Chapter 6: Ch6: Magnolia

AN: Okeydokey! As always, reviewer replies and thank you so much to everyone who comments! :D

An Old Crow: Again, thank you so much for your kind words, and worry not. I can guarantee this weekly schedule and continued quality through at least the end of this year. :D

Reptil: Quite glad you enjoyed it, romance is hard for me to write because I have very little experience with it myself, so I'm always glad when it turns out right. As for how Jerry's learning all the magic so fast, you remember he mentioned learning Archive first? Archive lets him remember everything so once he learned that, everything else was like downloading a new program into a computer. Thus, he is able to learn things at insanely accelerated speeds, especially when coupled with Wind Reader Glasses which let him read entire textbooks on the magic he's trying to learn in a matter of minutes. He can't use it all perfectly yet, there's a lot of practicing to be done, but he knows the theory and how to do it, now he just needs practice doing it to get to where he can do it really really well. It's not "pick up a book on fire magic and now you're Natsu", it takes time, practice and effort. The telepathy is just a natural result of unlocking Archive and he hasn't got anything like full control of it yet. Also even though it's only semi-canon at best, in that one episode of the anime where Erza and Gajeel dress up as superheroes, Mirajane was able to teach Natsu and Happy transformation magic in less than a day, so it may be a case of "anyone can do it, but not many take the time to learn how, and even fewer learn to do it well". Jerry is taking the time, he's just very smart to begin with and now he's learned Archive which basically turned his brain into a supercomputer. You know Hibiki from Blue Pegasus? He's got Archive Magic too.

Chapter 6 - Magnolia

The next morning, I stepped out of the Guild Hall for the first time in a few days and the morning sun stabbed me in the eyes like a knife made of solid pickle juice to the brain. I immediately squawked in pain, turned back around and covered my eyes with both hands, "BRIGHT."

"Wow," Cana drawled with a grin as she walked past me and out the door, "You must be a really shitty light wizard to not even be able to handle a little morning su-OUCH!" She too spun and covered her eyes, but she only used one hand as she already had a bottle of something alcoholic in her left hand, "I take it back. The morning is evil."

Makarov chuckled as he strolled past us with dark glasses over his eyes, "Silly brats. That's what sunglasses are for."

If our faces weren't already in our hands, we would've face palmed. Cana fished a pair of sunglasses out of her bag and I put a dimmer spell over my eyes. It only brushed off about twenty percent of the light, but that was more than enough to make it highly tolerable. We turned to the bright sunlight and sighed in relief. "Much better," I declared. Then I remembered that I still had no idea of my way around Magnolia, "Hey Cana?"

Cana looked over her shoulder at me, "Hmm?"

"Where's the nearest clothing store?" I asked with a slightly embarrassed smile, "My coat and hat got torched on that job the other day, and I haven't got anything else to wear so I need to do some shopping. Gotta find a place to stay too."

Cana raised an eyebrow and then pointed down the street, "Go about four blocks down this street and hang a right. Should be on your left. If you get to the canal you went way too far but there's another one on the left before you get to the cathedral."

I smiled, "Thanks Cana!" I jumped and teleported. It was slightly disorienting and I knew as I landed (nearly fell flat on my face) four blocks away that I'd need to practice with my teleportation before I could really make any good use of it. I headed down the street that I was guessing Cana had meant and soon enough found the clothing store she had pointed me to.

I went in and quickly found the men's section. I started poking around and quickly found that plain old blue jeans were in very short supply. I pouted slightly when I realized that and then started checking out all the other kinds of pants. It didn't take me long to find some black and gray camouflage pants made out of a material that I deemed to be close to the durability of denim. They were almost like sleep pants but sturdier. They fit well and didn't look too odd at all, so I bought a few pairs.

Thankfully socks were easy to find, as were underwear, and shirts in seven different colors (one for every day of the week). Then I went to find a good jacket and immediately discarded the idea in favor of a badass dark gray cape with a high collar. I had seen capes back fire on the people wearing them many many times in cartoons, but dammit if they weren't still cool as hell and good for keeping the rain off. Then I became even more delighted with my find when I realized there was a hood that bunched up inside the collar, which made it even better and cemented its place on my list of things I was definitely buying.

I paid for my new clothes and closed my eyes before activating my magic and stuffing them into my Requip space. Even if I couldn't change clothes with it (and I fully intended to learn how), it was still a very useful technique to have an extradimensional storage space. All except for the cape, that I put on right away. I bounced across to the nearest mirror -yes I bounced. I was excited to check out my new cape and excited at being in a world where I could get away with actually wearing a cape- and got a rather disorienting surprise.

I blinked as I looked in the mirror and then I turned to the shop's apparently only employee, "Excuse me, miss?" She looked at me out the corner of her eye, "Yes?"

"Is my hair dark brown?"

"No it isn't sir, is it normally that color?"

I reached up and felt a strand of it, my hair wasn't normally this shaggy either, but I supposed it might have happened when I got transported between worlds. I pushed it back and grinned, "Yeah. I kinda like it like this though. It doesn't look too bad does it?"

The cashier looked from me to the magazine she was reading, back to me, back at the magazine. Then her eyes got very wide, "Ahhh…no it actually looks really good on you. Um, just one question though…" She picked up the magazine and turned it around to show me the picture, "Is this you?"

I let my hair fall back down into its usual disarray as I walked over and looked at the picture. I looked back at the mirror with a frown before looking back at the picture, "That's downright uncanny. No I don't think I've ever been in a magazine before. Out of curiosity though, what magazine is it?"

"Oh it's just this week's Sorcerer Weekly," She replied as she closed the magazine to show me the cover. "Ah," I replied with a smile, "Do you know where I could perhaps buy a copy? Sorry I just arrived in town the other day and I'm not really familiar with local goings on. I was thinking maybe a local magazine could help me get my bearings."

After the cashier gave me directions to the nearest newspaper stand I thanked her and headed off to find it and get ahold of a copy of Sorcerer Weekly.

A few minutes after I left the store, I was stopped by a familiar voice, "Hey Jerry! Is that you?" I paused and turned, "Oh hey Lucy! What's up?"

Lucy ran to catch up to me, "I was hunting around for a place to stay. Where've you been? I haven't seen you at all the last few days."

I smiled, "Well I went on my first job as a wizard and…" I paused as a little lightbulb went off over my head and I remembered what was in my pocket, "sorry I completely forgot. You said the gold Zodiac Keys are super rare right?"

I immediately had Lucy's full and undivided attention, "Yeah, why?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out Virgo and Leo's keys with a grin, "Well I'm sorry, but you're not getting these two."

Lucy's wail of surprise and dismay made several people stop and stare, "YOU FOUND TWO OF THE ZODIAC KEYS ON ONE JOB?!"

"Well to be more accurate, I beat the stuffing out of the jerk who discarded Virgo's key and then me and Levy wound up saving Leo's life so I got his as a reward," I explained. Then I frowned at it, "Although, I've only made my contract with Virgo…I still need to summon Leo, but…"

I leaned over a little closer to her and gave her my best soul searching gaze. Lucy looked slightly intimidated and then I raised the key to my lips the same way I had to call Virgo, "Ay Leo, if you've recovered, pop on down here. I got an idea you might like."

A burst of golden light later and Leo was standing next to me, now with cat ears poking up out of his ginger hair and a suit rather than the baggy green parka he'd been wearing before. He smiled and waved, "Yeah I'm feeling a lot better no- who's that?!" He exclaimed with hearts in his eyes as he noticed Lucy.

I pointed a thumb at her, "Leo the Lion, meet Lucy Heartfilia. She's the one who told me about Celestial Wizardry and she has three of the Zodiac Keys."

Leo's interest immediately doubled, "Really?! Which ones?!"

Lucy blushed slightly at the attention and then pulled out her key ring to show him, "I've got Cancer, Aquarius and Taurus."

Leo made a face, "Oh you poor girl." Lucy looked mildly spooked, "What? Why?!" Leo shuddered, "Aquarius." Lucy looked like she was about to agree with him and then the annoyed switch went off in her head, "Hey! No insulting my spirits! Aquarius has been with me since I was a little girl!"

Leo frowned slightly and then his eyes went wide behind his glasses, "OH! You're Miss Layla's girl? I'm sorry, I should have realized it sooner. You look just like her."

Lucy's eyes went wide, "You knew my mother?"

Leo nodded, "Only briefly. She actually managed to round up all but one of us once. Ironically Aquarius was the only one she couldn't get her hands on in time, and that was because the wizard she'd entrusted Aquarius to had moved all the way to Alvarez."

Lucy was pale with shock, "My mom…had…all twelve…of the Zodiac Keys?"

Leo nodded, "She was super nice." His expression turned that odd mix of sad, embarrassed and something else I couldn't put my finger on that for some reason still looked funny as hell on him, "I wish she had kept my key…she was sooo much better than Karin…" He smacked a fist into his hand, "And then I'd be contracted to you instead of Jerry! Crap why did I let her return my key to circulation?!"

I blinked, "Oh, the contract's already in effect?" Leo nodded and gave me a thumbs up, "Yep, I'm free any time the sun's shining, but for me, every night is date night, so don't summon me at night unless there's cute girls involved." He gestured to Lucy, "Example, this is a truly beautiful girl." He gestured to a rather comically unpleasant looking lady waddling down the street and added, "That's not."

I burst out laughing as Lucy blushed, "I fully agree!" Lucy's blush intensified and then I finished laughing, "Actually Leo, that's part of the reason I called you down here. I wasn't aware the contract was already in effect, but that only changes the question a little."

Leo blinked at me in confusion and then he went pale, "Wait, were you about to offer me to Lucy?!"

I shrugged, "As you said, she's beautiful. If someone offered to hand me over to a girl like her, I'd be jumping up and down for the opportunity, but as the contract is already in place, I won't break it. Bad precedent and it would probably look bad on both of us."

Leo looked mildly stunned and a little mortified as I continued, "However, since we both agree that Lucy is very beautiful, and I'll add sweet, intelligent and fun to be around as well, do you think I should form a team with her?"

"ABSOLUTELY!" Leo exclaimed, "I can't believe you even had to ask!"

I swished Virgo's key through the air and called Virgo. She popped out the ground with a smile, "I was listening Master. I think it would be a wonderful idea. If Lucy is anything like Miss Layla then she's a wonderful girl, and Aquarius, Cancer and Taurus all speak quite highly of her, or at least," she grinned, "As highly as Aquarius ever speaks of anyone."

I nodded, "Good enough for me!" I turned to Lucy with a smile and a thumbs up, "What do you say Lucy? Team up on jobs?"

"Um, yeah, sure…" she agreed in a way that made it clear she was a little too flustered to have really thought about it much. Then she remembered, "Oh, but do you mind if Natsu's on the team too? Natsu said something about wanting me on his team the other day and then EEP!"

Speak of the devil. Natsu landed face first on the pavement and skidded a few feet before slumping to the ground momentarily and then leaping back to his feet like nothing happened as he roared, "GRAY I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" Then he spotted us, "Oh hey Lucy! Jerry! What's up Loke? Sorry, Gray just fired me out of a catapult."

I looked at Lucy, "Yeah I think I could handle having a tank like him on the team, always good to have at least one really big gun. Whatcha say Natsu, wanna team up with us?"

"I dunno," Leo mused, "Natsu's kind of an idiot." "YOU WANNA FIGHT?!" Natsu exclaimed. "Answer the question first," I interceded as I stepped between the two, "Natsu, do you want to team up with me and Lucy on our next job?"

"Sure why not?" Natsu asked, "I was gonna track you both down to team up soon anyway. There's this job that we need a cute blonde for to go in disguise as a maid to steal a book and I thought Lucy would be really good for that."

I grinned, "Ah, hate to break it to ya Natsu, I just finished that job with Team Shadowgear the other day."

"That's how he met me," Virgo added with a smile and wave, "Nice to meet you Natsu-san. I'm Virgo."

"Nice to meetcha Birdo," Natsu declared with a grin, "You wanna be on the team too?"

Leo face palmed as he realized, "Oh right, you've been out of the loop. Natsu I'm actually a Celestial Spirit. I've been pretending to be a human the whole time I've been in Fairy Tail."

Natsu blinked, "Okay. So?"

Leo blinked in what I guess was confusion or maybe disbelief at how dense Natsu was, so I explained, "Natsu, that means Leo, or Loke, whatever you want to call him, is only here when I call him. The rest of the time he gets to go home to the Celestial Realm, just like Virgo and all of Lucy's spirits."

"You remember Taurus right?" Lucy asked, "Leo and Virgo are like him."

"You mean the bull guy?" Natsu asked, "he was kinda cool…" Then it visibly clicked with him what we were telling him and he pointed a finger at Leo, "AHA! So that's why you always smelled funny!" Leo confirmed that it was and Natsu quickly agreed to form a team with us.

He also wanted to go find a job immediately, but we stalled him with the need to find a place to stay first.

Natsu offered to let us stay at his place in the interest of getting us to hurry and go take a job with him, but Leo immediately intervened and firmly, "Nope! I've seen your house Natsu, it's barely fit for a racoon to live in. I'm not sure how you live in it, but I'm sure as hell not letting a pretty girl like Lucy stay there." I grimaced as Natsu squawked with indignation and began to argue with Leo, sounds like Natsu's about as good at housekeeping as I am.

I once again intervened, "We appreciate the offer Natsu, but it's always good to have one's own place to stay. You wouldn't want Gray staying in the same house as you would you?"

Natsu looked mortified at the idea and conceded that maybe it wasn't the best idea for me to stay at his house, but he still wouldn't mind letting Lucy stay. Leo then added that having Lucy in his house could be like having Erza in his house and Natsu immediately went ghostly pale and declared that a less than stellar idea as well.

Lucy and I were both mildly intimidated by Natsu's reaction and Lucy asked, "Just what kind of monster is she?" "She's awful!" Natsu exclaimed, "A monster!"

Leo gulped slightly, "She is definitely terrifying. I mean don't get me wrong, she's gorgeous, but she's also about the scariest woman I've ever met." "The only girl in Fairy Tail who could ever hold a candle to her was Mira, and Mira hasn't been in that good a shape in years…" Natsu muttered.

"Wasn't Mira one of the guild's top six?" I asked, more interested than wary. "Erza's in the top four," Natsu informed me nervously.

"With the exception of Mirajane and Master, she could probably stomp everybody who's regularly at the guild at once," Leo clarified, "And since Mirajane lost her will to fight, I'm not sure she could fight Erza anymore."

I raised an eyebrow, "Impressive. What's she look like?" "Like I said," Leo declared, "Gorgeous, as beautiful as Lucy, but in a more, dangerous sense. Lucy's got that sweet friendly look about her. Erza's pretty like a dragoness. You know you wanna ride, but you know the attempt could get you fried."

Then a voice that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end purred from behind us as armor clad hands clasped our shoulders, "Aww…I think that's the most sincere compliment I've ever heard out of you Loke…Am I really that pretty?"

Leo and Natsu were both instantly ghostly pale as Leo turned shakily to the beautiful redhead who had popped up between me and him. "Y-y-yes ma'am…" he squeaked in abject terror.

Suddenly the red hair turned to white curls and Mirajane winked at us with a crooked little grin, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that about me not being able to fight Erza anymore. I may be rusty, but I think I could still put my game face on and give her a run for her money if I had to."

I think that honestly scared them more than the possibility of Erza sneaking up on them. "I'm…gonna go home now…" Leo squeaked.

Leo disappeared in a burst of golden light and when it faded Natsu had skedaddled as well. Mirajane giggled, "It's so much fun to tease them." Then she turned and looked me over appraisingly before reaching out to run a hand over my chest through the fabric of my cape in a way that made my heart do an interesting little dance. "Nice cape," she purred.

I think I probably blushed about the color of Natsu's hair and then Lucy exclaimed, "Holy crap are you two dating already?!"

Mira laughed, "Oh no, nothing like that! We're just friends…" I felt disappointment start to rear in my head and then with a saucy wink she added, "with benefits." The disappointment turned to glowing smugness. Lucy squawked in surprise and Virgo looked on with extreme interest.

Then Mira sidled over to a stunned looking Lucy and I could just barely hear her whisper, "So did that magic of his feel as good as it looked like it did? I read his mind, it looked like a lot of fun!" Lucy nearly fainted from embarrassment and Mira easily caught her with a grin, "Whoops! Guess that's a little too bold for Lucy!"

Mira wound up helping us house hunt and we eventually found that nice two story building I'd seen on the way to Fairy Tail down by the canal. The diminutive and stumpy old lady who owned it showed us in to the lower apartment and began to show us around.

There were four apartments, the two floors split into two apartments each, and all four apartments were one bed and one bathroom, plus a kitchen. The building was pinkish red brick on the outside and old fashioned plaster with wooden timbers inside. The rooms were spacious with tile floors that would be easy to clean. There was full plumbing and utilities, the place was clean and in good shape all around as far as my careful inspection could tell. "Sooo…how much for the place?" I asked after deciding I liked it fairly well.

"Seventy thousand jewel a month," she replied calmly, "And I don't like shenanigans. I know what kind of madness you Fairy Tail wizards get up to, and I won't have it in my building. If you can keep it some semblance of sane I'll rent to you."

I mused on that for a minute and then, "There are four apartments here and you make seventy thousand a month off each of them, correct?" "When they're occupied yes," she replied, "I have other properties around town and in a few other nearby towns, but just having one of these four paid for is enough to easily cover the taxes on this place and I still turn a profit."

I nodded and did a little quick math in my head, "So over the course of the next ten years you'd make thirty three million six hundred thousand jewels if every apartment was full and paid for on time the whole time. Right?" She checked my math in her own head and nodded, "That's right."

"Would you be willing to sell the whole building for thirty five million cash?" I asked calmly.

The old lady's jaw dropped and then she pulled a piece of paper from her purse and slapped it on the table, "Put your money where your mouth is and it's yours."

I smiled as Lucy and Mira gaped at me, "I'm glad we could work something out." I fished out my wallet and started counting out thirty five million jewels from what was left of the over fifty million I had found in my pocket in Hargeon. When it was done, I figured I was probably down to about fifteen million or so, but given that I'd just bought an entire apartment building and still had almost half what I'd paid for it left over, I figured I was still doing pretty damn good.

When I was done, I slid the money across the table to her and she quickly recounted it at what Lucy had termed Ebeneezer Scrooge speeds before nodding and sliding the deed across to me with a smile, "Nice doing business with you, have a nice day."

I held the paper up to Mira, "Mira, this looks legit right?" When the old woman started to splutter I used the opportunity to glimpse into her mind and see that it was indeed the real deed and she was a woman of her word. I smiled at her, "I apologize ma'am, I have only just arrived in this country recently and I'm not familiar with local paperwork yet. I have to have my friends here help me with everything lest I make a foolish mistake. I sincerely apologize if I have given any offense," I finished with a small bow. Then I rose to shake her hand, "I wish you the best of luck with your other properties and thank you so much for selling me this one. I will treat it as my home."

The old lady blinked and then smiled and rose to shake my hand, "It's been nice doing business with you. If you decide you want to buy any more of my properties like this, I'll be delighted to sell to you."

I nodded with a smile as she headed for the door, snapping her fingers and making her table and chairs shrink and fly back into her purse, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you ma'am." "You too!" she declared as she cheerfully headed on out the door, taking her "vacancy" sign with her.

I closed the door behind her and found Mirajane suddenly very close to me, "Sooo…how much money exactly have you got in there?" she asked with a very sweet smile that rather than making me faint made certain parts of my body come wide awake.

"That was a little over two thirds of what I had," I replied, "Consolation prize for getting yanked here from my home world by forces unknown."

Mira pouted slightly, and I couldn't tell if she was joking or not when she declared that to be a shame as we would've been getting married in less than a year if that had been just pocket change for me. I laughed and assured her that it was quite a hefty chunk of change for me too, "But," I added, "that doesn't mean I don't intend to have that kind of money to throw at what I need to as life goes on."

Mira smirked at me, "I hope you don't plan to make that kind of money on wizard jobs, even if you took a job every week for a year, it still probably wouldn't add up to even a tenth of what you just spent on this place unless they were all S-Class jobs. Our entire request board right now put together probably doesn't add up to a tenth of what you just spent."

I grinned, "Ahhh but you see that's where coming from a different world comes into play. You remember how many hundreds and hundreds of books I told you I've read? How many of those books do you think have been written and published in this world?"

Mira blinked and then her eyes went wide, "Wait, so you're telling me…"

I smiled, "And I remember most all of them very well. Thanks to my Archive magic, I can probably get them all word for word. On top of that, there's no telling how many magic spells and inventions I'll be able to come up with and monetize using knowledge of my world's science."

Mira thought about it for a second and then a grin slid across her face, "Make good on that big talk and I might just have to rethink my stance on that not looking for anything serious thing I said the other day." I grinned and pulled her a little closer for a kiss, "Yes ma'am!"

"Um, should I leave?" Lucy asked with embarrassment creeping into her voice. I broke off kissing Mira to look at her with an owlish blink, "Why? Aren't you going to go upstairs and pick an apartment?"

Lucy blinked in surprise, "Huh? But, you just bought this place and…" "And I'm not charging my teammate for a place to stay," I replied, "You helped me find this place, so as far as I'm concerned one of these ought to be yours."

"B-but I can't just stay here and not pay or anything!" Lucy spluttered.

I blinked and then started thinking, "Well…if you insist…" I thought for a moment and then smiled, "Alright, your rent shall be twenty five thousand jewel a month, due on the second of every month or the earliest available date if you're out of town on a job. How's that sound?"

Lucy bit her lip, as I learned later that was a hell of a good deal. She thought about it for a minute and then asked, "What's the catch?"

I blinked in legitimate confusion, "Catch?" "That is insanely cheap," Mira explained, "You could barely get a filthy hovel in a bad part of town for that kind of money."

I thought for a moment and double checked the math in my head. Then I shrugged, "What can I say? Cost of living was pretty cheap back home. You got what you paid for, but my apartment back home was only the equivalent of forty five thousand jewels a month, and it was in a fantastic location as well as a very nice place. I'd charge more, but if money's that hard to come by on wizard jobs, then I don't want to charge too much and be constantly getting disappointed and frustrated if Lucy can't pay. Besides, friends and family discount."

"But...but…but…" Clearly Lucy was still having severe misgivings about accepting such a cheap rate. I looked at her flatly, "I can make it as uncomfortable as you wish by suggesting alternative means to cover that other twenty thousand jewels worth if you want. Keep protesting about how nice I'm being and I'll get creative."

Lucy flushed crimson and immediately decided that she wasn't going to win this one, "Right! I'm just gonna…go upstairs and start deciding where I want my furniture! Yeah! That's what I'll do!" She turned and bolted up the stairs.

Mirajane looked at me slyly, "So now I'm curious, what would you have suggested if she kept refusing?"

"That she could have the seventy thousand a month rate and pay me whatever she couldn't get in jewels with kisses, one kiss for every thousand jewel and if she went three full months of no pay she could shag it off," I replied nonchalantly before realizing that had left my mouth completely unfiltered and blushing utterly crimson. "I wouldn't have meant it of course," I added quickly, "I'd never even try to enforce a deal like that. A homecooked meal or some help cleaning up or doing the laundry would've been totally viable alternatives. The kissing thing would be only if she really wanted to and you didn't object." Then I had to be honest and admitted with a blush, "I would tease her about it though, and I wouldn't refuse if she wanted to unless you objected."

Mira regarded me coolly for a moment and then tapped a finger on my chest with a naughty little grin, "You are a very bad boy. Keep that up and I'll have to spank you some time."

I blushed crimson again and rather than something intelligent, my brilliant response which proved that my body's instincts had completely overruled my brain, was to ask if I'd get to spank her back. She leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Only if I get to be a very bad girl…"

And out I went like a light! Damn this fainting quirk!

...

Next week: Moving in, an eating contest, and Jerry, Natsu and Lucy's first mission as a team!