DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRYTAIL
A/N: I do apologize for the long wait for the 1st chapter of the re-write, life has been pretty hectic and it has been hard to find the time to just sit down and write. Anyway without further ado, the first chapter of the re-write.
Lucy could feel the thick cord tightening. It was wrapped around her wrists, ankles, and around her waist. Her head was swimming, a thick fog clouding her thoughts. Her eyelids refused to open as if they were glued shut, her limbs weak even within the restraints.
She was tied to a small chair, of that she was certain. Arms tied in front, her hands resting in her lap. Legs crossed at the ankle and swept to the side, the rope holding them in place. She tried to wriggle her hands, the slight sensation almost foreign to her with how sluggishly they responded. The small movement exhausting her quickly.
Lucy gasped when a line of liquid ice weaved its way up her arm, the cold preceded with a burning tingle. The fog thickened, her memories consuming her reality.
Lucy made her way over to the main bar of the Fairy Tail guild hall.
It was still fairly early and she could hear the heels of her knee high boots clack across the freshly polished wood floor. At the height of the day the guild hall would be filled with the noisy chatter of the members, silverware and mugs clanking, and the occasional brawl between some of the more rambunctious guild members. There were a few people sitting at the bar enjoying their morning meals in piece before the bulk of the guild would arrive.
She made her way to the far end of the bar, wanting to take in the request board in peace while eating some breakfast herself. Sitting on one of the heavily padded stools, Lucy was greeted by Mirajane, the platinum blonde take over mage who moonlighted as a daily centerfold for Sorcerer Weekly.
"Hi Lucy," her smile so big that she had to shut her eyes to allow it to accommodate her face.
"Oh, Hi Mira," Lucy smiled back. Mira's smile was infectious, just giving off waves happiness and warmth that no one could deny.
"You're in early. I'm afraid Natsu isn't here yet, but if you give it an another half hour or so he'll probably be in for breakfast," Mira mused putting a finger to her lips in thought... I'll need to start preparing his food now... good thing I made sure to stop off in the market this morning, oh and Gageel will be back from his mission this morning...
"Yeah... I was thinking about grabbing a bite to eat myself, but I was actually hoping maybe to find a job to take on by myself. Do you have any recommendations?" Lucy spun her stool towards the request board. It was littered with several dozen requests at the moment, ranging from "Lost Prized Chicken, 500jewel reward," to "In need of lady mage body guard, 500,000jewel."
Mira snapped out of her thoughts at Lucy's statement about a solo job. She eyed the golden blonde from behind the bar. Lucy would complain about wanting to do a solo job whenever Natsu wanted to drag the celestial mage off to what was sure to be the most dangerous request on the board at the time, but she never followed through with picking a job for just herself.
"Well..." Mira started "The body guard request would probably suit you pretty well. It came in last night, apparently the son of a wealthy land developer is doing some traveling, starting in Hargeon and following the main rail line up to Clover Town. He stated specifically his preference would be a 'good looking female mage,' as he will be attending several events and would need the bodyguard to act as his date while in attendance. He said it shouldn't be too hard, just tedious and more of a precaution."
"So a chance to dress up then?" Lucy chuckled at the thought of attending another fancy party as a member of Fairy Tail, the first one having been the Magic Ball. "Yeah, I'll take it. It would be fun to get to dress up and go to some fancy events again."
Mira bent down and took out her notebook and jotted down a quick note and then placed the book back in its proper place. "Alrighty, I'll send word along, you will need to meet him in Hargeon by dusk tonight. "Now onto breakfast so you can go home and pack. Two poached eggs, wheat toast, and lightly fried bacon?" "...and a strawberry milkshake... please," Lucy blushed as she started down at her fingers, slightly embarrassed by her slight obsession with Mira's amazing homemade milkshakes. "Be right up," Mira chimed as she sashayed out of sight, the kitchen door swinging wildly after her.
Lucy was just finishing up the dredges of her milkshake as Natsu and Happy clamored into the hall. His nose sniffed the air and his head swiveled in the direction of the blonde. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered towards the golden blonde his usual grin spreading across his face, Happy doing lazy loop-do-loops in the air following behind the pink haired dragon slayer. He flopped down onto the stool between Lucy and the request board, facing the open expanse of the hall, his elbows on the bar.
"Hey ya Lucy! Want to go on a mission with Happy and me today?"
"Hi Natsu. Thanks for the offer but I've actually just accepted a mission," she said as she pushed her empty glass away from her, her plate already cleared away by the ever watchful Mira.
"Oh! Really!?" His voice excited. "What are we doing? Come on Luce don't leave me hangin'!" His full attention focused on his friend.
"...Um... well... see... the thing is, Natsu, it's a solo mission..." Lucy didn't have the heart to look him in the eyes as she told him. He always gave her those big puppy eyes when she decided to do something without him. Hence why she never followed through on doing a job by herself before and she was damn well determined to do this. She needed to prove to herself that she could handle a mission on her own. Not having to look to Natsu, or Erza, or even Gray to save her, or to take the lead.
"...oh... well are you sure you don't want any help?" His voice laced with the sting of disappointment, real disappointment, not the fake groaning and mumbling that he would usually do if she brought up the idea of a solo job after he would purposely pick the most dangerous job on the board. Couldn't she see he was trying to impress her? That he wanted to prove to her over and over again that he could protect her? That she was the only one he really wanted to do jobs with because life was boring without her around?
"I'll be fine, besides the flier clearly requests a single mage only. I'll be gone just a few days, a week tops, and then you can pick our next job."
"Okay, but I'm holding you too that Luce. Promise?" His hand shot up, a thumbs up, and big smile stretch across his face.
"Promise. Now I have to get home and pack." Lucy smiled back at him. Getting up, she placed a few jewel on the counter before heading to her apartment.
Lucy rushed into her apartment, up the stairs, through the door, and straight to her closet. She didn't even notice Loke sitting quietly at her kitchen table, tea in hand. A second steaming cup sitting across from him. He had been reading one of the stories out a Grimm's Fairy Tail collection, but paused when he heard her footsteps on the stairs. He caught a whiff of vanilla and strawberries as she ran past him, the smell brought a small smile to his face, his favorite aroma.
"Oooohhhh," screamed Lucy as she furiously threw clothes and shoes out of her walk in closet. "Where is it? I know I put it in here when we got back from out last mission!" Furious she stormed back out of her closet, eyes darting all over her apartment hoping to catch a glimpse of her traveling pack. That was when she saw him. Their eyes locked for a moment, Lucy's heart speed up at the sight of him. She had always had a crush on Loke, even before she had joined Fairy Tail. Whenever she caught him staring at her she could feel her pulse speed up and today was no different.
"What... what are you doing here Loke," she stammered after a few minutes. Quickly adverting her eyes, focusing on the second cup of tea on the table. She knew she had blushed, she could feel how hot her face was from him staring so intently at her.
"I heard you were taking on a mission. So I figured I'd make sure everything was taken care of so you didn't have to worry about rushing around at the last minute," he said non-nonchalantly. "Virgo already packed your travel pack; I have your other suitcase right here. I overheard the part about formal events, so I made sure to ask Virgo to pick out several ballgowns for you, matching shoes and everything, promise," he smiled his play boy smile. His eyes soft as they took her in.
"Oh. Well thank you. I really appreciate it. Though I hope you know you didn't have too."
"We know we don't have to," he said stressing the word 'have.' "We choose to, I choose to because you mean that much to me. Now how about a quick cup of tea?" He motioned toward the cup across from him.
"Thank you. I'll drink it in just a few minutes. I wanted to change into something a little more appropriate." Lucy looked down as she pulled on the bottom hem of her white and blue mini skirt. She thought she had a fairly decent sense of fashion and enjoyed wearing mini skirts, form fitting tops with no sleeves, and that barely covered her mid section, but she wanted to look a little more mature for this mission. She didn't know what to expect the client to be like and wanted to build a good rapport with him, especially since they would be spending an extended amount of time together.
Loke was taken aback by that statement. Normally Lucy didn't care what people thought about her outfits. Hell he'd seen her kick ass and take names in high heels before and it never seemed to phase her. 'Though I suppose it is probably for the best. After all most missions do not have you spending any length of time with the client and she will be near him almost twenty four seven for the next couple of weeks.'
Lucy smiled at him, her shoulders shrugged up tight. "I'll be right back." And with that she turned on her heel and ran into her closet, pulling the door shut behind her.
Loke has been showing up in my world a lot lately, actually a lot more since the S class trials. Oh Lucy! Get it together! He was probably going to meet Gray this morning and you just didn't notice him at the guild. It was rather thoughtful of him though to come back here and ask Virgo to get everything packed up for me.' Lucy blushed heavily again. Her head reeling. 'Ugh! Damn it Luce! It's just a silly little crush. He probably only thinks about you as a friend. After all you are contracted with him. It's not surprising that he would go out of his way for you. Virgo does it all the time. Though he does constantly call me 'love,' and is always going on about how he cares for me. She flushed harder at that thought. Her body going warm all over, the warmth settling in the pit of her stomach.
Loke, seemingly invested in his book, chuckled. He could smell her desire from the kitchen.
Come on Luce, pull yourself together girl. He is not the only one you've fantasized about. I mean come on Natsu has climbed into your bed how many times? And how many times have you caught yourself dreaming about him... GAHHHH! Why do they both have to be so handsome? Why do they both have to be so sweet and charming... Well it does you no good holding up in your closet thinking about either one of them, its time to change and get on that train.
Lucy and Loke walked to the train station Lucy carrying her travel pack and Loke insisting on carrying her suitcase.
"By the way, I really do like the outfit you picked," Loke said sneaking a side long glance at her as the approached the station.
"Oh.. Thank you!" Lucy smiled, turning her head to grace him with a full on smile.
She had opted for a pair of light blue jeans, that looked as though they were painted on and they made her legs look like they went on for miles. They ended in a pair of chestnut brown suede ankle boots with wide cuffs and a thick strap just across the top of her foot right below where her ankle met the top of her foot, and a shiny silver buckle on the outside of each shoe. Her shirt was styled like a shift, light and cotton, it flounced when she walked with how airy and light the fabric was. It had a small slit in the front that was topped with matching cords to either tie shut or leave open, Lucy had opted to leave it untied, the slit only an inch or so deep in the neck of the shirt. The sleeves came down three quarters of the way of her arms and could be buttoned or left to billow as the wearer walked, again she left these unbuttoned. Around her waist a belt to match her shoes, a large silver buckle in the front, oval and engraved with different designs. And on her hip, as always, her key holder on one side and her whip on the other.
"Well I guess this is where we say goodbye for now," her voice low, almost sad.
"Well you know I'll be around if you need me. Maybe I'll even surprise you a few times" Loke said, wiggling his eyebrows at her in a dirty fashion. They echoed the dirty thoughts in his mind from earlier, having wondered what she had been thinking about to flood her apartment with the scent of her need.
"Pervert." She placed her hands on her hips and leaned slightly into him. A firm look on her face.
Loke smiled innocently as his placed his hands up in surrender. "I would never..."
"Yeah, right," she retorted. Her face softened then. "Anyway, thank you again for everything Loke, I really appreciate it. Now then I have a train to catch." With that they said goodbye and she took her suitcase from him. Lucy made her way up the stairs to the station, bought her ticket, and boarded the train to Hargeon.
"...Loke... I... I need your help," she whimpered. The memories brought tears to her eyes, the salt stinging her flesh as they ran down her cheeks. She attempted to wriggle her hands, the rope biting into her skin, rubbing it raw. Loke where are you?
A/N: I know so far there hasn't been a whole lot of changes, but it is getting there. :D