Chapter 7: Neither Pride nor Prejudice
Lucy couldn't believe her eyes, but here she was standing in front of the most rowdy and number one guild in all of Fiore, Fairy Tail and this was no dream, if it was, she would have already woken up due to the annoying cat.
"Aye!" Lucy freaked out when Happy agreed to her mental conclusion.
The Fairy Tail guild, where many legends were born and many more will be following, was about to greet it's new member. Natsu kicked the door open. "We made it back alive!"
"Hey it's Natsu!"
"Hi Natsu!"
"Who's the kid?" A new member or one that may not have seen the regularly absent Dragon Slayer questioned about the fuss.
"He's one of Fairy Tail's strongest mage. He's not usually around but rumour has it that, he was the one that defeated Deliora and that too at a very young age."
"Pfft. Yeah right, going up against the Gildarts is more believable." The obviously new and hard headed member stated.
"Uh..actually..he has and he has burned Gildarts's fist when he was kid.." The older member stated nervously.
"Yeah right, look at that guy, give me a second and I will smash him like aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A straight kick was given to the trash talker, sending him to crash on to a table with many and from the table, some food flew the next table and soon enough an all out brawl started to take life.
"Wow...I am really here..and right in the middle of their infamous brawls!" She turned to the side where a girl with a bikini top was sitting on a stool with a giant barrel. 'What the...'
"Oh so Natsu returned! Natsu! Fight me! Let's settle this once and for all!" Cana sighed before calling out.
The hottie with the barrel yelled, annoyed "Gray! Your clothes!" And that was the cue that the man, only had his underwear on.
"I don't have time for that!" Brushing it off, Gray charged into the brawl.
"You are all a bunch of whiny kids. You want to me to show you what a real man can do?" Lucy shook lightly at the intimidating giant at her side, only to be knocked off by Gray. Her jaws dropped at the sight of the giant flying away.
"That's it?"
"Geez it's really noisy around here. Why don't we go somewhere else?" On bench sat Loke with two girls on his lap. And just like that a steel glass hit him on the head.
"Well girls, I am gonna go, fight now.."
"Good luck Loke!" The airhead girls cheered.
"Hello. Are you new here?" Lucy turned around annoyed. 'Who the hell'
"Oh my god! Its Mirajane! In the flesh!" Her annoyance was gone. The blue eyed goddess gave her a warm smile, her attire and hair style had changed and she has quit going on missions, and now manned..womanned the bar..also was planning to take up the role of a normal housewife when Natsu realizes what a relationship is and marries her and Erza...yep..still no luck for the two bombshells in the case of the dumb dragon slayer.
"Oh uh don't you think we should try to stop them?" Lucy asked a little worried.
Giggling a little, the bikini model replied while looking into the brawl, particularly at the pink haired man who was the nucleus of all this commotion. "Oh don't worry about them! It's always like this! Besides-"
"Mirajane watch out!" Lucy tried to warn Mirajane but the latter was too late as an Elfman came flying back first. The ex-demon closed her eyes awaiting her brother's huge body to crush her, but that didn't happen.
Mirajane opened her eyes slowly, Lucy too opened her eyes, and she was unable to see the woman getting crushed but when she opened she gasped at two things. The entire guild was littered with bodies of guild members who were all in the centre, now they lay groaning. The second thing was Elfman being in mid air, and under him, stood Natsu, holding the giant man above his head.
"Watch where you are flying, Elfman." Natsu said before dropping the giant man on his feet.
Scratching the back of his head nervously, "Sorry sis, thanks Natsu, it was unmanly of me to fly without looking." Mirajane showed a smile that let Elfman know he was forgiven and an even brighter one...which made the dragon slayer try to make a run for it, but was too late as he felt his body being crushed in a soul crushing hug.
And what happened next made Lucy's and everyone else who joined in between the past three months have their jaws hit the floor, well those who were conscious at least..The young woman who was among the hottest and most desired in all of Fiore was standing in the middle of the Fairy Tail guild hall, (forcefully) making out with the (struggling) most rambunctious man, probably in the whole of Fiore.
'Mirajane is in a relationship with...Natsu!' Lucy's eyes were the size of saucer plates while the newly recruited male population slumped, grieved and groaned; now knowing that Mirajane was not in the market anymore.
"MmmhmmmmMirahhmmmcan'tbreathhhhmm!" Natsu tried, but that resulted with the woman plunging her tongue inside. And in a few seconds, as usual, Natsu started enjoying the strange feeling and taste he had been getting here and there in the past two years from his two girls.
"Argh..sis! Not in front of me!" Elfman groaned at the sight of his sister making out with the same person she had been kissing for the past two years. Seriously? It's not like Natsu is gonna runaway or anything... Right? If he did, Elfman was sure he was going to hunt down the pink man.
Finally, what seems to be eternity later, she stopped sucking on the dragon slayer's mouth as she too felt the need to breath, but not before nibbling his ear erotically causing the dragon slayer to shiver lightly. What? He was still a dude.
"Next time, inform me if you are going to take more time. I was worried." Mira held her head down, her voice trembling. And boy did the naive dragon slayer fell for her trap.. 'What! I am a girl in love for god's sake! And he doesn't acknowledge love other than friendship!' Upon feeling guilty for making the dragon slayer guilty, reminded her of the reason why she was doing this.
The result was immediate. Natsu came close, but didn't touch the maiden, instead tried to speak. "Err..Mira..don't be sad..I promise I will inform you next time." Mirajane sighed; their Natsu will always be a straight guy. Instead of saying something romantic like 'I will never leave your side, my love!' or 'My heart will always be with you.' he simply told the fact. Not bothering anymore of this, she hugged him as she had devised.
"Ah..cough out the money Jet, Droy and Levy." Cana gleefully took the six thousand notes from the desk as team Shadow gear sighed sadly.
"Oh come on! Everyone can see Mirajane is faking those tears! Why does he always fall for that!" Now, Droy was angry, this was the fourth time they were losing the bet. But even though he wanted to yell the previous things, it only came out as an angry whisper. After all who in their right mind would want to be killed by the beautiful Mirajane in a sadistic manner? Not him. Not after what happened to Josh, god rest his soul, not even the body was found...anyway, back to the story.
A few minutes later, with a heavy heart, Mirajane let go of the dragon slayer's warm body., wiping her fake tears away, she smiled...which she was doing when her face buried in Natsu's chest, but this was to complete the act.
"So how was the trip, Natsu?" She asked as she grabbed hold of his hand and dragged him towards the bar.
"Mira! Natsu had women hanging on him!" Oh that came out so wrong...and the culprit, Happy, stood on the desk, pointing an accusing finger at his partner who was trying to pull his hands out of Mirajane's tightening hands.
"Natsu..." The voice was strangely sweet...very sweet.
"Y-yeah?" Natsu was sure he could reason with her-
"And he brought a fat girl home too!" Well that certainly lit the fire.
"Hey! I am not fat, cat!" But Lucy regretted yelling. The white haired beauty looked at the blond curiously.
Not wanting to have any more confusion and bad start, Lucy began. "Uh...hi Ms. Mirajane ma'am...you see..I was in port Hargeon and was hypnotized along with...every cute girl in town...but Natsu managed to break me out first from Bora of the Prominence.. But the other girls...upon seeing Natsu insulting the poser who used Salamander as his name, attacked...or tried to attack, but all they managed was to hang their bodies on him...literally..." Happy protested, not wanting to lose the fish, but a moment later, Mirajane smiled and nodded in trust.
The floor shook as a giant..humongous being stepped foot. "What the heck is going on here again?!" The monstrous angry voice asked, causing everyone to turn towards the monster.
"He's huge!" The blonde exclaimed. The monster took heavy and raspy breaths, only the whites of the eyes and the white teeth were visible.
"Oh I am sorry. I didn't know you were here master!" Mirajane, the only person who seemed happy to see the giant spoke from her place next to Natsu, still holding his hands.
"Did you say Master?!" The blonde exclaimed in fear as the monster master's eyes fell on her.
"Hmm.. It seems we have a new recruit..." The monster murmured.
"Yes sir!" Lucy answered in fear and watched carefully as the giant started to shrink and shrink until he was a tiny happy looking joyful old man.
"Nice to me'cha!" He greeted raising his arm with a smile before holding it behind
"Huh...he's tiny! This little guy is really in charge here?" Lucy asked disbelievingly
With her cheerful smile Mirajane nodded. "Mm hmm! Of course he is! Allow me to introduce to you Fairy Tail Guild master, Makarov!"
He turned back and in one jump reached the second floors railings and stood there with a scowl "You done it again you bunch of brats! Take a look at how much paper work the Magic council has sent me! This is the biggest pile yet!" He was held out the bunch of papers that ruined his peace.
"Are you idiot's stupid?! All you brats are good at is to get the higher ups mad at me!" The guild members looked down sadly as the Master shook with anger.
"However..." He began his voice calming down as he held the paper work high before it started to burn. "I say to heck with the Magic Council!" He threw the paper to the side and on Mirajane loosening the hold, Natsu jumped up and caught the fire and landed next to Levy.
Makarov continued "Now listen up. Any power that surpasses reasons still come from reasons, right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power. It is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus, to take over your being and come pouring out of your soul. If all we worry about is following rules, our magic will never progress! Don't let those fools in the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! Cause that's what makes the Fairy Tail guild number one!" He passionately raised his right hand, holding the Fairy Tail symbol up.
"Yeah!"
"Fairy Tail!"
"Ha ha!"
All the members cheered raising their own hands.
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"Sir! He said he will only be gone for three days and now it has been a week!" A small boy cried.
"Your father is a wizard Romeo! Have faith in his abilities! Now go home, have some milk and cookies and wait!" The small boy delivered a punch to the small man who fell down with a groan.
"You jerk! I hate you all!" Romeo ran out of the guild crying.
Lucy sadly looked at the boy who ran out the door and sighed. "Although the master doesn't seem to be worried, he really cares. He acts strong for all of us." Mirajane spoke while placing the bottles and plates in place.
Crash!
"What are you doing Natsu?! You almost broke the board!" The fat price request was shoved into the request board, causing a big dent too. Natsu picked up his travel bag and started walking out.
"Gee. The kid needs to grow up...all he will be doing is give a blow to Macao's pride." Nab stated as he came over to Makarov.
"We are not anyone to decide what path others want to take." Makarov stated sadly with a sigh
"Why's Natsu so upset?" Lucy asked confused.
"It's because Natsu and Romeo has a lot in common, he sees himself in Romeo...in a way. Just because we are members of Fairy Tail, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues...we all had our fair share of suffering and loss..." Lucy turned to Mirajane who was in the bar drying a plate, her head down with a sad smile. "Many years ago Natsu's father left...well his foster father; Natsu didn't know his real parents. But his foster father took care of him like any parent does..oh he was a dragon!" Mirajane didn't turn around as she continued to arrange the things in the shelf.
"What! Natsu was raised by a real d-dragon?" Lucy out of shock exclaimed.
She gave a small nod "He was an infant when he was found by a dragon wandering the area. Most I don't know, neither does he, but the dragon, Igneel, took him in and managed to raise him. He taught him how to walk, all about language, culture and to use magic." Mirajane continued.
"I-I-Igneel? You don't mean the-"
"The Fire Dragon King from the history books of the Dragon Civil War? Exactly the same guy...err dragon." Mirajane turned to face the blonde with a smile. "And one day, the dragon disappeared, without even a word and never returned. Natsu lives for the day he will finally meet Igneel again... It's kind of cute, don't you think?" Mirajane gave a small giggle.
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Mount Hakobe's cold climate didn't affect the dragon slayer as he along with Happy and Lucy, who was using her celestial spirit to hide away from the cold. They finally reached at the cave entrance of the Vulcans where the probability of finding Macao was the most.
And just then Horologium timed out. "Horologium! Get back here! I am freezing!"
"Sorry. My time is up." The clock replied monotonously
And as Natsu was going to step inside the ice cave, a scent hit him, followed by the all too familiar luscious female voice. "Oh Natsu, you came!" This was getting weirder for Lucy and even more shocking.
The thing that came out of the cave was not a Vulcan, but another woman among the top ten desired list. Ur. Probably the strongest female in Fiore...and she was crushing a flailing Natsu, while wearing a training bra and panties? Has the female population gone mad? Does every hot woman want naive men? The answer lies within the hot chicks.
"Ur! What are you doing here?" Natsu tried to escape from the woman's grasp without hurting her but failed.
With a pout on her face Ur asked "Why Natsu? Aren't you not happy to see me?"
"No...I mean yes! But will you let go of me? Please?" Sighing Ur unwound her hands from the dragon slayer, much to his joy.
"Anyway, why you up here?" Natsu stretched his arms to get the soreness away.
"Training." She simply stated while Natsu nodded understandingly, as he too liked to do training in harsh environments.
"Happy, how does he know the Ur?" Lucy whispered to the cat.
"He saved her once when he was a little boy, well, not just her, Gray and Lyon too, another of Ur's student too." Happy's reply shocked the blond.
"What...Gray is..Ur's student? Does that mean she's also a member of Fairy Tail?"
"Aye! And Aye! Natsu was a little boy when his father sent him to destroy the ogre demon of the ancient dark wizard Zeref, it's name was Deyora..no Delyora..no..Del-"
"Deliora?" Lucy lost her breath after hearing the name of one of the most dangerous beings in the world and that; it was defeated by Natsu when he was a mere boy whereas Ur was the one who was helped by him. "That's..." Lucy tried to find the word, but somebody did it for her.
"Impossible?" Being dazed, she didn't notice the presence of Ur next to her.
"Eh..oh! I..uh..hi..Ms. Ur!" Lucy tried to greet the lady but the momentarily forgotten cold, hit her full force.
"No need to be so formal kid. Just call me Ur. Oh and Natsu, Macao's in the cave, he's pretty much roughed up by that last Vulcan. I made a shield around him to protect against the cold. Now he won't need it. Get him up and let's go." Natsu nodded and went inside the cave and sure enough, found Macao in a transparent dome of ice. His body was heavily bandaged, show his injuries was severe and if not for Ur, he would be dead.
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"So, did he really defeat Deliora?" Lucy asked cautiously as the rumours were that, Ur defeated Deliora.
"Hmm? Oh yes. He was a small boy, a little older than Romeo.. But strong." Ur replied with a smile.
'He defeated Deliora when he was a boy... I don't want to know what he can beat now...' Lucy shivered as she looked at the joyful dragon slayer. "But the rumours..".
"All lies. Yes. I have battled the monster...but was near to losing...and that's when the boy started fighting with strength I have never seen in someone of his age...and it frightened me..." Ur stated with a small smile as she watched the dragon slayer from his back as he carried Macao over his shoulder. "And think about my shock when I met his father...the person who taught him the magic that put a gaping hole through the foul beast?" This caught Lucy dumb.
"Y-you don't mean the d-dragon, right?" Lucy's brain was turning for the worst.
Ur smiled sadly as her gaze still stayed on the dragon slayer who was distracted by his own comical world. "I was also once a person who only thought dragons as some mindless beings that was used to make a fairy tale story a little action packed so that the knight could slay it, but all those changed the day when I saw him...the King of the Fire Dragons...Natsu's father...an enormous being with fiery red scales...and now...now I feel like I was chosen to have a look..." Ur recreated that day in her mind. "Pretty much I stopped taking a Dragon and Knight slimily.
"Why did he come there? Surely not to talk..." Lucy wanted more, dragons exist, an eye witness is next to her, what else?
"No...there was nothing to see other than death and destruction caused by Deliora...and I would have also joined my daughter in the other world...if not for the pesky pink haired boy who came barging in to take on the beast.." Ur spoke a little uncomfortably, which Lucy completely missed, although she can't be blamed.
"Igneel and Natsu fought Deliora!" Lucy gasped.
"No...only Natsu...Igneel sat there on the sidelines and observed...upon my questioning...he said.. 'Human, do not yell, this Igneel can hear you clearly, but be gone. I have no interest in conversing with thy.' And then he answered with this. If he needs help in eliminating such a minor threat, he has no right to be called a child of Igneel. Imagine my shock!" The rest of the way back was spent in silence and upon reaching the town, Macao was now able to walk on his own.
"Ur...Natsu...I cannot thank you enough. I thought I have seen my last day...Natsu, thanks for coming to save me. Ur, I owe you my life..." Macao limped his way to his son, who upon seeing the man ran up to him. The group watched the tearful reunion for a few seconds before retiring for the evening.
"Ms. Ur! Natsu! Lucy! Happy! Thanks for bringing my dad back to me!" He yelled, Lucy and Ur turned and smiled while Natsu raised his hands and waved.
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The following day, Lucy, Happy and Natsu went on the mission of collecting the book from the duke using force...and force was used as Natsu brought the entire palace to rubbles. And no money came out of it either and upon returning Natsu was dragged to a date...well whatever is called that has the girl trying to smooch the boy the first chance she gets it also the fact that the boy still didn't hold any ideas on what was a date other than a procedure to get food.
Lucy was starting to enjoy the life at Fairy Tail, she already found a diamond in the mud, Levy. The two book loving women hit it off great from the start itself.
"Hello there lovely, can't help but to notice you staring at me when you thought I wasn't looking." Ah the lady killer Loke seems to magically appear next to the blond who was chatting with the blue haired girl.
"Eh?" Lucy turned around to see the Playboy mage posing next to her.
"Go to someone else Loke. She's a celestial mage." Lucy didn't need any more help as Loke abruptly took a shaky step back and gasped with fear.
"I'm sorry Love! Our love cannot go any further, you have to forget me!" Lucy watched annoyed as the man ran out of the guild like the devil himself was on his heels.
"Hey! We weren't in a relationship to begin with!" Lucy yelled angrily for being left in the dust by a playboy that really looked weird.
"Oh let it be Lucy. Loke won't bother you anymore as he now knows you are among the three categories he won't go near much less flirt with." The blond looked confused and asked. "What do you mean?"
Levy giggled "The first type is the celestial wizards, maybe some bad experience... The next two types are the ones with a pink haired dragon slayer as a boyfriend and also one of them will dissect him...besides no one actually is that foolish to flirt with the Demon Mirajane and the Fairy Queen Titan-" Levy was cut off as Loke came back slamming through the door and shut it behind him, he panted heavily.
"What is it Loke?" Mirajane asked concerned at the sight.
Not giving her a proper reply, Loke shouted. "Everybody save yourselves! She's coming!" That was enough as the guild became a warzone, people running and hiding and crashing into each other, but all motions stopped abruptly, while Natsu and Mirajane remained in their places, not at all concerned but rather happy.
"She's here." Natsu let the words slip with a smile which confused Lucy. But then she heard it, the sound of heavy footsteps penetrating the dead silence.
"..Titania..." Lucy heard a pale Levy speak while shivering.
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