A/N: Yas! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 7: You Don't Have A Choice

February X792

Conrad stared between the two Vermilion Wyvern mages and the thief that had stolen his egg. He frowned at them, seeing that they were all empty handed.

"So, I'm going to assume he no longer had the egg?" Conrad asked, looking over at Lenz.

"No, sir, he did not."

"I mean, he kind of does," Liv added, feeling Lenz's eyes snap over to her. She did her best to ignore his gaze.

"What does that mean?" Conrad asked.

"He ate the egg and he-"

"You ate the egg?!" Conrad shouted, "Do you have any idea how much it was?! I know you don't have the money to pay it back! I should call the authorities now to come take you away!"

"Mr. Marsh, if you could just give us a mom-"

Lenz was cut off by the merchant's ranting and shouting. He turned to give Liv another look, feeling like things could have been handled better than just blurting out what happened. She could only give him a shrug in return.

He let out a sigh, moving in closer to her to be heard over Conrad's shouting, "I think it's time to call Weyland so we can get this sorted out."

"Yeah, probably," she said, wincing at a rather loud shout from the merchant, "I'm not sure how to do it though."

Lenz opened his mouth to respond, but then he realized that he didn't know what to do either. He gave her a shrug this time, "He said to call out for him, so I guess try that."

"Okay…um…hey, Weyland…we'd like to go home now, please."

"Go home?! Not until this is sorted out!" Conrad interrupted, "I won't accept being out four thousand gems!"

Lenz stepped in between Liv and the merchant, not happy that his anger was turning on them now when they did their job. He didn't think the man would lash out physically, but he wasn't taking that chance.

"Maybe try a little louder," Lenz said over his shoulder.

Liv cleared her throat before she shouted, "Weyland!"

"Heeeeeeey."

Liv jumped a little when she heard the voice pop up behind her. They all turned to see Weyland half hanging out of a portal. He fully stepped through, closing the portal as he started to look around the shop.

"Oh wow, there's so much cool stuff in here."

"Don't touch anything!" Conrad shouted as he smacked Weyland's hand away from an item he was about to grab.

"Whoa, you're wound up. You could use a smoothie."

"What?!"

"Weyland," Liv said, pulling him back towards her, "We're in a bit of a pickle here. We could really use Rhia's help. Can you make a portal to the guildhall? I'm pretty sure that's where she's at."

"Yeah, she's there," he said as he made a portal to show the inside of the guildhall.

Rhia sat at the bar with Cassie inside the circle. The guild master was just about to take a drink of her wine when she noticed the portal. A look of concern crossed her face when she saw an angry merchant and her mages.

"Are you okay, kiddo?"

It was Cassie that spoke first, seeing the heated merchant staring daggers at them. She quickly stood from her stool and began marching towards the portal, causing the merchant to pause in his anger for a moment and take a step back from the mages in front of him.

Rhia landed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, "Stay here."

"I can handle that guy," Cassie said, pointing a finger right at Conrad. He gulped when her eyes narrowed at him.

"I know," Rhia said, stepping in front of her, "That's what I'm afraid of," she added before making her way through the portal. She knew that Cassie was still staring the merchant down, but at least she had listened to her and stayed on the other side of the portal, "What is going on here?"

"I'm out four thousand gems and they want to go home!"

Rhia shot the merchant a stern look, causing him to snap his mouth closed.

"I ask that you keep from shouting any further. I want to know what is going on and what I can do to help. Speaking like that helps no one."

"Yes ma'am," was all the merchant could answer with.

"Now, can one of you tell me what happened?" she asked, looking over at Lenz and Liv.

"We found the person who stole the egg," Lenz began, motioning over to the blonde with them.

"His name is Lucas," Liv added on.

"But he didn't sell it off like we thought."

"He ate it!" Liv said with a wide smile.

Rhia quirked an eyebrow and looked over at Lucas, who could only stare back at her in return.

"Really? You ate it?"

"I was starving."

"But you ate an egg that you knew nothing about?"

Liv stepped in for Lucas, sensing he was getting worked up by having to explain his situation again.

"He has nothing, Rhia. He saw the egg and saw food. He didn't know what it was worth until today."

"And I didn't want to come back to the merchant with nothing, so we brought him back here to explain what happened."

"Oh! Also!" Liv said, stepping closer to Rhia and whispering in her ear. After Conrad's reaction to everything, she no longer felt comfortable in divulging any more information to him but knew that Rhia needed to know about the magic aspect of the egg and the promise they had struck with Lucas.

"I see," Rhia said, looking back over at Lucas. She took in his clothing and rough state. She looked back at Liv to see her looking so hopeful. She would need to have a discussion with her later about taking in strays like this, but she supposed making an exception just this once wouldn't hurt.

She motioned for everyone to go back through the portal into the guildhall, including Lucas.

"Hey! What about my money?!"

"What did I say about shouting, Mr. Marsh?"

He closed his mouth again while she began speaking with him privately.

The others in the guildhall watched with interest. Rhia came into the guild for a moment, walking up to her office and coming back down a few minutes later with a stack of gems in her hand. She handed them over to Conrad while he signed off on the mission request. She nodded at him while he let out a huff of irritation, but he was no longer shouting or causing a scene. She then pointed at something on the request paper, earning another huff from the man as he handed back some of the gems. She nodded again and turned on her heel.

"Let's go, Weyland," she said.

"Sure, there's some bad vibes here anyways."

The two were soon through the portal and Weyland quickly closed it. There seemed to be a moment of silence before a feeling of relief washed over them.

"That guy was a piece of work," Cassie huffed as she walked behind the bar and pulled out a decanter filled with a dark amber liquid, "You should have let me punch him instead of paying him off," she said as she poured herself a small glass of the liquid.

"You paid him off?" Lucas asked, just as surprised as the others in the room, probably more so.

"I did," Rhia said, taking her previous seat at the bar and finally taking a drink of her wine, "And punching him would do nothing for our reputation. At least this way, I was able to get him to sign off on and pay up for the mission since Lenz and Liv did complete it."

With that said, she split up the money between Lenz and Liv, taking the percentage owed to the guild from it.

"I haven't added in the fee for Weyland's transportation help, but expect a five percent cut of the reward for that in future missions."

"Um…thank you," Lucas said, feeling awkward that someone paid so much money on his behalf.

"You can thank Olivia, really," Rhia said, turning to look at him again, "She's the one that vouched for you and your magic. But you're not off the hook that easily," she said as a smile crept across her face, "You are indeed going to join this guild, you have no choice in the matter now that I've paid off that merchant. You're going to work missions and pay me back that money. I'm sure you also need a place to stay, and we have apartments for cheap that I own. I will be nice and give you the first two months there free, but after that it's five hundred gems a month. I will also be buying you some new clothes, at least enough for you to get by on for now. That will also be tacked onto what you owe."

'I should have left Fluorite when I had the chance!' Lucas thought, 'I don't know what's worse. Being poor as shit or being indebted to these people.'

He looked over to see Liv trying to smile at him. He had a feeling she meant well by doing so, but it didn't do much to make him feel better. Especially when she was standing next to Lenz who wore a smirk as Rhia listed off things he would owe for. He felt his eye twitch and did his best to calm down by imagining himself punching that smirk off his face.

He let that image play over and over in his head as he was made to follow Rhia up to her office to complete paperwork and receive his guild stamp.

. : + : .

It was hard for Lucas to be mad about the debt he owed after having taken a hot shower for the first time in months. And true to her word, Rhia had bought him some new clothes, at least a week's worth of them. He stood in front of the mirror in his bare apartment room, surprised by his clean, but lean face. He had lost more weight than he wished he would have, but his living situation had made it hard to eat on a daily basis. Maybe now he could actually eat meals consistently.

He looked behind him at the bed with white sheets and a single pillow. At least he could sleep somewhere consistently. Even if it looked bare and plain, it was probably the most luxurious thing Lucas had laid eyes on in a while. Anything had to be better than sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

He then heard a knock on his door.

He opened it to see Liv staring up at him with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I wanted to check to make sure that you were settling in okay."

Lucas threw an arm out to show his bare room, "Yeah, I've settled."

"That's good."

An awkward silence passed between them.

"Well, if that's it," he said, beginning to close the door.

"Wait!" she shouted, throwing out a hand to stop the door, "I'm sorry you got stuck with a large debt already."

"You and me both," he said, feeling irritated at being reminded of the money he owed.

"But I'm not sorry for bringing you here!"

He looked surprised for a moment. He hadn't expected her to sound so serious, especially over him.

"Guess I lucked out with having magic then."

"Even if you didn't have magic, I would have insisted you come home with us."

Another silence passed through them.

"Why?"

It was Liv's turn to look surprised. Why wouldn't she help someone? And why would he question that?

"Because you needed help, and I was able to give it."

"You can't save everyone, you know."

He was beginning to sound like Lenz. It made it feel like her optimism didn't matter at all. That her kindness was wasted. But she couldn't help being how she was. She wanted to see the good in people, and if she could help someone, why shouldn't she try?

"But I'm glad you did so for me."

It was a small and quiet response, but Liv had heard it loud and clear. Her head popped up from looking at the floor to looking right at Lucas. She saw those intense orange eyes soften just a little, and she smiled warmly in response.

Her help hadn't been wasted this time.

"But a tip for the future. You probably don't want to bring home any more homeless people. They're all not as great as me," he said, a small smile playing at his lips.

She laughed at that, "I'm sure."

"No, but really, don't bring home anymore vagabonds."

She saw the seriousness on his face and nodded at him, "You're my last one, I promise."

"Good."

A loud growl erupted from his stomach, interrupting them.

"Ah, yeah, that was the other reason I stopped by. I figured you could use a homecooked meal."

"Will it be added to my tab?"

Liv laughed again, "No. You're coming as my guest. And Cassie's family would never charge someone for food!"

"It won't be a problem?"

"Of course not. They always make a feast. Now, do you want to come or not?"

His eyes lit up at the prospect of a table full of food, "Say no more!"

And he was out the door and following Liv.

. : + : .

Late that night, Rhia sat in her office, staring over the paperwork she had Lucas fill out. She continued reading over his name, specifically his last name.

'Hammerfall,' she thought, 'Could he be…'

Her train of thought was interrupted when her office door opened.

"Figured you could use a nightcap," Cassie said, carrying two glasses filled with a dark bourbon.

"Yeah, I could."

She sighed as she set the paperwork down and took the drink from her wife.

"Rhia, was it wise to pay off that boy's debt?"

"You mean, will we be okay after paying it?"

"Yes."

"It'll be tight for a while, but we'll be okay," she said. She looked across the desk at Cassie and the worried expression she wore, "I promise we'll be okay," she added, setting a hand on top of Cassie's, "We just might have to hit up your mom and dad for a few dinners."

"That won't be a problem," Cassie said, finally letting a smile grace her face, "My mother is already saying we're not over enough."

"She probably wants us to move back in already."

"Probably."

The two took a moment to enjoy the quiet and sipped at their drinks.

"Cassie, I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing this with me. I know it's been a lot. Leaving Alexandrite, creating a guild, using all our money on said guild. We basically started over and I just…"

"It's okay, Rhia. And you don't need to worry. I wanted to do this, too. It has been a lot and it'll be a bit rough until things get going, but we'll make it. I don't regret doing this. You've never asked for anything, and after all your time in the military, you needed this. I think we all needed this."

Rhia's eyes watered at Cassie's response. She had been worried that the move and guild had been too much. That Cassie had been unhappy about the major change in their life. That she was just going along with things to make her happy. But she should have known better. If Cassie didn't want to do something, she would have made her opinions known from the beginning.

"Plus, this way I get to your pretty face every day now."

Rhia smiled at that, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Cassie said with a kiss to Rhia's hand, "Now then, what has you up so late anyways?"

"Our new member," Rhia said, picking up the paper she had been looking over earlier, "His last name is Hammerfall."

Cassie's eyes widened in recognition, "Hammerfall? Like the Hammerfall family?"

"There can't be any other family he belongs to."

"So that means…"

"Kaiser Hammerfall is his grandfather."

"Well, shit."

"My sentiments exactly," Rhia said, clinking her glass against Cassie's.

. : + : .

March X792

Liv sat behind the counter at The Magic Bean, having taken up a part-time job after she got back from the mission she took with Lenz the week prior. She hadn't originally planned to have a side job, but with the small amount of jobs they received as a new guild, she needed some extra cash on the side for now. Especially since she had decided to move into the guild apartments a few days ago at the beginning of the month. The rent was super affordable, and while she loved spending time with Rhia and Cassie, she wanted a place of her own. But she also needed a constant flow of gems coming in, so working at the coffee shop helped to make up for the funds that lacked through missions at the moment.

She had been lucky that Niall and Kali needed the help since a previous barista had quit on them a couple weeks ago. Learning the job had been easy enough so far. She had definitely learned more about coffee than she had ever planned to in her life, but the pay was decent, and the place was quiet. She was able to work on artwork in between customers, which her and Kali had begun to bond over. And there was the added bonus that they promised to cover her whenever she went out on a mission, so overall, it was a pretty good setup for her.

She hadn't been the only one to take on a part-time job either. She laughed as she pictured Lucas working as a janitor for the guild. Unlike herself, Rhia didn't give him much of a choice in the matter, stating it was to help pay back what he owed her. But he seemed to be fine with the job. He seemed happy to just have a roof over his head and food to eat now. She was pretty sure he had wolfed down half the food Sofia had set out when she invited him over for dinner. And she had never seen Sofia so happy over someone eating her food.

The tinkling of the bell over the front door drew her away from her thoughts. She looked over to see a man with caramel-colored hair walk in. Surprisingly, another pair of orange eyes met hers, but these ones were a deep, burnt orange. They reminded her of a warm autumn, pumpkin spice and a crackling fire. They made her feel at ease, and she immediately smiled at him.

"Hello! Welcome!"

He smiled at her in return, "Well, aren't you a bright little thing."

This caught her off guard and she laughed nervously, a small flush covering her cheeks.

He gave her an easy laugh, "Sorry, didn't mean anything by it. You just look so bright."

"Well, thanks! It makes the day easier, I think. At least, I hope it makes people feel good about coming here," she explained happily, "So, what can I get you?"

"What do you suggest?"

Liv had been waiting for someone to ask her that. Her eyes lit up at the request, "The dark mocha here is the best, but adding in a couple pumps of peppermint makes it even better! If you want something to eat with it, you can't go wrong with a simple coffee cake."

"Sounds perfect, I'll take both."

She nodded at him and set to work on getting his order ready.

"So, are you from here or visiting from out of town?" she asked.

"Visiting is the closer answer. I've been traveling around lately. This seemed like an interesting place to check out. It's a lot bigger than I expected."

"It really is! What did you think of the scenery when you walked into town? Pretty amazing, yeah?"

"Yeah, that waterfall is impressive."

"Wait until you see it in the summer at full swing!" She then realized that it was only the beginning of March, "If you're still here that is."

"I suppose that depends."

"On what?" she asked as she handed him the finished drink before moving to get the coffee cake.

"Well, I don't suppose you've heard of the new guild in town, Vermilion Wyvern?"

As he asked this, he tightened his fist around the crumpled flyer still in his pocket. He was amazed that the paper hadn't disintegrated yet from all the times he had squeezed it on his journey to Carnelian. He still wondered if he was making the right decision, but the question was out there now. He had to at least follow through on this conversation.

She jumped up at his question and stared at him with wide eyes.

"What? Something on my face?"

He hated how quickly he had switched back to that stupid joke, but it was instinct at that point when someone stared at him like that. But then he noticed how she was looking at him directly in the eyes, not at the scars. He hadn't realized until that moment that not once had she stared at his scars since he had entered the coffee shop.

'Probably just dumb luck,' he thought, 'She'll notice them soon enough.'

"Are you here to join the guild?!" she asked, completely ignoring his question.

"Are you part of the guild?"

"I am! Ooooo! This is so exciting! We didn't have to find some rando on the street this time!"

"What?" he asked, laughing over how ridiculous that sounded.

"Don't worry about it," she waved him off, "I'd take you there myself, but I'm the only one here at the moment. My name is Liv, by the way! Nice to meet you!"

She stuck out her hand to him.

He looked down at it and then back up at her to see her just beaming at him. He hated to think it, she seemed so nice, but the thought of this all just being a ploy to get him to join was there in his mind. People tended to be overly nice when they wanted something, and being a new guild, they probably wanted as many people as they could get right now.

But that stupid voice in the back of his mind pushed him.

Shake her hand already, you moron!

The voice was practically shouting at him. He couldn't believe he listened to it to come to this town and now he was going to listen to it again when he was probably about to be duped.

'Fuck!' he thought, 'Apparently I just enjoy heartache.'

He then clasped his hand into hers.

"You can call me Flick."

"That's a cute name!"

"You're just cute in general," he said with a wide smile. Two could play at being nice.

Liv laughed loudly at that, her cheeks flushing again, "You're like a breath of fresh air compared to the other guys in the guild."

"Well then, if you just point me in the right direction, I can size them up myself."

"Oh, no need for that," she said with a playful glint in her eyes, "Yo, Weyland!"

"What's up?"

Flick jumped when a blonde man appeared beside him.

'Where the hell did he come from?!' he thought, looking around the place for some sort of secret door he had missed when scoping the room out earlier.

"I have a new member for the guild here!" she said, motioning to the man next to him, "This is Flick! Could you take him to meet Rhia?"

"Sure. Glad to have you hear, buddy," Weyland said, patting Flick on the shoulder a couple of times, "Follow me to the boss lady."

"Here, take these with you," Liv said, handing over a tray with three drinks on them, "The black coffee is for Cassie, the coffee with cream is for Rhia and the caramel frappuccino is for you."

"You're the best, Liv!" Weyland said as he took the drinks and hoped back through the portal.

Flick looked a little apprehensive about stepping through the circle. How could he be sure it would take him where they said it would?

"Don't worry! You'll do great with Rhia! I promise!"

He looked back at Liv, seeing her still beaming, and for the first time in a long time, he decided to trust what she said. It couldn't hurt to at least meet the guild master and Liv looked so excited.

'I don't know why I'm digging myself deeper into this,' he thought, 'I'm just going to end up disappointed.'

Step through the portal, you idiot!

There was that goddamn voice again. He wasn't even sure who or where it came from. It was starting to make itself a little too comfortable, and he would deal with it later, but for now he could at least enjoy the ride of what was going on. There was no point in dampening the mood just yet.

Before he turned to walk through the portal, he gave Liv one last look. She was still smiling at him, still looking him in the eye.

"Thanks," he said before he could stop himself. He hadn't wanted to say it. He didn't want to bring it up or ruin the atmosphere between them.

"Hmm?" Liv hummed, cocking her head to the side, "For what?"

'For what?!' he shouted in his head, 'I know you have to see what's on my face!'

But he kept those thoughts to himself.

He couldn't tell if she was hiding her reaction to his scars or if they hadn't affected her at all. He decided he didn't care to know. Regardless of how she felt about the scars, she had at least been nice enough to not bring them up or stare at them.

"Just…thanks."

She just smiled again and waved at him, "I'll see you later at the guild!"

And for just the briefest of moments, he couldn't wait to see her again either.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Credits

Fletcher 'Flick' Bledsoe – vanillard

I really enjoyed this chapter and all the different interactions going on! So, I hope you all did too! I really hope everyone's characters are turning out the way they imagined! I really love all of them!

I had originally planned to close out this small first arc this chapter, but it felt a bit rushed to do that and I had a couple small ideas for another chapter, so things got expanded to one more chapter before this arc ends and the next one begins.

Also! Dread and I decided to do a writing challenge for the first time in a long time! I'm really excited about it! So, for this week, I'll be writing as many chapters as I can, and he will have to match them next week! So be on the look out for all the updates!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited the story! I always, always appreciate it! So, a big thank you like always!

That should be it for now.

Until next chapter!

MyDearWatson