Hey there!
Welcome all to this fanfiction! I am Inkwell of the Muses but you may call me Inkwell. Be warned I tend to get angsty at random times and something sad might come of it. Throughout this fic there will be mystery, comedy, angst, and Lucy. Warning this is a Lucy centered Fanfic. It's not completely NaLu but wow it's got quite a bit of NaLu in there because I'm a die hard shipper. Also within these stories I will have funny anecdotes about my life and adventures in writing this. The journey I'm about to embark on in writing this is looking about 25 chapters long. The chapters will be shorter at first so bear with me. A few chapters will breach the 10 page on Google Docs mark. Another important thing to know about me and my writing as I cross over into this new Fandom is that I have a fantastic editor and she is basically not only my beta reader but practically writing the story with me. I will try to keep all updates to once a week, I'm thinking wednesday's. Feels like a good day. Again I want you to know the time and effort going into this so I really hope it's worth it. Wow, my independent study class is going to suffer because of this. Another thing is that I do keep myself a few chapters ahead in the having it written part. That way even if I don't finish writing a chapter one week you'll still get an update. Deal? Deal. But if I do fall too far behind updates will slow. I will finish this fic! No abandonment I promise. You've gotta trust me on that. My editor would have a fit if I didn't finish this and is holding me to it. Once you get to know her I'm sure you'll be confident in her ability to pester me into doing or finishing almost anything.
Okay, listen. I suck at summaries. Like some of you think you suck at summaries. No. You have not seen sucking at summaries until you've read mine. I toil over summaries for hours and usually I can get 2 halfway decent lines out of it. Here goes:
Lucy struggles with coming to terms with her powers and maintaining control over them. As soon as her mind wanders back to the present her life re-introduces her past. Can she take Natsu's out-stretched hand and move on to new adventures or will her memories shackle her forever?
What started as a small headache turns into something no one at Fairy Tail could have ever imagined. Follow Lucy as she encounters old friends, new enemies, and a lot of power struggle. What if you were given the chance to grasp everything you ever worked for, at the price of your memories? Would you take it? Does Lucy? A few jobs gone awry and suddenly, on this last one, there's the possibility that she won't come back. But not in the way you think. Can she face her friends again and move forward? Join her as she figures out exactly what she wants out of life and tries to go after it, without getting too hurt in the process.
That took ages and it's still not that good… I promise the stories better. Wow.
Whew anywhoo…
Ummm… I-I think that's it. Sorry for that suuuuper long author's note. No funny story today either. It's like… 8 in the morning so, nothing funny happened yet. I'll get there. Eventually.
Enjoy the first chapter, tell me what you think. I really am excited about this one, I've got an outline and everything. Wow I sound like a humongous nerd. In real life I honestly don't sound this nerdy. I mean I do but…. whatever I embrace the nerd life.
Disclaimer: *boston accent* Well since ya've got me backed inta a corner ova here, I guess there's only one thing left for me ta do. Make a break for it! (Runs for the door) It's locked. Damn. Fine. I don't own Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail. Bastards…
Arc 1
Chapter 1: Pilot
Embarking on a job
"In a land far, far away lies the kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of seventeen million and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is merely a tool,a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they have devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail."
"Hello, Ms. Lucy!" Mirajane greeted Lucy as she walked up to her bar.
"Hey, Mira," Lucy tried to force a grin but the pounding in her head had other ideas and it turned out to be more of a grimace.
"Rough night last night?" Mira gave the girl a sympathetic smile. Keeping up with Natsu wasn't an easy task.
"How'd you know?" Lucy said in a sarcastic drawl.
"You look awful! That's how she knew!" Happy piped in from behind Lucy.
"Listen, cat! If it wasn't for you and Natsu using me as bait, again, for those stupid Vulcans last night, I wouldn't look like this," Lucy whirled around to give Happy a good what for.
Happy, though, was starting to figure Lucy out. When Lucy turned to yell at Happy, she was surprised to see Natsu in his place.
"Natsu!" Lucy was startled to see him there and let go of his collar when she realized Natsu was not the cat that she was looking for.
"Hey, Lucy," Natsu said with an enormous, slightly nervous smile.
"You're hiding him, aren't you?" Lucy told him. She was overall unimpressed with the plan. Just like Happy was figuring Lucy out, Lucy was starting to guess Happy's plans as well.
"Me?" Natsu laughed nervously, "Never!"
"Then why don't you go start a fight with Gray?" Lucy asked.
"Gray?" Natsu's eyes flashed over to the ice wizard for a moment, "He's not doing anything. No need to bother him."
"You always need to bother him." Lucy accused, "Unless, maybe you and Gray are friends now," she was baiting him, hook, line, and sinker.
"That would never happen and you know it. Ice Pick over there only wishes he could be friends with me." Natsu was a gullible fish.
"Prove it," Lucy knew him way too well.
"Fine." Momentarily forgetting what prompted the argument, he stepped aside to reveal a cowering Happy in his place, "Oops, sorry buddy."
"Natsu!" Happy yelped, "Now Lucy's going to kill me!"
"No, she's not." Natsu rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Right, Luce?"
"Wrong, Natsu," Lucy glared at both the fire wizard and his furry blue feline, "Happy's right, I'm going to kill him."
With that, Happy made a beeline for the door.
Natsu looked after his terrified Exceed, awaiting the moment that a streak of blonde would go chasing after him. When Lucy made no move to chase after Happy, Natsu said, "Lucy, why are you just sitting there?"
"I'm too tired to go on a wild chase, Natsu." Lucy whined, "Besides, Happy's fright will keep him running for a good long while." Lucy subsequently rested her head against the cool bar top.
"Wow, you really are tired, huh? Sorry Lucy, I didn't realize those Vulcans did such a number on you." Natsu sat down next to Lucy at the bar, "Hey Mira, can I get a strawberry milkshake and a couple bowls of pasta over here?"
"Sure thing, Natsu!" Mira chirped, "I'll be over in a second."
"Did you just order me a shake?" Lucy lifted her head for a moment to assure that she had heard Natsu correctly.
"Yeah, why? " Natsu looked at Lucy with a puzzled grin.
"That's…" Lucy was planning on saying weird but she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and settled for, "nice."
"You're weird, Luce." Natsu laughed at the thought process that was so obvious on the young wizard's face.
"Haven't we established this already?" Lucy groaned replacing her head to it's former position, the moment with her teammate completely crushed, "The pink-haired dragon slayer with the flying and talking blue cat thinks I'm weird," she muttered.
"Hey Lucy," Lucy lifted her head, yet again, to see her other teammate Gray coming towards her, "how're you feeling?"
Lucy tried to force a smile through her pulsating headache, "New question, please?"
"Yeah, popsicle, can't you tell she's not feeling good?" Natsu took the opportunity to jump down Gray's throat, "Why do you have to bring it up?"
"Hey, how was I supposed to know she felt that bad?" Gray and Natsu took their usual stance, "Besides, flamebrain, it's probably your fault anyway!" Gray retaliated.
Natsu was just about to throw some useless comment about Gray's tendency to strip into the fray when Lucy jumped in, "Stop it, you two!" Lucy's face was beet red, "My head is killing me and all this noise is making it 100 times worse. Now, Gray what did you want to say?"
"I was just wondering, because your rent is due this week, if you made enough money last night being a part of another one a Natsu's hair-brained schemes," Gray asked calmly, quietly, and quickly so as not to upset Lucy any further. She was acting very Erza-ish at the moment and both boys were frightened at how closely the two women resembled each other when angry.
Lucy groaned even louder and let her head slam onto the counter for the final time that day. "Geez, I was so busy feeling like crud that I forgot about my rent! We would have made enough money last night but Natsu had to take one of those stupid Vulcans and throw it so hard that it crashed into the cathedral in the next town over. After paying for repairs we barely had enough jewel to get us home!"
"In my defense," Natsu was pouting, "that Vulcan was trying to take you back to his cave and he was nearly squeezing the life out of you."
"That's what you get for using me as bait," Lucy mumbled against the wood. Then something occurred to Lucy, "Gray, how'd you know my rent was due?"
At that observation, Lucy lifted her head, Natsu snapped to attention, and Mira paused before them. Gray was suddenly blushing and he tried to answer nonchalantly, "Well, you said the same thing about your rent being due last month. I figured it was a monthly thing and ya know."
"You remembered when my rent was due?" Lucy asked slightly shocked but touched. In all their crazy antics, Lucy sometimes forgot that the members of Fairy Tail, the most destructive Guild in the world, could be some of the most thoughtful people she had ever met.
"Well, how sweet is that!" Mira made the group aware of her arrival. She placed the shake and food in front of Natsu.
"It's not sweet," Gray's blush intensified, "I was just going on a job that I could use some help on and I figured fire-breath here might have screwed up and you could use the money so why not invite you along," and to this day that is the fastest sentence to leave Gray Fullbuster's mouth.
"Sure Gray," Natsu said, lavishly sweeping his arm across Lucy's shoulders, "we'd love to come along." Natsu flashed Gray one of his signature grins, although this one a bit more mischievous than the rest.
"The invite didn't extend to you, dragon breath," Gray grimaced.
"Me and Lucy are a team, in case you forgot, so if you invite her, you invite me and Happy too." he pointed his thumb towards himself.
"Where's Juvia?" Lucy asked, completely ignoring the boys as their fighting had become second nature to her.
"Oh, yeah," Gray was nervous again and took to scratching the back of his neck, "well, you see, she," he was fumbling for words.
"Oh! I remember," Mira piped up, "she said she was going to visit some of the members of her old guild, convince them to join Fairy Tail or some other guild." Mira then looked thoughtful for a moment, before she added, "So, you must be lonely, Gray!" Mira was a fit of giggles and soon the rest of the group followed suit.
"N-n-no," he stuttered.
"Listen, Gray," Lucy said sternly but kindly, "I'd love to go on a job with you," and beating out Natsu's shout of indignation, she added, "but Natsu and I are a package deal. What kind of job is it?"
"Actually, I think it's the perfect job for you, it's right up your alley." Gray handed Lucy the flier.
Lucy took the flier from his hands and squinted her eyes at the small print, "Casino being terrorized, pays 50,000 jewel. Why would this be the perfect job for me?"
"Well, ya know, because you're so lucky," Gray explained smoothly. Lucy smiled evenly back at him.
Natsu grunted at Gray's sad attempt at impressing Lucy.
"I remember when this job was posted," Mira said grabbing the sheet from Lucy, "The client said something about a celestial spirit being involved."
"Are you kidding me?" Lucy yelped, remembering the time that Natsu had invited her for their first job, only to realize he just needed someone with blonde hair for the mission. He didn't really choose her because they were a team. Gray was choosing her only because she was a Celestial Spirit Wizard, "I can't believe I fell for this again."
"Don't be mad." Gray begged, hoping beyond all hope that she wouldn't cry.
"Way to mess up, squinty eyes," Natsu pushed the shake over to Lucy and she started to take a sip.
"Wait a minute," Gray blurted with a devious smile, "did Natsu actually buy that for you?"
Natsu grew indignant and Lucy groaned at the fight that was about to break out.
"That is so sweet!" Mira chirped yet again, "You two are just so cute."
At that, Lucy's cheeks reddened slightly.
"Well, Natsu here is growing up so fast," Gray prodded.
"Shut up, Ice Princess," Natsu pushed Gray back, "We're friends! She's not feeling good, of course I'd order something for her. It's called being," he paused, trying to remember the word, "considerate. You jealous I never bought you anything?" Now the two worked their way into a full out brawl.
"And imagine," Mira put her hand up to her mouth in a vain attempt to hide her girly satisfaction, "You are stuck with those two until you get the job done."
Lucy watched as the fight escalated until the boys made it outside the guild.
Just as Lucy was about to get up and go home, in order to prepare for tomorrow's job, she heard Mira slightly cough from behind her, "What's wrong, Mira?"
She gestured to the mound of empty food bowls and half a milkshake strewn in front of them, "I'm so sorry Lucy but," she motioned to the bill on top of the mound of dishes.
"I don't under…." Lucy's eyes grew to the size of saucers when she realized why Mira was looking at her so sadly, "Natsuuuu!"
Lucy took out 200 jewel and handed it to Mirajane hardly believing that Natsu had stuck her with the bill, yet again.
Wow this chapter was short. Really short. Mkay. I'll work on that. I know there's not much you guys can say at this point considering the fact that I'm new and my stories new. Just let me know if you think that so far everyone is pretty much in character. What was your favorite/least favorite part. I love those comments. Gray, for some reason feels totally out of character for this entire fic, to me. I think I know what the problem is but I don't know how to fix it. I'm sorry but you guys will kinda have to deal with it the whole fic probably. I'll try my best but he is aggravating the hell out of me right now. If there are any grammar mistakes I'll pass you along to my editor. Let me know when you think the characters are wrong. There are parts that will happen that I think would never happen in the manga or anime but overall I'm hoping to stay true to Fairy Tail and write things in a way that makes sense to who they are. If that makes any sense at all.
Now I don't know if any of you know Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket a.k.a. my favorite author of all time. Well I'm going to emulate him. This section is my Letter to the Editor section.
To My Kind Editor,
I am writing this to you from the confines of stuffy classroom filled with children I don't particularly wish to talk to. I find that the writer for which I am simply a vessel has become rather impatient and rather bored. I am sorry to say that satiating this monster for which I am merely an Inkwell shall not be easy. I intend to write long into the night in hopes that this letter finds you in good health. We are currently separated by many miles, the muse doesn't care. The contents of this page held some fantastic work, though. One milkshake, an argument, and a headache later finds me hoping that my grammar wasn't as awful as I think it was. You fixed it anyway. Remember, you are my last hope that the tales consuming my thoughts can be read by the general public.
With all due respect,
Inkwell of the Muses
And so concludes the first installment of To My Kind Editor. Whoo that was fun. Alright um, Oh! I almost forgot. I am watching and writing based on the anime and have read the rest of the manga so I am basing this story on the anime but it takes place right before the Tartaros Arc. I feel like I don't know or understand enough about the Japanese culture to use it's words either. So I can't see myself using the words like nakama or minna because if I don't understand it I can't do it justice. I love the funimation dub by the way. I know kill me. I have obviously watched all the sub I could after the dub ended. So, I will split up my chapters a lot like episodes. It will have a chapter name, title, and be a part of an Arc. It will be listed at the top of each chapter.
The beginning is quite a bit of set-up but it is definitely all important. I try not to write anything that doesn't matter to the plot.
Okay I'm finally done I promise. That was really unorganized. Oh well, I'll get better.
Read and Review! It makes me feel fuzzy inside so please don't forget.
See ya next time! Bye!