I am wakened by the scent of food and the sound of cracking wood. My eyes flutter open, and I turn to see that Natsu is missing from the bed. I make an attempt at fishing my clothes from the ground without leaving the bed, but I do not succeed and stumble to the ground. I hear footsteps coming closer, and Natsu's laugh resonates within my ears.

"Did you sleep well, milady?" He bows properly, mocking my not-so-elegant way of leaving the bed. I grumble and get dressed before him. I can feel his eyes take in my every move, but I don't mind.

"How long have you been up by now?" I ask, wondering how much more time he's had to look upon my sleeping form.

"Not that long, but enough to satisfy me." The sly look on his face makes it clear he's only toying with me, but I'll gladly take part of it.

"I suppose you aren't exactly big game if this is all that it takes." I huff, to which he laughs.

"I was merely being considerate of your helpless position, unless you're into that sort of stuff." I grin to his response.

"You'll have to catch me first before you can ever hope to restrain me." His eyes peek at me from behind his almost shut eyelids. Natsu moves his hand towards me, which I'm quick to deflect with a speedy chop at his wrist.

"Was that a challenge?" He asks me. I grin at him as a response. He proceeds to take two quick jabs at my left wrist and elbow. By the time he's done, his right arm is free to deflect my counterattack.

My arms don't hurt, just weakened. He proceeds to take a hold of both my wrists in one hand and hold me up.

"I think I won." He grins before claiming his self-imposed reward. I allow his tongue to enter as a means of compensation for my freedom. The dance within my mouth continues, the kiss deepening over time as his lust increases. I moan at his warmth. After separating to catch our breath, he drops me back on my feet. I smile at him for the reward that gave joy to the both of us.

"I think I'll gladly let you catch me next time." I comment as I pass him on my way to the source of the smell.

"Your morning's already off to a good start, huh?" Reah grins at me without averting her gaze from the food she's laying out on the table. It appears she must have visited a bakery to serve us things that look this deliciously.

"Hmh" I give her a happy nod.

"Have at it, I would say." She gestures as if to say the food's all ours. Natsu and I sit down and take wherever our preferences lie. I take a sugary cone filled with pudding on top of a pancake that Reah herself prepared. Natsu takes one of them as well paired with a chocolate filled, chocolate covered piece of bakery. Reah smiles at us before devouring two pancakes herself.

"Reah, do you have a lot of saved up money? I'm just curious since you've been away for so long." Natsu asked after gazing at the assortment of bakery.

"We have a bank to store all of everybody's money. It's very secure and safe in there, and you can always go get some when you need it! It's really convenient. You can't lose it." A bank? Storing your money with other people? Seems kind of the opposite of convenient and safe.

"Strange, we just keep our money to ourselves. It seems kind of weird for you to keep it at a general place. I mean, wouldn't bandits just only go after that place?"

"If bandits were ever able to get into this city, sure they would." Reah smiles with her simplistic answer.

"Fair enough, if you're that confident, I won't judge you for it."

"Where's Maggie?" I ask, not having seen her since I woke up.

"Maggie already left for the central plaza, where the thing's going to happen. Toal will likely be there already as well." She responds. I look at Natsu, his shrug tells me he hasn't seen her this morning either.

"Do you two think you can showcase your thing under the gaze of at least two hundred people?" She chuckles as Natsu almost spits out his entire drink.

"I think so. I'm sure we'll amaze them no matter what we do." I speak confidently. Natsu stares at me before nodding in agreement.

"I suppose that's a nice way to look at it. Toal will of course be presenting it, but the rest of us are going to be there too! We'll be rooting for the both of you!" She reassures us.

"I don't think we need that much confidence to do what we've always been doing though." I question, confused as to why she's making such a big deal out of this.

"Hmmm, probably not for the showcase itself, but more for what'll follow afterwards." This piques both of our curiosity. Reah realizes this and continues her explanation.

"I'm sure people would have a lot of questions for you afterwards, hm? And I doubt you can really refuse the people that could kick you out of the city." I suppose she has a point there.

"But we'll be with you throughout the whole thing!" We both smile back at her, appreciating what she does for us.

"Thank Reah, you're really too nice to us." Natsu expresses our thoughts in words.

"No such thing! You can never be too nice!" She almost scolds us, it's kind of funny.

We finish our meal and leave to meet up with the others. A lot of people have already gathered at the city's central plaza, even this early. I can't even look over anybody in this sea of heads, but Natsu tells me he found Toal.

"I hear you had a good night at Reah's place?" The both of us nod.

"Well, I suppose I reserved that inn for nothing then." He lets out a deep sigh before smiling at us, convincing me that it's not such a big deal.

"Are you ready to show off?" Natsu and I confirm with raised fists.

"Is it really happening this early?" My dragon slayer seems confused about the timing, which I am too now that I think about it.

"Of course, we want to make sure nothing will be left unfinished. We wouldn't want people bothering you with more questions tomorrow morning, huh? I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a long day." Toal's white hair raises to a gush of wind as he answers. I notice a small scar around his temple.

"Hmm, alright then. Was it publicly announced at a specific time?" He nods, while looking at the clock tower nearby.

"Which is now. Showtime, you two." He grins before moving on stage.

"It feels good to be back among my people, in the city where I belong." Toal's appearance makes the crowd cheer. It appears he was definitely missed. He must've done some great things for his reputation to be like this.

"As you may know, I have traveled far and wide beyond the borders of what we knew, accompanied by arch-general Reah, my brother and a close friend." Reah makes her appearance in the uniform that I recognize from the painting in her house.

"What we have seen there exceeds far beyond our imagination, and so we wish to show you exactly that today! On our return journey, we were accompanied by two inhabitants of the land beyond, which will from now on be addressed as Fiore! These two are now friends of ours, and have kindly offered to show you their abilities today. Please, allow them to surprise you. Natsu! Violet!" We enter the stage at the call of our names. The expecting citizens eye us curiously. I turn to Natsu and meet his smile with my own. I start by lifting my hand, igniting my flame on my palm.

"Fire out of thing air?!" The crowd is already in awe from this simple trick. I laugh, remembering my earlier comment about how easy it would be to amaze them. It appears I was right. I proceed to toss the flame next to me, making it shape into a copy of me.

"There's two of her now!" More excitement from the crowd follows, some of them are even rubbing their eyes to make sure they're not dreaming. It's quite a sight to behold.

I vanish from sight, leaving only my specter as the remaining trace of my existence. Natsu now makes his move by raising his hand and igniting it with the crimson flame. The crowd at the front row is already backing off from the destructive nature that they surely can sense from it. He starts by sending a stream of fire through my specter, leaving the crowd in shock.

"You killed her!" Some of them shout after his attack. I chuckle silently before creating a second specter. Natsu grins widely while clenching his fists around his fire and gazing at the crowd. It scares some of them.

He leaps into the air while bringing his fists together in a ball of fire, crashing down into the stage. The following fiery explosion almost destroys the whole wooden stage. Granted, wood wasn't the best material for this showcase. The scattered fire creeps along the wood quickly. I am quick to act by turning the crimson flame to violet flames, resulting in Natsu's next move. He proceeds to feed on the flames, sucking them in, thanks to the altered magic frequency he is able to do so.

"He's EATING the fire?!" Natsu finishes the show with a small burp. I appear besides him. The crowd stares at us, dumbfounded. Natsu and I stand awkwardly in front of the silent group of people, not sure if we should be doing anything about this. Almost a full minute passes before the crowd erupts.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Such powers exist?!"

"No wonder nobody ever returned from that land."

"Why the heck can they do that and why can't we?!"

"CALM YOURSELVES!" Toal's voice echoes loudly over the others. Loki, Maggie and Reah come to stand beside us with a smile.

"This is the power of a mage from Fiore. They have a huge variety of magic: water magic, air magic, fire magic, molding magic, gravity magic, re-quip magic, lightning magic, script magic, plant magic, speed magic. You name it, they got it." I recognize a figure walking towards the front of the crowd. She leans against the stage. I recognize the black-haired woman as Riel. I crouch to meet her gaze.

"Hm, so that's the punch you two pack. No wonder Toal wouldn't have you spillin' anything." She scoffs in Toal's direction, but seems to understand.

"Yeah…. It's kind of a big deal it seems." Natsu laughs awkwardly.

"Toal, may I ask you why these people came with you to our land?" Someone, seemingly of great importance, steps up and asks our greatsword wielder. It's a blonde man with very heavy gold-plated armor with a lion roaring from his chest.

"They had their own reasons." He states simply. The unknown person scoffs and turns to us.

"Would you be willing to grant us knowledge of your power?" I raise an eyebrow at his question. I don't like where this is going, and looking at Toal, he doesn't seem to either. I knew people would have questions, but I don't trust this guy.

"As long as it stays with questions, we'll do our best. I wouldn't want to sacrifice my body so you can study our anatomy in the hopes of finding any kind of source for our power." The man seems slightly insulted by my assumption of his intentions, but he continues nonetheless.

"Splendid, please report to our archive by noon." His fake smile makes me hiss underneath my tongue, but I manage to soften my glare. Natsu squeezes my hand, reminding me of his presence, thus calming me. My gaze shifts over to his facial features, and while he's not looking at me, I know his smile is directed at me. My anger shifts over in joy due to the cheerful gesture of my lover. When my eyes shift back to where the man in gold had been, I see him already making his way through the crowd, away from us.

"Toal, do you have any information on that man?" I raise my eyebrows, curiosity dripping from my expression as I ponder about how trustworthy this person really is. Toal shrugs, raising his shoulders.

"I don't know him, must've come around after I left."

"I don't like 'im!" Maggie snorts, very much expressing her disapproval of the man.

"We don't want to make a scene though, it would be best if we cooperate. I'm sure the person's harmless, but it'd be in your best interest if you kept a cautious eye out at all times." Reah, seemingly the voice of reason, speaks her thoughts.

"Reah, I don't think harmless people wear golden armor that's twice their body in mass…" Loki sweatdrops, staring at the armored plates while they reflect the sunlight, thus forcing our eyes away. Natsu's lips bare his fangs-like teeth, his eyes glaring as the man finally disappears from sight.

"Natsu?" I ask with concern. He seemed so cool-headed before, but now he's losing his grip.

"It had seemed familiar, but now I know what that armor reminds me of." Anything that Natsu knows, I should know too, but I fail to see what he's thinking of. Toal lays his hand on Natsu's shoulder, symbolizing his will to support the dragon slayer.

"Whatever it is, it seems to be nothing good. Tell us." Natsu turns to face the group with his eyes shut and his fists clenched.

"That armor…. I'm almost certain it belonged to Igneel…."