Hey everybody, we're at 15 lovely chappies now! Without further delay, here's the next chappie of "Hey There!"
Disclaimer: My cat thinks she owns the world. I do not share that same view…
Hey There… Ch. 15
"This place is huge!" Natsu gaped as they approached the mansion where they were supposed to meet up with the other guilds.
"You have to remember how high in demand Ichiya-san is," Wendy replied and Gray and Natsu paled at that thought.
"How is that even possible?" Natsu grumbled lowly and stuck his hands in his pockets.
I really want to know that this Ichiya person is like Lucy thought to herself as she watched the behavior of her teammates. When they all approached the front doors, Erza knocked sharply on them and they opened immediately into a spacious entryway with double staircases leading up to a second floor.
"Erza-san!" a deep male voice said and a shadowy figure jumped down from the top of the stairs. "It's been too long since I've seen you, men." At the last word, the veteran mission-taking trio stiffened.
"S-so nice to see you again." Erza failed miserably at keeping herself calm. "Has everyone arrived yet?"
"Men, no. some of the Lamia Scale party has not arrived yet. Jura-san said that he wouldn't make it for another week or so-"
"Lucy!" Natsu interrupted, clearly trying to make an escape. "I think that there was a job that was posted on the Fairy Tail job board that was in the town. We should go now and check it out right now."
"Natsu-"
"Don't worry about it! I already grabbed the flier and everything! We'll be done with this job before you know it!" Natsu hastily added and proceeded to drag Lucy out of the mansion.
"What the hell was that all about?" a peeved Lucy asked as Natsu slowed their mad dash down to a walk on the path that led to the town nearby.
"You'll be thanking me. Just trust me on this one," Natsu shuddered and stacked his hands behind his head.
"From what I saw so far, Ichiya doesn't seem so bad… Except for that weird way that he fits 'men' into almost every sentence…"
"Once you actually have a conversation with him, you'll understand. I wonder what Erza, Wendy and ice prick are doing right now," Natsu snickered and looked at Lucy to gage her reaction.
"I have no idea. So was this mission a bluff, or did you actually take one?" Lucy asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I actually took one. Remember you told me to go pick one out? Well after we had that team meeting and everyone dispersed, I took the liberty of snagging a job that was near where we'd meet up. The wizards from Lamia Scale are notorious for being late, so I figured that we could make some money and kill time all at once."
"Oh," Lucy said with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "So what are we going to be doing?"
"Stealing a book," Natsu said simply and gave her a grin.
"EH?!" Lucy sweat dropped. "Why would stealing a book be a job? Isn't that illegal?"
"Here's the flier," Natsu chuckled and handed the flier to the blonde.
"No way," Lucy gasped as she looked at some of the details written on the flier. "We're going to be infiltrating Everloo mansion? My father did some business with him… I know he's shady."
"Well I'm sure we'll learn more from our client," Natsu said and promptly stopped in front of a moderately sized house. The pinkette lightly rapped on the door and when it opened, he held up the flier to the butler who was in the doorway. "We're the Fairy Tail members who took this job. Can we speak with the client?"
Wordlessly, the butler led Natsu and Lucy to a parlor and bade them to wait while he fetched the master of the house. The pair waited about five minutes before Natsu started twitching.
"Would you stop that?" Lucy hissed quietly as she slapped Natsu.
"Sorry. I just get so restless when I'm not doing anything," Natsu quietly replied and tried to reign in his jumpy behavior.
"Sorry to keep the both of you waiting!" a man in a crisp gray suit exclaimed as he walked into the parlor with his butler trailing behind. "I was finishing up some paperwork and I needed to get to a good stopping place. My name is Kaby Melon and I am the one who sent the job request." Lucy had to nudge Natsu to keep him from chuckling out loud at their employer's name.
"It's nice to meet you sir. My name is Lucy and this is my partner Natsu," the blonde mage cooly replied and stood up to shake hands with him and sat back down next to her partner. "It says here on the flier that we are to steal a book. Forgive me for asking, but why go through all this trouble just for one book?"
"That is an excellent question my dear," Kaby sighed and looked down at his clasped hands. "The reason why I'm going to such lengths to get this book are because I want payback."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Lucy said with puzzlement written all over her face. Natsu wisely remained silent.
"The man who currently owns the book, Lord Everloo has been involved in the underworld for quite some time now and this city is beginning to decline because of the trouble he is constantly bringing to it. This book contains irrefutable evidence that ties him to the crimes that he's committed and with it, I can finally bring Everloo to justice," Kaby tersely said as he kept his hand from shaking.
"How can a novel do that? Also, what is the book called?" Lucy asked to try to keep herself from looking like a total novice. She had been taking missions with Natsu for a little over a month now, but that didn't mean she knew everything there was to know about magic.
"My father, Kemu Zaleon, was the author of that novel and I believe he wrote something in that novel that undeniably incriminates Everloo. The name of the book is Daybreak."
"Kemu Zaleon?" Lucy breathed in awe and let a small smile creep onto her face. "I'm a huge fan of his work! It would be an honor to get this book. You can consider this job as good as completed!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly and looked to Natsu to see if there was anything else that needed to be said or done before they set off to complete the job. Natsu simply nodded his head in agreement and with a confident smirk, he bid their employer farewell and took Lucy to a café to strategize.
"Okay Luce," Natsu said as he dug into his humongous meal, "we need a good plan to get us into the mansion. Any ideas?"
As Lucy was about to answer, a small "meow" interrupted their conversation. Rubbing up against Natsu's leg, Happy made his grand entrance with a smirk.
"Oh hey Happy! I didn't mean to leave ya buddy; I just really wanted to get out of that mansion," Natsu cheerily said and reached down to pick the blue cat up and put him on the table, giving him access to the smoked cod that Natsu had purchased. The cat merely rolled his eyes and started making a dent in the pinkette's peace offering.
"So anyways," Lucy said, turning the conversation back to the original topic. "How are we going to get into the mansion? I'm pretty sure security is going to be pretty tight." The pair sat there and pondered for a moment before Lucy saw a flier and it sparked an idea. "I think I've got it!" Lucy said excitedly.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Please tell me why you thought this was a good idea?" Natsu complained as they walked with Happy right up to the front gate of Everloo mansion.
"Because he wants to hire wait staff and I think that's the perfect way to get into otherwise restricted areas without any immediate questions rising to the surface.
"Yeah, but I don't wanna clean or do dishes," Natsu pouted and crossed his arms across his chest.
"It'll be the maid's job to do the cleaning. I don't know if he's looking for kitchen staff, but if you were a butler, I think it would be more following Everloo around and catering to his whims."
"That doesn't sound fun either," Natsu grumbled and puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "Can't we just set the whole place on fire? That would get everyone out and we could search uninterrupted…"
"Are you crazy?" Lucy whisper yelled at him and looked for the buzzer to ask for entry. "Everything would burn in the fire, including us."
"I'm immune to fire," Natsu huffed and pressed the buzzer since it was on his side. Just as Lucy was going to ask how that was possible, the intercom blared to life.
"What business do you two miscreants have here?" a snotty sounding butler inquired with a critical eyebrow raised.
"Excuse us sir!" Lucy replied meekly and stomped on Natsu's foot before he could insult the self-absorbed butler. "We saw the fliers posted around town and we were wondering if the positions for the wait staff had been filled yet!" Lucy bowed quickly to hide her face and to make sure it was composed before she met the patronizing butler.
"We still have two positions open," the butler said, still not trusting them. "I suppose that you two could come inside for an interview…" And with that, the gate swung inward and the two mages walked up to the front doors. The doors were opened by a pair of very scantily clad maids and Natsu gave Lucy a look of concern.
"Are you two here for the interviews?" a low female voice said and the partners saw yet another skimpily clad woman walk up to greet them. "My name is Ellen and I will escort you two to the interview rooms. You will be interviewed by both the head butler and the master of the house himself before you are chosen. If the master says you're hired, you start work immediately doing whatever he tells you to do. Any questions?" Natsu and Lucy both shook their head and were stopped in front of a door with a window in it.
"I will take the first interviewee," said the snotty butler as he appeared from behind the door. Natsu shrugged and followed the man in without a word. Soon after, Lucy was called for. The head butler's interview wasn't that hard, Lucy decided. She merely said the things she figured the condescending man wanted to hear and stroked his ego whenever she thought prudent. He's just like my father the blonde thought and fought to keep herself from snapping at him.
When it was finished, the butler nodded a curt farewell and an ugly, squat man took his place in the interviewer's chair. Lucy could feel his eyes on her and when he spoke, she couldn't help but feel unnerved. She resisted the urge to squirm when she caught him outright sizing up her "assets" and smirking to himself.
"I believe that you would make an excellent addition to my household, boyoyo," Everloo said with a gleam in his eyes. "You're hired! When we're done here, Sandra will come to give you your uniform and fill you in on your duties. Of course, if I ask you for something in… particular… you must stop anything you are doing at the moment and heed my command. Are we understood?"
"Yes, master," Lucy said and she had to keep herself from gagging the way the title rolled off her tongue. Everloo smirked lecherously at her one more time before leaving the room.
"So how'd it go?" Natsu asked as he walked into the interview room.
"I was hired and what in Mavis' name are you wearing?"
"Oh this? It's my uniform," Natsu said uneasily as he looked down at himself. "I don't understand why my outfit has to be so different from a normal butler's…" Any response Lucy would've had immediately evaporated from her mind as she drank in the sight of Natsu's "uniform." He was clad in a simple black waistcoat that was unbuttoned, leaving a criminally attractive view of his chiseled pectorals and abdomen along with a pair of white silk harem pants tied off with a golden sash that rode dangerously low on his hips.
"Maybe Everloo wanted to play up the fact that you look like you're Asian?" Lucy attempted at a joke and Natsu watched in mild entertainment as Lucy slowly blinked and mentally shook herself to keep her mind in focus. I feel like this sight is going to come back to me later on tonight…
"Miss Lucy? It's time for you to come and get changed," a high pitched voice said and the blonde quickly followed yet another barely clothed woman to a dressing room. The maid listlessly pulled out what looked like white lingerie and a sheer bedsheet and laid it before the stunned blonde.
"H-how am I supposed to wear this?" Lucy said softly as to not uncover her rage.
"You will be dressing as the Grecian goddess Aphrodite. It was the master's special request," the maid said blankly as she pulled out golden armbands, golden sandals, and golden jewelry. "We haven't had an Aphrodite in a few months now, you should count yourself lucky. Also, your hair must be worn in a loose braid down your back at all times while in uniform. I will help you into your costume the first time, but make sure you can do this by yourself in the future as you will not have help."
Lucy nodded her head and let herself be dressed accordingly. As soon as we find that book, Everloo is so going to pay for this…
Lucy was disappointed in the fact that she hardly got to see any of the mansion her first three days on the job, or Natsu for that matter. She was counting her lucky stars that Everloo hadn't called for her specifically to personally attend to him, because she was fairly certain that she'd compromise the mission by literally beating some sense into the perverted moron. The blonde had also discovered that the Master of the house wasn't particularly bright and that the head of staff looked after almost everything in his boss' possession.
As Lucy was finishing dusting some 15 foot curtains in one of the long hallways, she climbed down from her ladder to bump into somebody from behind.
"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" the voice cut off and Lucy felt the pause coiling in her stomach. "Lucy?" Natsu asked softly.
"Yes, it's me Natsu," Lucy sighed and spun around to face a slightly stunned Natsu.
"So I'm guessing that's what this pervert of a boss has ya wearin,'" Natsu snickered and his face completely changed into a mocking smirk. "Why're ya wearing a bed sheet?"
"B-because that's what the master desires me to wear," Lucy ground out while trying not to Lucy Kick Natsu into the wall as a blush dusted her cheeks.
"Wow! And I thought what he wanted me to wear was ridiculous!" the pinkette snorted as he held his sides from how hard he was laughing.
"Don't laugh at me!" Lucy cried out in exasperation only to have a small grin tug at the corners of her lips. She ended up having a good chuckle with him and after a few minutes, the pinkette seemed to sober up a bit.
"Let's take a picture," Natsu said seriously and Lucy crossed her arms over her chest.
"Why in Mavis' name should we get a picture together? Why now?"
"So that when we look back on this years from now, we can laugh our asses off at how ridiculous we both look. C'mon, it'll be fun!"
"Natsu," Lucy said slowly. "What do you mean by 'years from now'?"
"Well, I think that we'll be partners for a long time," Natsu said as if Lucy was clearly missing something. She couldn't quite place why, but she felt disappointed with the pinkette's answer.
"Oh, okay. Well did you find anything?" Lucy asked to try to change the subject.
"Actually, Happy found the library. Wanna come check it out with me?"
"Sure!" Lucy happily agreed and they set off in the direction of the library together. Lucy had to make sure her jaw remained hinged as she opened the door to the massive library was. It was three stories tall and had balconies separating each floor. The walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves and there were still more books that were piled high on tables and desks.
"Guess we should go ahead and start," Natsu wryly stated and the two mages set to it.
"You finding anything Happy?" Natsu asked in frustration two hours later.
"No," Happy wilted as he floated down to his pink haired friend.
"Guys! I think I found it!" Lucy exclaimed and pulled out a golden book with the title of "Daybreak."
"Finally!" Happy groaned and landed on Natsu's head.
"Great job Luce!" Natsu replied with his signature ear-to-ear grin. "Now all we have to do is get it back to our client and we're good to go!"
"Mmm!" Lucy happily nodded and glanced once more at the cover and watched a faint spark of magic flit across the surface of the book. "Hey Natsu, I'm going to investigate this book a little bit further. I saw some magic reflect across the front cover of the book so I want to make sure that there aren't any harmful spells that could activate and hurts someone."
"Take your time," Natsu said boredly and flopped down on a couch on the first floor. "I'll just take a little nap."
"And just what do you think you two are doing?" Everloo shouted and jolted the Fairy Tail mages into alertness.
"Just getting what we came here for," Natsu shrugged nonchalantly and slowly stood up.
"Natsu, I'm going to need you to stall him while I check this book out!" Lucy shouted as she whipped out her gale force reading glasses to start analyzing the novel.
"Where did you pull those glasses from Lucy?" Happy asked and Natsu sweat dropped as he wondered the same thing.
"That's not important," Lucy nervously chuckled and cracked the book open. The fire dragon slayer stared for a moment or two more before he shook his head and focused his attention on the ugly man in front of him.
"I will not stand for this!" Everloo cried as he snatched out a golden key from his pocket. "Boyoyoyoyo! I will summon this spirit and kick your sorry rumps into submission! Open, gate of the virgin; Virgo!"
"I'd like to see ya try," Natsu taunted, which only served to aggravate Everloo even more.
"Attack! Attack anyone Virgo!" the tiny man screeched as he flailed wildly about. Instead of heeding her master's call, she turned around and apprehended him.
"Everloo, I believe you have broken our contract," Virgo said solemnly and Natsu just stared on the situation in confusion. "Therefore, I will no longer be bound to you. Have a good day sir," Virgo said without blinking and proceeded to drill him into the ground.
"What… the hell… is going on?" Natsu asked as he pulled at his hair to try to make sense of the situation. "Shouldn't spirits work with their masters?"
"As Virgo said, apparently, Everloo broke his contract with her. Since that happened, she is free to do whatever she wants," Lucy said excitedly as she closed the book. "The book is ready to take to Mr. Melon! Are you ready to go?"
"Miss, am I correct in assuming that you are Lucy, the celestial spirit mage?" the pink haired woman asked as she turned to face the blonde.
"Yes… Why?"
"I would like to form a contract with you," Virgo said simply and shrugged her shoulders. "I've heard good things about you from the spirits you have under contract and I would very much like to make a contract with you."
"Oh my Mavis! Of course you can!" Lucy exclaimed and flew down the staircase to meet up with the spirit. They then proceeded to make a contract and as soon as they were finished, Virgo broke into a small smile.
"I look forward to serving you," Virgo said, bowed to Lucy, and then vanished in a haze of golden light.
"Your spirits sure are weird Lucy," Natsu said as he walked over to where the blonde was standing,
"I'm so excited that I got another rare spirit!" Lucy squealed and started dancing around the library in happiness.
"C'mon ya weirdo! I think it's time for us to go complete our mission," Natsu wryly commented and watched as Lucy stopped mid dance to blush in embarrassment.
"Oh! Right! Let's go give Mr. Melon the book!"
"So you found the book?" Kaby asked with a smile as he saw the trio into the parlor once more.
"Yep!" Natsu said simply and plopped himself down onto the overstuffed couch.
"Yes sir!" Lucy said and she handed the book to Kaby. "The book was written so that the common reader wouldn't have a clue as to what they were seeing. Your father wrote detailed accounts of what he witnessed during his time under Everloo's thumb and then scrambled all the letters so that it would just look like a horribly written story to anyone but you."
"Anyone but me?" Kaby asked in puzzlement as he took the book and then gasped as the tome started glowing and the words started changing themselves. When the book was finished unscrambling, the cover read "Dear Kaby."
"You see? Your father wrote all of this to you. It wasn't just the accounts of his time spent away from you, it was also a set of letters that he wanted you to have as a sort of 'making peace' with you. He knew that he left you on bad terms, but he wished that through his words, he could somehow reach you and make amends to heal your relationship."
"How do you know that?" Kaby said as he felt tears start welling up in his eyes.
"I used my magic reading glasses and I saw portions of the true writing while I was reading it," Lucy said with a soft smile. "I hope that you will find everything to your liking."
"Yes," Kaby tearfully sniffed as he clutched the book to his chest tenderly. "I think I will. Thank you so much Fairy Tail wizards. I will never forget this."
"No problem!" Natsu grinned and gave a thumbs up to Lucy. "I think that this mission was a success!"
"We're back!" Happy shouted gleefully and soared into the mansion in search of his favorite white cat.
"We completed the mission successfully!" Natsu added as he saw Erza walking in to greet them.
"And I got two new keys!" Lucy jovially stated as she waved her two new keys in the air; one from the reward for completing the mission and another from Everloo breaking his contract with Virgo and the spirit making a new contract with Lucy. "I got two zodiac gates; Virgo and Cancer!"
"That's wonderful news! I'm glad to see that you three finally came back," Erza said coolly as she nodded her head in satisfaction. "We received word that the Lamia Scale party should be arriving sometime around midday tomorrow. Make sure that you both rest up because we will be heading out into the wilderness as soon as they arrive.
"Will do," Natsu shrugged and followed his nose to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.
"Okay Erza!" Lucy said brightly and headed up the stairs to her room for the night.
Damn, I should've gotten a picture of that outfit… Natsu thought to himself as he settled into his bed for the night. When he had first bumped into Lucy earlier that day, he had no idea that it was her. Lucy was dressed in a white long flowing piece of cloth that both covered her and yet revealed her every curve. It was fashioned into a halter top and the neckline dipped down all the way to her navel showing a decent amount of cleavage. The cloth dress was backless and he could tell that she wasn't wearing a bra from how her bosom bounced around when she moved. She had golden armbands on both arms just under her shoulders and a golden sash around her waist that complemented the golden ornaments in her braided hair and her golden jewelry. Sure he had laughed it off, but she was truly a sight to behold. She was so… beautiful.
And cut! I guess that everyone was thinking I'd jump right in and start? No! Gotta shake things up a little bit and now Lucy has two more spirits she can use! Woo! I will get into the actual arc next chappie, but I felt that only two combat spirits (and one being Aquarius) wouldn't get her very far… Even though she's a new mage, I'd like to think that she has a natural affinity for picking up magical skill. I also just felt the need to dress Lucy up like Aphrodite and Natsu like a harem prince because why not? You know they'd look good in just about anything!
Special thank you to Anonymous Person, fanficlove2014, crazi4muzik, fanficaddict14, Eddingsfan, Cat, Animallover, TigerArrowgirl, Uzumaki Naho, NaLu and InuKag, Snowy Analia, Kitty-cat989898, Karsyn1p2, Kaggy-Higgs88, Therashae, and Marmalade for your wonderful reviews! Thank you so very much and I hope that everyone continues to enjoy this story!
To Marmalade since I can't PM you: I'm so glad that you branched out of your usual genre (rating… heh heh…)! I truly appreciate you wanting to find this story and thank you so very much for your awesomeness! :D
To Anonymous Person since I can't PM you: Ichiya personally freaks me out. Everything I've seen of him, I'm always going, "Why Mashima-sensei why?! Why does he live and breathe in this franchise?!" Wendy and Lucy haven't had the pleasure of meeting Ichiya yet… That's going to be fun… I'm quite glad that you're looking forward to this arc. I'm not going to tell you who all is making an entrance; you'll find out soon enough. ;D
To Animallover since I can't PM you: About Natsu; you'll just have to wait and see! I'm training to be a nurse myself and I've seen some fun stuff… I know that sick people can be absolutely crazy! XD
Thanks again for sticking around! Until next time! :D