Six Months Later, July 2, X784

Third Person POV

The door to the Proper Grocer flew open seemingly of its own volition, followed seconds later by a man with blue hair and a tattoo on his right temple. He was dressed in a white shirt and striped red trousers, with a dark blue cloak with golden edging and a lighter-blue design like a stylised ship's wheel on each shoulder.

He crashed into the street outside the store, drawing attention from a few of the locals who then shook their heads and moved on.

They were kind of used to that kind of thing by now – after all, ever since Old Man Chester hired him, more and more people had been coming to Hargeon - most of them looking for a fight for one reason or another, and more than a couple to make a recruitment attempt. Though, the result sometimes ended up the same either way.

The moment they started trying to throw their weight around, they were summarily ejected - from the room, the building, the town or the coast generally depended on the offence, the number of bystanders involved and where they happened to be standing. This one had got it lucky; local legend had it that some of the worst offenders were still floating somewhere over the bay.

"And stay out, you damn poser." The dark-haired teen called after the human cannonball, leaning in the doorway of the shop with his arms crossed, levelling a glare which was more distaste than anger right through the man.

A few of the bystanders had seen the man go swanning into the shop - which was mistake number one, anyone could have told him; Chester's handyman didn't respond well to fops - and a couple of people inside had heard him start talking down to Chester (mistake number two - the teen seemed to hold Chester in high regard, and while none of the townspeople had ever been so much as touched, the looks they got whenever they muttered about the eccentric old man squashed the unflattering chatter just like the teen himself squashed everyone who got too mouthy).

Those same people had been in the process of leaving the store as quickly as possible, but still managed to hear the man offer the teen the 'privilege' of joining his group. Mistake number three - no one was quite sure what, or perhaps who, but all of Hargeon knew that Chester's handyman was waiting for something specific. That every attempt to persuade him onto another course met with abject failure and, depending on the asker, a fetching new set of bruises, made that obvious.

As the figure slumped in the street, the bystanders made sure to keep their distance - no need to get caught up in the mess if this one couldn't learn to keep his mouth shut.

Declan's POV

It had been six months now that I'd been working with my magic, and I'd learned a lot through near-constant practice and pre-existing knowledge - along with my own imagination, of course.

In the beginning, I'd only been able to do simple things - increasing my own weight while I exercised for example, which had led to my progress from aesthetically fit to possessing a level of fitness I'd only ever attributed to anime characters before (ignoring the fact that, from some perspectives, I was one of those characters now - I needed to preserve what sanity I had left). As my control grew, I graduated to cutting off the gravity to areas, or specific objects. With more control over my abilities, I started reversing gravity, or forming entirely new gravitational fields.

Then I started learning how to multitask, and for one of the first times since I appeared in Earthland, I actually felt like I might have a chance to accomplish my goal.

My theoretical knowledge of magic was advancing at a slower pace, but it was advancing. I knew the primer materials from the library back to front now, and Buggy had been kind enough to let me read any books we got in for the Grocer - even going so far as to somehow produce several of the texts referenced in the primer materials, which I'd been sure would be secured in some ancient, miles-high wizarding tower in the middle of nowhere, possibly guarded by a dragon.

Buggy continued to surprise me, even after six months - but I didn't go looking for answers. I'd picked up on a few things just by being around him, and it didn't seem like he was actively trying to hide anything - but I owed him too much to pry into his affairs, even if I could muster the curiosity.

Still, even if he hadn't gone out of his way, I would still have been fine - we'd been getting in almost more products than we knew what to do with lately. All the new Mages travelling through Hargeon were causing a massive rise on our sales, since we had a monopoly on magical products in Hargeon - partially thanks to being the first (and still only) magical supplies store, and partially thanks to my 'reputation'.

I never thought I would see the day when people started visiting the Proper Grocer just so they could say they'd met/seen/talked with/bought from me, but somehow, it had come.

The ball started rolling maybe two months into my stay on Earthland, when Hargeon had been the target of a group of rogue Mages. At the time, I'd been out in the woods training, and had come across them in as bad a mood as I was capable of, having failed to perfect my new technique for the fifth day in a row - despite its seemingly simplistic nature.

Running into a group of posers who had talked down to me, then gone on about how they were going to raze the town to the ground, had not made my day any better.

It had been cathartic, however. Adrenaline and magical power flowing through me, various flashes of light around me, weapons brandished with the intent to maim and kill...

For the first time since Heather had died, I felt alive for a time. Even now, when I looked at the scar which ran at a diagonal across the back of my right arm, I could recall my thumping heartbeat.

Then they were all out cold, and I dragged their worthless carcasses down to the Military Police barracks before promptly walking into Matron Amelia's building and passing out on her nice, clean floor and getting blood all over it.

Someone must have reported who left the Mages, since the Captain of the local Military Police chapter tracked me down in the Ward (once Amelia had decided they could pass – not even the military messed with the White Mage, it seemed) and presented me with a commendation and an unofficial 'deputy' badge of sorts, giving me his blessing to use my magic in defence of the town without worrying about possible legal repercussions.

As it turned out, there was even a bounty on the leader's head. Only 50,000 Jewels, not exactly a fortune...but still, it would pay for another month or more in the Inn all on its own. A nice little addition to my monthly pay.

Life moved on, and I was rather surprised when another group showed up barely two weeks later, riding high on their newly-assigned bounties and looking for a reputation boost by taking down what they thought was some two-bit Hedge Mage being flaunted by the local populace to scare off bandits.

They made excellent test subjects for the technique I'd mostly finished developing by that point. They also made over 100,000 Jewels when their bounties were totalled, another visit to Amelia and some not-so-fetching additions to the Military Police's (or, as they preferred, the Guards') jail cells.

Unfortunately for me, if fortunately for the Grocer, they also lit the fuse for my reputation to take off – at home, and afar.

I can only suppose that the travellers passing through picked up on the way the local residents talked about their town's 'champion' (gack), because I soon discovered that people arriving in Hargeon already knew about me, despite my status still officially being Buggy's general fix-it handyman and portable battery.

Some eyed me like a piece of meat and tried in various ways to talk me into joining their Guilds or other organisations. Some challenged me – both people with bounties, and those who were legitimately good people. Just fight crazy.

Most disconcertingly of all however, for me at least, a few even offered honest thanks or praise for doing the right thing with my abilities.

It was ridiculous, in my opinion. In this world, magic was commonplace – Mages were everywhere, and there were far more powerful, far more skilled, far more well-known ones than I, some who even set out to fill the role I'd found myself inadvertently acting out. How did tossing a few overconfident mooks about the place translate to me becoming Hargeon's goddamn Talos?

I wasn't sure, but apparently I was doing something right (or wrong, in my opinion), as the frequency and skill level of my opponents had risen at a constant rate – and my reputation had grown right alongside it, as I rebuffed every attempt at recruitment (remaining polite, for the most part - after all, there was no reason to get angry at someone for asking. If they started to try the coercion route, though, they earned themselves a night in the cells to sleep off getting Punch Drunk), emerged victorious from any challenge, and managed to get out of the few occasions on which people tried to reward me.

I was just trying to get my training done and balance my work on top of it – I wasn't looking to become the town's Superman!

Unfortunately, that backfired too. While I had been trying not to appear as if I was doing the right thing for the sake of the money or other things people offered as rewards, I had apparently come off as 'humble' and, as one rather wordy individual put it, 'saintly'.

Saintly.

Heather would have laughed herself hoarse at that one.

Me? I was just horrified.

But I couldn't exactly throw a fight. Not only was every victory another learning experience, another test of my abilities that would have been rendered useless if I had deliberately held back, but my pride wouldn't allow me to admit defeat to some random guy who walked up to me and challenged me.

If I was fighting someone like, say, Erza Scarlet – someone whose strength and character I respected and who I acknowledged as the better person in any comparison with myself? I could admit defeat to someone like that.

To Joe Average, looking to make a quick buck, a name for himself or just get off on adrenaline using me? Not a chance in hell.

Plus, quite a few of them had been assholes looking for some self-gratification, or people who would have stirred up trouble and might have injured the Guards when they came to clear up the situation.

According to the Captain, one Roger Branston, he and his men were enjoying the peace and quiet. He'd even tried to talk me into accepting an official place with them, or at least taking a salary.

I'm still not sure how I got out of that one.

Then, this asshole came strolling into the Perfect Grocer, and when he sees me, his first words are, "So you're Hargeon's Planetary Anchor?"

'Planetary Anchor'? I mean, sure, there was the gravity thing, and sure, this was a port town...but 'Planetary Anchor'? What the Hell kind of nickname was that?! I didn't even know I had a nickname!

Shaking my head, and deciding to go ask Buggy when people had started calling me that, I continued. "You're as much Fairy Tail's Salamander as I'm its goddamn Guild Master. Now clear off, before I decide to do something you'll regret."

The man glared at me, although there was an obvious glint of fear in his eyes, before he began running down the street, shouting that it wasn't over.

I just rolled my eyes. The last five guys I'd handed over to the Guards had said the same thing. Now, they were rotting in prison somewhere, and I was on course for the next part of my plan. After all, that pitiful excuse for a con artist was Bora - and with his arrival, I was finally getting somewhere.

"Umm...excuse me?"

I blinked, turning from where I'd watched the poor excuse for a Mage run away - and found myself looking directly at a figure I'd been awaiting for six months straight.

Lucy Heartfilia was just as beautiful as the manga had portrayed her to be, perhaps even more so without the changes brought about by the story's art style. Hair like spun gold and large brown eyes, dressed in her trademark white blouse with blue cross and blue skirt, she looked every inch the adventuring princess. At least, in my mind.

And she was, of course, proportioned like no woman I'd ever seen on Earth.

It was...way harder than I'd expected to look her in the eyes. And not because of the obvious reason, either – she was triggering my Uncanny Valley senses. On Earth, people this good looking just...flat out didn't exist.

Some people would probably disagree with me. Well, I wasn't 'some people' – I was an eighteen (I had been seventeen when I arrived here - I barely even noticed March going by, thinking back to it now) year old man who had just met a woman who made statues of the Roman Goddesses look like a primary schooler's clay sculpture.

The fact that I didn't immediately turn fire-hydrant red was due to self-control I'd been exerting since years earlier, when puberty hit me like a goddamn hurricane and I'd needed to hold onto something or risk getting swept away.

Lucy looked a bit uncertain, probably something to do with the fact that my neck muscles were twitching with my urge to look away from her face and check that everyone else still looked the same, so I offered her an easily fabricated smile and stuffed my hands in my pockets instead of having them crossed. "Yes, miss? Can I help you with something?"

My voice, at least, was entirely welcoming. Buggy had started trusting me to man the storefront after two months on the job, and I'd quickly developed my 'the customer is always right' tone under his expert tutelage. It worked too, as evidenced by the slight tension in the blonde's muscles relaxing.

"I hope so. This is a magic store, right?"

I nodded my confirmation. "Well, to be exact, this is Hargeon's only magic store." I thumbed the shop behind me, beckoning her in. "Well, come on in. If you're worried about what happened to that prick, don't be. That treatment is reserved for entitled morons and people with sticky fingers."

Lucy followed me inside, looking around as I did the same, appreciating the sight just as much as I always did - proud in the knowledge that the Grocer represented a job well done. Very well done, really - compared to when I'd first started working here, the place was almost unrecognisable.

For one thing, the shop floor was nearly twice as large as it had been this time six months ago - we'd bought the building directly next to us and, with a bit of work, the bottom floors became one open space which we promptly began to fill with things.

Most things were still displayed using the tall shelves Buggy had installed when I first came to work for him, though there quite a few more now - every stretch of wall that wasn't taken up with a window, the door or the counter hosted one of the shelves, though they didn't exclusively hold the vases and other container that had been so prevalent when I arrived.

There were whole shelves of books now, not just the volumes displayed behind glass which were once the store's entire stock - books which ranged from in-depth technical scripts on magic, to thinner volumes dealing with things like basic spells for appearance and household chores. There were also biographies and autobiographies, maps, history books and everything in between to be found on those shelves - though we still wouldn't be challenging the library any time soon.

While we still had the vases and other things on some shelves, they were now joined by more easily identifiable materials - labelled woods in bundles of sticks or as jars of bark or shavings, metal bars, jars of various stones and magically-significant gemstones, little baskets or bundles of various herbs alongside pouches of seeds for magical plants. The sheer variety of magical reagents and materials to be found in the Grocer could cater to just about any style of Magic and any level of Mage, even if we'd had to set up another eighteen shelves in three two-deep rows along the centre of the shop to make sure we fit everything.

Below the windows and on the spaces above bookshelves (much easier to access when I could just walk up the walls and along the ceiling) objects hung, or were displayed on hooks or pedestals, while several barrels had been scattered about. Things like swords of various qualities and materials, arranged according to pricing and placed in barrels, as well as a few guns, a wider collection of polearms and spears and a couple of hammers arrayed around the upper edges of the room, provided self-defense options not just for Mages, but for ordinary people too.

The pedestals were largely used for magical devices - small, hand-held things which could perform spells even for non-magicals. Things like the ColorS, self-tying ties, magical rings, decks of cards and the crystal ball that Buggy had apparently been trying to sell for nearly a decade now.

There were even things hanging from the ceiling still - dried plants, animal skins, bolts of fabric and that same lamp that still hung above Buggy's counter.

The store's aesthetic wasn't all that different - the whole space had been fitted with the same wood-plank flooring as the original shop, while the floor plan remained obviously full but not cluttered or claustrophobic.

The Proper Grocer couldn't be mistaken for the equivalent of a thrift store anymore - now, it was a shop truly capable of providing Hargeon in its entirety with its magical supplies.

"Wow..." Lucy muttered to herself. "So this is what a magic store looks like..."

I shook my head. "Not most of them. In fact, the Grocer used to be a lot less impressive - it took a lot of work and a lot of time to get it looking this good." A smug, satisfied feeling surfaced for a moment, tugging at the corner of my lips before fading. "At this point, I'm proud to say you'll probably not find a better store outside of central Magnolia."

"Cool..." The blonde breathed, looking around the large numbers of magical items with a look of wonder.

I felt a tiny smile grow at seeing the light in her eyes; such an enthusiasm for magic was something I'd noticed most people, even Mages, tended to lack - something which I felt was...fundamentally wrong in some way.

"So," I clapped my hands together, moving behind the counter to face her. Buggy was on one of his days off, meaning I had the place to myself - so, I put on my best 'Shop Owner' persona. "What can I get for you miss?"

"Ah!" Lucy started, breaking off her examination of the shop to move up to the counter, flushing a bit at having gotten distracted. "I was wondering, do you happen to have any Celestial Spirit Keys? I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, you see..."

She produced her keyring as she happily relayed her title, smiling at the tools which opened the gates between the human world and the spirit world.

"Celestial Spirit Mage, eh?" I asked, idly stroking my chin before snapping my fingers. "Ah, yes! I believe we have one around here somewhere. If you'll excuse me for a moment..."

It did actually take me a minute to retrieve the Key of the Canis Minor. I'd found it buried amid several other random items during one of my sortings of the stock room, and then put it aside in its own place where it likely wouldn't be moved for a while.

I then, in the last six months, forgot where exactly that was. Still, I did find it, and I brought it back to the counter and laid it there, bringing my customer's attention back from where it had returned to the spread of magical paraphernalia that the Grocer boasted.

Upon seeing the Key, Lucy's eyes lit up immediately. Seeing how excited she became at the prospect of adding another Spirit to her party almost reminded me of a child; if Pokémon existed in this world, I had no doubt she would have been one of the people camping outside the stores on release dates.

So, when I told her it would cost 20,000 Jewels, I found myself nearly laughing at how fast her sparkling eyes plummeted with her jaw into a look of abyssal horror. Which was rather impressive, since my track record for displays of happiness in the last six months boiled down to some sadistic cackles as I 'dealt' with challengers.

I probably shouldn't count those.

My mirth, however, promptly turned to mild panic when I saw a smirk begin to pull at the corners of her mouth, and remembered her attempt at bargaining with Buggy in the manga. I was not willing to match my willpower against that, so I put on my best poker face and raised a hand before she could even start to move. "Miss," I told her firmly, "please don't."

She looked thoroughly pole-axed that I'd seemingly anticipated her, turning bright red in the process - though, whether it was from embarrassment or anger I wasn't sure. I sighed – to her it might have looked like disappointment or exasperation, to me it was relief – and decided to clarify something. "Tell me. Do you actually need the discount to afford the key, or are you just a miser?"

She flinched rather dramatically at the second option, but after a moment she raised a less-than-full pouch up to eye level. "I'm heading to Magnolia," she told me, "and I'd like to catch the train...but the next one isn't until tomorrow, so I need a meal and board too, and I won't be able to afford those if I pay the full twenty thousand." She sighed. "I guess I can just walk..."

I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't, in my opinion, her trying to guilt me into giving her the discount anyway. It was simply her thinking aloud as she decided that the prospect of contracting another spirit was more important to her than her comfort.

Considering how I knew she treated her spirits, I had to admire her for that.

Plus, this could be useful.

"How about this, as an alternative?" I asked, getting her attention. "I'll sell it to you for 15,000 Jewels, if in exchange you meet me for lunch at the restaurant down the street. Does that work for you?"

Lucy frowned at that, obviously a bit wary. "So...pay you back with a date, is that it?"

She seemed surprised when I shook my head. "No, not really. I've been in Hargeon for six months now, and I didn't exactly get around before that." 'Certainly not this world, anyway.' "So, I'd like to hear stories about the places you've passed through on your way here – if you don't mind sharing your experiences, that is."

The Heartfilia frowned, looking me up and down quickly, assessing me. "Alright," she finally conceded. "That seems fine to me."

"Great!" I enthused, clapping my hands together and flashing my shop owner's smile once more. "I'll see you in about...three hours? If I might make a recommendation, Hargeon has several good sightseeing spots you might look around for until then."

She thanked me for the advice, then paid for the Key and left. I kept working, selling several more products to a mixed bag of residents and passing Mages, at the same time thanking whatever deity happened to be watching that, much like how she didn't know enough about Fairy Tail to recognise the Salamander on sight, she hadn't heard of me yet. Or, at least, she didn't know enough to identify me.

Meeting someone who I could just be a normal person to was...nice.

When lunch time came around, I found Lucy in the restaurant as promised...but as I had hoped would be the case, she wasn't alone.

A young man with pink hair sat across a table from her. He was dressed in red travelling robes over a black and gold vest which seemed to come part-and-parcel with a skirt-like wrap of fabric belted around his waist in a style I similar to Archer from Fate/Stay Night, baggy white knee-length trousers, black sandals and a white, oddly scaly scarf.

Natsu Dragneel was just as voracious an eater as the manga had made him out to be, and beside him, the blue flying cat called Happy was devouring a fish with equal zeal, while Lucy looked on in mild horror. Whether it was at their table manners or at the bill she was going to end up paying, I wasn't entirely sure.

She looked up when I walked in, and I espied a glint of relief in her eyes. "Ah...!" She began to call out, before furrowing her brow. I knew what was bothering her – she hadn't actually gotten my name earlier, nor had she given hers.

As I took a seat next to her, I extended a hand through habit. "I believe the name you're looking for is Declan Ross, miss."

Smiling weakly, she shook the proffered hand with a reply of, "Lucy."

Glancing over the table, I noted that Natsu had apparently not registered my arrival. "So, who's your friend Lucy?"

One fair eyebrow twitched. 'Apparently she doesn't ascribe to the 'what's yours is mine' philosophy of friendship. At least, not when her wallet's involved.'

"His name's Natsu, the cat's called Happy. They got me out of a bit of a bind earlier while I was wandering around, so I figured paying for their meal was the least I could do..."

I'd somewhat expected that. Odds were, the people who saw me toss Bora out of the Proper Grocer wouldn't have cared enough to spread the event, so he'd still be able to pull his con among the young women of the town.

Discontent swirled in the back of my mind. I might not have wanted to become Hargeon's protector, but it was what had happened – I didn't want the place getting wrecked like it did in the manga.

The Captain would probably kill me if he had to fill out that much paperwork.

"What kind of a bind?" I asked, flagging down a waitress and placing my order while at the same time making a quiet request, which she acknowledged with a knowing look between Lucy and I.

I let her make her assumptions. Much as I had once done in Heather's company, I didn't particularly care what she thought - though, these days I was just apathetic rather than safely ensconced in friendship. Lucy wasn't even really a friend to me yet, nor was I to her - it was enough that we knew that.

"That guy you threw out of your store earlier had a Charm spell." She told me, looking pissed as she folded her arms. "I actually fell for it, too – if Natsu hadn't come in and distracted him, I might not have snapped out of it."

"I see..." I muttered, before tapping Lucy on the arm when she made to rise. "Have you eaten yet, Lucy?"

From the growl which emanated from her midsection, as if one cue, I assumed she had not.

She flushed bright red, and I felt my lips twitch. "Alright then. Since you've already shelled out for your knight in shining armour here, I'll cover your lunch and mine." The blonde started, and made to protest, but I waved her off. "Sorry, but you're a customer of mine, and that means I gotta look out for you – at least to some degree."

That was almost complete BS, but it was the best excuse I had. Truth was, my main motivation behind it were two simple facts. I had money to burn, and Lucy was female.

That was it.

Renting a room and board from the Inn didn't take a great deal of my pay, which had been growing steadily right alongside the Grocer for the past several months. I had a not-inconsiderable sum saved up, so paying for two meals was nothing really.

Which was why I was also paying for Natsu and Happy's meal, although I wasn't telling Lucy that in case she got the wrong idea.

As for the second fact...it was simple enough really. My best friend was a girl, most of my friends growing up were girls, I took after my mother in most things, and my father had raised me the old-fashioned way – including the vital lesson that a man's role is to look after women.

A lot of people on Earth would disagree with that, quite a few of them women themselves...but it was the way I was, and I wasn't going to change.

Heather had found it exasperating, but seemed to enjoy being treated nicely anyway. Acting this way reminded me of her and the good times...and that was more than enough reason for me.

"...Thank you." She said finally, quiet and still flushed, as I shrugged. I flagged the waitress down once more, receiving another knowing look when Lucy ordered and I told her to add it onto my order.

People. Always making assumptions...

Natsu and Happy finally stopped eating before Lucy and I's meals arrived, seeming to finally notice that I was now sitting there. For a few seconds, Natsu's black eyes bored into me...and maybe it was just some of the excess excitement from finally being able to begin my plan, but I had to hold in a shiver as I held his gaze.

Still, the sensation was gone in only a few moments, vanishing as a grin which spread across his face. "Hey there!" He greeted me, extending a hand over the table. "My name's Natsu – you're a friend of Lucy's?"

I took the hand, glancing over at Lucy as if for permission, which she seemed to gave with a little smile and a nod. I turned back to Natsu, nodding in turn. "Seems so. I'm Declan. It's good to meet you, Natsu – I hear you helped her out of a sticky situation?"

The handshake was just about what I expected; excitable, but without being crushing. It suited Natsu well, as did the grin on his face. The young man – just how old was he? I knew that Lucy was a few months younger than me at the moment, Gray was a few months to a year older, and Erza had at least a year on top of that...so he was probably about eighteen. Not really a teen any-more, in any case – shrugged once he'd released my hand.

"Well I don't know about that. I heard Salamander was in this town, so I decided to stop by." He scowled. "That guy was nothing but a fake, though."

I nodded, taking a drink from the vaguely fruity concoction which I'd ordered. It was about the closest thing to juice I'd been able to find that wasn't alcoholic, and had quickly become a staple drink of mine.

The meal was, as might have been expected of a Scotsman in a port town, fish and chips. Though admittedly, the chips hadn't existed until I managed to describe them to the chef. I just thanked God that potatoes were a thing in Earthland.

I had not been willing to give up my fish and chips. Hell, maybe if I was lucky, the idea would spread.

"I could have told you that," I replied to Natsu. "Poser came right into the Proper Grocer earlier, talking a big game...but I tossed him out on his ear and he just ran off." I shrugged, much as he had done. "Didn't think he was much to speak of – but a Charm spell? That's illegal, if I'm remembering right."

Beside me, Lucy nodded. "Yeah. They were being abused way too much, and without any real benefits being gained from using them, almost the whole set of spells were made forbidden magic. The only ones still legal to use are the ones which only work on animals, since those are helpful on farms."

I drummed my fingers on the table, humming. "I think I heard he was having a party on that boat of his tonight... a lot of the girls from town seemed like they were going to go, but if he's using a Charm spell..."

Lucy and Natsu both turned serious at that thought, the blonde clenching her fist. "That bastard...what's he trying to pull?!"

I finished up my meal quickly; Lucy had apparently been really hungry, since she had finished already. Appetite sated, I stood up and offered a hand to Lucy. "Can't say I know for sure, but it can't be anything good. I'm thinking this needs to be sorted out now – care to come with me?"

The blonde eyed my hand for a moment before taking it, rising as Natsu did likewise. "Sure." She paused, eyeing me cautiously. "But, Declan...what can you and Natsu do? I've got my Keys, but..."

I actually felt the urge to snort at that. It was a surprising level of excitement for me – genuine smiles, and laughter in particular, were a rarity these days - but meeting Lucy seemed to be drawing more of both out of me in just a few minutes of interaction than most of my other acquaintances had managed in six months.

My state of mind was brighter than it had been in months, just being around these two. I was sure, now – my plan was the best possible way for me to understand how Heather had felt, the best way to hold her memory close.

I felt a smirk rise in me and plaster itself across my features, the same thing happening to Natsu across the table, the teen cracking his knuckles as we headed for the door. "Lucy, my friend," I told her as I began rolling my shoulders, "watch and learn."

Neither of them noticed that I left behind the Jewels needed for our meals.

And none of us noticed the glint in that waitress' eye as we left, Natsu and I flanking Lucy as we moved with a purpose.

I'd come to regret that, later... But for the moment, I had two goals in mind. Beat the ever-loving Hell out of Bora for being the slave-trading bastard that he was...

And then find my way into Fairy Tail, the heart and soul of Magnolia, so I could find peace again.

Bora and his crew hadn't yet set sail when we reached the dock, and indeed likely wouldn't have for hours seeing as the party was scheduled for the evening and none of the girls had turned up yet, but the moment he locked eyes on us, he yelled for his men to form up and took a confrontational stance...

From behind the rows of his gang.

My eyebrow twitched. 'Coward.' And an idiot, too – he knew my damn nickname; had he not looked into my abilities?

Meat shields weren't gonna save him.

"You again, huh?!" He called out, voice sounding ever-so-slightly tremulous as he pointed a finger at us. "Did you decide to take me up on my offer, Anchor?!"

My eyebrow twitched again. 'I have a goddamn name... Besides, I didn't even choose that nickname ! It's way too weird!'

"Nope," I told him simply, cracking my fingers like a pianist before a sonata. "I decided that you and your buddies here were spoiling the town's ambiance." I began pacing forward, pulling my arms across my chest and tugging to loosen my shoulders. "Do you have any idea how long it took to air the smell of 'fake' out of the Grocer? Way too long."

I wasn't even kidding; his cologne was horrible.

The men began shrinking back, whispering among themselves as I advanced. 'I guess this reputation thing is actually kinda handy sometimes.'

I came to a halt, spinning side-on so I was aiming down my right arm at the men who were currently strung in a perpendicular line along the pier, blocking progress along it. It was almost like bowling.

"So, I'm gonna do you a favour...and give you a bath."

Bora's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to shout...but I took a breath, at the same time envisioning a waterfall crashing through my head, into my chest and along into my arm, before calling out my attack in proud anime tradition.

"Shinra Tensei."

Just about the most basic move in my arsenal, and a rip-off at that...but by God was it effective. Magical power rushed through me like a torrent, spinning to life above my palm as a purple-black Magic Circle before exploding outward, overwriting the gravity everywhere the wave passed and sending everything it touched hurtling away - though I kept the power relatively low to avoid tearing up the pier. I'd only done that once, but it had caused no end of problems, and neither I nor the dock workers were in any hurry for a repeat.

Still, even giving it considerably less than my all, the men on the pier - save Bora himself who rocketed into the sky on a pillar of purple flames - were sent hurtling through the air like bullets, finding themselves travelling even further than ought to have been possible since I'd taken the time to find their personal ties to Earthland's gravity and all but sever them, reducing their weight a great deal.

They wouldn't quite leave the bay, but it'd be Hell getting back to shore.

They got lucky, really. If there'd been a solid surface behind them, that attack would have pulverised their bones like glass.

Bora himself remained hovering in the air, shivering slightly at the sight of his entire crew being taken out at once, and not really paying enough attention to us.

I just shrugged, put my hands in my pockets, and began moving back toward a grinning Natsu and an open-mouthed Lucy. I managed a self-satisfied twitch of the lips as I approached, patting the pink-haired Dragon Slayer on the shoulder as I went by. "Tag in. I'm bored."

Natsu grinned even wider. "Sure!" He looked back up at Bora, as if he was calculating how he was going to reach him, and my grin widened.

"Hey, Natsu?" He turned to me, a questioning look on his face. "You wanna get up there?"

The grin that came back this time was about twice as large.

The face Bora made when I threw Natsu at him, the Dragon Slayer soaring like a guided missile with a flaming fist outstretched, would stay with me for the rest of my days. I built a shrine to that face in my memory, as the first time I ever witnessed the mix of abject disbelief, gibbering terror, and an emotion which could only be described as 'Oh Shit' which characterised the culmination of a Fairy Tail battle.

It wouldn't be the last...but it would always, in my mind, be the best.

I heard the crack of Bora's nose breaking from the dock, where I was standing by Lucy and shading my eyes as I looked up.

I kept a weather eye on Natsu himself, keeping his gravity low but high enough not to blow away in a breeze, guiding him down to the dock where he touched down with a massive grin...before promptly running to the side of the pier and losing his lunch.

'Ah. I forgot about the whole motion-sickness thing. I guess high-velocity air travel would kinda do it.'

I didn't bother catching Bora.

As the blue-haired man was sitting in his own personal crater, obviously unconscious, Natsu got himself back under control and ran over to us, seemingly none the worse for wear. "That was awesome!" He told me as he reached us, before shifting a bit in place. "Just...I think we'll need to practice that if we're going to do it again."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was that an invitation...Salamander?"

Natsu's grin widened, even as the already shocked Lucy suddenly started looking back and forth between us like she was watching a tennis match. "Wait...Salamander?! You mean Natsu is-!"

Chuckling, the pink-haired man rolled up his sleeve, displaying the pink Fairy Tail guild mark on his shoulder.

"Natsu Dragneel, of Fairy Tail." I told her. "Also known in some circles as Salamander."

Lucy just stared for a long moment, before suddenly turning to me. "And you, Declan...are you from a Guild too? And what kind of Magic was that?"

"I'm actually unaffiliated," I replied, then glanced at Natsu. "Though that might change soon. As for my Magic, well..." I began walking over to the ship where it was still in the dock. "I wonder, can you guess?" I glanced over my shoulder, offering Lucy a challenging smirk. "Here, let me show you again."

Pressing my hand against the wood before me, I spread out my...well, seventh sense is probably the best term for it; seeing as how I have the usual five, as well as my talent for sensing magic - a talent which only grew sharper as my control over my abilities increased. One way or another, I let magical power flow into surface, feeling how gravity worked in the area around it. The connections between electrons, between protons, between atoms, between molecules, individual planks, the ship and Earthland itself...gravity had a hold on everything, from the largest structure to the smallest building block.

And I had a hold on gravity.

The tie between the ship and Earthland, what I liked to visualise as a heavy-duty chain, snapped as my magical power flowed into a rotating circle around my wrist.

I didn't design the circle, or try to manifest it – I wasn't sure how or why, but the shapes formed themselves with no attention, like a by-product more than anything else. My Magic Circle shaded from an indigo-purple at the outer edge to purely black at the centre, with the central focus being a pitch-black circle while surrounding it were borders of criss-crossing lines, each one with a singular sphere on its track.

I didn't understand what it entailed – but I got the imagery, at least. A Black Hole – the ultimate expression of gravity in the universe – at the centre of orbiting planets. Not exactly subtle, but oh well.

As the circle appeared, I increased the gravitational force around my palm and the bottom of my fingers, effectively suckering the surface to my hand, as the only force now acting on the ship was the one pulling to my palm.

The end result was that, when I swung my hand up over my head...I took the ship with it.

A quick reversal of the gravity in a cylindrical area above our heads prevented the seawater from reaching us, instead holding it hovering in place as the field caused it to decelerate, then go back the way it had come until I balanced the forces acting on it, trapping it in a thin layer over our heads, almost like being in a tunnel at an aquarium.

Lucy and Natsu both stared at me, as I held an entire ship above my head with one hand, the other still in my pocket, while water shifted and flowed above us like it rested on a pane of glass.

Lucy, as the more educated of the two, was the first to answer. "...Gravity," she whispered. "You're using Gravity Magic."

My smirk transitioned into a satisfied smile, small but no less genuine for it, before I placed the ship back in the water and allowed Earthland to take a hold of it once more, dusting off my hand as its gravitational pull returned to normal and then pocketing the appendage once more. "Top of the class, Lucy."

I could have sworn there were stars in Natsu's eyes, and as I walked by they changed to a burning flame that was, in all likelihood, actually there. "I'm getting all fired up just thinking about sparring with you," he told me, grinning like a madman. "Whaddya say? Wanna come join the guild? It'll be great!" Natsu paused for a moment. "Plus, Gramps'd probably be glad to meet someone who doesn't break stuff when they're fighting...he's been getting kinda scary about that lately..." The Dragon Slayer shivered dramatically, and my eyebrow twitched.

Ah yes, the well-documented tendency of Fairy Tail Mages to cause abject ruin wherever they went. I could only wonder how many insurance companies had gone bankrupt, or how many people had lost homes or livelihoods in their battles.

Maybe that was something I could see about trying to change...

I shrugged, affecting nonchalance but with an excited pull at the edges of my lips, though I felt like the muscles in my face were tiring from being pulled in largely unused directions today. A bit pathetic considering just how little exercise that actually was, but I was just not used to smiling these days. "Well, I've been in Hargeon for a while now...I suppose it's time to move on. Can you hang around for the night? I'll need to talk with some people before I go."

Natsu's burning grin seemed to soften slightly at that. "Go ahead. Friends are important, I'm not gonna try and drag you away from them."

I nodded my appreciation, and turned to head back into town. As I passed Lucy, however, I nudged her with my shoulder, breaking her stare away from where it had fixated itself on the ship. "You know," I told her, "it seems to me like there are only so many reasons for a Mage to head into Magnolia, especially one who seemed to be looking for the Salamander."

She looked up at me, and I looked in Natsu's direction. "Go on ahead and ask. I'll see you when we head out in the morning."

And with those parting words, and a pat on the shoulder, I headed off towards the Proper Grocer's - snagging Bora from his crater on the way.

It was only two in the afternoon after all, and my lunch break was just about over - I'd be just in time to sling the slaver in the Guards' cells so they could eat their lunches in front of him.

I might not get very emotional any-more, but I could still appreciate some well-deserved schadenfreude.

I made the rounds of the people I'd come to know in Hargeon after I locked up that night.

I went to Captain Branston first, letting him know that I'd be heading off to Magnolia to join a Guild, and I tried to return the badge he'd given me.

The ageing veteran just gave me a crooked grin and shook his head, rubbing the back of his head through his salt-and-pepper hair. "You've done a whole lot of good for this town, lad." He told me. "Hargeon's never been a big place, and it's never had a town hero before. People around here are proud to say that they were helped by, bought from, met or even just lived near you, these days." He closed my fingers around the metal shield, pushing it back to my chest. "Keep it. Wear it, if you want. I'll have a word with the boys in Magnolia for you."

He laughed aloud, barrel chest moving in and out like a blacksmith's bellows. "Who knows? Maybe one day, you'll get so famous the boys and I can make a mint selling stories about you to the papers!"

My eyebrow twitched. My early adjustment period had been full of mishaps involving magical objects and conveniences, not to mention some interesting situations which came around as a result of my training.

That was a lot of blackmail material, and the man seemed to know it, judging by the glint in his eye.

"Go on out there and find your way, Declan." Were his parting words to me. "This town was too small for you anyway...there's a world waiting for a man like you.

"Make us proud, kid."

Amelia, who I'd stayed in contact with (between visits to the infirmary - I owed her a debt of gratitude for keeping the various other healers and patients in check when I was around, although I couldn't help but feel that getting a plaque, engraved with my name, attached to the headboard of the bed she had first given me when I arrived in Earthland was a bit much), sniffed at me and turned slightly away to hide what I suspect was a grin. "I should have known you'd be running off with hooligans at some point, with all the times you ended up back here."

My fifth eyebrow twitch of the day. I really had spent far more time in this hospital than I was comfortable with...

"Ah well..." She sighed. "I suppose all birds leave the nest in the end. You've been good to the people around here, and you've kept a lot of them out of my beds. Thanks for that, and good luck.

"Go do some good for some other people, Declan. Don't let us down."

My last stop was with Buggy, who was waiting for me at the Inn where I usually stayed with a sad smile and a pint of ale. He knew I didn't drink, but that didn't stop him from doing it, and he raised his glass along with the rest of the room's patrons as I walked in. "To Declan!" He proclaimed. "The best damn handyman that ever passed through Hargeon!"

The room echoed his reply, and I felt my eyebrow twitch once again.

Honestly, what was it with me and befriending all these people who could get a rise out of me...

As the drinks flowed, I sat with the old man for a while and we talked over some of the times we'd had together. It had been...peaceful, in many ways, to work at the Grocer. I'd had work to fill in the empty hours I might have spent moping or brooding, and I'd had conversation whenever I wanted it...and sometimes when I thought I didn't.

He laughed at his memories of my experiences with new products, some of them brand-new and largely untested, much to my displeasure. He cheerfully passed around pictures he'd somehow managed to get of me with one foot in a bucket of a magically-based super-glue I'd been using to fix a shelf, Cleansweep having moved it into position when I wasn't looking, mischievous bastard that he was.

Chasing a broom around with a bucket on my foot still ranked pretty highly on my list of 'weird things that killed a bit more of my sanity'.

We spent hours sitting there and talking, Buggy drinking his ale and me with my fruity whatever-it-was. I just called it 'the usual', and people seemed to know what I meant.

Idly, I wondered just how that worked, considering I shifted restaurants quite often to avoid drawing too much business away from any other places, seeing as a crowd tended to gather wherever I ate.

"Declan," Buggy finally told me, when his last ale was empty like most of the Inn's common area, and I was ready to turn in. "These past six months, you've changed a lot for the better here. The folks stand taller, there are a few Mages settling down, the Guard haven't been run ragged driving off brigands who think we're easy pickings just because there were no magic users on call...and I don't even have to mention the Grocer!

"I know you don't think you've done much, or that the way people have reacted to what you've done seems like too much to you...but you're a hero to Hargeon, Declan, and a good man besides. It's been my privilege to have known you and to have been of some kind of help to you. So please, listen to this one request of mine.

"Live a bit, once in a while. I've seen you, you know. You barely ever go out, and when you do you just eat, turn down every attempt at conversation, and run away as soon as you can. You only read the magic texts, history, law, or the other books you could kill a man with if you swung it at him. You spend all the rest of your time up on the cliff, practising your magic.

"I know the look of a man who's chasing something so hard he's forgotten to live. I've seen a lot of them passing through here, on their way to one place or another, searching for an answer to the question which consumed their lives.

"You don't deserve that kind of life, Declan. So please, if you really want to pay back that debt you think you owe me, do this for me.

"Find something about yourself you can be proud of, and never let it go. I believe you can be great, one day...so please don't squander yourself carelessly, alright?"

With that, he stood up and left the Inn, heading back to his apartment over the Grocer with an oddly steady gait for a man who'd consumed his own body weight in alcohol over the course of the night.

I managed a tiny smile at the thought of what he was trying to do for me. It was kind of him, to try and get me to look after myself...

But I couldn't. Not until I had my answer. Not until I could rest easy again, and get back to my life.

"Sorry, old man." I muttered to myself and the empty room. "But I think I'll have to leave that debt outstanding, for a while."

The next morning I came downstairs from my home of six months, my camping-size rucksack over both shoulders. It contained the changes of clothes I'd amassed over time, in the Fiore style rather than the outfit I'd worn when I arrived, which I was currently dressed in as my favoured travelling attire.

As I walked through the streets, people waved to me, or smiled, or occasionally called out thanks and well-wishes. And when I reached the edge of town, where Natsu and Lucy were waiting, I found the Guards standing there, a stern-looking Captain Branston taking a step back from a bright red and stammering Lucy, while Natsu looked to be laughing his ass off.

I raised an eyebrow as I approached, particularly as Lucy was apparently unable to meet my eyes, and Natsu just laughed harder when he saw me. As I joined the two, Captain Branston raised his hand, and the various men and women of the platoon lined up on either side of the road, drawing their swords and creating an archway of blades.

I recognised the gesture, and a pleasant warmth started flickering in my chest, drawing a melancholy grin from my features. This was the same salute they'd given Old Jeremy, who had retired from the Guard after thirty years of service three months into my stay. It was a farewell, and a message that even if they didn't have the job title any-more, a Guardsman or Guardswoman would always have a way back in their blade.

As we walked through the corridor, I tried to meet everyone's eyes and nod, all of them returning the gesture with grins and smiles.

When we reached the end, I turned, seeing Captain Branston with his own sword in the air at the end of the archways, grinning like a maniac. "Guardsman Ross, your duty is fulfilled. May your days from now on be long and merry, while we hold the line in memory of your work."

"Guardsman Ross!" The Guards shouted, clashing their swords together in the final salute, before sheathing the blades and turning around, marching back into the town and leaving just the Captain to stand and wink at me.

"Give 'em Hell, Declan. That's an order!"

And with that, he turned too, disappearing back into the streets.

I stood for a moment, watching him go, until I turned back to find Lucy and Natsu waiting for me, the former finally seeming to get over whatever Branston had said to her. I walked up to them with a nod, and Natsu started leading the way.

I glanced at Lucy, who was walking beside me, and asked, "So, what did the Captain say that had you so flustered?"

Immediately, the blonde started repeating her little fit, spluttering and waving her hands about, before Natsu burst into laughter.

"He told her that if she broke your heart, there wasn't a place on Heaven or Earthland where she'd be able to hide from him. And to send him a letter whenever you had a date planned, so he could send pictures and stories!"

I kept walking for a moment, Lucy having promptly turned redder than a tomato and completely lost the ability to even articulate grunts or gibberish, and my eyebrow twitched hard enough to pull that entire side of my face with it.

Captain Branston had given Lucy the 'overprotective Dad' talk.

I remembered Buggy's talk from the night before, and connected it to the waitress in the restaurant who'd been making assumptions I decided I didn't care about.

Then I looked at Natsu's face and I knew, just knew, that the entire Fairy Tail Guild would know this story within minutes of me being introduced to them.

My entire body shuddered with the force of the sigh I heaved, and I damn near knocked myself over with a facepalm.

"...God dammit."