Natsu Dragneel In Dxd - Volume 1 Chapter 28 On My Way There

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

For everyone, this was the sound of a clock. The sound echoed through the room, silently waking up the woman who slept there. She opened her eyes and continued to listen to the periodic instrument whose sole purpose is to measure the abstract concept we call time. Slowly she sat up from her laying position and rested the covers away from her body, continuing to stare blankly while the singular sound of the clock struggled to wash over the silence left by the woman.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

And although this was the sound of a clock, to the woman who was forced to listen to it thought of something more grim about the time-telling machine. All the clock did for her told the amount of time she lost something dear to her heart- someone, rather, she couldn’t stand to live without. She realized that the more time passed, the more time she lost without him being with her, to stand beside her, and bring joy to anyone and everyone he met.

She mustered the will to get up from the bed and start her daily routine as Erza “Titania” Scarlet, Fairy Tail mage.

So as usual, she showered, cleaned her teeth, and magically dressed in her regular clothes. Her routine wasn’t much of a surprise, already knowing how organized and strict she is with punctuation. And as always, before she left, Erza checked her pocket dimension to make sure all of the supplies she might need were there for use, ready to be called on when needed, and despite this being the longest thing to do on her list, it had to be the most enjoyable.

Erza decided not to get breakfast here at Fairy Hills as most of the girls were still asleep and it was much more fun eating with people around, so at times like this, Erza headed for the guild to eat hoping Mira would prepare something delightful.

The path she took was the longest way to get to the guild she loved, but with the extra time she had, she would be able to take in the scenery of the beautiful town and elongate her time spent gazing at the wondrous city with fantastic people. Little did Erza know, her lack of attentiveness would make her miss the fact that someone was ready to pounce on her.

“Erza-san!” The redhead buckled a little under the unexpected weight that suddenly hopped on her back as the perpetrator was obvious to the older woman.

“Good morning to you too, Wendy.” Erza smiled, turning her head in the back of her to see the gleaming Wendy.

“I’m glad I ran into you today, Erza-san. I actually have something to ask you.” Wendy slowly got down from Erza’s back as said woman turned to face the blue headed girl.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Erza asked slightly concerned.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” Wendy waved it off, “I just wanted to know if you’re not to busy and that you could take a job with me maybe?”

Erza smiled again at Wendy’s cuteness, staring at her petite form, “Of course I would like to go with you. Who else can give me as much fun!” She began to ruffle Wendy’s hair until it was like a fuzzy blue ball of yarn on her head.

“Aww, Erza-san,” She whined jokingly.

Ever Since Natsu’s disappearance, Wendy and Erza have gotten a lot closer than the average person would think. Unbeknownst to everyone(even themselves) their personalities complimented each other in a mother-daughter type of way. In some manner, they were supporting each other by ironically just being themselves. After Wendy confronted Erza in her crazed stage of finding Natsu, she began to relax and have more fun with the other guild members like how it was before.

“Anyway, we should get going. Once I eat something in the hall, I’ll go pack so we can start our trip, okay?” Erza sweetly replied. Nodding in agreement, Wendy walked alongside Erza as they continued their banter on the way there, and because of that, the trip was made surprisingly shorter as time flew by. Closing in on the abnormal size door, Erza proceeded to open to doors and bask in the oh-so-familiar atmosphere.

That was until a broken glass bottle passed by their heads almost cutting Erza’s cheek. She stood in her position, paused in a state of disbelief and no one realized what happened until Wendy greeted the people in the guild.

“Hi, everyone! We’re here!” She happily waved at the people who did the same before someone noticed the bottle that was held in Erza’s hand which she instinctively caught.

“Hey, Erza, why’re you holding a-Gahg!” A thud noise was heard immediately after he spoke as he fell to the ground unconscious. Erza had thrown the bottle in her hand at the man who asked such a mundane question.

“Shut it.” She said sternly, “Now, who in their right mind decided to throw that glass towards Wendy and I, huh? If you don’t fess up, everyone who was participating in that little brawl will meet the same fate as this guy.”

Then, almost instantly, “It’s was me! I threw it. But I swear I didn’t know it was going to- Gurg!” The random side character was swiftly corrected for his mistake, never to be heard from again.

“Now that it’s over, you all can resume.” And just like that, the guild was acting as if two men didn’t get beat down with an empty bottle of alcohol.

As one could see Fairy Tail still didn’t lose its bombastic way of life, however, everyone there knew there was a hole that couldn’t be filled just by pretending it wasn’t there. The search for a way to get Natsu home has begun to take a decline in productiveness when it comes to probing for different clues that might help to get him back. Mavis, the first guild leader, has told Makarov to tell the others participating in the search to postpone their efforts until she came back with conclusive results. Although, she never told anyone where she was going and why, the only one to know, or perhaps have the better guess was Erza. She knew the moment Mavis left that she was going to be looking forhim; the one person who could possibly help which everyone thought to be extinguished was very much alive and is most likely very willing to help for reasons unknown to Erza.

Thoughts swarmed her mind about why he was doing this and what gain would he get from helping strangers? These questions still haunted her sleep but were suppressed ever since she started to lighten up. Everyone just had to trust that Mavis was doing the right thing. And this was three months ago.

“Erza, Wendy! Come sit over here! I saved you a spot!” The two girls saw Lucy waving towards by the bar where Mira was operating, showing two vacant seats which were happy to be sitting on. Quickly they headed for the chairs and greeted Lucy as well, hugging her and exchanging smiles, “So, I’m guessing you didn’t eat yet, huh?”

“Uh, no actually. I decidedtodaythat Mira’s food would bebestfor me.” Erza slickly put in her order towards an eavesdropping Mira as she left to go get Erza’s food.

“Oh really? Well, I guess I can’t argue with that,” Lucy nodded, “Ah, and Wendy, I keep on forgetting but do you still live in Fairy Hills?”

“No, I moved and started to live in Natsu-nii’s cabin with Charla. I want to keep it maintained until he comes back!” Wendy said with a perk in her attitude.

“Yes, of course, that makes sense. But how did you find it anyway? It thought it was secluded in the woods- no one knew where it was?” Lucy asked curiously until she facepalmed herself, “Wait, don’t answer. Dragon senses, right?”

“Mhmm.” Wendy shook her head ‘yes’ while Lucy sighed at her forgetfulness.

“Here’s your food, Erza.” Mira brought her the food she “ordered” which was, as usual, strawberry cake. Mira decided to stick to the conversation since no one else was asking for something in the kitchen.

“Thanks, appreciate it.” Erza said, bowing her head a little and digging into her plate.

“So, what have you been up to? I see that you’ve been staying in the guild for longer periods of time. What’s up with that?”

“What, you meaning to say you don’t want me here?” Erza’s snarky reply gave Mira a small tick mark, “Anyway, I decided I should be here for the guild more often instead of going off and doing random stuff. But coincidentally, I have a date with Wendy today and we’re going on a mission.”

“Come on, Erza-san, you know it’s not actually a date.” Wendy sighed in embarrassment, red covering her face.

“I know, I know, it’s just fun teasing you.” Erza smiled. Then, as the four friends discussed and gossiped about what was going on around them, a surprise was waiting to pop up any moment to greet the guild members with bombshell news.

The guild was acting as it usually did with the males(and sometimes female) members brawling throughout the evening with fights and petty competitions breaking out like teenage acne. And some unusual interactions were happening between the people as well, especially the most popular ones in the guild.

Gray and Gajeel were surprisingly talking about ways they could work together with combo attacks on certain missions that required a finesse between the partners. The girls could see them drawing out the plans for the next dark guild take-down mission they took not too long ago and were impressed with how cooperative they could be when not fighting constantly.

Levy was hanging out with Laki and was helping her building intricate designs with wood and adding more sculptures to her collection and because they both used some type of Maker Magic, the synergy between their teamwork was also a surprising development.

Now, the most disturbing, if not staggering revelation, was the fact that Laxus himself was hosting an arm wrestling competition and anyone who managed to beat him will go on an S-class mission with the Thunder Legion. You must be thinking “But narrator, Laxus would never do this under normal circ.u.mstances.” and to that I say, you’re correct and the answer is simple- Jet and Droy provoked him and swiftly got their asses handed to them. Afterward, the other guild members tried on Laxus and eventually a line formed. Of course, Gajeel and Gray did get in on the fun but were taken down with as much effort as it takes to crack an egg.

The person who was facing Laxus currently just so happened to be the strongman of the group, Elfman Strauss. Once he stood up to the Lightning Dragonslayer the defeated weaklings cheered him on to beat the monstrous man. But as I’m telling you this the said events happened at least four minutes ago, so by doing the math right, the two of them have been going at for a hella long time.

“This is ridiculous! I knew you were strong but this is a new thing for me.” Laxus commented, struggling to hold his ground.

“Hmpf! A true man never gives up on the gains!” Elfman said enthusiastically, flexing his muscles more intensely as Laxus’ arm tilted slightly towards the table. Little by little, inch by inch, Laxus’ stamina and strength were slowly fading as Elfman’s victory seemed more and more clear. Then, in his final attempt to finish the match, Elfman put everything he had into one push, unknowingly setting his demise.

“GUYS! I THINK I FOUND IT!” The doors broke open and crashed to the ground with the booming high pitched voice echoing throughout the halls. And because of this disruption Laxus was able to redirect Elfman’s momentum for a quick and decisive finish.

“What the!” He screamed in disbelief, “That’s not fair! A man doesn’t take advantage of another man’s weakness!”

“Well, a man’s always got to have his eye on the prize.” Laxus shrewdly joked. Then in curiosity, all the people turned their attention to the big dust cloud that appeared from the doors slamming into the ground. But just as suddenly as it happened the brown cloud disappeared revealing a petite body wearing a girly outfit.

“Wait, is that- HOLY CRAP IT’S MAVIS!” Macao screamed in absolute shock, truly amazed at the good news that appeared on their faces.

“Is no one going to ask how a ghost just destroyed a pair of doors? I mean, I thought they were intangible so- Gefg!” And another down at the hands of Erza and her trusty empty beer bottles.

“Enough of that! First master Mavis has come back so that only means one thing. Now shut your mouths and listen up!” Erza reprimanded the guild for the expected yet unnecessary actions.

“Thank you for that Erza. Now, during my journey, I have found some things I think might help us for our search for Natsu. Although it’s just a sketch, this new Fairy spell should do the trick of locating and bringing back our lost friend.” Mavis explained to the group after finally calming down from her high of excitement.

“You don’t mean we can get Natsu here soon?” Lucy asked hopefully, covering her mouth as tears slowly fell down her cheek.

“Hypothetically, yes. But I’ll need help constructing this spell and it’ll take a lot of manpower to do so, meaning-”

“I will call upon the King to ask of his services. I’m sure he would be glad to lend a few priests over here.” Makarov stated, jumping down from his post.

“I’ll go to Lamia Scale and call Lyon and others to help out as well.” Gray stood up out of his seat and looked determinedly towards Mavis.

“I can get Blue Pegasus for assistance as well.” Erza added.

“I’ll get Sabertooth.” Gajeel noted too.

“Juvia has Mermaid Heel then.”

“And I got Quatro Cerberus.” Elfman stated. Afterward, even more, people stood up and volunteered to help, suggesting different people they know with a variety of skill sets.

“Okay, everyone! This is your new mission for the whole guild: Operation “Get Natsu Back”!” Makarov yelled out while the guild cheered along with him.

But one person had a deviated mindset from the others.

‘This is it I’ll finally get a chance to see him my Natsu.’

Location A week later:

The seven days that passed were, to say the least, very busy. Everyone who volunteered to get help outside the guild was gone for a few days before regrouping back in the capital of Fiore where the King and Makarov told them to meet. The groups of people who were willing to help all had different motives behind them of course. Some genuinely wanted to get Natsu back to Earthland, others were in it to get recognition, and the rest were there for the big payment that was due.

Turns out Mavis, during her journey, apparently found a large reserve of gold and gems buried in an abandoned spot out in nowheresville. Doing a rough check, the cave was estimated to be about 2 billion jewels! Enough to pay everyone a decent amount and to add to funding!

So currently, all the high Priests/Priestess along with the highly capable wizards from the guilds were gathered in an underground compartment that’s size is comparable to Deliora’s former resting place on Galuna Island; the same place where the Eclipse Gate was secretly held as well. However, once the King heard about what the spell was capable of, he immediately called it to be banned after its construction and its use of bringing Natsu back. No one opposed the banishing of the new Fairy spell after the King declared it and the secrets for creating it be burned and damned to hell for safe keeping.

Presently, in the Royal Palace, the Princess Hisui was sitting near her window at night, staring at the stars that conveniently shown bright for her. Doing this made her feel peaceful, help her think and release stress that happened during the day because, for her, jade always looked more beautiful in the moonlight.

Realizing the disturbance at her door, Hisui walked towards the other end of her room and opened it to reveal her father in his silly purple pajamas with white sheep jumping over fences.

“What is it, father? Can you not sleep well either.” Hisui asked, stating it more as a comment.

“No not at all my dear. It’s just I wanted to talk to you about what you’ll do when Natsu-kun comes back.” Toma answered, unsure of how well her daughter will take of this discussion.

“What do you mean?” She asked again, stumped by her father’s vagueness.

“Don’t do that to me, dear I mean, don’t you want him as your court when andifhe comes back?” Toma sighed at the end, telling his daughter what he truly meant.

“First of all, I don’t like your negativity father-ifis not the right term to use for this, hewillcome back,” Her glare at her father was quick but stern as he flinched somewhat at the action, “Also, I’ve had no intention of having him as my spouse. Although, what made you think otherwise?” Hisui asked innocently, slightly tilting her head.

“Oh, Hisui you think you could fool me after all these years. I’ve watched you grow and blossom into the wonderful woman you are while you’ve seen me shrivel into an old and weak man over time, yet you still believe there are things I don’t know.” Toma stared directly in Hisui’s eye while she sported a stone face.

Flashback:

“Oi! What the hell was that for!?” A tween Natsu bellowed towards a shirtless Gray who happened to be the same age(technically), rubbing his head in pain.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t see you there. I thought I threw ice at a brick wall!” Gray yelled pounding his head against Natsu’s.

“I swear! People can see your stiff n.i.p.p.l.es even without a shirt you exhibitionist!” Natsu punched Gray in the side making him stumble back.

“You realize this is all because you pulled a prank on me by lighting the wood under my feet on fire! You fiery dimwit!” Gray retaliated by kicking Natsu’s temple, effectively making him fall towards the floor. He was quick to get up though and began his brawl with Gray as per usual.

Although Makarov has had enough, “STOP IT! YOU TWO BOYS COME TO MY OFFICE AT ONCE!” And with that, silence

Both Natsu and Gray headed towards the old man’s room as they walked by Erza hearing, “Hmm, I told you so. It’s what you get.” which proceeded with a childish raspberry from Natsu. As they entered the room on the second floor, immediately the two boys felt Makarov’s anger towards them, and it wasn’t very pleasant.

“So, Gramps why’re we here?”Natsu asked, trying to break the very cold, and may I add thick ice.

“Why’re you here- you’re going to ask me, WHY YOU ARE HERE!?” The Guild Master lost his cool for a moment after hearing the boy’s naive question, “Okay, listen. I get that you two like to fight and that’s fine with me. But this so-called rivalry is more like a war going on between two sides of the same coin.” As he said this, he saw Gray and Natsu gain confused faces, “Exactly my point; it makes no sense for you guys to fight so much over the stupidest things. So here are my demands: first, decrease the number of fights you have in a day to at least two and second for punishment, I’ll have one of you take a mission.”

“Huh? A mission? What kind of punishment is-”

“For an old friend’s starting up a business venture.” Makarov finished, cutting Natsu off.

“Wayda go flamebrain.” Gray scoffed crossing his arms.

“Now, only one of you will go, and I won’t decide who. Settle this with a rock-paper-scissors, and no sore losers please.” The old man smiled at the end as the boys turned to face each other in the intense match that will decide the fate of precious time they’ll spend for the next few days.

“Ready?” Natsu asked smirking.

“Let’s go.” Gray formed his hand into a fist and started shaking it up and down.

“Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!” And the winner is

“God Damn it! I demand a rematch! Two outta three you ice bastard!” Natsu snarled in disappointment.

“Haahahaha! Suck it Dragneel! Taste the remains of my sweet sweet victory!” Yep, Gray won.’

And so, as promised, Natsu was sent to Era to meet one of Makarov’s old friend who happened to be a council member- one of the people he hated most. His named was Yajima, an old short man like Makarov with a small mustache with huge bushy eyebrows that covered most of his eyes. Of course to Natsu, this looked a bit odd, he got over the shock not too long after.

Yajima told Natsu that he was planning on quitting the council in due time to start up his own dream of a famous restaurant called “5 Peninsula”, but he did, however, admit he needed to work on the name. Natsu looked at the old man with a little more respect than before only for the reason that he was willing to risk his comfortable life for a tacky restaurant name. Yajima’s first plan to create his restaurant was to find a place where he could potentially advertise for it and gain commerce and a space for work, and his first idea was the capital Crocus hoping to get a good foothold there.

Then, for the beginning of Natsu boring mission, he was to be sent to Crocus with the council member and find the best place to start his business. The trip to the said city wasn’t as long as Natsu thought it would be because of Yajima’s status and power which allowed them to take unaccessible routes normal citizens couldn’t take which he thought was cool. However, as they walked into the city the old man had to shoo away the bodyguards and reassure them that Natsu was enough protection which they complied with.

The city was bustling with open markets and merchant stands with people busily going about their day across the streets. Banners waved in the sky magic performances were practically everywhere and the food, oh the delicious food tempted Natsu to just leave the man behind and eat all that he could buy.

“So young man, why did you decide to help with this?” Yajima asked, walking with his arms crossed behind his back.

“Well, honestly, I never wanted to come here in the first place old man. But now that I’m here, I don’t know.” Natsu answered truthfully.

“Hmm, I see. I guess I’ll have to make your time worthwhile.” He replied with a small smile.

Then promptly, for the rest of the day, the two walked around looking at different vacant spots up for rent or buy, charting down different spot they thought would be good for the type of business Yajima wanted, and to his surprise, Natsu found that was starting to like this mission with the geezer. Although, not his type, this experience was one he would certainly never forget.

Sooner than later, night fell on the city and Yajima lead Natsu towards an expensive Inn he already rented for the week. The inside was glorious and all the furniture, food, art and rooms were top-notch important people kind of luxury.

“Wow, this place is f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome.” Natsu unintentionally said.

“Please watch your language young man.” Yajima expressed, walking towards his King sized bed, as Natsu flinched at his own incompetence.

“Oh, my bad Yaji.” Natsu said the nickname he gave the man not too long ago and sat on his bed as well. Time passed and his caretaker was already asleep not even ten minutes after while he was having trouble just finding the right position. Tossing and turning in his unbelievably comfortable bed, Natsu couldn’t stop thinking about what he saw in the city, all the people, food, entertainment- everything just popped out to him. Following that feeling he proceeded to sneak out the window like a normal person would apparently do and jumped from the two-story building, and what he saw was marvelous.

The different colored lights that show made the night look more beautiful and the flowers that opened up in the dark looked more exotic and despite the streets not being as busy, people still looked energetic, just the way he liked it. Natsu continued his journey around the city and marveled at almost whatever entered his eyes until he saw a shadowing figure walk through an alley in a place he never saw before, then being the person he was, followed the mysterious figure and found the person walking in the direction of the woods.

Using his skills in stealth, Natsu managed to follow the person after a while to a clearing with a big lake in the center of it as the hooded figured took off their robe, revealing a greened hair girl looking around the same age as himself. He continued his investigation and only found that she was looking at the full moon that appeared that night, to which he could agree was amazing to look at.

“Hey, girly, what are you doing here by yourself? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” Natsu walked out of the bush he was hiding behind and greeted the girl in such a way that would startle anybody, especially her.

“Ahh! Please, don’t hurt me! I was just on a walk!” She screamed in fear, covering her face immediately.

“Hurt you? Why on Earthland would I ever do that to a pretty girl like you? I came here on a walk too ya know.” Natsu replied, standing near the scared teen.

“Wait, so you’re not here to take me back?” The green haired girl asked, slightly showing her face.

“Huh, take you back where? Do you not belong out here?” Natsu pondered tilting his head in confusion.

“No, no, of course I belong here! It’s not like I snuck out of my house or anything. That would be weird.” She quickly answered, obviously lying, but our favorite knucklehead couldn’t tell the difference right now.

“Yeah, that would be weird.” Natsu chuckled at the end along with the girl, looking up at the sky.

“So you really don’t know who I am?” She asked again, completely showing her face.

Natsu sat down next to her and examined for an awkward period of time making her feel uncomfortable, “Yup, I don’t know you at all, stranger!” He smiled jokingly.

“Yeah, that’s a relief,” She said under her breath.

“So, what’s your name?” Natsu asked, turning to face her.

“My name is Hisui.” The green hair now named Hisui answered.

“The name’s Natsu Dragneel! Nice to meetcha!” He stuck out his hand and shook hers roughly as a sign of friendship.

“Uh Uh, same to you.” And so the two teens talked and talk all night about all the things they liked with Natsu learning her name actually meaning jade and with her learning his father is a Dragon, and despite and the awkwardness that never left, the two knew deep down that they have become friends.

“So, want to meet up again tomorrow? I’m staying for a week.” Natsu asked bashfully, scratching the back of his head.

“I would love to.” Hisui blushed slightly at the invitation and smiled happily knowing she made a real friend.

Flashback End:

“I had a guard follow you every night you went out Hisui, to protect you. You’re lucky he found Natsu-kun to be a good person after your encounter as he reported what happened to me. I decided to let this farce continue as I realized you were genuinely happy after that night. And everytime that boy took a job near this city, he always came to meet up with you, am I correct? Then, once the news came that the Fairy Tail group supposedly died, it was obvious that you were devastated and you slowly distanced yourself from me. It was only after they came back that you seemed to shine brightly again.” Toma explained everything to his daughter while different reactions were expressed on her face, but none of them more potent and shock.

“I-I” Hisui was at a loss for words as she didn’t know her father knew so much. But despite everything, things weren’t going to go in her favor regardless.

“Do you still wish to deny it?” Toma asked crossing his arms behind his back as Hisui sighed.

“There’s no point in it anyway. I know there are others who have known him far longer than I. It would be unfair to abuse my power like that.” Hisui turned her back away from her dad and started to walk towards her bed.

“But my dear, you are a princess and soon to be Queen. I want you to be happy as you progress on with life. The people at Fairy Tail will have to understand.” Toma pleaded. He loved his daughter more than anything thing else he possessed and was willing to do anything to make her happy, even if it involves sacrificing lives- his own if he had to.

“No, father! That’s not right as a man or as a King!” Hisui’s voice was slightly hoarse and her back was still facing Toma, “I have to accept this fact as it is.”

Toma frowned deeply at this but complied with her wishes. He would not ponder any longer about her private life.

Location Unknown:

In another city of a place unknown, there were buildings carved uniquely to this place’s culture it seemed and was as busy as Fiore’s capital. People cheered on the side of the streets as a parade was happening to celebrate a very rare and special occasion. Colorful banners, Magic and practically anything you could think of was brought to this event to celebrate the great day that has come. Beautiful women danced elegantly on top of a flying stage clothed in feathers and bones as a ritual and musicians were playing triumphant music as part of the act as well.

There was one float however, that seemed to be more emphasized than the rest. Gold was laced with almost all the material that made up the platform and fireworks shot from the sides. Twelve individuals of odd clothing and style with completely different looks stood in the front showboating their powerful and robust magic skills to the citizens some being more enthusiastic than others.

Then, raising from the back of the float in a glory of light and fire was their wonderous Emperor who provide such a marvelous place to live. He donned a black robe with a gold outline and a simple white sash on his left shoulder, and even though he was a King he looked like another one of the citizens.

“Hail Emperor Spriggan! Hail Emperor Spriggan! Hail Emperor Spriggan! Hail our savior King Zeref!” The people cheered. All the while, Zeref had a neutral expression, but inside, his own turmoil burned hot with anxiety and rage.

‘Mavis I gave you the tools, the knowledge, resources, and blueprints. If you fail me swear on my life, Fiore and Fairy Tail will burn.’ Zeref thought, “Irene,” He called out, summoning a busty redhead to his side, “Have the forces ready. I want them ready at my beck and call.”

Irene smiled slyly and bowed, “Yes, of course, I’ll do it effective immediately.”