Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 4

"The author is Kemu Zaleon!"

"This has to be an unpublished title!" Lucy giggled, marvelling at the discovery, spinning around in circles as she held the book to her chest.

"Who the fuck cares? Let's burn it," Natsu groaned, holding his hand out.

"B-but I'm a huge fan of his — look, let's just tell the client, we burned it and I'll — "

"Listen, this is our job. I'm not a liar and burning the book is what we were tasked with. That is what I intend to do so stop whining and give me the goddamn book." Natsu seethed, getting in Lucy's face. His glare was intense and he looked scarier up close. Lucy could feel her hands begin to tremble and she couldn't stop her lip from quivering. He was scary.

"So, that's what you were after!"

The Duke's voice rang out, popping up from — yet again — another hole in the floor. Natsu stepped away from her, still in her space but not in her face, pinning her with another glare before pointing his attention to the Duke.

"The next time I tell you to do something, Lucy, do it."

"I-I'm sorry," Lucy whispered, almost whimpering.

"I wondered what you mages were looking for so frantically and it was just that worthless book," the Duke mused.

"Lucy." Natsu said through gritted teeth. The blonde had taken it upon herself to skim through the pages of the novel.

"Come forth, Vanish Brothers!"

Behind the Duke, the bookcases split, revealing a hidden hallway where two abnormally tall men stepped through.

"The cloth on their arm — they're from a mercenary guild, the Southern Wolves!" Happy gasped.

"What a joke and they claim to be mages of Fairy Tail," one of the brothers scoffed.

"Vanish Brothers, retrieve the book at once and kill them!" The Duke ordered.

"Natsu," Lucy called out to him, "I need you to trust me, this isn't some ordinary book! Let me get to the bottom of this!" She said, taking off in a sprint. Her blue sandals clicking in the distance.

"Happy, go after her, I'll handle things here," Natsu said, dropping his cape before he cracked his knuckles.

-----

"Oh my, what an eventful first job," Mira giggled, watching Lucy gulp down her strawberry milkshake.

"Please, I'd like to forget about it all! It was bad enough that Natsu yelled at me," Lucy pouted, stirring her drink.

"Natsu treats you the best out of everyone here, trust me," Mira chided before walking away to take a few orders from people. Lucy sighed, hopping off the bar stool before heading over to the request board. Might as well start looking for another job, the rent won't pay itself.

"If you find anything let me know since the master isn't here right now," Mira stated, fixing a few drinks, "he has to attend a meeting so he'll be out for a while."

"Oh yeah, you're right," Lucy mumbled absentmindedly.

"I think it'd be good if you joined a team to get some experience first, all the newbies do it when they join," Mira offered.

"Yeah, there are tons of people dying for you to be on their team after hearing about such a great job you did," Gray added.

Lucy hummed, thinking, trying to ignoring the stabbing feeling of eyes boring into the back of her head.

"Can I help you, Natsu?" Lucy called out to him softly, peering up at him where he sat on the second floor. He was perched on the railing, holding a pint of beer, staring at her with a raised eyebrow.