Chapter 11: Just like old times

Gray P.O.V

We were walking for about three hours. Well, most of us, because some lazy blue furbal decided to either fly or rest on, out of all people, my head. Also Juvia tried to sufficient me, hug me, clean me from sweat, comb my hair AND kiss me every five minutes. Good thing I'm good in dodging! Laxus was complaining for dragging him here for walking aimlessly, even thought he came with us willingly! That was annoying if not to say the least. All of them! Except for one that is. The only one who wasn't annoying, but was constantly annoyed, was Natsu. Flame-brain was very composed most of the time and sometimes I saw him bitting his lip in efforts to calm down, but failing and turning around to us showing us the face of a real demon.

The scenery, unlike my company, changed drastically every hour. First it was regular Fiore: green trees, green meadows, twittering birds and beautiful values of flowers. Second snowy areas of Mount Zonia. We were even caught in huge snowstorm since as Natsu explained someone played with climate. It wasn't such a big deal for me and Natsu, but we had to find a shelter and wait for the weather to calm down for about two hours since some three idiots couldn't handle a little cold. Maybe not little... O'kay it was kind of big! And third: an almost red canyon. Nothing lived here except for predatory birds like hawks and eagles. My guess is there is someone living somewhere near here like chipmunk. Let's just hope that it's not Alvin and his gang! Maybe that was the reason why they haven't made to there concert a while ago! A secret conspiracy or my imagination? Probably the first one though! When we will return to Fiore I will tell that to Dave. He will understand.

"How long will you be daydreaming, stripper? We don't have the whole day you know!" - Natsu hurried me. Now that I notice, I was walking the last one even though Laxus was much more injured than me. The one who doesn't have a single scratch is the one who is hurrying me! I wasn't that hurt, but he at least show some sympathy. We were walking without almost any stops, if we don't count the snowstorm stod and Natsu didn't like that as it is, and I dunno for how long have we walked already, had no clue for long we will walk more and he is hurrying me up!

"You are a heartless demon, you know that Natsu! Not to mention I'm tired of walking and I just wanna have a rest! Is that too much to ask?" - I said trying to act as tired as I can, 'cause unless I do so, Natsu would kill me for whining. Why? He already said so five hours ago to Happy and someone like Natsu would always fulfil their promises.

"And you're a shirtless freak only in his underwear, so what?" Natsu answered turning to Gray with a death glare, but then his eyes sparkled in amusement "You know you started to talk like Lucy a lot. I like her speeches and all, but they do not suit you that much I'm afraid. And about the rest... Well, you can rest...

I heard giggles from Laxus, Juvia and Happy, Juvia saying something like "Gray-sama's underwear is the best!", but I really didn't care anymore. I wanted to have a shot eye and I don't even care where! I lay on a ground, put my hands behind the head and was already dowsing off...

"Thank you, finaly-merciful-demon-who-is-even-scarier-than-Erza!" - I thanked

"O'kay, you can sleep here, while we walk to our aim, which is just behind the hill and is giant civilian city. Sayonarra! Don't forget to write!" - Natsu said walking away several anime veins appearing all around his head.

"Good luck to you all... Wait, what!? Why didn't you tell me in the first place!? Hey, I'm talking to you, fire breathing clown!" - I yelled in mix of surprise and anger and was confused by Laxus, Juvia and Happy crossing their hands X-style and shacking their heads really fast. Happy was even trying to mouth me something. When I finally deciphered the message, it was by the way "Run away, if don't want to get turned into a heated ice cream!", it was already too late. Fire demon was already shacking and clenching his fists in annoyance an ominous aura surrounding him.

"I warned you about whining five hours ago, didn't I? Now if you want to rest so badly, why don't do it while flying!" - and with those words Natsu with out any talk kicked Gray with a powerful force.

Nobody's P.O.V

"Shoot! Wrong direction!" - Natsu said with some clear disappointment in his voice, but already much calmer than before.

"You mean we will have to walk to get Gray?" - Laxus cleared up. Lighting dragon slayer was tired too, not only because of walking, but more because of his half-healed wounds. He gone with just 'cause his curiosity perked him to go. There was another reason to it. It's because Natsu promised him that the place they were going to will cure him from his illness.

"I wanted to kick him the opposite direction of our destination, but I kicked him there! How could I be possibly so dumb!?" - Natsu revealed teary-eyed, but sighed in defeat and kept going forward. Others just sweat-dropped, but decided to ignore Natsu's logic.

To Gray...

"Hey you, human! What are you doing here? Did you come here for the death wish?" - teased some sort of soldier.

Gray was laying on the ground his eyes spinning. Remembering the past, I stood up, accidentally stripped and looked fearlessly at the two soldiers.

"Nah! It ain't my style to die!" - I retorted with a smirk and a memory of Galuna Island popping up, but then realisation hit me "Human? You mean you guys are unhuman?"

Two soldiers exchanged faces with smirks and a little confusion on them. I had a bad feeling about it.

"For you to know we are proud members of Demon Kingdom's army! Not the royal protection squad, but still we ain't push-overs to you!" - one of them revealed looking angry at me.

"And you crossed the boarder, human! Prepare to die!" - the other one said placing his spear a couple of inches away from Gray's throat.

So Demon Kingdom, huh? Was that Natsu's plan all along!? What could he possibly need from here? It looked big though. He saw only a couple of houses behind the two, but they were already more beautiful that in Fiore. They were made out of white wood and decorated by various colourful flags and drawings and some also covered by grape vines on the balconies. There were also gardens to each of the houses, each being juicy green colour. My guess is that demons are also good gardeners. I wonder if Natsu is a good gardener... No, no, no, no! E.N.D cannot possiblly be a good gardener! That is totally ridiculous! Slight jealousy about architecture hit me, but there was no time sightseeing. Also he felt a little guilty for calling this place "a land where nothing grows"!

"Wa-Wait! Hold it there, pal! I think you misunderstood! I'm not here for fighting! I'm here to talk to your leader - king, I guess! Fiore needs some help and quick!" - Gray said looking away. He was pissed off that he needed to plead, especially demons, and it offended his pride a lot and their reaction only hurt him deeper.

Two soldiers boomed in laughing, one of them even falling to the ground holding his stomach.

"D-Demons helping Fiore!? Not now, not ever! Your pleads won't do a thing so just go to where you belong. We're letting you do that freely since you said a pretty good joke!" - soldier said and was already turning away.

"Not helping humans, huh? This is so much like demons tend to do, but I'm afraid we'll have to break that annoying tendency!" - said a voice very familiar to Gray. Hell, he would recognize this voice anywhere he goes! It was, of course, fl-, umm, Natsu!

The guard looked back seeing another people to come here. One of them sighed, while the other looked confused at Natsu.

"Tell me, how come such a powerful demon like you be with humans? I must be dreaming: first - humans ask demons help, second - a demon of your level siding with humans," - soldier said piercing Natsu as if that would gave him any clues.

"He is a demon!? You mean the pink one?" - second one said pointing at fire demon and with other arm hitting his partner with an elbow at the same time holding his laughter. Natsu was shacking after the last comment, but wasn't able to retore since the another soldier already opened his mouth.

"Are you blind? Can't you feel the aura around him? It is even greater than king Lucifers or previous general, Mard Geer Tartaros!" - the first one said looking at the second one with slight annoyance.

Natsu looked impressed at the guardian for some reason. He waited there patiently for the continuation of their littlr drabble, until I perked him with an elbow. Demon was kind of pissed by the action, but getting what I was going for, he slightly nodded and walked to the two soldiers.

"Guys, I'll answer all of your questions if you will let me have a little cheat-chat with your king - Lucifer, right? - so we can sort some... things out. It won't take very long. Deal?" Natsu offered with an evil smirk curling on his lips, but then a dark-red aura surrounded him "And if you will decline, well, I'll just make sure to write all of your achievements on your tombstone!"

Guard suddenly hugged each other panting hardly due to Natsu's "killing" aura.

"Scary!" - shouted the same guard that was doubting Natsu's identity as a demon.

"Fine! We'll do it, just have mercy!" - the other said looking just as scared as his friend.

"Good choice! Let's go then, shall we?" - Natsu said with a toothy grin already calm. He turned around to the others, only to become puzzled by their reaction.

Other four were looking at him their mouth opened.

"Good way of negotiating, I guess?"

"Juvia approves..."

"G-Good job, fl-, I mean, Natsu!"

"That's my Natsu! Now make them buy me some fish!"

"Thanks guys! And will you buy my dearest partner Happy over there some juuuuuuuuicy fish? I would really appreciate, if would be that kind to- " - Natsu said looking back to the pair only to find them bowing making fire demon sweat-drop at his own handiwork.

"Anything for you, sir! We don't wanna make you angry!" - they said in unison sweating hardly. One of them even gulped.

"Such good boys!" - Natsu said smirking to himself petting their heads.

"Fish~ Juicy fish~ Yummy fish~" - Happy started drooling about fish.

"They are not dogs for you!" - I shouted in shock (anime-style).

"And who said they are not? If I ask them to be dogs, they'll do it without a second thought! Right, guys?" - fire demon asked them not even looking at the crying soldiers.

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"I don't hear it~!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Better! But good thing for you I'm not in mood for any of that... Now let's go to that Lucifer guy and talk with him eye-to-eye!" - Natsu cheered looking happily at his new "friends".

"Aye, sir!" - answered Happy AND the guard.

And then they started walking...

"Hey, that's my line!" - Happy that puffing his cheeks childishly. Soldiers quickly looked over their shoulder, since Natsu was literally tagging them by collar, to see if Natsu was already angered at them and sighed in relief that he doesn't.

"Sorry, sir Happy! It won't happen again..." - one of them said lowering his head in redemption. The other one simply nodded.

"Sir Happy... Y'know, I liiiiiike the sound of it! I forgive you, but don't forget about the fish~!" - Happy stated flying above them with a delighted face. Natsu was trying to hold his laughter by puffing his cheeks cutely.

"Juvia started to think that Natsu-san and Happy are having fun!" Juvia said sweat-dropping, but then hearts appeared in her eyes "Maybe I can be your dog, Gray-sama? You may also have fun with me as much as you want!"

"I'll pass on both!" - Gray said shivering at the thought.

"My guess is that they forgot about the war completely!" - Laxus said sweat-dropping too.

"Of course not! Can't a four hundred year old demon have a little fun once in a while? We are going to the palace, right? What more do you want!?" - Natsu answered me cursing the fact of him having enhanced hearing. Two guards looked in awe about his age or shocked, don't really know. Don't really care.

"I dunno... MAYBE PARTICIPATE IN THE WAR YOU, DUMMY!" - I yelled regretting my words the second they came from my mouth. I was expecting a punch in the gut or a powerful kick in the torso, but none of that happened. But instead I got:

"You'll understand when we will come to the castle. I'm sorry for dragging you here, but I thought it would be in your best interest."

"Huh? Juvia doesn't understand!" - Juvia said having a confused expression.

"Well... You wanted to be with Gray; Laxus would've got a cure from his anti-magical particles illness; Gray would've seen how does demons live so perhaps he would change his racist looks on us and Happy would've got one of the best recepiece in Ishgar!" - Natsu explained having a carefree smile.

Thank you, Natsu~!" - Happy said slightly giggling to himself

"May we ask you a question, Natsu-sama? I mean... You said that you'll answer all of our question! So I want you to answer the question I asked, when I first talked to you? If it is possible of course..." - one of the guard pleaded.

"You mean "how come a childnot older than six rule a kingdom?"? Sorry, can't help you with that!" - fire demon said looking somewhat loss in thoughts.

"Hey, Bill! I thought you asked that question to king E.N.D four hundred years ago, didn't you? We are pretty old after all... Now that I mentioned it, he gave you quit a beating that time, didn't he? You laid in hospital for two weeks, right?" - guard whispered smirking with triumph.

"Don't say it! He was probably the only king I ever feared. Not that the others weren't, but every single living thing were scared of him. What an I saying!? I bet not only living, but dead people also per in their pants upon hearing his name! But nonetheless the greatest! Mock my words Bob one day he will return and kill that Lucifer, who took our country into such miserable state!" - Bill said enthusiastically.

"Was I that scary? I bet Zeref never feared me, so your words are only half-truth, but no matter. There always someone better than you... Nowadays Acnologia would probably beat me transforming into his dragon form or not..." Natsu revealed looking sad, but turn to them with a serious expression on his face " Tell me, what that bastard did to my beloved country!

Guards looked in awe to Natsu and nodded. Others only cleaned their ears so they won't miss a bit.

"As you wish, E.N.D-sama! Where do I begin..? Well, when he came into game, he decided to destroy any sort of connection between other countries. He said that what you did was stupid act, which made demons look weak to other countries. There were a lot of doubts in the air since if we would go that way we couldn't import and export anything, but most of demons are to prideful to see beyond if he told them now that humans think of demon kind as mere tools of war..." - Bob said looking very depressed.

"That's not true at all! Back in Fiore you are very feared. There are a lot of terrifying rumours about you! I feared you for the most part of my! I..." - I yelled my anger at that king rising sky high.

"Gray!" Natsu stopped me not looking his pink hair shadowing his eyes. I felt his anger rise throughout the story and didn't thought of how hurting it must be to him. Who am I lying to? I never thought about other's feeling before speaking. My policy is honesty. "Continue. Please."

"Right! And then he decided to put all our efforts into the army. We, soldiers, didn't mind it at all, but after a couple of years past after that law, I couldn't comprehend what I saw. A lot of small towns throughout the land decreased because of lack of food since army got 95% from each village. It was a catastrophe. Towns that didn't pay the food price were considered rebellious, each being destroyed by army. I must say to you that I never was on those due to age, but I assume that it was a total bloodshed and nothing more than that. Actually Lucifer enjoys bloodshed a lot. Each month he captures some rebels and painfully tortures them in front of commener demon. No one had guts to say or do anything against him. Eh, he is feared, but I must say that the only thing that makes common demons not to go into full revolution is army. It is simply too powerful and listens to any order the king says. Older soldiers like us he puts on the outskirts of the capital so we won't create any kind of rebellion. I guess he just fears us! That bastard! But that's not all! He also likes poison important figures of politics, science, economy and army to only get for himself their achievements can you believe that. Back in your days each person who succeeded in something were told throughout the land. You called it "time of shine", I remember. Many questioned your methods, but every single one of them worked perfectly. If nowadays we are feared for only his powerhunger and bloodlust, four hundred years ago we were feared because of how prideful we were for every single demon in our country, especially our strong leader!" - Bill said looking at Natsu with hope.

"You are right in one thing for sure and that is that Lucifer is a sneaky bastard, but after all we've heard I think it will suicidal to go through main door Fairy Tail style." - Natsu pointed out putting his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"And what are you suggesting?" - Laxus narrowed his eyes at the pinkette.

"I dunno..." - He sighed

"Maybe we should just surrender... Not for real, but get captured by those two and trick then to believe that humans trespass on their territory to kill the king. That should work." - Juvia suggested.

Now everyone starred at Juvia in disbelief of her words. Natsu slowly turned to her, rubbed his eyes, slapped himself and blinked several times. Same did I.

"Eh? What is with you, Gray-sama, Natsu-san? Are you two perhaps sick? Juvia is very worried!" - Juvia said looking puzzled by their reaction.

"J-Juvia did you just came up with a good plan!?" -Gray yelled to Juvia.

"And you liked it Gray-sama!?" - Juvia yelled in attempt to hug Gray.

"Not to mention you actually kept track of what we were talking about and not thought of stripper." - flame-brain pointed out with nod of respect.

"But there is a little flaw in your plan, which is me. I think he would understand that I am a demon very well. I know! Let's make it that I called you here to kill the king so he would think of me as a traitor demon!" - Natsu said proudly.

"Got cocky over nothing, flame-brain?" - I said forgetting about his new dislike of nicknames and short temper.

"Shut it, cone of ice cream!" - he blushed.

"Make me, dragon breath!

"Didn't thought you'll ask for it, perverted popsicle!"

"Ha-ha, you finally gave in!" - I laughed at him blushing, but then he punched me to the nearest wall. And then we crashed foreheads like old times "What was that all about?"

"You pissed me off!"

"I gonna kick your ass for it!"

"You'll do it when pigs will fly!"

"Just watch me!"

"Oh, I'll do it to not miss any moment of your epic fail!"

And that is when I froze his tongue. He started to wave it very hard and run around.

"Can't say anything fire loser?"

"Yo pi fou eat! (You'll pay for it!)"

What!? Sorry, don't talk on loser's language!"

Natsu caught his tongue with his hand, melt it and then got back into his stance. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. Then he laughed so hard that he fell down on his knees.

"You are on your knees that means I'm a winner!" - I said very proud of myself. Then only I noticed that not only Natsu was laughing, but also Laxus, Happy, Bob and Bill, while Juvia was taking pictures of "Gray-sama".

"As your future wife Juvia must be the first one to take pictures of Gray 1.5. Natsu thanks for your little prank on Juvia's beloved Juvia think that moustache really suits Gray-sama!" - Juvia fangirled in approval.

"Don't mention it!" - Natsu squiled out puffing his cheeks.

"Wait moustache!" - I yelled in shock.

"Uhu!" Juvia nodded. Then she created a bubble of crystal clear water "Here. Take a look."

I thought I was about to faint. My soft bluish-grey hair has been burned out making me look bald! And I was so proud of it. Not only that he created a moustache maid out of fire on my face. Now I look like an old guy who brings pizza to houses! My pride was putted on the line by my most waited adversary, I couldn't back done! It was then I looked at Natsu with anger rising, who was sitting quietly and looking at me with curiosity.

"Did you like your new hairstyle, Saitama?"

"Natsu!"

"Don't sweat it! It will grow back in an hour!" - Natsu said with a tiny smirk. And then Lacus appeared.

"Who win? Who is next? You decide!"

"It's not a rap battle you, bolt for brains!" - Natsu and I yelled furiously.

"Are we just gonna ignore that king acts like a little kid? - Bob asked tiddling his head.

"It's always like that. Or at least it was!" - Happy answered eating a fish

A/N

Hi, guys! Sorry for keeping you waiting! I was just a little bit busy with some house chores and gone hiking for a little bit so it was almost impossible for me to write. Hope you'll like this chapter, which is longer that other chapters of this fic. Also I know I put a lot of humour into more serious content, but it's a humour story. It was supposed to be like that.

Thanks for reading! Peace out!