─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

  Natsu's POV

    An unfamiliar scent? It smells dangerous. Immediately after sniffing the air Natsu began yelling. "Who's there?!" He hollered to nothing in particular.

Before long a stranger stepped out of the shadows. The new presence instantly alerted the dragon slayer. The unknown man had a fit build, his chest bare much like Gray's with scars laid littered throughout. His hair was a striking dark black held up in a long ponytail, what caught Natsu most off guard were the stranger's striking violet eyes.

From the looks of it... this guy is  definitely a mage. The dragon slayer tensed up, just who is this guy anyway? Surely he couldn't be the guy who killed the demon earlier...

"Hey! You there! Are you the mage that shot that purple magic beam at that monster?!" Natsu accused tactlessly, pointing his finger at the man.

The stranger remained silent and didn't answer the question, but by now Natsu was almost certain of it.
Filled with paranoia and wanting to be cautious, the pinkette lit his fists ablaze.

The action didn't seem to startle the stranger, instead, he calmly spoke, "until we meet again, Natsu Dragneel." Before the dragonslayer could reply, the mysterious man walked always, vanishing into the background.

Natsu couldn't even process how the stranger knew his name, instead, he found himself waking up in a cold sweat, startled. It was morning time and he sat up in the motel's bed. It was just a dream. He crossed off in his mind, a really weird one.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Are you feeling well, Natsu?" Erza asked as the three of them began their journey back to Magnolia, the dragon slayer groaned.

"Yeah, you didn't stop by for breakfast at the hotel buffet," Gray scoffed, "that's very unlike you."

"Shut it ice ass..." Natsu scowled quietly, "I'm just not looking forward to train ride back, okay?"

The ice mage scoffed. "Clearly you're shaking in your boots about having to face Lucy at the Guild."

"Huh?"

"That's true," Erza added, "Lucy was very hurt by how you left on this mission without even telling her."

"Oh, crap..." Natsu rubbed the back of his head, "looking back on it I feel bad! I shouldn't of left without at least telling Lucy....my bad."  The dragon slayer truly felt remorse for the situation. He'd been so caught up in the excitement of the mission that he didn't even think of telling the blonde his whereabouts.

"Why'd you want me to tag along anyway? I know damn well that you prefer solo missions." Natsu directed his question towards Gray, who huffed in response.

"Why'd you wanna come along?" The ice mage irritably retorted, "truth is I thought we might've run into END out here..."

"What." Erza quickly responded, glaring at the ravenette.

  The name of the Zeref demon evoked something strange within Natsu, but he tried his best not to think about it. "You dumbass, why do you wanna take on that guy all by yourself?!"

"I've had this goal since Tartarus," Gray confessed, "a dying last wish from my dad. To use my demon-slaying magic to defeat that monster. I can't let him down."

  Natsu could easily recall the time he dedicated his life to his father, in the search that was for Igneel. The fire user could muster some sympathy for Gray for his own circumstance...still taking on END alone sounded pretty dumb. And that's coming from the most reckless wizard in the Guild.

"You could've at least told us that before, you know."

"Yeah right, and risk Makorov overhearing me? He wouldn't allow it," Gray shuddered, "and neither would Erza..."

"Damn right," she seethed, "I can't believe your foolishness! Facing END with just yourself and Natsu is plain stupid! You two are lucky that demon back there wasn't him."

  The ice mage snickered at the scowling by Erza but it wasn't long before he was getting called out too, "don't think I forgot about you too, Gray," the scarlet haired mage shot a vicious glare, "why on earth did you think it was okay to go on a mission without the rest of Team Natsu?!"

  Natsu was half expecting Gray to ignore Erza or come up with some half ass excuse, instead, the ravenette sighed and told the truth. "I told you guys...fighting END was the last wish from my father...I had to do this. I had to prove myself. You felt the same way at the Tower of Heaven, didn't you? You felt as if it was your problem alone to solve.

  Erza crossed her arms. "But we are both wrong. Fairytail is a family. One member's mess is everyone's mess to clean up. That goes for you too."

Gray's face became flushed in embarrassment. "I know that now....thanks."

  Natsu stretched his arms out in the air, "Well we better get knowing now unless we want to miss our train."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

   Most times the dragon slayer wished Wendy was always accompanying him on train rides. Or that her troia spell would never wear off on him. His dreams never come true and Natsu is once again bound to his seat, a queasy mess.

Eventually, the pinkette managed to doze off amongst the motion sickness, and his dreams were filled with images with the blonde who was eagerly awaiting him back home.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

  Lucy sat at the bar, her usual hangout place, twiddling her thumbs and trying not to get overwhelmed by her thoughts. From playing with her smoothie straw to brushing her fingers through her blonde hair, the celestial mage tried everything to keep her distracted.

  They should be here any minute. She reminded herself in her head. It had been a while since Erza left the Guild to search for the boys. Lucy could only hope that everything went well and that the three would return home safely. What would the guild be without them?

  Lucy couldn't help but be overrun by countless paranoid and intrusive thoughts. Could they have been robbed by bandits on their way? Did the demon kill them off? Have they been lost or captured? It was only Happy's small presence next to her that seemed to keep her from exploding.

  Alas, after countless hours of thinking and waiting, the Guild doors burst open. Everyone's eyes and ears were pulled to the commotion. A pin drop could be heard as Natsu Dragneel's voice overtook the room.

"We're back!!" He announced to all the members in the Guild, causing quite a ruckus. Everyone seemed to quickly celebrate the trio's safe return.

  Lucy's heart skipped a beat the moment she laid eyes on the pinkette. She couldn't help but scan for visible injuries, it seemed the three were mostly undamaged by the monster. Erza in fact looked completely intact. Were they really able to kill that demon by themselves without any harm?

  The celestial mage's eyes met with her boyfriend, and then she decided was time to leap out of her seat and run towards the pyro.

  Lucy practically leapt in Natsu's arm, pulling him into a sturdy hug, as if she was about to lose him. The blonde quickly pulled away. I can't believe that idiot got himself into trouble again...if only Laxus would stop pulling so many dangerous pranks.

Natsu grinned at his girlfriend, seemingly happy to be reunited again. "Lucy! I missed you!"

"Natsu...me too," the blonde traced the outline of his jaw with her hand.....and slapped the fuck out of him.

"Ou—"

"HOW DARE YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ME! WITHOUT EVEN TELLING ME OR SAYING GOODBYE! DO YOU REALIZE HOW WORRIED I WAS? How much this hurt me?!" 

  How could Natsu do something so selfish? Especially after all that, they went through? The incident with Hibiki forever changed their relationship. Lucy would never not be worried anytime they were apart, how could she?

  The rest of the Guild had obviously heard the celestial mage's words and turned to look at the couple, it was obvious the two were in need of some privacy.

  Natsu held his stinging cheek. "Look...Luce...I'm really sorry I didn't tell you sooner. It was on a whim mission and I didn't want to worry you...I seriously didn't know it was S-class....please forgive me? I'll never do that again I promise.

  Lucy huffed. "I'll let it go this once. But the next time you leave without telling me, I swear to god Dragneel you're gonna regret it."

That seemed to cheer him up, he promptly leaned in for a kiss, "thanks Luce, you're the be—"

"NATZU!!!!" The blue cat flew himself directly at Natsu's face, cutting him off. "IM SORRY I DIDN'T WANT TO GO WITH YOU!!!"

The pinkette chuckled. "It's okay bud, I know it was a pretty reckless task."

"How'd you three manage to pull off the job anyway? I don't even see any scratches on Erza." Lucy commented, curious.

"Uh well about that..." Natsu scratched the back of his neck, "Gray and I didn't even defeat the demon at all!"

"You collected the reward without finishing the request?!"

"Not exactly," the dragon slayer shrugged, "we would've been toast if it wasn't for some random dude that swept in and totally killed the thing."

  Lucy crossed her arms in confusion. It wasn't every day a random mage swooped in and stole commissions. Especially when it came to something as high class as a demon of Zeref.

"The stranger wasn't even visible. The next thing we knew the monster we were fighting was dead. Pretty crazy, right?"

  The blonde sighed. "Well, at least none of you are seriously hurt. That could've ended much worse. Perhaps you can put up posters to help look for this mysterious mage! To thank him for the help."

  Natsu looked lost and thought before he snapped back into reality, "I dunno...maybe some things are better left alone."

  That wasn't usual behaviour from the pyro. Most of the time Natsu would jump at the chance for excitement and new journeys, instead, he seemed almost avoidant of finding out about this stranger altogether.

Lucy frowned, it was obvious something was bothering him. Unwilling to cause more problems, she elected not to press Natsu further. The two tried to avoid the topic for the rest of the day.

"I'll make it up to you I swear, how 'bout a small job with Team Natsu? Like old times."

Lucy smiled. "I'd like that."