Chapter One
In the capital the sun was high in the sky, signaling it was the middle of the day. A window was open in an office, and a gentle breeze passed into the room. Sitting at the desk before this window, was Lucy. In her hands she held a notice from the lead editor of the Weekly Sorcerer. She was being instructed, in response to her own request, to follow up on some leads of a reappearance of an ancient city in the north.
She had bided her time for a whole month, tracking people's movements, and finally she had an opportunity to start mending her family. It hadn't been easy, and she had made a network of contacts within other guilds to pull it off. But through her persistence she had succeeded.
She would find and bring back the only man who could put this to rights.
Staring out at the blue sky, she thought about the first sighting a week ago. Blue Pegasus' archivist Hibiki had contacted her about the group stirring up a town just to the northwest of their guild hall. Reappearances of Fairy Tail members were often treated as if they were events to be contained and managed. Many in Fiore feared that without a leader, the destructive mages would roam unchecked. While this was frequently not the case, Lucy could not say it was completely unfounded. There had been quite a few incidents.
So it was a shock to her of course that Hibiki later reported three more witnesses two days later. It was not common place for the mages to linger. It was then that Lucy knew she had a chance here and placed a request to investigate a local rumor. As she waited for approval, she prayed that they would stick around just a little bit longer. She was certain her query would be approved, as she was basically an intern, and not really bound to a particular job schedule or quota yet.
Lucy wondered if the rumor she had chosen was related to the group's presence. There were stories going around of an ancient faery city lit by the power of lightening. Everybody who visited this place gave very convincing accounts of this city. But they could never find it twice.
This being her only lead, Lucy packed up her belongings to board the next train heading in Blue Pegasus' direction.
"If you don't take a chance, you'll never know!" She told herself brightly.
As she loaded up her story, she smiled genuinely. She would once again rejoin the narrative. "I wonder what they'll think of how I've progressed," Lucy mused as she closed the last of her two bags. As persistently as she had tracked her guild mates as they scattered to the four winds, she had pursued greater power.
So many of her friends had left her alone to better themselves. Lucy knew something they didn't though, that the path forward was still together. She set her teeth in determination as she imagined the uphill battle of convincing her guild mates of this fact. It had seemed so clear before Makarov had declared them disbanded. It had seemed an unquestionable truth, untouchable.
And then it had all come undone.
Her thoughts saddened her greatly but no more tears would come. She had shed her share already. Part of her knew there was something else afoot. Makarov must have been planning something. Lucy thought that it might've been a ploy to draw Gildarts back out of the wood work with the goal of becoming number one guild accomplished. Now, somehow she doubted that unless she acted on her own that anyone would answer this call. The guild had shattered into so many pieces, she was overwhelmed by the task set in front of her, and she was certain any new leader would be too.
So she'd have to just do it herself. There was no point in waiting for someone else to come and fix this mess. She needed to see those smiling faces again, she couldn't be left alone again, and she wouldn't let them.
"When's the next train?" She asked the ticket booth operator.
"At 2 o' clock, no more than thirty minutes now."
"I'll take one ticket please."
When the sun began to set, Lucy had already been fast asleep for over an hour. The train had trudged along on its tracks on through the desert towards the mountains. Large plumes of sand and dust were kicked up in its wake, settling upon the now purple landscape as the sun clothed the land in many rosy tones. As they hit scrubland before the foothills, the train ride felt off after three hours on sandy tracks. Lucy woke, sensing the difference, and rubbed her eyes before blearily peering out at the landscape.
"Almost there," She said to no one in particular, before pulling out her novel. It wouldn't do to waste these last precious minutes of sunlight. Lucy contemplated on how to describe the last month. How would she make this transition? Without her friends, it felt wrong to write about being in Fairy Tail when they clearly weren't.
She made many false starts, and over the next thirty minutes a not so neat pile of crumpled papers made their way into a waste bin in the train compartment. Sighing, she resigned herself to lean on the window sill as the light completely vanished. A conductor came around to light the gas lanterns in the hallway of compartments, but she did not answer the call of her book despite the added visibility. It was useless; her nerves would not allow her to write.
"Please still be there Laxus."
The conductor gave her a queer look for talking to herself as he came back around, having lit all the lanterns. He briefly opened the door to her compartment to inform her that they would soon be at their destination. She blushed at his stare, and thanked him for the good news. Lucy could hardly stand to be still for so long while time was of the essence.
As the train came to a screeching halt, the conductor announced, "We have arrived at Ocotillo city, next is stop for the Blue Pegasus guild hall." Lucy gathered her bags, packing away her book and closing her ink well that she'd brought with. She'd left it open this whole time as she was lost in thought, and Lucy chided herself, saying "As if the ink will leap upon the blank page and write your story. That would make life a lot easier, I suppose."
The town of Ocotillo was fast asleep, and she could tell she wasn't in the best part of town. It was probably full of the commuters for the next town over who worked around Blue Pegasus. But Lucy had seen on her map that the most direct path was the get off just before and rent a mount to ride north. Riding the train further would've taken her almost directly east, and Lucy hated to back track, even if maybe the accommodations might've been better.
Confidently she headed towards an inn indicated on the station's map of the town. A couple dark alleyways weren't going to keep her from progress. When she arrived it was hard to hold back a small sigh of disappointment though. The best word for it was adequate. She found the front door still unlocked, as it was not yet too late to receive the last passing train's guests and coin.
There was a desk in the foyer with a bell, which she promptly rung. An older slightly obese gentleman grumbled from the room over before he came out to receive his newest lodger. Sitting on a creaky stool from behind the desk, he addressed her cordially but with an incredulously raised eyebrow, "Good evening miss, but isn't it unwise to be travelling through here by yourself?"
"I can take care of myself," She replied tartly, and maybe a little too quickly. Wanting to get to the point, she said in a more friendly tone, "Do you have any openings?"
"Why yes, the price is 500 jewel for a night," He said, clearly happy to discuss money. "Just sign in here and I'll give you your key."
Lucy went to retrieve the money from her purse, and pretended to pout as she scraped around at the bottom of the bag. "Oh, I seem to only have 450. Does this mean I can't stay here?"
The man made a face, but despite his doubts he could not say no to that face. This woman clearly knew how attractive she was; best to get her on her way before she caused trouble. "Yes, just hand it over please." Besides, a discounted room was better than an empty one.
And with that, Lucy got her key at a slight discount and headed up the stairs feeling triumphant.
The next day Lucy found herself face to face with a stubborn male who was apparently very resistant to charming. She countered him for the fifth time, "2,000 jewel for the boar." He was almost visibly fuming at her lowball offer. "4,000 now, and if you come back with it, I'll give you 1,000 back. I have to have some kind of collateral!" He argued.
"Look, it's not like I can come back through here any other way. You will get your boar back, and as such this price is entirely unfair," she pointed out logically. Insistently, he said "Yeah? And what if it dies out there in the desert? Are you going to come back and pay for it then? I need collateral, those are the rules!" Lucy could see the longer they went at it, the more emotional he was getting. While the boar mount was clearly not worth 4,000 jewels, she relented and dug deep in her wallet.
At least the 50 jewel she saved earlier had made her feel a tad better. It really wasn't equivalent, she knew, it was just an ego thing. Here, she knew her defeat when she saw it. No amount of readjusting her bodice or playing with her hair was going to soften this man. He grunted in satisfaction when she handed him his payment, and he retreated back into the stable.
The boar he brought back was saddled with all the necessities, she checked. It looked well fed and in good health. But it was hard to think about riding it as it poured foul sweat from every pore. It looked so greasy, and when she accidently brushed her hand on its skin while checking the bags it felt disgusting. Wiping it off on her riding pants, she noticed with a sigh that it had left a grease splotch.
The man noticed, and chuckled dryly. "White is not a good color for riding pants in the desert." Wordlessly Lucy mounted the boor, put on a wide hat, grabbed its reigns, and was off with a stern nudge of her boot into its rib cage. She was thoroughly done speaking with that man. Her comfort was the dark desert before the rising sun. To set off early would give her a decent chance to reach the town before the brutal heat reigned.
By midday she was listening to the rhythmic sloshing of her water canteens as the beast's steps jostled her. For all she had looked down on it, it was undeniably reliable. Lucy admired its steadfast nature and how it tarried for not a single moment. She resolved to try and become more like this simple, but happy beast. To just try and put one foot in front of the other till she got where she was going. Too often in the last month had she been lost in her unproductive emotions. It just wasn't like her.
"Just one foot in front of the other. I got this," She reaffirmed to herself as they approached the glen of Sandbell village.
When they got closer she noticed it was not the desert oasis she had pictured. The village was situated on the banks of a lovely little river pouring off the mountain, but the terrain remained scrub save just on the rivers banks, where a handful of tall trees took up root. The mountain itself was likewise scrub, but there were definitely more trees. She came upon the cusp of the downhill slope into the glen, and she pulled on the reigns of her mount.
Despite not being exactly how she had imagined, it was still beautiful. Truly this was evidence of humanities resourcefulness. Instead of trying their hand at logging on the mountain, they'd built a quarry into its side. It was a sleepy village of stone cottages facing dirt roads. There was little activity, as few braved the heat. Lucy spotted the stable she'd been looking for.
"It's on the other side," She observed exhaustedly, before urging her beast forward with her knee. It obediently started down, having gotten used to her increasingly light touch over the course of their ride together. It was always good, she thought, to start off a little harsher and then ease back as trust was established.
"Maybe I'll keep you," She said, before a gust from the glen brought a fresh wave of its stink up to her nose. Lucy made a face, and shook her head, "Never mind."
As much as she would've liked to have spotted the group passing through, she wasn't surprised when she didn't. "That would've been too easy." Her voice was sounding more and more exasperated. It had been a tough journey even with its brevity. She hated that she had lost her upbeat demeanor. Lucy reminded herself that it was nothing a shower couldn't cure as she scouted for a nice inn on her way through town.
She obtained lodging for her beast from a much more agreeable woman. Lucy had always thought of a stable hands position being a man's trade, but the woman's friendly demeanor was a breath of fresh air. Far be it for her to question it. Even if it meant the lady was not going to be talked down in her price. "Another 300 jewels well spent," she told herself in her best peppy voice.
It wasn't yet late enough to retire, but she felt a little nervous about a place to stay since she hadn't seen any inns. She had however spotted a bar. Those usually had a couple spare rooms, and besides, the barkeep might have been lodging Raijinshuu or spotted them coming through town.
When she got there, she tried the door. It felt like it was locked. Lucy was about to turn away when a tall man opened it for her. She hadn't heard a lock being opened and blushed. "It was open, wasn't it?" She said with a blush, the man laughed and nodded. "I almost didn't want to get the door, but I'm glad I did! Come on in pretty lady," the man said with a grandiose sweep of his arm. This apparently was where the town folk escaped the heat. It was pretty full for a bar in a small village.
She stepped past him and the man closed the door with some obvious difficulty. It made her feel better. As he turned to return to his seat at the bar, he addressed the barkeep "Jax, you need to get that damn door fixed. Look what almost walked away!" The barkeep, Jax, did not comment on that, but gave her a polite nod. Some of the others were staring, but the barkeep saw her looking around for a seat and pointed to one on the far end of the bar's counter. "There's a spot over there miss."
"Thank you," she said sincerely before taking the seat. Jax came over to her with a kind smile and leaned casually over the counter. "Welcome to our little town of Sandbell, how can I help you? Oh, and sorry about the door. Hardware can be a little hard to come by around here."
"Thank you," she repeated, "But don't you have a blacksmith? By the way, my name's Lucy."
The barkeep grunted in mild irritation, "He left a week ago. The desert isn't for everyone."
"That makes sense. Anyway, I'm here looking for a group of mages. I'm sure you'd remember then if you saw them, a group of four in the last week."
Lucy assumed, correctly, that they didn't have many visitors. The barkeep nodded in the affirmative, "Yes, I think I remembered them coming through here. I think they left a few days ago."
Lucy visibly deflated, but persisted, asking, "Do you know what they were here for?"
"I overheard them talking about the mountain, but others might know more."
"Thank you sir, and also, do you have any spare rooms?" With this, she used her most charming smile, leaning over the counter just a smidge.
Jax nodded again, "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Does 200 jewels a night sound like a fair price? And do you know how long you'll be in town?"
"That's a wonderful price, thank you! And I'm not sure, it depends on how long it takes to get the information I need. You see, I'm a reporter with the Weekly Sorcerer," She added with an obvious flush of pride.
"I see, well I hope you find whatever you're looking for. Anything to drink?"
"A water please." He nodded yet again and disappeared into the back. By the time he'd returned, she'd struck up a conversation with one of her neighbors, a mason.
"Jax is partly right. Three of them left a couple days ago, but I saw a blonde man speaking to the preacher today."
Lucy could hardly contain her delight. Her neighbor shrank back a bit as she started wildly gesticulating as she spoke, "Really? Where is the preacher now?" She was certain this was the lead she needed.
"The far side of the village, closest to the mountain. It has a small bell tower, but I think father Sky went to the mountain today. I'm sure he'll be back sometime tonight, but there's no telling when. If you're looking to talk to him, you should try first thing tomorrow."
Her other neighbor butted in, saying "Father Sky is a far braver man then I. I don't know why he'd ever go up there."
"Why?" Lucy asked curiously.
"The mountain is taboo. Many a man has gone there and disappeared. It gives me chills just to look at it, It's just got this ominous aura." The mason nodded in agreement.
"You shouldn't go on the mountain to look for father Sky, stay here for now and have some drinks with us Lucy!" The mason said cheerfully.
"Well, who knows, my friend might come to the bar, I could just wait here…" The men nodded enthusiastically, and Lucy felt herself giving in. It was one of her weaknesses, she freely admitted, attention.
When she made it up to her room later that night she felt quite inebriated. Her new friends had kept buying her drinks the entire time. She could tell they were disappointed when nothing came of it, but Lucy didn't feel particularly attracted to either of them, and she wasn't that kind of girl anyway. So, she'd asked for the key to her room, and had willfully ignored their inquiring gazes. Lucy plopped down on the small cot in the room which was hardly bigger than a closet. Touching one of her silver keys, she instructed Horologium to wake her at four. She didn't want to sleep in and miss her chance to speak to the preacher because she'd been weak and allowed herself to accept one too many free beverages.
As she drifted off to sleep, some thoughts surfaced that she couldn't quite ignore. It was somewhat troubling that she'd enjoyed the attention so much. Perhaps it was just the overwhelming loneliness. Besides, it wasn't like she had a partner to make jealous with her flirtatious behavior. Somehow her mind drifted to Natsu. No, he definitely wouldn't have cared.
There was no one else who could behave so indifferently with her. With a giggle, she recalled when she'd landed naked upon him during her run in with Zirconis. Even then, he'd been completely oblivious. It was as if he were a child, way too literal and unaware of anything in that department. Except when it came to Lisanna, but Lucy thought she was the only one who really noticed, as she was uniquely capable of identifying the subtle way he behaved differently with her. To most, it would still be mistaken as the same level of ignorance, but Lucy saw how he reacted over the tiniest injury.
She sighed, knowing Natsu was hopeless. Lucy remembered when they'd first met and she had thought of him as a potential interest. He certainly was protective of everybody to some extent. It had only been till Lisanna had returned that she'd picked on the microscopic, but meaningful shift in his attitude. She doubted he'd ever get up the nerve to tell her. He might not have even been aware of it himself.
Still, it stung that he continued to break into her house even as she was bathing and didn't even bat an eyelash. She also couldn't deny how hurt she'd been when he'd walked away from her a month ago. Romantic interest or not, they were good friends. There was emptiness in her life now.
"Just one foot in front of the other," She reminded herself as she finally fell asleep.
Author: I hope if you're reading this you'll take a moment to review! This is my first story, so I'm open to criticism or any corrections for typos. If I get some interest, I'll publish my second chapter in the next few days.