Extra 15: Dragon & Dragon Maids (23)

Five minutes of conversation later, Kurama had managed to more or less explain the situation to Ultear and the others.

Lyon quickly took his companions and left, after all, there wasn't much they could do when he hadn't harmed anyone, even if he had the desire to do so, though before he left, he had asked them to send him a message when they revived Ur because he wanted to apologize in person.

Gray asked how he would contact him if he didn't know where he was, to which Lyon replied that when he found a place to call home, he would let him know.

"Did I miss something?" - Erza asked as she walked along, dragging an unconscious Natsu.

"No, I got everything sorted out, now all that's left is to complete the mission and all done" - said Kurama as he extended a finger towards the moon.

"What are you intending to do?" - Erza asked with a frown, only to widen her eyes in surprise when she saw how a powerful attack came out of the white-haired man's finger and destroyed the moon - "What do you think you're doing!"

"Breaking the spell that's keeping these people trapped" - Kurama replied calmly.

Erza gave him a blank look before watching as the moon was still standing, despite the sound of something cracking.

"Ok, let's go to the village and get this over with" - Kurama said as he watched a clone walk with a blushing Lucy - "I'm not even going to ask what happened."

Lucy just averted her gaze as the others gave her a confused look, except Ultear, who narrowed her eyes in the direction of the blonde girl.

"As I was saying, let's get this over with, they still have to get a punishment" - Kurama said as Gray and Lucy paled in terror.

"Right, the master is furious that you took an S-rank mission without his consent" - Erza said while narrowing her eyes - "I still don't understand why you did it this way, when you only had to talk with me to take you on a mission of this rank."

"Huh? What do you mean?" - Lucy asked in surprise.

"To the fact that to perform an S-rank mission, you need a minimum of one mage of that rank, in this case, me" - Erza answered while giving her a blank look - "The S-rank mage, can take as many mages as he wants to complete the mission, and split the reward with them when it's all over."

"Are you serious!" - Lucy exclaimed as she began to roar with fury.

She had managed to strike up a small friendship with Erza, to the point where she knew her well enough to know that she wasn't as difficult to deal with as Natsu painted her to be, in fact, Erza was a kind woman who would help anyone who asked.

"I gain nothing by lying to you now that you're in trouble" - Erza replied as she folded her arms - "Now that I made that clear, we'd better get back, you still have to abide by the consequences."

"Ugh" - Lucy let out a groan of defeat as she walked weakly towards the village. At least with this, she could get one of the golden keys.

* * * * *

"That was an interesting... adventure" - Ultear said as she watched the unconscious form of Natsu, who was now bound by strange black chains that were immune to fire, courtesy of Kurama, all thanks to the fact that he had tried to escape after discovering he was in trouble.

Erza was in awe of the chains and asked him if she could get them after they returned to [Fairy Tail], after all, they could be used in a new suit of armor she was planning to order.

Kurama had no problem allowing her to use his chains, in fact, he gave her one to block all the remaining main elements, namely water, earth and wind.

Erza was amazed by this, so she quickly thanked him and told him that when they returned to the guild, she would buy his dinner, and from her expression, it was obvious that she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Gray was still thrilled at the news that he would see Ur again, though Erza's reminder of his soon-to-be punishment, made his happiness disappear as quickly as it came back.

Lucy for her part was looking at her new key with utmost happiness as she rubbed it against her cheek, though there was no way they could blame her when this was her fifth key.

"It's good that at least one of you three is happy" - Ultear said sarcastically as the group continued to ride the train home - "Though one of you is unconscious."

"I wonder what kind of punishment we'll get when we get back to the guild" - Gray muttered as he frowned.

"Possibly, it's "that", or at least that's what I think" - replied Erza as she picked up a fashion magazine and started to read it carefully.

"Oh, shit" - said Gray in panic.

"What's "that"?" - Lucy asked in surprise and fear when she saw her partner's terrified expression.

"It's better that you don't know, so at least you won't have to suffer until our fate arrives" - Gray answered seriously.

"Now I'm curious to know more about the punishment" - Ultear said while whispering something in Erza's ear.

The scarlet-haired woman gave her a glance before whispering something to her, only for the black-haired woman to widen her eyes in surprise before letting out a laugh.

"Ok, I look forward to seeing it" - Ultear said as she winked at Lucy, who only started to shiver in terror.

"Relax, it can't be worse to everything you've been through" - said Kurama as he gave a little pat on the girl's shoulder.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, though you have a point" - muttered Lucy as she put her key away along with the others and started hugging her legs - "I just hope it's not as bad as they say."

"More than bad, I'd say it's embarrassing" - Erza replied as she shook her head - "But if it makes you feel any better, Natsu and Gray will suffer a lot more."

"Huh? Really?" - Lucy asked in surprise.

"Yes, women's punishment is more embarrassing than men's, but theirs is much worse overall" - replied Erza as she lifted her eyes from the fashion magazine before returning to her reading.

The group continued their journey back in peace because from some strange reason, Natsu was still sleeping next to Happy.

"How did you do that?" - Erza asked in surprise as she saw how no matter what she did, Natsu still didn't wake up.

"I have my tricks" - Kurama replied calmly as he picked up a book and started reading it, only to put it down with the others as he made a blank face.

"What's wrong?" - Lucy asked in surprise as she cocked her head to the side, only to try to take the book.

"I recommend you don't, unless you want something bad to happen to you" - Kurama answered seriously.

"Huh?" - Lucy gave him a confused look before retracting her hands.

Erza saw this curiously, so she took the book and started reading it, only to blush when she saw the contents - ". . ."

"What's it about?" - Ultear asked curiously, only to blush after reading it - ". . ."

"It can't be that bad" - Gray said with a frown as he picked up the book and read it, only to throw it on the floor with his face red with embarrassment.

"Ok, now I'm curious" - Lucy said as she picked up the book from the floor and glanced at it, only to blush in embarrassment when she read the erotic content of the pages. She quickly closed the book and looked at the page, only to see how the title had no relation to the content - "What kind of degenerate does something like changing the cover of a book like this!"

"Ahem, let's pretend this never happened" - Erza said as she coughed to change the subject.

Gray and Lucy nodded as Ultear picked it up again and started reading it.

"What are you doing?" - Erza asked with a frown.

"After some thought, I think I can learn a few things from this thing" - Ultear said as she cleared her throat - "It's for research purposes."

". . ." - Erza and the others, could only give the woman a blank stare because there was no argument they could use to stop her from reading the book, after all, Ultear was a grown woman with a partner.

Kurama just gave her a glance before shaking his head.

After that little incident, the group continued their journey calmly, though there were times when they heard yelling from one of the rooms in the place, though this wasn't that often.

"Well, it was a good trip" - said Kurama as he looked out the window.

"We're still not back to the guild, Kurama-san" - said Erza while giving him a blank stare.

"I know, but something tells me that things are about to get out of control, again" - replied Kurama as he looked at the unconscious Natsu.

"Somehow I see it coming" - Gray muttered as he grabbed the bridge of his nose.