"So, like, how are we going to do this again?" Lucy asked, unsure of the whole situation.
"Well, she said that we were welcome back any time to eat, so we just go!" Natsu replied, a little too enthusiastically.
"Natsu, do you think she'll have smoked fish again?" Happy asked hopefully.
"Hey guys, I think what Lucy is trying to point out is the fact that we're going as a group," Gray intervened.
"So? She said we could come as a group!" Natsu defended.
Mira decided to jump into the conversation, gently saying, "Yes, Natsu, but I think what Lucy and Gray are saying is that they don't think the girl meant, well..."
"...All of Fairy Tail?" Levy finished her statement.
Master Makarov went in the front of the group, addressing them all as he said, "Now listen, everyone, we are going to see Laxus and find out what is going on. I want you all to be on your best behavior. We do not know exactly who she is or who she has ties to."
"What the heck does that mean, Gramps?! Erza said she's not a mage!" Natsu complained.
"You never know who she is related to, my boy. For all we know, she might know someone on the Magic Council!"
Everyone sweatdropped at the master's statement, well aware of his relationship with the council due to Fairy Tail's numerous cases of destruction.
The members of Fairy Tail all made their way to Hargeon, taking the train, much to Natsu's dismay.
"Why can't you just get over your stupid motion sickness, Salamander?" Gajeel asked.
"I'd like to...see...you try to deal with this!"
"So, Lucy," Levy started, "what's this girl like?"
-------------------
"Laxus!"
"Didn't I tell you not to wake up to see me off?"
"Yes, but I wanted to," Emi started before pointing a finger at his tall form, "You never know how dangerous a job will be."
Laxus gave her a bored look before grunting to show that he heard her.
"And I wanted to make sure you didn't forget something!"
"I have my coat, brat. I always have my coat."
"No, Laxus. This!"
Emi then made her way over to the lightning mage and hugged his waist. She looked up at him during the hug and said, "You can never leave home without one of these!"
---------------
"So like, do we just...knock on the door or something?"
"Oh come on, Lucy! Don't worry about it! She promised we could come back!"
"Natsu, she never promised anything. She said that we could come back, but don't you think that we should've given them a little bit of a notice instead of just showing up?"
"She won't mind."
"Natsu, you met her once! Stop acting like you know her."
"Uh...hey guys," Cana asked, "do you even remember how to get there? We've been walking aimlessly around town for twenty minutes now."
"Oh crap!" Lucy shouted, which caused all of Fairy Tail to sweatdrop.
"Don't worry about a thing! I can smell my way there," Natsu said, pointing at himself.
"Great," Gray started, "we have to rely on the idiot's nose again."
"Hey, I got us there last time, didn't I?!"
"ENOUGH." Master Makarov shouted, immediately silencing all fighting.
Natsu and Gray grumbled at each other before the fire dragon slayer started following the familiar scent of Laxus.
-------------
"He's late. I hope nothing went wrong."
Emi was sitting in her bedroom looking out the window as she read. Laxus said that he would be back by noon, but it was currently 5:30. The white-haired woman shook it off as a train station mishap and continued to read her book on god slayer magic.
"Do you mean to tell me that there are people that can kill gods? Wow, and I can't even draw a magic circle."
Emi flipped through the pages of the book, quickly marking points that she found interesting. When she was finished with the book, she placed it inside her bookshelf and picked up a blue and gold book. This book was her most precious item, but she didn't know why. The book in question was a simple book filled with different fairy tales and magic lore. All she knew was that she had this book three years ago, with her earliest memory.
Emi flipped through the stories until she found one that she loved the most: the tale of King Arthur. She never grew tired of reading this tale, and it was one that she always enjoyed reading. As she was reading, she heard a knock on the front door.
"Coming!"
Thinking it was Laxus coming back from his job, Emi sprinted to the door and flung it open.
"Oh thank goodness. I was starting to worry about..."
Emi's speech drifted off as she was met with a pink mage wearing a scarf instead of the lightning mage.
"Oh, um, sorry about that. If I remember correctly, your name is Natsu, right? What brings you back here?"
"We're here for dinner!"
Emi looked around for a minute and once she was sure that nobody else was in the clearing, she turned back to the dragon slayer, asking, "We?"
Just as she said that, Lucy and Gray came running to the clearing, followed by Happy flying at top speed.
Lucy looked at Natsu as she caught up to him and started yelling, "Natsu, you lost everyone along the way! You were running too fast. Happy couldn't even keep up."
"Aye...sir," Happy let out between breaths.
Emi looked at the small group and smiled, saying, "Of course! I forgot that I told you to come back for a meal. Come on in."
As Emi started to move out of the way of the door, she caught movement from the forest. She turned towards the forest to see a large group of people making their way towards the clearing. All of them were out of breath from running. Emi looked cautiously to Natsu and pointed at the large group.
"Um, we?"
Natsu gave an energetic "uh-huh!" and started to call the group towards the house. He rushed inside the house and started going through the kitchen, to which Lucy followed and started lecturing him about going through other people's food.
Emi just stood in shock. There were so many wizards coming to the house, and she didn't know how to break it to them that she only meant the wizards in the small group that she met before. She gave the group a quick scan and smiled. Maybe this is a good thing. Laxus will have to talk to them at some point.
Emi laughed to herself at the thought of Laxus having to socialize with someone other than herself for serious matters and made her way inside where Fairy Tail had made themselves comfortable.
"Um, I don't have that much food here to feed you all, but I can take a trip to town to gather ingredients if you would tell me what you want."
"I'll take some smoked fish!" Natsu yelled.
"AYE SIR!"
Emi stared at them for a few moments before smiling to match theirs. She said that she would be happy to make some if a couple of people came with her to carry the supplies back. Of the group, Levy, Lucy, Natsu and Happy volunteered.
Lucy looked at Levy and snickered, saying, "Natsu is probably only going so he can get first dibs on the food."
Natsu had darted ahead of the group, running full speed through the forest and back to town. Lucy called for him to slow down but he made no change in speed. Levy and Lucy sighed heavily before turning to Emi to apologize.
"He tends to think with his stomach. I'm really sorry for him looking through your fridge and cabinets. He does it to me all the time and it's annoying."
"Oh no, it's okay. I admire his enthusiasm."
The girls nodded before walking through the forest.
"So, Lucy says your name is Emiko? I'm Levy."
"Ah, yes. I completely forgot about introducing myself. It's nice to meet you Levy. Oh and you can just call me Emi."
"Lucy was right when she said that you were pretty. I love your hair."
A slight blush appeared on Emi's face before replying, "Thank you so much! You both are really pretty as well."
The three laughed between themselves as they tried to catch up to Natsu and Happy, who had raced after the fire mage without them noticing. Once they cleared the forest and were back in Hargeon, Emi led the group to a local fish market. Happy couldn't contain the grin that was stretching across his face at the sight of all the different fish, and Natsu's mouth started watering.
"I'll let you and Lucy pick out the fish. Levy, will you come with me to buy some produce?"
Levy gave a quick "of course" and followed Emi through the market, leaving Lucy with trying to get Natsu and Happy to focus enough to pick out one type of fish for the meal.
"So, Emi, where did you and Laxus meet?"
Emi seemed deep in thought for a moment before answering, "Well, I was wandering around the outskirts of the town and a small group of wizards from a dark guild approached me and demanded that I give them everything I had. I didn't have much jewel, as I was looking for work, and that made them unhappy. They went to attack me and then out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck right in the middle! It was super cool to see. I've been traveling with him since."
"Traveling? You don't stay at the house?"
"In the beginning, we traveled all over Fiore. Laxus said something about 'atoning' for what he did in the past. We did small jobs to help the townspeople and then we would move on to the next town. We stayed in all these different inns and then after a couple months we decided to stay near Hargeon."
Levy looked a little shocked, most likely because she didn't think "Laxus" and "atoning" necessarily belonged in the same sentence, but recovered once the pair reached the front of a local produce shop.
"Just grab whatever we can use for sides for the fish."
Emi and Levy strolled through the shop and ended up picking up asparagus, potatoes and some local beans. The pair met up with Lucy, Natsu and Happy and stood in shock as Natsu showed them a massive bag of fish.
"We couldn't pick so we got them all!"
"Aye, sir! We picked the best fish!"
Lucy looked apologetically at Emi, saying, "I am so sorry. I tried to stop them, but they had already bought it all by the time I turned around again. I'll make sure to pay you back the money."
Emi smiled and told her that she didn't have to worry about returning the money and ushered them all back to the house. Emi looked up to the sky and saw that it was getting dark out. Lucy noticed her concerned look and turned towards her.
"Is something wrong? You look worried."
"Laxus went on a job really early this morning and said he'd be back by noon, but it's already getting dark out and he hasn't returned. I'm just a little worried that something has happened."
Natsu turned around to Emi and confidently said, "Don't worry about that guy. He can definitely handle himself."
Levy agreed, "He was an S-class wizard at Fairy Tail, so you can bet that he'll be fine. I'm sure he's just running late."
Emi nodded towards the group, thanking them for the reassurance. They all arrived at the house just before it got too dark, and Emi started cooking. Everyone sat in the living room except for Natsu and Happy, who insisted on watching.
"What are you gonna do with that?" Natsu asked.
Emi looked up from the skillet, saying that she was going to make seared asparagus and beans with the fish, as well as frying up some potatoes. The pair looked disinterested in the vegetables and instead looked at how the fish was cooking.
"See, Natsu. You make smoked fish with smoke, not fire."
"Happy, you're so right. This is gonna be awesome."
-----------------
The meal was ready to be served, so Emi dumped the food onto platters and placed them on the table. As she set down the last platter and called Fairy Tail into the kitchen, a huge boom was heard from outside. The wizards seemed to be taken back by the sudden thunder, but Emi's eyes lit up and she ran to the door to open it. Seeing the flash of lightning hit by the front door made a smile form on her face.
Just as she expected, Laxus had arrived. Emi made her way back into the house with the lightning mage.
"Sorry for coming back so late. There was trouble getting the reward and then they made me take the train back. Then I got caught up with-"
Laxus entered the house to be met with the faces of Fairy Tail. His mouth dropped.
"What the HELL is going on?"
"Laxus, fight me!"
"Laxus, they came to have a meal with us."
Laxus looked pissed. He turned to Emi, ready to start on how Fairy Tail was the last thing he needed to be faced with right now. Emi beat him to it, however, and started while pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Listen up, mister. It's your fault for being back so late. They've been here and you weren't here to tell them they couldn't come in. So now you'll be nice and welcome them into our house and eat with them."
The wizards watched in wonder as this small woman stood up to a former S-class wizard with a known tempter like it was nothing. It looked almost natural. Laxus huffed before making his way to his seat and looked at Wendy with an evil stare when he saw that she had taken it. Wendy looked at Laxus with fear evident in her eyes before she made movement to give the chair to Laxus. However, she was stopped.
"You better not be bullying that little girl, Laxus. You can go without your seat for one night. Sit somewhere else."
Laxus, along with the rest of Fairy Tail, looked at her in disbelief. The lightning mage huffed once more before making his way to an empty chair in the corner.
Emi continued to serve dinner and told everyone they were free to take what they wanted. Laxus glanced to the top of the fridge and saw that the bottle of hot sauce wasn't there. He smirked to himself and closed his eyes, waiting.
"THIS LOOKS GREAT." Natsu said, full of eagerness.
Everyone started to eat except Laxus who hadn't taken any food yet. Everyone started eating, and one after another started coughing and trying to catch their breath. Laxus's smirk grew wider as he listened to the coughs and chokes of his former guildmates.
"Oh no! Is it that bad?"
Erza was the first one to recover, asking, "Emi, what exactly did you put in this?"
"I swear I followed the directions! I don't know what happened."
Laxus finally spoke up: "Em, you fully well know what you did."
The Fairy Tail wizards looked to Emi, who had a defeated look on her face.
"I'm not even going to ask how you got it from the top of the fridge without noticing, but would you like to share with everyone what you added?"
Emi mumbled something incoherent, which prompted Gray to ask her to repeat herself.
"...Hot sauce."
Everyone looked at Emi with surprise before looking back to their food. They all pushed their food away from them, proving that the heat was too much. Natsu, however, didn't seem phased.
As he continued to stuff his face, he said, "Oh is that what that taste is? I still think it's great!"
Lucy eyed him before muttering a sarcastic "of course" and then looking to Emi to see that she was upset. Lucy went to say something to comfort her but Laxus beat her to it.
"Didn't we run out of hot sauce last night? How did you get more?"
"I...don't know."
Laxus then grabbed a plate of smoked fish and started eating it, much to the shock of the wizards.
"You're lucky that fish and hot sauce actually kind of go together. It's a lot better than pancakes with hot sauce."
Gray and Gajeel looked at Emi, exclaiming, "Pancakes?!"