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If someone had told Lucy five, even two years ago, that the fighting to stop world ending events would be a normal part of her life, she would have laughed. She would have laughed in their face and called them crazy.
But, well, things had a tendency to get crazy when Fairy Tail was involved. Somehow, these powerful, strange, insane, kind people always got roped into stuff much bigger than them.
They’d fought gods, and government, they’d traveled dimensions and time. So what was one more world ending catastrophe to stop? Some epidemic of nightmares and warring cities? Surely they could get to the bottom of it!
——
Lucy, Erza, Natsu, and Gray hiked their way up the hill towards the first city. The closer they got, the more worried Lucy got. There was a weird air about the town, anger and fear emanating from the place. There were people on the walls, all armed to the teeth and glaring.
“Natsu!” Happy called, circling above them. “There’s something on the other side of town! It looks like some sort of machine, they’re loading stones into it, I think they’ve been throwing them at the other village!”
“Show me!” Natsu called back, launching himself into the air. He was off before anyone could stop him.
“Well, he’s not really helpful in investigating anyway,” Gray said with a sigh and a shrug.
“Indeed,” Erza said with a nod.
“Yeah… he’s not exactly great at talking to people. He can be.. blunt,” Lucy agreed.
——
They hadn’t found much out by the time the sun began to set. There was still a sort of tension within the town, but the people seemed normal. It seemed like the other city had suddenly started attacking them in the middle of the night, claiming they were cutting off their food supplies and stealing their children.
Everyone Lucy had talked to had insisted that nobody had done that, when she compared notes, Gray and Erza had said the same thing. Surprisingly, what Natsu had learned was different. He’d heard that the other city had actually been trying to take their money, poison their water, and even, apparently, send spiders to attack the citizens.
“That’s very strange,” Erza mused. “Did anyone we talked to know specifics?”
“No,” Lucy replied, eyes widening in realization. “I tried to ask if the other townspeople had mentioned who had gone missing or anything everyone said they just kept repeating that people had been taken.”
“I asked about the spider, the little girl just said ‘they were the ones who sent them last night’ and walked away.”
“Little girl…” Lucy mumbled, frowning. “No reasons?”
“Lucy? Do you have an idea?” Gray prompted.
“Hm, I don’t know yet. I feel like they’re important somehow. I think the attacks have only been happening at night, it’s why everyone’s so strung out, but I don’t understand what the motives are.. ugh,” she said, giving up. “I don’t know. I think I need to sleep on it.”
“I could use some shut eye,” Gray admitted. Erza nodded, and Natsu shrugged. So they went to find an inn for the night.
——
Lucy couldn’t sleep. Everything still nagged at her. The reasons for fighting didn’t make any sense. From what she could remember the two cities had worked together well, trading resources and cultural until they were practically one people. And the spiders… it seemed like such a childish thing to do. There was no reason to do it, no motive for the other city.
No motive at all? Childish retaliation.. from a child? All the reasons for fighting reasonably caused fear, the kidnappings and loss of livelihoods. But.. spiders. Those weren’t as rational. It sounded like nightmare fuel. Oh. The nightmares. Of course!
Lucy was out of bed and standing before she knew it, barely tugging on her shoes before racing to the other’s rooms. She pounded on their doors and hoped she wasn’t too late.
——
“Lucy what’re you doing out?” Gray asked, his heart pounding. “They’s a literal war going on in the city!”
“What? Yeah I know, we need to go stop it, I’ve figured it out! Go drag Natsu out of bed I’ll get Erza.”
“You guys are going to get hurt if you go fight!”
“Probably, we usually do, now come on!”
“You’re going to die,” Gray said, pleading, convincing deep down that he might loose his friends. He couldn’t do that. Not again.
“You’re being ridiculous, we’re all very capable mages, and with your help we’ll be fine! Now put on some pants and drag Natsu and Happy out of bed!”
——
“They’re evil! They’ve been hurting the poor people in this town! We have to stop them!” Natsu cried as Lucy gathered the group.
“Natsu were you not listening? Something bigger is going on, there’s something or someone making them think the other group is causing their nightmares to come true, and that’s why they’re all fighting!”
“So we beat up on the other guys until everyone stops fighting. Great plan, Lucy!”
“What? I- guys little help here?” Natsu frowned at the woman, why was so so against fighting the bad guys?
——
“I agree with Natsu. We have to fight against them,” she said. She had to protect her friends. “If we don’t fight them they’ll end up harming us. I won’t let that happen.”
“O-okay,” Lucy stammered, looking a little confused and disappointed. “Let’s go stop a war.”
——
Fighting followed, and lots of it. The rest of Fairy Tail broke off and started causing mayhem and destruction, but Lucy couldn’t let go of the idea that there was someone causing all this. So while the two cities clashed, she searched for the mage or artifact or whatever it was that was responsible.
——
Lucy stood, hands on her knees, clothes torn and mud stained, less than thirty minutes later. The world was quiet and for a moment she let herself breathe before straightening.
“Did it work?” Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Happy looked around, confused, their guards lowering along with the villagers.
“Did… did we win?” Natsu asked, frowning.
“If this be victory, I pray I never win again,” Erza said, surveying the carnage.
“What the hell happened?” Gray asked. “I was convinced they were going to kill you guys for some reason.”
“I believed you all needed my protection,” Erza admitted.
“I thought they were the bad guys.”
“Aye! Me too!” Happy added.
“Yeah it’s a long story, but basically you were all convinced your nightmares would be real so that the two cities could fight and some jerks could profit off of it.”
“Did you find it all out yourself?” Natsu asked in awe. Lucy shrugged.
“I had my keys.”
“I’m sorry we were not more helpful, Lucy.”
“I think we’ve got a lot to fix here,” Gray added, glancing at the singed fields and frozen trees with a wince.
“Yeah.. probably,” Lucy said.
“Are you okay Lucy? You look exhausted,” Happy commented.
“The only reason I figured it and wasn’t affected like all of you is because I didn’t get any sleep last night,” Lucy said with a yawn. “Jeez, fighting took a lot out of me.”
“Go get some rest, the threat’s gone, right?” Gray said. She nodded.
“Good work, Lucy!” Natsu said, slapping her on the back. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Yeah, we can help people!” Happy agreed.
“We will ensure the townsfolk know what occurred, and will help with damages, go get some sleep,” Erza told her firmly.
“Okay, okay,” Lucy said with another yawn. “Come wake me when you all get back, I can tell you exactly what happened,” she said sleepily.
Then, finally, Lucy trudged her way back to their hotel, crawled into bed, and fell fast asleep. If her friends didn’t wake her upon their return.. well, that was an issue for tomorrow’s Lucy to deal with.