Chapter-1
The town from where it all began
.•°A Day In Hargeon°•.
It was mid June. It was only mid-morning but the sun was scorching already. Lucy Heartfilia, a 18 year old celestial wizard makes her way on the busy street of Hargeon as we speak.
Lucy had chocolate brown eyes and bright deep blonde hair. She was just like her mother. She had a shoulder bag as an only accessory for now.
It was her second day in Hargeon and everything was going smoothly.
People were buying special seafood only sold in Hargeon, street performers performing dangerous stunts without magic, tourists admiring the beauty of the ocean and children playing on the beach. Just a normal day.
She could hear the voice of children pleading their parents to buy them toys. She could hear the local vendors marketing their products to the tourists.
Lucy was walking on a road that allowed her to get a view of all of these at once.
It was her first time visiting Hargeon so she observed every detail closely.
The road led to the main street. Naturally, it was crowded. But there was a unusually big gathering in the middle of the street. Men and women, everyone was pushing each other to just get a glimpse of something. Something that was in the center of this big hectic.
"Man...I wish I could use magic...", Lucy heard blond man mumbling enviously as he pushed his way out the crowd.
"What's the ruckus about?" She wondered and decided see it too.
But it was tough to enter the crowd.
She pushes aside some people smelling of sweat, some yelling and some even swearing. She had to crawl just like a earthworm.
After she finally reached the center, her eyes gets fixated on a flier. It read-
"Need to defeat a demon living in the town of spade.
Reward-1,000,000 Jewels and one gold key"
A really short description to say the least.
"Wow", Lucy gasps. She didn't care about the task. One gold key was enough to make her do any job, no matter it's difficulty.
But the fact that it was a job flier out of nowhere in middle of a town was suspicious.
She stares at the job flyer for a few minutes, ignoring people who were shouting at her to back down because she was standing in front of the request board.
She thinks for a moment, and then jumps up, throwing her fist in air with a excited smile- "It's perfect. It's a perfect job for a pretty wizard like me to make her debut."
Lucy had never taken a official job request like this one because she wasn't in a guild. Actually it was the first time she had seen a job flyer.
Her pretty smile doesn't last long. Soon she smiles demonically and starts mumbling every possible sweet-reality she could think of after she defeats the demon and earns the gold key.
But this unintentionally creeps out the crowd standing behind her. Soon she was the only one who is standing there, not realizing what happened.
Lucy jerks her head around once. No one was behind her. She shrugs and then looks at the job flyer once again.
"Thats weird" she says to thin air. "But still, this is a pretty high paid job and to be posted on a wooden banner in a town like Hargeon where magic is rarely used, and no powerful guild is anywhere around this port town...mutter-mutter...ahhh screw it. All I care about is the zodiac key."
She rips the flyer off from the wooden notice board. The wood of the board was very soft, and looked very old. It had good amount of fungus growth on it's edges.
She slowly and innocently looks around, to ensure no one saw her.
Everyone has already left... really. She was alone... or so she thought.
"This can only mean fate that most capable wizard saw this job" someone says from behind her back. The voice was of man, it was deep.
Lucy stays frozen for a second. There goes her imagination again. She thought that some powerful and handsome wizard recognized her strength and is here to take her to a wonderland and treat her like a princess and give her a ride on his horse and "kyaaaaa!"
Lucy turns back almost instantly. She then looks closely at that man. He was a bit taller, wearing a black sleeveless waistcoat with a scaly white scarf around his neck and knee height-trousers. He was about the same age as hers.
No doubt about it. It is her little goofy and innocent spirit.
"Uhhhh, its you Natsu. Don't change your voice like that!", she says in a disappointed voice.
Natsu is a spirit from one of her silver keys. He replies with a joyful smile- "Oh com'on Luce don't look so down.
Lucy sighs and says- "Get it right,its Lucy not LUCE! And wait...bhow are you here!? I didn't summon you."
Natsu makes a face that a bragger would make. He takes some time to look at Lucy's surprised face and then says, "You know, I am much stronger than the last time you called me. Now I can open my gate on my own."
It was really shocking. It wasn't common for spirits to open their own gate without the magic of a celestial wizard, not for a silver key spirit at least.
Lucy says cheerfully -"Well that's certainly impressive. Only some zodiac spirits could manage that!"
Natsu at the peak of his pride puts his fist on his chest, still maintaining the boastful face.
Lucy however, quickly changed the the topic, not wanting to see that expression on Natsu's face," So, did you show up just for this?"
Natsu now loses that face and looks at Lucy. He coughs nervously-"So... umm..I..I was wonderin..."
~Silence~
A few seconds of silence continues. As a result, Lucy becomes impatient of waiting.
She wanted to hear what he had to say. So she decided to raise her voice to stir things up, "Today isn't even Sunday. We made a contract that I can only call you on Sundays! If you wanted to only show this forced gate opening then you can go back. Thank you."
Natsu does a little "eeeek" on this scolding and says as fast as he could-"I was wondering if we can extend our contract to all 7 days."
Lucy's eyes widened. She literally had to plead to her spirits for working for all 7 days in a week but some of them still denied. It was first time any of her spirit asked her this.
Lucy becomes very happy and almost hugs Natsu in delight but then remembers magic that Natsu uses.
Her cheerful smile fades into a gloomy sigh, "Okay it's a deal."
Natsu jumps back a bit and speaks in surprise- "Hey what's with that reaction. I can give my life for you and now I am offering my protection for all days of your life and the first thing you do is a big depressing sigh."
Lucy scratches her hair. She thinks how to tell Natsu that she hasn't summoned him for a full whole year to fight a battle because his magic is just basic fire magic. Yes. Basic common fire magic, that's all! Nothing special.
Natsu always claimed that he had powerful but was never really able to prove it. All he could do was make palm sized fireballs and some other forms of fire magic, which were weak but did come in handy at times.
Because of this, she never summoned him in the battles she fought in previous one year. There weren't many actually, only a few.
He usually helped her in her daily chores on Sundays... and maybe lightening up fire on dry leaves at times.
Another short moment of silence continues.
It is broken by a man wearing pink shorts and white cotton shirt promoting one of his item. He pushes Natsu and Lucy away from each other and stands in between them- "A strawberry cotton candy exclusively for coup--";
He made a big mistake. Before he could finish his sentence he got served with a freshly made palmed sized fireball and a Lucy kick.
"It's nothing like that!!!" Lucy and Natsu, flustered, shouts in a sync but unfortunately the man was not there to listen anymore. He was blown away from their sight.
"Well that was a weird human." Natsu says, looking in the direction the man got blown away.
"Not weirder than a human I know" Lucy quickly replies banging her palm on her forehead.
"Oh is there any other human you want me to take care of? I am fired up-" Lucy gives Natsu a short glance of pity and then intrupts him in between- "The person I am talking about is you Natsu!".
Natsu looks dumbfounded and laughs -"Oh yeah I am a partially human too I forgot ..hahaha...".
He stops laughing as he sees Lucy was not looking in a good mood. It was getting awkward by every passing second. He needs to start the conversation again..
"Alright...ummm where were we...oh yeah why were you looking sad when I told you...umm...I told you...Right! I can cook well!."
Lucy sighs. She feels sympathetic and pity towards her dumb and innocent human-spirit trying to change the subject but failing miserably.
She says with a smile to make Natsu not feel awkward "Alright! Thank you so much Natsu. Look forward to call you soon." She waves her hand, slipping her hand to her key holder on her waist to pull out his key.
Natsu smiles, after which Lucy stares at him. What was this reaction? She expected him to...like fight for not giving him a proper goodbye.
Natsu's eyes glows brightly. He leans towards Lucy and says- "Remember I will be the one to roast this monster! And...and...and I will show you how much I have improved and you can rely on me instead of your 3 zodia----."
"Alright alright now calm down. You are literally spitting on me", Lucy says intrupting Natsu, pushing him away.
"Oh yeah sorry about that. See you soon. Also I can do forced closure too!", Natsu says as he disappears in thin air, leaving glittering embers falling behind, where he was once standing.
"Honestly..." Lucy mumbles, "He is as cheerful as ever....even if I did not summon him to fight for me for a whole year."
Lucy slips her hand down her waist to feel the leather key holder. She takes out one of her 4 silver keys that had a small silver flame at it's head. It had a red outlining that added to it's charm. "Natsu..." She does a little smile and says- "Maybe I should give him a little more credit..."
•••
After confirming that the job flyer was in her shoulder bag, Lucy walks away from the main street, back to admiring the beauty of this town. She starts humming a tune as she walks on a concrete pavement under the bright sun.
She passes numerous shops of the port-town Hargeon. Shops ranging from fish sellers to wizard merchandize seller. How she wished that she had her own merchandize in the shop. But there was a problem...
"Ahhhh! there is no magic shop anywhere in a town this big!!!!" Lucy exclaims in annoyance. The sun made her even more annoyed.
She wore a sleeveless blue and white stripped shirt, a blue short skirt and knee-high leather boots. Her hair were tied in a pony tail sideways to her head with a blue ribbon.
However, even her clothing was not helping her to stay cool.
Tired from all this, Lucy stops humming the tune.
"If only I had a spirit that could use ice magic instead of fire magic." She talks to the thin air, still walking on the pavement.
But instantly gets flashback when she had to summon Natsu in winters to keep her warm and save herself from dying from hypothermia.
Is this what they call instant regret?
"Or maybe not" She mumbles.
Lucy was just getting tangled in her own thoughts when she saw an old dusted board above shop. At first, she didn't thought much of it. Just took a glance and thought, "An old shop...that's cool." But as she got closer, she realized it was the shop she has been looking for what seemed as an eternity. It's name was "Grandpa Bill's magic shop."
Lucy without wasting a second barges into the shop with sparkles in her eyes.
There was no one anywhere at first sight. But then Lucy heard a voice.
"Oh my, aren't you a restless customer." An old man in his 70's wearing a yellow T-shirt welcomes Lucy in his shop.
The shop was not as big as she expected. It was small one with long gallery/corridor, the old man sat at the end of it, behind a table.
The shop had many items in display in the gallery. Magic lacrimas, wizard brooms and sticks, hats, cards etc. Maybe it was a multi media shop. Welp, it doesn't matter right now.
"I have been looking for a magic shop for so long...", Lucy says remembering every weird people she met on her way to Hargeon and in Hargeon.
"Ho-Oh-Ho, it is the most common thing visitors says. Because, you see this is the only magic shop that you will find in this town. People here are more interested in seafood than magic." The old man says in his ancient voice.
"People here sure are weird,huh. And what's with Ho-oh-Ho." Lucy thinks trying her best to smile.
"So young wizard, what brought you here in my shop?", the shopkeeper asked.
"Ummm..do you have gate keys used by celestial wizards?", Lucy asked, getting straight to the point.
Deep in her heart she was expecting the old man to answer a no considering that this shop wasn't really much special. Also celestial wizard summoning is like one of the rarest magic. The users of this magic can be counted on your fingers!
The old man scratched his chin and replies with a doubtful "Ho-oh-Ho"
Lucy, now questioning herself why did she even enter this shop sighs and was about to say goodbye. But grandpa Bill was faster. He shot his eyes up towards Lucy as if he remembered something really important. He opens his mouth to speak.
Lucy takes few steps back on her instincts, fearing the words that were about to be spoken next.
"Ho-oh-Hoooo!!! I have one silver key in my stock!" He yells.
...Wow...
Lucy pulls herself together, relaxes and breathes calamly trying to surpress her excitement. She then adjusts her voice, trying to not sound like a maniac from her joy.
"That's great! I will buy it" is what Lucy wanted to say but she was stopped by a hand gripping her wrist... hand of someone familiar.
"She won't! Why would she?!!! Don't you dare use your marketing tricks on her, little old nasty rag." Natsu interrupted Lucy before she could speak.
He appeared out of nowhere.
"Natsuuuuuu!!!!" Lucy felt so embarrassed that she unintentionally slapped Natsu.
"Hey why are you hitting me and you are all red-"
"I am really sorry?" Lucy bows down to the shopkeeper.
She buys the silver key without asking which spirit it was and without bargaining that hit pretty hard on her wallet. The buying part got finished in just 30 seconds!
After buying the keys, she rushes outside the shop quickly dragging Natsu with her, even before the shopkeeper who was as confused as Natsu could give his goodbye Ho-oh-Ho.
"That hurts!" Natsu complains as Lucy stands outside the shop panting from exhaustion and grieving over 40,000 Jewels she just spent. She was annoyed at her loss and the embarrassment.
Natsu was babbling something that Lucy didn't understood. But it was getting louder.
She gives a cold stare to Natsu.
"And whose fault do you think it was?" Lucy starts scolding him raising her voice to all its extent.
"I was just tryi-"
"All of my celestial spirits are really dear to me. So I don't mind company of any of them. But Natsu that doesn't mean you will just come out of nowhere and interfere me with my decisions!-"
Natsu, still not realizing that Lucy was seriously mad this time interrupted her again- "But..but you have me... why will you buy another silver key amd waste you money! You gave 3 more too beside m-"
"And how do you think that will help?! Muscle power is not a attribute of cancer and I can't activate Aquarius without water Heck, Tauraus takes a lot of magic to summon. The silver keys I have are not meant for offense and you... you can't even light a fireplace properly!"
Lucy stops suddenly realizing that people have gathered around her in a circle. They were looking in their direction with 'how awful' stares.
Only now did Lucy realized that she had gone too far. The regret chocked her throat. Not a single word came out. What she had said to Natsu was just rude considering he was her first spirit to make contract with. Also, even if he is weak, he tries his best to help her...and she is just...
Natsu's mouth was wide open. Is this the same Lucy?
"But I was just trying to save your money... you told me that you were broke...", he says, trying his best to smile with his trembling lips.
Lucy never saw Natsu like that before. It added more burden to her regret. Why did she do something so out of character at this time and at this place...
She could hear people gossiping behind her, and those gossips were not positive.
This turned in a mess that Lucy never intentioned to create. They fought many times but this went a bit far.
"I am s-sorry." She says to Natsu on the verge to cry, not because of the embarrassment but realizing how bad Natsu, her best friend must have felt.
But Natsu gives the smile she had seen him do since they were child. "It's alright." he says as if nothing really happened, as cheerful as ever.
Lucy gave a bright smile, thanking god that Natsu didn't took this to heart. But deep down she had her doubts... is Natsu lying?
Natsu bid a cheerful goodbye as ever and vanished into the celestial world.
"What's gotten into me." Lucy speaks softly. Lucy loved all 7 of her spirits from bottom of her heart. She never really fought with any of her spirit except Natsu. Like they say, the ones you fight the most are the ones you care about the most.
The crowd dissolves after the show was over. Mothers were hiding their children from Lucy, as if Lucy was a criminal.
"Next time I will apologize to him properly when he appears again.", she tells herself, trying to calm herself.
The city that seemed beautiful so far turned bleak all of a sudden. All the beauty felt lifeless.
Lucy really hoped that she will see Natsu again. But things don't always go the way you want.
Natsu didn't open his gate again on that day...
•
Yup. The first one is over. Sorry if this story is not good enough... I mean there are only 2 characters till now! It will get better by time. Really :) The second chapter will drop out soon.