บท 24: To War!

The normal group of Natsu, Happy, Gray, Lucy, and Erza were coming back from a two day mission while walking down the streets of their town. They were heading back to the guildhall in high spirits, the mission being a complete success. Natsu and Gray were verbally bickering as usual. The amount of scuffles between the two has calmed down a little bit after the incident of hitting Krysti in the face with her shopping bags.

As they get closer to the guild, the whispers of the townsfolk catches the group's attention. Snatches of conversations could be heard as they are stared at and this starts to make the group feel ill at ease. They stop walking once they notice that something is wrong up ahead.

The outline of Fairy Tail isn't right. Thin black pillars seem to be sticking out of the building roof like a pin cushion. They start running towards their home, and stop when they get to the front of the building. A mixture of fear, anger, confusion, sadness can be seen on their faces.

"That's…" gasps out Gray as he surveys the damage.

"What happened here…?" Erza asks breathlessly. This close and the 'pins' can be clearly identified as large iron pillers.

Lucy, in a state of shock, can only stutter out, "W-what?"

"Our…Our guild has been…" growls out Natsu, the anger clearly seen on his face and in his posture as he looks at his damaged home. Happy and Lucy just stand there in complete shock.

"What in the world happened?" Erza demands.

"Phantom…" calls out a soft, yet sad voice from behind them. All 5 of them turn to see a distraught Mirajane standing there.

"What did you say?" asks Gray disbelieving what she said.

Still extremely angry, Natsu asks in a deadly calm voice, "Did you say Phantom?"

"I hate to say it, but they got us." explains Mirajane, obviously upset over the whole affair. She steps forward and walks past her guild mates to go into the ruined guildhall. They follow behind her silently, some seething in barely contained anger, others in depression. She leads them into the guild and maneuvers around the wreckage to the stairs that lead the way to the basement.

As they walked down the stairs, voices were heard by the new arrivals. At the bottom of the stairs, it opens up to a makeshift beer hall. Even though the beer was flowing as freely as ever, the mood in the guild was somber. Krysti was sitting at a table with Romeo in her lap and next to Levy and her team.

Occupied with their reading lessons she didn't notice when her friends came down the stairs. Mirajane led them over to far wall where the Master is sitting in front of the temporary request board. He has been drinking heavily by the pink blush that tainted his cheeks.

"Yo! Welcome back!" he calls out heartily, like there is nothing wrong as he extends a hand out in greeting.

"Huh?" is all Lucy says as she is mystified at the Master's much more inebriated than normal state.

"We have returned." Erza returns the Master's greeting in a formal manner.

Angry and confused, Natsu asks in a demanding tone, "Gramps, what're you sittin' around here for?"

"How was it, Lucy? The job go well?" the Master asks, clearly ignoring Natsu which causes him to seethe.

"Yeah…" she answers weakly, unsure what to make of the situation.

"Master, don't you understand the situation we're in?" Erza demandingly asks of the old man.

"They wreaked our guild!" adds in the dragon slayer in a furious growl. Looking completely unworried the Master keeps smiling at the so-called Strongest Team in Fairy Tail.

"Now, now… Calm down. It's not something to get riled up about." the Master says before taking another gulp of his beer. His words stun the group in front of him.

"Phantom? This is as far as those idiot's will go." he nonchalantly says between swallows before setting the tankard down again with a satisfied sigh. "Attacking the guild when nobody was here? Who'd take pleasure in that?" he continued in a disbelieving tone.

Surprised, Erza repeats what the Master said, "Nobody was here?" Mirajane gives them a sad look while standing near the Master's side.

"It seems the attack happened in the middle of the night." she informs them in a softer than usual voice.

Relieved, Erza says, "So that's why no one is injured. I suppose it's one small thing to be thankful for."

"If they can only manage a sneak-attack, we shouldn't even give those bastards the time of day. They aren't worth our time!" the Master declares dismissively. Getting riled up more and more at the Master's uncaring words, Natsu finally lets loose his temper and crashes his fist against a wooden crate which creates a hole where he hit it.

The resulting crash catches the guild's attention and startles Krysti out of her lesson.

Looking to where the noise came from, she sees her friends standing near the Master. She places Romeo down on the seat she was just in and with a quiet 'stay here' she goes to welcome them back with an eager bounce to her step.

She has a relieved look on her face to see that they look uninjured which quickly becomes a concerned frown when she hears Natsu almost yelling at their Master.

"This ain't right, man! I won't be satisfied until we go and crush these guys!" Natsu roars out, feeling pissed off at the Master's easy-going attitude.

"This discussion is over. Until the upstairs is repaired, we'll take work requests from here." the Master states in a tone much more serious than how he looks. By this time Krysti has trotted up between Gray and Lucy, waiting for the right time to greet them without interrupting.

"This isn't time for doing jobs!" Natsu yells out.

"Natsu! I've had enough out of you!" the Master yelled back. A loud smack could be heard across the room.

With a mortified look, Lucy asks weakly, "And you spank me, why?" Hearing her say this, Krysti looks over to see that yes indeed, Lucy is getting spanked by the Master. A low growl escapes her mouth as she narrows her eyes in a fierce glare at the little man. As time went on, Krysti viewed Lucy more and more as a little sister. The brunette's over protectiveness kicks in as her anger flares up at this blatant sexual harassment.

Mirajane angrily puffs out her cheeks while putting her hands on her hips and directs a mean look towards the Master before saying, "Master, I'll get angry!"

Krysti slaps away the Master's arm and snarls out, "Screw that! I am angry! I don't care if you are the Master, don't you dare lay your hands on Lucy like that again!" His arm immediately retracts as he holds it up in a salute and innocently chuckles. The 6 other mages look back at Krysti in shock, not only for her uncharacteristically angry outburst, but also because they didn't realize she was there.

Ignoring them for the moment, she growls even louder at the old man's attempt to appear innocent. He hops down off of the makeshift table he was sitting on and starts to run off.

"Gramps!" Natsu shouts at him.

"Get back here you perverted old fart and apologize!" Krysti angrily yells out to the retreating form with a upraised fist.

"Just a second…Gotta pee." he laughs out merrily. Krysti continues to growl deeply until he was out of sight. Erza gives the older woman a reproachful look, but doesn't say anything while Lucy quietly thanks her new friend. The brunette lets out a haughty snort before letting the anger melt from her expression as she turns to face her friends.

"Welcome back, everyone. I'm so glad that nothing happened to y'all while on that mission." she says with obvious relief. The others greet her back all except for Natsu who is looking down at the ground sullenly, still upset over the Master's attitude.

"Why're you ok with this, Gramps?" he mutters to himself dejectedly.

"Natsu…" Mirajane gently calls out to the distressed fire mage. "This is just as hard for the Master, you know? But outright conflict between guilds is forbidden by the Council."

"Well they're the ones who attacked first!" he cries out while stomping his feet in renewed anger. Seeing his distress, Krysti steps towards him and reaches up to put both of her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. He suddenly stops in surprise as he looks at her like he just now noticed that she was with them. Mirajane addresses Natsu's concern as he is being calmed down.

"That's not the problem. Fiore cannot afford to have magic guilds get into outright war with each other. The results would be disastrous." she says in a stronger tone of voice than the sad, quiet one she has been using all day. Gray and the others look down in depression over not being able to do anything while Natsu fumes silently. He has calmed down under the brunette's ministrations, but the anger is just under the surface, ready to break free at any given moment like a volcano.

"If that's how the Master feels… There is nothing we can do." says a resigned Erza. The dragon slayer grinds his teeth in annoyance while the others become even more dejected over their situation. Krysti leans over and whispers something in Natsu's ear to which he nods in agreement with. They turn to head up the stairs with Krysti holding onto one of his shoulders in case he tries something rash.

"Come on Happy, we're going home now." Natsu gruffly calls out to his best friend.

Perking up, the cat summons his wings with a loud, "Aye, sir!" before flying over to the duo going up the stairs.

"Bye Levy, Jet, Droy! I'll see'ya tomorrow! Keep studying hard Romeo!" yells out the brunette over her shoulder while waving with her free hand. A faint 'Bye' can be heard in return from more than one voice. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the dragon slayer narrows his eyes and growls as he sees the damage his guild has suffered. Krysti tightens her grip and pushes his shoulder to turn him to face her.

"Trust in the Master. He is doing what he knows is best for the guild." She then looks down with an angry look and mutters out something softly that Natsu's sensitive ears had no trouble picking up. "Even if he is a perverted old fart."

Hearing this, Natsu starts snickering before he busts out in laughter which startles Krysti and confuses Happy as he has no idea what was said.

"Dammit, I forgot about your dragon ears." she grumbles out in chagrin out before laughing with the man next to her. As the laughter calms down, she gets a twinkle in her eye. She lets go of his shoulder as she turns towards the entrance of the guildhall.

"Come on, Pinky. Let's race. Bet I can beat ya home." she says with a smirk before taking off. Natsu stands there frozen for an instant before a matching smirk appears on his face.

"I don't think so, Crispy." he says as an answer to the challenge before running after his newest friend with Happy flying right alongside him. He quickly overtakes the brunette and pulls ahead as they run through the streets. Once Natsu and Happy are out of sight, Krysti slows down her pace and lets a real smile appear as a soft look enters her eyes. She is glad that she as able to help put a smile back on the fire mage's face.

The soft look turns sad as she thinks of the reason why he was so angry in the first place.

Despite being mad at his perverted tendencies, she does agree which Makarov's decision to not retaliate against Phantom Lord. Fairy Tail has to be the bigger guild and not give in to childish bullying. No one was hurt after all, and it won't take long to repair the building. Mira mentioned with how often the guild gets smashed up due to brawls that most of the guild has gotten quite good with carpentry. So the only real damage was the guild pride.

20 minutes later, she arrives home to find the boys working on some silly training exercises dealing with balancing rocks on their heads. She shakes her head as she chuckles at them fondly, her thoughts over the guild's situation fading away. Leaning up against a tree at the edge of the clearing, she settles down to watch their ridiculous training techniques.

By the time Natsu and Happy are done with training it's already afternoon. They sluggishly makes their way back towards the house when a now familiar scent hits Natsu's nose. He inhales deeply before picking up his pace, a wide grin splitting his face. He bursts in his house with Happy close behind to have the almost intoxicating smell of frying meat overwhelm them.

"I take it you boys are done with your training?" a cheery voice calls out to them as Happy and Natsu enter.

"Yea, I feel much better now." he calmly replies as he rounds the corner to see his housemate by the stove cooking up a late lunch. He walks up behind Krysti and leans up against her back while resting his chin on her shoulder to watch the meat frying. His mouth opens and starts to drool in anticipation.

"Jeez, Natsu you're soaked with sweat! Go take a bath and the burgers should be done when you're finished." she slightly scolds him. He makes a small noise of displeasure and she continues, "You know very well that they aren't going to cook any faster or slower with you right here. So go change clothes and take a bath while you wait."

"Fine…" he grumbles out which causes the brunette to chuckle. He reluctantly pushes himself away from the brunette and the tantalizing food and makes his way to the dresser that has now clean clothes in it for him. Grabbing a random set, he walks easily towards the bathroom in his now much cleaner house. He shakes his head wonderingly as he barely recognizes the place without the mess that he grew used to throughout the years.

"Do you want to join him, Happy? It will be a bit before I'm finished cooking." Krysti says over her shoulder to the blue cat sitting on the table. He crosses his arms with a serious look on his face.

"I don't want to eat burgers today." he states. Krysti raises an eyebrow, knowing where this is going and decides to play along.

"Oh? Well, what do you want to eat?" she asks seriously, but with a playful smile teasing the corner of her lips. Happy closes his eyes like he is deep in thought. "Could you maybe want some chicken?" Happy shakes his head in disagreement.

"How about a nice juicy pork loin?" she continued. Krysti flips the burger she is working on before making a small hmm like she is thinking. She glances back at the cat to see a look of distress on his face. Taking pity, she reaches inside a special basket made just for Happy and turns to face him.

"Hehe. Alright, I know what you want little guy. Here you go." she says warmly before tossing a fish at Happy. Whatever Happy said fell on deaf ears as Krysti freezes in place as she glances towards the bathroom while she is turning back to the stove.

Natsu forgot to close the door and was in the middle of stripping off his pants. She takes in a long admiring look at his well-muscled body as a heavy blush forms on her cheeks. Its not the first time Krysti admired his physique, it is hard not to when he wears just an open vest that shows off his chiseled muscles.

This, however, is the first time she saw so much. Forcefully tearing her eyes away from the sight of her nude, albeit attractive, roommate, she stares at the cooking hamburger as she debates with herself. Taking the burger and flipping it again, she reaches a decision as her cheeks become even more red.

"Hey, dragon-boy! Ya might want to close the door before you strip, unless you're planning on giving us a show. I wouldn't mind it if you do, your ass is pretty cute." she yells in Natsu's direction. She makes sure she is firmly facing the stove to hide her red cheeks from both males in the house. A quick slam of the bathroom door is her answer.

Overcome by mirth at imagining what his expression was like, she cackles to herself for a moment before quieting down soon after to finish cooking. Behind her, Happy is holding both of his paws over his face in an attempt to stifle his laughter at the priceless look on Natsu's face when Krysti talked about his butt. Without much success.

"Bwuahahahaha!" Happy busts out laughing loudly, which causes Krysti to jump slightly in surprise. Quickly taking the well done burger out of the pan and placing it on a plate, the brunette then turns around to look askance at the little blue cat rolling around on the table in mirth. She puts her hands on her hips with a half smile on her slightly pink face as she watches Happy.

"So what got you in stitches over there?" she asks, partly amused herself.

"Natsu's… face … when you… talked about… butt!" Happy was able to wheeze out between laughs before bursting into a renewed fit. He laughs so hard that he falls to the floor as he rolls off the table. Krysti chuckles along as her face reddens again at the mention of her nude roommate.

"I can hear you!" a muffled but clearly miffed voice calls out from the bathroom. This causes the occupants in the kitchen to laugh even louder than before. When her laughter dies down, Krysti turns back to the stove to continue cooking their afternoon meal.

As she finishes cooking most of the food, she switches her attention to the tea kettle that she bought and started on making a, hopefully, improved version of the ginger tea. She bought some fenugreek seeds earlier that morning to go with the ginger, lemon, and honey already used in the tea.

What Natsu doesn't know is that she has also been using other herbs in their food that has been said to help with motion sickness. Basil, marjoram, and rosemary mixed in with other spices are added into each meal. Even if they don't help with his motion sickness, at least it helps the food taste better. Krysti also plans on getting a cookbook to help her make more things to eat besides the simple meals she has been able to make so far.

Setting the teapot to boil, she turns back to the stove and begins to prepare a special burger for Natsu. Krysti has been spending the time while Natsu and Happy have been away on how to flambé and tonight she was confident enough in her skills to give it a try. With the patty ready, she busies herself with making a salad for the three of them to eat.

Even though all of them hate salad, she is making everyone in the house eat healthier.

Hearing a ruckus coming from the bathroom signals Krysti that Natsu is finishing up and its time to go to work on the special treat for the dragon slayer. She hears the door slam open and looking over she sees him with his scarf wrapped around his forehead, a towel around his neck and a normal shirt with pair of shorts that both look suspiciously like hers. She narrows her eyes at that, but decides against saying anything, for now.

"You were right Krys, I do feel much better now." Natsu comments as he plops into his usual chair. The brunette raises an eyebrow but doesn't turn away from the stove.

"Of course I'm right. So I'm Krys now?" she questions.

"Yup. Lucy is Luce, so you're Krys." he simply states. She laughs heartily at that.

"What about Gray?" she asks him in curiosity between laughs.

"Ice-prick." he shoots back immediately causing another round of laughter with the brunette.

"And Erza?" she continues. An alarmed squeak causes Krysti to look back to see that Natsu is now sitting ramrod straight in the chair and has a terrified look in his eyes.

"Ooo-kay then… No nickname for Erza, at least from you." she says uncertainly He nods vigorously in response before shivering. The older woman turns back to the last burger and gets ready to finish it up with the fire.

Steadying herself, she breathes in deep before making her move. As the flames shot up and stayed in just the pan, she lets out a cheer in victory. This catches both boy's attention and they lean to the side to see what she is doing.

It quickly becomes apparent to them when she turns and presents a hamburger on fire to Natsu. His eyes sparkle in delight for he rarely gets to enjoy food on fire outside the guild.

He darts out a hand to scoop up some flame before Krysti can even put the plate down. Smacking his hand for being impatient, she smiles warmly at his obvious enjoyment of the flames. He grins impishly as he sucks down the snatched bit of fire, not caring that he got hit in the process.

She sets out the rest of the food on the table and brings him a cup of the tea that she brewed earlier. Grabbing her own food, the salad, and extra fish for Happy, the brunette then goes to sit and eat with the boys. The troubles with the Phantom Lord guild forgotten for now, they settle into their usual routine and enjoy the rest of the day together.

_____________________

The next morning Natsu and Krysti are talking and laughing along the way to the guild while Happy is flying beside them and snacking on a fish. A commotion catches their attention and with look and a nod, the three rush through the town until they reach the Southgate Park.

It was a park smaller than a football field, made in a depression in the ground. A large oak-like tree in the middle that has a path in a circle around it. A group of people have already gathered in the park around the tree. Yet, it wasn't the tree itself that people were looking at.

It's what is on the tree that had people gathering around it.

The trio arrives at the same time as Erza, Gray, and Lucy. Together they push through the crowd, asking to be let through since they are with Fairy Tail. When they reach the front, they are greeted by a horrible sight. 3 people hanging by giant iron bands are suspended on the tree. Bruises and bloody gashes adorn their bodies while their clothes are in blood-smeared tatters. The worst of all is the symbol painted on the stomach of the petite blue-haired girl in the middle.

The symbol of Phantom Lord.

Gasps overtake all 6 mages which quickly turn into almost overwhelming anger at seeing their friends beaten up so. A dark aura starts to overtake the more aggressive members of the group.

"Levy-chan!" calls out the blonde to her best friend.

"Jet! Droy!" Gray shouts out, trying to wake them up. The others just stand there, looking at their friends as their anger starts to turn into rage. Natsu almost bursts into flames from the power of his rage alone. The air becomes unbearably hot to those near him except for the brunette standing next to him.

As the townsfolk step back away from the dragon slayer, Krysti shuffles closer to put a hand on his shoulder, not to calm him, but more to calm her.

"Phantom!" He snarls out, his fury evident to everyone. Footsteps can be heard slowly walking up to the 6 Fairy Tail members.

Without taking her eyes off of her injured friends, Erza calls out in a deadly calm voice, "Master…" The little man who is the Master of Fairy Tail, walks in front of the crowd to gaze up at the sight of his children hanging on the tree. His expression is unseen by everyone there who was not spellbound by the sight of the beaten up trio.

After a moment, he calmly starts speaking, "I can stand being reduced to a run-down beer hall…" His voice lowers and becomes more gruff as he continues. "But no parent can stand idle while the blood of his children is spilled!" At this, his grip on his walking stick becomes so strong that it bursts into splinters. Yellow light pours from his body as his magic is unleashed, creating a vortex of wind around him just from the pressure alone.

"To war!" he calls out harshly while his expression screams 'Death'.

"We need to get them down." states Krysti with an uneasy calm around her. Erza nods and uses her magic to summon swords to pry the bands off of their friends. Freed from the shackles, they fall to ground only to be caught by Lucy, Gray, and Happy. Krysti and Erza go to help them carry their injured friends to the hospital with the Master behind them, still leaking out magic.

The crowd, already backing away from the Master from his earlier display of strength, immediately dissipates as soon as they see the rage etched on his face. Natsu stays behind, still staring at the spot where his friends were hanging.

"Phantom. You will pay!" he promises in a near silent whisper, his fury near the boiling point. He stands there for a few more seconds before turning around and stalking off after his teammates.