Ola! I'm back from me break! Did ya miss me? Ah, I've really got nothing to say here, so I'll hurry up and give you the next chapter.
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail isn't mine and never will be, no matter how much I threaten Mashima-sama
Warning: The usual language, fighting and Erza's wrath! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
3rd Person P.O.V.
"I am very confused as to how this happened," Lucy commented idly as she stared at the downed form of the maid outfit wearing, giant rat that had just attacked them. "I mean, when do you see a rat that size, or wearing a maid outfit? I may have seen a lot of things in my travel – including a man who used his ear hair to fly – but this is going near the top of odd things I've encountered."
"You're analysing this too much, Lucy!" Happy chirped as he floated next to her. "A rat came, Natsu punched it a few times, and it was done for the count. That's it!"
Rolling her eyes, Lucy began to walk towards where Natsu was poking the rat – whose name was Angelica, if she remembered correctly. "You have such a simply mind, Happy."
The blue cat whined and moaned but flapped after her, drifting on ahead to alight on Natsu's head. "Natsu~! Lucy's being mean to me~!"
"Oh, grow up," Lucy said. "Besides, I don't think we should stay here much longer, we've already explored a lot of the island. Natsu," she addressed the boy who was finding great pleasure in playing with Angelica's mouth, "do you mind heading back to the village?"
"What?" Natsu said, standing up. "Why?"
"Because it's nearly dark and we need to observe the transformation of the island people. That's the whole reason we're here, remember?"
"Why aren't you coming back, though?" Asked Natsu curiously.
Lucy wrinkled her nose at him, straightening out her sweat-drenched t-shirt – oh how she hated humidity! "I have one more thing I would like to do before heading back to the village. I'm just going to view the rising moon from different positions on the island and see if whatever is affecting the moon is only affecting a certain area."
Okay, so that wasn't all true. Lucy actually also wanted to just go off in a quiet area of the forest and train for a while. After ten months of being on the road and spending most of her life with just her sister for constant company, the past month of being at a crowded Fairy Tail, always surrounded by people, having Natsu sneaking in almost every night; it really tolled on her. Her social skills had never been that great, so having to talk with people all the time and spend large stretches of time in their presence was both strange and tiring. She just wanted some time to herself, and this was a good time as any to pull out one of her less talkative spirits and spend some quality time with them; something she hadn't done for a while for this particular spirit.
If it wasn't enough, she might go on a job by herself after she finished this. At least have a few days on the road, like old times.
"Oh," Natsu said, not too sure about all the reasoning that Lucy had said, but it sounded legit. "Okay, I guess. I'll see ya back at the village then?" Without waiting for an answer, Natsu began to bound off through the trees, chatting happily with Happy about seeing all the 'super cool transformations!'
Sighing in fond exasperation, Lucy pivoted on her foot and went off in search for a nice clearing to set up in before Natsu thought about following her, or Lyon and his gang found her beside Angelica's unconscious body.
That wouldn't bode well.
Lucy P.O.V.
Sighing happily, I collapsed into the shade of a canopy of trees, the cool shadows and lush grass beneath me soothing my burning skin.
"I love you clearing," I mumbled to the ground, extremely happy that I had found a secluded clearing before I fucking died of heat exhaustion. Taking a few minutes to rub and roll myself across to ground liberally, I finally sat up, not minding the grass stains covering me, so I could call out one of my spirits.
"Cancer?" I called softly, touching his key from its place on my belt. The usual golden flash appeared in front of me, my crab spirit appearing with his customary stoic look on his face. "What can I do for you, ebi? No enemies today?"
Shaking my head, I stood up. "No enemies today, Cancer. I was just hoping that we could practise? Please?" I looked at him imploringly, hoping that my eyes were shining at least a little bit.
"Alright, ebi." Cancer agreed easily, seeming happy. "It's been a while since we last practised, isn't it, ebi?"
"Aye!" I smiled at him.
Cancer nodded before his hands began to glow, using an interesting form of magic that Lucy hadn't known about in the series. Although Cancer liked to primarily use his scissors to fight, he was also capable of wielding plenty of other short blades to a mastery. He was also capable of pulling blades from the Spirit world without having to fully go back there. It was a form of re-quip that transcended planes of existence, and I could also put in other blades of mine there if I gave them to Cancer. I had a default katana in there, as well as a long sword, but it was more difficult for Cancer to pull them through into this world as their matter density was much higher than his usual short blades.
At seeing two short knives appearing in Cancer's hands (ones that Cancer taught me to wield and preferred to use), I quickly spoke up. "Are we allowed to use my old blades? It feels like it's been too long since I last practised with them." At seeing the blades in Cancer's hands waver before disappearing, I smiled victoriously.
Shortly, Cancer was holding two chunks of metal that were far thinner than the previous knives. He handed them to me and I brushed my fingers over them reverently before snapping them open with a flick of my wrist.
"Oh man," I sighed at seeing my gleaming butterfly knives, "I missed these so much."
"I know you realise that these blades are illegal in Fiore," said Cancer quietly, "but I am curious as to who taught you how to wield them. I didn't teach you, ebi."
Not looking up from where I fiddling with my knives – continuously opening and shutting them with sharp snaps and flicks of my fingers and wrists – I answered my spirit honestly. "You already know of where I learnt such tricks, Cancer. After all, you know of who I am."
"Of course, ebi," Cancer said clinically. "I know of who you are, Tia, but I do not understand why you do not talk of your identity with your other spirits. Lucy already had Aquarius, Taurus and I before you took over, ebi. I know that those two are already aware of the fact that you are not Lucy, yet you have not talked to them about it like you do with me."
"I am simply waiting for Aquarius and Taurus to approach me with their questions," I replied, tossing the blades up and down while I opened and closed them. "Only you three know that I am Tia, not Lucy as I say, but only you approached me about it. So, I shall continue to talk to you about it, not the two who don't have enough courage to confront me about my identity."
There was a click as Cancer adjusted his glasses, a familiar sound around him. "I guess so, ebi. But you do know that Aquarius is waiting for you to slip up, and Taurus is content in waiting for you to talk to him about it."
I laughed ruefully. "I guess we're all just waiting."
Cancer nodded at me as he drew his scissors that gleamed dangerously in the fading light that crept through the tree canopy above. "It seems so, ebi. Now, shall we begin?"
Catching my blades and holding them at the ready, I smirked at him. "We shall, Cancer."
At the shift of Cancer's footing, I darted forward, wielding my blades as I slashed at him and parried his own attacks. Just the usual, quiet, comforting battle of finesse that Cancer and I had.
Gray P.O.V. (Holy shit!)
Cursing the terrifying red-head and her demonic aura, I stumbled through another rough patch of the small trail I was walking on; the one that Natsu had said that Lucy was walking down the last time he saw her.
That idiot! Who the hell ditches their friend in the middle of a freaking island they know nothing about?! Sure, flame-brain said that they had already explored the island, but Lucy didn't know it well enough to find her way back to the village. That idiot and his dumb cat were convinced by a blonde's words…I actually don't feel remorse for that idiot anymore, even though Erza is still probably punishing him now.
Memories of past punishments that Erza had inflicted on me made me stop and shiver in phantom pain. That woman was scary as hell! She definitely wasn't human!
Cursing both her, Natsu and my stripping habit, I scrambled back down the path to pick up my stray t-shirt. Fucking humidity…
Pausing in my damning of anything in the existence of everything, I heard a sharp screech echoing out from the thicket of the forest. It didn't sound anything like the numerous tropical birds I had seen and heard around the island, and growing up with Erza, a weapons mistress, made me privy to identifying such sounds.
Someone was fighting. With weapons, no less.
Deciding to do a Natsu (something stupid and not well thought through), I veered off the path I had been following and headed off into the thick jungle trees, the slowly setting sun my only light; and that was nearly completely cut off by the trees foliage. The sounds of metal hitting metal got louder the further I went in, and soon I could hear other sounds. Grunts of exertion and sudden, sharp calls; some sounding amused and others blanker and deeper.
I wonder who it is. It sounds like two people, and one sounds like a female…
Ducking underneath a low hanging branch, I slipped past a few more leafy plants and found myself on the fringe of a clearing. But it was the happenings of the inside of the clearing that had me stopping and staring.
Lucy; shirt discarded to the side, happily brandishing two slivers of silver as she danced around in her chest wrappings and frayed shorts. She would engage and break off with a man who stood a whole head taller than her, made slightly more so by his wild hair and the appendages coming off him. Strangely, six crab-like legs jutted out of his back and he seemed to be wielding to ornate scissors that clashed and clanged against Lucy's slivers of silver. This must be the only spirit that Lucy hadn't introduced to the guild, saying that he was fine with wherever Lucy was and didn't need to meet the people who had taken her in; Cancer.
Both were an intimidating (and slightly lightening) sight as they wielder what I could only assume to be their chosen blades, both with a sense of finesse and flair. Something that was very different to Lucy's normal sword style that she declared to have 'no frills and no fucking around.'
It was slightly strange to see the blonde openly laughing and smiling as she tossed her unravelling ponytail, kicked up her bare feet (as she had discarded her usual boots to the side, alongside her grey t-shirt), and generally looked like the young girl she really was. Normally, she looked older beyond her years, having a serious or politely quiet smile on her face; she was very much like Erza in that sense.
The odd scene kept me enraptured for a good while, it was only the sudden realisation of just how dark it was getting that roused me from my state of wonder and propelled me forward. "Lucy! I've been looki-!"
A whistling sound and a brush of air had me freezing and throwing my hands up in surrender as two dull thuds sounded against the trees behind me. "What'd I do?!"
"Oh shit," came Lucy's shaky voice, "Gray! Jeez man, you really scared me there. Don't do that!" The blonde stomped towards me, her face a mixture of embarrassment, mild anger, shock and relief. "How did you even sneak up on me?"
"The hell if I know!" I said, relaxing my arms and slinging my hands into the pockets of my pants that were (miraculously) still on.
Twisting her lips into a vaguely amused expression, Lucy ghosted past me, hands reaching for something. The action had me turning and following her path of action, only to see her pulling two thin blades out of the tree behind me; both were proportioned to barely graze either side of my head.
"You just tried to kill me!" I yelped, eyes wide in disbelief. "What the hell, man?!"
"You surprised me," Lucy defended as the flicked the blades closed skilfully. "So, therefore, it's your fault!"
Opening my mouth to argue, I found myself cut off by a male's voice that could only be Cancer. "What are you doing here, ebi?"
Ebi? Shrimp, really? A crab looking man saying shrimp was a little bit weird, even for Lucy's spirits standards. (And she had a cross thingy that was always sleeping. That is, until it would suddenly scream and shout out an answer to whatever question Lucy had asked him. It…Whatever).
Apparently my thoughts showed on my face as Lucy sent me a small smile and patted me sympathetically on the shoulder as she brushed past me to stand next to her spirit; who was currently staring at me, gripping his scissors with a serious expression on his face. Heck, he seemed like a serious guy in general.
"Um," I said awkwardly, the glassed gaze on me from the spirit was slightly disconcerting, "I went searching for you since it's dark and Erza wants you back in the village as quickly as possible. And," I barely held back a shudder, "after seeing what she was doing with Natsu when I left, I think it'll be better to get home sooner, rather than later, as she'll get impatient at some point and that'll mean more pain for you when you get there."
"So Erza's here?" Lucy asked, looking rather puzzled and surprised as she pulled her top on, her two blades clutched in her hands until she chucked them to Cancer, who caught them without looking away from me. Creepy.
"Y-yeah," I managed to say, tearing my eyes away from Cancer's gaze and towards where Lucy was sitting on the ground, pulling her socks and boots on. "She got back to the guild around half and hour after Mira found out the missing request. We had been bickering about what we should do about that situation the whole time, but when she walked in and heard the situation, she declared punishment on you two, grabbed me, and dragged me to the train station, not even giving me time to grab anything as we went."
"Sounds rough," Lucy said sympathetically, but a small grin was playing around her mouth as she said it, making sure I knew that she was amused. "But you're right, we should head back quickly. I need to see the villagers change into demons so that I can assess the situation." The blonde flicked her gaze up to the sky as she stood up, taking in the darkness slowly taking over the sky and the disappearance of the sun. "We might have to run, though."
I shrugged, "sounds good to me."
As I made sure I had all my clothes on and accounted for, Lucy was bidding Cancer farewell and promising to practise with him soon, using his choice of blades next time. The spirit agreed easily and disappeared, along with his vocal tick and the glare boring into the back of my head. I had a feeling that Cancer didn't like me. Not at all…
"Alright," Lucy said as she popped up beside me, looking sweaty and tired, but quietly pleased, "let's go, hidey-ho!"
Vaguely wondering at her odd words, I nodded and led the way out of the clearing, retracing my steps as I went. As soon as we found our way back to the trail, I found myself stumped at which way I should go. Both ways looked identical and now there was no sun to guide me as to where east was. I didn't know how to navigate by stars either.
"We head this way," Lucy spoke up, stepping onto the path and heading along to the left. "This is the way back to the village."
"How do you know?" I asked, "do you navigate by the stars?"
"Partially," she admitted, eyes scanning the surrounding jungle that was coming alight with night creature's sounds. "But it's also a feeling of that I have to go this way."
"A feeling?" I demanded, incredulous. "You're betting our sense of direction on a feeling?"
"Yes," Lucy said back crisply, eyes scanning me now, rather than the shadows in the night. "But it isn't a gut instinct, it's more a feeling of…magic. Yeah, I can somewhat sense the magic surrounding me, and I have a strong feeling from this way." She finished by waving her hand down the direction of path we were taking, expression thoughtful.
"So the strong feeling is of the village," I thought aloud, mind caught up on that Lucy could sense Eternano, the particles of magic that reside in every living thing.
"No," Lucy said shortly, jumping lightly over a felled tree, prompting me to do so as well. "I sense…call it a sixth sense or something-"
"You can sense Eternano," I cut in, "that's what you're sensing. I've never met anyone who could do it, but apparently there are a few people who can sense Eternano and can even see it in rare cases."
Lucy nodded, "yes, I was informed of the Eternano and my abilities by a seer that I met in my travels. I stayed with her for a while and she helped me refrain my ability. She said that I was naturally already attuned to Eternano, but with my magic, which connects me to the heavens and a holy level of Eternano, I have a large boost. Unfortunately," the girl sighed, "I can only really identify a few things of the Eternano."
"Such as?" I prompted.
Lucy sent me an amused look before halting, making me stop in fear of bumping into her. "What?"
Smiling now, Lucy knelt down and brushed the foliage off the trail we were on. "You asked me what I could identify, and this is the easiest thing I can sense." The girl dug up a large double handful of moist dirt, standing up so that she could cup it carefully and brandish it towards my face.
Quickly, I averted my head so I didn't get dirt in my eyes. "What?"
"Gaia," Lucy said simply, withdrawing her hands so that she could look at the dirt in her hands with a look of reverence. "I can sense the Eternano from the Earth, and everything she's connected to." The blonde let the dirt trickle through her fingers, clapping her hands together to get rid of the last traces after the main part was dropped. "It's wonderful to be able to sense the power the Earth has to offer." Lucy skipped forward a couple of steps and flung her arms out, twirling in a circle and breathing in deeply. "Simply wonderful…"
Observing her peaceful expression, I let a small smile cross my face. "You're really passionate about the environment, aren't you?"
A brown eye focused on me. "Of course, it's a beautiful thing that you humans take for granted way too much. You wouldn't understand."
Not feeling bothered that she referred to herself as a non-human, I chuckled before beginning to walk ahead, expecting Lucy to catch up. When she dropped into a fast step beside me, I asked the question I had been meaning to ask since this topic came up. "So, if you don't sense the village, then what are you sensing?"
Lucy looked up at me with her peaceful look still lingering, softening her features to a childish beauty. "Natsu. Who else?"
"What do you mean, Natsu?" I asked, shooting looks at Lucy as we stepped out into a more open trail and went left at Lucy's order at a crossroad.
"I mean," Lucy said patiently, "that I can sense Natsu's magical power. It's practically a massive, burning, bright beacon that I can sense from all the way over here. It was only recently that I began to pick out Natsu's magical signature, and that's only because I spend a fair amount of time with him and his magic level is so high."
"I can also vaguely sense Erza." Lucy's face was now screwed up in concentration as she looked towards something that I couldn't see or sense. "She's a lot more subtle; smoother and more…sweet. Yeah, she's sweet."
'Erza?' I scoffed mentally. 'Sweet?'
"As impossible that sounds," Lucy said dryly, seemingly have just read my mind, "but it's true." She then looked up at me again, face more relaxed again. "I like your magical signature better, though."
"Mine?" I said before mentally berating myself for the splutter that came at the end of the word. "What's so good about mine then?"
"Well," Lucy said, fishing for the words. "You're…you're cooler than Natsu, as ironic as it sounds, but it's a nice cool. It's soothingly cold. Like a cold drink in a hot day." The blonde considered her next sentence or two as we walked along a trail in the last traces of the sun. "You are also soft, not sharp like Erza or what your magic would seem, but soft. Like a snowflake!"
I tried to cover up my annoyance and indignation of being compared to a snowflake of all things, but Lucy apparently caught the look as she quickly tried to rectify her words. "It's not like…it's not wimpy like a snowflake!" The girl genuinely seemed flustered, a novel and new sight for me as she fumbled and stuttered. "It's…it's so goddamn hard to explain!" Throwing her hands up in the air from anger, the blonde suddenly whirled on me, eyes bright. "You're beautiful!"
There was an almost awkwa-no, definitely awkward silence as we both paused, Lucy's blushing face barely illuminated by the dusk light. I'm sure my face was a mask of disbelief and slight embarrassment as I looked to Lucy for an explanation.
"Um," Lucy said intelligently, finding great interest in her sword that hung in its sheath on her hip. "Can we forget that that ever happened?"
I suddenly found her mortification and the words she said to be of great amusement, and I couldn't help it as I burst into great gusts of laughter, bending over and leaning my arms against my knees as I did so.
"Hey!" Lucy's angry voice called out. "Stop that, you dick! It's not funny! I try and explain something that can't be explained in words, and then you go and laugh at it. You're being an ass. A dick and an ass. You dickass. Assdick."
I had been trying my hardest to choke down my laughter, but Lucy's last comments had me going again, and I couldn't seem to stop. Soon enough, Lucy saw the funny side and began to laugh along beside me, her quiet chuckles lost in my louder and deeper laughter.
"Ah," I said, finally straightening up and composing myself, "that was too good."
I caught sight of Lucy rolling her eyes, blush still lingering, as she stalked ahead. "Yeah, real funny. Now, let's hurry up and get to the village before night comes, and werewolves as well, to rip dickasses like you to pieces for being around when it's their time to rule."
Still chortling at the word, I jogged to catch up to Lucy, only hiccupping here and there as we approached the village gates. Just before Lucy could walk in ahead after calling up to the guards to let us in, I gave her a sly look as I stopped her. "Remember; you think I'm beautiful."
And before the girl could recover and yell at me or wallop me over the head, I punched her jokingly in the shoulder before racing off to go and cower behind Erza. The demon's wrath would be directed towards Lucy, which meant I could use her as a main defence.
Natsu's broken body would be the last shield.
3rd Person P.O.V.
"Lucy!" Bellowed Erza as soon as she saw the blonde with red tips come ducking into the tent that the villagers had set up for the Fairy Tail mages to use while they found a house for them to stay the night in at, as the tent itself didn't have cover on two sides. Gray had arrived a minute earlier, panting and looking slightly panicky as he dived over Natsu's large backpack and bedroll to hide. Oddly, he was smiling as he did so.
"One second," Lucy said to Erza casually, holding a finger up for emphasis. "I just have to kick Gray in the nuts a few times, thank you very much."
"Punish her now, Erza!" Howled Gray (not smiling anymore), hands snaking out from his hiding spot to grab a completely woozy and beaten Natsu that had been lying on the ground nearby. He drew the other boy close and propped him up so that Natsu's body was hiding his own, almost like a shield.
"Not until I break your balls!" Lucy screeched, her ruffled and messy looking ponytail almost puffing up behind her in anger. "Come here, Fullbuster!"
"No!" Gray shoved a moaning Natsu towards Lucy, warding the girl off as he scrambled up and backed further into the tents, legs bumping against a dozing Happy who had been napping on Lucy's small backpack that she had brought. The cat woke up at Gray's presence and quickly took in the scene, sprouting wings and shooting off into the air in a record breaking time.
Lucy advanced on the sweating Ice mage and his hostage, teeth grinding and eyes alight with an unholy light. "He won't save you, Fullbuster!" To stress this, Lucy's hands snatched at Natsu before flinging him to the side, not minding that the already injured boy was flung completely out of the tent.
An almost girly scream came from Gray at the sight of Lucy raising her thick boots. He was then saved by Erza placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder to restrain her, fed up with the lack of attention her warnings of punishment was greeted with and her nakama's behaviour.
"Lucy…" Erza's voice was dark and full of pain, but Lucy's glare was equally dark as she lowered her leg (to the relief of a trembling Gray) and turned her full attention on Erza. "What?" She snapped out, uncharacteristically rude sounding.
"You went on an S-class job without being S-class," Erza growled, "it's time for your punishment!"
Before Erza could invoke any pain on the shorter girl, she found a palm in her face, a universal sign of 'stop' or 'no.' Neither were things that Erza liked.
"Ah, ah, ah," Lucy drawled out, "I believe I will not be having a punishment right now, Titania." The blonde continued to talk over any protests that Erza could have. "It would be incredibly unprofessional to see people of power – us mages – belittles so in front of the people they have to protect and serve – the villagers. So you can save my punishment for another time, Erza, maybe when we arrive back to the guild, because, right now, that just wouldn't do."
Gray, gaping, looked at Lucy with a sense of awe and horror. Awe; because, she just stood up to the Titania. Again! And horror; because she was so fucked.
Surprisingly, Erza was considering her words and, after a moment, released the blonde and relaxed, nodding all the while. "You are correct there, Lucy, I am sorry, I was being unprofessional. I apologise."
"Don't apologise to me," said Lucy, sounding more composed and much like her politer self, "apologise to Natsu, whom you hurt unprofessionally."
Erza nodded again, eyes compassionate. "Yes! I shall apologise to Natsu for my unprincipled behaviour!" The Re-quip mage stalked over to where Natsu was still lying (also being gawked at by several of the villagers at the state of his wellbeing) and picked him up, the boy flopping pathetically like a ragdoll, before clutching him to her hard breastplate with a resounding clang, shouting words of apology as the boy groaned.
Gray looked over at the scene the two were making before looking back at Lucy, mouth open in shock. Then back to Erza and Natsu, and then Lucy. Natsu and Erza. Lucy. Idiot and demon. Blonde who was basically a god in his book at the moment. "Y-you just defused the demon's wrath! This is…"
"Some sort of Black magic?" Lucy said, amused by his reaction. "But, yeah, I directed Erza's anger away from me and got out of punishment. So what?"
"So what?" Gray spluttered. "So what?! So you just did something that I've never seen in the history of me being on the planet! You just calmed down Erza!" The Ice mage twitched in disbelief before suddenly relaxing, eyes now alight in mischief. "But…that still means you have to get punished! At the guild, remember!"
Yes, Gray," drawled Lucy as she adjusted her belt and made sure it was secure. "I remember what I said, not even a minute ago. And besides," a gleam now came into her eyes, made darker by her wicked grin, "I'll just tell her that Master should be the one who should deal with my punishment, as he is the one who will be most angered by this development."
Gray nearly began to argue against this point, as how could Master's punishment be any better than Erza's – they were ten times more embarrassing and you could never live them down for the rest of your life! – but Lucy spoke quickly, explaining with a sense of deviancy. "But I know Master wouldn't really hurt me, and I'll just play the innocent card to trip his guilt, and the concerned nakama for my involvement of this mission in the first place – I didn't want Natsu to injure himself as he had already been adamant that he was going and I should go along to make sure he isn't injured, rather than leave him to get hurt on his own."
"…You devious bitch," Gray said with no amount of wonder. "You conniving, genius bitch."
"I try," Lucy said with a smirk, "I really do."
Happy looked down at the two, utterly confused as to how they were fighting one moment and calmly talking the next. Pondering it for a moment, the cat decided that he would never understand humans and that was perfectly fine by him.
"Excuse me…?" Hesitantly, a young girl poked her head into the tent that Moka-sama had directed her towards. He stated that she needed to go and find the blonde-haired girl, so that he could show her their transformations. The moon was already peeking over the horizon, so the transformation was going to begin soon. Something that she dreaded, alongside the rest of her people.
Nobody turned at her quiet words. The blonde-haired girl was chatting away with a navy-haired boy, a blue cat occasionally speaking up from where he was floating overhead. Stepping further in, the girl spoke up again. "Excuse me? Lucy-san?"
The blonde-haired girl turned, eyes bright. "Yes?" Upon spotting the small villager, her expression turned more serious and she began to walk over. "Is it time?"
"Y-yes!" The small villager nodded. "Moka-sama wishes for you to join him in the centre of the village. That's where most of us gather."
"Right!" Lucy nodded before starting to walk out of the tent at a brisk pace. "Lead on, please."
Startled, the girl wavered before turning and racing after Lucy, her short brown hair bouncing as she went. It only took a minute of walking before Lucy and her guide arrived at a large clearing in the centre of the village, of which Lucy realised was where she first met Moka and his people.
"Moka-sama," Lucy murmured, bowing to the short leader.
"Thank you for coming, Lucy-san," Moka returned the bow, movements stiff in old age. "The moon is coming up now, and I have myself and a few of my people to show you exactly how the moon affects us and transforms us."
"I am thankful for your help, Moka-sama" Lucy said politely, "as well as your people's. I shall not judge your appearance, that, I assure you."
The villagers simply nodded back before a few of them looked up at the sky and murmured sadly, drawing everyone else's attention up to the moon that was now up above the horizon and glowing an awful shade of purple. The villagers began to shudder, and Lucy watched closely as their form wavered, grew and split, forming gross appendages and scaled skin.
After barely thirty seconds, the gathered villagers were changed and weeping as they tried to hide themselves. Lucy stayed quiet as they squirmed under her gaze, before shortly nodding, thanking them for their help, and informing them that it would only take around thirty hours at the most to fix everything for them.
Some looked doubtful while others looked genuinely happy. Moka was one of the doubtful ones and voiced his protest over the fact that he had hired them to destroy the moon, and they weren't even doing that.
"Moka-sama," Lucy said shortly, "I will inform you now; destroying the moon is an impossible task." She held up her hand to stop the leader's protest, gaze sharp. "The moon is only a fraction smaller than this planet, and is highly important to the functions of this planet. Without it, the seas will rise and drown these lands, or run so far out that there will be no ocean here anymore and you could walk back to the mainland."
"I don't care about that!" Snapped Moka. "I care about my appearance going back to normal and-!"
"Stop being so selfish!" Lucy swung an arm out angrily, eyes blazing with her rage. "You don't understand! The moon can't be destroyed! The amount of magical power needed to do so is impossible to gather unless majority of this planet were mages and all of them focused their magic attacks at one point! Besides," Lucy said, posture slackening and dropping her angry look for a blank one, "I already have an idea of how to fix your problem, Moka-sama, and it doesn't involve destroying the moon." With that, the blonde gave them one last bow, looking much sharper and jagged around the edges, before stalking off to find her companions.
Lucy P.O.V.
Upon dumping my bag on the wooden floor of the hut we had been given for the night to sleep in, I let out a groan before collapsing to the ground, face planted into the mercifully cool wooden slats.
"Alright there?" Gray's amused voice came from behind me and I felt a foot poke me in the side, making me stifle a giggle at the ticklish feel and hide it by snarling softly and slapping Gray's bare foot away from me.
"Testy, testy," teased Gray as he dropped into a couch behind me, the only piece of furniture in the room, oddly. He wore only his boxers and his expression was fixed into a smirk as he looked at me.
I moaned in answer and slammed my face back into the ground. "I'm tired! Stop judging! I'm sweaty from this fucking humidity and training earlier on means I'm doubly so, and tired! Give me a break, man."
"Training?!" Now Natsu's voice was the one speaking to me as he dropped down, cross-legged, beside me, his movement making the floor judder. "Why didn't you invite me, Luce?!"
"Because it's super secret ninja training," I said sarcastically, too tired to be polite anymore.
"Ninja training!" Natsu exclaimed, sounding way too excited for anyone's own good.
Christ, I forgot that he had a weird fascination with ninjas. Damn you mouth! Just shut up right now!
"You realise you're speaking out loud right now," Gray spoke up over Natsu's shouts, "don't you?"
I raised my head to glare at him. "And don't you realise that I'm tired and don't give a fuck right now?! Can I not just hurry up and go to sleep?"
"Lucy is right," said Erza as she entered the premises, gaze stern as she took in the surroundings. "We've all had a long day and getting rest is important if we wish to find out what is going on with the villager's condition."
"Already know what to do and how to fix it," I waved my hand lazily in the air before rolling over so that I could find a more comfortable position, tucking my backpack with the last morsels of food for breakfast tomorrow under my head for cushioning. I could almost pretend that I had been given some lodging on someone sympathising saps floor, just like I had done several times while I was travelling.
"I'll explain it tomorrow in the morning" I said to placate any protests Erza or Natsu had, "right now, I'm going to pass out and sleep, thank you very much."
"Aye!" Chirped Happy as he fluttered in through an open window (it was way too hot to have all the windows shut), the last remains of a fish a villager must've given him disappearing down his throat. "Bedtime with Lucy!" The cat touched down beside me before curling up in my open and waiting arms, just like he did every time he slept with me.
Sighing happily, I snuggled close to Happy and began to close my eyes, shutting out the fuss that the others were making as they got ready for bed as well.
"Hey," a hand tapped me gently on the shoulder and I opened a bleary eye to survey Gray's face leaning in on me. He held up something green and floppy, "don't you need a bedroll? It's got to uncomfortable lying on the floor, it's hard."
"Not like I haven't done it before," I mumbled, blinking heavily, "and I don't have a bedroll anyways. Never have."
Gray look taken aback, "really?" He then looked uncertainly at his bedroll before offering it to me with a stubborn look on his face. "Well then, you can use mine. I couldn't sleep if a girl was sleeping on the hard floor and I had this. As much as you don't seem to be a girl," Gray added at the end with a smirk.
"Haha," I laughed dryly, not amused, "put your roll down, Fullbuster, and sleep on it. I don't need anything like that, the ground isn't hard to me. And, besides, I know something will just happen, making me unable to sleep on it or something."
Gray looked doubtful before nodding reluctantly and laying out his bedroll beside me, collapsing onto it with a grace that Natsu lacked. "Night."
"Night," I replied, trying to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, a hot arm around me had my eyes snapping open and me turning to face the source in my discomfort. "Natsu," I said shortly, "you can't do that tonight."
"Why not?" He pouted at me from where he was lying beside me on a bedroll of his own, trying, even as we spoke, to draw me in closely like how we occasionally slept.
Rolling my eyes, I shifted a sleepily mumbling Happy in my arms so that I wouldn't crush him when I reached up and pushed Natsu's unbearably hot arm off me. "Because it's bloody boiling here," I said to Natsu, "and I will die from heat exhaustion if you come anywhere near me."
Seeing the pink-haired boy begin to panic and make a fuss over my use of die, I quickly slapped him up the head to quiet him down. "No. No making a fuss. I'm tired and hot. That means I will bite your arm off if you try and sling it over me. Understand?"
Natsu nodded hurriedly in answer, apparently seeing my thinning patience close to snapping completely. "Okay, Luce!"
"Good," was all I said before I let my eyes droop shut and I began to drift off to dreamland.
But, of course, that wasn't possible. I couldn't just go to sleep without some fuss happening.
It was Erza's bellow of 'Lucy's innocence shall not be tarnished by two males sleeping either side of her!' and her act of trying to drag Natsu away from his bedroll and me, that then resulted in a scuffle breaking out between the two as Erza tried to claim a sleeping place beside me so that she could 'protect my innocence.'
Both Happy and I moaned unhappily at this. Why did we have to have such annoyingly loud friends?! Sighing angrily through my nose, I sat up and placed a barely conscious Happy onto the couch above my head, before turning to Gray, who was lying on his bedroll with an uncomfortable expression on his face as he realised that he wasn't going to get much sleep.
"Gray," I whispered to him, and seeing him sit up attentively, I gestured with my hands. "Push your bedroll to the far side, away from these two, and I can lie near you, so we can get some sleep."
"Won't Erza just punish me for 'destroying your innocence?'" Gray said, suspicious of me.
"Not if you sleep right next to the wall and I sleep next to you, blocking her advance," I said easily, wanting to hurry up and go to sleep. "Now move, so we can hurry up and catch shut eye."
Gray grumbled some, but obligingly stood up and dragged his bedroll to the side so that he could lie it on the floor against the wall. As he lay back down, I snatched up Happy and scurried over to him, lying close so that Erza wouldn't be able to drag Gray away and so that his usual coldness could help cool me down.
I began to drift off to a blissful cold and the sound of Natsu and Erza's fight dying out. I fell asleep completely when Natsu and Erza realised where Gray and I was – asleep now – and decided that, they too, would finally hit the hay.
Erza was the one who claimed a spot next to me, acting quickly before Natsu could do anything. And I'm pretty sure she fell asleep with a proud and victorious expression on her face.
3rd Person P.O.V.
Lucy, as per usual, was the first one to awaken. Her eyes snapped open before dropping down dozily, but she pushed them back up through sheer will and began to blink away the hazy clutches of sleep. Sometimes she didn't like being an early waker, but it was worth it to see the sun rise and the day start anew.
She might do it now. See the sun from an island, a different point of view.
With her mind made up, Lucy began to sit up, only to find her legs and chest snared by her comrade's limbs. Well, damn, all movements were totally stopped.
Erza was still sleeping beside her, body perfectly straight and arms folded neatly across her stomach; a picture of tranquillity. Unfortunately, Gray had sprawled out in his sleep, limbs flailed everywhere. One leg was up against the wall, while the other was slung across Lucy's upper body, restricting her movements there.
Somehow, during the night, Natsu had managed to shift his entire body off his bedroll and onto the floor. He had then proceeded to drape himself over both Erza's and Lucy's legs.
But mostly Lucy's legs.
"Damn it." Lucy's curse had no real emotion behind it as she lay there, submitting herself to the fact that she wasn't going to get out of this any time soon, and that she wasn't going to see the sunrise. She was comforted though, that she still had Happy in her arms, and she absently stroked the slumbering cat's blue fur.
The sun would rise before she could get out of here.
It was hot and humid when they found the temple, as per usual of the island.
Erza had asked Lucy and Natsu to lead her and Gray around the island to investigate any strange happenings that they may have missed. Lucy informed them that they hadn't gone to one part of the island, and Natsu began to lead them there, using his nose to sniff out where his and Lucy's scent wasn't lingering. That was where they had to go.
After an hour or so of trekking in the horrible environment of heat, they arrived in a large clearing where a large, ancient temple stood.
"Nice," Lucy commented as she surveyed the forgotten monument. "Impressive work of architecture, and it's lasted for many years by the look of it."
"Yes," said Erza, already heading for the entrance, "but does it have a clue as to why the villagers have changed so?"
Gray turned to Lucy as the quartet of mages and singular flying cat began to walk up the steps of the temple. "Didn't you say that you knew why the villagers are 'cursed?'"
"I did," agreed Lucy, stepping into the cool shadows of the temple, "but it was an astute hypothesis. I believe that there's some source of magic that is affecting the villagers, and it is situated on the island, not due to the moon."
"Can't you just sense the magic?" Gray asked.
"I sensed a strange magic here yesterday," admitted Lucy, "but I didn't want to pursue it in the dark and until we had some backup."
"How'd ya know icicle and Erza were coming?" Asked Natsu, joining in the conversation as dropped into step beside Lucy, staring around curiously at the cracked and beaten temple interior.
"Someone was going to come," Lucy shrugged, "I just knew Master would send someone to get us, not who would come. I'm just happy it was Gray and Erza."
"This is a lovely chat," interrupted Erza, "but we should be looking for clues." Her aura darkened and she sent the other three mages a hard look. "Right?"
"Yeah," Lucy replied, uncaring of the danger Erza possessed. "I shall check the next room over, if you don't mind." She was planning on sneaking past Lyon and his minions to go see Deliora, maybe drag Gray down with her, but Natsu beat her to it by slamming his foot down repeatedly on the crumbling ground like he did in the series.
"Oh, you idiot," Lucy managed to sigh before the ground cracked and broke beneath the Fairy Tail mages, sending them hurtling down into the depths of the temple.
There was a loud thud as the rocks hit the ground, closely followed by three of the Fairy Tail mages. Gray glowered up at Lucy who was easily floating down to them, having grabbed Happy's tail and told him to activate his Aera magic before they could hit the floor. The Ice mage shoved Natsu and Erza off him, having hit the ground first, and stood up. "Why do you always seem to skip getting hurt?"
Lucy tapped down onto the ground and thanked Happy, who only grinned and drifted lazily over to a steaming Natsu, encouraging him to get up. "Because," Lucy began, walking over to help Erza up, "my self-preservation skills are high and I don't scream and do nothing when I fall down giant holes. Does that answer your question?" She looked up at Gray when she got no immediate answer, only to find him staring in fear and shock at something over her shoulder.
Erza immediately turned around at seeing her nakama's horrified expression, and her own facial expression morphed into one of shock and mild distress. "What on Earthland is that?"
"…Deliora…" Breathed Gray, looking very shaky now.
"Deliora?" Natsu asked, shaking some rubble out of his hair as he walked up to stand with the others. "What's that? Is it edible?"
"A demon is obviously not edible," Lucy spoke, her gaze calculating as she took in the large demon encased in ice. "Deliora…the Demon of Destruction."
Gray turned jerkily to face her. "You know of Deliora?"
"Yes," Lucy said simply, stepping forward to caress the cold ice. "I went up and explored the Northern Continent for a while, and I heard the stories while I was there. Deliora, one of Zeref's demons that inflicted great destruction upon the people there, years ago."
"He destroyed my home town," choked out Gray, tears coming to his eyes. "He destroyed my family, and later, my teacher…"
That was when Gray told his story. Of his whole life being destroyed by Deliora, being taken in by Ul and meeting Lyon, learning Ice Make magic, hearing of Deliora again and chasing after him, resulting in Ul and Lyon chasing after him. He finished with how Ul stopped Lyon from using Ice Shell and, instead, used it herself, encasing the demon in ice that could never melt.
"I just don't understand how it got here," gasped out Gray, trembling after his emotional story. "He shouldn't have gotten here, and how? Why?"
"I guess we'll have to find out," said Erza, eyes compassionate as she looked between Gray's depressed posture and the demon that started this whole thing. "I'm sure if we look hard enough, we'll find the people who did this."
"I suggest we start by looking upstairs," inputted Lucy. "I don't think there would be many people down here."
"We'll split up," decided Erza, "Natsu and Happy can explore down here in case someone is really here."
"I'm all fired up!" Natsu yelled in answer, lighting up his fists. "I'll take on these bastards no problem! Just line 'em up and I'll knock 'em down!"
"Aye!" Added Happy.
"That's all well," said Erza, crossing her arms over her breastplate, "but we should try and stay as quiet as possible, we don't want to alert someone to our presence if we can hear more of their information."
At Natsu's disappointed moan, Lucy patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "Just think of it as a ninja mission. Mission: sneak attack!"
Natsu's eyes lit up and he quickly wrapped his scarf around his lower face and head, holding his hands up in his 'ninja' sign. "We shall be the sneakiest of all ninjas! Nin nin!"
"Nin nin!" Echoed Happy, copying his best friend.
"Just try not to shout too much," said Lucy, "that's very un-ninja like."
At Natsu's reverent nod, Lucy smiled at him before turning to Erza. "Shall we go in pairs?"
Erza looked over who was there and stared at Lucy curiously. "There is only three of us, I fail to see how you can have one more person to pair up with."
Lucy's hand went to her belt and she tugged a silver key out of its position in a pouch on her belt. She gave Erza a wink and twirled the key between her fingers. "I make my own partners. You can go with Gray, seeing as he's kind of out of it right now." Both Erza and Lucy looked over to where Gray was staring up at Deliora, expression crumpled and fragile like foil. "I'll head upstairs with Vulp," Lucy continued, flicking the key and calling out her spirit's name quietly, eliciting a burst of light and the appearance of the fox-girl.
"Hey, Lucy-chan!" Vulp flung her arms around Lucy, the blonde returning her hug just as happily. "Hey, Vulp."
"It's been too long," Vulp said as she pulled away from her summoner, face screwed up in a pout. "You should summon me more, even if it's just to hang out."
"Will do," Lucy chuckled. "But I have a job for you first. How long can you hold your concealing illusion? The one that makes any sounds I make and my presence disappear?"
"Thirty minutes," replied Vulp, "but you need to stop powering your magic around your body so that my illusion can settle around you. You know your constant magic output disrupts my beautiful illusions!"
"I know," Lucy laughed, "but as you do that, we'll head upstairs and I'll tell you the situation. We're doing espionage." The blonde began to lead her spirit away, waving goodbye to the others as Vulp began to fire off a volley of questions that Lucy began to answer as quickly as she could.
"Alright," said Erza as she watched Lucy and Vulp exit up a flight of stairs and Natsu and Happy go gallivanting off into the darkness of the underground chamber they were in, progress only seen by the fireball held in Natsu's hand. "Let's get moving, Gray."
The Ice mage turned to her blankly at the call of his name, but after some prompting by Erza, the boy began to gain some light and purpose to his movements. The two then raced off up the stairs that Lucy had taken moments before, but turned down a different corridor. To a different battle.
"You've got to be joking," Lucy drawled to Vulp as the two (invisibly of course) watched Sherry talk about the entirety of Lyon's plans to the dozing form of her rat, Angelica. "Is this girl for real?"
"She is a bit foolish for stating her plans out loud for anyone to listen," agreed Vulp from beside Lucy. "I mean, we could hear her voice from inside the temple, and she was two levels above us!"
"And apparently awaiting night to continue using the Moon Drip," Lucy remarked as she studied the giant alter that was for the Moon Drip to go funnel straight down to Deliora. "Reckon we should attack now, or later?"
"Now is a good enough time as ever," Vulp said with a shrug, "but I'm not really a combat-based spirit, Lucy-chan, so it might be best to send me back."
"You sure, Vulp?" Lucy asked as she studied the fox-girl's expression, able to see her features due to the fact that she was under the same spell as Vulp and were linked.
"Yep!" Vulp nodded happily, "summon out Cenas! He wants to fight big time!"
Lucy looked puzzled at this comment. "Why?"
"Because he 'failed' to protect you from that shadow dude," replied Vulp, her expression making it clear that she found the centaur's thoughts ridiculous. "He wants another chance to protect you."
"Fine," sighed Lucy, already fishing for Cenas's key, "I'll call him out."
"Cool then!" Vulp gave Lucy a quick peck on the forehead before waving and disappearing in a flash, Lucy's invisibility going with her.
"Intruder!" Shrieked Sherry upon catching sight of the now visible Lucy, who had been standing in front of her, invisibly, for the past ten minutes.
Lucy gave her a cheery wave, "hello there! My name's Lucy, you're Sherry, and that's your precious rat Angelica. I'm also here to kick your ass!"
"A smart alec, huh?" Sherry scoffed, composing herself after the sudden appearance of Lucy. "Well, you people don't have enough love in your life to defeat a person like me!"
"And you're someone filled with love, I bet," Lucy said dryly as she pulled out Cenas''s key. "But that doesn't really matter, I'm here to kick your ass and stop your plans with the Moon Drip and Deliora, then I'll continue on my way, with my smart alec tendencies and my lack of love." She sent a sweet smile towards a scowling Sherry. "If that's alright with you, lovey."
"You're an annoyance," howled Sherry, drawing up her magical power. "I'll show you!" She pushed her magic into the ground and it phased into a nearby mound of rocks, pulling it up into the awkward shape of a golem. "Rock doll!"
"Cenas!" Lucy called in answer, her centaur spirit appearing with a determined look on his face. "I won't fail you again, Lucy-chan!"
"Don't worry about it," replied Lucy, drawing her sword so that she could step up beside him. "Let's just do what we do best…"
"Defeat the bad guys," finished Cenas before he charged forwards beside his summoner, drawing his bow. "Let's go!"
Studying the two curious people before Erza, she labelled them weak and not worth it. She had to go and find Gray after the man in the mask separated him from her. "I don't have time for you two," her voice rang out across the corridor to her two opponents. "I shall defeat you swiftly and catch up to my companion."
"We'll see," snickered Yuka, standing at the ready beside Toby.
"Aro," growled Toby in agreement.
"Natsu!" Yelled out Happy to his friend. "Are you okay?!"
The Dragon slayer pulled himself out of the rubble that used to be a wall to give his partner a thumbs up. "Yeah, I'm good, buddy!"
"You won't be for long!" Zalty cackled, summoning his pale orb to float up beside him threateningly. "I'll destroy you now so that the Cold Emperor's plans may go ahead! Prepare yourself, Natsu Dragneel!"
"Lyon!" Gasped out Gray, eyes wide at seeing his old friend. "What're you doing here?" He had attacked the masked man that had appeared alongside the other two weirdos when he was running down a corridor with Erza, but had found the male dodging his attacks with ease. Without realising it, the masked man, addressed by Toby and Yuka as Reitei, had separated him from Erza and lead him down several corridors, to the large room they were in now. Only a throne upon a small flight of stairs was the only thing worth acknowledging in the room, either than the large size.
"Foolish Gray," scoffed Lyon as he picked up the helmet Gray had knocked off in his initial attack. "I'm here to resurrect Deliora of course."
IJGIwjefmjfjokfmn!
What the heck was that crap? Okay, it was a bit tacky and there was a lot of Gray and Lucy dialogue in there, but I thought; 'hey, Lucy (or rather, Tia) would be good friends with Gray since they act a lot alike! I should make them chat a bit and get closer, as they're the only two sane ones in their team and they will eventually take refuge with each other from Natsu's idiocy and Erza's scary and crazy antics.'
But just to clarify…NO GRAYLU OR ANY SHIT LIKE THAT! JUST FRIENDS! F-R-I-E-N-D-S! FRIENDS! CAPISHE?
Okay, cool, now that's out of the way…
Ciao.