Chapter 8
By now you should really know where the disclaimer is
The port town of Hargeon is a busy place of commerce and tourism, in one secluded part of the Hargeon high street is a quaint little magic shop and the old man who owns and runs this store currently has one customer
"Do you have any celestial keys?", a busty young blond asked the owner who barely came up to her waist
"We have one", he replied pulling out an intricate box and opening it
"The key of Canis Minor: Nikora", he presented, the blond pulled out the key and felt it out with her magic
"The key of the little dog! I'll take it, how much?", She asked excitedly
"That'll be 20,000 jewels madam", he said, she look stunned at the (in her opinion) ludicrous price
She sat down on the counter and lent her body forward, giving the man an ample view of her breasts down her shirt
"Come on now, I know you can give me a discount?", She said sweetly, accenting it with a wink
"What a stooge!", the blond exclaimed walking angrily away from the shop, fitting the key of Canis Minor into a brown pouch at her belt
"Only a 1000 jewel discount! My sex appeal is definitely worth more than a measly 1000 jewels!...", as she continued her rant she noticed a group of girls surrounding something
As she approached she began to hear what the assembled crowd of women were saying "its salamander!", "isn't he just dreamy", "he looked at me! He looked at me!" And such.
Salamander? The blond thought as she pushed to the front of the crowd and came face to face with handsome man with spiky dark blue hair and an odd tattoo just above his right eye which looked like two C's back to back
As he looked at her, her heart began to beat faster and she became entranced in his face what's going? She thought to herself what's happening, why is my heart beating so fast, is this true love? (A/N part of me died writing that, I hope you appreciate it!)
As the girl's thoughts continued to drift further into the realms of cheesy clichés and the notion of love at first sight, a woman dressed in a dark purple, almost black dress with a cut running up the entire left leg and platinum white hair barged through the wall of females
"Natsu?!", She exclaimed apprehensively as she got to the front of the crowd, as she met salamander's gaze her eyes hardened and her mouth set in a slight frown
"My, who might you be, my dear?", Salamander asked in a deep nasally voice, the woman in question snorted and turned to leave
"it doesn't matter, you're not who I'm looking for", many of the girls present looked outraged at the woman's reaction and the blond was initially among them but before she could join the others in voicing their outrage she realised that she barely knew the man, why should she fight for him?
At this revelation, she looked at his hands, on his right there were two rings, one that looked like a sleeping charm and the other was undoubtedly a love charm, an illegal type of holding magic that made anyone in the holder's specified desires love them unconditionally, the charms don't work on anyone who is aware of them or have a strong magical presence and so she instantly snapped out of it
"Calm down ladies, she probably just isn't aware she is in the presence of a celebrity", salamander admonished his crowd before turning to the woman
"I am the great mage salamander! Do you now see your folly?", He said throwing his arms out for added flair
"No you're not.", the woman replied
"What?!", He asked, aggravated that this woman wasn't basking in his greatness like she should be
"You're not salamander", she replied simply in a quiet voice
"What are you blabbering about?! Of course I am! Isn't that right ladies?!", He practically yelled, shouts of "yea" and "show some respect" were heard in response, the woman sighed
"Yea whatever", she said dismissively before walking off with her head down
Salamander's assembled crowd looked furious at the girl's dismissive response to their hero and looked like they were about to jump her retreating form as a mob
"Calm down ladies, she doesn't know what she's missing…"
Before the blond had to endure the narcissistic man talking about himself she slipped away and ran to catch up to the white haired woman, by the time she caught up the woman was standing looking at a little blue cat with a green pouch on its back, she looked like she was talking to it
"Hey!", she yelled waving her right arm above her head to get her attention, the girl turned around and looked at the blond strangely
"Hello?", she asked
"Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier", the blond said
"What did I do?", the white haired girl asked
"Oh, yea, that man from earlier, he was using charm magic and when you barged in it broke me out of his spell, so thanks", she replied
"No problem" the white haired girl responded in good nature
"You said something about looking for someone, if you don't mind me asking who are you looking for", blondie asked
"Ah. His name is Natsu he's my uhh…", she trailed off trying to find the right word
"Husband?", the blue cat put in with a cheeky grin, the white haired girl sighed with a blush tinging her cheeks
"Yes Happy, I suppose so", she said
"Did that cat just talk?!", the blond girl screeched, pointing
"Aye sir!", was the cats simple reply before he turned to the white haired girl
"I'm hungry", he said and a loud growl from his stomach was heard as if trying to convince the girl of its plight, The girl in question laughed at the cat's stomach, it was a high and joyous laugh that seemed to cheer up the atmosphere
"Come on then! Let's get you fed!", she said and the cat promptly sprouted wings and let out an excited "Aye!", jumping into the air
By the time the blond had gotten over her shock the other two were already a few paces ahead of her
"Wait", she called and the blue cat and his companion turned around
"Let me treat you to lunch, as a thank you", she said
"Really? Thanks", the white haired girl said
"It's no problem, my name's Lucy by the way", the blond girl said, sticking out her hand
"Lisanna", the white haired girl said, shaking Lucy's hand
The trio went to a relatively inexpensive diner near the port, it turned out that Lisanna wasn't much of a talker but that didn't really matter to Lucy as she just talked and talked nonstop only really breaking to ask Lisanna or Happy a question
So this is what normal girls are like?, Lisanna thought sarcastically
"Hey I just thought of something.", Lucy said and actually paused, Lisanna and Happy looked up from their meals to look at the blond, inviting her to continue
"Charm magic doesn't work if you are aware of it or have a strong magical presence and you said you didn't know he was using the charms, does that mean you're a mage?", Lucy asked Lisanna. Both Lisanna and Happy looked surprised at the blonde's deduction
"A regular Sherlock Holmes aren't you?", Happy asked rhetorically, Lisanna smiled a small smile before answering Lucy
"Yes I'm a mage", she said simply, Lucy's eyes lit up
"Really? What magic do you use!?", Lisanna smiled at the girl's enthusiasm
"I'm a takeover mage, I use animal soul takeovers. I assume since you know what you're talking about that you're a Mage as well?", She said
"Yup, I'm a celestial spirit mage!", the blond said proudly
"Really? That's a rare form of magic, if I remember correctly it uses spirit keys to summon varying forms of spirits, used for different purposes", Lisanna said knowingly
"That's right! There are two types of keys, silver keys and gold keys, silver keys are relatively common and summon weaker spirits that are more useful in day to day situations, but gold keys, there are only 12 gold keys in existence and they each summon one of the spirits of the zodiac, they are incredibly rare and they summon powerful spirits built for battle, I am currently in possession of 3 of the 12 golden zodiac keys! Taurus, Aquarius and Cancer", Lucy rambled
"Impressive", Lisanna said but was quickly cut off by the overexcited blond sitting opposite her
"I'm going to join a guild soon! A guild is a place where a group of wizards gather together and do jobs…", Lucy continued on
"I know" Lisanna tried to put in but Lucy couldn't hear her
"I'm aiming to join fairy tail, it's like the biggest and most popular guild there is, all their members get into all kinds of trouble though but all of their wizards are like super famous like Erza and Mira, she's known as miss fairy tail and is almost always in sorcerers weekly…", Lisanna sighed and toned out Lucy's incessant jittering, turning to her thoughts
After the incident Mira could no longer do her satan soul takeovers, when she and the master, as well as Laxus as it turned out, sought out professional help, they found out that souls created by absorption, if strong willed can prevent the takeover Mage from using them if they deem the wizard unworthy of their power which is also why big brother Elf can't call the beast takeover. After the mission, Mira took a hit to her confidence and her personality did a complete 180 after she found out her magic wouldn't work anymore, she's dedicated herself to promoting fairy tail and helping around the guild but she's nowhere near as strong as she used to be Lisanna internally monologued
"You ok mama?", Happy asked, breaking her out of her thoughts
"Huh? Yea, I'm fine Happy, just thinking", the white noise of Lucy's talking was starting to grate on the blue cat's nerves
"Hey mama can we go?", He asked quietly
"Yea, I think it's probably time we left", she said back
"Anyway Lucy!", She said cutting Lucy out of her chattering
"Me and Happy should really be going, so thank you for the meal and I hope you manage to find your way to fairy tail", Lisanna said bowing slightly with a small smirk hidden on her face
"Oh. It's no problem, I hope you find who you were looking for", Lucy said back
"Yea, me too", Lisanna said softly as she left with Happy on her shoulder
First division of the royal guard commander Pantherlily's lieutenant: Ignea Rosa could often be seen out in the forests of the Edolas just enjoying the views and thinking about his life, the prodigy boy could be no older than 18 but it was hard to tell only from his voice
He wore a white leather overcoat with light grey combat trousers, his choices of clothing fit with his spiky hair which was also a platinum white, his entire getup seem to contrast with his eyes; his eyes were charcoal but seemed to be a startling ebony against his attire and hair
When out in the forest the lieutenant's eyes sparkled with a childish amazement but on the battle field his entire demeanour changed, he became serious and determined. The boy wore a cowl to cover the lower half of his face claiming it was severely damaged in a fire and he didn't much like to leave it open
What set this boy apart from the other lieutenants and the rest of the military was his weapon; Ignea carried a magical quarter staff of a dark red colour which was streaked with orange, blue and salmon pink giving it a resemblance to an open flame on his back, it gave his otherwise white, ghostly appearance a splash of colour
The staff was in fact a rare fire weapon called a dragon's fang and was especially powerful if used correctly; and use it correctly Ignea could, in fact he was the only one who could use it, if anyone other than him tried to wield weapon it would either straight up not function or explode in their face
Pantherlily landed softly behind the boy who was seated staring forlornly into a clear stream, trickling lazily along. Captain Pantherlily was an oddly large exceed standing well over six feet and towering above everyone in the army, his fur was pitch black with a white muzzle, small ears and a large scar running down his left eye
Despite his gruff expression he always donned, Pantherlily was a caring and forgiving person, he had been exiled from his homeland Extalia after he saved the life of a small human child and while he resented it, he knew that the queen's hands were tied by politics and tradition and it would have been damaging to her reign and the stability of both Extalia and Edolas if she had let him go unpunished
He had joined the human military under the guise of revenge but in actuality he was just keeping an eye on them so they didn't try anything stupid as it was no myth that the human population hated the exceed's rule over them, and none more than Faust; the current king of Edolas
He had been given his position as first commander as an honorary position but had quickly proven he was worth of it and was largely considered the strongest of the military with his magical sword: buster marm, which could change size from a tiny knife to the size of an island at its wielder's command
"What brings you here Pantherlily?", His lieutenant asked in an implacable accent
"the debriefing starts in an hour Ignea, if you want it get there on time I suggest you get going", the large black exceed said gruffly
"You were thinking about it again weren't you?", Pantherlily asked in a much softer voice
"It's been so long Pantherlily, it's been a year and a half and we still have so much more to do", Ignea said dejectedly
"I know, but we'll be done sooner than you know then you can go home", Pantherlily consoled, the White haired lieutenant stood up and stretched
"Yea, I guess you're right" he said.
"Don't worry Natsu you'll be home soon"
Lisanna and Happy had spent the day in Hargeon, exploring and admiring the views, they were seated by a fountain at the highest point of the town, looking out over the thriving port and out into the ocean, the sun had set about half an hour ago and the day was steadily dimming
They had sat down here to view the sun set, something they did as often as they did, something they always used to do with Natsu. Happy was happily nibbling on a fish, looking quite content and Lisanna was staring out to sea
In these rare moments of peace and silence Lisanna noticed how cold she was, it wasn't an uncomfortable cold, it was the sort of cold that told you that you should probably put on a jacket, she almost always was at this temperature, her magic made sure of it
And it had its benefits, the cold never bothered her in the slightest and she was partially resistant to heat, she probably wouldn't even notice that her natural body temperature was lower than everyone else's, if it wasn't for Natsu
She had inadvertently found out that Natsu's fire magic cancelled out her snow magic's effect on her body temperature and made it rise to normal levels, something that Lisanna loved the feel of and found relaxing; in the same sort of way that people find hot tubs or a cool drink relaxing
When she was around Natsu for a length of time, their magics mingled and she got the effect slightly but it was much keener when there was actual physical contact, and now that she thought about it, she had subconsciously tried to make contact with Natsu as much was acceptably possible given their relationship
She blushed slightly at that thought I can't believe I miss him so much, so much so that I miss felling warm, Happy noticed his mother's blush and smiled slightly
"You're thinking about papa again aren't you?", He asked slyly, Lisanna's blush deepened somewhat before disappearing, being replaced with a downcast look
"Yes Happy, I am", she sighed, Happy place a paw on his mother's leg reassuringly
"We'll find him mama", he consoled
"Yea, I know, but it's been so long, it's been a year and half", she said softly looking up at the darkening sky and the emerging stars
"I miss him", she finished in a sad voice
"Did you hear about that party on salamander's boat?", Happy and Lisanna heard a girl ask her friend
"Salamander? Oh yea, he's that fairy tail wizard isn't he?", the second girl asked
"that's the one, I hear it's a super exclusive party and only the hottest got invited…", Lisanna stopped listening, her eyes having hardened at the name salamander and then igniting in silent anger to learn he was imitating a fairy tail wizard
"Come on Happy, we've got a party to crash", Lisanna said in a clam tone that barely concealed her anger