Chapter 10
Yay! Chapter 10, finally, let's celebrate with a slightly longer chapter and a brand spanking new disclaimer
*clears throat* I do not own fairy tail or any of its characters, it is all owned by Hiro Mashima
There, wasn't that nice
Lucy was amazed by everything she saw; she had never been to a town as big or as busy as magnolia, she followed Lisanna and Happy in comfortable silence as they led her to a large building at the centre of town
The blonde's excitement grew as she noticed the fairy tail emblem displayed proudly on banners and signs all over the large building, its doors were closed but Lisanna quickly fixed that by violently and loudly kicking them in
Inside was a large two story hall filled with people at tables, talking and drinking despite it being only about an hour after noon, many of the halls occupants had turned to see who had caused the disturbance but called out in friendly greeting upon seeing who it was
"Ho Lisanna! Welcome back! How'd it go?", A plain looking man with sandy blond hair called
"sorry Max, it wasn't him, another dud", Lisanna said sadly before walking to the bar at the far end of the hall, with Lucy in tow who was surprised to hear the string of colourful curses flowing from Max's mouth before he attacked another nondescript member a couple of tables across with a volley of sand
"Should we stop them?", Lucy asked timidly pointing at the two
"Huh? Oh, nah this sorta thing happens all the time", Lisanna explained
"Sooo, who's this?", a soft voice asked from behind the bar
As Lucy turned around to see who had addressed them her jaw dropped, behind the bar was Mirajane Strauss, miss fairy tail, the guilds most popular poster girl and one of the running candidates for the most beautiful woman in Fiore; Lucy was a big fan.
She was wearing a sleeveless, ankle length, maroon dress tied at the back and collar with large pink bows, her long white hair cascaded down her back with two bangs framing her pretty face and a small odd front facing pony tail kept her fringe off her face, her smile was kind and her eyes seemed to sparkle
"Hey sis", Lisanna said nonchalantly as Lucy gawked, looking between them, realising that they were the fairy sisters, Lucy briefly wondered why she had never seen Lisanna in sorcerers weekly but chalked it up to having to compete with her sister
"This is Lucy, she was really eager to join the guild", Lisanna explained to her sister pointing to the still awestruck blond
"So, you want to be a member of fairy tail huh?", Mira said; addressing Lucy. Being addressed by one of the few people she idolised, Lucy almost fainted but she quickly reined in her urge to squeal and gush like a fan girl (with difficulty mind you)
"Yes! I've wanted to join fairy tail for the longest time!", she answered excitedly
As they conversed the brawl behind them had escalated into a mass of flying limbs and magic, Lucy heard a loud shout and Lisanna calmly lent quite quickly to her left and where she had been moments before a large man flew past, despite her dodging, her sister was not so lucky and Mira was hit full on by the man turned projectile
"Elfman incoming", Lisanna chuckled with a smirk looking down at her siblings sprawled out on the floor, Mira pushed the large man off of her with what seemed to only be minor difficulty
"sorry about that, ELFMAN GET UP!", She said calmly to Lucy before screaming at the man still on the floor, At Mira's shout he shot up
"Huh? What? Mira?", He said incoherently looking around before his gaze rested on Lisanna
"Hey sis, your back!", He said jubilantly
"Yup!" Was her simple reply with a wide smile
"How'd it go? Was it him?", Elfman asked; his face becoming serious
"No, it was just some poser", she replied with a small scowl, Elfman opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by a roar of anger
"BRATS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"
All movement in the guild ceased instantly, all insults and words froze in people's throats and each head turned fearfully to the sound of the thundering voice, Lucy let out a small "eep" of fear at what she saw
Before her was a Titan, completely covered by shadow he towered over all of them, if he had been standing straight his head would have touched the ceiling of the second floor and his face was twisted into a scowl of anger as he glared down at the frozen group of brawling guild members
"Oh master, your back?", Mira asked sweetly as she looked up at the towering giant above them, that's the master!?, Lucy thought terrified out of her wits, as she thought that the shadow cloaked colossus began to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller revealing a little old man in a garish outfit and large scruffy white moustache, the man was small, by far the shortest person Lucy had ever seen, he only barely reached her knee. The little old man looked up at her
"A new comer eh?", Lucy who was still in shock could only nod lamely in response
"nice to meet you", the old man bluntly said before jumping up into multiple backflips before solidly colliding with a banister on the second floor, He managed to stop himself from falling and dragged himself up onto the railing
"I'm too old for stunts like that" he muttered although only Lisanna heard it, he then produced a stack of papers seemingly from thin air
"You dumbasses have done it again!", He shouted down at them
"I have been getting complaint after complaint from the council about your behaviour! First off: Gray! The redfly forest job, you completed the job flawlessly. BUT did the entire thing butt naked.", Gray just tch'd in response
"Elfman! You cannot abandon your escort because he insulted your 'manliness'. Cana! You charged your entire alcohol bill from multiple jobs to the council itself"
"They found out huh?", Cana joked
"And even Lisanna, it says here you destroyed a large portion of Hargeon port apprehending a slave trafficker, what happened child?", Makarov asked concerned, Lisanna was usually quite conservative and generally hated to cause harm to anyone or anything
"he was impersonating Natsu", she said in a freezing cold tone rarely heard, Mira and many of the other members gasped in shock and everyone scowled though none were as sharp as the youngest Strauss, even the master frowned in contempt and to be honest it scared Lucy and she wondered who Natsu was to have affected the guild so much
"I hope you gave him what he deserved", the master said with a growl
"But I digress, Alzack! Bisca! Max! Warren! Reedus!", Makarov reprimanded, sighing, a smile returning to his face
"The council want you lot to tone it down, to keep destruction to a minimum, but you know what I say!", He papers in the masters hand spontaneously caught fire and he threw them down to the crowd below
"TO HELL WITH THE COUNCIL!", Makarov roared to which the guild responded with one of their own
"LISTEN UP! The power to overcome reason is born in reason itself, magic is no miracle, you need to grow in your magic and to grow you need to learn and to learn you need to experience, those fools in the council with their rules prevent you from experiencing to world to its fullest, FORGET THE COUNCIL! IF YOU FEAR THOSE BIGGOTS WITH THEIR RULES AND REGULATIONS YOU WILL NEVER GROW! DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT! THAT IS THE WAY OF FAIRY TAIL!"
The guild went into an uproar and Lucy grinned in pure excitement, she was going to enjoy it here.
"Thank god that's over", Hughes; the commander of the third royal war division, an easy going man who was overly easy to impress or astound despite his position fighting those skilled in the magic arts
He was reasonably tall, maybe a half a head above Natsu with purple hair accented with one thick lock of white hair falling on the right side of his face, his other defining feature were his strangely shaped eyebrows, they naturally grow to look remarkably like clock hands or arrow heads
"Don't I know it", Natsu replied from behind his disguised cowl, he got on rather well with Hughes and Coco despite his rivalry with Erza and… well… Sugarboy just creeped them all out
"So Ignea when are you gunna start on that mission?", Hughes asked, only receiving a confused look from white clad companion, he laughed
"Amazing! You really weren't listening were you!? Hah!"
"Oh just spit it out Hughes, it really isn't that surprising", Ignea replied with a scowl but if you looked closely you would notice that the boys ears had turned an interesting shade of red
"Intel discovered the hideout of Sabertooth, the King's sending you to wipe them out, although he did say to keep some alive for questioning", Coco supplied
Coco was a small girl, but she was fast, her long brown hair, tied in a ponytail was almost constantly covered by strange green head gear giving the impression of large floppy ears, she wore a skin tight blue body suit covered by a yellow calf length dress, she also never wore shoes of any kind, preferring to go barefoot
She acted as messenger in the court, running around the castle delivering news to where it needed to be, she was a kind hearted girl who dislikes violence in any form despite often enjoying the company of the four strongest people in the country and Ignea. The white haired lieutenant's stare hardened and his eyebrows furrowed in anger
"So Ignea when will you be leaving?", Hughes asked again suggestively
"Immediately!", Ignea spat before tuning on his heel and storming off
"Hey Hughes. Why does Ignea hate Sabertooth so much? He normally seems so nice but whenever someone mentions that guild he gets all scary and angry", Coco asked her companion
"Wow! Really? You didn't hear about it!?", Hughes asked once again easily surprised
"No I didn't, tell me about it!", Coco exclaimed, excited to be hearing a new story
"Well I think it happened about six months ago, about a month after Ignea became Pantherlily's lieutenant…"
-Flashback-
"Listen Ignea…" Pantherlily explained
"… All you need to do is stand watch, your job is to keep the wild life and possibly bandits away from this training camp, you're only here for security, not to show off or, heaven forbid, instruct! Got it!"
"Yea, yea Pantherlily I know, you've explained this to me like a hundred times, I know! And you have nothing to worry about, my strength is already well renown around the county and you're the famous first commander, you'd have to be stupid to attack with both of us here", Natsu replied confidently
Pantherlily sighed, he knew Natsu was right but couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen
"You're right...What are doing just standing there!? Get back to your post lieutenant!", Pantherlily shouted at him, Natsu grinned and pulled his arm up for a salute
"Aye sir!", He said in a slightly mocking tone before running off
The large exceed sighed again then turned and strode off to teach a group of budding young recruits
As night fell a message came in for Pantherlily from the Capitol and he was pulled away leaving Natsu in disguise to defend the camp with a team of five others, more than enough to keep the animals roaming Edolas away or to deter any bandits
Natsu had never previously met any of the other security detail with him but found them to be pleasant enough company, he even played cards with a couple of them, an Edolas game called kaluki
He knew in terms of skill he outclassed all of them but they were all competent people, capable of combat, unlike many of the recruits present
The sun had set a couple of hours ago and Natsu had just finished his rounds of the camp site and was heading to his tent to sleep when he caught a peculiar scent floating on the west blowing wind, well not peculiar per say, but unfamiliar, he judged there to be about six of them, but they were a way off so he didn't think twice about it
He headed back to the security tent to wake up whoever was next on rounds, he walked for about five minutes through the field the trainees were camped in but just before he could open the flap on the security one, it exploded
Natsu was blown back, hitting his head against a rock, rendering him unconscious as the tent burned in a magnificent bonfire, lighting up the night as six figures ran down the hill towards the encampment
Natsu was awoken in the early morning by Pantherlily violently shaking him, the flames that had undoubtedly killed the other five security officers hadn't touched Natsu leaving only his clothes singed around the edges
Pantherlily was saying something but Natsu couldn't hear him "…as attacked…" He heard the large commander say
An attack!, Natsu thought with a start, jumping up to his feet he saw the smouldering remains of the large tent he had shared with five others, the smell of burning flesh was sickening for Natsu's hypersensitive nose, he stared at it for many seconds before a slight breeze blew something at the boy's feet
Natsu with a shocked expression bent down and picked it up, it was the six of clubs, a card, black around the edges from being in the fire, he stared at the card, something that would hold memory's for the dragon slayer for years to come, as his expression turned from shocked to grief stricken
A single tear fell as he turned to look down at the field but once he did he wished he hadn't, Natsu fell to knees; his legs no longer being able to support his weight and broke down in tears
Before him lay a battle field, but no battle took place there, no instead it was a massacre, the young recruits lay in pools of their own blood which slowly seeped into the hard ground, many of the tents were smouldering in a similar fashion to his own, it seems that only a few had survived and they were crying over the corpses of their fallen comrades and friends
"GODDAMMIT!", Natsu roared raising both his fists and slamming them into the ground, causing cracks to spider web along the hard earth as he cried onto his clenched fists with a feral look of grief on his face
"Who did this!?", Natsu gasped out
"Who would do this!?", He shouted gesturing to the field of dead men and women, none older than twenty
"The attackers targeted the barrack tents and raided each personal tent, they stole almost every weapon, magical or not they could get their hands on", Pantherlily said calmly, Natsu veered round to stare at Pantherlily
"They did this for weapons?", he asked incredulously
"It was an honourless attack, they defeated all those who could defend themselves in one blow before falling on the defenceless, those who survived only did so by playing dead this was more than a scavenging run, this was killing the adversary before they became the adversary", Pantherlily explained with his usual impassive stare
"But who did it!?", Natsu demanded
"We don't…", Pantherlily started but was cut off
"Sir! We have found a body belonging to someone not from the camp!", one of the men that had accompanied Pantherlily to the Capitol reported professionally despite the horrors before him, the large exceed stood up sharply
"show us!", He commanded, his subordinate nodded and briskly walked off with commander and lieutenant in tow, the body them man led them to was as clad completely in black, reminding Natsu in his delirious state of a ninja, he had a slice running from his left shoulder to his mid chest, deep enough to be fatal but very obviously a lucky hit most likely delivered by the nearby recruit who's dead hands clutched a large pole arm
Pantherlily pulled off the face cover revealing a pained look of shock from the fallen adversary; he had straight blond hair and brown eyes, dulled and soulless
"He looks familiar", Pantherlily said, then reached over to the man's right shoulder and ripped off the sleeve revealing for all to see…
-Flashback end-
"Revealing what Hughes!?", Coco asked frustrated that Hughes had stopped
"Amazing! You really haven't worked it out!?", He asked unsurprisingly surprised
"No Hughes! Just tell me!", Coco shouted
"Revealing the guild mark of Sabertooth!", Hughes finished with a flourish
"Oh", Coco said felling a little stupid for forgetting the reason she asked Hughes to tell that story in the first place
"That's horrible, no wonder Ignea doesn't like them at all", Coco commented looking in the direction the first division lieutenant stormed off minutes ago
"Hey Lisanna, look!", Lucy exclaimed raising her right hand to show the pink guild mark Mira had just imprinted on the back of it
"Yea, that's cool Lucy", Lisanna said dismissively with a request in her hand
"Is my daddy back yet?", A small boy with tears in his eyes asked the master who was sitting up on the bar, catching the attention of both Lisanna and Lucy, the master sighed in frustration
"No Romeo, Macao isn't back yet, he's a Mage you should trust that he can handle such a simple job"
"Hey Lis, is that the Everlu job?", A short girl blue haired girl asked the secret snow dragon slayer
"Huh? Yea Levy it is", she responded
"Aww I wanted to do that one", Levy pouted and folded her arms
"He said he'd be back in three days at most", the small boy sniffled
"Yea so?", Makarov began but was again cut off
"It's been a week!", Romeo yelled, the master sighed again
"Listen kid, your fathers a Mage, and a dang good one at that, he's fine, in fact he probably just got caught in that freak snow storm that's hit mount hakobe…". He started but alas it wasn't to be
"You Meany!", Romeo yelled as he jumped up and punched the old man in the face, effectively shutting him up then run away crying
"A little harsh isn't it?", Lucy asked Mira over the bar
"yea probably, that's just the way things work in the world of mages, in all honesty master is worried about Macau as well but can't really do anything about it", the white haired barkeep replied
"Take it", Lisanna said thrusting the job request to a surprised Levy
"Thanks! Do you not want it?", the little bluenette asked
"Something came up", Lisanna replied with a shadow over her eyes before walking swiftly away
"Oh", was Levy's understanding reply
Lisanna made her way out of the guild after Romeo's retreating form and Levy, Jet and Droy made their way to Mira to check in the job
"Hey Mira", Levy greeted warmly
"Hi Levy, you taking this job?", Mira asked
"You betchya! Me and team shadow gear!", the short script mage said in high spirit as she handed the request over to Mira
"The Everlu job huh? Figures you would take any job involving books, hey it says here the target is looking for a blond maid, I know why don't you take Lucy here, do an infiltration!", Mira exclaimed pointing at the blond seated across from her
"Y'know Mira, that's a great idea!", She exclaimed before turning to Lucy
"Hi I'm Levy a solid script mage!", she enthusiastically said putting out her hand to shake
"Hey, the name's Lucy, I'm a celestial spirit mage, nice to meet you", Lucy said shaking the blue haired girl's hand
"So Lucy how'd you like to do this job with us?", Levy asked with a disarming smile
"I'd love to!" Lucy replied with a smile of her own
You are now, at the bottom of the page.
This story is turning out way darker that I originally intended but still, character development!
A quick spoiler warning for my future plans so just ignore any text below this if you want a surprise
No? Well I'm planning to make Lucy's celestial spirits a little less… Well… Lame, don't get me wrong their cool in all but you have admit Cancer and Sagittarius as well as to an extent Gemini could do with sprucing up a bit, so what I want is for you lot to give me ideas on which spirits I should change and how (especially Cancer and Sagittarius).