Walking along cobbled streets in the bustling city of Fiore, Lucy Heartfillia, a celestial spirit mage looked to the sky. As she stared at the glorious clouds, her mind drifted to them. Lately she had been losing herself in thought, which wasn't uncommon for a writer, but she had noticed that the habit had become more prominent.
Just the other day while she was at the guild, her present destination, it had happened. Despite the fact that Master Makarov was addressing her about a job with a hefty reward that required a few studious people like herself. She gladly accepted the task, but was greatly lacking the details of it. All she knew was that Levy was currently on a mission, and would be returning later on in the day. So it was up to her to construe a small group consisting of 5 mages, at least two for defense. She hadn't a clue as to what they were to do or where they were to go.
Lucy didn't even realise that she had almost ran into the guild doors as she continued, lost in her cavernous mind.
She walked towards Mirajane, who was serving the pink haired fire mage breakfast at the bar. She took a seat beside her best friend with a smile and greeted Mira, asking for a mango smoothie in the process. The take over mage nodded with a smile and disappeared to the kitchen.
"Oi Luce! How're ya?" Natsu asked, turning to the blonde between taking gargantuan sized bites of the stack of pancakes before him.
"I'm good..." She trailed off as she took in the spectacle, "Oh hey! Did I tell you about the mission master gave me yesterday?"
"Yeah I think you mentioned it when we got back to your apartment, I'm invited right?"
She had completely forgotten about that.
She laughed at her friend a little as he looked at her with bulging cheeks, filled completely with his meal.
"Of course you weirdo, and don't talk with your mouth full, it's disgusting."
"Hey!-" he went to argue with her, but cut himself off when a generous amount of syrup had dripped out of the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with an embarrassed blush in defeat. Lucy shot him a confused look, knowing that the man beside her was extremely stubborn, and would not have consented but she ignored it, happy that he actually listened to her for once.
"Sorry Lucy," Mira said with a lighthearted tone, even though she was obviously out of breath, "I was getting your smoothie but master called me up to look for this mission slip. He said you'd need it?"
"Oh it's fine Mira," she laughed, it had taken the girl a considerable amount of time getting the drink compared to her usual timing, yet Lucy hadn't noticed, or cared, at all. She smiled, taking the drink and the paper from her kind friend. "Thank you for this, I did need it. It's for a pretty big job apparently."
Natsu's head flew up with a sinister grin at her words. She quickly caught on to the dark aurora emanating from him and added, "N-Not in a dangerous sense! It's just that we have to decipher something dealing with this... Erm, Silentium?" She said, pointing to the slip while reading, "It's a sort of dark magic that a guild under Grimoire Heart is trying to attain, a small guild picked up their notions."
"Grimoire Heart?" Mira said, shocked, "if I remember right, they were really dangerous! They're the guild from Tenrou Island!"
Lucy gave a reassuring smile to her worried friend, "it's not Grimoire Heart were up against, it's just their minor underling and they're not even an official guild. It says right here that were just going to report what we learn to the magic counsel per the request of the guild that asked for our help."
"Natsu~ do we have to go on this?" Happy interjected as he lightly landed on his partner's shoulder. The Fire mage looked up to his friend with an unsure look.
"Lucy? Are you sure? It does sound kinda boring.." He trailed off taking another bite of his meal. He must've been tired from yesterday's mission he had with Gray, it never took him so long to eat.
"Well, you don't have to, it's up to you. I just figured it'd be more fun with you guys." She honestly answered. Its not like she hadn't been on missions without him, it really wouldn't bother her if he stayed behind. This mission isn't his type anyway, he's more like the 'fight the bad guys and destroy the entire town' mission guy. She was surprised when he got up so abruptly.
"Ya hear that Happy? We're a team, so stick it out!" He said with a toothy grin, receiving an enthusiastic 'Aye!' From the blue cat. It was always entertaining to see this side of Natsu and Happy. It really was sweet, but also ridiculously cheesy. He took their bond of a team so seriously. She smiled at her best friend and stood up with him.
"So what're ya going to do till Levy and her team come back?" He asked, looking down at her with Happy still on his shoulder. She stretched and sighed. It was still pretty early.
"Eh, I don't know. I might go into town and see what I can find out about this Silentium thing at the book store, then maybe get some groceries at the market place and shop a bit. I might even go to Sabertooth and see if they know anything."
"Really?" Natsu asked, grinning, " I wanna come with you, I want to see how Sting and Rogue are doin. Let's go Happy!"
"Aye sir!"
Her search at the bookstore had gotten her almost no where, and she was begging to worry that Natsu and Happy would drop dead if they stayed any longer. She grabbed the few books that had mentioned the Silentium, and set them on the counter as she put away her brown wind reader glasses, a gift she had received from Erza. She wasn't sure about the books, because the mentions of the dark magic were extremely vague, but she was willing try to find out anything she could. Natsu practically ran out of the building after she had paid for the books.
She smiled to herself, they were so similar but so different at the same time.
"Lucy? Why're you smiling like that... It's creeping me out" Happy remarked as he flew out from her reach, laughing.
"Shut it cat!" She yelled after him as she placed the books in her pack, running after her friends.
She quickly caught up to them and ran shortly behind them, however a certain scent caught Natsu's full attention, making him stop dead in his tracks. Lucy hit his back at full speed and fell back towards the ground. He didn't do so much as flinch as he turned to follow the scent to a cart selling fried takoyaki.
"Really Natsu?" She cried as she got up, lightly rubbing her sore buttocks, with Happy laughing hysterically as he floated in the air. She glared at the winged creature and walked to where Natsu was gaping.
"Lucy~ I need this~" he turned to her with drool running down from the corners of his mouth, his mind completely overtaken by food.
"Natsu! You just had breakfast!" She laughed at the boy's absurd appetite. Yet his pleads did not cease and the pitiful face the was making was slowly breaking her down. She gave in when Happy joined the pleas.
"... Fine! But we're waiting until lunch to eat them." She felt like their mother at times. She got out her wallet and was honestly surprised when Natsu paid. Then realization hit her.
"Wait.. Natsu~ if you had money why even act like you're asking for my permission?" She groaned at the pink haired mess she adored.
He looked down with a shy and innocent smile, "It was fun, And I mean you always pay. Actually, Happy and I have a a ton of money. We don't have to pay rent, we eat at the guild or at your house, and we go on a ton of jobs."
"Aye sir!" Happy chirped.
They looked at the spirit mage in confusion when she didn't respond. Their expressions slowly turned to ones of terror as they sensed murderous intent coming from her.
"N-Natsu~ YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS AFTER YOU'VE BUMMED FROM ME HOW MANY TIMES!?" They took off running as she chased after them, realizing they were headed for her apartment.
She managed to run up the stairs and unlock her door at record breaking speed. She flew across her room to bolt the locks on her window and sat back onto her bed to catch her breath, waiting for happy to slam into the window, but eventually she heard the water running in her bathroom. She cringed in defeat and barged in preparing to yell at the pair, expecting them to be rummaging through her cabinets and wasting precious hot water.
However, she opened her door to find them relaxing in her tub with shower caps on their heads.
"Geeze, have you gained weight or something? You're even slower than usual, Lucy." The cat remarked, while scrubbing his little back with her scrub brush.
"SHUT UP YOU DUMB CAT!" She was about to run over and yank him out of the water however they had made a mess splashing around, and she slipped...
And fell in.
"L-L-LUCY?" Natsu's face was red enough to match his flames as he realised the blonde was sitting on his lap in the water and had hit her head on the side of her tub. Sure, she was fully clothed but he certainly wasn't.
She slowly opened her eyes clutching her head, and they kept growing more wide as her brain processed what happened. Happy was almost to the point of drowning from his laughter.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~"
She furiously slammed cupboards as she was making their lunch, the whole time holding a bag of frozen peas to her head.
"You guys are lucky I am nice." Natsu and Happy groaned in response as they sat at her table, both injured from Lucy's enraged attack after they came out of her bathroom.
Her hair was still wet from the incident, and her blush never fully went away. Neither had Natsu's. He would never be pulling a stunt like that again, at least if he valued his life.
"I am sorry Lucy," Natsu started, "how is your head?" He really did feel bad, he could already see a bruise forming.
She rolled her eyes at his concern, still deeply annoyed with the dragon slayer. It would be different if it wasn't a reoccurring habit. Not saying that the present scenario had ever presented itself before, but he was always breaking into her apartment and wreaking havoc.
"It's fine Natsu, thanks." She said curtly, not facing him.
"Thank goodness, I was so worried~" Happy chimed, (despite his fits of laughter when it had happened) not picking up on the mood in the room. Or the icy glare Lucy had given him.
She sighed, contemplating on whether or not she should really be mad at her two close friends. She knew that Happy never meant a word of his teasing, and she was used to Natsu invading the privacy of her home. Even though that didn't mean that it was okay, at all, or that it wasn't humiliating.
"Well anyways lunch will be ready any time now," she said as she placed the takoyaki on a pan over her wood-burning stove to heat them up.
Deciding that what had happened wasn't really worth ruining her day, or potentially ruining their friendship, she chuckled lightly.
"You know, it actually was pretty funny, I mean, not ideal in the least, but still." She heard Natsu laugh nervously at her words.
"Yeah, it was so hilarious-" he said very sarcastically but cut himself off when she laid their plates on the table and spared no time digging into the delicious meal. They were having some wanton soup, with crab ragoons and takoyaki on the side. Also meat of course, with Natsu and Happy's more carnivores side.
It was reaching 1:00 in the afternoon after they ate, and decided it would be a good time to head to Sabertooth, seeing as how they would be walking due to Natsu's motion sickness. However the spirit mage would not have really minded to see her partner writhing in torment from his condition. If his form of entertainment was making her paranoid to enter into her own home, hers would be his weakness. Yet, out of the kindness of her heart, she allowed them to start their trek on foot.
She grinned sinisterly at the though playing in her mind but was interrupted when she almost tripped over the blue exceed.
"Happy~ why aren't you flying?" He pouted at her complaining that it took a lot of energy to fly for so long, which they all knew was a lie.
Their walk to Sabertooth went by relatively fast, or it had at least seemed that way due to their talking and shopping along the way. Lucy felt any trace of annoyance or anger vanish as she enjoyed the time with her two friends, well, as long as she didn't think about it.
At some point Natsu ended up giving her a piggy back ride which continued as they reached the doors of their friends' guild.
"Oi! Where's Sting and Rogue!? I wanna fight!" Natsu declared as he let Lucy down. The familiar faces of the members of Sabertooth welcomed the Fairies, ignoring the potential challenge to their master. However, the challenge did not completely land on deaf ears, the master of Sabertooth stormed in from the back entrance, clad in swimming trunks and drenched.
"What was that Dragneel!?"
Lucy, Happy, and well, everyone else in the hall were beginning to worry about whether or not the two dragon slayers were actually being serious. Lucy knew that Natsu never joked about a fight, however, as Sting was about to land a punch to Natsu, he greeted him with a side hug instead.
"Cool down, Dragneel. It's been too long! We can fight later. For now, we ALL need to be swimming. It's boring with only a few people."
The fire dragon slayer was not too pleased, seeing as he was completely serious about a brawl, but it was a hot day and a swim sounded wonderful. Everyone shuffled outside and began to reveal the suits they were already donning under their regular clothes. Natsu and Lucy however, froze.
"Come on! It feels great!" Happy yelled from the inflatable raft he was resting on. The two mages glared at their blue friend, but were rather satisfied with the fact that Lector and Frosch flipped his floating sanctuary.
Yukino swam over to the pair, "Lucy-san? Do you guys need to borrow some swimming suits? I have a Bikini you could wear, and Natsu-kun, I'm positive Sting-sama has plenty of swimming trunks."
Lucy smiled at her fellow celestial spirit mage, "Thanks Yukino-san, but I'll just have Virgo bring us some."
She quickly summoned the strange spirit and ignored her inquiries of whether or not she'd be receiving punishment, quickly asking for the suits. The maid returned, holding a rather skimpy looking bikini, that was navy blue with little teal stars that almost resembled polka dots, and a matching pair of swimming trunks. Thanking Virgo and closing her gate, the fairy tail mages went inside to change, returning at a ridiculous speed to jump into the water.
"So, Lucy-san~ what brings you here today?" The white haired mage asked her friend. Lucy snapped out of staring at Natsu, Sting, and Rogue's 'fight' with a slight blush on her face, that did not go unnoticed by Yukino, who was currently raising an eyebrow at the blonde.
"W-Well actually, a small guild asked for help in finding information about a dark magic referred to as Silentium, and I was wondering if you, or any of your nakama knew anything about it..."
It was obvious that the mage was trying to remember if she had ever heard of it before, getting her no where.
"Sorry Lucy-san, I've never heard of it." She said, giving up in defeat. Lucy just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't a big deal, she'd learn more soon enough.
In the mean time, the boys had made a proper mess of the place. There was more water outside of the pool than in it with their constant dunking and fighting.
Lucy and Yukino were playing with Happy, Lector, and Frosch. They were completely unaware of the men prowling beneath the water level of the pool.
"ST-STING-SAMAAA!?" Yukino cried as she was lifted from the water and dunked, without being able to fight against it at all. Everyone chuckled at the pair, with Lucy smiling to herself that she wasn't the only girl who had to deal with a crazy best friend.
Then she felt two arms snake around her hips.
The next thing she knew she was being hurled into the air, and then decidedly, the water below. Natsu, surfacing before his best friend, laughed manically at his victory. However, he was cut off by water being spewed at him by said friend.
"Lucy! That was gross!" He complained but she just laughed at him.
"Serves you right, I mean you could've warned me."
"But it wouldn't be as fun if you knew~"
"Maybe not for you!"
Everyone eventually got out, and were mingling in the lobby, half still in their suits. Lucy had been asking around about her oncoming mission, still, gaining no information. Giving up, she joined Natsu who was talking to their three favourite Sabertooth members.
"Hey guys, what time is it?"
Rogue looked over to the clock that Lucy hadn't noticed. What was her deal lately? She was usually observant. However, she was preoccupied. Both celestial spirit mages were staring at their friends' abs. There's nothing wrong with appreciating a nice view.
"Almost 4:30... Uh, are you two okay?" The shadow dragon mage asked, bringing the girls back to reality.
"Huh? Oh! Y-Yeah were fine, 4:30 you say? That's interesting." Yukino said, laughing at herself for gaping, Lucy also joined in the laughter, until Natsu started to pull her towards the exit.
"We gotta go Lucy!" He said, hastily picking up speed.
"N-Natsu! We have to change first!"
"Why?" He asked looking down at his apparel, "I'm pretty much normal."
Lucy simply glared at him, waiting for realization to hit him.
"OH, well yeah you need to change."
"Actually she's dressed like what she usually wears too." Happy laughed, looking up at his blonde friend, who was not pleased with the comment.
"I AM NOT!"
Sting and Natsu were laughing at the pair who continued to argue. After both Fairy Tail wizards had changed, they were headed back to their own guild.
"Well, next time we'll have to have that fight. Both of you against me!"
"Sure, we'll try to go easy on you." Sting, Rogue and Natsu agreed to their plans as Lector, Frosch and Happy parted ways.
Lucy, Natsu and Happy we're waiting at the guild for Levy, Jet, Droy and Gajeel. Lucy had decided that Gajeel would join her trio, as well as Wendy. As if on que to her thoughts, the sky dragon slayer entered the guild.
"Wendy! You like to read right?" Lucy called her over and the young mage grinned at her.
"Of course, Lucy-san."
"Great! Will you come on a mission with Natsu and I? I'm going to ask Gajeel and Levy along as well." Natsu was slightly sneering at the mention of Gajeel. They were never capable of seeing eye to eye.
"Sure! I'll be glad to help! Are Gray and Erza-san coming too?"
Lucy sighed. She would definitely feel safer with Erza than Natsu and Gajeel.
"No, Erza left today to go visit Mermaid Heel. She won't be back until we've left, also, Gray went on a mission with Juvia which will take a few days."
Natsu shrugged. "That ice princess wouldn't help anyways, we don't even need Gajeel, I'm plenty of protection!"
"Protection..?" Wendy asked shyly, earning smile from Natsu. "Don't worry Wendy, you, Levy, and this weirdo will just be reading some dumb books. If anything happens, I, the great, salamander will protect you!" He laughed, hugging her. She was like the guild baby. Everyone loved her and treated her like their little sister. Wendy giggled at Natsu's antics. Charla and Lucy grinned fondly at the pair, both finding the display adorable. Happy had said something about Lucy being creepy but she ignored the exceed.
The guild had gotten crazier as it got darker outside. Natsu was challenging anybody who would fight him, Cana was drinking with Macao and Wakaba. Elfman was dealing with Evergreen's mood swings, Lisana and Mira were arguing about something, Romeo and Wendy were being downright adorable, Master was rather buzzed and insistent on singing a song on stage, but Laxus wouldn't let him. The first master even showed up and was complaining about wanting Erza's cake, but even though all of this was happening, it still seemed quiet. Gray and Natsu weren't fighting, Erza wasn't destroying them, Juvia wasn't fangirling over Gray.. It was a little sad.
Then, the lights went out.
A spotlight came on, revealing Gajeel in a white tux and his guitar.
"To celebrate the shrimp and I's return I shall serenade you with the song I like to call Victory.."
Everyone groaned at this new advancement, objects were even sent flying through the air. Levy face palmed herself as she walked towards her blonde friend.
"Levy-chan! I take the uh mission went... Well?" The solid script mage grinned sarcastically at her friend.
"Of course!" She said, hugging her friend, "we got our full pay and Gajeel got along with Jet and Droy perfectly."
"Yikes."
"Yea.."
The women giggled as the guild went into an uproar over the dragon mage. Eventually, his, "song" ended with a rather majestic 'shoo-be-doo-bah'. If only the guild had followed suit, however, that's why Lucy Heartfillia could truly call this her home. Fairy Tail, being the top guild in Fiore, would never be a calm one.
Levy, along with a begrudging Gajeel, had agreed to join the temporary team to learn of the secrets to Silentium. Master Makarov had been a bit hesitant to send all three of Fairy Tail's dragon slayers on one mission, but he eventually digressed. They were to leave in three days for a town near the ruins of the Nirvit, where Nirvana had been destroyed.