Cana couldn't help but overhear their conversation as she was sitting at the table behind them drinking. Cana raised and eyebrow and took note of their attitude. Elfman was right, they were deep in thought. Even Natsu which made Cana blink twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things. He had his arms crossed over his chest and seemed to be asking a load of questions to Lucy and Gray. The latter were pausing their own conversation to answer his question. There was no hint of malice like their usually was whenever Natsu interrupted. Cana took a moment to observe them in between giant gulps of alcohol.
Gray was in the middle of putting his pants and shirt back on, Natsu was glaring at the table and Lucy was rubbing her temples. Whatever they had been talking about seemed to have come to a stand still. Cana couldn't hear whatever had been said but it had Gray heading over to the stairs to meet up with Erza, the latter had just come back down from the second floor. She stopped to talk to Gray before heading towards the guild doors. Natsu perked up and headed after then, Lucy following his lead. They left and the guild was silent for a moment.
Like a light had been turned on, the guild began to whisper amongst themselves at the mysterious behavior of their fellow guild members. Members switched tables to gather gossip, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. Cana, ever the interested gossip queen, turned slightly in her seat to whisper at Lisanna and Elfman.
"Hey, you two." The jerked in their chairs and turned to face her. They had been lost in thought and had been speaking softly to each other.
"What is it Cana?" Lisanna asked. Cana chose her words carefully before speaking.
"You guys notice anything strange with Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Erza today?" Cana flicked her eyes back and forth between the siblings and found a flash of relief in their eyes.
"So you noticed too huh?" Lisanna shifted in her seat and looked at the guild doors Team Natsu had just left through. Other members of the guild were slowly making their way inside and sitting down at random tables. People called out greetings while others became confused. Many members had just left on jobs only to return a day or two later. It didn't take a genius to know they had been called back. Though why, had remained a unknown.
"Yeah, I see them too. The guild has almost never been this busy. Even at the guild planned events. Somethings going down and they know about it. They say anything to you, hint at anything?" Cana asked as she moved from her table to sit in front of the pair. They both shook their heads.
"No, but I saw Lucy and Mirajane talking earlier, then Natsu came and tried to drag Lucy on a job judging on the paper that was in his hand. I didn't get a good look." Lisanna provided.
"That's it?" Lisanna scrunched up her face before answering her brown haired friend.
"Mirajane looked a little concerned and she took the request up to the Master. A few minutes later, Natsu and Lucy were called up to his office. I thought they were in trouble or something. They were up there for a while. They came down, talked with Erza and Gray, then Erza left for the Master's office. She came down and they all left. That's it. Though Erza looked mildly concerned-."
"I thought she looked troubled." Elfman cut in. Cana gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean big guy?" Cana asked. Lisanna was watching her brother.
"When Lucy and Natsu sat down, Erza seemed to grow troubled, like what they had to say wasn't good. I did see Natsu really serious just before Erza spoke though. I think whatever they were discussing can't be good." He leaned on the table towards the two girls. "If the master is calling everyone back, then sooner or later we'll find out."
"You're serious about this aren't you Elfman?" Cana asked darkly. It wasn't often Elfman got serious, he was normally a jolly guy. The type of guy you could have a laugh with. Cana watched him closely, observing his movements no matter how small they were. She wasn't stupid, she knew something was up the moment Lucy and flame-brain were called to the Master's office. Only things deemed dangerous, those who were in trouble, or those who had something to hide went up there.
"Yes, I don't think we should take this lightly." He confirmed her suspicions and she eased up on him. He leaned back in his seat like he knew what she had been looking for. Lisanna thankfully stayed out of the conversation, preferring to hear it from the source. She knew that whatever was coming would be important and she would wait until all was known.
Little did they know, a few other guild members had heard them and new, darker, rumours spread around.
"Whelp, I have to get going, I promised Gildarts I would spend the day with him and I already spent half of it drinking." Cana smirked and stood up. Lisanna waved goodbye and smiled at her.
"Keep what you know between the three of us. We don't want anyone getting the wrong idea." Cana whispered to them both before heading out to meet up with her dad. Lisanna and Elfman shared a look before calling out a goodbye to Cana. She waved at them over she shoulder and smiled to herself. She had gotten them curious about it, sooner or later they would talk to someone about what they heard from her, and then people would come running to her to know what she had seen or heard. This way, she could get clues along the way to what was really going on.
Maybe she should try and weasel information from Mirajane, after all Lucy spoke to her first today. Meh, maybe later.
The former was currently watching the guild as they talked, no one of them knew what was up and the rumors were sure to be far from the truth. Mirajane sighed and resumed her glass cleaning, her mind was miles away though. Erza's new found knowledge had prompted Mirajane to search through the records to find an inconsistency, sure enough there was one. A request had come in to protect a supply route from bandits so very important cargo could make it safely to the nearest port. There was no such request on the board where she had placed it the other day, instead the request Lucy had found was in its place. The location was the same, but everything else was different. The level of danger had climbed greatly and that was a major concern.
No attention had gone to the request until Lucy had spied it, which left many questions. Why had it waited until today to show it's true request? Had the magic covering it up finally faded or did it choose to show itself? If so, why had it shown itself to Lucy? Why not another member of the guild? Did it have something to do with the need for a celestial Mage? Had Lucy's magic subconsciously undo the magic, or did it detect her and reveal what truly was written? There was just too many factors they were missing.
Mirajane wouldn't be surprised if Master Makarov pulled together a team and sent them on the mission. She could only hope that they would be ready for whatever they would face in the village.
The next three days passed in a blur of repeated motions of greetings and drink orders, hushed whispers and spread rumors. Many glanced towards the guild top floor where Master Makarov spent all day and night going over information and plans. The guild was closed after 6 so the patrons would be able to get some sleep, a note left on the doors each night indicating said reason to those who came late at night from missions. Only a few members remained out of the area, thought they were currently making their way back.
It was midday that Team Natsu returned to the guild after a day's absence from their place in one of the corners of the guild hall. They took their usual spot near the bar this time and simply sat in silence. This set the others to whisper among themselves about their odd behavior. Cana sat in the middle of the guild flicking her eyes back and forth between the patrons huddled in front of her. Each had their own version and rumor as to what was going on.
It was the best way she could get information without going to the source, she had a feeling Team Natsu wasn't going to spill the beans to anyone just yet. After all, they were still missing the Thunder God Tribe.
At that moment the doors to the guild flew open and in stepped Laxus and his crew.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Cana muttered to herself and smirked.
All heads turned towards the doors. A few people called out a greeting but for the most part it was silent.
"Nice to have you back Laxus" Mirajane smiled and tilted her head to the side as she wiped down the bar's surface. Laxus nodded in return and walked across the guild to slide into a bar stool. The Thunder God Tribe followed after him and each took a seat near him.
Laxus just grunted in response before taking in the silence of the guild. A quick glance around had him catching eyes with a few members before they turned away.