Lucy walked into the guild with her energy restored after having a good night's sleep. She felt ready to take on another job, determined to get her rent paid. Mira appeared by her side as she looked at the leaflets on the jobs notice board.
"Hey Lucy!" She smiled. "Great work on the mission. From Natsu's statement, the Magic Council decided to take action and they stormed into Lumont's mansion. They found lots of evidence, more than enough to be able to sentence him to life in prison."
"So they got him?" Lucy was relieved.
"Um… no actually. They have the evidence, but… when they searched his house there was no one there. It was completely empty. It seems Mr. Lumont has disappeared."
Lucy felt her heart pounding. That man made her so nervous.
"Don't worry." Mira smiled. "The Magic Council have people out looking for him. He won't be able to hide from them for too long." Mira sauntered away, leaving Lucy staring at the notice board. Lumont was out there somewhere. His words echoed in her mind, You'll regret ever crossing paths with me. She shuddered.
"Lucy!" She snapped back to reality at the sound of Happy's high pitched voice. "Are you ready to take on another job?"
She smiled, returning to her normal self. "Yep, I might try an easy one today though."
"So which one are we going for?" Natsu asked, walking in after Happy.
She ignored the fact that she didn't ask him to come on a job with her. "This one looks good," She said, picking a brightly coloured flyer from the board and handing it to him.
His face dropped when he read it. "Aw come on." He didn't look impressed. "Helping some girls do their shopping? What kind of job is this? Where's the fighting in that?"
"Hopeful there will be none," Lucy replied. "We just need to tell them they look good in whatever they try on and maybe carry some bags. Simple, eh?"
"I don't like simple."
"That's surprising," Grey came out of nowhere, "Since the first word that comes to mind when I think of you is simple."
"What'd you say ice stripper?" Natsu held up his fist.
"I'm calling you stupid again dragon boy."
"You're one to talk pervy popsicle."
"Watch it fire clown."
"Watch what? Your weak insults?"
"That's it! You asked for this!" Grey let his fist fly towards him but Natsu dodged at the last second and Grey's fist connected with something else. His face drained of colour when he saw Erza's red face.
"Grey!"
"I'm outta here." Grey yelled running out the door, chased by Erza. Natsu was laughing hysterically.
"Grey darling!" Juvia called running after them both. "I'm the only one that should be chasing you!"
Lucy let out a sigh. "That girl never gives up."
"She's determined", Mira chimed in. "So are you taking this job Lucy?"
"Yep, looks like it."
"Great", Natsu said not looking happy.
"It'll be fun. A nice break from any serious work. And the reward is huge."
"I love breaks!" Happy cheered.
"Oh alright. Let's go then." Natsu walked out the door in a huff.
Mira giggled. "He'll do anything for you Lucy"
"What?"
"You've got Natsu, of all people, to go help girls do some shopping."
"He'd do that for anyone." Lucy said with a red face, running out the door after him.
The train journey was a short one and Natsu, Happy and Lucy stood waiting outside a cottage house.
"Where are they?" Natsu was getting impatient.
"They'll be here in a minute Natsu, relax." Just as Lucy spoke the words, three girls came out of the house. Despite the fact that they were all covered in makeup it was clear that they were pretty. "Oh hi, I'm Lucy, this is Natsu, and that's Happy. We're the mages from Fairy Tail that were sent to help you with your shopping."
The girls seemed to completely ignore Lucy. Instead they had their eyes on Natsu, who was staring into the distance looking completely bored and unimpressed.
"They didn't tell us they would be sending Natsu Dragneel." The short girl squealed with excitement.
"Huh?" Natsu looked over to them. "Someone say my name?"
"It's the Salamander!" The taller girl's eyes were practically gleaming.
The three of them squealed and rushed over to him grabbing his arms. "Oh my! They are even stronger looking in person. Those magazines don't do you any favours."
"Eh … ok." Natsu stood there oblivious to all the attention he was getting.
"Um… are you ready to go know?" Lucy asked, starting to get annoyed.
The three girls looked over to Lucy, acknowledging her for the first time. "Who are you?"
Lucy was fuming. How could they not know her after seeing Natsu in magazines? She was in those magazines too. "You know him but not me? I'm Lucy Heartfilia. I'm Natsu's –"
"You're Natsu's what?" One of the girls pounced at the mention of his name, suddenly interested in what Lucy had to say.
"Guild mate."
The girls giggled. Ugh they are so annoying Lucy thought to herself.
"We're so lucky to have you here Natsu. My name's Mariana." The tall girl clung to Natsu's arm.
"Yeah" another one interjected. "You're so strong, you could probably carry us as well as the bags. I'm Asintha by the way."
"And I'm Ashley!" The shortest one of them jumped up eagerly, squishing herself into Natsu.
"Alright I think we should get going now." Lucy was already regretting taking this job.
"Aye!" Happy agreed. "Standing there jealous like that won't do you any favours."
"Shut it cat!" Now Lucy was the one in a huff. "Why would I be jealous?"
"Because, you liiiiiike him."
"Say that again and I'll Lucy kick you all the way back to Magnolia."
They began the walk into town, with the girls competing to get Natsu's attention. That was going to be hard seeing as he wasn't particular good at comprehending girls feelings and he didn't seem to care much about those kind of things. They were jumping at every opportunity they could to compliment him. Lucy was getting sick of hearing how much they loved him.
"I heard you defeated Master Hades all by yourself", Mariana gushed.
"Well actually –"
Asintha jumped in, "And you stopped Face single handedly." Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Eh… I don't remember doing th–"
"Oh and you destroyed that clock nightmare thing and saved us all!" Ashley squealed.
"You know those guys were pretty weak." Natsu was actually starting to take their compliments.
"Hold on!" Lucy was beyond annoyed at this point. "I destroyed the clock nightmare. Sure Natsu was a big help but it wasn't just him. Most of our guild was there. I know Natsu's strong but he almost always had help with those missions. He's great and all but maybe you should give some of his team mates some credit too."
There was a long pause.
"Hey, I know you now." Asintha looked pleased with herself. Finally, Lucy thought. "You're the girl that's always getting into trouble and then poor Natsu has to risk his life saving you."
"What? I…"
"Isn't that right Natsu?" Asintha was batting her lashes at him while still clinging to his arm.
He laughed. "All in a day's work."
Lucy couldn't take this anymore. "Ugh, Natsu you and Happy can finish this job on your own." She started storming off.
"Wait Lucy!"
"We're a team", Happy finished his sentence.
"This job is easy enough that you two can handle it on your own." And with that she left Natsu and Happy standing with the over bearing girls.
"I can't believe those girls." Lucy thought out loud. She had been walking for at least twenty minutes and had reached the edge of town. "Fawning over Natsu like that." She was walking along in a huff with her head down. "And I can't believe Natsu." She kicked some stray stones off the path. "He was actually starting to enjoy it." Lucy's rambling was cut off when she bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there." She said looking up at the man.
He looked down at her. "My fault entirely."
Lucy's eyes widened in horror. "Lumont", she breathed the words out in a scared whisper.
"The one and only." A sly smile played on his face.
"Natsu do you think Lucy's ok?" Happy asked flying alongside him.
"How should I know? I don't get why she stormed off like that." He seemed annoyed now. "She's the one that picked this job in the first place."
"Wow you really are clueless when it comes to girls."
"I am not!" Natsu held up his fist.
The three girls giggled. "I think you're really good with girls Natsu."
"See", he grinned at Happy. When he didn't return the grin Natsu sighed. "Alright, how about you go check on Lucy and meet us back here when you see she's ok?"
"Aye sir!" Happy saluted him and then flew away.
"What are you doing here?" Lucy's voice was shaking.
Lumont smiled wickedly. "I knew you'd be here."
She reached for her keys only to find they weren't there. Her eyes widened in horror.
"Looking for these?" He held her keys in his hand.
"How did you get them?" Lucy was furious. "Give them back." No one messed with her keys.
"Come and get them", he was toying with her.
She launched forward, ready to strike him with her fist, but the moment she was two inches from him he disappeared. She looked around in a panic hoping he hadn't vanished with her keys.
"You coward! Come out here and fight me! I've had enough of your vanishing act." Just as Lucy was speaking, Lumont appeared behind her. She twisted around as quickly as she could but she was too slow. Lumont hit her hard across her face and she fell to the ground. She picked herself up and attempted a Lucy kick but Lumont dodged and knocked her down again. Her hair fell down around her face as her hair tie came undone.
He laughed viciously, "It seems you are useless without your celestial spirits."
Lucy ran at him again, trying to get in at least one hit, but it was no use. He was physically stronger than her and his speed was incredible. He dodged every single attack she threw at him.
Lumont decided to give up with his dodging game and got serious. He grabbed Lucy's arms and twisted them behind her back. She winced in pain and tried to pull away from him but he didn't loosen his grip in the slightest. Lucy then heard a soft click and felt cool metal around her wrists. She started panicking now. She kicked out behind her but Lumont had disappeared and reappeared right in front of her. He knocked her to the ground once more and clicked a pair of magic-sealing shackles around her ankles too.
"Now, I did say I was going to have some fun with you, didn't I?" A malicious smile spread across his face. Lucy screamed, desperate for some help. Before she could make any more noise, Lumont threw her over his shoulders and they both disappeared.
"Natsuu!" Happy was flying towards Natsu and the girls looking distressed.
"What is it buddy?"
"It's Lucy."
Natsu suddenly snapped to attention. "What about her? Where is she?"
"I don't know. I was flying along and I heard a scream. It was Lucy's scream Natsu. I know it was. And I flew towards it but then it stopped all of a sudden. No one and nothing was there except for this." Happy held out his paw to Natsu with Lucy's blue hair ribbon in it.
Natsu could smell Lucy's scent from the ribbon. He didn't even wait to ask any more questions. "Let's go Happy."
"Wait!" The three girls all started making puppy dog eyes at Natsu. "What about us? Aren't you going to help us finish our shopping?"
Natsu's face went serious. "Lucy needs me. The shopping can wait." And with that, Happy picked Natsu up and they flew off.