Chapter 33: Base of Operations

Unknown location just outside the country of Fiore:

Over the last month a certain island just off the coast of Fiore started to undergo a lot of changes thanks to it having its first human visitor in at least a decade. And that human was none other than Natsu Dragneel, who also just so happened to be the only living heir of the Fire King Igneel. Making him the rightful heir of the dragon's estate, that just so happens to be on said island that just now had a few more unexpected visitors. Well, unexpected visitors at least for the fire wyverns that have been living there and waiting years for the day that their king would return to them.

Only for all of them to instead be shocked when a pink haired human came waltzing in a little over a month ago and easily handing their asses to them. And during that encounter with the young man, none of them could deny that he was in fact the son of the great and powerful Igneel. Because no fire mage, despite however hard he tried, could come even close to replicating the flames that came from their late king. Something that Natsu could not only do, but somehow he did it so well that some of the wyverns thought they were actually coming from Igneel.

So for the next full month after that fateful day the wyverns helped the son of Igneel restore his estate to its former glory. And even that wasn't enough time or manpower to get the enormous castle to the pristine condition that it once was many years ago. They did however get it to a livable state which was all that Natsu really wanted at the time being, because he honestly didn't feel right about having the fire wyverns do all of the work only for others to benefit from them. It should also probably be noted that the remaining work were just small touch ups and getting the place furnished to his liking. Both of which were probably not ideal for wyverns to try and accomplish by themselves.

And because of that and having worked for most of the last month without stopping, most of the wyverns at the moment were sprawled out across the main hall. None of them expecting to see the son of Igneel any time soon, but they were soon going to find out that he liked doing the unexpected whenever the opportunity presented itself. Since they didn't know this about him yet, they were all caught off guard when his fire in the middle of the room started to grow in size. Only for it to then spit out a group of humans that they had no clue as to who they might be other than friends of their new ruler.

Who casually stepped out of his own flames with a woman on each side and two exceeds floating just over their shoulders. One Exceed that they were extremely familiar with since he got most of them to help him fish over the last month at least one time or another. While the other Exceed remained close to the blue haired girl that for some reason smelt similar to the son of Igneel, probably indicating the bond that the two shared with each other. But what caught most of the wyverns off guard more than that, was the ashen haired beauty on Natsu's other side that had a distinctive scent on her that none of them could ever mistake.

"Oh dear god, is that how you feel whenever you're on any form of transportation?" asked Lucy while still on her knees and holding her gut tenderly.

"Yep, just think of feeling that way for every second that we were on one of those death traps." answered Natsu with a chuckle as he looked at rest of their group that were in a similar state to the celestial mage.

"Fuck, I'm just glad that it's been awhile since I ate anything." mumbled Gray with a hand covering his mouth. Said ice mage now had a newfound respect for the dragon slayer that somehow put up with feeling that way whenever they dragged him onto a train for a mission.

"Juvia has to agree with her Gray-sama on that one." stated the water mage with a slight smile as she started to rub his back. Obviously she wasn't affected as severely as the other mages in their group, possibly having something to do with her being able to change her whole body into water.

"And I thought Major Doranbolt's teleportation was jarring." said Savage as she slowly started to get off her knees.

"What I want to know is why Mira and the Exceeds don't seem affected by this at all?" asked Erza as she too slowly got back up into a standing position. Giving her old rival a slight glare, that said barmaid could only giggle at as she intertwined her fingers with Natsu's as they went back to holding hands.

"It probably has something to do with her having a dragon soul now." answered Natsu, not being able to hide the slight joy he was currently experiencing at seeing all of his old guild mates finally knowing what it was like for him on any sort of transportation.

"Carla and I didn't get sick because Natsu isn't transportation, he's our friend!" declared Happy with a giant grin stretching from ear to ear.

"That still doesn't make any sense, actually it makes less sense than when Natsu said it all of those years ago." mumbled Lucy, only to quickly cover her mouth and look as if she might be holding something back from spewing out onto the floor.

"I still don't see how it doesn't." replied Natsu while still smirking at all of them.

"This place is enormous." stated Wendy as she slowly turned around in a circle, taking in the main hall of his new home.

"And this is only just the main hall, I can't wait to show you two and Carla some of the secrets we found while fixing the place up." said Happy as he started to fly around excitedly.

"I'd love to Happy." she replied with a bright smile that the blue Exceed replicated.

"Did you also mean me?" asked Chelia as she pointed to herself with a nervous expression.

"Of course Chelia, you're one of the few people here that I can actually carry without getting tired." he replied while looking over at a certain blonde with a cheesy grin before taking off with the sky god slayer. Most likely making a quick escape before said blonde could start yelling at him, Carla and Wendy were quick to chase after the two of them so that they wouldn't get lost.

"They're not even going to see if we want to come along?" asked Savage as she and Erza appeared to have already completely recovered.

"It would seem the answer to that is no." answered Natsu with a little chuckle as he looked in the direction that the three disappeared in. "Which might be a blessing, since I can only imagine Happy giving a tour about his favorite fishing spots and other fish related things." finished the dragon slayer as he turned back to look at the rest of their group.

"I definitely wouldn't mind getting a tour from you, if you wouldn't mind that is." said Mira while giving him a soft smile that she knew he couldn't say no to.

"I'd love to." he replied with a smile of his own.

"Could you possibly wait for the rest of us normal people to recover?" asked Gray, still currently on his knees with Juvia comforting him despite his protests against such actions.

"And what precisely are you insinuating by that, Gray?" asked Erza in a calm tone that sent a shiver up the ice mage spin as she and Savage glared at him.

"That Lucy and I aren't able to recover as quickly as you three." he quickly replied back in a slightly scared tone. A tone that he hadn't used in a really long time, probably because Erza and the rest of their team haven't really acted like themselves since Natsu's departure from the guild. But after only being with him for just a few hours it seemed like they were going back to how things used to be between all of them.

"Then I would suggest that the two of you train harder." stated Savage as the scarlet haired knight nodded her head in approval.

"And how exactly would we do that, when we're only feeling like this because of his weird form of teleportation?" asked Lucy while pointing a finger at the fire dragon slayer that was just standing back with an amused smirk spread across his lips.

"If you want I can drag you around with me for a while." he offered, only for Gray and Lucy's faces to go pale just from the thought.

"Hell no!" they both shouted at him in a slightly agitated tone. None of their little group except for Natsu, expected to then hear a chorus of deep and angry growls coming from all around them. Which was what caused the previously motion sick mages to finally notice that they were completely surrounded by fire Wyverns. And as soon as they realized this they all got into defensive stances as they quickly went back to back with each other. They were all about to try and scare off the wyverns until the distinctive laughter of Natsu and Mira rang out in the large room.

"Oh my god, you should have seen your guys' faces." he chuckled out while actually wiping away a tear that came out due to his laughter.

"Don't worry, I've actually got a few pictures of them." replied Mira as she held up a camera that the rest of them had no idea where she got it from. None of this helped the group of mages that were still surrounded by all of the wyverns looking at them in a clearly upset manner if their growls were anything to go by.

"Natsu!" shouted out Erza only for her to cover up her mouth right afterwards. Realizing that she was about to go about her usual response to situations like this, which was to start yelling at him. But after everything that had recently happened between all of them she didn't want to risk it, also she knew that was something she needed to try and change about herself.

"A little help Commander Dragneel!" shouted out Savage to the surprise of Erza and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages. Not because she was asking for his help, but because of how she was doing it which all of them could agree on as being very Erza like. And to their shock this seemed to only cause Natsu to laugh even harder at them, but after a few more seconds of that he started to talk in draconic.

And after just a few words from him, all of the fire wyverns backed down yet they all seemed to still keep at least one eye on their group. Once again they were all slightly discomforted about how brutal and slightly terrifying the draconic language sounded to them. That for some of them just sounded like a whole lot of deep growls and grunts that they had no hopes of ever deciphering on their own. After Natsu spoke with the wyvern's for a little while they were stunned to watch most of them take flight out of the enormous terrace at the far end of the room.

This was when they all started to finally take in their surroundings, which to say the least, were awe inspiring from the sheer size alone. The main hall which they were currently in could easily hold at least eight of Fairy Tail's current guildhall, which made sense since this was supposed to have once been the home of all previous Fire Kings who just happened to be dragons. If they had to guess, the ceilings were around six stories tall and gave a slightly cavernous feel to the place since it was currently barren at the moment.

The only things currently in the main hall were the golden flames burning away in a circle fire place at the center of the room and the two rows of giant columns holding up the roof. These columns were about the size of Lucy's apartment in diameter and upon closer inspection appeared to have pictures carved into them with a few spots of draconic as well. The etchings usually had a dragon in them and seemed to be telling some sort of story as they progressed towards the back of the hall, which had the terrace that most of the wyverns departed out of.

With some of the remaining wyverns now curled up at some of the tops of these columns, where platforms stuck out just enough for them to properly lay down. It once again made the mages feel as if they were in some sort of cave with the inhabitants of said cave staring down at them. It also didn't help that all of the stones in the entire castle were grayish in color. The only thing that reminded them that they weren't in a cave was the enormous wooden doors slightly left ajar on all three sides of them. With the other side barely having any sort of wall at all since it was left wide open, letting them see the sun slowly making its way towards the horizon.

And this is where they all found themselves naturally pulled towards. The terrace of the main hall was positioned on the ledge of the island, which was also a cliff edge that went down a few hundred feet until you would hit water. Water that was constantly being churned by the waterfall just to the right of the terrace, something that they were shocked they hadn't notice due to the constant rushing noises of water coming from it. The only thing to adorn this terrace was two large sculptures of dragons on each side of it that connected with the rest of the castle. And of these two statues only the one on the left remained intact; the head of the one on the right was no longer there.

"This is absolutely incredible." mumbled Lucy as she couldn't help but marvel at the two statues. She continued to backpedal so that she could get a better look at both of them, wanting to see if they used to be identical to each other. But before she could figure that out the ground slightly shook beneath her which caused her to let out a little scream and spin around. This resulted with the poor celestial mage being just an inch away from a fire wyvern looking at her intently. "Natsu!" she yelled out in an obviously scared tone.

"Easy now Lucy, he was just making sure you didn't accidentally fall off the edge." he replied while gesturing to the edge that lacked any sort of railing.

"Thanks I guess." she said in a nervous tone as she continued to watch the wyvern. While also wondering if she was ever going to get used to these wyverns hanging about so casually like they were.

"Well that's something we're going to have to fix." stated Mira with a bright smile from her spot right next to Natsu, still holding onto his hand with clearly no intentions of letting it go anytime soon.

"I didn't know you'd be hanging around." said Natsu just loud enough for Mira to hear him, while also giving her a sly grin.

"I… I didn't mean anything like what you're hinting at." she replied with a slight blush while turning away from him. "I just didn't want you or anyone else to possibly get hurt." she mumbled back only for her to be twirled so that she was now face to face with him and now encased in his arms.

"Are you sure Mira? Because you don't know how much it'd mean to me if you did." he said as he rested his forehead against hers.

"No… But what about you not wanting to put those that you care about in more danger?" she asked him back hesitantly.

"That's still something I don't want to ever do, but I honestly can't think of any place in the world that could be safer than the headquarters of the Enforcers." he answered while giving her a slight smile.

"Are you saying that you want to lock me away here like some sort of princess?" she asked him back with a slightly upset look sent his way. "I didn't think you dragon slayers would actually go and do something that I've only read about in books." she stated with the same expression on her face.

"No that isn't what I was trying to do!" he replied in a slightly panicked tone as he separated from her and tried to better explain himself. "You wouldn't be here every day, only when you wanted to that is. I mean you're still a member of Fairy Tail and have duties there." he spluttered out, hoping that he didn't just make things weirder between him and Mira than it already was. Luckily for him after hearing the sound of her giggling at him he realized she was just messing with him like she used to do a lot when they were little.

"I'm glad to see that you're still capable of becoming flustered so easily." said Mira as she brought him back into a hug and rested her head onto his chest. "And I'd love to come here more often if that means we get to spend more time together." she said with a tender smile spreading across her face.

"Well now I don't know if I want you around anymore, especially if you're going to continue to do things like that to me." he said only for her to let out a little giggle and lightly hit him on the chest.

"Sorry to break up this little moment of yours, but Commander Dragneel. Did I hear correctly that this was going to be the headquarters of our division?" asked Savage with a stunned look on her face. One that came about from seeing her Commander act completely different than what she has grown used to, but at the same time from finding out that this castle might become their base.

Savage's interruption caused the couple to remember that they weren't alone like the two of them were acting just now. And if either of them had to guess, it was pretty clear that the rest of their group heard just as much as the one that just asked Natsu a question. They all had slightly sad looks on their faces as they looked at the two of them, but neither of them could figure out if it was because of Mira possibly no longer being at the guild as much as she used to. Or if it was because they are still feeling guilty about being the reason that the two of them were put into this weird situation, since if he was still at the guild they could be a normal couple right now.

"You heard correctly Savage, this is where we'll all be calling home for a while." he said with a slight blush as Mira went back to just standing beside him and holding his hand. "Which actually reminds me, I need to give Doranbolt a call so we can bring the rest of the division here." he finished no longer having a blush on his cheeks.

"The whole division is coming here?" asked Erza in a shocked tone as she stared at him as if he was crazy.

"Yep, if I'm giving a tour of this place I might as well get the rest of my troops in on it." he replied with that toothy grin of his.

"How the hell are you going to give a tour to your whole division?" asked Gray with an incredulous expression on his face. Instead of getting an answer out of the dragon slayer all they got from him was a roll of his eyes as he started to fiddle with his watch.

"Commander Dragneel, I hate to agree with the stripper, but I think he does have a point there." stated Savage as Gray started to glare at her for calling him a stripper like Natsu used to always do. But just like he did with Gray, Natsu blew her off as well, but it was probably due to Doranbolt answering his communication lacrima right then.

"Yes Commander Dragneel?" asked the image of Doranbolt on the watch's tiny screen.

"Can you gather the entire division in the next five minutes?" he asked to the shock of everyone else except for Doranbolt.

"I can have that done for you in less than three." replied the teleportation mage before his image disappeared.

"How in the hell will he be able to do something like that?" asked an incredulous Lucy.

"You do realize that he specializes in teleportation?" he asked with a deadpanned expression as he looked over at the blonde.

"Yes, but teleporting your whole division to wherever here is can't be easy. I mean a teleportation of that size would probably take the level of Wizard Saint to not mess it up." she stated while still looking at him incredulously.

"Who said he was going to be teleporting them here?" he asked her back with one of his signature grins slowly spreading across his face.

"You did Flame Brain." said Gray with a slight grin of his own, glad that Natsu seemed to still be the same person that they all used to know. This was something he was afraid of not being the case as soon as it was revealed that he was working for the Council and was a Commander of his own division.

"All I said was that he was going to be able to gather all of them in less than five minutes thanks to his teleportation magic. After that I'm going to be the one doing all of the hard work in bringing all of them here." he replied before turning away from them and heading over to one of the few wyverns still lounging about on the ground.

"Somehow he's even more annoying than he was before." stated the ice mage with a big smile that he instantly lost after being hit on the back of the head by a steel gauntlet.

"Gray, so help me, if you ruin this you'll never forget the punishment that will be coming your way." hissed Erza as she glared at him.

"It's fine Erza, actually I appreciate it that Gray is trying to go back to our old dynamic since no one ever argues with me like that anymore." said Natsu as he gave them a quick smile over his shoulder as he came to a stop in front of the wyvern he was heading to with Mira still by his side. And just like they all expected, he started to converse with the wyvern in draconic, occasionally gesturing to some of their little group. As this was going on the members of Fairy Tail decided to quickly discuss a few things between themselves.

"Juvia thinks that Natsu-san has completely forgiven all of you." stated Juvia with a bright smile.

"Seems like he has." agreed Gray as he wrapped his arm around the water mage and brought her closer to him. Both of them continued to watch Natsu speak with the wyvern with Mira happily hanging onto his arm, clearly intent on not letting go anytime soon.

"It would appear so, but I don't know if we should be so forgiving to ourselves." chimed in Erza with a prominent frown gracing her visage.

"I know what you mean Erza, just look at how happy those two are by being with each other. Something that they could have started a lot sooner if we hadn't driven him away." said Lucy while also having a similar expression of her own.

"That's just a bunch of bullshit." stated Savage, slightly scaring the rest of them since they forgot that she was still with them.

"And what exactly makes you say that?" asked Erza as she glared at the other sword mistress in their presence.

"Well first off the man you're all talking about probably forgave you almost as soon as he left your guild." she stated while raising her hand up in the air to cut all of them off from interrupting her. "And before you start asking why didn't he come back sooner and patch things up with all of you. Well to put it simply, as I'm sure you all already know, he's never been really good at expressing himself other than through his fists. Not to mention that the rest of the country's attention was then on him like never before, making it even harder for him to work out all of this on his own." she finished with a little grin as she also continued to watch the couple still speaking with the wyvern.

"Okay, but that still shouldn't have taken this long." stated Lucy as she looked at the Enforcer.

"True, but I have a feeling that some of that is because he wanted to change himself into someone better than he was before. And maybe he also wanted you all to feel bad for a little while since I can't imagine that it was easy for him to give up the only life he ever knew." she replied while glancing over at their guilty expressions.

"Which is why we shouldn't do anything else that could hurt him." declared Erza as a look of determination came over her face.

"I hope you realize that being too cautious might actually be worse than going back to how you once were with him." she pointed out, only for a slightly confused expression to wash over the Knight's old one. "What I'm trying to say is that becoming a completely different person around him is only going to make him feel guilty. What the Stripper is currently doing is what I suggest the rest of you to do, act like you usually would have around him but while also keeping in mind what you've learned about him since then."

"Why do you keep calling me that, did that Moron tell you to call me that?" asked Gray as he glared at the woman, who could only look at him with a blank expression.

"Are you really asking me that when you're just in your boxers?" Savage asked back while gesturing to his current state of dress.

"Why in the world is this happening again? I thought I had it under control." he replied as he started to frantically look around for his lost clothing.

"Juvia believes it might have something to with Natsu-san. Does Juvia have a new love rival to be concerned about?" she asked while giving the poor ice mage a heated glare as she threw his clothes in his face.

"Me and him?" he asked with a completely flabbergasted look on his visage while pointing at the dragon slayer not even paying attention to them. This of course was hilarious to everyone but a certain water mage that was still glaring at him while shaking her head yes. "Of course not Juvia, you're the only one for me and I thought that I made that clear to you the other night." he quickly spouted out with a slight blush coming over his face.

"Did you hear that Love rivals, I'm the only one for him!" she shouted out with a smug look as she looked at Natsu and Lucy. Natsu seemed to be so involved in his conversation with the wyvern that he didn't hear her, while Lucy on the other hand could only cover her face with one of her palms. The celestial mage had for a while thought that her whole love rival thing with Juvia was finally over since she was finally with Gray, but it would seem that it might just be something she has to get used to. She also couldn't help but snicker at the thought that Natsu might now also be in the same boat as her on that front.

"But what about keeping them apart?" inquired Erza after the three of them stopped snickering at Gray's expense.

"Were they ever together before all of this?" Savage asked back while sporting a sly grin.

"No they weren't, but…" she started to say.

"But nothing, I think him leaving was what they both needed to realize what they really cared about." interrupted Savage as she nodded in the two's direction. "From what I can tell, those two were always more concerned about everyone else's happiness before their own. Something that isn't going to stop for either of them, but at least now they aren't afraid to go after a little bit of happiness when it concerns the other." she finished with a content smile coming over her usually strict expression.

"I guess you're kind of right, but I really wish it didn't have to happen under such bad circumstances." stated Lucy with a warm smile spread across her lips as they looked at the two of them.

"That'll only make their story that much more interesting to hear about, something that I'm pretty sure the rest of the country wouldn't mind reading about." she replied absentmindedly.

"Do you really think it would make a good story?" asked Lucy with an excited look in her eyes.

"Absolutely, what do you think Erza?" she answered while turning to look at the scarlet haired woman in between the two of them.

"I wouldn't mind reading it." she said with a faint smile as she finally turned to look back at the person talking to her. "Would you mind telling me how you seem to know so much about him?" she asked as her expression along with her tone turned into stern ones.

"During my whole life I've always been on the sidelines, always observing how everyone else goes about their daily activities. Needless to say, if you do that long enough you get pretty good at figuring out what makes most people tick." answered Savage while not being the slightest bit intimidated by the redhead before her.

"Now you're the one giving bullshit answers." she stated as a sneer slowly spread across her lips.

"Aren't you the protective one, well if you must know, I'm also another one of his personal bodyguards." replied Savage as a proud grin came over her visage.

"And does he know about this title of yours?" she asked as the two of them locked eyes.

"Of course he does, he also knows that it was the Council's wish for him to have a few of us. A job that I take very seriously and will not hesitate to stop anyone from trying to harm him, no matter who they might be." said Savage as a steely expression took up residence on her face as she continued to look the scarlet haired woman directly in the eyes.

"I'm glad to hear that he has such a reliable person in his division." Lucy chuckled nervously as she got in between the two terrifying women. The celestial mage was about to keep talking in the hopes of alleviating the palpable tension between the two of them, but luckily this was when Natsu's communication lacrima went off.

"I've got them all gathered Commander Dragneel." stated Doranbolt from the tiny screen on the watch.

"Good, we're going to test out another move I've been working on in secret." stated Natsu as a mischievous grin spread across his lips. "Could you please destroy one of my lacrimas that I left with you Major Doranbolt." he finished as a look of shock came over Doranbolt's image.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Commander?" he asked in an uncertain tone.

"Absolutely, when have I ever done something that could have hurt my men?" asked Natsu, only for Doranbolt and Savage to both give him a blank stare. "And that of course excludes what I put them all through during their training these past few months." he stated with a little chuckle.

"We're still training them." pointed out his second in command, hoping that the dragon slayer would reconsider.

"Just do it Doranbolt."stated Natsu in a commanding tone as he glared down at the image of Doranbolt.

"Yes Sir!" was his quick response before the sounds of something breaking could be heard in the background. "Now what are your orders, Commander Dragneel?" he asked back, expecting to get his next instructions right away. But instead, for the next few seconds he watched in silence as a look of complete concentration came over the dragon slayer's visage.

"Order them to step through the portal that's going to open any second now." replied Natsu in a strained voice as he stood there with his eyes closed. His current guests were about to ask him what portal, when the fire in the middle of the room started to expand and slowly formed into what looked like an enormous doorway.

"Does he honestly expect them to willingly walk through something like that?" asked Gray as they all looked at the fiery doorway that looked like it would incinerate anything stupid enough to come near it. But before anyone could respond, all of the Fairy Tail mages were shocked to see a line of people come marching out of it.

And for the next minute they watched on in pure awe as all of the Enforcers filled through the flaming portal, for all of them to then just line up like they did when they were revealed to the rest of the country. The last one to step through the portal was Doranbolt, and as soon as he did the fiery doorway instantly went back to the fire that was usually burning in the middle of the hall. But the most surprising thing, for the Enforcers at least, was Natsu staggering to his knees as Mira kept him from falling flat on his face.

"And that is exactly what I was concerned about Commander Dragneel." stated Doranbolt as he came up to the dragon slayer with a disappointed expression.

"How exactly do you expect me to keep improving if I don't push myself every now and then?" he asked with one of his signature grins coming over his face as he looked up at the teleportation mage before him.

"Maybe by doing something that doesn't require so much magic power that even a Wizard Saint would have trouble doing the same." replied Doranbolt as he shook his head at his superior.

"I'm going to have to agree with him on that one Natsu." said Mira as she looked at him with a stern glare.

"You two worry too much." he said while standing back up and disconnecting from Mira, even though it was clear that she didn't want to. "And since I knew that it was going to be a little taxing on me, I decided to ask if some of the wyverns would be willing to help me out." he continued to say as he got to a clearing in the hall, which just so happened to have quite a few fire wyverns looking down at him from the rafters. Before any of them could even so much as get a word out, he was engulfed by at least ten different streams of fire courtesy of the wyverns surrounding him.

"Why does he always have to make a big show out of everything he does?" asked Gray with a happy grin spread clearly across his face.

"He really wouldn't be Natsu if he didn't." chimed in Happy, causing the members of Fairy Tail to slightly jump at his unexpected return.

"What's going on?" asked Chelia as she and Wendy looked at the epicenter of the Wyvern's combined attack. It only took the younger dragon slayer a second to realize exactly what was happening, which meant that she could focus on their new visitors.

"I think a better question to ask is why are all of the Enforcers standing so still?" she asked as she tilted her head to the left as she started to inspect them.

"It's because they are all now starting to feel the effects of teleporting all the way across the country in an instant." answered Natsu, now no longer being fed a ridiculous amount of fire like he was just a few seconds ago.

"Do you mean they are stuck like that rather than getting motion sickness like the rest of us?" asked Lucy, wishing that she could have had that instead of experiencing what they did after teleporting there.

"Nope, they actually got it a little worse than all of you did." he replied to their surprise. "At ease Enforcers!" he shouted out, only for most of the Enforcers to instantly fall to their knees while also taking off their helmets and looking as if they might hurl into them any second now.

"You've got to be kidding me, you've got them so well trained to not even break formation in a situation like that?" asked Erza in disbelief, because even she had to take a quick break after their little trip.

"Compared to what he put them through, a little motion sickness is nothing." replied Doranbolt as he chuckled while watching his troops roll around in discomfort.

"I don't even want to know what Flame Brain did to them if that is nothing by comparison." stated Gray as he and the rest of them watched most of the Enforcers quickly recover and fall back into formation.

"It was definitely worth it in the end." responded Savage before walking past him and heading to the position right in front of her troops.

"I bet it was." said Chelia with a wishful look coming over her face. "But do you guys always have to wear those uniforms?" she then asked with a slightly confused expression. And sure enough, all of the enforcers except for Savage were in their uniforms.

"Some of us find them to be extremely comfy, and they also don't look half bad if you ask me." stated Asura with a smirk on display for all of them to see.

"You're just lazy." declared Luis as he looked over at his fellow Captain, which only got the water dragon slayer to shrug his shoulders.

"To answer your question Chelia, no they don't have to but considering I had no idea what our wise Commander had in store for all of us. I thought that it would probably be for the best if they were ready for a fight." answered Doranbolt with a little smirk.

"I was hoping that you'd do that, because now I can give a tour of our soon to be headquarters without needing to repeat myself." stated Natsu as he did a few hand gestures. Gestures that apparently told all of the Enforcers to put on their helmets and form up into a really long line. "Let's get this show on the road!" he then shouted out in excitement as he turned away from all of them and headed towards one of the large doors on the sides of the hall.

"I really don't see how that is going to change anything." whispered Juvia to the other Fairy Tail mages who were just as lost as she was.

"Oh right, you guys don't know about the communication lacrimas built into their helmets do you?" he asked as he quickly came to a stop. "Well since none of you guys have a helmet I would suggest you don't fall behind." he finished with a little smirk as he and Mira started to walk away from them.

"He's not joking about that." giggled Mira as she looked back at her fellow guild members with a bright smile.

"It's got to be better than just wandering around this place with no clue at all." stated Gray as he and Juvia followed after the two, with the rest quickly following their lead.

And for the next hour and a half Natsu lead them through the enormous castle. He surprisingly knew quite a bit about what all of the rooms used to be, but even more surprising then that was that he actually had his own plans for them. Like one of the biggest rooms, except for the main hall, being turned into their new training grounds which sounded like it would be even more extensive than their current one.

All of his plans pretty much consisted of him adapting a room to fit some other purpose that they would eventually need in the future. Purposes such as creating individual rooms for each and every Enforcer while making a lot more since he had a feeling that they would be getting more recruits after the Grand Magic Games. Honestly he didn't think that he would need anymore, but knowing the Council it was a safe bet that they would want more of his impressive troops on the way.

By the time that the tour was getting towards its end, they could see that all of the essentials were going to be covered in his plans for the place. But once again the Fairy Tail mages were caught off guard by some of the other things that he had planned for the place. Like laboratories for his troops to do research in, or the already surprisingly large library that he was setting up. And it didn't even stop at that, he had sections set aside for all sorts of other skills like blacksmithing and tailoring just to name two.

"Are we done Commander Dragneel?" asked Cyrus in a bored tone. He along with the rest of the Captains were right next to Natsu as he gave the tour, which also allowed some of them to get better acquainted with his former guild members. This of course was at first a little awkward for some of them, but by the end of it they were having their own small conversations while still listening in on the dragon slayer's plan for the place.

"Pretty much." answered Natsu as he came to a stop. "So if any of you feel like going out and exploring on your own now is the time. Oh, but remember that if you run into a wyvern that is acting hostile to you then you're not meant to be there." he said with a little chuckle.

"Can we fight them?" asked Toshi with an excited smirk coming over his face.

"No, but there are some wyverns in our soon to be training area that are up for training with anyone willing." he replied as he went back to walking with Mira holding onto his right arm.

"Who in their right mind would want to do something like that?" asked Lucy in a scared tone as she thought back to when the group of the wyverns were growling at them after they first arrived.

"It would appear that most of them would." said Erza while gesturing to the almost nonexistent line of Enforcers behind them. "Even Captain Cyrus and Captain Toshi seem to have taken him up on that offer." she finished as their smaller group continued to follow after Natsu.

"Captain Cyrus is more than likely on his own right now." stated Savage with a slight frown flashing across her face before it went back to her usual stern one.

"Juvia would like to know why you think that." said the water mage while happily holding onto Gray's arm with a bright smile that never seemed to leave her face anymore.

"It's because that guy doesn't like large crowds." answered Luis with his hands behind his head as he continued to admire the high ceilings of their new headquarters.

"Or even small ones for what it's worth." chimed in Asura with a frustrated look coming over his expression. "No matter how hard we try to get him to open up to us he still keeps us at an arm's length away, the only one he seems to really talk with is Commander Dragneel and Major Doranbolt." he said before starting to whistle a cheery tune.

"You guys sure know how to pick 'em." stated Gray in a sarcastic tone as he looked to the front of their group where the two highest ranking Enforcers were located.

"Whatever you say stripper." replied Natsu before he went back to quietly chatting with Mira.

"You Fairy Tail mages of all people should know that powerful mages can be hidden in all sorts of strange and odd individuals." commented Doranbolt as he fell back from the couple upfront so he could converse with the rest of them better.

"And we do, but I'm just kind of surprised that someone as antisocial as him appears to be as capable of staying that way with the rest of you." he replied while nodding towards the whistling water dragon slayer. Who seemed to be in his own world at the moment, but his fellow Enforcers knew better than to believe that.

"Like Asura said before, we've tried to get him to open up to us but so far that's yielded absolutely nothing." stated Savage as their little group found themselves back in the main hall of the castle.

"Did you guys ever think that he might just need more time?" inquired Erza; even though she knew from personal experience that somethings didn't get better with more time. In her case, telling the guild only got harder with each passing day, which went to the point that she was determined to settle that whole mess on her own and try to not get any of them involved. But of course that didn't go how she planned, luckily her team didn't care and fought by her side that day, none more so than a certain pink haired dragon slayer.

"Erza's right, it took Gajeel a while to open up to the rest of us." stated Lucy with a bright smile. "Actually he's still opening up if I'm going to be completely honest." she finished with a little smirk.

"Do you guys really want to know why Cyrus has a hard time opening up to people?" asked Natsu while standing with Mira at his side as the two of them stood on the ledge looking out over the waterfall right next to the castle.

"If it would help us understand him then of course we would." answered Savage before anyone else could respond.

"Are you sure it's okay to tell us all of this Natsu?" asked Mira as she looked up at him with a concerned look.

"Why wouldn't it be, after me and Cyrus started to converse on a regular basis he said I could let the rest know about his past whenever I wanted to." he replied with one of his toothy grins.

"Then why are you waiting until just now to tell us?" asked Savage as she gave him an intimidating glare that he just brushed off.

"Because up until now you've all been training pretty much twenty four-seven, also I didn't really see the need to since he seems completely fine how things are right now." he answered while shrugging his shoulders and going back to looking out at the vast ocean before them. "But now that I know it's bothering others I think it's time to explain what Cyrus has been put through." he said as a frown slowly formed on his lips.

"Well are you going to keep talking?" asked Lucy in an impatient tone after they stood there in silence for a whole minute.

"Just trying to figure out the best way to explain all of this to you guys, and if I should even share it to people outside of the Enforcers." replied Natsu to the shock of pretty much the entire group.

"It can't really be that bad, can it Natsu-nii?" asked Wendy as she looked up at him questioningly.

"That really depends, what I'm about to tell all of you is something that many people would definitely try to take advantage of." he stated, only for all of the people gathered that weren't Enforcers to look slightly hurt that he apparently thought they would be one of those people. "Not that any of you would do that, but I have to be concerned about it eventually being told to someone else after this. And then the next thing I know the entire country knows and every scumbag is now trying to figure out how they can get it for themselves." he explained while running a hand through his hair.

"I promise on my honor as a member of Lamia Scale that I won't tell another soul." stated Chelia while giving him a determined look that brought a slight grin to his lips. A grin that became a full on one as the rest of the non-Enforcers made similar promises to him.

"Fine, you guys must really want to know." he said with a little chuckle.

"Of course we do Natsu, if whatever you're going to tell us about Cyrus is important enough for you to be that worried about him it has to be something good." said Mira with a twinkle in her eye, probably due to her always being the person everyone went to for some good gossip at Fairy Tail.

"He's died a total of four times so far." he replied with a completely serious expression, which he knew he definitely needed to have by all of the incredulous looks he got in return.

"Is that some kind of stupid joke of yours Flame Brain?" asked Gray only for the pink haired man to shake his head no.

"There's no way that he's died four times, wait just a minute, what kind of deaths are we talking about here?" inquired Asura now extremely interested in the conversation he used to be pretending he wasn't interested in the slightest.

"The kinds of deaths that you don't come back from." was the dragon slayer's cryptic reply.

"Can you give us an example?" asked Cheila since due to her magic she had a really good idea of what your average mage could survive. The same thing could be said for Wendy, but unlike the rest of them she didn't really want to know more since she knew Natsu wouldn't joke about something like this.

"Having your throat sliced or being stabbed in the heart usually does the trick." he responded while still looking at the rest of them with a serious expression.

"Then how is he still alive?" asked Savage, who has seen firsthand that even mages can't heal a heart that's been run through.

"He's still with us because of his magic." replied Natsu; honestly he should have known that telling them just that wouldn't have been enough to clear it up for all of them.

"So the cold bastard was actually raised by a real god damn phoenix." said Luis before letting out a long whistle. "And here I thought he only said that to try and be like some of the dragon slayers out there." he continued to say while shaking his head.

"Are you saying that Cyrus can come back to life just like phoenixes are rumored to?" asked Lucy while intently looking at the dragon slayer for any of his usual hints of deception. Which she didn't see any of, but considering what has happened between them over the last year she doesn't really know if she could ever really tell when he was lying to them.

"That he can, but unfortunately it comes with some drawbacks." he answered while turning away from all of them since it was clear that they believed him now.

"What in the world could possibly be bad about not being able to die?" inquired Asura as he looked at the back of his fellow dragon slayer and commanding officer.

"Who said that he can't die?" he asked back while looking over his shoulder at all of them. "If that was indeed the case then shouldn't there be tons of Phoenixes all over the world?" he continued to say while going back to gazing out the terrace of his main hall. "There is always some sort of weakness that can be exploited, and because of that dragons and phoenixes are now a thing of the past. And soon even the remnants of their magic will fade away into history and possibly even become myth after that." he finished with a sad smile.

"That's not going to happen Natsu, you, Cyrus and the other slayers will pass it on to someone else." stated Mira as she got in front of him and gave him a determined look directly in the eyes. "For all we know it could possibly be passed down to all of your children, which would mean that there will be a lot of them running around in a few years." she said only to then notice the shocked looks everyone but Natsu were giving her at the moment. It took her just a second to realize how what she just said could be interpreted in a completely different way than she intended it to.

"I'm not saying that you're going to be having tons of kids anytime soon, what I meant to say was that all of the kids of the different slayers out there could carry on the magic." she frantically explained as a slight blush came over her face as she wished she could disappear right then.

"I've always wanted to have a big family of my own." whispered Natsu just loud enough for the ashen haired beauty before him to barely hear it. This caused Mira to instantly stop freaking out and look up at him with a bright smile, since she also wanted to have a large family once she finally settled down with someone.

"So what are some of those drawbacks you've yet to mention, other than him still being able to die of course?" asked Erza after clearing her throat to get everyone's attention that used to be on the embarrassed barmaid just seconds ago.

"I'd actually consider that a positive." he mumbled to all of their shock, which he instantly saw from all of their confused looks that he would once again need to explain himself. "Have any of you thought what it would actually be like to never die, and I'm referring to how that would play out later on in life. When all of your friends eventually pass away and you're left all alone only to make new friends that you know are going to eventually die while you don't. That alone would make me never want to have that ability or whatever you want to call it." he explained to them as realization slowly spread across their little group.

"Shit, I never really thought about it that way, but what is even more surprising to me is that apparently you have." stated Gray with a bewildered look plastered across his face.

"Let's just say that I've run into someone else that probably has the same problem, well not really, his problem is way worse if what I've uncovered about him is indeed true." he said as a flame of determination sprung up in the back of his onyx eyes, only for them to quickly disappear a second later. "But that is something I'll have to deal with later on." he stated more to himself than to any of them.

"Natsu?" said Mira as she looked up at him with concern since she could tell that he wasn't telling them something that he probably should have.

"Don't worry about it Mira, and another drawback of Cyrus's magic would be that he remembers every second of each of his deaths vividly. I don't care who you are, but that is something that will eventually affect even the strongest of mages out there." he said while slightly glaring at all of them, just asking for one of them to disagree with him. "If those aren't enough to make you have second thoughts about coming back to life after a fatal wound; then there is also the excruciating process of his body stitching itself back together a few hours later in a usually desolate spot in the middle of nowhere." he finished with a frown.

"So you're saying that he's awake while his body is healing itself?" asked Wendy as she started to imagine how painful that would be considering that the wounds being healed were enough to cause his death. Natsu didn't really feel like he needed to answer that out loud so he instead decided to nod his head yes.

"Damn, that really explains why he is the way he is right now." said Luis with a slightly sad expression on his usually smug face.

"And why he hasn't really tried to get to know any of us any better." stated Savage as she also had a similar expression to that of the shadow make mage.

"Except for Commander Dragneel and Major Doranbolt that is." pointed out Asura, whose visage was like the other two Captains of the Enforcers.

"Hey, he only opened up to me thanks to this guy constantly pestering him to." replied Doranbolt as he nodded in the direction of the pink haired dragon slayer.

"And we don't really need to question how Natsu of all people got Cyrus to open up to him, since that is just one of the many things that makes him an extraordinary person." said Mira with one of her brightest smiles, that faltered for just a second when she thought she saw the dragon slayer flinch. But it must have been her imagination since he was then giving her one of his toothy grins that she missed so much over the past few months.

"You said that he can actually die, does that mean he has a certain amount of lives to go through?" inquired Cheila, who didn't want to ruin the slightly better atmosphere they had just gotten. But it had been bugging her since he mentioned it earlier but never went further into detail.

"That's something that both of us really don't know, which is kind of a good thing otherwise who knows how reckless he might become in his fights later on. What we do know is that Dramocis's last moments were more than likely passing on or unlocking this part of his magic." answered Natsu as he turned to look at Wendy's best friend, other than her Exceed partner that is.

"Who's Dramocis?" asked Lucy since it was the first time her or the rest of them had heard that name.

"That's the name of his phoenix." replied the god slayer with a frown since she knew that most of the other slayers saw each of their mythical beasts as a parent.

"Cyrus was visiting one of the local villages that he and Dramocis lived near that fateful day, when on his way home he heard some screaming in the distance. And upon investigating the source of the commotion he found some dark mages attacking some travelers. He was driven into a frenzy at the sight of them since they belonged to the same guild that killed his real family a few years earlier." explained the fire dragons slayer as they all waited in absolute silence to hear more from him. "Given his young age he didn't really stand a chance against six fully grown and well trained dark mages, which unfortunately resulted in his first death. One of the last things he saw before passing on was Dramocis swooping down and freezing all of the dark mages in an instant. The next thing he knew he woke up screaming out in pain as his body knitted itself back together, with Dramocis lying right next to him with one final smile that would forever be burned into his memory." he finished with a sad smile spread across his mug.

"He got to say goodbye to Dramocis didn't he?" asked Happy, looking like he was holding back some tears that were threatening to come out.

"Unfortunately he didn't, but Cyrus told me that he could tell from Dramocis's smile and how he had his wings wrapped around him protectively that he truly cared about him and would more than likely do it all again." he answered with a sad smile as he thought back to his final moments with Igneel.

"Do any of you slayers have a happy origin story?" inquired Savage, which caused most of them to look at her in disbelief. "What, it's not like I'm the only one that has ever wondered that? Each one of you suffered a lot in your early years and it seems a little too coincidental to me." she stated while looking at all of the different slayers with an inquisitive look.

"Are you suggesting that in order to have a slaying type of magic you need to suffer in some way?" asked Erza as she gave the other sword mistress a stern look.

"Maybe, it's just a thought." she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I didn't go through anything like that to get my magic." chimed in Cheila, getting all of the attention directed her way.

"How did you get your magic anyways?" asked Carla from her spot on Wendy's shoulder.

"I learned it from a book that Gran Doma gave me during my studies at the academy." she replied with a fond smile slowly spreading across her face as she thought back to those days.

"You really are something else if you were able to learn that kind of magic just from a book." stated Natsu as he gave her one of his signature grins, causing the poor girl to become slightly flustered by the complement. "And yes we slayers have been through some hard times, but we've persevered and because of that we've become stronger. Something that I'm certain each of us will continue to do in the future, but I think it's about time to start getting ready for the night." he said to the confusion of the group.

"Natsu, it's still bright out." stated Mira as she gestured to the setting sun.

"That it is, but back in Crocus it's been dark for quite a while." he explained with a smug grin spread across his face.

"Are we going to be spending the night here or heading back?" asked Erza, ready to take charge of the situation like she usually would in a situation like this. "Because if we stay here we've got a lot of work to do before we can set up camp." she finished while already coming up with a plan of who would do what.

"I was going to suggest that we just stay here." he replied with a little chuckle. "But as for getting the place ready, let's just say that the Enforcers are prepared for roughing it."

"I really don't like the sound of that." mumbled Lucy as she imagined all of them sleeping under the night sky with just a blanket.

"Don't worry Lucy, it's not going to be anything like you're currently imagining." chuckled the dragon slayer as he with Mira at his side headed towards one of the side entrances of the castle.

"And what exactly am I imagining?" she asked him back while glaring at the back of his skull.

"That we'd be sleeping out in the open with just a blanket, something along those lines." he replied while glancing back at the blonde that suspiciously got quiet. "You'll soon see that even though my division could easily handle something like that, I've realized that there are certain benefits to having a proper camp."

"It's about time that you realize that." stated Erza as she smiled at the dragon slayer that could only laugh at her comment.

"You were right Erza, but I think you'll be slightly surprised at how I've improved on your teachings." he said while throwing open the large doors that lead out to a nearby prairie. Well that is what used to be on the other side of the doors, but instead they now saw rows of gray tents with the Enforcer's emblem on them. These tents weren't your standard tents, oh no, just from one look you could see that they contained some sort of magic to them.

"When in the world did this happen?" asked the scarlet haired knight as she and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages looked over the large camp that seemed to just suddenly appear.

"Right after the official tour was done, some of the troops that didn't want to spar with the wyverns decided to help set up camp." answered Doranbolt with a proud smile since they did all of this without either of them ordering them to.

"That still shouldn't have been enough time for them to do all of this." she argued as she gestured to the rows of tents that looked to be perfectly aligned with each other to make a large square.

"You'd be correct Titania if this was the Council's usual group of Rune Knights. But as I'm sure you're already well aware of, we're anything but that. Commander Dragneel saw value in mages that weren't offensively oriented like he is and because of that we are capable of feats such as this and many more." he replied still having that proud grin of his as they started to walk into their camp.

"I'll say, I don't think Flame Brain ever set up a tent correctly in his entire life." stated Gray only to then realize that because of said comment Savage and Juvia were in an intense stare down with each other.

"You'd be correct about that Ice Princess, why set up a stupid tent when I'm completely fine enjoying the night sky." he replied while also raising the temperature around them by quite a noticeable amount.

"Makes sense, it's the same for me." stated Gray as frost started to spread from his location in all directions until it headed in the pink head's direction. The two of them locked eyes for a bit, causing Erza and Lucy to both grow concerned that the two were going to start fighting each other like they used to. But instead of that happening, both of them broke into laughter as they released their magic causing the temperature to go back to what it should have been the whole time.

"I hope you still don't plan on sleeping out in the open by yourself." stated Mira as she looked at him with a worried expression.

"Are you offering to keep me company?" he asked her back with a sly grin, which caused the model to start blushing up a storm. Luckily she was able to get a hold of it before any of the others noticed it, which she was hoping wouldn't be the case for Natsu when she turned the tables on him.

"What if I am Natsu, do you really think you'd be able to remain the gentleman that the rest of the country now believes you to be?" she asked him back with a sultry grin. "My nighty is pretty revealing as you already know, but since I don't have it with me right now I'll just have to go all natural." she whispered into his ear in a tone that matched her grin. Most men at this point would have either become a complete mess or fainted on the spot from a proposition like that, but luckily for her he definitely wasn't your standard man.

"If that is the case, then you'd soon realize that I've never claimed to be a gentleman." he replied in a husky tone that sent a shiver up her spine. "I'm closer to a dragon than a gentleman, and when a dragon wants something it takes it and never lets go." he finished while pulling her by the waist until she was up against him.

"That sounds like something I might be into." she said while staring back into those deep onyx eyes of his.

"Well that's enough romance for me." declared Gray as he started to pull a reluctant Juvia with him.

"But it was just getting so close to the good part." whimpered the water mage, only for Gray to whisper something into her ear. The next second the two vanished to god only knows where, but if the face Juvia made while Gray was whispering to her was any indication. Then the two of them probably didn't want to be disturbed by any of them until they needed to head back to Crocus in the morning.

"I think that it's about time for us to depart as well." said Erza with a bright smile as she and Lucy headed further into the camp with Doranbolt accompanying the two of them. The two glanced around them to realize that the rest of their group had already departed, probably to avoid seeing any more of their public display of affection for each other. Honestly neither of them really cared since both of them were happy to once again have some alone time with each other.

"So I assume you have your own tent somewhere." stated the ashen haired beauty with a mischievous grin spread across her lips.

"I do, but how about we have a quick stroll first." he suggested while picking her up bridal style and heading out of the camp before she could even respond.

"It's not really a stroll if you're carrying me Natsu." she pointed out while giving him a cute smile.

"True, but if we were just walking, neither of us would get to feel the other one as much as we are right now." he stated as Mira rested her head against his chest.

"I can't argue with that." she replied as the two of them disappeared into the surrounding trees.

End of Chapter

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading and I know that it's been way too long since I've updated this story. There's not really much for me to say about that other than life seems to always get in the way and distract me with all sorts of other things. I know that this chapter was pretty much a filler one, but I felt the need to give a little more background on some of the Captains of the Enforcers and this one was mainly about Cyrus. I also wanted to show that Natsu has honestly forgiven his old team and that things are going to slightly go back to how they were between all of them. Of course they now know that he isn't as dense as he used to pretend to be, also that he is just like the rest of them and can have his feelings hurt. Well as always feel free to leave a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Until the next Chapter

Digem Out!