Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Anything I write in this story is purely from my thoughts
Chapter 20
A dejected Lucy sat on the overlooking her comrades. They were lying on the battered and bruised.
Why you ask? Well, the last night…
*FLASHBACK*
"You sure this is okay?" Jet asked as they walked through a dark alley.
"I agree with him on this one," Droy echoed his partner's sentiments. "Shouldn't you stay with Laki and the others in Fairy Hills?"
"What's with the worry, you guys?" Levy said nonchalantly. "I don't want to split up our team."
With those words of the only girl in the group, both boys fell on their back and quickly recovered with massive blushes on their face. They even swooned.
"The three of us can face anything Phantom will throw at us!" Both boys declared.
"I'll always protect her!" Jet added.
"No, I will!" Droy argued.
"What was that?" Levy stopped in their track. "I thought I heard something."
"Where?" Jet and Droy both said at the same time as they stood protectively over the girl.
"I-I'm not sure," Levy looked around. "Maybe it's just my nerves."
They both turned around and saw a tall and muscular man with light-tan skin and long, spiky black hair. He had red eyes with slitted dark pupils and no visible eyebrows. Most of his body not covered by clothes were covered in a set of simple, round studs, mostly on his face. He was wearing a dark blue, calf-length trench coat with a black flame pattern around the hem and silver-grey trim. Underneath was a green, short-sleeved shirt that has a light and dark-colored pattern along with a dark yellow bandanna on his forehead and dark brown fingerless gloves. Finishing off, he wore beige pants held by a studded black belt and tucked under a pair of black, studded boots.
This particular wizard smirk, "So, I heard you could protect little missy over here."
"Who are you?" Jet demanded.
"Are you from Phantom?" Droy added.
"So, what if I am?" The wizard shrugged and morphed his hand into a metal pole. "I just hope you can show me a good fight."
With that, he lunged at them with Levy's cries of despair echoing through the night.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
And so that's what happened.
Right now, Lucy stared at her resting comrades remembering all the times she had gotten close to another one of her guildmates other than the ones on her team.
"To think they would go this far…" she said to herself.
"Actually, I wouldn't move it past them," A voice came from the door of the hospital room breaking her from her thoughts. "Coffee?"
Lucy turned to see who it was. It was her partner. She nodded and accepted the hot beverage. "I thought you would have gone with the others." She began after sipping from the cup,
"And leave you pretty ladies to hold down the fort?" Naruto answered earning a blush from his partner.
"Oh, please," Lucy recovered waving off Naruto's statement. "We can handle thank you very much."
"Hey, I was just looking out for you," He protested.
"I know. I appreciate the sentiment." Lucy said looking back at the their battered guildmates. "You know, I'm glad we found them when we did. I don't know what would happen if we found them a little later."
"We'd probably still be in the basement sulking and wondering where they were," Naruto guessed.
"You're right," Lucy nodded. "You know, I'm amazed they were able to heal some of their wounds without receiving medical attention overnight."
"Y-yeah, I know," Naruto looked away for some reason. "That means they must have some kind of healing factor."
The two continued on their conversation. Lucy wasn't in the mood to read her new book now, so they talked for hours not noticing that the time. Eventually, it was now lunch time, and Naruto's stomach announced it to the world.
"Man, it's lunch time already, huh?" Naruto said clutching his stomach trying to calm down the beast. "I better go back and prepare some lunch for us. What do you want to eat?"
Lucy shook her head. "I should go and prepare food for the both of us."
"Really? Again?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.
"Nonsense," Lucy waved him off. "It's the least I can do for saving me from Phantom Lord."
"Well, if you say so," Naruto said. "I'll stay here and watch over them then."
"Alright, be back in a few," Lucy waved and was off to their apartment.
Naruto watched over them as they slept. Levy stirred for a bit prompting the blonde to dash to her side and check on her. It turned out she was just dreaming or something like that and went back to sleep.
"For a second there, I thought you were waking up," Naruto said to no one in particular. "I do hope Lucy will hurry it up though."
He sat back to the chair and gazed out of the window.
"That's odd," He muttered when he saw that it started to rain despite the sun being out. That was followed by Kurama's ability to sense negative emotions was going haywire.
"This can't be good," He said.
He, then, raised his hand to his favorite hand sign and formed a shadow clone. He instructed his clone to stay put and watch over his guildmates while he went and checked out what was happening.
WITH LUCY
"Drip, drip, drop," A peculiar woman walked through the alleys that Lucy was walking through.
She was a girl with azure blue hair tightly curled at the base, midnight blue eyes, snow skin complexion, and a curvaceous figure. She wore a sapphire blue coat, a cream-colored furry trimmed navy-blue shawl with a pure white teru teru bozu attached to it, and a Russian Cossack Hat.
"Who are you?" Lucy said her hands hovering over her keys.
"Drip, drip, drop," She repeated ignoring the blonde.
"Huh?" Lucy asked aloud confused at what was happening.
Before anyone could answer her question, the ground beneath her feet rose causing her to jump back and hold her skirt down.
The ground rose up further to reveal a slim man of average height with a tiny pointy mustache and green hair pointing upwards. His right eye was hidden by a monocle attached to a slim chain. Under it, the eye seems slim and round unlike his other exposed eye. He wore a formal attire consisting of a brown suit with a ragged collar over a white shirt and a red tie. He also wore a short cape attached to both of his elbows.
"Non, non, non!" He chanted as rose from the ground. "Bonjour with a non!"
Lucy was taken aback by the appearance of the two weirdos. She just didn't know what to make of this scene. She tried to walk away, but the weird man began to speak.
"And, where might you be going Juvia-sama?" The monocled man asked.
"Monsieur Sol, fancy meeting you here," The blue-haired woman greeted. "You cannot just walk away from your mission like this."
Lucy froze in her step. These two weirdos were coming for her. They must be from Phantom! What bad luck to run into the two of them all by herself? She made a run for it, but the woman named Juvia made her move.
"Oh, my," Juvia turned back to Lucy who had just began to sprint away. "Pardon me for the mistake."
She stretched her hand out and Lucy was suddenly surrounded by a sphere of water restricting her movements.
'What's this?' Lucy panicked in her own mind. 'I can't move!'
"I hope you don't hold this against us, Mademoiselle Lucy Heartfilia-sama," Sol apologized. "This is just business."
"Do not worry," Juvia said. "I will not kill you. Our client has demanded that we bring you here alive."
'Oh, no…It can't be him...' Lucy thought as her consciousness was slowly fading to black. 'Naruto, anyone…Please…'
Just then, a golden line sliced the sphere of water in half breaking it apart. Without any water to carry her weight in the air, she slowly started to fall as the water dispersed to the ground.
"What is this?" Sol said in surprise.
"This is impossible!" Juvia's eyes widened. "Juvia's Water Lock cannot be broken!"
"Well, there's a first time for everything miss," someone spoke as the dust cleared.
"Ahh, I see," Sol adjusted his monocle as his mind registered the who the owner of the voice was. "Ah, Monsieur Naruto. So, you've gone and joined this pathetic guild."
Naruto turned around with Lucy in his arm bridal style; Remnants of golden energy flickered through his clothes like electricity. "Phantom Lord, I should have figured as much. I take it the attack on the guild hall and on Levy and the others were traps?"
"How perceptive of you," Sol praised. "I would expect no less from the wizard had his eyes on years ago. Such a shame. You could have risen through the ranks easily."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Naruto straight out refused. "I'm with Fairy Tail now. That being said, I will make you pay for everything you've done."
The temperature in the area seemed to drop several degrees. The two Phantom Lord Wizards shivered from the cold. Also, they could swear they could see nine pairs of eyes looking at them hungrily.
"We would like to stay and chat," Sol said trying to sound in control. "But we've got to return to our guild and report, right Juvia? Juvia?"
The said woman stood there frozen. She was staring intently at the blonde male in front of her. 'What is this? What am I feeling? Is this jealousy? Am I—'
She was broken out of her thoughts from Sol's repeated calling of her name. "What was that?"
Sol sighed. "You should stay focused, Madameoiselle Juvia. Anyway, we are to make a calculated retreat. Our client will be less than pleased with our failure, but my monocle tells me we succeeded elsewhere."
"Oh, right," Juvia hardened her stare. "Mark my words, Fairy Tail. We will be back."
PHANTOM LORD GUILD HALL
The building shook as two opposing guilds butted heads. It was like a mini earthquake from all the magic that was being cast in the building, mostly from Master Makarov's Fury magic.
Two dragon slayers were at each other's throats creating most of the damage. The rest of Fairy Tail Wizards were taking out the grunts. Despite being outnumbered and in enemy territory, this guild was holding its own. So, as long as their master was with them, they rallied. But, they didn't know they were walking into a trap.
CRASH
Another door was obliterated from the Fairy Tail Guild Master's magic. He was so angry that he didn't even bother to have the courtesy of using doors.
"Jose…" His voice was so calm, but it dripped with venom. "Just what kind of game are you playing…"
"Why hello there, Makarov-san!" Jose greeted nonchalantly. "How long has it been? Six years? You have to forgive me...All those ale—"
BOOM
Makarov didn't let him finish as his magic exploded in the other wizard's face. "I am not here to reminisce with you, Jose. I am here for retribution."
"My my, getting a bit testy, are we?" Jose chuckled as his image flickered.
"A though projection? So, you've gone and run with your tail between your legs?" Master Makarov spat. "Pathetic for your rank in the Ten Wizard Saints."
"On the contrary, I am a avoiding a fight against two wizards of our caliber. You, yourself, know that a battle between us will be destructive to say the least. I prefer a rational victory."
"TAKE THAT RATIONAL VICTORY AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS! ARE YOU TOO AFRAID TO FIGHT ME?!" Makarov snapped.
Jose stood. His image froze for a second like he was listening to something. After a few moments, he gritted his teeth, but he managed to keep his smug personality.
"No matter, we can still achieve half of our objectives today," He said.
"WHAT ARE YOU—"
(Even I have to admit this is long. You can skip it if you want.)
Suddenly, an extremely tall and massive man with tanned skin appeared out of nowhere behind him. His face was rectangular and elongated face with prominent cheekbones, which has his rounded chin jut downwards. There was a thin, vertical dark line is present on the chin, crossing its whole length up to his lower lip, and his nose is flat. His eyes were dark and topped by thin dark eyebrows, which were hidden away by a light blindfold. He had small limbs in comparison to his large body mass.
He wore a large, loose green coat sporting white edges closed around his neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but left open on the front below it, revealing a pale red, similarly loose and ruffled pale red shirt, with its high collar, split in three horizontal straps circling his neck, being held closed by an equal amount of buttons, one for each strap. Below the shirt is a similar robe, seemingly yellow in color, which almost reaches down to his feet, revealing an extremely loose pair of pants with prominent hems and a pair of simple, dark shoes. Circling his neck is a large, orange-colored necklace composed of several crosses linked together by small beads, which on the front, right below his neck, bears a small skull, with its eyes obscured by a blindfold. Passing over his shoulders and hanging on the front is instead a wide stole, which is purple and white in color, being covered in intricate motifs. Sitting on his head was a top hat that matched his coat in color.
(And on to the rest of the story)
"I-it's so saaaad!" The man wept behind the Master.
He turned around and jumped back. 'Where'd he come from?' He panicked. 'I didn't even feel his presence!'
"Too late, Makarov!" Jose said, followed by a bright light enveloping the miniature guild master.
When the light died down, what was left was the Fairy Tail Guild Master looking a sickly shade of green. The image of Jose stood from his chair. The large man picked up the old man, and threw him through the wall of the room. Makarov was sent flying over the railing and hurtling down to main level.
Makarov crashed down on the floor below unable to move. 'My magic…'' was all he croaked out.
This stopped the fighting all around him as everyone turned to see who made the commotion. All the Fairy Tail Wizards were stunned to say the least.
"M-master?" Erza said as she recognized who it was.
"What?"
"No way!"
"It can't be!"
"Greetings, pathetic Fairy Tail Wizards!" Jose appeared on the ground floor flanked by the Element Four behind him. He was still in their presence as a thought projection, but the wizards were too stunned to notice. "Your master has been drained of his magic power. This victory is ours!"
FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL INFIRMARY
"Urk…" Lucy stirred from her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open only to see an all too familiar room. "Where am I?"
"How you holding up, Lucy?" Naruto said looking worriedly over his partner.
"Naruto…" Tears welled from Lucy's eyes. "You came…"
"I couldn't leave my partner all alone, can I?" Naruto grinned wiping the tears from her face.
"Thank you…" She said. "But if you're here…What about Levy and the others?"
"I got that covered," Naruto said with a thumbs up. "I'm watching over them uh…remotely…"
"Oh right…" Lucy's voice trailed off.
Just then, a commotion was heard from the outside of the guild followed by the opening of the infirmary doors.
"Sorry to disturb your alone time, you two," Mira's said in her usual sweet voice causing both blondes to immediately separate and blush. "I'm just here to tell you that the others have returned."
"They are?" Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Did they all come back in one piece?"
"Most of them…" Mira's cheerful expression was lost. "They managed to get Master…"
"Is he alive?" Lucy gasped.
"Yes…but he's drained of his magic power," Mira explained.
"Oh…I better go check on him!" Naruto said as he ran to the door.
He ran out of the guild with no destination. He can't believe he forgot to ask where they left the Master. Fortunately for him, he gained sensory abilities from the power-ups he gained in the war. After confirming where he was, he immediately headed towards it.
On the way, he ran into Alzack and Bisca running away from the direction he was heading to.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Naruto waved to them.
"Why are you going there, Naruto?" Alzack asked.
"I'm going to go check on Master," Naruto answered.
"No!" Bisca snapped. "Don't! She'll eat you alive!"
"What are you guys talking about?" Naruto looked at them confused. "Anyway, gotta run!"
Alzack and Bisca looked at each other and shrugged. They ran towards the guild after that.
The blonde, though, made it to a lone house built into the trunk of a tree. That was weird to him alright, but he just knocked on the door.
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!" An elderly woman's voice yelled from the inside of the house.
"Uhh…I'm a different person…" Naruto squeaked from the door. This is exactly how he imagined the Fifth Hokage to be if she didn't keep herself youthful all the time.
"Wait..." The elderly woman said. "This feeling…"
A few seconds later, he opened the door revealing a tall, slim elderly woman with pink hair tied in a bun on the back of her head, held together with a large pin with crescent moon-shaped edges. She had reddish eyes and a beauty mark located below her mark on the left side of her face.
She was wearing a dark green blouse with a tie around the collar paired with a long matching skirt and simple shoes. Over this, she wore a crimson-colored cape, with a wide collar decorated by massive Dragon horn-like decorations protruding outwards and edges adorned by white, arch-like motifs.
Man, was Naruto wrong. She didn't look like an old Tsunade at all, she was more like…
"S-sakura-chan?" Naruto blurted out upon seeing her.
"MY NAME IS NOT SAKURA, YOU IDIOT!" The old lady scolded.
"Sorry about that, baachan," Naruto apologized as he scratched the back of his head. "You just look like someone I know."
Naruto didn't expect it though. A jar slammed on his head knocking him on his back. The jar was surprisingly intact despite the impact.
"HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" It was Naruto's turn to snap.
"DON'T CALL ME OLD LADY! I HAVE A NAME, YOU KNOW!" The old lady yelled back.
"HOW SHO—" Naruto was about to snap back, but he narrowly dodged another flying projectile. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. What do I call me then?!"
"Call me Porlyusica, the guild's resident healer," She introduced herself calming down. "And you, frankly, I never expected to find another one of you in this world."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"Never mind that, what are you here for?" Porlyusica waved off his question.
"Oh, I'm here to take a look at Ojisan," Naruto explained.
"Why? Are you a healer?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Uhhh…something like that," Naruto said. "Come on, please. I promise I'll be quick."
Porlyusica sighed. "Fine. Just leave me in peace once you are done."
"Yes, I understand," Naruto said as he got up back to his feet. He walked over to his sleeping master and took a look at him.
"I can't sense any magic coming from him…" He muttered to himself. 'Kurama! Let's help him!'
"All right!" Kurama said.
The blonde placed his hand on the old man. A few seconds later, bubbly red energy emerged from his hand and crept its way on onto the unconscious wizard. That certainly surprised the pink-haired healer. He stirred in his sleep, but he remained out cold.
"That should do it," He said. "Now, all he has to do is recover from his injuries."
"What was that?" The old woman demanded.
"I shared some of Ku—er my magic with him," Naruto explained. "That should solve the immediate problem."
"I never heard any wizard capable of doing that," She said in surprise. "Just who are you?"
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki!" The blonde introduced himself. "Anyway, as promised, I gotta run. I have to check on my guild mates. See ya!"
With that, the blonde ran out of the house and ran back to the guild.
Porlyusica stared at his receding form and when he was gone, she turned to Makarov and said, "The children you keep finding never cease to amaze me…"
BACK IN THE GUILD
Naruto entered the guild and saw that Lucy had just gotten out of bed and just recently left the infirmary.
"Yo!" He greeted. "Are you okay now?"
"Better than earlier after a little rest," Lucy said trying for a smile. "So how was the master?"
"He'll be fine," Naruto said. "What about you? You seem down all of a sudden?"
"I'll tell you along with the rest," Lucy said. "Shall we join the others?"
"Lead the way," Naruto said.
And so, both blondes descended to the basement. Down there, they saw the dejected faces of their guildmates who have returned from their battle at their rival guild.
"Hey guys," Naruto said as they entered the lower floor. "How'd it go?"
"It was a trap…" One of the random wizards said.
"They planned for us to be there," Elfman added.
"Funny of you to say that, cause a couple of weirdos came here to kidnap, Lucy!" Naruto shared.
Lucy took a deep breath. "Uh…everyone…I have something to say…"
"What is it, Lucy?" Mira walked over to her.
Lucy took a deep breath. "M-my real name is Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Jude Hearfilia who is the owner of Heartfilia Konzern. The attack on the guild is my fault. I suspect that my father was behind the attack. For that, I am sorry…He hasn't cared about me running away for a year now, but now he has made a move. If only I haven't joined this guild…Then he wouldn't have come after us…"
"HOLY SHIT! LUCY IS FILTHY RICH!" Natsu screamed upon hearing the truth.
"No! Actually—"
"I'm not surprised this happened," Elfman added. "Rich daughters are destined to be targets. It's a man's job to protect them."
"Dude, don't say things like that!" Gray told him off.
"Why'd you hide it though?" Happy flew over and asked.
"I-it's not that I hid it…" Lucy shook her head. "I just didn't want to talk about it. After all, papa ignored me even when I ran away from home. He's horrible…"
"So, I guess I have to go home now?" Lucy lowered her head not wanting to show the tears falling on the sides of her cheek. "That way…everything will go back to normal, right?"
Lucy waited for the guild's response. She was half-expecting that they would kick her out right here and now, but she was not expecting a hand touch her head. She looked up and saw her partner looking at her with worry.
"Why are you saying things like that?" Naruto said. "Didn't master say that everyone here is family?"
"Yeah! And it's a family's job to look after one another!" Natsu chimed in. "Besides, 'Lucy-sama' doesn't suit you at all. You fit in better in a dingy bar like this one."
"Why aren't you guys mad at me?" Lucy looked at her guildmates. "It was because of my selfish actions that all of this mess happened! Everyone got hurt because of me! You are better off kicking me out!"
"So tell me this," Naruto knelt so she was at eye level with her. "Is it selfish for you to finally do something that you want to do and not something your stupid dad wants you to do?"
"That's kind of the point, right?" Lucy answered.
"I disagree," He shook his head. "You're just following what your heart desired, right?"
"He is right, you know," Natsu said chiming in. "What are you talking about going home? Fairy Tail your new home now?"
"You guys…" Lucy said. "Thank you…"
"Come to think of it, where's Erza?" Naruto asked.
Gray shrugged. "She didn't come down with the rest of us. I'm worried about her."
Elfman nodded. "She hasn't been the same after we retreated from Phantom's Guild Hall."
Over by the other side of the guild, there sat a frustrated Cana and a Mira speaking to someone on a Lacrima Ball. Cana screamed in exasperation as she flipped another card. One would think that she was gambling at a time like this, but in actuality, she was looking for one of their S-class Wizards, Mystogan. Though, she wasn't having any luck; she just couldn't find him.
On the other hand, Mira was now pleading to the other end of the line to come help the guild. She was talking to Laxus for aid in the upcoming fight, but like her companion, luck wasn't on her side. She kept pleading for help, but the guy just refused. It made it to a point where the guy asked for the model to strip so he would come waltzing to their aid. Every woman in the vicinity glared at the Lacrima Orb with righteous feminine fury. They didn't expect thought, that the holder would smash the orb in to pieces. She broke down crying after that.
That left the already dejected guild to slump even more. They felt like they didn't stand a chance against Phantom. They knew Naruto was a power house, but this is an entire guild that they were talking about. How could one person stand up to 5 S-class Wizards and a Wizard Saint.
Oh, how wrong they were, but they didn't know that.
Anyway, Naruto scanned the faces of his guildmates and sighed, "What? So, you feel this defeat is the end of the line already?"
"Easy for you to say!" A random wizard said. "You weren't there!"
"Yeah, now without master on our side, how else can we win?" Another one added.
"I understand that we need master in order to win this thing, but the old man's not the only reason why this guild is strong. It's each and every one of us!" Naruto rallied.
That did the trick. They had their heads up now. They were getting out of their slump.
"He's right!" Natsu declared. "We don't have time to mope here!"
Naruto nodded. "This is just a minor setback in this war. I'm sure if we regroup and work together, we can win this thing!"
"I can't believe I was down in the dumps for that!"
"We'll show them not to mess with Fairy Tail!"
"Look out Phantom cause Fairy Tail will rip your throats out!"
The wizards declared rallying under Naruto's words.
All that was interrupted though as they felt a slight tremor in the ground.
"What was that?" Gray asked.
"It's coming from outside!" Alzack said bursting into the basement.
Everyone ran up to see what was causing the ground to shake, and they were shocked, to say the least. There was a loud screeching followed by a voice coming from the structure.
"GREETINGS FAIRY TAIL WIZARDS! PREPARE FOR YOUR END!"
A/N: Here we are Naruto and the rest of Fairy Tail is about to confront the guild. Man am I writing longer and longer chapters now. Anyway, tune in next time to see what would happen next. See ya!