Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
THIS WILL MOST LIKELY BE GRALU, BUT IT HASN'T BEEN DECIDED AS OF YET
A/N: This was wandering around in my head for a while, so, voila. Have fun~ (It starts in Lucy's point of view)
I let out a low growl, a warning for the dark mages. My heterochromatic eyes - the trait that marks me as the soon-to-be-alpha female in my pack - narrow dangerously as I growl again, telling them to back off. They, the cowards that they are, back off obediently, scared. I think... is that urine I smell? The chuckle that comes from my throat sounds very different when I'm in my wolf form, it's deep and like the hacking cough of a human.
Lynn, my most trusted companion and best friend, emerges from the shadows behind me as the wizards scurry away, tripping over each other in their haste. Why? she asks.
They are trespassing. Violence in this part is forbidden. I respond, glancing first at her then behind both of us to the mage - a legal one - bleeding onto the ground. And I don't like the dark mages, he's not one of them. Take whichever you want.
She shakes her head at me, and I can hear her sigh. Don't get caught.
Do I ever?
Yes.
That was once, I protest. She laughs, shaking her head again before melting back into the trees, as quickly as she came.
I pad over to the human male, sniffing to check for the stink of death; there's only a little bit of fear remaining and that pungent human smell though. He's unconscious. I morph, confident that no one is around to witness my change from a huge wolf to a teenage girl with long platinum blonde hair and one yellow left eye and a red right eye. the only identifying feature about me in my wolf form are my eyes, I have different hues of brown, white, and black in my fur, and the tips of my tail and ears are pitch black, with my paws white.
The human stirs as I get closer, opening his eyes half way before deciding that the light is too much for him and squeezing them shut.
"I won't hurt you," I say before he can hear my footsteps. He shoots upright anyways, causing a wound to reopen and him to hunch over in pain. I sigh, getting down on my knees to help him. Before he can say anything, I've torn the hem of my shirt to wrap the wound in a makeshift bandage and lightly tap him, transferring a tiny amount of my magic to him, successfully knocking him out, and pick him up - it doesn't take very much effort, I notice - and make my way to a human's house, where the forest meets human civilization.
Before I can reach it, though, he wakes up, the magic wearing off, coming to full consciousness within seconds and I curse the alertness mages seem to have these days.
"Who are you?" he asks before anything else. Not surprising, but I didn't really expect it either.
"My name... you can call me Lucy," I say.
"Why did you save me?"
"Humans are annoying - " It's out of my mouth before I realize it and I try to continue on before he can say anything. "Those evil guys have been bothering me for a while now."
"So you're the wolf," he states. Damn, I didn't realize that either.
"...Yes."
"Thank you," he says simply. This surprises me, his acceptance of the situation.
"So what's your name?" I'm probably going to regret asking this, too, but I don't think twice as I keep running.
"Gray. Gray Fullbuster. It's nice to meet you."
I'd sigh if I could, but it's kind of hard to do while running at full speed - which includes dodging branches I'm sure are giving us more scratches than those weaklings back there. "Nice to meet you too," I settle for instead. "Now rest, but don't fall asleep, we're almost there."
He complies, I guess he's been hurt at least once before to know to do this.
The rest of the run, which didn't take very long at all, considering the speed I could run at even when in human shape, was quiet, only broken by the whooshing of air and crackling of leaves and twigs underfoot. The blur of the forest in mid-autumn is beautiful. Simple and complex both at once. The different shades of red, yellow, orange, green, brown, all blending together with the blue sky above and the crisp, clear air even in the middle of the day. It's my favorite season, always able to cheer me up and lift my mood after a spat with my pack or just to get away from humans and wolves alike. There aren't too many other mythical - so called - creatures in our woods, we guard it well.
Once we get to the tree house (literally, it's a house in a tree) that belongs to Porlyusica, I knock on the door, not expecting an answer. But, because life is full of surprises, she opens the door just as I'm about to slip Gray Fullbuster onto her doormat.
"Puer lunae, child of the moon," she says as way of greeting. "Bring him in."
"Good day, Nana?" I ask with a laugh as I set him down on the single bed. I narrowly avoid being swatted with that broom of hers.
"Don't call me that," she commands.
"Okay, okay," I sing, still smiling. "How are you doing?"
"Just fine, without you interrupting me," she responds irritatedly as she bustles about attending to the half naked (I just now notice) man.
"Thank you, Porlyusica-san," I say. "Please take care of him, I'll be back sometime. Goodbye."
"Get out," she chases me out with her broom, and I scramble out of reach just in time.
As soon as I'm in the trees again, with a wall of color blocking the view back into the town of Magnolia, I shift to meet Lynn.
Was it worth it? she asks as soon as I enter my wolf form
I make a noncommittal sound and she sighs.
What if they find out?
There's no way for them too unless one of us tells or he comes back and finds us, I reassure her. But there is some fear at the back of my mind. There is an unwritten law that us werewolves should avoid all contact with humans - especially mages. It had something to do with bad history between us, or something, but the elders in our community look down on it a lot. And, of course, I just had to go and save one.
We enter the cave, padding along one wall to the back, where two wolves are waiting for us.
Eileen-chan, Marco-kun, no sign of trouble along the east border, Lynn reports.
Alright, thanks, Marco-kun replies. We'll be along the west. Has north or south come back yet?
Lynn says otherwise with a toss of her head and the two wolves rise, exiting the cave after greeting me. Nodding back, I plop down near the spot Eileen-chan just vacated, sighing.
What if they do find out, I ask miserably. Lynn only laughs.
Serves me right, I say at the same time as her, rolling my eyes with a smile.
I lower my head to my paws again, closing my eyes for a short nap before night time, when I'm first on the night watch.
"She's asleep, Sting-san." I can hear Lynn talking and Sting-kun replying, but I can't seem to open my eyes or pay any close attention as they continue their - human, I do notice - conversation. I am startled awake by the sudden realization that it's Sting-kun, our packs soon-to-be-alpha male. Or, in other words, my fiancee (and I'm only seventeen, for Luna's sake!).
"No, I'm not," I interrupt, after waking up fully followed by shifting to my human form. Maybe at a bad time, as Sting-kun was in the middle of a sentence, but I do manage to get their attention.
Sting smiles, a feral smile that makes even my eyes widen.
"Well, sleeping beauty, Lianne-san wants to see you. And Jean-sama, Juli-san, et al," he says smugly. This isn't good, Lianne-san is my "matchmaker", she's the one who has to make me ready to unite the Lupos Lunae and Lupi de Stellis packs. Wolves of the moon and stars. Juli-san is Sting's and Jean-sama is the overseer. "Et al" must be the elders. This is not good.
I look around the door cautiously, adrenaline rushing through my system. "Hello? I'm, um, I'm Lucy." I say tentatively. The only reply I receive is a block of wood thrown at me. It seems to have come from the huge brawl in the center of the huge room, and I'm shocked by the whole thing; the atmosphere, people participating, all the items they're breaking.
Fortunately for me, no one is paying attention to my sudden arrival in Fairy Tail, and for that I will be forever grateful.
"Welcome, is there something I can help you with?" I hear and turn to my right where the bar is. The bartender is a nice-looking young woman (though her hair is white! White!) not much older than me, and she's the one who called out to me. I guess my luck was too good to be true.
"Um, yeah, I'm looking for the master of your guild?" I almost stumble over my words.
Thankfully, she just smiles kindly. "Master isn't here right now. He should be back soon, though, he left for the meeting yesterday and it should be over."
"Thank you," I say, taking the seat at the bar closest to the doors.
"Well, if you're waiting, would you like something to drink, Lucy?" she offers. I must have a weird look on my face or something because she giggles. "You announced your name just a moment ago. My name is Mirajane, but you can call me Mira."
Ooh, I think, feeling rightly idiotic. "Thank you, Mira-san," I say again, laughing a little on my own. "Can I have a... Well, what do you recommend?"
"I don't think you should have any alcohol, being a guest... but we have shakes, water, and lemonade." She reaches under the counter and brings a cup onto the table.
"A shake?" I ask, questioning the meaning. Does it involve shaking me?
Unfortunately, Mira-san mistakes my question, saying, "I'll make a strawberry shake! We just got a new shipment of fresh strawberries this morning!" She disappears into a back room and I breathe out a sigh of relief.
It seems my people skills aren't too rusty, even though this is the first time I've encountered humans and had a conversation in a while, not counting the human I saved and Porlyusica-san. I even went through a crash course before coming here, on human etiquette and the basics of survival. Still, I'm shaking in my seat form this new environment.
A couple of days ago, when Sting-kun had shown up in the cave of my pack, I had traveled far into the woods to meet the elders. They had, somehow, gotten wind of my little escapade earlier that day and ordered me to find him, saying "if you save him, you now have a responsibility to keep him alive" or something of the sort. So, basically, I am on guardian wolf duties and am required to protect this Gray fellow for a while, until I turn nineteen, for a year and a couple of months. Then I get the wolf marriage with Sting-kun.
It's not that I don't like Sting-kun exactly. It's just that he's the one I have to marry, against my will, at a young age. Not to mention that he doesn't have the best personality in the world, but he was born with the same heterochromatic eyes that I have, one blood red the other saffron yellow. Thus, our fate was written out for us.
"Here you go, Lucy-chan," Mira sings as she sets the sweating cup down in front of me. I take it cautiously, sniffing the contents before putting the rim to my lips to take a sip.
"It's... it's good," I say in surprise. "Thank you, Mira-san."
"No problem," Mira says with a smile that I've already come to associate with her. "Tell me if you want anything else, alright?"
I nod my consent and she turns to help another customer so I flick my eyes over to the fight. I can't see or smell the human - Gray, I remind myself. His name is Gray-kun - and I come to the conclusion that he is still at Porlyusica's house. I frown, I didn't realize his injuries were that bad, for him to stay there for three days.
"I'm back!" someone yells, throwing the doors open so hard they bang against the walls on either side. My head flies in that direction (not literally, of course) and I see the dark haired mage I saved the other day, with bandages wrapped around his stomach.
"Gray!" Mira exclaims from behind me. "You were only supposed to deliver some herbs to Porlyusica-san, why are you so beat up?"
She sets down a cup for him and he takes a swig. Before he looks back up, I tilt my head so that my hair blocks my face, sipping at my shake.
"Thanks, Mira. I met a couple of dark mages." He continues before Mira can fuss over him any more. "But a nice wolf took care of them for me. Unfortunately, I was still injured, but I was brought to Porlyusica-san's house, so everything turned out okay. Except I lost my clothes somewhere..."
Mira sighs, exasperated. But something's bothering her, I can smell fear. "You have to watch out for this kind of stuff, Gray."
"I know, bu-" Gray is cut off by a fist knocking into his head, forcing his face into a n unusual expression. I'd laugh if I wasn't so shocked. Fighting among pack members is something you find everywhere, in my world, but with this level of intensity? Only in legit fights and "warrior training".
"Flaming bastard, you spilled my drink!" Gray stands up, head to head with a pink haired man of around the same age as us. I scoot over, enlarging the distance between us by a miniscule amount.
"Ice-head, you gave me bad information!"
"I only told you what I heard, you're the one who rushed off without any proper explanation, you dimwitted fire lizard!"
I sigh, wondering what exactly I've gotten myself into. If this is what he's like in a guild, just how much trouble will Gray-kun get into on a job?
A/N: Is it horrible? Passable? I hope so. Anyway, I'm going to apologize in advance for not updating as soon or as often as you'd probably like. Word of warning.