Duke Everlue

Once Natsu grabbed the job they were going to do, he gave the paper to Mira and ran out the door to find Lucy. He figured since she didn't know Magnolia or the guild very well, she'd still be at home. He stepped into the door and immediately heard the water in the bathroom running. He sat on his hammock and crossed his legs lazily while Happy flew around the house gathering up things he needed for the mission.

Which was mostly just fish. Natsu smiled and watched as his little buddy packed up his food into his green back and slung it around his neck. Marie had came out the bathroom and nodded when she saw them. She turned back into the bathroom.

"Yeah! They're here!" A voice called back. The pyro learned from Marie that Lucy just wanted to check who stepped into the house. Natsu resisted the urge to scoff, no one really knew where he lived. Except maybe his guild mates. No one else had a clue though, since it was so deep into the woods. Natsu blew a raspberry while his mind ran a mile a minute.

A few minutes later, she stumbled out of the bathroom with the same outfit he lent her a couple hours earlier. He looked at it and nodded, it fit her pretty well. She looked down when she noticed his staring. Lucy smiled and twirled in a circle. "Looks good right? Where did you get it anyway?" He hummed. Where did he get it?

"I think some lady gave it to me as a reward. She had no other payment so she just gave me her daughter's old clothes. I accepted it and just threw them in a drawer. Not like I was going to wear them." He laughed. Lucy snickered at the thought and went to her hammock. She grabbed her small brown bag and checked for her items, eyes brightening up when she found them.

"So, what's the job you picked out then?" Lucy asked as she came over to the fire user. Leaning over his shoulder, she gazed at the job he held in front of him. "It says to steal a book...blah blah blah...oh it says here they want a blonde...maid." Lucy frowned as she looked at the male from over his shoulder. He only looked away, while he whistled innocently.

"You say celestial wizards never go back on their word right?" He questioned, a smug smile climbing to his lips.

"You tricked me!" She whined. Natsu laughed and stood up, planting a hand on Lucy's shoulder. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, trying to seem intimidating. That's when they both heard voices from behind them.

"What's with all the yelling?" Marie asked, looking right at the blonde in suspicion. Lucy huffed and glared at Natsu.

"It's nothing Marie. I suppose the job isn't too bad," Lucy said, not breaking eye contact with Natsu. "All I have to do is dress up, get him to hire me, and then let you guys in quietly. It should be pretty easy." Natsu laughed and pat the shoulder his handed rested upon.

"That's the spirit!" The blonde hummed in annoyance and began to walk out the door, Marie right behind her. Happy and Natsu had to run to even catch up to her.

"C'mon Natsu, we can't be late now?" She looked behind her to smile at the fire mage, a silent challenge flickering in her eye. Natsu could see this and smirked, feeling himself speed up to race her to the train station. For the first time ever in his life, he was actually running towards the very thing that made him sick.

...

"Argh..." Natsu gurgled, falling to the floor as the train hit a bump.

"Ugh...I know how you feel" He faintly heard Lucy grumble out. They were both seated on the floor while the train moved. Lucy tried her best to stand and sit on the seat, but from where she was, the seat looked like it was a hundred feet above her. And just out of her reach. Marie observed her struggle and grabbed the back of her shirt, sitting her on the train car seat. It wasn't much better.

"C-come on and lay on my lap, Natsu, it might make you feel better." Natsu got up and laid his head on her lap to sooth his aching stomach, and surprisingly, it worked. Lucy leaned back a bit to try and get comfortable, shifting her weight and putting her hand onto his hair. He started to feel hazy as she slipped her hand through his hair. He had never fallen asleep on a train unless he was physically knocked out so this was a new one for him. He managed a small smile and peaked up at the sickly blonde.

Her eyebrows knit together, her face pale and coated with sweat. He'll have to make it up to her later. An hour went by without a word. Marie and Happy fell asleep pretty quickly after Natsu had. Lucy though, stayed awake through most of the trip. That's when the train finally stopped. Lucy stood up, knocking the sleeping Natsu over.

"Hey!" Natsu sputtered, lazily getting up to run after her. Happy and Marie right beside him. Once they were on solid ground, Natsu looked around the town and smiled when he saw a restaurant. "Let's go eat, guys!" He yelled to them. Both Lucy and Marie shook their heads and headed off in some other direction. The pyro shrugged and took Happy with him to eat. Natsu laughed when he saw some deep fried food on his plate.

"Save the oily foods for Lucy!" The dragon slayer grinned mischievously to Happy, who only laughed.

"When did I like oily food?" Natsu heard Lucy question. He turned around and looked at her strangely.

"What's with the outfit?" He said as he lifted a brow, gazing at the maid outfit she chose to wear.

"Its for the job, stupid." she looked away from them. He vaguely remembered her talking about dressing up and letting them in once she got hired. Natsu shrugged and turned away, taking another bite of his food. Lucy rolled her eyes and pulled him away from the table.

"You slow poke, we have a job to do. Come on!" She yelled, pulling him along, much like he did when they first met. Usually Natsu could adapt to the speed, but he had been caught off guard. When he was eating, he was usually solely focused on just eating.

"W-Wait up!" He said, tripping over himself.

...

After what Lucy seemed as highly embarrassing, they made it to the large mansion. Lucy sighed and trudged her way up to the gates. Looking striaght into the lacrima camera pointed to her, she smiled sheepishly and waved up at it.

"Is anyone there, I'm looking to apply for the maid job." She yelled aloud, looking up to the mansion. Once the words left her mouth, a large women with pink hair with a stretched out maid outfit jumped through the ground in front of her. Not even a second later, a man and four other ugly women came out from underground. Lucy told him why she was there and he looked over her, eyes scanning every part of her body. She felt the need to cover herself, but just looked away instead.

"No, go away, ugly" Lucy gaped at his answer, her jaw dropping. She stood there, totally shell shocked, while the others repeatedly called her ugly. She really couldn't have been ugly, could she? Shaking her head, she thanked the man reluctantly and bowed her head. She trudged back to the team and looked at Natsu.

"You blew it!" Natsu said. She knew he didn't mean it so she ignored him. She swore she was going to get revenge on that man. Lucy slipped on her outfit from before and told the team her backup plan. Natsu didn't like it but Lucy didn't give him room for arguments. Marie and happy had landed up on the roof while Natsu melted the glass. Lucy convinced Natsu to behave by telling him to act like a ninja. Using his "ninja skills" they were all able to find the library. Lucy gasped at the alarming amount of books.

"Wow..." Was all Lucy could say. She saw Happy and Natsu messing around but then he held up a shiny book which was the book we were looking for. Lucy looked at it and saw who had written it and quickly swiped it away from the pyro. She couldn't believe who had written it. She thought she had read every book the man ever written?

"Oh my... This book was written by Kemu Zaelon!" Lucy hadn't read the book yet so she was greatly surprised. Lucy made sure Natsu didn't steal it back by jumping on top of a bookcase, reading it.

"Who cares, let's burn it!" He yelled, igniting his hand.

"Lets say we burned it and I can keep it!" The bookworm suggested. He looked pretty annoyed with her response and stocked up towards the mage.

"I don't like to lie." He growled out simply. At that point in time that ugly man came out of the ground. He glared at the four Fairy Tail members, especially at Natsu and Lucy. Behind him were two men, one carrying a large pan with him.

"What are you doing in my library?" Everlue looked angry, but then noticed the book. "You want that worthless book?" He looked up at Lucy, who still sat upon the bookshelf. It was odd, he believed the book was absolutely worthless, but they needed it. It couldn't be that easy, could it?

"So can we keep it?" Lucy asked with a tilt of her head.

"No, its still my property! And I want it back!" Everlue growled. Lucy flipped through the book once more, a desperate expression adorning her face. She felt as if there was something inside the book that was important. But she couldn't place a finger on what it was. Lucy's unwillingness to comply finally had Natsu explode.

"We have to burn it, it was our job, Lucy!" He clenched his fist. He really didn't like getting genuinely upset at a guild mate, but she wasn't listening to him. And they had a job to do, they can't just lie or abandon it. It would make Fairy Tail look bad. Lucy looked back at Natsu with pleading eyes and hopped off the bookshelf.

"This book holds a secret, and I'm going to find out what!" She ran out quickly. Everlue stuck Natsu with the two men behind him and ran off to find Lucy. Natsu scoffed and looked back at the two men surrounding him. He supposed he would just have to find Lucy later.

"Oh, a secret!?" Lucy faintly heard the plump man yell behind her. Lucy managed to find her way below the mansion and into the sewers. Taking out her gale force glasses, she skimmed through the book. She was surprised at just how criminal Everlue really was. Imprisonment, blackmail, and even driving the poor author to death. "What's the secret, girl, money, treasure map?" Everlue interrogated, and grabbed Lucy's wrists from behind her and tied them tightly. Lucy chuckled lowly and used the rest of her strength to flip him over onto his face.

"Like I'd tell you, you repulsive creature!" The celestial mage shoued, not hiding her obvious disgust. He asked the teen all sorts of questions and Lucy countered with everything he had done to Kemu while he asked him to commission 'Day Break.'

"How do you even know all this?" He asked her in a slightly confused tone. Lucy grinned and held up the book, even shaking it back and forth. As if trying to temp the fat mage.

"It's all here in black and white." Her words had struck a nerve.

"I read that book from cover to cover and had never read anything of the sort in there!"

"Yeah, if you read it regularly. You see, Kemu was mage just like us. He put a spell on this book, one that you cannot read!" Lucy left no room for him to counter, as she hit him with an attack. "Celestial dragon wing attack!" She yelled out, while also opening up Cancer's gate. Lucy managed to strike him, but Everlue took out a key of his own, opening it.

"Open gate of the maiden, Virgo!" He yelled out. The same woman from before popped out, but this time Natsu was along for the ride. Lucy flinched and looked at the pyro with surprise. How the hell did he get here, with Virgo? Did he pass through the celestial realm?

"What the- Natsu how did you pass through the spirit world?!"

"I don't know, I jumped on her back because she started to disappear." Lucy face palmed, but let it go, she shouldn't worry about that now.

"Whatever, just go fight her while I take care of creampuff!" Lucy ordered at him. Lucy fought with her fist and her whip to hold him down while Cancer got to him, which seemed to work. He was down. Lucy looked behind her to see Natsu had beat Virgo. The blonde smiled and then heard a rumble. The place was falling apart! They ran out as fast as theg could, making it out in time.

"I guess we over did it?" Lucy said, rubbing the back of her head. He nodded. They watched as Everlue was taken away by the authorities and the women working for him were let go. Virgo, on the other hand, disappeared. Lucy wondered what ever happened to the spirit. Ignoring her running thoughts, she stepped back in the clients house, along with Natsu, Happy, and Marie. She handed the man the book with a soft smile.

"I thought I told you to burn it?!" He asked her, anger clearly heard through his tone. Lucy figured Natsu had no idea what was going on, so she explained all on her own.

"I'd rather you do it yourself, Kaby."

"H-how'd you know..." Lucy smiled at him and began to explain everything, when she was done, the words in the book flew out and flew around them. Lucy could tell they were rearranging while slowly seeping back into the book. The title 'Day Break' then turned into 'Dear Kaby.' Kaby dropped to his knees and thanked them profusely, hugging the book to himself while his wife gave him a watery smile.

"How can we ever repay you?" He looked at the dragon slayer expectantly.

"You paid us with your happiness!" Lucy placed her hands behind her back and clasped them, leaning forward to get a better look at his face. Lucy giggled and stepped away, walking towards Natsu.

"Were going home, and you should too." Natsu and Lucy said simultaneously. They looked at each other in suprise but laughed it off. After they got out of there and on their way home, Happy asked Lucy a question.

"How'd you know all that?"

"It was all there but like I said it was covered up by magic" She said as she looked up to the sky.

"I think I got you all figured out..." Natsu said to her, making the blonde lift an eyebrow.

"You wanna be a writer" he smirked. Lucy gasped and looked away, down to the ground. Her face flushed considerably.

"How'd you know?" He gave her a laugh.

"Back at home you swiped those papers away from me and told me not to look and from there it was obvious" She probably looked like a fish now. He really is smart under all that stupidity.

*Flashback*

*"what's this?" Natsu asked reading a pile of sorted papers on top of her desk in the corner of their bedroom. Lucy went in panic mode and 'Lucy Kicked' him in the other room.*

*"Don't touch!" She screamed to him.*

*Flashback end*

Lucy sighed when she realized just how obvious she was. That's when she heard a noise coming from the bushes and put her guard up. "Who is it, show yourself" She yelled. Natsu also looked over to the bush and got in his fighting stance. That's when both dragon slayers smelled someone awfully familiar.

"So, you two live together now?" Gray asked coming out of the bush with nothing but boxers on. Lucy felt her irritation spike. She pointed over to the stripping mage and growled at him.

"Put some clothes on!" She almost kicked him, but was interrupted.

"Jeez, I was looking fro the bathroom, Luce!" He retorted in defense. Lucy held up her fist with a scowl and glared at the black haired man.

"Don't call me Luce, idiot!"

"Oh but I bet Natsu can!" Lucy froze, had he even called her that? It didn't matter, it's not like she would allow it. Would she? Well, he did bring her and Marie to her favorite guild. It was the least she could do after all he has done for her.

"T-that's different." Lucy stated, stuttering as she did so.

"Riiiight, anyway, Natsu, you and your girlfriend gotta get back because Erza's coming." Gray mumbled, shivering a bit. Lucy gave the two men a a weird look. What made her so scary? She heard from Sorcerer Weekly that she was really pretty and was strong, but that couldn't have been what made her so scary to the mage.

"Is she like scary or something?" Lucy asked while they nodded inhumanly fast. "Well I guess that's good to know" Lucy mumbled. At least she knows more about her now. Though she thinks Gray and Natsu might be exaggerating a bit.

"You should be scared!" Happy gawked, talking about how she can kick down mountains. Lucy and Marie looked at each other and shrugged.

"Um...did you forget we were raised by dragons? And trust me, nothing is more scary than a irritated Draco." Lucy felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought. They looked at her and laughed. They all settled down and built a fire but Marie and Happy were taken from a small group of what seemed to be bandits. They fought them and got their cats back. She then heard one of the wizards say the word lullaby. Where had she heard that? They got back to the guild and Lucy then met with Loke, but when he found out she was a celestial wizard, he took off running. He then came back in a panic. Apparently Erza was back.

Lucy smiled. She couldn't wait to meet the scarlet haired mage.