Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.
I do own the idea for the fic though.
It was so unexpected.
(A Tendencies' Wrath original fan-fiction story.)
'Freakin' cold…' Was his thought as he moved, step-by-step, against the blizzard unleashed in the eve of Christmas, trying to make his way back to his place at the other side of the city. He took a sweater, his coat, a pair of gloves, a pair of black boots, and his trustworthy beanie but it was still not enough to suppress the cold or the shaking of his body. 'Good day to walk, my ass!'
The streets of downtown were empty, for the most of it, only cars could be seen around besides some people that, as the man walking back to his place, got caught outside by the blizzard.
It was forecasted a few days ago; the greatest blizzard of the decade.
And so far, it was living up to its title.
But matters not, because he had a home to get to, a sofa waiting for him and a bowl of soup ready to be cooked and eaten.
He continued to walk down the street, ignoring the flashing lights, the few passer-byers, the blizzard, until he finally reached the building where his apartment was. It was a small place with a room that was multipurpose and a bathroom, his place since he moved to the city three years ago.
Nothing fancy, it was a pretty common kind of accommodation in this area of the city…
…unlike the black car with tinted windows that was parked just in front.
'Uh?' He eyed the vehicle with a raised eyebrow, inspecting it closely and finding it empty but with its alarm on. 'I wonder to whom it belongs…'
He shrugged and hurried his steps to the building, getting inside by pushing the door open and darting to the stairs before the landlord could catch him and scold him for being late in paying the rent.
Not that he never pay, he just took a bit more of time to gather all the money than the rest of the population of the building. And for what he knew, he was one of the good ones.
'Fucking stairs,' he cursed as he faced the third flight of steps, there were three more to go but they would not matter at all if the elevator could do its job. He looked at the metal doors of the elevator and read the sign on it again, out of order. 'What does that old man do with our money?'
Rolling his eyes when a thought came to him, an unpleasant thought at that, he moved up again, hearing some of his neighbors already celebrating the day and partying earlier than expected. But that was unimportant, he was just about to get into his home, and just a few more steps were separating him from it…
…besides a scarlet haired woman.
'Oh, fuck…' He slumped down when he saw her there, next to his door with her arms crossed and looking pensively at the ceiling, wondering why the people there was partying earlier than expected. She was dressed in complete white, almost reminding the guy of the snow outside; a coat, a pair of jeans, gloves, a scarf and high-heeled boots. There was a bag next to her, he noticed, before coughing and walking closer, letting her know of his presence. "Yo, what's up?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head when she figured out he was trying to annoy her and greeted back. "I was waiting for you."
"…" Natsu looked at her for a moment. "'Sides the obvious, why're ya here?"
"Can we… first go inside?" She asked a bit troubled, shifting on her feet when she thought she heard one of the nearby doors about to be opened. "Even if I trust myself to come out of whatever your… neighbors might pull on me, I'm still a little nervous."
"Oh, yeah, just let me look for my keys and – you serious?" Natsu asked with his face clearly showing that he was not glad of seeing her there, not much, but that is beside the point. She bit her lip and looked down. He stood before her and crossed his arms, expecting an answer. "C'mon, why're you here?"
"I…" She looked around one more time, then at the bag, then at the stairs. She continued like this until he snapped his finger in front of her face and made her brown eyes meet his onyx ones.
"I'm here, don't worry." He reassured her, understanding her uneasiness in such a place far from what she has grown accustomed to. "So, tell me."
"I… wanted to try again and convince you," she started a bit slowly, still wary of her surroundings. "But then… I came here and…"
"'Kay, that's enough," the pink-haired cut her before she could finish, knowing that the rest was information that should be delivered in between closed walls. One never knows who is listening out there. He pulled his keys out of his coat's pockets and opened the door to his apartment, motioning for her to step inside first. "C'mon, I'll make us something hot to drink."
"Ah… sure." She nodded to his words, eyeing the doors around them again before picking up the bag next to her and going inside the place, Natsu following her close behind and locking the door as soon as he closed it.
In his apartment, she found there were just the essential things one would need to live comfortably. Not like he had everything, but he had enough to make the place cozy. A table with three chairs, a kitchen, a sofa, a TV, some pictures hanged in the walls, a bed in one corner and a door that surely leaded to the bathroom.
Meager but cozy.
"Make yourself at home," Natsu muttered, turning on the lights, as he threw his gloves and beanie over the table, his coat going to rest over a chair and leaving him in just his black sweater to cover the upper part of his body. He headed to the small kitchen, pulled some things from the drawers and some cups from under the counter before looking over his shoulder. "Coffee or chocolate?"
"Hmm?" Erza stopped her inspection of the place and turned to see him, watching him prepare a cup of coffee for himself before turning around with the other one and a waiting stare directed at her. She repeated his question in her mind and nodded. "Chocolate should be fine."
Turning his back to her, he put the picked contents in the mug that was for her and left it aside with his own, moving to grab a teapot, fill it with water and later place it over the oven. Turning on and lighting up the gas exit, he left it in the minimum and moved to sit on one of his table's chairs, his eyes following the red-head and her movements inside his apartment.
"Are ya done?" He asked, calling her attention from his pictures to him, signaling to his sofa when she shifted her feet uncomfortably. She sat, slowly paying attention to the things over the furniture, and then looked at the pictures she was looking at before his voice startled her. "Why're you here again?"
"I wanted to convince you to come to the party," she answered, her words coming lower in volume with each letter. "I thought I'd find you here, but you were out… and when I waited for you, the car's engine got frozen."
He nodded, looking at the window that showed the snow storm. "And your chauffeur…?"
"He went out on his own to look for someone to help him start the engine." She sighed, casting a look to the window covered in snow, a silent wish for her servant to be alright.
"I see," Natsu leaned back on his chair and shoved his hands inside his jeans' pockets, looking at the scarlet haired woman with narrowed eyes. "But then, why didn't you walk your way back to the party?" His words caught her attention, if her widened eyes meant anything. "Why didn't you go with your driver and got a cab to blondie's house?"
"I…" Erza bit back her tongue and swallowed some saliva, nodding to herself before looking at the pink-haired guy. "I didn't want you to be alone in Christmas…" Her brown eyes bored deep into his onyx ones. "…I wanted you to spend your Christmas happily."
Natsu stared at her for a good minute, hearing the teapot whistling slightly, nearing its boiling point. He shook his head and leaned further down on his chair. "I'm happy now, don't you see?" He motioned to his surroundings, the loud music of the apartment next door, the quietness of his own, and the blizzard just past the window. "I'm at home; a cup of coffee's almost ready and I'm spending the time with someone…"
"I mean, like a normal person would enjoy the holyday." She interrupted, casting a faraway look to the pictures of him and an older person over the TV. She tilted her head to look at him, her eyes speaking the truth, what she was meaning. "Not like a person who feels lonely would enjoy the day."
"…" Natsu looked at her for another moment, hearing the whistling of the teapot nearing its limits but not paying attention to it. He looked at the picture she was looking at and frowned. He should have gotten rid of those memories a long time ago, but his heart could not let go of his father's memory, even if his brain could. He stood up, turned off the gas and prepared their drinks, all the time ignoring the look the woman in the room was giving him. Taking firm steps towards her, he presented with her chocolate and, after she took it with a small 'thank you', he went and sat down next to her, sipping some of his coffee and sighing. "I'm not lonely, I'm used to this."
"You say that, but I don't believe you." Erza commented after taking a sip of her own drink and biting back the tears in her eyes at her burnt tongue. It was incredibly hot. "No one likes to spend the holiday like this," she looked down, a sad gaze directed at the old dirty floor. "I know it pretty well myself."
"I bet you do," the boy took another sip from his coffee before leaving the mug on the floor, lacking a small table in which to put it. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, seeing the multiple cracks on it alongside the spots in which the painting, old and new, was mixed. "You always seemed lonely whenever I'd followed you around…"
"Excuse me?" She turned to face him, eyes wide at his statement. Did she let it be obvious? What she was going through… did someone besides her and the people in her house noticed it?
"I remember you walking down the street, thinking stuff and not paying attention to anything," Natsu started to tell, closing his eyes to better remember that time half a year ago. "Wandering, searching for something, but then you straightened up and did what you wanted to do… that interested me so I started following." He cracked his neck to a side and sighed, not liking to tell stuff from his stalker's point of view to the same person he was stalking. "But then, shit happened, my… friends tried to hit you, I beat them up, you said thank you and I continued to follow you…" Omitting the following events they knew well, he opened his eyes and found the ceiling the same as before. "One day, you changed, you started to go out with blondie and some other people, and then… well, here you are."
Erza stayed mute, silent as thoughts crowded her mind after listening to his side of the story. Was he basically telling her how was it that her life took a change for the better after their meeting? That the day she almost got abused by three punks was the turning point and it is why she has a different outlook of life today?
How could that be…? Well, there are stories about people that changed after a traumatic event but… nothing happened to her, not much anyway. And Lucy, she was always denying the girl's offers of going out and talk, what changed from one to the other to make her accept for once and start having friends around her?
Honestly, she was still trying to grasp why he was telling her all of this.
Was he trying to push her away by letting her know that she was no different than her at the start?
Or was it something else?
He leaned forward and took his mug from the floor, taking a longer sip from the coffee before looking out the window, seeing the blizzard going at it with renewed strength. "Seems like it'll go at it for the rest of the night…"
"U-uh?" Erza shook her head and looked back, seeing the whiteness around the window glass. Was it really that bad? Would she end up staying the night? Okay, stop with that rhyme. I said stop. She figured her driver would be back by now, so she pulled out her phone from her pants, eyeing the bars and seeing there was no signal at the moment.
"I can call a cab if you want…" Natsu offered but seeing her stand up from his sofa brought him to a stop.
"No, don't bother; I'm sure the cabs are frozen like mine." She got close to the window and looked at the almost buried black one in which she was brought there. The sides were shielded by snow and so was the top, the engine was frozen and her driver nowhere in sight. He surely sought refuge for the night and tried to call her to let her know and be sure she was alright. She sighed and went back to her place on the sofa, leaning back and thinking on what to do now.
"…" He continued to look at her from the corner of his eyes, already imagining she would have to stay there with him until the storm eases up and lets her go back to her house. But where would she rest, if she wanted that? His bed was hardly comfortable, his sore back could tell, and the sofa was not the most gentlemanly option for him to give, even if he wasn't that much of a gentleman to begin with. Sighing and getting up, he walked to the table and looked at the clock hanging over one of the walls, it was almost that time. "Five minutes to midnight."
Erza looked at the same clock and when she saw it was true, she stood up again, walking towards the bag she brought with her. She eyed its contents with her face flushing slightly, casting a side glance to the boy that was eyeing her curiously, could she…?
He shook his head when he caught her hands fidgeting with something inside the bag she brought with her, knowing well that whatever it was inside was a gift for him. But what could he give? He didn't buy her anything, and he wasn't expecting her to show her stubbornness to him that day.
Though, an idea popped up inside his mind.
He pulled out his phone and looked through the playlist of his music player, finding a song and clicking on it when he raised the volume to the top, trying to make it fight a bit of the blasting sounds coming from the other apartments.
There you find
what you lost in time,
a lone figure standing
among the crowd,
why was it so hard to spot
in the middle of the night?
Erza stopped her thoughts all in one when the song started to play. The gentle strumming of a guitar, the melancholic sound of another one playing lonely notes while the bass just marked the mayor chords of the first instrument. She heard that one a long time ago, it was popular when the band playing it started out.
Briskly drawn,
harshly stopped,
the feeling I've got
has no way out,
the foreplay left me wishing
for a start that would not come.
"Winter's plea by Redeeming Shards…?" Erza asked lowly, seeing him put a finger to his lips to signal her to keep it quiet. She remembered well enough, it was the song she would hear whenever walking around in a quiet night, or studying in her room during melancholic nights.
He mostly heard it whenever thinking back of his dad, who was not there to celebrate the time with him, but he could make an exception. For the look in her eyes, the song was special for her too, so, why not let it be a song to pass the time tonight?
And here you scream,
a winter's plea,
a silent wish.
/-/-\-\
Evil thoughts you see,
as you wish to sleep,
when the night chills
and the devils grin.
"You could've thought of something else, don't you?" She joked as she heard the windows' whistling through some spaces, the blizzard howling at hearing the song being played in the apartment.
"I could, but I wanted to hear the song now," he turned on the stove behind him and left it open, helping warm up he place while he moved towards the sofa with his coat in his hands, using it to cover himself and stand the cold a bit more. He watched his guest stare at the phone and then her bag for a moment, something coming to her mind before moving to sit next to him, leaning back and listening to the song now moving to a faster rhythm. "'Sides, you seem to like the song."
Is there something you don't see
when the lone figure wakes you from your sleep?
Something blurry eyes failed to take in
when your heart and mind were racing at great speed?
/-/-\-\
Pale, pale skin walked forward in the midst,
driving through something hiding in the streets.
The snow marks your path, you think,
as your feet take you deeper into the crossroads you can't see.
"Isn't it too depressive?" Natsu asked her after the lead guitar took its main role and started the solo part of the song, he tilted his head to a side and saw the woman nodding slowly to the prowess of the artist, a small smile gracing her lips as she ignored the question and continued to listen to the phone.
See it freezing up the streams,
winter's pleading for you to hear
the silent wishes she whispers to the wind.
/-/-\-\
Evil thoughts you see
as the cold gets to your neck,
you wish the winter would quit
and let you sleep quietly,
when the night chills
nearing its end
and the devils grin
amused as they flee.
The song returned to the basic combination of the two guitars and the bass, but now playing it even more slowly, and with a sad tune to it. The boy noted his companion's head was slowing down its movements.
And here you scream,
a winter's plea,
a silent wish.
/-/-\-\
Evil thoughts you see,
as you wish to sleep,
when the night chills
and the devils grin.
'Heh, just my luck,' he thought while getting up to stop the phone from playing another song, he eyed the red haired woman in the sofa and smiled as she breathed in and out peacefully, having failed to remain awake until twelve o'clock. 'She must've been terrified while waiting for me out in the hallway…' Shaking his head at the image, he spotted the bag she was inspecting earlier and, since she was not awake to stop him, he moved and inspected its contents himself. Though, even if what he thought was true, he could not help but feel touched for her concern. 'A gift, huh…'
Indeed, it said it was for him, a rectangular package that was surrounded by a white paper and a red bow.
It had no name saying who was giving to him, but seeing the resemblance in between the package's cover and how the woman was dressed, even his mind could take the hint.
He wanted to open it, yes, honestly, it has been a while since anyone had given him something… besides fights, punches, kicks, head-butts or headaches, but… thinking back on how much she did to be able to give that gift to him personally… opening it now when she was asleep was not good, not in his mind anyway.
So he slid it back inside the bag and moved it to lie next to her in the sofa, turned off the lights grabbing his coat again and sitting next to her after he was done. He felt the sleepiness call him too and he was ready to welcome it when his accommodated his coat to cover them both. He was never one to stay awake for long at night, not even if it was a Christmas night.
He yawned and blinked, giving a last overall look to his surroundings before closing his eyes definitely.
Though he felt something come to rest on his shoulder, and a scent fill his nostrils.
"Merry Christmas…" Below a whisper but he managed to hear it.
He just smiled and leaned his head to the side over that something, muttering the same words in the dark as he felt his mind go blurry.
"Yeah, merry Christmas…"
The end.
AN: Wow, longest chapter so far. I really try hard on this one.
Well, c'mon, what do you think? I did a lot of think for this fic.
Saludos.
PS: The song... uhm... I wrote it. And the band's name too. So... they are kinda of my property. Yeah.