Chapter Text
"Why the hell does Jellal of all people need help?" groaned Lucy to herself as they patiently waited for his arrival.
"Juvia is unsure," Juvia answered plainly before sending Lucy an annoyed glance. "She does hope though that a certain someone won't be acting like a princess in need of rescuing again."
"I do not act like a princess!" Lucy hissed and threw her a dark glare. "I'm just acting like a normal and sane person who doesn't want to die!!"
"Whatever you say," Juvia scoffed and adjusted her hat.
"I don't think Lucy acts like a princess," Natsu shrugged and crossed his arms behind his head. "More like a gorilla."
Natsu immediately regretted his words when he was suddenly hit with, not only a Lucy Kick but also a face full of cat claws.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Lucy asked with a huff as the groaning Natsu slowly got up from the station floor.
"I wanted to come along," he grinned childishly as his eyes started to sparkle. "Going on a mission with Jellal Fernandes is a dream come true!!"
"You really are something else, aren't you Natsu," Carla chuckled while the girls started to argue again. "A mission that Jellal won't be able to do on his own will be pretty dangerous, so it is very courageous of you for wanting to come along."
But Natsu didn't answer.
Not because he was still fantasizing about going on a mission with Jellal but because he suddenly had a mishievious idea. He was looking at the two arguing girls with an expression that told Carla immediately what he was about to do. So she wasn't the least surprised when Natsu did eventually open his mouth.
"Yo, Jellal!" he grinned and waved a hand in greeting to someone behind the girls. "Over here, man!"
The girls immediately stopped arguing.
"You really are the most wonderful friend a girl could have, Lucy!" Juvia smiled and hugged the blonde tight.
"You too, girl!" Lucy smiled just as bright.
Natsu immediately burst into laughter which confused the girls at first but then they quickly understood what happened. They immediately let go of each other and sent a deadly glare over at the pink-haired boy.
"YOU TRICKED US, YOU SON OF A. . ."
"Now I'm starting to think that you actually are friends," Natsu giggled as he noticed the two girls acting in sync.
"Please don't ever joke about that again," Juvia shivered but before Natsu could even answer her, they were interrupted by a familiar voice approaching.
"My apologize," Jellal said as he approached them with a small bag slung over his shoulder. "I hope that I didn't keep you waiting for too long."
"Not at all," Carla assured him. "We arrived here ourselves just a few minutes ago."
Jellal nodded in understanding when he suddenly caught sight of Natsu standing by the girls. He blinked in surprise as a curious glint flashed in his eyes for a moment.
"Your must be that new boy I heard about," he said curiously and turned to look him in the eye. "Natsu, correct?"
"Nice to meetcha, man!" Natsu greeted with a huge grin. "Hope you don't mind me tagging along."
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Natsu," Jellal smiled gratefully. "I appreciate your help but I have to warn you that this will be dangerous. Since you are a Dragon Slayer though, I'm certain that you can handle it."
"I wouldn't have come along if I didn't think I'll be able to handle it," Natsu scoffed before a determined expression spread across his face. "Besides, I needed to ask you something . . . something I've wanted to ask you ever since I first heard about you."
"Is that so?" he mused and narrowed his eyes at the younger man. "Then let's hear it."
"Once we've come back, I want to fight you," Natsu declared, which caused the three girls behind him to stare at him in pure shock and horror at his words.
"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked and started to shake him from behind. "Don't do it! You will die!"
Jellal stared at him silently before a small smile spread across his face and he let out a small chuckle.
"You're a spirited one, aren't you," he chuckled in amusement before a smirk spread across his face. "Very well, I'll accept your challenge."
Natsu immediately smirked and cracked his knuckles.
"I'm all fired up now!"
. . .
. . .
. . .
Just a few minutes later though as their train left the station, his determination and triumph was all gone. Stricken by motion sickness again, Natsu was left moaning in agony and discomfort.
"What a disgrace!" Juvia scoffed and looked away. "Does this really happen everytime that he goes on a train?"
"Apperently," Lucy sighed and looked at him in pity. "I feel kinda bad for him at times."
"Oh, the poor thing," Jellal smiled and patted the seat beside him. "Why don't you come and sit next to me?"
"I thought you wanted me to sit next to you since you didn't want me and Juvia to fight for the whole train-ride?" Lucy questioned but she immediately went silent and switched seats with Natsu after Jellal gave her a simple but stern look.
But then, without forewarning, Jellal quickly knocked the poor guy out with a hard punch to his abdomen causing the two girls to shriek and curl into each other a little until they suddenly realized what they were doing.
They immediately shuffled away from each other in disgust.
"That should settle you down a bit," Jellal smiled kindly and stroked through the pink hair of the guy lying unconscious in his lap, as if he hadn't just knocked him out.
"If you don't mind Jellal, would you mind telling Juvia what exactly this is about?" Juvia inquired with her expression going from emotionless to serious in an instant. "This is the first mission ever that you need help with. Juvia never imagined that this day would actually come."
"Even I need help from time to time, Juvia," he chuckled before his expression turned serious as well. "On my way back from my last job, I stopped by a bar where wizards often gather in Onibas. And there was a small group of people that caught my attention."
. . .
. . .
. . .
"Oi!" a sudden yell caught Jellal's attention. "What's holding up the liquor!?"
Jellal shifted his head slightly to keep an eye on the rowdy men on the table right behind him.
"For crissakes!! Get a move on!!"
"I-I'm sorry," the terrified waitress stammered out an apology as she approached the table with more alcohol.
"Don't get so worked up, Byard!"
"Yeah."
"Nobody could take this aggravation and not get mad!!!" Byard, who had whiskers, ranted madly as he gulped down his beer. "We finally find out where Lullaby is, only to find out that there's a damn seal!!! What even is that fucking thing?! Nothing we did broke it!!!"
"Shut up, you idiot!"
"Yeah, you're being way too loud!"
"Dammit!!"
"That magic seal can't be broken by numbers alone," the fourth guy, who had kept quiet this far, suddenly piped up.
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," the black-haired man assured them as he stood up to leave. "Go back to the guild and tell Erigor that I'll be back in three days with Lullaby in hand."
"Are you serious?! You've figured out a way to break the seal?"
"Wow! That's Kage-chan for you!!"
. . .
. . .
. . .
"Lullaby?" Juvia questioned and raised an eyebrow.
"A child's bedtime song?" Lucy blinked and tilted her head curiously. "Could it be some kind of sleep magic?"
"I'm not certain," Jellal frowned before his right hand clenched in anger. "But when I heard that it was sealed, I figured it must be some very strong magic."
"Juvia doesn't see the problem. . ." Juvia frowned and raised one of her eyebrows. "Sure, there are some men trying to break the seal to something but that doesn't require a mission."
"That is true." Jellal frowned and glanced out of the window. "I didn't give it much thought at first either."
But then, a horrifying look spread across his face which scared both of the girls.
"That is until I heard the name Erigor. . ." he looked straight towards the two girls, which made both of them shiver in fear. "He's the ace of the dark guild Eisenwald; Erigor the Death God!!"
"D-Death God?!!" Lucy whimpered while Carla's eyes narrowed and her tail stiffened since she obviously recognised the name.
"That's the nickname for a wizard who accepts only assassination requests," Jellal explained to Lucy, who's eyes widened in realization. "The council has since banned all assassination requests, but Eisenwald chose the money over the law."
. . .
. . .
. . .
"As a result, they were expelled from the League six years ago," Jellal eventually finished explaining as they got off the train. "Now they've been categorized as a dark guild."
"I see. . ." Carla frowned as they followed him, the other girls silently thinking over what they had just learned.
"Wait a minute!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed as a thought suddenly hit her. "They were just expelled. . .and not punished?!"
"Oh, they were," Jellal clarified and turned to look at the two girls. "Their guildmaster was arrested and the members were ordered to disband but the majority of all dark guilds have ignored that order and continues to act as a guild."
Lucy felt a shiver go up her spine. She already knew about this, of course, but she always felt a shiver go down her spine when she hears about it.
"I wasn't paying enough attention," Jellal said with such a dark look on his face that both Lucy and Juvia shrieked in fear at the sight of it. "The moment I heard the name Erigor, I should have exterminated them on the spot."
"If it was just the four of them, Juvia is certain that you would've been able to handle it on your own," Juvia nodded and gave him a look. "But the whole guild. . ."
"I have no idea what they're planning to do with this Lullaby magic but I can't just disregard it," Jellal admitted and gave the girls a determined look. "We're going to stop them."
"Very well," Juvia nodded as a determined expression spread across her face as well.
"I think we should go home, child," Carla frowned, disliking the thought of her charge in this much danger.
"We can't just leave them Carla," Lucy pointed out and gave her a look. "And he's right. We have to stop them."
"Do you know where Eisenwald is at the moment?" Juvia asked as they stepped out of the station and out to the street.
"That's exactly what we're going to find the answer to here," Jellal nodded before a sudden curse-storm erupt behind.
They turned around to see that it was Lucy who was looking back at the station in a panic.
"Language, child!" Carla scolded, shocked at the words coming out of her mouth. "What's wrong?"
"Natsu!" she exclaimed, causing the other four to freeze as realization hit them. "We accidentally left him on the train!!"
. . .
. . .
. . .
Back at the train, the motion-sick Natsu had woken up again and was groaning in misery as the train made it's way forward when he was suddenly approached by someone.
"Is this seat taken, young man?"
Natsu didn't answer due to his motion-sickness, causing the other man to chuckle as he sat down in front of him.
"Oh dear, you don't look so good, do you?" he chuckled when he suddenly caught sight of the Fairy Tail symbol on his right shoulder.
"You're from Fairy Tail . . . an official guild . . . how I envy you. . ."
The man sitting in front of Natsu was a young man of average height and weight with black eyes and black hair which was tied in a short, spiky ponytail. He was wearing a white shirt with a high collar and an intricate symbol on its back over a plain, dark red undershirt. He was also wearing a pair of aquamarine pants, black shoes and small black earrings in each ear.
His name was Kageyama and he was a member of the dark guild Eisenwald.