Siegrain smirked as the old fools continued to complain about Fairy Tail's more destructive tendencies. In all honesty Siegrain couldn't care less about what the Fairies were up to but they were a decent distraction while he waited for his plans to come to fruition.
"Those damn fools in Fairy Tail have done it again! This time they destroyed an half a port!" One man shouted out as he crushed the report in his hand.
"Honestly those fools…we should just disband them and be done with it." Org sighed as he rubbed his temple.
"I quite like hearing about their antics, its fools like them that make this world so interesting." Siegrain said with a smirk, earning himself glares from some of the more uptight members of the council.
"What Fairy Tail has done is the least of our concerns at the moment." Yahima said to bring the others back on track. "Look to the last page of the report, where it speaks of the descriptions of the guilty mages."
There was a pause as everyone turned to the final page to read, Siegrain included. A pink haired fire mage, a blue cat, and a blonde girl with a silver armband were seen escaping from the burring docks. What's so special about that? Siegrain scoffed to himself.
However the other members of the Council seemed to find much more meaning in the descriptions than he did, as gasps escaped from a few lips and others looked even more stressed than normal.
"Oh…I was not aware that she joined a guild. And Fairy Tail no less" Belno chuckled to herself.
"Now don't jump to any conclusions, we have no guarantee that it is her. We shall simply observe Fairy Tail for the moment until we can confirm the identity of this blonde woman. We will just have to hope it turns out to be another person. Chairman Crawford said as his thought projection disappeared. Siegrain turned to look at Ultear, seeing an equally as befuddled face as he was likely wearing. It appeared that fate was beginning to move in a direction that neither desired. This it appeared was something both were going to have to keep an eye on if their plans were to come to fruition.
Lucy blinked in confusion as Natsu burst through the doors of what Lucy could only assume was the Fairy Tail guild hall and instantly proceeded to attack one of the members, screaming something about how he had been lied to about the Salamander.
It had been a few day since the events in Hargeon and the three of them finally arrived. Natsu had been adamant about not riding the train again; saying something about how he had already suffered too much from his double trip to Hargeon and Lucy had simply gone along with him as she was in no real hurry to get to her new home.
The sound of wood breaking brought Lucy back out of her thoughts to see the entire guild had joined in on Natsu's little brawl to the point where there seemed to be no safe route inside at all.
Is this how all guilds greet each other? Or is Fairy Tail just special? Lucy couldn't help but think in confusion as she scanned the building for a spot that wasn't occupied by people trying to hit each other. Strangely enough at the back of the building Lucy could see a bar that seemed to be completely untouched by the violence. Nodding her head as she made her decision, Lucy began to casually stroll into the guild with the intent to take cover at the sole safe haven in the place.
Laxus watched the throng of peons with newfound interest from his spot on the top floor. At first he had been completely uninterested when Flame breath barreled into the guild and started a fight almost instantly, drawing in the rest of the weaklings as well.
That quickly changed however when he saw the chick Natsu brought in with him. she was quite the looker, blonde hair and brown eyes with a rack that could go toe to toe with the she-devil. But it wasn't her looks that drew Laxus's interest.
The girl initially looked confused when the guild broke out into fighting, but after just a few seconds of observation she was able to determine where the safest place in the guild was and was moving directly for it. Not exactly something most would consider difficult but when you took into account that she was walking directly through the center of the brawl things became more interesting.
The girl moved almost silently through the crowd, twisting and turning on her heels to avoid the flying bodies of the weaklings. However despite all the distractions the girls stride never once stopped, nor did it seem that anyone even noticed her walking casually through their fights. It was almost like she was a ghost and Laxus would have been inclined to believe it if he couldn't smell her new scent wafting up through the guild.
Interesting…looks like flame brain actually managed to snag someone with some talent. Laxus thought to himself as he smirked down at the new girl, deciding he would keep an eye on her if only for the entertainment value.
When Lucy finally made it to the counter of the bar she turned and studied the still fighting mages. Within the mass of bodies she could make out a few mages that she recognized from various news sources that reported on the magical world.
She could see both Elfman and Loke, the former screaming about his manliness and the latter flanked by two women who squealed every time he moved. She could also see a man who was half naked picking a fight with Natsu, and while Lucy could recognize his face she couldn't place a name to it.
"Oh my! Are you new here?" A cheery voice from behind the counter drew Lucy's attention away from the brawl to see a silver haired woman smiling at her, a tray of drinks held in one of her hands.
"Yes I am, Natsu brought me here to join the guild. My name is Lucy and its nice to meet you." Lucy said with a smile and a curtsy, causing the other woman to blush slightly and place a hand over her mouth.
"Such manners, it's rare to see someone like that here in Fairy Tail. My name is Mirajane by the way and it's quite nice to meet you." The woman introduced herself before staring out into the crowd. "And you say that Natsu brought you here? That's quite unusual of him. I wonder if there's a special reason for that, hmmmm?" Mira asked coyly.
Lucy was about to question what Mirajane meant by that when she felt a massive object approaching at high speed. Without even thinking about it Lucy reached out and roped a hand around Mirajane's waist, pulling the older woman out of the path of Elfman's flying form.
Mirajane blinked in surprise, not expecting someone to grab her waist, but when she saw her brothers form fly past in the spot she had just been occupying she smiled at Lucy. "Oh my, thank you for that Lucy."
"It's no problem, happy to help." Lucy said before feeling yet another body flying at them and once again grabbing Mirajane around the waist so that the two women could twirl out of the way.
The object this time turned out to be the dark haired boy who had been fighting with Natsu. Although now the boy was missing even his boxers, which Lucy could see Natsu was twilling in his hand as he grinned down at his fallen foe.
The boy grumbled as he extracted himself from the pile of barstools and upon seeing Lucy, smiled arrogantly as he held out his hand. "Excuse me miss, but would you please lend me your underwear?"
Lucy blinked in surprise and could hear Mirajane make a disapproving huff from behind her. But as Lucy wasn't sure what was custom in this guild she decided that the simplest choice was to simply comply with her orders.
Reaching a hand down to grab the bottom of her dress, Lucy began to lift up the bottom of her dress but stopped when both Mirajane and the boy grabbed her shoulders.
"Lucy! Don't fall for Gray's stupid joke!" Mirajane admonished as she stared concernedly at the young blonde.
"Holy shit Lady, I was kidding!" the boy named Gray breathed out with a strange look on his face.
"Damn Gray, is that how you get all your ladies? Cause if it is let me in on that trick." A woman drinking straight out of a barrel of alcohol slurred from her place on the bar.
"Shut it Cana! Didn't think the weirdo would actually do it." Gray cursed and with another strange glance at Lucy glared back at Natsu, who now had his fists covered in flame.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Stripper?"
"Oh what's wrong Flame Balls, mad that I can pick up chicks and you can't?" Gray challenged as he placed his fist on top of his other hand, the air around him chilling slightly.
It was then that Lucy noticed that nearly every person present was preparing magic of their own, something "IT" wasn't too keen on as it became instantly aware of the danger Lucy was now in. Lucy looked over curiously at Mirajane to find that the older woman was simply smiling and appeared to be waiting for something.
Lucy was about to question why she wasn't trying to stop the guild hall from being destroyed when a massive foot stomped down, shacking the entire building.
"Would you brats cut it out!" A massive man boomed, instantly stopping every member of the guild.
"Oh hello Master, I didn't know you were still here." Mirajane sweetly said, despite the fact that she had been completely expecting this to happen.
Lucy blinked in surprise as she stared up at the massive man. This is their guildmaster? Although I suppose it makes sense considering how "IT" reacted to his presence. Lucy thought as she struggled to keep "IT" under control. The moment the titan had made its presence know "IT" almost went berserk and tried to seize control.
"HA HA! You bunch of wimps just going to give up? Guess that makes me the wine-." Natsu started to say but was cut off when a massive foot crushed him.
The massive man slowly surveyed the crowd before his gaze finally settled on Lucy. "Oh? A new recruit?"
"Yes sir, my name is Lucy and it is an honor to meet you." Lucy said as she curtsied again.
The man chuckled as he released his magic, allowing his body to shrink down to its normal size, Lucy was surprised to see that rather than being led by a titan of a man the guildmaster only reached her knee and was at least over seventy.
"Such a polite young lady, my brats could learn a thing or two from you." The man chuckled.
"Lucy, allow me to introduce the guild master of Fairy Tail: Makarov Dreyar." Mirajane introduced the man with a smile.
The Master then proceeded to jump to the second floor where he at first chastised the members bellow for their destruction of public property before launching into a elegant explanation of the true nature of magic and then held his hand straight up in the air, causing each and every member of the guild to follow suit with a battle cry of their own.
Lucy however only stared sadly at the man who would soon be her master. If magic truly comes from your soul then I can understand why that side of me has become so twisted. It's simply my true face…isn't that right mom?
When the Master finished he jumped back down onto the first floor and sat down on the bar, a mug of beer seemingly appearing out of nowhere. It was then that Mirajane moved to stand before Lucy, a stamp held in her hands. "Well Lucy, where would you like your guild emblem and what color would you prefer?"
Lucy thought for a moment when she remembered what some of the other kids had told her about how she looked in pink. "I suppose…pink and…on my right hand please." Lucy decided as she held her hand up.
Mirajane smiled and nodded as she pressed the stamp down on Lucy's hand, pulling it away a few seconds later to reveal a new mark upon her hand.
Lucy thanked the older woman before looking up to see Natsu staring up at a board covered in what Lucy assumed were job requests. Holding her right hand up and smiling slightly, Lucy moved to stand behind the pink haired dragon slayer.
"Hey Natsu I joined the guild like you suggested."
Natsu didn't turn around as he responded with a seemingly bored tone. "Oh ya? Well that's great for you Luigi. Welcome to the guild."
Lucy blinked slowly as she looked over her shoulder for another person but saw only one other man standing even remotely close but he didn't seem to react to Natsu's comment.
Lucy opened her mouth to ask who Luigi was, but before she could a small boy ran into the guild to stand before the Master.
"Is my dad not back yet?" The kid asked sadly.
"You're starting to get on my nerves Romeo. You're a wizard's kid so have more faith in your old man." The Master said as he continued to drink his beer.
"But Master, he said he'd only be gone for a few days. And it's been a week now! The job wasn't that far away so why can't someone go look for him?" The boy named Romeo cried out, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes.
"Listen Romeo, Macao is a wizard of Fairy Tail and he can take care of himself. Go home and wait patintly like a good little boy." Master Makarov coldly dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Romeo punched the Master in the face before running out the front door, crying the entire time. Lucy moved to sit on a barstool as she watched Natsu slam his fist into the request board and storm out of the building.
Lucy turned to stare at Mirajane, a curious look on her face. Mirajane smiled sadly as she started to wipe a glass. "Natsu probably just empathizes with Romeo, after all, Natsu's dad went missing nearly eight years ago."
Lucy squinted her eyes as Mirajane went on to explain that Natsu was raised by a dragon by the name of Igneel, and that said dragon disappeared on July seventh 777. The dates match up with all the other disappearances…I suppose that means Natsu's also searching for the dragons as well.
"It's actually quite a common story here at Fairy Tail, we all have some pain in our past that we're trying to overcome." Mirajane said sadly, Elfman's face falling as well from his place at the bar.
I suppose that I'll fit in well here then. Lucy mused to herself as she stood from her stool and walked began to walk to the door.
"Oh? Lucy, where are you going?" Mirajane called out from her spot behind the bar.
Lucy turned and smiled, "I plan to go help Natsu. I have a favor to repay." Lucy said and with a wave of her hand ran out the front door.
It took only a few minutes for Lucy to catch up with Natsu, as the dragon slayer was still stomping around in anger as he made his way to the outskirts of the city.
"Natsu! Wait up!" Lucy called out, drawing both his and Happy's attention.
"Lucy? What are you here for?" Happy questioned from Natsu's shoulder.
Lucy stared curiously at the blue cat. "Is there a reason I shouldn't go and help my new family?"
Natsu's eyes widened and a massive grin. "Alright then Luce, let's get going!"
The three arrived at Mount Hakobe around mid day as Natsu had decided to take a carriage in order to arrive earlier, something Lucy was sure he ended up regretting after seeing him sprawled out the moment they started to move. But as Lucy expected he recovered the moment they arrived at the mountain.
The three mages let the safety of the carriage to see that they had arrived halfway up the mountain, their surroundings covered in snow and an angry wind blowing through the area.
Almost instantly Natsu began to shuffle through the snow, making his way farther up the mountain, Lucy right on his heels.
They moved in silence for awhile before Happy turned his head to stare at Lucy. "Aren't you cold wearing that dress in the snow Lucy?"
"Not really, I've been trained to withstand extreme temperatures." Lucy answered with a shrug as she started to examine their surroundings. "Oh, now that I think about it, what did this Macao person come here to do?"
"The job was to deal with some Vulcans, too many of them up here or something like that." Natsu answered as he stared out at the pure White Mountains before them.
"mmm…shouldn't be that hard to deal with then…"Lucy thought out loud as she looked for any sign of life.
However all three were caught off guard when a massive monkey leapt down from a nearby cliff and grabbed Lucy. Natsu and Happy cried out in surprise but Lucy merely blinked slowly as the monster carried her away. With the fact that "IT" didn't even seem to register the beasts presence she could conclude that it was of no real threat and rather than escape from its grasp it would be far simpler to just allow it to take her back to its nest. Perhaps that was where this Macao person was.
It didn't take long for the monkey to arrive in its home, an ice cave carved out of the side of the mountain. It placed Lucy on the ground and began to dance around in a rather strange manner.
Lucy however couldn't care less what the monkey was doing at the moment, instead focusing on examining the cave. Unfortunately she could see neither hide nor hair of the missing mage but at the very least she saw no other Vulcans in the immediate area.
"My woman, My woman!" The Vulcan sang as it continued to dance around.
Lucy frowned as she stood, holding out her bracer, "I apologize, sir Vulcan, but I belong to Fairy Tail now and cannot become your "Woman" so to speak, however I would appreciate it if you would hand over the mage who came here three days ago."
The Vulcan stared at her in confusion for a second before its face contorted in anger. "Not my woman…then I crush you!" It screamed out and raised its fists high into the air. However before it could land its blow the brown gem on Lucy's bracer began to glow brighter and in the next second a being comprised entirely out of rock appeared next to Lucy and slammed a massive fist into the vulcan's chest, sending the creature flying across the chamber.
Lucy stared up at the spirit with a smile, "Thank you for answering my call, spirit of earth. Would you please defeat the creature before us?"
The earth spirit nodded its featureless face but before it could even take a single step Natsu appeared and sent a flaming fist through its chest, shattering it and sending it back to the plane of earth.
"Lucy, what the hell was with another monster showing up?" Natsu asked as he placed himself between the monster and Lucy.
"That was one of my spirits Natsu." Lucy explained as she silently thanked the spirit for its aid.
"Lucy! You alright? Did the mean monkey hurt you?" Happy cried as he landed on lucy's head, worry clear on his face.
Lucy simply shook her head as she reached up to pet the cat behind the ears. "No im fine Happy, it just danced strangely and claimed I was it's woman."
Natsu growled slightly and pointed his fist at the Vulcan. "Alright listen up monkey, what did you do with Macao? Fairy Tail's my family and I won't let anything stop me from keeping my family together." However the Vulcan didn't answer with words, instead it just sprinted forward and lashed out at Natsu.
Lucy's eyes widened in surprise at Natsu's statement as said fire dragon slayer started to fight against the Vulcan. Fairy Tail is a family...i didn't think I would get another chance at one of those. Lucy thought in a daze, only snapping out of it when Natsu finally defeated the Vulcan only for the monkeys form to vanish in a puff of smoke, revealing a bleeding man in its place.
Both Happy and Natsu gasped in surprise as they ran to the man's side and Lucy quickly followed.
"Macao! Hey you alright man?" Natsu asked as he laid the man on his back.
Lucy took only a single look at the man's heavily bleeding wounds to tell that it they would be fatal if they did nothing. Quickly deciding on the safest course of action, Lucy held out her hand and channeled her magic into the water gem. "Oh ever flowing water, manifest your champion before me. Come forth Nyneve." She chanted quietly, causing the water spirit to appear before the four mages.
"Hello again miss Lucy, what can I do for you tod- oh my." Nyneve started to greet before noticing the bleeding man.
Lucy fell to her knees at the man's side, not caring about the blood that was now staining her dress. "I need your help to control his blood please." She said as she placed her hands over Macao's wounds and closed her eyes in concentration.
"Yes of course, I would be happy to help." Nyneve said as she placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder, her hand glowing bright blue.
Lucy didn't bother to look up at Natsu as she continued to speak. "Natsu, Happy, I can stop this bleeding and help him recover but it takes a lot of concentration so would you mind guarding me while I work?"
Natsu, to his credit, didn't take too long to consider what Lucy said before smiling and slamming a fist on his chest. "Sure thing Luce, you can count on me."
"Aye sir! We won't let any Vulcans steal you again." Happy declared with a salute as he flew to Natsu's shoulder.
Lucy's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out who this Luce person was but that was a question what could wait until after she saved Macao's life. So Lucy simply submerged herself in the Magic and began the delicate work of controlling the man's blood.
Natsu watched in shock as over the next few hours Macao's blood began to flow back into his open wounds and as said wounds began to close on their own. Natsu had never seen someone use magic to heal wounds but he could tell just from the fact that neither of the two woman had so much as twitched during the time it took that it was hardly a simply spell to use.
However, when night finally fell on the mountain, Lucy collapsed backwards into the waiting arms of her spirit. Natsu stared down in surprise to see that while the wounds were not completely gone they had shrunk to the size on a few small cuts.
"Would you mind bandaging the remaining wounds young man? There's a chance that some could open up again if we're not careful." Nyneve asked as she stroked Lucy on the head, a tender expression on her face as she watched her summoner.
Natsu quickly got to work as happy sat down next to Macao's head, said man now comfortably sleeping. "Wow…Lucy can heal wounds too? She's so cool!"
"It isn't easy for her and without my aid she would not be capable of such magic but I must agree with you, my summoner is indeed "cool"." Nyneve said with a smile as she laied Lucy down next to Macao. "Now then, young man, I must return to the plane of water before I drain too much of Lucy's magic. I trust I can leave her in your care until she awakens?"
"You betcha! I got this." Natsu said as he wrapped the final wound and smiled up at the water spirit.
"Very well then, until next time." Nyneve said with a bow and disappeared.
Natsu stared down at the now sleeping blonde. He hadn't originally thought that when she offered to feed him in Hargeon that she would be saving the life of one of his family not a day later. In all honesty, he had only asked her to join the guild on impulse seeing as she seemed to have some cool magic of her own and while she could most certainly be weird, her attempt to strip coming to the forefront of his mind, she was still very interesting.
His smile growing even wider, Natsu settled down between the two sleeping mages in order to keep either from freezing during the night and settled down to sleep himself. Happy decided that the most comfortable spot would be nestled in Lucy's arms and quickly took his place, the blonde mage subconsciously wrapping her arms around his fuzzy form. And within a few minutes both feel asleep.
Lucy awoke suddenly as he magic reserves returned to normal levels, "IT" instantly checking her surroundings for any sign of danger. Lucy however was more surprised to see Happy, trying to get as close to her chest as he could and Natsu's sleeping face staring at her.
Ah, I see. I must have used up too much magic healing Macao's wounds. Lucy thought to herself as she slowly petted Happy's head, earring a sleeping purr from said cat. But to think that Fairy Tail is supposed to be a family… it looks like I still have a lot of stuff to figure out here.
Lucy looked at Natsu's sleeping face again and frowned to herself. She, more than anyone likely suspected, could empathize with Natsu's desire to see his foster father so badly. But unlike her there could still be a chance for the two to reunite. If Fairy Tail is really a family then shouldn't she do anything in her power to help him find his dad?
Lucy bit the inside of her cheek as she weighed her options. She knew she couldn't break the promise she made to her mother to not reveal what she learned from her mission. But surely she could at least confirm this Igneels presence.
Making her decision, Lucy steeled herself and closed her eyes again. But instead of allowing herself to fall back to sleep again she instead connected her magic to the plane of fire, allowing her mind to come into contact with one of her most powerful friends Ifrit… there's something I have to ask you.