A/N- Wow, was I gone for awhile! I honestly didn't mean to wait this long to post something, but I time sorta just got away from me. I hope you all can forgive me! So then, onto chapter 65!
Lucy and Natsu crossed their arms while they traveled around inside the Cathedral. Lucy wondered where the clock piece would even be. Romeo huffed while he looked around with Happy and Marie. He had no clue what size the thing even was. It could be the size of his hand or larger than his whole body. That's when Lucy looked up at the wall.
There was a huge circular disk displayed, which was most likely the clock piece. She pointed at the wall and gained everyone's attention. "Guys, this has to be the clock piece!" Natsu followed her hand and blinked up at the ginormous gear. Romeo gaped and looked at Happy's similar expression. Marie almost fainted at the size.
"That's it? It's a whole lot bigger than I expected." Marie mumbled with a sigh. Lucy agreed solemnly with her exceed and placed her hands on her hip. How in the world were they going to move such a heavy thing. Natsu was strong and so was she but was it even possible to leave the Cathedral with that thing? The only other way was to create a bigger exit but that would just destroy everything and could possibly trap them in.
"I need to get that piece away from them, without hurting any of em if I can help it." A small girl from a top the rotted roof said quietly. After waking up, she had found her way to the Cathedral and noticed Fairy Tail had already beat her there. So she decided to hide up on the roof where a hole was so she could spy down there. Her eyes landed solely on Lucy most of the time.
It was really the blonde she didn't want to fight. Lucy had showed her much more kindness than any enemy would and that really touched the speedy mage. But she still had a job to do and she couldn't just abandon it. But the least she could do was prevent Lucy from getting hurt. Maybe even convince Byro to leave the blonde alive.
"Loopy!" Dan then announced rather loudly, and out of nowhere. Lucy squeaked and hid behind Marie, using the poor cat as a shield. The white cat rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, glaring daggers into Dan's eyes. Natsu clenched his fist.
"You! You still wanna fight jerk!?" Dan looked to the salmon haired mage and turned away, slamming onto his bottom.
"No, you win. We fought fair and square so I won't fight you again." The knight said with a sigh.
"If that's the case," Michelle said slowly. "Then will you tell us why the Legion Platoon needs the clock pieces. What is your goal in all this?"
"Yeah, why do you guys need it? Spill! And by the way, why would you chase after a girl like Lucy?" Happy said as he flew to the man. Lucy scoffed and got out from behind the other exceed. Stomping after Happy and standing directly behind him. She crossed her arms and looked away to the side.
"I don't think I like your tone, cat!" The celestial dragon slayer huffed. Dan sat there quietly for a moment before standing straight up. Startling both Happy and Lucy. Out of seemingly nowhere, he grabbed an art stand and a canvas, one painted of his face. Everyone's shocked expression looked down at his work and then back up to him. He didn't seem to even noticed the stares.
"Ahh! So you would like to know my tale! Okay, let me retell it for all of you!" He said with a smile. Lucy blinked blankly.
"That really is not necessary."
"I, Dan Striaght was born in the port city of Sader. Ah Sader, such a good place to live. A long line of knights protected the town, my long line of family included. While I was a small boy, I wanted to train to become a knight and live up to the family name. I lived a happy and pampered life filled with lots of fine eatery and juices. Unfortunately those peaceful times were not fated were forced into a civil war, splitting the city into two." The brown haired man stated firmly and quite dramatically.
"Wow I never would of thought you would of had a messed up past." Romeo mumbled while he clasped his hands together and placed them behind his head. Michelle on the other hand, had fresh tears roll down her eyes in sadness.
"And your poor family was dragged into the fighting. Having to suffer through all that pain and trauma!" She cried. Lucy crossed her arms and looked her friend, sometimes she was such an airhead. Even Natsu wasn't taking the guys story too seriously. How could you when Dan was acting so weird about it. Lucy sighed as he continued on.
"No...the fighting cleaned up pretty nicely and we all made up in about a half a day. So it wasn't all that big of a deal." He said happily.
"Wow, that was pretty quick." Happy and Marie said simultaneously.
Lucy shook her head. "I called it. We've had more intense scuffles at the guild hall before lunch."
"Hold on!" Dan yelled in determination. "That's only the beginning. Years later, I fell head over heels for my first love. A beautiful young maiden who went to school with me. I was forced to go to war and when I came back I searched high and low for my beautiful maiden. But I couldn't find her anywhere!" He mumbled in sadness.
"So this girl when missing then? Don't tell me she got caught up in the fighting somehow" Lucy asked in astonishment. She wondered where the poor girl went. Michelle wailed louder as he continued on with his story.
"She must of lost her life in battle while you fought so hard to return to her. How tragic!" Natsu unfolded his hands and looked to the knight.
"Her beauty was unlike no other. Y'know she looked a lot like my loopy pie when I think about it." He homed as he looked up to the sky. Natsu's hand twitched when Dan said that Lucy was his. It was so obvious he was not.
"No wonder you chase Lucy around like a lost puppy." Marie mumbled.
"So then what happened? You found her body or something?" Natsu asked skeptically. Seeming how his previous tale went, he doubted it was anything but tragic.
"Actually," he paused. "I found her completely unharmed! Unfortunately our reunion didn't end up how I wanted it to. My daily marriage proposals brought her so much happiness they frightened her! In the end her fear got the best of her and she decided she wasn't worthy of my affection. And though it took time, I realized she was right." He said with a bright and smug smile. Lucy groaned, like she said before, she saw that one coming.
"I'm starting to realize the pictures and the story he's telling don't exactly match up." Michelle deadpanned as she put her relaxed fist to her chin.
"Yeah, its obvious she couldn't stand the guy." Lucy said with a sweat drop. Dan ignored their own conversation and continued on with his own life story.
"Ultimately she declined my proposals and I cried my eyes out for three days straight. Then I decided to set out on a sentimental journey to sooth my sorrow filled heart. During my travels I crossed tons on wonderful and beautiful women, each with their own charm." He sighed happily.
"Sounds like you're a cat calling slime ball to me!" Happy pointed out with a glare.
"Wasn't the point of your journey was to find love much like your first?" Michelle asked with an odd expression.
"Nah, I don't need to tie myself down like that! The world is a whole buffet and every woman is a dish I'm dying to try." He said with a bright smile as he gave Lucy a thumbs up.
"Now you're really starting to piss me off." Lucy growled as she looked away from the man. Natsu scoffed and nodded his head. He hated the looks that Dan kept giving Lucy. And how he interpreted Lucy as a meal other than an actual human being. Natsu's fangs began to show as he clenched his teeth in anger.
"Due to unfortunate circumstances, no fault of my own, I had to part from each beautiful maiden I came across. Because I devoted my life to my knight work, I won't know what's like to have love and peace." He cried nobly.
"Its so obvious they dumped him and ran." Romeo snickered with a shrug.
"Makes you wonder if someone else drew the pictures." Michelle smiled nervously.
"Hughes and sugar boy drew them for me. They used entries from my travel journal and some old photos I had as a reference. Naturally there was guess work involved which means some parts might not be entirely accurate."
"Pretty sure the pictures are more accurate than your story, bub." Happy said notchantly. Though Dan completely ignored him.
"That's when I joined the Legion Platoon. Since then, I've dedicated my life to collecting the clock peaces on Byro's behalf. That's it! That's how the great Dan Straight graced you with his presence. And he lived happily ever after." He chuckled. Lucy put a hand on her head and closed her eyes. He was seriously grating on her nerves. A look from Natsu told her he was feeling the same way.
"That's super great, but we really just want the story on why you guys need the clock pieces!"
"Sorry my Lucy pumpkin, that's classified information. Because if I did, Lord Byro would dish out a fierce punishment!" Natsu growled at this answer and got into Dan's face, a look of pure irritation written all over him.
"Then why the hell did you tell us that whole stupid story!?"
"Yeah. And it wasnt even accurate!" Happy said with a judging tone. Dan smiled, his eyes sparkling as he moved passed Natsu and got into Lucy's face. She flinched and leaned back.
"It was obvious," he stated without hesitation. "I told my story so that Loopy pie could know more about her future husband! Now what do you say we tie the knot and start our honeymoon." He sighed wistfully while he and her close to his chest. She squealed and got out of his grip, running away while he chased her. She screamed multiple profanities at him while he dismissed every word she said. Natsu crossed his arms once more and glared daggers at Dan.
"He's really giving me a headache. I swear if he was more of a threat, he'd be dead right now." Natsu said as he grumbled the last sentence. Romeo walked up to him and gave him a sideways glance.
"What should we do now, Natsu? Were just wasting our time on this guy now. It's obvious he won't tell us anything pertaining to why they want the clock pieces." The small boy said as he watched Dan continue to chase the irritated blonde.
"But we can't just pick up and leave this place, we're supposed to meet the others with their own clock peices here." Michelle said evenly. Natsu scoffed and looked at the scene unfolding before him. He'd really rather smash Dan's face in, take Lucy and the clock piece and leave, but they couldn't just do that yet he supposed.
"I guess we just relax here then for a bit. How annoying."