Malevolence Chapter 17: The Price of Honor (Part 2), a fairy tail fanfic

A/N: Umm... Nah, I got nothing.

"Ugh….," he groggily groaned coming out of whatever dream he was just having, unable to remember a single detail of it, despite having just woken up. Opening his eyes was not a priority, especially when his eyelids were glued together with eye crusts.

His sleeping quarters was the basement of the inn he and his crew were using as a hideout, where he slept on an old mattress he found. When they found the inn the basement was full of unopened bottles of alcohol; but after months of occupation, the only bottles left were either empty or broken. The mattress itself had holes with puffs of cotton sticking out and streaks of dark-colored stains that he preferred not to know the origin of. The pillows were filthy and flattened from months of use. They reeked of sweat and body odor. He did not mind, mostly because he couldn't smell it. His blanket was a pile of tattered clothes he found, that barely kept him warm during the cold nights and made him sweat during the hotter ones. It sure didn't help that his quarters was a basement with no ventilation located under a desert with hot and thick air.

Out of some strange reason, unbeknown to him, he started lifting his head from his paper-thin pillows. Suddenly, the left side of his head started throbbing with colossal aches. With a pained grunt, he shoved he immediately clamped one of his pillows around his head. The hangover was coming into effect as he slowly came out of his peaceful alcohol-induced coma.

"MmmmmMMMMMMMM!" he shrieked, muffled by the pillow. His hangover was not pulling any punches, it kept on the assault on his head. He curled into a fetal position, pressing the pillow down harder. It was in vain. This wasn't his first time wrestling with morning head blitzkrieg, and he knew deep down that it wouldn't be his last. He just wished that he never got them all together.

With another muffled cry, he tried to phase out the sensation of his head being split in two. He paced his breathing, slowly taking in air and exhaling it. With every inhale his migraine seemed to die down, only to come back in full with every exhale. He slowly unclenched his muscles and allowed his body to relax. Then he started reciting a mantra he's heard that helps drive away explosive headaches.

This too shall pass.

He had to whisper it in his own thoughts because even "loud" thoughts made the migraine that much worse.

So he just laid there in bed, slowly breathing, and repeating his mantra.

This too shall pass.

This too shall….. pass.

It appeared to be working. The migraine wasn't gone but it was fading away ever so slowly.

He told himself that all he had to do was keep up this simple cycle and his headache will pass. That's all he had to do. Just stay calm, keep on breathing, and take comfort in the whispers in his mind, and the silence in his room.

This too shall pass.

RING!

"AIIIIIEEEEEEE!" he screamed, shooting himself up from his pillows. He covered his ringing ears. His migraine returned with a vengeance. The pain drilled in his temples, making his entire body wince.

He looked to his left to find his tiny twin bell alarm clock was going off. The tiny hammer rapidly slamming itself into the bells on either side. On the verge of tears, he quickly slammed his fist on top of the clock in hopes it would shut off.

RING!

It didn't.

Teeth grinding, he started pounding down on the small clock to no avail. It just would not shut up!

RING!

Out of desperation, he threw the clock across the room. It hit the wall with a loud clack and fell to the floor with small bits and pieces broken off. Then came silence.

"Whew…," he relieved before returning to his previous position. Head sandwiched between two pillows, body in a fetal position, snuggled in his pile of dirty laundry, and breathing slowed.

This too shall pass.

This too shall p-.

RING!

RING!RING!

RING!RING!RING!

RING!

RING!RING!

RING!RING!RING!

RING!

"FUCKING FUCK!" He launched himself out of bed and went charging for the damned little clock.

Without a second thought, he started slamming the sole of his foot onto the clock. He continued to stomp on the clock until his foot hurt.

"Oww! Motherfu-!"

RING!

"Sonova…" Running his fingers through his sweaty purple locks and clamped his palms over his ears. He hung his head low as the ringing echoed in his head. "You…," he moped on the verge of tears, "goddamn," he took another hard stomp on the clock and hurt himself again, "piece of shit."

Whoever manufactured this clock took pride in their work.

His foot aching with pain, he picked up the clock from the dusty floor and started banging it against the wall.

RING!

Bang!

RING!

Bang!

RING!

Bang!

RI-!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

RI-!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!

...

Bang!

...

RIN-!

Bang!

The ringing finally put to an end, the clock was completely broken. He dropped the busted clock to the ground making a mess of springs, sprockets, and tiny gears. A pained sigh of relief left his lips as he quickly made his way back to the foot of his dirty mattress and let himself fall on top of the dirty clothes.

Mmmm... Okay! One more time. Head-pillow sandwich, fetal position, dirty laundry cocoon, and breathe. Mmmm. Breathe in... Breath out... In... Out... In... and out. This too shall pass. This too shall-. "Oh, fuck this!" His migraine was hurting too much from all that ringing.

He got up from his mess of a bed and looked around for any unopened bottles. Pulling one bottle out of the rack, he found it to be empty so he tossed it to the broken remains of his alarm clock. Pulling out another bottle, he found that it was the neck of a broken bottle. Frustrated he threw the broken bottle to the growing pile of broken clock pieces and shattered glass and continued his search for alcohol. However, it turned out those were the only two bottles left on the rack.

He wanted to scream he was in so much pain and distraught. But screaming leads to a worse headache. So, he decided to power through his agony and resort to hidden tactics.

This too shall pass, he told himself as he started digging through the pile of clothes, picking out what he wanted to wear. He found his favorite turquoise bandana and the same cargo pants he has been wearing for months. The pants smelt absolutely disgusting! Stinking even more than the mattress and pillows. Even he could smell how bad they were, but only when he put them up to his cherry-red nose.

Putting his pants on, he looked around for his boots. They were under the tiny hanging mirror he put in himself. He went up to the mirror and put on his boots before staring into his reflection.

The mirror was dirty with fingerprints and dried up stains of pus from zits. He tried to wipe the mirror clean but only made more prints. His hangover drained him of any will to put up a fight with fingerprints and crusty cyst, so he just tried to make out his reflection. He saw the blurred image of a man who was growing a goatee with bags under his crusty eyes and snot running down his nose. With a hard sniff, he snorted the runaway booger back up his nostril and then gagged on it when it was sucked down to the back of his throat before spitting out a huge wad of saliva and mucus onto the floor. Looking back into the mirror he saw the spitting image of the leader of a large crew of thugs. There stood thug boss Geese in all his hangover-induced glory.

Shrugging his shoulders at his reflection, Geese wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gave the tips of both his index fingers a quick lick. He then slowly groomed his long eyebrows with his fingers until they were straight and narrow.

Geese then turned his back to the reflection to get a look at his tattoo. Sure as his head was hurting, it said the same thing it always has since the day he got it. His name in big, bold purple letters with a large "B" underneath his name. He saw a zit at the end of the "E" in his name. With a quick pinch, the zit popped with the squishy white projectile hitting the frame of the mirror. Seeing the big bloody spot at the end of his name annoyed him. It looked like a crimson period and it was ruining the aesthetic of his tattoo. But acne was not on his mind at that moment. His mind was in too much of a state to have anything on it.

Geese stumbled away from the mirror and picked up his new pair of sunglasses. They were large orange shades with a triangular frame. He stole them from a manga shop in town a couple of weeks ago. He did not know why he was in that shop, he was not in the mood to steal anything, especially not from a store that sells comics. But the shades caught his eye. He thought they looked so cool and striking, they reminded him of himself. It was as if it was destiny that he and these particular set of glasses would cross paths like they were meant for each other. He was not one to go against destiny, so he took it upon himself to "liberate" those fated pair of specs of his from their confines. They did not even cost much, but he did not care. Anyone who puts a price on destiny is a fool, and he'd be the bigger fool if he didn't take those awesome glasses. But that morning Geese was not wearing those glasses to look cool, he was wearing them because he knew the sunlight would be murder for his eyes.

All dressed up, Geese shuffled his way to the stairway out of the basement. Along his path, he noticed the pile of glass and clock bits. He saw the backplate of the clock. Manufactured and Distributed by Fuji Wares FurnishingTM. They sure know how to make their clocks. Too bad they were not Geese proof, not that he was complaining.

Coming up the creaky stairs would sometimes put him on the edge. The steps were old creaky, planks of wood with rusty nail heads peeking out. They looked and felt like they would collapse in on themselves at any moment. Still, as the saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it," especially when you're a criminal and can't hire people to fix it or afford them. The entrance itself was a large set of floorboards with rusty hinges.

Geese pushed up on the floorboards, however, the boards would not move.

"What the-?" He pushed up again. The boards had gained some weight. With another push, the door remained stationary. "Oh for love of fuck!" Geese then flattened his entire body and weaved himself through the cracks between the boards.

Coming out of the boards, Geese's body instantly bloated up from paper-thin to round and dense. Feet landing on the floorboards behind the bar counter, he looked around the shanty bar. The place was cluttered with passed out members of his gang. Most of them were scattered about the floor, several laid on the bar counter, there was a trail of unconscious drunks leading up the stairs, and one was even hanging on the tiny chandelier. It was a mess.

Looking down, Geese found a fat subordinate who was sleeping on top of the cellar door. Grinding his teeth together, he kicked the tubby blockade's shin.

"Hey, fatass! You're blocking my room!"

"Mm-mmm?" said fatass mumbled, coming out of his sleep. "Huh? Oh, hey boss."

"Don't 'hey boss' me, you're weighing down my bedroom door!" Geese yelled, delivering another kick to the shin.

"Ugh," the large man moaned. "Alright, I'm movin', I'm movin'." He shuffled away from the cellar door and started rubbing his leg. "You didn't have to be so bossy about it, boss."

Hearing that made Geese furious, he was about to shout something but cut himself off feeling the return of his hangover. "Mmm!" he groaned, rubbing his temples. "Your stupidity is making my fucking head split in two!"

"Wha-?"

"Just shut it!" Geese quickly interrupted. Geese then started looking around the place again. "Tut?" he called out. "Where are ya'? Tut. Tut! Tut! Tuuuuuuuuuut!"

The sound of a door bursting open upstairs filled the rundown inn, waking up more members, followed by a quickened rhythm of someone running down the stairs.

"I'm up Geese-sama. I'm up," the person said struggling to weave a free leg into his pant leg. He tripped down the last set of steps and landed face-first into the floor. "I'm okay! I'm okay," he quickly said before bolting upright and finally getting his leg into his pants and limped his way up to Geese. "What's the word, Geese-sama?"

There stood Geese's second in command, Tut. He was an average built man with a buzz cut. He wore a tan tank top to match his hair, metallic bracelets on either wrist, geta for shoes, and a large purple "G" at the corner of his left pec. He was sweating that morning, as were most, if not all, of the other members. That's what happens when your hideout is crammed with dozens of men in the middle of a desert. They go to bed feeling a little cool but wake up drenched in their own sweat.

"How long have you been up?" Geese asked, seeing Tut's eyes bloodshot.

"How did you know, boss?" Tut said. "I heard something clanging downstairs? I'm surprised that didn't wake everyone else up. What was that?"

"I killed my clock," Geese answered dryly.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, forget it." Geese really did not want to go into detail when his head was splitting. "Didn't we have something to do today?"

"Yeah, you told me to remind you. Apparently the guys who went into town for a raid the other day lost the new guy."

"Right, right, right…," Geese whispered, feeling more aches in his skull.

"You alright there, boss?"

"Shush!" Geese hissed. "Just keep your voice down."

"Umm…, okay boss."

Forcing a sigh, Geese returned to behind the bar counter in search of alcohol. He scanned through all the rows of bottles tucked behind the counter.

Empty. Empty. Missing. Empty. Empty. Missing. Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty and broken. It was an endless train of disappointment.

Can't these bozos learn to throw away empty bottles? What about the fridge?

By fridge Geese meant cooler. But it was more comforting to think of it as a small refrigerator than a large, plastic ice chest with a loose top. It was located just at the end of the bar. Geese opened the plastic top to find all the ice melted and the cooler was barren of any beer. A couple of small sticks of celery and a near-empty bottle of ketchup were floating in the cool water.

Grunting, Geese knew what he had to do.

"Tut."

"Yeah, boss?"

"Wake everyone up and get them all out, now. Time for a meeting."

"You got it Geese-sama." Tut then put his hands over his mouth and called out, "WAKE UP CALL! WAKE UP! WAKE UP YA' FUCKS! UP! UP! UP!"

While Geese cringed feeling Tut's voice echo in his head, sweaty men covered in filth came out of their peaceful slumber. The one that slept on the chandelier fell off and landed on someone sleeping right below him.

"Mmm!" one thug groaned. "What's happening?"

"Meeting time, bitches!" Tut yelled. "Move your asses out."

With an assortment of curses and spitting, the men moved out of the rundown building. So many rushed their way to the door, pushing and shoving each other like a bunch of children racing to see who gets out of the building first. Before they knew it, Geese and Tut were the only ones left in the building. They could hear the gang members bicker and complain, it made Geese wince.

"Get those dumb asses to pipe down already," Geese commanded.

"On it, boss." Tut then made his way to the door but then stopped and turned on his heel. "Umm, then what?"

"Just go, dammit! Go!"

Then in a flash, Tut was gone. Geese was the only occupant of the building. He then made his way up the stairs and checked the rooms to see if any of his lackeys were still in the building, but found no one. The coast was clear.

Geese moved into the third room on the second floor and shut the door behind him. The room itself was just like the other two, completely barren of furniture save for a wooden chair that was missing a leg, filthy windows stained with dirt from the inside and out, curtains with holes in them, creaky floorboards, and peeling wallpaper that revealed cracks in the wall.

Geese looked out the window to check for any spies and then closed the curtains. He then moved to one of the cracks in the wall and flattened his body before weaving himself into the tiny crack. In between the walls, he reached around in the dark for something. When he felt it he quickly grasped it with his paper-thin fingers.

Thank God, the idiots didn't find it.

Geese came out of the walls with the object in hand. He unflattened himself and brought the item to his face. It was a large opaque glass bottle half full with vodka. Geese so wished his secret stash wasn't so warm, his poor forehead could have used something to cool off.

The thug boss then made his way downstairs to the bar counter. Grabbing a glass cup, he walked up to the small cooler and pulled out the ketchup bottle and a celery stick. He was ready to make his favorite hangover cure, a Bloody Mary.

He told himself that he remembered how to do it, he just had to improvise with some ingredients. As he filled up the glass half full, Geese ran his fingers around the glass and checked the temperature of the drink. He made a sad sigh feeling it was just as warm as he found it.

It was times like these that Geese second-guessed if specializing in flattening magic was the best choice he made. Thinking back, it did serve him well in sneaking in and out of places, not to mention convenient getaways down narrow alleyways, but now he was wishing he went for something like ice magic.

Geese overheard his men outside. They were bitching and bickering about the heat and the lack of drinks. Their whiny voices made his head hurt more, so he continued concocting his drink.

Fucking ingrates! Geese thought to himself. If they don't like it here then they can just fucking leave.

He spat the floor and picked up the ketchup bottle. Normally Bloody Maries call for tomato juice, but Geese was sure ketchup was just as good. Geese aimed the bottle over the glass and gave it a firm tap on the bottom only nothing came out. He shook the bottle more, but the remaining ketchup seemed pretty complacent being at the bottom of the bottle. Geese still kept on shaking and tapping it to no avail.

"FOR FUCKING-!" he gritted through his teeth, before viciously slamming his palm at the bottle. After a moment the slimy paste started to move. Geese kept on shaking and shaking the bottle until a large blotch of ketchup plopped into the clear alcohol. The gooey blob started to turn the liquid a watered-down red.

Geese picked up the celery stick and got another look at it. The tiny vegetable was showing its age with its borders looking more brown than it should green. He was slightly hesitant to mix it into his drink, but he was willing to take his chances with a vegetable past its prime than he was in dealing with his hangover a minute longer.

The bendy stick of celery was plunged into the glass and used as a stirrer. The watered-down ketchup and warm vodka were mixed into a solution with small traces of celery.

Finished making his drink, Geese brought the glass to the underside of his nose and wafted the air. It hardly had a smell, as most vodka-based drinks did; Geese decided that was a sign that his mixture was drinkable.

Another round of complaints was heard outside as he was about to take a sip.

"What could the boss want now?"

"How the fuck should I know?"

Geese harrumphed at their moans and groans. The boss wants you all to shut the fuck up! He swished the drink around a couple of times and scratched an itch behind his ear, flakes of dandruff fell to his shoulder. He continued to overhear the slew of complaints from his subordinates.

"Well, I'm not taking the blame for this. You're the one that gave Banri the bag of cash!"

"Fuck you! You were the one that wanted to rob a fucking bookstore of all places."

Oh just shut your fucking traps already! Geese screamed to himself, wiping more sweat off his face. With another heavy sigh, Geese reminisced on the old days. Back when he had more… hardy men. Back when they had access to more food. Back when they weren't hiding out in the middle of nowhere in a building held together by rusty nails and rope under the searing heat. Back when he had the marina. Oh, how he missed the marina.

Geese made a somber sound before pressing the glass to his lips and tilted the drink to his mouth.

I wonder what those brats are-. Suddenly his homebrew drink touched his taste buds. The vile tasting concoction was spat out across the room with an "ACCCCK!" Geese threw his glass down and started rubbing his tongue against the fabric of his ascot. The taste was not coming off so he desperately reached for the vodka bottle and filled his mouth full of strong tasting alcohol before swishing and gargling.

After he was done cleansing his mouth, Geese lowered his head in defeat. A soft gulp was made when he swallowed what was left of his secret stash. His bottom lip started to quiver as a whimper sounded through his teeth. He buried his face into his dirty, sweaty palms and fought the growing urge to cry.

Dammit all, I just wanted to cure this fucking hangover! Was that too much to fucking ask?

Emotions getting the best of him, Geese grabbed the empty bottle and threw it across the room. It shattered to pieces against the wall.

"I…. I…. I want…. I want my marinaaaa…." Geese sobbed into his calloused palms as quietly as he could. The last thing he wanted was his men to see their leader crying like a little girl. But he still wanted his marina.

He missed the marina so much. The place had so much to give and more. They got so much loot and food from the residents. Hell the place was practically theirs, certainly not that obnoxiously uptight, cigar-guzzling bigwig of a mayor. Geese and his gang were the ones who took charge of those narrow streets surrounded by nice buildings, hell they were the ones who took charge of the fishing boats. Oh yeah…. The fishing boats. The fish. The lobster. The large crabs. The shellfish. The everything! All of it was so delicious. Geese wouldn't have minded eating on a diet that consisted of nothing but seafood for the remainder of his life. But then it all had to come to an end when that big-titted blondie came along and brought her overpowered friends to drive them out of town. Now he was stuck in a creaky building far from Chrysanthemum. Oh, how he hated this place.

He hated how searing hot it gets, even in the Spring. He hated walking around with pebbles of sand shaking in his boots. He hated how rare it rained and when it did rain, the bottom part of the building got flooded, including his own room!

"Sonovabitch." His migraine was nearly gone.

Recomposing himself, Geese made a mental note to emphasize to his men to go into town and get as much booze as they could or not come back at all. He picked up his shades, placing them firmly on the bridge of his nose and coughed. He softly slapped his cheeks telling himself to get it together and made his way for the door.

"All of you quiet!" he yelled through the door. Geese then turned himself flat and called out, "Gather 'round!" before slipping through the cracks of the floor and coming out on the front patio where he bloated himself back to normal and looked upon the crowd of tired, sweaty thugs.

"What's the plan Geese-sama?" Tut asked.

"The plan?" Geese replied. "I'll tell you what the plan is." He looked into the small crowd. "First I want to know what the hell happened yesterday!" He scanned the prying eyes. "Who came back empty-handed yesterday?"

The crowd went silent for a second as if waiting for a response amongst them. Then someone shouted, "They did!" The tranquil crowd turned into a mosh pit; everyone was shoving several men all the way to the front. One of them got a hard smack to the back of his head before he and the other four were pushed to the ground before their leader's feet. In near-perfect sync, the four raggedly dressed men raised their heads to their leader's impatient foot, tapping away at the sand, then to his crossed arms, and finally, they met his annoyed gaze that burned through his large shades.

"Well?" Geese demanded. "Any fuckin' time now!"

"Uh, boss?" one asked, wondering what his ticked off leader meant.

"Do any of you care to tell me why you came back down one guy and empty-handed yesterday?"

One of the men spoke up. "Umm… Well, ya' see boss…," he trailed off.

"YES?!" Geese shouted. "I'm waiting!"

"What he means, boss is…," the guy next to him, spoke up. "Is… um… Well, ha ha," he scratched the back of his neck, "it's kinda a funny story."

"Really? Cause I'm just dying to hear it already!"

"Well… ya' see it all started when this guy," the thug said pointing to his neighbor on the right, "thought it'd be a swell idea to rob a bookshop-."

"Oh, fuck you!" the accused screamed before punching his accuser's arm. "You were the asshat that wanted to rob that bookstore, not me!"

"At least I didn't give the money to Banri!"

"The little idiot was bitching all the way to town about wanting to 'contribute more to the gang.' What was I supposed to do? Pat him on the head and say, 'Congratulations you're a whiny pussy'"?

"At least you two took the short way back here," one of the other two spoke up. "We were chased all the way from the bookstore to the other side of town! It took all day to move around the town's border, then we had to haul ass all the way back here! Do you have any idea how big Chrysanthemum is? It's fucking huge!"

"You two were chased too?"

"Yeah," the fourth one said. "You two got extra lucky. Didn't you get run out by a bunch of chicks and some emo guy? We nearly got our asses torched!"

"Screw you! You have no idea how close that broad came to chopping off my-."

"SHUT UP!" Geese screamed. "Just shut up! Goddammit, you're making my head hurt!" he shouted pressing his palms into the sides of his head.

Everyone went quiet and leaned back as their leader's face turned red like a fiery pepper. They could have sworn they saw steam fume from his ears.

Geese whined into his hands before slowly removing them from his face. "Okay," he huffed, "focus! Why did you rob a bookstore?"

"Uh, well I just thought the place wouldn't have much security, right. So, I figured, 'Hey, free cash!'"

"Uh-huh," Geese said. "And how much did you almost get?"

"Umm… I dunno. I'd say about fifty thousand jewels?"

"Wow! Fifty thousand. You hear that everyone, this guy nearly snagged us the collective pocket change of the town."

The entire crowd started chuckling at the downed thief, making him lower his head in embarrassment.

"Okay, now what's this I hear about you idiots getting run out of town? Did the locals finally grow some backbone? Wait, why would you run away from those losers? They're a bunch of chumps with hardly any magic."

"No, no, no," the third thief spoke up. "Boss, these guys were not chumps."

"Yeah," the fourth thief agreed. "We narrowly escaped two kids with freakin' wings."

"Kids with wings?" Geese asked puzzled. "Are you telling you ran away from angels?" The crowd laughed again.

"No way, boss! It wasn't like that! One of them blasted us with fire, man! We nearly got roasted alive! I mean what the actual fuck!?"

"Yeah and the other one…. Okay fine the other one didn't do much she just acted all mopey and begged the fire one to not burn us."

"What?" Geese scratched the back of his head. "And what happened to you two?"

"Oh boss, it was fucking insane I tells ya'! We're lucky to be alive!" The second thief exclaimed. "There we were coming out of town when suddenly these three… I don't even know what to call them. One chick was flying all over the place throwing swords at us! Hell ya' know that lacrima we had?"

"Had?" Geese emphasized.

"We tried to use it, but the psycho bitch just picked it up and threw it right outta town! Then there was this angsty looking guy. Geese-sama, I'm telling ya' that guy nearly trapped us in a snow globe."

"...Snow globe?"

"Well, that's what it looked like. We almost got trapped in that thing, but Banri wasn't so lucky. He's back in town with those freaks!"

Geese took off his shades and gave his four kneeling gang members a dumbfounded look. He couldn't find the words to express his confusion. All Geese could do was stand there in silence with a weird expression.

"I…. I don't… I can't… Oh, whatever." Geese then put his shades back on. "Angels, flying sword flinging women, snow globes. I don't have the energy for this." Geese turned his back on his men and made his way back into the building. "If you need me, don't fucking bother. I need to take a nap."

It seemed that this morning was a giant waste of time for Geese. He suffered a migraine for nothing but crazy stories.

"Oh wait, boss man!" the first and humbled gang member chirped.

"God, what is it now?"

"There was another chick pursuing us?"

"Oh yeah, did this one fly too?"

"No, she had crazy huge udders man, like a fucking cow and dressed like a bimbo."

"Oh, yeah? Tell us more about how this big-titted bimbo chased you out of town." The entire crowd laughed again.

"She made this giant cow come out of nowhere and swung his giant ax at us!"

Geese froze in his tracks.

"So you're telling us that a cow sent a cow after you?" Tut mocked, making everyone laugh at the humbled crook again.

"Shut up!" Geese yelled, silencing everyone. He then bolted back to his shamed subordinate, practically leaping from the porch down to the sandy ground. He scurried over to and grabbed his subordinate by his collar. "Was she blonde?" he exclaimed.

"Wh-what?"

"The chick? Was she blonde?"

"What, the one with the swords?"

"Not the sword bitch, you idiot! The bimbo! Was she blonde?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah I think she was. Wasn't she?" he asked his neighbor.

"Oh yeah! She was, and that psycho girl was a redhead. I mean like a super redhead. You think she dyes her hair in the blood of her victims?"

"Weird," the fourth one said. "Our firebreather had pink hair."

The four continued to chat amongst themselves while Geese became short of breath. He let go of the shirt collar and slowly rose to his feet. All noise started to phase out as he stared off into the distance.

"Wait a minute!" Geese yelped. "So, you guys left the new guy in town?"

"In our defense, there was not much we could do. It was him or us."

"S-so, he's in town?"

"Yeah?"

"They have him?"

"Probably?"

"Oh…. Oh, fuck me!"

Tut was about to ask what was wrong with their perilous leader when suddenly a voice called now.

"NOW!" a very feminine warcry called out.

Everyone turned around to find several figures leaping out of the towering dune hill behind them. Five youths matching the four shambling member's description, came charging straight for them; three of which were ascending in the air whilst the other two sprinted down the hill.

"That's them!" the humiliated grunt called out.

"Gets those little shits!" Tut called out.

"No!" Geese rebuked. "Everybody just bail! Bail!" He then turned tail and started sprinting away from the familiar foes. His gang was unsure why their leader was in such a panic, but they were never ones to argue with Geese. But as they all turned to flee one shirtless mage's anger went into overdrive.

"Not this time!" Gray yelled. He then clapped his hands together and slammed the ground. "Ice-Make: Ramp!" A long and icy slope formed all the way from the top of the dune hill to the bottom where a mass of smooth icy surface raised up and pointed skyward.

Gray jumped onto the slope and sled all the way down and launched himself off the ramp. The ice-wizard was airborne and soaring directly over the large crowd of fleeing gang members. He clapped his hands together again, "Ice-Make…," and blasted a chilling beam of ice at the epicenter of the crowd, "Colosseum!"

Geese stopped in his tracks and looked up at the pillar of ice coming blasting down. He took off his glasses, revealing a very somber face. As if he was on the verge of tears.

"Tut?" he meekly said.

"Yeah, boss?"

"I want my marina."

The hot sandy surface was coated with a thick layer of ice that spread under the feet of all the men. The ice made most of them slip whilst others either struggled to keep balance or used their magic to stay afloat from the ground. The ice then kept spreading and branching out across the large clearing. When the ice touched the dune borders it cultivated in height and reached for the heavens before coming to a four-story halt, trapping all the men inside.

"Son of a-whoa!" Tut cried out, before slipping on the ice.

For the first time in months, these bandits have encountered a rich abundance of gloriously, cool ice. Had it not been for the circumstance they would have been prancing around like small children. It was such a shame to them. To wait so long for something they desperately wanted and to have it used against them, how could life be so cruel?

In that huge icy bowl, dozens onto dozens of bandits were scrambling in the refreshingly cool atmosphere. Slipping, yelling, and cursing was rampant amongst those unbalanced thieves as they scrambled around looking for a way out.

"Wait!" One of the thieves called out. "Up there!" he pointed to the large opening above them. Those of them who were gifted with air type magic started ascending, while others were either trying to climb on the icy walls or grabbing onto an ascending companion's leg.

Then, almost as if from an act of a cruel god, a tiny meteor came crashing down in the epicenter of the colosseum. The air pressure alone knocked all the men back into the icy walls.

The men slid down the walls and raised their heads to the meteor. Turns out it wasn't any meteor, it was a redhead dressed in a purple robe holding a long spear.

"It's that crazy sword flinging freak!" one of the gang members called out.

"Get that bitch!"

All the gang members charged for Erza, who was just standing there in the center. Her spear was drawn back, her eyes were closed, and her feet were positioned like a runner before a race with one foot drawn back and the other taking all of her weight.

Even as the crowd of ruffians closed in on her Erza kept a calm stance. Completely unmoving and calm. A few of the men were off-put by her calmness, but that still did not fray them from charging in with their fellow members.

The perimeter between Erza and the surrounding hooligans was dwindling. The men at the edge of the radius leaped for the unmoving Titania.

Then, out of nowhere, Erza opened her eyes. What happened next was hard for the men to process, but to put simply one second she was there and gone in the next. They would have asked where she had gone if there wasn't a large opening in the closing circle that stretched from the interior to the exterior with men flying in the air. They only had a second to react before Erza came back for another round, sending more men in the air.

"What's going on!?" Tut cried out, narrowly dodging the flying Scarlet.

It's not that complicated, Erza thought to herself, as she landed, feet first against the wall of the frozen stadium. One of the flaps of her Robe of Yūen was stretched out and wrapped around one of the many large icicles on the floor. Erza was then launched from into the large crowd, battering the blunt end of her spear tip against whichever poor soul was in her way, only to land on an opposing wall end. She kept repeating this attack making sure to incapacitate any bandit in her way.

"She's like a slingshot!" a bandit called out before Erza swatted him into the ground. "Oww…"

Tut grinded his teeth together as he continued to watch as all his men were knocked down by this young woman.

"Fuck you, bitch!" he yelled. Tut then raised his arms up. A beige magic circle with a simple design illuminated from his palms. "Sand Shield!"

Up from the ground, a thick wall of sand clumped together shattered through the icy floor. It shadowed over Tut.

"Ha!" Tut mocked. "Come at me now, you psychotic bi-!" Tut's taunt was cut short by a pair of white sandals blasting through the sandy barrier and crashing into Tut's chest, knocking all the wind out of him. They crashed into the wall of ice.

Erza looked down upon the man that her feet were lodging into the icy wall with a smug grin. "Www-whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy….?" Tut meekly wheezed out in a squeak before losing consciousness.

Erza then jumped off of Tut and continued to ricochet off the walls.

"Fuck this! I'm outta here!" Another lowly grunt screamed. He then launched himself into the air and aimed for the clearing. Other gang members followed his lead and tried to escape again.

"Not on my watch!" Another effeminate voice called out.

All the men then saw a very well-endowed blonde girl come out of nowhere and soared over the colosseum.

"Star Dress," Lucy said, making Sagittarius' zodiac sign form on her left shoulder, "Sagittarius." Lucy's appearance then transformed. She dawned high heel boots, a slender light green outfit, and a large longbow.

Gliding over the center of the colosseum, Lucy drew her bow back and, with the help of her star dress enhancing her vision, took aim at every bandit who was airborne.

"Star Shot!" Lucy yelled and unleashed a flurry of magical arrows down onto the stadium. The arrows all hit the bandits who were trying to ascend and pinned them all to the ground. "That's all of them, Erza," Lucy cried out to the redhead.

"Roger," Erza yelled back. Using a large icicle pointing out of the wall, Erza catapulted herself out of the colosseum. She suddenly screamed a "Now!" out of nowhere.

The downed bandits looked skyward and spotted two youths, who appeared to have wings sprouted out of their backs circling above them, like buzzards. The younger blue-haired one then came down and inhaled a huge gust of air. Her cheeks puffed like a chipmunk's.

In a panic, Geese shouted, "Incoming!" But that did not prepare them for what came next.

Wendy called out her trademark, "Roar of the Sky Dragon!" Then came disaster.

A massive twister blasted down onto the colosseum, making all the bandits soar in a violent spiral. The air pressure alone shattered the icy floor making sand seep into the vortex and turning the tornado into a giant dust devil.

The men were bawling. Violently spinning in circles with pebbles of sand scratching them and feeling their stomachs ready to empty themselves.

"Some…. Body…. Make…. It…. Stoooo-OOOOOoooo-OOOOOooop!" one spinning bandit cried out.

"You got it!"

Happy flew Natsu directly over the eye of the twister. The dragon slayer smiled a mischievous grin and inhaled a huge breath like Wendy. Then he shouted the dreadful words that every bandit's stomach over.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Natsu blasted a raging torrent of dragon's flame into the twister. The twister swallowed the flames and then the colossal dust devil turned into a fiery twister.

It all happened so fast. First, they were bashed around by a wrecking ball of a woman, then they were shot at with arrows, and then they were sucked up into a giant twister. Now, they were being roasted alive, albeit for a short time.

Before any of the bandits knew it, they slowed down to a hard stop in mid-air. They were not sure why, or how they could not move, or why their vision looked so opaque.

The Fairy Tail wizards gathered at the base of the towering monument. Natsu craned his neck back so much that he almost fell over trying to look for the top of what they just made.

"Whoa!" Natsu said, regaining his balance. "This thing's huge!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

"I agree," Lucy said. "This is pretty impressive."

"Yeah," Natsu said. "I didn't know I could burn something so much that I could turn it into ice." The whole group nearly collapsed hearing what Natsu said. "You hear that, stripper? I can do icy magic too."

Gray punched Natsu's shoulder. "It's not ice, you moron! It's glass!"

"Glass?" Natsu scratched his head. "I can breathe glass now? That's weird."

"No, Natsu," Lucy spoke up. "This is what happens when you heat up sand at a high enough temperature. You turned sand into glass."

"I did? That doesn't really make sense."

"Of course it doesn't," Lucy sighed.

"Wait a minute!" Gray shouted as he darted his eyes all around the glass obelisk. "Where's Geese?"

Everyone then took notice of all the bandits they had in the glass tornado, but could not find the bandit.

"Search the glass!" Erza shouted. The rest of the group looked at all the men suspended in glass, but none of them looked like Geese. Natsu and Wendy were taken to the air by their exceeds as they continued to examine all the bandits through the misty glass. While Gray hurriedly scanned the glass on the bottom, Lucy and Erza searched for Geese at the midsections of the glass.

"I can't find him," Natsu called out.

"Me neither!" Lucy yelled.

"Where could he have gone? Dammit all, where is he?!" Gray shouted in frustration.

"Keep calm!" Erza said. "We could not have gone very far, just keep your eyes open."

"W-wait!" Wendy shouted from the top of the glass monument. "There he is! He's over there!" The young girl yelled thrusting a panicked finger westward.

The group followed the direction Wendy was pointing, at first they saw nothing but sand. Then they took notice of something flapping above the sand.

A flattened Geese was soaring through the open desert air, many miles away.

"How the hell did he get so far?" Gray shouted.

"He must've used the air pressure from the twister to get that far away," Erza said.

"Oh…," Wendy softly said, feeling at fault for Geese's getaway.

"Don't worry, Wendy," Lucy beckoned. "I'm not gonna let him get away this time!" Lucy reached for her keys. "Open, Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!"

"We are!" the celestial spirit said.

"Now," Lucy continued, "Star Dress: Scorpio." Lucy dawned her Scorpio star dress. "Let's go, Scorpio!"

"You got it, Lucy!" the cool spirit proclaimed. Just hearing Scorpio say that made Lucy smile a bit.

The young girl was then blasted from Scorpio's tail and shot through the colosseum wall, shattering the entire structure. The team watched as Lucy gave chase to Geese in a flying ball of sand, blasting through the air.

"Wait for us, Lucy!" Natsu shouted.

"Aye!"

Natsu was followed by Wendy and Gray.

"Don't fret!" Erza called out.

"Erza, we can't just let-," Gray said turning to Erza. He and his fellow guildmates then saw Erza was sitting down, surrounding herself with large chunks of ice. It looked as though he was firmly pressing them against her skin, maybe even hugging the nice cool stones.

"W-we m-must have faith in L-l-l-lucy, f-f-for she is our t-t-t-team-m-m-mate," Erza said trying to hold back a relieved sigh as she gathered more ice. "F-for if w-w-we can't r-rely on our own t-t-teamm-m-mate then this quest was all f-for na-na-na-na-na-naught!"

"She puts on such a strong facade, it's almost admirable, almost," Carla said.

Meanwhile, Lucy was still giving chase for that accursed paper man. Her old nemesis, she called him. Said nemesis flipped his face back, and saw a large sandball was in pursuit of him.

"What the crap!?" Geese yelled trying to soar higher, but the gust from the tornado was dying down. Out of desperation, he tried flapping his paper-thin arms in vain.

Lucy was right on his tail. Geese was panicking as the sandball closed in more and more and more until it went right past him.

"Huh?" Geese blinked at the whizzing wizard. He chuckled a victorious laugh as it kept going further ahead of him, then he saw it come to a hard stop.

Like a veteran gymnast, Lucy leaped out of the sand ball and spun around a couple of times before dropping and rolling to a stop. She rolled to her feet and leaped upright with her arms pointing to the sky. A small voice in the back of her mind screamed Ta-da!

Lucy then spun on her foot and faced the approaching man-shaped parchment with a vicious look in her eyes.

"Remember me?!" she screamed. Her ring of keys sparkling in the blinding summer light.

"Oh shit!" Geese screamed, continuing to flap.

"Open, Gate of the Goat. Capricorn!" A tall humanoid-like goat-man dressed in a butler's attire appeared next to Lucy.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

Just when Geese looked as though he flew right over the goat-man and young girl, he felt a small tug on the sole of his flattened feet.

"What the fu-Whooooa!"

Capricorn then whipped out the flattened Geese into a smooth sheet, flapping in the wind. "Hmph," he grunted disapprovingly, "so plain."

"Motherfu-!"

Using his amazing dexterity Capricorn started folding and creasing all the sides and corners of the flattened sheet of Geese. His hands moved so fast and so exact. Within seconds, he had a giant crane with Geese-color-palette.

"Walla!" Capricorn said.

"Gah!" Geese screeched through his creases. "You crazy-." Capricorn did not wait or did not care to hear Geese's comment, the goat butler started again.

"Annnnnd done!" Geese then became a very elaborate looking swan, with an elongated neck.

"Mmmmf! This freakin' hurts you-."

Capricorn moved on to his next project. It took longer than the last two, but he made a giant lotus. "Much better," he proclaimed.

"GAAAAAAAAH!" Geese cried in pain. "This is torture!"

"And finally," Capricorn said before his exact and rapid moving hands got to work. This time, they flipped, folded, creased, and entangled paper-thin man in such intricate ways one would assume it was more than just arts and crafts. Like he was transcending what origami could be.

Before Geese realized it, he was a life-sized mountain ram, complete with huge spiraling horns.

"Capricorn, it's beautiful!" Lucy complimented.

"Your compliments are always a warm welcome, my lady."

"AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAH!" Geese screamed. "You sickos!"

"Oh, very well," Capricorn said. Using his thumb and index finger, the goat-man softly pinched on the tiny tail at the end of his work of art and lifted it in the air. With a soft flick of his wrist, Capricorn's work was undone and returned Geese to his flattened body.

"What the hell?" Geese said.

The goat butler then used simple folds to close Geese in half from head to two, then closed shoulder to shoulder, followed by shoulder to feet, then feet to back, then back to back. Capricorn then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a simple mailing envelope. He stuck the folded Geese into the envelope and gave the underside of the flap a quick lick before sealing it closed.

"Hmph, so uncouth," Capricorn chastised the envelope before handing it over to Lucy.

"Thank you, Capricorn," Lucy said before excusing her magical butler. The well-mannered spirit disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Lucy to herself and the envelope.

Lucy blinked at the envelope. She then brought it up to her ear and gave it a hard shake. Sounds of muffled groans came through the envelope. Lucy couldn't help but dawn a large, victorious grin.

"Yes! I did it!" the blonde cheered, jumping for joy. "I caught him. I finally caught him!" She couldn't help but sing her praises. "I caught him! I caught him! I caught him! I caught him! Just wait 'til the others see…," Lucy then turned around and saw how much distance there was between her and the glass tower. "Oh…"

While Lucy was moping at the long sandy walk back, her guildmates were keeping themselves busy. They kept asking the same question; how does one move a four-story pillar of glass made of men?

Erza kept pressing Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Happy, and Carla to pull harder on the long ropes around the monstrous figure. She too was pulling, while knee-deep in melting ice. In fact, most of the muscle work was being done by Erza, Natsu, and Gray. They were making progress, albeit several yards worth of progress, as was expected with the combined strengths of an S-Class wizard, a seasoned dragon slayer, and a devil slayer. Happy and Carla were tugging the monument airborne with the seams of rope tied around their bodies. Wendy was trying her darndest to keep up with her older teammates, but she mostly just stood in one place pulling on her rope with white-knuckles while her feet were digging into the sand.

"Keep up your efforts," Erza cheered on. "We'll have these bandits in Chrysanthemum in no time."

"For God's sake, Erza!" Gray complained. "You don't really expect us to haul this thing all the way back to town, do you?"

"I most certainly do!" Erza firmly stated shifting more of the fallen ice closer to her feet.

"But this'll take all day!"

"Well then you better keep pulling, shouldn't you?"

"Aww, come on, Erza! There's no way we can pull this thing all the way back to town."

"Not with that attitude."

"But Erza, it took Natsu half the day just to run back to town."

Natsu spoke up, "I would've made it sooner if-."

"Shut up, idiot," Gray spat.

Natsu stopped pulling and returned with, "You wanna say that to my face, asshole?"

"Come and try me, ash brain!"

"Enough!" Erza shouted. "We just finished seizing an entire gang of bandits. Don't start anything!"

"Yes, Erza….," both boys mumbled.

"Mmmmm-mmmmph!" Carla hissed, flapping her wings against the resistance of her rope. "Ughhh…," the exceed groaned, slowing down her aching wings. "I'm afraid I have to agree with Gray on this one."

"Wow, Carla!" Happy said. "You tired already? We haven't been pulling for that long."

"Leave me alone, alleycat. One of us had to use their magic to drive all the way here."

"Erza, never complained when she used the Magic-mobile."

"Well, I'm not Erza, and getting back to the point, I really don't see how any we can bring this massive….eyesore all the way back to town with just the six of us."

"Don't worry, Carla," Erza reassured. "Just wait until Lucy gets back with Geese. I'm sure the combined strength of the seven of us will be enough to really get this moving."

"Oh, Erza please be reasonable. Even when Lucy comes back with Geese, moving this all the way back to town will take forever with just us."

"Assuming she even got Geese," Gray muttered.

"Gray!" Erza spat back. "Have some faith in her."

"I'm just saying she lost him before."

"Don't be so judgemental of her, especially when she's the one who set off to get him. You should know better than to judge a person by their past mistakes!"

"Aye!" Happy chirped. "Last time Lucy wanted the money! Lucy has a greedy mind!"

"'That's great coming from the cat that always has fish on his mind!', she exclaims," a very posh voice sounded out.

Looking around the pillar, everyone saw an approaching grandfather clock carrying a hunched Lucy in his compartment. They all stopped pulling on the pillar and hurried over to Horologium.

"Lucy-nee, you're back!" Wendy excitingly exclaimed, happy Lucy returned and that she got a break from pulling on the pillar.

"What took ya' so long, Lucy?" Natsu asked.

"'You try walking back through miles of sandy dunes in a desert on a hot summer day,' she says."

"Couldn't you just come back here with that thing you did with Scorpio? That sand cannonball thing? ….The sand-on all!"

"No, Natsu!" Happy interjected. "The Lucy ball!"

"'I can't just…. We're not calling it that!', she says. 'I can't just ask Scorpio to do that twice in such a short time, besides I'm sure he'd be better off spending some time with Aquarius than being used as transportation,' she says."

"Isn't that what you're doing right now?" Carla asked.

"'Horologium is a spirit made for transport,' she says. 'Besides, I really don't want to get sunburned,' she says.' And she's right too," Horologium said. "Speaking of which, I'm afraid my time is up." Horologium then disappeared in a yellow flash, dropping Lucy to the hot sandy ground.

"Oof," Lucy said when her rear dropped to the ground. She then took out Horologium's key and said, "Next time gimme a warning before you disappear like that." Lucy then stood up and patted off all the sand clinging to her outfit.

"So….?" Gray pressed.

"Huh?"

"Did you get him or not?"

"Oh, don't you worry, the gang leader Geese has been apprehended thanks to yours truly." Lucy then reached into a pocket and pulled out an envelope. "And walla!"

Her teammates squinted in confusion at the parchment.

"Umm, Lucy-nee what's that?" Wendy asked.

Lucy then gave the envelope a hard shake, making it utter muffled groans.

"Oh my goodness!" Natsu exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Lucy responded, with a proud smile.

"Lucy found a talking letter!"

"Aye!"

"No, you idiots!" Lucy chastised. "It's Geese! Geese is in the envelope!" Natsu, Happy, and Gray then slowly stepped away from her. Lucy blinked at their reaction. "What?"

"Lucy's scary," Natsu trembled.

"Scary," Happy agreed.

Gray mumbled something incoherent.

The blonde sighed at them in defeat. "There's no hope for you boys."

"Well, I say you did a very good job apprehending him, Lucy," Erza commended, giving Lucy a tinge of pride from her words.

"Thank you, Erza. And you know what this means?" Lucy didn't wait for a response. "This means we'll get paid in full!"

"Good," Gray firmly proclaimed. "Now that we have Geese we finally get outta this stupid place."

"Don't be so hasty Gray," Erza said. "We still need to get all these criminals back to town so they all can be brought to justice."

"Wait, what?" Lucy asked. She then noticed all the rope tied around the glass monument. "You want us to… drag this thing back to town?"

"You are correct, Lucy," Erza said. "Now that you're here I'm sure our combined strength can move this behemoth."

"Oh, Erza can't we just get help from town?" Carla whined.

"What's gotten into you, Carla?"

"Please be reasonable. We'll be out in the hot, blazing sun all day at this rate."

Upon hearing Carla's detailed explanation of the sun Erza tensed up. "On second thought," Erza quickly said, "Carla makes a good point. We shall return to town with Geese and once we present him to the townsfolk, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to lend us a hand in apprehending their foes."

"She sure made a complete one-eighty," Lucy told herself.

"Come everyone, there's not a moment to waste," Erza said leading the team over the large dune hill. The group followed their red-toned leader, who seemed to be taking her time in walking up the hill.

"Erza, if you want me to make you more ice you just need to ask," Gray said.

"Don't worry yourself over me, Gray, and put your clothes back on."

"There's that stoicism of hers again," Carla said.

"So, let me get this straight," Natsu started, "we're going back to town to show the mayor we caught Geese, right?"

"Correct, Natsu," Erza answered.

"Then we come back to do what we were already trying to do?"

"Yes."

"And we'll bring back the rest of those guys?"

"Yes!" Gray shouted. "What part of that don't you understand?"

"I get what we're doing, snowflake! I just don't wanna go back in that stupid machine."

"Oh, grow a pair! You think the rest of us want to take such long trips in the Magic-mobile?"

"But we'll come back here as soon as we arrive in town!"

"Don't worry, Natsu," Erza reassured. "We're not coming back immediately."

"We're not?"

"We'll be back in a few hours with some of the townsfolk. Just rest yourself until then."

"Okay…. But do we have to take the Magic-mobile?"

"Take it or leave it, Natsu," Lucy said. "Either endure a twenty-minute drive back to town and back or return in the middle of the night."

"I…. mmmmph," Natsu grumbled in defeat.

"Speaking of which," Lucy interjected, "who's going to drive the Magic-mobile?"

All eyes turned on Erza, and she felt their stares. She also was staring ahead at the horizon that was melting away into a hot, foggy mirage. Her vision then teetered over to the driver's seat of the Magic-mobile. It too looked terribly hot. Just thinking about it being left in the sun for so long made her uneasy.

"Forget it! I'll do it," Carla said, stepping forward and transforming into her human form. Erza silently huffed a relieved sigh.

"Are you sure, Carla?" Wendy asked. "You look exhausted."

"Don't be preposterous!" Carla said. "I am very well rested and very much awake, thank you very much." Carla then stepped onto the driver's seat. The initial contact when her rear touched the leather seat made her jump a little. But then she firmly planted herself into the chair and strapped the SE-plug to her forearm and clamped her hands around the equally hot steering wheel. "Everybody, hop in," she chimed.

Following Carla's invitation, the small team got into the Magic-mobile. Erza was the first, wanting to get out the sun, followed by Lucy, Wendy, and Happy. However, Natsu stood before the door.

"Something wrong, Natsu?" Happy asked.

"Umm…," Natsu muttered. "Are we sure there's no other way to-?" The dragon slayer was then launched face-first into the Magic-mobile. He looked behind himself and saw Gray had his foot extended forward.

"I am not waiting around because of your stupidity anymore!" the ice mage proclaimed before storming into the Magic-mobile and slammed the door behind him and took his seat.

Natsu immediately jumped up. "You're gonna pay for that you-!" Suddenly, Carla started the Magic-mobile's ignition, making it rumble. Natsu instantly crumbled back to the floor of the Magic-mobile. Wendy also felt the effects of the rumbling vehicle feeling dizzy and nauseous.

"Moron," Gray hissed, as the exceed-powered vehicle became mobile.

The group was silent for several moments. Just letting the moments pass by while they looked out the window at the passing landscape. The silence was broken when Happy tugged on the side of Lucy's shirt.

"Lucy?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any fish?"

"What?" Lucy said in a small hiccup. "Why would I have fish on me?"

"Because you smell like fish."

"Excuse me?" Lucy spat out in disgust. "I do not smell like fish!"

"Anyway…," Erza spoke up, "I was wondering how you managed to… capture Geese in such a unique way, Lucy."

"Oh. Well, I had Capricorn fold him into a letter."

"Intriguing." Erza rubbed the tip of her chin. "I wonder if I can apply this method in my future combat, myself."

"Umm, I don't think that's something you should consider Erza. Considering it only worked cause Geese is a paper-man."

"Where'd you put him?" Gray asked.

"He's in my back pocket."

"Lucy's keeping him in place with her big butt!" Happy chirped.

"What was that, cat?!"

"And you're sure he's alright?" Gray spoke up.

"Yeah, why wouldn't he?"

"Now that you mention it, he has been rather quiet," Erza said.

"Wait, you don't think…." Lucy then sat up and reached in her back pocket. She pulled out the crumpled up envelope in front of everyone. "See? He's fine." Lucy then gave the envelope a good shake, however no sound came from it.

Worry starting to arise in Lucy, she shook the parchment again. Still no sound. She shook it harder a third time and pressed her ear to it. Complete silence.

"Oh, dear!"

Lucy went into a panic and dug a nail underneath the sealed flap and ran her finger across the length. Erza, Gray, Happy, and Lucy leaned in, hovering their heads over the envelope. With an audible gulp, Lucy slowly lifted the flap up.

"BAAAH!" A large human head screamed, popping out of the envelope.

Everyone jumped in their seats, heads hitting the roof of the car. Lucy almost dropped the envelope but held on with all her might.

"What the hell?" Gray asked, rubbing the top of his head.

The head of Geese took in deep breaths, wheezing for air in a cold sweat. Everyone sat in silence as they watched the head catch its breath. The head then looked at Lucy and gave her a vicious scowl.

"Could... your... ASS be any bigger?! You stupid, heavy, trampy tw-!" Geese's head was then shoved back into the envelope with the flap closed shut.

Lucy clamped her fingers around the twitching envelope, with frustration radiating off her person. She clicked her tongue at the envelope, "You know what? I have heard nothing but people calling me such mean names all afternoon, and I for one am sick of being called a bimbo!" Lucy then shook the envelope very hard, making the parchment fill the car with muffled screams.

Lucy stopped her shaking with a "Hmph!" She then moved to place the envelope back into her pocket, but Erza stopped her.

"Wait a minute, Lucy. Perhaps he can answer some questions."

"Do we have to, Erza?"

"Come now, Lucy. You should know better than to let the words of lowlives get the better of you."

Lucy sighed in defeat, "Oh, fine."

The envelope was brought back out. Lucy stopped pinching the fold shut and let Geese's head pop back out.

"Gyah!" the head heaved. "You sadistic bitch!"

Lucy chose to respond to that but kept her anger at bay with a heavy sigh. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. We're going to ask you questions and you're going to answer them, got it?"

Geese scoffed at her. "No way, blondie. I ain't tellin' you people shit!"

"Ya' better do what she says," Happy warned, "or else she might crush you with her large butt!"

"Shut up, cat. I am in no mood!" Lucy hissed.

"Go ahead," Geese dared. "You think I'm scared of being crushed by some bimbo's ass? You think you can scare me with more origami? Bring it! There ain't nothing you can do to make me talk."

Lucy closed her eyes and took in another deep breath and let it out with a slow exhale. "You know, I have a lot of celestial spirits under my belt, not just a goat who can fold you. One of them is a very talented crab barber, who is just a whiz with scissors. I can summon him anytime I want. I'm sure he'd be more than happy if I suggest a new hobby for him to take up, like scrapbooking!"

"Whoa, alright! Alright! I'll talk. Crazy broad."

Lucy breathed in another sigh at that. "Okay, let's start with the big one. What are you doing back in Fiore? Last time I checked you were in Veronica."

"Ha! Why the hell would I wanna stay in that hell hole?"

"What do you mean?" Erza asked.

"Ever since what happened with that giant fiery mecha-bird thing-."

"The Phoenix," Lucy corrected.

"Whatever! Anyway, ever since that happened you know what happened to the country? It went to shit within weeks! After that bird thing came and went away that little turd of a prince, Cream, went mad or whatever."

"What?" Erza said, leaning in with interest.

"You heard me, lady. After what happened with the giant bird he shut himself off from Veronica. No one has seen in ages! He never leaves the castle anymore. I heard the kid went crazy and locked himself in his room or whatever. Then suddenly the entire kingdom was taxed like crazy! Everything got crazy expensive. Before anyone knew it, no one could afford anything anymore. Food, clothes, the roofs over their heads, nothing! There's no way I could stay in that hell-hole anymore. People could hardly afford anything to steal anyway."

"Prince Cream went into hiding?" Lucy asked.

"Who knows what's going on with that little shit. Probably going through some emo phase?" He then turned to Gray and said, "You must know all about that, kid."

"Screw you!" Gray spat.

"So Prince Cream became a shunning and now he's filling the void by stealing money from his people? Why am I not surprised?" Lucy said.

"I dunno what's really happening with that guy, no one does. If you wanna know what's going on, you can go ask him yourself," Geese said.

"That answers one question, but what are you doing back in Fiore?" Erza asked.

"Weren't you listening? Where else am I supposed to go?"

"How about a different country? One where you're not a wanted man?"

"Ha! You think my rapport doesn't follow me wherever I go? You think just because I'm listed as a bad guy in one country I'm not in another? As if things were that easy."

"But why Fiore?"

"Why not? It's the only other place I can go to. I can't just sail out of this place? Do you have any idea how hard it is to stowaway on a freaking ship? It's harder than it sounds, even for a guy who can slip through cracks. I have to stay hidden for weeks at best, and for what? Another country that's not as interesting as this one? Haha, no way man! I'll stay in Fiore till the day I die."

"Ooh," Lucy mocked dryly, "how noble of you."

"You're damn right it is!"

"Whatever." Lucy rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay fine," Gray spoke up, "so you're back in Fiore. But what's with the gang? What's up with those "G" markings?"

"You like those, kid? Ya' wanna join?"

"No way!" Gray rebuked. "I just want to know why everyone is wearing them."

"Fine. My gang isn't a gang, it's a guild. A bandit guild."

"You started a guild?" Lucy said in disbelief.

"Yeah! We're the Flock."

"The what now?"

"The Flock, I said. The Flock of Geese."

"The Flock of Geese?" Gray dryly said. "That's so…"

"Badass?"

"Lame."

"Oh, get bent, kid! It's still more masculine than Fairy Tail."

"Llaaaaaaammmmmeeeee," Natsu groaned.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He'll be fine," Lucy said.

"Well, that all answers the big questions," Erza said. "But here's what I want to know, what's this I hear about Bacchus Groh leading your guild?"

Geese's ears perked up at Erza's question. "Who told you that?"

"The mayor did, of course."

Geese blinked at Erza's answer. "He told you that?"

"Yes, what of it?"

Geese scoffed at her. "Bacchus Groh is an alias I use."

"You use the namesake of an S-Class mage as an alias?" Lucy said. "I fail to see the logic in that."

"I don't expect you to, blondie. Besides the only reason these people know about it is because I used it the first time I came to this one-horse town. I went to get hammered and told everyone I was Bacchus Groh, next thing I know their getting all up in my business telling me I had too much to drink, so I put those assholes in their place."

"You fought an entire bar while drunk?"

"Hey, if you think I'm solid stone-cold sober, you should see me when I'm hammered. I'm a fucking force to be reckoned with."

"No wonder you used Bacchus' name. You both cause more trouble when you're drunk."

"I can show you how much trouble I can be right now if you let me out of this envelope."

"Sure, I'll get right on that."

"Do you really think you can take us?" Gray said. "After we just blasted your guild away?"

"Who said anything about fighting?" Geese declared. "What makes you guys think you can hold me in this tiny car?"

"Because of this!" Lucy said before shoving Geese's head back into the envelope. While the envelope continued to muffle and grumble, Lucy immediately folded the envelope several times before placing it back into her pocket. She sat down, firmly planting herself into her seat cushion.

"Well, I guess that answers that," Erza said.

"Mmph," Wendy moaned. "Are we there yet?"

"Hang in there, Wendy. We'll be there before you know it," Lucy reassured.

Suddenly the Magic-mobile started to violently swerve, shaking everyone from side-to-side. Then the car was stable again.

Erza peaked her head out the window. "What just happened? Were we attacked?"

"No!" Carla reassured. "I just avoided a ditch in the road is all!"

"Oh. Alright then," Erza reclined back into the car.

"Mmph, Carla?" Wendy asked, leaning her head out the window.

"Yes, child?" the exceed said.

"Can you please keep it steady?" the young dragon slayer whined. "My tummy gets really upset when you make it rock so much." Wendy then covered her mouth.

"Aye," Natsu moaned in agreement, peeking his head out the other window. "Ugh… Man, I don't… I don't… don't… feel so hot." Natsu's cheeks puffed, as he and his fellow dragon slayer withdrew themselves back into the Magic-mobile.

"Oh, wait! Tell me you're not going to-!" Gray screamed in a panic.

"Wait, you two! Not in the car. Not in the car!" Lucy yelled, rapidly spinning the window crank.

While the plain desert got new streaks of colors, Carla sat stiff as a rod while perspiration trailed down her face.

Carla wiped the sweat off her forehead and pressed her brows together. She rapidly blinked and focused her vision on the road. Then her eyes got heavy and her muscles started to unclench themselves. Her eyes slowly began to shut themselves.

With a hard blink, Carla shook her head and widened her eyes as much as she could. The catgirl then lightly swatted her cheek a couple of times before tightening her grip on the wheel. With a soft sigh, Carla pressed her foot into the acceleration.

Coming up on Chrysanthemum's town border Carla eased off the acceleration. She came to a full stop at the town entrance. If it wasn't for Chrysanthemum having such narrow streets, Carla would've happily driven up to town hall.

The second the car stopped, one of its doors burst open.

"Finally!" Natsu gasped out. "Land! Sweet stable land," he chanted. Natsu further expressed his love for the ground by pressing his lips into the dirt.

"Aye, sir!" Happy joined.

"Eww!" Lucy cringed. "Both of you stop that! The ground is filthy!"

Wendy then followed Lucy out of the car, still feeling a bit wobbly and cheeks flustered. She was so embarrassed ever since he emptied her stomach. Wendy hoped it would not tarnish her image in the eyes of her older teammates.

"Alright," Erza called out, "we're going to meet the mayor now; so everyone needs to be on their best behavior when we get to city hall."

"Why do we all need to go?" Gray asked.

"Because it shows professionalism, Gray," Erza answered.

"Can't you just take the letter to the guy, while the rest of us rest cool off?"

"No, Gray," Erza argued. "All of us showing up is more than just a courtesy to the mayor."

"What does that mean?" Natsu asked.

"It means showing mannerisms with gratitude," Carla answered. "And Erza isn't just talking about being courteous to the mayor. If we all show up, it will also be a courtesy in the name of Fairy Tail."

"That is quite correct, Carla," Erza said. "So now everyone will go and everyone has to make themselves descent." Erza then requipped from her robes to her Hearts Kreuz armor.

"I'm ready!" Natsu said.

"Aye, sir!"

"No, you're not," Erza reprimanded. "Wipe that sand off your faces already."

Lucy sighed at the sight of the mighty Titania grabbing a fistful of pink hair and wiping Natsu's and Happy's faces clean with a handkerchief. Lucy then felt her small pocket vibrate.

"Mmm-mmm, mmmmph!" a small muffled voice called out.

Lucy reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded envelope. Geese seemed to be making a lot more noise than usual. Lucy looked at her teammates.

"Um, I think Gee-." Lucy then stopped herself seeing what was going on.

Erza kept rubbing Natsu's face clean while the dragon slayer mumbled sounds of protest. It was then that Natsu spotted Gray's smug grin.

"You have something to say, snowcone?"

"Nothing, it's just funny seeing your dumb face get washed like a kid."

Natsu then broke his face from Erza's hold. "You wanna go, asshole? Cause I'm right here!"

"Gladly, jackass."

Watching Erza come between the two, Lucy knew how things were about to play out. With a sigh, the blonde walked behind the Magic-mobile and carefully opened the envelope.

Geese's head popped out with a gasp. "God! Took you long enough."

"What do you want?" Lucy asked, annoyed.

"Okay, little miss stick-up-her-ass."

Lucy sighed, "If all you wanted was to insult me more then mission accomplished. This conversation is done." Lucy then started to shove Geese's head back in the envelope.

"No, wait. Wait!" he hissed. "Listen, I wanna help you."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm gonna help you right now?"

"And why do I need your help?"

"Well, it's more like you help me, I help you."

"You are in no position to make demands."

"Oh, yes I am!" Geese then looked at Lucy dead in the eyes and barked, "You owe me."

That caught Lucy's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I saved your life." Seeing the reaction on Lucy's face was proof enough. "Yeah, you remember, don't you?"

"Yeah, back in Veronica." Lucy remembers that night all too well. It was the last time she saw Eclair before her guild slain the Phoenix and Lucy had to watch as Eclair died in her arms.

"I saved you and your little friend too. In fact, where is she anyway? She owes me also."

"She's dead!" Lucy viciously hissed.

"Oh…. Damn. So much for that."

"How dare you talk about her that way."

"Whatever, either way, you still owe me."

Lucy clenched her toes and asked him. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing massive. Just one simple thing." Lucy leaned in a little and heard him whisper, "Let me go."

"Ex-excuse me?"

"Did I stutter?"

"You… You can't possibly ask me to do that."

"I can, I am!"

"But… We just-."

"Hey," Geese snarled. "You listen to me, girl. You owe me a life debt! I saved your life, now the time is due."

"Come on, you can't ask me to do that. Not after we just put an end to your gang."

"I am. Hell, I'll even sweeten the deal. You let me go and I promise I won't set my guild free. They're all yours, just let me go and we're square."

"I….," Lucy's heart started to race. "I… Please, don't make me do it."

"Are you not a celestial wizard? I heard that you guys keep your promises no matter what! Isn't that right?"

"Well…. Yes, but-."

"Then do it already!"

"Oh, please don't make me. I'll do anything. Anything!"

"Anything?" Geese said with a devious smile. "Well," his eyes trailed down to the blonde's chest, "we could-ack!"

"Anything, but that!" Lucy growled through her teeth, tightening her grip around Geese's neck.

Geese squirmed out of Lucy's hold. "Stingy broad," he coughed. "Fine, then just let me go."

Lucy's eyes darted around. "Umm…"

"Just do it already!" Geese pressed. "Come on. Come on. Come on! Before your friends realize you're gone."

"I… I…"

"Now! Come on. You owe me a life's debt! A life's debt!"

"Hey," Wendy's voice called out, "where'd Lucy go?"

Everyone looked around and noticed they were short one blonde.

"There ya' are Lucy!" Natsu greeted. His happy-go-lucky attitude died down when he and the rest of his teammates saw the state Lucy was in.

Her head hung so low that her eyes were covered by her bangs. She looked completely defeated and devoid of energy with this somber frown on her face and was holding an empty envelope in one hand.

"Lucy?" Happy pressed tugging at her sock.

"Did something happen, Lucy?" Erza gently asked.

It was then that Gray noticed the opened envelope in Lucy's hand. His eyes widened. "Lucy? Where's Geese?"

Lucy said nothing and continued to stand there motionless.

"Where'd he go?" Gray tried again.

For a moment Lucy said nothing once more. But then everyone heard an audible gulp from her. She raised her head, but still avoided eye-contact.

"I…." she said in such a soft voice, that it was almost a whisper.

"Where's Geese?" Gray repeated.

"I…. I am…. I am a-."

"Where'd Geese go? What happened here?"

"Don't push her, Gray," Erza warned.

Lucy continued, "I am… I am a celestial wizard."

"What?" Gray yelled. "What are you talking about?"

"I am a celestial wizard," Lucy's bottom lip quivered, "I keep my… my promises and-."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Gray shouted to her face. "Where is he?"

Lucy stopped talking and hung her head low.

Gray then shoved everyone out of his way and stormed up to Lucy. "What happened, Lucy? What did you do?" He got no response from her, so he grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her while screaming, "What happened? What did you do? Why did you let him get away?"

Lucy was on the verge of tears from Gray shouting in her face. Such a sight made Wendy very uncomfortable. The young girl wanted to hide behind the Magic-mobile.

"Leave her alone, Gray!" Natsu yelled as he shoved him off of Lucy.

Gray was about to retaliate but then saw Natsu and Erza blocking his path from Lucy.

"Back off, Gray," Erza warned.

"Don't tell me you're on her side!" Gray yelled.

"Leave her alone, Gr-."

"No, dammit! I'm sick of you making excuses for her! We were so close to finally catching Geese. This close! He was right there! We literally had him in our grasp! We had him! After all this time! And somehow she managed to lose him!" Gray jousted a finger at Lucy.

Erza immediately swatted the finger away. "Don't yell at her! Everyone makes mistakes."

"A mistake? You call this a mistake? How can….." Gray stopped and heaved. "You know what, screw this."

"Gray-."

"No, screw this, screw you, and screw her! I'm done. You can see the mayor by yourself for all I care." Gray then turned his back to everyone and walked away. "And you're wrong Erza, she didn't make a mistake." Gray narrowed his eyes at Lucy. "She fucked up!" Everyone watched as the fuming devil slayer wandered into town. Then they all got quiet for a moment until Erza broke the silence when she cleared her throat.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen: I'll go see the mayor by myself, in the meantime I want you all to find somewhere to relax for the next couple hours. Once you find a place come to find me in the city hall. I'll join you all and then we'll wait until it's time to go back to the glass pillar, assuming Geese hasn't freed his men."

"He won't," Lucy meekly said. No one felt it right to ask her what she meant.

"Alright, I'll see you all until then." Erza then took off.

"What about Gray-san?" Wendy asked.

"What about him?" Erza firmly said, walking away.

"Oh…"

"Come along, Wendy," Carla said, grabbing Wendy's hand. "Let's find somewhere for you to nap."

"But Carla, I'm not sleepy."

"Pish posh. Now let's go, the day only has so many hours," Carla then pulled on Wendy's hand and led her into town.

Natsu and Happy lingered behind with Lucy trailing them, dragging her feet. Natsu and Happy would slow themselves down so Lucy would catch up. They would occasionally ask if she was alright, but all they got was a soft, "Mmm…"

They eventually found a tiny motel. It had only four rooms for rent but it would suffice for one afternoon. It was only after everyone settled into their rooms, and after Carla forced Wendy to go under the covers, the catgirl went off to the city hall. There she found Erza outside the building with a very jovial mayor and a large gift basket full of aloe under her arm.

Several hours later Erza led her group, with the exception of Gray, and a large posse of townsfolk back to the bandit hideout. Much to everyone's surprise, the glass pillar was still there. Everyone tied strong ropes around the surprisingly sturdy glass monolith. They all towed it with the Magic-mobile, along with what must have been dozens of horses, and Lucy's spirits: Taurus, Loki, and Sagitarrius. During that entire ordeal, Lucy had not said a single word. The girl just kept doing her part and pulling her own rope the entire way back.

It took them hours to get back to town with the massive pillar weighing them down, but it was a lot faster than Fairy Tail pulling it by themselves. Upon their return, Fiorean soldiers were there waiting for them and ready to take all the bandits into custody.

Erza happily handed the custody of the glass behemoth over to the noble knights. Then came more words of gratitude from the mayor and residents. All the hours seemed to pass so quickly. Then, before they realized it, it was night and the time had come to leave Chrysanthemum. The mayor happily told the guild members that they were always welcome back in town, as long as they promised not to destroy another building. Then the group got all their things together and made their way to the train.

Everyone waited at the train station, including an avoidant Gray. He just stood there, far away from everyone. No one bothered to acknowledge him, they were in no mood for another argument, especially not Lucy.

Lucy was as she was ever since they returned to Chrysanthemum. SIlent and somber. She just couldn't get over what happened today. She failed herself, she failed her guild. It was only by the sudden light tapping of her shoulder that made Lucy come out of her trance.

"Um, excuse me?" a soft voice asked from behind Lucy. The celestial wizard turned around to find a young girl, who looked to be her age. She had black hair that ran neck-length, wearing a black turtleneck, white jeans, glasses, and was hugging a book to her chest. "Aren't you Lucy Heartfilia?"

"Oh, um yes I am."

"Oh! I thought you were," the girl softly chuckled. "Um, you probably don't remember me from the other day."

"Hmm?" Lucy tilted her head at the girl.

The girl made another awkward chuckle at Lucy's response. "Yeah, I thought you wouldn't. Umm, I'm the bookshop owner who got robbed."

"Oh? Oh!" Lucy realized. "Um, how do you do? Is everything okay?"

"Uh, if you're talking about my store, don't worry. We have insurance. But that's not why I'm here." The fragile-looking girl cleared her throat. "After I heard that you got rid of those bandits, I just had to thank you in person before you left," she said with a small smile. Then she bowed at Lucy.

"Oh, that's very… courteous of you." Lucy hadn't been bowed to since she was a girl with a house full of servants. Seeing someone bow to her again was awkward, for lack of a better word.

"And also," the bookstore owner muttered, "I was wondering if you could do something else for me before you left." The girl cleared her throat and spoke, "Um…," she shuffled in place. "If it's not too much to ask, could I maybe," she lightly tapped the spine of the book in her arms. "That is... if it's alright with you, can I..." she then held her book out in front of Lucy, "get your… autograph?"

Lucy saw the cover of the book in front of her. It was a copy of The Adventure of Iris. "My novel," Lucy exhaled.

"Yeah, I loved your book," the girl said trying to hide her starstruck. "I must have read it three times now."

"Oh," Lucy said, feeling her heart skip a beat. Hearing a stranger tell her that they loved her book was a new experience for Lucy. She was used to her friends telling her how much they loved her work, especially Levy, but she never encountered a fan before. It made her feel warm inside. "I'd be happy to," Lucy then patted her pockets. "Do you have a pen?"

A ballpoint pen materialized before Lucy. Lucy happily took the pen from the girl's hand and signed her name on the other side of the cover.

"Oh, thank you!" the girl said, admiring the signature in her book.

"You're quite welcome," Lucy said with a smile. "To be honest, I noticed your shop when we first came into town."

"You did?" the girl nearly squealed. She couldn't believe it; a famous author noticed her little bookshop.

"I saw you had my novel on display and I just had to see it." Lucy then frowned. "When I saw those thieves had broken into your shop and my novel was missing, I couldn't help but panic. Oh, that must sound so selfish of me. Here I am telling you that I was worried about my novel when your shop was raided."

"Oh, don't worry, that was my copy. I mean, that was this copy."

"I'm sorry?"

"Um, well like my display said, The Adventure of Iris had been selling like crazy. We had just sold our last copy several days ago, so I figured I would put my copy up on display for all to see."

"You put your own books on display?"

"Yes. Well, at least until we have more in stock or I want to entertain myself. You see, right before I was robbed I was on my lunch break, so I took your book off the display and read during my break."

"That's…"

"Strange? Unorthodox?"

"No, generous of you. I'm not sure I could display my things."

"Well, I couldn't help myself. I mean, this is just such a good book. It would be criminal if I just kept it to myself. That's why I opened my own bookshop. I want everyone to enjoy reading as much as I do; and like I said, your book is just so much fun to read. All the characters are so relatable, especially the protagonist, I can't help but see myself in Iris and she's such an admirable person too. Not to mention everyone would enjoy your book. People of all backgrounds and ages. It's just such a universal story."

Lucy rubbed the back of her head and made a quick glance at Natsu, "Well, I wouldn't say everyone."

"I do! It's just such an exciting read. I couldn't put it down when I first picked it up."

Lucy couldn't help but smile at that. "Thank you very much."

"No, thank you for signing my book. You just made my week."

Lucy chuckled at that. "No need to exaggerate, I just scribbled my name into a book."

"Well, to be fair I really love your work. Also, we don't get much excitement out here in Chrysanthemum. I mean other than those bandits, not much has been going on here for quite some time. The most excitement we got was a crazy storm days ago."

"You guys had a storm? During summertime? In this desert area?"

"Yeah, we were just as surprised as you were. The streets were just flooded! I had to close my shop and make sure none of my books got soaked. But the strangest part was that it was gone the next day."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, this nasty storm came out of nowhere and practically disappeared overnight."

"Really? Cause we come from Magnolia and we had the exact same thing happen to us like a week ago. It was there one night, pouring down like crazy only to disappear the next morning."

"That's when it happened to us!"

"Really? Was the storm really that big? It couldn't be, could it? Nothing that big just disappears overnight."

"I wouldn't know anything about that," the girl said. "My areas of interest are mostly just… well, books."

"That's alright," Lucy reassured. "My best friend is also obsessed with books. I'm glad you liked my novel so much."

"I loved your novel. Honestly, I think you should start a franchise."

"Well, to be honest, I was thinking about writing a sequel for my next book."

The girl before Lucy, face lit up like the sun. She clamped her hands over her mouth to halt a gasp from escaping her lips. Lucy wasn't sure how to properly respond to that kind of reaction, other than an appreciative smile.

An approaching train whistle signaled the end of the conversation. No one in that station needed dragon slayer senses to smell the burning coal in the air. The locomotive came to the station, slowing down with the screech of its metallic wheels making everybody's ears ring. Then the train eased to a stop with its carts lined with the platform. The doors on the carts burst open with but a few people coming out.

"Huh," Lucy said. "There's not that many people."

"Oh, that's expected. Not many take their travels to Chrysanthemum," the girl said.

Lucy was about to say something but then she heard a conductor with a megaphone call out, "All aboard!"

"Oh. That's for us. Sorry, we have to go now," Lucy said.

"Of course," the young girl said. She then waved goodbye and said, "Sayonara Heartfilia-sama!"

Lucy stopped and quickly turned to the girl, "Just Lucy will do. Oh, right. What's your name?"

"My name? My name is Megumi, err… Yanagi, Megumi," Megumi then bowed to Lucy.

Lucy saw her friends entering the train and followed suit. She entered the same cart as them before the conductor closed the doors. Just as the train began to move Lucy peeked her head out the window and beckoned, "Bye, Yanagi-san. Keep spreading the good nature of literature!"

Megumi held her hand over her beating chest and waved back at Lucy. "Keep up the good word…. Lucy-senpai!" Megumi said, gobsmacked by what she just said. Addressing her idol so casually.

Lucy kept her head out, waving goodbye until Megumi was out of sight. It was then that a stewardess asked Lucy to not stick her head out the window so much, in fear that she might fall out. Lucy complied and made her way over to her guildmates. It was then that Lucy noticed how empty the cart was. It was not like in Magnolia where all the passengers would scramble into their seats. In Chrysanthemum, when you leave, few people leave as well.

Lucy's teammates were in the center of the cart, excluding Gray who was on the opposite end sitting by himself and glaring out the window. A couple of seats behind Gray was a woman by her lonesome, rummaging through her purse. On the other side was an old woman, then a couple of young men that looked to be in their thirties.

When Lucy arrived to sit with everyone she noticed the usual scene. Two nauseous dragon slayers, Erza enjoying a small cup of tea, Happy finishing eating a fish with the tail sticking out of his maw, and a catgirl nagging at Wendy to get some sleep.

"Wendyyyyyy," Natsu whined, "please make this stooooop."

"For the last time, she can't do anything when she gets like this," Carla retorted.

"Mmmmgh," Wendy moaned.

"Just try to get some sleep, child."

"B-buuuut Carla," Wendy managed, "I can't sleep. I'm not sleepy."

"Nonsense, it's past your bedtime."

"But Carla, you made me sleep through the afternoon. Now I can't go to sleep."

"Oh, dear," Carla sighed at herself. "I'm sorry, Wendy. You're right. Next time, I'll be more mindful of your curfew."

"Mmmf, that's okay, Carla. But shouldn't you go to sleep? You haven't… mmmf slept since last night."

"Don't worry about me, Wendy."

"Actually," Lucy interjected, taking her seat next to Erza, "Wendy does have a point, Carla. You look exhausted," she said, noticing the bags under Carla's eyes.

"You're mistaken, Lucy. I am very much awake," Carla said with rapid blinks.

"There's no need to be so stoic, Carla," Erza said, looking more tired herself with bloodshot eyes.

"That's something coming from you," Lucy said under her breath. Aren't you the one who wanted to do some surveillance on the gang since yesterday afternoon?

"Your concern is appreciated but unnecessary," Carla said. "I feel fine. I promise you all."

"Everyone needs their sleep," Erza said. "Sleep does the body wonders."

"That may be true, but I don't need to sleep right now."

"Come on Carla, you can sleep," Happy chimed in. "You can rest your sleepy little head on my shoulder if ya' want."

"Why would I want that?"

"I know I want that. It would be a dream come true!"

"Keep dreaming, alley cat," Carla said trying to keep her head up.

"Carla, look at yourself, you're practically dead on your feet," Lucy said.

"Stop… concerning yourselves… over… me," Carla said with every rock of her head. Every time her head drooped down her eyes would as well, but Carla kept fighting and jerked her head up and widened her eyes.

"You can't stay awake forever," Erza cautioned.

"I'm… not… going to… sleep!" Carla jerked her head so much she almost gave herself whiplash. "I'm… not… going to sleep… and that's…," Carla's head started to tremble, "that's… that's… finnnnnalllll…." Carla's body finally caught up with her mind. With a weak bob of her head, the magical feline girl's head hung over her lap, with her eyes collapsing and soft breaths with every exhale.

"Well, that took care of itself," Erza said, taking another sip of her tea.

"Mm-hmm," Lucy mumbled in agreement. Lucy was then left to the task of finding something to pass the time until they arrived back in Magnolia. Then for some reason, the image of Gray yelling at her entered her thoughts again. She didn't know why, she wasn't even thinking anything remotely close to that awful moment. It sort of just popped back into her head, completely impromptu. A small part of her dared herself to peak over at Gray, but a bigger part of herself was too scared to even think it. Lucy then looked over at Erza, licked her dry lips, and said, "Erza?"

"Hmm?" the armored mage mumbled.

"About what happened with Geese. I'm sorry that I-."

"You have nothing to apologize for Lucy," Erza immediately said.

"Sure I do. Gray was right, we had him, and then I-."

"Forget what Gray said, remember what I said. Everybody makes mistakes. You can't expect every mission to go your way. You will eventually slip up. Everyone does."

"Did you ever make any mistakes on your missions, Erza?"

The redhead looked upward for a second and immediately responded, "No."

"Oh…"

"But I have yet to fail a mission, and the same goes for you."

"What? But Geese got away because of me."

"Geese wasn't the main goal, ridding him and his band of crooks was; and we did just that."

"But Gray-."

"Forget Gray, Lucy. Gray's just going through a tough time right now and he's taking it out on you."

"What about Geese?"

"He may have escaped twice, but that doesn't mean he'll always be a free man. One day, that scum will be caught. If not by us, then by someone else."

"Oh. Okay," Lucy said, feeling a little better about herself. "But what's going to happen now?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Gray."

"You let me worry about Gray. As I said, he's just being an idiot and misplacing his anger."

"O-okay then."

"Don't fret, Lucy. We did a good thing for that town, and we completed our mission. Just sit back, enjoy the-."

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Carla screamed, startling all the passengers in the cart. Her body dropped the floor where she started to violently flail in spastic motions, as though she was having a stroke.

All the passengers peaked over their seats at the screaming. Meanwhile Erza, Lucy, and Happy tried to calm her down. Wendy fought tooth and nail to overcome her motion sickness and moved to Carla's aid, as did Natsu. Gray shot up from his seat and sprinted down to the erratic exceed.

"What's wrong with her?" Gray asked.

"Don't… know!" Wendy struggled to say.

"Hold her down!" Erza said. She and Gray then tried to grab on to Carla's arms, despite them thrashing around, hitting the seats, and her head banging against the floor. "Hold her down!" Erza repeated.

"I'm trying!" Gray said, trying to keep a grip on Carla.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Carla continued to scream. "AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lucy then moved behind Erza and Gray and tried to hold Carla's head in her hands, to stop it from slamming into the metallic floor. "Carla!" Lucy tried. "Wake up! Everything's fine! It's just a dream."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAH!"

"Carla!" Wendy cried out.

"Carla, it's us!" Erza screamed. "You're just dreaming. You gotta wake up!"

"Carla!" Wendy cried again, on the verge of tears.

Then suddenly Carla stopped screaming. She woke up in a cold sweat, eyes rapidly darting around, seeing all those concerned faces.

Carla then got on her knees and hung her head over the floor. She felt her heart racing so much that it felt as though it was trying to punch its way out of her ribcage. Her face scrunched and then cupped her face into her hands and began bawling her eyes out.

"Carla," Lucy said, "what happ-?"

"Teeth!" Carla shrieked out. "I saw teeth!"

A/N: Reviews and criticisms are what keeps me going.