Lucy sat silently at the guild with the rest of her guildmates. No one was drinking or even talking except for Natsu who was turned into a tiny fire lizard to keep him from doing anything brash.
"Hey, this isn't fair, guys!" Natsu shouted. "Let me out of here already!"
He banged on the glass of the cup he was being stored in on top of the counter.
"Natsu, try to calm down." Mirajane said.
"Let me out! Pretty please!" He begged as he ignored Mirajane. "I'm begging here!"
"You'll go on a rampage!" Mirajane pointed out.
"I'll be good, I swear!" Natsu argued. "Now please, just turn me back to the way I was before!"
Mirajane sighed as she leaned down to get at eye-level with little lizard Natsu.
"The second we turn you back you'll run off to save Vivi." Mirajane accused.
Natsu growled, unable to argue against that. Lucy knew that the second Natsu was let go that he'd go after Vivi in a heartbeat. The two were the best of friends. There's no way he'd actually be able to sit here and wait for her return.
"Even if we wanted to help her it's not like we can face off with the council." Gray said.
"Don't those jerks on the Council realize they can't blame Vivi for something her ancestor did?" Natsu demanded. "I mean, her ancestor didn't really do anything either! How is any of this fair?!"
Lucy looked to Natsu as he pressed his scaly hands against the glass along with his nose.
"Natsu, they asked for Erza not Vivi in the first place." Lucy said. "They obviously hadn't been thinking about Vivi's ancestor's involvement then. Vivi… just thought she should be the one to answer to them."
Erza, who was sitting off to the side, frowned as her hands clenched into fists. She should be there instead of Vivi. They came for her. But the look in Vivi's eyes… the determination to take the blame onto herself… Erza had felt it so strongly.
"Besides, if the Magic Council says you're guilty then you're guilty—end of story." Gray added.
There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Though they weren't too happy about it all.
"I just don't get it." Elfman said. "We've destroyed plenty of stuff in the past, and they've never made a big deal of it."
Yes, which is one of the reasons why most of them were so confused. If they cared so much about things being destroyed, they would have arrested one of them sooner. Sure, Vivi had to apologize to them before, but this was different. And Vivi had destroyed something in the kingdom's capital back then.
"I know, it doesn't make any sense." Laki agreed.
"It's like… there's some other reason for this." Lucy said.
***
Vivi sighed walking after the frog woman with her hands in front of her. These cuffs were so annoying. She didn't have to wear these last time. Not to mention she wasn't looking forward to this. Sure, she volunteered because she actually felt guilty about Erza taking the fall for something she felt was her problem. Didn't mean she had to like what was about to happen. She knew the Council was expecting her since the frog woman sent word ahead, and she was sure she'd hear the same lecture she did last time too. As they came to a stop in front of the large doors, Vivi frowned openly at them.
"Well, let's get this over with." Vivi said as the doors started to open.
She walked in while seeing all the familiar wrinkled faces from last time. Oh and Siegrain and his friend's faces as well. The last time she was heard the both of them had been thoroughly amused by Vivi's half-assed apology that had left the rest of the Council steaming mad. Well, Yajima hadn't been mad. He hadn't been happy either since he worries about Fairy Tail and their mischief. Once her eyes landed on Yajima amongst the council, she grinned slightly.
"Hey, Yajima-san," She said, raising her cuffed hands in greeting. "Long time no see."
Yajima sighed, resisting the urge to shake his head. He knew Vivi wasn't a bad young lady, but the trouble she got herself into really did cause for concern.
"Quiet, please!" Another frog woman called as someone banged a gavel.
Vivi rolled her eyes at the frog woman as she let a breath out her nose that almost sounded like a grunt. Her lack of formality had some members of the council frowning already. Siegrain just smiled, however, as a chuckle left his lips. This should all be interesting to say the least.
"This courtroom will now come to order." The frog woman said as she picked up some papers. "Before us is the defendant Viviane d'Autriche. Please, take the stand, Ms. d'Autriche."
Vivi stepped up onto the stand while wanting to get all of this over with. She'd give her apologies, which would actually be sincere this time. Hopefully do her punishment swiftly, so to be back to Fairy Tail before her brothers return home to learn what she's done. At least she hopes things go that smoothly.
***
Lucy shook her head, not being able to take much more of this sitting around. It was killing her.
"This is wrong." Lucy said as she stood up. "We should be there to testify."
"But, Lucy," Nab began.
"We're not going to court." Makarov cut in.
Lucy looked to Makarov in disbelief since it all seemed unfair to her. Why should Vivi have to go through this all alone?
"Why not, Master?!" Lucy demanded. "We all know she's innocent. We can't just sit here and let them lock her away. Even if she feels like she has to take responsibility!"
"Even if we left this very second there's no way we'd make it there in time." Makarov pointed out.
Well, Jet could make it there in time, but he hadn't been there to witness the Eisenwald incident, so the council probably wouldn't even listen to him.
"But—" Lucy was cut off by lizard Natsu.
"I've been stuck in this stupid glass all day, you guys!" Natsu shouted. "It's getting hard to breathe! Come on, let me out of here!"
"Are you sure you want out?" Makarov asked.
Natsu got very quiet, which had people looking at him confused. Since when was Natsu ever quiet?
"What the matter?" Makarov asked when 'Natsu' continued to remain quiet. "You've seemed to lose the fire in your belly."
He then blasted the cup, which sent 'Natsu' into the air. When the smoke cleared, Macao was the one to be revealed. Erza shot to her feet in shock, not believing her eyes.
"It's Macao!" Levy said in shock.
"That was you?" Lucy, Laki and Elfman demanded.
Macao smiled sheepishly as he stood up while scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah, sorry, guys." Macao said. "I owed Natsu a favor. I turned myself into a salamander, so that everyone would think I was him."
Erza growled while curling her hand up into a fist. That idiot went after Vivi. Doesn't he understand what kind of trouble he could actually create for her?
"Do you know where he went?" Lucy asked.
Macao just looked to the side not wanting to answer that since he was in enough trouble as it was. And the glare he was getting from Erza, who was standing behind him, wasn't helping at all.
"I bet he went after Vivi, didn't he?" Gray guessed.
Macao gulped pulling at his collar as the glare from Erza became even worse.
"Uh-huh." Macao finally answered as he nodded.
He then cried out in pain as Erza whacked him hard over the head. As she scolded him for the trouble he caused, the others looked at each other almost in a panic.
"You've got to be kidding me?!" Elfman shouted. "That idiot will probably try to fight the whole council!"
"Will everyone just calm down?" Makarov asked. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
He knew Natsu's involvement certainly would cause more trouble, but hopefully Yajima will be able to get his two rambunctious troublemaker children home safe and sound.
***
"Viviane d'Autriche," Crawford Seam began. "You are—!"
"Sorry, but may I cut in?" Vivi asked, stopping him.
He along with most of the Council frowned wondering what the bluenette wanted to say. Considering her last time here, they were sure it could be anything.
"You can list all the charges you want, but I know why I'm here." Vivi said. "Due to Lullaby falling into the wrong hands, a lot of damage was caused, and I'm sure some people were hurt in the process. This is why I even asked to come here in the first place because it's my fault this happened. My family's fault. So on behalf of the entire d'Autriche Family, I deeply apologize for all the damage caused during this incident with Eisenwald."
Vivi then bowed her head to the Council with most of them gawking in surprise. Out of all the things they expected her to say, a sincere apology didn't even make the list. They were expecting some kind of witty remark or even an empty apology like last time. But she was truly apologizing to them.
"I will also take whatever punishment you have ready for me." Vivi said. "I won't fight it—no matter what your decision is."
Again the Council was stunned silent. Was this some kind of sorcery? It was too much to be real. Crawford then cleared his throat looking ready to pass judgement. However, before he could, the doors to the room were blown to smithereens, putting a large hole where they had once been. Vivi turned around with wide eyes wondering what the hell was going on as was the rest of the Council.
"What is this?!" Crawford demanded.
Vivi wasn't sure, but when the smoke cleared, her eyes widened when seeing Natsu—who was surprisingly wearing her clothes and a wig—standing there. Since when did he like to dress in drag? She then frowned. He was so stretching out her tights. She loved him and all, but she was a bit annoyed he was stretching out her tights. And they were her favorite pair too.
"I'm the crazy rocker lady you old timers have been looking for!" Natsu shouted as he blew out fire. "If you've got a problem with how me and my guild things, you can bite me!"
Vivi sweat-dropped though was having trouble keeping a smile off her face as Natsu continued to rant and destroy the room with his fire. Most of the Council didn't share her amusement as Natsu went on and on.
"Please, take them away." Crawford said.
Vivi chuckled, not really upset even if things just turned bleak. Natsu meant well even if he just made things worse.
"I guess we won't be home in time for dinner." Vivi said.
Natsu looked at her in confusion since he didn't know what she was talking about. Vivi just smiled at him as she laughed. As she laughed about all of this, the Council continued to frown. They knew things couldn't go so smoothly when Fairy Tail was involved. Would that guild ever learn?