It had been about a month or so since Adeline and her friends entered into Fairy Tail. They became very successful in their missions with minimal collateral damage. They all live in a nice house a little ways out of Magnolia, where Erza tends to spend most of her time now. Natsu was not liking it. He felt like because Erza spent most of her time with the new comers, it didn't help them to repair their friendship. He had tried to speak with her, but in some way or another either Odette or Adeline, found something to steer Erza away from him. It hurt. It hurt, to know that deep down, she was probably the one who told them to do so.
At the moment, everyone was gathered around in the guild, trying to figure out what to do for the day. Erza was at the bar with Mirajane along with Cedric. As for Jericho, he sat at a table with Cana comparing cards. There at a table next to them were Gray, Juvia, Adeline and Odette having a pleasant conversation. As for Natsu, he, Happy, Lucy, Wendy and Carla were at the far end of the guild eating Mirajane's fine cooking.
"Why don't we go to a beach or something? I haven't gone swimming in a while," Wendy said as she finishes her plate.
"Yes, that sounds quite lovely at this moment, but I believe that would take a few days of preparation to do so child."
"Not gonna lie though, that does sound like an amazing idea," Lucy said as she takes a sip of her drink.
As she drank, she noticed that Natsu had grown more silent than usual. It worried her. She wanted to speak to Erza and explain to her how much Natsu missed her. It was obvious, but both Erza and Natsu are too stubborn to do anything about it. Just thinking about the situation caused her head to pulse, in stress. She bore a strong sense of guilt in her heart. After what she heard from Mirajane, she started to think about Erza's and Natsu's feelings for one another. It confused her. She couldn't tell if their feelings were of sibling, friendship or of something more. She is even positive that neither of them know as well. So what could she do to help? She looks at her pink haired friend and sees him staring at the S class wizard. What could he be thinking? What could he be feeling right now?
"Natsu?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't you talk to her?"
"I've tried. She doesn't want to talk to me."
"Then why don't we try a different approach?" Lucy said with a smile
Lucy gets up from the table and starts to walk over to Jericho. She sits across from him and he looks at the celestial wizard with interest.
"I'd like for us to have a friendly match my team versus yours," Lucy said, causing the guild to settle down.
Jericho smiles widely with mischief, "Why the sudden challenge?"
"Well you said so yourself that you would rather have a match to demonstrate your magic and I must say I'm quite interested in what you and your friends can do. I think it would be very entertaining as well."
Jericho's eyes darts over to Adeline, who is looking at Odette. As for Cedric, he slowly started to leave the bar. A screech from a wooden chair backing out fills their ears. Gray is out of his chair, without a shirt, looking at Jericho with determination. Truth be told he had been waiting for this moment since the day he met him. He could sense that Jericho and his friends were strong mages and he wanted to test the waters himself.
"I say that is a great idea," Adeline said as she too got out of her chair, "I sense that we are all feeling a bit restless and a good fight will allow us to release some energy."
"Then it's settled," Gray said with a grin
"Alright, but with one condition, " Jericho said, "I get to battle Lucy."
Everyone gathered around in the back of the guild circled around both Lucy and Jericho. Natsu stood close to Gray and Juvia.
"What kind of magic do you think he has?" Natsu said
"I've trying to figure that out myself. There has to be a connection between Lucy and his magic for him to want to face against her." Gray replied
"You are very close with that theory," a voice responded from behind, causing Natsu to slightly jump.
"Erza.."
"The reason as to why he wanted to face against Lucy is because his magic is fairly similar to hers."
"How's his magic just like Lucy's?" Natsu said, taking advantage of the fact that she was speaking to him. He doesn't even look away from her. When will the next time she decides to speak to him?
"I would not like to spoil the surprise any more than I have now. I suggest that you to just watch the match."
"Hey Erza are you going to battle anyone of them for our team?" Gray said, "Cuz I would love to see you and Adeline duke it out."
Erza chuckles, "I prefer to stay out of this one. I would rather see exactly how you all will react to them."
"Are they really that strong?"
"Let's just say that if they entered Fairy Tail at the time when I first offered it to them, they should all be in S class by now."
This caused both Natsu and Gray look at Adeline and the rest of her team. Their skins began to crawl. What kind of magic do they posses? Natsu then looked at Lucy.
"I hope Lucy doesn't get hurt," he said under his breath
"Jericho wouldn't do anything to her," Erza answers back in the exact tone as the dragon slayer.
Keep showing her your concern for your girlfriend. That would get her to continue to talk to you...
"Erza, look-
"Natsu, there is nothing you need to tell me. Now pay attention, the match is about to start."
You blew your chances...
Lucy stands firmly on the ground, excited to face off Jericho. She hadn't felt this excited since the grand magic games, even more so, knowing that she is going up against a comrade.
"Alright! Get ready Jericho, I'm not one to be taken lightly! Open! Gate of the lion! Loke!"
The ground glows brightly as the handsome celestial spirit emerges . The celestial spirit poses elegantly as he anticipates the next step.
"You must be a fool for wanting to go up against me and my girl," Loke said with a smirk
Jericho stood still in awe. He had never seen a celestial spirit before, most importantly one of the 12 zodiac signs. If he were honest with himself he'd say that he was well beyond fascinated by the lion in front of him. He smiles broadly and lets out an excited laugh.
"Oh man! This is gonna be a great fight I can feel it!" He said as he takes out his tarot deck.
Jericho looks through his deck and pull out a gold card.
"Now, let me show you what I can do! From the realm of Tarot, I summon you High Priestess!" Jericho exclaims as his golden card begins to illuminate, the same way as Lucy's key, but instead of appearing from thin air, a shadow like hole appears from the ground in front of him and the magical servant arises from it.
The woman that appeared in front of both Lucy and Loke bore grayish blue skin with white images of crescent moons on the top of her hands, with white streamer like images around her arms. She wore a white gypsy like skirt and a matching bandeau top with a blue cross in the middle of it. Her hair was white and in a bun, along with a crescent moon, on its side, with a circle on top of the moon, as a tiara. The most striking thing about her were her lilac eyes with no pupils. Her face was slender, body petite. Who was she?
"How may I assist you, my lord." She said
Her voice was strong and yet had a hint of softness to it almost as if her voice was entrancing. Loke lets out a slow whistle.
"Woah! I've never seen this before, do you know anything about them Loke?" Lucy said
"I've heard of them, but they were more like a myth. I never thought that their realm existed. The tarot realm is practically the opposite of the celestial world. They don't have contracts between mages, they just come and go as they please. And most of them derive from a sort of dark like magic, which is why it is rare for them to appear in general."
"Wait so are you saying that Jericho here is basically using dark magic?"
She looks up at Jericho and she takes a slight step back in shock. His eyes changed colors one was an orange like gold as the other was a vibrant green. It almost sent a chill down her spine as she sensed his dark aura, if it wasn't for that big childish grin plastered on his face.
"There is a use of dark magic, but we try to use our magic at a minimum because of it." He said.
"Wait, did he say we?" Wendy asks out loud, causing everyone to take a glance at Jericho and his teammates.
"Is this true Erza?" Gray said
Natsu turns to look at Erza and sees her with a stern look. Arms crossed.
"Unfortunately yes, but it wasn't their choice to part take in such magic. In reality it was forced upon them, at a young age they were chosen to be guinea pigs for an experiment, exposing them to ounces of dark magic through certain places on their bodies."
"They wanted to see what would happen if one's heart was contaminated with dark magic. It took a much stronger effect on me, hence the eye alteration whenever I use my magic. Delphi here was the first card that appeared to me and promised me to be my loyal servant." Jericho said as he walked closer to the Tarot Spirit.
"What made her want to appear to you?" Lucy said as she tried not to stare at his multi colored eyes.
Delphi places her pale blue hand over her chest and said, "The moment the young Lord, connected himself with our dark magic, I saw a strong future for the lord and myself if I became his loyal servant."
"Now, I think we've done enough talking. Let's have some fun with this shall we? Delphi, Loke here is the Zodiac sign Leo, his attacks are light based. I trust that you know how to handle him?"
The servant puts herself in a defensive stance, with an arm out and palm facing out. Her eyes begins to shine. Loke on the other hand fixed his cufflinks and flashed a smile. This was going to be a fun fight.
"Ok Loke, give her all you got!" Lucy exclaims as Loke makes the first move.
His fist glows brightly as he winds up for his attack, but before he could move in Delphi dodges his attack swiftly. In Lucy's opinion, it looked as if they were practically dancing, spinning on the balls of their feet, pivoting away from one another. When one arm moves forward, the other's leg moves back. Everyone else soon began to think, the same thing, the two spirits were evenly matched.
"Delphi has a skill at reading her opponents moves, she is able to counter the second your friend here attacks." Jericho brags
"Well, let's see if she can read my actions along with Loke's!" Lucy exclaims as she begins to glow.
Within a few second Lucy adorns an outfit that solely matches her partner, with his symbol on her right breast.
"Interesting, she has an outfit for every Zodiac she has?" Adeline asks as she focuses more of her attention to the Celestial mage.
"Woah! That's an awesome trick! Yo Delphi, you think I could do that?" Jericho says
"I apologize, but I have not been able to predict that far into your future my lord." Delphi responded as she tries to dodge both of Lucy and Loke's attacks, "It would be quite useful if I were to have some assistance my lord."
Jericho smacks himself on the forehead, "Oh yeah huh? Alright! From the realm of Tarot, I summon you, Jester!"
In the same fashion as Delphi a young man rises from the ground. He was shirtless with a red heart over his left chest. He also wore multicolored harem pants and no shoes. His figure was well built and lean, his left shoulder had a black club and his right hand had a black spade. His face as quite boyish with a red diamond around his left eye, his right eye covered by the length of his black bangs, hair in disarray.
"Alright, Alright, Alright! The party has begun!" The jester howls loudly, while beating the left side of his chest.
The moment he lays his eyes on Lucy, he instantly appears right in front of her, noses grazing each other.
"Hello hot babe, please tell me I get to fight you today. I love it when things get physical." He says
Delphi reaches over to the jester and drags him over to her side, "Romulus, you are here for assistance, alone."
Taking advantage of the two distracted tarot spirits, Lucy and Loke glance at each other and powered their fists. Before Delphi and Romulus could phantom a thought, they were both hit causing them to skid across the ground.
"Way to go Luce!" Gray cheers, along with Natsu, Wendy and Happy. As the continued to cheer, Romulus lets out a loud wolf like howl. He jumps back up instantly with a big wide grin.
"Now, that's how a girl should punch! I'm gonna enjoy this! Delphi doll, stand back I got this!"
On instinct Loke gets in front of Lucy protectively.
