Well. I can't believe I made a chapter almost dedicated fully to Happy. I can't lie, he has his annoying moments, but he's such a good character. I tried to put into words what probably goes through his mind most times in a fight, so I hope you all like the start of Happy's path to becoming his own character and not just a sidekick. The second half of this chapter is more to remind everyone where we are in the timeline. Without further ado...

Remember to leave your thoughts in a review, it does help a lot. I do not own Fairy Tail, only my characters.

Chapter 24: Happy the Human?!

Title song: Happy's theme (Fairy Tail OST)

"Another drink over here please!" Sarah watched as Mira got called over with a fresh tray of booze for some of the older members. She had to give respect where it was needed, and Mira deserved all of it. The barmaid had been through some of the worst crap possible, but she still had enough energy to smile.

Looking around, she spotted Macao and Wakaba using their purple fire and smoke to lift the wooden beams to the members up high. She saw Jet dashing off to get extra supplies for the new stage, while Laki constantly worked on creating new wooden flooring and other vital wood pieces. The new guildhall was looking great, walls starting to look high, and they were just starting to work on the extra rooms and other features, such as the basement being turned into a games room, and out the back getting a pool.

Sarah had to admit, she might like the sound of that last one.

"Um… Mira?" Sarah noted the blue cat sitting at the bar.

"Yes Happy?" Mira asked, coming over. Sarah noted that the feline was sitting in front of a book. A large one. As the cat was calling for Mira, she glanced at the cover and her eyes widened.

Transformation magic? Whoa… there's more to it than I thought. Is Happy… studying? Sarah thought.

"Um… I've been thinking this over… could… could you teach me Transformation Magic?" Happy asked, surprising both Mira and Sarah.

"I'm always happy to help those interested in trying it, but what brought this on?" Mira asked.

"I think I know," Sarah chuckled. "It definitely has nothing to do with those two cats from Cait Shelter. Definitely not the fact they have a human form and have powerful magic in said forms." She chuckled as Happy gave a small blush. "Oi Mira, he's serious though, look at the book."

Mira picked it up, eyes widening. "You're serious, but I'm proud that you're doing it properly. A lot just approach asking for a crash course."

"You got it. Watching Melody bring out all those instruments showed me that my kind does have more potential than I thought. I thought I might be able to defend her and get some praise, but she managed to KO so many Phantoms," Happy admitted.

"Nothing wrong with wanting to climb to a new level on the ladder of self-ability, I'm sure Mira would love to help you kid," Sarah smiled.

"She's right. You explained you want to use Transformation magic to get stronger, I know how that can help. Of course I will, come on, let's go down onto the beach when things get quiet. Sarah, you mind telling Natsu and his friends that Happy will be busy this week?" Asked Mira.

"Sure," Sarah easily located Natsu and Gray, with Lucy standing off to the side, trying to defuse their fight. Walking over, Lucy saw her. "At it again huh?"

"Yup…" Lucy gave a sigh of disbelief.

"Honestly…" Sarah agreed, before walking into the dust cloud of their fight. Lucy sweat-dropped as the dust settled, Sarah holding Gray by his hair and Natsu by his scarf. "Enough! Until the new guildhall is finished, no fighting! We can't risk you bashing into something important and bringing everything crashing down!"

"Yes ma'am…" Both fire and ice wizards mumbled.

"Good," Sarah released the two rivals. She turned to the fire dragon slayer. "Looks like Happy's gotten a bit self-conscious about his ability since the Phantom war. He's asked Mira to help him learn transformation magic."

The three gasped, looking over to the cat, who was munching on a fish. Because of course he is, Sarah thought.

"Aww… he wants to learn it like Carla and Melody did, doesn't he?" Lucy asked.

"Right. He saw Melody kick all kinds of ass in the attack on Oak town. I think he's been inspired," Sarah nodded.

"I'm gonna go with him. Probably just to cheer him on. Anyone coming?" Asked Natsu.

"Sure, I've been meaning to stretch my legs anyway, Lucy?" Sarah nodded.

"Eh… too many supporters and he'll start feeling pressured, I'll wait eagerly for the results," Lucy shrugged.

That afternoon, Mira, Happy, Sarah and Natsu headed down to the beach. "Alright, let's get started," Mira said. Sarah laid back on the sand, hands propping up her head as she let Mira start off. "Since you've already been reading up, I would like you to show me if you've made any progress."

Happy nodded, and focused. A magic circle appeared under him, before a puff of smoke covered him. When it faded, Sarah burst into giggles as she saw Natsu's head on Happy's body.

"Whoa! It's me! On Happy!" Natsu laughed, just as surprised.

"This is all I've been able to do. I just can't get the body to change," Happy sighed, changing back.

"That's already much more than I expected. Well done!" Mira praised him. "Let's continue using Natsu as the template for now. Since you've gotten his head perfect, it means you've been studying his appearance for a while now."

Happy nodded, ready to learn. "So, try to take in everything you can, every detail, every tiny pimple, the more accurate you can make it, the better!" Mira instructed. Happy nodded, eyes locking onto Natsu.

Sarah watched as magic power began to exert off the cat as he focused. "Now, if you think you've got every detail, clothes included, then give it a shot!"

Happy took a deep breath, "Transform!" He cried out. Again, pink smoke covered him, but there was a lot more this time. When it faded, Sarah was shocked to see two Natsu Dragneels before her.

"No way…!" Natsu gasped, actually too shocked to shout properly. "Wha… you're me!" He muttered.

Mira walked around the lookalike, "Great job! You nailed it!" She clapped, to which Sarah and Natsu joined in, proud of their little friend.

"I did it! I'm human!" Happy gasped.

"Great job. Now that we've gotten you past the intermediate stage, it's time to start crafting your own human form. This can be one of the hardest lessons to complete. Let's begin," Mira smiled.

Happy turned back, thrilled with himself. "Now, when you think of yourself in human form, what do you see?" Asked Mira.

"I've been thinking that for a while. I'd probably have blue hair, short, but messy. Cat ears would be obvious too. Black eyes, small nose." Happy nodded. Mira then puffed with pink smoke, and her head suddenly was Happy's rough description. "Yeah, like that!" Happy compared the blue with his tail, liking the colour, the ears were exactly like his own.

"Now. This part is important. You need to know what clothes your human form will have, otherwise you'll be streaking, and that's an absolute no when it comes to transforming," Mira stressed.

Happy nodded, and pulled off his backpack, pulling out some clothes he must have bought beforehand. When he had dressed himself, he was wearing a white shirt, red shorts and his green bag.

Mira nodded, examining each and every detail. Poking each button on his shirt, testing the depth of his shorts' pockets. "I see," Mira completely changed, and Happy gasped, seeing a human teenage boy, with blue hair, black eyes and a small nose. Two human ears were obvious to see, but there was also two cat ears above his brow, which Mira wiggled.

The boy was wearing a clean white shirt, a pair of red knee-length shorts with a white tipped blue tail poking from them and brown light boots. Happy was particularly impressed with the backpack.

"Now you try, using this as your template," Mira said, using Happy's voice, causing the cat to frown.

"Please don't do that," He groaned, but began to examine every detail on his pictured human form. Then, he took a deep breath and hardened his eyes. "Transform!" He cried out. Pink smoke appeared one more time, and Sarah and Natsu watched with baited breath as the magic took place.

From the cloud, Happy laughed. Suddenly, the smoke faded, and the now-human Happy was stood, admiring his new form. "I DID IT!" He yelled with joy. "I actually figured it out!"

"Awesome job buddy!" Natsu said, holding up a hand. Happy grinned, slapping it with his own, joyed that he did a proper high-five.

"Now. Your homework," Mira said, interrupting the boy's celebration as she returned to normal. "For seven days, you are to work on keeping that human form. Whenever it wears off, meditate, work on building up your magic power. You'll find that in that human form, your magic ability will be much more. Judging by what I saw from Melody and Carla, they could fly in human form as well, so once you've got a grip on your new form, you can practice incorporating other magic types into your new form."

"There's also the new question, now that you have a human form, what combat magic will you learn? Carla had Moon Magic, while Melody had Music Magic," Sarah pointed out.

"I'll figure that out after I get the hang of this form," Happy smiled.

"Then lead the way, let's go show the guild that you've got game to get stronger and become a proper Fairy Tail wizard," Natsu grinned, taking his best buddy back up to the building site.

Stepping back into what would become the main hall, members turned with slightly wide eyes at the human with bright blue hair. "Wait a minute… Happy?!" Jet asked.

"THAT'S HAPPY!?" The entire guild asked in shock.

"Not bad Cat, you got big," Lucy smiled, holding up a palm. Happy grinned, giving another high-five.

"Nice job my boy, you've done an excellent job," Makarov gave a thumbs up.

Over the next seven days, Sarah watched Happy continue to get the hang of transformation magic, he was soon able to switch between the two with ease, a quick flash of teal magic power, and he changed form.

After that, he worked on his Aera magic in his human form, and Natsu wasn't arguing with the results. Being in human form, Happy could go faster, and was able to pull off tighter maneuvers than he used to, and the duo were hard at work coming up with new team attacks using Happy's new capabilities. Team Natsu even went on a job, which allowed Happy to use his new form in combat for the first time.

Things would have to take a back seat for now though, as something more important had come up.

That night, Sarah was relaxing in the common lounge at Fairy Hills with Bisca and Laki when a knock came from the door. The three girls glanced between them, and Sarah answered it.

Happy was at the door, and he was clearly out of breath. "Man… being a messenger sucks…" He panted.

"Happy? What are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Emergency news from the guild! It's Loke! He's quit and pulled a runner!" Happy reported.

"What?! Loke… quit?!" Sarah asked.

"Gray just told me and Lucy, everyone who knows is already out looking for him," Happy said.

"Thanks, continue the search, I'll get the girls involved," Sarah nodded. Happy sprouted his wings and took to the sky again.

Sarah spotted the intercom lacrima, grabbing the speaker. "Girls, drop whatever you're up to! We've got to find out where Loke has gone, he left Fairy Tail and has practically dropped off the grid."

"Understood, let's join the search ladies," Erza replied from her own unit in her room.

Sarah leapt out the door, "Void Magic: Wings!" She called, joining the aerial search for the missing ring wizard. That's not like Loke. I know he's been acting weird lately, but to just leave, just like that? Something's not right…

"Loke!" She heard Natsu below. "Where are you man!?"

"Natsu! You've not been able to get his scent?" Asked Sarah, coming to a halt above him.

"Nah, it's like he just vanished without a trace," Natsu shook his head.

"We'll find him. And when we do, he will explain himself," Sarah frowned.

"Damn right he will! Good hunting!" Natsu called, and Sarah took to the search again.

Not a damn thing! We searched all night! Nothing! She thought as they resumed work on the guildhall the next day.

"Hey, look who's back!" Gray called out.

"Found him," Lucy smiled, causing Sarah to whirl around. The blonde celestial wizard was stood there, grinning as Loke rubbed his neck with nerves.

"Where the hell did you go? You left the guild without a word and suddenly you come back like nothing happened. Explain, now," Sarah frowned.

Lucy began, explaining how she found Loke standing at the gravesite of a fallen celestial wizard from Blue Pegasus, called Karen Lilica. Sarah remembered that case. Poor girl went on a job when she was exhausted of her power.

Loke explained how he was a spirit, a powerful one called Leo the Lion. As the leader of the Zodiac, he stood up for a fellow gold key when Karen started abusing her. He refused to return to the spirit world, continuously siphoning Karen of her magic power.

Karen needed to continue to make a living, and tried a job, but it was what did her in. Loke was put on Celestial trial by the ruler of the spirit world, and banished from his home for eternity.

"Wait… Karen's death was three years ago. From what I've read about Celestial magic, spirits struggle to survive one year non-stop in the human world. How the hell did you survive three?" Sarah asked.

"By sheer determination. That and I had found a new home. Fairy Tail." Loke smiled softly.

Lucy continued, explaining that she straight up challenged the Celestial Spirit King's judgement, going to such lengths as to summon nine spirits through sheer willpower, including her five gold keys.

This impressed the King to the point that he forgave Loke, opening the Lion's gate and force-contracting Leo to Lucy.

"So wait… you're a celestial spirit?!" Natsu asked.

"No way, really?!" Happy asked, shocked.

"Yup, sorry for worrying you guys," Loke shrugged.

"Aha! I've always thought there was something off about you, you never smelt right to me, even under all that perfume," Natsu grinned.

"Guess so," Loke chuckled.

"Gotta say I never caught on to ya," Gray admitted.

"How come you're not a cow or a horse or a crab? You're just a dude," Natsu asked.

"I'm with Natsu on this, no offence, but spirits look weird. However, you look pretty normal to me," Sarah agreed.

"Virgo has a human form too, it's not like we're all animals," Loke/Leo pointed out.

"Guess you have a point," Sarah shrugged.

"Loke here is actually a lion spirit," Lucy told them.

"Now that I could see, just need a pair of cat ears," Sarah nodded.

"Yeah, my true form is closer to Happy's human form," Loke told them. He held out four tickets. "Here."

"What are those?" Lucy asked.

"They're tickets to this super awesome beach resort. It's the least I could do for all you guys have helped," he scratched his head.

"Whoa… aren't those super expensive?" Gray asked as Happy, Lucy and Natsu cheered.

"Eh, since I'm returning to my celestial duties, money doesn't really mean as much to me anymore, better I put it to use paying you guys back," He shrugged. "I've already given Erza her ticket."

Sarah chuckled, "Then you guys better pack ASAP, because-"

"Chop chop, hurry up, no lollygagging," Erza's voice called out, causing everyone to glance over to the red-head, wearing a blue t-shirt with a white floral pattern and a pair of red shorts. Around her waist was an inflatable tube, and behind her was her trademark wagon of luggage. "Now hurry up or I'll leave you behind," She said.

"So much stuff!" Lucy and Gray gasped.

Sarah smiled, Team Natsu needed this. They had been right in the middle of the Phantom war, all with various roles. "You guys have fun, we'll make sure to finish the guildhall by the time you get back."

"Sounds like a plan. In that case, bring on the beach!" Natsu grinned.

Sarah watched them go, Loke and Lucy having a quiet moment before Lucy closed his gate, letting him go home and recover.

Wendy: Good on Happy, can't wait to see Carla and Melody's reaction to this.

Marcus: Believe me, it'll be good.

Daiki: What next?

Marcus: Honestly, not sure, let's have a look.

All: Next time: The Quest to Mt. Blaze!