GraLu Week is still running, folks! Let's spread the GraLu love! September 1st to September 7th! See you!
PS, I don't know when but I will be updating Going, Going, Gone. Thank you, Emil C, for the encouragement and the suggestions. Much love and thanks!
Disclaimer: We do not own Fairy Tail. We are sorry. We will eat now.
Chapter Three:
She watched as the round orbs on the screen chased each other on a fixed circular path. After around three seconds, the same pop-up saying 'Failed' appeared on her screen and Lucy let out a frustrated groan. She immediately stood straight up from her prone form.
Sending messages to her friends had been difficult. They rarely got through. So she finally gave up, made her bed and, when she was more-or-less satisfied, she walked out of the humid room.
Day two at Hacienda Lucky had been, as she expected, hot. It was only eight in the morning but the weather was already warm and sunny with hot, dry air scratching against Lucy's porcelain skin. She complained to herself as she made her way down to breakfast.
Upon arriving at the table, one of the plates had already been used; Gray 'The Sadist' Fullbuster wouldn't be joining her for breakfast... good.
The blonde sat down on the wooden chair, letting her hair cascade down just above her elbows and she started to eat. A little while later, Aling Rosa, the lady the night before graced her breakfast with slices of fresh fruit.
"Good morning, Miss Lucy," the woman greeted. She was looking as jovial as the night before, "Did you fall asleep good?"
Lucy smiled at her choice of words but gracefully replied, "Yes, I slept quite well last night. Though it was a bit hot..."
"Hot? Ah, yes... Hot... But the wind at night is nice, no?" Aling Rosa started to pour down orange juice on the girl's tall glass.
She nodded in reply. "Ah, how do you say 'good morning' here?" she asked.
"'Magandang umaga'," the woman said smoothly, like she was speaking in Spanish. Lucy repeated her statement, but with great difficulty because of her accent. "Megendaeng umaega," it sounded in her ears and they both laughed at her futile attempts to say 'ah' instead of 'ae'.
"By the way, Aling Rosa, where's Gray?"
"Ah, si Sir Gray? He's in Area Three."
"Oh..." she said, then added, "Area Three is where...?"
Following the trail to Area Three was more fun than Lucy expected. Though she still wasn't able to send her text message, the way there compensated for her frustration and she almost completely forgot about it.
For example, it was her first time seeing a domestic water buffalo they call a carabao; it was treading the same path, pulling a cartful of mangoes. There was a man riding on its back who maneuved the animal as if it was the easiest thing to do; and when Lucy tried to say 'Magandang umaga' to him, he replied with a toothy, "Magandang umaga rin po, ma'am!" Not that Lucy knew what all the other words meant, but she somehow guessed that it was a way of saying 'good morning, too'.
It also made the girl's heart swell to see children not older than seven running around with differently-colored kites tied to cans. It was an unusual sight in that day and age when children's games involved little physical activity and mostly of tablet computers. She once again greeted them and they said the same thing the man on the carabao did.
The wind brushed softly on the girl's skin, the sun was being filtered by the shade of the mango trees. Like the night before, Lucy could faintly hear the distant sound of singing, and she wondered whether it was a normal occurrence there. Back in her hometown, it was rare to have such simple sing-alongs.
Finally, after what seemed like fifteen minutes of walking, she found The Sadist talking to a young man wearing a dirty three-fourth sleeved top and cropped jeans. Lucy got close enough to hear a little bit of their conversation, and although she didn't understand what they said, she guessed it was a little less than happy.
"What's going on?" she asked, interrupting Gray mid-sentence. He turned to her with a look of surprise. "Well?"
"It's business... None of yours, though..."
"It is my business! I'm a Heartfilia, remember?!"
Gray heaved a sigh that looked like he mentally cursed her for being so smart. "Area Three's crops aren't ready for harvest and so we'll have around twenty to thirty percent less to send to the markets this week."
"When will they be ready?" she asked.
"I was just talking to Anton here and he says a little over next week." He gave a gesture to point to Anton, the young man behind him.
"Why don't we reduce the amount we'll send for each buyer? I know it's risky and I must be intruding for saying this, but I'm sure it's our safest option for now." Gray looked at her quizzically. "I have a degree in business management and a minor in accounting. I don't have a master's degree, though."
This time, he gave a chuckle. "Okay, Ms. Heartfilia... I was going to distribute the stocks to the bigger buyers only but since you've so kindly graced us with your suggestion, we'll do just that."
"No, wait!" Lucy blurted out in an attempt to change his mind, "I take it back! Let's go with your idea!"
He shrugged and turned to Anton. Gray gave him instructions Lucy couldn't understand and then turned back to her. "It's done."
"What did you tell him?"
"To follow your instructions..."
"What?!" she exclaimed. "B-But it was an amateur's decision! I said—"
"It's fine, it's fine... We'll just experiment... If things go well, then hooray for you. If not, then we have you to blame.
"Doesn't that sound exciting?" he asked, a wide smile on his face.
Truly a Sadist.
"I have a feeling that you hate me," she spat.
"I don't," he said smoothly, pushing his glasses up. "I just don't like you... Or, rather, the way you'd come busting in here with your loud complaints and your busybodiness. It's ruining the peace."
Rude.
"Well, I'm sorry... I just thought I had the right to come into our property any time I liked!" she harrumphed.
"Okay, relax, Ms. Heartfilia. No fighting," he said. "So? What brought you out here to look for me?"
Lucy took her phone from her pocket and put it close to Gray's face. "I don't have a signal. There's no network coverage."
"I can see that..." he said.
"Take me somewhere I can get coverage. I need to send a message and maybe a few calls..."
"Geez, why don't you just use the goddamned phone? International calls aren't too difficult to make," he complained. She wondered how he could make profanity sound so charming—but then scolded herself for having such weird thoughts about The Sadist.
"It's a personal call. As much as possible, I don't want to use the farm's phone for something selfish..."
"Good point, princess," Gray said. "But can't it wait until later? If it's not obvious, I'm working..."
"How late is later?"
"Much later," came his teasing. He smirked and waited for her to react. But no. She wouldn't let him win that easily...
Lucy smiled instead and said, "Okay!" If she was going to stay there for long, she would have to try and not let him manipulate her so easily.
The blonde turned around, whipping her hair as she did, and walked away fast enough not to see Gray's smile curl further up his cheeks.
"I'm warning you now, the nearest tower isn't so near," The Sadist said on the way out of the villa.
"Define that...?"
"Around twenty minutes on foot. It's an uphill climb for the most part," he explained and he watched, amused, as her face contorted to a look of disbelief. "Fifteen minutes if we ride a carabao cart for the first half of the journey."
"Ooooh!" she beamed. "I'd like to try riding the cart!"
"You sound excited..."
"None of your business!" she pouted; but she was, in fact and without a doubt, excited. "Now take me...!"
He sighed. "Follow me..."
It was a very hot two o'clock when Lucy and Gray finally got away from Aling Rosa's cooking: a sumptuous lunch followed by dessert and not two hours later, a meryenda which was their way of calling snack time. It was surprising how, even though Gray had authority over the house help everywhere, Aling Rosa was the sovereign power in the dining area. She gave The Sadist such a yelling that he finished two bowlfuls of pasta. Lucy, being the foreigner, got off with finishing just one. When the Aling Rosa went back to the kitchen for another helping, the two got along on one thing and skedaddled out of the villa to the carabao carts.
"Magandang hapon po, ser Gray!" said the man on the carabao. The cart it was pulling stopped right in front of the two and Gray hopped on effortlessly. The wooden box creaked, the animal made no complaint about the additional weight, and Gray was holding out his hand to her.
"Madame?" Lucy raised an eyebrow and disregarded his extended arm. She grabbed hold of the cart and pulled herself up with much difficulty. "Or not..."
The blonde sat on the cleanest part of the cart, beside Gray. She heard the man riding the carabao click his tongue and make a whipping motion toward it and they started to move, ever so slowly, forward.
The scorching sun was still way too bright but Lucy didn't mind. She was having much fun watching the trees and feeling the soft breeze. The sound of cicadas could be heard vividly all around her and some people they passed by would share in her simple joy. She didn't even snap at Gray when he put a stinky straw hat over her head.
They hopped off the cart at a narrow trail just beside the old cemetery and continued their journey on foot. It took about ten minutes until they finally reached the top of the hill, to a small shed. From there, Lucy could see the red-and-white tower.
"This place is so peaceful," she said, and made herself comfortable by sitting on the shed's ledge. She took off the straw hat and placed it beside her.
Gray chose to remain standing, and he leaned on the post, arms crossed on his chest. He said nothing but just looked around at the lush trees and the blue sky painted behind all the green. A small smile made its way to his face.
"You can smile," Lucy said.
"As far as I know, yes, I can..."
She rolled her eyes and made another attempt to send a message. When it notified her that it was successfully sent, she gave a small squeal of joy.
"Oh, thank goodness!"
"So you're good?"
"Yeah, I think so..."
"Good!"
Lucy pinched her eyebrows. "What? No rude comments? No... smart retorts?" She was a bit disappointed that he was being a bit nice.
Gray shook his head in reply. "None."
Lucy narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "Strange..."
"I just thought that if you're going to stay here for not longer than two weeks, there's no point in making your stay miserable," he explained. "Besides, you're probably having a hard enough time without your internet connection and your constant text messaging."
"I—" she was interrupted by the incessant beeping of her phone. One message after another flooded her inbox. "'Scuse me for a moment..."
Natsu Dragneel
10:16AM
Hey lets grab sme coffee later 2night!
Natsu Dragneel
10:17AM
Lucy? Howre u doing ovr there?
Gajeel Redfox
10:17AM
Heard from Levy you were out of town. How's the country? Gihihihi!
Lisanna Strauss
11:00AM
Lucy, can I borrow a few books?
Natsu Dragneel
11:01AM
Wre all havng coffee. Its not the sme w/o u. : (
Levy McGarden
11:01AM
Coffee...?
Natsu Dragneel
12:00PM
Be sendng u coffee session pctures so u dnt miss out.
"Wow, Natsu..." she smirked. Her friend has always been the type to worry a lot but she never got used to his overprotective nature. She hastily typed a reply before going back to Gray. "Where were we?" Looking up, she saw that he was smirking, too. "What...?"
"Like I said... Two weeks..."
Lucy smiled mockingly at him. "Yeah, you wish..."
Gray breathed out and dusted his shoulder. "Well, if everything's in order, I guess I should go back to my job."
"What?"
"Unlike you, I have a steady occupation..." he said, "I suppose you can find your way back by yourself?"
Lucy had doubts; but she wanted so bad to wipe the smug smile on his face that she said she could. "Easily and without fail..."
"Right..." Gray replied. "Just don't stay too long... It gets hard to see in the dark without a flashlight."
"Don't worry," she waved her phone at him, "I've got one right here..."
Without another word, The Sadist turned around and started his trek back to the villa. Meanwhile, Lucy's phone let out another succession of beeps.
Gray had a scowl painted on his face. The setting sun reflected in his glasses and so he took it off, annoyed.
He heaved a disgruntled sigh before shifting his position on the couch.
No, it still wasn't comfortable. He shifted again, this time facing the grandfather clock by the front door of the Heartfilia villa.
Five-thirty.
And you would think that in three hours, that girl would have come back.
But no, Lucy Heartfilia was a true puzzle. He couldn't predict her actions unless it had something to do with irritating her.
He bit his lower lip.
"Sir Gray?"
"What?" Gray's head snapped, irritated, to the direction of the voice. It was Aling Rosa. Realizing that his actions weren't so polite, he apologized in vernacular. "Pasensya na po..."
The woman smiled and handed him a glass of water. "Tubig po, para kumalma naman kayo (Water, to calm you)..."
He chuckled earnestly. "Ayos lang po ako (I'm fine)."
"Mukha po kasing alalang-alala kayo, eh (You look like you're very worried)."
"I'm not." Gray accepted the glass, looking away from the perceptive woman.
"'Di po nga ba (Are you really not)?"
Was he?
Nah, he isn't.
Aling Rosa turned toward the kitchen and bid him farewell. Her last statement before she completely disappeared was that dinner was going to be at six.
Huh, strange. He couldn't remember a time when the woman's cooking didn't send his mouth watering. Just today. All because that girl hasn't come back yet, and it's almost sun down. Does she think that she's in the safest place in the world? Doesn't she know that she's basically in the woods where wild animals are?
What the heck was taking so freaking long?
Gray yelled. He ruffled his hair in frustration.
And, before he could bring himself not to, he grabbed a flashlight and stormed out of the villa.
"What did you say his name was?" Natsu's voice was gruff and mechanical at the end of the line.
"Gray Fullbuster," Lucy replied.
"Grey as in g-r-e-y?"
"No, with an 'a'."
"And how do you spell his last name?"
"F-u-l-l-b-u-s-t—wait a minute, Natsu. You're not going to hack his private accounts, are you?" Lucy stopped. She could hear the clicking of Natsu's keyboard as he typed at inhuman speed. "Natsu?"
"Chill, it's just a background check..." he assured. "Ha...! Well, whaddya know..."
"Natsu—!"
"Oh, Lucy... Don't worry about him," Levy butt in. "You know he knows his limits."
"Yeah, I do. I'm just a bit worried that maybe his concept of 'limits' isn't as narrow as mine."
"Do you or do you not trust me—? Hello, there, college records." The hacker's voice was sinister as he paused for a moment. Levy and Lucy were both waiting on his next words at their respective ends. "Huh. The guy's clean as a blank slate. Above-average grades, no disciplinary records—no, wait, there's one that involved a fistfight but he got in because he was trying to break them up... Graduated class valedictorian-seriously? What is this guy, some sort of demi-god?"
Lucy laughed. "I told you. He's just hard to get along with but he's not a criminal."
"Still, Lucy," Levy said, "I'm worried. If he's being so mean to you, don't you think you should just move out? You could go to another location."
"I'm fine, Levy," she said, "I like it here... The people are respectful of privacy, it's quiet, and so far my dad hasn't called me up of anything."
"Oh, yeah." Natsu sounded as if he was filling his mouth with chips, and Lucy could imagine it so well. "What's up with the arranged marriage thing?"
The blonde sighed. Not two hours ago, she had messaged both Levy and Natsu, her two closest friends, about why she suddenly ran away. Their response was no less exaggerated than hers and they were immediately connected in a conference call, courtesy of their beloved computer genius.
"I still don't know what to think about it," Lucy said, "I mean, I'm not ready to get married!"
Levy hummed a reply. She was definitely nodding. "Remember we still have to tour the world together!"
"I know!" Lucy exclaimed. "I can't believe what my dad was thinking! I don't even know the guy!"
"Davis Corp, you say?" Natsu said. The clicking of the keyboard was evident in the background again.
"Natsu, shouldn't you be on duty?" Levy asked.
"Meh, don't twist your tail feathers. They won't notice. Besides, I've finished coding the new virus for the next security test run so I should be good... Ah, here we go!"
"What? What?!"
"Know a guy named Loki?" asked Natsu. "Davis Corp heir. Background check is good. Wait, let me check his credit card use—ah, top grade hotels and restaurants only... Hey, he owns a Ferrari!"
"Oh, no..." Lucy mentally face-palmed. "I haven't met him but he sounds like a typical ass..."
"Lucy, language!" Levy reprimanded in a giggle.
"What? You know I don't like guys like those... They're too... extravagant!"
"Speak for yourself, sister!" Natsu joked. "Prada, Gucci, Chanel? Remember them?"
Lucy pouted. Right. Not that she could wash her hands at this. She, herself, liked premium-grade items. But... Not that much! For one thing, she limits her shopping to at least one luxury item in six months. "If I were there now, I'd be strangling you, Natsu..."
"Now, now... No violence!" came Levy's warning.
"Anyway, Lucy, is there any place closer to the villa that you can get network coverage?" asked Natsu, "I'm thinking the place where you're at isn't too safe to stay for long..."
"I don't know," Lucy said. "I could ask The Sadist later if he's in a good mood."
"Yeah, when you kick his ass, say hello to his wife for me!"
"Natsu!"
"Sorry, Levy!"
"Wait, what? He has a wife? I didn't—" a sound alerted the girl that she was running empty on battery life, "Wait, I've to hang up. My battery's dying."
"Oh, call us again when you can!" Levy said.
"You can call the villa's phone but only when it's evening here, okay?" she said and mentioned the ten-hour time difference. "Okay?"
"Okay," the two chorused.
"Love you both! Miss you!"
"Love you, too, Lucy!"
"Take care with that guy, okay?"
"Okay, bye!"
Lucy sighed as she ended the call. '01:52.16' it notified. So she and her pals have been talking for close to two hours; no wonder her ear felt numb. She looked up at the tower, the last rays of sunlight telling her it was time to go home.
The girl pocketed her phone, swiped the stinky straw hat beside her and then dusted herself before taking off.
She walked slowly at first. The sound of gravel crunching beneath her footsteps crackled in her ears. The cicadas sounded so close by and—was that an owl just now? Erm, there aren't any of those there, right?
The girl hastened her pace. Gravity was pulling her to the earth as Lucy made her downhill journey. Her heart beat fast in her chest, the darkness covering her like a veil. Her breath was hot against her face as she ran.
She realized that she was alone in the dark in a new place.
Running fast. Scared.
"Oh my God," she panted.
Lucy jumped and landed on the side of her foot, twisting it. She lost her balance and fell onto the mossy ground.
"Darn it," she breathed and rubbed the aching ankle, as if it would do some good. With all her might she stood straight up but found that her left foot was useless. She would have to limp back to the hacienda. With one hand on her dying phone as a flashlight, she scanned her surroundings to get an idea of where she could probably be.
In front of her, illuminated by the dull light from her phone, was nothing but the trail that seemed to lead on and on without end. To her right was an endless foreground of trees. She immediately turned away for fear that if she stared too long at the forest, something would eventually grab her; but then Lucy regretted it and wished she hadn't looked left.
She found herself staring at the gate to the cemetery. An eerie atmosphere filled the air and a chill was sent to Lucy's spine. Lanes upon lanes of tombstones and crosses, moldy and cracked with age numbed Lucy's senses. She couldn't look away. She just stared on, hypnotized by the creepy setting.
Fear rose up to her throat bitter as bile.
"Hey—"
A hand touched her shoulder and Lucy screamed. Her initial instinct to fight acted and she punched, remembering her black belt in taekwondo.
"Hya!" she yelped; her knuckles hit a face square on the nose. Her keen sense of hearing could faintly distinguish the cracking of soft bone under impact. "Help! Pervert!" she yelled and did a follow up kick to the man's sides.
"Sto—Stop it, you crazy woman! It's me!"
Lucy's ears rang and she pointed her flashlight to the man she just beat up. Although the nose was beautifully broken and bleeding, the messy raven hair and black eyes underneath spectacles made Lucy know it was Gray 'The Sadist' Fullbuster.
Damn.
"I'm so sorry!" she said and repeated for too many times to count. "I'm really sorry! I didn't know—"
"Ah, shit! Don't touch me!" Gray complained and spanked her hand away. He tilted his head skyward. "That freaking hurt!"
"I-I'm really sorry! It's just—You surprised me and—I'm really sorry, Gray!" Lucy fought back the urge to laugh at his state.
Serves him right, no matter how pitiful he looked.
Gray made a dismissive gesture and pointed a flashlight forward. Just in time, too, and Lucy's phone finally turned off.
"Did you come looking for me?" she asked.
"Of course, moron. I told you not to stay until sundown!" Gray's anger vibrated like waves and hit Lucy. Guilt flooded her. "Now, come on and let's get going."
"Uhm..." she started, "I can't walk... I kind of... twisted my foot when I fell..."
The man was silent for a while. Then, "Deal with it," he said.
"What?! You're not serious, are you?!"
He sighed deeply, mumbled something that sounded like 'darned duties', and knelt down. "Fine... Hop on..."
Lucy timidly positioned herself on Gray's broad back, both hands on his shoulders. With much ease, he stood up and they started walking.
"I'm really, really sorry... I really am..."
"Shut up, okay? I'm really pissed right now."
Lucy jerked. His voice was stern and demanding. It made her powerless to retort. That, and she was really guilty for punching him and then kicking him twice.
And now, he was still nice enough to give her a piggy-back ride.
"Put something on that ankle of yours later."
"Huh?"
"Ice... Or something... If it's twisted pretty bad then I don't want any complications..."
"Uhm... Yeah, you, too... Sorry about the nose..." She could hear him growling. "I'm really sorry..."
"Whatever..." he said, "At least it was me... If it were some other guy with some other intentions, you wouldn't have been so lucky."
"Hey, now! I was beating you up back there. I think I deserve credit for my self-defense!"
"Yeah, right..." Gray's sarcasm was bitter and heavy, "You know what? Just go home. Don't wait until the two weeks are up and I can say 'I told you so'."
"For your information, I'm adapting pretty well to this place!"
"Wanna bet?" he said. "If you stay here for longer than two weeks, I'll take you to the city on a shopping spree.
"And if you don't, you'll be my slave for, say, two months?"
"What? No way I'm falling for some childish bet like that... And I thought you had a master's degree..."
"And I thought you were confident on winning."
Lucy narrowed her eyes, thought about possibilities and then gave herself a mental pep talk.
"Deal..." she said, "But when I go shopping, I'll have to warn you, I have a very keen eye."
The road back to the villa was spent in silence. Gray's heavy footsteps fell on Lucy's ears. It was steady and strong, elegant and manly. She looked to the trail ahead of them illuminated by the flashlight; thought curiously about how pretty the break in black blanket of darkness looked, how much more the light shone when the dark was so prevalent.
She laughed and Gray asked why.
She didn't answer.
And the silence continued on.
GRALU WEEK RUNS FROM SEPTEMBER 1st TO SEPTEMBER 7th! For more info, please visit the tumblr blog
Fyeahgraluweek
GRALU FAMILY, UNITE~!
WEIRDO BLABBS: I hope you guys don't mind me using the Filipino language more now. Expect that in the future chapters, you will see more of it. Of course, I will put in the translations when necessary. Thank you!
Please support my collab fanfiction with WolfieAnne, The Last Celestial Mage, and maybe my other FT fanfictions: Going, Going, Gone; Another Shot at Love, Good Taste, Massage?, Girls and Shopping and Starstruck!.
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