Soooo yeah, here's the next chapter everyone. I know, I know, I've been away for a while. The truth is that I haven't like anytime at all to really work on Fanfiction. But I'm making a promise right here and now. This story is not dead and will not ever die. I've just been working around a few loose ends going on in my life right now. Updates will possibly slow for a while, but in time I'll find a more regular update schedule.
This chapter comes to guys from my good buddy Fang. He uhh 'talked' me into getting this chapter done for you guys. Enjoy.
('.')
It was a quite morning in the city of Magnolia. After a rowdy night of drinking and merriment; the dawn shone through the wrecked windows of the guildhall signifying the beginning of new day for Fairy Tail.
Upstairs in a bed all by his lonesome groaned Star. He sat up and slowly blinked his eyes, immediately wishing that he didn't. His head throbbed, his eyes swam and the room wouldn't stop spinning around him. Yep, he was hung over.
"Ugh….my head. What happened last night?"
Looking to his left he noticed a small night stand with a glass of water on it and a note. He drained the water and picked up the note.
Morning Star, tehehe. I hope you're feeling ok this morning. I know your probably hung over but I set out a glass of water for to drink. If you need help with anything don't hesitate to ask. We're all downstairs waiting for you.
-Mira
Sighing grumpily, he threw the covers across the room and dragged his feet over to the stairs and down them.
Scene Change
The guildhall basement was alive and bouncing with its usual energy and liveliness. Mira was walking around serving drinks like always. Erza was sitting at nearby table calmly eating a slice of strawberry cheesecake. Lucy and Elfman were standing around some barrels watching as Cana continued to guzzle even more alcohol.
"Even after all of last night you're still drinking more?" Lucy asked.
"Last night didn't even get me buzzed." She replied.
"You're kidding, right?" Lucy asked rhetorically.
"Her drinking ability is really manly I'll give her that." Elfman replied.
"I think really weird is what you meant to say." Lucy said.
Nobody missed a beat even as Star came staggering down the stairs, tripping and face planting at the very bottom. A groan of discomfort escaped from his lips as he laid there and didn't get up. Macao and Wakaba, who were standing nearby looked over.
"Hey there he is." Macao said.
"He were starting to think you'd never get up today." Wakaba said.
"A little….ugh….help here please." Star groaned out.
"Oh, come now Star," Erza said as she approached him with a hand extended. "I would have hoped that you could handle a little party better than that."
He wasn't prepared for when she went to help him up and as a result he was pulled a little too hard and smacked face first into Erza's metal breastplate. His skull clucking and recoiling back.
Another groan escaped his lips. "That's what you call a 'little' party?" Star said air quoting the word little. "Last night was anything in the book but little."
"Are you alright Star?" Lucy asked coming over to the conversation. "You passed out cold last night and nobody could wake you."
Elfman released a bellowing laugh. "The great Stardust Savoir. Leaves his enemies in a crumbled heap on the battlefield but is brought to his knees from just a little booze. HAHAHAH, and I thought you were a real man."
"How much did I drink last night?" Star asked beginning to recover a bit.
Lucy sweatdropped, "I don't think you wanna know Star."
"Actually, you set such an unbreakable drinking record that we've taken all your cups and stored them in a special place just so nobody drinks from them ever again." Erza said. "The master insisted that we honor at least that."
Star's chest swelled up a little bit, pride and a sense of accomplishment filling his head. He chuckled and put his hands behind his head. "Now that sounds more like it. If that's the case then all the hell I went through this morning was totally worth it."
"You sure you wanna see it." Erza tempted a small smirk playing on her lips, but Star was oblivious to it.
"Of course, I wanna see it."
"Ok, follow me." Erza said.
Lucy, Erza, and Star walked over to the make shift bar, that was really just a bunch of barrels. Cana was still busy drinking not paying attention to them. Mira smiled happily as they walked over.
"Good morning Star, glad to see you're feeling better."
Laced with over confidence Star replied, "Yea….so apparently I set an unbreakable drinking record last night, eh."
Mira giggled, "You did. You wanna see your accomplishment."
"Show him Mirajane." Erza said.
"Alright, you asked for it Star." Mira said reaching behind the bar and pulled out two tiny drink cups.
Star was confused. "What's this?"
"Why your record of course."
"But, this is just two tiny drink cups? I thought I broke some big record?"
"That's right, you set Fairy Tail's record for all time worse drinker. You were out cold after finishing just those two little cups." Erza explained.
Star's face reddened, but not from romance or sunburn mind you, and he began to stutter. "B-B-But, there must be some kind of mistake. You must have given me some especially strong stuff then right?"
"Not really, it was actually the weakest drink we serve here. I had six or seven last night myself." Mira replied.
Star hunched over, utterly defeated. "Hello darkness my old friend."
"Yea, hate to break it too you kid, but you can't drink worth a damn. Happy is even able to hold his liquor better than you." Cana commented.
"Don't feel too bad Star." Mira tried to console him. "At least you drank more than Fang."
"But he doesn't even drink alcohol." Star perked up a bit and tried to forget about it. "Oh well, I guess it's not all bad."
Their conversation was cut off by, of all things, a loud crash and burst of flames as Gray came flying towards them. Without even looking, Star ducked outta the way as the underdressed ice mage smacked into Cana and the two were sprawled out on the floor with Cana's barrel of alcohol spilled all over the place.
"Geez Gray, you spill a girl's drink and then take her out. Whoever taught you how to pick up girls is a real dumbass."
"Sorry Cana." Gray replied picking himself up. He was in his underwear again.
"Clothes bro." Star said not having to look to know he was underdressed.
"WHAAHAHA!" Natsu's laughter rang across the guildhall. "Is that all you got Gray! Come on, give me a real challenge!"
Gray crackled his knuckles and a small icy blue magic circle formed around his hands. "If that's what you want, then I won't go easy on you."
He charged straight at the dragon slayer and their fight began, shaking the very foundation of the guildhalls basement.
"Seems I didn't miss much this morning." Star observed.
Fang, who was actually just waking up himself, got smashed into the wall by the flying bodies of Natsu and Gray. "Is that how we say good morning here?" He muttered dizzily with swirls in his eyes.
"Damn it….that didn't….work…." Natsu groaned out as he got up off of Fang.
"Sorry about that man.…" Gray commented, rubbing his spine as he too picked himself up.
"W-What just happened?" Lucy stuttered out, having been nearby and jumped when Gray and Natsu came flying past.
"Get up, your fine." Star said walking over and helping his old friend up.
"What happened?" Fang asked.
Knowing just how powerful Fang was, Natsu and Gray were trying to sneak away before something bad happened to them. With their heads turned away they weren't looking where they were going and walking, unsuspectingly right into Erza. She was casting a dark aura over herself.
"Where do you think you two are going?"
Scared for their lives they managed to get out. "N-Nowhere Ma'am."
Now up to speed, Fang stormed over to the two wizards with a tick mark on his forehead.
"This was you're doing!" He raged at them.
"We-We're sorry…." Natsu said.
"Yeah, we won't do it again…." Gray added.
Fang ponded the both of them on the top of the head, before turning to walk away. "You better not." He said before muttering to himself. "Idiots."
"Listen up children! Now that the celebrations are out of the way, we've got some serious work ahead of us. All of you head outside at once!" Makarov ordered, after which he left the basement and expected the rest to follow.
"I guess we're starting the repairs on the guild today…." Star said.
Fang sat down at a table and put his hands behind his head. "You guys go ahead; I don't do charity work." A moment later he was grabbed by the back of his shirt by Erza and dragged away. "Ahh! No!"
Star and Mira sweatdropped. "Oh my…." She trailed off.
"He had that coming…." Star commented.
Scene Change
"Where did all this come from?" Star asked with a blank expression.
Just outside the destroyed guildhall was more construction material in one concentrated area than he had ever seen in his life. Wooden beams, nails, tools, and somehow the elderly wizard had managed to gather all of it in just a few hours.
"Magic." Makarov answered.
Fang looked over and laughed at the cosmic wizard. "I think he just hit the nail on the head."
Star looked back at him, still with a blank expression. "Got anymore to hammer out…."
"Still, this is a large amount of construction material. Are we simply repairing the guild or do you intend for us to rebuild it from scratch?" Erza questioned.
"We're tearing it down, then rebuilding." Makarov answered.
"Why would we tear it down?! If we just patch it up and maybe add some paint, we could.…" Natsu said.
"A guild isn't defined by the buildings it owns, it's defined by the hearts of the people who are a part of it." Makarov interrupted Natsu. "I'd been meaning to do some renovations anyway. Now I have an excuse."
"But the guildhall was fine the way it was." Natsu protested. "If it ain't broken don't fix it, right Star?"
"Actually, it's pretty broken." He replied.
"So, first we have to tear it down." Fang questioned. "Any suggestions?"
"I was just gonna have Star blow it up." Makarov replied evenly.
"Why do I have to do it?" Star lightly whined.
"Because you're just so talented at blowing up buildings." Makarov replied in a mocking tone.
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Star asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course not. So, stop your belly aching and let er' rip!" Makarov replied.
Star turned to Fang for help, he only took three steps backwards and held up hands in a surrendering pose. "Don't look at me, I'm not the one who destroyed the conference hall."
Frustrated, Star mumbled something under his breath incoherently before flaring into his magic form. He unsheathed his sword and walked up front and center.
Within a few moments the whitish-blue magic of the cosmic wizard's strongest attack began to pulse through the blade of his sword. He brought back his sword and swung it forth, firing off a sizeable beam of cosmic magic directly at the Fairy Tail guildhall.
A large burst of fire and smoke erupted when the attack mad its connection, but that died down in time. When the smoke finally did clear up, the guildhall was completely leveled, its wooden structure being absolutely decimated.
"Alright everyone!" Erza said to everyone present. "It's time to get to work."
Fang threw an arm around Star's shoulder, much to his annoyance. "What should we do first, chief?"
"Glad to see you're in the right spirit. That pile of lumber over there….I need you two to stack it over on the east side of the construction zone. Make sure not to damage any of them since we need every last bit of material we can spare." Makarov stated.
"Ten-four that old man." Star replied.
"As for the rest of you….all of you are expected to take part in reconstruction. However, if you are a female and wish to abstain, you may do so under the condition that you cater everyone who is working. Also, you must wear a skimpy maid's unifo…." Makarov said, only to be cut off in the form of a fist crashing down on his head.
"Don't be perverted!" Star scolded.
"It was a joke, ever hear of one?" Makarov asked, rubbing his forehead as he spoke.
"I like the way this man thinks." Fang commented.
"Not you too!" Star yelled.
"Nevertheless everything I just said goes." Makarov stated, before Star cleared his throat. ".…minus the uniform part."
"Very well." Erza said in understanding.
An instant later the body of the scarlet-haired woman was engulfed in a bright yellow light, a sign that she had opted to use her re-quip magic. When the transformation was complete, she was revealed to be wearing a yellow, full body construction uniform complete with a hardhat of matching color.
"Is there anything you can't change into?" Star asked, a bit of humor in his voice.
"It never hurts to be prepared." Erza countered.
"You know I always love a woman in uniform." Fang said making Star turn to him.
"That's enough from the peanut gallery." The two walked off to comply with the orders they were given.
At the same time a majority of the guild began to scatter and head off to their designated areas as directed by Makarov. However, Erza and Mirajane remained behind. The redheaded female was standing in place, a blush on her face as she stared at Fang's retreating figure. Mira turned to her with a smirk and a hand on hip.
"Looks like I'm not the only one vying for someone's attention."
Erza turned to her and stammered, "M-Mira! I-It's not what you think. I-It's the heat; yeah that's it. It's just the weather causing my cheeks to look red." Erza walked away looking to distract herself with some work.
"Right…." Mira mischievously to herself. She giggled a bit. "That's what they all say…."
Scene Change
"Alright, the lumber is exactly where you asked us to put it." Fang stated as he walked up to the elderly mage.
Makarov was currently putting up the framework of the building whist in his giant form, but upon hearing the voice of the sacred beast wizard, he stopped what he had been doing and returned to his usual appearance so as to properly address him.
"Very good." Makarov said contentedly.
"What's next chief?"
"I need you to cut up some more lumber for us." Makarov said. "And have Star fly up here. I could use an extra set of hands on these support beams."
Fang nodded then walked over to where Star was sitting on the lumber and resting a bit. "The chief wants you to help him with the support beams."
"What are you going to do?"
"Chop up some of this wood."
"Have fun with that." Star said flying up to where Makarov was back in giant form hammering in one of the support beams. Fang meanwhile grabbed an axe and began to chop the pile of lumber.
Scene Change
"Stupid wooden beams.…" Star muttered to himself. He had struggled to help Makarov with most of what would become the second floor of the building. The master had teased him relentlessly about his innate ability to destroy stuff, and found it ironic that brunette seemed to be incapable of putting things back together again.
"I see you're busy working away.…" Mira commented as she walked towards him, with Fang behind her, a glass of water in his hand.
"Hey, Mira." Star greeted, wiping his forehead free of sweat. "And Fang."
"Sup." The blonde replied.
The barmaid was currently carrying a tray with glasses of water on them, "Are you doing okay?" Mira asked cheerfully, a sweet smile crossing her lips. "Would you like some water."
"Yes please." Star replied, "I'm dying here."
"Working with the master that bad?" Fang asked.
"You have no idea…." Star trailed off.
Scene Change
Erza was currently kneeling atop a component of the guild's rafters, examining the job that she herself had just done. She turned to look down towards the ground, seeing that her two somewhat involuntary assistants were standing at the ready, just blankly looking up at her for any further orders.
"Gray, go get me another one of the thin support beams." Erza ordered.
"Got it." Gray replied before walking off.
A moment later the redheaded woman turned her sights towards a series of nails she needed to ensure were properly in place. Upon seeing that one of them was loose, she readied her hammer and gazed down at her target uncaringly.
"Hahaha, don't make me laugh so hard…." Mira's voice cooed from a distance.
When she saw that Mira was talking to Star and Fang with a bright smile on her face, several things happened in rapid succession. She broke out in a blush seeing the smile on Fang's face; and also, she dropped her hammer.
"Natsu, I need another hammer." Erza stated. She, however, made the mistake of not taking her eyes off of the sacred beast wizard. As a result of this, she wasn't exactly prepared for the dragon slayer's expedient follow through.
"Head's up!" Natsu called out.
Erza didn't even register her comrade's words before the metal portion of the hammer slammed into the back of her hardhat. She fell off of the beam and, unfortunately, landed flat on her stomach and face.
"Crap! I'm sorry!" Natsu exclaimed worriedly, obviously not wanting to invoke the wrath of the redheaded wizard.
"Ugg…." Erza groaned, picking her upper body off of the ground and rubbing the back of her head. Hardhat or not, it clearly still hurt.
"What the hell did you do now…." Gray said as he walked up towards the two, a thin wooden bean being carried over his left shoulder. All he saw was Erza sitting on the ground rubbing her head and he just assumed it happened to be the dragon slayer's fault.
"I just….I just threw her a hammer, like she asked me to, and it hit her in the head." Natsu replied defensively.
"How stupid are you, Natsu?" Gray questioned rhetorically, turning his body around to face the pink-haired teen.
Sadly, for the ice mage, doing so had the side effect of bringing the long wooden support beam he was carrying directly into the back of Erza's head. Her face once again slammed into the ground as a result, being accompanied by a small grunt at the abruptness of the hit.
"Dude, you just hit her with that piece of wood!" Natsu exclaimed fearfully, pointing a finger at the currently collapsed form of their female friend.
"I did what?" Gray asked confusedly.
In another unfortunate turn of events, the raven-haired teen turned at the exact same instance that Erza picked her upper body off of the ground. Yet again, the long wooden beam nailed her in the back of her hardhat, which effectively sent her face flying into the dirt yet again.
"Crap…." Gray muttered.
The two male wizards stood in place, paralyzed with fear, as Erza picked her entire body up off of the ground. When she directed her vision towards them, an aura of fire seemed to engulf her body from head to toe and her eyes began give off a bright red dangerous glow.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Natsu and Gray screamed in unison as the redhead approached. It took five seconds before both of the powerful Fairy Tail wizards were lying on the ground in a lifeless manner. Natsu and Gray pulled themselves out of the ground, still wallowing in pain from getting hit by Erza. "OW! That really hurt, Erza!" They simultaneously shouted.
Happy flew over to them, and asked, "You guys playing whack-a-mole?"
Macao and Wakaba began to observe the construction site, until they noticed something peculiar. "Hate to say it, but…." Wakaba trailed off.
"It looks a little too big." Macao finished.
"We figured we might as well expand the place. I got the plans right here." Mirajane explained, holding up a big piece of paper.
"Oh yeah," said Macao.
"I wanna see." Wakaba requested.
"I liked it just the way it was!" Natsu chided.
"What's it gonna look like now?" Gray asked.
Mirajane showed them the designs. It was a crude picture of the soon to be guildhall drawn in crayon, it had flowers, bunnies, and fish doodled around it too. The four mages sweatdropped.
"What the?" Macao commented.
"Wow….that looks….great." Wakaba forced; a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
Natsu looked at the blueprints blankly. "Uh….which way is up?"
"Man, these are the worst plans ever. What idiot came up with these?" Gray said not holding back on his opinion.
Mira smiled for a moment until she turned away and started crying. Gray waved his hands in a placating manner, trying to calm her. "Mira! I….I didn't know it was you!" He said desperately.
"You made her cry." Natsu, Macao, and Wakaba said with blank expressions.
"That's Gray for you." Happy noted.
"Don't worry about it Mira, I think your design is awesome." Star said patting her on the back.
Fang, Macao, and Wakaba sweatdropped. "He didn't just say that did he?"
"I hope not with a straight face…." Macao said.
"I think he did…." Fang commented.
Behind a wall, Juvia was smiling mischievously at the scene. 'My dearest Gray is so cold to other women, yet so warm to me.'
A half hour later, Master Makarov let everyone stop for the day. They got a good portion of the second floor done and almost all of the framework finished. Fang, Star, Natsu, Gray, and Happy were in a little secluded spot within the construction site. Gray sat on a stack of stones. Natsu and Happy stood close by; while Fang was leaning up against the crates that Star sat on.
"Man, I'm starving." Gray mumbled.
"Me too," Star agreed, putting a hand over his growling stomach. "I could go for some chili fries right now." He looked to Fang and smirked. "Fang makes the best chili fries."
Natsu, Gray, and Happy turned to the blonde wizard with their jaws dropped. "Fang can cook!" They yelled in unison.
Fang, arched a confused brow. "And you guys find that strange why?"
Gray blinked. "Never really thought you'd be the cooking type."
"They sound really tasty though," Natsu added, a thin line of drool falling from his mouth.
"Aye," Happy agreed.
Star chuckled throwing his arm around Fang's shoulder like the latter had done to him previously. "Yup, old Fang here is quite the chef. Five stars if you ask me."
"Don't put your arm around me…." Fang said in defeated tone.
Star smirked, "Not fun when someone does it to you huh?"
Without warning, a jet of water blasted into Natsu and then hit Gray. When it disappeared, the ice wizard discovered a pink metal box in his lap.
"What was that?" Fang queried.
"I'm soaked." Natsu remarked.
"Look!" Happy pointed at the pink box. "A lunch box!"
"Where'd it come from?" Gray wondered.
"Who cares?! See if it has food in it!" Natsu said eagerly.
"That was weird." Star said.
The onyx haired teen opened the box, and was shocked at its contents. There was an assortment of many vegetables, fruit, and meat arranged in the shape of hearts and Gray's face. Gray's eyes bulged open as he stuttered incoherently. The others, however, reacted in the opposite fashion.
"Wow! That looks pretty tasty!" Natsu admired.
"I'll say," Star commented.
"That's so cool! Your face is totally edible." Happy added.
"I can't eat this! It's just too weird!" Gray responded nervously. "I think there's some green stuff oozing out from the side."
"I'll eat it for you." Natsu and Star offered simultaneously.
"Ugh," Fang said. "That's disgusting."
Behind a stone wall, Juvia was about to break into tears. 'This is heartbreaking! I spent three whole days making that lunch for him.'She thought.
Out of nowhere, Erza popped up with an angry look on her face. "What are you five doing!" She yelled. She quickly returned to normal when she noticed the contents of the lunch box. "Hey, is that supposed to be your face made out of veggies?"
She pulled out a fork and stabbed it into the veggies that formed Gray's face, prompting Gray to cry out in horror. The ice mage watched with his jaw dropped as Erza chewed on the piece.
"Well?" Fang asked.
"Mmm….it's good." She replied. "I could eat the whole thing."
"Hey, save some for us." Star commented.
With that said, Gray calmed down, and conceded, "I guess I should try it too." Juvia, meanwhile, was watching the scene with tears swelling up as a vision of Gray proposing to her entered her mind.
Scene Change
"Listen up everyone!" Mira's voice shouted getting everyone's attention. "We're taking on job requests again starting today! You'll have to excuse the mess while we're under construction, but at least you can get back to work."
Everyone cheered, and several began rushing over to the request board looking at the jobs. The board had been moved outside, and a small concession stand had been built to serve everyone. Tables and chairs were also set up for everyone to use. It was like the normal guild, but outside.
Lucy was sitting at the concession stand with Mira inside it serving people like she usually did. Lucy smiled at everyone's excitement. "What's with them? Usually these guys would just be loafing around the guildhall all day." Mira giggled at her, "I don't suppose you've seen Loke have you?"
Mira put her hands on her hips. "Oh, don't tell me you've fallen head over heels for Fairy Tail's resident playboy."
Lucy eyes bugged out, "It's not like that!" She calmed down and pulled out her gate keys. "It's just that apparently he's the one who found my keys, I just wanted to tell him thanks for his help."
"I'll let know if I see him." Mira then leaned over and whispered to her. "So, were your celestial spirits made at you? You know for dropping their keys?"
"Yeah, you could say that." Lucy looked away with a fearful look in her eyes. "And there was one spirit in particular who was really P.O'ed with me." She remembered the terrifying glare and speech she got from Aquarius.
"Oh my…." Mira covered her mouth with her hands.
After that Gray and Natsu both stumbled into the camp looking like they had just been beaten mercilessly, by either Erza or Star.
"What's with the two them?" Elfman asked. He was leaning up against the concession stand next to Lucy.
"Evidently they were both hurt during a pillow fight after their last job." Mira replied cheerfully smiling as always.
"If there that banged up then those pillows must have been full of bricks." Elfman sweatdropped.
Juvia peaked her head out from behind some crates and looked at Gray with pity. 'Poor Gray.'
"It was just a pillow fight!" Gray yelled, "What were you getting so worked up about!"
"Because I give everything 100%!"
"Oh, like when you 100% lost!" Gray countered.
"I was awesome! You're the one who lost!" Natsu growled.
'My prince is always the winner in my heart.' Juvia thought.
"So…." Lucy began. "Has anyone seen Star or Fang?"
"I believe the two of them went on a job together." Mira replied. "They should be back within the next couple of days."
Yup, everything in Fairy Tail was beginning to go back to normal. Gray and Natsu were back to fighting, Star and Fang were on a job, and everyone else was running around doing whatever they wanted. It looked like things were going to brighten up for a while.
('.')
Man it feels good to be back. Just a transition chapter for now you guys, but not to worry, the next one will be on its way soon. Until next time, this is #1 Fairy signing off.