The right time to fall
Chapter 1
The sound of the telephone rang through the house. "(Sigh) I wonder who's calling right now." The beautiful red head, Erza Scarlet picked up her bag taking her phone out. She was wearing a white laced top with a blue skirt. Her hair was out flowing all the way down to her waist and her fringe covered part of her left eye. Her skin was a pale white, but that only made her other features more pronounce.
A smile slowly crept on her face as she looked at caller ID. It was her childhood friend Natsu Dragneel calling. She took a minute before answering the phone, mentally preparing herself, and then began to fiddle with her hair.
"Hey Natsu! Why are-"
Natsu broke her off and said "Erza we need to meet."
"What? Now!" Her hand slipped from her hair and she grasped the phone with two hands on her left ear.
"Yes right now! There is something important I have to tell you." The sense of urgency was being portrayed clearly through Natsu's voice.
"Can't you just tell me over the phone?" Erza inquired, as she sat down on her sofa. Her right hand left the phone only to squeeze the armrest next to her.
"No I can't, but meet me at your favourite place in 2 hours, ok? Bye."
"Wait Natsu…! (Beep beep) He hung up before he told me where." Erza sighed.
Erza: Well he did say my favourite place… a cake shop, yes I guess that is my favourite place but which one? Actually I remember having this conversation with Natsu once, I told him my favourite place was the cake shop next to the sea side. I love to eat cake whilst watching the sun set in the ocean, the array of colours would always immerse me in their splendour. It was as if the sun's rays were dancing in the ocean, and the cake I'd be eating would dance in my mouth just like it. Erza concentrate! Would Natsu even remember that? I guess I'll have to trust him.
Erza looked at the clock and saw that the time was 6:35. "Ok so I have an hour and a half to get dressed as it takes at least half an hour to reach the port. That should be enough time."
She grabbed a towel and headed straight to the shower.
Half way across town
"So can I get that special ordered? I need it in 2 hours" Natsu asked. He was by the sea port at the famous 'Cake le Crepe' bakery.
"I'm not sure, it's quiet a tall order" The baker at the cake shop replied. The pleasant odour of fresh bread wafted into Natsu's nose, consequently making his mouth water. He fought off his hungry urge and bargained "Can't you make an exception for me?" He hesitated for a moment then said "It's for your number 1 customer, Erza Scarlet."
"ERZA!? Why didn't you say that earlier? If it's for her then I can do it in one hour!" The baker dropped everything he had in his hands on the counter and wiped them on his apron.
"No, you don't need to push yourself that much, but I really need it in 2 hours though, ok?"
"Sure thing!" The baker immediately ran to the front entrance of the cake shop and flipped the open sign to 'closed'.
Natsu: I knew that would work. Hehe! I think it was 2 years ago when the council was going to close this place down for not being able to pay rent. The moment Erza heard I think all her 3 meals had cake in it. She single handily saved his shop. The press caught wind of Erza's crazy action and wrote an article, before you knew it, this cake shop was a hot spot in the city. Most of the time it would be packed, but the baker would always make a special reservation for Erza. I really didn't want to mention her as this was supposed to be my gift to Erza, but I might as well take advantage of her name a tiny bit.
Natsu left the cake shop only to be met by Gray Fullbuster. "I just heard the good news man, I'm happy for you!" Gray hit Natsu's back, which instigated Natsu, but he kept his cool. Natsu was wearing black trousers with a black waist coat. He had a white shirt on with a red rose in his front pocket. His hair was a salmon pink that spiked up and his smile could lift anyone's spirit.
"Did Lisanna tell you?" Natsu inquired.
"Yeah of course she did! You know she is horrendous at keeping secrets, I don't even know why you told her, Lisanna will most likely tell Erza you know."
"I trust her enough to know she would never tell Erza. So are you going to stay and watch then?" Natsu said with minimal surprise.
"Why do you think I'm here? I would never miss this, oh and all the Strauss' are coming too." Gray informed Natsu. He was wearing a blue chequered shirt and black trousers. He was going to come in shorts but Juvia forced him out of it. His hair was black however sometimes, if the sunlight is shining at it, it looks blue.
"Well, you better hide I don't want you guys to ruin today." Natsu warned.
"That's a bit harsh" Gray gave Natsu a smile. "It's nice to know you are finally growing up though… took you long enough!"
Natsu made a swing for Gray face, however he managed to dodge it. "You really don't want to get into a fight 2 hours before the big moment do you?"
Natsu scowled at Gray then asked "How's things with you and Juvia then?"
"She's doing fine… apart from morning sickness and her cravings at 3am in the morning." Gray words overflowed with sarcasm.
"When's the due date?" Natsu shoved his hands in his pocket.
"In a month, she couldn't make it today because of the baby, sorry." Gray apologised.
"Well today wasn't supposed to be a gathering anyway." Natsu said.
"Oh, but it is…" Gray gulped then said "I wasn't meant to tell you, but seeing as this could pose as a massive problem, I might as well tell you. Most people from fairy high are coming, even the infamous Laxus Dreyar! After we graduated from high school 10 years ago, the two of you were notorious remember, Erza the red headed devil and Natsu the fireball. Even other schools knew about you and they still do!"
"Gray… How many people are coming?" Natsu voice began to break, he didn't mind 5 even 10 people watching but from what Gray was saying a hell of a lot more where coming.
"Maybe around 30 give or take a few…" Gray gave an unconvincing laugh.
"30! What the hell?! This wasn't supposed to be a social event! Crap!" Natsu punched his own hand and started to pace down the dock, but stopped after a few steps. He turned to face Gray and instructed "Now isn't the time to be worrying about this… Gray you deal with the intruders, they make a sound and I'll show them the true meaning of fireball. Erza should be coming in the next hour or so and I'm not nearly prepared!" Natsu broke out in to a sprint, running down the port holding up the back of his hand to Gray, saying goodbye.
"Yeah leave me with the dirty work why don't you…" Gray mumbled to himself and went towards the other direction.
Erza's flat
Erza left the shower completely naked; since she lived alone she didn't need to worry about anyone seeing her. She walked down the hall towards the room filled with all her clothes, all the while drying her luscious hair with a towel. The room that held her clothes was huge yet it was still not big enough to contain all of them, a lot of her more fanciful clothes were kept in her bedroom for her to admire whilst she fell asleep.
She casually looked through her clothes until she found light blue skinny jeans and a red flowing tail top. As she was just about to wear it the front door bell rang, causing her to put down her clothes and wear just a bathrobe to the front door.
After opening the door a young girl jumped on top of Erza "Erza long time no see!"
"Lisanna? What's gotten into you? You seem a bit more energetic than usual." Erza said pulling off her dear friend.
"Do I? That's unusual! Haha!" Lisanna badly acted. Erza gave her a suspicious eye but then dismissed it, Lisanna had always been a little bit… odd.
Erza looked past Lisanna to see all the Strauss siblings had come, even Elfman.
"Nice place you have Erza, and Lisanna act properly!" Mira-Jane gave Lisanna a death stare saying 'do anything else stupid and you will pay'. She then forced herself into Erza's flat.
Elfman followed his sister in an awkward manner, he had obviously been forced to come.
Elfman was wearing a sleeveless green shirt with dark blue jeans. His older sister, Mira, had come in just a plain white dress that reached her knees, and Lisanna had worn a short sleeved, crème top with blue shorts.
Mira had a somewhat split personality, most of the time she was a kind compassionate girl, however sometimes, only very rarely though, she would resemble a demon.
It was a trait that all the Strauss siblings shared, Mira was a demon, Lisanna an animal and Elfman, though kind at heart, looked like a beast, harsh but true. Not only did they have that in common, they also had uniquely white, silky hair it was almost the same colour as snow.
"Mira, I'm sorry but I'm going out now, could you come by some other time?" Erza said whilst blocking Mira's path into her home.
"You're going out! With who?" Mira asked, Lisanna was in the corner trying to stop herself from giggling.
"Natsu" Erza said it without any enthusiasm, she wanted to get ready desperately and wanted to show the Strauss' that they needed to leave without actually saying it.
"Natsu, really?! So what are you wearing?" Mira wasn't backing down and ignored the hint from Erza.
"Clothes…" Erza said with impatience. Mira grabbed Erza by her hand and said "Oh come on please show me!"
Mira gave Erza doggy eyes forcing her to agree. "Lisanna come with me, Elfman… just sit in the living room and wait."
Elfman: Why did I even come if they were just going to push me in the corner?
He looked at Erza for directions.
"Third door to your left." Elfman nodded and obediently followed his sister's orders.
Erza then turned around and led the two sisters to her room. There was a huge bed on one side and a dressing table on the other. Mannequins were at the foot of Erza's bed modelling her favourite dresses. Lisanna ran up to one of the mannequins and asked "Are you going to wear this one then?" It was a pink dress that showed a lot of cleavage and the back was completely open. Sequins were all over the dress making a beautiful flower pattern that glistened in the light of the room.
Mira then ran to another mannequin "Or maybe this one?"
This dress was completely black it had many layers of flowing black cloth, making it look so delicate and angelic.
"No I'm not wearing either of those, I'm actually wearing this." Erza said picking up her red top and jeans.
"Cute but no…" Lisanna said.
"I'm not going to allow you to wear that Erza. You're going to wear this." Mira ordered pointing at the black dress.
"Why?! That would be overdoing it… I don't want to be overdressed." Erza argued.
A dark aura surrounded Mira, but she just about managed to subdue it and forced a cute smile. "Sometimes, us girls just overdo it because we can."
"But…" Erza started but stopped immediately. Mira unleashed her hellish aura, Erza wasn't scared of the aura but she would try her best to avoid it, as it would bring out the demon inside of her too.
"Ok fine I'll wea-" Lisanna grabbed Erza's robe and tried to pull it off however she failed as Erza made her go flying onto the bed. "LISANNA! I can change on my own, now both of you out!" Erza screamed holding her bedroom door open.
The siblings walked out and waited outside the door for a few minutes until Erza came out wearing the fabulous dress. "What do you think?" Erza asked posing and pouting.
A tear fell from Lisanna's eye and once again tried to jump upon Erza "IT'S PERFECT!"
Luckily, Mira saw this coming and stopped her sister before anything happened. "Ok now it's time for the make-up and hair" Mira said pushing the two girls back into Erza's room.
An hour later – the port
Natsu was pacing back and forth next to a table that was outside with a clear view of the sea. The sun was in the later hours, so was slowly heading towards the sea.
Natsu: I'M SCARED… DEFINITELY NOT PREPARED. Actually I am but then I'm not! Erm… I have double checked everything and all the intruders are hiding somewhere right now… at least that's was what Gray told me. Erza will be here any moment!
Erza: I think Lisanna and Mira over did me waaaay too much… why didn't I stop them? Maybe it's because I think I look so damn sexy in this… anyway I hope Natsu won't mind. Come to think of it why did the Strauss' come? Did they only come to do me up? But how did they know? They left as soon as they finished my make-up, then wished me luck. I'm thinking way too much into things, just clear your head Erza!
The cab parked at the side of the port, Erza came out and just as she was going to pay the driver, Natsu appeared out of no-where and paid him. "Really Natsu you didn't have to do th…"
The moment Erza laid eyes upon Natsu she saw he was wearing a suit, everything stopped in her brain for a few seconds, then slowly began to reboot itself.
Erza: what's going on? Natsu in a SUIT that's… unbelievable. I don't know what to say.
"Since I'm the one who told you to come, I'll have to be the one who pays for the travels fare at least." Natsu gave a calm smile, he held his hand allowing Erza to grab hold of it and he pulled her out gracefully.
Erza was too stunned to speak, her body was unable to move so she just followed Natsu's lead. He led her to the side of the port to a round table.
"You look beautiful" Natsu said.
The sun was at its lowest point, he got down to one knee and removed a petit box from his pocket. Erza's eyes grew wide, she knew what was coming. Her brain was finally making all the links.
The baker came out with him a huge cake that had lettering on top. It said "Will you marry me?" Natsu held out the ring.
Erza placed her hand over her mouth.
Erza: this is happening way too fast. He's proposing to me. Natsu is finally proposing to me!
Erza nodded her head and placed her hand out, Natsu removed the ring and placed it on Erza's finger. Tears fell from her eyes.