It's the Thought that matters
by
Silver-Eyed Rukia
Rated: T
Summary: It is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.
Pairing: Erza x Lucy, slight Levy x Gajeel
Note: This will be a Two-Shot, so for anyone interested I suggest a "follow" or something like that. I hope you'll enjoy the story.
Note 2: This isn't beta-ed, so please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.
"Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us."
~Oscar Wilde
It was an ordinary day in Magnolia: The sun was shining, the townsmen were busy trading their merchandise on the market and the birds were happily chirping their songs of love and happiness. Or they would have if not for the big commotion comming from the town's guild that resonated throughout the city, drowning out the birds' songs.
Tables were flying through the air, along with some guild members, barrels full of sake, beer and wine were downed in a drinking competition and a fight of strength was carried out admist the chaos that was currently Fairy Tail.
A pink-haired boy and his raven-haired companion glared at each other, ignoring the unconscious members pilling up around them. The poor guys had been caught up in the battle between the Salamander and the Maker Mage, resulting in them being now happily oblivious to everything around them.
"Hey, porn star, how 'bout getting out of my face, huh? Can't eat when that ugly head of yours is in my line of sight."
"What did you say, you wanna-be excuse of a Dragon Slayer?"
"Wanna-be?! Say that again, you frosty bastard!"
And thus another round of fighting started between the two friends and everyone smart enough to know what would follow made sure to keep their safe distance from the pair. A lone, white-haired figure made her way through the mass of drunk, loud, unconscious and fighting people, serving another round of beer to her fellow members with a small smile plastered on her face, despite the situation. But as a chair hit her upside the head, a chair that had been meant to hit Gray, she too was knocked out, smile still in place.
"Oi you bastards, watch it! Who's gonna keep the beer flowing when Mira's out cold?", an enraged Cana yelled, her words slurred and cheeks flushed due to the alcohol.
Needless to say who joined the white-haired mage on the floor due to a thrown barrel.
All in all it seemed to be an ordinary day in the mage's guild. But there couldn't be an ordinary day in Fairy Tail now, could there?
Leathery boots scraped over the entrance of the guild, the sound of metal against metal piercing the turmoil as the owner of the armor entered the building, long, fiery red hair flowing behind her as she moved forward, paying the bodies scattered across the room no heed.
Someone who had been lucky enough to avoid getting knocked out turned to see who the visitor was and immediately paled at the sight of the armored woman and ran around the guild, whispering into the member's ears and pointing into the direction of the strongest woman. The message spread like a wildfire and even reached the ears of the two people who had started the whole mess.
"Hey Erza, nice to see you around. Natsu and I were just enjoying our bonding-time together", the bare-chested boy said, his partner agreeing with a yelled "Aye sir!".
But not only to their, but to everyone's surprise, did Erza not even spare them a glance as she continued on her way through the guild. The whole room let out a sigh of relief at first but held its breath when the mage suddenly stopped and started to look around as if to search for something.
"Erza-san, is something the matter?", the soft voice of Wendy Marvel broke the silence and her companion Carla came out of her hiding place from behind the bar, blue cat in tow.
Everyone waited with bated breaths as the Fairy Queen turned her head towards the small Dragon Slayer, eyeing her for a moment, as if only yet realizing that she had been standing there the whole time.
"Ah, Wendy. You could be of assistance. Do tell me, have you seen Levy around here somewhere?"
Wendy looked surprised for a second before nodding and pointing at the library.
"Levy-san is inside there. She said it was too loud in here for her to read her books."
"Thanks Wendy", the taller girl said, patting her fellow magician's head and continuing her journey through the guild. The sound of the door opening and closing was awfully quiet in the deadly silent main hall as nobody dared to do as much as even move.
"Anyone care to explain what happened?", somebody asked, again breaking the silence.
"Who cares? We are spared from Erza's wrath for now, that's all that matters", Natsu grinned, ready to throw some more chairs around when the door to the library slammed open, making him freeze in the movement.
Puce eyes wandered through the room, taking in various unconscious people, Mirajane amongst others, broken chairs and tables, burnt or frozen spots and even some blood staining the wall.
"When this place isn't cleaned when I come back later", a low, threatening voice said, its owner lifting her head to look Natsu directly in the eye, "you'll experience a punishment worse than anything the Master could ever think of."
And the door slammed shut again.
Wendy sweatdropped. 'I never would have thought that such a huge mess could be cleaned up in such a short time.'
The so called library, that was actually just part of the storage room, smelled of old, dusty books. A smell of wisdom and knowledge, a smell only two persons inside the guild would be able to stand for more than an hour. One of those two was currently seated at a large table, various books scattered across said table, some even piled up into huge towers of lyrik.
Erza approached the blue-haired teen and, before getting her attention, looked over the smaller girl's shoulders to see what she was currently reading. It was a stack of papers, not a book, that she carefully read through, following the written words with such an interest that she was totally oblivious to the knight's presence behind her. The redhead smiled gently, immediately recognizing the handwriting.
A gauntleted and thus cold hand landed on Levy's shoulder and made the teen spin around in her chair, knocking some books over in the process.
"Ah! Erza-san, please don't scare me like that..."
Levy scratched the back of her head and started picking up the books, getting some unexpected help from her visitor. When all the books were at their designed destinations again the two of them sat down, facing each other.
"Excuse my sudden interruption of your", Erza cleared her throat, "studies, but I am in need of your knowledge."
The younger girl's face lit up in anticipation of what it would be that the Erza Scarlet needed her assistance for.
"Well what is it? A text you need deciphered? A spell you need translated? Runes to be cast on someone? But if that was the case you would have gone to Freed...or is it something secret? Oh, I just know the thing for-"
A raised hand stopped the somewhat senseless rambling of the nervous mage.
"Calm down and relax, Levy. I am not here on a mission, but on a personal behalf. No need to be nervous or even formal. We are friends, are we not?"
The reassuring smile sent her way calmed the now happy girl and she relaxed into her chair, arms neatly positioned benath her jaw, supporting her face in keeping it upright.
"Hm", she hummed in agreement, visibly feeling at ease now that that special matter was off the table.
"Anyway, the reason I am here is because I have special question, so please answer in all honesty," Erza said, receiving a nod from her opposite.
"You and Lucy are best friends, right? You're probably the only person I can ask. Natsu may be her friend, but he is an airhead when it comes to girls. And if I asked Gray I would have to fight off Juvia, so...", the redhead said, uncomfortably shifting in her seat, "what should I get Lucy for our one-month-anniversary?"
If her hands hadn't been placed under her jaw rigth now Levy was sure she would have been sitting there slack-jawed because of the surprise she was experiencing right now. Opposite of her sat Erza Scarlet, the strongest female in Fairy Tail, also referred to as Titania, fidgeting and blushing from embarassment because she had asked someone what to get for her girlfriend's and her own anniversary. As a result the Solid Script Mage just stared at the older girl, making her even more uncomfortable.
But Erza is, like everybody knows, a bit socially awkward and thus Levy was forcefully awoken out of her dreamy state by a sharp sword pointing at her. At first she blinked, then she blinked some more and, after finally realizing what had just happened, jumped out of her chair and took a step backwards.
"N-now, Erza, please calm down. I was just a bit suprised at the turn of events. No need to get all serious now."
The shaking form that was supposed to be Erza sent her sword back to her magic realm and tried to regain her composure by crossing her arms over her ample chest, sending a metallic sound through the "library" as metal scratched against metal at the motion. The blush on her face remained though, a sight that burned itself into Levy's mind and even made her giggle. In her head though, of course. She didn't have a death wish.
Erza, not trusting her voice yet, just nodded, trying her best to force down the red color covering her face. The simple gesture was enough to reassure Levy into sitting down again and the pair immediately began discussing the topic at hand.
It was about an hour later when the redhead gave her thanks and her goodbye to Levy, something that seemed to be some kind of book in her hands as she left.
The blue-haired woman sighed and slumped into the chair she was currently seated on, closing her eyes in exhaustion. It had taken quite some magic power to complete the present that the knight was currently carrying towards her beloved one.
"Geehee."
Olive eyes snapped open at the trademark laugh of one of the Dragon Slayers and searched for the tall, well-built form of the man she knew was around here somewhere. She spotted him sitting on one of the tall ladders used for getting the books from the upper shelves.
"Gajeel, what are you doing here? It's rare for you to come into the library section."
"Heard the sound of metal some time ago, thought I'd check that out. Didn't want to disturb the two of you though, that damn Titania probably would have sliced me in half if I did", he said as he jumped off the ladder, landing right next to the much smaller girl. "So instead I settled on watching my favorite girl."
Now it was Levy's turn to blush as she turned away from the iron man and focused on the papers she had been reading when Erza had come in earlier.
"You look so tempting when engrossed with your work", Gajeel whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Pleasant ones. "You do know that dragons love to hunt what's tempting them, hm?"
When Erza exited the storage she was glad to see that the guild had been tidied up and that every member was fully awake again, even Cana and Mirajane. Her gaze went over the members subconsciously as she sat down at the bar, ordering a cake and some tea. She counted them.
'Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Elfman, Makao, Wakaba, Happy, Carla, Cana...they're all here. But someone's missing...'
It bugged her, nagged at her mind that she was forgetting something, no, someone. When the cake was placed in front of her she cast away those thoughts for the time being, happily enjoying her treat after a tiring week of work. She exchanged the book with a fork and started eating, blissfully savouring the sweet taste.
It then dawned to her as she sat there at the bar, eyes focused on the lamps that filled the bar with light.
'Light!'
As if called she felt a person press herself against her armored form from behind, the heat of the person seeping through the metal. A lone strand of hair tickled the right side of her face as the owner of the blond strand leaned over the taller woman's shoulder, cheeks brushing against each other.
"Found you."
Erza froze, her left arm stuck in midair, a piece of cake firmly stabbed by the fork.
'How could I forget her', she chided herself, a gentle smile instantly spreading over her features at the sight of her girl.
"Really, I've been looking everywhere for you, you know?", the blonde said, taking a seat beside the woman in armor, grinning up to her. Her grin was so wide and bright that Erza thought it would split her face in two if she dared spread it wider even one more inch. "It's been a week since I've last seen you, you could at least have said hello before coming here."
A sweet pout replaced the previous grin, cheeks puffed out in what seemed to be a sulk. Mirajane, who had watched the exchange between the knight and the Celestial Mage, couldn't hide her laughter at the young girl's antics and was soon followed by the readhead, who just sat there, chuckling at the sight.
"My apologies, but I had an urgent matter to attend to that could not be delayed. Otherwise I would have come to you first thing after returning home, Lucy."
The blonde openend an eye, a playful glare being shot at her opposite, still not being fully appeased. Erza thought for a moment before her eyes light up.
"Maybe I can make up for it", she said, making use of the nearly forgotten fork and the piece of cake that was still firmly planted on the sharp edges of the tool. She stopped in front of Lucy's mouth, one gauntleted hand beneath the fork in case the piece should drop.
"But only this once", the mage grinned, happily taking the offered proposal of peace.
"The world is going to end! Erza shared her cake with someone. Her cake!", Happy screamed, flying around the hall like an irritated bug.
"What?!"
Natsu and Gray stared at the pair seated at the bar, memories of a previous time where Erza had punished them for taking her cake came floading back to them, making them shiver and hide in the corner of the main hall.
"Please, no more...", Natsu whimpered while the Maker Mage silently weeped beside him. The blue cat continued to fly around, screaming random words like "Apocalypse" and "The Revival of Nirvana".
Before Erza could do as much as respond, her slightly smaller girlfriend had grabbed the cat by his tail and started shaking him.
"You goddamn cat, can't you just shut up for even one second?"
"Wah, Lucy's going to eat me!"
"Am not!"
And the guild once again erupted in its usual turmoil, with the Salamander and his ever present companion again fighting over something trivial, Cana, Wakaba and Makao resuming their drinking contest and Elfman running around, shouting something about everyone being a man.
"I'm a girl, you blockhead!"
Mira and Erza remained outside the circle of lunatics, watching from a more or less safe distance. Even though she liked watching the guild at times like this, her eyes went from the mass of arms and legs to the blonde at her side, who was still trying to get the blue cat to apologize. That's when she noticed something.
"Hey Lucy, there's something on your-"
But she wasn't able to finish her sentence because a furred paw just barely missed her face as Happy tried to squirm away from Lucy's iron grip. Not to mention that the girl wasn't even listening in her fit.
As chairs and tables flew around the hall yet again, Erza stood up, took a few steps towards the girl and the cat, grabbed the girl's shoulders, made her turn to face her and successfully got her attention while shutting her up at the same time.
Happy stared, Mira smiled, the guild continued to be a noisy bunch as the redhead locked lips with the Celestial Mage, passionately kissing her, cake forgotten on the counter of the bar as her hands held her girl firmly pressed against her armored form.
When they parted it was Lucy's turn to be surprised, staring at the knight with an open mouth and wide eyes.
"There was a bit of icing stuck on your face", Erza stated as calmly as if she had just done the most ordinary thing in the world. She licked her lips and gave a small grin. "Hm, sweet."
"She llllllikes you."
"For the love of god, cat! Just shut up, would you?"
The enraged and somewhat embarrassed Celestial Mage flung the cat across the room, successfully knocking him into the back of Natsu's head. She breathed heavily for a moment before regaining her composure and turning around to sit down again: Only to see Erza still standing very close to her.
'Well, there goes my equanimity.'
"W-What was that Erza?", Lucy blushed, hands shaking as she forced them onto the counter, folded as if in a silent prayer. The taller woman seemed totally oblivous to what the mage was referring to, but the mischievous glint in her eyes betrayed her.
"Hm, how about marking what is mine?"
The pair sat down again and Mirajane handed the younger girl a glass of water which she accepted with a "Thanks" while Erza resumed her meal.
"Whatever", the still highly flushed girl mumbled, her eyes wandering over the counter when they landed on a familiar shape.
"Hey, what's that? A new book?"
Her hands reached for the book, but an armored hand made a quick grab for it and in an instant, it vansished, having been sent to a magical realm.
"It's one of my favorite books, not something you should read" the knight stated, hiding her surprise at the sudden discovery of her present pretty well. 'I can't let her see it yet, it's still not finished.'
A fairly fresh memory resurfaced at the statement of the older girl and Levy's voice suddenly rang through Lucy's head: 'Erza seems to like the slightly naughty books.'
She gave a nervous laugh and scratched her head. "Yeah, probably. Something I shouldn't read..."
The following few minutes passed in silence. Well, at least between the pair as the guild was still up und lively, destroying the furniture. When Erza finished her cake she got up, waved goodbye to Mira and took her girlfriend's hand, switching into her armorless outfit to feel the soft skin and the warmth of the girl.
"How about a walk through town? I heard the moon should be especially beautiful tonight."
Lucy grinned, entwined her fingers with the ones of her dearest and led the way out of the main hall. As the door closed behind them the last thing heard was a simple yet daring question from the smaller woman.
"So, what kind of book are you currently reading?"
Info: Lucy is the English form of Lucia, which comes from the Latin word lux, which means light. That's why Erza thought about Lucy when looking at the lights. The name means the light, the radiant/shining or beauty.
Well, that's it for the first part. And to be honest: Wow, that was long o_o
I just wrote and wrote and wrote...and ended up with 7 pages before I knew it. And the main plot didn't even take place yet.
So I split the story in half because reading 7.000+ words in a row can be tiring.
Anyways, I got the rest already planned out, so stay tuned ;)
Phrase of the Day
If you're my queen, it's a beautiful thing
"Beautiful Thing" by Sister Hazel
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