Lucy and Laxus Ship Week: Day Five - Manga
{Everything is now a day or two late because I was sick}
This one's short so you can run wild with imagination.
On a warm sunny day, weeks after winning the Dai Matou Enbu, Laxus found Lucy in the library of the new Guild Hall. The woman's whole being was seemingly engrossed in a book of some sorts, one that had her biting at her thumb and a delicate crease placed above her brow though her hair fell to cover it. As Laxus drew closer he saw that the title of the book was 'Fairy Tail', and he had to suppress a laugh at the idea of it being a gossip magazine about the Guild as he had seen such things in the recent times. Though, the longer he observed the covered the more it seemed as though it were made of shimmering stars and a blue light was vaguely staining Lucy's visage.
"What's that?" Laxus asked moving closer from the edge of the bookshelf, pressing his shoulders in so as not to knock books off in the small space.
Lucy paused for a moment, nothing moving until she turned her head to look at him with heavy eyes, words lisping over her thumb before shrugging, "A story I found," Lucy ran her wet thumb over the spine, eyes not quite on Laxus but the edge of the table close by as she thought. "A very long time ago."
Laxus moved across the room until he was able to lean over the back of Lucy's chair, head tilted to read the words but was surprised to find pictures, drawings, of faces he knew rather well, "Is that me," A tight voice escaped him, Lucy stiffened below him as he looked at the images in the glowing book, "In the Games?" Laxus' eyes travelled to the small image in the corner, a haughty face that he recognised well, "Fighting Jura?" Laxus' thick fingers pushed against the silver paper, ignoring its silk texture in favour of covering the hideous look someone had put on his face. "That is not a flattering angle."
"Yup." Lucy said shortly, closing the book without marking the page. "So, what brings you to the library?"
"Figured I'd see if there were any new editions that were added," Laxus moved away from where he leant over the back of her chair, settling in the one opposite her as he spoke, "I know the Mayor had a list of all the books we used to have," As he shrugged his coat from his back, Laxus ran an appreciative eye over the view Lucy gave him before glancing at the sun window, "And I know he'll have updated it. Though I don't recognise this one," Although he reached to touch the cover of the book Lucy seemed to protect so valiantly, something in the man had him draw back.
"It's been here for a long time," Lucy kept her head down towards the book, watching how the Magic cooed on its cover in bleeding shades of blue, "Before I came at least." Lucy saw the look Laxus had given her, one to suggest that all she said was a bunch of lies and she grit her teeth, "It's a book; a 'manga' to be more precise." The woman's tone was light, and her fingers seemed to be clamped to the edge of the book in order to keep a hold of it as she spoke, as though she could absorb it all that way, "And it appears to have everything that has happened or will happen laid out in it."
"That's certainly a useful thing," The corners of Laxus' mouth turned down as his head bobbed slightly, tongue darting out to wet them as he hummed, "Wonder how it got here," Leaning forward Laxus took a deep breath, shuddering at how reminiscent and old the smell of the book was, as though history was laid before him, "Everything?"
"Every last detail," Lucy agreed with a sigh, fingers crossing over the cover of the book though Laxus could still feel its pulse of Magic.
"Oh? It does doesn't it!" Glee plagued his thoughts, an idea coming to him that he could check if he would ever be Guild Master, "Well never mind that," Noting how uncomfortable Lucy looked, Laxus waved one of his hands dismissively and smirked. "What does it have in store for us?"
"Something rather interesting," Lucy admitted, eyes glittering as she watched the man across from her. For a second, Lucy allowed her fingers to run across the pages, before opening the book with practiced fingers at something that appeared to be the day they arrived back from Tenroujima, "Even our deaths are detailed in later volumes of the manga."
"How do I die?" Laxus asked, the age old question haunting him.
"Beside the woman you love," Was Lucy's hesitant answer
A blush crept up Laxus' face, images of Evergreen's laughing face appearing before he shuddered, "How does she die?" Laxus asked with a mouth full of thick spittle, the idea of a mystery woman heavy in his thoughts.
"Beside the man she loves," The voice was quiet as she answered, fingers clenching so tight that the knuckles cracked, "The two of you die together you see, facing off against Acnologia." Lucy brought her eyes up to him as she spoke, a jovial laugh on her lips as she spoke, leaning forward as though it were some great secret she was telling him. Though, Laxus often thought, she had been at the time.
"How do we die?" Laxus asked, trying to keep his face passive as he fished for details.
"Happy," A small smile drifted on Lucy's face as she brought a hand to the necklace that hung on her neck, and Laxus recognised it as the one he had bought her to make her feel better about her losses in the Games, "I suppose." Lucy frowned, and Laxus waited for her to speak for a very long while as he agonised over whatever thought she had hidden from him, "The death is very much your choice, the two of you decide you are tired of fighting and kill each other - an oddly romantic end, in its own way."
"Tell me," Laxus paused, wondering what it was he would ask her - perhaps it would be about why she seemed so excited by the prospect of his future love, "Do I know this woman?"
Lucy's head reeled back and her eyes landed on the pages in front of her, the swirling blue mass forming the tree of Tenroujima, "Borrow it." The woman's lips pouted as she spoke, fingers closing the book and edging it closer to Laxus before she stood and stretched as though she had not been able to stand for a very long time, "You tell me if you know her or not." Lucy made to walk away, but only made it to the end of the bookshelf before she turned around with a happy smirk on her face, hands together and index fingers elongated with a thoughtful look upon her face, "But I would skip the fifth last chapter," Lucy allowed Laxus his confusion for a moment, shaking her hand and laughing loudly before she answered whatever query he had no intention of asking, "It's awful bad luck to see a bride in her wedding dress before the wedding."
And whilst he was tempted to look, Laxus never did. And he never saw that dress until he watched Lucy walk down the aisle in it.
