A/N: Thanks to those following and supporting this story. Please enjoy today's chapter as well!
Natsu was woken up by a cat sitting on his face.
He groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes," he mumbled, trying to push the ball of fluff from his face.
"Come on, Natsu, wake up."
"Nooo."
"But Natsu, there's a weird girl here."
Natsu's eyes shot open. Right. Lucy. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as his blue cat paced in front of him.
"What happened last night?" Happy asked.
"Well…" He couldn't figure out where to start. "It's kind of a long story."
"Who's the girl?"
"Her name is Lucy," Natsu said. "She's the Celestial Spirit."
Happy's pupils widened. "She's that Celestial Spirit?"
"Yeah. She chased me and then we found a secret meeting of evil government dudes and I blew up a mansion."
"Yeah, I thought you were behind that."
"Sorry, Happy. I might've gotten us into a real mess last night."
"It's okay. Fairy Tail will hide us."
"Yeah, but I don't want to drag them down with us. Thanks for waking me up. Lucy and I have to talk to Gramps about it. Well, mostly just I do, but I'm helping Lucy now."
"Why'd you let her have the hammock anyway?" Happy asked.
Natsu gave him an incredulous look. "She's the Celestial Spirit. She's scary."
"She doesn't look scary."
Natsu looked over at the girl on his hammock. She was sleeping peacefully, one hand tucked under her head and the other resting on her stomach. She was thin but curvy, and in the golden daylight her hair was like a halo around the soft glow of her face.
Damn. She was way too pretty.
Natsu wasn't one to feel attraction toward anyone of any gender, but he knew beauty when he saw it. And his observations last night hadn't been wrong; even without the mist and starlight, she really was the most beautiful person he'd ever met.
But beautiful or not, they were in a rather sticky situation. The government was a strong enemy to make. Also, they could both agree that the meeting they'd eavesdropped on was suspicious to say the least. For someone as scary as the Celestial Spirit to be rattled by what little they heard, Natsu knew his instinct wasn't wrong. Something evil was going down in the Kingdom of Fiore.
"Natsu?"
"Hm?"
"You were zoning out."
Natsu stroked Happy's head. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Hey, why don't you go downstairs and grab some food for the road while I wake up Sleeping Beauty here?"
"Aye, sir!" And with that, the cat was running to the kitchen. Natsu wasn't sure they had any food here that hadn't gone bad, but he was sure Happy could find something.
And now there was the problem of Lucy. He went to her side and stared a moment. Was she the type to lash out when woken up? He hoped not.
"Hey. Lucy." He poked her shoulder. "Hey, wake up." Another nudge, harder this time. Lucy stirred but didn't open her eyes. "O great Celestial Spirit, open thine eyes!" Still nothing.
Feeling annoyed, Natsu bent down to her ear. "Wake up!" he shouted.
She jumped awake with a yelp. "What was that for?" she cried, putting a hand to her heart.
Natsu shrugged. "You weren't waking up."
"What time is it?"
"Dunno. Looks like the afternoon."
"Ohhh, she woke up?"
Natsu looked to the doorway. "So you did manage to find something, Happy. Nice!"
"The…the cat can talk?" Lucy gaped.
"I can fly, too," Happy said. "Wanna see?"
"I mean, I—"
"Look!" Happy sprouted wings and hovered a few feet in the air, still holding onto the bread he'd brought with him. "It's a kind of magic, so I can't do it forever, though."
"Happy isn't really a cat," Natsu explained. "He looks like a normal cat, but he's actually an exceed. They're similar species I guess. But different."
"I see," Lucy said. She still looked a little stunned, but Natsu knew she'd get used to it. She had a weird crab guy in one of her keys, after all; she ought to be used to this sort of thing by now.
"Come on, eat something before we go to the guild," Natsu said. "Here, Happy brought us food."
"They're a little moldy, but if you eat around those parts it should be fine," Happy said, handing them each a slice of bread.
"Thanks!" Natsu said. He was about to bite in when Lucy stopped him.
"This isn't edible," she said.
"Why not?"
"It's moldy. Spoiled food makes you sick."
"But it's better than nothing, right?" Natsu said, tilting his head.
"Come on, don't be ridiculous."
"It's not ridiculous. It's food!" Natsu didn't know what this girl's deal was. Maybe Cana was right and she was from a rich family or something. It's not like either of them had the money to buy food; Natsu just ate whatever he could get.
"There's gotta be something edible out in this forest," Lucy said, gesturing out to the thick trees beyond the window.
"Yeah, but we don't have time for that if we want to go to the g— to the tavern."
Lucy narrowed her eyes. "What exactly is this Fairy Tail place anyway? You called it a guild. You caught yourself this time, but I did notice."
Natsu's shoulders slumped. He was terrible at keeping secrets. "It's actually a cover for a mages' guild," he admitted.
Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "Those are illegal."
"Yeah, I know. Don't arrest us, okay? We're just trying to make a living."
"Well, of course!" Lucy said, surprising Natsu. So illegal guilds were okay? She wasn't going to attack them? "Unless you're one of those dark guilds," she amended.
Natsu shook his head rapidly. "No, of course not."
"Fairy Tail was a legal guild until the ban, aye," Happy added.
Lucy smiled a bit. "Sorry about that."
"Sorry for what?"
She shook her head. "No, it's nothing."
Last night, Lucy talked up a storm. But of course, just when Natsu actually wanted her to talk about something, she clammed up. How convenient. Meanwhile he was spilling secrets left and right.
"I've already told you this much, so you can stop keeping secrets," he said, bending down to pick up his pack.
Lucy's eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks, chin tucked to her chest. "I really am sorry. I don't want to get anyone else involved in my problems."
"I'm already involved and I even let you sleep in my bed after you attacked me last night. The least you could do is explain shit," he said. He didn't want to get angry, but if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was the type of person who would withhold information "for your own good." It was a patronizing attitude, and he hated it.
Lucy sighed. "I know, and I said I'm sorry. I promise I can explain later. Just…not now. Please."
"Whatever." Just as quickly as he'd gotten annoyed, he quickly stopped caring. "Let's go?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She peeled off a clean piece of the bread. "Thanks for this, Happy."
"Yeah, no problem," Happy said.
Natsu lifted Happy up onto his shoulder. He looked back at Lucy as he opened the front door. "Time for the Celestial Spirit to meet Fairy Tail."
Now that it was the afternoon, Fairy Tail was bustling with people. Natsu could hear the chatter from down the street, and when he swung the doors open, the sound greeted him full-blast. It was good to be back.
"Flame Brain! You're still alive." Of course Gray would be the first to greet him.
"Don't sound so disappointed," Natsu snapped, sending Gray a glare.
"Wait," Gray said, hopping off the table he was sitting on. He walked over and peered curiously at Lucy. "This is new. Natsu bringing back a girl."
"Cana didn't mention it?"
Gray looked at Natsu. "Cana? Haven't seen her all day. She's probably sleeping."
"Eh, she was pretty drunk this morning. This is Lucy. She's, ah…she's here for reasons." Natsu looked at Lucy, not sure what to say. It didn't seem right to just blurt out last night's events in front of all these people. Knowing Fairy Tail, they wouldn't stop to consider the context before running out to do something about it. Natsu himself was guilty of the same.
"Reasons, huh? Well, nice to meet you. I'm Gray. Gray Fullbuster."
"I'm Lucy."
They shook hands.
"How in the world did you manage to get yourself stuck with this idiot?" Gray asked.
"Hey, watch it, Ice Breath," Natsu snarled.
"Make me, Hothead."
"Are you two fighting?"
Natsu froze. There was only one person that voice could belong to.
"No, of course not!" he said, quickly switching to a cheerful tone.
Gray's arm slung over Natsu's shoulder. "We're just exchanging affectionate nicknames since we haven't seen each other in so long," he said.
But Erza's attention was quickly pulled away from the two of them to Lucy. Natsu let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, and shrugged Gray's arm off.
"Hi, I'm Lucy," Lucy said, holding out her hand to shake. Natsu winced. He knew what was coming next.
"My name's Erza Scarlet," Erza said. She ignored Lucy's hand and went for a hug instead, pulling Lucy's head to her armored chest.
"Urk! Nice to meet you," Lucy croaked, gasping for breath. Erza released her, and Lucy bent over to catch her breath.
"It's nice to have a guest here, even if you're Natsu's guest," Erza said. She turned to Natsu. "My congratulations, by the way. Cana told me about it when I arrived."
What in the world was she congratulating him for? "What?"
"You finally found yourself a girlfriend after all these years," Erza exclaimed, a proud smile plastered on her face. Crap, this was a terrible misunderstanding.
"I don't know what Cana told you, but it's not like that," Natsu said quickly.
"Oh." Erza turned to Lucy. "My apologies."
"We need to talk to the Master," Natsu said.
Gray thumbed toward the back room upstairs. "If you're looking for Makarov, he's in his office."
"Got it." Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand. "Come on, let's go."
"Ah, okay," Lucy said, stumbling after him. Erza and Gray were his two least favorite people (yeah, they were friends, but they were annoying friends) and at the moment they were only distractions. He and Lucy had to consult Makarov. He'd know what was going on.
Natsu barged into the office without bothering to knock. "Yo, Gramps!"
Makarov looked up from his desk, and quickly rushed to hide whatever he was looking at. "Oh! Natsu! I heard you returned."
"What'cha lookin' at, Gramps? Dirty magazines again?"
"Don't tease this old man," Makarov said, scowling.
So he was looking at dirty magazines. Natsu smirked.
"Did you need something, kid? And who's this?"
Natsu was getting awfully tired of the introductions. "This is Lucy. Anyway, Gramps, we've got something important to talk to you about."
"Which is?"
"There's something weird happening."
"Natsu, you're going to have to be more specific. Come, sit down, both of you." Makarov stood up and pulled out two chairs, holding one of them for Lucy. He gave her an odd little smile when their gazes met. Then he sat back down behind his desk. "Now, tell me what's going on."
Natsu described the events of the previous night to the best of his abilities, with Lucy chiming in every now and then to add her own interpretation of events. She was a lot better at words than he was, so he didn't know why she let him do all the talking. She was probably being shy or something. It didn't matter, so long as they got to tell Makarov everything.
On Makarov's end, he just nodded along to everything, humming in understanding every so often. Natsu wasn't sure he was actually paying any attention, but when he was finished telling his story, Makarov looked up and met Natsu's eyes.
"You've gotten yourself in a bad spot, kid."
"Wait, so you know what's happening?" Natsu said, jumping to his feet.
"Sit down, Natsu."
Natsu did as he was told.
"I haven't told any of you kids yet because I didn't want to worry you or get you involved in something like this." He let out a long breath. "We don't know specifics, but we've been noticing suspicious patterns in the political climate around Fiore and in other nations as well."
"We?" Lucy said. "Who's the 'we'?"
"We're not the only underground guild in Fiore," Makarov said.
"She doesn't know much about guilds," Natsu said.
"I can't imagine the Celestial Spirit would know much about the underground guild networks," Makarov said.
Natsu jumped up again. "So you do know who she is," he exclaimed.
"I knew as soon as you said her name," Makarov said. "Now sit down, Natsu."
"Wait, you knew her name?"
"There are a few things I am privy to that you are not," Makarov said. "I'm not sure this is the time to discuss them, though."
"Right." Natsu sat down. "So what's going on exactly?"
"Demons," Makarov said.
Lucy's eyes widened. "There have been an increase in incidents regarding powerful demons," she said.
"Yes. Demons made by the Black Mage Zeref," Makarov said. "And the government's response to this has been…?" He cued Lucy.
"Minimal," she finished. "Wait, do you think they're responsible for it?"
"We don't know anything for sure, but it is awfully suspicious. They send troops, but only after others have already taken care of the problem. The king has been very frustrated, and a lot of political drama has happened over it. Some getting kicked out of office, others getting promoted. So hearing what you just told me, it feels like the king is being manipulated to get certain people closest to him."
"They talked as if they had control over most of Fiore," Lucy said. "Magnolia seemed to be an exception."
Makarov smirked. "We keep the local magistrate busy," he said.
"Wait, I'm confused," Natsu said. "So they're trying to get power or something? What do demons have to do with it?"
"We believe that they are using the demon attacks as a means of placing blame on their enemies to get them removed from office. This has been happening in other countries too, according to international guilds. Problem is, we don't know why."
"You said all of them were Zeref's demons? I fought a few of those."
Lucy looked at Natsu. "Wait, that was you?"
"Hm? Yeah. I beat up a few of those guys," Natsu said with a shrug.
"Thanks," Lucy said. "You saved me a lot of trouble. I've been really busy trying to take care of all the incidents the past few years."
"I'm not the only one. Just when I'm in the area," Natsu said. He slouched back in the chair.
"Guilds have always tried to take care of anything within our jurisdiction," Makarov said. "Of course, it's hard to do all of it and still keep from getting caught. We've heard much of your accomplishments, Miss Lucy. I'm surprised you manage to be in so many places at once."
Lucy laughed. "It isn't without much difficulty. But it's my duty, in a way."
"Well, can I ask one more thing of you?"
"Of course," Lucy said. "You've given me valuable information."
Makarov looked at Natsu. "I want to talk to Lucy alone for a moment. If you don't mind, Natsu."
"Uh, sure," Natsu said. He stood up. "Let me know when you're done."
Natsu lingered outside the door, curiosity overwhelming him. But Makarov knew he was there and yelled for him to leave, sending Natsu scampering downstairs. He wandered over to where Gray and Erza were still chatting.
"Where'd the girl go?" Gray asked.
"Gramps wanted to talk to her," Natsu said with a dismissive shrug.
"What about?"
"Dunno."
"Aren't you curious?"
"Of course I'm curious," Natsu said. "But when I tried to eavesdrop, Gramps just yelled at me."
Erza sighed. "You're too predictable, Natsu. Anyway, why didn't you mention earlier that she was the Celestial Spirit?"
Gray started. "Wait, she's the Celestial Spirit? That girl is?"
"You didn't notice?" Natsu said.
"How was I supposed to know that?"
"Everyone else seemed to know without me telling them."
"What about you?"
"In my case, it was a little hard not to realize who she was. I was her prey for a while there."
"Stealing again?" Erza guessed.
"Shut up."
"Hey, Natsu!"
Natsu turned to the sound of Happy's voice. Levy McGarden was carrying Happy over, Wendy Marvell and her exceed Charle by Levy's side.
Natsu ruffled Wendy's hair. "Good to see ya, kid."
"Welcome back," Wendy replied.
"Natsu, where'd Lucy go?" Happy asked.
"She's upstairs talking to Makarov."
Happy's ears flopped. "Aww. I told Levy and Wendy they'd get to meet her."
"I'm sure they'll be done eventually," Levy said, releasing Happy to fly to his usual spot on Natsu's shoulder. "What's she like?"
"Pretty," Natsu said. "Scary. Pretty scary."
"Nice catch," Gray said.
"Watch it, Popsicle."
"So she's strict like Erza?" Wendy guessed.
"Even scarier," Natsu said, wiggling his fingers like claws.
"Natsuuuu!" Natsu looked up in time to see Lucy waving at him from the second floor. She jumped over the railing and flipped once before landing on her feet in front of the bar. Guild members and patrons alike applauded at the acrobatics.
She ran over. "Natsu, we have a job."
"A job? What kind of job?"
"I'll tell you about it later. Makarov said I should meet the rest of Fairy Tail first. If I'm going to be involved with you guys, I might as well meet my fellow mages," Lucy said.
"Well, here's two more," Natsu said, gesturing to Levy and Wendy. They introduced themselves, and Wendy also introduced her exceed Charle. Then Mira brought over drinks, and soon everyone was welcoming the new honorary member of Fairy Tail. Even Natsu got into the spirit of things, letting his curiosity fall by the wayside forgotten.
A/N: Thank you for reading!
