Relationships and Game Plans

~Recap~

Natsu, Luna, Happy, and Elise were at Tenrou Island where they were planning to visit Mavis's grave and do some training. Their training adventure was cut short by the dark guild Hell Spawn and they learned the horrible truth that the magic nullification crisis was not over yet. In fact, it was even more dire. Hell Spawn was planning on nullifying magic across the entire earth using four MNTs or magic nullification towers. Natsu tried to prevent Hell Spawn from leaving the island, but Frostus Mergard, the leader of the dark guild countered Natsu's attack. In attempt to save Natsu, Luna intercepted the attack and got hit instead, sending her into a frozen coma. Natsu being a fire dragon slayer was Luna's only hope for revival. Natsu realized something while he was trying to revive Luna: he saw her as more than just a childhood best friend, he saw her as his soulmate. He managed to bring Luna back from the brink of death. Then they set on to destroy the MNT's spherical chambers to get to the cores in order to obliterate them. Natsu melted the spherical chambers using his dragon force form. Luna and Natsu then worked together in destroying the cores in their dragon force forms. After the cores were completely obliterated, the four of them headed back to the mainland to devise a plan on how to stop Hell Spawn from achieving their goal to nullify magic across the earth.

~Back to Story~

"So what now?" Natsu asked as he, Luna, Happy and Elise walked through Magnolia Town. Luna cupped her chin in her hand, thinking.

"Well Frostus said that there are four MNTs total, one for each hemisphere of the earth. Tenrou Island is at the center of the eastern hemisphere. The other locations for the rest of the MNTs must be at the centers of each hemisphere. Frostus also said that they're about to set up the 3rd tower. We've destroyed one of the two towers they already set up. We just need to find the locations of the other three towers, find Hell Spawn and take them down before they detonate them." Luna said.

"Yeah, I won't let them get away with what they did to you." Natsu said as angry frown formed on his face as he remembered Luna falling to the ground unconscious after taking the full brunt of the ice ray attack in order to protect him. She almost died right in front of him as he tried to bring her back from the brink of death with his body heat. Natsu's facial expression turned sad as he remembered confessing his love for Luna during the time he was trying to revive her and received no response from her freezing cold body (for obvious reasons). It was then that he realized just how much he loved her. Although he didn't expect for Luna to hear his confession while she was unconscious at death's door, it still pained him that she didn't hear him reveal his true feelings for her. Luna noticed Natsu's facial expression change and it worried her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Luna asked Natsu, tugging at his arm to get his attention. Natsu snapped out of his flashback trance and looked into Luna's worry-filled eyes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about Crystal." Natsu said, forcing a grin, but that didn't convince Luna. She knew him well enough to know that something was bothering him. And she wasn't going to let it go until he spilled the truth. She stopped in her tracks and put her foot down. Natsu stopped and look back at her, Elise and Happy did the same.

"Natsu, I know when something is bothering you. You know you can't hide anything from me." Luna said with a serious expression on her face. Natsu sighed when he realized Luna wasn't going to drop it until he told her what was on his mind. He sighed and took her hands in his and looked into her blue eyes with his onyx ones.

"Yeah you're right, you know me too well... When I was trying to revive you from that man's attack, I realized just how precious you are to me. I almost lost you and it occurred to me that I would never want to live my life without you. Luna... I... I love you." Natsu said as he pressed his forehead against Luna's. She blushed as Natsu's confession stirred up her feelings for him within her. A warm fuzzy feeling spread throughout her body. She wrapped her arms around Natsu and held him close to her as tears of joy started to fall from her eyes.

"I love you too, Natsu. I have for a long time." She said as he pulled away, smiling softly at Luna before closing the distance again with a kiss. Luna gladly kissed back, both of them tangling their fingers in each other's hair. Happy began to giggle.

"I knew it! You looove her." Happy blurted out, kind of ruining the romantic atmosphere. Both Luna and Natsu pulled away from the kiss and glared at Happy.

"Way to ruin the moment, Happy." Elise said to Happy, elbowing him in the side.

"Well I can't deny it. I really do love Luna." Natsu said as he caressed Luna's cheek and lovingly pressed his forehead against hers, causing her to giggle.

"And I love you too Pinky." Luna said as she playfully drew circles on Natsu's chest with her finger.

"Okay you two, save your lovey dovey stuff for later. Right now we need to find the locations of the rest of those MNTs, destroy them and stop Hell Spawn." Elise said to get everybody back on track. Luna, Natsu and Happy nodded their heads in agreement.

"First let's get something to eat. I'm starving!" Natsu said as his stomach growled which started a chain reaction of stomach growls from everyone else.

"Yeah, let's go find a restaurant to eat at and devise a plan." Luna said as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. The four of them walked until they found a decently affordable restaurant. As Natsu and Happy ate ravenously, Luna got out a map that she packed in her bag. Elise ate while studying the map with Luna who took bites of her food every now and then.

"Hokkyoku City is the center of the northern hemisphere, Nankyoku Village is the center of the southern hemisphere, and the Oasis Town Tansui of the Salzar Desert is the center of the western hemisphere. Those are our destinations." Luna said as she put down the map and finished her food.

"Okay, so now that we know where we need to go, what order should we travel in?" Natsu asked as Luna stopped to think.

"Hmm well if I were the leader of Hell's Spawn, I would start with the location that was closest to the guild building then travel to the next hemisphere that would be fastest to get to and so on. Tenrou Island is the second tower location so their hideout must be closest to one of the southern or northern hemisphere centers." Luna said as she placed the money for the bill on the table for the waiter to pick up. One of the customers at the bar area of the restaurant had overheard their conversation and approached Luna, Natsu, Elise and Happy's table. He was a burly man with a large dark brown beard and his right arm and leg were made of metal.

"So you guys are messing with the dark guild Hell Spawn? That's pretty gutsy of you. They only have three members, but each one of them are really powerful. Our treasure hunter guild, the Obsidian Crown, tried to take them on in order to get back an artifact that they stole from us. We got our asses handed to us though. Out of 100 guild members, only 20 of us survived the ordeal gravely injured. I was one of those 20 survivors. That Frostus guy is the one you really need to watch out for. He's the one who took out most of my guild single-handed and the one that rendered my right limbs useless." The man told his story.

"So you know where Hell Spawn's hideout is?" Natsu asked the man as the man sighed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. But I really don't understand why you guys are looking to pick a fight with Hell Spawn. It's practically suicidal." The man said as he shook his head. Luna explained everything about Hell Spawn's plan to wipe out magic across the entire globe. A moment of silence followed before the man sighed then spoke.

"I suppose I have no choice but to tell you, but I'm warning you. What you're doing is very, very dangerous." The man warned.

"Yeah we know, but the four of us are Fairy Tail members. We can do this. They picked the wrong people to mess with." Natsu said, as a fearsome glare appeared on his face.

"Wait, the Fairy Tail? The wizard guild that was number one in Fiore?" The man asked in surprise and shock as the four of them nodded their heads. Luna found it a little odd that this man used past tense when referring to Fairy Tail, but brushed it off as just some grammatical error in his words.

"Okay then, Hell Spawn's hideout is way down south in the middle of a cold barren wasteland it's about ten miles north of Nankyoku Village. I wish you guys the best of luck. The fate of the world is in your hands. Oh, I don't believe I told you my name. I'm Brisk Sanders. If you're gonna take on Hell Spawn, please avenge my fallen guild mates for me." Brisk said as Natsu's team got up from the table, about to head out.

"Thank you so much for the info Brisk. And we're really sorry about what happened to your treasure hunter guild. Don't worry, we'll avenge them for you." Luna told Brisk and left the restaurant with Natsu, Happy and Elise. Once they were outside of the restaurant, Luna gathered the team up around her to tell them game plan she devised.

"Okay so first we're going to head to Nankyoku Village and destroy the tower there. By the time we destroy that MNT's cores, Hell Spawn will probably have set up the third tower and will be heading to the last location which is most likely the Oasis Town Tansui in the Salzar Desert so we'll head there next and take down Hell Spawn's guild members so they can't detonate the MNTs. Once Hell Spawn is eliminated, we'll destroy the cores of the tower there in Tansui and head to the last location Hokkyoku City and destroy the final tower cores." Luna explained to the three of them.

"Wow, you sound like Fairy Tail's first master Mavis, the Fairy Tactician." Happy pointed out.

"Well Mavis's ghost did teach me a few techniques on how to calculate outcomes and plan out strategies." Luna said as she smiled proudly.

"Alright, now that we've got a plan, let's head out!" Elise said as everyone nodded and started on their unofficial quest to save the earth.