Lucy definitely regretted following Gajeel after she'd spent three hours screaming hysterically on the back of his motorbike. Either Gajeel had never heard of speed limits, helmets or consideration for other road users, or he thought her panicked shrieking was hilarious and wanted to make her do it louder. Probably the latter.
When they finally skidded to a halt in front of the Phantom branch in Oak Town – Lucy thought that had been the name on the signpost, though it had shot past very quickly – Lucy slid off into a heap on the ground. Gajeel locked his motorbike in place with a chain as thick around as Lucy's neck and then flipped her over with his boot. "Hey! You going to lie there all day?" He stomped away into the guild. Lucy wobbled after him.
Inside, the guild hall was a huge round building full of tables and benches and men drinking. A mezzanine ran across the middle, with a high arch under it that showed more tables and drunk men on the other side. Banners with the Phantom Lord insignia hung over the doors. She looked around for Gajeel and found that he'd already collared a bald dark-skinned man wearing a furry jacket and purple-lensed glasses.
"Hey, bozo! Sign the blonde princess up, would you?"
'Bozo' peered over Gajeel's shoulder at Lucy. "You brought back a souvenir?"
Gajeel just grunted. 'Bozo' sighed and produced a clipboard from, apparently, nowhere. He scrawled something on the top and asked Lucy "Name?"
"Lucy."
"Full name," 'Bozo' clarified.
"Lucy Ashley?" That was her mother's name before she got married. Lucy could remember that easily enough.
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Blood ty-"
"What the hell is this?" Gajeel demanded, looming over Bozo and jabbing a finger at the top of the form where 'Bozo' had written 3rd Div. "Put her in First Division, not in with that trash!"
"What?" 'Bozo' said. "I can't sign people up to First Division as soon as they walk in. I'm only in charge of Third."
"Fill it in and I'll sign off on it, then," Gajeel snapped.
"I'm just a monkey with a pen to you, aren't I?" 'Bozo' said, with a sigh, but obligingly erased the 3rd Div and wrote 1st Div in its place. "Can we get on with it?"
Lucy didn't have an address to give him, but he took down a description of her magic and a list of her keys and her previous guild memberships (not any) and dozens of other details that Lucy didn't see ever being important. By the end, when 'Bozo' handed the form over for her to sign, a crowd of Phantom members had gathered.
"Who's that?"
"Is she new?"
"She's cute! Dibs on the first go!"
Lucy glanced around, laughed nervously and passed 'Bozo' back the enrolment form. He pulled out the stamp.
"Where do you want it?"
There was a chorus of catcalls and whoops from the audience. Lucy ducked her head and held out her arm so that he could stamp it on the back of her hand.
She shouldn't have looked away. Someone grabbed her arms and wrenched them behind her back. "Ow! Hey!" Lucy protested, and tried to stamp on his feet. The man dragged her backwards and off-balance. 'Bozo' rolled his eyes. Gajeel laughed. Another one grabbed her around the knees and lifted her feet from the ground to stop her kicking. Lucy shrieked. "Get off!" Her shoulders felt like they were going to be torn out of their sockets. They were yanking her shirt up to bare her midriff. Lucy struggled and yelled "Let go of me! Stop it!"
'Bozo' stamped the Phantom Lord mark squarely onto her stomach, so that the curl in the tail looped around her navel. The man holding Lucy's arms behind her back let go of her. The man holding her legs didn't. Lucy hit the floor shoulders first and with a yowl like a scalded cat.
"Ow!"
The other man finally let go of her legs. Lucy scrambled up and brushed herself off. They were eager to help, especially with brushing off her butt. Lucy backed away until she ran up into a table. There was a chorus of laughter.
"Oi! Back off, assholes!" a girl barked. "It's my turn to harass the fresh meat." Lucy spun around. A brown-skinned girl, with short dark hair under a purple jester hat and wearing the most appallingly battered outfit Lucy had ever seen, was sitting on the table behind her, next to a huge heap of scrap metal. "Be good boys and shove off, won't you?" She fixed them with an acidic glare. They shoved off.
"They're only Third Division," the girl informed Lucy, with contempt. "If you let them pull that crap they'll think they can get away with anything. I'm Sue. Who are you?" She looked Lucy up and down. "This is a guild, you know, not Page Three. Put some pants on, unless you think you'd appreciate those gorillas flipping your skirt up every ten minutes. Slut."
"What?" Lucy said, and dithered between outrage, confusion and shock for a moment before she settled on confusion. "What do you mean, divisions?" She looked around for a little help. Gajeel had gone to look at the request board.
Sue raised her eyebrows. "Did you not read the brochure? Typical. They never read the brochure."
"There is no brochure," 'Bozo' said, sitting down next to her. "Third Division is the subdivision based here. First Division is for the better mages. There's some at every branch. I'm Bozo, by the way." That was his real name? There was no way that could be his real name.
"The new kids aren't going to learn if you just tell them every-" Sue glanced over Lucy's shoulder and then said, "Red alert, red alert, crankypants incoming!"
Lucy looked around. Gajeel loomed over them.
"Hey, boss," Sue said. "Did you kick that other guy's ass for him?"
"The sea did," Gajeel said.
Bozo screwed up his face. "You chucked him in the sea?"
"No, idiot, he got seasick like a baby and as soon as he got off the ship the babysitter arrived," Gajeel growled. "Fucking trash. The whole thing was a waste of my time."
"He's supposed to be one of Fairy Tail's best, right?" Sue asked, and sighed. "God, they're pathetic. Kinda makes you want to put them out of their misery. Like a sick dog. What's that?" She pointed at the sheet of paper Gajeel was holding in one hand.
"A mission," Gajeel said, and handed the poster to Lucy. She read it out loud.
"Guard a magic shop overnight?" Sue raised an eyebrow, and then cranked the other one up to meet it. Lucy frowned at the poster. The reward was twenty thousand jewel. That was enough for a minor silver key. That sounded pretty good for a night of sitting in an empty shop.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"To get you out of my face quicker," Gajeel barked. "You have to do missions when you're in a guild, princess. You can't just sit on your ass all day."
Lucy's temper flared. "Fine! I'll take it!" She balled the poster up and shoved it into her bag. Why was he acting like she'd pestered him into letting her join? He was the one who invited her! Without another word she spun around and stormed out of the hall.
"Hey, boss," Sue said to Gajeel, once Lucy was out of the building, "is this the most convoluted murder plan in history or what?"
"She wanted to join Phantom that bad, she may as well find out what she's in for," Gajeel growled. "Don't interrupt me when I'm eating."
"You're not eating," Sue pointed out. Gajeel hauled the pile of scrap metal over to in front of him and picked out an iron gearwheel. Sue took the hint and left.
The first thing Lucy did was go to the shop and officially accept the mission from the shopkeeper. He seemed doubtful, but finally she convinced him that she could handle it. After that, she went to find a lettings agency. She needed somewhere to live, right?
The agent showed her around an upstairs flat on a street of blue-painted houses just beneath the guild hall. It had a cosy sitting-room, a little kitchen with a stove and a bathroom that was all shiny blue and white tiles and a deep square bath. The bedroom was almost too small for the massive bed and there wouldn't be much space to put her clothes away, but Lucy bounced on the bed and then decided that wouldn't matter. It was fully-furnished, too. The agent said the last tenant had left in a hurry.
"Uwaaaah!" Lucy said, sprawling back on the bed. "This is really nice... I think it's out of my budget, though..." She wilted a little at that, because this whole flat was the size of her childhood bedroom. "How much is it?"
"Forty-five thousand jewel a month," the agent said.
Lucy sat bolt upright. "What?"
"Forty-five thousand jewel a month," the agent repeated.
"Forty-five thousand jewel a month?!" Lucy goggled at him.
"Forty-five thousand jewel a month," the agent confirmed wearily.
Lucy sketched 45,000 in the air with one finger. "That much?"
"Yes, that's the number forty-five thousand," the agent said.
Lucy thought about that, mouth still hanging open, and then a thought struck her. She quailed. "Is it haunted?"
"No. We have no reports of it being haunted," the agent said.
"What is it, then?"
The agent hesitated for a moment, and then said "Trouble with neighbours. You said you were a mage of Phantom Lord, yes?"
"Uh-huh," Lucy said, nodding.
"Then it shouldn't bother you," the agent said firmly.
"Uh-huh," Lucy said slowly. "But still... forty-five thousand?" Maybe there was something wrong with the taps.
"It's been empty for a while. The landlord is anxious to get someone in," the agent.
Lucy went to the window, peered out and thought about it. She didn't see any troublesome neighbours standing in the street with their pit bulls or anything like that. It was a little weird that all the houses around had protective glass covers over their flowerbeds, and racks of umbrellas on their porches, and that there were stepping-stones across the street, but maybe Oak Town just got a lot of rain.
"Can I try it for a month?" she asked.
"Absolutely!" the agent said, and just about fell over himself bringing her the documents to sign.
After he'd left Lucy dropped her bag on the couch in the sitting-room, set the alarm clock, fell down on the bed and slept for a few hours. The alarm woke her at six. She yawned, ran a brush through her hair and set out for the shop. As soon as she arrived the shopkeeper handed her the key, told her where the bathroom was and shot out. Lucy wasn't sure what he was doing, but it must be urgent.
She wandered around the shop for while, looking at the things on the shelves. There were shelves and glass cases running down each wall, two long blocks of shelving and two counters at the far end. The owner must get a lot of business, having a branch of Phantom Lord in town. Lucy stooped and peeked under the blocks of shelving. Not enough to bother dusting, though.
The celestial keys were kept in a glass case against one wall. Lucy pressed her nose against the glass and wiped away the condensation of her breath. Crater the cup, Dorado the goldfish, Serpens the snake - eww – and Ursa Minor, the lesser bear – so cute! She would definitely try to get hold of that Ursa Minor if she could.
Lucy poked around the rest of the items for a while. There were bead-sized explosive lacrima, magically-charged wax for sealing letters, all sorts of grades and designs of Gale-Force Reading Glasses (TM), a case full of magical swords, magical cards, Colour-S compacts... nothing that Lucy was interested in, though. She already had her own Gale-Force Reading Glasses (TM) and a Colour-S compact back at her new flat. She slouched up to the counters, fell into one of the chairs, flicked off all the lights except for the lamp over her chair and pulled out a book.
Aaaaaaaah. Lucy would happily take one of these missions every week.
It was an hour and fifteen chapters later when Lucy heard a rustle. She glanced over the top of her book and said "What?" out loud. There was someone standing outside, leaning over the keyhole. Lucy sat up and put the book down. The lock clicked open and in sauntered a girl with blunt-cut orange hair and holes in her jeans. The Phantom symbol was stamped squarely over her breastbone.
"Who are you?" Lucy asked, confused. "I already took this mission. What are you doing here?"
The girl didn't answer, only glanced back to make sure that she had company. Two boys followed her taller one, who had spiky green hair and was wearing a long dark coat, swept a dismissive gaze over the merchandise and snorted. The shorter one, who was wearing a high-collared pale blue shirt with the Phantom symbol on the chest, kept his eyes on the floor.
"Hey, I'm serious!" Lucy said. "Get out, or-"
The taller boy threw a spear of purple light directly at her head. Lucy screamed and dived flat. The spear flashed over her head and drove itself a foot into the wall. Lucy scrabbled for her keys, her heart pounding in her throat. What were they doing? She was in their own guild! Her keys felt massive and heavy in her hand. She could barely lift it with both hands. The keys were as big as she was. Lucy thought, what's happened? Why are my keys so huge? and then realised that she was the one who'd shrunk. The counters loomed over her like the walls of a chasm.
"Devin, can you dig her out?" the girl asked. Lucy looked up, eyes huge and wide with panic. There was a tall silhouette coming down the aisle towards her. She could barely see. The only light was the lamp she'd had on to read by, and she was well outside the small glow it cast. In the dark, she scuttled across to the other counter and dived behind it. She couldn't see him, but she saw his shadow block out the light and heard his footsteps stop between the two counters. Lucy's heart was pounding so hard he must be able to hear it. There was a jangle as he scooped her keys off the floor. "Hey, Calla! Catch!" Lucy heard her keys thud into someone's palm.
"She's got a lot of gold keys," the girl observed. "They're the good ones, right?"
"Didn't do her much good, am I right?" the smaller boy asked.
"Shut up, Hyllis," Calla said.
Lucy fumbled with one of her boots.
"Hey, when you find her, you should make her strip off and dance," the smaller boy suggested.
"Shut up, Hyllis," the other two said simultaneously.
The boot came off. Lucy grabbed it with both hands and flung it away from her. It hit the other counter with a crash. Devin spun towards the noise, firing off a dozen needlelike bolts of light from each hand. Lucy shrieked but it was lost in the sound of splintering wood.
"Did you get her?" the girl asked.
"I don't know, I'm looking," Devin said. He crouched down and started rooting through the mess of broken cabinets. Lucy slid out from her hiding place while his back was turned and looked around wildly. Calla was at the far end, watching Devin. Hyllis was squatting down in the central aisle investigating the bottom shelves. Lucy hesitated. She didn't know if it was safe to run. She thought she could see Devin straightening up – Lucy bolted, racing away from the counter across the open expanse and throwing herself underneath the closest rack of shelving. She sprawled on the floor in the dust, waiting for one of them to shout out.
Devin swore and threw something across the room. Lucy flinched and tried to make herself smaller. "The bitch tricked me!"
"There's a familiar refrain," Calla snorted.
Devin turned. He was coming back towards her! Lucy scrambled on hands and knees to the edge of the shelving and hauled herself up onto the bottom shelf. She whisked her legs out of sight just as Devin crouched and threw two bolts of purple light under the shelving. There was a boom as they hit the far wall. Wood cracked. Lucy covered her mouth with both hands to stifle a shriek and closed her eyes. Spots danced behind her eyelids. She wanted to scream and flail. Devin swore. Calla laughed.
"Oh, screw you," Devin snapped.
Was he going to come down the side and find her? Could she move again? How long could she keep scuttling around before they caught her? She couldn't hide forever. She couldn't get out of the shop, either, she couldn't reach the doorhandles. She'd lost her keys. She had her whip, but what good could that do? It was hopeless. She was completely trapped. She was trapped like a rat, like a caged animal, like a ...
...like a holder-type mage in a magic store? Armed like a holder-type mage in a magic store.
Wasn't she armed? Weren't there weapons all around her? There had to be something she could use. She uncurled, reached out with both trembling hands and pulled the nearest thing towards her, into the dim glow of the streetlamps through the front window. It was a Colour-S compact.
Lucy nearly screamed with frustration. There was nothing she could do with this!
Glass shattered. Lucy ducked back down instantly, as if it had been thrown at her.
"Silver keys are still worth something, right?" Calla asked.
"Yeah," Devin said. "Don't get picky. just because they won't fetch so much as the bimbo's gold ones."
They were going to sell her keys?
Bimbo?
Hot anger flooded through her. Were these really Phantom Lord mages? Her own guildmates? She hissed between her teeth. She wouldn't let them sell her Celestial Spirits! Lucy uncoiled and turned her face back to the Colour-S compact. There had to be something she could do with it. She hauled the compact open and changed the colour of her clothes and hair to dark grey so only the paler outlines of her limbs showed up against the shadows. It would be better camouflage. It would help.
She tried to clear her mind of the panic and think. Calla had just smashed the cabinet where the gate keys were kept. That meant she was near the front of the shop, on the opposite side. Devin was stomping up and down the central aisle, kicking things off the shelves. "Hyllis, are you even looking for her?" Where was Hyllis, anyway? Was he still in the centre aisle?
"I'm looking!" Hyllis protested, barely ten feet away from her. Lucy jolted like she'd been He was at the end of her aisle, barely ten feet away. He hadn't been talking and she'd completely lost track of him!
She needed to find a weapon. What had she seen earlier, when she was looking around? Explosive lacrima? She didn't really want to blow up the shop, but they were only small. They had been on the far side, where Calla was.
Lucy unclasped her whip from her belt and tied it into a tight knot. When she peeked out again, Hyllis was grumbling under his breath and rooting through a bottom shelf less than six feet away. Lucy waited. She couldn't move unless he was looking away. It's just like playing statues, she told herself. If they see you moving then you lose the game.
Hyllis shoved a pile of canned whirlwinds to the floor with an irritated grunt. "This stuff's crap! It's just normal junk, nobody'd pay enough for-"
"Shut up, Hyllis," Devin ordered.
Calla snorted. "What are you, stupid? There's valuable stuff in here, you just aren't finding it." Lucy tried to work out exactly where she was by the sound of her voice. By the cabinets, at the front of the shop? Hyllis straightened up until he could see them both and said heatedly, "I'm looking just as hard as either of you two! If I'm not finding anything-"
Lucy had to move, but she was imagining a hand descending from above, snatching her up and crushing her like an insect as soon as she left her hiding place. This was stupid, she was only scaring herself. She took a deep breath, held it, and then slid off the edge of the shelf and dived back under the shelving.
Hyllis didn't stop talking. He hadn't seen her.
"Oh, shut up," Devin groaned.
"Hyllis, if you don't shut your mouth and get back to work I'm not letting you help out any more," Calla snapped. Hyllis subsided into resentful silence. "Devin, have you found the trash yet? I'm not having her getting away and calling the Rune Knights."
"I'm looking," Devin snapped, and punctuated it by kicking a box of Light Pens which cascaded onto the floor. Lucy inched up to the edge of the shelving, weighed her whip in her hand and flung it away. It skipped and skidded along the floor and thudded against one of the support posts at the far end. Devin whipped about and flung a glowing bolt towards the sound. The light washed out Lucy's vision. She burst out of cover and raced blindly across the open floor towards the other set of shelving. Her heart hammered and the floor seemed like a vast plain opening up all around her, but Devin's own footfalls covered the sound of hers. Lucy slid into the cover of the other shelf like she was sliding into home base and lay still, breathing hard.
Devin swore. Lucy scrambled further under the shelf.
"I missed her again!"
Calla blew out an exasperated breath and turned around. Lucy lay still and watched her boot tap on the floor. "Hyllis, cancel the spell. You're just making her harder to find."
"I can't, I dunno where she is."
Devin snorted.
"Useless," Calla said. "Devin, take my bag. We'll swap."
"What?"
"You're obviously terrible at this. I'll find her."
"Push off, papermage, I can do it," Devin snapped. "I'm going to find her, and then I'm going to tread on her until her insides spew out of her mouth!"
Lucy pulled a disgusted face. Calla turned back to the cabinets without a word. Lucy would have guessed that she was rolling her eyes, though.
Which shelf had those little explosive lacrima been on? She inched down until she thought she was in the right place and slid out quickly while Calla wasn't looking and hauled herself onto a bottom shelf. Nobody saw her. Lucy took a quick look around the shelf and nearly groaned. She'd picked the wrong spot! She was on the shelf with the magical cards. They'd be the same size as she was now! She couldn't use-
Lucy took a deep breath, slit a packet open with her thumbnail and pulled out the top two cards. She shifted to illuminate them in the glow from the street, keeping a wary eye on Calla and ready to freeze if she turned suddenly. Two Light Flashes. Ugh, she was so unlucky!
Lucy crushed that thought. Fine. She could use these.
Calla was inspecting the swords. "How am I supposed to carry these?" she asked. Devin grunted. Lucy crouched as near to the edge of the shelf as she dared, tucked one card under her arm and slowly, carefully slid the other one closer to Calla. She didn't make a sound. Calla turned around anyway.
"Do you think-" She saw Lucy. "Shit! She's right there!" Suddenly there was a sheaf of paper in her hand, and it was unfurling into – Lucy didn't wait to find out. She turned her face away and activated the card. The light flashed red through her eyelids, searing afterimages onto her retina. Calla cried out, the paper falling from her hands. Devin barked out a curse. Lucy moved fast. She raced down the aisle, giving Calla a ringing slap on the calf as she shot past. Calla swore and came after her, stumbling, half-blind. At the top of the aisle, just as one of Calla's boots thudded to thr ground barely inches away from her, Lucy whirled and knocked a stack of cans into the aisle. They fell and clattered and rebounded off each other with a noise like thunder.
Devin spun towards the noise and fired without looking.
Lucy had already thrown herself back under the shelves. One of the bolts hit Calla in the shoulder. The other went straight through her midsection.
Devin screamed. "Calla! No!"
Calla stumbled, eyes wide with surprise, and then crumpled. Devin caught her as she fell and they both went sprawling on the floor. Keys scattered from Calla's open bag. Lucy dived out from under the shelving and grabbed the closest one.
"I am one who opens the path to the celestial sphere! Heed my call and pass through the Gate!" This had to be the fastest she'd ever spoken the incantation; she stumbled over the words but she could still feel the channel opening as the celestial world drew on her magic. "Open! Gate of the Serpent!"
Golden light burst from nowhere and coalesced into a long slender snake. Serpens hissed, drew up its coils and raised its head, ready to strike.
"Can we make a contract later?" Lucy shouted, and pointed at Devin. "Stop him!"
Serpens obeyed instantly. Devin twisted away and threw his arms out wide, trying to shield Calla with his own body. Serpens's jaws closed on his throat. Devin jerked and fell backwards, away from Calla. She was ice-white, and not moving. Devin was still struggling, but only weakly. Serpens let him go and writhed around to face Lucy. At the far end of the shop, Hyllis let out a panicked squawk. He was using his magic. Serpens was already shrinking until it was barely as thick as a pencil. Lucy scooped the snake spirit up, tossed it around her shoulders and ran back towards the door. She still had the second Light Flash card. It dragged along the floor behind her as she ran.
Hyllis was pressed flat up against the door, fumbling to find the handle without turning his back on the room. Lucy skidded to a stop just within the shelter of the shelves. Serpens uncoiled from around her shoulders. She thought it had worked out what she was going to do. Lucy closed her eyes and activated the card. The light flash seared the insides of her eyelids, and Hyllis staggered, hands going to his eyes. Serpens sank its teeth into his leg. Hyllis screamed and staggered, clutching at his leg, and fell. He hit the floor with a crash. The shrinking spells broke. Lucy straightened up, and then up again and further up until she could see over the tops of the shelves again.
"We did it!" Lucy squealed, and held out a palm for a high five. Serpens didn't oblige. After a few moments, Lucy remembered that snakes didn't have hands. So, instead, she retrieved her keys from Calla's bag and couldn't resist twirling them smugly around one finger as she stood over her fallen enemies. Then, because they were bleeding quite a lot, she called the emergency services.
A medic arrived within a few minutes, a squad of soldiers trailing after him. He looked at the three mages crumpled on the ground and groaned. "You could have mentioned there were so many of them..."
"I'm sorry," Lucy said, leant forward a little and glanced up at him through her eyelashes. He looked at her oddly.
"Have you got something in your eye?"
"...no," Lucy said, and let him get back to mending the hole in Calla's stomach with what looked like a staple gun. On closer inspection, it was a staple gun. The soldiers loitered, trying to look menacing. The healer tried to grill her on the effects of Serpens's venom. Lucy stared at him blankly, twiddled with her hair and said "I don't... really... know?"
The healer sighed. Lucy suspected that he wasn't impressed.
Once those three had all been stapled up, stuck with needles and carried out, the healer came back and sidled up to Lucy. "Hey," he said, with a wary glance towards the door. "You know that the Iron Dragon was on the roof, right?"
Lucy blinked, imagining a dragon with shiny metal scales perched atop the building, and then the image flickered and resolved into Gajeel. She yelped and clutched at the medic's shirt. "What's he doing there?"
"I don't know!" the medic protested.
"Is he still there? Did he leave?"
"Yeah, he left!"
"But what was he doing there?"
"I just said I don't know!"
Lucy let go of the medic and tumbled backwards onto the floor with a wail. What was going on? Gajeel wasn't the sort to let those three soften her up. Did he think it would be fun to watch her get her ass kicked? But then wouldn't he just do it himself? Lucy clutched at her hair and wailed "It doesn't make any sense!" He was crazy. Everyone was crazy.
"You're crazy!" the medic said, and left in a rush.
"Uwaaah," Lucy groaned, and sat up. Serpens coiled slowly across her lap. "What am I going to do?" she asked it. Serpens didn't have a reply. Lucy stroked its back carefully with the tips of her fingers while she thought. The snake spirit wasn't slimy, just cool and dry. She could get to like it. Him. He was six or seven feet long, she guessed, about as thick around as her upper arm, and mottled in red and brown and all shades of ochre.
"All right," she said. "Do you mind Mondays?"
When the shopkeeper came back in the morning, he wasn't pleased. Lucy didn't think that was fair. People had broken in and she'd stopped them; she'd done her job! She'd even cleaned up afterwards! (Even if it was mostly to hide the things she'd taken besides Serpens).
So... it wasn't that she'd meant to be threatening, she hadn't intended to intimidate; it was just that she was tired and he was shouting and all she did was beckon Serpens over. He wound up her leg and around her waist, and the shopkeeper blanched and backed away. It was so easy.
He still didn't pay her, but he stopped making a fuss about her taking Serpens, and it said J40,000 on the tag on his key, so in one sense she'd doubled her pay, hadn't she? On the other hand, Lucy thought as she gave up the last of her money for a breakfast roll on the way home, Serpens couldn't be exchanged for goods and/or services.
Friends were more important than money, though! If that wasn't true she'd never have left home to begin with.
She devoured the roll as she climbed the stairs to her flat, fell into bed and slept for nearly the rest of the day. When she woke up, with the late afternoon sun slanting across her ceiling, she stared up at the light for a long time before she finally groaned and hauled herself out of bed. She didn't want to go into the guild, but what else was she supposed to do?
When she pushed the big front doors open and stepped inside, a wary hand on her keys, heads turned. Glances flicked over her from head to toe. Lucy looked behind her to see if she was in the way of someone more impressive. She wasn't. A piercing whistle rang out. Lucy glanced around, without letting go of her keys. Sue was sitting cross-legged on one of the tables, a paper bag of doughnuts in her lap and two fingers in her mouth. She waved. "Hey! Page Three! Over here!"
Bozo was sitting at the same table as Sue, reading the paper, but when Sue called out he lowered it and glanced at Lucy over his glasses. Gajeel wasn't around. Lucy went over to them, mentally preparing her defense. They'd started it, she'd only been defending herself, she'd even called a healer for them -
"Good job!" Sue said, and saluted her with a doughnut. "I thought they'd do you for sure!"
"What?" Lucy said, astonished. "You knew they were going to jump me?"
"Well, yeah!" Sue said. "Once word got out a newbie'd taken a job like that..." She shrugged. "What else was going to happen?"
"Did Gajeel tell you I beat them?"
"No," Sue said. "We heard from Ryos." She indicated the dark-haired twelve-year-old sitting to her right. Lucy'd been wondering what he was doing there.
Ryos looked up with an expression of total panic and said "I didn't hear from Gajeel!"
There was a brief silence.
Sue sighed. "Don't look so scared, we won't tell him you're a terrible liar...Ryos, baby, I love you, but I seriously have no idea why Gajeel hasn't already murdered you. Is that your magic? Are you a dragonslayer slayer?"
Ryos thought about it, and then shook his head.
Sue popped the last chunk of doughnut into her mouth and added to Lucy, spraying crumbs everywhere, "It's cool you took down Calla and Devin, though! And Calla's brother, I dunno what he's called. We heard you put them in the hospital?"
"She did," Ryos confirmed. Sue clapped.
"What'll happen to them now?" Lucy asked. "I mean, they won't be in the hospital long."
"I guess they'll get demoted?" Sue licked sugar off her fingers. "Master Jose likes demoting people. Makes them work harder to get back up and scares the rest."
"That's it?" Lucy said, aghast.
"Yeah! What were you expecting?" Sue shot her a funny look. "Master Jose's not here to sort out your squabbles for you – if you've still got a problem with them, deal with it yourself!"
"It's most likely that they'll come after her themselves once they've recovered," Bozo pointed out. "Going down to a newbie in a three-on-one fight? If they let that stand they'll practically be laughed out of the guild."
"I know that! I wasn't going to completely spoon-feed her, I'm not having people thinking I'm soft," Sue said.
Lucy's head was spinning. "Are... are all guilds like this?"
"Oh, princess," Sue said, and laughed. Even Ryos was looking at Lucy as if she was an idiot. Bozo laid down his paper.
"You really are new to this, aren't you? All the guilds that're worth anything, yeah." He glanced at Sue. "Think she got dropped on her head as a baby?"
"Repeatedly bounced head-first off a wall sounds more like it," Sue said.
"I won't guarantee that you'll survive, though," Gajeel had said. "Weaklings don't." So this was what he meant?
Lucy stared around the guild hall. There were dozens of mages sat at the long tables. She didn't know which of them were dangerous, or which of them would try to take her out just for the sake of beating her. Any one of them could be an enemy.
There was no way she was good enough for this.
