Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to my newest project, "Knight Seeks Dragon!" The title refers to Erza coming to the realization that she wants to be romantically involved with Natsu after Jellal cuts her off for her own sake. I honestly have nothing to say about this, except I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.

Erza had just come back from visiting Jellal in prison. After the whole ordeal with the Eclipse plan, Jellal had turned himself in to the Magic Council, saying he would accept their punishment with no resistence. Natsu went ballistic upon hearing this, saying that Jellal had to live to pay for his crimes. , to live and suffer with the guilt of his sins on his shoulders.

Fortunately, Guran Doma had seen things Natsu's way. As thanks for his service to the kingdom of Fiore in stopping Arcadios, Jellal would serve a lifetime sentence, rather than face the gallows as he would have six years ago.

This was the first time since his arrest that Erza had visited Jellal. The ex-Wizard Saint had wasted no time in stating the nature of their relationship. Jellal had, in no uncertain terms, ordered Erza to give up on him. He claimed he would be happier seeing Erza with a free man than seeing her torture herself than try to keep alive a relationship that hinged on a few hours a week. She was adamant, but he was unbending. Finally, Erza had agreed to his wishes, understanding that Jellal wanted her to move on with her life, to find the freedom he had promised her so long ago.

So the first thing Erza did when she returned home was make a list of eligible bachelors in the guild. She ruled out the Master right away; the man had been nothing short of a father to her ever since she came to Fairy Tail, and even if she could see him as anything else, he... wasn't exactly in his prime. Also, her relationship to the Master ruled Laxus out by association. It just felt weird, okay?

Macao and Wakaba were out, mostly due to their age, but Macao was a father, and Wakaba was a married man. Honestly, she had higher standards than that.

Gildarts wouldn't get a green light from her. Again, the man was older, a father, and a father to a close friend of hers at that. Come to think of it, though, the older mages of the guild were all notorious womanizers, and she had no interest in being a trophy.

Romeo's age disqualified him instantly, and Alzack was already married to Bisca with a daughter. She shook her head. Maybe it was time to expand her search outside of Fairy Tail.

Bacchus was a man she had a good relationship with, if only professionally. She had nothing in common with the Quartro Cerberus mage; where she preferred strawberry cake and romance novels, his interests laid solely with alcohol and women.

She could honestly see herself with Eve or Hibiki from Blue Pegasus. Even if the Trimens were known womanizers, at least Ren was wholly commited to Sherry, to the point where they were to be married. Ichiya, however, was so far from her mind that he had to be at least a few billion lightyears away. With a shudder, she decided to go back to Fairy Tail.

Elfman had proven his competence as a mage with his defeat of Bacchus, but Erza decided she would rather not deal with his lectures on manliness any more than she had to. Still, she thought evilly, it would be quite the middle finger to Mirajane. No, she decided. She was better than dating her rival's brother for spite. Elfman: way out!

Though she had already eliminated Laxus, the male members of his "personal guard," the Raijinshu, stood out in her mind. Bickslow was sweet when he wanted to be, but she could only put up with so many lecherous comments at once. As for Fried, she was never quite sure what his sexual orientation was. He looked equally at Laxus and Mirajane, and had even bought a magazine for a male photospread. Whatever, it was none of her damn business anyway.

There was a time when she might have dated Levy's teammates, Jet and Droy. Unfortunately, Droy was, and she felt like a horrible person for admitting this, too fat these days. Anyway, they were both set on Levy, despite her interest in Gajeel.

Speaking of Gajeel, Erza had come to trust the Iron Dragon Slayer more and more each day. But the man ate iron, and she was not too keen on any of her armors becoming a meal for him. Warren was Warren, Max was Max, and Nab was Nab. She would leave the trio at that.

Erza briefly considered Reedus and Vijeeter, but dismissed them relatively soon, deciding she didn't really have anything to offer them. As she looked at the list, she realized she only had two options left: her two best male friends, Gray and Natsu. She looked back on her experiences with the former, but found she could not recall a time when she was attracted to him. At least not physically. Gray had a very appeasing body, and he was obviously not afraid to show it off. However, the emotional attraction only went as far as being her first friend in the guild.

Which led her to Natsu.

Oh, Natsu. That stubborn, immature, yet somehow devilishly handsome Dragon Slayer who had time and again melted the armor around her heart and exposed the scared little girl she really was inside. She was ready to die to save everyone from the overloading Tower of Heaven, yet Natsu had reached into the mass of pure magic to pull her out, and in the process, renewed her purpose for living.

But even before the Tower, she had drawn some disturbing parallels between him and Jellal. They had the same gentle smile, though Natsu's was more dangerous, given the ferocity that it could betray. They also shared the same strong sense of justice. Jellal had been tempered by their captors, so he never pushed the envelope too far. Natsu, however, believed their was no envelope as far as the people he loved were concerned.

But most importantly, they both hated to see Erza cry. In fact, the first time Natsu ever saw Erza cry, he had yelled at her. She thought he was a little harsh at first, but she still understood the message that he would always believe in her.

"Don't ever let me see you cry again, Erza! Whatever it is, you're too strong to let it beat you!"

The second time Natsu had seen her cry, he said nothing at all. Rather, he just tickled her and knocked her out, all so he could deal with Jellal without her protests. She supposed that was when she had fallen for the Dragon Slayer.

"Erza?" a voice called from outside her door. It was Cana. "You haven't left your room since you came back. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, Cana," said Erza. "I think I'll have an early bedtime tonight."

"Suit yourself," said Cana. "I'm always here for a drink if you need it."

"I'll remember that, Cana," said Erza. "Make sure the other girls get to bed at a reasonable time."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Cana. "Night."

Erza Requipped into her pajamas, crawled under the covers, and tried to go to sleep. However, before long, dreams of herself and Natsu in all sorts of beautiful situations invaded her. During a practically sensual dream, she woke up in a cold sweat.

Damn it, she was really going to have to do something about this whole Natsu issue. But first things first: she would have a cold shower, and she would join Cana for a drink.

And there we go. I'm aiming for five chapters with this thing, after which I promise to work on at least Don't Forget to Remember Me. I know, I have a real problem following through on things! Well, I'm at least going to complete this project, come Hell or high water.

So yeah, sorry I don't have much to say on these things anymore. I completed this, worked on the second chapter, and that kind of ruins my frame of mind if I don't post something I just finished working on. Oh well, until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt.