"Gray!"
That loud voice made me awake from my slumber, mumbling. Kind of lost, and with saliva dropping from the side of my mouth, I lifted my head up from my hand that was supporting it and pressed my eyes to see where I was. Soon the blurs started to get into place and I realized I was at the middle of the dining hall, and the sounds coming from everything around me were echoing in my ear, making my annoyed. Sitting right in front of me was Loki, with a concerned expression on his face.
"Gray, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…" I said still kind of lost wishing I was still sleeping.
"This late-night cleaning team of yours is not making you any good."
"I know, I know… But what are you going to do?"
Loki's cellphone beeped and he interrupted our conversation to look at it. Slowly, my head fell into my hands again, as I closed my eyes falling back into sleep.
"Gray!" The scream from my roommate echoed into my ears, making my brain shake inside my head, as I lifted it up again, trying to prove that I was awake. "Dude, look at it!"
The orange haired guy sitting in front of me stretched his arms pointing his phone directly into my face, and the blurry lights from the object were like I was staring directly at the sun, and I all I could see was that brightness.
"What?" I said, covering my eyes with my hand.
"Look at it!"
"I would prefer if you would just tell me…" I said making my friend grumble.
"Fine, it's the first big party of the year! And we are both invited!" I couldn't exactly process any information that was given to me at that moment, so I just stared blankly at Loki's face with my eyes semi closed, forgetting to pretend to react at whatever he had just said. "Ugh! Look, is this Saturday, at Fairy Hills sorority house, starting at ten p.m.. We have to go! We are going, right?" I was almost sleeping again when Loki said those words, but was quickly awakened when the hands of the boy in front of me grabbed my arms and started shaking it. "Gray! Tell me you're are going!"
"To what?" I said, completely lost, forcing my eyes at my friend's direction so I could see him and not a blurred figure.
"The party!" My roommate said, pointing his cellphone on me again making me groan with the lights and look away.
"I don't know man. I've been very tired…"
"Figured…"
"And I'm already behind on class and stuff…"
"Oh, come on! It has been only a month! You'll be fine… This is our chance to have the ultimate college experience. And it starts now. With this party!"
"I don't know, I was planning on sleeping during the weekend…"
"No!" Loki said, strongly. "This is what you gonna do. You'll go back to our dorm, sleep, and feel galvanized by Saturday, and ready to party!"
I was about to mumble some excuse, when I saw Natsu walking past our table. Our eyes quickly met, as we both made ugly faces at each other, and I grumbled some curse quietly so that he wouldn't hear.
"Wait, that guy? Is he still giving you a hard time?"
"Yeah… I mean, everything was fine until we were paired together at the cleaning team."
"Paired together? What do you mean?"
"It's a stupid idea, but apparently if everyone works in pairs we will clean faster or something…" Loki smirked at that explanation.
"Geez, who's idea was that?"
"Hello, boys."
Before I could respond, the answer herself appeared at the form of Erza Scarlet, sitting next to Loki, drinking from a tiny juice box.
"So, Gray, how did you like my idea of pairing up the cleaning team? Really efficient, huh?"
My roommate looked at me as I lift my eyebrow up, answering his question. He turned his face to the side while trying to hold his laughs.
"What are you boys up to?"
"I'm trying to convince Gray to go to the party Saturday with me."
"Oh, I see…" the woman mumbled. "You guys are much better off without this kind of company…" she said in disdain. "This sororities are trouble. They are nothing but entitled brats that think the world owes something to them." I smiled at Loki's direction in victory, as he rolled his eyes.
"So, the way I see it, you weren't accepted in one of these sororities, which hurt your pride, right?"
Without showing any emotion, Erza punched the top of Loki's head, which hurt even on me, as he tried really hard not to cry out.
"Anyway, as I was saying, if you guys are smart in any way, you won't be going to this stupid presentation of the worst the college life has to offer. Follow my example boys, create your own sorority."
She said in pride, before standing up and yelling at someone that had just sneezed on the food in display, walking away to handle that situation, as she always was. I followed her example, standing up, picking up my tray.
"Where are you going?" Loki asked.
"To follow your advice. To sleep." I said, walking away.
"Does that mean you're going to the party?"
"No!" I yelled walking my past leaving my friend at the table.
…
It was late night, as I was standing in the middle of the dining hall thinking "why?". Along with there were seven other poor souls that were caught in the middle of that Chinese torture segment. In front of us, giving orders like some kind of general was the ginger haired boss herself, Erza Scarlet.
"So, tonight we are going to clean bathrooms, people. So, grab your cleaning partner and let's diving in. Gray and Natsu, you two are responsible for the bathrooms at the Mavis Building…"
Erza kept assigning the pairs to their respective buildings, as Natsu and I exchanged looks of disdain at each other.
"Is that all, boss?" A deep voice said from the other extremity of the line, it was Laxus.
Laxus was a huge, brawny kid, with blond hair. Even the way that he breathed was intimidating. That guy showcased exactly the type of entitled brats that Erza was talking about at lunch earlier that day. He was a jock, leader of one of the biggest fraternities of that school, who walked around like he owned the damn thing, bullying and giving orders towards everyone around him, he also had his own army of blind followers that did everything he wanted to get on his good side. Plus, he was also the grandson of the dean. So, summing it up, he was basically a high school popular kid embodied by a college student.
"That is all, Laxus, thanks for asking."
"No wonder she only gives orders and never cleans anything" Laxus indiscreetly whispered to the kid next to him. "It would mess up her wig. This drag queens are so marginalized, I'm telling you."
A lot of giggles started to pop up between the people on the room. I looked at Natsu and he was one of the people trying hard not to break into laughter. I rolled my eyes at that sight. Erza was not amused by the whole situation, and was starring indifferently but firmly at everyone. As people realized the scary ginger woman in front of them, the commotion stopped, and silence reigned. She went towards Laxus' direction, while everyone was tense by the sounds of her steps on the wooden floor.
"Laxus why are you here again? Wait, don't tell me. It's the result of years of depredation, and incredible amounts of disrespect towards school property, right?" Erza said those things getting closer and closer towards the blond man, until their noses were almost touching. Everyone turned around to see what was going to happen next. She pulled his body closer to her, and bended her leg, lifting it up, pressing her knee against his private area. Laxus compressed a scream inside his throat as that happened. "So, instead of expelling you, your grandfather, the dean, decides to be real nice and cuts you some slack by putting you down to the cleaning team, so your immense male ego and pig like attitude could still attend this school. And you thought that if you only appeared here with your rudeness and laziness and did nothing, your grandfather would've just forgiven you, even though you did nothing but sit your sorry ass around and rest your ugly feet the whole time. Well, not on my watch!
Erza finished her speech with terrifying whispers, before letting Laxus go and separating their bodies from one another. Meanwhile, everyone was looking at that scene with their mouth opened. Then, recomposing herself like nothing ever happened, the ginger girl clapped her hands and said;
"Now get to work!"
As me and Natsu were heading towards the exit of that hall to go to our building, I could hear Laxus complaining to his pair, a thin, pale, small kid with glasses and an emo like hair, black with bangs, and an overall gothic look.
"Can you believe that bitch?"
"Let it go. They say she is only like that out of bitterness since none of the major girl sororities in this school let her in. Since then she decided to act like some inspector or something." The boy replied, as I unnoticedly had stopped to watch the conversation between them.
"Hey Gray, are you coming or what?" Natsu called me, making Laxus notice my presence and look directly into my eyes, making the back of my neck chill. He didn't have a nice expression on his face.
"Yeah…" I said, waking up from my trance and walking towards the door, but not before I could hear the final remarks of Laxus' conversation.
"This two. Why are they here for?"
"Oh, there is something to do with that building they are repairing. I heard they climbed it and a piece of the roof fell, or something." Laxus grumbled at that answer.
…
"You are not doing this right!" Natsu yelled at me as I was wiping the floor with a sponge.
"Can you please focus on what you're doing and leave me working alone?" I yelled back at the pink haired boy that was cleaning one of the toilets of the bathroom.
Suddenly, a brick went through the bathroom window, as I dodged from it, hitting my chin on the floor, and sliding through the recently washed floor, making me go all the way across the room and hit my head on the wall.
"Are you okay?" Natsu said, walking to me and kneeling down.
"I'm fine. What was that?"
We both stood up and looked through the glassless window. Down in the campus were Laxus, and his goth partner. The blond muscular man waved at us as we peeked to see what had happened.
"Laxus…" I growled at the sight of that guy down there.
"What does he want?" Natsu wondered.
"It doesn't matter. C'mon, help me pick up the pieces of glass on the floor." I said, getting down on my knees again.
"Don't you want to see what was that for?"
"No, I don't. Now help me."
"I think I'm going to go down there…" My partner said, walking his way to the door, as I sighed with the boy's stupidity.
"No, Natsu…" I walked to him and put myself in front of the door, grabbing his arms in seriousness "We have work to do, now let's forget about Laxus and get to it."
"What? Let me go! Just because you're too afraid of Laxus…"
"I'm afraid of him? You're afraid of him! You're the one who thinks that we should go down and talk to him just because he threw a brick at our heads!"
"Fine, maybe I do, now get out!"
He threw me to the side, making me fall on my butt on the floor, as he got out of the bathroom.
"No, Natsu… Why does he has to be so stupid?!" I complained to myself and ran through the door to follow that stupid idiot.
With my shoes wet I went down the stairs running, almost falling two or three times, as I heard Natsu's steps in front of me.
"Where is the other boy?"
Laxus finished that sentence at the exact moment that I ran out of the building. I rested my hands on my knees, completely breathless.
"Great, here he is." He said, tapping his hands on my arched back.
"What do you want?" I said, catching my breath and getting up, looking directly into his threatening eyes.
"As you know, I am the president of the Kappa Thunder fraternity, and I am granting you the honor of inviting you to participate on the admission tests." I looked at him with indifference, lifting my eyebrows up.
"Really?" I heard Natsu say by my side, trying to contain his excitement but failing. I looked at him not believing that he was actually buying that stuff and stepped on his foot. "Ouch!" He yelled, lifting his injured foot up and grabbing it with his hands.
"I mean, the selection has already taken place, and some of tests have already happened…" he paused for dramatic effect "Doesn't that make even more of an honorary symbol the fact that I, myself, am asking you to participate on an event that may or may not allow to enter on a fraternity, of which I, myself, am, also, president? You can even say that it's kind of unfair to the other pledges…" Laxus said all that walking from one side to another, getting faster and faster with excitement as the speech grew.
"And why do you want us?" I asked with neglect and arrogance.
"Elementary, my dear Watson!" He said, pointing at me, but looking to the other side. "I guess, you just… caught my attention…"
"Your attention…?" Natsu inquired, expressing my confusion.
"So to speak…" Laxus turned over to my pink haired colleague as he answered. "Anyway, the final test will take place Saturday, during Kappa Thunder's own party to welcome the new students, it is the perfect cover up. All you have to do is show at the party, and the rest will explain itself…"
Laxus turned around and started to walk away, he snapped his fingers, giving the other boy the signal to start moving along with him. Still in shock with the whole thing I managed a way to form the words inside of me and shot;
"And what makes you assume we will be there?"
He stopped walking for a few seconds before turning over to us, making my whole body be covered in chills. He then made an audible smile and turned around again, walking at our directions, firmly even though he was acting like he wasn't bothered by what I'd just said. He stopped right in front of me, and since he was much taller, I had to look up to see his face, which made me even scarier.
"Listen, Gray, is it?" He landed his heavy hand in my shoulder, which made me shake inside, while I was still trying to pull off the brave stunt on the outside. "Do you really think you have a choice?" A grim smile was stamped across his face, as I tried to figure out what to say next, but nothing came out. "Let's go!"
Laxus and his gothic sidekick walked away, leaving me and an as much terrified Natsu behind.
…
"Hey." I heard a voice whisper from my left side, as I was picking up a portion of mashed potatoes with a spoon and dropping it on my plate.
"Erza?" I said, seeing that she was the one talking to me. "Why are you whispering?"
"Dramatic effect. Anyway, I want to talk to you."
"Go ahead." I spoke, putting a piece of fried chicken next to the mashed potatoes.
"It is about Laxus."
"Laxus? Wait, you saw that last night?" As I asked that I turned around to see her face.
"Yes, of course I saw. I was watching from a distance."
"Excuse me, are you guys done?" Some girl barged in on us, complaining about us disturbing the line of the cafeteria.
"Yes, sorry."
I pushed Erza away by her arm, still facing her, as we distanced ourselves from the food area.
"So, why were you doing that?"
"Are you kidding me, I am always spying on that kid…" I took a while to assimilate how strange that sentence was, before getting back to the conversation.
"Anyway, you don't need to worry, I am not going to do it."
"No, you see, you have to do it!" I looked at her with estrangement as those words came out of the ginger's lips.
"What?! Are you talking about the test to be accepted at that stupid fraternity?"
"Yes, the test. You have to do it."
"Why?!"
"Look, even I know that is not a smart move to mess with that Laxus kid. That guy is trouble. I know is unfair, but this kind of people have everything they set their minds onto, and, right now, he wants to mess up with you and that pink hair guy, and he is going to do it, the easy way or the hard way."
"What?! I can believe you're saying this. You of all people. I mean, the way stood up to him yesterday, that was awesome! And also, kind of hot…"
"Yeah, but I am one person, you are another, this tough image I have, it wasn't easy to build you know. Besides, you're a boy, a freshman boy, that makes it way easier to hurt you. Kids like Laxus are not the type of people you want to have you on their bad side, believe me. He is grandson of the dean, that means he can get away with anything. He has done some pretty disturbed things over here…"
"Fine!" My voice came out louder than I expected. I was tired of hearing to that speech. "But look, isn't it time for someone to step up to kids like him? I will not be bullied!"
"That is your call… But if you're not going to listen to me, at least pass my advice on to your other friend? I mean, that tough act, is just pretend." Erza said in a creepy way, as she walked past the tables in the hall.
I shook my head in disbelief at the conversation that had just occurred. Then, my eyes clocked Natsu sitting with some physical education students. I went to him with determination, and sat next to him, dropping my tray at the table, as he sucked one spaghetti into his mouth. He looked at me surprised, with tomato sauce all around his lips, which made me roll my eyes.
"I need to talk to you!" After I said that I realized that the eyes of the kids also sat at that table were all directed at me.
"Speak away". Still facing the kids that wouldn't stop looking at me, I rolled my eyes again and looked back at Natsu.
"It's about Laxus and that whole fraternity thing…" Now I was whispering thanks to the intruders, who had since came back to whatever was on their plates.
"I know, right? How cool was that?"
"What?!" Again, my voice came louder than intended, and I came back to whispering. "What are you talking about? He was outright threatening us! Are you crazy?!"
"That is how you see it. The way I see it, he was just having fun with our sorry asses, and legit want us to join his fraternity."
"What, he decided to do charity all of a sudden?"
"Look…" Natsu's mouth was full of pasta, but that didn't keep him away from talking. "You do what you want, and I do what I want, okay?"
He faced me and a piece of spaghetti came out of his mouth directly into my left cheek. In disgust, I passed my finger through it, taking the piece of food off.
"I just want to give you some friendly advice. We can stand up towards Laxus, we can end his reign of terror. Imagine how many skinny kids we will prevent from being bullied if we just…"
"What? We decide not to go? And then what? He comes back again and bullies us some more? At least if we enter the fraternity we will have the chance to be one of them. Haven't you ever wanted to be like that?" My eyes got lost, as I started to listen to what Natsu was saying, realizing that, although it hurt me to say it, he might've been right.
"No!" Again, I unnoticedly yelled, this time more towards me than at anybody else, as I realized Natsu's reasoning was stupid. "Do what you want, but I will not lower my head towards some dictator."
"Fine!" The pink haired boy yelled at me as I stood up with my tray in hands and left him there.
…
It was Saturday night, and I was lying in bed with only my underwear on, watching tv, while Loki was testing shirts to go to that damn party, asking me for advice.
"What about this one?" He asked about the black dress shirt he had just put on.
"Its fine… Can you get out of the way, I'm trying to watch it."
"Gray…" My roommate came towards me, sitting on my bed. "Are you sure you don't want to go?"
"No." That discussion was getting really tiresome.
"But why not? I mean, you're clearly not going to sleep…"
"I have my own reasons. Now, can you please excuse me, I'm trying to watch TV."
"Fine…" Loki sighed, getting up. "Anyways, I'm out…"
As the orange haired boy was getting out the door, I remembered the last thing I needed to say to him.
"Hey, Loki!"
"Yeah…?" My friend faced back at the room.
"Remember to keep an eye on Natsu, and call me if you see anything strange."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me… Why do you want me to do that for?"
"I said, I have my own reasons." He faced back towards the hall as I shouted. "But it's really important!"
"Got it!"
Loki went his way, and I stretched myself in the bed, getting comfortable, lying my head in the pillow. As I was watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my head would only focus on Natsu and if he was getting in any kind of trouble.
Maybe I should have gone to the party, if only to keep an eye on that cherry haired idiot. And what if it was a stupid move to defy Laxus like that? What if I was buying a one-way ticket to hell? What if that move cost me a pleasant college experience? I mean, I would be there for four years, it would only be wise to make the most out of them…
"No!" I yelled in my head, at myself, as I was throwing all of my ideals away. That wasn't the time and the place to be doubting myself. Natsu was too big of a man to know what he was doing. "Or was he?". Those thoughts came running through my mind as I was trying to assure myself I was doing the right thing. I couldn't take this anymore. I rushed to the coffee table where my phone was, and extended my hand to get it. Quickly I dialed Loki's number and waited impatiently for him to answer.
"Loki?!" I unintentionally yelled as he answered.
"Gray, my man!" He was clearly drunk.
"Loki, listen to me…" As I was talking I could hear loud music and conversations coming from the other side of the line, pressing the cellphone towards my ear so I could hear better. "Are you keeping an eye on Natsu?" I waited for him to respond, but couldn't hear anything besides the various distinct sounds coming from the party. "Loki!"
"Yeah!" My roommate said, like he just remembered I was there. "What do you want?"
"Loki, this is important! Where is Natsu? Are you keeping an eye on him?"
"I don't know where he is. He is probably having fun, like you should be having too!"
"Loki, you had one job!"
"Fine! Geez… I'll be right back." My friend said, probably to some girl he was making out with. "I'm looking, but it's hard to see, it's dark in here."
"Well, keep looking!"
I waited in silence, as Loki searched for the idiot with pink hair, who was giving me tremendous headaches.
"Ah!" The boy on the other side of the line suddenly yelled, making my ear hurt.
"What?!"
"I found him. Or, he found me…"
"Wait, is he there?!"
"Yeah, he wants to talk to you…"
"Okay, give the phone to him then!"
"Sure thing, boss…" I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.
"Gray!"
"Natsu!"
"What are you doing you idiot?" He started to whisper.
"Okay, you're gonna have to speak up."
"Look, you have to come here. Laxus is not pleased."
"Laxus? What is going on?"
"We are waiting on you to start. You better show your ass to this party, or things are not going to get easy for you."
"What? No! And if you are smart you are going to do the same thing as me and get out of there."
"Stop acting like an idiot and come here!"
"What? Nat…" I couldn't finish my sentence, as the call was terminated on me.
I growled in anger realizing that boy's stupidity. Seeing like there was no other way around that situation, I got up, picked up a pair of jeans that were lying on the floor, alongside an orange t-shirt, picked up some shoes and got out of the bedroom, to the rescue of that idiot Natsu.
…
I got into the house, in the middle of the party. Everything was already a mess, vomit and party cups all over the floor. The music was stupendously loud, and the mixture of conversations was giving me a headache. I really wasn't in the mood for a party. As soon as I put my feet in the first step of the balcony, I felt someone pushing my arm to the side.
"Natsu!" I yelled in surprise and relieve of finally seeing the guy who was really giving me a headache during the whole week. "What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" The pink haired idiot completely ignored my questions, as he kept pushing me around the house.
"You have any idea of the kind of trouble you'd be in if you didn't show up?" He was walking fast while pushing me, making it hard for me to follow, constantly tripping around.
"I don't care." I stopped walking and pushed him by the fist, making him face me. "You don't have to be a part of this stupid game. I came to take you home."
Natsu didn't show any expression in his face while I said that, and as soon as I finished he continue to push me down the arm, as I told him to stop, without doing any effort to make him do it. The truth was that I couldn't just leave him, if he was going to participate on that stupid fraternity test, I had to be with him, to keep an eye on him. There was something about his childish figure that made me worry of what could happen to him.
Finally, we were on the other side of the house. There was a set of stairs going down on the ground, to a black door, which probably let to the basement. I let Natsu lead the way down those steps, still holding my arm, and then knock the door three times, stop for a few seconds, and knock another five times. After that the peephole opened, and an unusual deep voice said;
"Password?"
"Raijinshuu" Natsu answered.
The peephole closed and the door was opened. Natsu then proceeded to pull me into the unusual dark room. The only thing lighting it was a set of candles, in circles, on top a circular table. Sitting there, were five people, one of them I recognized as Laxus. Also there, was the goth skinny boy that was Laxus partner at the cleaning team. There also were three empty sits, which I figured one was for me, the other for Natsu, and the third one for the big muscular kid that opened the door for us, who was wearing a mask for some weird reason.
"Here they are!" Laxus said with unusual joy at the sight of us.
I was still confused with everything that was going on, when Natsu threw me at one of the empty chairs, continuing to go around the table at sit at the one right in front of me. The masked guy sat at the place next to Laxus.
"Now that our final guests are finally here, we can begin."
"Excuse me Laxus…" The man on a mask said, now in his usual voice. "Shouldn't we give some kind of punishment to the late ones?"
"All in its time, Bickslow." The blond said to his friend, apparently not very pleased with the interruption.
"Of course." Bickslow redeemed himself.
I looked around to see who else was also there. My eyes popped when I saw Freed Justine, the kid who got the biggest grade on the admission exam, sat there on the circle. He had the serious expression he had when reading the speech on the auditorium, and the same long green hair. Also there, was a muscular, big guy with white hair and a mysterious figure who was hidden his face with a grey hood.
"Now that everyone is here, lets explain what the last test is, shall we?"
With those words from Laxus, Bickslow suddenly placed a stretched campus map on the table, and later proceeded to place two miniature statues of Mavis, the school mascot, in key places.
"There are two Mavis statues on campus…" Laxus began to explain. "One in front of the chemistry lab, and one in front of the movie theater." I swallowed dry as he began to talk, realizing that nothing good could come of it. "Your job is to take both this statues from their place, and then proceed to dismantle it into designated pieces. After that, you'll have to take each piece into a designated place on campus.
While the grandson of Makarov Dreyar explained, dead silence reigned the room, since everyone was keeping their reactions to that ridiculous plan to themselves. My teeth were clenched as the blond man explained the sick test, and I pressed my hands real hard into fists in order to keep calm and not do anything. Something told me that this prank was bound to go wrong, especially since Laxus demanded me and Natsu to participate in it.
"Excuse me…" A thin voice echoed across the room, and all eyes turned to the mysterious person hiding their face in a hood. Then, they cleaned their throat, and spoke with a deeper voice. "Excuse me, Laxus, sir, but aren't there policemen on campus, during the night?"
"I wouldn't worry about that Everblue. Let's just say being the grandson of the dean offers you a few conveniences…"
"How about a lot of them…" I thought to myself.
"Anyway…" Laxus got back to his explanation. "There are only three spots left to join Thunder Kappa, so we will divide you into groups of three. The first group to distribute the pieces correctly and get here first wins. Are we clear?"
"Yes." Everyone said in unison, except for me.
"Yes." Distracted, I said a little bit later.
"So, as usual, let's finish our meeting by saying the prayer to the All Mighty God of Thunder."
I looked at Natsu confused, since I didn't know how this stupid prayer went, and he retributed me the blank look I was giving him. Everyone held their hands together, as me and cherry-tree head mumbled some pretend words. As everyone finished, the gothic skinny guy asked;
"But wait, where are our tools to get the statue and dismantle it?"
"Excellent question, Morty." Laxus responded. "But first, look behind your chairs, and see the numbers on it." The number on mine was four. "Now, everyone with an even number go to the left, and the odd numbers, to the right."
Soon, I was standing side by side with Freed Justine, and, luckily Natsu. In front of us, on the other side, were Morty, Everblue, and the muscular white-haired man.
"This are your teams. Bickslow, accompany the odd numbers, please."
"Sure thing, Laxus." Bickslow said.
The masked man, then, took a wooden box from under the table and he walked with it to the odd numbers group. Out of it, he took three sleeping masks and distributed them among the three guys (if Everblue was one, I mean). Blindfolded, he, then, took a rope and tied their wrists together, and then, tied his own fist, proceeding to walk away from the room, with the pledges following them, in line.
"Good luck, Natsu." The big man with white hair said, as he was blindfolded and following Bickslow.
"You too, Elfman." Natsu yelled back, as I turned my face over to him, surprised by the fact that he knew who that man was.
"Now you people." Laxus smiled at us. "First, Freed." He gave the green haired man a mask, followed by a slap in the bum. Freed blushed and let a shy smile appear on his face. My eyes slightly popped at that scene. I looked at Natsu's direction, but he wasn't paying much attention. "Now, my boys!" The brawny kid in front of us said, sarcastically. He gave me and Natsu a mask.
After I put the mask on, I started to feel the ropes, pressing my left wrist, as Laxus tied them around it. After, I could hear as he did the same thing to the other two guys standing next to me, and, later, to himself. I was the first in line, after Laxus, and could feel him walking and pushing us with him.
First, we had to be careful with the stairs to the basement, since Laxus didn't bother warning us. And I tripped a few times, almost falling. Then I could feel we walking on grass, at the party house lawn. I could hear the sound of music and people's conversation slowly fading away, as we continued to walk into the campus. Soon, everything was dead silent, and I could hear only the breath of those people walking alongside me, with the chilly breeze of midnight hitting on my face.
After what felt like a good twenty minutes' time of walking, Laxus finally stop, making Freed fell over Natsu, who fell over me, who fell over Laxus, like a domino. Since Laxus was really big and heavy, he didn't move, and my head hurt by meeting his back. Then the three of us fell on the ground.
"Wake up, woosies, we're here." Laxus' provocative deep voice said.
As I took off my mask, I realized we were by the school's lake. In front of my eyes I met a small sized, yellow, crane. While I was still trying to figure out what was going to happen next, Laxus proceeded to untie us from the rope. As he did that, we all got up again and waited for the next command.
"So, this is it. You'll find the rest of the instructions inside the vehicle. I have high hopes for you." The grandson of the dean said, point his fingers towards us in the form of guns. I could hear Freed smirk as he said that and turned my face over to him. I knew some shit was gonna go down.
As Laxus turned his back towards us and continued to walk away, Freed took the lead.
"Okay, let's do this!" He said.
All three of us got into the crane, Freed got the driver's sit, I was in the middle, and Natsu at the point. Without him realizing, I look to the boy with pink hair smiling, in relief, that we were in the same team, even though I had full conscious that it was premeditated. My thoughts were soon interrupted by Freed's voice.
"It says right here that we have to pick up the statue in front of the chemistry lab." The smart man said, by reading from the envelope that was left on the drivers sit. "Then we have to leave the pieces on the places that are indicated on this map." Freed then proceeded to take a map out of the envelope.
As the green haired guy was telling us what to do, Natsu was grumbling, looking out the window. Finally, Freed had it with Natsu's attitude.
"Hey! What is your problem?!"
"Sorry, are you talking to me?"
I rolled my eyes, as I was caught literally in the middle of a fight, and the shouts and screams were going directly into my ears.
"No, at the big foot standing outside the car. Yes, I am talking to you! You did nothing all night but stare at me with an ugly face and mumble some shit whenever I said something!"
"Funny how you can't take that, but can easily live with yourself after what you did to Lucy!"
"Lucy…? What does she have to do with it?"
"Take a guess, Sherlock, she is my girlfriend!"
"Well, you can tell your girlfriend, for the hundredth time, that I didn't sabotaged her on purpose, and that she has got to grow up, and accept the fact that she is not as smart as she thinks she is!"
Natsu then, jumped at Freed and grabbed him by the collar of the shirt, fist closed ready to punch the guy, when I jumped in.
"Stop!" I got up, and pushed each of them back to their respective sits. "Look, I don't give a shit about the problems you may have with each other. The fact is we are about to commit some really serious felonies, and if we don't commit we might get in real trouble. So please, calm your asses down, and stop shouting at my ears!"
Silence came back to haunt the inside of the crane. Freed sighed and started the vehicle. Soon we were out of the woods surrounding the lake and starting driving through the deserted campus. Soon, we got to the chemistry lab, and the Mavis statue was there.
Mavis was known as a fairy that blessed the founder of the university. Rumors had it that she appeared to him every night as a child, and she was the one that implemented the idea on his hair to found the institution. She was a little girl, with blond hair all the way down to her feet. In the portraits of her, including the statue, she was always wearing a huge dress, that was said to have been pink, and also had a typical pair of huge wings, as fairies do. Of course, the statue, wasn't painted and was all in green, like copper statues usually are.
"Natsu, there is a rope behind the crane. You have to tie the statue, so we can push it by the rope."
"Don't tell me what to do…" The stupid guy by the window answered as Freed was giving him instructions. I proceeded to poke his arm with my elbow in reprehension. "Fine…" He sighed and left the car.
"Gray, you're the one that's gotta handle the crane and withdraw the statue from the ground." I sighed at Freed's command.
"Fine…"
We watched as Natsu tried to tie Mavis up. He climbed her a few times, since, apparently, her body was really slippy, and passed the know through her head, tying it up when it got to her belly. Then, he made a positive sign with his thumb. I didn't trust his tying abilities one bit, but there wasn't much to do. I only thanked that this crane was positioned at the front of the car, and not behind.
Scarred for my life, I handled the lever, sweating cold. I picked Mavis up by the rope, praying that she wouldn't slip, while Freed was giving me directions. As I turned the crane around so I could deposit the statue safely in the space behind the truck, Natsu went around the vehicle and started giving me directions, of which I trusted far less than Freed's.
"The rope will burst!" I heard him yelled from behind the car.
"Shit! What do I do?!" I looked at Freed's face, panicking.
"Calm down! Just do what you're doing, at let the statue down with ease."
"Shit!"
I started to pull the lever down, when suddenly a loud noise echoed from behind the vehicle.
"Shit!" Freed shouted.
"It's okay." Natsu reappeared from behind and put his head inside from the window. "The statue didn't break."
The pink haired guy entered the car again, and Freed drove back to the lake at full speed. My heart was jumping out of my chest, as cold drops of sweat came running down my neck and forehead. When the skinny guy behind the wheel finally stopped, reaching our destination, I landed my hand at the car's glass and breathed deeply, while adrenaline was possessing my body.
"Calm down, grandma, we still got work to do." Freed said, getting out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
"Are you okay?" Natsu asked, touching my shoulder, as my eyes met his face with surprise.
"Yeah…"
He opened the door and we both got out of the car. Freed came to us with a shovel that he picked up from behind the vehicle.
"You, start digging." He threw the object at me.
"For what?"
"It said on the envelope that we have to dig where there's an orange leaf."
"There it is." Natsu said, clocking said leaf a few steps left from us.
"Ok, I'll dig. But are you going to do?"
"I'll watch you." Freed answered with a cynic smile, resting his back on the crane car.
I rolled my eyes and started digging, soon I fell something. It was a blue box. With Natsu's help I pulled it over, and opened it. Inside there was a circular saw.
"So what, are we supposed to dismantle the statue with this?"
"Exactly." Freed answered me. "I was thinking pink hair could do it, since you already dug and everything."
Angered by the skinny man's laziness, Natsu advanced over to him, but I put a hand on his chest trying to calm him down.
"Just do as he says, the sooner we get this over with, the better."
Still irritated, Natsu took the saw and went around the car, to the statue. I sat down on the ground, as I could hear the object's noise by being manipulated by Natsu.
"So, what's your story?" I tried to make some conversation with Freed to pass the time.
"Are you talking with me?" He was surprised by my sudden interest, and I confirmed with my head. "Well, I am a boy from Kyoto, I studied hard all my life to fulfil my parent's goals to enter a big university, I come from a prep school and I had the biggest results at the admission exams, so now I am here."
"Okay, but why are you doing this? Why is it important to be accepted into a fraternity? The way I see it, you've already won at life, I mean, you had the biggest results at the admission exams, for god's sake!"
"Yeah, well, maybe you won't understand this, but try to figure out how it must feel for a person to live their whole life preparing for some stupid exam. With no friends, no free time, with their parents watching their every move and pressuring them to do well… And after this moment passes, what is that person going to do with their lives? I mean, my whole life was building up to those exams, and now that they are over, who am I? What's my life going to be like? Isn't it time to get some well deserved rest? To make friends? To hang out with the popular people for once, instead of be bullied by them?"
"I see…" I said, quietly. Perhaps, there was more depth into Freed's character then I initially saw, and I felt really sympathetic by his story. "So, why is your hair green?" I said after a few seconds of silence, trying to break the ice.
"I don't even know. It was some stupid move I did after I took those goddamn exams. Trying to find some personality within myself, I guess… I was just so stressed out, and mad at my parents, I just needed to make a statement."
"And what were you so mad about?"
"Try to figure out how you would feel, if your life long goal in life was suddenly crushed by some stupid popular girl, who didn't even study as hard as you did during your whole life, getting higher scores than you did?"
My mouth dropped as he said those words. So, Freed was confirming right to my face that Natsu's complaints about him were right, while still having a straight face on. As I tried to figure out the words to formulate a sentence, the saw's noise finally stopped and Natsu shouted;
"Hey, idiots! It's done!"
With the most natural expression on his face, the green haired boy left me sitting on the ground and went to Natsu's encounter. Still shaken, I got up and followed him.
Natsu had cut the fairy's statue into three pieces, the head, the chest, and the legs.
"So, what now?" He asked, turning his head over to Freed.
"Now we have to leave each piece into its designated place, as said on the envelope. Let's roll."
We three got back into the car and came back into driving around the deserted campus, while none of us spoke a word. I was still shocked after my conversation with Freed. A few very unconformable minutes later, the skinny boy stopped the car.
"We're here." He said.
I looked out the window and we stopped in front of a huge white house with a big garden in front of it.
"What, we have to break in into this house or something?"
"That's exactly what we have to do." Freed said like it was the most natural thing in the world and got out the car, slamming the door. Me and Natsu followed him. He was behind the vehicle, waiting on us. "Now you both are going to have to carry one of these parts."
"No way, we've already done a lot. When are you going to do something man?" Natsu yelled and the bossy figure with green hair.
"You wouldn't be saying this if you knew what I have on my pocket…" He said, taking out from it a set of three keys, shaking them in front of us. "Now do as you're told!"
I pressed my hands into fists really hard not to jump at Freed's throat. He was starting to get to me. But I knew, as soon as we ended that shit show, the better. So, me and Natsu picked up the legs of the statue, it was really heavy, and Natsu had to lead the way to me, since I was walking on my back. After what felt like hours, we reached the door. Freed put in the wrong keys a couples of times in the lock, and I was almost dropping the statue to attack him. When he finally opened, my back was already destroyed. Then, we got in, the living room was dark, but I could see how fancy the furniture was, and how big the room itself was. The green haired boy said we could drop the piece of Mavis anywhere, and we both sighed in relieve, letting the legs of the fairy go in the middle of the living room.
After that, we stopped on another huge house, broke in and left Mavis chest in the middle of the living room. And again, me and Natsu had to do all the hard work. Coming back to the car, I felt my back would split in half. Taking a deep breath, I asked;
"What are those places? They look like big fraternity houses." Then my eyes met Freed's face as he drove away, without a single expression. That was my answer. "They are, aren't they? What is Laxus' plan? He is going to scatter the statues around the rival fraternities and sororities on campus?"
"Not exactly…" Our driver answered.
My conversation with Freed was interrupted by sudden heavy drops of rain hitting the car's glass.
"Great, it's raining!" Natsu grumbled.
"Where did this come from?" I wondered.
"We're here." Freed said suddenly.
"But, isn't it…" My eyes were looking at the house from out the window. It was the same house where the party was happening, where we met in the basement earlier. "This is Kappa Thunder's house. Wait! This is Laxus' plan, right? He will scatter the statues' pieces around the big fraternity houses on campus, and the only fraternity who doesn't have a piece of those statues sitting in the middle of their living room will be deemed responsible…"
"You guys are trying to frame another fraternity!" Natsu complemented my thoughts.
"Ok, Sherlocks, now come on, we still got work to do." Freed said, slamming the door once again, as he stepped out of the car.
Natsu and I followed him, once again picking up the piece of the statue, this time it was the head, the only piece left. We walked again by the lawn behind the house, where no one was, while still listening to the loud music coming from the other side, while rain fell on our heads. Freed led the way to the stairs to the basement, where we were a few hours prior to that moment, when Laxus and Bickslow explained to us the rules to the stupid test we were accomplishing right now.
Pink head and I stopped by the top of the stairs, breathing deeply, wondering how the hell we were going to get down those steps with a big copper head on our hands, soaking wet.
"Screw it." Natsu said, proceeding to throw the head down the stairs.
My eyes popped as I saw that face going down those stairs, and I thanked god to the loud music, because the noise Mavis head was doing by rolling down wasn't low.
"Are you crazy?!" Freed yelled at us from down the stairs. "This could have fallen on my foot!"
"Well, but it didn't!" Natsu snapped back at the skinny boy and I smiled at his attitude. I never thought I would consider that a good thing.
We went down the stairs, holding the handrail so we wouldn't slip on the rain water. When we got down to the door, and Freed opened it, I sighed in relieve as it was finally done, and stretched my back.
"What are you doing?" The green haired kid asked, looking at us with contempt as me and Natsu entered the room.
"What?" 'What was it this time', I thought to myself.
"Don't you have a job to do?" Freed faced down to the statue's face in front of the door.
"What? You said we could drop it anywhere!" Natsu yelled once again.
"That was before. Here…" He picked up the tablecloth from the table we were sitting before, making all the candles, now all blown out, fell to the ground, and threw it at me. "Wrap it on this thing and follow me."
Natsu picked up the wet piece of copper from the ground outside and threw it on the ground inside.
"Leave it to me" I said, wrapping Mavis face with the cloth and lifting it up, while my back continued to hurt.
Freed led the way, climbing the stairs to the first floor, while I followed, with difficulty, since I was carrying a few kilos of copper with my bare hands, and Natsu was behind me, having to wait around as I climbed step by step. The stairs led us up to the kitchen, and Freed continued to lead the way to the living room, where the party was happening, as I shook in tension on how would I disguise the fact that I was very suspiciously carrying something really heavy into a sea of people. At least they would all be wasted.
I sighed in relieve by the fact that I was almost reaching my destination, another set of stairs, without no one saying anything. Then, suddenly;
"Gray!" A very drunk Loki appeared out of nowhere in front of me. "When did you get here man? Look, this guy is looking for you…"
"That's cool Loki, but I got to go…"
"What's that?" He asked, noticing the wrapped in cloth stuff in my hands.
"I don't have time to explain, excuse-me."
I maneuvered away from him, and got to Freed who was waiting on the stairs already, with Natsu following me. Luckily there weren't many people by those steps, and we climbed them again, my back aching with every move.
"It's here."
The skinny boy stopped in front of a door, that, luckily, was right in front of the stairs, so I wouldn't have to carry that stuff much longer. He opened to reveal someone's bedroom, and me and Natsu walked in.
"Just leave it by the bed." Dragging myself to the piece of furniture and with grand relieve, let Mavis head go, breathing deeply.
Then we heard a slamming noise, and both Natsu and I looked over to the door, that was closed.
"What in the hell?" Natsu asked himself and went over to the exit of the room, putting his hand on the doorknob. "It's locked."
"Very funny Freed, let us go." I said, without bothering much about that situation, then he started to talk over the phone, loud enough so that we could hear.
"Hello, campus police?"
"What the fuck?!" Natsu yelled yet again.
"Hi, I'm here at Kappa Thunder's fraternity house. I just saw two strange man walk in carrying something…"
"What kind of sick joke is that?!" Now I was yelling.
"Yes, they went up to the second floor. If you could just send someone…"
"Freed, stop that right now!"
"Yes, thank you."
"He is walking away…" Cherry-tree head said, with his ear pressed against the door. "That bastard!" He slammed the door. "What are we going to do?!"
"I knew it was stupid to come here. I knew it! But you had to come, you couldn't have just calmed your ass down, could you?!"
"Hey! I didn't ask you to come to my rescue!" Natsu came over to me and grabbed my collar. Our fists touched each other's face at the exact same time, as we both fell backwards.
I fell lying on the bed, and got up, sitting, rubbing the cheek where Natsu had just punched me.
"This is stupid. We shouldn't be fighting with each other, we should be figuring out a way to get out of here."
"Well, the door is locked…"
"But this isn't the only way, is it?" I said, realizing the window was facing the behinds of the house, and got up from the bed, as a plan started to pop on my head. I pushed the covers and the sheets from the bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Help me tie up this stuff together, the cloth too."
"What, we are going to climb down the stairs?"
"Exactly!"
And so, we tied up everything together, and finished it off by tying it to Mavis' head too, so it could support us. Then we threw that improvised rope off the window. Natsu climbed down first, and as I was climbing down, with rain still falling, I heard the sound of kissing coming from the window next to the one we were climbing out from. I stretched my neck and almost fell over with the sigh of Freed and Laxus both in their underwear, making out on top of a bed.
"Gray, are you coming?" Natsu asked, reminding me of what I was doing.
"Yeah…" I replied, still completely shocked. "Now, help me." I said, finally touching the floor, soaking wet yet again.
"With what?"
"Retrieving the face from the room."
"What?! No! Let's go!"
"No way, they tried to fuck with us, now we'll fuck with them."
"By doing what?!"
"I… I have a plan, okay? Now help me!"
We pushed the sheets back with all our strengths, trying to retrieve Mavis' face, when it finally got out of the window and came rolling down the roof, hitting the floor, making me thank god again for the loud music.
"Natsu!" We heard a deep voice call the pink head's name, and we both turned around, seeing that kid with the white hair, Elfman, coming near us. "So, you guys didn't get in neither, huh? Wait, is that the statue's face?"
"Elfman, we are kind of busy now…" Natsu replied.
"Can you believe what just happened? My team won and they said they got any spot left for me, because their Freed from your team was already getting in, and I was the weakest one, so they had to let me go. Unbelievable! I mean, that guy, Everblue, was actually a girl named Evergreen, and they still let her in. They said they admired her commitment to disguise herself as a man only to be accepted. They can all go to hell, I'm telling you! And this test, break in into every fraternity house on campus except…
"That's great, Elfman, but we are busy!" Natsu yelled.
"No, wait. Do you know what is the only fraternity house that they didn't us to break into?" I asked.
"Yes, Dragon Omega…"
"Great! Natsu, can you carry this to the crane car, I got stuff to do." I said, running away.
"What kind of stuff?!" He yelled at me as I disappeared into the crowd.
Running away, I bumped into a kid with a camera on his neck.
"Hey, can you lend me this, really quick?"
"Yeah…" He said and I could feel alcohol breath into my nose.
As soon as I got the camera, I could hear someone yell out "Police!" and chaos erupted, everyone started running, dropping everything they had on their hands, yelling from the top of their lungs.
"Hey, you can give it to me later." The camera kid said, running away too.
I shook my head to what was happening and continued following my path towards the stairs, when suddenly someone called me.
"Gray." I looked to the side, and coming from a shadowed corner, was the boy I kissed during the law students party, in the first week. I blushed at sight of him.
"Hi…"
"I was looking for you." He came closer, putting his hand on my cheek. His smile and small beard still made me go weak at the knees. "I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss we shared ever since."
"How did you know my name…?" I asked, with a naughty smile.
"I did my research. I'm Caesar, by the way."
"It's great seeing you again Caesar…"
"It looks like the party is over… Do you want to do something…?" He was pulling my face closer to his, when suddenly, it hit me.
"The party…" I put my hand on his chest. "I can't right now, I'm in the middle of something. But, look for me…" I smiled at him, stepping away.
Shaking my head, I climbed the stairs running, with the camera in hands. Already in the hallway, I started to step softly, specially coming closer to the door of the bedroom Freed and Laxus were. I touched the door opened with ease, and took the flash off. I crawled my way in, and hid by the side of the closet, that was right by the door. Stretching the camera a little, I pressed the button, and took the camera away quickly.
"Did you hear anything?" I heard Freed ask.
"I didn't hear anything, come here…"
Just one more… I clicked the second picture and crawled away. Then I heard steps coming through the stairs. It was the police. Shit! I entered the bathroom, who was right next to Laxus' room. I pressed my back against the wall, trying not to breath too loudly.
"Is anyone there?" The officer asked, knocking on Laxus door.
"Yes. I'm coming." The blond answered, as I could hear something hit the floor, as I was sure it was Freed's body. "Yes, officer?"
"Somebody called us, saying there was someone suspicious walking in here, carrying something. Did you see something sir?"
"Oh no, I didn't, but you have you looked into the other rooms?"
"This door next to yours is locked, should we break in?"
"No, don't worry, I have the key."
I tried not to break into laughter, imagining Laxus' face realizing we had escaped. I waited anxiously, hearing he put the key into the lock, and when he finally opened it;
"Shit!" He cursed.
"What is it sir?"
"Nothing, officer…" I giggled a little imagining that scene.
"Wait, look." A third voice spoke. "It looks like they might have escaped. Look at those sheets."
As I heard the policemen walking into the room, I realized it was now or never. I took a deep breath, opened the bathroom door softly and crawled my way to the stairs, climbing them down trying to not make any noise. Sweating cold. I rushed to the door, it was still raining heavily. When I finally got out of there, feeling the water fall into my face, I sighed with relieve and waited a minute standing there, processing what had just happened. Then I ran away, when suddenly I was pulled over by a pair of hands. Scared, I faced whoever it was, waiting a split second to realize it was Natsu. He was breathing deeply, and so was I, as we were standing by the side of the house, with rain coming down our heads.
"What is your problem?!" He whispered.
"What?!" I whispered back and so the conversation went on.
"You almost killed me you know?! I thought you had been caught!" Natsu replied, his eyes were a mixture of anger and despair. I was surprised to see how shaken he was by this whole situation.
"Relax, I am here. What did you do with the head?" I tried to find a way out of that conversation, the way Natsu was looking at me was making me really uncomfortable, when I realized the piece of copper was nowhere to be found.
"I asked Elfman to deliver it to Dragon Omega…"
"You didn't come with?!" I asked, pretending to be mad if only to take the focus of that whole conversation off of me.
"How could I? You disappeared, you moron!" He pushed my shoulder with strength.
"I already said I didn't intend to!" I pushed his shoulder back. "Geez, what has gotten into you?!"
Natsu faced the floor, as I was confusedly seeing how sad his expression was, I just didn't expect him to be this sad. Suddenly, I realized he started to sob, and forcing my eyes to see amongst all the rain, I realized tears were coming down his face.
"Natsu, are you cry…"
He pushed me by my collar and pressed his lips against mine. My confusion soon faded away, as I closed my eyes and surrounded his neck with my arms. Our cold wet bodies pressed against each other, as I felt his cold nose touching his face and feeling the drops of rain coming down from it. His cold wet lips touching mine, our tongues dancing with one another, as I let him lead the way.
I pressed my body harder and harder against his with every move our mouths made. I grabbed his left cheek tightly, and he had to separate our mouths for a split second, to regain breath after that move. The rain still coming down on us, and our wet shirts glued with one another. He then pushed me back by my neck, his tongue went all in inside my mouth, and I pressed my hand even harder against his butt. Natsu crossed one of his legs, surrounding my own.
I was fully erected, and I could tell the same applied to him, as our tights were pressed against each other. I put my free hand inside his shirt, feeling his soaking wet body, with the drops coming down his perfectly sculptured abs, and I enjoyed every minute of my hand rubbing his belly, carving my nails into his pecks. It, then reached to Natsu's worked out chest, and I played with one his nipples with my thumb, making him once again separate our mouths so he could release a soft moan.
I took the chance, and started kissing his neck, sucking and biting his skin. I let go of his ass and his chest and took both my hands to his back, scratching it and carving my nails into it, pressing my body as hard as I could against the cherry head's, wishing I could just eat him up right there.
"G-Gray…" He said, with some difficulty.
"Yeah…?" I whispered while still exploring his neck with my mouth.
"I…" I pulled him even closer to me, as he slipped away. "I can't." He shot those words at me.
Disappointed, I let his body go. We were both still shaking and breathing deeply from that experience. I looked deep into Natsu's eyes, making him blush, and look away.
"I can't Gray!"
"I see…"
"I shouldn't… This shouldn't…" He tried to formulate a sentence, as I was still looking deeply into his face, as he faced the grass. Part of me wanted to grab him and finish what we started. "This shouldn't have happened, I'm sorry."
Natsu walked away, as I watched that head of pink hair disappear into the background. Still puffy and fully erect, I pressed my back against the house wall, still wondering in my head about what had just happened. If only I knew that was only the beginning.
By that same time the next day, Laxus' would already had receive a set of pictures that would send him the message not to mess with me nor Natsu for the rest of our lives at the university.
