Chapter 12: Titania
Fairy Tail Guild Hall - Morning
The guild hall buzzed with its usual lazy morning energy—quieter than afternoons, but never truly silent. Conversations murmured between tables, someone was scraping the bottom of a barrel somewhere, and the smell of fresh coffee drifted from the kitchen.
Lucy stood before the request board, scanning the available jobs with practiced focus. Two days since Shirotsume Town. Two days since her first real mission with Natsu and Happy.
Her landlady, that sweet and understanding old woman, would undoubtedly chain her to a lamppost if she didn't find a paying job soon.
"Find anything interesting?"
Lucy turned to find Mirajane approaching, smiling warmly.
"Not yet. I'm trying to find something that actually pays well without being too dangerous." Lucy tilted her head, studying a posting about pest extermination.
"Let me know if you find something you like," Mirajane said. "Though if you need the Master's approval for anything, he won't be available today. He's attending the regular meeting."
"Regular meeting?"
"Mm." Mirajane's expression turned thoughtful. "It's a gathering where Guild Masters from different provinces come together. They report on their guilds—activity levels, magical incidents, territorial disputes. It happens periodically to keep communication flowing between guilds across Fiore."
Lucy's eyes widened. "So all the Guild Masters meet? Like, regularly?"
"Regularly enough." Mirajane's smile turned knowing. "The relationships between guilds matter more than most people realize."
She glanced around, then spotted Reedus at a nearby table, sketching in his notebook. "Reedus! Can I borrow your pen for a moment?"
The broad-shouldered mage looked up surprised but handed over his magical pen without hesitation. Mirajane began drawing on air with quick, confident strokes.
Hierarchical chart.
"Think of it like this," Mirajane said, the pen moving fluidly. "At the top, you have the Magic Council—they oversee everything, set regulations, enforce laws across the magical world." She drew a thick circle at the top, connected it downward to several clusters below. "Beneath them are the legitimate guilds—Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord, Blue Pegasus, others. We're all registered, regulated, required to follow Council guidelines."
Lucy leaned in, fascinated.
"But the relationships between guilds matter enormously." Mirajane drew thicker lines connecting certain circles. "Trade agreements. Territorial boundaries. Mutual aid pacts. If Guild A has a problem, Guild B might help—or might not, depending on their history." She tapped the napkin. "Politics. Diplomacy. It's not just about magical power. It's about trust, reputation, alliances built over decades."
Lucy was still processing Mirajane's explanation when—
"They come from the darkness to get youuu."
A voice hissed right behind Lucy's ear.
"KYAAAH—!"
She shrieked, nearly jumping out of her skin. Natsu had materialized directly behind her, breath warm against her ear, grin insufferable.
"NATSU!" Lucy clutched her chest, heart hammering. "Don't DO that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Hehehe." Natsu rocked on his heels, completely unrepentant. "You should've seen your face!"
"That's not funny! You can't just sneak up on people and—"
"Actually," Mirajane interrupted gently, "people from the darkness really do exist."
Lucy blinked. "Wait, what?"
"Dark Guilds." Mirajane's tone shifted, carrying quiet seriousness. "Any guild that isn't registered with the Magic Council operates outside the law. They're called Dark Guilds for a reason—they pursue their own agendas without restraint or regulation."
Natsu crossed his arms, his expression unusually serious. "They're scary. They don't follow any laws. They just do whatever they want."
Lucy considered that, then looked at Natsu with a smirk. "Well, at that rate, they'll probably come recruit you one day."
Natsu blinked. Then shrugged, the brief seriousness evaporating. "Eh? Whatever. Just pick a job already, Lucy!"
"Actually," Happy floated down from somewhere overhead, fish in one hand, "it's your turn to pick! We chose last time without asking you, remember? That's not fair, right?"
"Right." Lucy straightened, folding her arms with newfound determination. "Which is exactly why we're splitting up."
"Huh?" Natsu and Happy chorused simultaneously.
"Splitting up?" Happy's ears flattened. "But why, Lucy?"
"Because," Lucy said, jabbing a finger at Natsu, "you two wouldn't have minded recruiting any blonde girl off the street. I'm not special to you—I was just convenient."
Natsu tilted his head, genuinely confused. Then he scratched the back of his head, his expression shifting to something almost thoughtful.
"Nah, you're wrong about that." His grin softened. "We picked you because you're a nice person, Lucy."
Lucy opened her mouth, closed it, and felt heat creep up her neck. That was... surprisingly sweet. And completely off-topic.
"She doesn't have to be in a group with anyone she doesn't want to be with, you know."
Gray sauntered over, already loosening his collar. "I heard she did pretty well last time. Word spreads fast around here. At this rate, she'll get loads of recruitment offers."
"Thanks, Gray," Lucy said, genuinely appreciating the sentiment.
Cana, drinking a barrel-sized mug beside him, didn't even look up. "Gray. Clothes."
Gray froze, looked down at himself. His shirt was already halfway off. "WHAT THE—WHEN DID THAT—"
He scrambled, trying to hold fabric together as it somehow continued dissolving.
Natsu's grin turned predatory. "Ha! Nice outfit, Gray! Very fashionable—"
"SHUT UP, FLAME BRAIN!"
"Make me, ICE PRINCESS—"
The two collided mid-hall with enough force to crack a table. Fire erupted from Natsu's fists. Ice formations shot from Gray's hands. A chair splintered somewhere behind them.
The guild erupted in laughter—genuine, fond, the sound of a family watching its most entertaining members do exactly what they always did.
Lucy shook her head with a wry smile. These idiots.
Then—
"Lucy!"
Loke appeared out of nowhere, arm suddenly around her shoulder. He leaned in with practiced charm, sunglasses gleaming. "Say, how about we form a team? Just the two of us? Even with my sunglasses on, your beauty is dazzling. I'm sure I would go blind if I saw you without them."
"Go blind? Fine by me," Lucy said dryly.
His eyes dropped to her belt.
To the keys hanging there.
His smile froze. Pupils dilated. Color drained from his face so quickly it was almost comical.
"Those keys," he breathed. "You're a—"
He didn't finish. Instead he turned on his heel and practically *fled* the guild hall, vanished in a blur, leaving a cloud of dust and a faint, dramatic wail behind him.
Lucy stared after him. "What just happened?"
Mirajane giggled softly. "He's… not really a fan of Celestial Spirit Mages. Rumor has it it was a girl long ago."
Before Lucy could press further, Natsu came flying sideways—courtesy of Gray's fist—and crashed into a table near them. "Knock it off, you guys!" Lucy snapped.
Natsu and Gray butted their heads together again, trading insults like they were auditioning for a particularly aggressive comedy show. Beside them, Cana sat serenely, already halfway through her second barrel.
"IDIOT!"
"YOU'RE the idiot!"
"I'LL FREEZE YOUR FLAMES!"
"TRY IT, UNDERWEAR MODEL!"
The guild erupted in laughter again. Even Lucy let out a wry smile, the earlier tension dissolving completely.
***
In his favorite corner near the windows, Yume sat quietly nursing a cup of coffee, watching the morning's chaos unfold with mild amusement.
Lucy was settling in well—her reactions shifting from bewildered shock to fond exasperation with impressive speed. Natsu and Gray were being Natsu and Gray.
"Mind if I sit?"
Cana dropped into the chair across from him without waiting for an answer, barrel already in hand. Her expression carried that particular mix of cheerfulness and sharp observation that made her simultaneously entertaining and slightly dangerous.
"Morning, Shadow." She set her barrel down with a thunk. "You look contemplative. More than usual, anyway."
"Just watching."
"Watching Lucy figure out that this guild is beautifully insane?" Cana grinned. "Yeah, that never gets old."
Yume almost smiled.
Cana studied him for a moment, then reached into her coat and produced a worn deck of tarot cards with a flourish. "Want a reading? On the house. Welcome-back gift for surviving another volcano."
Yume raised an eyebrow but after a moment gestured. "Why not. Hit me."
Cana shuffled with practiced ease, the cards flowing between her fingers like liquid. She spread three face-down on the table between them.
"Past. Present. Future." She flipped the first card.
The Tower.
She flipped the second.
The Chariot.
The third.
The Moon.
She leaned back, studying the spread for a long moment. Then she looked up at Yume with an expression that suggested she was genuinely thinking rather than performing.
"Trouble's coming by rail," she said. "And when it arrives, secrets are going to surface. Big ones."
Yume studied the cards, his analytical mind automatically cataloguing the information.
He smirked, unimpressed. "You're being dramatic."
But he didn't dismiss the reading entirely. Cana's cards had a reputation
in this guild—one even his skepticism couldn't completely ignore.
"Maybe." Cana's grin returned, sharp and knowing. "But my cards have never been wrong when they really count." She winked, gathering the cards back into her deck. "Just a heads up from your friendly neighborhood fortune teller."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Cana raised her barrel in a mock toast
and sauntered back toward the main hall.
***
Then doors of the Fairy Tail guild fly open.
"ERZA'S BACK!"
Loke stumbling in with his face pale and his sunglasses nearly falling off his nose his shout cut through the hall like a warning bell.
"No way... not already?".Gray said sweating
Natsu looking genuinely shook "You mean... her?"
"Yes! I saw her near the entrance! Erza is back!!" Loke said pointing frantically toward the town
Suddenly, the ground begins to shake with rhythmic, heavy thuds. It's the sound of metal hitting stone and something massive being dragged.
Loke: "I'm out of here! I'm not getting killed today!". He dives under a table remembering the last time he tried to flirt with her and nearly died.
Moments later, the silhouette of a woman carrying a monster horn twice her size appears in the doorway, and the guild falls into a terrifying, respectful silence.
The guild's energy shifted immediately. The way a classroom goes quiet when the teacher walks in.
Erza Scarlet walked through the doors carrying a massive horn over one shoulder—easily six feet long, decorated with ribbons and flowers that looked absurdly cheerful against the weapon's brutal shape. Her armor gleamed, battle-worn but polished. Scarlet hair caught the light. Her expression carried the calm authority of someone who had just finished dealing with something genuinely dangerous and was now returning to deal with something arguably more so.
She set the horn down with a THUMP that vibrated through the floorboards.
"Is the Master present?" Her voice carried effortlessly.
"He's at the Guild Masters' meeting," Mirajane called from the bar. "Won't be back for a while."
Erza nodded once, then surveyed the room. A guild member near the entrance pointed at the horn with wide eyes.
"What... what is that?"
"The horn of a monster I defeated." Erza's tone was matter-of-fact, as if slaying gargantuan beasts was an everyday errand. "The villagers were grateful. They insisted on decorating it."
The guild member nodded rapidly and backed away.
Erza's gaze swept across the hall, and her brow furrowed.
"Listen," she began, voice taking on a dangerously sharp edge. "I have been hearing rumors during my travels of guild members causing unnecessary trouble."
Her eyes landed on Cana first. "Cana! How dare you drink dressed like that? Have you no shame?"
Cana, for once, actually winced.
"Vijeeter! Stop that ridiculous dance at the entrance. Take it outside!" Vijeeter froze mid-shimmy.
"Wakaba! I see cigarette butts on the floor. Still drinking on the job?" Wakaba nearly choked on his smoke.
"Nab! You've been staring at that board all day! Have you actually taken a job yet?" Nab looked like he wanted to sink through the floor.
"Reedus! No more drawing on the walls." Reedus visibly deflated, pen hand twitching.
Erza let out a heavy sigh. "Honestly. All of you cause so much trouble... but I'll be kind today and leave it at that."
Lucy watched, mouth slightly open. She leaned toward Mirajane and whispered, "She's... surprisingly talkative."
"Aye, that's Erza for you." Happy chirped from beside her, nodding enthusiastically.
The entire guild had fallen silent, every member sitting up straighter, the usual chaos replaced by tense, almost reverent order.
Then Erza's gaze landed on Natsu and Gray.
"Natsu! Gray!"
Suddenly, Natsu threw his arm around Gray's shoulder. Gray, looking utterly mortified, didn't shrug him off. "Erza! Welcome back!" Gray exclaimed with unnatural cheerfulness, like he was auditioning for a children's puppet show. Natsu even added an "Aye!" at the end, adopting Happy's speech patterns entirely, then gave Gray an uncomfortably tight squeeze.
"It warms my heart to see you two getting along," Erza said, her expression softening slightly. "Even if you do bicker occasionally, camaraderie is important."
"Oh, we're definitely not best friends or anything!" Gray quickly clarified, nervous sweat beading on his forehead, trying to pry Natsu's arm off without being obvious.
Lucy turned to Mirajane with wide eyes. "How—"
"Natsu challenged Erza once and got beaten really badly" Mirajane said quietly, the amusement of someone recounting guild legend coloring her tone.
Lucy's jaw dropped. "Natsu did?"
Besides them Macao spoke."And Gray. Erza caught him walking through town naked once. She... disciplined him."
"She beat Loke too for trying to hit on her." Cana continued and shook her head. "She nearly ended him on the spot. You reap what you saw"
I would've expected that much from him
Lucy asked, thinking of the man's earlier retreat.
Lucy decided she would never, under any circumstances, get on Erza Scarlet's bad side.
Erza, seemingly satisfied, addressed Natsu and Gray directly. Her expression hardened.
"On my way back to the guild, I heard some disturbing news. I need your help." Her gaze was unwavering. "Both of you. We leave tomorrow morning."
Natsu and Gray exchanged uncomfortable glances—brief, genuine, the look of two people who despised each other but knew better than to argue with Erza Scarlet.
"Together?" Gray asked, his tone suggesting this was the least appealing aspect.
"Together."
Neither argued.
Mirajane watched the exchange from behind the bar, expression thoughtful. "Erza, Natsu, and Gray together..." she murmured. "They could very well be the strongest team Fairy Tail has ever fielded."
***
Across the hall, Yume watched the scene unfold with quiet interest.
Erza's command presence was unmistakable—the way every guild member's attention shifted when she entered, how even the most chaotic members fell in line without conscious thought. Not the blind obedience of intimidation, but earned deference of someone who had proven herself countless times.
Yume thought about Cana's cards' meanings over in his mind. The Tower suggested sudden disruption—not gradual buildup, but something that would arrive without warning. The Chariot indicated purposeful movement. A destination.
And The Moon...
Secrets. Hidden things coming to light.
Erza's "disturbing news." A team assembling without explanation. Something that required Fairy Tail's three strongest fighters working together.
His eyes drifted to the mission board. Nothing relevant there.
But something was coming. He could feel it.
Trouble's coming by rail.
Interesting.
Magnolia was at peace for now. Morning sun streamed through the guild hall windows, casting warm light across tables and familiar faces. Lucy was laughing at something Natsu had said. Gray was pretending he hadn't heard it. Cana was on her third barrel.
But adventure, in all its messy, hilarious, and dangerous forms, was undeniably calling.
Yume took a final sip of his coffee, set the cup down, and watched the guild breathe.
***
Far from Magnolia.
In the grim headquarters of a Dark Guild known as Eisenwald, several ominous figures huddled together. Their hushed voices discussed a mysterious seal and, with chilling intent, the very meeting of the Guild Masters. The shadows deepened, concealing their sinister plans.
[End of Chapter 12]
Author's Note:-
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