Chapter Four
Cast For Hire
The hand on the clock struck the hour before the last, and Lucy gulped down another lump of worry lodged in her throat. Closing the red, velvet curtains in front of her, she turned to lift her eyes towards the stage lights. Behind the bright beams, Levy's sun-colored dress flickered against the shadows. Short in stature, she leaned over on her tippy toes to push the beam towards the center of the stage, away from Lucy's vision.
Standing on the side, Jet and Droy beat their drums and waved their banners written in black, bold letters. "Woo! Go, Levy! You can do it!"
"Looking good up there, Levy!" Lucy called out, hands cupped around her mouth.
"Aw, thank you!" She smiled down at everyone, giggling modestly.
"Oh by the way," Lucy brightened with an idea. "Are your teammates deciding to audition tonight?"
A frown spread across her face as she glanced at the boys and back to her. "Um actually, the team and I were thinking about becoming your backstage crew. You know, handling the technical work and designing the backdrops and all. Is that alright with you?"
"Uh, yeah sure." Lucy forced a grin, aware that her tone could sound more convincing for her friend's sake. "I just hope that we could get enough people to sign up already."
Her bestie crossed over to the next stage light and tested out the beam, her eyes focusing on the task at hand. "Well, we only got until midnight before Mira locks up the guild for the day. But don't worry," She quickly said, flickering her gaze to Lucy. "That's an hour before then. That's plenty of time for people to join."
Lucy sighed. She greatly appreciated her attempt to be optimistic. Granted, the production needed a stage crew. But what good would that do without actors?
"Oh!" Levy perked up, hope pulling her focus away from the tangible. "I can ask Gajeel if he wants to audition."
She chuckled nervously. "Really? Ya don't say?" Levy was a sweet bookworm with a serious crush on the edgy Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox. Though his face contorted with hard lines from an unknown past, covered in piercings of steel nails generated by his own magic, his appearance didn't seem to turn Levy off in the slightest. As much as it had saddened Lucy to admit to herself, the chance of Levy convincing him to participate in a romantic play was as slim as her chance in becoming his girlfriend.
Perhaps someone had already signed up for an audition by now.
Lucy threw open the curtains, descended from Fairy Tail's wide stage, and crossed the densely populated dining hall of rowdy and rambunctious wizards. Seated around booths and dining tables peppered with booze and plates of hot wings, men guffawed from their raunchy conversations while women engaged themselves in juicy gossip. The loudest of the social bunch was Cana challenging everyone into a beer-chugging competition by the bar, and winning by a landslide. Sitting at the quietest corner of the hall was the lovely couple, Alzack and Bisca, whispering sweet nothings to each other and holding hands. And Wendy and Carla plan their next day of training with the aid of Erza Scarlet, one of the strongest women of their guild, with her strength and integrity. For the first time all day, Lucy felt the reassuring peace and belonging warming in her chest, pushing a fresh wave of pride and contentment onto her face. As she approached the mission board teeming with posters of jobs and promising rewards for many to snatch and make extra income before a summer kick-off, she narrowed her focus on the hot pink, embroidered sign-up sheet.
It was still blank.
All glimmer of hope dissipated into a black hole, sucking the rest of her dreams of success into a vortex. Her mission had been posted on the board since the early afternoon. And not a single person signed up. Should she hit the panic button now, or wait till the next day… and panic some more with the same result? She breathed out slowly and clapped her hands onto her cheeks.
Come on Lucy, snap out of it. This isn't the time to panic.
What was meant to be an internal thought had accidentally slipped out of her lips. She clasped her mouth shut with a hand, looking around for anyone who may had overheard her, and sighed in relief. She must stay positive, like Levy.
Suddenly, someone crashed into her from behind. She stumbled forward, bracing for the crushing pain of another brawl started by powerful wizards. But a heavy arm hooked around her shoulders, breaking her fall.
"Heya, Luce!" Natsu flashed his signature grin. "Got us a mission already?"
How did Natsu do that with only a smile? Send her troubles running for the hills and hope returning to its rightful place. No book sitting on the shelves of all the infamous guild's libraries could decipher this kind of magic. She didn't mind the mystery though, just glad that he and Happy came to her time of need.
She matched his grin with a wink. "Yep, you bet!"
Happy hovered in front of the audition sign-up sheet. "See, Natsu? I knew she'd picked this one." He pointed at the Wanted sign right next to it. "She's just as pumped to kick some bandit butt! All we gotta do is use her celestial spirits as bait to fish them out of hiding."
Lucy blinked. "Wait what?"
"Good idea, little buddy!" Natsu joined. "Come on, Luce! It'll be a cinch!"
"Hold up!" Her hand instinctively rested on her leather pouch full of her golden celestial keys. "We're not using my friends as bait."
"Why not? We used you as bait." Natsu pointed out, and she hated that he was right. In their past missions, they made her dress up as a maid, a nurse, a bikini model, or anything else that could allure their enemies into lustful submission. Her charm and beauty could get them paid faster for a job well done.
"I don't care." She reaffirmed, crossing her arms. "It's up to them whether they want to be bait."
The team fell silent, nobody willing to push her further on the idea of using her spirits for monetary gain. Although Loki and the Zodiacs had willingly signed contracts of servitude towards her, she regarded them as friends, sharing equal rights with their celestial mage.
"And besides." She motioned with her thumb at the sign-up sheet. "I got us a different mission. We're producing a play based off of my romantic novel."
Natsu formed a blank stare as Happy plopped himself onto the ground, tail falling in defeat. "Another play?" Happy asked.
"Don't worry." She reassured, excitement resonating in her voice. "The workload won't be as hectic like back at Onibus. We're given three months to produce this play instead of two weeks." The chairman of the Scheherazade theater, Rabian, who thank everyone for everything for no particular reason, had forced them into hardcore labor with grueling hours of back-to-back showtimes for an entire month.
With folded arms, Natsu remained in stoic silence, diminishing her self-esteem in being capable of providing a mission for the team. "Ehh, maybe some other time, Lucy." He grinned then, holding up both fists. "Tonight, I wanna beat up something that has a face!"
"Hurrah!" Happy pumped his paws in the air as Natsu reached up to grab the Wanted poster.
Lucy seized him by the wrist. "Wait, you don't understand. Not a single person had signed up for an audition and I need to find a cast as soon as possible."
His eyes flattened in annoyance. "And your mission can't wait for another day, why?"
Hands on her hips, she pursed out her glossy lips. Of all the opportunities Natsu had in declining a mission offer, he had to pick this one. A mission that concerned her the most. On the verge of losing her cool and giving him a piece of her mind, logic reasoning kicked in. Of course, he would be this stubborn; he didn't know how much this meant to her. So she mentally prepared a more persuasive explanation. "Well, Team Shadow Gear had been checking out the lights and cleaning out the junk from backstage. The least I could do in exchange for their efforts is to conduct an audition with at least one person. Preferably, before the day ends. Sucks to disappoint my fellow guild members for not picking up the slack after all their hard work."
His dark pupils constricted, as she expected. Challenging his integrity as a team player would be something he wouldn't stand idly by without a defense. She shrugged and raised both hands with open palms. "But... if you guys really want to fight some bandits, then I won't bother you anymore." She turned her back towards them, taking slow and casual steps towards the stage.
If Natsu and Happy truly didn't care about the value of teamwork, they would leave with that bandit mission. And if they do, well, maybe she could find some outsiders who would be more eager to participate in the play. She could make fliers tonight and post them in the streets of Magnolia the next morning. And if luck was on her side, Levy could persuade Gajeel to audition.
A strong hand grabbed her shoulder. "Hold on." Natsu muttered. "You didn't mention others were already in on this."
She matched the intensity of his gaze, while her heart made a small victory dance from reeling him in. "There's more to this mission that you don't know about. The Master himself lent the stage to us so we could help one of his old colleagues, who happens to be someone I'd known my whole life, and recently made a promise to." She sighed, leaning her weight to one side of her hip. "We'll go over the details at my place. I'll just let Levy know that the audition will take place tomorrow. Sounds good?"
He glanced at the Wanted poster for a brief moment, at Happy who nodded in agreement, and back at her, wearing a smirk. "Good enough for me. But first," He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the hot special menu next to the bar counter. "I'm bringin' home hot wings for dinner."