A/N: So like I posted on my one-shot (for those who follow me), I'm tying to post something at least every other day, whether it be this story or something new. Or possibly even another one-shot. I just want to try to get myself on a strict schedule so I can update stuff on time. I'm already working on the fifth chapter but I don't really know if I should post this back to back. I like the alternations.
Plus, one-shots and short stories give me inspiration... so there's that.
I also want to personally thank those who are following and/or have favorited/reviewed this story (There's quite a few of you, but you know who you are). It truly means a lot to get good feedback even if it's just a follow or a favorite *totally makes an Awards worthy thank you speech* But seriously, thank you very much. And for some reason, I always drag on with my A/N. I try to refrain myself in the next chapter but for now, I'll just let you get to it!
Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808lionfire
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
Chapter 4 -
Year x791. Magnolia, Fiore. Lucy's Apartment.
"I've got this month's rent!" Lucy grinned at the Landlady before pulling a wad of 100,000 jewels (Her cut) out of her bag.
Happy floated around her apartment before plopping on the table with his special fish, eyeing the blond with worry. She was currently dressed in bandages. The most seemed to circulate around her right hand and wrist. Apparently, her wrist had severe nerve damage and had splintered a bit but she only had enough cash on her to get a temporary splint. Thankfully, that was something Happy wasn't aware of. He was waiting outside of the doctor's office (said something about not liking the smell).
When the client saw how beat up Lucy was, he took pity on her. He offered her a place to stay for one night, all expenses paid, before heading off the next morning. He even gave her an extra 5,000 jewels (Happy's fish expenses) for her troubles. Tired and in pain, Lucy agreed without a second thought. Happy agreed to stay just because they had a good selection of fish at the market. The celestial mage would have argued otherwise but she was grateful for the exceed's company. So now (a day later) they're back home in Magnolia.
Lucy fumbled with the money but sharp pain drew from her wrist, causing her to drop the money. "S-sorry," she stammered out her apology, bending to gather the cash, "I kind of injured my wrist on this past mission."
As the celestial mage stood up, the landlady snatched the money and counted it out. Handing the blonde back her change, the Landlady shoved the money into her pocket and turned to walk away.
"Landlady! Wait!" Lucy called out, taking half a step forward. The Landlady stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Um, you gave me back 20,000 jewels," she muttered, "I thought the rent was 70,000 jewels only."
"You said you injured your hand," the Landlady replied in a monotonous voice. "That means you can't clean your apartment, so I'll do it. 10,000 jewels should just about cover however long it takes you to heal."
Lucy's eyes grew wide, "B-but, Landlady. I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You didn't," she replied flatly, "But you already paid. So that's that." Turning back around the Landlady opened the door and before it closed she muttered, "Just focus on healing."
That brought a tear to the blonde's eye, a warmth spread from her head to her toes. The blonde mage smiled and turned around to face Happy with an excited grin. Happy stood up, still clutching his special fish to himself and grinned back at her.
"Let's go, Happy!" Lucy cheered, "We have to go give Carla your fish and- oh yeah!" She turned to her pack and pulled out another wad of 100,000 jewels. "This is your share. Spend it wisely."
"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered along, shoving the money into his pack before flying out the window.
Lucy smiled for a second more before she dropped it, her mind clouding with the pain. She gently clutched her wrist, cursing quietly under her breath. She just shook her head before closing the window and locking it before heading out the door. After exiting the building, Lucy decided that maybe the guild would help keep her mind distracted. Mavis knows self-doubt comes from time taken to think about pain.
"You're so slow, Lushy," Happy rolled his eyes as he floated by the girl.
"You could have gone ahead," Lucy shot back, "You didn't have to wait for me."
"But you said that we're going to give my fish to Carla," the blue exceed pointed out, "We're a team. Team-mates are always there for each other."
"You're right," Lucy smiled softly, "Thank you for being there, Happy."
The two continued on in comfortable silence, both of their heads filled with different thoughts. Happy's was filled with anticipation and excitement while his blonde haired companion was thinking something completely opposite. The sadness from before their mission hit her like a brick wall. Which was strange, very strange. Wasn't she depressed about not getting her rent on time? Or... was it something else?
"Ne, Happy?"
"Aye, sir?"
"Hypothetically, what would you do if I ever said that I wanted to stop being a mage?"
"What?!" Happy's eyes grew wide, barely securing his fish back into his arms. He turned to look at Lucy, completely bewildered, "Why would you ever want to do that?!"
"It was a hypothetical question," Lucy sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Forget I asked."
The pair continued to walk, this time, the silence in the air held electrified tension. Happy stole a couple of glances at the mage before letting out a long sigh.
"If you left..." Happy trailed, "I think I'd cry."
Surprised, Lucy stopped walking and twirled to face the exceed with wide eyes. "Happy I... I said forget about it. I said I wasn't serious."
"But I am!" The exceed exclaimed, shocking Lucy once again. She watched helplessly as the blue exceed's fish dangled in his claws and his large eyes started to fill. "If you ever left, I'd cry. I'd wonder why you wanted to leave when you were so happy with us. Did Lushy hate us? Did Lushy hate Fairy Tail? What did we do wrong? Will she ever come back?"
After that, tears finally fell onto the exceed's fur. Lucy felt her own eyes water as she reached forward and tucked her blue companion into her arms. Even with Happy's fish between them, Lucy never let go. She dropped to her knees and started to cry with him. Tears of guilt. Sadness. You name it, she had it.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I asked," she whispered into the cat's fur, "I promise I won't leave. And if I do, I'll promise to always come back. You're right, I don't know why I would ever want to leave. I don't know why I ever asked. Fairy Tail is my family!" Happy buried his head further. "Thank you, Happy. You're right," Lucy smiled into the blue exceed's fur, a weight lifting from her chest. "You're right. Fairy Tail is my family. And so are you."
"A-aye, sir."
Fairy Tail's guild proudly towered in front of the pair as they joyfully made their way to the doors. Both of their spirits lifted at the sight, the building had always reminding them that better things were to come. If not now, then later. Lucy set her brown eyes on Happy's excited form, his fish clutched anxiously in her paws. Unconsciously, the blonde mage smiled at the sight.
"Well that was very emotional, don't you think?" Lucy laughed, referring to their earlier moment as she pushed into the guild with Happy in tow.
"Aye, sir!"
Even though she heard that term almost a million times that day and the day before, she couldn't help but smile softly to the blue exceed. Unknowingly, he had helped her see the light to her life again and she was forever grateful. Now, she watched as Happy flew his way over to Wendy and Carla. Wendy cheerfully greeted him while Carla only glanced out of the corner of her eye.
As usual, Happy presented his special fish to the white exceed. But this time, before the other exceed could refuse, Carla caught Lucy's eye. The blonde clasped her hands together, ignoring the pain that radiated up and down her arm, and gave the female exceed her best pleading look. Carla flushed a second later, a small, secret smile gracing her lips before she immediately replaced it with a frown. Sticking her nose in the air, the female exceed gave a firm 'I'll think about it.' before flying away.
Happy turned to look at Lucy who just smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Shaking his head, the blue exceed tucked the fish into his pouch before flying off somewhere. Lucy giggled with glee before she jumped up victoriously, doing a small dance to accompany it.
"What are you doing Luce?"
The girl in question froze, her eyes widened as she slowly turned to look at the owner of the question. Embarrassed, she blushed and quickly stood normally. Lucy pursed her lips, ignoring the questioning looks she got as she rocked on the balls of her feet.
"H-hey, Natsu. Lisanna," she muttered to the salmon-haired boy and the younger, white-haired Strauss sibling behind him. "Don't mind me. I'm just... d-dancing."
"In the middle of the entrance?" Natsu asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her weirdly. Lucy folded her arms stubbornly and looked away. "You're such a weirdo."
"Why were you dancing, Lucy-san?" Lisanna's pleasant voice asked, smiling and ignoring Natsu completely.
"I thought I told you to call me Lucy and ah, well," Lucy pursed her lips before smiling back at the white haired girl, "Happy just asked Carla if she would like to share a fish with him..."
"He does that everyday," Natsu cut in. Lisanna elbowed the Dragon Slayer in the ribs before nodding at the blonde to continue.
"And Carla said that she'll 'think about it'," the two girls, unbeknownst to the fire mage, squealed in delight. They clasped each other's hands in their excitement. Lucy, forgetting that she was injured, winced when she jostled her wrist but tried to ignore it. Natsu, however, noticed.
"Hey, Luce," Natsu said, drawing the celestial mage's attention, "Where'd you go? You weren't at your apartment last night and Happy didn't come home."
"Yeah," Lucy mused with a frown, "Happy and I went on a job."
"What! Why didn't you take me with you?" Natsu demanded instantly, causing both Lucy and Lisanna to roll their eyes, "Why didn't Happy say anything?"
"He did, Natsu," Lisanna sighed, face-palming at her best friend.
"When?"
"Yesterday afternoon," Lucy pitched in this time, "He said you told him it was okay." Natsu pouted. "Besides, my rent was due today and I asked if you and Happy wanted to take the mission with me. You said you didn't want to go but you said I could take Happy with me if I needed him."
"Oh. Yeah," Natsu asked, his brows furrowing, "What was the mission anyway?"
"Cargo escort," Lucy replied. The salmon haird boy instantly got sick just at the mention of cargo. "And like I told you yesterday, we weren't riding any transport. We just had to make sure the cargo that was too fragile to go in the train, was safely deposited at the end of Oshibana's station. We also had to make sure that it was intact."
"Intact?" the white-haired mage questioned.
"Yeah, there was an unknown dark guild hanging around the forest that we had to cross," Lucy replied, folding her arms. She sighed when Natsu immediately picked up when she mentioned the dark guild. "They called themselves, 'Shadow Claw'."
"So you met them?" Natsu asked, the flame in his eyes flickered as he took notice of all the bandages that was wrapped around the blonde's body. "And they're the ones that hurt you?"
The celestial mage shifted awkwardly, "Ah, well-"
"Aye!" Happy cried flying over. Lucy sighed in relief, thankful that the blue exceed drew Natsu and Lisanna's attention off of her. "You should have been there, Natsu! Lucy was kind of cool..."
"Kind of?! Why you-"
"You don't look injured at all," Natsu muttered with a frown after he inspected his partner then turned his accusing eyes back to Lucy, "So why are you hurt?"
"Ummmm-"
"LU-CHAN!" Levy cried out and ran over to hug the blonde. Once again, Lucy had to thank her lucky stars. They ran into each other's arms and squeezed. Lucy was so relieved, she didn't even care about her pain.
"Levy-chan!" She squealed out excitedly.
"Sorry, but I have to borrow her for a bit," the bluenette apologized to the other three after they pulled from their hug. Natsu was about to open his mouth to argue but Lisanna quickly shut him up by jabbing her elbow into his side again. The salmon-haired boy glared at her but Lisanna was quick to glare back before turning towards Levy and Lucy.
"Of course, Levy-chan," the white-haired mage smiled at them, "Take all the time you need."
"Thank you, Lisa-chan!" the bluenette cried gratefully before taking Lucy's arm and pulling her towards the bar, right where Mirajane was standing.
"Oh for Mavis's sake," the blonde groaned, "Please don't tell me this is another intervention. I told you, Natsu and I are just friends and we're going to stay that way for a long time."
"No you're not," Mira sang before leaning forward onto the bar, pushing a cup of tea over to the celestial mage, "But that's not what we're dragging you here for."
"Hey Wendy! Carla!" Levy called. The darker bluenette and the white exceed turned their heads. "We got her! C'mon!"
"G-got me?" Lucy asked skeptically, trying to pull away, "F-for what?"
"We need to ask you a few questions, Lu-chan. Nothing big."
"How is this not an intervention?"
"Don't worry, Lucy. It's not about that."
"Not about what?" Wendy asked as she walked over.
Mira blushed bashfully, placing a hand on her cheek, "Nothing you have to worry over."
"Lu-chan!"
"Levy-chan!"
"Mira!"
"Wendy?"
Carla sighed, not feeling amused in the slightest. "Just bring out the book. Please?"
"Party pooper," Lucy grumbled.
Carla shot the blonde a look but she just shrugged in response. Mira, Wendy and Levy laughed, shaking their heads. The white-haired, take-over mage, walked a few feet away before rustling under the bar for something. When she came back, item in hand, Lucy was surprised to see a very familiar book.
"Oh, hey!" she exclaimed, "That's 'The Dragon's Elemental Legend'. I let Wendy borrow that."
"Yeah and we have some questions," Mira explained.
Relief filled the blonde's face, "Oh, thank Mavis. You meant those questions."
Levy nodded, "I read a copy at the Grand Library, but it wasn't nearly as beat up as this book." Ignoring Lucy's indignant protests, she continued. "I felt the pages and it seemed that it was written here, but very long ago."
"Yeah, of course," Lucy replied, not really getting where this was going, "That's because it's the original book."
"Wh-what?!"
"Hmm, so Levy was right."
"That's so cool, Lucy-san!"
"What are you doing with the original copy of this book?"
"My momma said our ancestors had pulled a diary out of the fire along with this book and a letter," Lucy started to explain, "The diary was charred to illegibility but they found this story in the book." She calmed down enough to take a sip of the tea Mira offered, "The book was definitely written by the prince, I believe. But the letter was written by someone else. Probably the woman in the cabin," She flipped the book all the way until the last page, "The letter was later printed onto the page, that's why it has a different script."
"You're right," Levy gasped, "I didn't notice that."
"Do you know what happened after the letter part?" Wendy asked, "It's blank after that." The others nodded in agreement.
"Well, did you notice the title of this book is 'The Dragon's Elemental Legend' yet it had nothing about any dragons or elements in the story?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," Carla mused, "That was kind of weird."
"It's a little Celestial Legend," the blonde mage winked, "But rumor states that the prince's kingdom was a part of a 12 Kingdom Pact. Each of their Kingdoms were ruled by one Guardian. This Kingdom was apparently watched over by the Guardian spirit, Drakonas. He was one of what we call the Zodiac Guardians."
"Zodiac Guardians?" Mira asked, intrigued, "What's that?"
"I'm not too sure either," Lucy muttered, the other girls sighed disappointed. "However I did know that there was twelve Zodiac Guardians; the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig."
"Besides the Dragon, all of the others sound kind of plain," Carla frowned.
"Legend says that they are supposed to be that way," Lucy explained to the best of her ability. "The thing is, the Guardian spirits could only protect the family that they have chosen. Kind of like Celestial mages and our contracts. So just having the mortal forms of the ethereal spirits gave both the royal family and the citizens comfort."
"But why did the Dragon choose the King if he was evil?" Wendy asked curiously.
"No one is completely evil from the start," Lucy smiled, "It was the power that corrupted him. And I believe that the king truly had good intentions but he just showed it wrongly."
"But the King tried to force the Prince into the throne," Carla pointed out, "He even sent the guards to find him."
"But you also have to look at it from the King's perspective," Mira pitched in, "If any one of our members went missing or ran away, we would send people to search for them."
"True," Lucy smiled at the take-over mage, "The way I see it, the King didn't want to force the Prince into the kingdom's duties. The Prince was chosen by the kingdom's Guardian and he was the King's only son. Only kid to be exact. It was what he was born for after all, the King was just trying to remind his son of his responsibilities while keeping the kingdom's wellbeing in mind."
"You two are way too optimistic," Carla snorted. Wendy smiled at them, nodding her head in understanding.
"Wait," Levy sighed, rubbing her temples to process all of the new information, "You guys are theorizing like this is all true."
Lucy looked over at her blue haired friend with a raised eyebrow, "Because it is."
"If this story is real, then why did they place the copies in the fictional section?"
"I'm guessing that there was no way to prove that this was true," Carla answered, "Besides, all of this information wasn't in the book so it could have easily been recognized as a fictional story."
"And it's a legend," Lucy added, much to the other girls' shock, "It could easily be fake."
"So why would you remember so much of this information if it could be fake?" Mira asked quizzically.
"There's no deep meaning to it. I just thought it was interesting," Lucy replied with a laugh.
"I guess that's understandable," Carla muttered.
"And apparently," Lucy added after giving the white exceed a grateful smile, "No one had seen -or heard- about the Guardians in the last three hundred years or so. Or if they did, no one said anything." The celestial mage reached forward and tapped the book with her finger. "This is probably the last known document of the 12 Kingdom Pact. After this, they just faded away as if they were never there."
Silence enveloped the group as they absorbed what they just heard. Lucy gently picked the book up and brushed her hand over the charred cover, bittersweet memories running through her mind. Wendy was the first to snap out of her thoughts, a couple of questions still running rampant in her mind.
"Last questions, Lucy-san," The Sky Dragon Slayer added, shyly. Lucy couldn't help but smile fondly at the girl before nodding. "You said your ancestor found it, who were they? And if the prince found the letter, that means the cabin's fire wasn't caused by the guards... so why did the stuff burn?"
"Oh! I guess you can say my ancestors were related to the woman in the cabin."
Four pairs of eyes widened at her, "Eh?!"
"And you're right, the soldiers didn't set the cabin on fire, by the way. Apparently, the Prince called upon his Guardian's powers and accidentally used one of the elements to do it."
"EEEHHH?!"