Just Misunderstood

Chapter 5

With Friends like These?


"Lucy, would you join our guild?" Brain asked. It was though words that woke up the sleeping man. Lucy's shock was forgotten for a second as her eyes watched his eyes open. His irises and pupils were unnaturally red, chills were sent down her back as he looked deep into her.

"Ah, Midnight you're up," Brain said, he hadn't even looked. "So, Lucy Ashley, what is your answer? Will you join us, the Oracion Seis, or will you decline?" He moved on like a literal demon hadn't of just woken up.

Lucy opened her mouth and no sound came out, she shut it again and looked at the faces of the wizards she had just met. They seemed indifferent, no of them looked angry or excited. Well, except for Midnight, he was just glaring at Brain. His red eyes were piercing and she wondered if he didn't want her to join. "You want me to join your guild?" She repeated the question.

"Why do you say it as it's unfathomable? Do you think we are incompetent? Or are you doubting yourself? Perhaps you are already in a guild?" He asked, his eyebrow raising in question.

"No! Um….I'm plenty sure that you guys are competent, seeing how you guys manage to function with just a few members." She stopped, she looked down at the pink guild mark on her hand, her other thumb ran across the surface and she smiled gently. "And no, I guess I'm not in another guild." Her eyes stung as tears threatened to fall, she blinked until it stopped. "I just mean, we just met. You barely know anything about me and I know nothing about most of you."

Brain nodded, "Well, yes. You make a point."

It was then that Cobra spoke up, "Did your old guild know you before you joined? Did you know them?"

Lucy thought for a moment, she had met Natsu but she didn't know anything about him. He had even gotten her name wrong after she joined. None of them had known anything about her either. Well, at least until Phantom Lord attacked. "I guess they didn't," She said softly.

"Do you regret joining them?" Cobra asked.

"No! Not at all! I loved it there, I loved meeting them all."

"Well, then how do you know that you won't love meeting us?" Brain added.

Lucy dropped her head in her hands. Was there really a reason she shouldn't join them? Fairy Tail was gone or in serious trouble and if she was going to get them back she needed help. She needed a guild. Lucy looked up, "Okay. But I guess I am doubting myself, you haven't really seen what I can do? How do you know that I'm strong enough to be of any use?"

Brain's eyebrows raised, "You don't think you're strong enough? You released an overwhelming amount of raw magic, even I had trouble getting to you. It's messy and untamed but with some work you will be a very powerful ally. You are a Dragon Slayer, and a Celestial Mage, two very powerful magics, when combined I can only imagine the capabilities."

Cobra rolled his eyes, "Just give in Blondie. He's very persistent and he never takes no for an answer."

Lucy smiled. It reminded her of her guild, they were all like that. Maybe she could make a home here. At least until she finally got Fairy Tail back, but she was sure she would enjoy her time here. "Okay, I'll join. I'm sure it will be a pleasure."

"Really?" An agitated voice sounded. Midnight stood from his rug and glared at the Blonde. "We don't need an outsider, we can find Nirvana, we don't need help." He said angrily before storming out of the room.

"Don't mind Midnight. Yes, I do believe we can do it by ourselves but I also believe with your help we can get what we want faster and easier." Brain explained. He spoke again before anyone could interrupt. "Now, Lucy. Where would you like your guild mark?"

Lucy was taken aback, she looked down at the guild mark on her hand and she sighed. Her hand would always be Fairy Tail's spot, so she decided on a place that a few other girls in Fairy Tail had theirs. She lifted up her shirt a pointed to the spot right of her belly button. Brain waved his hand and a lilac insignia glowed and settled there.

"Purple?" She questioned. She didn't mind but he wondered why he chose that color.

"Lilac, to be more precise." She saw Angel and Cobra roll their eyes in unison. "I picked that because of your magic. Even though a majority of your magic is gold or a deep purple, I noticed the beautiful lilac streaks."

Cobra leaned closer to Lucy, "He likes colors. None of us know why."

Lucy giggled, "It's beautiful, thank you."

Brain nodded, and he settled down on a chair that was elevated a few feet away from the table they were at. "Lucy Ashley, there are some conditions. Our guild is looking for a powerful, ancient magic called Nirvana. If people knew what we were doing they would try and take the power for themselves. So you will need a code name, for security reasons. We also need to alter your appearance, not a lot, just enough to confuse people that may have known you. Finally, you need to conceal your guild mark, when in public." He finished explaining and Lucy nodded, all of it made sense.

"Most of our names came from our magic. But seeing how your magic is mostly composed of light Lucy is a good option, but seeing how that's already your name why don't you go for Lucilla?" Cobra added, he was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

"Lucillia?" Lucy repeated, testing it out. She liked the way it rolled off her tongue and she decided it would work for the time being.

She said she liked it and Brain continued talking, "About your appearance, nothing major, just maybe magically hair dye and other small things." Lucy examined the ends of her hair and nodded.

"I could do an ombre of some sorts, maybe get cancer to extend it," She thought out loud.

Cobra and Brain nodded slowly, not really knowing what she meant. Angel smiled, "Maybe black? Black ends could be interesting."

"Okay, Angel, why don't you show Lucy the vault and explain to her the financing."

Lucy followed Angel through the back and left the rest of them to talk.

"Master, what are you doing?" Racer asked as he moved to the table. "A new member? We've never had a new member."

"She's a member of Fairy Tail. Well, was I'm sure now." Brain replied.

Cobra sat up, "What do you mean?"

"Magnolia had disappeared, I am not entirely sure what had happened but the point is that they're gone. But that girl. She's powerful, her magic is not of this world and with her connections to the light guilds she can be a very valuable asset."

"Will she bring in lots of money?" Questioned Hoteye.

"Yes, I'm sure. We have a collection date coming up, Naked Mummy, if I'm not mistaken. Cobra, I want you to bring her, but I don't want her to know we're a dark guild, at least not yet. The council is planning something, and we need her to gather information. She was a Fairy Tail mage, which is one of the most influential guilds, I'm sure she has connections with the other top guilds."

"Fucking hell, why me?" Cobra groaned.

"You're a fellow dragon slayer. I also need you to make sure she is not catching on to anything. With you hearing that shouldn't be a problem."

"Well, problem. I can't hear her thoughts," Cobra said as he leaned forward.

"That's impossible," Racer started, "Unless she was aware of your power and she blocked your magic."

"I haven't told her anything about my hearing."

"That is strange, is it because of her dragon slaying magic?" Brain questioned.

"I don't think that's it, that would be a different feeling. I don't think it's her. I think it's something else, like a spell, or object." Cobra explained.

"I still want you to bring her on the collection. I need you to field test her." Brain said as he stood from his chair. Cobra sighed and stood with him.

"Will she be staying here?" Hoteye asked.

"Seeing how her house was probably in Magnolia, she will join Angel in her room." Brain answered before leaving the room.

"Fucking hell," Cobra sighed.

"I don't see this ending well," Racer added.

"Once we have Nirvana it won't matter."

~JM~

"Weaker guilds pay us for their protection. So our guild has a lot of money just laying around." Angel explained as she lead the blonde to the vault. "We get paid in jewels, jewelry, magically items and valuable artifacts. We all get a kind of...allowance I guess, we don't really go on a lot on solo jobs. But as long as your useful on our quest to get Nirvana you will get paid."

Lucy walked beside the other Celestial Mage and listened carefully, she thought it was kind of cool how she didn't actually have to go on jobs any more. She didn't particularly like jobs but she didn't mind doing them. Angel continued to explain the specifics and Lucy's thoughts drifted. This was her new guild, this was going to be her new life. Even though she had only been in Fairy Tail a few months she loved them, Natsu had brought her home. Fairy Tail was her home.

But her home wasn't here anymore. It was here, it this world, in that place, but it was now gone. Her attitude towards Loke hadn't helped the situation either, he was her friend, he was apart of Fairy Tail, and she had treated him like he was an object. She always thought she was a loving person, a person that cherished her friends and life in general, but maybe she wasn't. Lucy had gone to the Spirit World for selfish reasons, she had wanted to get stronger. She had told herself it was to protect her friends, but it was really to protect herself. Lucy was tired of getting hurt, the entire Phantom Lord fiasco had really gotten to her. She was beaten because she wasn't strong enough to fight back. Yes, she hated the way they had hurt her guild but she couldn't deny that going to the Spirit World was about her.

"Lucy?" Angel asked but the blonde seemed lost in thought.

"Oh," She laughed, "Sorry,"

"Well, we're here, the vault isn't locked, we're all pretty lenient with money. Well, besides Hoteye, he has a whole separate vault. You'll get about 100,000 a week, but like I said, we don't really care, but 100,000 should cover most of what you'll need." She explained as she opened the door, it wasn't necessarily a vault, it was more like an office. Tall filing cabinets lined the back wall, some were open with papers spilling out. Shelves were against the walls on both sides of the room and they were filled with small statues and glowing orbs. "It's a mess, but it works. The orbs are lacrima with different magics and the little bags are filled with gems. The shortest filing cabinet has our allowances in it." She walked around a big desk in the middle of the room and opened the cabinet, after shuffling through a few files she pulled out jewels held together with a currency strap.

"We'll need to go shopping so I'll give it to you now," She tossed the bundle and Lucy easily caught it.

"Thanks. I'm sure 100,000 will be plenty, my rent was a little below that so I never had much to live on." She said as she put the money in her jewelry pouch.

"Well, you don't need to pay rent here so you don't have to worry about that." Angel said as she closed the cabinet and shuffled through some papers on the desk, "We only have six bedrooms here, so Brain will probably have you stay in my room. Not that I mind really, I do have the biggest room." She added.

"Wait. I get to stay here?" Lucy asked, astonished. At Fairy Tail, nobody ever stayed in the actual guild hall, and even at the dorms, the rent was ridiculous.

"Well, yea. There is only six of us. Seven now. We know a lot of guilds have housing but we didn't really see the point. We've never had a new member before so we didn't have to worry about it either."

"You've never had a new member? What do you mean? You do have six members, I assume Brain created the guild but when did the other five join?" Lucy asked.

"We all join at the same time, Brain made the guild around us. We… were all orphans so he took us in." She explained, careful not to disclose any information that Brain would like to keep secret.

"That was nice of him. I knew he was a nice guy," Lucy said, she followed Angel out of the room and they crossed the hall to another door.

"Yea, most of the time." Angel said awkwardly, "Anyway this is my room," She opened the door and Lucy was honestly amazed. It was beautifully white, with tall windows on the back wall. It was a very large room, easily big enough to put two beds on opposite sides of the room and still have plenty of room for desks, dressers, and a few couches.

She pointed to a corner closest to the door, "I can move the couches and your bed can go there, I have a lot of empty space so we can shuffle stuff around. I do like white but I honestly don't mind what color your side will be. Maybe something dark? Aesthetic, contrast and all that stuff."

Lucy nodded, she could put a desk and a dresser and still have room for a king sized bed, she looked at Angel's bed and loved the tall posts that stood at the four corners of the bed, white lace hung from them and created a curtain around mattress. The entire room had a very clean and light feeling.

"Angel! Lucilla!" They heard, Lucy liked the sound of the new name and smiled. This was her fresh start.

"What!?" Angel yelled back. Nobody answered, "Cobra!?" She shouted. No answer. She rolled her eyes and Lucy followed as they walked back to the bar.

Angel slapped the back of Cobra's head as he laughed, and Lucy earned a glare from the man when she giggled. "What do you need?" Angel asked harshly, she hated when he did that, she knew he could hear her.

"Brain wants you to take her for new clothes and shit."

"I was going to do that anyway. Have you seen her outfit?" Angel said.

"Hey!" Lucy complained, she looked down at her yoga pants and her long sleeved shirt. "Yeah, no. Let's go shopping."

Angel giggled and walked towards the door. "Yea, follow the angel, Cygnet," Cobra added in an almost lecherous voice as Lucy passed him.

Lucy stopped and turned towards the man. "Cygnet?" She questioned.

"It means-"

"I know what it means." She cut him off. She rolled her eyes and followed Angel out the door.

"Hey, I don't have a problem with yoga pants." He said out loud as he sipped his drink.

~JM~

Lucy sighed heavily as she dropped the many shopping bags on the floor of the bedroom. "Who put the bed here?" She asked, she and Angel had just gotten back from shopping and the couches were moved with a king sized bed, the same model as Angel's, in their place.

"Probably Cobra and Racer, following Brain's command," Angel answer as she set her own bags on her bed.

"Oh, they didn't need to do that," Lucy said, she pulled out the begging she had bought. The sheets were white and she had gotten a thick maroon comforter.

"They probably didn't mind, Cobra tries to act all tough and mean but he does little things to help. He probably heard us talking about where we wanted the bed and put it there." Angel said as she began to pull out her clothes.

"Hear us? How? He was in the other room." Lucy questioned.

"Oh, Cobra has magically heard. It's kind of crazy really. But he can even hear muscles contracting and expanding. Most of the time he can hear inner thoughts too." She added nonchalantly.

Lucy stood up straight, "You mean this entire time he could read my mind?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yea, it is really creepy but you'll get used to it."

"It's not creepy!" They heard a shout through the wall. Lucy recognized it as Cobra's voice.

"His room is right next to ours," Angel sighed.

Lucy giggled and began setting up her bed, it wasn't long before the door slammed open, "Okay, I'm fast not strong and these doorways are really small." A voice said behind a tall dresser that was in the middle of being carried through the doorway. Lucy rushed over to grab the other side. They carried it to the wall by Lucy's bed, "Well, that was in the back and it was white so I thought it would work." Racer said, he put his hands on his hip as in inspected the large piece of furniture.

"It's perfect. Thank you so much," Lucy said as she ran her hand across the smooth surface. "You really didn't need to do that. You already put the bed in here." Lucy said.

"Oh, that wasn't me that was C-"

"And he's done here, bye." Cobra appeared out of nowhere and dragged the other man out of the room.

Lucy looked at Angel, who was laying on her stomach flipping through a magazine, and asked her what that was about. "Like I said, Cobra does little things. He gets bored, our search for Nirvana is kind of at a halt, well, at least until we find the Sky Maiden. I actually think he likes having a new member, someone new to screw with." She said, not looking up.

Lucy nodded slowly, these were definitely interesting people. She turned her attention back to her clothes and pulled all of them out and laid them all out on the bed. Most of it was just dresses and skirts, she tried to shy away from her normal style and got several long cloaks that were short in the front and then got longer in the back. Most of them had long sleeves and acted more like a jacket. She put the shirts and skirts in the dresser, and then hung the dresses and cloaks on the several hooks that were on the wall.

Lucy carefully pulled out a wrapped box, the paper around it protecting the hardwood. She unwrapped in and ran her fingers along the lining of the jewelry box, it was a black wood box, with golden clasps holding the lid on. She placed it on the dresser and unhooked the pouch from her belt, she started to put the jewelry inside when a thought occurred to her. She shoved it all back into the pouch and made her way quickly through the guild to see Racer, Hoteye and Brain all in talking by the bar, she ran back to her room.

"Hey, Angel can you come to the bar? I have some things I want you guys to have." When she got a small nod Lucy walked to Cobra's door and didn't even get to knock before he opened it and looked down at her. It was in that moment that she realized just how tall Cobra was, she was only to his shoulders. "I hav-" She began.

"I heard," He cut her off and waited for her to back up before walking in the direction of the bar. Lucy rolled her eyes at the Slayer's actions and followed behind him. She saw Midnight in the corner, sleeping on his rug. Angel was seated by Racer and she nudged him and pointed at the blonde, Brain saw this and looked her way too.

"Ah, Lucilla. I hope you're settling in well enough." He said as he sat back in his chair.

"I am, and everyone has been very helpful," She said sweetly. She stood at the end of the table and looked at everyone, they were all seated and watching her, waiting for her.

She swallowed hard and poured the jewelry from the Spirit World onto the table. She spread them out and made a mental note on who gets what. "I have a spell, it can prove to be very useful in battle if I use it right. And if you all wear on of these." She started. She slowly began explaining how the spell worked. She watched their faces carefully, making sure they all understood.

"So, you could teleport us around in battle by taking us through the Spirit World, and all we would have to do is make sure we were wearing these?" Angel confirmed.

Lucy nodded. "Yea, I'm sure you guys get around fine but it could prove useful. It's also good for defense, if something ever happened, like it did my old guild, I could get everyone out."

"I knew you would be a valuable asset," Brain said, his voice astonished.

Lucy had trouble hiding her blush and she looked down and picked up the diamond necklace meant for Erza and handed it to Angel. The girl's eyes widened and she gasped as her hand touched it. "It's filled with celestial energy! That's amazing!" She exclaimed, her mouth widened into a smile. Lucy smiled and slid a ring over too Racer, it was one of the pieces she got if anyone wanted to work with her team. It was one of the simpler items but it was still beautiful, it was made of gold and was lined with small red gems, which Lucy assumed were rubies but knowing the mystery of the Spirit World she wasn't so sure. Racer examined it and nodded, and then found it fit perfectly on his index finger. Lucy slowly wrapped Natsu's around her palm, she fingered the pretty beads and was confused when she found an eighth bead, she could have sworn there were seven, she remembered all of them beside the last purple one, with a golden star.

"Cobra?" she asked, not looking up from the necklace.

"What?" He asked he stood to look over her shoulder.

"Fire, Natsu. Metal, Gajeel. Lightning, Laxus. I don't know about the middle ones but then that last one has to be me, right? You said you keep track of the dragon slayers," She said.

"The wind is Wendy Marvel. The drop of poison is me and the last two have gotta be the two I heard about." He said, his hand went to his chin. Lucy turned around abruptly and was only centimeters away from Cobra.

"What do you mean the poison drop is you?" She didn't really notice how close she was to him. But Cobra could feel her breath on his neck and he almost needed to step back to stop himself from doing anything he would regret, good or bad.

"Didn't you know? I'm the Poison Dragon Slayer." He let his mouth open up wide enough for her to see poison drip from his fangs and down his mouth.

"What are you a vampire?" Angel laughed.

"Shh… I think he's trying to be cool," Racer whispered, everyone still heard it, though.

Cobra rolled his eyes and wiped his mouth, "I hate both of you."

"Why didn't you tell me that you're a slayer?" She huffed.

"You didn't ask. But anyway, those beads are symbols of the Dragon Slayers. I don't know why or how but that's it." He said as he sat back down he reached for the necklace and Lucy backed away and held it close to her chest, she was shocked by her own reaction. She was going to give this one to Cobra anyway, she didn't understand why she was hesitating now. Cobra's eyebrows were raised and his arm still outstretched. Lucy looked down at the necklace and slowly put it in his hand.

He looked at her skeptically, after she sat down again he looked closer at the necklace. "It definitely has magic."

"Yea, it's protected. Magic can't destroy it." Lucy said. She took a shaky breath and grabbed the next item, deciding she needed a break from that necklace. She grabbed a pure gold chain and handed it to Hoteye, he looked happy enough with it as he pranced around holding it up to the gods.

She looked at Brain who looked content sitting there watching his guild banter, she placed a leather strap that had a single emerald, she was assuming, on it. He looked at it fondly before placing it around his wrist.

Lucy grabbed the last thing, Gray's sapphire earring. She looked towards Midnight, who was snoring softly and walked around the table to get to him.

"Uh, be careful, Midnight's kind of crazy," Angel said.

Lucy squatted down and gently grabbed his beaded hair, and laced the earring in between the beads.

"He's going to cut her hand off," Cobra decided. Lucy rolled her eyes and pulled away, examining the beautiful gem in his hair.

Everyone was quiet as she walked back to the table. "Why so serious?" Lucy asked with a small smile.

"We're just shocked you're alive," Racer said.

"Fucking hell, why do you have all of your limbs?" Cobra asked in disbelief.

Lucy rolled her eyes again and plopped down next to Cobra.

"Recherché," He said sarcastically.

"Recerché?" She asked, wondering why he chose that word.

"It means-"

"I know what it means."

"I don't," Racer spoke up. "I'm incredibly fast, but I don't speak French."

"Why did you say that like people who are fast usually know French?" Angel questioned.

"Because they do," He answered.

"Fucking hell," Cobra sighed. He stood and tossed the Dragon Slayer necklace back at the blonde.

Lucy threw it back at him, "That's yours. You're the only one that doesn't have one."

He raised an eyebrow, "You don't."

Lucy smiled and pulled hers out of her shirt, Virgo had slipped it on her before she had left the Spirit World. The black string held the pretty perfect orb, magic swirled and rolled inside.

She took it off and held it up for him to see, "It's cool it's it?"

'Would he think it's cool? I can't read this guy. He reminds me a lot of Laxus or Gajeel.'

Cobra's eyes widened as he heard her thoughts. He snatched the necklace and looked at it closer, this was the object that was blocking his magic. He couldn't sense anything coming from it, which was weird. Anything that was strong enough to block his magic should give off enough magic for him to sense.

"Cobra?" Lucy questioned.

"This is the reason why I can't hear your thoughts." He said.

'Aw, fuck no. I need it then. I have too many things he shouldn't hear." She lunged forward to get it but Cobra could finally hear her muscles. He leaned back and she fell forward.

"Oh like, what? Like saying fuck? Well, thinking. Awww, the little good girl has a bad side." He mocked her.

Lucy glared at him, "Give it the fuck back, Cobra." She almost growled.

He smiled. This would be a perfect time to ruffle some of her feathers. "You know. What proof have you actually given us that you have Dragon Slayer magic? A dumb little bead on a dumb little necklace? Come on Blonde, fight a little."

'Fucking dick fucking fuck. You don't know what I gave up for these powers.'

She jumped over the table and lunged at him again, he stepped aside and held the necklace up. "Oya? You do have some fight."

The others stepped back and watched the scene unravel. They didn't intervene, this was good. If she made the right move she could win Cobra's respect. Hell, she could get all of them to respect her. Lucy's eyes shone gold for a moment as she summoned power to her fists, she cringed as it hurt her scar and for a moment she lost control as the purple magic grew up the length of her arms. Cobra's eyes widened as her eyes flickered between brown and gold. He felt the air around them burn as her seemingly purple flame devoured the space.

Lucy didn't understand why she was so angry, maybe it was remnants of yesterday. After all, her entire family had been wiped out, of course, she still had some pent up rage.

'This man doubts my power. The power I gave everything to obtain. The power that permanently scarred my skin. The power that I chose over my family! I treated Loke like shit, I betrayed the King's teachings. The only reason I have this power was because of how I treat my spirits. And I treated him like shit!'

Cobra's eyes stayed large as he listened, and then she disappeared. He looked around, he couldn't hear her, anywhere. He didn't see her do anything either. Then suddenly he felt her behind him, he turned to see her in the air, upside down, her hair fanned out in the space around her, then all he saw was gold as a roar was released from her mouth. He flew a few meters back and cringed as he felt the skin on his forearms burn and peel as he held them up to shield his face. He watched as she fell to the floor, she was breathing heavily and almost dry heaving.

He realized what had happened, she had been in the spirit world without the stupid necklace in his hand. He peeled the burnt coat off of him and threw the necklace in her direction, it slid on the floor and she grabbed it. She stood shakily and tried to even out her breathing, she clipped the necklace around her neck and unhooked the bottle of water from her belt. She slowly walked to Cobra, he was back to not being able to hear her thoughts and he had no idea what she was going to do.

His arms crossed over his chest as she undid the cap, and when he thought she was going to take a drink, she splashed him. The water hit his face, chest, and arms. He was about to wring her fucking neck when he felt the injured skin on his arms begin to knit back together.

Lucy threw the empty water bottle on the ground, "That was supposed to be for my back." She said calmly. She then turned and walked back to her room.

Everyone stood there in different states of shock. Cobra's mind wasn't even processing correctly, Racer and Hoteye were completely confused on how she got behind him so fast without him knowing. Brain was surprised by the girl's bravery. Cobra was a monster, even from his point of view. He didn't take anything from anyone, so Brain was pleasantly surprised that his newest member's head wasn't across the room.

"Okay, I like her," Angel said before following her roommate.


Yay, I'm a day early. This is probably the first time I've ever gotten a chapter out in a timely fashion. So maybe giving myself a goal is a good thing.

Expect the next chapter July 25th

Also, one of my favorite authors is back! She hadn't updated in over a year and she finally did! She even sent me a PM about it so I was very excited to be noticed by my Senpai. Anyway her name is ErzaDreyar, she has 5 stories for Fairy Tail and I personally love all of them.