Chapter-10

8-Island

Natsu and Happy ended up spending the whole day at Lucy's apartment after breakfast, watching as she summoned and made contracts with her spirits.

"Gosh, I'm exhausted," Lucy moaned at about 12:00 PM, collapsing on her couch.

Crux, the Southern Cross, generously told Lucy that he was happy to be summoned at any times, as did Horologium , the Clock; who also assured her that he would even summon himself when Lucy was in life-threatening danger. As for Pyxis, the Compass; it requested Lucy to summon it only thrice a week.

Taurus had probably been the most irritating spirit. Upon being summoned, he ogled her body until she threatened to send him back without making a contract and Natsu offered to punch his lights out. He then complied and told Lucy that she was free to summon him anytime and that he would protect her and her body. Upon which Lucy sighed and sent him back into Celestial Spirit World.

Lucy summoned Cancer next. The Celestial Spirit was very cool and told her that he could be summoned twice a week. Before leaving, he complimented her on how much she looked like her mother.

"Aren't you going to make contracts with the scary fish lady?" Happy asked.

"Her name is Aquarius," Lucy sighed. "And yes, but I first have to find a large body of water where I can summon her. That's what the book says, anyway. And I really don't think she'll appreciate being summoned in the bath," Lucy added in a mutter under her breath. "She's bad-tempered already."

Aquarius' key suddenly grew fire hot in Lucy's hand and the Celestial Mage let go of it with a yelp as Natsu and Happy snickered. "What the heck?! Can they hear what I'm saying or something?"

Natsu got up and glanced at the time. "Look, it's lunch time, already. Let's go, Luce."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "Go where?"

"You treated me to breakfast, so I might as well treat you to lunch," Natsu shrugged. "C'mon."

Lucy blinked, but nodded. "Alright!"

Five minutes later, they headed out of her apartment together. As they entered the main street, Lucy stopped as she realized something.

"Natsu, should Happy be coming with us?" She asked. "I mean, won't he be seen?"

"Normal people can't see him," Natsu said easily.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

Lucy sighed. "Whatever you say. So where are we going, anyway?"

"To a magic restaurant," Natsu said cheerily. "It's really good, too. And the food there replenishes your magic power, so it's great!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow."Where is it? I haven't seen anything that looks even similar to magic around Magnolia. Well, other than Fairy Tail library, of course."

"You'll see," Happy said mysteriously. "There are tons of magic shops hidden right under our noses in certain areas in Magnolia, y'know."

Lucy grimaced, realizing that she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him. "I'll take your word for it. So Natsu, tell me about the other librarians. What are they like?"

"Eh," Natsu said thoughtfully. "I only know a few of them well….there's Cana for example. She's pretty cool, but don't let her challenge ya to a drinking contest, 'cause she'd definitely win."

Lucy now certainly hoped she'd survive the rest of the year, being in Fairy Tail. "Er, noted. Who else?"

"There's Gray, that jerk," Natsu scowled.

Lucy laughed. "I'm assuming that you and this 'Gray' don't get along well?"

"No way!" Happy snorted. "They can't stand the sight of each other! And Gray's Ice Magic really doesn't help matters…."

"Tch," Natsu grumbled, tugging at his scarf. "Ya shouldn't get to close to him, Luce. He's a stupid stripping pervert."

"A what?"

"Gray has a stripping habit," Happy explains. "He takes off his clothes every five minutes and doesn't even notice!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"Anyway," Natsu intervened, clearly wanting to get as far away as possible from the topic of Gray. "There's Elfman, Mirajane's younger brother."

"Oh, I didn't know that Mira had a brother!" Lucy exclaimed, interested. "What's he like?"

"He's pretty cool and strong. Though he has a weird obsession with the word 'man'."

Lucy sweatdropped. It seemed that Fairy Tail was full of weirdoes.

"So, do they have another sibling or what?" Lucy continued.

Natsu stopped mid step and Happy stopped flying as well to glance nervously at him. Lucy blinked.

"What's wrong?"

"Natsu-" Happy began but stopped short when the Fire Dragon Slayer continued to walk again and spoke softly. "Her name was Lisanna."

Happy's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Lucy kept silent and simply gestured for Natsu to continue.

"She was the youngest of the Strauss siblings," Natsu went on recklessly. "When I first met all of the guys at the Fairy Tail, she was prob'ly the first to ever make an effort to speak to me. I thought she was annoying at first, y'know? She kept hanging around me, determined to make friends. And Lis sorta grew on me…..especially when we raised Happy together. She was really nice and friendly and cheerful all the time. Everybody in town loved her, I guess."

Lucy felt a sickening pit form in the bottom of her stomach. "Natsu….you keep talking of her in past tense…don't tell me….Lisanna, she-"

Natsu swallowed but continued valiantly. "It was two years ago. Mira, Elfman and Lisanna took an S-class job (that's a high-level dangerous job and is only meant for powerful S-class mages). Mira was S-class so Lisanna and Elfman could go with her. It was a really dangerous job, though, almost SS-class, and Lisanna died. That's all."

Lucy felt tears pricking at her eyes. "Natsu, I'm so sorry. I didn't know-"

"It's okay," Natsu interrupted. "I don't mind talking about it. Kinda keeps her alive in a way, y'know?"

"Yeah," Lucy said softly, remembering her own dear mother who passed away 7 years ago.

They walked in silence (well, flew in Happy's case) until they reached a large, empty space of land almost at Magnolia's borders.

"Here we are!" Natsu exclaimed, a grin lighting up his face.

"Food!" Happy cheered.

"Uh, what?" Lucy looked around. "Natsu, I think we might be in the wrong place."

"No, ya weirdo," Natsu grinned. "Watch."

Lucy watched curiously as Natsu held out one hand and lit it on fire. Forcing herself not to be captivated by the flames dancing up and down on his arm, she quickly spoke.

"That's great and all, but I really don't see-"

Lucy cut off abruptly with a gasp as a large building that was clearly a restaurant materialized out of nowhere. It wasn't the only structure that appeared. Around them, you could see many shops popping up, some big, some small.

"What the-" Lucy sputtered. "How?"

"If a wizard activates his/her magic power in an area, he/she and any other mage who's there'll be able to see magic buildings!" Happy chirped. "That's how we conceal an entire magic city under the normal one!"

"That's amazing!" Lucy cried, looking around in fascination.

"Yeah, well, whatever." Natsu shrugged nonchalantly. "Can we go eat now?"

Lucy giggled. "Sure, lead the way!"

"Alright!" Natsu cheered before dashing into the restaurant at top speed.

"Hey, wait up!"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Even as she ate, Lucy couldn't stop looking around her in fascination.

The restaurant they were eating at was called 8-Island. It was quite dark inside, the only source of light being the magic lanterns that hung from the ceiling above each table. There were curious carvings on the walls (runes, as Happy explained, to keep out non-magic people) and a menu full of dishes she had never heard off. Lucy, being cautious, ordered only one main dish and a dessert. She finished the food (which was delicious) in record time and suddenly felt the magic power that she had lost while making contracts return. She also felt decidedly more refreshed than before.

As she set down her fork, Lucy observed the growing empty plates in front of Natsu and Happy while sweat-dropping. The two of them were stuffing their faces with meat and fish and a whole lot of other things without even stopping for a break.

"Guys," Lucy began. "Shouldn't you slow down on the food a bit? How are you even going to pay for this?"

"Oh, some way or the other," Natsu replied carelessly, making Lucy's eyebrow twitch.

"Well, this is going to take some time, I guess…."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

About an hour later, the trio exited the restaurant, Natsu and Happy patting their stomachs contently. "Man, that lunch was great."

"Aye, sir!"

"Do you always eat like this on a daily basis?" Lucy asked wryly.

"Yeah, of course!"

"Sure…."

"C'mon Luce, brighten up!" Natsu swung his arm around Lucy's shoulders, making the blonde blush.

"Yeah!" Happy chirped. "Now that you're in Fairy Tail, you'll have to get used to it sooner or later, right?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

"That's the spirit!" Natsu grinned. "Let's head back to library now, 'kay?"

"Alright!"

Natsu's arm never left Lucy's shoulders as they walked back. And Lucy, surprisingly, found herself liking it.

As for Happy, evil plans arose in his mind.

I've got some news for Mira now….

(A/N): Sorry about the late chapter! I hope you liked it and that there was enough fluff for you guys~

And KaUiA, thank you for your review! And no, this isn't a joint account. We just happened to meet by chance because of my story Starlight, Starbright. We became friends, and SunflowerChrysalis came up with this idea and we decided to do a collab on it~

Thank you all for your amazing reviews! Keep it up, guys!