Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
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Chapter 7: New Start
Erza, Natsu, and Lucy got into one of the agency's cars in a hurry.
"So Erza what is the case about?" Natsu asked.
"Here" she said giving him a folder.
Natsu frowned "I don't want to read it"
"Too bad I'm driving" Erza snapped.
Natsu shrugged and gave it to Lucy "Can you read it and tell me, please"
Lucy rolled her eyes and took the folder and opened it.
Lucy read the whole report and said "There was a robbery that ended up killing two people, one victim was stabbed and the other was shot both died on the scene"
Natsu whistled "This is going to be fun"
"Fun? Natsu this is serious two people died" Lucy scolded.
"Lucy don't mind Natsu, he just said that because he's going to try hard for this case" Erza interrupted.
"Okay" and no one else talked during the rest on the car ride.
When they got to the scene, the house was closed off and cops and reporters surrounded the area.
"Lucy and Natsu let's head straight inside and don't talk to any of the reporters" Erza ordered and walked quickly to the house.
The cops let them through and some reporters tried talking to them, but they ignored them.
When they got inside, there was photographers and more cops inside.
Natsu and Lucy walked towards the murder scene while Erza talked to some of the other agents and cops.
They saw two bodies on the floor in the living room, one was a woman and the other was a teenage boy. Lucy assumed they were mother and son; the mother had various stab wounds on her legs and torso while the son had a shot to his head. The room was covered in blood for there was struggle in the situation.
"Here" Natsu said and handed Lucy some gloves.
Lucy took them and put them on; Natsu put his on and walked towards the body.
"Are the pictures done?" Natsu asked one of the cops who nodded.
He nodded and turned the mother's body around; Lucy thought she was going to be sick.
Her stomach was totally mutilated; there were wounds as if she was stabbed repeatedly. Then down her body were other stab wounds. There was blood that was crusted by the wound, and there was no fresh blood coming out of her.
Natsu held his arm to his nose "This was definitely the cause of death, and by the looks of it the person who did it kept stabbing her even after she had died" Natsu observed looking at the wounds on her body.
Lucy had a look of horror on her face "Who would do something like this?"
"I don't know but were going to find out" Natsu snarled.
Lucy was baffled by Natsu's hostility but she felt the same way.
Natsu put the mother's body down gently and moved to the son, he was so young.
Natsu checked his body for any other wounds and found none "This was definitely a two person job because the mother's body was totally maimed while the son's is untouched. They just killed him with a gun instead of stabbing him so one is ruinous while the other wanted it clean and fast"
"Wow your good at this" Lucy commented kneeling by Natsu.
"Unfortunately" he replied softly then looked at her.
"See anything?" he asked.
Lucy looked at the two bodies with sorrow. Why would someone do this? She thought to herself but something caught her eye.
"This may sound gross but could we check what kind of bullet they used?"
Natsu thought for a minute "Yeah, maybe it could give us a start on the suspects"
"This is worse than I thought" Erza interrupted standing behind them.
"The chief of police said they found no evidence at all which is hard to believe, these people must be experienced. Natsu did you find anything?"
"Yes I'll write it in my report"
"Okay and Lucy you okay?"
"Yes just a little disturbed" she replied.
Erza nodded "Sorry I didn't know it would be this gruesome"
Lucy nodded "Erza was there ever a murder like this before?"
"Yes there was various murders but it was a long time ago and it was much worse, why do you ask?" Erza said with caution.
Lucy didn't notice but Erza saw Natsu tense up.
"I was just wondering" Lucy replied.
"I got the pictures and information and you guys did the observations and the bodies will be sent to us for autopsy so let's go" Erza said still looking at Natsu with doubt but she chose not to say anything.
They left the scene and ignored all the reporters again and drove back to the agency in silence.
"Lucy pretty soon you will need to write reports on your case's and give it to Gajeel"
"I'll remember that so what now?"
"We're going to evaluate the data and the science unit will study the bodies when they get here" Erza answered as they got out of the car.
Lucy nodded then she noticed Natsu was quiet, too quiet.
"Hey Natsu you okay?"
"Yes" he replied softly.
"Okay" she replied unsatisfied with his answer.
"Well bye guys" Natsu said and left in a hurry.
"Erza what's wrong with Natsu?"
"I think I have an idea but it's not my place to tell you" she said.
Lucy was confused "Whose place is it exactly?"
"I think you should ask Natsu later, well I have work to do so see you" and Erza left into the building.
Lucy sighed and walked to the building too, she went to check in with Gajeel. He told her she could go home so she walked to her car and drove home.
"I'm home" Lucy called when she walked into the door of her apartment.
"Hey Lucy" she heard Cana say from her room.
"Did you watch the news?" Lucy asked.
Cana walked out of her room in pajamas "No why?"
"I went on my first case today, and it was a lot to take in"
"You want to talk about it?" Cana asked sitting on the couch.
"It's hard to explain" Lucy sighed and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.
"I see but how is your cute little boy toy?"
"Cana! Boy toy? What the hell? And he was fine before we went to the scene…then he got all quiet and distant" Lucy mumbled grabbing an apple.
"Weird did you ask him?"
"No I got the vibe he didn't want to talk"
"Oh well maybe tomorrow you can ask" Cana said grabbing Lucy's apple from her hand and taking a bite.
Lucy smiled and grabbed the apple back "Yeah I will so how was work?"
"Same old same old"
"Anything exciting?" Lucy asked trying to get Cana into a talking mood.
"Nope nothing" she said lying down.
"Well I officially don't work there anymore" Lucy sighed.
"I know and it's not as fun with you there but I guess I'll manage"
"I'm glad but I'll probably drop by every so often"
"Please do" Cana smiled.
Lucy smiled back and walked to her room to take a bath.
When Lucy was in the shower she kept thinking about the murder scene, she cringed "Who and why would someone do that? And what was Natsu and Erza's deal?" she thought to herself as the water cascaded down her bare back.
Lucy got out of shower and stared at her face in the mirror.
"Am I really ready for this?" she asked herself.
She shook her head "Of course" and she went to go change.
Lucy and Cana ordered some pizza and watched movies, Lucy got her mind off work and felt relaxed. After Lucy went through the packet Erza gave her and read everything, it was all pretty self-explanatory so Lucy knew what she was getting into.
"You know Lucy, with your new salary we can probably move to a bigger place" Cana said eyeing the part about the salary on Lucy's packet.
Lucy laughed "Probably but I like it here"
"Yeah me too, we can use your money for shopping" Cana joked.
"Definitely" and they just talked.
A few hours later they went to bed.
The next morning Lucy woke up around 10 and went into the living room, she found out Cana had left for work already. Lucy brushed her teeth and ate breakfast and turned on the news.
The news was talking about the murder scene. The news lady was talking about some stuff they must have gotten from the cops about the case. Lucy felt horrible all over again, they had confirmed it was a mother and son, the mother's name was Nancy Brown and the son's name was Seth Brown and he was only 14 years old. They explained it was a robbery gone wrong, but Lucy knew there was something definitely going on besides a robbery gone wrong. She decided she wanted to look more into the case, so she'll ask Erza and Gajeel to let her.
Lucy got ready and rushed to the agency and luckily ran into Erza on the way in.
"Hey Erza I was wondering if I could also investigate this case"
"That's Gajeel's decision and you need combat training before you can go in the field and investigate so come to our classes on Sunday" Erza responded.
"Okay I'll ask him and what time are they?"
"6 o'clock a.m."
Lucy's eyes widened "Okay see you there"
"Great, have a good day" and Erza left.
Lucy rushed to the 8th floor in a hurry and ran to Gajeel's office.
"Excuse me sir, may I get on the recent murder case?" she asked as nicely as possible.
"Why?" he asked looking at her.
"I want to try my own case and I'm angered by what those people did so I want justice"
"You need training"
"I know, I'm going to take a Erza's classes"
Gajeel thought for a minute "I still think it's too risky for a rookie to be on a case like this, you need to start off easy so I think we should leave it to Erza"
"Please Gajeel, I want to investigate this case" she begged.
"This case is very dangerous, if you died it would be on my account so sorry blondie it's a no, you need more training and experience. So we will call you about your office later" he finished.
Lucy stared at him "Yes sir" and she left his office.
Lucy decided to see if Natsu was in his office so she went to the 12th floor and walked to the door that said "Dragneel" and she knocked.
There was a pause then "Come in"
She walked in and saw Natsu on his desk looking through a bunch of papers.
He looked at her with surprise "Lucy what are you doing here?"
"Just wanted to check on you, where's Happy?" Lucy asked looking for the blue fur ball.
"At home but seriously why are you here, new agents don't have to stay here until they get their office and assignments"
Lucy stared at Natsu and he stared back expectantly "Fine, I was talking to Gajeel and decided to come by, what are you doing?" she asked sitting on the couch.
"The Brown's Case" he replied.
"The case from yesterday?"
He nodded "Why were you talking to Gajeel anyway?" he asked not looking up from his papers.
She hesitated then spoke "I wanted to be on the Brown's Case but he refused"
"Good" he said.
Lucy got mad "Good? What's that supposed to mean?" she said walking towards him.
"I mean you just got here and this case so too big for a rookie"
"Rookie? You act like you just met me!" she yelled at him.
He put down the papers he was looking at and ran a hand through his hair "Lucy this case could be dangerous and you have no experience so please just stay out of this" he begged looking her in the eyes.
Lucy stared at Natsu "I can take care of myself" she pouted.
Natsu smiled at her reaction "Please Lucy you just started so take it easy, Kay"
She rolled her eyes "Yeah"
"Well I need to get back to work so I'll see you later"
Lucy frowned "Fine see you later"
Lucy left the office irritated, what was his problem? She huffed and went to the kitchen.
She wanted someone to talk to about work and Cana was out of the question and Levy was probably busy so she thought of Mira.
When Lucy got to the dining room, she saw it was empty.
"Hello Lucy do you want something?" Mira asked walking out of the kitchen.
"No thanks"
"Okay but how was your first case?"
"Gruesome" Lucy said with disgust.
"I know I saw the news and Erza told me"
"Yeah Natsu started acting weird after…would you know why?"
Mira froze then sighed "I guess you'll find out sooner or later come let's sit down somewhere more private"
Mira led Lucy into a room in the back, it was empty. Mira sat at one of the tables in the room.
"Come sit" she pointed to the chair next to her, Lucy sat down,
"Okay I'm going to tell you something that you cannot tell any outside friends or family" Mira said sternly.
Lucy nodded "I promise"
"Good, because this is personal information about Natsu"
Mira cleared her throat.
"You see Natsu's birth parents were killed in a similar manner as the Brown's"
Lucy's eyes widened she opened her mouth then closed it; she didn't know what to say.
Mira's face dropped then she continued "It was 17 years ago and he was only 5 years old. When his parents were attacked the killer made him watch is parents die; he also gave Natsu that scar on his neck. When the police came the man had left and left a poor orphaned boy alone. Natsu had to go through major therapy for him to live a normal life and ended up with a happy home with his current parents. The murderer never came back and there were no more murders like that"
Lucy didn't know what to say or feel, she had no idea her cheerful friend had such a terrible past. She almost wished she didn't go looking for answers.
"Is there any other information on the murderer?" Lucy asked.
"Well the murderer killed various people, they never really found anything on the man because he would always leave no evidence and leave before the police came. Natsu's parents were his last kill, and he just disappeared. The information we got was from one of the men investigating the case. He wrote it down in a journal and gave it to Chief Makarov, the chief told us Natsu's past to make us understand and we do, we all have something dark in our past" Mira said sadly.
"Could the murders now be the same man?"
"It's too soon to tell"
Before Lucy could ask any more questions Mira said "Lucy please don't mention this to Natsu until he's ready, please understand it's very personal and we don't like to bring it up, it brings back horrible memories. I hope this answered all your questions but I have to go back to work so have a good day" and left the conflicted blond alone.
How can she understand? Lucy thought to herself. She felt angry but sad and she didn't know how she can look at the Natsu the same, but she had to.
Lucy needed something to get her mind off of things, so she left in a hurry and went to the bar.
She saw Cana at the counter busily serving drinks.
Lucy walked towards the counter and sat in front of Cana.
"Hey Cana" Lucy said glumly.
"Hi Lucy how was work?" Cana asked making drinks.
"Busy"
"Same here, paradise margarita" Cana called and a woman came by and grabbed her drink.
"Cana I'm sorry could I get a small glass of wine"
"Coming right up" Cana winked at her and grabbed a glass and poured wine into it.
Cana smiled and gave Lucy the glass and started making more drinks.
"Thanks" and Lucy drank about half the glass in one sip.
Lucy frowned "I shouldn't be drinking but I feel horrible"
"Shut up and drink it Lucy" Cana smirked.
Lucy stuck her tongue out at her and drank the rest.
"That was good" then her phone rang.
"Hello" she answered.
"Lucy we need you to come to the agency, your office has been assigned and we want you to work immediately" someone told her.
"Okay I'll be there soon; do I just go to the front desk?"
"No go to the 8th floor and speak with Gajeel he will explain everything"
"Thank you"
"Your welcome" and they hung up.
Shit, Lucy thought. She forgot about the office thing and she had just downed a glass of wine and they want her to go to work immediately, she was screwed.
"Hey Cana I got to go"
"Alright Lucy be safe" Cana replied hugging Lucy over the counter.
Lucy hugged back "See you at home"
Lucy went straight to the 8th floor and she shoved a bunch of mints in her mouth to get rid of the wine smell.
She blew in her hand and only smelt mint. Feeling satisfied with her breath she walked to Gajeel's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in" he said gruffly
Lucy walked in "Hello sir"
"Blondie I have your office number and first assignment" he said holding out a folder.
Lucy took it "Thank you sir"
"Enough with that sir crap, it's annoying" he grumbled.
Lucy smiled "Sorry"
Gajeel rolled his eyes "Here's your number you can put anything you want as long as it doesn't violate rules" he gave her a piece of paper.
"Thanks" and Lucy left to find her office.
Lucy walked down the hallway and looked for the matching number on the paper she held in her hand.
She finally found it, and it was blank on the door.
Lucy opened the door and saw a large mahogany desk with a leather chair, it had white walls. There was a little coffee table with an L-shaped brown leather couch on one side of the room, on the other side she saw there was supplies to make coffee and tea and a little microwave and refrigerator on a counter then next to it was an island with 3 chairs on the side of the island.
"This is all mine" she said to herself amazed.
Lucy didn't know where to start; she put her bag down and looked around her office.
She had a big window with a nice view of the city, and she was so happy.
Then she remembered the assignment, she grabbed the folder and sat at her desk.
She felt very professional, and her chair was very comfortable so she opened the folder.
Her first assignment was to attend a hearing for a man who supposedly copied a famous treaty document and was selling it illegally. She studied the papers and sorted the information. Is this all investigators do? She thought to herself. The hearing was tomorrow afternoon.
"Maybe Natsu could come" she said out loud.
"Where?" someone asked.
Lucy screamed then got mad "Natsu! What the hell? Have you ever heard of knocking?" she squealed at the man who was standing at the door.
He laughed and walked into the room "Sorry, I found out you got your own office so I wanted to see how you're doing" he said.
Lucy calmed down and smiled "Thanks"
"So what were you talking about?"
"I have to go to a hearing tomorrow and I was wondering if you wanted to come"
"Maybe, I have to see first"
"Okay" Lucy pouted
Natsu grinned at her "Are you excited for your first official case?"
"Not as much as I should be" she mumbled.
"Why?"
"Because I thought I would be actually be doing something cool"
"This is cool" he smirked.
"You know what I mean" she snapped.
"The reason why, is you don't have any combat training so you can't do more exciting cases like Gajeel or Juvia"
"Who's Juvia?"
"Another investigator, you'll probably meet her later. Anyway after you are cleared you'll get your badge and your gun and be able to go out in the field" Natsu explained.
"Okay so I definitely have to go to your combat classes"
"Yes mam, its every Sunday at 6 a.m.-10 a.m."
"Damn that's early"
"It is so go sleep early"
Lucy made a face at Natsu.
"Come on Lucy, you're the one who said you wanted something more exciting so work for it."
"Uh you're irritating" she smirked.
"Just like you" he retorted and lied down on her couch.
"Hey get off I didn't even lie on it yet" Lucy stammered pushing Natsu off.
He fell off with a grunt "Sorry I didn't know"
"Well you do now"
Natsu smiled at Lucy and she couldn't help but smile back.
It was Sunday morning, it was 5:30 a.m. and Lucy was grouchy as hell.
Yesterday was her first assignment and it was boring and lame. She wanted to stab her eyes out when she was in the court room and Natsu couldn't come because he was called to do another assignment, so she was even more bored then the man ended up being guilty so Lucy wrote her first report and gave it to Gajeel.
Cana was still asleep when Lucy left in her work out clothes, she felt tired but awake because she did listen to Natsu and went to sleep early.
When she got to the agency, it was empty and quiet except the typing the woman at the front desk was making.
"Hi where do I go for the combat classes?" Lucy asked the woman.
"3rd floor" she replied.
"Thanks" and she went into the elevator.
When she walked out she saw Michelle and William; there was at least 11 other people in the room waiting with them.
Lucy smiled at them and sat down at one of the chairs and waited for Natsu to show up.