CHAPTER 2
The Fairies' Home
The next day, the exorcists and the inspector were waiting patiently in the common hall of the inn for Erza Scarlet to appear. After solving their cake problems with her, Allen, Lenalee and Link had discovered she was a member of an old and famous local guild, called Fairy Tail. She even offered to help them in their "research" presenting the group to the guild master - a senior mage called Makarov - so they could ask for permission to have access to the guild's archive.
Allen, Link and Kanda hadn't even unpacked their bags and already had train tickets bought to start their travel through the borders of the country right after lunch. It was decided in the previous night that if the master of the guild allowed them to use their archives, only Lenalee and Lavi would stay in the city to search through them. Allen and Kanda would be sending them daily reports with the golems, and in case one of them skipped more than one, either Lavi or Lenalee would head to their last location to help. In two weeks, they would meet again in Magnolia and conclude the mission, unless they had a very good lead on a possible Innocence location in the country or a big akuma nest. So, with everything already planned, they just needed to sit by the benches in the common hall of the inn, and wait for Erza to appear.
Lavi took the opportunity to doze off on a couch, since he had passed the whole night studying the maps and other manuscripts while Kanda was now quietly revising the route he had chosen and Lavi's notes. Allen and Lenalee were half sleeping half eating the donuts that Link had bought for himself but was forced to share with them. Timcanpy, in the meantime, seemed to be happy in stealing bites from their hands while they were distracted trying to stay awake enough to eat.
"Oh, I see this little golem of yours, is really a glutton." Said a familiar voice by the inn's entrance.
"Erza-san!" Allen and Lenalee happily exclaimed blinking the sleep away.
Erza engulfed both in a tight bear hug, making the poor kids almost purple for lack of air.
"You're so cute and formal!" She chanted while they suffocated in her strong arms.
Lavi, who had just woken up with the new visitor was torn between laughing his ass off at the scene and falling madly in love with Erza.
"Ma'am, please don't suffocate my charge" Link advised, since they were starting to really turn purple from the lack of air.
After freeing Lenalee and Allen from her killer hug, Erza turned to look at the two other boys in the room.
"You must be the friends that were mentioned to me yesterday, right?"
"Yes, I'm Lavi" Lavi said already holding her hand and kneeling in front of her and kissing her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Oh." Erza said flattered.
"Control yourself, stupid Rabbit!" Kanda reprimanded beating his head with Mugen's sheath.
"Ouch!" Lavi cried. "Have you no heart, Yuu-chan?"
"Lavi, don't be that naive" Allen said, now that he and Lenalee could breathe properly again. "And that's Kanda, for you, Erza-san."
"Ah, nice to meet you." Erza said, only to be completely ignored by Kanda, who just looked skeptical at her.
"Well, introductions done, guess we can go now." Lenalee commented, before Erza could say anything else.
Erza lead them to the outskirts of the city, almost in the rural area. The Exorcists and the Inspector couldn't help the frown in their faces at the sight, but kept following her anyway. Then, a stone road appeared and at the end of it, the guild hall stood, identified by a simple sign that read: Fairy Tail.
The building was made of stone and wood with a mill tower in the middle, with an orange flag displaying the same symbol that Erza had tattooed on her arm. The planks of the mill were terribly worn out and so was the colorful sign arch that had the name of the guild written in it, since the letter L was almost falling from it. Logs and barrels were piled up on the garden at the front, while a wood stood behind the building and clothes were spread out on a clothesline at its side.
Lavi could swear he heard chickens clucking somewhere near them.
Definitely not what they expected from a guild that was once Fiore's most powerful and famous.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Erza exclaimed with a huge smile for them.
Kanda, seeing Lenalee's reaction, tried not to laugh. But this place? Really? Erza just frowned and stared at him.
Seeing the tension rising, Lenalee quickly said "Hm… Erza-san, shouldn't we enter the building? It's getting hot in here."
"You're right, let's go!" Erza said lively and started leading them inside.
Inside, although the structure wasn't very impressing either and the guild smelled like sweat, beer and food, it was filled with laughs and conversations. It looked a lot like a home, a very comfortable place, even though it looked like a bar. There were a few mages scattered around the tables and benches in the main hall, drinking, eating or talking and like in the city outside, they were a mess of colorful hairs and short clothes, with one or another wearing something that was totally unacceptable for that weather, like the lady with heavy blue winter clothes.
At the end of the hall, a white-haired woman wearing a pink long dress with white lace trimmings stood behind a counter, rubbing a cloth on a glass. When she saw them, she put the glass down and smiled.
"Morning, Erza" She said warmly. "Looks like you brought some guests with you"
"Ready to see the cutest kids in the world?" Erza asked.
"Show me!" She said clapping her hands excitedly.
Erza grabbed Lenalee and Allen and pushed them to the counter's front for the other woman to see.
"Allen and Lenalee, this is Mirajane Strauss, she is a powerful S Class Mage of our guild." Erza said. "And Mira, those are Allen Walker and Lenalee Lee, the ones I told you about yesterday."
Mirajane, the white-haired lady, widened her eyes in surprise cupping her own cheeks in hands to contain herself.
"Good morning, Mirajane-san!" Allen and Lenalee said bowing to her.
Unable to contain herself and without thinking twice, Mirajane just jumped above the counter and hugged them tightly, pressing both their faces against her chest and almost suffocating them.
"OH MY GOD, YOU ARE SO CUTE!" She chanted happily.
Link, who had stalked after Allen the whole time, panicked with that indecent display of affection between strangers, disturbing Timcanpy, that was peacefully sleeping on his head until that moment.
Meanwhile Lavi was still trying to recompose himself of the giant STRIKE! that seeing Mirajane had caused him. Kanda was just trying to not look as amused as he really was inside, for the mission, he told himself while leaning on a nearby chair and appreciating the funny colors on the Beansprout's face while Link tried to pry him away from the mage.
"I don't believe you actually burned down that building." Lucy sighed.
Everything was going perfectly well, and for the first time in a while, Lucy was thinking that maybe, just once, they would be able to finish one mission without any problem and end up receiving the full amount of money announced. But she might as well have jinxed them with this kind of thoughts, because from that moment on, everything went downhill, and they got lucky to receive in the end less than a third of the promised payment. She would need another mission soon to be able to pay her rent.
Natsu, who alone had destroyed the city hall and burned part of the mayor's hair, was acting in the perfect opposite of her, with his usual shit-eating grin and calm attitude. He didn't seem fazed by the fact that they were coming back with less than half the money that was expected and this was getting on her nerves. And Happy, who was humming happily above her head, eating something very crunchy and leaving the crumbs fall all over her head, wasn't helping in her already bad mood either.
Lucy sighed again.
"Honestly, why am I with you, really?" She said while trying to clean the crumbs of her hair.
" 'Cause we're a team?" Natsu suggested.
" 'Cause you love us?" Happy said, not bothering to stop munching before talking.
"I won't even answer this. And Happy... GET OUT OF MY HEAD"
The blue cat flied away, a bit surprised and Lucy walked away, leaving them both behind.
"Natsu." He called pouting "I think Lucy is mad at us."
"Don't be silly. She would never be mad at us."
"Are we following her?"
"Nah. We'll meet her at the guild."
Those boys were impossible, just like everyone else at the guild. Sometimes, like now, Lucy would seriously question her own choice on forming a team with Natsu and Happy.
She sighed for the hundredth time that day and walked inside the guild... Just to be reminded that Natsu and Happy weren't the only crazy ones in Fairy Tail, not by a long shot.
There, above the counter and in front of the whole guild, were Mirajane and Erza, strangulating two poor kids with a killer hug. The little she could see of their faces was turning an unhealthy shade of purple because of the lack of air. By their side, a short man with long braided blonde hair was trying to separate them.
"Miss Erza!" He was saying exasperated. "This is not a lady's proper behavior!"
Lucy felt sorry for that guy, but then Levy entered the hall alongside Gajeel and she decided to go talk with her friend instead.
"Oh. Hey Lucy! It's good to have you back!" The small girl said and went to hug her friend. "How was the mission this time? Did the guys give too much work?"
"You can't even imagine." Lucy sighed "Can you believe Natsu burned down the City Hall and set the mayor's hair on fire?! And worse! HE DOESN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT IT! Because of him, now I'll have to do a lot more missions just to pay my rent! Ugh!"
Levy felt sorry for her friend and hugged her to calm her down. The girl had been so stressed these last days and Natsu and Happy were not helping at all.
"I'll go on the next mission with you, girl. Just you and me. No Happy. No Natsu. Just two best friends."
Lucy gave the small girl a smile and hugged her back.
"Thank you! You are the best!"
"Rest assure that Shrimp won't give you trouble like that Natsu Jerk." Gajeel said, grinning.
"Who are you calling a shrimp?" Levy protested, pulling back from Lucy's hug to cross her arms and stare at Gajeel in a grumpy way.
"AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING A JERK?!"
The scream startled the three and as soon as Lucy saw the two figures marching on their direction, she just rolled her eyes, grabbed Levy's hand and went away with her. She had had enough of Natsu and Happy for a whole month and knew exactly what was going to happen.
Taking Levy with her, she joined Cana on a corner table to chat, until a fire ball almost hit them, making the three hide under the table.
The guild hall was in an uproar. Things were being thrown everywhere, benches were being broken, the guys were attacking each other, everyone was being hit and in the middle of all the mess, a guy with a long hair stood still, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, which meant he was starting to get pissed.
The girls looked quickly to the counter where the kids were and were relieved to see that Mira and Erza had let them go, but the blond guy was starting to freak out. Cana was too drunk to care about the mess the guys were doing, so, for safety, Lucy and Levy pulled her down to under a table. That was a lot safer than staying in the middle of the cross fire.
Meanwhile, Mirajane had put Allen, Lenalee, Lavi and Link on her side of the counter, after she saw the panic in their eyes. She opened her mouth to say something to calm them down, when a barrel came flying towards them. She quickly ducked and pushed them down to protect them from the hit and shouted:
"ELFMAN, BE CAREFUL!"
A big and tough white-haired guy appeared on the middle of the crowd and shouted back:
"SORRY, ONEE-CHAN!"
"Is that guy your younger brother?"Lavi asked looking at that giant man with wide eyes and then back to Mira.
"Yes"
Okay. He was not going to hit on her after that. If all that talk about Satan soul wasn't enough.
"Oh My God. They are going to kill each other if things keep going like that! Aren't you going to try and stop them?" Lena asked with wide eyes.
"Nah. Sooner or later Erza is coming back and will kick their asses in place... Or Master will." Mira seeming not even a little bit worried. Lenalee's wide eyes made her chuckle. "Anyway, this happens at least once a week here. Everyone is used to it by now."
"Those girls over there look terrified" Allen pointed out, indicating Lucy, Levy and Cana hiding under a table.
"Those ones? Two of them are just watching their boys fight and I think Cana is just too drunk to care."
"You let underage people drink here?!" Link asked baffled.
Before Mira could answer, a piece of chocolate cake came flying right into Allen's hair, scaring Timcanpy and Lenalee who were by his side.
The hall was immediately immersed in an intense dark aura that made everybody stop. Erza had just got back with Master Makarov and... ' .
She looked at the frozen hall with fire in her eyes and with the most serious tone ever, she said:
"WHO. WAS. THE. LITTLE. SHIT?!"
