FROZEN FLAMES

~ Prologue ~


She felt too conflicted.

Being so intimate with Natsu the other night had stirred up something inside her that wasn't there before. And Gray… well, lately there was no denying he was interested. She wished he would ask her for another date, but he hadn't.

She wasn't sure of how she should feel about that. Sad that he didn't want to see her again? Angry that he hadn't bothered to talk to her since that night? Or stay hopeful that he was just being shy, and would speak with her again soon?

Another part of her didn't even think she should be feeling any of those. She wasn't even sure if she genuinely liked him yet. The thing with Natsu didn't help her decide either.

She continued reading her new book, and found that the heroine was in a relatable dilemma where she couldn't sort out her feelings for the two main boys. One was her best friend; the other was the handsome new guy in town. Both had confessed to her, but she didn't know who to pick. She wasn't even positive if she fully liked either of them.

At the last few pages when she was finally about to choose, Lucy couldn't take it anymore and slammed the book shut. She wanted to be with Natsu again, and yet she wanted to be with Gray. Did that truly mean she liked them?

But… both of them?! Simply crushing on one of her comrades was enough, but two?

What would Mirajane do when she found out? And Juvia? The whole guild would freak out if they knew; Lucy was sure about that. Just look at how they reacted when they found out about her date with Gray the other night. If Mirajane heard Natsu was also involved in the mess… well, Lucy didn't even want to know what would happen. She'd first let all of Fairy Tail know, and then demand for the details. Violently. Just like when she first noticed both Natsu and Gray were acting strange around the celestial spirit mage…

Oh Mavis, why did Lucy have to be friends with the biggest gossiper in Fiore?

And worse off, she was pretty sure both Natsu and Gray had more feelings for her than she previously thought.


We are like dominoes

I fall for you

You fall for another


Chapter One


"Is that all of them?" Erza asked, surveying the group.

"Looks like it." Natsu responded, crossing his arms.

Lucy shook her head. "No, we're not even close. We've only defeated four of the members. There were nine in total, remember?"

Gray walked over to the group. "She's right. We were hired to take down a gang of nine who were causing havoc all over this place. The rest are probably scattered all over town."

Erza sighed. "Well, we'll just have to find them. Let's spread ou-"

"-You won't find them." A voice cut in.

Erza glared at the dark-haired, badly injured woman below her. "You don't know that. You're just a thief."

The woman narrowed her sky blue eyes. "We are not thieves. We were here for another reason." She deadpanned.

Lucy looked at the two women. The dark-haired criminal seemed bold for talking back to Erza even though she'd just been defeated. Must be determined, Lucy thought to herself.

"What was it? Causing harm to citizens?" Erza hissed back, clearly not impressed with the crippled woman.

"Erza, just ignore her. She's defeated; she can barely move. Let's just find the others." Lucy cut in.

"We'll come back, just you wait. This isn't the last you'll see of us." The woman on the ground murmured, her thick voice giving off a warning.

The team ignored her, and proceeded to find the rest of the group. Only five were left, and the first four seemed too easy. The others were probably a different story.

Lucy went off her own way, down an alley to the south of where the team had previously been. Erza, Gray, and Natsu had split up in their own directions also.

It wasn't long until Lucy began hearing shouts of "Fire Dragon's Roar!" and "Ice Make: Cannon!" all over the place. She heard the sounds of metals clashing together, obviously Erza's swords against an opponent's. Blasts of magic reached as high as the sky, and- to Lucy's dismay- buildings began toppling down.

No doubt the rest of the team had already found some of the other bandits. And of course we won't be getting paid this time, she thought miserably. Why can't Natsu or Gray go on a mission without destroying a town?

She continued searching, but either the others had already been found by the team or the rest were just good at hiding. "How annoying. They found the rest before me." She whined quietly to herself a while later, before deciding to walk back down the alley to find her team.

As she began striding over, she noticed a movement flicker to her left. A slight scuffling noise immediately reached her ears.

She narrowed her eyes, "Who's there?"

Maybe she got lucky. Maybe there was one left for her to defeat.

As if on cue, a figure rose up. Lucy instantly recognized her from the photo on the request board. This is definitely one of them, she thought to herself.

The woman- one with long orange hair, wearing a green bikini top and jeans- sneered down at Lucy. Before she could even speak, the woman took off running.

"Oh no you don't!" Lucy shouted after her, and began the chase. This one looks weaker than the rest, she realized. I couldn't imagine getting stuck with one of the stronger ones.

She ran as fast as she could, her eyes never leaving the thief's back. Why isn't she fighting like the rest?... She briefly wondered.

The woman tried many times to shake her off, but Lucy wouldn't let her escape. She knew she had to take down at least one of them. So far, it had been Erza, Gray, and Natsu doing most of the work. Lucy wanted to defeat someone. And this woman seemed like the perfect opportunity. Not too strong-looking, maybe even a bit weak—judging by her instant decision to run away.

The thief ran down another alleyway; Lucy close behind. "Quit running and fight me!" She demanded, just as the woman reached the end of the alley.

Soon, they both emerged into the town square. The orange-haired woman stopped near the center, close to where Erza, Natsu, and Gray had the other three members surrounded.

"Lucy! Don't let that one escape!" Erza called out.

"She's the one that can signal their leader! Be careful!" Gray added.

Lucy nodded, scowling. She faced the woman, who strangely looked around her age. Perhaps a little older—eighteen, nineteen… maybe even twenty?

She smirked, and pulled out a bright blue Bo Staff-like weapon. Lucy took this as her cue to pull out two Golden Keys of the Zodiac, "Gate of the-" She began.

But before she had a chance to finish, the burglar pressed some buttons on the weapon and a piece of it moved upwards, "-Wind Tempo!"

From the uncapped part of the weapon, large blasts of air shot forward, shoving Lucy back about ten feet and landing hard on her back.

"Lucy!" She heard Natsu and Gray yell after her. She immediately jumped back up, only to see the other woman raising her weapon to the sky. "Signal Rocket!"

A firework-type missile shot high up, clearly visible by anyone within radius of the town. "Oh no! The signal!" Lucy cried out.

She looked back to the team, but they were busy fighting off the other three members. What's going to happen? Is their leader really too strong for me to handle alone?...

She didn't get a chance to find out. Before the team even knew it… he appeared. The orange-haired woman quickly ran up to him, giving him a tight hug. He looked over his struggling comrades, and frowned.

He briefly closed his eyes. He focused purely on his energy, felt it pumping through his veins, linger outside his body, and then in a flash—he blasted it towards his enemies.

To an outsider, it would have seemed like the powerful Fairy Tail mages had just fallen unconscious out of nowhere. But to the leader and what's left of his crew, they immediately understood what he had used.

Once the four wizards passed out from the Haki's incredible power, the bandits quickly made their escape.

-F-R-O-Z-E-N-F-L-A-M-E-S-

Lucy's eyes slowly fluttered open. She groaned, and sat up.

It took her a few seconds to realize she was in her bedroom. She glanced around, slightly wondering if the mission had been a dream.

"Huh… that'd be nice…" She thought aloud, falling back down in bed.

"What would be nice?" A smooth voice asked from her kitchen.

Lucy almost jumped out of her skin. She quickly sat back up and spun around toward where she heard the voice, and gasped.

Not out of fear, of course.

"Loke?! What are you doing here?" She asked in surprise.

He grinned cheerfully. "Are you feeling better, princess?"

She stared in confusion for a moment. Then within a few seconds, it finally clicked in her mind. The mission wasn't a dream, unfortunately. She didn't need Loke to tell her that. Or the fact that she'd accidentally let that orange-haired woman signal the leader, and let who-knows-what happen next.

She almost didn't want to know. All she remembered was the firework-like signal shooting high up, and then nothing. Almost like she'd immediately fainted on the spot.

"Where's the team?" She quickly asked, "What happened to them?" And what happened to me, she wanted to ask, but it wasn't important enough.

Loke walked over from the kitchen and sat down on the edge of her bed. "They're okay," He assured her. "Now lay back down. Wendy found some pretty bad wounds on your back. What happened to you?"

She subconsciously grinded her teeth together. Too many things she needed to know all at the same time. "Where are they? And what did happen to me? I don't remember anything," She pushed the covers back, and tried to stand up. But her immense back pain made her whimper and slide back down. "Ouch… and where did the bandits go?"

Loke sighed, looking down. "They escaped. As for Natsu, Gray, and Erza, they're at the guild. Wendy is still looking after their injuries, though they're not extreme. And your answer is the same as theirs—that you have no idea what happened back there."

"So we… failed the mission…" She commented softly, more to herself than to Loke.

He nodded. "Lucy, please be careful. I've been looking after you all afternoon; Virgo had the morning shift. Wendy also left some medicine for you, and I think now's a good time for you to take it."

"I don't need it," She grunted, burying her face in a pillow and turning away from Loke. "Besides, I deserved this. It's my fault they got away."

"It wasn't-" He began.

"-You weren't there. You don't know what happened." She cut in sharply.

He sighed. "Your team didn't say it was your fault. I'm sure whatever happened was an accident." He stared down at her. "You're all lucky some townspeople were kind enough to notify the guild once the bandits escaped. They had some members bring you all home, while all of you were unconscious."

So we really were all passed out… it must have been the leader's doing… She realized, still hiding herself from Loke.

"I wonder what kind of magic the ringleader must have used." The Spirit mumbled, as if sensing his master's thoughts. "Some kind of power to make your whole team fall unconscious at the same time."

No matter what he said, he couldn't get the thought out of Lucy's mind. The fact that it was her fault they lost. She simply couldn't get it out of her head. All she could think was, I'm the one to blame. It's my fault we failed the mission…

Loke nudged her a bit. "Hey, are you alright, princess? Please don't blame yourself for this." His voice sounded genuinely concerned.

She stayed quiet for a moment. "…I'm sorry for being such a bother." She finally spoke, barely audible.

His eyes widened in surprise. "You've been no such thing. We're your Spirits; we're happy to take care of you. You've taken such good care of us…"

She smiled a bit, and slowly sat back up. "I guess. But I still feel like everything was my fault. That we lost, that the bandits got away, that we all got hurt," Her voice began to trail off. "It was all because of me." She looked down, holding back tears.

Loke smiled sympathetically, "Don't think that way. It wasn't your fault. You tried your best, and that's what matters." He gently touched her shoulder, and she didn't move it away. "And besides, that sad look doesn't fit well with your beautiful face. Smile for me, Lucy?" He grinned.

She blushed a bit, and moved away from his touch. "Sh-Shut up…" She mumbled, hiding a small smile.

Well, it was nice to know he hadn't changed. Same old Loke. But, was that a good thing or bad thing?—what with his excessive flirting and all.

"That's cute. I like the blush. But I meant another kind of smile—a bigger one." He clarified, his grin even wider.

Lucy couldn't fight the smile as it made its way to her face. Loke always knew how to make her feel better. But the fact that she'd simply been a nuisance to the team this past mission continued to linger in her mind.

"You're still thinking about the job, aren't you?" He asked—once again as though he'd read her mind.

She looked up at him. "Well, yeah…" She admitted, the shame audible in her voice. "I wish I could've defeated that woman—so she wouldn't have been able to signal the leader. That way, we could have won. They wouldn't have escaped. And we could have…" She trailed off, the possible scenarios making her cringe with shame.

Loke watched her, a stern expression now on his face. "If you really needed help, why didn't you call me?"

She didn't meet his eyes. "Before I had the chance to… she attacked me…"

He didn't like to see his master in pain. He hated to see her hurt in any way. "If anything, it's my fault. I should have sensed you in trouble. I should have been there…"

Lucy stopped him before he could go any further. "No, it wasn't your fault either. And maybe if it was mine, I'll accept it. I just need to get stronger."

He met her eyes, surprised. "Lucy…?"

"I've decided I need to get stronger. To help out my team. And for the sake of the guild."

"But you don't have to do that, princess…"

"I want to."

"But-"

"-It's my decision." She cut in.

Loke analyzed her closely, and could sense how determined she was. He grinned, "If that's what you'd like to do, then I have no objections. I'll support you as much as I can,"

She smiled. "Thank you."

"And besides, I know you'd be too stubborn to let me talk you out of it."

She lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up..."

I will get stronger, she vowed to herself. I owe it to myself and the guild.


A.N.: And that's the end of the first chapter! xD I know it seems like a whole lot of nothing happened—love triangle-wise, lol… but Lucy realizing she needed to get stronger was important. In fact, a good part of this story is about her training. But it's not the whole point of the fanfic, obviously. Sorry to anyone who may have liked it to be.

Anyway, things might seem a little slow at first. But I promise—we will definitely get to the tense Natsu/Lucy/Gray part later. Bear with me, lovelies! :) And another reminder, this is primarily a romantic-comedy story. So don't be expecting a lot of action. The "bandits" will be slightly important later on, plus they'll get identities, but only for Lucy's sake. (Virtual hugs for anyone who can name who they were based off of! :D)

Please don't forget to review. Anything you say will be appreciated!(:

P.S., I have a feeling this is gonna be a looong story. 0_o Haha. Anyway. You'll be getting some GraLu next chapter! *squee* ;D