konamiXkatya23: Yeah, I'm back from my trip and my long writer's block.
Actually, I could just say that I was too lazy to do anything... Just sorta loitered the entire time. And now I'm struggling to catch up with my schoolwork...
Now, about this chapter... I may have made some of the characters a bit too... Out of character... You've been warned!
Anyway, enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters! I only own my story and plot!
Chapter three
The Calm Before the Storm
The two stumbled into the large hall. For a second, they stood dazed, blinded by the bright lights. The clattering of plates and loud talking could be heard from the cafeteria.
They threw their coats on the leather couch which stood close to the door and quickly ran into the dining hall. A half-eaten tomato whizzed by Lucy's head as she opened the large wooden doors. She took cover and quickly crawled towards the buffet.
Someone flew right over her shoulder, landing right in the fruits section. The man jumped up and yelled, "Lucy! Stop hiding under that table! Get up and fight like a real ma-" But he was quickly cut off by Loki, who smashed a plate against this man's head. Elfman stood still for a second and soon fell on the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head.
"Are you alright, love?" Loki asked the girl in a romantic tone. An enchanting aura was almost visible around Loki.
"What's with all of these sparkling flowers around you?" Lucy commented as she dodged a glassful of juice. The boy opened his mouth to answer, but noticed that the girl has disappeared.
'I have to make it to the food!' the blonde thought as she escaped from Loki's strange, sparkly eyes. She crawled on the ground like a cat, carefully avoiding any broken glass or puddles of strange liquids.
As the girl reached the counter, she jumped up and quickly grabbed two chicken wings and ducked as two more came flying at her face. The man who threw them grinned, but he was tackled to the ground. For a second, Lucy caught a glimpse of rosy hair and a scaly scarf, but they also disappeared in the fray. Lucy crawled under a table and ate her food quietly. She could see that some people, like her roommate, were also taking shelter under the tables. She waved the chicken wing in the air and grinned. Soon, when Levi noticed her, she smiled back and crawled in her direction.
Lucy POV
I can't believe that these guys would rather chuck the food around rather than eat it. After quiet, awkward dinners with my father, or rather, dinners without him at all, this was really hard to get used to...
End POV
The first dinner she had here started off alright, but then one of these airheads decided to bring in some ale, and after Makarov was completely drunk, so was the whole resort. She woke up the next morning with a pounding head, only to find herself sleeping on Natsu, and to find the other half of the cafeteria free of people, because they were already practicing on the slope.
Of course the rosy haired boy helped her drag her lazy butt over to the dorm, but all she could do was collapse in bed.
The noises still continued as Lucy drowsily leaned against her blue-haired friend's back. Erza was on a rampage over there! Her silver snow pants flashed all over the place as people were thrown and their faces were pounded into the wall. Natsu was no exception.
The red head and Natsu could fight for hours on the slope, tripping and throwing snow at each other... But suddenly they stopped, and the noise quieted down. Lucy opened her eyes in alert.
Makarov, who was probably in a bad mood, stalked into the room. A deadly aura hung over him, creating the illusion of a demon, ready to burn down a friendly village.
"Ahem!" he cleared his throat as he climbed onto a table. "Listen up, everyone! Stop your fighting and pay attention for a minute!"
Confused eyes stared at the director, "It's that time of the year again! We're hosting the annual sporting event here, at our resort!" the man's eyes searched through the crowd, making sure that everyone was listening. "This year everyone has to participate! I ha-"
The dining hall was first full of groans and complaints, but these were soon drowned out by the cheering and the joyful yelling.
Makarov lifted a huge jug of lemonade and chucked it against an empty metal pot. The sound rang out through the hall, quieting everyone at once.
"As I was saying, this year, everyone's participating! We will not be sending only our best sportsmen out there! Everyone will have to try their hardest! I have already pasted a sign-up sheet for every race that's gonna be in the event! Please sign up today!" Lucy glanced around the room in search of Natsu and her eyes only met some very concerned and worried faces.
"However! This doesn't mean that we're going to embarrass the name of our resort! This means that the year to kick their butts has come!"
The hall erupted with cheering. Everyone was yelling, crying, laughing, and whistling. Lucy cheered with the rest of the members.
And most importantly, they were ready to win!
~Later~
The hall has cleared out and everyone was walking back to their dorms. There was no time to waste! They had to sign up for the thing they were best at! For some reason all of this was organized in the girls' dorm... The clump of people rushed into the building.
Lucy searched through the crowd. For a second, she saw Natsu who was still punching Gray for some reason. She grabbed his scarf and pulled him out of the black-haired boy's reach.
"Hey Natsu!" she yelled at him over the noise. "What am I supposed to sign up for?"
"Urgh... Lucy, how am I supposed to know?" the boy's eyes darted back to Gray's swaying figure.
"Natsu!"
"What?"
"Answer me!"
"Try carving. Maybe you could practice it tomorrow with Mirajane..." the boy gave half-hearted reply.
"So what are you signing up for?"
"Freestyling", he muttered, his mind still somewhere else. His face gave off that 'I-don't-care' vibe.
Lucy really hoped that she would stay with Natsu. Of course, he was doing something else! This made the girl snap back to reality. What made her believe that the boy would stay by her side? He has his own business to take care of. After all, she's been friends with him for only a couple of weeks... Even his strange breakdown during the sunset didn't matter anymore.
Lucy released his scarf and walked away. She trotted through the crowd, and quickly signed up for carving, happy to get away from the noisy assembly. She used a simple excuse to leave the main hall for her room.
The blonde lay on her bed, thinking about this competition. She has realized that she's still pretty new here, no one would realize her strange mood or the fact that she has left. And Natsu. Right now, she couldn't help thinking about him. Or the way he laughed, or the way he teased Lucy when she fell. She though, that of all people she could talk to Natsu the best. Now, she felt stupid for overreacting and stupid for believing that there was something... Anything at all...
"Stupid", she muttered to herself as she crawled into bed.
She must have slept for a few hours, but she woke up from a bright light shining into her room. Levi and Natsu stood in the doorway.
"You coming?" Levi asked.
"To look for the northern lights? Nah..." she answered her own question.
They did this every night. Apparently, sometimes, they saw something in the sky, shining and lighting up the night. The last time they saw something, it was the day Lucy arrived.
Their efforts to find more northern lights were worthless. The girl sighed and turned away from the light.
"You ok, Lucy?" a concerned voice asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely, just tired. Go away..."
"Well if you change your mind, catch up to us!" the door closed behind the girl's back.
The blonde rolled over once again and thought about how rude she was to Levi. She muttered something about depression and bad days and closed her eyes. Only then, she realized that she was not alone.
A figure stood in the corner of the room, waiting for something. "Hey..." a boy's voice replied when he noticed Lucy's piercing glare.
"Natsu! I was ready to punch you!"
"Sorry, Luce."
"Did you not go with Levi? I thought you left!" she continued as her heart sped up.
"No. I'm sorry. They went ahead. I'm worried. You looked really horrible tonight. If it was all of because of that crap I told you at sunset..."
"No, no it was just me. I'm worn out."
"I'll go grab you a bite to eat then!" he exclaimed with a grin and almost ran off.
"Wait! You idiot! What would everyone think if they caught you sneaking inside the girl's dorm late at night?" Lucy blushed.
"That I'm really hungry?" he answered, clueless.
Lucy banged her head against the wall. Natsu stood in the doorway, still wondering about what she had meant. "Oh..." his mouth gaped open. He started tip-toeing his way out of the room.
The freezing wind blew outside making moaning sounds by the windows. The trees creaked from the cold, their shadows dancing on the diamond snow. The moon shone brightly, barely illuminating the girl's figure as she lay in bed.
"Stay here", Lucy whispered and turned away, blushing.
The boy entered the room and locked the door.
konamiXkatya23: I really hope that you've enjoyed this. I haven't written anything for so long and I tried to clump everything into this chapter! Please review and tell me how it was! I'm actually pretty weirded-out because I thought that I was going to end this at a different moment. But since this ended up being really long, I'll just put that into the next chapter! Stay tuned for more!
I'm open for any criticism! Please tell me what you didn't like so I can improve!