Today was not my day.
Which was disappointing, seeing as it had started so well. The police chief of the Acalypha Police Department had informed me that I was being transferred to Magnolia—a city I've always wanted to visit—a month prior, giving me the perfect amount of time to settle everything before leaving. I'd woken up twenty minutes before my alarm went off, feeling completely refreshed, so I was able to relax in the shower for an extra few minutes. I'd packed everything I needed the night before, so I didn't have to rush through breakfast, either. It was warm for an early September morning, and the sun felt absolutely perfect on my skin. The line to board my train for Hargeon was short and quick, and I scored a window seat. No one sat in the seats around me, which meant I could pop my headphones in and read without the fear of being interrupted. Today started out perfect.
And then my train stopped in Hargeon.
The train pulled into the station for a three-hour layover around noon, so I decided to stop into one of the cafes close by for lunch. I just had to make sure I was back on my train by three. Setting an alarm on my phone, I grabbed my bag and set off in search of food. Hargeon was a port town, and was a bustling one at that. I weaved my way through the crowd, scrutinizing the menus on display outside the cafes, when I heard screaming. My head snapped up, my hand twitching to the gun hidden in my purse. When more voices joined the first, I relaxed. No one was in danger. It was just a gaggle of excited high school girls. Curiosity piqued, I adjusted my grip on my purse and made my way to the abnormally large crowd.
Turned out it wasn't just high schoolers, like I'd originally thought. There were women of all ages gathered together, whispering excitedly to each other and craning their necks to get a better look. I cleared my throat to get the attention of the woman closest to me. She flipped around, revealing a young face that couldn't have been older than eighteen.
"I'm sorry to startle you, I was just wondering what's going on?" I gestured vaguely in front of us. Her eyes widened.
"You mean you haven't heard? Bora's in town!" the woman squealed, causing me to wince slightly. Her voice was high, sounded slightly condescending, and her words carried slightly at the end of her sentences. Valley Girl. I could do Valley Girl. I raised a brow, popping my hip slightly and crossing my arms.
"Who?" I asked. Her eyes got wider, if that was possible.
"You're not from around here, are you?" I shook my head, widening my eyes slightly to encourage her to continue. "Bora's the mayor's only son. He went to Harvard, and became a lawyer."
"Like Elle?" I said, careful not to overdo it with the accent. Too much, and she would think I was making fun of her, ending the conversation. Though, if I was being honest, the Legally Blonde reference was a gamble as well.
"Yes! He even takes murder cases. Isn't that so cool?"
"Super cool," I answered, about to be on my way. That is, until I heard another voice, the tone of this one very familiar.
"You dick!" a woman shrieked, causing some of the others to gasp. One younger voice screamed—this one full of terror—and I felt my blood run cold. That kind of scream only meant one thing: someone had a weapon, most likely a gun. I started shoving my way through the crowd, only to be checked by someone's shoulder. The hit was strong enough to send me right into the dirt. Scrambling to get to my feet, I only barely caught a glimpse of pink before a male voice cut through the sounds of panic.
"All right, let's all try and calm down. What's going on?" the man said, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. I flinched. He'd made two rookie mistakes in under as many minutes: 1) never raise your voice when someone with a gun is as upset as that woman sounded, and 2) never tell someone who is upset to calm down. That is the fastest way to escalate a situation.
"What are you waiting for?! Take her out!" another male voice—Bora, I assumed—demanded. Did Mystery Man have a gun, too?! I started shoving through the crowd faster, using the other women to propel myself forward. When I finally reached the inner edge of the circle, I was…surprised to say the least. In the middle of the crowd were three people, two men and one woman. The woman held a gun, finger hovering over the trigger, right at a man with dark hair and a tattoo that curled around the right side of his face. In a moment of pure ADHD, I wondered how the hell he got any work as a lawyer with that gaudy tattoo, but shook the thought away just as quickly. It didn't matter.
The second man stood cool as a cucumber, his posture relaxed and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He wore a white scarf, which I found odd for how warm it was, over a t-shirt, but that wasn't what really caught my attention. It wasn't his shock of rose-colored hair, either. No, what caught my eye was the shield hanging from around his neck. He was a cop.
I knew that there were already too many people involved in the situation, and that if I intervened now I'd only make it worse, so I forced myself to wait and watch how things played out. My heart pounded in my chest, and my blood rushed in my ears. I could resolve this entire situation in minutes, but bit my lip hard. Wait, Lucy. Let him handle it.
It was then that I realized that all three parties had been quiet for too long. I watched the cop, silently urging him to say something—anything. As if he'd heard my frantic thoughts, he opened his mouth again.
"Look, there may be a way for everyone to leave happy today, but I need to know what's going on. Miss Murder, why don't you go first?" the cop said smoothly, not moving a muscle. I had to physically restrain myself from face-palming. Instead, I nudged the woman next to me.
"Has anyone called the police yet?" I whispered, keeping my tone even. The woman turned terrified eyes on me.
"I thought that was why he was here!" she told me, gesturing to the pink-haired man. From the entrance he made, I would assume that his involvement had been just as spontaneous as mine would've been. I took a deep breath to keep me grounded.
"Call 911, just to make sure they know what's going on," I said, gesturing to her phone. She watched me for a long moment before she jolted, then nodded, stepping back a few steps to make the call. By the time I returned my attention to the situation at hand, the woman was deep into a tale of love found and lost.
"—and then, in the morning, he was gone! Not even a note to tell me where he'd gone! So I thought, 'he's just going to get breakfast. It's fine.' But it wasn't fine!" the woman wailed, waving the gun haphazardly around. I tensed, and saw a bead of sweat roll down the back of the cop's neck. So he wasn't as calm as he put on.
"Why wasn't it fine?" the cop prompted. He hadn't even so much as shifted his weight through the entire exchange. He was too tense. If he didn't start to hide it better, the situation could go south, quick.
"He didn't come back!" the woman screeched, causing Pinky to flinch, his face contorted. She must've seen it, too, because her face turned red, then crumpled. Oh no. No no no no. This was bad. She put both hands on the gun, turning on the cop this time. He immediately pulled his hands from his pockets and put them in the air. "And you're just as bad! Men are all the same!"
"You are so right!" I called out, stepping out of the group of shocked women. Pinky's eyes locked on me, and I could see panic start to rise. He was losing control of the situation—I internally rolled my eyes. Like he had control to begin with.
"I…I am?" the woman whimpered, looking confused. "I mean, I am!" she corrected.
"He hurt you. He made you feel special, then screwed you and left you! And you have a right to be upset about that," I continued, ignoring the looks I was receiving from both men. I felt the crowd shift behind me and knew it was time to shift gears. I wasn't there to incite a riot. "But that doesn't mean you should kill him."
"It doesn't?" the woman asked, sounding unsure. She shook her head and raised the gun higher, pointing it right at Pinky's forehead.
"No, it doesn't," I repeated, keeping my voice low and calm. "Sure, he hurt you, but really think about what you're doing. You are a smart, successful woman, and you worked your ass off to get there. Do you really want to throw all of that away over one asshole who didn't call you back?"
The woman looked unsure, tugging slightly on her blazer. Her nylons were running in some places, but her crisp skirt and blazer were immaculate. She was too far away from either me or Pinky for us to disarm her, so I took a small step forward, my hands where she could see them.
"I agree with you. Bora is an ass, but he's not worth losing your life over. If you pull that trigger right now, all of that hard work you've done will be for nothing. Hey, look at me," she raised her eyes to mine. "He'll get what's coming to him. Karma has a way of biting us in the ass. Don't take it upon yourself to deal that out. Look at the man you're pointing your gun at."
She turned her attention back to Pinky and gasped, glancing frantically between him and the gun in her hands. "Have you ever met that man before?"
She shook her head.
"Neither have I, but I can tell you one thing; he wants to make sure you're safe just as much as I do. Wanna know how I know that?"
She nodded.
"He's armed, and he hasn't reached for his gun once. Not even when you were talking to me. He doesn't want to hurt you, and you almost killed him for that. Hand me the gun," I urged, taking another step. I was almost close enough to grab it. Just a little further.
I could feel Pinky's eyes on me, probably trying to get my attention, but I refused to take my eyes off the distraught woman. The gun was within reach now, but she still had her finger on the trigger. I took a deep breath.
"Hand me the gun," I repeated softly, careful to keep all desperation out of my voice. She turned back to me, her eyes dull. She was giving up, but I refused to celebrate just yet. People who had given up were notoriously unpredictable. I couldn't promise she wouldn't turn the gun on herself.
"I'm pregnant," she said suddenly, looking down at the gun. "And now I'm going to go to jail, and I'll never see my baby."
"You don't know that," I soothed, resting my hand over the top of the gun. "You haven't hurt anyone yet. Things can still work out. Give me the gun, and we can work something out. I promise, I'll make sure you get help to work it out. Please."
The woman held my gaze for a few moments longer, before she closed her eyes and offered the gun to me. I took it, disarmed it, and stepped back for Pinky to cuff her. Just as he was reading her her Miranda Rights, the local authorities pulled up. He passed her off to the local authorities, then turned blazing hazel eyes on me.
"I don't know who the hell you think you are—" he began, voice full of fury, but I cut him off by shoving my shield into his face.
"Lucy Heartfilia, APD. Or well, I was. I've been transferred to the Magnolia Police Department. I apologize for not identifying myself earlier, but I felt it would have escalated the situation more than necessary," I explained, handing a local officer the disarmed gun. Pinky had relaxed slightly at the sight of my badge, though he still looked miffed.
"You should've stayed out of it. Your 'help' coulda gotten me shot. I had it under control—"
"Under control?" I interrupted again, incredulous. "Not once, during that entire exchange, did you actually have anything 'under control.' And I didn't almost get you shot; you were doing a fine job of that all on your own." I raised my nose in the air in indignation. "If it hadn't been for me, she would've put a bullet right between your eyes, shot Mike Tyson over there, and then would've been taken down by local law enforcement. Three lives would've been lost needlessly. I saved your life, asshole!"
Pinky looked surprised at my sudden outburst, lifting an eyebrow, his eyes unreadable. He opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by a local officer.
"We're gonna need both of you to come with us. You're both out of your jurisdiction," she said, taking a step toward us. Pinky swore under his breath, grabbed my hand, and took off toward the train station.
"What are you doing? They just needed to talk to us!" I demanded, stumbling in my desperate attempt to keep up with him. Another bead of sweat rolled down his neck. So, he had a tendency to sweat when he was uncomfortable. I filed the information away for later.
"I really can't afford to be taken in by the locals again. Gramps said he'd kill me if it happened again," Pinky explained, his pace never faltering.
"That doesn't explain why you had to take me with you!"
"You said you were transferring to Magnolia, yeah?" he asked, throwing a bright smile over his shoulder at me. "So, let's go! Name's Natsu Dragneel, MPD."
Maybe it was the adrenaline from the situation I'd just defused, or maybe it was his easy-going smile...warmth filled me, and a laughed bubbled up as I squeezed his hand in mine, laughing as we ran through the doors into the station. Watching the man light up as he chatted with the clerk behind the booth as he retrieved his ticket, I couldn't stop the smile that crossed my face.
Natsu Dragneel, huh?
With a smile like that in my life, maybe my day wasn't such a bust after all.
Damn, Daniel. Back at it again with the Cop!au. I have a weakness for them, ok?
So, I do want to clear something up before moving forward: This does not take place in the same universe as my last story. I just have thing for cop!Natsu and it fit with what I am trying to accomplish, so I rolled with it. There are still a few things I want to play around with in regards to Begin Again, so y'all may see more from that universe in the future, but I make no promises. I'm not 100% sold on the little project I'm formulating for that quite yet.
As always, I'm a busy lady and as such, can promise no update schedule. I just started my second(?) year of grad school, am working on my thesis, and am currently looking for a full-time job. I can promise not to abandon this story, though, so if you guys like it (and even if you don't) I will continue to work on it. Just know that the more stressed out I am, the faster y'all will get the next chapter. haha.
I hope you guys liked this little introduction, along with the cliched "recreate the first episode" meeting between Natsu and Lucy, and I really look forward to hearing what you guys think.