A/N: New chapter, hopefully written in the amount of time I expected it to. Or maybe not. (22/07/16: Definitely not. Goddammit.) I swear, writing each chapter is a slow, tiring process that has me thinking on each thing that I want to happen in the story. You know, to keep it as far away as humanly possible from the original story. Not that MC was bad, nah. I just want it to be less impulsive, emotional, childish and random. Also, I want all of its chapters to be equal in quality and length.
Not a lot to ask for, right?
Meh. Thanks to all of you that left a review, faved and/or followed. To those that read it, too. Your contribution makes me write a little bit more, even if it doesn't look like it.
Goddammit, I should try to sound less like an 80-yo professor when I write. LOL, get rekt m8, sugoi, shit up a storm, yada yada yada.
Shedauwz: …the fuck?
Yeeeeeeeeah… nope, mission failed.
Anyway, read and enjoy.
Saludos.
My Favorite Nightmare
City of Magnolia…
Fairy Tail High…
After class...
Many things to do in one day but not enough time to do them all is what many people in the world agree to be the worst one out of all the troubles in their lives. Honestly, wouldn't you rather prefer to be doing some other thing instead of being here reading these lines? Some people would, yeah.
Which, right now, was exactly the case for one young book-loving girl going by the name of Levy Mcgarden; she was very much annoyed at the papers sitting at one side of her desk, looking smug and ominous as they towered next to her lowered head.
Regarding her appearance; her hair was tied neatly behind her with only two strands loose and framing her face, wide hazel eyes that would normally shine in front of a piece of paper – belonging to a book, not these ones – and a pretty innocent looking façade. These belonged to the young female student from class 2-B that wore the same uniform as any other girl attending Fairy Tail High.
Pretty standard, wasn't it?
Sans for the uniform, which was one size too big for her – a small detail you should never ask her about, for your own damn sake –, there was nothing wrong with the young teenage girl.
Besides, who cares about the other girls! She was waaaay more aerodynamic than them! A pro she took in stride. She had nothing to weigh her down. Why? Because she had justice on her side.
Cough.
Back to the annoyance she was directing at the papers atop her desk.
'I've been correcting requests for StuCo ever since I sat down here two hours ago,' comparing the tower of papers already done and the one with the papers still waiting, she had to suppress the desperate urge to throw them all out of the room in flames or ripped to shreds, if she had the means to do such things at hand.
…maybe the ability to make the elements she writes about come to life before her? Yes, maybe the ability to write Fire down and have the voracious element magically come to life atop her desk, to scorch the sickening tower of requests from the students in the blink of an eye.
But then, her heart would not stand the sight of the papers going through that. Her mind would most likely picture it as if they were her own books being set aflame. She sighed and calmed down. 'Why didn't I stay quiet when they asked for a class representative? I could be with Lu and Yuki out in the library right now if not for this.'
Her thoughts drifted then to the many activities she could be indulging in if not for this obligation she took. The possibility of passing an afternoon at the library, going through mountains upon mountains of books together with the other two people she knew would enjoy it, wasn't the only thing popping into her mind at the moment.
There was always the option of going to the skatepark.
Meet up with the odd trio of the school and hang out with them for a while.
And maybe actually set her mind straight this time and see if she could muster enough courage to –
"Hm… Levy? Can you come here for a sec?"
Tooooooo – do what? Muster enough courage to do what again?
"Uh?" The voice of StuCo's president diverted the girl's attention away from the daydream that didn't even get to start. She stood up, walking up to the front desk to hear what the senior teen wanted from her. Perhaps the blue-haired president found a mistake in one of the papers she presented earlier? She cringed at the thought. "Y-yes, president? What do you need?"
'I really hope Loke is wrong about this.' Said youngster looked up from his phone at her, bewildered eyes blinking a couple of times to catch up with what she asked before bursting into a fit of chuckles. "It's alright, no need to call me so formally, Levy."
One of the representatives in the room snorted at the words.
'W-why do I keep forgetting that? We're friends since middle-school, Levy! Since middle-school! Ugh!' Levy had the decency to lower her head in embarrassment at the reminder, hearing small giggles from the other students in the room behind her back. She nodded shyly and asked again. "S-sorry, I will remember it next time… so… you needed something, Jellal?"
"That's more like it… and yes, I do, follow me." Jellal nodded after another chuckle, giving her a small smile. He stood up from his chair with a finger pointed at the door, clearly wanting to take the talk outside. 'The room's full of nosy representatives after all.'
Hell, he was still trying to make them forget of what happened the day before with Natsu and company. The way he and the others darted towards the door when they found out the pinket wasn't with them anymore. Ugh, even he was making an effort to forget about it all.
"Okay, that takes care of the eavesdroppers." Nodding to himself once the door slid shut, Jellal faced the blue-haired girl with the same smile he had once inside. "Now… as for what I wanted to tell you… no, more like request from you."
His smile dropped and a sigh escaped him.
Levy's head tilted to the side in wonder at this.
Was he going to ask her to do something complicated?
He was going to ask her something complicated, wasn't he?
"Can you go to the Disciplinary Committee and see… if… uh…" He lowered his head and scratched it awkwardly, not knowing how to word his petition without sounding imposing. In his mind, it looked like he was taking advantage of his position to force people into running errands for him. 'There's no other choice… I would go there myself but I have to make sure the slackers in the office get their asses moving.' He looked back at the girl through the corner of his eyes and saw her staring at him in cluelessness. He sighed again. 'And she knows him as much as I do, there's no one better nearby.'
"Uhm… Jellal? Everything alright?" The blue-haired girl questioned after the long silence, a bit curious on what the third-year student wanted to ask of her. "I go to the Committee and then…? And then what?"
'Yeah, better her than the others. I know I can't ask Mira for help without hearing how she made things worse later. Levy it is.' He gave a third sigh and straightened up his stance, looking more composed now with his thoughts in order. "Go to the Committee and make sure nothing bad happens. Sorry for being cryptic, but I know people are hearing us behind my back –"
The sound of footsteps scrambling hastily behind the closed door made the girl yelp in surprise and the boy to feel sad about being right with his assertion.
Those sons of –
"– and I know you'll surely get what I want you to do once you get there." He turned towards the office, giving a sheepish smile as his hand landed on the crevice of the door, ready to slide it open. "Try not to take any sides and maintain order, okay?"
With that said, the young man opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him..
Leaving Levy outside, feeling very confused in the middle of the hallway.
She didn't have a single clue about what she had to do.
'U-uhm… I… I should go there and see with my own eyes, I guess?' The poor class-rep shook her head in submission and started to walk towards the Disciplinary office, trying to understand what Jellal wanted her to do in there. Was there a discussion of sorts on the horizon and he wanted her to go in his stead? 'It could be plausible… he's pretty busy now and can't go there himself. But then, why me? It's not like I can stop a discussion if one starts. No one pays attention to me when the yelling starts.'
Sighing at the same time her head slumped down in misery, the girl resigned to her fate and made a beeline to the destination set for her, greeting some known students on the way that were still roaming the school even though classes finished a couple of hours ago.
"I said I'm sorry!"
The thought of why she was sent to the Disciplinary office still haunted her.
"And that's how you apologize!? Really!?"
It was making her mind wander through so many possibilities, all so likely in her opinion, that she had no other option than to walk forward to get the true answer.
"I said sorry and then you started bitchin' about –!"
"LANGUAGE! We're inside the school! We have rules!"
"Oooooh, fuck your rules! I WON'T WATCH. MY FUCKIN'. LANGUAGE!"
It wasn't until the sound of wood breaking at the end of the hallway that the girl snapped back into attention. Damn, she was getting lost in thought a lot lately, wasn't she? Her slumped head rose from staring at the floor and gazed ahead, noticing that there were two people struggling under the frame of the Disciplinary Committee's door.
A boy and a girl were holding each other by the arms and trying to push the other back, either in – in the boy's case – or outside the office – in the girl's case –.
That subtle innuendo there.
'I-I-Is this what Jellal meant!?' Levy ran at full speed in alarm, wanting to fulfill the president's – her friend's request before anyone got hurt seriously. 'W-why me!? I don't have the means to stop people from fighting!'
She got closer by the second.
And so did her image of the people fighting.
Wait!
Was that Natsu?
"Fuck your rules, chief!"
Wait, wait!
The door to the office was broken?
"You're going to pay for that door, Dragneel!"
Wait, wait, wait!
He was struggling with the Disciplinary chief!?
"N-Natsu!? W-what are you – WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!?" Levy shouted once she reached her destination, standing to the sides of the two fighting parties. She could notice the members of the Disciplinary Committee inside the office, hugging each other for dear life at one corner of the room. "Stop what you're doing, RIGHT NOW!"
At her order, which came out quite nicely in her opinion, only the pinket stopped for a moment to regard her with a blank, curious look.
"Uh? Levy? What're you – …WHOAAAAAAAAAAA!?" The second Natsu stopped applying force to the push he was doomed beyond human comprehension.
The crimson-haired demon saw her chance and inhaled a very large amount of air in preparation.
"You are going to RESPECT. MY. RULES!" Erza raised one leg to the guy's chest, kicking hard now that the guy dropped his guard. She relinquished her hold on his arms when the leg extended forward and needless to say, the pinket was sent flying towards the opposite wall to the office's entrance.
Quite the feat, if I may say so myself.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW – AGH!"
The impact reverberated across the school.
It made several students notice that there was something going on inside the school premises and for those who were aware of what that tremor meant, it was a sign to scamper off.
Even Silent Hill was a thousand times safer than the school now that the Disciplinary chief's switch was flipped.
"Na-Na-Na-Natsu…!? A-are you alright!?" Levy managed to yell after her vocal cords managed to work again. The sight of the teenage skater trying to regain his senses with his back embedded against the concrete wall of the hallway left her almost speechless. Her gaze travelled back to the cause of such thing, finding the still seething Erza standing a step outside the office that was her domain. 'A-ah… s-she's crazy…!'
"Y-you better learn how to apologize, Dragneel." The redhead growled lowly, sending waves upon waves of hatred towards the still dazed second-year student with her glowering eyes. "Until then, don't get anywhere close to me. Got it?"
She took the beaten door by a side that wasn't full of splinters and slid it shut, the force behind the action cracking the broken top part of it, which fell to the ground as a result.
It was pretty pointless of her to close a broken door when you can just peek inside the room through the missing fraction, but who was going to be brave enough to tell her so?
From the panicked voices and footsteps inside the office, it looked like no one was.
Pussies.
"S-she's got… quite a temper… huh?" Levy murmured under her breath, steadying herself once the senior left the hallways. Her eyes turned to Natsu, who was now struggling to stand up. She rushed to his side, gingerly holding the guy's arm after he hissed at her touch on his back. "Are you okay, Natsu? She kicked you really hard there."
"U-uuugh… y-yeah, I think I'm fine." The pinket breathed out between groans, feeling like he had just tried and failed the mighty 1080 stunt from the highest ramp in the world, crushing his back against the ground with the speed and gravity to make it worse. He shook his head with a hand holding it by the forehead and leaned a bit of Levy's form, eliciting a small gasp from the girl without his notice. "God… I swear… that chick is so hard to understand."
"U-uh, yeah, the chief is a very… unique person, so to say." The midget buckled under the weight of her fellow classmate, taking a step back to readjust her stance. She looked towards the broken door, wondering what happened up until she got there and decided it would be better to take the young man for a check-up in the infirmary before doing any questioning. "Anyway, let's continue while we go to the nurse's office… that hit just now sounded pretty bad."
"W-what? No way, I'm – OWOWOWOWOW!" Natsu tried to straighten up his posture to prove he didn't need any check-ups – the school's resident nurse was scary after all – but the second he did so, his back proved him wrong. "W-what the fuck!? It fuckin' hurts!"
"LANGUAGE!"
The yell coming from inside the office made the pinket forget his pain momentarily to glare and bare his fangs at the person behind the broken door.
There was a thing or two he wanted to yell back to shut the girl's mouth for good, but he decided better to just roll his eyes and whisper a last insult under his breath. "Oversensitive bitch."
"I HEARD THAT, DRAGNEEL!"
Wait, what?
How did she…?
Levy and he did a double-take, blinking at the voice with their mouths open in surprise until the latter moved his lips to say a final "…what the hell…?" before following on the girl's advice to visit the infirmary.
The day just kept on getting hectic, no matter how you looked at it.
Student Council's office…
Some minutes prior…
'…too late. Too fuckin' late.' Jellal brought both hands to his face and sighed deeply once he felt the small tremor. He should've been quicker about it, sent Levy as soon as he got the message or run to the room himself. Or maybe not. This wasn't entirely his fault. He pulled his phone from his pocket and glared at the last message he received, burning holes through the device. 'Why the hell didn't Loke warn me in advance!? I'm gonna get an earful from the Principal because of this, goddammit!'
Figuring that glaring at the poor electronic device would help no one, nor lessen his building anger, he decided that giving the man a call to settle things was the best course of action.
So, looking for the button in the menu above the messages he exchanged with the guy, he tapped on the call contact option and brought the cellphone to his ear, waiting just a few seconds before someone picked up on the other side.
"Heeeeeello~! This is Loke! How can I help you tod –?" His suave greeting was cut short in an instant.
The cherry tone he had only made the blue-haired president even madder.
"Loke, you pendejo! Why didn't you warn me about this sooner!?" He didn't waste a second to yell at the mic of his cellphone, scaring the rest of the representatives in the room with his sudden mix-up between his family's language and English. Everyone knew that if he was mixing up both languages, either he was truly mad or it was a national holiday from his culture. And no, Cinco de Mayo was not one of them. "Natsu's probably a stain on the wall and I have to deal with Erza turned into a mad chupacabra!"
…forget I said anything.
A nervous chuckle was heard from the other side of the call. "W-well, I didn't get some of what you said, but why are you raging at me? I didn't do anything!"
The door to StuCo's office was opened and a person went in, this one rushing to the president's side to whisper something to him.
She was one of the class-reps of the school.
And she had bad news for him.
His breathing hitched and his eyes saw red.
The girl retreated as the rest of the occupants in the room.
'You are kidding me.' Jellal barely stopped himself from raging even more when the poor representative – a girl from class 1-C that is not relevant to name – came to tell him what she witnessed in the Disciplinary Committee's office. He was just inches away from smashing his phone against the desk. "Chingados! Because of that very same reason, moron! From what I've been told; I have a broken door, an injured friend, and a ticking bomb in the Disciplinary Committee!"
A gasp was heard from the other side of the phone. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there, man! How's any of that my fault!?"
"Idiota! Can't you do the math in your head?" The president breathed out, trying to calm himself a little since he was attracting too much attention to himself. There were even some passing students in the hallway looking inside the office at his raging form. "You saw what happened yesterday, didn't you? What did you think it would happen if Natsu went to see Erza, without supervision, again?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "…oh."
'These guys are gonna turn me into a complaining eighty year old man if they keep it up like this.' The student president sat down in his chair and sighed profusely; glad his point finally reached the cameraman's brain. "Yes, oh, now I have a mess on my hands and I can't get it off with just washing them."
"…bow chicka bow wow."
A vein popped out in his forehead.
An uneasy grin appeared on his face.
Uh-oh.
"Loke… I'm still in the mood of sending you to hell and get you back just to kill you again." Jellal rubbed his throbbing forehead and hissed. "This is not the time for catchy phrases from online series!"
"Hey! Not my fault you left a pretty obvious opening for me there!" Loke yelled back, chuckling lightly. "See? Even I did it! Bow chicka bow –!"
The following yell made the entire room and its occupants jump out of their seats and under the desks in a matter of seconds. Just when they managed to calm their already scared hearts from the president's initial outburst, this happens?
Seriously, the blue-haired teen should find better friends.
"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOKEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
That and some hot, honey tea to prevent his voice from going hoarse from all the screaming he was making at the guy's teasing.
Cough cough.
Bow chicka bow wow~!
Fairy Tail High's Infirmary…
Present time...
With the pink-haired skater patched up and told to take a moment to regain his bearings, since it looked like the injuries on his back were a little worse than what he was willing to admit, Levy thought this was as good a moment as any to ask the guy how everything went down inside the Disciplinary Committee's office before she got there.
Mostly because she was curious about what was said to turn the Disciplinary Chief into such a beast.
Come on, she broke a door and physically harmed a student that was supposed to be under her care.
That was bound to pique her curiosity one way or another.
"Natsu?" The guy withdrew his eyes from checking out his wounds to acknowledge the petit girl's call, turning his head and body on the bed to regard her better. This made her a little nervous since she had a pretty clear view of his nicely shaped built, but knowing there were more important matters to resolve first, she chose to ignore it… for now. "What happened with the chief back there? That's the first time I ever saw her physically harm someone other than Elfman from the judo club when he gets too manly."
Really, where in blazes did the overgrown man thought it was a wise idea to challenge the senior student to a duel?
He was a few levels above Natsu in the stupidity scale, that's for sure.
"Hah, tell me about it." Natsu groaned and shook his head, adjusting the bandages strapped around his torso. They itched a lot and they restricted his movements more than he liked. What if these prevented him from practicing for the next few days? Oh, the Disciplinary Chief would get a piece of his mind if that were the case. "I just went there to apologize, okay? Because of yesterday's shit and all that."
When the girl remained quiet, the pinket figured that what he said wasn't enough to properly inform her about the situation.
So he told her about the last day's events, not omitting anything and even mentioning how he was almost knocked out by the senior's melons.
It was… mildly amusing, yes, but ridiculous mostly.
'…Natsu, I know you're dumb, but this is a new level, even for you.' Levy blinked in a daze after the recount was over. She was literally speechless. How? Just how could a simple teasing end up in such a disaster? 'Well, I know the chief is pretty self-conscious and dislikes cocky attitudes, even from those close to her… sigh, she is partly to blame for this, yet you could've toned down the teasing back there.'
While these thoughts ran across the girl's mind, the skater went on.
"Then I go home and dad gets all mad at me when I tell him why I had a bump about the size of our house at the back of my head. He twists my arm until I surrender, and then he makes me swear I will apologize to the chief first chance I get." Finishing his tale while Levy was still silent in thought, Natsu crossed his arms and pouted, feeling like the world was just mocking him with everything that's been going on lately. "God-fuckin'-dammit! This is the last time I try to be a nice guy, y'hear me?"
The petit class-rep gave the young man some time to calm down, knowing from experience that Natsu as he was now would not listen to anything she were to say.
He was a good guy at heart, just a little bit hardheaded.
"Y-yeah, Natsu, I hear you." Smiling awkwardly at the childish display from the sophomore, Levy adjusted her position in the chair she took from one of the corners of the room and gave the guy her full attention. She now knew what made the pinket go to the Disciplinary Committee today. 'I have yet to know what was it that happened before I got there.'
Time to find out.
"Natsu?" The guy looked at her from the corner of his eyes, still sulking – or pretending to, at least –. "Erm, I know it's too soon to ask, but… how did you two end up fighting this time around?"
"Huh? You wanna know what happened this time?" The boy's brooding reverted to the anger he was showing back in the hallways, growling dangerously when he recalled the argument of thirty minutes ago. He gave the girl his full attention, noticing how he had her scared with his sudden change in mood.
Could he tell her about it?
Maybe?
Well, she was Levy. She was an overall nice girl and one of the few friends he had in the school. 'Two very good points in her favor, yet… should I tell her how I fucked it up?'
Despite those points, Natsu figured that he couldn't.
What if she told the others about it?
He had no problems in the girl sharing the information with say, Lucy, Jellal or some of his other friends.
Hell, he had no problems if even some people outside the school were to find out.
However…
"You wanna know what fuckin' happened?" If this were to reach Gray's or his brother's ears… oh, he doesn't even want to imagine what those two bastards would do with the information. The assholes already had a lot of shit on him, too much to the pinket's liking, and he wasn't all that hyped about making the list longer. There was this brotherly competition to uphold and Natsu was lagging behind because unbelievable things like today's happen to him on a daily basis. "I'll tell you what the hell happened! That girl's bat-shit crazy!"
"…uhm, I think you said something like that when we were heading here, Natsu." Levy reminded him carefully, laughing nervously at the whole situation while she tried to ignore the piercing glare of the skater. She noticed the guy's obvious attempt to finish the subject with a strong remark. This was why she was going to ask him again, despite how dangerous it looked to do so for any unknowing passer-by. "What I want to know is what did you two say to each other back there?"
Natsu wouldn't dare to jump on her because she's pushing the subject, right?
They were friends from a long time ago; surely the boy had a soft spot for her, right?
He growled lowly.
Levy gulped nervously. 'He does, right?'
'…the hell am I doing?' The boy's façade changed after his attempt to avoid giving the real answer failed, this one softening to something a small scowl before he sighed and looked down to his hands resting over his lap. 'Hiding the truth isn't worth scaring out a friend… sigh… what the hell is getting into me lately?'
Natsu took a long, calming breath, preparing himself to tell the truth this time.
"Okay… here's what happened." The blue-haired girl blinked at the new shift in his mood and leaned in to hear him attentively, wisely choosing not to point out his continuous mood swings for fear of losing her chance. The boy ran a hand through his hair, leaving it there to scratch it as he spoke. "I went to the committee's office and asked her for some time to talk… she nodded and…"
Disciplinary Committee's office…
30 minutes ago…
"Yeah… uh, y'see, can we talk for a minute?"
"Yes, Dragneel, we can." Erza nodded neutrally, looking around to make sure the rest of the committee's members were busy on their desks, regarding the young man of pink hair with a careful gaze.
After last night's talk with her mother, she was willing to try and be more empathetic with other people, give the young man an opportunity to rectify his mistakes before moving in to rectify hers.
'…though I still feel he is here to rant about yesterday and make my task harder to topple. I don't know how I'll face mom tonight if I go back without solving this apology fiasco.' However, with how Dragneel came to the office wearing that sour expression on his face. There was a slight chance her newfound understanding was about to be crushed before being actually put to use. "What do you need? Make it quick, please. There are many things we have to do before everyone leaves back to their homes."
I did say newfound, right? It will take some time before she can also apply it in the way she addresses people.
'Yeah? No kidding, Sherlock, where do you think I wanna be right now? I had to bullshit my way with the guys to keep them from finding out about this… good thing Loke will keep it secret for me. I hope.' Natsu scratched the back of his head and looked down, closing his eyes in concentration as he sighed. 'Anyway, here goes nothing. I swear, old man, the things you make me do.'
How the hell did he get himself in this shit?
Sure, he was told way too many times that whenever he opens his mouth something bad is bound to happen, especially around girls within his age range, but really? Sometimes this whole bejeezus was beyond ridiculous.
Thinking about it left him so tired; it felt as if he had been practicing with his skateboard the entire week non-stop, more often than not.
"About yesterday, chief," when he looked up, his eyes had this tired and annoyed air about them that made the girl in front of him frown doubtfully at what was coming. Was he really going to apologize? Or was she right in her guess about him coming to rant? "I wanted to apologize for… uh… teasing you, yeah. I was out of line and I won't do it again."
The frown disappeared.
This was… an unexpected turn of events.
'Huh… look at this. He really is apologizing.' The crimson-haired senior blinked in surprise, nodding slowly to the boy who was expecting some kind of reaction from her at his apology. This development did make her part of the deal easier to handle. 'Who knew Dragneel would apologize this easily? Definitely not me.' "U-um… thank you, Dragneel, that's really mature of you."
'…wait, wut? It worked? And what was that? Mature? Really?' His drained expression changing to a more upbeat and relieved one, the pinket grinned to the chief and brought his hands to the back of his head. This turned out to be easier than he thought it would be. And that mature compliment there had a really good effect on his mood. He could get used to this. "Weeeell, glad you think that, chief! I'm really sorry about what I did. Promise not to do it again."
'Okay, now he's just reverting back to the same Dragneel of always.' Erza shook her head in slight amusement, feeling a small smile on her face at the sudden 180 the guy did. It was similar to what she saw yesterday; it seems that when the pinket was relaxed and was not being put on the spot, he was actually not that bad to speak to. A mental frown formed in her mind. 'I guess I don't get to see that often from people because I am always keeping them on their toes… huh. Maybe that's what mom meant? To do the opposite? Did she use reverse psychology with me?'
And while the red-haired senior submerged deep into her little world, Natsu waited for some kind of reaction from her, knowing fully well – this time around, at least – that snapping her out of her reverie would be bad for him.
'I know I shouldn't snap her out of her thoughts, but she's taking too much time. What the hell is she thinking about?' The salmon-haired student's gaze wandered inside the room, meeting the sympathetic ones of those who were used to this side of their boss. One of them even moved his lips to tell the skater to get comfortable because it is going to take a while. And time wasn't something Natsu wanted to lose at this moment. '…c'mon, I wanna see if I can check up on Gray at the hospital before joining Loke downtown. I can't stay here until she's done with whatever she's daydreaming about.'
Sighing profusely, Natsu stepped closer to the senior, ignoring the hands waving at him to stop before anything bad were to happen. What the hell was with those guys? Did they think he wasn't aware of how the chief could get when she was suddenly pulled out of her little world? Hah! Of course he knew.
Hell, he even felt a bit bigger than them, considering he was daring to do something they didn't have the balls to do not even in their wildest dreams.
"Hey, chief, you there?" He leaned forward in front of the girl, same as he did back at the park the day before, however this time he was being consciously careful about their distance. If he was right, what triggered the reaction at that time was his invasion of her personal space. So, maybe staying at arm's length was the best call? "Chieeeeeef? It's me, Dragneel, I wanna go home nooooow."
Seeing as his calls elicited no reaction from her, Natsu sighed and turned to the other best thing he could think of. He pulled out his cellphone from his breast pocket, and while he knew the model he had did not have the best speakers out of the bunch roaming the world, he figured it would be okay for what he wanted it to do at the moment.
He tapped his way to the music folders and clicked on the loudest song he had stored.
"Here goes nothing."
The salmon-haired student tapped the play button and raised the phone with the speakers aimed at the girl.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the room prepared for the worse.
Show me a sign!
Show me a reason to give!
A solitary fuck about your god damn beliefs!
I'm going blind! But one thing's clear!
Death is the only salvation you'll fear!
The loud, static-filled blaring of BMTH's instruments and its vocalist's screams had the effect the pink-haired student was aiming for. Not a second later than the first verse was over, Erza snapped out of her trance with an alarmed expression.
She looked left and right in a panic, trying to discover from where the noise was coming. Once her eyes caught sight of the phone hovering about twenty centimeters in front of her and the person holding it so that the speakers were aimed at her, the alarmed expression changed to one of confusion.
And some annoyance.
"Finally." Natsu nodded to himself and brought his phone closer, tapping the stop button and halting the track before it could get to his favorite part. Shame, really, but he could always hear it from start to finish once this whole thing was over. "You know, you really should stop doing that, chief."
This didn't reach the girl however.
She was still trying to understand what just happened.
"W-what the hell was that!?" Erza asked/yelled to the pink-haired student, showing a pained expression as she used her hands to cover her ears. They were buzzing and throbbing after being caught off-guard with such a loud music genre. "It almost sounded as if someone had thrown a guitar into a shredder!"
"Ay, chief, that's not nice." Natsu frowned, chuckling mentally while he faked to be hurt at her first impression of The House of Wolves. Shoving his phone back in his shirt's pocket, he gave a short nod to the chief. "But I'm willing to forgive you if you forgive me for blasting the music in the first place."
The small smile that was forming on his face didn't sit right with the red-haired girl, but she let it slide, seeing as what he did this time wasn't as outrageous as what he did the day before.
Still…
"You're forgiven, Dragneel… just… cut it with the cocky attitude and never do something like that again." Erza muttered through gritted teeth, carefully withdrawing her hands away from her ears. She flinched a little when she continued to hear the buzzing sound to her right, but chose to ignore it in favor of finishing her business with the skater. "Now listen, I'm also sorry for the way I… overreacted to your teasing yesterday." The pinket's eyes widened in surprise. "I shouldn't have thrown that first aid kit at you… I'm… sorry."
Natsu remained quiet. He was expecting to hear something along the lines of apology accepted, now get the hell out of my office, but this?
He seriously wasn't expecting to hear an apology from her part, even though for anyone with common sense – and having heard the whole story with an impartial mentality from start to finish – the apology from her should be a given.
Still, it was slightly offsetting.
"U-uh… sure, chief, I forgive you for that?" The salmon-haired student responded with his surprise still in place, making his statement come out closer to a question than an actual answer.
"I see… that's good, Dragneel." Despite that little detail, she took it for what it was and settled it there. She still had things to do and returning to her duties was a must if she wanted to leave the school early. 'Okay, we both apologized for the first transgressions… now, if he retracts from what he said afterwards, this matter will be solved.' Her mind suddenly clicked and reminded her of the other incident that was brought because of their little scuffle. She brought a hand to her face as she gasped. 'Ah, yes, I have to visit Fullbuster and make sure he's okay. I believe he didn't come to school today because of what happened to his arm.'
The only thing left then, was for Natsu to apologize for his comment about her… assets.
With that out of the way, they would both be able to return to their usual routines, bringing peace to the corridors of the school and its inhabitants.
But then, this was Natsu we were talking about here.
For the disgrace of everyone.
"So yeah, that's all. Sorry for what I did, it wasn't my place." Finished with his part, Natsu nodded to the flabbergasted girl and turned around to leave the room, mentally patting himself on the back for finally getting the problem solved once and for all. "Okay, chief, that's all. See you..."
The girl stared at his retreating back incredulously.
"Wait... that's it?" Erza gave the retreating boy a look of pure disbelief. Was he really apologizing just for the teasing? Just the teasing? She managed to make an uncomfortable smile with her lips, her left eyebrow twitching at the clueless face the guy was making when he turned around at her question. "Aren't you forgetting something here, Dragneel? It wasn't just the teasing you had to apologize for, remember?"
'What is she talking about now?' The pinket remained quiet for a moment, blinking in thought while eyeing the restless redheaded girl standing at the front of the room. He looked down, more especifically to what was a few centimeters below her neck and made a noise of acknowledgement. 'Oh! She's talking about those? Really?' He grinned cheekily, much to the girl's confusion, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh... c'mon, chief, you can't expect me to apologize for something that can't be changed, do you?"
The uneasy smile vanished at the same time the twitching eyebrow froze in place.
The air in the room was starting to feel asphyxiating all of the sudden.
'...he can't be serious.' Erza lowered her head in resignation and asked for clarification, more for the boy's salvation than for hers. "Say again?"
Everything was going so well.
Why?
Why would he forget about that?
"Well duh, why should I apologize for what I said about your boobs?"
…what the hell?
He would've been better off forgetting about it!
The fact he dared to say it out loud just made the little self-control Erza was using disappear completely. Her new empathetic side turning to dust in the blink of an eye at realizing that now everyone in the committee knew about what the boy said to have her mad at him... and pretty much everyone else by extension.
It was one of the figurative nails that were placed in his figurative coffin.
"It's not like they'll get any smaller if I apologize, now will they?"
And that was the last one.
"DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL!"
After that…
"I said I'm sorry!"
…the rest is...
"And that's how you apologize!? Really!?"
...history.
"I said sorry and then you started bitchin' about –!"
"LANGUAGE! We're inside the school! We have rules!"
"Oooooh, fuck your rules! I WON'T WATCH. MY FUCKIN'. LANGUAGE!"
Unfortunately so.
Infirmary...
Present time…
"…Natsu, you're definitely the dumbest person I've ever known." Levy said fearlessly once the story was over, uncaring of the guy's feelings once she heard how it was that everything went to hell during a simple encounter that should have cleared away all the bad blood between the disciplinary chief and him. "How could you…? Really? I don't even have words for what you did."
Said boy frowned at her, rolling his eyes at the words. "Sure… but you do have enough to call me dumb as everyone else."
"That's because it's true, Natsu. How did you forget something like that? And after remembering, what drove you to say something like what you said?" The petit bookworm deadpanned, shaking her head. "I swear… don't you ever think before talking?"
"Hey! Of course I do!" Natsu yelled back with some anger, backing away a little and looking down when he figured that, in truth, this new conflict between him and the senior could have been avoided if he had thought a few more seconds on what he was going to say. "…well, most of the time, at least. It's just that I didn't see it as that big a deal, y'know? What's so wrong about letting her know her boobs won't be getting smaller with my apology? It's the truth!"
Levy just sighed.
"Natsu… just forget about it." Looking out the window to the setting sun, the blue-haired girl remembered how she was only sent to ensure nothing bad were to happen in the Committee's office – thing she failed at avoiding –. Jellal never told her about what to do afterwards, and he hadn't sent her any message or anyone to look for her. Maybe she was free to do whatever she wanted? 'If so… what should I do? It's not like I can leave Natsu alone. What if he looks for the chief again and ends up worse than before?'
This was such a troublesome situation.
If it were up to her, she didn't have a problem in spending some more time with the pinket and try to explain to him why he should never say such rude things to girls ever again. But then, it wasn't like she had all the time in the world.
Who knew how long it would take her to get the lessons through the boy's thick skull?
"Hey, Levy?" Natsu called her while shaking her shoulders slightly, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. When she looked at him, he pointed to his cellphone and the message he had in display. It seemed to be from Loke. "Looks like Gray will be alright."
"…oh, that's good to know." Levy said with little enthusiasm, knowing by a fact that the other member of the odd trio wasn't in any life-threatening danger to begin with. It was good to know he was going to be alright, probably with a cast for the next couple of months, but that wasn't her main concern.
She looked outside again.
'Should I… should I help Natsu out with this? It seems like the best thing to do for him now.' Giving the now texting pinket a scrutinizing look through the corner of her eyes, she couldn't help but get a little anxious. She diverted her eyes to the floor, wanting to hide the very familiar warmth from showing on her face. 'A-also, if I offer to help him with this, it could be the chance I've been waiting for… t-to spend a little bit more of time with him.'
To each roadblock in life, there's a new path appearing to be taken.
Was this a sign of sorts?
'Perhaps I should take it… who knows when I will ever get a chance like this one during the rest of our time in high-school?' Mentally nodding to herself, Levy faced the pink-haired student on the infirmary bed and steeled herself for the proclamation she was about to make. She even stood up from her chair abruptly and everything, just to give more importance to her words – aside calling the boy's attention, that is. "Natsu!"
The startled boy sat straight in the bed, standing to attention at the sudden call of his name. "Y-yes, Levy!?"
Her next declaration, with her right hand pointing a finger at the skater's face while her free hand went to her hips, made the poor fellow stare in astonishment at her.
"I'm going to help you apologize properly to the chief!"
And also mutter a quite understandable…
"…wait, wut?"
Disciplinary Committee's office…
Around the same time…
"I'm done here, chief."
"Okay, you can leave then."
"Thanks… good job with Dragneel."
"Hm, don't mention it. Really. Just don't." With the last of her subordinates finishing their part of the work – and leaving hurriedly for fear of invoking the wrath of their boss –, Erza was left alone in the office to work on what was left of her own paperwork. Aside some other matters that were not written down in paper and that were currently bothering her mind. 'What's the problem with that guy? Every time it looks like he's about to change my opinion of him, he goes and does something that throws me completely out of my hinges. And he doesn't even try that hard at it!'
Tilting her head to see the office's broken door to her left, she frowned when thinking on how much it would be taken from the committee's budget to get a new one. And that wasn't done by Dragneel, no. She was the one that broke it when trying to kick the guy out of the room.
Not the best course of action for someone that's supposed to uphold the rules set by the school's administration, but it wasn't like she could have avoided it. Well, maybe she could have, just not this time.
She would have to think about how to explain this to the teachers tomorrow.
'…sigh. I knew this could happen the minute he stepped into the room to talk.' She sighed profusely, dropping her pen to lean back on her chair. She eyed the papers that were left to do and feeling it bothersome to be in the room where everything happened. She figured it would be better if she took the papers home with her. 'I should've been more understanding and tried to keep a more level-headed approach when talking to him… also… why did I let myself get lost in thought again? Ugh!'
She stood up, saving the papers inside the brown briefcase her mother got her several years ago when she started to attend middle-school and was still with her these days, to later exit the office – carefully avoiding the splinters protruding from the broken door.
She walked down the vacant hallways of the school.
It was calming despite the feeling of loneliness they gave off.
It allowed her self-criticism of the day's events to continue undeterred.
'Now this is a good moment to lose myself in thought and not when I'm talking to someone.' She walked down the two sets of stairs that led to the ground floor and turned right towards the front entrance of the school. The frown she wore when leaving the office was still in its place, deepening by the second. 'Yesterday and today… both times, it was this habit of mine that caused problems for both Dragneel and me…' Her eyes narrowed. 'I should find a way to get rid of it before the next time I exchange words with him… or with anyone else for that matter.'
Her steps weren't hurried by the thoughts in her mind, but despite this, when she got out of her reverie, the school gates were already behind her. The man in charge of closing the gates – a teacher from one of the first year classes, if she guessed right – waved absent-mindedly at her, to which she nodded back in acknowledgement prior to taking the road that would lead her home.
She had a good deal of things to do for the committee once arriving home so looking for a way to cope with her quirk would have to be postponed for later.
It would be weekend in two days and that time off would most likely give her plenty of room to work through the many things in her agenda.
'I just hope nothing happens between today and Saturday.' She thought as the first lights of the streets came to life around her, signaling the start of the evening. 'I'd hate it if something were to ruin my plans now of all times.'
Funny thing she thinks that.
Don't you agree?
Fairy Tail High…
Nighttime…
The sound of feet steeping lazily over the dirt covering the sports field echoed across the backyard of the school, signaling that someone – or more than one person – other than the few teachers allowed there in these late hours of the night was skulking around the campus.
The lack of lighting made it quite obvious that these people weren't teachers. The few people allowed at this late hour were currently carrying out their rounds inside the main building, the yellow light of their flashlights visible from outside thanks to the large windows at one side of the hallways used by the students every day.
This begged the question.
Who could these strangers be?
Why would they go through the trouble of infiltrating a school at this hour?
And why were they stopping in front of the school's deposit, staring at one of the walls of the building with rapt attention?
Fairy Tail High…
Daytime…
"What in the infiernos happened here!?" Jellal yelled to the top of his lungs once he managed to get through the mass of students surrounding the school's old deposit, glaring fiercely at the wall that faced the rest of the facilities and the obscenities that what were written on it. He turned left and right, trying to meet eyes with someone that could have the answer, but aside the members of the student council following him, the students avoided his inquisitive gaze. "Huh? C'mon! Does anyone here has any idea what this mierda is!?"
There was a wide and colorful list of the most infuriating insults the school and its members had gotten in the last few years on the wall, written in black, green and purple letters that were obviously from spray cans, of which there were a couple of lying around.
Hell, this was on par with the incidents that used to occur when the principal's grandson and his group used to get in fights with the schools from the neighboring towns.
'Joder… just when I thought I'd never have to deal with this type of thing.' Calming down after his initial outburst, Jellal started to give instructions to his entourage, ordering them to disperse the students loitering around and also to save the spray cans lying on the ground. When the class-rep from one of the senior years moved to do the latter and passed next to him, the azure-haired president stopped him with a hand of his shoulder, leaning in to whisper something. "Keep them in our office under lock and key, I don't want anyone taking them from us, got it?"
The fellow senior nodded slowly and moved to do as told, leaving Jellal to inspect the wall in more detail.
He knew there were some parties and other schools that had something of a rivalry with them, yet none of them gave signs of moving to do something like this in the last couple of years.
So this meant it was the job of a small group or just one person.
'But who? Who could've done this?'
His eyes narrowed when not even a single name came to him.
Maybe he would have to ask around the school, see if anyone had been into fights lately and – wait? Fights outside the school?
His eyes widened in realization.
A hand went to his face to hide it from everyone as he groaned tiredly.
'…why does everything bad that happens here is connected to them, joder!?'