Chapter 8: Just A Normal Day At The Guild

The sunlight beamed through Ramza's window as he rose up from his bed. Rubbing his eyes awake, he glanced down at the side of his bed, where he placed his wakizashi. It was common for him to stow weapons next to him, it gave him some sort of assurance.

He stood up and remembered: Erza was going to teach him requipping magic today. He then quickly changed and excitedly cooked breakfast, which he promptly devoured. Attaching his sword to his waist, he walked out the door and knocked on Lucy's flat, which was just beside his.

"Hello?" Ramza asked, "Anyone in there?"

"NO STRIPPING IN MY HOUSE, BUDDY!" Yelled a familiar voice.

Ramza opened the door to see Lucy kicking a nearly naked Gray in the stomach. "What the heck?"

The ice make wizard clutched his gut. "Gimme a minute to explain, alright? I was naked when I got here."

"Dude, that isn't right." Ramza said.

"Hmph. Whatever." Gray huffed.

"Get out!" Lucy said heatedly.

"So you forgot, huh?" Gray replied.

"Forgot what?"

"Remember the deal that Natsu made with Erza at the train station?"

Ramza racked his brain to remember. "A rematch?"

Gray nodded. "Yeah. It's today."

"No way!" Lucy exclaimed, "They're really going through with it?"

"What? Erza's supposed to teach me requipping today!" Ramza pouted.

"Maybe if the fight's quick, she'll still have time to train you." Gray said, "C'mon, they might be bashing heads by now!"

The three of them ran towards the front of the Fairy Tail guild, where Gray said the fight would take place. A large crowd had gathered to watch the fight; Erza and Natsu had taken their sides and were stretching to warm up.

"I guess they're really fighting." Ramza said.

"No way!" Lucy piped up.

"Oh hey, you two!" Mirajane greeted the new spectators.

"If those two value their manhood, then they'd better go through with it!" Said Elfman, who was beside his sister.

"Erza's not a man..." Mirajane pointed out.

Macao popped up from behind Elfman. "But you gotta admit that she's manly."

"Aren't you worried that this fight would tear our strongest team apart?" Lucy asked Gray.

The latter snorted. "Our strongest team?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean you, Erza and Natsu! You're the three strongest wizards in the guild!"

"We are?" Gray questioned, "What kind of idiot fed you that lie?"

"Uhhh..." Ramza pointed at Mirajane, who had started to cry.

"Oh! You're not an idiot, Mira!" Gray apologized.

"Nice one, Gray." Ramza said sarcastically.

"I'll hand it to Gray and Natsu: they're tough little dudes." Elfman said, "But neither of them are even close to being the strongest. There are guys that are stronger than the two of them combined, like this guy!" He pointed to himself.

"But calling Erza the strongest woman in the guild is a pretty safe bet." Pitched in Levy, whose team had just arrived to watch the battle.

Her teammate, Jet, sighed. "As for the guys, it's a tough call. I'd put my money on either Laxus or Mystogan."

"All I meant that that the three of them work well together and they have the best team chemistry in Fairy Tail!" Mirajane wailed.

"This is coming from the same person who sent me and Ramza to keep Natsu and Gray from killing each other when Erza isn't around?" Lucy said disbelievingly.

"I'm pretty psyched to see how this fight's gonna turn out." Elfman said, crossing his arms.

"Oh yeah? I'm pretty sure Erza's gonna mop the floor with him." Gray said.

The redhead glanced at her opponent. "It's certainly been a while since we've squared off like this, Natsu."

"I was just a little kid back then." Natsu then held his fists in front of him, preparing to attack. "But today's gonna be different, 'cause I'm taking you down!"

"Well, I'm not going to go easy on you. In fact, I even have the perfect suit of armour for this occasion!" Her usual iron armour was replaced by a suit of crimson plates, adorned with intricate designs that looked like flickering fires.

"That's Flame Empress armour, good choice against fire magic." Macao observed.

"Now only Natsu's flames will be half as effective!" Said a purple haired member.

"C'mon Erza, at least give the kid a fighting chance!" Said another.

Happy then handed over a wad of cash to Cana, who was watching over a suspicious looking board with the names Natsu and Erza on it, with stripes below for each.

"Put me down for Erza on the first round!" Happy said.

"You guys are betting on this?" Ramza raised an eyebrow.

"He just bet against his best friend!" Lucy said, shocked. "Why're you guys choosing sides? I don't want either of them to lose!"

"Shut up and get into the spirit, Lucy!" Gray said, irritated.

"Wow, Flame Empress armour, huh? That means I get to turn up the heat as high as I want to!" Natsu said, setting his fists aflame.

Master Makarov suddenly jumped between them, raising his hand. "Round one, start!"

Natsu struck at Erza, but she dodged and counterattacked with her blade. Natsu ducked, and hit her with a flaming kick. She blocked it and swiped, but Natsu backflipped to evade the attack.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" Flames spewed from Natsu's mouth in a spiral, but Erza leaped, making the spell miss.

"Woah..." Lucy said breathlessly.

"This is some fight!" Ramza said.

"Yeah, right." Gray snorted, "This fight sucks."

Erza then slashed her sword downward and Natsu went to meet it with a flaming punch, but before either of them could land a hit, the sound of a loud gong reverberated across the street. The two of them looked to where it came from, and they saw a frog wearing some fancy robes.

"This fight is now over!" The frog declared, "I have come here on behalf of the magic council!"

"No way!" Levy exclaimed.

"Seriously?" Jet said.

"Why would the council send her here?" Droy asked.

"Am I the only one who noticed that she's a frog!?" Lucy yelled.

"Well, no. But I think that she's here on some important business." Ramza said.

The frog lady spoke up, "As the result of the Eisenwald incident, a member of your guild has been charged with eleven counts of criminal property damage. Erza Scarlet, you are under arrest!"

"You're putting her under a what?" Natsu screeched.

Despite his protests, Erza was taken away by an escort of guards. The guild members struggled to hold Natsu back as he tried to attack the guards. The guards tried to apprehend him as well, but he ran off into the woods. The guild members ran after him and shot a transforming spell into the bushes. They then got the transformed salamander, and held him down under a glass. The guild members sullenly walked back into the guild hall, emitting an aura of unease.

"C'mon guys, lemme out of here!" Natsu wailed while still in the glass.

"Natsu!" Mirajane said sternly, "Try to calm down!"

"Pretty, pretty please? I beg you!" Natsu pleaded.

"You'll go on a rampage!"

"I won't, I swear! So just please turn me back to the way I was before!"

"The second we turn you back, you'll run off to save Erza!" Mirajane reasoned.

"Gimme a break! I couldn't care less about what happens to her!"

Gray sighed. "Even if you wanted to help her, it's not like we can face off with the council."

"But don't those jerks realize that Erza did what she had to do to save the guild masters and destroy those guys and their evil death flute!?"

"If the magic council says you're guilty, then you're guilty, end of story. They don't care what we have to say."

Elfman put a hand to his head. "I just don't get it. We've destroyed plenty of stuff in the past and they never made a big deal about it. Why now?"

"This makes no sense..." Said a purple haired member.

Lucy lay her head on a table. "It's like that there's some other reason for this."

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Ramza looked at Gray pleadingly.

He shook his head. "Sorry. We're powerless against the council."

"We could be there to testify!" Lucy suggested.

"No." Master Makarov said, "We're not going to court."

"Why not, master? We all know she's innocent! We can't just sit here and let them take her away!"

"Even if we left at this very second, there's no way we could make it there in time."

Lucy's face was distraught. "But-"

She was interrupted by the small salamander trapped in the glass. "I've been stuck in here all day, you guys! It's getting hard to breathe in here! Lemme out!"

The master glanced at him. "You sure you want out?"

The salamander clicked his tongue.

"What's the matter? It seems that you've lost that fire in your belly." Said Makarov.

He then pushed his palm against the glass, casting a spell that blew it to the ground in a cloud of dust. When it dissipated, the guild was shocked to see Macao instead of Natsu, laying on the ground.

Ramza blinked. "Macao?"

"That was you!?" Screeched the guild.

He sheepishly put a hand to the back of his head. "Yeah. Sorry guys, but I owed Natsu a favor. I took the spell instead so that you'd think I was him."

"Do you know where he went?" Lucy asked.

Gray answered her question. "He probably went after Erza." He glared at Macao, who sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, afraid so..."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Elfman growled, "That idiot'll fight the entire council!"

"Could everyone please calm down!" Makarov said darkly, "We have no choice but to wait and see what happens."

The guild settled into their daily duties with unease. His plans of requipping training interrupted, Ramza sat down at the guild's bar, which had sort of turned into his place of solace. He raised his hand to order a drink, but Mirajane had already placed down a mug of iced coffee before he could speak.

"Thanks, Mira." Ramza said as he lifted the mug to his lips.

"It's on the house." She said, "Everyone needs something to calm down because of Erza's arrest..."

"Well, thanks for that." Ramza took a sip from the mug, "It's sad, she was supposed to teach me requipping today."

"Are you interested in becoming a requipping mage?"

"Nah, not really." Ramza replied, "It just seems really useful, so Erza said that she'd tell me how it works."

"You're still thinking about that?" Gray had sat on a chair beside him, "You can always learn about it later."

"I'd rather learn it as quickly as possible."

"Speaking of learning, how's the wind magic?" Gray asked, "Did my pointers help?"

"Yeah, they did." Ramza cast a magic circle that glowed on his hand. "I think I'm getting the hang of it. It's a breeze."

Gray snorted. "Yeah, not funny."

"C'mon, your mouth twitched." Ramza grinned at him.

"Nope."

"You're no fun." Ramza sipped from his mug, but it was empty. "Another one?"

He tipped the mug over to Mirajane, who filled it up and handed it back to him.

"So, what're you gonna do now?" Gray asked.

"Probably practice magic again. It's pretty exciting to finally see that I can cast spells and stuff." Ramza exhaled a breath of caffeine. "Like I thought of some ideas and I'd like to test them out."

"Ideas?"

"Yep. I have my wind bow and arrows. I'm thinking of something around a sword, since I already use that. And maybe some sort of wind attacks, like a blast or something?"

Gray's mouth turned into a small smile as he looked at him. "Sounds good. Y'know, you kinda remind me of myself, when I was younger."

Ramza raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Like you're really into it and want to learn as much as you can. You want to get powerful and all that. Except, we have different purposes..." Gray muttered the last part.

"What was that?" Ramza asked.

"Nothing." Gray quickly said.

"Oh." Ramza said, "Got any more tips on magic?"

"How about a shield?" Gray suggested, "Like that one I made to protect you guys when we fought Lullaby?"

"Nice." Ramza said, "Like a barrier!"

"Yeah." Gray said, "Though the structure'll be different 'cause you'll be using wind."

"Got it."

The two of them discussed the possible other creations of magic until the sun set and Ramza finished off the guild's supply of coffee. He promptly apologized to Mirajane, who just said that it's no big deal and they'll resupply by tomorrow. Supposedly, they had the same problem in the past but instead of coffee, it was booze, courtesy of Cana dropping the liquor down her throat. Gray waved goodbye to him as he went home. Ramza waved back, as well as returning to his home.

The sun soon rose again to signify a new day, high in the sky. Ramza woke up peacefully, stretching his arms. He then did his morning duties: fixing his bed, freshening up, breakfast, a bath and changing into his clothes. Fixing his belt, he attached his sword to it and left his house to head towards the Fairy Tail guild. To his surprise, he saw Natsu and Erza back at the guild, with the former spewing flames out of his mouth as he celebrated around the guild.

"The sweet smell of freedom!" Natsu whooped.

"Isn't it precious when he gets excited?" Mirajane said cheerfully.

Ramza sat beside Lucy, who's head was face down on the table. "I can't believe that stupid arrest and trial were all just for show..." Lucy said dejectedly, "All of that worrying for nothing!"

"So Erza wasn't a sacrificial lamb, but a scapegoat!" Gray said, as if imitating a detective.

"Dude. They are like, the same thing." Ramza said.

"Hey Natsu!" Yelled a guild member, "You gonna finish going toe to toe against Erza?"

"Oh yeah!" The dragon slayer set his eyes on the fairy queen. "Wanna finish what we started?"

"I'm not in the mood right now." Said the crimson haired lady.

Natsu just set his fist ablaze in response. "You ain't getting off that easily!"

He launched a punch at her, but Erza countered with a punch of her own. Her armoured fist landed right in his gut, sending Natsu to the floor.

"Yo, she just pummeled him!" Ramza said.

"How's that?" Erza towered over Natsu. "Are you satisfied yet?"

"Way to go, champ!" Gray and Elfman laughed, while Lucy just smiled weakly at Natsu on the floor. Ramza giggled at the dragon slayer's easy defeat.

Mirajane chuckled, but then noticed Makarov's drooping eyes. "Is there something wrong, master?"

Makarov shook his head. "No, just sleepy." He then pressed his lips together grimly, "He's coming."

The barmaid then suddenly dropped to the floor, unconscious. Gray then felt the disturbance, placing a hand to his temple.

"This again?" Gray said before slumping on the table, right next to Elfman, who was beside him.

Guild members soon fell down to the floor, seemingly knocked out by nothing. Ramza was not spared as he felt a force that compelled him to close his eyes. He passed out on the table as he heard footsteps coming from the guild doors. A short while passed and the guild members began to wake.

"Was that Mystogan? What a jerk..." Ramza overheard a member say.

"Does he really have to put us all to sleep when he comes here?" Said another member.

"Wait, who is this Mystogan guy?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah." Ramza rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "I keep hearing his name around."

"Well for one, he's a contender for Fairy Tail's strongest wizard." Elfman said.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Gray was coming around, "And for some reason, he doesn't want anyone to see his face. That being so, he casts a sleeping spell whenever he comes here to take a job."

"Isn't that a little creepy?" Lucy said.

"Or maybe he just has his secrets?" Ramza said.

"Well, Master Makarov's the only person who's seen how he really looks like." Gray said.

"That's not true. I've seen him before." Put in a deep voice.

A man had appeared on the second floor. He had spiky blonde hair, headphones in his ears and donned a black coat. He looked at them from above menacingly.

"Laxus." Said Elfman.

"And here's another contender for Fairy Tail's strongest wizard." Said Gray.

"Mystogan's just a little shy." Drawled Laxus, "You should all respect his privacy."

Suddenly, Natsu jumped up and raised a fist at him. "Alright Laxus, you and me, right now!"

Gray sighed. "Getting your butt kicked once today wasn't enough?"

"Yeah pal." Laxus grinned at him devilishly. "If you can't win against the redhead, why bother with me?"

Erza then stood up as well and glared at him. "What are you trying to say?"

The blonde spread his hands. "I'm saying that I'm the guild's strongest wizard!"

"Come down here and prove it." Natsu growled.

"Why don't you come to me, little man?" Laxus taunted.

"With pleasure!" Nastu then launched off a table, aiming for the second floor, but was stopped by an enlarged hand from Master Makarov.

"You are not allowed on the second floor, Natsu." Said the guild master, "At least, not yet."

Laxus smirked. "I think you made him grumpy!"

"Shut up!" Natsu squirmed under the enlarged hand.

"That's enough out of you, Laxus!" Ordered Makarov.

"The most powerful one in the guild isn't a chick or some hooded weirdo. You wanna know what the strongest wizard looks like? Well, you're looking right at him!" Laxus pointed at himself with a dark grin on his face.

.....................................

Ramza sat on a chair beside Lucy, coffee mug in hand. He took a deep swig of it before he heard Lucy sigh.

"I'm not even going to question your drinking habits..." Lucy said, exasperated.

Ramza looked at her, as if offended. "Hey! I like my coffee!"

"Maybe a little bit too much." Lucy muttered.

"Yeah, yeah." Ramza put down his mug, then looked at Mirajane. "Hey Mira? Do you know why Natsu can't go on the second floor?"

"That's a place reserved for only the most advanced wizards in the guild. The jobs listed on the request board there make the ones down here look like child's play in comparison. They're called S-class quests." Mirajane explained.

"S-class quests?" Lucy asked.

"The jobs are so dangerous that one wrong move could be your last. But with that risk, comes a large reward. Master Makarov handpicks the ones he thinks are capable of doing these jobs." Mirajane continued, "There are only five people in the guild that are considered S-class. Those include Erza, Mystogan and Laxus."

"Oh."

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you." Mirajane advised, "In my opinion, there's no amount of money worth risking your life over."

"That's true." Ramza agreed.

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucy agreed as well.

The two of them soon left the guild and walked back to their homes together. Lucy preferred to walk right on the cobblestone which was beside the river. One push, and she could fall into the water. Ramza was deeply tempted, but he decided against it.

"I'm beginning to understand how the guild rank works." Lucy said, "Gotta start working my way to the top!"

"Same here." Ramza said, "I can't be left behind in the dust!"

Lucy grinned at his challenge as she opened her door, but it was soon replaced with a shocked face as she saw Natsu and Happy working out inside her house. Natsu was doing sit-ups while the cat attempted to lift some weights.

"You guys stink!" Lucy then launched a fantastic flying kick at Natsu, to which Ramza was surprised she could do. "You jerks work out in your own house!"

"This again?" Ramza sighed.

"Now, now. If we wanna work together like a team, we gotta train like one!" Natsu lifted a pink colored set of weights. "We decided you liked the pink dumbbell."

"Who cares what color it is, I'm not lifting weights with you!" Lucy yelled.

"And this is for you." Natsu handed Ramza a beautiful auburn colored recurve bow, with intricate blue swirls on its ends. "We thought you could do with a bow, since we heard that yours broke on a mission."

"He gets a cool bow and I get this stupid dumbbell!?" Lucy screeched, "What kinda gift logic is that?"

She was ignored.

"Woah..." Ramza held the weapon in his hands, admiring its beauty. "Never thought you had an eye for quality."

"Eh, it looked cool. So!" Natsu began to do pushups on the floor, "We gotta train harder if we wanna beat Laxus and Erza!"

"I just want a little peace and quiet, so get out!" Lucy yelled.

"Don't worry, we'll train quietly Lucy!" Natsu said in a whisper.

"Why do these things keep happening to me?" Lucy wailed.

"Alright, I've made a decision!" Natsu declared, "Our team is ready for the big leagues: S-class!"

"Aye!" Happy opened up a piece of paper to reveal an image of an island with the big words 'Help Us'. A red S mark was on the corner of the parchment.

"Where'd you get that?" Ramza said, alarmed.

"Well," Happy looked aside, "I climbed the stairs, and took it!"

"You little cat burglar!" Lucy shouted.

"Since this is our first S-class quest, we decided on the one with the smallest reward on the board." Nastu raised his finger, "But still, 7 million is still a lot of jewel!"

"We aren't ready for this sort of thing!" Ramza said.

"Yeah! If the master knew we had this job request, he'll be furious!" Lucy added.

"Or maybe he'll be proud of us if we pull it off!" Natsu replied with a grin on his face.

"This may be the dumbest thing you've done, Natsu." Lucy sighed, "If you wanna rise up the guild ranks, you have to follow the rules."

"We aren't gonna reach S-class with that sort of attitude." Natsu said bluntly.

"You guys can do this on your own. I'm staying here." Lucy said.

"I can't go as well." Ramza admitted, "Sure, I may be a good swordsman or a good shot, but I just very recently learned magic! I can't take on an S-class quest!"

"Alright fine." Natsu then lifted the request paper on Lucy's face. "It's on a tropical island!"

"Really?" Lucy's interest was piqued.

"The haunted island of Galuna!" Natsu and Happy said with a scary face.

Lucy's interest plummeted. "No thanks."

"Alright then, I'm outta here." Natsu and Happy jumped out of her window.

"Can't you use the door?"

"I guess that's my cue." Ramza walked out of her home. "Good night, Lucy."

"Oh, good night to you too."

Ramza then shut her door and entered his own house. He stepped into his bedroom and sunk into his bed.

"Galuna Island, huh?"

He then closed his eyes and let his mind drift off to sleep.