Stages

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Stage One: Admit it

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Lucy sat back in the hot spring and sighed. Levy was with her, as was Erza, Wendy, Juvia and Lisanna. "Maa! This is so nice! It was nice of Mira to give us tickets to Akane. I feel like I haven't been here in ages!"

Wendy put a finger to her chin. "Hm... it's been two years hasn't it?"

Lisanna stretched her arms up. "You guys came here before the Daimatou Enbu didn't you?"

Juvia nodded as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Ah. Juvia and the others came here for training. Although..." She put a finger to her lips. "The guys and Gray-sama were here too." She suddenly started melting into the spring. "Waah! Gray-sama should be here with Juvia!"

Levy and Lucy laughed. "Well, you could always invite him to go with you next time." Levy offered. Then she held her pinky up and smirked. "And you two could have some alone time."

Lucy agreed, a sly smile on her face. "You know..." She drawled. "I heard from a certain kitty cat that Gray was asking about you Juvia."

Juvia reformed herself quickly and rushed over to Lucy, grabbing her hands and pulling them to her chest. "What has Lucy-san heard about Gray-sama! You must tell Juvia!"

Lucy tried to pull her hand away. "Juvia, we're naked. Can I have my hand back please?"

Flaming hearts appeared in Juvia's eyes. "You must tell Juvia what Gray-sama has said!"

Erza grabbed Juvia's shoulder and pulled her back. "Juvia, why don't you let go of Lucy's hand now? I don't think she needs a broken hand."

Wendy giggled. "Lucy-nee, maybe you would like to hear what Natsu-nii says about you?"

Lucy blushed and flailed her arms. "Natsu has nothing to say!"

"He does."

Lucy stopped flailing her arms and looked towards Erza. "Eh?"

"Juvia must know what Gray-sama asked!"

Erza nodded to herself and crossed her arms over her chest. "He asked Mira to send you away for a little while."

Lisanna smiled brightly. "Yup, he asked Mira-nee to send you away and she asked Erza and I to bring you somewhere nice." She pumped her fist in the air and grinned. "Natsu asked me to look after you while we're on our trip."

Lucy was suddenly at a loss for words.

Lisanna stared. "Eh? You didn't know?"

"Uh..."

"Oh dear... "

"EH?! NATSU TOLD YOU GUYS TO TAKE ME AWAY?!"

Lucy sat at the table, a cup of sake in hand.

"Ne, Lucy, don't be like that."

"Un! Come on Lu-chan. Natsu always asks us to look after you when he's not there!" The cloud of doom over Lucy's head seemed to grow. Levy sighed. "Lu-chan, haven't you noticed by now?"

Lucy looked up, a heavy blush in her cheeks and a gleam in her eyes. "Noticed what? Natsu always invades my privacy, breaks into my house and sleeps in my bed, and he's completely CLUELESS!" Lucy took another swig. "So what is there to notice?"

"He doesn't do that to anyone else."

Everyone looked at Lisanna. "..."

Her smile didn't quite reach her bright blue eyes. "He never broke into my room. And he never asked my friends to watch over me. Sure, he's told Mira-nee and Elf-nii to take care of me, but never like he does about you."

Lucy almost dropped her cup. "L-l-Lisanna..."

"So there is something to notice." Lisanna smiled, this time it was real. "I just want to let you know that I approve."

Levy and Erza smiled knowingly. They had been there when Lisanna and Natsu were growing up. They were always together. And when Lisanna was gone, Natsu seemed to shut down in some aspects. And then two years later, he shows up with Lucy at the guild. And just like that, he'd found what he'd lost. Until Lisanna came back of course. But even then, Natsu still seemed to float towards Lucy instead of Lisanna.

"I know I hadn't been around long at the time, but the way Natsu-nii looks at Lucy is definitely not the way he looks at Lisanna." And then she gasped. "No offense meant of course." Wendy blushed.

Lisanna shook her head. "No, it's alright. I knew. I've always known. It was the same in Edolas. Edo-Natsu was always with me, until Edo-Lucy came to the guild. She was always so mean to him, but in a way that was cute. And he liked her, so he said it was ok that she was like that with him."

"H-he actually told you that?" Erza asked.

Lisanna blushed. "Ah. He sees me as his nakama, but he's always seen Lucy as something more."

They heard the shouji door slam shut and looked to see Lucy was no longer at the table.

Lucy stumbled through the hallway as fast as she could, taking a swig every now and then from the bottle she swiped off the table. "Natsu no baka! And Lisanna... pft." She stopped walking and leaned against the railing, looking up at the full moon. "I'm Lucy. Just Lucy." She took a long drink from the bottle and crumbled to the floor. The empty bottle rolled on the wooden floor, Lucy curled up and held her knees tightly to her chest. "It's not fair..."

"It's true though."

Lucy looked up through her unshed tears to see Lisanna. "Well it's wrong."

"But it's not."

"IT IS! You deserve to have that happiness Lisanna! You loved him from the beginning! And I..." She trailed off.

"You loved him from the start too."

Lisanna had sunk down to the floor with Lucy by then. Sitting next to her and smiling her beautiful smile, and Lucy felt horrible. Lucy's tears fell to the ground while Lisanna held her. "I didn't... mean to take him from you!"

Lisanna laughed softly. "It's alright Lucy. He was never mine to begin with. He was too dense to realize that I had a crush on him. We were too young. And you..." She brushed Lucy's bangs away and tilted her chin so she could look her in the eye. "You were there when I wasn't. He moved on." Then a blush crossed her cheeks. "And so have I."

Lucy cried even harder, pushing her face into Lisanna's chest, and holding on for dear life.

"It's ok Lucy. You love him, and that's ok."

Lucy wailed and sobbed for a few inutes before finally calming down. "I..." She ran her hands over her face. "Lisanna... I... I love him."

Lisanna smirked and pat Lucy on the head. "It's about time you admitted it."

Lisanna returned to the room with Lucy on tow and the others smiled. Something had happened between the two. But everything was going to be alright. Erza knew since the first day Lisanna came back that she and Lucy would be wonderful friends.

-End Stage One-