I do not own Fairy Tail.

Natsu sighed. He really, really wasn't fond of transportation. This stupid train had been going for over an hour now. "Soon..." he muttered. Soon his torture would be over, and he would arrive in the port town of Hargeon.

He had originally taken this train because he had been passed a rumour that a Salamander was in Hargeon. While he seriously doubted that Igneel, his father, was actually in the port town, he decided that it couldn't hurt to check it out. Maybe this Salamander would know a thing or two.

Finally, mercifully, the train came to a stop. Natsu sprang out of the death trap as quickly as he possibly could. No way was he staying on there for any longer than necessary. Screw that noise.

"Now... to find me a Salamander." Anyone listening in would have trembled at the cold tone he used. Stumbling wearily through the streets, Natsu kept his ears open for anyone talking about Salamander. After an hourlong wander, he finally caught a snippet of conversation that gave him some information.

"Yeah, Salamander's in the square back over there!"

His head whipped around to see two girls clutching each others arms and talking excitedly. One of them was pointing back the direction he had just come from. He walked up to them before they could be on their way and interrupted them as politely as he could.

"Excuse me, but did you say that you knew where that Salamander was?"

Both of the girls turned to face him, frustration evident in their glares. Then their eyes opened wide as they recognised the man standing before them.

"Oh... my... God... ARE YOU NATSU DRAGNEEL?!" The two girls screamed in unison while Natsu simply scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable, but grinning regardless.

"Yeah, that's me. Hey, you couldn't possibly point me towards the square that Salamander guy was, could you?"

The girls sprang on the opportunity, each taking one of his hands and squealing. "We'll take you right there!" They declared joyously.

Being essentially frog-marched through the streets by fangirls was definitely not how Natsu saw this day going. Soon enough, the torture was over, as they reached the square in question. Natsu froze on the spot. That face...

Standing in the middle of the crowd of women before him was a tall man, wearing a purple cape and sporting short purple hair. A tattoo sat lazily above his right eye. On the hand he currently had raised to his cheek were two rings, one of which Natsu recognised as a Charm spell. There was no doubt in his mind as to who the man was.

The man glanced around this way and that way, revelling at how easily he had captured the attentions of all these women. They would surely fetch a fine price in Bosco! However, his joyful thoughts crashed and burned when a harsh voice called out over the crowd.

"Bora the Prominence, formerly of Titan Nose, you are hereby under arrest. Please surrender peacefully, and follow me to the Rune Knight outpost."

The crowd parted as a wild-looking pink haired man stepped forward. A heavy scowl fell upon Bora's face, and silence rippled back into the crowd.

"Who the hell do you think you are, pinky? I'm the Salamander, not this Bora fellow you just spouted about. You can't arrest me, I haven't done anything wrong!"

A hearty laugh came from the pinkster. Bora gave a low growl. Obviously this man knew him from his wanted poster, but he had hoped his bluff might have fooled him. Drawing himself up to his full height, he struck an imposing figure and he placed his fingers together, ready to attack with a click of his fingers.

"Alright, clearly that isn't flying, but I don't want to hurt you kid, so if you turn around and walk away, I'll leave this town and we can both forget this ever happened, got it?"

The 'kid' smiled at him, a creepy smile that definitely did not put him at ease.

"I told you, Bora. You're under arrest, or weren't you listening? You ARE coming with me, like it or not."

His tone turned fiercely authoritative towards the end of that sentence, and Bora flinched back ever so slightly. It wasn't missed by Natsu though, who only grinned wider. Now that Bora was backed into a corner, figuratively, he would attack and Natsu could take him down without feeling guilty.

"Damn you, kid! Eat this! Prominence Typhoon!" He clicked his readied fingers and a whirl of purple fire engulfed the pink haired man. Before Bora even had time to gloat that his opponent had been all talk, he found himself introduced quite painfully to the cobblestone road. Within a second, his hands were forced together and cuffs snapped around his wrists. As his magic was suddenly cut off, the fire dissappeared and the Charm spell over the women broke.

The women came to their senses fairly quickly, and began to look around angrily for the man they'd been tricked by. He was already gone.

Elsewhere in the city, Natsu was marching his new prisoner towards the Rune Knight outpost in Hargeon. He moved at a very quick pace, keeping the man just off balance, barely able to keep his feet under him.

Knocking once on the door, Natsu opened it and let himself in.

"Hiya Glen, I've got a prisoner for you. Bora the Prominence, slave trader, user of banned Charm magic."

A Rune Knight who, for some reason, had swapped his regulation helmet for a ten-gallon cowboy hat, looked up from his desk.

"Well howdy, Natsu, long time no see. You've been in Crocus, I heard."

Natsu grinned and answered in a tone that reminded Bora of a child in a candy store.

"Yeah, it was awesome! There were so many different restaurants with different foods! Aw, man, you shoulda been there!"

"Hey, I'd love to come next time. I've got long service leave for a month at the end of the year, maybe we can do some travelling? Anyway, business first. Bora the Prominence, you say?" A nod from Natsu. "Ok, do you have his re... ah, thank you, the request. Alright, sit him down over there."

Bora was then rather forcefully directed into the small holding cell beside the desk.

"Here's your reward, buddy, 400'000 Jewel."

Natsu shook his head and pushed the money back across the desk. "I'm good."

Bora's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Had... had a frigging bounty hunter just refused a reward?!

Then the cowboy man, Glen, chuckled.

"Aw, shucks, that's right. Wizard Saints don't need cash for petty clowns like this guy. Alright, I'll see you around Natsu. Dinner table at mine has room for one more tonight!"

Natsu was halfway out the door already, but he stopped and waved while he answered.

"Thanks Glen, but I'll pass. I've got to get back to Magnolia tonight or there'll be hell to pay from the Master. I will take you up on that travelling though. Later!"

It quieted down pretty quick in the outpost once Natsu had left. After all, the only ones in the room were the shocked Bora, who couldn't believe that he had been captured by a Wizard Saint, and Glen.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Glen spoke without looking up from his paperwork.

"You know, Bora, you are real lucky that you caught him in a good mood. Last guy he brought in here tried bad-mouthing him a whole bunch. Had to spend six months in hospital before he went to prison."

"Ugh, God damn it." Natsu groaned, still feeling nauseous from his train ride back to Magnolia. It was already fairly dark, with only a few fleeting rays of light peeking over the horizon. He trudged through the streets towards the only building that he cared about in the city, Fairy Tail.

It took an eternity (five minutes) to reach the doors, and he pushed them open slowly, to avoid attracting attention.

Too late.

The moment the door opened, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around him, picking him up, before said arms flung him forward, where he landed headfirst in a pillar.

Standing and shaking off the impact, he quickly retreated to the second floor where his old rival, Gray, wouldn't follow. Even the popsicle wasn't stupid enough to risk the wrath of the Master. Sitting in his usual corner, which Natsu referred to as the Drinking Corner, was Laxus, the grandson of the Master and one of the strongest wizards in the guild. Both of them, Natsu and Laxus, were SS-class mages, along with another member who wasn't in town right now.

Upon Natsu's appearance on the top floor, Laxus looked up from his drinking and nodded curtly. Even though almost no one could possibly see the two of them up here, Laxus never showed any affection towards Natsu in the guild.

"Is the Master in, Laxus?" Natsu asked softly. Receiving another nod, he walked along the balcony to the office door.

"Master, it's me. I'm back."

For a minute, there was silence. A gruff voice finally called out "Enter!".

Natsu pushed the door open and stepped over the threshold. He bowed his head respectfully to the old man sitting at the desk at the far end of the room.

"Ah, nice to see someone here has some manners!" Makarov Dreyar chuckled, a smile in his eyes. Natsu lifted his head and joined the Master's mirth. "Alright my boy, tell me about your little trip. I'm sure you have plenty to report!"

Natsu shook his head. "Actually Master, there isn't really that much to tell. There was no Salamander at all, just Bora the Prominence. You remember the wanted poster going up, oh, eight months ago? He was pathetic. I took him into the Rune Knight outpost in Hargeon and came back here. And because it matters to you, no damage."

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "To Bora, or to the town?"

Natsu giggled, a very peculiar sound. "Both."

Sighing, as one his age was want to do, Makarov waved a hand at Natsu, dismissing him. Makarov watched him until the door was almost closed before grinning. Waiting a few minutes to account for Natsu's superhuman hearing, he muttered "At least that one isn't costing the guild thousands of Jewel."

The Fairy Tail guild was one of jubilation, celebration and exploration. Currently, most of the members were jubilantly celebrating and exploring a variety of alcoholic beverages. Go figure.

Not joining in on the 'fun' was Natsu Dragneel. Usually he didn't mind sitting around, having a few drinks and talking with all of his guildmates, but tonight he just felt tired. Thus, he stayed in his place on the sceond floor, sleepily scratching the Fairy Tail emblem into the wood of the table with a fingernail.

Of course, there is never any rest for the wicked. A knock came at the door, which was unusual. Naturally, since most of the guild was busy being drunk and disorderly, Natsu and Laxus were the only two to hear the knock, with Natsu being the only one to care.

Sighing in a manner that was eerily similar to Makarov, he rose stiffly from his seat and made his way down the stairs, and to the doors.

Opening the doors, the last thing he expected to see was a young woman with a whip of all things on her hip. 'Kinky' he thought, before shaking away the perverted thoughts, for which he had Gildarts to thank.

"Excuse me, but this is the Fairy Tail guild, right?"

At least she was polite.

Natsu grinned. "Yep! This is Fairy Tail. Don't mind the noise, they're busy celebrating... something. I'm not even sure what. Come on in!"

He grandiously swept one arm around, ushering her inside. She giggled and stepped inside. She smelt peculiar, a mix of vanilla and excitement and nervousness. Thankfully, he had learned a long time ago not to comment on anyones scent, especially a woman's.

He led her up to the bar and called out to Mirajane.

"Hey, Mira, do me a favour would you? I'm pretty sure this young lady wants to join Fairy Tail, can you look after her while I go get the Master?"

The new girl nearly exploded at meeting Mirajane, which of course caused Natsu to chuckle. It seemed that Mira had fans even among the female population. Somehow, he had never considered that they might look up to her.

"So, what's your name?" The white haired bartender asked the new girl, flashing her a dazzling smile. She always enjoyed meeting her fans, but she wasn't so selfish as to make the conversation about her.

"Oh, I'm Lucy! I'm so excited to be here, meeting you! I mean, I'm actually in the Fairy Tail guild hall!" The golden-blonde girl jumped on the spot, bubbling with enthusiasm. Her enthusaism was short-lived, however, as a table flew right past her face, before smacking Mirajane flat in the face.

Lucy let out a peculiar 'eep' of surprise and shock. It took her a moment to realise, but the guild had suddenly gone silent. She could hear some comments being whispered between people in the hall, and she didn't at all like where they were going.

"Oh shit, he's done it now!"

"He hit Mira? Dude, he's dead."

"Gray... it was nice knowing you."

The man she supposed must be Gray looked around frantically at everyone. "Ah shit, shit shit!"

The table that had smacked Mira was now lying on the floor. A look that would probably scare Death himself adorned her beautiful face, and Gray seemed to be fixed to the spot. Lucy was very glad that the glare wasn't directed at her.

Very quietly, Mira hissed out something Lucy didn't recognise. "Fullbuster..."

Suddenly, Gray regained his senses and sprinted as fast as he could for the doors of the guild. He almost made it, too. Seriously, when he landed face first on the floor, he was mere centimetres from the threshold. A pair of black boots were right in front of him, and he looked up slowly to find one angry-looking Natsu staring down at him.

"Oh h-hey Natsu, I d-didn't s-see you th-there!"

Natsu didn't reply, he merely pointed back towards the bartender. Gray swallowed his pride and pulled himself up. As much as he hated listening to the 'flame-brain', he knew that he had messed up.

After Gray's expansive and overly dramatic apology, and Mira's even more dramatic response, things returned to the rowdy state they had been in, with the exception of one sulking ice mage.

Natsu walked back to the bar, sitting down beside Lucy. Mira was already back to her usual self, at least outwardly. Natsu flashed a quick glance, and she smiled lightly. Satisfied, he turned back to the new girl, who he still hadn't learned the name of.

"So, um..."

"Lucy"

"Lucy. Do you mind telling me what kind of magic you use? The Master told me he'll be happy to accept you based on my judgement."

The girl looked slightly uncomfortable, she had assumed there would be some kind of interview, but she hadn't really prepared and besides, she had expected it to be more private. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, too nervous to speak. Then she finally drew in a deep breath and spoke in a quiet voice.

"I'm a Celestial mage, I have contracts with a couple of different Celestial Spirits, including three of the Zodiac Spirits."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. She flinched, thinking that maybe she wasn't good enough after all.

"Alright, you're in! Congratulations, and welcome to Fairy Tail! Now, where would you like your guild mark?"

She raised her hand to sit on the bartop and said "Here. In pink please."

Pulling a stamp from... somewhere... Natsu pressed it to her hand, and with a light popping sound, the guild emblem appeared on her hand.

Groans were echoing around the guild. Thanks to last nights impromptu party, most of Fairy Tail's mages were suffering from hangovers. The celebration of nothing in particular had turned into a celebration of their new member, and so had lasted much longer than expected.

Said new member, Lucy, was sitting quietly at a table with the man called Gray Fullbuster, as his table seemed the least hungover. His habit of removing items of clothing without realising was definitely creepy, but seeing as he couldn't help it, she decided to just ignore it.

Also at the table was a huge white haired man who had introduced himself as "A real MAN!". Gray told her he was Elfman Strauss, Mira's younger brother. There was a woman at the table too, but she didn't really join the conversation. That might have had something to do with the enormous amount of alcohol she was busy consuming.

"That's Cana, she's the heaviest drinker in the guild."

Lucy shuddered at both the sight in front of her and the memory of Gray's brief introduction. All morning, she had been keeping an eye out for Natsu, as the weird pink-haired guy had introduced himself. He had yet to show his face at the guild, but she had no idea if this was normal or not. She decided to ask Gray, but he merely became disgruntled.

"I don't know why you would care about flame-brain. Stupid prick isn't even that good, I could take him. He's lucky I go easy on him all the time."

At this remark, Elfman piped up. "You know that's not true, Gray, Natsu is a real man! He's not a Wizard Saint for nothing!"

Gray scoffed, but as he did, a small fist hit him lightly on the top of the head. A voice sweet as honey met his ears only moments later.

"You wouldn't have just been badmouthing the youngest Wizard Saint behind his back, would you Gray?"

Turning slowly with a mortified expression, the ice mage came face to face with a glaring Mirajane.

"No, Mira, why would you think that? When have I ever had anything but praise to say about the flam... I mean Natsu!"

Mira muttered "Good." under her breath as she sat down between Gray and Lucy.

Lucy, a stupefied expression on her face, felt she had to ask.

"I'm sorry, but what is a Wizard Saint, and why is it important that Natsu is one?"

Gray muttered something none of them, thankfully including Mirajane, heard, before Mira began to explain.

"Well, the Wizard Saints are basically a group of ten wizards picked by the Magic Council who are the strongest wizards in the country. Our guild master, Makarov, is also a wizard, ranked at number 6. That means he is the 6th strongest mage in the country, or close enough."

Lucy nodded as understanding flooded her face, her eyes widening. "Oh, I see, so what rank is Natsu?"

Mirajane frowned. "We don't know. He never answers the question, and neither does Master. I don't know why, but it must be important to keep it secret. Anyway, the Saints are also divided into two sections. There are the regular Wizard Saints, which are ranks 10 through to 5. But then there are the top 4 Wizard Saints. They are called the Gods of Ishgar. They are so powerful, they're said to not even be human.

So basically, the Magic Council and the Wizard Saints are at the top of the heirarchy, then after them come the guild leagues, which are based on which region a guild is in, and then there are the guild masters and wizards. And then, of course..."

"There are the Dark ones."

A voice interrupted Mira, coming from directly behind Lucy. She shrieked and jumped about a metre into the air, landing on her bottom on the floor. Looking around, she saw Natsu standing behind her with a very suspicious grin on his face.

"You idiot, it isn't funny to scare people like that!"

Natsu laughed, and pulled Lucy up.

"Sorry, Lucy, I just wanted to try to liven up the mood here a bit."

He sat down and she did the same. All eyes at the table turned to him, even Cana, who had been ignoring everything up to this point.

"I might have done that to scare you, but there really are people out there who are Dark. Dark guilds are illegal guilds, essentially. Guilds who refuse to abide by the Council's rulings. They may be small-time crooks, taking extortion and kidnapping jobs, right up to murder guilds who specialise in assassination missions. Then there are the 'Big Three', the Balam Alliance. The three strongest Dark guilds. They kind of act like the Council for other Dark guilds."

Now thoroughly frightened, Lucy shuffled slightly away from Natsu. A warm hand found its way onto her shoulder, comforting her.

"Don't worry, you're still a newbie, no one is going to make you go on any missions that require heavy fighting. Besides, you can pick whatever job you want from that board over there."

He pointed at a board labelled 'Request Board' at the back of the guild, next to the stairs. Noticing them for the first time, Lucy opened her mouth to ask about them, but was interrupted before she could begin.

"No, you can't go up the stairs, the second floor is for S-class mages only."

This time, Gray took up explaining the topic.

"Basically, Master picks certain mages who he deems strong and smart enough to be S-class, and that means that they can go on more dangerous missions that are kept on the second floor. There are also SS-class wizards, who can take even more dangerous jobs.

Jobs are graded based on the level of skill and time required to complete it, as well as the danger. There's D-class all the way to A-class jobs on the board down here. On the board upstairs, there are S-class quests. Then there are SS-class quests. Above them are SSS-class quests, otherwise known as Decade quests, because no one has completed them in under a decade. Above that, there's one more level of quest. Century quests. Only two people that I can think of have ever gone on a Century quest. One of them is a member of Fairy Tail, and he's out on that quest now, and the other is the highest Wizard Saint."

Lucy simply sat there, absorbing and trying to process the information being dropped on her. She was shaken out of her thoughts when an angry high-pitched voice came from behind them.

"But my daddy should have been back by now! You jerk!"

The source of the yelling was a young boy, who proceeded, to the shock of Lucy and no one else, to punch the old man sitting at the bar in the face.

Natsu merely laughed and called out, "Master, you shouldn't let him hit you like that! Someone might think you like it!"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Master...?"

Meanwhile, the old man had become very flustered and was screaming various profanities at Natsu while the pink haired Saint laughed at him. Mira joined in quickly, and then Elfman and Gray followed suit. Soon the entire guild was laughing at their Master. Finally, he had had enough and stormed off to his office, muttering something about respect.

Natsu finally calmed down and turned to Gray. "Hey, Fullbuster, can you take Lucy here and head to Mt Hakobe? I'd like to search for Macao myself, but I have to be in Era by this afternoon which means catching a train."

Gray glared at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

He stepped off of the train, relief flooding his body now that he was finally free from the transportation. When he saw his personal welcoming committee though, he had half a mind to step back on the train and leave, and to hell with the Council.

"Natsu-sama!"

A woman cried out and threw herself into his arms with a flying tackle. Thankfully, he had the foresight to step forward to meet her, otherwise his head would have collided with the now-moving train. As it was, he still got a hard knock to the back of his head. The woman now crouched on all fours over him, like an animal. He groaned. Why, why in the name of all that was holy did they send her to fetch him?

"Hello Ultear, please get off of me."

The woman feigned a hurt look, but stood anyway, letting him right himself. He glanced briefly at the disarray of her outfit, and she took the hint, straightening her previously white kimono. After all, the ground was dusty. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt in that during her tackle, one of her breasts had 'accidentally' slipped out of the garment.

"So, you look good, have you been doing any extra training I should know about?"

Ultear asked him with a wink that was clearly supposed to be sexy, but he found more irritating than anything else.

"No." He responded curtly. He wasn't in the mood for her shenanigans. As they walked alongside each other in silence, she slowly, trying and failing to be inconspicuous, brought her steps closer to him, so that by the time they reached the Council building, he may as well have been wearing her.

Looking up at the building in distaste, Natsu was surprised, in a good way, when Ultear removed herself from his arm. Normally she behaved like a complete... well, he didn't really want to call her anything mean, but she had a habit of embarrassing him and herself in the Council building. Company didn't stop her from being extremely forward in her advances on him. Privately he suspected that his rejection of said advances was somehow encouraging her.

Waiting at the steps to the building was a familiar face. Well, ok, they had their back turned, but only one person wore an eight-bladed sword on their back.

"Serena, how do you do?"

Clearly Ultear wasn't as settled around Serena, Natsu reasoned. That must have been why she let go.

The man Natsu had addressed turned to face him, before huge, identical grins split their faces and they leapt into an embrace that was as fierce as it was friendly. They broke apart, smiles still in place, and shook hands firmly.

"Cut the formal crap, you idiot. It's been too long since you visited me! I'm good, but I'll admit it's lonely without my little brother."

"Fuck off, Serena, if anything, you're the little brother, especially if what Mary told me is true..."

Serena's face melted into one of shock and disbelief. "You... y-you talked to M-Mary?"

Natsu remained serious for a moment before he burst out laughing, doubling over and slamming his hand against his knee.

Serena looked mortified for a moment, then suddenly understanding dawned on his face and he joined in with the laughter. The two men put an arm around each others shoulders and stood up, looking at Ultear, who was busy sulking.

She glared at Natsu and spoke in a mock angry tone.

"So he gets the whole excited greeting, but you aren't excited to see me even when I take my breast out for you?"

Natsu facepalmed. "I was going to assume that was an accident."

Ultear giggled. "Nope!" She was far too happy for someone who had bared herself to the world. "See?"

Both of the men's jaws hit the ground when she ripped open her kimono, exposing her entire chest. Natsu quickly looked away, thanking everyone he could think of, from God to Zeref, that no one else was around. Suddenly Serena started laughing again. Confused, Natsu asked him to explain what was so funny.

"It's night right now, and she's just proved that there's more than one moon in the sky tonight! Ha!"

Natsu sighed and slapped his perverted friends face. Ultear looked dissappointed that Natsu hadn't commented on her breasts, but sighed and put them away.

"Come on." She said, using her best bored voice, "Let's get this meeting done already."

"So what you're saying is, you need us, as the top two Wizard Saints, to work together and kill the dragon, and that if we do, we will each receive a single request from the King as well as a billion Jewel?"

The Chairman sighed. "Yes, 2nd Saint Dragneel, way to sum it up."

Silence filled the massive chamber for a moment before the two Saints turned to each other and uttered a single word. "Awesome!"

AND that's a wrap guys, I just had to write this!" So here we are! I don't know if I will continue this, maybe, maybe not. We will see. Love you all!