Back with the next chapter!
"Speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
A month later
At Fairy Tail
Everything in Fairy Tail was the same as always
In the Guild's bath
Lucy and the girls were taking a long bath as this was the first time, they did this together
"Hey, Lucy." Cana called out to Lucy while in the hot tub
"yeah?" Lucy replied while soaking her hand into the warm water
"Did you gain weight?" Cana asked with a smirk as Lucy's eyes widened to the comment. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.
"What?! I have?! Where?! I knew I shouldn't have eaten that cake yesterday!"
"Right…here!" Cana said as she gropes Lucy's breasts from behind and started to grope them around.
"Kyaaa! Cana, what are you doing? Stop…" she let out an embarrassed moan.
"Oh, come on." Cana grinned. "No need to be shy. We're friends, right?"
Levy sighed to the two "Where's Wendy when we need her? She usually puts a stop to this kind of stuff." She sighed.
"Wendy and Charla went with on a job Erza." Mirajane answered as she approached the bath, readying herself to get in.
"She did? That's kind of odd for those two to go alone on a job as well."
"Erza said she wanted to get her mind off of Natsu so she needed a job. You should have seen how their faces lit up when they heard abo the reward." Mirajane said, dipping her legs into the warm water. "The sparkle in their eyes was adorable."
"What was the reward?"
"Some extremely rare sweets." Mirajane smiled as she titled her head back.
At Onibus
"m-my name i-is Ellie! And I u-use Tonfas!" Erza who was wearing a costume exclaimed as she played out a character
"you stink!"
"I want my money back!"
The crowds booed her as they started throwing garbage at her
"even after 7 years, Erza-san's over drama never disappeared" Wendy who was wearing a costume said with a sweat drop
"let's just wrap this up so that we can get the sweets" Charla said while also wearing a costume
Back with the others
"Mira-nee…" Lisanna began.
"Yes?" Mirajane answered looking to her sister.
"You said Erza went on a job with Wendy, right?"
"That's right." Mirajane nodded. "Why do you ask?"
"isn't that Erza?" Levy pointed out as everyone looks to the other tub and sees large mass of red hair..
"Erza?" Lucy called.
The mass of hair slowly turned around and a familiar voice echoed in Lucy's ear. "Blondie…" the strands of red hair separated like a curtain, the figure revealing itself to be none other than Flare Corona.
"Flare?!" Mirajane shouted.
"What's she doing here?!" Levy added in equal shock, but also a hint of fear.
"Why you…!" Cana exclaimed and was about to go and teach her a lesson If it hadn't for Lucy who stopped her
"Cana, wait!" Lucy shouted. She jumped out of the water, grabbing Cana from behind before the angered brunette got too far away. This resulted in the two slipping on the wet stone floor and falling to the ground with a painful thud. Cana managed to turn to her back. She looked up at Lucy with irritation.
"What are you doing, Lucy?!" she asked as she tried to get from under the blonde. She was finding the task rather difficult. Perhaps she had gained some weight. "Did you forget what she-"
"Just calm down." Lucy said. "She's not here to hurt anyone." She looked up at the Raven Tail wizard. "Right, Flare?"
Flare shook her head slowly, a nervous blush creeping across her soft face.
"What are you talking about?! She's from Raven Tail!" Cana argued.
Flare looked away from the two wizards, her blush deepening as she pressed her finger tips together. As she continued to fidget, her hair slowly began moving towards Cana. Soon tendrils of red hair enveloped the brunette fortuneteller, moving up and down as well as wrapping around her body. Lucy subsequently lost her leverage and fell to the side.
"Let me help wash every part of you." Flare said, somewhat creepily, as her hair did it's admittedly perverted "wash" on Cana. The brunette quickly forgot about her previous anger.
"This feels great!" She shouted happily.
"So, why are you here, Flare?" Lucy asked, doing her best to ignore Cana's "washing".
"After the Grand Magic Games…Raven Tail disbanded…" Flare explained, still fidgeting with her fingertips. "I…don't have…anywhere else to go."
The Fairy Tail girls sat silent in response to Flare's confession.
Juvia watched the scene unfold from the locker room area of the bath. She was going to join her friends, but Flare's sudden appearance made her air on the side of caution. Nonetheless she slowly began to see something in the lost wizard.
""That gloomy face. She's just like me!"" Juvia thought, clutching her Gray plushie in her arms.
After a few more moments of silence Lucy smiled warmly at Flare. "Do you want me to ask the Master if you can join us?"
A small smile unrolled on Flare's lips as she looked down at her clear reflection in the water. Lucy's friends were less than enthusiastic about the blonde's invitation.
"No way!" Levy shouted in disbelief.
"You're asking her to join?!" Lisanna asked, equally surprised. Shizuka looked on in confusion, something she did most times she visited the Fairy Tail guild.
Mirajane giggled, having slowly warmed to the idea. "I don't see the harm in asking. Yukino seems to be doing well and it's always nice to have more guild members."
"You too, Mira?" Cana sighed. She had regained her faculties after Flare's hair was finished with her.
The redhead brought her hand up to her mouth seemingly trying to stop herself from laughing as she looked away with a coy smile. "But…I don't think I want to join Fairy Tail."
"Then why are you here!" Lucy, Levy, Cana, and Lisanna yelled in unison. Even Juvia joined in, having stepped out from the locker room and into the bath area.
Strawberry street
Lucy walked along the bank of the town river as she made her way back to her apartment.
She stretched her arms out to keep her balance, a smile on her lips. As usual the ferryman that passed by warned her of the dangers of walking on the bank, one of them even asked for her autograph for his son.
"That was actually pretty fun. Right, Plue?" Lucy said to her spirit
"pu puun" Plue replied to her
"Now that I think of it, my rent's coming up soon. I should go on a job too." She said as Plue agreed to her.
"Looks like we agree." The blonde giggled. Once she reached the top of the stairs, Lucy grabbed her door handle, turned it, and entered her room for what seemed like the first time in ages.
"Welcome home!"
"I hope you don't mind us taking advantage of your hospitality."
"Hi, Aunt Lucy!"
"THIS FEELS LIKE OLD TIMES!" Lucy exclaimed before she sighed and walks into the room before closing the door behind her.
"Sorry for just barging in here like this." Wendy apologized.
"Honestly, this place is much nicer than I expected." Charla commented, looking up from her cup of tea.
A bead of sweat dropped from Lucy's forehead. "I'm not sure how to take that."
Erza placed her hand on a chest next to the couch, a proud smile on her face. "We received some very exotic sweets as a reward on our job and since there is too much for us to eat ourselves, we thought we'd share some."
Lucy's eyes lit up as she took a seat next to Wendy. Plue hopped into her lap. "Really? That's awesome. So I'm guessing everything went well on the job?"
Wendy laughed nervously. "Kind of…"
"It was like a dream!" Erza shouted. She was beaming with pride as she thought of her performance in the play.
"Or a nightmare," Charla commented under her breath as she sips her tea
"I can only imagine." Lucy giggled as she took a piece of candy from the now open chest. It was small, no bigger than the palm of her hand, but it was wrapped in the most exquisite gold and green paper. She held the wrapped cube up to her nose, the sweet scent seeping through the spaces in the wrapping and wafting into her nostrils. "This smells great." She said, nearly drooling.
"Try it." Erza urged. "I guarantee that you will find it most delicious."
Believing in Erza's enthusiastic sales pitch, Lucy unwrapped the candy and dropped into her mouth. As soon as the light brown cube hit her tongue the blonde felt an explosion of sugar, caramel, and honey - with the faintest taste of apple for good measure - coating her tongue. Her cheeks went numb from the sweetness as she chewed the confectionery. Her mouth watered with each passing second. Her eyes lighting up, as a satisfied smile slowly appeared on her lips. "You're right! This is amazing!"
Erza nodded in victory. "Isn't it? This is said to some of the finest candy in all of Fiore."
Rose reached for the chest but Erza stops her from taking another candy
"no more" Erza told her daughter
"I want one!" Rose pouted to her mother
"you had ten pieces already" Erza told her daughter as unlike her twin, Mary, Rose has a very strong sweet tooth
"delish!" Mary said as she eats one of the candies in her mouth
Rose continued to pout to her mother before Erza sighs and take one piece of candy from the chest
"this is the last one for today, alright?" Erza said as Rose takes the candy with a big smile
"yay!" Rose cheered as she eats the candy
"don't spoil her too much, Erza" Charla commented to her
"Hey, if you guys aren't too busy, do you wanna go on a job with me? It's time to pay my rent again." Lucy suggested.
"Sure." Wendy replied with a smile
"I don't see why not." Erza nodded, standing up from the couch along with Rose and Mary
"Great. Thanks you guys." Lucy smiled.
At Fairy Tail
Lucy and the others were back at the guild as they were picking the job on the request board
"What about this one?" Wendy asked, pointing at a request on the bottom left.
Lucy shook her head. "It's not enough."
"This looks promising," Erza said, placing her finger on a job in the center of the board.
"Too dangerous."
"Well we won't get anywhere if we stare a hole into the board like Nab." Charla said, she was quickly beginning to grow agitated. "Hurry and pick something."
On the other side of the guild, Master Makarov sat in his usual spot on the bar top, looking out at his "children". He rested his head on his arm, a sigh and subdued expression revealing his boredom until Mirajane walked to him with a small stack of papers in hand.
"We have more emergency requests, Master." She said, handing the old man the stack.
"Hmm?" Makarov moaned, opening one eye as he took the papers in his hand. He sat up, opening his other eye so he could better read the requests.
"We've been getting more and more specialty requests lately."
"It's because we've gotten so popular as of late." Mirajane giggled.
Makarov flipped through the stack absent-mindedly, only paying the slightest hint of attention to a paper when he noticed the two names listed for the request.
"Natsu! Gray! You have a job request asking for you!" he called, waving the papers overhead.
Lucy and the others heard the announcement and walked to the bar, Gray meeting them there as well since his name was called.
"where's Natsu?" Makarov asked
"he's at the Council, Master." Erza told him "he said that he had important paperwork to sign"
"Just like that guy to be gone when we need him." Gray sighed.
"I wonder who asked for those two." Lucy thought aloud.
"I see, then I guess this will just have to wait until he returns." Makarov said. Out of curiosity he took a closer look at the job request. As he read over the paper, his eyes slowly widened in shock. The others took notice of their Master's shift in demeanor.
"What's wrong, Master?" Mirajane asked.
"I was mistaken…you must take this job…with or without Natsu!" Makarov's voice sounded as if the paper in his hand was the key to life and death. His shaken and fearful tone unsettled everyone. The mood quickly turned in the Fairy Tail guild.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"What's got you so freaked out, old man?" Gray added.
The request continued to crinkle in Makarov's ever tightening grip. "The person who put in this request…is Warrod Sequen. He's ranked fourth among the ten wizard saints. He's also been named as one of the Four Emperors of Ishgal." Everyone's collective jaws dropped at the news. Warrod's reputation had clearly proceeded him.
"A wizard saint requested the job?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock. "and it's one of the 4 tops!?"
"What does this mean?!" Charla asked in equal shock.
"Why would someone so powerful…?" Wendy began.
Gray and Erza's eyes widened, the latter barely able to speak due to her surprise. "What in the world?"
With Natsu
He was walking around the halls of the Council as he yawned
"so, much paperwork" he said as he had finally finished dozens of paperwork an hour ago
He reached to an office which belongs to him as he sees the Communication Lacrima glowing
"I wonder who is it?" Natsu said as he touch the orb and it glowed
Makarov appeared in the orb as Natsu sits down on his chair
"what is it, Gramps?" Natsu asked the old man
"we got a request directed for you and Gray, it's from one of the Wizard Saints named Warrod Sequen"
Makarov told to the man as Natsu raise an eyebrow
"the old tree man? Wonder what made him send a request" Natsu said a bit surprise
"you think you can catch up with Erza and the others?" Makarov asked Natsu who reequipped Enryuo no Yoroi on
"say no more" Natsu said as he turns off the communication Lacrima and heads out
That's a wrap!
Bye bye