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Time is the Path to Strength	By : Repiece Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 47111 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 14: Natsu is Defeated?

Natsu and the others followed Mirajane down to the basement floor of the guild. The entire Guild turned their heads to see Natsu and the others arrive and greeted them, knowing full well that they already seen what happened to their Guild.

"Yo! Welcome back!"

"Did you guys see what happened to the Guild?" Nab asked them, pointing a finger to the ceiling.

"Damn Phantom! How dare they do this to us?"

"Yeah, we've always been on bad terms with them."

"Let's go and smash them up!"

"Calm down! This is Phantom we are talking about!"

Lucy couldn't help over hearing the chatter amongst the Guild Members. She heard of this Phantom Lord Guild that they were talking about, but she never really knew how much of a rivalry they had with Fairy Tail. Apparently, from the looks of everyone's faces and the destruction they caused, it was very high.

"Yo! Welcome back!" Makarov greeted the group as they approached him. Everyone, except for Natsu were surprised by how calm and cheerful he looked, while sipping his booze.

"We're back." Erza stated as she frowned.

"Oi Master, why are you acting like nothing happened?" Gray yelled, shocking everyone.

"Why are you yelling Gray?" He responded.

"Wha...? What do you mean why I'm yelling? Didn't you see what happened to our Guild?"

"Of course I did, but calm down Gray, there is no need to make such a fuss about it."

"But Master!" Erza yelled this time.

"Look, our Guild was destroyed, but no one was hurt. There is no need to attack someone that resorts to surprise attacks, let it go!" He grinned while waving his hand back and forth.

"Master..." Erza whispered and settled down.

"Damn it..." Gray cursed under his breath. Lucy frowned at the two before looking toward Natsu to find him surprisingly quiet. She would have thought he would be the most upset about this, but looking at what he was doing, he looked like he was deep in thought.

"Natsu...is something wrong?" She asked, but he didn't respond. The others turned their heads to look at him, also surprised by his silence. "Natsu?" She called him again, but louder.

"Hm? Oh...what is Luce?" He asked.

"Are you okay?" She asked, feeling worried.

"Yeah...I'm just thinking about something..." He told her, crossing his arms.

"Huh? Natsu thinking?"

"I never thought I would see the day!"

"Urusai! Don't make me kick your asses!" He yelled at them.

"What were you thinking about?" Erza asked.

"Nothing important!" He told her with a smile. "Oh, by the way, Old Man, I decided to accept!"

"Accept what?" He asked, confused.

"The promotion!" He grinned and everyone, besides the four who already knew of his choice, all looked at him with jaws dropped to the ground and eyes popped out of their heads.

"WHAT?"

"Are you serious?"

"What the hell?"

"First he declines and now he accepts! I can never get into that head of his."

"Don't bother, you will never get out."

"You guys are one remark away from me kicking your asses!" Natsu yelled at them.

"But why did you decide to change your decision?" Makarov asked, eying him carefully.

"It's because I felt like I wasn't strong enough to take on an S Class job. I was really happy when you wanted to promote me, but I wasn't confident. Heh...to say I wasn't confident doesn't sound like me, huh? However, that's why I decided to steal the S Class job, so that I can see for myself that I am able to handle difficult jobs like S Class level jobs." He told him and Natsu made sure there was no hesitation in his voice. Makarov didn't take his eyes off of Natsu as he spoke. He searched for anything in his body movement and his voice to make sure he wasn't hiding anything. Makarov didn't find anything weird and sighed.

"Very well then, meet me tomorrow to get this whole ordeal for your promotion done, okay?"

"You got it!"

"Good! Now then, if you'll excuse me!" He drank the last of his beer and jumped off the stool before running toward the bathroom. "I got to go take a whiz." Natsu looked at the Master of Fairy Tail until he was no longer in sight. He then turned toward Mirajane and walked up to her.

"Ne, Mira-chan...come with me for a bit."

"Huh?" Mirajane made a noise in surprise when he grabbed her hand and started to drag her outside. The other members watched Natsu and Mirajane leave the basement in both surprise and confusion.

"Why does he want to talk to Mira-chan so suddenly?" Lucy asked, feeling a bit funny on the inside.

"I don't know..." Erza responded also feeling the same thing.

"Umm...Natsu...where are we going?" Mirajane asked, a faint blush on her cheeks as they walked outside.

"There is something I want to ask you?" He told her and he stopped in front of the destroyed Guild.

"W-What is it?" She asked, stuttering a bit. She felt slightly nervous as she looked at Natsu and he stared back at her with a stare that made her knees feel weak. She didn't know why she was feeling this way. After all this was Natsu she was talking to.

"You mentioned something about this man that helped Phantom Lord do this to our Guild, right?" Mirajane let out a sigh in relief. She felt nervous for no reason at all. She nodded in response. "Who was it?"

"Well, I didn't get a good look at him, but from what I saw when I arrived at the Guild early this morning, he had this weapon on his back that looked weird." She replied, placing a finger on her cheeks.

"What did it look like?"

"Hmm...I don't remember much about it. Sorry."

"It's okay, Mira-chan. This man...did he have black hair?"

"No...I think he had red hair, although I couldn't see it clearly...why?" She asked, wondering why he was asking so many questions.

"No reason, I just wanted to know more about the people who attacked our Guild." He replied.

"You're not going to go after them, are you? Master told us not to..." She frowned.

"No, don't worry, I'm not!" He grinned at her. 'Okay then...this guy is not Zeref...' Natsu thought. 'Red hair? Do I know anyone with red hair? Well...Erza, but there is no way she would do it.'

"Natsu..." His thoughts were snapped at Mirajane's voice and he looked at her.

"Oh...sorry about that..." He chuckled.

"You were thinking again, right?" She smiled at him.

"Huh? Ah yeah...sounds weird coming from me, right?" He chuckled again.

"A little...but...I always thought you were smart in some way..." She confessed and Natsu looked at her in surprise.

"I see...well I'm sorry for dragging you out like this..." Natsu apologized and scratched the back of his head.

"It's fine..." She smiled at him. "Actually...not that I think about it, we are running low on some essentials for the Guild. The basement had a bunch of stuff, but since we moved down there for the time being, most of the stuff went away pretty quickly. So, it looks like I have some shopping to do."

"Oh...well how about if I join you?" Natsu offered and Mirajane made a noise in surprise. "What?"

"Ah! Well, I just don't want to bother you in case you have something else to do." Mirajane told him.

"Nope! I would be happy to help!" He grinned. 'Not only that, but it can give me time to try and remember where I remember those weapons from, as well as figure out a plan to prevent Levy, Droy and Jet from getting targeted by Phantom Lord.'

"Really? That's great, thank you, Natsu!" She grinned happily at his offer as a slight blush formed on her cheeks.

"Shall we go?" He asked and Mirajane nodded as the two went off.

"So, did you catch anything?"

"S-Sort of...I heard something about essentials and being out...and then something about Natsu joining her and how he's happy to help..."

"Help with what?"

"I-I don't know..." Both Erza and Lucy frowned as they watched Natsu and Mirajane walk off toward the town.

"What are you guys doing anyway?" Gray asked, scowling at the fact that he was suddenly dragged for no reason whatsoever.

"Nothing!" They both replied quickly, which startled the ice mage.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

"I want to help too!" Happy whined, feeling left out.

"What should we do...Erza?" Lucy asked, looking at the red head.

"I don't know...should we follow them?" She suggested, not knowing what to do in this situation, since this was something now even she knew about.

"Why?" Gray asked.

"Be quiet!" They both yelled at him again, causing him to grumble something about 'women' behind them.

"Oooh! You mean like a stakeout! I wanna try!" Happy exclaimed in excitement.

"N-No...stakeout is different...I think the word is stalking..." Gray corrected him.

"It's neither of those!" The Celestial Spirit Mage sweat dropped. "Well?" She asked Erza.

The scarlet knight thought about it and was having a difficult time deciding whether they should pursue the two or not. Normally, she wouldn't care, but lately, there was this nagging feeling that she recently was experiencing whenever she was around the pink haired dragon slayer that told her to follow them. She then made a decision. "Let's follow them." Lucy nodded her head and the two female members of Team Natsu took off.

"Ah! Hold up!" Gray and Happy shouted as they ran after them.

"No matter how much I look at it, they just look like they are shopping supplies for the Guild." Gray told the two girls, who were hiding behind a stack of boxes.

"Aye..." Happy agreed nodding his head.

"Yeah...I guess we were worried for nothing." Lucy chuckled in embarrassment.

"What were you worried about anyway?"

"H-Huh? Oh...nothing Gray." Erza didn't say anything and only continued to watch Natsu carry boxes of things that he and Mirajane brought.

"Thank you so much for helping me Natsu." Mirajane thanked the ink haired dragon slayer as he moved the boxes away to grin at her.

"No problem, Mira-chan!" The former demon of Fairy Tail smiled, feeling really cheerful especially with everything that had happened to the Guild. She kind of felt guilty for feeling this way, but she just couldn't help it. She thought about it, but she found herself feeling so much more cheerful than before. She wondered whether it had something to do with being with Natsu. She didn't notice at first, but he changed. Whether this change made her feel different toward the dragon slayer had yet to be determined, but she was enjoying herself more than usual.

Natsu on the other hand, had something else on his mind. 'Hm, red hair? Red hair? Why is that I feel like I know someone with red hair? Damn...this is making my head hurt.' He sighed. 'Oh well...there is no point in stressing about it. The more important thing is to make sure Levy, Jet and Droy don't get hurt. I won't let Phantom hurt my friends.'

"Natsu..." The pink haired boy was snapped from his thoughts at the sound of the angelic voice that belonged to Mirajane.

"Huh? What's up?" He asked, moving the boxes to the side to look at her.

"How about we take a break?" She asked and then pointed toward a cafe.

"Oh...sure!" Natsu grinned. Both he and Mirajane walked into the cafe and out of view from their four followers.

"A C-C-Cafe!" Lucy panicked as she and the others got a closer look at the place they entered.

"Calm down, Lucy...I'm sure they are just taking a break." Erza told her, putting a hand on the blond's shoulder.

"Why does it matter?"

"It does!" Gray flinched at the deathly glare Erza was giving him.

"Erza is scary!" Happy hid behind the ice mage in horror.

"What do we do, Erza?"

"Hmm..." The scarlet knight thought about the options they had. "Let's go take a look." Lucy nodded her head and both woman rushed over to the Cafe and looked inside through the window. They ducked under the window and then raised their heads up to look for the pair. Gray sighed and watched from afar, not really caring what they were doing, but he found it weird that the two of them would act so weird, especially when it's about Natsu of all people.

"What would you like, Natsu?" Mirajane asked with a smile.

"Huh? I can have anything!" He exclaimed in excitement.

"Of course!" Mirajane giggled. She loved it when he got so excited about something as simple as this. "Think of it as a reward for helping me."

"Arigatou Mira-chan!" He exclaimed with a childish expression on his face and looked at the menu that were handed to them by the waitress. Mirajane giggled again before looking down at her menu as well.

"Those two...look like they are on a...umm...what do they call it again?" Happy spoke as he tried to remember the word. He was then met with two cold death stares from the two female Fairy Tail mages that were spying on Natsu and Mirajane. "Waah! Scary!" He shouted and flew toward Gray.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Natsu suddenly asked and looked out the window. Lucy and Erza both saw him turn his head toward the window and quickly ducked down to avoid being seen.

"Hear what?" Mirajane asked.

"Nothing...must be hearing things..." He answered and looked back down at the menu. 'Weird...it sounded like Happy's voice...nah...I doubt it...now...what should I get?'

"Stupid cat..." Lucy cursed under her breath and both women raised their heads to continue spying on the pair.

When the waitress came back, she took their orders and then left, leaving the two alone. The two stayed silent and Natsu looked around the store. It was his first time ever coming to a place like this and couldn't help but look at the many colorful figurines they had. Mirajane on the other hand couldn't keep her eyes off the Dragon Slayer across from her. She found it cute and adorable how amazed he looked when he spotted something he never seen before. It was kind of like watching a young child, but Mirajane knew he wasn't one. Granted he did stuff that was childish, but she liked that about him.

She thought back to the conversation she had with him about Lisanna. Ever since that day she died, she hid the fact from everyone that she blamed herself for her death. If only she didn't take her siblings with her and went alone to take care of the monster. However, after what happened, she knew she couldn't stand a chance against the monster. She wasn't strong and because of that her little sister lost her life. She knew Elfman blamed himself for it, but it wasn't his fault. He was trying to protect her from the monster, but lost control of his magic and gone berserk. If she was stronger, then she could have stopped Elfman.

She then remembered something that happened before the incident. Before she and her younger siblings left for their S Class Job request, they met up with Natsu and Happy who were talking to Lisanna about a recent fight that they had. Mirajane remembered teasing Natsu that he should come with them so that he could learn a thing or two about being an S Class wizard. Back then, she loved teasing him and found him cute whenever he pouted or something close to that. Looking at him now, he kind of looked the same, but the aura around him was different. She wondered if she should have let Natsu join them in the job. Maybe, he could stopped Elfman from losing control and then Lisanna would have been with them.

She knew Lisanna had a crush on Natsu and maybe, just maybe it was more than that. She didn't mind their relationship, although giving her personality back then, she probably wouldn't have liked seeing them together like a couple. It was at that point that she felt strange. She felt her chest hurt slightly at the thought of her younger sister and Natsu as a couple. 'What is this feeling? It's weird...' She knew that Lisanna and Natsu can never be a couple because of her death, but why was it that it bothered her so much. It was all too confusing for her. When she looked at Natsu, who was still looking around the place, she suddenly felt the pain in her chest lighten up a bit. "Weird..." Natsu heard Mirajane say something and looked at her. He noticed that she was staring at him, but she didn't notice that he was staring back at her. He assumed she was thinking deeply about something.

"Mira-chan..." He called out to her. She didn't respond. He frowned slightly and tried again, but it didn't work. He sighed and lifted himself off his seat and leaned over the table to place a hand on her shoulder. "Mira-chan..." At the touch of his warm hand on her shoulder, Mirajane snapped from her thoughts and looked at Natsu. She blushed slightly at how close his face was to her own and couldn't help it if her voice was slightly shaking.

"W-What is it, N-Natsu?"

"You okay? You were spacing out just now?"

"H-Huh? Oh, I'm fine! I was just thinking about something." She replied while trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"I see..." He said and then lifted his hand off her shoulder. Mirajane frowned at the loss of his warmth on her shoulder and watched him sit back down in his seat. "Care to share?" She made a noise in surprise at his question. She wasn't expecting Natsu to ask her that because he was never one to ask such a question in the first place.

"W-Well...I..." Should she lie to him? She thought about it, but she decided not to because she knew he would know if she was lying and he possibly could be the only person she could talk to about this subject, him and Elfman of course. "I was just thinking about Lisanna again." Natsu stayed silent and allowed her to continue. "I know you told me to stop blaming myself for what happened and I don't...but I was just wondering if things would be different if you came along with us..."

'I get where this is going...' The pink haired Dragon Slayer sighed and ruffled his hair a bit. "Listen, Mira-chan...whether me going with you guys that day would have changed anything is uncertain...that past is the past...we can't change it..." He chuckled mentally at his words. 'I'm saying that, but I'm already doing it.' He looked at her and saw that her frowned deepened. There was one thing he hated seeing and that was seeing the sad expression on Mirajane's face. He especially hated it when his words were the reason why she was making such a sad face. "...but I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't want you to feel so sad..." At his words, Mirajane looked up at Natsu with wide eyes. "I told you before didn't I...no one should blame themselves for her death...not me, Elfman and especially you...I know that Lisanna would not want us to do so...she is just like that..." He smiled.

Mirajane felt tears threaten to fall, but did her best to hold them back. She knew that the person in front of her was right. Her younger sister would not want her to feel so sad. Nor would she want her to blame herself for her death. Natsu was right and she couldn't help but smile back at him. This time she felt a different feeling. This one felt warm and fuzzy. It only got better the longer she looked at Natsu. She didn't know what this feeling was exactly, but she had a good guess. There was still one thing that was nagging her in the back of her mind. "Ne, Natsu...how do you feel about Lisanna?"

Natsu made a noise in surprise at her question. Never would he have expected her to ask such a question. He looked down to the table and started to think about the answer to her question. At this moment in time, Lisanna was thought to be dead, but her older sister didn't know nor did anyone else. He was stifled on how to answer. What were his feelings toward Lisanna? Not even he was sure. Yes, he felt different when he was around her compared to the others. However, it wasn't the same after she came back. He wasn't sure why? He really didn't know how to answer this question. "I-I...I don't know..." He answered truthfully.

Mirajane knew he wasn't going to answer her question with a straight face, but she really wasn't expecting him to answer with an 'I don't know'. She really thought he would look real nervous and start to babble. However, she felt kind of relieved with the way he answered. Why was that? She couldn't understand it. Why did she feel relieved?

"Sorry for the wait! Here you go!" The waitress from before walked over to the table and placed the pair's order on the their table.

"W-What is that?" Lucy's eyes widened in shock at one of the items that were placed on the table. Erza was as shocked as her friend was as both of them had a faint blush on their cheeks.

Mirajane was as shocked as Lucy and Erza were. 'I-I didn't order this...' She thought and felt herself get really nervous. She looked up to her fellow Guild member and he was surprised to, but it was more of a confused surprise, that what she was experiencing.

"Huh? Why are there two straws in the milkshake?" He asked with no idea of what the milkshake meant. He suddenly felt a strange aura around him and noticed that many of the customers had looks of envy and jealousy that were directed at him. He ignored them, but he would be lying if he said that the stares didn't bother him.

"I-I don't know..." Was really the only answer Mirajane could give. She would have never expected something like this to happen. She looked back at Natsu and felt her face get warm again as he continued to stare at the milkshake like he was trying to figure it out.

'Hmm...why would they put two straws in a milkshake...is it something that they always do here? But it wouldn't make any sense if there is only one person at the table...maybe it's for both me and Mira-chan so that we could share the shake...ah that must be it!' Natsu pounded his fist onto the palm of his other hand.

'Don't tell me he got it!' Mirajane slightly panicked.

"Does Natsu understand the meaning behind that?" Lucy and Erza both said after they saw his motions.

"W-What do we do?" Lucy asked her fellow spy.

"I don't know...should we do something?"

"I don't know...but a voice in my head is telling me that we should..."

"But it's not like we can just barge in there...it's not ethical..." Erza said, but her mind was telling her to screw ethics.

"What are you two getting so worked up about?" Gray asked as he walked toward them after seeing how they were acting. At the sound of his voice, both girls turned their heads to give him a mischievous look. "Huh?"

"Natsu..." Mirajane spoke softly, wondering if he realized the true meaning behind the two straw in the milkshake.

"Of course...it's..."

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Everyone in the cafe turned their heads to see a very pissed off Gray, glaring daggers at Natsu.

"G-Gray?" Mirajane was surprised to see the ice mage.

"Huh?" Natsu asked.

"How dare you tell people that I use my magic to create ice girls and then jerk off from them?" Gray shouted and both Natsu and Mirajane looked at him like he was crazy.

"W-What? I never said such thing!" He retaliated. "Although...it does sound like something you would do..." He made a side comment loud enough for his rival to hear.

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!" Gray roared and tackled Natsu to the ground. The chaos ensued as everyone in the cafe ran to save themselves as the two brawled all over the place.

"Stop it you two!" Mirajane pleaded with both of them, but no matter how much pleading she tried, the two were not stopping their brawl. It was then that she heard chuckling behind her and turned her head to see very familiar blue, blond and red hair. She narrowed her eyes and walked over to them. "W-What are you three doing here?" The three jumped in surprise at her voice.

"Aah! Mira-san! I didn't know you were here? What a coincidence." Lucy chuckled.

"Mira! Please don't hurt me! It was all there fault!" Happy cried, flying toward her and hugging her.

"Lying cat!" Lucy screamed at Happy.

"What's going on?" Mirajane asked again.

"We were searching for Natsu because Gray was threatening to kill him after what he told people about him and I came to stop them." Erza told her.

"Oh? So...why aren't you stopping them?" The former demon of Fairy Tail narrowed her eyes at her former rival. Erza started to sweat slightly at her words. Instantly, she started marching toward the two.

"Stop it you idiots!" She shouted and Mirajane sighed.

"Hehe..." Lucy chuckled as Erza was able to knock out both Gray and Natsu before dragging them out of the destroyed cafe. The six of them bowed their heads in apology to the owner of the cafe before heading back to the Guild, everyone except for Mirajane carrying one of the supplies she brought as punishment. The white haired beauty was ahead of the others and couldn't help but smile. Despite the Guild getting destroyed by Phantom, she felt happy. She felt more happier recently then she had in a long time. She didn't know why, but she knew it had something to do with Natsu returning to the Guild. She giggled. She was really glad that Natsu came back.

"What the hell was up with Gray?" Natsu grumbled as he walked next to Lucy and Happy.

"I-I don't know...he's a weirdo..." Lucy chuckled nervously.

"Aye!" Happy nodded his head.

"Coming out of nowhere and accusing me like that..." He continued.

"Come on now...what's done is done...who knows where he heard such a thing from..."

"Maybe one of his friends told him that to get mad at you!" Happy grinned as Lucy sent him a death glare.

"I don't know why they would do that, but oh well." He said and the Celestial Spirit Mage sighed in relief that he decided to just forget about what happened. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"Huh?"

"We got time before it gets dark, so why not do something, just the three of us!" He grinned.

'I wish it was just the two of us...' Lucy thought and glared at Happy.

"Why are you glaring at me like that Lucy?"

"No reason. So, what should we do?"

"I asked you, so you decide."

"Hm?"

"How about fishing?" Happy offered excitedly.

"I'm not really in a fishing type mood."

"Stingy Lucy."

Natsu could only chuckle at his two friends behind him. He looked back forward and put his hands behind his head and waited for them to decide. He knew that this was a tough time for the Guild and everyone else, but that didn't mean none of them could have fun. He did though, have to make sure Levy, Jet and Droy didn't get hurt by Gajeel. He didn't come back from the future just to repeat things again. No, he realized that this time, he has the chance to change the future. Screw Zeref and everything he said, except for the he was from the future part of course. He was going to change the future and this time make sure he will save and protect his friends.

"I got it!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed in joy.

"Hm? What?" He asked turning his head around.

"We can go there!" Both Natsu and Happy turned their heads to see a library.

"Huh?" Both of them questioned.

"What? You don't want to go?"

"It's not exactly..." He told her, scratching his cheek.

"We just never been there in a place like that before." Happy finished for his best friend.

"Eh? Really?" Lucy asked in disbelief, but she was surprised that she found it so surprising.

"Well...I guess there is a first time for everything..." Natsu told her and she grinned happily.

"Hooray! Let's go!" She quickly grabbed onto his arm and started dragging him toward the library, with Happy trying to catch up to them.

"So many books..." Happy looked around in awe. Natsu only looked around, feeling sort of bored. When he saw how happy Lucy was, he decided to enjoy himself too and picked up a book from one of the shelves. He opened it and saw nothing but words on each page.

'My head kind of hurts...' He sweat dropped and closed the book. He placed it back and picked out another one. Hopefully, this one had some pictures in it. 'Damn...' He cursed as he saw nothing but more words. He sighed once more and put the book back. He looked over at his blond haired friend and saw the large smile she had on her face as her eyes skimmed through the book. He decided to suck it up and look around for a book that looked interesting. He heard Happy say something about a fish book behind him, but ignored it when he saw a book that looked really old. 'Hmm...what this?' He wondered and took the book out of the shelf and opened it. 'Wow...this book is really old...it kind of smells...' He thought and started flipping through the book. 'Wait a minute...this is...' Natsu's eyes widened.

"Oh? Did you find something?" Lucy suddenly asked as Natsu quickly shut the book.

"No...it was nothing..." He chuckled and put the book back on the shelf.

"Really? Too bad...it looked like you were really into it..."

He didn't say anything and walked over to Happy to see what he was looking so excited about. Lucy frowned at him and walked over to the shelf to see the book he was looking at. She saw it and wondered what made an old book like that so interesting for the Dragon slayer She decided not to investigate it any further, or at least not now with him around. So, she walked past the book and toward the two. "See Natsu! This book has all different kinds of fish!" Happy was telling his best friend.

"You really like fish." Both of them turned their heads up at the female member of their small party.

"Of course! Fish is the greatest food ever!"

"That's your opinion..."

"Your wrong Lucy! It is the best!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Lucy sweat dropped. "Well, I already picked out the books I wanted so I'm going to go buy them. I'll see you guys at the exit." She told them and they nodded.

"Alright!" With that, Lucy turned around and walked over to the line at the cashier.

"Can we get this book, Natsu?"

"With what money?" He asked the blue cat.

"Oh that's right..." He pouted sadly.

"Tell you what...I'll get you more fish than this book has combined!"

"Eh? Really? Thank you, Natsu!"

"No problem buddy!" He grinned and watched Happy run over to Lucy to tell her the good news. He smiled at his friend and then started walking over to them, but stopped in front of the book. He looked at it and then back at the two to make sure they weren't looking. He took the book out and flipped to the page he was looking at before closing it. 'What the hell...?' Natsu thought as he stared at the page. 'Why is he in this book?'

He shut the book and put it back on the shelf. He then walked over to the others. "Yosh! I can't wait to read this novel tonight!" Lucy exclaimed in happiness as she pressed the book closer to her.

"You look so happy! Good!" The blond hair novelist made a noise in surprise at Natsu's comment.

"Eh?"

"Well, with everything that happened lately, you looked kind of sad! I'm glad you look happy now!" He grinned widely, causing Lucy to blush.

"T-Thank you...Natsu..." She said and he chuckled.

The three of them then left the library. One of them whistling like he had no care in the world, one drooling over the large amount of fish one was planning on giving him, and another who was smiling at another's back with a light blush on her face.

"What a day!" Lucy sighed as she walked along the stream with Plue. "First we come back form our job and then we find out that our Guild was attacked by Phantom. Then me and Erza spied on Natsu and Mira, although I don't know why I felt glad when we stopped them before they drank that milkshake..." She blushed. 'Why is it that I wish it was me and Natsu in that situation...?'

"Puuu!" Plue shouted after she stopped talking.

"Oh, sorry Plue! Where was I...Oh yeah! Then me, Natsu and Happy hung out in the library! I was able to get this awesome book that I can't wait to read once I get home, after a nice bath of course!" She giggled at the thought of the nice warm bath that awaited her once she got home. She then thought back to that book that Natsu was so interested in. She found it completely strange to see Natsu be interested in a book as much as he was. Whatever this book was must have had something interesting written in it. She had to check out that book. "Here we are!"

"Puuu!" Plue jumped up in joy as they arrived in front of Lucy's apartment.

"I can't wait to get started on-WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING HERE?" Lucy shouted as she saw Gray, Erza and Happy all greeting her in her apartment.

"Welcome home!" Gray grinned.

"You have a very nice place here, Lucy." Erza complimented her.

"Welcome!" Happy shouted as well.

"What are all you doing here?" Lucy yelled at them again.

"Calm down, Lucy." The scarlet knight told her. "Since Phantom attacked our Guild there is a possibility that some of the members are still in town."

"EEHHH?"

"I don't think it will happen but Mira recommend for us to stay as a group so that we won't get attacked by Phantom." Gray explained to her.

"I see...huh?" Lucy realized that there was one member of their group missing. "Where's Natsu?"

"He said that he had something to do and told me to go on ahead and he'll meet up with us when he's done." Happy told her.

'Something to do...could it be about that book?'

"That idiot! We should have dragged him here." Gray said.

"He said he would meet us here, so let's trust him. Natsu can handle himself." Erza told him. "Besides, I'm worried that if he was here, you and him would try and destroy Lucy's nice apartment."

"What? How could you?" Lucy screamed.

"I didn't even do anything yet!"

"Ah! So you were planning on fighting Natsu in my apartment!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Lucy! Do you have any fish?"

"No!"

"Aww...how about you, Plue?"

"Puuu!"

"Oooh! Is that candy? Give me some Plue!"

"Puuu!"

"Those two are already hitting it off..." Lucy sweat dropped as both started sucking on their lollipops.

"Well, I'm tired..." Gray muttered and hopped onto Lucy's bed.

"Get off my bed, you pervert!" Lucy yelled at him.

"Gray! I won't sleep with anyone who doesn't take care of their own body odor! Go take a bath!" She ordered the ice mage.

"Eeh? But I just got in-"

"NOW!"

"Yes Ma'am!" With that Gray rushed to the bathroom and turned on the water to avoid Erza's wrath.

"Erza's scary..." Lucy shook in fear at her rage. Erza sighed and walked toward the window to stare up at the night sky. "What is it, Erza?"

"Nothing..." She replied, but her frown grew deeper. 'Natsu...where are you?'

"Are you sure you don't want to be with the other girls at Fairy Hills, Levy?" Jet asked his fellow teammate and crush.

"Yeah, we would understand if you wanted to stay with them." Droy agreed as well.

"Don't be silly! I would never want to break up our team like that! I'm sure you two are capable enough to protect me!" Levy told them with a cheerful smile.

"Levy!" Both her teammates cried tears of joy at the words their crush told them.

Meanwhile, a dark figure opened his eyes at the sound of the three voices. He looked down to see Jet, Droy and Levy walking down the road below him. He then smirked and jumped down. He snickered silently and then charged at the three. All three of them turned their bodies around at the feeling of presence behind them and gasped at the dark figure coming toward them. However, as the dark figure raised his arm to grab Levy, Natsu appeared and grabbed his wrist, stopping the figure.

"Natsu!" Levy shouted in surprise as she fell to the ground.

"Are you three alright?" Natsu asked and they nodded their heads.

"H-Hai..." Levy replied with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"That's a relief..." The dragon slayer sighed in relief.

"Well,well...if it isn't the Salamander..." The figure chuckled.

"Gajeel!" Natsu growled in response. "The Iron Dragon slayer"

"Oh...so you know about me..." Gajeel chuckled. "Too bad that won't do you any good."

"We'll see about that..." Natsu smirked. Gajeel smirked widened as he transformed his other arm into a large steel club and attacked Natsu, but he used his free hand to stop the attack.

"Impressive." He smirked and then jumped back to leave some distance between him and his opponent.

"Levy, Jet, Droy...get back." Natsu warned them.

"O-Okay..." Levy nodded and the three of them back away to a safe distance.

"Gajeel! I won't let you harm my friends! Get out of here!" Natsu tried, but he knew it wasn't going to be of any use.

"Hahahaha! You think I'm that much of a coward! You disappoint me, Salamander! I never thought you of all people would underestimate me! That is you fatal flaw!" He laughed and then suddenly disappeared.

'Eh? Where did he-' Before he could even finish his thought, his eyes widened when he sensed Gajeel behind him. Natsu quickly jumped forward and did a hand stand to get away from him as Gajeel swung at the air. 'He's fast...way too fast...something's wrong...'

"Your nothing but a coward Salamander!" Gajeel used his insane speed again and this time appeared in front of Natsu, who didn't have time to move and was then struck by his fist to his stomach.

"Gah!" The iron dragon slayer smirked and then grabbed Natsu's head and then slammed him down to the ground.

"Natsu!" The three shouted with their eyes widened in shock.

"Hahahaha! Had enough..." Suddenly, his opponent's body started to heat up. Gajeel quickly jumped away from him and watched as he raised himself up and glare at him. "That's a scary face you got there...almost like a demons...hahahaha!"

'Something is not right here...' Natsu thought. 'I don't know what's going on, but Gajeel is a lot stronger than I remember him being...could it be...that man...what the hell did he do?' He decided to not think about it too much and stood up. He continued to glare at the iron dragon slayer and clenched his fists. 'Damn...if he's this strong then I can't have Levy and the others around...' With that, Natsu charged at his opponent.

"Oh...you're now going on the offense...I guess you aren't a coward...hehehe!" He got into his fighting stance and waited for Natsu to attack him. "Come on then!"

"Gajeel!" Natsu shouted and punched him only to let it be blocked by Gajeel's hand.

"Too slow..." Natsu's eyes widened as he felt Gajeel's steel club attack hit him in the stomach. He then let go of his fist and transformed his other hand into another steel club and slammed it down on his head and smashing him down to the ground. Natsu spat out blood as he felt his head connect with the hard rock ground. He then felt Gajeel stomp his foot against his head.

'Damn it...he's fast and his attacks are way too strong than I remember...what the hell happened to him?' Natsu wondered in shock as he felt Gajeel's foot press itself further into his head.

"Natsu!" He heard Levy call his name and turned his head slightly to look at his friends.

'Damn it...he's too strong...I was not expecting this...I can't believe this...damn it...' He heard his friends calling him again. He could hear the worry in their voices and it only made Gajeel press his food harder against his head. Natsu gritted his teeth in anger. He had to protect them. "Levy! Jet! Droy!" He shouted as loud as he could. "Get away from here!" He could hear them gasping at his words.

"We can't just leave you!" Jet shouted back.

"Yeah! We won't do that!" Droy agreed.

"They're right Natsu! We won't leave you behind!" Levy cried.

"It's going to be alright!" He yelled back. "Just go! I'll be right behind you!"

"But..."

"JUST GO!" He yelled as hard as he could. Levy and the others clenched their fists as hard as they could. They were shocked to hear their fellow comrade yell at them like he did. They could hear the plead in his voice and they looked at each other. Jet, Droy and Levy nodded their heads.

"Alright! But you better be right behind us!" Jet shouted.

"You got it!" Natsu shouted back.

"Let's go!" Droy told them. He and Jet turned around and ran, while Levy looked at Natsu with a frown and watery eyes.

"Please be okay Natsu!" She shouted and then followed her teammates.

"Aren't you the hero! You know I can just go after them after I deal with you." Gajeel told him.

"Like hell I'll let that happen!" Natsu slammed his hands down on the ground and then started to push himself up.

"Oh? Resilient bastard, aren't you..." Gajeel smirked and then lifted his foot off of him and tried to kick him in the head, but Natsu grabbed his foot before it reached his face. He then let go of one of his hands and tried to punch Gajeel in the stomach, but when he connected with his abdomen, Natsu felt like he just hit a wall made of the strongest material in the world.

'Shit...it hurts...what the hell?'

"Hehehe, surprised aren't you..." Gajeel smirked and then kneed him in the gut.

"Gah!" Natsu spat out some blood and then felt his back get hit by another attack from his steel club. 'He's so much stronger than before...this is ridiculous!' He then felt him grab his hair and lift Natsu up so that he could see eye to eye with him.

"I heard you were supposed to be strong, Salamander...but I guess those were rumors...hehehe!"

'Damn this...maybe I should...no! I won't use Dragon Metamorphosis...he's one of my nakama...or will be...he was one of them...one of the nakama I couldn't save from Zeref...but why is he so much stronger!'

"Well then...I guess I could finish you off now..." He smirked and punched Natsu in the stomach repeatedly.

'Damn it...why can't I move my arms...something's wrong...' Natsu thought as he felt his the punches hurt more and more.

"It's time to end your life, Salamander!" Gajeel laughed and transformed his arm into a steel club to deliver this finishing blow.

'Damn this...my vision is getting blurry...there is no way I'm dying here! I still have to...'

"That's enough, Gajeel!" The iron dragon slayer stopped when he heard his name being called and looked behind him to see the same man who made him more powerful.

"What are you doing here? I thought you said to let me handle this!"

"I did, but I didn't think he would show up to be the hero." The man smirked. "I finally found you, Natsu Dragneel."

'Who is that?' Natsu wondered as he couldn't see anything because of his blurry vision.

"Huh? You were looking for him? What's so special about this weakling?"

"You don't need to know that...let him go...or else..." The man glared at Gajeel and he instantly dropped Natsu to the ground. Natsu fell with a thud and tried his best to move his arms and head to get a closer look at the man who appeared so suddenly.

'I can't see him! Damn it! Who is he? Is he the guy who made Gajeel this strong?' He heard footsteps get closer to him and turned his head to see two feet. 'Damn it! Who the hell are you?'

"To think you would be defeated so easily...but then again...I can see why..."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Gajeel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter anymore...Gajeel picked him up to his knees." He ordered and the iron dragon slayer did as he was told, shrugging off his previous question. Gajeel grabbed Natsu's pink hair and lifted him up so that his chest was revealed to the man in front of him.

"Like this?" The member of Phantom asked.

"Yes...that is fine." The man replied. He then reached his arms toward the side and two swords appeared in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Gajeel asked.

"When I tell you, get out of the way..." The man told him. Gajeel didn't say anything and only nodded.

'W-What is he doing?' Natsu wondered, not being able to see with his blurry vision.

"Do you want to know why...you felt extremely weak...and why Gajeel was so strong?" The man asked Natsu. "It's because you entered my territory...in it I can make anyone I want either get a power boost or get weaker...of course you should already know by now who got which end of the deal...now then...why don't you lay down for a while...I don't want you interrupting my plans...Natsu Dragneel." The man chuckled and clenched his swords tightly. "Now, Gajeel!" The iron dragon slayer jumped out of the way and before he knew it, the man swung his swords, creating a huge 'X' mark cut across Natsu's chest. Blood splattered everywhere as Natsu lost consciousness and then fell face first to the ground.

"Is he dead?" Gajeel asked as he stood next to the man.

"No...something like this won't kill him...after all...he's that man's student."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter...let's head back. We'll discuss the next part of our plan."

"Right." With that, the two disappeared, leaving an unconscious Natsu in a pool of his own blood. Natsu's eye's looked like they were lifeless as he stayed motionless on the ground in the middle of the road. Suddenly, footsteps were heard. The footsteps stopped in front of Natsu and the man standing above him looked down and then took a gulp from his bottle.

"Good grief...you think you of all people would not get yourself beat up like this...it's kind of makes me look like an idiot...but...you did keep me entertained...you know...if you didn't have those chains...maybe you could beat them...hmph...idiot..." The man chuckled a bit and then lifted his finger. The tip of his finger began to glow and then a small ball of light moved downward to Natsu's body and entered his head. "I wouldn't die just yet...Natsu...it's too early for you..." He took another gulp before walking away. "Oh...I almost forgot...leaving you lying around like this wouldn't be polite of me would it..." The man grinned.

"Are you sure about this, Levy?" Erza shouted as she grabbed a hold of Levy's shoulders.

"Yeah...one of Phantom's men was going to attack us but Natsu stopped him...when we left Natsu was losing..." Levy explained, feeling tears coming to her eyes.

'That can't be...Natsu losing...it's not possible!' Erza frowned and felt worry enter her body.

"That idiot...what the hell was he thinking?" Gray growled in anger.

"What should we do?" Jet asked.

"Take us to him! If they're still fighting, then we can lend a hand!" Erza told them and everyone nodded. "Let's go!"

When Levy, Jet and Droy led them to the spot where Natsu was fighting, there was no sign of Natsu anywhere. Not even the pool of blood that he laid in disappeared. However, the cracks on the ground proved that there was a fight here. Everyone started searching for him. They asked some of the other members to help them and the search for Natsu began. By the time someone found him...the sun was rising in the horizon.

"Where could he be?" Mirajane asked worryingly as she and Elfman searched for the missing Dragon slayer

"I can't believe something like this happened though..." Elfman replied.

"Let's not worry about that for now! We have to find Natsu first."

"Hai, Nee-chan!" The two ran and searched every street corner for the missing member of Fairy Tail. "Hey Nee-chan...over there!" Elfman shouted and pointed in the direction of the large tree located in South Gate Park. Mirajane looked in the direction he pointed toward and saw what he saw. A figure leaning against the trunk of the tree.

"You don't think..." Mirajane asked in fear as she looked at her younger brother.

"Only one way to find out!" He told her and they nodded before running toward the tree. The closer they got, the worse the feeling Mirajane had was getting. When she got close enough to see who the figure was, her heart felt like it was suddenly crushed. Elfman's eyes widened in shock. "N-No way..."

Mirajane felt tears start to fall down her eyes as she stared at Natsu's motionless body as it leaned against the trunk of the tree. The blood that came from the two slashes were still visible all over his chest. To them it looked like he was dead, but that was something Mirajane did now want to believe. She did not want to believe that another of her comrades was dead. Not again. She lowered her head and then whispered to Elfman. "G-Go tell the others t-that we f-found him..." Elfman looked at his older sister and nodded before running to tell the others. She slowly walked forward and felt her knees get weaker and weaker the closer she got to him. She then dropped to her knees and looked at Natsu. The tears she felt were now falling down like waterfalls. She couldn't stop them. "Natsu!" She cried and grabbed the boy's head, pulling him into a hug. She didn't care if her clothes were stained with his blood. She cried and cried.

Not before long, the others arrived too and their eyes all widened in total shock. Many of them cried at the sight of Natsu. Some were in shock, their eyes widened and speechless. Soon, the townsfolk started to gather around them to see what happened and gasps were heard throughout. Makarov started walking toward the unconscious Natsu and crying Mirajane. The members of Fairy Tail all waited patiently to hear what their Master had to say.

When he stopped in front of Natsu and Mirajane, he clenched his fists tightly on his staff. He gritted his teeth in anger. "I can forgive somebody if they attacked the Guild building..." He began and everyone could hear the anger in his voice. "...but I won't forgive anybody who hurts my children! YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR PHANTOM! THIS IS WAR!"

To Be Continued...
- 13
- 14
- 15
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Time is the Path to Strength