Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
AN: I'm really sorry for the late update. I was planning to update earlier, but there was a family emergency. My brother contracted COVID-19 and there was a lot of scrambling around happening. We had to find a place for him to stay because we live in a small space so he didn't give it to anyone else. Luckily I live in New York and they have a hotel hotline where people who have COVID can stay there for 14 days. Then we all had to get tested as well. I also had to step up as the second oldest, making sure everyone was positive, taking care of themselves and not stressing a lot. I tried to get extensions on deadlines and almost all but one professor did for me. The professor who didn't give me a deadline told me to send in my midterm, which is before the deadline and no extensions will be given. It was a very long paper. I understand where he was coming from, but I also found it a bit rude (I'm not crazy for thinking that am I?) because there were other people in my class who also had emergencies as well and wanted an extension as well. It's a tough time for everyone, and people have responsibilities and obligations to fulfill as well as school work. I had to scramble to finish that as well. So overall my physical, mental, and emotional energy were completely low. I gave myself some time to rest because running on fumes is not ideal. I apologize for the lateness and my rant. I also have a couple of ideas for more Lalu stories, but I'm wondering if I should write them or not, so I'd like your opinion on that as well. I'm open to requests or ideas you would like to see, although I can't guarantee I can get to all of them. I think it would be an enjoyable challenge for me and it will make me push myself. As always, enjoy and I love hearing any feedback. I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes. This is my first time writing a fight scene, so I hope I did well. Sorry for the long AN!
Freed and Evergreen separated from Laxus and Lucy, entering a few minutes after the blonde duo. Seeing them talk with Princess Hisui, they decide to head in the opposite direction, towards the balcony. Evergreen scanned the room to see if there was anything or anyone out of place. She noticed many people wearing foreign clothes and asked Freed what was that about. "There are foreigners attending this event tonight. I thought this was just a museum opening." It seemed something more to her than just looking at pieces of art.
"Your right. It is an opening for a new museum, but it is something more. The King is trying to reach out to other nations and make peaceful arrangements with them. The museum opening is a show of goodwill from both parties as each contributes important treasures and artifacts to show the public the history of their nation," explained Freed. It was also the best place to make connections, regardless of whether peace agreements went through. Having a foreign nation as your ally has many benefits.
"I hope Bickslow and Loke are doing okay. I can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen," said Evergreen, opening her fan and fanning herself. Security looked pretty lax for a place that had important people. "I barely see any guards around," she muttered low enough for Freed to hear. "You'd think for an event with important individuals, there will be guards all over to protect them."
Freed was feeling very apprehension about this as well. He discreetly looked around the room until his eyes stopped on a masked individual talking with someone in the corner. Strange, he thought. This isn't a masquerade party, so why are they wearing a mask unless you're trying to conceal something. He strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of the other individual, but couldn't make out their appearance due to how dark that corner was.
"Ever, let's discreetly head towards that corner. I think we might hear something noteworthy there," said Freed as started his trek to his current destination, but went stiff when he heard someone call him out. Someone he hasn't seen or heard from in a while.
"I do not recall you being invited to this event, little brother," a familiar voice called out, causing Freed to stop in his tracks. "You are no longer part of the family and yet you still play dress up. Trying to mooch off others, I see," he sneered.
Freed turned around to see his elder brother, Harar Justine, standing there, looking prim and proper as usual. With his mint green hair neatly combed to the side and his expensive clothes, nothing has changed about his brother. Freed spoke up without a hint of fear. He would not let his older brother intimidate him anymore. "I'll have you know that I have just as much of a right to be here as you are. Regardless of whether I am part of the family. Besides, I was invited, so it's not like I'm trespassing."
Evergreen couldn't help but look back and forth at the two brothers. If looks could kill, both would be dead by now with the amount of pure disdain on their faces. She saw their target head outside the room and into the hallway. She nudged Freed's side with her elbow and hissed in a low voice. "They're getting away. We have to hurry before they get out of sight. You can argue with your brother later."
Freed was brought back to reality when Evergreen dug her elbow into his side. He got so distracted with seeing his brother, he almost forgot their mission. He stood strong in front of his brother and huffed. "Now, if you will excuse me, my partner isn't feeling well. I am bringing her out to get some free air." He swung on his heel and headed into the hallway with Evergreen, trying to find the masked individual.
They searched and searched, but to no avail. It was as if the person just disappeared into thin air. "Well, that was a dud," said Evergreen, trying to catch her breath. It wasn't easy to move around since her dress was a little heavy.
"I apologize, this was my fault. I was so distracted with my brother that I let them slip away," said Freed with a sad sigh. "We should head back to the ballroom to catch any more useful bits of information."
Freed and Evergreen headed back to the entrance of the ballroom, which to their surprise was closed. "That's strange," commented Freed. "These doors should be opened." He went up to the door to open the door, but an invisible wall prevented him from pushing it open. He pushed a few more times but was unsuccessful. He looked up to see a bunch of runes. He read, "No one may leave or use magic behind these doors. Walls will only come down if you defeat the mage who wrote the runes." Freed cursed under his breath. "I'll have to rewrite the runes from here."
In the ballroom:
When Laxus heard the robbers come in, Laxus quickly turned around to open the door to get them out, but to no avail. "What the hell," he muttered and let out a string of curses as he banged on the door. "They're not opening," he stated, looking at Lucy who looked slightly worried.
"Laxus, is that you," Evergreen's voice called out from the other side of the door. "Is Lucy with you? What's going on over there?"
"Yeah, Ever we're here," answered Laxus, leaving the door alone. "Some thieves are here trying to hold a stick up. What about on your side? The doors aren't opening."
"Someone placed runes here," replied Freed. "It's preventing people from escaping the hall."
"Fuck. This is just what we needed. A fucking robbery," said Laxus sarcastically while rolling his eyes. Is this normal at social gatherings, he thought.
"There's another problem," Freed added. "The runes will prevent you guys from using magic, so unless you find the mage who placed them and defeat them, you guys are sitting ducks in there. I will try to rewrite the runes so that at least you can use magic. It will take a bit since they aren't my runes. Until then, stall them to the best of your ability."
"We have to be careful," advised Lucy as she brought the celestial keys attached to her thigh and clipped them on her waist. "There are important individuals here. If they get harmed, there's going to be serious repercussions." She purposely brought her celestial keys into plain view. Everyone is aware of how valuable the Golden Zodiac is. Fetching a hefty sum in the market, even more in the black market. She's hoping to catch their attention. Sorry guys for using you as bait, she thought as she touched her keys.
"I see six people so far. The guy who won't shut up is probably the ringleader," observed Laxus as he saw the group disperse into different corners of the room, threatening people with a lacrima gun to give up their valuables.
"Oh no," said Lucy when she saw one henchmen get rough with one couple. The husband tried to defend his wife when the robber grabbed her wrist but got punched to the ground and a gun pointed at his face.
"Let this be an example to all of you," announced the man in the dragon mask who was standing in the center. "There better not be any ideas of playing superhero or else you will end up like this man right here." He pointed to the man on the floor. He walked up to him and put his boot on his head. "Ahhhh, that's better. Such a convenient footstool." He bent down to get in his face. "How does it feel to be stepped on now," he mocked.
"Shit, what is she doing," Laxus whispered when he saw the Princess walk up to the ringleader. "She's going to make things worse."
"I don't know, but I have to stop her before she gets hurt. First sign when you can use magic, I want you to create multiple holes in the walls so that people can escape. Until then I'm going to keep his attention on me," responded Lucy as she headed towards the princess, ignoring his attempts to stop her.
"Take your foot off his head," ordered the Princess, fury in her eyes. She was not going to stand on the sidelines and let people get hurt.
"Listen here, princess. I don't take orders from you," the dragon mask dude said, standing straight with his boot still on the man and got into Hisui's face. "Especially since I'm not Fiorian. So you have no jurisdiction over us."
What kind of idiot would admit that, thought Laxus as he stared at the ringleader in disbelief. Last thing you want is for people to discern your identity. Hopefully blondie uses his stupidity to her advantage. Laxus watched Lucy get in between the dimwit dragon and the princess.
Lucy placed herself between the two, pushing her and Hisui farther back. She glared at the man. "You should show some respect to her highness." She whispered to Hisui. "Stay back and let me handle this. The minute you see an opening get yourself and everyone else out of here."
Dragon mask blinked at the new individual and suddenly his face turned lecherous. The new guest was very beautiful, even more than the princess in his opinion. Fiore had some very beautiful women, and he was seeing proof of it right in front of him. "Well, well, well, who do we have here," he said in a playful tone, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was mentally undressing her and imagining the things he wanted to do to her. "What's your name, sugar? I know fancy pants only told me to steal jewelry, but I wouldn't mind stealing you away as well," he finished with a wink. He took his boot off the man and walked up to Lucy.
Lucy resisted the urge to shudder. At least he stopped looking at the princess and the man was out of harm's way. Time to put her acting skills to the test. She tried not to wince at how sappy she sounded. "Why hello there, handsome," she said in a flirtatious tone, trying to look like she was into him. "Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady for her name without introducing yourself first," she responded with a wink back.
Meanwhile, Laxus was holding back a snarl at the scene in front of him. He wanted to smash that ugly mug of his to the point his face would be unrecognizable. However, he realized that Lucy's distraction was working because he had his attention on her. Come on, Freed. Hurry up. I want to punch something, specifically that guy's teeth, he thought bitterly. He sported an evil grin. If anything, I'm doing him a favor. Having no teeth will certainly improve his image as the ugliest bastard in the world.
"Forgive me, Miss. I didn't mean to insult you." He gave her a mock bow and took her wrist in his head, kissing it. His lips lingered a few seconds longer than needed. Lucy tried not to rip her hand away or cringe at his pathetic attempt at flirting. "I was so dazzled by your beauty that all rules of etiquette were thrown out the window." He lifted his head and tried to give her a seductive smile, but to Lucy he looked constipated. "My name is Juan Carlos Maximiliano Vicente Bautista. But you may call me Juan because I'm the only Juan for you." He gave Lucy another wink.
Lucy resisted the urge to facepalm herself. That was one of the weirdest pick up lines she has ever heard, and she had heard her fair share. She discreetly shared a look with Laxus and saw he was thinking the exact same thing.
THIS GUY WAS AN IDIOT!
What kind of thief would deliberately tell their name? What was the freaking point of the mask if people knew who you were?
Lucy snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Juan whistle loudly, sounding impressed. Hook, line and sinker, she thought, because she knew what caught his attention.
"Beautiful woman and beautiful taste," said Juan as he eyes the keys on her waist. "If I remember correctly, those are zodiac keys. They are worth a lot of money. About 3 million each in the black market. I see 10 on your waist, which means about 30 million in total." He looked conflicted as he mulled over his options. "Hmmm, as much as I want to bring you with me, those keys are more valuable. No offense, of course."
Even with his mask on, Lucy could tell his eyeballs turned to dollar signs as he continued to eye her keys. They piqued his interest. Now to take it further, thought Lucy.
"None taken," responded Lucy. "Although a smart person would keep them for themselves." She had a plan in place. A little risky, but it could work if done right.
Juan raised a brow at this and frowned. "What do you mean by that?" Was there more value in keeping them for himself.
"Well, each zodiac is represented by a spirit. Each spirit has their own abilities. For example, Virgo is known as the maiden spirit. Anything that pertains to housework she will do for you. Cook, clean, you name it. However, her specialty is Earth magic. Specifically digging holes, which in your line of work can prove quite handy." Lucy gestured to him and his group to emphasize her point. "Taurus is the bull spirit. He represents power and has super strength. Making it easy to carry things around, don't you think." she explained, hoping he'd take the bait. She wanted him to ask her to show her magic to him. "I could show you if you want."
"Boss, don't listen to her… aargh." A henchman came up to him and tried to convince Juan that this was a bad idea, but uttered a cry of pain when Juan jabbed his side hard with the back of the gun. He slumped over in pain and crouched to the ground, breathing hard.
"You listen here, punk. I'm in charge here and certainly don't take orders from you," Juan warned in a threatening tone. "I make the decisions here and I'll decide whether I want to sell the keys or keep them for myself. Is that clear?"
The man nodded quickly in fear, afraid to go against him again. Juan may be a little on the dumb side, but he was known to be cruel towards people who cross or go against him. He was not willing to take that risk.
"Good." Juan pats him on the back and turns his attention back on Lucy. "Sorry about that sugar. Now where were we? Oh, yes. Those keys. What else can they do," he asked curiously with an evil glint in his eyes.
Now that he thought about it, she was making a lot of valid points. He could use the keys for bigger scores in the future. Scores he could only dream of doing because he didn't have the necessary arsenal to pull it off. Now that arsenal was currently sitting on her waist. But he had to make sure she wasn't fooling him.
Lucy gave him a seductive smirk and crossed her arms under her chest, pushing them up enticingly. Lucy moved closer, leaning into his ear and whispered. "I even have one that can look just like me. Just imagine it. One of me on either side of you, doing whatever you wanted, wearing whatever you wanted. Just let me show you."
Juan felt his entire body shudder at what she was insinuating. His mind envisioned all the naughty things two beautiful blonde twins would do with him. He was waving the pros and cons of changing the rune barrier and letting her summon a spirit. If he remembered correctly, Celestial Spirit wizards are useless without their spirits. They let them do all the fighting for them. The owner would be useless. Plus, it's just one spirit. The numbers were on his side. They can easily defeat one if she tries to trick him. Then he can easily steal them from her. His grin grew wider as he praised himself for concocting an ingenious plan.
"Ronald," Juan beckoned one of the men to him. The rune mage. "Rewrite your runes so that sugar can demonstrate her abilities to me." He glared at Ronald, who hesitated and felt apprehensive about the whole thing. "Don't make me ask again," he warned.
Ronald quickly rushed towards the door where Laxus was nearby and hastily rewrote the runes so that magic could be used inside the room.
Lucy pulled Virgo's Key from her waist and raised her hand to summon her, channeling her magic into the key. "Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo". Virgo appeared in front of them in her usual maid outfit. Virgo bowed and said with a blank expression, "Punishment Princess?"
Juan gave Virgo an once over and nodded when he saw her come out wearing a maid's outfit with shackles on her wrist. He was about to comment when he saw a force push Ronald out the window.
Laxus felt his magic come back to him and quickly sprung into action. "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!" Laxus didn't want to take any chances, so he made sure the rune mage was out the room. He gathered a tremendous amount of lightning towards his right hand and thrust his fist forward towards Ronald. The force of the punch hurled Ronald through the window, shards of glass scattering across the floor with people scrambling around to take cover.
"Lightning Dragon's Iron Hammer," yells Laxus and punches the wall near the exit, creating a large enough hole for multiple people to exit through. "Get out of here," growls Laxus when he sees people gapping at him. Freed and Evergreen escorted the people to safety.
"After him," yelled Juan as he told the rest of his men to go after Laxus. He was about to go after Laxus as well when something wrapped around his wrist and pulled him backward. He looked back to see Lucy wearing a new outfit and a whip in her hands.
Lucy transformed into her Star Dress Aries Form when Juan was not looking. Her hair was in two side ponytails with ram horns sitting aside her head. Her current attire comprised a pink and white woolen dress with a woolen scarf wrapped around her neck.
"Oh, no you don't," exclaimed Lucy when she saw Juan head towards Laxus. She tugged his wrist harder, causing him to stumble forward towards her. She side-stepped him and with his back facing her, she twisted her body and sent a hard kick to his head, knocking him out.
Lucy headed over to the open window with Virgo by her side. "Wool cushion," she chants and conjures a cloud of pink wool on the ground. She turns to the group behind her who have not left yet. "Everyone, please jump out the window. The wool will cushion your fall. Virgo assist them please," she tells everyone and heads towards Laxus to help him.
"Everyone please head this way in a single file and jump one at a time," Virgo informs each person as they do as Virgo says. She disappears back into the spirit world when every guest makes it down safely.
Laxus was facing off against the last four guys. Two of them were actual mages, fire and lightning, while the other two were using their lacrima guns to defend against him.
The man in the fox mask moves first. He points his gun at Laxus and releases a barrage of bullets. "DIE," he yells, hazardously shooting bullets at Laxus.
Laxus transforms into his lightning form, causing the bullets to pass through to the shock of the henchmen. Still in lightning form, he maneuvered behind fox mask and turned back to his regular form. "Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist" he chants and slams his fist into his back, spiraling him into his partner, leaving the two mages left.
The fire mage conjures an enormous ball of fire, when Laxus's back is faced and hurls it towards Laxus, who turns around, closes his eyes and braces himself for the impact. The most damage he would get would be singed clothes. Feeling nothing on himself, he opens his eyes to see Lucy standing in front of him in a short pink dress and horns with a wool wall in front of him, neutralizing the fire.
"Uh, thanks," says Laxus, feeling grateful towards Lucy who gave him a wink.
"I can't let you have all the fun," she gives Laxus a smirk and readies her whip facing her opponents.
"You take the fire mage. I'll take the lightning mage," said Laxus with Lucy giving him a nod that she understood.
Lucy sprints to the fire mage and dodges another ball of fire thrown at her. She engulfs him with her wool bomb, causing the man to feel super relaxed and he falls asleep. She ties him up with her whip while he continues to doze off.
The lightning mage sends attack after attack of sparks towards Laxus, who just slurps them up like noodles. Feeling bored with the one-sided battle, Laxus teleports in front of him and bashes his head against him, effectively knocking him out.
Laxus picked the man up and walked over to Lucy, who was tying everyone up. He throws the man on the ground by her feet, letting her tie him up as well. "Is it just me, or did that seem a little too easy," asked Laxus. It wasn't even 10 minutes and the two of them managed to beat the mages very quickly.
Lucy was about to respond when the ground shook a little, followed by an explosion outside, causing her to stumble. Laxus steadied back to her feet.
"And that's our cue to leave," Laxus picked up the group of men with one arm and Lucy in the other. He ignored her cry of protest and jumped out the window, wincing at the sound of Lucy's scream in his ear. They bounce off the wool cushion and land on their feet safely, with the henchmen thrown to the ground.
Lucy pushes herself away from Laxus, her body missing the feeling of his muscular arm around her waist. She pats the dust off her clothes and gives Laxus a glare. "You can warn a girl next time you suddenly jump out a window."
"There was no time," said Laxus nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders at her. Internally, he was grinning at her angry pout. The look on her face as they jumped out the window was priceless. The way she grabbed his arm in order to hold on, her eyes closed in wild panic, looking like a scared little bunny. His dragon predatory side enjoyed seeing her like that for just a moment. He looked around to see that they were standing in the garden.
Lucy was about to yell at him, but stopped when he suddenly frowned. He made a shushing motion towards Lucy as he strained his ears to figure out what that crackling sound was. His eyes went wide open when he saw fire burning the foliage and rapidly coming towards them. "Shit," he said, grabbing the guys, putting them on his shoulder and Lucy's hand. They ran further into the garden maze, trying to avoid the fire that was quickly catching up to them.
"We need a water source," panted Lucy as she tried to keep up with Laxus's long strides. "I can put the fire out. I just need a place to summon HER." Lucy tried not to shiver in fear. She was running low on magic and could not hold another Star Dress form. She only had enough to summon one more spirit, one that was used as a last resort and can be counted on when it was needed.
Laxus spotted a puddle and nodded his head towards it. "Would that work," he asked, hoping that whatever plan she had worked.
Lucy let out a sigh when he saw the tiny puddle. "Yeah, it will. Just hold on tight," she murmured, bracing herself for the lecture and punishment she was going to get. Aquarius may actually kill her this time, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made.
She tugs Laxus towards the puddle and let's go of his hand. She takes out a familiar key and dips it into the water. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"
Lucy takes a step back and stands next to Laxus. In front of them stood a blue mermaid with blue hair and blue eyes, with an urn in her hand. Aquarius opens her eyes and stares at Lucy in anger when she sees where Lucy summoned her from.
"You summoned me from a fucking puddle," she screeched, causing the blonde duo to wince at the volume. She grabs the front of Lucy's shirt, giving her an evil side eye, causing Lucy to let out an eep of fear. "How many times have I told you not to summon from a dirty hole in the ground?! This better be an emergency because you interrupted my date with Scorpio my BOYFRIEND, something you don't have, a BOYFRIEND," threatened Aquarius, putting special emphasis on the word BOYFRIEND.
"I'm sorry," wailed Lucy, silently praying to the gods to let her get out of this unscathed. Her heart stung every time Aquarius mentioned the word boyfriend. She didn't need a constant reminder of her nonexistent love life. "I need you to create a wave big enough for you to put out that fire over there." Lucy pointed at that fire that was getting closer and closer to them.
Laxus was looking at the scene in front of him in exasperation. Lucy was apologizing continuously while Aquarius was screeching at Lucy. "Listen here, you overgrown fish. We don't have time for your bitchiness. Just put out the damn fire," demanded Laxus, getting slowly irritated at her.
Aquarius abruptly let go of Lucy's shirt and turned to glare at Laxus. He heard Lucy murmur a 'now you've done it'.
"What did you just call me brat," asked Aquarius in a dark tone. She continued, "you want a wave. I'll give you a fucking wave." She raised her urn in the air, pointing it towards Laxus and Lucy. She let out a war cry as water gushed out of her urn, creating an immense wave that engulfed the two of them and put out the fire.
The wave pushed the blondes to the other side as they tried to fight against the water. When the wave finally stopped, they were on the ground coughing up water that got in their mouths.
"What… cough cough... the hell was… cough cough… was that," asked Laxus as he tried to remove the water that got into his lungs.
"That… cough cough… was my... cough cough my strongest spirit. Which you just pissed off," responded Lucy, who was trying to steady her breathing. She opened her eyes and her heart sunk at the damage Aquarius caused to the garden. Trees were uprooted and flowers were ruined by the force of the water.
"You ruined the garden," yelled Lucy at Aquarius who was looking nonchalant about the whole situation. "Look at how damage was caused! This is public property!"
Aquarius stared at her nails without a care in the world and shrugged. "You told me to create a wave and a wave I gave."
Suddenly Aquarius sported a smirk, causing Lucy to shiver. She had a bad feeling about this. Aquarius took a long good look at Laxus and gave Lucy a knowing smile. "Isn't he the guy you had a picture of in your…," Aquarius' voice trailed over as Lucy sent her back to the spirit world.
Lucy quickly raised her key and performed a forced gate closure before Aquarius finished her sentence. She felt heat rising on the back of her neck all the way to her cheeks. She refused to look at Laxus, who was sporting a cocky grin.
"What picture was she talking about," he teased, his grin growing wider when he saw the tips of her ears turn redder.
"Nothing," responded Lucy making her way to the front of the museum as she refused to look at Laxus in embarrassment.
"Tell me," he demanded as he followed her, knowing he would get lost if he didn't. He wanted to see her embarrassed look. "Better yet, look at me. You can check out the real thing instead of staring at a picture."
Lucy paused in her trek to turn around to yell at him and scoffed when she saw him flexing his muscles and kissing his biceps as he grinned at her. "You're unbelievable," she stated and went back to walking.
"Unbelievably handsome," he countered, walking beside her, continuing to flex his arm.
"Ughhhhh," screamed Lucy at the audacity of Laxus as they got closer and closer to the crowd of guests.
.
With Freed and Evergreen:
After escorting everyone to safety, they decide to take a look around the premise to see what caused the fire.
"What's this?" Freed sees something on the ground and bends down to pick it up. It's a piece of burnt cloth. He brings it closer to his face to take a sniff and almost gags at the overwhelming scent of alcohol. Someone made a Molotov cocktail. He takes a moment to observe the greenery in the garden. "This was done deliberately."
"Your telling me this little thing caused that huge fire," exclaimed Evergreen in shock. With a fire that size, you would have assumed that a bomb exploded. "How did it spread so fast?"
"Whoever it was knew what they were doing. The shrubs and hedges are Leyland Cypress trees. We know them to grow in a variety of different climate conditions and provide protection from the winds. However, their biggest flaw is that they are highly flammable," explained Freed. He continued with a solemn look. "If that wave of water didn't come…"
"... this whole place would have burned down in a matter of minutes," finished Evergreen with a grim look on her face. "Killing everyone inside." However, something didn't add up. "So what was the distraction? The fire or the thieves?"
Freed shook his head, unsure. "I don't know. It's possible that both were distractions for something else. We need to regroup with Laxus and Lucy quickly. See what they found out." Freed and Evergreen quickly got out of the garden and went to the museum's entrance to search for Laxus and Lucy within the crowd of people.
They found Laxus and Lucy, who were soaking wet. Laxus, who was continuously grinning at Lucy and Lucy scoffing and ignoring him. Freed was about to greet them when they saw Loke and Bickslow come up to them looking worried.
"You guys are a little early. Was everything okay," asked Freed, catching the attention of the two blondes.
Bickslow shared a look with Loke and responded in his stead. "There were some complications," he said slowly. "I'll explain, later when we get out of here," he said when he noticed their confused looks. "But we did learn some valuable stuff."
Loke disappeared into the spirit world and the group was about to leave when the rune knights showed up. Laxus and the Thunder Legion groaned when they saw who led the troops and headed straight towards them. Strait-laced Lahar was here.
"Fairy Tail," Lahar spat out, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief. "I should have known you were responsible for the destruction of the museum's beloved garden and that hole in the ballroom."
"Actually, that was me," squeaked Lucy as she slowly raised her hand up. It was her idea to create a hole so that the guests could escape, and she summoned Aquarius, knowing fully well of her destructive behavior. She stepped forward and continued in an unwavering voice. "If there's anyone to blame, it's me. Please don't hold them accountable."
Lucy's act of kindness touched the Fairy Tail mages. People rarely stepped up for them in front of the rune knights.
Lahar turns his attention to Lucy and, to the Fairies' surprise, sees him blush when addressing Lucy. "O-oh, Miss Lucy. I didn't know you were here." Lahar continues to blush and avoid Lucy's gaze, causing the Fairy's mouth to drop wide open. "I-if that's the case, I will have to give you a warning and send you a bill containing damage costs. I trust you will pay. Good day," he scolds and quickly scurries away from them.
Bickslow lets out an impressed whistle. "In all my life, I have never seen Lahar look so embarrassed and ready to run away from someone. The hell did you do," he turns to Lucy, causing the others to look at her as well out of curiosity.
Lucy cringed as she remembered an unpleasant memory. "Let's just say something happened and every interaction we have is extremely awkward."
"Which is," Laxus prodded Lucy. He really wanted to know.
"I almost became his stepmother," she replied with a wince. The whole experience was unpleasant. He was twice her age and proposed multiple times towards her. He was very persistent in his pursuits, causing a lot of headaches for her and her father.
The Thunder Legion cringed and laughed at the look of disdain on Lucy's face. Laxus on the other hand was frowning. He knew Lucy was telling the truth because he could tell if a person was lying with his dragon-hearing but sensed there was more to the story. He didn't think Lahar's blush was because of that. He had a feeling Lahar's blush was because of something else, and that left a foul taste in his mouth.
As Lucy was telling the story about the proposals, Laxus scanned the crowd until he heard an interesting piece of information. A group of employees at the museum were standing away from the crowd, whispered to each other. This was what he overheard.
"Was anything stolen? Above ground? The basement?" Laxus assumed this was the museum curator.
"U-um, everything is accounted for except for one thing. An object, donated by a noble from Desierto. A vase. It was in the basement." The man in the glasses closed his eyes in fear of what his superior would say.
"How could you guys lose that," the curator whispered harshly. "Have you not heard the stories regarding the vase?! It houses something evil in it, and I'm not willing to test that idea." He massages his temple to calm the headache that threatened to form. "Luckily that vase is useless without the seven jewels of sin, so there's not much to worry about and even if those are collected a ritual must be performed."
Laxus raised a brow at that. This is very interesting, he thought. He turned to address his comrades. "Let's head back to blondie's house. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a very long night on top of today's events."
Everyone nodded and headed home.