The Blue Pheasant Flies On
Chapter 19: Things Have Changed
X784
A blonde-haired young woman wearing a white and blue outfit with a key pouch and whip on her belt paused in the doorway of the Fairy Tail guild. She ignored the commotion Natsu and Happy were making after Natsu kicked the door open in favor of letting her brown eyes rove over the guild's interior, taking everything in. It had been her dream to join Fairy Tail ever since she had come across an article about them in the Weekly Sorcerer and she didn't want to miss a thing. A place that treated each other like family and was lenient on their members if the multitude of property destruction complaints against the guild by the same mages were anything to go by. Just the sort of place she wanted to live after growing up under her father's iron fist in a mansion that had been left empty and joyless in the seven years since her mother's death.
"I actually made it to Fairy Tail," she said in awe. The woman was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Natsu's distinctive yell closely followed by breaking wood.
"That Salamander you sent me after was a fake!" he yelled at the guild member sitting in the remains of what had been a table. Natsu had grown taller, but evidently no less impulsive, over the years and cut an intimidating sight in his open black and gold vest that showed off a well-defined physique and poofy white pants. He no longer wore his scarf, which left the small scar on his neck on display. "He was just pretending to be me!"
His fellow Fairy Tail mage wasn't cowed by the sight of the irate pink-haired Dragon Slayer. "Of course he was!" he shouted back with a bright red mark on his face that would surely bruise later created by Natsu's sandal. "I tried to tell you that, but you ran out of here before I could finish."
"I was bored and Lisanna's out with Elfman and Mira. What was I supposed to do?"
"Learn some goddamn patience!" came the reply before a piece of the broken table was thrown at Natsu's head. He ducked out of the way and another guild member was struck in his place. He turned around to shout and throw something in retaliation, only to knock over a man that was walking behind him at the time. He kicked the table over in revenge and soon most of the guild was dragged into a brawl where everyone owed somebody a hit or two.
The woman could only stare in shock, her suitcase forgotten at her side, at the chaos and destruction before her.
A shirtless Gray with a sword necklace and black pants got up from his table and approached the brawl. "Natsu's back, huh?" he said aloud. He stood slightly taller than Natsu now with a similar muscular build. "Time to finish our fight, flame brain!"
"You're on, ice cube!" Natsu replied before rushing his fellow mage. The two met in the middle with a clash of their forearms that blew loose utensils and off-balance guildmates around before they started knocking each other around the guild—causing more damage to their surroundings than each other.
The other fights continued around them, but they gravitated to the edges of the guildhall and avoided crossing paths with Natsu and Gray. The blonde wondered why they acted like that for a moment before she saw one mage push another too close to the center and that man was immediately punched by both fighters and told to "Stay outta it!" It seemed that Natsu and Gray were in their own weight class among Fairy Tail.
With her guide preoccupied, the woman nervously looked around the guild while she tried to figure out what to do. She couldn't even ask Happy for help since he was flying up in the rafters and yelling encouragement down to Natsu. Before she could make a decision, a pair of strong arms scooped her off of her feet. She let out a sound that was definitely not a squeak before looking up to see the man that had grabbed her. Brown eyes smoldered at her from behind a pair of sunglasses that she recognized as designer. The pretty young man holding her bridal style had spiky orange hair that smelled of expensive product and a confident smile that showed off his perfect white teeth. Everything he wore was expensive, from his green jacket to his black pants and white shoes. The woman could feel several metallic objects on her arm and leg and a quick glance found several rings on his fingers, all of which were made of quality gold or silver and most were set with a gemstone. She recognized the man from the copy of 'Mages I'd Like to Be My Boyfriend' she had buried in the bottom of her bag. This was Loke! A fated encounter with one of the hottest men in Fiore and the hottest in Fairy Tail! This day just kept getting better and better!
"I see that, while Natsu may be S-Class, that is the only type of class he'll ever have," Loke joked to break the ice. "Hello there. My name is Loke. And what's your name, miss?"
"Lucy," the blonde introduced herself with a blush.
"Lucy," he repeated, rolling the name around his tongue before saying, "What a beautiful name," with a dazzling smile. "Why don't you come with me and I'll show you around Fairy Tail."
"That would be great!" Lucy immediately accepted, thinking of both the tour and escort. "Just let me get my things."
"Of course." Loke set her down and let Lucy grab her suitcase before hooking an arm around her waist and leading her over to an empty table. "Where was Natsu lucky enough to find a beautiful woman like you?"
"We ran into each other in Hargeon and Natsu saved me from some slavers—before he destroyed the port," Lucy was quick to clarify. She knew that the incident would be in the papers soon and didn't want Loke to think that she was involved in that, despite having Aquarius beach the cruise ship back onto the port in the first place. Her spirit hadn't even destroyed anything when she did that. All the destruction came after they'd been beached when a certain Dragon Slayer wouldn't stop beating on the guy impersonating him.
Loke nodded in understanding. "Yes, he does tend to do that, even with Lisanna around. She's pretty much eighty-five percent of his impulse control." He chuckled. "There's actually a funny story related to that and why he no longer wears sleeves. Would you like to hear it? Perhaps over a drink?"
"I'd love that," Lucy agreed. Things were going great! Not even an official member yet and she was already scoring a date with one of the most desirable men in Fiore!
"Still, you seem like a capable mage, I'm surprised that you were captured in the first place."
Lucy flushed in embarrassment. She didn't want to talk about how that fake "Salamander" had tricked her with an offer to join Fairy Tail, especially to an actual member. She had seen how upset Natsu had gotten at the man impersonating a guild member, she didn't want to ruin things by implying that she thought Fairy Tail members were all sleazy like that. "I was tricked into boarding their ship then they ambushed me and took my keys so I couldn't summon any of my spirits."
Loke paled behind his designer glasses and his arm tensed around Lucy's waist. "Your… keys? That summon… spirits?!" he croaked.
"Yep! I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage!" Lucy proudly declared, not noticing her escort's discomfort. She unhooked the key ring from her belt and proudly presented the gold and silver keys attached to it. "I've already got several of the silver keys and even a few gold ones!"
"That's… great!" Loke grit out. His eyes darted around the guild until they landed on several mages sitting at a table: a woman in a strapless blue dress, scarf, and yellow broad-brimmed hat on top of her long green hair, a man with spiky black hair wrapped up in a tasseled brown poncho, and another woman in a white coat with blue accents and a red cravat that matched the bow in her lavender hair. Suitable replacements found, he abruptly changed directions and practically dragged Lucy forward. He thrust the blonde in front of the sitting mages and rushed through her introduction. "Hey guys, this is Lucy. She's a Celestial Spirit Mage that's going to join the guild today. I was going to show her around, but I just remembered that I have an urgent previous engagement I need to get back to, so can you cover for me? Thanks! I owe you one!" Loke started to leave before any of them got a chance to reply or even process what he had said. With a quick, "Talk to you later!" to Lucy, he fled the guild as fast as he could without running.
Lucy was so surprised at his sudden skittishness and exit, especially since he had been doing his best to pull her into his side for the last minute, she almost forgot to call after him. "Loke, wait! What about that drink?"
"I'll find you as soon as I'm done!"
Lucy was thrown for a loop at being passed off so quickly. She couldn't do anything more than watch him rush out of the door in confusion, which switched to anger when two beautiful women in tight, revealing outfits followed after Loke while calling his name. She turned back to the three people sitting at the table to see them wearing similar exasperated expressions. "Dammit, Loke, if you're going to flake on a girl do it yourself. Quit leaving it to us," the man complained.
With that encouraging statement, Lucy tentatively waved at the trio as she introduced herself. "Um, hello? My name's Lucy and I'm here to join the guild." She hoped these three wouldn't be the third group to abandon her in the five minutes she had been in the guild.
The green-haired woman smiled at her with ruby lips and said, "Nice to meet you, Lucy. My name's Bisca. This is Alzack and Laki," while gesturing to the man sitting to her right and the woman across from them. "Welcome to Fairy Tail."
The two echoed her greeting and Laki pulled out a chair and invited her to "Relieve the pressure on her feet." Lucy was slightly confused by the strange way she phrased the offer but took the seat regardless. She had the feeling—while the guild members around her were engaged in various fistfights and the three people in front of her ignored it entirely—that normal had a different definition here in Fairy Tail.
She was quickly proven correct when the magical pressure in the building spiked and the temperature started to fluctuate wildly between freezing and scorching. Her three new companions seemed unaffected by the growing danger, focusing more on learning about Lucy than the escalating fight. "So Lucy, you came with Natsu, right? How was the trip?
"I'm sorry but am I the only one concerned by that?!" Lucy asked slightly hysterically while pointing to Natsu and his shit-eating grin as he twirled Gray's boxers around his finger and flipped him off with a flaming middle finger while the now naked ice mage was quickly creating a disturbingly large amount of frozen firearms around him.
"That's it, ash-brain!"
"Let's go, frosty!"
"Ah, Gray frequently discards the wrappings of society," Laki explained. "His teacher usually stops him from losing his boxers though."
"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM!" screamed an incredulous Lucy. Why wasn't anyone trying to stop this? Now the other members that had been avoiding the fighting were starting to use their magic too! They were going to bring the building down at this rate! Was everyone in this guild insane?!
Before things could escalate further, a giant figure filled up the middle of the guild. Makarov, in his titan form, stepped on Gray and Natsu, squishing them to the floor but not hurting anything beyond their pride, before bellowing, "How many times do I have to tell you brats not to use magic in the guild?! Knock it off!"
The pressure in the guild instantly dissipated as the mages guiltily refused to meet Makarov's giant glare. "Yes, Master…" they mumbled out in sync before slinking back to their seats. Tables were righted and broken seats replaced as things settled down.
Makarov let out a heavy sigh that lasted until he shrank back down to normal. Jumping off of Gray and Natsu's heads, he managed several backflips before smacking into the second-floor banister with a cry. Muttering about getting old as he rubbed his bruised back, Makarov pulled himself onto the banister and held out a stack of papers. He shook them at the watching members and began to chastise them for angering the Magic Council with their actions.
The list of transgressions was incredibly long and seemed to involve everyone currently in the guild (mostly Natsu) along with several that weren't present at the time. Everything from minor misdemeanors to major destruction of property (mostly Natsu) was mentioned as Makarov called out names. During the listing, Lucy's astonishment and shock at how much destruction Fairy Tail caused was so great that she ended up being impressed by the sheer scale of what the guild members (mostly Natsu) had done.
Then Makarov lit the papers on fire while declaring that magic was about freedom and to hell with the Council trying to suppress that. Everyone let out a cry of excitement in response and Lucy found herself smiling from ear to ear. This was what she had been looking for her whole life. A place that would let her do what she wanted with people that wouldn't hold her back or tell her what to do. An unfamiliar feeling bubbled up inside of Lucy and as she raised her fist with the rest of Fairy Tail and cried out in excitement with them she felt that feeling explode from inside her.
The feeling, it was exhilarating.
It was freedom.
It was magic.
Now that that craziness was over, Lucy was able to properly introduce herself to Laki, Azlack, and Bisca. They were more than happy to answer her questions about Fairy Tail and the life of a guild member while asking plenty of questions of their own. They actually paid attention to what she was saying and listened in a way that made Lucy feel even more confident with her decision to join Fairy Tail by the second. When her love of literature was brought up, Laki happily proclaimed, "You also enjoy observing the fantasies of wordsmiths? That's wonderful! We actually have a huge library downstairs and some of the members have formed a small book club. I'm sure you'd love it!"
"Really! That sounds amazing. I'd love to join."
"Of course!" Laki agreed before pausing. "You might have to wait a bit though. Levy and Erza—the other members—are out on jobs at the moment and I don't know when they'll be back." Seeing Lucy's disappointment Laki quickly added, "But I can still show you the library. And that'll give you time to catch up with us."
As the two became engaged in an animated discussion over the book they were currently reading, Alzack nudged Bisca and said, "Looks like we've got another bookworm in the guild," accompanied by a roll of his eye that wasn't covered by a fringe of hair.
Bisca chuckled at his comment. "That just makes her fit into Fairy Tail even more." She had been enjoying talking to Lucy and was glad that the young woman would be joining the guild. Speaking of, they needed to get her a guild mark. She noticed Nab serving drinks and waved him down. A tan man with a black bob cut that towered over most of the guild, Nab had a magical aura surrounding him that gave him six extra limbs shaped like tentacles. He was using them to great effect to serve multiple guild members at once and left his hands free to take down new orders. One of the limbs raised to acknowledge Bisca and the man made his way over. Bisca pulled Lucy out of her discussion with Laki to introduce them to each other. "Lucy, this is Nab. Nab, Lucy, our newest guildmate."
"Nice to meet you," Lucy said with a smile as she shook one of his real hands while his magical aura held the dishes behind him and out of the way. He certainly didn't look like a waiter, with an open black vest with green trim that did nothing to hide his incredibly muscular physique or the white circle tattoos on his shoulders that matched the squares painted on his cheeks, a shaggy loincloth and a matching belt and necklace made of skulls completed his outfit. He looked more like a savage warrior than a waiter. But, with how violent the members of Fairy Tail were, it made sense that the person serving them would have to be strong and intimidating to deal with any rowdy or drunk customers.
"Likewise. Welcome to Fairy Tail," he replied with a large smile that wasn't at all like the forced smiles Lucy usually saw that big. His was all genuine happiness to meet her and personality, not because he wanted something from her. Nab's brow furrowed for a minute as he examined her with a pensive look. "Do you have your guild mark yet? I don't remember getting the stamp out."
"Ah, no. I—" Lucy began only to be interrupted.
"Give me a minute then. Can't have a Fairy Tail member go without a guild mark!" Nab proclaimed. He expertly weaved his way between the tables to disappear behind the bar. His spectral arms reached out and poured drinks while swapping dirty dishes for clean ones as he searched through the drawers. Finding what he was looking for with an "Ah-ha!" Nab made his way back to their table and proudly held up a stamp in the shape of Fairy Tail's guild mark. "Now, where do you want it and in what color?"
"My hand, and pink please," Lucy said while holding out her right hand. A quick touch of pressure later and Lucy was the proud bearer of a Fairy Tail guild mark. She held her hand up and admired the symbol that proclaimed to anyone that saw it that she was a member of the Fairy Tail guild. "I'm really a member of Fairy Tail," she said breathlessly while wearing a smile that threatened to split her face in two. The chuckling of the surrounding members brought Lucy out of her fantasy and left her ducking her head in embarrassment. "Sorry. It's just… I've dreamed about joining Fairy Tail for so long and now that I have…" she trailed off, unable to properly express the happiness and feeling of accomplishment filling her at the moment.
"Don't worry about it, Lucy. We've all been there," Nab reassured her. "I remember when I joined Fairy Tail. I stopped by anything with a reflection to admire it for a week."
"They give guild marks to employees too?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"What? No, of course not. Why would you think—?" he began in confusion only for his face to shift into a crestfallen expression as he nervously asked, "W-what do you think I am?"
Realizing how insensitive her thoughtless question had been, Lucy was hesitant to answer. Unseen by her, the others were all sporting giant grins and were mockingly raising their eyebrows at Nab. She finally said in a quiet voice, "…I thought you were just a waiter."
"I'm a Fairy Tail mage too. I'm just working as a waiter temporarily until the perfect job for me comes along," Nab clarified with a forced grin. She wasn't the first to make that mistake but would hopefully be the last. He explained why he was doing his current job. "It lets me get the first look at the job requests too, so I'll be sure not to miss it."
"I don't know, Nab. Waiting may be your perfect job after all," Alzack teased before Lucy could apologize for her mistake.
"No! My perfect job is out there, I'm sure of it!" Nab declared with clenched fists, an action mimicked by his unoccupied tentacles.
"But you're so good at being a waiter," Bisca overdramatically said before adopting a thoughtful pose. "Especially since you went out and found that octopus spirit. It's like you were born for this job."
"No!" he denied to deaf ears, "That's just the one spirit! I've got plenty of spirits that are good for combat: Like a bear! And a wolf! And, and… and a bull!"
"It's true. After watching you spend so many hours locking gazes with the job board with your lips downturned, seeing your expressions of joy while providing for the guild so that they may feed and water their stomachs is a welcome change," Laki added.
Red began to cover Nab's face from ears to neck. "That's just because I'm in the guild! It's always a good time here! Look at these muscles!" he demanded while quickly flexing. "They're made for fighting, not serving. I can give Elfman a run for his money in an arm wrestle!"
As the trio continued to tease Nab and he fervently denied the obvious truth that he was destined to become a waiter, Lucy sunk down into her seat in relief. She had been so afraid she had royally screwed things up after she had just started to make some new friends. She would have to be sure to apologize to Nab properly later. It wouldn't be right to ruin the relaxed atmosphere right after it had returned. She'd have to thank the others for diffusing the situation as well.
Looking for a reason to excuse herself before she could make things worse, Lucy spotted Natsu across the guild talking to some other members. She was still a little annoyed at him for abandoning her to get into a fight as soon as they reached Fairy Tail, but he had brought her here in the first place when he hadn't needed to, so she would forgive him. Plus, she didn't know anyone else in the guild. "I'm going to show Natsu my guild mark. Be right back!" she told the group before heading over.
"Natsu, look! I got my guildmark!" Lucy excitedly called out to him.
Natsu looked over and gave her a toothy grin when he saw the pink mark on her hand. "Congratulations, Luigi!"
"It's Lucy!" the blonde snapped at him. She was annoyed he had forgotten her name already only to realize he was teasing by the way he snickered at her response. "Shut up, Nashi," she replied but Natsu remained unaffected.
"Oh? Where've you been hiding this pretty little lady, Natsu?" asked the man with purple hair and a five o'clock shadow. "Lisanna isn't enough for you anymore?"
"Yeah. Learn to share," said the one with a brown pompadour.
Natsu flushed scarlet and shouted, "Shut up!" That just made the two older men laugh at his scowl. Natsu groaned into clenched teeth before introducing them. "Lucy, this is Macao and Wakaba. They're assholes."
"Hey, respect yer elders, brat," Wakaba told him without any heat. New lines had appeared on his face over the years and he had grown his pompadour out to an even longer length while ditching his sunglasses and switching to a pipe.
"He isn't wrong though," Macao pointed out. He had also visibly aged over and now kept his hair cut short. He had also started wearing a white coat over his blue shirt and a large silver necklace shaped like an 'S'. "Nice to meet you, Lucy. Don't let Natsu's attitude fool you, we're more than just assholes. I actually taught him everything he knows about Fire Magic."
"Really?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow. She kind of doubted that Macao or Wakaba could give an accurate description of her face right now, let alone be strong enough to teach a mage as powerful and competent—er, as powerful as Natsu anything about magic.
"Really!" Macao claimed. He held out a hand and purple fire stretched out to pull out a chair for Lucy before grabbing his beer and raising it to his lips. "I was just telling him about how I took out twenty vulcans up on Mt. Hakobe. Want to hear?"
That was actually pretty impressive—if he was telling the truth. Though that display of control with his fire did give some credence to his claims. To be able to grab a solid object with an intangible element was no easy feat and the ease at which he manipulated the fire implied that it wasn't just a cheap parlor trick. The seat wasn't even warm from the flames when she sat down. "You took on twenty at once, you say?"
"Heh! This old man's still got some moves, if you know what I mean," he said with a lecherous grin and waggled eyebrows.
"Daaaaad!" came a groan from a purple-haired boy with a noticeable resemblance to Macao Lucy had glanced over. His whine was the perfect mix of embarrassment and disgust that only a child watching their parent flirt could make.
"Romeo! I forgot you were down there!" Natsu exclaimed with a too-loud voice and matching too-wide grin. "You want to meet Lucy too?"
"Natsu-nii, you knew I was here," Romeo whined as he pounded his fists ineffectively against Natsu's leg.
"What are you talking about? I took my eyes off you and you disappeared under the table," Natsu teased while pulling Romeo into a headlock and giving him a light noogie under protest.
Lucy welcomed the opportunity to blowoff Macao. She pointedly turned away from him and leaned down to smile at the young boy. "Hello, Romeo." She kept one ear open to eavesdrop on Macao and Wakaba talk behind her.
"Heh, cockblocked by your son again."
"Shut it. At least she gave me the time of day."
"She was leading you on and you know it. Let me show you how it's done."
"Doesn't YOUR WIFE want you back home soon?"
"Low blow, Macao."
That seemed to be the end of it and Romeo apparently agreed. "Sorry about my dad," he whispered.
"It's okay. He's not the worst I've had to deal with," Lucy reassured him with a smile. At least Macao knew how to take a hint. She knew people from her father's parties that couldn't take the hint that she wasn't interested in a man older than her father or their equally creepy sons if she hit them over the head with it. Lucy turned her attention to Natsu. "I actually wanted to ask you about taking a job."
"Uh, sure!" he replied with a little too much enthusiasm. "See you later, Romeo."
"Later, Natsu-nii!" the boy replied before rejoining his dad, who seemed to be actually recounting the story of fighting vulcans.
"Sorry about Macao and Wakaba," Natsu apologized once they were out of earshot while guiltily rubbing the back of his head. "They flirt with everyone who's hot and single. Just ignore them. I'll talk to them later."
Lucy blushed at being called hot by Natsu. He hadn't said it in a creepy way either, more like a statement of a fact. It had been a while since she had received an honest compliment like that. "It's fine. Like I said: I've dealt with worse," she said, brushing off the older men's attitude. If they became insistent and wouldn't back off to her threats then she'd let him know, but until then she could handle them. Eager to change the subject, Lucy switched back to the reason she had gotten Natsu. "Now I need some Jewels for a safety deposit, and you need to help me find a job."
The jobs were pretty self-explanatory, with all the necessary details written on the flyer and a note to see the poster if there was more to learn. Lucy was able to quickly grasp the system and accepted Natsu's offer to help her with her first job—a job to eliminate some thieves that he swore were always a reliable way to make some fast cash with little effort. Natsu called for Happy and yelled at Makarov which job they were taking while Lucy grabbed her suitcase and waved goodbye to her new friends.
Natsu, Happy, and Lucy returned from the job a few days later and Lucy ditched Natsu almost instantly to join her new friends at their table. They didn't need to ask what had happened on the job, Natsu's vest wasn't doing much to hide the burnt bikini and sandals look that Lucy was sporting told them all they needed to know. Even for going on a job with Natsu, Lucy came back looking worse than most. It was rare for someone to be showing more skin than Gray in the guild but here she was, rocking the look with an interesting expression that was trying to be mortified and depressed at the same time. They didn't even get a chance to say anything before Lucy buried her face into her arms on the table and let out a long-suffering moan.
Alzack lost the silent game of rock-paper-scissors over Lucy's head and asked, "Rough job?"
Lucy let out another moan and mumbled into the table, "The worse."
"You, uh, want to change into something a little less… incinerated?"
"Can't. Natsu burnt those too," Lucy miserably grumbled. "And my suitcase. And the stuff the thieves stole. And the abandoned mansion they were hiding in. And the forest the mansion was abandoned in!" Lucy had started shouting as the list progressed, anger breaking her out of her depression. "How can one person cause so much destruction?! Was he raised by a demon?!"
"No, Igneel was a dragon," Natsu corrected. Lucy let out a yell of surprise that he ignored. She was a very loud person. "And then Gildarts for a couple of years, but he left to go get Cana years ago." He should really check on how much progress Porlyusica was making with those magic pills. Maybe next time Ur sent him in for a checkup? "Got the reward. Well, what's left of it. Turns out that forest was pretty important. Something about 'incredibly valuable wood' and 'irreplaceable natural resources' or something like that." He hadn't been paying attention to Gramps' lecture. It always just came down to losing some of the reward.
Lucy accepted the much smaller stack of bills than she had been hoping for. A quick count sent her right back into her earlier depression. "This is barely enough to replace all the stuff you burnt, let alone make a deposit on an apartment."
"Don't worry, Lucy. You can always stay at Fairy Gardens for a few days until you scrounge up enough money to rent a place," Bisca reassured her.
While Bisca was explaining how Fairy Gardens worked, the wind shifted and Natsu caught a scent he had been looking forward to smelling again. He called for Happy and made his way to the front door. Remembering to stop just in time for Mira to kick them in with a shout of "We're back!" She hadn't changed much over the years. She still kept her hair back in a high ponytail with an oversized black ribbon and wore dark short-shorts and matching thigh-high boots. Stilettos had been added to her boots that did little to hide the fact that she had ended up on the shorter side. While her height may not have grown much, her figure had filled out more than enough to make up for it. Something she had made sure to emphasize with a tight crop top that left plenty of cleavage exposed and a blue necklace that sat just above said cleavage to draw the eye (and give her an excuse to punch people).
Mira locked Natsu in a headlock when she noticed his gaze pass over her and gave him a friendly squeeze that only cut off his air for a few seconds. "Hold your horses there, hotshot. You weren't going to forget my welcome back hug, were you?" Natsu quickly backpedaled and tried to deny that he was, but Mira didn't bother listening. Natsu may be taller than her now, but she could still hook her arm around his neck and bring him down to her level. "You know what you get for forgetting, right?" Mira asked with a raised fist.
"Mira, no!"
But 'The Demon' wasn't in the mood for listening. She swiftly brought her fist down onto his head and began to grind it into his pink locks while chanting, "Noogie, noogie, noogie!" in sadistic glee.
Natsu overdramatically screamed in protest and pain at Mira's punishment until the voice of an angel rang out. "Mira-nee, stop teasing Natsu."
"Lisanna!" Natsu cried out in joy when he saw his savior. Mira released him with a huff and an eyeroll at how he melted around her little sister whenever she got back from a job. You'd think they'd been gone for months instead of a few days.
Happy had valiantly honored Natsu's sacrifice as a distraction and flown right up to the youngest Strauss sibling. He was currently nestled in Lisanna's arms while she scratched him behind his ears the way she knew he liked it. His comfort was interrupted when Natsu wrapped his arms around Lisanna and the couple shared a quick kiss before Happy could wriggle away. They were so gross when they started acting lovey-dovey.
"Miss me?" Lisanna asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Of course."
Natsu quickly scanned his girlfriend to see if she had gotten hurt on the job. He knew she could handle herself and that Elfman and Mira would never let anything happen to her but ever since the Beast job he couldn't help himself. He only relaxed when he confirmed with his own eyes that she wasn't hurt. The light blue tank top and long white skirt with the slit on the side made it easy to see that she was fine. And it went so well with his scarf that he had given her shortly after they started dating. She was just so beautiful.
"Taking up the whole doorway isn't very manly, y'know," Elfman's deep voice rumbled. Not that they would have posed much of a roadblock to the tanned mage. Elfman had apparently taken his sisters' height for himself since he towered over everyone in the guild. The thick muscles visible under his blue jacket and the way he had spiked his hair up made him seem even taller. With his collar popped to show off his Fairy Tail symbol on his neck and the scar running across his face, they liked to joke that he didn't even need to throw a punch, his scowl made criminals surrender without a fight. The fact that there had been a few jobs like that didn't help, much to his annoyance. It hadn't been very manly of them to not even put up a fight.
"Elfman!" Natsu greeted him with a fist bump. "Any luck this time?" he hopefully asked.
The big man shook his head. "Not yet. But I think I'm getting close." He clenched his right hand into a fist and stared at it. "I just need a manlier opponent," he "casually" said with a challenging grin.
Natsu's own mouth curled into a matching smile that was all teeth. "Oh yeah?"
Lisanna put her foot down before they could get into another fight. "None of that you two. Elf-niichan, you still need to rest. And Natsu, I read about what you did in the paper. Half of Hargeon Port? Really?!"
"At least it was only half the port," Natsu weakly defended.
"You still set it on fire! I wasn't even gone for a week. You couldn't not set something on fire for that long? And where's your shirt?"
Natsu looked to Elfman for support, but the traitor had slipped away while he was distracted. He could move fast and quiet for a mountain of muscle that liked to shout about being manly as much as he could. Happy was no help. He had already melted back into Lisanna's arms and was purring in content over the way she was scratching his ears. He needed a distraction before Lisanna (justifiably) got on his case about causing a major fire. Especially since she was going to read about the forest he and Lucy had also ignited.
Wait a minute. Lucy! That was the perfect distraction. A quick glance over his shoulder showed that she was still sitting with Alzack, Bisca, and Laki. Perfect! Meeting new girls always seemed to distract Lisanna, especially when he was the one doing the introductions!
"In my defense, I did it to save our newest guild member, and help her when she lost her shirt!" Before Lisanna had time to think too hard on how setting a port on fire equaled saving someone or why she lost her shirt in the first place, Natsu dragged her over to meet Lucy. "Lucy! This is my girlfriend, Lisanna! Lisanna, this is Lucy, who I saved by setting Hargeon on fire."
"Hello," Lucy mumbled, still slumped over the table and doing her best to stay as small as possible so that Natsu's vest could cover as much as possible.
It wasn't working.
"Hello," Lisanna returned before whirling on her boyfriend. "Natsu! What did you do?!"
"I helped!"
"You call this helping?!"
The two quickly devolved into an argument where Natsu dug himself deeper and deeper into a hole as Lisanna easily pried more and more of the story behind his meeting with Lucy and their job out of him.
Lucy just watched uncomfortably as they yelled right behind her. It reached the point that she turned around to try and get them to stop. "Um… excuse me?"
"You started another forest fire?!"
"It was a small one! What's the big deal?"
"Guys?" she tried again.
"An entire mountain isn't small, Natsu!"
"It was! I set a bigger forest on fire when I was a kid!"
"That's not a good thing!"
"GUYS!"
Lucy's yell reached the pair and they turned to stare at her with a pair of glares. "WHAT?!" It was disturbing to watch them go from screaming in each other's faces while flushed and staring intensely into each other's eyes to those same eyes glaring at her with even more anger. They were really worked up too, judging by how heavily they were breathing.
Suddenly, Lucy had the feeling that she had interrupted something she shouldn't have. She thickly swallowed and tried very hard to forget that she was mostly naked with Natsu's vest the only thing giving her a hint of modesty while interrupting an argument between Natsu's girlfriend and him while he was shirtless with her as the subject. With her mind in the gutter and the matching looks in their eyes, Lucy found that the words wouldn't come out.
Lisanna let out a huff before saying, "I'm sorry. That was rude of me. Nice to meet you Lucy. I'm sorry for all the trouble Natsu's given."
Lucy hesitantly shook her hand and accepted the apology. "It's okay. If I've learned anything the past few days it's how aggravating Natsu can be," she joked.
Lisanna cracked a smile while Natsu shouted in protest. "He can, can't he? But I love him anyway." She grabbed him around the waist and pulled herself into his side. Natsu's arm slid around her waist unconsciously and pulled her a little closer. "I'm sure that he's very sorry about what he's done to your clothes."
"Uh, yeah." Natsu said with a start, a little surprised by the quick change in topic. "Sorry, Lucy."
"So sorry that he's going to take you shopping to replace your clothes."
"I am?" Natsu questioned in surprise before feeling a sharp pain on his foot. "I mean, I am."
"Really?" Lucy asked hopefully. She could see that he was being coerced into it, but didn't really care. She couldn't go around wearing Natsu's vest and the remains of her clothes until she finished her next job.
"Yes!" Lisanna said. "I need some new clothes too, so I'll show you around the shops. We can make a day of it."
Natsu's face grew paler and paler at the thought of a shopping trip on his dime. Mira and Lisanna had dragged him on enough of those to know that he would spend the entire time playing pack mule, and without Elfman's help this time. Lucy, meanwhile, grew more and more excited at the prospect. Quickly snapping out of the funk the job had left her in.
"That would be great!" she said while jumping to her feet to give Lisanna a hug in relief. It was short lived though, as she heard fabric ripping at the sudden movement. The blonde quickly grabbed the ends of the vest and pulled them tight over her chest before she flashed the whole guild. "…when can we go?"
Lisanna gave her a look of sympathy and reached out to adjust the vest's buttons so that Lucy wouldn't have to hold it shut the entire time. "I have to go back home and change. I'll bring you something to wear too. You're about my size, they may be a little tight though."
"I'll take anything at this point. Thank you."
"We'll meet you back here in an hour."
"An hour?!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise. She then covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry. I was just hoping it would be sooner." Talk about ungrateful. She had just met Lisanna and she had already offered her her clothes and to take her shopping so she wouldn't be walking around the guild in less clothes than Gray.
"I understand. Don't worry," Lisanna told her before pulling Natsu along to the door. "Come on, Natsu. I need your help picking out an outfit."
The Dragon Slayer grinned and that look from their earlier argument returned to his eyes. "Let's get this over with then." The speed in his movements didn't match the exasperation in his voice.
Lucy couldn't help staring at the door after they left in slight confusion. She thought she knew what had happened, but wasn't sure. She turned back to her friends and asked, "Are they going to—"
"Yes," was the blunt response from three voices.
"Oh." Lucy's brow furrowed at the thought and she made a peculiar face. That could make things awkward later. "What should I—"
"Don't think about it."
Lucy took their advice.
Omake: Dangers of Smoking
"A'right, take a break," Wakaba called out. He had agreed to help Gray train for the upcoming S-Class trials when the teen had approached him this morning. The ice mage had been working his ass off ever since Natsu's promotion and the older man was sure that he would be promoted this year as long as he kept his head and didn't do something stupid, which shouldn't be too hard as long as Natsu wasn't one of the proctors this year.
"I can keep going," a shirtless and panting Gray insisted. He was surrounded by an army's worth of ice weapons and even more that were broken or half-melted and soaked with sweat from the effort of making them all.
"Ain't no use in youse burnin' out trying to prove somethin' to no one," Wakaba told him before tossing a towel over his head. "Wipe off before youse catch a cold. Don't need your mom bitch' at me."
"Ur's not my mom," was the sullen response, but Gray started to towel off despite his reluctance to stop. "She's my teacher."
Wakaba held back a snort. Sure she was. They may have started that way but anyone with eyes could see that that line had been crossed a long time ago. "Whatever youse say, kid." The pompadoured mage sat down on a bench he had Gray make a while ago and pulled out a cigarette. A quick snap of purple Fire Magic he had pestered Macao into teaching him back when they first started working together lit it up and he was happily puffing away. "C'mon. Take a load off. Youse can go back to turnin' this place inta Erza's frozen wonderland." He paused as a thought occurred. "And put ya shirt on."
"When did I—?" Gray shouted in surprise despite just toweling himself off. He scowled at the older man who pointedly ignored the teenage angst by taking another drag on his cigarette.
They had a few minutes of blissful silence before Wakaba had to ask, "A'ight, what's with the look?"
Gray's face was still curled in disgust as he asked, "How do you smoke those things? They stink. And I know you don't need them for your magic."
"They taste a lot better than they smell," Wakaba assured him. And they were a hell of a lot more convenient for Smoke Magic. He still remembered when he first started out and had to lug around a censer. Sure it made for a nice flail in a pinch, but he still looked like a damn idiot. Now he could use his magic with ease and looked cool as hell. "And youse don't smoke 'em for the smell. They're to help youse relax."
Gray still looked doubtful, so Wakaba shook out another cigarette and held it out for him. "Here, youse been wound tighter than a spring since Natsu made S-Class. This'll help." The kid was old enough to drink he was old enough to smoke. Wasn't like one would kill him.
Ur had been punishing him for being so snippy recently. Still, Wakaba wasn't exactly the best person to go to for life advice. "Will it really help?"
A shrug and "Couldn't hurt," was his answer.
Gray took the offered cigarette and put it into his mouth. It tasted kind of weird, like paper with a hint of something he didn't recognize. "Now what?"
Wakaba sent a small purple flame over to the end of the cigarette. "Just breathe in and hold it before lettin' the smoke out. Don't want youse to choke."
Gray followed his advice and ended up choking anyways at the taste. "That's disgusting! I thought you said they tasted good!" he accused.
"I said they tasted better than the smell, not that they tasted good," Wakaba corrected him, making Gray's scowl deepen. "Just shut up and give it another try."
Gray was tempted to just go back to training, but he could feel his body aching without the adrenaline to keep it at bay and decided against it. He picked the cigarette back up and gave it another try. Now prepared for the feeling, Gray could admit that it wasn't that bad. Soon the pair of them were sitting in comfortable silence and blowing smoke clouds.
"Youse are gonna want to put that out before it burns ya," Wakaba advised when he noticed that Gray's cigarette was almost done. The teen took his advice and rubbed it out in imitation of what he had seen Wakaba doing earlier. "Better?"
Gray let out a deep breath. "Yeah," he admitted in surprise.
"That's what they're meant for. Just don't go makin' a habit of it and youse'll be fine," Wakaba advised while lighting up another for himself. "Ah, youse probably shouldn't let Ur know that youse are smoking. She'll have a conniption." And he probably wouldn't survive when Gray inevitably ratted him out. No use trying to hide anything from that Ur—she was sharp as a tack.
"That would be wise," said a voice that made Wakaba's blood freeze in his veins. He and Gray both slowly turned around to find Ur standing with her arms crossed and a terrifying scowl on her face. Behind her they could see Levy, Jet, and Droy cowering in the distance. "I came here to pick up Gray for a job and what do I find? Wakaba," the way she said his name stabbed into the smoke mage's ears and made him feel like someone had parked a truck on his grave. "What. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?"
Every word was like an icicle into his soul. Wakaba knew that there was no way out of this. He just had to be sure to make a last request. "Gray, if I don't make it outta this… make sure my gravestone is bigger than Macao's." He then took one last pull on his cigarette and reduced the entire thing to ash. With a mighty breath he blew out a smokescreen and ran like a bat out of hell.
Ur didn't let him get far.
While watching what happened to his teacher for the day, Gray silently vowed to not take up smoking.
While suffering a mother's protective wrath, Wakaba vowed to switch to a pipe.
A/N: When I was typing this up I remembered that Gray originally smoked in the manga and that led to this omake and the realization of how much Wakaba's accent sucks. In other news, fuck 2020. All it's done is switch between fucking up my back and my arms since May. That's over now (hopefully). Stay safe everyone. Later.