3/3

Nic skid and heard something tumble as well. Nic recognized that sound almost immediately and regained footing and jumped back up and saw that his hone had slipped out of his pocket. Nic's heart almost stopped as the encase phone tumbled and landed in front of Riftalla.

Oh no…

Nic almost yelped when Riftalla picked up the foreign device with a disinterested look on his face. He turned the device over and just grunted.

"Heh. Pointless." He then tossed the thing aside and it tumbled and hit a wall of a nearby building. Nic looked on with horrified eyes as Riftalla just tossed his most valuable treasure away like it was trash.

Oh lord, he has no idea on what he had just done!

Nic was dead silent. Silent as a grave. He looked on with shock and disbelief.

Riftalla just rolled his eyes. "Heh. Whatever that was, it wouldn't help you anyways."

Erza stepped forward and requipped into her Black Wing Armor again. She held up a sword and was in fighting stance. "Nic, be ready…" But she herself wasn't ready for what was to come.

The air suddenly became thin and a strong wind blew. Everyone there, Erza, Riftalla, even the humanoid beast, felt this sensation of dread moving up and down their spines.

"What's this feeling?" Riftalla asked himself out loud. "It's like the atmosphere got dropped…!" He and the beast and Erza all turned to see Nic's gaze fixated on Riftalla, but this wasn't any old glaring gaze, oh no…this was a feral gaze. They saw his iris and pupils had shrunk and he was wide eyed. They saw his veins pop out from his arms and he bared his teeth. They all saw a menacing dreadful aura emerge from him that made the air around them cold.

"Nic?" Erza asked, a little bit creeped out. She heard that Nic went berserk on Gray before, and she saw him lash out attitudes, but this feeling trumped everything she heard and saw. She saw Nic's monstrosity.

Erza stepped back in a little shock. This will get ugly.

"You…" Nic muttered at Riftalla. "You…you…you-big-JERK!" Nic yelled at the top of his lungs. In a flash, he had shifted into his Flame Plate and fire stormed all around him, he was engulfed in a frenzy of fire that grew in heat and intensity.

Riftalla stepped back in deep shock. He slumped forward in deep revelation of what he was witnessing. Just what was this guy? The wolf himself whimpered and stepped back at the horrific site.

Nic stepped forward. As he did, the footprint he left was so hot that it charred a perfect imprint of his shoe. "You you've made me angry! VERY, VERY, VERY, ANGRY!" The fire around Nic expanded so that it was in conjunction with his seething rage, of which was tremendous!

Oh dear lord, there is no mercy for them.

A blazing Nic controlled the fire and made it compact into a super-heated Flame Charge that lunged at mach speed. Riftalla didn't have time to even react when Nic slammed into his gut with more force than he could've imagined. He gagged as he soared back over the forty foot diameter hole and skid another fifty feet and crashed into the pavement. The wolf himself was now somewhat scared. He couldn't move and he didn't have time when Nic unleashed a super-heated Blaze Kick and made him soar backwards and crashed and tumbled over to where the other guy was. Both were lying there for a moment.

"What the hell is this guy?!" He shouted. He got up and saw Nic rushing at him with intense heat. He quickly extended both hands and made the air in front of him explode. The explosion expanded, but Nic brushed it off with the inferno that was swelling up around him.

Now Riftalla stepped back in deep shock. "Stay back!"

"YOU NEVER EVER TOUCH MY PHONE!" Nic shouted. He let in a huge heap of air and unleashed a monstrous stream of fire, via Flamethrower. The wolf got in front and did a sonic howl. The two shattering attacks collided, creating a rippling fire throughout the air. The wolf flinched when Nic was in a huge wheel of fire, via Flame Wheel and it was huge! Nic zoomed in and bashed into the wolf. The wolf itself howled in agony as the beastly assault made it fly back even more and crash insanely hard into the pavement, making dust fly high and pavement shattering. The wolf laid there in the crater with a steaming abdomen from Nic's attack. It was defeat without mercy.

Erza looked on in shock the entire time. She was witnessing first-hand what Nic was capable of when infuriated to a great degree. She admitted to herself that this was far scarier than her, heck maybe even worse than Mira's Satan Soul. Erza could only watch and revert to her Heart Kreuz Armor as she could not do a thing about this matter. Now even she knows to stay on Nic's good side.

Riftalla looked back at the defeated monster with scared eyes and was almost quaking. He slowly turned his head around and looked up, seeing a blazing Nic a few feet in front of him. He was too scared to move.

"Y-you…you're…a demon!" He shouted.

"PREPARE TO BE TERMINATED!" Nic roared as he bared down a Fire Punch right in his face and created an inferno that rushed all about. Riftalla crashed and created a crater that was ten feet in diameter. Nic repeatedly using Fire Punch in rapid succession and created an even bigger crater afterwards. Nic picked him up, barely conscious, and he threw him into the air. "FIRE BLAST!" Then, he unleashed a monstrous fire from his mouth at Riftalla. The fire then turned into a star shape and send soaring and crashing and then eventually exploding upon massive impact. Riftalla fell and crashed straight downwards. He laid there with his mouth wide open and unquestionably unconscious. He was defeated no doubt.

Nic stomped forward and looked down at his defeated opponent. He breathed deeply and then roared high into the sky, releasing a massive Flamethrower to literally burn off the excess rage. After an intense ten seconds of spewing fire straight up, he turned around and looked at the ground, breathing rather heavily. He walked a bit, not bothering to look up as he was a little tired.

Erza was fairly shocked the entire time. 'So, this is Nic's true rage.' She thought. She didn't know what to feel. She felt intimidated, stunned, surprised. This side of Nic she witnessed made the atmosphere give off a dreadful vibe. She was brought out of her thought when she saw Nic dash for his device.

Nic rushed over towards his phone and picked it up. He scrutinized every bit of it. Thankfully, the casing was still intact. He pressed the power button and it still worked. Nic dropped to his knees, thankful that his precious device was okay.

Erza saw this and couldn't help but let loose a very small grin. 'That thing must be very important to him…' The glowing lacrima then began to glow even brighter, signaling that it'll explode in a matter of minutes. Erza looked up in shock that the lacrima was still going. "What?! How?!"

Nic put his phone away and returned to reality. He saw a shocked Erza and saw the lacrima glowing even brighter. "It must run on its own." Nic muttered. At this rate, it was gonna explode in three minutes.

There was no time to waste. Nic got out a poke ball. "Charizard!" Nic shouted. The Flame Pokémon then appeared out of his poke ball and Erza looked on as to what Nic was doing.

"Nic, what are you doing?" She shouted.

"This!" He shifted into his Sky Plate and flew up to the lacrima. As he flew, he yelled at Charizard. "Hey, give me a hand!" Charizard flew up and caught up with Nic.

As the two flew, Charizard turned towards Nic. "Let me guess, we're gonna drag this thing high into the air?"

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas." Nic said with a half grin. Both then flew to opposite sides of the big lacrima and they both clenched onto it. Surprisingly, it was light, maybe since it was floating and such. Nic and Charizard then pushed the thing upwards, soaring high and racing fast to get the thing out of the way.

"Nic! Get back here!" Erza yelled loudly, but Nic was determined to save them all, as was Charizard. The two flapped insanely hard, getting enough speed behind them and sailing high into the sky. They soared maybe at least eighty miles per hour. They were struggling to keep with as time was running out. At a certain point, they both kicked into overdrive and sailed now one hundred miles per hour up.

They kept pushing up and up, the lacrima glowing brighter after every minute passing. The lacrima's glow indicated less than a minute left.

"Nic!" Charizard yelled through the air. Thet were pretty much at the point where no oxygen was available.

"Yeah!" Nic knew it was time to make a run for it-or in this case, fly. The two gave it one mighty push with one arm each, sending the thirty foot lacrima soaring still. It was sailing high and Nic and Charizard did the exact opposite. The two coughed as they were somewhat oxygen deprived and they both flew downwards and away from the blast radius that was soon to happen.

After four hundred meters, they managed to make it back to oxygen and they could breathe somewhat again. Charizard and Nic both looked to see that the lacrima behind them and still far away was shining brightly.

They both turned and kicked it back into overdrive. They sailed downwards at a high speed. Once they were ten seconds into their overdrive, the Magic Bomb finally flashed and exploded.

The blast wave was a dark crimson with a mixture of dark purple and a small tint of white. It was expanding rather quickly, maybe eighty miles per hour.

The two panicked as they were going as fast as they could.

"Flap Charizard! Flap like your life depends on it!" Nic yelled.

"Yeah, because it does!" Charizard pointed out. Nic then remembered that he could do something.

Nic mentally face palmed himself. 'Oh, duh.' He then heard the blast wave slowly catching up to them. "Not today! Tailwind!" Just then, Charizard and Nic were sailing downwards at an insanely fast rate. Potentially far faster than the sound barrier.

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!" The two yelled as they swiftly soared downwards and got away from the huge blast radius.

With Erza

She couldn't see anything from her standpoint. The great Titania could find the great and mighty Luminous in the sky; although, she did see a bright light far up in the sky. The light faded, but then she saw a rapidly expanding blast wave of dark crimson and dark purple.

"Nic!" She shouted. She couldn't see anything. She could only assume…

No, he couldn't be. Not again! Erza then felt some weird feeling again, something salty running down her cheek as she looked up at the sky. There was no way he could…

After almost a minute, she saw two projectiles fall from the sky just as the enormous blast wave dispersed throughout the sky, sending strong winds in every single direction, even down on the town.

Several tiled roofs were trashed and everything else was missing a window or two; but other than that, not a single person was harmed nor killed.

Aside from that, the two projectiles came into view and she almost skipped a heartbeat when she saw Nic coming back down. She couldn't help but grin. Although, they were coming in pretty fast…

The two tried to slow down as much as possible, but they had far too much momentum behind them.

"This is gonna hurt!" Charizard yelled. The two then slammed and flew off a rooftop, yelping as they hit. They then skid over towards the next building over and slammed on their roofing and then skid again. This kept for another roughly five or six times before they finally slammed into a building that was too far for the painful skid and the two slammed into the wall with a loud crunch sound. They were both comically twitching there and they both slowly fell onto their backs, leaving perfect impressions of themselves.

They both just twitched for a few seconds before they found the ground beneath them and turned to their stomachs and pushed upwards. The two managed to get to their feet, but almost every part of their bodies was sore and aching from the multiple crashes.

Nic pushed on his head, cracking his neck and relieving tension. "Aw man, I'm gonna feel that for a week." Nic complained.

Charizard stretched out his arms and felt his muscles strain. "I'm gonna feel that for a month."

Nic then shifted back into himself and he bend backwards, feeling every bone in his spine crack. He had his mouth opened as he heard the multitude of cracks. Nic slowly bend forward and groaned.

Charizard grinned, impressed how Nic could make that many bones crack. "Nice."

Nic turned to Charizard and the two fist bumped. "Well…you know what they say, any landing you walk away from is a good landing." Nic pointed out, to which Charizard nodded.

"Nic!" The two turned to see Erza running from around the corner and she was dashing at him with such energy. They both could see she was happy to see them alive. "Nic!" She then sprung forward and gave Nic a hug. Nic stepped back as Erza was fairly aggressive with her hug, but he received it with such warmth. The two shared the nice moment that they were both alive.

Charizard coughed, letting them know that he was still there. They both realized and Erza let go of Nic, dusting off her wardrobe.

"So…I guess we turn in those guys and sort everything out now?" Nic wondered. Erza then turned towards them and just stared blankly at Nic. "…what?" He asked.

Erza then pulled off a sweet smile and began cracking her knuckles. Onc she did so, Nic remembered what happened the last time.

He slumped forward. "Oh great."

"Oh Nic." She said sweetly. "You've made me worry again…" But before she could say any more of anything, Nic was already running in the opposite direction.

"Hasta la vista!" Nic shouted back to here.

"Get back here!" Erza shouted. She then dashed off towards Nic.

Charizard smirked and watched on as Nic tried avoiding Erza's sweet wrath again. "Ah yes, love hurts."

Sometime later…

Morning came about and the Rune Knights had successfully apprehended the fiends. The humanoid wolf, Hybren, Seazer, and Riftalla were all taken into custody and were taken away. Nic still had a feeling that Tartaros will still be snooping around, but at least they were taken care of for now.

The townspeople were even questioned about the ruckus. They all said they heard a lot of crashing and explosions last night and if possible went down to their cellars. They all had an eventful night with things getting smashed and pavements destroyed.

As for Nic and Erza, they had to tell the hotel who they really were, of which didn't change anything. The people were still very grateful for their service to stopping the kidnappers. The people around town all came to retrieve their loved ones and thanked Titania and Luminous for such a blissful thing.

They spend the whole next day sorting things out in town, with some cleanup and some answers, not to mention praises and investigations. The two did win a free night in the inn they stayed in, and the suite they stayed in was repaired in a flash.

The two Fairy Tail members were brought to their client, the inn owner. They entered his place and he turned with a grateful grin plastered on his face.

"Ah you two, you two did good. Destructive, but good." He praised.

Nic nodded, as did Erza.

"As promised, you two shall be rewarded." He then gave them a check that was read six million jewels.

"Dang, what a bounty." Nic whistled. 'Not exactly the S-Class like last time, but just as tough I guess.'

"Thank you very much." Erza replied. "We shall take our leave first thing in the morning." She said.

The owner nodded. "Very well. You two have saved our town, not to mention this here business. People are coming back to this place specifically. Obviously this inn has advertised your stay, making it fairly popular."

Nic just shrugged, thinking it didn't matter. "Good for you then."

That night, Nic and Erza both went to bed, though Erza laid in the soft and cozy mattress as to where Nic slept on the floor. Erza peered over the edge and watched Nic quietly snooze about, turning over to his side and using his arm as a pillow. She did find him to look fairly sound when sleeping. Wonder what he would feel if he slept on the mattress?

The thought of Nic and Erza in the same bed made Erz's face instantly blush a deep red that was the same shade as her hair. She instantly laid down and shut that idea out before any carnal desires could potentially break through. She eventually fell asleep with a smile, obviously having a blissful dream, particularly a certain someone who had kept things interesting.

The next day…

It was close to eleven in the morning and the two were well on their way to the train station. At least they didn't have to wear their disguises anymore. The two didn't say much, just that they praised the other for their great and almighty skills.

They both turned the corner at the train station and they both saw Ultear there, all recovered.

"Oh, Ultear!" Nic said surprised. At least this time he wasn't creeped out, probably after the incident involving the other night. She was being used after all.

She stepped forward. "Nic, thank you for saving me." She said sincerely, but with a small hint of seductivity. Erza was almost tempted to growl, but suppressed it. "How should I thank my hero?"

And that was when Nic got shivers going down his spine again. She was getting a tad flirty with him. Nic had to say something.

"Uh…tell no one you saw us I guess. I really don't want to deal with those Council numbskulls." He said. Ultear smirked and stepped back. She looked down and worked her way up. She raised a brow and smirked even more.

"Hmmm…maybe there's more I can do." She said. He knew what she meant. He looked over at Erza and sweat dropped when he saw her encased in a black aura and glaring at Ultear. He swiftly turned back, trying to fix up this mess.

"Uh, no you're fine. Just please don't tell the Council or anyone, thanks." Nic said in haste. Ultear sighed and still had that seductive smirk.

"Very well." She then began to walk away. She only stepped a few feet before she turned her head back towards Nic. "Till next time…Nic-kun." She then turned and walk away. 'Very well Nic, I'll let your presence slide this time. Master Hades is still wanting me to report this, but I'll let this slide and tell him nothing.'

Nic just stood there frozen. 'Did she just…?' Nic was mortified. Shivers went down his spine as Ultear had just crossed the line. "Oookay! Back on topic. Let's get to the train-!" He then turned to see Erza glaring in the direction Ultear disappeared, with the aura thickening and growling like crazy.

'She did not just give him that suffix! That lady's got a lot of nerve!' Erza mentally screamed, obviously not enjoying Ultear calling him Nic-kun.

Nic waved a hand in front of her face. "You who! Hello? Earthland to Erza!" Nic shouted. Erza blinked and was brought out of her thoughts as she didn't realize that she was like that for fifteen to thirty seconds.

She got flustered and turned bright red when Nic looked at her. "Huh? Wha…I wasn't thinking anything!"

Nic chose to ignore and let the subject pass. "Fine. Let's go, we'll be late."

With that said and done, they made way towards the train and they made way back towards Magnolia.

On the train…

Halfway into the ride home, Erza was peering out of the window, thinking back towards the adventure the two shared.

Then the thought of what Mira said came back into her head. It wasn't a "date" one would say, but I guess this could count as a bonding experience to say the least. Sure they didn't get to be in the hot springs, but at least they shared a room and got to know each other more, much to the Requip Mage's delight.

She then looked over at Nic, who had his head down, daydreaming and had his earbuds in and listening to music on his phone.

The sight of that phone then brought back to the other night when Nic almost terrorized the Tartaros beings. Obviously that was something even Erza should never do. Still, curiosity rang through her head like a doorbell.

She couldn't take it. "Nic." She said. Nic was brought out of his blank space and pulled his earbuds out. He looked up at Erza and blinked.

"Eh, yeah?"

"I'm curious. Why is that device so important?" She asked. Nic was taken back by her sudden question, but then realized that she was there when he when berserk. He took in a heap of air and slumped back.

"Okay…I guess I should explain…. It's silly and not really anything, but why not." He paused and then continued and looked down at his phone. "Well…I got this device when I was fourteen, a year before I left home. It was a gift…a gift from my grandparents."

Erza was a little surprised by this fact. "You grandparents?"

Nic nodded. "Yeah. My grandma and grandpa were the best. They were my true role models. Whenever my deadbeat parents dropped me and my sister off to their place, they would always make us delicious noodles and mashed potatoes. They were the sweetest people you would have ever met."

Erza smiled. "They sounded like good people."

Nic looked up and nodded. "They were…" Nic then frowned and looked down at his phone. "…but there's an even bigger reason. The day after they gave me this gift…they both died."

Erza's own heart stopped when she heard this. She couldn't find any words to comfort Nic. He then continued.

"I was enjoying my gift and my parents told me the news. I was heartbroken, and they treated it like dirt. They didn't give a care to grandma and grandpa's death." She could see him clenching his phone tighter. "The two most grateful people in the world…gone like that. I'll miss their sweet smiles forever…their last gift to me is all that I have left of them…if I lose this…I…I…" Nic then began to shed a small tear in remembrance of his beloved grandparents, his favorite part of his childhood.

Erza had a hand on his shoulder and he instantly looked up. He looked to see that she too was starting to show a small tear in telling of his story. "It's okay. I understand now. That means everything to you. I wish I could've met them."

Nic smiled in sincerity and Erza leaned back to her seat across.

"Thanks Erza, you're sweet." Nic said, wiping off the small tear.

Erza could've blushed at Nic's compliment, but she didn't as she was taking this matter on a more personal level, because Nic was being serious with his statement. She then looked out the window and kept that content smile on her face. Nic then plugged in his earbuds and listened to more of his favorite hardcore music.

Sometime later…

Erza and Nic both made it back to Magnolia and were making their way back to Fairy Tail. They just went in comfortable silence, not having the need to say much of anything.

The two then passed by Loke, who was walking up towards them. Compared to earlier this week, Loke looked a lot better.

"Hey man, you look better." Nic said. Loke was smiling and pushed up his glasses.

"Why yes, thank you…hey listen guys, you need to know something." Loke said. It was clear that it was serious, but he said it in a cool manner.

"What might that be?" Erza asked.

"I am a Celestial Spirit." He explained.

Nic slumped forward with wide eyes. "Mind blown."

Loke then explained in detail of what happened while they were gone. Obviously he and Lucy got in some conflicts in regards to Loke's well-being. He then told his story as to how his former key holder, some chick named Karen Lilica, was abusive and Loke stood up to her. Sometime later, Karen died and Loke was indirectly responsible. He was banished from the Celestial Spirit World and was on Earthland for three years. He was just about to disappear when Lucy was trying to save him. It was then the Celestial Spirit King came about into conflict and Lucy defended Loke with everything she had. With some convincing, Loke was granted access to the Celestial Spirit World and has been sentenced to serving Lucy, much to his delight.

"That was insane. I had no idea." Nic said, impressed of Loke's story.

"Thanks Nic. I just came by to give you guys something." Loke then reached into his pocket and pulled out two tickets to somewhere.

Erza examined the tickets. "What are they?"

"They're tickets to a resort. Consider it a thank you gift." Loke said. He then turned. "I have to go give Natsu, Lucy, and Gray their's. I wish you all the best of luck." Loke then began walking away.

Nic acknowledges Loke's thank you gift and knew they wouldn't cross paths for awhile. "Until we meet again Loke." Nic said. Loke responded by holding up an arm, waving to Nic as he walked off.

The two smiled and looked as their tickets. They then looked at each other.

"Guess we're going on another vacation!" Nic said with a smile.

Erza put her hands on her hips. "Nic, that wasn't a vacation!"

"Oh really? Then how come you enjoyed it as we walked through town the first and last day?" Nic cheekily asked. Erza turned about, trying to find an excuse.

"That was Akira, not me!" Erza turned away and explained, trying to keep Nic from seeing her slight blush.

Nic rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's go get ready!" Nic happily said. Erza turned back and smiled as she and Nic both walked through Magnolia and were going to get ready for the resort.

Little did Nic, nor anyone know, that smile would soon vanish.

Got this little Arc done in a flash. I really didn't want to do two chapters, so I made this a long chapter. This is the last update this Spring Break because I'm going out of town this weekend, so no FanFiction this weekend, hope you guys aren't upset.

The fights weren't that great and the plot was moving rather quickly, but leave a Review if this chapter at least entertained you or if you actually did admire the combat scenes.

So Nic got the Stone Plate, making it eight now. More will come eventually, but who knows when.

The Tower of Heaven Arc is next, and I have huge plans there. You guys might want to prepare yourselves for what's to come.

Please Favorite, Follow, & Review if you guys like this story and/or chapter up to this point.

Next Time: The Past Returns