Ch. 13 - Operation Mistletoe

It was quite an interesting walk to Fairy Tail. Lucy stared straight ahead with the guild (and Emerald) in a dramatic V-shaped formation behind her. She didn't even have to look to know that all eyes were glued onto them as they stalked awkwardly down the city.

Emerald could barely fit into the street itself, and kept knocking over stands and market stalls, but nobody dared to yell.

Overall, it was a very dramatic decent until Alice tripped.

She tripped over a rock while winking at a guy and fell flat on her face, lying there for a long 10 seconds while everyone registered what happened. Lucy snorted, and kept walking as Alice got up, her face red as a tomato.

Before she knew it, Lucy arrived at the guild and a wave of nostalgia washed over her. The guild crowded around her. "Is this it?" Lupa breathed.

Lucy didn't answer because tears were running down her face. Nobody noticed yet.

"Holy crap, it's huge!" Rini crowed.

Lucy sniffed, blinking her eyes rapidly. 'I guess old habits die hard,' she thought bitterly.

"Are you re - Licia?" Lupa asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Lucy smiled, hastily wiping the river of tears that had run down her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just really…" Lucy exhaled. "It's really overwhelming to take all this in at once."

Lupa smiled and opened her mouth to reply when Alice appeared out of nowhere, screaming and wiping Lucy's face roughly. "Thank god I used waterproof make up!"

Lucy laughed. She was about make a comeback about her being so rude to her guild master when the tall doors of the guild swung open, revealing Levy and Gajeel leaving together very suspiciously.

Levy's hair had gotten longer, reaching down to her chest. Gajeel looked the same as he had when he left, but there was one difference. Gajeel and Levy were holding hands.

Levy stopped and stared at the strange scene of this peculiar pink haired lady vigorously rubbing the face of a very familiar blonde lady. The pink haired lady's mouth was open in mid scream, but she kept rubbing the very familiar blonde lady's face all the while staring at Levy.

Gajeel got it before Levy did. He squinted his eyes. "Bunny Girl?" He said incredulously.

Lucy sighed and pushed Alice away, mentally thanking her for putting on water proof make up. "Well, there goes my dramatic entrance," she said sarcastically.

Levy had tears running down her face as she threw her arms around Lucy's neck. Lucy planted her feet to the ground, resisting dodging and she wrapped her arms around her best friend. She felt Levy's tears spill onto her neck. No words were spoken; the tears cascading down both their faces said enough.

After a couple minutes, Levy finally let go of Lucy and grasped her by the shoulders. Lucy quickly rubbed her eyes, getting rid of the tears. Levy stared at her for a couple minutes before saying, "You're back, Lu-chan."

Lucy smiled affectionately. "I'm home," she whispered. She didn't get a chance to say anything else because Fairy Tail had erupted in screams of, "You're back!" and "Who's that!" and "What the hell is that black thing!?"

Lucy stepped into the guild. "Hi, guys," she said.

Lucy was overwhelmed by the amount of hugs and screams in her ear, but they all suddenly stopped.

"Lucy?" Master Macarov whispered, standing on the counter. He hopped off and launched himself with his titan legs at Lucy, hugging her tightly. She laughed and hugged him back. "Wahhhhhhh! Lucy's back you idiots! It's party time!" He screamed.

The guild shouted in agreement. It was then Lucy noticed Night Pythoness standing awkwardly in the doorway, with Emerald. "Sorry it's a bit rowdy," Lucy muttered.

Lupa stared at the guild partying like there was no tomorrow. "Is this how a guild acts?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Nope! Just this one," she laughed.

A leaf poked out of the collar of Rini's shirt, something that happened when she was really nervous. "So, uh, what do we do now?"

Lucy shrugged nonchalantly, nonchalantly plucking the leaf out of her collar. "Go and party, I guess," she suggested. "But no drinking," she warned. The guild nodded excitedly and began to enter when she added, "And uh, don't tell them about the guild…" The women nodded understandingly and disappeared into the crowd.

Lucy went up to Emerald. "You're gonna have stay outside, Emer," she whispered, patting his nose affectionately. Emerald rolled his eyes. "Ugh, don't be sassy now. I'll come hang out with you later. Everyone else is probably gonna be passed out anyway." Emerald nodded and gently nuzzled her. He suddenly looked up, and then pushed her over forcibly with his nose.

"Kya!" Lucy exclaimed as she fell back, giving Emerald a dirty look.

Thump.

Before she could land, she was caught by a pair of two strong arms. In the corner of her eye she could see the red Insigna on the right bicep. Realization hit her like a freight train when she saw Emerald giving her a suggestive look. "You little shi-"

Emerald promptly turned around and flopped down to the ground, sending an unlucky passerby running.

Lucy quickly got back up and brushed herself off. She slowly turned around to face her rescuer.

"Oh. Hey, Natsu."

"Hey, Luce."

The guild behind them paused their partying, a first for them. Natsu and Lucy stood there, chatting awkwardly. Well, Lucy was acting weird. Natsu had long since reverted back to his usual state, loud and oblivious, although if one looked closely, there was a faint blush dusted across his cheeks.

Mira and Lisanna smiled at each other devilishly. They gave a thumbs up to Warren, who smiled and signalled Happy from across the guild. Happy glanced at the cunning sisters and giggled. He flew quietly to the doorway. Guild members snickered and mouths fell open when they saw what Happy was carrying.

Both Natsu and Lucy sensed something coming towards them, but didn't think much of it and continued mumbling to each other.

They realized something was floating above their heads when Happy couldn't contain his giggles any longer. It was a mistletoe. Gajeel and Levy appeared out of nowhere, Gajeel behind Natsu and Levy behind Lucy.

"Look! A mistletoe! Even though it's not Christmas, nonetheless it's still a mistletoe! You know what you have to do!"

"Sorry, Lu-chan," Levy whispered, smiling as she gave Lucy a nice push.

"Eh?"

"Gehe." Gajeel grabbed Natsu and gave his a slightly rougher push.

"The hell, Ga-"

Their faces collided. Literally.

Their foreheads bashed together so hard both of them staggered back, rubbing the matching red spots on their foreheads. The guild was quiet before erupting into laughter. Night Pythoness, however, shrunk into a corner together.

Elfman glanced at them. "What are you guys doing, hiding down there! Be a man!"

Lupa shook her head fearfully. "You made her angry. She's gonna do something drastic. She never hurts us, but if we do something really really bad and she gets really really angry she'll do something really really scary," Lupa rambled.

Rinni sighed. "What she's saying is just to expect the wall to be broken or something,"

Elfman's eyes widened. Evergreen laughed. "Lucy would never do something like that," she said, as if stating a fact.

Lupa's eyes hardened. "You wouldn't know, she was gone for three years," she shot back.

Evergreen scowled, at a loss.

"Ugh," Lucy muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"You pickin' a fight, Gajeel?!" Natsu screamed, jumping at Gajeel. Gajeel grinned and drew his fist back.

Lucy, on the other hand, was standing there rubbing her head, trying to control herself. Levy ran up to her worriedly. "I'm so sorry, Lucy! Are you okay?" She asked, holding Lucy's shoulders. Lucy smiled sadistically.

"Would you, by any chance, know who planned this?" She asked, bittersweet.

Levy was surprised. "Uh, yeah. It was mainly Mira and Lisanna," she answered.

Lucy grinned. "So, Mira, Lisanna!" She hollered. The laughing stopped at the hostility of her voice. "I hear you planned this? This 'Operation Mistletoe'," she yelled.

Mira smiled. "Yep, it was us!" she replied sweetly, apparently having no regrets.

Lucy growled under her breath. Lucy couldn't hurt Mira. How could she? Mira was too nice. Lucy sighed. She walked up to the brawl Natsu and Gejeel were having. She studied them for a moment, and then suddenly jumped in and punched Gajeel in the face, sending him flying.

Fairy Tail was surprised. Not just anybody could send Gajeel flying.

"Aw, come on! I was just about to win!" Natsu exclaimed childishly.

Lucy smiled in a creepy way. "Wanna see a kiss, do you? I'll show you a freakin' kiss!" She screamed. She grabbed Natsu's scarf and pulled him forcefully toward her. Just before their lips connected, she whispered, "Sorry," and then she promptly punched him in the gut.

"Just kidding!" Lucy said cheekily.

— Meawhile, Rimoro Village —

"Rimo, please," Sandra pleaded, fake sadness oozing throughout her voice. "You must help me get my guild back." Sandra turned away and squeezed tears out of her grey eyes. "She's probably treating them like slaves, the poor girls!"

Rimo scowled. "How would we even know where to look? Lucy," he spat her name out of her mouth like it was some sort of virus, "has left without a trace."

Sandra smiled. "We can find her." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I know where she is," she whispered.

"You do?" Rimo said, a little too eagerly. "I mean, great. We can go and get your guild back, now."

Sandra smiled. "Wonderful," she purred. "When shall we leave?"

"In about two weeks. I must make sure the village is ready for our leave," he murmured, getting up from his chair. He stopped at the doorway. "We don't have to hurt her, right…?" He asked quietly.

Sandra almost began to scowl but she quickly plastered a smile onto her face. "It depends on how much she wants my guild," she replied.

"I see…" he muttered, disappearing out the door.

As soon as Rimo left, Sandra sighed contentedly. "Now I can finally kill that bitch," she said, leaning back into the wall. "And after that I'll take Fairy Tail…" She murmured. She squealed excitedly.

'Villains always think they're alone…. but there is always someone listening in to their plans. I must warn Lucy,' Sakimo thought as she crouched under the window. She quietly left and entered her own hut, quickly packing her things into a bag. She stocked it with some freshly made parchments, and then she took out one of her jewelled daggers. She took a small, pointy knife and slowly began to pick out the jewels from the handle of her dagger.

'I hope this is enough for the train fare…' She thought. As soon as she was done, she slid the precious jewels into a small pocket of her bag, and then secured the bag closed and shoved it behind her bed. Glancing out the window to the darkening sky, she swiftly got out a piece of paper and wrote a small note to Rimo.

'im sorry, but i cant take it anymore. im sorry. i love you. goodbye, rimo,' it said.

This was a shot in the dark, like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sakimo was smart, however, and put two and two together and decided to head to Fairy Tail to find Lucy. After all, Sandra did say that she was going to take Fairy Tail. And how did Sakimo know where she was, anyway?

In the stillness of the night, nobody saw the village girl creep out from her hut and flee down the narrow path that fragmented the forest. Despite her thin figure, she was quite fit and ran all the way down. The train arrived shortly after she did, and the driver was quite surprised to see a passenger, let a lone a mute girl dressed in animal skins. Nonetheless, he didn't ask questions and she boarded the train.

— 8 days later, late morning —

Sakimo got off at the place, at Magnolia. She squinted in the bright sunlight, amazed at the tall buildings and people.

So. Many. People. Sakimo had never seen so many people in one place before.

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be amazed. She needed to warn Fairy Tail, and more importantly, Lucy. She scanned her surroundings. She could feel people staring at the strange girl holding a sign that read, 'do you know where fairy tail is?', wearing animal furs.

Eventually, a young woman decided to help the strange girl out, pointing her in the general direction.

Sakimo bowed her head in thanks and then quickly dashed down the crowded streets, leaving the woman confused and frazzled.

By the time Sakimo got to the guild, she was out of breath and the sun was setting. She raised a hand to pound on the door when the door swung open, revealing the infamous Celestial Mage and 17 women behind her.

Lucy was caught in mid-laugh, but she stopped abruptly when she saw the sad looking girl standing in front of her.

"Sakimo?" Lucy whispered.

Sakimo smiled weakly before collapsing to the ground.

A/N:

Hello there! I hope you all had a very merry christmas or whatever you celebrate! What did you guys get?

Guess what I got for Christmas!

100 REVIEWS! ;u; You guys, I cannot tell you how this makes me feel. I never expected to reach this high a number! I know it isn't much compared to some other writers, but to me this is like winning the lottery. And I can't even buy lottery tickets yet so that's saying a lot.

In all seriousness, though, I can't thank you enough. I love you all so very much!

Thank you so much for reading my story and I promise to update as soon as I can!

ps I didn't write an outline for this chapter so please tell me honestly if it sucks

-jo

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