Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters~!
So a lot of people wanted more Freed but right now this story is focusing on Lucy's adventures in Fairy Tail so he won't be back until the chapters for the battle of Fairy Tail most likely. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter though!
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A smirk formed on Lucy's face as Natsu descended on the deck of the ship. Everything was going according to her plan and now she had another job to do. Pulling another key off the ring she shouted, "Open gate of the lion, Leo!" A gold light encompassed the deck for a moment before revealing the slightly altered form of the Loke, aka Leo the lion spirit. It seemed that his time in the Celestial Spirit world had given him back some of his old power as the king of the zodiacs. His green jacket and jeans were now replaced with a stylish black suit that fit snuggly against his frame. The short orange hair that he had once done had grown and pointed in a way that made it look like he had cat ears atop his head. But he still wore his normal glasses.
"You called, my princess!" Loke winked at the blonde, causing her to roll her eyes.
Lucy nodded. "You see that boat right there?" Lucy pointed at a medium sized rowboat that was coming towards them. "We need to get all the unconscious women on that so that Natsu doesn't accidentally hurt them!"
"Roger that!" Dashing forward with great speed, the lion spirit used his regulus powers to knock the men guarding the unconscious women away. "Lucy, close my gate. I can force it open with my own power but you need to conserve your magic."
Following instructions, the blonde closed Leo's gate but his form only shimmered for a moment. Taurus picked up two of the unconscious women and jumped down onto the boat. Laying them down gently, he waited and allowed Lucy to close his gate. Happy flew at break neck speed towards Lucy and snatched her up as fire engulfed the spot she had once occupied. Quickly she thanked the cat for saving her and glanced in the direction the flames had come from. It was Bora. Growling, Lucy grabbed another key and let out a breath.
"Open gate of the hydra! Hidora!" From the silver magic circle, the large green serpent emerged.
She hissed and swung her tail around. The men around started lifting their blades to attack but were stopped by a green mist coming from the snake's mouth. As they inhaled it, the traffickers started shaking and gasping for breath. "N-No way! A poison mist!" Falling over, they all twitched and writhed from pain. Smirking, Lucy closed Hidora's gate after thanking her spirit for the help.
"Now let's get the rest of the women out of here!" Happy dropped off Lucy on the deck and she ran to where the nearest woman was then started to lift her. She'd started to wake up and was panicking. "It's alright! We are here to help you!"
The reassuring tone must have been enough because the woman quickly stopped flailing in her arms. Jumping down onto the boat, she looked back at the ship. In one of the windows, there was a woman bound and gagged trying to get someone's attention by banging against the window with her bound hands. Climbing back up onto the ship, Lucy maneuvered her way around the poisoned men and into the back room. She could hear the sounds of Natsu and Bora's fighting. Knowing she had little time left, she made haste in finding the room where the last of the women were being held.
It didn't take long but she'd quickly run into a problem. There was a padlock on the door. She toyed briefly with the idea of summoning Taurus once again but there was no guarantee that the door wouldn't fall on the captive women. Her only other options were somehow finding the key or breaking the lock. The latter seemed more effective and she yelled for Loke. The lion spirit was at her side within moments wearing that charming smile he always had on his face.
"I need you to break this lock!" Lucy demanded.
Loke blinked and asked, "Wouldn't it be easier to just break down the door?"
"No! It could fall on one of the captives!" She responded immediately.
Loke nodded and started channeling regulus into his hand. Bringing his fist back, he pushed it forward into the metal lock. Almost immediately it cracked and Lucy pulled it off. Throwing open the door, she gasped. There wasn't just a few women in the room. It was almost a dozen bound and gagged women who looked as though they'd been beaten. Anger bubbled in the pit of Lucy's stomach but she shook off the feeling and started undoing the ropes around all the women's arms and ankles.
"Can you guys stand?" Lucy asked quickly.
Most nodded and the few who didn't were helped by the rest. Making it out on deck, Lucy barely managed to push one of the women out of the way of some stray fire magic. Loke and Happy quickly started moving the captives down into the boat and once finished Lucy told the lion spirit to return to the spirit world. Taking flight with Happy, Lucy watched as the boat full of the women that were captive disappear towards the harbor.
"Natsu! Hurry up!" Lucy yelled, knowing full well that he'd been buying time for her to get the women to safety.
The shout was enough motivation for Natsu and his fists became engulfed in flames. Charging forward he punched one of the still standing traffickers and flung him into another one. Bora was starting to look like he was getting nervous. It greatly amused Lucy to see the narcissist getting what he deserved. But Natsu was destructive from what Happy had told Lucy so she grabbed one final key. Signalling Happy, the blue cat dropped Lucy into the water with a huge splash.
"Open gate of the water bearer! Aquarius!" Out of the water came the beautiful mermaid that any human had ever seen. Her mid back length dark blue hair was held out of her face by a gold headpiece. The symbol for aquarius was displayed on her collarbone above her rather large breasts. The tail that splashed around was the same shade of blue as her hair.
"Hi Aquarius!" Lucy gave a small smile. "I trust that Loke actually did his job and told you about my plan?"
The mermaid huffed. "Yeah, he did. So all I need to do is make a wall of water between this ship and the harbor right?"
"Yes, that's all." The blonde responded as she swam far enough away so that she wouldn't be swept up by the water spirit's magic.
Within moments a large wall of water had risen up from the harbor. It encased the ship as the sounds of the battle between Natsu and Bora continued. Placing two fingers in her mouth, Lucy blew and a sharp whistle could be heard. With the sensitive hearing he possessed, Natsu knew that was his signal that he could go all out finally. Letting out a battle cry, he charged at the trafficker.
In a desperate attempt to stop Natsu's assault, Bora yelled out. "Wait! I'm the Salamander from Fairy Tail!"
"Liar!" Natsu yelled, pulling his scarf away and turning to show his red Fairy Tail guild mark on his bicep.
Knowing it was futile to attempt to talk his way out of this, Bora geared up for one more explosive spell. Creating a massive fireball almost the size of the deck he shot it at Natsu. The approaching fire only made Natsu's grin widen. He opened his mouth and started sucking the fire in, making the onlookers pale in realization. The real Salamander of Fairy Tail was right in front of them.
"Thanks for the meal now feel the power of Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted, body becoming engulfed in crimson flames. "Fire dragon's roar!"
The explosion of magic shook the water and harbor but thanks to the wall of water from Aquarius nothing was destroyed. Well the water did come raining down over them for a few seconds but that was about it. Happy flew down and grabbed Natsu to carry him back to the harbor. Lucy allowed Aquarius to go and started her swim back to shore. As she neared the edge of the port, something brushed along her leg. Stiffening, she looked down in time to see the dark shadow of what looked like a mermaid's tail disappearing deeper into the water behind her.
"No way! H-He was here this entire time?!' Panicking, Lucy quickly swam until she could pull herself back up onto land and stiffly walked towards Natsu.
The pinkette was grinned impishly. "We did it!"
"Yeah and now the rune knights can take care of the rest." Lucy smiled, relaxing slightly but still on high alert.
Someone cleared their throat behind the mages causing them to jump slightly. It was Takahiro and he looked absolutely delighted. "You've completed the job without a hitch! Thank you so much for returning Saki along with the rest of these girls."
"It was no problem at all!" The blonde grinned, pushing her worries out of her mind. "We're just glad that these girls are safe and sound."
He smiled gratefully and held out a sack of jewels. "Here is your reward."
"Thank you," Lucy held it against her chest tightly. "We'll be taking our leave here soon."
Before they could say anything else, Lucy had grabbed Natsu and dragged him away from the harbor. Neither said a word as the blonde continued to drag the dragon slayer through town. Only when they got in front of the train station did she finally stop and turn to him.
"If you want to stay in town the rest of the night that's fine but I've got somewhere important to go." Lucy stated and then saw the slight apprehension on the pinkette's face. "I promise I'll be back at Fairy Tail by tomorrow night, all right?"
Natsu tilted his head in confusion but nodded. "Got it, Luce!"
"Well then I guess this is where we part ways for now, Natsu." Lucy stated as she turned and walked away from her partner.
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Hours had passed since Lucy had left Natsu alone in Hargeon town. Her feet ached from the walk to her new destination. Finally seeing it, she let out a long relieved sigh and jogged over. The building was old, no doubt about that, with overgrown vines covering most of the exterior and chipping wood that gave the illusion of it being abandoned. Even the inside looked as though it had been abandoned years ago. But where else would a black market dealer do their work?
Pulling the hood of her cloak up, the blonde pushed open the door and ventured inside. The creaking boards made her cringe. As did the smell of the rotting wood that the building was made of. Wrinkling her nose, she moved to the narrow hallway and into the only back room the building had. The door to the closet squealed as she opened it, giving her quite the headache. Cursing the fact that she had to do this, she removed the four thick floorboards to reveal the metal hatch. Opening it, she moved down onto the stairs before closing it once more.
The sound of her footsteps on the concrete steps was the only noise that could be heard. She could remember her first time walking down these steps and how nervous it had made her. But now she was used to it and the silence calmed her. Shaking off those memories, she stopped in front of the large metal door and pulled open the mail slot.
"Jin, it's me so open up!" She growled in annoyance.
She could hear the chuckle from inside and the unlatching of the door. It slid open slowly and the weathered face of the black market dealer, Jin Creevy, appeared. He took a step to the side and motioned for the blonde to come in. Stepping in, she closed the door behind her and locked it. Breathing in she observed the room. The space was made of concrete for durability but several curtains and drapes hung from the rafters to make the room appear less like a prison cell. Shelves lined the walls, each a different black market deal that Lucy knew better than to ask about. The floor was covered with a large rug and against the wall directly across from the door was a large oak desk with a bench sat in front for business.
"I'm guessing you're here about the poisons I asked for?" Jin asked as he moved to sit behind the desk.
Lucy nodded as she took a seat herself but then said seriously. "But there is something else as well."
"What's happened?" He asked, leaning back to stare at her.
The blonde grit her teeth a little before answering. "My last job was in a port town. I ended up in the water thanks to my plan and I felt something against my leg. It was him."
"Are you sure?" Jin asked, sitting up straight as he searched her face for any sign of hesitation.
Lucy nodded and replied. "I'm sure it was him. Do you have any idea where the others could be?"
"I'm afraid I still haven't gotten any information about them since the last time you were here." He sighed. "This situation is delicate and no doubt dangerous for you as well as myself. I'll pressure some of my contacts into searching harder for them."
The girl nodded and exhaled the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Thank you."
"No problem child. Now my poisons please." Jin smirked as the blonde dug around inside her bag.
Producing several bottles and vials of liquid from her bag, the blonde stood up. "You'll have to introduce me to the client who buys these but doesn't use them someday."
"He uses them but only on himself." He smirked, leaning his chin onto his hand. "He's anxious to meet the person that always gets him the most potent bottles."
Laughing, Lucy waved goodbye and exited the room. When she made her way back outside she stretched her arms above her head. Her business was taken care of and now she just needed to find a train to take her back to Magnolia. Sighing ruefully, she started her hike back to the nearest civilization.
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So here is where I end this! The fight with Bora more focused on Lucy using her brains to get them out of that situation unharmed so I'm sorry if your a little disappointed. I hope everyone enjoyed the introduction of the black market dealer that Lucy goes to. More hints about her secrets too~ but now you probably have a lot of questions :P Everything will get answered eventually so be patient. Review, favorite, and follow!