I don't own Fairy Tail.
GrayLu Week 2k16
Day 7: Undercover
Natsu Dragneel was sitting in his chair with a serious expression. He had called for a detective and they sent him a woman. A blonde, to top it all up. He was skeptic at the beginning, but then she said she was the one to destroy a whole branch of mafia in another city, alone., and he couldn't help but be impressed.
"Thus, Miss Heartfilia, I would like you to follow someone." He said gravely.
"Oh?" She cocked a brow. "Who might that be?"
"That man." Natsu pulled out a bunch of photographs, sliding them to her on the desk.
Lucy Heartfilia, a private detective, leaned in to take a good look. The man on the photographs did look kind of shady; he had black hair and piercing eyes. His expression was hard, but apart from looking a little like a bad boy who was looking for trouble, he seemed rather regular.
"And why is that, if I may?"
"He seems to be following me and my men. I fear he is a spy, maybe even sent by a mafia group… I need to know everything about him. I need you to ensure my safety."
"His name?"
"Gray Fullbuster."
She nodded. "I understand. What about the payment?"
"Do not worry about it, I guarantee it will be adequate." He waved his hand.
"I see." Lucy stood up and eyed the man. "How often would you like to be updated?"
"Every two days, if you may?"
"Perfect." She put her hand on the handle of the office and turned to him one last time. "See you in two days, then." And the woman was gone.
When Natsu was certain she had long departed, he dropped his serious façade and grinned widely, laughing to himself. "Damn, this is gonna be rich."
After returning to her apartment, Lucy decided to call Loke in the office of the detective agency. He answered after two signals.
"Yes?"
"Loke, it's me." She said.
"Ah, Lucy, my beloved!" He exclaimed dramatically. "Did you realize I am your destined one and you're calling me because of that?"
"Sorry, but not now. I need you to research a man for me. His name's Gray Fullbuster."
"Oh." His tone changed; he was all business now. "Any particular features?"
"Not really. I got a commission concerning him, I am to follow him and report back to Mr. Natsu Dragneel…" Lucy mused. "I have a few photos of the man, I will fax you."
"Good, I'm waiting."
"Call me back when you find something." She told him and hung up.
After a while, her phone started vibrating again. The blonde was currently eating something and researching the internet on the Fullbuster man, but he seemed to be erased from the database. Well, either that or his personal details were hidden.
"Lucy, the case is simply odd; that Fullbuster, he appears to be a detective, too. Not only does he work in another agency, but also in another town." Loke sounded worried. "It really seems like someone's hired him to follow your employer."
"Simply great." She scowled. "Can you tell me anything more?"
"He's known for being good."
Lucy frowned. It was rare to hear Loke admit someone deserved appreciation. "How good?"
"Very."
"Where does he live now?"
"He stays at some apartment in the center. Let me see the street… Oh, Baker Street 46, it's right beside the mall."
"True that… That is quite a strategic position."
"Lucy… be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with just yet."
"I will. Do not fret, Loke. Thanks, I'll contact you again." The blonde sighed and hung up again, pondering.
The mission itself was strange; why would they follow Mr. Dragneel? Was he some kind of a big fish in the business? Moreover, Loke was right, she needed to be extremely careful when it came to that Fullbuster detective… She had no idea why he was hired, and by whom.
But she was not Lucy Heartfilia is she were not to find it out.
She had been researching him for the rest of the day, reading him up. She had memorized his posture to recognize him even from behind. The more she read, the more interesting he was becoming. Lucy could not help but even admire him a little; his accomplishments were impressive.
The next day, she went out. Wandering around his hotel, the workplace of Mr. Dragneel, and the center, the detective was eyeing the crowds, looking for any hint that he was around. But she could not spot him. Damn it, she thought and furrowed her brows. He has to be somewhere around…
She came inside of the building with a pretext of buying something from a market placed at the first floor. Maybe there she would have more luck.
Lucy entered the market and, seemingly innocently, approached the fruit and vegetable stall. She started packing a few lemons to her bag, discreetly looking around. He has to be somewhere! If he was hired to follow Dragneel, or to observe the building, he needs to wander around here… Thus, trying to make him walk out of the hiding place, she dropped the bag, resulting in rolling lemons in all the directions. She sighed and bowed down, collecting them.
And she was right; at the moment she was standing up, her eyes caught a blink of pitch black hair and the arms put inside his pockets; it had to be him. To be sure, she quickly collected the lemons and stood in the cash; the expedient was nice, but a little annoyed that Lucy seemed to observe her surroundings more than focus on her shopping. The blonde walked away slowly, taking her time to hide her wallet in her bag and leaving the lemons purposely on the view.
Lucy put on her sunglasses when she went out; it was sunny, so it was a perfect item to use. She quickly caught sight of a hurriedly leaving man who fitted the description; the woman fixed her bag on the shoulder and followed him unhurriedly, not intending to be caught at once. Her eyes never left his back. She watched as he crossed the street, then turned right. Heartfilia huffed; it was too easy! She waited for the lights to change and went after him… Only to find the man gone completely. She frowned slightly, but did not stop; if he suspected he was being followed, he would have his proof is she was to stand still and look around. So, a little angry for losing such an easy target and somehow relieved it was not going to be that easy, Lucy walked like nothing had happened towards the center of the town.
The rest of the day was not terribly eventful. In the evening, Loke called her to pass her some information on Gray Fullbuster, but she was not sure it would be useful. Moreover, she was beginning to research the detective agency he was working at; there could be a hint who could have hired the brunet and why.
The next day, Lucy went out earlier than before. She had gotten a message from her employer that one of his negotiators was leaving the company and going to another part of the town. Dragneel was sure that Fullbuster would be following him. So, even though she was not so sure herself, she decided not to ignore his orders and simply followed the suit.
To her surprise, from afar she saw a man wearing a black coat and a hat, which was covering his face. The woman knew it was him; she simply did. Therefore, she hid behind a booth and implicitly observed the situation unfolding itself. When she saw a man wearing a suit coming out of the building, she noticed the black-clad man moving. Fullbuster —because she was sure that was him— roamed around when the businessman was entering a cab and then jumped into another one, following the first one. Lucy shook her head; the third cab was not a good idea, so she entered the first bus which stopped beside her and was driving the same direction. Since she knew the destination, she did not have to worry about going somewhere she would have no use of. She stood there, waiting patiently for the bus to pass through the lights, at the same time observing the cabs.
If the other detective decided to hurt the businessman, she would have to interfere; there was no room for argument. Yet, she hoped it would not come to that.
Lucy sighed. Maybe it was not the most eventful mission, but it was surely rather interesting.
After all, the following of the cabs and the businessman had not brought anything more; Fullbuster was either too undecided to make a move, or he was ordered to really spy on Dragneel. Lucy snarled in annoyance. She thought it was going to lead her somewhere, but she was only disappointed.
In the evening, she came to report to her employer, sharing everything she had discovered so far. Dragneel seemed pleased and made a few suggestions himself. At the end, he warned her to be extra careful when it came to his person, which she assured was the priority.
However, in the following four days, she did not come any closer to revealing anything. Frustrated, she was researching her own notes, the sites Loke had sent her, and Loke's information. Nonetheless, the blonde could not solve the mystery.
It happened on the sixth day, though. She was asked to follow Dragneel and his wife to an amusement park on Saturday. It was a strange request, but who was she to decline? Especially when the man told her he was threatened via the phone and was scared for his wife's safety. Lucy had no choice but to follow them.
And, again, as if he had predicted it, Fullbuster was there. Of course, he was not coming into view too much, nor did he come too close. Lucy had to wander somewhere nearby when the married couple was riding roller coasters, choosing to act normally and play some simple games at the booths with prizes.
And then it downed at her. The third booth consisted of a mirror installed in front of her to break her focus and make it harder to hit a pyramid of bottles with a ball. She threw it flawlessly and suddenly caught a face in the mirror, watching her intently.
The face of Gray Fullbuster.
And she realized. She was not the only one to follow him, but she was being followed.
The blonde turned around swiftly, only to see him cloak disappearing after the corner. Lucy cursed to herself and rushed towards the place he had been at, only to see him enter a tent with a banner Mirror Labyrinth on it. Heartfilia smirked. Tough luck for him, because she was a brainy person and would not be fooled by that.
So, she almost ran after him and, throwing the guy at the entrance a few cents, went into the maze. The mirrors were her ally at the moment; she was inspecting every fragment of it, waiting for an unexpected motion or a glimpse of the other detective.
And she was not disappointed; he seemed to be to the right. Lucy followed the way and found herself on a crossroad; but she knew the reflection was trying to fool her again, so she chose the left alley.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, she placed her hand on her gun hidden under her jacket; she was ready to face the danger.
However, what she did not expect was a feeling of a gun placed against her skin and a low voice piercing the silence:
"Well, well, well. I never expected you to be so brainy."
But she knew what she had to do; she quickly turned, grabbing the gun in her hand and rotating it to the side, at the same time taking out her own and pointing it at him. "And I rather expected you to sneak on me, Gray Fullbuster."
The man was taller than her. He was also extremely handsome, she had to admit. His smirk was definitely too attractive, especially that it was not the time to consider it even. Lucy frowned. She saw that she had caught him by surprise, but it lasted a mere second before he chuckled.
"Someone's done her homework." The man leaned on the mirror to his left, eyeing the blonde. "Lucy Heartfilia. A detective living thirteen streets from here, working in the profession for five years. Hired by an unknown man to follow and spy on a big fish of the business world."
"As far as I know, you are the spy." She answered seriously. "So, maybe tell me already who hired you and why."
"Oh, so not only me had a little problems with the basics." Gray sighed. "But first, lower the gun. I'm not going to hurt you."
"And why would I believe you?" Lucy spat. "I've been following you for the past week, you must be stupid to think I'd not notice your involvement in the whole case and your reactions, which were taking the gun whenever you found necessary. How do I know if you have not another one under your cloak?"
"It's me who's been following you for the past week." Fullbuster cocked a brow at her, talking to her like to a five year old. "And you never seemed to touch your gun. Why now?"
"Because you put yours to my back when I came here."
"Well, Dragneel warned me you may be a tough one." He sighed and moved; Lucy managed to step back, but not quick enough; he managed to knock her gun to the ground. Yet, one word caught her attention.
"W-what?" She stared at the man in front of her, unbelieving. Her brain was working fast, connecting the dots. "Dragneel? DRAGNEEL hired you?!"
"Oops, I guess it's out." Gray shrugged, then made a dangerous expression and started approaching her slowly.
Lucy could not believe it. "No, it cannot be true… No way!" The blonde looked at the ground, almost as if she was to cry. But then her fists clenched and she shook. That asshole… Dragneel… "H-he tricked us… THAT SCUMBAG!"
The man paused. Something in her sudden outburst told him to stop and at least ask what had her so enraged. Gray cleared his throat, imprecating her glare at himself. He had to admit, she could be scary. "What happened? Who's the scumbag?"
Lucy was heaving in rage, then she plopped on the ground. Not looking at him, she asked: "Dragneel hired you?"
"Yes…" He replied slowly, not sure what was the purpose of those questions.
"To follow me?"
"Exactly."
She laughed joylessly and raised her eyes at him. "Then we're both fools."
Gray frowned and crossed his arms. "Oi, missy, no one's calling me—"
"You cannot see it yet, can you?" She shook her head. "No, I guess not… Well. I was hired by Natsu Dragneel to follow you."
The man stopped, apparently speechless. His brain was trying to process the information, but it was too absurd. "What? Don't be ridiculous. I thought you smarter than that."
"No... It's true, though." Lucy sighed and opened her bag. Thinking he was in danger, Fullbuster took cover, but she only grunted and pulled out a folder. "Look."
Having made sure she was weaponless, he came closer to look at the documents. At first, he was skeptic, but then he recognized the information given by the employer and the style of the photographs were the same. Moreover, she seemed to have to report to Dragneel every second day… Which was exactly the other day he had had to do it.
Gray heavily sat on the ground next to the other detective. She watched him, a little worried since he did not say anything. His expression, though, was giving out the darkest emotions there were.
"Are you alright?" She asked after a while.
He jerked as if he forgot she was there. "Of course not. We were tricked! We… we…"
"So we were." She shrugged and smiled a little. "Maybe it was good for us, you know?"
"How's that good to us, enlighten me, then!" He barked.
"Well. We were trying to follow each other. We know what's effective and what's not. We both know we're good since we both thought the other was following someone else." She huffed. "And, you know, I actually kind of admire you for what I've found out about you, Gray Fullbuster." Her smile widened. "So, I wouldn't mind eating dinner with you."
The brunet gapped at her with his mouth hanging open. Lucy giggled and nudged him lightly, waiting for an answer. Finally, he snapped out of it and smirked.
"Well. I don't see why not. You certainly caught my interest, Heartfilia."
Meanwhile, Natsu Dragneel was dying from laughter, telling his wife about his prank on the detectives.
"WHAT?! You hired two detectives to follow each other?!" Lisanna yelled, furious. "That's completely horrid, Natsu!"
"Oh come on! Have you seen the list of How to kill boredom on the internet? It was there! And trust me," He laughed again. "It. Was. Hilarious!"
Do you know the list? :D When I read the prompt for Day 7, I had to write this.
Sorry I'm late!
And than you all for staying with me and my seven stories for the whole week :) I'm not sure whether I'll wirte the bonuses, so this might be the last one for this GrayLu Week.
Love you all so, SO much!
Anoriel