Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

"Salamander, of Fairy Tail…" Lucy repeated "That fire incident must have been your doing as well!" She should have seen it coming: Salamander, full-time pyromaniac and part-time terrorist, one of the most fearsome members of Fairy Tail. Only he would have the fire-red symbol, it literally defined who he is.

"Mm… So?" Natsu glanced at her nonchalantly; he didn't seem too affected by the blonde's accusation.

"So… so…" Lucy opened her mouth to continue, but no words came out. She wasn't exactly afraid of him, despite the rumours his infamy brought upon him. He had been a pretty average (chilli-loving) guy until he took off his jacket.

"I won't hurt you, you know that. I am pretty law-abiding myself." The pink-haired boy shrugged and toyed with the straw resting inside his complimentary glass of water.

Law-abiding my ass Lucy thought to herself Salamander's responsible for almost all fires in the city…

"What is it like…?" she spoke up "Being a member of Fairy Tail, that is."

"It's the biggest fun anyone could have. We treat each other like family and every single day is filled with adventure."

"That sounds really nice..."

"Would you like to join us?"

Lucy nearly spat out her drink at the question he had asked so-casually. He must have been joking for an average girl like her to join Fairy Tail… It was the most exciting, yet the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

Natsu saw through her dilemma "We don't discriminate, you know, although you shouldn't really ask someone like me about this, for all I know, I've been with the gang since I was a toddler." He took a sip of water "There was this girl who joined us last week, what was her name? Juvia or something I think. She fitted right in as soon as she stepped into the Headquarters."

"Headquarters?" Lucy perked up, "You have a Headquarters?"

"Come on!" Natsu took her by the hand excitedly, causing her to blush furiously, before Lucy could even leave a tip for her friend he had dragged her out of the store..

"I'll show you."

"Well… this is it." The duo stood in front of a rather… inconspicuous building. The part about it being inconspicuous had been out of sarcasm. The wide, two-storied western-themed structure stretched over and intimidated the whole street. A gigantic 'Fairy Tail' sign had been nailed on top of the pointy roof along with the unsubtle symbol. Lucy wondered to herself why she had never known of such a magnificent sight in her entire life.

"Are we supposed to… knock?" Lucy asked, gesturing to the tightly locked wooden gates. Natsu shook his head, held onto her hand tighter than ever and in one single attempt he busted through the entrance.

The scene that welcomed them wasn't that of a shady underground drug deal, but rather, a merry bar scene filled with cheerful people… cheerful people branded with the Fairy Tail symbol on their bodies.

"Ah! Welcome back, Natsu! Did you bring with you a new friend?" a girl with long, white hair styled in a fashionable way greeted the boy from behind the bar counter. Lucy immediately recognised this girl.

"You're Mirajane Strauss! In the flesh!" her voice turned into a high pitched shriek "You're the cover-girl of Sorcerer Magazine!" Lucy found it difficult to move her body, which had frozen in place. She had always looked up to Mirajane as her idol because not only is the girl super beautiful and famous she also does a lot of charity work. Lucy loved reading about her in Sorcerer Magazine and daydream about what it would be like if she had switch places with Mira. Why is the famous model working as a mere bartender within Fairy Tail?

"Mirajane volunteered to serve drinks here" Natsu whispered "Don't cross her, as an S-class she holds one of the highest ranks and she can be real mean if you piss her off"

"You have ranks?" Lucy gaped.

"Not really" Natsu replied "Just casuals, us regular members, the S-class members and the Master himself.

Suddenly a half-naked boy around their age rushed from his seat and ran directly into Natsu before tackling him to the ground, a dark-blue Fairy Tail tattoo had been imprinted on his right pectoral. Natsu desperately fought the boy and the two rolled around on the floor, throwing punches one after the other.

"Oh my, here we go again…" Mirajane covered her mouth gracefully as she giggled.

"Why isn't anyone stopping them before someone gets seriously injured!" Lucy pointed at the brawling twosome worriedly; the other boy's nose had just started to bleed after a collision with Natsu's fist.

"Oh, don't mind about them" a girl younger than her with dark blue hair and glasses, who had been sitting on a barstool next to Mira, popped up from behind the book she had been reading "That half-naked pervert is Gray, he and Natsu are eternal rivals and they start fighting every time they see eachother, the two are shockingly violent, if you ask me; but nobody else here really minds. I bet the two are BFFLs at heart." Lucy instantly liked the girl, whose name had been Levy, as Mira subsequently introduced the two. Levy reminded Lucy of herself a lot. She had been about to ask her for her email address when a booming voice came from the second floor (Lucy had really just noticed its existence, nobody seemed to be up there).

"Salamander and Fullbuster, stop fighting this instant before I have to pay more damage repair costs" the voice's timbre filled with intensity and sent chills down Lucy's back "We have a new addition here, and we must display our best behaviour to honour our group." Lucy only just noticed that the voice had been talking about her, and that she was the only non-member inside the room. All eyes were immediately on her, some of them kind and others… not so. Lucy feared the gaze of one particular man sitting at the back corner who had long spiky black hair down his back and a billion piercings on his body. His Fairy Tail insignia the same colour as his hair, Lucy immediately recognised him as the gang's Iron Fist, who matched Salamander in terms of destructiveness and infamy. He had only recently transferred from another gang and rumours had it that he single-handed annihilated the gang for losing The Phantom-Fairy Quarrel against Fairy Tail and subsequently joined the latter.

This place sure is full of scary and famous people… Lucy winced; her thoughts interrupted when the whole guild suddenly bowed down, even Natsu and Gray stopped what they're doing and looked down in embarrassment.

The room's light dimmed, and the once-noisy crowd became eerily silent, and all attention focused on a large shadowy figure that materialised on the balcony of the second floor.

"The Master sounds pretty mad" someone whispered near her.

Lucy felt her entire body shaking in fear; no-one had ever dared the feared third Master of Fairy Tail, some speculated that he is an important government official who walked side-by-side with the nation's figureheads. Others say he is the single most powerful man of all Magnolia, and questioned his humanity as he could be on-par with the gods.

"Good afternoon, Master-Makarov." The whole gang resonated, Lucy's heart stopped inside her chest.

"Ahahah! Good-afternoon kids!" a merry, aged voice broke the silence, and a small, old man emerged from the room upstairs. He wore a bright orange track suit and a matching pajama-hat. His white, angular moustache dominated the majority of his wrinkled, comical face.

I…is this what they call an anti-climax? Lucy wanted to slap her own forehead, and everyone else's along the way.

"Master! You've finally woken up! Did you drink too much again yesterday?" Mirajane greeted.

"Oh ho!" the man miraculously hopped down from where he was "I only came down to welcome the newcomer; I felt an unfamiliar presence whilst I had been asleep, now…" he turned and faced Lucy (having to tilt his head in order to do so as his height barely reached her thighs) "What is your name?"

"I'm L-Lucy H-Heartfilia…Natsu b-brought me here." The girl stammered, suddenly becoming very self-conscious with all eyes trained upon her.

"And do you, Lucy Heartfilia, wish to become a part of our family?" Lucy jumped, he did not address the gang as a… well… gang.

"It's the biggest fun anyone could have. We treat each other like family and every single day is filled with adventure." She heard Natsu's voice inside her head.

"Come on Lucy, we like you already!" Levy lit up and clung onto her arm, even Mira gave her a thumbs-up from behind the bar. Natsu, on the other hand, simply grinned at her from his position and Lucy saw him wink at her playfully from the corner of her eye.

"…Alright!" she felt her own lips move on their own accord, had this been what she wanted all this time? What do her 'siblings' back at First Celestial have to say about this? The whole room erupted into loud cheers and she was lifted off her feet by Natsu who twirled her around in his arms.

"Mira, go fetch the stamp, I think pink would look great on her!" did Makarov just grin perversely at her? Lucy had been too overwhelmed by the gang's loud response to even care about the stamping business.

The white-haired girl returned with a large, intricately carved wooden stamp and a tub of pink ink. She gestured for Lucy to extend her arm (after Natsu had finally let her down), gently dipped the end of the stamp in the ink and stamped a light pink Fairy Tail symbol on the back of Lucy's hand. Lucy didn't know what the colour represented, but she was later told that the Master had great expectation in her and that she is destined to achieve great things for the gang. Lucy disregarded that comment and found it too cheesy.

The ink had dried out quickly, Lucy tried to rub it but it showed no signs of smudging.

"Once a member of Fairy Tail, you're always a member of Fairy Tail" Mirajane smiled "That ink had been especially made and would remain on there permanently unless professionally removed… did I mention that only we have the removal tools necessary?" Lucy nodded, she had no intention of ever quitting the gang, especially not straight after joining it, and she is already feeling the positive vibe dripping off everyone present. It contradicted her stereotyping of gangs limited to shady, underground drug-dealing delinquents, not that Fairy Tail had no such people, but the atmosphere definitely showed no signs of it.

"You know what this means?" a scantily dressed girl with wavy brown hair shouted from the back of the room "It's time for a welcome-party! Let's drink our hearts out! Bring on the beer Mira!"

And there, amongst the horde of loud, crazy, drunken people, 'Lucky' Lucy Heartfilia of First Celestial Home for Gifted Children had officially become Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail.

A/N: I'm not happy with chapter because I felt like I had rambled too much. Tell me what you think of me simultaneously introducing so many new characters. Next chapter we have NaLu fluff, more character introductions and Lucy's ultimate skill put to good use.

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