Chapter 10:
Oracíon Seis All Over the Place

The afternoon train ride back to Magnolia, was just a little tense.

We couldn't clear up the mess on this street because it'd look a bit weird a couple of tourists cleaning up the rubble. Instead we had to pay the mayor, who in turn payed some work men to clean it up.

Then, at the small, small, price of no reward, he offered to fix the damage to the hotel. Still, we had to fork out extra Jewel to make any awkward questions go away, questions that people who didn't know about magic might ask. Like why four teens would bring a bomb into a hotel, for instance.

Erza was so fed up by the evening she didn't seem to have the energy to tell us off. Instead, she got onto the train without a word, sitting down erectly and putting her ear phones in, blasting music loud enough to tell us she wanted to be left alone. She spent the whole trip looking out the window, ignoring Natsu who lay on the floor, and not bothering to tell Gray off for prodding him in the side with his foot.

I sat with Happy curled up on my lap, my coat hiding him from passersby.

Despite the occasional elbow I dug into Gray's side he kept nudging the travel sick Natsu. I knew their relationship was built on fighting with each other, but after five minutes of constant prodding Natsu seemed to have had enough. He was pale in the face, one hand over his mouth and the other lifting off his stomach as he swung his elbow down on Gray's foot.

Gray cursed, pulling his foot up onto the seat as Natsu turned over, curling up in a ball.

"Can I borrow your whip?" Gray asked through gritted teeth.

I didn't dignify his request with an answer, asking instead,

"Why are you two so mean to each other?" Gray raised his eyebrows at me,

"Mean? Nah, Fairy Tail shows affection through violence. Can't you tell by all the fighting at the guild?"

"But you two seem to always be going at it."

Gray shrugged,

"We used to spar when we were kids. Plus, Natsu was the nemesis name that came up on my wrist. Just cause we beat each other up though, doesn't mean he's not my best friend."

Gray glanced at me warningly,

"Don't tell him I said that."

I crossed my legs triumphantly,

"Oh I'm definitely telling him you said that."

"Oh come on! I'll get Juvia to leave you alone for a week!"

"How the heck are you gonna manage that?" I asked, Gray screwing up his face in thought,

"Er...I dunno...I could tell her I think you're butt-ugly or something?"

"Wow...thanks!"

Gray nudged me jokingly,

"Hey, I don't just offer this opportunity to anyone y'know."

Natsu mumbled something that sounded like one of Gray's ice princess nicknames. Mr ice princess stared pointedly at the whip on my belt.

"No," I said firmly.

"Then call Virgo - it'd give Erza a laugh."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "cause summoning a maid who wears chains around her wrists would look so normal on a train."

Gray rolled his eyes,

"We could break the council's rules just this once..."

Apart from the fact that Erza would have my head, I was a member of Fairy Tail, and though they might push the Council's guidelines they never purposefully broke them. I wasn't going to be the one who changed that. It was only dark guilds who didn't care who saw their magic.

Truth be told, apart from being the bad guys, I didn't know that much about the dark guilds in Fiore.

"How many dark guilds are there?" I asked.

Gray actually diverted his attention from Natsu, clearly thinking about his answer,

"...No one really knows. Dark guilds are just guilds not registered with the council, but the reason they're not registered is cause they take illegal jobs. I know there're two main ones, but I reckon there could be hundreds."

I thought of the redhead, Flare, my age and apparently involved with a dark guild,

"Do they recruit kids?"

"I've only heard of teenagers actually fighting for them," Gray said, "but they must take in kids and train them to fight."

"Does Eisenwald do that?"

Gray tilted his head uncertainly,

"I don't think so. As far as I know, Eisenwald is a kind of subgroup within the Oracíon Seis. The Seis are one of the two big dark guilds. I think the other one is called Grimoire Heart."

I fiddled with Aquarius' key around my neck,

"If there's loads of different dark guilds, how come all of them wants my keys?"

Gray hestitated for a second, clearly thinking again,

"I don't reckon they want your keys for the same reason. The smaller guilds probably only want them cause they heard the bigger two were searching for them. No idea what the big two want them for though. Maybe they need you and the keys? I mean, I remember your Mum being really important in the war."

I stared at him.

"You knew my Mum?"

"I never met her, but I remember my parents talking about her." Gray started fiddling with his own necklace, tracing the silver cross that lay beneath his t-shirt. "They fought alongside Master Makarov. I can remember them saying the dragon of stars would save our souls."

"What else have they told you about her?" I asked.

"I don't remember much." He said, looking straight ahead. "They died in the war."

I paused, trying to think of something to say.

I knew from experience he'd probably heard 'I'm sorry' enough times to make him feel sick, but Juvia might kill me if I try and give him a hug.

Gray got out his own headphones and put them on, saving me from saying anything, and leaving the mood even worse than it'd been when we'd gotten on the train.

Half an hour later we pulled into Magnolia station.

Happy jumped off my lap, no longer hidden by my coat because he wouldn't attract too much attention in Magnolia

Since the parade, the public seemed to have convinced themselves that Fairy Tail's exceeds were part of our 'illusion act'. Obviously no one from the guild had provided an explanation, so they public had been left to conspiracy theories and speculation. Half the town seemed to think the exceeds were robots, half of them were convinced they were just highly trained cats with some cool tech that let them fly and talk.

It was a relief that Happy could walk around town freely, as he was able to help me heave Natsu off the floor. Unfortunately, when I'd pulled Natsu's arm over my shoulder, he seemed to think his duty was done, and scampered off the train before I could call him back.

Erza followed him, as did Gray, who thankfully paused to pick up mine and Natsu's bags while I heaved my soul mate off the train.

On the platform I couldn't see Happy, though Erza didn't bother waiting for him, striding towards the station exit with her trolley of luggage.

I assumed Happy had flown back to the guild, eager to get back to Carla as soon as possible.

It turned out I was right, but he hadn't stayed there long. He came flying back to us as we walked turned into the main street, swooping down in front of Erza, his eyes so wide he looked tearful.

"Someone tried to destroy the guild!" Happy cried.

Erza stopped walking at this news, pausing for barely half a second before breaking into a run. Gray followed, but as I was weighed down by Natsu I asked,

"Happy, help me out?"

Happy flew around me, sinking his claws into Natsu's vest, and hoisted him into the air. With Natsu and Happy floating along behind me, I ran after the other two.

A minute later I skidded to a halt outside The Guildhall. Happy dropped the mostly recovered Natsu back on his feet, all three of us looking up at the plastic lettering over the doors of the pub.

There were massive spaces between the plastic lettering that hadn't been ripped off, and it'd clearly been left that way on purpose. The word 'hell' spelled out over the doors wasn't very comforting, though the scorch marks on the doors didn't help the ominous look of the pub.

Natsu clamped a hand over his mouth as he strode forwards, clearly still feeling sick but filled with determination. He shouldered his way through the Guildhall's doors, Happy and I on his heels, all three of us stopping just inside the pub to survey the damage.

There was still people drinking and laughing, but they were all crowded around the few tables still standing. Most of the tables and benches had been snapped in half or reduced to sawdust. The mirrors behind the bar had been smashed, and there was a large hole blasted through the bar itself. Mira was sweeping up sawdust, while Jet and Droy more collecting up the larger pieces of table scattered over the floor.

We can't have missed the attack by more than an hour.

Erza and Gray were talking to Jellal, and Natsu stormed over, interrupting their conversation as he yelled,

"What the hell happened?"

Happy and I followed Natsu, drawing level with Erza and Gray who were both looking at me.

"Some dark guild lackies came in looking for Lucy," Jellal explained, "I reckon they were just scouts who thought they'd try and do something impressive. They shot a hole in the bar and everyone got a bit carried away teaching them a lesson. You know Fairy Tail and alcohol."

There was a loud clunk as Jet and Droy both dropped armfuls of wood, running up to us excitedly.

"Is Levy with you?" Jet asked.

"We just got back from a mission," I said.

Droy seemed dissapointed but none the less enthusiastiuc,

"Man, we were so awesome in that fight! I wish she was here to see me in action - I'd clearly be the best subject for her research."

Jet shoved into him,

"As if! You summoned a few plants. I ran circles around them!"

Droy snorted,

"Ran around like a headless chicken more like."

"You—" Jet lunged at his friend, tackling him to the floor where they both rolled around, wrestling.

I thought I saw Jellal roll his eyes as he turned his back on them. He grimaced at me, looking solemn,

"We saw them off no problem Lucy, but you should take care. I'm sure they'll still looking for you."

Natsu cracked his knuckles,

"If there's gonna be a fight around Lucy, I'll walk her home. Gotta pay those guys back personally for trying to take on Fairy Tail!"

He turned away, marching towards the doors yelling,

"I'm all fired up now!"

Grey's eyes met mine, and both of us smirked, though we broke eye contact quickly at a shriek containing the words, 'LOVE RIVAL'.

Natsu, Happy and I stopped at a grocery store on the way back. They were complaining about being hungry the moment we left The Guildhall.

I offered him dinner since he was coming back to my apartment, and Natsu offered to cook. I don't think he wanted to risk going hungry again because of my cooking.

We got back to my apartment with bags full of food, and Natsu immediately got to work, dragging out a chopping board and picking through my kitchen draws in search of a knife.

I retreated into my room when Happy began pouring rice into a pan. I wasn't entirely sure the furball could cook, and if I was around I was bound to get blamed for any kitchen fires. Sure Natsu would swallow the flames no problem but I could do without Happy berating me all evening.

I spent half an hour relaxing in a hot bath, but the smell of Natsu's cooking tempted me out of the water a lot sooner than usual.

After changing into pyjamas, I followed my nose out into the sitting room. Natsu was sat at the table, digging into a mound of curry and rice. Happy gave me a short wave from the table top, busy ripping chunks of grilled fish off the mackrel Natsu had bought him.

The fire they'd lit in my absence had warmed the winter wind out of my apartment, and it made the whole room feel cosy alongside the smells of a homecooked meal.

"Looks good," I said, walking over to the stove where they'd left the remaining curry.

"It's my Dad's recipe." Natsu said around a mouthful of food. "He said the spice used to feed the fire in his belly."

I got out a plate, ladling curry and rice onto it with a smile,

"So 'being fired up' is a family thing?"

Natsu paused, and deflected my question with one of his own,

"Speaking of family, did you ever get taught how to cook?" I glared at him over my shoulder,

"My cooking isn't that bad!" Natsu held up his hands in surrender,

"I was only asking cause I didn't think it was necessary. Don't you have people doing that for you in a mansion?"

I took a fork from the cutlery draw and walked over to the table,

"What makes you think I live in a mansion?" Natsu snorted,

"Well I guessed back when you found Taurus's key. You told me about your Dad payed people to drag you back home? Jobs like that don't come cheap when you hire a dark guild. Plus, isn't it a rich people thing to try and marry their kids off."

I stabbed at a piece of meat, frowning down at my plate,

"It's not a marriage, it's more of a business transaction. But it doesn't matter, I'm a Fairy Tail mage now, he can't drag me back home."

I stuck the forkful of curry in my mouth, smiling over at Natsu. He grinned back at me,

"Damn right he can't!"

I choked, half because Natsu sounded so sincere, half because the curry was so unbelievably spicy.

I swallowed quickly, my mouth burning as I ran to the fridge for some milk.

Ripping the cap off I chugged back a few mouthfuls from the carton, breathing a sigh of relief as my mouth stopped burning.

"Can I have some?" Natsu asked.

"Me too!" Happy shouted.

I nodded, opening my cupboards in search of two glasses and a bowl.

Clearly not wanting to drop the subject, Happy asked loudly,

"So is the reason you can't cook is because you had servants doing everything for you?"

I scowled, putting two glasses and a bowl down on the counter,

"Spetto taught me the basics."

"Who's Spetto?" Natsu asked.

I grimaced, knowing what was coming,

"Spetto's the head house keeper."

"So you did have servants doing all your cooking?!" Happy shouted.

I spun around, trying to think of something to shout back, but my expression just made Happy and Natsu laugh.

Jerks.

Natsu ended up staying to watch a movie.

We each took a sofa to lie back on, and Happy stretched out in front of the fire, yawning loudly for half the movie, and falling asleep before it ended.

Natsu seemed really reluctant to wake him (apparently Happy not sleep talking was a sign he was comfy) so I offered to let his cat stay the night.

I let Natsu out of my apartment and he walked back to the Guildhall, leaving his cat snoring in the warmth.

I put a note next to Happy explaining where Natsu was and got into bed, though I realised as I got under my covers that I didn't know if the cat could read as well as talk.

It couldn't have been more than half an hour, just when I was on the verge of sleep, that I heard a knock on my window.

A nagging feeling pulled at my stomach as I sat up, drawing back the curtain to see a familiar hand raised above the window ledge, preparing to knock again.

I unlocked my window and pushed it open, sticking my head out to see Natsu hanging from the windowsill outside.

He grinned at me casually, like he was greeting me at my front door instead of hanging off the side of my building.

I looked down at the street below, checking it was free of people and whisper shouting,

"What the heck are you doing?!"

"Hey Lucy."

Using my name cannot be a good sign.

"What d'you want?" I asked.

"Any chance I could come in?"

He flexed the fingers still gripping onto my window ledge, but I didn't get out of the way just yet,

"What happened to going back home?" Natsu scowled,

"Gray and Juvia are getting it on in the room next to mine. I can't really sleep with them being so loud next door. Could camp on your sofa?"

I hesitated a moment then sighed, falling back against my pillows so there was room for him to climb in.

Natsu hoisted himself inside, accidentally stepping on my stomach as he climbed from the bed to the floor.

"Sorry," he whispered, "sorry...thanks for this. I'll be in the sitting room."

And he was. For all of fifteen minutes.

I was on the verge of dropping off to sleep when my door creaked open.

The fire was still glowing in the sitting room, illuminating Natsu's silhouette as he trudged in slowly.

"You okay?" I asked, watching as he stumbled towards my bed.

He came to a halt right next to my bed.

I barely had time to register he was topless before he picked up the corner of my bedcovers.

I pushing myself back against the wall, staring at Natsu got into bed beside me, tucking the bedsheet around him.

"Natsu?!" I snapped, pulling the covers off him.

He let out a loud snore.

I thumped him in the stomach, trying to ignore how my hand had bounced off a very solid set of muscles.

Wait, why should I ignore that? It's just an observation.

Natsu snored louder.

Maybe antagonising him would wake him up? I lent over him, inches from his ear,

"Ice magic is sooo much better than fire magic."

"What did you say to me Ice Princess?" Natsu mumbled, clearly still asleep, but apparently able to swing a punch towards the sound of my voice.

I pulled away just in time, his punch catching my chin instead of my cheek. It was a drowsy punch but it was still a Natsu punch, so it hurt like hell.

Bracing my feet on the wall, I threw my weight against his midsection, shoving him out of bed unceremoniously.

He rolled off bed and hit the floor, finally jolting awake and sitting bolt up right.

He looked around in disbelief, blinking blearily up at me, apparently confused,

"What're you—? Why am I—?"

"You were trying to sleep in my bed!"

Natsu ran a hand through his hair,

"Damn...I forgot about sleep walking."

I stared at him,

"Does sleep walking usually make you get into other people's beds?!"

Natsu got to his feet,

"Yeah! I usually lock my bedroom door cause I kept wondering into Gray's bed. It got really awkward when Juvia was in with him. You need to get a lock on your door!"

"You say that like you're gonna sleep here every time Gray has Juvia over! You can't just crash my apartment whenever Gray and Juvia are enjoying each other's company!"

Natsu stared at me, wide eyed,

"Trust me, you do not make those sorts of noises if you're just 'enjoying someone's company'!"

There was a banging on the floor.

The landlady clearly wasn't impressed by our arguing. I looked at my clock. It was ten past midnight.

I lowered my voice, waving my hand at him,

"Just go back in the sitting room."

Natsu got up quickly and walked out, closing my bedroom door behind him.

Ten minutes later, Natsu was asleep, and he was also opening my bedroom door like a zombie.

I decided to get out of bed.

If Happy came in tomorrow morning and found us sharing a bed, he'd spread it around Fairy Tail and I'd never hear the end of it from the whole Guild.

I skirted around Natsu, who promptly walked over to my bed and got under the covers.

In the sitting room the fire was now glowing embers, so I grabbed a blanket from my cupboard before curling up on one of the sofas. Thankfully, Natsu stayed sound asleep in my bed, but where Natsu was a sleep walker, Happy seemed to be a sleep talker.

Almost every hour I jolted awake by his call of 'aye sir!' or 'let's get em Natsu!'.

The only good thing about the morning, waking up after so little sleep, was that I woke to the smell of bacon.

I'd slept with a cushion for a pillow, but my neck still ached as I raised my head, squinting in the morning light that was shining through open curtains.

I wanted more than anything, to get into back into my bed and go to sleep, but since our mission had been canceled I needed to catch a morning shift at the guild. Rent was due in a week.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Happy was lying lazily up on top of the fridge, while Natsu cooked at the stove. My soul mate was still topless, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a spatula in the other.

I found myself staring at his back muscles, his shoulders flexing slightly as he tended to the bacon in the pan.

I'd never have thought after just a month of finding my soul mate, I'd wake up to him cooking breakfast in my apartment, topless and looking very hot with messy bed hair.

I gave myself a little shake.

What the heck am I saying?! His bed hair didn't look any different from his normal messy hair style.

I mean sure, it probably looked better then the crows nest I had to brush out every morning, but that didn't mean Natsu's hair was amazing. Alright, so he's an attractive guy, but— I'm just hung up on him cause he's my soul mate, I don't actually think—

I shook the thought out of my head.

Feeling grumpy, both at myself and because of so little sleep, I called,

"Sleep well?"

Natsu turned around and grinned at me sheepishly,

"Er, yeah...you?"

I didn't answer, forcing my eyes away from his bare chest, and focusing on getting to my feet.

There was a renewed fire crackling in the grate, so shoving my blanket off me wasn't as hard as getting out of bed usually was. I tried not to use the heating to save money.

Irritated at how nice that felt, I trudged towards my bedroom, wanting to get changed before breakfast.

Showering and dressing quickly, I walked back out into the sitting room to find Natsu sat at the table, breakfast laid out for the both of us. Happy was sat on the table, half way through another raw fish, and Natsu looked done with what I assumed was his second helping of breakfast.

The bacon and eggs were as tasty as his dinner yesterday, though thankfully a little gentler on my tongue without the ridiculous amount of curry spice.

I got a text from Levy while I was buttering some toast.

It was a little garbled, owing to what I'm sure was enthusiasm, but she was apparently desperate for me to get Natsu to the Guildhall so she could test out a new theory.

This cheered my up a bit. I hadn't seen her last Sunday, what with being at the train station so early, and the thought of watching Natsu navigating one of her tests made me smile. I couldn't have dreamed up better payback.

After stacking the dirty dishes we left for the guild, walking a little quicker than usual, and arriving just before the start of my shift.

Levy greeted us at the door, grinning from ear to ear as she ushered us inside.

The bar was mostly empty, the broken tables and chairs now cleared away, and it looked oddly spaceous without them. My stomach sank slightly as I remembered it was kind of my fault, but it plummeting even lower as Levy told me to stand just inside the door. I'd planned on watching Natsu struggle through her experiments, not being a lab rat myself.

True, I didn't particularly have to do anything, but I also didn't get to see Natsu do something ridiculous for the sake of science.

Levy was trying to establish the distance Natsu and I needed to be apart for our dragon slayer senses to focus on other things.

Natsu needed to stand almost behind the bar, a good 20 ft away from me, before his senses started working.

Levy seemed pleased about this, and made him sit at the furthest table from the bar, apparently determined to see my own slayer senses in action while I worked in the kitchens.

Lisanna was cooking at the stove when we walked through the kitchen door. She still didn't seem as bouncy as when I'd first met her, but her smile was no longer looked pained, and she didn't look tearful. Once she was done cooking, she seemed eager to help with Levy's experiment.

Levy tried to get me to magically meditate before I washed dishes.

Despite her commands to breath in and out slowly, I wasn't smelling, feeling or hearing anything differently. After several minutes of breathing slowly I gave up.

By the time Lisanna had hopped up on the counter beside the sink, breakfast plate on her lap, I was elbow deep in soapy water.

"I don't know if it's a case of relaxing." Lisanna said, when Levy appealed to her for advice. "Natsu always said it was just like spreading his magic from his insides to his surroundings, like a kind of sonar."

Levy nodded animatedly,

"That makes sense. From what I was reading, to tap into dragon slayer senses you need to be one with everything. That's why I thought about meditating, but then again magic is fuelled by emotion. So maybe relaxation isn't the answer." Lisanna grinned,

"Yeah, well with huge magical cores, dragon slayers are meant to be really emotional people. Maybe they need to feel a particular way before they can use slayer senses?"

I stared at Lisanna,

"I'm sorry, dragon slayers are emotional? Are you telling me Gajeel likes watching sappy movies and cries at Marley and Me?"

Levy rolled her eyes,

"Gajeel's in touch with his emotions. He writes songs."

"He writes bad songs," Lisanna corrected.

"You just don't like jazz music," Levy said, holding her head a little higher defensively.

"And you just like Gajeel," I said, smirking as her face went pink.

She waved her hand at me,

"Just try the magic spreading thing. See if you can hear Natsu and Gray arguing or something."

"I'm good thanks. I don't want to hear too many details about what Gray and Juvia were up to last night."

"What happened last night?" Lisanna asked.

I hestitated. I didn't feel entirely comfortable with telling Natsu's ex girlfriend about it, but what else was I gonna say?

"Natsu climbed up to my window last night," I explained, "he said he could hear two of them going at it through the wall of his bedroom. He couldn't get to sleep, so he came over to my apartment and slept on the couch instead."

Lisanna looked gobsmacked, and I knew by her tone that she was concerned instead of hurt,

"Does your bedroom door have a lock?" I shook my head, grimacing as she asked. "He didn't sleep on the couch did he?"

"Wondered in my room like a zombie. He got under the covers, and I tried to wake him up by impersonating Gray. Not only did he stay asleep but he punched me in the face. I kicked him out, and he went back into the sitting room, but the second time he came in I decided to sleep on the sofa. Happy kept me waking me up though, yelling in his sleep, so I only got a few hours."

Lisanna grimaced at me, pityingly.

I was glad she didn't resent me for Natsu crawling in through my window, and I was also a little proud of how she was talking casually about Natsu. No doubt Mira's been working her magic on her sister.

"So dragon slayer senses," Levy said, dragging us back to her research, "do they ever get used instictively? Like sleepwalking or something?"

Lisanna shrugged,

"No idea. Far as I'm aware they're a background thing. I didn't even know soul mates interfered with them."

"I haven't found any references to it," Levy said, looking at me for answers.

"I didn't know until Aquarius tried to drown Natsu yesterday."

The girls shot me inquisitive looks. I grinned at them,

"Go ask Happy for the story. I bet he's spreading it round the guild right this second."

Levy let me off trying out dragon slayer senses while I worked.

As I'd only had few hours sleep, she thought my range might be smaller, and wanting to get only the best data she settled for just chatting until my lunch break.

I was so tired when midday rolled around that I asked Mira to wake me when my break was over, heading downstairs for a nap on one of the couches. The room was thankfully empty and quiet, and I lay down comfortably on the biggest sofa I could find.

I fell asleep so quickly that when I came to I felt a bit disorientated.

I realised dimly I'd woken up on my own, not because someone was shaking me awake, and the previous silence of the room had gone.

There was a blanket over me, and I could hear the sound of a videogame, virtual gun fire rattling off.

A familiar smokey smell filled my nostrils. It reminded me of the smell in my fireplace before the fire really got going.

When I opened my eyes, most of my view was obscured by pink hair, and I pieced together what was going on.

Natsu was sat on the floor, leaning back against the sofa with Happy curled up on his lap. He was playing a video game on the television, but as I sat up he paused it, looking around,

"Sorry, was this too loud?" He jabbed his thumb at the videogame on the tv and I shook my head, rubbing sleepy dust out my eyes,

"What time is it?"

Natsu put down the controller,

"Before I tell you, Mira ordered me to let you sleep. So you're not late..."

Happy yawned and stretched on Natsu's lap, saying sleepily,

"It's just after 4..."

I'd missed most of my afternoon shift!?

I swung my feet off the sofa and stood up,

"I've got to get back upstairs."

Natsu pouted at me,

"No, pretend to still be sleeping! Avoid work with me."

"What work are you avoiding? It's a bit early for patrol isn't it?"

Natsu shrugged,

"I've got some English homework due first period tomorrow."

"And you've left it this late, because...?"

He rolled his eyes,

"We're not all nerds Luigi. I'm dyslexic, and I don't like the subject. It's not top of my list of priorities."

"Doesn't leaving it to last minute stress you out?"

Natsu grinned,

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one who doesn't leave homework till last minute." He looked away from me, unpausing his video game. "Besides, Lisanna used to tutor me. I'm kinda stuck now, doing it on my own."

A slightly awkward silence filled the room.

Happy opened his eyes, still stretched out on Natsu's lap, and looked up at me quizzically,

"You're super good at useless subjects, right Lucy?" I glared at him,

"Languages aren't useless, furball." Happy ignored my tone, getting off Natsu's lap and standing up on two legs, his front paws resting on my shins. He stared up with wide eyes, looking very cute and asking hopefully,

"Could you help Natsu? He could help you with your dragon slayer senses?" I crossed my arms,

"Who says I'm having trouble with my slayer senses?" Natsu didn't look up,

"Gajeel was listening to you talking in the kitchen."

He paused the game again and turned around to look at me,

"I could tell you a secret about him y'know. Information on Gajeel and help with your senses...if you help me out. Just this once?"

I knew by his tone this was obviously something Levy would be interested in.

As a good friend, what choice did I have?

Natsu went to fetch his homework while I went upstairs, finishing the washing up left out for me.

When I came out of the kitchens Natsu was waiting for me, sat at the bar with his homework and Happy out of sight, probably tailing Carla around the guild.

He pushed the novel we were studying and a few sheets of paper across the bar top. I thumbed through a very messy essay plan, and read through the small chunk of essay he'd written so far, letting Natsy wrestle with Gray while I wrote down a few extra points. There seemed to be a few major bits of the book he hadn't read.

When I'd finished writing my notes, I looked up to see him still grappling with Gray. He was probably using his arch-nemesis as an excuse not to come back and work, because shouting his name wasn't doing do much good. In the end I yelled,

"Natsu! Can you and your boyfriend cut it out for a sec?" And Juvia gave me the desired effect of pulling Gray off Natsu, leaving him with no choice but to walk back to the bar.

I tried summerising the bits of the book he'd skipped over, simplifying my explination, and using slang to read between the lines of the most of the flowery language. The problem with this however, was that he tried to write 'the main dude is totally crazy about her' in the first part of his analysis.

"You've got to use academic language." I said. "Writing more formally gives a better impression to the teacher, which will affect your grade."

Natsu wrinkled his nose,

"What, so I gotta say 'in accordance with chapter 12, the theme of affection shifts from platonic to romantic'?" I smiled,

"Exactly!"

"That sounds stupid. Is that how your talk to your servants at home?" I frowned,

"They're not servants, they're family. The house staff pretty much raised me, so it was more like having ten parents."

Natsu raised his eyebrows, asking,

"Did you have a butler?"

I didn't answer, looking back down at my notes as Natsy repressed a laugh. He took off his scarf and folded it over his arm,

"Did the good sir refer to you as Madam?" I scowled at him,

"Very funny, but let's get back to your homework."

Natsu grinned,

"But Madam, I must insist I continue this charade! You are surrounded by so many peasants! For your protection, you must be accompanied by a member of 'house staff' at all times!"

I snatched the scarf off his arm and threw it over his shoulder, scowling,

"Don't be such an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, I'm right." I snorted,

"No, you're doing everything wrong."

Natsu wrapped his scarf back around his neck,

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Everything."

"Aw, come on, if I spoke 'academically' I could totally get a job as a butler."

It was my turn to laugh now,

"No, you really wouldn't. You'd never get hired at the Heartfelia estate."

"How come?!" I began counting things off on my fingers,

"Your posture is wrong, you're not standing up when you're addressing me, your towel is on the wrong arm, your smiling too much, and you refer to me by the wrong title." Natsu stared at me in disbelief,

"I'm smiling too much?!"

"You're grinning," I explained, "you have to smile politely."

Natsu raised his eyebrows,

"Sounds like your house staff banned fun."

"I just had a different type of fun. I did puzzles and read a lot, since I was home schooled."

Natsu scoffed,

"Still can't believe you've never played truth or dare."

"I did! I've played it with Levy!"

"Okay," he said, "I can't believe you've never played a real game of truth or dare." I scowled at him,

"Oh, so your childhood was just party games 24/7?" Natsu shrugged,

"Well I didn't do puzzles. I played football on weekends with my Dad and older brother, but I wasn't very good. I was more of a runner, hence being in the track team."

"I didn't know you had a brother?" I said.

"He saved my life in the war." My heart sunk a little as Natsu looked down at his homework. "It was his job to get me back home from Fairy Tail. There was an explosion and I blacked out. Woke up in the infirmary. When I went back, all that was left was half of the black scarf Dad had given him."

I paused for a second, lowering my voice slightly.

"...He sounds very brave."

"Yeah," Natsu said, looking up with a smile, "and you never know. Dad might've taken him along for the ride when he disappeared."

I smiled back, wanting to give him a hug but unable to with the bar between us.

"We're gonna find them Natsu." I said determinately. "If my keys can really help, I'll make sure the dragons come back."

Natsu grinned at me,

"I know ya will. If you can keep that angry mermaid round your neck, I'm pretty sure you can handle anything."

I fiddled with Aquarius' key, trying to smile. I really hoped he was right.

In my first lesson on Monday morning my phone buzzed.

The history teacher was droning on so monotonously most people were already texting under the table, so I didn't feel too bad as I slipped my hand inside my school blazer and pulled out my phone.

Natsu: Just handed it in! Thanks the help Luigi!

Lucy: You need to find me a new nickname. Also, where's my information on Gajeel?

Natsu: One thing at a time. You'll have that when your dragon slayer senses are up to scratch :)

Lucy: I haven't got time to practise those, I've got work straight after school! Can't you tell me now?

Natsu: Nope, but I am gonna teach you to use your senses now.

Lucy: But information on Gajeel will take two seconds, teaching me to use my senses will take all lesson and I've got to take notes!

Natsu: Luigi you're the only one who takes any notes in history class.

Lucy: How the heck do you pass any of your classes?

Natsu: By using my supreme intelligence. Now, dragon slayer senses. I got the hang of em when I was really young so you should find it super easy. What's your magic feel like?

Lucy: I dunno, warm?

Natsu: No ya wierdo, I mean what do you imagine when you use it? I always have a fire in my belly, you...

Lucy: Have a flow of light I guess? The only thing I really have to imagine it for is my whip. I just imagine light flowing down my arm.

Natsu: Great. So let's say this light comes from a core, right? You need to imagine that core of light spreading out like a sonar.

Trying not to think about the mechanics of Natsu listening with the fire in his stomach, I closed my eyes, picturing a golden light in my chest. Echoing from it I imagined a golden sphere expanding around me, the edge of it ringed in golden light. It seemed to pulse in time with my heart.

Lucy: Okay, got that. Now what?

Natsu: Don't try smelling anything, you'll pick up on someone who doesn't wash and it'll be like a kick to the face. Just pick a spot in your sonar, and let your magic feed the sound back to you.

I closed my eyes and wondered how far the sphere could stretch. A bird would be a good start right? I let the sphere expand outside the history block, willing the sound from the trees outside to feed back to me.

There were trees lining the entire quad, and though it was quiet I heard a few chirps, along with a very familiar voice saying,

"Spread out. Heartfelia is somewhere here. Stay under the radar till we've found her, then do as much damage as you want. The more the better. Let's give the council a real field day."

My breath caught in my throat and I opened my eyes. I scrolled through my phone, hurriedly finding the Fairy Hills group text, and typing,

listen with slayer senses, eisenwald in quad

I stood up suddenly, my chair grating loudly on the cheap flooring and making the teacher look up. Without offering any explanation I ran from the classroom, my history teacher calling after me as the door slammed and I ran down the corridor.

If they wouldn't attack until they found me, I needed to hide, at least until they saw no reason to not let loose.

I shouldered my way into the nearest bathroom and pulled out my ring of keys, fumbling through them for the right spirit.

"Open, gate of the the lion!"

There was the sound of a doorbell and a puff of smoke appeared at the edge of the sinks.

Loke emerged from his spirit smoke, clad in his smart suit and smiling suggestively at me,

"Hey Beautiful—" I waved my hand fantically shushing him, praying no dark wizards had come running upstairs already.

"Eisenwald is in the quad outside," I whispered, "I heard them say they won't attack until they find me. I texted the others but I need some help hiding. Any ideas?"

Loke's body glowed gold, just like Erza's did when she requipped, and when the light dimmed I saw he'd changed his appearance.

His hair was shorter, his glasses more square, and the ginger cat ears had vanished from his head. He'd changed his clothes into a school uniform, disreagurding the dress code like most of the students here, and replacing the school blazer with a big, green parker jacket.

"We can hide in plain sight," he said, "we'll be safer if we find the rest of your guildmates. If we attack them as one unit, we should be able to finish them in one hit, no problem."

Loke walked over to the bathroom door, poking his head out and checking the coast was clear. Popping his head back inside he asked,

"Know where any of them will be?"

"Natsu and Gray are in the language block but Erza and Juvia have P.E together, so I don't know if they'll have got my message. I reckon we should start with them."

Loke nodded and slipped out of the bathroom.

The two of us tip toed along the corridor, creeping down the stairs and heading towards the building's exit

We didn't hear or meet anyone on the way, but as we reached the door leading outside Loke stopped, peeking through the small window to check if it was clear.

"There's someone out there on gaurd," Loke whispered, "but he doesn't look very strong."

"What do we do?" I asked.

Loke ran a hand through his hair, loosening his school tie and undoing a few buttons on his shirt,

"I'm gonna do what I'm good at, so you can sneak past unnoticed. Call another spirit when you're out of earshot, just to be safe."

"Do what you're good at?" I asked, as Loke checked his reflection in the small window.

Loke winked at me,

"I'm gonna use my charm on him."

"You're gonna flirt with him?" I asked apprehensively. Having personally experienced his 'charms', I was pretty sure he had zero chance of pulling this off.

"Trust me," Loke said, "I'm irresistible."

I stayed back as Loke opened the door, swaggering out into the quad and vanishing from sight as the door swung shut.

After a few seconds I peeked through the window, watching him strut over to a tall, slim man leaning against the wall.

The man had lank, green hair, and was wearing what looked like a purple prison jumpsuit. A glowing, pink, orb, hovered in his hand, but he didn't use it to attack as Loke approached.

Loke walked around him confidently, drawing the man's eyes away from the door I was to about to leave through.

As quietly as I could I pushed down the door handle, edging through the small gap quietly.

"The one you love," I heard the man say to Loke, "she will be in danger come the gathering of winter. Lamia Scale may save the day, if you intervene inappropriately..."

I closed the door quietly, and began edging away from it as Loke drawled,

"The one I love is a long way away right now. I'm here, because I'm more interested in what that crystal ball tells you about this."

Loke moved a finger back and forth between him and the man, keeping his attention as I cross the quad.

"The future does not reveal itself easily," the man said, "I can only tell of obscure details, ideas that reveal themselves to me in the mist. "

"YOU'RE FORTUNE TELLING IS A USELESS PIECE OF GARBAGE!" yelled a voice from over head, and my stomach dropped as I looked around.

Two men, identical in appearance, stood on the roof of the history block, one looking down at their guildmate, the other looking at me.

Both wore red coats, the colour clashing horribly with their bright ginger hair. Both also held a ninja blade in their hand; silver, very sharp, and very real by the looks of it.

Loke ran back from the fortune teller as the twins jumped down onto the quad's tarmac. Loke's body glowed gold again as he changed back into his suit, standing between me and the Eisenwald wizards.

With my keys in hand, I found the gold one that ended in a heart.

"Open, gate of the maiden!"

The sound of the doorbell echoed around the quad as a puff of smoke appeared beside Loke, and Virgo emerged from it, hands raised in a fighting stance.

Both the twins and my spirits launched themselves forwards, running from opposite ends of the quad. The fortune teller waved his fingers over his pink orb and shouted,

"Beware the chains and light!"

I thought what he was saying was a little obvious (Virgo wearing chains, and me being a celestial dragon slayer) but his words made more sense when I saw my spirits attack.

Loke skidded to a halt, throwing out his arms as a blinding arc of light flew like a blade from his hands. Virgo leapt over him, the chains hanging from her cuffs lengthening, growing more and more links as she swung them like whips towards the Eisenwald twins.

Both twins ducked Loke's light, rolling to avoid Virgo's attack, and I saw the fortune teller consulting his orb once more.

With my spirits keeping the twins busy I ran for the fortune teller, pulling my whip from inside my blazer and channeling my magic through it.

Either the fortune teller saw me in his crystal ball or he looked up by chance, either way he looked horrified as the watery rope burst from the handle of my whip.

Tucking the crystal ball under his arm he ran around the quad, skirting the edge of the fight at its centre, but not getting far enough.

I flicked my arm forwards and the watery rope grew longer, snatching at one of his ankles and looping around it. Gripping my whip tightly I pulled, tugging the man off his feet, his pink orb rolling away across the quad.

I ran over as he scrambled up, and he turned around to face me just as I swung my foot between his legs.

He collapsed with a howl, hands covering his groin as he curled up into a ball.

There was a bright burst of light from Loke and I shielded my eyes for a second, looking around with a smile to see my spirits had won their fight.

Both of their ninja knives were in Loke's hands, and both the twins were groaning on the ground at his feet.

Without any danger of me being attacked, Virgo turned to me professionally and bowed with a smile.

"Good morning Princess." She gestured to the twins on the ground. "Would you like these restrained in this location, or tied up to go?"

"I think we should leave them here," I said, looking around for something to tie them up with.

I realised with a jolt in my stomach that students were hanging out the windows of classrooms, gawking as Virgo crouched down and slammed her hands into the ground.

Teachers and students alike watched as the tarmac beneath the three groaning wizards crumbled away, leaving them all lying in a shallow pit. The crumbled tarmac rose into the air and fell back down on them, reforming over their bodies like it'd dried with them lying there.

I had a split second to be amazed at Virgo's work before Loke dived at me.

I flew backwards, Loke on top of me, the ground where I'd just been standing having spontaneously exploded.

Loke got off me, standing up to face the new attacker, but I stayed on the ground, staring ahead of me. The three Eisenwald wizards we'd just defeated were still groaning on the ground, but Virgo and her tarmac prisons now gone. She's not...spirits can't—"

"It's alright," Loke said, guessing what I was thinking, "Virgo just got caught by the blast. If spirits sustain too much damage, we go back to the celestial realm. She'll be perfectly fine."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and got up, standing ready at Loke's side, and looking at our new attacker.

I couldn't quite believe my eyes.

What looked like a grey goblin stood in the entrance to the quad, his round head completely bald which gave him the look of an evil humpty-dumpty. He had pointed ears, slits for nostrils, and a green cloak wrapped around his shoulders. A golden magic circle was glowing at the tips of his fingers.

The tarmac in front of him crumbled, grinding up into grains so small it looked like black sand.

The sand rose, forming a shape like a tidal wave, and Loke suddenly turned on the spot. He pulled me into him and turned around, sheilding me, and I closed my eyes, expecting to feel sand ripping at my skin any second.

Instead, there was the sound of ice crashing against something hard, and Loke pulled away at the sound of the tarmac-sand throwing itself against some kind of bloackade.

A wall of ice had grown up from the floor, splitting the quad in two, the silohette of the sand visible as it threw itself against the wall. There's only one wizard I know that uses ice. And there's only one voice that sounds so excited about the prospect of a fight,

"Sorry we're late," Natsu shouted from somewhere behind me, "thought I'd grab some backup."

I turned around and looked up, seeing Natsu and Gray standing dramatically on the rooftop of the history building. Drama queens.

At the sound of creaking I turned to see cracks in the wall of ice.

Natsu and Gray jumped down from the roof of the building, walking over to us as if there wasn't an evil goblin on the other side of the wave of sand. They didn't even flinch as the ice wall shattered.

The sand reared, but just as it was about to strike it was enveloped in water.

Like a snow globe the sand swirled around, stuck inside the wave that bent over backwards. Aquarius would've been proud of the deluge that slammed down on the goblin, the sand inside the water swirling around him as he tried to swim to the edge of the water.

Juvia let her hand fall to her side, and the water threw itself against the tarmac, washing off the goblin who lay there spluttering, revealing a welcome sight.

Erza, her school shoes now wet, stood over the goblin, and smashed the butt of her sword into his head, knocking him out before he could catch his breath, Juvia and Gajeel stood behind her.

There were cheers from students hanging out the windows and Erza looked around at them, a hard look on her face.

The three of them ran over as Gray raised a hand to the students of Fairy Hills, Natsu giving them a deep bow as the others reached us.

"Quit taking credit and forget about your classmates, " Erza snapped, "the council will take care of them later. Right now we need to make sure Eisenwald is captured."

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Pulling it out, I saw Levy was calling me, and answered it,

"Hey Levy—" she cut me off, sounding terrified,

"—the Oracíon Seis are storming the academy!" I lowered the phone from my ear, holding it out to the others and putting her on speaker phone,

"If the Oracíon Seis are at the academy, where are you?"

Everyone fell silent, looking down at the phone.

"I'm hiding in a store cupboard," she whispered, "but they're taking everyone hostage...Lu I'm really scared, I can't take on all of them!"

Erza took the phone from me, speaking into it clearly,

"Levy, don't try and attack them on your own. As far as the dark guilds know, your academy doesn't contain any wizards. Stay hidden, and if you're caught, don't fight back. They'll think you're just a student, and they'll want to keep hostages safe until we get there. We'll be there soon, okay?"

"I'm leaving," Gajeel said gruffly, but Erza caught his arm,

"We've got to make sure all of Eisenwald is captured. Master Makarov is at the council, he's not here to protect the students!"

Gajeel actually glowered down at Erza,

"You can handle a few more of the punks that Bunny girl took out in less than a minute."

Erza scowled up at Gajeel, but her usually terrifying stare didn't even make him wince.

"Fine," she said, "go via the guild and pick up some reinforcements. Scout out the situation, we'll want to attack as soon as we get there."

Gajeel nodded and took off, running out of sight.

Erza watched him go, a dissaproving look on her face. I think she knew as well as I did, that Gajeel wasn't going to detour from rescuing Levy.

We needed to finish this fight quickly.

Thanks for reading through another chapter! Just in case ya didn't like it, have a fact; you can't say you've wasted your time if you learned something (completely useless) can ya?!

Leonardo Da Vinci made loads of elaborate marzipan scultures for parties. Guests ended up eating them, which really pissed him off, and he started working in marble so some of his creations remained after being disaplayed.
Sounds made up, but it's from a BBC podcast, so it is from a reliable source :P

Thanks for reading!
Hope to see you in the next one :D
M