I stared out the window of the little magic shop Lucy and I had come across. It was a beautiful day, but my mood was anything but uplifted.

My sister, my double in every way but personality, wasn't very happy to find out this cluttered shop, full of magic trinkets and accessories, didn't have what we'd been looking for.

Celestial Spirit Gate Keys.

Both Lucy and I were Celestial Spirit Mages, using the Spirits bound by the keys as our partners in battle. Not to say we'd ever seen much action. Neither of us were part of a guild yet, much to my chagrin. But we had our eyes set on one in particular.

Anyway, it may seem odd, impossible even, but both of us were contracted to our Spirits. Or rather, they held a contract with the both of us. Somehow, we'd managed to convince every Spirit we came across to make duel contracts.

Basically, all this meant is that the Celestial Spirits responded to either one of us, depending on who uses the Key. I liked it. It meant I could always help out Lucy.

"EEEEEEEH?! There's only one magic store in this town?!"

Yup, Luce was disappointed.

I turned away from the window, hands unconsciously moving to fix my aviator goggles in place on my forehead. Luce had her hands on her hips, leaning over to the counter to stare down at the little man who ran the shop. I sighed a little, taking in her typical teenage girl appearance. I'll admit, she pulled off the tight fitting clothes. The close cut white and blue collared, sleeveless shirt stretched over her abnormally large chest, and the blue miniskirt hugged her thighs in a way that got her a LOT of unwanted attention.

We both wore our blonde hair loose, though she had a side ponytail, tied up with a blue ribbon. That's pretty much where our similar tastes ended though. I chose to wear black cargo pants that zipped up all the way to mid thigh, and a semi-fitted white tank, under my army-green half-jacket. And while she had heels, I had simple running shoes.

She wanted to show off, I preferred to be underrated. Or understated. Which makes more sense?

Whatever.

I half listened as my sister was informed that this town was known for fishing, not magic, and sadly they didn't have much to offer. I rolled my eyes when he tried to convince Lucy to by magical clothing-color changing whatevers that she apparently already had.

And then we got down to business.

I watched with wide eyes as the man pulled out a... Silver Key? Ooh, Lucy had been looking for this one.

"White Doggy!" she announced giddily. I sweat dropped. She didn't really just call a Celestial Spirit "White Doggy".... right? Well, what she meant (I think) was Canis Minor, Nikora, a minor Spirit generally not used for more than being a pet. Lucy thought he was cute, I guess. I wasn't arguing with her, because no matter how a Spirit appeared, I loved them equally. Except maybe Aquarius, one of our Golden Keys. She hated both Lucy and I. And I still have no idea why she hated Lucy. Me.... yeah, I probably deserved her wrath.

"That's not strong at all," the old shopkeeper said awkwardly, bowled over by Lucy's obvious enthusiasm for the minor Spirit. "It's ok, I've been looking for it," she replied, grinning happily at the Key. She was practically fawning over it. "How much is it?"

"20,000 jewels."

Lucy's grin widened. "I wonder how much it is..."

"I said, 20,000 jewels."

And this is where my sister decided to use her "sex appeal" she was so proud of. She hopped up onto the counter, leaning over so that the poor man's face was almost pressed into her chest. I rolled my eyes, not even remotely tempted to aid her in this particular escapade. "I wonder how much it really is," she said seductively. I barely was able to cover my mouth in time to block the laughter threatening to explode from my chest. "Dandy Mister."

"Tch. He only gave me a thousand jewel discount," Lucy said irritably, scowling at nothing in particular as we walked around town. "Is my sex appeal only worth a thousand jewels?!?!" she demanded, smashing her foot into a poor sign we happened to pass.

"Now, now, Lucy," I said comfortingly, patting her shoulder. "That man was old, and probably had some seriously bad eyesight issues. Don't worry too much, ok?" She brightened immediately, grinning at me.

"Right, Winter!" she chirped. "He just didn't get to see all of my sexiness."

I sweat dropped, turning away so she couldn't see my amused smirk. My sister would never change, and at the very least, I got some quality entertainment out of her strange personality.

I turned back to Lucy, having finally smothered my patronizing look, when several girls blasted past me, nearly knocking me flat to the ground. "Bitches," I hissed, nodding a thanks to Lucy, since she grabbed my arm before I face-planted and pulled me upright. 

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, staring after the frantic, squealing girls. If I was judging on appearances alone, I would have said they were either being chased, or just mentally unstable. But being a teenage girl, I knew immeidately what they were freaking out over. And I wanted no part of it. And I knew Lucy would back me up. That is, until I heard some of what the girls were squealing about.

"A famous mage is in town!!"

"It's Salamander!!"

"Well this isn't good at all," I muttered, watching Lucy's eyes go wide and almost doll-like. She clapped her hands together, looking like a fangirl from Hell. 

"Y-You mean the mage who control the magic of fire that can't be bought in stores....?" she gushed, making me facepalm. "He's in town?!"

She looked at me pleadingly, eyes wide and sparkling. I opened my mouth, intent on shooting her down, because I just knew whoever could attract girls like that wasn't the kinda of person we should be meeting. But what came out was, "Yeah, yeah, let's just do this quickly."

I slapped a hand over my mouth, surprised. Shit! I cursed silently. What the hell just happened? I am I really that affected by her lost-puppy look?! Before I could contemplate things further, she grabbed onto my wrist and dragged me after the girls.

It wasn't long until we came to a stop and spotted the mob of girls and women swarming around who I presumed to be Salamander. "Oooh, he's popular," Lucy noted, then proceeded to float (I have no better way to describe how she moved right then) towards the crowd. "I wonder is he looks cool..."

"I wonder if you're really my sister," I mumbled, shoving my hands into my pockets as I followed her. Lucy pushed her way through the crowd of screaming, writhing females, leaving me to follow in her wake. It wasn't fun, I assure you, to try and make it past a bunch of fangirls who were squealing like goddamn pigs after truffles. Pigs like truffles, right? I'm not just making that up? 

Lucy and I finally made it past the majority of the girls, and caught sight of Salamander, the Mage of Flame. Before I even looked up at his face, my eyes zeroed in on his hand, where he bore several suspicious-looking rings. One, I recognized as outlawed magic meant to charm people. Well, that wouldn't work anymore, not that I knew about it. I looked up and away from the rings, and immediatley understood why he wore them in the first place.

He wasn't attractive. 

At all.

"Whelp, I'm disgusted," I stated, starting to turn away. "Let's go, Luce--" And that's when the mob of suddenly angry girls picked me up and launched me over their heads and into a nearby wall.

"Salamader is not disgusting!" they shouted in unison, even my sister. The hell?!

"Matter of opinion," I muttered, rubbing my now sore back, wincing when I brushed over a fast-forming bruise. It seemed Lucy had fallen prey to the illegal magic as well. She must have seen his face before the ring. I sighed, leaning my head back against the wall. The easiest thing to do would just be to tell her about the magic. But that would mean clawing my way through the girls again, and seeing as how they already hated my guts, I didn't fancy that as a great option.

I stood and dusted myself off, resolving to get my sister back before and real damage could be done. I fingered my share of our Celestial Spirit Keys that were strapped to the white belt I wore around my hips. I had three, and Lucy had three.... Well four if you counted the one she just bought. But neither of us had made a contract yet, and even if we had, Canis Minor wasn't much a fighting Spirit.

I also didn't want to hurt the girls, no matter how much I despised them in that moment. I wondered if Lyra, one of the Spirits I got along particularly well with, could provide a distraction by singing. Before I could make a decision, however, I spotted a pink-haired boy possibly a little older than myself forcing his way through the crowd of love-struck girls, shouting, "Igneel! Igneel!"

I raised a brow, wondering just who he was. Dropping my hand from my three keys, I clambered up onto a barrel that sat beside the wall I'd knocked into, trying to see what was happening in the center of the mob.

That boy, along with his blue cat that wore a dark-green bag tied around its neck, had made it to the center. The boy had probably gotten knocked over, or tripped, because he was on his hands and knees, staring up at Salamander. With some relief, I noticed the spell had been broken on Lucy, and that the hearts had (literally) dropped from her eyes, shattering against the pavement. 

"Who're you?" the boy asked Salamander, causing the man to start in surprise. He wasn't used to not being recognized, I suppose.

Then he placed a hand to his pointy chin and gave the boy a rather creepy look. Oi! There was a pedophile on the loose! Someone save that kid!

"Maybe you know me as.... Salamander," creepy pedo Flame Mage said. Too bad for him, the boy had already left, trudging down the street, looking quite dejected.

I wondered who Igneel was, considering he was so upset that Salamander wasn't the same person.

But, even worse for the boy, the mob of girls attacked him, flinging him into the same wall I'd bounced off of. 

"Whoa, you ok?" I asked, jumping down from my barrel and crouching beside the boy. "That's enough girls," I heard Salamander say. "He didn't mean it, really."

I ignored him, focusing on the boy who was slowly pushing his face off the ground. I held out my hand to him, and when he took it, pulled him to his feet. "I got the same treatment," I informed him, as he too dusted himself off. He looked up from his clothes and gave me a very lost look that caused my breath to hitch in my throat. But I couldn't ask about ti, because that idiot of a Flame Mage decided to interrupt.

He stepped up to us and tried to hand something to the boy. It was a large white card with the signature Salamander spelled fancily in blue ink. "I'll give you my siganture," he said to the boy with a cheesy smile. "You can show it off to your friends."

"I don't want it," the boy said bluntly, making me snort in laughter. And that's how we both got thrown down the street, skidding along the ground as angry fangirls shouted obscenities after us.

"That wasn't fun at all," I said, lying spread-eagle on the ground, staring up at the sweeping clouds. The boy was beside me, on his stomach, with the blue cat next to him, prodding his arm. "It wasn't him," the boy said, his words muffled due to his face being pressed against the pavement.

It barley registered when the Flame Mage Salamader disappeared with help from his sparkling purple flames, flying off to God knows where. 

I sat up and looked up at the boy; he was just pulling upright himself, an irriated expression on his young face as he looked at the disappearing trail of flames left in Salamander's wake. 

"What is he?" he asked irritably.

"Pervert," I said simply, rolling my eyes. 

"He's really is disgusting." I looked up and over my shoulder to see Lucy had finally joined us. When the boy looked as well, she added with a cute smile, "Thanks for earlier." Then she turned to me with a decidedly less friendly look. "Thanks for your help, too, sis."

I sighed, blowing the hair from my face. "Yes, because there was so much could do after I was physically assaulted by the charmed girls. I got thrown into a wall Luce!" I snapped, just as pissy as my sister. She humphed and looked away, while the cat and the boy looked between us in confusion.

"Why are there two of you?" the boy asked, looking at me, before his eyes snapped to Lucy, then back to me.

"Huh?" my sister said in surprise.

"We're twins, dude," I said, gesturing between Lucy and I. "You've never heard of them?"

"Aye," he said with a huge grin that showed off his pointed canines. "No one I know is a twin."

I smiled slightly as I once again helped him to his feet. "Well anyway, I'm Winter. This is my sister, Lucy." Lucy smiled as well, waving to the boy.

"Oh, well I'm Natsu," he said in reply, straightening the scarf around his neck. I blinked, watching it catch the light in a way a scarf shouldn't have. It didn't look to be made out of normal materials. "And this is Happy." He pointed down at the big-eyed cat, who looked up at us and said, "Aye, that's me."

Talking cats? Cool.

Lucy decided to treat the boys to a meal as thanks for them breaking the charm on her. Admittedly, it wasn't a great idea. They both ate like wild animals, tearing into food and spitting and spraying morsels everywhere. I, being smart (maybe) sat next to Natsu, and got the least of his projectile foodstuff. While Lucy, sitting across from us, took the full brunt of the assault. I tried hard not to laugh at her when she flicked scraps of ramen from her nose.

"Yhurrr ah naiz burrzonn," Natsu said, still attacking his food. When Lucy looked confused, I said, "You're a nice person. That's what he was going for." She nodded, then held up her hands in a meek attempt to block th eincoming food.

"Ah ha ha," she laughed weakly. "I understand, so just eat slowly, or things will keep splashing all over the place... I mean the discount I got from my sex appeal is all gone...."

I smiled, resting my chin on my palm as I watched Natsu devour everything set in front of him. It looked like enough to feed a small army. He was an interesting guy alright.

"That Salamander guy was using magic called Charm," Lucy explained, I guess deciding to ignore Natsu's eating habits for the time being. "It's magic that attracts other people's hearts to the caster. And it was already banned several years ago.... But trying to get girls' attentions by using such magic.... how disgusting."

"I tried to convince you it wasn't worth our time," I said, flicking her a sharp glance. She only stuck her tongue out at me as a response.

"Anyway, thanks to you guys jumping in, the Charm wore off on me," she continued, ignoring the daggers I shot her way. 

"I zee," Natsu mumbled, teeth ripping at a turkey leg.

"I may look like this, but I'm a mage too," Lucy said proudly, gesturing to herself.

"Same here," I said. "Though I'm just a little bit better than my sister," I added cheekily. This earned me a bowl of pasta in the face. Well then.

As I grabbed a napkin and started to wipe the grime from my face, Lucy went on with her lovely speech.

"We're not members of any guild yet though," she said. "Ah! A guild is an association for mages and it mediates jobs and other information to mages. Mages won't be considered full-fledged until they work for a guild. But!! But!! There are many guilds all over the world and it's pretty hard to get into the guilds that are popular." She accompanied these last words with strange, flowing movements, ending with several self-satisfied nods. 

I leaned back in my seat, finished with clean up, and rolled my eyes. "Sis," I said as kindly as I could. "You're gushing. A lot. It's freaky."

She completely ignored me and went on with her rant. "Many great mages will gather at the one we want to get into. Aah... What should I do? I want to get in, but it'll be hard...."

Natsu looked up with a very.... bored(?) expression, still slurping ramen from the bowl. "Ah! Sorry!" Lucy apologized, waving a hand a bit dismissively. "You wouldn't understand a story from the world of mages, would you? But I'll surely join that guild. I bet I can get a lot of big jobs there."

"I... I see," Natsu said, swallowing a bit of whatever he'd chosen to devour next.

"You talk a lot," Happy said helpfully. I cracked a smile.

"Hey, Natsu," I said, attempting to steer the conversation away from my sister and myself. "You said you were looking for someone, right?"

"Aye, it's Igneel," Happy answered.

"I heard that Igneel was coming to this town," Natsu said, content food-stuffed face slipping into a defeated mess. "So we came, but it was the wrong person."

"This Salamander didn't look like a salamander," Happy said.

"I totally believed that it was Igneel too."

"How could.... a human... look like a salamander?" Lucy asked awkwardly.

"Hrmm? He's not a human," Natsu said, as if this were obvious. "He's a real dragon."

My sister and I had completely different reactions to this. She recoiled into the seat, mouth gaping, eyes wide and shocked. I jumped from my seat, slamming my hands down on the table, and asked excitedly, "Seriously?! That's awesome!"

"Don't be silly!" Lucy snapped. "There's no way such a thing could be in this world!"

"Hey!! Don't tell me you only just noticed!!" Happy and Natsu chorused, equally as shocked as my sister. 

When I finally got Lucy to settle down, she dropped the payment for the meal onto the table and motioned for me to stand. "I guess we better get going... But go ahead and take your time," she said. We left a surprised Natsu and Happy tearing up in the booth, though I wasn't sure why. That is, until we got halfway to the door and the slid from the booth, bowing down on their hands and knees.

"Thank you for the meal!!"

"Thank you!!"

Lucy was horrified and embarrassed. I was smiling. These two were really something else. "It's fine," I said, lifting a hand to wave away their gesture of thanks. "You helped out my sister when I couldn't. This was the least we could do." Even if it was Lucy's money...

"I don't feel like a helped you at all," Natsu said, head still close to the ground.

"Aye, I don't feel right," Happy added. Then Natsu jumped to his feet, looking like he'd just had a breakthrough.

"Oh yeah! I'll give you this," he said, offering the Salamander signature to my sister. 

"I don't want that!" she shouted, slapping it from his hand.

"I liked those two," I said after a long while of listening to Lucy go on and on about the mages in Weekly Sorcerer. "They were fun."

"Crazy is more like it," she replied, flipping to another page. She was reclining on a bench on the side of the path, while I was sitting on the ground, playing with my set of Keys. I was tempted to call out Lyra, because I loved her singing, and I know she was laways up for putting on a show. But I didn't want to waste my magic on something so trivial. Not that summoning a Spirit was ever a waste, I just didn't think there was much point in doing it this time around.

"Fairy Tail caused trouble again?!"

I looked up my two Silver, and one Gold, Keys. Lucy was swiftly reading through whatever article she's happened upon, voicing her thoughts aloud for whatever reason. "What is it this time? They destroyed the Devon Thief Family, but also destroyed seven other houses that belonged to the townspeople." I tuned out after that, because she was having another fit of admiration for Fairy Tail and rolling around on the bench like a child having a spastic fit.

I guess they weren't that different, really.

I was pulled back into the one-sided conversation when she said, "Mage Guild Fairy Tail. It's the best."

"I see. You want to join Fairy Tail."

"Ah! It's the pedo Flame Mage!" I cried, cringing away from the man who had just randomly popped up out of the bushes behind us. If that didn't scream stalker I don't know what would.

"Oh man, I"ve been looking all over for you two," he said, climbing out into the street. "I really want to invite a couple of beautiful ladies like you two to my party on the ship."

"H-Huh?" Lucy stammered. Then I snapped my fingers in her face and she settled back into reality. "Let me tell you first, your Charm won't work on me anymore. The weakpoint of Charm is understanding.... As long as the person knows about it, that magic is useless."

"What she said," I added with a cheeky closed-eye smile.

"I knew it!" Salamander said triumphantly. "I knew you were a mage when our eyes met!"

"I never once looked into your dirty eyes," I muttered under my breath.

"It's ok. I'll be happy if you just come to the party," he said with another charming (creepy) smile. 

"There's no way we'd come to such a nasty guy's party," Lucy stated firmly.

"Nasty? Me?" He seemed very put off at the accusation. 

"She means the Charm, idiot," I said scathingly, crossing my arms under my chest for emphasis. "It's a pretty vile way to become popular don't you think? Or well, I guess you wouldn't think that..."

"That's only a trial," he said in an explanatory way. "I just want to be a celebrity at my own party. Is that such a crime?"

"Yes," I hissed. 

Lucy nodded and turned away, heading down the street in the opposite direction of Salamander. "You're an idiot," she said. "Not even close to being a popular mage."

"Wait up!" he huffed, chasing after us. "You... you two want to join Fairy Tail, right?"

Both Lucy and stopped in our tracks, though I was slightly more reluctant. I just didn't get a good vibe from this guy.

"Have you ever heard of Salamander from Fairy Tail?" he asked. I chanced a look over my shoulder, along with Lucy, and regretted it in an instant. I could see it in his eyes that he knew he at least had my sister at his beck-and-call.

"I have!!" Lucy breathed, sweating quite profusely.

"You can't be a mage of Fairy Tail," I said disapprovingly, raising a very skeptical eyebrow. He just smiled that disturbing smile of his and didn't answer. Yes, that was reassuring.

"If you want to join," he said, now speaking mostly to Lucy, "I can talk to the master for you."

In an instant Lucy's whole demeanor changed, and she practically cuddled up to the pervy guy. "It'll be a wonderful party, won't it?"

"This... this was too easy," he said, smiling a little awkwardly now. I sighed, pushing a few strands of hand behind my ear.

"C-Can we really joing Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked, still very chipper.

I wanted to gag.

"Of course," he replied. "But please don't tell anyone about the Charm."

"Ok! Okaaay!"

"I'll see you at the party then," he called over his shoulder, walking away.

"Roger sir!" she chirped back. I nudged her with my toe and she looked to me with sparkling eyes and childish grin.

"You just got pseudo-charmed," I said. "I hope you know that."

Her face fell slightly, then turned even more radiant than before. "We can join Fairy Tail!" she shouted in glee, jumping for the sky. "Woohoo!" When she fell back to her, she held a hand in front of her mouth, giggling like a little girl. "We'll just have to be friendly with that idiot until we join. Heehee!"

It wasn't until we were halfway to the inn we were staying at that it dawned on me. I stopped walking in the middle of the street, and tugged Lucy to a halt as well. I turned her around, grabbed a hold of her shoulders, and looked seriously into her eyes, which were exactly like mine. 

"We?"