A/N: Thank you, I know I say it every chapter but I mean it every time! Things are beginning to turn now. Can you sense the impending doom? Well it's actually not gonna be for a while but this is going to be important, so pay attention okay :)
Lucy and Natsu stared at Taro in utter silence. Neither of them dared say a word, dared even breathe. It was amazing how small the world was, how amazing the world was. When Guildarts had returned from his 100 year mission, the first time Lucy had met the man, he had been in taters and now they knew why. It was just as dramatic as one might expect of the man who stood at the top of the guild of Fairy Tail. Lucy found herself shaking, her encounter with Acnologia had been the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced. To think that Taro had felt the same emotions several years before her, and now bared the scars those emotions cost, it was hard to comprehend how he had remained so strong. How he had grown so strong. Admiration for the boy swelled up inside Lucy, she'd had a blessed childhood in many ways, after all her family had all the money in the world, not that she ever saw any of it. However, Taro's story wasn't quite over yet.
"The village may have been saved and our curse finally lifted but our village would never be the same again. The general feeling was that magic was evil, that magic caused all of them to suffer, that Acnologia was another form of the demon that haunted them. They cast Guildarts out as soon as he could walk, and..."
For the first time Taro faltered slightly, Lucy could tell it hurt the boy to talk about his past so openly, she could also guess as to what he was about to say next.
"For a time I thought everything would be okay. I begrudgingly watched Guildarts leave but slowly I became outcast from my own people, they saw me as little more than a monster. They'd lost all faith in magic, they just wanted to be left in peace, so, so I gave them that peace."
Lucy felt her heart flutter in despair, it was even worse than she had expected, Taro had been alone for so long. It impressed Lucy that such a boy could even sit in front of her now, how scared he must have been, alone in the wilderness for years. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and tried her best to conceal them.
"I had plenty of time to myself after that." Taro was determined to finish though his voice had become shaky in it's own right, "I practised the magic I knew, which was only the basics and developed my own way of using it, a way that allowed me to fight using it. For a time I travelled the country, helping out where I could, but I always had a hole in my heart that needed filling. So I thought I'd located the only man I knew from the outside world, that's why I joined Fairy Tail."
As the final words left Taro's mouth Lucy threw her arms around the dark haired boy sobbing words of apology into his chest, tears rolled down her checks in long elongated streams. Lucy had always been good at connecting with peoples emotions, she could feel his pain even if Taro refused to show it. She felt so much closer the Taro now that he'd shared with her his past, he truly was a new friend. Natsu shifted next to her and even without looking she could tell Natsu felt the same way. It took Lucy a while to regain her composure and she wiped her eyes as she smiled up at the two boys who were watching her with worried expressions.
"Your amazing" Lucy whispered and she caught Taro's smile out of the corner of her blurry eyes.
"Thanks Lucy, Natsu," his voice no longer trembled as he spoke but was smooth and calm, as per usual, "But it's all in the past. From that day until the end of days Fairy Tail will be my family."
The words almost brought tears back to Lucy's eyes again, it was so similar to her own situation, losing both her parents and filing the hole with the guild, she could so easily relate, then again so could Natsu. She looked over to the dragon slayer who had a steely gaze in his eyes, he didn't look at her immediately but she could tell he felt the pain of the past too. A silence crept over the 3 of them until Taro finally broke the silence, a few minutes later.
"By the way, Natsu, where's Happy?"
The question seemed so normal, as if the story that had been told moments ago had never been told at all, it was just what Lucy needed to finally snap herself out of her thoughts. She looked at the dragon slayer who shrugged and muttered something about him staying at the guild. Lucy noted it was strange for the two of them to be split up, especially for so long, but then again, even best friends needed their space. Lucy offered her shower to the two of them which they gratefully excepted, it was another hour before the three of them locked her home behind them and set off for the guild building.
The guild building loomed ominously above them, or rather it would have if there wasn't a great big gaping hole in the side of it. The three mages stood and stared in disbelief, had that happened during the party? None of them could remember. It was at that moment that Erza came marching out of the building to greet them, she was smiling, so it was unlikely to have been Natsu's fault. Lucy found herself sighing in relief, Natsu wouldn't be dying today then, she still had tomorrow to spend with him. For some reason the thoughts made Lucy happy, so very happy.
Natsu pointed to the hole and was about to pose a question to the red head which Lucy was dying to know the answer to when the culprit of the damage stepped straight out of the gap as if it had been made for him. In fact it was likely that it had been made for him. Guildarts Clive scratched his head as he looked up at the damage he had caused whilst daydreaming his way back to the guild. The entire town of Magnolia had been built in order to accommodate the man, after all he had a horrible habit of walking in a straight line, even if that meant going thorough anything in his way. If Cana had been there Lucy would have bet on the reason for the damage.
Natsu who had caught the scent of the man he most aspired to defeat launched quickly into action, letting fire engulf his body as he threw his fist in Guildarts direction. Guildarts simply turned to see the dragon slayer coming and counter attacked with a swift elbow to the face. Natsu was stunned but not downed, something that was incredibly rare in this kind of fight. Lucy smiled as she realised that Natsu's strength was beginning to catch up with the other mages, it was about time Natsu started seeing some rewards, he deserved it. Still he was no match for Guildarts who finished the raging teenager off with a fist to the top of the head causing Natsu to crash to the ground.
Guildarts smiled to Natsu as he picked him up off the floor, Natsu and Guildarts had always been close. Guildarts was almost like a father to Natsu, after all Guildarts was the one Natsu had always looked up to the most. It was touching to see but it caused Lucy a pang of pain, she would never see her father again. She glanced over to her left to see Taro staring at the man a smile printed over his features. Lucy found herself beginning to smile too, what a strange reunion this must be for him. He slowly made his way up the steps, ignoring Erza completely, and towards the couple.
As he approached Guildarts turned to look at him, his expression gave nothing away. Lucy found herself holding her breathe, it would break her heart if Guildarts didn't recognise the boy in front of him. She watched as Guildarts face contorted, at first his look was confused, followed by pensive and finally shocked, Guildarts mouth hung open and bobbed up and down as if he was trying to say something but just couldn't find the words to say. In the end all he managed was a soft, quiet as a whisper, "you..."
Lucy released the breath she was holding, Guildarts did recognise Taro, she was glad. Taro smiled but only nodded and beckoned the mage to follow him to a table. Guildarts muttered to himself before following Taro inside, she was surprised to see Guildarts so shocked but she was happy at the same time. She helped her partner, who was still considerably out of it from the blow to his head to a table and was joined by a rather irritated Erza.
Lucy quickly apologised to the mage by grabbing her a piece of strawberry cake, a dirty little secret that could easily cool Titania's anger. The bribe worked it's wonders as Erza eyes lit up. Lucy giggled triumphantly to herself. When Erza had finished the slice of cake Natsu was finally alert again, Lucy thought it was about the right time to find out what the mage had wanted. She queried the scarlet beauty whom began to explain what exactly she had wanted.
"As you know the master wants this Fantasia to be the best one ever, he wants to put on a proper show, one that will get the council on his side." The red head paused as she shuffled in her seat, "hence why he is back." She nodded in the direction of Guildarts who was deep in conversation with Taro, both of whom were laughing, Lucy felt so happy for them. She turned back to Erza who suddenly had a very serious expression on her face.
"However after what Laxus did last time it seems the people are expecting more of a spectacle so Master has officially announced a competition to determine the strongest mage in Fairy Tail, for the public's enjoyment." Even if Lucy didn't know who was sitting next to her she would have expected the reaction the words got out of Natsu who suddenly jumped into life, flames surrounding his entire body. He looked like a demon and Lucy found herself cowering in fear, despite the fact she knew Natsu would never hurt her. Erza gave him a sad smile, "Unfortunately the competition is only open for S-Class mages."
Natsu instantly deflated, Lucy almost felt sorry for him. Erza ignored him and continued on, "However, each s-class mage is allowed one subordinate for the game." The way Erza said it sent shivers down Lucy's spine, 'subordinate' was such a demeaning word. "I was wondering if you would be mine, Lucy."
Lucy was quite frankly shocked, why would Erza ever think to ask her ahead of Natsu, ahead of anyone else for the matter. She wasn't strong, Lucy most definitely wasn't strong and although she prided herself on the strength of her mind, she lost out to Levy in that department.
"Me?" Lucy breathed, the sound that came out was barely more than a whisper but Erza nodded and tilted her head to the side, clearly expecting an answer.
"Errr, Im flattered and all but wouldn't Natsu or Grey be a better choice." Lucy could barely hide the fear in her voice, she could imagine herself having to go up against monsters like Laxus and Guildarts, she'd be a bloody pulp if she was dragged into this. To Lucy's horror Erza was shaking her head.
"No, I want you for this one." It was all the girl needed to say, Lucy felt like her whole world was crashing in around her, she knew there was no way she could say no now that Erza had spoken her mind, she simply nodded much to Erza's approval. Lucy watched as the red head walked away and sighed turning to Natsu for some kind of console. She shouldn't have been surprised to see the dragon slayer glaring at her as if she'd shot him through the heart, why was it always one step forward and two steps back with him? She sighed and buried her head in her hands, she was going to die before they could cash in that 2 million jewel mission she had picked out. How tragic her life was. She could still feel Natsu's burning resentment next to her which only caused her to feel more depressed. Finally she plucked up the courage to speak again, her throat felt dry from worry.
"You know you could always just ask Taro."
She wasn't sure why the thought had sprung to mind but it's effect was instantaneous. Natsu jumped up and rocketed over to the table where Taro and Guildarts were catching up. Lucy slowly got to her feet and followed him before he hurt anyone. It occurred to her that having Natsu as competition was probably safer for her than anyone else since he wouldn't hurt her, she knew that all too well. Natsu jumped up on the table and roared at Taro, flames flickering around his mouth.
"Bastard why didn't you ask me to be your subordinate?"
The guild instantly burst into rounds of laughter at the words of Natsu. Everybody knew that the mage was highly strung but he would never willingly admit to being below someone. Lucy watched Natsu's face grow red as he growled at everyone. Taro stood up and motioned Natsu to come closer.
"What are you talking about Natsu?" the boy asked.
"Erza was saying there was some kind of strength competition to decided Fairy Tail's strongest!"
Natsu didn't hold anything back and his voice echoed around the room. Lucy knew this was going to be bad. Suddenly the entire guild was bustling towards them trying to get details about the contest. It was hard to believe they all cared so much. Lucy found herself squashed between the table and Elfman who was cheering at the top of his voice about being a man. Someone decided the rabble had been going on long enough, a large thud was heard and suddenly the entire guild was frozen in place. An angry Makarov stood on the balcony his fist extended to the size a giant.
"This is exactly why I only told the people involved." He roared causing the entire guild to fall quieter than a mouse. He went on to explain how he had a conversation with all the S-Class mages of the guild the night before about the competition and how it was all really just a show to appease the crowds. He then mentioned that each mage was allowed to take one non s-class mage into the arena with them. Lucy would have felt content with that but the old man must have been getting lax in his old age because he then said, with a smirk clearly printed over his face, that there were still 3 unclaimed places. The guild which had been quiet for the longest period in it's existence was instantly back to square one, shouting bustling, fighting. Each and every person trying to find the 3 S-Class mages yet to claim their partner. Lucy could barely contain the pain she was feeling inside, her life was over, she knew it, she was going to die on the night of Fantasia. She would be dead within a week.
