February 13, 2016
A/N: I found a collection of rather peculiar ideas for Fairy Tail dusting in the corner of my USB the other day, and this happened to peak my interest. It was either this or a zombie apocalypse AU with a very handsome Laxus and darling Lucy.
Few IMPORTANT things to note before reading!
AU! It's an AU! REALLY! Please ALWAYS keep this in mind!
It's an anthology written in omniscient if you think of it as a collective. It is limited if you view otherwise. While Lucy is aware, similarly to Edolas, she is replacing herself of that world. Additionally, everything will take place in Mashima's universe (meaning no current-day settings). Alice in Wonderland (owned Lewis Carroll) will be the overarching arc (pun intended) and explicitly the longest one (will come much later).
And lastly, as this is an interactive, GAME OVER calls for reader's participation. Won't go too much in detail about that until it comes up, but just letting you all know to stay awake for perhaps subtle, off-setting details! And if you don't get it right, say goodbye to poor, poor Lucy.
1.
"Ow! Honestly, if you're going to drag me through this forest, you could at least be more mindful of your surroundings."
"Well, it's not like I've ever been here before."
"Exceptional proclamation, dear sis. So why the sudden interest? Old man is probably waiting for us at home."
"It's just out of curiousity, Natsu. Do you reckon we're almost there?"
"Almost where?"
It was a routine, really.
In – search – find – out – repeat.
The incessancy of what seemed to be Lucy's new reality should have bothered her, but instead she was always elated with the thrill, the risk, the quest.
When she first realized her objective, something fell in place in her mind. She wasn't quite sure what, but it was something. The whole array was unfamiliar, yet oddly habitual at the same time. Collecting the tails aside, everyone she met nicked at her. Like now, for instance. Her heart would prod a tug at his grin, ensue a smile from one glance, unconsciously flush at his low grumble…
But her objective was clear.
In – search – find – out – repeat. Pray be the in-between is as smooth as you can recall it.
It wasn't smooth.
He was her brother, for Mavis' sake.
Well, his hand was rather smooth. It clasped tightly onto hers as the warmth and familiarity pulsed through and through. Why was this wrong again?
"Sis, you okay?" Natsu asked.
Lucy smiled thinly. "Just dandy, brother."
He grinned. Her legs almost buckled. "So what are you really up to?" He slyly inquired.
She looked away in sheer embarrassment at her state. Really, had she no shame?
"A house," was her curt reply.
He let out a low whistle. "Won't reckon anyone in their right mind who be living deep in this preposterous forest."
"Precisely why we're here."
The path they were on was not quite a path. Devoid of even the smallest ray of the day's peering sun, the forest was harrowingly shadowed. But Lucy was not disturbed, and neither was Natsu. It seemed despite the alternate universes, there weren't too many apparent changes in character. Except, of course, the smidge of a fact that he was currently her brother. My god. If they were going to make him her brother, couldn't they have at least made him ugly? Ab-less? Brighter shade of pink for the hair perhaps? Or they could've given her a hunky man to make up for it.
Walking beside him, she could smell his scent despite the forest's mid-day overcast, and she bit the insides of her cheeks in shame. Burnt firewood, cut fields, subtle mint, and…cinnamon?
"Over there!" Lucy hissed as she hastily shook off her mind. Peering in from the cracks between the heavy trees was a house, enclosed with grand, coloured sweet of all kinds. Cookies, jelly beans, candies, chocolate.
Before Natsu was able to spit a comment, his sister grabbed his arm and starting dragging him towards the window. Breaking a portion of the pane, she pushed it to his mouth.
"Quickly, eat."
The man blinked as he took the fist-sized snack in his hand. "What?"
"No time to explain." Lucy muttered as she peered into the window cautiously. "I need to get in there."
She broke another piece and stuffed it for a chew, then spit it out.
"It tastes gross," she said, wiping her mouth. She quickly glanced at her brother, who seemed to have tossed the incredulity of an edible house in the middle of a blimey forest out of his mind and was now far too engrossed at picking each and every black licorice within reach, savouring its dine.
"Tastes quite exceptional, usually." A voice exclaimed from the side. The foreign voice had Lucy immediately place her hand to her waist, only for a sudden rush of anxiety to overwhelm her as she realized something wasn't there. Something important. Her fingers itched, but she took a step forward and turned to the voice.
"Are you the owner of this house?" She asked.
"Indeed I am."
"Strange, I somehow suspected a female."
The owner gave a low chuckle. "Come in. Let's have a chat over some tea."
Lucy looked over at Natsu, earnestly still feasting, and touched his shoulder lightly. "Brother dearest, if I tell you to run, you run." She advised quietly.
"Pray tell, how a beauty like you ended up in the entrance of my house?" He started with a curt nod. "Graced with your presence, of course."
A sip. The tea was too hot. It burned her tongue before she could even taste its actual content.
"Sweet, will you not enlighten me of your journey here?" He insisted.
She spared a quick look around the house. Scattered around were a number of heavy books, a large wooden shelf hefted with glass orbs, and a scribbled table. It was rather clean, a turn glancing at his appearance, and noted the insides were not hefty with the scent of sweets as the outside was.
"Excuse my manners, I have not yet introduced myself! How uncharacteristically rude of me." He gestured dramatically. "The name's Zancrow. At your utmost service."
How strange. A sword on the edge of the table. Ancient. Yet it appeared well-taken of and periodically polished.
She closed her eyes and took a breath, facing the newly introduced owner of the house. "My brother and I were unfortunately lost. We were helplessly wondering around before stumbling upon your house. Beautiful place, really. We were intrigued."
How did it go again?
His eyes narrowed. "Ah, a pity you were not able to enjoy it then, isn't it, my dear?"
A pity, indeed.
"I must apologize for our actions. I mean no offense to your house."
She touched the tea to her lips. Warm, now. Delightfully so.
He glanced at her skeptically. She noticed. "Why did you not invite your brother in?" He inquired.
Wondrously out of place, that sword, is it not?
"Ah," she drawled sweetly. "Simply because he seemed absolutely infatuated with your licorice."
She glanced up to meet the owner's eyes, and gave a tight smile.
It had to be here.
"That sword," She raised her eyebrows in start of her question. "When did you-"
A soft thud was heard from outside the window pane and Lucy immediately shifted her focus.
"Natsu!" She called out as she attempted to get up from her seat. Immediately she fell back down, her sight blurring the owner of the house to a mere shadow, sitting across from her with a grin and a disgustingly outrageous tongue toppling from his mouth.
When she came to, her memory was hazy.
She was running out of time.
Her heart and mind started to leap as the situation grew more dire, erratic, and desperate.
Objective.
Easily remedying the dark she peered into, she opened her eyes and flexed her muscles to realize she was now tied to the table, the ropes edging to each corner from her body. Zancrow peered down to shadow the little light savouring from the candle, and she noticed the window no longer shone in the daylight. How many hours had passed? She swore she could feel his heavy breathing down to even her throat.
He grinned, panting, "Awake, are we, my dear?"
She struggled against the ropes. Glaring up to meet his red eyes, and an angry scowl framed her usual poised expression. "Where's Natsu," she demanded.
He dropped in lower. "I do like my sweets with a little bit of spice." He chuckled against her lips. "But not the meat, no, I have no use for your brother as he is now for he is far too lean."
Lucy blinked, not minding the rather preposterous situation. She could not deny the owner was quite correct on that part. Natsu was chiseled. Scrumptious. A brother.
She blanched. Time. Right. She was running out of time.
"What are you planning to do to him?"
His head dipped dangerously close to hers. "Fatten him up, of course. A lion needs its meat."
Insane. Bloody insane, that's what.
"Please," she forced tears to well in her eyes. "Please let him go. I'll do anything."
The compliant attitude appeared to have had an effect. Nudging himself between her spread legs over her clothes, he grabbed her arm and flushed his body tight against hers and the table. With his other hand, he forced her chin up to nudge himself in the curve. His tongue brushed roughly against her neck.
"Anything?" He growled.
She bit her lower lip and held back a scowl. Careful so he wouldn't notice, she tugged again on her bindings under him. Her mind was processing everything fast, and it appeared the situation had risen to a new level of desperation. Her arousal augmented not with the man above her, but the thought of the dire consequence in falling of her actions. She could not allow herself to fail.
Lucy went limp under Zancrow and forced herself to breathe heavily. With the little room the binding allowed, she lifted herself to the blonde man, allowing his tongue on her neck to travel lower by her own accord. He grunted against her in response. Pleased, she reckoned. She would seduce if she must.
"Anything." She repeated.
He hastily got up, heatedly glancing down at the blonde before him, and forced himself to focus. She was willing, and he would oblige, but things had order. He was well aware she wasn't a normal passerby allured by the honeyed illusion of his house.
"If you lie, I will scourge your throat out." He warned.
Pity. This one's smart. She rolled her eyes as she directed a glare again, giving up her submissive attitude. "Violent."
He ignored her comment and held her wrists tighter. The rough bindings were already going to leave a bruise, but he seemed to have been exceptionally keen on promising it. Sadistic son of a bitch.
He grit his teeth annoyingly. "Where did you come from?"
"A nearby village. I live with my family there."
He grabbed her shoulders this time and shook her roughly from the table. The strangulation from the ropes restricted free movement, and she violent jerked in pain, crying out a hiss.
"My house is designed to have an addictive taste. Only those like me provide to be a tonic for it." He released his grip on her. "Now, tell me again, where you come from."
Her mind was beginning to slip from the rough beatings against the table. Her body was sore and her thoughts were incoherent, no matter how much she tried. Time. She was running out of time. Lucy nodded.
"I am," she conceded. "I am like you."
A dangerous hand balled to a fist at her abdomen. It pressed down for a short while, sternly. The pain doubled. The heat burned. A fire mage, it seemed. She double-backed as she somehow imagined Natsu. Lucy was running out of time.
"Prove it." He demanded.
"I can't do anything if I'm tethered to a goddamn table with a man on top of me," she hissed.
He glared at her, scowled, and raised a dagger from his waist to her neck. She sucked in a breath. "One step out of place, and I'll burn you alive." He grazed her neck with the side of the blade dangerously in warning, then moved along to cut the ropes. She brought her hands to her chest, rubbing her raw, chaffed wrists, while Zancrow began working on her right ankle.
Time was running out. Time. Time. Time.
Ignoring the sore burns, Lucy propelled her right leg immediately around Zancrow's neck, swinging herself up to his shoulders and knocking him and the table down from the sudden movement of her remaining leg. She grabbed the falling dagger to cut through the last restraint and hoisted her legs tightly around his neck before he had even a moment's rest to think. Reaching her hands to both grasp the further side of his head, she closed her eyes and let out a snarl as she swiftly lurched it around as far as it could go. The loud crack of his neck breaking was met with the dagger reaching the floor, and when all was over and done with, she released herself slowly to stand. She looked around the room for the sword she saw earlier, and quickly went over when spotted. She held it in her grasp. It was not too heavy like the ones she could vaguely remember carrying, nor was it too light, brittle. Indeed, it felt just right in her palm.
A flash of a scarlet-haired swords-woman ran through her mind—and left just as quickly.
She was running out of time.
Making haste towards the only closed room in the house, she opened the door to save her brother. Passed out, and somehow having gained at least a hundred pounds from the heavily magicked licorice, Lucy couldn't fathom why on earth she ever thought her own brother could remotely seem attractive. How interesting, she mused to herself.
After cutting lose of all her brother's tethers, she stared blankly.
What was it again?
Glancing down, she saw her hand tightly held around the grip of the sword, and a rush of the thrilling feeling of danger and death overwhelmed her rationality. She knew this was the tail the moment she laid her eyes on it. It was her task - her quest to get this object. She needed the tail of the fairy. Suffice to say, Zancrow made a rather large, bulky, well, quite handsome, fairy… she admit she did have a rather enjoyable time pressed right up against his body, delectable lust apparent through his lower body, but this, this sword, was what she needed. She shivered in delight. She couldn't really help killing Zancrow, could she? It was quick, painless, and rather merciful if she could so add. Delightful addition.
Lucy smiled to herself, satisfied with the conclusion drawn of her most recent killing. Closing her eyes, her thoughts interspersed with the fulfillment of her objective, and a great light enveloped her warmly to transport her to her next quest.
She couldn't wait.
A/N: As I'm starting mid-way of Lucy's journey, please keep in mind that revelations of the actual quest will come over time! Also, should I change the rating of this story? No idea, really. If it made anyone uncomfortable, I definitely will so just let me know!
Delicious, strong Lucy. I've always loved her sexy confidence. Of course, this story will have a different Lucy, meant to be developed for the readers slowly.
If you can figure out the next fairy tale arc from the subtle hints in the chapter, I'll gladly answer any question about Lucy's character, "quest", and this fanfiction privately, or if you leave behind a request/prompt, I'll consider it indefinitely! As always, feedback and constructive criticisms are always welcomed and much appreciated.