A Different Set of Keys
Chapter 10: Rushing Home
"And there," Chopper proclaimed after he finished the cast on Lucy's leg. "Now you'll only have to stay off that leg for at least two weeks if you take these every night before you go to sleep," Chopper instructed while handing Lucy a bottle of white pills. He pulled a pair of crutches out of his medical bag and helped Lucy stand up and use them.
Lucy took a few experimental steps with help from the crutches and then sat back down. "Thanks for everything, Chopper. You're such a great doctor."
"That doesn't make me happy, bastard," Chopper cursed at Lucy while dancing. He calmed down and told her his price, "That'll be a large stick of cotton candy. The pink kind, not blue."
"Pink is superior to blue," Lucy agreed while holding up her pink cast. "I'll get some when I get back to Magnolia Town and summon you then."
"Okay. Be careful, Lucy. And stay off that leg!" Chopper yelled before he vanished.
Lucy smiled fondly and then got to her feet. She began to slowly make her way out of the hut to where Natsu, Happy, and Gray were waiting. "Hey guys!" she called out.
The pair perked up when they saw her. "Hey, Lucy!" Natsu called back. "Nice cast."
"How long do you have to where that?" Gray asked.
"Two weeks."
"Two weeks?!" the trio exclaimed in shock. "Why for so long?" Happy asked.
"Because that's how long it'll take to heal," Lucy said in her driest tone. Did he think she liked wearing this thing? She was lucky Chopper's medicine was able to enhance her healing to cut it down to only that long.
"That's ridiculous. It's never taken us that long to heal a broken bone," Natsu said while Gray nodded next to him.
Lucy stared at the pair in disbelief. "Maybe that's because you guys are monsters?" she finally said.
While they were talking, the mayor had approached them holding a small box and assisted by his son, Bobo, who was carrying a chest. The Fairy Tail mages had been in for quite a surprise when they had returned to the village to find all the villagers in their demon forms while it was still daylight. Bobo had appeared to explain that they had originally been demons and that the thing over the island that Franky had destroyed had been confusing the demons' memories so that they thought they were humans. They had been surprised at first, but then they had realized that this meant they had completed the S-Class mission on their own. All the mages were quite proud of themselves after that.
"On behalf of my entire village I thank you," the mayor said. "This is the seven million jewel reward and the Oceanic Spirit Key for completing the job." The Fairy Tail members were practically salivating at the temptation of all that money. Especially Lucy, who could see the issue of paying her spirits disappearing at the sight of even a third of that money. "In addition, we are going to host a feast in your honor for freeing us from the malevolent magic that was affecting us.
"A feast!" they eagerly cheered. Natsu and Happy actually were salivating this time and Gray and Lucy weren't that far behind them.
Before more could be said, one of the villagers ran up to the group. "Mayor, there is a pirate ship docking on the beach!" he informed them.
The group tensed up at the news and Natsu and Gray gained bloodthirsty grins on their faces. Millions, a feast, and pirates to fight? It couldn't get any better than this.
"What do they look like?" Natsu eagerly asked. Hopefully they'd be famous and strong pirates that they could collect the bounty on.
"I didn't get a very good look, but the captain appeared to be a red-haired woman dressed in armor."
And just like that the good feeling was gone. Chills went down the spines of the Fairy Tail members and their blood froze in their veins. "Erza," Natsu whispered in horror.
"She's come after us because we took the job from the second floor without permission," Lucy muttered in fear.
"Wait. You took this job without permission?" the mayor asked, but he was ignored.
"We've got to run. Lucy, grab your ship key and get ready to summon her," Natsu ordered. Lucy barely had time to grab the key box before Natsu threw her over one shoulder and put the chest under his arm. Happy caught Lucy's crutches and flew in the air.
Gray was all ready to join them in their flight before he realized something, "Wait. I'm not in trouble. I came here to stop you guys. Erza won't hurt me." The relief was evident in his voice.
"Then you don't get part of the reward," Natsu told him. "Pick. The reward and an angry Erza after you or no money and Erza won't punish you."
Gray didn't even hesitate. "No reward!" he shouted.
"Okay," Natsu said with a shrug before he slammed the chest into the side of Gray's face. The black-haired man went down like a sack of bricks while Natsu grinned in satisfaction. That had felt really good.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Lucy and the demons yelled at Natsu.
Instead of answering, Natsu took off running for the shore on the opposite side of the island. He wanted as much space between himself and Erza as possible. "You guys were great. Thanks for the money. Call on Fairy Tail if you need any help in the future. Bye!" Natsu shouted out in a rush behind him while he made tracks. Happy flew overhead and kept an eye on their trail.
They made it to the shore in record time and Natsu dropped Lucy to the sand. "Alright, Lucy, let's go, let's go, let's go," Natsu chanted while casting panicked glances behind them. Happy dropped her crutches next to her and hovered nervously.
"Calm down, Natsu," Lucy said before getting to her feet and wiping the sand off her skirt. "Erza hadn't even gotten off the ship before you took off like a bat out of hell while carrying me like a sack of potatoes," she sent an annoyed look at the Dragon Slayer, but he was too focused on the woods behind them to notice. "There's no way that she'll have caught up to us by now."
"You're right. Now let's get that ship out here," Natsu agreed without really listening to what Lucy was saying. She normally was telling him off for doing something stupid, so it was a pretty safe answer.
Lucy sighed in frustration. There was no placating him. She pulled out Sunny's key and held it out over the water, "Open, Cabin of the Ship. Sunny-go." The colorful ship appeared in a flash of light and let down its gangplank. "All aboard," Lucy said.
Natsu and Happy rushed past Lucy and onto the ship. Lucy raised an eyebrow in surprise. Natsu hadn't even put up a protest about getting on transportation. He must have been really scared. Lucy then learned why he had been so paranoid when she heard a loud yell from inside the forest that sent the birds flying out of the trees in a black swarm.
"NATSU!"
All three of them shrieked in terror at the sound of Erza's voice. She was catching up a lot faster than Lucy had predicted and they weren't very inconspicuous while on a ship flying a Fairy Tail flag. Lucy sprinted up the gangplank as fast as her crutches would let her and rushed past Natsu and Happy this time.
"Lucy, we need to leave." Natsu said in fear. The Sunny was disembarking, but he could feel Erza getting closer. He could smell the anger rolling off of her in waves.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Lucy yelled back at him. She reached out to the lever next to the steering wheel and grabbed it with both hands. Before she could pull it, a pair of ghostly hands grabbed the lever as well. Lucy quickly glanced down and smiled when she saw the hooded figure that was helping her. "Let's go, Sunny-chan." Lucy poured all of her magic into the ship's engines through the lever and pulled back as hard as she could. "COUP DE BURST!"
Magical energy gathered at the rear cannon before being fired in a beam of pure magical power. The force propelled the Sunny-go up into the air and away from Galuna Island. Happy and Natsu watched from the rear as the island began to shrink into the distance and they left Erza and her wrath far behind them. Well, Happy watched, Natsu just kind of folded around the railing and tried and failed not to puke. This was by far the worst ride he had ever been on.
Once they landed back in the ocean, Happy grabbed Natsu and the two flew to the front of the ship. "That was amazing, Lucy," Natsu congratulated the blonde.
Their excitement at the ship's emergency escape plan was dampened when they found the state Lucy was in. She had collapsed to the deck and was barely managing to hold herself up with the help of the lever. Her face was pale, and she looked exhausted, but she still managed to give them a smile. "We got away then?" she asked.
"Yeah. We made it. Now what's wrong?" Natsu asked in concern. Lucy was looking really sick. Did she catch something on the island? Didn't her doctor spirit just patch her up?
"The Coup de Burst uses a lot of magic. I'm just a little tired…" Lucy trailed off and slumped down from the lever, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.
Natsu and Happy panicked when they saw Lucy pass out. Natsu attempted to help her, but once Happy put him down his motion sickness kicked in and he found himself unable to move. Happy wasn't sure what to do with both Lucy and Natsu out of commission. On one hand, Lucy obviously needed more help, but on the other hand he couldn't do much to help Lucy without Natsu's help.
Fortunately, Happy didn't have to make up his mind as the ropes around the ship reached out to grab Lucy. They gently lifted her into the air and carried her into one of the cabins. At the same time, the ropes threw Natsu up so that Happy would grab him and he'd be back to normal. A voice began to speak in their heads. "Don't worry. Lucy-chan will be fine," it said. "She just exhausted herself from using the Coup de Burst. A little rest is all she needs."
The pair relaxed at the news that their friend was going to be all right. They'd feel awful if Lucy got hurt worse just because they hadn't wanted to deal with an angry Erza. Getting away from her wasn't more important than someone's health. All Erza would do would be to beat them up a little bit, they'd be fine within the hour.
"Who are you?" Natsu finally thought to ask. He hadn't seen anyone else on board and he couldn't smell anyone beyond Lucy and Happy. They had to be talking to someone.
The voice giggled, "I'm the Sunny-go's spirit."
"Ah! You're the claw-bat man!" Happy exclaimed.
At the front of the ship, the lion figurehead rolled its eyes. Why was Lucy the only one who could get it right? It wasn't that hard to pronounce once someone told you how to say it. "Klabautermann," the spirit said with a hint of annoyance in its voice. "I'm taking you back to Hargeon Port. Lucy will have recovered by then. Until then you're free to explore."
The paired cheered. They hadn't managed to explore everything when Lucy first summoned Sunny and they soon remembered why when Happy put Natsu back down. The Dragon Slayer groaned in discomfort and began to crawl his way towards the railing. Sunny's ropes wrapped around his waist and helped him to the side but prevented him from trying to jump over the side.
Happy pitied his friend's misfortune, but he was still going to explore. He remembered seeing an aquarium by the kitchen last time and he wanted to see what kind of fish were in it. His mouth was drooling at the prospect.
The Sunny smoothly sailed into port and stopped at the same place that it had disembarked from just two short days ago. Natsu quickly abandoned ship and made his way onto the sweet, unmoving dock.
Happy floated down next to him. "Doesn't kissing the ground ever get old, Natsu?" he asked.
"Hey. You don't know what it's like to spend hours trying not to hurl and in constant pain. When you do, then you can judge me," the Dragon Slayer told him. He looked around and noticed that Lucy was still on the ship. "Lucy, come on! We need to get moving so Erza doesn't catch us."
"We already got away from her," a recovered Lucy reminded them with a roll of her eyes. Nevertheless, she began to make her way down the gangplank.
"No we haven't. That only slowed her down. Erza will be right on our tails within the hour," Happy fearfully said.
"She's only human," Lucy muttered in exasperation.
"No. She's Erza."
Lucy stopped on the gangplank. She had an idea, but Natsu probably wasn't going to like it. "If you guys really want to get back to the guild so bad there is a way." The pair perked up at the news until Lucy finished, "But it involves more transportation."
"No," Natsu immediately said.
Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "Okay. Then I guess we're walking all the way back. I'm sure that we'll be able to beat Erza to the guild," she taunted.
Natsu scowled at the reminder as he weighed the consequences in his mind. On one hand, transportation. But on the other, Erza. He sighed in defeat, there really was no good answer. "What do you got?" he asked.
Lucy's grin didn't bode well.
Natsu's cheeks puffed up as he tried to hold down his stomach even though he was pretty sure that they had left it back in Hargeon. He was currently riding behind Lucy with his arms around her waist and his wrists tied together so that he couldn't bail. Happy was sitting in Lucy's lap and in charge of making sure that Natsu didn't get free.
"Having fun, Natsu?" Lucy shouted back with a laugh. She had forgotten how much fun it was to drive the Black Rhino—a huge three-wheeled motorcycle with a black rhino head taking up the front of the vehicle and had two red hubcaps on the rear wheels that had a large yellow star on them and "FR-U" emblazed on the sides—she could even do it with her cast on. It was what Franky had based the design of the tricycle he had built for her fifth birthday only not in pink. She had loved that tricycle and driving the real thing was even better. It was too bad that she could only use it when she summoned Sunny. She had even put on the pink sunglasses that Franky had given her with the tricycle that mimicked his.
Natsu might have said something resembling an answer, but it was lost in the wind. Lucy could tell that it wasn't an affirmative though. It served him right for all the shenanigans that he dragged her into. Now all she needed was an easy way to get back at Happy. Was there a dog spirit that she could still get?
Thanks to Lucy's total disregard for the speed limit and the indestructible front of the motorcycle that took care of any obstacles, the trio made the trip back to Fairy Tail in record time. Lucy stopped right outside of the guild's doors and turned off the Black Rhino. Natsu immediately rolled off the side of the bike and brought Lucy down with him. He burnt through his restraints and shot back up to his feet, knocking Lucy off of him and onto her stomach with an annoyed grunt. "We did it!" he yelled in triumph. There was no way that Erza could have kept up with them at the speeds they traveled. It was worth the horrible, painful, awful motion sickness.
"Sure, now he's happy about it," Lucy grumbled from the ground. She got up and looked over to the Black Rhino where Sunny was lounging on the front of the bike. "Thanks again, Sunny-chan."
"No problem, Lucy-chan. It was fun to travel on land for a while," the spirit replied. She waved at Lucy before disappearing. She waved back and turned around just in time to watch Natsu kick open the doors.
"We're back!" Natsu shouted out in triumph as he strode into the guild and straight up to where Makarov was sitting on the bar. Lucy and Happy trailing behind him.
Makarov opened one eye at Natsu. "So, you're back," he said while taking a drink. "Where're Erza and Gray?"
"Probably still back on the island," Lucy said.
An eyebrow was raised, "Oh? She sent you three on ahead?" Erza must have scared them good if she was confident enough to let them go back to the guild on their own.
"Nope! We finished the job!" Natsu announced.
The entire guild gasped at his words and Makarov choked on his drink. Murmurs ran through the guild and Natsu just stood there with a giant grin on his face. Makarov finally managed to get his coughing under control and looked at Natsu in a different light. Hard eyes narrowed and examined the three in front of him. They obviously hadn't had an easy time dealing with the job—Lucy's leg was testimony enough to that, but they were surprisingly lightly injured for an S-Class job. "In that case, we'll talk more in my office," Makarov decided. He leapt down from the bar and made his way into the back of the guild. The three dutifully followed him. Once they were inside, Makarov shut the door and motioned for the three to sit down. He went took his own seat behind his desk and folded his hands. "Tell me everything."
Natsu began to eagerly fill Makarov in on everything that they had done after Happy had stolen the job from the second floor with some blanks filled in by Lucy and Happy. They were careful to leave out the part where Gray had been planning to join them in their victory if they hadn't heard about Erza's approach. They finished and looked expectantly at Makarov. He hadn't spoken up once during their entire tale. "Well, what do you think, Gramps? Are we S-Class material or what?"
Makarov sighed in frustration. From what he could tell, the Galuna Island mission wasn't actually dangerous itself and probably wouldn't have been classified as an S-class mission if it weren't for all those rumors about the island being cursed. He supposed that it was a fortunate mistake, Happy might have stolen an actual S-Class mission if it hadn't been on the board. Technically, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had all completed an S-Class mission for Fairy Tail, but they had broken the guild rules by taking an unsanctioned job and taking an S-Class job without being S-Class mages themselves. He wanted to punish them for their recklessness and foolishness, but he didn't want to discourage them for getting the job done successfully and without extravagant property damage for once.
"No, Natsu, you aren't S-Class material," Makarov finally answered.
"What?! But we completed the job," Natsu protested.
"And broke the guild rules while doing so!" the old man snapped at Natsu before he could help himself. He waited until he had calmed down before continuing, "S-Class jobs are restricted for a reason, Natsu. You don't get to decide when you're ready for them, I do. And this incident just goes to show me that you aren't ready."
"But why? We beat that bastard Lyon and stopped the Moon Drip Ritual no problem. We're easily strong enough to be S-Class."
"But you're not smart enough," Makarov countered. "The job was to break the curse over Galuna Island, not get into a fight with some of the people staying there. From what you told me, you three completed the job based more on luck than actual skill." Makarov saw that his words made the trio cringe. Good. They should cringe. They got distracted on an S-Class job, they were lucky things had ended so well. He sighed again, "Normally I'd punish you with that," Makarov took pride in watching all three of them begin to shake in fear before continuing, "but you did a good job and didn't break anything, so I won't." He was quick to destroy the looks of relief on their faces before they thought they had gotten off scot-free. "However! You will still be punished. I'm not sure how yet, but until I have thought up an appropriate one you three are banned from taking any more missions."
Natsu opened his mouth to protest. He was still riding the high of finishing his first S-Class mission and being cooped up in the guild until Makarov had decided on a punishment sounded like punishment enough to him. Fortunately, Lucy and Happy noticed and covered his mouth before he could dig them into a deeper hole. "Aye, sir!" the two replied while bowing low and forcing Natsu to bow with them. Makarov dismissively waved his hand at them and they dragged Natsu back out into the guild.
Natsu soon perked up when the guild began demanding for him to recount what had happened and he happily provided, with some tasteful embellishments to add to the story of course. Lucy had left early in order to summon her spirit and pay them for their services. It was going to take all the magic that she had recovered, then she was going to take a hot shower and go to bed immediately after.
Erza and Gray showed up later in the day and reported to Makarov after Erza yelled at Natsu for a bit and punched him for breaking the rules. Gray started to correct Natsu's version of what had happened with the truth and a brawl quickly broke out. Everything was normal at Fairy Tail again and the mages eventually broke up for the night and went home.
Makarov was the last to leave the guild. He locked up and headed back to his house with thoughts of how to punish his latest rule breakers filling his head. If he hadn't been distracted or had thought to look up at the guild's roof, Makarov might have found a figure staying in the shadows with a pair of red eyes looking back at him. But he didn't, and what the man did to the guild wouldn't be found out until the next morning. Thus, starting a chain of events that led to the fall of one of the strongest guilds in Fiore.
A/N: This chapter is done from college. Getting everything ready was a bitch, but I'm here now. I managed to sneak this chapter in for you guys. It isn't much, but it's something. Next chapter will get into the Phantom Arc. Until then, later.