Lucy happily hummed as she and Ace sat in the passenger car of the train carrying the relics they were going to be guarding. After leaving Magnolia: they met the group in Hargeon's train station and began to make their way towards Crocus after speaking with them. Of course she was the one enjoying herself, because as for Ace...
"I'm gonna be sick." Ace groaned as he sat with his head leaning on the window. Lucy rolled her eyes and kept her attention on her book as she continued reading.
"Excuse me, Miss Lucy?" She turned her head to see an old bald man, roughly around the same height as Makarov, standing next to her seat with his arms behind her back. This was Dr. Castille and he was the one that had hired the two of them to guard their expedition back to Crocus. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything's just fine." Lucy said as she closed her book and placed it back in her purse.
"Are you sure? Your husband doesn't look too well." Dr. Castille said as he saw Ace groan and puff up his cheeks.
"My husband...?"
"Are you two not married? I assumed you were because of the way you two looked and the fact you two are wearing rings." Dr. Castille said, making Lucy look at their hands and begin to laugh sheepishly.
"We're engaged, but not married yet. Anyways, what is it Doc?"
"Can you come with me? I'd like to show you something." Dr. Castille said as he motioned to the door of the train car. Lucy nodded and stood up, following as he made his way towards the door. He led her through two more passenger cars before arriving at the freight car in the middle of the train, her eyes widening at the amount of crates inside of it. "Usually Jura is the one to accompany us, however he was too occupied with his responsibilities as a member of the Council to do so."
"I guess that's the price to pay for having such an important job." Lucy said as the two of them walked towards the largest crate in the room. "What is this?"
"Did you ever hear of a kingdom called Dragnof?" Dr. Castille asked as he grabbed a small step stool.
"Yes, I heard all about it from a friend of mine. It existed over 400 years ago and was wiped out a few centuries ago." Lucy said as she watched the old man place the stool in front of the crate and climbed on top of it.
"Brains and beauty, I can see why that boy loves you." Dr. Castille joked, making Lucy blush and nod. "Anyways, you hit the nail on the head. We went to explore what was left from Dragnof and we found quite a fair amount of relics and treasures in the ruins of the Kingdom." Dr. Castille said as he began to try to push the top of the crate off, but to no avail. Lucy hurried over and helped him push it off, groaning from the weight the piece of wood had. Once it was off: Lucy looked down in surprise to see a Dragon's head made of stone inside of the crate. "Amazing how intact it is, right?"
"Very." Lucy said in awe as she reached in and ran her hands along the stone head, noting the lack of cracks along the statue.
"This is just one of the many treasures of Dragnof we bring with us. It's sadly just part of one of the many statues that decorated the castle's outside, many of them weren't in proper condition for transport." Dr. Castille said as he motioned to close the crate, so Lucy reached over and pulled the lid back on. "We brought back many things aside from this. Weapons from the military, pieces of their flags and banners, treasures that accumulated Dragnof's wealth over the years. I wanted to show you this so you could see how important keeping these items safe is." Dr. Castille said as he motioned to the dozens of crates filling the room.
"I do see, and thank you for showing me." Lucy said bowing to the man who smiled and nodded.
"You're welcome, dear. Although I believe your boyfriend will end up being a liability instead of a guard if he feels that ill." Dr. Castille said and Lucy sighed as she couldn't help but agree with the man.
"You're right, sir. I'll be sure to get to the bottom of what's wrong with him." Lucy said as they began to make their way back to the car where Ace sat.
Meanwhile Ace was beginning to regret placing the Dragon Lacrima in his body because this motion sickness really was no joke.
"Lu...do you have any spirits that can make me feel better...?" Ace groaned as he turned his head from the window to talk to his fiancee. But when he did: he was confused when he saw that she wasn't sitting next to him anymore. "Lucy?"
"Is everything alright?" He looked up to see a gorgeous woman with long brown hair wearing a very revealing dress standing in the aisle looking at him. "You don't look too good."
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" The woman asked as she walked over to him. He groaned when she put her hand on his forehead, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her cleavage as it was basically placed in front of his face.
"I'm sure..." Ace said before puffing up his cheeks from nausea again.
"Would you like me to help you feel better?" The woman whispered before they heard the door to the train car slam open. She looked up to see Lucy stomp over with an angry look on her face, keeping her attention focused on Ace.
"What's going on here?" Lucy asked as she placed her hand on the top of his head, making sure to grab it with a tight enough hold.
"Yes Raiza, what is going on here?" Dr. Castille asked as he walked over and swatted the woman's leg.
"Ow! What was that for, grandpa?" Raiza asked as she looked down at her grandfather who shook his head.
"Why are you wearing that? And better yet: why are you bothering this young man?" Dr. Castille asked while Lucy began to tighten her grip on Ace's head.
"Don't ask...I barely talked to her..." Ace groaned before Lucy tugged at his hair. He winced and shook his head, doing his best to fight through his motion sickness.
"I just saw he wasn't feeling too well so I just wanted to see if he wanted someone to help him feel better." Raiza said and Lucy nodded as she understood what she meant.
"I see. Well don't worry, he has someone to fix him right up." Lucy said as she lifted Ace up by his hair, pulling him to the bathroom of the train car as he begged her to let him go. Watching this: Dr. Castille sighed and swatted Raiza's leg again.
"See what you did? Now that poor boy's probably going to suffer because of you."
"Lucy let me go please..." Ace pleaded as Lucy threw him towards the floor and closed the door behind her. When he tried to get up: he immediately felt nauseous and reached for the toilet, emptying the contents of his stomach inside of it when he was able to lift himself up.
"What was that?"
"Lu...I don't know. I was sitting with you then all of a sudden that lady comes up and starts talking to me." Ace struggled to let out, before retching and vomiting more inside of the toilet. "And believe me when I say I barely talked to her or looked at her."
"And what's wrong with you?! You're acting just like Natsu does when he rides on anything!" Lucy yelled as she watched Ace struggle to reach for the handle to flush the toilet.
"I don't know, Lucy..." Ace groaned, slumping over next to the toilet, struggling to look up at the woman towering over him. "I'm sorry."
"What am I going to do with you?" Lucy groaned before kneeling down to his height. "Should we go see a doctor?"
"I'm gonna be okay. I promise." Ace said as he reached out and patted Lucy's knee. Lucy sighed and stood up, getting ready to leave him in the bathroom. "Lu?"
"If I stay here I'm going to be sick too."
"How long are we going to be here?" Ace asked, making Lucy think for a moment.
"We'll be making a stop so one of Dr. Castille's associates can join us, so it should be another four hours." Lucy replied before walking out of the bathroom. Ace groaned at the thought of having to deal with his motion sickness for four more hours, so he hunched himself back over the toilet bowl and prepared to make himself comfortable.
After another two hours, the train stopped at a small train station in the country side that sat halfway between Crocus and Hargeon. Once the train stopped: Ace slowly walked out of the bathroom, doing his best to keep himself upright since he spent the majority of the train ride vomiting in the bathroom.
"Are you better now?" He turned his head to see Lucy in her seat, keeping her attention to the novel she had been reading for the past week.
"I could use some water and food." Ace groaned as he trudged over, using the seats of the train car to support himself. Once he reached their seats, he flopped down next to her and sighed. He needed to talk to Natsu as soon as possible to find out how to deal with motion sickness.
"Here." Lucy reached into her purse and handed him a water bottle. She then rolled her eyes when she saw him quickly chug the contents of the bottle.
"Thanks." Ace sighed in relief before laying his head back in the chair.
"You're going to see a doctor in Crocus. No argument." Lucy said simply as she went back to her book. Ace sighed and nodded, closing his eyes before they heard the door to the train car open.
"Asemu?" Ace's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice and he turned around to see Rudy standing at the entrance to the train car with Raiza next to him. "It really is you, Asemu! How have you been?"
"Rudy?" Ace asked as the man excitedly hurried over to them. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm a friend of Raiza's, I heard about this expedition and I couldn't help myself." Rudy said as he sat across from the two. Ace raised an intrigued eyebrow, but sighed as he decided not to dig further into it. "And who is this beautiful lady next to you?"
"Oh this is Lucy, my partner and fiancée. Lucy this is Rudy, the guy I told you about that worked under Rayzen that day I almost died." Ace said as he introduced the two. Rudy laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head after what Ace had just said.
"It's nice to meet you." Rudy said as he extended a hand to Lucy. She smiled and shook his hand before Rudy turned his attention back to Ace. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what? Sorry man, but I've spent the majority of this trip throwing up in the toilet back there so you're gonna have to just spit it out." Ace said, crossing his arms while Rudy sighed and shook his head.
"Lord Rayzen was killed the other day." Rudy said, making the two wizards in front of him gasp as their jaws dropped.
"He's dead?" Lucy repeated quietly, and Rudy simply nodded to answer her.
"He was attacked in his office the other day, they're just thinking it was a robbery that went too far. But I figured you should know since you have a history with him." Rudy summarized the report written in the magazines and newspapers for Ace, while the man looked down and shook his head in disbelief.
"I didn't like the guy...but he didn't deserve to be killed. Man, that sucks." Ace sighed before turning his attention back to Rudy.
"I know. I wasn't really a fan of his either, but hey he paid really well." Rudy said as he stood up. "Good to see you again, Asemu. And again it was nice to meet you, Lucy."
"Same here." Lucy said waving to the man as he walked away back towards Raiza. When the two reached the next train car, Rudy sighed as he ran his hands through his dark brown hair.
"Tired?" Raiza asked as Rudy took a seat and crossed his arms.
"I hoped Natsu would be here with him too, but we can use this to our advantage." Rudy said as he grabbed his chin with his index finger and thumb and began to think. "Asemu didn't know Rayzen died, but he seems like an honest guy so we could just ask him about the missing Lacrima."
"Honest guy? Unlike you?" Raiza's comment made Rudy glare at her before continuing to think.
"Plus he's with his fiancée, so we have a bit of leverage if it comes to that." Rudy said before turning his attention to the woman next to him. "Don't do anything unless I tell you."
"Oh please, what am I going to do?" Raiza said as she sat down next to him.
"You toyed with everyone here's memories and made them think you're the old man's granddaughter."
"Okay, but that was because you asked me to. Except then you found out that this Asemu guy is here and had me mess with Dr. Castille's memories even more to make him think you know each other. If I mess with his brain anymore: I'm going to completely wipe his memories." Raiza said as she began to twirl her finger around Rudy's head.
"It's fine. As long as we have Asemu here, we can find out what he did with my Lacrima." Rudy said, swatting away Raiza's hand. Then all of a sudden: the train began to rumble as a loud explosion was heard and felt from the car behind them. "What the hell?!"
"Oh boy." Raiza said as the two of them stood up. "I thought I was the only one you sent here."
"You were." Rudy growled before seeing the large cloud of smoke flowing out from the side of the train. "This is someone else."
"Should we handle it?" Raiza asked as she got ready to run to the other car. But Rudy stopped her when they heard footsteps running over them.
"No need. They were paid to do this."
On the top of the train: Lucy and Ace held on tightly to the roof, looking at the gaping hole in the car in front of them. When they heard the explosion, they immediately sprung to action and decided to go for a bird's eye view and climbed to the top of the train to do so. Of course Ace had to break a window and carefully help Lucy climb, but they were finally able to work together on a mission like this and especially to stop some would be thieves made them excited for the action.
"You see anything?!" Lucy called out, the sound of the wind rapidly moving past them making it hard for her to hear him.
"Yeah!" Ace squinted his eyes and saw a group of shadows moving in the smoke. Lucy nodded and reached for her key pouch, pulling out a golden key with an axe at the end of it.
"Got it! Star Dress: Taurus Form!" Lucy called out as she placed the key on her chest, changing her outfit into the Taurus form of her Star Dress. Ace blushed from the fact Lucy was now in just a bra with a cow pattern and pants that left her right leg completely exposed, but shook his head as he knew their battle was going to be more serious. She leapt into the large hole, followed by Ace who decided to avoid his motion sickness by levitating in the air instead of landing on the floor. Their entrance, as well as Ace's magic, cleared the smoke in the room and the two were met with the sight of six people, all wearing dark suits and covering their faces with masks, opening the crates and trying to take the contents that were inside.
"Oh come on, you guys can't be serious." Ace groaned, crossing his arms at the sight in front of him.
"I think they are. But we can deal with them easily." Lucy said as she cracked the whip in her hands, smiling as they stared at the group.
"We don't want any trouble." One of the thieves said, mostly muffled by his mask, but Ace sighed and pointed at the hole above them.
"We're a little past that. Just surrender and everything'll be okay." Ace said and some of the thieves looked at each other, nodding as they agreed fighting the two would be a bad idea. But one of them growled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small black ball and throwing it towards the two.
"Let's see you deal with that!" The man yelled as the ball began to shine and Ace could smell the gunpowder inside of it. So he swatted his hand up, making a gust of wind that threw the ball out of the car and into the sky where it subsequently blew up. The force of the explosion rattled the train car and knocked most of the people inside to their feet, but Ace still stayed in the air with his gaze fixed on their opponents.
"Dealt with it. So what's next?" Ace asked as Lucy stared at him in awe. He was so different than the sick mess he was not even twenty minutes ago, in fact: he felt like a totally different person now.
"Go away!" One of the thieves pulled her mask down, letting out a loud shriek that made Ace and Lucy cover their ears as it began to amplify. But Ace especially began to scream in pain as his enhanced hearing began to kick in and the ringing in his ear began to get worse.
"Ace!" Lucy yelled as she saw Ace fall to the ground and began to curl up in pain. She removed her hands from her ears, gritting her teeth as the ringing began in to intensify, but she had to put a stop to this and quick. She swung her whip forward, wrapping it around the culprit's neck, before pulling her close and delivering a powerful punch to her stomach that made her stop screaming. Once her opponent was knocked out: Lucy took a step back as she felt slightly dizzy from the screaming.
"Looks like you two weren't as tough as you seemed." The head thief chuckled when he saw how Lucy and Ace were incapacitated by the sonic shriek. He pulled out two more bombs and got ready to throw them at the two, but the sight of Ace taking a deep breath and chuckling made him gulp and take a step back.
"It was a lucky shot...but I'm all fired up now." Ace chuckled as he clenched his fists, fighting the ringing in his ears and his motion sickness. He felt his heartbeat begin to intensify and his magic power begin to swell as he stood up. He floated in the air once more, keeping his attention focused on his opponents who took a step back from fear. "Now now, no running. You wanted to make a mess: so I have to clean it up." Ace chuckled as he took one more deep breath, making the air around him swirl into his mouth as he got his new attack ready.
"Ace what are you-"
"Storm Dragon's-" Lucy's eyes widened when she heard what he began to call out. "Roar!" He let out his breath, unleashing a tornado made of green wind from his mouth as it hit all six of the thieves and sent them all flying into the air. Ace chuckled as he crossed his arms together, making the wind swirl into a large ball that pulled in and held the group inside of it.
"What...was...that...?" Lucy could barely speak, watching Ace guide the orb of wind down and place the would-be thieves' unconscious bodies on the floor.
"I took a page from Juvia's book and learned how to do it with my wind magic." Ace said as he floated over to Lucy, smiling at her like nothing was wrong.
"No not that. What did you say before?" Lucy asked, and Ace looked up as he began to think.
"I said that I was all fired up. You don't think Natsu's gonna be mad that I took his catchphrase, do you?" Ace asked before Lucy reached out for him and used the enhanced strength from her Taurus form to pull him down and close to her.
"Storm Dragon's Roar?! What was that?!" Lucy yelled as she began to shake him. "It all makes sense now! You suddenly being motion sick, your sudden improvement of magic, why Gajeel said one day that you smelled different! You're a Dragon Slayer now!" Lucy yelled and Ace just looked away, afraid of what he knew was coming. "Since when Asemu?! Since! When?!"
"Um...can we talk about this more later? It's a long story and this really isn't the place to talk about it." Ace laughed sheepishly and moved his eyes to look at Lucy...which wound up being a mistake. She was the angriest she had ever been, and he could tell because she had a throbbing vein visible on the side of her forehead. She began to shake him even more and Ace began to apologize profusely. Meanwhile Rudy and Raiza stood watching them from the door, with the latter chuckling with an amused smile on her face.
"Looks like Asemu isn't as weak as you thought." Raiza said, and Rudy sighed as he crossed his arms. "Is there a problem?"
"I thought he would be easy to break, but he's a lot tougher than I thought." Rudy said before turning his attention to Lucy. "Of course we could always go for the heart."
"That seems a little cruel." Raiza said before chuckling again. "You really want to hurt him, don't you?"
"He stole my stuff. I just want to know where it is."
"Thank you so much for what you two did. And luckily none of the artifacts were damaged." Dr. Castille thanked the two after arriving in Crocus late in the afternoon. Once they arrived: the military had arrived and arrested the thieves while also helping secure the cargo to be delivered to the museum that night. Luckily none of the items inside the crates were damaged by the battle from earlier, something else Lucy had scolded Ace for being careless about when she was yelling at him before.
"It was no problem, that's just our jobs as wizards." Lucy said as she smiled at the older man. Meanwhile Ace stood behind her, keeping his hands in his pockets and his head down as he feared opening his mouth again would get him in even more trouble. "Do you need us to stick around?"
"No need. The military will escort us from here." Dr. Castille said before extending a hand to Lucy. "Thank you so much, miss."
"Well we're going to stay in town for the night, just let us know if anything else comes up." Lucy said as she took the man's hand and shook it. A soldier then walked up to them, motioning to Dr. Castille that it was time to go, and the old man nodded as he understood. "Have a great day."
"Thank you. And take good care of that girlfriend of yours, you have a real catch." Dr. Castille said, turning his attention to Ace who smiled and nodded. Once the old man and soldiers were gone: Ace tried to sneak away, only for a hand to extend and grab him by the back of his shirt.
"Where are you going?" Lucy asked, turning her head to see the man she was holding on tightly to.
"Uh..."
"We still have something important to talk about." Lucy said as she pulled him close. Despite not being in her Taurus form anymore, the strength she had when she was angry left Ace speechless.
"R-Right..." Ace whispered as Lucy began to drag him away.
"I see." Lucy took Ace to the Honey Bone Inn and she immediately made him explain everything once they got a room for the night. He explained everything: his dreams, his talk with Makarov, Porlyusica placing the Lacrima in his body, and the entire time she sat on the bed with her gaze fixed intently on him as Ace sat across from her on the other end of the bed.
"I wanted to tell you soon...but I wanted to be sure that it all worked out first."
"And this was a decision you made by yourself? No one else pressured you to do it or anything?" Lucy asked, hoping Natsu had nothing to do with Ace's decision.
"Of course it was. If Master was right, that thing wouldn't have left me alone if I didn't do something about it." Ace said as he looked down and placed his hand over where Porlyusica placed his Lacrima.
"And why would you do that of all things? Why not get rid of it or send it somewhere else?"
"Because..." Ace began, snapping his head up to look at Lucy, but the worried expression on her face made him realize that he had to be honest with her. "Because I want to be able to protect you, Lu. You're so strong, you can do these amazing things with your spirits and even use their powers yourself. But what kind of husband would I be if I left it all up to you? I don't want to be the person you always have to protect, I want to be the person who can protect you too." Ace admitted as he looked back down, keeping his gaze focused on the ring she gave him. After a moment of silence: Lucy reached out and grabbed his hands, making him look up to see her smiling with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Lu?"
"Just be more honest with me. Why is it so hard for you to do that?"
"I just didn't want you to worry. Especially "
"Ace." Lucy tightened her grip on his hands and her smile grew even more. "I worry because I love you." Ace's eyes widened and he felt his heart stop as Lucy stared deeply into his eyes.
"You what...?"
"I love you. Is it that hard to believe?"
"But we're barely-"
"Ace, does time really matter? I loved you when we were kids, and that love just blossomed into something else now that we're adults." Lucy said as she moved forward and hugged him.
"I guess you're right." Ace chuckled as he embraced Lucy as well, kissing the top of her head as the two relaxed in each other's embrace. "I promised you a date night, so let's see what we can do during our stay here."
"So, you're sure he has it on him?" Raiza asked as she and Rudy stood outside of the inn where Lucy and Ace were staying. Rudy chuckled and nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on the building in front of them.
"Absolutely. If it was a Lacrima that could enhance magic: that explains how he took out those idiots on the train so easily."
"Are you sure that's what it was?" Rudy turned to glare at her, and Raiza looked away from him in annoyance. "Fine. So what do we do?"
"Wait until we have a chance to strike, then we strike."