Disclaimer:All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended


Chapter 1: Torched Heaven.

A teal glass orb rolled, cracked into a hundred pieces, then was restored to its former pristine form, all done by the same purple haired young woman who watched it pouting with boredom.

"Ultear, stop playing around during the meeting!" one of her many elders in the room snapped.

"But I'm bored" the woman, Ultear, drawled "Aren't you Siegrain-sama?" she rolled the orb along her arm and up on top of her head with her magic.

Meetings of the Magic Council were not the most interesting of events, even when interesting things were happening they tended to be dull, and currently nothing was happening, at least nothing that wasn't either already going on beforehand or unknown to the Council, so this meeting was particularly boring. Well, apart from one single matter on the agenda, and on every agenda for at least the past two years and maybe even longer than that.

"Yeah, I'm bored too" Siegrain, a spiky blue haired young man with a strange tattoo like marking over one eye, said with a smirk, calmly watching the proceedings as if everyone else weren't glaring at the two of them, the youngest of the councillors "I hope someone will cause some kind of trouble."

"W-watch your mouth!"

"How could these brats become council members?" an old man grumbled quietly.

"Cause our magical power is high, old man" but Sieg heard him.

"You!" Org, an elderly man with grey hair and a long beard, who only ever seemed to have a single eye open, glared darkly at Siegrain.

"Silence, both of you" Org backed down and turned to the other member, non to happy "The magical world is always filled with many problems, but we especially need to take care of, that man…"

Amused smiles spread across the faces of Siegrain and Ultear.

"The one they call, Salamander."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Far away, in the port city of Hargeon, a pink haired man stumbled out of a train, falling to his knees the second he was on solid earth.

"E-excuse me sir" a conductor asked hurrying over to the kneeling man "Are you okay?"

The man looked up, his face green "Do I look okay?" he asked testily "Argh, I hate trains!" he struggled to his feet holding his stomach. He stumbled past the conductor, who watched a moment longer before moving on, his stomach still rolling and the persistent sensation of rocking was not helping.

Most people only got such a sensation after spending a sometime on a boat but he got it after using any form of transportation and it would stick with him for a good few hours making him feel sick for the entirety of that time.

"Fuck" he cursed, loud enough for nearby people to glare at him for his foul language. But he only sighed "What am I even doing here?" he complained loudly… then paused.

He had already forgotten.

"Dammit, Master's gonna be so pissed!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Erza Scarlet, known across Fiore and its criminal underworld as the Fairy Queen Titania, whose hair was red as the Scarlet in her name, was a young armour wearing S-Class Mage, belonging to the renowned guild Fairy Tail.

Current she was walking down a street calmly surveying every corner and scanning every face with her attentive brown eyes.

How she was supposed to find one mage amongst an entire town Erza didn't know, especially as she didn't have an idea of where they would be, why they was here, or even what the mage looked like, but she would. It was a request from Master Makarov himself after all. Master received it from the Council true, but Erza didn't care about that. Master requested it and therefore she refused to fail.

Her task was to find and capture, or failing that eliminate, the Dark Mage known as 'Salamander'.

Intelligence had recently been received by the Council suggesting he was in the port town of Hargeon and, Fairy Tail being the closest reputable guild, they had decided that Fairy Tail would be forced to handle him. Not trusting anyone else, Master had sent Erza along to find and defeat him.

She gazed to the left and to the right, then looked back, and unfortunately, not looking where she was going, crashed into someone who was also not looking where they were going "Whoa!" hands grabbed her, hot fingers touching the exposed skin of her upper arms, in between her gauntlets and shoulder armour "Sorry" the man apologised, letting go once he was certain she was steady on her feet.

Erza stared a few moments taking in the man she had bumped into. He was a bit taller than her, had spiky pink hair and black eyes and slightly tanned skin. He wore a dark red jacket left unzipped down the front revealing the black t-shirt worn beneath, and green cargo trousers, and wrapped around his neck was a white scaled scarf, despite the fact that it was the middle of summer "No" she shook her head after he apologised again "It was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going. Please hit me!"

"Um…" the man stared at her oddly "That's alright. I mean I wasn't look where I was going either."

"I see, still, my apologies" she gave him a formal apologetic bow.

The man chuckled after a moment "You're a little weird…" Erza didn't comment, she had been told that before "That's good, normal people are boring" but his comment made her blink. He smiled again "Well, I better hurry on. Master's going to be really angry if I mess around too much, more than he already is" he mumbled, before giving her a wave and moving on.

Erza followed him with her eyes. Master? Did that mean he was a member of a guild? But then she shook her head, she had a task to do, 'Find Salamander', and with that in mind Erza continued her search. The pink haired man behind her not spared another glance.

She had yet to realise it, and wouldn't for some time, but she had already bumped into her target, literally bumped into.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What? You mean this is the only magic shop in town?" Lucy, a girl of seventeen years of age, could've cried just then. In a small town shop like this, it wasn't exactly sizeable and most of the stock looked like it was getting on a bit, there was no chance of her finding anything useful, and certainly not any of the Gate Keys, and most definitely not any of the Golden Gate Keys, and that was what the blonde haired mage was looking for.

"Yes" the storeowner told her cheerful despite her lack of enthusiasm "This town is more prosperous in fishing than magic to begin with. Less than ten percent of the townsfolk can use magic, so this store is mainly for travelling mages."

She sighed "Guess I came here for nothing."

"Before saying that please take a look around, we have some new items too. The ColourS Magic is probably most popular among girls right now" he showed her the small device "You can change your clothes colour depending on your mood" with a flick his clothes became purple "See?"

"I already have it" Lucy told him glancing about, there was no harm in having a quick look "I'm looking for Gate Keys, and strong ones."

"Gate Keys huh? Rather unusual" the store owner said "I think…"

"Ah!" Lucy's happy exclamation stopped him short as she noticed the shiny silver key "Nikora, the Canis Minor!"

"That's not strong at all" the shop keeper told her.

"It doesn't matter, I've been looking for it" she hurried over to him, the box in hand "How much is it?"

"Twenty thousand Jewel."

Lucy didn't blink, didn't flinch, and didn't gape. Instead she remained smiling and asked, as if he hadn't even spoken "I wonder how much it is?"

"I said, twenty thousand Jewel" but he hadn't worked this store for many a year and never encountered customers who wanted to bargain, and this was one shopkeeper who prided himself on being stingy on the matter.

"I wonder how much it really is" Lucy bent over the counter, crossing her arms beneath her chest to accentuate her breasts, giving him a scant but teasing view of her ample assets while she batted her eyelids while practically moaning the word "mister?"

Minutes later Lucy was storming down the street key in hand, past a round man skipping along merrily, past the man wondering if he should go into a certain restaurant, past the pink haired man looking around curiously and past the cart being hauled along.

"Tch" Lucy scoffed a scowl on her face "One thousand Jewel. One thousand. Is that all my sex appeal is worth one thousand jewels, HUH?!" she screamed and kicked a nearby sign. Luckily no one commented, I mean would you? You see some girl kick down a sign while grumbling about her sex appeal, commenting then would be as sensible as tickling a sleeping dragon not that that situation was likely to arise as dragons were just legends, but still.

She had bought the key but, one thousand Jewel seriously?

A loud cheer nearby stopped her short "Huh? What's going on?" she glanced at the crowd gathered just along the street, where the cheer had originated. It was mostly made up of women and then mostly teenagers of an age similar to her own.

A pair of girls sped past Lucy shouting back and forth to one another as they ran.

"You hear!"

"Yeah, a famous mage is in town!"

"It's Salamander-sama!"

"S-Salamander?!" Lucy muttered.

Salamander was a mage with one hell of a reputation, even Lucy had heard of him. Destructive and crazy strong he had probably caused more property damage than most mages guilds would cause across their existence and while he may have been a Dark Mage belonging to a Dark Guild that wasn't enough to stop something of a fan club forming around the heavily publicized Salamander, hell half of the stories in the Sorcerer Magazine were about his exploits.

"The man who uses Fire Magic you can't buy in the shops. He's in this town" Lucy grinned. It wasn't every day you met a famous mage after all. She hurried forwards into the crowd and pushed herself forwards.

When she finally saw him her face went red, her heart beat faster, and her brain went quiet. He was relatively tall, with a rather rectangular face and sharp, handsome features. His blue hair was rather short on one side hanging in lower spikes on the other. A tattoo just above his right eyebrow was shaped like a pair of stylized tongs.

His ornate high collared cape reached down to his knees, lighter in colour on the inner side, and fastened just beneath his neck by a stylized flame. Underneath that a rather simple attire of a light short sleeved shirt and pinstriped red pants, and he wore a golden bracelet around his wrist "Haha, I'm had, I can't walk like this" he said, his masculine voice sending shivers down her spine.

'W-what is this?' she asked herself as she stared at him, unsure of what to think her heart was beating so fast. When he turned and looked and her, her heart felt like it was going to pummel its way out of her chest 'What's happening to me? Is it because he's a famous mage? Is that why my heart is beating so fast? I-is he coming over here?' he was, in fact he was looking right at her as he moved towards her and the closer he got the faster and harder Lucy's heart beat.

"PERISH VILLAN!"

The hearts in her eyes broke, literally, as bright red hair whipped across her face 'S-scarlet…' was the only thought she had that managed to make sense. Before Lucy could so much as blink Salamander was eating dirt in a pile of rubbish with several rather serious looking cuts across his chest and legs.

"What the hell are you doing?" one girl shouted.

"You bitch!"

"How dare you hurt Salamander-sama?"

Stood before Lucy was a scarlet haired, brown eyed woman, wearing a suit of armour and with a sword in hand, said sword dripping with Salamander's blood. The girl turned to face the crowd… and the crowd ran away screaming, her shadowed face and flashing brown eyes putting the fear of… well of her, in them.

Once they had vanished into the distance the girl turned to face the unconscious Salamander.

"U-um" Lucy herself almost ran away when the girl turned to face her. She looked rather stern, not angry though, but seeing how easily she had dealt with Salamander Lucy did not want to be on her bad side "Thank you."

The girl blinked.

"That guy, he was using charm" since she was wearing armour Lucy presumed she was talking to a knight or a warrior of justice or something, not someone well versed in the arts of magic "It's a form of magic that makes people feel attracted to the user. But it was outlawed several years ago. Using something like that… that guys disgusting. So thanks for saving me" Lucy smiled at the girl a little embarrassed at being caught up in that. She was a mage wasn't she, she should be better than that.

"You're welcome, but I didn't intend to" the girl turned back to Salamander "Salamander is a wanted criminal. It is my job to ensure he faces justice before he can cause any more damage."

"I see" this girl really was some kind of Champion of Light. Lucy smiled at the thought "Still, facing such a famous mage all by yourself, that's rather risky. You're still a girl aren't you?"

The girl half scowled at the unconscious man "In all honestly I was expecting a more difficult opponent. It seems his formidable reputation was ill deserved."

"What's going on?" several guards hurried over, their armour and weapons clanking, the captain ran at the front shouting to the two girls "What's all this about?"

The scarlet haired girl stepped forward confidently while Lucy considered running away "I am Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail" Lucy's eyes widened "I have captured the criminal Salamander on request from the Council. Please lock him away to await the Council's judgement" she gave them a sharp bow.

"Err…" ignoring the shocked guard and the equally shocked girl behind her, Erza started walking away.

The guards didn't react for a while but then, at the order of their superior, who finally recovered from his own daze, hauled away the unconscious Salamander.

It was then that Lucy was finally snapped from her own reverie and turned and raced down the street after the scarlet dot she could just see in the distance "Please wait a moment!"

Erza stopped and looked back, and waited patiently for Lucy to catch up.

"Are you… really… a mage of Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked in between deep breaths of air.

"Yes."

Stars glimmered in Lucy's eyes "Wow! Incredible, Fairy Tail is as amazing as I thought" Lucy clasped her hands before her chest. So this was a Fairy Tail mage, she was so strong, rather stern but not unkind, and beautiful too "Thank you again, I mean you saved me from that Salamander guy and now I find out you're from Fairy Tail, I'm really glad you came along. Argh, I'll never get in if I fall for such stupid tricks, oh but you're incredible thanks again" if you couldn't tell Lucy was rambling.

Erza tilted her head "Are you interested in joining Fairy Tail?" she inquired.

"Ah, well, I mean, um, y-yeah…" she scratched the back of her head, flushing nervously "But I'm a little nervous and, I mean, what if I'm rejected, a-and I don't…"

"Coward!" Erza's shout startled Lucy, making her scream "You'll never be a mage of Fairy Tail if you fear rejection. Walk right up to the Master and demand it if you want it" Erza's face was cold, she had no time for cowards.

Lucy felt her heart shatter in that moment and she nodded pathetically "Y-yeah, you're right, I'm a coward, I have no right to join Fairy Tail" she sniffed, feeling tears building up. She really wanted to join, really she did, through Weekly Sorcerer she had fallen in love with Fairy Tail from Mirajane's gravure's to their destructive antics. She wanted to be a part of that guild, but she didn't have the courage to just walk into it and demand entry, all she had ever done and could ever do was run away. She had even run away from her own home, from her own father…

"W-wait, don't cry, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I didn't mean to be so harsh, please hit me" Erza fussed worriedly over the blonde, she hadn't intended to make her cry rather give her the courage needed to take that first step, her attempts to give others courage usually backfired but she'd never made someone cry before, at least not where she could see them, they usually ran away from her before crying so Erza never realised they cried.

"E-Erza-san?" Lucy wondered at her change in personality, still half crying.

"Listen to me" Erza placed a hand firmly on her shoulder "Have no fear, don't turn back or flinch away from hardship, stand strong" she gave Lucy a warm but slightly worried smile "Care for your comrades and love your friends, if you're like that, there's no way Master would ever refuse."

Lucy sniffed "E-Erza-san" she repeated, staring at the red haired girl. Not only was she strong and beautiful, she was inspiring and so very kind as well.

Erza smiled kindly "Just Erza is fine."

Lucy started crying again. She knew Fairy Tail mages were cool, but she never thought that they'd be this awesome.

"Wait please don't cry, I'm sorry, please hit me!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So your name is Lucy?" Erza asked only half paying attention. The strawberry shortcake sat on a plate before her taking up the other half of her concentration.

"Yep, and you are Erza Scarlet-san, right?" Lucy asked wanting to make sure she got it right. She nursed a cup of tea in the small teahouse they had stopped in. Erza had seen the strawberry cake poster in the window and made a beeline straight to it and Lucy had gotten dragged along for the ride.

Erza smiled "Just Erza is fine" she repeated her earlier words, before turning her gaze down and taking her first bite, and moaning out loud in pleasure. Strawberry shortcake… delicious.

Lucy smiled as she watched the other girl eat her cake. Despite the armour she clad herself in, despite her strength, Erza really was a girl deep down.

Erza savoured every bite of her cake and when it was all gone she licked her fork clean in a manner most pleasing to the male clientele before finally placing it down with a gentle 'clink'. She let out a long contented sigh.

'Did she do that on purpose?' Lucy wondered staring at the girl who had put on a rather erotic display yet seemed none too embarrassed about that fact, or didn't notice.

Erza stood and gave Lucy a small bow "Thank you for the meal."

Lucy blinked 'Wait, am I treating her?' she sighed 'I guess I should.'

She twitched as she paid, a thousand Jewel for one cup of tea and a slice of cake, this place was over priced, seriously over priced. She bemoaned her lost thousand Jewel as she followed the redhead out of the café.

"Oi!"

Erza paused and glanced at the man who had shouted, he was looking directly at her and storming through the crowds towards them "You're the bitch who attacked Bora."

"Bora?" Erza repeated, she hadn't heard that name before.

The man finally reached where she stood "You fucking whore!" the man shouted swinging his fist around.

A swift punch to the gut sent him crashing to the ground unconscious. Erza barely reacted to having knocked the guy out, not even looking in his direction as she tried to figure out who this Bora the guy mentioned was.

"She's over here!"

Lucy shivered as more men, these ones armed with swords and guns, raced towards them, then shook her head 'Erza-san, no, Erza has been kind to me, she saved me. Now it's my turn' she swiped a key of her chain "Open the gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" plunging it down, as if to open some lock in the air below her, Lucy turned the key.

Emerging from the ground came a huge, heavily muscled, humanoid figure, his body dappled black and white, a pair of horns atop his bovine head and a massive doubled edged axe strapped across his back.

The men halted their advance staring at the figure before them "A cow" one of them said flatly "It's a cow" another stated "Why is there a cow?" a third spoke.

"Lucy-san, nice body as usual" Taurus complimented staring at his master with lustful eyes.

Lucy twitched, couldn't he act a bit more serious. He was her strongest spirit, physically speaking, but his tendency towards perversion did grate on her nerves. She sighed "Ah, the woes of being cute, and having a killer figure."

One man stared at her "What the hell is wrong with this chick?" he asked his companions.

"Who cares, these girls got Bora arrested, attack!"

They charged forwards right at the bull/cow/human hybrid any fear, or astonishment as the case may be, forgotten.

Taurus turned his eyes flashing "You're want to harm my boobs" unclasping his axe he swung it in a large arc screaming "I'll never let you touch Lucy's boobs!" and the men were scattered over much of the town the force of his axe blow sending two through nearby windows, three up into the sky, and knocking one into a produce wagon, which then proceeded to head out of town to its next destination with the man only waking up fourteen miles from Hargeon and being forced to walk back whereupon he was arrested, but that was a different story.

"Though I'm grateful for your help, I really wish you were less of a pervert" Lucy muttered.

"Huh? You say something Lucy-san, I was too caught up in looking at your amazing body!" he gave her a thumbs up.

Lucy sighed "No, nothing, thanks for your help Taurus, you can go back now…" Taurus kept staring at her, specifically her chest "You. Can. Go. Back. Now." she growled out.

Taurus gave her the biggest grin "Call me whenever you need me!" before disappearing in golden light.

Lucy sighed again before turning to Erza, intent on gauging her reaction. She really hoped she'd made a good impression.

Erza was smiling at her "Well done Lucy" she patted the girl on the back, unknowingly buckling her knees "A mage of your calibre should have no trouble in Fairy Tail."

Lucy felt herself smile again. It wasn't a dream, she really could, if she just reached out, become a mage of Fairy Tail.

"Oi, what's going on here?"

'This feels somehow familiar' Lucy thought as men in yellow and blue striped tunics raced towards them with spears and shields.

"You two!"

Lucy once again considered running away, even more so when she glanced around at the destruction she had caused. She should've known better than to summon Taurus in a crowded public area.

"You two are the ones who apprehended the suspect earlier, correct?" the most formally attired guard asked, bearing a sword, sheathed on his belt, rather than a spear and shield like the rest.

"Yes we are, my name is Erza Scarlet, and this is Lucy" Erza introduced them calmly, as if being confronted by guards was an everyday event, which for her is sort of was, well it was common enough. Come to think of it, well actually something entirely different but slightly related to what she had just said, Erza just now realised that she hadn't ever gotten Lucy's last name. She made a note to remember to ask her later, and subsequently forgot all about it.

"I see" the captain stood upright, to the fullest extent of his height "Then I'll have to ask that you come with me."

"Um, w-why?" Lucy asked nervously. They were so screwed.

The Captain frowned "Your earlier capture of the one known as Salamander… I'm afraid there has been some mistake."

Erza was attentive by this point "A mistake."

"Yes… you see that man is really…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A man with spiky pink hair stared down the street along which several windows were broken, a stall was collapsed, and a whole host of guards stood, talking to a pair of girls.

'That redhead' he thought staring intently at her 'she's the one I bumped into earlier… or was it the blonde?' he scratched his head. He had already forgotten.

More than a few other people stood staring at the spectacle like him, but only the odd word of the guards and girls conversation was audible to the general populace, their conversation so quiet and the people stood so far away.

He wasn't the closest, but heard all of it, every single word, but one word and one word alone caught his attention, and it refused to let go, like barbed thorns that were dug into bloodied flesh.

Just one word...

'Salamander'.

He grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Erza frowned, glaring down at the patterned bedcover stretched out before her. She sat in a centre of a bed in a small inn in Hargeon, wearing her purple Heart Kreuz pyjamas, remembering the conversation with the guard captain earlier.

"… a man known as Bora of the Prominence, a criminal formerly of the Guild, Titan's Nose. He's a wanted man, charged with abduction and enslavement. He's kidnaps women from the towns, and sells them into slavery in Bosco. The worst sort of scum and someone we're all too happy is behind bars. But he wasn't Salamander…"

Biting viciously down on her lip she punched the beds footboard, breaking the dense wood with her bare fist.

"Erza" Erza blinked, having momentarily forgotten that she wasn't alone in this room "are you okay?" the blonde haired girl was staring at her with concerned eyes.

Erza had offered to go back to the guild with Lucy and put in a good word with the master for her, the way she handled herself earlier convincing Erza that she would make a good comrade. But it was late when they finally got out of being questioned by the city guard, and when Erza had finally finished questioning them, so they checked into this inn deciding to head back tomorrow.

Lucy offered to pay for her room as thanks but, unfortunately, only had enough for one room so they decided to share, luckily they managed to get a twin room at a cutback price, although Erza wouldn't have minded sharing a bed too much, for some reason Lucy seemed embarrassed at the prospect and the, male, owner had been blushing furiously.

"I was just thinking, about what the guards told us earlier."

Lucy shivered. Using something like charm was disgusting, but using it to draw in girls, or rather 'products', that was horrible, sickening. She half wished Erza had beaten him up some more. Thinking that she might have been one of them, if Erza hadn't come along… Lucy couldn't continue those thoughts, her brain refusing to go any further. She didn't want to think on what might've happened.

"I failed" Erza continued.

"What?!" Lucy stared her shock. How could she say that? "You captured a man who harmed lots of people. He was a slaver, you heard the guard 'the worst sort of scum'. You... you saved me, Erza. How is that a failure?"

Erza shook her head "Salamander was spotted in this town. It was my job to capture him. I failed."

"That Bora guy was using Salamander's name, anyone could've made the mistake of believing he was the real Salamander, I mean it's not like you had a description or something… right?" she hadn't had she, because if she did then it was a little stupid, but still!

"I didn't" but she didn't look any happier.

Lucy paused, chewing her own lip as she tried to think. She needed a good convincing argument so that Erza wasn't down on herself. She had done a good deed, a great deed even, she had no reason to be harsh with herself, hell she should be pleased "What if…" Lucy began slowly "the Samander that was spotted here was Bora?" Erza blinked at her "Think about it" she continued "he was using the name Salamander so someone might've reported it as the real Salamander. So it wasn't your fault it the information's?!" she stood up with a raised fist and a smile, happy at her own argument.

For a moment Erza could only stare, then she smiled "Lucy, thank you" they had only met a few hours ago and yet Erza already found herself both liking and feeling comfortable around this girl. She reminded her of someone. Erza's eyes widened when she realised who it was, strands of silver hair dancing across her memory.

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the room, sending Lucy crashing to the ground while Erza stood keeping her balance despite the shaking ground, switching from her pyjamas to her armour with a sword in hand, ready for an attack.

"What the… An explosion?!" Lucy cried out panicked.

Screams and crying, and the pounding of running feet and panicked shouts, could be heard from outside the window.

"Come on" Erza called racing from the room without a moments pause.

Lucy followed after a moment's hesitation. As much as she didn't want to go out in her pinstriped pyjamas Erza had helped, and was helping, her and trusting her and Lucy didn't intend to fail her expectations. She did grab her keys and whip before leaving though.

Outside it was all the louder, and cries of children, the screams of men and women alike, and the crying and running, it all pounded heavily in her head. But she and Erza headed against the crowd, in the opposite direction to most who were fleeing, towards the towering column of smoke visible in the sky and the orange glow above the buildings, likely a fire of mighty proportions.

Eventually they reached the source of the flames, a large stone building where men in the city guard uniform were racing right and left, orders were shouted loudly, and people in chains were dragged away from the flaming building as other men threw buckets of water on the flames in an attempt to quell the blaze that was burning even the stone. This place was a prison, Lucy was certain.

"What's going on?" Erza approached the first person she saw.

"Miss, you need to get…" and he was out like a light as Erza punched him in the head.

"What's going on?" she moved onto the next.

"Wha…" and he was out too.

"What's going on?"

"Err…" and so was he.

'She requires an immediate answer, huh? Better remember that' Lucy told herself staring at the numerous unconscious men lying on the ground. She sighed and took a long look around.

"The prison was attacked" someone finally answered quickly enough for Erza's liking, funnily enough it was the guard captain from earlier "The explosion was centred around the cell of that fake Salamander you brought in earlier. We think he might've escaped."

Erza scowled, escaped the day she caught him. She'd hunt him down if it was the last thing she did, no one, I mean no one, escaped, not from her.

"No" both Erza and the guard captain turned at Lucy's single, faint, word. And found her staring up, at a wall of the prison left undamanged the explosion "He didn't escape…" she said, a tear dripping from her eye. No one deserved such a thing, not even scum like Bora, it was just… it was horrible.

Erza and the guard followed her line of sight, and they found him there.

Bora of the Prominence was pinned to the stone wall, his arms stabbed through with the bars of his own prison cell, half melted around his flesh. He was stripped out of his fancy clothes leaving him in just his pants and there, marked upon his bare chest, was a symbol, charred black into his flesh.

A slowly expanding shaft, a ray of light beaming down from on high perhaps, being consumed, from the ground up, by flames.

Erza felt rage building up inside of her. She knew that symbol, she had drilled it into her mind before this mission. That symbol was a guild mark, Salamander's guild's mark. It was the mark of… "Torched Heaven!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A man with spiky pink hair walked along the road away from the port town of Hargeon at a casual pace, yawning loudly, the flames burning in the city casting an orange glow that reached even this far out.

His red jacket hung loose around his upper arms, revealing the symbol emblazoned upon the back of his black t-shirt, a golden ray of light beaming down from above, being consumed at the bottom by scarlet flames, Torched Heaven's symbol.

"Natsu-sama" Natsu paused and glanced to the trees to his left, where the source of the voice stood.

Hidden from the moons cold white light under the cover of the trees shadow stood a tall man, a good head taller than Natsu himself, with long red hair glowing faintly with a strange otherworldly golden light. His hair was a deep crimson at the roots but faded into orange and then yellow at the tips, giving it a flame like appearance.

He was clean shaven, middle aged wrinkles around his eyes, his eyes themselves cold and black. He wore a long flowing black cape, beneath that a dark red suit and black dress shirt, a red tie and shiny black shoes.

"Was there a reason for that?" the older man inquired, glancing at the fire still raging in the town. It would take them days to put it out, such was the potency of Natsu's flames.

Natsu shrugged "Someone was using my name" he said casually, as if he hadn't just killed a man and desecrated his corpse. Technically he hadn't, the last part at least, Bora had still been alive when Natsu burnt the symbol into his chest, though he hadn't been alive long after that.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Boar the Prominent or something" if you had your own title then why the hell would you use his. Natsu shook his head "Did you want something, Alastor?"

"Master bid me to inform you your current assignment is to be put on hold."

"Oh?" that was good, even after wandering the entire town all day Natsu still hadn't figured out what exactly his job had been. He also knew that returning now would be risky given that he had just burned down the prison.

"Yes, he asks that you return to Devilfire Keep. He has a more interesting job for you."

"'Interesting'?" Natsu wondered at the wording.

Alastor nodded "He asked me to mention two things, first, the dark guild, Eisenwald" they had had dealings with the Oracion Seis subordinate guild before, so the name meant something to Natsu, but nothing important or particularly exciting "And also" Alastor continued "Lullaby."

A dark smile spread across Natsu's face. Things were getting interesting, weren't they? "You can go now" he dismissed Alastor with a wave of his hand "tell Master I'll be back in a two days, maybe three at most."

Alastor nodded, giving Natsu a small bow before his body was burnt up, fading into flames that burnt out in the air. Somewhere far away the real Alastor's eyes snapped open as his Flame Projection Spell was released.

But Natsu remained on the road just outside Hargeon, still grinning even as he looked up at the pale full moon sat upon an inky black sky dotted with flickering pinprick stars 'Lullably, huh? Should be fun.'


Okay so here it is, the first chapter in my NatsuXErza epic.

What did you think? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Do you find me to be an obnoxious prick who should just shut the hell up? Did you answer yes to all four question? If so fuck you, you can't fucking read the questions and you're a fucking dick, I'll have you know I'm an obnoxious, annoying, tedious prick, I pissed off a lot of people to get that title, and deserve to be addressed as such.

...

That came out a lot more self deprecating than I thought it would.

Ah well, enjoy, review if you want, you know if you can be bothered.

Toodles.