THE ROAR OF SILENCE: ZEREF'S PLAN
CHAPTER 02: A NEW NAKAMA
(One year later)
A destroyed town.
Four hapless mages.
One flying cat.
A disgruntled client.
A sight tad too familiar.
"On behalf of my team, I apologize profusely from the bottom of my heart," said Lucy quickly, trying to rein in the upcoming tirade from the rapidly purpling face of the client.
"SORRY?! SORRY?! You bunch of freaks destroyed half the town and you have the nerve to say sorry?!" the man yelled, raining Lucy with spit. She cringed, yet opted to say nothing.
"Hey man, cool it! We did the job for ya!" Natsu grumbled, rubbing his neck as he surveyed the destruction with an uninterested eye.
"Natsu...shut up!" Lucy growled menancingly, making the dragon-slayer take a step back.
"You destroyed the town to catch a freaking rabbit?!" the man positively shrieked, making the quartet cover their ears. Happy conveniently took refuge high up a nearby tree.
"What Luce? The mayor's being unreasonable," he mumbled warily, feeling waves of rage roll off the blonde celestial mage.
"We sincerely apologize for all the collateral damage that has been the result of a disorderly conduct by a member of our team," said Erza calmly. The man shrank at the sight of the red-headed mage.
"You are the one who caused the most of it!" he said in a tinny voice, pointing a shaking finger at her. "Don't go all innocent now! I am not paying you people a paltry jewel for this! I am going and lodging a complaint with the Magic Council this very instant!"
Lucy sighed, burying her head in her hands. There goes another month of rent. She was sure her landlady was going to kick her out this time!
"Welcome back, Team Natsu! How did the mission go?" Mira asked brightly.
The four haggard faces gave off a really ominous air.
"That bad, huh?" she said quickly, retrieving four glasses from the bar and filling them up with orange juice.
"Thanks Mira," said Lucy gratefully, emptying half the glass in one gulp as she sat down on the bar-stool.
"This is Fairy Tail, Lucy," she said brightly, making Lucy choke. The guild was crazy beyond measure!
Natsu was snoring away at a table while Happy was nibbling over some fish. Erza had gone up to meet Master while Gray was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's the stripper?" Lucy asked tiredly, sipping the rest of the juice in a more leisurely pace.
"Home...Juvia is supposed to return today from that month-long training," said Mira, giving the blonde a wink.
"Ah-hah! That's why he was so hell-bent on returning today! In his haste, we ended up destroying the better part of the town," Lucy ended it with a doleful sigh.
Mira laughed lightly as she cleaned the glasses.
"I never thought Gray would settle down so quick," she remarked, placing the glasses back on the shelf. "Want some grub, Lucy? I have some chicken fingers and Caesar salad leftover from today's lunch."
"You are a goddess incarnate, Mira!" Lucy gushed, earning a laugh from the older mage as she stepped into the kitchen.
Lucy laid her head on the cool bar-counter, licking her lips to savour the last drops of the orange juice. There was only a week left until rent-day...and she was running short of 20,000 jewels. Borrowing was out of question—maybe a small day job? She thought of the 8island restaurant which was run by a friend of Master Makarov. The four of them had worked there one time and the pay was good. Maybe she could just make a cool couple over the next few days and set her mind easy for the upcoming month.
Making a mental note to talk to the Master about it, her stomach did a happy dance as the savoury aroma of chicken fingers assaulted her nostrils.
"Mira, did I ever mention that I love you?" Lucy said between mouthfuls.
"I will take that as a compliment, Lucy," Mira grinned.
After the late lunch, Lucy walked back to the apartment. Natsu was still sleeping in the guild-hall. She trudged in, dragging her tired feet and thankfully jumped flat on her bed, feeling the softness and warmth seep through her tired muscles. She slowly stripped off her clothes, piled them up in the laundry basket, mentally promised herself to do the laundry the first thing the next morning before entering the bathroom.
She filled up the bath with steaming hot water, her favourite strawberry-scented bubble bath and sunk herself chin deep and gave a sigh of relief.
The blissful warmth and quiet slowly eased the tension off her body as she rubbed away the grime and sweat, occasionally cringing when her scrub came in contact with some scrape. Next, she washed her hair, towelled herself dry, dried her hair and stepped out of the now-steaming bathroom. She snuggled into a pair of comfy sweats and oversize t-shirt and fell face-first over the covers, asleep within a moment her head hit the pillow
It was evening when Natsu finally woke up. As he lifted his head, he gave out an involuntary moan—apparently sleeping using the dining table as the pillow was not a good idea after all. He slowly twisted his neck, trying to regain his flexibility as he muffled his yawn, a stray tear shining in his eye.
"'Evenin' Natsu!" Happy chimed, nibbling on a piece of fried fish.
"How long was I out?" Natsu mumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Three hours, I guess. Lucy went home, Gray's with Juvia and Erza is with Master," Happy informed him, licking away the fishbone and placing it back on the bowl with a sigh.
A low grumble from the dragon-slayer's stomach announced his hunger.
"Gosh! I am famished!" Natsu said, getting up to walk towards the bar.
The guild-hall was quiet—not the library version but quiet as per Fairy Tail standards. Absence of Gray, Gildarts and Gajeel had ensured that Natsu would be staying put no matter what he wanted to do. There wasn't anyone to return his punch at the moment. As he chowed down a bowl of chilli pepper fries, a stray thought of Lucy's strawberry scented hair assaulted his mind.
Which made him swallow an extra-large piece of chilli pepper the wrong way.
He coughed up roughly, banging his chest with his fist in a bid to clear his windpipe. Damn! What was wrong with him?
"Natsu? Are you okay?" Happy flew over to him, sounding worried. He quickly flew to the water barrel and brought him a glass of water.
Natsu gulped down the water, sighing with relief as the pepper went the right way.
Gosh! What was happening to him?
Happy looked at him strangely before flying back to Carla and Pantherlily. Natsu had been behaving strangely since yesterday morning—he wondered what was up with him.
Natsu stiffened when the strawberry scent came wafting from the doorway for real this time. He swivelled on his stool to see Lucy walk up to him. She was clad in a pair of blue shorts and a white t-shirt with a light pink checked shirt over it. Her hair was loose, framing her milky face in an untamed manner—the way he liked. He secretly hated it when Lucy tied up her hair, it was as if watching a cat being put in a cage.
He felt a slow blush creep up his cheeks as he focused on the parts of her body he hadn't focused in this particular manner before—her perfect curves which entranced any male with hormones to prove, those luscious, naturally crimson lips, those long tanned legs, those firm, shapely calves, that flat stomach...
He felt the sudden urge to cover up Lucy from head-to-toe so that only he could see the beauty of her body, no one else.
He shook his head, trying to expel the thoughts that were so unlike him. Lucy was his nakama, his team-mate for God's sake! He couldn't harbour such thoughts about her!
But as he waved her in greeting, as he saw her sit on the stool next to him, as he saw her sip her favourite orange juice, as he saw her laugh on some joke cracked by someone in the guild, he realized he never felt this way for any woman until today.
Not even Lisanna.
He buried his face in his hands.
He could feel his forehead burn up—and a long forgotten lesson of Igneel drifted into his mind.
"Listen child," the great Fire Dragon boomed, a sound which could send even the hardened of warriors scurrying for shelter but generated only a chuckle from the tiny human boy who was sitting near his foreleg, scraping a claw.
"A day will come, as it comes to every living being that graces this world, when your blood will be raging hot. That will be the time when it is appropriate for you to find a mate. But remember, unlike humans, dragon's blood runs through your veins. And unlike humans, you will fall in love only once. Your mate will be for ever. So, choose wisely."
He gripped the bar-counter strongly, creating a crack on the surface. A loud ripping noise must have heard, as Lucy looked at him in alarm.
"Natsu..." she began uncertainly.
Natsu looked at her, shocked to feel his blood boiling. He had never felt this way, not even when he ate the Etherion in the Tower of Heaven. He felt as if his heart would burst.
He stumbled off his bar-stool, mumbling about not feeling well and rushed out of the guild, leaving a wake of silence behind him.
Lucy looked slightly puzzled, not to mention a little shocked at the way Natsu ran out of the guild. For the lone moment he had looked at her, she felt she saw something...shift...in his eyes.
What was that all about? She wondered, preparing to get off the stool herself when Happy stopped her with a paw on her shoulder.
"You stay here, Lucy. I will go and check on him," he said before flying away.
Though she nodded in agreement, she still felt troubled. She had never seen Natsu act like that before.
Unknown to her, Mira had watched the entire exchange with a grin on her face. She had seen the way Natsu looked at Lucy. And she had to be blind and senseless to not see what that look meant.
Oh dear! Looks like our completely clueless Dragonslayer isn't so clueless after all!
Natsu lay flat on his bed, trying to calm his senses. He could smell nothing apart from Lucy's strawberry shampoo, hear nothing except her tinkling laugh. His arms craved for a contact with her soft flesh—he wanted to cuddle her, protect her from the world...
Damn! What was he thinking?
He felt Happy fly into the room, but he did nothing to acknowledge it. Thankfully, the blue Exceed refrained from asking anything and was content to sit on his headrest. After an hour or so, he felt his senses calm down and he could actually see the peeling paint of his ceiling instead of Lucy's chocolatey brown eyes. He sighed.
He slowly sat up and gave the Exceed a rueful grin.
"Worried you, huh?" he said softly, rubbing Happy's head.
"Not the way you are thinking of," Happy replied, a small grin on his face. "In fact, I think I know exactly what you are thinking."
Lucy ate her dinner with Levy, listening to the latter's adventures in her new job half-heartedly. She was still worried about Natsu and decided to visit him before going home.
"...so this dark mage gets this weird script spell, man I was glad Gajeel—are you listening, Lu-chan?" Levy asked, prodding the blonde's arm with the back of her fork.
Lucy grinned sheepishly, apologising to Levy for the lack of attention. Levy waved off the apology with a grin, instead leaning closer to her conspiratorially.
"Say, Mira told me about Natsu's little episode. Wazzup Lu-chan? Did you guys finally hook up?" Levy grinned, earning a scandalized look from the other.
"Levy-chan!" Lucy exclaimed. "You are crazy! There's no way Natsu likes..."
Lucy turned pink, making the blue-haired mage laugh out loud.
"You look so adorable when you blush like that, Lu-chan!" Levy laughed, spearing her onion and putting it in her mouth.
Just then Alzack came running into the guild, his usually calm face looking worried beyond measure.
Lucy stood up and ran up to him, Levy close to her heels.
"What is the matter, Alzack?" Lucy asked, taking in the shooter's worried face. "Is Bisca..."
"No, Bisca's okay. Where is Master?" he asked, panic evident in his voice.
"Master is away along with Erza—apparently an emergency guild meeting has been called upon," said Mira, coming over. To their surprise, Alzack clapped his hand to his forehead in despair.
"I wanted to talk to the Master before he left...I know exactly why the guild meeting has been called," he muttered, looking at Mira helplessly.
"Alzack, calm down!" said Mira gently, guiding the distraught man towards the nearest chair to seat him. Thankfully it was late into the night and the guild was mostly empty.
"Now, tell. What happened?" she said slowly, sitting down next to him as she gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.
Lucy and Levy sat across the table facing them, worry and confusion clouding their eyes. Gajeel and Elfman, the only other members still left in the guild stayed away, though Levy knew Gajeel was picking up every word being said here.
"Bisca and I had gone on a simple day mission to the next town. We were on our way home when..."
Lucy and Levy's eyes rounded in horror when Alzack completed his story.
Even Mira looked troubled.
"Go...bring Bisca...and that other girl too."
Half-an-hour or so later, the two shooters came in, supporting a third girl as they brought her into the guild. She was as tall as Lucy with wild, wavy ginger hair that reached up to her neck, almond green eyes in a tanned face with high cheekbones and a determined chin. She was wearing one of Bisca's old outfits—a black tube dress with a brown jacket covering her arms. Beneath her knuckles was the Fairy Tail stamp, coloured in green.
Mira gave a sharp intake of breath though her soft smile didn't waver. She placed a bowl of porridge in front of the new girl.
"Eat up. You look as if you haven't eaten for days," she said gently.
The girl gave her a cautious look before inhaling in the aroma of the porridge. She swallowed a spoon experimentally before downing the entire bowl in one gulp. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she looked up. Her green eyes looked a little bit more alive.
"Who are you?" Lucy asked, afraid of the answer.
The green-eyed girl gave Lucy a pensieve look before answering.
"I am Asleha, daugher of Leo, the King of the Zodiacs and a member of Fairy Tail."
A/N: I know it's one hell of a cliffhanger but it warrants to get one's imagination run wild...LEO...as in LOKE?
Hope you like it! Please, please, please review...I love reading your thoughts.
A simple question: What is Lucy's apartment rent? :)
Till next time!
ANIME DAISUKI!