***I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. This is something I came across in my file and that I had all but forgotten about until now. While it is an interesting concept I do not know where this is heading.
Anyways, I thought it might be interesting for you all to see it.***
I opened my eyes, stared at white ceiling. It was a ceiling I had grown used to seeing when I woke up, and told me that no, I was not on some mission at the moment. I was home. The thought made me smile as I stretched my arms far above my head and sat up in my bed.
Pink. Pink was a word that could describe the room very well. Pink tapestry. Pink bed sheets. Even a pink carpet that covered the floor. I had always adored pink, even before everything. Before I decided to grab my own freedom and make a run for it.
The sun shone brightly through pink curtains, made it through a small crack and lit up a stripe on the floor. As part of my morning routine I opened the curtain and let the summer breeze in by widening the gap in my partly opened window. Blue sky without a cloud in sight. This would be a good day, surely.
Into the bathroom. I washed my face and looked at my reflection. Brown eyes, blonde hair. Speaking of hair, I would need to do something about that bed head. Out came the brush and I started the oddly comforting task of brushing through the knots in my hair, finishing it all with a small ponytail in order to keep it out of my face.
Bacon flew through the air before it landed in the frying pan once more. I was fully dressed, at the moment preparing breakfast in the form of toast, egg and bacon. So I stood in my kitchen, frying pan in one hand and a book borrowed from Levy that I only had a few pages left of in my other hand. It was a good book. A book with princesses, princes and dragons. The happily ever after was just around the corner now.
The book ended just as I had hoped it would, with the girl and the boy living happily ever after in their castle by the sea. It made me all giddy and I took a pirouette in the kitchen before my attention went back to the bacon. It was done, and perfectly so, too. A perfect ending and perfect bacon on a perfect day without a cloud in sight. It was indeed a good day.
I stood by the sink, washing the dishes used to make breakfast. It wasn't much, so I was soon done. Afterwards I checked the fridge in order to see if I needed to fill up on some of my stocks. Nope, good to go. I laughed to myself for no apparent reason seeing how I for once didn't have any gluttons visit me yesterday, thus letting me keep my food for at least one day longer. Not that I resented my friends by any means, they were whacked out and annoying and gluttonous and.. anyways. Team Natsu, as in Erza, Happy, Gray and Natsu.. they were still friends. Fairy Tail was still family no matter how crazy they might be.
I stood in front of the mirror once more. Keys, check. Fleur de Toile, check. Book for Levy, check. I struck a pose, smiled brilliantly at my reflection. Did I look good or what today? Happy with the reflection I left my apartment, locked the door and took a big breath of the fresh air that awaited me.
The sun shone down on me, warming me up and increasing my already fantastic mood. Birds twittered about, flew above me seemingly without a worry in the world and the river sparkled like a thousand sapphires in the morning sun.
"Ehem," came the grunt from the only one that might've been able to lower my bright mood. The landlady stood in front of me, her foot tapping the ground impatiently. Not today. She would NOT ruin my mood today. Without a word I took out an envelope that I had NOT forgotten inside and handed it to her, the envelope containing the rent for this time around. With that the fury left in a reasonably good mood as well, her mission for today accomplished.
"Gate of the Canis Minor, Nicola!" I shouted while gripping the correct key and Plue, the Canis Minor, appeared. With that I started on my way to the guild, balancing by the riverside as I so often did while thinking of what I should do once I arrived at the guild. Perhaps should I take up another job with Natsu in order to start working on saving up to my oncoming rent? Or maybe for some more clothes. I could need another pair of shoes…
"Be careful, lady!" came the shout from the boys on the boat and I waved at them, replied that yes, I would be careful. The sun felt good against my skin while the summer breeze played with my hair and kept the temperature good while I used my arms to keep steady as I walked slowly towards my destination, the Fairy Tail building. Plue waggled behind me on his shaky legs and I started humming on some melody while the water shimmered and reflected moving patterns in the shadows. What a good day it was!
The day started to deteriorate the moment I opened the door to the guildhall and promptly fell to the ground upon being hit by a flying chair. Plue waved his goodbye in front of my head and vanished from my side. Probably for the best. As I got up I noticed that another brawl was in full progress in front of me and that I probably should consider myself lucky that it only was a chair that hit jackpot in the myriad of spells, people, tables and booze that flew through the air. Ah, Fairy Tail. At times I forgot what kind of guild this was.
So I entered the building, the sun leaving my side as I stepped into the shadowed hall, heading for the bar counter while skillfully avoiding flying objects, a skill that had to be acquired reasonably fast in order to survive in this place. That or the ability to sustain the extensive amount of damage that followed by being hit several times a day. Most members of Fairy Tail seemed to belong under the second category.
"Yo. What's up, Lucy?" Gray greeted me as I reached the counter where Mirajane just had returned temporarily in order to fill up some mugs with beer for some customers.
"Oh.. hi Gray. You're not in that…" I had no words to describe the cloud of fighting bodies behind us so I just gestured in that general direction. He seemed to get it though and held up his iced beer.
"Having a short break. 'Sides, Natsu's not here today. Heard he went on some mission with Happy earlier this morning." he replied. A break, huh. And Natsu already left without me on a mission. What was I to do today then? Oh well, I might as well start off by finding Levy and hand her the book I had borrowed before I decided whether or not to take on some petty mission while I awaited the return of my partner and the promise of greater adventures that return likely would promise.
Around that train of thoughts a chain reaction was triggered. As mentioned I was amongst those that relatively soon had developed a knack for avoiding flying objects, most of my friends merely sustaining the damage caused upon impact rather than attempting to avoid the impact altogether.
Somewhere in the guild, I didn't see exactly where since I had my back turned at that very moment, someone sent Elfman flying in a direction he should've avoided. He probably realised this, but since he was already airborne he could do nothing as he ruthlessly made contact with the small round table, efficiently knocking it and all that had been on it to the ground. Including a plate containing a slice of strawberry cheesecake.
By the agitated roar that followed it could only be assumed that the owner of that cake was the scarlet fury named Erza Scarlet. There was a whimper of pure terror before the very large man was airborne once more, now heading for the bar. I didn't know that yet, of course, since I as mentioned had my back turned towards the hall and the pandemonium that ruled there. My survival instincts weren't triggered either since he wasn't heading for me. He was heading for Gray.
With a crashing sound the boys made contact, Grays head having a close encounter with the bar counter as his glass was sent flying into the air heading for me. NOW I reacted, grabbed the book and tried avoiding the object without much luck, though I DID avoid wetting the book. I was knocked to the floor, my hair soaking wet and reeking of beer, my nose sore due to the hard object that had crashed into it.
Elfman, hardened after years of being thrown into things quickly recovered and jumped back into the mass of fighting bodies once more. Perhaps HAD he sustained a minor head injury since Titania at the moment was busy showing them all WHY she was the strongest female in the guild as she swiftly offed them one by one while grieving the loss of her cake. Going back into THAT wasn't exactly the best of ideas.
In the meantime a very disoriented Gray fell to the ground, which happened to be the spot where I just sat up, once more knocking me to the ground as I had just been sitting up, the boy now on top of me. I noticed now that SOMEHOW in between being knocked half unconscious and falling he had managed to lose ALL his clothing. I, of course, shrieked in horror, accompanied by a familiar female voice behind a pillar.
The next I knew I performed my well honed Lucy Kick and imbedded the ice mage into the wall across the hall. The moment after all fighting discontinued as the whole guild flooded to the wailing of betrayal. The sun most certainly left the whole town of Magnolia at that very moment and my good mood left with it. Now I stood by the bar, feeling like a drowned cat, a drenched book in my hand, my hair smelling of beer. THIS.. was the definition of a bad day.
With determined steps in my wet boots I made my way to the mission board, snatched a flyer from it, went back to the bar where Master, somewhat unaffected by the flash flood, no matter HOW, sat while smiling at his children and drinking his ale.
"I'm going on a mission," I uttered darkly, dared him to question me. He didn't, just approved the mission with his stamp and yelled something lewd at Macao that laughed heartily and replied something equally lewd. I was sure that it would be even worse if I knew the full meaning of the comment.
"Would you like a towel to dry yourself off before you leave, Lucy?" Mira asked from behind me and handed me a white towel without waiting for a reply, then proceeded to look over my shoulder in order to read what kind of mission I had signed up for. I looked at it myself, had just picked it out on random, really. A filing job at.. Love and Lucky. The place where Father worked… Great, going from one family to the next. This REALLY wasn't my day.
"Hm, you sure you want to do that?" Mira asked, but my mood was already too black for me to return to the land of the sun in a while.
"I already got it approved… I'll be back in a few days time, I guess," I muttered the reply as I left for the door, the towel resting on my head.
"Okay, dear. Call me if you need me, 'kay?" she called after me, the barmaid that more oft than not acted like a doting mother. A filing job. Paper work in other words. Incredibly dull more likely than not. I guess some family time wouldn't be too bad, especially since Father HAD sworn to better his ways.
Okay. After showering and washing my hair extensively in order to get the beerstench out of it I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom once more. Keys, check. Fleur de Toile, check. Money for the train, check. Change of clothes, check. Okay, did I look good? Yes. Yes I did. I was good to go then! Clad in a blue skirt and a white shirt with a blue cross and a belt with my keys and whip plus my bag of clothing I left my apartment for the second time that day, locking the door behind me. Off I went on my way on another adventure, a possibly very frustrating one.
The sky had cleared after the outbreak of Juvia Lockser after the accidental and not too welcome close encounter with a naked Gray, so the sun shone down on me once more as I entered the train, not accompanied by my usual nauseous companion. The train was set into motion and the scenery passed by swiftly as the train accelerated.
Green fields, green like emeralds in the bright sun, the blue sky working as a nice contrast between heaven and earth. What separated the two would be distant mountains, topped with white if they reached a certain height. When the separation wasn't in the shape of mountains it would be forests or perhaps the occasional sapphire blue lake or river. The landscape was beautiful and had my mood been like when I first woke up I would've loved it. I still did, but…
It had been a while since I saw Father last. At the time he had given me the impression that he had forgiven my rebellious escape, and I had given him the impression that I was willing to try forgiving him for what he had done. The farewell had been.. hopeful. Hopeful because it might mean that we at some point could meet as friends, or at least not enemies. The scenery passed by, but my mind was occupied pondering about the approaching encounter.
Time flew by, yet it went painfully slow. Minutes passed by like hours and hours like minutes. Before I knew it I had left the train and stood before the guild where my parents had met. The sky was still brilliantly blue, but clouds had started to slowly close in on the unsuspecting sun where it sent its rays down upon the world. Perhaps would it start raining before the day reached its end.
"Okay, sign here, here and here..." the man instructed me, pointed at the designated areas on the paper in front of me. There sure was a lot to sign before I could start my petty job as a filer, whatever that implicated. I was in a small room. White walls surrounded me and the only furniture was a wooden table placed almost frighteningly accurately in the middle of the room. On that table the only object was the contract I had been asked to start signing. There were no windows and the floor was wooden.
"Sure..." I muttered back, started signing my name in those spots. Then again, Father was known for being a man that liked keeping all aspects of his business on paper. Speaking of Father...
"I'm sorry, but where IS Jude?" I asked, looked up briefly to catch the gaze of the man that had welcomed me into Love and Lucky. He was short, had brown hair and a moustache. Round glasses. He was the kind of person I was sad to say would be pushed around a lot. The kind of guy that would be given the tasks no one else wanted to take on. And he seemed to take on those jobs with a jolly smile, unaware of his status as an office lapdog. Well, at least I WOULD'VE said that hadn't it been for his eyes. The eyes of a smart man that knew how to con people.
"Ah, well.. he didn't feel too well today. Said something about drinking too much," the mousy man replied and I stopped for a second to contemplate the meaning of his words.
"Okay.. here too?" I asked, pointed at a spot I was uncertain about whether to sign or not.
"Yes, that's right. And there." he confirmed and pointed at another spot too.
"Got it. Father was drinking too much? Are you sure we're talking about the same person? Jude Heartfilia?" I asked. I was surprised due to the fact given to me. Father liked control in most situations and alcohol did not serve as an exception. He hardly drank more than a glass at a time, ever. Only when he was severely stressed out.
"Yes, Mr. Heartfilia also said that he didn't want to be here because you'd be angry with him. Are you done yet?" the mousy man explained while he looked intently at the paper that indeed was well and done signed up and down and to the sides. Father and his paperwork...
"Yes. Why would I be mad?" I asked, put the pen down. Why WOULD I be mad? Sure, we had our differences, but it wasn't like I actively would attempt starting another fight between the two of us.
"Congratulations," the man said then. He HAD told me his name, but I had forgotten it. He was the kind of person that would be forgotten in the blink of an eye. His reply didn't make sense according to my question either.
"Why?" I questioned. Why did he congratulate me? Swift as a hare, or perhaps a snake, he took hold of the paper I had been signing and it was gone before I knew anything more of it.
"On your marriage, of course," the man smiled at me. Beamed. Father was afraid I would be mad? Why would he.. then the words hit me. On my marriage, of course. My marriage. Marriage. Ah.. the CONTRACT.
"What?" as I uttered that single syllable my voice had already reached a tone that everyone I knew would know meant trouble. Father feared I'd be mad. Apparently he had a valid reason since I apparently just signed a form of consent that now pronounced me as the wife to.. someone. No wonder he drank last night.
***I think it is a good one, if not a bit empty of content right now.***