Early the next morning Leona crossed from the Spirit Realm on her own power, taking extra care that Lucien wouldn't notice any power drain. She fully intended on planting herself on a barstool that was clearly visible from the doorway and catch his attention as he walked in. She'd even put on a new dress. This one was strapless, the white bandeau-style bodice was attached to full-length sleeves that ended in a point which looped up around her middle finger. The full skirt, in a fabric so dark blue as to be nearly black, traced the curves of her body before falling in a long sweep to the floor. She had twisted and turned before the mirror for nearly an hour, making sure the dress looked perfect.
Before she could move toward the bar, however, Jonas slammed into her, sending her reeling to the floor, the Water Mage landing solidly on top of her.
"What the hell, Jonas? You better not have ruined my dress!" Leona screeched as she pushed the bluenette off of her. Scrambling to her feet, she quickly checked herself over and, finding no tears or smudges, turned her attention back to the Water Mage who had finally regained his feet.
"What's the matter with you, running around like that?" Leona asked huffily, hands on her curvaceous hips.
"Jonas is sorry, Leona-san, but he has to hurry! Gray-sama will be here soon and Jonas needs to give him this potion!"
It was only when Jonas held up the bottle full of a strange purple liquid that Leona even noticed it. "What is it?"
Jonas looked around shiftily before leaning in to whisper, "It's a love potion. Jonas came across a peddler who swore this would make the drinker fall deeply in love with the person they first see. Jonas is going to give it to Gray-sama so she love Jonas forever!"
Leona could only blink as Jonas seemed to drift off into some personal daydream. Suddenly a brainstorm struck and Leona grabbed the bottle from Jonas' hand. "I'm just going to borrow this quick! I only need a little, I promise!"
Before Jonas could even reply Leona dashed over to the bar and leaned over the top, reaching behind to grab a cup from the stack Miran kept below the bar. Dumping about half the bottle into the cup, Leona recorked it and handed it back to Jonas. "There! You still have half to give to Gray!"
"But what if half isn't enough?" Jonas whined, sloshing the purple liquid back and forth gloomily before her face.
"Well then we're both in trouble. Now hush, here comes Lucien."
At that moment the muscular blond walked through the front door, his eyes focused on Gray, who was walking next to him. The two were chatting animatedly about something and headed to their favorite table without more than a general wave to the rest of the guild by way of greeting.
As they settled themselves on the bench, still conversing, Leona bounded over, cup in hand. "Lucien! Gray! So glad to see you this morning! Here, Lucien, try this! Miran just mixed it up and it's amazing!" The lie slipped off her tongue easily.
Lucien cut his eyes toward her suspiciously but took the proffered cup and sipped briefly. His eyes widened and he stared down at the purple liquid sloshing gently around inside. "What is this?" he asked, briefly glancing up at his Celestial Spirit.
"Uh…I think he called it Love Potion Number 15! It was a joke he was making at the time. It's made with…uh…" Leona looked helplessly at Jonas, who mouthed something at her. "Uh pomegranates, orchids and goji berries! Very healthy!" Jonas, who had been mouthing grape juice, face-palmed.
Lucien took another swig before setting the cup down in front of him. "It's really good, Leona, thanks." He looked up at her again and paled suddenly.
"What's wrong, Lucien?" Leona questioned, a nervous tinge to her voice. Was it working? Was it making him sick?
"Here, let me try some." Gray reached over and grabbed hold of Lucien's cup, sniffing briefly at the remaining potion before sipping some. "This is really good, Leona! Miran needs to make more of this!" She smiled over at the Celestial Spirit for a moment before her face blanked.
"Wait, wait, Gray-sama no!" Jonas, who had been watching Lucien's face, had missed Gray having some of the potion and was now scrambling frantically forward, intent on being the first one she saw.
"Hey, what's going on over here?" Miran asked as he, his siblings and about half the guild wandered over, drawn by Jonas' screeching and Lucien and Gray's odd silence.
Without taking her eyes off Leona, Gray pushed the cup out in the direction of the rest of the guild. "You need to try this."
"Oh?" Miran sniffed suspiciously at the cup before sipping some of the remaining potion. "Wow, this is really, good. Try this, Erza."
Miran passed the cup off to Erza, who then passed it to Nashi, then Happy. Carl was next to get the cup but by the time the white Exceed had wrapped his paws around the cup it was empty. Meanwhile, Miran, Erza, Nashi and Happy were staring blankly in varying directions. Miran's eyes were fixed on Erza. Erza's were focused on a nearby pillar. Nashi's and Happy's were fixated on each other's.
"What is going on, here?" Carl asked waspishly.
"Oh, sorry. We finished the cup. Here, Jonas has more," Nashi said in a monotone voice, reaching out and yanking the half-full bottle from the Water Mage's hands.
"No! NO! Jonas needs that-"
By the time Jonas cut off the rest of the guild had tried the potion.
Carl, Elfchan, Lysandre, and Connor were all staring blankly at Jonas, though admittedly Connor's eyes were usually pretty blank, as he had a tendency to drink too much. Reeda, the guild Mistress, Windy, Macy, and pretty much the rest of the guild were staring intently at Gray.
"Uh, Jonas? Are you sure that potion does what it's supposed to do?" Leona turned her face slightly to look at Jonas but never broke eye-contact with Lucien or Gray.
"Jonas is not sure. Jonas got it at a mysterious vender on the outskirts of town." Jonas fidgeted, glancing from Gray back to the rest of the guild.
"We could be in a bit of trouble…" Leona murmured as Lucien and Gray slowly rose, a strange intensity on their faces that was mirrored by the rest of Fairy Tail. She took a reflexive step backward, hedging toward the front door.
That's when all hell broke loose.
