Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Title: Dark Guilds
Pairing: Lucy x Mard Geer
Requester: elveaskyefal
Prompt: no prompt
"Why even be a dark guild?" Lucy mused aloud, laying on her back on her couch with her feet propped up on Mard Geer's lap as he read from one of her books. "I mean… there have been plenty of legal guilds that have gotten away with all sorts of things. They just hid it from the council."
"Hmm," the demon king replied when she paused, indicating that he was still listening.
Satisfied by his show of participation, Lucy continued on. "I mean… take Gajeel and Juvia for instance. They actively beat the crap out of Team Shadow Gear, and strung them up! They even kidnapped me and gave me the beating of a lifetime, on top of nearly destroying an entire city full of innocent civilians! And their only punishment is disbandment? Come on!"
Mard paused in his reading, glancing down at Lucy's face. "They did what to you, now?"
She waved him off. "Don't worry about it, it's ancient history. I mean… sure Juvia tried to drown me at one point, but that was before she joined Fairy Tail. They're better now."
The demon didn't return to his book, and instead continued to stare at her. "I would say that you're entirely too forgiving, but I suppose if you weren't… I wouldn't be here right now," he allowed.
"Yup, exactly!" Lucy nodded. "At any rate, Phantom Lord was a legal guild and they got away with a lot of illegal crap long before they tried to take down Fairy Tail. Eisenwald was a legal guild and legally killing people right up until they banned assassination requests. The Garou Knights are fully allowed to murder anyone the crown says is their enemy, without even a trial. The Council can imprison without a fair trial, too, if they so desire."
"Sounds unfortunate," Mard Geer replied.
"And Fairy Tail has gotten away with pretty much destroying everything several times over. The worst we've had to deal with? Lost revenue and a stack of paperwork. Were there consequences for setting a national forest on fire, or setting my clothes on fire in a public place? No!" Lucy ranted.
Mard couldn't help but think that this was probably what had started Lucy down this track of thought in the first place.
"We live in a dystopia, Mard!"
"This is true."
"At any rate," Lucy said, trying to return to her initial point, "given all that, why on Earthland would you want to be a dark guild? You could have just as easily accomplished most of your goals with no one the wiser. In fact, it might have made a really good cover for you - like it did for Raven Tail. Well… it did for a while for them. Point remains - where's the benefit in having your names on the most wanted list?"
"No taxes and no rent," Mard replied with a slight smile.
His response stunned Lucy into silence, her eyes wide as she thought over this new revelation.
"That's fair," she finally replied.
