Summary: Team Natsu finds a fairy. The mystery behind their Guild's name is forever destroyed. One-shot.
"Five minutes until we reach Magnolia!"
Two females and one half-naked man were debating in their seats as the train sped towards their destination. Also with them was another young man, knocked out and slumped down, with a blue cat that was sleeping on his lap.
"I don't think anyone alive in our guild has met a one before. Maybe Mavis," Gray said. "They'll be excited to see one."
"They might be, but should we really have brought it back with us?" Lucy spoke up. She glanced towards a small cardboard box at Erza's feet. At the top, several tiny holes were poked through for air. "I'm sure Master would have been fine with just a picture. Our client was very surprised when we left so quickly after returning that 'cursed' necklace. I can't believe in the end, all that necklace does is summon fairies!"
On their latest mission, Erza, Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy had been sent by an old woman to obtain a necklace that had been stolen from her by bandits. The catch - the necklace was cursed. Natsu activated the curse somehow, which had summoned hundreds of fairies. All but one had escaped, as Erza had lunged and caught one with her hands.
"No," Erza disagreed. "Master needs to see it. The existence and appearance of this will shake our guild and its name to the very core..." She hung her head.
Gray and Lucy glanced at each other.
"Is this because the fairy doesn't have a tail?" Gray asked the S-class wizard after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
Erza's head whipped up to face Gray's so fast that her comrades flinched in fear. The redhead's brown eyes narrowed in what seemed to be anger. "Of course, Gray. The eternal mystery - do fairies have tails? Do they exist, or are they just a myth? And now we have proof... that everything our guild has ever been built on and supported is wrong!" Erza exclaimed passionately, eyes blazing. "Our guild has always held up this belief as an eternal, immortal, never ending mystery! What has happened to this adventure of ours?"
"We can still be Fairy Tail," Lucy suggested. In reply, she got a glare.
"We can never be known as Fairy Tail again," Erza replied, voice and tone dark. "The name of Fairy Tail is a lie - fairies may exist, but they most definitely do not have tails. We must show Master right away."
Gray rolled his eyes.
Erza's glare deepened.
For the first time in years, Gray shivered.
The train stopped, and after dragging Natsu off of the train, the five started to walk back to the guild. Although she was towing an enormous amount of luggage as well as the cardboard box under her arm, Erza's pace was so brisk that the others were doing an odd, half-jog and half-walk to keep up with her.
"Why are you walking so fast?" Natsu growled, pace slightly slower as he recovered from the train.
"We must return to the guild immediately," Erza said, not looking back at her teammates. She increased her speed, forcing Natsu, Gray, and Lucy to sprint.
When they reached the guild Erza set her large cart of luggage outside, taking only the box with her. She then stomped in yelling, "Master!", interrupting Mirajane's greeting. The busy guildhall, crowded with mages, all turned towards her in confusion as the once lively building quieted down. They were all deatly silent as they knew that when Erza came in yelling for Master Makarov, there was urgent news to be shared.
The Guildmaster of Fairy Tail jumped off of the barstool had had been sitting on and started to walk towards where Erza, Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were. "Yes, my child? Oh, you're back from your job! How was it?"
"We have found a very important item that we need to show you from our job in Hada," Erza said as she set the cardboard box down on a table, completely ignoring the short man. As Master Makarov leaned in closer to study the box, several others came over to see what the fuss was all about. Within seconds, the team of five and Makarov were crowded by nearly three-fourths of the guild.
"I wonder what's inside?" Levy wondered, Jet and Droy behind her. "An ancient, deadly stone with a curse that they must lift before it spells doom for the end of the world and Fiore as we know it?"
"Maybe it's a gift from the client," Lissana said.
Max suggested, "A broom, maybe?"
"It could be a souvenir from their trip," said Wendy.
"Or a gift from Gray-sama to Juvia!" Juvia cheered. "He's going to propose and we'll get married tomorrow!"
In the back of the guild, Gajeel rolled his eyes while chewing on a piece of medal. "Tch. How annoying. All that fuss over a tiny cardboard box, and they don't even know what's inside of it? How 'bout it, Pantherlily? Lily?"
He turned to face his black cat - or, at least where he had been moments before. Now, Lily was hovering over the small crowd with Happy and Charle. With a sigh, Gajeel stood up and joined the crowd, shoving Warren to the ground and tossing Alzack behind him in order to get to the center.
As the guild members pressed in on them, those who knew of the box's contents already gave each other anxious looks, worrying that the box might be damaged in some way from the other's pushing and shoving to get closer to the center of the crowd. Seeing this, Erza warned them, "Be careful. We don't want it to escape." As she spoke, she pushed a few members backwards when one hand tried to touch the box.
"Escape?!" half of the others screeched.
"So not a stone... but maybe an ancient, deadly monster with a curse!" Levy exclaimed.
"A pet from the client," Lissana said.
"No, a magical broom!" Max argued. Wendy shook her head in defeat.
"A magical animal from Gray-sama to Juvia, to show his love!" Juvia replied. "I do, Gray-sama! I do!"
"What the hell? This isn't a wedding!" Gray shouted as Juvia leaned in for a kiss. Using his ice-make magic, he created a tall wall of ice that surrounded him from everyone else, enclosing him on three sides so that he could still see Erza and the table with the box resting on the top of it.
"All of you, shut up!" Erza boomed. At once, everyone's muttering and yelling stopped, making the guild hall as quiet as it would ever get. "Most of you are somewhatcorrect - except you, Max, get rid of that hopeful look on your face. It's not a broom."
"But it is a cursed, magical souvenir that was sort of a gift from our client," Lucy explained. "And I thinkyou can classify it as an animal."
"Show us already!" one impatient member called out.
"Hold on," Erza disagreed. "First, Freed should draw some runes so that even if it frees itself, it will not go far."
Freed nodded, drawing his sword and muttering ancient spells under his breath. After a few minutes and with Erza's explanation of what sort of creature the runes should prevent from escaping, yet not saying exactly what it was, he announced that there was a box that prevented any creatures from leaving the box, meaning that all humans could leave.
"Now..." with an armor - covered hand, Erza slowly opened the top of the box up, her other hand reaching for the object inside. When the rest of the guild saw it, several gasped, a few girls squealed, and one guild member fell over into a dead faint.
"It's a... a fairy!" Makarov announced.
It was small, being only about six inches tall and skinny. The fairy looked like a short, young female, but with pale purple wings. Wearing a small white dress, the fairy had blue eyes and green hair. Erza held her in her hand, fingers wrapped around the fairy's waist so that she would not escape. The fairy glared at Erza and struggled to escape in vain.
"Let me go!" the fairy squeaked.
"Whoa... a fairy! The mythical, magical creature that is said to lure children away from their homes," Levy said as she read from a book titled Mythical Animals and Their Legends. "Legend says that when you see an arc or circle of mushrooms, that is a gathering place for fairies, also known as a 'fairy circle'. Fairies would come to dance and-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it, mushrooms summon fairies," Gajeel inturrupted. "But why the hell doesn't the fairy have a tail?"
"Of course I don't have a tail!" The fairy shouted - however, it's loudest yell was about as loud as a human's mumbling, so all of the guild members were hardly speaking. "Tails for for chumps!" It raised it's tiny fist in the air and let out a warcry.
Happy glared. "I am not a chump, you stupid fairy!" he retorted.
"Sure you aren't," the tiny creature replied.
"Wait, so it doesn't have a tail?" Wendy asked. "Then why are we called Fairy Tail?"
Makarov froze as the realization dawned on his old, wrinkled face. "I... don't know. Mavis always described the hunt for the fairy's tail as an adventure we would never know..." Miles away, on Tenrou Island, Mavis sneezed.
"Does this mean we have to change our name to 'Fairy No-Tail'?" Romeo questioned, pushing himself closer to the center of the group of mages to get a better look at the fairy. "Because that name sounds stupid - right, Natsu?"
"Right," Natsu yawned, not paying attention. "Can I eat it?"
"NO!" Erza, Lucy, Levy, and several other females screamed. Natsu staggered from the noise as Lucy and Erza were yelling in his ears.
"This is a rare animal, and you want to eat it?!" Levy growled, slamming Mythical Animals and Their Legends shut. "How dare you!"
"I'm not an animal! Or an it!" The fairy shouted. "I'm a she, and I'm a fairy! Not some gross animal like a pig or a cat!"
"Hey!" Happy cried. "Why are you always picking on me?" Carla and Pantherlily nodded behind him, glaring as the three hovered over the rest of the humans. Erza squeezed slightly tighter on the fairy's waist, making it falter in her insults. The pale lavender colored wings, positioned on the fairy's back right above where Erza's hand was gripping, fluttered slightly in panic.
"I'm... sorry?" The fairy said. "I didn't mean to make you... unhappy." The tone of her voice, however, suggested otherwise, but after her apology Erza's gribbed loosened. "Although you have wings, feline. Are you sure you are a cat? All three of you?"
"Something along those lines," Lucy replied vaguely. She peered closer at the fairy. "What's your name? I'm Lucy."
"None of your business!" The fairy replied scathingly. Erza's grip tightened again and it sighed. "Meadow. I'm Meadow Lavenderleaf."
"So... this fairy. Are we going to keep it?" Jet asked Makarov.
"I don't know, Jet. Would we make it - her - live in a cage for the rest of her life? As far as I know about fairies, they prefer the outdoors and nature," Makarov said. "The only outdoors area we have at the guild is the pool and the poolside, but I doubt that a fairy such as this one would like to live there. I'm wondering how it came to be - did you happen to find it in a forest near your client's house, Erza? Or was it a reward?"
Before Erza could speak, Meadow spoke up. "I used to live in a forest, until earlier today," she said sourly. "I was somehow transportated, or teleported into a random street, and I found myself in a tiny box! Then there was a bunch of moving around and then I was here!"
"A gift from the client," Gray said. "The client kept pet fairies."
"You liar!" Meadow accused. "I was living in a forest until a few hours ago - oomph!" Erza had used her other hand to cover the fairy's mouth, preventing her from speaking. Makarov considered both parties' words before shrugging.
"Thank you for bringing such a creature back, Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Gray," Makarov said. "We can keep Meadow Lavenderleaf in my office until we decide what to do with it. As a personal reward from me, I'll let you all have free food until the end of the month - Natsu, free firefood, Gray, free drinks. Lucy, you can have free... whatever you usually have here. And Erza, that means you can have free strawberry cake."
"Strawberry...cake..."
"Yes," Makarov went on, not noticing the hungry sparkle in Erza's eyes. "In fact, I'll have Mira make some right now. Mirajane?"
"On it, sir!" Mirajane said as she hurried from the cluster of wizards and into the guild's kitchen. "One large strawberry cake, coming right up!"
"Free strawberry cake," Erza said. She took a step back from the table, still holding the fairy. "Until the end of the month, free strawberry cake."
"Yes...?" Makarov repeated.
"As much as I want?"
"As much as you want."
Erza paused.
"Then I want some right now!" she roared, making a dash for the kitchen.
However, she let go of the fairy, which circled free in the small box of runes that Freed had drawn. Meadow flew up and up before realizing that there was no end to the wall of runes when she had made it to the ceiling of the guild hall. Speeding back down, she caused several guild members to scream and push each other in panic to catch the fairy again - but, Erza, the one with the fastest hand at catching the fairy, was in the kitchen with Mirajane to help bake strawberry cake. Even Makarov's enlarged hand using his Titan magic couldn't catch it, and Laki and Gray couldn't use their wood and ice-make magics to trap it in case they hurt a guild member.
"Goodbye, suckers!" Meadow squeaked. "I'm not going to be in some cage for the rest of my life! I'm going back to the wild!"
"But you can't because of the runes," Lucy protested as she made a leap for the fairy, who dodged. Lucy landed on the table, breaking it because of the force and sending herself and several guild members including Makarov (who had been sitting on the table) to the ground. Gray lost concentration trying to create a tiny cage that wouldn't hit any guild members except for Natsu and crashed into his ice fort, breaking it and sending himself straight into the arms of Juvia.
"Watch me!" Meadow said. She pulled out a small wand made up of a twig and a small leaf at the end, waving it around and saying words in another language. Freed's runes suddenly modified and Freed read the new rules out loud in panic.
"No one except for humans and fairies may leave!" he read. Meadow flew out of the runes and started towards the door.
"After her, Happy!" Natsu ordered. The blue cat bunched up his wings and shot towards the fairy as fast as he could - just to crash into the runes that kept him inside because of the new rules the fairy had created.
"I'll get her! I can be the only fairy around here!" Evergreen shouted as she ran forward, Freed and Bickslow joining her. Evergreen's wings appeared on her back, Freed created some with runes, and Bickslow jumped on his tiki dolls as the sped after the fairy who was nearing the entrance to the guild. Meadow gave a high pitched laugh and waved her wand again, summoning hundereds of spiky leaves to shoot at the three. Evergreen and Freed fell to the ground, wings punctured and torn, but Bickslow went on, his tiki dolls taking the hit for him.
"Jet... you also chase after that fairy!" Makarov wheezed as he picked himself off of the ground. "You and Bickslow are the only ones that can catch her now!...Probably." Jet nodded and took off.
"What? Gramps, I can get her too!" Natsu said.
"You would just burn it to a crisp," Gray retorted. "I would be better suited."
Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Suited?" You don't have any clothes on right now."
"Why, you -" Gray summoned a cannon made out of ice and shot it at Natsu, who dodged. The cannon ball hit Gajeel instead. The iron dragonslayer growled and shouted, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" as several peices of sharp metal hit anyone who wasn't quick enough to dodge or shield themselves. Cana, who was nicked several times on her arms, quickly drew her cards, and Droy summoned a plant to attack Droy in retaliation.
And so another Fairy Tail brawl emerged, making most guildmates forget that there was ever a fairy or an argument to catch it to begin with.
"Master! Master!" Mirajane shouted the next day. "Look at this!"
She waved an edition of the Magnolia Times in the air as she ran up the steps and burst into Makarov's office, making the old man jump.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Just - just read it!"
Makarov snatched the newspaper from her and began to read.
"'Fairy claiming itself to be a member of Fairy Tail damages four homes and destroys the market'?! 'Magnolia Mayor calling Fairy Tail to pay for the damage costs'?!" Makarov exclaimed.
"And that's not the worst of it," Mirajane said as she gave him another newspaper.
"Hargeon Port gone with recent descrution from strong Fairy Tail animal!'"
"And another!"
"The city of Crocus demands - even the capital, Crocus?!" Makarov yelled. "How are we going to pay for all of these damages costs?!"
"Plus the cost of rebuilding our guild hall, and renaming our guild with the Magic Council," Mirajane said. "There's been a pention that after finding out that the fairy had no tail that we need to change our name... I think the most popular choices are 'The Tailess Fairy' and "Fairy No Tail'. Romeo created the latter."
"Fairies without a tail..." Makarov sank into his office chair, grumbling. "Mavis must have known that they didn't have a tail. Why did she name this guild what it is if there are not fairies with tails?"
The large Tenrou Tree stood, tall and formidable, on the center of Fairy Tail's sacred Tenrou Island. At the base, gaze staring at the horizon and the ocean, the ghost of Mavis Vermillion sat on a large root, looking for once specific thing.
And it came in the shapes of a fairy by the name of Meadow Lavenderleaf.
Landing right before Mavis, Meadow beamed. "I met your guild today!" the fairy squeaked. "They're very... rude."
"They can be sometimes, yes," Mavis replied, also sporting a large smile. "But isn't Fairy Tail wonderful?"
"No! They kept asking me if I had a tail!" Meadow growled. "Like I do! I'm not like those tail-wearing barbarians! I'm sophisticated and refined!"
"Excuse me?" Another voice squeaked. A male fairy, with red hair and yellow eyes, emerged from Mavis' other side. Unlike the other fairy, however, he had a long, glowing, red tail. "What did you say about tail-wearing fairies?"
Brax I ship it
At first this was going to be a lot longer - as in, an extra 2,000 words longer - but I did some major editing. With the amount I took off, this would have been 5,000 words.
I might make a crack sequel to this. Please review and tell me if you would want one? I've worked on this for a long time, so I hope that you tell me what you think of it - I would love a critic, no matter how bad you think my story is. Thanks!