Inside of Lucy's room, Lucy, Erza, Carla, and Wendy were all trying to give Cynthia a good look for the upcoming Council Ball, which would be starting within hours. Cynthia couldn't help but feel she was just a test subject for the various styles of Lucy and Erza. "Hurrrrry uuuuuuup!" Cynthia whined. "The thingy starts in a few hours and you two STILL aren't done yet!"
"We'll be done soon, don't worry!" Erza reassured while looking over a few dresses that fit Cynthia perfectly, deciding which one would be perfect for the young girl.
"That's what you said an hour ago…" Cynthia huffed, then looked up at her hair. "And what about my hair? I would like it to be all nice and pretty and not…this…"
"Oh, I know someone who can fix that!" Lucy grinned slightly, holding out one of her golden keys. "Gate of the Crab, I open thee! Cancer!" A bell chime echoed throughout the room before the celestial spirit appeared, snipping his scissors.
"Ebi." Was the only thing Cancer had to say at first.
"Cancer, give Cynthia the most stylish haircut you can think of!" Lucy said with an enthusiastic nod.
"Oh, do my hair next…!" Wendy asked.
"Of course!" Lucy said with a nod and a large grin.
"I don't think I trust a giant crab coming at my head with scissors…!" Cynthia said with her face growing a comical shade of blue while Cancer neared her.
"It won't take long-ebi," Cancer said while snipping scissors a few times.
.
.
{Hours later}
The doors opened. Those invited, mages or not, flooded into the room where the Council Ball was held. Most people invited did stay into the spirit of the masquerade ball, while others did not. Natsu (who was in a suit) was with Happy, chowing down on the buffet without a care in the world. "This food is great!" Natsu exclaimed between bites, not even taking the time to breathe. It was then that he was shoved aside by Cygnus who began to eat all the subs.
"Outta the way!" Cygnus exclaimed, entering sub heaven. Though it only lasted for a moment as Natsu shoved Cygnus right back, resuming to eat the food.
"I'm eating here!" Natsu shouted towards Cygnus.
"Eat somewhere else!" Cygnus shouted.
"Mine now!" Takeru exclaimed, lunging and kicking the two mages away from the buffet, beginning to eat himself.
Happy ignored the two arguing wizards, just staring at the large piece of cooked fish in front of him. His eyes widened and he began to drool. "N-No way…I didn't know fish like this existed…!"
Before Happy could grab the fish, Future Rogue casually walked in and grabbed it, now taking a bite out of it. "Hm…Not bad…"
"Nooooooooo….!" Happy began to cry in a comical fashion while reaching out to the fish now in the hands of the future shadow dragon, not even noticing that it was Future Rogue. "My fish…!"
"Huh?" Natsu stopped fighting with Cygnus and Takeru for just a second and finally spotted Future Rogue. Immediately he hopped up, giving a glare to the slayer. "You again…"
"Isn't that the Future Guy…?" Cygnus asked while stuffing a sub into his mouth.
"Future Rogue…" Takeru corrected.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Natsu asked, stepping closer to the future slayer who seemed clearly uninterested in the conversation. "You startin' trouble again? Cause if so, I'll beat your ass back to the future!"
"Ugh…" Future Rogue merely waved a dismissive hand at Natsu's threats, taking another bite of the fish he stole from Happy before speaking once again. "Always so antsy. I'm not here to cause trouble. You see, there aren't many festivities like this in the future. Am I not allowed to just participate in such events and enjoy myself?"
"Tch…" Natsu backed off. He wasn't going to attack Future Rogue just yet. "Whatever. As soon as you start causing trouble I'll take you out again." Natsu then turned his back and started walking off.
"Wait for me…!" Happy flailed before running behind his partner.
"Heh…" Future Rogue merely smirked, turning around and walking in the opposite direction, beginning to mumble to himself. "I'm not here to cause any trouble just yet…The fun hasn't even begun yet. Now then, where is that past counterpart of mine…"
.
The bar was taken over before the part even began. Bacchus was living up to his reputation as the Drunk Falcon, downing shot after shot with no hesitation. "Heh…This beer ain't too bad…" Bacchus said to himself with a chuckle. He then looked around at all the people wearing a mask, like the ball was intended to be, but just gave a shrug. "Oops, "forgot" a mask. I'll just blame it on the beer, heh…"
"You gonna hog it all to yourself?" Cana asked while taking a seat next to Bacchus.
"Oi, Nee-chan," Bacchus said with a smug grin. "You up for another round?"
"You bet!" Cana replied with a smug grin of her own. "This time, you won't be beating me."
"We'll see about that~" Bacchus replied, but before he could start drinking, a third person appeared, sitting next to Cana. "Hm?"
"Ya got room for one more?" Asked Jack Royal of White Eclipse, a smirk tugging his lips.
"A three way contest?" Cana asked before her smug grin turned into a smirk. "Too easy, I'll take you both down."
"Guess we'll just have to see about that," Jack said with a wink towards Cana. And with that, the three way drinking contest between Bacchus, Royal, and Cana began.
"Kick their asses, Bacchus!" Said Cy, waving around a cup of beer. She was the only female to join QC period, as a fun fact.
.
Siegrain was looking over a list of all the people from various guilds who attended the event, marking off the names as he saw the members coming in. "Interesting…"
"Is that the list of the guilds who didn't turn down your generous offer?" Correll asked Siegrain.
"Mhm," Siegrain nodded, reading down the list. "Those who arrived belongs to the following guilds: Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, Twilight Zone, Black Phoenix, Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, and Quatro Cerberus. The other guilds who've yet to arrive are Blue Pegasus, Shaman's Haven and Mermaid Heel."
"Give Blue Pegasus some time…" Odin commented. "They're all like Correll when it comes to women, only I can't tell who's worse."
"That supposed to mean something!?" Correll asked.
"Take it as you will," Odin replied with a slight smirk.
.
"Wah…!" Wendy rushed into the Council Ball in a fancy, somewhat poofy dress. "We're late…!"
"I told you we would be…!" Cynthia replied as she stepped into the room. Her hair was really well done, and the dress she wore was a perfect fit for her personality.
"It's called being fashionably late!" Lucy said while waving a finger back and forth.
"Precisely!" Erza agreed, now looking around at all the masked people around. "It appears most people cared to bring a mask…oh well, it won't spoil the fun anyw-" She suddenly stopped when her eyes found the dessert table, where she saw it: Strawberry cake. "MINE." And with that, Erza was gone.
"There she goes…" Cynthia said with a nervous chuckle.
"I suppose we might as well enjoy ourselves…" Carla said with a shrug before freezing up. She was having…another vision? This was rare, considering her powers haven't been as effective since returning from the Island. It was all fuzzy, but she could see a figure high in the sky above a town, holding purple flames within their hands. The only thing she could make out was "Say goodbye, Magnolia!" The vision then ended, and Carla snapped back into reality.
"Huh?" Wendy blinked, looking down at Carla worriedly. "Are you okay, Carla?"
"Hm?" Carla then shook her head, giving a slight smile. "Yes, I'm fine. Let's enjoy ourselves, okay?"
"Yeah!" Cynthia nodded, grabbing Wendy by the arm and dragging her off. "Let's see what there is to do around here!"
"Wait…!" Wendy shouted as Cynthia ran off with her. "We can't just run in here…!"
Carla slowly followed behind the two girls, thinking to herself about her vision. "That was Magnolia…and those flames…they all seemed familiar…was that Jack…?"
.
Yukino had a beverage in her hands; she swore to stay away from the beer table because Royal, Cana, and Bacchus were depleting the supply rather quickly and she really didn't want to put herself in the middle of that. "It looks like I lost Sting and Rogue with all the people around here…" She mumbled to herself, beginning to walk around. "Oh well…I'll find them eventually. I'll just enjoy this alone time, then…" Shortly after she began walking, she accidentally bumped into a masked female. "O-oh! Forgive me! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going…"
"Oh, don't worry about it…" the female said while waving a dismissive hand. "I was just thinking about something. Enjoy your time here, dearie." With that the two females went their separate ways. The masked female waited before turning around, staring at the distancing Yukino before slightly removing her mask. Heartless tilted her head somewhat, a slight smirk appearing on her face as her eyes glued onto Yukino's key ring for as long as it was in her sights. "The 13th key…"
.
"I never expected you to join this, Adam…" Luke said while glancing at Adam, who managed to find a suit big enough for his build and wore a mask.
"I'm with Luke on this one…" Kairi said while observing the male.
"I've never been to one of these human festivities before…" Adam replied while taking a seat on a nearby chair. "I thought it would be…"fun" to join in, and see what it was about. I'm still confused if these masks are really necessary, judging by how many people are wearing them and who aren't…"
"I don't think you actually have to…but it would be in the spirit of things," Kairi replied with a nod.
"Speaking of surprises," Luke started while turning to Kairi. "I'm surprised you're here as well, Kairi. Are you sure you're not here to just blow this place up later?"
Kairi cut her eyes towards the copycat before letting out a sigh. "I'll be fine, Luke. I know what my actions may bring unto you guys, and I'm sure that Skye wouldn't want that to happen…"
"Hm…" Luke gave a nod as Adamn and Kairi's expression turned more solemn. "Right…I'm sorry I brought it up…I'll just…go…that way…" With another quick nod, Luke left to go elsewhere within the party.
.
Lucy walked around, observing all the decorations within the room. She was quite amazed at how quickly the Council could organize and prepare a huge event. "Wow…this is all so pretty…"
"Isn't it, though?" A familiar voice rang out to Lucy's ears.
"Huh?" Lucy turned to the sound of the voice, her eyes widening once she saw two people she didn't think she'd see again so soon; Yumia and Yukia. "W-What?! You two are?!"
"She remembers us!" Yukia said with a slight grin.
"What are you two doing here!?" Lucy demanded to know.
"Oh, relax…" Yumia said while waving a single hand, holding some kind of drink in the other. "We're just here to have fun."
"Fun?" Lucy repeated with obvious doubt. "We're enemies, so I hardly believe that."
"Correct!" Yukia said while bringing a finger up. "We WERE enemies. You see, under our previous contract, you were supposed to be our hostage and yada yada yada…But, because of yours and your friend's actions, our contract ended up being broken, so we are now in charge of all operations within the Fiore border!"
"Buuuuut…" Yumia continued, which surprised Lucy because what more could there have been to add? "We COULD be your friends, very, very good friends for a handsome amount of jewel…~"
"Forget it!" Lucy exclaimed. "I'm not paying you two anything! Wait…you two aren't here to free your comrades, are you?"
"Your loss…" Yumia shrugged. "And no, we aren't. Don't be crazy, we'd lose the "in charge" part we just told you about." And then she took a sip from her drink. "My sister and I remain neutral and act on our best interest until we're paid."
"I see…" Lucy then eyed the drink in the girl's hand. "Wait…what are you drinking?"
"Beer," Yumia replied.
"And how old are you two?" Lucy asked with a brow raised.
"We're 14, duh," Yukia replied with a sarcastic eye roll.
"THAT'S WELL UNDER THE LEGAL LIMIT!" Lucy flailed.
"Can it, granny," Yumia stated.
"GRANNY!?" Lucy was now livid, flames appearing around her body in a comical fashion.
"Okay I think that's enough of that…" Gray said as he suddenly appeared, dragging Lucy off before anything bad could've happened.
"Grrr…" Growled Juvia from the background as she watched Gray focus on Lucy rather than herself.
"Those two little…!" Lucy started, but she took a deep breath and calmed down.
"Better?" Asked Gray with a somewhat fearful expression, hoping Lucy wouldn't just explode.
"…Better." Lucy replied with a nod.
"Good…try not to explode and give the council a reason to, you know, kill us all?" Gray replied in a joking manner.
"Yeah, yeah…sorry…" Lucy replied before walking off. She then realized something, and went to the nearest Council Captain she could find, which happened to be Lahar. "Excuse me?"
"Hm?" Lahar turned to Lucy, raising a brow. "Is there something you need, Ms. Heartfilia?"
"Yes, there is…" Lucy nodded. "There's someone here I would like to talk to…"
"And that person is…?"
.
The prison chambers. Lahar led Lucy down there with a few guards in case anything happened. "We don't normally allow visiting, but I asked Siegrain and he said it was alright. You should thank him for his generosity later…"
"I will…" Lucy nodded.
"And here we are." Lahar said after leading Lucy to a particular cell. "I'll leave the guards nearby in case anything happens." With that, he left the cell block and made his way back to the party.
"Mm…" Lucy nodded as Lahar left, then gently knocked on the cell, catching the attention of the one trapped inside.
"A visitor…?" The female looked up, blinking a few times as she saw Lucy.
"Tia…"