Lucy frowned as she glanced over the flyer in her hand.
Natsu... Drag-Nil?
What kind of name was that?!
"Um..." Lucy absent-mindedly reached up and ruffled her hair with a scratch in confusion. "Okayyyy... 100,000J?" Lucy's eyes widened slightly. "Not bad... I'll be having a place to stay for at least a month, including food!" Humming in delight, she folded the paper up and stuffed it into her vest pocket.
"Let's see... Boat... Boat..." Lucy furrowed her eyebrows together, as she walked down the long wooden deck, inspecting each ship as she passed by. They all looked either too big to handle, or already had people standing inside, getting ready to exit out to sea. "... Just need a small one... Aha!" Yeah, she had a problem with talking to herself. Don't mind the random blonde haired teenager, with very tangled locks, dirty shoes, and a totally sheathed dagger hanging on her belt, talking to her self, people! (Yeah... Lucy may or may not have accidentally misplaced her sword's hold the other day, when she took out Twilight Ogre?)
Lucy's eyes brightened, at the sight of a small wooden rowboat, with a motor connected to the back. It didn't seem like the best, but big ass ships weren't really Lucy's thing. She quickly strutted up to the boat, took out her knife, cut the rope, bounding the small ship to the dock, and jumped on board. An old man, making his way to the boat with a fishing pole and a can of worms, gasped loudly. "M-My- Hey!" He quickened his pace, dropping his bucket and line, before attempting to catch the (as Lucy would like to describe herself as) savage blonde. "Sorry! Borrowing your boat for a bit... Might get destroyed... Depends... Here!" Lucy kicked the motor on with her booted foot, calling back to the man with a (somewhat) apologetic smile. She flicked a small rubber banded wad of 2J and a piece of bubblegum to the man (as if that would make up for her hijacking his ship), and turned around to start the voyage of her (-ahem- attempt) to capture the infamous Natsu Dragfryon.
... Just kidding!
To be honest, Lucy was rather excited for her upcoming duel with the pirate. He obviously seemed like a worthy opponent, if he was worth, 100K and Lucy was looking forward to a good fight. She was actually rather prideful on her swordsmanship, if she was being totally honest. Self taught and everything- Yeah, Lucy's ego was probably as big (if not bigger) than her head.
As the boat rocked on, Lucy plopped down onto the floor of the planked ship, and began rummaging through her bag. Hmm... Not good. Lucy's face contorted to a frown. 53J left... Yikes. If she was going to capture Natsu, she'd better do it and find him fast- 53 cents ain't gonna really cut it for lunch now is it?
She sighed, as she pulled out a book... No. Lucy was not a bookworm, while being a ruthless pirate assassin as a living. What are you talking about?... What's that? A romance fiction bookworm? Psshhh... Yeah okay. Lucy had isssues. Deal with it. Let's move on.
She must have sat there for hours reading her novel, and Lucy didn't seem that notice the time fly by, until she sighed in exhasperation as she shut her book. "Uwaaahhh~! I knew Dave would end up with Theresa- Wait a min-" Lucy squealed in delight, her hands clasped together happily, before realizing the sky was dawning in a burst of colors."It's already, sundown?!" Lucy shot up to her feet so fast, the boat lurched with a jolt.
And as if to make matters worse, a rumble from Lucy's abdomen was heard, and she groaned in dismay. Of course, her stomach chose to whine over dinner, now, that she was in the middle of nowhere at sea. Yeah... Lucy kinda then just realized how reckless she was. Just kind of absentmindedly drifting around looking for the Fairy Tail Pirates... Lucy face-palmed. Of course. Lucy had absolutely forgot to plan... Was that even possible?... Apparently. After realizing her dumb mistake of not recognizing her in capability to stop reading once started a romance fiction novel, Lucy began to rummage through her bag once more. "... Food... Food... Any food?" Lucy brought her eyebrows up as she began to search for dinner. She eventually turned up with a massive ball of lint, rotten bread crust, her 53J, a ripped up piece of cloth from who knows where, a stack of pirate bounty flyers, a random map of... Some kind of land, her gum packet, and a bunch of garbage.
Lucy groaned. Time to search for a place to land. Why? Well a) because Lucy didnt have a place to sleep, and dozing off on a ship at sea in the middle of the ocean usually resulted in getting killed by the pirates she intended to capture so... No thanks! And b) She honestly didn't even really feel like having moldy and soggy bread crust for her dinner.
Lucy rose her wrist up in front of her, so she could see the gadget strapped onto her arm. She tapped it a couple of times with furrowed eyebrows, before sighing in relief, as an arrow pointed straight North. "Land ho, here we go." Lucy hummed fully, before beginning to steer the boat towards the direction where the arrow was pointing. After she directed her ship, Lucy sat back down again with a click of her tongue. Resting her head down onto her chest, she crossed her arms and waited. Even though her land navigator had detected an island nearby (or probably another part in Ishgar- she may have only ridden her ship along the continent), there was no telling how long it's take before she'd reach her destination.
So with a puff and pout, Lucy turned her gaze towards the sky- looking at the distant moon and bright sun and clouds above. Too bad it wasn't a bit later- she suddenly felt like star gazing now. Lucy tilted her head to take a better look at the cloud dome above as she sat in thought. Speaking of the stars, she still wondered where her mom had gone off to. Lucy didn't want to believe she just disappeared off the face of the earth- there was no way that happened. Or dead. She definitely couldn't be dead. Lucy just couldn't imagine her strong and healthy mama dead... Even if she hadn't heard from her in 10 years. Most would honestly just tell her to deal with it, and face the fact her mom was no longer with them, even without proof, but Lucy of course didn't listen.
Time passed by quicker than she thought it would, because eventually, the boat was legit about to crash into a wooden deck without Lucy even realizing, should a boy hadn't yelled from the sidelines to his mom about her boat and it's near end. So silently, Lucy thanked the little kid, and docked her ship. It's probably get stolen or something by the next day, so Lucy grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, checked to make sure she still had her dagger hanging on her belt, and began to walk through the port town.
It was still evening, so it looked like not much time had passed since she began for land- maybe 2 hours? Lucy guessed it was around 7:00 PM now. She strutted through the bustling town in wonder, as she gazed at all the mini stands where people were selling all different kinds of food and other goods. Eventually, she came to realize she didn't even know the name of the island (or part of Ishgar) she had landed at. So, she walked up to one of the stall owners and asked with as much politeness laced into her words as posssible where she was.
The man raised an eyebrow, threw his head back and laughed before answering, "Hargeon, little miss... Would you like to buy these two bracelets only for 1500J-" Apparently she was still in a Fiore then. Her boat must've made a circle while she was reading then...
"Food..." Lucy ignored the man who had helped her and asking for her money, as she stumbled off, her stomache still growling. "Food.." Lucy looked around for a place with a seemingly appetizing dish for her dinner, but to be honest, Lucy had never really been a tuna fan, so she continued to stumble off. A smell wafted to Lucy's nose, just when all hope for anything good to eat for supper seemed lost. "... Food?!" Lucy's eyes popped open from her sigh, as she gasped in disbelief and began to shove her way through the mob of people.
Lo and behold, a restaurant with it's doors open stood to the side, as Lucy pushed through to look at the source of the delicious smell. "Come all! Freshly new seasoned crab legs now for only 1,000 per crab! Not to mention an additional side of two appetizers with a cup of tea to top it off! I swear, it's a treat you wouldn't want to mis-" Lucy didn't hesitate even once, not bothering to stay and listen to the speaker in a lobster costume (funny huh, since he was adversing crabs?) before she bolted like her life was on the line, to the restaurant.
"Welcome ma'am." One of the waitresses bowed to a huffing Lucy as she gasped for air. "Would you mind coming to follow me? I'll bring you some water..." The employee sent Lucy a sympathic look, and went to go fetch a pitcher and cup of the very much needed drink, after ushered Lucy to a 2 person table. Lucy sighed, as she slung her bag over the back of her chair, as she sat patiently waiting for her drink to arrive. How she was going to pay for her meal, she had no clue, but she honestly didn't give two shits about anything right now- just the heavenly looking and smelling crab she had seen. Her mouth watered she thought of the big juicy crab just waiting for her to dig her teeth and-
"Excuse me, miss... We're free out of tables, but this... uh... gentleman, would like to be served right away so... Please, would you mind if he sat with you?" Lucy looked up to see two people- One was another waitress, who was sweating bullets, while the other was a male. A very funky (though Lucy knew a lot of girls wouldn't all that mind listing him as hot) looking male. He had spiky brushed raven colored locks, and he fashioned a white coat, baggy black pants with long laced boots, a belt, a regular shirt, and a purple cross necklace. He had an aura that kind of read, I'mma cool kid, and his face seemed a bit bored and uncaring, though Lucy could tell in his eyes, he was definitely not someone you'd mess around with.
But, hey. She'd dealt with serial killing pirates before. She can handle some random teenager who thinks he's a badass.
"Sure." She shrugged, smiling a bit, as she lazily hooked an elbow up onto the corner of her chair. The waitress squeaked out a quick, "Thank you, ma'am." Before rushing off. The guy who was standing kicked out the chair opposing to her's, and sat down. Lucy would've probably striked up a conversation, but a second later, the first waitress (who's name tag apparently read, "Kinana") came back with two cups of water. She placed them down in front of both Lucy and the random dude in front of her, silently.
... Wait. How'd she know so quickly there was two of them now seated at the table? Lucy would've probably pondered about the thought and to be honest, should've, but she didn't. "I'll pay for it after I get my food... Can I have today's crab special?" Lucy looked up at the purple haired girl in desperation, and the waitress let out a kind laugh. "Of course." She giggled, jotting down something on a small notepad she held. "And you, Gray?" Kinana turned to face the lounging male, her smile still perfectly sculpted on her mouth. Ah. Made sense. They were friends. "I'll have the crab special too please." He grunted, somewhat politely, as he handed Kinana a wad of cash. She took it with a nod, jotting more notes on her paper, before beginning to walk off to go fetch their orders.
Lucy sighed to the relief of her empty stomach being full soon, as she rested her cheek on her palm, being cropped up by her palm, her eyes fluttering shut as she inhaled a breath. "...Who are you?" Lucy blinked as her sight focused on Gray (rather a strange name to Lucy... But whatever, she wasn't one to judge), whom was looking at her with a raised eyebrow as if silently questioning, "What the fuck is wrong with this hobo?", which of course, Lucy found unfair since she didn't think she did anything to offend the man.
"Excuse me?" Lucy cocked her head in confusion. Gray sighed. "What's your name?..." Lucy's expression must have changed greatly, because he held up his palms submittedly. "Woah, chillax... I just feel like I know you from somewhere... You seem familiar." He scratched his locks in puzzlement, as Lucy broke into a smirk. "Deja vu, then?" "Nah... A bit more than that, I think." Lucy let out a hearty "hah", and finally decided to answer his question. "Lucy. Lucy Celestial." She brung out her hand to shake in greeting as she shot Gray a grin.
Of course, she didn't feel great about lying, but if she told people her true surname, she'd probably be back in her gigantic room back at her father's mansion by now. Jude's workers were everywhere.
"Gray. Gray Frost." His smile was small, the corners of his mouth curving slightly, as he reached out to shake her hand. Lucy narrowed her eyes slightly. Liar. But, as they say, takes one to know one, eh? Besides, he probably suspected she was fibbing the truth too. Ah well. "So, what do you do for a living?" Gray asked politely, as he brought his arm back to his side, only to fold it onto the table as an arm rest. Lucy let out a laugh. "Questionable aren't you?" Lucy smirked, as Gray feigned shock. "Excuse me then, for trying to start a conversation." He sniffed twice for good measure. "I guess some just can't appreciate that." Lucy scoffed before retorting back with her answer. "Well I apologize then, for not being classified as the nosy type," she teased, Gray now gasping in false alarm. "-but I guess it could hurt to let people know I'm an author." She smugly smiled, as Gray raised an eyebrow. "You're an author? What kind of genres do you write?" A hint of true interest shone in his eyes, as he leaned forward slightly, and Lucy smiled softly.
"Well... Romance fiction." A flash of surprise went by Gray's features but Lucy wasn't done. "And it's classified as adventure. Mainly Adventure with a side of love. It's about these three teenagers, two girls and a boy, running from one of the girl's parents, and they escape on a pirate ship and-" Lucy began to rant on and on about her book series, as Gray listened.
They continued to chat continuously even after their food arrived, and the time passed by so fast, Lucy was pretty disappointed when Gray finished and announced he had to leave. "Sorry. Maybe we'll see each other again some time. Nice meeting ya, Lucy." Gray nodded, as he stood from his chair and left after allowing Lucy to say a quick "goodbye".
The bounty hunter sighed, as she stood from her chair. "Ahhh. That was good- Oh, hello Kinana. Anything I can do for you?" Lucy noted, as the purple haired waitress stood patiently waiting for Lucy's attention. "Yes, you may." The girl sent Lucy a smile. "I'm afraid you haven't paid for your meal yet, ma'am." Lucy cursed. She totally forgot. "Uhhh... Right... About that-" giggling nervously, Lucy began fumbling around her bag and pants as if searching for her wallet. "Stall... Stall..." Lucy inwardly thought, madly attempting to think up an excuse for only having 53 cents. If things seriously went as bad, she'd probably have to put it on her dad's tab, and doing so would probably give her location, or getting her kidnapped for ransom money, and neither going home to Jude, or getting roughly handled by criminals sounded very exciting to her.
Kinana was luckily kind enough to patiently wait, as if not realizing Lucy didn't have money for her dinner.
"Ummm.." Thankfully to Lucy's luck and joy, a loud bang came from outside, and she and Kinana turned to look at what was happening. "Come one, come all!" A wide circle like arena had been set up with lanterns hanging from lines and poles for light, as the darkness of night began to take over. "To the annual monthly wrestling tournament!" A girl with white blonde hair and blue streaks at the bottom of her locks, smiled down at the crowd of people, barily visibly to Lucy and Kinana over the mob of citizen's heads. "Weapons are not aloud until you make it to the finalist round. Then it's technically not wrestling anymore... But, come quick and sign up! Winner takes 50,000J home! I repeat, winner takes 50,000J home!" The girl grinned as she shouted into her mic, and a cheer from the crowd went up.
Lucy turned back to face Kinana, and both realized. "Quick. Go get 'em, I'll pretend I don't know you till you get the money." Kinana winked, as she turned around to attend a couple of elderly citizens. Lucy smiled, happy her waitress was as kind and nice as Kinana, and rushed to the table at the corner of the stage, as she waited in line.
When she got to the stand, a girl with white hair and wavy locks smiled at her. Her name tag read, "Mira". "Hello, ma'am." She smiled politely as Lucy rushed her information out with a pant. "Lucy Celestial. Age: 22. Blood type; AB. Height, 5"5- 165 cm." She of course, was actually 19, but whatever. She didn't know if they would allow her to attend for money if she admitted her real age. Mira didn't seem to have a problem with it, as she scribbled down a name tag for Lucy, and handed it to her.
"Here you go. Have fun, and try not to get hurt too badly." Mira smiled, as she ushered Lucy with her hand to a couple of tents to the side where the fighters would be. Lucy didn't know wether to think of Mira's comment as a good sign, or as a bad, considering she suspected Lucy getting injured in the process, but finally decided not to think too much of it, as she pushed through the tent entrance to meet a warm lit room-y place inside, filled with girls.
There were quite a few of them, but Lucy scanned the area and landed on a few opponents whom would probably be at least a bit of a challenge to say the least.
There were four girls, Lucy mentally noted to stay wary of. The first, was a silent pretty yet an emo-ish aura around her, with a name tag which read, "Ecila". She had layered and cut brown hair, with a Caucasian skin tone... Probably because she was Caucasian. She had a friendly look on her face, even though she wasn't exactly smiling, but Lucy could seriously tell do not mess with her. The second girl, had platinum blonde hair with as well as a beautiful face, rivaling Ecila's. She was constantly laughing with a slightly tugged up lopsided smile. Her name tag, read "Hime". Lucy'd bet money her parents either wanted her to marry a prince, or she was lying. Probably her lying. One look at her body structure, and Lucy could tell she was a gymnast- her body seemed pretty flexible. The last two, seemed to be really good friends. Or twins. Probably twins, even if their figures looked almost nothing alike. Both had deep dark black hair, though one had her fashion at a short length while the other had it in long locks. The one with short hair... to be honest was plenty obese, and was gulping down a gigantic bag of chips. Lucy made a mental note to beware of being sat on or squashed by the fa- er... wide ma'am. (Her name was apparently, "Greana")
As for her twin ("Jialiana?") she had a full face of make-up, (wayyyyy too much in Lucy's opinion) and a slender figurine. Lucy jotted her down, because she had a phobia of clowns ever since she was a little girl so... Just kidding. Still though. She had a feeling Miss. Make-Up here was going to attack her with lipstick or something.
She had just done a scan over these four, when the girl from the arena came into the tent and shot a lopsided grin. She didn't wear any artificial make-up like some people... (cough- Jialiana -cough) but had a look which was so cute, adorable, and natural Lucy just wanted to squeeze the life out of her. Her age seemed about 14? "Hello, you all!" All eyes turned their attention to "Phoebe". "I'm going to be the host of the show, with my twin, Kyle. We'll be calling you all out and stuff, so please be sure to listen carefully for your name when the fights start in about half an hour." Her voice was so adorable! And before you say anything, yes, Lucy had a soft side for little kids. A merciless pirate hunter, assassinating criminals in the midst of night having a heart for 14 year olds- Shut up.
"But for now, we'll be pairing you up. Since it seems there are a little bit more males attending the event then us girls," Phoebe sniffed in disapproval before continuing. "Kyle and the boys in the other tent will be drawing." She held up a black screen, and Lucy recognized it as a Lacrima vision TV. "Let's see... Ecila and Veronica..." Lucy looked up to see Ecila glare at a girl nearby who was shaking in fear. And honestly, Lucy didn't really blame her. Ecila's glare was scary.
"Hazel Lightwood versus Dave Calestine... Thea Green versus Greana Fletching... TobyCSS von Drake versus Jialiana Fletching..." Lucy let out a snicker. TobyCSS von Drake was legit obviously such a fake name. She was still scoffing to herself, when she gasped when she heard her name.
"Gray Frost versus Lucy Celestial..."
A/Ns: Hey guys! I'm back! Some characters are OC just for the fight, but that's not what I really wanna talk about. I'm rewriting this. Like plot change, personality change, grammar change everything. The cringe was massive when I read this over. Almost 4K words so I hope this is long enough for you all, and I hope you'll still read my fanfic. If you don't like the way I changed the plot, feel free to leave, and I'm sorry. I'm still going to have the same events, but at different times, different reactions, and different turn outs.
Like the restuarant scene with Natsu is now with Gray, Gray is fighting Lucy in a legal match event, and... Yeah. Don't worry, I'm still here and I'll try to update more.
I got my characters, Hime and Ecila, from my two best online friends. Go check them out, Ecila's works are awesome. Especially To sad to Tell on Ao no Exorcist. (Their full names are Ecila of Wonderland and Hime of Hearts).
Hope to see you all soon!
-Trinity
DISCLAIMER | HIRO MASHIMA OWNS FAIRY TAIL