Nina yawned. The summer was almost over. Right now she was sitting across from Mirajane, who was, as usual, working behind the bar. She had a Butterbeer, which Fred and George had gotten her addicted to, cradled in her hand as she watched various Guild members crowding around the job board.
"What's up with them? Most of them are usually just sitting around getting plastered."
Miarjane giggled. Nina smiled, relaxed for the first time in absolute ages.
Nina had been working practically non-stop all summer. Especially when Lucy came for a visit, and her fater distroyed the Guild to get her back. It was under construction though, and getting back into order. However, Nina had ended up loosing her keys at one point.
"Hey, you haven't seen Loke, have you?"
"You haven't fallen for him, have you? Nina you know he's the resident playboy!"
"Mira! It's not like that. I just heard he was the one who found my keys. I just wanted to thank him." Nina held up said keys, which Natsu had given to her at some random point last night shouting about Loke.
"Were your spirits mad at you? For dropping the keys?"
"You could say that. One spirit in particular..." Nina shuddered, thinking of Aquarius. "Just thinking about her threats make my butt hurt."
"I could cool it for ya." Gray came out of nowhere. Nina's eye twitched. She may have been on better terms with Gray than Natsu, but-
"That sounded like sexual harassment to me."
"Nina can you show me how red your butt is?" Happy asked, flying behind her, a hopeful look in his cat eyes.
"AND WITH THAT COMMENT YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE!"
Natsu's hand caught fire.
"I wonder what her reaction will be once I actually make it hurt," Natsu grinned evilly.
"You're the devil!" Nina hissed. A giant barrel came out of nowhere, hitting Natsu.
"Why don't you say that to the rest of the guild?" Erza growled. She was standing ridgid in front of Laxus, Makarov's grandson.
"Gladly. This Guild is nothing but a bunch of losers and weaklings. Especially you, Princess." Laxus turned to face Nina. "Taking a job that seals almost all of your Non-Celstial Magic, except for maybe a little steam? Please." He scoffed.
"LAXUS!" Mirajane shouted. She never shouted. Not ever. "No one is to blame for Lucy's father's decisions. Especially not Nina! Besides, I begged you to come help us and you refused!"
"Oh, stop your whining! If I had joined that fight odds are none of you would be drowning your sorrows in this pile of rubble!"
"Why you-"
"I'VE HEARD ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!" Natsu stood up and went to attack Laxus, but the man vanished and reappeared in a flash of lightning. "I'm going to destroy you, Laxus!"
"Idiot! How can you destroy me if you can't even touch me?" Laxus mocked. "I can't wait until I inherit this place and kick all you losers out. Your days in Fairy Tail are numbered kids! Things are gonna be a whole lot different around here. So I guess you'll have to find a new place to hang out." He laughed as he vanished again, not coming back.
"What a jerk." Nina huffed, sitting back down at the bar. "Anyone who treats his fellow Guild members like that doesn't deserve to be Fairy Tail's leader."
"A lot of people think that's why Master Makarov won't retire." Mirajane admitted.
"Man I hate that guy!" Natsu growled.
"Don't worry about it. He takes up too much time and energy. How about we take your mind off him by taking a job?" Erza smiled. "We can even bring Gray and Nina."
"Say what?"
"Awww!" Nina bashed her head against the bar.
"Hey, Gray, your clothes."
"Gah!" Gray looked down to find himself only in his underwear.
"Us?" Nina asked.
"Yes. We've always worked together, ever since the Eisenwald incident when you were ten. Even when you were at school I guess it was always Gray, Natsu and I. We're kinda a team."
"Are you sure you even want someone like me on your team? All my magic is mostly sealed."
"Like you?" Natsu cried. "Nina it has to be exactly you!" He pulled his now twelve year old sister off the stool she sat on. "It wouldn't be right if it weren't with you!"
Nina grinned at her brother.
"Thanks, Natsu."
Then next day, they were already back from the mission.
"Whatsa matter, Nina?" Mirajane asked, watching the girl groan.
"It's that job we did yesterday. Natsu kept throwing fire everywhere. Gray kept freezing stuff he missed. And Erza..OH, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HER!"
"I could have told you about this..."
"They destroyed half the town! And we're paying for it out of the reward! If this keeps up Natsu and I aren't going to be able to pay rent!" Nina whined.
"Well I may just have a special job I can throw your way!" Mirajane grinned.
"Hmm?"
"This one's right up your alley and the best part is your team won't be able to destroy anything!"
Nina blinked twice.
And so we move on!(One of Happy's little scene changes! Yay!)
"Hey, Onibus! I haven't been here in forever!" Nina grinned. Erza was walking with her massive cart of belongings, Gray was next to Nina with his hands behind his head, and Natsu was crippled from the train ride over.
"So let me get this straight. All we have to do is draw a crowd to some run down theater with our magic?" Gray clearified.
"Yep! Natsu draws them with his fire-Which the Ministry of Magic though wise to seal off for the summer, which you know I'm pissed about- you make beautiful ice sculptures, Erza attracts them by Requiping her Armor. I can at least summon Lyra to sing beautiful tunes. Wow."
They all stopped in front of a huge theater.
"Pretty classy, huh?" Happy grinned.
"Excuse me-" A man popped his head out the door. "I don't suppose you're the wizards from Fairy Tail, are you?"
"That's us!" The man let them in.
"Well...We have a problem. All my actors are gone!"
"WHAT? All your actors just up and walked out on you?"
"Yes. The plays have been getting bad reviews, so they left, just like my wife. Now I can never redeem myself."
"Man," Gray sighed. "I thought the actors were the dramatic ones."
"I had no choice! The preformance has been canceled!"
"Well, the show must fo on!" Erza announced. "We will star in your play!" She began doing vocal scales.
"It sounds like fun," Nina shrugged. Natsu nodded.
"That settles it, then. We're not gonna let your dream die, sir." Gray smiled. The man gasped.
"Really?"
After a week of tireless work, the guildmasters, Mirajane and this guy, Bora, who had originally brought Nina, Natsu and Lucy together showed up.
"So, what you been up to, Maroka?" Natsu put a casual, yet protective hand on his sister's shoulder.
"That would be Bora." He smiled. "After recieving a beatdown at your capable hands I decided to give up the ways of a model scout."
"You don't honestly think anyone's buying that, do you?" Nina deadpanned, thinking of how he almost kidnapped Lucy to sell her to slavery.
"Hmm? Why else would I recruit young ladies?"
"Cause you-"
"Nina and Lucy thought you were doing dirty things with them!" Happy flew up to shoulder level with Natsu.
Nina took off to go get changed into the princess costume outfit she had to wear.
"Nina! I haven't sung in front of an audience this big before!" Lyra whined.
"Don't be nervous, you'll blow them away!" Nina told her celestial spirit friend. A buzzer went off over head, and everyone went to their marks.
Lyra began her song. The crowd was mesmerized.
Erza went to say her lines, and completely froze.
"Oh, this isn't gonna be good."
"She's totally freezing up!" Nina hissed, agreeing with Gray.
"She's got a mean case of stage fright!" Natsu added.
"Uh-oh..." Happy nodded.
"Here ye here-...My name." Erza started shaking horrible. "I'm a Prince! I came to save the princess! I wield the power- the power-"
"Oh no, she skipped way ahead! That's a line from a totally different scene!" Nina flipped through the playwrite.
"Erza's so nervous, I'm not even sure she's breathing!"
"I wield the power- BECAUSE I HAVE TEN SWORDS!" Erza's magic kicked in, making ten swords fly out and go towards the audience.
"She's freaking out!" Happy cried, needlessly.
"What do we do, Princess?" Gray had appointed this as Nina's new nickname.
"Well, we're just going to have to go out there and save her and the show!"
"When do I get to go on?" Natsu whined.
"SHUT YOUR TRAP!"
Happy lowered a tied up Nina over the stage.
"Save me, dear Prince...uh...Frederick...From the evil...Veldemord..."
"I am Julius, if you want to save the Princess, you'll have to cross blades with me!" Gray walked out onto stage.
"Who the heck's this guy?" A guy called out.
"YEAH, WHAT HAPPENED TO VELDEMORD?"
Erza turned to Gray, blue in the face.
"I challenge you...Challenge youuu-"
"Whoa, she's completely lost it."
"I have an idea!" Nina hissed. "Open, Gate of the clock- Horologium!"
The clock apeared onstage in a cloud of smoke. Erza used this opportunity to climb inside.
"'We will fight. DUEL' The prince says timidly."
Nina tried desperately not to laugh at the looks of all the people in the audience. There was a collective look of 'Huh?' going around.
"How good of you to come, Great Clock! The prince was in need of a moments rest!"
Erza quickly composed herself, pushing the door of Horologium open.
"I have found my breath! We will fight, Julius!" Erza pointed her sword.
"That we shall. My Ice sword-"
"Against my...Ten Swords!" Erza's magic kicked in and fired 10 swords at Gray.
"I'm outta here Nina!" Gray took off.
"Thank you, Prince, for saving me."
"Please! Princess Anderica, marry me and we will have many children. Like...Thirty-three!"
"The calm before the storm cometh noweth! Now come forth and char him my dragon!"
The stage shook and out came Natsu dressed as a dragon with Happy flying him around while Natsu spit fire.
"Rahh! I'm a powerful dragon, I will destroy you all! YAHHH!"
Nina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"We must slay this dragon!"
"Right!"
"I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE DRAGON! YOU TWO GET TO SAFETY!"
"The princess is gonna slay it?" Came a confused voice. Nina cracked a grin.
Happy dropped the dragon, and Natsu couldn't cut off the fire in time to stop setting Nina's dress on fire.
"GRAY!" Nina began to run over to him, but Erza jumped over him and cut Nina's dress entirely off, leaving her in a tight tanktop and a pair of booty shorts.
"ERZA!" Gray snapped, covering Nina with his cloak, which he was wearing for his part as Julius.
"Princess, are you alright?"
"How did you end up getting the lead in this play?" Nina snapped. Taurus came up from below stage, without being summoned.
"AW! The Princess's hot body really Moooooves me!"
"Who said you could pop out and embarass me?" Nina whined.
"Sorry but I thought you were in trouble. I promised to protect you, Miss Nina. With all that Moooves!" He vanished, winking at her with a thumbs up.
Gray and Natsu were chasing each other around, destroying everything. Erza joined the fight, demanding they be punished.
"THIS IS WAY OUT OF HAND!" Nina cried.
"Yes!" The play writer cried. "YES!"
"This is not gonna be good!"
Nina was right. The entire theater split in two, parting around them like the Red Sea.
"I KNEW IT!"
But the crowd errupted into cheers as Erza lifted Natsu while he breathed fire at Gray.
"They loved it!" The writer continued. "YES!"
Nina, despite herself, smiled at the man.
This continued for a week, three shows a day.
"Get up! The show must go on, you lazy bums!"
"Are we done? I wanna go home now!" Nina whined.