. Paranormal .
"Okay, seriously? This is getting ridiculous." Lucy crossed her arms as she took in the mess around her, scowling at nothing. The man behind her arched a pierced brow, easily looking over her head to study the mess.
"Jeez, woman," Gajeel Redfox muttered, looking amused. "Didn't realize you were this messy. When's the last time you picked up in here?"
"Less than an hour ago," Lucy said bluntly, annoyed. Ignoring the strange look Gajeel sent her, Lucy rubbed the back of her head and picked her way through the entryway. "I told you. Natsu's a jerk."
"Whatever you say, Bunny Girl," he grunted, lifting the toolbox he'd brought with him. He carefully followed her through the apartment to the kitchen, pretending he didn't see the open and empty fridge. "You sure you weren't robbed or something?"
"Positive," she grumbled. She stepped over a broken plate, kicking the fridge shut before nodding at the sink. "I noticed it wasn't working when I came home during my break." She sighed heavily, glaring at the ceiling. "Someone must be in a bad mood today if he's breaking things...usually, he just kicks my stuff around. He leaves breakable things alone. Wonder what pissed him off."
"Might wanna get your head checked out," Gajeel grunted as he set to work on fixing the sink. He squinted, piercings glinting in the light of her apartment. "Dunno if it's working right…I think it's a bit more broken then my sink..."
She glared at him for that comment and folded her arms across her chest before starting to pick up, carefully plucking up shards of glass so that they wouldn't hurt themselves. "I'm not imagining things, and you know it. Levy knows he's here, too."
Gajeel paused at the mention of the blue-haired woman. "...is Shrimp stopping by?"
"Maybe, I don't know." Lucy tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, reaching for the trashcan.
Only for it to skitter a few inches away from her fingers.
"Alright," she snarled, leaping to her feet. "This is the last straw, you god damn fu-"
"Huh," Gajeel interrupted, sitting back to stare at her with a smug look on his face. "Look at that, Bunny Girl's getting ready to ruin the innocence of children again."
She pointed at him. "Shut up. You shut up right now, Gajeel Redfox. You cannot tell me you did not see - Natsu!" She screamed the name in frustration when a cabinet open and one of her mugs began to drop and shatter on the floor, one at a time. She hurled a shard in her hand at the spot she was sure he'd have been in if he was physically there and the fridge slammed open hard enough that the back of it cracked on the counter. "You ass!"
Gajeel merely watched, gawking at the sight before him in shock. "The fuck?" he finally muttered.
Lucy threw another shard at the fridge. "Out! Get out! Or I'm - to hell with it! I'm calling Levy!" She stormed out of the kitchen, easily side stepping something that flew at her. Gajeel watched after her, then shrugged, going back to fixing the sink with a wary look. He'd seen enough TV to know that sometimes, things dealing with garbage disposals didn't always go well. And with what he'd just seen, he wasn't exactly eager to stick his hand down the drain…
Huh, guess she wasn't kiddin'...explains the weird books Shrimp has…
He'd have to look into it.
Lucy growled curses to herself, ignoring the glare a parent sent her way as she stalked towards Levy's door, not hesitating to bang on the door with all of her might. "Levy!" she called, "You in there?"
"One sec!" the bookworm called. Lucy tapped her foot impatiently until she heard Levy's feet scuttling across the floor. She opened it, her blue hair wild and sticking up everywhere, no headband in sight. Her feet were bare, and she was dressed in a simple pair of comfortable shorts and a T-shirt.
Clearly, Levy hadn't planned on going out of her apartment yet.
Lucy gave her a pleading look. "Help me, Levy, please. He's being a huge jerk today...and I mean, he's being a "let's-throw-things-at-Lucy-and-break-all-of-her-valuables" kind of jerk." A pause. "He broke my sink. Gajeel came over to fix it, by the way. We've finally proved to him that there's a ghost in the building."
Levy blinked with startled hazel eyes, then sighed heavily, rubbing the back of her head. "Give me a second, I'll go get my book." She headed off into her clean apartment, returning only moments later with a nicely bound leather journal. "For important things in regards to Natsu and any other ghost we come across," Levy informed Lucy one evening when she'd been scribbling in it.
The blue-haired woman winked, waving the book in Lucy's face. "Come on, Lucy, let's get that bastard," she hummed as she stepped out of the apartment. Her door slammed shut before she could even touch it and Levy scowled, growling, "Touch my apartment, and I won't let you come back for years, Natsu."
The pair headed for Lucy's apartment, ignoring the flickering lights in the hallway. A man heading back to his own apartment was frowning up at them, but they ignored him in favor of sweeping into Lucy's apartment just a second before the door slammed behind them.
"Damn," Levy commented, shaking her head at the mess around the room. "This is insane...I can't believe it. He's never done this much damage to your place before…"
"It's concerning," Lucy agreed. Her dark eyes were blazing with anger and annoyance, and she led Levy towards the kitchen, calling, "Hey! Gajeel! You still in here?"
The dark-haired man rounded the corner, piercing red eyes narrowed. "This fucker's insane, woman, been throwing things at me since you left. How the hell have you lived here for six months?" He paused as he saw Levy, and then greeted grumpily, "Hey, Shrimp. Sorry for callin' ya psychotic the last time ya mentioned this."
"It's Levy," Levy corrected, rolling her eyes with a hint of a smile. "You're forgiven, and she's survived with great skill, precision, and the luckiness that Natsu isn't usually like this." She rolled her shoulders, calling out, "Last warning, Natsu. You cut it out right now."
Lucy squeaked, throwing her arms up to cover her face when a massive wave of heat flashed over them. She cringed at it, trying her best not to make a sound of pain, and she heard Gajeel swear loudly.
Levy sighed heavily. "Alrighty then," she mused as if the heat didn't bother her. Swiping a lock of hair out of her face, she began to read the prayer she'd written into her journal aloud.
She slapped the journal shut after she'd finished, smiling brilliantly when the heat disappeared. "There. Should leave you alone for a few hours. Hopefully he'll realize he went a little too far...if not…" She gave Lucy a grim look. "You can't have him doing this much damage all the time."
"I know," Lucy murmured. She didn't want to have to get rid of her unintentional roommate, but if it was necessary…
She knew she'd have to deal with the problem.
"Damn," Gajeel muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "You weren't kiddin' when ya said ya had a poltergeist around, eh?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, propping her hands on her hips and ignoring the fact that all of their skin had reddened slightly, as if they'd been outside and gotten a nasty sunburn. "Did you honestly think I was? I don't lie about things like that, Gajeel." She sighed, looking ready to cry at the sight of the mess around them. "Now I have to clean up…"
Levy gave her a kind smile. "Don't worry, Lu-chan. Gajeel and I will help you clean up, and then you and I can go replace whatever broke, okay?"
"Thanks," Lucy said with a hesitant smile.
Gajeel only huffed, glaring at the small woman, who barely reached a few inches beneath his chin. "Woman, I have work to do back at my shop. What makes you think I have time to clean up someone else's place."
Levy's dark eyes flashed with a violently promising look. "Gajeel Redfox," she threatened, tucking her journal under her arm and placing her other hand on her hip. "You will help us clean up this room or so help me, I will never stop by your shop with another coffee ever again. Is that clear?"
Gajeel rolled his piercing eyes. "Whatever," he spat, scowling at her before turning on Lucy, who silently wondered how the blue-haired woman beside her didn't want to curl up into a ball and cry when receiving the death glare he was giving her now. "Where's the fucking trash bags, Bunny Girl?"
"Under the sink?" Lucy squeaked, the statement coming out as a question.
Gajeel stormed off, muttering under his breath, and Levy's lips twitched, threatening to curve into a smile. "Don't worry about his grumpy attitude," Levy reassured, "He's just pissed that I threatened to take his coffee away."
Despite her mourning over her apartment, Lucy teased weakly, "Aw, look at you, acting like a controlling girlfriend who's threatening him to get him to do what you want." Before Levy could puff up in rage and complain about such words, Lucy scurried away to start picking up her books, sighing and making a mental list when she realized most of them were missing pages. She'd go and hopefully have the money to repurchase them.
Who was she kidding? she thought hysterically a moment later, tears springing to her eyes.
She had the money, she just didn't want to have to go digging in funds she'd received from a father who hadn't cared much for her until he was near death. Swallowing thickly and trying not to cry, Lucy ran a hand through her messy blonde hair, grimacing at her reddened skin before rasping, "Thank you for offering your help, Levy, but seriously. You guys don't have to."
"Nonsense," Levy scolded as Gajeel returned with the box of trash bags. "We're friends. We need to help each other. Besides, I'm sure Gajeel would like to make sure that the apartment you're renting gets fixed back up nice and pretty. Right?" She beamed at Gajeel, dark eyes sparkling rather than supporting the seriously violent look she'd been wearing moments before.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever ya say, Shrimp," he muttered in response, yanking a trash bag out of the box and shaking it out so that it made loud sounds. Then he went to work on carefully picking up shards of glass from a vase that Natsu had knocked over, carefully crouching among the pieces. "Just get to work. I got stuff to do. Left those two morons in charge of the shop when I left, don't want them screwing too much up."
Lucy smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Gajeel, I'm sure Sting and Rogue know what they're doing - oh, Happy!" she suddenly screeched when the terrified cat came scampering out from his hiding place beneath the flipped couch. His fur was slicked with some kind of liquid that had been dumped everywhere and his eyes were wide with fright as he sprang into her arms. She clutched him to her, reassuringly scratching his chin as he trembled. "Oh, you poor thing, did he scare you? I'm so sorry, Happy, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again, okay? Happy…" She simply cooed his name a few more times, kissing his head gently.
Gajeel eyed Happy for a few moments, and Levy giggled at the soft look that appeared on his face. After seeing him around his own cat, a handsome Havana with fur the color of dark chocolate by the name of Pantherlily (or Lily, as everyone liked to call him), she knew he had a soft spot for cats. And it was showing. Especially when he offered, "If ya want him away from what's his name, I can take him to the shop. He and Lily got along good last time ya brought him."
Lucy pressed her lips together in thought, then said slowly, "I guess that would be okay. I'll come and visit him every day though. Just until Levy and I have figured out what the hell happened to piss off Natsu this badly...and I'm going to take him back, you don't get to keep him, Gajeel."
"Like I'd want a crazy cat like that," he grumbled before shoving another shard of glass into the trash bag he held. "Now stop your chattering and get moving. I still have to run back and lock up after the freaks head home 'cause I'm the only one with the keys."
Lucy wiped the sweat from her forehead after pushing the bookshelf into an upright position, her eyes thoughtful. "...this seems like a good idea," she mused, proud of herself.
With Natsu having already messed everything up, Lucy had decided to come up with some small victory in the craziness and had rearranged the living room, attempting to make herself feel better. Gajeel and Levy had left hours ago, Levy saying that she had to go shower and get to bed early due to having to be up at four in the morning, and Gajeel had taken Happy with him when going to lock up the shop he owned and worked at. Lucy had been there a few times with Levy, had even purchased some of the cool metal works that he and his employees Sting Eucliffe - who really needed to stop flirting with her every time she showed up - and Rogue Cheney had made.
She licked her lips, glancing around, nearly expecting her hard work to be ruined again. Natsu would be crawling back from wherever he'd gone soon, and she hoped to hell and back that he wasn't even more pissed off, because she really didn't feel like figuring out how to do a full blown exorcism if she'd angered him.
As if sensing her thoughts, there was suddenly a wave of heat washing over her. She tensed warily, then said cautiously, "Natsu?"
His response came in the form of a gentle tug on her hair before it was patted gently into place.
Lucy arched an eyebrow in surprise, then shook her head with a softened smile on her lips. "Idiot," she said affectionately, moving away from the bookshelf to gather what little remained of her books.
There were literally three of them that hadn't been touched, and she gingerly put them on her large bookshelf, beyond grateful he'd known better than to touch a massive and worn older book. It had been her mother's favorite, one she'd read out of to Lucy when she'd been young and before she'd perished from illness. Even in his rage, she realized, he'd been careful not to hurt what was important.
Of course, he'd also hurled something at her in his temper, but...she could forgive and forget. It's not like it had managed to catch her in the face or anything.
"Are you done being an ass?" she said aloud as she dropped onto her couch for a break, giving a yawn and glancing at the clock. She grimaced at the time. She should have gone to bed hours ago. At least she was off of work the next day. "I decided to send Happy with Gajeel because of you."
There was a moment of silence before one of the books she'd literally just put back up fell from the shelf.
"Oh, my - Natsu!" she cried in frustration. But she didn't move, and a soft smile appeared on her face as she closed her eyes, too tired to get up and get herself into her bed. Deciding she'd sleep on the couch for the time being, she simply curled up against the armrest and rested her cheek on her arms. She'd pick the book up in the morning.
As she fell into a fairly decent sleep, Lucy could have sworn she felt warm breath wash over her face and a gentle and shaking hand touch her forehead.
Lucy hummed thoughtfully as she strode through the shop, her cat cradled in her arms. Happy purred contently, not willing to move out of her grasp as she paused to study some beautifully crafted metalwork - more than likely created by Gajeel, or his father, who he rarely spoke of. It was a handsome piece of work, she admitted, studying the way the metallic dragon's strangely shaped wings stretched, it's' rows of jagged teeth glinting and giving it a deadly look.
"Look at this one," she told Happy with a gentle smile. "I like it. It's very scary, don't you think?" Happy merely rubbed his face against her chin, and she giggled before moving onto the next one. "Ooh, this one's even better...look at him." She knelt to get a better look at the dragon. "Looks like they've been on a roll with making dragons lately."
"Damn right we have," called a grinning Sting Eucliffe as he appeared, hauling a rather large chunk of material that was more than likely for Gajeel. While Gajeel specialized in carving things out of massive chunks of pure iron, he and Rogue were good at bending metals to their will...which was a hell of a lot easier and cheaper, as he'd put it.
Lucy straightened, laughing when he nearly dropped the heavy iron. "Gajeel get a new shipment in? I'd be careful, he and Levy are having a friendly little chat in there." She nodded at Gajeel's office. "I think he's finally asking her out on a date."
"About fucking time," Sting muttered, rolling his blue eyes. He squinted at the office, then sighed and abandoned the iron on the counter that they used to deal with customers. "Screw it, I'll tell him later. You find anything you want, Lucy?"
She shook her head. "No. I wasn't planning on buying anything. I came more so to visit Happy, but...I guess I can afford to purchase something," she mused. "I need new things for my apartment anyways." Thanks for breaking everything, you bastard.
Happy hopped down from her arms, scrambling to rub against Sting's legs happily. Sting grinned and ducked down to pat the cat on the head. "This little guy's been great. Likes to just sit on our laps while we're working. Lily only does it with Gajeel, so it's freaking hilarious when he decides he wants to enjoy Gajeel's company at the same time. Who knew cats sat on someone's shoulders?"
"Happy does like to do that," Lucy laughed. She watched the cat purr once more before trotting off to do who the hell knows what. She sighed softly, then grinned when a red-faced Levy came hurrying out of Gajeel's office, the grumpy man right behind her. She gave a wave. "Hey, Gajeel! These dragons are for sale, right? Can I take one?"
"If ya can pay for it," Gajeel grunted, leaning on the counter and glancing at the large mound of iron that Sting had put down. He inspected it carefully. "You didn't steal any of my iron, right?"
Sting gave him a weird look. "Are you serious?"
"He didn't steal any of your iron, Gajeel," Levy sighed, giving Lucy an exasperated look.
Lucy only laughed and carefully looked at each dragon available. She finally chose one that was supposed to be a fearsome fire dragon, then suddenly paused. "...you take commissions, right?" she said carefully.
Gajeel gave a curt nod. "Yeah...price depends on what you want and how big it is, though. Not that you wouldn't be able to afford it." He smirked at that thought, as if amused, and Lucy frowned in disapproval before continuing.
Lucy smiled brightly after losing her frown, however, and said cheerfully, "Well then, how would you feel about accepting a commission from me?"
So Natsu threw a huge fit, yes? You'll find out what that was about soon. ;) I want to pair Natsu and Lucy together in here, but I haven't figured out how I plan on doing that just yet, so for now, don't hope for any romance. I'm working out how to fit it in, though, so hopefully it'll be there. Hope you enjoyed, and thank you to all that favorited/followed! Also, thank you to reviewers (KaUiA, JuliusNight, Kinsutenekochan, Mechanical-Rose-Sama, Usweasil, NaLu x Buckets, and kat5552)!