Chapter 1
"So the train station is this way, but if I go there I'll have to get off at Magnolia station so I'm not exhausted by the time I get to Crocus." Lucy said with a groan as she ran towards the town nearby where the train station was. She had a backpack on but refused to let one ounce of training be missed out on, especially when Leo refused to stay in the spirit world.
"Yes, Lucy-Hime and the next train to Magnolia departs in 10 minutes so either you let me carry you on my back or you run faster." Leo began to chase after Lucy with a smirk on his face.
"NO! You will never carry me!" Lucy said giggling and doubling her speed.
"We will see." Just then the town came in view and they ran in and around vendors getting greetings as they passed. It took 2 minutes to get to the station and another 5 to get on the train and get Leo back in the spirit world. By then most of the seats were filled and so Lucy had to knock at one of the rooms and get permission to sit with the people there.
She knocked timidly at one of the rooms and slid the door open when she heard a murmur. She then bowed at the waist and politely asked, "May I please sit with you? The other rooms are full." The people inside smiled at her and gestured for her to sit.
When she sat down she couldn't help but observe the people around her. The teenage boy sitting next to her had black hair that had a slight shimmer and a silver necklace around his neck. He had no clothes on except for a pair of boxers. Lucy had to hold in her giggle at the sight but soon couldn't hold it in anymore and lost it. She began to laugh and had to stifle her giggles to say, "Nice boxers." The boy promptly jumped up and scrambled for his clothes while the other two in the booth berated him with insults and corrections.
"Gray, we have a guest and yet you can't bother to keep your clothes on. I am very disappointed in you." The woman red hair spoke up. She had silver armor on over a blue skirt and looked a bit scary to be honest. Lucy shivered a little at her tone and put her hands in her lap in order to not get on this lady's bad side.
The woman noticed her behavior and once this "Gray" fellow settled down, she introduced herself and the others. "Hello, I am Erza Scarlet. The misbehaved one over there is Gray Fullbuster and the one next to me is Natsu Dragneel." Lucy took this opportunity to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Lucy and I'm 10 years old! Pleased to make your acquaintance." Once this was said Natsu spoke up.
"Hiya, Lucy! Nice to meet ya! We're all 17." Natsu had fluffy pink hair and pointy teeth that startled Lucy for a second. He was dressed in an open black vest with nothing underneath, a white scaly scarf, and white pants. "Nice to meet you."
Once introductions were over with, the train began to move and Natsu's once happy face turned green. Lucy recognized this as motion sickness and touched Virgo's key to communicate with her. She asked if there was anything in the spirit world that could help and Virgo replied with a solution that could help temporarily. "Excuse me," Lucy said, "I may have a way to temporarily stop Natsu's sickness if it's alright." Erza smiled politely and said that it'd be great. "Please don't be alarmed when my spirit comes out." Everybody nodded. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
Suddenly, Virgo popped up with a bottle in hand. "Punishment, Hime-sama?" Lucy promptly facepalmed at the looks directed at her and responded. "No, Virgo. Please just treat Natsu."
"Yes Hime-sama." Virgo then dumped the bottle of liquid down Natsu's throat and turned back to Lucy. "Will that be all, Hime-sama?"
Lucy smiled and responded with a yes. Virgo then disappeared and all attention was redirected at Natsu who was back to his normal self.
"Thank you, Lucy-chan." Erza said with a smile.
Lucy nodded and asked a question that had been plaguing her mind since she got on. "I'm sorry for my asking, but what type of magic do you use?"
"I use requip magic." Erza started.
"I use fire dragon-slaying magic."
"I use ice-make magic." Gray finished.
Lucy's eyes widened at Gray's and she began to get excited. She had been interested in ice-make magic ever since she saw a show Lamia Scale had put on and saw all the interesting things that could be done with it. When she saw the ice-make Mage, Lyon, she could barely contain her awe. "Gray, when we get off could you please give a demonstration of your magic?" Gray seemed taken aback while Natsu scoffed and turned his head.
"Um, sure. I guess I could." Gray couldn't help but smile when the little ten year old girl jumped over to hug him repeating her thanks over and over again. Erza smiled softly at how sweet Lucy was and nodded her approval at Gray.
When the train stopped, Lucy grabbed Gray's hand and jumped up and down excitedly as they got off. Gray asked if it was alright for the demonstration to be at his guild, Fairy Tail, and Lucy agreed readily. They walked and chatted for a while before they stopped at a large wooden building. "You ready?" Gray said stopping outside the guild. Lucy nodded eagerly and stepped to the side as she watched him work his magic.
He began by launching an ice ball into the air and letting it explode causing snow to fall gracefully onto the ground. He then pointed at Lucy's feet and made skates and froze the ground beneath her. She giggled and skated around him twirling once she went around twice. He then created skates on his own feet and danced with Lucy until it melted. They were both smiling and Lucy's teeth were chattering because of the cold weather that had been created around them. Gray noticed this and picked her up setting her on his shoulders. "Come on, Shorty. Let's get you inside." Lucy nodded and happily sat on his shoulders for the ride inside.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" He asked in front of the doors.
"No."
"I'll ask if you can stay in the guild for tonight then."
"Thank you, Onee-San."
Gray smiled as he said, "No problem" and went inside.
Once in, Gray had to duck with Lucy on his shoulders as a chair flew towards them. Lucy slid down to his back after that and she looked over his shoulder at the fight. Natsu was blowing fire at a large white haired man as a drunk girl with a bikini top cheered them on. At the bar a girl with white hair similar to the man in the fight's was smiling and delivering a barrel to the cheering woman. At a table a woman with brown hair and glasses who resembled a fairy queen was scoffing and talking with three men. One of the men had blond hair and a scar on his eye, another had a type of helmet on, and the last had long green hair. The woman interested Lucy seeing as she looked like a fairy and so Lucy was set to meet her.
Gray soon set her down away from danger so he could speak with the guild master and Lucy saw this as her chance to speak with the fairy lady. She walked over timidly and tapped the lady's arm to get her attention. Suddenly all four of them were looking at her with distaste. Lucy suddenly felt scared but asked her question anyway. "I'm sorry miss, but are you a fairy queen?"
Suddenly the woman smiled proudly and put her hand to her chest while the others rolled their eyes. "Why, yes I am. My name is Evergreen. What might yours be little one?" Lucy smiled. "I'm Lucy. I am honored to have met a fairy such as yourself." She bowed at the waist and Evergreen, feeling no reason to dislike this child as she did the others, picked her up and turned to the three men around her. "Can we keep her?" Evergreen said giggling.
"I'm sure she has parents she has to stay with." The blond one said causing Lucy's face to plummet.
"Laxus! Look what you've done to the little one." Evergreen then turned to Lucy and put her forehead against hers. "It's okay, we'll give you a place to stay." Lucy then smiled at the others and put her hand out to them. "I'm Lucy and you are?"
The green haired one shook her hand first with a soft smile. "I'm Freed. It's a pleasure."
The one with the helmet then stuck his tongue out and shook her hand, "I'm Bickslow, but you can call me Bicks." Lucy giggled at his greeting and then turned to Laxus who grunted with his arms crossed and said, "Laxus." Lucy understood and just waved while smiling.
After they had chatted for a bit they heard Gray calling out Lucy's name. Evergreen turned around with Lucy still in her arms and a sneer on her lips. "What do you want with Lucy?" Lucy's eyes widened as she sensed conflict and began to speak. "I met Gray on the train here and he showed me his magic. He was trying to get me a place to stay in the guild but I'm guessing no luck there." He nodded. "So I can stay with you Evergreen." She smiled wide and Evergreen did the same, startling Gray. He began to worry but thought that Lucy could handle herself despite not knowing her for that long so he nodded and started to leave but not without hearing a, "Goodbye, Onee-San!" From behind him.
Lucy then turned back to the four she learned called themselves the Thunder Legion and allowed them to take her with them to the house they lived in. Lucy got in a twin bed beside Evergreen's queen and put herself to sleep.
That night was one filled with terrors that only Lucy could imagine. Her nightmares were filled with her mother telling her that she had replaced her in her heart and her father frowning and shaking his head at her. But that wasn't the worst of it. Later in the night her mother started to cry tears of blood and the blood started to soak through her and Lucy's father's clothes. Eventually they were just pools of blood and Lucy woke up breathing heavily with her hands tangled in her hair and tears streaming down her face. She had to be quiet though. She didn't want to disturb the woman who so nicely took her in. She went out the door and down the stairs to the restroom. There she splashed water in her face to wash the tears away. She looked in the mirror determined and said, "I won't remember that day. I won't." This had been a recurring phrase she used to get the nightmares to go away, but as of late it hadn't been working.
She looked to the side and saw Leo there leaning against the wall looking at her with sad eyes. He was always there for her when she needed it and she was grateful for it. She began to walk towards him with her arms held out. "Come here. It's okay. Everything's alright." He said wrapping his arms around her and picking her up princess style.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to take her into the kitchen. By then it was 5:30 am and they decided to make a breakfast for everyone in the house. Around 6, when the bacon was put in the pan by Leo, the other occupants of the house began to filter in with sleep filled eyes. Lucy was giggling when Leo put some of the biscuit batter on her nose when the others came. Lucy then turned around to wave at the new arrivals. "Hi guys! Leo and I will be done with breakfast in a few if you wanna sit down."
"Yeah um… Who's Leo?" Bickslow asked confused.
"Oh! He's my spirit. I forgot to tell you that I'm a Celestial Mage. This is Leo of the 12 Zodiac keys."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, but as I have told Lucy before," He glanced at her, "My friends call me Loke." Leo said bowing at the waist in his black suit.
"And as I have said before, I don't find it very professional."
"I am perfectly fine with him staying as long as he wants." Evergreen said emphasizing the word 'long'.
"I'd be fine with th-"
"Force gate closure."
With that he disappeared with a wink. Lucy rolled her eyes at his flirtatious habits and finished the cooking dishing out bacon filled biscuits with eggs on top and bits of potatoes on the side. She put all the plates on the table where the Thunder Legion was sitting and smiled at them all. "I hope you enjoy it!" And with that everyone dug in and food went flying from Bickslow's plate which caused a giggle to be released from Lucy's mouth.
Once everyone was done, Lucy cleared the table and took them to the sink to wash. As soon as she put the first plate into the sink she realized that she was a bit too short to reach into it.
"I can wash. You dry." Laxus said taking the plate from her hands. She nodded and took the dish towel and began to dry. They did this in silence for a while until Lucy spoke up. "I know you only volunteered to do this with me to ask me a question so please speak up and end this god awful silence."
Laxus smirked at Lucy's sharp tongue and looked at her from the corner of his eye. "How long do you plan on staying here?"
Lucy looked at him for a second before returning to her drying. "I can leave today if you'd like me to. Though I'd prefer it to be later on today so I can take the night train to Crocus."
Laxus widened his eyes. "What business do you have in Crocus?"
"I need to find a Mage named Yukino Agria. I planned on asking around Crocus first considering it has the largest population. Now that I know she isn't here I need to go search Crocus quickly."
"Oh I've heard of her. She's the newest member of the latest guild Sabertooth. It's located around that area so you should be fine. Just, if you do go today, don't forget about Evergreen. She seems to have become attached to you and won't like hearing of you leaving. Please come visit her."
With this Lucy smiled brightly, "Yes, sir!"
Laxus chuckled and once he dried his hands he messed up Lucy's hair. "Thanks, Kid."
