After completing the quest with Minerva, we returned to the guild; as for the cursed object, well, we'd return it to its owner eventually.
"Oh yeah, where did you get that new spirit from?" While walking through the streets of Magnolia, I glanced at Lucy, who reached into her cleavage, grabbed a small sack, and retrieved two golden keys. "Erza gave it to me after they returned from that guild alliance job; apparently, a member of Oración Seis was a celestial mage. Since they were arrested, their contracts became null, so I was able to make a contract with them; two new spirits for free."
Nodding at Lucy, I leaned forward, looking down her cleavage. "Is there like magic between your boobs? How'd you store that in there?" Seperating her breasts to get a better view, I was promptly slapped in the face by Lucy as she used her arms to cover her chest. "Hey! No touching! Looking is already plenty!" As Lucy stared intensely at me with a faint blush, I rubbed my cheek, grumbling under my breath.
"Why are you trying to gate-keep Lucy? He's just curious." "Tch, then let big bro do that to you." Earning a glare from Lucy, Cana flicked her hair behind her ears and smirked before puffing out her chest, accentuating her breasts. "Here, I'll show you what Lucy's trying to keep a secret, big bro." "Tsk, I'm not trying to keep anything a secret!"
Glancing at Cana, who was practically begging for me to get handsy with her, I yawned and shook my head; it was one thing to do that with someone who had no romantic feelings for me. "Nah, I'm good, I don't care anymore." "Hmm, is that so?" Softly nodding, Cana shifted her gaze to Lucy, glaring intensely at her. "Don't give me that look, I didn't do anything!" "Tch."
"Um, am I misunderstanding something?" During all this, Minerva, who had been watching us, no sported a confused expression. "Yes! I was just assaulted." "Assaulted? I never hit you; if anything, you assaulted me." Furrowing my brows, I eyed Lucy, who pointed at me with an annoyed expression. "You! You're being stupid on purpose right now, aren't you!?" "Heh, am I?" "Arghhh!" "Hahaha." Seeing Lucy grab her hair in frustration, I just laughed.
After a bit more walking, we arrived at the guild; walking up the steps, I kicked the door open, accidentally hitting Nab, but it's fine. "Ouch, man, can't you open the door like a normal person?" "Maybe don't stand behind a door? You're just asking to be hit." While Cana rebuked Nab, who was unable to refute while rubbing his nose, she and Lucy headed to the bar.
"I need a drink! Big bro is about to drive me insane!" "I just need a drink." As the two women left, Minerva also separated from me, joining Wendy, who had shouted at her. "Miny! Miny! Overhere!" Watching Minerva sit next to Wendy, enthusiastically chatting and even giggling, I faintly smirked, happy to see her smile.
"You should smile more, big bro, it fits you." Glancing at Reedus, who was smiling in return, I nodded and patted his shoulder. "Ahh, I suppose it's been a while since you've been punished." Instantly, his smile vanished, though before he could run away, I put him into a rear-naked choke and dug my knuckles into his head, grinding at his scalp.
"Ouch! S-Stop it, big bro! P-Please! I-I'll go bald! I can't go bald at 28!" "Don't worry, even if you're bald, you can still paint just fine." "N-NOO!!"
Once I finished thoroughly punishing Reedus, he stood up and ran away while holding his head, causing me to chuckle. "Does he really think he'll go bald from that?" Muttering softly, I leaped to my feet and approached Gramps, turning in the completed quest.
"How did Minerva perform?" Holding the cursed object, Gramps stuffed it into his pocket before gesturing to Minerva, who was gossiping with Wendy. "Phenomenally." I gave a brief description of the quest to Gramps, who seemed to agree with my evaluation of Minerva. "Can't believe you'd throw a little girl into a den of black mages." "Oh, relax, we were right behind her… Despite facing a much more dangerous situation, she was safer than I was at her age."
Dismissively waving my hand at Gramps, he nodded agreement, only to give me a weird look. "That's not a fair comparison; you're just a freak of nature." "Heh, the good kind though." "... Sure. Whatever makes you happy, Cooper." Blankly eyeing Gramps, I scoffed before changing topics.
"So, have the two other dark guilds made any moves? Surely they wouldn't just sit still when Oración Seis got destroyed." As the topic shifted to a somewhat serious topic, Gramps' expression hardened somewhat while shaking his head. "No. They've made no movements; however, with the Magic Council still in the process of being rebuilt, there are a lot of blind spots." I furrowed my brows, not exactly liking his response.
I was mainly only worried about Tartaros; so long as Gramps and I were present, I was pretty confident we'd be able to defend against Grimoire Heart, but Tartaros was out of the question. "Tsk, alright. I'll refrain from taking any big quests for now… Magic council was annoying, but those bastards were useful." "Yes, they were."
Leaving Gramps, I stopped by the bar, which Erza was manning in Mira's absence; getting a few drinks from her, I looked around the guild before finding a random empty spot, a pretty easy feat given most were on quests right now.
While feeling a bit tipsy, I leaned back and folded my arms, closing my eyes and falling asleep.
___
___
A Few Days Later
It only took a short time before everyone returned from their quests, prompting the guild to be chaotic, noisy, and lively like usual.
However, surprisingly, during those short few days, Lucy happened to recruit a new member into Fairy Tail; well, they weren't officially Fairy Tail yet, but in due time.
She was of a similar age to the others, so she was really young, but the most striking thing of all was that she was a celestial spirit mage, just like Lucy; not only that, but she even had two golden keys.
For these few days, Lucy has been in a fantastic mood; I suppose no longer being the only celestial spirit mage made her very happy.
As for me, I was sitting down, reading through Minerva's diary, curious about what she'd written.
"Ho, reading? I can't believe this, Cooper." "Armageddon must be near." As Macao and Wakaba stood beside me, I snorted in response. "Ha ha, very funny." "So what are you reading?" "Minerva's Diary." "Eh, a diary? That's not cool." "Yeah… So, what's in it?" After Macao gave me a disapproving look, Wakaba and he promptly sat down beside me.
Rolling my eyes, I flipped to the first page, though just as I did, Vijeeter and Max happened to walk by. "What book got you three so curious?" Raising an eyebrow, Max glanced at us while Wakaba smirked, using his smoke to point at the diary."Oh, just a diary." "You mean one of the secrets? Say no more." Instantly, the two of them stood behind us, waiting to learn the secrets.
"Eh, you guys must be reading something interesting. What is it?" Levy, flanked by Jet and Droy, curiously stopped and huddled around us. "A diary." "Eh, a diary? That's not nice… Still, a peak shouldn't hurt." After shooting me a disapproving look, Levy squeezed in between Wakaba and I.
Just as I was about to start, a sword was suddenly pointed at me. "Is that truly you, big bro?" "Tch, yes, and I swear if you say something like me not reading, I'll bend you into a pretzel, Fried." Glaring at Fried, Bickslow, and Evergreen, all ready to attack me, they lowered their weapons before flanking us. "Well, if you're reading something, it must be interesting!"
"Ho, such a big group, what's this about?" Bisca, stopping with Alzack, turned and looked at us while Jet responded. "We're reading you and Alzacks' love life." "H-Hey!" With Alzack shooting Jet a glare while Bisca deeply blushed, they joined us.
"Hey, let us join too." Not even a second later, Nab, Warren, and Reedus also joined us. Next was Laki and Rufus, the two in a deep conversation. "Hmm, what's got everyone so interested?" "Someone's diary." "Gossip? Count me in!" "Well, a diary can hold information."
Just as I was about to ask if I could start, Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray, in a three-way fight, were approaching us, prompting me to flex my magic power, causing them to instantly freeze. "Do that somewhere else." "Tch, you two are lucky." "Hah? It's you who's lucky." While arguing, they ended up joining us without even knowing what was happening.
"Ho, such a big group, I can't miss the fun." Cana, followed by Lucy and Loke, joined us as well, with the former finding her seat on my lap without an ounce of shame. "What are we reading?" "A diary." "Eh, i-it's not my diary, is it!?" "No." "Haa, thank goodness. Alright, let's read it!"
With a twitching expression at how quickly Lucy switched up, I opened my mouth, only for Sting, Rogue, and Orga to end up joining as well. "Haha, let's fight!" "After this Orga, we're reading a diary." "Oh, diary? Awesome!" With Gray responding, Sting, Rogue, and Orga all joined, their eyes shining with curiosity.
"Tsk, anyone else want to join?" "Me." "Whoa, when did you get here, Dobengal? I didn't even see you." As Dobengal appeared from nowhere, Wendy, Carla, and Happy also joined. "What's happening?" "Reading a diary." "D-Diary? T-That's bad though." "But don't want to know the secrets?"
With Lucy successfully pressuring Wendy to join us, Elfman was next. "I see a gathering of men; as a true man, I must join." "Does he not see us women?" "Just ignore him."
Sighing, I opened my mouth for a third time, only for a sword to point at me again, only to look up and see Erza and Mira. "Reading a diary is disrespectful, big bro." "Hey, don't single me out; everyone else is doing the same." Gesturing to everyone behind me, they all nodded.
"Aren't you guys curious?" "The secrets of a diary, aren't they tempting?" "So many unknowns, all right here in written form." "You could learn something so interesting."
With everyone peer-pressuring Mira and Erza not to get in trouble, it eventually worked; Mira joined, though Erza did so while making excuses. "Fufu, I need to know such secrets." "Hmph, I-I'm only joining to better know my fellow members; perhaps to pick out a good present."
"Hehe, Gray!" Juvia, not caring for the diary, jumped towards Gray.
Just as I was about to read, the last and final members appeared. "I happened to overhear you guys. Reading someone else's diary isn't very nice." Standing before us was Gramps, though before everyone's heart could drop, he suddenly grinned.
"Make sure to keep this all a secret!" Chuckling with a wicked grin, Gramps leaped onto the table, snatching the diary from me before beginning to read, causing us to all lean forward.
"Day 1…"