Entering the guild after spending a few days training, I noticed Gramps was nowhere to be seen, probably already attending the annual guild meeting; However, I did see Erza, and she seemed to be in a rather good mood, surprising as she always returns frustrated whenever she takes quests with Gray and Natsu. Heading directly to the fridge, I opened it and smirked when I noticed the slice of cake was missing. 'Well, that checks out.'
Closing the fridge, I walked past Erza, who was speaking with Levy and Cana, and gently rubbed her head, causing her to huff while I continued to the quest board, where I saw Lucy looking through. "Find any interesting mission, Lucy?" Tapping her shoulder, I glanced at Lucy, only to raise an eyebrow when I noticed she looked dead tired. "Did you sleep last night?" All I got was a blank look from Lucy, who then shifted her gaze to my lower body before shivering while grabbing her crotch, confusing me. 'Is she okay?' Rubbing my head, I tapped her a few more times before hitting the back of her head, which seemed to finally do the trick.
"Huh, b-big bro, w-when did you get here?" Asked Lucy in confusion as she looked at me with tired eyes, causing my face to twitch. "I've been standing beside you for the last minute while you constantly gave me weird looks; did you get any sleep last night?" "Um, no, I-I was doing stuff." Said Lucy softly as she slowly blinked before avoiding eye contact, causing me to shake my head while sighing. "Were you writing your book?" Raising an eyebrow at Lucy, her eyes suddenly widened as she lunged towards me, covering my mouth with her hand and pushing me into the quest board. "H-How do you know about that?" "Why do you seem so surprised? It wasn't hard to figure out." Tilting my head to the side, I picked Lucy by her lithe waist and set her down while she heaved a deep sigh before solemnly gazing at me.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone, big bro." "Hmm, sure." Nodding to Lucy, I patted her head before turning around and gazing at the quest, trying to figure out which quest we should go on. 'Hmm, what to choose… I wonder if there are any quests with dark guilds?' Spending a few minutes examining the many quests while also dealing with Nab sneak attacking me, which was easily taken care of, though I happened to overhear Erza and Natsu arguing, and their conversation piqued my interest. "How about this? I'll agree only if you accept my challenge!" Said Natsu with a grin as he stood in front of Erza, who stood up and stared him in the eye, causing him to step back nervously. "Okay." "Eh, really?" Asked Natsu in surprise as he looked at Erza, who nodded in agreement.
Raising an eyebrow, I approached the two and wrapped my arm around Natsu. "What's this agreement all about?" "I require his help on a quest, but Natsu was being, well, Natsu, kept refusing; anyway, now that he's agreed, he, Gray, and I intend to leave tomorrow morning to confiscate a sealed magic item called Lullaby." Said Erza lightly as she gave Natsu an annoyed look, while I nodded. "I see, well, have fun." Since it seemed their team had everything under control, I left them alone, though I intended to watch Erza and Natsu's promised duel. "Oi, big bro, why don't you and Lucy join us? Erza said a dark guild was involved." Said Gray while sitting down with nothing but his underwear on, causing me to stop as I turned and glanced at Erza with a smirk.
"Is that true, Erza?" "Yes, most likely; I heard someone mention 'Shinigami' of the Dark Guild Eisenwald." Replied Erza with a nod while resting her hand on her hilt, causing me to sport a feral grin. "Hehe, alright, we're tagging along." "I have no problem with that, but please, big bro, let me take command; I've been on quests with you, and you're easily worse than Natsu." Said Erza earnestly with a slightly troubled expression, causing me to fold my arms and click my tongue. "Hmph, now you're just saying stuff." "Remember when we took the quest to subjugate a sea monster terrorizing the coast of Hargeon a year back? You ended up sinking not only the ship we took but every other ship that came to assist us." Said Erza with a blank expression, though I adamantly shook my head.
"We were fighting a sea monster; what do you expect? Besides, I told them no more ships, but they didn't listen; that's their fault." "You picked up one of the ships and tossed it at another; that part had nothing to do with the sea monster." "I do not know what you're talking about, Erza." Erza and I continued to argue; she got fed up with my behavior and unsheathed her sword, prompting me to run around the guild while she chased me. "Ugh, get back here, big bro, and admit you need supervision!" "No!" Glaring back at Erza, I leaped behind the bar and used Mira as a shield, inadvertently switching Erza's target from me to her. "Tsk, watch where you're swinging that thing, Erza!" Yelled Mira angrily as she grabbed her bleeding cheek while glaring at Erza, who ignored her and continued to attack me.
With a furious eruption of magic power, Mira transformed into her satan soul and lunged at Erza, grabbing her by the face before slamming her into the ground, prompting everyone to quickly form a circle around the two women. "I've got Erza!" "Nah, Mirajane is winning this, she's 'The Demon' after all." "Psh, please. What's a demon to 'Titania'? She's the queen of the fairies." While everyone placed their bets between Erza and Mirajane, the two began to clash in the middle of the guild while constantly cursing each other. I watched from the balcony of the second floor alongside Laki, who had used her wood magic to create a tree to sit on.
"You should probably stop them before things escalate too far, big bro. The last time those two fought, the guild was destroyed." Said Laki lightly while glancing at me, causing me to groan before reluctantly nodding as she was right, though it sucked having to stop such a good fight. Pushing myself off the balcony, I landed right in the middle of the fight and raised my arms, stopping Erza's sword and Mira's fist, which was engulfed in darkness magic. "Alright, stop it, you two. Gramps will be pissed if he comes home to see the guild destroyed." Glancing between Erza and Mira, they glared at each other for several seconds before reluctantly backing away while Mira returned to normal and Erza requiped her standard armor.
"Tsk, this isn't over, Erza." "Of course not, Mira." As the two backed away, I heaved a sigh and shook my arms in pain while glancing at my injuries. 'I probably should've used my magic.' Thankfully, the injuries weren't anything serious, so after licking the blood off, I approached Lucy, who was struggling to stay awake. "Y-You're not going to perform first aid?" Asked Lucy with a raised eyebrow while I shook my head. "Nope, I don't know how to." Getting a blank look from Lucy, she lowered her head onto her arms and quickly fell asleep despite the rowdy guild, causing me to glance at the clock. 'We're not leaving until tomorrow, so I'll nap.'
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Lucy Pov
"Where are we going?" Glancing out the window, I shifted my gaze to Gray, who was sitting beside me. "Truthfully, I've no clue. You should ask Erza; she probably knows." With a twitching expression, I glanced at Erza, who was sitting adjacent to us along with Natsu, causing me to gulp. "Um, I-I don't think she likes me, though." "Heh, don't worry, she's like that with everyone." Said Gray with a confident smirk while I skeptically nodded before standing up and approaching her; sitting opposite of Erza, Natsu was apparently motion sick, so he didn't have the strength to react to my presence.
"Um, E-Erza, where are we going?" "To Oshibana Station." Said Erza firmly as she glanced at me with her eye while I nodded, causing us to descend into an awkward silence. 'Ugh, why did big bro have to use the bathroom now of all times?' "Erza, how strong is big bro?" It was a question I've been curious about ever since I learned he was 'The Beast' of Fairy Tail, though as I learned more about everyone, my curiosity only grew, especially when I saw how much respect he commanded from every guild member; not a single person, besides Laxus, has dared to stand up to him. 'Not even 'The Demon' Mirajane and 'Titania' Erza ignore his words.'
When I mentioned Cooper, Erza's eyes noticeably softened, causing me to wryly smile since any desire to date Cooper had vanished after what I watched last night; he was a beast of a man, but he was just way out of my league. "Big bro is an S-class, the highest class of Mage, and is incredibly powerful, possibly the second strongest outside Master." "Eh, h-he's that strong!?" I couldn't help but widen my eyes in shock; I knew Cooper must be strong to be so feared throughout Fiore, but I never imagined he'd be this powerful. "S-So is Laxus the strongest?"
"No, that spot is reserved for Fairy Tail's ace. However, Laxus and big bro have an intense rivalry; they always fought when they were younger, and I think because neither wished to be bested by the other, it pushed them to get as strong as possible." Remarked Gray lightly as he sat right beside me, causing me to be squeezed between him and Natsu. 'Hmm, I've never had a rival, but I think I understand.' Tapping my chin while nodding, I was about to ask another question, though what I heard next utterly shocked me.
"Neither Laxus nor big bro seems to care about the title, but Gramps has stated that if they wanted to, they could become Wizard Saints… That's how strong they've gotten." Stated Natsu solemnly as he raised his head, only to return to groaning while holding his stomach; however, my eyes were wide as could be at Natsu's statement. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe them, but Master Makarov was a Wizard Saint himself, so if he said so, then it must be true. 'I-I teamed up with a W-Wizard Saint level mage.'
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So, how many of you expected Cooper and Laxus to be this strong?