Back At The Guild

The four of us were standing in front of the guild now as Lucy was admiring the guild from the outside. After Natsu welcomed her to the guild we went inside and as shown in canon, Natsu began with a loud 'I am back' before heading straight for Jet who was laughing at the destruction Natsu had caused, although it wasn't much considering I was there this time.

"You creep! That info you told us on salamander was all lies!" Natsu shouted at Jet as he kicked him right on the face and sent him falling backwards before he dragged everyone else in the guild into a huge brawl. Yup, just like usual.

Lucy stood watching everything as she began with a happy expression at being at the guild of her dreams, which quickly changed into one of shock at seeing the chaos the guild was in. She watched in shock as Gray came out with only his boxers which Cana kindly pointed out and then saw Elfman get sent flying by one punch after his cool entrance. Then she saw Loke's impression fall down to the ground after seeing his playboy antics.

But none of that gave her as big of a shock as what happened next. Everyone started getting serious as they began to show signs of using magic. Just as they were about to go down, Makarov came while in his giant form to stop them which scared Lucy silly. After he calmed everyone down and then punched Natsu through the floor for not quitting, he went back to normal as he introduced himself to Lucy.

"So you dolts have done it again! Just look at all these letters from the council! First, Gray! It's good that you rounded up that ring of smugglers but afterward, you stumbled around town in the nude and in the end, you wound up stealing somebody's underwear right of the line and running away with it." Makarov started to give his first speech of the canon after going to the second floor.

"Elfman, while performing bodyguard service for a VIP, you attacked that selfsame VIP! Cana, you drank fifteen full kegs of liquor at a certain tavern, falsely claimed it as 'expenses' and worse, sent the bill directly to the council! Loke, you seduced the granddaughter of the senior council member, Rage. Also, we've been sent an invoice for damages at a certain talent agency." Speaking till here, Makarov slumped as he reached the main cause of his headaches.

"And Natsu, in bringing down the Devon bandit clan, you destroyed seven private homes! You brought down Tuly village's historic clock tower! The town of Freesia's church is completely destroyed, you damaged a section of the Lupinas castle, the observation station at the Nazuna Ravine is closed due to wanton destruction and you destroyed the harbor of Hargeon! If it weren't for Ray over there cleaning up after your messes, things would be even worse."

Listening till here, I got bored so I switched out my hearing since I remember all Makarov had to say next. You know, about how he didn't care about what the council thought of them, telling everyone what their powers were and how they will not improve their magic if they worried about what the council thinks.

Instead of listening to him talk about that, I stealthily went around and gathered all of the girls at one point by lifting them over my shoulder and moving them since unlike me, they still paid attention to what Makarov was saying. After I gathered everyone, I then brought Lucy there, just as Makarov finished with his speech and everyone was cheering.

"Hey girls, this is Lucy. And now I am ready!" I first introduced Lucy to them before getting down on my knees and prepared for the verbal assault coming my way. I had already prepared for this as I surrounded us with special laws to not let the rest of the guild see my pitiful state.

"Haah, for god's sake, Ray. Can you please let us know of something like this beforehand? You wouldn't have to take a scolding if you actually informed us of things like this with enough time to spare. Though you would still get some complains from us." Levi was the one who started as she crossed her arms as she gave a sigh. I could on give an awkward laugh in response since I did actually forget about the time the canon was coming and so didn't have enough time to tell them.

The rest of the day was spent like that as the girls came one by one to give me a scolding as the rest chatted with Lucy who was giving me glances here and there and then a chuckle after that. Lucy was able to get along with them like I had told her. I knew that they would be nice to her and wouldn't be so nice to me. Well, it's the least I had to take if I want to have a harem.

Nearing the end of the day, I took Lucy to go house hunting since she decided to live on her own for now despite my offer for her to live in my home. Despite how she may seem in the canon, Lucy is actually a bit conservative, which I was also surprised by when I had begun to understand her more deeply. By conservative, I don't mean that when it comes to fashion or language or things like that. I mean, she is conservative when it comes to her principles.

Well, since she didn't want to come to my home, I decided to help her house hunt in return and also decided to help her out with the rent since that was all she talked about in the canon. I wasn't short on money anyway, so I can spend it without worrying too much.

After we spent around two hours looking around the town, we finally rented the house Lucy lived in the canon. I already knew where it was but decided to spend some more time with her so I led her around for a bit of sightseeing. I also paid four months of rent while I was at it and I also didn't give her any chance to reject, not that I think she would.

"Haah, can you wait a bit? I'm going to take a shower." After we got inside her living room, I flopped down onto the sofa as Lucy stretched her back before heading off towards the bathroom.

"Should I join you?" I asked her teasingly as I knew she wouldn't mind a bit of teasing and sure enough she only gave a no and an eye roll as a response to my words.

While waiting for her I fell asleep and so didn't notice a towel wrapped Lucy come out of the bathroom and I also missed the chance of seeing her change again as she got inside her room and came out soon enough after wearing her clothes.

Seeing that I was asleep, Lucy headed over to the kitchen and began making some food for dinner. Although she wasn't exactly a cook, she did know how to make an edible dinner. And soon, the house was filled with the smell of food and she woke me up after setting up the table.

After we finished eating, I watched as Lucy fell asleep this time and since I knew she had a tiring day today, I took her to her room and laid her down there on the bed. After fully tucking her in, I headed out and left her new house.

As I walked away from there, I thought on how little time I had spent with Layla after bringing her here with me and I also thought back to the promise I made to Layla and how I met and spent time with a younger Lucy.