"So what do you wanna do today?"
"Uh, train?"
Emi rolled her eyes at Laxus. They were getting ready for the day, and Emi kept pestering the lightning mage with ideas for the day. He was clearly ignoring her at this point, so she decided to take matters in her own hands.
"Give it back, brat!"
She just giggled and continued to run around the room while she held his shirt. Laxus huffed and tried to catch her, but her newfound (or newly remembered) agility allowed her to duck and dodge all his attempts. She got an idea and smirked before she quickly opened the door and sprinted down the stairs.
"Hey, get back here!"
Emi came running down to the inn's main room and stood at the end of the stairs.
"Uh, Emi what are you doing?"
The white haired woman smiles smugly.
"Oh, just deciding what to do today," Emi coolly replied.
Laxus came stomping down the stairs with no shirt on.
"Give it back!"
Emi giggled again and rushed behind Erza. Everyone looked between the two and saw Laxus's shirt in Emi's hand. Makarov pinched his nose at the two's antics. Erza seemed to catch on.
"Emi and Laxus, you two should really--"
Lightning came flashing at her and Emi. They both gasped before Emi cast her Dispel.
"Laxus, that's so mean," Emi whined.
"Then give it back."
"No."
"Give it."
"No," she giggled again.
"Give it back."
"I'll give it back once you decide what to do today."
He scoffed before he seemed to remember something.
"Hey Natsu, didn't you wanna train with Em or something?"
Emi narrowed her eyes at the lightning mage when Natsu started cheering.
"There. I decided."
"That's so cruel. It was supposed to be what we were gonna do."
He smirked and held out his hand. Emi reluctantly handed him back his shirt, but not before crossing her arms and slightly pouting.
"Let's go! I'm all fired up now!"
-------
Emi sighed the whole way to the training grounds. Natsu happily walked beside her, but he finally noticed her demeanor.
"What's up with you? Aren't you excited to train?"
"It's just...we've been training nonstop. I know that the Sins are almost impossible to beat, but I just wanted to have some time off, you know?"
Natsu stayed silent for a minute before he turned to the woman and asked, "You used to live here right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"So that means you know all the best places to eat!"
"But don't you want to train--"
"I can't possibly train when I have an empty stomach," he played off as he tapped his stomach.
Emi smiled at his plan and tugged him towards what she remembered to be the best restaurant in the city. The people there recognized Natsu from the Games and congratulated him on Fairy Tail's victory. Emi laughed as she watched Natsu order almost the whole menu and leaned back in her seat.
"Thanks Natsu."
"Hm? For what?"
"For giving me a break."
"Hey that's no problem. I mean, you're paying so I should really be thanking you."
"Yeah but I really appreciate...WHAT?!"
"What?" Natsu asked as he had food in both his hands.
"Since when am I paying for all this? Coming here was your idea!"
He shrugged his shoulders and looked at her funny when she took one of the plates away from him.
"What're you--"
"If I'm paying then I deserve to at least have some more."
Natsu grinned wide.
-------
"Man I'm full," Natsu happily stated.
"I think my wallet is the exact opposite," Emi muttered.
"Anything else you wanna do before we train?"
"I can't afford anything else."
"Don't you like the park? We could go there before we train."
Once they arrived at the park, Natsu jogged over to the ice cream stand. He returned a few minutes later and handed her an ice cream cone.
"How can you possibly still be hungry?"
"This isn't food. This is ice cream."
"You and Sting really are a lot alike. It's kinda creepy."
He gave his signature grin and waved her over to his side. They ended up walking around the park for a half hour, just talking and goofing around. They made their way to the training grounds, Natsu cheering and Emi shaking her head at him.
"I wanna learn a really cool spell. I heard you gave Laxus and Sting a new one."
"But I already taught you a new spell. And their spell was a Unison Raid. Which reminds me, how are you and Orga coming along with yours?"
"Oh!" Natsu cheerily replied. "We can't do it at all."
Emi blinked a couple times before she sweatdropped.
"I guess we'll just stick to individual spells for you then," she mumbled. "Let's try your Flame Blade again first."
Natsu readied himself to cast the spell, and fire started to shoot out of his body. Emi summoned her sword and went to get closer to Natsu, but the flames started to thrash around, forcing her back. She smiled at the dragon slayer and waved his spell off. Natsu looked at her expectantly, waiting for her feedback.
"That was good," she praised before joking, "I think your fire has a mind of its own."
Natsu cheered and raised his fist in the air.
"Why don't we practice your new spell? And then depending on how you do with that, I might teach you this cool new spell I saw."
"Oh hell yes. I'm all fired up!"
-------
"You have a lot more energy than I expected."
"I can keep going."
Natsu waved his arms around, fire surrounding him in a circular motion before it took form. Emi jumped back, dodging the attacks. She used her Water Roar to combat the creatures, but her water wouldn't keep them back. Emi smiled and continued to dodge, slipping through the barrage of fire creatures to stand in front of Natsu.
"That was really good! My water wouldn't work at all."
"Really? That's great. I'm really..."
Emi looked up and saw that Natsu looked exhausted. She rushed behind him and caught him as he fell backwards.
"Man, you really know how to push yourself to exhaustion."
-------
"There you are!" Lucy shouted. "We've been worried about you two all day."
Natsu rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before going to tell them that he had passed out when Emi spoke up.
"Natsu just brought me to this cool restaurant and we spent a little time there."
He looked at her with a questioning look, but she just lightly tapped his arm and skipped over to Laxus.
"We're doing something tomorrow. And no training!"
"Fine, fine."
"Lady Emiko, you'll never believe what we found!"
Fairy Tail looked towards the front door and saw Lector and Frosch standing there. She quickly made her way over to the Sabertooth exceeds and asked them what they were doing at the inn. Lector handed her a book and puffed out his chest.
"I found this really cool book on ice magic, yes."
"That's great! This'll be really helpful."
"Fro thinks so, too!"
"Frosch!"
They all looked to see Rogue struggling for air as he presumably ran to catch up with them. They greeted him and ushered him inside. He took an empty seat and leaned back.
"So what brings you here?"
"I came to...talk...about the new spell."
"Let's go over there and talk."
"Hey Lector," Mira started, "where's Sting?"
"He had master business to take care of, yes."
"That must suck," Cana slurred. "He's too young for all that boring work."
Makarov admitted that he pitied the dragon slayer as well, speaking from experience.
"Bye guys!"
The group looked over to see that Rogue and Emi were waving at the front door.
"Wait, where're you going? It's super late."
"Which means it's the perfect time for a shadow dragon slayer, don't you think?"
They looked to each other before sighing and wishing them luck. Rogue and Emi walked in silence for most of the way before he spoke up, asking about how his spell would help.
"I taught Natsu a similar spell, but with fire of course. It's basically the same beast summoning, but yours would be a little more difficult to disperse because they're made of shadows. Fire can be put out, but if someone strikes a shadow, it'll just phase through."
He nodded and followed her to the training spot.
"Give it all you got," Emi smirked.