Note: Originally I was like, "Huh, that would be a fun little one-shot idea." Then it was like, "Huh, 18k words is awfully long for a one-shot, but we're gonna roll with it." Then I started editing and was like, "Oh, hell no. Let's split this baby up." Except that I ran into problems while trying to do that because of how it was structured, so I had to play around with it a bunch and now it's a mess of like five parts lol On the bright side, it might be more manageable to read and edit? Sorry X)

Part 1

The house stood on the outskirts of town, set a little ways apart from the bustling neighborhoods dotted about the city's periphery. The city had been booming over the past few years, due in no small part to the economic success of nearby Magnolia and the resulting overflow of benefits to the surrounding area, and rapid expansion was taking over not only the interior but also the outer fringes.

This was not one of those areas that had so benefited from such growth. While neighborhoods sprang up and expanded all around, only a few abandoned, ramshackle hovels stood here.

The house in question was as nondescript as they came, with what appeared to be about a decade's worth of wear and tear as the cherry on top. It was of a medium size and made of rough-hewn wooden boards. The glass was broken out of the windows, the eaves sagged, the wooden steps were rotted and splintered, and the lawn was overgrown with weeds and waist-high grass and a few scraggly trees. It should be condemned. Why bother keeping around a firetrap if no one had lived there for years?

"You're saying that a highly organized secret criminal organization is using this as its hideout?" Natsu asked skeptically as he eyed the derelict fossil of a house from behind the cover of some overrun shrubbery on the edge of the lot. The bushes practically made their own messy little forest for the team to hide behind.

"Yes." Erza's eyes gleamed with satisfaction at having finally sniffed out their quarry.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Because you were wrong the last two times."

She scowled. "I'm confident this time. All of the evidence points here."

"It sure doesn't look like anyone is living here, much less a highly organized secret criminal organization."

"Maybe that's the point?" Lucy suggested, playing peacekeeper. "If it looks like it's abandoned, then people might not look for them there. Something that nondescript is the perfect hiding spot."

"Still, I'd have picked somewhere with air conditioning and running water," Gray said. He peeked around the side of the overgrown hedgerow to give the house a critical once-over before ducking back behind the foliage.

"Oh, stop being ridiculous," Erza snapped. "Let's just get this taken care of so that we can get the Council off our backs."

Her eyes were practically giving off sparks now. Probably she didn't appreciate being reminded that their detective work had already led them astray twice. First to a cave system in a nearby mountain range that was conspicuously empty of everything but a grumpy wyvern that took offense to having its nest disturbed and chased them all the way back down. And second, most humiliatingly, to a house in east Hargeon that they quickly discovered belonged to an upstanding and law-abiding family of unassuming citizens who were horrified when a group of crazy mages broke in through their front door and began wrecking their house with all sorts of magic. Mostly fire, to be fair, because Natsu had considerably less self-control than the rest of his team and believed in fighting first and asking questions later. But, to be more fair, Erza was the one who had declared with absolute certainty that the insurgents they were hunting had made their hideout in each of those places. Of course Natsu had gone in swinging.

"Since when do we care about the Council?" Natsu complained.

"We still have to answer to them," Lucy said.

"We don't," said Gray, "but this way we can throw this in their faces next time they start whining about us destroying something."

Natsu, having been on the receiving end of the Council's whining on that count many times before, perked up. "Do you really think it'll stop them from bothering us about stupid stuff?"

"No. You really believe in miracles? But at least we'll have something to whine back about."

"Okay, enough." Erza braced her hands on her hips and glared down the boys. "This could be a serious issue. The Council thinks these guys have stolen some important secret documents, which could spell trouble. Alright?"

Natsu grinned. "Do you think they could actually overthrow the Council for us?"

Erza covered her face with her hand and took a series of deep, calming breaths. "Natsu, I need you to be quiet. Okay, here's the plan."

Natsu tuned her out now that he realized it was becoming dangerous to keep making a nuisance of himself. And since he had no interest in making plans, he had no reason to pay attention. His idea of a plan was to run in and beat everyone up. Anything more than that was just overcomplicating things.

He grinned to himself, already fantasizing about beating a bunch of people's skulls in. Maybe there would even be someone in there worth fighting!

"–atsu? Hey! Natsu."

"Huh?" He shook himself out of his reverie and blinked at Erza. "What?"

"Did you listen to anything I just said?"

"…Maybe?"

"That means no," Gray translated.

Erza sighed. "Look, just remember to chase everyone out of the house before you get caught up in fighting them."

"Why?" Natsu asked. That seemed like an unnecessary complication.

"Because the Council wants those documents back, so we can't risk having them destroyed or giving any of these guys a chance to grab them and run. So sweep the house, subdue everyone, grab the plans, and give everything to the Council to deal with."

Natsu raised his hand. Erza eyed him suspiciously and made an impatient motion with her hand.

"Can I just set the house on fire?" he asked. "That will get them all running out here."

"Did you listen to anything I just said? The Council wants those documents back. If we burn the place down, those papers are gone. Just do what I said and don't improvise your own half-baked plans."

Natsu huffed out a breath but nodded, not wanting to antagonize Erza even more. He didn't care about something as boring as papers. Anyway, if the Council was dumb enough to lose their own stuff, they should take care of it instead of shoving the mission at the very guild they spent so much time harassing.

"Natsu doesn't believe in listening," Gray said, straight-faced.

Erza shot him a look but chose not to feed the flames by acknowledging the comment. "Alright, let's go. Lure some of these guys outside and start taking them out, and I'll do a more thorough sweep to make sure everyone is out."

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped.

"Got it," Lucy and Gray chorused.

"…Natsu?" Erza asked.

"Huh?"

"Got it?"

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Erza's lips tightened, but she only nodded and slipped around the hedges to sneak up on the house through the tall grass. The others followed, with Natsu trailing along behind.

"Gray, Lucy, go around the back," Erza said in a low voice as she crept up the rickety steps to the front door.

The aforementioned mages nodded and disappeared around the side of the shack. Natsu shifted about impatiently as Erza waited to give the others a chance to get in position. The porch creaked and groaned under his feet, and Erza glared until he fell still. Finally, she nodded and got to work.

The door was weathered but held firm when Erza tried prying it open, and she had to kick it in with a couple well-aimed blows. On first inspection, the house was empty. It was a bit dusty and the décor was wildly outdated, but it looked cozy enough. Maybe not as rundown as it should be if it had been abandoned for years.

Then a man stuck his head out from one of the rooms farther down the hall, and his eyes widened at the sight of the intruders. "Hey!"

Suddenly, the place was abuzz with activity as nearly a dozen men and women poured out of the rooms lining the halls. Natsu grinned. This was more his speed. Leaving Erza to deal with the stragglers, Natsu began slinging fire around and herding the rabble back out of the house.

Some of them didn't seem to have any magic at all, while others fought back. Some sort of weird energy bolt went whizzing past his ear and a tall, beefy man lunged at him, and Natsu smirked as he fired right back.

He knocked the beefy guy out with a flaming fist to the face and whirled around to flatten a mousy girl whose only defense was a rather pathetic jet of water.

"Is there anyone interesting to fight?" he asked.

"Try me," growled a lanky, brown-eyed man with an unruly fringe of tousled black hair sweeping across his forehead dramatically.

Magic—a huge maelstrom of magic—began building in the air, and Natsu bounced on his heels in anticipation.

"Ooh, what kind of magic do you have, then? Feels like you're pretty powerful."

The man didn't respond, too focused on setting up his powerful spell. The ground beneath their feet trembled a little in anticipation, a low rumble that promised power but was building up to it awfully slowly.

Natsu blinked at him for a few seconds and then got bored. Leaping forward, he punched the man in the face and shook out his throbbing hand. The obscene amount of magic building up in the air vanished as the guy fell back to the ground with a dazed expression.

"I'm sure you're really badass and all," Natsu said in a conciliatory tone, "but you might want to come up with spells that don't take so long to cast."

"Natsu, stop playing around," Happy whined, fluttering his wings in a show of annoyance. "I'm hungry. Let's get this over with."

"Is it too much to ask to find someone worth fighting?"

"Don't be silly. That's what you have Gray for."

As true as that was, Natsu had no intention of openly admitting that Gray was—nearly—as badass as he was. Instead, he scowled and sent a rotund man rolling through the grass.

Lucy came dashing out the front door with three men chasing after her and took a flying leap off the porch to avoid the rotten steps entirely.

"Get back here!" one of her pursuers yelled.

Lucy ran out a few more paces and spun around, eyes hardening with determination as she whipped out her ring of keys. Natsu smirked. Those guys were stupid to think they had the upper hand, as if she was actually running away. Lucy could be pretty badass too.

Natsu knocked around a few more small fry until Erza came storming out of the house, herding a handful of people in front of her. Well, it looked like the house was clear, anyway. Now all they had to do was take out the half-dozen opponents still standing and find whatever dumb plans the Council had been stupid enough to lose.

He locked on to a scrawny, red-haired boy and grinned as he lunged forward. The boy squeaked and scrambled backwards as fast as his little stick legs could carry him. Obviously, many of these people were better suited to espionage and planning underground revolts than actually fighting.

Just as Natsu was about to knock the little nerdy guy out, a gust of wind slammed his attack aside and a lithe, blonde-haired girl with blue eyes like chips of ice stepped between the two.

"Get out of here, Allen," she said without looking back, her voice throaty and low as she glared Natsu down.

"But–"

"If you can grab the documents on the way, all the better."

The kid's face paled considerably as he glanced back at the house, where Erza was guarding the door like a marauding sphinx as she whirled her swords through the air. Natsu had the feeling that this guy wasn't brave or stupid enough to try getting through that mess, but he obediently scurried away.

Natsu smirked as Aries caught him up in a giant ball of pink fluff.

The girl glanced back and sighed. "That boy," she muttered, shaking her head.

"At least you tried?" Natsu offered.

She turned back on him, eyes narrowing to slits, and slashed her hand through the air. An accompanying gale of wind buffeted Natsu back. "You and your team would be wise to leave us alone."

"Sorry, the Council wants you taken care of." Natsu whipped some fire back, which she deflected with wind. "But hey, you have super-secret documents and stuff on them, right? Give them to us. We kind of have to turn you in, but if you give us the documents then we can take over the Council ourselves and–"

"Natsu!" Lucy barked as she sprinted past to chase down a girl trying to make a run for it. "We aren't overthrowing the Council! Focus!"

Natsu scowled. "Always ruining my fun."

"…I question the Council's choice of champions," the wind girl said dryly.

They slung wind and fire back and forth, and soon Natsu was grinning in exhilaration. Now, this was more like it. She even managed to clip him with a couple attacks that sliced cleanly through his skin like knives, and was adept at using well-timed spells to deflect his flames.

This last point quickly turned from exhilarating to highly annoying. Natsu growled in frustration as yet another ball of flame was sent spiraling to the side by a powerful draft instead of hitting its intended target. Geez, what would it take to land a hit on this girl?

"Come on, Natsu," Happy said, dodging around the returning gust of wind. "You already fought a wind mage, right? You were having a hard time hitting him too, but you figured it out. Just do that!"

"Huh? Oh, that guy with Lullaby? What was his name again? Did it start with an 'r'?"

"…I don't think so."

"Oh, 't'? Or 'l'? 'L'–something?"

"What about 'e'?" Happy suggested.

Natsu paused to consider that, and almost got his nose sliced off by a cutting blast of wind for his trouble. "Nah, I don't think so."

"Oh, for the love of–! Erigor! It's Erigor."

"Hm? Not ringing any bells."

"I don't even– Forget it. Just please take her out. Surely you learned something from last time."

Natsu wasn't sure that he had really learned anything from last time. He seemed to vaguely recall something about Happy pissing him off, and then he'd suddenly broken through the guy's wind wall thing. That didn't necessarily mean he knew how he'd done it.

But that was okay. He wasn't going to be outdone by a little wind magic, and he had his own ways to fix that. Mainly by throwing more and more powerful flames at it until it cracked. That was how he handled most problems, actually.

So that was what he did, much to Happy's despair. And yet nothing broke through, much to Natsu's mounting frustration. And that smarmy little girl was laughing at him! Amusement gleamed in her eyes as she slouched there and deflected attack after attack with a simple flick of her wrist.

"I was expecting the infamous Salamander to be a little more powerful than this," she said. "I'm actually a little disappointed."

That was it. Rage flared in Natsu's belly and he sucked in a huge lungful of air. He'd show this girl.

Heat seared the air, and her eyes widened at the massive fireball that his roar sent flying towards her. She threw up a hasty wall of swirling wind and sent it hurtling off to the side—again!

Natsu wanted to scream in frustration. Why couldn't he touch her?

"Oh, come on," he groaned. "This sucks."

The girl rolled her eyes. "You aren't really one for strategizing, are–?"

"Natsu!" Lucy wailed. "What have you done?"

"Huh?" He turned and followed her gaze back to the decrepit hovel…that was now on fire. The blast from the roar had been deflected into the front of the house, leaving a gaping hole that was now dancing with flames as the old, rotted wood went up like kindling. "Oops?"

The wind girl was also horrified. "You stupid boy! What do you think you're doing, burning down our headquarters?"

"Hey, I was only trying to burn you. You're the one who sent it into your hut."

"It's not a hut, you–"

"I told you not to burn the place down!" Erza roared as she leaped away from the blazing inferno behind her.

"Sorry?" Natsu shrugged. "We made sure to herd everyone out already, so what does it really matter? No one's inside anyway."

"The documents, you fool. We were supposed to retrieve the documents!"

"Speaking of which," Lucy said in a very small voice, "did Gray make it out yet?"

"Huh?" Natsu blinked at her blankly. "Gray? What does he have to do with anything?"

"You really didn't listen to anything I said, did you?" Erza growled. "Gray was searching for the documents while we were fighting these guys. Do you see him anywhere? He's not still inside, is he?"

Come to think of it, Natsu hadn't actually seen Gray. Looking around, he failed to spot the ice block anywhere. A faint worm of unease wriggled in his stomach. Well, even if Gray was still inside, he was tough and had magic to protect himself until he got out. He'd be fine.

A hoarse cry split the air, clearly audible over the snapping of wood and fire.

"Oh no," Lucy whispered. "Do you think he–?"

"He's fine," Natsu said gruffly, starting forward. "Ice magic and stuff. But I'll go get him just in case."

"You aren't going anywhere," the wind girl growled, turning on him with blazing eyes.

Another agonized wail tore through the air, tying Natsu's insides into knots, and he started running.

Natsu isn't in the mood for the wind girl's
Games
Anymore.
He doesn't care about
Defeating her
Showing off
Winning.
When she sends a whirlwind spinning his way
He dodges around her attack
Without slowing
And runs.

"Go!"
Erza yells after him.
"I'll take care of her."

He doesn't look back.
He flies up the creaky wooden steps
And charges back through the
Open doorway.

The air is sweltering and
Shimmers with heat
But he doesn't mind.
This is fire
His fire
And it won't burn him.

Gray
On the other hand…

Gray has ice magic
Is strong
Can hold his own.
He should be fine.
Is fine.

Natsu is just
Double-checking
So that the
Girls
Stop freaking out.

Flames are already
Licking at the walls in the entrance hall
Spreading from the
Point of impact
Somewhere on the left side of the house.
They eat up the
Dead, dried wood
Hungrily
And search for
Something tastier
To whet their appetite.
Firetrap indeed.

He has no idea where Gray is
But assumes it's somewhere to the left
Where the inferno is already
Raging
Full force.
He dashes into the flames.

He sees
Thick clouds of smoke
Flames shining bright and hot
Furniture burning and blackening to ash.

What he doesn't see is
Gray.

And the screaming starts again.

Note: Welcome to my free verse experimentation. A few months ago I'd just read a book written in free verse that was surprisingly good and really powerful (which is nice, because usually I don't care for them), and was ready and raring to go lol To be honest, this part was not originally written in verse—I did that when I started splitting things up. Originally there were three free verse sections to link together the four different parts and give some internal structure, but once I split things up I just made them the ending parts of the chapters and had to ad lib some stuff (and no, I'm not entirely happy about that. I like how the structure was before, but sometimes you've gotta compromise and make things work -_-). If you don't like this one in particular, just read it as sentences. Because I literally took a couple paragraphs I'd already written and added in line breaks and played with the conjunctions and stuff. The one nice thing about free verse is getting to use line breaks to put emphasis on particular words or phrases :3 The other sections were actually written as verse, so they might be better. Or worse, depending lol But it's still mostly prose, because prose is my jam. Sorry, I suck at poetry, and free verse is about the closest I ever get lol

Also, injuries don't mean a whole lot in worlds with perfect healers like this, for the most part. I was interested in exploring the idea that sometimes there's trauma that goes more than skin-deep and doesn't just magically disappear. Because you know me: I like consequences XD

emmahoshi: Well, good luck coming back from break. Let the work begin again lol And yeah, I knew you were waiting for this one lol It's fiiinally here XD Consequences are both fun and realistic :D Yeah, I don't know that this version is really any "nicer", but we'll work with what we've got lol And yeah, you can make anything more dramatic by adding in strategic line breaks. Free verse is fun because you can build a rhythm and structure and add in some dramatic emphasis. Mind you, this fic was my first real attempt in years, so we'll see how it goes X)