My Roman Fairy Tail

Training

         Natsu gripped his sword as the lunged and slashed at his sparring partner. They clashed bronze on bronze and playfully insult each other.

         "Come on, Gray! I know that you can do better!" Natsu joked with his friend, Gray Fullbuster. They had been friends back in Magnolia, their home town.

         They had joined the army together and were placed into the Fairy Tail regiment. They operated under Captain Makarov, a decorated war veteran. But the only difference between them was that Grey had a girl waiting for him when he came home. Natsu didn't.

         Ever since he was a young boy, he had been an orphan. His father had abandoned him and Natsu lived on the streets. He met Gray during this time. He became an orphan after he ran away from home to study under a great master of ice, Ur. She had unfortunately died to save him.

         Both boys had learned to control an element. Gray had ice and Natsu could bend fire. Their fighting styles clashed sometimes, but they didn't care. They were brothers.

         They ended their match with Natsu knocking Gray to his back. Being one to not give up easily, Gray kicked Natsu's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. They got up and headed to the mess hall for dinner. They partook of roast boar and potatoes with their friends Erza, Gajeel, Levy and the rest of the regiment. Erza was the only truly fighting female here. The rest were nurses or playthings for the men. Levy was a nurse. Her specialty? Gajeel's sorry ass.

         Natsu sighed, watching Levy fuss over a cut on Gajeels arm. He really had wished to have had a girl back home before he enlisted, but it didn't happen. The only girl that seemed to like him was Lisanna, and Natsu thought she was kind of creepy.

         Natsu got up and left, after finishing his dinner of course. He walked into the woods, deciding to adventure. He also needed some alone time to sulk. Maybe even kill a monster or two! That always seemed to cheer him up.

         He sat on a rock near a waterfall and pulled pedals off of a dandelion and fiddled with his insignia ring. He threw the stem behind him and accidentally tossed his insignia ring with it. The ever telling "sploosh" made his jump to his feet and kick the rock, making it crack and crumble.

         Natsu had just thrown his ring into the waterfall. Only, he didn't hear a click of metal on stone. There had to be a sheer cliff behind the falls, but he would have heard something. He decided to investigate.

        Natsu crossed the shallow river with ease and looked behind the falls. He didn't see anything and decided to take a closer look. He carefully made his way under the arch of the falls, nearly slipping on the wet, rock path. Upon loser inspection, Natsu discovered a large hole in the cliff. It was large enough for a person to easily walk through.

         There was a small pond behind the waterfall. The pond was clear blue and untouched my man. Red flowers bloomed on it's banks. Natsu searched the bank, but didn't see his ring. He peered into the water and saw the glint of silver. It was too far down for him to get. He slid his fingers through his hair and huffed.

         Natsu looked back down and it was gone. Only a merky cloud left in it's place. "Damn fish must've eaten it!" was the most prominent thought in his mind. Though there didn't seem to be any fish in the pond large enough to eat it.

          Looking across the way, he saw something by the rocks. A blur of gold. "Is someone there? I don't want any trouble!" he called. "Hello?" Nothing happened. Whatever it was had vanished. There was no point in staying if there was nothing to do. Natsu made his way back to camp, marking the trees along the way. The charcoal at the tip of the burnt stick leaving a black streak on the bark. Now he could return to the pond the next day.

        "Hey, Natsu!" someone shouted. "Where ya been?" It was Gray. He jogged over to Natsu. The boys gripped each other's forearm in greeting.

        "I needed a walk. I couldn't stand to be in camp much longer" Natsu wasn't going to tell Gray, or anybody, about the pool. He wanted to know if something was truly there.

         "I can't believe you forgot about it. Today is the graduation ceremony. We're going to be full fledged soldiers," announced the ice mage. Natsu couldn't believe that he had forgotten about the ceremony, himself. This meant that you have to go back to town or build a home somewhere in the Roman Empire and wait for orders. The pair quickly walked to the armory and retreived their armor and helmets for the occasion.

         It was mostly just a long speech from the emperor. Then, all the new graduates took an oath and were officially Roman centurions.The whole camp held a celebration. There was drinking, feasting, and battling. It lasted until midnight. By then, Natsu was drunk off his ass along with his entire regiment.