Chapter Three: Do I know you?
"Can't you take off a few more Jewel?" Lucy pleaded, leaning forward on the counter her chin between her hands, giving him her cutest puppy eyes, she could conjure up.
The store clerk smiled at the young mage, "Sorry I can't drop the price any lower, 9,000 is all I can do," he said sweetly, only Lucy knew that he was just trying to be nice when he could actually lower the price more.
Lucy finally found the magic shop in Hargeon, taking nearly half a day to find it but it was all worth it with the key Nicola, the little dog. It was so cute, and she just really wanted a new friend. She had enough Jewel, but she wouldn't be able to find a place to stay for the night.
Sighing, Lucy placed the Jewel on the table and taking the key with her. Walking out the shop with the silver key in her hands, her brown eyes sparkled, she couldn't wait to make a new friend. Lifting her head to see tons of girls screaming and crying out loud, crowding around a man with purple hair.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked out loud as her hand placed the key back on her keyring.
However, the moment her eyes made contact with the questionable man; her heart started to beat rapidly. Her focus became tunneled on him, her mind was jumbled with thoughts about him and thoughts that is this is wrong.
Her feet started moving slowly towards the crowd with a forced smile, covering her heart with her hands. She didn't want to go but it felt like she had no choice.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she watched some kid ran up, between the whole crowd. "Igneel! Igneel it's me!" he yelled loudly with enthusiasm.
Lucy's mind became clear, she blinked several times, seeing several of the girls screaming at the boy and his oddly winged cat. The blonde watched them beat and berate the young boy as the flying cat flew around laughing at his pain. He sat on the street, rubbing the back of his head with a sullen look upon his face. His pink hair was disheveled, and his red coat bunched up at the ends, Lucy noticed he was wearing a white
"Hey there," she started, gaining his attention and his little cat's attention, "Thanks for breaking the spell on me. That jerk was using charm magic to manipulate those girls," looking back down to the young boy smiling at her.
"No problem, I didn't even know what was going on," He answered getting up, dusting off his white puffy pants and smiling again to the blonde, "Names Natsu and this is Happy," pointing his thumb towards the flying cat behind him, waving excessively.
Lucy smiled back, with a wave of her own, "I'm Lucy, why don't I buy you guys some lunch as a thank you?" she offered. Who knows what would have happened if he wasn't there, why was that guy even using charm magic on these girls?
"You had us at food!"
They started running towards a restaurant without Lucy. She just blinked as they ran around people, apologizing for bumping into them but laughing at the entrance of a diner down the street, "I never said food," Lucy muttered to herself as she made her way to them.
[***]
Her lunch with Natsu and Happy didn't really go as planned, not the way she thought it would go. They ate as if they had never had food in their lives, and this was the first time they tried it. food was flying everywhere and they both talked with their mouths full of food.
So, instead of letting them talk and having food flying all over the place, Lucy started to talk about her dreams. Her dream of becoming a strong mage of being someone that someone else could look up to and call on. She wanted to join Fairy Tail, that was her dream guild, yet she didn't know if she could join; like if she had to be some kind of strong or something.
Then she started talking about running into Laxus and the thunder legion, how she had tried to help them and it didn't turn out too good as she had made it extremely worse, "They weren't too nice but they still helped me out and provided a place to stay the night."
Natsu crossed his arms and leaned back in the booth, scoffed at the thought, "Laxus is always an ass. He never wants to fight me," rolling his eyes. Happy laughing with a mouth full of fish on the table next to the window.
"What? You know Laxus?" Lucy asked, slamming her hands on the table and getting in the pink-haired boy's face, mere inches from his nose.
Natsu raised an eyebrow at her, "Yeah? We are in the same guild?" shrugging nonchalantly.
Gasping, the blonde sat back down. She didn't even think to ask him if he was part of a guild, was that mean? Should she have asked?
"Yeah, you didn't know?" Happy commented, placing his fish back down on the table to cup his tiny paws over his puffed up cheeks laughing inconspicuously, he leaned towards Natsu, "She must really be dumb, right Natsu?" he didn't even try to whisper causing Lucy to humph at them and turn away from them.
"Why don't you just join Fairy Tail yourself?" Natsu asked, after laughing loudly for a few minutes, chomping on some leftover chicken that was on his plate.
Scratching her cheek, looking up to the ceiling in discomfort. She knew she could join but she didn't know if she was really good enough to join the most famous, strongest, and most friendly guild in Fiore. Would she feel accepted by them, "Can I really join Fairy Tail?" she asked no one in particular but Happy flew in her line of sight, inches from her nose.
"Of course, you can. Why wouldn't you?" he snickered, landing atop of the pink-haired boy's head.
Lucy stuttered her explanation for seconds, which didn't even make sense to the young mage across from her or his tiny blue partner. Natsu then just shook his head and grabbed her wrist, running out of the restaurant with no explanation whatsoever.
She asks loudly where the hell he was taking her when he turned back to her with a fanged smile, "I'm taking you to Fairy Tail."
[***]
It didn't last long, her excitement turned to worry. Not much for herself as more with whatever that guy in the town square was doing. Upon waiting for Natsu to get back from the bathroom outside of the park, she had overheard a woman behind the fountain talking with the man she questioned just hours ago.
The man who claimed his name was Salamander telling this girl that she was invited to his yacht party for a good time and flew off on a purple flame platform. Lucy frowned her eyebrows, yacht party and there will be a ton of girls along with them, seems sort of fishy to her.
"You look like you have to go to the bathroom yourself, Luce," Natsu goofed, laughing at the glare the blonde gave him. Moving next to her, he threw his hands behind his neck and walked along the road with her and Happy gliding above them, "Seriously, what's got you so in thought just now?"
Sighing, gripping her bag as she looked down at her feet, "I don't know. I think that guy in the square is up to something. I don't like the way he was recruiting girls," her pinky finger rubbing against her leather bag.
Turning to her, "You think we should investigate?" his features turned from serious to excited in a matter of seconds, "You mean be ninjas?!" he exclaimed.
Lucy watched him tug his scarf off his neck to tie it around his face, holding up his finger to his lips with Happy imitating Natsu just behind him.
In a matter of minutes, the three of them were set on the yacht, hiding, rolling, and whispering around corners and under counters. It was turning dark with the sun setting off to the west, Lucy watched it over the horizon as the boat was just taking off from the pier.
Natsu, still set in his ninja attire, had slowed to a stop near the ballroom. His feet staggard with a hand stapled to the wall for support, Lucy looked at him in question, about to ask him what was wrong until he doubled over with his other hand over his mouth.
"Natsu, are you okay?" she asked just as he threw up his whole lunch, Lucy had just bought him, all over the floor of the hallway. She at least had some notice he was going to barf when he gagged to let her know to back up.
Happy flew over to her head, "Natsu had motion sickness," he informed her just as the mage in question fell face first. The blonde mage groaned, slamming her hand into her face.
"Why didn't you say something before?" she whisper-yelled, looking around the corner to see if anyone had heard the Fairy Tail mage throw up just a few moments ago. The party on the ballroom was still underway in the next room with no intention of stopping.
The stellar mage did notice that there were mostly girls, it looked like about 70 girls here with maybe 10 men. It confused her to no end, what were they trying to do here? Turning back to Natsu, Happy curled his tail around Natsu's waist, pulling him back up in the air.
"I'll get him up high, so he could get back to himself again," without another word they flew up to the sky, leaving her to take them on herself.
Steeling her feet on the carpeted floor, Lucy turned her head to see where the main guys where. She watched them sit in a secluded corner with a lone table and several bottles laying around. Turning back, the blonde took a nice deep breath with her eyes closed to get herself together.
Pivoting her right foot, she stomped in the ballroom, whip in hand as she snapped it in the direction of the sitting men, "Explain what you're doing with these girls," at the same time as all of the girls fell to the ground unconscious, causing her to pause her movements.
The men then started to laugh loudly, standing slowly and making their way towards the blonde. She then backed up, straight into the wall behind her, letting out a cracked yelp when one man almost ripped her arm out of its socket. Her hand that held the whip, snapped in the man's face, cutting his cheek in the process.
"Oh, you did it now, you little bitch," his voice dropped, his eyes went dark as his grip tighten on her upper arm that she knew it was going to bruise.
Then another man wrapped around her ankle from behind her, Lucy saw the floor getting closer and closer to her face when her forehead smacked against the carpet before another man grabbed her opposite arm to bring her face to face with the man from the town square in Hargeon. His hand cupped her chin, moving her closer to his face, "You were at the port, I remember you."
Lucy cringed at the sound of his voice, yet as she was about to make her usual smart-ass comment, someone crashed into the ceiling into the several men holding her. Lucy, then crashed face-first into the carpet again, as they all let go of her.
"Luce, I came back and I'm feeling better!" Natsu yelled out a second before he was holding his mouth again. Lucy then groaned and quickly got to her feet while pulling Natsu to his feet again, she asked if he was going to be alright and he nodded, "Yeah I'll burn them all to a crisp."
Eyebrows furrowing, Lucy then realized that she had no idea what kind of magic he used. Lucy then let go of the mage watching his hand catch fire, crawling up his arms as his eyes burned with passion at the group of men. Suddenly, Lucy was lifted through the whole in the yacht while she watches Natsu throw fire and blows balls of fire from his mouth.
"Lucy, I have some bad news," Happy spoke, just after flying for a few seconds. Her honey brown eyes looked up to him with question deep in her eyes, "My time is up," then she was falling to the sea.
[***]
A day later, the three of them were standing in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Lucy could barely hold her excitement at the thought of actually joining, of actually being a part of something for the first time, of actually being near the thunder legion and not being just a fan of theirs, though she wasn't going to say that to anyone.
Back at the port, Lucy had summoned Aquarius to take the yacht back to the pier, after some strong and loud words from the water spirit. The boat was swept with a wave of water, along with Lucy and Happy being swept with it.
Natsu took out all of the slave traders, which she learned after the Sorcerer Weekly article the next morning, and Lucy learned that they were apart of some guild called Titian Nose and his name was Bora. It was a whole mess when the Rune Knights showed and Natsu grabbed her wrist to run the other way.
Now, here they were, at Fairy Tail! She really did try to repress the squeal burrowed deep inside her, but it came out anyway, it was accompanied by a small celebratory jump too.
Natsu turned to her, his hands behind his head, with a quirked brow but didn't say anything and walked ahead of her to open the door with Happy standing on his shoulder. Lucy walked in behind him, although tentatively, she looked around to see Natsu fighting with someone she had seen on various news articles as Gray Fullbuster.
Her eyes fell on the bar maiden and they grew wide at the sight. It was MiraJane! The model, the mage, the absolute beauty that is MiraJane. Lucy could not believe she was in the same room as the girl. Since Natsu had completely left her to her own devices, Lucy walked towards the bar, maybe MiraJane could help her out on how to become part of Fairy Tail.
"Hi, how can I help you?" her bright white hair was shimmering as she turned towards Lucy with a kind smile painted on her face.
As Lucy was internally weeping at the meeting, she calmly placed her hands on the bar top to lean over, "Hi, I just, a, I thought about joining Fairy Tail?" she voices it more of a question than anything.
Mira's smile turned soft, getting something from under the bar to set it on the counter, "Sure I'm just going to get the master to approve of it," before she walked around the counter to duck under and walk up the stairs.
Lucy's eyes wandered around to the balcony of the stairs to see the one team she's been dying to see. Laxus and the thunder legion were sitting up on the second floor at a table drinking and laughing while Bickslow told some story. Her feet moved before she could tell them not to, yet she couldn't get past the first step when the office door Mira went through burst open.
"LOOK AT ALL THESE COMPLAINTS FROM THE MAGIC COUNCIL!" the tiny master shouted, very loudly from the top of the balcony railing. He then proceeded to throw the now burning papers off the balcony to the crowd but Natsu jumped up to eat it.
"Guys, the council is angry with me all of the time but forget about the council members. Magic is not a miracle, when the spirit flows within us, it connects with nature. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring your soul into whatever you do is the magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve," it was quiet for a second as everyone took it in, exceptionally Lucy.
Her eyes widened with amazement as he spoke, "So do whatever you think is right! that the way of the Fairy Tail mages!" this caused everyone to cheer loudly, causing more ruckus and fights to break out among the members. Even causing Lucy to smile at the phrase, do whatever you want, huh?
Only minutes later Lucy got her Fairy Tail insignia. On her right hand, in bright pink, stood out her guild mark. To the second floor she went, making her way over to the thunder legion's table, she noticed Laxus looked up right before she got close with wide eyes. It looked like Freed was about to ask what he was looking at until he spotted her too.
They thought they would never see the blonde girl again, after she had touched each one of them differently, in a way they hadn't connected with anyone else before and it sort of scared each one of them.
So, seeing her standing at the other end of the second floor with a wide smile on her face and from what Laxus could see was a guild mark on the back of her right hand, "Shit," he muttered before she got too close.
Evergreen and Bickslow looked up at the grumble to see Laxus and Freed staring off at something or someone that was behind them. Snapping his head back, Bicks saw her, the girl that haunted his dreams from time to time. "Shit is right," he muttered right after Laxus.
"Hi, guys! I'm finally joined Fairy Tail!" she exclaimed, showing off her guild mark with pride.
Her smiled sent shivers down their spines. They wanted to be angry, they wanted to tell her to go the fuck away and let them keep their reputation. It was hard for them to make friends; it was hard for any of them to open up even with each other.
So, when it was silent, Lucy opened her eyes again to see them looking at Laxus for some kind of answer. Her hand dropped to her side, eyebrows furrowing at their actions, she thought they would be happy to have her here.
"Who are you, again?" Laxus' bellowing voice almost cracked at the harsh question.
Lucy flinched back at the notion, the idea that they didn't know her, or they just didn't want to. Her hands went up to her chest, feeling the sorrow burrowing deep inside, she blinked the tears away and stood tall, "It's me, Lucy," she tried, hopefully, to jog their memory.
There was a sigh from the blue-haired Seith mage, he really hated to do this, "The second floor is only for S-class mages. So, take your cosplaying ass back downstairs."
Her hands gripped tightly to her shirt, swallowing she turned back to the stairs to see Natsu slammed the doors open and walk briskly out. Her head looked back to the table to see them back to their previous business of drinking and talking amongst themselves.
She sighed walking back down the stairs to the guild again. She guesses that she'll find a mission or see what Natsu was so upset about. That could work to cloud her mind, forget about what just happened, and be happy that she was finally in Fairy Tail.
Thank you all for reading and following and favoriting and all the things that make me smile! Thank you to Guest, emeraldmoon14, and Readingspoons for reviewing again! I know this chapter was mostly Lucy and Natsu meeting but the next chapter will have more thunder legion and phantom lord arc is coming next!