A/N: Second part. Yay!
Fun fact: This was originally supposed to be a one-shot but I thought it was a little too long, hence the fast update.
In the OVA, I don't exactly know when it was but I assume that it was after Lucy's mom died. Since, y'know, Lucy's mom died the same year the Dragons disappeared and Natsu was already a member of Fairy Tail. So this is last part to this two-shot. Of course some of the characters might be a little OOC but hey, it's my first Fanfic.
Disclaimer (Again): All characters (setting, plot, etc.) within Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima and their respective animators. I own nothing.
The Day That Started It All
The setting sun cast Magnolia in a bright orange hue. The crowd grew thinner as residents scattered back to their homes and shops started to close.
It took a little while but Lucy was able to eventually flag a carriage to her. The large horses spluttered in front of her as the surprisingly elegant cabin squealed to a stop. The Coachman looked down at her. The only way Lucy could describe this man was that he was quite plump. He seemed to purse his lips, furrowing his dark eyebrows in contemplation. Lucy, however, placed her hands on her hips and looked right back at the man. Just like how her father would have done.
"I don't know if I can properly let you pay me, little one," He commented at the minor that stood with the aura of an adult.
"I have the money, mister," Lucy replied in a steady tone, shocking the man further. "It is also getting quite dark. I assume even a man like yourself wouldn't leave a willing and paying costumer behind when service seems to be dying."
"Now why would you think that?" The man asked, a little offended. Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. The man had to admit, despite being around eleven years old, the little girl had the intimidation of a man in his prime. Added to the fact that this girl had quite a vocabulary.
"Don't be offended, mister," The blonde child replied in the grace of her father. "I just meant that you were desperate enough to stop for a child like myself. That must mean you either had a slow day or that you wanted to haggle me enough to where I would pay your fare and get a little extra for the last customer effort. I assume that you are a good man and that it wasn't the latter."
"O-of course," The man stuttered out before quickly clambering off and opening the door to the cabin. "Please, step in. Consider this ride a gift."
"Absolutely not," Lucy replied as she climbed in, "I'll pay you for you efforts. I may be a child but even I know that every man needs his pay."
"Th-thank y-you, miss," The Coachman bowed gratefully before closing the door quickly and seating himself up from. "And to where?"
Lucy quickly quickly tried to remember the name of the Hotel Spetto said they would currently be taken residency. However, she kept returning with a blank. By then, the carriage had already traveled a few blocks forward. Lucy sighed in disappointment before sadly relaying to the man that she didn't know. He tried to ask a few questions to jog her memory but she couldn't come up with the name. In a last minute decision, she asked the man to take her back to where he picked her up since that was where her Father was currently working.
She apologized again but promised to give the man the full fare. He hadn't argued this time.
The sun was slowly disappearing off on the horizon, which left Lucy a little disappointed. When she could finally ride in a carriage with her windows up, the sun had to be setting. Letting out a little disgruntled sigh, she pressed her head against the wooden walls of the carriage. The streets in Magnolia was definitely softer than the dirt trodden paths between the cities.
The blonde child was beginning to fall asleep at the comfortable rocking of the carriage but then there was a yell and then panic erupted.
There was a bright flash light that shot across the front of the carriage, like a fireball or a comet as it streaked into a unknowing shop. The Coachman yelled out in surprise as the horses jostled around. The wall, that had been resting against Lucy's face, suddenly left the comfort of the blonde child's forehead before quickly slamming back. For the second time that day, Lucy felt her eyes darken out for a quick second.
When she came to, all she could hear was screams around her as the carriage suddenly picked up speed.
"Um, excuse me?" Lucy called out to the front. "Excuse me?!"
When she heard no reply, she cautiously scrambled to the seats in front of her to peek out the window that separated the driver from the cabin. A small panicked, slightly terrified, gasp escaped the blonde's mouth. The Coachman was no longer on the carriage. Meaning, the horses were on a rampage with no driver driving them. The Coachman must have tumbled off when the horses tipped the coach.
"Someone! Please Help!"
Lucy scrambled back to her seat just as she heard the familiar voice of the Coachman yell out. She looked back to she the man scrambling after her, hand stretched out as if that would help him catch the runaway carriage. She clutched the seat in fear as she stared straight out the window. Both luckily and unluckily, she could hear every word the Coachman cried.
"The horses are out of control!" He yelled out. A female screech reached her ears as she saw a girl in a bunny outfit narrowly escape the runaway carriage. Lucy closed her eyes fearfully. The Coachman's voice reached her once more, "There's a customer inside the coach!"
"Eh?!" A woman's voice asked in surprise before taking after the carriage, her feet slapping against the road as she tried to desperately catch up with it. "Wait up!" Hope instantly filled Lucy's chest as she heard the woman quickly close the gap between them. "Just a... Just a little more...!" After a grunt of effort, the blond could safely say that the woman had successfully climbed onto the carriage.
The woman yelled out as the carriage sharply turned at the bend, crashing through merchant tents and narrowly brushing past other patrons. Lucy was pretty sure they ran into at least a dozen boxes of eggs but she wasn't sure. Lucy continued to squeeze her eyes shut as the woman, her savior apparently, let out a noise of disgust.
"Why am I doing something like this?" She heard the woman ask herself in almost disbelief.
I don't know, but please keep doing it! The blonde child couldn't help but cry in her mind. However, her mouth actually decided to form words, "Please help me! I'm really scared!"
"A kid?" The woman contemplated out loud before crying out when the horses turned sharply again. "Please hold on," the woman grunted, "I'll stop it now!"
Lucy's eyes snapped opened in relief, the tears pooling in her eyes but never falling. "Who are you?"
The blonde child assumed the woman hadn't heard her due to the scream she let out before speaking again.
"Please stay calm!"
Lucy heard clambering on the roof so she stayed quiet. Placing both hands on the side window, she looked out fearfully. Praying to every Celestial being out there. She just wanted to make it out of this in one piece. The woman's shout snapped her out of her thoughts as her head quickly snapped to the front. As if in slow motion, the woman dropped from the top of the carriage onto the driver's seat.
She should have been surprised that the person who was saving her was the bunny girl that narrowly dodged the carriage. But like every other obvious things she hadn't noticed today, time slowed and she noticed the pink insignia that adorned bunny girl's right hand. Lucy's cheeks heated up, falling in love with both the color and the overall shape itself and committed the image to memory.
"There we go," Her savior muttered. The horses pulled away from the carriage as the vehicle started to slow down but they were still a long way from stopping. However, that hadn't stopped the bunny girl from cheering, "I did it!"
By the time the carriage slowed down to a stop, the stars had popped out and they were near the cliff overlooking the city of Magnolia. The bunny girl sighed in relief as she slumped against the plump seats. Lucy even had to take a long breath of relief after realizing that she was holding it for too long. Finally, she felt she could breathe freely.
"Hey, you. Are you okay?" The bunny girl asked curiously.
"Yes," The blonde child replied, relieved. "Thank you very much. How about you, Onee-chan?"
"Yeah," The bunny girl breathed, "I'm okay." Silence hung between the two for a moment before the older girl decided to speak again, "Where are you going at this time of night?"
"My papa's place," Lucy replied, only giving the girl half of the truth. Originally, she was going to the Hotel they were staying at, but she forgot the name of it. Her savior didn't need to know that though.
"Oh, I see," The bunny girl said in a tone that meant she actually understood what she meant, "I always went to my papa's workplace as well."
"You too, Onee-chan?" Lucy asked.
"Mm," the older girl replied before nodding, "When I was small-"
The girl cut herself off as the commotion behind them started to get louder. Quickly, both girls realized that it was people and a large cloud of dust flying behind them as they practically raced to them. The group consisted of the townspeople of Magnolia and, what Lucy could see, Spetto-san as well. The elder woman was leading the mob, surprisingly. Their eyes were wide with raw panic, awe and confusion.
"What?" One man cried out. "Bunny-chan? Is this a joke?"
"Oh no!" The bunny girl cried, "Sorry! But I gotta go!"
"Um!" Lucy cried as she clambered out of the coach quickly but bunny girl seemed to have taken off already. There was only a thin trail of dust in her wake as she ran as fast as she could.
"Lucy Ojou-sama!" Spetto cried, using her rightful honorific since there were more than just her servants around.
"Oh!" Lucy called back, surprised, "Spetto-san!"
"You ran away from us again!" The elderly woman huffed as she stopped in front of the blonde child. Lucy had the decency to look apologetic as she remembered escaping from her family's carriage.
"I'm sorry."
"The Master is very busy with work you know?" Spetto scolded, waving her finger up and down. The servant assumed that she escaped to see her father. She knew of Lucy's desperate attempts to solidify what was left of their relationship. "Even if you go to see him..."
Lucy couldn't hear the rest of what Spetto said though because she was distracted at the building far off in the distance. Her heart thudded excitedly as her eyes took in the insignia hanging on the banner. Her eyes widened in pure joy as she turned back to Spetto with anxious eyes.
"Spetto-san," Lucy cut off the woman, immediately gaining Spetto's attention from her rant, "What is that mark?"
"O-oh," Spetto stuttered, "That is the mark of the magician's guild that's in this town; Fairy Tail."
Lucy suddenly had a flashback to the slow motion moment where bunny girl's hand proudly portrayed the same, exact version of the Fairy Tail guild mark. Despite the fact that it was pink. The blonde child's eyes shined in wonderment. She couldn't believe it. Her savior was from this town! From Fairy Tail no less!
"Fairy Tail, huh?" She whispered excitedly. It was that moment where Lucy's love for the guild and her obsession to joining it started.
"LUCY! LUCY!" Four different voices cried out, snapping the Celestial mage out of her flashback.
Blinking rapidly, her eyes refocused into the scene currently in front of her. She hadn't know why that memory suddenly played back in her mind. It could have been spurred by suddenly going back to the time when her partner, Natsu, got that scar on his neck (she honestly felt a little disappointed, it was a cool scar but the reasoning behind it wasn't). Or it could have been the fact that wearing a bunny suit reminded her of her savior from so long ago. She giggled to herself quietly.
The day that started it all, Lucy couldn't help but think fondly.
Shaking the thought out of her head, Lucy returned her attention to the moment she was currently sitting in. Currently, she was in the Fairy Tail 2.0 guild hall, sitting at one of the wooden tables. A blue cat, sorry exceed, was directly in front of her and she focused on him first. Her eyes darted to the left of the cat and she found herself caught in the concerned gaze of one of her dearest friend and nakama, Gray Fullbuster. The Ice make mage frowned at her dazed state before grinning. His dark hair fell from his forehead.
"Welcome to the world of the living," He teased, chuckling under his breath.
Lucy sent him a dry look, "Thanks."
Her eyes then darted to the right of the blue exceed, landing on another one of her dearest nakama. The red-head of a woman who probably could scare her the most, Erza Scarlett. Her friend eyed her worriedly, her armor clicking together as she shifted in her seat. Once she saw that Lucy was definitely in her right mind, she smiled. A small laugh escaped the red-head's lips before she settled down and started to eat her strawberry cake.
"You had me worried," Erza sighed, bowing her head. "Feel free to hit me in retribution."
"A-ah, that's okay!" Lucy denied instantly, waving her hands to refuse.
Lastly, she turned her gaze directly to her right to the person who was probably the closest to her. Both figuratively and literally. Lucy definitely had to shy back a couple of inches, her face flushing. She caught herself in the act and quickly looked towards the blue exceed, hoping that he hadn't seen that. However, the feline was already pressing his paws against his lips, holding back a giggle. Oh Happy, the celestial mage thought with a sigh, Here it comes.
"You liiiiiiike him~"
A vein ticked on her forehead but before Lucy could reached out her hand to grab the cat but he quickly flew away, "You stupid cat!"
Lucy froze, forgetting about the spiky, pink -sorry salmon, hired partner. Like she noted before, he is most likely the closest nakama that she held to her heart. He's the one and only, as she is so often reminded, Salamander A.K.A. Fire Dragon Slayer A.K.A. Natsu Dragoneel. Lucy quickly dared to take a look at her salmon haired partner who was, by the way, still looking at her. He propped his chin on his hand as his dark, almost onyx, eyes bore into her.
"W-what?" Lucy asked, feeling her cheeks heat up but ignored it, "Aren't you going to say something too?"
Natsu, however, gave his blonde partner one of his famous fanged grins, thus forcing his eyes to close gleefully. Such a boyish slash childish grin that the celestial mage had come to terms with. Dare she say, came to love. Her body slowly relaxed as she assumed the Dragon Slayer wouldn't do anything except smile at her. In a way, it was as equally nerve-wreaking. But, she should have known better. Like in her flashback, she relaxed a little too soon.
The Fire Dragon Slayer's grin somehow widened, "You're so weird, Luce."
"Yeah," Lucy sighed, sweat-dropping, "Thanks."
"So we actually figured out how Flame-brain got the scar on his neck," Gray chuckled, diverting the attention away from the blonde. Natsu shuddered at the memory. "I was kind of hoping for something actually worth telling."
"What'dya say, Ice princess?" Natsu growled, slapping his hand on the table.
Lucy sweat-dropped again, remembering a extremely similar moment. It was years ago and she absolutely promised herself she would forget it, however, it suddenly replayed through her mind. The temperature around Natsu picked up as his fist burst into flames while the temperature around Gray dropped below freezing.
"You heard me, Flame-brain!" Gray hissed, standing up. Natsu followed quickly. "The way you got that scar is stupid! And you know it!"
"You wanna go?!"
"Yeah!"
"NATSU! GRAY! ARE YOU FIGHTING?!"
"N-no!" Gray stuttered.
"W-we're best of friends!" Natsu said, his voice too stiff to be believable, "R-right, Ice- G-Gray?"
Lucy watched the next scene in horror. In the boy's desperate attempt to hook their arms around each other in their act of companionship, they completely forgot that there was at least a table width between them. Thus resulting in Gray's arm to slip off Natsu's shoulder and accidentally push the Dragon Slayer away to catch himself. Natsu suddenly fell forward and practically crushed poor Happy under his chest.
And that resulted in Happy losing paw hold of the fish he was currently eating, causing the fish to clip into the corner of Erza's plate. Basically, that tipped the delicious, half-eaten cake right off the table. Erza's fist clenched so hard, it bent under the pressure. Lucy could feel herself bending under the pressure of Ezra's deadly aura.
Everyone froze. There was a brief moment of silence before chaos ensued.
"NATSU! GRAY! PREPARE YOURSELVES!"
The Re-equip mage summoned her sword and quickly Re-equipped her armor into what was famously dubbed, 'The Knight'. Lucy squealed in panic before she dutifully slipped the unconscious Happy from under their partner's chest and cowered in the corner. Within seconds, the whole guild seemed to take a part in the brawl. Lucy sighed, holding her head between her hands and shaking it in disbelief. Wondering what happened in the last two minutes.
"It's just them," Lucy uttered the familiar words, finally drawing to a conclusion. She whined pitifully, "This is not how I imagined my day to turn out."
"Aye," Happy pitched in, equally as pitiful, "That's Fairy Tail for you."
Lucy sighed, watching Mira, the white-haired Demon Take-over mage, and Wendy, the young Sky Dragon Slayer along with her white exceed, Carla, approach her with different shades of amusement in their eyes. They were probably the next closest nakama aside from Team Natsu. They helped the Celestial mage up and shook their heads in response.
"Yeah, Happy," Lucy sighed, "And you can't help but love them for it." The blonde haired mage smiled fondly at the destroyed guild before a vein ticked on her head, "BUT THEY'RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO DESTROY THE GUILD!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Don't 'Aye, sir'!"
Lucy couldn't help but slump, depressed. Another thing that Master Makarov can pin on their team. However, Lucy smiled, physically and mentally unable to regret any of it. Even though it's been years since the moment she decided to completely commit herself to Fairy Tail, they really hadn't changed since then. Since the day that started it all.