Daddy's Little Lucy

Chapter 8 - Pink Rose

We arrived at the client's place which was a rich guy's mansion. Why am I not surprised? Rare jewel equals rich guy. His maid let us in the door after we showed her our Fairy Tail insignia. She led us to her master's office and knocked twice. "Come in" someone said from behind the door. Entering the office, we were greeted by a handsome man in his twenties which was surprising. "Where is the old man?" I asked and Lucy giggled as I got smacked on the side of the head by Erza.

"Sorry about him sir" Erza said to the man. "Oh, don't worry, I get that all the time. I inherited this fortune at a very young age from my late father. Please call me Darren" Darren said kindly. He stood up from his chair and took a pink rose from his vase as he walked over to me and Lucy. "Whose is this little cutie?" he asked as he gave the rose to Lucy. "I'm Lucy, thank you for the pretty flower" she replied. I felt jealousy well up inside of me, "please explain the job" I said impatiently.

"Ah yes, the jewel I've hired you to find is the Red Passionite. A band of thieves stole it during the night a few days ago. Please track these thieves and retrieve the jewel" he explained as he returned to his desk. "We will track these thieves for you" Erza said and we turned to leave. "Oh I almost forgot. My guards who were guarding the jewel said they saw the thieves flee West of here" Darren said. "That information will help us greatly thank you" Erza said then we left his mansion.

I felt Lucy's hands playing with my hair while we were walking through the forest at the edge of Clover. "Look Daddy! This flower is pink like your hair!" Lucy said cheerfully as she held out her pink rose in front of my face. "My hair is salmon not pink. Z-A-L-M-O-N, salmon" I stated, "that's not how you spell 'salmon'" Gray commented. "Then how do you spell salmon?" I questioned, a little mad he was doubting my spelling. "S-A-L-M-O-N" he answered, "Natsu, Gray spelt it right" Happy said. "Now my little buddy is against me?!" I exclaimed and Lucy laughed.

Her cheerful laugh eased my frustration. We discussed how we were going to retrieve the jewel and attack the thieves. I wanted to burn them, Gray wanted to freeze them in a block of ice while Erza wanted to knock them out. With Erza's 'persuasion', we agreed to knock them out.

I felt Lucy lightly fiddling with my scarf and I had a feeling she was a bit nervous. "Lucy" Gray spoke up from beside me, "yes Big Brother?" she answered quietly. "Don't worry your Daddy and Big Brother will protect you" he said comforting her. I turned my head to the side to look at her, "yeah! I won't let anyone hurt you" I said. "WE won't let anyone hurt you" Gray corrected me. I glared at him which he gladly returned. "Thank you Daddy and Big Brother" Lucy said happily and she hugged my neck. I placed my hand on her arms to comfort her since I couldn't hug her back.

"Shhh! I hear voices" Erza whispered and Lucy released the hug. I turned my head to the side and put a finger to my lips, telling Lucy to stay quiet. Letting me know she understood, she copied my actions which was so cute. Anyway, back to the job at hand, we followed the voices to a campsite. We hid behind some trees, observing the men sitting around. I heard a few whoosh sounds behind me then "Ice Make: Shield!" Gray chanted, shielding Lucy and I from a dozen of arrows.

"Intruders!" one of the thieves shouted and alerted the rest of the thieves. Fifty thieves surrounded us. "Daddy, I'm scared" Lucy said quietly near my ear. I felt her grip my scarf tightly, "we'll be fine Lucy, don't worry" I replied, trying to comfort her. "Big words for someone surrounded and brought a child with him" a thief said who looked like the ring leader.

"Attack!" the leader shouted and they charged at us with their swords and arrows. "Finally, a fight!" I said excitedly as I ignited my fists and punched one of the thieves. "Just remember not to burn Lucy, idiot" Gray said as he froze another thief. "I know that and don't call me an idiot!" I argued, "whoever beats the most thieves wins" Gray challenged. "You're on!" I said, accepting the challenge.

After the fight was over, "fifteen! I win!" Gray and I cheered and then glared at each other. "Liar! You couldn't have gotten fifteen!" we argued in unison, "stop copying me!" we said in unison again. "Actually, I won" Erza said and we looked defeated as we saw twenty thieves in a pile behind her. "Daddy was so cool! Daddy was like take that and that!" Lucy said excitedly and I chuckled as she mimicked my earlier fighting moves. "Big Brother was cool too! Big Brother froze all those bad men!" she added happily, "but Daddy was better, wasn't he?" I asked. "Aye!" she said happily and I felt extremely happy.

I smiled smugly towards Gray and he just rolled his eyes. "Tie breaker, whoever finds the jewel wins and the winner carries Lucy back to Magnolia" he suggested, "you're on!" I said eagerly. 'I will beat Gray' I thought with determination. "Lucy tell me if you see a red jewel ok?" I said, "ok Daddy!" she said happily. Gray and I rushed around the thieves' campsite in search for the Red Passionfruit or whatever its name was.

I searched through one of the tents for the jewel. "Daddy!" Lucy called out and tapped my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder and she pointed towards an expensive wooden desk. I guessed the desk was another item the thieves stole. On top of the desk in a glass container was the jewel we were looking for! "Yes! I beat Gray!" I cheered, "doesn't count" Gray said appearing at the tent's entrance. "What do you mean? I found it before you" I asked grumpily, "Lucy found it so it doesn't count" Gray replied. "You're just annoyed that I found it before you" I argued, "I'm not! It's just cheating if you get outside help" Gray argued. We clashed our heads together, "are you boys getting along?" Erza said as she came over after tying the thieves up. "Aye!" Gray and I said in unison, "aye!" Lucy repeated happily.