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 strange.
(A TW original fan-fiction story.)
"H-hey, Erza," the blonde girl next to her voiced out in a voice barely above a whisper, eyeing their back cautiously. "He's still following us…"
"Ah, I know," responded the red-haired woman with a small smile appearing on her face, closing her eyes and feeling secure for knowing of the presence that was unnerving her friend. "Don't worry, he's harmless."
"I-If you say so…" Unconvinced but trusting her friend's words, Lucy continued to chat about her day and recent events, not paying much mind any more to the form following their every step as they walked around downtown.
Winter, the town was covered in snow, bright lights illuminated the streets and buildings of the capital city of Crocus as its people went on with their business. White, the sidewalks were white, the streets were glistening by the melted snow turned into water and now into a slippery but harmless soft coat of ice.
Many clouds littered the sky, the guy noted, as he continued to follow the two females as they went on and on doing their Christmas shopping.
Why?
He didn't know himself, but he just had to be there, even if it was from afar.
He was drawn to keep an eye on her.
After what happened in their first meeting; he just couldn't let that woman off on her own, not when his mind would berate him for doing so.
Damn it all, his complicated thoughts and mixed feelings.
She can handle herself, was his usual thought when the urge to do something else arise to the top.
It isn't my place anyway, would follow when his thoughts got more annoying and his headache obvious.
'But then again…'
And he would continue to follow her around, keeping an eye on her and her surroundings, freezing his ass off to frostbites, burning his back until it peeled off his skin, and he would continue to wonder…
Why follow her in the first place?
'Damn it…' The guy thought with his frown increasing, being noticeable under his beanie, his coat not helping in hiding his displeased face as he crossed the street and continued to follow. 'I look like some fucking dog…'
They entered a shop; he stopped, took refuge from the snow at some lone alley and waited for the girls to be done. If his memory served right, she would look over stuff for just a few moments and then head to another place, while her friend would insist on buying some things she found.
'Heh, women…' He grunted and pulled a lighter from his coat's pocket, a square shape package being pulled along, he tapped the package and two slim cylinders came out. He took both; brought one to his lips and ignited the other end with the lighter that was now at its limits, saving it along the package back inside his pocket while his other hand saved the extra one for later. He heaved out a long thin line of smoke, this one being longer due to the heat of his breath condensing in the cold. '…what the fuck am I doing?'
"Ya got some guts, girl, speakin' to yar betters like dat…"
"Better in what? I only see three idiots with talking problems, and that's the start."
"Hah, ain't ya funny?"
"If being truthful is funny, laugh, it's better than seeing you crying."
"'Kay, bitch, ya 'bout to slip if ya keep running your mouth."
"Over what, exactly? Even the sidewalk seems better than you three."
"Oh, then over the sidewalk ya go."
"What are ya three dumbasses doing?"
He shook his head, rolling his eyes at her words. She just had to be of the fighting type, and the kind that doesn't know when to shut up, too. If he hadn't been close by when the three assholes that were formerly his friends surrounded her, the situation would have been very different, and she would never be as she was before that, although, he doubted that at times, she was too strong headed to be depressed over something for long.
'Whatever.' He concluded while throwing the butt of the now consumed cigarette, putting the extra one on his lips to restart the process. He chanced a peek at the store in which the girls were and he was surprised of not finding them there, or anywhere close for that matter. 'Fuck, where're they?'
"So here you are," he heard a voice calling from the opposite direction of the store, a familiar voice. He turned his head to the front and found her, and the blonde, standing there with bags at their sides, both wearing clothes to fight back the cold weather. The red-haired woman smiled at seeing him, but frowned at finding the cigarette in his mouth. "Can't you stop smoking?"
"Heh, nice to see ya too," he joked with a taunting tone, smirking under the collar of his coat when she narrowed her eyes at him. "What can I say? Ol' habits die hard."
"And please, stop talking like that; I know you can do better than that." She reprimanded him as if she was his mother.
"E-erza…" The blonde behind her looked at their exchange in fear, not understanding from where her friend knew the guy or how was it that he didn't do anything to them after being scolded so openly.
"Whatever, if I wanna speak normally or not is my problem." He shrugged, moving his shoulders in circles to get rid of the stiffness in them. He eyed the woman again and her friend, heaving out another long line of smoke while asking. "What brings ya both here?"
"We were shopping for the holiday, as you surely noticed," she commented, pointing at their bags with a gloved finger that later pointed to the still frightened blonde behind her. "Oh, and do you know my friend? She's Lucy Heartphilia, a junior in my school."
"D-d-d-don't introduce me so easily!" The blonde shrieked in disbelief, eyeing her friend and how she gave her name so nonchalantly to someone she didn't even know if it was trustworthy.
"…" Natsu eyed the blonde for second, making her tremble under his piercing stare, taking note of her surname being in his ear before and later gave a short nod. "Name's Natsu."
"…" Lucy was late to react at the… simple introduction. He really was… harmless, it seems. She gave a shaky nod and stepped out from hiding behind the red-head, standing nervously next to her. "A-aye, nice to meet you, Natsu."
He nodded again. "Likewise."
Erza nodded at her friend and later eyed the guy again, seeing his coat and beanie's dampened tops and the almost unnoticeable shaking he had. "Aren't you cold?"
"I've been through worse; a little winter snow won't kill me." He got his hands out of his pockets and tapped his coat, getting rid of some snow in the process and also of the now burned down cigarette on his lips.
"So you say, but you are shaking." She pointed out to his slightly trembling knees, which he straightened up soon after. "Come on, don't act tough around us, we don't bite."
"Maybe, but ya gotta a hell of a right hook." He smirked at the memory, his cheek still remembering the pain from back then.
"That's true," she closed her eyes in reminiscence, smiling at the past before regarding the guy in front of her again. "But that's not why we are here now."
"You gotta a reason 'sides introducin' your stalker to your friend?" He chuckled when seeing her frowning at the way he used to talk about himself, shaking his head before motioning for her to continue. "What's up?"
"Lucy will throw a party on Christmas' Eve," she informed him, disregarding his shocked stare. "And I thought of inviting you too, will you come?"
"…" Natsu stared for a long minute, shifting his gaze in between the red-head and the blonde, trying to see if this was some kind of plan, joke or lie to get his hope up and later crush it, as it happened many times before. Not from them, but from other people that didn't even deserve to be alive. He shook his head after the minute was over, seeing the blonde sigh in relief and the red-head give a look of surprise at his answer. "No, I… got stuff to do."
"A few days before Christmas' Eve." It wasn't a question, and her quirked eyebrow spoke of her skepticism, even if it seemed a plausible excuse.
"Yeah… people to visit… things to do." He lied as he hopped off the wall he was leaning against, walking away from the two and into the crowds of people. He raised a hand in a lazy good bye. "Watch your backs, and see you later…"
They saw him disappear in between the people, melding in between the many forms and out of sight, as she knew he could do when not wanting to be discovered by her.
"Okay, we tried." Lucy told her after seeing the guy leave, picking up her bags and shaking her friend slightly by the shoulder when she got no response. "Erza? Are you okay?"
Erza continued to look at the last place in which she saw his coat before it vanished, something bugging her in the corner of her mind and telling her to…
'Shitty Christmas…' Natsu muttered as he continued his walk downtown, his legs taking him somewhere, anywhere, but where he wanted to be. He just didn't like the season, easy enough, merry for many, sad for others; the reality of not just that holiday but of many other things as well. He kicked a random can in his way, lighting another cigarette hurriedly. '…why invite me anyway? Am I the joy of the party or what?'
He arrived at the park, he noted when his eyes left the ground and dared to look up.
'Now… that's funny…' He thought with a dry smile as he made his way to a random bench close to the darkest part of the place, where the lights were broken due to the gangs wanting some shadows covering their dirty businesses. A hand to move the snow aside and he sat there, crossing one leg over the other's knee to keep them kind of warm and make some sort of intimidating pose. His hands in his pockets, he heaved out another long line of smoke and condensed breath before closing his eyes to enjoy the sound of almost complete silence, the noises from the city almost sounding far away and giving more room for the branches around him to crick and crack due to the cold.
It was calming, yes, better than the city and the low-life place in which he sleeps every night.
"I don't see any people here."
He groaned loudly when he heard that voice.
Couldn't she get the message he wasn't in the mood?
"That's 'cause ya scared them away," he told her flatly, cracking eye open to find her standing in front of him, arms folded and eyes looking at him intently. His eye looked around and then at her again. "Where's blondie?"
"She went home, she has a party to set up, remember?" Erza answered with a side glance to the darkest part of the park, keeping an eye out just in case. "Why are you here?"
"I told you, I'm busy." Changing his way of talking, he stood up and motioned with his head to the part of the park that still had lights to illuminate the paths. "The question should be why YOU are here."
"I wanted to know if you were speaking the truth." She walked next to him, close enough to let people know she was with him, but not that close to imply a relationship. "And… I was worried."
Natsu quirked an eyebrow at her statement. "Worried? Why?"
"You never darted off like that, not even when I yelled at you to do so." She commented, feeling at ease now that they were in a path with more light. "So… how you reacted this time… struck me as odd… and made me worry."
He stopped, making her stop as well a few steps ahead and turn to look at him.
"What?" She asked, feeling bothered by his long scrutinizing stare.
"Nothing," he answered after a minute of thinking, resuming his walk with his lips curling into a small smile that went unnoticed thanks to his coat's collar. "You're a really weird girl, you know?"
"So I've heard." Getting rid off her shock, she moved to follow him, standing next to him again at the right time to hear him chuckling lightly to himself.
"With one hell of a right hook."
The end.
AN: Now, I know y'all are wondering "Where's pregnant Erza and hard-working Natsu!?" and I'll explain what's going on.
When I said I was going to make a series, I meant it, and not just a series about one topic in special. Nope. The "It was so..." series extend to a lot more of plots and universes than just the regular one. Which will be more obvious as I advance further into the depths of my imagination. *nods*
In this case, "It was so strange" takes place into an AU close to this world in which we live in, where our protagonists are normal people of some sort. *shrugs*
Deal with it while I write the next story. I don't know if it'll be about the normal universe of FT or this alternative universe I created. I'm just following my imagination, and so far, it hasn't failed me.
Saludos.