Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for the responses for the last chapter. As a reviewer, XxShyxX, mentioned, the last post was more of an introductory chapter. I didn't want to call it a prologue as generally, I view prologues as happening at a time a bit removed from where the story actually begins ("chapter one") nor could I really call it a chapter so Thank You as I was trying to figure out what to call it. To ilarual, I am very glad you're enjoying my writing and hope it continues. Team Natsu doesn't appear themselves very often in this story though obviously, with Lucy as a main character, it would be impossible not to have their presence felt. LucyxAnyoneShipper, I'm glad you're enjoying and hope you continue to do so! To everyone who faved/follows this story, thank you so much!
Please note I will likely go back to try to fix the format for the first post (again) until I finally have it formatted correctly...I'll likely be uploading this chapter differently from the last which will hopefully allow this to post with the correct format. If not, I apologize and will do what I can to correct it, though it may take some time as my current efforts have shown no results. If any out there is able to help me with my formatting issue, it would be much appreciated!
Chapter One
"Choose Your companion wisely. Trustworthy, not only for Your Sake but for All of Ours. Strong in all ways imaginable for only You shall carry a heavier burden and Wise for nothing shall be shared which is not absolutely necessary. Most importantly, discreet for They are Hunting. Make no Mistake Lucy Heartfilia, Eyes are Watching and Minds set upon Your failure. Without success, there is only Death."
In hindsight, Lucy should have expected something like this. For all that she was once widely known as the Heartfilia's "Lucky Lucy," it was not usually her that benefited from said luck. Besides, history had taught Lucy while she was well-educated in many a subject, her own family history and its lore was not one of them. So really, Lucy thought as she stared at the passing scenery, she should not be surprised.
That Heartfilia was not Jude's birth-given surname was no big revelation. Lucy had determined as much during the fight with Alvarez upon learning about her ancestor, the great Anna Heartfilia, and the burden she placed unto every Heartfilia descendant following until her mother gave her life to fulfill it. Despite that and her tendency towards curiosity, she chose to ignore Jude's side of the family tree. She never believed there was any reason not to.
For as long as Lucy could remember, she believed herself to be the only child of two deeply, fantastically in-love only children. Such belief had never been disputed—there were no talks of cousins or aunts and uncles—and birthdays, holidays, any and all occasions big and small—it had always been just her, her parents, and certain members of the staff. Once her mother passed away, it was just her and whichever household staff happened to be available at the time. No one had ever lied to her but neither had they sought to correct her mistaken assumptions. And assumption it had been for while stories of her parents' pasts as members of Love and Lucky, as well as their relationship, were numerous whilst her mother lived, not a single word of other family members were mentioned. Her mother might speak of adventures she had before joining a merchant guild and even some after but such tales starred only herself, her spirits, and later, her father.
Jude Heartfilia, on the other hand, would smile at his only child when she asked for tales about his adventures ("like mama's," she would say, brown eyes glittering with anticipation) and merely respond that he had none. Not a minute later and upon seeing her expression fall into an almost sulky pout, he would share a glance with his wife, laugh, and pick her up, swinging her in the air until her stomach hurt from laughter and her throat stung with happy squeals. Then he would settle her on his lap and launch into her favorite story: that of Jude and Layla Heartfilia, who met (she was the hero to his damsel in distress) and then fell so irrevocably in love that what was meant to be a months-long journey with her mother laughingly escorting her father to Love and Lucky turned into her mother retiring from life as a wandering mage and joining Jude at his guild.
To her, that was the crux of the identities of her parents and nothing was going to change it. Not the mechanical shell Jude became following the loss of Layla and certainly not the revelation that her Heartfilia heritage descended from her mother's line. Though rare, amongst the aristocracy and ancient families—who, to be fair, comprised a good chunk of the aristocracy—it was not unheard of for a husband to take his wife's family name upon marriage if she came from the more prestigious lineage. And the Heartfilias certainly had lineage, even if the stature of their name was purposefully pushed into obscurity over the centuries until two cash-strapped lovers decided to bring it back to prominence for their precious daughter and any following children.
Really, she ought to have known something was amiss.
After all, her first encounter with her father after denouncing the position as Heartfilia heiress made his lack of common sense when it came to the price of goods and services painfully obvious but she failed to think much of it. Well, beyond the initial shock that anyone could possibly think a hundred thousand jewels to be the cost of a train ticket. To think, he once helmed one of the largest railway companies in the country!
Upon reflection, she should have been more focused on that and less on getting him to leave her alone. At the time, she chalked it up to the privileges of wealth, remembering her own astonishment the first time she had to fend for herself and discovered money was not readily available nor in near-infinite supply. Sure she had known such common-sense facts mentally but having been raised amongst such opulence and wealth as hers and never wanting for anything materially made economizing and knowing the value of a jewel more an idea than practice. Running away had been eye-opening in so many ways.
For the first time, she was outside the walls of the Konzern on her own and without the restraining presence of someone on her father's payroll. Having to depend solely on herself forced her to discover just how sheltered she had really been. She only thought she was a reasonably frugal person who understood the value of a jewel until the sudden threat of not having showed her just how far from it she really was. Being raised the heavily sheltered and protected princess within the bounds of the Heartfilia Konzern, an estate larger than many villages and several towns and which was largely self-sufficient, and raised to run a household and handle a business empire taught her the theories and merits of economy but leaving it all behind forced her to practice it. Making money when it was readily available was easy—making money without the extra expendable capital was an entirely different story, especially once she realized the savings she had would only go so far when she suddenly had to pay for housing, utilities and groceries. The time she always supposed would be available to establish a steady stream of income while she trained her magic vanished as reality set in and she scrambled to find jobs she could accept despite her lack of proper training, experience, or relevant schooling. She was a highly-educated person but in all the wrong fields for her situation and with no experience to speak of. It turned out being groomed to become the wealthy heir-producing wife of a business magnate was not a skill in high demand. It had been a harsh but much needed reality check.
One, she ought to have realized, her father should not have needed if he came from a poor background as she believed. A reminder may have been warranted in such a case but no matter how one looked at it, a hundred thousand jewels was a large amount—and as a fee for a train ride the length of a day's walk, it was exorbitant. Unless, that is, one was raised amongst the splendor of the most ridiculous wealth where money was simply always there in ready and constantly replenishing supply and price never needed to be given. As wealthy as the Heartfilias had been, even she knew what generally fell within the realm of reasonable when it came to the prices and rates of goods and services, though that may have had to do more with her mother's influence as well as what she heard and learned from the household staff of the Konzern.
Still, despite all the clues and hints suggesting something more to her father than simply having been an impoverished man who managed to make it big before losing it all again, nothing could have prepared Lucy to learn before Jude Heartfilia, there had been Judicas Fiore, second Prince of Fiore, the present King's younger brother who had long since disappeared into obscurity and was more widely known as the "Lost Prince."
Lucy snorted just as the train pulled into Magnolia Station—'lost,' she thought, 'if only they knew.'
Returning home to an empty apartment had been a pleasant surprise but the telltale signs of an apartment that had obviously been lived in during the week she was gone was not. Judging by the empty cupboards, the messy state of her bed, and some new scratches decorating her walls, Natsu and Happy had clearly taken it upon themselves to house-sit for her. The ice that prevented her from opening her fridge suggested Gray had dropped by and hopefully (she could think of no other reason for the devil slayer to freeze her fridge, locking everyone—herself included—out of it) stopped Natsu from emptying the fridge whilst the hilt of a small sword jutting from the slightly warped and definitely scorched floor by her sofa suggested Erza had dropped by and likely caught them at some point. Since she only recently changed her locks and refused to give Mira a copy of the key (the silver-headed barmaid, Lucy discovered after the guild reformed, had a poor habit of making copies and handing her keys out to her guild mates, in particular her team), she was not surprised the locks were exactly as she had left it—very few in the guild appeared to understand the concept of locking up and surprise appearances by fellow guild mates letting themselves in dramatically dropped after her lock change. However, there was simply no keeping her team out and exiting through her front door was a foreign concept that actually once made Natsu laugh, genuinely believing she had made a joke. Erza was too busy hunting for smutty novels she was convinced Lucy had hidden somewhere (apparently, Lucy's choice in panties meant she must have a golden collection of smut) to even pretend to listen to what Lucy said and Gray had cocked his head as if confused.
"Do you enter and leave your place through the fireplace or grate?" Lucy had asked him, exasperated.
"Nooo," admitted the ice mage slowly and Lucy was ready to cheer, certain she had finally gotten through to one of her teammates, "I don't have one."
It was almost comical how quickly Lucy deflated as Gray looked at her as if she was the strange one.
Shaking the memory away, Lucy quickly unpacked and cleaned up before settling into her bed. It was early and while some had already risen for the day, many had yet to stir. Lucy was able to sleep on the train but truly, there was nothing like sleeping in one own's bed. Cocooned in her blanket, Lucy turned to her side and attempted to curl out, letting out a content sigh as she began to fall into what she knew was likely to be her last truly restful sleep in a long while.
Makarov Dreyar, for all his silly antics and tendency towards overindulgence—in drink and his guild—was not a stupid man. One full week had passed since Lucy's unexpected summons forced him to tell her teammates she was being sent on a mission to—where was it? Oh right! —watch after an incontinent old dog while its master, an old friend of his, was away for a week or two on a little boating expedition. Natsu, whose desire to go after his friend was only slightly diminished upon learning what incontinent meant, was sufficiently convinced to remain at the guild by the thought of picking up after a dog while battling motion sickness. Master thoughtfully chose not to correct Natsu's belief that the dog, and thus Lucy, would be on a boat. Dissuading her team from following after Lucy was easy—as was keeping them distracted from thinking too deeply about his admittedly poor story.
A couple of calls had Erza being requested to judge in a baking contest for a three-day strawberry festival. Makarov made sure to mention though the town was only a half day's travel by train, there were a few small villages out of the path of the railways that master recalled to have some of the best desserts he had ever had the privilege of tasting. Erza left, eyes gleaming and determined that she would become the best judge at the festival as it was no less than what the various strawberry desserts deserved. The only way to accomplish this, she concluded, was by sampling various strawberry desserts during her travels so no dessert might come across her palate that she was not already familiar with. Truly, that was the most difficult part of distracting Lucy's team—Natsu and Gray were more than capable of keeping each other distracted and Happy followed Natsu. Albeit, after three days of relentless brawls and damages, he pulled Juvia aside to congratulate her for behaving so maturely despite Natsu and Gray's "deep feelings" towards one another while his grandson and Gajeel simultaneously choked on their guffaws.
He quickly regretted doing so. The near immediate end to Natsu and Gray's constant fights (for a brief moment, Juvia looked lost in a different world, her face almost lecherous), and then his amusement, came at cost. There was torrential rain in and out of doors and flooding—oh, so much flooding!—that led to warped wood, broken glasses, a repair bill higher than had he left Natsu and Gray alone and the general mayhem that came with naturally rowdy mages discovering a portion of their alcohol supply fell victim to master's trolling. Thankfully, Fairy Tail was ever vigilant over their alcohol and much of their stash and supplies remained safe thanks to purchasing by the barrel, proper sealing and, as it turned out, multiple layers of barriers, ruins, wards, and other spells various guild members were independently responsible for. Master gave a great shout of relief at the discovery for he was certain it was the only reason the guild remained unscathed and civil. Well, generally civil as Juvia had taken to sweeping Natsu away in a dizzying torrent of water that usually left a trail of devastation and soggy, displeased wizards behind.
The one and only time Laxus was caught in the path of Juvia's campaign to keep Natsu away from her Gray-sama, his amusement at his grandfather's actions dissipated and he ended things by loudly announcing to Juvia Master Makarov did not mean Natsu and Gray were romantically entangled. Juvia was caught off guard but immediately apologized profusely to master for even thinking he was talking about boy's love (and Makarov was not the only one thinking Juvia looked slightly sad at the thought) while Gray and Natsu, once passed their initial shock, accused each other of putting strange ideas in the master's head and locked horns (and powers) once more. All in all, it was business as usual in the guild and the hardest thing Makarov had to deal with that week was not knowing why Lucy had been called away and when she would be back. Her team would only prove to be difficult if the following week came and went with no sign or word from the blonde.
Unfortunately, it was the calm before the ever-looming storm.
The problem with Celestial Mages, Sting and Makarov both agreed during one of the many guild master meetings where both may have imbibed in a liberal amount of alcohol, was that people with evil intentions tended to want them for one reason or another. Yukino, Master learned one night, was never allowed to go on lone missions as of all the Sabertooth mages, the percentage of false requests for her was the highest. To date, she had never been kidnapped (well, unless one counted how Sting and Rogue came to meet her the first time but that was before Sting was master so ignored) but Sabertooth's young master was fairly certain it was only a matter of time—unless, he once joked, Lucy could continue being so obliging and continue serving as prime kidnapping bait. The concussion the blond guild master had when he regained consciousness two days later had him spitting nonsense for several days (which must have been the norm as his guild failed to notice any difference) but Makarov couldn't help and reflect upon his words.
Lucy had an unfortunate habit of being kidnapped or targeted for one nefarious reason or another and the Royals were not innocent from such acts. In fact, Bob had warned Makarov after the Eclipse Gate fiasco about the seeming allure of Celestial mages, revealing Karen Lilica also received her share of false requests, the last of which successfully lured her to her death. While specific requests for members of the guild were commonly scrutinized by either himself or Mira, Bob's warning and fact that in a very short span of time, Lucy had nearly been sacrificed to some giant clock and then arrested in order to gain access to her keys had Master pouring through requests specifically asking for Lucy or a Celestial Mage following the games. Several were perverse, a couple seemed suspicious and warranted further investigation, and one was obviously a fake.
He had been upset but willing to believe it was just a mix of a poorly-thought of prank and the leftover hype of the Grand Magic games—until he sent Laxus and Gajeel to separately investigate the two suspicious requests and learned only Gajeel's was legitimate though there was no need for a Celestial Mage (Gajeel took all of twenty minutes to find the culprits—a group of kids, a recorder, and a lack of common sense—ten of which was spent with the slayer in the face of the mayor for "lookin' at his cat all funny!"). Laxus had returned the same day he left, carrying with him a couple of bound dark mages wannabes that had been waiting for Lucy (needless to say, Laxus was not amused at the idea of being mistaken for Lucy) in the supposedly troubled town. It had been troubled—by said dark mages wannabes—but no requests had been sent since even the non-magical residents of the town found the culprits to be more an annoyance than danger. Lucy easily could have handled the two men but they were symbolic of the larger problem. To date, Lucy was the only non-S-class mage whose mission requests had to be verified as authentic by Master or Laxus before anyone else was allowed to know of its existence.
A request from the Royals, however, could not be denied, regardless of whether or not they held ill intentions. Makarov truly did not believe they did—had he, he would never have let Lucy travel alone even if it was a direct order. Still, each day that passed without Lucy's return had him growing more anxious and wondering why he allowed Lucy to go despite his reservations. All he could do was inform Laxus and have him, his team, and various contacts keep an ear out for any word of trouble concerning the Royal family, celestial magic, or anything remotely celestial-related. He was unsure whether or not to be relieved that there were no reports of anything being amiss. It could be good news or it could mean whatever Lucy was being involved in by the Royals was being kept on an absolutely need to know basis and in Makarov's experience, that was both the worst case scenario and the most likely.
"—ster? Master?" The sound of a female voice near him broke Fairy Tail's master from his thoughts and he spun around to see the subject of his thoughts standing before him. His brows immediately shot up as he gave a large grin. "Lucy! Welcome home, child." He greeted warmly, genuinely pleased.
"Thank you, Master." Lucy was currently ignoring Natsu's eager attempt to fill her in on what she had missed that week (looking remarkably like an overly-excited puppy nipping at the heels of its newly returned master) and absentmindedly petting Happy who, Makarov noted with some jealousy, had buried his face in the girl's ample chest as he hugged her. Casting a quick glance at Natsu, Happy, and then the rest of the guild, Master smiled and jumped from his seat.
"I trust your mission went well?"
"As well as expected, Master." Lucy replied somewhat warily, casting a side glance at the still chattering Natsu and then down towards the blue cat who was complaining about how Gray froze something, keeping him from the fish he hid there.
"Natsu, Happy," Master barked, "Leave Lucy alone. Lucy can learn all this later—right now, I want to hear all about my friend and how he's doing. Lucy, child, come to my office." Besides a slight raise of a brow at the mention of his friend, Lucy gave no indication to being confused. Instead, she turned to Natsu and promised to spend the rest of the day with him, then patted Happy as she promised him she had not touched his fish at all and would talk to Gray about melting the ice around her fridge. Frankly, Makarov was not entirely sure what they were talking about but it appeased the dragon slayer and his exceed so he chose not to dwell on it.
"Bye Lushee, I'm so glad you don't really smell like dog poo!" Happy's smile was closer to a smirk.
"Oh, right, Luce! I forgot you had to watch a dog's butt all week!" Natsu exclaimed out loud, earning several curious looks their way. Lucy spluttered but was not given the chance to reply as Master shooed the two away and gestured that Lucy follow him to his office.
"Apologies, child, I will explain later. Now, what was it the King wanted?" He wasn't expecting too much information—he was old and wise enough to know better, especially with politics in play—but he was not expecting almost no information.
"They need me to go on a mission—a trip, really. But it's dangerous and no one knows how long it will take. It could be a month, several months, up to a year."
"A trip? Where? To do what? How dangerous? Who else will be going?"
"It's…" here, Lucy paused as if deep in thought. "I'm sorry, Master, but I don't believe I'm allowed to tell you. They weren't happy you had to know I was meeting with them and everything must be done quietly. I can bring a partner but The King will decide what they can know."
Makarov sat back in his seat, looking at the calm blonde before him and reflecting on her time at the guild. More than anyone else at Fairy Tail, she had changed in ways he could not quite put into words. The year apart after Tartaros and then the War with Alvarez had left its mark on everyone. He was not blind to the ways his brats had changed and matured and was immensely pleased and proud of who and what they were and had become. His heart felt like bursting as he thought of all of them—except, perhaps, the blonde. Oh, he was proud, certainly. Lucy Heartfilia had grown into an even more capable mage and though he had seen proof of her skills as a fighter, he could sense more power in her than she had yet displayed. She remained kind-hearted, greeting everyone and as quick as she was to smile at her guild mates, she was even quicker to offer her help. Upon resuming his position as Master of Fairy Tail, he had been stunned to learn Lucy had essentially become the guild's bookkeeper and financial adviser. That she had been trained in administrative work, raised to serve as the actual show-runner hiding behind a figurehead of a large company, had not actually been known to him until then. Like many, he simply assumed she had been raised to serve as a broodmare—which, technically, she had. Just a very smart and capable broodmare with a particular hobby.
No, that was not what made him falter in his praise of the girl. It was the wariness he occasionally sensed in her, a feeling of distance between her and the guild, including her own teammates even if no amount of observation yielded actual proof. There was something about her that seemed so fundamentally different even if no one could pinpoint what it was or how it had changed and it worried Makarov to see the girl pull herself away from the guild even as she stood in the midst of it and went about like she once did. At times, he swore she was angry—no, seething—but then he would blink and suddenly she was laughing or teasing someone, or giving Natsu a playful shove as he slung an arm around her while convincing her to accept some mission or other. Other times, she would be laughing or giggling and he would think his age was finally catching up to him only to look up and think the scene before him was somehow, staged, though for who he could not say.
"I don't like this," he said, abruptly, and was startled by his own voice. He had not meant to voice his thought. It was just as well as truly, he did not like this, did not like anything surrounding the girl before him at the moment. The mysterious summons, the layers upon layers of secrecy—the Royal Family wasn't even trying to pretend this wasn't a huge secret—Lucy and her secrecy—a mission that could not be discussed or revealed, expected to last an unknown duration of time…it had all the makings of a trap and had the request or order come from anyone other than the Royal Family of Fiore, Makarov would have immediately refused to allow any member of his guild to partake.
"I know," Lucy's eyes and voice were vacant and for a second, he thought it might have been an imposter before him but the millisecond it took for his brain to tell his eyes to look again, it was Lucy with soft chocolate eyes seated in front of him. Letting out a deep sigh, Makarov let one arm rest on the chair as the other went up to scratch at the tufts of hair by his right temple. "I promise you, Master, if I thought I was incapable of completing the mission, I would have declined."
"Ah, gave you a choice did they, child?" His voice turned sour, "They better have after all we've done for them!"
"As much as any Royal could. Master…" Lucy ignored the latter half of his statement. "Master, I can't ask my team to join me." That was not what she actually wanted to say so Makarov remained silent and waited for her to gather her thoughts. "A lot will be expected from—and required of—my partner for the mission—of me. I…" For a long moment, only silence existed and Makarov was wondering if he might need to say something until Lucy finally continued. "I…I think I should do this alone."
That was not what Makarov was expecting nor what he wanted to hear. Truthfully, he wanted to hear Lucy say she was going to decline the mission that sounded suspiciously like a trap and was sent by a duo that once imprisoned her for no reason save to gain her keys but knew that was unlikely. He would have settled for hearing her argue futilely why she should bring Natsu along—the boy may not be subtle but he had the uncanny ability to overcome anything thrown at him.
"It will be dangerous and the Royals were clearly not happy to have to involve me in this but I am the only one suited for the job. I don't want to put anyone else in any unnecessary danger." As Lucy continued blabbering—for that was all Makarov could hear as she spoke too quickly for him to be able to make out one word from the next—Makarov felt his brows furrow and his eyes narrow as anger and frustration began to bubble up in him. He hated feeling—being—helpless and right now, that was all he could think to describe himself.
The Royal family were definitely going to be on his shit list for this little stunt of theirs. Actually, they already were. Why did they have to involve one of his brats? Shouldn't they have brought it to the magic council? Why Lucy (here, he ignored the voice that told him it was yet another Celestial Mage thing)? If it was as dangerous as Lucy implied it to be, shouldn't they be looking for someone else? They had an army at their beck and call—why couldn't they start beckoning? Lucy was strong, far stronger than he suspected she knew, but there were stronger mages in and out of the guild. There were better and stronger fighters, others more adept with magic or whose magic would allow them to easily transport out of trouble—
"Laxus."
"Huh?" Lucy wished she could say she reacted more eloquently. "What?"
"Laxus. You will take Laxus. He's strong—and if you tell the brat I said that, I'll give you that punishment." Master nodded—Lucy still did not know what that punishment was but thought it best not to mention it. "He's got a good head on his shoulders—usually. I'm sure that brat does most of the stupid things he does just to mess with me." Makarov had no proof of this but he liked to think it was the case, otherwise his brat was just an idiot. Selfless and a great man, but an idiot. One who swallowed Magical Barrier Particles—it was just like that idiot to try to kill his grandfather by killing himself! "If you get into a tight situation—which he will do everything to avoid—" here, he silently let out an, 'I think,' followed by, 'that brat better or so help me, I'll have all the naked baby pictures of him published!' in his head, "and he can transform and travel as lightning." A short pause. "It's safe for him to travel with you that way too…I think."
"You think?!" Lucy shrieked as images of her electrified body, still twitching and smoking, filled her mind.
"Well," Makarov chuckled, "anything's possible for a pretty lady. And if you can't…well, he's never done any permanent harm to anyone with his powers. I can't tell you how many times he shocked Natsu as a child and Natsu turned out perfectly fine!"
Lucy said nothing, merely crossed her arms and raised a brow as if to say, "Seriously?!" and Makarov let out a nervous chuckle. That was a look that set all sorts of alarms blaring in a man's head and warned him to tread cautiously lest he find himself tossed out in the snow, naked save one sock and a jester hat that somehow made everything worse.
"You should have seen him before," Master said and felt that was sufficient. Turning serious, "You will not be doing this mission—one, I might remind you, you won't even tell me, your guild master about—" he took a sort of perverse pleasure that she had the grace to look guilty, "and that you state to be very dangerous, alone. Laxus is the only suitable choice." When Lucy looked as if she was ready to argue, he stopped her with a look. "Who else would you choose?"
He knew he had her and she knew he had her. Still, she took the time to think.
Though not classed, this was clearly a mission that would require the strength and mentality of an S-class mage at minimum. Lucy could not ask anyone outside the guild—the strongest people she knew who had to best chance of surviving whatever might be encountered on this journey were part of Fairy Tail. Though unsaid, it was evident the Royal Family expected her to bring along an S-class mage but she was having difficulty swallowing the fact that one of her guild mates would be placed in danger because of her—again.
In truth, there were only two mages Lucy thought met all the qualifications for this mission. Unfortunately, Erza was immediately struck out—not only was she part of Lucy's team (thus, increasing the likelihood Natsu and/or Gray would attempt to follow, compromising the entire mission) but her immediate response on missions generally involved lots of shiny pointy weapons. It was important to draw as little attention as possible during this journey and people generally remembered being threatened by a bunch of swords that seemingly appeared from thin air. Mira was crossed out even sooner than Erza—even had the Royal Family ordered she take Mira, Lucy would have balked at the thought of separating Mira from her siblings for an unspecified period of time, especially since she couldn't promise Mira would return safely. Although more than capable and amongst the strongest people she knew, like Erza, this mission was simply not one the take-over demon mage was fit to take and Lucy knew spending an extended period of time with either women as she would on the mission would lead to her eventually breaking and revealing everything.
That left Laxus and Gildarts, the latter of whom was…somewhere. Honestly, Gildarts really could be anywhere as he was easily sidetracked. And Laxus…
Well, Lucy's only argument against him was that she couldn't imagine him not drawing attention, except that he was surprisingly stealthy and a good number of her interactions with him involved the phrase, "Oh! Hi Laxus, I didn't see you there!"
Lucy signaled her defeat with a sigh and the slightest drop of her shoulders.
Makarov was grim. "When do you leave?"
"I have a week to get everything settled and packed. Once I tell the Royal family who my partner will be, they'll make arrangements for our trip and give us more information. There are some things they will be giving us to help us on the way but they insisted on giving it to us together."
"A week," Makarov echoed and though plenty of his brats came and went with only days in between missions, the missions themselves were short. "A week," he nodded once, hoping his smile appeared more reassuring than he felt. "Well," he began cheerily, "That isn't a lot of time to say your goodbyes. Why don't you go down and spend some time with your team—they've missed you this last week. I'll tell Laxus and you two can talk tomorrow." As he spoke, he stood and began ushering Lucy out of his office. Instead of shutting the door behind her, he followed her out, feeling as if there was something he had forgotten. "For now, you just got back after a week and," here, he paused, looking over the railing to the first floor, "Listen up you brats!" he roared, "One of you brats finally did something well enough that an employer actually called me with compliments. Lucy here earned raves from her last mission!" Pausing as he tried to remember what he claimed said mission to be, Makarov drew a blank so instead chose to end the impromptu announcement Fairy Tail style. "Mira, drinks all 'round! This is something to celebrate!"
Whatever puzzlement the rest of the guild had concerning his original announcement was immediately forgotten. Lucy made her way to the first floor amidst cheers and the clinking of glasses. Natsu greeted her with an enthusiastic thumb up in between helpings of fire chicken. Erza, she learned, was not yet back from a mission but was expected later that day or sometime the next.
"Nice job, Lucy," Gray greeted, for all intents and purposes pleased but bewildered.
"Everything okay, Gray?" Lucy wondered.
"Y…yeah….just—never mind," with a shake of his head, the ice mage grinned and clearly decided whatever had been on his mind was unimportant. "Good to have you back Lucy—don't worry, I'll drop by later to fix your fridge." Lucy was just about to thank him when she felt a dark shadow creep up behind her.
"Thanks—hi Juvia!" She finished speaking before turning around to face the slightly crazed-looking bluenette.
"Love rival!" As she slipped back into a familiar routine, Lucy could almost believe the past week had been nothing more than vivid dream.
"Lushee…." She looked down to see Happy pulling at the top of her boots, thrusting a large salmon in her face.
"Yes Happy?"
"Look at the big salmon Master told Mira to get me!" Lucy was about to congratulate Happy on such a fine salmon (she really didn't know what made one salmon better than another but it seemed important to Happy) when he opened his mouth again just as Master Makarov arrived at the bar, ready to join the party and drink to his heart's content. "Ne, Lushee, you should wipe a dog's butt every day. Then I can get lots of big fish!" Lucy stilled, then turned to glare at Master Makarov who had frozen with his beer halfway up to his mouth, waiting to hear his reply.
"Heh...heh?"