Lucy wanted to skip that morning's meditation session with Capricorn, she needed to finish the building designs she had been researching and start a list of everything she would need to buy. Too bad Capricorn had heard about Gemini's breakdown, and he forced his gate to make sure she took that hour to work on mentally healing herself. So it was a surprise when she arrived and there was Fairy Tail, standing in the ruins. And she meant Fairy Tail.
It had been a month since Master had warned her against rebuilding the guild, and she hadn't seen any of her family since, but they were all standing there, looking at the work she had done and re-sweeping the areas she had neglected while researching.
"Mira," Lucy said the first thing that had come to her mind, "everyone, what are you doing here?" Levy looked up from a book she was reading about architecture and ran over to her friend.
"Hey Lucy, awesome job with the clearing, you really exposed the bones of the place. Have you thought about using a Teratici design?"
"Lucy, you're right about Fairy Tail, it was stupid to let Tartarus win by breaking Fairy Tail permanently," Mira said, walking over, then she leaned in closer, "Plus it was tearing Elfman apart being such a huge cause for the ending of the guild. We couldn't let him stay like that."
"Hey, good work, what are you going to do next?" Max said. He and Warren had wandered over and Lucy jumped, looking for someone else they could be talking to. Surely they couldn't asking her for directions.
"Yeah," Warren continued, "we hadn't believed Lisanna at first when she told us you were rebuilding this place by yourself, but you've already done so much! What can we help with?" Lucy was saved from responding by a little body slamming into her.
"Lucy! You haven't left!" Wendy cried, clutching her older sister and crying just a little bit. "Everyone else was leaving and people decided that Fairy Tail needed to finish all the job requests we had accepted, so I took two because I couldn't stand anymore goodbyes and I wanted to keep busy, but you haven't left!" Lucy stroked the little girl's long hair, knowing exactly how many homes had slipped from this child's fingers, and it was confirmed in her heart again that she had made the right choice.
"Hey, relax, of course I'm not going anywhere, we're Fairy Tail and we don't back down, we don't give in, and we don't give up. Especially on our family." The others had noticed Lucy's arrival, Erza walked to right in front of the crowd, stationed herself in front of Lucy and smiled. Fairy Tail assembled behind their Titania.
"So Lucy, what's the plan? We all came back from missions within the last few days and are ready to help." Everyone nodded and Lucy still wasn't sure why they were looking at her. Laxus was in the group, as was Erza, shouldn't they be taking charge now that they were back?
It was probably a curtsey they were giving her because she had had more time to think about rebuilding designs. Still, if they wanted to be ordered around, she supposed she could give it a try. It wouldn't be too different from creating the game plan on a mission or giving directions to her spirits or, heaven forbid, her days on the Manor and having to organize the servants for a party her father wanted to hold.
"Okay, umm, I have the plans for the new building right here. It'll be a little different from the last model because there are a lot of new styles that will take our brawls better," there were some chuckles here, and Lucy gained confidence, "I've also gone over some styles inspired by the celestial world that I've tweaked to make perfect for Fairy Tail. Ummm…." Looking over the crowd, she tapped her chin in thought, "Okay, I want Gajeel, Levy, Max, and Freed looking over the current designs, I need you to make sure the building will stand up because I'm not very good with laws of physics, nor if the magical properties I want worked into the stones are viable. I want everyone else to split into teams of three and await a list of supplies we will need you to buy, charged to Fairy Tail's account. I also want Laxus, Mest, Erza, er, Mirajane, Wendy, and… Cana with me to see what we can do about getting financial support. If you are waiting for your list, work on finding a way to get that pile of trash," she pointed to the rubble that can't be reused, "to the dump and create a list of what materials we do have in that pile," she pointed to the re-useable pile.
"Anyone with valid concerns or questions can talk to Loke or Capricorn. Let's get working people, some of us are still missing, let's make sure they have a home to come back to, alright Fairy Tail?" They let up a cheer before dividing off like Lucy suggested. A quick summons had Capricorn and Loke at her side and updated on recent events. Seeing how big Loke was smiling at his family returning, Lucy suddenly realized her smile matched. She wasn't lonely anymore. Loke gave her a quick hug before running over to Levy's group to answer their questions.
Erza, Laxus, Mest, Mirajane, Wendy, and Cana reported to her, and while Lucy felt a little bold telling Fairy Tail's S class what to do, she had spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about this, so she was going to say her piece before she let the others take charge.
"Okay guys, our biggest issue, as usual, is funding. Last time we rebuilt the Council, as well as Phantom's bank accounts, helped, but this time we are going to need to call in some favors."
"How do you know who owes Fairy Tail? We already called in a lot of favors after the time-skip." Laxus asked, not demeaning or denying her plan, which is sort of what she expected from him, but instead supporting it and needing to know the answers.
"I found the black box of important guild documents when cleaning out the rubble, it's currently sitting in the celestial world in case someone gets dire premonitions of Fairy Tail's return and wants to destroy it. Makarov's password of Bikini Babes was hardly difficult to crack. Turns out that all the guild masters still remember the real events of the GMG despite Mest's memory games," Lucy said, giving a small smile to Mest, hoping he understood she didn't blame him. Mest smiled back sheepishly, but looked happier than all the other times Lucy had seen him put together, which made her happy.
"So here is the plan, Mest, Laxus, and I are going to dig around a little and figure out which banks Tartarus held their money in, the same law that gave us Phantom's money for rebuilding could be used to convert their accounts to Fairy Tail. I want Cana to go to Quatro Cerberus and see if their guild master would be willing to loan us some money to help us back on our feet, at least until we are earning revenue again. Erza, I want you to do the same for Mermaid heel, Wendy I need you to talk to Sting at Sabertooth, and Mira Blue Pegasus. Get what money you can, but not at the expense of the dignity of Fairy Tail, and only what they are willing to give. If nothing, accept that with grace and return back here to help Levy's team with construction. I will also be requesting an audience with Princess Huishi to see what other financial options are available to us after I research the situation with the Tartarus guild funds." Everyone was nodding, and it felt good to be listened to, but she wanted to make sure there weren't any flaws her inexperience overlooked. "Does that sound good to everyone?" she checked.
"You heard the Lady," Laxus said, "This will do more than hopefully get some funds, we are also showing the world that we have not been defeated and are ready to get back out there and be Fairy Tail." Everyone left to go pack for their trips, Mest and Laxus milling around to finish going over their part of the plan with her, but Wendy pulled Lucy aside.
"Umm, Lucy? I don't think I should be the one going to Sabertooth. I'm not very good with words and I really don't want to mess this up for the guild," Wendy confided, fiddling with her hair. Lucy was a little shocked at the revelation, but she did her best not to show it. Standing in front of her was an insecure teenager that needed a pep talk.
"Hey, I know you're up for the challenge." She bent a little to look Wendy in the eyes as she continued, "You know Sting, and Yukino is his assistant. You went into Dragon Force and took down a demon by yourself, and bought the dragons time to gather and destroy the other Faces. If anyone has the right to ask for a little help putting her family back together, it's you Miss Marvel. Plus, this might sound silly, but I need you to check on Rouge and Sting. They lost their parents too, and seeing you working hard might make them step up their game if they've been caught in a funk like everyone else. You're the only one who will be able to see them and know what to say if they are still hurting. You can do this, Wendy Marvel of Fairy Tail."
Wendy straightened her spine, "I can do it for my family." She looked so determined, Lucy laughed a bit.
"Wendy, I know you, you can do anything for your family, whether it be crossing dimensions, going into dragon force, or acting as our representative for other guilds. Now you just have to remember that." Wendy smiled and called Carla before leaving to go pack and buy a train ticket.
"Okay, what is your plan for us?" Laxus said, arms folded.
"I actually am not quite sure where to start," she admitted, "I know the law, but we have to know which bank Tartarus was storing their money at before we can transfer the accounts."
"I can help with that one," Lisanna said, walking past them at that perfect moment, "when I was searching for Mira I came across an accounting room with receipts for Blooming Bank in Crocus."
Laxus laughed then, a deep ironic one. "Why am I not surprised they filed right under the kingdom's and the magic council's nose," he said.
"We are going to need solid proof," Lucy said, thinking out loud, "Lisanna, do you think you remember where in Algeria the accounting room was situated?" Lisanna's forehead creased.
"I think so, if I get to the cells Natsu and I were stuck in, I can find my way through the rubble," she said.
"Perfect, you and Virgo are going to get whatever documentation you can on the banks that Tartarus worked with. Open, gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" Lucy summoned her spirit and felt the pull of three spirits being summoned take its toll on her. She could go about forty minutes with three spirits at the moment.
"Let me just go get-" Lisanna started saying.
Lucy interrupted her, "Virgo, I need you to carry Lisanna to the Ruins of the Tartarus guildhall and she will give you a general layout of where some important documents are. I need you to retrieve those documents and place them in the box with the other stuff. Make sure that Lisanna ends up back here with her siblings before you return to the Spirit World."
"As you wish Princess," Virgo said, and Lisanna found herself in the maid's arms, kicking and yelling something about needing better shoes. Lucy and several others let out a laugh at the sight. Hopefully it would take them less than forty minutes.
"Okay then," Lucy looked at her companions, "We're heading to Crocus. Meet me at the train station at ten o'clock, I'm going to go make sure Levy and Gajeel can keep construction going while we're gone. Pack some nice clothes," Lucy added as an after thought, a plan falling into place, "there is going to be a lot of bluffing going on and we need to look the part." The boys nodded and Lucy spent a moment watching them walk away. They certainly weren't her boys, Gray and Natsu, but they were family, so she supposed they would do.
Gajeel, Levy, Freed, and Max were discussing her floor plans, and she was glad she wasn't going to be around when they tore it apart because it was so unreasonable. She had worked hard on those, and while she knew they needed to be revised, Lucy didn't take pleasure in watching it happen. It was just like editing her novel, painful and necessary
"I'm telling you, it's going to need at least two more support beams or it won't be able to hold the weight of the roof," Gajeel insisted.
"Fine, now why does she have this section blocked off, I can't tell what it's supposed to be," Max said, pointing to a part of her diagram. Max was part of the group as one of the only members to have actual building experience. He had learned a lot while constructing the impromptu guildhall during the seven years they lost.
"That is going to be a memorial to everything lost in the fight against Tartarus," Lucy said, looking at what he was pointing at, "the broken Fairy statue from the old guild is going to be a part of it, but I wasn't sure what else, which is why I left it blank. We aren't going to forget the past." Max nodded and kept studying the diagram.
"Levy," Lucy turned to her and held out her house key, "I have all the guild books about architecture sitting on the floor by my writing desk, as well as several from the celestial spirit world that I bookmarked, use those and Loke if any other questions come up. Throw out any spoiled food I might have as well, and water my plants if you have the chance. I'm headed to Crocus for a week to see what I can do about money."
She nodded and Lucy took a deep breath, making everyone look at her "This is going to be difficult, but I need you guys to keep it together and never look like you are fighting. Things are fragile right now without Gramps and we need to look united no matter how stressful rebuilding is going to be. Can you handle that?" Lucy take a turn looking into the eyes of each member of the construction team until they nodded their consent.
Lucy would trust in their promises and abilities, they knew how important it was to have everything go smoothly until they could elect a new master.
"I'm guessing you want me to stay here?" Loke's voice said as his arms wrapped around his master from behind.
"Please? You're the only one I can trust, and the only one who can force your gate while I'm gone; I need you to be here and answer any questions these guys might have since you've been with me every step of the way." He sighed and let go.
"I'm with you thick and thin and my reward is to be left behind, I see how it is."
Lucy reached up and scratched behind his kitty ears, bringing a sweet smile to his face. Then he saw what she was doing and moved her arm away.
"In all seriousness, I don't feel good with you going out minus two of your strongest spirits," Loke said. Lucy flinched a little at the reminder, but Loke held her gaze.
"I've still got eight golden keys, including Capricorn," Lucy replied, cringing inside but refusing to break down. There was no way he would let her go then, this was a test, "and I am leaving with Laxus and Mest. There isn't going to be any danger. There are no more dark guilds, we are heading to the capital, and the three of us are strong enough to take on any other threats."
Loke put one hand to his hair, and let out a huff, "Fine, but in fifteen minutes I'm coming through my own gate. I've seen you break down far too many times this month. Exhaustion because of me is not going to lead to another, and you have to promise to keep up your meditation with Capricorn, Crocus doesn't hold all happy memories for you either." Oh right, Loke had watched her die the last time she was in Crocus. Lucy sighed, but nodded.
A quick jog back to her apartment, a quick packing, and she was at the station with possibly the two quietest members of Fairy Tail. Laxus handed her a ticket, and they stood silently for a few minutes until their train came. When they reached their compartment, Laxus was the last one in. He took out a light pen and wrote some basic runes on the door.
"Now that no one can eavesdrop," Laxus said, dropping into the seat beside Mest and across from Lucy, "I need to have more details on your plan, especially what you think we can do to help. I wasn't around when Fairy Tail got Phantom's accounts and have no idea about what law you are talking about," Laxus looked a little green, but he was so much better than Natsu, it was a refreshing change.
Lucy was getting better at not flinching when she thought his name.
"Okay, you not knowing anything changes a the plan a little, but we can still make it work," Lucy had been planning on letting Laxus claim new guild master and presenting herself as the assistant, only there as back up if they threw questions he didn't know the answer to. It was only a matter of time before the guild elected him master anyway, but if Laxus knew nothing, the bluff wouldn't sell. He plan formed as she spoke.
"I sent a letter to the Princess a week ago telling her I would be in town and wanted to meet up with her, I got a response yesterday that she was willing to make time for me whenever I came. The plan is for us to get there just before nightfall today, locate the main offices of Blooming Bank, and get a hotel right near it. In the morning I'll send a letter to the Princess asking to meet with her on Thursday, and we spend the rest of Wednesday doing whatever it takes to turn the accounts of Tartarus over to Fairy Tail's Bank of Fiore.
"I'll be acting like the business woman my dad taught me to be, so don't act surprised when I sound completely different. We wear business clothes. Laxus is here to add credentials that we really are from Fairy Tail, being one of the most famous members after the games, feel free to frown disapprovingly at the bank officials, your intimidation factor is also important. Mest—sorry I've been calling you that, do you prefer Doranbolt?" Lucy asked, hesitating. He shook his head with a smile.
"I spent the last month trying to undo the damage I did to my own mind, I prefer Mest, so I think that's my real name, but I'm guessing you'll want me to be Doranbolt for our little attack on the bank. Add whatever is left of council credibility to your argument, probably bluff some more about how the council is on the verge of being re-instated and they could gain favor with them by complying now," Mest said.
"You read my memories," Lucy replied cheekily, dragging a small surprised laugh out of the former spy.
"The biggest problem we are going to have at the bank is the fact that Tartarus will have been using a different name in their account, so we have to figure out their alias," Lucy said, focusing back on the present, "We don't know what documents Lisanna and Virgo will be able to dig up. The only clue we have to go on for sure is that I'm positive they used Silver to access their money, since he actually looked human, but other than that I don't know."
"Who is Silver?" Laxus asked, "I was out for everything important." Of course no one knows who Silver is, Lucy realized, her team had a brief debriefing where they told each other what had happened while they were separated, even though she got the feeling everyone left out parts too raw to face right after the event. Gray had put his dad's body in an ice coffin and they helped him carry it away from the rubble.
"Gray's dead father that had been reanimated by a demon, becoming a demon gate too." Lucy told him quietly, looking at her hands, "I know what he looks like, but I don't know anything else." Laxus nodded, and when the train shook a bit his face went even greener than before and he hunched over a bit.
"Since we aren't getting started right away, let's talk about this more when we set up at our hotel," Lucy suggested, taking pity on him. Laxus nodded and leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes. Mest looked at Lucy confused, she giggled, pointed to the lightning dragon slayer's face, then pantomimed throwing up.
"I know what you're doing," Laxus said in the middle of Lucy's act, startling her and Mest stiff. They laughed without making a sound and even Laxus smiled. After staring at the passing scenery for a while, Lucy decided to meditate for a bit. Mest saw what she was doing, moved to her side of compartment, joining her. It was Lucy's quietest train ride ever with companions, but she didn't mind, Capricorn had showed her peaceful meditation and how to feel her magic and emotions. It didn't push her magic at all, it wasn't that kind of meditation, but she never got tired of tracing the cords of her magic that bound her to her spirits. She could feel that her magic was only supporting Virgo and Capricorn at this point, but could feel Loke's gate open.
Tracing around her thoughts and memories though, the ones that arose as she felt out her magic, she fell into the pit of her emotions, the ones that broke Gemini. Capricorn had been teaching her how to tease one emotion out at a time and deal with that small piece, but without him there she fell, crashing into the blackness. The turmoil she was feeling inside started crackling around the room, reacting to the magic she had been examining. The energy raced, trying to find an outlet, something to attack to make the feelings of fear and pain go away. Her face tightened, and reliving the emotions all at once had her crying again. A warm hand touched her shoulder.
"Natsu don't leave!" Lucy yelled, opening her eyes, clutching the hand on her shoulder. Laxus and Mest were staring at her, it was Laxus's hand that had shaken her out of her meditation, who she was clinging to.
"You okay Lucy?" Mest asked hesitantly, "you started frowning and twitching, then your magic got out of control, and then you're screaming for Natsu." Lucy released the dragon slayer, and calmed her beating heart, finally understanding why Capricorn had warned her from trying to take too much of that turmoil at once.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Tartarus just left me a little more shaken than I thought. It won't happen again," she said, placing a smile on her face. Laxus lifted his hand off her shoulder, only to brush something off her cheek.
"This doesn't look like fine to me," he said, showing the small tear sitting on his finger. Lucy stared at it, touching her face to confirm it came from her.
"Okay, maybe I'm still not fine," Lucy said, pushing his hand away, "but I'm trying to fix it. Can you not bring it up again? I promise there will be no more yelling." Not wanting to see any pity they had, she retreated back into her meditation pose, though it took much longer to calm herself this time around.
She knew the others in the car were trying to figure out what was going on with her, but Lucy didn't feel confident enough to call them out on it. Instead she focused on her heartbeat, the one thing that would continue and the reason she had to keep fighting for Fairy Tail. She was alive.
The rest of the ride went quietly with Mest being the one to gently bring her out of meditation when they arrived. She smiled and only caught Laxus stumble once as they made their way off the train. Lucy grabbed a visitor's pamphlet and realized that the closest hotel to Blooming Bank was actually Honeybone. Oh the irony.
"Come on guys, I know where we are going," she said, leading the way. Checking into the inn felt strange, though she was recognized by the person at the front desk.
"Look, it's Fairy Tail, welcome back guys. You've sure been quiet for a while, did you hear that people spotted dragons last month?" he said eagerly. Lucy went still for a second, but didn't flinch.
"Yeah, we heard," she said, stopping the guy's chatter, "we're here on official guild business and need to wake up early tomorrow, could we please have our room now?"
"Of course, anything for you guys," the receptionist said. Lucy knew exactly what would happen, if only because her past doesn't know how to stay dead. He led them into the second-floor room with six beds, a tiny plaque announcing the Fairy Tail had used the rooms during their amazing comeback. Lucy fell on the bed she had slept on during those horrible games, when she wasn't in the infirmary, and sighed into her pillow.
It took five minutes to get over the random flashbacks from the Games, and another minute to get over the fact that Laxus had chosen Natsu's bed and Mest had chosen Gray's. When she considered herself pulled together, she sat up.
"So, any other questions? Otherwise I'm going out to get some food and then come back here for an early night. I'm guessing you guys won't make too much noise?" she joked.
"One question," Mest said surprisingly, "can I come with you?" Lucy smiled and looked to Laxus, who grunted and looked away. Too bad his stomach chose that moment to growl.
Lucy laughed, happy that she had been able to laugh more times in this one day than she had for the entire past month, "we'll bring you back something," she told Laxus.
Lucy secured her keys and her whip before gesturing to Mest to come with her. They spent dinner talking about what exactly had happened to Mest to put him in Fairy Tail, and then some reminiscing about their training weeks before Tenerou and the trials themselves.
You know things are bad when you can look back and laugh about losing seven years of your life. He also took the opportunity to ask her what the hell was up with Jellal and Fairy Tail, and Lucy had no problem telling him anything about that story. Laxus came in halfway through, and they let him join their table without comment. Laxus hadn't heard all of Jellal's story either, so he listened through Lucy explaining what Jellal was like after the Oraceion Seis revived him by tricking Wendy, and she got a full-blown laugh out of both of them when she told them Jellal's crappy excuse of having a fiancé in order to keep his emotional distance from Erza.
They stayed out later than they planned, but Lucy could feel the boys taking away her loneliness, one inch at a time. After a dreamless night of sleep, Lucy sent a letter to the princess, using the alias Hisiu had for her personal mail, then she spent the rest of the morning dressing them to look official.
Laxus was a nightmare, trying to get him to dress in a respectable business fashion was worse than trying to dress Gray and Natsu put together.
"No, for the last time, you can't wear animal print or your fur coat," Lucy scolded, exasperated.
"Why do we have to dress up like this? We're Fairy Tail, not some puffed up merchants." He looked disgusted at Lucy's own outfit: blazer, blue striped shirt, black skirt, and glasses. Of course, she hated her own outfit, but that didn't mean Laxus could. Plus she had been born a puffed up merchant, and she did not appreciate the remark on her family.
"We're dressing up like this because we are Fairy Tail in need of bluffing our way through a bank. Do you have any idea what kind of security those places have? There is no one actually enforcing the law that they have to turn over the money, banks are protected by the royals, but the Magic Council is the one that enforces this law. We need to look like we are going to sue the pants off them unless they do what we say, now put some clothes on that don't make you look like a fashion show reject!"
"No fashion show would reject my coat," Laxus insisted. A tick mark appeared over Lucy's head.
"That's it! If you refuse to dress yourself out of some childish pride, I'm going to have to do it for you!" To say Laxus was surprised when Lucy threw herself on top of him would be an understatement. He was so stunned she had his coat and shirt off before he could even respond. Mest just sort of stood to the side and watched in awe how Fairy Tail actually worked. Did all of Fairy Tail take clothes off in public? Gray obviously did, Makarov ripped his sleeve off last time Mest saw him, and now Lucy was literally tearing the clothes off Laxus. It gave some seriously disturbing images to the mage.
Eventually, when Lucy's violent attempts made the suit rip, they settled on Laxus wearing a white shirt and black slacks. Mest had on the same thing, but added a tie and his former council robes. Once Lucy finished re-doing her hair and throwing out the now smashed glasses, they were ready to leave.
"Excuse me, we need to see the manager about some debts owed to Fairy Tail from a now deceased client of the bank," Lucy said smoothly, gesturing to herself and the boys, her guild mark showing clearly. Sometime when Lucy wasn't looking Laxus had ripped the sleeves off his shirt, but since Lucy wasn't sure he didn't just flex, she decided not to fuss about it, "it's really quite important." The young man gulped, and hurried to get someone else to deal with the mages. He remembered the Games, he heard the rumors, he was not going to deal with this. He came back with a short, round man, who immediately introduced himself.
"Hello Fairy Tail, I'm Stan Hanson, manager of Blooming Bank. What can I do for you?" the manager said. After the introductions, the three of them had been led into a spacious conference room, rune marks flaring a little, but they seemed to be designed to react to attack megic. Lucy's eyes shot warning to Laxus that he was to say nothing, knowing he would be the most uncomfortable in the room and he glared back at where she had sat next to the cubby balding manager, just like she wanted him to. Sitting up straight, she took one of the poses her tutors taught her to use when you were the instigator of the deal.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice," Lucy said pleasantly, "We are here acting in the name of the Fairy Tail guild to inquire about confiscating the account belonging to the dark, recently disbanded guild, Tartarus. They attacked our guild first and under Law 794 in dealing with guild wars, we are owed money to pay the damages done to our guild." Mest stepped in at this point.
"I can confirm this, and we have multiple witnesses that lead us to believe Tartarus accounts were held at this bank under a pseudonym. Now we won't press charges as Tartarus is capable of fooling many people, and we wouldn't like to cause a fuss." Neither of the boys had chosen to sit down, and Lucy quite liked the image of her sitting with two body guards waiting behind her. Of course, she knew the bank had five well-armed mages stashed in the other exit to the room, but it was the image that counted for the moment.
"Alas, I am completely unaware of any dealing with Tartarus," Stan Hansen said with a shrug, "I was also unaware that rules given by the magic council were still being enforced after the… unfortunate incident." Externally, Lucy kept a pleasant look on her face, internally she cheered. She just had to keep the deal from escalating into physically threatening and it would be in the bag. He didn't have any arguments prepared against her.
"The magic council will be rebuilt as it always is," Mest said, "of course, they will most likely be looking for a bank to store their money in. Willingly following the law and getting rid of Tartarus's blood money might swing Blooming Bank in their favor." Okay Mest was pushing it a little bit, time for Lucy to regain control.
"We are aware that if we bring this matter to the Magic Council and await their enforcement after their re-establishment, it will be a very messy affair with lawyer costs on both sides," Lucy said confidently, "very time consuming, and we mages don't need any bad blood between us and the banking federation. The law is the law however, and if it comes to that we will bring it to court, possibly in front of the Princess, though her opinion may be biased. Then there is the fact that Laxus over there," she gestured to the still frowning giant of a man, "is such a blabber mouth about these things. With our proof, why, I can't imagine anyone would want to work with a bank hostile to Fairy Tail and provides money for the guild that killed hundreds of people and almost eradicated magic from this world." Lucy said all of this with a smile.
"I hear you loud and clear Ms. Heartphilia, it does seem to be in my favor to follow the law, but I will need to see proof and consult the exact requirements. No one would be able to fault this bank if those aren't followed exactly, don't you agree?" He said.
"Would you like to provide the rule book, or shall I?" Lucy said, not even blinking, never letting her smile drop, even though she hadn't looked at the official law before coming there. A gesture from the manager had one of his underlings bring in a rule book bigger than an encyclopedia, and while the lackey left, Stan Hanson turned to law 794, and started reading.
"In order for the guild that had been attacked against guild war laws to be given restitution for damages done to their guild, the following conditions A-F must be met. A. There must be proof that their guild was attacked unprovoked." Lucy was trying to remember the first fight in this particular guild war when Laxus spoke up.
"I can attest to that one sir, myself and my team were the first to be attacked, poisoned by the demon Tempesta, in defense of the former council member Yanjima-san. We were simply picking up a little extra cash working at 8-Island restaurant when we were all put out of commission for another week before we acquired the demon's blood to be used as an antidote. Do you require further testimony?" For the first time that meeting, Laxus grinned, showing the pointed fangs common to all dragon slayers. Stan Hanson shuddered a tiny bit, gulping. Weak. He must be new to the position, an experienced negotiator would let nothing show.
"No-no, I trust that the testimony of Laxus Dreyer, as well as his reputation. I also heard about it that attack in Sorcerer weekly. Let's continue." Lucy felt bad, scaring this man into her demands, but not bad enough to stop. "B. They can identify the sources of the guild's money." Here was the tricky part.
"Of course, if you will allow me to summon my assistant," Lucy said, flirty smile in place, though she was swearing inside.
"Proceed," the manager motioned. Lucy stood up and surprised him by going for her jacket instead of the door. She had left her whip at home, but she had her keys stuffed in the inside pocket of the blazer. Since it wasn't directly attack magic, it shouldn't be blocked.
"Gate of the Maiden, I ask for thee to open." Virgo appeared in her maid outfit. Lucy had felt the push against her magic, probably some weak anti-magic wards the bank had underneath the anti-attack magic, but it was nothing more than a speed bump to her at this point. In fact, part of her wanted to test the anti-attack magic wards, would those be as easy to overcome? She focused back on the task when Virgo held out the black box for her.
"As you have requested Princess," she said.
"Thank you," Lucy said, setting the box on the table, "Please stand behind Laxus until I require you again."
"Punishment?" Virgo asked.
"Please go behind Laxus," Lucy said, smiling. Virgo seemed very willing considering this was the first time Lucy hadn't given her an all out no.
"Of course Princess," Virgo said, and the celestial spirit basically turned into a statue behind the Dragon Slayer.
Lucy watched the man sitting across from her attempt to compose himself, using the opportunity to unlock the box with the less than official password Bikini Babes. Seriously, whoever was the next master needed to fix that.
Lucy then set out the documents, cursing herself for not thinking to look at them last night or this morning. She blamed Laxus's ego. Though she probably could have thought this plan through a bit more. There was a lot of winging it going on.
On top was a pile of dusty receipts, and Lucy delicately shuffled them in her hands, trying to quickly figure out what they said. They were, in fact, for Blooming Bank and a quick thumb through showed them dating back to ten years ago at least. No confidential information was on them, but there was proof of transaction. A lot of transaction, like the kind of money the fifteen year old Heartphilia heiress wouldn't scoff at. If she had to guess, Tartarus used taxes from their lesser guilds to keep them in line, not because they actually needed the money for expenses.
"These were found in Tartarus guild headquarters," Lucy said, handing him the documents, smiling, then shook her head, "excuse me, that was wrong, these were seen in the guild headquarters, and then recovered from the bits of ruins left by the end of the battle. You'll see they contain proof of transaction as well as identification of their accounts."
"I see," the manager was pale now, knowing that he had already lost, and lost a lot of money. He handed the documents to an errand boy sitting just outside the door and asked him to have the dusty pages verified, then turned back to the rulebook. "Article C: members of offending guild are taken into custody and have been found guilty of break the law against wars between guilds."
"I am afraid that there are no more members of the Tartarus guild," Lucy said, breaking character for the first time to let some of her hatred for the demons leak out, "In battles to preserve our lives, Fairy Tail killed them all. As for being convicted of breaking the law, well, we'll just refer back to article A, shall we? There is also no reason to charge Fairy Tail for manslaughter, as Demons were never any form of recognized person in the first place." This time it was Lucy making the bank manager shudder, and she got the feeling he wanted nothing more than to be away from her and her friends.
That was fine with her, as long as he signed the contracts she wanted.
"I see," He said, "Article D, a list of damages done to the guild and money required for repairs will be required as soon as reasonably possible." Shoot, Lucy had a vague idea of the costs, but Levy and Gajeel would be hammering out the statistics right now. Why didn't she look at the specifics of the law before hand?
Lucy idly searched through her files, pretending to look for the requested document, but really just buying time. Then she found a document with a note from Loke saying he thought they might need this. It was their initial estimate (on the high side) and list of specific repairs. Loke had added it to the box last night it seemed. The stars were on her side.
They always were.
"Here you are sir," Lucy said handing over the document with a smile. He paled at the costs required, but saw nothing out of order.
"A-article E: any third party involved in the transaction will not be charged or punished for any acts done by the offending guild unless tried in a separate case."
"Of course," Lucy said, "we were never suggesting anything of the like." Stan Hanson looked like he wanted to remind her of her thinly veiled threats, but seemed to decide against it when he saw her smile. Honestly, Lucy was already sick of acting like the business woman her father tried to get her to be, she almost wanted him to insult her, tell her off. That part was begging for the excuse to vent physically about her losses; she felt it might even be more cathartic than meditating.
"And finally F: the acting guild master must be able to receive funds at the time of transfer and swear upon his or her position as a guild master that the funds will be used as appropriate to fix the damages done in the guild war." He looked defeated, but this one actually caused Lucy more panic than any of the others. They didn't have a guild master, they hadn't voted yet and Makarov hadn't appointed anyone in his stead. She felt her body stiffen as her mind searched for a good way to explain their predicament.
"Uh…" she stalled.
"You are sitting in front of her," Laxus said, causing Lucy to jump and gawk at him, "Lucy Heartphilia is the current guild master of Fairy Tail, and as a celestial spirit mage, her word is her law." Laxus shot her a smile that said go with it, but Lucy was panicking, the whole leading people thing had always been temporary. He started to frown, and she got it. Since she was acting in charge of this whole thing, the bluff would have the most strength if she was the guild master. Laxus looked more like her bodyguard than her guild master, he just wanted her to continue the bluff.
But he was also correct in that her word was her law. She never broke a promise. By signing as the guild master, she was committing to a contract she wouldn't be in a position to fulfil. Is she handled this poorly, it might affect her magic.
While she was spinning in these unpleasant mental circles, Laxus let out a mild zap, making her focus on the expectant manager. She would worry about her magic later, Laxus had dug her grave and she had already proved she was willing to do anything for Fairy Tail, she couldn't blow this.
"Y-yes, Guild Master Lucy," that tasted funny on her tongue, "at your service, I am rather new to the title, forgive me for not starting with that information," she said. Stan Hanson just sighed.
"Of course, I understand. Everything seems to be in order, and far be it for me to keep the Fairy Tail guild from participating in the next Grand Magic Games because they lost their guildhall. Please excuse me while I have someone draw up the paper work." He left and Lucy was torn between cheering and panicking, both of those would have to be saved for later, and a glare directed at Laxus assured him of that. A quick eye roll from him assured Lucy that he didn't care what she thought. Lucy pulled out of her purse a quick duplicating spell, used it on all the relevant documents, and put the originals back in the guild's black box.
They got the papers sorted, Lucy cringing a little inside every time she signed her name in the guild master space, and the manager told them in a tired voice that the transfers would be processed and completed within 3-5 business weeks. They exited the building and Lucy immediately took off her blazer, it reminded her too much of the restrictive clothing of her childhood. Pushing Young Lucy, the one that had to be good at negotiating or she wouldn't be allowed to eat, to the front had saved their butts in there, but it didn't mean it was a good place to be.
"Well, sounds like that went better than you expected," Mest said casually as Lucy proceeded to strip off her skirt to reveal a miniskirt underneath. His suspicions about Fairy Tail being part stripper guild continuing to be confirmed.
"'Cept Lucy almost blew the whole thing when we needed her to keep playing her part," Laxus scolded her, "What was with that? You were cooler than ice, way more impressive than anything the other dorks on your team could pull off, then you almost blew it."
"Well excuse me if I wasn't prepared to be referred to as Guild Master," Lucy replied hotly.
"Get used to it," Laxus suggested, unbuttoning his shirt as they entered their shared room.
"What are you talking about? As soon as we have a place that can hold a meeting, the guild is going to vote on either you, Erza, or Mira. No offence, but I'm voting for Mira."
"Yeah, we'll see when the guild comes to vote. I'm betting on you." Laxus replied. Lucy rolled her eyes as the guys changed into normal clothes, when there came a knock on the door.
"Hello?" Lucy asked, standing in the doorway.
"Is a Miss Lucy Hertphilia here?" a palace guard asked.
"I am she." Her brain was still running on official language, and she shook her head, trying to reclaim Lucy of Fairy Tail.
"I have letter from Princess Hisui for you," he said, offering a letter.
It had the royal seal on it.
My dear friend Lucy,
I would love if you could stop by tonight for dinner, I am rather tied up tomorrow evening. I am so glad you thought of me during your time in Crocus. Please come to the main entrance at six o'clock tonight, the guards will recognize you and you are welcome to bring any friends you desire.
Sincerely,
Pincess Hisui D. Fiore
"Tell Hisui that I'll be there," Lucy told the still waiting messenger, who nodded and left.
"So, anyone feel like going to visit the Princess with me?" Lucy asked the guys.
"I would rather not," Mest said, "seems like a friendship meeting and I wouldn't want to intrude."
Laxus snorts, "I'm allergic to rich people." Lucy tried to decide if she should take offense to that, but decided that if Laxus was going to be a grump, she was going to let him be a grump.
"Suit yourselves."
*********TIME******
"Lucy, it's so good to see you!" Hisui said when Lucy entered the small dining room.
"Glad you had time," Lucy replied, "I remember how lonely it is in these huge houses, how many times I would have killed for a girl my own age to talk to."
"I'm so glad you understand," she said, giving Lucy a hug, "not that it isn't fun listening to old ministers every day, but it really isn't."
The two girls talked for hours, Lucy finally learned about how Jude would make funny faces at the Princess during dinner parties, the same thing he did for Lucy in the time before her mother's death, and about which spirits the Princess was contracted to. It was ten o'clock at night by the time Lucy got around to explaining what brought her to Crocus.
"So that's what's been going on with Fairy Tail," Hisui said quietly, a frown on her face. "I was wondering why you guys hadn't been accepting any more requests, several people have complained about it to us since they can't address the magic council. We don't have the magic power to regulate guilds though, so we didn't even try to bother you guys. I figured it had something to do with the dragons spotted last month."
"Yep," Lucy said, "guildhall completely demolished, Master left and claimed the guild disbanded, and several of the unofficial leaders of the guild left to lick their wounds." They were lying together on Hisui's bed and it had been a while since had just been able to dump everything and anything she was feeling on another person. Lucy didn't exactly bottle her emotions, so it wasn't a big deal, but it felt good..
"But not you," Hisui's mouth gave a small smile, "you're a Heartphilia and a celestial wizard. You know how to bring people together and your loyalties to people can't be swayed. You stayed and are going to keep Fairy Tail open for any wandering mage to come to for a meal and a job."
"That's the plan anyway," Lucy frowned, "first thing is that we need to get our guild hall back in working order. We only started buying building materials yesterday, and it's all being charged to Fairy Tail's main account, but that is going to run dry much sooner than we would like. Mest, Laxus, and I were here today to convince Blooming Bank to transfer all of the money belonging to the Tartarus guild to Fairy Tail's account under an old law, but it wasn't like the Magic Council can force them to do anything. It came down to Fairy Tail's reputation that won the argument."
"Hey, do what you have to to be a good person and save your family. The two most important things in the world," Hisui said. Lucy grimaced and buried her head in a pillow.
"I lied about being Fairy Tail's guild master, I'm a horrible person."
"Who knows, it's only a lie if it doesn't come true," Hisui teased, and Lucy was blushing again.
"Hey, there are several stronger mages in the guild who have everyone looking up to them and have much better leadership qualities. I am temporarily in charge only," Lucy said, trying not to wince about the power cut she was going to have to take when that happened.
"Guild Master Lucy, I like the ring it has, respectable but approachable." Hisui giggled.
"stoooooop," Lucy groaned. Now, Lucy never regrets running away from her heiress life, but she was mature enough to admit there were some advantages to the richer side of life. Down pillows, five star meals, and pretty dresses that have never been in a battle were some of the things Lucy could appreciate about her childhood.
"I'll see what I can do about funneling all of Tartarus's funds faster, Guild Master Lucy, and take a 600,000 jewel donation from the castle. I will never stop owing Fairy Tail for cleaning up the mess I made with the eclipse gate and eclipsed celestial spirits. Especially not to you." Hisui said.
"You mean me and Yukino?" Lucy asked, removing the pillow.
"Yukino too," the princess considered, "but it was different, between you and Yukino I mean. I'm not sure what it was, both of you had just as much trouble taking down your spirits, but Yukino felt no remorse for hurting her spirits to help them. You could never bring yourself attack someone who once had complete trust in you. You also seem to have escaped the fatal flaw that Yukino and I have, where we tend to blame ourselves when bad thing after bad thing happens, and we take way too much responsibility for things that really aren't our fault.
"You don't do that, and you've had a worse string of luck than Yukino and I combined, but you refuse to ignore other people when you're sad. You will let your spirits take care of you, you'll let your team take care of you, but never your responsibilities. I don't know if I'm saying this right or if I am making sense at all. You just…accept that people are flawed and that stuff happens. I really admire that about you," Hisui finished.
"My spirits have been taking care of me since I was six, I guess I have a healthy fear of what they could do to me left over from that time," Lucy said. Thoughts of Aquarius ran around Lucy's head, going over all the times she would summon the mermaid to play, only to get scolded and washed away. Yukino and Hisui never seemed to have that problem, their spirits always listened to what they said and did what they wanted. But since their spirits never forced their gates every time they were in trouble either, Lucy preferred her relationship. She was their master only in the legal sense of the term, and it meant she was able to learn so much about their personalities.
If the others were raised by Aquarius, they would never be able to think that all bad things were their fault, Aquarius was too much of a realist. If Lucy had tried to blame herself for any longer about losing her key, the mermaid would have found some way to come to the mortal world and beat Lucy over the head. Lucy started crying then, the tears just came out of nowhere.
"Hey Lucy, are you alright?" Hisui asked alarmed after Lucy's breathing became irregular.
"N-no," Lucy gasped, "but give me a few more seconds and I'll be fine." The princess sat up and looked to see tears streaked all down her friend's face.
"What's wrong?" she demanded.
"I-I lost the person who made me who I am. I'll never see her again, and she was the one who took care of me." Hisui didn't know what to do, so she rolled next to Lucy and gave her a hug, just held her and let her cry.
It did only take her a couple of seconds to pull herself together. "Sorry about that, and I promised Loke I wouldn't break down while I was away, that's twice now," she said ruefully.
"Good job on putting yourself back together," Hisui complimented, "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to break down, though I'm sorry you're so sad. Why don't you sleep here with me tonight? This bed is obviously big enough for the both of us." Lucy wanted to say no, but the begging look on her friend's face was too much.
"It's a long walk back to the hotel too," Hisui reminded her.
Lucy accepted, "Let me just send the guys a message while you find me some sleeping clothes." Immediately the princess jumped on the bed, a grin stretching her face.
"Yay! I've never had a slumber party before. I'll go see if there are any snacks in the kitchen and I have just your size for a night gown. I'll be right back." Lucy nodded as Hisui ran around planning their sleep over. Lucy had been the same way about her first sleep over with Levy, she understood.
Lucy fingered her keys, Virgo would be the quickest and make the least fuss, but Virgo had done some good work far away from Lucy, which was difficult for a spirit. Virgo needed a break, so did Capricorn. Aries would get lost and attacked, though she supposed Gemini turned into one of the guards would do fine.
She called upon the twins for the first time since their breakdown, found a guard, copied him, made the twins forget their Lucy transformation, and sent them on their way with a note explaining that Lucy was spending the night, voluntarily, at the palace. Lucy only wished she could see their faces when Gemini poofed back to the celestial spirit world.
"Hey guys, we're back! How are things going?" Lucy asked her fellow guild mates two days later at the construction site. Her sleep over with Princess Hisui lasted well into the afternoon and her, Laxus, and Mest had only gotten back very late the previous night.
"Lucy!" Levy said happily, "I thought you were going to be gone all week."
"We got things taken care of all much faster than expected. Did you guys get the plans worked out?" Lucy asked, eyeing the pile of recently purchased supplies.
"Yep," Levy said, "We needed to change some of the superstructure, but we have started on the foundation."
"Wonderful," Lucy said, looking over the work her friends had already accomplished. During her survey, an arm was thrown over her shoulder.
"Wonderful? I know you are," Loke purred, and Lucy rolled her eyes at the cheesy pickup line, "how was Crocus?"
"Busy, but still fun. You are going to take a long rest now," then Lucy frowned, "would it be better for you to spend the day relaxing on Earthland on my power? I'm not sure how much rest you'll get in the Celestial world since I know I'll need you before three months are up."
"Hey, no frowning," Loke said, poking her cheek, "Give me twenty-four hours Earthland time in the Celestial Spirit world, I'll be right as rain when you need me next."
"Glad to see you weren't going to pull the macho act," Lucy said, untangling herself from Loke, "Off you go, and thanks again."
"Hey, it would be hypocritical if I pretended I was fine when I wasn't," he said, reminding her of her favorite lie, "Consider this a lesson in letting your friends help you." With a two fingered wave he disappeared.
"Anyone else come back from visiting the other guilds?" Lucy asked Levy, ignoring the girl's raised eyebrows at Loke's behavior. How Lucy interacted with her spirits was no one's business but here own.
"Yeah, Erza is back, and so is Mira. Wendy and Cana are still gone," Levy replied.
"Okay, I'm wiling to bet Cana got distracted by drinking, but that's fine. Wendy can handle herself, plus Sting and Rouge wouldn't let anything happen to her," Lucy thought out loud.
"Erza and Mira are re-enforcing the library foundations right now," Levy mentioned, and Lucy left to get the update.
"Oh, hello Lucy," Erza said, construction outfit on, "How was Crocus?"
"Great, things went much smoother than I could have hoped. How was Mermaid Heel?"
"It was good catching up with Milliana and Kagura, they were willing to loan 300,000 jewel to help with rebuilding. We just need the guild master to deposit the check," Erza said. Mira flew down from where she had been fixing the upper brackets for the bookshelves and lost her Satan Soul takeover.
"I had a similar story from Blue Pagasus. They respected me for my looks and model talent, so I was a good choice, but I can't say I have the same friendship and connections. Hibiki was actually a little disappointed you weren't able to come," Mira teased, Lucy brushed her off. "Anyway, Blue Pegasus gave a donation of 450,000 jewel, turns out they had seen a dragon destroy a Face while driving Christina. They know we saved their butts, and they wont accept repayment."
Lucy did some mental calculations then said, "So it looks like if we are going to continue, we need to vote a guild master to access the funds. Help spread the word that we'll be having a vote with all members present tomorrow morning at ten, okay?" Lucy asked, and the girls nodded. The rest of the day was spent with her and Taurus hauling wood and stone where Gajeel directed.
*********FAIRY*****TAIL*******
"Good morning Lucy!" Wendy said to her as she arrived, "Sting and Rogue are doing just fine. They much prefer the story of their dragons sleeping inside of them to them killing their parents. I think they handled it the best out of all of us."
"That's a relief," Lucy said, giving Wendy a hug.
"Oh, and they said they'll give whatever Fairy Tail needs to get back up and running. Something about needing a good competitor for the Games." Lucy laughed and together they joined the group of mages chatting by the entrance.
"Hello everyone," Lucy said when ten o'clock rolled around and no one had taken charge yet. She went to the front of the crowd and stood on a couple of stones that were waiting to be used in construction.
"Okay, we have an issue. Since Makarov has stepped down from being guild master and has refused to appoint someone in his stead, it's up to everyone here to vote on someone they would agree to follow through all the crazy crap Fairy Tail goes through. How this is going to work is someone is going to nominate a person, and if the person agrees, then another person must second the nomination. After we have all the people that have been nominated and seconded, we will have a single vote to see who people think should be guild master. Any questions?"
"This is too complicated," Gajeel complained, "why don't we just have an all out brawl and whoever is left standing gets to be guild master." Levy slapped him lightly on the arm.
"Don't be an idiot," she said, "It's not just the strongest person, in fact most other guilds don't have their guild master as their strongest member, since guild masters rarely take on jobs. The guild master is the person that will negotiate on behalf of the guild to the magic council, the person who decides who should be allowed to become a member, and the leader in times of crisis. A guild master will have to end up doing a lot of paperwork and needs to be able to organize all events. It has to be someone that can keep everyone in line and manage guild finances and complaints." Levy explained.
"That's why we're doing it this way," Lucy said, bringing attention back to her. "I will nominate Laxus. Do you agree to the nomination," Laxus hesitated, but nodded.
"I second that nomination!" Freed shouted, the rest of the Thunder Legion cheering as well.
"I have a nomination," Laxus said, quieting his team, "I nominate Lucy Heartphilia. She believes in Fairy Tail more than anyone, has experience directing groups, cares about people, and has kept those boneheads Natsu, Gray, and Erza in line and together. Something none of the rest of us, even Gramps, have been able to do for years."
"Plus she knows her way around law and finances," Erza mentioned, smiling.
"Lucy was rather impressive in getting the bank to dance to her tune, and she is close personal friends with the Princess," Mest added, ignoring Lucy's confused look. Suddenly everyone in the crowd was complimenting her, stating how she would make the perfect guild master. Her team was gone and she didn't like to go solo, so she would have plenty of time (that one hurt Lucy more than she would like to admit). During Fantasia Lucy was able to knock sense into everybody after they had spent the day fighting each other (all she said was that she was going to do it herself if they weren't going to help her! The same thing she said about rebuilding the guild!). Lucy was well connected to several of the other guilds (so was Erza and several other people!). Lucy was very giving with all of her things (okay, her team stealing her stuff does not mean she is a giving person). And finally, they would follow her because she was smart and always had her heart in the right place (where did that come from?)
"Hold it," Lucy said. She had to say it three times before she had their attention.
"Look, I'm flattered and all, but I can't be guild master. I'm not even S class and I'm severely emotionally unstable right now. Laxus and Mest can testify," she said.
"I wouldn't call crying out for your friends severely unstable," Laxus retorted, "And if we're looking for emotional stability, we're looking in the wrong guild after that last battle."
"Lucy, you took out a demon all by yourself when the rest of us were trapped in Algeria, and another one with Natsu's help." Erza said, "You have the power of an S class, if not the title." Everyone there was silently begging Lucy to accept the nomination, but the thought of Gemini screaming and crying as Lucy kept her from agreeing.
"You guys, I'm going to show you something, and it will be difficult for me, but it'll make you understand why I can't be guild master." Lucy said, then summoned Gemini. She apologized before asking them to transform into her.
"Anything for you Lucy," Gem said.
"We want to know what you are feeling so we can help," Mini chimed. With a poof there were two Lucy's standing next to each other. Fairy Tail started to grow restless when nothing happened.
"Give it a minute," Lucy said, cringing inside as she watched the twins absorb her psyche. Tears started forming in their eyes, and the second Lucy fell to one knee. It wasn't as dramatic as the first time around, but everyone watched Gemini cry.
"You hate that it has been over a month. You have Fairy Tail back, but you still feel lonely without Natsu and Happy. Natsu? Why did you leave? You are still crying over Aquarius, you are so determined that no find out you sacrificed your oldest friendship for the power to bring Fairy Tail back, and it makes you feel like a little girl. You don't know who you are without Natsu and Aquarius, and you love every spirit that has helped you so much, you don't think you deserve our love. You are so glad that the rest of the guild is helping you re-build Fairy Tail, you love every one of them so much, and are so sad for everything Tartarus did to them. B-but you are still so lonely."
Gemini started straight out bawling then. Lucy had planned on force closing the gate before anyone heard about Aquarius, but once again the sight of her inner turmoil brought to life had her stunned. It was actually nice that Gemini looked much better than the last time she was Lucy, there was a lot less pain in her expression. Maybe one day she would fully recover.
"Close Gate," Lucy said, only shaking a little bit. Then she turned back to the crowd of her family, "That's what's going on inside me."
"What do you mean you sacrificed Aquarius?" Wendy asked, scared. Lucy shifted where she stood, but realized there was no getting out of this explanation now. She held up the water bearer's key, so that everyone could see how broken it was. Several people gasped. You learned a couple of things about Lucy right away, one, she was kind. Two, she loved Fairy Tail. Three, she loved her spirits.
"I summoned her as my third spirit," Lucy said quietly, everyone else was silent "and then Aquarius explained that three spirits didn't have the power to take down Algeria, but if I nullified all my contracts with her, and broke her key, I would be able to summon the Celestial Spirit King. She begged me to, she knew it was the only way I would get out of there alive, and-and I did it."
"All in favor of Lucy Heartphilia becoming the seventh Guild Master of Fairy Tail, say Aye!" Erza yelled. There was a resound cheer, something the citizens of Magnolia had secretly missed, as every single person in the guild yelled with one voice.
"What?" Lucy asked.
"Well Master, what are your orders?" Mira asked, smiling.
"Huh?" Everyone just waited for her with knowing smiles.
"Ugh, you know what? I give up. You guys'll impeach me soon enough anyway," Lucy said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, thinking of what needed to be done. They wanted her, fine. "Okay, we need to finish fortifying the cellar and the records room. Everyone work on that and follow Gajeel's directions, Max, Levy, Freed, Erza and Elfman, I want you guys starting on the south corner of the guild with the metal braces, hopefully you guys can get enough done that when the rest of the underground is braced, people can start sealing in the stones."
"You heard the Master," Erza yelled, giving Lucy a wink. She just rolled her eyes and left to go deal with the guild's finances. Her family was full of idiot brats.
But she guessed that made her the leader of idiot brats.
A/N: So, I'm posting this all at once, because I feel like it. It won't get many reviews or favorites because of that, but I don't actually care