Edits made 12/17/14
A/N: I'm not dead! Sorry for the late update, but last week was a chaos storm. My grandfather died, so there was a funeral, etc., and it was also Thanksgiving (it's a U.S. holiday), and so there was even MORE family gatherings and the like. No private moments, and even less time to write. So I wasn't able to finish this on time. :( Sorry. But I did finish it! Please sit back and enjoy!
Disclaimer: FAIRY TAIL IS ALL MINE! Unfortunately, the last sentence was a 100% lie.
Friends and Enemies
The clearing was about an acre in size, just large enough for a bandit camp. Blue tents were set up, a few campfires were scattered here and there, and there were even a few shelters in the trees at the edge of the clearing.
The Fairy Tail mages landed in the center of the camp, startling the dozen or so outlaws hanging out. They quickly recovered, however, and several grabbed weapons or took battle stances.
Erza stepped forward. "Who's in charge here?!" she demanded.
Just then another mage—this one obviously a dragon-fairy hybrid – stepped out of one of the nearby tents. She had dark purple hair cropped close to her head, eyes like fire, scars—seemingly from knives -, and an air of command about her. "What's going on here? Who are these outsiders?" she asked, glaring at the mages around her.
Several of the fairies around her cringed, but one haughty looking male spoke up. "They just landed in camp, captain. The red head wanted to know who's in charge."
The captain glared at the fairy who had spoken up. "They don't seem like they're here to join are they? So wipe them out!"
"No, we're not here to join! Why would we want to? This place is a mess!" Gray exclaimed, hands behind his head.
"Yeah!" agreed Natsu. "We came to take you out!" Neither mage seemed to acknowledge they had just agreed on something.
Lucy pulled out her whip, in preparation for battle. Erza, however, held up a hand to tell them to wait. "Are you in charge here?" she demanded, staring down the violet-haired hybrid.
"I am," came the reply, calm as could be. "I, Captain Blooded Sakura, lead this group of mages alongside my brother Blackened Haru. And you are here because…?"
"We heard you were messin' with Onibus." Gray looked at Blooded Sakura levelly, arms crossed, despite the fact that he had lost his clothes since they had landed. Natsu took immediate delight in pointing this out to him. Gray cursed, and went about searching for his… well everything. Erza glared at him, Lucy blushed, Blooded Sakura smirked, and Natsu outright laughed. Things could never be normal around the Fairy Tail mages.
Erza turned her attention back to the captain, and lifted an eyebrow. The scarred fairy hybrid rolled her eyes.
"So what? We were claiming what was rightfully ours. People too weak to keep their stuff don't deserve it. What are you bitches going to do about it? From what I've seen, you can't even keep your clothes on."
Team Natsu bristled more with every word that came out of her mouth.
Lucy glared at Blooded Sakura with a look of pure venom. "You disgust me. You value others so little, and take pride in it."
The captain chuckled. She opened her mouth to say more, but Natsu interrupted her. "Enough chit-chat. It's time we defeat you. FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
He leapt toward her with remarkable speed, but she dodged it with ease, and took to the air. Natsu spread his crimson dragon wing and gave chase. Happy followed with a hearty "AYE SIR!"
Now the rest of the dark mages who had been loitering around attacked from all sides. Lucy dodged a spear, spun around, ducked to avoid a lime green streak of magic, and grabbed her whip. She lashed out, catching one guy around the ankle and throwing him into another.
To Lucy's left, Erza and requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor. Not far from her, Gray began pelting the enemy with ice.
The battle was in full swing.
Back at Fairy Tail, Mirajane was trying her best to comply with the law and protect Lucy at the same time. It was a daunting task.
Almost an hour ago, several members of the Royal Guard had burst into the guild hall, and had begun to question people about the Princess's whereabouts.
Mira had made the mistake of offering them drinks. She wanted the new guild to seem nice and homey, not the kind of place that would be hiding the Princess. The white haired fairy had hoped they would leave soon, if they were treated well and had little cause for suspicion.
But the Royal Guard members were still there. They were awfully persistent. It would be hard to keep up the façade for much longer. Eventually, Mira knew, one of the drunken guild members would let something slip. It was hard enough for her – 100% sober – to evade their questions. One couldn't lie to the Royal Guards – it would land a fairy in prison for years to come. So she started persuading them to leave.
Poor Mirajane had tried every tactic she could think of to get the guards to high tail out of there. She caused another brawl, arranged it so that a certain alcoholic challenged them to a drinking competition… Really, Mira could be crafty when she wanted to be. But even after making the guild hall an uncomfortable place to be, the Royal Guard had stayed.
After about another 20 minutes, it seemed the leader of the search party had had enough. "Alright!" she said. "If none of you will tell us where the Princess is, we'll find her ourselves! We know she's been here recently, so you would do well to remember how much we hate liars. Fan out! Leave no nook or cranny unsearched for clues!"
The party broke up, checking under tables, in the bathrooms, and in the kitchen. One of the female members of the Royal Guard even went to go inspect Fairy Hills, the female dormitories across the alley.
A young dark haired fairy of the Royal Guard hopped over the bar, presumably to check there. Mira was nervous, for many reasons. First was he kept sneaking glances at her, um, assets, even though what he was looking for was clearly not there. Secondly, Mira suddenly recalled that when she had written down the members of Team Natsu, she had written Lucy. Of all the times to screw up… She had been good at calling Lucy Melanie too! But that damned book held the truth, and it was like a bomb waiting to explode. She could only hope the fairy checking her out didn't notice it.
Said fairy took a break from his search to openly ogle her. "Hey," he began, smooth as could be. "My name's Samuel. You work here?" Mira nodded, and smiled a bit. She knew she was pretty, and was used to the stares of men (and occasionally women), but something about the way he looked at her made her want to run far, far away.
"How about you ditch this place sometime, sweetheart, and come visit me up at the castle. I could help you redefine fun." Samuel winked suggestively. "What's your name, hon?"
"Mirajane. I'll get you a drink or something if you want, but I'm not interested in leaving Fairy Tail." She smiled politely with her words, but she reached for the nearest glass and began to clean it. Her hands needed something to do, or she was going to lose her mind. Even if it meant she cleaned an already spotless glass.
Samuel pouted, and started to climb over the bar. Mira mentally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the crisis averted.
But then he paused. He reached his hand down, and picked up the blue and gold book that had been partly hidden behind a bottle of wine and Mira's favorite cookbook. Damn.
The spine of the book read RECORDS.
Lucy lashed her whip at one bandit after another. There was just so many of them. The adrenaline of her being on her first mission raced through her veins though. Grinning, she pulled out Cancer's key and shouted, "Open! Gate of the Crab! Cancer!"
With a swipe of his scissors, Cancer cut up the mages in front of her, allowing her to take a minute to catch her breath. Team Natsu would not lose.
Up in the air, Blooded Sakura bellowed a mighty "DEEP SEA DRAGON'S ROAR!" in Natsu's direction. He dodged and sped to her left side, and retaliated with "FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" She ducked, but too late. His fist clipped her left shoulder and sent her reeling.
Blooded Sakura growled. "You'll pay for that, pinky! CRUSHING WAVE OF THE DEEP SEA DRAGON!"
Water engulfed Natsu, but only temporarily. Happy took the opportunity to swipe at the captain's face, which distracted her. The pause in the torrent of water was not long, but still long enough for Natsu to pull in his wings and drop like a stone, unhurt but still drenched in salt water and brine. The salmon haired mage made a face as Happy flew back to his side.
"My hair's not pink! And how do you expect to beat me with an attack like that?!" he laughed. "I've withstood weaker attacks from the stripper!"
"Aye!" agreed the Exceed.
The violet haired hybrid glared at him. "Do not speak ill of my water, boy! It has drowned mages more powerful than you! My brother will be here soon, and you have no hope of beating us both, so enjoy its saltiness while you can!"
"Yeah right!" shouted Natsu as he threw another punch.
Down below, Erza was taking out dark mages by the dozen. No could stand in her way and remain conscious. There were many of them, but her Heaven's Wheel armor was perfect for this situation. She was alive, she was powerful, she was Erza.
As the red-headed mage reveled confidently in her abilities, she overheard snippets of Natsu's battle with the captain. At first she paid it no mind, but then Blooded Sakura mentioned her brother; it raised a red flag in the warrior's mind. Where was this brother?
A mage rushed her from above, and Erza absent-mindedly blocked the attack with one of her swords. The whereabouts of Blackened Haru may not be important, but Erza hated surprises in the middle of a battle.
She leaped up, and grabbed the fairy who had just attacked her around the neck. "Where is the captain's brother?" she demanded.
He flailed about, trying to escape her iron grip. One of his companions rushed in to free him, but Erza knocked him out and to the ground without a second thought. The mage in her grasp gulped and calmed his flailings, though his wings were still spastic in their attempts to stay in the air.
Erza tightened her grip. "I said where's Blackened Haru?"
The mage's eyes bugged out. "He … he was… getting…keys." was all he managed before he passed out. Erza let go and let him drop to the ground. They were only a few feet above it anyway.
She dived down and pinned other bandit against a tent pole. "What is Blackened Haru up to?!"
This fairy was a little quicker to respond (maybe he had seen what she'd done to the last guy). "Getting… getting the keys for the ceremony, bitch. He'll be back soon, and then they'll blow you assholes to smithereens!"
Erza gave him a look that clearly said if you value an intact body, shut up. "What keys? What ceremony? Explain yourself!"
Instead of answering her, he responded with a creative string of expletives. She knocked him out and moved on. Several mages later, Erza had her answer, and it was not good.
Gray was severely annoyed. Why was it that Natsu got to take on the captain, and he was stuck dealing with her minions? He was clearly stronger than the pyro, so he should have an opportunity for fun too!
He punched another guy in the face, and was just about to give the hot-headed spotlight stealer a piece of his mind, when Erza appeared (seemingly from nowhere). She was dragging one of the enemies behind her.
"Gray, where's Lucy?"
"Last I saw her, she was on the west side of the camp, kickin' ass. Why?"
Erza glared at him, and the ice mage shivered. Then she threw the mage she'd been dragging onto the ground between her and her guildmate. The beat-up bandit let out a small sound as she hit the ground.
"According to her and some others, Blooded Sakura's brother is not here right not because he's rounding up the other Zodiac celestial spirit keys in preparation for a ceremony to summon the Celestial Spirit King and some of the other spirits permanently to this world, with a desire to do whatever the siblings say. Also, Blackened Haru's an actual dragon."
Gray's eyes widened, right as a roar resounded through the forest.
Samuel held up the book and looked at Mirajane with an eyebrow raised. "What's this?" he inquired.
Mirajane perspired a bit. "The records book of all the missions that have been accepted in the past." She kept her voice calm, but her hands fidgeted a little more with the glass she was holding than they should have. This was not good.
He seemed to have noted this, as he glanced pointedly at her hands, then opened the thick book to the page marked by the little faded gold ribbon. Samuel scanned through the list of accepted requests and the names of the mages that took them, then flipped back a page.
Mira focused on her breathing. In. She had to remain calm. Out. Maybe he would overlook it. In. Out.
Samuel turned the book back to her, a glint in his eye. "How long has this Lucy been in your guild?"
He didn't overlook it. Damn.
"I – I…"Mira sputtered, trying to think of something that would explain it, without lying. Her mind was blank.
"I thought so." He shoved her against the cabinets. The white-haired fairy let out a surprised squeak. "Thought you could keep it from me, you whore? Thought you could outsmart a member of the Royal Guard? Thought you were better than me? I'll show you, bitch." His hot breath burned against her neck, and she shrieked, frantically trying to push Samuel away as he groped her breasts.
Cana, who had been approaching the bar to get another barrel of beer, stopped in shock when she saw a member of the Royal Guard shove Mira against the cabinets. The alcoholic snapped out of it when Mira shrieked. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" she yelled.
And all at once, everything that had been going on in the guild stopped.
Samuel turned around to glare at Cana, one hand still firmly on Mira's chest. "It's none of your business," he said. "She was withholding information."
Every single person in that room looked ready to strangle the guy. His boss stormed up to him before anyone else could move though.
"SO YOU GRAB HER BREAST?! What information could warrant sexual harassment, soldier?!"
He stared dumbly at his hand, seemingly having forgotten he'd left it there. "Oh." Was his reply, as he removed the offending body part.
Then he snapped out of his trance. "Ma'am, behind the bar was a book of records that says a girl named Lucy took a job yesterday with three other mages of Fairy Tail." He tossed her the book.
She continued to glare daggers at him as he said that. She caught the book, and opened it to the marked page, scanned it, and flipped back one. When she saw the name Lucy, she snapped the book shut, and glared at him again.
"Get out from behind that bar," she said in a low, dangerous voice. "You will be escorted back to the palace, where you will hence forth be relieved from duty. Consider this a warning. If you are ever caught doing such a thing again, I will make sure you end up in prison." She turned her gaze to the rest of the Fairy Tail members and raised her voice.
"As for the rest of you, you will stay in this hall, under house arrest if you will, until we get to the bottom of this. Sarah, Yuki, Miguel, Ronald and Ayame, you will stay here, watch over them, and wait until Lucy returns, or the rest of us do. The rest of you will come with me to take care of this ass," here she glared once again at Samuel, "and then we will follow this job request and see if we can't hunt down Lucy's group before they return home."
With that, the Royal Guard went on with their business and Fairy Tail with theirs. Elfman hurried to make sure his sister was alright, and Samuel was dragged out the door by his ear. His ex-boss was not happy with him.
A/N: Chapter 11 complete! Again, sorry it's a week late, and due to finals, the next one will be too, (don't kill me!) but I promise I'll make it up to you by updating 3 or 4 weeks in a row:) What did you think? Was Mira OOC? Were the fighting scenes boring (it's my first time writing a fight scene)? Please let me know so I can get better!
~C.R. Watters
