Hey! This was inspired by leoslady4ever's story Words Unspoken. I have graciously been given permission to branch my story off a similar plot line. Now, I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters, you know all that jazz.
Word Wounds
Chapter 1: Sliced
Some things are better left unsaid, it's true. But some things are better left unheard as well. Particularly the conversations of perverted men.
Lucy stood just outside the door of the guild's basement game room, her jaw clenched and her eyes shined with unshed tears as she listened to the conversation going on between some of the guild men.
Normally, Lucy wouldn't eavesdrop like this. Most unfortunately, however, Lucy had lost a bet with some of the girls and now she had a task to complete as punishment. For losing the bet, Lucy now had to sneak up behind Laxus and try to tickle the lightning slayer's sides. Apparently, Laxus had been extremely ticklish as a child and both Mira and Cana were dying to know if he still was. So, with images of her electrifying death flashing before her eyes, Lucy had spritzed herself with some scent neutralizer and gotten Aries to make her some shoes out of her wool to silence her steps. With these two things working in her favor, Lucy hoped to be able to sneak up on the man as they played their games. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it – it worked. No one had smelled, heard, or even sensed her approach. Not even the dragon slayers.
Now, after listening to some of the rather crude things the gathered men had to say, all Lucy wanted to do was disappear. And maybe let Cana finally drag her into a drinking contest.
"… seen the way she dresses? She's practically begging to be kidnapped all the time!" said a voice that sounded a lot like Wakaba.
"Her clothes do kind of scream 'look at me!' don't they?" questioned Max in an innocent tone. Even from his voice, Lucy could tell he really meant no harm.
"Nah," said a gruff voice Lucy knew to be Gajeel's. "Bunny Girl just likes to be herself. There's no intent behind her clothes. Besides, she's too innocent."
A part of her was grateful for Gajeel's words. Then she heard a snort. "Innocent? You actually buy into that act, Iron Boy?" said Laxus with a chuckle.
"Yeah, there's no way Cosplayer's as innocent as she acts," piped up Bickslow with a cackle. "Definitely not the timid little virgin."
"I'm not sure how she'll ever get a boyfriend, acting and dressing the way she does," Freed said stiffly. "She was raised a lady but acts nothing of the sort!"
The group of men laughed. "She doesn't need to be a lady with tits like hers!" Laxus barked.
"She's a little violent for my tastes," Macao added casually. "But she's got a big heart, she's strong, and she's pretty smart, too."
The next to speak made Lucy's heart stop and her blood run cold. "She'll never be as smart and classy at Levy!" Jet said with confidence.
Lucy flinched and swallowed the lump in her throat. She could handle the other's criticisms, but hearing Jet say she would never be as good as Levy sliced her too deeply. Against her better judgement, Lucy had fallen for the Speed mage. Even though she knew he held a candle for the tiny Solid Script mage she considered one of her best friends. Despite this, Lucy couldn't stop herself from having deep feelings for Jet. After hearing this conversation, she almost wished she'd never met him.
Struggling against her tears and trying her best not to make a sound, Lucy debated what she should do next. Completing her bet was the farthest thing from her mind right now, but still, should she confront the group of vile men? Should she put them in their place or just walk away like nothing happened? She was hurt and angry and a part of her wanted nothing more than to Lucy Kick every single one of them into oblivion, but that would only prove some of what they had said about her. She hesitated, not knowing what to do. The choice, however, was taken from her when a bright golden light appeared in the doorway next to her. From it, Loke materialized.
The light had caught all the men's attention and caused them to turn. Lucy was still hidden in the shadows, so everyone was rather confused to see a furious Loke before them.
"Hey, Loke!" Max said with an easy smile. "Long time, no see! Why don't you join-"
"You should be ashamed of yourselves," Loke hissed in a dangerously low voice. "How dare you talk about Lucy like she's some kind of common whore with no worth! None of you even know the first thing about her! Lucy is the kindest, most gentle soul I've met in centuries! Her heart bleeds for Fairy Tail! She's a blessing on Earthland and a precious piece of all of us! How dare you all disrespect her like this? How dare you hurt her!"
All the gathered hen looked at Loke in shock. Then, when her faithful lion tugged her out of the shadows and into his arms, every single man paled at the realization. Lucy had heard everything.
Gently, Lucy extracted herself from her spirit's arms. "Thanks, Loke," she whispered. "But you don't have to worry about me."
Lucy, now a little more level-headed and determined to get the answer to complete her bet, looked up at the guilty men with tears falling down her cheeks. She tried her best to keep her voice even. "I came down here because I lost a bet," she said softly. "As punishment, I was supposed to find out if you're still ticklish, Laxus. Mira and Cana are curious." Everyone was quiet as Lucy's strange sentence sank in. No one knew what to say to the woman they'd all just deeply hurt and offended. "So, tell me," she continued. "Are you still ticklish, Laxus?"
The large dragon slayer shifted uncomfortably under Lucy's dead, broken gaze. He felt compelled to answer her, if only to atone for the things he'd said. "Yeah, a little," he said gruffly.
With a small nod, Lucy took a deep breath, "Thank you," she said as she turned to leave, but was stopped by several voices.
"Wait!" Max shouted.
"Lucy, please," Macao started.
"We're sorry," Wakaba added.
"We didn't mean to – " Jet started but Lucy cut him off with a sharp tone much colder than she had intended.
"Don't lie," she snapped. "You all meant every word you said. You just didn't mean to get caught." Lucy's shoulders sagged in defeat and her voice softened to a dull whisper. "It's true, you know. Some things are better left unsaid. But I guess it's a little too late for that now, huh?" The Celestial mage took a step up the stairs as she carefully wiped away her tears. "I trusted all of you…"
With that, the men watched as their devastated Lucy disappeared up the stairs with her fuming Zodiac spirit. After a moment of guilty silence, Laxus spoke up. "Well, shit," he huffed. "We sure fucked that up."
"Indeed," Freed nodded.
"We should try to make it up to her," Max said imploringly. "The least we could do is apologize."
"Tch," Gajeel grunted with a roll of his ruby eyes. "Apologize? Did you not see those tears? You guys really hurt Bunny Girl. It's gonna take a whole lot more than an apology."
"Then what do you suggest we do, oh Wise One?" snapped Laxus.
"Get on your hands and knees and beg her forgiveness," Gajeel said without hesitation. "That overgrown cat was right. Bunny is the heart and soul of our guild and you all fucked up big time. You better pray she doesn't tell the whole guild about this. I'd hate to see what Mira and Erza would do to anyone who hurt Bunny."
Everyone flinched. Gajeel was right. They were all dead men walking.
A/N: Hey! It's going to be a chaptered fic but I cannot guarantee regular updates. I just had to upgrade to 5 jobs so things are more than a little tight. But I hope you all continue to stick with me!
Lots of love!
XOXO
Andromeda
