'll be residing in Magnolia for the time being, I decided to see how Fairy Tail worked. Makes sense, right?"
"So you're asking to join?" Makarov finally make his comment from the bar counter, quietly coughing into his sleeve.
"Not quite." Zelos said while waving his finger. "I just want a sample! Where is your most reliable team? I'm sure all of the ladies around here are very capable! Think of this as a job within a job. I can pay quite handsomely~ Aside from my devilishly good looks, I mean." There was another heart after he winked.
"THERE IT IS AGAIN!" Cana pointed but she was so drunk and off balance she ended up falling out of the stool. "Agh…!"
"Nose goes." Gajeel placed his hand on his nose, followed suit by several other members of the guild. The only people that didn't even get a chance to react were….: Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Cynthia, Wendy, and the two exceeds of Happy and Carla. Team Natsu, how about that. "HA!"
"…Well, you heard him." Makarov really wasn't up for dealing with someone like Zelos at the moment. Perhaps he'd change his mind upon returning. "The guild could use a little more money." Makarov remarked while taking a sip from his mug of beer. "You ruffians are always destroying things and it's still coming out of the guild's pocket. Think of this as your way of paying me back."
*sigh* It seems they weren't escaping this fruit cake anytime soon. Erza didn't have any choice. "Very well…there was a job I was already on the way of heading to anyway. You are free to come along if you wish. We leave now."
"Very nice!" Zelos grinned. "Is this the group? Majority of ladies? This is something I can get behind."
"Shut up and get moving otherwise we'll leave you behind…" Gray huffed as the team began to make their way out of the guild.
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Once on the train…it was pretty much how you would expect. The three dragon slayers slumped over in their seats due to motion sickness while the others were fine. Erza held a piece of paper in her hand and began to explain the mission. "This is an S class mission. There have been reports of an abandon warehouse being used for illegal storing. It is difficult to determine who is using this warehouse, but the Council has informed me that they are dangerous and should not be using that area. It will be our job to scout and deal with them if necessary. We are to contact them the moment we apprehend them. Is everyone clear on what needs to be done?"
"Gonna be sick…" Natsu was barely managing to hold in his lunch.
"As long as the fruit cake here doesn't get in our way…" Gray scoffed.
Zelos was chilling a seat, hands behind his head with one leg crossed over the other. He was paying attention to the conversation at hand, although he had not a single thing to add, so he was just going to switch topics. "So! I've decided to use this time as a chance to establish everyone's nicknames."
"I already don't like where this is going…" Wendy groaned while leaning against Cynthia.
"Lucy will be the "Blonde Beauty"!" Zelos spoke with a cheesy grin, meanwhile Lucy's expression just fell.
"…I don't think I want to be called that." Lucy muttered with a deadpanned expression.
"And Erza will be called…." Wait for it… "Red headed scarlet blooming rose!"
"Can't you come up with anything simpler!? Who in their right mind would want to be called that!?" Erza shouted across the aisle at the male who continued to wear that large grin on his face.
"I'm still deciding on names for you two." He gestured to Wendy and Cynthia.
"Please don't worry about it." Cynthia had a polite smile. In reality, she just didn't want a nickname from this guy. Wendy felt much the same way, so she simply nodded silently in agreement.
"As for Natsu…he will be; "Hey you." And Gray can be… 'that guy.'". Zelos shrugged. "The blue cat can be...him."
"I see you've spent a lot of time thinking about our names…." Gray shook his head, feeling more irritated than anything. "Can you even fight? Otherwise you'll just be dragging us down."
"Well as it turns out, I…" And before Zelos could finish speaking, a mob of females from around began to swarm him.
"AHHH! THERE HE IS!"
"HE'S SO HANDSOME!"
"EEEEE!"
One could barely make out the male's voice over the crowd of the screaming ladies. "Whoa whoa! One at a time ladies, come on! There's enough Zelos-sama for everyone! Ahahahaha!"
"…Geez…" Carla brought her paw to her forehead and just sighed. "We're not getting anything from this guy except maybe a migraine or an aneurysm…"
.
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After the train came to a stop, the group of nine had to walk a mile or two before finally coming to a large abandon warehouse in the forest. It was roughly two and a half stories tall. "This is the place…?" Cynthia stared at the building. "It doesn't look abandoned…there's a lot of weird scents coming from inside as well. Someone's inside for sure."
Erza nodded slowly in understanding. "Just as I thought. Here's how we're going to do this: Natsu, Lucy and Happy, you three take the left side of the warehouse; Cynthia, Wendy, and Carla will take the right. Gray, you come with me and storm the front."
"Hey, what about me? I'm on this mission too you know." Zelos sighed while lowering his head.
"You will keep watch of the front and warn us if reinforcements are coming." Erza stated. "You will alert Gray and myself if so, understand?"
"Haaa…I get it, you just don't trust me to handle things. …A wise decision. What a beautiful mutual trust you've all built with each other." Zelos shrugged, a hint of a smile appearing on his lips. "That's fine. I can understand that completely. It is your decision after all." The male waved a hand before walking off a little bit. "I'm a good lookout. I'll let you know if a dangerously hot lady comes up."
"Now that he's out of our hair…are we ready?" Erza looked to everyone and they nodded. Everyone took their positions and with Erza's signal…they all charged the warehouse! Breaking inside by any means necessary, Team Natsu prepared for quite the fight!
…Meanwhile, Zelos just sat comfortably against a tree, glancing back at the building occasionally at all the action he was missing. "Ah…they're a smart bunch. I wouldn't trust me either. But they seem like good people." A few minutes of strange silence later and Zelos heard it; the sound of the bushes rustling. "…Oh?" A brow was quirked as several shadily dressed men appeared to surround him.
"You're with that group aren't ya?" One of the men questioned with a powerful magical aura radiating from his body. The others around also proceeded to let their aura release, causing the ground to tremble; they were no joke. "Then you just fell into our trap."
"Oh?" Zelos tilted his head. "I'm just the lookout…I was supposed to let them know if anyone was coming…but all I see around here are a couple of dead men…"
"WHAT'D YOU SAY!?" Zelos' remark clearly angered these men. "GET HIM!" And with that command, they all lunged at the red head at once!
Zelos' lips curved into a sly grin that was just barely noticeable to the human eye. "…Don't hate me." The mysterious male gripped the sword on his waist, sitting up from his position almost instantly. In one smooth motion, Zelos brandished his sword and spun into the air in a graceful, elegant spiral; a trail of wind followed his unmatched movement. "Severing Wind." Upon landing on the ground, Zelos sheathed his blade once again and all of the men fell into the ground; unconscious. "That was so pretty…" Zelos' tone was sleek and smooth as he rested against the tree once again.
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Next Time: From The Ashes.