Figured it was time for an update. I'll be adding song quotes or just relevant quotes from now on. ^-^

…

Fairy Beats

"I know exactly what I want and who I want to be." –Marina & the Diamonds

Stage Two: Part One, Auditions!

…

Lucy quit her job at the restaurant. She didn't see the reason to have two jobs now that she lived with Virgo. From now on she only had one job and that was the Star's Melody. Leo had given her the weekends off along with a reasonable raise; it was about time he had given her one, and Leo agreed. During the weekends Lucy would wander downtown Crocus in her bike. Downtown Crocus is where Vermillion Zero is located. Frequently, she'd pass by edifice with no will to enter. Only would she roam around, feeling clueless. A regular girl like Lucy wouldn't have ever thought about being around a place full of rich, and famous people, so she would have never thought about going inside VZ. The place was full of celebrities with their managers looking for jobs to do. If Lucy was to go inside, she was scared of how she would react. Was she to barge in there and demand for a debut? It was clear that the girl didn't know how to make her way to fame, but, somehow, she had to get there.

Towards the end of her day, she'd only be helping out in the café, wondering how to become known as an actress.

"Hey, princess!" Leo walked up to the blonde with his usual pearly teeth flashing. Lucy noticed him waving a pink flyer in his hand.

"I got good news for you."

She tilted her head at him, hands gripping her hips, "It isn't some silly request for a date now is it?"

"Well, if you'd like?" he smirked, handing her the flyer. Lucy held on to the flyer, a gasp escaping her lips as she read it.

Vermillion Zero Auditions!

The time for the next generation of talents has arrived!

They offered opportunities for dancers, actors, and singers. Those that pass the audition will be given the chance to go to a training school and even work alongside famous celebrities. The requirements were basic. The one auditioning had to give a background check, show his or her unique talent, rehearse several lines—or perform a choreography in a case of a dancer—and show their full capability as a rookie actor, singer, or dancer. Lucy kept scanning over the flyer until an excited squeal came out of her.

Her arms flung around Leo's neck as she pulled him into a suffocating embrace. "Thank you!" she squealed repeatedly. "Thank you, thank you!"

The attention of the customers, especially the regulars, went to the two. Immediately, Lucy pulled away from Leo who didn't want to let go of her waist. An embarrassed blush hued her cheeks as she light heartedly pushed him back; his response was an amused chuckle.

"Lucy!" called out one of the regulars that Lucy knew as Beatrice, "Are you auditioning for the VZ agency?"

"I intend to," Lucy answered with a nod.

"You should sing!"

Sing? Lucy did know how to sing. It was something taught to her by Sting's mother. She worked at as a songstress in a restaurant in Acalypha. Well, it was more like a pub, but there a pub and a restaurant could be counted as the same thing. When Lucy was little, she would always join Sting at the restaurant since he was the only friend she had back then. Together they would watch his mom perform. During his mom's free time, she would be teaching Lucy how to sing. The blonde recollected the day Sting's mom told her that one day Lucy was going to sing to Sting on of her own songs.

And all of her songs were romantic.

Meaning that, one day, she wanted Lucy to sing a romantic song to Sting. The realization made her brown eyes widened.

"I can't sing!" she cried out.

Leo gazed down at Lucy, both of them still behind the counter, blinking, "Of course you can sing, it's why you never miss karaoke nights."

She ran her fingers through the side of her golden locks, frustratingly pull them behind her ear. "It's a complicated situation. I have to act. Not sing."

Beatrice casually stepped up the counter, her wallet held in front of her. Lucy quickly took her payment, thanking her for dropping by again.

"Well, if you don't want to sing, darling," the mature woman smiled, wrinkles forming on the corner of her eyes, "then perform a memorized poetry piece."

That's right! If there was anything Lucy was good at, it was quickly memorizing poetry pieces and reciting them with a confidence like no other. She was always good at that, and was proud of it when it came to her delivering free verses back in middle school.

"Thank you, Beatrice!" she beamed. "I'll keep that in mind.

"Well," the manager spoke up, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and go to the auditions!"

"E-Eh?!" Lucy gasped, "They're today?!"

And how come she never saw the flyers around VZ?

"Yup, hurry it on, Lucy! You're not even supposed to work on a Sunday."

"R-Right!" Lucy gave him a nervous grin, nodding. She quickly slid on her purse, giving Aries back her position as cashier before storming out of the Star's Melody. Thank goodness she was dressed up for today, but going downtown in the bike wouldn't keep her casual appearance without having unwanted wrinkles on her pastel blue blouse. She gulped, wondering if she should just ask Aries to lend Lucy her car. She actually did know how to drive; Aquarius taught her. She just couldn't afford a car.

"Lucy," she quickly turned back to the café entrance at the sound of Leo's voice. With his typical suave smile, he tossed her a key. "Take my baby."

"T-Thank you!" Lucy quickly caught the key with her two hands.

She rushed over to Leo's black Camaro, a bit nervous to be driving such a car, but, hey, he did lend his baby to her. Lucy unlocked the vehicle, and quickly stepped in, tossing her purse on the passenger seat. She turned on the ignition, soon reversing and speeding her way down Strawberry Street. She admitted she wasn't prepared for the audition. Heck, she still had paperwork to do. How the heck did Leo even expect her to get in? And another question popped into her head, how did he find out about the audition even?

Shaking her head to push away surplus thoughts, Lucy made sure to keep her focus ahead of her.

Heading to downtown was a piece of cake. Much to her luck there wasn't traffic. Lucy parked in a public parking area, deciding to walk out the rest of the way to VZ. She needed to take in a breather first, needing to know how she was going to go inside and say she's late for the audition even-though-she-didn't-fill-out-the-paperwork.

It didn't take her long to approach the two enormous doors of the edifice. She gulped, slowly grabbing the handle to pull open one of the doors. Naturally, she felt hesitant, sweat producing on her palm. Her fingers curled around the handle; it took her a whole minute to finally open the door only to be greeted by a fresh breeze. Confident—that was how she needed to walk, but alas she felt like jello being shaken around specifically by no one or anything other than anxiety. The women behind the VZ counter looked over at the shaky blonde. The woman that wore a tight bun looked over at the one with a bob. In their minds, they both thought Lucy was just another girl trying to become famous with her looks.

All reality was, Lucy was scared she wasn't going to become famous because she's an unprepared mess.

Another whole minute it took Lucy to wobble to the counter. She clenched on to the white strap of her purse, bowing her head slightly.

"I-I'm here for the VZ auditions. I'm late, I know, and I have to fill out the paperwork…" she stammered over her words.

The one with the bun, who worse a name tag that read Lacy; the woman with the styled bob went by Kimberly. Lacy was the one that eyed Lucy up and down. Eyebrow arched, clearly used to girls approaching the main VZ counter in such a way.

"E-Er…My name's Lucy and I really, really need to be part of the audition—"

"Honey," Kimberly interjected, "it's too late now. Please go home."

The blonde clenched her fists, already knowing that was going to be the response. But she couldn't give up. Not now. She cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look, I know I'm late but this audition…I can't miss it!" she said, voice less shaky.

"That's what they all say," Lacy sighed. "Look there's nothing we can do. All the paperwork has been submitted."

There was still an hour left before the audition even started. Lucy had actually read the times on the flyer instead of the dates. Her eye twitched, definitely noticing how lazy the women are to pull out a few papers.

"Please, just listen—"

Another voice interjected. This time it was a male. "Yo! Somethin' the matter here?"

"How many more interruptions am I going to go through to—"when Lucy turned to look at the one that interrupted her, she swore she could feel her jaw slam against the carpet floor. She gazed at him up and down. Not believing the sight she was seeing. Even the women were taken back. Whoever thought that the one and only Natsu Dragneel was part of Vermillion Zero? Lucy could feel her breath being dragged away by her subconscious.

You hate him, don't you?

Lucy shook her head at the sound of her own little devil self talking inside her head. She didn't hate Natsu anymore; she was neutral with him. Except, she never expected running into him here, or maybe she should have considering he is a famous actor. Either way, she wanted to touch his hair. Yes, touch his hair because it was something she always debated about in her head.

Is it naturally pink?

So without thinking, Lucy reached her hand out to touch his pink locks. He didn't expect her action either because when he turned to look at her, his expression was confused as it could be. She ran her fingers through his hair, surprised by the softness of it despite its spiky look; it felt natural. She was glad her long awaited question was answered, but once she made eye contact with him, reality came back.

"Uh…" her brown eyes were awkwardly locked with his olive colored ones.

The quartet wore the same confused, and awkward expression.

Quickly, she pulled her hand away, squeaking out an, "I'm sorry!"

Lucy was madly blushing. God, she felt like hitting herself with a hammer for doing that. Yeah, petting Dragneel on the first meeting, smooth, Lucy.

The response he gave her, however, was beyond unexpected. He started to laugh, and even snorted out, "Weirdo!"

The three women stared at Dragneel, blushing at his sudden laughter. It was always something about a good looking guy's laughter that could make just about anyone swoon.

"I-I'm not a weirdo!" Lucy had finally retorted, ignoring the fact that he was famous. She didn't like being called a weirdo. She got enough of that at work.

"You just petted me."

Her eyebrows furrowed, mouth open to respond but nothing came out. Yeah, she had no argument. Sighing, she turned to look back at Lacy and Kimberly. "So?"

"S-Sorry," Lacy spoke up, still taken back by the scene that had just happened, "You can't be part of the audition."

Lucy's head dropped. She just had to miss her chance of being part of VZ. She bit her lower lip, not wanting to accept no as an answer at all. Right as she was about to accept defeat, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Natsu's.

"Look at her determination. Sign the weirdo up," Natsu demanded, a smile on his lips.

"A-Ah?" Lucy glanced up at the pinkette, clearly confused by why he was telling them that. He didn't even know her. She petted him! Why would he demand them sign her up for the audition.

"We can't…" said Lacy.

"Lacy, he's the judge…he can recommend someone in at the last minute," Kimberly spoke up, lips pressing together right after she said that.

Hearing her made Lucy's eyes brightened up, a smile covering her face.

"You'll really recommend me?" she questioned Natsu with excitement.

He gave her a confident nod. "Truth is, I've seen ya roam outside of the building for a while now. Shit, it was starting to annoy me, so I when I saw you walk inside, figured why not give you a big push?"

The girl's energetic smile soon faded into an embarrassed one. He actually saw her dumbly roaming outside of the building.

"You're welcome!" he gave her a pat on the head, a cheeky grin on his face. "You better show me what you got at the auditions!"

Boy was it hard to not bounce of the walls. Natsu Dragneel recommended her! And he said it without seeming to think twice about it. She took every nasty word about him back and stomped on them. When he waved goodbye at her, she returned it with a bright smile.

"I'll be waiting, Luigi!" he called out.

Her eye twitched, voice booming throughout the area. "IT'S LUCY!"

She heard him snort. Wanting to go after him and whack him in the head was a thought she forced to put away. Turning back to the women, she innocently said, "Well?"

Both with a sigh and yet a smile, they gave Lucy the paperwork.

…

There were hundreds of girls in the room. Lucy gazed over at them nervously, not used to being surrounded by so many talented and/or rich girls. She sat down on a free bench, hands folded on her lap as she waited for the sections—singing, dancing, or acting—to be called out. She still couldn't help but to think back at Natsu. He was so sudden about recommending her like that. She definitely couldn't let him down if a famous actor like him got her in the audition with just a few words. When the acting section was called, Lucy and several others all followed the one that called them out.

They were taken to another room, where the sound of a woman yelling was heard.

"You're going to pay for my cheesecake!"

All the females blinked. Lucy tried to peek over several shoulders to see what the yelling was all about. She gasped at the sight of a gorgeous scarlet haired woman. She appeared beyond angry, but Lucy couldn't help but to notice her bewitching features first. She was tall, long legged, curvy, and had a larger than normal chest. She was wearing a white blouse tucked into a navy blue skirt. Her arms were angrily crossed over her chest as her gaze pierced at a young man that appeared to be part of the staff. The poor guy had such a pale face. She noticed one of his shoes was smothered in…frosting? Did he step on her dessert? Well, Lucy would have reacted the same way if someone treated her yogurt in such a way.

Lucy was honestly expected the red head to slam him against the wall, but instead she had turned her hair and strutted away. She entered the room, finally, and gazed around, noticing it was smaller than before. Even the amount of women was reduced. Lucy could count out at least twenty; some appeared confident, and others appeared nervous.

Sighing, she sat down on a free chair. Another wait.

"Ladies!" a voice called out. All eyes turned to look at another staff member. "The first part of the audition is about to begin!"

Several sighs were let out, and murmurs of not being ready slipped. Lucy wasn't sure how to feel at this point. She stood up from the chair, taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

"Here goes nothing…"

…

She's lucky, isn't she?

Reviews are always welcomed.~~