Chapter Text
It was a beautiful day in Hargeon. Clear blue skies with a few white clouds curling around the edges as if framing a picture. It wasn’t too cool, nor too hot.
Hargeon was a fishing town; most of its revenue came in the form of catching and selling fish. Given this, it was only natural that Hargeon town was best known for its port. There were countless restaurants set up around the docks, each boasting its own way of preparing the fresh fish that was caught just a walk away. Fisherman went to and fro on the jetty, hauling in their catches.
Further inland, the commerce diversified. Hats, scarves and other accessories were well made and fairly popular with tourists. As small towns went, it was pretty well rounded.
Unfortunately, it had one flaw, which one certain person was about to discover: in the entirety of Hargeon town, there was only one (1) magic shop.
“Seriously?” Lucy asked in disbelief. The owner of the magic store in question nodded solemnly, an action which nicely accentuated his similarities to a bobblehead, or some other such childrens toy.
“Unfortunately so, miss,” he said, peering up at her. “Hargeon doesn’t have any active mage guilds, so this shop is really only for mages who are passing through.”
“Unbelievable,” Lucy breathed, frustrated. She closed her eyes and massaged her temple, then looked back at the shop owner. “Okay, so this is the only magic shop. Then do you have anything particularly powerful in here?”
The shop owner brightened and he scurried towards a corner of the store. “I have just the thing for a young woman like yourself, miss!” He grabbed something off the shelf and turned back to her, smiling. “This device is very popular; it lets you change the colour of your clothes at will!” As if to demonstrate, he changed his own robes through a rainbow of colours. He looked towards her hopefully, as if to see whether she was impressed.
Meanwhile, Lucy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. I said something powerful, you idiot old man , she thought to herself. That thing is useless to me! I already have one, anyways…
A shine of metal caught her eye, and she turned to her left to see a cluster of magical trinkets laid out on the table. Among the trinkets were a few small boxes, opened up to display silver keys.
Lucy’s eyes widened. Jackpot!
“Hey, mister,” she called to the store owner. “ What about these keys you have here?
“O-oh, those?” the store owner said, setting aside the colour changer and coming over to her. “Those are celestial spirit keys; doorways through which you can summon spirits to help you. Are you interested in any of them?”
Lucy scanned her eyes over the few keys on the table, and she wracked her brain trying to remember which symbol meant what spirit. Then her eye caught on the very last one, which she recognised.
Oh my god! It’s a key for the canis minor, Nikola! She snatched up the box and showed it to the shop owner, smiling widely. “I’ll take this one, mister!”
The shop owner looked between her and the key, clearly befuddled. “Erm.. that key isn’t very powerful, though..” he began doubtfully.
Lucy shook her head and said more firmly, “I don’t care. I want this one.”
The shop master gave up. “Very well,” he said. “In that case, the price would be… 20000 jewels.”
Lucy paused. She must have hallucinated. “Sorry, how much is it?” She gave the shop owner a polite smile.
“20000 jewels, like I said,” he replied.
Lucy’s eye twitched. So I didn’t mishear him??? she thought to herself in disbelief. This guy is insane, charging that much for a silver key, especially Nikola’s key!
An idea came to her. In many of the books she had read since leaving her father, the heroine uses her ‘feminine wiles’ to get her way. Surely she could do the same here, right? Sure, she might only be 17, but already a lot of men leered at her when she walked around in her new clothes.
She moved her arms to push up her chest, and leaned down slightly towards the shop owner, smiling sweetly. She felt a bit stupid, doing something like this, but if it worked then it would be worth it. “Come on, mister. How much is the price really ?” She batted her eyes at him a couple times for good measure.
The shop owner’s eyes darted down to her chest, and he gulped a few times. “I- I…” he stammered, clearly flustered. “Alright, miss. Just for you, I’ll drop it down to 19000,” he said, tearing his eyes from her chest to look back up at her face. “But don’t expect any more from me! I’m too old to fall for something like that!”
Lucy straightened up suddenly, feeling a strange mix of triumphant, frustrated, and scolded. “Fine then, old man. That’s better than nothing.” She paid for the key and left the store, not saying another word to the store owner.
As she walked down the street, holding her new key, she couldn’t help but grumble in her head. Stupid old man , she thought. He was so stingy, only taking 1000 jewels off the price. What a loser!
She felt a bit better about herself, having made fun of him in her head, and she began to look around, interested despite herself at the stores around her.
Hargeon really is a nice town, isn’t it? she thought, looking through the window of a jewelry store. Despite the lack of magic stores…
A commotion down the street turned her head, and she watched a crowd of women clamour around something. What’s going on over there? she wondered idly. She was about to ignore it and keep walking when a couple of girls around her age raced past, shouting to each other excitedly.
“Hurry up!” The smaller one was saying, tugging the bigger one along by the hand. “We might miss him!”
“The salamander! I can’t believe such a powerful mage is really here in Hargeon!” breathed the other one, and soon they had joined the throng of women down the street.
Lucy felt her ears perk up despite herself, and she turned back to the crowd, thoughtfully. The salamander? Isn’t that a really good fire mage? Maybe I should check him out…
As she walked towards the crowd, she noticed something interesting; as she had seen before, the crowd was all made up of women, fairly young and all pretty. But now that she knew what the attraction was, she couldn’t help but wonder why it was ONLY women. Surely some guys would also be interested in seeing a super powerful mage?
Then again, she thought, men were a bit strange like that. Maybe the thought of a guy more powerful than them was scary? Anyways, it was probably a good thing there weren’t any guys in the crowd, because it made it a lot easier to elbow through to the front, so that she got a view of…
As soon as she laid eyes on the man in the middle of the crowd, she fell in love. His dark hair that was swept back to reveal clever eyes, and a cape over his shoulders, making him look bigger than life... he was magnificent.
She had never felt anything like this before, and her hand reached up to clutch at her chest, her heart in her throat. She watched him, wide-eyed, as he showed off to the crowd. He made wide, sweeping gestures, and where his ringed fingers moved, flames followed in their wake, violet and entrancing.
He turned around, and noticed her, pink-cheeked and breathless. And then he winked . At her!
Lucy couldn’t help but squeak. Am I dreaming, she thought, dazed. This man is the man of my dreams!
And then pink hair bashed through the crowd opposite Lucy, and a triumphant voice shouted, “Igneel! I’ve finally found you!”
Like everyone else, Lucy turned towards the interruption. A girl about Lucy’s age had stopped at the front of the crowd, staring at the salamander silently.
Right? Lucy thought, empathising with the girl, who was clearly also in love with the salamander. Isn’t he perfect?
Then the girl said, “Oh. You’re not Igneel. Nevermind, then,” and without a backwards glance walked back out of the crowd.
Like a bubble being popped, the salamander’s charm over Lucy burst. She blinked at her own sudden change in emotions, and then looked critically over the salamander. Her eyes fell on the rings on his hand, and she scoffed internally. A charming spell. I can’t believe I fell for that .
"Hold on a moment!" said the salamander loudly, gesturing for the crowd to part so that he could make his way through. "Young lady, why the rush? Stay here a while." He spread his arms wide invitingly, and Lucy narrowed her eyes at his back.
The pink haired girl turned and eyed him warily. "No thanks," she said. "Who are you anyways?"
A couple of the women in the crowd roared angrily at that, but again the salamander gestured, and they fell quiet. He's treating them like dogs. And even worse, they're obeying because they're under the charm spell!
"Are you sure you don't wish to stay?" the salamander asked, sadness dripping from his voice. Some women cooed at him, but the pink-haired girl only stared blankly. "Ah, fine, fine. If you're really in a rush I guess I'll let you go. Here! How about a keepsake to remember me by?" He whipped out a board and held it out to the girl. "An autograph, just for you!"
"I don't want it," said the girl, looking at him weirdly. She turned again to leave, but some of the women in the crowd attacked her, shrieking about how unfair she was being to 'Salamander-sama'. Lucy rolled her eyes. In her opinion, this girl had the right idea about him.
The salamander snapped his fingers to get their attention again. “Now, ladies. Don’t trouble yourselves over a girl like that,” he said, and, obediently, the women retreated, leaving the pink haired girl groaning on the ground. Upon further examination, it was clear that his hair hadn’t been washed in a while, and his cape had a rather large stain on it. Lucy hadn’t noticed either of those things while under the charm spell, but now her disgust at the man grew at the sight.
The man continued. “Unfortunately, my beauties, I must be off. However, I’m holding a party on my boat, and I’d love for you all to attend. See you there, my lovely ladies!” He snapped his fingers again, and his fire moved under his feet and picked him off the ground, carrying him away while the charmed ladies shrieked up at him in delight.
What a creep , Lucy thought to herself, shaking her head. She noticed that the pink haired girl was still on the ground, recovering from being treated so harshly, and she walked over.
The girl was being poked at by a cat who was standing on its hind legs, and at the sight of the cat Lucy faltered slightly. It was blue, and had a little knapsack tied around its neck, and as she got closer to them she realised that the cat was speaking to the girl.
Well , she thought, recovering. There are stranger things in the world than a talking cat, I suppose.
“That guy sucked, huh,” she said to the girl on the ground. The girl and the cat both blinked up at her in confusion, and she rectified her mistake. “I’m Lucy. Thanks for barging in, you really helped me out.”
The pink-haired girl slowly crawled up off the ground, dusting herself off and wincing as she stretched. “Uh, you’re welcome, I guess? I didn’t really do anything, though.” She shot the sky a dirty look. “That guy should have kept a better handle on his fans though.”
“It’s not their fault, really,” Lucy said, grimacing in sympathy when she caught sight of a shoeprint on the girl's white scarf. “Man, they banged you up pretty good, huh? How about this, I’ll treat you to food as thanks for your help back there.”
“But we just said we didn’t do anything,” the cat piped up. “We’ll definitely agree to food, though!”
“Excellent!” Lucy said, smiling down at the cat. She looked around briefly, trying to spot somewhere to eat. “Then, what about that restaurant?”
“Sounds good,” the girl agreed. “Man, I’m starving!”
As they entered the restaurant, Lucy realised something. “Hey, I don’t actually know your names,” she said to the two of them.
“Oh,” said the girl. “I’m Natsu, and this is Happy.”
“Aye sir!” the cat agreed cheerfully.
Lucy eyed the two of them as they sat down and waited for their food. Particularly she looked at Natsu, curious despite herself.
Natsu was interesting. Lucy hadn’t seen many girls who looked like her. She wore loose, baggy pants and sandals, and a jacket that was zipped tight, and over the jacket was that oddly-patterned scarf. The outfit wasn’t very fashionable, and yet Natsu seemed wholly uncaring of that fact.
Her hair was strange, too. Lucy wasn’t an idiot, she knew there were some commoner... rather, regular women who liked to keep their hair short. There had even been some in the crowd around Salamander. But she had never actually seen one up close, and Natsu’s hair wasn’t feminine at all. It stuck out at odd angles and was cut unevenly and barely reached the back of her neck. But it suited her, in a strange way.
And her posture! And the way she sat! It was all so… unladylike. Lucy had tried her hardest to unlearn what she had been taught, about how a lady should act and look and talk, and she thought she was doing pretty well, too!
But Natsu was making her rethink herself, because for all intents and purposes, Natsu seemed to walk and talk and sit like the commoner men - regular men - she had seen around, sprawling unthinkingly over the seat with her legs spread out. And unless Lucy was worse at reading people than she had realised, it seemed that this sort of behaviour came absolutely naturally to Natsu.
Lucy knew that she had been staring for too long at Natsu, so she turned to the cat - Happy. “So what are you two doing in Hargeon? Do you live here?”
“No, we’re just visiting,” the cat said. “We heard rumours of a Salamander in town so we came to check it out.”
“I thought it might be Igneel, but it turned out to just be some guy with lame fire,” Natsu muttered, resting her elbow against the table and leaning her face on her hand. She scowled when she mentioned Salamander, and Lucy stifled a laugh.
Happy nodded. “The salamander didn’t look like a salamander at all. What a misnomer.”
Lucy frowned, confused. “Why would this Igneel look like a salamander?” she asked. Natsu looked up at her and smiled.
“Well, because Igneel’s a dragon!”
“Aye!”
Lucy balked at Natsu’s words. Is she joking??? Both Natsu and Happy looked perfectly serious about it, though.
“... Why would a dragon be in a town? Wouldn’t it have been obvious that Salamander wasn’t a dragon?”
Natsu opened her mouth to answer and then froze. She and Happy exchanged panicked glances, and Lucy looked between them in disbelief. “You guys really didn’t think of that??”
Natsu stared at her, eyes wide and mouth moving silently. Lucy sighed and shook her head. This girl is kind of stupid, huh…
“Whatever,” Lucy dismissed, just as their food arrived. “How did you break Salamander’s charm spell anyways? I didn’t even notice it until you guys made a ruckus.”
Natsu blinked, holding a chicken leg up to her mouth. “He was using a charm spell? I didn’t notice anything, though..”
“Aye,” Happy agreed, chewing on his raw fish. “Isn’t that kind of spell illegal?”
“Right?” Lucy said, trying to ignore Natsu’s horrible table manners. She was wolfing down food at a terrifying rate, heedless of the mess she was making, and again Lucy couldn’t help but compare her to the image of a perfect lady. This time, the comparison was less neutral and more disgusted. Lucy turned back to Happy. “I wasn’t expecting it at all, and that’s why I fell for it. The nerve of that man to do something like that so openly! That’s why I said it wasn’t the fault of the women who beat you up,” she said to Natsu. Natsu nodded back at her, cheeks stuffed with noodles. Lucy’s face twitched.
“A-Anyways,” she said. “I only went there because I heard that Salamander was a powerful mage. I might not look like it, but I’m actually a mage myself. Ah, not that I’ve joined a guild yet. And there’s only one guild that I’d really want to join, anyways.”
“Oh?” Natsu said through a full mouth. She had finished her noodles and was now devouring another chicken leg. “What guild would you want to join?” As she talked, small bits of food spewed from her mouth.
“Ah, I don’t know if you would have heard of it,” Lucy demurred. “It’s called Fairy Tail, and I’ve wanted to join them since I was little. It’s definitely the best mage guild there is, after all.”
Natsu and Happy exchanged glances again, then turned to Lucy. “Fairy Tail, huh..” Natsu said, cocking her head as she looked at Lucy.
Lucy looked at the amount of food that Natsu and Happy had eaten, and felt a bit of despair. There goes that 1000 jewels I saved at the magic shop , she thought. But regardless of how grossly Natsu was eating, she HAD saved Lucy from that charm spell, and Lucy DID owe her. She set another 2000 jewel on the table and stood up.
“Anyways, I need to go, but you guys can stay here and eat a bit more. It was nice meeting you,” she said, smiling at them. She turned to leave but heard a thump behind her and spun back around.
To her mortification, Natsu and Happy were kneeling in the walkway, attracting all sorts of stares from the people around them.
“Thanks, Lucy!” Natsu said loudly. “I still don’t really get why you’re treating us to a meal, but I’m very grateful for it! You’re a nice person!” She looked up at Lucy and flashed her a crooked grin.
Beside her, Happy was sobbing melodramatically as he repeated Natsu. “Thank you so much Lucyyyyyy!! We’ll never forget your kindness!”
Geez! These guys are so strange, Lucy thought, weirded out. But she was also a bit flattered at how genuine they seemed to be, so she smiled at them again. “Really, you don’t need to kneel! Like I said, I’m just paying you back, so everything’s fine, please get up.” Under her breath, she whispered to herself, “Seriously, this is embarrassing.”
Natsu stood back up at her words, holding a wailing Happy in her arms. She was still grinning at Lucy.
Huh. Like this, she’s almost cute , Lucy thought. She waved a final goodbye to the two of them and left the restaurant without a backwards glance.
~~ pagebreak ~~
The sun was closer to setting than Lucy was expecting, meaning that there wasn’t enough time for her to do anything else substantial. When she realised this, Lucy decided that she deserved a treat to end her day. So she went to a corner store and bought the newest edition of Sorcerer Weekly, and wandered over to a park she had seen earlier in the day to read.
For as long as she could remember, she had wanted to be a mage like her mother. Learning about magic-related things had been easier back then. But when her mother died her father had forbidden Lucy from doing any magic, and made it almost impossible for her to keep up with developments in the mage community. She’d had to resort to sneaking around the gardens to summon her spirits, and if any staff saw her she made them swear to secrecy.
The only way she was able to learn more about magic was through Sorcerer Weekly, which her father never looked at. He thought of magazines as frivolous things, and especially paid no attention to the editions of Sorcerer Weekly that she left lying around, because the covers were almost always mage women in bikinis.
So, Sorcerer Weekly had a special place in her heart, and she loved flicking through it and reading about whatever nonsense Fairy Tail had gotten up to recently.
In the last week, for instance, Fairy Tail had destroyed a family of thieves… and also the houses of 7 townspeople.
Lucy lay back on the bench and giggled at the thought. “Fairy Tail is really too much, huh?” she said aloud. She flipped the page and caught sight of Mirajane, the model representing Fairy Tail for Sorcerer Weekly. “I wonder if Mirajane is as reckless as the rest of Fairy Tail… I can’t imagine someone as gorgeous as her destroying entire houses.” Man, Mirajane was really pretty…
Lucy sighed and sat back up on the bench. “How would I even get into Fairy Tail? Do I have to learn super powerful magic? Do they hold interviews..?”
A rustle of the bushes behind her made her shriek. “So you want to join Fairy Tail,” said a deep, nasally voice behind her. Lucy felt a shiver go up her spine, and she turned to see Salamander climbing out of the foliage.
“Salamander?” she said loudly, half frightened and half angry. What the hell is this guy doing in the bushes? Was he following me?
The creep dusted some leaves off his cape. “I’ve been looking for you all day! I wanted to personally invite you to the party on my ship. A beauty like you would be the belle of the ball!” He smiled at her in what she thought was supposed to appear charming, but rather seemed patronising, and a bit perverted.
Lucy crossed her arms. “No way,” she said flatly. A crease formed in Salamanders brow as if he hadn’t been expecting that. “Do you think I’m stupid? Your charm spell stopped working as soon as Natsu broke through the crowd and wasn’t affected. Now that I know about it, it won’t affect me again.”
“Natsu.. So that was her name,” Salamander mused. “As for you, I knew you were a mage as soon as I laid my eyes on you. I could see the intelligence in your eyes.”
Lucy stared at him in disbelief. Is he still trying to charm me, even after I told him it won’t work?? What an idiot. “In any case, there’s no way I’d go to the party of a guy who uses a spell like charm.” Now go away so I can report you to the authorities!
“Ah, that spell was just a bit of harmless fun,” Salamander said, scratching his cheek as if he was bashful. “I just wanted to feel appreciated at my own party, you know?”
Lucy sighed and turned away, hiding the way her lip curled in disgust. “You’re such a lame mage that you have to resort to illegal spells to be popular. I’m gone,” she said, and started to walk away.
“W-wait!” Salamander cried, and she grimaced when she heard him start to follow her. “You said you want to join Fairy Tail, right?” Lucy froze at his words, and turned to him. He smiled at her again. “Have you never heard of Salamander of Fairy Tail?”
Her heart started to beat faster. Is he serious? Is he actually THAT salamander? She nodded silently, turning back to look at him. Somehow, his smile looked more charming than it had before.
“Well, it’s true! And if you want to join Fairy Tail, I’m sure I can put a good word in with the master,” Salamander said, winking.
The implication was clear. If all I have to do to join Fairy Tail is go to this guys party… then so be it!
“Of course I’ll go to your party,” Lucy gushed. “I’m sure it’ll be wonderful! And I’ll really get to join Fairy Tail?”
Salamander’s grin widened. “Of course! I promise.” He held a finger to his lips. “But please… don’t tell anyone about charm, okay?”
“Of course!” Lucy said. She was sure she had stars in her eyes as she looked at him.
“Then farewell! I look forward to seeing you on my ship!” Salamander said, and again he used his fire to lift him off and carry him away.
As soon as she lost sight of him another bubble popped, and Lucy growled as she realised. Damn it! I fell for the charm again! That creep really doesn’t know when to stop, huh?
But she couldn’t stop a smile from spreading when she remembered what he had said. “He said he’ll help me join Fairy Tail!!” she said giddily. “And all I have to do is go to his stupid party!”
Fairy Tail, here I come!