A/N: Hello and welcome! Come one come all, drag the unwilling here by their hair and force them to read. Nah not really.

Let' s get a few things straight since this is an AU. I always found it very helpful when the differences between canon and your canon in a story extremely helpful so I hope you do too.

Anyway, yeah this is an AU. Differences:

1. Natsu isn't in Fairy Tail. (No shit sherlock.)

2. Makarov did not ever manage to find Natsu, despite having a good idea of where he was. (Also no shit sherlock.)

3. Natsu is a wizard saint. But he is the weakest of the saints, and it has also been some time since he was officially a saint. (This will be explained later on obviously. I will give some hints and cackle madly as people flounder over what Natsu's origins are.)

4. This chapter is set a little before Hargeon.

5. Lucy will already be a member of Fairy Tail when she is introduced. I simply replaced Natsu recruiting her with Gray.

6. Natsu will be part of some of the minor events of Fairy Tail, mainly the ones where I plan on throwing him in and where the characters physically need Natsu to be there, but he will be in all the major ones.

7. Natsu is a little smarter. He's still lovably idiotic and dense, but he's a little more, shall we say, street smart since he's had to live on his own as an independent mage. (Don't worry, it's not super apparent here, but Natsu's boisterous and destructive personality will remain.)

8. Natsu is more powerful, the reason is so he can be around where he is canonically in strength later on in the story without training with Fairy Tail.

Those are pretty much the differences. The rest will pretty much be explained bit by bit themselves. Also, there will be a poll for later on in the story, don't worry it's not up yet because it's a bit early, and the reason for this is because I have two very easily made ways this story can go and can't decide on which one.

There will be pairings, you can probably guess, but it'll be a little slow since the first one won't happen until at least the Tower of Heaven. (Gee I wonder who that will be?)

Don't worry, just because this chapter focuses on just Natsu and Erza don't mean shit, she was just the first one I could think of who would be aware of Natsu's new reputation and still be strong enough to put up a decent fight. The other characters will get their introductions with Natsu later on.

Oh yeah, Natsu won't get name dropped in the story for a reason for a little bit. So don't worry about it, I didn't forget. He does have a past he doesn't want certain individuals learning about.

This got way too long. Please allow me to apologize and just simply hope you enjoy it. Oh and leave a review please, it helps me stroke my ego.

He was sleeping. Whether he was dozing off just as she got there, or if he was already asleep, she didn't know. But she was simply at awe at her amazing luck. Every mage she knew was looking for this guy, he'd helped out anyone with money, be they from a reputable reputation or not, and as a result had some scuffles with just about every guild that wanted a piece of him, her guild particularly smart enough to leave the man alone. Though they had been approached to deal with him themselves.

Right in front of her, the infamous Salamander was sleeping in a tree with his blue cat, thing, that always accompanied him.

She was eager to cash in on his large bounty, but she couldn't bring herself to move to engage him. He had been a wizard saint, before becoming an independent mage, for quite some time. Even Erza hesitated when the enemy had such a reputation. But, it was known for a fact that the Salamander wouldn't attack unless provoked. Other than that, the Salamander's past was largely a mystery. Cloaked in rumor and suspicion, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Which is why when he mumbled something about fish and rolled out of the tree and smacked headfirst into the ground with a loud crack, she visibly tensed when she thought that he may have shifted the blame onto her and attacked.

"Ow! Fuck! That hurt!" He exclaimed loudly, clutching at his sore skull in an attempt to null the concussion he'd probably just given himself.

"Aye! That's why you shouldn't sleep in trees!" His talking blue cat spoke, apparently using his body as a cushion since he'd fallen out as well. A pep in his voice that Erza couldn't help but find annoying and charming in equal amounts.

"Bite me. You slept right up there with me. I bet you even pushed me out of the tree for giggles!" He moved himself threateningly over his companion in a manner that made the small animal quake in fear.

"I'm sorry! I thought it would be funny!" He was trembling in what looked like genuine fear.

Unknown to Erza, this was almost an hourly occurrence between the two. So she felt compelled to intervene before the situation escalated into violence.

"I'm afraid I must ask you to not attack the animal." She said, requiping a sword in her hand and placing it suddenly against his throat before he noticed her.

The argument ceased and The Salamander's famous stoic face that betrayed his excitement rose to the surface once he faced his intruder. "Who the hell are you and why are you placing a sword against my throat?" He was actually surprised he couldn't smell her, all he could smell was strawberries and armor…okay, now he could smell her. Her smell mixed with the forest around them quite well.

"My name is unimportant. I'm not going to allow you to harm this defenseless animal." She threatened, placing the sword tip more against his throat in a manner that showed she was dead serious. She wouldn't have defended him from an animal, but this creature was as intelligent as a human, so it deserved protection.

It clicked in his mind suddenly what she meant and he, as well as his cat, began laughing heavily. Flustered, Erza stomped her foot on the man's foot and demanded an explanation.

"Oww. Geez, you hit hard. Happy here, that's his name by the way, is my family. I wouldn't ever hurt my family." The Salamander explained, wincing as he rubbed his sore foot.

"Ohh…" That had thrown her for a bit of a loop. This was actually quite embarrassing. She returned her weapon to its home and suddenly found everything but the giggling mages face interesting. Normally, she wouldn't be so bashful in front of a dark mage, but she doubted her ability to survive an encounter with such a powerful mage, let alone win, so she tried her best to appear nonthreatening.

"Aye! He raised me from an egg!" The now named Happy said. A perky chirp to his voice.

Erza stared incredulously at the talking feline for a moment. She was aware that the cat spoke, it was just about the only thing really known about it, but it was ludicrous to think he hatched from an egg.

"Cat's don't hatch from eggs." She stated, feeling weird at saying words that never really should be said together.

"Ah! No one believes that, that's why I got these!" The Salamander said excitedly, pulling a handful of pictures that showed in clear view how Happy hatched from an egg.

For someone as relatively feared as he was, the Salamander's reputation didn't really fit him well at all. She chose to ignore the fact that Happy did in fact hatch from an egg. He was a talking cat after all, so it was believable

"Anyway miss, uh-" He paused while he waited for her to give him her name.

"Erza Scarlet."

"Oh? That's easy to remember, it's the same color as your hair. I've always liked red hair like yours." He said cheerfully, missing the small blush that appeared on Erza's face due to her soft spot for her hair.

"Though that's probably because my dad was a giant red dragon." He stated bluntly, scratching at his chin in thought.

Never mind, he wasn't charming, he was just barbarically simple…wait, dragon?!

"You're father…was a dragon?" This was where she would draw the line, dragons had been extinct for hundreds of years. There was no way he was raised by a dragon.

"Well yeah. Your dad was a dragon too right?" He knew that wasn't true, but he couldn't resist putting in a joke or two.

She didn't know what to say. It was true The Salamander was often reported to be looking for a dragon, but thinking everyone was raised by dragons?

"Are you an idiot?" The Salamander had pretty much lost all credibility in her books if he was that stupid.

"No." He said, frowning lightly at being called stupid. "I'm just screwing with you. If everyone's dad was a dragon. There'd be a lot more fucking dragons right?"

Despite the situation, she couldn't help but laugh softly, close her eyes, and shake her head with a small smile. "Your right. To think I believed for a moment your father was a dragon." She truly amused herself sometimes.

"Oh no. My dad's actually a dragon. That wasn't the joke." He said seriously, scratching his chin to keep his hands busy.

"Aye! He could talk for hours about Igneel! You should really listen sometime miss Erza." Happy chimed in, munching on a fish he got from…somewhere.

She just decided to accept that The Salamander was 'raised' by a dragon to preserve her sanity.

"Really now? Hours?" She was a bit curious. What kind of stories had he come up with in his spare time? She had spare time to kill and any hard evidence on The Salamander's past could lead to a capture in the future.

"Well I wouldn't say hours, but I can ramble on sometimes and where did you get that fish?" He stopped paying attention to Erza and suddenly harshly focused his trained gaze on the small cat next to him. He was positive that the fish happy was eating came out of his stash.

Happy froze on the spot before hastily shoving the entire fish into his mouth. Ballooning his mouth to comical proportions.

"Hey give that back!"

"MMPH!"

"I said give it!"

"MMMMPH!"

Erza watched the scene with her mouth slightly open in shock. The routine was as confusing as it was entertaining. She watched Salamander struggle to catch his blue cat friend and yank the fish out of his mouth.

"You raised him since his 'birth' right? Doesn't that give you some kind of parental authority?" She asked, if Happy was her surrogate interspecies son, she would tolerate no such disrespect.

"This doesn't concern…hey…you're right!" Salamander exclaimed. Aiming a vicious grin towards his feline companion who began sweating bullets at the glare.

Happy sighed before quickly pulling the fish out of his mouth by the fleshy part of its tail. Surprisingly, that was the only part of the fish that had meat on it. Everything else had turned into, licked clean, bones.

The Salamander stared until he sighed in defeat. Tossing the bony body away before returning his attention to the scarlet haired mage.

"So why are you here by the way? Usually people run off after they figure out who I am. Maybe your confident in your fighting ability or whatever. Point is, why are you still here?" He wasn't telling her to leave, merely asking why she hadn't left yet. He rather enjoyed the company of the woman.

While he hadn't outright said who he was, he did know who she was and he knew that she knew he was the famous Salamander.

"Well, I planned on trying to apprehend you. But I'll admit, you're reputation and power as a former wizard saint made me reconsider." She answered truthfully.

He glanced sideways at her before a look of understanding painted his face. "Oh, you're intimidated by that? That's not all surprising. But you do know that I don't kill people right? But I'll fight you if you want to fight, I love a good scrap." He finished his statement by reflexively cracking his knuckles.

"I would rather not test myself against such an opponent who's out of my league." She said, subconsciously reaching for some sort of weapon at Salamander cracking his knuckles, expecting to use them.

Salamander scoffed at her apprehension. "Don't act like I don't know who Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail is. I just didn't know what she looks like whatsoever. Not only are you a member of Fiore's biggest guild, an accomplishment of its own, you're also one of the toughest members of that guild. If anyone could take my ass down, it'd be those crazy bastards."

Erza narrowed her eyes in suspicion. He seemed familiar with her guild, and that made her wary as well as angry. "How are you affiliated with Fairy Tail? Answer me."

At this Salamander raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Relax, I used to be a saint remember? You know they used to have meetings for those things. You know, kind of like guild master meetings but with a lot more fighting and alcohol. Makarov and I had a couple of conversations and even a match between us."

Her guard lowered but her fear returned. Her eyes widened slightly in disbelief at the thought that he was strong enough to fight on even ground with her master. "Don't tell me…you won?"

Salamander burst out laughing at the statement. His cat doing the same thing. "Hell no! He kicked my ass so bad I couldn't sit down for a week." That wasn't a lie, Makarov had stepped on him with his full, magically enhanced, weight and power and had broken his tailbone. He wasn't able to sit right for a week.

She sighed in relief. Why had she believed that her master could be bested? She really must have been far to on edge around, apparently, such a nice guy for her to react that way. "You're really not the kind of person I expected the Salamander to be. Tell me, you're a wizard, were you ever a part of a guild?"

"Well…once when I was younger. Seven, eight years ago. The guild was wiped out by a dark guild called…Grimoire Heart, I escaped by the skin of my teeth and because the woman who chased after me thought I was cute. After that, another guild took me in and sheltered me. Before you ask, they were coming after me because of my magic. " He'd added the last tidbit once he noticed her posing to ask about it.

She looked down at the ground, unsure of what to say. She knew that Grimoire Heart was a huge Dark Guild player. It was obvious that they had wanted to recruit him. But she was curious about his magic since he brought it up.

"What's so special about your magic?" She asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"Two things, it's a lost magic, that was the main reason they came after me by the way, and it was taught to me by my dad. The dragon, not my biological dad since I don't know who he is. It's called dragon slaying magic. Just put the element of the dragon who taught you before dragon slayer and bam. The title and magic you use right there." He explained.

"Interesting." He'd brought up his dragon father again. Did he really believe that his dad was a dragon? Really?

"Yeah. That's about it. Anyway, I'm heading into town to get a bite to eat. You coming?" He asked. Turning around to pick up a few belongings he had with him he stared at her while he awaited an answer.

She was in a predicament, leave and let The Salamander potentially ravage a town or go and observe his behavior by simply dining with him. She sighed as her righteous mind made the choice for her without even consulting the rest of her brain.

"I suppose I have no choice. I must observe you while you're in a town to ensure you don't harm anybody or burn it down for fun." She was about half serious, despite his incredibly friendly air and trusting actions, he was a dark mage and was a dark mage for a reason.

"Uh oh." The blue cat said sadly, he knew everybody pushed the monster button at one point. It was why he never bothered to try and make friends with people since they always thought Salamander was a monster. Even really famous wizards were dumb enough to say it.

Salamander's smile turned into a dark scowl as soon as the words left her mouth. "Even you are one of those people? Never mind, you can piss off back to Fairy Tail."

The change in demeanor and attitude jarred her. But his disrespect made her angry. "I'm not allowed to be cautious? You're one of, if not, the most powerful dark wizards out there. I have every right to be wary of your actions." She said, glaring daggers at what she once perceived as a decent man.

"Oh shut up. If you keep talking to me like I have some sort of switch in my skull that makes me kill happy, then you're an idiot." He was close to rampaging in the forest to take out his anger before he took it out on the cause of his anger.

"What did you call me?" She said venomously, the air around her almost changing shape at the sheer amount of killing intent behind her words.

"I called you an-" His words were cut off by a sword materializing out of nowhere in Erza's hand before it was stabbed at his face. Instead of dodging and beating the absolute shit out of his attacker like he wanted to, he simply moved his head to the side and caught her gauntleted wrist in a vice grip.

"-Idiot."

The two entered into a fierce stare down and Erza, despite her fear, refused to back down even an inch. A feat that he did respect, no one challenged him anymore unless they were either completely above him or so far below they didn't care.

After a moment, Erza noticed how warm her gauntlet was becoming and noticed that his grip was beginning to crush her hand. That and her gauntlet was beginning to glow a bright orange.

Eyes widening in realization, Erza quickly requipped her sword away and switched it out for a dagger in her opposite hand, using that to simply lop off the restraints that held it in place and yanked her hand out of the now quite hot steel gauntlet. She would have just simply stabbed the man instead, but experience told her such a simple tactic wouldn't work. She noted how cold it was without her gauntlet and after its impromptu warming courtesy of Salamander.

"I guess your reputation isn't a bunch of rumors and lies." He spit the words out of his mouth as if they were physically painful to say. He wasn't kidding either, he'd seen requip magic before and she was easily the fastest he'd ever seen.

Damn her temper. She'd just gone and started a fight with the man she really didn't want to. But she wouldn't back down, now that she'd gone and pissed him off, there really wasn't anything standing in his way anymore if he decided to go on a rampage in the town.

"Your destructive background is well noted and documented Salamander. It doesn't matter the reason behind your outbursts." Most of his destruction was geared towards dark guilds who attempted to recruit him. The most famous one being when Grimoire Heart attempted to recruit him two years ago. There was no longer a town located there, and it had been the only known instance of Salamander getting his ass kicked. Though Grimoire Heart had not escaped unscathed either, three of the seven kin of purgatory needed to attack at once before he was forced to flee.

But he had attacked legal guilds before, with seemingly no warning. She couldn't recall the reason he'd given for his attacks so she ignored it.

But now that the thought of Salamander fighting and losing was on her mind, when was the last time he was a legal mage? Come to think of it, she couldn't remember him ever being on the saint wizard list. The thought made her pause, Salamander's backstory just became somewhat flimsy.

"Who are you Salamander? Nothing you say adds up." She accused, if her suspicions were correct then fighting him had just become much more thesible.

"She's smart!" Happy cued in, seemingly immune, or oblivious, to tense atmosphere.

"Of course she is…" He said, sighing before scratching the back of his head tiredly. No one had called him on his bullshit before. But that didn't mean she needed to know the complete truth.

"I was a saint wizard. But Salamander is just an alias. If I gave you my actual name, then it'd make sense to you. But you don't deserve it honestly. So please, just go back to Fairy Tail. I don't want to hurt any member of that guild or the old man will hang me by insides. Because he sure as hell won't let any of you fight me."

She narrowed her, eyes even more suspicious. She was right, he was hiding something. If she believed, even for a moment, he was raised by a dragon, it didn't hold any more water.

But on a more worrisome note, how acquainted was he with Fairy Tail?

"How close are you to Fairy Tail?" She would not hesitate to lay down her life for her comrades if Salamander had set his sights on it.

He frowned and sighed before crossing his arms. "Close is definitely the wrong word, but to keep you from knowing it'll work. I'm closer than you think or ever will find out. But rest assured…" He added that last part and put his hands up in another defensive gesture once he noticed she was about to tear his head from his shoulders at the mere implication he would raise his hand against the guild.

"…Fairy Tail is under my protection under certain circumstances. As is another guild for the exact opposite circumstances." His answer was meant to confuse Scarlet as well as take the wind out of her sails.

But instead of either, all he got was a more intense glare. "I don't believe a word you say." It really sucked that Salamander had gotten his name after he made a name for himself as a dark mage and not before. Then she could figure out who he was.

"Fine, don't believe me. But doesn't it strike you at least a little bit why I haven't attacked you? Even after you've attacked me twice so far? If my reputation is so ironclad, then why aren't you a puddle of broken bones and shattered armor right now?" He was hesitant to attack any member of Fairy Tail, but Erza Scarlet was different.

If he attacked and destroyed her, then no one from the guild would bother attacking him in a confrontation. Instead the master would confront him on his own, then, his secret would be open to the world if Makarov recognized him. He'd said to much already in his eagerness to have a conversation when he'd mentioned fighting with the crazy old midget.

You know, all that was after Makarov was finished beating him within an inch of his life.

He wasn't lying, that much she knew, so, very reluctantly she requiped her dagger away and took a few calming breaths to get her breathing and heartbeat under control. She caught the gauntlet thrown back at her with ease but looked at it sourly as she could no longer wear it.

"Why would Fairy Tail need your precious protection Salamander?" She was a little angry at being called an idiot, and she was pissed that he was implying Fairy Tail needed The Salamander's protection.

"I can't, won't, and don't want to tell you. Especially because you're a member of Fairy Tail. Now could you do me a favor and leave? I'm hungry as hell and I don't want to eat any more badly cooked animals." Despite having to live on his own for quite some time, he never really got the hang of cooking. Sure he was decent enough, but he could hardly make anything much more appealing than slightly burnt something.

"How convenient. As you know, I can't leave now that I've angered you. Now you may very well take your anger out on the forest around us. And you could unwittingly drag someone else in it." She paused and attempted to steel her nerves.

His face twisted in more barely restrained rage, but this time she was right. After she was gone he planned to absolutely devastate the forest and everything in it before going to some other town to eat.

"Happy, we're going to go in town for fish." Salamander said, spitting a small amount of condensed fire at the ground when he'd meant to actually spit.

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped, uh, happily.

The two of them ignored Erza's protests at stopping them with merely a couple of words telling her to, and quote, 'make me knight in rusted armor'. The words alone made her fume in anger so much that the two had walked off by the time she was done seeing red.

"That egotistical bastard! I'm going to skewer him!" She repeatedly hurled insults at Salamander despite him not being there. After her small tantrum she rushed off to the nearest town looking for him. She lost herself in the forest for a little while, forgetting which direction she had come in from, but eventually made it to the town.

Unknown to her, both of her targets were already aware of her tailing them and had simply stopped in the middle of the plaza and waited for her. Not in the mood to be stalked.

'There they are!' She thought, finally spotting them after searching all of the cities restaurants and warning them that The Salamander was coming. But the recognition she got from the owners was a simple shrug, which confused her.

It had actually taken her two hours to check the plaza.

"Speak of the devil…" Salamander drawled.

"Aye." His blue cat simply agreed.

"Where the hell have you two been?" She said through gritted teeth, his knight in rusted armor comment still fueling her anger.

"Here. In the plaza. Waiting for you." He answered truthfully, he wasn't in the mood for a dine and dash and had simply waited so she wouldn't crash his dinner and force him to flee from the rune knights that would show up.

"I highly doubt that. I bet you were running all over town from me!" She accused, pointing a finger at him and beginning to draw attention to them. Which Salamander noticed and sighed in annoyance.

"She really does assume the worst in people doesn't she?" He asked his cat companion.

"Aye! She does seem to be that kind of person." He answered, gnawing on another fish she'd assumed they'd stolen.

"Regardless of what kind of 'person' I am-" She was cut off when Salamander simply grabbed her non gauntleted hand and dragged her into a nearby restaurant.

"Be quiet and eat with me. I really am hungry and don't feel like having you crash my dinner. So help me if you tell anyone I'm here." The only reason he didn't get his ass kicked for dragging Erza where she didn't want to go was because she knew even his hesitance to fight Fairy Tail had a limit.

"Fine. But don't you dare drag me somewhere again." She threatened, wrenching her hand out of his as viciously as possible.

"Yeah. I don't ever want to see you again. Let alone drag you off somewhere." After their stare battle again, Salamander found them a decent table by the window and sat down. Erza following shortly afterward, her intense gaze never wavering.

Just as he was about to make her stop glaring at him, a bubbly blonde waitress in pigtails and a, somewhat risqué, waitress uniform appeared at their table and handed them menus. Saying that she would be back shortly to take their order.

She sighed, since she was going to be eating her favorite food, she could forget her ire towards the man seated in front of her for the time being.

All of Salamander's annoyance at the woman seated across from him vanished immediately at the description of the food on the menu. He began salivating at the thought of filling his stomach with good food. Happy mirrored his actions down to the letter.

Something bothered her about the exchange. "Why didn't she say anything about him?" She asked, pointing toward the cat whom had completely forgotten where he was at the thought of drowning in fish.

"Oh I come here all the time. Was one reason I invited you. But you kind of ruined that plan. I was starting to enjoy the company." He answered quickly, never taking his eyes off the menu.

"You come here all the time?" She asked confused. Wasn't the Salamander known to wander the continent?

"Oh yeah. Did you really believe that rumor of all of them? You think I can fly too?" The last one was probably his favorite since technically he could.

"You can't?"

"Oh this might be a fun dinner after all."

"No, seriously, you can't fly?"

He looked over the menu with a look that could only be described as 'really?' She must have been genuinely curious to ask again.

"Well sort of." When he noticed her unsatisfied look he sighed, not sure how he' d explain it. "It's more like a really big jump. That I can only aim once. On the ground. And I sorta…can't land." He said, scratching the back of his head somewhat embarrassed.

"Really? How come you can't land?" She asked, genuinely becoming curious in what sounded like a serious problem.

"Uh well…I do land on my feet. It's just, I have so much damn speed because of it that I just tumble for awhile. That's why I just rely on Happy here for flying. Isn't that right Happy?" He said this with a bashful smile on his face. Embarrassed of the fact he couldn't land his technique to save his life.

"Sounds hilarious." She may not have sounded like it, but the image of Salamander launching into the air before plummeting back down like a comet was something she desperately wanted to see.

Their conversation was interrupted by their bubbly waitress returning and asking for their orders.

"I'll have a strawberry shortcake." She'd noticed it on the menu and immediately decided on her dish. Though she looked on at her guest with a bit of curiosity at what kind of meals Salamander would eat.

"I'll just have the usual." He deliberately kept Erza in his peripheral vision to see how she would react to knowledge that he actually was here often.

"Be right back with your order!" The waitress said, bouncing off with the false enthusiasm waitresses had in order to elicit better tips and more customers.

"If I may ask, what's the usual?" She knew he deliberately asked for the usual to prove that he could speak the truth. But how much of what he says is the truth?

"Everything from the meat section dipped in the most powerful spices the restaurant has. I like spicy foods." He answered, stretching and yawning loudly as if he'd just woken up that morning. While doing this, he subtly flicked the back of the cat next to him's head who was happily eating a fish.

"Wha?" He said through a mouthful of fish while looking around for whatever had struck him. He apparently looked right over the still innocently stretching pink haired man next to him as if he was invisible.

She had to admit to herself that the sight of Happy moving his head all about with his cheeks stuffed with half chewed fish was a funny enough sight. The way these two acted around each other, as well as how they acted in general, was boyish. Almost childlike. If she hadn't known what Salamander had looked like, then she would have never guessed his identity.

Eventually, the cat figured out who had flicked him. It had taken him quite some time, but when he did he glared harshly at the giggling man.

"Na-" The cat began, looking rather annoyed, before a hand clasped itself around his mouth.

The temperature around the two of them dropped significantly, despite Salamander being a fire mage, and Erza picked up on it. Happy was about to say something incredibly incriminating, and judging by the terrified look he was giving her and Salamander, Happy knew how badly he almost fucked up.

'Na what? Was he about to say something? Perhaps he was saying something about the Salamander's true identity?' She was already beginning to formulate some sort of plan.

Salamander wasn't stupid, and he knew members of Fairy Tail weren't stupid either. And he sure as hell knew Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail wasn't stupid. And he could tell from the accusatory glare she held on her face that she wouldn't believe a word from his mouth unless it was the truth. So it was time to make his leave.

The two of them bolted up from their seats and hastily made an exit, Erza getting up to chase them before a shockwave suddenly came out of nowhere and knocked her onto the ground. When she could finally see, she saw a small blue dot blurring away in the sky. Looking closer, she could tell that Salamander was grinning at her and waving.

She could only stare with a growing frown on her face.

'Salamander…'

Her gaze hardened even farther as her fist clenched so tight her knuckles turned white.

'I will be the one to catch you.'

She wasn't sure exactly what reason she wanted to be the one to put Salamander behind bars was. Perhaps it was because he insulted her intelligence. Maybe because he was apparently close to Fairy Tail and that didn't sit well with her. Maybe it was because he was clearly hiding something. But she did know one thing.

The Salamander was an interesting criminal.

Her thoughts were pulled away from the disappearing Salamander when a particular group nearby caught her attention.

"That was weird. So any news on Lullaby yet?" A man said, barely registering that someone had just taken off like a rocket.

'Lullaby?'

A/N: Badda bing badda boom Chapter one done. I'm trying something new here because I don't think it's been done. Though I can't be certain. Please enjoy and remember to stroke my ego.