One of Gajeel's eyes slid open, the Dragon Slayer seeing sunlight on his wall as it snuck through the spaces in his curtains. It must have been sometime in the morning, though Gajeel still wanted to sleep some more. He felt a soft and warm body press against his own, both bare and pressed against each other. Gajeel looked down at the blonde sleeping in his meaty arms as they kept her locked against his meaty chest, the Dragon Slayer stroking her long blonde hair softly as she stayed in a deep slumber. Lucy made a soft murmur, Gajeel froze in his actions as the naked woman in his arms rolled slightly in his arms, almost like she was going to wake up, before she stopped moving and was fully asleep once more.
Gajeel made a soft sigh of relief, sniffing Lucy's hair, a soft purr escaping him as he smelled Lucy's scent tenfold. Her scent was absolute heaven; a total paradise for his sense of smell. He couldn't get over the smell, he continued to smell that amazing scent over and over again. God, he felt so pathetic to be this in love with a scent, but he accepted it because there wasn't anything else in the world that smelled as good as Lucy. The aforementioned blonde shifted in her sleep once again, Gajeel had to bite his bottom lip to stifle the groan of arousal that threatened to break through from his mouth as the sleeping blonde was unconsciously rubbing her pelvic area against his iron-studded shaft, the organ beginning to grow half hard at the feeling of friction between it and her pussy.
Lucy stopped a snuggled into Gajeel's pecs, the sleeping blonde using the chest muscles as pillows. Gajeel kept his sharp teeth as close to each other as possible to stop any other sounds from escaping, looking up at the ceiling of his room as he continued to hold Lucy. He could just let go of her, but he honestly enjoyed the heat, feel and presence of her body too much. Besides, that would probably wake her up, and Gajeel is not willing to risk any possible wrath that he way have to suffer through.
"Dammit, when is this goddamn erection gonna go away?!" Gajeel mentally yelled as his member refused to become flaccid again, stuck in the annoying boundary between hard and soft. Gajeel had to keep himself as still as possible, trying to not accidently wake Lucy up because of his evil penis. It's made worse by the fact that he can't have some good sex to get rid of the hardness of it, not that he would use it on Lucy while she is asleep; even back in the day when he was in Phantom Lord, when his morality code was a lot lower, that was a certain line that he wouldn't cross. Besides, he can't besmirch the relationship he has with Lucy, he values it too much; it is a great friendship (and nothing more than friendship, he would tell himself) with close intimacy, and that is something that should never be thrown away or lost.
Gajeel's dick had returned to be soft, the Dragon Slayer finally being able to relax as he no longer as to fear poking his friend awake. Gajeel's back had practically melted as his back muscles untensed, a sigh escaping from him as he looked at the beautiful blonde woman that he refused to let go of. The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyelids began to feel heavy; and in one blink of Gajeel's eyes, Lucy was gone. Gajeel's eyes widened in surprise before they began darting around the room, searching for the woman, only to find that she was no longer in the room entirely.
Gajeel scratched his head in confusion, eventually stopping as he came to the conclusion that he must have fallen back to sleep and Lucy must have woken up earlier. That would certainly explain why her clothes have disappeared as well. Gajeel got out of his bed and took out a pair of black boxers from his drawer, putting them on to cover himself before going downstairs.
Panther Lily and Lucy were sitting at the table, eating some fluffy-looking pancakes with syrup for breakfast. Lucy's brown eyes darted towards Gajeel, the blonde being the first to notice him as he stood at the bottom of the staircase (though that could be because she's the only one noticing him), smiling towards him as she was already biting into a pancake. "Hey, Gajeel~." Lucy said to the aforementioned Slayer in a happy, chirpy voice, continuing to give him a bright smile that honestly felt like it could give him the energy to do anything. "You were asleep when I woke up, so I decided to let you keep on sleeping. Lily and I made pancakes, yours are in the kitchen, on the side."
Panther Lily turned around from where he sat and gave Gajeel a little shake of his paw, which was basically a sign of acknowledgement from his Exceed friend. Gajeel grinned as he saw a stack of pancakes on a plate on the kitchen side as he entered the aforementioned room, the stack being taller than Lily (unless he enters his Battle Mode), the Dragon Slayer effortlessly picking up the plate that held the large stack with one hand. Gajeel got a knife and fork out of the cutlery drawer before exiting the kitchen and joining his friends at the table, the two having only two or three more pancakes left.
Gajeel poured syrup onto his pancakes immediately after setting them down on the table, the sweet liquid drizzling onto each cake, from one onto another. The knife that Gajeel took seemed to be pointless as the Dragon Slayer stabbed his fork into the top pancake, shoving it in his mouth and gulping it down whole. Gajeel repeated this with the next pancake, and the next, and the next, and so forth.
Lucy had finished her pancakes and found herself watching Gajeel as he ate the pancakes without even eating them. It was strange that Lucy smiled and found it to be a little cute as Gajeel ate the pancakes in his own unique way, though considering that she used to spend a lot of time with Natsu, who spent his time eating a ton of food in the most uncouth way if he wasn't training or fighting or sleeping, maybe she just found it cute because she didn't have to wipe her own face every ten to fifteen seconds because of food flying onto her face. Lucy began to notice a drizzle of syrup slide down Gajeel's face from the side of his mouth, sliding down to his neck and then to one of his pectorals, the syrup seeming to have slowed down as it made its little journey down the chest muscle, almost like it was trying to tempt or torture the blonde with her libido.
Lucy barely noticed the corners of Gajeel's mouth turn upwards in a smirk, the pec that the syrup was sliding down bouncing up and down, almost making the syrup spring off of him. Lucy's face went red hot, looking away as she could hear Gajeel snicker quietly from behind her now turned head. He probably caught her looking and knew how to play with her hormones. Though she shouldn't be one to judge him for that, since she was practically doing the same thing to him last night. Guess that was really just karma, in the end.
Gajeel finished eating (or more accurately, inhaling) his pancakes, picking up his plate and putting it into the sink. Gajeel then ran upstairs and disappeared behind the bathroom doors, what he was doing didn't matter much to Lily as he looked towards Lucy, the blonde still blushing with a red hot face.
"Hey, you okay, Lucy?" Lily asked as he got onto the table, his natural tiny form putting little weight on the wooden furniture, approaching his friend and putting a paw on her back. He could smell the scent of arousal coming from Lucy when Gajeel purposely flexed his pecs to rile her up, the scent having immensely faded yet remaining lingering.
"God, I'm such a slave to my hormones." Lucy muttered as she refused to look back at Lily, as sense of embarrassment and shame in her voice.
Lucy was humming merrily as she skipped along the edge of the road, near Magnolia's river, her arms outstretched. She was lost in a reverie of happy thoughts, though she still had a certain level of awareness as she walked along Magnolia's roads. Gajeel and Panther Lily were following behind her, the former keeping his eyes secured on the blonde and her feet, making sure that she wouldn't trip. If Lucy were to fall down, whenever it would be to the road or the river, he would be quick to catch her.
She is a close friend of his and he is willing to protect her. Though sometimes when he thought of her as a friend, he had a feeling in his chest that she might be something more, and he would always repress that thought to the back of his head and the back of his heart.
Lucy's humming was like a melody to Gajeel, a symphony of angelic notes. She was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, for very obvious reasons, including the suspenders she wore. Gajeel tried to push the thought of those suspenders back, knowing that the memory of her wearing them would only make the blood rush to a specific area where it shouldn't be for the time being. Gajeel just focussed on Lucy and her humming, letting the blonde beauty take him away from reality and to a euphoric reverie.
Lucy turned around to face towards Lily and Gajeel, an adorable and bubbly smile on her face. "Let's go on a mission today." Lucy said, walking backwards on the edge of Magnolia's riverbank, which caused Gajeel to feel nervous. There may be little chance that she will suffer any serious damage, at least if she doesn't fall into the river, but that didn't change the fact that Gajeel's protective instincts were going crazy upon sigh. "Oh, maybe we can go on a mission with Team Dragon Fire, Natsu has been very vocal about wanting to go on a mission with me again, 'just like old times' as he says, and Lisanna has been vocal about wanting to hang out with me again. What do you two think?"
"I think you should stop walkin' backwards 'cause you're making me feel stressful 'bout you falling and hurting yourself." Gajeel responded, letting his opinion out of the closet. Lucy stopped, puffing her cheeks and squinting at Gajeel with slight annoyance before smiling at Gajeel.
"Aww, it's so nice to know that I can bring out the loving, caring and protective softy within you~." Lucy cooed, hugging Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer blushed, gritting his teeth and looking away from the blonde. Gajeel saw Panther Lily floating beside him, giving him and Lucy a keen smile. Gajeel made a light growl of annoyance at his Exceed friend's insistence that there may be something more between Gajeel and Bunny Girl. The Dragon Slayer looked back at Lucy, the blonde laying her head down on his chest whilst her arms were wrapped around his abdomen. A serene smile was on Lucy's face, her eyes closed like she was sleeping. The Celestial Spirit mage was letting out an aura of content as she hugged Gajeel. The Dragon Slayer let out a little sigh as Lucy continued to hug him, though he made no effort to remove her; instead he just patted her on the head, a feeling of calmness in his soul.
Strangely enough, Gajeel was admiring this moment of tranquillity, wishing that this moment of peace could last forever.
A loud explosion echoed throughout Magnolia, coming from over the bank. With wide eyes, the Fairy Tail trio looked to where the explosion came from, seeing a massive and burning flame in the distance, smoke could be seen coming from the flame, and screams could be heard; quiet screams.
"That's the jewellery district!" Lucy exclaimed as she pointed towards the fire, recognising the area where the fire was located, as she had gone to the jewellery district many times in the past. "We gotta go there, people could be hurt."
Lucy didn't wait for a response, already running to the closest road that led towards the district. Gajeel and Panther Lily followed after, the Dragon Slayer slinging Lucy over his shoulder as he caught up with her, running to the district at even higher speeds with Lily not that far behind them.
Gajeel skidded to a stop as they reached the district, putting Lucy back on her feet as they reached their destination. A crowd of people were gathered around the fire as it burned atop a large building, keeping their distance as they watched it burn in horror.
"Shit, we gotta do somethin' about the fire...!" Gajeel said as the red and orange giant continued to sit on the wooden building, slowly consuming it.
"But what can we do?" Lily responded, transforming into his Battle Form and bringing out his Musica Sword in case any dark mages decided to reveal themselves.
"Don't worry, I got this." Lucy responded as she passed her teammates, wearing her Aquarius Star Dress. Lucy outstretched her two hands in front of herself, her palms flat, letting out a hum-like sound as she made a sphere of water appear in front of the palms, the sphere growing and growing until it was bigger than the blonde herself. Using the magic that the Star Dress has bestowed upon her, Lucy lifted the water sphere up towards the sky, making it float above the monstrous fire. With a yell, Lucy focussed her magic into making the water sphere burst, a shower of water that was like rain falling down and extinguishing the flames. Lucy smirked as the burnt building was no longer being destroyed by the fire, looking back at her two teammates and giving them a thumbs up; said teammates being wowed by the blonde's effort, even though they already knew and were certain that she is a strong mage.
Suddenly, a figure shot out of the roof of the once burning building, piece of the roof flying into the air with them. The figure was going upwards into the air before slowing and stopping, and then it began to fall down. Lucy looked up at the figure, its features becoming more clear as it came closer and closer. It was a female with short, white hair; she had green-feathered wings instead of arms and the lower side of her body was completely like that of a bird. Lucy's eyes widened, her blood was as cold as ice water as she recognised who it was.
"Lisanna!" Lucy yelled as the partially transformed Animal Soul mage was plummeting to the ground, unconscious. Lucy began running to the area where the white-haired mage was falling to, but it seemed like she wouldn't be able to get there in time. There was a sudden rush of wind that blew past Lucy, and in a second Gajeel was beneath the falling mage, catching her bridal style. Lucy felt relief permeate throughout her being as Gajeel caught her friend, though she also felt a slight feeling of jealousy towards the way that Gajeel was holding her; envious that she wasn't the one being held like that.
Lucy shook her head from side to side, trying to get rid of these ridiculous feelings, and continued to run towards her friends. "Lisanna, are you okay?!" Lucy asked worried, kneeling down as Gajeel layed the Take Over mage on the ground. Lucy could feel anger burn in her blood as she saw bruises all across Lisanna's body, especially as her arms and bottom half turned back to normal. Whoever did this to Lisanna was going to pay!
Lisanna let out a moaning sound, her face becoming contorted in discomfort before she slowly slid her eyes open. "Huh... wha…?" Lisanna said as she came to, sitting upright abruptly, wincing and grabbing the side of her stomach in pain.
"Lisanna, what happened?" Lucy asked in concern as she knelt closer to Lisanna as Gajeel and Lily watched silently.
"Oh, uh... Lucy!" Lisanna responded as she became aware of her surroundings, hugging her blonde friend, tears crawling out of her closed eyes. "Big Sister Mira and Big Brother Elf and I were walking past here, deciding that we would go to the guild together. Then all of a sudden multiple shops exploded and one large one caught on fire. Mira, Elf and I went into the burning building, in case there was anyone trapped or anyone evil was inside and... There's some really powerful dark sorcerers in there."
"Yeah, we there's some really powerful Fairy Tail sorcerers out here, too." Gajeel said as he passed by Lucy and Lisanna, entering the building with Lily behind. Lisanna watched in silence as the Iron Dragon Slayer entered in without so much as a second thought, reminding the Strauss sibling about her Natsu, albeit a lot more calm.
"You're right." Lucy said, pressing one of her golden keys against her chest, a golden glow of magic surrounding and engulfing her, clearing to show her in her Leo Star Dress. "We're Fairy Tail, we help those in need and stop all mages that use magic in the name of evil. Besides, I'm not letting them get away with hurting Lisanna, and they better not have hurt Mira or Elfman either, if they know what is good for them."
Gajeel grinned at the side of Lucy that was present; strong-willed and willing to fight, almost like a turn on towards him. It didn't help that the Star Dress greatly complimented her body, which was already easy on the eyes. Lisanna was silent as she watched her friends enter walk into the destroyed wall that the building's door was once at, most likely blown away by the attacking mages. She looked down at her fist, even her fingers and hands had little cuts on them from the battle she just lost. But nevertheless, despite the aching pain and exhaustion moving throughout her body, she knew that she would have to help Big Sister Mira and Big Brother Elf.
Well, at least Big Brother Elf; Big Sister Mira is so strong that she probably doesn't need Lisanna's help. But still...
"Wait, you're not going without me." Lisanna said as she got back up onto her feet and ran towards her friends, easily seeing the worry in Lucy's eyes and the disbelief that she could still fight in Gajeel's eyes. "I know that I'm beat up, and I know that I might not be as strong as you two, Gajeel and Lucy, but I'm still a Fairy Tail mage. Hell, I even grew up in Fairy Tail, I was practically raised to never give up and always fight for my friends and family."
Lisanna surrounded herself with a pink magical energy, transforming into her Cat Take Over. "Lis, are you sure? You look pretty wounded to me." Lucy voiced her concerns, holding Lisanna's hand-like paws.
"I'm adamant." Lisanna responded, changing her serious face for a smiling one. Lucy smiled back towards her friend, knowing that all she can do is believe in Lisanna, the two females hugging.
"As heartwarming as it is to watch this moment, this may not be the right time or place for your hug." Lily commented, the two hugging females looking at the muscular cat-like entity. Lucy and Lisanna stopped hugging, blushing in embarrassment that they got caught up in their emotions like that.
The Fairy Tail mages entered in, immediately finding cloaked mages throwing jewellery into bags that looked like potato sacks; from gold watches to diamond rings to pearl necklaces, they were basically throwing in everything they could get their greedy mitts on. The cloaked mages stopped as they heard and sensed the mages, smirks appearing on their faces as they recognised Lisanna.
"Well if it ain't the little chickie that we beat up." One of the cloaked mages said, lightning crackling between his fingers, smirking.
"Oh look, she brought along some friends. How cute." Another said. Gajeel could feel a vein growing on his head in anger; didn't they know that these are Fairy Tail mages they are talking to? What a bunch of cocky idiots.
"This ought to be quick." One of the other mages said, using Requip to make a scythe appear in his hands. The dark mages ran towards the Fairy Tail mages, roaring in readiness for a fight, a quick fight. And a quick fight it was... for Lucy, Gajeel, Panther Lily and Lisanna. And to call it a fight would be an overstatement of the one-sided beatdown that was brought upon the sorcerers of evil.
"Wow, they're less strong than I thought they would be." Lucy said, surrounded by unconscious mages that lain on the floor, the Celestial Spirits Capricorn and Scorpio standing beside her as she had summoned them in the short, one-sided battle.
"You're tellin' me." Gajeel said as he munched down on the swords and other weapons that the dark mages tried to use against him and friends. Gajeel slid an eye over to Lisanna as he was shoving a sword blade into his mouth. "How did they beat you up in the first place?"
"To be fair, I was ambushed and outnumbered by them when Mira told me to get help." Lisanna responded, blushing in embarrassment slightly. "And these aren't the strong ones I was talking about, the others are much stronger."
"Well then, hopefully I can actually get excited for the fight." Gajeel said, having already eaten all of the weapons wielded and summoned by the dark mages.
Lucy sighed at Gajeel's vigorous love for a good fight, though she found herself smiling at him admiringly. Lucy's hand reached for Virgo's key, ready to summon the maid spirit so she can tie up the cloaked mages, but was stopped when a black-gloved hand attached to a tan muscular arm grabbed her wrist softly, the blonde looking up to see Scorpio. The scorpion spirit shook his head from side to side, not smiling but not frowning either, pointing towards the cloaked mages. Lucy looked to where the spirit pointed, seeing that Capricorn was already doing the tying up job she was intending for Virgo.
Lucy couldn't help but blush in embarrassment, she had forgotten that all of her spirits (or at least the ones strong enough to summon themselves) could bring in items from the Celestial Spirit World.
"We should start going further in, there's little we can do to help by remaining here." Panther Lily said, the blade of his Musica Sword being three times the size of his body, the Exceed proceeding to shrink the sword down to its regular small size for practical reasons, like running.
The mages ran further and further in, shortly thereafter seeing a gang of cloaked mages that were facing away from them.
"Geez, talk about unrelenting; this guy won't just collapse and die."
"He probably would have a chance of surviving if he wasn't just standing there protecting their worthless lives. Children of the Light are always so pathetically weak in spirit."
"Ha, he looks like he's trying to intimidate us. His life is completely in our hands."
"I just wonder how much more abuse he takes. Or which comes first; he screams, or he dies."
Lisanna looked with difficulty, managing to see something through the tiny spaces between the dark mages. Her breath was caught in her throat as she saw familiar white hair and a tremendously muscular arm covered in red fur. Without a second thought, Lisanna ran towards the mages, letting out a yell of battle. The cloaked mages only had enough time to look back and let out gasps of surprise and confusion before Lisanna clawed at them, their bodies rolling around the building as they grasped their faces, covered with bleeding scratches of stinging pain.
Lisanna ignored them, preferring to focus on her older brother instead.
Elfman was in his Beast Soul Take Over, the one that he lost control of when he first attempted to Take Over it. He was on his hands and knees, holding gigantic pieces of the building on his back. Underneath Elfman and the building pieces were people, lying down and cowering in fear. They were covered in bruises and scratches that were decorated with dry blood, their clothes covered in holes that must have been resulted by the dark mages.
Elfman, however, was suffering the worst; there were more cuts and bruises around him then Lisanna had ever seen before, his arms, chest and even his face were covered with drying blood that came from his cuts, even one of the horns that he had in this form was broken halfway. His eyes were closed and his teeth were gritted, either him trying to keep the building pieces from falling onto the people, him trying to endure the pain he must be going through, or both. The transformed human slid one of his eyes open, both of his eyes soon become wide as he saw his little sister in front of him, even more injured than when he saw her earlier.
"Lisanna, what are you doing here?! Mira told you to run and get the rest of the guild for help!" Elfman yelled, his blue eyes full of fear, worry and anger. Lisanna could hear footsteps heading towards her at fast speeds, as well as see the reflection of a shadowy figure running towards her in her brother's eye. "Lisanna, watch out!"
Lisanna looked back to see a burly man wielding a scythe, battle intent in his crimson eyes. The man swung the long blade of his scythe towards Lisanna at surprisingly fast speeds for someone of his size, the partially transformed human barely able to evade his attacks, even with the advanced speed given to her from the aforementioned transformation. Lisanna somersaulted over the man, whom didn't take his eyes off her. Lisanna landed on her hands and feet, instantly having to go into multiple acrobatic positions and making acrobatic dodges as the man continued to attempt to strike her with surprisingly swift scythe swings.
"Get away from my little sister!" Elfman roared, punching the guy off guard in the back, sending him flying across the room. Elfman had to put the original hand back down on the ground to stop one of the building pieces resting on his shoulders from falling down onto the still cowering people. The burly man quickly got back up, scythe in hands, glaring at the Strauss siblings. But, before the attacker could do anything, he was kicked in the back of the head by Lucy, her foot surrounded by Regulus magic, knocking him out as he landed on his front.
"Hey, are you two okay?" Lucy asked as Gajeel and Panther Lily began beating up the cloaked mages as they got back up on their feet and prepared to fight again.
"I'm fine, I'm a real man, after all. But we gotta get these people outta here." Elfman said, looking at some of the people as they started to move out from under him, seeing mages that they recognised as good people fighting off the attackers. "They were already here when the dark mages attacked, they were going to either use them as hostages or kill them. I managed to save them, but the dark mages made the roof fall down in an attempt to crush them. I had to stay here and keep the pieces on my back and endure everything they hit me with to protect the people."
The aforementioned people were no longer under Elfman, the Take Over mage finally managing to stand up and let the pieces fall off him. Lisanna was quickly evacuating the people as Gajeel and Lily finished taking down the rest of the dark mages. "Quick, everyone, run." The youngest Strauss sibling said as she got the last of the people out of there. Lisanna then felt a wave of exhaustion overcome her, falling down to her knees as her Take Over became undone, sweat coating her head and arms. Lisanna felt a presence by her side, looking to see her brother back in his normal form, still covered in bruises, cuts and dried blood. "Sorry... I think I used up more magic power than expected."
"Lis, you really need to rest." Elfman warned his sister, sensing her low level of magic power, brought by her constant use throughout the day.
"I know, Big Brother Elf." Lisanna responded. "But what about you? You're covered in cuts and bruises, you look like you should either go to the hospital or get healed by Wendy right away."
"I already told you, I'm a real man. And real men can take any damage." Elfman responded, trying to keep up a charade that he wasn't hurt and sore all over his body, as well as relatively tired himself. Those dark mages had made him their punching bag as he endured all he could to protect those without magic. "Fighting until the end is the manly thing to do."
"And if you keep fightin' while like that, the end will hit ya like a train in a minute or two." Gajeel said, his arms crossed over his chest. Elfman glared at Gajeel, looking like he was ready to transform into his Beast Soul or Weretiger Take Over. Lucy watched the interaction as her still summoned Celestial Spirits were tying up the unconscious mages, tensing up as she feared that something bad could happen. She stepped forward, but was stopped as a muscular arm covered in black fur stretched out in front of her. Lucy looked at Panther Lily, the Exceed shaking his head. Lucy bit her tongue and trusted her friend, looking back at the mages.
Elfman continued to glare at Gajeel, the Dragon Slayer glaring back. "Gajeel, I need you to be a real man and help Mira against the leader of this group of rogue mages." Elfman ordered, like Gajeel had any respect for him. "I'll also be a real man and protect my little sister here."
Lucy watched as Gajeel let out a snicker, a smirk growing on his face as he was probably going to say something. Lucy cleared her throat very loudly and audibly, causing Gajeel to look at her. The Iron Dragon Slayer understood the expression on her face and had thus, reluctantly, decided to say something else instead. "Fine, but Bunny and Lily are coming with me." The long-haired, muscular man said, quickly running off further into the building.
Lucy watched Gajeel's disappearing form, Panther Lily following after him. The blonde looked back at the Strauss siblings, Elfman had an arm wrapped around his little sister protectively, his giant arm being almost as big as Lisanna's entire body. Lucy faced back towards the area that Gajeel and Lily disappeared to, feeling a quick poke against her back. Lucy looked back, seeing Capricorn and Scorpio.
"We're sorry, Lady Lucy, but we must return home." Capricorn said solemnly as he made a small bow, his and Scorpio's bodies lighting up as they began to disappear.
"We wish you the best of luck. And stay wicked!" Scorpio said, doing his usual pose of keeping his index and little finger extended whilst also keeping his middle and ring finger folded before disappearing back to his home dimension.
Lucy nodded, knowing that she still had a few good spirits to summon if they are needed, the mage running after her vanished friends. There was a loud bang up ahead, followed after by an angry yell that sounded like Mirajane when she is transformed into one of her Satan Souls. There was sunlight and fresh air, and soon Lucy realised that she was no longer inside the building; the fight was happening outside.
Lucy saw something fast fly through the air in her peripherals, seeing Mirajane in her regular Satan Soul form. "Evil Explosion!" Mirajane yelled as she pressed her two hands together, firing out a powerful beam of darkness from her palms. Lucy couldn't see who Mirajane was firing towards, the other buildings blocking her view, a giant explosion of dust coming from where she hit.
A hand grabbed Lucy's wrist, pulling her towards a muscular chest. A muscular arm wrapped around Lucy's back, the blonde looking up from the muscular chest to see Gajeel, his red eyes showing a sense of worry. "Geez, Bunny, you got me worried when I didn't find you following after us." Gajeel said towards Lucy as he kept his arm around her. If the look of sincerity in Gajeel's eyes weren't enough to convince Lucy that he is being honest, then the feeling of his heart beating so rapidly against his chest that she could feel it was. "I thought that you got ambushed or something."
Lucy looked at Gajeel in surprise before smiling at him. "Aww, it's always so cute when you become concerned for me." Lucy said, hugging Gajeel, the Dragon Slayer having to turn his head away as his cheeks turned hot from the action. Gajeel slid his eyes up towards Mirajane as she continued to fight the enemy without noticing the presence of her guildmates. There were scratches all along her body, the transformed human taking deep breaths whenever she wasn't aiming an attack towards the unseen attacker or dodging their own projectiles.
There was another thing about Mirajane: her magic power. It still felt tremendous, but on a much lower level than it usually is. It seemed that whoever she is fighting is proving themself to be an apt opponent against her. Or they just found a way to gain an advantage over her.
Either ways...
"Looks like the Demon Barmaid needs our help." Gajeel said, trying to deter from the awkward moment of weird feelings in the chest. Luckily, it was working, as Lucy looked towards the constantly moving image of the flying demon woman, sending out powerful beams of darkness towards her unseen attacker whilst also flying out of the way of immense beams of green magical energy. "For all we know, she could be hanging on a thread."
"We might have to worry about other things than Mira." Lucy responded as she pulled herself out of Gajeel's hold, lighting her hand up with Regulus as more cloaked mages were running towards them, obviously on the side of the attackers. "Regulus Impact!" Lucy yelled, shooting a giant lion head made of light towards the hooded mages, sending them flying, groaning in pain and unable to move as they landed on the ground.
"Damn, Bunny Girl'll never stop lookin' good as she fights." Gajeel thought as he watched his teammate in delight, his euphoric feelings being increased further as Lucy continued to hit her foes with more of her attack, creating a gust of wind that caused her skirt to fly up, revealing some panties that must have been apart of her clothing transformation. The entire sight made Gajeel feel excited. Very excited. In fact, he was so excited that a certain appendage in his lower regions was starting to heat up and react as his blood went there and made his usually loose pants feel uncomfortably tight. It was honestly unwanted, but it was what Gajeel need to snap out of his reverie. Gajeel shook his head from side to side rapidly, slamming his palms against the sides of his face. "What the fuck am I doing, getting distracted here when Lucy and Lily are fighting? Time to show these bastards why the name Black Steel Gajeel is so feared among those of the magic underworld."
Gajeel was circled by multiple other dark mages, throwing away their cloaks and showing what they all look like with their own unique designs. Not that any of it mattered to Gajeel. "You may have defeated the others in the building, but we're much stronger." Said a woman with long, pink hair who was wielding a giant axe with blades that were almost as big as her.
"We have single-handedly taken down hoards of guards, you don't stand a chance against us while we are together." Said a man wearing a metal helmet that obscured all but two circles for his eyes and a straight line for his mouth, his cloak hanging loosely on his shoulders. Water surrounded the masked man's hands, faintly reminding Gajeel of Evangeline back at the battle in the Sorrel Caverns. "Give up right now and we'll make your death quick and excruciatingly painful."
"I bet ten thousand Jewel that this weakling will break apart within ten seconds." A scarlet-eyed woman with purple hair said, slamming her hands together and creating a solid spear made of fire.
"I bet twenty thousand that I can kill him with one spell." A male said, wearing a pair of beige baggy pants and a green jacket, lightning flashing around, a sneer on his face.
Gajeel began laughing, much to the surrounding mages' obvious ire, seething, murderous anger burning in their eyes as it felt like he was mocking them, or trying to defy the simple fact (at least in their hands) that they are far superior to them. "Wow, I know many bad mages tend to get cocky and arrogant, I've even been like that once, but you four are seriously believing that you are stronger than upon meeting me." The Iron Dragon Slayer said, transforming his arm into an Iron Dragon's Sword, the spikes along the blade's edges moving around in fast speeds. "I'll show ya the true power of a Fairy Tail mage."
The two female mages with the giant axe and spear of fire growled at Gajeel, dashing towards the Dragon Slayer with the intent to kill. Gajeel jumped out of the way as soon as their weapons were about to make contact, moving so fast compared to them that it seemed like he just teleported. The haughty mages were left flabbergasted and nonplussed by the Dragon Slayer's disappearing act.
"Lookin' for me?" Gajeel grinned as the still confused mages looked at him, swinging his giant sword, the mere force of his swing upheaving pieces of the road that were in its way, hitting all of the mages that were oh-so confident that they could kill Gajeel easily, all being rendered unconscious from the one attack. Gajeel looked at his transformed arm, surprised by the raw power and force in his arm. His Iron Dragon's Sword spell had always been a powerful and deadly one ever since he learned to use it, but never quite on this level. "Damn, guess that meditation from yesterday gave me more of a boost than expected. I definitely gotta add that to my training. I might even become strong enough to kick Salamander's ass without even having to use my magic."
Gajeel felt heat and magical energy build up behind him, turning around to see three mages with their hands outstretched towards him, a giant red magic circle floating and spinning in front of their hands. "Let's show this little do-gooder our terrifying triple fire combo." One of the mages said. A fireball appeared in front of each of their respective palms, all flying towards the magic circle and becoming an even bigger fireball.
"Prepare to become immolated." Grinned one of the other mages.
"You have no hope!" The third mage virtually laughed. Gajeel had his hands on his hips and huffed in annoyance; dark mages, or at least the goons, are seriously some of the most thick-headed people on the planet. Even Salamander is smarter than them. Well, that can be dubious at times.
"Phoenix Kamikaze!" The three mages yelled in unison, a giant bird made of fire appearing from the magic circle that they created. The bird stood still on its two legs, titling its head and blinking at Gajeel before flying towards him at high speeds, the Dragon Slayer standing still as it came closer, an explosion of fire happening as the 'Phoenix' seemingly made contact with him.
"Ha, that outta have put him out of his misery." One of the mages said as the other two high-fived in self-proclaimed victory.
"Okay. First of all, I ain't no do-gooder." Gajeel said, shocking the fire mages as he suddenly appeared behind them with his arms crossed. One of the mages quickly made a fireball in his hand in an attempt to attack Gajeel, but he was punched in the face by the Iron Dragon Slayer, skidding along the ground as he was knocked out. The two other mages looked at their ally in horror as he left a long mark along the ground, both being hit and knocked out by a swing kick from Gajeel. "Second of all, I've faced fires that are so hot that that is just lukewarm in comparison. If you got a lot of bark, make sure that you have the bite to back it up."
Gajeel turned around seeing that most of what remained of the attackers of the jewellery district were being defeated by Lucy and Panther Lily, some were still trying to fight back, but some of the others were running away; trying to flee from the totally one-sided battle. Gajeel smirked, knowing that they shouldn't leave; after all they had chosen to attack and raid, and who knows what sins they may have attempted in the past. Gajeel turned his arms into iron poles, dashing towards the mages. They noticed, trying to attack Gajeel with their spells and proclaiming that he is no match for them, even though they were plainly running away. Gajeel had either evaded their spells or swatted them away with his iron pole arms.
Despite the number of mages being attack by Gajeel being far more than three, that was still the total number of times that he needed to hit them to render them all unconscious.
There was a loud bang in the air, followed by a scream of pain. Gajeel could hear a loud thud behind him, followed by unsettling sounds of bones crunching slightly. Gajeel turned around, seeing Mirajane lying down in a small crater in the street, still in her demon transformation.
Lucy ran towards Mirajane, skidding down into the crater, sitting on her legs. Mirajane was surrounded by a glow of magic, the S-Class mage turning back to normal. The white-haired woman was lying on her front, pushing herself up, covered in more scratches and bruises.
"Damn beam came out of nowhere...!" Mirajane grumbled, looking like she was on the verge of being livid. The Take Over mage looked up, surprised to see Lucy and Lily standing in front of her. "Oh hi. It's nice to see you two, but we're in a bit of trouble."
"Yeah, the attacking dark mages." Lily said, involuntarily turning back into his regular small form as his transformation time was up. "We were already informed by Lisanna when we came to investigate the explosion."
Mirajane's eyes widened, the mage quickly getting to her feet. "Are Lisanna and Elfman okay?!" Mirajane asked worriedly, grabbing hold of Lily, her protective older sister instincts flaring. They both seemed like they were in rough shape when she last saw them, but she had little time to worry as she was immediately being attacked and having to fight back against the leader of this little incident.
"Lisanna has been very exhausted and Elfman looks like he was just used as a punching bag, but they're overall okay." Lucy answered.
Mirajane felt a feeling of relief, at least to a degree. The specifics that Lucy told her were sticking in her head, but hopefully Wendy can heal them sometime soon. She should have been staying at Fairy Hills last night so she should hopefully still be in Magnolia. Mirajane heard footsteps behind her, seeing a cloaked man with orange hair and green eyes, a wide sneer of his face.
"Your celebrations and reunions can happen in the afterlife, right now is time for your annihilation." He said, immediately firing a laser beam out of his index finger and towards Lucy, hitting the blonde square in the chest. Lucy let out a scream of pain, her body flying off the road, remaining airborne until her back slammed against a building from the force of the attack. Panther Lily growled angrily, the Exceed holding back his Musica Sword as he prepared to swing it at the man that he was flying towards. Gajeel had outright roared, turning both of his arms into swords as he looked like he was ready to dice the leader. The man had only smirked as the two angry members of Team Iron Star closed in on him, using his magic to let out a powerful shockwave.
The shockwave let out an invisible force that pushed Lily and Gajeel back, the ground almost breaking completely form the spells force. Even Mirajane, whom was now a good distance from the man, was pushed back by the force of the attack.
"Just lay down and die, pathetic fairies. My Blast Magic spells absolute destruction towards those that dare to fight me or get in my way." The leader said threateningly, raising a hand in the air, a sphere of magical energy sparking to life, glowing green as it floated above his palm, illuminating the man's face, and his sadistic grin attached to it. "You shall never fathom the power of true magic, weak, little-."
The Blast mage was abruptly cut off as he was hit by a mostly purple blur, his face being slammed against the ground by a foot. He looked up to see the legendary Laxus Dreyar, lightning surrounding the Dragon Slayer's large frame as his eyes were slit and his fangs were elongated. Well, slightly more than usual.
"Don't you dare hurt my little sister again!" Laxus growled angrily, slamming his foot down on the man's face with each word that he spoke, his foot surrounded by sparks of lightning to intensify the power and pain of his kicks to emphasize how serious he was about it. By the time Laxus stopped kicking his face, most of the guy's teeth were scattered around his head, with the few that remained being chipped at the least, with his face being decorated by purple, swollen lumps.
"Can I go... to prison now...?" The man had barely managed to mutter with his swollen jaw, a tear trailing down the side of his face from the immense pain surrounding his entire body, his face obviously having suffered the undisputed worst. He shouldn't have picked the town that was home to Fairy Tail. By the by, he should've just ran as soon as Fairy Tail mages appeared. "Please..."
"That's enough, Laxus." Makarov ordered, the ageing Guild Master walking down the street that Laxus had the man pinned under his foot. "I know that you are mad that he hurt your family, especially the little sister that you are extremely protective of, but he has suffered enough retribution."
Laxus growled, still feeling anger burn in his veins like hot lava. He looked down at the face of the man that started the whole attack, unconscious with the swollen bruises on his face remaining prevalent. The blonde Slayer clenched his fist tight, so tight that it felt like his blood was having a hard time entering the body part, lightning crackling around it. He really want to beat the man further, but that would most likely end up murdering him. As much as Laxus entertained the thought of ending the orange-haired bastard, he knew that his little sister would probably never look at him the same way after that, and her new perspective would most likely be in a more negative light.
Laxus calmed himself down, the aura of magic and lightning around him vanishing as his eyes and canines returned to normal. Laxus ignored Makarov as the old man walked closer to the unconscious man to have a better look at him, the Lightning Dragon Slayer approaching the woman that he and his own dragon have claimed as kin, resting against the building that she was shot towards with Gajeel and Lily at her side.
Lucy's Star Dress vanished in a shimmer of light, her clothes and hair returning to the way they were prior. Even her regular top had a hole through where she was shot, a burnt black mark on the skin of the shot area, though luckily it hadn't pierced into the flesh, keeping it from being anywhere near fatal. Nevertheless it still hurt like a bitch and stung like a group of asshole hornets.
"Hey, Bunny, you okay?" Gajeel asked in concern. When that mage did what he did to Lucy, he felt so mad that he wanted to make the man rue it; do to him what Laxus did. The possibility of hurting passer-by civilians was the only thing stopping Gajeel from unleashing his strongest spell on him. Even then, his sense of logic was barely able to overcome his emotions.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucy said, reliving Gajeel, Lily and the approaching Laxus. "It hurt like hell and my back now feels like I'm over half a century older after having it slammed into this building, but luckily it didn't blast through me, so I should be fine in a day or two."
"I still think you should go and get a quick check-up with Wendy." Laxus said, stopping in front of Lucy and her teammates. Lucy smiled at Laxus, the bigger blond returning the action as her smile left his heart filled with platonic joy. Laxus squatted in front of Lucy, his arms outstretched for a hug. Lucy got onto her feet and hugged her protective older brother, the two blondes as happy as can be.
Gajeel merely watched Laxus and Lucy hug, a strange feeling within him. He knew there was nothing romantic between them, not only do they see each other as brother and sister but Laxus' pendulum doesn't swing that way. But that didn't change that feeling of melancholy, that he wasn't enough to make her feel happy. Gajeel shook off these feelings as Laxus and Lucy stopped hugging each other, the Celestial Spirit summoner turning back towards Gajeel and Lily, hugging the human and Exceed.
Dark mages were screaming as they were being waved around by tentacles made of shadows that wrapped tight around them, shaking them around before throwing them away, either to the floor, the walls or the ceilings. The very being that these shadows were coming from being Dimitri, his purple eyes burning with rage. He was on a rampage of sorts, having found out about a particular action done by someone in the same organisation as him. And even though she is ranked higher than him, he'll be damned if he doesn't teach her the consequences.
The Shadow Magic mage's eyes honed in on two mages that were watching everything, still as statues from the fear that was being imposed on them. Dimitri didn't recognise or care for their appearances, but he could sill recognise the guild mark of Wendigo Skull on their skin. If anyone would know where that thunder bitch is hiding, it would be her lackeys, especially as she just got them out of prison.
The two men screamed in terror as Dimitri eyed them with eyes of someone who would murder them without regret. They tried to run away, but tendrils of shadows had already wrapped around their guts and pulled them off the ground, pulling them up close and in front of Dimitri and his glare.
"Where is Theodora?!" Dimitri growled, the shadow beneath him flickering around like a group of angry tentacles. The Wendigo Skull mages had refused to answer, left only whimpering in fear from the intimidating magic power coming off of him. Dimitri had no patience for this. Theodora had taken something that is very important to him, more important than anything else, and even if she planned on returning it he wouldn't let her off the hook so easily. An almost feral growl left Dimitri as he made the tendrils tighten around the two mages, making them focus more on him. "I said, where. The fuck. Is Theodora?"
"Sh-she's in her room!" One of the Wendigo Skull mages in terror, trying to get out of the inescapable grasp of Dmitri's tendrils. It was futile for a weakling like him to even hope to escape. But, he did give Dimitri the information that he wanted to hear, so there was no reason for him to keep hold of them. Dimitri controlled the tendrils to throw away the two mages that belonged to that bitch, his pale form disappearing into his shadow, the aforementioned, seemingly independent area of darkness speeding around the headquarters of Dark Sect, finding the bedroom of one of the Malefic Square.
Dimitri appeared from the shadow, kicking the door open. There sat Theodora and Mia at a round tea table, sitting on comfortable-looking chairs, more of the same chairs around the tea table, occupied by small plush animals. Steam came from the tea, real tea, that sat in the cups, placed down in front of the women and plush animals, little cakes and biscuits sitting on little plates in front of them and on a silver plate in the centre, ready to be taken and eaten at any time. Theodora's room was huge with salmon colours, a large queen-sized bed against the wall, covered with big, fluffy pillows and a ton of other plush animals. The woman's curtains were open, somehow showing a sunny day that let in heat from the sun. Dimitri would have otherwise wondered how she managed to do that, but right now he was too overcome with rage.
Theodora calmly took a sip from her cup of tea, her legs crossed and her other arm resting on the arm of her chair, nonchalant to them angry man in front of her, ignoring his eyes that were like a wild beast as wispy were flowing from him like smoke. Theodora let out a refreshed sound as she removed the cup from her mouth, a little clink happening as she placed the porcelain cup down on a small, porcelain plate that acted as a coaster.
"Ah, Dimitri, so good to see you. I see that you are eating well and have been training on your magic." Theodora said, giving Dimitri a kindly smile. I honestly made Dimitri mad that she was ignoring his blatant anger. "I am currently treating your little sister to some tea. Do you wish to-?"
Theodora was abruptly cut off as Dimitri hooked the right side of her face, her body almost flying off of her chair from how sudden it was, but she managed to stay put. "Don't play so innocent. I know that you took my sister out of the protective confines of this castle, and without my consent or permission, no less!" Dimitri snarled.
Theodora rubbed the side of her face were the shadow mage's fist made contact, looking at him with slight annoyance. "I usually wouldn't tolerate such insolence such as hitting me, however I am in a good mood at the moment." The red-haired woman said with a calm demeanour. "I apologise, but her help was needed. You see, I worked hard to make my guild, and then she came around and left it all in ruin. I didn't want to go through the same time and effort that it took me to create the guild, so I broke them all out of prison, as you've probably seen. Of course I could have done it on my own, as I have, but I needed your sister's help for something specific."
With her last words, Theodora had outstretched her hand towards Mia, the heterochromic female looking at her cup of tea with eyes of an unreadable emotion, blinking without proper thought. It was like she was trying to comprehend the steaming drink in front of her, yet it somehow just didn't apply to her. "And what would you want or need her for?" Dimitri said, a sense of malice still in his eyes and voice, using his Shadow Magic to conjure into existence a big black wolf made of shadows, the creature snarling at Theodora as it stood above Mia, the petite woman not taking any notice to it whatsoever, small, wispy tendrils coming from its body of shadows and surrounding Mia protectively.
"Simple; we both know what Mia's magic is, do we not?" Theodora asked rhetorically. "Well do remember that woman that ruined my guild and defeated me? The one that Evangeline tried to kill at Sorrel."
"Her name's Lucy." Dimitri responded plainly.
"Yes, I know the name of the Light of Fairy Tail, but I'm not calling her by her name. You should never refer to scumbags by name." Theodora responded, keeping an otherwise calm demeanour that was contradicted by the clear hatred in her voice, grabbing hold of her teapot and flawlessly pouring more tea in her cup, possibly thinking that the drink would magically calm her down. "If it isn't obvious yet, I want revenge on her. Whilst I was still in the dungeon, undergoing my punishment, I began to plan my revenge. Instead of attacking and killing her directly from the get-go, I decided that I want her to suffer first. And why not than by targeting someone who is close to her? Mia, dearie, could you please do what you did last night?"
"Hmm?" Mia hummed as she looked up from her cup of tea, still taking no notice of the shadow wolf standing above her. "Was it... tea?"
Theodora sighed. "I said, could you please do what you did last night?" The dark mage repeated.
Mia just blinked in confusion, like Theodora hadn't said anything, the purple-haired woman looking to her side, becoming elated as she saw her older brother. "Dimitri~! Would you like some tea~?" Mia responded happily, lunging at and hugging the man. Dimitri barely even budged, partially because Mia lacked much physical strength. Dimitri smiled down at his little sister, however his smile faltered as Mia's heterochromic eyes suddenly widened in fear. "Dimitri, we must get back home! I-if Mother and Father find out we're not home, they'll... they'll...!"
"Shh, shh, it's okay, Sister." Dimitri said in a calm, comforting tone, pulling his sister's face into his chest and stoking the back of her head softly. "They're no longer with us, we can no longer be hurt by them. We're safe now. And even if they were still alive, I would never let them even go within ten miles near you before... you know."
"Oh... Ooooh yes." Mia responded, slowly moving out of the embrace her brother had her in, sitting back down on her seat.
Theodora made a loud and audible clearing of her throat, causing the two siblings to look at her, a purple pair with anger that, whilst lessened, had continued to remain, and a pair of red and grey that looked at her with utter confusion. "Mia, could you please do what you did back in front of the Magic Council last night?" The crimson-haired woman asked, trying to keep calm.
Mia looked up towards the ceiling, the pad of her index finger hovering over her lips as she tried to remember what it was the Theodora ordered of her. Eventually that lightbulb turned back on, a clear image appearing through her usually foggy bank of memories. Mia extended an arm towards Theodora, her red eye glowing, with even a trace of red appearing in her grey eye as she used her magic. Theodora glowed, her body seemingly changing into a form that was quite different from her own. Though, that form could be recognised as someone else's. Indeed, as they, or more specifically he, is someone who is well renowned across Fiore for a few particular aspects about himself.
"Ah, I think I'm beginning to understand." Dimitri said, the fire in his eyes becoming smaller, though it hadn't yet extinguished. Her past act considered, Theodora could be called lucky that Dimitri no longer wanted to mutilate her. Though he probably wouldn't anyways, there was a sort of gap between their power levels.
Theodora, still seemingly changed into her new form, had grinned at the Shadow mage, her legs crossed. "Yes, it is a nice start to some plans of revenge that I hope to set in motion." Theodora said, her womanly voice remaining in tact, greatly contradicting the appearance of the muscular male she was currently using, once again sipping at her hot tea. "Mia, dear, you can stop now."
Mia didn't react at first, almost like she didn't hear her superior's command, however she had moved her hand away, causing Theodora to resume her usual form. The red glow in Mia's eyes had persisted, however, once again an unreadable emotion was in the globular organs. The plush animals, all slumping down against their chairs, suddenly sat up. They looked around the room they were in curiously, some even managing to blink with their button eyes. One particular plush, a little bear with a red ribbon around its neck, had reached out for a biscuit on the plate in front of it, ripping open its eternally closed mouth; cotton falling before sharp teeth emerged from its lips. The bear bit down into the biscuit, munching away without a care for the eyes, organic and button, watching it.
The other stuffed animals began to follow suit, ripping open their mouths and growing sharp teeth that were as spotless as the cleanest teeth imaginable. After all, everything that was currently happening would have to be imaginable, considering what was causing it.
Mia smiled at the sight before her; of little plush animals eating biscuits and cookies and drinking tea; isn't that what a tea party is about? Wait, is this a tea party? The animals all froze completely, along with the biscuits they were eating and the tea they were drinking, even the crumbs falling off their mouths had stopped falling like time itself had frozen. Mia blinked, pondering more slightly before returning her old focus, time seemingly moving again for the animals and the items they interacted with.
Theodora had her hand hovering over her lips as she giggled at the spectacle in front of her; she was honestly enjoying the sight being presented towards her. "I must say, Dimitri, your sister has certainly developed quite the little imagination. Oh, if only her magic was Arc of Embodiment, that would make things much more interesting." The Wendigo Skull Guild Master said, reaching out a hand towards the nearest plushie, a elephant that was halfway through a snickerdoodle. Theodora's hand passed through the elephant, the plush creature dissipating to reveal that it, the real plush elephant, still sat slumped down on its chair. "Sadly though, we can only change our reality by making illusions."
Dimitri watched in silence, focussed entirely on the products of his sister's products and imagination. It was an odd sight that he usually wouldn't care much, if at all for. But it was made by her, his dear sister, so t was undeniably beautiful to him. The moving images of plush animals, biscuits and tea had once again frozen, this time disappearing as Mia's attention was taken away, the petite woman now looking at the ceiling like she was watching something happening from above.
"Ah, seems like the little illusionist is done." Theodora commented, looking at the plate of biscuits, the little snacks untouched as all the biscuits eaten by the plush animals were also nothing more but untouchable images made by the mind of a girl.
Dimitri grabbed his little sister's hand, gently pulling her off her chair, the Illusion mage now standing next to him as they continued to hold hands. "Still, even though I understand why you have taken my sister, I have yet to see the results."
Theodora laughed in response to Dimitri's words. "Oh trust me, little boy." She said the purple-eyed man. "Those results will come in due time."
"Are you sure you're okay? You got hurt a lot. Maybe Wendy should heal you some more. I think Wendy should heal you some more." Natsu said as he inspected Lisanna closely, the white-haired mage blushing from how intimately her boyfriend was checking her, as well as the high protectiveness that he was showing for her health. Lucy watched them, smiling (they were doing it in the middle of the guildhall... don't take that out of context). She could honestly berate Natsu for his hypocrisy of worrying for someone else having injuries when he barely gave any care to his own, but she knew well enough that Dragon Slayer's are incredibly protective of those that are their mate or their kin, so she would let it slide.
"Natsu, it's okay. I'm not going to suddenly break apart." Lisanna laughed as Natsu continued to inspect her for every last scratch, bruise and bandage on her. "Honestly, I think if anyone needs another check-up with Porlyusica or healing from Wendy, it would be Big Brother Elf."
Gajeel, who was sitting right next to Lucy and watching the same thing (mostly because their table was next to Natsu and Lisanna's), made a snort of amusement as he heard the white-haired mage. "Yeah, guy looks like he's dressed as a mummy for Halloween." The Iron Dragon Slayer said, taking a swig of his beer. "Surprised he can even stand."
"It's 'cause I'm a real man-Ow!" Elfman responded, almost covered entirely in bandages, the large man having to grab the joint of his arm as it stung with pain from him moving it.
"Being a man has nothing to do with you being an idiot who is recklessly moving his body around when he was told to take it as easy as possible." Evergreen said angrily, the Fairy mage personally making sure Elfman doesn't damage his body even further with his personality. And slapping him whenever he talked about being a real man, she did a lot of that as well.
"You shouldn't even be out of bed, you know." Freed said with icy impassiveness towards Elfman, the green-haired rune mage sitting next to Lucy, from the other side of Gajeel, drinking tea unlike most of his guildmates, who were unsurprisingly drink alcohol. "Porlyusica herself had commented that you're lucky to be alive. She also told you to stay in bed until you are healed."
"A real man never relies on luck. A real man relies on only his two fists and pure strength, because is the manly way to-Ow!" Elfman responded, this time yelling in pain as Evergreen slapped him hard on the cheek, leaving a red handprint that was burning hot for the Take Over mage.
"I swear if I hear you yell out about being a 'man' like a Neanderthal one more time, I'm turning you into stone!" Evergreen yelled, grabbing hold of her glasses to show that she's serious. "I would have even turned you to stone already if it weren't for the fact that it would stop you from healing!"
"Sheesh, someone's on the rag..." Gajeel muttered under his breath, so quiet that it was unheard by Evergreen. Gajeel thought that it was for the better, after all even though he doesn't fear Evergreen in the slightest, he still doesn't want to be turned to stone for God knows how long.
Lucy continued to watch the Fire Dragon Slayer and Take Over mage, the blonde beginning to notice something. "Hey, where's Happy?" Lucy asked, finally noticing the absence of the cheeky cat-like creature.
Natsu had ceased his careful survey of his mate's body, looking at Lucy with his normal eyes of somewhat innocent bliss. "Huh?"
"Happy." Lucy repeated. "Remember? Your Exceed that you and Lisanna had hatched as kids, and the same one you have been looking after since then."
"Oh yeah." Natsu responded, giving off his usual wide grin like there was nothing to worry about. "I don't know where he disappeared off to, but Lis and Mira told me that he would be okay and that he's just getting something for Carla. So, nothing to worry about."
Lucy sighed, if Lisanna and Mirajane are sure that the Exceed is okay, then he must be okay. Lucy had finished off her strawberry milkshake, the blonde walking to the bar to get another. Mirajane was still working at the bar, looking almost completely healed up, barring the little band-aid and the little bruise here and there. She was even humming away with a smile on her face like usual.
"Hey, Mira, can I have another milkshake, please?" Lucy asked kindly, placing her empty glass on the bar counter.
"Of course." Mirajane said, taking the glass.
As the barmaid happily and kindly took the glass, Lucy around at the rest of the bar from where she sat, noticing an unusual absence of a certain brunette. "Hey, Mira, where's Cana?" Lucy asked as the white-haired mage placed the refilled glass of the strawberry milkshake on the counter.
"Oh, she took a really big request that was explicitly for her yesterday." Mira replied casually, wiping the bar counter. That took Lucy by surprise, and it honestly made her feel a little bad because of her desires. Cana did admit that she wanted to spend time with Lucy yesterday before the blonde went to Gajeel's. "It was actually from Queen Hisui herself, officials from Crocus had arrived yesterday a few hours after you left. Apparently Hisui has a friend coming over to the kingdom, and that friend wants to have a few fortunes told. And that friend made Hisui herself want to have some fortunes told. So Cana will be at Crocus for a few days, maybe even weeks. She's probably going to be hitting every bar and liquor store there. The reward is meant to be a few million Jewel, about around half of the prize for the winners of the Grand Magic Games. Hopefully Cana will have enough money left when she comes back to pay off her tab."
Lucy sighed, hoping that she and Cana could have reserved a day together. Maybe she'll just have to wait until Cana comes back. As Lucy walked back to the table that she sat at with Gajeel and Freed (with the later threatening the former about something, most likely her), she noticed Jellal walking in through the guild doors, the S-Class mage holding a bundle of books and maps in his arms, laying them down on a table.
Curiosity had gotten the better of Lucy, the blonde mage approaching Jellal instead of returning to her table with her brother and friend with benefit. The Heavenly Body mage quickly peeked up towards Lucy, his dark green eyes quickly going back down to the map he was scouring, with an open book right next to it, showing an illustration that was similar to the map. "After what happened at the Sorrel Caverns, I have been using every book and map that I have to research a Dark Sect and any sort of news related." Jellal answered calmly, his eyes darting around as he continued to try to find information. "Sadly, I haven't found anything at all. It seems like Dark Sect is the epitome of being elusive; it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack the size of an ocean."
"Isn't there like a mage in Sabertooth that can remember anything?" Gajeel asked, suddenly appearing beside Lucy, shocking Lucy and almost leaving her with a heart attack. "Wasn't his name Rufus or something? Can't we just borrow him and have him memorize the information and all that?"
"It would be pointless to have an impeccable memory when there is nothing to remember." Jellal responded, sounding slightly annoyed and snappy as he spoke. The blue-haired mage then sighed deeply and rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I'm just really tired. I was up until the morning trying to research about this elusive group and I didn't get much sleep because the sun woke me up."
"What is this commotion about?" Freed asked, noticing how something seemed to be slightly off.
"During our time at the Sorrel Caverns, we fought against a dark guild called Siren Fin." Erza explained, the red-haired S-Class mage holding two plates in her hands, one holding her usual strawberry cheesecake slice while the other had a blueberry crepe with powdered sugar over it and the blueberries, placing them both down onto the table that Jellal was sitting on, the armoured mage sitting beside her boyfriend. "The guild master wanted to kill Lucy because she had defeated someone that she worked with. She kept on mentioning a 'Dark Sect', some sort of invincible organisation of dark mages. Jellal has been working hard to find them, but they have keeping all of their tracks clean."
"Wait, the guild master tried to do what?!" Freed outburst, his right eye gaining a darker colour as Dark Magic brought upon by his Rune Magic had flared around him.
"It's alright, I saved Bunny Girl and we got to kick that Aqua Bitch's ass. Though she managed to get away, but we can just beat her up again." Gajeel said calmly as Lucy had a hand on Freed's shoulder, the blonde mage calming down the protective older mage. Gajeel turned back towards Jellal, the blue-haired mage eating his crepe. "So, Oberon, thinkin' on finding out another way to find where Aqua and Thunder bitch are hidin'?"
"I'm just going to have to throw in the towel and wait until we meet them again to understand them." Jellal said, the Heavenly Body mage biting back into his crepe.
There was a knock at the guild's front door. Lisanna, being the nearest to the door, opened it to find what looked like an army of Rune Knights outside with what looked like a captain. She was a tall female with medium breasts, wearing the usual garb that captains at the Magic Council wear. Her blonde hair was short, with the only exception being the two pigtails on the sides, long and shaped like a chain. She had emerald eyes that held a stern glare behind her glasses.
"I am Veronica, the Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit of the new Magic Council." The woman, Veronica, explained flatly in a monotone voice. "The attacking dark mages have all been taken off to prison, but we are not done here yet."
"Natsu! What did you do this time?!" Erza yelled at the Fire Dragon Slayer, the Requip mage almost becoming used to the complaints that came from his destructive attitude.
"I-I didn't do anything at all, I promise!" Natsu responded, taking a scared and somewhat defensive position as the scarlet-haired mage glared at him with her brown eyes.
"Believe it or not, the Salamander is speaking the truth." Veronica said as she stepped into the guild with some of her Rune Knights following after her. She simply stood there, not even her knights were doing anything but standing still. "We're here to arrest someone that has committed a reprehensible crime."
"Hey, Jellal had been officially pardoned by the Queen, you can't just go and arrest him." Gray yelled, the ice mage slamming his fists together as he prepared his magic, the only thing stopping him being Juvia as she grabbed his bare arms.
Veronica didn't react to the ice mage, even as he was only in his boxers, only sparring him a quick glance before returning to her earlier act. "We have no intentions of capturing Jellal, the pardoning of all of Crime Sorcière is The Queen's official word. We seek..." The woman had responded, her green eyes widening angrily as she spotted a blond-haired Dragon Slayer sitting at the guild bar, pointing her finger towards him. "You!"
"Huuuh…?" Laxus responded rather drunkenly as he had already had a few mugs of booze, the Lightning mage looking up at the random Magic Council member.
"Laxus Dreyar, you are under arrest for attacking the Magic Council and releasing over a hundred criminals!" Veronica yelled, her once monotone voice filled with rage. All of Fairy Tail was left surprised and dumbstruck by her words.
Author's Note: Hello there, was the wait for over a month worth it? There's a bit of a gradual increase in plot, some stuff are revealed n' all that. The long wait of this chapter can be accounted to a Lucy x Harem fanfic ('cause honestly we can never have enough of those) that I won't even begin uploading until spring, since the story kind of takes place in spring. And there is also another story which is completely unrelated to Fairy Tail and has been on my little writing list 'cause I can't stop myself from writing it... unless if my muse is feeling lazy and I'm lucky for even a little bit of progress.
Anyways Halloween has just passed and when I got home from collage (as far as I'm sure, you don't go and live in a dorm in the UK... then again I can be dumb at times) I mostly just watched a horror movie with my mum and ate some popcorn and sweets. This chapter took longer than necessary to arrive because of procrastination and whatnot.
Reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.
