Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs only to Hiro Mashima. I don't own it.

Chapter 11

The New Member pt. 1

"Foxy~3"

"She's our boss's right hand woman"

"You should've never accepted this job in the first place!"

"Don't think this'll be the last time."

"Thank you."

His eyes snapped open. He groaned inwardly cursing at the dream he just had. It's been a day since they've fought the witch and they were on their way back to the guild. He sat up rubbing his face and felt a slight sting on his forehead. He looked around him confused. He was sitting in an old cart pulled by Lily with the others trudging up ahead. He couldn't remember how he ended up in that cart.

"You're awake." Lily said.

"I think so. How did I end up here?"

"You can't remember? You and Natsu were having a race towards the guild."

"That doesn't explain everything." Gajeel groaned.

"When you were running ahead your face smacked into a thin branch and fell head-first into a boulder. After that, you lost consciousness. Good thing we found an abandoned cart to put you in."

"No wonder my head hurts."

"Wendy healed you awhile ago but you shouldn't move around too much if you're still feeling dizzy."

"Screw it. I ain't staying in this cart for another second."

"Don't worry; we're almost back to the guild."

"All the more reason not to."

When he got off the cart Lily took a glance at his face and let out a little snort trying to suppress his laughter, he immediately turned his back to Gajeel.

"Alright, what's so funny?"

He coughed. "Excuse me. It was nothing."

"There's something on my face, isn't there?"

"Well-"

Without waiting for his reply, he took a small mirror from Lily's bag and looked at his reflection. Scrawled in big letters across his forehead was the word "IDIOT" in black ink, and a big curly mustache was drawn just above his lip. The mirror cracked and a vein popped. He could hear Natsu laughing on the background and Lily was shaking behind him trying to suppress his laughter.

"That's what you get for snoozing in the middle of our race!" Natsu laughed. "Take that, idiot!"

"I'LL KILL YOUUU!" He threw the mirror at the fire dragon slayer and was satisfied when he yelped in pain, and he proceeded to chase after him – marker in hand, planning to draw on his face.

"YAAAAAH!" Natsu screamed in fear.

Lucy could do nothing but shake her head at their antics. Though she was a little surprised at how they could move so much when they're still healing. But knowing those two, she could only sigh. 'They really must be monsters.' She took a glance behind her. Gray was trying to get the woman who was clinging to him like a lifeline off of his arm, while the mentioned woman was trying her best to cling to him and get him to notice her.

"Graaay-samaaaa ~3!" Juvia squealed.

"J-Juvia, I can't walk with you clinging onto me like that."

"It's okay! Juvia will be your support." She grinned. "Juvia will help you walk!"

"That's not necessary!"

'Boy how stupid this looks.' Lucy sighed. "I wanna go home!"

"Stop complaining. We're almost there." Charle replied.

"U-Uhm. Lucy-san? Are you hurt somewhere? I could heal you." Wendy offered.

"Huh? No. I'm not, Wendy. Why'd you ask?"

"You've been sighing so much since a while ago; I thought you must be feeling hurt somewhere." She tilted her head. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

Lucy smiled. "No, Wendy. I'm not hurt, but thank you anyway." 'Waaah! She's so cute!'

Lucy kept staring at Wendy who was looking at her in concern.

"Lucy-san?"

Unable resist anymore, she pinched her cheeks and rubbed her head.

"L-L-L-Lucy-san?!"

"Sorry, Wendy! You're just so cute! I couldn't resist!"

"W-W-Waaah! S-stop it."

Lucy was having so much fun that she didn't hear.

Just then Charle stopped her with a kick to the head, hard enough to make Lucy stop.

"Stop that! You're making her cry!"

Rubbing her head she apologized. "Hehe… Sorry, Wendy."

"I-It's fine, Lucy-san."

"But it really sucks that everything we've done was all for nothing. I can't believe we got tricked that easily."

"Well, look on the bright side, think of this as training." she grinned.

"Training?"

"Yes. We've encountered a powerful mage whose magic was foreign to us and yet we managed to overcome it. I think because of this I feel like we've gained new knowledge that could help us in the future. Don't you think so too?"

"To be honest, I'm a little surprised that you could think like that, as for me all I could think of is the wasted effort we've done. Somehow, I feel ashamed."

"I-it's nothing like that! I mean it's normal to feel sad about this, I feel sad too."

"I know, Wendy. But you're right; I think this job is a great experience for all of us." She smiled. "So let's keep on working together from now on, okay?"

"Uhn!" Wendy nodded.

"Hate to break your moment but we're here." Charle interrupted.

The sun shone brightly in the sky and the seagulls could be heard from a distance. The city of Magnolia was booming with people busy about with their lives and the city's church bells could also be heard. When they've exited the forest they could hear the busy noises of people from the city a few meters away. Lucy and the others could see Natsu and Gajeel in the distance running towards the city like mad men and all of them could only sigh for their antics.

"Let's get going and report to the master." Gray said. "I can't wait to go home and get a good nap."

"Haiiii! Gray-sama! Juvia can be your pillow if you want."

"No. That's not necessary."

"Aww don't be like that Gray-sama! Juvia'd be happy to be anything you want!"

"Like I said, that's not necessary."

"Haaaaa~3! Gray-sama~3! You don't need to be so shy! Juvia'll even keep you warm all night long."

"That really is not necessary!"

"Both of you just get a room already." Lucy muttered.

"Oh? Does Juvia smell jealousy? L-o-v-e R-i-v-a-l?"

"Why should I?!"

"Hey! Can we please move along? We still haven't exactly reached the guild yet." Charle said.

"She's right." Pantherlily agreed. "We need to report what happened to the master as soon as possible."

They went about towards the city with Gajeel and Natsu running ahead. When they've arrived they were greeted casually by their guild mates unaware of what happened to them. Erza was on her usual place, perched on the bar stool eating strawberry cake while Mirajane was serving customers happily drinking and eating away all of their worries. Natsu and Gajeel were bickering and arguing on who exactly won their race, while Gray was trying to run away from Juvia who was still clinging onto him like a lifeline.

Lucy sat beside Erza and ordered lemon iced tea. She sighed heavily and took a sip of her drink.

"So?" Erza asked. "How did it go?"

"Not good." She sighed.

Erza sighed as well. "I knew it." She faced her. "Alright, what did Natsu destroyed this time?"

"Huh?"

"The reason why you're gloomy is because you didn't get the reward right? Then it must mean either you didn't kill the witch or Natsu ended up destroying something." She pointed at Natsu "From the looks of it, I'm guessing it was the latter. So, what did Natsu destroyed?"

"Ah! No. It was nothing like that."

"Then what's with the long face? Did you get the reward?"

"That's the thing, Erza." She took another sip of her drink. "There was no reward in the first place."

"What?" She dropped her fork. "What do you mean? What about the witch?"

"The witch was real. We all fought to death to beat her. What's not real was the reward and the princess." She leaned her head on the counter. "Everything that we did was all for nothing."

"Did you make contact with the mayor?"

She shook her head. "We couldn't find them anywhere, the mayor or the villagers. They ran away from us." She looked at Erza with teary eyes. "Plus, we found the request form and written on the back was 'You've been Pranked'."

"Such impudence! How dare they make a fool out of Fairy Tail! Do you still have that form?"

"Well, the thing is Erza." Water flooded from her eyes. "Natsu burned iiit!"

"He what?!"

"What's the big deal anyway?" Natsu interrupted, sitting on the stool beside Erza. "It was out of anger, I know, but look on the bright side, at least we defeated that witch." He grinned.

"Tch. Look who's happy. One moment he was sulking then the next he's spouting optimistic comments." butted Gajeel.

"Ha! You're just annoyed 'cause I won the race."

"No one said I lost bird brain. I was here first. Get it over your head already." He said ordering beer.

"Says who! Everyone here knows I am the first!"

"Fine. Fine. You said it. But you better be careful, being too happy could bring some bad luck."

"Hmph! You're just a sore loser."

"And you're an idiot for burning that form."

"What's so important about that piece of junk anyway? Besides, I was so pissed at the words I couldn't even look at it for another second. 'You've been pranked' my ass."

"So you really did burn that form, huh?"

"Yeah! Hell, I burned it nice and good, that piece of junk! No trace of it was left geh?!"

"Good thing, huh?" Erza said cracking her knuckles. "Then, you wouldn't complain if I punch something nice and good too, right?"

Natsu trembled in fear at the evil aura emanating from Erza.

"You better clench your teeth, Natsu!"

"GAAAAAH!"

Lucy could only pray for Natsu to live longer even under Erza's punches.

"If you're having problems with contacting the mayor of that village I could look it up for you." Mirajane said.

Lucy, Gajeel and even Natsu and Erza looked at her in surprise.

"Really?!" They said.

"Uhn. Did you forget that every request sent here would have to sign in the log book?"

"Ah. I see." Natsu claimed.

"As if!" Erza exclaimed punching him. "You're lucky enough Mira wrote it down. You better thank her, Natsu."

Face battered and a new bump forming on his head, he bowed down to Mira and thanked her wholeheartedly with tears flowing from his eyes. Mira tilted her head in appreciation and brought out the thick book where all the clients they've had were written. She searched for the latest entry and found what they were looking for.

LOG ENTRY

X784 xx xx

Request: BLACK WITCH KIDNAPS PRINCESS

Class: B

Client: MAYOR KOSHMAR (кошмар)

Contact #: xxx-xxxx

"Oh yeah. Come to think of it, the mayor of that village didn't say his name, did he?" Lucy stated.

"Now that I think about it, he didn't." Natsu replied. "How come I didn't notice it before?"

"That's because you were too busy hogging all the food in your mouth." Gajeel stated nonchalantly while drinking his beer.

"Oi! You were doing the same too!"

"Shall we call the mayor?" Mira asked.

"Go ahead." Erza replied.

Mira dialed the number in the guild's phone and the mages waited in anticipation. After a few moments, Mira shook her head.

"It says the number does not exist."

They all sighed dejectedly.

"A fake huh?" Lucy mumbled. "There goes our lead."

"How dare they do this to us! I will not let this matter slide!" Erza proclaimed.

"Calm down." Gajeel said. "What's done is done. Don't waste anymore of your time trying to find the guy."

'Besides, he's dead. We killed him.' He thought.

"But who knew the mayor had such a complicated name." Natsu said. "I can't even read it."

"He's right. I'm not even sure what language is this." Lucy said.

"It's Russian." Gajeel said.

The four mages looked at Gajeel in slight surprise.

"What? I can speak Russian."

"Since when?!" They said.

"I learned it back at Phantom Lord. It's no big deal anyway, I was a mercenary back then so I travel to a lot of places."

"That's amazing. I didn't peg you as a bilingual person." Lucy said.

"Definitely not Gajeel." Erza agreed.

"First look at him and you wouldn't even imagine it." Mira stated.

"He looks like an idiot." Natsu added.

"HEY! That last one wasn't necessary!"

"Going back, we still have this dilemma to solve." Erza proclaimed.

"Like I said, what's done is done. No need to fret about small things."

"This is the pride of Fairy Tail we're talking about! I can't forgive someone who would walk all over the name of our guild." Erza exclaimed.

"Hate to break it to you, Gajeel but she's right." Natsu said. "We almost got killed on the job and this guy just went up and left us leaving a note saying it's all been a prank. To be honest it kinda hurt my pride as a mage."

"I agree with him on that one." claimed Lucy.

"But thinking aside, I wonder what the mayor's name mean?" Mira asked.

'It means nightmare.' Gajeel thought, taking a gulp of his beer. 'The name of the witch I killed.' He looked at his hand. Memories flashed at his mind; memories of the witch and his last image of her, smiling and –

He shook his head. He couldn't let himself get lost in his emotions of her; emotions that should be gone along with her. However, he couldn't help but smirk at the idea of her using a different language just to hide her name, a language that she knows he knew. Of course, they were both mercenaries back at Phantom Lord. It felt like she's been giving him signs that it's been her all along, from the dream to the fake Levy and the call of his old nickname.

"Gajeel?" Mira asked catching his attention.

"Huh? Oh. No, it has no meaning; it must be a common name from where he comes from."

"Perhaps." she replied.

"Anyway, where is the master?" he inquired, effectively changing the topic.

"He went out." Mira answered. "He said he needs to pick up someone from the train station."

"I'm betting its young girls." Gajeel replied nonchalantly making Lucy shiver and Erza smacking him on the head.

"Stop saying such disgusting things about the master." Erza said.

"Nope." Natsu said, crossing his arms, thinking. "I can totally see him doing that."

He was rewarded with a smack after that. "I said stop it!"

Just then, Jet came in bursting from the door announcing to everyone about the master's return.

"Hey everyone! The master's back!" he announced.

"Speak of the devil." Gajeel murmured.

"And he's got a girl with him!" Jet added.

"Knew it." Gajeel said.

"Totally knew it." Natsu added.

Erza in shock still tried to defend the master. "Idiots! It must be Porlyusica-san!"

"A reaally cute girl!" He added again proving further about Natsu and Gajeel's theory.

The two dragon slayers fist bumped each other making Erza more pissed which urged her to give them a smack to the head.

"Idiots! The both of you! Stop making a fool out of master!" she proclaimed. "There must be a good explanation for this."

"There better be." Mira said while emanating a killing aura around her.

Erza and Lucy sweat dropped at the sight of the bar maid.

"The master better have a good explanation for this." Lucy murmured.

"Yooo! Brats! I'm back!" greeted Makarov.

All guild members replied with enthusiasm.

"Oh? I see Natsu and the others have arrived safely. Thank goodness."

"Yo! Master!" greeted Natsu.

"Of course, Master. The job's a piece of cake after all." replied Gray, smugly.

"Master, there is something you need to know about their job." Erza stated.

"That will be discussed later, Erza. Right now I have an announcement to make."

Every member silenced at the master's command and waited for the said announcement.

"WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER! \w/"

"Huh?!" They all said.

"Actually, she's an old friend of mine. Met her waaaay way back!" He chuckled. "And she's come here to stay at Magnolia so I asked her to join our guild." Makarov said with a cheery voice.

Droy then whispered to Jet. "Oi. I thought you said it was a cute girl?"

"It was! I saw it with my own eyes!" he replied.

"Then what's he talking about an old friend of his?"

He shrugged. "No clue."

Makarov cleared his throat "Then without further ado, I'll introduce her to you. You guys better behave, got it?"

Looking at the side he called in the said new member.

"Come here, you don't have to be shy. Come here, come here." He grinned.

Everyone watched when out from the side of the door came a girl, tall in height, pale skin donning an intricate black dress, long black gloves, and black boots.

Everyone was mesmerized by how charming their new member was and by how meek and shy she acted making her cuter. Everyone had their eyes fixed on her and were awed by her apparent beauty. She looked more like a doll with her porcelain skin and sculpted nose, and some thought she might be of foreign blood. Everyone was amazed at her save for Gray who could only stand there in shock.

The wheels in his head started to move, remembering that time from when he fought with the girl in white and how he saw a glimpse from under her mask before turning into ash.

Deep amethyst eyes and hair as white as snow.

Cold sweat formed on his forehead and a chill ran up his spine when he remembered her last words to him.

'If we ever meet again in the future… please be nice to me…'Coz I would love to join that guild of yours.'

And standing there at the entrance of the guild was a girl who, from today onwards, would be their newest member they've had in a while, harboring the same snow white hair and deep amethyst eyes as the girl in white.

And her name is –

"H-hello everyone. My name is Sapphire." she smiled.

"No way."