𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑢'𝑠 𝑂𝑓𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑦

The Off Day

Upon entering Fairytail, he had a headache, but wouldn't show it. His guildmates- no, his family, were always loud and annoying, but that's just what Fairytail is. However at 6:30 in the morning, they needed to shut up. Natsu sat down at a table in the corner and leaned against the wall, shutting his eyes. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't block out the sounds of his guildmates chatting, fighting, drinking, and wrestling. Natsu sighed as he got up and walked over to the bar, where Mirajane was stationed. "Morning Natsu! You're here early! Looking for a new quest by yourself? That hasn't happened in a while." Mirajane said happy as ever. "No, I just want a drink. Something freezing. Coffee maybe. I could care less." Natsu replied dully, trying not to sound too much in pain from his headache. "You want- you want some freezing coffee?" Mirajane shakily asked, hoping her ears were playing a trick on her. Natsu nodded and walked back to the table in the corner, leaving a confused and shaken Mirajane at the bar. A few minutes later Mira took a cup of iced coffee with a lot of ice and was heading to Natsu. People looked at her wondering what the cold drink in her hands was and who it was for. "Hey Mira! Who's that for? There's so much ice in it but Gray isn't here yet." Levy asked her as she was passing by. "It's for Natsu.. He just came up and asked for a freezing coffee and walked away.." Mira left at that and continued walking towards Natsu. Natsu noticed and sat up and took the drink once Mira reached him, thanking her before downing it all and shivering at the feeling of all the ice melting and sliding down his throat. He handed the cup back to Mira before she walked away, with a nervous and worried look on her face. The rest of the guild with the same puzzled look after seeing the interaction. Natsu, not caring, got up and walked over to the quest board, trying to find something simple, quiet, and not magic wise. He found one for helping a librarian in the magic council with stocking some empty shelves with new books, and took it down and went to Mira quickly, so no one could take it. "Mira, I'm doing this quest, by myself." And with that, Natsu walked off not caring about the questioning looks he was getting. A couple hours later is when the others of Team Natsu had come in. Erza, Wendy, and Carla came first, followed by Gray, then Lucy and Happy, who stayed with Lucy last night for some reason. "Is that flamebrain not here? We were supposed to pick a quest and go out today." Gray said, looking around the guild hall. "So you guys didn't know?" Mira questioned, gaining attention from everyone in the guild hall. "He came in at about 6:30 this morning, asked for a freezing cold coffee, downed it all,then took a quest and left." Loud gasps echoed through the guild hall, as everyone knew how much Natsu hated anything cold, and loved going on quests with his friends. "And the quest he took is nothing like he normally does, it's from the magic council." This made everyone even more confused, why would Natsu, someone the magic council doesn't like, take a quest from the magic council? "You said it was something unlike him? What is it?" Asked Erza, puzzled about her friend's deeds. "Sorting books out into a new section of the Magic Library." Everyone was shocked and jumped when they heard the door open. Natsu walked in with a bag over his shoulder. He walked through the quiet guild hall and up to Mira, dropping the bag on the floor next to him. "They gave me books about dragon slayer magic and dragonic culture since they already had these ones." He sounded tired. "Can I get another freezing coffee..? I'll be at the quest board.." He turned around and headed back to the table in the corner, dropping his bag of books on it, before walking back over to the quest board. "Natsu! What is going on with you today?" Erza asked, sounding more like she was demanding an answer rather than asking a question. Natsu stayed looking at the board and grabbed a quest before walking past Erza to Mira who was now holding another freezing coffee. "Nothing, just doing quests." Natsu replied before downing the freezing  coffee again, shivering violently as the ice seeped down his throat, not caring about the worried stares from his guildmates. "I'm going on another quest now Mira." Before Mira could reply, the doors shot open revealing a man with glasses in rune knight robes. "Natsu Dragneel! There you are!" Lahar said, walking towards Natsu. "What do you want with Natsu?!" Erza, as well as the rest of Team Natsu, apart from Wendy, who just hugged Natsu, said while jumping in front of Natsu. The rest of the guildmates readied their magic because if someone wanted to take their friend, they would have to get through Fairytail first. Surprising them all, Natsu released himself from Wendy and walked up to Lahar. "You just left before we could finish our conversation, you didn't take the jewels, the magic council  asked me to find you and give it to you in full." Lahar said, surprising everyone. "I don't need that much though, honestly." Natsu replied, sounding like they had already been through this before. Lahar was quick to respond to that. "But you deserve it! You not only did the quest, but you reorganized the whole library, all by yourself! In a mere three hours no less!" "Could you tell the magic council to send it to gramps then? He needs it for this guild afterall." Natsu responded. Lahar sighed and finally spoke after a minute. "Alright Natsu, but the magic council will be telling him that you get some of it, at least the amount the quest was worth. And please remember what the counsel said earlier about sending quests like this to you again, you blew them away with how fast you worked and how clean it was. And don't forget their offer if something ever happens to this guild." To this Natsu nodded and walked out with Lahar. "I'm going on that quest now Mira." Was all that was heard before the doors to the guild shut once more. "WHAT!?!?!?" was all that could be heard in the guild hall. A few hours later, Natsu returned with a bag of jewels slung over his shoulder. "Natsu. Explain." Erza stormed up to him, enraged that he didn't tell them what the quest was, or the whole ordeal with the rune knight. However instead of getting a response, she was met with Natsu breathing heavily. "Natsu? Are you alright?" She asked, genuine worry written on her face. Before she could get a reply, she saw Natsu fall back onto the floor, looking tired, and in pain. "Natsu!?" she exclaimed as she ran over to pick up her friend, however she couldn't. "Ow! He's burning up..?" Erza requipped into her (insert fire form) and picked Natsu up, still burning, but not as bad. She raced over to the table in the corner and set him down. "MIRA GET ME BUCKETS OF ICE! GRAY GET OVER HERE AND USE YOUR MAGIC TO COOL HIM DOWN WHILE MIRA DOES THAT!" She screamed realizing what was wrong with Natsu. "What's wrong with Natsu..?" Wendy worried for her friend and slayer brother. "His magic has overheated his body, that's probably why he kept swallowing ice coffee, he was trying to cool himself off." She said as Gray started using his magic to create a cooling breeze in the corner of the guild. "How'd this even happen? He was fine yesterday." Gray said, producing more cold air. Mira ran out with buckets of ice and handed them to Erza, who dumped them on Natsu. The ice melted immediately as she continued to dump the buckets until they were empty. "We need more ice, Gray can you freeze his arms or something to keep him cool?" Erza said, looking over at him, worried about her unconscious friend. After a few minutes of freezing and refreezing Natsu's arms, the fire dragon slayer regained consciousness, and sat up slowly. "Cold..." was all he said, as he curled up on the seat and laid his head on his knees. "Natsu, why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling well?" Lucy asked, walking over to him. "I did. Yesterday, the day before yesterday even. You don't listen to me." He snapped harshly. "Only Gramps heard me and told me to take it easy but with you guys making me go on quests all day yesterday, I couldn't. This is on you. And by the way, I feel fine now cause I finally got to rest, so don't try to stop me." Natsu stood up and climbed up the stairs and to Gramp's office. He was tired of his guildmates not listening to him. "Hey Gramps..? Can I talk to you about something..?" Natsu asked as he entered the office where the guildmaster, Makarov, otherwise known as Gramps was. "Of course my child, what is it you need?" Gramps softly replied. "I have a couple questions. One, did you get the jewels from the magic council?" "Jewels? What jewels-" Before Gramps could finish asking what Natsu meant, a lacrima went off. Gramps answered it and Lahar popped up. "This is a message from the Magic Council. Natsu Dragneel took a quest for us earlier and we wanted to pay him more, however he refused to accept it and told us to give it to you. An amount of $1,000,000 jewels has been transferred to your account. Please give 10,000 to Natsu Dragneel as that is how much the quest was worth. That will be all, goodbye." With that, the lacrima shut off leaving an amazed Gramps and an embarrassed Natsu. After a few minutes of silence, Gramps composed himself and spoke "So w-what was the other question you had my boy?" "W-well... I was wondering..could the dragon slayers and I be an S-Class..?" Gramps thought for a minute before speaking "I think that is a good idea, the magic council seems to like you, and our last S-Class trials were interrupted, as well as the fact that you dragons slayers defeated Acnologia. Do you have any more questions before we announce this to the rest of the guild?" Natsu shook his head and stood up and opened the door for Gramps, and followed him out to the balcony. "Alright my children listen up! I have an important announcement!" Everyone was quite wondering what kind of announcement would be made directly after Natsu went to talk to him, and why is Natsu up there with him? "Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvell, and Gajeel Redfox are now S-Class mages! No objections! There is reasoning so don't assume things!" "Why does that flamebrain get to be an S-Class mage huh?! He destroys so many things on every quest we go on!" Gray shouted, everybody agreeing with him, except for the two dragon slayers, who merely walked up the stairs to Natsu and stood by him. "Ya know he was just doin' the quest right? You are all the ones not completing the quests!" Gajeel spoke, making everyone confused. "What do you mean my boy?" Gramps asked. Natsu replied to this one. "On the quests they sometimes say to destroy a few buildings? Did none of you read it?" Everyone looked confused so Natsu hopped over the balcony to the quest board, before going over to Mira. "Can I get a magnifying glass please?" Mira nodded and handed him one, before he climbed back up the stairs to Gramps showing him where it says in an extremely small font "Please destroy some buildings, don't say which ones" on the quest. Gramps looked at it in shock. "I'll have to call the council about that but Wendy, Gajeel, and Natsu are now S-Class mages, that is all." With that, Gramps went into his office while Wendy, Gajeel, and Natsu walked over to the Quest board for S-Class mages, before picking out a quest and leaving to go do it, happy to be away from their guild again, with no one questioning them, at least not until they return.