Third day is underway! I am glad you are all enjoying the story as I am having fun writing it, so thanks for the reviews and support!
"You have got to be kidding me!" Lucy yelled to no one in particular, temporarily muting her com. Master Kaleb had just tried to lay down the law and tell her that she wasn't ALLOWED to come on the mission. She had stumbled upon the fucking soul trading ring on her recovery mission with Erza and Levy. Well, fat fucking chance that she wasn't going to on said mission and Kaleb was about to get an earful.
"Lucy I don't think you understanding the intricacies we are going to be dealing with here," she heard Kaleb slowly start to talk again and immediately unmuted herself. "We are going up against a dark guild who is looking to capture souls for an unknown purpose. We have very little knowledge as to what's going on, plus we have an entire guild of mages devoted to these kinds of missions. The fact that you are ill-equipped to handle something of this magnitude . . ."
"Excuse you?" Lucy's glare pierced Kaleb's and he froze on the spot. She couldn't believe the Master of the largest guild in history was trying to mansplain how a dangerous mission worked. "You are either very misinformed or are a class A jack ass. I have been in Fairy Tail for six years, and an active mage for just as long. I have been captured, beaten and bruised, and in life-threatening situations more than anyone else that I know. Don't you DARE tell that I don't know what's at stake here! You WILL accept our help and you WILL see us at the meeting at 9 am at White Sea in Pelerno tomorrow morning." She could see the necklace start to flare with power again, which happened to be the third time during this conversation. The first two being when she informed him about different points of the soul trading ring.
"Fine," Kaleb grumbled while caving to her demands. "I will see you here along with the others I have chosen for the mission."
"Perfect," Lucy beamed at the platinum blonde. "See you then." She cut the power off to her com and shoved it back in her bag.
"How much you want to bet that he doesn't tell the Thunder Legion about this little argument?" Levy inquired, her nose still buried in a book she had pulled out when Lucy decided to call Master Kaleb. Lucy snorted in response, clearly giving the bluenette her answer.
"Could I borrow your com, Lucy?" Erza asked the blonde woman. "I would also like to inform Gramps or Mira so they do not worry and are informed as to what has occurred."
"Of course Erza," Lucy grabbed the small glass orb from her bag and handed it over. The requip mage nodded her head and walked a ways away to talk to someone from Fairy Tail. "I can't believe Kaleb acted like that."
"Come on Lu," Levy put her book down, taking off her gale force reading glasses. "He's the youngest Master of the largest guild, fifth Wizard Saint of Bosco, and wielder of Immaculate Light - if he wasn't a bit arrogant I'd be concerned."
"Guarantee he doesn't treat Bickslow's sister like that," Lucy mumbled under her breath. Levy caught it though and couldn't help but laugh.
"You know we are probably going to miss the Halloween festivities at Fairy Tail with this new mission," Levy pointed out as a way to distract her friend.
"I knoooow," Lucy whined. "I had the perfect outfit picked out that was sure to draw Bick . . . ah, someone's attention finally." Lucy saw the knowing look on her best friends' face and instantly knew that she had just outed herself. "Alright fine I have a rather small crush on our resident seith mage." The squeal that Levy let out would have been enough to cause all the slayers to go deaf if they had been in the vicinity. "Easy Lev. I don't think the man even knows I exist, let alone realize I have been trying to hint that I like him." Lucy had tried everything in the unwritten girl handbook to flirting with men, and he was either incredibly stupid or just not interested. She was hoping it was the first one, mainly for her ego's sake.
"Talking about Bicklslow are we?" Erza questioned as she handed the com back to Lucy, Levy breaking down into peals of laughter. "What? You get the same look on your face whenever you think or talk about him. It's a combination of love and anger." Levy was laughing so hard that she actually fell off the log she was sitting on and was joined shortly by her companions.
"I wish either of you had crushes that we could bring into the light and make fun of besides my own," Lucy dramatically sighed. "Maybe there'll be someone in White Sea that'll draw your attention too?"
"We are on a mission. There are no time for boys."
"Come on Erza! We're in Bosco, live a little - you too Levy."
"Nonsense. We will complete this mission and then perhaps we can stay an extra few days to explore the . . . culture," Erza's face matched her hair. Levy had been explaining all about Bosco's open policy on sex and how as long as you weren't promised you could have sex with any man or woman of your choosing. Lucy had known all about it from Evergreen but watching Erza try to grasp the idea had been hilarious.
"Brilliant idea Erza," Lucy high fived Levy, both of who were excited about the endless possibilities. If she couldn't have Bickslow then she'd make sure she was well looked after before she headed home. "However I suggest we get back to town and get on the train. It'll be at least a four-hour ride to Pelerno and I'd like to be able to shower in the morning before we head to the guild." Lucy was going to ensure she looked her absolute best when she entered the guild, knock the jewelry right off the master's body.
"Oh my Mavis!" Levy exclaimed clasping her hands together. "We'll be in Bosco for Halloween! EEEEEK!" That thought had all three women smiling as the started walking back to the small town they had been residing in. Lucy called Pyxis out to help them navigate the forest as the sun was just starting to go down, better safe than sorry. The mission she had taken was supposed to be relatively easy, find three missing women of high class and bring them home. She decided to bring Erza along because let's face it, she's a powerhouse, and Levy because she knew she needed some extra cash to furnish the new place she had bought herself. Erza was still in Fairy Hills, for the time being, and Levy had moved out the month prior. She had been saving up every jewel to buy the three bedroom cottage style home where she could store her books with a rune that Freed had taught her. It magically shrunk any bookshelf so all Levy had to do was call out the title of a book and it would fly out and transform to its true form. One room was dedicated to ALL her books.
The three of them had left four days ago to meet with their clients and had been chasing rumors and theories ever since. At least until earlier that day. Lucy had summoned the hunting dogs to search for any leads they might find in the forest, while the three of them questioned some shopkeepers. They had just finished their lunch when Lucy had been contacted by her spirits, stating they had found something within a magical barrier. They looked more like wolves than dogs, so they assumed they went unnoticed by whoever was supposed to be watching. No-one had come to chase them off so that was their assumption. The three women followed Lucy's lead as she followed her connection to her spirits.
Once they were close to the barrier Levy cast several runes of stealth and protection around them before heading into unknown territory. The hunting dogs had run away from the women, acting the part of spooked animals, but were actually going to be circling the opposite side that their keyholder was heading. There was a wood hut in a small clearing that had smoke coming from the chimney. They got as close to the window as they could before Levy magically enhanced their hearing.
"We can't keep stealing one spirit after another," hissed a male voice. "We're going to bring unwanted attention to ourselves if we continue."
"I already realize that," snapped a nasally male in the room. "It's why we have hired the dark seith mage who has the ability to see souls so we can find the correct one needed for the resurrection. The others we have bottled will bring in a lot of jewel so that's just a bonus."
"Do we have any idea who has this particular soul?"
"There are a couple of people I have the seith tracking down as we speak. Should have an answer in the next day or two. In the meantime, we need to get to the burial grounds to prep." The two men began to shuffle around the small dwelling before the first male teleported them out of there.
"We need to go in and get more information," Erza whispered before leading them in. There were books and papers strung everywhere, none of which connected the dots.
"Here!" Levy whisper exclaimed. "Looks like they're selling souls to Pergrande, Sin, and Seven for experimentation purposes. Trying to make a stronger and pliable race of . . . zombies I guess is the best explanation. Reviving corpses with souls that have been tethered to a . . . tamer? Not sure what that means."
"Look here," Lucy pointed to a wall with clippings pinned to it. "It looks like they want to bring someone back from the dead, someone incredibly old by the looks of it. No idea how they'll accomplish it though and even if they did it's not going to be as easy as saying Hocus Pocus." They had poked around a little more before leaving to call Master Kaleb, since this was within the borders of Bosco and his rule was pretty much law. Now they were catching the last train to Pelerno, getting in around midnight. Which means by the time they found a hotel and collapsed for the night they'd get roughly six hours of sleep, which wasn't too terrible considering some missions they'd all been on. Levy had her nose in her book again, Erza was taking a nap, and Lucy decided to work on the next chapter of her novel. A pleasant ride for all in all.
Lucy's hand rested on her hip as Horologium woke her for 7 am so that she could shower before the other two. She thanked him through their shared bond and drug her tired ass out of the bed she was sharing with Levy. Erza was blissfully still asleep in her own double bed while Levy rolled to Lucy's vacated warm spot on the queen. It was easier and saved money if they all just bunked together for the night and anything beat sleeping in the woods. Lucy stood under the warm cascading waters and pondered her Bickslow issue. Maybe she was missing something when it came to their resident seith mage? She knew Bickslow got laid almost as frequently as Laxus, which didn't bother her, and they both shared the same commitment phobia. Maybe he didn't want a girlfriend? She did ooze the 'happily ever after' vibe, or that's what Natsu and Gray had labeled it. Maybe she needed to corner Evergreen and ask her what she thought?
"Lu, are you almost done?"
"Two secs Levy." Lucy wrapped a towel around her hair and another around her body before stepping out of the bathroom. "It's all yours. Better hurry before Erza wakes up because she will jump in the shower with you if she thinks you're taking too long." Levy paled at the thought and quickly closed the door so she could start her own morning routine. Lucy smiled and shook her head. It had happened on several occasions with Erza barging in on her showers, usually, while she was masturbating to the thought of Bickslow doing, well anything her imagination could conjure. Thankfully they were in the shower so nothing was super obvious, minus her irritation for the rest of the day since she hadn't been able to finish. Her main fantasy was always whether his tongue would live up to the imagined hype she created. Lucy gently smacked her reddened cheeks, trying to dissipate the images before she was too far gone. They had a meeting to get too in an hour and a half after all.
"Good morning Lucy. Did you sleep well?" Erza asked standing from her bed wearing the cutest pink t-shirt and shorts with little white bunnies randomly placed everywhere.
"I did, thanks. How about you?" Lucy needed to draw out the conversation so that Levy could have longer than five minutes in the shower alone.
"It was mostly alright. I had the strangest dream though."
"Was it about strawberry cake?" Lucy smirked. Whenever Erza had a strange dream it always involved her favorite dessert.
"Yes! The strawberries had arms, legs, and faces and were traveling down Shortcake Lane to do battle with the vile blueberries for power over the world's largest Cake Kingdom," Erza said with stars in her eyes. "I was leading the strawberry army, naturally, when a third force joined the group. You'll never guess what it was?"
"Enlighten me."
"Whipped cream swirls! They joined forces with us and we were able to claim victory," Erza was lost in her wonderland as Lucy worked to hold in her laughter.
"All done Erza," Levy smiled as she stepped out of the bathroom and the red-head seemed to float in. "What's that all about?"
"Erza in Wonderland. Nothing to be worried about," Lucy smiled to the bluenette, who shrugged and began dressing for the day. "I'm ordering some room service. Want anything in particular Lev?"
"No thanks." Levy finished placing her emerald green headband in her hair and giving herself a once over before beginning to pack up her few items. "How long of a walk is it to the guild?"
"Pyxis says it's only about fifteen minutes. Guess Erza picked a good hotel for the night." Lucy gathered her belongings as well and started to stuff them in her bag. Once they were all packed she'd call out Virgo to store their items until they knew what the plan was and when they were leaving. "You know Lev, that's a pretty cute outfit you're wearing. Reminds me of the first time I met you." Levy was wearing white short shorts with a dark green bikini top coupled with a black vest and strappy sandals. "Looks like someone is embracing the Boscan culture."
"You're one to talk Lu." The blonde was wearing a dark red skirt, white leather belt with her keys and whip attached with a frilly halter top that hugged her ample breasts and turned into a black corset the was tied from her belly button to the bottom her chest. Brown leather thigh high boots, a high ponytail, and minimal make-up completed her look. "These Boscans won't know what to do with you."
"Her blonde hair and fair complexion will draw many stares her way regardless of clothing," Erza stated as she came out of the bathroom fully dressed. She opted for a purple halter dress that stopped mid-thigh, her hair was loose against her bare back, and she wore black flats. "I believe if we leave now we should be able to make it there plenty early."
"Punishment Princess?" Virgo popped out of her gate.
"Not this time Virgo. Would you please store our bags until we know what the plan is?"
"Of course Princess. Anything else?" Lucy shook her head no as she handed the pink-haired spirit her bag, followed by Levy and Erza.
"Let's get going!" Lucy beamed at her friends. "We have plans to make, villains to slay, and Boscan men to find." The trio giggled as they checked out and made their way to the guild, ready to show White Sea what Fairy Tail women could do.