Fairy Tail: By Your Side
Chapter 1: Welcome to Fairy Tail!
Lucy Hearfilia and her white wolf, Duke, made their way through the city of Magnolia. They had been traveling for a week now in search of a wizard guild, and a new place to live.
Duke walked in front of his master, a habit the wolf picked up over the years. Always standing in front of Lucy or leading the way as they walked. That was always his way of protecting his beloved master, his friend.
"Well Duke I'm glad mom left us a secret vault with a lot of jewels, otherwise I don't think we could afford a place to live." Lucy said to her partner.
He nodded in agreement at her words. He remembered her mother fondly, she was the one who found him years ago and finally gave him a new home along with a lifetime friend. The two were devastated by her death but Duke was able to stay strong for Lucy, letting her cry into his fur or even just letting the girl hold him when she was reminded of her mother.
Lucy walked behind Duke admiring the collar she had purchased for him not too long ago, when they had first entered Magnolia. She thought it was time for Duke to wear a collar, especially if they were going to live in a city. She didn't want people to pick him off the streets, thinking he was a stray or something. Lucy knew the wolf could take care of himself but it would just put her mind at ease if he had one on. So she bought a beautiful black collar with a gold swirl and dot design around it. The mage also bought a tag and had it engraved with his name on the front and hers on the back.
Duke sure did look handsome with his new collar and of course he had no problem wearing it either. Lucy was surprised at first but brushed it off because Duke had always been this way. The wolf loved to please her and she had a feeling that Duke himself liked his new collar.
The two walked until they reached an apartment complex. Lucy walked in and was greeted by an older lady. At first Lucy worried that Duke wouldn't be allowed in, until the lady squealed when she saw him.
"Oh what a handsome, beauty you are." She said looking at Duke and got up to pet him on the head.
"If you don't mind can we check out the apartment you have for rent?" Lucy asked her politely.
"Oh of course you can dear, come with me."
They followed close behind as she let them in. Lucy smiled looking at it all. It was small but big enough for her and Duke to live in. The bedroom had a writing desk on the other side of the room and a night stand beside the bed. Lucy looked around and noticed the whole apartment was already furnished and just begging to be moved into.
"Is everything in the apartment included? Or does somebody still have some stuff here they are picking up?" Lucy asked her.
"Oh no my dear, this is all included, everything you see in the apartment right now."
"How much for the rent?"
"700,000 jewels."
"We'll take it."
Lucy then handed her the jewels, smiling as she did it and put her suitcase and bag in the bedroom. Duke followed her in and explored around his new home.
"Alright dear, I live downstairs if you need anything just knock on my door." She said before leaving the apartment.
"Well Duke, it may not be a huge mansion but it's ours."
The wolf nodded in agreement. Then Lucy began to unpack their things, putting her clothes away along with everything else she brought. Duke then moved to the bag and dragged out his old blanket and walked over to Lucy with it. Lucy giggled before taking the blanket and spreading it out on the bed.
"Duke go ahead and get your food and water dishes and put them in the kitchen for me. I'll get the food and start putting them in the cabinets."
Duke nodded and grabbed his bowls, then made his way to the kitchen. He set them down side by side next to the end of the counter. While Lucy put away his food and treats. Duke then moved himself into the living room and sat up on the couch and waited for her to finish. Once she was done Lucy looked out the window. It was early in the afternoon still, so she decided that they would head out for the rest of the day.
"Come on Duke, we still need to find a guild to join."
Duke immediately got up off the couch and followed Lucy outside. Duke began his search by sniffing the air, trying to find traces of magic that could lead the two to a guild. Lucy noticed exactly what Duke was doing and bent down beside him.
"Do you sense any magic Duke? Just concentrate and focus on the source of them, where they all gather should be where the guild is located." Lucy said as she stroked his back, hoping to encourage her partner in his search.
The white wolf then noticed a powerful magic source and decided that it would be their best bet. He began to walk ahead, slowly at first until he was sure Lucy was close behind, then he picked up his pace until they were standing in front of a big building. Duke saw the front read Fairy Tail, happy with his find he looked back to Lucy who was staring at the guild in shock. She ran up and hugged her partner, excited about what he had just found.
"Good job Duke! You found the guild I really wanted to join! Thank you so much!" she said thanking her companion.
Duke then licked her face and they parted. They made their way over to the doors and Duke noticed Lucy was shaking a little. He pushed his head into the side of her leg, trying to encourage her to go in.
"Alright Duke here we go."
Lucy then pushed the doors open and was greeted by fighting wizards. She stood in amazement as Duke walked in front of her, in fear that some of these mages would end up flying into Lucy.
"Oh hello can I help you?" a gentle voice greeted them.
Lucy found that it came from the waitress with white/silver hair. Duke looked over and saw her as well, then he relaxed himself seeing she posed no threat to them.
"Hi, my name is Lucy and this is my partner Duke. We came to see if we could join your guild."
"I see well hello Lucy and Duke, my name is Mirajane. I don't see why not so just let me go check with our master, wait for me at the bar and I'll be right back." She said before making her way up the stairs.
The duo then made their way over to the bar and Lucy sat on one of the bar stools, while Duke took a seat beside her. Lucy then noticed that someone was making their way over to them. He had pink hair and was wearing a black and gold vest with a white scale-like scarf. Duke noticed this too and he immediately got up and stood in front of Lucy as he walked over to them.
"Hello, are you a new member?" he asked them.
"Well we hope to be anyway, my name is Lucy and this is my partner Duke."
"I see well my name is Natsu Dragneel, I'm a fire dragon-slayer."
"Dragon-salyer?"
Before Natsu could answer her, Lucy looked down and noticed that Duke's fur was rising. He then let out a low growl, not very loud but loud enough that they both heard it. The fire mage then looked down confused at the wolf's actions but then backed away from the two. Once Natsu was about a foot away from him and Lucy, he ceased his growling but didn't take his eyes off of him.
"Oh Natsu I'm sorry he's never done this before."
"No it's fine, I must have invaded his space or something, he was just telling me to back off is all."
Lucy stroked Duke's head hoping that would calm him down some. Though he still refused to take his eyes off Natsu. Natsu noticed this and wondered why he was so protective of Lucy.
"He's very protective of you isn't he?" Natsu asked looking at Duke.
"Yeah, he was a present from my mother when I was little. We have never been apart and I haven't had a lot of friends. He's been the only one in my life."
'So that's why he was so uneasy about me being that close, I must have really freaked him out.' Natsu thought as he stared back into the wolf's eyes.
Lucy watched the scene until finally Duke nodded and sat down beside Lucy. Natsu then took the seat next to her once Duke realized he was no threat to Lucy. The dragon-slayer put his hand on Duke's head petting him, before turning to Lucy.
"So what kind of magic do you do?"
"I'm a celestial wizard. I use keys to summon celestial spirits to help me out or even in fights. Though I never liked them fighting alone so I fight along side them with Duke."
"I see and what about Duke? Does he do magic as well?"
"Yup he uses assisting magic. If I run out of magic power or just need a little help he fuses his magic power with mine. When he does that I can summon multiple spirits at a time instead of just one. However if it was only Duke and myself fighting our magic can combine together and we can use elemental magic. Though I'm not exactly sure how it all works, we have only attempted that once."
"Sounds impressive. Hey I know this is sudden and everything but would you like to form a team with myself and my partner Happy? You seem nice and fun to be around, plus I think I grew a little on Duke here."
Lucy saw that Duke had made his way over to Natsu and allowed him to pet him, then wagged his tail when he did. She was surprised, Duke wasn't fond of a lot of people so she was happy at the scene.
"Sure but I have to be approved by your master first."
"Oh don't worry about gramps, he'll let ya in for sure, trust me on that one."
Just as he finished Mira came back with an older man with her. Lucy realized that this must be the guild's master and she hoped that Duke wouldn't behave the way he did when he saw Natsu.
When they arrived at the bar the master took a seat up on the bar counter and motioned for Lucy to come in front of him. She then got up and stood in front of the master, while Duke followed close behind. When they stopped and stood before the master, Duke got in front of Lucy only looking at the master.
"So you must be Miss Lucy and Duke. Mira told me about you. I would just like to know a few things about you."
"Of course."
"What magic do you two do?"
"I'm a celsetail wizard and Duke specializes in assisting magic. Though we've come to realize we can use elemental magic together but we have only attempted this once."
"I see a magical wolf and a celestial mage. We don't have any mages like you in this guild yet. Very interesting."
The master looked at the white wolf, he was protective indeed which would mean them together would be a powerful duo. Not to mention it would be good for Fairy Tail to have a celestial mage. The master made his decision.
"Mira go and fetch the guild stamp and give them their marks." He told Mira then turned back to the two new memebers. "My name is Master Makarov and welcome to my Fairy Tail family."
He then got up and left back up the stairs to his office, while Mira came back with the stamp.
"See told ya no problem!" Natsu shouted as he slung his arm around her.
"Yeah you were right."
"Alright Lucy were would you like your mark and what color?" Mira asked her.
"The back of my right hand and pink please."
Mira stamped the mark on her and moved on to Duke.
"What about you handsome?"
Duke then puffed out his chest to show he wanted it there and then looked to Lucy for the rest.
"I guess on his chest and how about gold for the color Duke? So it matches your eyes and collar."
The wolf nodded in agreement and allowed Mira to stamp his mark on him, leaving a gold Fairy Tail insignia on his chest. Natsu smiled at them both enjoying the scene, a thought then occurred to him.
"Oh you have to meet Happy, if we are going to be a team and all. Wait right here I'll be back."
"HAPPY!" he started shouting in search for his partner.
Lucy laughed as she watched Natsu nearly get into another fight in search for his friend. She then turned to Duke.
"Okay Duke best behavior. This is our new team so you have to be nice. Not a repeat of what happened with Natsu okay? They won't hurt us."
Duke nodded and waited for the fire mage to come back with his companion.
"Here he his! Happy these are our new teammates Lucy and Duke!"
She saw the blue cat hanging onto Natsu's shoulder. She had to admit the little feline was adorable but before she could greet him she noticed Duke staring at Happy funny.
"Natsu! There's a huge dog! That's a huge dog!" he yelped crawling up to Natsu's head.
Big mistake. The second he got on his head Duke lunged. He knocked Natsu over on the floor and attempted to grab Happy but the cat was quick. He grew wings and flew off around the guild as Duke chased after him. Duke knocked over mage after mage, which of course caused a huge rumble. Duke barked as he chased after Happy and Happpy merely screamed for someone to help him.
"Oh my…Duke! Don't chase Happy!" she yelled at him, horrified at the scene her partner caused.
Natsu on the other hand was laughing his ass off at the scene, that is until he saw Lucy's horrified expression.
"Awe don't worry about it Luce! This is great! Duke really is a Fairy Tail member! This happens all the time and I think Duke is only playing around with Happy. Happy just got over excited that's all."
Lucy only stared and realized that everyone was having fun and then she joined in Natsu's laughter at the scene. Until they two were knocked over this time by both Duke and Happy. Natsu landed on top of Lucy while Happy was on top of Natsu but pinned down by Duke's body.
Natsu looked down at Lucy's face and immediately stood right up knocking the two animals on the ground. He then held out his hand to Lucy and apologized.
"Sorry about that."
"Not your fault, Duke and Happy knocked us over."
Natsu turned to see that Happy was still trying to get away but Duke put a paw on Happy's tail so he couldn't get away again.
"I give! I give! Just please make it quick!" he begged.
"Happy calm down Duke's only playing with you! He's not going to eat you!" Natsu yelled over to him.
"He's not?!" He then looked back at the wolf, who was wagging his tail and licked Happy's face.
"Sorry about that Happy. I would have warned you had I known he was going to do that." Lucy apologized.
"No more giving me a heart attack Duke! I thought I was going to die!"
Duke then put his ears back and licked Happy's face as an apology.
"You're forgiven and welcome to the team!" Happy said with a smile plastered across his face.
Duke then let out a happy howl while the cat climbed up onto the wolf's head and Natsu then tackled the two to the ground as pay back for earlier.
Lucy smiled at the scene. They had finally made it. Duke and herself finally found a place that made them happy, somewhere they could finally call home.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Slow start but what can ya do? I just love my new character! I always pictured Lucy with something and Duke just fit my vision. As always please fav and follow my story if you like it and want to know when the new chapters are out! And of course let me know what you think in a review! They always help me improve my stories and I try to take in everything you guys suggest. Thank you for reading and until next time!
~wolvesfinalden