Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way, shape or form.
Dedicated to BlackRain105 for the amazing artworks that she had made for my story, To What We Once Were. Links are up on my profile if you want to view them!
This is my way of saying thank you for all that! I appreciate the time and effort that you've put in the art! They're the first artworks that's ever been made for a story of mine, so I cannot be happier in making this story for you~!
I really do hope you like fluff, because this is just... This story is honestly nothing but fluff.
The Show Must Go On
"Milady, no matter the distance or the hardship, I will always fight to be by your side. Whenever you are in trouble, I'll gallantly show up," he spoke calmly, never letting his gaze drift away from hers. She could feel her face heat up with each word spoken. "After all, I am your knight in shining armour."
He squeezed her hand gently to press her forward. She was startled, momentarily lost in the dream-like scene. It was all so perfect. Almost as if it were out of a fairy –
"This is boring! Why do I have to sit here and watch this crap?" a voice whined from the audience. The intimate mood created was shattered, and Lucy fought the urge to walk up to the impatient Dragon Slayer and whack him on the back of his head. Luckily for her, she had the wonderful Titania already on the case.
The lights that had dimmed for the performance flickered back on. Inside the guild hall was chaos, but not in the form that usually broke out within the building. Half-painted sets covered the floor. Parts of props were scattered about as well, endangering anyone who was idiotic enough to blunder without caution. The guild members were scurrying about, each person having at least one task on hand to get to. In the few seats that had been set up in front of the makeshift stage Lucy and her 'knight' was standing on were Mirajane, Erza and an overly bored Natsu, who was merely sitting there, taskless, since he was a danger to any work being done.
Master Makarov had issued an order for his children to prepare a way for the Guild to earn more money and recognition after their seven year disappearance. Being ranked the weakest guild in all of Fiore wasn't quite the best situation to be in and, therefore, they needed to find a way to regain some past popularity.
Mirajane, the Demon herself, suggested that the guild should put on a play. Much to the members' surprise, Erza had agreed with her, saying that it was the perfect way to boost popularity and 'morale' or something to the context.
So there they were, stuck preparing for a play to be held in under a week's time. Mira, being the one to suggest the idea, also took upon the role of being director of their little show, appointing Erza to be their production manager. Having those two watching everyone like hawks got people to actually work.
Being the director, Mira also had the choice of which play they were going to perform, and who would be cast as the main actors. Of course, her play of choice involved something fantastical with romance splashed all over it. Not many were surprised with her pick, but were more agitated over who would be chosen to play in such a sappy romance involving a knight and a princess and true love and all that jazz.
For their main role of the princess, Mira had just a single person in mind, casting them in a heartbeat before any protest could be made. The poor girl didn't know what was happening until Erza was ushering her over to Bisca and Evergreen for makeup, also asking if she could kindly summon Cancer so that they could work on potential hairstyles.
At hearing that his 'beloved' was cast as the beautiful princess, their knight had come out to light sooner than expected. Mira was shocked at first, his appearance not anticipated in her little scheme. But, she rethought it and realised that the spirit may be actually a good addition to their little crew. And that was how the strongest of the Celestial Spirits was standing beside Lucy, playing the heroic and charming knight that would sweep any damsel off her feet.
"Natsu! We were in the middle of practice here!" Lucy snapped, almost walking over there if Loke hadn't been holding her back, a worried look in his eyes. "At least have an inch of courtesy and shut up for just one minute so that we can get through the scene!"
He snorted, shuffling lower in his seat. He avoided her heated gaze, choosing to watch as Happy helped Charle and Wendy fix up a tree prop for one of the scenes. "Fine. I'll be quiet."
His tone sounded indignant, but Lucy believed him and resumed her last pose – gazing into Loke's eyes like an airhead fangirl of his as he spoke of sweet promises to her. Yes, she was a romantic at heart, and she definitely loved a good romance story, but the play the Mira had forced them to be in was just so... cheesy.
She knew that she couldn't blame Natsu for his whining, but she'd rather get everything over and done with rather than listen to him go on and on, which would then cause her to react each scene he interjected a comment in.
Putting on her best smile, her eyes flickered to the script a final time before it was her cue to speak. "My knight, how long I've awaited for you to come. My love, now that you're here, we can finally be together at last! Together... Forever."
She whispered the last line, just as Levy had told her to earlier when she was reciting the lines before the rehearsal. The blue-haired bookworm said something about how saying it that way would emphasise the line or something along those lines. Lucy, seeing her friend's point, just went with it.
She had forgotten what was meant to happen after her own confession, so that was reason enough for her to shriek when Loke whisked her closer to him until their faces were only inches apart. He had that mischievous twinkle in his eye that she saw whenever he was about to make a romantic move on any girl. She thought being his master changed things a tiny bit. Apparently not.
Her whole body was frozen in place as Loke moved his face closer to hers. His hot breath fanned across her face, and she fought a losing battle to keep calm and not run away. It may have sounded silly, but Loke was going to take was something precious; her first kiss.
All of a sudden, she felt something very, very hot at the hem of her dress. The heat quickly climbed up. The scent of smoke filled her nostrils, and her mind immediately went into overdrive once she heard Levy shouting from her place behind the sets.
"Lu-chan! Your dress! It's on –"
"FIRE!" Lucy screeched, finishing Levy's very obvious statement. She panicked, jumping away from Loke to begin running around like a mad woman. "Oh my god. I'm on fire. I'm on fire. SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"
She flailed, desperate to find someone who could possibly help her. Wanting to assist her… somewhat friend, Juvia stepped forward and released a jet of water from her hand, drenching Lucy from head to toe. Although soaking wet, she was glad, falling on the floor in relief.
"Nice save Juvia," Gray said, not realising the consequence of his words until after he had spoken. His wide eyes didn't miss her surprised expression, as the girl went from her serious mode to 'Ultimate-Gray-fangirl' mode.
Her eyes impossibly shaping into hearts, she started to frolic around, uncontrollable of the water that started bursting around due to her happiness. "Gray-sama complimented Juvia! Gray-sama spoke nice to Juvia! Gray-sama was nice to Juvia! Juvia is so happy! Juvia is so unbelievably happy!"
Moving around with tears falling out of her eyes like waterfalls, unbeknownst to her, she was ruining each of the freshly painted sets as she passed. In under a minute flat, running paint was on the floor, sets were knocked over and guild members frazzled.
The scarlet-haired demon shuffled closer to the water mage until she was beside the weeping girl. Taking her sword out, much to the fear of her nakama, she used the butt of her weapon to hit the delirious girl on the back of her head. She promptly fell to the floor, unconscious, with a lopsided smile across her face. Erza let out a deep breath and slowly turned her head to face the boy who she believed caused the incident. Everyone else followed her lead, their eyes trailing after the mage scampering off to hide behind a soggy tree prop.
Lucy was one of those who followed Titania's glare. She wasn't surprised at all at who the woman believed was the culprit. Most people found it obvious that it was him that had done the deed. Once they saw fire and remembered a complaining Dragon Slayer, it was easy to make the connection.
She looked down at her body, glad that the poofy dress had taken most of the fire. The garment barely covered her legs anymore, the farthest tips of the singed fabric reaching mid-thigh. Her legs weren't too badly damaged, though a few of the flames had gotten to her, causing some first degree burns on some patches. It made moving somewhat painful, and she hoped that Wendy would be able to fix it up soon. Juvia putting the flames out had helped ease the pain slightly.
She watched the eldest of the Take-Over siblings walk over towards Natsu, that sweet but scary smile on her face. Mira leaned down and tapped the boy on his shoulder. For a moment, he looked mortified, believing that it was Erza ready to kill him at moment's notice. He was relieved once he saw Mira instead, but saw that look on her face and started freaking out.
"Natsu…" she began, her tone sounding a tad too nice. "Is there a reason why you set your partner alight? Are you attempting to destroy my show even before we've reached opening night? Tell me your answer now or else I'll feed what's left of you to Erza after I'm done with you."
Mira took a step forward, intimidating the Dragon Slayer. Another step. He inched backward. One more step. He started to freak out, his eyes searching out until they met her own.
Lucy suddenly felt guilty. At that precise moment, he seemed so harmless – like Edo Natsu. She was stunned speechless.
"Wait!" a small voice cried, with eyes turning toward a small blue Exceed flying to protect his father figure. "Don't hurt Natsu! He actually had good reason to set someone on fire! Although… trying to show-off ended up in his fire hitting someone else."
"Happy…" Natsu said, sounding a little wary.
The white-haired woman shot him a glare before turning her attention to the Exceed. "Okay Happy. Tell me why Natsu was like that."
"He liiiiiiiiiikes someone! He even wanted to replace the person confessing to the girl he likes and say his own words!"
A silence lingered for a moment or two. Natsu was petrified. Lucy was surprised beyond belief, feeling the slightest hint of jealousy at the mention of a mysterious girl. Their other nakama drew conclusions and smiled knowingly.
This included Mira, who had reverted back to her kind, normal self. Her eyes flickered towards who Happy was hinting at before speaking. "I see… Well then, Natsu, why don't we restart that scene?"
Natsu had a feeling he was screwed.
"Except," Mira added, her smile turning sly. "You're going to have to say exactly what you wanted to say to this mystery crush of yours! You'll be fine with that Lucy? Right?"
Brooding, she almost missed answering. "Oh? Yeah. It's fine."
Mira, unable to contain her wild excitement, grabbed the two by their forearms and led them back to the stage. She left them there with a squeal. Natsu glared at his best Exceed friend, who merely smiled with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Natsu scanned over his other friends – Gray was smirking, Erza smiled in satisfaction, Loke seemed annoyed but happy and the rest of them just looked annoyingly stupid with their goofy grins.
His eyes stopped on the girl in front of him and he knew that it was now or never.
In her mind, Lucy's thoughts were running wild. Who was that mystery girl who Natsu wanted to confess to? She already knew that Lisanna thought of him as a brother, and she didn't know which other girls may have liked him. She was probably over thinking things at that point. Sucking in a breath, she pivoted on her heel and clasped her hands together as she waited patiently to hear Natsu's speech.
He narrowed his eyes, putting all his concentration on not stuffing up. "I know that you hate cheesy clichés. Actually, you sorta like them but if they get to over-the-top, you'll come to hate them. So I'm gonna make this short and blunt." He paused and Lucy held her breath. "You don't need a prince to come save you. Princes are so overrated. What you need is a dragon. Dragons are fiercer, stronger and way more kick-ass. Dragons can make a promise and hold them for a lifetime – not just some phony words that a fake prince says from his lines."
Lucy blinked, awed by her best friend's words. In the crowd, she could hear Loke cry out in his defence. "Natsu... Where are you going with this?"
"I wanna be the dragon. And not just any person's dragon. I wanna be your dragon Luce."
Dead silence.
Her mouth fell slightly as she made a feeble attempt to comprehend the situation. She blinked her eyes a few times before moving them around to see her nakama holding their breaths, hands held tight in anticipation. She noted that Mirajane had fallen to the floor, joining Juvia in their tally of unconscious ladies for the day.
She turned her gaze back to Natsu, the teen watching her with an intensity that she hadn't seen before. His cheeks were flustered red and his hands were clenched at his sides. His mouth was curved into a straight line and he almost looked... nervous?
"You... You're totally serious about this, aren't you?" she deadpanned, losing her thought pattern at such a crucial moment.
For a moment there, she had a feeling she broke his heart.
Surprising her, Natsu snorted, his mouth forming that infamous grin of his. "I knew that sounded too cheesy. I can't believe I actually said something like that. I could probably be a good actor." He shrugged, but the smile wiped off his face in a second. "But yeah... I'm actually serious about this weirdo."
She sighed, shook her head, and took a step forward to wrap him in her arms.
"Jeez. You didn't have to do anything like that you moron. A simple 'I like you' would've gotten me to say yes." She let go of him and entered her princess role again, graciously curtseying to her dragon. "But since you asked so courteously, I accept your offer to be my dragon, Salamander."
A squeal followed by a laugh escaped her lips when he scooped her up into his arms, cheering madly along with the rest of the raving group with them. Their nakama were cheering, whooping, crying and handing over various amounts of money to Levy, who winked at the brand new couple and mouthed 'congratulations'.
They went through a few moments of fanatic cheer before a 'thud' sound rendered them all quiet. Fearfully, eyes moved to Erza, who, even with a smile on her face, looked stern.
"As much as we want to unanimously celebrate the two densest nakama of ours finally get together, we've got a lot of work ahead to fix this all up." Ignoring the crestfallen looks on their faces, she continued. "Loke, you're fired. Natsu, replace him and start practicing your confession scene with Lucy. Impromptu is good, but you two can work on making it better for the audience. Everyone! Continue with the set work! No slacking!"
Everyone began rushing around, not about to waste time to do Titania's bidding. Seemingly resurrected from her state, Mira joined Erza, happy that everything was finally falling into place.
"Let's go everyone! The show must go on!"