Fairy Tail and the characters are owned by Hiro Mashima. The only thing I own is this story based on Mashima's work.
Fairy Tail Country Club: Prologue
Lucy Heartfilia's eyes opened groggily still exhausted after another long night of heavy studying. She reached over slowly to her phone to turn off her alarm, guided more by habit than actual awareness. She knew she still had another 15 minutes before her back-up alarm went off, so she settled back into her blankets and dozed off quietly.
"Lucy wake up!" a muffled voice yelled from the ground floor below. We're going to be late and they're announcing the results of the summer internship this morning."
Hearing this, Lucy's eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed. How could she forget? Today was the day she had been awaiting anxiously for the last three months: the day the competition committee would announce the results of the corporate summer internship.
"Thanks Levy. Gimme a sec, I'll be right down" Lucy yelled back before hastily grabbing her towel and rushing to the girls' bathroom down the hall.
Lucy and Levy had applied for a prestigious summer internship being offered by the Dragneel Group and one of their partner companies, a multinational financial services corporation Scarlett Steel. This was a famous Fiore-wide competition and only the best of the best qualified to apply. Lucy took a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, her hands clutching the borders of the bathroom sink below it.
They had been through so much for this competition. Phase after phase of knowledge and proficiency tests, skills tests, psychological and personality tests, stress tests, practical evaluations in specially-designed offices that looked more like laboratories than a real life spaces, even one-on-one interviews with representatives from The Dragneel Group and Scarlett Steel. It was an exhausting trial, and today they would finally know the outcome of all their hard work.
From all the schools in Fiore, only three students would make it. Lucy knew she and Levy were smart. They were the top performers at their school. But theirs was just an ordinary district school, nothing comparable to the prestigious academies that also participated in the competition. Their hope was slim, she and Levy knew that going in, but they tried anyway. Better to try and not get in than to always wonder what would have been.
Lucy clung to the hope that either her or her best friend would get in. She smiled with the toothbrush still in her mouth, thinking about her best friend Levy McGarden.
Lucy's and Levy's parents were friends. They met at the small merchant company where they worked together, before Jude Heartfilia started his small contractor business in Magnolia. Lucy's mother died when she was very young after suffering for a long time from illness. Her father struggled to cope at that time, but with the support of Levy's parents and by burying himself in his work he was able to starve off his grief. It was this dedication, which some would call obsession, which helped his company to grow so fast in Magnolia and the surrounding districts. The business was just about to take off in the other big cities when Jude suffered a sudden heart attack and left this world to join his beloved Layla.
Jude left everything he owned to the McGardens, including guardianship of Lucy. Lucy soon moved in with the McGardens. Levy's parents, with little knowledge of Jude's business and little love for work that demanded they spend hours away from Levy and Lucy, quickly sought a merger of the Heartfilia Konzern with a much larger company. Two months after Jude's death the merger was to be finalised at a grand event in the capital, Crocus. Lucy and Levy were too young to know the details, and they never inquired into them, all they knew was that Levy's parents never returned from that trip to the capital.
"Luuuucy! Come on! We're gonna be late!" Lucy was awakened from her third sleep of the morning, this one a standing, waking sleep.
She spat out the water in her mouth and yelled down, "5 minutes. Promise."
"Okay 5 minutes" Levy yelled back up the stairs. "Then I'm coming up there and making you go to school with whatever you're wearing, got that?" Levy laughed.
"Yeah...yeah" Lucy responded, the towel muffling her words.
Levy smiled gently and shook her head as she placed her foot back on the landing and took her hands off the stair railing. She knew what was keeping Lucy. She had had the same thoughts herself this morning as she prepared for the day ahead. But as she had decided, this is no time to think about the past. The past is the past. She and Lucy had promised long ago to live valiantly on in their parents' memories laughing, loving and making the best of every day with the people they held dear. And they had stuck to their word, not thinking about the past but making the best of the present and aiming high for the future. They would take the world by storm: maybe not world domination, but Heartfilia and McGarden were gonna come damn near close to it! This competition was their first step. It didn't matter who made it, they just wanted that first step.
Levy turned right towards the hallway that led down to the kitchen.
"AHAHH!" She screamed as she fell over backwards and hit the hard floor. Something...or rather someone...had collided with her. This annoying little person was now lying comfortably on top of her.
"Thanks for breaking my fall Lev", he cried as he hopped off and ran away laughing in the direction of the family room, followed closely by a giggling little girl who skipped right over Levy in her determined chase after the boy.
"Romeo, Asuka, you know you're not supposed to be running in the halls, wait till Bisca finds you." Levy laughed behind them.
"No way, she's out grabbing some stuff for lunch, she'll never know" the boy gasped out between breaths as he ran around the living room sofa, little Asuka going back and forth to catch him as he turned this way and that.
"Sure, you say that now" Levy responded doubtfully.
"Levy! Sorry it took me so long" Lucy said bounding down the stairs. "Let's grab some breakfast before we head out".
Levy looked up and nodded. Together they walked down the lower hallway to the kitchen.
Cana and Ultear were already there.
"Mooorrrrnnnninggggg" Cana sung out. Ultear just nodded in their direction, her mouth full of toast, a huge glass of juice positioned to go down next.
"Blooof ringggg" she sounded out, sounding nothing like 'good morning'.
Lucy and Levy sat down and started on their breakfast. "Where is everyone this morning?" Levy asked.
"Macao and Alzack had to go down early to the yard to oversee a new project. Annie went to the farmer's market to get some stuff for lunch and Bisca went with her. But they all said to tell you good luck again."
Lucy and Levy smiled. They changed their expressions into firm, determined faces and held up their fists to show their fighting spirit. "We will definitely win!"
Cana laughed "either way we're celebrating."
The others laughed too knowing that Macao, Alzack and Bisca would definitely have a party no matter what the outcome.
Ever since Levy's parents' disappearance Lucy and Levy have lived with Macao Conbolt. Ultear, Cana, Alzack and Bisca were already there when the younger girls arrived. Romeo was just 3 years old then, and Azuka wasn't even born yet. That was 9 years ago. Five years ago Alzack and Bisca got married and Macao made Alzack a third partner in his construction company, the second being family friend Wakaba Mine. Macao and his wife Annie have a history of taking in children with nowhere to go and giving them a loving home. Everyone was grateful for them.
"You walking to school with us?" Levy asked the two senior girls.
"I'll be there in time for the assembly but Cana and I'll probably arrive just in-" Ultear was then interrupted by a series of loud crashes coming from the living room.
The four girls looked at each other and burst out laughing. "They are going to get grounded so bad," Levy laughed, looking forward to retribution for that hit earlier.
Whew! So glad to get that out of the way! Slightly depressing for a start! Sorry bout that. But I really wanted to get the back stories out of the way so I can focus on the main story. Hopefully the main story is lighter. It's more about building friendship and finding love and understanding across barriers. I won't focus on all the relationships individually and in depth but I'll focus on Nalu and to some extent GaLe, drawing the others in where I can. I might even dedicate individual chapters to some specific pairings if you guys want to see more of a particular couple. I'll listen to any and all feedback good and bad.
Please Read and Review. Let me know what you thought and what you're interested in. I hope I at least sparked some interest.