Chapter 5

The Dinner Party

As Natsu walked home that same night to his apartment, he thought long and hard. In fact, he was pretty sure the last time he had thought this hard… well it was a long time ago that's for sure.

The point is that the dragon slayer was very confused. When he first met Lucy, he thought the only reason he was being friendly and talking to her was to get information on her past so that they could figure out why she has traces of magic deep inside her.

But then weird things started to happen. He became genuine friends with her. She was a truly nice person with pretty brown eyes and a big heart and he hated the idea that he was manipulating her. Of course he knew it wasn't really manipulation, that sort of thing just wasn't the kind of person he was, but still, no one could deny the fact that he wasn't being completely honest with her. After all he's a powerful fire wizard who was born in a different world and was raised by a dragon.

I wish I could tell her. Natsu thought. It would make things so much simpler, but then he remembered the giant lecture Erza gave him about how no one could know their secret because of blah blah blah. He hadn't really paid attention but he picked up on the important parts and according to the scary red head's logic, both worlds would spontaneously combust if any one were to learn the truth about him. Personally, he didn't buy it but there was no way he was going to contradict Erza, so he was forced to feed Lucy lies about who he was and where he came from.

The thing was, he wasn't sure why this bothered him so much. After all, she was only just a part of his mission right? He was supposed to just figure out why she has magic and then complete the main mission and go home and never see her again.

The thought of never seeing her again sent a painful sting through his chest.

She's my friend. That's why I hate not being able to tell her…

There was no doubt in his mind that Lucy was his friend. He loved making her laugh and he loved hanging out with her. He loved seeing her face when she couldn't manage to hit the stupid little baseball. He loved watching her look up at the clouds and he loved talking to her. He just loved spending time with her and even now, having only seen her a few moments ago, he already missed her.

And he felt so sad when she told him about feeling abandoned. He knew exactly how that felt and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her. Well that and to kick the ass of whatever idiot parents gave her up. But the only thing he could think to do was reach out and grab her hand. It felt so delicate and small all wrapped up in his. He liked seeing her react with a faint smile and blush. That moment was so nice but so weird at the same time. Just touching her skin… he had been around plenty of girls before. Between being teammates with Erza and hanging around the rest of the girls in his guild, he was more than used to the other gender. But somehow Lucy was different. And that was the thing that Natsu couldn't quite put his finger on. The only thing he was really sure of was that he wanted this year to pass as slowly as possible. He didn't want to say goodbye to the strange blonde girl just yet.

When he finally made it back to the apartment, Gray, Erza and Happy were waiting for him in the living room. However, Natsu was still deep in his thoughts when he plopped down on the couch next to Gray and didn't hear them say hello.

"Natsu? Earth to Natsu?" Gray said waving a hand in front of his face to snap him out of it. "Anyone in that thick pink head of yours?"

"Maybe he's still thinking about his date." Happy swooned with a childish smile as he sat on the coffee table.

"The fire idiot is actually thinking? Who would've guessed that was possible?"

"Natsu! Snap out of it." Erza commanded and at the sound of her voice Natsu popped out of his trance.

"Wah?"

"How'd it go?" Erza asked with her arms crossed as she sat on the recliner.

"Yeah are you in loooooove?" Happy said with a giggle.

"How'd what go?" Natsu asked, not following the conversation.

"You spent the whole day with that Lucy chick, right?" Gray said. "So did you find out anything useful about her? Erza and I spent the whole day trying to research her and her family using one of those computer things at the library but we ended up with nothing unusual."

"Well yeah, she likes to read a bunch and is not very good a baseball-"

"Did you learn anything of importance, Natsu?" Erza said with a scowl.

Natsu dipped his head and frowned. What Lucy had told him was private stuff and he didn't really feel comfortable talking about it freely.

"Well there is one thing." He said, feeling awfully guilty. "She'd adopted."

"WHAT?!" Gray and Erza shouted at the same time.

"You mean we spent all day in that damn library researching the Freeman name for nothing?" Gray screamed, pulling on his inky black hair.

"No." Erza said, regaining her composure with a steady breath. "That's impossible. Like Gray said we spent all day researching Lucy and her family. Nowhere did any of the articles about the Freemans say that Lucy is adopted."

"I thought it was pretty obvious." Natsu said with a smug grin, relishing that he knew something that the mighty Erza didn't. "I mean her name is Lucy Heartfilia. She doesn't even have the same last name as her parents."

"Ah you got to be kidding me!" Gray groaned and then swung his head over in Erza's direction. "I thought you said her last name was Freeman?"

"While I was asking about her around school someone told me that her parents were Max and Gloria Freeman so I assumed she carried the same name." Erza commented. "And I had no reason to doubt it. Like I said every source on the internet refers to Lucy as Lucy Freeman."

"Huh?" Natsu echoed. "Am I the only one not following this?"

Erza closed her eyes in deep thought for a moment, running through different possibilities in her head. Why would the public know the blonde teenager as Lucy Freeman while in her private life she was called Lucy Heartfilia? It didn't make sense. The boys looked on at Erza curiously as the redhead sank deep into thought. After years of working with her, Natsu and Gray had learned to leave Erza alone while she was thinking. And it payed off. Suddenly, Erza's eyes shot back open and she began to rummage through some papers in her back pack. Isolating one particular document, she held it up to the boys.

"Look." She said eagerly. "This is one of the online articles about Lucy and her father that I printed off at the library. It refers to Lucy as Lucy Heartfilia Freeman. Heartfilia isn't her last name it's her middle name! Well, legally speaking at least."

"Why would anyone need three names?" Natsu pondered, clearly missing the point.

"It's a tradition here in America but that part doesn't matter." Erza continued hastily. "Judging from what you've told me about Lucy so far, I can tell that she is a sentimental person who doesn't like being in the spotlight because of her family. I think that when Lucy was adopted she chose to keep the surname that was given to her at birth, the surname of her biological parents. That's why you and the whole school knows her as Lucy Heartfilia- that's what she wants to be called."

"You know now that you mention it, I do remember her saying something about why she didn't want to take her parent's last name." Natsu mentioned. "She said she liked having a part of her biological parents with her wherever she goes. And you're right, Lucy already hates all the attention she gets from her parents being so rich and it'd probably only be worse if she started walking around with the last name Freeman."

"From what I've read, this Max Freeman, Lucy's adopted father, seems like a very suspicious character. I wouldn't put it past him to go behind his own daughters back to ensure that legally her last name is Freeman."

"Do you think that Lucy knows?" Natsu asked.

"I would assume so. Judging from this world's utter dependence on "Google" I'm sure she's done a search on herself before. However, her father is a very powerful man. I doubt there is much she could do about it."

"All this sounds rather suspicious to me." Gray said, voicing his opinion. "Clearly the name we need to be researching is Heartfilia- that could give us a clue about where Lucy actually comes from. The Freemans have nothing to do with it. Well, except for the fact that Max and Gloria Freeman are trying to pass Lucy off as their biological daughter. That's why all the articles talk about Lucy as if Heartfilia isn't her last name."

"Natsu, I don't suppose Lucy knows who her biological parents are, does she?" Erza asked.

"Nope. Not a clue."

"Then Gray is right. We just wasted our time researching the Freeman name, but at the same time using the internet to search for people named Heartfilia won't get us anywhere. Even though it is pretty uncommon, there would still be thousands of options that we wouldn't be able to narrow down. The much more important question to ask is why the Freemans want the general public to think that Lucy is their biological daughter. Perhaps they know something about Lucy that we don't."

"Or maybe it's cause Lucy's parents love her so much that they want her to have the same name as them!" Happy offered hopefully. Natsu went to give his little friend a high five, but Erza shook her head.

"No, I don't think it's that simple." Then she turned to Natsu. "Did she mention which Foster home she grew up in?"

"Yeah she said it was called something like Clemson Children's home or something like that."

"Perfect." Erza said, clapping her hands. "Alright, Gray, Happy and I will take a visit there tomorrow."

"What about me?" Natsu asked. He didn't particularly want to miss out on seeing Lucy at school tomorrow, but he didn't want to be left out of the mission either.

"Your job is to talk to Lucy's parents. See what they know about the girl they adopted."

"But I've never even met her parents!" Natsu protested. "And I can't just go barging into their house!"

"Then get invited over." Gray said like it was obvious. "She's your friend ain't she?"

"Well yeah, but… okay whatever." Natsu said.

Gray stood up and stretched, announcing that he was headed for bed. After he was gone, Erza stood up as well but lingered with a worried look in Natsu's direction.

"What's wrong, Erza?"

"It's just that… be careful around Lucy, okay?" She said, casting her gaze towards the floor.

"What makes yah say that?"

"Just remember that no matter what happens we will have to leave come the end of our year here. We will leave everything here behind and never see it again, and that includes Lucy."

"Yeah, I know." Natsu mumbled. If only Erza knew just how well he knew that fact.

"That's all I had to say. Goodnight, Natsu."

"Night."

The dragon slayer let out a deep sigh and slouched down on the big comfy couch once Erza left the room.

"Natsu." Happy said, reminding him that he was still there.

"What?"

"Never make me act like a normal cat again." The blue cat said in an annoyed blunt voice.

Suddenly, Natsu's sour mood vanished into a big laugh.

"That was hilarious!" He said, now rolling on the floor in laughter. "Meow!"

"Shut up Natsu! It's not funny!"

"Oh come on, it's pretty funny."

"No it's not!"

"Yeah it is!"

"Natsu!" The cat shouted, but his pink partner's laughter was just too contagious. They laughed together, relieved to get some of the tension off their shoulders.

XXX

Natsu walked slowly through the hallways of the High School with his hands shoved in his pockets. He still couldn't get over just how weird this place was. It for sure wasn't anything like his guild back home. Kids here were mean to each other and separated into different groups. Don't get him wrong, Natsu was always up for a fight, but at least after the brawls at Fairy Tail they would always celebrate and have a drink together afterwards.

Not paying attention to where he was going, he accidentally bumped into someone else and judging from their build, the person was a big heap of fat and muscle.

"Sorry." Natsu said right away.

The person he bumped into turned out to be a giant burly senior boy. His arms and legs were thick and his belly was hanging over his struggling belt. He wore an ugly scowl on his face that made it look like he was permanently frowning. His eyebrows were brown and bushy, sticking up in thick bushels that made Natsu snicker at just the sight of them. However, the large boy was not smiling back at him.

"Watch where you're going, poor kid."

"I already said I was sorry, frowny face." Natsu said crossing his arms.

"What did you just call me?" The boy said taking a step forward. Another four rather large and intimidating (to other students, not the dragon slayer) boys stepped forward to stand behind him. They must be his lackeys or something like that.

"You got some wax in those giant ears of yours, pal?" Natsu said, undaunted.

"You have any idea who I am, geek?" The boy spat back at him.

"Not a clue." Natsu shrugged. The boy growled and then one of his lackeys stepped up beside him and spoke with an arrogant smirk, sticking his long hooked nose up in the air.

"Show some respect. You're talking to Gordon Ronald. He's won the state wrestling tournament three years in a row and his father owns Ronald Airlines."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Natsu answered bluntly and then began to walk away raising a hand in farewell. "Now if you don't mind I got a class to get to-"

"You ain't going nowhere pipsqueak." Gordon said, threateningly taking a step over to block Natsu's path.

For the first time in the encounter, Natsu felt his insides begin to boil. He wanted nothing more than to punch the great big oaf in the face, but he knew that wasn't an option.

I hate this world. Natsu thought grumpily. Even if I was allowed to fight someone here it's not like it be a decent match anyway.

"Guess again, pal." Natsu said as he nimbly ducked around his fat arm and sped away before anyone could see that he was gone.

"That little punk's fast." One of the lackeys said.

"Shut up." Gordon ordered, not bothering to chase after the nuisance.

XXX

"Yo Luce." Natsu said as he took his seat next to her in their fifth period class, Biology. They sat at small lab tables that lined the classroom in two rows. They were lucky to get a table near the back of the class.

"Hey Natsu." She replied brightly. He felt immediately better after seeing her and his anger all but vanished. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just met Rordon Gornaldo." He said casually, picking up his pencil and twirling it around his fingers.

"You mean Gordon Ronald?" She replied with a giggle.

"That's the one."

"How'd you meet? I mean Gordon isn't the most welcoming person."

"You can say that again. I accidently bumped into him- which was pretty easy to do since he's massive- and then he got all mad and defensive."

"You didn't provoke him, did you?" Lucy said, alarmed.

"No! Well all I did was call him frowny face and ask him if he had wax in his ears-"

"Natsu! Promise me you won't ever say stuff like that to him again!"

"Wha? Why not?"

"He's dangerous! He's notorious for seriously hurting the people he wrestles against and whenever he gets in a fight outside the ring… those people end up in the hospital. He's a ruthless jerk, but it's better if you just let him be."

"That turns my stomach." Natsu growled, cracking his knuckles. He started to feel the familiar burn of the fire in his belly and his eyes glowed with a similar heat. It's one thing to be a jerk but if he was hurting people there's no way- Then Natsu saw the look on Lucy's face.

Her concern had all but vanished and was replaced by a look of wonder. Then Natsu remembered.

That's right. Lucy thinks I'm a normal person like the rest of the weaklings in this world. She has no idea that I could knock that bully out cold with a flick of my fingers.

He wasn't used to trying to calm himself down, but he did it any way for the sake of keeping his cover.

"Yeah it bothers me too, but there's nothing we can do about it." Lucy sighed after he calmed down. "Anyway I just texted my mom and she said you could come over tonight."

"Sounds good." Natsu replied. He'd almost forgotten that during lunch Lucy had invited him over to meet her parents and have dinner with her family. It had been easier than he thought to get into their house. Immediately, he felt guilty for his less than honorable intentions tonight.

"I do have to warn you, though. My parents are probably going to be pretty hard on you. They think that you're a bad influence on me, so they'll most likely ask you a bunch of tough questions."

If only Lucy knew just how bad of an influence he really was.

"Don't worry. I'm ready."

XXX

And I thought the school uniform was bad. Natsu thought as he walked to Lucy's house that evening. He was about to have dinner with her family and he was dressed in these stupid looking black dress pants with a black vest over a buttoned shirt that was a very harsh shade of white. To top it off his feet were being tortured inside these shiny dress shoes that he swore made him walk lopsided. At least he was still wearing Igneel's scarf.

As Lucy's mansion came into view, he dropped his mouth in awe. He knew she was rich but he had no idea that she was that rich. They could fit three of their guild halls into her house. It wasn't until then that Natsu actually started to get nervous. He wanted to make a good impression on the blonde's parents. If they liked him, then maybe they would let her get out more and see him. It was for that reason that Natsu carried a bouquet of roses in his hands. Alright so they were dead-looking and wilted and the wind crumpled them up a bit but it's the thought that matters right?

When he reached the front gates of her house, he had to be buzzed in by some funky intercom system. Natsu had no idea how a voice was coming out of a little white box, but he tried not to question it.

"Um, hi. I'm Natsu Dragneel and I'm here for dinner." He said, feeling slightly crazy for talking to an inanimate object.

"Of course. Please, come in." The magical voice said and the rod iron gates opened.

Who said there wasn't any magic in this world? Natsu chuckled as he entered and began his long walk up the winding driveway.

He reached up to knock on the grand front doors, but to his surprise they swing open before he made contact with the wood. Standing at the threshold, was a thin aging man wearing a tux. He recognized it as a tux because that's what Erza wanted him to wear tonight, but he had straight up refused.

"Good evening sir." The man said in a haunting voice. "We've been expecting you. My name is Pierre and I am the Freeman's butler."

"Oh so you're Pierre!" Natsu said clapping his hands together in excitement. "Lucy's told me all about you. Is it true you never blink?"

The butler shot him back an unflinching stare.

"So it is true!"

"If you'll follow me, Mr. Dragneel, I will show you to the living room." He said. Natsu could tell he was trying to hold back his annoyance. Was it something he said?

He found Lucy's mom and Lucy's dad waiting stiffly for him in the living room although there was no sign of Lucy yet. Their living room was nothing like the shabby one his apartment featured. Here, the ceiling reached up two stories and the floors were covered in a marble tile. Furniture was widely spaced apart, giving the room a spacious and expensive feel.

The mom and dad stood up from their seats on a stiff looking black leather couch and walked over to where Natsu was standing awkwardly, feeling way out of place. Pierre nodded his head and left them alone.

"You must be Mr. Dragneel." Lucy's father said with narrowed eyes. Her dad was a tall scary looking man. He had sleek black hair and a thick mustache.

"Yup, but I normally go by Natsu." He said with a smile that quickly faded as it was met by blank stares. "Um these are for you, Mrs. Freeman." He said quickly, shoving the crumpled roses in her direction.

"Well aren't these… lovely." She said taking them carefully, as if they were diseased or infected with parasites.

"My name is Max Freeman, but you will address me as sir or Mr. Freeman. Is that understood?" The man said, not wasting any time with pretending to like the boy. Just from one glance at the scruffy looking obnoxiously pink haired ruffian in a cheap suit and he disliked him even more than he had before.

"Got it." Natsu said through gritted teeth.

"And I am Gloria Freeman." The woman said, more politely than her husband. "It's lovely to meet you Natsu."

"Back at yah." The boy said, ruffling the back of his hair. Gloria cringed as if she were worried some of his pink locks might fall onto their flawless marble floor. "So where's Lucy?"

"I'm right here!" A voice called as it entered the room. Natsu looked up to see a slightly flustered looking girl walk in. "Sorry I'm late!" She said, but he wasn't paying attention anymore. He was too blown away by how she looked.

Lucy was wearing a stunning red dress that hugged her curves perfectly until in flowed out into a simple but beautiful silhouette to the floor. Her blonde hair was pulled into a fancy bun that accentuated her pretty brown eyes and delicate curves of her face.

"You look amazing." Natsu said, so caught up in her appearance that he forgot her very stern father was standing inches away.

"Thank you." She replied with a blush that matched the color of her dress. "You don't look so bad yourself."

The two continued to look curiously at the other until Max cleared his throat, interrupting the moment.

"So you've already met Natsu!" Lucy said, snapping out of it.

"Yes." Gloria said. "He's… lovely."

Say lovely one more time and I might actually believe you. Natsu grumbled inside his head.

XXX

Around half an hour later, dinner was served. Natsu sat at the long shiny table that, in his opinion, was much too large for only four people, as he looked at the twenty different pieces of silverware and wondered what the heck he was supposed to do with them. On his plate was some type of fish that smelled nothing like the ones he would catch with Happy and along with it was some type of green vegetable that looked like a squid. From across the table, Lucy motioned for him to put his napkin in his lap, which the boy did not understand at all. This might have been the first time in his life that he had ever used a napkin, but he was pretty sure that having it in his lap wasn't going to do an ounce of good.

"So Natsu, what do your parents do for a living?" Lucy's father asked. He seemed to know which of the four forks you were supposed to use.

"I don't have a mom and my dad doesn't have a job." Natsu said, picking up a random fork from an assortment of many and started poking the green thing on his plate.

"Then how do you afford your living expenses?" Max asked, disgusted but not surprised by this new piece of information.

"Natsu doesn't live with his father." Lucy quickly jumped in to explain. "He and two of his friends from California share an apartment."

"How… interesting."

The conversation fell quiet again. Max looked like he was about to break his wine glass beneath his angry grip while Lucy shifted around uncomfortably in her seat. The evening was not going like she has hoped. Natsu, oblivious to the awkward silence, continued to examine the weird food on his plate.

"And how are your grades at school?" Max asked him another question.

"What'd yah mean?"

"Considering your living circumstances, your grades must be impressive to attend a prestigious school like Martin."

"Well I guess that depends on what you mean by impressive." Natsu replied cheekily.

"How about we talk about something else?" Lucy said quickly before her father could reply. She tried to think of a conversation starter but her mother beat her to it.

"I would like to know where that hair of yours comes from. It's such a… lovely color." Gloria said.

"It comes from my head." Natsu said slowly, as if she had asked the stupidest question in the world.

"Do you have any hobbies?" Max asked, searching for any redeemable quality in the teenager.

"Yeah." The pink haired boy replied dreamily as he thought of how much he rather be fighting Gray right now.

"Such as?"

"Oh, I can't tell yah what they are!" Natsu replied brightly.

"Why not?"

"It's a secret."

"Well I assure you that I can keep a secret."

"But then it wouldn't be a secret anymore."

Dinner continued in that fashion for another forty five minutes. The family chef brought them out all sorts of courses while Lucy's parents hounded Natsu with questions. Every single one mortified the blond girl more than the last while Natsu didn't seem to mind at all. He kept his calm, deflecting all the questions with vague responses that made the adults even angrier.

"Natsu, I'd like a word with you in private." Max said once dinner was over. Lucy looked absolutely terrified, but Natsu just shrugged and followed the man into the study, an ovular room lined with bookshelves and dark red walls. There was a large dark brown desk at the center with a couple armchairs facing the front of it.

"What is it you wanna talk about, old man?" The fire wizard asked, plopping himself down on an armchair.

"I thought I told you to address me as 'sir'."

"Right." He replied easily, meeting the man's harsh glare with a steady stare of his own. Natsu wasn't an idiot. He knew why he was here and he knew exactly what Max thought of him. This may not be Earthland anymore but he was sure as hell not going to let himself get walked over.

"I'm going to be very blunt with you." Mr. Freeman growled through gritted teeth. "I don't like you at all, boy. I think you are a disrespectful and scruffy punk who has no right to associate with my daughter. A mangy street rat like you is the worst sort of influence for my proper young lady and I forbid you from ever speaking to her again."

"Let's get one thing straight, sir." Natsu snarled, standing up and taking a step towards the large man, unflinching. "I don't give a damn what you think about me, but I do care about Lucy. You got another thing coming if you think you are going to tell her exactly what to do for the rest of her life. If you really love her like you say you do, then you'll let her make her own decisions."

"Who do you think you are, boy? Telling me how to raise my own daughter-"

"That reminds me of something." Natsu said, interrupting him. "Since you've been asking me questions all night I think it's my turn. Lucy is adopted but you keep trying to pass her off as your real child. I wanna know why."

"The insolence-"

"Answer me or the whole world's gunna know she's adopted." Natsu said, crossing his arms. Max looked at him in shock. Clearly he thought the pink haired boy was too dumb to blackmail someone like that.

"If you must know, it's for the company." Her dad said angrily, but Natsu could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. "Our ownership laws are very strict and when it's time for her to inherit my business, the transaction will be simpler if we are related by blood."

"So you know nothing about Lucy's real parents?" Natsu asked. He didn't care about subtlety anymore, he just needed the information for his mission. "Or about her past?"

"What's it to you? Lucy is my child and there's nothing scandalous about her past! How dare you try to insinuate otherwise!"

Natsu raised his eyebrows. Through his heightened dragon slayer hearing, Natsu could hear that Max's heartbeat has increased, but that was probably just from anger, not from lying.

"Sorry, pal, not my intentions." The teenager said, all tension in his voice gone. He raised his hands defensively as he made his way towards the door. "I'll be going now. I would say it was nice to meet yah, but it wasn't."

"You're not going anywhere yet, boy! I'm not through talking to you!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm forbidden from seeing your daughter, I'm not good enough, blah blah blah, I get it." Natsu shrugged. "I'm not gunna listen to yah anyway so you might as well save your voice."

He raised a hand in farewell and strolled out of the study. He didn't look back but if he had, he would have seen a flabbergasted man trembling in anger. On his way out he said goodbye to Lucy, telling her he'd see her at school the next day. He grinned at her mom, thanked her for the lovely night, and headed back for his apartment.

XXX

"How was your date pinky?" Gray asked as Natsu walked through the door. "Blow anything up?"

"Shut up, frosty!"

"Are you in loooooove, Natsu?" Happy giggled, floating around the room.

"What? No, it wasn't a date!"

"But you have met her parents so I guess it's pretty serious." Erza nodded, playing along.

"Bet he made a great first impression." Gray scoffed sarcastically.

"Of course not. He's Natsu." The Happy said contently.

"Well maybe he did manage to at least –"

"They hate me." Natsu said bluntly, crossing his arms. He crossed the room to collapse on the couch while his three teammates took the moment to laugh at him. Happy hopped up on the couch to sit next to him.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"But for the record I don't like them either so the feeling is mutual."

"What happened?" Erza asked. "Did you find out anything useful?"

"Other than that her parents know squat about their daughter, not really. The only reason Lucy's dad changed her official last name to Heartfilia was so that she could inherit his company without any issues."

"Well then it is fortunate that Gray and I did find out some useful information in our trip to the orphanage today."

"I helped too!" Happy piped up. "Although Erza made me act like a cat again."

"How dare she?"

"You did it too, Natsu!"

"Anyway, we went to the orphanage that Lucy said she grew up at and talked to the women in charge there." Erza said, as usual being the one to get them back on track. "She said that Lucy was brought there by a strange man when she was just a year old. Apparently, the man said that he found her on the side of a street and when he saw no identification, he brought her to the orphanage."

"What a nice guy." Natsu said casually, but then Happy smacked him on the head.

"Don't be stupid, Natsu! That obviously was just his cover story!"

"Happy's right." Erza nodded. "Knowing that Lucy has magical power within her, there has to be more to the story. I believe that this stranger has something to do with the real reason we are here. We have been searching for the connection between Lucy and the massive source of magical power Mystogan warned us about, and this man has to be it."

"The only problem is that we have no idea who the man is or where he is now." Gray commented.

"Did the orphanage lady give you a description?"

"That's the thing." Erza said in an odd voice. She had a thin smirk on her face. "He was wearing a hood and sunglasses so she couldn't see his face. But what she did see was that he had a rather interesting tattoo on the inside of his wrist."

"What was it?"

"It was an image of a blade slashing through the letter 'C'." Erza said, still smiling.

"What's so funny about that?" Natsu asked. Gray rolled his eyes but answered his question with an excited murmur.

"That is the emblem of Crimson Edge, a dark wizard guild in Fiore."

"Wait but that means-"

"Yes. It means we aren't the only wizards in America."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Doesn't everybody love a good cliff hanger? Sorry about that but it had to be done. I just wanted to say thank you to all of my readers- especially those of you who have reviewed so far. I simply love hearing what you guys have to say, it really does make my day! I hope you are enjoying the story and the next chapter will be up soon.