Fantasia

Chapter 37

Pinning down the last of the red ribbons, she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

Their float was almost done, just a few more little details, like the painting of her keys and the recreation of their gauntlets, were left before Natsu could coat the whole thing in flames. She wasn't too sure where that idea had come from, but she had to admit, it looked pretty good when they did trials of it.

"Hey Lucy, get that ass down here!" Cana's shout had her grinning, peering over her shoulder and down at the card mage. As expected, she nursed a mug of some form of alcohol in one hand, and the other was in motion, a quick tap to her bottom before she could even dodge or block the movement. She felt her cheeks flush as she dropped to the ground, pouting at her friend and snatching the drunk's mug.

A quick sip proved to be too much alcohol, and she hacked a little at how strong it was.

"C'mon Lu, you've drank worse, in fact, you've even drank what was it, 95%, that shit wasn't even a drink." Cana did have a point, a dragon-slayer's stomach could handle just about anything, including poison, but she no longer had access to that and other vital parts of her magic. She rolled her eyes at her friend, trying to suppress that empty feeling inside of her, and threw an arm over the taller girl's shoulders.

"It's been a long two daysCana… c'mon, lets get out of here before Natsu realizes we're gone." The brunette chuckled, taking back her drink and quickly finishing the rich liquid.

"hmmm, what's wrong in paradise Lu, big sis Cana could help you out." she glared out of the corner of her eye, but that didn't faze Cana, whose grin just grew wider.

"he's being a mama bear, I'm not allowed to do anything other than work on our float, and that's just because I threatened to strangle him… He's been acting like that ever since I woke up, it's nice, but I do want a bit of freedom..." a sigh slipped from her lips, and she just gave her friend a small smile. " I just need a bit of a break…"

She nodded after a moment, lifting up a satchel that Lucy had almost forgot she owned.

"let's go then Lu, I wanna get all of the juicy, in depth details." She reached into the bag and revealed the spine of a certain book, the name familiar to the dragon-slayer. "And I bet that you want to talk about all the stuff that this big boy talks about."

Gajeel perched himself high on one of the spires of Cardia Cathedral, watching over the town that accepted him so willingly like a guardian dragon. He followed a small blur of electric blue and orange as it weaved between the excited citizens, the light pitter-patter of the girl's steps and the beating of her heart the only thing he was focused on. When she disappeared behind a stone building, he stood to follow, only pausing when he felt someone's gaze on his back.

Salamander was lying on his back a few feet away, head resting on his folded arms while sharp onyx eyes watched his fellow dragon-slayer. He seemed to have found what he was searching for as he sat up, readjusting his vest with a look of indifference.

"If you're gonna go after her, I suggest you do it like a normal human, and not some perverted stalker. Did your dad ever talk to you about mates and all that?" he sat himself down on the roof, knowing full well that he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"the bastard liked to let me figure shit out myself. Lemme guess, it's not all sunshine and rainbows where you profess your undying love and pop out a baby." Natsu smirked at the response, no doubt amused by the iron dragon's choice of words.

"I guess you could say the becoming mates part is fun, I guess, but you gotta make sure that Lev's actually the one first, cuz if you don't, then she's liable to leaving you, which will probably kill ya." He mused, blowing a strand of salmon hair from his view.

"yea yea, thanks for the advice Salamander, but I don't need to check, I just know that she's mine…" he pinched the bridge of his nose, careful to avoid the piercings in his nose.

"well then, you should probably confess and talk to her about that, seeing as you're both old enough, and it's nearly time… I'd say about two weeks before mating season, maybe three."

"you and bunny-girl ready then? She seems like one that'd be all over the place when it comes to mating." Natsu laughed, eyes drifting in the direction of the guildhall.

"It's come up briefly, but we don't talk about it much… she's mostly reading about all of it in a book we… liberated during a mission. Its full of info about hybrids, I can see if she'll lend it to Levs once she's done with it." The black-haired slayer nodded, eyes falling back to the streets when he noticed Levy weaving through the masses again.

"yea, she'd probably need it, dealing with me…"

They picked one of the smaller sakura trees to sit under, the Fairytail members lying stretched out on their bellies, Dragons and Dragon-Slayers: Dragons 101 for Dummies placed between them. Neither payed much mind to it though as they talk, Cana surprisingly focused.

"I told you before, he doesn't really let me do anything on my own, I've had to threaten to kick him out multiple times now just so I can have some alone time… its not that he's trying to stop me from doing things, he's just… worried. I would be too if I were mates with someone that was a danger magnet…" her eyes fell to the grass infront of her, lips twisting down in a frown.

"you know lover-boy loves to worry about you, so stop getting all sad. You're definitely not the only danger magnet in the guild, in fact, he's more of one than you are!" the brunette threw arm over the blonde, cackling at her yelp when a hand gave a good squeeze to the side of her breast.

"Cana!"

"So uptight Lu, c'mon, it's just us girls here!" the glare she received just making her cackles raise in volume. Eventually, she managed to calm herself, lips still quirked up in a grin, reaching to flip open the leather-bound book, pulling it closer between them. "Alright, lets do some reading then."

Her curiosity was surprising, Cana wasn't well known for being a book lover and the blonde could count the number of books she'd read on two fingers. Throwing her hair over one shoulder, she nodded, turning to the table of contents.

"okay, so where are we looking first?"

They managed to get through a few pages of the introduction before a faint growl reached their ears, both pausing to look up and towards the source. Without her slayer magic, Lucy wasn't able to hear the dragon tongue well enough to know what he said.

"Gemini!" the spirits appeared in a burst of light, flying around the two before settling infront of the brunette.

"hello Cana! Hello Lucy!" the little blue spirits giggled, black eyes glittering.

"hey Gemini, keep Natsu off our trail for a bit, would ya?" the spirit nodded, a cloud of smoke enveloping their tiny bodies. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing a buxom girl that had Cana laughing her ass off.

"Will this do?" hearing Gemini say that with Cana's voice was a bit shocking, the blonde suppressing her initial reaction with a raised brow.

"When'd you copy Cana?" the pair of drunkards grinned widely, throwing each other a look that had the blonde's curiosity mounting.

"let's just say that Gemi and I share a few common interests."

"ok then… I'm not gonna ask about that…" she switched her attention to the spirit, who smiled widely. "try to get him to Oranoir, or at least deep in the forest." With a nod, the spirit was off, passing through a cloud of smoke and emerging in Lucy's form.

They turned their attention back to the book as Gemini left their line of view, and Cana eagerly flipped the page to the first of the four parts.

Lucy let Cana read the short introduction piece that she'd previously read with Natsu, only paying attention when the page was flipped.

"wait, you can have multiple mates?" her eyes quickly fell to the line Cana had gotten the information from.

In all of the years that I've spent as a dragon slayer, I had never considered the possibility of having multiple mates, after all, I had been taught that we are a monogamous breed. There is however one exception to that rule however, any dragon slayer who obtained our magic and abilities through a lacrima instead of the dragon seed does not follow the mating restrictions. One of my closest friends was a third-generation slayer, and she had a total of six mates, all of which loved her unconditionally. It was odd, to say the least, but she was happy. The only other third-generation slayer I knew of was a young drake, and he'd mated with at least twelve females, which, of course, put the dragon courts in disarray.

After study after study, it had been determined that third-generation slayers, unlike their predecessors, were polygamous, and alphas could essentially have as many mates as they so desired.

"That's good…" Cana's words were mumbled, but with the short distance between them, they easily reached Lucy's ears.

"what do you mean about that?"

"well… it was just before you and Laxus decided to wreck the guildhall. He and Mira were having some fun in the cellar, and I happened to walk in on them. I teased them a bit then was about to leave," the brunette swiped a lock of hair behind her ear, cheeks tinted a light pink color. "he grabbed me and before a I knew it, I was in the best three way of my damn life."

The blonde blinked once before a grin split her face, eyes wide as she reached out to grasp the card mage's hands.

"Cana, that's great! Did he happen to bite you?" the brunette nodded, pulling down the strap of her bikini top and letting part of the fabric fall to reveal a large portion of her breast. A purple bruise rested just above her nipple, the shape of teeth easily recognizable.

"Mira's got one on her ass…" she pulled her top back on properly, eyes drifting off to the side. "We were really fucking confused, cuz the next few days, he wouldn't even glance our way…"

"well, we've grown up with that knuckle-head, you know how bad he is about confessing his feelings and opening up, and you can't blame him either, with what happened to him and his mom…" Cana nodded, turning her attention back to the blonde. "if he truly wants you two as his mates, you'll know really soon, I doubt even third generation slayers can fight their instincts during mating season." The lewd grin that was sent her way had an eyebrow raised.

"So, how many rugrats should we expect you and loverboy to pop out? Three? Five? Thirty-three?"

"Cana!"

The backstage was filled to the brim with giddy Fairytail mages, costume pieces flying through the air as everyone hustled to finish in time. Erza and Cana were first in line as Max announced the competition over the speakers, the cheers of their guildmates and fellow Magnolians booming through the massive guild room.

Near the end of the line of the contestants, Lucy and Levy had their heads together, both excited to go on stage.

Levy had gone all out in a cute angel costume, complete with massive feathered wings, fluffy arm socks, and fluffy boots that went up to her calves. A feathered bikini and short shorts kept her modest, white lace thigh high stockings adding to the theme. To top it all off, a thick white band wrapped tightly around her slim throat, a silver chain hanging down from the choker.

Lucy had chosen a less fluffy outfit. Thick indigo dragon scales had been stuck steadfast to her skin, they completely covered her back, crotch, butt, and the tops of her thighs. Scales covered her breasts but still left a large portion of soft skin exposed. They wrapped beautifully around her thighs and calves. The back of her arms were covered as well, with the scales ending on the back of her hands. The only difference was that she didn't have the scales that framed her face while in dragon force. Her diamond necklace sat around her neck.

"introducing Cana Alberona!" their eyes darted up to the stage, and they peered through the crimson curtains, eyes wide as a tornado of cards enveloped the buxom brunette, revealing her scantily clad body, only a tiny bikini saving her from being charged with indecent exposure.

She sashayed across the stage, striking poses that had men howling, women in awe, and the press snapping as many pictures as possible.

"oh no… we should've worn bikinis or something, I bet Erza's gonna dress like that too…" Levy pouted, arms crossed over her chest. Lucy nodded, not saying anything. They both really needed the prize money from the contest, but at this rate, their hope was dwindling.

As Erza's name was called, they, and the other competitors, gawked as she reequiped into a seductive cat maid outfit, a keyhole cut out that showed off a good portion of her breasts and a part of her toned stomach. Like what happened with Cana, she collected a large amount of admiration, and a few jewel notes had even been thrown on stage.

After that, the other four competitors went on, each of them showing off a good amount of skin.

When Levy was called up, she threw the blonde a hopeful look as she bounced on stage. The crowd 'oooo'ed and 'ahhh'ed at the cute solid script mage, and Lucy smiled when she caught sight of her friend's bright smile, glad that the small woman was having fun despite the chance of failure. As she moved to leave, Levy wrote glitter into the air and the word shot up, sprinkling glitter throughout the whole guildhall.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she waited for her name to be called, shaking out her arms then reaching for her necklace. Even without her slayer magic, she still had the basic galaxy magic to control, and she coaxed out a large portion of magic from the diamond pendant, grinning as it swirled around her, ready to heed her commands.

"Lucy Via-Lactea!" she didn't give herself a moment to think, ascending the short stairs and stepping onto stage. The galaxy magic swirled around her then spread out to cover the entire surface as the crowd yet again roared with excitement. She smiled widely, flipping a blonde lock over her shoulder. If she looked hard enough, she could see Natsu at the back, delivering death glares to every man he could, while also watching her with complete adoration.

"If you talk about a fairy, then it's me," she spun to face the unexpected voice, catching sight of tawny hair and brown eyes. "If you talk about beauty, then it's me. That's right, it's all me." Evergreen struck a pose, a cocky grin on her face. "The champion will definitely be me! It's boring, so let's end the beauty contest now!"

The blonde could hear murmurs rising up in the crowd, although a handful of mages had stood up, slowly advancing towards the party crasher.

"now, you be a good little girl and stay!" Lucy didn't have enough time to react as her guildmate spun on her, glasses lifted, staring right into each other's souls. She jolted back, the cold creeping along her body at highspeed, then the world went black.

"Lucy!" he scrambled through the mass of mages and civilians as his mate's body was incased in stone, frozen in place. People had started to flee, and he helped a little girl when she tripped, glare intensifying as he made his way to the stage.

When he was nearly there, a bolt of lightning struck the ground, far too close to the petrified blonde, and Laxus materialized, Freed and Bixslow behind him, the back curtain falling at the same time.

"Oi Fairytail retards! The real festival starts now!" his voice thundered through the hall, and Natsu's blood boiled. Laxus had just declared war, and had acted against his alpha. Flames wrapped around his fists, and he was about to launch himself forwards when Makarov's aura practically exploded, he could practically feel his rage. "Why don't we play a game, old geezer!"

A bolt of lightning burst through the ceiling and ripped through the air on a direct path to Lucy. His heart skipped a handful of beats as it just barely missed her.

"I'll take these girls hostage. I'll destroy them one by one if you break the rules… Like I said, this is the main show!"

"there are things that cannot be taken as a joke Laxus!"

"Of course I'm serious!"

Freed and Bixslow moved to stand more on the sides of their leader.

"It's just a game to find out who…"

"is the strongest here, in Fairytail!" a deranged grin twisted Laxus' face, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"the rules are simple, the last survivor wins! The battle of Fairytail starts now!"