Chapter 18

A little over a year has passed since Mira was recovered by Fairy Eater. During those months Lucy was officially recognised as a Wizard Saint, Oliver and Jennifer kept their promises and began to train Natsu and Gray, who had become much more powerful, then there was Mira, after a small interview with the Magic Council she was cleared of any and all charges and suspicions but was ordered to join Fairy Eater to ensure her own wellbeing.

-Fairy Eater bar area-

Mira was sat at a table with a chocolate milkshake in her hand staring up at the door to Master Lucy's office, "wow" she started "Lucy and Lord Death have been in there with councilman Varris for what? 2 days now? I wonder what they're talking about." Laxus who was sat next to her looked over to her "Fairy Tail probably" he replied, over the last 11 months he had kept his word and only left her side for as little time as possible, "I mean they did just up and disappear just after we got you back, those old farts on the council must be pulling out what little hair they have left." As he finished the guild doors opened as Gray and Oliver entered having finished their daily training, followed about 10 minutes later by Natsu and Jennifer. As the couple entered they looked around to find all the guilds members were there drinking and laughing, "huh everyone's here, how come no one's on a job?" Natsu asked as Happy landed lazily on his shoulder, "they're not allowed" replied Gray as he handed the couple the drinks he and Oliver had gotten for them, "Lucy's suspended all missions for some reason and she won't tell me why. Though she does get a somewhat devious smile on her face when I mention it." As they talked no one noticed Lucy sitting on the balcony with said devious smile across her face. Bringing two fingers to her mouth she let out a loud whistle to get everyone's attention, "alright everyone listen up" she began "as I'm sure you remember in a few days time it will be the 1 year anniversary of the day we saved Mira and Fairy Tail disappeared. During this last year you've all trained hard for the day we fight all out against Fairy Tail to free them from whoever now controls them and I cannot ignore how much stronger you've all gotten, as such in three days time, on the anniversary of Mira's return, Fairy Eater shall hold our first S-Class exams." Everyone's faces lit up with excitement and the sight of everyone so fired up brought a tear to Lucy's eye, "alright" she continued "if I call your name then step forward: Gajeel, Mira, Natsu, Gray, Kid and Stein" they all stepped forward, "you have all been chosen as I believe you are all truly worthy, now there is one more thing you need to know. Maka and Kid you will working alongside your weapon partners, they may act in human or weapon form as you see fit, Gajeel and Natsu you will be working alongside your exceeds, Stein I have been informed by Lord Death that you have a weapon partner of your own among his staff, would you like us to contact him?" "I do indeed have a partner" replied Stein, "his name is Spirit and he is one of Lord Death's 'Death Scythes', his role is to protect Death Academy and fight alongside Lord Death if needed so I cannot call him away from that. However if Maka would permit me to borrow a scythe I believe that any disadvantage I would have would be lessened if not erased entirely." Maka composed herself for a moment having flinched at the mention of the name Spirit before agreeing to loan Stein a scythe. "Good" began Lucy "which leaves only you Gray love, is there anyone you'd like to partner with? The only conditions are they must be one of us or someone with a close connection with this guild and it can't be one of the S-Class." Gray thought for a moment, remembering back to the old days in Fairy Tail and after careful deliberation there was only one name that came to mind, "Luce" he started "back in the old days there was someone who promised to partner with me for S-Class trials but now only you could make that possible." Lucy was confused by Gray's somewhat cryptic answer until she remembered the stories people used to tell her about the old days at Fairy Tail, she out her hand on one of her keys and closed her eyes for a moment before smiling and opening them, "looks like you get your wish." A golden light formed next to Gray and from out of it stepped Loki "well it's about time man" he said as he lent on Gray's shoulder, "Lucy has already given her consent so we're good to go, it'll be just like old times….just with less picking up girls for me." "Well that's it" Lucy said as she ended the 'meeting' "all participants take the next two days to rest as you'll need your bodies and minds in peak form for these trials." Everyone proceeded to cheer and congratulate all the participants "I'm all fired up now!" exclaimed Natsu "I'm finally gonna be S-Class!" "Yeah right it's gonna be me!" replied Gray with a smirk, "Dream on ice princess! Don't think I'm gonna let you cheat your way through just cos your Lucy's boy toy" Natsu shouted with a devious smile of his own showing how much he wanted to rile Gray up. Oblivious to this Gray let his anger rise "what was that charcoal balls!?" Before Natsu could answer he was struck in the chest by a small ball of silvery magic that forced him down with great force, unsurprisingly it turned out to be Lucy that fired it as she descended the stairs, her right eye twitching out of annoyance. When the dust from the blast cleared they found Natsu was in the centre of a foot deep crater, Jennifer stepped into it to check if he was still alive "ya know love, if you want to push Gray's buttons ya might want to make sure the master isn't around or she might just kill you next time" she said giggling. Thanks to her dragon hearing she was able to make out the pained mumbles that was Natsu's reply, she turned to Lucy and said while trying to contain her giggles "he's saying he's very sorry repeatedly, also "ow ow ow" repeatedly and something about you being scarier than Erza without Strawberry cake." Hearing this Lucy stopped in her tracks, covered her mouth quickly with her hands and began to shake strangely, after a few seconds she could no longer contain it and burst out in a fit of laughter along with several other members of the guild including Erza herself.

Excusing herself and Natsu from the celebration that was now back in full swing, Jennifer carried Natsu, with Happy's help, back to the little house they now shared about 10 minutes away from the guild. Having re-gained enough composure to walk on his own just as they arrived Natsu produced they keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, before making straight for their comfortable sofa. "Wow Lucy's really scary, you ok Natsu?" Happy asked as he flew over to the chair next to the sofa, "yea I'm ok little buddy" Natsu replied "but man I forgot how much of a punch Lucy packs." Still struggling to contain her giggles Jennifer leaned on the door frame and said "well duh! She's a Wizard Saint love! They wouldn't have given her the tittle if she was weak would they?" Before his face was able to reveal how dumfounded he was by the obvious realisation Jennifer grabbed his hand, pulled him up gently and spoke softly "come on pyro boy, you've got a big trial coming up so let get you to bed," from next to them came a soft yawn from the little blue exceed, "Looks like someone else is a bit tired too" Natsu said while scratching Happy's head, receiving a purr of contentment in return. Giving off another yawn Happy summoned his wings and slowly flew towards the hammock he got Natsu to set up in their living room saying "G'night Natsu, G'night Jennifer" as he did, "Good night Happy" they both replied as they ascended the stairs to their room hand in hand. Upon entering their bedroom Natsu removed his scarf and waistcoat and sat on the edge of their king sized bed, Jennifer gave him a small peck on the cheek and retreated into their en suite bathroom and closed the door to have a quick shower before bed. Not long after Natsu heard the sound of the water in the shower, he rose from his position and went over to the small closet that had claimed for himself (as Jennifer had so many clothes she needed a room all to herself to store them all), crouching he moved the carpet and moved a small square piece of the floor boards to reveal a small compartment containing a small black wooden box. Natsu took the box out and opened it, within were numerous photos of Fairy Tail, Team Natsu, the other Fairy Tail members from before they started becoming nasty, Fairy eater, Fairy Eater's members and of course Natsu and Jennifer. There were also several items Natsu had received as a reward for jobs and many other items that Natsu held dear to him, one item in particular caught his attention as he picked it up. It was a small blue velvet ring box, opening it his eyes were met with the sight of a platinum ring with a large ruby set perfectly in the centre surrounded his small, perfectly cut diamonds and flanked either side by a sapphire. As he gazed at the ruby he could see that within the ruby was swirling energy that looked an eternal flame caught in perfect red glass, "soon" he quietly said out loud "the time will come soon," he closed the ring box and placed it carefully back into the box of memories before replacing it in the compartment it came from and re-covering it. A little while later Jennifer left the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around her incredible figure, allowing the towel to pool at her feet she stood before Natsu completely naked causing him to stare wide eyed and open mouthed like a teenager looking at their first naked woman. "Well I guess you like what you see huh pyro boy?" she asked seductively, "erm….I….well…..I….yes….yes…just yes!" Natsu replied with a stutter, his mind so overcome with primal desire that he could barely string two words together. She sashayed over to him and locked her lips with him breaking every last ounce of control he had left over his primal dragon instincts, within seconds his remaining clothes were discarded on the floor of their room and the two were engaged in truly passionate love making that, thanks to both of their incredible dragon stamina's, promised to last long into the night.

Meanwhile, a couple of towns away from Death City, which given its location is many miles away, a dark figure was kneeling on a roof. Suddenly he vanished, appearing a few roofs away a moment later before vanishing again and appearing in the shadows of an alleyway a little further away. "Hmm" he whispered seemingly to himself, "a Fairy Tailer here and him of all people too, this could get interesting. We may have to tell Lord Death about this, his new friends might be getting a visitor soon," "right" said a female voice from somewhere, "but what should we do now? Should we get his attention or just observe?" "Not long ago I would've said let him know we're here straight away, but for now let's stick to the shadows and keep an eye on our newest guest." Shifting slightly so that he could get a slightly better view of his target the dark figure's right arm entered into a patch of light revealing a muscular arm with a large pale 5 point star shaped mark at the very top just before the shoulder. Covering his hand was a dark grey / black glove with a white stripe could across the top of his hand with a small star in the centre of the stripe. Then, within the blink of an eye, the figure was gone, leaving no trace that he had ever been there in the first place.