Break His Arm

"Lucy's run off."

Sigh. "Again?"

"Hmhm."

"Where's she gone this time?"

"If I knew that, I would've dragged her back by now."

"Come on. You sound just like Jude. We should cut her some slack. She's just trying to figure things out."

"Not sure if she's doing it right."

"Did she leave a note?"

"Hmhm. Complete with 'Goodbye, everybody. I won't be coming back this time. Until we meet again. Farewell forever.'"

"Sounds like she can't make up her mind."

"Yup."

Sigh.

"I hid the note a little less conspicuously in her room to buy her some time. But who knows when—"

"LUUUUUUUUCYYYYY!" a voice exploded from the house, coming from somewhere above the two men that stood on the porch, smoking.

"Uh oh. Papa Bear found it."

"Jesus, already?"

"LUCY IS MISSING! SEND EVERYBODY! BRING HER BACK TO ME! HURRY BEFORE SOMETHING HAPPENS TO MY BABY GIRL!"

Sigh. "Always so dramatic…"

"GET ME AQUARIUS!"

"Fuck, you better get up there and calm him down, Leo."

The redheaded man ground his cigarette out under his shining black shoes with a groan. "Why does he always jump the gun like that? Will you do me a favor and call Aquarius before he does and tell her to let me handle this?"

"Don't drag me into it."

"C'mon, Scorpio. She's your psychotic girlfriend. She'll actually listen to you."

Scorpio dragged his gloved hands through his two toned red and white hair. "If you do a good job calming Jude down then I won't have to call anybody."

Leo glared at him, pushing his blue tinted sunglasses up his nose. "Yeah, fuck you too, man." He turned and rushed into the house, just as Jude started screaming again, voice turning hysterical.

"LUCY! LUCY! COME BACK TO MEEEEEE!"

Lucy slumped down on the park bench with a heavy sigh. She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her jacket and unlocked the screen.

"Wow," she muttered. "Only fifty-three missed calls. Have they forgotten about me already?"

As if on cue, her ringtone went off. She jumped in surprise as the energetic violin and tin whistle practically screamed at her through the speakers.

"Loke, huh?" she scowled. "Turned traitor once again, has he?" She considered letting it go to voicemail like all of the others, but finally decided to answer it.

"Hello, Lucy of the Don't Bother Me Right Now Association speaking. How may I direct your call? To yell at me for being irresponsible, please press one. To demand that I return home, please press two. To track my phone number like some kind of unfaithful bloodhound, press three. To encourage my freedom of an oppressive household, hang up and pretend I'm dead."

The line beeped as Leo pressed a number.

"What number did you push?" she asked.

"… Two."

"You mean three, right? Okay, hanging up now."

"Lucy, c'mon."

"Don't Lucy c'mon me," she snapped. "I'm not going back!"

"You always come back."

"Not this time."

"Your dad is going to call Aquarius if you don't get back here in the next hour."

Lucy hesitated, "I… don't care."

"Will you care when she beats you sideways?"

She let out a sigh of exasperation, aware that she was giving him the time to track the location of her phone by staying on the line. Maybe she wanted him to find her. Why else would she answer his call?

"Listen, Loke. I'm sick of it. Just let me be my own person for once!"

"You are your own person!"

"Oh yeah, because I just love living in that house, under his rules, doing—"

"Hey girl," a voice drew her attention to the left where a young man with dark blue hair leaned on her park bench. He had a tattoo of a pair of prongs over his right eyebrow. "You are a vision, you know that?" he smiled charmingly.

"Do you mind?" she said. "I'm on the phone."

"Who are you talking to?" Leo asked.

"Just some—"

"Your conversation will never be as important as the proposition I'm about to give you," the man slid onto the bench beside her.

"Listen, asshole," Lucy dropped the phone from her ear and turned towards him. "It's too damn early in the morning for you to be picking up on random girls. Get a life!"

"Lucy!" Leo's voice was faint as it called out from the phone.

"Lucy hm?" the man slid closer, enticing a look of disgust from the girl. He reached out and took a lock of her golden hair. "A beautiful name."

"Wow. You really can't take a hint, can you? As not subtle as it was…" she pulled her hair from his grasp and stood. Leo was still calling out her name over the line and she ended the call with an angry jab at the screen. The time of the call blinked under the picture of the redheaded man Lucy had assigned to his number. 1:52.

"Shit," she grumbled. That was plenty of time to trace her call. Leo would be on her tail soon. She needed to put as much distance between her and this park as she could before he caught up to her. She turned, sliding her phone into her pocket, and made as if to leave, but the annoying pick-up artist grabbed her arm.

Lucy whirled to face him, "Don't touch me!"

"C'mon. Don't be such a wet blanket, Lucy," he said, smirking. "You didn't even wait to listen to my proposition."

"Does that proposition involve you releasing my arm and then never showing your face to me again?" she yanked against his hold. "Because if it doesn't, then I don't want to hear it!"

"Quite the attitude you got there," he tightened his grip. "It's annoying. Especially since I'm just trying to show you a good time."

"Fuck off!" Lucy whipped her foot up, landing a kick in the man's stomach. He doubled over, but didn't release her. She kicked him again, growling. "Let go!"

The man yanked hard on her arm. She lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, staining her knees green from the grass.

"Ow!" she complained, trying to stand again.

He towered over her, bending her wrist back painfully. "I was going to show you a good time," he said, voice low. "But now I think I'll be the only one having any fun."

She reached into her pocket, pulling out her cell phone. Her voice darkened, "Don't make me call my friends."

He laughed, "Oh, I'm so scared. You can call your friends. You can call the police for all I care."

Lucy unlocked the screen with a swipe and pulled up her contacts.

The man's foot flashed out, connecting with her hand and sending the phone flying across the park.

"Oops," he chuckled. "That's really my bad. I slipped."

"You son of a bitch!" she struggled. "Let me go and I'll let you off easy!"

His grip tightened and she winced in pain.

"You're annoying," he muttered, pulling her to her feet once more. "Now just drop the tough girl act and come quietly, you hear?"

"Never!" she kicked him a third time.

"God damn it!" he lashed out with his other hand, slapping her across the face. "Knock it off!"

Lucy blinked in stunned silence as her cheek started to turn red from the slap. This guy isn't playing around, she suddenly realized. Shit. Is this what I get for running away? This has never happened before. What do I do? What do I do?

Lucy let out a furious scream and started punching and kicking, pink fingernails out and aiming for his eyes.

"Fuck," he dodged her attacks, "Give it a rest!" he twisted her arm, pinning it behind her back.

Lucy cried out as her elbow and shoulder creaked. He positioned himself behind her, grabbing a fistful of her hair and jerking her head back.

"Like I said," he hissed in her ear. "Drop the tough girl act."

"It's not an act, ass wipe," she said, blinking away the tears that rose from the stinging pain that lanced through her scalp. "You haven't even seen how tough I can—"

He jerked on her hair again and she cried out. "Oh, I'm so convinced," he laughed.

A whirring, whistling sound silenced both of them.

"What is…" the man turned his head, just to take the full brunt of a flying metal rod to the face.

He crashed to the ground, releasing Lucy along the way. She collapsed to her knees and spun around. The man was groaning, holding his nose in his hands as blood streamed over his mouth and down his neck.

The source of his pain was lying in the grass beside Lucy. She reached out and picked it up.

"What the…" she turned the cast iron rod over in her hands. On one end was a charred clump of Kevlar that smelled heavily of gasoline.

"Are you okay?" a voice called.

Lucy lifted her head. A boy in a school uniform with wild pink hair was running her direction across the park. He had a backpack slung messily over one shoulder which, she noticed, had two more of the torch looking rods sticking out of the top.

"I'm fi—"

The boy ran straight past her, dropping his backpack at her knees as he jumped on her attacker, instantly pummeling him with his fists.

"Don't attack girls, you douchebag!" he shouted as he doled out the beating.

Lucy stared with wide eyes. He flipped the pervert on his stomach and then sat on his back, grabbing his arm and pulling it up until he screamed and kicked his legs frantically against the grass.

"Learn to respect others!" the boy growled.

"Stop! Stop! Please stop! I promise I won't do it again! I'm sorry!"

"Are you really sorry?" he twisted the arm.

He screamed in agony, "YES! YES I'M SORRY! LUCY! I'M SORRY! CALL HIM OFF!"

She scowled, "He's not my dog. I can't just call him off."

"PLEASE! TELL HIM TO STOP!"

"Maybe I think he ought to break your arm," she folded her arms over her chest.

"That sounds fun," the rosy haired boy pointed out, pulling the arm harder.

"AAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH PLEASE NOOOOOOO!"

"BREAK HIS ARM!"

"Here I go!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the pervert's eyes fluttered back in his head and he promptly passed out.

"Oh," the pink haired boy said. "He's done." He dropped the arm. "How disappointing. I wanted to tease him some more."

Lucy giggled, "I think he may have learned his lesson."

"Are you alright?" he turned towards her, still sitting on the guy's back. He draped his arms over his knees and leaned forward, cocking an eyebrow.

Lucy gulped. His caramel colored eyes were intense, almost bestial or reptilian, even. They were wide and sincere, curious and full of underlying playfulness. Lucy had never seen eyes like that before.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" he reached out and lightly rapped his knuckles on her forehead.

She winced and rubbed the spot with a scowl. "I'm fine."

"Cool!" his mouth stretched wide, displaying pearly white teeth, canines inhumanly sharp. His entire face brightened and his eyes squinted cheerfully shut.

The breath caught in the back of her throat. She had never seen a smile like that before.

"My name's Natsu, by the way," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm Lucy."

"Luigi, huh?"

"Lucy."

"Alright, hey do you need help getting home?" he checked the black watch around his right wrist and his eyes bugged out, "Oh shit! I'm so late! Like super late!" he smacked his forehead. "I mean… I was late before… and now…" he sighed and then looked back up at Lucy. He shrugged, "Oh well. So do you need help, or what?"

"Uhm," she pursed her lips. If I get this guy to help me, I can probably make it pretty far before Loke shows up… "Well actually—"

A honk drew their attention to the street across the park. A gleaming black BMW with dark tinted windows rolled up to the curb and stopped.

"Fuck," Lucy cursed. Too late.

Natsu stood and offered his hands to her, "Is that your ride?"

Lucy let him pull her to her feet, stunned by how warm and calloused his palms were.

"Y-yeah," she said. "Unfortunately," she added under her breath.

Natsu crouched down and picked up his torch, shoving it into his backpack. He slung it on his left shoulder and then glanced up, noticing the grass stains on Lucy's knees. He reached out and brushed blades of grass from her skin, shocking a squeak out of her.

"That guy was a grade-A asshole, wasn't he?" Natsu stood again.

Lucy blushed, "Y-yeah…" her phone went off. She glanced around, looking for where it landed after it was kicked from her hands.

"Over there," Natsu pointed and ran off. He picked up the smart phone, glancing at the screen. "Some guy named Loke The Traitor is calling you."

Lucy ran up to him and grabbed the phone out of his hands. She silenced the call and then shoved it into her pocket.

Natsu watched her curiously, head cocked to the side.

She cleared her throat and did a quick once over of his uniform. It was unremarkable, to say the least. He wore sandals and dark pleated pants that had been rolled up to mid-calf. His white button-up shirt had its sleeves rolled up to the elbow and a red symbol over the heart that she didn't recognize. What was most unusual about his outfit was the white, scaly looking scarf tied around his neck.

Who wears a scarf in summer? she wondered, baffled.

"Can I ask…" Lucy started and then blushed.

"Hm?" Natsu gripped the strap of his backpack and waited.

"What high school do you go to?"

"Oh!" he grinned. "I go to Fairy Tail! It's just a few blocks past this park!" he pointed over his shoulder.

She clasped her hands together and peeked up at him shyly, "D-do you like being a part of it?"

He grinned, showing off his ridiculously sharp incisors. "Yeah! It's the greatest place ever! It's my home! And my classmates are my family!"

Lucy gaped up at him in awe.

"Really?"

"Hmhm!" he nodded. "Everyone is really nice and the principal is like our grandpa. And the food is really good and they don't mind feeding me seconds or even thirds if I ask nicely about it! Oh and they have classes specialized to each person too!"

Lucy smiled, "It sounds wonderful…"

Natsu blinked down at her. Her light blonde hair rustled gently in the breeze and her pink lips curved gently on heart shaped face. He stared into her light brown eyes. They were wide, sincere. Innocent and expectant in a way that he had never seen before. They were deep eyes. The kind of things a guy could get lost in if he allowed himself to fall in.

He decided that he really like the look of those eyes.

The car at the curb honked again.

The cell phone in Natsu's back pocket went off and he quickly fumbled it out.

"Shit," he muttered. "I gotta go!" he turned, looking over his shoulder as he waved. "I hope I see you around sometime, Lucy!"

"Yeah!" she waved back eagerly. "Bye!"

Before facing the direction his legs were slowly taking him, Natsu gave her another long hard look. Her eyes shifted. A chilled, saddened tint fell over them as she glanced silently downwards and then back up. He gulped before turning his face forward. The look in those eyes... it was one that Natsu decided he didn't like. Not one bit.

He put his phone to his ear and jogged off across the park, "Erza! I'm sorry! I ran into a— gah!" he held the phone away as shouting erupted from the speaker.

Lucy watched him go until he disappeared. Loke honked the car a third time and she pulled her phone from her pocket. She dialed the first speed dial and listened to it ring, still gazing in the direction her pink haired savior had gone.

"Lucy?" a breathless voice answered.

"Alright Dad," she said. "I'll come home on one condition."

"Anything! You name it and you'll have it!"

She turned and headed for the car. "I want to go to school."

"School? That's what you want?"

"Not just any school," she added. "I want to enroll in Fairy Tail High school."

"Natsu, are you even paying attention?"

An eraser smacked into Natsu's head, pulling him from his thoughts as he stared out the window to his left. He turned to Macao, who crossed his arms over his chest at the front of the room.

"Hm? Did you say something, old man?"

Macao's right eye twitched, "First you're an entire hour late for class, now you're dozing off in the middle of it?"

"Bah, I'm not dozing! I'm just thinking!"

"Like that's any better," the boy sitting in the desk next to Natsu snorted. He turned his dark blue eyes on the pink haired guy. "It's dangerous when this idiot starts thinking."

"Oi, you pickin' a fight with me, ice head?" Natsu shouted, jumping to his feet.

"Maybe I am!"

"BRING IT ON!"

Two more erasers flew across the classroom, hitting both boys in the face.

"Gray! Natsu! Sit the fuck down and listen to your goddamn teacher!" Macao roared.

A heavy sigh drew the attention of the entire class.

"Please, Macao-sensei. Control your language while class is in session."

"E-Erza! Oh… so you're back from the bathroom, huh?"

"Indeed," A scarlet haired girl walked across the room to where Natsu and Gray stood, knees quivering.

Erza grabbed the back of each boy's head and promptly slammed their foreheads together.

"PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS!" she shouted as they slumped to the floor.

Mirajane giggled from her seat near the front of the room, "That's our Erza!"

Erza stood over them, fists propped up on her hips as she glowered.

"Gray! Don't start fights!" she snapped.

"A-Aye Sir!"

"Natsu! Stop dozing off!"

"B-but I wasn't dozing off!" he defended, shocking gasps out of everyone in the room.

"He's dead now," Jet leaned over the aisle and muttered to Droy.

"It was nice knowin' ya, Natsu," Bisca said.

Erza leaned over the pink haired boy, a shadow falling across her face, "Not dozing off, eh? Then what were you doing?"

Natsu cowered beneath her, shielding his face, "I… I was thinkin'!"

"Thinking?" Erza straightened and crossed her arms over her chest, "That's unusual for you. What on Earth were you thinking about?"

"Knowing Natsu," Levy said, turning in her desk two seats in front of his, "it's gotta be eating, fighting, or sleeping, right?"

"Those are the only things he knows anything about," Macao agreed, leaning against his desk as he seemed to forget, not for the first time, that he was indeed an esteemed professor and not one of the rowdy students he was in charge of.

"W-well," Natsu lowered his arms. "On my way to class today, I met someone."

"And you kicked their ass for no reason, right?" Gray said.

"No!"

"So you didn't get in a fight this morning?"

"Well… I did… but that's not the person—"

"So it was fighting. You were right after all, Levy," Jet said.

"Would you all shut the hell up and let me finish?" Natsu roared.

"Very well," Erza reached down and grabbed the front of his shirt, lifting him to his feet. "Continue, Natsu. I want to hear about this fight you had." She released him and then sat in the seat behind his, crossing her legs and staring intently up at him.

Natsu gulped, "It's not really the fight that I've been thinking about though…"

"It's the guy you fought," Gray finished.

"No! It's the girl I saved from the guy I fought!"

The room gasped collectively.

"Natsu's got a little crush, does he?" Mirajane giggled. "How adorable!"

"You saved a damsel in distress?" a deep voice from the back of the room said. Elfman grinned, crossing his arms over his wide chest, "Now that's manly!"

"Tell us everything," Erza demanded.

Natsu sat on top of his desk and looked out over the classroom. Everyone was watching him expectantly, eyes wide and bright, except for Gray, who was pretending not to care about what the boy had to say, even as he leaned slightly in his direction.

"Okay, so I was taking my usual shortcut through the park to the school this morning when I saw them. Some creepy guy with a face tattoo was groping at this girl, right? He had her pinned and was like making creepy noises and stuff. It was really disgusting. So I took out one of my torches and chucked it at his head," Natsu reenacted the blow, whipping his arm out. "It hit him right in the face. He dropped the girl and fell on his ass so I ran up and started beating him, right? Then I threatened to break his arm until he passed out from the fear."

"Bravo," Erza nodded seriously. "I would have done the same."

"And then what?" Alzack asked.

"I talked to the girl a little bit and then a car came and picked her up and I came straight here."

Everyone stared at him.

"That's it?" Gray cocked an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"That's been distracting you all day?" Droy gaped. "But nothing even happened!"

Natsu frowned.

"Did you at least score her digits?" Macao asked.

"No."

"Did you connect on an emotional level?" Levy wondered.

"Hm… no."

"Was she outrageously beautiful?" Mirajane said.

"Hmmm… I dunno. She looked nice, I guess."

"You don't know?"

He shrugged.

"Then how have you been thinking about her all day?" Gray snapped. "Is your mind so empty that even someone as forgettable as some random girl on the streets will take up all the room up there?"

"I was just thinking…" Natsu glanced out the window. "Her eyes…"

Everyone waited.

"What about her eyes?" Erza prodded.

"They were eyes I'd never seen before. They held things I don't know anything about." He watched a sparrow flit across the sky before perching on a branch of the giant oak tree in the courtyard below. "Without even talking to her for very long, I knew that we came from two different worlds. I could see it in her eyes."

He turned back to the class, "She looked really lonely. And I was just thinking that nobody should have to be lonely."

The room sat in silence for a moment. Mirajane glanced back over the faces to Elfman. Gray clasped his hands together and held them to his mouth as he stared down at his desk. Erza smiled gently and looked out the window, brushing her red hair over her shoulder.

Macao finally cleared his throat, "Well, if it's loneliness she's got, then I think everyone in this room can relate." He straightened and moved to the white board at the front of the room.

Gray looked at Natsu, "So?"

He cocked his head to the side.

"What's there to think about?" he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the teacher. "Find her."

Natsu grinned, "Yeah! I think I will!"

"Alright, alright. Let's see here," Jude leaned back in the couch, stroking his impressive blonde mustache with a grunt.

Lucy crossed her legs and leaned her elbows on the low coffee table in front of her that was riddled with manila file folders and short glasses filled with caramel colored liquid and sweaty ice cubes. She stared longingly at one of the glasses as Scorpio reached out and picked it up. He took a sip, noticed Lucy's stare, and then offered it to her with a grin.

She perked and reached for the glass but a pale hand reached out and slapped hers away. She frowned up at the white haired man in the pristine black suit on the couch next to her father. His black sunglasses shielded his eyes from her, but she could tell by the hard set of his lips that he wasn't pleased with her attempt at catching a drink at her age.

"Woops," Scorpio grinned and pulled the glass back, running it over his bottom lip. "Forgot the Cap was in our presence. Maybe next time, Luce."

"If Lucy-sama is thirsty," Capricorn said, running his long fingers through his goatee, "Then I would be more than happy to fetch her a juice box from the kitchen. No need to share your brandy, Scorpio."

"Silly me. How could I forget?"

"A juice box?" Lucy grumbled, propping her chin up in her palm dejectedly. "What am I, five?"

Jude cleared his throat and leaned forward, holding the file in his open palms. "So let me get this straight… this Fairy Tail place… it has barely over fifty students, their test averages are mediocre at best, the school board has been trying to get them shut down for years now… they're constantly getting in trouble with their students starting fights with students from other schools… there's even a report of…" he shook his head, "of a fire at last year's school festival?" he dropped the file on the table and stared at Lucy across from him. "Are you sure you want to go there?"

"Yes!"

"But…" he gestured at the other files lying on the desk. "Fiore is such a large city… there are plenty of high schools to choose from! Ones with much better reputations than that one!"

"You could join the number one high school in the city," Capricorn offered a file to Jude. "Their test scores are phenomenal, the school board loves them, and they have hundreds enrolled."

"Yes! That sounds like the kind of high school my daughter deserves to go to! Saber Tooth huh?" he popped the file open, took one look at the top page, and immediately closed it, tossing it over his shoulder. "Saber Tooth is out of the question. What else is there…" he and Capricorn started rifling through the folders.

Leo nudged Lucy with his knee. She glanced over her shoulder at him where he sat on the couch at her back. He discreetly gestured at the glass of brandy in his hand and then offered it to her. She threw a look towards Capricorn and Jude, but they were engrossed in a file that read Lamia Scale on the tab. She turned her body, taking the glass from his hands. She quickly gulped down the contents of the glass, leaving only the three ice cubes. Her face twisted up from the awful taste of the alcohol and she handed the glass back, whirling around just as her father started to address her once more.

"Lamia Scale would be the perfect fit for you!" he said, flipping through the file. "They have a writing program and a very famous scientist works there as a geology teacher! I hear he is incredible! He's the one that discovered the Neekis Emerald!"

"If he's so great," Lucy said, voice rough, eyes watering. "Then why is he teaching geology in high school rather than in some prestigious university?"

Jude pursed his lips and then closed the file, tossing it over his shoulder. "What else we got, Capricorn?"

"Well…" they fell back to the files.

Leo gestured at Scorpio, pointing at his glass. The other man grinned and quickly passed his brandy over. Lucy turned again as Leo handed the glass to her and she finished it off. He took the empty glass once more as she started coughing, turning back towards her father. She coughed into the back of her hand, blinking rapidly as the thick motor oil taste of the alcohol brought moisture to her eyes.

Scorpio and Leo covered their mouths to stifle their laughter.

"Lucy! I found the perfect school!" Jude lifted his file. "Mermaid Heel! It's an all girl's school so—"

"Denied!" Lucy made an X out of her arms.

Jude sighed and tossed the file.

"Blue Pegasus has an impressive botany program," Capricorn pointed out.

"The guy that teaches that course is a Class A pervert," Leo interceded. "He has a fetish about smelling his students. Total weirdo, trust me."

Jude tossed the file.

"Quatro Cerberus seems fun…"

"They're almost as rowdy as Fairy Tail," Scorpio said. "And almost all male. Not to mention alcoholics."

The file flew over the back of Jude's couch.

"Cait Shelter?"

"Bunch of eccentrics. All they do is make textiles and sew all day."

"Raven Tail?"

"You're kidding, right?"

Jude sighed. Capricorn stroked his goatee silently.

"Dad," Lucy leaned forward. "I want to go to Fairy Tail. It's the only place I'll accept. That's my decision."

"But…"

"No buts," Lucy frowned. "I said I'd come home if you let me join Fairy Tail! I didn't say you could choose my high school!"

He stared down at the file on the table.

"Take another look at that file, Boss," Leo suggested gently. "You'll see that it's not all as bad as you think."

He lifted the file and flipped it open.

"There is a student there that excels in every sport she participates in," Capricorn pointed out. "Better than even Saber Tooth's ace."

"And I hear there's a girl nothing short of a genius too," Scorpio added. "She went on Jeopardy last season and won big bucks. They eventually had to ban her from the show because she just keep winning and winning and winning."

"Not to mention the snowboarding prodigy that even made it to the Olympics last year," Leo said.

"And then there is that one interesting student," Capricorn said. "The one… oh what do they call him… The Salamander…"

Jude grunted, staring down at the photo of the pink haired boy with the grin that took up half of his face. "Yes," he murmured. "He's the one I'm most concerned about, actually…"

"Daddy," Lucy said, drawing his attention. She clasped her hands under her chin and blinked her large brown eyes at him, pouting her lips out. "Please! Pretty pretty pretty please! I want to be a student of Fairy Tail more than anything in the world! It's the only thing I want! It's all I'll ever ask of you ever again! I swear it! Please Daddy? PLEASE?"

Jude held out for as long as he could, steeling himself against the way she batted those eyelashes over those eyes that mirrored her mother's.

"Oh…" Jude sighed. "Alright. Fine. Fairy Tail it is."

"EEeeeeee!" Lucy leapt over the coffee table, squealing excitedly. She threw herself into her father's arms, hugging him tightly around the neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she kissed him on the cheek and then stood. "I'll go pack then!"

"Wait," he called as she ran off towards the door of the office. "Pack? What are you talking about?"

"Well…" Lucy turned back to him, hand on the door handle. "The school is so far away, it'd take me hours to walk there every morning. So naturally we would have to move into town…"

"What? No! Out of the question! Leo will drive you every morning!"

Lucy's shoulders slumped and her eyes filled with tears, "But… I was really looking forward to living in town and walking to school like a normal student…"

Leo turned to Jude, "Driving all that way twice a day sounds like a waste of gas, Boss."

"Have you seen the gas prices lately?" Scorpio added. "Outrageous."

"A change of atmosphere might be just the thing that Lucy-sama needs," Capricorn agreed. "And not just Lucy-sama, but for you as well, Jude-sama."

Jude sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "If it'll make my princess happy then… I guess it must be done."

"Great!" Lucy turned the door handle and pushed it open. "I'll go check the real estate in Magnolia district right away!" she ran out into the hallway. "Fairy Tail here I come!"

Author's Note: Guess who's back? It's Gregory. Say hi, Greg. *distant walrus sounds*

Anyway, well... here's the first chapter of my new fanfic. I know it's boring so far. As an AU, I have to spend a little extra time on introductions and trust me... it's been a little tiring on this end as well. After a while it should start to pick up though. Hopefully you guys can hang on until then! (Not that I'm assuming that people are actually going to read and like this... *self confidence shatters* but hey, a cow can dream, ammiright?) This is a really weird thing for me, writing an AU, but I'm excited to take a shot at it and hopefully do the Fairy Tail universe the justice it deserves! Wish me luck and thanks for any support I might receive from you awesome people in the future!

Some things I need to mention before calling it a night... if the people reading this right now are followers of my past story, Her Strength, then I'm terribly sorry, but this one will probably not get updated daily like that one. Sorry! I just don't have the stamina anymore. But I promise that I won't just leave you hanging all the time. The longest, absolute LONGEST, I'll make you wait for an update is a week. Promise. Unless something terrible happens and I break that promise... *Once again assuming that people are going to read this...* Oh and if you ARE readers from the past story and are actually braving the storm to read this thing, wow. I love you. You're the best. Kiss kiss. Hug hug. How've you been? I've missed you dearly. And so has Nashi. Seriously. She told me. *distant meowing in protest*

Okay, okay, I'm trying to fix my rambly author's note problem so I'm gonna shut up now.

Love-Moo