Chapter Text
Beside her, Erza could hear yelling. This isn’t something that’s out of the ordinary for her, as there was always something or another happening in the Guild. Except—her eyes shot open in surprise—she should be in Fairy Hills right now, and with the amount of space she rents, she shouldn’t be able to hear people in the halls yelling this clearly.
In one fluid motion, she jumped to her feet, ignoring the mild discomfort she felt from lying on such an uneven ground without her armor on.
Erza looked around, squinting her eyes to get used to the dark as she tried to identify where the voices were coming from and when she did, she carefully walked towards it, keeping to the shadows.
When she finally got close enough to identify the figures, she pursed her lips, realizing what was happening.
In front of her was a man brandishing a knife towards a terrified young woman who was backed up against a wall. The man with the knife swung it around in front of her face, yelling at her to empty her pockets as she shakily did what she was told, fear clearly written in every action she took and it was at this moment Erza decided she’s had enough of watching this.
If she weren’t here, she’s not sure what might have happened but she is here which means she can help.
Still keeping herself hidden, she opened her clenched fist and called upon her magic, requipping her trusty sword, the one she always calls upon when in her normal armor, and watched as the victim’s eyes flashed towards her as they saw the light emitted from the magic circle.
Now that she’s been noticed, she sees no reason to remain hidden any longer so she steps out of the shadows, the man with the knife also realizing they weren’t alone anymore and she walked right up to him, not stopping until the tip of her sword was just millimeters away from nicking at his neck.
“Put the knife down.” She said plainly, causing the man to scowl angrily towards her.
“Hah,” he started, “and what are you going to do—” he said, not believing she would actually do anything with the sword, then stopped himself once she moved it closer, drawing a bit of blood.
(From beside them, the young woman bolted out of the alley, muttering about how she was “never coming back to this god-forsaken city again.”)
Instead of responding to him, Erza took another step forward, not stopping even when more blood began trickling down his neck until he was forced to step back into the wall to prevent the very real sword from completely embedding itself into his neck.
When she motioned to push the sword in even deeper, his face paled and he dropped his knife, Erza finally moving her sword away from him, and when she did, the man tried away, fleeing just like the young woman did a few moments ago, except he was stopped by someone dropping into the alley and grabbing the scruff of his coat, preventing him from running any further.
With a new addition to the alley, Erza unequipped her sword to appear harmless but still stayed guarded, unsure of who this new person was or why he was here.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The unknown man asked, practically lifting him off the ground to bring him to his eye level.
“Wh—Wha—” the man started, making the man sigh.
“Forget it.” He turned to face Erza, keeping his dangling in the air. “Are you okay?”
Erza nodded. “I’m fine, but it’s not me you should be asking, his victim went that way.” She pointed down the street to where they were.
This made the man pause. “So you stepped in to stop him?” He asked, eyeing her complete lack of (visible) weapons. When she didn’t deny it, he put his free hand on his helmet. “That’s the dumbest thing you could have done.”
Erza looked at him, offended. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but you have no right to judge my actions when you didn’t even show up until after everything was already dealt with.”
This time, it was the man who looked weirdly at her. “I know I got here a bit late, but do you know how dangerous going after someone with a knife is? You’re not even wearing any protective gear—you could have died!”
“I appreciate your concern, however you need not worry about me.” Erza’s eyes softened minutely, appreciative of the worry, however unnecessary it might be.
The man sighed, but didn’t argue about it further, realizing she wouldn’t listen. “Just. Don’t do that again. Gotham is not the kind of place to be playing hero when you’re not prepared to deal with the consequences.”
“Gotham?” Erza asked, choosing to ignore the rest of his statement.
“The one and only crime capital of the world—” he paused, “—don’t you know what city you’re in?” Even with the red helmet he was wearing, Erza could visibly see his concern.
“I woke up in this alleyway but I don’t know how, exactly, I got here.” She shook her head, and if possible, the other man grew even more concerned. “Say, how far away are we from Magnolia?”
“Is that where you’re from?”
“Yes, and if you can point me in its general direction, I will gladly leave your city.”
“I’ve… never heard of that city before.” He replied honestly, and Erza frowned. Magnolia is quite well known, especially since it’s the home of the Fairy Tail guild, but she assumes she must not be in Fiore at all. She’s never heard or seen a place that looks like Gotham before, so it only makes sense it must be somewhere outside of her home country.
“Then, do you know where the country of Fiore is? Or even Ishgar?”
Once again, the man shook his head. “Never heard of either of those.”
“I see,” so she’s probably far, far away from home. “I’ll be on my way then, thank you anyways.”
As she went to leave, the man grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Hold on, if you don’t even know where you are, what are you planning on doing?”
“Explore,” she said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, which to her, it is. She’s an S-class wizard so very little would be able to come in her way and her guild mark usually deters people from messing with her too. If she’s alone in a place she doesn’t recognize, the only reasonable thing she can do is search for a way home.
“That’s a terrible idea.” His grip on her arm seemed to become tighter. “A young woman wandering the streets of the most crime ridden city in the world while completely defenseless? You’re practically begging to be targeted.”
Erza frowned, pulling her arm away from him. “I’m not defenseless and anyone who thinks otherwise will quickly be proven wrong. I can take care of myself.”
“But you don’t have a place to stay or any money.” He tried again, keeping his hands to himself this time.
“I told you. I can take care of myself.” She can figure something out, and if she can’t, she can always forage for her own food and camp outdoors. Doing that is by far one of the most common things she’s done while on jobs, whether they were solo or not. “Goodbye.” This time, she didn’t stop when he called after her, finished with the conversation.
“Dammit.” He swore, watching as she walked away, knowing how counterproductive it would be to try to follow her when she clearly doesn’t want his help.
In the few hours Lucy has spent wandering around the city, she has found a whole lot of nowhere to work. She has no ID, no address, no money, and the people in this city are just plain mean, never even bothering to give her a chance to explain herself.
But it’s fine, it’s morning again and she can’t have possibly been to every place that’s hiring already.
Looking around at all the shops she passes, she makes note how few of them have a help wanted or now hiring sign up, most just giving her a dirty look when she stares at their store for a second too long. Lucy paid them no mind though, choosing to ignore the looks she got and huff in frustration instead, deciding they are most certainly not worth her time or energy.
Eventually, she notices, she arrived at a much nicer looking part of town than she was in before—though the people were equally unfriendly. With it being somewhat nicer than the unkept buildings she passed earlier, Lucy was able to see a more diverse selection of job options around. Specifically, she passed a building that had a stack of newspapers from the Gotham City Newspaper that caught her attention. It was an advert for a new journalist for their paper and Lucy got an idea.
She’s worked for Sorcerer's Weekly—a newspaper company—before, so why couldn’t she do it again? It can be a way to not only get money but also information. After all, no one would question why a journalist is always seeking new information.
With a new plan now in mind, she took note of the address written and hummed, her new course of action now decided.