Façade | Jerza

10 | Changelings

This chapter is perfect to play George Bizet's Carmen Habanera instrumental (a.k.a. the old Magic Council soundtrack.) Fairy Tail shenanigans ensue!

"Natsu, this is all your fault! If you hadn't run off leaving the request with me, we wouldn't be dealing with this punishment!" whined Lucy. They returned earlier than expected, and it was still early in the morning. Lucy was begging for sleep after getting almost none the night before. She never thought everyone else were such early risers, despite the hard partying late at night.

Natsu was being dragged into the guildhall by Erza after speaking up against her. She padded towards Mirajane, who was managing the buffet with Laki. Fridays were the best, in Erza's opinion, because she got to stuff herself at the guildhall along with everyone.

She dumped Natsu in front of the barmaid, staring at him in irritation. "We've brought the troublemakers back."

"Welcome home, Natsu," greeted Mirajane in a sickeningly sweet voice, scaring the Dragon Slayer to his wits.

"T-thanks, Mira. Can I go home now?" he squeaked, shrinking away from the two women only to bump into Jellal from behind.

"Afraid not," answered Jellal, gesturing for him to take a seat beside Lucy and Gray. He slowly made his way towards the table, while the three S-Class wizards observed his unsteady movements.

Mirajane pried her eyes away from him and to Jellal. "So, how'd it go?"

Erza's smile only grew. "The usual, we completed the quest. Now all that's left is to punish them."

"And it seems to be her favourite part about all this," added Jellal.

Mirajane nodded, knowing full well of Erza's extent of sadism. Jellal somewhat pitied the boy, but found his actions nothing less than deserving of punishment.

"Where's Master?"

"He's not around at the moment, you'll have to wait for him to get back in order for the punishment to ensue."

Jellal noticed shouting from behind him and paced towards the three mages, fighting over a piece of paper. Erza and Mirajane followed suit, surrounding Natsu—who managed to get ahold of the paper.

Erza recognized the paper's format and narrowed her eyes at him. "I said no taking jobs!"

Natsu slid the paper away from Erza, shoving his face in the paper to read the writing.

"Hey, what's going on?" a voice too close to Erza asked. She elbowed the person from behind, glaring at them from above.

"If you're going to ask a question, keep some distance." Erza said dreadfully. Loke rubbed his skull from the impact, gulping at her terrifying stance.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Natsu beamed when his eyes rested on the reward. "Hey, it just says we need to figure out what this means and we'll get the five hundred thousand jewel!"

"Sounds fishy," commented Happy.

Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm pretty sure there was a pun intended."

"No comment."

Natsu scratched his hair. "Hey, I know this language! I'll read it and get the- HMPH!"

Erza covered his mouth with her armoured hand and shoved him away from the paper. "No, you will not do that until you face punishment!"

He snatched the paper as he bent over his seat and read it while upside down.