A/N Whole new chapter WOAH! Now this will switch between the guild and the girls on their mission so every time you see ###### that means we're changing locations again. Got it? Good. I don't own Fairy Tail.
The two girls had just departed on their mission when Natsu came running into the guild.
"Where's Lucy?" He asked to the remaining guild members. The one to answer Ursula.
"She went out on a mission with Erza." The exceed stated before settling herself back down on Mira's shoulder. The eldest Strauss sibling was left in charge of Ursula while Lucy was away on her job.
"Though if she was here she probably wouldn't want to talk to you." Mira sneered at the fire dragon slayer. Lucy had guts and was smart; Mira respected her for that and she wouldn't let this little runt mess with her friend.
"I just wanted to fight her before her birthday." Natsu grumbled to himself but Mira still heard.
"Her birthday?! When?" Mira demanded fiercely.
"Two days. July 1st." Natsu explained and Mira began to gather the attention of the guild.
"We've got a party to plan."
##########
Lucy stared out of the train window with bored eyes as she observed the small station. She already got the information from Erza; the client wanted two mages to perform at a gala. Apparently the person running the whole thing wanted to show people what mages could do so they could donate to help provide poor children with magic tutors they needed. It was all very noble but Lucy only had her eyes on the jewels.
"We should be there in three hours." Erza announced to Lucy as she entered before taking the seat across from the blonde.
"Okay." Lucy answered shortly before turning back to look out of the window. Her thoughts were clouded by what was coming up. Both her birthday and the disappearance of Krystal. This year she wouldn't have a party and while that upset her it was better than being a little whiny self-absorbed brat by talking about her birthday. From across the small cart Erza watched the blonde teen with worry in her eyes. Lucy was very aggressive around the guild, so no one ever saw the sadness in her eyes that Erza sees now. If it was anyone else she would extend her hand in friendship but she knew what Lucy was like.
She was just like how Erza used to be.
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"IDIOT THAT'S NOT BLACK THAT'S BROWN ARE YOU COLORBLIND?!" A scream pierced the calm atmosphere of Magnolia. Not surprisingly, the sound originated inside the guild Fairy Tail.
"Calm down Mira." Lisanna tried to pacify her sister but it was hard with Natsu's stupidity. He bought five pounds of brown confetti. Why the guild thought it'd be a good idea to have Natsu of all people to go shopping well Lisanna would never know. From her spot in the guild rafters, Ursula sighed. Her handler had to go and join a guild full of idiots?
"How about we send Levy to go buy decorations?" Lisanna suggested as her eyes locked with the bluenette's.
"WE WANT TO GO TOO!" Jet and Droy yelled in unison as they ran next to Levy. The girl laughed shakily before clearing her throat.
"Could I use my magic instead?" Levy asked hesitantly. Everyone's jaws dropped as they turned to look at the small girl.
"Did they not think about that earlier?" Makarov sweatdropped as he watched his children scurry to cast spells all over the guild. "Second thought maybe it's better they just now thought of this."
#####
"Welcome girls I am Duke Kaine! The guests should be coming soon so please quickly visit the seamstress down the hall and get prepared." A man in his late 40's greeted the two before running down a hallway. Erza dragged Lucy along to where the seamstress stood at attention. As soon as the girls entered she swooped them into matching white flowy dresses. The dresses reached their knees from the front and cascaded down the backs of their calves. Erza's needed a few alterations while Lucy's seemed fine on its own.
"Why don't you get rid of that sword sweetheart? And you take off that choker?" the seamstress suggested kindly. In unison the two girls turned slowly and glared at her.
"No thank you ma'am I'd prefer to keep his choker on. It's very valuable and I don't trust a single person here. I'm sure my friend Erza can agree about her sword. Now if you would please excuse us we need to go preform, but thanks for the dresses." Lucy said without taking her eyes off of the woman until she was out the door with Erza on her heels. The two made it back to the main hallway; where they began their search for Duke Kaine. Just when Lucy was about to punch the wall, Duke Kaine came out of a side door and ushered them into the back lawn. Everywhere were children shrieking in delight as they rolled around on the soft grass and mothers looking on lovingly. The men had gathered at one part of the lot to discuss donations and white decorations were plastered on every surface.
"Quite a get together." Erza commented before following Duke Kaine onto the stage. Behind the two Lucy was watching the kids and their mothers. She never really had a chance to do things like this with her mother and wished Layla was still alive.
"The show starts now!" Duke Kaine whispered to the two after his speech. Erza and Lucy prepared their magic before standing in the middle of the stage. The first to preform was Erza doing a series of powerful requips and swords moves that left a trail of red magic residue. It looked beautiful. After she was done, Lucy took center stage.
"I summon the crab: Cancer." Lucy summoned and with practiced ease she flung the key into the air. It began to glow and glimmer before shooting out sparks of gold. Once all the light died down a single mutated figure appeared. It was a cross between a human and a crab with scissors in each hand. Before Cancer could do anything, Lucy closed his gate.
"Wings of the Space Dragon!" Lucy chanted as she flew up into the sky and left a trail of black sparkles.
"Mommy save her!" A small child in the front row shrieked as Lucy began a free fall back down to the ground. Multiple people started to get antsy as they watched Lucy continue to dive but at the last possible second she twisted her form and landed on her legs.
"Thank you for watching the show!" Lucy grinned while waving to the audience. Erza and Lucy bowed once before walking off the stage. Behind the curtains, Duke Kaine was watching with an opened mouth.
"Pay up sir. I believe that's 400,000 jewels each." Lucy demanded while holding out her small hand for the cash.
"What?!" The duke cried out at the outrageous price. 800,000 jewels?
"Well you see the request was for 500,000 jewels but it also says that we get 200,000 jewels for every additional magic and 100,000 extra if we keep the audience excited the whole time. I had both Celstial Magic and Space Dragon Slayer magic so that's already 200,000 jewels. Then my little fall had some people ready to help so I think they were excited alright. Now please pay us so we can both never see each other again." Lucy explained impatiently.
"You girls are smart." Duke Kaine smiled brightly and handed over a bag of jewels. Immediately it reached Lucy's clean hands and the two girls were off.
######
"Is everything in order? They should be coming back today." Levy asked. Luckily, Mira was close by and nodded yes. Ursula floated around the guild and smiled slightly. They may be idiots, but they cared about Lucy. Suddenly a blue blur burst into the bumbling guild hall.
"They're here! Five minutes away!" Happy yowled and everyone ran to hide behind the bar. It was a tight squeeze, for the bar was quite small. After four minutes of harsh whispering about being elbowed the guild doors opened.
"Where are those idiots?" Lucy growled while looking around the dark empty guild hall. Just when she was about to walk away, someone turned on the lights and everyone jumped up.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" was all that Lucy could hear or a solid four minutes until the ringing in her ears subsided.
"How did you know it was my birthday? Ursula?" Lucy questioned as she stared at everyone in the guild.
"Not me. Natsu." Ursula waved to the pink haired boy rubbing is neck sheepishly. Slowly Lucy walked up to him until she was right in his face. As she lifted her hand Natsu flinched but all she did was pat the top of his head.
"Looks like you don't screw up everything brother. I'll try to be nicer to you." Lucy told her brother with a small smile on her face before turning.
"Wait Luce! Want to fight?" Natsu asked with a sheepish expression. Apparently a promise to try and be nicer was all it took to forgive Lucy and get him amped up for a fight.
"Thought you'd never ask." Lucy cracked a lopsided grin before motioning for Natsu to come with her to the small clearing a few feet away from the guild. Some people came outside: Erza, Mira, Gray, Lisanna, Levy (as well as her two henchmen), and the two exceeds.
"Let's go Natsu!" Lucy called out from across the field.
"I'm all fired up!"