"See that?" Evergreen Mariposa pursed her lips, and shared a knowing look with her sister. "This is what I warned you about. A lot of people around here, but mainly Natsu and Gray, can be real idiots."

Carmine Mariposa, the newest edition to the Thunder God Tribe, and the newest member of Fairy Tail after Lucy, fixed her glasses, looking rather nervously at them all. Anxiously, she reached back to touch her guild mark on her left shoulder blade, which was mirrored by a tattoo of a beautiful, rooted tree on her right shoulder blade. She let out a screech when, almost out of the blue, a flash of pink hair, gold rounded glasses, and a tiny, pale, bony figure slid up and onto the table around which the Thunder Legion was sat. She blinked quickly, and in that time Laxus effortlessly pulled his younger sibling down off the table and onto the bench before swinging his legs up. Faer scowled at him after having let out a high pitched squeak, and leaned forward, almost pouting. Bickslow started cackling, only to be elbowed in the side by Freed. Evergreen merely rolled her eyes, mouthing four simple words to her sister: I told you so.

"Is he…" Carmine let out a sudden, disturbed gasp. "Stripping? Why would he -"

"That's Gray for you," The bony fae across from her said, flicking a pom pom pen up and down in faer hands. "I'm surprised you came willingly. Ever made it sound like you're prim and proper."

"Maybe to you," Evergreen said with a smirk at her sister, who turned pink. "Carmine, you and I know full well you hardly fit that definition."

Laxus snorted. "Whatever you've said about your sister aside," He turned to his little sibling. "As your big brother, I say this with as much love as possible: everything sounds prim and proper to you Caity."

"Riley," Fae corrected, waving faer pen at Carmine. "I usually go by my middle name, Riley."

Carmine nodded slowly, glancing around the guild hall.

"And, to answer your question about Gray, he's a weirdo," Laxus stretched out his arms, rolling his eyes when Carmine grimaced a bit at the thought of what else that could entail. "What else do you want to know?" Laxus continued. "I thought you would have figured it out, given that gramps told me you were involved in causing mass destruction with them in stopping that damn flute."

"Esseca was too," Riley told him, poking him with faer pen. "And they're our sibling! I can't believe they went on a job with the Salamander of all people!"

"I can't believe anyone goes on a job with the Salamander," Freed quipped, then offering Carmine a sympathetic look. "Speaking of which, I'm sorry you got dragged into their…well -"

"Erza and I are going to have to face the Magic Council for all that," She turned pink. "Please don't remind me."

"Really don't," Evergreen said, sending him an almost pleading look. "She's worried enough about what they'll do to her. She's been upset since their rep interrupted Natsu and Erza's fight."

"You don't need to worry," Erza said, coming up from behind them. "I'm sure we'll be lectured and nothing more. The Magic Council usually leaves Fairy Tail alone. I suspect," She frowned. "They're only doing this as a show."

"I hope…" Carmine mumbled helplessly. "I hope so."

"We have to go, now," Erza pulled her up. "They're only being this courteous out of respect for Master Makarov."

The representative cleared their throat in annoyance, waiting for the two young women to follow.

"Fair warning," Evergreen put in, scowling at the representative as they escorted her sister and Erza away. "I can petrify the mouths of those who insult Fairy Tail so that they can never open them again."

The representative made an indignant noise but, even with the situation, Carmine smiled at her sister, and Erza tried to smirk. Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion, however, burst into laughter. They were never as subtle.

Doors burst open. Perhaps that were an understatement. Doors were kicked down.

Both women standing trial and the Magic Council startled, and murmurs of disbelief and irritation began to ripple through the room. Siegrain, the youngest member of the Council, crossed his arms, leaned back, and tried not to laugh, then thinking better of it and shifting forward slightly, resting his face against the palm of his hand. He chuckled a bit, though his eyes fell on Mariposa, the accomplice charged alongside Scarlet. His fellow Council members were far less amused. To the contrary, they were largely angry, repulsed at the notion of being taken lightly. It was rude. Insane. Utterly disruptive. In absolute disapproval, Michello frowned at the sight, never having seen anyone act quite that way before if they had the slightest sense of reason. Yajima, much calmer than some of his colleagues, gaped at them in shock, unsure of what to make of the scene. It was quite the sight to behold, a sight which none of them had dealt with before. It was odd. Unusual. It left him, perhaps in massive contrast to his colleagues, in some semblance of awe.

Beside Yajima, Belno, her eyes narrow, stood up in complete indignation. Leji merely stared, too surprised to react further to the situation. Similar to Yajima, his thoughts were racing, a flurry of confusion, anger, and disbelief. Org, a little tired, shook his head. Exasperation. That was the only word to describe the overall feeling hanging over the members of the Ishgar Magic Council. Crawford, the chair of the Council, pursed his lips, having been about to sentence the two women, and very much at distaste for the interruption. A once in a decade debacle. How long ago had the last similar incident been? It was a distant, incoherent memory. The interruptor themselves were quite strange, and, at the very least, were the opposite of a sensible, law abiding citizen. Whether or not that applied to them as a citizen of Fiore did not matter to him or, indeed, the rest of the Council; they were violating the Council law which fell beside Parliament.

There was one member of the Council, however, who was almost shockingly furious: Ultear. She only paused to smirk at Siegrain, then looking back in fury at the interruptor. Whoever they were seemed to be drunk, at best, wearing a barrel and makeshift armour which did not suit them in the slightest. If they looked like anything, they looked completely ridiculous. It was pure madness. And it all happened in a matter of seconds.

"I'm the crazy lady in armour you old timers have been looking for!" They (yes, sadly, the interruptor was another member of Fairy Tail: Natsu Dragneel) yelled, flipping over a table. "If you've got a problem with the way me and my guild do things, then you can fight me!"

He ran forward and continued to break things. Carmine Mariposa buried her face in her hands. The actual Erza Scarlet merely sighed, completely mortified.

"I am the all powerful Erza!" Natsu kept shouting, breaking the witness stand, and all but running up to the Council members. "If you thought I was destructive before, you haven't seen anything yet!" He took in a deep breath, nearly running out of air in his tirade. "Do you think the stuff I destroyed is more important than the guild masters' lives? Well, do you?"

Crawford began to speak, something about taking the three of them out of his sight, but Belno was quicker.

"Fairy Tail must be held to account at one time or another," She said tersely. "The Eisenwald guild may have been the root cause of all that destruction through forbidden magic, but all of you did not need to make more of a mess for this Council to deal with! Have I made myself clear?"

Natsu paused, shrinking under the harrowing look Erza was giving him. He quickly nodded. Erza and Carmine began apologising profusely (very much not only because of the Eisenwald incident) and, soon enough, feeling they had made their point, all of the Council members left. There was a single exception. Siegrain. He slowly stood up and approached the two. Erza narrowed her eyes. A Wizard Saint or not, she had grown up with his brother. Jellal had always talked about his brother, worried about him, wondering where he had ended up because he had never been in the Tower. Erza snorted at the memory. She had since learnt that Siegrain had washed up on the shore in Fiore, been taken in by a wealthy family, and learnt magic. He had even saved her life on multiple occasions. But there was darkness in his twin she had seen first hand, and she had no desire to know if it lurked in him. She doubted it. He was too thoughtful, intellectually bound, to become like his brother.

That could not erase the bitterness of her past and he, in the worst way, reminded her of it.

Carmine, however, seemed to be reading his energy, the two of them staring at each other. Erza crossed her arms, shifting her glare between Natsu and Siegrain. Carmine did not notice, instead smiling at the Wizard Saint as warmth spread through her.

"You speak well for yourself," Siegrain said simply.

"So everyone says," She replied, eyeing him for a brief moment. "Meet me at Second Cup Coffee shop in downtown Magnolia on Saturday."

Erza and Natsu turned to her suddenly in disbelief

Siegrain quirked a half smile. "Are you asking me on a date?"

Carmine blushed. "Yes."

Siegrain laughed a little. "I'll be there at eleven, then. Don't forget."

She winked. "I won't."

Natsu cast a wary look to Erza as they slowly walked out of the courtroom.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I'm not sure," She muttered. "But I honestly cannot believe it."

Fairy Tail's guild hall was nothing like she had envisioned it, not in her wildest dreams. It was messy. Smelled distinctly of booze. People were fighting. It might as well have been a pub. Regardless, as her father had told her, Princess Hisui Elisabeth Fiore had to become better acquainted with the guilds. Her father was wiser than anyone else she knew, and his advice was in good faith. Still, this was nothing like she had expected. She brushed it off, deciding she had spent too much of her life not being in the rest of the world as a normal member of society. She would never have that opportunity. She had the inherited responsibility that accompanied being the princess of Fiore. She knew full well that she could do things for people she would not be able to do otherwise. She sighed. There were so many who would do anything to have her life. That did not mean she was free. Part of her yearned for the chance to wear whatever she wanted, enjoy a concert on her own, or simply have time truly for herself. Shaking herself out (and relieved everyone was too preoccupied to have noticed her just yet), she started towards the upstairs. No one questioned her, likely because they did not notice.

"Hello," Hisui said, smiling at the blonde man relaxing in a chair near the jobs board. "I came to see Makarov Dreyar. Is he around?"

"Gramps is out," He told her, thinking better of it when he turned to her. He swung his legs down from the table, and stood up, shoving his hands in the pockets of his sweeping fur coat. "I'm Laxus. The master's grandson. He should be back soon, but he wanted a break from Gray and Natsu's arguments, not to mention the Salamander's insistence that he -"

"May I wait here until he returns?" She asked, her breath catching her throat. It was strange, but the air suddenly felt rather magnetic. "Or should I come back later?"

Laxus grinned. "Feel free to stay."

"Alright," She said, sitting down across from him and extending her hand. "I'm Hisui."

He stared, shocked for a moment, and then shook her hand. Their hands lingered, entwined far longer than need be. An electric buzz neither of them had felt before began to course through their veins. Laxus told himself it was his magic. The princess told herself it was simply the thrill of something new. The sensation was something they both quivered at the thought of. By the time he let go of her hand, Laxus realised he was in awe of her. The princess. What was she doing at the guild hall? They both looked over, hearing the woosh of some air being flipped around, only to see a pale and bony pink haired fae hanging upside down by faer knees from a hoop suspended from the ceiling nearby. Laxus rolled his eyes when his younger sibling waved at him, childishly sticking out faer tongue at him. Hisui eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then started to giggle. Laxus smiled. His eyes then met the princess' again, and the two of them stared at each other. It was surprising. What could she possibly have to discuss with Makarov that other members of the royal family or their advisors or, truly, anyone in the government could not do?

"This is my first time in Magnolia," Hisui offered with a smile. "If you can believe it. I'll be staying here for a while, to get to know the town and, of course, the guild."

Laxus nodded. "I can show you around."

Her gloved fingers delicately tapped against the table.

"I would like that," She said. "Very much, actually."

"Tomorrow's Saturday. How about we get some coffee?" He suggested, surprised by himself. "I'll take you to the best coffee shop in town: Second Cup Coffee."

Hisui nodded. "Anything there in particular you recommend?"

"More than just the coffee," Laxus replied. "If anything, they make good doughnuts."

She sighed wistfully. "It has been too long since I last had one."

Laxus smiled himself but, just before he could reply, Makarov walked back into the guild hall.

"That's gramps," Laxus told her, standing up with her. "I'll see you at eleven tomorrow morning?"

Hisui briefly took his hand again. "Don't worry," She promised. "I'll be there."