Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and some Rave Master names and references belongs to Hiro Mashima

Good news, everyone! Oh, well, maybe not so good… Anyway, I need a bit of time to accumulate some new ideas for my other story, and while I doing so I'll write this one =)

You see, I thought about "alternate canon" story for some time, and now I finally decided to do it =)

Story rated 'T', with exception of several chapters, which rating will be specified individually.

A few things before we begin. From the beginning, most canonical characters will be unchanged as much as possible, except two of them.

First one is Natsu. He will be completely OOC… Well, actually he will get part of my own personality =) Natsu will be much smarter (xD), sarcastic and slightly insolent, but still quite a good guy (xD) Also he is one year older than canonical Natsu (I want him taller).

And second one is Happy. Well, there will be no Happy in my story, at least not as a Fairy Tail member. Sorry people, but he will be replaced by another character as Natsu's friend and partner.

Also Erza could be fairly OOC because of... well, you'll see by yourselves.

Other characters won't change, unless there will be a good reason for that.

Main pairing will be Natsu X Erza, others will be paired as I'll see fit.

Characters appearance is unchanged, except Natsu who will wear his X791 clothes from the beginning (there are reason for it). His one-sleeved coat is a bit longer, and embroidered with gold patterns. Also he has no scarf because he has another person as his parent, so he got another gift.

This story will be packed with battles and combat scenes to the full extent, yet you should expect fair amount of humor.

...Well, I think this is all that I wanted to say for now. Let's start, shall we?

Spells. Thoughts. [Translations]. Author's notes. 24H time format.

Story went through massive overhaul to match recent developments of Fairy Tail. And while I was at it – I also took into account some of my readers' suggestions. For example, I gave Natsu new last name. There are other changes, as well.

Chapter updated 15/11/2016

Chapter I – The Heir of the Supreme Goddess

…

July 2nd, Year X784, 11:00, Town of Hargeon, train station.

"Now, Sin, remind me please, why did I have to take the train instead of flying on your back?" The salmon-haired young man, dressed into long, black and very pricy one-sleeved coat, addressed his familiar. The man's left hand was encased into a black leather glove. Natsu came out from the train carriage and looked at his "partner", whose name apparently was Sin.

"Because I'm not a donkey to carry you around the whole country, and because you insulted me yesterday," Sin replied imperturbably. He was a very strange creature, he probably could be referred to as a little dragon, and he might have looked very cute and funny, if he had some flesh on his bones. The little skeletal dragon [about one and a half times bigger than canonical Happy], whose bones were emitting a mysterious blue glow, seemed too… exotic, even for a magical kingdom of Fiore.

"And how exactly did I insult you?" Natsu asked acidly.

"You called me a clumsy ass, so I decided to let you use something less clumsy than I am, and pay for tickets, once in a while," Sin replied with the same imperturbable tone.

"You turned that little statue to dust, with your own ass! The statue we were supposed to guard from bandits, by the way," Natsu said in annoyance, as he pointed at little creature.

"It was my tail, not my ass!" Little dragon suddenly raised his voice, seemingly Natsu hit some sort of a sore point.

"What's the difference? Thanks to you I've got no money! If because of you this red-haired upstart will be able to earn more money than I do this month, you'll be very sorry," Natsu snorted. "And now you've made me lose even more time by forcing us to use that train. Come on, we have to find our client and do this mission ASAP!" The salmon-haired warlock added, ignoring townspeople, most of which now were staring at the very noisy and odd couple.

"Screw you! You are the one who made the bet, why the hell should I deal with it too?!" Sin growled.

They left the station, still arguing along the way.

July 2, X784, 11:15, Town of Hargeon, downtown.

"EEEEH!? This is the only magic store in this entire town?!" A blonde haired girl exclaimed after hearing the storekeeper's little 'promotional speech'.

"Yes… This town is more prosperous in fishing than magic to begin with. Unfortunately, only less than ten percent of the town's people can use magic, so this store in mainly targeting traveling mages," The shopkeeper explained, making the girl to sigh heavily.

"Right... I think I've wasted my time then..." She dropped her shoulders, looking around the store once more.

"Hey now, please don't say that and have a closer look," The shopkeeper said as he pointed to his magical goods. "We have plenty of magical items, and a bunch of new stuff came in a while ago." He reached under the counter and brought out a card with the word 'colors' on it and a glass ball at the top. "This 'colors' magic probably is the most popular among young women. Depending on your daily mood, you can change the color of your outfit!" He demonstrated by turning his shirt a different color.

"I already have it," The girl replied as she stared at some of the other items, unsure of what some of them actually are. "What I'm really looking for is the Keys of the Gates, strong ones…"

"Gates, huh? Now that's something uncommon…" Lucy, however, did not hear him because something had caught her attention as she looked at a box on the shelf behind the shopkeeper. She got closer to the counter to have a better look at the silver key inside.

"Ah! White doggy!" She said with glee.

"Yes, but this one's not strong at all," The shopkeeper commented but the girl shook her head.

"It's okay, I've been looking for it!" She exclaimed enthusiastically before she asked the most important question, "How much is it?"

"It's 20,000 jewels," Shopkeeper answered.

The girl became silent for a few seconds before asking again, "I'm sorry, I wonder how much is it?"

"I said it is 20,000 jewels," The storekeeper said once more.

The girl leaned against the counter, revealing a huge amount of cleavage to the shopkeeper; she crossed her arms under her breast to make them pop out more. The zipper on her top seemed to lower itself due to the pressure. "Oh come on now… I wonder how much it really is… Dandy Mister?" She wondered while finishing her phrase with seductive wink. The storekeeper became quiet for a moment before speaking…

Few minutes later...

"Tch!" The blonde scoffed as she walked down the street in a huff. "He only gave me a five percent discount… Is my sex appeal only worth 1000 jewels?!" She exclaimed angrily as she kicked down a café sign.

Her attention was taken when she heard several girls screaming in delight. "Huh? What's going on?" She asked herself as girls ran by her in a hurry, seemingly they were heading towards crowd nearby, there were about two dozen of girls, mostly of the same age as Lucy. While staring at the crowd in confusion she heard another pair of girls behind her talking as they also were running towards the crowd.

"A famous mage-sama is in town!?"

"It is Salamander-sama, the mage who controls Hi no Mahō [Fire Magic], which can't be bought in stores!"

"Salamander…" Lucy said to herself, looking at the fangirls, not sure that she ever heard that nickname. "Well, if he's a mage I think I have to take a look at him," she decided in the end, as she walked toward the crowd. "Oh, he is popular… I wonder if he looks cool…"

July 2, X784, 11:45, Town of Hargeon, town's market.

"I guess that taking this request was a mistake after all," Natsu sighed, looking around, "How exactly I am supposed to neutralize some criminal if no one can even say how he actually looks like?"

"Oh my Lord… Natsu, maybe it's time to stop complaining and just start doing your job?" Sin asked tiredly. "It's a 700,000 jewels reward, if you complete this mission your monthly income will surpass hers, you'll win your bet and maybe then I will be able to rest for some time... while you two will be engaged in family planning," Sin snorted.

Natsu's eyes blazed with satanic light, "True, I can't rip out your tongue because you don't have any, but rest assured, I can invent something equally painful just for you. I don't want to do anything with that insolent little…"

"Aha…" Sin yawned. "Don't you think that you two should stop that clownery already? Like making stupid bets, for example? Rent a motel suite with a durable bed instead, there you can decide which of you two is stronger!"

"Sin, I'm warning you…" Natsu replied. His voice was calm, but pavement under his feet cracked. But then, something suddenly distracted him.

"Yaaah! Heeey! Salamander-sama!"

Young man heard someone's joyful screams.

"Maybe it is our criminal?" Sin murmured.

"Yeah, criminals always want to be the center of attention…" Natsu replied quite sarcastically.

"You got better lead? If not, let's take a look, even if it is not our criminal, I want to know what is going on!" Sin exclaimed.

The little dragon grabbed Natsu and lifted him to the roof of the nearest house.

"See!? What did I tell you?!" Sin shouted victoriously after they took a good look at this guy, "He is a criminal!"

"All right, I agree – he is a criminal. But I doubt he is our guy. Using forbidden Miriō no Mahō [Charm Magic] to attract girls' attention – it's barely worth 70,000 jewels but the bounty for our guy is ten times higher. We are looking for a terrorist or murderer, not for a puny womanizer," Natsu stated confidently as they continued to observe.

The blonde female wizard stared at the man, surrounded by crowd of his fangirls, her heart was beating like crazy and her face was almost crimson. The man she was staring at was tall and had dark blue hair; he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, red striped pants, and large bracelets on his right arm. The man was wearing a dark, high-collared cape that reach to the back of his knees, and he had two small, barely noticeable rings on his right hand. The man quickly struck a pose, making the other girls go crazy while the blonde continued to stare.

'Wait! What's happening to me!? Why is my heart beating so fast?!' The blonde girl thought as she was staring at a 'famous wizard'. He was talking to few girls before turning his head towards Lucy. That playful grin on his face… Blonde quickly grabbed her chest as her heart started beating even faster than before. 'Is it because he is a famous mage? Is that why my heart is beating so fast!? I am… Maybe…' Hearts popped in her eyes, as she got closer to the man, not paying attention to some strange beings on the roof. 'Maybe… This is…?'

"Hmm… Salamander… Why does that nickname sound familiar to me?" Natsu asked himself thoughtfully.

"Maybe you were some Salamander in your previous life?" Sin speculated.

"You're sure you were not a clown in your previous life?" The salmon-haired boy snapped.

"I don't know, however, if you think that you may know him, then you should take a closer look!" Little dragon exclaimed and pushed Natsu from the roof. Not expecting such a treacherous move, salmon-haired warlock fell right into the middle of the crowd around 'Salamander'.

Lucy didn't notice anything of those that happened right above her head, yet some sort of sixth sense advised her to take a step aside. At the next moment, someone landed right on the spot where Lucy stood just a moment ago. That someone landed on his feet, pretty gracefully, but the element of surprise was huge nonetheless.

"Eh?!" Lucy yelped as she almost fell on the ground. Her eyes widened in shock and 'hearts' suddenly fell out from her eyes.

Except for Lucy, all other girls ignored Natsu's sudden appearance, Salamander, however, turned his attention toward him as Natsu made a deep breath.

"Did you… Did you just fell from the roof?" Salamander asked.

He, however, was ignored completely, as if he wasn't there at all. "Oh, so you're the humorist now, are you?" Natsu said quietly, seemingly addressing someone, but definitely not Salamander, because he was looking somewhere aside and upward, "Just let me find you…" He made two steps forward, "Let me pass, will you?" He asked Salamander's fangirls to let him pass, but since they were all charmed they didn't listen, so Natsu just pushed few of them aside to pass through (he was acting quite gently though).

"Complete ignore?!" Salamander exclaimed in shock, seeing Natsu's actions.

Natsu made several more steps alongside the road when he heard that several of the fan-girls that were surrounding Salamander actually ran after him while yelling at him.

"Hey, you're so rude!"

"She is right – Salamander-sama is a great mage!"

"Apologize to him!"

"You can't treat him like this!"

Natsu, facing girls' sudden anger, was surprised but not caught off-guard. When distance between him and chasing girls was about four feet, he abruptly turned around, and all 'chasers' were thrown away with considerable force, strong enough to send them flying across the street. Moment later they all crashed into trash dumpster. "Why I always have to take care of trash?" He wondered with sigh. Trash dumpster overturned and girls were buried under a pile of stinky trash, but Natsu was already on his way. "Now, about one trashy familiar…" He said to himself, moving alongside the town road, trying to find his so called 'companion', who pushed him down from the roof. He already forgot about Salamander, and vice versa.

"So, have you managed to take a good look at his face?" The little boney dragon's voice sounded from the roof right above Natsu.

"Yeah, just let me get closer to you so I could share my findings, you, good-for-nothing stand-up comedian," Young warlock's eyes narrowed.

"Um, sorry, but may I interrupt you?" A female voice asked from behind Natsu.

"You already did…" The salmon-haired young man sighed as he turned around.

He saw the blonde haired girl staring at him. She was wearing a white and blue sleeveless, collared shirt, a blue mini skirt, and high black female boots. She also had a whip sitting on one hip with a heart shaped end and on the other was a bundle of keys. Natsu noticed that she was young and quite cute, size of her breasts was also quite remarkable…

"You too want to condemn me for that I ignored that fool?" Natsu's tone didn't change, his voice was as emotionless as before.

"No, no, in contrary!" Girl quickly denied, "Sorry if I'm interrupted something, I just wanted to say 'thank you for your help'!" She said with a charming smile.

"Hmm? My help?" Natsu wondered.

"Yeah, I'll explain if you're willing to join me for lunch, I'm buying," Lucy offered cheerfully.

"What's with that sudden surge of virtuousness?" Sin asked, as he descended from the roof. That was a mistake, seemingly Natsu still didn't forgive him, as his left, gloved fist was slammed into boney dragon's head and little creature crashed into the ground

"She said she's going to explain, didn't she?" Natsu asked, before looking at blonde girl again, "Lead the way." Not that Natsu was greedy, or freebie lover, but turning down free lunch without reason wasn't among his rules either, especially during lunch time.

July 2, X784, 13:10, Town of Hargeon, downtown.

"My name is Lucy, it's nice to meet you," Lucy said with a smile as they entered the restaurant. Natsu was behaving like a gentleman. He opened the door before Lucy, helped her take a seat, and started to eat only after she started eating. However, he still he ordered a large number of pricey dishes for himself.

"Well, nice to meet you, young lady," Sin greeted Lucy.

Lucy just nodded, actually, presence of this weird little creature was a bit disturbing…

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Natsu nodded. "My name is Natsu, Natsu Bloodfallen, and this is my magical familiar, Sin." Lucy gulped a little when she heard the names of these two, but Natsu ignored it. "So, what did you want to thank me for?"

"Ah, yes, you see, I wanted to thank you for helping me with this Miriō Shūmon [Charm Spell]," Lucy stated.

"Ah, that," Natsu nodded. "Don't mention it. Miriō no Mahō [Charm Magic] were banned several years ago, but it is still widespread, mostly because that for some people it is the only way to get what they want; a pretty girl, in our case."

Lucy blushed a little from Natsu's compliment. "You are quite aware of magic. Are you two mages?" She inquired.

"Nope," Sin explained again, "He's a mage and I'm his magical familiar."

Lucy just blinked, she really didn't get what's the difference…

"We've got a request from this town's council. We have to find and neutralize a dangerous criminal named Bora," Natsu explained, seemingly he had some reasons to believe that this girl has no connections with the world of criminal. "Unfortunately, we have very little information about him, so we are forced to check any suspicious activity," He added.

"Then… Then why did you not apprehend that guy?" Lucy wondered. Salamander was a criminal as far as she could judge.

"Nah, I know that guy, he is just a stupid poser. We are looking for a terrorist!" Sin stated proudly, however, he used one incorrect phrase – he probably meant to say 'I know that kind of guy…'

"Wow, you must be very skilled and brave to go against famous terrorists all by yourself!" Lucy said with slight envy in her voice. 'It must be so cool to have such skills and confidence to go alone against dangerous suspects…'

"I'm not alone, I have a familiar," Natsu corrected her and Sin nodded. Lucy was not sure how exactly this strange little guy can help in actual combat, but she decided to cease development of this subject.

"You wouldn't guess from my appearance, but I'm a wizard as well," Lucy commented with a smile.

"Really?" Natsu asked, mostly to keep the ball rolling, he wasn't really interested to know her affairs, though he actually already guessed that she's a mage.

"Yeah, but I'm not a member of any guild yet," She explained.

"So, you are a wandering wizard now? You want to see the world before joining some guild? Not a bad idea," Natsu nodded, meaning that he understood her position.

"Yeah, kind of…" Lucy mumbled. Honestly, being in company of a full-fledged mage appeared to be a bit uncomfortable for an aspiring newbie as herself. "Anyway... I should get going, enjoy your meal and maybe we'll see each other around. Again, thank you for your help," She rose to her feet and moved toward the exit.

"Are you really okay with paying for us?" Natsu asked, even though it was a simple politeness, he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, of course! Don't mention it," she replied with an insincere smile before thinking to herself, 'Even though all that discount money I got thanks to my sex appeal is all gone…' She shook her head a little before continuing to speak, "This is my way of saying thank you for helping me with that Miriō Shūmon."

"Okay, good luck to you," Natsu nodded, giving his last goodbye, as Lucy gave the money to the waiter and left the restaurant.

"Hmm… It's refreshing to meet a nice girl once in a while…" Natsu thought aloud when Lucy left.

"Yes, unlike you, freebie lover…" Sin mumbled.

"Don't start that again," Natsu waved him off, "It was her idea to pay for our meal to begin with, she is just thankful."

"Then why haven't you told her that you actually had no intentions of helping anyone?" Sin asked sarcastically.

"Don't you think that you've played on my nerves quite enough for one day?" Natsu asked, tilting his head, as his eyes blinked with crimson light. "And, just so you'd know, that would've only ruined her mood, learn to read the atmosphere…"

July 2, X784, 13:40, Town of Hargeon, town's park.

After Lucy left the restaurant, she went to a newsstand and purchased the newest issue of Sorcerer Weekly; as she walked through the park she decided to relax on a bench and read.

"Looks like Fairy Tail are causing troubles again! Let's see… 'The Auria castle has been liberated from mages-terrorists, however, the castle itself was wiped from existence in the process…' Ahahaha! Talk about going overboard!" Lucy giggled as she flipped through the pages before coming to the centerfold, where more pictures of famous mages were located.

"So, it looks like the centerfold is going to be dedicated to Fairy Tail again," Blonde noted to herself, "I bet it'll be their drawing card, Mirajane. She's so pretty… HUH?!" Lucy's eyes widened in shock as she looked at photo on centerfold as her sight fell on comment, which was attached to the photo: "And now our gift for the female part of our audience! The most reckless and relentless mage of the year, according to our readers – Natsu Bloodfallen from Fairy Tail!"

Lucy could not believe her eyes. The guy in the centerfold was exactly the same guy that was sitting right in front of her in the flesh just about twenty minutes ago! Lucy examined the photo. Natsu was in his common clothes, however, his coat was unbuttoned, revealing his muscular chest. A large scar alongside his sternum was making him even manlier. His left hand was covered with blue magical glow and his indifferent face expression was making him like 'hard-to-get' guy, thus making him even more desirable for most women.

'How the hell did I manage to not notice how cool this guy is?!' Lucy was angry with herself. There was something else that drew her attention. "Natsu Bloodfallen… from Fairy Tail!"

"Oh my god!" Lucy exclaimed, "He is from Fairy Tail! A mage of Fairy Tail was right in front of me and I did not even ask him about requirements for joining the guild!? And he's even a "readers' choice"! He is famous and I did not recognize him?! Damn, I have to start to actually read these magazines instead of just browsing through them!" Lucy was very disappointed with herself. "Maybe it is not too late? Maybe I could still find him? I have to ask him about Fairy Tail!" Lucy jumped up from the bench. But, suddenly, she heard a voice behind her.

"So you want to join Fairy Tail, huh?" Lucy jerked back in surprise as Salamander emerged from the bushes with a grin on his face.

"Salamander!?" Lucy called out as she scooted away.

"I've been looking for you." He said as he walked out of the bushes and made another pose. "I wanted to personally invite you to the party on my ship."

"Sorry but your Miriō Shūmon won't work on me anymore. The weakness of that spell is 'awareness,' when a target is aware of it, the magic becomes useless," Lucy stated as she made some distance between Salamander and herself.

"Ah! I noticed that you are a mage when our eyes met. It doesn't matter though, the invitation still stands," He said.

"No way am I going to be caught at a party with a nasty creep like you," Lucy crossed her arms as she looked away.

That seemed to make him flinch, "What?! Nasty creep, me?!"

She continued, "Using a forbidden magic to make yourself popular, that's proof enough of what kind of person you are."

"Oh come now, that's all in good fun – I just wanted to feel like a celebrity at my own party," Salamander lied.

Lucy turned around the moment he finished talking. "I am actually wondering if you really are a popular wizard; no wonder I haven't heard about you before – you are just too pathetic," She said as she started to walk away, not looking back.

"Hold on a moment. You wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?" He asked, causing her to freeze mid-step. When she turned her head to look at him, he continued, "Have you really never heard of Salamander from Fairy Tail?"

"I said I haven't… Wait, what?! You are one of the wizards of Fairy Tail?" She practically yelled, to which he answered with a slight smile.

"Yes, I am. I can talk to the master if you're interested in joining," He slowly nodded.

The girl simply stared at him in open-mouthed shock for several seconds; Sin's words appeared in her mind 'yeah, I know that guy…'

'So, this is what he meant?! And he called him a stupid poser… Looks like even his own guildmates have quite a little respect towards this one… But who cares?! If he can actually help me…' Lucy thought before promptly running up and pressing herself against Salamander's side, with big and pretty false smile on her face. "I can't wait to go to your party tonight!"

Salamander gave an airy laugh, gently trying to push her away from him, "That was easier than I thought it would be."

Completely oblivious to anything he was saying, she moved to stand right in front of him, with stars in her eyes as she clasped her hands together, "Can I really join Fairy Tail?"

"Of course. Just don't tell anyone about the Miriō no Mahō," Salamander said.

"No problem, I won't!" Lucy replied with readiness.

He nodded, and looked off into the distance for a moment. "Well my dear, it has been a pleasure. I shall see you at the party tonight. It shouldn't be hard for you to spot my ship when you get to the docks."

"You got it, Mr. Salamander!" Lucy watched until she could no longer see Salamander's back, then something in her brain seemed to click back into normal sense mode. "Oh, crap! I must have fallen for some kind of pseudo-charm!" Thinking about it, a smile slowly began to creep across her face. "But who cares! I'll just put up with him for a little while until I join Fairy Tail, then I'll ignore him! Woo-Hoo!"

July 2, X784, 19:00, Town of Hargeon.

"It's beginning to become troublesome… It is already dark and we still have no signs of any suspicious activity," Natsu thought aloud. "Looks like it will be even harder than I initially thought," He added, looking at full moon.

"Yeah," Sin agreed. "If this guy really is a famous terrorist, he is going to do something big. However, Natsu, what if we are just looking in the wrong direction?" Sin unwrapped the request list and examined it again. "Look, we have to track down Bora's activity and neutralize him if we find something. As it seems – he is a suspect, not a big time criminal, yet…"

"But someone put out a big reward for him, why did they do this if he's not a big time criminal?" Natsu asked in reply.

"Because they think that he is up to something big, but it was you who decided that he is a terrorist. Maybe he actually is a dangerous spy, super-thief or something… We have to find some proofs first…" Sin noted.

"Hmm…Very well, let's do this that wa…" Loud female's voice interrupted his phrase.

"Hey look, that's Salamander-sama's ship!" Natsu and Sin turned to the two women talking, "It's too bad, I wanted to go to the party too."

"Who's Salamander?" The second girl questioned.

"He's a really famous wizard that's in town right now," The first girl said. "He's also a member of that great guild – Fairy Tail!"

Natsu tilted his head as his left eye blazed with cold, dark blue flame.

"Fairy Tail, was it…?" He turned towards the gulf, it was quite easy to spot a single ship sailing into the open sea. Natsu might withstand some idiot who used forbidden magic to get girls' attention, but this… Several cracks appeared beneath Natsu's feet, "So he's a member of Fairy Tail, is he?" Natsu asked with narrowed eyes. "Sin, I think we need to talk with our fellow mage, don't you agree…?"

July 2, X784, 19:00, Hargeon's water area, Salamander's Ship.

"So, your name is Lucy?" Salamander asked, looking at her. "That's very pretty name."

"Yeah, thanks," She responded as she looked around the room. They were the only two present here as all the other girls were outside.

"Let's toast your beauty with a glass of wine first," He said as he poured a bottle of wine into two glasses.

"Don't you have other girls to attend to?" Blonde asked, wanting to get as far away from this man as possible until they reached Fairy Tail.

"That's okay," He brushed her comment off. "I just think I like drinking with you." With a snap of his fingers pearl-shaped droplet rose out of the glass and headed towards Lucy very slowly. "Try opening your mouth. Pearls of wine will slowly come in, savor every one of them," Salamander said with a lot of histrionics in his voice.

'HOW ANNOYING! I just have to be patient!' Lucy thought as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth. 'Patience Lucy! You can do this! Just be patient… Just…' She quickly opened her eyes and smacked the wine drops away.

"What are you planning!? You nasty creep!" She questioned as Salamander's eyes widened in surprise. "This is a sleeping drug, is it not? What do you think you're doing?"

He smirked as he brought a hand to his chin, "Ooh, how did you know?"

"Don't misunderstand me. I really want to join the Fairy Tail guild, but I have no intentions at all to become your girlfriend."

"You're a bad girl," He said before he snapped his fingers again. "If you were to just sleep peacefully, you would not have to get hurt…" A large number of men appeared, each holding one of the party guests.

"Eh?" Lucy gulped.

Two of Salamander's men grabbed Lucy's hands

"Oh, good job, Salamander-san," One of them said.

"We haven't had such a pretty one for a while," Another one agreed.

"What is going on?!" Lucy yelled, "Who are you?!"

Salamander grabbed her chin. "Welcome to our slave ship," Salamander said with evil smirk. "I must ask you to remain silent until we get to Bosco, Lady."

"What!?" Lucy exclaimed in shock as two men held her arms. "Bosco?! Hey, what happened to Fairy Tail?!"

"I told you it's a slave ship," He said before giving a dark chuckle. "I brought you in as merchandise from the beginning. Just give up."

"You thought this out well, Salamander-san. When girls are influenced by charm, they will fawn to become our merchandise," One of Salamander's men said.

"It seems that charms won't work on this Lady… So we'll just have to train her a little," Another one grinned evilly.

'No, this can't be…' She could not believe it as Salamander reached toward her leg and grabbed her Gate Keys. As he backed away she thought 'What is he?.. How could someone do something like this?…'

"The Keys of the Gates, huh? I see you are the Seirei Mahō [Stellar Spirit Magic] user…" He smiled.

"Seirei Mahō? What is that?"

"We have absolutely no clue about magic…"

"Well, don't worry about it," Salamander replied. "Only the contracted mages can use this magic, meaning it's useless to me," He added and tossed the keys out the window.

'So this…' Lucy thought; tears was forming in her eyes as she glared at the man. '…this is a mage of Fairy Tail!?'

Salamander reached behind a divider and pulled out a hot branding iron. "Let me brand you as a slave first," He said as he came closer to Lucy. "It'll be a little hot but please bear with it."

'Abusing magic… Cheating on people… And performing slavery…' Lucy said as tears fell down on her face, "You're the worst mage ever!"

Suddenly, a bright flash, accompanied by loud slicing sound, illuminated the stateroom. The next moment roof and upper parts of stateroom's walls were torn off from the ship and flew into the sea as a figure dressed into long one-sleeved coat landed in front of Lucy, almost like few hours ago.

"Natsu-san!" Lucy happily exclaimed, wiping her tears as the guys who held her arms released her and moved back.

"Stay calm, jo-chan [女ちゃん], right now I require your cooperation," Natsu said, looking at Salamander. Lucy noticed that he was holding a sword in his gloved left hand – beautiful, literally perfect, katana.

"The brat from earlier!?" Salamander shouted in surprise.

Natsu ignored him, "No time to explain, I think this belongs to you," He said and held out a bunch of keys to Lucy. Blonde hurriedly took her keys, but she had no time to say thanks as someone grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her into the air. "Sin, move her away from the ship. Jo-chan, I noticed that you have the key of the water bearer. Summon her and make her to throw this ship to the dry land."

"But Natsu-san, how do you…" Lucy tried to ask.

"No time to explain, Sin – go," Natsu commanded and Sin carried Lucy away.

"Don't let them get away!" Salamander yelled. "Purominensu Hoippu!" [Prominence Whip] A magical seal appeared in front of him, but before it was able to produce any magical effect, Natsu sliced the seal with his sword. "Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't been worried about girls right now," Salmon-haired warlock noted, pointing at Salamander with his katana.

"What is he going to do?!" Lucy asked as little boney dragon landed on the sea surface. Surprisingly, they did not submerge into water, Lucy was able to stand on its surface, which became partly frozen.

"What?… How?…" She seemed confused. So this 'magic familiar' can use magic, after all?…

"Not now, blonde. Listen here – there will be a fight aboard the ship, and it might suffer some severe damage. This ship may sink and all the sleeping girls on board will drown," Sin explained, "So just do as Natsu asked, I don't know how long he'll be able to hold himself back…"

"Yes, but…" Lucy tried to said.

"Natsu's safety isn't your concern, better think about safety of kidnapped girls! Just do as Natsu asked!" Sin cut her off.

Okay, he actually did not ask, he ordered, but Lucy got the idea. "Okay, I'll do it!" She said determinedly. Lucy grabbed the golden key with a water-like ornament on it.

"Here we go! Open, Gate of the Water Bearer – Akueriasu!" A mermaid-like spirit emerged from the blue magic seal that Lucy's key created. She had a long blue-scaled tail, large breasts, long light-blue hair and she wore a revealing bikini top. She had two gold armlets, a circlet with a jewel around her forehead; also she was wielding a large golden jug.

"Now you're talking our language," Sin said with approval as he looked at the mermaid spirit.

Lucy pointed at Salamander's ship. "Now, Aquarius, use your power to send that ship back to the coast." However, despite Lucy just gave her a direct order, all she got from Aquarius was a small "Tch".

"Did you just said 'Tch'?!" Lucy exclaimed angrily. "You're not supposed to come from the Seireikai [Stellar Spirit World] to show me your attitude! You are here to help me!"

"You are such a noisy kid…" Aquarius spoke out, catching the girl's attention. "Let me tell you one thing: if you drop the keys again, I'll kill you!" She warned with a very dark glare.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again, promise..." Lucy replied with sweatdrop.

Aquarius gathered a large amount of magical water into her golden jug and, with a war cry, released it in a giant tsunami wave that spiraled towards the ship. The wave got the ship… but it also caught Lucy. Sin did not expect something like that so he had no time to lift Lucy in the air.

"Don't flush me along with it!" Lucy cried out as she was sucked into the giant wave.

"Looks like blonde is worth something, after all…" Natsu thought aloud as entire ship was flipped and pushed towards dry land; its passengers (except Natsu) were crashing into everything on board. Natsu plunged his katana into the floor and used it as a handrail. The waves slammed the ship onto the port, also flushing and damaging some of the town's buildings.

"What were you thinking, Aquarius? How could you flush me too!?" Lucy yelled at the water spirit, who shook her head and made a "facepalm" gesture.

"My bad, it was an accident… I flushed the ship as well," Aquarius stated with a calm face.

"Wait, were you aiming at me in the first place!?" The angered girl's question was ignored as Aquarius turned away and began to glow with blue light.

"Don't call me for a while, I'm going on a trip for a week with my boyfriend," Aquarius smiled as she turned her head and repeated her last phrase before disappearing: "With my boyfriend…"

"No need to repeat!" Lucy exclaimed angrily as Sin landed near the stellar mage. "She can be so selfish!"

"And how often does this happen?" Sin asked in a neutral voice. "I mean – how often your own magic does whatever it wants instead of carrying out your orders?"

"Hey, you can't say that! Don't call my spirits "it"! They are not just some spells! They are alive!" Lucy protested.

"Whatever you say…" Sin yawned. "They just seems unreliable to me…"

"By the way…" Lucy asked acidly, "What the hell are you, anyway?!"

"I'm already told you – I'm Natsu's magical familiar," The little dragon stated as if it was pretty obvious. "By the way, how did you end up on his ship?" Boney creature wondered.

"Ugh…" Lucy gulped, seemingly for her that was quite a shameful matter… "He promised to help me join Fairy Tail, and I'm… kinda…"

"Huh? You want to join Fairy Tail?" Sin seemed surprised, "Then why you didn't ask…" He was interrupted by a loud explosion. A large hole appeared in the ship's starboard side. It seemed that Salamander tried to hit Natsu with some spell but missed. Few moments later several of his men flew out the ship through that hole.

"So, let's make this clear – you are the Salamander of Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked with an emotionless voice, making Salamander to chuckle a little.

"What's it to you?" He turned to his men and gave the order, "Get rid of him, boys!"

"Man, why it always has to be like this? You still haven't realized who you dealing with?" Natsu sighed heavily. "On the ground, now, face down. Give up willingly and maybe, just maybe, I'll spare your worthless life…"

"Natsu-san, be careful!" Lucy yelled, but Natsu did not pay any attention.

"Relax Lucy, just watch, it will be a good show. Natsu got his nickname, 'The Crimson Cardinal,' for a good reason…" Sin calmed her down.

"What?! You… you mean he is the Crimson Cardinal?" Now Lucy remembered. Natsu was mentioned in Sorcerer's weekly several times by his nickname, not by his real name.

"Yep. So stay cool, the best thing you can do is to stay out of his way…" Sin nodded.

Several of Salamander's men rushed toward Natsu, but he smashed them to the ground with a mere wave of his right hand. His left, gloved hand still was clinching his sword.

"My name is Natsu Bloodfallen, and I am a senior mage of Fairy Tail," Natsu declared. "And I want to ask you something. If you're member of our guild – why this is the first time I'm seeing you?"

"Senior mage? What's that mean?" Lucy asked.

"I'll explain later, Lucy," Natsu's familiar replied.

"Bloodfallen… Wait, boss, I remembered something! He is considered as one of the most famous and dangerous bounty hunters in Fiore! This guy's the real deal, Bora-san!"

"Don't call me that you fool!" Bora responded, his voice cracked a little from his surprise at a famous bounty hunter being here.

Natsu's eyes flashed with crimson light. "Oh, so you are Bora? I've remembered now – you're also known as Bora the Prominent, you are the one who was kicked from the Titan Nose wizards' guild because you used magic to commit theft and many other crimes…"

"Poor Natsu," Sin commented. "He has almost perfect memory, yet he keeps forgetting names and titles…"

"That's what I'd call an irony… I came to this town to neutralize you to begin with. You have a 700 000 bounty on your head. However, thanks to your Miriō no Mahō, no one was able to describe you properly… Though, this is no longer the matter. You dared to use our guild's name to cover your operation and lure several people to turn them into slaves…" Natsu spoke as he walked towards Bora, "You're not going to get away with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still planning to hand you over to the authorities and collect the bounty for you, which means that I need you alive, in the end… but there are punishments worse than death…"

"You definitely talk a lot, brat. Let's see how you can handle me!" Bora sneered as he extended his arms and magic seal appeared in front of him, releasing a spiral of flames at approaching Natsu, "Purominensu Taifūn!" [Prominence Typhoon]

"Natsu-san!" Lucy shouted as she tried to head into the battle, but Sin grabbed her by her skirt and pulled her back, preventing Lucy from getting any closer to Natsu.

"Just watch, Lucy," Magic familiar said.

Natsu swung his sword, creating a shockwave and sending it forth. Spiral of magic flames clashed with shockwave and instantly turned into thousands of very small pieces of flame. Every little flame collided with the surface and produced a little explosion, which did not hurt anyone. "700 000? Just for this?…" Natsu asked himself, as even Lucy could feel his disappointment.

"What?! Did he… just sliced my magic with his sword?" Bora asked in shock.

Suddenly, Natsu took a very deep breath, as if he was trying to suck something from the air. At the same time, several red glowing clouds detached from Bora's men, which still were lying nearby. Bora's thugs fell unconscious, and Natsu consumed all clouds. "Disgusting," Natsu said as he finished devouring that red substance. "How did you manage to acquire so big reward for your head being so weak yourself and with such pathetic people around you?"

Bora, Lucy and everyone else, who were not unconscious, all were staring in shock as Natsu wiped his mouth. "W-w-what the h-hell is this kid!?" Bora cried out as his remaining men began to panic.

"Aggression towards Natsu only makes him stronger," Sin said blue glow appeared in his empty eye sockets.

"What was that? What did he do?" Lucy muttered.

"Natsu can consume unreleased aggression from the defeated enemies…" Little dragon explained as if it was nothing special.

"Anyway, thanks for the dinner," Natsu looked at Bora again. "Now when we've done with formalities, let battle rejoice!" Natsu declared as he swung his sword towards remaining Bora's men, sending forth an arc-shaped shockwave. They all were smashed into remains of Bora's ship. Ship crumbled, burying them alive beneath the mound of debris.

"Do you have any idea about what kind of wizards we actually have in Fairy Tail? Let me show you then, "Senjin no Dogō!" [War God's Howl] Natsu unleashed a huge, powerful stream of crimson energy at his enemy. Somehow, Bora managed to barely avoid that attack, using his Reddo Kāpetto [Red Carpet] to ascend into the air at the last moment.

"Unbelievable…" Lucy whispered.

"Remember well this lesson," Natsu said, pointing at Bora, as his eyes were burning with bright crimson light. Natsu shot forward at incredible speed as Bora quickly cast his next spell to try to stop his opponent.

"Reddo Shtheawā!" [Red Shower] Bora sent multiple flaming orbs at Natsu, who easily avoided them.

The salmon-haired warlock shrouded his legs in crimson energy and jumped up to Bora and flipped over him, bringing his leg down to kick him in the head: "Senjin no Shōkya!" [War God's Shock Kick] The blow was powerful enough to smash the slaver-mage into a port building on the other side of town. Natsu dashed after Bora with incredible speed.

"He eats this… Red thing and then attacks with it… What kind of magic is this?" Lucy questioned as she was observing that one-sided struggle. Obviously, Bora has no chances of winning this battle.

"Well, the crimson energy that Natsu uses in combat – let's call it 'The power of the 'God of War.' The God of War is able to breathe passion by his lungs, consume the fury by his mouth and bring destruction by his fists and weapons," Sin explained as he stood at Lucy's side. "His brand of Kodai Mahō [Ancient Magic] lets him obtain all the qualities of a God. He learned it from the goddess who raised him, supreme goddess of war – Morrigan."

"You got to be kidding me… He learned this from the real goddess?" Lucy whispered as Bora flew into the sky and concentrated a lot of magic before releasing it at the town in the shape of a large purple beam.

"Heru Purominens!" [Hell Prominence] As the beam came closer to the buildings, Natsu appeared and blocked it with his blade, preventing it from wrecking the town's buildings.

"You only making things for yourself worse," Natsu noted as he landed on the roof of one of the buildings, again pointing at Bora with his blade.

"It's called Sensō no Metsujin Mahō [War God Slayer Magic]. Originally, it was a gods interception magic. By the way, Natsu possess some other useful magical powers," Sin finished, making Lucy look at him in confusion.

"But why would a goddess teach someone magic to fight with gods?!" Lucy asked.

"Who knows? I don't think we're in position to question goddess' reasons…" Sin shrugged as the battle came close to its conclusion.

"Screw you!" Bora bellowed as he was building his magic up again and conjuring a giant ball of fire. "Reddo Sukaru!" [Red Skull] He threw the ball at Natsu, who covered his fist with crimson energy and smashed the fireball into a thousand pieces.

"That's enough," The god slayer said. "I'm running out of time, after all, I'm here to collect the bounty for you and win a bet…"

"So, I'm just a source of money for you?!" Bora said, freaked out at what Natsu just said.

"That's another irony of fate… Quite a lot of it for one day, don't you think? People are the merchandise, for both of us. Only difference that my business is socially useful and legal," Natsu replied as he suddenly appeared right in front of Bora with his right fist once again glowing with crimson energy. "Take this, Senjin no Saiken!" [War God's Crushing Fist] The god slayer slammed his fist into Bora's face and sent Bora flying across the entire town, toward the town's church. But, even before bora managed to reach his 'destination', Natsu was already there, with his sword ready to strike.

"Ah?!" Lucy yelped as she understood that this is not going to end up well. She didn't want to see what's going to happen, but for some reason, she just couldn't divert her eyes from Natsu.

But, to Lucy's surprise, Bora wasn't impaled on Natsu's sword. Instead, he was impaled on some sort of torch, made of dark blue energy, as Bora's body didn't get any visible damage. Few seconds later 'torch' dissipated, and Bora's body fell on the ground.

"Oh…" Sin said with false regret… "I guess he actually was angry at that Bora guy, after all…"

"What happened?!" Lucy asked, eyeing Bora's unmoving body, "He… didn't kill him, right?..." Blonde was kind and forgiving person, even though Bora tried to enslave her – she didn't think that he deserved death penalty.

"No," Natsu replied himself as his sword was literally soaked into his left arm, "For his crimes against Kingdom of Fiore and its people, he will be judged by Fiore's court, or by magic council… I don't really care. But he also committed a crime against our guild, using its name to cover his pathetic machinations. For that, I judged him myself. As a punishment, I've destroyed his Mahōsui [Magic Sleep], sort of a container that stores ethernano inside of mage's body. He will not be able to use magic ever again."

"Is… Is that even possible?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock as Natsu approached her.

"Everything is possible if you know the right trick, however, I don't think that you need to remember that I know this one," God slayer added as his left hand abruptly shot forth and he lightly touched Lucy's forehead with his middle and index fingers. Lucy immediately lost consciousness and fell on the ground.

"Nice… You just met her, yet you already did this…" Sin shook her head.

"It's for her own good," Natsu noted, "Beati illis quos non scitis…"

*Sigh* Despite he had no lungs, Sin sighed heavily, he just didn't know what to reply.

"She is the least of our problems now, though," Natsu noted, looking around, "It happened again, does it?" The port was in ruins, rubble was scattered all over the place, several of the townhouses were in flames. "Despite all that efforts to protect the town… I even used my sword to block offensive spells…"

"Yeah, but you were swinging your sword hit and miss, moreover, you ordered Lucy to flush the ship back to port with a tsunami…" Sin reminded.

"This is not good… Neutralizing criminals also means protecting civilian property from them… But I got carried away and failed that part," Natsu sighed, "They're going to reduce my payment, no doubts…"

"Anyway, what's about the girl?" Sin asked.

"What's about the girl?" Natsu returned the question, as he again looked at Lucy.

"Well, she provided assistance you requested, don't you think she deserved something for her help.

"You're suggesting me to share my reward? Listen, I don't want to look unthankful, but right now isn't the best time for generosity, you're well aware of my circumstances," Natsu replied.

"It's not that," Sin shook his boney skull, "While we were talking, she expressed her wish to join Fairy Tail," Sin explained, though he decided to omit some details.

"Really?" Natsu asked, even he was surprised a bit. "Didn't she told us that she's doing just fine as an independent mage just a few hours ago?"

"Actually, she didn't" Sin replied. True, she never mentioned anything about being 'fine'. "Anyway, can we just take her with us?" Lil dragon asked.

"If it's that simple then we certainly can," Natsu replied as he picked Lucy up and placed her over his right shoulder. God slayer pointed at Bora's body and sin picked it up. They headed towards City Hall to turn Bora in and close the request. "I can introduce her to the guild. Will she join or not, though, is up to her."

Few things about spells: okay, as I remember in my other stories I decided to use Kanji to Romaji conversion for all spells. But I gave up – too much of unnecessary work that only confused people more. For this story I'll use Kanji only for lost magic spells. All "modern" spell names will be converted to Romaji from Katakana.

Spell List:

Hi no Mahō – Fire Magic

Seirei Mahō – Celestial Spirit Magic

Seireikai – Celestial Spirit World

Akueriasu – Aquarius

Miriō no Mahō – Charm Magic

Miriō Shūmon – Charm Spell

Purominensu Hoippu – Prominence Whip

Purominensu Taifūn – Prominence Typhoon

Reddo Kāpetto – Red Carpet

Heru Purominens – Hell Prominence

Reddo Shawā – Red Shower

Reddo Sukaru – Red Skull

Senjin no Dogō – War God's Howl

Senjin no Saiken – War God's Crushing Fist

Senjin no Shōkya – War God's Shock Leg

Kodai Mahō – Ancient Magic

Sensō no Metsujin Mahō – God of War Slayer Magic

Beati illis quos non scitis – Blessed are those who are ignorant

Okay, this is it for the first chapter. I know – idea of alternate canon is as old as Fairy Tail itself, but it's bad by itself.

So, read and REVIEW people. Cya soon!