Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Rumors & Romances
Lucy and Sting were in the heated pool of the Sabertooth guild, simply relaxing in the bubbling water while it gave warm kisses to their skin, and the two mages had recently finished a job that involved getting ingredients to make spicy soup for someone in Shioru Town. The soup was certainly hot like the pool's water, and the client gave the mages 70,000 jewels for making it taste so good. They were actually too lazy to make the soup themselves, but lying about their hunger being a severe issue in the flyer caused Lucy and Sting to help them with that task.
The trip to the dark town of Mumargi had happened three days ago, and that job had been far more serious than making soup. Lucy received the Requiem Crystal from Kyouji, which was nice, but she didn't expect to see the fighting in that town be the main headline of yesterday's newspaper. The dark mages in that town were still taking jobs for the Ruinous Crows guild, but seeing a reporter or journalist from Sorcerer Magazine in any town caused the dark wizards to start talking about how Lucy Heartfilia defeated their previous guild master.
They had been doing that in an attempt to make more people think that Sabertooth was wanting to encourage new mages to join Ruinous Crows, but those dark mages didn't realize that Lucy was getting more fame from their gossip. She was actually surprised to see some female wizards ask her two days ago about teaching Darkness Magic to them, as Lucy herself had yet to use it, and even Mumargi Town's mages who took illegal jobs of getting artifacts in exchange for money from clients in the black market would be spreading Lucy's name around. Kyouji actually told several other dark mages about the entire fight before he left Mumargi, so that's how the news spread quite fast.
Sting had a calm smile on his face as he only wore some red swim trunks, liking how Lucy wore an orange two-piece bikini that had cute yellow stars on it, and he relaxed next to her while his right arm was gently around her waist. He turned to Lucy for a moment to see her blushing at him, her cheeks being light pink while she smiled, and Sting thought about how they came pretty far in their friendship that turned into a relationship. They were now in the heated pool together, which was really nice, but Sting smirked in an arrogant way about what they'd do for dinner.
"Hey, Lucy. If we go on a dinner date, will you feed me a burger?" Sting asked her in a flirty manner, imagining her feeding him in a short thought.
Lucy replied with a playful punch to Sting's chest, before giggling, "I wouldn't feed you, Sting. It's actually more fun to watch you eat."
That prompted Sting to chuckle, and he liked hearing Lucy sigh happily. Their chemistry was pretty great, even if they didn't fight together in Mumargi Town, and Sting really liked how Lucy was developing as a person. She had been much calmer, almost like that violet crystal was a symbol of redemption for her, and Lucy started to smile more. Even though she initially refused to accept the Requiem Crystal from Kyouji, Lucy actually gave that fight some thought. It was like a way of redeeming herself, especially since that man had been an unpredictable opponent, so Lucy felt some confidence return to her.
Six of the Rainbow Crystals were currently held by her, and the blonde-haired girl wondered about how many more remained. The fact that they were found in the colors of a rainbow was quite interesting, but would her recent crystal be the last one? Lucy didn't exactly feel like that was the case, since the spell book still had another section that was seemingly after the pages for the spells of Darkness Magic, but what would she have to do in the event of another Rainbow Crystal appearing? Would she have to fight a menacing person to get it, or would that person not even be a villain?
That situation would most likely reveal itself when the time came, but Lucy did need to look further ahead. After all, the Grand Magic Games would take place months from now. She shared the same goal as her fellow guild members, wanting to make Sabertooth be the best guild in Fiore again, and the guild's fate would be decided in that grand tournament. Every job that Lucy succeeded at had caused her ambition to burn bright like a hot flame that had lots of power, being driven to win, and she would let nothing stand in her way.
There was also the fact that she'd have to impress many of the spectators who were watching, including people from the other guilds, and she wouldn't make Sabertooth look bad. Lucy began to cuddle with Sting in the pool as she smiled about how he'd cheer her on from the guild's booth, and she'd try her best to win for him. Lucy's heart slowly palpitated while she raised her head upward and slightly put her lips together to give Sting a nice kiss, wanting to show him some affection, and she would love having her lips give warmth to his cheek. As she was about to do that, however, their lovely moment was interrupted by a woman's loud footsteps.
Minerva asked the duo in a stern tone as she had been watching them cuddle, "Are you going to keep being lovey-dovey in the pool with your girlfriend, Sting, or can other people get to swim in peace?"
Lucy replied in a shocked manner as she recognized the woman's voice, turning to see her, "Minerva! Wow, our paths finally cross again!"
Sting groaned while getting out of the heated pool, not wanting drama to ensue, "I had paperwork to handle, anyway. I'll see you later, Lucy."
As Sting began to walk away, Lucy simply looked disappointed at how she didn't get to kiss his cheek. She gave Minerva a glare for interrupting their moment, as she could've just swam on the other side of the large pool while ignoring them, but Lucy simply looked at the brown bikini that Minerva was wearing. It showed off most of her cleavage while also showing the curves of her body, and Lucy watched Minerva walk towards her while her stern frown began to turn into a slight smile. Lucy chose to get out of the water while glancing at Minerva's brown bikini that showed off her cleavage, and she wondered why Minerva didn't just warp her out of this room.
Minerva surprised her by calmly saying that it would be nice for them to have some girl talk and catch up, since they hadn't even interacted since the Naval Battle where Minerva sadistically tortured Lucy, and the girl with brown eyes simply felt curious about why Minerva wanted to talk with her. This probably had something to do with how Lucy's name was getting mentioned quite often around Fiore, news of her victories or losses spreading quite quickly, but Lucy softly smiled at the thought of how it couldn't hurt to share some stories with Minerva. At least she would listen, right?
Meanwhile, in Magnolia Town...
Erza walked down a street in the town of Magnolia while Gray and Juvia were by her side, watching the blue-haired woman happily hold Gray's left hand with her right hand, and the trio recently finished a job that involved beating up some bandits. Juvia agreed to come along on the job, mainly because of Gray, but Erza asked for her assistance because of the fact that Natsu and Lisanna left an hour ago while the fire dragon slayer seemed pretty excited about it. The job that he picked out actually had a large feast as the reward, and he'd certainly love to share that with Lisanna.
The food wouldn't be going anywhere, but Natsu certainly wanted to eat it before any other wizards got to take away any delicious dishes in that wonderful feast. Erza sighed at how the team was fractured now, as Gray would help her on jobs while he'd also enjoy helping Lisanna with tasks as well, and the cute girl with white hair still wouldn't treat the scarlet-haired woman with any respect. The tension between them is what made Team Natsu split apart, which was quite sad, and the fire dragon slayer even told Erza that it was weird for him and Gray to be the ones who wanted her and Lisanna to stop arguing.
The boys felt like that would not be possible, however, and Erza could only keep walking down the street with a frown on her face. Juvia smiled a bit as she wondered if Erza would want to eat some blueberry pancakes at the guild with her and Gray, starting to bring up how the pancakes could be perfectly made without any mistakes happening, but that only caused Erza to sigh in an irked manner. She was pretty upset at how Team Natsu, a team that used to be pretty good for the Fairy Tail guild, was now dysfunctional. Erza was thinking about requipping out of her Flame Empress Armor, but she also thought about how Lucy was on a better team.
Yesterday's newspaper had reached the Fairy Tail guild, and Erza took notice of how the front page featured Lucy and Kira high-fiving each other while Sting and Rogue just stood next to them. They certainly seemed like a happy bunch that got along pretty well, not having drama ruin their fun, and seeing or hearing about Lucy always made Erza feel very horrible. She felt pretty bad about how Lucy wasn't in the guild anymore, no longer having a close friend to chat with, and they probably weren't even friends anymore. As Erza thought about how Lucy's absence slowly created cracks in Team Natsu, Juvia brought up some interesting news.
"Gray-sama, Juvia handled a job in Clover Town yesterday and she heard from a pair of dark mages about how Lucy fought very well against a person named Kyouji." The Rain Woman calmly said to the guy who she admired, smiling at him.
The black-haired male replied in a kind manner, already knowing about that from a dark mage who was in Magnolia three days ago, "I heard about that. Lucy is a pretty awesome person, and I'm glad that she's okay. I'm guessing we both heard about it from mages who claimed to be from Mumargi."
Erza asked the duo in a shocked manner, wondering why dark wizards would show up in towns, "Why in the world would nobody care that people from a dark guild would do jobs? Isn't it against the rules?"
Gray had actually gone to Fairy Tail's library to look for a book on guilds and the Magic Council yesterday, curious about Mumargi Town, and he informed Erza that the Magic Council didn't really care about what those mages did. Nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary, thanks to Kyouji making everyone act like there was nothing wrong, so those dark mages could take jobs and act like they were in a legal guild. If nothing seemed amiss, then they weren't seen as threats. Besides, Mumargi Town's guild members could care less about Fairy Tail. If there was no quarrel, why start one?
Juvia smiled nicely at Gray as she informed him that those dark mages had some amazing Darkness Magic, their spells being purple while they handled destructive jobs without getting any innocent people hurt, and that was very interesting to her. Dark wizards normally enjoyed hurting innocent people, but the people from Ruinous Crows were actually taught some discipline by Kyouji himself. Even though he left the town, his dark impact on the townspeople would still remain. After all, he did put them through some dark times that made them learn to have respect.
Erza was surprised that Lucy defeated a master of a dark guild, realizing that she must've been getting very strong, and the Grand Magic Games were just months away. The brown-haired woman wondered how Sabertooth made Lucy be perceived as such a great person, wondering what training methods Sting used for her to get stronger, but Erza would be pretty amazed to learn that Lucy was simply becoming better because of all the skills that she was learning. Every battle always had something for wizards to learn, and Lucy was simply gaining lots of intelligence.
As Erza continued to walk down the street with Juvia and Gray, they stopped at Lucy's apartment to simply think about how it would be interesting for any of them to be matched up against her in the tournament. Gray honestly wouldn't bring himself to hit her, as they were still friends, and Juvia wouldn't exactly fight very hard against Lucy if she found out that Sting was her new boyfriend. Erza sighed at how that tournament was coming up, and she clenched her fists lightly as she wondered if Fairy Tail would get anything higher than last place.
"Team Natsu is very dysfunctional right now, and I don't think Lisanna would even want to work with me." Erza stated to Gray and Juvia with a frustrated facial expression, hoping the teams would be good.
Gray replied nicely while he thought about what Master Makarov would say, "Gramps always says that yesterday's enemy can be today's friend, so he and the rest of us would just want you two to put your differences aside. Remember, we'll all battle hard for Fairy Tail."
His encouraging words to Erza caused Juvia to blush a light shade of pink, comically flustered at how Gray could make a little speech while smiling with determination in his eyes, and Juvia felt like Gray was such an awesome guy. Even when his friends were faced with issues that really troubled them, Gray would want people to pick themselves up. Natsu was normally the encouraging person, but Gray had to do something in his absence. The rift between Erza and Lisanna had greatly affected the team, but it did not need to escalate to where it would affect the entire Fairy Tail guild.
Juvia thought about Gray was the person who could help Fairy Tail keep their title as the champions in the Grand Magic Games, even remembering how he managed to defeat Rufus in their fight last year, but the woman with blue eyes also hoped that Lucy would be okay. Hearing that she took down the master of a dark guild seemed pretty amazing, but Juvia didn't want Lucy to fight too many powerful enemies. After all, fighting strong opponents could be a bad thing. It would be good to win, but it wouldn't be good for Lucy life to be lost. After all, she'd miss out on the joys of love.
40 minutes later, in a grassy park...
Even though this calm morning seemed to involve romance and rumors, Kira sat down on a brown bench with Rogue in Shioru Town's park. The two mages were just relaxing while they were preparing to go out on a job later, and they had already chosen the task that they'd handle. Kira was pretty happy that Rogue agreed to accompany her on this search for a nice trove of treasure, really liking how he even told her that they'd make a great team, and the red-haired merchant was quite glad that he'd be by her side. After all, Rogue had no issue with letting Kira take a large amount of riches.
The shadow dragon slayer sat in between Kira and Frosch while he thought about how his hazel-eyed friend seemed pretty happy on jobs that involved great amounts of money, but Rogue had to wonder about why Kira didn't fight much in battles. On some jobs, Kira would actually try to restrain herself from putting too much power into her spells of Fire Magic. It really made Rogue feel curious, as he thought that Kira enjoyed using her spells in some of the craziest ways, but he also did think that she was trying to not burn down the towns that they would be in.
The guild of Sabertooth certainly had become more interesting with Kira and Lucy being the newest members who had some cool personalities, and Rogue calmly looked at Kira as he thought about the Grand Magic Games. Since Sting was the guild master and unable to participate, the twin dragon slayers wouldn't be able to fight together in the tournament. Without Sting to help him do their combo techniques, Rogue felt that a rematch against Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox would prove to be quite difficult. He hoped that Kira wouldn't hold back too much, and that would let Rogue see the spells in her arsenal.
He had seen some of them on jobs, but fighting in the tournament's battles could force a wizard to use all the spells that they wielded. After all, some opponents would be quite tough. Even though Rogue tended to be a rather calm person, he actually did have some worries about the Grand Magic Games. Would Sabertooth be able to triumph, or would the guild experience the taste of defeat for two consecutive years? Those thoughts actually made Rogue look at Kira with some uncertainty in his eyes, ignoring the sight of Frosch getting off the bench, and that caused Kira to move closer to him.
"Rogue, are you okay? The tournament's on your mind, right?" Kira asked him while she looked concerned, as many of the girls in Sabertooth had been discussing the Grand Magic Games.
Rogue replied in a calm manner as his voice became somewhat stern, "Yes, Kira. I just hope that the other competitors in the tournament won't be far stronger than us. I've been thinking about if it would even be possible for us to greatly win against Fairy Tail. They're the top guild in Fiore, you know."
Kira told him in a relaxed tone, before smiling nicely and letting her left hand gently touch his right hand, "We'll be fine, Rogue. Even though Sting can't participate, our guild has very strong people. On top of that, it's been a year since the last tournament. We've all worked very hard, and we'll win."
She began to tell him about how the guild members chosen for Sabertooth's team would be determined to fight hard, as they did tend to enjoy doing tough jobs that involved harsh fights, and Kira also felt happy that Rogue put her on the team. She certainly wasn't going to let him down, since it was pretty great for anyone to receive a spot on the team for the Grand Magic Games, and the wielder of Fire Magic would certainly fight hard. Not only would Kira fight hard for Sabertooth and to make her fellow merchants look good, but she'd also show off her skills to Lucy.
Kira told Rogue that she'd want Lucy to see how she used her Fire Magic, as it would be a nice little tribute to how they first became friends, and it would probably inspire Lucy to work very hard with her own Fire Magic. After all, Kira did think about how the blonde-haired girl hadn't used the Fire Crystal in a quite a while. Maybe it would be good for Lucy to see some hot flames once again, as Kira didn't mind the possibility of being anyone's source of inspiration, and any spells that Lucy derived from hers would probably create a powerful blaze.
Rogue was surprised to hear Kira mention the time that Lucy wanted to fight her in the park with Wind Magic, and Kira declined to fight because of how she wanted to only battle her newest friend when they were supposedly even in terms of strength. Even if Lucy could use different types of magic, one type of magic could just needed to make a battle be pretty good. Also, Kira wasn't really accustomed to friendly fights. She'd only battle a friend if they were in a surprising situation that called for it to happen, so that's another reason why she also refused to fight Lucy back then.
Hearing about Kira's goals in the tournament caused Rogue to kindly smile at her, understanding why she'd fight so hard, and the shadow dragon slayer had once wondered about what a match between Kira and Lucy would be like. He looked at his friend's hazel eyes for a moment, liking how they were so full of confidence, and Rogue even smiled from seeing a yellow butterfly calmly flutter through the air. The butterfly gently landed on the chest area of Kira's brown T-shirt, and Rogue gently used his left hand to grab it. What happened next, however, was interesting for his friendship with Kira.
"Rogue, do you have a habit of grabbing butterflies or are you trying to be flirty?" Kira asked him while blushing a bit as she smirked about how his hand gently brushed against her chest when he grabbed the butterfly.
He responded in a shocked manner, as he let the insect fly out of his palm, "I didn't intend for that to happen!"
Kira only giggled at his words, wondering if Rogue was trying to flirt with her, and she thought back to when he let her pretend to be a secretary while he had to fill out Sting's paperwork. Rogue never really minded Kira being around him, even if she was one of the quirkiest girls on Earthland, and she liked how he was so calm. Some innocent acts like grabbing a butterfly off of a girl's chest could be interpreted as flirty, however, and Kira was actually glad that Rogue didn't plan for anything perverted to transpire. He wasn't the type of guy to escalate a situation like that, anyway.
Rogue's cheeks were light pink from the situation while Kira was giggling, and he was surprised to see her gently put her right hand on the right side of his face. Kira rubbed it gently with her warm hand, making Rogue blush more, and Kira simply winked while she liked being playful with Rogue. They certainly had interesting chemistry in their friendship, and Rogue liked seeing Kira act pretty confident. The fact that she didn't even care about Fairy Tail currently being the best guild had made Rogue still feel surprised, but the determination in Kira's eyes showed him that she wasn't worried about battling anyone from that guild.
Ten minutes later, in the Sabertooth guild...
Lucy and Minerva stood next to each other in the changing room for girls, still wearing their bikinis, and Lucy's blue spell book was on a gold bench that was behind one of the changing stalls. Her orange miniskirt and her black T-shirt were there as well, but Lucy was not just here to change her clothes. Minerva actually led her away from the heated pool for this private chat, since two other girls entered the pool area before they could even have some girl talk, and Lucy wondered what the first topic would be. Minerva could definitely make it be about anything, and Lucy looked down at the red carpet for a moment.
Minerva smiled at Lucy while she thought that it would be good for them to just have a casual conversation, as that would be a good way to get some info on Erza and the other mages from Fairy Tail, but she wouldn't bother the Celestial Spirit Wizard with questions about the abilities of her former friends. Minerva was actually hoping that Lucy would tell her about what the wizards in her former guild could do, as that would help Sabertooth develop a great strategy for the fifth day of the Grand Magic Games, and the woman with green eyes felt like this info would be useful to everyone.
"Lucy, do you ever contact Erza or your other friends from Fairy Tail?" Minerva calmly asked her while smiling, as she gently touched Lucy's blonde hair.
Lucy replied in a relaxed manner as she frowned at the mention of Erza's name, "I haven't talked to anyone from Fairy Tail in a while, but I'm not on good terms with Erza. I really liked Natsu for a long time, and I told him that I wanted to be his girlfriend. He was in love with Lisanna and rejected me, but Erza knew about it for months. If she really was my friend, she would've told me months earlier that I had no chance of getting with Natsu."
This news made Minerva smirk for a moment, feeling like she wanted to find Erza and laugh at her for this, and Minerva honestly felt like there was so much irony involved with Erza letting Lucy experience the feeling of rejection like a fool. During their fight on the fifth day of last year's Grand Magic Games, Erza had fiercely told Minerva that she'd give her payback for how she hurt Lucy and Kagura. In this situation where Lucy got rejected, it looked like Erza was the one who hurt one of her friends. Minerva may have been sadistic, but she'd never betray a close friend.
In fact, Minerva wasn't even planning to betray Sting when she was keeping Lector from him. She only wanted him to use the power of his feelings for Lector to help Sabertooth win the Grand Magic Games, and the black-haired woman would've kept her promise to reunite them. If Rufus liked a woman and Minerva found out that she was in love with someone else, then she wouldn't wait months to tell him. After all, it was pretty bad for someone to let their friends have high amounts of affectionate feelings for someone who wouldn't return them.
Even though Lucy was dating Sting and she moved on from Natsu, she thought about how rent was still paid to her apartment in Magnolia Town. Lucy still lived there, but Erza never even showed up at her doorstep to give her the apology that couldn't be given when Lucy was trying to meet up with Sting for their first date. If Erza really wanted to be Lucy's friend, then she could've showed up a few days later to try apologizing again. She didn't do that, however, and having several weeks pass without getting an apology made Lucy feel like Erza didn't care enough to apologize.
Minerva decided to bring up Lucy's fight against Clair, smiling as she said that it was amazing for someone to survive a battle against that tough princess who could send people to their watery graves, but she did frown somewhat from hearing Lucy say that her recent battle with Kyouji made up for the loss against Clair. Minerva smirked as she informed Lucy that it was an amazing feat to battle Clair, and Erza probably would've lost easily. Since Lucy survived, Minerva felt like she must've been pretty skilled and Fairy Tail would simply live with the fact that they lost a valuable guild member.
"You know, Lucy, it would be nice for you to show off those Rainbow Crystals in the Grand Magic Games. Several mages have looked for them, myself included, but everyone would be surprised to see how far you come." Minerva explained to Lucy while putting her hands on the younger girl's shoulders, smiling confidently.
Lucy replied kindly while smiling, seeming somewhat embarrassed, "That would certainly be cool, but I feel like one more still needs to be found. I wouldn't want to try looking impressive when I don't have all the Rainbow Crystals."
Minerva felt like that was pretty understandable, and she actually wondered if there would be another Rainbow Crystal. It would certainly be exciting to hear that Lucy found it, if she ever did get it, but Minerva also wondered what would happen if someone found all the crystals. They became pretty popular because of the fashion designer named Samantha Kalos, and Minerva actually hoped to meet that woman someday. Stores that carried clothes with her brand name on them were said to get lots of traffic, and seeing commercials about her on Lacrima Vision screens in many towns made Minerva wonder how that woman was more famous than Sabertooth.
The guild didn't exactly have people who could compete with that woman in the fashion industry, and Sorcerer Magazine tended to be busy with news about her. Unlike mages from Sabertooth, Samantha would actually get photographed eating cake or even buying food from a concession stand. Being the second-best guild in Fiore wasn't fun to Minerva, since she even heard people in bars talking about how Sabertooth would lose, and some fashion designers even stated in magazines that they'd watch the tournament to just see the clothes that Fairy Tail's wizards would wear.
Speaking of Fairy Tail, though, Minerva simply gave Lucy a friendly hug for telling her that little tidbit of info about Erza. She felt like the scarlet-haired woman would try to look like a triumphant woman in any events that were like Pandemonium, as she would obviously be wanting to show Fairy Tail's great amount of strength, but Minerva could use Erza's mistake with breaking Lucy's trust as leverage against her. She certainly felt like the noble guild of Fairy Tail would look bad if one of the members was proven to be a person who stabbed a close friend in the back, and it would probably hurt Erza's morale if a large audience knew about what she did.
As Lucy walked to the changing stall where her clothes and book were located, Minerva simply walked away from her while feeling like it would be nice to get Lucy to talk about the other guild members. Getting lots of information on them would certainly help Minerva formulate a plan to make Fairy Tail no longer be Fiore's best guild, and she'd probably pay Lucy back for that by trying to find info on that next Rainbow Crystal. If there was a seventh crystal, though, it would probably be in a weird place like how the others were found in strange areas. The only leads that Minerva or anyone else could go on would just be rumors, however.
How was Chapter 25? Feel free to read and review.