All of the mages of Fairy Tail and Fate Butterfly disembarked from Galuna Island in the morning, the demonic islanders insisting they join in celebrating through the night. Lucy, Happy and Natsu were even allowed to join in, tying them up being pointless once the mission was complete.

On the ship...

"So, Lucy, was it? You, me and Erza are overdue for a talk." Hamuko spoke cheerily as she cornered Lucy in the captain's cabin, its previous piratey occupant having been relegated to sleeping in the hold with his crew. Since the mission was over, there was no need to restrain magic use. Mitsuru estimated that with her magic they would get back to Hargeon in half the time the trip took before.

"Did you start without me?" Erza asked as she entered the cabin.

"Nope, you're right on time!" Hamuko answered with a light smile. "I figure we should do this quick, like ripping off a bandage. So!" She began, turning to Lucy and the smile falling off her face. "These are the facts of what we're here to talk about. You were in Hargeon a few months ago. You used one of your celestial spirits to send a ship at the harbour at high speed where it would've crashed if not for the intervention of some guild mages, putting their own lives at risk in the process. They were from my guild, by the way." Hamuko gave Lucy a second to process that properly and realise that Hamuko's previously inexplicable anger when dealing with her was now explained, and quite legitimate. Seeing the small amount of dawning horror enter Lucy's expression, Hamuko added more. "At our guild's best estimate, there were twenty-three people working the docks that night. From first-hand accounts of the situation, none of those people would've escaped unscathed. Some amount of casualties would've been a certainty."

Hamuko put a finger to her chin as she thought. "Did I miss anything?" she asked, looking up at Erza.

The significantly taller woman shrugged in response. "You know the situation better than I do."

"Wait wait wait!" Lucy said, waving her arms in front of her. "You're taking that whole thing out of context! That ship was full of girls they were going to sell as slaves! I had to do something!"

"Okay. So why didn't you do something else? Sending a tidal wave into a populated area seems like the worst possible option to me."

"That's not my fault! Aquarius is just like that. Doesn't even care if I get caught in it either. Always being bitchy..." Lucy continued to grumble to herself.

Hamuko, for her part, was astonished, her jaw hanging open at the revelation. This girl, this... supposed guild sanctioned celestial spirit mage willingly summoned a sprit that had no compunctions about attacking its contractor. And she did it in a populated area! Hamuko swallowed and started taking deep breaths to keep her calm. "And you didn't summon a different spirit because..."

"Well I was in the water! It made the most sense!" Lucy stated confidently, like there was no flaw in her reasoning.

Hamuko rubbed at her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Aquarius is the water bearer why the hell would being in the water matter when the damned thing is named for carrying her own?

"My original idea when I found out who you were... No, my original idea was to beat you into paste for being so stupid. But after that, I thought I could get your side of the story and find out the perfectly valid reason you had for endangering so many lives that day. Maybe you could've come by the guild, apologised, and everything'd be okay between us. Now I'm starting to think my first idea was a more reasonable course of action. Of all the stupid reckless things I've seen people do, summoning a powerful spirit that by your own admission has no problems with attacking even you and doing it in a populated area, that may just top the list! I honestly can't fathom how someone could do something so unbelievably stupid!"

"Hey, you weren't even there so you can't-!" Lucy said.

"I'm. Not. Done!" Hamuko growled before getting a handle on her emotions and taking some more deep breaths. "I suggest when we get back to port you take the first train back to Magnolia. If Fate Butterfly finds out you're in Hargeon after today you will have two S-Class mages hunting you down to eject you with as much force as is necessary. I pray to the spirits someone gets you some help. Before your incompetence ends up killing someone."

Having said her piece and really not wanting to be in the same room as the girl any longer, Hamuko walked out, leaving the two Fairy Tail mages alone.

-(-)-

"That wasn't how I expected that conversation to go." Erza said as she walked up to Hamuko on the deck of the ship.

"I guess I got a little worked up." Hamuko admitted sheepishly. "But nothing I said was untrue."

"Indeed." Erza agreed. "It took time to convince her you weren't being cruel for the sake of it. She thought since Natsu acts the way he does and no one calls him on it that it was okay."

"Y'know, I was wondering about that." Hamuko said. "The majority of complaints about your guild are more about the Salamander than anyone else. Why haven't the magic council called for his expulsion yet?"

Erza sat leaning against the rail of the ship and sighed. "Dragon Slayers... They're something of a special case. There are two ways to become a dragon slayer. Either you have a lacrima implanted inside your body that contains the magic or you learn it from an actual dragon. Either way the user takes on some characteristics of a dragon. For those who take the lacrima route it's less pronounced but still there. Either way, the user feels a need to establish dominance and becomes much more aggressive. If left to their own devices, a trained Dragon Slayer might just run through a town destroying things while looking for a decent fight."

"That's where guilds come in. If a Dragon Slayer is a member of a guild then he will not only be taught how to curb some of his more violent tendencies, he'll be surrounded by mages that could subdue him or rein him in if necessary. That's pretty much it. The council are fine with Natsu in Fairy Tail because Natsu out of Fairy Tail could be so much worse."

"Hmmm..." That did make a fair amount of sense to Hamuko. The only other alternative would be to hunt them down, imprison them or kill them. And while the Salamander was an idiot, overcoming his raw strength and power would be a daunting task for most S-Class mages. And who knew how many Dragon Slayers there were in the world? Start going after them and they might retaliate. And that didn't bear thinking about.

So she stopped thinking about it.

"How you planning on handling the spirit mage?"

Erza frowned. "She's had an unpleasant taste of reality. Depending on how she handles it it could make her a better mage. In the meantime I'll spend some time working with her. Maybe get her thinking about how she uses her spirits."

Hamuko nodded without reply.

-(-)-

Meanwhile, on a train bound for Hargeon...

"I'm just saying you don't make a good first impression, that's all." Yosuke said, trying to placate his friend.

"I make a perfectly fine first impression! I'm friendly!" Seta replied, indignant.

"Yeah. Friendly. How come whenever we go to new places you get all broody and look at people like they ate your dog? It's not cool!"

"I do not do that!" Seta said.

"Sure you do, Sensei!" Teddie confirmed. "I even got the look down so we can look mean together! Check it out!" he exclaimed as he put on an expression that made it look like he was constipated.

"Okay, I definitely don't do that."

"Yeah, Ted!" Yosuke laughed. "You look like you need a bathroom."

"Besides," Seta said, changing the subject, "I had a perfectly good reason to be pissed this time. 'The Scholar'? Really? That's the badass nickname they decided to give me? Makes me sound like a bookworm." Seta whined.

"You are a bookworm!" Yosuke pointed out. "You're reading a book right now!"

"That's besides the point! Once a nickname catches on you're stuck with it for the rest of your career! And do I get one for how I can tell the laws of physics to shut up and sit down? No! I get one for being the guy who reads a lot! It sucks! … Also..." Seta finished before throwing his book at Yosuke, who ducked out of the way.

"The throwing your books thing doesn't make a good impression either."

-(-)-

Meanwhile meanwhile, in the Fate Butterfly guild building...

A young man entered through the front doors of the building. He had neck-length bronw hair parted to the right and a light skin tone. His outfit consisted of a blue jacket, white trousers and a pale blue shirt with an ankh-like symbol on it as well as a white cape over his shoulders. In simpler terms, the uniform of a division commander of the Magic Council's rune knights. In addition to the uniform, the man wore a pair of sunglasses with red lenses. His serious expression brightened considerably on seeing his target staring at a job poster. "What, no hug this time?"

Tatsuya, on recognising the voice, looked up at the speaker and grinned.

Before tackling the man to the floor.

"Hey, bro! Long time no see!"

-(-)-

A/N: So I've been away for a while. Good reason, honest. I'm a bit ill and was most certainly in no mood to write. I'm still not, to be honest, but felt I needed to post something worthwhile. Prove I'm still kicking and that.

I struggled a teeny tiny bit with the Lucy confrontation. As she quite rightly points out, Hamuko wasn't there. So all the righteous anger she had was over an event she wasn't present for and only had the accounts of one side to go on. While Lucy's side is that she had to do something. Also true. But why Aquarius? She could've summoned Tauros to thow her onto the ship, sent him back, summoned Cancer to bust up the slavers (including Bora since he was a pushover, really) and bam. Done. 'But wait! Aquarius works in water!' Okay, why is being in water important? Clue is in the name. She carries water. Why would being in water make the slightest bit of difference? Her abilities would work the same either way. If it were Pisces I would underst- oh wait. PISCES DOESN'T NEED WATER EITHER! IT'S A BLOODY FLYING FISH!

So yeah. Rant over. Aquarius doesn't actually need water in this fic. Lucy just assumed she did because she's a bit of a pillock (and her pillockiness is pretty much canon).

The Seta section is a bit of making fun of my own writing. I write that Seta is pretty much an easygoing nice guy in the fourth chapter then immediately have him all 'RARRERARGH RAAAAGE!' That was... stupid. But pretty funny in hindsight. Gotta be able to laugh at yourself and all.

REVIEWS

Last time I do these in a chapter, folks. Responses will be messaged from here out.

Engineer4eer: Phantom Lord arc is indeed next. Setup will be next chapter.

… That's it. I only had an answer for I AM YOU besides and I think I messaged that guy. If not, I'll get him next time.

Thanks for reading!