EDITED : 11/06/2023
A dark honey blonde haired girl awed in wonder as she explored the newest magic shop she had heard so little about throughout town. Apparently many people would visit this town just to pass through and they had little to no need for mages to stick around. She did hear however that this town was more known for fishing as it is a port town.
She wore a white collared shirt with a design made to look like a large cross in blue and a blue pleated skirt to match, brown boots, and a matching blue ribbon tying up the top half of her loose coiled hair up in a side ponytail. Her bottom half of hair is stretched, the long tight curls falling freely. Her brown eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky, her tawny skin clear and glowing.
She kept the rest of her hair down and always used a little bit of her magical energy to use a concealing spell to make the crescent moon-shaped scar that ran from her right ear across her face to a little under her chin invisible.
What was most noticeable about her other than her cute appearance that made many men easy to manipulate around her, was her belt around her waist that held a satchel for her key ring. She possesses many different keys all of a similar nature, five silver, three gold, and one platinum. This signified her as a holder-type wizard. Something she couldn't easily mask in battle unlike those whose holder type magic was less subtle and could be mistaken for a caster type mage.
However, not to boast, fortune was usually on Lucy's side. She wasn't too worried about it.
Wow, I can't believe this town only has one magic shop…for some reason I felt drawn to this town, she couldn't help but think to herself.
She couldn't afford to be distracted. She needed to find the one, she had no time to waste, she never knew when people would find out her secret and try to take what her family has protected for generations.
"Excuse me," Lucy said approaching the front desk of the store straight to the point, "by any chance are there any gate keys for sale here?"
"Gate keys," the merchant rubbed his chin, "those are quite hard to come by these days, you sure you don't want anything else. A young lady such as yourself shouldn't be getting involved with such unpredictable magic."
He proceeded to show her different magic tools aimed at girls that can change the outfit you were to any color depending on your mood to which Lucy replied that she already had it unbothered by the merchant's underestimating her abilities, she didn't quite care what others thought of her and if they wanted to assume unfavorable characteristics of her well that just made proving them wrong all the more satisfying for her.
"This is a waste of time," Lucy sighed, "I am only looking for gate keys, gold preferred but I'll look at silver and other colors as well if you have them."
"Well, now that you mention it we do in fact have a silver one just in and befitting of a young lady such as yourself," the merchant quickly went to the back of the store and brought back a wooden box presenting it to the blonde when lifting off the top.
"Wow a Canis Minor, I have actually been looking for one of those," Lucy smiled, "How much?"
"Twenty-thousand Jewels,"
"That's funny I can't help but wonder how much it really is," Lucy replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"I said twenty-thousand jewels,"
"I wonder how much it really is, dandy mister," Lucy said, ensuring the man got the tiniest peek at her cleavage by bending over the counter slightly, arms hugging under her chest to lift up her well-endowed breasts a little bit.
What can she say there was no shame in her game.
XOXOXO
"Seems like I didn't master the sex appeal strategy as much as I hoped," Lucy sighed to herself, "He only gave me a one-thousand jewel discount. Sorry Aphrodite but I've failed you!"
Lucy's frustrated as she kicks a random sign to hide her sorrow as she thought about old times with some of her tutors, the only time she didn't have to be alone with the silence and many expectations.
Random citizens watch the girl's quirky behavior too scared to interrupt on the off chance that the girl is lacking in the sanity department.
Suddenly she notices a few young women run to an already large gathering crowd of ladies excitedly. Lucy can't help but let curiosity get the better of her and decides to check and see what all the fuss is about.
"A famous mage is in town!"
"It's Salamander!"
"Salamander?" Lucy questions wondering just where she had heard that name before. It was starting to bother her as she joined the crowd. She wondered what kind of mage this Salamander guy could be and why did that name alone make her magic feel at ease and on the edge at the same time.
What Lucy sees is an utter disappointment when she lays eyes on the salamander of the crowd. She eyes the mage up and down and instantly notices the charm ring the mage attempts to hide, kipping one arm behind a cloak. However, she could sense it, after all had Aphrodite known she fell for a little charm spell she'd punish her, and Lucy by far hated discipline from that tutor the most.
"Igneel!"
A young man pushes his way through the crowd of girls directly in Lucy's eyesight. Lucy doesn't know what happened but when she looks at the sudden appearance of the man she's pretty sure she never met before caused something to snap within her.
There was no way.
The young man who Lucy can't help but notice has hair as pink as salmon. It suited him well she notes, he's well built but still lean wearing only a black vest, parachute pants, sandals, and a peculiar scarf around his neck. The sight of the scarf makes her head feel wobbly but it soon goes away when she doesn't focus on it. His excited face quickly turns to a questioning look eyeing the one who calls himself Salamander confusedly.
"Who are you?" he asks.
The so-called Salamander is flabbergasted at the very idea that there is someone that does not know who he is causing the facade he was attempting to put on to fade before gathering his composure.
"Maybe you know me as Salamander," the man says, striking a random pose with a display of mediocre fire magic until he notices the pink-haired mage has already lost interest and has walked away from the gathering, "Gone already?!"
Lucy watches as girls attempt to chastise the pink-haired man and force him to apologize much to his annoyance until Salamander cuts in and tells them that's enough weaving a story of how he knows the boy didn't mean it to which the girls randomly fall harder for the faux-Salamander and fawn over how he's supposedly so kind.
Lucy doesn't like this one bit.
"I'll give you my autograph, you can show it off to your friends," he tells the pink-haired man much to the girls' delight and envy.
"I don't want it,"
This quickly angers the girls under the charm's control again as they boot him out of the crowd shrieking about how rude he is.
Lucy pays no mind to the phony-Salamander's dramatic departure as she eyes the pink-haired mage and his small blue cat companion.
"It wasn't him," she hears the cat say.
"What is he," the boy questions, watching the dramatics with a frown on his face.
Lucy decides she might as well thank the boy for his sudden arrival and help to confirm that Salamander was lying about who he was and she needed to observe the boy a little longer. There was no way she met the one already, right?
This was unexpected but if she had finally found the one she needed to know immediately.
She approaches them.
"He is really disgusting,"
The two turn to her a look of question across both of their faces.
"Hi, thanks for earlier," Lucy gives them her brightest smile, if this is who she had been waiting for she wanted to make a great first impression heck she wanted to make a good impression regardless.
XOXOXO
This guy is the one? Lucy can't help but think as she watched the man in front of her practically inhale the food as if it got captured in his hurricane. In spite of all that he tried to talk with his mouth full! Not quite the prince she had always imagined in her dreams.
Still, she tried not to judge him too hard and the guy seemed nice enough.
Not to mention because she invited him to the meal she decided to pay for and well...needless to say there goes her small discount from using her sex appeal.
She learned that the man's name is Natsu and his blue cat companion's name is Happy.
She decided to make conversation and thank them for their help confirming a theory she had about the mage as her two companions were too busy stuffing their faces. She told them about how that guy was a mage and using a charm spell.
This ran into a further conversation of her explaining magic and different guilds and how she had been thinking about looking into the different ones to see which one could possibly be the right fit for her. This really excited her as she was excited to find a place that felt like home.
"I-I see…," Natsu said, finally taking a pause in his eating to consider the girl in front of him who was nice enough to pay for their meal despite the fact that they're total strangers. There was something to this girl he just didn't know what his instincts were telling him they were.
"You talk a lot," Happy puts bluntly.
"Haha yeah," Lucy nods undeterred, "by the way you guys said you were looking for someone?"
"Aye, it's Igneel,"
"I heard that Salamander is coming to town, so we came but it was the wrong person,"
"The salamander didn't look like a salamander,"
"I totally believed that it was Igneel too…"
"Hmm, how could a human look like a salamander," Lucy couldn't help but ask them.
"Huh, he's not human," Natsu replied, "Igneel's a real dragon."
"How could a dragon as big as I'm told they are...be in a port town like this," Lucy questioned, not mockingly just pretty shocked by the whole ordeal at her two companions' sudden shocked state as if they never would have considered that only further aids her confusion.
She was dealing with quite the characters here. Lucy couldn't help but giggle at their shocked faces but she wanted to show them she understood where they were coming from.
"I'm looking for someone too," she admits, eyeing them but more so Natsu.
"Oh?"
"...Natsu," almost dramatically Lucy stood up from the booth kneeling to the boy as if before a king, "will you please be the one to bind my heart."
To say that the two longtime friends before her were shocked was an understatement. What was up with this girl? Happy couldn't help but wonder why she was bowing to Natsu of all people. What was binding a heart? Did that mean she liked him?
Much to Lucy's surprise the two got on her level and bowed as well.
"No, no." Natsu said, "We should be thanking you. Thank you so much for the food!"
That was the response Lucy was least prepared for at first, her panic instinct set in at the thought that she might have gotten rejected then he decides to repay her gift and request with only gratitude of his own? This wasn't how she was told to go about this.
But then again maybe she should have waited and got to know Natsu a bit more...oh well there's no helping it now. Now she simply had to...had to leave yeah that will do. She needed to retreat to come up with a new strategy!
Yes, yes Athena would be proud of her fast strategizing, she hoped.
"Don't worry about it, you helped me too...as I already said," Lucy said standing up abruptly, "so call it even, right?"
"I don't feel like I helped you at all though," Natsu replies, still bowing.
"Aye it doesn't feel right," Happy agreed.
"Oh yeah I know," Natsu decides, standing up and pulling out the autograph from the fake Salamander as if to give it to her excitedly, "you can have this!"
"I don't want that!"
XOXOXO
Lucy sighs to herself that it was a total failure but she can try again. She'd just have to run into Natsu again hopefully before he left town. She knew it was already written in the stars anyway. Fate for people like her and whoever they encountered that way already was.
Still, she couldn't help but want to push fate a little. It was the least she deserved for what it had done to her.
She read the latest issue of sorcerers weekly to distract her mind from this.
She read about the latest shenanigans that the Fairy Tail magic guild was up to. Apparently, they had taken down a long-standing crime family's headquarters but also destroyed seven civilian homes in the process...she couldn't help but laugh and wonder out loud what a guild like that was like from the inside.
Surely it had to have plenty of strong wizards that could help explain her fate.
"I see you want to join Fairy Tail,"
Lucy turned to see the fake Salamander from before jumping out of the bushes behind the bench she sat at.
"Oh man I've been looking all over for you, I really wanted to invite a beautiful lady such as yourself to our party on a ship," he informs her.
"Your charm spell won't work on me, the weak spot of the magic is awareness and I was able to confirm earlier of your possession of it," Lucy deadpans.
"See I knew you were a mage," fake Salamander rubs his chin, "you want to join Fairy Tail right? Come to the party and I'll get you in."
Lucy knew she couldn't trust this guy as far as she could throw him but she knew she would have to attend this party to find out just why she didn't trust him so much besides the fact that he had no business using a charm spell ring. She had to stop him.
So she agreed to let him think she was oblivious to his obvious ill will.
XOXOXO
"So your name's Lucy, pretty name for a pretty girl," fake Salamander says, bringing out wine and pouring two glasses.
"Mmhm," Lucy fakes a smile, the sweetest and most absent-minded one she can muster.
"Let's toast,"
"Don't you have to attend to other girls?"
"It's fine for now I just want to drink with you," he tells her enchanting the wine glasses so tiny bubbles of wine would float out of the glass and come towards her lips, "open up."
As soon as It's close enough for Lucy to smell it she swats it away.
"What exactly are you planning, I know that's mixed with a sleeping potion,"
"Oh how did you know,"
"Not even going to make up some excuse…" Lucy was really confused about this guy.
"You're a bad girl if you just fell asleep like all the others you wouldn't have to get hurt,"
Before Lucy knows it four muscular men come from a back sliding door and attempt to grab her but having sensed their presence the entire time she manages to narrowly dodge them.
"Who are you people," she asks, eyes narrowing.
"Huh, you're a fast one,"
"She's gorgeous too she'd go for an even higher price than we thought,"
"See Lucy welcome to our slave ship," fake Salamander introduces, "men grab her and put the magic restraint handcuffs on her quickly so we can head to Bosco already!"
Oh, so that was it huh. This man would lure women in under the influence of the charm spell, knock them out and then sell them off as slaves in other countries.
This was far more sinister than she could imagine. She felt her magic flare out dangerously as emotion started to overtake her at the thought of just how many people they hurt.
"Uh boss what's going on,"
"I thought you said her magic power was at a beginner's level at best!"
"Calm down you idiots it obviously means nothing," fake Salamander said, pulling out something ready to brand her.
This wouldn't do just as she was ready to strike back the guy she was least ready to but was the most welcome to see again came crashing through the ceiling.
He caught everyone off guard.
"The guy from earlier," fake Salamander questioned.
"Natsu," Lucy smiled.
Before they knew it the boy was already acting as if he would puke from a sudden illness.
Lucy was really starting to question fate and how it had the audacity to have them cross paths again in such a melodramatic way.
"Why would a brat fall from the sky," fake Salamander had some questions himself.
"And he seems to have motion sickness," a random grunt stated.
"Lucy what are you doing," a new voice asks.
Lucy looks up.
"Happy," she greets, "this guy was up to something so I had to investigate. By the way, were those wings there earlier?"
"We'll talk about it later," to her surprise Happy picks her up and they fly away through the hole in the ceiling Natsu created.
"Huh what about Natsu," Lucy inquires.
"I'll come back for him or something, I can only carry one at a time,"
"Get back here," fake Salamander yells, aiming a magic attack of deep purple flames at them.
Happy manages to dodge them hastily but as the wind and current picks up so do their attacks as they start to fire cannonballs at them.
As if luck couldn't have abandoned them anymore, Happy's apparent magic wears off for the time being and they go pummeling into the water. Lucy braces herself as she tries her best to have a firm grip on her keys.
Despite her efforts, she loses them but finds them just as quickly on a sharp rock nearby.
She and Happy swim back to the top to break for air.
"Since it's water I can summon her...but I'll definitely get an earful for dropping the keys no matter how accidental…" Lucy ponders, "Oh well I have to do it now."
"Open the gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!," Lucy yells, adding, "Star Dress: Aquarius Form!"
"Whoa, what's that magic Lucy," Happy asks, "you can summon a fish lady?!"
"I'm a celestial spirit mage," she informs him, "I use the keys of the zodiac and beyond to summon spirits to help me and with the more advanced star dress skill I can borrow their magic in a Requip magic like fashion."
"Aquarius I need your help to send that ship back to the coast," Lucy points.
"Tch,"
"Hey come on now why the tch?"
"That's what you decide to comment on," Happy wonders.
"Such a noisy kid all that training from the trinity celestials for nothing,"
"Uh is that so…," Lucy sweats, trying not to show either cockiness or fear.
"Let me tell you one thing, Poppet," Aquarius glares, " Drop my key again and all that training won't even matter because I'll kill you before you're even before that little boy toy of yours can bind your magic! You hear me!"
"I-I'm sorry,"
"Now then let's go," with the turn as if the water came straight from the large vase she held Aquarius was able to send giant tidal waves sending everyone in its path including Lucy to shore.
At the port, Lucy grumbled. She was starting to think Aquarius was really just aiming at her but had actually been helpful by accident.
The water spirit told her as much as she told her not to summon her for a while as she told her she was going on vacation with her boyfriend and then proceeded to brag about having a boyfriend when Lucy had never even had a first kiss.
"...don't know why I'd expect anything different from her," Lucy says disappointed.
"You don't really get along huh," Happy notes.
"...it's complicated," Lucy agrees, "but at the very least we made it. All the other girls should be safe once the military arrives."
"...we forgot about Natsu," Happy laughs.
XOXOXO
"Natsu," Lucy still in her Aquarius star dress and ready for battle yells as she and Happy finally find him, "Are you o-,"
"Brat...don't you know you can't get on someone else's ship without permission," the fake Salamander asks him.
Natsu says nothing, he just stares them all down, a look on his face that only slightly surprises Lucy, one of seriousness and complete concentrated focus.
"Throw him out," the fake salamander tells his goons just as Natsu continues to stare them down.
"No, wait I'll-," Lucy says as she begins to concentrate her magic beginning to glow.
"Don't worry about it," Happy cuts in, "We didn't mention it earlier but Natsu's a mage too"
"That does make sense all things considered," Lucy replies quietly. She doesn't know why she never considered this earlier but she supposed it all was beginning to add up.
The gears of fate were now in motion; she just hoped it was leading them to where they needed to be. She wasn't sure what to make of Natsu just yet but fate chose him for her and she was willing to find out why.
"You," Natsu points to the fake Salamander, "are you a fairy tail mage?"
"What about it," he replies.
"Let me get a good luck at you,"
Upon further inspection, Lucy decides Natsu's come to whatever conclusion he was looking for.
He removed the red jacket he'd been wearing revealing just a black sleeveless vest underneath before he attacked, Natsu counters by knocking out a couple of the goons by knocking them into each other.
"I'm Natsu of Fairy Tail and I've never seen you before in my life!"
"So Natsu is the one actually from Fairy Tail," Lucy's eyes widened.
Low and behold there's a guild mark in red on his right shoulder in red.
"Wait…that mark!"
"He's the real deal, Bora!"
"You idiot! Don't use my real name," fake Salamander now identified as Bora yells.
"Bora...that's the guy who was expelled from the titan nose guild years ago," Happy clarified.
"I heard of him," Lucy replied, "he used magic to steal, and that's why they rightfully banished him."
"Bad person, good person...I don't care," Natsu said, "but I can't forgive you for using Fairy Tail's name for this!"
"Whatever you're a brat," and like that Bora fired his strongest attack at Natsu deep purple flames in all.
Lucy tried to get closer but Happy suddenly flew in front of her holding her back.
"Hmph," Bora smirks thinking everything's over.
"Yuck." Natsu grimaces amongst the flames and all, "what is this? Are you really a fire mage? These flames taste awful."
Bora and his goons are left shocked beyond their mind's comprehension. Lucy's head begins to ache slightly.
It only worsens the shock and the headache once they visibly watch Natsu eat the fire as if he was eating normal food as they had earlier.
"Thanks for the meal," Natsu smirks.
"Wha-what is he," Bora screams.
"Fire?! Did he just eat fire?!"
"Is he some kind of demon?!"
"Fire won't work on Natsu," Happy explains.
"I-I don't know what's happening," Lucy says, rubbing her head hoping to ease the ache there.
"Lucy," Happy questions hoping the blonde is okay.
"Now that I've eaten, I can feel my power," Natsu declares, preparing a breath attack, "Here I come."
Bora attempts to run away.
"Can he be…," one of the goons says, "Bora I've seen him before! Rosy hair and a scarf on a dragon scale pattern! No doubt. He's. The. Real.-,"
Before they know it they're all swept up in Natsu's massive red flames.
"Salamander…" Lucy realizes watching as Natsu punches his imposter with a fist of matching red flames and tells him to remember this.
Happy informs everyone that Natsu uses ancient magic called dragon slayer magic that turns your body to the power of a dragon and its original purpose is to defeat dragons themselves. He also told her that Igneel gave Natsu this power.
"A dragon teaching humans how to defeat dragons," Lucy considered this headache finally eased she supposed, "that's a little counterproductive on their part isn't it?"
"But you...didn't doubt it at all," Happy notes shocked used to that kind of treatment.
"A dragon...slayer," Lucy says, beginning to feel the slightest bit of dizziness before getting over it once she notices what the power did to the town, "it's a-amazing but he overdid it!"
"The port is destroyed now and messy!"
"Aye," Happy agrees.
Lucy notices Bora is defeated and won't be waking up anytime soon if at all before the sudden arrival of knights, probably sent from the magic council. They all seem agitated at all the damage done.
"Looks like the military finally got here,"
The next thing she knows her wrist is grabbed, she turns to see it's Natsu pulling her along with Happy flying above their head.
"Crap, let's get out of here," Natsu yells.
"Why are you dragging me along," Lucy questions.
"You said you wanted to join a guild you can truly belong to, right?"
Lucy just watches him for some reason; it's as if all her personal stars align. What had snapped earlier finally began to form something far greater to replace it and make her whole as the two gazed into each other's eyes. Natsu smiles.
"Then join Fairy Tail,"
Lucy grins brighter than she ever has in a long, long time.
"Will you be there?"
"Of course you weirdo, we still have to do whatever that bind thing is right? Sounds fun,"
"Okay!"
XOXOXO
"...Ultear stop playing during the meeting,"
"But I'm bored already, you Lord Seighart?"
"Yeah I'm bored too, I hope someone will cause some kind of trouble soon,"
"Watch your mouth!"
"How could those brats become council members?!"
"Because we have strong magic…" Ultear said, checking her nail polish dismissively.
"Silence, both of you. The magic world is filled with many problems but we especially want to take care of-,"
"Those idiots of Fairy Tail," a man slams a newspaper on the table, "They did it again!"
Everyone in the magic council discusses the ruining of the ports of Hargeon and the event that caused such destruction.
"I do like the idiots though,"
"I, myself have to agree with my blue-haired friend here," a sudden voice caught everyone off guard as the magical presence made most men quake at the knees.
The woman was strikingly beautiful with storm gray eyes, a sharp nose, olive skin, and sharp monolid eyes with long eyelashes. Her hair is loose textured and went past her butt with various french braids intertwined with what appeared to be threads made of pure bronze.
She wore a simple gray pantsuit that was all white and a bronze button down shirt underneath. Her shoes were strappy high heels and black. Her nails were perfectly french manicured and toes matched.
"L-Lady A-Athena you-"
The mentioned woman smiled, eyeing the one known as Seighart and his black-haired companion knowing how much trouble they're likely to cause for her precious student and all her companions in the future.
So you decided to join Fairy Tail, Lucy? How charming.
The council went into further discussion of Fairy Tail despite the sudden presence of a "hidden" council member, she, herself defended the guild on her precious student's behalf reminding everyone there of how even though the guild causes a lot of damage they do in fact get the job done and are a guild of considerably powerful mages and how it would be unwise to upset a guild that housed Makarov, Gildarts and The Titania.
This of course silenced everyone that a woman of such high stature would be in the guild's defense. Luckily the uncomfortable, only uncomfortable to those that weren't Athena, silence was soon broken.
"Just let them be…her majesty, Athena makes a good point," the man identified as Sieghart decides, "besides if the world didn't have idiots like them well it'd grow to become quite boring."