Chapter 1
The streets were full with hundreds - no, even thousands of people, some were with their families and some were alone, travelling through the countless of roads that can lead to different cities or to the port. Shops were scattered along the streets, mostly non-magic shops since its citizens are only normal people. On a particular magic shop - maybe the only one on the port - a girl and her cat can be seen examining the countless number of silvers keys hanging on the rack. Her gaze stopped at a particular key, her eyes shone and she eagerly asks the clerk its price.
"How much is this?" she points at the key.
"Oh! That key is the only one left of its kind in the shop. Therefore, it costs 20000 J"
"That expensive?" she sighs "Here then" she hands a pouch full of jewels.
The clerk quickly snatches the money, and gives the new key on her hand. She was ushered to the door of the shop, the clerk saying 'Have a nice day!' before the door was slammed on her face. Her eyes were still shining as she gaze at her new key but her brooding stops when she hears the murmurs of the girls who were passing her.
"Did you hear? Salamander is in the centre of the port. The people who caught a glimpse of him said he is handsome!" the girl squeaked.
"Really? We must hurry then!" another girl said.
Salamander? from Fairy Tail? I'll see if its true. She locked eyes with her cat, who nodded as if understanding what Lucy is implying. She took quick strides to the central place, her exceed now sitting on her shoulders.
A few feet away from her, there is a commotion, it was mainly consisted of girls squealing and the short bursts of magic shooting in the sky. She brushed past people aside, but she felt something was unusual. People would usually curse or shoot a glare at the people who pushed them to the side, but none of those scenarios happened. That's weird.
She is now in front of the crowd, where she saw a man doing different poses and the crowd shouting 'Salamander!'. She studied the man, spotting two rings on his hand, her eyes squinted at the marking on the ring. She studied the crowd's behaviour and eyes, and she could clearly see the hearts on their eyes, and the crowd also contains a ton of girls. Hmm, he is using a Charm spell. Is he an impostor? or this is how Fairy Tail mages act for the past 5 years when I was gone?
Before she could say something, she was interrupted by a boy shouting 'Igneel!' among the crowd, he was also nearing the middle, with an cat trailing behind him. When he arrived on the middle, she saw the boy's smiling face turned into a frown, muttering that it's not the Salamander that they knew. When he refused to accept 'Salamander's' autograph, he was beaten up by his 'fans'. Before the Salamander left, not before saying that there's a party on his boat and the girls that are there were invited.
She tsked before approaching the pink-haired boy. Offering to buy them lunch even if they thought that they didn't help the girl.
Soon, they were in a restaurant, with stacks of plate already at the side of the table, as the boy in front of her continues to eat, along with his cat.
"Earlier, you look like you were finding this Salamander but was instead disappointed when it was another person." she asked, pretending not to know anything.
"Another person? Igneel's not human. He's a dragon" the cat whose name is Happy said.
"Why would a dragon appear at the middle of the town? Baka!"
She saw them froze, as if they were comprehending what she said. Natsu's eyes darted at the cat on Lucy's shoulder. "You also have a cat! Does he have wings too?"
"Yeah, and she is a girl, not a boy." she corrected.
"So you're a mage?" Lucy laughed nervously, she can't reveal anything since she doesn't know the boy. But why do I feel like he's familiar? Like I saw him somewhere. "Yes!" she flailed her arms "I saw her egg while I was walking on the forest."
She was following her target, her steps were light as a feather. Her sole focus were the people who were laughing a few yards away from her, their boisterous laughs can be heard echoing throughout the forest. She was nearing them when she accidentally stepped on a twig, the wood cracking beneath her feet.
Good thing its sound wasn't heard because of the loud laughs. When she looked at her left, there lay an egg that is abnormally big to mistake it as a chicken's egg. She quickly carried it on her arms, but not before she heard steps approaching her.
She turned, and there was her targets, a dark guild that has been rampaging towns and taking their money. They stare at her intensely, as if a predator watching its prey. She let out a loud sigh, before putting back the egg carefully in its place as she stand behind the egg.
The dark guild - that consists mostly of men - surrounded her, they were laughing as a way to scare and mock her, but she stood on her ground and smirked at them."Guess I don"t have a choice but to eliminate all of you before you lay a hand on the egg."
The men snickered at this, "What can you do brat? You are a woman and women bow on our feet."
"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you can underestimate my abilities." she grinned mischievously.
But of course she hadn't told Natsu the whole story, she only included that she found the egg in the forest that she was leisurely walking. Natsu, the idiot that he is, seemed to believe her story. She stood up and placed bills on the table. "Well, you can continue eating. Thank you again for popping at the scene, if you hadn't, I wouldn't realize that I was tricked by a fake Salamander."
She was near at the door when she noticed the server became pale. She turned around, only to see the both of them bowing at her, their faces on the ground.
"You don't need to do that!" she scolded, her ears turning red.
She was sitting at a bench near the park, her hands flicking through the Sorcerer Weekly Magazine. "Ehh? They destroyed 8 houses on their mission? They never changed. Or should I say they got worse."
She chuckled as she continued scanning the contents of the magazine. "Hmm, Mira's the week's model again. I wonder how they are. I must hurry up to Fairy Tail."
"Fairy Tail you say?" A voice spoke and the nearby bush suddenly moved, and the fake Salamander emerged.
"What of Fairy Tail?"
"I can get you in. You want to join right?"
"You can't fool me. Not even once. What do you want?"
"I want to invite you to my party tonight at the boat, if you come, I'll put a good word about you on our master."
This fool. Who does he think he is? I'm a member of Fairy Tail myself. But that's suspicious as itself. Do I agree to this man?
"Are you really going to help me join the guild?" she asked with fake enthusiasm, and the man smirked, thinking that his Charm spell had taken effect. Gotcha.
He fixed his hair, " Of course darling. See you at the party tonight." And he suddenly flew with his weird fire.
Lucy saluted, like she was a soldier. When the man was no longer in sight, she seethed.
The dumb ass thinks he fooled me. Better get ready to the party tonight. Something about it bothers me.
Extravagant wine, music and fine women with dresses can be seen on the boat. The sounds of the chattering made between the women were muffled within four walls, on which Lucy is in with the 'Salamander'. The sound of the lid popping on the bottle broke through Lucy's reverie.
"Wine? Champagne?"
"Anything is fine with me."
"Here." The glass with champagne was extended to her.
"Thanks," she twirled the beverage on the glass. "This has a sleeping pill in it, right?"
She missed the look of shock on Salamander's face. "What is it that you really want?"
The curtains were pushed to the side and funny-looking men suddenly appeared with two women - women that were invited to the party, sleeping - on their arms. Lucy gritted her teeth. "Release them."
"Why would I? We're going to Bosco to drop all of these women."
"What about your promise? On me joining to Fairy Tail?"
"Well, that was a hoax. So be a little good girl and come here."
"No way. You dare taint the name of Fairy Tail when you are just a fake. You people disgust me." She spoke with such venom.
"Grab her!" The Salamander ordered and men began running to her way. She gets hold of her keys, beginning to call out her Spirit when it was suddenly taken away by his fire. " A Celestial Mage? Your keys are useless to me, might as well throw it away."
Her eyes widened when it was thrown to the sea, but she knows Aira (Her cat) had gotten a hold of it. She smirked and was ready to use her whip when the wooden ceiling suddenly had a hole, and Natsu emerged on the smoke. "Natsu? What are you doing here?"
Natsu paid no attention to her, his eyes glaring on the men. "Happy! Take Lucy away from here!"
"Aye sir!" and suddenly she was taken away.
But the Salamander bastard didn't want let her go, and so he attacked. "Prominence Whip!"
Numerous fire-like arrows went to their way and they manage to dodge it, but the last one hit Happy's wings and the next thing that Lucy knew, they were falling to the sea.
She gasped for air, as she tried to stay afloat. She looked at her sides, seeing Happy's ears sticking out on the water. Aira flew to her side, "Here."
She got her keys back and assessed the situation. A Dragon Slayer like Natsu feels motion sickness on vehicles. "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"
A yellow light blinded her for a second, and there in front of her was a mermaid. An angry mermaid to be exact.
"You brat! What did I say about dropping my key? Be thankful your cat was there to retrieve it quickly."
She snickered, " I wasn't the one who dropped your key. A man on the boat did. Tried to stop him but he didn't listen" she reasoned.
"Oh? He is? I'm gonna kill him then." She screamed and water came out from her urn, creating a huge wave, hitting the boat with Lucy and the cats in tow.
She coughed out water before glaring at the mermaid, "Damn! Why do I always get caught up in your waves?"
"Oh did you? I only realized that I targeted you" she shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't call me for the next 2 weeks, I'm gonna go on a vacation with my boyfriend" she repeated once again with a smirk "My boyfriend." And she disperse into nothing.
"That mermaid, tsk." She checked the damage on the ship and the surroundings. "She overdid it again. Master's going to have tons of complaints."
She watched at the distance as Natsu fought the fake Salamander. Her eyes widen in surprise when Natsu said "I am a member of Fairy Tail. And I've never seen your face before!"
His magic reminded her of someone who taught her how to use and take control of it, we're the same. Then a thought crossed her mind, so he is the real Salamander. Why didn't I deduced it earlier?
She watched on the sidelines how Natsu beat up the guy and Happy on her side, explaining the qualities of a dragon that Natsu possessed, Igneel. Their fight ended, with the guy and his group beaten up very badly, their ship in bits and pieces. Natsu dragged her as they run, the Rune Knights in tow of them.
Natsu looked at her, "You're going to Fairy Tail right? Let's go!"