"Spirrrrittttt... Yo, Spirit... wakey-wakey..." Lucy slowly woke up from the smell of something good cooking in the air. She smiled and propped herself up on her elbows, looking up at the slightly blurry figure of Lisanna. The bandit rubbed her eyes.
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Lisanna greeted.
"'Morning."
"So, you decided to stay?" Mira asked from the kitchen. "We noticed you changed into your bodysuit last night." Lucy flushed a little.
"Uh... if you don't mind... me staying." Lucy said, ducking her head. She would stay from a bit, and then go back for Michelle, she'd decided. This was the closest place to the Dragneel castle she could remain in.
Almost like reading her thoughts, Mira said, "Not at all. So, if you're staying here, may I ask what you were doing at the Dragneel castle three days ago?"
The blonde ducked her head. "How did you know I was at the Dragneel castle?" she asked slowly.
Lisanna smiled. "We found your outfit and cloak when we were picking berries. See, our berry orchard is closer to the Magnolia side of the forest, but to pick them we usually use our Take-Overs to help. In my Tigress Form, I smelled that there was another person there, but we only found your clothes. A few days later, we found you in my clothes, wounded in the mud. There was the smell of your blood trailing from there. You scaled the wall, where I believe the Gardens would be around. So, were you trying to steal from the castle?"
Lucy bit her lip, then shook her head. "It's a long, kinda confusing story, but my little sister's in there. Prince Dragneel broke me out, I left, then found out there was another Spirit in my cell. I distracted the guards, went back down, and found out that Other Spirit was Michelle using Transformation Magic. She's staying there to make sure the guards won't chase after me. So to get her out, I had to steal the keys to her cell. I went back to the forest, dyed my hair red," she showed by rubbing off the already crumbling red juice on her hair, showing off the blonde, "went back, fought the Ice Mage guard, Gray, but ended up losing because I couldn't use my Keys." She explained.
Lisanna, Mira, and Elfman stopped what they were all doing to turn and stare at her. "That's a pretty... wild story." Mira finally said.
"Uh... Mira?" Lucy flushed, pointing behind her. "Breakfast is smoking." The woman turned around, startled, and took the pan off quickly.
"I guess the bacon is going to be a little... burnt." She supposed. "Well, whatever. So, why did the Prince break you out?"
Lucy sighed. "Well, me and Natsu kinda met before, it was a long time ago, and he didn't remember. My mother was dying of Pneumonia and we heard that the Dragneel's had a cure for it. Natsu eventually opened the door, like ten minutes after banging on it. They gave us the serum, and we went back home, only to find out that my mother died a few minutes before we got there." Lucy brought out the green vial.
"This is the stuff my mother was gonna be saved with ten years ago, and Natsu finally remembered and broke me out to... repay." And then, for some reason he decided to extend that repayment because of Michelle, so he tried to warn me off, and I didn't take his advice and now I'm here, she silently finished.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "Hello? Strauss family? Lucy- I mean, Spirit?" the three siblings turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. Lucy was in a slight panic. She recognized that voice. She shook her head, hard, telling them not to open the door.
"I know you're in there..." the pink-haired man muttered, almost like reading her mind, moving to the window with his blue horse. The first thing he saw was Lucy, glaring at him through the glass, arms folded across her chest. If looks could kill, Natsu would be dead right now.
"Hello, may I come in?" The prince asked, looking over at Mira.
"Elfman, could you open the door for the prince already?" she asked.
"Opening doors for newcomers is Man!" he cried, unlocking the lock and opening the door. Lucy winced as Natsu stepped through, leaving the door open for Happy's head to poke in.
"Hey Elfman!" Natsu brofisted him, turning to the girls. "Hello Mira, Lisanna."
Finally, he turned to Lucy. "Hey Lu- Spirit." The blonde didn't say anything to him, just glared with the steeliest look she could give.
"So, how's your injury?" he asked, sending a glance behind him to ask if it was okay to get closer to her. Mira nodded, but Lucy noted there was a sharp gleam in her eyes. Lisanna had it too, but not so much Elfman.
Natsu moved next to the Celestial Spirit mage, inspecting her. "I'm fine," she snapped, moving the blanket closer up her body. "No thanks to you."
"Aye!" Happy the blue horse said. Natsu sent a split-second glare at him.
Other than that, he seemed unfazed. "Just so you know, the only reason I'm here is because Michelle gives a mighty hard whack," he told her, rubbing his head and wincing. "This is the first headache I've had in years." Lucy smirked, proud of her little sister.
"Well, anyways, I've come just to check you're not dead. And to see my favourite Strauss family." He added, sending a glance behind him. The siblings smiled back.
"Aye!" Happy piped up. Mira reached under the counter, and from practically nowhere, got a fish [a slimy, scaly, gross-to-touch fish, Lucy added,] and brought it up to the horse. He chowed happily, taking it in his mouth. The head and tail stuck out a little bit.
"So, would you like to join us for breakfast, Prince Dragneel? It's ready right now," Mira asked, reaching into a cupboard for a plate. Lucy winced.
"Sure. I don't have anything to do right now." The bandit silently growled, irritated.
Everyone got to the table, and Lucy stood up on shaky legs. Lisanna stood up at the same time Natsu did to help her. Natsu, who was closer, walked over to the girl and extended his arm for support. She snarled at him and continued walking, but almost tripped and fell.
Almost. The prince caught her at the last second, helping her up on her feet. She blinked in response, that was the best he was going to get, and sat down quickly, huffing. The Strauss family watched amusedly, already sitting down.
The breakfast consisted of bacon and eggs, but Lucy ate much slower than she did yesterday night. She noticed, with faint surprise, that Mira had lit Natsu's food on fire, but didn't question it. Keeping her head low, she watched Natsu chat with the silver-haired mages while quietly eating her own food.
It seemed like Lisanna and Natsu talked often, sending each other glances while talking to the others. Lucy noted that their gazes were a little longer than just looks.
Also, despite the prince talking so much, he still managed to eat his fiery breakfast faster than anyone at the table could and keep his mouth shut while chewing.
Lucy huffed out of her nose, rolled her eyes, and continued eating.
Lisanna helped clean the dishes, [even after Lucy offered helping,] and soon, Lucy was back in the bed again. She pretended to sleep, facing the wall so that nobody could see her annoyed expression.
"So, I'll see you guys again sometime?" Natsu asked.
"Yep. Come back any time you want," Lisanna said.
"Okay! See you guys again!" he said. "Oh, and Spirit, nice try with the fake sleeping." Lucy, already prepared, flipped around and chucked her new boot [from Virgo,] at his face. He yelped and ducked, the sole missing his hair by a few inches.
"Yeah, still your boot-throwing self... bye!" He left. Lucy continued glaring at the closed door, expecting him to come in, most likely forgetting something. Two minutes later, she gave up and the door, oh-so-conveniently, opened again. She growled into the pillows. Lisanna watched her with a small smile on her face.
"Whoops. I forgot my cape." Natsu grinned sheepishly and grabbed the cloak hanging on the coat-hanger. He left, once again.
Lisanna and Mira sat next to her, identical grins on their faces. "you know," they said simultaneously, "you two go together pretty well. You guys argue like a married couple." Lucy got up and shoved a pillow into their faces. They laughed it off, which annoyed the Celestial Spirit mage even more.
"I do not!" Lucy protested.
"Yes you do," they sang.
"Do not!"
"Do to."
"I do not like Natsu Dragneel! In fact, it seems like Natsu has a crush on Lisanna, if anything!"
Mira and Lisanna looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Natsu Dragneel... a crush... on me?" Lisanna fell back, accidently falling off the bed. Mira looked concerned, but she was laughing too hard to help her up.
The two Take-Over mages finally laughed it off. Lisanna wiped tears from her eyes. "We've been friends since, like, forever, but he only looks at me like a little sister." She said.
Lucy gave her a doubtful look. "He clearly likes you. Not me, you." She told the silver-haired girl. Lisanna giggled.
"O-kay... if you think so," she said in a sing-song voice, getting up. Lucy glared at her, but she couldn't help a smile grace her lips. She liked it here.
"He totally likes you, Lisanna!"
"Right, if Spirit says so, it must be right. Natsu Dragneel likes me... and not you."
"Yes! Stop being sarcastic!"
"What sarcasm?"
"He likes you! Not me, you!"
"O-kay..!"
"Grrr..."
Lucy stayed there for many days, waiting for the wound to heal while helping the Strauss siblings out around their home. She did miniscule tasks, but she enjoyed helping out. She went berry picking with Lisanna and Elfman, using her Spirits to help out, did dishes, cleaned, anything she could do without straining herself too much.
She became close friends with Lisanna, they talked often about everything, about their lives, their Magics, the hottest Royalties [Lisanna tried to get Spirit to see how Natsu was; even she had to admit, pretty cute. Lucy quickly declined.], even small things like the weather. Lucy began to enjoy herself, but didn't forget the real reason why she was here.
"We're home!" Lisanna cried, Elfman behind her. Mira and Lucy looked up at the partially wet figures. It had just started to rain outside, so Mira rushed her siblings closer to the warm fire to dry off. Lisanna and Elfman had left for Magnolia to give new berries to the merchant's shops; the Strauss family sold their fresh, all natural berries to the market for money.
Lucy and Mira were doing dishes; Mira cleaned while Lucy dried, and they were almost done. Finally, after the last dish, Lucy dried her hands and handed the cloth to Mira.
"Hey Lisanna." Lucy greeted, but quickly recoiled. The girl had shoved something in her face, extremely excited. It was a red, slightly rain-dappled piece of paper, but for the most part it was dry.
"Look at this! We can get your sister back!"
Lucy stared at the piece of paper, but couldn't make sense of the letters because they were so close. She tugged it away from Lisanna's grip.
The Stellar Spirit mage read. "The Dragneel Kingdom is happy to announce that Prince Natsu Dragneel shall choose a bride to be at the Dragneel Castle's Bride-to-be ball. Ten of the best brides shall be chosen for the chance to be the Dragneel's future Queen..?" at the bottom, there was a dozen tinier letters which Lucy didn't care about. On it was a picture of the pink-haired prince, looking way too formal for it to be actually him. Lucy scoffed.
"I am not entering to be Natsu's future wife." Lucy instantly protested. Lisanna shook her head.
"I know that. But you just have to enter the competition, slip in, grab Michelle, and slip out!" Lisanna cried, flinging her hands out. The blonde supposed it was a good idea.
"But the security will be doubled, no, tripled. Even if I dye my hair brown or even blue, someone will recognize me." Lucy complained.
Lisanna shook her head. "And that's what we're here for!" she grinned, and now Lucy was very confused.
"I don't get it. You're gonna enter the competition for me?"
"Well, yes, but... no. Yes, I will enter the competition with you, but no. Don't you remember, we are a family of Transformation Mages? We'll teach you how to us Transformation Magic!" [A/N see authors note at bottom.]
Lucy still seemed skeptical. "I can learn Transformation Magic?"
Lisanna grinned. "Yeah! It might be a bit harder because you're a Holder-type mage, but we still have four days to practice!"
Lucy finally nodded. The security would all be focusing on the girls, nobody would recognize her, and she had backup if need be. "Let's get training!"
So, for you all that don't get the Transformation Magic, Lucy learning it and all, at one point, Lucy does try and learn that Magic. In the manga, named Mira-sensei's transforming Magic Class. Unfortunately for Lucy, it doesn't go too well when Natsu transforms into her. I laughed so hard. Oh, the Coco-cola one was funny too. Natsu and Happy's reactions! Priceless!
Ok, I'll stop my epic rant of the manga and get on with stuff.
MarieGene1990: yeah, I thought about that too, but two reasons I didn't do that. 1] I think I've been using too much Gemini. 2] cause usually, when they come out, they're in their normal, Twins form, not the person, and Lucy had to bring out her Key to use them. So, I canceled that idea. Thank you for reviewing!
MythandFairyTaillover: "omg, she's bleeding! panic mode!" *crashes into a wall, falls unconscious* "...Thank... you..."
GoldenRoseTanya: yeah, I'm on a rolllll! *music started playing* "They see me rollin', they hatin'!"
Tawny: "Yay! I'm epic!" thank you so much for reviewing! :3
IMPORTANT! SOOOOOOO, we're at 75 reviews, and we're still going! I love you all, really, and I've decided to make a contest! The 100th reviewee will get to give me an idea, and I WILL TYPE IT up, giving them lots of credit AND! a little special something for later in this story! all yours, if you're the 100th reviewer!
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