"Seriously, did the world just suddenly decide that I had to be the world's biggest Vulcan magnet!?"
Lucy was speaking aloud as she wrote, her complaints were regarding her most recent job which had been with Levi's team of Shadow Gear along with Jet and Droy. She'd had her chance to look through the job description and it hadn't seemed like there would be any of the beasts on their job… but that hadn't stopped them from running into one on their way back. The beast had even ignored Levy completely to go straight for her. Thankfully Shadow Gear and her summons had dealt with it, but Lucy was becoming increasingly frustrated with how often this was happening. Composing herself, she continued her writing and tried to keep her thoughts more internal.
'Weirdly enough, Levy was actually begging that I didn't tell dad about this. Oh yeah, even after he looked younger I've still taken to calling Ragna that. He's pretty much our group's father, even Erza Scarlet herself refers to him as father here and there. The only one that doesn't seem to in our group is Gray, but who knows what's going on with that crazy stripper?'
Was it just her imagination, or did she hear a sneeze as she wrote that?
'Still, Ragna's been taking the role super seriously. Especially for me, I think I might secretly be his favorite. That said, he's already been gone almost a week with Natsu and I have no idea when they're getting back. If what Natsu's been saying about challenging Erza is true, then there's going to be a new crater near the guild. All in all, it's been… nice to have an actual father figure.' She sighed. 'Sometimes I have to wonder if he even realizes I've left. Either way, I'm doing well so don't worry about me.
Love you mom.'
Letting off a weary sigh as she finished writing her letter, Lucy stood and gave a lengthy stretch. Now that she wasn't solely focused on writing, she swore she could hear something coming from downstairs. Quickly grabbing her Celestial Key and whip for protection, she bolted towards the noise and arrived at the source in her kitchen.
"Hey, how's it going?" Gray greeted. Seated at her table. Eating her favorite chips. Dressed only in his boxers, as usual.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" No whip or keys needed, Lucy just delivered a roundhouse kick to Gray's face and sent him flying into the far wall… apparently she'd been around Ragna long enough to learn his signature 5B. "WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!? AND WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE!?"
"I was the one they sent to come grab you," the ice-user groaned as he picked himself from off the wall. "Ragna and Natsu just made it back and the first thing Natsu did was challenge Erza to their fight."
"Just now?" Lucy asked, her rage pushed to the side for the moment (she was going to make him pay for those premium chips though… both literally and figuratively).
"Yeah, and the entire guild's getting ready to watch them. Come on!"
Episode 016: Island of Conscientiousness
"You weren't kidding when you said the entire guild would be here," Lucy noted as the two walked around the crowd gathered in the fields just outside the city. "I also see plenty of people here from outside the guild too."
"I mean it's not every day that you find someone stupid enough to pick a fight with Erza, even the fire idiot usually knows better," Gray muttered. "There's Ragna up ahead."
"I see him… hey, out of all of us you're the only one that doesn't call Ragna 'dad'. Why is that?"
"Because I don't want to." Gray may have sounded more dismissive than usual, but it was as fair a reason as any.
Though the fighting had yet to start, Ragna looked deathly serious as he crossed his arms and looked over the prepping Natsu and the just as stoic Erza. Mira was standing beside him as well, but with Elfman on her other side it wasn't likely she was there solely because of the Reaper. He barely glanced over at the duo as they approached before turning his attention back to the combatants, but he did have to raise an eyebrow for the welt on Gray's face.
"How'd you earn that one?" he asked.
"What do you think? Classic case of home intrusion," Lucy huffed.
"…Gray, I specifically told you to knock on her front door," Ragna growled. "I even told you twice and had you repeat it back to me."
"Yeah, and I was going to. But then Natsu said I should totally listen to you, so there was no way I could." Oddly enough, Gray's imitation of his rival was pretty passable.
"That brat." At Elfman's groaning, the five of them could already hear Natsu snickering. "So? Does he stand a chance?"
"He made plenty of progress when we were out, but I can't say much more than that," Ragna admitted.
"Great strides for him must mean more destructive results," Lucy guessed as she glanced around. "Should we… maybe move further away from the city? If two of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail fought, the collateral could damage Magnolia too."
"Strongest wizards? Who's the idiot that told you that?" Gray demanded.
Mira's regular bright smile only lasted for a few second longer before she burst into tears at being called an idiot. Lucy and Elfman collectively turned to glare at the now panicking ice user.
"Strike two, Fullbuster," Ragna warned, though he was still staring down Erza and Natsu.
"I mean Erza is one of the top members, that much no one will debate," Elfman acknowledged.
"I just thought that Erza, Natsu, and Gray mixed so well with their dynamics and powers that they'd be one of the best team-ups," a still saddened Mira tried to defend.
"Oh… I was included in that?" Gray, scratching the back of his head as his guilt only seemed to be growing.
"Feel bad yet?" Gray knew enough not to answer Ragna's question.
"Now that I think about it, how are things between you and Mira?" Lucy questioned her father-figure. "Past that massive shock you gave everyone the morning after your date, you haven't told us anything." Obviously, plenty of surrounding conversations halted as the bystanders (Elfman included) wanted an answer. Only then did Lucy realize how much she was putting the two of them on the spot. "…Uh?"
"Mira?" Ragna asked simply.
"We dated this once and that's really the extent of it; you can't even say that we're dating now," the receptionist answered, causing more than a few people to sigh in relief. "With my modeling career and taking care of the guild, I wouldn't have that much time for anything else anyways."
"And that's about how things fall; keeping you all out of trouble is a full-time job for me as well," the Reaper agreed. He didn't sound heartbroken over it, even with his previous flirting with Mira.
"Aw, that's a shame," Levy sighed. "And here I thought the two of you would've made a good couple."
"NO THEY WOULDN'T HAVE!" a large number of bystanders shouted in unison.
Elfman only rolled his eyes at the behavior. If the two had ended up dating, then so be it. Mira was her own woman and she'd know what she was getting into. At the very least, the spite he'd be rewarded from seeing the reactions of Mira's more obnoxious fans would be good for a laugh.
"Ignoring them, in a way it would've made the most sense," Lucy decided to share.
"Really? How do you figure?" the model decided to ask.
"Well, our team is constantly calling Ragna Dad and since Mira's always taking care of everyone in Fairy Tail, that basically makes her the guild Mom…"
"…Strike one, Lucy," Mira said in a deadpan voice which Gray and Elfman seemed nervous, almost as if they'd heard it from Erza.
"What did I say!?"
'She's not completely wrong; I've had similar thoughts myself.' Like hell Ragna was going to admit that out loud though. 'Then again I've also had similar thoughts about Erza, but she already called me Father, so…?' He shook his head; he had bigger and less inane worries right now.
"Hey, where's Happy?" Lucy asked as she looked around for the blue cat.
"Think he said he was going to place a bet with Cana," Elfman said, gesturing to a small stand that the drinker had set up which had a decent line formed. "Any bets in Natsu's favor have less than manly odds; think the payout for him even lasting until Makarov calls the fight off was around fifteen to one."
"Him winning today would quite the upset, huh?" Lucy realized.
"We'll see how far he can take it," Ragna answered as Natsu finally began stepping forward to the Queen of Fairies. "Looks like they're starting."
The Fire Dragon Slayer had his usual cocky smirk as he approached while Erza actually allowed herself a small smile, like she was going to enjoy what was about to happen. All around them the crowds were shouting with excitement. Most of them were for Erza's impending victory, but there were a few that were wishing Natsu luck. To the two, this might as well not have mattered. Already, they were only focused on the fight they were in for.
"Looks like she's forgotten about Natsu dissing her favorite cake."
…Immediately the shouting stopped and Erza's smirk vanished into a harsh scowl. Natsu wasn't looking anywhere as confident as before, even showing off some nervous pre-battle sweat. Wondering who was idiotic enough to bring it up, Ragna sent an absolutely scathing glare to…
Lauxus.
"Just wanted to remind her what on the line," the blond lightning user said with a sharp grin aimed back at the Reaper. Ragna noticed a betting tab sticking out of his pocket; clearly having wagered for Natsu's demise and doing whatever he could to ensure that he would get a decent payout. "How the hell are you even uglier after getting fixed?"
"…And I thought I was the asshole of the guild," the Reaper vented as he turned his attention back to the two as Natsu gathered up his nerves again. Lauxus didn't appreciate being ignored, but for now he'd already secured his verbal win as far as he was concerned.
"Who's he?" Lucy whispered. "And why does it seem like he has a bone to pick with you?"
"A bastard not worth worrying about," Ragna dismissed. "For now, just focus on Natsu and Erza's fight. And cheer him on while you're at it; he'll want all of the support he can get."
"Did you end up placing a bet on him?"
"Probably wouldn't have, but Cana said that I had inside info on him so she wouldn't take it from the start."
"Unlike me, who was staying at the guild this whole time," Happy boasted with his ticket. "I'm really pulling for Natsu here! I said he'd actually manage to do pretty well before getting knocked out!"
"But you're still betting that she'd win," Lucy reminded with a scowl.
"Read the room; doing that much against someone like her actually is pulling for the guy," Gray explained. "Apparently the most popular bet was her crushing him in under 30 seconds without anything to show for it."
"Which I might've taken after what Lauxus just said, but Cana already cut bets off," Happy sighed. Ragna and Lucy might've been appalled at this betrayal if the cat didn't have an honest (if brutal) point. "Come on Natsu! Don't let my fish allowance go to waste!"
"I guess he's got to have some faith in him if that's what he's betting," the Celestial Wizard conceded. Eventually, Natsu had worked up the courage after Lauxus had brought back Erza's rage enough to where he could finish closing the distance between them.
"This may be less of a match and more of a… lesson," Erza told Natsu while her scowl hadn't faded. Natsu took a deep breath to steady his nerves before bouncing from side to side on his feet. "What now?"
"Fire magic's all about that flowing energy, so I gotta get my own blood flowing," he answered. "Stay moving, keep my head in the game, and keep my eyes on the target."
"That's a good deal different than your usual 'blow everything up' approach," she commended. "Did Ragna teach you that?"
"Eh, more like he tried to enforce it a bit more," the Slayer admitted before smirking. "The stuff we really worked on together, you'll just have to see for yourself."
"As long as you're still standing to show it."
"Right! On to the match!" Makarov declared as he raised his hand. "As Guild Leader I both sanction this fight, though I also have the right to stop it if either of you get too out of hand! The match begins-!"
(Cue King of Fighters XV: Like A Queen)
"NOW!"
Much like most of them had expected, Natsu did his usual charge straight into the melee while Erza follow suit after quickly equipping herself with a standard longsword. With an immediate swing, Erza's blade clashed with Natsu's fire-coated fists, though Natsu's slight stumble made it immediately clear she was the stronger of the two. That stumble alone might have already cost him the match if he hadn't preemptively leapt back to avoid Erza's follow-up sword swing. Pressing the advantage even further, Erza lunged at Natsu with her sword before he'd even a chance to land. Letting loose a burst of fire magic from his legs to propel him upwards, avoiding the blade before using one final burst of fire magic to propel his right leg around into a brutal flaming axe kick.
"Fire Dragon Talon!"
Erza easily proceeded to defend the attack, but it managed to force her to continue holding Natsu back in a struggle as Natsu tried to power through himself. Up until he smirked, twisted his body around, and delivered a follow-up rising kick with his left leg.
"Hades!"
Despite the new change of tactics, Erza was still ready for the second attack. She even allowed it to send her sliding back until she decided to come to a complete stop. Once she had though, she actually had to take a second step back as a pillar of fire erupted from underneath her. From the visual cover the flames provided, Natsu dove through them to try and get a sneak attack, but his flaming fist again clashed with Erza's sword and sent him flying back before he forced himself to come to a complete stop as soon as he landed. Gathering up a large amount of magic into his cheeks, he let loose a Fire Dragon Roar that Erza managed to dissipate with a single swing.
"Not good, she's shutting him down completely and without having to do much at all to counter him," Elfman examined. "The difference in power makes it look like she's just playing with her food."
"Or giving him the chance to try and prove himself," Mira guessed. That was before Erza's clothing started to shift. "Of course, I think that mercy's already at its end."
Her regular chest plate and blue skirt had now been replaced completely with a black leotard, heavy dark gloves, and thigh-high black stocking, all of which were covered in golden metal details. Her hair had even changed styles to twin pigtails and she had a duel cape in the back with a red and black pattern which resembled a ladybug. For her weapon, she carried a single red blade.
"Is that-?"
"Fire Empress Armor, just the thing I need to stifle your flames completely," Erza explained. "This will be this armor's first proper test run. Prepare yourself!"
'Problem is we DID prepare for something like this,' Ragna thought, though he didn't give his usual cocky smirk at the idea. Natsu still needed to prove he could capitalize on his training.
'Tch, if she was at all serious she'd have lead with that,' Lauxus irately thought. 'Come on, kill his ass so I can get my money already.'
Natsu himself wasn't intimidated, only getting into a ready stance as he waited for his opponent to make the first move this time. Erza's raised her eyebrow for all of an instant before doing so, the force behind her charge sounding like a canon shot.
Trying to get a feel for this new power his opponent possessed, Natsu tried to counter her sword with another flaming punch and unlike last time this move barely even halted her attack as his fire magic might as well have not been there. He managed to duck her follow-up sword attack, only to put himself right in range of her drop kick that managed to send him airborne. Blasting his fire magic again he managed to avoid the skyward slash that Erza had attempted to chase him with and get back to solid footing, only to need to dive out of the way as she brought her blade down and cleaved through the ground he'd been standing on an instant before.
"She's already got him on the defensive," Lucy realized as Erza continued to chase after Natsu and he was forced to use his fire magic just to make distance. "And it's taking every bit of his magic just to stay in the fight."
"Yeah, but I didn't think that idiot had a defense," Gray recounted as he continued to watch carefully. "He's not fighting like he usually does."
Repositioning himself in the air to avoid yet another one of Erza's swings, Natsu had a somewhat clear opening to unleash his own attack and he took it. Letting loose a Fire Dragon's Wing Attack, he managed coat Erza entirely in his magic, only to have Erza not even attempt to dodge the move. Tanking the hit completely, she retaliated with a devastating backhand that would've ended the fight if he hadn't leaned back slight. The pain from the attack was still one of the fiercest blows that he'd ever taken and Erza wasn't giving him any mercy as he stumbled back and she closed the distance with a final rush.
'Okay, so far so good,' he thought, still somehow not giving up even through the obvious difference in power. 'But I'm barely going to have any opening at all for this… LET'S DO IT!'
Gathering his Fire Magic, he let it explode all around his body similar to one of Ragna's Barrier Bursts. Thanks to her armor Erza was barely even slowed by such a huge release of magic as she cut through the flames… only to find that Natsu wasn't in the inferno.
"Where-?" Erza said only to realize the obvious answer as the ground beneath her opened and Natsu lunged out with a flaming uppercut. Erza barely had to step back to avoid the attack, but then the next torrent of flames erupted behind him and coated them both his fire. Erza's horizontal slash missed Natsu by mere centimeters as he went into his next attack.
"FIRE DRAGON-!"
"THAT WON'T DO ANYTHING IDIOT!" Gray shouted from the sidelines as Erza tried to meet the attack with a sword lunge. Natsu dodged the attack as he carried his own forward… and his magic switched from its usual red flames. "Wha-!?"
"PURPLE FIST!"
The attack struck Erza dead on, right in her side, and the sound that resonated was clearly enough to confirm that it had been a direct attack. What stunned the onlookers the most however was that as the blow landed…
Erza lurched slightly.
'I DID IT! I LANDED A-!'
WHAM!
(End theme)
Most of the crowd almost had a look of pity on them a Natsu fell forward before hitting the dirt face first. Erza's punch directly into his solar plexus was still ringing in their ears as she stood over her unconscious opponent.
"And Erza wins!" Makarov declared leading for the gathered observers to cheer for the Queen of Fairies.
"Not even close," Lucy sighed.
"With how scary Erza can be it wasn't much of a surprise," Gray reminded. "Still, the fact that even managed to land a solid hit on her is worth bragging about… even if it didn't do much."
"Wow Gray, that was an almost genuine nice thing to say about Natsu," Mira noted.
"I'm just stating facts; he still got crushed out there." The Ice Maker then turned to Ragna. "And you? You were the one getting him ready for this."
"Yeah, and as long as he gave it his all out there, I won't complain. He took this challenge seriously and gave it his all when he was getting ready for it. Nothing you can fault him for there." Glancing back for a moment, Ragna didn't bother hiding his smirk as Lauxus walked off with a scowl after tearing up his betting tab. Apparently Natsu had exceeded his wager even after he'd tipped the scales for the bet. 'Nice to see this asshole getting what they deserve.' "Anyways, he doesn't deserve to be left sleeping face down in the dirt." Heading over to the two fighters before hefting Natsu over his shoulder, Ragna started making his way back to the guild.
"Isn't that kind of a bigger blow to his pride than just leaving him behind?" Gray felt the need to question.
"Maybe, but it's more a dad thing for Ragna anyways," Lucy answered with a small smile.
Mira shared in this smile, but instead of following the group she instead waited back with Erza who had yet to say a word since the fight ended. She hadn't dropped her small scowl either, meaning no one from the guild had worked up the courage to approach the redhead and offer congratulations on her victory.
"You're not upset that he got that hit in, are you?" Mira asked with a bit of teasing that few would dare to try with Erza.
"No, but I guess I am a little disappointed in myself. I already knew that Natsu would have a surprise or two for me this match, but even knowing that he still managed to catch me off guard however briefly he held that edge," she answered before giving a sigh. "I should probably just relent and say I'm proud he managed to accomplish this much."
"That would probably help take some of the sting away, even from a perfectionist like you."
"I never claimed to be-"
"You didn't have to; it's already pretty obvious." Mira's giggling once again proved infectious as it got even someone as stonewalled as Erza to smirk. "Still, you weren't wrong to be surprised. I was just as shocked as you were that Natsu managed to keep up so well for as long as he did. And it still feels like he has the potential to go even further."
"But for now it's just potential. Just like anything else, it needs the right tempering," Erza strictly reminded as she reverted back to her normal armor before the two ladies finally started following the rest of Fairy Tail back to their guild. Out of the corner of their eyes, they took notice of Happy speaking with Cana; clearly his bet had come through unlike Lauxus's. "Let's hope that the guild doesn't go too overboard with their drinking tonight; you probably want to close the guild early and go out with your boyfriend."
"…Boyfriend?" Mira repeated. Not a tinge of red to be seen among the confusion on her face.
"Ragna obviously," Erza answered casually. "While you've been exceptionally tight lipped about that date you went on, I already heard how he actually got you to completely fall for him and you two are going to be going steady from now on. I even heard that Sorcerer's Weekly is in a panic now that their top model is off the dating market."
"…So… how BAD are you at picking up these rumors?" Mira demanded with an exasperated facepalm. Apparently Erza hadn't overhead their conversation from earlier.
"…Thanks to Ragna, I've had to start asking that myself," Erza admitted at least.
Later -Fairy Tail's Backrooms-
"…Did I win?"
Cliché as he might've found it, Ragna had some pity for Natsu at his first words after waking up. After getting him into one of the guild's beds (he'd continued sleeping back here in spite of his daughter's demands he find his own place), he insisted he was fine waiting back for Natsu to awaken so he could break the news to him. At the moment, the entire rest of the guild was in the front room drinking as they talked about the fight they'd just witnessed.
"No…" Ragna answered a bit reluctantly. "Though, you did manage to surpass a hell of a lot of expectations though."
"That hit I scored on her. Tell me I didn't dream that up."
"Nope, you managed to score a direct hit on her alright. But it didn't end up doing a lot and she knocked you out the instant after you hit her." He'd talk up Natsu's achievements, but he wasn't about to lie about how short he'd come up next to his opponent. Ragna needed to do better than that.
"And you growing a beard, roaring like a barbarian, and charging Erza head-on with an axe that looked like it was made out of volcanic rock?" Natsu wasn't kidding.
"…That was a dream," he muttered; wondering how Natsu's subconscious worked to come up with that vision that crazy.
Giving a shrug, Natsu picked himself out of bed without much difficulty and was standing on his own. Heck, he looked well enough to go another round with Erza as he smiled brightly. "Oh well! I guess that's still a step forward! If I can do that much to Erza, imagine how much damage I can cause out there!"
"Much as I like your optimistic outlook, don't try to blow up a city every time you go out. If you get too absurd in your destruction, Makarov's going to making me your probation officer."
"But Cana's the one that drinks too much."
"…Not what I meant," Ragna sighed, but didn't push the issue any further. "Good work out there today."
"…Thanks dad," Natsu answered back with a smirk before shivering as he followed Ragna to the front. "Gotta be honest, when Lauxus brought up my non-cake vote I thought I was a dead man."
"He thought the same thing and even placed a bet on it, so as a bonus you got to prove him wrong too," Ragna retorted with a smirk. "And don't worry about Erza staying sore about that; Mira and I put all of our efforts into making the best Strawberry cake we could to sooth her over for ya." Natsu nodded, clearly relieved that he wouldn't have to face Erza at her worst now.
Getting to the front room of the guild now, everyone in attendance gave the Fire Slayer a short cheer.
"Congrats on the loss," Loke complimented coolly, one of the few time he was seen without a girl on either arm.
"Hey! You don't have to put it like that!" Natsu's outburst caused a couple of well-meaning chuckles. "I don't see any of you challenging her!"
"That's because we don't have a life-ceasing desire, unlike you!" a light purple haired girl in glasses answered readily. Ragna didn't have a name to go with her yet.
"You mean Death Wish?" Elfman asked.
"Why a Death Wish? I wouldn't kill him," Erza answered calmly as she cut into her second slice of strawberry cake that day. (Normally she'd stick to one a day, but Mira and Ragna's combined cooking prowess had crushed her willpower). "…Not on purpose anyways."
"And that's what we're worried about," Gray admitted, obviously down to his boxers already. "Two seconds of you losing control and he'd just be a smear on the wall."
"I could take more than that!" Natsu proudly insisted.
"Oi, everyone stop giving him crap; it took him a lot of guts to follow through with this fight like he did," Ragna defended before turning to Mira. "Get everyone set up with a round of the good stuff, on me."
"Way to kick ass Natsu!" Cana cheered from the back.
"…Standard tankard sizes," the Reaper felt the need to clarify.
"Even if you account for that, that's not going to be a cheap purchase," Mira informed. "In fact, I'm not sure you've got enough cash on you now."
"I'll fix that; just make sure everyone's having a good time," he insisted before heading over to the job board and grabbing off the highest paying assignment he could find. Lucy was about to get up and follow after as he passed by, but his gentle hand on her shoulder left her seated. "Let me take this one as a way to raise up some quick cash; anything I don't use to cover my drinks will go towards buying a place."
"I like the plan, but are you sure? I can still come along and-"
"Vulcan hunting job." He stopped her words dead with that. "And this job might even take me over a full day because there's going to be so many of them."
"…Never mind, have fun."
"Think I will," Ragna told her with a knowing smirk as he stepped out. Oddly, he also felt the weirdest urge to yawn.
"That's standard size?" Cana asked, almost sounding insulted as Mira handed her the quality drink Ragna had just paid for her. "There's barely anything to drink in it!"
"Well if you don't want it, I can happily give yours to someone else who will appreciate it," Mira suggested (threatened).
"Now now, let's not go that far," Cana said as she eagerly took the drink. "I'm just saying that my next round of this stuff better be in my regular amount."
"I'll check to see if we have any more barrels in the back."
But as Cana went to take her first sip of quality liquor, it didn't even get to her lips before she hastily set her drink down and faceplanted on the table. Mira managed to stay standing long enough to set her own tray down on a stable surface before she slumped to the ground. Not everyone around them managed even that much as many of the passed tankards fell to the floor and spilled their expensive content. Even Erza couldn't stay upright as she slumped down beside her cake. The only one that had managed to even stay conscious was the guild leader, but even that was a struggle for the Sage as a new arrival entered the guild.
"Sorry about the mess," came an empty voice from inside the dark folds.
"Mystogan…" Makarov barely managed to get out as the figure approached and put down the paper of the high paying job they'd just completed before they headed over to job board once more.
"I heard that there was a rather high paying job available to hunt a large troop of Vulcans. Where is it?" he questioned after looking over the board a moment.
"You just missed it; the man who took it left only a minute ago… You may be able to catch him if you hurry."
"Not my style," Mystogan answered before taking the next highest paying job off the wall and heading to door.
"Wait… undo your spell before you leave," the guild leader ordered with a much authority as he could muster in his weakened state.
"This will wear off shortly; you're not in any danger," the enigma promised before he departed. He left some parting words, but he didn't turn nor look up to address who they were meant for. "Stop looking so damn smug."
A Few Minutes Later
"MY DRINK!" Macco exclaimed as he looked down at the spilled tankard that he'd barely started on. He already knew what had happened to get him to spill premium drink like that, but that shouldn't mean he'd have to miss out on a free treat like this. Glancing over to-
"Don't even try it." He hadn't even tried to move before Cana had said that. And was she still out of it when she said that?
"Damn…" Natsu groaned as he picked himself up. "I hate it when he does that."
"What happened?" Lucy drowsily asked as she got up. "Was that some kind of attack?"
"No, it was actually a member of our guild. A very high ranking member; Mystogan." Makarov explained, the guild master having recovered the quickest.
"Mystogan… I've read about him only a couple of times before. There were never any pictures in the articles and usually there weren't any direct witnesses. For the longest time, I thought he was just a myth."
"HAH! Don't make me laugh! You're just making him out to be a bigger deal than he is," came a cocky voice from above (yes, that sounds like Ragna in the English dub but this is the last time I'm addressing that so it doesn't become redundant). It was the man that had brought Erza's rage back shortly before she'd fought Natsu that had insulted Ragna. He was sitting in a second floor area overlooking the rest of the guild that Lucy hadn't really paid that much attention to, but looking at it now that area even had its own job board. "Truth is, the guy's just got a bit of a shy side. Though I can't really blame him; I'm half-tempted to start following his example so I don't have to put up with you losers."
"Who are you calling losers!? We're a part of your own guild!" Natsu shouted from down below. Even if he had a hotter temper than most, Lucy had to assume that there was some history with how easily Natsu was already going off the handle.
"And I'm nauseated by the fact I gotta share it with chumps like you; gives me a hell of a bad name when I'm out in the town." Lucy couldn't quite figure out why, but there seemed to be some kind of rage in the sharp smirk Lauxus had. "You're all so weak, I can barely keep my booze down."
"If all you're going to do is run your mouth, why don't you come down here and prove it instead of hiding up there!" Natsu shouted.
"Why would I waste my time? You can't even keep up with Erza!" Lauxus laughed. Natsu was gritting his teeth hard as he was pushed to his limit. "Though… maybe I can't blame you for that one. Even I might've lost hard if that piece of trash was the one trying to help me, negative results and all. He'd have been better off with the all the pity he was getting half-paralyzed."
"THAT DOES IT! I'M TEARING YOU A NEW ONE!" Raging flames in his hands, Natsu cleared the air between the ground in second floor in a single bound… or would have if he hadn't been stopped by the giant hand blocking his path.
"You're not allowed on the second floor," Makarov reminded with an empty voice before turning his eye back to Lauxus. "And that's more than enough out of you."
"Hardly; they're all the ones that need a wake-up call!" Lauxus shouted. "You got a problem with what I'm saying! Then get on my level and prove me wrong! Show me that you're not all the weaklings I know you are!"
A few heads hesitantly turned to Erza; she was the only one who really could shut him up being an S-Rank wizard herself. While far from pleased with anything Lauxus had said, it didn't seem like she was about to challenge him either. Some even wondered if there was a part of her that actually agreed with what he was saying. Trying not to let the insults get to them, the first floor tried to resume their usual drinking and conversations despite the heavy stigma in the guild.
"Hey, whatever happened to my drink?" Lauxus called to Mira from his chair on the second floor. "I thought everyone got a round on the broken bastard's credit."
"Everyone he would've wanted to treat. He'd never include you," Mira answered, not flinching in the slightest. "And I don't blame him."
'Mira's not impressed by this guy,' Lucy realized.
Later -The Guild's Pantry-
"Thanks for helping me take inventory of everything," Mira said to Lucy as she scanned her next shelf while taking notes on her clipboard.
"I'm the one that should be thanking you; anything to get out of that tense situation," Lucy answered as she looked over her own section. "I'm surprised Erza didn't end up doing anything… she held it in tighter than anyone else there."
"Just for the moment she did; why do you think she took that job and left when she was done with her cake?" Lucy almost pitied whatever Erza would be hunting. "I get what you're saying though; Lauxus went too far."
"What's his deal anyways? And how could someone like that be a member of Fairy Tail?"
"He's Makarov's grandson for one thing."
"Him?" Understandably, Lucy didn't see the resemblance.
"And his power's no joke; even being direct family with the master wouldn't have let him skip the process to becoming an S-Rank wizard in our guild."
"Right, dad told me a bit about S-Ranks," Lucy recalled. "He… also mentioned that you're one?"
"Yeah, but I don't go on jobs anymore; even with his help I'm too busy running things around here." It wasn't the only reason, but it was explanation enough for now.
"So… I noticed that there was a separate job board on the second floor; does that mean S-Ranks have their own jobs?"
"It does. But those are jobs far too intense for your normal everyday wizard. The payout can be amazing at times, but… there's far less of a guarantee that you'd ever make it back from the job. They're so tough and dangerous any non-S wizard is effectively banned from those job. And with good reason."
"But since you're an S-Rank wizard yourself, you've probably been on your fair share of those jobs," the blonde guessed.
"Nothing worth talking about. I'm much happier working the front counter and doing my modelling assignments anyways," Mira insisted, partially forcing herself to smile. "Speaking of which, I might have a potential shoot for you coming up."
"Y-Y-You might!?" Lucy asked with sparkles in her eyes. "My big break! Oh Mira!"
"Now, don't be too excited just yet… It's only for a new cleaning product," she admitted. "Some company calling themselves Top Hattin' Industries has been trying to break into a number of markets. I don't know if their products are good or not, so-?"
"Even if the products end up being total trash, this'll be my first step getting my foot in the door! First this, then I'm on my way to Sorcerer's Weekly!"
"Hehe, if I hear anything else about the shoot I'll pass it onto you first chance I get," Mira promised. "It's all lining up though; they were looking for a naughty maid type to push this product and Natsu said that you enjoy dressing up as one-"
"I did it for a job! I don't enjoy doing it!" Lucy shouted. "And what's this about naughty!? I'm as pure hearted as snow!"
"…Lucy, I accidentally went through your bag that one time. Judging by the underwear I found in it, that's not the case," she reminded, causing Lucy to pale. "Just… keep better track of it in the future, especially with everyone breaking into your house."
"…Yes mom," the blonde hopeful sighed, before realizing what she'd said. "Uh-! I mean-! I didn't-! …Strike two?"
"Just help me finish going through inventory." '…Darn it, why is that growing on me now?' "Though you know, I think a few members of our guild have called Erza mom by mistake. Even some of the older ones."
"That doesn't really surprise me."
Later that night
What did end up surprising her, though barely, was coming back to her house and again finding her chips raided by Natsu and Happy. Her eyes twitching at the sight, Lucy was about to go for her keys, her whip, or just another roundhouse kick (potentially all three at once) before deciding that Natsu had probably been through enough after going through both Erza and Lauxus in the same day. So she decided to stick with the fairest option she could manage.
"You're paying to replace those," she ordered sternly.
"What? Are you really charging your guests?" Natsu asked, taken aback.
"You're not my guests, you're my intruders!" she shouted before shaking her. "Why are you here right now anyways?"
"Because Happy and I have a little something special to show you," he said mischievously before taking out a piece of paper from the job board and placing in on the table. Lucy looked over it for all of five seconds before she realized this wasn't from the ground floor. "Got Happy to snatch this from the S-Rank job board!"
"Are you crazy!? Forget that! I know you're crazy, but are you completely insane! Do you know how much trouble you're going to be in!"
"That's what I tried to tell him, but there was no changing his mind," Happy voiced.
"Liar; you were already moving to steal it before I even said anything."
"Was I? As a cat, my memory's not that good," Happy admitted sheepishly.
"Two weeks ago today; what kind of fish were you eating around mid-day?"
"Neptune's Dagger; fresh caught swordfish from the west coast. Tasted really good even though it shouldn't have been in season!"
"Uh huh."
"Happy's… selective memory aside, why?" Lucy had to ask. "Did what Lauxus say really get to you?"
"What? Nah, he's said all the crap before and worse," Natsu brushed off. Lucy crossed her arms to look authoritative and… it actually worked on him. "M… maybe a little, but it's not the only reason. I spent all that time getting ready to fight Erza and… well I'm a little unsatisfied. Like I gave it my all out there, but I still feel like I could've done a lot more if I'd been given the chance to. Maybe this S-Rank job would be good proving grounds."
"I guess I understand some of that, but by that logic wouldn't losing to Erza mean that we're definitely not ready for this? I mean, as an S-Rank wizard this is the type of job she'd go on regularly."
"Not necessarily," Happy cut in. "Even if all guilds have the same S-Rank jobs, that doesn't mean that they all have the same requirements for S-Rank members. And you can probably tell that even amongst other S-Ranks, Fairy Tail's are in a league of their own."
"I mean… I can buy that, but…" Lucy shook her head. "What about dad? You know he wouldn't go along with this. And he's part of our team too."
"You're probably right there," Natsu admitted. "But this is going to be our only chance to do something like this; and if we don't leave first thing in the morning the guild's going to try to stop us." Lucy still wasn't convinced. "Also… there's a special reward for you."
"A special… what now?" Lucy asked before looking over the job in more thorough detail. "Demon Island… that's not reassuring at all. And we're supposed to break some curse? That sounds tough, the reward better be…" Not only was there payment of money so large it put their Everlue job to shame, but there was even a Golden Celestial Key available.
"And… Happy and I are going to send you back with both the key and a third of the money," Natsu promised, confident he'd made a deal. "So what d'ya say now!?"
"That you're crazy."
"Yeah, we established that. What about the job?" Lucy still wasn't answering right away. "Again, I gotta know soon otherwise we're going to lose out on this one chance. Ae you in?"
'After everything Mira said about how dangerous these jobs can be…' "ONE condition."
"Name it."
"The second any of us thinks this job is too risky or getting too intense, we get out of there. No questions or arguments from anyone else; we need to leave."
"…Alright, you got me there." Weird, and here she was expecting Natsu to say something along the lines of There's no Danger I can't handle! or some equally obnoxious boast. The fact that he at least knew how dangerous this job would be gave her some confidence. "Also, as an added bonus this is one job with a Zero chance of Vulcans."
"Careful; if that's your big selling point I might have to take S-Rank jobs exclusively."
"Told ya we should've lead with that," Happy commented.
"I thought cats didn't have great memories," Natsu reminded, only for Happy to shrug the comment off. "So… since we need to leave first thing in the morning to grab the train and your house is closer to the station…"
"You can have the couch, but JUST this once. This isn't a situation where you can come over and crash any time you want to," Lucy tried to insist, futile as it likely was.
"Hold on a sec. If you have a couch that's available, then why doesn't Dad sleep there until he finds a place to call his own like you want him to?" Happy asked.
"Because… I honestly hadn't considered that," she admitted before really thinking the idea over. "If I did keep him around though, that might be enough to keep the rest of you from breaking in."
"We'd find a way regardless." …Natsu might've been right, but she was a little angry it sounded like he knew what he was doing.
Glancing back at the job details for a moment, Lucy actually got a bit of rush thinking about what this job could mean for her. If she managed to pull it off, completing an S-Rank assignment would be perfect for growing her reputation and if she could get the word out during her photo shoot then she'd have eyes on her for certain. Even past that, just imagining the shock from the entire guild when they got back was enough to make her giggle.
…But if she was looking for shock, she should've seen Makarov's face as he was informed there was a missing S-Rank job. The most dangerous S-Rank job on the board.
His jaw had broken clean through the floorboards.
Author's Note
Storm: Storm VII here!
Happy: Happy too! Aye!
Storm: So not a lot to cover for the first chapter of the upcoming arc. Very standard and I got a… admittedly shorter fight done between Natsu and Erza. I had a lot going on in January and even with a full month, I'm still pushing to get this out before it's too late.
Happy: Not to mention you big day is coming up in the middle of February.
Storm: Right! Any of you on YouTube might know that I promised another birthday video that will be complete with fan-art at the end. This will be an hour long and premier on February 17th, so stay tuned then. Other than that, not a lot to cover.
Happy: Ciao!
DoctorHayden: Ragna doesn't have his Drive back yet, but I'm glad you like the ending.
Primus1661: Hey, they tried to troll him first. This is just desserts (food pun is food)
ChaosSpartan999: Thanks, all I can say is I hope you continue to enjoy them.
Dragon lord Syed 101: TBD
Draak D. Sol: Heh, yep.
Spartastic 4: As an old Jimmy Neutron fan, I had to include it somewhere.
Wlyman2009: So can I.
Masterx01: True that he could, but I still want to wait a bit. Once Ragna gets and Aramasa like weapon he's going to stick to that more and more meaning the rest of his arsenal will have less relevancy.
Silverwolf7791: Could come up soon, we never know.
AbyssWalker Warren: Maybe for an omake?
Scatman SSJohn EX: Heavily implied, but not outright confirmed.
ScuffinMcguffic: Glad to hear!
The Unplanner: That's going to be quite the development.
Reclusive Dork: Not confirmation, but at this point I'm just taking it slow.
Dracoog101: Not much of a reaction, but enough to get some of Mira's fans nervous.
Giggukarda Guy: …Azure of Ardour maybe?
Sarcasm Sage 626: Thanks for the lengthy summary/review.
Kitsune No Hi 75: Yep, already have some ideas for how the cat can do it.
Ultimatrix bearer: Not a lot is seen of Ragna training Natsu, but maybe try a flashback here of there.
Son of Fellblood: I have seen the first two seasons, but this was more of just a cooking contest that made sense in the context.
Guest: Well it's not outright confirmed one way or another, just heavily implied.
Laxard: Disqualified because you'd have too much of a leg up (especially if it had bacon on it)
EnderSoul1401: Maybe not the exact line, but the father/son dynamic will still be in play.
Slavic Ancestor: Bang did get referred to when Ragna was thinking back to 'overly loud ninjas'
Doctor Snake Eater: So does a majority (outside the story at least)
Kodaking: Thanks!
Patricia Louise A. Pena: NOW!
Slackboy 101: Maybe I'll include other characters if I try to do Omakes down the line, but nothing so far.