Persona Non Grata

Introduction

One day, at Fairy Tail's guild hall, Natsu, Lisanna and Lucy were sitting in the main hall. They had recently returned from the Alvarez Empire, where Natsu and Lucy had gone to find Makarov, and Lisanna had gone to rescue everyone. They had barely escaped alive from one of the emperor's elite bodyguards, and now were preparing for war against the might of the empire itself.

The invasion had yet to arrive, though, so Fairy Tail used the time to rest, train and engage in the frivolities of day-to-day life. One day, Natsu, with Happy in tow, came before Lucy and Lisanna, who were sitting together at a table.

"Good to see you," Natsu said. "Have either of you read what people are writing about us?"

"You mean the fics where the two of us kick Lucy out of the guild for being weak and getting in the way of our romantic relationship?" Lisanna said. "Yeah, I've been reading them, and I have no idea how this could come to pass."

Natsu looked blankly at Lisanna and shrugged. He was tempted to point out that he and Lisanna were the usual offenders, but he was also having trouble wrapping his head around why either of them would do such a thing.

"The only upside of this is that Happy doesn't seem to be in on it," Natsu said. "I suppose they're right on one count out of... how many?"

"They don't really deserve credit for not actively demonizing people, Natsu," Happy said.

"It depends," Lucy said. "Sometimes, it's just Lisanna and everyone she manages to fool, other times it's our entire team, and still other times, it's the entire guild.'

"So the number of offenders varies from case to case," Lisanna said. "But what about the motive? Do people really think there's a love triangle at play?"

Lucy shrugged.

"Well, Cana told me once, before we went to Edolas and came back with you, that the two of us had similar relationships with Natsu," Lucy said. "If that relationship was romantic, you'd view me as a rival, and if people believe that, they'd likely want me out of the way."

"I don't, Lucy," Lisanna said. "Natsu and I were- and still are- close, but we're not the same as we were as little kids, just like how Mira-nee and Erza actually get along nowadays."

"Yeah," Natsu said. "Gildarts teased me a little about it, not knowing that Lisanna had disappeared two years before he got back, but even apart from that, I'm not sure I could have given him a real answer."

"Me neither," Lisanna said. "Then again, the three of us are more honest with our feelings than my brother and a certain someone from the Raijin Tribe are."

Natsu and Lucy chuckled, wondering if everyone at Fairy Tail except for Elfman and Evergreen knew about the spark between them.

"Yeah," Lucy said. "I get that Elfman would take it personally when his sister chose someone else as her partner, although not all of us got our first choices; Evergreen wanted to team up with Fried, Juvia wanted Gray, and Jet and Droy wanted Levy-chan."

"That's true," Lisanna said, "although I suppose I'm lucky Juvia's a girl who already has her sights on Gray. I pity any guy who tries to ask for me to be their partner when Elf-nii-chan's around to hear it, since he's one of those older brothers who are protective of their sisters, to say the least."

"Good thing I've got Happy," Natsu said. He was confident that he could defeat Elfman in a fight, but was unwilling to deal with Elfman if Elfman wished to protect Lisanna from him.

"Aye, sir!" Happy said.

Lucy simply smiled, having heard the story about how Natsu and Lisanna, with a little help from Elfman, cared for Happy's egg until it hatched. While Lucy was not quite as self-deprecating as Wendy, she did not seriously expect anyone to choose her as a partner for the S-Class exam, as some of her closest friends at Fairy Tail had known each other for years. The only real surprise back then had been Gray's friendship with Loke, and a promise since last year to partner with Gray should he become an S-Class candidate.

That realization, however, only opened more questions. Fairy Tail was a close-knit guild, but it was also an inclusive one, and Lucy, along with those who had come after her, had settled in nicely, making friends and becoming valued members of the guild. Lucy thus found it hard to accept that they would see her only as a replacement for Lisanna or consider her too weak to keep around. Natsu and Lisanna felt the same way she did, so she was certain the others agreed.

"I've got an idea," Lucy said. "Let's go find some people around the guild, most notably the rest of our team and Lisanna's siblings and ask them what they think about this."

Natsu and Lisanna nodded in agreement. Fairy Tail was not entirely back up and running yet as far as job requests went, since it was preparing for war, so they would likely find everyone around the guild. Perhaps they would not find a definitive answer to why they were portrayed in such a way, but they would likely learn a great deal from the process.

Author's Notes

As you might have guessed by now, this fanfic will examine how the canon Fairy Tail cast would react to the common fanfic in which Lucy gets bullied/kicked out of the guild by Lisanna and/or the rest of team Natsu after Lisanna's return. As you can see, none of them could see a scenario like that taking place, and they all have their reasons for feeling the way they do.

The fic is relatively short compared to my other work, and its individual chapters are, as well. It's somewhat hard to go too long with this without repeating myself, so I had the characters say things beyond "this is wrong and we would never do such a thing to one of our own."