Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Lucy was so immersed in her book - after all, it was nearing the climax - that she didn't notice the thump next to her and the sudden yelp of pain. After all, brawls and randomly thrown objects were very common in Fairy Tail.
And then she heard someone, judging by the voice it was Natsu, yelling, which she struggled to block out, before a hand grabbed her roughly on the shoulder.
"What?" she snapped, whipping her head around, irritated; she was just about to find out why Gill betrayed his family and whether Susan loved -
"What was that for?" was his reply as his eyes narrowed.
"What was what for?" she asked, confusion mingling with the temporary burst of anger that came to her when she was interrupted from reading her book in peace (or the thing that was as close to peace as Fairy Tail could get).
"Don't play dumb!" he shouted - Lucy started in surprise at the volume of his voice, the angry tone, and the propinquity of his face to hers. She gulped when she noticed the fist clenching as if he was resisting the urge to punch her. "You tripped Lisanna!" The fear fled (fitting, she supposed, considering its namesake), and her temper flared - she was not going to be accused of something she did not do.
"Rich coming from you, telling me not to play dumb," she retorted sharply. "And what's this about tripping Lisanna?" As if!
Natsu gave a long-suffering sigh and started pantomiming. "She - was - next - to - you," he said slowly, as if questioning her intelligence, "she - fell. You - must - have - tripped - her."
"Gee - and this is the person telling me not to play dumb? Is your brain too weak to speak at a normal pace?" the blond inquired angrily, her anger getting the better of her. She found herself saying things she never would have said. "I must congratulate you on your deduction skills, because our guild is in perfect condition, so of course there would be no potholes or loose floorboards to trip her up! So I, cruel, evil, villainous Lucy, must have pushed poor Lisanna to the ground!"
Natsu's face was blank as he tried to comprehend her vocabulary, and Lucy inwardly smiled in triumph, considering it a small victory. "Well . . ." he began. "Why didn't you try to catch her? Or help her up?" He was regaining some of his confidence as he tried to find a fault in her actions, which, in Lucy's opinion, were perfectly normal.
A vein was throbbing in her forehead. "Because I was reading this you thick-headed buffoon!" she yelled as she picked up the heavy volume she was reading and whacked it over his head - all 2,732 pages of it.
He fell to the ground, a bruise already forming, but Lucy kept on going. "Last time I checked, Lisanna wasn't weak! Could she not handle a little boo-boo?" The worst injury someone could get from tripping was maybe a scrape if they skinned their knee and a damaged pride. As Natsu got up heavily from the ground, Lucy realized most of the guild was watching, but, for once, she didn't care.
"You've been like this ever since Lisanna came back," Lucy continued, hurt. "Do I mean nothing to you? All those missions, all those times together - are you willing to just throw them away for the sake of Lisanna?" She spat the takeover mage's name as if it were poison - deep down she knew it wasn't the girl's fault, but, now, caught up in the moment, she felt a rush of hatred toward both her and the dragon slayer.
She never considered that he would move to strike her, never considered that, despite that being his way, he would use action against her when words failed. But that was what he did. His face darkened as he recognized the venom in her voice as she spoke Lisanna's name, and Lucy stepped back instinctively. Flames roared to life around his fist, which he raised. Lucy watched in horror as it made its path toward her and barely dodged it as she quickly tilted her head to the side; yet the attack still grazed her, scorching a mark on her cheek.
Shocked, Lucy put up a hand to touch the mark on her cheek. He . . . did it - he actually hurt her. The one thing she thought he'd never do - she looked at him with eyes full of tears - not due to the pain because, although the burn stung, it was the fact that he had actually raised a hand against her that stung the most. She tearfully searched his face for a sign, any sign, of remorse, sorrow - but there was none. Instead, he was preparing for another punch. Choking back something half between a sob and a cry of fear, she flinched and put her arms up in front of her face in a feeble attempt to protect herself, waiting for the blow - but it never came.
Lucy hesitantly put down her arms and opened her eyes to find Natsu's attack intercepted by a gleaming blade and an arm encased in ice. Gray and Erza looked at Natsu, and spoke one word as one.
"Enough." That single word was sharp and deadly like a sword, cold and ruthless as ice, full of barely contained fury. From simply hearing it, Lucy winced and a chill rode down her spine as she fought the urge to turn tail and run, even though she knew it was not directed at her.
But the pink-haired mage stood his ground and looked defiantly into the faces of the redhead and the raven despite his fear of the former. This action alone seemed to make Gray snap, and he lunged for Natsu. An armored hand closed around his neck, for there was no shirt to cling on to, and held him back.
"No Gray," Erza said softly but firmly. "Do not sink down to his level - attacking comrades without reason." The last part was mainly directed at Natsu, who sneered at her as if to call her a hypocrite - and, Erza realized, he was right. All those times she hit him or Gray . . . but they were within reason, she corrected herself. His own idiocy brought those beatings upon himself, yet Lucy did nothing but mind her own business. A bruise or two, which was the majority of the injuries she gave him, is nothing, but, if Lucy hadn't dodged the first one or if she and Gray hadn't blocked the second - she shuddered to think the result.
Gray breathed heavily, looking into her eyes and nodding to assure her that he would not attack Natsu, before shrugging off her hand.
"Where's all that crap about nakama that you always spout, huh Flame Brain?" Gray challenged. "You threw it away in a second. To think I actually believed you, that I was actually motivated about your speeches -" The ice mages shook his head in disgust. "I used to respect you, despite our brawls. But no more." He pounded a fist into his palm as if making a vow before making eye contact with Natsu, a silent threat in his eyes.
Erza nodded approvingly. "I think," she said to Natsu, "that you should take a break from the team until you feel . . . better."
"But I feel fine," Natsu insisted, his dense mind not comprehending her statement.
"No - I'm kicking you out from the team," Erza said flatly.
Natsu blinked disbelievingly. "What? You can't!" he spluttered.
"Yes I can. As an S-class mage I have a higher authority and thus can make choices that concern the team, not the guild - though I wish I had that power right now. Now go."
She turned her head in an obvious dismissal before looking at Lucy. Her harsh expression softened considerably as she looked at the stunned and scared celestial wizard. "Go - relax. Maybe do something about," her gaze flicked to Lucy's cheek, "that. The library's always a good place to rest," Erza said, looking at the floor to Lucy's book; after all, Lucy was reading before the . . . disruption. So the requip mage picked up the book, dusted it off, and handed it to Lucy with a soft smile.
And despite the fact that she was hurting inside, Lucy smiled back.
Despite still being rather unsettled by the event, Lucy quickly found company in the form of some good books. Due to her desperate need of taking her mind off of what had just happened, Lucy went through the towers of books fairly quickly and was currently searching the shelves for a promising novel. Her gaze fell on a thick, worn, leather-bound volume with a title that she had to squint and inspect closely in order to decipher, "Olim In Externa".
Olim In Externa - the past of an enemy, Lucy internally translated. Those childhood tutorings did pay off. So, deciding that she should polish up her Latin, Lucy tucked the book under her elbow and positioned herself to take a leap off the ladder to test the daring she had gained from Fairy Tail. However, the book fell out and landed with a thud on the floor, flipped open to the center.
Sighing exasperatedly, Lucy jumped, expecting to land somewhere near the book so she could pick it up. A thin laser shot up from the book's spine toward Lucy and enveloped her in a soft golden glow upon contact and stopped her descent toward the ground.
Wha- was her first thought, but she didn't have time to finish it because the room was spinning like a carousel and then suddenly everything was dizzying. The blond gasped but then her eyelids closed and blackness stole over her vision.
She didn't feel the impact of landing, and she certainly didn't notice the difference between landing on the wooden floor of the Fairy Tail library and landing on the grassy fields of an unknown province.
A/N: I rewrote this chapter, feeling like it was mediocre and rushed, and I'll try to update within a week. Yes, I realize Natsu is slightly OOC but oh well - that can't be helped.