Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 8

Natsu groaned. Gray had taken the girl away, and they had forgotten about him. Damn you, Gray, he thought. You're dead.

Just then, a guy who looked like a character from some manga that Natsu had read before approached him. "Excuse me, do I know you?"

The man had a spiky bun. He chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I get that a lot. I'm actually a friend of Kishimoto, and he based Shikamaru Nara's image on me."

Natsu smelled the air. There was a dark aura coming from this man. Definitely a dark guild member. Natsu got up from his vulnerable position and looked at the man. "Which guild are you from?"

"A dark guild, not that it's any of your concern."

"Eisenwald?"

The dark guild member was thoroughly confused. He had expected a much more aggressive response. Was this person not a member of a legal guild as he had assumed?

This tells us a lot about the man. He was a very attentive thinker, which became obvious when he was knocked unconscious without even realizing it. Natsu took the guy's bag and jumped out of the train.

Using his superior speed (not because of his parentage, he reasoned, but because the others didn't know the meaning of training), Natsu reached his guildmates with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Hello."

That single word froze both Erza and Gray. They were both expecting him to hurt them, badly. They had a thousand different apologies ready, when, seemingly oblivious to the tension, Lucy said, "Hi!"

Natsu could not figure her out. The logical part of his brain told him to demolish her and take her back to the guild as a warning, but some part of him (maybe his heart?) told him not to. He both loved and hated the feeling.

"So, this is a bag from an Eisenwald guild member. Whom you guys left me alone in the train to deal with." He wasn't above all underhanded means to torture people.

"What's in it?"

Natsu opened the bag and saw a few things. "Um, there's the flute, Lullaby, some candy bars, a key, and...!" Natsu found himself speechless.

Lucy quickly got impatient and snatched the bag away from him. In his current state of shock, Natsu didn't even protest. Lucy opened the bag and saw the key. "A Gatekey!" she screeched. "Yes! And a Golden Key too!" She took it, and then her gaze fell on another thing in the bag.

Lucy's face contorted into a scream, which Natsu quickly muffled. Curious, Erza picked the bag up. True to her reputation, she didn't drop her mask of toughness. But a flinch passed through her face visibly, and those who knew her well, like Gray, and those who had been trained to monitor body language, Natsu, could see that she was deeply shaken.

Gray took the bag and looked inside. He turned to the others, looking absolutely fine. "What?", he asked. No one answered. Gray shrugged his shoulders. "It's just porn."

Erza was the first one to regain calm. "Of course you're not affected, stripper!" Lucy calmed down after a bit. "Oh God! Ew! How can someone-?!"

They looked at Natsu. For the first time, they saw him frozen and shuddering. "Um, Gray? What is porn?" The others realized with a jolt that the great Natsu didn't know anything about the facts of life.

Not wanting to explain, Lucy asked, "Hey, the job is over, right? I mean, we got the flute."

"Technically it is, but it feels like we are forgetting something."

"Maybe that something is me?" A voice could be heard from the flute. The flute began growing in size, and gained hands and legs. In reflex, Erza reequipped into a bulky looking, black armor. Frost covered Gray's hands, and Lucy brought out her key, as the... thing, continued to grow. The flute grew into a huge monster, breaking the roof of the station. People started screaming and running around like mice.

The creature looked down upon them. "Which one of you should I eat first?", its voice boomed. Lucy could hear the bold in his words. It looked at Gray. It decided that his flesh would be too cold. Maybe a dessert? It looked at Erza. Hmm. A human woman. Tender and soft. But this one had too many tough muscles to chew through. Finally, the demon's gaze rested on Lucy. Perfect.

Natsu saw its gaze rest on Gray. Eh, he could defend himself. Then the monster looked at Erza. Natsu sighed. She could protect herself, but if she died, he wouldn't get blood. Oh well, he would save her if it was strictly necessary.

Then the monster looked at Lucy. Natsu felt cold anger bubble under his skin. The monster picked her up, and Natsu charged in a flash.

The monster dropped Lucy. And its own hand. It yelled out loud, until Natsu punched it breaking Lullaby's jaw. The monster looked at Natsu. Its eyes widened. "L-Lord Dragneel?! My apologies, sir! I had no idea that she was yours!" Then it transformed back into a flute, before Natsu could murder it. Not that he would have. Natsu was still stuck on the 'yours' comment.

His guildmates were looking at him with awe. The only difference? Lucy was more like 'Wow, that was amazing!' type of awe, while Gray and Erza showed the 'Oh God, he can kill us all anytime he wants' kind of awe.

"Um, how will we go back? The station was destroyed."

Natsu's smile was scarier than usual. He lifted his hand, and without warning, they all shot through the air to the guild hall. Huffing and puffing, Lucy looked at Natsu. "You could have warned us, y'know?"

"I'll do that next time."

Lucy smiled. Gray was shocked that he agreed to warn them. Erza was similarly shocked, at the notion that there could be a next time. Entering the guild, they did not receive a very nice welcome. Their welcome was more along the lines of "Natsu! You destroyed an entire station! And last time a mountain! You are banned from taking any jobs for a month!"

As Natsu argued, and Erza went to get cake, Lucy looked around the guild. Home, sweet home.

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