"Disgusting."
He muttered darkly under his breath, staring up at the extravagant neon sign that hung above the decorated doorway. It lit up in a vibrant display of blue and yellow, the words appearing as small galaxies on display above him. The name of the location even more unnerving.
"You're here for an article." he told himself harshly, resisting the urge to turn and walk away. "Business before personal feelings."
He opened the door, feeling the warm rush of heat flutter past him and out into the dreary november night.
"Welcome to Celestial Spirits!" a blonde woman greeted him cheerfully, seated behind a rather large mahogany desk with two doors on either side which led into the heart of the operation. "My name is Lucy Heartfelia, owner and proprietor of this establishment. How many in your party?"
"Just myself." he gritted out through his teeth. Had this woman no common sense? He was standing alone in the middle of a deserted lobby!
She led him through the dark doorway and into a bustling club with low music playing and people scattered about. Past this, and into a smaller portion of the complex, lied the more high class portion of the Celestial Spirits: The restaurant. She seated him at a booth which was more than likely meant for about four people, which would of course suffice for his purposes.
"I'll send a waitress to take your order soon." Lucy said in a low voice, sending a chill down his spine. She winked as she walked away, sashaying her hips in what would normally be considered an alluring fashion, but it was too dramatic and accentuated for his tastes. Not that he would have ever considered her as a possible match in the first place. "Make yourself comfortable, sweetie." And with those parting words, she was gone.
Another thing to write down, and he took note of it.
Note One: Waiters/Waitresses only serve the opposite gender
"Curious." he muttered, looking around. There were a few more employees bustling about. A blue-haired woman dressed like a mermaid serving a business man with slicked back hair. A tall man dressed as a scorpion chatting up a pair of girls over in another corner of the room. Another man dressed as a cow serving Steaks on a battle-axe. Now that one was weird.
"H-H-Hello." he heard a female voice whisper beside him. He turned his head slowly, meeting eyes with a pink-haired girl dressed in what looked like a woolen short-dress and thigh-highs and little ram horns clipped into her hair so they looked natural. "M-My name is A-Aires… M-May I take your o-order?"
Her stutter was curious, as was the constant whisper. The pen and pad she was holding were between her clasped hands, although it looked as if she was trying to pull down her dress to cover more, or at least to cover that which it showed.
"S-Sir?"
"What?" he responded dumbly, before berating himself. He had been so immersed in his observations that he had forgotten her line of questioning. A quick glance down yielded him no luck to his plight, and so he panicked and looked up into her eyes again. "Tonight's special." he stated, hoping that there actually was a 'special' for the night. "Sake to drink, strongest you have."
"Y-Yes, thank you, sir." she whispered, nodding sheepishly while blushing profusely before quickly turning away. He had hardly another moment before she was out of sight, and the experience only furthered his insatiable curiosity.
"Just what has you so worried?" he mumbled, mostly to himself… completely to himself. He could not risk ruining this just because he felt like chatting up his waitress and solving her problems. He looked up at the ceiling, noting the constellations etched into the pattern of glowing stars placed there with LED lights. It truly was an enchanting venue, and he could see why many saw it as very romantic. He knew its true nature, however, and he intended to bring it to light.
A banging of silverware and glass startled him out of his reverie, and he looked down at the plate that had been roughly set before him. The house special had apparently been salmon, something he could live with. A drink followed the plate and utensils, and Aries spoke yet again.
"A-Anything else, sir?"
"No, thank you." he thought in his head, meaning to say exactly those three words. But in a blind disconnect of mind and heart, he spoke completely different words.
"Why do you seem so nervous?"
He fell apart on the inside, widening his eyes at the sudden outburst of usually well-controlled curiosity. She seemed to be surprised to, stepping back slightly with pink tinging her cheeks. She hastily looked at the ground, finding her boots interesting at the moment.
"I-It's my first day here. I'm s-sorry." she whispered sadly. He immediately felt terrible, and tried to reach a hand to her shoulder.
"It's okay." he mumbled quietly. "You don't need to be nervous around me."
Aries looked up with a scarlet hue painted across her face.
"Th-Thank you." she whispered again, before darting away as she had before.
He looked around afterward, wondering where his waitress always seemed to disappear to before realizing exactly what had happened.
"Lost track of the objective again." he muttered angrily. "Stop making goggly eyes over adorable shy pinkettes and focus on your job!"
He began to eat his food while listening to the drone of the other patrons in the room, hoping to hear at least one mumble of the information he was desperately searching for. It was a sum total of twenty minutes and two more cups of Sake before he finally heard it.
"The password of the day is: Tower of Heaven." a man whispered not-so-covertly to the mermaid-woman he had seen earlier. She smiled gleefully.
"Yes, sir… please follow me to our… special… quarters." she drawled out in a seductive voice.
Note Two: Special Quarters. Most likely base of operations.
Exactly what he was looking for. According to rumor going around, Lucy had begun to run a business on the side of her club and restaurant, which unfortunately included in an unnamed group of individuals (most likely hookers) using the unused rooms at the back of the complex to whore themselves out to those who were privy to the operation, which generally included corrupt businessmen.
(Indeed you may be wondering at this point: "Did DFaF just make Lucy a ruthless pimp?" The answer is yes. Hell yes.)
"Tower of Heaven…" he said to himself, wondering about the meaning of it.
"I-I see. Y-You're here for… th-that." Aries was next to him, looking oddly sad that he had mumbled those words. He hadn't even noticed her approach. She pushed aside his empty plate and cup and motioned for him to follow. "P-Please f-follow me."
She led him past the doors of the restaurant portion, and back into the club. Behind the stage was a door labeled 'employees only' which she opened with a small bit of hesitation. A hallway with 12 doors, six on each side, was opened up to them.
It smelled disgustingly of sex, cheap perfume, and cologne, making him almost want to relieve himself of his recent meal. Aries continued on, also looking unnerved by the hallway's stench and what it meant about the goings-on behind these doors.
Lucy's voice could be heard behind door number five.
"You really should stop picking up girls so much. You know how I hate to share…" more giggling and then some eventual moaning was heard, which ended as the continued down the hall.
Note Three: Lucy enjoys a romantic relationship with employee number five, a man named Loke.
"Disgusting." he whispered to himself again, realizing how not forty minutes ago, he had said the same thing with no intention of even getting near the operation itself. Speaking his thoughts out loud had seemed to be a bad habit of tonight, one he wished never to repeat.
Door one was settled all the way at the end of the hallway, the last door on the right. It was pink and fluffy, like Aries, and thankfully smelled strikingly new. The girl herself lied down on the bed and squeezed her eyes shut, while he watched in confusion with his head cocked to the side.
"Well?" she whispered sadly, "Are you going to start?"
Realization dawned on him.
"It's my first day here."
"You don't have to be nervous."
"G-God dammit! No!" he yelled, shuffling backwards until his back hit the doorway. Now he felt like a real scumbag. So this is what the 'great' Lucy Heartfelia did: whoring off her employees to anyone who'd pay. And he'd unintentionally reassured the poor thing that he didn't plan on doing… that.
"N-No?" she questioned, confused and sitting up. He backed up more against the door if it was possible, trying to physically get away from an inescapable situation.
"I-I didn't mean… I never meant to…" he spluttered out, trying to grasp the right words. How was it that one woman could crumble multiple walls of practiced apathy, along with detective's suave and cool? He stopped, staring at the fuzzy pink carpet on the floor, breathing heavily.
"Wh-Who are you, exactly?" she asked, using the blanket to cover her legs as she sat on the edge of the bed. He tried to think of a way out of it, multiple cover stories crossed his mind, most of which could fool secret agents out of their secrets. Physical escape seemed a viable option, with the door not an inch away at his back. And yet, he realized, he didn't want to get out of this.
One hour. He hadn't even known this woman for one hour, and she had destroyed everything that he had created about his personality. Had destroyed his cover, destroyed his calm, destroyed his position remaining in the shadows. Nothing was left, except him, his feelings, the truth, and her.
What does one do in this situation?
You confess to everything.
"My name is Lightning. Only Lightning. In fact, not even that. That's a codename, as far as everyone else is concerned. My real name? Even I don't remember." he began, looking up and down Aries' form as he spoke, watching her reactions to every little detail. "I've only been called Lightning for so long that I don't even remember what my real name is. Maybe it really was Lightning? Maybe I was a Gray, or Natsu. Maybe even something funny like Garfield."
He was most assuredly acting crazy, but she seemed to understand. He didn't understand himself, and yet she could with but an hour of experience with knowing him.
"I work for Fairy Tail Publishing, as an anonymous columnist that cracks down on the city's darkest secrets. That led me here, to an underground sex exchange run by the famous Lucy Heartfelia." He began to pace, blue eyes darting to stare at Aries every few seconds, still. "I never even expected to be in a situation like this. I wanted to get the facts, turn them into the police to form a raid, and have the place dealt with while I wrote the article.
But, of course, you showed up. With your god damn insufferably adorable stuttering and nervousness distracting me from my original objective. I heard the password, and repeated it to myself, and here we are." He stopped and looked at her, kneeling so they were face to face.
"What do I do now?"
"Rescue me."
It was hardly a whisper, but Lightning heard it loud and clear. It was obvious as soon as they entered the room that Aries did not wish this upon herself, and Lucy also seemed to be holding some of these people here by force. Electric blue eyes met hazel brown, and he knew exactly what he was going to do.
"We're leaving. Follow me." he whispered to her, holding out a hand. Aries smiled for the first time since he had met her, and he enjoyed the way her lips curled up in a shy grin as she grasped her small hand around his own, larger fingers.
They wasted no time, darting out of the room and down the hall as fast as possible, the colorful wallpaper a blur behind them until a door handle moved as someone began to open it. Lightning thought quickly and pressed himself against Aries, crushing her slight frame against the wall.
"I'm sorry." he whispered mournfully, pressing his lips to her gently as he could. Aries made a surprised yelping sound, but closed her eyes and gave in as soon as she saw Lucy coming out from the door. Lightning didn't press the kiss further, but was chilled when Lucy came from behind him.
"Don't be so gentle. I'm sure a gem like her likes it rough." the blonde whispered sultrily, and he resisted the urge to whirl around and hit her. The resounding clicks of high-heeled shoes signaled her departure, and Lightning even waited a few moments after to release the woman under him.
"Sorry." he said again, looking at the floor. If he had been watching Aries, he would have noticed the blush staining her cheeks, but it had gone by the time he worked up the nerve to look at her again.
"I-It's okay." she whispered. It was her who reached for his hand this time, surprising them both, but feeling strangely satisfying. They sauntered down the hallway at a pace that was hopefully not suspicious, reaching the club and delighted to breathe in the boozy air, which was a step up from the whorehouse of a hallway.
The place was absolutely packed at this time of night, making their escape easy. Lightning guided his charge throughout the crowds of drunkards and party-goers, keeping a hand on the small of her back for security. Past the doorways was the front desk, conveniently occupied by the mermaid-woman who was currently making out with the man dressed as a scorpion.
The cold night air had gotten colder, and it hit the pair hard as they exited the complex. Lightning turned to Aries with a happy grin that fell when he saw had shivering and clutching her arms. She had been left in the same clothes she was wearing on the inside, and that left her little in terms of protection from the cold. He made the decision to take off his jacket without thinking, giving her the large coat without further thought.
"Th-Thank you." she whispered yet again. He couldn't tell anymore whether the stuttering was from the cold or just her manner of speech.
"No problem." he replied swiftly, already hugging her close to share his body heat. "Do you have a place to go?"
Aries shook her head.
"Lucy takes us off the street, that way nobody misses us, and we can't leave." she whispered sadly. "You can just leave me in police custo-"
"Not a chance in Hell." he stated flatly, already walking her to his car. "You're coming with me, and nobody else is taking you unless you feel comfortable with them."
She stopped him in front of his car.
"Why?" she asked him, searching his eyes for answers. He gave no verbal response, simply placing his notepad into her hands before entering the car and starting the engine. Aries stood, dumbfounded, staring at the words written in neat, calligraphic writing.
Note Four: I believe I have fallen in love with one, Miss Aries (the Ram).
There. A one-shot to come back to things. The whole 'love at first sight' idea interested me, especially in a situation such as this one. I don't even recall where the idea came, but know that Lightning is in fact my OC, and not one of the members of Fairy Tail with amnesia. Other than that... um, hope you enjoyed I suppose. Definitely review if you have something to say. I'll try to update Lost Little Lamb soon-ish.