Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is not owned by me.
Lucy Heartfilia.
The picture of the blonde lay in her hand, as she tilted her head to examine it more carefully. The young lady had big, brown eyes, shoulder-length soft blonde hair, slight blush on her rosy cheeks, and a captivating smile.
The smile, Lisanna Strauss thought to herself, is to die for. Yet... it seems fake.
"What do you think?" the sweet voice, that held a certain eagerness to it, got her to look up. Lisanna stared at her elder sister, Mirajane, sitting alongside her brother, Elfman, as they awaited her response. Once again, she glanced at the picture.
"She's cute," the girl said as her siblings gave a sigh of relief. "How old is she?"
"Nineteen," Elfman quickly answered. "Just perfect, don't you think?"
"It doesn't matter what I think," Lisanna shrugged. "The decision's up to Natsu, you know; it's his marriage we are talking about."
"But, if your thought mattered, like it does," Mirajane suggested, "what would you say?"
The young girl took some time on her answer. Did it really matter about what she thought? She was just nineteen herself. How could she, out of all the people in the world, have a big role in arranging a marriage?
"I... I don't know," Lisanna lamely said. "I mean... I guess she does look like... Natsu's type, you know."
Mirajane exhaled, and a smile formed on Elfman's face. However, before her siblings got too excited, Lisanna quickly added, "It's still Natsu's decision, though!"
"Honey, you know the state he is in," Mirajane quietly said. "This might not be the best time to ask for his advice."
"Well then, what do we do? Just arrange his marriage without even asking him?" Lisanna raised an eyebrow, and Mirajane knew she had lost this battle just as quickly as it began.
"Fine. But, if anyone's going to ask him, it's going to be you. You're his best friend; he'll listen," Mirajane advice, and with a smile Lisanna got up.
"But, Lisanna, just be careful," Elfman warned. "Natsu's not in the best state right now, so you might not like what you hear from him."
She paused on her way, then turned to flash her brother a smile. "Don't worry; I'll be fine." And so will he.
xxx
The blonde gazed at her reflection on the mirror. She looked over the long, maroon gown she wore. It was full sleeved and went all the way till her toes. Till her waist, the torso was tight, but the bottom and edges of her sleeves were puffed. She swore there were a couple rubies attached along with the laces.
"Pretty dress," Lucy commented.
"You're doing it justice," Levy McGarden, her best friend from childhood, complimented while sitting on her large bed. Lucy turned, not fully understand why she was wearing it in the first place.
"Get to the point, Levy," she ordered. "What's this all about?"
Levy was stunned for a moment, then sighed, as if accepting defeat, "It's about... that marriage proposal."
At her best friend's words, Lucy Heartfilia groaned. "Seriously, Levy? Are we still doing this?"
"Yes," the short blue haired girl firmly spoke, and Lucy slightly shivered. "This proposal was requested by your late parents, and we will go forward with it."
"But, Levy..." she whined.
"No buts!" Levy raised her voice, and suddenly, also shockingly, Lucy didn't feel like protesting. Or, more like, she was afraid to. "I'm serious."
Her happy-go-lucky and sweet best friend's form suddenly changed into lethal and dangerous. An aura came out of her which most definitely said that Levy was serious beyond belief. Lucy, however, never saw Levy this serious, which is why the suddenly change of behavior made her feel like this wasn't Levy at all; it couldn't be. Surely some demon had possessed her, or she fell on her head causing this. Because, this most certainly did not feel like the Levy she knew.
"Levy..." But Lucy couldn't utter any more words of surprise, as the young adult slowly walked away and left the room. As she door closed, Lucy felt alone once again, just like she had been feeling lately.
It was different this time around, though; she wouldn't be able to count on her best friend anymore.
xxx
She pushed a strand of her short white hair behind her ear. Then, slowly, and nervously, Lisanna knocked on the hard wood. She was standing in front of the door of Natsu Dragneel, her childhood friend, yet she had never felt this scared before. It's just Natsu, she tried to assure herself, Natsu's a very understanding guy. However, even though everyone told her what she did was right, Lisanna had a feeling Natsu didn't think the same.
There was no response for a while, and she knocked again. A few seconds passed. Once again, no response. But she wouldn't barge in his room and invade his privacy, especially not now. So she knocked for the third time, and, to her surprise, a deep voice spoke from inside.
"Come in," it said, and she knew whose voice it was. Taking a deep breath, she turned the door knob and stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.
Natsu stood in front of his mirror and, from the corner of his eyes, he saw her enter. Immediately he felt hatred and rage take over himself, but he tried to control it, even if he was failing.
"Oh, so it's you," the words rolled out of his tongue, and she flinched. His voice was so emotionless; so cold, and for a second she whether he hated her or not. She shook it off, reminding herself that this was not what she came for. She would settle this someday, but today was not that day.
"Yup, it's me!" she cheerfully exclaimed, smiling as bright as she could. It was fake, he could see that, but Natsu was not in the mood to acknowledge her for her efforts. Not now; definitely not now."
"What do you want?" he said in pure disgust, and it was then that Lisanna understood. If this is the game he chooses, I'll play along as well, she decided.
"I need to talk you," she nonchalantly answered, walking over and finding her place in a couch in his room.
"I didn't ask you to sit."
"You didn't have to."
"What if I don't want to sit?"
She looked at him right through the mirror, as he was facing his back to him, with a glare, "well then, I wouldn't care."
It hurt her to do this. It hurt her so damn much to be so cruel to him. But Lisanna was left with no choice. Of course, this wasn't her, but to him it currently was. Which is why she would put up with the act. She would pretend to be the person he thought she was, because after the 'injustice' he thought she did to him, Natsu would not want to see any sense. She would play the game for as long as she possibly could and hope, that someday, the pretty girl from the picture could set things right between them. But first, she would have to set them up.
Natsu scoffed, looking away. "Of course, you never have. You didn't care when you spoke to Erza, so why should you now?"
Her name brought back all the memories, and all the pain as well. Natsu thought back to when Lisanna spoke to Erza, the girl he loved, and made her change her mind. He thought back to when she rejected him, trying to be as nice as she could, but not appearing such. He even thought back to when he saw her happy with Jellal, her fiance, and he swore he could have made her even happier with him. The betrayal of his best friend, the rejection of his one true love; Natsu was trying so hard to bury all these feelings deep inside, but now they appeared at the surface. He could never live with such pain, and he was sure of it.
"You're right," Lisanna lied, "but that's not what I'm here to talk about right now."
"Well, what are you here to talk about?" he asked, disinterested.
"About a girl," she answered, and immediately his eyes shot open.
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no; no. You are not doing this to me Lisanna," he spat, turning abruptly to face her. "You made Erza, the love of my life, change her mind about her feelings about me, and now you're here to 'set me up' with someone else? Ha, what a joke! I am not letting you do this."
"Why not?" she asked, seeming unaffected. But, beneath what even he couldn't see, she was hurting; bad. She never made Erza change her mind, she only asked her a few questions about what she really felt for Natsu. Erza, herself, admitted she had a lover from before and was thinking of rejecting Natsu. All Lisanna did was urge her to do so, since he would be hurt if she played him. However, that was a truth only she knew.
"You are not the one who gets to ask the questions," he said, shooting her a glare, but she put her facade up even stronger.
"Why don't you ask them, then?" she suggested.
"I know what I would find; a revelation of the cold, heartless bitch you really are," Natsu said, and she held back the tears.
He doesn't mean it, she convinced herself, and they both knew that was a truth. Natsu Dragneel was most certainly not like this. It was just that recently things took a very bad turn in his life, and he was blinded by his anger. When he got better, he would be able to act more stable, and the blonde girl named Lucy sounded like the person who could get him back on track.
"Natsu," she spoke in a calm tone. Not gentle, not generous; just calm. "Your father, Igneel – may he rest in peace – gave me a duty to follow. I respect him and his choices, and I know so do you. Why can't you simply honor his wishes and accept? He wanted you to be married, have a family, live peacefully; not sulk about the past. Just give it a chance, Natsu. This girl – her name is Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia – was the top in the list of the marriage proposals he was looking forward to accept. Could you, even for a second, give it a try?"
At the mention of the word 'Heartfilia', Natsu's blood boiled. "What?! You've got to be kidding me right now, Lisanna. You want me to get married to a fucking Heartfilia?!"
She should have predicted this reaction, yet it still surprised her. "Even though your father had the most reason to hate the Heartfilias, he didn't. They didn't hate him either, Natsu. Which is why they sent this proposal, and also why your father wanted to accept. Then why are you the one who hates them?"
"You know why, and I don't want to explain this to you," Natsu said, shooting her daggers. "No matter what, I am not accepting this proposal."
"At least look at her picture."
"I don't give a damn!" the young man practically shouted, and Lisanna did her best not to make him see how scared she was.
"Once again, Natsu, I don't care," she said, acting bitchy. "We are going through with this proposal no matter what you say, which is why it is better if you accept the fact."
After saying those words, Lisanna simply stood up and left the room, ignoring his angry protests. She looked serious, but deep inside she knew she wouldn't do anything about it until Natsu gave his consent. She couldn't just decide the fate of his life because, no matter what, and no matter how many rights she had, it was, in the end, his life.
Natsu, on the other hand, started to doubt himself. Was this the girl he had been friends with for so long? How this kind, caring, and cheerful childhood friend on his turned into this cold, selfish creature, he would never understand. But, then again, he didn't want to either. Even though he knew little, Natsu still judged, and took this as the revelation of his friend's true ugly self. He couldn't– wouldn't live like this. Which is why, he decided he would leave it all. He would run away tomorrow morning; away from this place which became a hellhole, away from the people who became devils.
Coincidentally, at the same time, a certain blonde in the Heartfilia mansion made the same promise to herself.
These two were running from each other, but did not realize they would be running to each other. And, what they also did not realize was that when they finally reached each other, they would be feeling the emotion they were afraid to feel, and the one they were running away from all this time; love.
