Chapter 9: The calm before the storm

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi

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-Heartfilia Konzen-

(A few days later)

"This is unacceptable!" An angered Jude Heartfilia roared in anger as he smashed his fists on his desk. The nearby servants flinched in fear as they subconsciously backed away in fear

"I order you to all bring her back this instant!" Spit flew out of his mouth, the red of his eyes murderously glaring at every single one present in the room.

The news that his daughter ran away from home into some backwater cave in the woods incensed him to no end. Try as he might to change her ways, to conform Lucy to ways of those of high status. He gave her everything money could buy, jewelry, dresses, dolls, and even her keys!

"Jude-sama, please ca-calm down… Lucy-sama is safe and sound from any danger—" Gretel tried to placate him only to be cut off once more.

"—I don't care even if she lives inside the strongest guild in Fiore! What will happen when everyone will see the heir of the Heartfilia slay around a savage!? What will others say!?" Ever since that Broly character came to live in the forest, Jude felt like his life had turned for the worst. First, his preciouses Layla succumbed to her illness, then Lucy started acting more and more rebellious every year and now she ran away! "If none of you is going to get her back, then I will make sure she does."

That Broly made a mistake to live so near the Heartfilia Konzen without his permission. He had turned a blind eye to his intrusion for years and now look at what it did with Lucy–she was no longer the same girl he knew from before.

Thankfully, Jude was in contact with some people who would happily get rid of his problem, for a price of course. "Zoldeo!" He called in his personal butler–Layla's past student–and handed him over a letter with his family's sigil stamped on the wax seal. "Take this letter and make sure it arrives at its destination today."

"Where should I send it, Jude-sama?"

"Phantom Lord." He said with an ominous glint in his eyes.

{Break}

-Forest-

Life has been wonderful since she left her house to live with Broly. No more of that suffocating feeling she felt constantly in her home. No more daily arguing with her father and most of all, she just felt safer around here.

The place was nothing fancy, just a plot of land big enough to create a small farm of various sorts of crops, a wooden house big enough for two or three people to live comfortably inside, and a breathtaking view of the fauna down below the hill.

Whenever the sun would set down, an orange hue would cost the entire area, creating a scene straight out of a painting Lucy once saw.

Though she did miss out on some of the more luxurious aspects of her own house, like a bathtub and shower. Broly showed her a waterfall nearby the farm and even suggested for her to tag along with him when he went there as well.

Of course, at that time Lucy's face went full-on atomic red as she nearly fainted from his words. A bath together!? That was a scene straight out of one of Gretel's secret book stash! A part of her was screaming at her to say 'yes!' but the rational side was begging her to clear things out with Broly–in the end, she relented.

After a brief talk with him, she immediately found out that he had little to no knowledge about decency and about the female population! She had to teach him the inner workings of a relationship between a man and a woman.

'Which I don't think he understood…' He was as innocent as a young child about the concept of gender.

But that was not the worst of it! He uttered a phrase so hurtful that she nearly passed out crying right there!

"But… you're still a kid, Lucy, so it's okay."

The pain!

She didn't know why, but being called a kid of all things–even if she was one–by Broly made her feel very insecure and depressed about her body. 'Then so what!? I will show him that I'm no different than a grown-up like Aquarius! He will no longer see me as a kid then!' She declared with great vigor and vowed to never stray away from her goal!

"Hm?" Lucy heard the distance humming of Broly and turned to see the giant looking at her curiously, wondering what she was up to. Thankfully, after much convincing, she made him wear a shirt and dress like a sort of normal person. He still had that white fur-like coat around his waist, she always wondered from which animal it came from, but Broly never brought it up so she left it.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking down at the young woman.

"Oh nothing, just thinking how I feel so much better here rather than back home with dad." He sat by her side, tilting the log she was sitting on, making her slide to his side. She giggled a bit at the scene before continuing, "This place feels nice, I never felt so relaxed at home… especially when mom died." Her face fell when she remembered the memories of her mother.

A giant hand came to rest on top of her head and caressed her a bit. "Everything will be fine, you are strong." Broly offered a few words of encouragement to Lucy, "You should return to your father at one point."

"What!? Why!? I thought you liked me living here and I told you how dad is mean to me. He can't stay a day without criticizing every little thing I'm doing or just berating me over every little thing! He's the worst dad in the world." Her dad wasn't the same since mom died, every day he would grow ever more distant and cold. The only form of a family she had had back in her house were the servants.

"Yes, but he's still your father. One day in the future, he will no longer be living among us. When that time comes, you will regret the moments you didn't spend with him. You will regret not being able to not see his face once more. You will keep regretting it until it becomes too much to bear." There was a tint of sadness in his voice, the more he spoke, the more it became noticeable to Lucy.

"Do you have a dad as well?" She asked, curious to know more about Broly's past and his life. For such an impressive-looking giant, his father must have been one as well, or maybe even his mother as well!

He nodded his head while looking at the stars, "Had… I once had a father. He died the day I came to this place." He didn't remember much, but just before he lost complete control of his rage, Broly remembered the Frieza guy calling out to him and pointing at his dead father's corpse–killed by a stray shot of his battle against the blue-haired man.

In those few seconds before everything went chaotic, he remembered the harsh training Paragus put him through, he remembered the pain he brought to Ba, he remembered how he wanted to use him as a tool for his revenge against King Vegeta and his son Vegeta.

Yet in the end, he…

He was still his father.

Paragus was the only person Broly ever knew, he grew up with him by his side for decades. That man taught him everything he knew till now, he was his only family.

He did not wish for Lucy to feel regretful in the future. He didn't want her to one day in the future break down in tears just because she wasn't by her father's side for a little bit longer.

"I'm sorry to hear about that Broly," Lucy said softly as she leaned more on his arm, hoping to comfort him.

"Hn, do you want to stay here for a bit longer before going back home?" He asked the girl.

"Yeah… I don't feel comfortable facing him just yet… but I'll keep your word in mind. No matter how much he may scream at me or curse me. I still do see him as my father. You know what? I'll eventually go back and force him to change, I'll be just like mom and not back down from any challenges! If I want to be a Fairy tail mage one day, then I shouldn't back down no matter what!" Her bright face returned once more, burning with the determination to face anything the world threw at her!

"Hn," Broly approved of her attitude, it made her strong. "Fairy tail? What's that?" He remembered Rob and Erza talking about it sometimes during their conversations. He never bothered back then to learn of its meaning, but now… he wanted to know what Erza once dreamed of.

"You don't know!?" She screamed in disbelief as she saw the Saiyan shake his head in denial. "Wait, do you even know what a guild is in the first place?"

"I think I did once… but I forgot." She gawked at the guys' nonchalant attitude with this whole thing. 'He truly is a big child.'

"Basically, guilds are places where wizards gather to share information and take on jobs. You can't be called a full-fledged wizard unless you've joined a guild. But, but… There are many guilds all over the world, and it's really difficult to get into the popular ones, see! The one I want to get into, Fairy tail, has like a ton of amazing wizards, and… Oh, what am I to do? I want to join up, but I bet it's really tough…" She started all excited and filled with energy only to change attitude at the flip of a coin. "I'll never get there with my current skills, I can only summon two golden spirits and can only keep them around for a few minutes at best."

"Isn't that already strong? You easily beat that puny ape back then." Broly said, confused at how Lucy could see herself as weak.

"First of all it was a Gorian and second of all, Fairy tail is known for housing wizards who always blow up entire mountains and towns just from their sheer might. How cool is that!" Her eyes sparkled as she kept talking about her favorite guild and her guild to one day become one of them as well.

This gave Broly an idea…

"Ah! I forgot to bring with me my Sorcerer weekly! I could have shown every article and picture about the guild and their exploits, I can't wait when one day I can become the cover girl—"

"—Lucy."

"E-eh? Yes?" She was a bit caught off guard by being interrupted by Broly as the giant usually just sat by and listened calmly.

"When is your birthday?" He asked out of the blue, making Lucy tilt her head in confusion.

"Ehhhh, it's… the 1st of July… Why did you ask?"

Broly slowly got up from the log, making Lucy 'eep' a bit as she was nearly thrown off it. "Wh-what's going on?"

"I don't remember dates, so I'll likely forget yours when it comes around. I once had friends who told me that birthday gifts are one of the most important things one could give to another. And I still have a very close gift one of them has given me to this day. So now I want to give you one as well, instead of forgetting about it during your birthday."

"Eh, seriously? You don't have to do that Broly, I am literally living in peace thanks to you so I can't just—hey!" She didn't even get to finish her sentence when Broly decided to suddenly lift her up. "A-a w-wait!" She blushed hard at the way he picked her up, it looked like an adult picking up a child! "W-what are y-you doing!??"

He just nodded his head, "I'm taking you to Fairy tail."

"-!?"

"Wait WHAT!? No wait, we can't just–Kyaaaaa!!"

Boom!

"Haaaa!"

The ground beneath Broly's feet cracked as he blasted upwards to the sky, with a mighty shout he called out his Ki and formed a green sphere around himself and Lucy to protect the young girl from the elements.

Now that he had a finer control of his Ki which he trained during his spare time, he found that could use it to create a layer of protection around himself.

The [Eraser Shield] was born.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!!! You're going wayyyyy too fast!!!" Lucy screamed hysterically as she clung to dear life around Broly's neck. Though she couldn't feel the wind smashing against her, the ground was going so fast that she couldn't even notice any details! "Was that Hargeon town just now!?" Well at least partially.

She once again grew amazed by Broly's magic, he could not only magical beasts like they were dried up leaves, pick up large boulders like they weighed nothing; he could even fly with speeds going beyond anything she'd ever heard of! 'He can easily join Fairy Tail… '

"I need to go faster, this is taking too long."

"Are you TRYING to kill me!?"

…

After an hour or two of flying and Lucy screaming like a banshee for the entire time… somehow, Broly finally stopped in front of a large town whose streets were empty because it was the middle of the night.

Lucy, whose face was as green as Broly's shield, soon recovered after calming down her nerves and stomach.

"Th-this is… " The girl couldn't believe her eyes, just like the pictures she saw in the magazines… "It really is Magnolia, the hometown of Fairy Tail! How did you know where to find this place? You can barely read or write for that matter!"

"Gretel helped me." He still remembered the once frightened maid turning into a smug teacher in a matter of hours. He once asked her where the Magnolia was which she showed him on the map. From then on, it wasn't so hard for Broly as he just flew up high in the sky pinpointing the exact location as shown in the map.

"Let's find the guild," Broly said without giving Lucy much time to reply he flew inside the city, flying over the houses he spotted the building at the center with large wooden doors and a large sigil which reminded Broly of those dragon creatures he saw in one of Gretel's books.

"Is that a kid walking around naked!?" Lucy whispered harshly as she saw a young raven-haired boy with a silver necklace walking around the streets without a scrap of clothes on him. "Wait, he's fighting that other fire wizard boy!"

"Ignore them."

He continued to fly upwards till he was on the roof of the guild, surveying the entirety of Magnolia.

"Happy birthday Lucy, I hope you liked it." He tried saying it with a smile but it ended up just looking awkward with her eyes still looking as sharp as ever.

Lucy meanwhile couldn't believe that the place of her dreams, the one place she wished to reach one day and become one of their wizards, was literally just beneath her feet. It felt so surreal that she had to touch the tiles down below. "Wow… I'm really in Fairy Tail… "

Lucy was transfixed on the feeling and the view for another hour, watching from up above everyone who was entering and leaving the halls of Fairy tail. A group of white-haired kids led by a girl wearing a dominatrix latex outfit. A girl in a sundress sneaking out some bottles of alcohol, a blonde teenager wearing headphones, and even a tiny old man, who was even shorter than her! "Wow, Fairy tail has so many unique people…"

Lucy laid on the roof looking downwards at every wizard who frequented the guild. Some whom she recognized from Sorcerer weekly while others were new members. She saw how the pink-haired boy spewed fire out of his mouth while the naked kid created a wall of ice. She laughed a bit when the scary white-haired girl from before came in to beat the living hell out of them. And she swore that she just caught a glimpse of Gildarts, THE strongest wizard of Fairy Tail!

'Everyone is so lively down there… I can't wait to be part of that group one day.'

She turned her attention to Broly who was munching on a piece of dried meat.

Without saying anything she drew closer and gave him a hug.

"Hn?"

"Thank you for the gift… it's the best thing I ever got…" She whispered, trying her best to not cry and make a fool of herself.

"Let's go home now, Gretel will be passing by the farm soon. I don't want her to have a panic attack again." Broly suggested and Lucy readily agreed, though she had a condition.

"Don't fly too fast!"

…

-Fairy Tail female dorm-

"Broly!" A startled Erza soon woke up from her sleep. She was soaked wet from her sweat and panting harshly. 'Just now…'

She didn't know if it was a dream or reality. But for a break moment, she felt a familiar energy signature. The same pressure and the same feeling of overwhelming power touched her senses.

She quickly opened her window and gazed at the sky. Searching for the smallest hint of his presence, that this wasn't a dream.

Yet she found nothing.

She nearly cried… Erza held strong for all these years, but to suddenly feel his presence once again, opened the floodgates to her emotions, nearly spilling everything out.

"No! I mustn't cry, I need to be strong!" She slapped her cheeks to get rid of these feelings. Even if it was a dream, Erza knew that somewhere out there, she would find that gentle giant and bring him to Fairy Tail; to his new family.

"I will find you, Broly."

{Break}

(A few hours later)

Broly was flying through the familiar forest area near the Heartfilia Konzen, soon to reach his house.

Lucy was on his back, peacefully sleeping without a care in the world. And also because the journey back home took longer this time.

This time he hadn't used the [Eraser Shield] and just let Lucy and himself enjoy the gentle winds while flying slowly. When he arrived back on the farm, it was already morning.

After putting the sleeping girl in her bed, Broly went outside only to see a frantically running Gretel looking extremely worried about something.

"Broly, you must leave quickly before it's too late!"

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The next 5 chapters are already available on my Patreon. With 3 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.

Also, heads up, I won't be publishing next week cause I'll be reworking on the past chapters and polish everything up once again. For both the snafu and Broly fic. Don't worry, I'll post another snafu chapter this week.