Chapter 2
After the decision had been made that Logan would return with Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and the Exceeds to join Fairy Tail, the only thing left to arrange was their travel back to Magnolia. Everyone knew that it was a six hour ride on the train to get from Freesia to Magnolia and Logan had wondered what the big deal about that was when the Natsu guy had started squawking some complaints. Logan deduced quickly enough from the back and forth yelling that Natsu seemed to be prone to motion sickness, but it wasn't until someone had asked him if he had any problem with the train that he had spoken for the first time since agreeing to come with them.
"Well, no, I don't have any issues riding the train, but I still can't. I need to drive my magic-cycle there in order to have it." Logan told them.
"You sure about that? No offense man, but that's a longer drive than riding the train and those bikes soak up a lot of magic. You sure you could handle that? We could get them to load it into the luggage compartment." Gray said.
"No, that'd be too expensive and I wouldn't want to hold everyone up while they got it loaded onboard. I'll be fine, really. I rarely push it so hard that the bike takes too much of my magic power."
That had been mostly the extent of their momentary parting of ways at the Freesia train station. Erza had asked if he'd be able to find his way, but Logan had assured them that he'd been to Hargeon once, so he wouldn't have any trouble finding Magnolia since he knew it was so close.
After leaving each other there, the train ride for the seven Fairy Tail members had been the usual affair with plenty of groaning and vomiting threats from Natsu, but aside from that, nothing of note had happened. Back at Magnolia's station, they waited for Logan to arrive. An hour past their own arrival, they weren't worried about him. At an hour and a half, they started to wonder if he'd maybe gotten lost. At two hours, although none of them voiced their concerns, they were starting to wonder if Logan had perhaps just said he would come with them as a pretense to slip away without saying anything. Wendy had just been about to suggest they maybe try to go looking for him along the road when they heard the unmistakable growl of a magic powered engine and Logan arrived in front of the station just a minute later. The others all walked quickly up to him as he removed a bike helmet.
"Where have you been?!" Lucy demanded haughtily. "You should have gotten here at least forty-five minutes ago!"
"One of the roads got cut off by a rockslide and I had to backtrack for about twenty miles to find another route." Logan explained.
"We were starting to get worried about you. We thought you might have had some kind of accident on your way here." Wendy told him.
Although Logan kept it out of his face, the fact that Wendy had been concerned for his well being surprisingly triggered a feeling of satisfaction. He wasn't entirely sure why, but it felt good to know she had been thinking of him.
"All's well now, so lets go on. It's a bit of a walk to the guild hall, so we should get started." Erza said.
They all then started off walking, Logan pushing his magic-cycle by its handlebars. From a few scraps of information and things he'd overheard, Logan knew that Magnolia was a lake town with a reasonably intricate system of canals interlacing with the regular streets. Knowing this, it came as a slight surprise to him when he noticed that they seemed to be taking the road he'd just come in on, heading back into the forest. It didn't afford him a very good look at the town itself, but Logan figured he'd be spending a lot of time around here in the days to come, so it didn't make much difference.
About twenty minutes after leaving Magnolia Station, they were deep into the hills, heading up above the town.
"Hey, Logan." Gray said out of nowhere.
"Yes?"
"I've been wondering about something. The flier for that job request said we needed to go see the client first, and it was necessary because he had information we needed to find them. How did you find the Damien Brothers without that info?" Gray asked.
"Come to think of it, that's a very good question. How did you manage that? You arrived there at exactly the same time as we did." Carla added.
Logan said nothing. He continued walking forward without even looking at any of them.
"Hey." Lucy said softly, sidling up next to him. "You know, since you're joining the guild, you'll need to start sharing some things. I can get it if you're not comfortable around us yet, but maybe you can just give it a try. We're you're friends now, after all."
Logan turned his head to look at her, and saw that her large, brown eyes were softly inviting him to speak. Before he could think any more about it, he felt a small hand tugging at his jacket sleeve on the opposite side and looked over to see Wendy there.
"Would you please tell us? I'd really like to hear the story."
Wendy's little face and her own brown eyes were so sweet, so charming in their innocence that it broke down Logan's resistance completely.
"Well, it's not really that big a deal. I didn't do anything special. I told you all that I got the job from the Hardwood Freelance Office in Croqus. Well, obviously I saw the note on the flier asking me to go see the client, but I knew another way I could find out where they were and thought it would be faster than making that trip. Since I knew that the Damien brothers were hitmen, I knew they'd need a broker to get them their jobs, so I went to see someone I knew could tell me what I wanted to know. He's basically an underworld middle man. Doesn't have anything to do with crimes himself, just sets things up when two different parties are looking to meet up with each other. He operates out of the horse racing track in Era.
In a way, I was actually lucky. A couple months ago, I did this other bounty hunting job, and the middle man happened to be setting up my target and someone else at the time. Things went sideways on that deal. I'm not sure how or why, but the two guys started trying to kill each other, and if that'd happened, I wouldn't have gotten paid, so I had to step in. Got my target and ended up saving the middle man in the process, so I called in the debt and found out where the Damien's broker hung his hat.
After that, it was a four hour ride to Dawn City to get to the broker's place. I had to put on a bit of an act to get the info out of him, you know really make him think I was worse than the Damiens, because I didn't have the money to bribe him, and that wouldn't do much on a professional killing broker, anyway. I really don't know how the guy managed to survive in his trade, because he was a small, pretty meek kind of guy. I thought I might have to give him a few not too damaging but not too gentle at the same time punches to loosen his tongue, but it never came to that. Tearing up his office and a few holes in his walls did the trick and he gave them right up. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not too sure whether he was afraid of me or just hoping to get rid of the Damiens for some reason.
In any case, he told me that they were preparing for a new job and that they let it slip they always go to the same place to do that. That it was some out of the way place, real remote and they could get rid of all their preparatory evidence either by burning or burying it without anyone ever knowing. He didn't know exactly where it was, but knew that it was north of Freesia.
Knowing that, I got back to Croqus as fast as I could and went straight to the public library. I spent a few hours pouring over topographical maps and historical records of the Freesia area and discovered that there had been a different settlement north of the current town about four-hundred years ago. It died out because of a drought or something, but the book said that a few ruined buildings from the town still stood among the trees. I picked what looked like the best bet to me and took the chance.
Once I had that figured out, it was just a matter of getting the supplies I'd need to haul them in and get out there. Took the last of the money I had to get prepared. Had to spend the better part of a day pushing my bike through the woods given how dense it was, but that was really the hardest part, and you all know the rest."
For the first time since he'd started talking, Logan took note of how he had the others rapt attention and it made him uncomfortable to have all their eyes on him. It felt to him like a long time before anyone said anything.
"Wow." Gray finally spoke up. "That's really impressive, man. You went all out. That's some prime detective work you did. I'm a little surprised to hear you know a guy like that broker, but that actually makes sense."
"Yeah, I agree. You take a lot of those freelance jobs, I guess you're bound to develop those kinds of contacts in low places. Nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed for. Just means you did your job well, right?" Natsu asked Logan, beaming him a friendly smile.
"Uh, yeah, right. That's right." Logan replied back, his feelings of awkwardness abating.
"Well, I suppose that's one of way looking at it. I certainly wouldn't be proud to have contacts among such snakes." Carla said haughtily.
"Oh, Carla, it's not a big deal. After all, it's not like he was friends with any of them, right Logan?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, right."
"I agree with Natsu as well. I think it just goes to show how adept you are, and those skills will certainly come in handy for the jobs you'll take from the guild." Erza told him with a small smile. "Speaking of which, we've arrived now."
Logan looked up at the building in front of him, and it wasn't what he'd been expecting. He'd heard that the Fairy Tail guild had declined from a previously supreme standing as the best guild in Fiore, but given the usual state of other wizard guild halls he'd seen, he hadn't thought it would be this bad. The building he was looking at was a three story structure in the middle of a large clearing. It had a windmill on top, a clothesline with laundry drying in the wind extending from one side, cut lumber on the other, and the unmistakable sound of a chicken coop coming from somewhere unseen.
"This is your guild hall?" Logan asked, unable to keep the perplexity out of his voice.
"What?! Is there something wrong with it?!" Natsu barked.
"Uh... well, no... it's just..." Logan muttered, suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything.
"Natsu, leave him alone. You can hardly blame him. Most guild halls don't have their laundry hanging out for the world to see." Lucy said. "See, Logan, it's kind of a long story, but basically, we and a bunch of our other friends were kind of missing for a long time, and our guild spent a lot of money trying to find us. So much, that they ended up having to move into this farm just to be able to keep the guild together."
"You couldn't see it from the train station, but we used to have the really big building in the middle of town, right on the lake. It was a real nice place." Gray said.
"Right. Uh... sorry about that reaction. Just kinda expected something else." Logan said more defensively than he'd wanted to.
"It's alright. Really, we understand." Wendy told him.
"But, actually, I kind of like it. I mean, I've been in worse places, and besides, it's not like everyone lives here, right?"
"That's right. We all have our own places, and the guild actually has dorms that some of us live in. Me, I have my own cozy little apartment right on one of the canals in town. I just love it." Lucy said.
"Yeah, that... sounds nice."
"Let's go in. The day isn't over yet, and Master Makarov will still need to approve your joining us, and there are some forms you'll need to fill out together." Erza said.
"There are... forms? Like, needing personal information? I didn't know that." Logan said.
"Well, yeah, you'll need to get registered with us with the magic council, but it's really easy. Shouldn't take you more than about a half hour to finish." Wendy said.
With that, the others all proceeded towards the front doors, but Logan hung back for a second. For a brief second, he felt like just turning and walking away, but it was just a fleeting impulse. He reminded himself that he'd chosen to come here. He'd known there would be things he wouldn't exactly like or would be easy for him, but he'd wanted to stay close to Wendy and would have to endure some difficulties in order to do that. He took a calming breath in through his nose and out through his mouth and proceeded after his companions.
Logan rejoined them just as Natsu was opening the front, double doors, and watched as Gray instantly ducked underneath something streaking over him and past all of them. He saw a girl no older than all the rest of them with blue hair bobbed into shoulder length, curling buns land eight feet away, recover herself instantly and make a second attempt.
"My darling, Gray! You've returned to me!" She declared with a kind of hungry look in her eyes.
Logan watched with wonder as Gray grabbed her by the shoulders and held her as far away from himself as he could while she continually tried to close the distance.
"Jeez, Juvia! I've only been gone for three days! Can't I have five minutes before you start this up?!"
"Take that back!"
Hearing that heated declaration coming from inside the hall, without even thinking, Logan swung around to take it in. About forty feet away, what he saw was a group of four seeming to start up an argument right there. On one side of it was a group of three comprised of one lean man with bright orange hair tied up in a high ponytail, a second man who was of a significant plus size in all the most unfortunate ways, and between them, a very slight, petite girl with blue hair and a cute face. Standing across from them was a tall man with thick, bulging muscles, a mane of thick, black hair running down his back, and many metal studs in his face.
"You apologize to Levi right now!" The guy with the orange hair demanded.
"Guys! Please! It's really not a big deal!" The girl said.
Logan took it that she must have been Levi, and from the look on her face, he guessed that it wasn't the first time for her to try to disarm some kind of argument between the three males.
"Apologize for what?! It's not like I said anything that isn't true! She's so tiny, I literally didn't see her!" The guy with the studs shouted.
"You know, I think I've just about had it with you disrespecting Levi all the time! I think it's time we did something about that attitude of yours! Right, Jet?" The plus sized guy said.
"Right, Droy!"
"And would that be before or after you eat the chicken population of the world to extinction?" The guy with the studs shouted.
"Hey! Would you all mind keeping it down out here?!" A new voice asked.
It belonged to a guy coming out from some back room, and he was the biggest guy Logan could ever remember seeing. Both tall and bulky, he had to be at least twice the size of everyone else in the room in sheer muscle mass.
"I'm trying to get my daily workout in back here, and if you all were smart, you'd be doing the same thing so you can be real men, like me!" The huge guy finished his statement.
"Oh, would you cut it out with that 'real man' garbage, already?! Are you even capable of not saying that a hundred times a day?!" The guy with the studs asked heatedly.
"All of you shut up!" A new, female voice shouted over it all.
Unable to keep from watching the chaos unfolding in front of him, Logan's eyes wandered twenty feet over to the right to find a young, brunette girl sitting on top of a table. She appeared to only be about half dressed with nothing but a bra covering her torso, had an entire barrel held firmly in her hands, and from the flush to her cheeks and the almost imperceptible slur to her words, Logan guessed that it must be filled with liquor of some sort.
She went on, saying, "This is my drinking hour and you guys are killing my happy buzz!"
"What do you mean 'drinking hour?!' You've been going at it since one o'clock this afternoon! That's your fourth barrel already!" The guy with the studs fired back.
"So what?! They're my barrels, aren't they?!"
"Ugh! Thanks a lot, guys! I was just about to pick a job, but all this yelling interrupted my concentration and made me forget which one I wanted!" A guy shouted from in front of a large bulletin board.
"Oh, give it a rest, Nab! Why do you even bother? Everyone knows you haven't even touched a flier in nine years!" The guy with orange hair fired back.
"I was really gonna take one this time!"
"Oh, my! Things are so lively in here today!"
Logan adjusted his gaze to see that the newest speaker appeared to be another girl. This one was standing behind the bar in the back of the room, had hair of pure snow, and was sporting a sweetly amused smile while she polished a beer mug.
Turning back to the others, Logan first noticed that Gray still hadn't been able to get that girl to stop trying to tackle him, and then observed how none of the unfolding chaos he was witnessing seemed to phase any of them in the least.
"Uh... is it always like this here?" He tentatively asked.
"Course not!" Natsu answered immediately.
Logan relaxed his shoulders, glad to hear that it wasn't that common.
"Sometimes it gets really loud!" Natsu finished his sentence with evident pride.
Logan felt something tensing at the back of his skull.
"I know it's a lot to take in. Threw me for a major loop when I first joined as well, but you'll get used to it soon enough. And despite the appearances you're seeing now, these are actually all great people." Lucy said to him.
"Let's go." Erza said.
She gave Logan an impressively strong slap between his shoulder blades, sending him stumbling into the hall. Without missing a beat, every pair of eyes was on him.
"Hey, guys! We're back!" Natsu declared, stepping up beside Logan. "And we brought a new friend with us, too!"
If Logan had been uncomfortable with everyone in there staring at him, then it became borderline agonizing when they all crowded in and unabashedly looked him up and down.
"Uh... hi." He said, trying and failing to keep the meekness and fear out of his voice.
"Salamander, did you pick up this little bug? He looks almost as pathetic as you." The guy with the studs said.
"Little? We're the exact same height." Logan thought to himself.
Natsu stretched up and slammed his forehead directly against the stud guy's.
"What'd you say to me?! Say that again and see what happens! I dare ya!" Natsu hollered into his face.
Logan was then surprised to see the petite girl with blue hair pull the big guy back.
"Gajeel! Don't be so mean when he just got here!" She turned her head to make eye contact with him, and seeing her up close, Logan thought she actually looked like a very pleasant person. "Hi! It's nice to meet you, whoever you are. I'm Levi, and the junkyard dog here is Gajeel. Don't let him bully you. His bark is a lot worse than his bite. What's your name?"
"I'm... I'm Logan."
"Logan! That's such a nice name. Such a pleasure to meet you!"
It was the girl with the white hair. She'd come out from behind the bar and joined all the rest of them.
"How'd you all meet?" She asked the others.
"We kind of ran into each other on the job. Met him while we were taking care of that S class job from the board." Gray said.
Logan saw that he'd finally somehow managed to get that girl to stop pawing at him. She stood several feet behind him with an extremely depressed and defeated look on her face.
"Yeah, it was so cool! He came in out of nowhere and he helped us take care of those mean Damien brothers like they were nothing! He even saved my life in the process!" Wendy told the group.
"Oh? We got us a real man here, don't we?! High time we got another one in this guild! Me and my manly sisters been carrying the banner all by ourselves!"
Looking up at the huge guy with white hair, who was grinning down at him in a way Logan couldn't begin to understand and wasn't sure he wanted to, he couldn't help but wonder what on Earth-Land sisters of this person would look like.
The guy with the orange hair then said, "Wait, Wendy, you said you met him on the S class job? So that means he interrupted your officially registered job?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that. I'll explain it to everyone along with Master Makarov when he comes down to interview our new friend." Erza said.
"Master?" The girl with the white hair asked. "Why would master need to talk to him?"
"Didn't we tell you guys? He's here to join Fairy Tail." Lucy said to everyone.
Just then, Logan had the first girl he'd seen, the one who'd try to literally push herself on Gray come up and get right in his face, analyzing him. Logan usually tried not to show just how much he disliked being close to other people since he simply didn't know what to do, but with this girl just inches away and scrutinizing him so intensely, he couldn't help but reveal just how uncomfortable she was making him. As quickly as she'd invaded his space with a deadly serious expression, she smiled broadly and backed off a step.
"Hello! I'm Juvia and it's a pleasure to have you join our guild! I'm very happy to see that there won't be any issues between us with my darling Gray!" She said.
Logan looked over to Gray. "Am I missing something?"
"Just try to ignore her for the most part, man. She's... a little eccentric." Gray replied.
"Eh, he doesn't look so tough." Gajeel said.
"I assure you, he is a highly skilled warrior." Erza said back to him.
"You know, I think we're all being rather rude here, most of us haven't even introduced ourselves. Let me be the first to make up for that, I'm Mirajane Strauss."
She held out her hand to shake, and Logan to took it. From her shake, he thought that she didn't feel particularly strong. Certainly, it wasn't the same as when he shook Erza's hand and the strength in her just seemed to reverberate outward. Logan wondered if this Mirajane was really part of the guild or maybe just some kind of employee.
"So, we finally got some new blood in here, huh? Been a while now. I'm Cana, and you're a little cute."
The brunette had come up on his side, and being so close, he could smell the alcohol on her breath strongly. Was she coming on to him? From the look in her eye, he wasn't sure if she was serious, and it was a little hard for him to tell regardless. No girls had ever come on to him before.
"Levi already introduced herself, but we're her teammates. I'm Droy, and he's Jet. We're Team Shadowgear." The plus sized guy said.
"And Gajeel has already made his typical first impression." Levi added.
"Hmph! Like I care." Gajeel grunted.
"It's nice to meet you, Levi." Logan said.
"Ah, you too! I hope we can be great friends!"
"Over there at the board, that's Nab. He doesn't do much around here." Jet said.
"Guess, I'm the last one up! I'm Elfman Strauss! The manliest man Fairy Tail's ever seen!"
"Wait, 'Strauss?' So, you two are related?" Logan asked, having not even considered the possibility.
"We sure are! He's my darling baby brother! We have another younger sister too, but Lisanna's out getting some groceries right now. You can meet her later on."
Looking at the two of them there, Logan found it hard to believe that they were related. There was almost nothing he'd call even a passing family resemblance, although, upon closer inspection, he thought that their eyes actually did look pretty similar. He never would have guessed it on his own, though.
At that moment, from somewhere out of view, a door opened up and several pairs of footsteps drew closer. From the back came four new people. One was a young man with spiky, short black hair, earrings hanging from both ears, and dressed in a wool poncho over a regular shirt. Beside him was a girl in her mid-twenties with a red cowgirl hat on top of bright, shiny green hair. Logan was a little surprised to see how she was dressed, as she had on nothing but a black bra that revealed ample cleavage, a small vest that only covered the top of her back, a miniskirt, and calf high boots. Between them was a very small, elderly man who had a tremendous mustache beneath his nose and a very young girl with dark green hair and a pink cowgirl hat on her head riding on his shoulders.
"Hey, Gramps! We're back!" Natsu called out happily.
The new four all cut a beeline straight to the larger group. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy and the two Exceeds all reformed to stand beside each other in front of those approaching.
"Welcome home, my children." The old man said. "I trust that your job went well, and I hope that it came off without anything being destroyed."
"Nah, we didn't blow anything up this time! Nothing where anybody lives, anyway." Natsu said boisterously.
"That's very good. That's progress. I'm proud of you."
"And that's not all, Gramps! We ended up having to work the job with this guy here, and I talked him into coming back here with us. He wants to join Fairy Tail!"
They then parted a little, giving the spotlight back to Logan once again, much to his chagrin.
"Really? Is this true, young man? You wish to join our guild?"
"Uh, y-yes. Yes, sir. I do." Logan said a bit timidly.
"But, I don't understand something. Natsu, you said that your team and this young man worked the job together."
Erza then took a step closer to the man. From the look in her eye and the way she held herself, Logan could easily see that she greatly respected the older man. For some reason, deducing that Erza held him in such esteem set Logan at ease a little. Erza then proceeded to explain in great detail to the guild master about everything that had happened. She told him all about their accidental meeting, the fight with the Damien brothers, about the Duplex Acquisitione and everything. It was a good ten minutes before she was finished.
"I see. A very interesting development, indeed." The master said when Erza was finished. He then looked up at Logan with an appraising eye. "Very well, young man. If you wish to join our guild, then I'll allow it. I just need to ask you a few questions for the official registration procedures."
"Okay. Should we go into your office? I assume you have one." Logan said, hoping to at least get most of the watching eyes off of his back.
"That won't be necessary. These are very informal questions. Just basic information. Dear Asuka, I'm afraid we'll have to continue our game a little later."
"Here, I got her, master." The dark haired young man said. "Come here, munchkin."
"Aw, but Daddy!"
"Nope, sorry sweetie. Master has to do some guild work for the moment."
"I promise, we'll play more later, little one." The master assured her. "Now, young man, let's sit down."
He and the master moved to the nearest table and sat across from each other on the long benches. Logan could barely see the master's head over the tabletop for how short he was. Before they even started, the master turned to look out at all the others, who were still watching Logan keenly.
"I'm sure there's something else my children could be doing right now." His voice boomed.
Logan couldn't help but be impressed with the reverberating command present in the older man's voice. Everyone present all backed off and gave them some considerable space. Although, Logan noticed that Natsu and the others he knew the most all stayed within relative earshot. He took that to be their being curious as to whether he would be approved of or not.
"So then, first things first. My name is Makarov Dreyar, and I'm the Third Master of the Fairy Tail guild. You may call me whatever you're most comfortable with. And what is your name, young man?"
"I'm, uh..." Logan clammed up for a second. He wasn't used to telling people about himself. "I'm Logan Bloodborne."
"Logan Bloodborne. I see. That's a fine name. Now then, Logan, I need to ask you a few questions for the forms. I'll fill them out with your answers later on. First, I need to know where it was you were born."
Logan did not reply right away. It was a long moment before he said anything.
"Uh, Master Makarov, is this... well, is this strictly necessary?"
"These are only the standard questions. I assure you, every member of the guild has answered the very same ones. So, please, where were you born?"
Logan broke their eye contact, looking down slightly. He said nothing. They sat in perfect silence for a full minute before Makarov broke the stalemate.
"Perhaps we can come back to that question another time. What is your place of residence, and or, most previous address?"
Logan said nothing, not looking up and not even breathing audibly. Makarov studied the young man closely and to a degree was taken aback by the pensive look in Logan's eye.
"Um, in case of an emergency, or in the possible eventuality of your death, is there a next of kin or someone we should inform?"
The solemn, furtive look on Logan's face deepened even further. It was just a micro-expression, barely visible, but Makarov could see that for whatever reason, these questions were causing Logan a great, quiet stress.
"I can't remember the last time I met a person who was this uninclined to talk about themselves." Makarov thought to himself.
He gave it one more try.
"The magic council insists on all guild wizards listing the type of magic they specialize in. If you're joining us, you must have a particular magic which you practice. Could you tell me what it is?"
Logan's face remained unchanged and he said nothing. Makarov could see that it was no use. For whatever reason, the young man was clearly planning on not revealing anything about himself.
"The final question is for my own personal knowledge. Fairy Tail is a guild not quite like others, and it is very precious to me. I've spent the entire course of my life with it, so I must know, why do you wish to join my guild?"
In response, Logan finally looked back up, and the quality of his gaze had changed. He no longer looked as pained as he had a moment before, but his eyes still conveyed a reluctance. He did not answer that question.
"Very well, then." Makarov said. "I hereby approve your entrance into Fairy Tail."
That broke Logan's stony veneer and he looked Makarov straight in the face for the first time in five minutes. He noticed that the guild master had stood up on the bench, but that it didn't make him particularly taller.
"Wait, what? But, I didn't answer any of the questions."
"There is more to this than simply answering questions. Young man, I don't know what it is you've been through and it's quite clear that you don't want to tell me. What I can tell quite clearly is that what you need more than anything is a home. For whatever reason you have, you've chosen to come here, and this guild has seen more than it's share of misfits in search of something. You don't have to tell me what it is you're feeling, but I would implore you, if you would, to share it with one of my other children. We can do for you as much or as little as you desire. What you have to say can wait until you're ready to share it, but from this day onwards, you will be a part of this family, and that means there will always be an ear to be lent to you and a hand to reach out for you. I want you to understand exactly what it is you're committing yourself to. Will you join us?"
"Yes." Logan replied instantly.
He didn't realize himself for a moment that he'd spoken. It had just come out on its own, but to his own surprise, he didn't feel any regret or unease for how he had pledged himself. He had no idea how to even describe to himself what he was feeling, but whatever it was, he thought that it felt pretty good.
"Very well then. Logan Bloodborne, from this day forth, you are a Fairy Tail wizard. Welcome to our family!"
"I... I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything, son. If you'll just wait a few minutes, we'll make it official."
Master Makarov then jumped down from the bench and Logan watched him walk over to the bar and speak to Mirajane. After a couple of minutes, the two of them returned to the table together, with Mira carrying a tray in her hands.
"Mirajane will assist you in applying your guild mark while I begin filling out the forms for the council. I imagine it will take a little time while I construct the facts for them, but please don't be concerned. It'll be fine."
"Alright." Logan said softly.
The master than left.
"This is a very simple process, no trouble at all. All we have to do is sterilize the spot where you want the mark, wipe it off, apply the magic paper, and after a minute of me running some magic energy into it, you'll have your guild mark." Mira said.
"Okay."
"So, where would you like it to be?"
It didn't take Logan very much thought to reach his decision. After only a split-second, he turned to point his back towards Mira, and then went through the process of removing his gauntlets and braces from his arms before removing his jacket and putting it all on the table.
He lifted up his shirt and said, "Just put it in the middle."
Mira cocked her eyebrow at that. "Are you sure that's where you want it? You'll never be able to see it back there."
"I'm sure. That's where I want it."
Mira could tell he was serious. He was making the effort, but not jumping all the way in. She felt she understood his reasons. A new place with new people was never an easy adjustment, even in a friendly place like this. It hadn't been for her and her siblings when they'd first arrived, so she didn't fault him.
"Alright, then! Here we go!" She beamed brightly.
With that, Mira used a damp sponge to wash off a section of his back, making sure to get it perfectly clean before toweling it dry with her bar rag. She placed the paper over the spot and they sat in silence for the minute it took for Mira's energy to engrave the magic tattoo into his skin. When it was done, a cheery, yellow visage of the Fairy Tail guild emblem was left behind.
"All done! That wasn't so painful now, was it?" She asked while Logan lowered his shirt.
"No, uh, thank you. Mirajane, right?"
"That's me, alright! Anything you need or if ever just want to talk, feel free to come to me. I'm always ready to help with anything I can."
"Thanks. I'll, I'll try and keep that in mind."
Mira gave him one last charmingly wide smile and left him alone. Logan spent a couple minutes attaching his braces and gauntlets back into place on his arms and then looked around the room, just taking it all in. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to do, or really anything to do in there. The whole room consisted of the bar on one end, lots of tables with benches like the one he was at, a bulletin board, and a few odds and ends stacked up in the corners.
"So, what do I do now?" Logan asked himself.
Just then, he felt a weight sit down on the bench beside him and sensed it was on the periphery of his personal space.
"Hey." A familiar voice chirped.
Logan looked over to see Lucy sitting there.
"I saw Mira leave. So, you're officially one of us now. That's so great! I remember my first day with the guild. It actually wasn't all that different from what you walked in on. We didn't have Gajeel or Juvia then, but it was still crazy. I tell you, I knew I'd found something special right away. They let me join, no problem. Welcomed me in like an old friend even though they knew nothing about me."
Even though Logan could clearly see that Lucy was trying to help and make him feel at ease, he wasn't sure what, if anything he was supposed to say in response to this.
"I see."
"Is there anything you need? Might not be much here, but I'm sure we could accommodate anything within reason."
"Uh, well..." Logan trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
"What is it?"
"Well... Is there anything to eat? I haven't eaten in almost two days. A shower would be kind of nice too."
Lucy closed her eyes and gave him this really big smile that looked to him like she was surprised and amused at the same time.
"Is that all? That's easy to take care of, no problem. I'll just go talk to Mira for you."
"Hey, everyone!" Mira suddenly announced before Lucy could get up. "I just had an idea. Since Logan is the first new addition to our guild in quite some time, I think this calls for a celebration!"
Her suggestion met a nearly unanimous, and thunderous round of applause. The energy in the room skyrocketed. Everyone was screaming out their enthusiasm for the idea, overlapping each other so much that Logan could barely pick out what anyone was actually saying. After a few moments of uselessly trying to discern something from the din, he turned to Lucy.
"I don't understand. They're throwing a party because of me? They just met me."
Lucy groaned audibly. "It's not really you. I'm sure they're glad you joined us, but they're really just using you as an excuse. These guys will make up any reason to have a party. You'll get used to it eventually. Sorry. Guess your meal and shower will have to wait for a little bit."
OOO
An hour later, and the party had been in full swing for half an hour. He couldn't believe how quickly they'd managed to get everything set up. Logan had never seen anything like it. He had to remind himself that he'd never seen any kind of party before, but even so, he didn't think that most would be a bacchanal like he was witnessing here. It was pure insanity all around him.
There was drinking happening all around him. They had music playing through lacrima somewhere he hadn't seen. Drinking was almost all that was happening. Gallons of alcohol was flowing down the gullets of almost everyone in the room. As far as Logan could tell, he and Wendy seemed to be the only ones there who weren't guzzling booze.
It wasn't just drinking, either. They were all pounding into each other, genuinely fighting. Natsu punched Elfman in his temple. Erza kicked Gajeel in his back. Jet and Droy were duking it out like a pair pugilists in a professional bout. Levi was throwing what looked like words at Lucy while Lucy kept blocking them with some kind of magic whip. Cana was causing miniature explosions to happen every here and there with playing cards while also dodging streams of water slung by Juvia. Lishanna, who'd returned to the hall not long after Logan had arrived, had transformed into a half bird thing and was dive bombing the others from the air above.
It astounded Logan, the way they were all beating each other, but most of them were all smiling broadly and also laughing, all while continuing to drink between hits. He'd seen a number of barroom brawls before, but this was a step up from all of them.
Logan found the dissonance between the things they were doing both confusing in the extreme, and more than a little bit irritating. It was his first day with these people, and he thought it should be pretty clear that this fracas was not what he would consider a good time. Especially when all he'd been looking for was a meal and a shower. At the moment, he and Wendy were both hiding behind the bar together. Even though Logan knew he could easily handle himself in this skirmish, he had no reason to hit any of the people he'd be seeing every day from now on.
"Wendy, can I ask you something?" He said.
"Sure, Logan."
They both ducked down beneath the lip of the bar to avoid a chair crashing into it and shattering. After a second, they came back up and resumed watching the melee.
"Is this what a typical Fairy Tail party looks like?"
Wendy gave an awkward smile and a little chuckle. "Kinda rowdy, aren't they? But they're really nice people, I promise."
"Does this kind of thing happen often?"
"Well... I wouldn't say a whole lot."
Just then, Gray and Natsu collided with the bar, having somehow gotten into fighting each other. To Logan's shock and a small churn in his stomach, he saw that Gray was in nothing but his underwear. He watched as Gray dodged a flaming hook punch from Natsu, countered with a knee to the stomach, and then thanks to burst of flames from Natsu's feet for propulsion, was pushed back against the bar. Natsu had Gray pinned against the bar, his arm held across Gray's torso, choking his throat at the same time.
"Give me a hand?" Gray rasped through the strain.
Logan looked to his left and saw that he was reaching out for a glass beer mug, and knew what he wanted. Even though Logan didn't feel like aiding the madness, he also wasn't very keen on the choking happening in front of him. He pushed it the last few inches into Gray's grasp, and Gray took hold of it, encased it in ice, and clunked it hard against Natsu's head.
"Yeah! Take that, punk!"
Natsu quickly regained his composure and the two of them disappeared back into the writhing mass.
"Uh, Wendy, why was Gray naked?"
"That just kind of happens from time to time."
"It... just happens?" Logan asked, not sure he'd heard her correctly.
"Yeah. No one's really sure how, but it does."
"He just... spontaneously gets naked." Logan thought to himself.
He couldn't believe what he had just heard. That was disgusting. Everything about this whole weird version of a party was grating on his nerves. He was getting close to showing just how much it was really starting to irritate him. It was nothing but unabashed chaos, so why did all of them out there look so happy? Logan couldn't understand how they could take so much joy from wailing on each other.
Logan started to think about just getting up, walking out the door and coming back the next day, but before he could make his final decision, Elfman suddenly appeared, looming overhead.
"Logan, come on! You got to get in on the fun. This party's all for you, you know!" He said energetically.
"No, really. Thanks, but I'm-"
Before Logan could even finish his sentence, Elfman's meaty paw reached down and lifted him off his feet by the back of his jacket like a rag doll.
"Come on! Be a real man!"
Elfman hurled him across the room. Logan hit the opposite wall in under a second. His body acted on instinct, lifting his knees up to his stomach, readjusting his angle so that he hit the wall with his whole body facing forward instead of headfirst. He impacted with his palms and soles, and before gravity could pull him down, he sprang off the wall into a backflip, cartwheeled over himself once, and landed perfectly into a crouch.
Logan was in the middle of the thrall and as soon as he straightened up, a stray fist clocked him in the side of the jaw. He didn't see who had done it, but he didn't have time to look because Gajeel was coming up on his left.
"Well, look who decided to join the action! Welcome to Fairy Tail, new guy!"
He threw a fast and mean looking straight, right punch Logan could tell was aiming to loosen his teeth. Logan hadn't wanted to fight, and he was now both unnerved and mad for being injected into the middle of this madness, but he wasn't about to let himself get hit. Logan sidestepped to his left, leaving the target area for Gajeel's punch, caught Gajeel's fist with the side of his elbow, and wrapped his arm around Gajeel's with a spinning flurry and grabbed the other man's bicep to lock it in place. Logan sent a swift moving hook punch into Gajeel's temple, and then used the back of his foot to sweep Gajeel's weight bearing leg out of from under him at the same time, toppling the man.
At that moment, Logan was very glad he'd put his gauntlets back on before all of this began. Even through his knuckle-dusters, he could feel how hard the studs in Gajeel's face were. Logan knew that if he'd hit him barehanded, he surely would have cut himself on those things.
With Gajeel on the floor, Logan moved off, looking for a way back out of this mess. Defending himself against someone trying to hit him was one thing, but Logan had no intention of doing it to anyone else. He tried to move back towards the bar, but the guy with the poncho who he hadn't yet been introduced to was flung to the floor right in front of him. Half his face was blackened and there was a strong stench of gunpowder wafting from it.
"Nice shot, honey!" He yelled joyfully as he climbed to his feet.
Ignoring that as best he could, Logan continued to push his way back to the bar, but halfway there, ducked underneath a roundhouse kick he detected out of the corner of his eye. The person who'd swung it at him was some girl with glasses and long, lavender colored hair in a high ponytail whom he hadn't met yet.
"I'm Laki. I just got back from a job and I'm assuming you're new."
She wound her fist back, but by the way she was tensing her other hand, getting ready to make a fist, he knew it was feint. Logan didn't give her the chance to hit him, ducking back and allowing the still pummeling each other Jet and Droy to pass between him and Laki. He took the opportunity to escape, slipping deeper into the throng. Logan had to get out of there.
Logan weaved in and out of his guild mates fighting around him, ducking under elbows not meant for him, weaving around the sides of fists heading for someone else. As hard as he was trying, he couldn't seem to make any headway. For every step he got further out of it, a dodge either forced him to backtrack two, or move laterally so that he wasn't any closer to the edge.
"This is crazy. This is crazy! I'm getting out of this and I'm leaving. I don't care where I spend the night. If I'd known joining their guild would be like this, I would have thought twice about it!"
In the course of not getting hit by a punched Juvia stumbling backwards towards him, Logan rolled himself across Elfman's back, coming to land in a crouch on the other side. He landed right in front of Erza.
"Hello, Logan."
She was staring down at him with one of the most intense looks he'd ever seen, and he didn't have the confidence to believe he could dodge the hit he knew she'd be sending.
"Fairy Tail!"
The hall quieted so quickly, it was like someone had flicked a switch. Logan and everyone else looked up to see that it was Master Makarov who'd spoken. He was standing on top of the banister of the second floor railing, about eight feet above their heads.
"This is a great day for our guild, my children. For many years, our family was divided. Torn apart and broken by the fickle hand of fate, but today, we stand together and stronger than ever. On this day, we add the newest member to our guild, Logan Bloodborne. We know not yet who he is or where he comes from, but he has chosen to become one of us, and in turn, we welcome him as we would welcome any member of our family."
Logan looked around to see that all eyes were on him once again, but unlike before, for some reason, he didn't feel like shrinking from their gaze. Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy and everyone else were all smiling at him, and he couldn't remember if he'd ever experienced such support before. It felt warm and pleasant.
Makarov went on, "This day is for him, but also for all of us. The Fairy Tail guild has stood for more than one hundred years. This addition proves that while we may be down, while we may not be as strong or as affluent as we once were, we're not out yet!"
They all gave a round of unanimous and roaring cheers in support. Logan could feel the very strength of their devotion to the guild. Just then, hands clasped him on the wrist and shoulder on either side, and Lucy and Natsu led him back to the bar.
"What are you doing?" He asked softly.
They didn't answer, but made him sit down on one of the stools and turned him around the other way. Logan found himself facing Mirajane, who was placing a large, covered tray down on the counter.
"I heard you tell Lucy you were hungry, so I whipped you up a little something in the kitchen. Ta-da!" She removed the cover with a fanfare and a small cloud of steam bloomed out with its newfound freedom. "One nine ounce steak. I hope medium rare is okay with you. Vegetable stew on the side, along with four fresh rolls with homemade butter, and for dessert, a slice of peach cobbler. I hope you enjoy it!"
Logan looked down at the meal fit for a king, and it took an effort to not let his watering mouth betray him. He looked up at Mira. She must have been slaving away over this food to get it all ready so quickly.
"You made all this just for me?"
"Of course, silly. It's your 'welcome to the guild' present." Mira said.
"Yeah, man. So, eat up before it gets cold! It's all for you! Even though that steak looks really tasty." Natsu said.
He'd draped his arm across Logan's shoulders and leaned in close as he spoke. A little drool had escaped his lips.
"And we won't bother you while you eat." Lucy said. "The rest of them are all probably going to keep drinking and fighting, but I promise, they won't get close enough to make you faceplant into your food or anything."
"Okay. Uh... thanks. I mean, thank you for that and thank you, Mira. This all looks delicious."
"We'll leave you to it. Have fun, man." Natsu said.
The three of them departed, and Logan heard the drinking recommence behind his back. He picked up the knife and fork from the tray and cut a chunk off from the bottom edge of the steak. It melted in his mouth and he immediately knew it was the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life. The meat was juicy and tender, full of flavor and with just the right amount of seasoning sprinkled on top. Logan couldn't help the groan of satisfaction that came out of his throat.
"Mira's cooking is great, isn't it?" He heard Wendy ask.
He looked to his right to see that she'd come around and sat on the stool next to him.
"Yeah, it's really good."
With that, Logan returned to his meal. He wanted to gobble it all down, but forced himself to eat at a more sedate pace to enjoy it. Every bite of it was as delicious as it had looked. The stew was warm and creamy, the rolls were light as air and made heavenly by the butter, and he was sure the cobbler at the end would be the perfect finisher.
It wasn't long before he heard the sounds of fighting resuming, but it didn't seem as unseemly now as it had before. Logan wasn't sure if it'd just been because he'd been hungry, but he found himself not minding it now. The spot on his back where his new guild mark was tingled, and Logan felt something he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before.
These people, they made an odd first impression to say the least, but they were turning out to be good people. He didn't know how much he could ever open up, or even interact with them for that matter, but he felt like maybe he liked them. This was all so new to Logan, but there was just something about these people that made him feel like he could lower his guard the tiniest bit. A huge and unfamiliar sense of relief washed over him with that thought. Maybe, just maybe, he could get used to all of this. Maybe he really could stay here.