Lucy sat waiting in her apartment for Lisanna's arrival, after finding out Kaby had in fact been renting his home and didn't have the two million jewels that was promised to them they went away empty handed and after the long trek back to Magnolia the group had agreed to rest for a day before she gave them a demonstration of her abilities (much to Natsu and Happy's excitement). Oh well, at least Lucy got a new Zodiac key out of the failed endeavour. Now, all she needed to do was wait for her guests to arrive for the demonstration of her magic. Speaking of which, there was a knock on the door, her friends had arrived. However, as Lucy opened the door, she was greeted by an empty hallway or so Lucy thought as familiar voice spoke up, "Down here Lucy." She looked to see Happy, who then walked past the blonde's legs.
"Where are Natsu and Lisanna?" The celestial wizard asked as she closed the door behind her.
"Natsu overslept, so Lisanna is trying to get him out of bed." The blue cat giggled.
"You like teasing people don't you?" Lucy questioned, though she had to admit that it was quite funny.
"Yeah, I know I can be annoying sometimes but it's just how I show affection, the truth is I actually really like you Lucy." Happy admitted bashfully as he sat down on her couch, Lucy ruffled the fur on his head playfully to show his feelings were mutual.
Another knock at the door sounded, it was Cana clutching a bottle of wine. Seeing as the brunette was another close friend she had made in the guild, it only made sense to Lucy that she was invited to see a display of the blonde's magic, "For you, consider it a housewarming gift." The card-user grinned.
"Thank you." Lucy said, graciously accepting the wine, though being able to drink it would have to wait for another day. Cana gave an impressed whistle as she walked inside and took a look around, giving a nod of acknowledgement to Happy.
"All this for only seventy-thousand jewels a month, nice deal!" She said, seeing as the Fairy Hills girl's dorm had a similar setup but cost one-hundred thousand jewels a month. Cana knew how to make herself at home, as demonstrated when she sat down and leaned back to relax in a chair.
Then there was a series of rapid knocks on the door, when Lucy opened it, Natsu and Lisanna were standing there. The former was eagerly bouncing on the balls of his feet, "When I reminded him what today was he shot out of bed like a bullet." Lisanna explained, letting the two friend's chuckle at the fire-user's attitude.
With all of her guests assembled, Lucy pulled out a key and began to recite an incantation, "I, who connects this world with the spirit world, command thee to answer my call, pass through the gate!" White smoke began to swirl around the blonde as she was illuminated by a light with a vaguely blue hue, "Open, Gate of the Little Dog: Nicola!" At her command a series of bright lights appeared before shortly coalescing to create a vaguely humanoid form, its features obscured by the bright light. When it died down, a snowman-like spirit about Happy's size who perpetually shivered was shown.
"He's so cute!" Lisanna and Lucy chimed together, Cana simply smiled contently, sharing the sentiment but not choosing to openly express it. Natsu and Hapy were the least impressed with the spirit.
"Spirits like Nicola don't use a lot of magic to summon, so they're quite popular as pets." Lucy explained, "Now to form the contract, how are you on Monday's?" At her question, the silver key spirit gave a shake of its head. Lucy continued listing of the days of the week, the snowman-like spirit either giving a shake or a nod in response, she spoke up again once she'd finished, "All he needs is a name," Thinking for a brief moment, "How about Plue?" Though her friends seemed a little confused by the nickname there were no questions raised, by contrast the dog spirit was quite happy with its new nickname and after Lucy gave him one last hug he disappeared back to the celestial spirit world.
"Now, for Virgo." Lucy said as she pulled out the gold key.
"Alright, the gorilla maid!" Natsu said eagerly, his interest in viewing the summoning restored. Cana gave him a quizzical look but didn't get a chance to ask what he was talking about as Lucy once again stated the initial summoning line.
"Open, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" She finished, though much to the confusion of four of the five occupants of the room, the muscle-bound servant from the day before did not appear. Instead was a petite young woman with chin-length pink hair and blue eyes dressed in a maid outfit.
"Yes mistress, how may I serve you?" She asked, giving a slight bow, it took Lucy a moment to realise that the question was addressed to her.
"Virgo?" The blonde inquired.
"That is correct, I apologise for the confusion, I typically take a form that I feel my master will find suitable." The Zodiac spirit explained.
"Aw, I liked you when you were a gorilla…" Natsu whined, Virgo's response was to suddenly shift into the larger form though in the small confines of the apartment, she looked ready to go through the ceiling.
"The short version is fine!" Lucy screeched in alarm, Virgo shrunk back to the form she had appeared in, with thankfully minimal damage to the roof.
"Thank you for your input mistress." Virgo said, though Lucy looked somewhat uncomfortable with the title.
"You know, you don't have to call me that." Lucy replied.
"Oh, then what about master?" Lucy shook her head, "Milady?" Another shake prompted the maid-like spirit to continue.
"Doesn't it seem like they're making a contract in reverse now?" Happy commented in a whisper to the other three. All of them snickered lightly as the back and forth between Lucy and Virgo did seem like their positions had been switched.
"Princess?" Virgo questioned, she was persistent, Lucy would give her that much though princess did sound like a nice title to have…
"Alright then." Lucy sighed in good-natured defeat, a smile indicating there were no hard feelings towards the spirit's perseverance.
"Very good," Virgo said, "I am available Monday through Saturday at all times, however Sundays are my days off." She informed her, they shook hands in hands in agreement, "Then I will be on my way, I look forward to working with you soon Princess," She said before turning to Lisanna, "And with you as well, Miss Lisanna." With that, she disappeared in a flash of gold light.
"That all seems really simple." Natsu commented.
"It is to an extent, but it's also very important," The blonde stated, "You see a contract is sort of like a promise where both spirit and summoner agree to look out for one another. As such, the only thing I can never break is a promise."
"That's really interesting," Cana spoke up, "But not as interesting as having a genuine princess in our midst," She continued in a teasing tone, strutting up to the blonde and taking her by the right hand, gently planting a kiss on the blonde's guild mark. Lucy blushed furiously, she knew exactly what the gesture was and Lisanna's teasing comment only solidified that fact.
"Cana, how scandalous! At least propose to her grace before trying to marry her!" One of Fiore's traditions in terms of marriage was that if one or both spouses were official wizards, their partner would have to kiss the guild mark to show not just their devotion to their husband or wife, but to the guild they belonged to.
"Guys stop teasing me!" Lucy whined, causing the other occupants to burst out laughing.
"When's the wedding?" Happy asked from the sidelines, somehow Lucy's blush went even darker and the others in the room could have sworn steam was rising out of the blonde's head. Evidently, this caused a fresh round of laughter from everyone aside from the embarrassed celestial wizard.
After relentlessly teasing the blonde, the group made their way to the guild hall as Natsu, Lisanna and Happy went ahead, Cana pulled Lucy back, walking behind the farthest of their little band, "So you can summon a bull with a battle-axe, a maid who does everything you say and calls you princess, and a spirit who can cause tsunamis? You're turning out to be a real badass aren't you?"
Lucy smiled at the compliment, "Don't forget what I told you my crab spirit did to my opponent the day before."
"How could I?" Cana snorted in amusement, "I was laughing so hard I thought beer was going to start coming out my nose." The card-user reached into her pockets and pulled out a deck of cards, "How about as a thank you, I show you what I can do?"
"Oh yeah, how does your card magic work?" Lucy asked.
The brunette grinned at that, eager to explain, "You see I have a lot of different cards, so I tend to create different decks for different purposes. Some cards I use to incapacitate my opponent, like the Vulcan we fought with the dizziness spell others can cause damage usually from elemental abilities sealed within the card."
"Wow, card magic is actually really versatile isn't it?" Lucy wondered, amazed by the varying degrees to which the objects could be used in combat.
"They are but there's more to it than just fighting. You see cards can also be used as trackers if a group gets separated, as temporary prisons to capture rogue wizards or even be used to tell the future." Lucy's eyes widened, clearly the objects normally associated with games or gambling had the potential to be much more powerful than she first realised.
"So you can predict what will happen before it's even begun?" Lucy asked in awe.
Cana shrugged, "A little bit though only as far as a week at most, that being said I can say whether or not the future will be related to your past." The blonde gave an impressed nod at her answer.
The two reached the guild hall and took a seat with Natsu and Lisanna, who had already entered the base and situated themselves next to the other two Strauss siblings, "Morning Lucy." Mirajane greeted cheerily, Elfman giving a nod of acknowledgement, Lucy greeted them with a nod of her own.
Before the group could begin any conversation amongst themselves, a certain auburn-haired playboy made his way over to them, "So this is our beautiful new member?" He asked in suave tone.
"Someone's a little late," Cana commented dryly, "Four days has to be the longest you've ever gone without asking a new member out on a date, it's a record by your standards."
Loke shrugged at that, "What can I say? I had other priorities."
"You mean girls?" Natsu quipped, earning chuckles from everyone else seated at the table.
"Aw that's harsh Natsu," The ring-magic user said, "But anyway, how about a date Lucy?"
"Don't try anything shifty Loke." Cana said, "If you do Lucy can summon her giant crab spirit to make you bald and I know you care about your hair more than most things."
"Giant crab spirit?" Loke mumbled, a slight bit of unease beginning to settle in his features.
Lucy was oblivious to said unease and simply chuckled at her friend's banter with the guild mate she had yet to talk to. She took out her keychain to show him, "How about this Loke? One date, and we'll see where it goes, take me out anywhere you want, but no funny business my spirits will make sure of that." However, much to the confusion of those seated, Loke began backing away quite rapidly.
"Sorry, I have… stuff to do." He explained hastily, making a beeline for the guild's doors at a quick speed no one was expecting.
"What was that all about?" Elfman asked in confusion, having never seen the eligible bachelor run scared from anyone who didn't threaten him first.
Cana shrugged at that, "Don't know, but I guess this makes you the fourth girl Loke isn't willing to date Lucy."
"Who are the other three?" Lucy asked.
Mirajane answered her question, "That would be me out of respect for who I am, Lisanna for reasons that I'm not going to divulge at the moment and then there's-" Before the eldest Strauss could finish her sentence, the guild doors were swung open with force, gaining the attention of everyone in the guild hall. It was Loke, panting with a thick sheet of sweat clear on his brow, he must have rushed back in a hurry.
"We have a problem," He began in a dread-filled tone, "Erza's back."
"Her." Mirajane finished as everyone but herself and Lucy appeared nervous, though the latter was more due to ignorance as to whom Erza was than anything else.
A new face entered the guild hall, a young woman a little bit older than Lucy dressed in armour with long, red hair. The air she gave off was intimidating, which was only amplified by the fact that she was carrying a bejewelled horn twice her size with only one hand. Yet despite her appearance, Erza was rather beautiful, Lucy would have said at least as pretty as Mirajane and could probably give Cana a run for her money in terms of looks. It was plain to see why Loke would be unwilling to date her.
"Hello everyone, as you can see, I've returned." She said bluntly.
Elfman was the first to gain the courage to speak up, "What's that horn?"
"It belonged to the monster I fought," Erza briefly explained, "The locals were so grateful that they decided to decorate it for me." The middle Strauss nodded in understanding, but a brief regretful look also crossed his features.
"But I've also heard that despite the crackdown on our destructive habits there's still several antics that make the guild look unprofessional." She began strictly, "Firstly, Wakaba, stop smoking in the guild hall," The older wizard kept his complaints to himself as he put out his pipe, "Cana, I've told you several times to not use clients to pay for your bar tab," The card-user looked away but didn't even mutter anything under her breath. The armoured woman continued to admonish her guild mates until Natsu finally got fed up.
"Did you want something or did you just come here to complain all day?"
Erza went silent at that and several other members looked at Natsu like he was completely insane for speaking out against her, "No," Erza replied, "When I was on my way back from my latest mission, I received troubling reports. The dark guild Eisenwald has apparently acquired Lullaby, an ancient flute that is said to kill anyone who hears its song." An air of dread filled the inside of the building, with such power in the wrong hands, no good could come of it.
"Which is why, I need the help of Natsu and Gray." She continued, causing a ripple of surprise as if she wanted the two polar opposites on her team, then the situation was likely dire.
"I have to work together with him?!" The two rivals questioned in unison, both shooting each other a glare and probably would have picked a fight then and there if Erza wasn't standing right in front of them.
"Apparently, Lullaby has not fallen into the hands of Eisenwald's leader Erigor, it is simply in the possession of another member of the guild who's acting as a courier. They're right here in Magnolia, but I have no way of knowing whom the courier is, thus we will head out first thing tomorrow and intercept him before he can reach his guild hall." The scarlet knight explained, ignoring the grievances of the other two members.
"How about you let me and my team handle that instead?" Mirajane spoke out, causing even more surprise from the guild.
Erza looked at her fellow S-class questioningly, "You don't need to go on it if you don't want to." She said in a tone that made her seem concerned for the take-over user.
"But I do want to." Mirajane replied, "If you wait even until tomorrow morning, what's to stop whoever is carrying Lullaby to leave at night and be in Oshibana town before you're even up?" She pointed out.
"I wanted to rest so I could fight Eisenwald at my full strength." Erza said.
"That's admirable, and there's no doubt in my mind that you could do it," Mirajane admitted, "But if it's just one guild member transporting Lullaby, you can take care of it easily. So how about letting me and my team cut off the head of the problem, while you deal with the flute?"
Erza after a long moment of consideration, finally sighed in defeat, "I hate it when you're right."
"No you love it." Mirajane teased before she turned around, "Elfman, go to Magnolia station and get our tickets for our train ride to Oshibana town, Lis and I will pack our things. Natsu, Lucy and Happy, you're coming with us as well so get ready."
"As long as I don't have to work with the ice princess, that's fine by me." Natsu stated bluntly.
"Well fine ash-for-brains, I didn't want to work with you either!" Gray retorted as the Dragon Slayer exited the guild hall.
Before Lucy moved towards the doors, she cast an apologetic look to Cana, "Don't worry about it," Her friend said nonchalantly, "Duty calls, I can show you a thing or two when we get back, maybe even take you on an official mission, deal?" She asked.
"Deal!" The blonde replied glad that it was sorted out. She made her way to her apartment to pack anything she might need.
It didn't take Lucy too long to pack, in fact she was the first to arrive at Magnolia station, well aside from the person Mirajane had sent to acquire the tickets for them, "Hi Elfman!" The blonde greeted, another nod of acknowledgement, the middle of the Strauss siblings was… definitely stoic. Though perhaps a certain question the blonde had been wanting to ask since Mira offered to take out Eisenwald in Erza's place would convince the man she'd had seldom interaction with to open up, "Hey Elfman?" She asked to gain his attention, "Why was everyone so surprised with Mirajane's suggestion?"
Elfman flinched briefly, though it was barely noticeable, still Lucy had asked a question so it would be impolite of him to refuse, "An incident occurred two years ago, one that convinced Mirajane to not take S-Class missions as often and it's been a while since she did one," He then shrugged, "I guess the reason why Erza didn't have anything to say despite knowing that is because she believes in her."
Lucy was happy with the answer, but now she recalled what Bora had said in Hargeon, an incident that took place two years ago. One that the slaver had claimed nearly cost the life of one of their teammates, "Was it the beast incident?" Lucy asked as tentatively as she could.
This time, Elfman looked visibly surprised, he took a deep breath to sigh as he calmed himself down, "I'm glad you at least know about it and you were probably going to hear the whole story eventually, but you should probably hear it from me, Lisanna or Mira would try to sugar-coat it to make it seem like it wasn't my fault." He explained, "As I said, it happened two years ago. Mira, Lisanna, and I were assigned to an emergency S-class mission to defeat a monster known as the Beast. I thought I would be strong enough to use my style of take-over magic to control it, I was so wrong and because of my actions, Natsu almost died…"
A/N: And cliffhanger! Sorry guys but you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out what happened on the famous mission XP. I look forward to seeing you their!