A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to a new chapter!

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, I only own my OC's.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: LOVE & LUCKY

A mysterious man appears at Magnolia at twilight.

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy are at the Guild. Lucy is frustrated because she cannot pay her rent again, but Natsu is hung up on the fact that Virgo isn't there to help him dig up the album. Natsu has a quick change of heart, and is ready to go on a job, a reaction that makes Lucy cry from joy. A man appears hiding behind the wall, and Lucy gets the feeling she is being watched. Natsu and Happy attribute this to her being overly self-conscious.

"Those two really do get along." Mira commented.

"Yeah..." Aira mumbled.

On her way home, Lucy again gets the feeling that she is being watched. This time it's not just a feeling: she is being followed by a hooded man. She tries to run for it, but the man catches up to her and reveals he is none other than her father. In an ironic twist of fate, he tells her that he lost everything, and the man who he used to be is no more. Lucy's only concern is her mother's grave, but her father took care of that. He moved it to another location, one he discloses to Lucy. The even seems so impossible to him that he believes it's all laughable.

Lucy impatiently asks why he is in town, to which he replies that he came to see his daughter. He also states that he is going to start from the beginning, so he asks Lucy for 100,000 Jewel to go to Alcalypha so he can work in a merchant guild there. When Lucy answers she doesn't have that kind of money, he snaps, and shouts at her to give him the money. Lucy then reminds him of the time she returned home, and told him she has nothing to do with his wealth and fortune. She advises him to do the same, and orders him to leave, heartbroken.

Lucy gets to her apartment and in front of her home, she finds Happy and Natsu waiting. "Sergeant Happy, is everything normal?!" Natsu saluted.

"Aye, sir! Captain!" Happy replied.

"Hey, welcome home." Natsu greeted.

"Lucy, there's no one suspicious around here." Happy stated.

Lucy gives them a weak smile, looking at the ground. "Thanks..."

"Captain! This private here lacks enthusiasm, sir!" Happy stated.

"Why am I a private?" Lucy commented.

"Yup, seems like it." Natsu chuckled. Lucy walks past him. "Everything okay, Lucy?" Natsu and Happy notice a figure hiding in the background.

Lucy turns around. "Don't tell me he's..."

Happy flies over to where the mysterious figure is hiding. "Captain! I spotted a questionable subject!"

"There you are!" Natsu jumps on the figure.

"That hurt, you jerk!" Aira growled.

"Aira!" Lucy finds him on the ground.

"So it was Aira that was following Lucy!" Happy pointed out.

"N-No, it's not..." Lucy added.

"No! I heard that Lucy was being followed by someone suspicious, so I couldn't leave her alone!" Aira stated as he looks away. "I came to see how she was doing."

"He lllikes her!" Happy teased.

"What kind of running gag is that?!" Aira yelled.

"I never really liked you, but when you just dropped even worse in my book, Aira!" Natsu said.

Aira jumps up. "Oh, yeah?!"

"Is stalking girls really your thing?" Happy taunted. Aira easily gets irritated with the exceed. "Keep it up and you're going to end up like Gray, a giant per-" Aira punches Happy all the way to the moon.

"I'm not going to end up like him!" Aira argued.

"I ain't said nothing!" Natsu stated.

"Shut up, you crazy flame spewer!" Aira shouted.

"Bring it on, water breath!" Natsu shouted back with his hand on fire. The Dragon Slayers go at it again.

"Please don't fight in front of people's houses!" Lucy yelled. She then laughs at them which makes her feel at home.

The Next Day...

"Lucy, let's go on a job!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Happy jumps in excitement.

"Sure!" Lucy agreed.

"So, what kind of job are we going on?" Happy asked.

"Ain't decided yet!" Natsu replied.

"This." Aira holds up a flier to show them. "Capture the escaped convict Velveno."

"Velveno?! You mean, Velveno, the Guild Hunter?! So they found out where he is?!" Happy blurted.

Natsu laughs out loud. "This guy uses some awesome magic! I'm fired up!"

"The reward is 400,000 a person." Erza stated. "You can pay your rent with that, Lucy."

"Yeah! That's about 6 months' worth. I'll do it!" Lucy agreed. However, she overhead of recent events in Alcalypha and demands that Macao and Wakaba tell her where Alcalypha is located. She hurries there, worried about her father.

Lucy finds Alcalypha's 'LOVE & LUCKY' Merchant Guild is being held hostage by the Dark Guild Naked Mummy. Lucy is unable to enter the location, so she summons Virgo, who directs her inside. Virgo is worried about the fact that the Mages are inside, but Lucy decides that she can handle them.

What Naked Mummy is doing is a robbery, but one of the thieves gets impatient and tries to shoot one of the hostages, but Taurus and Lucy intervenes. Lucy attacks using Cancer and Sagittarius, and giving him the final blow with Lucy Kick. Cancer then releases all of the hostages.

Lucy looks for her father, but nowhere to be found; she looks inside and outside, but he is not there. After some moments he arrives, and tells Lucy that he was traveling by foot, so he couldn't have made it there in time. He inquires why she is here, to which she responds that she was worried for him. Jude learns of his daughter's love, and thanks her, but Lucy asks him not to get the feeling that she forgave him. He apologizes for the night before and tells her that it was at this guild where he met her mother. He tells Lucy that when her mother was pregnant, they decided to quit the Guild. While leaving, they spotted that the letter 'K' on the Guild's signboard was missing, and it spelled 'Love and Lucy' Therefore they decided to name her Lucy.

Lucy playfully scolds him for picking such a name on a whim. Her father concurs and states that he came just to see Lucy, not Lucky Lucy of the Heartfilias.

Lucy hears a rumble ahead of her. She sees her team in the distance. "Lucy, you safe?!" Natsu asked.

"What happened?!" Aira added.

"Lucy!" Happy cried out.

"Could it be you handled everything here by yourself?" Erza asked. "Not bad."

"Yeah, well..." Lucy looks at her father who nods back. "Stay well, Father." She bids farewell to her father as she leaves with her team.

"What was with you all of a sudden?" Natsu asked.

"It was nothing!" Lucy replied.

"Nothing my ass!" Aira commented.

"We canceled the job!" Happy complained.

"Sorry about that." Lucy apologized.

"Layla..." Jude looks up at the orange sky. "I was really such a fool..."

At the headquarters of the Naked Mummy Guild, the guy from before is being punished for his failure. Two odd figures appear, Gato and Zato, who seemed concerned with paying their debt to the Oracion Seis.

Meanwhile, on top of a mountain, a mysterious figure with a snake remarks that he can hear the sound of the light crumbling.

A/N: There you go!

Next chapter is the beginning of the Oracion Seis arc! One of my favorite arcs!

Hope you enjoyed!

~Kyle