A Fairy Tail Arc

by Tinken

Summary:

Jaune Arc died at the fall of beacon, now he's in a place where magic is in abundance, there is an actual talking cat, and the moon isn't broken.

So he is very confused, a little scared, and somehow now a member of a mage guild.

This is gonna be a long journey

Chapter 1

A Fairy Tail Arc

 

Jaune would be the first to tell you that he had no idea what he was doing.

 

And for good reason too, because Beacon, one of if not the most well guarded places in all of Remnant, was under attack. And to make matters worse Ozpin was likely dead, if the flying fire lady(Cinder was her name, the leader of team CMEN, who were apparently the ones who started all this, how and why? He almost didn’t want to know) had anything to say about it.

 

So the headmaster was likely dead and here he was alone.

 

In an elevator

 

During an invasion of Grimm

 

Going up to fight the lady who probably killed the Headmaster of Beacon, one of the strongest huntsmen in remnant( if Pyrrha was right anyway) in one on one combat.

 

Because why not

 

“Why did I have to push Pyrrha into that rocket locker” Jaune said, voice full of regret at having done said action. It was actually kinda funny when he thought about it, because Pyrrha Nikos, one of the most talented and powerful Huntresses in training, who tried to shove him into said locker after kissing him(and he did not have time to unpack all of that) was caught of guard by a simple and sudden twirl, a basic dance move, that ended up with him throwing her in the locker instead. The following silence and look on her face would always be able to bring a slight chuckle from him for as long as he lived, which might not be very long now that he thought about it. He then proceeded to activate the locker and launch her away.

 

A decision he was now starting to regret.

 

Because he was now at the top floor where Cinder was waiting.

 

Well not waiting for him but you get the Idea.

 

The doors dinged open and he saw her turn towards the sound, as he stepped out into the office, looking at her and the giant grimm dragon that was right outside the window( Oh yeah he’d forgotten about that thing, how he had no idea, nerves probably) with Crocea Mors in hand and Shield unfurled. He saw her gaze turn towards him, and he gulped wondering what she would do.

 

She laughed

 

Not a full blown laugh but she made her point, how she felt about the situation, abundantly clear.

 

She found it funny.

 

Jaune did not.

 

“Rude” he said, unsure of why he really said it. He was already in position, the stance drilled into him with hours of training. And probably the only hours of training he will ever get, regrettably.

 

“But truthful” were the words coming out of her mouth, a slight smirk on her face. Jaune honestly really didn’t like her.

 

“Look, can we just fight? That's kinda what I came here to do, y'know.” He sniped, a little irritated

 

“Fight? I’ve seen your match, this will hardly be a warm up” Was the returning response

 

She was right

 

It was hardly a fight, she just danced around every strike he made and retaliated with ease, either against his shield or he himself. She didn’t even need to hit his shield, she was just toying with him, they both knew it, and there was nothing he could do about it. The only reason he could last as long as he did was his aura reserves being as big as they were and even then he could tell he was in the red. He collapsed to one knee exhausted, panting and completely beat, Cinder standing and looking down on him, that smug smirk still on her face.

 

“Do you see now?” She asked, her tone smug “the difference between us, between your weakness and my strength?”

 

“Yeah, yeah I do” Jaune said, standing up and getting back into his stance, ready for another one sided beatdown.

 

He rushed forward, blade singing in the air. She blocked the strike with ease, pushing him back and delivering a flurry of slashes, finally shattering his aura. He stumbled backwards, finally truly spent.

 

“ You know, if you beg really nicely I could find it in myself to let you live” She said, that damnable smirk still on her face

 

Jaune snorted “ Yeah right, you’d probably still kill me just for the hell of it. I read comics, I know this song and dance.”

 

The brief look of surprise on her face made him feel on top of the fucking world, finally, if briefly, that insufferable smirk was gone. Deciding to push his luck, he charged forward, Crocea mors singing through the air hoping for just a single hit, to make it all worth it in the end, to prove that she could be beaten.

 

She reacted, her blades of molten glass suddenly forming and swinging up in retaliation.

 

The sound of shattering filled the air, as Jaune looked at the top half of Crocea Mors as it fell to the ground. The ancient blade, over a hundred years old, having seen battlefield after battlefield, passed down generation through generation of Arc’s, had finally been broken. The sound of clattering echoed through the cold empty office.

 

“Well it was fun, truly” Cinder’s voice followed shortly after, the smug tone still there. “But i’m afraid it's over now” A large two handed blade of molten glass formed in her right hand, now raised above her body, in preparation to cut.

“Goodbye, former partner of Pyrrha Nikos”

 

Jaune still hadn’t spoken his dead gaze on the broken portion of Crocea Mors, at her words he looked up towards her, his now dull deep azure eyes looking straight ahead, above Cinder and out one of the many windows, staring into nothingness.

 

Then the molten blade descended rapidly, from his left shoulder to his right hip incredibly painfully, and Jaune Arc faded out of consciousness for what he assumed would be the last time, His final thoughts being of his Friends, his team, his family. His final thought, the words “I’m Sorry”.

 

_______________________________Line Break____________________________________

 

Ruby Rose was running, pushing her Semblance to its max up the elevator shaft that led to Headmaster Ozpin's office. Heart thumping in her chest hoping to reach the office before it was too late. She’d been with Weiss, wondering where Blake and Yang where when they’d gotten a call from Pyrrha, curiously wondering why She was calling they answered. Now here she was minutes later after the message hoping to make it in time.

---------------------

“It’s Jaune!” came Pyrrha’s voice, full of so much grief and despair that she and Weiss immediately assumed the worst, but what Pyrrha said next blew that out of the water. “He’s gone to fight the mastermind of the attack in Ozpin’s office, please if you can, try to make it there in time!”

 

Ruby dropped the scroll to immediately start going to where Jaune was. Almost not paying attention to her surroundings.

 

“Wait” That was Weiss’s voice, having picked up the scroll ”Why are you not with him?! He’s your partner, you should be together in a situation like this!”

 

Pyrrha responded, sounding sheepish “ He sent me away in a rocket locker that I called to send him away.” And Ruby just blinked at that, staring at the Scroll in her partner's hand in slight disbelief. “ If you want to scold me do it when this is all over, but for now please go save him!”

----------------------

Ruby finally made it to the elevator bursting through the floor in a spray of rose petals.

 

“Jaune!” She called out upon seeing her best friend standing a few meters away, his back to her, and front to the lady wearing a crimson dress, holding a two handed blade that looked like it had a ridiculous amount of heat pouring off of it , with the hissing sound of some sort of liquid evaporating off of the blade. The smell of meat cooking permeated the office.

 

The smell was oddly terrible

 

The second thing she noticed was the shattered blade of Crocea Mors on the floor.

 

Ruby’s heart cracked a little, seeing such an amazing weapon broken after apparently over a century of service, she knew how important that weapon was to Jaune, but nothing that couldn’t be reforged and upgraded, but first they had to get out of here alive.

 

“Ruby Rose” Her name being said by the lady in front of the still not responding( for some reason) Jaune had her turn her attention to her.

 

“Come to save your friend?” the words were spoken with a smirk and an overconfident tone of voice.

 

“Yep, and we’re gonna kick your butt” Ruby responded, could they kick her butt? Probably not, but as Jaune always said “All you need is confidence”

 

Was she using that saying in the wrong context? Maybe, but sue her she was stressed.

 

“Well I’m afraid the ‘we’ part of your statement is the most untrue part” was the response she got.

 

“What?” The word came from her lips in a whisper, a slowly mounting dread pooled in her gut.

 

“Allow me to show you” The lady said as she let go of her weapon with her right hand, reaching toward Jaune, and gave a gentle almost playful shove to his chest.

 

His body fell back toward the ground, his lower body still standing.

 

The upper part was what fell.

 

For the first time in a long time, Crescent Rose felt too heavy to carry, almost slipping from her grasp.
Ruby’s silver eyes stared at the motionless body of her first friend, both at Beacon and in general, bisected from left shoulder to right hip, the wound cauterized in some areas, blood flowing unabated in others.

 

She remembered all the fun talks that they had regarding all sorts of things, her heart beginning to hurt as she remembered, ranging from comics to movies to weapons and more. The fun jokes they told each other, the silent promises to be by each other's side when they needed it. As well as their dreams and secrets that they told no one else. Their bond growing as time passed, a bond now cut short by the woman in front of her, the bitch who took her best friend from her.

 

Her eyes began to hurt, Badly, as though something was rising in them forcing its way out.

 

And as a blinding silver light erupted from her eyes, she let out a blood curdling scream of agony, agony only gained through the loss of someone precious to you. And in that scream of agony was the name of the one who all that agony was for.

 

“JAAAAUUUUNE!!!” The name tore free from her lips, being louder than the blinding light, the startled cry of the killer, even the grimm dragon’s roar seemed like a mere gust of wind compared to the hurricane that was her shout.

 

Then due to the pain, both physical and mental, everything finally faded to black.

 

________________________________Line Break___________________________________

 

Jaune heard a crash along with the sounds of people screaming.

 

He opened his eyes

 

And saw a port city in flames

 

Hurriedly, Jaune looked around, then he looked up, and froze.

 

For in the sky despite what he was trying to tell himself, was a full moon.

 

Another scream joined the already dozens, this one in pure confused terror.

Chapter 2

A Fairy Tail Arc

 

Lucy has had a long day, and it started pretty simply.

She started by visiting apparently the only magic shop in Hargeon, and ended up buying a(frankly overpriced) silver celestial key. Still worth it though, every key counted, no matter how overpriced.

Then as she was walking around town she suddenly heard squeals of joy from a group of girls in the park. Where apparently the Salamander of Fairy Tail was.

Looking back on it she did feel kinda stupid for automatically believing the crowd, but the revelation that it was charm magic that caused it all did help her slightly bruised pride.

Then suddenly a salmon haired guy and his talking, bipedal, blue furred cat came crashing in to the crowd screaming something about an Igneel, which he would later reveal to be the name of his dad and a Dragon!

She almost wouldn’t believe him if not for the fact that the cat right next to him continuously sassed the both of them over lunch.

When she woke up this morning she was not expecting to be sassed by a blue biped cat, but she also wasn’t expecting to get kidnaped by a slave trader impersonating a famous Fairy Tail member, so today has just been full of surprises coming out of left field.

And back onto that kidnapping part, yeah apparently the guy who had the crowd fiending for him was using charm magic to draw in pretty girls to his boat for them to be sold off as slaves into the Alvarez empire.

Bora the prominence was his name according to the talking, biped, blue furred, flying cat named Happy.

What even was today?

So after escaping the bonds they put her in and being flown out by Happy, leaving Natsu( the salmon haired guy) on the boat, and he was apparently very motion sick.

Great

She was then dropped into the ocean byHappy who said She was too heavy for him to carry.

She then decided she hated that cat, no matter how adorable he may be, there was an absolute smartass underneath that soft fur and he would never stop riling her up, she just knew it.

She then summoned Aquarius, who then proceeded to cause a miniature tidal wave launching the boat along with her and Happy into the port city causing massive amounts of property damage(hopefully nobody was too seriously injured or worse).

She then claimed that she was aiming for Lucy and not the boat.

Yeah Lucy had no idea if she was serious or not but that still hurt either way.

Aquarius then proceeded to threaten her about what would happen if she lost her key again(she was hugging Happy in terror of the threat and he was hugging back, so she now hated him a little less), and then said that she didn’t want to be summoned for a few weeks because she was going on a date with her boyfriend(Lucy hated how she kept rubbing that in)
And then de-summoned herself back to the celestial realm.

It’s sad that that was one of the more emotionally positive summoning's of the water celestial spirit. Physically it was the worst due to the large amount of property damage.So it was a mixed bag over all.

So it was safe to assume that today had been a very exhausting day for Lucy, both physically and emotionally, and it wasn’t even over yet.

The sound of wood moving over behind her drew her attention to Bora and several of his lackeys breaking their way out of the wreckage of the ship. Cries of confusion followed soon after.

“What the hell happened?!”

“The seas were calm when we left port!”

“Is it a Behemoth?!”

“No you idiot if it was a Behemoth, we’d all be dead by now! It was most likely a water mage”

“A water mage of that magnitude here?! What the hell is our luck?!”

“Oh, land sweet land I’ll never leave you again!”

Wait, that last one sounded familiar, turning towards the boat wreckage to see…

“Natsu!” She called out relieved to see him alive and well.

Her voice and call had turned the attention of the slave traders on her, Happy, and after looking to who and where she was calling to, Natsu as well.
“You!” Bora said “What have you done?!” The look of rage on his face was as prominent as the concerned and worried cries of the people of Hargion. “Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost to get back on track?! Not to mention we have to find a new hunting ground now!”

Lucy can now officially say that she’s found someone she hates with every fiber of her being.

“You’re both gonna pay for this! Starting with you pinky!” Bora said as he raised his hands in the air a magic circle coming to life in front of his hands, with a shout he unleashed the spell” Prominence Typhoon!”

A blast of fire raged towards Natsu, who made no move to dodge”It’s not pink is sal-!” Natsu was cut of mid yell as he was hit with the fire storm, which then exploded upon impact.

“Natsu!” Lucy let out a yell upon seeing him get attacked by Bora, and paled when he didn’t even attempt to dodge the attack. In concern she reached for aquarious’s key, the spirits rage be damned , she wasn’t about to let someone die in front of her, much less someone who had already saved her twice before. Then she was shocked by Happy stopping her from reaching the key by grabbing her hand by jumping towards it.

“Don’t worry about him, I probably should’ve told you but, Natsu’s actually a mage.” Came the words from Happy, and just as he said them a loud slurping sound came from the inferno that held Natsu. An inferno that, now that Lucy got a good look at it, was slowly shrinking.

“Man, these flames taste awful, and you call yourself a fire mage” The words came from a familiar voice, the owner of said voice being revealed by the shrinking fire, along with a weird slurping sound that reminded her of slurping noodles. She was then shocked when she saw the last of the fire disappear into the mouth of one unharmed looking Natsu Dragneel.

 

“Thanks for the grub” He said with a shit eating grin, audible amidst the screams of confused terror from Bora and his men.

 

“How?!” Lucy shouted out at the sight, as Natsu tore off the small red jacket he had on, exposing his upper body and, more importantly, the guild stamp on his right shoulder.

There in a pure red color, was the logo of the most famous and infamous guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail.

The screams of terror from Bora and his men grew louder.

“The names Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail, and I’ve never seen you before!” Natsu shouted into the air, his voice carrying over the screams of his soon to be punching bags, and their leader who was acting like he was a member of his guild.
“H-hey Bora, I don’t like the look of this” One of the aforementioned punching bags called out. “Pink hair, scaly scarf, fire magic, and now the guild stamp. There's no doubt about it this guys the real deal, the real-”

“Salamander?!” The word tore from Lucy’s mouth finishing the punching bags sentence. Shock on her face at having been so close to one of the most well known mages in Fiore.

Bora’s terror fueled voice called out “Prominence flare!” as suddenly purple fire launched towards Natsu, who jumped above the attack and responded with his own.

“Fire Dragon’s” The words came out before he started inhaling, the temperature rising in the area as fire flowed into his mouth, causing his cheeks to be puffed up like a chipmunks.

Based on what was happening, it wasn’t hard for Lucy to find out what was going to happen. What she didn’t expect was the scale of what was about to happen.

”RRROOOAAARRR!”

The word came out and along with it, a geyser of flame almost as large as a house, barreling towards Bora and his men. Bora launched himself up into the air where he continued to do battle with Natsu who jumped up after him, both trading blasts of fire.

Lucy watched what was going on half listening to what Happy was saying about Natsu’s magic(Dragon Slayer Magic apparently), watching Natsu’s fight, and in general still being in a little bit of shock at everything. So she could be excused from not noticing one of the punching bags sneaking up on her.

Happy did notice ”Lucy, look out!”

She turned around just as the man was about to shout out and grab her, unable to open a gate so quickly, and was about to be grabbed when suddenly a shield came in out of nowhere and rammed into the bastard, which sent him rolling several dozen feet away.

Turning to look at the shield, she got a glimpse of what or rather who was holding it.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing what looked like a hoodie with a long sleeve shirt and gloves, jeans and sneakers with pieces of armor that looked like they’d seen better days, with the middle one looking like it had been cut from the top left to the bottom right with something very hot. He then stood to his full height, having been slouched from giving the shield bash, and she realized he was tall, much taller than her, and now getting a closer look his hoodie had a cut in it strangely following the one in the armor( was it a part of some fashion trend? No way that he got them like that while he was wearing them otherwise he would be bleeding heavily, right?). His shield was a basic heater shield with two golden crescents on the front, and looking at his right hand there was a sword that was broken near the middle of the blade.

As Lucy was wondering who he was, he decided to speak.

“Uhm, Hi, Jaune Arc, short, sweet rolls of the tongue, ladies love it.” where the words that came out of his mouth.

If not for the immediate flinch that came across his face at the words then she would have immediately thought him a shameless playboy.

“Sorry, force of habit” Jaune says “But on a more serious note, what's going on?

Happy popped up, arm raised like he was in a classroom, drawing both of their attentions ”Natsu’s fighting a slave trader” He said with a smile on his face like it was the most normal thing in the world, and from what she’s seen of these two, that might be so.

She turned to look at Jaune and saw the expression on his face, shock, confusion, concern, and utter doneness that wrapped it all up into one singular look.

In that moment Lucy knew, that among the crazy and stupidity of today, that she had found a fellow comrade in sanity. For who else could make such an expression, but a completely normal and sane person.

Notes:

Sorry this took so long, I kept getting distracted with stuff like learning to code and baking, so yeah.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter, constructive criticism is always welcome and have a wonderful day.

Chapter 3

A Fairy Tail Arc

As Jaune looked at the talking blue cat, he felt like he could be excused in saying that he might be going insane. And really who could blame him, he just saw a cat talk, there were two guys just flying in the air with fire and throwing it at each other in attacks a large as bullheads, oh and the fucking MOON was WHOLE and UNBROKEN!

So yeah, Jaune felt like he could be excused in feeling like he was going insane.

“Uh” He started, trying to find the right words for the situation “Which one of those two is Natsu?” He did genuinely feel like he needed to know just in case this Natsu lost against the slave trader. Not that he would be able to do much with his aura shattered, or even with his aura at 100 percent with how powerful these two seem to be, but better to know and not need than to need and not know.

“Oh he’s the one with pink hair” Said the blue cat ”And don’t worry, he won’t lose”. Was his face that easy to read? Damn.

As if to prove the cat true a loud crash followed by a dust cloud that came up from said crash made itself known to the three. When the dust cleared they saw the purple haired guy on the ground looking up at the sky with very oversized pupiless eyes and his mouth hanging open.

‘What the hell is up with his face?’ Jaune questioned, he’s seen a lot of defeated expressions before, bothe before that fight and after the fight, especially against his team and team RWBY, but never against him, and that is one of the weirdest ones he’s seen.

“Damnit Happy I told you it’s not pink it’s salmon!” Said a voice from next to them, causing him and the blond girl to jump in the air in shock and away from the voice. Said voice happened to be the other fire throwing dude, Natsu his brain reminded him, who somehow snuck up on them.

“How the fuck are you so sneaky?” Came the words from his mouth, a genuine question because, in his opinion, someone able to destroy city blocks with apparent ease, had no right being that sneaky.

Natsu looked at him, and then he grinned a grin full of teeth, he then wrapped his scale patterned scarf around his head in a sort of mask that covered all but his hair and eyes, making a vague hand gesture he said “I’m a ninja” his voice full of eager humor.

‘Nora would love this guy’ was his first thought, his second one being ’But not love love, Ren’s the only one who could claim that’.

He slightly winced at the thought of his teammates, hoping that they got out of the attack all right.
“So, who are you?” Asked Natsu in a curious tone.

“Jaune Arc” He replied not willing to say his entire little embarrassing introduction line again after the slip up the first time. ”And you are?” best he at least knew who he was talking to.

“Natsu Dragneel”

“Happy”

“Lucy”

Well now he knew who he was talking to, so that's nice. At least now he knew some people in this strange new world.

Then it hit him, he was in a new world, after dying. He felt his breathing quicken slightly at the thought, the realization. As he opened his mouth to ask where he was, he heard stomping feet coming towards them from behind, he turned and saw a platoon of armed and armored guards coming towards them, shouting for them to halt and that they’re under arrest.

“Well that's our cue to run” Natsu said, already hauling ass holding Jaune and Lucy’s wrists.

“Hey wait, why are we running?!” Lucy questioned and Jaune added on to it “Yeah we can just tell them what happened, right?”

“Not usually” Said Happy, who was flying next to them “They need to arrest everyone who caused the destruction or it won’t be considered a done job, that’s how the magic council operates”

Jaune would unpack that little lore dump later, as right now he was too busy staring at the flying cat. ‘Well this might as well happen’ he thought as he sheathed Crocea Mors onto his hip ‘Not even 10 minutes in a new world and already on the run from the authorities, Nora would be proud and Pyrrha would be horrified’. He was about to ask where they were going to go now but something caught his attention.

“And besides, you said you wanted to go to Fairy Tail right?” Natsu asked, looking back towards Lucy and Jaune, the former realizing what he was saying and breaking out into a huge smile while the latter was looking confusedly towards the ocean as if something had caught his attention.

Natsu turned towards the sea, hoping to see what Jaune was seeing, upon seeing nothing there he turned back to Jaune and called out “Hey, watcha looking at?”

Jaune turned his eyes towards Natsu but his head remained towards the ocean, the strange feeling telling him to not look away ”There’s something in the water, I think it’s big but I can’t tell”
Natsu turned back towards the ocean, trying to get a better grasp on what could be out there.

“It could just be a whale of some kind?” Offered Lucy, also confused on what could be out there.

“Yeah that’s probably what it is.” Natsu said in response as they ran out the city exit and onto the dirt road towards Magnolia. ”So, Jaune, Lucy” He called out after a few more minutes of running and gaining distance from Hargeon and the rune knights. “Wanna join Fairy Tail?” He asked, throwing both of them a smile.

“I’d love to!” Shouted Lucy in excitement at the prospect of joining her dream guild.

Jaune on the other hand…

“What’s Fairy Tail?” He questioned, sounding genuinely confused and had to stop suddenly to not run into the other three as they had just suddenly stopped right in front of him.

“WHAT?!” They shouted taking almost comically shocked positions with their hands in the air and shocked looks on their faces “How do you not know Fairy Tail, it’s the most well known mage guild in all of Fiore” Lucy questioned, wondering how he’d never heard of the guild before.

Jaune, in his infinite wisdom and knowledge, decided to dig his metaphorical grave even deeper. “What’s a mage guild?” He asked. The following silence was almost comical in its length and extent, he had to wave his hand in front of their faces to see if they were paying attention or not, they were not.

It took a few minutes till they were back into functioning order.

“How do you not know what a mage guild is?!” they all asked that in unison, which was equally cool and unnerving. He couldn’t just up and say that he’d been teleported from another world upon death, he rather liked not being called insane and put into a mental facility. Seems like he had to not tell the truth, but the question was how could he say it without soun-.

“No comment” Oh ok, seems like his mouth was just deciding to ignore his brain now. There was no way that they would just accept tha-.

“Oh ok, but seriously do you wanna join the guild?” …What the fuck, did Natsu just accept anything being said at face value?

Then it hit him, Fairy Tail was a mage guild, he was not a mage, dust he hoped that not being a mage was impossible otherwise he was gonna be in even deeper shit.

“I’d love to but i’m not a mage” “That won’t matter as long as you try to learn a magic and do jobs” The response was almost instant, so fast he almost imagined he spaced out for a few minutes and missed out on the shock, hell only lucy seemed shock at his lack of being a mage.
“Wait a second” Said Lucy “So you’re not a mage” At his nod in agreement, she then asked “Then how the hell were you able to shield bash that bastard so far?”

Ah, yeas not even an hour ago when he bitch slapped a slave trader with Crocea Mors’s shield. Actually how did he do that, his aura was and still is broken?

“I work out” He said nonchalantly as if that answered everything, and maybe it did. Lucy looked at him with exhausted deadpan eyes and honestly he completely understood the feeling. As he looked towards Natsu he noted the wide grin on his face and felt an immediate sense of dread that reminded him of Nora. He mentally prepared for anything that might come out of his mouth.

“Punch that tree” Apparently not everything, despite his best efforts. “What?” He asked, wondering if he heard the salmonet right.

“You said you worked out, I want to see just how strong you are physically, so punch that tree with everything you’ve got” Natsu replied

At this point Jaune was just gonna roll with it, walking up to the tree he took a stance that he’d seen Yang take every time during her matches in Ms. Goodwitch’s class, and doing what he was told, he threw a punch with everything he had.

He was expecting at most for his fist to meet the bark of the oak tree and cause a little shake in the leaves, because 1.he didn’t have his aura up and 2, he wasn’t a hand to hand fighter. He was not however expecting for his to pass through the bark along with his arm out the other side of the tree.

A pregnant silence filled the area, Jaune looked at his arm with a confused expression, Lucy and Happy looked wide eyed at the blond and the tree, Natsu just had the most excited look on his face with a big grin. Jaune pulled his hand out and looked at it, it didn’t even hurt that much, only a slight little sting on the knuckles. He was extremely confused at the sudden drastic increase in physical strength and durability, but decided that he wasn’t even gonna try to unpack all that tonight, another to the pile.

“You know what” Jaune said, still looking at his hand, now beginning to look up at the others ”I think I will join this guild of yours” why not, he thought, might as well go all in.

Natsu’s grin grew even larger at the statement “Well then” he began his voice full enough of joy and excitement to shock Lucy and Happy out of there befuddled states ”allow me to be the first to welcome you two-”

—--------------------------------------

“To FAIRY TAIL!!!” He said as they were in front of the guild hall of Fairy Tail. Natsu walked over to the doors and raised his foot to kick them open.

Notes:

I felt that it would be nice to stop it there as I've been typing this entire chapter out for a bit under 6 hours.
Birthday motivation is like crack for me apparently.
So Jaune and the others finally arrive at Fairy Tail, here's to hopeing that another bust of motivation hits me like a train.
As always constructive criticism is welcome and have a wonderful day.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4 (Edited)

A Fairy Tail Arc

 

“I’M BAAACK” Natsu shouted as he kicked the doors to the guild hall open, drawing attention from the figures inside, silencing most of the conversations going on.

As if Natsu hadn’t just kicked the door open and shouted at the top of his lungs, they nonchalantly greeted him like it was an everyday occurrence.

 

“Hey Natsu, find what you were looking for?”

 

“Back already eh, Natsu?”

 

“Stop kicking the door open damnit, Erza will have our hides for it!”

 

Natsu ignored most of the calls except the last one, which caused him to stop for a brief moment and shiver slightly before moving onward.

 

He approached another one of the guys who was just drinking, as he noticed Natsu on his way towards him and called out.

 

“Hey Natsu, how was Har-'’ Only to be cut off by Natsu’s fist meeting his face, launching him from his table to the one right next to it.

 

“You lied to me about the salamander sighting, You bastard!” Natsu shouted making his way towards the man.

 

As the man shouted back and Natsu shouted back again, their little altercation grew into a fight that spanned the entire guild hall, with few exceptions that still were quickly being dragged into the brawl.

 

“Damnit Natsu, can’t you keep your fighting to yourself?!” A Voice came from the side, Jaune and Lucy looking over towards the owner of said voice.

 

It was a man who looked to be around Natsu’s age, wearing long black pants and simple shoes, with no shirt on, showing a chain necklace with a cross like symbol hanging from it, the symbol of the Fairy Tail guild on his right pectoral in blue.

 

“We just can’t have a quiet day with you around can we?” The man questioned, before jumping into the brawl, punching and kicking his way to Natsu, ignoring the shouts of “Gray, clothes!”. Natsu noticed this and started doing the same towards the man.

 

Jaune and Lucy watched the man go, the pair of pants that were on the man (now known as Gray) now right in front of them, fluttering in a non existent breeze. They both starred as the article of clothing fell to the ground, both wide eyed and confused at the sudden strip.

 

“DId you see that?” Lucy asked Jaune wondering if he saw the moment the strip happened.

 

“Nope” He answered, he had not.

 

“Me neither” She replied, now deciding to get to safety from the ongoing chaos, she voiced the idea to Jaune and he agreed readily.

 

They made their way to the bar, which seemed to be the least chaotic place in the guild hall, hoping to weather the fight out.

 

“Ah, Hello you must be new here.” Came a feminine voice from behind the bar, startling the both of them.

 

Jaune and Lucy turned to see the person who surprised them, coming face to face with a woman wearing a sleeveless maroon dress that highlighted her voluptuous figure nicely, her white flowy hair going down to her upper back with the front part that would've gone over her forehead held in a small ponytail, she had gorgeous sapphire blue eyes that where a few shades lighter than Jaune’s cobalt blue. She gave a gentle and warm smile that made them both feel safe in the chaos.

 

Jaune had no idea who she was, but apparently Lucy did, if her squealing was anything to go by.

 

The words that came out her mouth were so fast that Jaune was only able to keep up with do to listening to ruby when she was gushing about weapons in the forge.

 

“Oh my gosh, you’re Mirajane, in the flesh!” Lucy squealed out in joy, causing Mirajane to laugh at the sight in good humor.

 

“That would be me, yes” She said, her smile only seeming to widen slightly at the sight of Lucy’s fangirl moment. She then looked them over, taking in their appearances and clothing, only stopping to look at the keys on Lucy’s belt, Crocea Mors on Jaunes hip, and his damaged armor. Curiosity filled her eyes at the odd damage on the metal, before dismissing it for later.

 

“Is there something I can help you with?” She asked politely

 

“Oh, yes actually, uhm Natsu brought us here to join” Lucy said while Jaune nodded and pointed at the salmonet, who was currently fighting by using another guy as a weapon against Gray who was doing the exact same thing. The three at the bar gave a sweatdrop at the scene.

 

“Well” Marijane said, snapping her gaze away from the ridiculous fight scene “ If Natsu brought you here then that means you’re trustworthy enough to join” she said with a smile, clapping her hands together and tilting her head to the side with a smile.

 

Jaune felt a little worry creep into his mind at how easily she just accepted their desire to join the guild, despite being total strangers.

 

“Are you sure you can just accept us in like that?” The words came out of his mouth before he could really think on it. Lucy shot him an urgent questioning look, wondering what the hell he was doing.

 

“Hm?” Mirajane raised a questioning eyebrow, her smile still present on her face.

 

“I mean” Jaune began “What if we have ulterior motives that could get people here hurt, or something like that?”

 

“NOT that we do, right Jaune?!” Lucy interrupted before he could continue to question the barmaid, she did not want to lose the chance to join her favorite guild just because Jaune decided to ask some (admittedly kinda logical) questions.

 

Contrary to what Jaune thought might happen, Mirajane’s smile didn’t fall, nor did she look angry or offended, in fact her smile seemed to widen as a slight chuckle escaped her lips.

 

“Well yes normally there would be a screening process for those who would like to join the guild, you can thank Natsu for you not having to take that process.” She caught their surprised looks at the statement and explained.

 

“Those brought in by members of the guild to join don’t normally have to take the process because the members would have already evaluated them in their own way, and you’re also the first ones that Natsu’s ever brought to join the guild and he’s a surprisingly good judge of character so…”

 

Jaune and Lucy blinked then looked over to the fight, where Natsu was now using furniture as weaponry while standing on a pile of bodies facing off against a trio of people lead by Gray, including a large and muscular young man with dark skin and white hair and black eyes with a stitch mark running from the corner of his right eye towards his right ear, wearing a button up uniform that looked like the ones from mistral’s middle schools, with black slacks and white shoes. He was wielding a whole table over his head, looking like he was about to throw it.

 

Next to him holding a whole barrel by her side was a woman wearing a blue bikini top and a pair of red pants and open toed sandals, she had brown reddish hair with gray and purplish eyes, the Fairy Tail mark was on the lower left side of her abdomen. All three were glaring directly at Natsu who was giving his usual maniacal grin towards them, as if beckoning them to come at him.

 

Jaune and Lucy, with deadpan looks on their faces, turned back towards Mirajane, both raising their eyebrows as if asking ‘Really?’.

 

Mirajane only responded with a sheepish smile and laugh.

 

“Trust me” She began “Natsu’s judgment in everyday tasks may not be the best, but when it comes to people he’s surprisingly accurate with them, not 100 percent mind you, but close enough that we’ve learned to trust his opinion on it”.

 

Jaune and Lucy let out an “ooooh” at the explanation, and Mirajane just smiled and clapped her hands together before continuing onwards.

 

“Alrighty then, if you’re really gonna join the guild then we’re gonna have to go speak with the master and inform him of the circumstances regarding you being here, and then with his permission you’ll both officially be a part of the guild.

 

“Um” Lucy asked, drawing both Jaune and Mirajane’s attention “How do you know for sure that he’ll accept us into the guild?”

 

Jaune turned to look at Mirajane for an answer.

 

“Well that’s simple actually, it’s because o-TABLE!!!” Mirajane shouted mid-sentence as her eyes widened to stare between Jaune and Lucy, already reaching towards them to pull them over the bar counter.

 

Startled by her sudden shout Jaune turned in the direction that she was looking a second to late as he felt something hit his back and knocked him over the counter and into Mirajane, both of them falling over the countertop and into a pile of limbs.

 

Jaune shook his head to clear his mind and pushed himself up, getting a clear view of what hit him.

 

It was in fact a table, and judging by the way that his upper back that he felt get hit, the table had been thrown like a frisbee.

 

Well that was definitely a first for him.

 

Shaking his head again, he turned his gaze to Mirajane, who looked dazed but otherwise unharmed as she was already getting back up. He then turned his gaze towards Lucy and his breath caught in his throat, as there on the ground with her hands on the back of her head, eyes and teeth clenched with a few tears leaking out, was Lucy.

 

Big brother instincts kicked in and he was immediately at her side helping her up to lean against the bar.

 

“Hey hey move your hand so we can get a look at it ok?” His voice came out gentle as he slowly pried her hands away from the back of her head and got a look at it. There didn’t seem to be any blood, which was good. He then raised his hand in front of her face holding three fingers up.

 

“How many fingers am I holding up” He asked as her eyes opened up, blinking away the tears.

“Three”

He changed the number.

“Two”

He changed it again.

“One”

He held up his middle finger.

“Still one, also rude”

 

He chuckled and heard Marijane also chuckle which led to Lucy letting out a small laugh of her own.

 

“Sorry, had to make sure your sense of humor was intact” His response made both of their laughs get slightly louder, the sounds still nothing compared to the sound of fighting going on around the bar. At the reminder of the fight going on around the guild, his smile fell to a frown and he looked back at the table that just hit them and his frown got deeper, he recognized that table.

 

Standing to his full height he looked around the guild hall in search of a certain fight that he saw not even two minutes ago and ‘There’. He found the fight, and more importantly he found the big guy who had the table, emphasis on had.

 

Gritting his teeth, he was about to draw Crocea Mors before he caught himself.

 

‘Don’t do it’ He warned himself ‘You can’t just attack a dude with a sword, that would be attempted murder and we likely wouldn’t be accepted into the guild afterwards.’

 

‘But I can’t just let him get away with it, whether he meant to or not, Lucy got hurt, and Mirajane could’ve gotten hurt as well, so we can’t just let him get off scot free.’

 

‘Okay’ He thought to himself, looking around for a weapon ‘No Crocea Mors being used on him, but what could wo-’

 

His thought process cut off as his gaze fell upon the perfect weapon, a grin tore itself onto his face, unknowingly freaking both Mirajane and Lucy out, as he walked over to is weapon of mass destruction of choice, for he had seen it’s power, it’s destructive capabilities once before. And though his hands may be unworthy to wield it, wield it he shall, for righteous justice.

 

Removing Crocea Mors from his hip and handing it to Mirajane he said “ Hold this” and dropped it into her hands, nearly dragging her back to the ground with its unusually heavy weight.

 

Reaching out he grabbed his weapon of choice and turned to the battlefield, as he began walking towards it his left hand reached out and grasped the table, dragging it along with him as he climbed over the bar.

 

Lucy and Mirajane peaked their heads out from under the bar, watching as he walked towards the battle.

 

“What do you think he’s gonna do with that?” Lucy asked, referring to the odd choice of weapon that Jaune had chosen.

 

“I don’t know but” Mirajane responded taking a brief moment to adjust her grip on the surprisingly heavy sword and scabbard “For whatever reason he chose it, I’m sure he has a reason to be smiling like that”

 

They both looked on as Jaune neared Natsu and the others he was fighting, then he did something they both didn’t expect.

 

He threw the table.

___________________________

Natsu was having a blast fighting in another guild brawl.

 

Or at least he would be, if he wasn’t fighting Elfman.

 

Fighting him usually involved a bit too much damage to their surroundings, to the point where Erza came up with a tier list for punishments based on how much damage they did.

 

Safe to say, Natsu did not like Fighting Elfman for this reason and one other, one that he would rather not remember.

 

Dodging around Gray's chair swords and Canna barrel full of beer, he came nearly face to fist with Elfman.

 

Not willing to get a fist to the face, Natsu raised his arms in front of his face before the impact and waited for the pain. But right before the impact, something flew by the right of Natsu’s head hitting Elfman in the face and knocking him back, putting a pause on their little part of the guild wide brawl.

 

As Natsu got a better look at the impromptu ranged weapon, he saw that it was the same table that Elfman threw earlier. Hearing footsteps coming from behind him he turned and saw Jaune approaching them with a serious look on his face.

 

“Him” He said motioning towards Elfman who was getting up slowly, clearly disoriented from his sudden impromptu kiss with the edge of a flying table “What’s his name?”

 

“Elfman” Natsu responded, confused by the sudden interest, he decided to voice it ”Why?”

 

“The table hit Lucy in the back of the head.” The response caused Natsu’s eyes to widen, his head already turning towards the direction Jaune came from, his mouth opening to ask “She’s fine, there's no blood, no concussion, and her sense of humor is still intact. I left her with Mirajane”

 

Although slightly confused by the sense of humor part, Natsu still breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge that Lucy was okay. That relief gave way to anger at Elfman for throwing the table. With a growl in his throat he turned towards Elfman, prepared to beat him senseless, guilt or not, but he was stopped by Jaunes hand on his shoulder.

 

Turning towards Jaune, he asked “Why?”

 

Jaune turned towards him and answered “He’s mine, besides you’ve already got a fight to deal with” As he said that, he gestured towards Gray and Cana, who were both standing across from them looking at Jaune in confusion for some reason.

 

“You think you can handle them?” Jaune asked

 

Natsu grinned as he responded “Handle them? I’m stronger than the two of them combined on any day!” He shouted the boast loud enough for the two of them to hear.

 

“”BULLSHIT!!!”” Gray and Cana shouted in response to his taunt, their faces comically furious, making Natsu laugh.

 

Jaune let out a laugh of his own, clearly getting what he was trying to do. “Alright” He said, a smile on his face “Good luck” And with that, he started making his way to Elfman, Shifting his hand around a-

Wait

‘Was that a-?’

 

A sudden shout interrupted his train of thought. Turning to the source of the shout he saw Elfman who was finally back up from the ground, his fists clenched and nose dripping blood as he was looking at Jaune with a pissed off look in his eyes.

 

“Real men don’t interrupt other men’s fights!” Elfman's voice came out loud and proud, unintentionally gathering the attention of the other fighting guild members.

 

As the fights around them died down, turning towards the source of the shout, seeing Elfman's state, people began to realize that Jaune wasn’t a member of the guild, and were waiting for his response to Elfman’s shout.

 

His eyes narrowing, Jaune raised his right arm, the one that held his odd weapon, pointed it at Elfman, opened his mouth and spoke into the sudden growing silence.

 

“Fuck you, ya table throwing asshole”

The words were so sudden, so blunt, that several people (Natsu included) let out a sudden laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"YOU THREW THE TABLE RIGHT BACK AT ME!!!!" Elfman roared back.

"No I didn't" Jaune replied, his expression nonchalant.

"YES YOU DID!" Elfman yelled, looking almost offended that Jaune was denying throwing the table.

"Nope"

"YOU DID!"

"I don't recall doing such a thing."

"THE EVIDENCE IS LITTERALLY ON MY FACE!"

"And who's fault is that?"

"YOURS!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I didn't throw it."

"YES YOU DID!"

"Nuh Uh"

The response was so immature and childish that Elfman was visibly shocked by it, his face contorted by confusion and offense. Laughter was spreading across the Guild now, the fighting have all but stopped, as people watched the comedic back and forth between the two. Visibly working things out in his head, Elfman opened his mouth and yelled back.

"YUH HUH!"

"I don't remember throwing it. Natsu did you see me throw it?"

 

Natsu blinked, surprised at being suddenly dragged into this, before grinning as he realized what Jaune was trying to do.

 

"Nope" He spoke "I never saw him throw it"

 

And it was true, after all Jaune was behind him when he threw it, so he didn't see shit. So he was speaking the truth, the technical truth, his favorite kind of truth.

 

Elfmans eyes suddenly snapped towards Natsu, anger very clear in his eyes, a growl leaving his throat silencing all the snickering in the guild hall.

 

Jaune noticed the look that the white haired man was giving his companion and decided to draw his attention back to him, he didn't want that kind of look directed towards his friend.

 

"Well as my good friend here says, he never saw me throw the table, ergo I did not throw the table."

 

Eyes wide with a sudden wave of fury Elfman let out a roar as he began to charge forward, closing the distance fast.

Jaune didn’t look phased though as he raised his arms above his head and grasped his weapon and spread his legs into a proper stance for a downward strike.

Many in the hall winced and waited for the charge to be over, wondering who was gonna have to bring the poor bastard to Porlyusica and explain why he was as injured as he was. Because while Elfman was nowhere near the strongest of the guild, he was also far from the weakest.
And after all…

What the hell could one random dude wielding a baguette as a weapon possibly do?

____________________

Jaune watched unflinchingly as Elfman charged towards him.

 

Why should he flinch when he had a weapon like a baguette in his hands, with it victory was practically assured.

 

His weapon raised above his head, his feet spread for proper balance, he was ready.

 

As he saw Elfman charge towards him he prepared to swing.

 

Unbeknownst to him, a small bit of his aura had finally recharged and flowed into his arms and baguette, strengthening both.

 

So when Elfman was in range, he finally swung, and when his baguette made contact with his opponents head, as if in defiance to those that deemed it an unwieldy weapon, the baguette didn’t break.

 

The floor however, when hit with Elfman’s head and the rest of his body from the force of being sent down by Jaune’s baguette, was shattered into a small localized crater.

 

As the entire guild hall stared at the baffling and impossible sight they had just witnessed, Jaune straightened up and flourished his baguette as if swinging the blood off of a blade.

 

What could a mere baguette do?

 

Well quite a bit in the right hands, it would seem.

 

------------------------------------------

[OMAKE] - 1

The holy sword of the bakery

 

As Jaune stared down Elfman, he couldn't help but feel pity for his opponent. For how could he feel any thing but? 

He raised his weapon in front of him, grasping it with both hands, and reached within himself, there he found what he needed.

There he found his aura, fully recovered and waiting to be used.

And use it he did, as he took a step forward with his left foot, as his aura flared around him creating gusts of wind from the sudden presence in the guild hall.

The bystanders all instinctually covered their faces to block the sudden wind that had appeared.

Amidst it all two pairs of eyes widened at the occurring events, both in confusion.

'What the hell?' Natsu thought, staring at Jaune in confusion 'He said he wasn't a mage.'

'was he lying?' Lucy was also confused at what was happening, but then she felt the power flowing off of Jaune, her eyes widening at a sudden realization.

"That's not magic."

Lucy turned to Mirajane, slightly startled by the sudden words, not noticing Natsu turn his head towards them as well, his enhanced hearing having picked up the words.

"What?" 

"Whatever it is that's surrounding Jaune, it's definitely not magic"

Hearing that Lucy couldn't help but to swallow, her mouth suddenly dry. It was one thing for her to suspect it herself, but for a high ranking member of the most famous guild in Fiore? That was a  confirmation that terrified her. Natsu's Eyes also widened, and he he took a cautious step back unaware of what may happen. Gray and Cana both noticed the sudden shift in Natsu's posture and prepared for anything that may happen. 

"Do you know what it is?" Lucy asked, hoping that Mirajane knew, so there could at least be some reassurance in this concerning situation.

Mirajane turned to her concern and a slight bit of fear in her eyes "No, I don't"

Lucy looked at Mirajane, Mirajane looked at Lucy, they both turned towards the standoff just in time to see three body's launch themselves over the bar, shocking them both. Turning towards them, they saw it was Natsu, Gray, and Cana, all three of them peeking their heads over the bar not willing to miss a single moment of the potential fight. Lucy and Mirajane just shrugged and turned back to the fight.

Jaune felt ready, so he raised his baguette over his head and looked Elfman in the eyes and spoke.

 

"Come thrower of tables, and face justice for your actions"

 

Whatever desire that Elfman had to backdown suddenly went up in flames at the taunt, his eyes narrowing in rage, he charged forward, his magic changing his arms into claws of a beast, a roar let loose from his maw as he closed the distance between him and Jaune in seconds, claws raised to deliver a blow.

Jaune responded to this, taking a deep breath and shouting.

 

"EX-"

 

At the first sound that came from Jaunes mouth the golden light more than doubled in intensity, what was an odd breeze became a small raging tempest, the baguette in Jaune's hands becoming overwhelmed in a bright and piercing golden light. The surrounding members of the guild turned tail and ran for cover, all of them automatically knowing that they didn't want to be caught in whatever was about to happen.

Jaune swung and finished his shout, his voice piercing over all other sounds, as if demanding the name of this attack be heard by all.

 

"CALIBREAD!!!"

 

Jaune swung, and the Guild hall was consumed with light of golden and white.

______________________

The citizens of the city of Magnolia looked in the direction of the loud explosion and the towering explosion of light that reached the heavens so bright that it made day seem like night.

When the pillar of light became more clear people began to realize what it was.

A giant fucking golden baguette.

______________________

Far from Magnolia and the events taking place, a red haired figure dressed in armor that covered yet did nothin to hide her voluptuous figure, stood over the defeated corpse of a monster, resting after her one sided battle against it, when she felt it.

From within her armory, a certain weapon was calling out, a weapon she had sworn to never use again.

Her eyes widening, she summoned her weapon. it vibrated in her hand as if in excitement.

"You've never done this before, and though I know I'm not likely to get an answer, I must ask, why?"

As expected, the weapon did not respond, and she closed her eyes with a resigned look on her face.

"Why do I even bother with you EL. If you weren't so bitter and powerful I would have eaten you by now."

She blinked before bighting back a groan of disappointment at herself for falling into bad habits and talking to this weapon again.

She looked back at the weapon before putting it back into her armory, taking in its ridiculous appearance that hid it's true power. 

A large black stick of licorice with red highlights along it's twisting ridges.

She sighed and sealed the weapon back into her armory, wondering what that was about. Pushing the event into the back of her mind for later, she had a job to finish.

And Erza Scarlet would be damned if she didn't finish a job she started.

Notes:

Hey Sorry this took so long, I was being lazy.
So before any of you start saying how Elfman was slightly out of character by being to aggressive, don't worry that will be explained.
So if you're worried about bashing, don't worry there's not gonna be much and it's not gonna be that bad, because I personally hate bashing.
So as usual if you have any constructive criticism, let me know please, I do really want to get better at this.

Also it may be early but happy holidays (Just in case I don't make another chapter in time.)

Also what color should Jaune's guild mark be? I've been thinking gold or blue of any shade.

New update: Just made an Omake that got a bit out of hand, but I rather like it, let me know what you think.

Chapter 5

Jaune released the breath that he had been holding unknowingly as he closed his eyes and relaxed from the clash that he just had with Elfman. Tension leaving his shoulders he took several breaths, surprisingly winded for some reason and feeling slightly drained, from the short bout.

 

As he opened his eyes to look down towards Elfman, he blinked at the small crater in the floor he found the man face down in, a slight groaning sound coming from the man as there was a large round impact wound on the top of his head from where his baguette struck with the wrath of god or Nora when someone touches her pancakes or ren (sometimes both).

 

As Elfman’s groaning continued to echo throughout the hall, Jaune realized how quiet the hall was, and wondered where the sounds of fighting and the like went. Turning towards the rest of the hall he froze as he noticed the large crowd staring towards him in shock. Turning towards Natsu, Jaune opened his mouth to ask a suddenly urgent question, only to freeze as he caught sight of Natsu and the other two he was fighting looking at him in shock, mouths agape and eyes wide and white with no pupil in them. As Jaune took in the strange expression that everyone had, several thoughts rushed through his mind.

 

‘Why are there eyes like that?’

‘I Don't like that, I don’t like that one bit’

‘Do they need help?’

Needless to say Jaune did not like the odd expressions on their faces.

Blinking and managing to find his voice, Jaune spoke.

 

“Uhm” He began, catching the attention of all watching “Can I help you?”

 

And as if his words were some sort of signal, most staring at him snapped out of whatever trance had taken hold and launched themselves forward to swarm him with questions about what he just did.

 

“How did you do that?!”

“Why did you do that?!”

“Why a baguette?!”

“Screw that, HOW a baguette?!”

“Yeah!”

Jaune was visibly overwhelmed by the sudden and loud barrage of questions. So when Natsu came barreling through with a starstruck expression on his face towards him, he gave a sigh of relief that he was going to be able to get away from all the questioning-

 

“You have got to tell me how you did that!”

 

Only for his hopes to be dashed by the words that came from Natsu’s mouth, as he sent a slightly betrayed look towards his friend. The salmonette remaining oblivious about the expression directed towards him, only kept looking expectantly along with the crowd.

 

Jaune gulped, wondering why everyone was acting like he’d just brought them dust for the first time. All he’d done was swing a baguette like a sword, and smashed his opponent into the ground.

 

“Well” He began somehow further silencing the silent crowd, their expressions expectant for answers ”I took the baguette and swung”

 

Simple really

 

The crowd suddenly face planting at his answer said otherwise.

 

Jaune was really starting to get confused with the way this world's people reacted to things that surprised them.

 

As the crowd started to suddenly get up and ask more questions, something happened.

 

“Turn around” came Elfman’s voice from right behind him, silencing the questioning crowd and causing all but Natsu to back up slowly.

 

“Why?” Jaune questioned, silently swallowing in nervousness.

 

“No reason” Elfman responded, tone surprisingly calm and level.

 

“Can I get a reason?”

 

“You will if you turn around.”

 

“You understand why I don’t trust that answer right?”

 

“Just turn around…please?”

 

‘It sounds like he was getting tired of our little back and forth we have going on.’ Jaune thought ‘So naturally all that I have to do is just turn around and face the music.’

“Nah, I’m good”

‘Or just die I guess, thats fine to’

“Why” Elfman asked, his tone even more strained now.

 

“Because I feel like if I do turn around, you’re gonna sock me in the face.”

 

“I won’t”

 

“Okay you answered that too easily, are you gonna kick me then?”

 

“No I will not.”

 

“Are you gonna cause me any harm if I do turn around?”

 

“...No”

 

“You paused.”

 

“No I didn’t.”

 

“Yes you did.”

 

“No I di-”

 

“Elfman Strauss, you put down that table this instant young man!” A familiar voice called out from across the guild, carrying the oh so familiar and feared elder sister scolding tone, causing Jaune to involuntarily shiver at phantom memories.

 

Wait

 

Elder sister tone?

 

From…

 

Turning his head towards the source of the voice, he saw Mariajane standing in front of the bar, Crocea Mors in her left hand on her hip as well as her right hand. A cute pout was on her face, directed towards the man behind him.

 

Speaking of

 

Jaune turned his head to the left even further, and he saw Elfman right behind him with a table over his head, the same table that started it all.

 

With a deadpan gaze he turned his head up at the massive man who was now looking back down towards him, expression slightly sheepish.

 

“Really dude?” Jaune questioned, tone dipped in slight disappointment.

 

“A real man doesn’t attack when his opponent's back is turned” Elfman responded with a slightly embarrassed blush on his face after being caught.

 

Before Jaune could respond, Mirajane came walking up to the both of them, the pout still on her face. As she made her way over Elfman tossed the table behind him, with it landing with a crash, and took a step back from Jaune. 

 

As soon as Mirajane stopped right in front of Elfman, she spoke in a scolding tone.

 

“No more throwing tables ok? You’ve fought enough today already.”

 

“Huh? Why big sis?!”

 

As the conversation was going on, Jaune and Natsu made their way over to the bar to check up on Lucy, who had climbed over the bar after Mirajane.

 

“How the hell did you do that?” Lucy asked when they got close enough for her not to yell. “I know for a fact that a baguette can’t do that.”

 

“What do you mean, I didn't do anything other than use it as a sword?” Jaune questioned, confused as to why everyone was so confused by what he did. Did they not have food fights here?

 

“Actually she has a point” Natsu was joining in now with a confused expression on his face, arms crossed. “A baguette shouldn’t be able to handle what you just did with it. It’s cool that it did do it, but it’s also kinda confusing at how it did it.”

 

“I agree, it is quite an odd situation, magic or no.” At the sound of a new voice Jaune turned his head towards the source. Seeing nothing there, he blinked wondering if he was going crazy.

 

“Oh give me a moment” The voice came from below him  and Jaune looked down just as the small figure jumped onto the bar top. 

Looking back up Jaune took in the figure who was now revealed to be a short old man with orange pants, sandals, a white shirt with the Fairy Tail logo on it , orange jacket with blue lining on the cuffs, and an orange and blue jester hat. In the old man's hands was a mug of beer, and in his lap as he sat on the bar top was a staff with a swirled top.

 

“Oh, hey gramps!” Natsu exclaimed with a brilliant smile, seeming happy to see the old man “How long have you been here?”

 

“Long enough to see everything happening, especially you and Elfman fighting” He gave a pointed look to Natsu, who winced slightly at the words.

 

Jaune and Lucy shared a look of confusion with each other, wondering what that meant but decided not to push it.

 

“Um” Lucy started “I hope I’m not being rude but, who are you exactly?”

 

The old man turned towards her with a gentle smile, like a grandfather looking towards his granddaughter “Ah my apologies for forgetting to introduce myself, you see my name is Makarov and I’m-”

 

“Ah master, I see you’re talking to the new potential members.” Mirajane called out as she made her way to the bar and the people around it, leaving Elfman behind looking thoroughly chastised. As she made it to the bar, Makarov, now revealed to be the master, smiled at her.

 

“Indeed Mira, I just thought that I’d try and get to know the people that Natsu brought to join our lovely guild”

 

He turned back towards Jaune and Lucy, who were now slightly stiff in posture as they realized who they were talking to.

 

“And I must say” He said, causing both of them to stiffen up even further wondering if they’d done something to offend him. “ I like what I’m seeing” He said with a perverted giggle and blush as his eyes locked onto Lucy, or more specifically Lucy’s chest.

 

Before Jaune and Lucy could react to such a statement, Crocea Mors, still in its scabbard, came in and thwacked Makarov on the back of his head, knocking him forward. Eyes followed the sword and led to Mirajane holding said sword, eyes closed with a smile on her face. A smile that sent shivers down the backs of all who saw it.

 

“Now Now Master” She spoke with a sickeningly sweet voice that leaked of a hidden threat “What have I said about harassing the women of the guild and those who want to join?”

 

“To not to.” Makarov replied, a lump already forming on the back of his head from where he was hit. “And where did you get a sword? I know for a fact that Erza would be pissed if you did.”

 

Mirajane laughed and said ”It’s not my sword actually, I was just holding it for him” As she handed Crocea Mors to Jaune.

 

“Thanks for holding onto this for me so suddenly.” Jaune said sheepishly as he took the weapon back, placing it back onto his hip and placing his hand on it, reassured by its weight, even if it was lighter than usual.

 

“Oh it was no problem, so don’t worry about” Mirajane while waving her hand.

 

“Anyway” She began “Shouldn’t we get to adding them to the guild, master?” As she turned back towards Makarov.

 

Makarov nodded his head in agreement, his face shifting to a more serious expression as he turned to Jaune and Lucy. “I agree, so let's go through the basic information required. First, your names, full names please.

 

“Lucy Heartfelia” Lucy answered with a slightly uncomfortable expression at mentioning her last name, if anyone noticed they didn’t mention it.

 

“Jaune Artorias Arc” Jaune said, feeling like his name sounded slightly weird with his middle name due to not having to say it fully often.

 

Makarov nodded, and continued ”Age?”

 

“17” Lucy said

 

“17” Jaune said

 

Makarov nodded again” Alright final question, what type of magic do you use?”

 

Jaune felt a ball of nervousness clench in his gut, this was it, this was the make or break moment. Would they accept him even if he didn’t have magic? Or would they turn him away despite Natsu saying otherwise.

 

Lucy went first.

 

“Oh, hang on, let me just” She said as she reached into the pouch containing her keys. Pulling them out, the silver and gold keys glittered in the light of the guild hall, catching the attention of an orange haired man.

 

“I’m a celestial spirit mage, I use these keys to summon spirits from the celestial realm that I’ve formed a contract with to fight by my side.”

 

Jaune was looking wide eyed at Lucy after she explained her magic. Summoning spirits from another realm to help her fight? That sounded so cool! His train of thought was cut off as he heard a gasp coming from behind them.

 

Turning to the source of the gasp he saw a man with orange hair wearing glasses, an orange shirt with the design of a skull with metal bands criss-crossing across its eyes, black pants and shoes, all of it topped off with the green fur collared cargo jacket with rings on his fingers.

 

“So you were a celestial mage?!” The man exclaimed, shock clear in his voice and on his face “I see, I’m sorry but it could never come to be between us!” As he said this he turned away with tears gathering in his eyes, and as soon as he finished speaking he took off towards the door with tears spilling from his eyes.

 

Jaune and Lucy both blinked at the sudden interruption and his sudden leave, both wondering what the hell just happened.

 

“Aha, sorry about Loki, he had a bad experience with a celestial key wizard a long time ago and it’s colored his perception of them ever since.” Mirajane explained, ever present smile slightly strained.

 

“He’s also a massive playboy, so don’t worry about his feelings.” Happy said with a laidback expression and a wave of his hand as he was eating fish on the bar top.

 

‘ So harsh!’ Both Jaune and Lucy thought of the cat’s statement.

 

“A celestial key wizard huh?” Makarov continued on as if nothing had happened “I haven’t seen one of those in a while”

 

“Are celestial key mages that rare? I thought that a lot of people bought the silver keys?” Mirajane asked in a confused tone.

 

“I can answer that” Lucy said “You see to be considered a celestial spirit mage you need to have at least one golden key, of which there are 12. If you don’t have one, then until you do you will be considered a user of celestial keys, not a Celestial key mage” She finished with one hand on her hip and the other pointed to the ceiling, with Jaune, Natsu, Mirajane, and Happy all nodding along to the impromptu info dump.

 

“Well now that that’s out of the way, what about you young man?” Makarov asked, turning towards Jaune.

 

Jaune swallowed his nerves and spoke “I don’t have any magic to use.” He gave a nervous smile towards Makarov.

 

Mirajane’s eyes widened at the sudden bit of info.

 

A brief look of surprise flashed along Makarov’s face, along with something else that was gone too quickly to identify. Before he scratched his bear with a contemplative look, after a few moments, he spoke.

 

“Are you willing to learn?”

 

“Yes” The word was out before Jaune could even realize what he was going to say, and the smile the master gave in response to his answer banished his nervousness from his body.

 

“Well then, I suppose that means we’ll have to congratulate the two of you for becoming the newest members of Fairy Tail” Makarov said as he clapped his hands together with a joyous look on his face. Lucy had a giant grin that she seemed to be trying and failing to contain while lightly bouncing in place, while Jaune just gave an exhale and a relieved smile, both glad to be accepted into the guild.

 

Mirajane stepped forward with a smile” Well then let’s get you your guild marks to make it official.” She said while bending over to reach behind the counter, causing Jaune to look away out of instinct, and took out a stamp.

 

“Alright, what color and where?”

 

Lucy went first, holding up her right hand” Pink on the back of my hand please.”

 

Marijane complied and placed the stamp on Lucy's hand, after a brief flash of light she removed the stamp to reveal Lucy’s guild mark, the pink Fairy Tail logo. Lucy stared at it with sparkling eyes and a smile, she turned to Jaune and Natsu, showing the mark off to the two.

 

Grinning, Natsu and Jaune gave a thumbs up. Juane turned towards Mirajane who did the same towards him.

 

“Alright Jaune what color and where?” She asked

 

Jaune put his hand on his chin with a contemplative expression “I know what color but I don’t know where” He said pondering, before an idea popped into his head. Turning towards Natsu, he asked “Where do you think I should put it?”

 

Natsu just grinned that familiar grin of his, and turned to Mirajane. His smile faltered slightly, before it was back to its usual broad cheerfulness, Mirajane’s smile was much the same. Jaune saw this and turned to Makarov who looked right back and slightly shook his head, as if telling him not to get into it. Jaune nodded his head and accepted.

 

Turning back to Mirajane and Natsu, he had put his arm down as if he had just finished gesturing to some part of him while Jaune was looking away. Looking back towards him, Mirajane waved him over.

 

“Alright I’ve got the place, now what color?” She asked

 

“A Deep gold color please” Like the color of his family symbol on Crocea mors.

 

“Alright raise your left sleeve up to your shoulder please” She asked, and he did.

 

Soon the fairy Tail symbol was on his left shoulder,in a proud deep gold coloring. Jaune rubbed his hand over it, unable to feel a difference, either on his fingers or on his shoulder. It was like it was a part of his skin and always had been.

 

“Well then, with that settled” Makarov said before suddenly turning into a giant larger than he and Lucy combined and turning to the crowd and shouting out “ALRIGHT YOU BRATS, LISTEN UP!”

 

The guild hall which was teeming with conversation and laughter suddenly halted at the shout of their Guild Master, waiting for his next words.

 

“I WAS GONNA HAVE A WHOLE SPEECH ABOUT THE MAGIC COUNCIL AND THE COMPLAINTS THEY HAVE, AS WELL AS WHERE THEY COULD SHOVE THEM!” The statement got a bunch of laughter and cheers, before quieting down as they realized that he still had more to say.

 

“BUT NOW SOMETHING MUCH MORE IMPORTANT HAS COME UP!” He said before gesturing down to Jaune and Lucy, who had snapped out of the shock the sudden size change The Master had undergone had put them through.

 

“AS OF THIS MOMENT THESE ARE NEW MEMBERS OF THIS GUILD!” Cheers rang out at the statement.

 

“NEW FRIENDS TO BE MADE!” The cheers grew louder.

 

“NEW RIVALS TO GROW WITH!” The cheers once again grew louder and at someone's shout of ”Baguette Vs Table! The eternal rivalry!” laughter joined in with the cheers.

 

Makarov also laughed at the shout, the sound shaking their bones. 

 

Then he spoke again “SO!” He spoke again, cutting the noise down with his voice again “ALLOW ME TO BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME THEM TO OUR GUILD!”

 

He turned to them, in his giant form the huge grin on his face was all the more noticeable and prominent.

 

“LUCY HEARTFELIA!” Lucy jumped slightly at the sound of her name being called.

 

“JAUNE ARC!” Jaune reacted much the same, getting caught up in everything happening.

 

“ALLOW ME TO WELCOME YOU TO FAIRY TAIL, I HOPE THE BONDS THAT YOU FORGE HERE WILL LAST A LIFETIME!” 

 

At that the crowd exploded into cheers and laughter, magic and mugs alike being thrown about into the air. A large swath of the crowd surging forward to congratulate the two of them on joining, giving them encouraging slaps on the back and shoulders.

 

Jaune stood, surrounded by all this joy and happiness, his nerves finally leaving him fully for the first time since before his death that brought him here, and a genuinely happy smile blooming across his face.

____________________________

Lucy sat at a table near the bar with Natsu and Jaune with Happy on the table eating a fish as usual, having a mug of water as she was both too young and unwilling to drink.

 

It had been about two hours since they’d joined and she was loving it. Everyone was so nice! Coming up and giving congratulations and welcomes.

 

She stared at the Guild mark on the back of her right hand, almost entranced by the pink Guild mark that covered it. She had done it, she had joined the guild of her dreams! If she told her younger self, or even the her of yesterday, they wouldn’t have believed her.

 

Now all she had to do was find an apartment to live in.

 

That was going to be a joy, wasn’t it?

 

Shaking her head, she turned to the right to see Jaune, rubbing his shoulder where his guild mark was, having moved his pauldron so he could do so.

 

“So” She said, catching his attention “How does it feel, being a part of the guild?”

 

He looked contemplative, as if trying to find the right words for his answer.

 

“Secure” He answered “ Like there’s a blanket of safety around me now.” As he spoke he looked around, watching the party that was going on with wild abandon around them, taking in the laughter and cheers “ Like no matter what, someones got my back.”

 

“Good, because that's how it should be.” Both Jaune and Lucy turned to the left at Natsu as he spoke, listening to his words. “No matter what, no matter who, everyone in this Guild hall would give their life to protect each other, and now that you two joined, you're in that group too” As he finished speaking he turned to them with a smile on his face.

 

Jaune and Lucy were taken aback by the statement, though for different reasons. Lucy for concern, Jaune for understanding.

 

“W- why would they do that?” Lucy questioned.

 

“Because, as long as those you care for can get away alive, you can die with a smile” Jaune answered looking toward Natsu after he answered. “Is that right?”

 

Natsu gave a soft smile towards him “Exactly”.

 

“But” Lucy spoke up catching their attention “Does that mean you guys just don’t care about your own lives? That as long as someone you care about gets to live then it’s all good? If they're someone precious to you, then you’re precious to them. Wouldn’t it hurt them more if you died to protect them than them dying on their own?”

 

Jaune and Natsu stared at Lucy and blinked, that was a surprisingly good point. Jaune blinked, and remembered his team, team RWBY, and his family. Jaune grimaced and looked at the mug in front of him, taking in his reflection, and wondered if his friends made it out of Beacon alive, Gods he hoped so.

 

After all, he had done what Lucy had just described, and he hoped that everyone back home could forgive him for that.

 

 While he was contemplating, Natsu responded.

 

“That’s why we’ll give our lives for each other” At Lucy’s confused expression Natsu explained “If we’re both willing to give our lives for each other, then we’re both gonna get each other out of trouble. Just because we would give our lives doesn’t mean that we’d do it at anything for any situation, but when it comes down to it we will do it.” Natsu’s serious expression faded into his usual cheerful one “But don’t worry, that hardly ever ha-”

 

“What if they can’t help?”

 

Natsu Blinked at the interrupting question “Huh?” He asked

 

“What if they’re too injured, or not strong enough to help in the situation.” Lucy asked her gaze not leaving Natsu’s “What about then?”

 

“Hardly” They both turned back to Jaune after he spoke up, he looked up from his mug and into her eyes, his expression unreadable with too many emotions running across it “Doesn’t mean never Lucy” 

 

Lucy’s eyes widened before her expression turned solemn, turning to do as he was doing and stare into her mug, Natsu following suit.

 

Happy blinked at the sudden downtrodden mood of the table and its inhabitants, he knew why Natsu was sad, he knew very well what was going on through his head right now, and he didn’t like it.

 

So he slapped him with a fish.

 

The meaty thwak mixed with Natsu’s startled yelp caught Jaune and Lucy’s attention, causing them to look over and see Happy standing in front of Natsu, some scales sticking to his cheek where the fish had made contact.

 

The sight was so bafflingly funny that Lucy couldn’t help the giggle that tumbled from her lips, which grew in quantity as Natsu shot her an offended look, which caused him to not see the fish coming back around to hit him in the cheek again. Lucy’s laughter grew and Jaune was adding in with his own chuckles as Natsu’s pout kept on growing before even he started laughing.

 

The table’s laughter kept on going before a voice cut through it.

 

“I’m telling yah brat, have some faith in your old man, he’ll be back soon!”

 

The laughter of their little group suddenly ceased as they heard the Master speak. Turning their heads they saw him sitting on the counter with a mug in hand, and a tipsy blush on his face, talking down towards a small black haired child.

 

“But dad said he’d be back yesterday! A-and he hasn’t come back yet! Please old man, I just want to know if he’s okay!”

 

Makarov sighed “Listen Romeo, I know how strong Macao is, he’s probably just being thorough in his job, you need to be for the type he took”

 

The child , now known as Romeo, Shouted back” He’s been thorough on jobs before, but never for this long! I’m telling you old man I think somethings wrong!”

 

Lucy watched on with a concerned expression. “Should we do someth-?”

 

Two pairs of hands slammed onto the table, and with them two voices shouted out “We’ll go check on him!”

 

Lucy turned her head back and forth, looking at Natsu and Jaune who had both spoken the same thing at the same time.

 

Makarov turned towards their table” Oh?” He said, raising an eyebrow as he looked towards Natsu and Jaune following their statement.

 

“And what exactly do you mean by that?” He asked

 

Natsu spoke up “We’ll go check on him. You said that he’s taking longer than usual right Romeo?” He asked, turning towards the boy. “Well we” He said, gesturing to himself and everyone at the table “Can go check up on him and see if anythings wrong”

 

Romeo’s eyes widened, before he turned to Makarov with a pleading expression.

 

Makarov sighed “Oh alright, go check up on him. He’s taken an extermination quest up on mount Hakobe, Vulcans”

 

Natsu’s eyes widened at the mention of Vulcans, before they narrowed again as he nodded. He then turned to Jaune, Lucy, and Happy.

 

“Alright let's go!” He shouted before running out of the guild hall, with Jaune and Lucy hot on his tail telling him to slow down and Happy still eating fish while flying along.

 

Makarov gave a chuckle as Mira approached, looking concerned.

 

“Master” She began “If Macao really is behind on a quest involving Vulcans, then.” She trailed off, letting the implications settle in.

 

“I know, I tried to have hope that Macao was being thorough, But if he was then he would’ve called in and let us know.” Makarov sighed “ So now I have to send in Natsu and hope that there's still going to be a mountain at the end of the day.” 

 

He saw Mirajane grimace in the corner of his eye at the mention of Natsu and scoffed “Drop it Mira” He warned “It’s been years, it’s time to stop holding such a grudge.”

 

Mira was silent behind him, before she finally spoke up “You know why I can’t do that Master”

 

Makarov scoffed even further ”If you can’t do that, then at least try to stop doing that damn smile every time he enters, even he can tell that it’s a fake smile, to say nothing else of the rest of the guild.”

 

He heard no response, only the footsteps as they got further away.

 

Makarov sighed once more “Children” He said “Why do they have to be so difficult all the time?”

 

He decided to push it away for now, before getting up to go to the Guild’s archives for a book on different types of magic .

 

Might as well help Jaune find what type of magic could work for him when he gets back.

 

With Natsu there nothing to bad should happen.

 

Afterall, what’s the worst that could happen?

_______________________

 

Mount Hakobe

“GET AWAY FROM ME YOU PERVERTED GORILLA!” Lucy’s voice screamed out as she was running from a gigantic white furred monkey like creature called a Vulcan in a large cavernous area in the mountain.

 

‘Why did I have to decide to go down the mountain Alone ?!’ She thought to herself as she ducked under another swiping grab from the beast.

 

It was cold and she was wearing a skirt, and she had been kidnapped from her friends by the vulcan currently chasing her around!

 

And it didn’t help that the vulcan was right behind her and kept muttering things like “Women” or "Sexy women” either!

 

“Alright that’s it!” Lucy shouted as she pulled up a golden key from her pouch, before pointing it towards the ground and shouting “Open gate of the bull: Taurus!” The sound of a doorbell ringing echoed throughout the cavern, a giant bipedal bull with black and white coloration and dual horns on his forhead wielding a giant metal ax, wearing boots and a speedo appeared. 

 

“This is Taurus and he’s my strongest key summon!” Lucy declared to the vulcan that had stopped at the sudden arrival.

 

“Aww, miss Lucy you and your boobs flatter me!” Taurus shouted out, turning back towards Lucy with hearts for eyes.

 

“Please don’t be perverted at a time like this!” Lucy shouted at him with a blush on her face.

 

“Me. No. Want. Man. Me. Want. Women!” The vulcan shouted before surging forward to attack.

 

Taurus moved and blocked the charging monster with his ax, halting its momentum and cratering the floor as a result.

 

“None shall touch Miss Lucy and her perky bosom!” He shouted out as he reached out and grabbed the vulcan’s arms, then proceeded to throw the beast into the air.

 

“Please stop talking about my chest damnit!”

 

Taurus laughed as he prepared his ax for a swing the moment the vulcan was within range. And as it fell he pulled his weapon back for a stronger swing.

 

As he was about to swing, a shout rang out.

 

“There you are, you bastard! Give Lucy back! Fire Dragons Roar!”

 

And following the shout came a massive blast of fire that hit Taurus and the vulcan, resulting in an explosion that blasted Lucy back.

 

“You Idioooooot!” Lucy shouted out as she flew through the air and braced herself for impact, only to be caught by a pair of arms. Looking up she saw Natsu looking down at her with that same grin he always wore.

 

“Hey Lucy, you alright?” He asked 

 

“And why are there two of them now!? I thought there was only one!?” She turned and saw Jaune, broken sword drawn and shield raised staring at the settling smoke.

 

“There aren’t two, one of them was my summon!” Lucy said as she stood up from Natsu’s arms and immediately shivered in the returning cold, god she needed pants. Turning towards the smoke she shouted out “Taurus! Are you ok!?”

 

“MOoOoooOo” Came the response and Lucy winced at how hurt he sounded. “Alright Taurus head back” She said and Taurus complied. The golden light of a gate closing shone out as the smoke finally settled, revealing the vulcan on the ground and covered in burns.

 

Before her eyes the vulcan began to shimmer, before it suddenly burst into a trail of light that launched away from it’s body, revealing a man's body laying on the ground.

 

“Macao!” Natsu shouted out before moving forward towards him in a run, Lucy followed soon after. As she made her way over she saw Natsu checking his vitals and breathing a sigh of relief, which she took as a good sign.

 

“Is he going to be alright?” She asked as she stood right by him.

 

“He should be” Lucy let out a little yelp and jump at Happy’s voice, having forgotten that he was there “Vulcans are a parasitic species that take over their hosts, any damage they take isn’t transferred back to the the host thankfully, so he should be fine.”

 

“Um, guys?” 

 

Lucy turned towards Jaune’s voice, and saw what caught his attention. The glowing orb that left Macao’s body was shifting and warping into the familiar shape of the vulcan, before solidifying and landing onto the ground with a crash.

 

The vulcan let out a roar and swung down onto Jaune with its right arm. Just as Lucy was about to shout for him to dodge, he raised his shield to tank the blow and then lashed out with his sword. The sound of flesh being cut, followed by a thud and a roar echoed throughout the cavern as the vulcan grasped at the stump that was its right arm.

 

As the vulcan turned to flee a raspy voice called out “Don’t let it escape!” Lucy turned to the left to see Macao being supported by Natsu as he tried to get up. Turning back she saw that Jaune had listened.

 

With his blade raised as the monster's back was turned, he brought it down, cleaving it from shoulder to hip. Blood sprayed out as the monster fell to the floor in two pieces.

 

“Hey Macao, are you alright?” Natsu asked, getting a smirk in response.

 

“Yeah I’m fine, just a bit pissed that of the 19 of them that I killed, it was the runt of the litter that got the drop on me.” He laughed “God, Romeo’s gonna be so embarrassed of his old man when he finds out.”

 

“I think he’ll just be glad that his dad’s alright” Natsu responded.

 

 “Yeah, you're probably right.” Macao sighed, before he looked towards Jaune who’d just been standing and staring at the monster's corpse, his left arm touching the line along his chest piece where it looked like the two pieces had been welded together.

 

 “Hey kid” Macao called out, catching Jaune’s attention “Thanks for dealing with that thing, I don’t want to imagine what would've happened if it had gotten away.”

 

Jaune nodded ”Y-uh-yeah no problem” He stuttered out seemingly knocked out of his shock. “Anyway we need to get back and let Romeo And Master know that you’re alright”

 

Macao huffed with a smile “Yeah you got that right.

 

__________________________________________

“DAD!” Romeo called out as he saw them approaching the Guild Hall. Running up he jumped up and was caught by Macao, who laughed and made a comment about how his old bones couldn’t take much strain anymore, much to everyone’s present amusement.

 

Natsu, Jaune, and Lucy walked over to Makarov to tell him how it went.

 

When they were finished, Makarov let out a hum as he stroked his beard. “So I was right to allow you to go check up on him then, I’m glad.”

 

He then turned towards Jaune and Lucy, and gave them a smile ”Quite the first day as members of the guild huh?

 

“Definitely” Lucy answered while Jaune nodded with a smile “I think I’m gonna go find an apartment to rent, and just crash for the night.”

 

At that statement, Jaune froze. An action that didn’t go unnoticed by those present in the conversation.

 

“Is something wrong, my boy?” Makarov asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

 

“I don’t have any money or a place to stay.” Jaune answered with a sheepish expression as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll just have to tough it out in the woods, I guess”

 

“Oooooooorrrr” Natsu interrupted, a mischievous grin on his face that brought apprehension and dread to all who knew him and saw it. “You could stay with me and Happy!” 

 

Jaune blinked at the offer “I could?” He asked

 

“You could!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really!”

 

“Really Really?”

 

“Really Really!”

 

Jaune blinked, contemplating, before giving a thumbs up. “Ok” He said

 

Natsu jumped into the air and let out a whoop of delight. “Alright!”

 

“Aye” Happy shouted out as well.

 

Makarov sighed and gave a small smile at the comradery already being made, before he remembered something.

 

“Ah Jaune before you go, take this.” He said as he handed Jaune a book.

 

Taking it, Jaune read the cover.

 

‘Magic, Runes, and Artifacts of all documented types’

 

“What's this?” He asked

 

“Homework”

 

The word sent shivers down Janue’s spine ”What?” He asked in a dreading voice.

 

“Read through it, and choose what type of magic you want to learn.” Makarov explained “From there I’ll do my best to teach it to you.”

 

“Whoa, Magic lessons from gramps?! That's so cool!” Natsu shouted as he got close to the book to get a better look.

 

Jaune was stunned at getting a chance to be taught magic by Makarov, hastily he held the book close to his chest “T-thank you Master, I-I’ll be sure to find the magic as soon as I can and let you know” He was stuttering over his words slightly trying to force them out.

 

“Take your time young man.” Makarov responded “As long as you’re willing to learn, I’m willing to teach. And it’s getting late so I’d suggest that Natsu take you to his home and you get situated for the night” He gave a pointed look to Natsu as he said the last part.

 

“Don’t worry about it gramps, I’ll look after him. Come on Jaune! NIght Lucy!” Natsu shouted as he ran of towards his house, Jaune calling out for him to wait up after wishing them all a good night, Happy following after. Leaving behind the small group, they wished each other the same, then went out in their own directions. 

_________________________________

 

Jaune laid on the couch, listening to the snores of Natsu and Happy as they laid in their hammocks, looking at the book that Makarov had given him, and going over the past 48 hours in their entirety.

 

He had died.

 

Died and came back into another world, one full of magic.

 

Magic that he now had a chance to learn.

 

Turning his head to the pile of armor that he placed on the floor, Crocea Mors right next to it, he took in the image of his chestplate on top of the pile and the damage on it.

 

Of the slash that had killed him.

 

He shifted his hoodie, which had a surprisingly clean cut line separating it from itself.

 

He was gonna need new clothes.

 

Sighing to himself, he opened up the book.

 

Despite everything that had happened, he didn’t feel like panicking.

 

Because he had people like Natsu and Lucy who had his back.

 

And because of that Jaune felt great.

Notes:

Alright, I managed to get one more chapter in for the new year.

I'm honestly a little impressed how difficult some of this was for me, but I got it done.
So this is me wishing you all a happy new year.
As always constructive criticism is always welcome.
I added an omake to chapter 3 and lengthened the ending parts of that chapter.
So, yeah, till next time.

Chapter 6

Jaune felt like shit when he woke up.

 

He knew this particular feeling well. The sweating, the muscle aches, and headaches told him well enough of what was going on.

 

He had a fever, and dust did he hate it.

 

‘This is what I get for going into the snow for so long without my aura, huh?’ He thought to himself as his head throbbed from a headache that left him wincing. A low groan escaped him as he shifted about, his body too hot to be comfortable.

 

A yawn caught his attention, turning his head to the source, he saw Natsu sitting up in his hammock rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Happy was also stirring awake, albeit more slowly. Turning towards Jaune, Natsu gave a drowsy grin.

 

“Morning Jaune” Natsu yawned out, getting down from the hammock and doing some stretches “You sleep well?”

 

“Morning” Jaune groaned out, his voice raspy “And I think I slept fine. It's how I’m waking up that's bothering me.”

 

Natsu blinked as he heard Jaune’s voice, before he got a concerned expression. “You good? Because you sound like you’ve gargled acid.”

 

Jaune let out a laugh at the statement before getting a sudden coughing fit that left him feeling worse than before. 

 

“I’ll be fine” He choked out “ It’s just a fever, I just need to sleep it off.”

 

Natsu moved over towards Jaune, crouched beside the couch, and placed his hand on his forehead, keeping it there for a few seconds before pulling it back. 

 

“You’re burning up.” He stated, shaking his hand slightly.

 

Jaune snorted “No shit sherlock.” He felt like he could cook a bag of popcorn by laying it on his forehead. 

 

“What’s a Sherlock?” Natsu asked, tilting his head to the side with a confused expression on his face.

 

Jaune stared, before letting out a laugh that led to another coughing fit. At Natsu’s alarmed expression he explained “Sorry Sorry, It’s just that Sherlock isn't a what, he’s a detective character in a famous book series. My older sister loved to read them to me and my other sisters.”

 

“You have sisters?” Natsu asked

 

“Yep, seven of them.”

 

“SEVEN!?” 

 

Jaune and Natsu jumped slightly and turned towards Happy, who had shouted out in shock.

 

“Yup.” Jaune said, fairly used to people’s reactions by this point.

 

“Cool” Happy calmly said, as if he hadn’t just shouted upon the discovery of such a fact.

 

Jaune and Natsu both did a deadpan stare at the cat, before Natsu shook his head and turned back towards Jaune.

 

“Are you gonna be alright though? You don’t look very good right now.”

 

Jaune gave a small smile at Natsu’s concern “I’ll be fine, I just need to rest and let this pass.” He stopped as another coughing fit came. After it passed, he asked “ What are you planning to do today?”

 

“Well I was planning on taking you and Lucy out for your first actual job, because we didn’t exactly sign up for macao’s job, but if you really think that you’ll be fine, I guess I’ll just take Lucy then.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine” Jaune responded “I just need to rest”

 

“Alright then, Let’s go Happy.” Natsu said as he made his way out the door “Get well soon and We’ll be back later.” He said with a wave over his shoulder.

 

“We’ll be sure to bring you some fish back to make you feel better.” Happy said “ As long as you share it though!”

 

With a chuckle, Jaune raised his hand in a wave and wished them good luck as the door closed, leaving him alone. Shifting around trying to get comfortable, well as comfortable as he could be with feeling like something was crawling under his skin and itching to get out, Jaune felt hotter as time went on, before he finally fell into a blissful sleep.

 

One with no dreams, but a pair of baleful golden eyes staring down at him from the darkness.

 

__________________________________

“Do you think he’s gonna be alright Natsu?” Happy asked as they made their way through Magnolia, towards the Guild Hall.

 

Natsu looked up to the sky in contemplation, before he spoke.

 

“I think he will” Natsu answered, before continuing to explain “His temperature was hot, but I felt hotter. Besides, he didn't seem to be worried about it, so maybe he’ll be fine.”

 

Happy hummed in acknowledgment, before his eyes widened and he turned back to Natsu.

 

“Wait Natsu!” Natsu stopped and turned back to Happy in concern “ What about Lucy? If Jaune got a cold then she might have as well.”

 

“I don’t think so.” Natsu answered, and at Happy’s confused look, he explained “ We gave her that blanket remember? And she spent most of the time in the mountain in that clock spirit thing of hers, while Jaune was in the cold the entire time.”

 

“Oooh” Happy responded, before his eyes widened again in a comical fashion “Natsu!” He shouted out again.

 

Natsu paused in his walk again, turning back to Happy with a concerned expression. 

 

“What about me!?”

 

“Huh?” Natsu tilted his head to the side in confusion, wondering what Happy meant.

 

“What if I get sick from being in the cold too long!” Happy held his paws to his face in fear of himself getting sick.

 

Natsu sweat dropped “Happy… you’ve got fur, and you were really close to me, so I doubt that”

 

“Ooh” Happy said, calming down. Before another panicked expression hit his face, and he called out “Natsu!”

 

Natsu’s eyebrow twitched as he turned back “Yeah?” he asked, his tone growing slightly strained at the repeated questioning.

 

“What about you?!”

 

Natsu’s eyebrow twitched again “Happy” He sighed “I’m a fire mage, It’ll take more than a little snow to get me sick.”

 

“Gray would say otherwise.” Was Happy’s immediate reply, Causing Natsu’s eyebrow to twitch even more intensely than the last two times.

 

“Like hell I care what that stripper thinks!” Natsu shouted out, unknowingly getting the attention of the passerby, before they recognized him and turned away, well aware of who he was talking about.

 

Happy snickered into his paws causing his cheeks to puff up, before another thought hit his head.

 

“Natsu!”

 

“Macao will be fine. Happy, he’s also a fire mage, even if he’s not on my level he’s still strong enough to handle some cold.” Natsu responded instantly as if he was reading Happy’s mind.

 

“Ooh” Happy responded “ But that wasn’t what I was gonna ask though.”

 

“Hm?” Natsu turned back towards Happy again “What were you gonna ask?”

 

“What if Jaune needs help, or his fever gets worse?” Happy asked.

 

Natsu paused, thinking over what to do if Jaune did need help, before an Idea hit him.

 

“I’ll ask gramps to stop by and check up on him every few hours to make sure he’s alright.”

 

Happy nodded at the Idea, before they both continued their walk towards the Guild.

 

“Natsu!”

 

Natsu sighed “What is it Happy?”

 

“Your shoes untied.”

 

Natsu looked down at his feet, clad in sandals “Happy, I don’t wear sho-”

 

A meaty smack echoed across the area, once again catching the attention of passerby. Natsu blinked repeatedly as he smelled the fishy scent that just hit him across the face.

 

“Phhht” Happy held in his hand to his mouth, trying to contain his laugh, his other hand held the fish he used to smack Natsu.

 

Natsu turned to Happy, his eyes somehow shadowed despite the sun’s location, causing Happy to stiffen up.

 

“Why?” Natsu asked, his tone dull and serious.

 

“Just because” Happy answered. He then threw the fish at Natsu’s face and flew off toward the guild, Laughing all the way.

 

Natsu sputtered as he got the fish off his face and shouted “HAPPY!” before he took off running after the laughing blue cat flying away. Leaving a trail of laughing townsfolk at the antics of the two.

 

_____________________________

Lucy sat in the guild, taking in the ambiance and atmosphere. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was finally a part of Fairy Tail, her dream guild! She had wanted this for so long and now that she was finally here…

 

She had no idea what to do.

 

Don’t get her wrong, she knew what being in a guild entailed, even if she didn’t understand all of the intricacies of how the guild itself worked. I was just that, she was nervous and didn’t know exactly how to start her journey here.

 

Which brought her to her current situation, waiting for Natsu, Jaune, and Happy. With two of the three being experienced in this, and the third being as new to this sort of thing as she was, she was hopeful that they could work together for a bit as she and Jaune got used to this.

 

As she was thinking she heard the door open, with a flying cat coming through it with his cheeks puffed up in laughter and his hand barely holding onto his snickers from escaping his mouth, in his other hand he held a fish, oddly enough.

 

As Happy flew around the guild, he spotted her and flew right over, landing right in front of her on the table.

 

“Hi Loopy” He said, paw raised in greeting.

 

“It’s Lucy” She deadpanned toward the cat.

 

“Eh, tomato tomato” Happy said, saying tomato the exact same way twice, causing Lucy to gain a tick mark on her forehead.

 

“Anyway” She started, ignoring the blue cats words “Where’s Natsu and Jaune?”

 

As if to answer her question, the doors to the guild hall burst open, with it came the ticked of shout of “HAPPY!”

 

Turning towards the door, Lucy saw Natsu standing there looking around until he finally caught sight of Happy on the table, fish in paw and trying to hold in his laughter. Natsu moved towards the table with fire in his eyes. Lucy blinked, surprised that Natsu could actually do that.

 

As Natsu arrived at the table, he gave Happy a stern look. The look mixed with the pupil of his eyes being on fire gave an intimidating image that would’ve made Lucy shiver, if not for one fact.

 

“Hey Natsu” She said, catching his attention “ You’ve got a little something here” She pointed at her left cheek.

 

“Oh thanks” He said as he wiped his left cheek. He pulled his hand away to reveal nothing.

 

“Wrong cheek”

 

“Why’d you point to your left cheek if it was on my right cheek” He asked incredulously 

 

“Because that was the side it was on”

 

“But it’s confusing that way, why would you do it that way?” 

 

“Because that's how everyone does it.” She responded

 

“No it isn’t” 

 

“REALLY” she exclaimed, irritation in her voice “GIve one example of someone who doesn’t do it like that.”

 

“Me”

 

“. . .”

 

“. . .”

 

“. . .”

 

“. . .”

 

“...That’s” Lucy sighed in defeat “That's on me, I set the bar to low”

 

Natsu gave a large toothy grin of victory before wiping his right cheek. Pulling his hand away he saw the fish scales that had stuck to his cheek. His eye now twitching, he turned towards Happy.

 

“Stop doing that.” He said to the cat.

 

“Stop doing what?” Happy asked, playing ignorant with a smile on his face.

 

“Hitting me with fish” He answered and Lucy nodded, She could understand getting hit by fish being anoyi- “It’s a waste of good fish damnit!”

 

Well

 

That makes sense to, she guessed.

 

Only for Natsu, though.

 

Turning to him, she saw that Happy’s eyes were blown wide in shock, with his hands to his cheeks “You’re right! How could I have been so foolish!” He cried out with comical tears rolling down his face as he hugged his fish as if it was a dying loved one.

 

Happy as well it seemed.

 

Natsu and Lucy both stared with dull deadpan gazes at the scene before looking at each other. Unanimously deciding to ignore the scene. Lucy then noticed something.

 

“Hey, where’s Jaune?” 

 

Natsu blinked, before he then started looking around. Once his gaze found what he was looking for he made his way towards it.

 

Lucy’s eye twitched at being ignored, she then turned to Happy in hopes that he would answer her. Only to see him performing the cross symbol across his chest in front of the dead fish that laid on the table, clearly as some sort of funeral. The comical tear tracks down his face continued to fall.

 

“Oi” Lucy said “Why is Natsu acting like that when I asked about Jaune?”

 

Happy perked up and looked towards where Natsu went and Lucy followed his eyes. She saw him talking with the Master about something, his arms slightly flailing about and shaking his hands, as if painting a picture while telling a story. The Master's expression was a mixture of amusement and concern, and then confusion as Natsu paused his movements and seemed to ask him a question. As the old man opened his mouth to answer a voice came in and distracted her.

 

“Jaune’s sick” Happy said, fully capturing her attention.

 

“Huh?” She asked as she turned back towards him, fully processing the information the cat just dropped on her so casually. 

 

“How sick is he?”

 

“He’s got a pretty hot fever going on right now. That’s why Natsu is asking the Master to check up on him every few hours as we’re out on a mission.”

 

As Lucy was mulling over the information in her head, Natsu sat back down next to her with a paper in his hands.

 

“Alright, Gramps said that he’ll check up on Jaune every few hours while we’re out on the job. So we should get going soon.”

 

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave Jaune alone like this when he’s sick?” Lucy asked 

 

“Don’t worry Lucy, if Gramps thinks that Jaune needs any help, he’ll just go to Porlyusica.” Natsu answered before pausing and shivering “Though hopefully for Jaune’s sake it doesn’t get that bad.” 

 

At Lucy’s confused expression, He explained “Porlyusica hate’s people, and she’s not above hitting a patient with a broom if they’re rowdy enough.”

 

“Do you think Jaune is rowdy enough?” Lucy asked concerned.

 

“I don’t know, all I know is that her broom hurts no matter how strong you are, even Gramps fears it.” Natsu explained, still shaking out of fear of the memories invoked via broom beatdowns.

 

Lucy sweatdropped at the scene, deciding to speak up to get Natsu’s mind off of past memories. “So” She began, leaning forward on the table with her arms, as she looked to the right towards him, a small smile on her face “What mission did you pick out for us, Natsu?” 

 

Natsu perked up at the question, before smiling and showing her the mission flyer in his hand. Taking it she read it over.

 

‘ Okay, retrieving a book from a mansion, seems simple enough ’ She thought as she looked towards a small section labeled ‘requirements’. As she read the section she froze, a blush creeping up her cheeks in a slight red dusting.

 

‘Absolutely MUST be a beautiful woman involved’

 

That was the requirement for this mission to be accepted.

 

“D-” Lucy began, stuttering slightly as she tried to get the words out around the sudden surge of emotions she felt “Do you really think I fit this requirement?” She asked, feeling the blush on her cheeks grow deeper.

 

“Hm?” Natsu tilted his head to the side, confused at her reaction “Of course I do.” 

 

She had been complimented on her looks before, though it was mostly just people looking to either get into her family’s fortune or her bed, so she was very good at finding out if someone was faking their words. And she hoped that Natsu wasn’t.

 

Lucy turned to look at Natsu, to look into his eyes, and saw earnestness in his eyes, as if he absolutely believed what he said, that she was beautiful.

 

Not sexy, not charming, not hot, not any other flirtatious word.

 

Beautiful, just beautiful.

 

She felt her heart skip a beat at that realization, leaving her slightly breathless.

 

Well

 

…..Shit

 

Suddenly turning away to cough into her fist, hoping to cover the blush she could feel on her cheeks, and to calm her suddenly racing heart.

 

“You ok Lucy?” Natsu asked “You’re heart's beating like crazy, and your face is burning up” He paused for a second, before he put his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. “You’re a little warm, you don’t have a fever too do you?” He asked concerned.

 

Lucy flushed slightly at the touch, and how close Natsu was to her face, she opened her mouth to assure him that she was fine, and to hopefully get him to back up before she combusted into flames.

 

‘ Flames I wouldn’t mind him eating’ A part of her brain said with a little too much enthusiasm.

 

‘ What?!’ the more rational, non insane version of her brain shouted ‘ We have just blushed once-’

 

‘More than once.’ The insane portion of her brain cut in.

 

‘Shut up! Just because we blushed more than once to him does not mean we want to get eaten by him!’

 

‘Speak for yourself, I wouldn’t mind getting eaten by that hot stuff.’

 

‘STOP BEING HORNY!’

 

‘NEVER!’

 

Lucy shoved the current thoughts and arguments to the back of her mind when she noticed that Natsu was getting concerned at her lack of response. As she opened her mouth once more to assure him that she was fine.

 

“LUCY’S GOT A FEVER TOO!?”

 

Only to get interupted by a shout that drew the attention of the nearby tables.

 

Natsu and Lucy both turned towards Happy who had given the shout, Natsu’s hand dropping from Lucy’s forehead to over the blue cats mouth, Lucy’s hand also slamming over his, then his other hand slammed over hers, causing her to blush even further and the voices arguments to get even louder.

 

“No no no, I’m fine Happy, it’s just that its kinda hot in here, that’s all” Her stammered replies seemed to pacify the watchers from other tables, causing them to turn away and the tension in her shoulders to relax at the sudden lack of attention.

 

“Well, that happened” She said in a poor attempt of getting the sudden tension in the air dispelled, and 

To her surprise, Natsu chuckled at it causing her to lightly laugh along with him.

 

After their light laughter ended, a slight silence fell around their table, a silence that Lucy wanted to break, but she didn’t know how.

 

“So wanna go on that mission?” But Natsu did, thank you Natsu.

 

Slamming her hand on the table and startling its other two occupants, Lucy smiled as she stood up and said “Yes I’d love to.” She then grabbed Natsu’s wrist (Not the hand, she new how the voices would react) and started to drag him out off to the doors of the Guild hall, with him giving soft exclamations for her to slow down as Happy followed along.

 

When they had gotten outside and the doors had closed, Lucy finally let go of his hand, clasping her hands behind her, she took in a breath of fresh morning air and felt the grin on her face widen as she, Natsu and Happy traveled down the street.

 

“Hey Natsu” She said

 

“Hm?” He responded

 

She took in another breath to calm her beating heart, and turned to him, a smile and blush still present on her face as the sun behind her framed her face. Natsu stilled at the scene, reminded of another from years ago.

 

“You’re not half bad looking yourself.” She said, before turning and continuing her walk towards the train station.

 

Natsu blinked “Lucy?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“What do you mean?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

 

He expected Lucy to give an answer of some kind, what he didn’t expect was for her to turn back towards him with a smile and start laughing.

 

“Uh Lucy?”

 

Her laughter grew.

 

“Lucy?”

 

She suddenly broke into a sprint, laughing all the way.

 

“LUCY?!” He shouted and chased after her, a bubble of laughter trailing behind his words as the laughter ended up being infectious as they both ran down the street.

 

Happy stood there watching them as they went with a blank look on his face. Suddenly his eyebrows furrowed slightly as his wings popped out of his back. He flew after them silently.

___________________________________________________________

Makarov sipped from his mug as he watched the doors close from where he saw Lucy drag Natsu with Happy following out of the Guild Hall, silently wondering if the boy had noticed the effect that he had on one of their newest members.

 

 He took another sip from his mug, being very careful to not look towards Mira, knowing exactly what kind of look she would have on her face.

 

Speaking of newest members, Jaune. He was concerned about his fever and, from what Natsu had told him, he had a cough as well. Not a good combination in any way.

 

Sighing, Makarov decided that he would go check up on him with a guild member he already had in mind when he was done with his mug, it was just a fever, he could afford to finish his drink at least before going. 

 

As he drank and listened to the ceaseless chatter that his children made in the Guild Hall, he couldn’t help but think of something Natsu said…

 

No shit Sherlock.

 

Apparently a saying that involved a character in a well known book series.

 

A book series that he’d never heard of before. Now he knew that it could be a foreign book series, in fact it likely was but. . . something about it just got his attention and he didn’t know why it did. 

 

It seemed like just another mystery In who Jaune Arc was.

 

First showing up by slamming Elfman into the ground with a baguette, a baguette . He still almost couldn’t believe his eyes with what they saw.

 

Then claiming he didn't know any magic, which that alone was cause for concern due to the baguette incident.

 

Then came his weapon of choice, or more particularly, the scabbard. It was far heavier than normal scabbards, something he picked up on when helping Erza out with getting her armory together when she was younger and just starting out.

 

And last, but most certainly not least, his attire. His armor looked like it had been hastily welded together, which while that alone would have been enough to garner strange looks but still be understandable to a degree, It was his clothes that really drew Makarov's attention. He’d seen underneath his armor, and noticed the way his clothes were cut, not torn, but cut and burnt along the edge of the cut. Now normally that wouldn’t be too much to stare at, but it was the fact that the cut was near perfectly aligned with the welded armor marks.

 

What caused them?

 

Who caused them?

 

Why were they caused?

 

It was these questions and more that swam through his head regarding the young man.

 

He brought the mug to his lips, only to realize that the mug was empty. Sighing as he sat it down he hopped off the bar top and made his way over to the table that held the guild mate that wanted to take with him.

 

“Gray” He said catching the attention of the young man sitting at the table he was walking towards “Come with me”

He didn’t elaborate further, mainly because he didn’t want Jaune’s condition to be known, but also because how people would react to this.

 

“Oooooooohhhhh”

 

“Gray’s in trouble~.”

 

“What’d you do this time? Strip in front of an orphanage again?”

 

Gray gained a tick mark as he got up and followed Makarov out of the Guild Hall. “Shut up ya jerks!” He shouted at the laughing guild members.

 

As soon as the Guild Halls doors closed, he turned towards Makarov “It’s not about that right?” He asked in a concerned tone of voice.

 

Makarov raised his eyebrow “Did you accidentally strip in front of an orphanage again?”

 

“No!” Gray responded hastily, to hastily. Makarov raised his eyebrow even higher in doubt, and Gray looked away sheepishly “It was a church while I was out on a Job.” He sheepishly explained.

 

Makarov lowered his eyebrow, faced forward to the street they were walking down towards Natsu’s house, closed his eyes and. . . . . laughed.

 

Gray got a tick mark again as he stared at the laughing man and shouted “Oh screw you old man! You know I can’t control it!”

 

“HAHAHAHA th- th- that's why it’s so damn funny! HAHAHAHAHA!” Makarov laughed.

 

Gray gained an embarrassed blush on his face as he looked away, hands in his pockets as they walked towards wherever it was that they were going.

 

After a few minutes of walking they were nearing the edge of the city, and Makarov had finally stopped laughing, tears were in his eyes from laughing too hard. 

 

“So?” Gray said, and at Makarov’s questioning look he answered “Why are you taking me all the way out here, the only thing that I can think of that’s in this direction is-” Gray cut himself off as a look of realization flashed across his face, before a sinister grin crept up. He began giggling and rubbing his hands together maniacally.

 

“Hey Master” He said, Makarov gave a “hm?” in response, prompting Gray to respond “Are we gonna start the prank war again?”

 

Makarov let out a short bark of laughter “Not unless you want Erza to come after our asses again.” They both stopped and shivered at the memories of Erza’s wrath when her favorite bakery was caught in the crossfire of the prank war.

 

“But no, you remember Jaune?” Makarov asked.

 

“The new guy from yesterday?”

 

“Yes, you see he has a fever and Natsu asked me to check up on him while he takes Lucy out on her first job.”

 

“And you brought me along because?”

 

“Just in case Jaune needs ice to help cool him down. Also Gray?”

 

“That makes sense, also yeah?”

 

“Clothes.”

 

“Clo-? DAMNIT!”

 

Makarov chuckled as Gray ran around to pick up his clothes from the ground in his underwear, very used to this by this point in time with it being a daily occurrence.

 

“So” Gray began as he hopped along while trying to put his pants on “What’s his temperature.”

 

“Natsu just said hot”

 

Gray Looked confused. “Hot in general or hot for Natsu?” He asked with slight concern.

 

Makarov looked confused towards Gray, wondering what he was getting at “Natsu said he was burned slightly so I’d assume the latter.”

 

Gray ‘Tch’d’ “Looks like Levy wins the bet then dammit.”

 

Makarov looked confusedly to Gray “What bet?”

 

“The bet on what type of magic the new members have. Looks like Levy won for Jaune.” Gray explained.

Makarov blinked “Why do you think Levy won this bet?” He was confused why Gray thought that Levy won.

 

“She bet that He had fire magic, and if he could burn Natsu with his fever temperature then he must be a fire mage” Gray explained as it was common sense. “Personally I was betting that he would have strengthening magic, considering the baguette incident.”

 

“Gray” Makarov began “Jaune doesn’t have a set magic yet.”

 

“. . . What?” Gray asked, his facial expression suddenly looking extremely worried, as if he was hoping he misheard something.

 

“Yep” Makarov said as he continued walking, the two now in the forest. A few more minutes and they would be at Natsu and Happy’s house. “The young man doesn’t have a magic yet. I gave him a book for him to pick a type of magic to learn.” He gained a contemplative look “I wonder what type he’ll choose to le-”

 

“Master”

 

“Hm?” Makarov turned back to Gray, only to pause as he saw his expression.

 

“Are you telling me?” He paused as if trying to scrape together his thoughts in a manageable way. “That Jaune, who has no magic that can alter his temperature, or at all, has a fever so hot that it burned Natsu ?”

 

“Ye-” Makarov was about to answer, before it hit him as to what Gray was implying. He shared a look with gray, his eyes widening as it dawned on him.

 

He broke off into a sprint towards Natsu’s shack, afraid it might be too late, with Gray following behind him. They both ran despite almost fearing what they might find.

 

“GRAY CLOTHES!”

 

“DAMMIT!”

 

_____________________________________________

 

Busting the door open, Makarov's eyes immediately found Jaune’s body on the couch. 

 

Moving over to him, placing his fingers upon the boy's neck, searching for a pulse, he released a breath he didn’t know that he’d been holding, there was a pulse, he was alive. Then he pulled his fingers back with a pained hiss and looked at them. They were almost cherry red and stung from the heat emanating from Jaune.

 

He heard a groan, and his eyes snapped up to Jaune, who had a pained grimace on his face, likely from the heat and fever.

 

Makarov’s eyes hardened as he had an idea “Gray!” He called.

 

“Yeah?!” Gray answered as he stepped inside, his gaze also finding Jaune’s body as well as Makarov’s burnt fingers. 

 

“Strip his top clothes off, then take him outside!” Makarov ordered as he made his way outside to prepare his plan.

 

“Got It!” Gray said as he moved to Jaune’s body and began taking the damaged hoodie off the sick teen and tossing the pieces to the side before doing the same to his shirt. As he was doing it, Jaune was muttering something about someone named “Saph” and “no more dress up, the others already tease me enough” Whatever that meant. Once the shirt was off Gray paused as he took in Jaune’s chest, or more accurately the massive angry red scar that spanned from his left shoulder to right hip.

 

It was massive and he didn’t even want to know what the hell gave him that as he lifted him up he heard a rumbling sound that tore his attention to the outside area.

 

“Gray, now!” The Master's voice echoed through the air, making Gray realize that the sound was related to the master somehow. Picking Jaune up he caught a glimpse of his back, and froze at seeing a perfect mirror of the scar on his front on his back, both ends connected on his left shoulder and right hip.

 

He really didn’t want to know what gave him that.

 

As he exited the house with Jaune in his arms, he spotted the source of the rumbling sound that occurred. A giant gouge in the earth, as if a hand had torn a patch of the earth from the ground about the size of a bathtub, and knowing his Master, that was probably exactly what had happened.

 

“Put him in the pit now, and fill it with ice.” Makarov said, before his eyes widened upon seeing Jaune, and Gray didn’t need to be a genius to know what caused that reaction.

 

After putting Jaune in the pit, Gray positioned his left hand to be facing palm up right in front of him and slammed his closed fist onto it and said “Ice Make: Ice Cube Waterfall!”.

 

And Out of his hands came a waterfall of Ice cubes, quickly filling the pit and landing on top of Jaune, causing the cubes to melt rapidly with hissing sounds as even the water was evaporating off of him quickly.

 

Makarov was worried, for the ice to melt and the water to evaporate that quickly and not even get a sound out of him, that didn’t paint a pretty picture, not at all. He knew what he had to do, to get someone who knew what she was doing.

 

He had to get Porlyusica.

 

“Gray!” He shouted, getting said teens attention ”I’m going to get Porlyusica, stay here and keep filling up the pit, don’t let a moment without ice landing on him go by while I’m gone, understood?!”

 

Gray nodded, a serious look on his face, as he turned his attention back to keeping up the ice cube waterfall.

 

Turning towards the direction he knew Porlyusica’s house was in, he made a break for it as fast as his old legs would carry him.

_______________________________________

Banging on the door of Porlyusica’s home he waited for an answer, when he didn't get one he banged on the door again.

 

‘ Come on, come one! Please don’t tell me that you're not here now of all times!” Makarov thought as he continued banging on the door. “Porlyusica! It’s urgent, please open up!” He shouted in the hopes of her hearing him.

 

A shout came from inside “I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO HELP YOU DEAL WITH ANOTHER HANGOVER OR BACK PROBLEM OR WHATEVER YOU’RE DEALING WITH RIGHT NOW, MAKAROV. SO FUCK OFF!!!”

 

He was not in the mood for her reclusive hermit tendencies right now, so if she wanted a shouting match she would get one she could never win. Growing into his Giant form and slamming his feet on the ground one at a time, he shouted back.

 

“I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR HATING HUMANS SHTICK RIGHT NOW PORLYUSICA! IF YOU DON’T GRAB YOUR FEVER SUPPLIES RIGHT NOW, I’M GOING TO UPROOT YOUR ENTIRE HOUSE AND DRAG IT WITH ME WOMAN!”

 

A moment passed in silence from the surrounding area and even the city after his voice shook the very earth they stood upon, then he heard loud rustling and things falling on the floor, and after a minute of this the front door slammed open revealing an old woman with pink hair and two golden rods with crescent moons on the ends of them holding up her hair bun, she had to front hair locks draining her face that had streaks of yellow that look like lightning bolts. She wore a green shirt with a long red skirt, over that was a cloak that had the pattern of red dragon scales and a collar that had white protrusions that looked like dragon teeth pointing upwards.

 

She looked up at him, He looked down at her, he held his hand down for her to climb on, she climbed on. No words were exchanged, none had to be. He started running back towards Natsu’s house.

____________________________________________

It was late afternoon when Natsu, Lucy, and Happy returned from their job, the sun nearing the horizon and painting the sky a lovely orange.

 

Natsu was walking with his hands behind his head and making large steps as he walked, his ever present grin on his face, laughing as he kept looking towards Lucy and seeing the expression on her face.

 

Lucy had her arms swaying from side to side as she walked hunched forward, a gloomy cloud over her head from the day's events, muttering under her breath. Natsu with his enhanced hearing heard everything that she was saying and it kept him laughing with every word.

 

Happy was eating fish, to no one’s surprise, as he walked alongside them, seemingly lost in his own little world.

 

As they left the train station, Lucy finally stood back up to her full height, though the pout still remained on her face. “I can’t believe that Everloo bastard thought that I was ugly!” She said, causing Natsu to look over to her again with another laugh. 

 

Lucy pouted towards him, a blush dusting her cheeks as she halfheartedly called out “Oh shut up! it's not like you were much better, getting scared by that zodiac spirit whenever she popped up.”

 

Natsu stopped laughing and tilted his head to the side “The what?” He asked, confused. Happy nodded along to Natsu’s question.

 

Lucy sweatdropped “The gorilla lady.” 

 

Natsu and Happy suddenly stopped, a shiver running up their backs at the memory of the terrifyingly giant ugly woman who kept popping out of the floor to terrify them.

 

“Honestly” Lucy sighed out as she witnessed their reactions “I don’t understand how you can face literal monster’s and mages capable of destroying cities and not even blink, but a giant woman is more than enough to terrify you.”

 

“She was really ugly” Happy said, causing Lucy to give him a terrifying glare, causing him to wilt in place.

 

“You don’t go around insulting a woman's looks like that, ya got that, ya cat?!” She said with a glare that reminded Happy of an angry redhead.

 

“A-ay sir!” Happy stammered out, giving a salute then, remembering the cat that he was, he added on ”Caption Luigi!”

 

“It’s Lucy!”

 

“It wasn’t that she looked like a human gorilla.” Natsu started, catching Lucy’s attention as she formed a tick mark on her forehead, unaware, Natsu kept speaking “It was that she was blushing everytime she looked at me! Why me?! Do you know how terrifying that was!?” Natsu shouted as he grabbed Lucy by her shoulders and shook her back and forth, making her dizzy.

 

 All the while, Natsu just kept speaking with an increasingly manic tone and look in his eyes “She just looked at me like I was a piece of meat everytime she popped out of the floor, or the ceiling, or the walls! Do you get it Lucy?! She was in the walls, The goddamned walls!”

 

At this point Lucy was getting a headache from being shaken, so she slapped Natsu upside the head to get him to stop, it worked.

 

“Ok ok, she terrified you for a perfectly valid reason, I get it, please don’t shake me like that again, it was really starting to hurt.” She asked, rubbing her temples to sooth her head.

 

Natsu flinched, “Oh sorry, I kinda lost my cool there.”

 

“You have a cool?” Lucy sarcastically asked, her eyebrow raised at him.

 

A moment of silence passed before Natsu let out a chuckle, causing Lucy to do the same. Then Natsu’s chuckle became a laugh causing Lucy’s to follow along.

 

After a few moments of laughing, they finally calmed down to catch their breath, smiles on their faces.

 

“Alright” Natsu started “ Let’s get back to the guild and let them know that it was a succe-”

 

“Ah, Natsu! Just the right person to find for this!”

 

Natsu stopped as a voice called out, turning towards the source as Lucy followed his line of sight. She saw a middle aged woman with brown hair and eyes and a modest figure, wearing a pair of green pants with a white shirt with an apron with multiple different color stains on the front. She was walking up to the trio while rubbing something red from her hands with a small dish rag.

 

Natsu’s face brightened upon seeing her, and he moved to meet her halfway, Happy and Lucy following.

 

“Yo, Mrs.Clara!” Natsu said with a wave before coming to a stop in front of her “How’ve you been? I haven't seen you in a bit, have you been busy?”

 

Clara smiled at the young man “Oh you know, things have been going as they usually have, messily.” Lucy smiled at Natsu’s laugh to the response and she caught Clara’s eye. “Oh! Natsu, you haven't introduced me to this young lady here! Could it be something that the guild doesn’t know about?” She asked while wiggling her eyebrows at Natsu in an attempt to tease the pinkette.

 

Natsu just smiled as the insinuation flew right over his head “Nah, Lucy here joined the guild just yesterday, I was just takin’ her out on her first mission.” He turned to Lucy “Lucy this is Mrs.Clara, she and her husband run the local beatery.”

 

Lucy had a closed eye smile on her face as she extended her hand which Clara took “Yeah, I’m new around here,  it’s nice to meet yo-”

 

Her eyes shot open as she registered exactly what Natsu had said. Shakily she looked at Clara’s apron and noticed the red among the multi colored stain’s, then she looked down at her hands and noticed that the red on her hands has wet and the many calluses that littered her palm.

 

She suddenly turned her head towards Natsu,“She runs the local what ?” She asked, her voice turning into a high pitched whisper at the last word as her wide eyed stare met Natsu’s undeterred gaze.

 

A laugh from the woman across from her caused her to turn back towards her.

 

“I run a bakery dear, and my husband runs the deli attached to it, which Natsu and Happy here call a meatery, combine the two and you get -” ”A beatery” Lucy finished Clara’s statement, feeling very relieved that it was just Natsu and Happy doing Natsu and Happy things with the name.

 

Lucy closed her eyes and gave a sigh of relief, missing the way that Clara gave a pointed stare to Natsu and Happy, which caused the human of them to look away sheepishly whistling while the cat just smiled in response.

 

“Anyway” Natsu said “What were you saying about me being the person you needed for something?”

 

Clara’s expression suddenly turned concerned “Ah yes, you see, a few hours ago there was a very loud shout that startled a good portion of the people and their pets.” She saw Natsu’s concerned look, and held up a hand in a calming gesture “Nobody was hurt, but I am more concerned about the source of the sound. As you know anyone who’s lived here long enough knows what old Makarov sounds like when he shouts, but it was what he was shouting about that concerns me, something about fever supplies?” As she finished her statement, she noticed that all three of their faces had turned pale.

 

Before she could ask what was wrong, Natsu grabbed Lucy’s hand and started running towards his house, Happy sprouting wings and took off after them.

 

Natsu’s heart pounded in his ears, because even though he was running as fast as he could, for the first time in nearly three years, he was terrified of going to a place that had a guild member in it.

 

And he hated that with all the fire in his gut.

 

____________________________

Jaune couldn’t breathe.

 

His sides hurt, his shoulders hurt, Oum somehow even his feet hurt as tears spilled from his eyes that he couldn’t stop.

 

All because of the woman across from him.

 

“A-and then the first time she ever used the focusing technique, the absolute first time, was when she got a haircut as punishment for blowing up the oven! She screamed so loud that there were police officers at the door and armed to the teeth in like five minutes!” Ruby Rose finished her story before breaking back into peals of laughter, hugging her stomach from the amount of it that she and her friend had been unleashing in the otherwise empty workshop, due to it being nearly midnight.

 

“R-rubes stop, y-you’re gonna kill me here!” Jaune said, the laughter having caused the pain in his sides and shoulders, as well as the tears in his eyes. Crocea Mors on the workbench in front of him for maintenance, its internals exposed to the two giggling huntsmen-in-training.

 

“Ah come on, so it’s fair for you to make me laugh with funny stories about your sisters, but when I do it you suddenly can’t breathe?” She said breathlessly, her laughter starting to settle down as she took several calming breaths.

 

Jaune was doing the same “Yeah, because when I tell my stories, they don’t involve my sisters screaming so loudly that they summon the local law enforcement like a demon lord summoning its minions, over a haircut!” He paused to take a breath, before he and Ruby looked each other in the eyes. A moment passed before the imagery of his statement settled in, and they were both laughing their asses off again. 

 

It took them several minutes to collect themselves again, both huffing and puffing and trying to not burst into laughter again.

 

He was the one to break the silence “Ok,I think we need to get back to work before curfew at ten. We should have maybe a half hour left before we have to go, so let’s focus.” He gave her a smile as he turned back towards his family heirloom, set on finishing its maintenance.

 

Mirroring his smile, Ruby turned back towards her own section of the workbench, which held Crescent Rose on top of it, also in the process of cleaning up and maintenance. 

 

Silence spread between the two as they worked on their respective weapons, and as they were finishing up, Ruby spoke.

 

“I wish people were more like weapons.” She blurted out before blushing at her own outburst.

 

Jaune paused at the sudden statement, having just finished screwing in the last of the paneling on Crocea Mors’s shield. He turned towards her “How so?”

 

“It’s just” She began, taking a breath and choosing her words properly “People are so confusing a-and difficult to work with. They can say that they’re fine and not even mean it at all.” She paused “They can lie and make things more difficult, for themselves and others. B-but weapons can’t! Once you find out what’s wrong y-you can just fix it up and it’ll be good as new!” She dropped her voice into a low whisper, looking down at Crescent Rose “That’s what I think anyways.”

 

Jaune thought over her words for a moment, then responded “I can see where you’re coming from. However, a weapon can’t fight for itself, it needs others to use it to fight. A weapon can’t be loyal, it can be used against anyone, even the one who previously wielded it. A weapon can’t feel emotions, it won’t make friends, it won't watch its friends backs. People can, do all of those things I mean.” He said, lifting Ruby's chin to look into her eyes, hoping to convey his words the best he can “You can force weapons to do what you want and need them to do, but not people Ruby, people aren't weapons, you can’t force them to do anything, no matter how much you may want or need to.”

 

Ruby lowered her head before putting her right hand to her chest “Then what about this then” She said motioning to what was under her clothes and against her skin.

 

Jaune’s eyebrows furrowed in concern a sudden pit in his stomach at the implication “Is that what it feels like? I-If it is then I can take it back if you don’t want t-”

 

“NO!” Ruby shouted, before blushing in embarrassment “N-no, that's not what I was meaning at all. It’s just-” She took another breath “It feels like you’re giving up, by giving this to me, a-and I don’t want to burn this so quickly after-”

 

Jaune interrupted with a sigh of relief “Don’t worry, when my Grandpa gave his to me, I was five at the time.” He paused for a moment before continuing with a more solemn tone “I didn't need to burn it until I was fifteen, and even then it took me a few months to make myself do it.” He noticed Ruby’s saddened gaze, and put his hand on her shoulder with a reassuring smile “What I’m saying is, you don’t have to burn it immediately after, nor does it mean that I’m giving up on everything just because I gave it to you, as long as you burn it, it’ll have served its purpose.”

 

Ruby gave a sigh of relief at the reassurance, before she surged forward and wrapped him in a hug, causing him to give out a yelp of surprise at the unexpected action, before he also wrapped his arms around her in response.

 

“Hey Jaune?”

 

“Yeah Ruby?”

 

“Can you promise me something?”

 

“Sure, what is it?”

 

“Promise me that I won’t have to burn your rights for a very long time, at least.”

 

“As long as you promise to be able to burn them when it finally happens, you have my word.”

 

“Ah, the legendary Arc word”

 

He chuckled  “You know what they say”

He could feel her smile against his chest through the clothes he wore, and in unison they said a phrase that every time he said he meant with his whole heart.

 

“”An Arc never goes back on their word.””

 

Then they both dissolved into giggles, poking at each other in good fun.

 

They wouldn’t get back to their dorms until three in the morning, earning a scolding from their respective teams.

 

____________________________________

Jaune opened his eyes, bleary eyed from the dream he had.

 

‘I’m sorry Ruby, I guess I went back on my word.’ He thought as he sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. 

 

He looked around and took stock of his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark inside the cabin, and likely outside too as heard the bugs chirping in the distance.

 

 The second thing he noticed was the additional bodies in the house. Natsu and Happy were sleeping in their own hammocks, however Natsu’s hammock had an extra guest in the form of Lucy lying down next to him, their snores being near polar opposites with Natsu’s being loud and obnoxious whilst Lucy’s where silent and gentle. He couldn’t help but see Ren and Nora over the two of them for a second, before he closed his eyes and shook his head while wiping away his suddenly returning tears.

 

Happy seemed to be sleepily gnawing on one of Lucy’s keys, so that was gonna go over well in the morning.

 

Looking towards the other bodies, he noticed that the other one was Gray… who was buck naked (He was very glad that the other man's leg was positioned in a way that kept him from getting too much of a look). Turning away from that haunting image he looked to the last two, who were in the corner. To his surprise, he saw The Master and a pink haired woman that he’d never seen before leaning on each other in their sleep.

 

After his observation of the room was over, he noticed something off with his body, he raised his hands to his line of sight and felt a buzzing energy under his skin, it didn’t feel like aura but it definitely energized him.

 

He needed to take a walk.

 

As he grabbed Crocea Mors and stepped outside, he never noticed the pair of eyes that opened up to follow him.

 

__________

He stopped in the clearing a few hundred yards in front of the house, tilting his head back to breathe in the air and take in the sounds, he opened his eyes and saw the moon.

 

The full moon, a sight that would have anyone from Remnant questioning what the hell was going on. And he could calmly say that it was one of the most beautiful things that he’d ever seen, especially when surrounded by the thousands of stars in the night sky.

 

He didn’t know how long he stood there, in that clearing looking up at the moon and stars, when he was interrupted by a voice calling out.

 

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well enough to be up and about.” Jaune turned and saw The Master walking towards him “You gave us all a scare for a moment there.”

 

Jaune blushed slightly in embarrassment “Was it that bad?”

 

“Worse” The old man immediately answered before chuckling “You were melting chunks of ice like it was nobody’s business. Had poor Gray exhausted by the time your fever finally broke.”

 

Jaune’s slight embarrassment turned to confusion “B-but how? I thought I had a simple fever, and no simple fever should be able to do that!”

 

Makarov chuckled “Oh yes, had us confused as well, though I have a feeling that I can tell them to not worry about this being something common. And on the simple part, just because something is simple doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous.” He finished it off with a serious look.

 

Jaune nodded, taking the advice to heart. Before another thought came to mind “Wait why are you here anyway? I thought that as Master you would be busy with paperwork and stuff.”

 

Makarov shivered at the mention of paperwork “Don’t remind me, that damned stack never seems to go away no matter how hard I try.” He shook his head before speaking again. “And as for why I’m here, Natsu asked me to check up on you while he was out, and I brought Gray just in case, and I’m thankful that I did.” He glanced up at Jaune “Even if his stripping habit seems to be contagious.”

 

Confused, Jaune looked down towards his chest, only to realize that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Brief embarrassment flashed across his mind before his eye caught something. His breathing quickened as his eyes drank in the sight of the scar that spanned across his chest from his left shoulder to his right hip. He could hear his heart beat in his ears as his vision became fuzzy, yet no matter how blurred it got, that scar remained as clear as glass. 

 

He knew what that scar was, he felt the phantom burning pain as he pressed his hand to it forcefully.

 

A scar that, not even three days ago, had been caused by the wound that killed him.

 

He felt a pair of hands help settle him to the ground where he sat, trying to calm down.

 

“Breathe” He heard The Master say “Breathe in and out, clasp your hands together and press them against each other, focus on those sensations.”

 

Jaune did just that, pressing his hand together till it hurt and taking calming breaths, one at a time. Eventually the raging blood and heart beat in his ears calmed and his vision cleared up. He let his arms fall slack to the ground and he fell onto his back, looking up at the sky.

 

“W-” Jaune stopped his voice and wet his lips, because they felt dry and his tongue felt dry, and his throat felt so damn dry . “What was that?”

 

“That my boy, was a panic attack.” He turned towards Makarov, who looked at him with concern in his eyes “And I’m guessing that was the first time that you’ve ever had one?”

 

He didn’t think it was.

 

He remembered the vulcan, how he’d cleaved it in two, killed it the same way that he’d been. He remembered the similar feeling he was getting, staring at its corpse as to the one he had a few minutes ago, before he’d been snapped out of it by Macao.

 

He didn’t want to talk about this.

 

He turned away from the old man and looked to the sky, he did not want to have this conversation, he didn’t even know what to say. He tried to think of something else to talk about, anything else to talk about, and his eyes caught sight of it once more.

 

“I've never seen it before.” He suddenly spoke, catching Makarovs attention.

 

“Never seen what? He asked

 

“The full moon”

 

He realized his mistake when The Master looked at him in confusion and concern, and he understood why.

 

‘Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What was I thinking saying something so out of the blue like that?! It doesn’t even make any sense! How can someone never have seen the full moon!?’ He was panicking, he had to change the subject and fast, so that more questions wouldn’t follow and inevitably bring light to the fact that he had come from another world upon death!

 

But what to bring up, what could be a suitable enough distra-.

 

His eyes widened

 

Idea!

 

“Runes” The word spilled from his mouth so quickly that he almost bit his tongue, somehow.

 

“What?” Came Makarov’s confused voice, a quick glance showed that he looked like he was experiencing whiplash from the sudden change in the conversation. Not that Jaune could blame him, he was barely holding on himself, and he was the one setting the conversation’s direction!

 

“You gave me the book to decide what magic I wanted to learn.” He turned his head to the side to see the man sitting next to his supine form. “I took an interest in the elemental runes.”

 

Makarov blinked “You know that those are not something that can be done easily in the heat of battle right? And it will take a long time to get them down properly?”

 

“But it can be done right?” Jaune asked right back.

 

“Yes, but you know it won't be easy, right?” Makarov questioned

 

“Nothing in life ever worth having is easy.” He answered right back, staring straight into the old man's eyes. Makarov must’ve liked what he saw, because his expression softened. He then let out a hearty bellow that he held for several seconds before he stopped and caught his breath. He then looked down at Jaune.

 

“When do you want to learn?”

 

“Now if possible.”

 

He didn’t know how, but he knew he’d given the right answer, given the way that Makarov’s eyes twinkled in amusement and pride.

 

“Alright then, sit up.” He asked, and Jaune sat up “What element do you want to learn first?”

 

Jaune closed his eyes, and remembered Beacon in flames, he remembered Cinder ascending to the top of the CCT tower writhed in fire, he remembered the scorching heat of the blade that killed him, and shook his head of the coming feelings that it brought.

 

‘ Well’ He thought ‘ Mom always did say, if you wanna not be scared of something, then you better go face it head on.’

 

He knew what elemental rune that he wanted to learn first, the one that had been a cause in his death.

 

He opened his eyes, looked Makarov in the eyes and said:

 

“Fire”

 

Notes:

Well

Yeah I've got no excuse, life got in the way and I got distracted

So Rooster Teeth is dead, and by extension RWBY, maybe a chance, they did say that they where in talks with somebody or something like that.

And 100 Year Quest has also been announced, so that's gonna be exciting. I just hope that the animation's gonna be good.

So the next chapter should be a LOT sooner, as this chapter and that one where supposed to be one but I decided to split the original ending for this chapter and and make it the opening portion for the next one. So rest assured the next chapter will be covering the lullaby arc and if I do it properly, we'll hopefully get a look into how Remnants doing.

So that's all for now folks, have a wonderful time.

Chapter 7

When Natsu woke up, it was to the faint smell of smoke.

 

At first he thought that it was probably his magic acting up when he was sleeping again, even though that hadn’t happened in years, not since Igneel had still been around. 

 

Turning his head to the side he saw the empty couch. 

 

He blinked 

 

Blinked again

 

And again

 

He sat up so fast that he tumbled over the edge of the hammock, and with the sudden shift in weight, Lucy fell off the other side, causing her to wake up with a yelp and a thump, which caused the others to start waking up. 

 

Natsu was sniffing around, searching for a scent, but the smell of smoke was at best a distraction and at worst a hindrance.

 

“What the hell Natsu?! You could’ve been a bit more gentle getting out of this thing!” Lucy shouted from the ground, her left foot tangled up in the hammock. 

 

“Can you not shout this early in the morning? Damnit.” Gray spoke up from where he was lying down on the ground, rubbing at his eyes with one hand as he propped himself up with the other. “And what the hell are you even yelling for this early in the morni-” He stopped as he saw Lucy, who just so happened to be at just the right angle for her stuck leg to give Gray a good view.

 

He blushed

 

“Huh, Gray? Why’re you blushing?” Happy, who had already gotten out of his hammock, walked over to Gray, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He turned his head to where Gray was looking and paused, before a sly smile spread over the blue cat's face and he put his paw over his mouth.

 

“Oooooh, Lucy’s a perverrrrrt.” He singsonged.

 

“What? What do you mea-?” Lucy stopped as she took in her position and where the two across from her were looking. A furious blush rose onto her face “H-hey stop looking you perverts!” She shouted, though it did little to deter the two witnesses to her unwitting indecence as she struggled to get untangled from the hammock.

 

 “You’re the one exposing yourself.” Happy pointed out matter of factly, his grin still on his face.

 

Lucy pointed an accusing finger at Happy “Says the Naked one!” She shouted, trying to gain some semblance of control over the disaster this morning had been so far.

 

“I’m a cat, Lucy” Happy stated “I’m always naked.”

 

Lucy sputtered, before pointing at Gray “HE’S ALSO NAKED!”

 

“He’s Gray, he’s always naked.”

 

“Wait, I'm naked?” Gray asked, his mind finally starting to clear of the post waking up fog as he heard the last two statements. He looked down and saw that he was, in fact, naked.

 

“SHIT!” He shouted out as he tried to find his clothes and put them on as quickly as possible.Happy was laughing at him in the background as Lucy finally untangled herself.

 

“Will you brats SHUT THE HELL UP! Some of us are trying to sleep here!” Porlyusica yelled as she rubbed her ears, aching from all the shouting happening so early in the morning. “And why are all of you yelling in the first place anyway?”

 

Happy and Gray both turned to Lucy, who was now standing, as she shrugged “Well… don’t look at me.” She pointed to Natsu, who’d been sniffing around the entire time. “He’s the one who caused me to fall out of the hammock, so ask him.”

 

“Jaune’s not here.”

 

The simple statement caused Lucy and Gray to whirl their heads towards him in shock as they shouted “What do you mean he’s not here!?” 

 

Happy piped in “It means he’s not here Lucy, keep up.” He snickered as Lucy gave him the stink eye.

 

“Makarov’s not here either” Porlyusica said after looking around. “It’s likely that they’re together somewhere nearby, so calm down all of you.”

 

Lucy relaxed, if the master was with Jaune then he was probably fine… still “Don’t you think Jaune shouldn’t be up and about so soon. I mean, his fever was really bad wasn’t it? Like, I didn't even know that fevers could get bad enough to melt a tub’s worth of ice in a few minutes with someone’s body temperature, but here we are !”

 

“While you may be right” everyone looked to Porlyusica, who was gathering her medical supplies “Magic can cause a fire mages fever to skyrocket to downright lethal levels if they don’t have the proper supplies to mitigate it, so it’s no surprise that his fever got that bad.” She finished speaking, and looking up after she put the last of her supplies into her bag, she saw the pale faces of the cabin's residents.

 

“What is it this time?” She sighed out, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

“Weeelllllllll.” Lucy began, and Porlyusica already had a headache.

 

“Spit it out girl I don’t have all day!”

 

Lucy flinched ,Natsu’s eyes narrowed at the action, and she said “ Jaune’s not a fire mage!”

 

The other shoe dropped.

 

“Okay so he’s some kind of heat based mage then? What is he, a Magma mage? It’s the same thing regardless!” Porlyusica waved her hand in dismissal as she explained.

 

“No, I mean he’s not a fire mage, or any other kind of mage. Like at all.” Porlyusica froze at the information

 

An unexpected third shoe dropped, and this one had iron soles and was aimed for the toes.

 

“What?” Was all she could say at the information.

 

“Yeah, he doesn’t have a magic.”

 

“What about natural born magic?”

 

Natural born magic, a simple yet uncommon situation where one is born while already having a magic to use. While it may not develop till later in life, the magic that they are born with is far stronger than any type of the same magic that can be learned. The downside is that the magic you are born with is the only magic that you can use. So essentially, you become highly specialized but lacking in versatility.  

 

“Not that I’m aware of, no.”

 

Porlyusica sputtered as she realized what violation of natural biology she witnessed yesterday, the implications dawning on her, some more terrifying than others.

 

“But then how!? By all accounts he should be dead!”She declared.

 

“Look grannie we don’t know how this happened but I think we should all just be glad that he’s alive, alright?” Gray finally spoke up and stepped in, fully clothed.

 

“You don’t understand!” Porlyusica shouted at him “There should be no way that he should have survived that! The only way that I can think of how he did would be tha-”

 

SLAM!!!!!

 

Everyone jumped as the door was slammed open. Turning towards it everyone saw the tail end of Natsu’s scarf leave to the outside as he ran out, clearly on the hunt.

 

A beat

 

Two beats

 

Three beats

 

Everyone suddenly scrambled to follow after Natsu, who was already fading into the trees.

__________________________

Natsu ran through the forest following the faint scent of smoke.

 

While everyone had been talking in the cabin he’d been listening and searching for the scent of either Jaune or gramps, when he heard it, a voice, a panicked voice.

 

He was out the door before he could blink, rushing through the woods as fast as he could run.

 

When he reached the edge of a clearing, he paused, taking in what he was seeing.

 

“PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!”

 

“I’M TRYING DAMNIT! FOCUS ON YOURS!”

 

Natsu stared confusedly at the scene in front of him, Jaune and gramps were running around the clearing, stomping on stray fires trying to put them out in a rushed frenzy. A quick glance at the surrounding area showed a large amount of burn patches spread about in the clearing.

 

A sigh drew his attention to the only other two people in the clearing, both having put out all the stray fires that were there, gramps was now speaking with Jaune.

 

“Word of advice, work on your aim, we could do without any more forest fires going on around here, other than that I’d  say that you’ve basically got this rune down, now all you need is practice then we’ll get you onto the next one.”

 

“Thanks for the help, Gramps.” Jaune said while scratching the back of his neck sheepishly “And what do you mean by anymore forest fires? Are they that common around here?”

 

“Not as much as they used to be” Gramps huffed, amusement in his voice “You can thank that one over there for that.” He said as he motioned towards Natsu causing Jaune to turn around and see him.”For both starting the forest fires and dealing with them.”

 

Perking up when he saw Natsu, Jaune smiled and began waving towards him and calling out “Natsu! Hey, did you get some good sleep?”

 

It took him a moment to respond, before grinning “ Yeah, I slept pretty good, It was… comfy. How about you? You were pretty sick yesterday”

 

Jaune huffed “Yeah I’m doing better, sorry for worrying you guys so much. If there's anything I can do to properly thank you guys, let me know ” He was shifting on his feet, an apologetic look on his face. Gramps slammed his cane on his foot, causing him to let out a yelp and grab at his foot and hop in place.

 

“None of that.” Makarov said, giving a stern yet soft look to Jaune “You owe us nothing, we helped you because it was the right thing to do and because you're a member of Fairy Tail, that makes you a friend and family, no matter how recently you joined.”

 

He saw how Jaune reacted to the words, the slightly embarrassed look on his face at such a casual admission of care over his well being, the slight smile that grew on his face as the words sunk in, and then, concerningly, as that smile morphed into a grimace as his right hand moved to the scar that spread across his chest and layed it there gently, as if scared that to much force would cause the wound it came from to re-open.

 

Makarov watched all of this with an expression like stone, letting none of his thoughts escape. The gears of his mind turning rapidly as he tried to make sense of it, both the wound and the words he spoke last night.

 

‘ To have never seen the full moon’ He thought, still unpacking the random statement that had come from his newest child. ‘ Even if he’s from an area that has few clear sky’s, the likelihood that he’s absolutely never seen the full moon? Almost impossible. And then there’s the wording, why the full moon?’ He let out a soft sigh as he rubbed his chin, a contemplative look on his face.

 

As his thoughts kept him occupied, he’d failed to realize one thing.

 

He’d given Natsu a chance to plan.

 

“FIGHT ME!” He shouted, pointing at Jaune with a grin on his face and a fire in his eyes.

 

Jaune blinked, his brows furrowed in confusion at the sudden challenge “What?”

 

“You said that if there was something that you could do to thank us that you’d do it, so fight me!” Natsu all but shouted, a grin of assurance at his logic.

 

Makarov, having tuned back in as soon as he heard Natsu’s challenge, blanched as he realized what Natsu was trying to do. Rushing to open his mouth to chastise him, he was cut off.

 

“Sure” Jaune said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders, causing Makarov to snap his head to him.

 

“Did you not listen to what I just said!?” He shouted 

 

“Well yeah” Jaune said, a sheepish look on his face “But I do want to see where I stand in terms of strength. And there’s been a recent development I want to test.” he finished, his voice falling to a mutter to the end as he looked away.

 

Makarov stared, before relenting with a sigh “Fine fine, go for it. But Natsu” Natsu turned to him “I want there to still be a forest when this is done alright ?”

 

Natsu grinned and gave a thumbs up “You got it Gramps!”

 

“Two questions first please.” Jaune asked ”How good are you against bladed weapons?”

 

Natsu tilted his head in confusion ”Like.. How good am I at fighting them or taking hits from them?”

 

Jaune paused “...Yes?”

 

There was a pause in the clearing before Natsu answered.

 

“I’m pretty good at both to be honest, especially taking hits thanks to…” Natsu paused before a full body shiver ran over him and he spoke in a hushed whisper ”...Erza.”

 

Jaune blinked, furrowing his eyebrows at the sight of Natsu’s sudden scared expression and full body shivering “Who?”

 

“Erza, she’s another member of the guild.” Makarov spoke up “She’s the strongest female member of the guild and one of the strongest in general.”

 

“Damn” Jaune said, then looked back at Natsu “So why is he shaking like a leaf at just her name?”

 

“She dislikes it when people break the rules and make an action that reflects badly on the guild. And Natsu… Well, you haven't seen him fight on a mission yet. He gets very destructive.”

 

Jaune snapped his fingers and pointed at Makarov “OH! Like that port town he blew up right?!”

 

Makarov’s eyes bulged out “Port to- DID YOU BLOW UP HARGEON?!” He shouted after he turned to Natsu.

 

Snapping out of his shaking, Natsu laughed nervously “Whaaaaaat? Nooo, I was just fighting a slave trader and just so happened to hit Hargeon juuuust a little bit.” At Makarov’s still pissed of expression, he turned to Jaune “HeyJaunewhatwasyou’resecondquestion?” He said in a clear attempt to turn the conversation away from the current topic.

 

“Oh um, can I have a shirt?” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Mine kinda got destro-” Cutting himself off as he caught a white button up shirt flying right at him, he blinked “Oh uh, thanks” He said as he put the shirt on. It was a bit tight so he couldn’t button it up the whole way and it didn’t entirely reach his hips, but it was better than nothing.

 

Makarov narrowed his eyes at the shirt ‘Is that ?’ He turned his deadpan gaze to Natsu’s unashamed grin. ‘Did he even have it on him when he first got here?’

 

“Alright” Jaune’s voice called out, accompanied by the rasping of metal as he drew his blade from his scabbard. Makarov’s brows furrowed at the broken blade as he backed away. The furrow grew deeper as he saw the look Jaune gave the blade, one of regret and sorrow, before it was gone. 

 

Jaune flipped the scabbard into the air, causing it to twirl like a fan, before he lashed his arm out and connected it to the scabbard, causing it to stick to his arm and unfurl into a shield as he braced it infront of him and settled into his stance, aura flickering to life around him, ready for combat “Bring it.”

 

Natsu had stars in his eyes as he settled into his stance ”That was SO COOL!”

 

Makarov was giving an appraising look toward the shield while stroking his chin. ‘ That explains the weight, but what was that light? ’

 

And Jaune… well

 

‘ HOLY SHIT I CAN’T BELIEVE I FINALLY GOT THAT! THANK YOU WORLD! Pyrrha would be impressed.’ At the thought of his partner, his mind went back to the last time he’d seen her, and he shook his head ‘ Later, right now I’ve got a fight to… do? win ? fight? Huh, what do I say in that? Dust damnit I hate it when words don’t word. No, Jaune, just focus on the fi- and his hands are on fire, cool. Now then time to focu-HOLYSHIT!’

 

He was gonna go through it.

 

—-------------------------------------

 

When Lucy and the others finally caught up to Natsu they paused at the sight before them.

 

Natsu, his hands ablaze, was throwing punch after punch at Jaune, who was rapidly blocking the blows with his shield and backpedaling in an attempt to gain breathing room from Natsu’s unrelenting assault.

 

“Bad move” Lucy blinked, turning to look at Gray “When you fight Natsu, the one thing to not do is give him the chance to press you. The moment you do, you’re done.” Pausing for a moment, he spoke up again “The only thing worse than giving him the advantage, is giving him-”

 

He was cut off when a massive CLANG filled the air, the wind suddenly picking up from the impact. Turning back to look, Lucy saw what caused it, Jaune had swung his shield out in a backhand to meet Natsu’s punch, matching it in force.

 

With a shout Jaune swung his broken blade at Natsu, causing him to dodge, the wind pressure from the swing ruffling Natsu’s hair and scarf, as well as the grass and leaves from the trees.

 

Lucy heard a whistle from beside her “Wouldn’t wanna get a direct hit from that.”

 

She found herself agreeing.

 

Jaune jumped back, stumbling slightly with a surprised look on his face, before he raised his right arm after putting his sword into his scabbard shield. 

 

As he raised his hand his fingers started to glow and draw something onto the air.

 

It looked like the top part of a directional arrow, facing left. As soon as he was done, the color turned to a burning orange.

 

Lucy heard a hiss come from several people this time.

 

“And rule number two of fighting Natsu.”

 

Jaune shouted out “ Fira!”  

 

At his shout, the rune burned brightly and then launched itself forward in the form of a small comet of fire that shot out, so fast that Lucy had trouble following it.

 

“ Never bring fire to a Natsu fight.”

 

And the small comet of flame, so recently born, died just as quickly as it was slurped up like a noodle into the mouth of the fire dragon slayer.

 

Silence reigned in the clearing, Lucy looked over to Jaune and had to raise her hand to her mouth to stop a laugh from escaping, immediately feeling bad about nearly laughing as she took in his expression.

 

Eyes half lidded, eyebrows furrowed, and mouth slightly open. This accompanied by his arms dangling at his sides, gave him the most befuddled look of  done with this shit, that she had ever seen.

 

“How?” He asked, his voice nearly matching his face.

 

Natsu grinned “I’m a fire dragon slayer, fire can't hurt me, I eat it for breakfast. Sometimes literally.”

 

Jaune’s palm met the upper part of his face “Where were you 3 days ago, dust dammit.” He ground out.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nothing, nothing.” He said before sighing “Just getting lost in another world.”

 

“Yeah I know the feeling.”

 

“Not like I do.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Jaune winced “sorry that was rude of me, I was just thinking on how to…” He paused before calling out “Hey Gramps, quick question.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“The bigger the run the bigger the effect, Right?”

 

“Yes, why do you ask?” There was a note of concern in his voice.

 

Jaune gave a grin that sent shivers down most of the present's spines “You’re about to find out.” And he raised his hand to draw another rune.

 

This time though instead of the fist sized rune, it started above his head and ended at his upper thigh area. As it pulsed orange again, a heat filled the clearing, originating from the rune. The assembled all simultaneously took a step back, hoping to stay out of the blast range.

 

Grin still on his face, Jaune drew his sword and shouted “FIRA!”

 

If what came from the rune from before was a comet , then this was a firestorm.

 

A massive wave of flame poured out rapidly, loudly and straight at Natsu, who’s grin grew to match Jaune’s as he caught his hands ablaze once more, ready to meet the flames head on.

 

Right as the fire was at him as he raised his fist to fight fire with fire, a movement from the left caught his eye. Spinning his head to see, the disruption in the flames cleared revealing it to be Jaune’s sword. Then the sound of metal flying through the air made him turn his head to the right, watching as Jaune’s shield burst from the flames at his side. The fluttering of cloth from above tuned him in to the plan. Looking up and crossing his arms to block whatever attack was coming, he was shocked to see it was the shirt that he’d given Jaune.

 

 ‘ Wait, then that means!” He moved to look back down but it was too late. Emerging from the fire, left leg forward and slamming cracks into the ground next to Natsu’s foot, right hand cocked back for a sucker punch, Jaune threw his hand forward and straight into Natsu’s gut.

 

The impact of the punch created a bulge out the other side of his body, coughing up spittle as the air left his lungs and feet leaving the ground, Natsu was sent flying into the pine tree a dozen or so feet behind him.

 

Scratch that through the pine tree a dozen or so feet behind him, and then a little more give or take.

 

Once more silence reigned as the fire died down, Gray, Makarov, and Happy were staring at Jaune in surprise. Lucy was moving to where Natsu got launched through a tree, moving over the fallen trunk as she did so.

 

Reaching his coughing form, Lucy knelt next to him “Are you alright, Natsu?”

 

Natsu took a great breath of air coughing a little more and gave her a grin “Believe it or not, not the worst punch to the gut I’ve ever taken, physically or emotionally.”

 

Tilting her head to the side, Lucy looked at him confusedly before she heard footsteps approaching as Jaune knelt next to her.

 

“Oh man, I am so sorry, I didn’t think it would hit that hard, I’m still getting used to this stre-” A laugh from Natsu cut the boy off on his apologetic rant.

 

“Hey don’t worry, that was a hell of a sucker punch and a fight,punching you feels like punching a brick wall. Let's do that again some time.” Raising his hand, Jaune stared at it blankly for a moment, before smiling and accepting the high five.

 

“MY SHIRT!” The shout caught the three’s attention, turning to the source they saw gray holding the singed shirt that Jaune was wearing.

 

‘ Wait a second’ Lucy thought, squinting before her eyes widened. It was Gray's shirt, but then how was Jaune wearing it? She saw Gray leave the cabin wearing the damn thing.

 

Turning to Jaune, he saw her look and pointed to Natsu, who shrugged as if to say ‘don’t ask me’.

 

“Well as entertaining as this has been, I believe we best get going” Makarov spoke up, stepping across the wet ground. Wait wet? “ I have a guild master meeting to get to and Porlyuscila doesn’t like being around people longer than necessary, so you all should go to the guild hall and enjoy your day alright.” At their nods, he smiled and kept walking into the woods towards the train station. 

 

“Don’t you all go getting into trouble while I’m gone, okay?” He called over his shoulder as Porlyusica fell into step beside him, just like old times.

 

“Makarov” She spoke as soon as they were far enough away to not be heard.

 

“Hm?”

 

“That boy”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You noticed it too right, that strange light around him as he got hit?”

 

“I saw him get coated in it in the beginning of the fight.”

 

“What is it?” A pause “What is he?”

 

“I Don’t know.”

 

“His Fever was unnatural Makarov. No normal human being should be able to have a temperature that high and just walk it off.”

 

“You're right, they shouldn’t.”

 

“... You already have an idea on what he is, don’t you?”

 

“...Yes”

 

“Should I be concerned?”

 

“If I’m right in my idea,... then yes. As much as it pains me to say it.”

 

“And what would this Idea of your’s be?”

 

“He’s seventeen, you’re smart, you can put it together.” He snapped at her, the conversation not doing his mood any favors as Magnolia came into view.

 

“Seventeen? What does that have to do with-” She stopped in her tracks as the pieces of what Makarov was implying started to click together in her mind. “Seventeen, unnatural fever temps, strange light ” She looked at him, a horrified expression on her face. “Makarov, if what you’re implying is true, then…” She trailed off almost unwilling to speak the idea of it into existence for fear it may come true.

 

“Yes, but only if Porlyusica, only if.”

 

“Why?! If you’re right about this then you could be placing all of your Guild, Magnolia, hell maybe even Fiore in danger! And for what?!”

 

“And if he isn’t? Would you truly condemn an innocent boy off of mere speculation?” He gave her a side eye, as if daring her to tell someone and not expect his wrath for breaking his trust.

 

“You do realize what you’re doing right? If you’re correct then you would be no better than them ”She spat the word out like it was filth “Like him ” If it was possible this word carried even more loathing and disgust, enough to get even Makarov riled up at the mere mention of them.

 

“And that Porlyusica, is why I pray that I am wrong. I hope to every god there is, that I am wrong.” Small tears were gentle falling down his cheeks at the thought of what he would have to do if he was right.

 

“And if you’re right?” 

 

“Then I will have to kill him.” The admittance was heavy, a second weight now on his shoulders, and it hurt just as much as the first.

 

They both had stopped at the crossroads, one would lead to Porlyusica’s cabin, the other to Magnolia and the train station.

 

She reached out and touched his shoulder, causing him to look up at her. She winced at the sight of the tears rolling down his face and the dull look in his eyes. She hated when he looked like this, and she hated herself even more for being the one who made him look like this.

 

 “Then let us both pray that you’re wrong, my d-” she stopped herself.

 

He looked at her and collected himself, wiping the tears away “Yes, let us hope.”

 

“Goodbye, Makarov” She spoke gently “I hope you stay safe.”

 

“Good day Porlyusica, I hope you have a peaceful time.” He spoke back, just as gently.

 

And at that they both turned and went down their respective paths.

 

As she made her way deeper into the forest, Porlyusica couldn’t help but let a few stray tears fall down her face at the thought of what her friend must be going through, and at how she couldn’t let herself be there for him, just like so many years before.

 

“Stay strong, Makarov.” She spoke to the empty air “Things will turn out alright.”

 

The ’They have to’ left unsaid, because if they didn’t…

 

One more time she spoke, her words almost like a prayer, wish, and a blessing all in one “Stay strong…”

 

The wind blew the leaves of the trees, off the ground and through the air, rustling the grass as well, the forest creating a gentle cacophony of noise almost enough to drown out the final words she spoke.

 

Almost

 

“ My Dear.”

____________________________________

 

“So what’s the plan for today?” Jaune asked as they approached the Guild Hall.

 

Having stopped by Gray’s place for an extra pair of shirts for the both of them as the one from before was ruined due to Jaune’s battle plan, they had taken a bit of a longer route and were now all at the guild hall.

 

“Ooh ooh we can go on a mission, without the stripper here of course.” Natsu said while kicking open the door (again) Ignoring the “HEY!” From Gray. “Come on! Let’s go look for a good Jo-” He paused in place as a gasp of terror escaped his throat, his eyes wide as he looked ahead into the building with his foot still raised.

 

Confused The other four looked inside and 3 of the four froze, two in terror, one in confusion.

 

Red hair, her back turned, he couldn’t notice any more differences like her figure, or her height, or the fact that she couldn’t be here becauseifshewasthenohdustwhatthefuckhappened-

 

No all he saw was-

 

“Pyrrha?”

Notes:

I had planned to get this chapter out on the birthday of this fic but I missed it by little over an hour.

Nonetheless I'm dedicating this chapter to the one year anniversary of this fic, may many more chapters come to be and may they come out faster.

Anyway, have a wonderful day/night where ever you are and I'll see you next time.

And as always constructive criticism is always welcome.

Chapter 8

“Pyrrha?”

 

Erza blinked at the unknown voice from behind her, and the name it choked out.

 

Turning around she searched for the source and saw the group that gathered at the front of the Guild Hall.

 

Foot raised and looking shocked and rightfully horrified, was Natsu, having clearly kicked open the door again despite her continuous warning’s to do otherwise. She’d have to teach him to learn how to open a door normally again.

 

Standing next to him to his right was Happy, doing Happy things as per usual.

 

" Good to see he’s doing better ’ She thought with a slight smile and nod, before turning to Natus’s left to look at the unknown woman there, slightly shorter than Natsu.

 

She was staring, not at her but the giant gold and jewel encrusted horn behind her, shock and awe very obvious in her eyes. Judging by the little bit of the pink mark she could see on the back of her right hand, she seemed to be a new member of the Guild. 

 

That was good, it was always good to add more people to their big rambunctious family.

 

Turning to her left she was met with a rare sight, Gray fully dressed and not in the process of stripping down, truly either a sign of good fortune or terrible omen.

 

It was 50/50 to be honest.

 

And standing to his left was the second of the new faces. Standing as the tallest of the little group in front of her, he also had blond hair, though his was shorter and shaggy, he had a sword and scabbard on his hip, marking him as a swordsman, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves on his hands, and his shirt-

 

Erza blinked

 

She blinked again

 

One more time

 

‘ Is that Gray’s Shirt?” She wondered to herself and upon closer inspection yes, yes it was Gray's shirt, though a bit snug on the man due to the size difference.

 

‘ Did Gray get a boyfriend? I didn’t even know he swung for the other team!’ She shouted in her head, her expression betraying nothing about her thoughts.

 

A moment of silence as she studied the blond boy.

 

‘ I’m gonna have to interrogate him on his intentions for Gray later.’ She concluded with narrowed eyes before she turned back to Natsu ‘But first.’

 

Jaune shivered, knocked out of his thoughts as he saw the glare that she was giving him, wondering what he had done to earn her ire, earning a sympathetic look from Gray, who knew the feeling well. He grabbed both Jaune and Lucy’s shoulders and guided them away from the coming storm that was sure to happen.

 

“Natsu! What have I said about kicking the door open?!” Erza demanded with her hands on her hips, causing the pinkette to gulp nervously.

 

“To not to?” He tried weakly, shrinking into himself slightly.

 

“To not to.” She nodded, before she leaned in closer to him, her face gaining a menacing shadow “And what did you do?”

 

If  Natsu shrunk in on himself and shook any further, he would be the world’s shakiest human turtle “I kicked the door open.”

 

As Gray and the newest members of the group sat down at a nearby table, he noticed that at another table, Elfman was watching the chewing out with a satisfied smirk, causing Gray to scoff at the taller man as he looked back towards his tablemates.

 

Turning towards Jaune and Lucy he spoke up “So that's Erza.” He started, getting their attention from the public scolding “She’s the strongest female mage in Fairy Tail, and as you can see.” He gestured towards her and Natsu “She’s insanely terrifying, any questions?”

 

“Is She always that terrifying?” JAune asked, not missing a beat.

 

“Yes” Gray responded, just as quickly. 

 

Lucy raised her hand.

 

Gray snapped his fingers, pointing at her ”Shoot.”

 

“What's with the horn?” She pointed off to the side.

 

Both boys and cat (who had followed them to the table) turned to where she was pointing, noticing the giant severed horn with gold encrusted jewels at its base, sitting on the floor to the right of the entrance.

 

“How did we miss that?” Gray asked, his brows furrowed.

 

“Well.” Jaune spoke up “We were a bit preoccupied with being terrified by Erza.”

 

“Oh yeah” Gray replied, before blinking and turning back to Jaune “Quick question though, what did you say when you saw her? Pyra or something?”

 

“Oh um.” Jaune scratched the back of his neck nervously. “No, I said Pyrrha.”

 

“Ok, why?”

 

“W- weeellllll” He started ”It’s a…” He paused, waving his free hand around as he searched for the words. “Funny story. So basically-”

 

“Ah Gray you’re already sitting, good.” Erza interrupted as she walked over to the table, Natsu following along, his appearance haggard as he sat next to Lucy who looked at him with concern, placing a hand on his shoulder.

 

Unseen by the group, the action caused a certain white haired woman to frown at the sight from behind the bar.

 

“I’m glad that you and Natsu are here, Gray.” Erza spoke “I’ll be needing you two to help me with something, a Job to be more precise.”

 

At the prospect of helping Erza on a job, both Natsu and Gray perked up. There attention undividedly on Erza.

 

She gave a fond smirk at the actions of the two rivals in front of her “Good to see that got your attention. Meet me at the train station in around half an hour, I’ll explain everything on the way.”

 

Before she could turn around and head for the doors however, Natsu called out for her attention.

 

“Oooh ooh, can we bring them with us?!” He asked as he waved his hands to Jaune and Lucy.

 

Raising an eyebrow at the two, Erza spoke.”Depends, what can they do?”

 

“Lucy can summon these weird spirit things with keys, they’re pretty strong. One of them threw the ship I was on at Hargeon with a small tidal wave!” Natsu exclaimed, waving his hands around for visual descriptions.

 

At his words ‘small tidal wave’ and threw the ship I was on’ some people choked on their drinks and turned slightly to get a look at Lucy, who started blushing at the attention and lightly smacking Natsu on the shoulder at his description of her spirits. 

 

Jaune looked at Lucy in wonder, having not been there when this happened.

 

Both Erza and Natsu ignored the small commotion that his words had caused. 

 

“And the other one?” Erza gestured to Jaune who sat up straight as possible as he noticed Erza’s attention on him.

 

Natsu grinned and Gray suddenly had a bad feeling. “He’s pretty strong and got a mean punch.”

 

Erza raised an eyebrow, clearly not that impressed. “And how do you know that?”

 

“He fisted me pretty hard.”

 

…

 

The chaos that erupted the moment those words were processed was terrifying. People doing spit takes all across the Guild Hall, some of them even crossing streams and making rainbows in the light that came in through the windows. Several people dropped their utensils in shock, and one even turned his head with his fork still in his mouth so hard he ripped the head of the fork off with his teeth. 

 

Most others had literally fallen out of their seats in shock.

 

Erza didn't even waste a moment, raising her foot and slamming it down on the table with enough force to break it and send Happy flying. She pointed directly at Jaune and shouted at the top of her lungs “HARLOT!”

 

The force of her shout had silenced the shouting that had covered the Guild Hall moments prior. Jaune’s expression could only be described as fish out of water, while Lucy’s was a crimson blush at the words that had just come out of Natsu’s mouth. Gray was just giving an unsurprised and disappointed look to Natsu, who’s grin had taken up half of his face.

 

In the silence that ensued Jaune finally spoke up. “I punched him.”

 

“Huh?” Erza said, the look on her face being the second most terrifying thing he’d ever seen in his two lives.

 

His mother and her reflections in the two mirrors were the unexplainable number one.

 

And he hoped to Dust that he would never be able to understand.

 

“I punched him in the gut this morning in a spar.”

 

“Sent me right through a tree!” Natsu oh so helpfully added in. Acting as if his words didn’t just cause a minor localized armageddon.

 

The Guild Hall was silent for several moments before a voice spoke up.

 

“Boooooooo! That's disappointing.” A drunken female voice hollered from across the hall.

 

Turning to the voice Jaune and Lucy saw a brunette woman sitting on a table wearing a bikini top and a pair of jeans, her guild mark on the lower left side of her abdomen. Oddly enough she was holding a barrel of alcohol on her arm which was spilling out onto her as she spoke, clearly having forgotten that she was holding it in the chaos that unfolded.

 

“And here I thought that we were gonna see if Natsu had another love interest!” She said, the hazy drunken blush on her face seeming to grow a little more red “ Tch! What a waste- AAAAAHHHH!” She screamed in shock as a sword came flying through the air and piercing straight through the barrel and into the wall behind her.

 

Turning away from the blade, she looked towards Erza, and while Jaune couldn’t see the look on her face, judging by the general reaction that all who saw it had, maybe it was best that he didn’t.

 

“Cana” Erza said “I think you’ve had enough to drink today. Clean yourself up,drink some water, eat some food and go take a nap.”

 

For a brief moment, Cana looked like she wanted to argue, but decided against it as she saw Erza’s face again.

 

Muttering to herself as she got off the table, as she stretched her arms above her body she looked to the bar to get some food and water she froze. Pailing even further than before as she suddenly turned around and started speed walking out the door.

 

Sighing as she turned to the rest of the Guild, Erza spoke up. “Alright everyone, start cleaning up the mess.”

 

As they watched the Guild start moving around to clean up what they had caused, Jaune and Lucy noticed the sudden solemn atmosphere in the area.

 

As Jaune looked around, wondering what happened. Lucy turned towards Natsu, halting as she took in his expression. 

 

Reaching for his shoulder, she was startled as he suddenly stood up, drawing the table’s occupants attention.

 

“30 minutes at the train station right?” He asked, his voice low.

 

Erza didn’t turn away, her attention focused on the cleanup process, she took a moment to answer in an equally low tone.”20 minutes now.”

 

Natsu gave a slight grunt in confirmation, before he turned away and paused as he began making his way to the doors “Sorry about the… whole joke about the fisting thing.” He began “I-I thought that-”

 

“It’s okay, Natsu.” Erza Interrupted softly, “I know.” 

 

Staying still for a second before continuing out of the Guild. As Lucy made to follow him, Erza spoke up.

 

“Lucy, Jaune” She got their attention “I’ll be seeing you at the station alright?”

 

“Oh um uh r-right.” Lucy stumbled to answer, Jaune only gave a “Hm” in response.

 

As Lucy turned and made her way out of the guild to follow him, she couldn’t help but wonder why Natsu looked sad and guilty.

 

As Jaune made to follow them Erza called out again.

 

“Jaune.” 

 

He turned to look over his shoulder.

 

She turned her eyes to him “Sorry for calling you a harlot.”

 

Jaune stared at her for a moment before a slight chuckle rose from his throat.

 

“It’s okay, it was pretty funny anyway.” he gave a small smile as he turned to her a bit more.

 

She blinked, and gave a small smile of her own.

 

And as Jaune walked out of the Guild Hall, she turned back to the clean up.The clatter of tables and chairs being put back in their place being joined by the soft chatter of the Guild members. She turned her head to Gray, both of their eyes never leaving their targets, she spoke. 

 

“I approve.”

 

“Glad you do.” He responded.

 

She smiled warmly at that before speaking again “I still have questions on how it happened, though.” 

 

“I’ll answer them on the train.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

And as they spoke they never turned away, for Gray, his eyes were on Elfman, who had stood there holding a table for the past several minutes, clearly listening in on the conversation that they had been having.

 

And for Erza, her eyes had been turned on the bar and its hostess, who’d been cleaning the same mug ever since Cana had spoken, her eyes having been locked with Erza’s ever since she’d drawn her attention away from Natsu. Her expression was the same blank one it had been since then.

 

But Erza didn’t need to guess what was going on in her head.

 

The cracks in the mug in her hands said more than enough.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An awkward silence held the three people plus cat as they waited at the train station for the rest of their group to arrive.

 

Shift from side to side, Lucy couldn’t help but look to her right, where Natsu was, his expression not betraying much of how he was feeling as opposed to earlier.

 

This didn’t feel right, she hadn’t known him for long but seeing him like this just felt wrong. Too different from the normally cheerful dragon slayer she’d come to know.

 

Looking beyond Natsu to his right, where Jaune was, she caught his attention and gave a pleading look to help with the awkwardness.

 

Nodding, Jaune looked up in thought, wondering what to talk about, before it hit him. CLearing his throat and catching the attention of the other three (Happy had been strangely silent as well) he spoke.

 

“So.” He began, Lucy breathing a silent sigh of relief for Jaune, the savior of this situation “When I woke up this morning, I noticed that the two of you were sharing the hammock with each other. Is there any reason behind that?”

 

…

 

Lucy took back every good thing she ever said about Jaune Arc, He was dead to her.

 

Happy was the one who responded to his question. “Well that’s easy! Loopy didn’t wanna sleep on the floor so Natsu agreed to share the hammock with her.” Lucy just sighed in acceptance that the damn cat would never get her name right.

 

He took a moment before his cheeks puffed up and he put a paw to his mouth. ”I think she liiiiiikes him.”

 

The effect was instantaneous, Lucy turned beet red and started waving her hands around, sputtering denials as Natsu just deadpanned towards Happy, a slight blush on his cheeks. Unseen by both of them, Jaune gave a relieved smile and a thumbs up to the flying blue cat, mentally reminding himself to get him some fish when he had the money too.

 

In the slight din of noise they made, they didn’t notice the footsteps of someone approaching them, until the figure spoke up.

 

“What’re you guys doing?” Gray questioned, his brows furrowed as he took in the odd sight before him. “Erza’ll be here in a few minutes, by the way.” He added on as an afterthought.

 

Happy opened his mouth to repeat his previous statement, before Lucy reached out and slammed a hand onto the cat’s mouth, pulling him into her chest to shut him up.

 

“Asking questions!” She threw out with a wide nervous simple as Happy struggled to be free of her grasp, wriggling around.

 

Gray stared, unimpressed, at the little showing in front of him. Before he turned to Natsu. ”Are you?”

 

“Yep.” Was the quick reply from the slightly blushing pinkett, before he blinked and wheeled around to face Jaune.

 

“Hey, remember our fight?”

 

“The only one we’ve ever had? That happened this morning?” Jaune replied, at Natsu’s nodding he shrugged and replied “Nope.”

 

Natsu's face planted into the ground so hard and fast that he left an afterimage and cracks in the ground from where his face landed, much to Jaune and Lucy’s shock and concern.

 

Jaune immediately moved to help him up, stammering all the while. “I’m joking! I’m joking! Of course I remember, I don’t have that bad of a memory.”

 

“Oh good.” Natsu shook his head, before speaking again. “So what was that light thing you did?”

 

Jaune furrowed his eyebrows “Light thing?”

 

“Yeah! You know, the weird light that covered you after you did that sick trick with your shield?” Natsu asked again, his eyes were sparkling as he remembered the trick. Lucy, Gray and Happy watched the back and forth with curiosity.

 

Jaune widened his eyes as he realized what he was talking about, and he smiled. ”Oh, you're talking about my Aura. Yeah it does that when I activate it.” 

 

Natsu blinked “What’s Aura?”

 

Jaune’s smile grew, finally something he could understand and explain in this new world.

 

Wait.

 

If he was in a world without Aura, that meant he was the only one with it.

 

Did that make him this world's leading expert on Aura?

 

This was weird, he decided as he shook his head.

 

“Well” He began “Aura is basically the light of our souls, empowering us as well as protecting us when it’s activated by forming an energy field around us. It also has a slight healing factor to go with it.”

 

Natsu had his arms crossed and was shaking his head up and down as he took in the information. Then suddenly after he paused as if in thought, he grinned.

 

“IT’S LIKE A FORCEFIELD!” He shouted out, drawing attention from the other people on the platform waiting for their train.

 

Jaune took a moment to process and immediately grinned, snapping his fingers and pointing to Natsu “THAT’S WHAT I SAID!”

 

Lucy, Gray and Happy watched as they threw their arms around each other’s shoulders and started pumping their free fists in the air while hopping up and down. All three of them were befuddled at the odd sight, but Lucy was giving a small smile. 

 

Then her smile fell slightly as she remembered something Jaune said.

 

“Hey.” She said, catching her present company’s attention “I thought you said you didn’t have any magic?”

 

Jaune blinked “I didn’t.”

 

“But you have Aura.” She pointed out again.

 

“Aura’s not magic.”

 

“Seems like magic to me.”

 

“Maybe, but it’s not.”

 

“Why though?”

 

“Because it’s my soul, not magic.”

 

“I don’t know.” Gray finally cut in, his shirt suddenly missing, to the loud shock of the people around them. “It enhances, it defends, it even kind of heal’s like you said. It’s kind of like three magics in one to be honest.”

 

“Four.” Jaune replied, untangling himself from Natsu.

 

“What?” 

 

“It’s like four, I forgot to mention semblances.”

 

Gray’s eyebrows furrowed “What’s a semblance.”

 

Jaune crossed his left arm across his chest and rested his other arm’s elbow on his hand, waving it around and walking back and forth as he spoke. “Semblances are like a personalized power that everyone with aura has. They can be something like super speed, strength enhancement, telekinesis, or even something like polarity.”

 

He paused and took a breath. “It really depends on the person, as Aura is a manifestation of our souls, so every semblance is different in some way shape or form.”

 

After he finished his explanation, he turned to the others and saw  the awestruck looks on their faces.

 

“That’s so cool!” Natsu shouted.

 

“I know right?!” Lucy agreed.

 

“Can some summon delicious fish for me to eat as a semblance?!” Happy shouted. 

 

“What’s yours?” Gray asked.

 

Jaune heard Gray’s question and immediately waved his hand with a light laugh. “Yeah sorry Gray, but I don-”

 

But he stopped as he realized something.

 

‘I’ve already done something unique haven’t I?”

 

He thought about it and…

 

A molten hot blade of glass cleaving through him.

 

The world going dark for what he thought was the last time.

 

Waking up in a partially destroyed port town

 

The full unbroken moon hanging above him in the sky, almost mocking him with the knowledge of what it meant.

 

The damn scar that ran right through him, quite literally.

 

Oum above, can internal organs scar?!

 

Jaune paused, the smile slipping from his face as he brought his hand to scratch at the sudden burning itch across his chest as he muttered “Not one that I’d want to use again.” In a low voice.

 

The group in front of him gave looks of concern at his sudden mood change, and Gray noticed where he was scratching and immediately put two and two together.

 

Before he could try to elevate the mood of the group, a pair of armored footsteps caught all their attention.

 

“Ah good.” Erza spoke “ You’re all here, I was afraid that I’d have to hunt you down if you weren’t.” She laughed, causing the group to all gulp nervously at the thought.

 

“Um” Jaune started, his previous thoughts temporarily forgotten “Are you going to be needing all of that for this mission?”

 

The “that” that he mentioned was a cart full of luggage almost twice as tall as Erza herself, that she was pulling along with her.

 

“Nope” She replied

 

“Are you going somewhere after this?”

 

“Nadda”

 

“Are you expecting in any way to need all of this stuff at any point at all?” 

 

“Never” She grinned.

 

“Then” He began, his confusion evident on his face “ Why?”

 

Erza’s grin only became wider. “My goals are beyond your understanding.”

 

Jaune deadpanned “Clearly.”

 

They were interrupted by the sound of a train whistle and shouts of “All aboard!”

 

“Well” Erza began “We better get going” She said as she made her way onto the train.

 

“And don’t worry, I’ll explain what's going on on the way.”

___________________________________________________________

The residents of the train compartment stared. 

 

Lucy looked on in concern and confusion.

 

Erza, Gray and Happy however…

 

“Mrrrmmmphh”

 

“Gurrkk”

 

“Oh god” Erza started, her tone laced with horror that was matched by the look on her face.

 

“It’s spreading.”

 

What they were looking at was Natsu and Jaune leaning on top of each other, their faces an unhealthy shade of green as they held their stomachs, trying not to throw up.

 

“Erzaaaaaa” Gray began “What do we do?”

 

“Is- Is this common?” Lucy asks, scooting further away as Natsu let out an ominous sounding burp.

 

“For Natsu? Yes.” Gray answered “For Jaune?” A groan from the aforementioned blond had them all look concerningly towards him “I’m not sure, but I sure hope so. Because if not? Then that means it’s contagious.” He shuddered “ And that’s the worst case scenario.

 

“Calm down, I can handle this.” Erza said before standing and walking to the two, she reached her hands around their heads… and slammed them against her breastplate, knocking them both out.

 

Lucy looked on, shocked as the two of them flopped down onto the seat.

 

“There” Erza said as she sat back down with her arms crossed and her expression one of content. “Now that that’s out of the way…” She trailed off.

 

“Gray” She turned towards him, her expression serious, causing him to tense up in anticipation. “When were you going to tell me that you had a boyfriend?”

 

Silence

 

Shocked silence

 

“I HAVE A WHAT?!” Gray shouted in shock as Erza nodded her head, Happy dropped the fish he was eating, and Lucy let out a simple “Eh?” having been overloaded with too much happening, too fast.

 

“Yes, him.” She said as she pointed at Jaune.

 

The silence had returned.

 

“”“WHAT?!”””

 

This one came from him and the other two in the compartment.

 

“What makes you think that?!” Gray shouted at her.

 

“He’s wearing your shirt, also speaking of.” Erza handed Gray the shirt that he’d lost at the train station.

 

“Wha- When- How?” Gray stuttered as he put the shirt on, before continuing. “He’s not my boyfriend, we're not in a relationship, I don’t even swing that way.” He answered all the questions he knew she would ask. “He’s wearing my shirt because he needed one, his only one is pretty badly damaged.”

 

Erza nodded along “ so you’re saying you aren't in a relationship with him?” At Gray’s blushing nod, she sighed.

 

“Shame he’s honestly kinda cute.” She added on with a smirk.

 

Ignoring the shocked look that Gray gave her, she stoned her expression.

 

“Now then.” She began “What do you know about a Guild called Eisenwald?”

________________________________________________

When Ruby Rose opened her eyes the first thing she said was “Someone turn off that damn sun, my head's killing me.”

 

A rough chuckle sounded out from next to her “Don’t I know the feeling, squirt.”

 

Fully opening her eyes, Ruby turned to her right, where her uncle was sitting, a (surprisingly) not empty bottle of cheap booze next to the leg of his chair. 

 

His appearance was ruffled and haggard, he clearly hadn’t slept in a while and if he had it hadn’t been fruitful. Harbinger rested on his lap, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice.

 

“What.” Ruby began, only for her to realize how dry her throat felt. Qrow handed her a glass of water.

 

“Easy, easy kid, you’ve been unconscious for the past week. The Fall was pretty brutal to all of its survivors, but I’ve got a feeling that was especially bad on you.”

 

“Th- The Fall?” Ruby asked after she’d finished her glass, handing it to Qrow when he motioned for it, filling the glass with the booze by his side.

 

Taking a sip he answered. “ The Fall of Beacon, The Fall for short. The entire kingdom is in chaos, to say nothing of the world.”

 

“My team” Ruby said “What happened to my team?!”

 

“Hey hey, calm down alright.” Qrow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder “The Atlesian chick got pulled back to Atlas by her family. The Faunus girl disappeared after delivering Yang to the evacuation bullhead.” 

 

Ruby’s eyes widened at the mention of Yang, concern clear in her silver eyes.

 

Before she could speak, Qrow put his hand back on her shoulder. “She’s alive, not fine but alive. She’s in the next room over, and I think you should give her a little space. She went through a lot as well.”

 

Ruby sagged in relief at the knowledge that most of her team was alright. She didn’t know if Blake was but she would have to hope. Then another thought came to mind.

 

“What about team JNPR.” She asked, her tone still urgent as she tensed up again.

 

“Ah, right” Qrow started shifting in his seat. “From what I heard Nikos’s family wanted her back in Mistral, so she took her two remaining teammates with her, they left just yesterday after stopping by to check up on you and Yang.”

 

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, before running the words through her head again. “Remaining?” She choked out, her head starting to ache, her heart starting to race as dread pooled into her gut.

 

Qrow gave her a sad look. ” Kid” He started, pausing as he tried to find the words. “Look at your left hand.”

 

Doing just that, Ruby was greeted with the sight of a broken top half of a blade in her hand.

 

Not just any blade though.

 

She recognised this one, she recognised it all too well.

 

She looked at its reflection, bringing it closer to her face to get a better look at the blade.

 

And it all came back to her.

 

She arrived too late.

 

The heat, the sound.

 

The smell.

 

The shattered blade, a life cut short.

 

A body standing in two pieces.

 

The calm arrogant look of the killer.

 

A burning agony forcing its way out of her eyes.

 

Her throat was still raw from her howl, the water had just barely soothed it.

 

She dropped the blade onto her lap, her left hand still cradling the blade, her right reaching up to cover her mouth to muffle the beginning’s of her sobs as she felt tears begin to gather.

 

“Kid” Qrow began “Ruby, JNPR’s team leader died during The Fall.”

 

A tear hit the blade, moving along its surface soon being joined by more, then she noticed something in the reflection.

 

Shooting her head up caused Qrow to turn to where she was looking, but he just saw the dresser in front of her bed.

 

Turning to her, he took in her expression, shock prevalent on her face.

 

“Kid?” He asked “You ok?”

 

“...no”

 

His heart broke at that, watching her curl in on herself, her shoulders shaking as she cried into her knees.

 

Before he could speak again, she spoke first.

 

“Hey, uncle Qrow?”

 

“Yeah kid?”

 

“Can I be left alone for a bit. I-I just wanna deal with this on my own.” 

 

Hesitating for a minute, before finally nodding, he stood and gathered his things and made his way to the door. But before he passed through, he called out. “Hey, Ruby.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I hope you know that we, your father and I, will always be here for you to talk to about this sort of thing. Or any sort of thing, you got that squirt?”

 

“...Thank you, Uncle Qrow.”

 

Nodding, Qrow walked through the door, closing it.

 

As soon as he left Ruby moved her right hand to her necklace, a necklace that she would now have to fulfill the purpose of, far too soon. 

 

It felt hot on her chest.

 

As she did this she looked up back towards her dresser, raising the blade in her other hand, not towards it, but the cloaked figure her Uncle didn’t notice was standing in front of it.

 

“Who are you?” Ruby ground out as the figure lifted its head, showing the lower part of its face being pale skin with slight coloration. The cloak looked like shadows and flickered in an invisible wind.

 

Finally after what felt like an eternity, but couldn’t have been longer than a minute, the figure spoke.

 

“Hello Ruby Rose”  The cloak flickered and she swore she saw a warm and kind golden color eye for a moment. “I have been looking forward to truly meeting you for quite some time now.” 

_____________________________________________

Jaune opened his eyes and realised something was wrong.

 

Why? It wasn’t because he was on the floor.

 

It wasn’t because he was outside the train car in the middle of the hallway.

 

It also wasn’t because Natsu was fighting in the train with some dude head never seen before while people were panicking about that and the train suddenly stopping.

 

Though all of these definitely had a massive effect on the situation, the main problem was the wooden skull flute he found in front of his face.

 

A flute that was giving off the worst vibes he’d ever felt in his life.

 

So then, for the second time since he arrived into this world, he started screaming after he woke up.

 

Then the flute started screaming as well.

 

He screamed even louder. 

Notes:

Poor Ruby and Jaune, She's traumatized enough already, and he's about to be traumatized even more by a flute, so sad.

Welp, there's chapter 8.
This was a long time coming as usual.
First of all happy belated holidays and all that.
Second we're finally into the Eisenwald arc, which should be like 2 chapters at most, but don't get you're hopes up.
I know I wont.
Anyway, till next time, and remember constructive criticism is always welcome.
Have a nice day.

Chapter 9: Torward the Heavens

Several Minutes earlier

His head was throbbing when he woke up, he kept his eyes closed as he rubbed the part that hurt the most, right where it was slammed against Erza's breastplate.

 

Natsu let out a groan as he sat up, the weight that was against him sliding off, and opened his eyes. Blinking a few times to get his eyes to work properly he looked around to get a grip on his surroundings.

 

He was in the train compartment, looking to his right he saw Jaune laying across the seat they were both on. They were the only ones in the small compartment.

 

His eyebrow twitching after he realized what was going on, Natsu shot up out of his seat and shouted out “AGAIN?! ARE YOU KIDDING M-”

 

Rattle

 

Natsu fell back to his seat clutching his stomach with his cheeks puffing out and turning a sickly shade of green, as the train made a sudden movement.

 

‘ Why’ Natsu groaned in his head while he was groaning outside his head as well. ‘ Why do they always forget me on the goddamn train!?’ He winced at the sudden pain behind his eyes. He needed to get off this metal deathtrap.

 

Trying to stand up only to fall to his knees with more shaking movements from the train, Natsu decided that this was gonna have to work this way.

 

Grabbing Jaune and dragging him off the seat with a sharp tug, he began the slow process of dragging them both out of the compartment via crawling on the ground, stopping every few seconds to settle his stomach.

 

As he made his way into the hallway he looked up at the surrounding seats, noticing that they were all empty.

 

Before he could really wonder why they were empty, he heard a set of footsteps approaching him from the front.

 

“Well, well, well.” The figure said, his voice marking him as a man “What do we have here?”

 

Natsu lifted his head to the best of his ability, even as his motion sickness protested the movement, and got a look at the man.

 

He wore light blue pants with black shoes and a black shirt underneath a white coat that had a dark green on its inner trim and two breast pockets. His black hair was pulled back into a high spiky ponytail. His thin narrowed eyes were looking down at them in amusement.

 

Natsu’s first thought was that the man liked to say the word ‘troublesome’ and he didn’t know why.

 

“Here, let’s get you up into a more comfortable position, pal .” The man took Natsu and plopped him down into the seat to his right, leaving Jaune on the floor, still unconscious. When Natsu tried to reach down and grab a hold of him to bring him to the seat next to him, the man in front of him grabbed his wrist and took then the seat before him was wrapped around by shadows and twisted around with a sharp crack, making it face him as the man took it as a seat to face him.

 

“You know, I’d wanna say sorry about the property damage but, we both know that your guild is gonna be fined by the council.” The man gave a sharp and mocking grin “Isn't that right Fairy Tail ?”

 

Ah. Okay this Nastu knew how to deal with, as he crossed his arms and tried to roll his eyes without making his motion sickness worse, probably either a mercenary or a member of a dark guild that wanted to flex their supposed superiority over Fairy Tail or any light guild in general. Same old, same old, same old thing, he’d had this whole speech said to his face for years now, it never changed.

 

Suddenly there was a boot sole on his face.

 

Okay, this was new.

 

“Tch, how typical of you council dogs . Always acting so high and mighty just because you get the clean jobs, and scorn anyone who does the dirty work that needs to be done, even though you fuckers cause way more property damage than us !” At that the man began to grind his shoe on to Natsu’s face even harder “Just because you get all the big name’s, all the fame,all the power , all the love and respect ! All because of some stupid no-kill rule and sex appeal.”

 

He removed his foot from Natsu’s face and readjusted himself on the seat, having not stood up to grind Natsu’s face in, and spoke again “Well let me tell yah, all your progress? All your stupid love and respect? Is gonna go out the window real soon, and it’s gonna start with us, here, today, with the guild Eisenwald ! So you better remember the name you fairy fly , because if you survive today, you’re gonna be cursing us for the rest of your days!”

 

Natsu just stared with an unimpressed look, his arms still crossed. “You think that those are the reasons that Fairy Tail is the best guild? Well you’re damn wrong, about two things!” He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, his hands on his knees as he stared into the eyes of the man who stared back, both sides unflinching. “Fairy Tail isn’t the best in Fiore, even if we wanted to be, there are too many other awesome guilds out there that are just as good as us, they’re what help us grow to be better, because if we’re not? Then we get left behind.” The man’s face had taken on a sneer at the pinkette’s words. “And second, What makes our guild so great isn’t power, it's our friends! The people that we stand beside, who we know are gonna watch our backs and who’s back we’ll watch as well! Because we’re Fairy Tail, and we watch after each other, and keep each other safe and sound no matter what!”

 

Silence greeted the train car, even the sound of the trains movements over the tracks seemed muted, merely an afterthought to the argument going on within.

 

Then the man’s sneer turned to a tight grin that showed his teeth, and he leaned forward, till his face was only a few inches away from Natsu’s and whispered. “Tell that to the Strauss siblings.”

 

Natsu’s eyes widened and his pupils shrunk into pinpricks. As his head leaned forward and his hair fell over his eyes, hiding them from view, he asked. “What’s your name?”

 

The man chuckled “So you wanna know the name of the man who’s gonna kill you, don’t ya? Alright then, the name’s Kageyama, Shadow Spider Kageya-”

 

In a flash, Natsu’s right fist was in Kageyama’s left cheek, blasting the man through several rows of seats. As he made to get up while nursing his cheek he turned and saw Natsu getting up with his face shadowed and eyes glowing a terrifying red. Then as he stood up fully he turned to his left and walked across the aisle, carefully moving Jaune’s unconscious form further down the aisle and away from what was about to happen, and reached the other wall.

 

‘ What is he-’ Kageyama’s thoughts were cut off as Natsu raised a flaming fist and slammed it into the wall of the train car, breaking it into pieces and making a large hole in the wall. And as the wind blew into the car, Natsu grabbed the edge of the hole, widened his stance, and threw his left fist into his gut multiple times, causing him to start throwing up out onto the moving ground below.

 

Kageyama watched, bewildered, confused, and slightly scared as The Salamander emptied his stomach, before deciding to take advantage of the situation. His magic pulsed beneath his feet and with a cry of “Shadow whip!” several long whips of shadow lashed out from his own and raced across the car, slamming into Natsu and lashing across his body.

 

Kageyama laughed as he saw his attack connect repeatedly with no signs of resistance from his target. “Is this really how you wanna go out, Salamander?! Throwing up and not even throwing another punch?! If this is the standard of your guild then it’s really no wonder that girl was ki-!”

 

Natsu lashed his head out, biting into one of the shadow tendrils and breaking it off and swallowing it. The action was so sudden and unexpected that it shut Kageyama up and made him stop his attack, and let him bear witness to what happened next.

 

Natsu’s shoulders started shaking uncontrollably, when suddenly he gave one final huff and truly emptied his stomach. Stomach acid, the remnants of the shadow magic, and whatever else was in there came gushing out in one final push, and once it was done he righted himself up, whipped his mouth with the back of his hand and spat out a small glob of residue onto one of the seats that it immediately set on fire around where the glob made contact with as it slowly melted through the chair.

 

Kageyama took an unconscious step back, withdrawing his tendrils and prepared for anything that may come next.

 

Finally Natsu spoke.

 

“Sorry for the wait, had to make sure nothing that I didn't want to come up would come up.” He walked back to the center of the aisle and made eye contact. “The reason I wanted to know your name, is because you just moved up on my shit list. From a nameless grunt guy to someone I’m gonna enjoy punching, and I wanna remember the name of everyone on that part of the list.” Natsu slammed his fist into his palm causing a small burst of fire before he cracked his knuckles.

 

“So, Kageyama.” Natsu flared his magic, making flames form around him and raising the temperature rise considerably and slowly causing the seats around them to catch on fire, causing Kageyama to start sweating near immediately. “Is your face ready for its appointment with my fist?”

 

For a moment neither of them moved, and when one of the drops of sweat fell from Kageyama’s chin and hit the heated floor, landing with a sizzle, both combatants shot into action.

 

Kageyama pushed his magic forward “ Shadow weave!” Strings of shadow shot out from within his jacket and he flung them forward in a criss cross pattern taking up as much of the train car as possible, slamming through several rows of seats in the process. 

 

But as they got closer Natsu threw his arms wide and shouted “Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!” and two streams of fire crossed over each other, eradicating the shadows as they got close enough.

 

Kageyama let out a “Tch” as he witnessed it  and threw out dozens more shadow strings, all of them meeting the same fate. Rubbing his wrists to loosen them up and give himself something to focus on that wasn’t the burning oppressive heat, he noticed something with the cuff of his jacket.

 

It was burning. His cuffs were in tatters due to the oppressive heat that Salamander was giving off, that mixed with the wind from the hole in the wall coming in and fanning the flames and swinging his arms near the now flaming seats wasn’t doing his clothes or his skin any favors at all.

 

Looking up at the fire mage, he called out over the roar of the fire and wind. “Not half bad, Salamander!” He met Natsu’s ironically cold gaze through the fire. “But I say that we end this, y’see I’ve got a package to deliver to my boss.” He patted the left side of his jacket. “And he would absolutely hate it if I were to be late on this, so I think that it’s time we go our separate ways, but don’t you worry! I’ll be back to see your expression once you learn what’s happened to your dear master and his compatriots, and trust me you’ll definitely hear about it, all of Fiore will!”

 

Natsu’s expression was hidden in the flames, but Kageyama had a feeling that it was a thunderous one. He began to turn to his right to get to the other car where he would disconnect them and speed off into freedom.

 

This was a mistake.

 

The moment he turned he felt the fire around him flare up and the sound of footsteps approaching rapidly filled his ears over all other sound in the car. Then as he turned back, he saw a fist surrounded by fire speeding towards his face. In a panic he raised and crossed his arms in front of his face, not willing to get what could very well be third degree burns and very damaged eyes, he shut his eyes in a panic.

 

However instead of a fist of fire to his arms, he felt his jacket get torn and burned from a claw, looking down he saw his left side exposed to the open air with light burns on his torso, but that wasn’t what bothered him the most.

 

That was where he had been keeping Lullaby. Looking up in panic he saw that, there in the Salamander’s hand, was the demonic wooden flute. He saw as his opponent studied it and suddenly he had a horrible feeling, would he try and use it?

 

If he did, they would all die, save for the one who played the flute.

 

Did he even know what it was? Too many questions were running through his mind, too many possibilities and all of them were horrifying for one reason or another. But he repeated one mistake one too many times. One that many people had tried and failed at before.

 

Kageyama tried to understand what was going on in Natsu Dragneel’s head. And if you try that you are always bound to be surprised in one way or another.

 

And surprised he was, when after looking it over he brought it to his mouth, and bit down on it like he was trying to eat a turkey drumstick, leaving teeth marks in the wood. His immediate reaction was to bring it out of his mouth making several spitting motions to get the taste out of his mouth and threw it over his shoulder where, unknown to the both of them, it hit Jaune on the head and began to rouse him from his involuntary slumber.

 

“Ugh,” Natsu groaned after he’d finally gotten most of the taste out of his mouth. “That tastes terrible, why would you even have something like that anyway?” 

 

Kageyama’s eyes were blown wide, he couldn’t believe what he’d just seen, and he made it known. “ARE YOU INSANE!? DO YOU REALISE WHAT YOU COULD’VE DONE?! THAT’S THE DEMONIC FLUTE LULLABY, JUST HEARING IT’S SONG IS ENOUGH TO KILL ALL THAT WITNESS IT! YOU COULD’VE DAMAGED IT OR KILLED ALL OF US, YOU DUMBASS!”

 

Natsu tilted his head, a grin growing on his face. “So that’s what it does, thanks for telling me.” His grin could only be described as ‘shit eating’.

 

Kageyama stopped, he blinked, once, twice, thrice. Then his eye started twitching. “You know what?” He spread his hands and laced fingers together, keeping them straight, and placed his thumbs together. “Fuck you.”

 

He then turned his hands upside down so his thumbs were facing the ground and his palms facing outward towards Natsu. And after preparing himself he cast his spell.

 

“ Shadow Garden Magic: Spider’s Parlor ”

 

And the magic formed a magic circle that infused his shadow which made it spread along the floor, the walls, and even to the ceiling. Devouring every flame in the area as it raced towards Natsu, it even covered the hole in the wall, until it surrounded Natsu and went beyond even him, covering the entire interior of the car.

 

Natsu looked around the interior of the spell, it was an odd inky substance that dropped from the walls and pooled on the floor. Lifting his foot the odd substance remained stuck to it, marking it as some kind of sticky trap meant to limit movement.

 

“Welcome to my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly” Kageyama’s voice rang out, his voice full of confidence and mocking. “This is the ultimate spell that my magic possesses, a domain magic that is impossible to escape unless I let you. And Salamander? I’m not gonna let you.”

 

Natsu turned from looking around back to Kageyama, then his grin grew in size. “Impossible to escape huh? Well guess I’m gonna be your first then!”

 

Kageyama paused at that, just staring at Natsu with a questioning expression. “You… you do know how that sounds right?”

 

Natsu tilted his head, his expression confused. “Huh?”

 

Before either of them could continue they were cut off by the sudden lurching of the train stopping, and following that was a scream.

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

__________________________________

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

Jaune had woken up to a lot of odd, strange, and sometimes terrifying things. 

 

He had woken up to one of Ma Opal’s farm animals sleeping right next to or on his bed, which turned out to be his sisters playing pranks on him. Well jokes on them he loved the cows.

 

He had woken up to his entire team sleeping with him in his bed after watching a horror movie on movie night. It turns out that despite fighting monsters of literal darkness they couldn’t handle an exorcist movie, odd but he wasn’t complaining, he loves his team.

 

And most terrifyingly, he had woken up to his grandmother just standing next to his bed, staring down at him with her expression hidden by the shadows of the room and the broken moon’s light. That was the last time she was welcome into the Arc household, the shouting match between her and all of his parents had never really left his memory and no one ever mentioned it afterwards.

 

But this?

 

This was a whole new level of terrifying.

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

“AAAHHH!!!”

 

“AAAHHH!”

 

Jaune and the terrifying flute just kept screaming at each other for dust knows how long, not noticing the two people watching them, until finally they intercepted themselves. 

 

“Wait.” The flute began “Have I been..? D-did you BITE me?!”

 

“Did I do what?” Jaune asked back, then got a better look at the flute, it had a crack running along the center of its body originating from teeth marks. “Wh-what?! No, why would I bite you?! What even are you?!”

 

He felt the odd texture of the ground below him and looked at it, then noticed his borrowed shirt and his own jeans having several burn holes in them. “Better yet where are we? And why are my clothes burnt?”

 

“Yeeeeaaaaah.” Jaune looked over at Natsu, who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, “My bad” He was looking down to the side with an ashamed expression on his face.

 

Jaune was quick to reassure, his big brother instincts flaring. “Oh nonoonononono, I’m fine I was just wondering what the hell was going on, see?” He pulled up the frayed edges of his jeans, before noticing burns that he didn’t even feel, healing over faster than they ever had before.

 

‘ Oddly quicker than usual.’ He noted with his brows furrowed.

 

“Wait.” Jaune turned to the flute, “You can hear me? But I’m not even trying to speak in the tongue you humans understand, or can even hear! What are you?!”

 

Before Jaune could reply, he was cut off by a shout.

 

“Shadow Spider’s Piercing Web!” Suddenly before either of them could react, several shart shadow tendrils shot out of the murky floor beneath Jaune and slammed against his chest and up into the ceiling, only for his aura to flash at the hit and cause the shadows around his body to dissipate, including the ones attacking him, causing him to fall back to the ground and land with an “Oomph!” causing his aura to flash again and pushing the shadows on the floor back several feet.

 

Kageyama let out a “Tch” at the results, having hoped to skewer the blond before they could make it a two on one. And with the reveal that the kid was packing some kind of defensive light magic, that just made it worse for him with a disadvantage in both numbers and magic typing.

 

Jaune groaned as he made to push himself up, it wasn’t that it hurt, it was more that he was surprised by the sudden attack. He threw Natsu a thumbs up as he stood “I’m okay.” Causing Natsu to let out a short laugh.

 

“Th-that light.” The flute caught his attention again, but something seemed different this time. It’s tone seemed, afraid? “How? How do you have that light?! That light disappeared years ago, I know it, we all know it! How are you still human?! What Are You!?

 

Jaune was severely taken aback by the sudden shift in… everything really. So much so that he only noticed that the flute was gone when he heard its screaming from where their opponent was with his back to the wall on the other side of the cart.

 

Turning he saw the flute in the hands of the man who he’s assuming attacked him. Still wondering what the hell was going on he asked. ”Can someone please explain what's going on? I’m feeling very left out of the loop right now.”

 

It was Natsu who responded “That flute’s evil, play its song people die. This guy wants to use it on Gramps and the other guild masters at the conference.”

 

Kageyama scoffed, “That’s only the beginning of the plan, you damn fairy flies!” Ignoring Jaune whisper to himself “Fairy flies?” With a confused expression.

 

Kageyama continued “With this power vacuum that’s being made for the deaths of all the Guild Masters in Fiore, we of Eisenwald will be able to swoop in in the chaos and take your jobs, eventually leading to us being the number one guild in all of Fiore, and chasing you council dogs out of business!”

 

A moment of silence passed as everyone in the cart, be they man or flute, digested the words that were spoken.

 

Finally, “That’s stupid.”

 

Kageyama focused on Natsu “What?”

 

Natsu just stared back, brows furrowed. “That’s stupid.”

 

“Oh? Enlighten me on how exactly it’s stupid, please?” He added the please as an afterthought, a mocking after thought.

 

“I’ve heard a little bit about you guys while listening around for rumors of my dad. You’ve got, like, 200 people tops. Do you know how many guild jobs are given out monthly, I don’t. But there was this one week where I took stacks of jobs of all kinds in bulk, I must’ve completed like fifty missions in 3 days, and I didn’t even get halfway through them until the week was over. And get this, when I got back after two weeks and finally finished the jobs? They had already been filled in with new jobs, even more than before actually.”

 

Kageyama raised his eyebrow and asked “Your point being?” 

 

“The point is, you don’t have nearly enough people to work that many jobs consistently, you’d either burn yourself out and give up, or Fiore would be in chaos because the one “functioning” guild can’t take all the jobs and innocent people are getting hurt or worse.”

 

The train car was silent as its occupants mulled the statement over.

 

“He’s right, that is a dumb idea”

 

“Totally”

 

Jaune pointed to the flute “Even the proposed murder weapon thinks it's stupid, this plan was doomed from the start. Don’t tell me that this was your idea?”

 

 Kageyama’s face grew flushed “No, it wasn’t my idea. It was my guild masters.”

 

“Well he’s an idiot.” Natsu said with his arms crossed, Jaune nodding behind him.

 

“Okay, he may not be the brightest lacrima in the box but-”

 

“ Oh , an idiot now am I Kageyama?”

 

Kageyama paled, and before he could move to turn, a curved blade came through the wall he had his back against and through his chest, to the shock of Natsu and Jaune, causing him to spit up blood and let the spell surrounding them go, revealing his assailant.

 

The man was shirtless with tattoos spanning along his torso and arms, with portions of the ones around his neck covered by a black scarf. He had white hair that flowed back with a bang that fell below his chin on the left side of his face. His forearms had bandages on them that led to black gloves with a silver x on the back of them. His pants were just shredded looking robes.

 

But all of that was just white noise to Jaune the moment he saw the weapon in the man's hands.

 

A Weapon he was all too familiar with.

 

A Scythe.

 

On a long pole of warped wood was a serrated blade, the back of it black and the bladed portion silver. And on the other side of the blade was the skull of an animal he’d never seen before.

 

All in all, it looked like something a middle schooler would be proud to own.

 

And that pissed Jaune off.

 

“E-Erigor…” Kageyama tried to turn his head to his attacker, blood leaking from his mouth and betrayal in his eyes as the man, Erigor, reached over and grabbed the flute from his hands.

 

“Simple really, you lost the right to live the moment you failed the mission. And before you go on about how you ‘haven't failed’, yes you have . You failed to deliver Lullaby undetected and undamaged, not to mention calling me an idiot after you spilled our plans to the enemy!”

 

He lifted his sandal clad foot and placed it on Kagayma’s back “So consider this you getting the boot from the guild, Kageyama. ”

 

And with that he shoved Kageyama off the scythe and down the cart with a burst of wind that had him slam into Natsu, who jumped back and fell to a knee to lessen the impact for the man. Jaune then moved between the two of them, his shield out and sword still in the scabbard portion, but ready to be drawn at any moment.

 

His shoulders shook, not in fear but in anger.

 

“Why?”

 

“Huh? Erigor tilted his head at the question.

 

“Why would you do this?!” He shouted, his aura and something else pulsing in tune with his rage. “He’s a member of your guild! Shouldn't you look after him and not stab him in the back because of a single failure?!”

 

Erigor let out a scoff that turned to a laugh “Oh that’s just precious, let me tell you something kid . That’s how the dark guilds work, if you’re not up to snuff then you get snuffed , got it brat? It’s kill or be killed in this world of Bloody Evolution! ”

 

Jaune’s anger finally boiled over, drawing his sword in his gloved hand and running in at Erigor, the man preparing his bloodied scythe for combat with a laugh.

 

The moment Jaune reached him, he raised his shield and batted aside the scythe and swung his sword down in an arc.

 

Erigor raised the lower half of his weapon to block the attack and prepared to counter, but the moment that the broken sword made contact with the shaft of the scythe, he heard a crack and was forced nearly to his knees with the force behind the swing, and he didn’t let up adding more and more force, Erigor was sure he could both hear and feel the floor groaning beneath his feet.

 

‘What the hell?! How much strength does this brat have?!’

 

He knew, right then and there, one wrong move and he’d be cut in two from the force behind those swings, and that was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs.

 

As he stayed there, wondering how to get out of this contest of physical strength that he was losing, the train started moving again.

 

The effect was instant, Jaune’s face grew to a sickly shade of green and his cheeks puffed up and he fell back stumbling to keep his footing.

 

‘Why?’ He thought to himself, ‘Why is the motion sickness back?! I thought my aura got rid of it?!’

 

Erigor regained his footing, looking at Jaune for a moment, before he started chuckling, then it soon evolved into full blown gut wrenching laughter.

 

“Th- that has to be the dumbest weakness I’ve ever seen.” He wheezed out between laughs, trying his best to regain his breath.

 

Both Jaune and Natsu gained tick marks at that, but only Jaune was close enough to retaliate, so he looked down at Erigor’s feet.

 

His sandal clad, open toed feet.

 

Jaune knew what he had to do.

 

‘Please don’t let Ruby somehow hear about this.’ He prayed, then after taking a deep breath through his nose, Jaune leaned forward slightly, took aim, and fired.

 

He would forever cherish the expression on the face of the man before him, even as it turned from shock, to disgust and rage.

 

Instincts screaming at him, he sheathed his sword, raised his shield and tanked the shrieking gust of wind that blew him back to where Natsu was.

 

Raising his hand in retaliation, he quickly drew his first and only rune and slammed his hand into it to activate.

 

“Fira!” The small comet of fire flew towards Erigor, who only raised his hand and formed a small swirling ball of air that collided with the spell. Causing the ball of wind to absorb it but getting destabilized in the process as the resulting swirling ball of fire died out.

 

“Cute.” Erigor sneered, “Now try this.” He raised his weapon, wind blowing along its blade at a high enough speed to tear through the remains of the seats that it was near. “Gale Magic: Tearing Squall” With a heave, he swung and the wind rushed forward tearing through everything in its path.

 

Jaune’s eyes widened at the blast coming for him, wondering how he was going to protect the two people behind him, when suddenly he had an idea. Turning and grabbing Natsu and Kageyama, he heaved all three of them out of the hole that Natsu made in the wall earlier.

 

In the brief moments between him moving his body to take the impact of the fall, he saw the result of the attack as it plowed through the entire train car and the beginning portion of the one behind it, the terrified screams of the passengers ringing in his ears.

 

Then the shockwave hit, not like a loud explosion, but more like a dull thump that he felt in his bones, and it blasted them back further from the train tracks and Jaune let out a wheeze as he landed on his back.

 

For a moment they just layed there, processing everything that had happened in the few minutes since they had both woken up from their Erza induced slumber. The Jaune felt a warm liquid pool onto his chest and remembered.

 

“Shit!” He shoved Natsu off of him, ignoring the pinkettes startled shout, and gently set Kageyama down to the ground and studied the wound.

 

It wasn’t looking good, it had clearly gone through his left lunge and a portion of his spine as well. What little blood the man hadn’t lost was already pooling around him,staining the grass red, and his skin was an ashen color.

 

Cursing violently, Jaune tore his borrowed shirt off and did his best to apply a seal to the wound, to little effect. Then a vest joined the shirt, and he looked up and saw a now topless Natsu help to apply pressure. He looked down and started speaking to Kageyama trying to wake the man.

 

“Heyheyhey, come on man, wake up! Can’t have you falling asleep here, alright?” Jaune spoke through shaky words, his nerves practically killing him. “You fall asleep here, you die, alright? So for the love of dust man don’t fall asleep, please!”

 

He saw a flicker in Kageyama’s eyes, a glint of remorse and apology as he looked both Jaune and Natsu in the eyes, then he looked to the clear blue sky that was above them, his lips quirked up at the corners in a rueful smile, and his eyes went glassy and unseeing. The heart beneath their hands stopped beating.

 

The wind blew by them, the silence stretching between them seemed to last for an eternity. Then finally, Natsu removed his hands and let them fall to his sides, clutching the grass like a lifeline.

 

Jaune just stared.

 

Stared at the man who was now a corpse.

 

A corpse made by betrayal for an unknown or stupid reason.

 

His scar, despite the cool wind brushing against his skin, burned .

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…No.

 

He refused this, he refused everything about it.

 

He refused the death.

 

He refused the betrayal.

 

He refused to be unable to save someone.

 

So he pushed.

 

He pushed his hands harder onto the wound, tearing away all the clothes in the way, both his and Kageyama’s.

 

He reached into himself, and felt that odd, new, power that resided alongside his aura.

 

His magic .

 

And he remembered the words that Gramps had told him last night.

 

“Magic is connected to your emotions and your body my boy. The stronger your emotions, your desire , the stronger it will become. But this is a double edged sword if you’re not careful, alright? Rampant magic, even with the best of intentions, can still cause massive damage or unforeseen consequences. So remember, Be Careful. ”  

 

He mixed the two, aura and magic, magic and aura. 

 

And he pushed .

 

His aura flowed, and his magic flowed with no resistance.

 

Body, mind, and soul working towards a singular goal, and healed.

 

Kageyama began glowing, his wounds brighter than the rest of him. And slowly before the shocked and disbelieving eyes of Natsu, they began healing. The wounds began to close, slowly at first but quicker as time passed. He didn’t know how long he was there, just sitting and watching, but when his eyes started to sting from lack of blinking, he did and looked up. His eyes widened at what he saw.

 

Jaune was glowing. His eyes shining into a deep blazing blue, his hair glowing like the sun, and his scar radiating an angry red light was drowned out by the other two.

 

It was different from before during a fight, because that glow was a brief flash that didn’t even feel like magic from taking a hit, no this was a softer gentler glow one that felt like magic and that something else called aura. It felt warm, different from his fire that was meant to harm, this was meant to heal.

 

Natsu shot down the pang of envy at that, he’d long learned to live with it, for better or worse.

 

And then the glow spread, beyond Jaune, beyond Kageyama and into the ground and air around them. The grass grew more vibrant and lush, the wind more intense yet still just as gentle as before, and for the briefest of moments, Natsu could have sworn that Jaune’s hair and eyes changed color.

 

From gold and blue, to a myriad of different colors, so many he couldn’t even begin to count or name them all, some he couldn’t even describe .

 

It was like a Kaleidoscope.

 

Then the magic and aura fused and became something else entirely.

 

Something oddly familiar.  

 

And as the new energy blew past him and surrounded them both, Natsu felt something inside him call out for it, shouting, screaming, yearning.

 

Natsu was torn from his thoughts at a sudden sound, and he looked down, hoping. And there it was again.

 

A heart beat, followed by a sharp intake of breath.

 

Two pairs of eyes met each other, one a shocked azure, the other a disbelieving black. Slowly and gently, as if afraid that one wrong move would kill the man all over again, Jaune removed his blood stained hands from Kageyama’s torso and placed them on his lap. Unsure of what to do now, Jaune looked back to Natsu and hesitantly, as if not even registering what he was doing, raised his left hand to Natsu.

 

Natsu looked at the hand, then to Jaune, and did this back and forth several times before a grin overcame his face and he raised his right hand.

 

The loud crack of their high five was followed by their whoops of joy and laughter.

Notes:

Well hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and sorry it took so long.
Between starting college and writting another fanfic I've been a bit busy.
This chapter was supposed to cover the whole Eisenwald arc but this whole thing got away from me and it got a bit to long for me to feel comfortable to be posting the entire thing.
So, the next chapter will be the end of the Eisenwald arc, plus a little check back with ruby and maybe the rest of (J)NPR and the arc family, no promises though.
I did have a blast writing the Natsu scenes though, he's so fun to write in the right circumstances.
Not to happy with the Jaune vs Erigor fight (If you could call it that). But I did love the Natsu vs Kageyama fight, that was enjoyable.
As always constructive criticisms are allways welcome and have a nice day and happy May 4th.

P.S.
Natsu used bite!
It's super effective!
Kageyama used Domain Expansion!
Wait what?
-----
Kageyama used threaten!
Natsu used unintentional sexual inuendo!
It's super effective!
Kageyama is confused!

-----
Jaune used just existing!
Lullaby attempted to flee!
You cannot run from a #$%@^*!& battle!

-----
Erigor used taunt!
It's super effective!
Jaune used puke!
It's super effective!

Chapter 10: One last stop

“We left them, I still can’t believe we left them!”

 

Lucy was scratching the sides of her head frantically while repeating the same thing that she had been saying since they had borrowed the magic vehicle that Erza was currently driving.

 

“Oh they’ll be fine.” Happy spoke in reassurance. Or at least it would have been reassuring if not for the fact that he said it with a casual dismissive tone while waving his hand dismissively. All while eating a fish that she had no idea how he got there in the first place.

 

“Oh come on you saw how bad their motion sickness was! That can’t be safe for them to just  remain on a train alone for that long!” Lucy shot back as a rebuttal.

 

“Not to risk sounding like a broken record, but they'll be fine.” Gray said from the seat next to her. Half naked and sticking his head out of the car with a pair of binoculars that he’d gotten from the train station gift shop. He was looking down the tracks at the train that was slowly getting closer due to Erza's efforts.

 

I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, Natsu can be responsible when he needs to be. I’ve known the idiot for years, and while he’s done some stupid stuff before, he knows when to sit back and just wait, you know, though it’s rare.” Gray mutters the last part, unwilling to let another soul know that he actually somewhat trusts Natsu Dragneel to be responsible.

 

“Gray, clothes.” Erza speaks without turning around.

 

“Damnit!” He’s sent scrambling to look for his clothes, giving the binoculars to Lucy so he can use both hands to put his clothes back on.

 

Lucy looks out the window with the binoculars and after a moment speaks. “You guys trust him not to do anything to stupid right now right?”

 

“Unfortunately.”

 

“Aye sir!”

 

“Indeed, and while I know it may not seem like it, I know that we can trust Natsu to be calm and reasonable whe-”

 

“There’s a giant smoking hole in the side of the train car.” Lucy interrupted with a deadpan expression. After a moment or two, “ And the train car is on fire.”

 

Erza shut her mouth with a harsh click, took several deep breaths and the vehicle started noticeably speeding up.

 

After several minutes and with the best play by play that Lucy could give from her vantage point, after the train started moving again she let out an alarmed shout.

 

“Why would those idiot’s jump out of a moving train?! Are they insa-?!”

 

Suddenly the train car they were in exploded with a burst of wind so strong that Erza had to stop the car to keep it from getting blown over after its windows were shattered from the force of the boom that followed, also breaking the lens of the binoculars but Lucy’s eyes and face where luckily unharmed . 

 

They all watched as the gust of wind nearly ripped through the following train car, the screams of the passengers audible even from this distance.

 

Erza’s brows furrowed, “Lucy?”

 

Lucy shook her head and showed the binoculars, “Busted sorry, I wouldn’t be able to see out of these even if I wanted to.”

 

Happy spoke up, “I can go on and fly ahead. Make sure that they’re okay.” He sprouted his wings, waiting for confirmation to fly.

 

“No.” Erza responded, “We don’t know the situation, so it’s best that we stick together and get the information from them. Then we decide what to do.”

 

Her piece said, she began speeding off to where Lucy had last seen the two of them land from their jump from the train.

 

They sped along in urgency, none of them saying anything to break the tense silence that had fallen over them.

 

Then, Gray spoke up.

 

“Hey, is that a light?”

 

Looking to where Gray was pointing to, Erza narrowed her eyes while trying to get a better look. And she could see it, the light that seemed to be on the edge of the horizon that was steadily getting closer.

 

Then the light erupted outwards, bursting forth like a spring of golden light from the earth. Slamming her foot on the breaks, Erza brought the car to a dead halt. No one complained though, all too transfixed on the sudden light show watching as it whipped around like a 

 

“Is that Jaune?” Lucy asked, confusion lacing her tone.

 

“Is this something his magic can do?” Erza questioned, her eyes tracing along the edges of the light, watching as it seemed to change colors at the very edges of itself. Flickering from blue to red, then changing to purple with a tint of green, after came pink and orange then changing back and forth, every part of it seeming different with the colors blending into each other in a different way each time.

 

‘It’s like an aurora borealis.’ She thought, ‘Just… magical in nature.’ Then the colors flickered.

 

Then it began expanding, blowing outwards and covering a larger area. Soon it had nearly reached the car, and Erza got a closer look, with her left eye she saw just a plum of golden light. With her right eye however, she saw as the colors grew more intense and started taking shape. Swirling into a nearly mind numbing circular motion towards the center, creating an effect that drew her gaze towards the center, and the deeper she looked into it the more she thought that she saw as the colors seemed to take shape.

 

Moments later she snapped her right eye shut and covered it with her hand, only seeing the golden light with her left. 

 

“-nd he claims it’s not magic but it totally is, right Erza?...Erza?”

 

She looked back, seeing everyone looking at her with concern, then she realized that Gray had been speaking and she hadn’t been listening, too distracted by what she had seen.

 

“Sorry, I was distracted.” She apologized, “What was it you were saying Gray?”

 

“Um, just that Jaune claims this isn’t magic.” He explained, he then went over everything that Jaune told them about aura, “He calls it the light of the soul, Aura, and that despite everything it’s not magic, which is just crazy right?”

 

“He’s right.”

 

Gray paused, “What?”

 

“I don’t know what this is.” Erza tightened her grip on the steering, “But it most certainly is not magic. That much I can assure you.” And as the car began moving forward, ignoring the others' confused looks, she fell into her own thoughts.

 

‘Yes, whatever it is.’ She thought to herself while remembering what she saw in the kaleidoscope of color with her right eye.

 

The figure that was formed, human yet not. A being that seemed to be a woman made of metal, one who’s empty eye sockets she looked into when it turned for some unknown reason.

 

A woman who looked at her with her void filled eyes, smiled, and winked.

 

A woman who saw her. From wherever she was from, and she who was most definitely not normal in any sense of the word.

 

‘I will find out.’ She finished her thought driving onward. ‘I just hope it won’t be a danger to the guild, because if it is.’ She left the trail of thought unfinished.

 

Onward they went, to her little brother and the man with a kaleidoscope for a ‘ soul ’.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Erigor stood at the front of the train car that he’d just destroyed, where he was kicking off the remnants of the puke that the blond bastard had dumped on him in some kind of warped attempt of an attack.

 

He would forever deny that it had worked somewhat and anyone who said as such would be meeting Kageyama.

 

And speaking of, as he looked at the golden plume of light that had captured the attention of all who noticed it, he couldn’t help but wonder aloud.

 

“What are the odds that Kageyama is gonna survive because of this?”

 

“Higher than you think, unfortunately.”

 

Erigor froze at the unfortunate voice, before swinging around and looking for the source and to his confusion, finding no one.

 

“Who’s there?! SHOW YOURSELF DAMNIT!”

 

“Don’t scream dumbass, I’m down here.”

 

He looked down to where the voice was coming from and looked into the eyes of the Lullaby flute. It’s head had stuck itself out of the pocket in his robe and it was somehow staring up at him directly into his eyes.

 

Fishing it out of his pocket he looked it over trying to see if it had been tampered with, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.

 

“You know it’s rude to look a lady over without her permission right?”

 

He balked, “You're a woman?” He shook his head “ Wait hang on no, YOU CAN TALK?! ”

 

“Of course I’m a woman, what you thought I had these flawless curves for no reason?” At Erigor’s deadpan expression, Lullaby continued, “Fine fine, back on track though of course I can talk, almost all of us demons of Zeref are capable of that and so much more.”

 

“Almost?” Erigor parotid raising an eyebrow in questioning, seeming to not really care that much about the fact that he held a demon of Zeref in his hand.

 

“Well aside from the dumbass Deloria who was always more brawn than brain, there are the inanimate objects which are just meant to either hold something or perform a random task or niche and weren't deemed important enough to have souls moulded from the darkness of our creator.”

 

“You mean an inanimate object like a flute?” Erigor tried poking a flaw in the demon's logic.

 

“I’ll have you know that my original form was destroyed over a hundred years ago in my battle against the Queen of Triumph. Thankfully my creator saw fit to give me this new form, and when the time comes that I have devoured enough souls with enough strength, I will be able to return to my original form.”

 

“Huh, cool.”

 

“... You’re surprisingly accepting of this whole thing, you know that right?”

 

“Honestly I’m more concerned about the fact of Kageyama surviving the wound I gave em, y’know?”

 

“You know what? That’s perfectly fair, which means that we’re going to have to deal with that ourselves.”

 

Erigor looked back up to the light, noting that it was now expanded and racing towards the train, but wasn’t fast enough to catch up anyway.

 

“Yeah, speaking of.” He gestured to it, “What’s the deal with that anyway? It sure as hell doesn’t feel like magic, or any that I know at least.”

 

“I’m gonna be honest, I have no solid idea. My biggest working theory is that it’s connected to the Behemoth of Light somehow.”

 

Erigor’s head shot back to the flute, “You’re shittin me, a Behemoth , here?! That kid didn't even show the usual signs!”

 

“I didn’t say that he was the behemoth, just that he’s somehow connected to it. That part I’m absolutely sure of.”

 

Erigor set his scythe to the side and ran his now free hand through his hair, eyeing the approaching golden light a lot more wearily than before, and understandably so in his opinion.

 

“Please tell me that we’re not gonna have to fight that thing.”

 

“ Oh thank Zeref , for a moment I thought that you were one of those insane humans that like to fight anything and everything because you can. And no, if you can, then make sure you avoid them, both of them.”

 

“Salamander too? Why? He’s nothing but a fly to be swatted, as well as every other member of that damn guild.” Erigor scoffed, mentally re evaluating the worth of the flute in his hands.

 

“He’s a fire mage, and my current body is made of wood. You figure it out.”

 

“Ah”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Silence passed as they watched the light fade away, and when it had finally died down Erigor asked.

 

“So, what's the plan?” He rested his hand on the scythe, then brought it to tap against his shoulder. “If that brat is somehow connected to a Behemoth and chasing after us, then there's not much we can really do here, is there?”

 

“Simple.” Lullaby began, “We get my original body back, I’ll be able to deal with them from there. Your plan was to kill the Guild Masters using me, right?”

 

“Yup.” He nodded

 

“Good, that should be more than enough power. But you can’t use me beforehand, that idiot biting me has compromised my integrity. For all I know, I could only have one more song left in me, got it?”

 

“Got it.” Erigor turned around, moving back to the train car he was in before. “Oh yeah, before I forget to ask, you know every demon of Zeref right?”

 

“All that came before and many that came after yes, but not all. Why’d you ask?”

 

“It’s a little running question that anyone who knows enough about the demons of Zeref wants to know.” He raised Lullaby to his eye level. “What’s the strongest demon that Zeref has ever created?”

 

He stopped walking, both of them looking each other in the eyes, or, the best that one of them could do while lacking eyes.

 

“There are many answers to that question. Raw strength? Likely Deloria. Intellect? Probably one of the demons in Tartaros. Magic? Curses? Too many to properly count, none of them correct.”

 

“So there isn’t one?” Erigor raised his eyebrow, not even hiding his disappointment at the information.

 

“No. There is one. The first Demon of Zeref. The one that we are all in some way, shape, or form based off of. The one we would call our king.”

 

Erigor’s other eyebrow raised with his grin growing, “So? What’s it called?” 

 

“There are several names for him, we demons call him master as he is the first. Our enemies called him a monster, for that is what he was to them. The Dragons called him an abomination. The Behemoths a faker. But our creator Zeref called him by four names.”

 

“Mythos and Logos respectively.”

 

“Brother.”

 

“And lastly, the official name given to the first and greatest of our kind.”

 

“He is called E.N.D, for that is what he shall bring.”

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

He kept his eyes to the sky, watching as the light died out with concern on his features. He knew what the light was, he knew what it meant and he didn’t like it.

 

Not one bit, especially near his son. But there was nothing he could do right now except guard the seeds and fulfill his purpose for being here.

 

“Natsu,” He began, lowering himself to his resting position again. “Stay safe,and be careful because if you don’t, there are consequences that even I won't be able to foresee.”

 

And with that he closed his eyes, waiting for the day he could leave and truly finish what was started long ago. And to see his son face to face once more.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Natsu and Jaune had finished their celebrations when they heard the car approaching, turning around they saw it as it got close enough for them to see the driver. Natsu’s face broke into an even bigger grin as he saw Erza, and he started waving.

 

As soon as the car had stopped and everyone had gotten out, he rushed over with Jaune staying behind to keep an eye on Kageyama. As soon as Natsu made it to the others, he grabbed Erza by the shoulders and started shaking her like no tomorrow.

 

“YOU LEFT ME ON THE TRAIN AGAIN!” He shouted at her as she started to look dizzy from all the shaking. Then her hands lashed out and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to stop shaking her.

 

“Stop shaking me.” She glared, and he pouted in return.

 

“Then stop leaving me unconscious on trains.” She had the decency to look away, embarrassed.

 

“Wait, hold on.” Lucy interrupted pointing at them both, “This isn’t the first time this has happened?!”

 

Natsu nodded, then he noticed her hand “You’re bleeding.”

 

“Hm?” She looked at her right hand and noticed a gash running along the side trailing from her pinky to her wrist, letting out small streams of blood that trailed down her forearm. She hadn’t noticed it, likely being from the broken binoculars.

 

“Ah, uhm I didn’t feel that.” She cradled her hand, wincing slightly as she felt the pain of the gash start to catch up to her. Then a crimson covered hand grabbed her and started pulling. 

 

She blinked at the hand, then to the one it was attached to, “Wait you're covered in blood!”

 

Natsu waved her off, “It’s not mine.”

 

“That’s kinda worse!”

 

Ignoring her, he brought Lucy over to Jaune, who was covered in just as much, if not more, blood. He had his ear to the chest of the man laying on the ground surrounded by more blood, god’s above what the hell happened here?!

 

“He good?” Natsu asked, sitting on the other side of the unconscious man and bringing Lucy to sit next to him on her knees. She heard the others approaching from behind before stopping.

 

“There doesn’t seem to be any fluid in his lungs from what I’m hearing, which is definitely good. His heartbeat’s going strong, so that’s doubly so. But I’ve got no way of testing for any spinal damage without him being awake and I think that might be the last thing he needs right now.” Jaune raised his head, giving a small smile to all of them, “But I think he’s gonna be fine, he will need a professional to look him over though, but that’s for later. Did you tell them about the flute?”

 

“I’ll tell them while you heal her.” Natsu moved her hand into Jaune’s line of sight, making his face turn to worry when he saw her hand and took it into his own.

 

“Alright, get explaining then.” And then his hands began glowing and transferring into hers, causing a warm feeling to spread through it. She watched in wonder as the wound began to close up with no issue, leaving only relief from where there once was pain.

 

Then Natsu began explaining what happened on the train, and things got complicated.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

As Gray sat in the front seat of the car next to Erza, all he could think of was how much of a mess this situation was.

 

An assasination attempt with a Demon of Zeref as the weapon. The targets, some of the most powerful people in the kingdom, both in influence and in actual power, and their Guild Master was among them. The thought of someone trying to kill their Gramps was enough to get the four senior members of the Guild present into a state of boiling blood.

 

Then there were the new members, not even being here for a week and already having to help foil this attempt at murder. Honestly if either of them had wanted to back out and let them take care of this shitshow, he wouldn’t have blamed them. Because despite what some rumors say, Fairy Tail did in fact respect common sense, not all the time mind you, but most of it anyway. They just so happened to be lacking in that compartment, is all.

 

Yes, even Erza was, no matter what she said.

 

Speaking of, as he glanced to his left where she sat, either she wasn’t trying to hide it at all or she legitimately thought him dumb enough to not notice the way she’d been acting around Jaune ever since they’d reunited with him and Natsu.

 

In fact ever since the eruption of light that Jaune had apparently caused (and that was something else to ask about later) she’d been acting weary of him, tensing whenever he was near Natsu or any of them, as if she was expecting an attack.

 

And he would normally be fully trusting in her instincts and be right on guard with her, but…

 

As much as it pained him to admit it, the fact that Natsu trusted him spoke more for his character than Erza’s reaction did. 

 

He had problems with the flame brain for a long time now, for many reasons ranging from magic, to self control, all the way to his hair.

 

Seriously, how is pink hair supposed to be natural?

 

But the one thing he would never doubt is his judgment of character. If he trusted you then that was that. But if he didn’t trust you then that spoke volumes. There was a reason that they had just willingly let Lucy and Jaune in after all.

 

And then came the final piece of this whole situation, Jaune Arc himself. He was hiding something, on that Gray would bet his necklace. The way he had a strange new power that he’d never even heard of before (He’d ask Levy when they get back to the Guild), plus the scar and the way he treated it. It looked old but he’d acted like it was something new and raw, which either spoke of severe amounts of trauma, or something else entirely.

 

He just didn’t know if it would be something that he would need to worry about or not.

 

And Lucy… he didn’t know. She was probably the most normal person in this car. He just didn’t know enough about her and she hadn’t really given anything about it.

 

He didn't really care about Kage, what's his name.

 

“Gray.” 

 

“Hm?”

 

“We're coming up on the train station.”

 

He looked forward and finally noticed the train station not even a mile in front of them, had he really been in his own head for that long? The train was stopped right in front of the boarding station, and he could hear the screams coming from deeper in, the sounds of magic going off.

 

It was an attack, why? He didn’t know and he didn’t care. If they can stop this attack and retrieve the flute before it could be used then they will have won, simple as that. 

 

“Alright.” He sighed out “I’ll let them know we’re getting out.” He made to get up and out of his seat to crawl to the compartment, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning to look at Erza, he didn’t even have to voice his question.

 

“Don’t worry, they’ll know that we’ve arrived.” Then the car started to speed up, and showing no sign of stopping. 

 

Gray began to sweat, “wait you’re not actually about to-?!”

 

“Gray.”

 

“What?! You mad woman?!” He blinked as she handed him a pair of neatly folded clothes.

 

“Clothes.” The word caused him to instinctively look down, making him get a look at his underwear clad form. A second later the magic car hit a bump, causing it to go flying towards the wall of the station. As the wall came closer, all he could do was shout out.

 

“DAM-”

 

_______________________________________________________

 

The plan was going great, Erigor thought. Cause enough chaos to draw the Fairy Flies to them, trap them in the station, and go off to kill their master while laughing maniacally. It was full proof… until they busted through the wall of the station and took out a quarter of the guys lying in wait with a goddamn car.

 

“-NIT!” Gray finished screaming, before he began coughing and waving his hand in front of his face, trying to get the dust out of his face and lungs. Even as he did this he was forcing himself into his clothes at an extreme rate, preparing for the battle ahead.

 

Then the door was kicked open and Natsu came stumbling out, followed by Lucy, then Happy, and finally Jaune. She wobbled on her feet, latching to Natsu’s shoulder and arm to keep her balance from her comically shaky legs.

 

Lucy shot a glare to the unphased Erza, “We are never letting you drive again.” 

 

“Agreed.” Came the voices of the three beside her, all of them now calming their nerves and standing to get a look of the surroundings.

 

It was packed. Members of Eisenwald covered most of the first floor, and looking up it seemed they covered most of the second floor as well. Each and every one of them was giving a nasty look and some kind of a smirk toward the small group.

 

“Well well well,” They looked up and saw the floating Erigor looking down on them. “I actually thought that we’d have more time to get your welcoming committee ready. Guess that goes to show how rude you flies are, unwilling to even wait for your own surprise party.” This got chuckles from the surrounding members, their magic gathering in preparation.

 

Erza scoffed and summoned one of her swords, pointing it at Erigor. “Enough of this, Erigor! Relinquish Lullaby, or face the consequences of your actions twofold!” 

 

“Hm, tempting.” Erigor tapped his chin in mock thought, “But I’m gonna have to say no, you understand right?”

 

Uncaring of her response, he waved his arm forward and shouted, “Alright boys! Time to swat some flies!”

 

The crowd roared and lurched forward, ready to give the biggest beat down of their lives.

 

Jaune stepped in front of Lucy and Happy, hand on his sword and ready to draw, but he didn’t. 

 

Memories of the giant monkey, ‘ A vulcan’ his mind supplied, raced through his head and he didn’t want to do that to the people here,the only reason he’d used it on Erigor was because he’d been furious, even if they did deserve it somewhat. So he drew his blade with the scabbard still covering it and held it in front of himself, waiting for them to get closer.

 

One of the grunts laughed and ran ahead of his allies, “Aw are you afraid to hurt us with ya sword? Don’t worry brat you won’t even get the chance to-”

 

Jaune surged forward while raising Crocea Mors, bringing it down when the man was in range. The metal scabbard slammed into the man’s collarbone, where a sickening snap came from, followed by the force of the blow driving him into the ground with so much force that the ground cratered and the man bounced up slightly from the point of impact.

 

The man's allies suddenly stopped, looking at their cratered comrade. Before anyone could say anything, Jaune felt a foot on his shoulder and a slight shove as Natsu jumped into the crowd that surrounded them, fist’s on fire and a grin on his face.

 

“Come and get some!” And with that he was into the fray, swinging let and right and taking out members in droves.

 

And that only broke the flood gates even more as Gray surged forward, placing a fist to an open palm, he shouted out, “ Ice Make: Ice Excalibur!”  

 

Drawing his hand from his palm, a gigantic sword of ice followed after it, and he swung into the crowd of approaching grunts, sending them flying from the force.

 

“Open Gate of The Crab: Cancer!”

 

Lucy’s shout was accompanied by the sound of a doorbell ringing, then a figure appeared. A tall dark skinned man wearing a pair of glasses, his hair what could only be described as crab themed, with red braids leading to crab ornaments in his hair. He wore a long sleeved and vertical striped blue shirt over a gold chain necklace that could be seen with the unbuttoned top buttons, and black pants. In his hands were a pair of scissors with crab themed handles. And lastly, sprouting from his back was six crab legs, three on each side.

 

Jaune got the feeling that this guy liked crabs.

“Your command, ebi?” Cancer requested, leveling his scissors in front of his face and snipping them twice.

 

Lucy pointed forward while snapping her finger, “Take a little of the top, alright Cancer?”

 

The zodiac spirit gave a little smirk, “Your wish is my command, Ebi.” Then he blurred forward, Jaune felt the wind pass him by and then he suddenly reappeared on the other side and snipped his scissors. Right after, the group's clothes suddenly exploded, cuts marking their body’s and having some very fashionable haircuts actually.

 

Not to be outdone or to do the least among the group, Jaune launched himself into the frey. He ducked under half hazard swings and swung back twice as hard, every hit pushing the horde back.

 

Soon he was surrounded on all sides, every hit that landed barely even causing his aura to flash. He grabbed the wrist of one of the attackers and he pulled them forward, his enhanced strength making it easier than it had ever been, and he slammed his sword into the man's ribs and let go of his wrist, letting the force of the blow send him flying into several other grunts, knocking them down.

 

A sudden shadow had Jaune looking up, only to see a large rock falling towards his head. He raised Crocea Mors above his head and braced it with his other hand and deployed the shield, tanking the rock with a loud clang that rang out. Shifting his shield back to scabbard mode, he swung at several grunts who tried to get the drop on him while he was distracted, spinning on his right foot and dropping low, swinging out and catching them with his sword and legs, causing them to fall to the ground.

 

And before he could begin to get up, he heard a voice call out, “Requip: Heaven's Wheel!”

 

Turning to the source of the voice, his breath was taken away at what he saw. A glowing figure clad in light, who suddenly flung her arms out and armor materialized on her.

 

He could only describe it as a dress made for war, with arm and leg greaves made of shining metal, the elbows and ankles having wings sprouting from them and the upper arms having metallic wraps that led to wing shaped shoulder guards. The legs were then covered by a white battle dress that seemed to have two layers, the lower hanging inner dress with jagged ends and the shorter outer layer with a smooth flat end. Covering the upper part of the dress and all the way up to her hips were pointed oval shaped plates of armor with a darker interior and a silver exterior. Her stomach was bare, with armor covering the sides and back. Her bust’s lower half was covered in two pieces of armor that met in the middle, capped by a six pointed flower of metal, three points for each side. She had a metal choker around her neck, and a headband with wings at the sides. Finally from her hips and shoulders, sprouted two pairs of metal wings, the ones from her hips pointed down while the ones from her shoulders pointed up.

 

Then she brought the two swords in her hands up in front of her, and she launched herself into the fray. Jaune had seen many different fighting styles in his time at Beacon, from the swift and skilled Ruby,Ren and Blake, to the aggressive and powerful Nora and Yang, As well as the elegant and refined movements of Pyrrha and Weiss.

 

This was nothing like that, it was something else entirely. It had no purposeful extravagant actions, no breaks in between to judge where best to strike, no this was just pure force and efficiency. She struck where she felt the need to while making sure to not fatally injure her opponents, never giving them a chance to gather properly in her blind spots. She kept them at bay and within her tempo at the exact same time. It was probably the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life, and it stole his breath away. And then something else stole his breath away.

 

He was about to get up, when suddenly a magic circle appeared beneath him with a figure launching up and slamming his fist into Jaune’s gut and causing him to cough as the air was driven from his lungs from the attack. That didn’t stop him however, from grabbing the man’s wrist before he could pull back.

 

One didn’t fight someone like Nora Valkyrie often, and not get used to the air being driven from their lungs often enough to learn how to work around and through it.

 

“Thanks Nora.” He grinned and, ignoring the shocked confusion on the man’s face at the odd statement, raised his weapon and poured his aura into it and his arm, causing them to light up with a golden light. The man’s eyes widened and he tried to pull his hand free but Jaune’s grip remained steadfast. After a moment, the light seemed to flare slightly and Jaune swung down on the man beneath him.

 

When the blow connected it made the previous crater that he made look like a dent in comparison, the force of the blow knocking anyone nearby back and onto the ground, and the additional shaking causing the ones further away to stop to adjust their footing so they didn’t fall.

 

The fighting in his little area had stopped for the moment, both sides regaining their bearings. Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from the ground where the force of the blow had wedged it in. Looking it over for any damage, he didn’t notice the object flying towards his head until it was too late, and his head jerked to the side from the force of the object hitting his head as it clatered to the ground afterwards. Stumbling slightly, he shook his head and took a look at what had been thrown at him.

 

It was a table, around half the size of the ones at the Guild Hall, laying on its side. There was a crack along the edge inward from where it hit him.

 

Jaune stared at the table, and kept staring, and kept staring, until finally a little chuckle escaped from his throat. He went and reached over to set the table up properly when an idea hit him, and his grin grew, if this worked…

 

He put his finger to the surface of the table, and drew the only rune that he knew how to at the moment. Once it was complete he placed his full palm on it and spoke, “Fira” . 

 

Then the table top was on fire, so he reached under and grabbed it by the neck and hoisted it into position, wielding it like a flaming shield. Then he pushed his aura into it and the flames grew in intensity.

 

The crowd surrounding him stepped back even further than before, the look on his face making many of them wish they could back out of the fight all together.

 

With the next course of action decided, Jaune adjusted the grip he had on his makeshift shield and charged in with a yell.

 

The shouts of fear he received only made the grin on his face grow wider.

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

The plan, Erigor concluded as he watched from above, was slowly getting destroyed the longer that he stayed here.

 

So with that, he decided to get going. Only as he turned to leave he heard a voice shout out, “Where do you think you’re going!?”

 

He turned and saw the redhead, the infamous Titania, flying towards him with fire in her eyes and several swords spinning around her body.

 

He knew of the infamous Titania, he knew that this wasn’t a fight that he could win. Not under normal circumstances.

 

But these weren’t normal circumstances now were they?

 

Lullaby pulsed in his pocket, filling his magic with even more power as he coated the blade of his scythe with it, and he swung at the rapidly approaching woman. Her eyes widened as the blast of wind got closer and she brought her swords to her front to shield herself from the blast. It worked but it began sapping through her magic and shredded her swords to shards and blasted her back with a shout escaping her.

 

He watched with malicious glee as she fell, only to give a look of disappointment as the blond bastard caught her and was only pushed back slightly for it.

 

“Well I guess I better get going then, boys! Give them hell for me!” The responding shout was nearly deafening, and he chuckled as he left.

 

As soon as he got out of the station, with another pulse of Lullaby he cast a strengthened “Wind Wall” and locked them inside, now he could take his leisurely time, and he hummed to himself as he flew along the tracks to his destination.

 

_________________________________________________________

 

Jaune helped Erza stand to the best of her ability while her arm was over his shoulders, “Are you alright?” He asked her while her legs shook slightly.

 

“I’ll be fine,” She breathed out sweat spilling from her brow to an almost concerning degree. “We need to get going after Erigor, otherwise the master is likely going to be killed.”

 

“Yeah I get that but,” He looked around at the still extremely large group of enemies. “Saying and doing are gonna be two completely different things here, especially with you as you are now.” The moment the words left his mouth, he winced realising that he could’ve said it better.

 

“Sorry, I should ha-” “No”

 

He blinked at the interruption, turning to get a better look at her face. He was shocked to see resignation and shame. “You’re right, as I am right now I’m too weak. I don’t know what that spell did to me, but it drained me of most of my magic. I don’t think that I’d be able to requip more than two or three more times at best.” She sighed “No choice in the matter then, NATSU, GRAY TO ME!”

 

No more than a few moments after she said that, the temperature both rose and plummeted as the two mentioned mages came blasting through, creating a circle where the grunts wouldn’t pass through, though with Natsu carrying both Lucy and Happy with him.

 

“Good you're both here, and yes I’m fine no need to make a mess of it.” She practically lied through her teeth before she took a steadying breath. “Alright, we make the push here, once we're through the crowd we’ll make a break for it to another magic car and I’ll drive us as fast as I can to the meeting sight, any luck and we’ll beat Erigor there and warn the Master. Got it”

 

“That is a stupid idea.”

 

It took Jaune a moment to realize that it was his voice that said that, and he nearly was cowed under Erza’s fierce glare but he stood his ground, he wasn’t willing to let a stupid idea occur when he could stop it in some way.

 

“Those cars require magic to function right? So even if we do get to the car then we can’t have you drive. Pulse there’s the fact that these guys don’t seem like they’re gonna stop just because we ran past them.”

 

“Then what’s your plan?!” Erza snapped, not liking that they were wasting valuable time arguing over the efficiency of a plan when their Master’s and others' lives were in danger.

 

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to think of a better one than just winging it and praying that it’ll work.” He shot back, holding his ground and ignoring his own hypocrisy.

 

They stared into each other's eyes, neither willing to back down on this matter. Then finally Erza closed her eyes and let out a frustrated breath, “Fine, what do you think we should do?”

 

Before they could plan on what to do, a voice cut through.

 

“Shadow Garden Magic: Spider’s Parlor!”

 

Then the world around them was covered in shadows, spanning along the floor, walls and ceiling. Catching every member of Eisenwald in its grasp.

 

Natsu’s eyes widened and he turned to the wrecked car where, with his hands in the necessary position, sweating all over and breathing like each one would be his last, was Kageyama.

 

“Go.” He gritted out, “Get that backstabbing motherfucker and show him what for alright!”

 

A hole opened up in the far side of the wall, leading outside.

 

Natsu didn’t say anything, he just nodded and dragged Lucy with him. The others followed behind.

 

“Hey, Salamander and Blondie.”

 

Jaune and Natsu turned back, looking towards Kageyama. He looked at Natsu first.

 

“Sorry.” His voice was low but they both heard it just fine, Natsu especially.

 

Then he turned to Jaune, “And thanks, I guess. For everything, to both of you. I was gone but you brought me back.”

 

Jaune and Natsu nodded and made their way to the hole where Gray and Lucy were waiting. As they exited the whole they heard him shout one last thing.

 

“This makes us even, ya here!”

 

Natsu waved nonchalantly over his shoulder before pausing and gave a thumbs up.

 

Then the hole closed.

 

None of them said anything until they made it to the wall of wind that blocked their way. Erza warned them immediately the moment she saw the wisps of purple in the wind.

 

“Careful, this is the same sort of spell that drained me of my magic. Just touching it is enough to bring it into effect.

 

“What do we do then?” Lucy asked, a hopeless tone in her voice, “None of us have the ability to dig holes to go under it, and without that unless the spell is deactivated then we have no way of getting through this.”

 

“Wait, digging a hole. Like that maid from the book mission right?!” Happy shouted in glee.

 

Natsu and Lucy shivered at the memory of the maid, before Lucy answered, “Yeah? Why do you ask?”

 

She blinked as Happy handed her a golden zodiac key, “Here, she wanted you to have this!”

 

Lucy blinked in shock, then Jaune added in, “Isn’t that the key I saw you biting in your sleep?”

 

Lucy processed this, and in a flash she was grabbing Happy’s cheeks and pulling sharply. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

 

“I forgot,honest!”

 

“Grrr!” Lucy growled before she took the key from Happy’s paws. “Alright let’s do this. I don’t care how you look right now, but I really need your help, so!”

 

She held the key in the air then pointed it to the ground, “ OPEN, GATE OF THE MAIDEN, VIRGO!!!”

 

And the ground erupted in front of her with a figure popping out of the dust clouds and landed right in front of Lucy and Natsu.

 

Getting a good look at the figure showed that she was a young woman even shorter than Lucy in a french maid outfit with blue eyes and shoulder length pink hair with manacles and chains around her wrists.

 

She bowed, one hand across her chest, looking to Lucy, “You summoned me mistress?”

 

Lucy blinked in shock, and even Natsu was looking confused,”V-virgo?” She asked.

 

“Yes?” She entered a resting position with both her hands resting in front of her.

 

“Why do you look different?”

 

“My appearance is dictated by the one who holds my key and contract, as such, you are the one who commands my form.” Virgo answered.

 

“Wh-bu-ho” Lucy shook her head, “Not important right now. We can discuss the terms of the contract later, you see that wind wall?!” She pointed to said wind wall, at Virgo’s nod Lucy continued “I need you to dig a hole under it to the other side, can you do it?”

 

Virgo bowed “Of course, Mistress.”

 

“Please don’t call me Mistress.”

 

“Milady, then?”

 

“Still no.”

 

“What about princess?” 

 

Lucy paused before her rejection, seeming to think it over. “Alright fine, now please dig the hole?”

 

“As you wish, Princess.” And a second later she had spun her way into the ground like a drill.

 

After a moment of silence, Virgo reappeared. Jumping out of the hole that she made.

 

“Great! You did it…” Lucy trailed off as she looked at Virgo’s feet, noticing the multiple gashes that had appeared on her feet and lower legs, staining the white stockings on her legs red.

 

“What happened?!” She rushed forward to the kneeling Virgo and dropped to her knees next to her. She tried to move her hands around to the wounds but she didn’t know what to do, she had no medical knowledge, especially of something like this.

 

Virgo made to stand but was pushed back down by Lucy, “The wind wall, it goes beneath the earth. I am inclined to believe that it has fully encircled the station, thus making escape impossible.” She stopped trying to rise after Lucy made her sit down again. “Unless there is a way to destabilize the wind itself without letting the curse inside of it drain the magic from any spell used, then nothing can be done. I’m sorry for failing you Princess.” She added after a moment, her brows furrowed slightly in shame.

 

There was a moment of silence as they began to truly understand their situation, the only sound being the rushing winds that seemed to mock them like laughter.

 

Then Lucy took a shaky breath and placed an equally shaky hand on Virgo’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, you did your best a-and that’s all I can ask of you.”

 

Virgo looked into Lucy’s watery eyes and placed her hand on Lucy’s hand in a show of comfort.

 

“Great.” Gray began, drawing everyone’s attention, “That’s just great. So we’re stuck here, just twiddling our thumbs while Gramp’s and the other Guild Master’s are gonna be killed!”

 

He reared around, “WELL THAT’S JUST FUCKING GREAT!” And slammed his fist into the wall behind him, cracking it along its surface.

 

Erza spoke up, still using Jaune as a support to stand. “Calm down Gray, panicking won’t do us any good right now. We need to plan a way out of this.”

 

“AND WHAT IS THE PLAN ERZA?!” He wouldn’t normally shout at her in fear of getting his ass kicked, but in this situation it was understandable why he was. “WE-” He stopped and took a breath, “We have no way out of this big ball of air and even while we’re talking and sitting around like this, that bastard is-!”

 

“A big ball of air.”

 

Gray stopped, and turned his eyes to the left slightly to where Jaune was. “What?”

 

“A big ball of air.” He could practically see the gears turning in the taller boy's head. His brows furrowed as he looked at the wind wall, before they shot up, “Gray, take Erza.”

 

He didn’t question it, quickly taking the red head and helping set her down against the wall.

 

“Natsu, come over here.” Jaune started walking to the wall, Natsu following behind shortly after. “You eat fire right?”

 

Natsu looked at him confusingly “Yeah?”

 

“Does that extend to any fire?”

 

Natsu scratched the back of his head, “I mean, I can’t eat my own fire. But other than that, I’m all good.” 

 

Jaune let a grin take his face, “Good.”

 

“Wait.” Erza cut off, “ You can’t use magic on the wall, the curse will drain you!”

 

Jaune looked over his shoulder, throwing a grin at Erza. “Then it’s a good thing I won’t be using just magic.” At that he turned back towards the wall, ignoring Erza’s questioning look.

 

‘That’s right.’ He thought to himself, ‘When I healed Kageyama, I don’t know what happened but.’ He raised his hand above his body and slightly in front as well, ‘But my Aura and Magic mixed into something else, and I don’t know what it was, but I really hope it works.’  

 

He closed his eyes. Then he reached into himself again, and felt those energy's deep in his chest. Reaching out to them, he pushed the two together with a bit of trouble. And they came together with a little click , like they were always meant to be together.

 

Opening his eyes, Jaune began to draw the rune. From above his head and down to just below his waist, the rune flared to life and glowed its burning orange. It was undeniably the strongest rune he’d drawn in his short time of knowing how to do so, even without actually activating it he could tell.

 

But just one wouldn’t be enough. So right next to that one he drew another, and once it was complete, its heat joined the other right beside it.

 

‘And you know what they say .’ Jaune thought to himself, moving his arm even further to the right, ‘Good things come in threes.’  

 

Once the third rune was finished and flared to life, Jaune prepared himself. Moving his right foot back to brace. He brought his arm back, fist cocked, and slammed it forward with a shout.

 

“FIRA!!!”

 

The moment that his fist hit the rune, the other side of it exploded with fire. Rushing towards the wind wall, the moment it made contact it flared out and started seeping into the wall itself. As the fire spread, starting slowly at first but speeding up as it went along, it started changing color. From orange and red, to the brighter white, then eventually blue.

 

The heat was painful, and as Jaune was slowly pushed back by the force of his attack, his feet scraping along the ground, he felt the bloodstains in his shirt start to heat up, the rest of the fabric already beginning to burn.

 

The moment one of the strands of the curse made contact with the ever growing fire, there was a flash as it was consumed by it. Then another as it happened again, and again, and again, and over and over till eventually the fire began to spread to the wind beneath the ground. Chunks of earth closest to the surface and the wind began to melt and get blown away from the force and heat.

 

Behind him and Natsu, everyone was covering their face to protect themselves from the heat, Lucy using her body to protect Virgo, and before it grew too intense, Gray rushed forward.

 

“Ice Make: Wall!”

 

The ice that formed immediately began melting down, causing Gray to need to constantly reinforce it with more ice.

 

This continued for several seconds, then finally Jaune shouted out through gritted teeth and sweat pooling down his body.

 

“NATSU, NOW!!!” And he shut off his spell.

 

Spreading his feet shoulder width apart and bending his knees to brace, Natsu inhaled . The wall of wind that was now fire, swirled towards his mouth with a flash. A slurping sound began to fill the air as the heat died down and the fire slowly vanished.

 

Once the fire was all gone, Jaune fell to his knees panting and trying to regain his breath. This was the most exhausted that he’d ever felt, with both his Aura and Magic extremely low.

 

His appearance wasn’t much better, most of his shirt burnt off and the rest nearly blackened, his jeans also having several burn holes in them. Looking back, he gave a thumbs up to his fellow Guild members and Zodiac Spirit among them.

 

He met Erza’s eyes and gave his best grin,  it didn’t look the best due to his eyes drooping and his red skin from the heat, but she gave a small smile and nod in return.

 

And with that, Jaune turned to Natsu, “Natsu.” He got the pinkett's attention. His legs were still in the same position as before, but his arms were held at his sides and he was still, as if he was trying not to move. 

 

After he turned to Jaune, the blond smiled up at him and spoke.

 

“Go get’m.”

 

Natsu just stared for a moment, as if processing the words. Then slowly a grin came over his face, and he turned and began to walk towards the now free entrance way.

 

“Happy.” He called out.

 

“Aye?”

 

“Let’s go.” Then he started running forwards.

 

“Aye sir!” Jaune felt the wind brush past him as Happy did, and he saw the blue cat grab onto Natsu the moment he jumped and speed them both off in the direction of Erigor with a shout of “Max Speed!”

‘Damn.’ Jaune thought as he saw them fly away, ‘That’s so cool.’

Notes:

Yeah I decided to split this chapter, It was getting a bit to long for my tastes. So the next chapter is definetly gonna be shorter than this one (hopefully).
Anyway, see you next time, have a nice day.
Constructive criticism is always welcome.

P.S. Tags

Chapter 11: Control

Notes:

Towar the Heavens- Nia's theme Xenoblade 3
Control- Garuda theme ff16

“So” Lullaby began, “You sensed that too right?”

 

They were flying over the train tracks that lead above a rocky canyon, multiple spires and outcroppings rising to the height of the elevated train tracks. The wind was strong in the area and made a low whistle sound as it blew around the natural formations of the valley.

 

Erigor didn’t even bother looking at the flute in his pocket, still flying forward, “Yeah, they disabled the spell somehow.”

 

Lullaby hummed in thought “Any idea how they did it?”

 

Erigor scoffed “It was probably Kageyama, if he’s alive, he was always good at disabling spells. Had an unnatural talent for it, the bastard.”

 

“You think he’s alive then?”

 

“Well it’s either that or they broke through it on their own. Either they have someone who can disable a spell laced with a demon's magic or they broke through it with pure force, and neither one is good for us in the end.”

 

Lullaby paused as she took in the words before she spoke again.

 

“You’re very calm for someone in this kind of situation.”

 

Erigor let a smirk come to his face, giving a glance to the demonic flute. “When you're in this line of work, you tend to learn how to deal with sudden changes in the situation. I can tell you some stories about them later. And besides, even if they break through the wind wall they have no way of catching up to us, no magic vehicle is able to keep up with these speeds, at least not one that they can just get on the spot.”

 

“Are you sure about that?”

 

Raising an eyebrow at the question, Erigor responded. ”Yeah I’m pretty sure about it.”

 

Lullaby made a sound like inhaling through clenched teeth, “You may not wanna turn around then”

 

“Oh, ok then.” Turning to look forward he kept flying at his current pace, enjoying the wind on his face that combated the rising heat coming from behind him.

 

A beat passed

 

Suddenly his eyebrows shot up and his eyes opened wide. “WAIT A MINUTE-!!!” He reared around just in time to get a fist to his face, causing him to spin out of control and crash into the train tracks below him.

 

“Happy!”

 

“Aye Sir!”

 

Letting go, Happy dropped Natsu to the train tracks several feet in front of Erigor and soared higher into the air to get away from the battle that was about to begin.

 

The moment his feet made contact with the ground Natsu began to follow with the momentum behind him, leaping into the air and performing an upside down split as he inhaled and charged his spell.

 

“Fire Dragon’s Roar!” Blasting straight at Erigor, he let the force behind his attack launch him several feet back before he rolled to a stop, in one of his knees and his other leg braced and ready to launch himself forward at a moments notice.

 

Standing himself up and seeing the attack come his way, Erigor threw his hand forward and shouted. “Gale Magic: Terrible Twister!” Several swirling spires of wind formed in front of him and were hit with the blast. The fire tore through several of them before getting absorbed into the force of the wind, with the heat causing the remaining twisters to disperse.

 

A moment of silence that seemed to be stretched out forever settled between the two of them, the wind blowing dust across the tracks between them. Both of them sizing the other up, until Erigor broke the silence.

 

“I hate to admit it, but I’m actually impressed.” His smile was back on his face, seeming to piss Natsu off. “What? Was Kageyama the one who broke you out? I shouldn’t be surprised though, he always was weak willed.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Huh?” A confused look fell on his face, raising an eyebrow to his opponent. “Whaddya mean?”

 

“I can get why you’re in a dark guild, I can get why you’re gonna try and kill Gramps and the other old guys, even if I don’t agree with any of it.” Natsu clenched his right fist, setting it ablaze. “But what I don’t get, IS WHY YOU STABBED YOUR OWN GUILDMATE IN THE BACK!”

 

“SO ANSWER ME, WHY, WHY DID YOU DO IT?! HE WAS YOUR COMRADE, YOUR FRIEND! DID THAT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!” Natsu’s chest heaved, breathing in after his shouting.

 

Erigor just had an unimpressed look on his face, raising an eyebrow at Natsu’s shouting. “He was weak, that’s why.”

 

Natsu just blinked, his expression showing his furious confusion looking up towards Erigor from his crouched position.

 

Deciding to clarify, Erigor continued. “He was weak because he was losing to you, he was weak because he let you get the flute and damage her, and he was weak because he questioned me.”

 

Throwing his arms wide, Erigor let out a shout of his own. “Let me repeat it for you brat, since you didn’t seem to hear what I had to say before.” He pointed his scythe towards Natsu. “If you’re not up to snuff, then you’ll get snuffed, it's as simple as that. And Kageyama simply wasn’t up to snuff.”

 

Natsu’s fist’s clenched, hard enough to start drawing blood. Taking a deep and shaky breath, his fist’s suddenly caught fire, snaking up his arms and causing his eyes to catch the light. Tensing his legs, Natsu leaned forward.

 

“So that’s your phosphate huh?” Fire suddenly began to spring from the soles of his feet, “Well Imma take you and your stupid words to pound town, you bastard!”

 

Erigor blinked, “D-do you mean philosophy? Wrong ‘ph’ word dumbass, and do you know how that sounds?! God you fairy flies are idiots aren't you?!”

 

“Phuck you.” Was Natsu’s eloquent response.

 

Erigor blinked again, wondering why that insult sounded odd, “Did you just use ph for fuck? How did you even convey- OH SHIT!”

 

Natsu launched himself forward with a burst of fire from his feet, swinging his right arm forward towards Erigor’s face.

 

His attack was blocked by a hastily raised scythe, but Erigor was still sent back several feet as he tried to keep himself upright. Realigning his feet to get a better balance he looked back up to see Natsu coming at him again, this time for a kick. Swinging his weapon to meet with the attack, he coated it in wind and clashed with the flame covered foot. The impact of the attack sent a gust of wind flying in all directions with them in the center.

 

Happy was pushed back by the winds, shielding his eyes with his arms and wings. When he cleared his line of sight he saw them throwing attack after attack at each other. When Natsu swung on his heel into a flaming right backhand to Erigor’s side, he was met with the scythe being twirled into a counterclockwise motion to slam into the forearm with enough force to stop it with the blade pointing down.

 

In response, Erigor angled his blade to face towards Natsu and performed an upper slash angled to pierce through his skull, only for him to lean back before it could even get close. Natsu grabbed the weapon after it went higher than his head and threw another right hook towards his opponent's face, only to be met with a burst of wind that blocked it.

 

The fight continued like this, each blow met and countered, only for those blows to be met and countered. It was like a never ending cycle with no actual spells being used, only the base elements of their magic and raw combat skill honed over years of fighting.

 

But eventually, the no spell action had to come to an end. And Erigor was the first to do it.

 

Launching himself back down the train tracks to ready himself with Natsu following slightly after, He prepared his spell in midair and the moment his feet hit the ground, he released it.

 

“Gale Magic: Tearing Squall!” Heaving his scythe forward as if the wind around the blade made gain an innumerable amount of extra weight, the wind tore forward on the tracks ripping everything in front of it to shreds. In an enclosed space like before, the spell was one of the deadliest in his arsenal, with it condensing the force of his attack for a more devastating attack. 

 

However in an open area it was more widespread, thus resulting in a less devastating effect. None of that mattered though as with how close Natsu had been to the ground zero of the attack, he was bound to get damaged no matter how durable he was.

 

None of that mattered however, as Natsu had launched himself above and around Erigor with flames from his feet when the spell went off. It actually helped him get behind him, due to the force of the attack knocking him away slightly.

 

Now with him being upside down and behind Erigor, who was turning to look with his face pailing, Natsu threw an attack back in kind.

 

“Fire Dragon’s Wing Attack!” Swinging his arms in an X shape in front of him, long whips of fire surged from his hands and lashed at his opponents back, the attack connecting and sending Erigor forward. The whips of fire didn’t leave his back and continued pushing him forward till the entire length had run its course, leaving a solid burn in the shape of the attack on his back.

 

The moment the force of the spell died down, his body began to tumble down onto the tracks, continuing for several meters until the momentum finally bled away and he just scraped along the tracks before he came to a stop. Natsu landed on his feet in a crouch from where he launched the attack, before he stood up and waited.

 

“Damn.” Lullaby commented, “He’s kicking your ass right now.”

 

Erigor groaned as he tried to push himself up, “One lucky hit doesn’t count for an overwhelming victory y’know.”

 

“Maybe.” Lullaby conceded, before continuing. “But it doesn’t paint a very good picture for either of us if this is how the fight’s going to go.”

 

Using his scythe as a crutch, Erigor was able to pull himself to his knees as he tried to ignore the searing pain on his back, the sound and smell of sizzling flesh nearly making him nauseous, and turn towards Natsu. “Well unless you’ve got a better idea on how to deal with him, then let me do my thing.”

 

“Your thing has gotten you on your knees with a pretty nasty burn on your back. Do you really think that you can just brute force your way through this? Because if so then you might as well kiss your chances of winning goodbye.”

 

A tick mark formed on his forehead, “Alright then, what do you suggest I do then, huh?! If you’re so smart then it should be easy for you!”

 

While he was arguing with Lullaby, Happy descended next to Natsu. “I think you hit him a little too hard , Natsu.”

 

Natsu tilted his head, “Maybe.” But something felt off, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

Back with the bickering duo.

 

“Alright then what would your “plan” be from here?”

 

A tick mark formed on his forehead at the tone used. “Well, I’ve got a spell that’ll give me enough of an edge in defense, then I’ll deal with him from there.”

 

“Wind armor?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“You’re going to cook yourself alive, dumbass. You’ve got nowhere near the power required to handle a dragonslayer’s magic, much less one that has a type advantage on you.”

 

Gritting his teeth, Erigor hissed at the flute, “Well excuuuuuuse me for not having the advantage here! It’s not my fault that I wasn’t expecting to fight Natsu fucking Dragneel of all people today! If I’d known that, then clearly I would have put on my fireproof pants and fireproof shirt, along with my fireproof hair gel-!” 

“Dragneel?”

He froze at the venom in the flute's voice, not expecting such a tone to be used so suddenly.

 

“Yeah?” He couldn’t keep the slight tremor of fear out of his voice at the ominous feeling he was getting.

 

“Show him to me.”

 

It wasn’t a request, and he followed it immediately. Pulling the flute out of his pocket and pointing the face to the two down the tracks at a near blinding speed. He waited for the flute in his hand to do what she wanted to do, and after several moments he heard a low growl coming from her.

 

“Igneel, you mocking bastard. I’ll kill you for this once I get my body back!”

 

Erigor balked at the sudden dark magic that erupted from the flute in his hand, and it was then that he remembered a vital fact. He wasn’t holding just a flute, he was holding a demon in the palm of his hand. A demon that was very pissed off at the moment.

 

He was drawn out of his inner revelations by the demon.

 

“Listen, I have a plan.”

 

Giving a nervous gulp, he asked, “What is it?”

 

“Does your magic have an Ultima spell?”

 

“I have elemental magic, of course I have an ultima spell. But why are you asking me this? If I can’t beat this guy normally, then what the hell makes you think I can use an Ultima spell?”

 

He received no verbal response, but then suddenly he felt a surge of magic surge up his arm, bolstering his magic to incredible levels.

 

“Do you know the chant?”

 

At his nod, she continued, “Good then get ready.”

 

“Wait wait wait, are you actually gonna do what I think you're gonna do?” He couldn’t hide the glimmer of excitement that pushed through his unease.

 

“Yes, yes I am. But be warned, we’re going to be on a time limit here, and if you're not careful you will burn through it quickly. And if that happens then we’re done for, no second chances for you, got it?”

 

“One more thing, why?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Why use an Ultima spell on this brat?”

 

“...” There was a moment where nothing came as a response, leaving him to wonder if the demon was going to answer, until suddenly, “I want there to be nothing left of him. Not his magic, not his body, not that damn scarf.”

 

Raising an eyebrow, Erigor just shrugged and got ready, “So you just hate him huh? Alright, that’s all I need, anything else that I should know before we tear this canyon to shreds?”

 

“ Even though it'll be much weaker than a properly cast version of the spell,  I’ll absolutely need more fuel once this is over, so either get me to that meeting or I'm eating your soul instead. That should be it, Ready?”

 

“Yep!” Erigor grinned, unperturbed by the threat of soul devouring, and why would he be?

 

With what he was about to do, there was no way that he was going to lose. Slamming his scythe right in front of him and grasping it with both hands, Erigor began chanting.

 

“Oh lady of the wind and skies,

She who claims dominion and domination,

Over the breath of life,

Mother of monsters who soar through the endless blue above,

I call upon thee.”

 

As he continued his chant, a pale green magic circle formed beneath his feet, slowly swirling as the wind began to pick up its pace. Across from him, Natsu and Happy watched on in confusion.

 

Natsu spread his stance, lowering himself closer to the ground and waited for what was about to happen.

 

“Happy.” He got the blue cat's attention, “Get outta here, It’s not gonna be safe here.”

 

Happy eyed the magic circle that began to spin faster and glow brighter warily, before he flew to Natsu’s back and latched on, sheltering himself from the ever growing wind. “No offense Natsu, but I think you're gonna need a pair of wings soon.”

 

Natsu didn’t even get a chance to respond before the magic circle caught his full attention again as it began to glow brighter and start humming. It sounded odd, like some sort of mechanical chimes was the best way he could put it. The wind surged again, causing Natsu to cover his face with his arms, his scarf and hair flapping in the wind.

 

Then the magic circle started to flicker, a tell tale sign that the magic behind it was failing.

 

For a moment Natsu and Happy felt like they could breathe properly, if the spell failed then the worst case scenario was likely to be avoided, which was always good in their unbiased opinions.

 

And that’s how it was for several moments, the flickering grew more frequent and the wind slowly died down.

 

A blast of purple suddenly lit up the area, coming directly from the circle. The flickering had stopped and the color had changed to purple, the wind picked up to speed even greater than before, the humming chimes grew louder. And above it all, was Erigor’s final verse of the spell’s chant.

 

Come forth, you whose wind carves mountains,

You who challenged the behemoth of your domain, and wrought destruction that scared the land and sky alike,

I call for thine answer from beyond the grave,

I call upon thine wind,

I call upon thine wrath,

I call upon thine might,

I CALL UPON THEE, QUEEN OF THE SKIES, GARUDA!

 

Then the world howled.

 

___________________________________________________

 

The magical car screeched to a halt along the tracks, its occupants staring up and further down the tracks.

 

“W-what the hell is that?” Jaune asked, his tone filled with awe and fear with widened eyes.

 

Erza sat up from her position in the car’s interior, leaning out of the window and looking on in the same manner as everyone else. “I never thought I’d see one in person.”

 

Jaune looked back from his position up front, powering the car while Gray drove, “See what in person.”

 

Before either Erza or Gray could answer, another voice cut in, “An Ultima spell.”

 

Turning to the Celestial Spirit in their ranks, Jaune asked again, “A what?”

 

Virgo didn’t turn away from the sight before her when she answered, “An Ultima spell, a part of a series of spells that were made many millennia ago by an unknown figure, some say it was a god, others say it was a powerful mage. They were designed after the pinnacle of magic beasts for each base element. There are many things that are disagreed on in regards to this series of spells, but there are two things that are universally accepted as fact.”

 

“And what would those be?” Jaune asked.

 

Lucy spoke up, “The first is that all forms of elemental magic in some way, shape, or form derive from these spells. That’s why they’re called Ultima spells, being the ultimate form of that magic. Or Origin spells for obvious reasons.”

 

“Ok” Jaune nodded along, “And the second fact?”

 

It was Gray that answered this time, “That they were created to combat the strongest beings on Earthland, the Behemoth’s.”

 

Silence followed, the only sounds were the howling of the wind and the rocking of the car from the wind, despite how far away they were.

 

He stared up at the towering purple cyclone that looked like it could hold at least half of the Beacon grounds inside of it with ease and still have room for more. The top of it reached the sky and gathered clouds that slowly grew darker and blocked out the sun. “What was the beast that this spell was designed after?”

 

Virgo spoke, “It was designed after the one who challenged and defeated the Behemoth of wind. She who rends the earth asunder with her fury, and destroys kingdoms on a whim of rage and sadism.”

 

“The tyrant of the skies and queen of harpy’s :Garuda.”

 

Jaune looked back to the cyclone, dread pooling in his gut, “And Natsu and Happy are trapped inside that thing.”

 

No one said anything more after that, all they could do was hope that the two inside the spell would be ok.

 

Because all they could do in this situation, is pray.

 

______________________________________________________

 

The roaring winds tore around Natsu and Happy, with the little winged cat having difficulty clinging to his back while he was grasping the rails beneath him. The sound was deafening, he was barely able to hear his own heartbeat.

 

Everything was disorienting, he couldn’t even see more than three or so feet in front of him. He had to squint to keep the wind out of his eyes. Breathing was getting difficult, leaving his lungs too easily and fighting against his attempts to suck more in.

 

A sharp pain on his upper left arm, he looked and saw a small cut on it. Then there was another further down, then one on his other arm, then his leg. More and more cuts of varying sizes kept appearing all over his body, the purple wind gaining a tint of red as more time went on. 

 

A sudden cut right between his eyes snapped him out of his distraction and made him cover his face, flaring fire along his arms to burn the wind magic before it could hit him. He angled the front of his body to take the brunt of the wind and keep Happy from being torn to shreds.

 

Thanks to this he managed to get a closer look at the center of the purple storm, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

 

In the eye of the storm, above Erigor there was a figure made of wind. Obviously feminine in nature, it had wing-like protrusions from its head. Four wings, two in pace of the arms and two sprouting from its waist, with razor sharp talons at the bends. It had two legs that ended in the same talons as the wings, gripping into the tracks beneath them and reducing them to splinters from the impossible weight that emanated from its very being. The final part that caught his attention the most was the eyes, glowing like fools gold and a lighthouse in the darkness of the storm. Only this time the lighthouse was the source of the storm, and a beacon to get away from with desperation and zeal.

 

Then the eyes turned to him, and every instinct in Natsu told him to run.

 

To run from the storm.

 

To run from this monster.

 

To run from death.

 

His fire flared even higher than before in a useless attempt to protect himself and Happy from the wind, as it was like just being stared at was enough to make the winds battering at his fire even stronger, and he began to receive damage again with the cuts and slashes growing along his front.

 

“Natsu!” Happy shouted into his ear, “We have to get out of here, you can’t survive this!”

 

He flared his magic again, attempting to take the brunt of the wind again to less success than last time. “NO! If we fail here… then Gramps is gonna be killed, same with all those other old guys! I ain't gonna let that happen!” 

 

Happy stared at him, not that he could see it with him facing the opposite direction, and after a moment just nodded and tightened his grip on Natsu’s back, “Alright, let's do this.”

 

Before he could respond the wind figure moved, raising its arm straight towards them. And with a pulse of gathering magic, Natsu knew they had to dodge.

 

Pushing off to their right, he and Happy soared away just as the attack was unleashed. Even though they were out of the center and barely on the edge of the blast, they were still sent hurtling back with force. It took Happy a moment to safely re-adjust their balance, and once they did they saw what the attack had done.

 

Gone, the upper portion of the train track was gone. At around fifteen or so feet below where the top was, the rest of the rails still stood, looking like they’d been torn in half and bent away from the source of the blast. It was like this from where Erigor stood all the way to the wall of wind that was behind them.

 

A simple hand raise did this, not even a spell, if this thing could even speak, if it even needed to.

 

Looking back, Natsu saw it staring straight at him, right into his eyes. The glowing yellow orbs squinted, and he knew that it was smiling at him, and that sent a chill down his spine.

 

“HAPPY!”

 

“AYE SIR!” And they were off, riding the wind current to avoid getting shredded to pieces while he held his flaming arms in front of him to block out the remaining cutting winds.

 

They circled along the edge keeping their distance as best they could while looking for an opening, all the while the windy figure kept its eyes on them.

 

“Aww that's cute.”Erigor’s voice rang out through the air, using his magic to project his voice through the wind. “You think you can get away that easily huh? Well to bad, Imna tear you to shreds, then I’m going after your Guild Master next to keep you company in the afterlife.”

 

Natsu grit his teeth but didn’t rise to the bait, keeping his eyes on the windy figure as it raised its arms to its sides, hands pointing upward and generating miniature cyclones that began glowing an odd mixture of ethereal green and purple.

 

“But then again.” Erigor continued, his voice taking on a giddy edge to the end, “You wouldn’t be alone even before I do that… wouldn’t you?”

 

He started laughing after that, starting with a small huff, then leading to roaring laughter that echoed from the surrounding winds, letting it fill his enemies mind.

 

“HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

 

And fill it, it did. As Natsu’s eyes widened, then became filled with fury as fire erupted from his feet, launching him and Happy straight to the eye of the storm, towards the now laughing Erigor.

 

“Careful Salamander!” The twisters above the wind avatar’s hands took a more physical form into feminine figures with clawed feel and wings for arms, Harpies. “You wouldn’t wanna get cut up now would ya?!”

 

The Harpies let out twin screeches, before they darted towards him with claws ready to tear into him. He met them head on, raising his flaming arms to catch them by their claws. He grabbed one by its ankle and flared his fire to start burning it, but the other slipped away just in time and flew around to his back in an attempt to slash at Happy.

 

Quickly pivoting, Natsu flung the Harpy in his right hand towards her sister, they collided with each other, sending them several feet away till they regained their balance and hovered near each other, clearly planning a way to take him down.

 

‘Great, they can plan too.’ Natsu thought irritably. Fighting these types of monsters was always a pain and in conditions like these, with his breath coming up short and slowly taking damage from his surroundings, as well as trying to protect Happy who they clearly knew was his weak spot, nothing about this was favorable to him in any way at the moment.

 

‘Well, except one thing.’ A grin formed on his face, and he began to pull in as much air as he could, prepping a breath attack. ‘Don’t gotta worry about property damage!’ 

 

Sensing that he was about to attack the Harpies launched themselves forward, spinning around each other and forming a drill made of wind to pierce through him.

 

Magic circle forming in front of his mouth, Natsu called out “Fire Dragon’s-” HIs eyes went wide as he felt the wind shift behind him, and he suddenly angled the spell downward “ROAR!”.

 

Using the blast to shove him and Happy higher into the air to avoid the sudden attack from behind. Natsu winced and looked down to his leg, while he managed to push them away from a more deadly fate, he noticed the attack too late and his right leg below the knee had paid for it. 

 

Deep gashes trailed along the limb, and some areas were missing flesh entirely and showed the muscle beneath. 

 

It was a gruesome sight, not helped at all by the streams of blood leaking from it and getting pulled into the surrounding cyclone as a continuous bloody mist from his leg. That wasn’t the worst of it though oh no, the worst of it was…

 

“My sandal!” Natsu shouted, his voice nearly lost in the wind. And indeed, his sandal was gone, destroyed in the attack, and he was pissed off about it.

 

“NATSU!” Happy shouted in his ear and, taking a quick look at him, he turned to see where he was looking and his eyes widened.

 

“Damnit!.” Flaring his fire in front of his body the best he could, he crossed his arms and took the Harpies drill attack that he’d forgotten about. The tearing winds, while somewhat dulled by his fire, still started tearing into the flesh of his forearms, spraying even more blood into the wind, causing him to close his right eye to keep the blood from splattering into it.

 

“Let your guard down there Salamander? Tisk tisk that won't do, someone might die because of you if you can’t get your head in the game.”

 

At Erigor’s mocking, Natsu growled out, “Grrrrr, SHUT UP!”

 

Bracing his arms against the tearing pain, Natsu shouted “Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!” and threw his arms in an ‘X’ shaped motion, two large whips of fire following afterwards. Throwing his arms out however led to the drill tearing deeper into his right arm, but it was worth it.

 

The attack tore into the wind drill and caused the Harpies to be thrown out of it and past him, one of them having her left leg torn apart at the hip while the right one was missing both her legs from just above the knee. Neither of them was dead but they were definitely beginning to unravel back into strands of wind from the damage they’d taken. But it was obvious that they weren’t done yet.

 

“Well Well look at that, you're really good at giving fatal injuries.” Erigor’s voice echoed again, “You may want to be careful, don't wanna hurt any friends now do we?”

 

At that last statement, it was like the sound of the wind around him had died, leaving him hanging there in the middle of the air, unable to hear Happy shouting at him to grab his attention. The words echoed in his skull, over and over again, each time making the fire in his chest burn hotter and hotter, until finally…

 

“SHUT UUUP!!!” The shout tore from his throat along with a massive burst of fire that burst out and around him, raising the temperature around him by hundreds of degrees in an instant. He turned to the center of the storm and focused on the one solid figure with rage in his eyes.

 

“WHEN I GET DOWN THERE I’M GOING TO BURN YOU TO ASH! YOU HERE M-?!”

 

Suddenly he was filled with a sense of weightlessness, as if gravity didn’t exist for that one moment. Then suddenly that weightlessness turned into a pit in his gut as he began to plummet into the canyon below.

 

 His eyes widening, Natsu turned his body to face upwards as he tried to see what had caused him to fall. Then he saw Happy, trying to reach him with panic on his face and tears in his eyes as the wind knocked him about because he was too light without Natsu’s weight.

 

Then he saw his paws.

 

His burned paws.

 

Shock and horror covered Natsu’s expression as he looked at his little buddies' burns, a horrifying realization filling him to his core.

 

He had done this.

 

‘No.’ He thought as he plummeted below the tracks and into the canyon and watched Happy getting flung around with Erigor’s laughter echoing around him.

 

‘Not again.’

 

__________________________________________

 

Makarov shot up from where he was face first on the table, surrounded by his similarly drunk and passed out Guild Masters. He had taken extra hard to the bottle once he received notice from Mirajane about the newest team to grace Fairy Tail’s Halls.

 

And likely terrorize any other towns or cities streets.

 

Now he knew to have faith in his children, they knew better than to cause mindless destruction for no reason (Well some of them did), but he just worried sometimes that they would get themselves and the Guild into a trouble that they couldn’t handle. And that thought terrified him to no end.

 

Just like the feeling he was getting now in his gut, like the need to throw up but a thousand times worse.

 

He hopped off the bar and used his sleeping peers as springboards, he made his way outside and into the small patch of woods near the meeting building. It was nearing sundown now, maybe another hour or two till dark.

 

The wind felt off, charged in a way that it shouldn’t be, with an undertone of wrongness similar yet different to-.

 

A sudden flaring pain on his chest had him going weak in the knees, just barely able to stand as his left hand began grasping at it, and despite the heat on his Guild mark, he felt a cold terrified chill come over him as he remembered his predecessor's words.

 

“When one falls, the master is the first to know. It is a terrible burden to bear, you little welp. I only hope that, as unlikely as it is, you will never have to feel that in your time as master. That is the only and final kindness that I will give you, Makarov”

 

He had felt it, three times as a matter of fact. The first for an old friend.

 

The second time for his daughter in law.

 

The third, that one hurt the most.

 

And now here he was feeling the beginning of a fourth time burning on his chest, and there was nothing he could do.

 

He knew who it was, as well. He always could tell. The first carried a gentle light, the second buzzed with lightning, the third and ever shifting menagerie of animals.

 

There was only one of his children who could burn like this, and he felt tears begin to rise in his eyes as he stared off into the wrong feeling wind.

 

“Please.” He whispered out, his voice weak and wet with pain and despair as tears began to fall down his cheeks and his shoulder shook with barely held in sobs.

 

“Please don’t die Natsu.”

 

“I can’t lose another child again.”

 

“Please”

 

But there was no answer, only the wind.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry this took so long, Expedition 33 taking my life over for the past few months now, college and my grandma staying with us for nearly a month now do to medical issues has not been helping. But I should be able to get the next chapter out soon as I'm pausing from writing it to post this one so yeah.

As always sonstructive criticism is always welcome as I am looking to improve my writing all the time, and have a wonderful day.

P.S.

Erigor used ragebait
It's super effective.

Notes:

I've had this idea for a little bit so I just wanted to get it out here, it was actually very fun to right so I hope I can continue this one.

Constructive criticism is welcome.